artists only

Doesn't anyone wanna be different, anymore?

With the ability to record an album in your bedroom (which I could never do because then where would I sleep?) and build your own MySpace band page with which to spam the world, it seems there are more bands than ever, yet fewer than ever with anything remotely original or interesting to say.

With everyone trying to grab their own fifteen minutes, artistry has given way to opportunism wherein anyone who takes a steaming crap on a delusional rap star’s floor is rewarded with their own reality show.


Meanwhile, rock bands have completely lost the plot. mistaking anger for passion and O-faces only a mother could love while slamming the shit out of your five-string wood-grain Peavey bass for intensity.

I caught a band a few nights ago (at a club next door to the sushi restaurant where I deposit a majority of each paycheck) that were about as committed to the cause of rock & roll as you can be while wearing pants around their ankles (them chain wallets must be heavy), black nail polish, and guitar straps made to look like bright yellow police barricade tape. They looked like the cheesiest Guitar Center ad you could possibly imagine come-to-life.

I know, I know, there’s obviously an audience for that kinda music, otherwise there wouldn’t have been anyone there watching them, right?

Wrong.

The half-empty room was littered with co-workers, family members, girlfriends, boyfriends(!), members of other bands playing that night, their co-workers, family members, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. It's a safe bet that I was the only one there who didn't have a direct personal connection to one of the bands.

That didn’t stop the singer, though, who fancied himself quite the nu-metal Bono from launching into a spittle-filled tirade where he alternately bragged that every record label in town wanted to sign them (I had no idea Canoga Park was such a record industry hotbed), then railed against said labels for trying to force the band into being something that they weren’t. He then dedicated the next song to “all the record company weasels in the audience tonight” before the band lurched into another riff-laden workout that was called either “Leashes” or “Leeches”. Frankly, either one would have worked, I guess.


I surveyed the smattering of bored onlookers, hoping to spot someone who might pass for a record company weasel, but found no takers. I did notice a lot of people with that same “please kill me” look in their eyes that I get whenever I’m forced to attend the wedding of one of my girlfriend’s co-worker’s brother’s ex-business partner’s cousin. Or my own wedding, for that matter (but don’t tell my girlfriend I said that, okay?).

The idea of some kid sitting in his room, trying to put his most heartfelt feelings into words and writing songs that he hopes might give somebody somewhere the strength to carry on, but that if he sings in a voice that sounds like Cookie Monster in a fit of ‘roid rage, that would be ...fucking bad-ASS!

But, dude, it’s been done.

For every one thousand bands that formed with no other purpose than to sound like everybody else (and get laid), there’s one R.E.M., or Nirvana, or Cheap Trick, or Tom Petty who, whether they intended to do so or not, actually managed to stand out from the crowd. Ten, twenty, or thirty years later, here we are still talking about them, still buying their records.

So, why the fuck does every new band I hear sound like fucking Alter Bridge, aspiring to be no better than a third-rate knock-off of a band that wasn’t that special in the first place?

Because, apparently, you can do that and still get laid. And signed.


With the band still knee-deep in either leashes or leeches, my girlfriend, bless her soul, recognizing my “please kill me” face and drags me out of the joint so that we can stop by our favorite little martini bar before the DJ starts cranking the hip-hop at a volume that makes conversation impossible.

Upon arrival, we spend the first hour catching up with members of the staff we’ve befriended over the past couple years, but haven’t seen for months due to our relocation to the other side of the San Fernando Valley. One of the bartenders, a college-age woman who had moved here from Singapore to attend college, boasts of her decision to drop out of college to start an emo band.

Any gigs, I ask? “No, but we have a MySpace page with over 15,000 friends,” she beams.

As fond of her as I am, I cann’t help but feel there was an ocean of difference between her quitting school to form one of a gazillion emo bands with a sentence-long name that will never get out of the garage and, say, Andy Summers giving up his paying gig with Kevin Ayers to throw his lot in with a then-unknown and unproven band called the Police.

Never mind that Sting had already done much the same thing a year earlier, leaving a steady-gigging neo-jazz band to relocate to London with no band, no options, and a wife & infant son to support. There was obviously something driving both he and Andy. Their dreams weren't fueled by a desire to get rich quick, though. Despite initially jumped on the punk bandwagon (which was really Stewart Copeland's idea and one never embraced by Sting or Andy), they quickly hit upon a sound that was the result of a plethora of different influences, but entirely their own.

Not everyone take ends as happily as the Police story, though.

The world is full of insanely talented musicians who jumped into the unknown without a net and crashed well short of fulfilling their potential. Yet, these days, we seem to be much too eager to celebrate the supposed greatness of kids whose idea of paying dues is to wait in line overnight for a chance to audition for a nationally-televised karaoke show.

Where’s the risk in that?

More importantly, what passion do any of these kids have other than a mindless desire to be famous?

A handful of seasons into the AI franchise, we now face our first season of the same template applied to rock bands, which means we have approximately five years before every rock band on the planet is playing by AI's rules, even the ones who fancy themselves black-nail-polish-wearing outsiders.

That, of course, is the dangerous part of this whole scenario: The longer such superficiality is celebrated, the more paying one’s dues will forever give way to taking career shortcuts. Just like no American-born high school graduate would be caught dead working at a job that involves wearing a paper hat, young bands will soon be too good to slog it out at the local dive bar for a couple years, learning their craft before graduating to the next level. To paraphrase the words of Freddie Mercury, they want it all, they want it all, they want it all, and they want it now.


Mark my words, there will be very few people celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of albums by the likes of kORN, or Avril Lavigne, or Limp Bizkit, or Creed, or Kid Rock (who couldn’t get arrested a couple years ago, but can’t NOT get arrested with a new CD to promote).

Not that they aren’t already trying to convince us otherwise. Just last, week, I came across the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the Crystal Method’s “Vegas” and guffawed so hard, I almost pulled a kidney. And this is from someone who bought the record when it was released in '97 (and traded it in at a used CD store a couple weeks later.

We will still be celebrating the anniversaries of albums by the likes of Pink Floyd, the Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and so on and so forth. Of course, the reason why is obvious: Compared to what passes for new music these days, those 30-year-old albums sound positively amazing.

As long as Gwen Stefani keeps putting out solo records to help sell her latest line of clothes, perfumes, and harajuku dolls, the more discerning music lovers will flock to the Dark Side of The Moon.

And suddenly, as if on-cue, I hear the words to a twenty-year-old Talking Heads song in my head…

“Well, we know where we’re goin’
But we don’t know where we’ve been
And we know what we’re knowin’
But we can’t say what we’ve seen

And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride…”



Which is reason enough for me to drop some live Talking Heads tracks from what I personally consider to be their prime-era, 1978-1980 (not that I knew it at the time, truth be told, having just ended a dreadful pre-teen KISS phase).

Enjoy!

Warning Sign
Artists Only
Psycho Killer
Stay Hungry
Cities
I Zimbra
Drugs
Take Me To The River
Crosseyed And Painless
Life During Wartime
Houses In Motion

muse - alternate black holes and revelations

Editor's Note: Being the huge fan of Muse that I am, I was glad to see Phil Solem of the Rembrandts mention Black Holes on his list of Desert Island Discs. Thus, I figured this would now be a great opportunity to post my comp of live versions of cuts from their Black Holes album.

I can tell you the exact moment I became a Muse fan. It was when Radiohead albums became more aural landscapes than a collection of riveting songs. OK Computer was an amazing achievement, a sentiment I share with millions of other people (which makes it no less true), but every record since seems to be more an exercise of some sort rather than a work of the type of immensely one-of-a-kind artistry for which they became known.

Enter Muse, whose singer Matthew Bellamy shares an unmistakable tonal similarity to Radiohead's Thom Yorke. What attracted me to Muse was that they were just as "out there" as Radiohead, maybe even moreso with Bellamy's fascination with conspiracies, aliens, and such, but that they still wrote great songs and put on some of the most energetic, bigger-than-life performances of any current band. They made me remember what it was I liked about all the cool bands of my youth.

To my ears, their 2003 release Absolution was their OK Computer and, quite frankly, I had not given any thought to the idea that they might ever top that record.

In 2006, though, they did just that with the release of Black Holes & Revelations, an album that went #1 in the UK and most of Europe and secured their status as one of the most popular bands on the planet.

All chart success aside, the album is solid from start to finish, jam-packed full of bouyant hooks and a production that makes each track leap from the speakers and practically grab you by the throat. For a band that made a career-defining album with Absolution, then topped it with Black Holes, it will be very interesting to see what their next move will be.

One thing's for certain, though: For once, the good guys are winning.

Take A Bow
Starlight
Supermassive Black Hole
Map Of The Problematique
Soldier's Poem
Invincible
Assassin
Exo-Politics
City Of Delusion
Hoodoo
Knights of Cydonia

1982

In December, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is released. All hell breaks loose. (Check out Michael's "Billie Jean" demo.)


Adam & The Ants disband after singer Adam Ant decides to pursue a solo career. In June, he scores his first #1 single in the UK with “Goody Two Shoes”.

In April, Toto release their fourth album, entitled “IV”. Singles “Rosanna” (#2), “Africa” (#1), and “I Won’t Stand In Your Way” (#10) all garner heavy radio airplay and help keep the album firmly lodged in the Top 10 and, later, to win six Grammy awards.


With new singer Bruce Dickinson taking over for original vocalist Paul Di'Anno, Iron Maiden release "Number of The Beast". The album vaulted them from up-and-comers to chart-toppers in the UK and the single "Run To The Hills" vaulted to #7. In the U.S., where heavy metal had yet to penetrate the mainstream, the album peaked at #33, but the band was well on their way to developing a rabid Stateside fan-base.


After the debacle that was “The Hunter”, Blondie call it a day. (Check out this live version of “Island of Lost Souls” from their ’82 tour).

With Don Henley and Glenn Frey eager to devote full efforts to their respective solo careers, the Eagles officially disband.


The Motels release their third album “All Four One” and score a Top 10 single with “Only The Lonely”. The follow-up single “Take The L” also enjoyed heavy radio airplay, helping the album reach gold status for sales over 500,000 units.

The Birthday Party (led by Nick Cave) release the amazing "Junkyard" album, which features ex-Magazine bassist Barry Adamson. (Check out this live version of "Release The Bats".)


In November, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers release "Long After Dark", which goes Top 10 on the strength of the single "You Got Lucky", which is notable for being the first Petty track to include a synthesizer.

Here are some more tracks from Petty's '82 tour:

Refugee
A Woman In Love
Even The Losers
A One Story Town
Straight Into Darkness
Change Of Heart


Metallica self-release "No Life Til Leather", leading to heavy word-of-mouth and underground tape-swapping throughout the metal underground that would eventually lead to a record deal with Metal Blade Records. (Check out his live version of "Hit The Lights" that features both Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton.)

Santana release "Shango!", marking the return of Gregg Rolie, who left the band to join Journey. The album went to #22 and featured the Top 20 hit, "Hold On". (Check out this live version of "Nowhere To Run".)

Willie Nelson scores a #1 Country single (and #5 Pop single) with "Always On My Mind".

In September, Simple Minds release "New Gold Dream (81 82 83 84)". It was their first album to enjoy Top 10 success in the UK, establishing them as part of the blossoming New Romantics movement. It broke the Top 100 in America, as did the single "Promised You A Miracle".

John Cougar’s sixth album, “American Fool” rockets to #1 on the U.S charts on the radio success of singles “Hurts So Good” (#2), “Jack & Diane” (#1) and “Hand To Hold Onto” (#19).

The Stray Cats release "Built For Speed", a collection of tracks gathered from their first two albums (along with one new song, the title cut), and unleash a moderate rockabilly revival as the album skyrockets to #2 on the U.S. charts on the success of such hit singles as "Rock This Town" (#9) and "Stray Cat Strut" (#3).

Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder’s duet “Ebony & Ivory” goes to #1 in the UK for three weeks, also spending six weeks at #1 in the States.


August brings the release of "Business As Usual", the debut album by Australian rockers Men At Work, which would go on to spend 15 weeks at #1. "Who Can It Be Now?" would jump to #1 on the singles chart, with "Land Down Under" doing the same and shining the spotlight on the Aussie delicacy known as the "vegemite sandwich".


In March, Sonic Youth release their self-titled debut EP on Neutral Records. (Check out this cool live version of “Shaking Hell”.)


Despite being released in August, Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen” still manages to become the biggest selling single of the 1982 in Britain, spending four weeks at #1.


Prog-rock super-group Asia, featuring ex-members of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes and King Crimson, releases their self-titled debut album in March. First single “Heat Of The Moment” is an immediate radio hit that climbs to #4 on the charts and propels the album to #1.

In August, Motley Crue’s independently-released debut album, “Too Fast For Love”, is re-mixed by producer Roy Thomas Baker and re-released in August on Elektra Records. It would peak at #77 on the Top 200 Albums chart, eventually going platinum. (Check out this live cut of “Toast of The Town” from an ’82 gig. The tune had been included on the indie version of the album, but dropped from the track listing on the Elektra version.)


Led by gender-bending singer Boy George, Culture Club release their debut album, “Kissing To Be Clever”, scoring three Top 10 singles in the U.S.; “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”, “Time (Clock of The Heart”), and “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya”. Despite such success, and perhaps proving their status as a singles band, the album fails to make the Top 10, peaking at #14 in the States.


The Who release “It’s Hard”, their second album since Keith Moon’s death and final studio album before choosing to “retire”. It would peak at #8 despite the lackluster performance of its two singles “Athena” (#28) and “Eminence Front” (#68).


R.E.M. release their debut EP, Chronic Town, in August. (Check out these outtakes from the Chron Town sessions: "Ages Of You" and a faster version of "Wolves, Lower"

In April, German hard rock band Scorpions release “Blackout” and score their first Top 10 album, which is best known for the power ballad “No One Like You”. Of note is that then-unknown Don Dokken sang lead vocals on the original album demos due to singer Klaus Meine recovering from vocal surgery.

Ex-Damned singer/guitarist Captain Sensible scores a UK #1 single in June with a cover of the Rogers & Hammerstein “Happy Talk” (from South Pacific).

In October, KISS release “Creatures Of The Night”, the last album to be released before they would stop wearing the face make-up for which they were famous. By then, they had fallen very much out-of-favor with fans for the more pop-oriented material of their past couple albums. Heralded as a dramatic return to form, “Creatures” would fail to hit the U.S. Top 40.

Survivor’s “Eye of The Tiger”, a song they recorded (at Sylvester Stallone’s request no less) for the Rocky III film and soundtrack, spends six weeks at #1 on the U.S. singles chart. It would also spend four weeks at #1 in Britain.

Orange County punk band Social Distortion record the entirety of material for their debut album, “Mommy’s Little Monster”, in a single session on Christmas Eve 1982.

Bob Seger releases the Jimmy Iovine-produced studio album, “The Distance”, which rises to #5 on the Top 200 Albums chart on the success of such singles as “Even Now” (#12), “Roll Me Away (#27), and “Shame On The Moon” (#2). The album marked a departure for Seger by featuring a lengthy list of special guests that included Glenn Frey and Don Flder from the Eagles, Roy Bittan from the E Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, and Waddy Wachtel among others.

In June, Joe Jackson releases “Night & Day”, an album that shifts gears from the jittery new wave style of earlier efforts to a sophisticated piano-driven style that recalls the style of Cole Porter (whose song “Night & Day” would become the album’s title). First single “Steppin’ Out” would peak at #6, with follow-up single “Breaking Us In Two” landing at #18 and helping push the album to a peak position of #4.

July brings the release of “Screaming For Vengeance”, Judas Priest’s eighth studio album. Driven by heavy AOR radio airplay of the single “You’ve Got Another thing Coming” (which would peak at a lowly #67 on the Singles chart), the album becomes the band’s first appearance in the U..S. Top 20.


In May, Duran Duran release their second album, “Rio”. After getting off to a slow start, the album is remixed and re-released, as is the single “Hungry Like The Wolf”, which is released in early December and peaks at #3 on Christmas Day on the U.S. singles chart. By then, MTV’s heavy rotation of videos for “Hungry Like The Wolf” and “Rio” is seen as being more effective than traditional radio airplay.

Tears For Fears score their first Top 5 single in the UK with “Mad World”. It was initially recorded by Martin Howlett and intended to be a B-side to the single “Pale Shelter (You Don’t Give Me Love)”. Having thoughts about its strength as an A-side, they re-recorded it with Chris Hughes (who’d produced Adam & The Ants’ “Dirk Wears White Sox”, “Kings of The Wild Frontier”, and “Prince Charming”).

thanks dad...

When I was a kid, I had fallen in love with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. My birthday was approaching and I had asked for the first Pretenders album, which had just come out. I'd already worn out the "Brass In Pocket" single and was ready for the main course.

So, as the entire family is gathered around the kitchen table and I'm tearing through my gifts, I keep a careful eye on the one gift that is about twelve-inches square, saving it for last.

With a knowing confidence, I rip the paper away and take in the record before me. It doesn't say "Pretenders" on it...anywhere. Instead it says "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers...Damn The Torpedoes".

What the...?!

Not wanting to embarrass my dad for picking out the wrong record, I trudged to my room and put the record on in an attempt to at least "pretend" (pun fully intended) that I liked it.

Within minutes, though, I no longer had to pretend.

Over the next several weeks, months...and years...I wore that record out. To this day, it easily ranks as the one album I've bought and re-bought the most over the years. Vinyl, cassette, CD...multiple copies of each, as a matter of fact. It's been remastered? Well, better pick up a copy of that one too.

And so began my love affair with that album and the music of Tom Petty. For myself, and millions of others, he has long been a great source of inspiration, saying in song what so many of us have felt inside - even if we didn't know it at the time.

Yesterday saw the release of the career retrospective DVD box set "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down A Dream" and I'm just now watching the last few seconds of an almost four-hour documentary that makes me love and appreciate Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers more than I did, more than I ever thought I could.

I sat riveted for the duration, through their conquering of England, superstardom in America, collaboration with Jeff Lynne...Bob Dylan...George Harrison...Roy Orbison...Roger McGuinn...Rick Rubin...all talent aside, Petty's a real-life Forrest Gump, rubbing shoulders with an immeasurable list of greats.

Watching the movie and hearing Tom describe the strained relationship between he and his father, I couldn't help but be reminded of my own father, who'd passed away in 2002. Of course, he was already on my mind because whenever I listen to Tom Petty, I can't help remembering my dad giving me "Damn The Torpedoes" for my birthday. We too had a relationship with very little common ground - either that, or we were too much alike to suit either one of us, Music was the one thing we had in common.

So there we were, adults reminiscing around the same kitchen table where'd I'd unwrapped "Damn The Torpedoes" years earlier. I brought up that childhood memory of him giving me the "Heartbreakers" record instead of the "Pretenders" record I had asked for and that, in hindsight, "Damn The Torpedoes" was the better record.

With a wink and a smile, my dad looked at me and said, "Yeah, I know."

It was then that it dawned on me that him giving me the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers record had been no accident.

Thinking about it now, I can't help but shake my head and smile.

Thanks, Dad. I miss you.

Shadow Of a Doubt
My very first "favorite Tom Petty song". There'd be many, many more to come.

Honey Bee (SNL with Dave Grohl on drums)
I remember watching SNL and being shocked to see a flailing, spastic young Dave Grohl playing drums for the Heartbreakers. After years of watching a quite understated Stan Lynch punch the crap outta those skins, Grohl's completely-over-the-top performance was initially hilarious, but I had to give him major props for bringin' it. The funny part was that this was a song my Dad loved. For quite a stretch of time, every tape he bought seemed to have some band doing their version of the tune, poorly, which used to piss him off to no end. Petty & Co. nailed it, though.

My First Night Without You
This is a song I began writing years ago, the night my father passed away to be exact. He'd had heart problems for some time and there had been so many close calls over the year leading up to his passing that I'd kinda already braced myself for "the call". When it came, I just pulled out my guitar, sat on the edge of my bed, and scribbled the first set of lyrics on a telephone bill. I finally finished it a few years later, the night the woman he always said was way too good for me (and that he totally adored) walked out of my life.

I finished the song that night and recorded it this past summer. A few months ago, when I played it for a record guy who'd been instrumental in Petty's career, the first thing he did when the song ended was ask me to play it again. I did, of course. His first words after the second pass were, and I quote, "Are you ready to be the next Tom Petty? If you put that song out, you will be." I was floored, of course, but mostly, I was humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence. Still, I took it with a huge grain of salt. To me, it'll always be a song that makes me think of the two people I should have treasured more while they were in my life.

1977

Elvis Presley makes what would be his final public performance on June 26 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana. Presley would be found in his Graceland home and later pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN, a day before he was scheduled to begin another string of U.S. tour dates.

Here are tracks from his final U.S tour:

And I Love You So
Hound Dog
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
That's Alright Mama
Early Morning Rain
Love Me
Jailhouse Rock
I Really Don't Want To Know
My Way
See See Rider


On July 24, Led Zeppelin would perform in Oakland, CA. Unbenownst to them and their fans, it would be the original line-up’s final U.S. performance. [Check out this live performance of "Nobody's Fault But Mine".]


After a tumultuous parting with EMI in January, the Sex Pistols would fire original bassist Glen Matlock in February. With new bassist Sid Vicious in tow, they would orchestrate a press conference/contract signing in front of Buckingham Palace on March 11 to announce their new agreement with A&M Records. An after-party would take place at A&M’s offices wherein Vicious would ransack the managing director’s office. This did not sit well with label employees and the contract would be voided less than a week later. [Check out this live version of "Seventeen" from '77]


In February, Fleetwood Mac releases “Rumours”, an album that would catapult them to stratospheric heights on the strength of hit singles “Go Your Own Way” (#10), “Dreams” (#1), “Don’t Stop” (#3), and “You Make Loving Fun” (#9). The album would spend 31 weeks at #1 and go on to win a Grammy for Album Of The Year the following February.


Signaling the height of disco-based elitism and excess, Studio 54 opens in New York City and becomes the place to see and be seen.


Just in time for the Christmas shopping season, KISS release “Alive II” on November 28. Despite the lack of a Top 40 single, the album still managed a Top 10 U.S chart showing.


Meatloaf rockets to the top of the charts with the bombastic concept album “Bat Out Of Hell”. Produced by Todd Rundgren and conceptualized by Jim Steinman, the album would peak at #14, continuing to sell consistently over the next several years, amassing sales of over thirty million copies worldwide.


In January, David Bowie releases “Low” (#11), the first of what many refer to as his Berlin Trilogy because they were recorded with Brian Eno during a collaboration that began in, and would often return to, Hansa Studios in West Berlin. In October, David Bowie releases the follow-up effort “Heroes”. The album peaks at #35 in the U.S. while breaking the Top 5 in Britain.

Championed by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, Devo are signed to Warner Brothers records and begin recording sessions with Brian Eno.

Other bands to be signed to major label contracts this year include the Cars, Van Halen, and the Police.


Jimmy Buffett would forever establish himself as the King of Key West with his eighth solo album, “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes”. It would become his first Top 20 album, propelled by the success of the hit single “Margaritaville”, which peaked at #8 on the Pop singles chart. In addition to being a hit on the pop and easy listening charts, the album would also reach #2 on the country charts.



Randy Newman enjoys dramatic chart success with his sixth solo album, “Little Criminals” thanks to the novelty-based popularity of the single “Short People”. The song would peak at #2 on the Pop singles chart and become quite the career albatross for Newman, who would later achieve popularity as the composer of scores for such films as “Toy Story”, “A Bug’s Life”, “Pleasantville” and “Meet The Parents”.


July sees the UK release of “My Aim is True”, the debut album by Elvis Costello & The Attractions. [Check out this nifty medley of "Allison/Suspicious Minds"]

In November, Eric Clapton releases his career-defining fifth studio effort, “Slowhand” (#2). It features such classic Clapton staples as “Wonderful Tonight” (#16), “Lay Down Sally” (#3), and the J.J. Cale-penned “Cocaine”.


In May, Heart release their second album, “Little Queen”, which spawns the monsterous radio hit “Barracuda” and proves their platinum debut effort the year before (“Dreamboat Annie”) was no fluke.

Peter Gabriel releases his first solo album in February. Produced by Bob Ezrin, the album also featured the guitar work of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp. [Check out this live version of "Solsbury Hill".]


In October, Virgin Records releases the debut album by the Sex Pistols, “Never Mind The Bollocks”. The use of the word “bollocks” (considered an obscenity in Britain) in the album’s title added to the current public outrage surrounding the already-controversial punk band. All of this only served to fuel interest in the album, which went to #1 on the UK Albums chart.

Billy Joel’s fifth album is a breakthrough effort that reaches #2 on the U.S. Albums chart, fueled by the success of Top 5 single “Just The Way You Are”. Subsequent singles “Movin’ Out” and “She’s Always A Woman” reach the Top 20 and keep the album firmly lodged in the Top 200 for 137 weeks.


Donna Summer’s single, “I Feel Love”, from the album "I Remember Yesterday", rocketed to #1 in the UK (and #6 in the U.S.), but was most notable for its groundbreaking production by Giorgio Moroder, who utilized synthesizers to create the lush, danceable disco groove, rather than orchestral instrumentation that so many prior disco hits had relied upon.

In September, T. Rex leader Marc Bolan is killed in an auto accident.

“Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”, from the original “Stars Wars” film and performed by Meco, spends two weeks at #1.

In October, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ronnie Van Zandt, Steve Gaines and Cassy Gaines are killed in an airplane crash.

In February, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band would reach #1 with their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light”. To date, it is the only version of a Springsteen song (including those released by Springsteen himself) to reach #1 on the U.S. singles charts.


Thin Lizzy releases their sixth album, “Bad Reputation”, in September. Only three of the four members of the band appear on the cover, as guitarist Brian Robertson was intentionally left out after missing most of the sessions due to injuries from a bar brawl. He would officially leave the band after the album’s release, to be replaced by a string of interim guitarists that include future Ultravox singer Midge Ure.

Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now”, the theme song from the movie “Rocky” lands at #1 in July.

Steely Dan release “Aja” in September and experience their first taste of platinum success as the album rises to #3 on the Billboard Top 100 Albums chart. It features such well-known Steely Dan classics as “Deacon Blues” (#19), “Peg” (#11), and “Josie” (#26).


The B-52’s form in Athens, GA and play their first gig in April. [Check out "Mesopotamia" (live).]

Foreigner release their self-titled debut album in March. “Feels Like The First Time” and “Cold As Ice” are both U.S. Top 10 hit singles and the album reaches #4 on the Top 100.

Billy Idol makes his recording debut as singer for Generation X on their single, “Your Generation”, which cracks the Top 40 in the UK.

Waylon Jennings’ hit single with “Luckenbach, Texas” spends a record-tying six weeks at #1 on the Country singles charts. It would be the last single to do so for 20 years (McGraw-Hill’s “It’s Your Love” in 1997).

The Jam release their debut album, “In The City”, in May. The title track became a Top 40 single that would re-enter the Top 40 on two more occasions (in 1980 and 1982) Six months later, they release their second album, “This Is The Modern World”

In 1977, BPI names Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” the Best Single of the Last 25 Years.

resistence is futile

I'd read some of the reviews, all glowing of course, yet for weeks I found myself reluctant to see "Once". Maybe it was the fact that I'd been burned more than once by movies that had been praised to the hilt, maybe it was the fact that I just don't like musicals, or music-based movies for that matter.

But I loved the idea of this film (two lonely strangers uniting over a passion for music), loved the location (Ireland, ya know), and, yet I also knew that it wouldn't take too much to make it a bloody mess (crappy songs, or too much reliance on singing, dancing and the like).

By the time I finally broke down and decided to see it last week, it was only showing in three theaters in all of southern California so my girlfriend and I drove the long and winding path of Laurel Canyon Boulevard into Hollywood to see it at a little art house.

My expectations weren't all that high going in, of course, but the half dozen movie previews for upcoming indie flicks about war, sexual persecution, and the like left me feeling quite depressed. Plus, I'd scored poorly on the trivia questions that ran in between the ads for local businesses.

So, yeah, the movie starts and the lead character (played by Glen Hansard of The Frames) is busking when a heroin addict tries swiping his guitar case full o' change. After chasing him down, he returns to his piece of sidewalk and performs this rage-filled acoustic number, veins on the side of his neck pulsing for all their worth, and, as the song ends, there is the clapping of a single pair of mitten-covered hands. They belong to a woman (played by diminutive, yet charming newcomer Marketa Irglova) who, within minutes, is asking him to fix her vaccuum cleaner.


She's a pianist without a piano, of course, but a local merchant lets her use one of the pianos in his showroom for an hour each day. She drags her new busker friend to the store and it is there that they discover their musical chemistry.

It is also the scene in which I feel the heat of teardrops down my cheek and I haven't the foggiest idea why. It isn't a sad scene. In hindsight, I think I was just that touched by the song, and by the union of their voices.

What's ultimately great about the film is its honesty. As a musician, I can see a contrived musical scene coming a mile away, yet there I was fully invested in the belief that these two strangers were intuitively learning their first song together and feeling their way into a new friendship that made the rest of the world fall away.

The mark of a great movie, for me at least, is that for the duration of "Once", my world fell away too. Plus, every single person in that theatre stayed until the very last credit had run. Lastly, my girlfriend and I walked directly across the courtyard to the Virgin Megastore to buy the soundtrack album. In doing so, we ran into two or three couples who'd just come from the same show.

NOTE: I intentionally left my review of this film as vague as possible because I didn't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't yet seen this film. All I can say is that, unless your heart is a chunk of bloody coal, you must see this film, preferably with someone you love. I can tell you the exact scene in which said "special someone" will lay their head upon your shoulder, but that too might ruin it.

So, enough already, go see this film.

A couple songs from the film to further entice you:

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some of us are devo

A lot of people take Devo for granted. They've long been written off as something of a novelty act thanks to cheeky hits like "Whip It" and "Workin' In A Coalmine", wearing kooky matching outfits (like those bright yellow radiation suits), acting like robots, and creating videos that may have been innovative for the time, but, and this is my own personal opinion, kinda worked against them.

How I came to know of Devo was much the same way as everyone else. I didn't discover them years before "Whip It" stormed up the charts, or anything. I loathed the song - still do - and only happened upon their other stuff when my brother bought "Freedom Of Choice" and started playing the crap out of it. It was then that I realized these guys had some cool-ass songs and they weren't just a synth band, either. There were guitars aplenty on songs like "Gates Of Steel", "Girl U Want" and the title cut.

The great thing about discovering a band a few albums into their career (which I've done many times) is that you're able to go forward and backward, absorbing new material at the same time you're digging into the band's past. Upon discovering the group's first album, "Q: Are We Not Men, A: We Are DEVO", I was completely enamored by the band and just shook my head at the me I used to be; the guy who'd totally missed that album when it was released.

The band's forth album, "New Traditionalists" was missing a "Whip It" of its own and slowly Devo's chart success began sliding gradually with each new album. Quite frankly, that mattered little to me at the time. My friends and I remained huge Devo fans and I'm sure the powers that be at Warner Brothers were quite impressed with the unusually high record sales that took place in a small town in Michigan that didn't even appear on most maps. Well, not the good maps, anyway.

Of course, "New Traditionalists" contains my favorite Devo song, "Beautiful World", which should have been a massive hit, but priority was given to "Jerkin' Back & Forth" and "Through Being Cool" instead.

I was with Devo through "Peek-a-boo", which had cool tracks like "Patterns" and the completely over-the-top title cut, but "Shout!", their last album for Warner Brothers, left me cold. So cold, in fact, that I completely ignored their first release for Enigma Records, "Total DEVO".

Yet, a couple years later, I was in the process of unloading a good portion of my paycheck at the now defunct Dr. Wax Records when I noticed a new Devo album in the bins called "Smooth Noodle Maps". I bought it without giving it a second thought and ended up playing it relentlessly. Sure, it was a little more dance-oriented than I liked, but whatever. I was also listening to a lot of dance/industrial stuff at the time, so it wasn't that far a stretch.

My love affair with Devo had been rekindled, to a point. When the band's tour found its way to Chicago, I caught their appearance at the Metro. Going in, I was a little hesitant. I was plagued by the idea that the band was gonna let me down by putting on one of those shows that a lot of bands give you when they've been reduced to a club-level act after years at the arena level. They started the show with an acoustic set, believe it or not, and, although it was good enough, I thought my suspicions were on their way to being confirmed.

Then the band tossed the unplugged instrumentation aside like dirty laundry and rocked me off my unprepared ass. Seriously, these guys brought it.

After the show, I chatted a bit with their new drummer David Kendrick (formerly of Gleaming Spires and Sparks), who'd been browsing in the record store located in the same building as the club, and he ended up showing me his kit and stuff, which had yet to be torn down by the crew. In looking at the rest of the band's equipment, I laughed to myself at the site of vintage Moog synthesizers with keys broken or missing entirely. If I hadn't just seen them blow the roof off the joint with my own eyes, I'd have never believed them capable of such intensity at this point in their career.

The funny thing is, seventeen years later, they're STILL bringin' it and, quite frankly, if Devo is ever in your neck of the woods, you owe it to yourself to check them out.

Until then, these live cuts will hold you over. Enjoy!


Uncontrollable Urge
Mongoloid
Satisfaction
It Takes A Worried Man
Girl U Want
Gates Of Steel
I Saw Jesus/Through Being Cool
Smart Patrol Theme/Jerkin' Back And Forth
Patterns
That's Good
Working In A Coalmine

trivia jones: answer to last week's question

This one must have been too easy because a majority of those who responded were correct. Gonna have to make the next one more difficult! :)

Correct Answer:



Eagles "The Long Run".