August 17, 2004
Musically Turning the Corner
Don't laugh. OK, maybe a little. Sheesh.
A combination of personal and historical observations. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe the moment that..."
(1) the British Invasion morphed into hard rock / metal was the dual destruction of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman" and Joe South's "Hush" by Deep Purple, 1968.
(1a) the British Invasion morphed into easy listening crap was with the Hollies' release of "The Air That I Breathe", 1974.
(2) the Rolling Stones officially became irrelevant and should have gone ahead and retired was when Devo released its cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", 1978.
(3) Bad Religion approached semi-listenability was "21st Century Digital Boy", which contains all the same thematic elements as 500 Bad Religion songs that came before it, but the lead singer isn't rattling off bromides about international commerce like a fucking auctioneer for once.
(4) Steve Miller lost a substantial amount of appeal was when I got an old LP and realizing that he recycled the riff from "My Dark Hour" for "Fly Like An Eagle." How many shoes has he donated for the children with no shoes on their feet?
(5) I realized that Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions were possibly one of the most underrated groups of all time was when I heard "Fool For You."
(6) I began to suspect that Eric Clapton was hella-overrated and possibly a stooge for the white power structure was finally listening to the original "Born Under A Bad Sign" by Albert King.
(7) the positive aspects of music video started to be outweighed by its overwhelming mediocrity was probably the rise of the Human League, 1982. Or any other heavily made-up band that made its video debut within a year of MTV going on the air.
(8) I realized that the critics were probably right, and that my favorite progressive band (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) was indeed a trio of utterly bombastic, pompous blowhards, and not caring: really paying attention to the lyrics of the 14-minute mini-epic "Pirates" (which was about pirates, strangely enough) off Works Vol. 1.
(9) I realized that the female chorus in the Peter Gabriel song was singing "jeux sans frontieres" (games without frontiers) instead of "she's so popular" was way to late to maintain any sort of cosmopolitan credibility.
I cannot recommend strongly enough the 3 CD set "People Get Ready: The Curtis Mayfield Story". The completist who has all the old albums won't have significantly more signal than you. And all the great songs, including Fool For You, are on it.
It's off Rhino, 1996 release. It's going in my CD player right now. That is all.
#2: reinforced when Britney covered "Satisfaction."
#4: dude, recycling riffs is what rock is all about. (Miller is a hard one to defend, but i like those Capitol albums a lot, especially "Fifth")
Posted by: paperpusher at August 17, 2004 11:34 AM#8 - After reading this sites info for a long time and having the feeling that your views in life were way to close to mine to be random chance, your ELP comments have confirmed the truth: one of our fathers had to have taken a "side trip" during a sales trip, got a little intoxicated, and spawned one of us out of wedlock. Guess I have to send you a Christmas card from now on, brother.
Long Live Tarkus!
Posted by: cheezeboy at August 17, 2004 11:53 AMHey, if *you* had to come up with a way to merge graduate study in earth science with melodic punk music, I'd like to see *you* do better than Bad Religion!
One part per million... unacceptable!
One part per billion... unacceptable!
One part per trillion... unacceptable!
(8) I realized that the critics were probably right, and that my favorite progressive band (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer)...
No way! ELP has a prominent role in the folklore of the WWM family: Brain Salad Surgery was the soundtrack to a cross-country trip (California to Florida) in 1973 until my dad threw my sullen oldest brother's cassette player in the trash. And I can only guess how many brain cells another brother burned out while toking up to Tarkus. As for myself, I was entranced by the serious baskets the guys were sporting on the cover of Love Beach.
(9) I realized that the female chorus in the Peter Gabriel song was singing "jeux sans frontieres" (games without frontiers) instead of "she's so popular"
I always heard it as "she is so punctual."
Posted by: wholly without merit john at August 17, 2004 12:55 PM(6) Clapton? Pat Boone with a Fender.
Posted by: Quaker in a Basement at August 17, 2004 01:21 PMI always heard it as "she is so punctual."
I went years thinking it was "She's so funky, yeah."
Posted by: apostropher at August 17, 2004 02:20 PM(2a) Reinforced strongly the following year when KISS covered "2000 Man."
(6a) The moment Clapton went from "hella-overrated" to "sucks with a capital s" corresponds to him kicking his heroin habit.
Posted by: apostropher at August 17, 2004 02:29 PMQuibbles and bits:
(1a): "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" is at least as smarmy as "The Air That I Breathe," and was released considerably earlier. Of course, I secretly love both songs.
(7): Three words -- Flock of Seagulls. Of course, I secretly love "I Ran."
(8): Peter Sinfield gives hacks a bad name. Of course, I secretly love this "song."
(9): You mean Peter Gabriel is French? That explains his new Jean-Luc Picard 'do (I heard it the same way you did, and of course, I not-so-secretly love this song).
Confidential to Quaker: I had a friend once who refused to refer to Clapton by name; he just called him "that white guy." We all knew who he meant. Of course, I secretly loathe Clapton (if Clapton is God, then Nietzsche was right).
Posted by: rod at August 17, 2004 03:00 PMSo now you got me singing that Popular song and all I can think is ok, I can see how jeux sans is equal to shes so, and I can see how frontieres is pronounced with the same number of syllables as popular but for the life of me I can't figure out if that is what they are singing, where in the h*ll the p sound comes from.
Posted by: at August 17, 2004 03:41 PMThat ain't no female chorus, that's Kate Bush. Aren't you the one who was hating on my girl Laurie Anderson as well? (Actually I don't like Kate Bush that much but she is cute. Too bad about the name.)
Posted by: Matt Weiner at August 17, 2004 06:22 PM(1) Hard core rap had already seeped into the crevices of middle white American youth minds, long before Ememiem, when MTV discovered they listen to Black music, too.
(2) Too many middle aged white guys, Stevie Ray Vaughn was the first Blues musician.
(3) I never took to the pre-Lamb Lies Down overblown, English meandering of Genesis + Gabriel. I checked in with Duke, as it is amazing cutting a track down to 4 minutes can produce hooks.
And, as a big Clapton fan, y'all can just shove it. He's never claimed to be more than he is (a simple Blues guitarists), and has never marketed himself into more than a bigger ego would demand (see Sting).
Other than Blues, he has been an artist drawn to simple, catchy pop songs. Radio friendly, bluesy rock n' roll, which were the mainstay of American Rock radio for nearly 3 decades. He delivered hits in a vacuum, and never tried to do more than what he knows.
He's a blues educated and trained guitar player, devoid of flash and tricks. He uses few effects, plays cleaning, and phrases better than anyone. Plus, his voice has aged to perfection. I've seen too many white guys sing the blues badly. And, it took Clapton nearly 50 years, to do it right.
Posted by: thatcoloredfella at August 17, 2004 07:22 PMMatt W.: Not me. I barely know who she is.
TCF: Then explain "I Shot the Sherriff"
Posted by: norbizness at August 17, 2004 07:25 PMDamn, #9 totally fronted me, too. glad i'm not the only one. but at least i knew it was kate bush.
Posted by: Pwylla at August 17, 2004 08:11 PMAdding to Norb:
TCF: Explain "Lay Down Sally." Then explain "Wonderful Tonight."
Posted by: QuakerinaBasement at August 17, 2004 08:28 PMRod, Ferry 'Cross the Mersey was by Gerry and the Pacemakers, and being released earlier grants it more leeway. In the end it's whatever floats your boat anyway, besides the Mersey beat had a short lifespan. Your Quibbles & Bits sotra channels The Searchers, Needles and Pins tho. Thanks for the memory.----Wholly, ELP is definitely not travelling music. Your brother would have kept his player if you had some Commander Cody.
Posted by: JP at August 18, 2004 12:10 AMI think the best thing Clapton has done is enable the exposure of the blues artists he draws his inspiration from. A generation that would otherwise never hear the name 'Robert Johnson' now know about him because of "Me and Mister Johnson". Ditto for "Riding With the King". He kept alive interest in Muddy Waters and Bo Didley, largely by getting them to join him on stage.
Even if you don't like Clapton's music, he'll always have a place in blues history along with the Blues Brothers: he helped a generation of blues survive and thrive by reintroducing it to a new audience on the strength of his musical ambassadorship.
Even if you don't like Clapton's music, he'll always have a place in blues history along with the Blues Brothers
That just about says it all.
Posted by: Quaker in a Basement at August 18, 2004 12:21 PMOf course, I secretly love the Blues Brothers. After all, we're on a mission from God.
Posted by: rod at August 18, 2004 02:30 PMI agree with HWRNMNBSOL, 'cept for the Blues Bros. thing. I would substitute Muddy Waters.
And, what am I suppose to explain about 'I Shot The Sheriff', Norby? The fact that he covered a great song, by a legend in his own right? Or, the fact that Marley's version never would be heard on mainstream, American rock radio, but a white guy's version did?
And, what about 'Wonderful Tonight', QB? Except, that I sing a killer karaoke version of it.
Posted by: thatcoloredfella at August 18, 2004 10:14 PMI'd just like to say I'm the offical blogger for Peter Sinfield, the cat who wrote all your favorite ELP lyrics. http://songsouponsea.com
Now kiss the ring..
Posted by: Todd at August 21, 2004 05:54 PM