Goodbye and thanks to Brother Lou–we hardly knew you
You were complicated, angry and cynical. But instead of letting it build up inside and end up being a menace to society – you turned it into beautiful music. Gritty honesty with a warped sense of humor is a great combo. Somehow you became the first un-natural rock star. The moves always looked forced and the voice was always nervous.
But you made it work and thanks.
You let us misfits know that we could get by.
I always thought of you as a long lost brother-It may be a bit weird but that’s what I thought, and now you are gone, may you head toward the great unknown in a blaze of feedback.
You were around for an eternity in Rock n’ Roll years but we still hardly knew you.
Your band is doing great and you are shooting up under a bridge with random junkies you don’t know.
Yeah-addiction is like that. It does not give you anything—it just strings you along and sucks the lifeblood out of you. It leaves you a shell of yourself; any energy that you have will be removed and transferred to it. It is relentless-it is after you and you can’t stop.
But it makes for some great music. Those lucky enough to take it to the edge and escape (warning-results not typical, your battle may not turn into a hit song with an interesting story).
Watching someone battle their demons can be as bad as being sucked into the vortex of no hope yourself. It goes right to the feeling of helplessness that can drown you as you witness someone else drowning.
Of course each addiction problem is a little different as is each person a unique individual-but….but……but…this strikes so many in similar ways that is easy for the masses to relate, even in the third person scenario.
3.Hurt.Johny Cash
You get to the end of your run with nothing left to prove and instead of going quietly into that dark night- you decide to take an artistic high dive that will drag us all through the depths of hell with you to show us all that you do not take heaven lightly. You are the Man in Black and this song plays in my head like “Paradise Lost” plays in my soul. I don’t know what else I can say- inspired genius.
4.Joey.Concrete Blond
Here we go with a song about being the enabler in the addiction process. Ah, yes- that volatile mixture of love and addiction. Johnette has the gift of making everything extra real and relevant without making it a cartoon.
Wow!-here I am echoing the sentiments of Amy Winehouse about putting together a bunch of depressing songs one after another. “I died a hundred times”-She is not just saying that-she is feeling those words. I don’t care if you accuse me of a stretch with this because I love this song and I don’t love “Rehab”.
Great music lends itself to many different interpretations- Maybe I am still coming down from my last post with Marvin Gaye but this song always cuts me up. The desperation and cry for help that went unheeded is haunting.
What a waste of talent and another sad victim of this disease.
Cheers from the cave…and think I will keep it to just the one pint tonight.
This is a great pop song-It has an emotional connection to people of all ages and all walks of life. Kind of like a bridge song that connects people to thoughts and feeling bigger than themselves. It encourages a feeling of community and responsibility. This is all good stuff, in fact….it is all great stuff. Can you become a converted hippie? I think it is starting to happen to me. Anyway this song made me think of an older tune from Marvin Gaye.
Simple and eloquent
Which made me think of my favorite “converted hippie song” bringing me right back to my alternative rock roots. Elvis Costello that quirky purveyor of hipness doing a song by the suave cool original Mr. Nick Lowe
Now I will head down to my local medical marijuana dispensary and see if they can point me in the direction of the closest “converted hippie” bar or nudist colony or wherever my new people hang out. If indeed all the old hippies are at a nudist colony- I really wish I did my conversion a couple months ago when the weather was much warmer! Oh well, it is just another group that will barely tolerate me for a while and send me back to my cave anyway.
They may not be brand new but they are new to me. I hear atmospheric indie pop that is ice cold. I hear The Cure on the way to another galaxy running through the endless void of outer space. I feel like I am walking over the immensity of solid sea ice in constant dark winter as the northern lights dance over my head….
But that might be just me.
That is the great thing about having a music blog and pushing yourself ever so slightly to jump into some strange waters. Once you get over that first shock –you often find that the water is kind of nice and before you know it, you are having a nice refreshing swim.
This blog post is all about not being that guy who thinks the best music has already been done.
That guy who says music today is all crap.
Just slow down –get over yourself—–and listen——-really listen.
Cave of Fame 