Jun 092011
One week late, here’s your Thirsty Thursday All-Star Jam Double-Shot of Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda-Been Classic Rock!
Next, a Mystery Date unmasked…after the jump!
One week late, here’s your Thirsty Thursday All-Star Jam Double-Shot of Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda-Been Classic Rock!
Next, a Mystery Date unmasked…after the jump!
I have a question for the assembled wisdom of RTH. Anyone know why the Bowie song ‘Heroes’ has the quotes in the title?
According to Wikipedia, which is 100% accurate:
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein working their asses off on some English TV show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFhqhYpdb3c&feature=related
Interesting, and perhaps even true. But there is zero irony to the song, and certainly the “quotation marks” do not add any. For my money, even though I much prefer the Ziggy era, “Heroes” is probably Bowie’s greatest moment. (The song, not the use of quotation marks.) It is majestic and soaring–it rises above cliche and certainly is unhampered by irony.
And it doesn’t get any easier for them in pt. 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRaVOL_Yls8
Seriously, could two Rock Stars be any nicer when faced with such a scene?
You really think there’s no irony in the song?
If any of you have a spare 15 minutes, here is a very long but excellent blog post about “Heroes” which, I think, is the final word regarding the irony of that song.
Crap, forgot the link: http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/heroes/
Well, not to my ears, anyway.
Stein and Harry also wrote the theme song for John Waters’ 1980 film, Polyester. Does that bring major cool credentials or what?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVJYHCBcBbI
Silverhead? Damn, yet another ’70s English band I never heard of. I have heard of Jobriath, though. He came along just in time to see glam fading, so he never really got anywhere. Here’s a completely gratuitous Jobriath nipple shot. Consider yourselves warned.
http://i.somethingawful.com/mjolnir/images/dannymanic~jobriath.jpg
Neu! was definitely better-than-average Krautrock – more structured than Tangerine Dream, less electronic and more tuneful than Kraftwerk. Any of their three ’70s albums are worth listening to.
The “Heroes” album has some very funny songs — to my ears — Joe The Lion (“made of iron!”) and The Secret Life of Arabia used to crack us up as teenyboppers.
Jobriah may have been all that — but he in no way beats Rob Halford, Morrissey (?) and Mike Stipe as best Openly Gay Rockers.
Ever heard of a guy named Esquerita? He was a black rock’n’roll piano player in the ’50s who was about ten times more campy and outrageous than Little Richard ever was. Apparently Richard borrowed his look and style from Esquerita but toned them down quite a bit to be less outrageous and threatening to ’50s sensibilities. I wish I could find video of Esquerita in action – he stood nearly 7 feet tall with another six inches of pompadour on top and was said to be extremely flamboyant on stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZy0uapPGI
If you were in a relationship with Steven Tyler, then Todd Rundgren and made an album with The Cars as your backing band, would you think those things might help you to become a better musician or singer? From what I hear, I’d say no.
http://www.myspace.com/bebebuellband
Yeah, but he could have stood 14 feet high and still lacked a distinctive voice. His music has little spark for all the effort he supposedly put into being outrageous and flamboyant. On a musical level he’s like the male Cher.
Jeez, that’s like burnt-out Marianne Faithful without the imagined talent and depth that only fans of her music can hear!
Esquerita didn’t even get to record before 1958, several years after Little Richard began. His legend is based more on his style and on-stage presence more than the recordings, by which time he was already beginning his long slide down.
I was fully prepared to say that’s a cheap shot but, in fact, it is spot on. Ouch.
Gotta give it up for this page:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/11/18/116-black-music-that-black-people-dont-listen-to-anymore/
It was a really random find – Facebook suggest I friend her and I have no idea why. Maybe she’s better at Farmville than she is at singing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_fnSbZ7A9U&feature=related
Ouch. Guilty as described.
I’ve got to wonder if current chart R&B and Hip Hop, with it’s emphasis on discovering newer, more extreme beats isn’t offputting to someone from a rock n roll background until those beats age a bit and are replaced by something more extreme. I suspect those military-style dance tunes by Rhianna “So Hard” and Beyonce “Girls Rule the World” will sound better later. As it turns out, I have a bit of affection for that late 90’s electro style like Madonna’s “Ray of Light” that I couldn’t imagine 10 years ago.
I WANT A JOB, I WANT A REAL JOB, I WANT A JOB THAT SATISFIIIIIIIIES… MY ARTISTIC NEEDS DEPT.
Wolfgang’s Vault has the entire Pistols gig from the Winterland Ballroom, 1978 — on film!
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-sex-pistols/video/holidays-in-the-sun_-1104789176.html
IMPORTANT BULLETIN FROM THE FUTURE DEPT.
An actually inspiring idea that could help millions of shat-upon musicians:
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=12929
The few house concerts I’ve put on with a couple in my neighborhood, selling seats over PayPal, have brought more money to the musicians than most crappy club gigs. Now our band’s guitarist, Jim McMahon, has been doing shows at a cool space he rents out in Philadelphia. I helped him promote a show the same way and, likewise, the money was in the bank, the bands got paid, people had fun. Power to the People, just don’t play me that song!