This is a fun song and video with a sad backstory. I’d never heard of the Yellow Dogs until two days ago. They were Iranian friends who loved playing rock music in Teheran, where the music is banned. You may know that there are two very different Irans, one that shares many Western values and culture and prides itself on its modernity, and the other Islamist Iran which controls the government and political institutions. The Yellow Dogs, like the heroine of Persepolis, loved rock music and risked jail because of that love. They also had parents wealthy enough to help them get out of the country and set them up in the US, in my home town of Brooklyn, in political asylum.
And they were doing okay until two days ago, when another Iranian musician, a former member of another Iranian band called the Free Keys, broke into the house the Yellow Dogs lived in and shot it up, killing three (including two of the Yellow Dogs) and wounding another before shooting himself. Apparently the shooter had been kicked out of the Free Keys because he’d stolen some money or sold some equipment that wasn’t his, and his subsequent efforts to redeem himself and get back in the band were rebuffed. An awful story. He apparently carried the gun he used in a guitar case.
There are a few Yellow Dog songs on YouTube, and profiles of the band done by eMusic and Converse sneakers. They were doing okay, and this song shows why.
1) If I’d have heard this back then when I was nine, I’d likely be dead or in jail now.
2) Give me some of whatever Wayne Kramer is on.
3) Kramer’s second guitar solo is probably my favorite cliche rock solo riff of all-time. If every guitar solo had those arpeggios in it, I wouldn’t mind. For you youngsters out there, learn that technique and you will instantly sound HOT!!!
Pretty cool video, I think, focused around my very favorite song of all-time. My favorite tip is, “Dress like you’re from out of town.” Funny, when they actually play the song, it sounds like Williamson kind of chokes, especially at the beginning. He ain’t no Euroboy – anymore at least.
Got this from Amazon yesterday (along with LAMF, Gene) and can’t stop listening. The whole album is as good as the Amazon reviews. You guys ignored the other song I put up by them and none of you seems to into the heavy Sabbath-type stuff, but this is really exceptional. Lyrics are nonsense, but you know how much I care about that. Iambic pentameter is all that truly matters.
I KNOW I’m the only one who liked/likes KISS around here. KISS takes a beating anytime they come up and I’m certain that will continue. Despite the futility of this effort, I will stick my neck out anyway and offer a few random points on their behalf:
1) It is next to impossible at this point for haters to remember what KISS was about when they first showed up on the scene. They were exciting, mysterious and dangerous. My little brother was downright frightened of the debut album cover. There was nothing like them in 1973.
2) They were a unique blend of hard rock with poppy tunefulness. The best comparison – as others have mentioned – is Slade, but heavier on the hard rock and lighter on the pop. Gene Simmons has said flat-out that there would be no KISS without Slade. I loved Slade.
3) There was no dicking around with ballads or hippy-dippy experimentation with their stuff. They went four entire albums before a ballad appeared on the fifth album (yes, “Beth” was the first sniff of the downfall). All the other rocking bands I knew at the time required the patience of dealing with at least some crap. Do we really need “Going To California?” Sorry, I didn’t know The Stooges yet. I was just a 12-year-old for heaven’s sake. Perhaps Iggy could have saved me from KISS.
4) The “no dicking around” policy was nirvana for me. Finally a band that was bam-bam-bam, in your face. Three minute blasts of hard rock with a pop edge. Later, Brit punk provided bam-bam-bam-bam. Then hardcore bam-bam-bam-bam-bam. The less nonsense the better always worked for me.
5) KISS is a band’s band in a lot of ways. So many good bands cite KISS as an early influence. The fact that my beloved Hellacopters are huge KISS fans justifies my fondness all by itself as far as I’m concerned. I bought the first real KISS tribute album “KISS My Ass” a long time ago and look at the list of participants – Lenny Kravitz, Garth Brooks, Anthrax, Gin Blossoms, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Shandi’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr., Extreme, The Lemonheads, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Yoshiki. Certainly some losers in there, but some pretty big winners as well.
6) Now everyone knows Simmons and Stanley were cold and calculating (and Simmons is an asshole of Nugent proportions), but no one knew that from 1973-1976. Yes, KISS hasn’t produced much of anything good since back then, but, so what? Their early stuff still rocks. The debut album still stands up very well. How about Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship? Do we say throw out Airplane because Starship sucked? Forget about KISS since the late 70s.
Here’s a video from the good old “Midnight Special.” What’s not to like? (By the way, the bass Gene is playing is the very same model I bought – had to have it – as my very first brand new bass guitar back in 1976. I still have that Gibson Grabber today.)
How much have about 30 years altered this list that was put together by Dave Marsh in the Book of Rock Lists? We have a few guitarists on the site, so I’m interested to see what they think.
4. James Burton (Elvis)
5. Pete Townshend
6. Keith Richards
7. Scotty Moore (Elvis)
8. Steve Cropper (Booker T. and the MGs)
9. Link Wray
10. Eric Clapton
Other notables when the list was published in 1980/81: Eddie Van Halen (13), Duane Allman (17), Jimmy Page (22), Mick Jones (24), Steve Jones (25), Bruce Springsteen (29).
As much as I love Springsteen and his guitar playing, I wouldn’t have him on this list. I’d put Prince in the top 30, though I don’t know where. I’d have Mick Taylor (29) higher. I’d have Marc Bolan and Mick Ronson on the list. Jimmy Page would be in my top 10 because he wrote so many great riffs but I know that a lot of guitar players think he’s sloppy. I can’t hear it though. I think Tom Morello belongs on the list after seeing him with Springsteen.
I remember talking to Moyer years ago about guitarists and I questioned the extent that leads should influence the rankings and he said that there isn’t a great guitarists who didn’t play great leads. I countered with Keith Richards and Steve had to admit that I had him there. Of course, Richards played, and wrote, many of the greatest riffs in rock history.
