Rolling Stone has a piece by Rob Sheffield ranking the top 98 songs from 1998.
Since it’s a celebration of the diverse weird styles and songs of a year that he says was known for being diverse and weird, it’s a grab bag of the unknown, forgotten, and other songs that are fun to remember. Like this one, ranked 48th, which I think would be good (love those breaths) even without the video (which is an able promo for the minor at the time, classic in the end teen flick Jawbreaker).
Live.
I have issues with this, but damn. It’s great.
Writing catchy political song that endure is a fool’s task, but while this Ry Cooder tune hasn’t hit the top of the charts, I think chances are it will eventually.
Enjoy.
What I didn’t know when I bought this sort-of Rolling Stones record a long time ago was that it was put out by an a-hole named Allen Klein, who had been the manager of the Stones, capitalizing on tapes he owned the rights to after they broke up.
What I did know when I bought this disk was that it was a pile of awfully good jamming by some awfully good musicians, even if it wasn’t at all polished or shaped. This, I thought, was musicians I liked playing what they wanted, and it sure was sweet.
I posted about It Hurts Me Too, that old Elmore James song, a few years ago, but tonight I found myself back here and this long jam is awfully good. Blow with Ry, because Keith was mad about having a great slide player come in. Okay.
I have no idea what this tune is going for, maybe some Velvets’ stylings in part, but you better be on board.
When I first heard this song it was way more punk rock than most punk rock, thematically if not sonically.
When I was in high school I fantasized about blowing the whole place up. Didn’t we all?
This is the conceit of the movie Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, isn’t it?
But the Boomtown Rats endure, and are important and their initial joust doesn’t say much about gun violence, but it sure does crank on the dynamics of mental health and violence and our lives.
They came from LA in 1983. Jon Pareles, NY Times rock critic then and now, wrote about their show at the Mudd Club. They did indeed do a fine job imitating the Velvet Underground back then, as I learned a few days later at their show at Gerdes Folk City.
Their second album, Medicine Show, was produced by Sandy Pearlman, of Blue Oyster Cult fame, who had a few years had produced the Clash’s Give ‘Em Enough Rope. Medicine Show sounds harder than Days of Wine and Roses, their debut. I put the record on the other day, for the first time in probably 30 years and liked this one right off the bat.
The lone cover from the band’s debut elpee, Blank Generation, seemed unlikely. Creedence? Until you hear it.
The Voidoids take the pounding rhythm from the original, cut the running time in half by getting rid of a long instrumental break in the middle, and replace John Fogarty’s growling defiance with Hell’s skreechy pleading. Different approach to the guitar solos, too. It works.
Rhumba style, emotional vulnerability, and song, when I hear this I’m all ears. Contrast to the excellent James Hunter Song of the Week, which I’m not exactly dissing, but which I think doesn’t have the heart Lowe does on this song he is happy to deliver lightly. And, pardon the video.
I heard this one on the Duane Allman Anthology album, which collected all of Duane’s great studio work.
In any case, this is classic rock. There is no remnant part, but it is great.
