1984

Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. Later in the year, he wins eight Grammy awards (out of 12 nominations).


Upon hearing Prince’s “Darling Nikki” blaring out of her daughter’s bedroom, Tipper Gore forms the PMRC (Parents Music Resourece Center) in order to seek censorship of rock music based on the ideology that it is responsible for an increase in rape, teenage pregnancy and suicide. Among other actions, the PMRC creates what they call “The Filthy Fifteen”; the fifteen songs they find most offensive. The list is as follows:


# Artist Song title Lyrical content
1 Prince "Darling Nikki" Sex/Masturbation
2 Sheena Easton "Sugar Walls" Sex
3 Judas Priest "Eat Me Alive" Sex
4 Vanity "Strap on Robbie Baby" Sex
5 Mötley Crüe "Bastard" Violence
6 AC/DC "Let Me Put My Love into You" Sex
7 Twisted Sister "We're Not Gonna Take It" Violence
8 Madonna "Dress You Up" Sex
9 W.A.S.P. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" Sex/Language
10 Def Leppard "High 'n' Dry" Drug and Alcohol Use
11 Mercyful Fate "Into the Coven" Occult
12 Black Sabbath "Trashed" Drug and Alcohol Use
13 Mary Jane Girls "In My House" Sex
14 Venom "Possessed" Occult
15 Cyndi Lauper "She Bop" Sex/Masturbation


Canada’s music television channel Much Music debuts in August. The first video played is Rush’s “The Enemy Within”.


Eddie Van Halen provides music for the film, “The Wild Life”, an unofficial sequel to “Fast Times At Ridgmont High” that stars Sean Penn’s younger brother Chris.

Marvin Gaye dies from gunshot wounds sustained during a heated argument between he and his father.

In the wake of Tommy Shaw quitting Styx earlier in the year, Dennis DeYoung releases his first solo album, “Desert Moon” (#24), from which the title track would become a Top 10 single. Tommy Shaw’s solo album, “Girls With Guns” (#33) is also released that year, with the album’s title track peaking at #33 on the singles chart.

The Cars released “Heartbeat City”, which included the massive chart hits “Drive” (#3), “Hello Again” (#20), “Magic” (#12), and “You Might Think" (#4).

Duran Duran released the live album “Arena” (#4), which included the hit single “The Wild Boys” (#2). {Check out this version of “Is There Something I Should Know?” from the 1984 tour.]

Robert Fripp disbands King Crimson. [check out “Elephant Talk” from the Dispipline tour.]

The Cure release “The Top” in May, an almost buoyant follow-up to the darkness that was “Pornography”. [Check out “The Caterpillar (live ’84)”.]

Depeche Mode score their first Top 20 single with “People Are People” from the album “Some Great reward”.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour releases “About Face”, his second solo album, in March. It includes two songs co-written by Who guitarist Pete Townshend, as well as musical backing from Steve Winwood, and members of Toto and Deep Purple. [Check out this live version of “Out of The Blue”.]

Foreigner release the album “Agent Provocateur”, which includes the massive #1 hit single, “I Want To Know What Love Is”.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood reach #1 with the single “Relax”. The song carries the honor of being banned from BBC airplay. The ban extended to TV show Top Of The Pops who, instead of playing a snippet of the #1 song during each weeks’ show, only showed a still photo and played music from another group’s song during the five weeks the song was #1. As their second single “Two Tribes” begins its own chart climb, “Relax” falls to the lower reaches of the chart. The week that “Two Tribes” hits #1, “Relax” rebounds to the #2 position.

Former Clash guitarist Mick Jones forms Big Audio Dynamite.

Hall & Oates release the album “Big Bam Boom” and score what is most likely the final #1 single of their career with “Out Of Touch”.

Don Henley releases his second solo album, “Building the Perfect Beast”. It features the Top 10 singles “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” and “The Boys Of Summer”.


Two words: Purple Rain. Prince’s sixth album is also the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album contains two #1 singles, “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy”. The title track would hit #1, with “I Would Die 4 U” landing at #4. The album would sell over 13 million copies in the US alone.

In October, the Jesus & Mary Chain release their first single, “Upside Down”. It failed to chart, but the band’s shows, which were often only ten or twenty-minutes long, were well-publicized in the British press.


Madonna’s album “Like A Virgin” propels her to household name status thanks to glorious pop hooks and just enough sexuality to rile up conservative America. The title track becomes her first #1 single. Subsequent singles “Dress You Up”, “Angel” and “Material Girl” each hit the Top 5.

Cyndi Lauper, whose “She’s So Unusual” had been released the year before, continues her chart run with Top 10 singles “All Through The Night” (#5), “She Bop” (#3), and “Time After Time” (#1).

Talk Talk release the pivotal “It’s My Life” album, which goes Top 5 across much of Europe. The album’s title track was a moderate chart hit in the US and UK, later covered by No Doubt. [Check out “It’s My Life” from Talk Talk’s ’84 tour.]

In October, Tina Turner’s breakthrough comeback album, “Private Dancer”, is released. It contains the hit singles “Better be Good To Me” (#5), “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (#1), and the title track (which peaked at #7 and, astonishingly enough, was written by Dire Straits singer/guitarist Mark Knopfler).

The Replacements release the critically-lauded album “Let It Be” in October. The critical acclaim this album received would lead to the band’s major label deal with Sire Records. Peter Buck appears on the album, having originally been the band’s first choice to produce the album. [Check out “Answering Machine” from an ’89 gig.]

Journey singer Steve Perry releases his first solo album, “Street Talk”.

Billy Ocean releases the album “Suddenly”, which spawns the #1 hit single “Carribean Queen” as well as the Top 5 hit “Suddenly”.

Despite the drug-related deaths of two key members (James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon), Chrissie Hynde keeps the Pretenders alive and releases their third studio album, “Learning To Crawl”, in January. The album would go to #5 on the charts, thanks to widespread MTV and radio rotation of singles “Back On The Chain Gang” (#5) and “Middle of The Road” (#20).


The Minutemen release the seminal alt. rock album “Double Nickels On The Dime” on SST Records. The album's name, which I’ve always personally dug, was a response to Sammy Hagar’s cheesily-defiant single “I Can’t Drive 55” and refers to driving the newly-imposed lower federal speed limit on California’s Interstate 10 freeway, which the band travelled repeatedly between L.A. and their home of San Pedro.


The Band-Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” is released in December, featuring the likes of Phil Collins, Paul Young, Sting, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, Bananarama, U2, Spandau Ballet, Big Country, and Kool & The Gang(!). The song would go to #1 during its first week of release in the UK and Australia. However, in the US, where both airplay and sales are used to calculate chart position, it peaked at #13 despite outselling the #1 single by a four-to-one margin.

In December, Vince Neil is involved in an auto accident that claims the life of passenger Razzle (drummer for Hanoi Rocks).

Ratt storm “Out of The Cellar” with their first full-length album (and major label debut for Atlantic Records). The album would peak at #7 on the U.S. Album charts while the single “Round And Round” would get heavy MTV rotation and land at a respectable #12 position.


In June, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in The U.S.A.” is released. Aside from being one of the year’s most successful albums, featuring the Top 10 hits “Dancing In The Dark” (#2), “Cover Me” (#7), “I’m On Fire” (#6), “Glory Days” (#5),“I’m Goin’ Down” (#9), “My Hometown” (#6), and the title track (#9), it has the distinction of being the first compact disc manufactured in America for commercial release. It has gone on to sellf over 15 million albums in the U.S. alone.

That same month, Rick Allen of Def Leppard loses his arm in an auto accident.

R.E.M. release their second full-length album, “Reckoning”, in April.


Here are some rare cuts from the band's '84 tour:

Pale Blue Eyes
Second Guessing
Hyena
Letter Never Sent
Harborcoat
7 Chinese Bros.
Pretty Persuasion
So. Central Rain
Gardening At Night
9-9
Windout
Old Man Kensey
Sitting Still
Driver 8
Carnival Of sorts (Boxcars)
Radio Free Europe
Little America

The “Beverly Hills Cop” motion picture soundtrack goes to #1, driven by hit songs “New Attitude” (Patti LaBelle), “The Heat Is On” (Glenn Frey), “Neutron Dance” (Pointer Sisters) and, of course, “Axel F” (Harold Faltermeyer).

John Waite releases his second solo album, “No Brakes”, which briefly lands in the Top 10 and includes his first #1 hit single, “Missing You”.


The Smiths release their self-titled debut album in February. “Hatful Of Hollow”, a collection of BBC sessions and B-sides, is released in November in the UK, but the band’s U.S. label, Sire Records, chooses not to issue it stateside. [Check out “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” from their ’84 tour.]


Dwight Yoakam releases “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.” on the California indie label Oak Records. It was an EP, but later expanded to an LP and re-released two years later by Reprise Records. That version would go on to hit #1 on the country charts, driven by the hits “Guitars, Cadillacs” and “Honky Tonk Man”.

Slade’s “Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply” is an unexpected US Top 40 hit album and includes the Top 40 singles “Run Runaway” and “My Oh My”.


The Ramones release “Too Tough To Die”, their eighth studio album and first to feature new drummer Richie Ramone. [Check out this live version of “Chasing The Night”.]

Yanni “Optimystique, recorded in 1980, is released by Atlantic Records four years later. Little-known fact: John Tesh was once a member of Yanni’s live band.

desert island discs with phil solem

One of the coolest - and most undeservedly forgotten - records of the 80's is the Great Buildings' "Apart From The Crowd". As a kid, I spun that record so often that my Dad once asked me if it was the only record I owned. It wasn't, of course, but I'd been playing it almost non-stop for weeks.

Some ten years later, I was living in Chicago and began digging a song that WXRT had been playing called "Just The Way It Is Baby" by a duo called the Rembrandts. I bought the CD and, lo and behold, a glance at the credits revealed two names that were vaguely familiar to me...Danny Wilde and Phil Solem.

Holy crap, I remember thinking, those are the dudes from Great Buildings. It was like being reunited with long lost friends.

The duo have gone on to release a number of great records and are best known for the theme for a certain hit NBC show about a bunch of friends in New York City. They remain active to this day, playing numerous live gigs and whatnot. Phil also fronts a band called Thrush that allows him to flex a little more muscle, perhaps, than with the Rembrandts.

Check out Phil's MySpace page to hear what he's up to these days. Also, dig this video footage from recent Thrush session:


Phil took time out from his busy schedule to give us his list of Desert Island Discs...

Phil Solem's DESERT ISLAND DISCS


THE BEATLES - ANTHOLOGY
It's got everything to inspire me. 100 billion fans can't be wrong... they are the best ever. [Check out the original version of "I'm Looking Through You".]


GLEN CAMPBELL - THE LEGACY 1961 - 2002
The Man, the Voice, the Guitar. I learned most of what I know about music from this guy... and I was in the room when he said this box set would be released. A few months later, I had an autographed copy. all the Jimmy Webb-penned songs are my favorites. [Check out this live version of "Wichita Lineman".]


DAVID BOWIE - ZIGGY STARDUST
Definitely one of my all-time faves, this is his best, in my book. [Check out this live version of "Moonage Daydream" from the Ziggy Stardust tour.]


YES - FRAGILE
The best progressive rock by the best of them. Unbelievable musicality. [Check out this live acoustic version of "Roundabout".]


MUSE - BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS
I recently heard this and it definitely gives me hope that real music will once again be popular.

chicago

(my fave Chicago cover)

Growing up in Michigan, I remember having a sizeable disdain for all things related to Chicago. I liked the city enough, but didn't especially feel the need to root for the Bears or the Cubs merely because they were the sports teams within closest proximity to me. As for the band Chicago, they weren't even on my radar. To me, they were horn-blowin' softies who stood in stark contrast to the hard rock and new wave stuff I was listening to at the time.

Then I moved to Chicago to attend college. Of course, I didn't go to just any college, I went to the same one most of the guys in the band Chicago attended - DePaul University. Within days of unpacking my bags and settling in, I quickly discovered that anyone who does anything remotely musical at DePaul will no doubt be given plenty of background information on how that band came to be within the hallowed walls of the university's music department.

At the time, I could not have been more unimpressed.

Over the course of the next decade, though, those bastards snuck up on me. On a picture-perfect summer day in the early 90's, I found myself lying in the sun on the lawn of Grant Park in downtown Chicago when somebody's tinny-sounding portable CD player began playing "Saturday In The Park".

I began listening to the song and really digging it. Only then did it dawn on me that it was Saturday and that I was literally "in the park". At that moment, it became crystal clear just how effectively the band, and that particular song, encapsulated the whole experience of enjoying the subtle nuances of the big city on a sunny summer day. It was so goddamned perfect, I almost laughed out loud.


(wait, this one's kinda groovy)

It wasn't until I left Chicago some time later that I bought my first Chicago album, as I had come to long for certain aspects of the city and darn it if the band's music didn't take me right back to the Windy City anytime I felt a bit homesick.

Sure, the band themselves had beaten a hasty retreat from the city soon after inking their deal with Columbia Records in the late 60's, so it has always puzzled me how they'd managed to be so attached to - and embraced by - the city from which they take their name. By comparison, the guys in Styx still lived in town, yet their music failed to resonate quite so effectively as an essential part of the fabric of this great city.

Being a music nerd to the extent that I find myself caring all too much about liner notes and knowing who did what on each album, and how each respective album did in the U.S. and around the world, Chicago (the band) are of immense interest to me because their rise is, without question, unlike any other band.

First off, how many bands release a debut album that is, in fact, a double-album? The album generated moderate interest, but didn't set the charts on fire. Chicago II (also a double-album) was released the next year and apparently the rest of the world had caught up to what the band was doing because the band saw three singles - "25 Or 6 To 4", "Make Me Smile", and "Colour My World" - hit the Top 10.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. If you're like me, you've noticed the pattern that exists at the major label level where a band's current album is promoted, runs its course (however successful that course may be), and is then relegated to part of the band's back catalog when the next album is released.

In Chicago's case, after the success of Chicago II, Columbia went back and began promoting singles from the group's debut album to radio. The result was that, in 1971, Chicago scored two Top 10 hit singles ("Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" and "Beginnings") from an album released two years prior.


(doh, this one is cool too!)

Throughout the 70's, the band continued to push the envelope of what a band could do without sacrificing commercial viability. Chicago III, for all its political overtones and lack of material tailor-made for radio, was a Top 10 hit. The following box set "Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall" became the biggest selling box set of all time (until Springsteen came along with his live collection fifteen years later). The band could do no wrong, it seemed. It was Peter Cetera's subtle transition into one of the group's main songwriters that slowly changed the perception of the band in the public eye from that of an experimental rock group to one known mostly for ballads.

It would also lead to his departure from the band.

The collection of live tracks I bring you today celebrates a band that long defied categorization and, to this day, stands alone as one of the most uniquely talented bands ever.

Colour My World
25 or 6 To 4
Alive Again
Saturday In The Park
Wishing You Were Here
Anyway You Want
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
Feelin' Stronger Everyday
You Are On My Mind
Just You 'n' Me
Love Me Tomorrow
Make Me Smile
Mongonucleosis
Now That You've Gone

a white dude named reggie

(seriously, Liberace has nothing on this cat)

When I was a kid, full of innocence and wide-eyed wonder, I thought Elton John was the shit. I cannot remember my first introduction to his music. He was there before I was, I guess, and I just accepted him as part of the musical landscape, I surmise.

On summer weekends, my parentsd would often drag the family out to this ginormous flea market on the outskirts of Paw Paw, Michigan. Heck, who knew Paw Paw had outskirts? Anyway, as I was passing time perusing the junk the many merchants had to offer, I happened upon a bootleg Elton John 8-track tape. I pestered my mom until she gave me the requisite buck or two to acquire said tape and then, for the rest of the afternoon, bugged her and dad to wrap it up already so we could start the drive home. I wasn't so much anxious to leave, but our car had an 8-track player and I was anxious to rock out to some Elton.

And, boy, did I!

Heck, there was even a time when I was hanging out at a buddy's house. He went downstairs for whatever reason and there I was in his room with a few minutes to kill. I saw he had an Elton John "Island Girl" 45 so I put it on his stereo and was rockin' out when he came back and gave me the weirdest look.

"What are you doing listening to Elton?!" he asked incredulously.

"It'd your record", I responded, also incredulously.

Steadily, the tension within the room climbed, each of us balling our hand into a tight fist, ready for shit to break loose.


(seriously, where does one go to get glasses like that?)

Okay, actually there was no tension. We turned off the stero and ran outside to play whiffle ball and that was the end of that.

For some reason, though, I never forgot that brief Elton-related interaction and, only recently has it struck me as odd. I mean, it was his Elton John single. Was he ashamed to be "outed" as an Elton John fan?

Certainly, in subsequent years, Elton would lose a lot of his coolness (along with his hair, I might add). Those early Geffen years were pretty spotty. For every "Too Low For Zero" (which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues", for example) there was a "The Fox" or "Jump UP!" that made you wonder if Elton was finally running out of "hit juice". Of course, history has proven he had a lot left in the tank, but, he would never ever be considered as cool as he was around '75 or so, when he was releasing a new album every few months it seemed and putting on some of the most spectacular live shows ever.


(uh....)

Seriously, Elton had already amassed a sizable chunk of hits and released his first greatest hits collection in '74. In May '75, he released "Captain Fantastic", which hit #1 and contained the #1 hit singles "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "Philadelphia Freedom". A mere five months later, he issued "Rock Of The Westies", which also went straight to #1, as did the aforementioned single "Island Girl".

To celebrate the talent that was (and is) Elton John, I bring you a ten-pack of live tracks from those halcyon days when a guy could dress up like Liberace's louder brother without arousing the level of suspicion such antics would most certainly generate today.

First on the list..."Island Girl", of course! :)

Island Girl
Benny & The Jets
Candle In The Wind (the non-Diana version)
Ego
I Saw Her Standing There
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Rocket Man
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Sweet Painted Lady
Your Song

The Hump Day Five

Five songs about whatever you think they're about:

Ween-All My Love
When they first came out, I honestly thought Ween were a joke band. Okay, I still think they're a joke band, but, somewhere along the way, they also revealed themselves to be artists capable of some major genre-hopping. This is a band that can do anything, anytime, anywhere. This song proves it.

Pretenders-Message Of Love
Caught Pretenders on this VH1 show called Decades, or something like that. They performed songs with the likes of Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson from Garbage, and the guys from Kings Of Leon. Now, I've always thought that the Pretenders were one of the great bands of the 80's. That original line-up kicked some serious ass back in the day. When I saw Chrissie collaborating on a couple tunes with Kings of leon, though, their bored vibe completely clashed with Chrissie's enthusiasm. It was then I remembered why I dug the Pretenders and why I have yet to jump on the Kings of Leon bandwagon.

Marvin Gaye-Let's Get It On
This is a song that will always be the epitome of sensuality more than sexuality, no matter how many movies use it as background music for some fat guy having trouble getting his pants off in the bedroom as a hottie that he could only get in the movies waits for him to drop down on her like a ton of half-digested White Castle burgers.

Nine Inch Nails-Closer
Spiritually speaking, this song is the complete antithesis to "Let's Get It On". Trent, my man, this may work on Courtney Love, but...

Ray Charles-What'd I Say
A song for the morning after, if ever there was one. :P Ray brings it as only Ray can.

this music is garbage

There wasn't much from the alt-rock 90's that struck me as remotely interesting at the time. I guess it had a lot to do with me not really being in an "angsty" enough place myself to identify with Cobain, or Corgan, or Courtney Love, for that matter. It all sounded to me like a bunch of bored kids who were looking for a reason to go flying off the rails, inventing drama just to make like tolerable.

Still, one of the surprise success stories of the 90's was a band called Garbage. What set them apart from the get-go was that they were led by drummer/uber-producer Butch Vig and a couple longtime co-horts, Duke Erikson (who'd been playing with Vig in bands such as Spooner and Fire Town since the mid-70's) and Steve Marker (who was a longtime engineer at Vig's Smart Studios in Wisconsin).

He had chosen to step out of the shadows and cash in some of the hipster cred he'd acquired producing groundbreaking albums for the likes of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, all the while being savvy enough to know this rag-tag team of "old guys" were gonna need a front person to make it work.

My first knowledge of Vig and Erickson had come in 1985 when my band played a gig with their band Spooner in Chicago. Their sound was completely "heartland" rock with songs that didn't quite seem to hit the mark (the same could certainly be said of my songs, I freely admit). Erikson already had the look and demeanor of a guy who just wasn't cut out to be a front man, but who had this crazy drive to make it as a musician. A few years later, he and Vig had actually formed Fire Town and scored a deal with Atlantic. Neither of the two albums they released went anywhere and they soon found themselves right back where they started.


I can fully attest to the frustration one feels after pouring your heart and soul into something for what seems the whole of your adult life and having jack shit to show for it. The ability to keep on keeping on is either one of total delusion, or total genius. You never know which one, though, until its too late. You wake up one day and find yourself at the bottom of the world or near the top of the charts.

There's really no in-between.

Vig, of course had become a quite in-demand producer - practically a household name, if you will - thanks to a little album called "Nevermind". Still, he harbored ambitions as an artist that no amount of success as a producer would ever quell. Enter Shirley Manson, still gun-shy from the failed lift-off of two previous bands (Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie and Angelfish) but determined to not go down without a fight.

If not for Marker spotting her in a video shown on MTV in the wee hours of the morning, it's highly unlikely the group would have ever happened at all.

Despite a failed first audition, Shirley would get the gig and inject a strong, sublimely twisted persona into the band's multi-layered electronica-based rock tracks. The first album was an across-the-board succcess, not only in America, but across Europe as well. Version 2.0 proved that the first one was no fluke. Before long, they'd amassed a baker's dozen of tracks known and loved by millions of fans around the world.



With the release of their recent hits compilation, Absolute Garbage, though, it really dawned on me how much the band accomplished. Truth be told, it was fucking great to see guys who'd been banging around together for thirty years hit upon something that finally brought them a level of success that silenced the many naysayers they'd no doubt heard over the years.

If anything, their success stands as a shining reminder to never give up on your dreams.

I swear there's a rags-to-riches movie in there somewhere that would make "Rocky" seem anti-climactic by comparison. Alas, today I've chosen to showcase some quality live cuts from a band that is equal parts sophistication, innovation and, ahem, deviation.

Enjoy!

#1 Crush
Bad Boyfriend
I Think I'm Paranoid
Sex Is Not The Enemy
Androgyny
Bleed Like Me
I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
Run Baby Run
Stupid Girl
Cherry Lips
When I Grow Up
Happy Home
Wild Horses

oh crap...my side hurts

Thanks to my buddy Sweet Lou for sending me this YouTube link.

Anyone whose ever had a sibling or neighbor who fancied themselves quite the six-string shredder, making sweet heavy metal thunder that sounded more like a rhino tripping through a ukelele factory will take perverse pleasure in these parodies of famous metal guitarists shredding.

The maker of this particular video also spooks Eddie Van Halen, Metallica, and Steve Vai, among others. Not to be missed.

being ben gibbard

In this day and age, more and more, it seems the more of an asshole you are, the further ahead you'll get in life. Reality shows and the like seem to confirm you'll get absolutely no quality face-time unless you're a total dick 24/7. Crap on the floor, get your own show next season.

And just when I was starting to think all was lost (I get that way sometimes), I overheard two girls at a coffee shop talking about how they'd actually met one of their favorite musicians (I won't name any names but his first name was Butch and his last name was Walker) at an acoustic show he'd done recently and that he'd been a total dick to them.

He'd put on an intimate acoustic show at Hollywood's Hotel Cafe and, after the show, he flat out refused to have his picture taken with them. Mere seconds later, though, he was posing for pics with a woman they described as "a bottle-blonde bimbo with a spray-on tan and bolt-on boobies" (which I found hilarious).

I've dug some of Butch's work over the years and I've always hoped in my heart of hearts that he's a cool guy so it kinda bummed me out to hear this. I couldn't help but think that we all have bad days and am certainly gonna give Butch the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, there's a guy I've seen a gazillion times, in all sorts of settings, and he never fails to come across as the nicest guy on the planet. That guy is Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie, who recently completed a solo U.S. tour, during which I saw him be as gracious as you could ever hope for, even when I personally thought the crowds were a little too boisterous for an intimate acoustic set (okay, I get it, you guys know all the words to the songs, yippee) and some of the fans to be pushy as fuck. In every situation, Ben handled everything with a smooth aplomb that was part youthful exuberance and extreme patience. That dude deserves all the success he's achieved and then some.

Here's some live Ben tracks, including his cover of "Harvest Moon" (to again tie in neatly with the Neil Young tracks posted earlier today)...how's that for symmetry?

Enjoy!

Harvest Moon
Soul Meets Body
Title And Registration
We Looked Like Giants
All Apologies
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Nothing Better
Passenger Seat
Such Great Heights
Up The Junction

dandy warhols black album

There are but a handful of bands who have me at hello, if you catch my meaning. Dandy Warhols are one of those bands. For example, their last CD "Odditorium", left me completely cold, but if they were to put out a new song - say, as part of the soundtrack for, say, a movie starring Jessica Alba and Dane Cook, hint hint - I'd be one of the first people to slap my money down.

Heck, there was one day I was cruising the dollar bins and picked up promo copies of CD's by Surfing Brides and Dandy Warhols (it was their debut effort). Quite honestly, I thought both bands' names were whack, but I was in a spendin' mood. Gave 'em both a couple listens and added them both to the "probably never listen to again" pile.

A few years later, I'm bored and killing time at Tower Records. I check out the new Dandy Warhols CD, "Come Down", and - WHOA - I'm totally floored by how cool the album is and buy it on the spot. I had just moved to L.A. and, to this day, whenever I listen to the album, I am taken right back to cruising down the 101 on my way to my day job, driving a borrowed Trans Am and, of course, cranking "Come Down".

To me, "Good Morning" is the height of simplicity, building slowly, effortlessly towards a sublimely rocking climax as only head Warhol Courtney Taylor-Taylor can.


("something for everyone"...or, as I like to say "why having a girl in the band is f@#%in' cool)

I could go on and on about what I love and hate about this band, but the things I love about them vastly outweigh any demerits. This is a band that embodies rock & roll. They're my Stones and lord knows the Stones put out a few clunkers here and there. Who knows, the next record may just fuckin' blow me away.

Until that happens, I figure I'd pass on these ultra-cool tracks that are part of the band's indie-released Black Album, available only from their website. I hoppe you'll check these tunes out, then head on over and show the DW's some love by picking up a copy of the Black Album.

Boys
Good Morning
Minnesoter
Ohio (ties in nicely with my Neil Young post below, don't it?)
Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth (In Tony's Basement)

Bonus track: Bohemian Like You (live from Glastonbury)

neil young - no rust

Musically speaking, there is no greater American icon than Neil Young, which is really saying something because the dude be Canadian.

Ever noticed how the barroom comes to life anytime somebody plays a Tom Petty tune on the jukebox (especially "Mary Jane's Last Dance", go figure)? Well, multiply that times ten if there's a Neil Young song on the juke. The guy's been around forever, done things his own way from day one, and, in doing so, has come to symbolize all that is good about the part of America that isn't ruled by the very forces that corrupt.

I remember my first thoughts of Young being ones of bewilderment.

This was a guy who looked weird, sang weird, and, yet, was an icon of the California country-rock scene that included the Eagles, Jackson Browne, et al. By the time the 70's faded into nothingness, he'd led Buffalo Springfield, joined and quit CSNY, and achieved sizeable success as a solo artist with on-again, off-again backing band Crazy Horse.

He tried damn hard to commit career suicide in the 80's with a string of wildly different albums - futuristic rock on "Trans", rockabiily on "Everybody's Rockin'", and then country on "Old Ways". Along the way, his label Geffen Records sued him.

Six years and three albums later, Young released "Freedom", which included, among other songs, a barn-burning stomper called "Rockin' In The Free World" that established him with an entirely new audience.

Suddenly, everybody dug Neil Young again it seemed. Among his newfound fans were the members of Pearl Jam, who he would later collaborate with on 1995's "Mirror Ball."

While I admit that it was the harder side of Neil that first got my attention - via songs such as "Fuckin' Up" and the aforementioned "Rockin' In The Free World" - it seemed that at about the same time that I hit my thirties, I gained a new appreciation for the beauty of his more acoustic-based material. "Old Man", for example, is a song you just shouldn't be able to "get" until you've lived long and hard enough to see yourself in an old dude's eyes.

Having put out so many albums, in so many different styles, over the course of a 40-year-career, there's something for just about everyone to like Neil Young. I'm not gonna say there's something wrong with you if you don't dig him. Not to your face, anyway. :)

Here's a collection of my favorite Neil tracks, all live, mostly acoustic, and totally from the heart of one of the coolest guys to ever walk a stage.

Ohio
After The Gold Rush
The Needle And The Damage Done
Cinnamon Girl
Lotta Love
Comes A Time
Harvest Moon
Hey Hey, My My
Like A Hurricane
Long May You Run
No More
Old Man
Heart Of Gold

under hipgnosis

Since I was a wee lad, I've always been intrigued and amazed by many of the album covers coming out of the Hipgnosis studio. They, of course, are most recognized for their work with Pink Floyd - most notably the stark album artwork for "Dark Side Of The Moon". Dig deeper, though, and you'll quickly realize just how many legendary covers these guys have done over the past 30+ years.

Hipgnosis was founded by artists Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell in 1968 after being asked to design the artwork for Pink Floyd's album, "Saucerful of Secrets". 1973's "Dark Side of The Moon" put them on the map in a huge way, though.



Their approach was that the album cover should tell just as much a story as the music inside. By working on albums by 10cc, Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin and UFO, among others, they developed a reputation for artwork that pushed the boundaries of photography and manipulation - something that has been made that much easier in recent years thanks to Photoshop. These guys did it the old way, though, retouching, cropping and manipulating photographs by hand.


(Led Zep's "Houses Of The Holy")

(10cc's "Original Soundtrack")

(10cc's "How Dare You")

There are, of course, a plethora of lesser-known covers that are just as remarkable.


(Cochise [1970])

(Ashra "Correlations" [1978])

One of my personal favorites is Led Zeppelin's "In Through The Out Door", which, back when it was available on vinyl, was widely known as the Led Zep record that came in the brown paper bag. Underneath the paper, though, were one of six different cover variations of a man seated at a bar in some far-off hole-in-the-wall setting a letter aflame. Each cover shot showed the man from a different angle within the room. For those die-hard Zep fans wanting to collect all six, this task was made all but impossible by the fact that, alas, there was a brown paper bag obscuring the cover. Only later did such fans discover that there was a different catalog number on the album's spine for each unique cover.



If that weren't enough, the inner sleeve contained a black and white outline that, if wiped with a damp brush or towel, would reveal the same image in full color. That such effort and creativity (not to mention the expense) was put into cover art at one time makes me a bit sad that artwork has become almost an afterthought these days.

Sigh.

trivia jones: last week's question

Correct answer: "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes. The song hit #1 in late December, actually fell to #2 the first week of January (beaten out by KC & The Sunshine Band's "Please Don't Go"), then returned to #1 the following week.

1976

Three words: Frampton Comes Alive. Journeyman UK rocker Peter Frampton scores a ginormous hit with this live double-album, spending 10 weeks at #1 and becoming the best-selling album of 1976. It includes the smash hit singles “Baby, I Love Your Way”, “Do You Feel Like I Do?”, and “Show Me The Way”.

The Eagles release “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” in February and becomes the first album to be awarded the new RIAA Platinum certification, given for sales of one million copies. The band then releases the new studio album “Hotel California” in December. [Check out this live version of the album's title cut.]

Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels makes an on-air offer to pay the Beatles $3000 if they reform on his show. While certainly meant in jest, the show was seen by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, who were together at the time in New York. According to a Playboy interview with John Lennon, upon watching Lorne Michael’s on-air plea, the pair almost went to the show, but came to the conclusion that the show would be over before they arrived, plus they were both quite tired by that time.



In March, Kiss release “Destroyer”, which becomes the group’s best-selling studio album ever. They are also immortalized by placing their footprints in cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The band then releases another new studio album, “Rock & Roll Over”, in November. [Check out "Do You Love Me" from their '76 Destroyer tour.]


Jackson Browne’s wife commits suicide in March. This particularly dark period influences much of the material that comprises his new album, “The Pretender”, which is released in November.


“Fly Like An Eagle” becomes a hit album (#3) and single (#2) for the Steve Miller Band. Both the album and single also chart in the Top 20 on the Black charts as well.

In April, the Ramones release their self-titled debut album on Sire/ABC Records.

“Sara Smile” becomes the first Top 10 hit single for Hall & Oates. Later in the year, they score their first #1 single with “Rich Girl”, from the “Bigger Than Both of Us” album.

Graceland security escorts Bruce Springsteen off the grounds after the rocker scaled a security wall in an impromptu attempt to meet Elvis Presley.

Cheap Trick sign to Epic Records and begin work on their debut album with Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Starz, Knack, John Lennon, etc.). John Lennon had originally been the band’s first choice to produce. Lennon’s manager at the time thwarted the band’s request without presenting it to Lennon. When Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos worked with Lennon during the Double Fantasy sessions, Nielsen told Lennon that he’d been their first choice. Lennon responded, “I’d have done it.” [Check out their live version of “Magical Mystery Tour”.]


Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. form a new band in Dublin called “Feedback”, which is then changed to “The Hype”, and, finally, to “U2”. [Check out “Life On A Distant Planet”.]

Other bands who form this year include the Clash, Wire, Madness, Foreigner, Generation X, the Jam, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, the Damned, the Cure, and Black Flag.

Bands that broke up in 1976 include Deep Purple, Grand Funk Railroad, the Pretty Things, Argent, Soft Machine, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Ike & Tina Turner also split up and Roxy Music went on “official hiatus” until 1980.

Michael Bolotin releases “Every Day Of My Life”, the second and final album using his real name. The album is a commercial disappointment and leads to his dismissal from RCA Records. He later changes his name to Michael Bolton.


The Sex Pistols are signed to EMI Records. [Check out this nifty live version of "Anarchy In The UK".]

Genesis release “A Trick Of The Tail”, their first album since Peter Gabriel’s departure, marking Phil Collins’ debut as lead singer. While only a moderate success, sales of this album were twice that of previous Genesis albums, which was quite encouraging, as the band had been over $400,000 in debt by the time Gabriel left. [Check out “Entangled” from their ’76 tour.]

Blondie release their self-titled debut album in December. Check out these four live cuts from '76:
X Offender
Look Good In Blue
In The Flesh
Man Overboard


Boston’s debut album is released in June, going gold (for sales of over 500,000 copies) only two months later. To date, the album has sold over 19 million copies.

In November, with Robbie Robertson tired of touring and Richard Manuel recovering from a boating accident, The Band retire from live performance with a final concert on Thanksgiving Day in San Francisco. Director Martin Scorcese filmed the concert and would see theatrical release two years later as “The Last Waltz”, with accompanying three-record soundtrack album. [Check out “The Weight” from their final performance.]

KC & The Sunshine Band release their fourth album, “Part 3”, which includes the smash hit singles “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” (#1), “I’m Your Boogie Man” (#1) and “Keep It Comin’ Love” (#2).


ABBA’s “Arrival” is their first UK #1 album and US Top 20 album, establishing the band as worldwide hit-makers with such singles as “Dancing Queen” (the biggest hit of their career, “Knowing Me, Knowing You”, and “Money, Money, Money”.


Wings “At The Speed Of Sound” is released in conjunction with the band’s highly anticipated ‘76 U.S. tour and spends 7 weeks at #1, and includes the #1 singles “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In”.


Captain & Tennille score three massive pop hits from their second album “Song Of Joy”; “Muskrat Love” (#4), “Shop Around” (#4), and “Lonely Night (Angel Face)” (#3).

David Bowie reached #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with “Station To Station”. The single “Golden Years” was also a Top 10 hit. The album was recorded in L.A., a city he attributes to the cocaine addiction that hampered the subsequent U.S. tour, going so far as to say of LA, "The fucking place should be wiped off the face of the earth" (source: NME). [Check out this unusually zany version of “Changes” from the ’76 tour rehearsals.]

George Harrison loses the court case wherein his song, “My Sweet Lord” was determined to have been plagiarized from the Chiffons’ 1963 single, “He’s So Fine”. The Chiffons would later record their own version of “My Sweet Lord” to capitalize on the controversy. Subsequent court disputes over damages would drag on for many years, leading Harrison to eventually buy the publishing rights to “He’s So Fine”.


Blue Oyster Cult release “Agents Of Fortune” in May. It is most notable for featuring the band’s most popular song to date, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, which peaked at #12 on the singles charts, but has continued as a staple of AOR and classic rock radio formats.

Stevie Wonder’s “Songs In The Key of Life” is released in September and would go on to spend 14 weeks at #1 and sell over ten million copies. [Check out this live version of "Sir Duke/I Wish".]

wednesday weirdness

It has been a busy past week for me as I wrap up final mixes and mastering for my CD, a photo shoot, and cover art. But I did wanna drop a few live tunes I've been digging as of late. I'll be back tomorrow with a full essay on the year that was 1976!

Enjoy!


Ministry "Friend Of The Devil" - He's been screaming through walls of distorion for so long, I'd almost forgotten that Uncle Al could actually sing. Never thought I'd hear him do a Grateful Dead song, but hey...


Wings "Jet" - I'm ramping up to do a big Wings feature (perhaps as part of my "1976" essay. Are those some dreadful outfits, or what? They look like a wayward band of elementary school teachers.


David Bowie "Waiting For The Man" - I love how Bowie was such an innovator, but that he was also revered the likes of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, so much so that he went out of his way to work with them, knowing full well they had just as much (if not more) to gain from the alliance.


Led Zeppelin "Black Dog" - this song never fails to kick me in the ass. Bonham is just so freakin' missed, man. The guy could pound, but he never did it just to be ham-fisted. H ewas always doing what was inherently right for the song. Plus, this tune isn't about hobbits, near as I can tell.


Sisters Of Mercy "Suzanne" - I remember being so totally enamored by the first Sisters of Mercy record, much like I was by the first Jesus & Mary Chain record a year later. They evoked such mystery at the time. Sure, later albums deviated wildly from the original template, but "Suzanne" is a cool new track from a "band" that may or may not ever get around to putting out some new material.

Attack of the Desert Island Discs

Next week, I'll be running a string of "Desert Island Discs" lists from bands and artists I dig (and that you may already dig as well). This week, though, I figured it might be fun to get your Top 5 Desert Island Discs. I've always enjoyed such discussions in the past because, truly, there's nothing like finding out what someone's favorite music is and why. For me personally, its a great way to be turned on to music I was not all that familiar with initially.

The most recent example was Owen from The Elms listing a 2004 Mindy Smith album on his Top 5 Desert Island Discs. I had received a promo of the album that, quite honestly, I hadn't given the time of day. Seeing it on his last led me to dig it out and, one evening as my g/f and I drove home from a night out, I played it and we were both blown away. Thanks Owen.

To get the ball rolling, here's my Top 5 Desert Island Discs:


Wilco "Summerteeth" - Teedy has never written a better batch of songs and this was probably the first and last time that he and Jay Bennett were partners in the creative process. The blend of classic songwriting and angular, sometimes disjointed production touches makes this album continually listenable. "She's A Jar" is a great example of this, but also works just on its own, as demonstrated this Jeff Tweedy acoustic version.


Cheap Trick "self-titled" (1977) - Visceral, lacerating, dark, and, at the same time, a great pop record. "He's A Whore", from which the name of this blog is taken, had me rocking in my shoes before I even knew what a "whore" was. I remember playing that song loud one day and having my dad knock on the my bedroom door. Usually, the knock was his way of saying "turn it down", so I did. He then opened the door and asked, "Who is that?" He ended up becoming a big fan and Cheap Trick became one of the few things we could agree on.


Tourists "Luminous Basement" - Even Annie Lennox seems to have forgotten she was ever in the Tourists and this album has criminally out-of-print (although American Beat did release the band's previous album, "Reality Effect" this year) for decades. I continue to play the heck out of the lo-frills CD-R I burned from my vinyl copy of the album. "Week Days" and "Don't Say I Told You So" are sing-along 60's pop at its best while "Let's Take A Walk" is a tasty slab of UK R&B that always makes me envision the Tourists being in the movie "Blow Up" instead of the Yardbirds.


Ministry "Twitch" - At first listen to this album that came two years after Al Jourgenson's cheesy synth-pop debut "With Sympathy" (which does have two vgery strong tracks on it, I must say..."Revenge" and "Effigy"), I honestly thought something was wrong with my stereo. I kept listening, though, and fell in love with the harsh, jagged synths, distorted vocals, and audio samples used to create this dark, nihilistic musical landscape. Even more accessible fare like "Over The Shoulder" bristles with angst. To this day, I believe "Twitch" to be the blueprint for all industrial music that followed. To this day, Trent Reznor has yet to create anything half as menacing.


Nada Surf "The Weight Is The Gift" - If you'd have said that the very same band that gave the world the Weezer-esque semi-hit "Popular" would one day end up on my list of Desert Island Discs, I'd have laughed myself silly. This album would probably still make the list due to the fact that it includes "Always Love", but, thankfully, the entire album is jam-packed with songs that are esoteric without losing sight of the dynamics necessary to drive home the lyrical themes of burgeoning adulthood that fill this record with deep, almost singular observations that I still find refreshing.

Now it's your turn...you can let your fellow music fans know what five records you'd want with you on a deserted isle via the comments section or email them to me at darren at darrenrobbins dot com and I'll post them here on your behalf.

Thanks,
Darren

Thom Yorke, Clay Aiken...discuss

Separated at birth?

Thom got all the coolness, of course.

radiohead kid a ok

Last week, I wrote about REO Speedwagon's long hard road to success. This week, I wanted to discuss a band that has taken almost the opposite approach to an equally successful and rewarding career. That band is Radiohead.

Upon signing to EMI in the UK, the band was groomed as the next U2, which was not far from the sound they'd already carved out for themselves. It wasn't too hard to envision this band headlining arenas one day soon.

Their first single, "Creep", released prior to their debut album, was a disappointment, though. Their debut album, "Pablo Honey", led to the re-release of "Creep" as a single. Due to a heavy amount of press, and moderate airplay, the song landed at #7 on the UK Pop charts. Soon afterwards, the U.S. got in on the act. MTV and modern rock radio took to the single quite wholeheartedly. The band arrived for their first U.S. tour with "Creep" already a hit.


"I'm a creep/I'm a weirdo..."

The down-side of having such an identifiable hit single, however, is that it becomes all fans want to hear from you. That, of course, is exactly what happened as subsequent singles such as "Anyone Can Play Guitar" and "Pop Is Dead" were only moderately successful in the UK, but failed to chart at all in America.

Had the band painted themselves into a corner they couldn't get out of? Were they destined to be the British version of Marcy Playground ("Sex & Candy") by scoring a hit they could never get out from under?



Two years later, under immense pressure to top the success of "Creep", the band emerged with their second album, "The Bends". Despite two Top 20 UK singles in "High And Dry" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", the album floundered in the States. Capitol dropped the price of the album and slowly, with help from major publications citing the album as one of the year's bets, the album eventually sold more than 500,000 copies despite never getting any higher than #88 on the Top 200 Albums chart.

A two-and-a-half-year span separated "The Bends" from the group's third album, "OK Computer", which arrived quietly, but quickly made its presence known around the world. Never before, or since, has an album received such across-the-board critical acclaim. "OK Computer" stood out like a sore thumb on the musical landscape, defying comparison, and enjoying a slow build despite being a completely uncompromising concept album exploring all angles of human alienation.

It became a #1 hit album in the UK and, months after its release, peaked at #21 on the U.S. charts. Radio stations such as influential modern rock flagship KROQ began playing "Karma Police" long after the song had gone Top 10 in the UK. "OK Computer" was a huge critical success - the kind most other bands can only dream about - and eventually a platinum-seller on both sides of the pond.

In the process, Radiohead had completely shed the skin of "Creep" and transitioned into a level of stardom reserved for the likes of Pink Floyd, a band that also turned alienation into their main calling card.

The band's fourth album, "Kid A", which arrived two and a half years after "OK Computer", debuted at #1 in both the UK and in America despite being even more uncompromising than the previous album had been. Radiohead was now making their own rules and their huge worldwide fan base followed them every step of the way.

Subsequent albums "Amnesiac" and "Hail To The Thief" have achieved Top 5 success and the band continues to break new ground with each new release. They're one of only a few bands in the world regarded as more of an album band than a singles act.

Not bad for a band that was almost written off as a one-hit wonder.

I've put together an album of live versions of my favorite cuts from my two favorite Radiohead albums, "OK Computer" and "Kid A". I hope you enjoy it.

Airbag
Karma Police
Paranoid Android
Climbing Up The Walls
Everything In Its Right Place
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Exit Music
How To Disappear Completely
Motion Picture Soundtrack
The National Anthem
No Surprises
Idioteque
Morning Bell
In Limbo
Electioneering
Kid A

roll with the changes

Okay, I’m going to admit right off the back that I’m not a huge REO Speedwagon fan. At all. However, I will also admit to buying two REO Speedwagon albums in my life; “You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish” (based solely on the fact that the ten-year-old me really dug the title) and “Hi-INFidelity” because the teenage me thought the cover looked cool. :)

For many, REO Speedwagon are the epitome of cheese rock, but I've come truly admire them for achieving such success despite never really being the coolest band on the block.

In 2001, I scored tickets to see the Steve Augeri-led Journey in Las Vegas just after Journey’s “Arrival” CD had come out. Having realized I’d never seen a once-great band perform minus their original lead singer, I thought it would be interesting to see Journey forge on without Steve Perry. Plus it was at Mandalay Bay and any excuse to go to Vegas is good enough for me.

I mention this particular concert because the opening act that night was REO Speedwagon. Aside from a spiky blonde Kevin Cronin, this was a band that seemed frozen in time as they rolled out one classic radio hit after the other.



Let’s jump into the wayback machine, though, shall we?

Whether you like REO or not, theirs is one of the most unusual career arcs in rock & roll, harking back to a time when labels took a whole different approach than they do today.

After forming in the late 60’s the band was signed to Epic Records and released their self-title debut record in 1971. It sold maybe a dozen copies. That may sound like an exaggeration and, yes, I admit that it is and that I rounded up to a dozen.

Singer Terry Luttrell jumped ship to join Starcastle and Kevin Cronin was brought in as his replacement.

Undaunted by low sales and personnel changes, the label funded a second album, “R.E.O./T.W.O.” a year later. It sold even fewer copies than the first one had.

With the label still behind them, the band began work on a third album, but Cronin’s growing differences with Richrath led him to quit during the sessions. He was replaced by Mike Murphy and the band released two albums in 1974; “Riding The Storm Out” and “Lost In A Dream”. Both of these albums managed to hit the Top 200 Albums chart. “Riding The Storm Out”, for example, included the soaring title track that received moderate radio airplay throughout the Midwest.

“Lost In A Dream” actually managed to hit the Top 100, although I have no idea why. There’s not a single song from that album I’ve ever heard on the radio, or, come to think of it, have ever heard period. Murphy and the band then recorded the aptly-titled “This Time We Mean It” in ’75 and continued to build upon their regional success. The album peaked at #74 and included a cover of the Eagles’ “Out of Control”.



Then, as luck would have it, Cronin returned to the band in 1976 and they issued the album “R.E.O.”, which succeeded only in losing much of the ground they had made during Murphy’s tenure. The album crawled to a lowly chart position of #159. Still, the band’s label remained dedicated to the cause. In and around the band’s hometown of Champaign, IL, they were continually playing major venues to sold-out crowds. That alone must have kept the brass at Epic confident that, at some point, the rest of the country would catch on.



Of course, as far as recording budgets go, the least expensive album a band can record is a live album. Thus, the band released their first concert album “LIVE: You Get What You Play For” in 1977.

Aside from being inexpensive and quick to record, it achieved their highest chart position, #72. Within months of its release, the rejuvenated band was playing sold-out gigs and recording their next studio album, which would be released in 1978. That album would be the aforementioned “You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish”, which would include a little song called “Roll With The Changes” that would o on to receive sizeable album-rock radio airplay and become the band’s first charting single. Did I mention that the album would also make it to #29 and sell almost half a million copies?

Keep in mind this was their eighth album for the label.

Would the band have been given that much of a chance if signed to the Epic Records of today? Um, I'm going to have to go with a big fat "no" on that, Bob.

Unlike now, the 70’s were a time when major labels developed artists. Bands like Journey, Styx and Cheap Trick, for example, took a few albums to hit their commercial stride and had the support of people at their respective labels who believed that success would come in time.

But, seriously, I’ve never seen a situation like REO’s, where it took eight albums to finally hit paydirt.

Of course, the fine folks at Epic must have looked like geniuses when the band’s eleventh album, “Hi-INFidelity” hit #1 and scored the band’s first #1 single in “Keep On Loving You”.

To this day, REO has sold over 40 million records. Epic’s investment in the band during the lean years has obviously paid off and the fact that they released so many albums gives Epic a larger catalog to exploit, thereby continuing to sell copies of the band’s records to this day.

That fact is lost on the bean counters that dictate the direction of the industry these days and see no problem in cutting losses early. If a band’s first album doesn’t sell well enough, or create some reason for there to be interest in a second record, the band is dropped. All money invested in the band is then lost and the label starts from scratch with someone else.



In R.E.O.’s case, the first ten years of their career saw the recording of eleven albums and the development of a band – and a brand - that eventually became very popular.

By comparison, ten years of labels cutting their losses when a band’s album fails to meet expectations leaves them with no bands, no brands, and no back catalog.

The industry has forgotten that the only thing that kept them afloat through the latter part of the 80’s and into the 90’s, aside from the occasional hit album, was the fact that the introduction of a new format – in this case the compact disc – led millions to re-buy their music collections. Thus, back catalog sales thrived and the industry flourished.

The growing bean counter mentality, however, has failed to recognize this and they continue to rush to score immediate hits at the expense of artist development. The result is that there are fewer and fewer bands (from the 90’s, for example), with anything remotely approaching the sizable back catalogs of bands like R.E.O., Journey, or Styx, to name just a few.



Third Eye Blind, by comparison, came out with their first album in 1997 and sold six million copies. They have released only two albums of new material in the ten years since.

This “live for today” industry mindset has eaten away at the industry’s foundation, leaving only a hollow shell. Gold parachutes fly out of every window as executives continually fail upward by ignoring the obvious fact that this industry – and their paychecks – are funded by the continuing sales of albums that came out twenty and sometimes thirty years ago, back when labels took the time to develop bands (and, again, brands) over the course of several albums.

Unless they return to this sort of mindset, the major label system will implode upon itself. Until then, there are hundreds of worthy bands not getting the attention they deserve, held prisoner by a business that is in such steep decline that it sees quick hits and big opening weeks as the only answer. The industry sees no reason to take the slow road of “artist development, even to save itself. Unlike any other industry that reacts responsively to changing consumer patterns for its own preservation, the music industry would rather spend itself broke to get us to buy the new Fergie single, all the while copies of “Dark Side of The Moon” practically sell themselves.

Roll with the changes, indeed.

Keep On Lovin’ You
Ridin’ The Storm Out
Roll With The Changes
Take It On The Run
Keep The Fire Burnin’
NEW: I Needed To Fall

band out of time: 16 horsepower

A little more than ten years ago, I moved to Denver (long story) and begin looking for some local gigs. I had come to know a couple different booking agents while still living in Chicago and rang them up the moment I touched down in the Mile High city. I ask for a gig and he responds with his own question: "Wanna open up for Sixteen Horsepower?" The gig is two weeks away - just enough time for me to put a live band together and get a few rehearsals under our belt before the show.

That is probably the only reason I am aware of Sixteen Horsepower. Sure, they'd just been signed to A&M, but, unless you were looking, they were an easy band to miss.

If you were lucky enough to catch them live, though, holy crap.

I remember standing out front watching the band, not knowing what to expect, and having my ass handed to me on a stick. These guys created a completely singular sound, familiar yet entirely their own. The band was able to rock incredibly hard, yet leave plenty of room for subtle instrumental nuances and vocal inflections that showed immense originality.

It was like being shoved into a time machine that took you back in time and into the future at the same time. For the next hour, one song after the other came and went, leaving a permanent mark on my psyche. The next day, when trying to describe the band to a friend, all I could think of was the word "Appalachia".

This might not make sense to you, but, to me, they were like something you found when you got off the main road and took the backroads until it got dark, the hazy gleam of nearby oil lanterns providing the only light as you wander into the heart of a strange town where time seems to have stopped completely still.


The band eventually began doing away with the more obvious rock influences and began to favor more folk-based arrangements, albeit with David Eugene Edwards ever-emotive singing still very much driving the material.

The band went on to create a number of great albums, both for A&M and a few indie labels before cashing in their chips in 2006. Edwards and longtime 16HP member Pascal Humbert are now in the band Woven Hand, which isn't too hard of a stone's throw from what they were doing in 16 Horsepower.

Poor Mouth
For Heaven's Sake
American Wheeze
Flutter
Alone And Forsaken
Sinnerman
Blessed Persistence
Heart And Soul
Black Soul Choir/Phyllis Ann
Haw

1979

Editor's Note: I was just a kid at the time, but the thing I remember most about 1979 was staggering variety of music that had ventured into the mainstream. Disco was still riding the crest (although it was starting to fade by year's end), new wave was sweeping in from across the pond, arena rock acts such as Journey and Styx were just hitting their stride, and jazz-inflected singles from Billy Joel were enjoying huge multi-format radio success. In hindsight, and compared to today's musical landscape, it was a pretty exciting time.

The Knack release their first album, “Get The Knack” (produced by Mike Chapman), and see their debut single, “My Sharona” spend six weeks at #1.

Bands that split in 1979 include Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Runaways, Sly & The Family Stone, Flamin' Groovies and the prog-band UK.


WLUP disc jockey Steve Dahl’s Disco Demolition Night takes place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park between games of a doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. Dahl blows up a pile of disco records in centerfield and, in doing so, causes damage to the playing field. Thousands of fans storm the field, starting fires of their own and causing a min-riot leading to the cancellation of the second game.


In February, the Clash play their first U.S. concert date in Berkeley, CA. Opening the show is Bo Diddley. [Check out “Train In Vain” (live).]

In May, the Who perform their first concert after the death of original drummer Keith Moon. In December, eleven fans would be killed in a stampede for seating at the band's Cincinnati concert. [Check out the Who “Young Man Blues” (live) and Pete Townshend “Drowned”.]

Steely Dan’s Walter Becker discovers his girlfriend dead of a drug overdose in their New York apartment. Her family then files a $17 million wrongful death lawsuit against him that was eventually settled out-of-court in Becker’s favor.

Kiss release “Dynasty”, which goes Top 10 on the strength of the disco-tinged single “I Was Made For Loving You” (#11). [Check out “I Was Made For Loving You” (live, featuring Eric Carr).]

Dead Kennedys release their first single, "California Über Alles" in June.

Stevie Wonder’s “Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants” is the first notable pop album to be digitally recorded. Despite being mostly instrumental and featuring no actual hit singles, the album peaked at #4 on the Billboard Albums chart.


1979 Grammy for Album Of The Year: Billy Joel’s “52nd Street”.

After a near-fatal car accident the year before, Peter Frampton returns with the album "Where I Should Be”, which peaks at #19 and features the Top 20 single “I Can’t Stand It No More”.

Eric Clapton marries George Harrison’s ex-wife Patti Boyd in March.

After selling briskly as a Japanese import, Cheap Trick’s “At Budokan” is released stateside, selling over a million copies and featuring the Top 10 hit single, “I Want You To Want Me”. [Check out “Look Out” (live).]

Pat Benatar’s debut album, “In The Heat Of The Night” (produced by Mike Chapman), is released in September and hits the Top 20 on the strength of the Top 40 singles “Heartbreaker” and “we Live For Love”, as well as her cover of John Cougar’s “I Need A Lover”.

In October, Joe Perry quits Aerosmith to form the Joe Perry Project. [Check out “Bone To Bone” from one of his last shows before leaving the group.]


In October, the Police release their second album, “Regatta de Blanc”, which goes to #1 in the UK, as do the singles “Message In A Bottle” and “Walking On The Moon”. Despite the album peaking at #25 in the States, interest in the band is growing intensely.

In June, The Cars follow the platinum success of their debut album with the release of “Candy-O”, which peaks at #3 on the U.S. albums chart. Let’s Go” peaked at #14 on the Pop singles chart.

PiL release their second album, Metal Box, so named because of it’s unique packaging; a 16mm film canister that holds three 12” vinyl records.

Supertramp hit #1 with their sixth album, “Breakfast In America”, which includes the Top 10 singles “The Logical Song” and “Take The Long Way Home”. To date, the album has sold over 18 million copies worldwide. [Check out the title track (live).]

Rupert Holmes tops the Pop singles chart with “Escape (The Piña Colada Song”), making it the final #1 single of the 70’s.

Rod Stewart enjoyed four weeks at #1 on the singles chart with the disco-flavored “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”.

Ex-Wings and Small Faces guitarist Jimmy McCulloch dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 26.


Journey’s fifth album “Evolution” is their first effort to hit the Top 20, as is the single “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’”, which charted at #16.

In May, Donna Summer releases her third consecutive double-album, “Bad Girls”, and enjoys the largest commercial success of her career. The singles “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls” would spend a combined eight weeks at #1 on the Pop singles chart.

After hitting #1 earlier in the year with “Heart Of Glass” (from the “Parallel Lines” album), Blondie enjoy their second Top 20 album in a row with the release of “Eat To The Beat” (produced by Mike Chapman) in October. Having filmed a video for each song on the album, the group simultaneously releases the album on audio (vinyl/cassette/8-track) and video (VHS) formats.

Peaches & Herb spend four weeks at #1 with the hit single “Reunited”.

Barry Manilow releases his eight studio album, “One Voice”, scoring the final Top 10 album of his career…that is, until 2006’s chart-topping “The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties”.

In July, AC/DC release their sixth studio album “Highway To Hell”. It is their first Top 20 album in the U.S and includes the immensely popular title track, which, despite being a popular radio hit, fails to dent the Top 40 Pop singles chart. [Check out the title track with Bon Scott on vocals from Holland, 1979.]


The Eagles’ “final” studio album, “The Long Run”, is released in September. It includes three Top 10 hit singles; “Heartache Tonight”, “I Can’t Tell You Why”, and the title track and spends eight weeks at #1.

In May, David Bowie releases “Lodger”, the last of his “Berlin Trilogy” (three albums recorded in Berlin with Brian Eno). The album wasn’t recorded in Berlin though, but New York and Switzerland instead. Despite no obvious hit singles, the album hits the U.S. Top 20 while peaking at #4 in the UK.


In October, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers release their breakthrough album, “Damn The Torpedoes”, propelled by radio hits “Refugee”, “Don’t Do Me Like That”, “Here Comes My Girl” and “Even The Losers”. The album spends several weeks at #2 on the U.S. Albums chart, kept from the top spot by Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.

November sees the release of Adam & The Ants’ debut album, “Dirk Wears White Sox”, on UK indie label Do It Records). The Ants (comprised of future members of Bow Wow Wow) would eventually ditch Adam, leaving him to reform the band from scratch. [Check out “Cartrouble”.]


Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is released in December and peaks at #1, where it stayed for fifteen weeks. The double-album includes the band’s only #1 single, “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2”. [Check out “Hey You” from the band’s 80/81 “The Wall” tour.

In early ’79, Chic’s disco smash “Le Freak” spends four weeks at #1 on the Pop charts. They then return to the #1 spot later in the year with “Good Times” from the album "Risqué"

The Village People score their final Top 10 hit single with “In The Navy”, which lands at #3 on the U.S. charts.

Gary Numan scores a huge radio hit (and one of the first “new wave” pop hits) in the U.S. with “Cars” (#9), from the album “The Pleasure Principle”.

“Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang is the first hip-hop single to break the Top 40.

Michael Jackson releases his first solo album for Epic Records, “Off The Wall”, and jettisons into the mainstream with the #1 singles “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You”. Ironically, the album only made it to #3 on the Pop Albums chart.

white stripes cancel tour

A couple days ago, a press release cited that the last remaining White Stripes tour dates were being cancelled effective immediately due to drummer Meg White suffering from "acute anxiety".

Over at the Velvet Rope, where I hang out every so often, I voiced my opinion surrounding the fishiness of the press release, along with my feeling that "anxiety" is the new "exhaustion".

This was not a jab against those who may actually suffer from acute anxiety, as I believe very much in the seriousness of this condition. If, indeed, she is suffering from a debilitating mental condition, it was the right thing to do to abruptly end the tour.


However, if the use of the term "acute anxiety" was used as an excuse for something much less serious - say, for example, Meg just didn't feel like playing the shows or has allowed certain proclivities to affect her ability and/or desire to perform - then it is the fans who get the shaft not once, but twice.

First, we end up having a show we've been looking forward to for weeks and then we get lied to as to why the show was cancelled.

Not saying this is the case, but if it is, it's a damn shame because the White Stripes are truly one of the more engaging, energetic rock shows you'll ever see. This, of course, is coming from someone who isn't the hugest White Stripes fan in the world. Despite my opinion that Meg is a pretty damn simplistic drummer (not that this doesn't have its place) and that the amount of recording and touring she has done in the past decade has done little to further her talents, she just may be the best drummer for Jack's purpsoes.


Plus, she's got an awesome rack. Call me sexist, but that's a nice break from the usual bunch of sweat-stained carnival sideshow rejects you see littering most stages these days.

Going against my better judgment, I will choose to believe that Meg's condition is legit, with the understanding that if it isn't, I still get to say "told you so".

To Meg, I send my best wishes for finding the inner peace she needs to live a life of happiness. If this means walking away from the White Stripes, so be it.

Jack will find a way to bring the rock, I am 100% sure.

Without further delay, here's a live cut from earlier this year.

Black Math

trivia jones answer

Correct answer:


Tattoo You

It is widely known that more than a few tracks on this Stones album had begun life many years before and were dragged out of the vault so the band would have a new album out in time for their U.S. Tour. "Waiting On A Friend", for example, was first recorded in '72 and finished during the Tattoo You sessions. It is one of two tracks on the album ("Tops" being the second) that include Mick Taylor.

1991 part two

Oasis plays their first gig in August. A few months later, Noel quits his job as roadie for Inspiral Carpets to join the band alongside brother, Liam. [Check out this nifty acoustic version of “Live Forever”.]


Kiss drummer Eric Carr dies from leukemia in November.

“Wicked Game”, originally released in 1989, became a Top 10 hit in January after being used prominently (as an instrumental) in the David Lynch film “Wild At Heart”. An Atlanta DJ, enamored with the song’s use in the film, began playing the original album version. Other stations followed suit, giving the song a new lease on life.

After growing rumors that he was suffering from AIDS, Queen’s Freddie Mercury dies of complications from the disease in November. [Check out “Bohemian Rhapsody/Radio Ga-Ga” and “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions” from Live Aid.]

Rage Against The Machine forms in Los Angeles. [Check out this live version of "Autologic" from one of their first gigs.]

Big Audio Dynamite II, with only ex-Clash guitarist Mick Jones as a holdover from the original line-up, scores a Modern Rock #1 hit with the single “Rush” from the album “The Globe”.


Garth Brooks releases “Ropin’ The Wind”, which becomes the first album in history to debut at #1 on the country and pop charts in the U.S., going on to sell over nine million copies.


Pat Benatar releases “True Love”, a blues album featuring members of Roomful Of Blues. It is the last Top 40 album of her career.

The Smithereens released their sixth studio album, “Blow Up”. Despite scoring a Top 40 single with the song “Too Much Passion”, the album failed to dent the Top 100.

Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell organizes the first Lollapalooza festival, featuring main stage acts Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, and Fishbone. [Check out Jane’s Addiction performing “Been Caught Stealing”.]

Crowded House, now a foursome with the addition of Neil Finn’s brother Tim (also ex-Split Enz), release their fourth album, “Woodface”. While a huge UK hit, the album fared only moderately in the States despite featuring perennial fan favorites “Weather With You” and “Fall At Your Feet”.

U2 release “Achtung Baby” in November, scoring an immediate Top 10 hit with the song “Mysterious Ways”. The album would go on to outsell all previous U2 releases on the strength of subsequent hit singles “One”, “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?”. The album’s title was borrowed from a line in the Mel Brooks movie, “The Producers”.


Madonna’s “Truth or Dare” tour film – most notable for scenes that include her performing fellatio on an empty bottle and visibly losing interest in then-boyfriend Warren Beatty, is released to theatres in May.


Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark dies in January from a lethal mixture of prescription drugs and alcohol. [Check out "Run Riot" 1988 live soundcheck.]

As perhaps the first major casualty of the growing digital recording boom that gave birth to smaller project studios capable of creating album-quality results, the legendary Record Plant recording studio (most notable for being the studio in which the Eagles’ “Hotel California” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” were recorded) goes out of business.


Legendary new York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders dies in April under mysterious circumstances. While not the cause of death, an autopsy reportedly revealed Thunders to have been suffering from advanced leukemia.

Eric Clapton’s 4-year-old son Conor dies in a fall from the 53rd story of a New York apartment building in March. A devastated Clapton writes and records the song “Tears In Heaven” in tribute to Conor. The song would appear on the soundtrack for the movie “Rush”. Clapton would stop performing the song in 2004, citing that he was done grieving and had no further emotional attachment to the feelings that had inspired the song.


In October, the Pixies release their fourth (and final) studio album, “Trompe le Monde”. While a Top 10 hit in the UK, the album barely reaches the Top 100 in America. [Check out "Tame" - an amazing live version from '91.]

Van Halen enjoys a huge hit single with the song “Right Now”, which is propelled by a popular music video that gains heavy MTV rotation. The song is later used in ads to promote the colorless soda Crystal Pepsi.


Australia’s Divinyls reach #4 on the U.S. singles charts with the provocative “I Touch Myself”.

Color Me Badd hit #2 in the U.S. with the unprovocative “I Wanna Sex U Up”.

UK group On A Friday sign a six-album deal with EMI. At the label’s urging, the band changes their name to Radiohead (taken from a Talking Heads song).

birthday massacre

A few years ago, I was doing some random surfing and stumbled upon the Birthday Massacre website. I’d never heard of the band, but, upon streaming their video for “Blue” that they’d posted on their site, I immediately wrote a post on the Velvet Rope message board about the band that got a ton of responses and led quite a few people to check out the band and the video. The video was streamed so many times over the course of a couple days that they exceeded their bandwidth, causing the site to go off-line for a spell.

I know this because I received an email from their webmaster that I will now reprint in its entirety: “All the traffic site has crashed. Thanks.”

Anyhoo, a day or so later, I picked up the CD “Violet” and fell completely in love with the band’s songs. They were a distorted mix of goth, industrial, and guitar-heavy alternative that were made all the more intriguing by the fragile yet sinister female vocals that rode seamlessly atop each foreboding sonic landscape. Plus, they wore tons of make-up. Put simply, they’re Evanescence meets Garbage meets Marilyn Manson. Now, I really only like one of those bands (not telling which one), but in this configuration, such influences are completely tolerable.

This week, the band released their new CD, “Walking with Strangers” and it’s a stunner. Most noticeably, Chibi’s vocals are a major improvement over past efforts. She has completely come into her own this time out.

Rather than have me blather on, though, you can hear the entire CD streaming on the band’s MySpace page. Seriously, check it out and let me know what you think.

I’m also posting a couple live mp3’s for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Lovers End
Play Dead

the day after is forever

Unlike everyone who paid tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks yesterday, I wanted to pay tribute to those who died on a day that hasn’t been turned into a ratings bonanza for every two-bit TV or radio show. Whether it be September 12th or June 3rd, or December 25th for that matter, the horrific events should not be forgotten, or trivialized, by any of us.

What has become most upsetting is what the attacks revealed about human behavior. That many of us have been more upset about longer delays at the airport check-in counter than we were about a bunch of misguided extremists flying commuter planes that held hundreds of loved ones into buildings filled with thousands of people who went to work one day and just never came home.

I remember hearing a co-worker talk about a friend whose brother had died in the first tower that collapsed. The manner in which she spoke was of inclusion, as if these two degrees of separation somehow made her a part of it all. She wasn’t sad, though, she was practically bragging and I loathed her for it.

I don’t know anyone personally who died that day. I haven’t met anyone who lost a loved one to the events that took place on a Tuesday that started out like so many other beautiful September mornings in one of the greatest cities in the world. Still, I feel a very real connection to those who perished and immense anger towards those who chose to use thousands of innocent people as targets.

I'm also disappointed by how we responded as a country. Sure, it was refreshing to see how nice everybody was to each other for the next couple weeks afterwards – and to see the sale of American flags go through the roof - but where was our collective spine? Where was our determination to bring swift and unmistakable consequences to those who had been involved in the planning of this act of cowardice?

By year’s end, you could hardly tell anything had happened unless you were standing at Ground Zero. Or found yourself in line at the airport.

Heaven forbid we be inconvenienced.

Heaven forbid we forget.

Heaven forbid we just roll over and pretend that nothing happened just because it didn’t affect us personally.

My heart still goes out to each and every person who woke up that day, took a look at the beautiful blue sky, reveled in the sound of birds chirping, thought about calling in sick, but went into work anyway. They kissed their wife or husband goodbye, made sure the kids had lunch money, and headed out the door completely unaware of the complete fucking shit storm that was coming at them.

Imagine your worst day.

However bad it was, at least you got to come home at the end of it. You got to kiss your lover, hug your kids, pet your dog, or maybe you just flipped on the TV and watched Brady Bunch re-runs. If you hadn’t come home that day because someone you never knew - never even met - chose to end your life to further some fucked-up cause, you’d have every right to be pissed.

There are thousands of people whose worst day was not of their making and they paid the ultimate price without being given any choice at all. There are 2,973 people who never got to come home and that, my friends, is 2,973 too many.

This song is dedicated to every single one of them and to the loved ones left behind:

It's A Motherfucker

1991

R.E.M. release “Out Of Time” in March. The idiosyncratic mandolin-driven arrangement of “Losing My Religion” becomes a staple of MTV’s playlist over the spring and summer, helping propel the single to #4 on the pop charts. “Shiny Happy People”, easily the band’s most commercial attempt to date, peaks at #10 on the U.S. singles chart.

U2 release “Achtung Baby”, which includes the hit singles "Mysterious Ways", "One" and "Even Better Than The Real Thing".

Metallica’s self-titled sixth album, unofficially known as “The Black Album”, comes as a shock to longtime fans due to Bob Rock’s polished production. The album is a gigantic worldwide success, going #1 in over ten countries and unleashing the Top 20 U.S. single “Enter Sandman”.

Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”, from the Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack, spent 17 weeks at #1 on the U.S. Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. In hindsight, it seemed a lot longer than that.


The Replacements officially disband after playing their final gig on July 4th in Chicago. Here are some tracks from this, the band's last live show:

I Will Dare
Bent Out Of Shape
Achin' To Be
Merry Go Round
Happy Town
Swingin' Party
One Wink At A Time
Waitress In The Sky
When It Began
I'll Be You
Hey Good Lookin'
Another Girl, Another Planet
Within Your Reach


After jumping ship from EMI to sign a lucrative deal with Warner Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers release Blood Sugar Sex Magic, which features the hit single “Under The Bridge” (#2), as well as the popular modern rock radio tracks “Give It Away” and “Breaking The Girl”.

After spending the previous couple years enjoying success with Traveling Wilburys and as a solo artist, Tom Petty returns to working with the Heartbreakers. They release the Jeff Lynne-produced album “Into The Great Wide Open” and enjoy only moderate chart success with the single “Learning To Fly”, which peaked at # 28. [Bonus material: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance (live)”]

Smashing Pumpkins release their debut album, Gish, on Caroline Records. [Check out “Daydream” (live acoustic ’07)]

“More Than Words”, an acoustic ballad by the heavy metal band Extreme, lands at #1 on the U.S. charts. The follow-up single, “Hole-Hearted” would make the Top 5 later in the year.


Material Issue’s “International Pop Overthrow”, which is comprised of demos the band had recorded over an eighteen-month period, is released on Mercury Records.


Contemporary Christian artist Amy Grant enjoys platinum mainstream success with her album “Heart In Motion” (#10), which includes the #1 hit “Baby Baby” as well as “Every Heartbeat (#2), “That’s What Love Is For” (#7), “Good For Me” (#8), and “I Will Remember You” (#20).

Jesus Jones release their second album and score a worldwide hit with the single, “Right Here Right Now”.


The La’s peak at #49 on the U.S. singles charts with “There She Goes”.


MTV’s “120 Minutes” enjoys growing popularity by highlighting alternative bands from around the world. A typical playlist from May ’91 is as follows:

Candy - Iggy Pop
I Don't Know Why I Love You - House of Love
Fool's Gold - Stone Roses
Dig For Fire/Allison - Pixies
Iceblink Luck- Cocteau Twins
Head On - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Head Like a Hole - Nine Inch Nails
Way Down Now - World Party
I'm Free - Soup Dragons
Joey - Concrete Blonde
Never Enough - The Cure
Blue Sky Mine - Midnight Oil

The Only One I Know - Charlatans UK
Here's Where the Story Ends - the Sundays
Kool Thing - Sonic Youth
Nothing Compares 2U - Sinead O'Connor
Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy
Been Caught Stealin' - Jane's Addiction
Taste - Ride
Don't Fence Me in - David Byrne
Driver 8 - R.E.M.
Libertine - Buck Pets
When It Began - Replacements
XY&Z - Pop Will Eat Itself
Out There - Blake Babies

After being unceremoniously dropped by A&M Records, then unable to secure a label for his new studio album, Matthew Sweet signs with new label Zoo Records and released “Girlfriend” in October 1991. The album peaks at #100, but the title track enjoyed heavy MTV airplay and became a Top 5 Modern Rock radio hit. [Check out “Evangeline” (live)]

Swedish Duo Roxette continues their winning ways with their second hit album in the U.S., “Joyride”. The album’s title track hit #1 in ten countries (including the U.S.).

Pearl Jam release their debut album, “Ten”, on Epic Records on August 27, 1991. [Check out “Jeremy (live)”]


Geffen Records releases “Nevermind” by Nirvana on September 24, 1991. Here are some tracks from the band’s 1991 show at Chicago’s Metro:

Jesus Don’t Want Me For A Sunbeam
Aneurysm
School
Floyd The Barber
Drain You
Smells Like Teen Spirit
About A Girl
Breed
Polly
Sliver
Pennyroyal Tea

spoon

It was a sweaty summer and I found myself in Austin visiting an old friend who I'd had a huge falling out with when he was still living in Los Angeles. I'd dropped him an email admitting I was a fuck-shit and asked for his forgiveness. I said it'd be cool to get together. He said, yeah, it would be cool. Problem is he had since moved to Austin.

A bit longer of a drive than I had hoped for, but I was determined to mend this bridge. Thus, I hauled ass across a blisteringly hot southwest chunk of this great land of ours and landed on his doorstep one Friday night. Spontaneously, we ended up at a club where Spoon were performing and within two songs and/or two particularly strong drinks, my friend and I found ourselves completely transfixed by the band that was fucking bringing it.

To this day, whenever I hear songs such as "The Way We Get By", the images in my mind are of reconnecting with a friend I'd once taken for granted and making up for lost time. And realizing that every mile I'd driven to find myself in this crowded, sweaty bar was worth it.

We stumbled back to his place and spent the next couple hours relaying some of our greatest moments together to a couple patient souls who'd also stumbled home from a late night and partaken of the beers we had on hand.

It was an awesome night. The best part was when my friend held his beer up to mine and said, " I forgive you, man."

The next day, before starting my trip home. I went out and bought every Spoon CD I could get my hands on.

The Way We Get By
I Turn My Camera On
The Fitted Shirt
I Summon You
Beat And Dragon Adored
The Delicate Place

Feist Feist, Baby

You’re probably asking, Darren, how can you post some kick-ass Ramones tracks one day and some wonderfully ethereal Feist songs the next?

There actually is a connection between the two – which is all I need to showcase tracks by one of the most alarmingly beautiful singers on the planet, Leslie Feist.

First: the connection between Leslie and the Ramones.

When Leslie was first starting out, the band she was in won a Battle Of The Bands competition in Canada. First prize was the opportunity to open for, you guessed it, the Ramones.

Releasing her first solo album, Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down), in 1999 at the age of 23, Feist got her first taste of crucial acclaim. Strangely enough, with the success of her subsequent albums, her debut effort remains completely out-of-print and next to impossible to find. Checking eBay reveals one auction with a Buy it Now price of $500.
In 2000, she befriended Canadian electro-rocker Peaches and the duo became housemates before heading to Berlin for a two-year stint. She and longtime collaborator Gonzalez began working on the material that would become her second release, Let It Die.

That album achieved remarkable success in Canada (where it received multiple Juno nominations in 2005) and across Europe due mostly to Feist’s constant touring. Most artists on the indie level release a new album and then tour sparingly. By comparison, Feist toured non-stop for the next two years.

2006 saw the release of “Open Season”, a collection of demos and remixes that shined new light on many fan favorites, including a Postal Service remix of “Mushaboom” and “The Simple Story”, a duet with Jane Birkin (best known – to me at least – for her prominent role in the 60’s film “Blow Up!”).

I admit to being late to jump on the Feist bandwagon. Upon seeing her perform in L.A. last year, though, I quickly ran out and bought everything I could get my hands on. Her lack of pretense, and the childlike confidence with which she throws herself into every song is both intriguing and endearing. I’ve seen very few artists who connect so quickly and completely with their audience. When Feist hits the stage, the audience is already in her hands, it seems, and she plays them like an instrument that makes each show its own being, if you will, never to be duplicated.

Truth be told, it’s refreshing to have someone whose music is such a celebration, never taking itself so seriously as to seem preconceived or contrived, and being completely devoid of the tabloid drama that surrounds other artists.

Here are some totally kick-ass live cuts from this amazing talent:

When I was A Young Girl
Gatekeeper
Secret Heart
One Evening
Inside And Out
So Sorry
Major Label Debut
Fighting Away The Tears
Sea Lion Woman
Let It Die
1, 2, 3, 4

The Luckiest

This may seem weird to admit, but I'm a fuck up. I wrote a song called "I'm A Fuck Up" that pretty much summed that up, but, tonight, I stand dancing with my lady to a variety of different songs in the privacy of our own little apartment.

The one song that fucking floored both of us, though, was "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds.

The reason it resonates with me is because, even though I fucking despise the creep execs in the music industry who seem to fail upward all the time, here I am in a room with a woman I came to know by failing. Seriously, all of us fail upwards, really. Think about it...would you be with the wonderful person you're with today (assuming you are and that you think such of them) if both of you hadn't failed in previous relationships?

Years ago, 1993 to be exact, I was working in some shit-hole company in Chicago when the most beautiful girl I had ever seen walked in for an interview. I remember walking by the office in which she was interviewing and feeling my heart stop on a dime. There was no doubt in my mind she would get the job, of course, and a week or so later, she began her new position.

It was then that I noticed the ring on her finger. Having already decided that she was "the one", I didn't let a little thing like "a motherfucking ring" get in the way and, five days before she was scheduled to walk down the aisle, she and I stole away half-way across the country. It was wrong, it was spur of the moment, but it lasted ten years. Ten of the best and worst years of my life.

Being the guy I was, though, I dropped the ball a number of times and, ultimately, she let me go. I was devastated. I honestly felt that God, in whatever form he/she may occupy, had cut me a major break by bringing us together yet there I was unable to keep from messing up left and right.

And, thus, she finally washed her hands of me.

I was devastated. I felt as if I'd not only let her down but also let down the forces that brought us together in the most unlikely of ways.

And then I met her.

She was amazing and, quite honestly, if I'd succeeded with the previous girl, I'd have never known how great it felt to meet someone who was beautiful, yet fucked up in the same way that I was (which truly matters...weird as it may seem).

I've come to realize in the two years we've been together that all of my fuck-ups brought me here and that, crazy as it may seem, I failed upward in a huge way.

The two songs that connect with me most in this relationship are as follows:

Perfect Day
The Luckiest

ramones-rocket to heaven

It's kinda sad to see so many Ramones songs used in TV ads these days because whatever it says about modern culture, it isn't good. This was a band that, despite sticking around for 20+ years, never caught a single break. While they attained significant success overseas, they were never more than a club band in the U.S. and half the reason they broke up is because they saw no end in sight to their status as rock & roll's Rodney Dangerfield.

The minute Joey died, though, it seemed the tide started to turn. By the time of Johnny's passing, it was positively acceptable to use a Ramones song in a Knotts Berry Farm ad.

Meh, I could go on, but why bother. Instead, because I was just blasting Pleasant Dreams at top volume in my apartment, and it SOUNDED...AMAZING...

I'm posting live versions of all my favorite Ramones songs as part of a collection I call "Rocket To Heaven". Enjoy!

KKK Took My Baby Away
Rockaway Beach
Don't Come Close/She's The One/Go Mental
Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Rock & Roll High School
Surfin' Bird
Teenage Lobotomy
Judy Is A Punk
California Sun
Loudmouth

1981 - the year in music rundown

MTV is launched, providing 24-hour music programming. The first video aired is “Video Killed The Radio Star” by Buggles.

Kim Carnes’ releases her sixth solo album “Mistaken Identity”. The album hits #1 and spawns the single, “Bette Davis Eyes”, which spent nine weeks at #1.


The Clash play string of 17 shows at Bond’s, NY due to over-selling of shows by promoters.

Prince releases Controversy, which includes the controversial track “Jack U Off”. That same year he also writes, performs and produces the entirety of The Time’s self-titled debut album.



Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks released her debut solo effort, Bella Donna, which peaked at #1, launching the Top 5 singles “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and “Leather And Lace” (with Don Henley). “Edge Of Seventeen” peaked at #11.

AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, originally released in Australia in 1976 and featuring singer Bon Scott (who passed away 1980) is released in the U.S. in April ’81.


Innovative German synth group Kraftwerk release the concept album, “Computer World”, featuring the singles “Pocket Calculator” and “Computer Love”.

Van Halen release “Fair Warning”, the least commercially-successful release to feature singer David Lee Roth. That same year, Eddie Van Halen marries actress Valerie Bertinelli.

Former Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne releases his debut solo album in the U.S. in January ’81. [Check out "Crazy Train" (live with Randy Rhoads)]


Elvis Costello releases the album “Trust” in January, then records and releasea “Almost Blue”, a collection of country covers done in traditional country fashion. Initial pressings of the UK version of the album carried a sticker that read “WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offense to narrow minded listeners." [Check out “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” )Live 1981), and “Stranger In The House" with George Jones (Live 1981)]

After being reduced to a four-piece with the departures of Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood, Foreigner release their fourth album, “4”, in July ’81. The album goes on to hit #1 and “Urgent” goes to #1 on the pop singles chart.

Queen and David Bowie record “Under Pressure”, peaking at #29 on the U.S. Singles charts. [Check out Queen's 1986 live version and David Bowie's stellar 2006 version with co-lead vocals by Gail Ann Dorsey]


U2 make their U.S. television debut on the “Tomorrow With Tom Snyder” show. In October, they release their second album, “October”, in October. The album peaked at #104 on the U.S charts while hitting #11 in the UK.

After three albums, and having begun work on demos for a fourth, the Buzzcocks break up.

In September, Simon & Garfunkel reunite to perform a free concert in New York’s Central Park to over 500,000 fans.

James Taylor released “Dad Loves His Work” (the title a direct result of then-wife Carly Simon’s demands that he spend more time at home with her and their children). The album peaked at #10, spawning the single “Her Town Too, which peaked at #11.


L.A. all-female band, the Go-Go’s release their debut album, Beauty & The Beat, which went on to hit #1, where it stayed for six weeks. The album included the singles “Our Lips Are Sealed” (#20) and “We Got The Beat” (#2).

Paul McCartney disbands Wings.

Three years after the death of drummer Keith Moon,, The Who release “Face Dances” with new drummer Kenny Jones. The album peaks at #4 and includes the Top 20 single “You Better You Bet”.

Billy Squier releases his second solo album, “Don’t Say No”, which peaked at #5 and spawned the Top 20 hit single, “The Stroke”.

Squeeze release their fourth studio album, “East Side Story” and enjoy a Top 10 U.S. single with “Tempted”. Paul Carrack, who sang lead on the track, left the band soon after the album’s release.

Genesis drummer/vocalist Phil Collins releases his debut solo effort, Face Value. The album is a Top 10 hit and features the Top 20 singles “I Missed Again” and “In The Air Tonight”.


Duran Duran release their self-titled debut album, with the single for “Girls On Film” peaking at #5 in the UK. Little fanfare is paid to the album in the U.S. until it is re-released in 1983 after the success of the “Rio” album in 1982. [Check out “Planet Earth" (live 1981)]

The Police release “Ghost In The Machine”, which features one of the year’s best-selling singles, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (#3 US/#1 UK).


The Replacements release their first album, “Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The trash” on Minneapolis label Twin/Tone Records.


Olivia Newton-John, known primarily as a country artist in the U.S. (although not by purists who bristled at the fact that she was Australian), scores a massive worldwide hit with the album “Physical” and title track, which rocketed to #1, where it stayed for ten weeks. The follow-up single, “Make a Move on Me” was also a Top 5 hit.

Stars on 45, a medley comprised of Beatles songs, went to #1 in the US.

Journey releases the live album, “Captured” in February. With new keyboardist Jonathan Cain (ex-Babys), they then issue “Escape” less than six months later. The album goes to #1 and features the hit singles “Open Arms” (#2), “Who’s Crying Now” (#4), and “Don’t Stop Believing” (#9). [Check out “Stone In Love” (live 1981)]


(Did 16-year-old girls ever dream about a mustachioed Dennis DeYoung?)

Styx rode “Paradise Theater” album to #1 and enjoyed two Top hit singles “The Best Of Times” (#3) and “Too Much Time On My Hands” (#9).

Rick Springfield checked out of General Hospital to pursue a music career and landed at #1 with the single, “Jessie’s Girl”. The Sammy Hagar-penned “I’ve Done Everything For You” went to #8, helping propel the album “Working Class Dog” into the Top 10.

Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Singer Steve Walsh was not in Kansas anymore.

The Cars enjoy Top 10 success with their fourth album, “Shake It Up”. The title track is a huge hit, peaking at the #4 position on the Singles chart.


The Rolling Stones release Tattoo You, hitting #1 on the U.S. album charts, and begin a lengthy American tour that is the first major tour to carry a sponsor, in this case Jovan Musk. [Check out “Waiting On A Friend” (live 1981)]

Robert John “Mutt Lange emerges as one of the most successful rock producers, having turned the knobs for Foreigner’s :”4”, AC/DC’s “For Those about to Rock”, and Def Leppard’s “High & Dry”.

Harry Chapin died in July from injuries sustained in an auto accident.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark release their second album, “Architecture & Morality”, landing at #3 on the UK charts. The album includes the Top 5 UK hits “Joan Of Arc” and “Souvenir” and goes on to sell over three million copies.

springsteen circa '81

In 1975, music critic Jon Landau, having seen Springsteen's performance at the Harvard Square Theater, wrote the immortal words, "I saw rock and roll's future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen."


Some six years later, he would be Springsteen's manager and Springsteen himself would be enjoying the largest success of his career in the wake of the release of "The River" in 1980. The album gave Bruce his first official chart single, "Hungry Heart", a song written at the request of Joey Ramone, who had asked Bruce to write a song for the Ramones. Springsteen went home that night and wrote the song, but wisely chose to keep it for himself. The song was released as the first single from "The River" and climbed to #5 on the Billboard singles charts. The ensuing world tour would keep Springsteen and the E Street band on the road for a majority of 1981.


Here are some highlights from the '81 tour:

Hungry Heart (live from Hollywood Bowl)
The Promised Land (live, with Jackson Browne)
Who'll Stop The Rain (live in Europe)
Because The Night (live)

album spotlight: romantics-strictly personal (1981)

Detroit's Romantics had gone from local club faves to national up-and-comers with the release of their debut self-titled album and follow-up effort, "National Breakout"; both albums featuring the edgy power pop sound that had originally caught the attention of Bomp! Records in 1979.

While their debut featured the semi-hit "What I Like About You", "National Breakout" had been a commercial letdown. Even buoyed by such seminal Romantics favorites as "21 And Over", "A Night Like This" and "Take Me out Of The Rain", the album failed to live up to expectations.

For their third effort, the pressure was on to record a hit album. They enlisted producer Mike Stone, best known for producing hit albums by the likes of Journey and Queen. His production added a bombastic style ill-suited to the band and the end result was an album that could have been cool - there are actually some nice songs to be found here - if not for the completely over-the-top approach that intrudes upon the band's natural energy.

As a fan of the first two albums, I distinctly remember dropping the needle and then my jaw as the album's first song, "In The Nighttime", exploded out of my speakers. Whereas the sound on the first two albums was one of shit-hot band rocking for all their worth in a sweaty club packed to the rafters, the shotgun snare and reverb-drenched vocals on this and most of the other tracks on "Strictly Personal" made the band sound as if they're performing in an empty arena.

On tracks like "No One Like You" (sung by bassist Richie Cole, who would leave the band after the release of this album), one is hard-pressed to believe this is the same band that had given us "What I Like About You".

"Spend A Little Love On Me" may not have sounded out of place on "The Romantics", but, here, the Kinks-style vibe of the track gets lost in a production better suited for Rainbow or the Scorpions.

The album's highpoint, where the production doesn't intrude too heavily upon the band's live energy, is "Why'd You Leave Me", which has singer Wally Palmar pleading to an ex-lover. You can hear the desperation in his voice, which plays nicely against newest member Coz Canler's razor-sharp guitars.

If you've got the impression that I wasn't crazy about this album, don't get me wrong. In truth, I played the crap out of "Strictly Personal" as a kid even though it was drastically different from the Romantics I'd come to know and love for their raw, updated British Invasion sound.

"Don't You Put Me On Hold", which closes out the album, seems the complete by-product of the sound Stone was going for. Take away the cannon-fire drums, the layers of Marshall-driven guitars, and the echo-repeat chorus and there isn't much of a song left.

The album, of course, failed to take the world by storm and the band would wisely return to working with original producer Pete Solley, who'd turned the knobs on their first two albums. The resulting album, "In Heat", would bring them their biggest chart success in 1983 with the hits "Talking In Your Sleep" and "One In A Million".

Why Westerberg Rules

When I first heard Tom Petty sing the words “even the losers get lucky sometimes”, I couldn’t help feel that this was a guy who, no matter how rich and famous he got (for he was already both when he wrote the song), would always see himself as someone life has, to borrow his own term, “kicked around some”.

Then, of course, Paul Westerberg arrived out of nowhere, completely embodying the persona with songs sung from the perspective of a lovable ne’er-do-well, albeit one with a deliciously acerbic sense-of-humor and clever, yet heartbreaking honesty.

“Well, I laughed half the way to Tokyo , I dreamt I was Surfer Joe, what that means I don’t know.
A dream too tired to come true left a rebel without a clue and I’m searching for something to do.” – I’ll Be You

Petty obviously saw something in Westerberg that he liked. He would handpick the Replacements as his opening act for the Heartbreakers’ U.S. tour in 1989 and introduce Minneapolis ’ favorite sons to their largest concert audiences ever. Those who came to see Tom Petty showed little interest in the Minneapolis foursome and the “Mats did not exactly flourish in such an “arena rock” setting.

Was the tour a failure?

Depends on how you look at it and, in doing so, how you view the Replacements and Westerberg. From my viewpoint, the Replacements were a good band with enough talent to hint at greatness and, therefore, appeal to the critics. At the same time, Westerberg and Co. had just enough of a self-destructive streak to win the hearts of music fans like me who were tired of rock music polished to a high, formulaic sheen. How could we not fall in love with a band that had the capability of showing up on any given night and either blowing the roof off - or stinking up - the joint insanely refreshing?



The ‘Mats weren’t the only band in America – or even Minneapolis for that matter- that were playing it fast and loose, with a devil-may-care attitude. What ultimately set them apart from the rest were the songs. Around the time the band released their second full-length album, Hootenanny - which featured the gems Color Me Impressed and Within Your Reach - Westerberg was showing some rather unexpected maturity. Of course, then you’d see him onstage, drunk off his ass, and wonder how the two extremes could co-exist within the same body.

That, of course, was all part of the charm for me. See, I’ve always been the guy who was capable of sweeping a girl off her feet with sweet words and promises, then risk losing it all in a drunken display. The perverse thrill, of course, came when the girl in question, having seen both sides, chose to stick around. Likewise, fans of Westerberg have seen both sides and have decided to stick around. We don’t want to miss the next flash of brilliance.

“I’m the best thing that never happened, I’m the best thing you never had.” –Best Thing That Never Happened

The great thing is that Westerberg has carved out a lengthy career in an industry that has developed an insatiable appetite for destruction (obligatory GNR pun intended). Despite a lack of bona fide commercial success, there remains enough label interest to ensure that there is a worthy home for all present and future recordings and that our hero doesn’t find himself having to take a gig at Starbucks.



The other great thing is that he’s done so by not giving anything remotely resembling a shit about anything having to do with selling out or conforming to some record label’s ideals. He has always done what he wanted when he wanted, but not in that belligerent way you see others try to pull off (I’m looking at you Ryan Adams).

Instead, he’s always done so in almost apologetic fashion, with an endearing wink and a smile. The results, of course, have always been, and continue to be at least twice as interesting as anything with the name “Timberlake” on it (seriously, it sounds like a brand of hiking boots…with pink shoelaces and fake rhinestones that keep falling off, but I digress).

“I’ve been achin’ for a while now, friend, I’ve been achin’ hard for years.”-Achin’ To Be

Westerberg rules because he does what he does with no regard for fashion, little concern for the charts, but a strict devotion to that inner child that just wants to keep rocking, all the while allowing the grown man on the outside to express the doubts, worries and experiences of a life lived very much like the rest of us who don’t get called “winners” all that often.

Here's a handful of cuts from a 1981 Replacements show:

I Hate Music/Stuck In The Middle
Slow Down
Johnny's Gonna Die
Kids Don't Follow
Maybelline
Kick Your Door Down

And a couple Paul Westerberg solo live cuts:

Skyway
Unsatisfied

Desert Island Discs: Owen Thomas from The Elms

Anyone who was paying attention in 2006 surely caught wind of a great album by the Indiana-based band, The Elms. Based in John Cougar Mellencamp's hometown of Seymour, Indiana and brandishing a heartland-flavored mix of super-charged country and rock, the band released the stellar Chess Hotel on Universal South. David Bianco's production brought each song to life and then some, paying careful attention to the subtle nuances of songs such as "Come To Me" without sacrificing any of the band's live energy.

He's A Whore caught up with Owen during sessions for the band's anxiously-awaited new album and asked him for a list of his Top 5 Desert Island Discs (along with his comments about each):


-Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska" (1982): I know this is a typical pick among Boss fans, but the songs make me see cinema in my head.


-The Honeydogs, "Here's Luck" (2001): A truly wonderful album from a sadly overlooked Minneapolis band.


-Mindy Smith, "One Moment More" (2004): All new country female singers should have to take vocal courses taught by Mindy. She massages every tune perfectly, and channels heartbreak like nobody I've ever heard.


-The Rolling Stones, "Beggar's Banquet" (1968): I'm sure most people would choose "Exile On Main Street", but this is my favorite Stones record. I can't imagine not having "Salt Of The Earth" to listen to. It's the Stones at their most southern-fried.


-The Jayhawks, "Rainy Day Music" (2003): This is The Jayhawks most gentle record, and every song is gorgeous.

Here are a couple recent live tracks from The Elms. Enjoy!

Jammin' Me (Tom Petty cover)
Promises

the year is 1981: tom petty, cheap trick, the police

With the release of Bruce Springsteen's new single, "Radio Nowhere", which sounds to me like a tune straight out of 1981 (that's a good thing), I was suddenly filled with thoughts about the year in question. The 80's decade is perhaps best known for two things; new wave and hair metal, and, thus, perhaps the best year of the decade is so often overlooked in the process.

So, this week, as far as this blog is concerned, is 1981.









(click images to enlarge)

Tom Petty challenges his label, MCA, when they attempt to unveil their new higher pricing with the release of his new album, Hard Promises. The label eventually balks and the album is released at the lower price.
Stone article


Tom Petty video interview with Tom Snyder (1981)

Tom Petty-Kings Road (Live on Tom Snyder)
Tom Petty-A Woman In Love (Live On Tom Snyder)


1981 was the year Cheap Trick entered into a transitional period. Original bassist Tom Petersson had left the band - replaced by Pete Comita, a veteran of the Chicago rock scene - and the group's last album, All Shook Up, had failed to live up to expectations. Their appearance at Chicagofest (basically a hometown gig for the Rockford-based band) was televised and, thus, I (along with all my pals) was glued to the boob tube watching my heroes, including new bassist Comita, put on what has come to be regarded as one of their most legendary shows.


(click to enlarge)

Behind the scenes, though, the band was in a tug of war with their record label. They had recorded two songs for the wildly successful soundtrack to the Heavy Metal movie, and it was reported that the Elektra Records (home of the Cars and the label that had issued the Heavy Metal soundtrack) were eager to lure the band away from CBS.

Regardless, the band's Chicagofest performance was a portrait of a band at the top of their game.

Stop This Game
Hello There
I Want You To Want Me
On Top Of The World
Reach Out
Baby Loves To Rock
Gonna Raise Hell
Nielsen Guitar Solo
Dream Police
Ain't That A Shame
Surrender
Just Got Back
Day Tripper
Goodnight Now



The Police release their fourth studio album, “Ghost In The Machine”, which shows them breaking away from the formula they'd used to great success on their previous efforts. The album features one of the year’s best-selling singles, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (#3 US/#1 UK).

Here are four demos recorded by Sting prior to the sessions:

Don't You Believe Me
Spirits In The Material World
Don't You Look At Me
It's Never Too Late

trivia jones: answer to last week's question

Question: Which Album Came First?

a) George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" (release date: Nov 27, 1970)
b) John Lennon "Imagine" (release date: Sep 9, 1971)
c) Ringo Starr "Beaucoups Of Blues" (release date: Sep 25, 1970)
d) Paul McCartney "Ram" (release date: May 17, 1971)

Correct answer: Ringo Starr "Beaucoups of Blues"

Exclusive Interview: Slow Runner

If there was any good thing to come out of Tower Records going under last year, it was a chance for music geeks like myself to take a chance on CD’s by bands we may not have even heard of before. There’s nothing like a good 70% off sale to get me in a spending mood and, while Tower still couldn’t give away those stacks of Poison’s Greatest Hits at any price, I dropped four bucks on a band called Slow Runner and walked out into the Vegas heat. The album was called “No Disassemble” and, in addition to being the last CD I’d ever buy at Tower Records, it ended up being the best four bucks I’d spent in a long time.

For the next several weeks that followed, anyone who was lucky enough to be a passenger in my car was subjected to a heavy dose of “No Disassemble” and, if the fingernail-shaped indentations on the dashboard are any indication, Slow Runner is great music to play while fending off crazy-ass L.A. drivers (of which I am one). “No Disassemble” grabbed me with its literate, self-effacing lyrics and twisting musical arrangements that succeeded quite effortlessly in constructing an elaborate world all its own where days just seem fly by a little more slowly.

Moving forward a couple years, the band that recorded “No Disassemble” for J Records is now a member of the indie set (but not for long, I surmise). Their new CD, “Shiv!”, is the first of two albums that hope to showcase the band’s irreverently esoteric pop skills.

I had a chance to interview the band’s singer/songwriter Michael Flynn, who, with multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaler, makes up the band Slow Runner.

The first version of “No Disassemble” I bought has the name “Michael Flynn” on it. What’s up with that?

The problem with band names is that when the band breaks up, you kind of lose all the work you did building up your name brand. this had happened to me a few times, so we (Josh Kaler and myself) decided to start playing under my name so that no matter who we were playing with, I'd get to keep the name brand momentum going.

By the time we self-released "No Disassemble" and toured, we realized that it didn't make sense to do it that way, because when you see a name-name guy, you think “Michael Flynn = white singer/songwriter singing bland acoustic songs about girls = John Mayer wanna-be”, or something, and the music we were making was definitely more adventurous than that. Plus I never really enjoyed it being my name. I'm too introverted to be that guy. So we changed it before we re-released "No Disassemble".

For the music nerds, would you explain the progression of Slow Runner from birth to major label deal, to no major label deal?

I went to music school in Boston, met Josh Kaler and started playing with him, made some noise within school and left with a headhunter deal with this really nice producer who swore he could get me a record deal. we did lots of cheesy demos that didn't excite anybody, i was dejected and broke, so Kaler and I moved back to my native South Carolina to start a new band. We recorded a bunch of songs that felt like a rebellion against the previous demos and that became "No Disassemble." We put that out and toured regionally, started getting label interest, did a bunch of showcases, and signed a small deal with J Records. They re-released our record and got us some nice licensing spots, but otherwise shat the bed. We did a bunch of demos for the next record that were too weird for them, and they dropped us. So now we're self-releasing again and trying to figure out where we fit in in this new world where the new model for success for bands like us is still unclear.

With the songs taking on a more personal, harder edge, has the dynamic within Slow Runner changed at all from “No Disassemble” to “Shiv!”?

Well, "Shiv!" is actually just the first of two discs we're releasing (the 2nd should come out around January). We kind of divided up all of these songs into the loud stuff and the quiet stuff. "Shiv!" is the loud one, but, really, it's the same dynamic as on "No Disassemble" where the rockers and ballads coexist. By making two records we were able to go farther in both directions, so "Shiv!" rocks harder than anything we've ever done and record #2 is way more singer-songwriter-y. Both are chock-full of songs about my life, songs about relationships, and songs about the music business disguised as songs about relationships. it's definitely more personal and I think a little more emotionally brave than the older stuff. I'm less insecure about what I'm saying and whether it's cool or not.

What are your current Top 5 Desert Island Discs?

difficult to narrow it down cause it changes every day, so here are 6 just to spite you:

Badly Drawn Boy "Hour of Bewilderbeast"
The Notwist, "Neon Golden"
Joseph Arthur "come to where i'm from"
Beatles "Revolver"
Ray Charles & Betty Carter, "Dedicated to You"
Jellyfish, "Spilt Milk"

What (or who) was the inspiration for your head-first dive into the shark-infested waters of rockerdom and what inspires you today to keep on keeping on?

I was sort of coerced into playing music by my lack of skill at anything else. Every job I've ever had, I'm like Hong Kong Phooey in mild-mannered janitor mode. I'm an oaf. Songwriting is the only thing I've ever done with any semblance of grace.

In a recent Slow Runner promo pic, you were wearing sandals. Was that a conscious decision meant to challenge current societal stereotypes akin to Bowie shaving his eyebrows back in the day, the by-product of an exclusive endorsement deal with Timberland footwear, or is that just how you roll?

First of all, they're flip flops, not sandals, Darren. That's an important distinction. guys who wear sandals cry a lot and eat a healthy diet. Guys who wear flip flops don't give a fuck about their feet because they have better shit to concern themselves with. Kenny Loggins probably has a walk-in closet full of sandals. Pete Doherty has one pair of flip flops that he keeps taking off at parties and losing (Loggins is infinitely more talented than Doherty, of course, but that's irrelevant for the purposes of this comparison). If you live in a hot beach town like Charleston, flip flops are a necessity. On the particular day those pictures were taken, I was told my feet wouldn't be in the picture, so I kept my default footwear on because, yes, that's how I roll. So I wasn't trying to make a statement, but if I did it would be this: flip flops make the world a better place. If Israeli and Palestinian leaders met poolside wearing flip flops, how could they not work shit out? Flip flops are so informal that they suck all the pressure and bullshit right out of the room. Sandals can't do that. They've been wearing sandals for thousands of years and look where it's gotten us. That's why your generalization of all open-toed footwear as sandals is mildly offensive. I await your apology.


(the picture -and flip-flops - in question. Michael Flynn center, Josh Kaler far right)

Sorry, my bad. I do appreciate the clarification, though. So, is Slow Runner an "album band" in that each album is constructed in such a way as to be heard and enjoyed best in its entirety, or is it just about writing good songs and you'll know you have an album when you have enough good songs?

I'd like to think we're an album band, but to me that's something that either happens on it's own after all the songs are written and you stand back and say 'hey, these are kind of connected', or you try to make a more cohesive statement through song selection and track order. But, really, for us if that happens it's a happy accident. I write postcards, I don't write novels. I'm not thinking of other songs when I'm writing a new song. I admire the Radioheads of the world, just like I admire novelists, but ultimately I'm just a song guy, and I can't pretend that the way we choose songs to be presented as a group was ever part of a master plan.

So, what’s next for Slow Runner?

Touring for "Shiv!", finishing the next record, clinging to the frayed edges of the music business, continuing my community outreach work with dangerous zoo animals, pushing gateway drugs on little kids to bolster my street-cred resume, doing my sudoku, avoiding detection by ubiquitous government satellites, and trying to be a little more 'Darren' (Ed: aw shucks…I think) in all aspects of life.

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I’m happy to showcase a couple tracks from the new CD. Check them out and, if you dig what you hear, buy “Shiv!”.

Long Division
Usual Chords

the knack at carnegie hall

From the moment I heard Bruce Gary's infectious drum beat on the intro to "My Sharona", I was hooked. I had never heard of this band, The Knack. Then, of course, they were everywhere. "Good Girls Don't" was the follow-up hit that proved once and for all this was no one-hit wonder. They were a two-hit wonder!

"...but the little girls understand" came only months later and it seemed to sound so much like "Get The Knack, Part 2" to me that I was not at all surprised the tracks had been recorded during the same sessions and that the band had initially hoped to release "Get The Knack" as a double-album.

My favorite Knack record, without a doubt, is "Round Trip". Oddly enough, it is the album that got the band dropped by Capitol Records for being a complete commercial failure.

If "Get The Knack" was their "Meet The Beatles, "Round Trip" was The Knack's "Revolver". With songs like "Art War", "Africa", and "We Are Waiting", they fused psychedelia with jazz chops and, while there were the obligatory standard pop songs ("Radiating Love" and "Soul Kissin', for example), this experimental approach completely alienated the fans.

The band later broke up, Fieger having become addicted to heroin(!). They would reform repeatedly, as Fieger and Gary made half-hearted attempts to work around their differences. It was not to be, though.

Bruce Gary, of course, passed away last year, making any further full reunions impossible.

The good news, of course, is that The Knack are still very much alive, gigging consistently in the wake of Fieger's recent recovery from cancer.

The band's 1979 Carnegie Hall appearance was perhaps the pinnacle of Knack-mania, if you will. Here are some tracks from that performance.

Enjoy!

Let Me Out
Your Number Or Your Name
Oh Tara
The Hard Way
It's You
Frustrated
Heartbeat
End Of The Game
Hold On Tight And Don't Let Go
Good Girls Don't
She's So Selfish
My Sharona

Amy Winehouse BBC Sessions

One of the most dramatic success stories of 2007 is Amy Winehouse, who first captivated us with her stunningly retro hit, "Rehab", then flew off the rails in a haze of drug and self-abuse. As the UK tabloids detail a life in quick decline, one can only hope that this immensely talented individual will eventually win out over the demons that seek to thwart her rise to greatness. Whether you dig her music, or not, I am hopeful that your prayers will be with her and that we are able to hear more from this potentially legendary artist.

I, too, entered a period where success sought to bring out every insecurity I had in myself. Every time you're told you aren't good enough, every time the kids in school make fun of you, every time your parents criticize you, will be magnified ten-fold the closer you get to realizing your dream. Alcohol brought me out of my shell when video shoots, photo shoots, and press interviews required that I be something other than the introverted person that I was 97% of the time. That was as far as it went, though. No hard stuff. I can only imagine that if I had been exposed to the things Amy has been exposed to, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this blog. Sad to say, really.

Even sadder is the idea that Amy might not pull out of this tailspin and that she might be so devoid of self-respect that she allows herself to succumb to the voices that tell her she isn't good enough. She IS good enough, goddammit. It's a fuckin' sad-ass world if she's unable to allow herself to believe that when it matters most.

My thoughts and prayers are with this crazy, lost, mixed-up girl who's no different than the rest of us when it comes to feeling like shit sometimes. She's got that special something, though...something that you can't necessarily describe...and I hope she sticks around.

Enjoy the tracks!

Addicted
Back To Black
He Can Only Hold Her
I Heard Love Is Blind
Just Friends
Know You Now
Me And Mr. Jones
Rehab
Take The Box
Tears Dry On Their Own
You Know I'm No Good

"I'm Prince, by the way."

What would I be if I didn't share my one and only Prince story? Well, here goes:

I spent a couple weeks cutting basic tracks at Paisley Park back in '92. At the time, I was too much a post-punk/pop nerd to appreciate Prince so my producer's idea to cut tracks at Prince's state-of-the-art facility in the middle of freakin' Nowhere, Minnesota (in MARCH!) was nowhere near as glamorous as the idea of recording in, say, Los Angeles!

So, begrudgingly, I agreed, but subconsciously dragged my feet. I distinctly remember waiting until the last minute to book a flight and ended up paying top dollar. Sure, it was on the company dime, but I was smart enough then to know all the expenses, advances, per diems, and recording costs eventually come out of my pocket.

So, I arrive in Minneapolis and take a limo to what then was a very remote suburb of Minneapolis. It has since been heavily developed and is considered an upscale community these days. My first impression of the facility was that it looked like the building you'd see in a movie that would house some top-secret weapons facility, but try to appear harmless and ordinary from the outside. The walls were a pristine white.

Upon walking inside, though...


(Paisley Park's main lobby)

"Holy..." I whispered with my jaw dragging the floor.

We had been scheduled for Studio B, but were moved to Studio A (which was HUGE) because a certain someone had decided he wanted to come in and record some new tracks.

The first three days we were there, though, Studio B remained empty. I didn't care, though, because, as I said, Studio A was HUGE and, since we were going for big, football-field sized drum sounds, the bigger the better!

The cool thing about the facility is that you could walk all over the place, feeling as if you've walked for miles, and still never feel as if you've seen everything. The interior design is so intricate in places that it can take you a good long time to drink it all in. The other cool thing is that, since it IS its own little world, you have no idea what time it is. Pulling a 12, 14 or even 17-hour day was not outside the norm. Plus, being in a state-of-the-art recording studio is like locking a kid in a candy store for me. I tend to lose myself in the fun of it all and, before you know it, ten hours have gone by. Sometimes we started at ten in the morning, but, if we'd pulled a long session the night before, we might start at 3PM the next day and go for another 10-12 hours.

The reason I mention this is because while we were recording drum tracks (at 3AM, I later realized), the Purple One walked into Studio A's control room and stood behind my producer and engineer, just listening, not saying a word. As was common for me upon finishing a new take of a drum track, I got up from my kit and walked into the control room to listen back to the track. Upon entering the room, I noticed another person in the room - not altogether uncommon. Thus, I only gave him half a look as I plopped down on a nearby couch to listen to the playback. Then, boom, it hit me: Um, that's Prince.

It gets better.

After staying and listening to the playback, tapping his fancy boots in time to the drum track, he turns to me. "I'm Prince, by the way," he says, extending his hand. "So you wanna play drums on a couple tracks for me?"

I nodded as nonchalantly as I could, trying to act is if this kind of thing happens to me all the time.

I honestly don't remember him saying anything else. Next thing I know, he's gone and my producer and engineer are right back in "business" mode. I guess this kind of thing wasn't anything out of the ordinary to them. I wanted to call everybody I knew and tell them about what had just happened. The more I thought about it, the more my mind explored the possibilities. Maybe Prince would be so blown away that he'd offer me the drum gig in his band.

A couple days later, I show up and my engineer says "Oh, they need you over at Studio B". Okay, cool. Gotta go jam with Prince, ya'll.


(Studio B's control room)

I walk in and see a face I don't recognize. It's just a tape-op guy whose name I forget the minute he tells me. Where's Prince, man?

So, for the next couple hours, I play one of the nicest DW kits I've ever seen as the tape-op guy hits me with one song after the other. After the first track, I ask to take another stab at it, having only heard it the one time. "No, you got it," he says as I hear the whir of the tape machine fast-forwarding to the next track in my headphones. I do much the same thing for five or six songs, one take and onto the next one. Some of the tracks are nothing but guitars, bass and a click track, some with incomplete or gibberish vocals, and others are darn close to completed tracks, loaded with horns, female backing vocals, the whole nine yards.

"Alright, that's it. Thanks!"

Wow, it's over. I feel the air-conditioning come on and the cool air reminds me I'm sweating profusely.

To this day, I have no idea what I played on, whether I'm credited on anything (although my hunch has always been that if I get credited on a Prince album, I'll know).