1) Just started reading Under The Big Black Sun:A Personal History Of L.A. Punk by John Doe. It’s a little pretentious (like X) but I can tell it’s gonna be a great read. Highly recommended.
2) Despite overwhelming contrary consensus here (some rock ‘n’ roll site, huh?), the book reminds me that disco truly did (and does) suck.
3) Was forced to listen to Down At The Sunset Grill at the supermarket this morning. Sheesh, what a piece of dog shit. Toggles between droning (not in a good way) and meandering. What is the appeal of this music? Someone, please tell me.
Sorry to beat a dead horse; maybe I should just join a different gym.
The videos they play are just so godawful and I do suspect they’re a very fair representation of today’s pop. Every song is the same. Every video is the same.
Today they played a video by Dua Lipa followed by a video of Pia Mia. You can’t make this shit up!
I certainly won’t bother you with either of these videos lest I perpetuate this plague. (Believe me, you’re not missing anything.)
Whenever I listen to these guys, I think perhaps they’re the best punk band ever – or at least they may have been in their prime. You need either The Unboxed Set CD or the Back From Samoa album and the Inside My Brain EP.
To steal from Tom:
Fuckin’ sheep I’m on the rag
They got my balls in a plastic bag
I remember a while ago, someone put up a Jake Bugg video or two (not bad at all) and I think a couple of you really liked him. Well, apparently the record company got to him and ol’ young Jake is now doing the hip-hop choreographed dancing boogie like everyone else.
Sellout? He does have the right initials for a hip hop teeny bop artist.
This track kicks off Alice Cooper’s Muscle Of Love, a CD I just received the other day and haven’t heard for easily 30, maybe 35 years. It brought a big smile to my face, taking me back all those years.
Notes:
1) This was essentially my second rock ‘n’roll album. A friend of mine had introduced me to non-radio rock ‘n’ roll via Billion Dollar Babies prior to us starting catechism class together after not seeing each other for a couple years. I believe I was 12. After listening to Babies for months, I remember shoveling snow in order to buy Alice’s newest, Muscle Of Love. With no internet or older sibling guidance, my best guess was to buy the newest one (I often did this), figuring the newest was the best. It took me years to discover that isn’t true and it took me until years later to discover the best Alice Coopers – Love It To Death, Killer and School’s Out.
2) I had bought the Guess Who’s Share The Land and American Woman albums a couple years before, but then lost interest in music for a while (?!). Such is the life of a little kid.
3) Muscle is the last for the Alice Cooper band. Listening to the entire album one can hear the transition to the soon-to-come solo Alice Cooper. The crappy song ratio increases and the guitar sound is radically different as Glen Buxton was too drunk/drugged to play at this point. The Mick Mashbir/Dick Wagner duo is in full swing here. I imagine they let Michael Bruce still play a little rhythm guitar.
4) It’s also a pretty forgotten/ignored Alice Cooper album and that’s legit. Funny, the first two Alice albums are kind of ignored too, the weirdo Zappa-like Pretties For You and Easy Action. I’ve always counted Love It To Death as their debut.
5) No idea what (Hippo) is supposed to mean. Still don’t.
6) The “big” hit off this album was Teenage Lament ’74. If you remember anything from this album, it’s probably that one. Just found Big Country covering it for another hearty (?!).
I’ve pretty much given up on the new Iggy album. Concept – A+, Execution – D+. But in interviews about the new album, Josh Homme goes on and on about the genius of Iggy’s TheIdiot and Lust For Life – two albums I never had nor heard.
So, since they’re real cheapos on Amazon, I bought both. Listened to The Idiot for the first time yesterday and it’s pretty good, initially. Homme talks of the two albums being almost one, with The Idiot as the dark side and Lust For Life the lighter side.
What struck me most about Idiot is Iggy’s China Girl, which, believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve ever heard before.
Don’t know if it’s because I’ve heard the Bowie version a billion-trillion times at this point, but the Iggy version sounds good to me. I always thought Iggy wrote the song and Bowie covered it, but, in actuality, they wrote it together and both recorded it.
