Hurry Hurry Hurry

I have this friend ...  he says he loves Rock and Roll, but he thinks punk is rubbish, and he can’t stand heavy metal, which - according to him - is exemplified by Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.

Yes, he is older than me.

I try in vain to explain to him that Zeppelin and AC/DC are Rock and Roll bands, but he won’t have it.

I say: “Listen.  There is no difference between You Shook Me All Night Long and Communication Breakdown and I Want To Be Sedated and Roll Over Beethoven (either The Beatles or Chuck Berry, take your pick).

The sound may differ, but it’s the feeling, right?

Nevermind the …

According to Rolling Stone, punk is now 40 years old, as celebrated in The 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time.

Sure, you could call the release of The Ramones a start.  Or you could go back to the 60’s with MC5 or The Velvet Underground.  Or you could look at pictures of The Beatles in Hamburg and marvel that the same guys played on Ed Sullivan wearing suits.  Then there’s Elvis, or Eddie Cohcrane, or …

Let’s face it:  Rock and Roll has an edge.  It has attitude.  It has barely contained and badly channeled rage – some of it sexual, some of it social.  It’s for kids who have energy and excitement but no power.

Sometimes that music is raw and unnerving.  Sometimes it’s subjected to more refined production.  But the edge is always there.

Personally, I prefer well-produced music, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get (or enjoy) it when I hear what’s come to be called Punk.  So rock – or punk – on, people.

Heart Like A Wheel

Sometimes you just like you a band or artist because they fit in with your preferences.  Sometimes because they remind you of someone else you dig.  Or maybe for reasons that aren’t even related to music.  Sometimes – especially if they don’t necessarily fit your mould – you can’t quite put your finger on it.

Linda Ronstadt was always one of those last cases for me.  I mean, very talented, but not terribly original, and maybe a tad on the commercial side.  I mean, she was certainly not Led Zeppelin.  So I couldn’t figure out what it was I liked so much.

But I think I finally have:  she was so great because she was the whole American thing: country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues - oh, and a little gospel.  Punk too.  She could deliver in each style with unassailable conviction – sometimes mixing in more than one of ‘em in the same song.

And then for good measure she went and got Peter Asher, friend and protégé of The Beatles, to be her producer.  Pretty hard to miss with all that jammed into a record.

Genrification

Speaking of genres (well, I was two posts ago), wasn’t it all so much easier when we though of everything as just pop – or rock ‘n’ roll (take your pick)?

But this genre thing is outta control.

I mean, I get that Easy Listening and Pop and Rock and Folk and R&B and Hip Hop just don’t cross paths too much any more(except maybe on awards shows).  I’m inured to the fact that rock has gone through all this cell division so we’ve got Folk Rock, Punk, Metal, Alternative, Prog, Indie and so on and so on and even more so on.

I’ve slowly come top recognize that we need additional labels such as House and Psychobilly, and Emo and Hardcore.  I guess they serve a purpose.

But brother, when I browse some online music sites, I’m overwhelmed by all these weird genres:  Doom?  Sleaze?  Sadcore?  Red Dirt?

Really?  What are these about?

OK, you can kinda guess what Melodic Death might be like, or Screamo, or Horrorcore, or Trip Hop.  Gothabilly you can almost picture (or hear, I guess).  Ditto Acid Folk, even Swamp.  I think.

And it turns out most ‘em have entries in Wikipedia, so I suppose there’s more than one band doing them.  But simple folk like me have to be enlightened as to why we need Shoegaze, Glitch or Grime.

But some of this sub-genrification is kinda pointless isn’t it?  I mean, Wikipedia defines Street Punk as “a working class-based genre of punk rock.”  Hello?  Was normal Punk something reserved for the upper class?  Like The Sex Pistols gave us music for Toffs?

Maybe some of these bands are just trying to distinguish themselves in ways that don’t involve their actual music.  Maybe they’re having us on.   Noir?  Heartfelt and Lyrical?  Youtube?  Jack Daniels?

I think I need a swig.

No One Here Gets Out Alive

In each of the six decades since the birth of rock and roll, you can find some magic, and you can shake your head and wonder how anybody could listen to such rubbish. 

But for me, the 70’s is the big enigma.  Some of the best rock, much of it indelibly stamped into the concrete of our collective consciousness, was made in that decade.  And I couldn’t do without it.  But it was a confusing decade, one with little or no direction, a time of extremes and excesses.

Hard rock, prog rock, power pop, funk, metal, disco, jazz fusion, punk, folk-rock, singer-songwriter … and the leisure suits.  Brother.

The 70’s were not kind to a lot of 60’s icons.  The Stones, Clapton, and The Who, for example, all had their moments, but really they drifted through with mixed results.  Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd triumphantly pushed through, and then collapsed at the finish line.  Deep Purple didn’t make it.  The Beatles and Hendrix didn’t even get out of the starting block.

The energy that began as punk and coalesced into New Wave was certainly welcome.  It brought some much-needed focus to all that aimless thrashing about.  To borrow from Rossini’s invective against Wagner, the 70’s had wonderful moments, and dreadful quarters of an hour.

Nevermind

One of the comments below Gibson’s 10 Great Grunge Bands article says it best: I miss hearing snarling guitars and adult subject matter on the radio.

Grunge was the last great innovation of the rock ‘n’ roll era.  A refreshing kick in the pants to self-indulgent 80’s hair metal, a rude finger to the fashion driven synth pop Kool-Aid that was dominating the airwaves, grunge reminded us that rock ‘n’ roll is punk.

The guitar playing was perhaps not as noteworthy as that served up by the guitar gods of the 60’s and 70’s, and the lyrics were a tad on the angry side, but even old fogey’s in their forties like me got it.

An all too brief revitalization, though.  Before long the corporate pop machine had driven us back to its predictable formula of catchy but forgettable nonsense. 

The next wave is overdue.  Hey, you snarling guitarists!  Pick up the torch!

A Well Respected Man

Gibson’s Dave Davies’ 10 Greatest Performances serves as a healthy reminder that The Kinks’ guitarist was about way more than You Really Got Me.

Yeah, that’s on the list, as is its sequel, All Day and All of the Night, as thats semi-sequel Tired of Waiting.

Pushed aside by the late 60’s blues rockers, The Kinks enjoyed an all-too brief resurgence ten years later, riding the punk/new wave thing for a few years.  Gibson’s list nicely demonstrates that The Kinks – and Davies – still had their chops, staying as – or even more – relevant than many of the 60’s British Invasion relics that were still out there. 

The tunes – and the guitar work – on Misfits and Low Budget are archetypal, no-holds-barred rock and roll.  The massive influence of You Really Got Me aside, for my money, this was their best work.  They rocked us around the dial.

Tired of Waiting

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Why have I taken so long to write something about The Kinks?

Maybe that’s my pattern.  I noticed them during the first British Invasion, of course.  And they seemed to hold their own during the transition from rock ‘n’ roll to psychedelic.  I remember playing Well Respected Man in my band when I was in Grade 8.

But then they got pushed aside during the second invasion, displaced by the likes of Cream, Zeppelin, Hendrix and Deep Purple.  Yes, I know Hendrix was American, but he arrived from England, didn’t he?

Like so many others, The Kinks just didn’t register on the new hard rock scale.  After Lola, they were gone and forgotten.

Ah, but they weren’t gone.  While everyone was dicking around with Prog Rock and Metal and Disco, they were out there, staying (mostly) true to their rock ‘ n’ roll roots.  And somewhere in the late-ish 70’s, when Punk had said “enough!” and radio stations began giving airtime to the likes of Steve Miller, Linda Ronstadt and Tom Petty, The Kinks resurfaced.

And, longing as I was for something less pompous and silly.  I finally, really noticed them.  A string of great albums, beginning with Misfits, helped them ride the New Wave well into the 80’s when, along with rock ‘n’ roll, they faded again.  Having finally become a fan, I hoped they might resurface one more time during the all-too-brief Garage Band thing in the early 90’s, but to no avail.  That wish turned out to be a rock & roll fantasy.

Now they’re gone, un-rescued by the local village green preservation societies.  Maybe that’s a good thing, ‘cause at least we’re being spared one more fossilized group out on tour.  I dunno.

Listen: I know I’m doing some revisionist history here, suggesting The Kinks were fabulous from start to finish.  They disappeared from most of our radars in the late 60’s and early 70’s because their dabbling in the emerging styles was unsuccessful.  But when they went back to what they did well, they gave us a big batch of terrific music.

They may have been surpassed by others in terms of both impact and longevity, but there are times when I could listen to their music all day and all of the night.

Jalopy Rock

Gibson has this list of 10 Great Garage Rock Bands.

The intro talks about garage rock as both primitive and singles-oriented (not self-contradicting?) while Wikipedia describes garage rock as raw and amateurish - and punkish.

To me, rock and roll is punkish by definition. Three chords and a message (even if it's only complaining about the cheerleader who doesn't notice you) - that's the essence of rock and roll. Everything else is just window dressing - or pretense.

Anyway, here's the list:
The Count Five
Flamin' Groovies
13th Floor Elevators
The Seeds
The Troggs
MC5
The Electric Prunes
The Kingsmen
The Stooges
The Velvet Underground

Note to Gibson: not sure I buy that Jimi Hendrix loved The Troggs. I always felt his whole Wild Thing thing at Monterey was a put on.

The point of Gibson's list is who were the pioneers, so it is a pretty good list. Otherwise I might have said: where's Camper van Beethoven, The Northern Pikes, The Smithereens, or even George Thorogood? Not that any of these sounded amateurish.

It's not that I admire poor production of sloppy musicianship, but to me it's the feel of the music, not the degree to which it sounds professional. It's about raw rock and roll. So, my list would also include Creedence, The Kinks, The Status Quo, even The Stones and Neil Young.

We're talking genres, right? And a genre is about style and attitude, not commercial success, and certainly not ability. I mean, if Keef isn't punk then I don't know who is!

War is declared and the battle come down

So, you’re a public broadcaster that is working overtime to be hip, to be relevant.  The Olympics are on.  In London, a pretty hip place.  What theme song do you use to introduce your Olympic news updates?

London Calling, by the Clash.  A downer of a song.  An angry song.  An apocalyptic song.  A paranoid song.  By a punk band.  Come on, CBC.  Really?

Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great song by a terrific band.  I love it.

But are we so shallow, so inured to manipulation, so dumbed down that we aren’t supposed to look past the title?

Nuclear error?  Zombies of death?  London is drowning?  Help!

Assuming he collects some royalty payments, I suppose Mick Jones (alas, Joe Strummer is no longer with us) can laugh his way to the bank.  But as an artist, I gotta believe he’s just a little offended that someone would treat his masterpiece in such a superficial way.

I know, I know.   It goes on all the time.  Product commercials, political campaigns, whatever.

But is it hip?  Is it cool?  No.  It’s stupid.

Eve Of Destruction Music

Gibson published this list of Top 10 Protest Rockers a while back.

Thankfully, Barry McGuire wasn't on it. I mean, Eve Of Destruction is just a little too down, now isn't it? No disrespect, but it certainly doesn't measure up to the poetry from the likes of Dylan.

Here's the list:
1. Phil Ochs
2. Public Enemy
3. MC5
4. U2
5. Rage Against The Machine
6. Dead Kennedys
7. Bob Dylan
8. John Lennon
9. The Clash
10. Bruce Springsteen

I think maybe Gibson's list makers confuse punk with protest, and I would have reversed the list, but nevermind.

What matters is we need more of this. You know, when we were on the eve of destruction, artists tended to balance their irrepressible optimism with the occasional protest song. And they were songs of protest. They said: "hey! this ain't right. We need to do something about it."

We don't do enough of that now. "You piss me off" just doesn't cut it.

Come on, people: protest!

About Influences - Part 2

After such a promising start, music seemed to lose the plot in the early 70's.

Folk disappeared and Rock 'n' Roll was unofficially abolished.  Soul morphed into Disco, and Metal split into cheesy Power Pop on the one hand and some kind of demonic cartoon on the other.  Prog Rock became so bloated and pretentious is started to suffocate itself.  You sure couldn't dance to it.

What a godsend, then, when Punk opened a door for the New Wave explosion in the late 70's.  Suddenly things were fresh and energetic again.  We had guitar hooks, palm-muted shuffles, catchy harmonies and energetic beats.  We even had a return to boy-meets-girl lyrics, though with a lot more irony and menace than we got in the 50's and 60's.

And it wasn't copycat stuff.  The Cars, The Police, The Pretenders  ...  the new bands created a new sound even while they made us feel it was 1965 all over again.  New harmonies, new technologies, and new attitudes - all added fresh life to old ideas.  Artists like Elvis Costello and Tom Petty got to the very root of things, sounding authentic, yet current and relevant at the same time.

Then is all went wrong again.

The guitars were replaced by synths, the leather and denim were replaced by spandex, bad hair proliferated, and the 80's became a virtual wasteland. 

Somewhere in there I realized that you couldn't even hear a guitar on the records I was buying.  That's when I started filling out my record collection with stuff I had missed the first time around. 

That process required a bit of thought and introspection;  I had to analyse what it was I really liked, and why.  Part of the answer was obvious, of course:  guitar-based rock 'n' roll, creatively presented and expertly produced.

The other part of the answer was an overdue surprise:  the thread that held everything I'd ever loved together, the foundation on which all this wonderful music had been built ... was The Blues.