The Grammys = good music?
Award shows by an industry for an industry are weird. On one hand- they want to highlight some of the excellent product that has been produced during the year, but on the other-they want to set themselves as a viable thriving entity that is really cool and happening. The Artists they pick will try to reflect both these things with a keen eye towards what the public has a taste for and will spend money on. Is this bad? Everybody has to get that rent paid one way or the other.
I like seeing the nominations because it shows what we have interest in and it lets me know if I missed something. I admit that the Black Keys completely got by me. I am going to take a crash course on this band after I write this and probably find out a song or two is already in my cortex waiting to be processed. Or maybe not….maybe I missed them completely. I know the name and I know people like them but I got nothing to say right now. This is reason #457 that I love music…a band has to be discovered by you personally to be part of your world. Going on a little discovery mission to the Black Keys universe may make them one of my favorites or I may hate them and everything they stand for.
So I guess the Grammys can still do some good work and bring attention to some good music, even if LMFAO’s “Sexy and I know it” is nominated for something.
What Rock music does Batman listen to?
I see Batman as more of a classical music fan since he moves in those wealthy circles of society, maybe catching an opera or two along the way.
But that doesn’t mean a dude in a bat suit can’t rock out once in a while, we know he has a dark side. He is intelligent, we also know that he is not afraid to get down and dirty with the criminal element of Gotham. He is a great advocate of those unjustly accused. Gritty, Smart and defender of the masses- all in N.Y.C…I am thinking Lou Reed for the caped crusader. Cranking up “Sweet Jane” in the Batmobile as he tears out of the Batcave to extinguish a little vengeance on some offenders…yeah that works.
Slade…Come on feel the Noise
5 good covers…#3 Quiet Riot covers Slade…Come on Feel the Noise
O.K, this one is personal. Come on feel the noise [yes…I am spelling the title this way because this is 2012 and on the internet…the words were innocent and playful and there was no web when this hit in 1973…end of disclaimer] O.K back to Slade.
This was a monster hit in 1973…if you were a young dude residing anywhere covered by the English Top of the Pops universe, you did everything you could to get a copy of this 45. As a young lad myself, I managed to get one and also wear it out on the record player. I would bring it to the States with me but alas that may have been the only copy to make its way there. The Beatles and Stones made it over and so did Monty Python and even Benny Hill, but Slade would never cross the Atlantic in a significant way. I can’t explain this because you could say (and I think I am) that they were the kings of early 70’s glam Rock.
The Quiet Riot version is good but that is not the reason I chose this. Everyone thought this was a Quiet Riot original because no one from the 80’s metal era ever heard of Slade….and no one cared. That is why the cave must stand up and put an end to this transgression. As I said before, this one is personal…this is the first record that I added to my collection. This blog is about dragging relics out and giving them a quick polish. This post is giving you two relics for the price of one…Me and my first favorite band Slade.
And now for something completely different:
If you look at the guitar player in the video for this song, he is either dressed as Diana Ross or a Dalek… Dr Who fans help me out here.
5 good covers…#4 Warren Zevon covers Steve Winwood- Back in the High life again.
Back in the High life again.
Sometimes digging in the cave you find a bright shiny gem that you had almost forgotten about. Warren Zevon was dark sardonic humor brought to life. Each song was a mini film noire with twists and turns and shady characters. Dark Humor walks on some dangerous streets and Warren was ready to bring you along for a stroll. This is a very rare vintage of sarcasm and cynicism mixed with brutal truth and reflection. I am struggling a bit with words to describe it…his songs always walked the edge.
Now let’s get to Steve Winwood. He seems to walk in the ethereal light of a gentle English meadow. There is a quality of the refined country gentleman about his music. He may still play the organ at his local country parish church once in a while.
So when Warren Zevon picks a Steve Winwood song to cover it has the chance to be something special. In the Steve Winwood version the song seems to be about the resolution of the struggle and getting life back where it should be. But in the Warren Zevon version the song seems to be about the struggle itself….Same damn song but not same damn song!
5 good covers…. #5 Motorhead covers the Sex Pistols on German TV
No one can argue that this is a rock performance.
Nothing like a blast of Sex Pistols to get that holiday season going, here we go with another list and I want to tackle them one at a time because they demand respect. Motorhead’s version of “God save the Queen” comes in at #5
Lemmy is an icon and needs to be painted on any cave wall that talks about the history of rock music. Some may think that heavy metal sounds cool and want to take it in a direction all their own and many have. Lemmy invented it-I know I am going to get arguments about Deep Purple and I have to admit that Smoke on the Water still sounds good. I also expect Ozzy fans to be all up in my stuff crying about the way he brought Satan and death into metal in a unique and digestible way. O.K …fine…but before we get crazy…the band Boston once claimed to have invented Heavy Metal (check the liner notes of the first Boston record). This is not a dig on any of those bands; although I reserve the right to take some shots in future posts.
With the same logic I used to proclaim that Jerry Lee Lewis made Rock n Roll an actual entity that you could see and hear and experience, I am going to say that Lemmy fleshed out heavy metal and turned it into the beast it became. He is another complicated and conflicted character that could only be a rock star or a guy pushing a shopping cart down the street yelling at himself. He would have been great at either, I mean… would you get in his way if he was rolling a rusty cart with squeaky wheels right at you?
Anytime someone covers Johnny Rotten and Company, it gets my attention. Whatever you think about the Sex Pistols…they were a catalyst for complete change in the landscape of music. The icon of heavy metal covering the icon of punk…delicious…makes you want to take a swig of warm beer and spit it at someone…Happy Holidays from the cave!
Some Nights
The Circle of life and Ramen Noodles
This story starts in a pub in the middle of summer as I am talking music and getting into a fight with my brothers about the relevance of Rush in rock music and I even got to the point of boldly declaring that Justin Bieber was a better Canadian import than Getty and the boys (hey, he’s from the Toronto projects, the Biebs grew up tough!)
Somewhere in the middle of this- one nameless brother with questionable music taste mentions “Fun” as the band he likes-O.K ..We are Young seems like a happy tune but they have the feel of one quick hit and done at this point. Let’s get back to comparing Justin to John Lennon…yeah, we had a few at this point.
Fast Forward to now –
The video for “Some Nights” is all American Civil War which is interesting because so is the last song I featured “The Night they drove Old Dixie Down” — The Civil War was brother fighting against brother…O.K, maybe in our fight we only spilled trace amounts of Guinness instead of actual blood but you see where I’m going. In an earlier post on this site I mentioned Kiss music as “Ramen noodles rock”-warm with an instant flavor packet and no substance. Fun is on the music label Powered by Ramen…a reference to those very same noodles…Whoa!… The universe is lining up!….and finally this Fun song has a Lion King vibe about it…The Circle of Life…everything is connected.
The moral of this story is my nameless brother was right…Fun is gaining some traction as a great alternative rock band. They are quirky and melodic enough to not have to make excuses about being a rock band…they just get out there and get it done.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
This song gets me every time. I was listening to Pandora on the iPod while sketching in Adobe illustrator, ready to shut it all down for the night and this song is thrown in the mix. I should not be surprised since I started the Pandora station with The Band as it seemed like great music to work with as winter comes to town. I could not shut it off…this song takes me down south in the wake of defeat and it kills me everytime I hear it. I am Virgil Cain watching those bluecoats march all over my life and take what is left of it away. I have to admit that I am not from the South, and really I am not from the North either so this song should have not have a direct impact on me but it does. It hits me right across the head and takes me back in time with it. This is what a great song can do…it can cast a spell on you for a few minutes and make connections in your soul that you don’t completely understand but feel anyway. Every single time this one gets to me and I have no explanation for it.
Cave of Fame 