If You Don’t Break Out Into a Shit-Eating Grin While Watching This Then, Man, I Don’t Have an Answer
Mar 012011
How did so many pedestrian guitar wankers (eg, Pat Travers, Frank Marino) catch on with the “cool” kids in my high school yet I never heard them talk about Rory Gallagher? I was only aware of him through occasional references in actually cool magazines, like Trouser Press, that only aspiring rock nerds like my teenage self ever read?
I don’t how much mileage I’d ever get simply listening to this guy, but any time I click on a video performance of him I’m rocking like Danny DeVito’s character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He’s more than a shin kicker, I tell you. Mach schau, Rory, mach schau!
And let us not forget to send Mad props to his bassist’s stance and so many other delights in this clip!
Thanks for this. Really impressed how he pretty effortlessly just rocks. Mad props to the bassist for knowing his place and not moving one inch into the spotlight. Same goes for the drummer’s 70s shorts.
I was mighty surprised that Brian May of Queen was greatly inspired and encouraged by Rory Gallagher when May was a young shin kicker about London. Who’d a thunk it?
Who’d a thunk that, indeed? I just read some stories about Queen in a recent issue of TapeOp that made Freddie Mercury go WAY up in my book and Brian May WAY down. Longtime ELO engineer, a German guy with the last name Mack, tells the tale of producing Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” as well as “Another One Bites the Dust.” The band was hanging in LA for a few weeks for tax purposes, so they asked Mack to join them, in case they wanted to lay down some rough ideas. May was elsewhere, and Mercury wanted to quickly lay down his ideas for “Crazy…,” which is among this non-Queen fan’s short list of songs he really likes by the band. Mercury and the other two guys kept joking about how much May is going to hate it when he arrives, how he’s such a perfectionist that he’ll hate it before he even hears it. They lay everything but the solo without him in no time. Sure enough, when May arrives a few days later he turns his nose up and has to be convinced to actually play a solo on a Telecaster of all guitars – and do so in only a few takes! To this day, Mack says, May still is upset that he had to go through with that song. There’s some other song that was released with a rough guide solo on synth by a studio musician instead of a finally worked out May guitar solo that May is also pissed about. All understandable, in the world of band dynamics, but pretty funny.
Your post brought a smile to this long-time Rory Gallagher fan. I’m *still* tardy with my official RTH apologium for the guy — but I’ll drop this quick insight for now: strangely enough, I’m not always the biggest fan of the music I’m listening to — nor do I always enjoy the bizarro Irish-jig-meets-Chicago-blues stuff he plays (as intellectually/philosophically pleasing as it usually is). But Rory THE ROCKER, Rory THE PUNK-HIPPIE, and especially Rory THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE, gives me a big Rock boner.
And, yes, I secretly hope Mockcarr adopts every single element of bassist Gerry McAvoy’s on-stage Look.
Thanks for this, Mod!
hvb nails it on rory! i had a friend in high school who turned me on to rory gallagher. at first, i didn’t get it. then, one day, out of sheer boredom, i played along to the first side of the live Taste album he had loaned me. the rest is history. i really appreciate the guy.
ps. all you chumps who are voting for mike watt on the poll don’t understand what a self-mythologizing blow-hard that guy is.
all he’d do is stand around and talk about himself while you did all the work.
Yeah, I see Watt as more of a union agitator. I need a man’s man who can give me an honest day’s work.
right on, mod!!!
I, too, have issues with this Big Choice Poll, namely:
Mellencamp is frankly shiftless and lazy, unless a good-lookin’ chick is around.
Gallagher spends a lot of time staring into space, and is easily distracted.
John Fogerty is impossible to work with.
Mike Watt talks a lot about working, and sweats a great deal, but never actually completes any task he’s given.
The only guy here who delivers on his work schedule is Bob Seger. He’s not the most creative, or even efficient, worker, but he says what he means, means what he says, and gets the job done. I wish I had 10 more of him on my crew.
I think you’re selling Mellencamp short. He may not be on the level of Seger, but I think he’d deliver on a given job for a short spell. Same for Gallagher. More than a 3-day job may be tough for Rory to hold down, however. I could see him hitting the pub at lunchtime and not making it back before week’s end.
On the contrary, as good as the clip is, the drummer is guilty of several rock crimes.
#1: Those short shorts. Because he’s in a trio, he oughtta know he’s gonna get tape/film time, so he should have been prepared. I wonder if the cameraman got closer, would we see any of his sac hanging out. I wonder.
#2: Wristbands. Yes, I can see guitar players wearing them to actully stop the sweat from dripping into pickups, but drummers? Puh-lease!
#3: Baseball shirt. I suppose I can forgive this one, as it does not have the band logo on it.
Cool clip otherwise!
I’m pretty sure Mellencamp has a history of heart problems, so you’re only getting office work or supervisor duties out of him. I already have that covered, Coug.
Fogerty would tighten up his neckerchief and give you an honest day, but by five, he’s probably shoving a wrench into some machinery, throwing a brick through the factory window or waiting for you out in the parking lot to fight you over something, so I’m not sure of the net gain there.
Seger surely has his own pick-up truck, so he starts with a huge advantage over the field. And his work ethic should never be called into question. The only potential problem I could see with him is if you work in a field that requires a lack of facial hair. If health codes meant he’d have to lose his beard to don a respirator, I can only assume that Seger would just turn and walk away. He’d have nothing left to say.
You guys are crazy. Yes the guy might be high on himself, but he went through a period there in the 90s where he put out like 8 albums in one year with about 4 different bands, including one with his bass-playing girlfriend that was just 2-basses. He baby sat the rookie guitar player in firehose. Now he has to tour and put up with Iggy Pop as the bass player of the Stooges. If that’s not earning a paycheck the hard way, I don’t know what is.
I’ve met Mike Watt, and he seemed like a trustworthy guy. More so than any of the other choices in the poll.
Mike Watt could fix your carburetor, rewire your ignition and not be afraid to get under the car to change your oil. He’d happily remove one of his flannels to touch a hot coil or sop up a spill on the factory floor … knowing he has a few more in the trunk.
Plus he loads his own huge bass amp. Something NONE of the others on the list would lower themselves to do. Especially Fogerty.
Some thoughts from my customary initial, sound-free viewing: the bass player is fascinating. Every time they show him and I get a good look at his hair, I can’t help but think of the old ’70s Hulk TV show when Banner would be turning into the Hulk, and you’d get that weird close-up that was halfway between Bill Bixby and Hulked-out Lou Ferrigno. I kinda love what this guy is bringing to the table even with the Hawaiian shirt.
And that stance, do we have a name for that? If not, I’m thinking it could either be The Heisman or The Washington Crosses The Delaware.
As for Gallagher himself, that’s some excellent stage control. I’m most impressed by his exit and re-entry strategies for leaving and coming back to the mic. It’s subtle work: he sweeps forward with the guitar to create space when backing away, like a wily point guard, then points it back and drives to the mic when he’s ready to return. It’s these subtle details which show that Gallagher knew exactly what he’s doing among while continuing to rock out.
I agree with sonny, though, about having some reservations re: the drummer’s attire. It looks like he was coming from the gym and had most of his clothes stolen out of his locker.
Man, your naming of the stance is VITAL! That’s been on my mind since I first viewed this clip a couple of days ago. Let’s determine between those two TREMENDOUS options, OK? Thanks.
I’m willing to give the drummer a pass on the short-shorts. I don’t know why.
Watt’s a fraud.
I vote for Washington Crosses the Delaware!
Well….I’ve hung out with / gotten high with / and done sound for the guy. All I can say is that he was a rambling font of psychobabble who was more talk than action on those occasions. I suspect he wouldn’t carry his weight in the shop.
see above, Dr. J.
PS: Hurley was the true horse in the Watt camp. No talk…just work at the highest levels.
I voted for Fogerty. He narrowly edges out Seeger because I think he could channel that anger into some amazing productivity on the factory floor. Of course, I’m going to have a metal detector installed at the gate….
Agreed!
Yeah, me too. I think we’ve got a new RTH Glossary entry to work up – or a follow-up to the old piece on bassists’ stances.
Or, as they used to be called, just “shorts.”
Mod, really? You the cool kids were into Pat Travers? “Man, that live version of ‘Boom Boom, Out Go the Lights’ rocks!” What a sad thought. Sheesh.
Pat Travers?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzaeX71FSdQ