Is Rock and Roll Dead???
- Thread starter Andyman
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That was their avowed style. It was supposed to be anarchistic. The irony is that I didn't like the stuff they were rebelling against either. So, while I appreciate their point of view, I didn't like the music any better.
My mom and her neareast-age sister, both children of the 30s, agreed about Chuck Berry. What was strange was that when they got together again in the 90s for the first time since the 50s (lived on different continents), for a really nice long visit and got around to cranking up the Fisher I bought mom, her sister was appalled that Mom played only Pink Floyd. My aunt had somehow become all about Lawrence Welk. My mother was mortified. And I don't blame her.
After my mom's death, my aunt was still going on about my mom's "wild music".
I don't get how a nexus at Chuck Berry diverged so far.
My mom and her neareast-age sister, both children of the 30s, agreed about Chuck Berry. What was strange was that when they got together again in the 90s for the first time since the 50s (lived on different continents), for a really nice long visit and got around to cranking up the Fisher I bought mom, her sister was appalled that Mom played only Pink Floyd. My aunt had somehow become all about Lawrence Welk. My mother was mortified. And I don't blame her.
After my mom's death, my aunt was still going on about my mom's "wild music".
I don't get how a nexus at Chuck Berry diverged so far.
Well as we mature our tastes change.
Nope. You could construct a family tree of Punk in the USA. Many variations, but some of the key bands would be:
Velvet Underground>Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers> New York Dolls>
the Ramones.
It was the Ramones touring England that inspired the buzzsaw guitar sound which bands like the Clash and the Pistols took and added politics.
British Punk, like rock in the early 60s, was again the Brits taking an American idea and expanding on it. Nothing wrong with that as the results were stellar.
I was into Steeleye Span at that time.
I think Elvis was the king because he was the biggest seller and the most prominent of the early rockers. That doesn't mean he was the best artistically or the most influential. But the biggest guy is the king. I think of Berry, Lewis and Little Richard as mighty dukes of the royal line like York, Gloucester, Somerset and Buckingham.
Also Elvis kept a large and loyal (and lucrative) fan base until his death and even after death, this bespeaks a great cultural impact. Perhaps that he never renounced his working class and Southern roots has a great deal to do with the loyalty of his fans.
And don't forget, he was a movie star too. He was a Rock and Roll Sinatra and I mean that in a good way.
Son of a bitch could sing too, let's not forget that.
Also Elvis kept a large and loyal (and lucrative) fan base until his death and even after death, this bespeaks a great cultural impact. Perhaps that he never renounced his working class and Southern roots has a great deal to do with the loyalty of his fans.
And don't forget, he was a movie star too. He was a Rock and Roll Sinatra and I mean that in a good way.
Son of a bitch could sing too, let's not forget that.
Him, too. Though I don't think he really intended to be. And then when it was hoisted upon him, child-like sentiment like "I'm a little dinosaur" and "abominable snowman in the market" was probably the most punk thing he could do. More punk than the bands that just took the formula and repeated it with a different snarl.
KeninDC
Hazy Cosmic Jive
Fun band. Still around?
For those who don't know, they named themselves after Can's two singers, Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki. The recent 3CD set "Lost Tapes" by Can is strange and beautiful.
I just picked up the Rolling Stones' 2nd EP (a 1964 UK Mono pressing) on vinyl and the new (November 6, 2012) "Toy" CD of psychedelic ditties, so I've got both ends of the rock & roll spectrum pretty much covered, timeline-wise.
Like Jack Lord, I do miss the variety on the radio that is glaringly absent these days. Regional radio and privately-owned (think WKRP) radio is sadly gone. I "heart" radio is the same ol' shite. My CD player in my daily commuter took a dump, so I'm hyper aware of this.
Pop music is aimed at young girls. Video games aimed at young boys. Since my son would rather longboard than shoot bad guys, he's out of luck, music-wise.
That first Modern Lovers record has some very raw and hard driving music and I love that cheesy Farfisa organ sound.
At the first Lima fest we had a Chicago Horn Club room and when I played "I'm Straight" over my Altec 605s many were quite taken by the clarity, power and projection they gave the stark vocal performence.
At the first Lima fest we had a Chicago Horn Club room and when I played "I'm Straight" over my Altec 605s many were quite taken by the clarity, power and projection they gave the stark vocal performence.
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The alternate take of "It's Now or Never" proved that beyond any doubt I might have had. He was a superb balladeer.
Your points about commercial success and durability are valid, too. The king is the one who can hold the throne, not just warm it up.
My quibble essentially revolves around the fact he didn't originate his sound. He was the white boy the Memphis labels put to vinyl to sell songs already popular in the local community recorded by black artists, in order to get regional, then national sales, which he delivered. Most of his early material had already been recorded, even in much the same style, by others who just happened to be black.
My mom grew up sneaking off to "bebop dance" with the black girls to those original recordings, well before Elvis came along, much to her mom's chagrin (though her dad, "a nasty old Frenchman" fully approved). She still had all those records when I came along and I grew up hearing the earlier originals of much of his early recording catalogue.
KeninDC
Hazy Cosmic Jive
My roomies jokingly called me "Hippie Kenny" during a certain point in my life, based on that song and my knack for attracting hot girlfriends.
I had not. At the risk of a sweeping generalization, the Brits have a knack for going overboard with the orchestration - in a good way. For a minute there, it hit me as a cross between Slowdive and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
I love them! Prefab Sprout too!
You have to understand that rock n roll came out when the typical music was Patty Page and schmaltzy versions of classics. I hated that stuff. Of course I was just a kid.
Yikes. Thou shalt not mix Souvlaki with schmaltz.
SA-708
Appalachian-American
To be fair to Bono, he did give consideration to breaking down the wall between performer and audience even in the largest venues. For example, he took a gamble in breaking the rules passed down to the artists at Live Aid, and managed to get someone from the audience up on stage to dance with him. When I saw U2 at the Hoosier Dome on All Saints Day during the Joshua Tree tour (following a Circle Jerks club show on Halloween), before the show they were looking for someone who could play G, C and F chords on the guitar, and then had the audience member they found join them onstage to play "People Get Ready." Not sure if U2 kept that up gestures like that once they started all the PopMart multimedia junk though.
But all things considered, I prefer a small venue. Today's dilemma is deciding which Nick Cave show I should beg for as a Christmas or birthday present: Saturday night 300 miles east at Ryman Auditorum, or Sunday night 60 miles south at The Orange Peel. Or both.
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