As always, first I want to thank everyone who showed up and took the time to listen and submit a vote. I appreciate you all (even if our musical tastes don't always mesh). It was a good turnout this time, making up for the terrible turnout last time.
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Off the top of (what's left of) my mind, I'd say this was probably my least popular Battle Of The Bands installment since Paul Simon and The B-52s faced each other in May of 2015.
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I knew beforehand that this [link> Battle Of The Sexes edition was going to be a bad blowout at best, and possibly a shutout at worst. (Musically-speaking, Thin Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation' is objectively better'n Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation'.) But what I did NOT at all anticipate was the antipathy expressed toward Thin Lizzy's song. I'll expound on that in a moment, but first...
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It saddens me to say that I believe it may be time to retire the Magic 8-Ball from BOTB. Prior to posting the Battle, I asked it this:
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Question: Will Joan Jett Lose To Thin Lizzy?
MAGIC 8-BALL Sez: "My Sources Say No".
I then chimed in with this...
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(Methinks the 8-Ball needs to get new sources!)
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Well, including my own vote, we wound up with this...
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BOTB RESULTS:
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Joan Jett = 4 votes
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Thin Lizzy = 16 votes
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I'm sorry, doggone it, but you just can't get it THAT wrong and still expect to keep your job! Perhaps I should become the new Magic 8-Ball and predict the outcomes in advance. I would definitely do better'n the 8-Ball does.
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What I'm yakking about now is "Badass!" Songs that sound Badass! -- that ignite the Testosterone. Songs that make you break out the Air-Guitar or Air-Drums; that light up your inner "eye of the tiger". It's something I can't really describe in musical terms, but I definitely KNOW IT when I HEAR IT.
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It certainly has something to do with rhythm; sometimes it's tempo too. But there's more to it than just that. Lyrics CAN enhance it, but "tough guy" lyrics are not even necessary to make a song Badass! It's about the sound more than the words.
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If someone said to me, "Name a Badass! song", there's a small handful of titles that would quickly come to mind, such as... Rock The Casbah - Back In Black - No More Mister Nice Guy - Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo - She's So Tough - and even the slower tempo'd Little Dreamer.
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But unquestionably the first song that would come to mind for me -- my "go-to" Badass! song -- is Bad Reputation by Thin Lizzy. It's been that way since 1977. The song just explodes right out of the chute with that thick, heavy, sinewy rhythm and Phil Lynott's voice practically oozing a sense of foreboding.
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EVERY SINGLE THING THAT MAKES A SONG SOUND "BADASS!" IS IN THIS...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqSzDJGFCgI
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My favorite moment in the song? That little guitar lick that Scott Gorham tosses in there at about 2:34 through 2:37.
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To better appreciate what guitarist Gorham is doing throughout the song, watch this cool video below. The kid hits a couple bum notes at one point, but other than that, his playing terrifically replicates what Gorham laid down for the 'Bad Reputation' track:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPGZAFtMK8
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My principal taste in music changed drastically when I got into my thirties and it turned to Blues and then Jazz. As a teenager, I was totally into Rock music -- especially Hard Rock. And in 1977, right after they released their 'Bad Reputation' album, Thin Lizzy became my favorite band. They didn't stay #1 on my list long, but I did see them live 2 or 3 times, with a concert they gave in a small Pasadena theatre being a standout performance. That's one Rock show that has stuck in my mind all these decades.
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As for Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation', I don't have much to say about it. In my own opinion (don't hate me), it's just loud and fast without any notable musical elements to it. It sounded like she was just ripping a page out of The Ramones' playbook, and any aspiring musician who couldn't duplicate anything that any of her band members played on that recording after just 6 months of picking up an instrument should seek a career in chopping wood instead. In my opinion, there was no "there" there; it was just a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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I mean, seriously, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not me, me, me, me, me, me, me!" How long did it take her to come up with that chorus? And why do I strongly suspect that if Joan Jett were not a Liberal, Lesbian, Feminist she couldn't get into the 'Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame' without paying for an admission ticket?
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No personal offense meant toward any of the four good folk who took the time to listen and voted for Joan (I still sincerely appreciate your time and your BOTB participation), but IMO, she got her ass kicked by Thin Lizzy for good reason.
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And I'm still surprised that NO ONE hearing Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation' for the first time said anything like, "Gee, Stephen, that song kicks butt! Thanks for introducing me to it." I fear y'all don't recognize "Badass!" when ya hear it. ;^)
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But then, as I've said many times, it's the surprises in BOTB that keep it interesting. If every Battle went just the way we BOTBers thought they would, there'd be no point in asking people to vote on 'em.
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When I was 17, Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation' was my favorite music album. Today, I only really dig two tracks: 'Bad Rep', of course, and 'Downtown Sundown'.
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Standing in downtown Reno today is an old, vacant Hotel & Casino which used to be called The Sundowner, and the song Downtown Sundown always makes me think of it. One day in 1990, while sitting on the john in a restroom at The Sundowner, it dawned on me that Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' was my very favorite musical recording. (That's still true today.)
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And one day in late 2001, while staying in a room near the top of The Sundowner, I had a mystical experience in which Jesus sent me to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, which I could see below me, a couple blocks away. It was on the front porch of that church where Jesus answered a question that I had been praying and asking Him about for 30 days:
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For those reasons, the following song is kind of special to me:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfyXDoZubG8
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Again, I thank you all for voting in my last BOTB installment and I hope to see you all here again for my next Battle on April 1st.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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Another great matchup, preface, and prologue Mc Brother.
ReplyDeleteWell, you said to not mince words. Okay. "Thin Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation' is objectively better that Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation.' There is no objectivity in the way music sounds. "In 2009, it (Joan Jett's Bad Reputation) was named the 29th best hard rock song of all time by VH1." Is that objective? No. And neither is your point of view/ears that I don't agree with.
"It sounded like she was just ripping a page out of The Ramones' playbook." Exactly. And that's why it's a great song and better than those other guys This Dizzy Thin Lizzy nobody knows who they are really, c'mon they're almost forgotten having, for example, not being lauded by VH1.
And another thing. Well let me tell something let me tell you something.
I'll push you against the ropes trying to win, Knowing everyone I've had a physical fight with becomes a friend. You know I'm right. It's universal. I guarantee you. Everybody you've ever had a fight with became your friend.
Music isn't objective. For example, Saturday Night Fever is better than Mozart or your heroin Jazz sub-genre people like Miles Davis who do whatever chaos racket noise they do. Saturday Night Fever is popular. That's democracy. It's more than people voting. It's people voting with their dollars. They could have bought two albums for 15.98 and they bought one (granted two records in the sleeve) one real whole album for 9.99. I have faith in the American people. In 1983 or so Foreigner 4 was better than Mozart and I said it at the time. They're the best because they're the most popular. And Foreigner 4 only gets a 7 out of 10. Saturday Night Fever gets a 10 out of 10. They get a 10/10 because they're popular. They also get a 10/10 because it sounds good. They're not heavy metal noise merchants from the UK trying to export they're "craft" and sneak into our country. It's my country - If people choose to identify with another.. enough said. Thin Lizzy is good at their craft. Craft is a hobby that people are sort of good at. It's not an art. I already said elsewhere that Australians are the sister country to this, the greatest country on God's green earth. The Bee Gees are more than welcome. I understand the Irish have a bad reputation. I'd appreciate it if they didn't bring their plodding chaos to The United States Of America. I'm a patriot. Joan Jett is an American.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
PART ONE:
DeleteBrother G McDogG ~
As I type these words, I'm listening to '16 Most Requested Songs Of Johnny Mathis'. Does this make me gay? Does it call into question [Link> the confidence of my heterosexuality? Or my ability to discern badassery in a song?
Ha! I don't know what that paragraph had to do with anything. It just seemed like a good opening. (At least a quarter of the time, my writing is operating from a stream o' consciousness approach. I've learned not to question it, but just go with the flow.)
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you here. Been busy (house sale and automotive stuffs). And I hate it when that happens.
Ha!-Ha! I enjoyed your comment. Well, especially the second half of it. When that old "A-DogG" twisted humor I remember so well took over and "Seriousness" got two boots in the ass and its walking papers!
I hear ya, man: "Joan Jett is American. ALWAYS vote American!!" ...Unless the song happens to be [Link> NEVER LEARN NOT TO LOVE, amiright?
Let's face it, we both know that "The British Invasion" was really just a music-themed ploy by the English to try to reconquer what they lost during the great Revolutionary War. Phuq 'em! 1776 FOREVER!!!
Now, to address the mo' Seriousness...
Rule #1: "POSTMODERNISM" Not Spoken Here! (At least not by me, anyway.)
Rule #2: Quality And Popularity Are Not Necessarily Identical.
Rule #3: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (i.e., whatever rule I need to establish at any given time in order to support my position of authority, my dictatorship, my tyranny)
I feel that too often people make statements like, "Music is totally a matter of taste. It's all subjective."
Yes, it's a matter of taste. But NO, it is not entirely subjective. It IS subjective at times, when it is at a certain level. But there are times when music is actually objective. (The fact that extensive and complex courses exist on "Music Theory" indicates that music, like everything else, operates according to certain laws that govern it. I am not a musician, but I've studied it enough to understand some basic concepts about it.)
Continued Below...
PART TWO:
Delete-----*** PAUSE ***-----
[I just now had to stop typing momentarily, in order to change the Johnny Mathis album to 'NO CONTROL' by Eddie Money. I was starting to have impure thoughts about Justin Bieber.]
It's perfectly OK for anyone to prefer something of inferior quality -- something that is technically less impressive -- simply because it appeals to them more, for whatever reason. Very often, I gravitate more toward the less accomplished or technically inferior item. But that doesn't mean I would argue that its quality is equal to the superior item simply because I prefer it.
Case In Point: I would always choose to eat a Ramona's frozen Chile Relleno Burrito over Master Chef Kung Fu's world famous Chicken Chow Mein A La King. I won't pretend that the Ramona's burrito is better quality food, when the Master Chef's meal took three days to prepare (counting time for aging of the chestnuts and almond-maple sauce) and requires cooking precision, skill, and knowledge that none of the illegal Mexicans working at Ramona's assembly line food warehouse possesses.
I know that Chef Kung Fu's food is technically superior. But I just happen to like the flavor of Ramona's Chile Relleno Burritos better. That's fair. And music is sometimes like that.
In music, there are so many factors involved, many of them subjective. There's the tone of a singer's voice; the meaning of the lyrics that may or may not resonate with a listener's experience; choice of instruments in the arrangement; tempo and energy level, et al.
But to say that "ALL music is of equal quality", that "it is ALWAYS purely subjective" is to fall into the trap of "Postmodern" philosophy. The same philosophy that has given us 666 genders to choose from and the false (Communist-generated) propaganda that there are no objective, eternal truths and everything is a matter of feelings / opinion. No, no, no! A godzillion times, NO!!!
G DogG, my previous BOTB installment featured Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole performing the song 'Orange Colored Sky'. In that Battle, you and I both preferred Natalie's rendition. But that was a case where I would argue it was indeed a subjective choice. Because both singers had voices that could maintain a melody; both had vocal control beyond what the average untrained singer has; both would know when they were on or off key; the musicians that comprised both orchestras were very skilled (many could no doubt read and play written music placed before them). The trumpet and sax players in Natalie's orchestra could probably play any technical piece of music that the players in Nat's group could, and vice versa.
Both recordings were of such a high quality that a listener's preference was a purely subjective matter.
In the case of Joan's 'Bad Reputation' versus Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation', I wrote that Lizzy's is "objectively better". And it is, from a musically technical perspective. I briefly elaborated on this when I later wrote of Joan's song: "...it's just loud and fast without any notable musical elements to it ... any aspiring musician who couldn't duplicate anything that any of her band members played on that recording after just 6 months of picking up an instrument should seek a career in chopping wood instead."
That was true. I mean, what were they playing? A couple of chords throughout the recording, without any variation to speak of. There were no musical ideas of "tension and release" in the song; it was just more of the same from beginning to end.
Continued Below...
PART THREE:
DeleteNow, I'll ask you to scroll back up and watch the fingering on the fretboard that the kid in the video performs while duplicating Scott Gorham's guitar work in Lizzy's 'Bad Reputation'. Ask yourself if you'd expect a person who had just picked up a guitar for the first time 6 months ago to be able to duplicate that. I mean, it's certainly not "Danny Gatton quality" playing, but it's well beyond 6-month beginner quality (unless the beginner happens to be a musical prodigy). And it's well beyond any guitar work we heard in Joan Jett's song.
The same applies when you compare the drumming and the bass playing in Joan's and Lizzy's songs. The Thin Lizzy recording is well beyond rudimentary "Punk Rock" quality musicianship, which is exclusively what we hear in Joan's song.
So, yes, I'm saying that Thin Lizzy's song is "objectively better" in technical musical terms than Joan Jett's song is. It possesses more sonic variety and exhibits a greater facility on the respective instruments. There's even more nuance in Phil Lynott's vocals than in Joan's (although that gets a bit more into the area of subjectivity, as neither of them sound like trained singers with extraordinary vocal control).
But I would never say someone is WRONG to like Joan's song better than Lizzy's. That truly IS a matter of personal taste, a matter of subjective preference. I will always defend a person's right to choose Ramona's frozen Burritos over Master Chef Kung Fu's world famous Chicken Chow Mein A La King. But I won't try to convince myself that Ramona's is of equal value. It may be better in terms of flavor (to me and others) but it's not better quality ingredients; it's not better in any objectively evaluated way. There are reasons beyond just quantity that you can buy Ramona's Chile Relleno Burrito for $1.50 but Chef Kung Fu's meal will cost you $20.00 -- skill, time, labor, creativity, number of ingredients, etc.
So, when you say, "Music isn't objective", I say, "In many cases it isn't. But in some cases, yes, it is."
I believe that in some of the examples you used, you fell into the fallacy of Argumentum ad populum.
>>... "I have faith in the American people. In 1983 or so Foreigner 4 was better than Mozart and I said it at the time."
Ha!-Ha! Your statement of faith in the American people cracked me up. (There's that "A-DogG" humor I fell in love with on display!) But as for Mozart and Foreigner 4, I would word the statement as, "In 1983, Foreigner 4 was MORE POPULAR among record buyers than Mozart was." But to say it was "better" is to make an objective evaluation that I do not believe time nor current scholars teaching "Music Theory" will support.
As far as VH1 and Joan's 'Bad Reputation' being named the 29th best Hard Rock song of all-time is concerned... Could you tell me how that was determined? The song did NOT even make it into Billboard's Top 40 Hits chart. But in less than 10 minutes, I could leaf through my copy of Billboard's Top 40 Hits book and find 29 Hard Rock songs that made it into the chart's Top 10.
Was the VH1 ranking based on a single person's opinion, or a panel? If a panel, could you tell me how many on the panel were women? How many might have been Feminists? Liberals? Lesbians? Could any form of "Payola" have been involved in the ranking? In other words, could any personal agendas have been involved in rating a non-hit song so highly?
Thin Lizzy's big hit, the Hard Rock song 'The Boys Are Back In Town', got to #12 on Billboard's chart in 1976. How come it wasn't ranked higher than Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation', which didn't even crack the Top 40?
Continued Below...
PART FOUR OF FOUR:
DeleteMe: >>... "It sounded like she was just ripping a page out of The Ramones' playbook."
You: >>... "Exactly. And that's why it's a great song..."
Or... and that's why it's a "greatly plagiarized" song? Ha! ;-D
As the advertising slogan goes:
"SIXTEEN OUT OF TWENTY MUSIC DOCTORS AT 'STMcC PRESENTS BATTLE OF THE BANDS' RECOMMEND THIN LIZZY FOR THEIR PATIENTS WHO LISTEN TO SONGS TITLED 'BAD REPUTATION'."
Joan Jett...
"Sounds like the pots and pans all fell out of the cabinet."
"Only gave ole Joan 32 seconds and thought, yeah; NO."
"voting for Jett is like voting for the pretty good cover band playing at your local bar three Saturdays from now."
"I loathe the background vocals posing as Echo machines on the Joan Jett tune"
"What the hell was that shit?"
HEY, 16 VOTERS CAN'T BE WRONG!
But seriously, Brother McDogG, I 100% appreciate your input on my BOTB blog, even if we're not always going to agree. It's only Rock And Roll... but we like (some of) it.
Thanks for your time in listening, voting, and commenting! "You've got an open invitation, on that you can rely..."
>>... I'll push you against the ropes trying to win, knowing everyone I've had a physical fight with becomes a friend. You know I'm right. It's universal. I guarantee you. Everybody you've ever had a fight with became your friend.
Ha! That doesn't actually hold true for me. In fact, the only person I've ever physically fought with but am still friends with is my brother, Nappy. However, I know that the situation you've described DOES sometimes exist. In fact, it was hilariously put on display in the hilarious movie 'SWINGERS'. If you've never seen it (although you probably have), I can almost give you my iron-clad, money-back guarantee that you'll enjoy it.
Roll the movie trailer!...
[Link> SWINGERS!
Nappy turned me onto that movie. Yip! That's why we're still friends even after he beat me up.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
In A Mighty Wind Eugene Levey said, "I'm in a prolific phase." You've consistently been in a prolific phase. I think I noted elsewhere that I'm trying to (re) learn to write paragraphs. I thank you for the inspiration. McLuhan said a long time ago "the medium is the message" He was thinking, or I'm projecting, that 22 minutes of sit-com was the shortest attention span one could get. Thank God he didn't live long enough to see Twitter and worst yet texts. These Days (that's a Jackson Brown song - I don't listen to it but I respect he made it). "Vietnam changed everything! Watergate changed everything! Rigged game shows in the 60's changed everything!" That's what baby boomers say because they don't know any better. "We're the most important generation in history!" Granted, if there hadn't been Vietnam protests and the spectre of them... the 80's in Central America could have been the same prolonged war thing. It's possible their generational weight, numbers,nipped it in the bud.
DeleteWhat I was trying to say is that MTV changed things as a new medium. It's just a TV show.. but the baby boomers complained enough about it that you knew it was something. "They can't play their instruments!" They just look good!"
"courses exist on "Music Theory." Are you saying that public education knows more than peoples' ears? "Those who can't learn teach. Those that can't teach teach P.E." - Woody Allen. "Gym class" as people from the east coast those critcs' darlings call it. Don't get me started on those people fresh off the boat 300 years ago who wouldn't know change these days.
Country Rock genre in Laurel Canyon. They're not exactly herding cattle. They did work hard and people who work(ed) hard identify with them. I don't. If I want to retire by 67.8 years old assuming social security isn't bankrupt by then (Did you see 1.3 trillion dollars essentially spent yesterday). I can't "Take It Easy" as those hi-falutin Eagles say.
MTV happened to coincide with New Wave, my favorite genre. The 2nd British invasion. The United States of American recovered after the first musical British Invasion. There were probably a couple more real British invasions before that. The musical invasions were popular. (In the 90's, it's a fascinating look - the New Brittania in which a large enough sector of the British were tired of the U.S. influence and became consciously British. They sung with a British accent - a conscious decision because nobody before - I done never British heard people sing with a British accent before. Especially since - I don't know music history and they ripping - riffing off Muddy Waters or something. They sing with an American accent - a non-regional accent which is a California accent.. or anchorman accents they can't have accents. Oasis a really good group as the leader of New Brittania music tried to make it in the U.S. and didn't. It's like, we don't do British Invasions anymore. And if they want to bring self-conscious provincial stuff over here, it's not going to be that popular. They are a fantastic group and arguably had enough weight to get rid of the perhaps waning grunge scene. Every so often there's a genre like grunge that you're like, "It's all the same thing. It all sounds the same." And they were decadent and in decay from the start. Like Jim Morrison in 1975. Hey grunge people, you actually have to do something first.
Part 2. New Wave is my favorite genre. Blip blip blip blebel blipblip. Synthesizers. Drum machines. Monotone voices. I really dig it. Talk about the medium is the message. So I suppose the ears. Conditioned? Society did this to me! I'm/we're just a mirror reflecting back society, man (no quote marks because I'm only paraphrasing Manson). I believe I like it because it's good music. That New Wave wasn't my parents nor older sister's Oldsmobile didn't hurt. New Wave was/is fresh. "Everybody's talking 'bout the new sound funny but it's still rock and roll to me." Billy Joel. New Wave is the new rock. The torch has been passed to a new generation.
DeleteYou've turned me around and I agree that in some cases quantity (sales) isn't as important as quality. Therefore, I posit that New Wave is more important than Foreigner and The Bee Gees. Human League had the first New Wave number one album. When art and commerce converse.
I'll bet Nappy likes and/or showed you Swingers in part because it's about actors? Note that, as awesome as the characters are, they never got the parts you did. It is a classic, which is rare for the 90's. I had to think/search in my mind on the fight scene. Oh yes the guy who pulled the gun in the parking lot. The Favreau said, "Didn't you see Boyz In The Hood? Now one of US is going to get shot." That's an accurate statement in LA. I wish it was 100% joke.
Cheers, and, thanks again for the inspiration for paragraphs. Notice how I dodged your whole argument that I couldn't counter nor mute. Shuck and Jive! Shuck and Jive! Recently a boss' boss asked me how work was going. I started talking about basketball which I knew he was interested in. A minute later, he turned to a group of about 20 and said, "You're like a politician. You just changed the subject." People laughed and I didn't have to talk about work.
Cheers Boss Brother Man.
Footnotes:
I had the Eddie Money No Control album and it was almost as bad an influence as "I woke up this morning and got myself a beer."
I know you know the Beach Boys link is a Manson cover. He was a ladies' man. If I remember right, Wilson gave Manson some cash or motorcycles for the song. Manson wasn't to happy that his name wasn't in the liner notes.
"But NO, it (music) is not entirely subjective." You're talking to a guy who played trombone in 4th grade only and barely dragged myself to the finish line. You're talking to a guy who's typing with two fingers. I'm hardly a fan of people who can handle piano lessons.
"Ramona's frozen Chile Relleno Burrito." I don't know the brand. But of course, Del Taco is healthy, Taco Bellis good, but sometimes I prefer a burrito for the gas station. No joke. (My glory high school days. I walked with a friend into a 7-11 at 2am and the clerk said right away, "We're out of nacho cheese sauce." He thought that was hilarious. 7-11 nachos was my favorite food at the time. It still might have been except they changed the recipe - at every franchise nation-wide and the cheese didn't taste the same. I kid you not. They lost a customer for life.
"Thin Lizzy's big hit, the Hard Rock song 'The Boys Are Back In Town', got to #12 on Billboard's chart in 1976. How come it wasn't ranked higher than Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation', which didn't even crack the Top 40?"
I think you mean "was." I already said I had the Boys Are Back In Town 45 and it's a great song. "Don't Fear The Reaper" now that will haunt forever.
I like Kid Jersey. It's an opinion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PlhJOzH0gY
G McDogG ~
DeleteSo, I woke up about an hour ago, after dreaming that I was working in a pale green wax pillar factory. (What's a pale green wax pillar for? I don't really know. I just invented it in my dream. Now, as soon as I can find where I left my megaphone, I'm going to sing about it!)
Yeah, seriously, I was working in a pale green wax pillar factory. Those things were HUGE. (Thankfully, my Confident Heterosexuality prevents me from considering that they were phallic symbols. And at no time did Justin Bieber appear in my dream.)
Half of my head was bald, and I told one of my co-workers about a time when I got conked on the head by a wax pillar and immediately thought I was working in a gold and silver mine. Everyone laughed. In the dream, I guess that was a very funny story.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I've just started cuppa joe #2 and just finished watching that skit, MONSTERS OF MEGAPHONE. *Guffaw-Out-Loud!*
Man, that was hilarious! Probably the best laugh I'll have all day. Maybe all weekend. I never even heard of that program before, and will definitely need to look into it. Damn, that was funny! (Especially for a guy like me who loves Tiny Tim, who loved Rudy Vallée.)
Right now, I owe 3 different friends Emails (fell way behind due to the recent busyness), but rest assured that I appreciated your "paragraphs" and will return with a mo' better response as soon as time allows.
Serious thanks for the morning laugh! Tying my shoes and laughing is a great way to start the day!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
That's a heck of a surreal dream, turning light green wax to gold and silver. And bald - ha that's funny.
DeleteNo hurries or worries on a reply or not. I'm glad you like the megaphone video. Cheers.
G McDogG ~
Delete>>... "Those who can't learn teach. Those that can't teach, teach P.E." - Woody Allen. "Gym class" as people from the east coast those critcs' darlings call it.
Ha! Yeah, that's true. They call it "Gym Class". Heck, we weren't in any class. We were out on the football fields.
>>... Country Rock genre in Laurel Canyon.
That reminds me... Have you ever read 'WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE CANYON' by David McGowan? Possibly the wildest book I've ever read. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it to you. In the final analysis, somewhat of a fizzled firecracker, but the trip itself is the thing, even if it doesn't really have a final destination. It's the journey, man, the journey itself.
>>... Every so often there's a genre like grunge that you're like, "It's all the same thing. It all sounds the same." And they were decadent and in decay from the start. Like Jim Morrison in 1975. Hey grunge people, you actually have to do something first.
Have you heard [Link> THIS ONE?
>>... Footnotes:
I had the Eddie Money No Control album and it was almost as bad an influence as "I woke up this morning and got myself a beer."
Footnotes for a comment... I LOVE IT!
Hey, I don't think I told you this before, but when I was trying to track down the original seed of Punk Rock, at one point I actually stopped at Morrison's...
"I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer.
The future's uncertain and the end is always near."
I thought: Eureka! I have found it!
But then later, I discovered I could go back even further and finally stopped at Eddie's 'Summertime Blues'. But I still acknowledge Morrison's line in 'Roadhouse Blues' as an important marker along the way. I think it was perhaps the point where the youthful rebellion and anti-establishment (anti-"The Man") Punk Rock ethos first adopted or took on that sense of nihilism and really ratcheted the defeatist attitude up a notch. 'Roadhouse Blues' was not the original Punk Rock tune, but I do think it's the spot on the highway where it really started to get serious, really started to put the pedal to the metal.
>>... You're talking to a guy who played trombone in 4th grade only and barely dragged myself to the finish line. You're talking to a guy who's typing with two fingers. I'm hardly a fan of people who can handle piano lessons.
Ha! And I'm the guy who played bass in 4th grade. And I don't mean bass guitar but THE BASS -- the standing, acoustic bass, which was probably twice as tall as I was. I'm also the guy who accidentally dropped that bass right in the middle of a performance in the auditorium, in front of every teacher and parent.
I did take up the guitar years later (it was much smaller!), but all I could hear was that big *BoOm!* note that I had inadvertently played on the riser in the auditorium years earlier. I think that one note soured me on playing music thereafter.
Cheers! This Bud is for you, Bud!
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
I haven't read McGowman's book.... We're on the same wavelength. I did read multiple- exhaustive articles by him on his website ~5 years ago. That. Everybody already knew Morrison's dad was a big Navy guy. The links on Laurel Canyon were literally "part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5" lengthy each. That Zappa was a godfather in that MinUTE corner and Jackson Browne and the rest of their cabal were all related to military... then I forget what that music was used for. (I'm not a big fan of country rock... I'm not a big fan of country music nor rock music. When the guys at the guitar shop have a sign "No Smoke On The Water Pease" we're tired of it. If I recall, a group in Laurel Canyon did things or something. I don't know if McGowan noted Oswal.. Osley I think that's it put out millions of doses of acid so young people would stare at daisies and their belly buttons and without acid would have shut down Nam in 1965 instead of being willy nilly waving their hands in front of their face goofs, even dupes. By far my favorite of McGowan is he says the moon landing was fake. I actually believe him. You gonna throw a tin can in the air, covered in aluminum foil, and it's gonna land on the moon and a satellite at the same time will beam it into your living rooms in prime-time. And since then nobody has landed on the moon - it can't be replicated.
DeletePlaying any instrument. I took a typing (piano class it's the same thing). At the start I was the fastest typing with two fingers at the end of the semester I was one of the slowest typingI don'thave time for thistoreadnotes and people tell me what techniqetodo
The Todd Snider song is a good multiplex, complex song. Because it's a good song by definition it's not "grunge" I don't know why the word would be on the video, Because the whole grunge genre is awful.
Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Morrison, the godfathers of punk I hadn't thought about Summertime Blues... that's pretty punk. If one has blues in the summertime, fall and winter jeesh as projected...
G DogG ~
DeleteYeah, I believe the book on Laurel Canyon began as a blog series by McGowan and was later collected into book form and expanded.
So, yes, you've already seen at least some of it. In the end, he was not able to really "PROVE" his assertions and/or assumptions, but the body of "coincidental" evidence easily leads to a "preponderance of the evidence" conclusion that, at least to a large degree, the Laurel Canyon scene was being directed by the infamous "Wizards Behind The Curtain".
'WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE CANYON' - the best, most fascinating, ultimately unsatisfying book I ever read. Anyone into the Rock scene to any degree ought to read it. Food-And-Dessert for thought.
And, yes, McGowan's blog series 'WAGGING THE MOONDOGGIE' (which is still posted) is FUNtastic!
By the time I discovered McGowan's blog series on the Moon Landings, I had already familiarized myself with that topic (books read and documentaries watched), so I already KNEW that the Moon Landings were FAKES 'N' FRAUDS. I didn't need McGowan to prove that to me. But his series was so damned entertaining that I read the entire thing (and did learn a few details I had not already been exposed to).
American Astronauts landing on the Moon, walking around on it, and returning to the USA is, in my opinion, the second biggest, most audacious hoax ever perpetrated on the Americonned Sheeple. #1 on that list is 'THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM'. (Abolish The Fed, and 85% of this country's problems would disappear with it.)
I took typing classes in junior high school as an elective, and am really glad I did! I wasn't very good at it back then, but with decades of practice (and lots of written pages on an old manual typewriter), I go pretty lickety-split now.
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
Wowza! That looks like my own Battle outcome. But I can see why the boys won and Joan can get out of town.
ReplyDeleteI never paid that much to Thin Lizzy until after Lynott died and I started reading about his music. Then I started listening. Great group.
"Downtown Sundown" is more like the songs by them that I like best.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
BOIDMAN ~
DeleteIt was a nice turnout this time, even if we both wound up with major blowouts.
Like I always say, a blowout I can live with, but a shutout would crush me. (Well, I'm saying that NOW, anyway. Even if I never really said it before.)
>>... "and Joan can get out of town."
GOL!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteOoo, Joan got stomped on good! That's gotta hurt...a lot! I went with Thin Lizzy, so YAY for me. I would not have guessed "Downtown Sundown" is a Thin Lizzy recording had you not told me but I'm not familiar with their stuff. I'm not sure what makes a song bad#$$ but if you say BAD REPUTATION is then I can't argue with that. I'll take you at your word, after all you've never lied to me before so I can put stock into what you say. :) Thanks for sharing and for your visit. Have a good weekend, my friend!
Thanks for checking in, CATHY.
Delete"bad#$$"? Please refrain from using that kind of language here, Cathy! ;^)
I wouldn't really know "bad#$$" music from "non-"bad#$$" music. I just make this stuffs up as I go along.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
I sincerely thank you for expanding my knowledge about Thin LIzzy. I'm being honest, not sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, I was aware of them and liked the couple of songs we all heard on the radio, but I didn't know a soul who liked them. I think that was an impediment to following up on TL. All my friends were into very soft rock, and my taste in music at that time (The Who, Led Zep, Journey, Styx, Queen) was already far outside their comfort zones. I was known as a musical outsider anyway, and I just never explored Thin Lizzy. I should have. They were a badass band.
Maybe I'll get into them NOW, as it is better late than never.
SHEBOYGANBOY McITCHYFINGER ~
DeleteLizzy ain't really my mugga beer anymore, but I will always LOVE the kickassness of 'Bad Reputation' and the surprisingly on-target philosophy of 'Downtown Sundown':
"I believe there is a God for love, and He's coming"
and
"If you climb the mountain, then you will see, there is no great distance between The Lord and me".
One can read entire books written by orthodox Christians and not get that much Truth out of them. (*Wink-Wink* *Nudge-Nudge* I KNOW you get the deeper meaning in that second line about "no great distance...".)
Yip! Thin Lizzy had a badass sound and attitude, and I was sure you'd like 'Bad Reputation' based on your love of The Who. I see a lot of similarities.
If you really dig the Hard Rock edge (as exhibited by The Who on tracks like 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and others), then be sure to check out some other Thin Lizzy songs such as...
FIGHTING MY WAY BACK
THE ROCKER
EMERALD
...and more.
Like The Who, they were definitely a High-Testosterone band!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
POSTSCRIPT!
DeleteDOH! UHP!
KILLER WITHOUT A CAUSE
and
OPIUM TRAIL
from the 'Bad Reputation' album, too!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends