rock movies

Does Tom Waits’ Performance in Down By Law Overshadow His Entire Musical Output? (And Room for a Discussion on “Tuxedo” vs “Coffee Table” Albums)

Jul 222011

I’ve got a much bigger fish to fry later today, but to get things rolling I’ve been chewing on the following thought: Does Tom Waits‘ performance in Jim Jarmusch‘s Down By Law overshadow his entire musical output?

To be clear, I own and enjoy 5 Waits albums: The trio of “junkyard” albums that first caught my attention in the mid-’80s, Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank’s Wild Years, and then 2 earlier albums that an old friend taped me after I’d finally given this artist the time of day, The Heart of Saturday Night and Nighthawks at the Diner. Oh, I also own the live album that came out last year, Glitter and Doom Live. There’s much I dig in Waits’ music and lyrics, even though his hobo hipster delivery are a bit too much for me to take on a regular basis. I consider his albums Tuxedo Albums, that is, classy, intelligent albums I can pull out once a year for a special occasion.

Unlike a Coffee Table Album (eg, any box set of an artist performing in a genre I typically don’t care about but feel I can cover in one broad stroke, such as the Patsy Cline box set I bought years ago to get my wife and all other country music fans off my back) or an Olive Branch Album (ie, my RTH-approved Jackson Browne album, Late for the Sky), both of which are meant to advertise my musical depth, diversity, tolerance, and whatnot, my Tom Waits Tuxedo Albums make me feel really good about myself whenever I need to “clean up” and pop one on my turntable. I’m sure I’ve got a few friends and acquaintences who think better of me for having seen me in the light of the album-closing version of “Innocent When You Dream.”

However, for all his fine musical tailoring, Waits’ music feels intellectually dishonest and showy. His performance in Down By Law, on the other hand, is One From the Heart, to quote the title of a Copola movie he worked on. My eyes are flooded with tears of laughter any time Waits appears in that movie. I’ve never gotten half that meaningful an emotion out of a single Waits song, but man can that guy play his role in Down By Law!

It’s a shame. Tom Waits has done a lot of quality music—and I know people who’ve traveled to East Jabip to see one of his rare live performances—but I don’t know if he can ever top his role in Down By Law. Maybe he’s been in the wrong business all these years. What do you think?

SHOWDOWN (Choose One): Who Made Better Use of Easy Rider for Their Video?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 182011

I like both The Fiery Furnaces and The Dead Milkmen, and I recently learned that the former made a video based around the most-influential movie of my childhood (and, possibly, entire life), Easy Rider. Each video follows for your review. Leaving the music out of it if you must—because if you’re like me you might find that the song in one of these two videos is not anywhere near a favorite in the band’s catalog—which band made better use of its source material? Choose one…after the jump!

What’s Wrong With This Picture: Oliver Stone’s The Doors

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 082011

When I’m watching a movie, especially a rock movie, I”m not usually a stickler for historical accuracy, anachronisms, continuity, and the like, but the period films of Oliver Stone have a special place in my critical eye based on Stone’s unbelievably shoddy use of spirit glue and fake facial hair and wigs. I can’t watch The Doors or Born on the Fourth of July, for instance, without being completely distracted by the seeping spirit glue running down the actors’ fake sideburned cheeks. If I had my druthers I’d invite you over tonight and spend the evening screening these films and cutting up on just this topic, but today I’d rather have us turn our critical eye on the following clip from Stone’s Doors flick.

Click on this formative scene (sorry, you’ll need to click the link because all versions of this classic excerpt I can find on YouTube prohibit embedding – we wouldn’t want to mess with Stone’s vision, you know) from the Book of Doors. At one point I’m pretty sure I noticed a blatant anachronism, one way worse than the occasional woman with a poofy, early ’90s hairdo. What is it that I immediately tuned into?

Some of you are much better tuned into this stuff than me. Why don’t you join me in identifying other anachronisms and whatnot?

Make sure you don’t get a whiff of that spirit glue!

Last Man Standing: Songs That Are Based Around the Chord Progression and Rhythm of “Sweet Jane”

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 262011

I love “Sweet Jane.” Although its chord progression and rhythm are probably part of the extended rock ‘n roll lineage of 3-chord classics like “Louie Louie,” “Wild Thing,” and “Gloria,” I would argue that its distinctive rhythmic hitch established the song as its own dynastic chord progression.

Last night, while watching the John Hughes “classic” Pretty in Pink for the first time in my life I kept waiting for the title track to play, hoping against hope that it would inject a little excitement into this simplistic, overly nice film that I felt justified for having been “too cool for school” to see when it was all the rage in my college years. Maybe the song plays at the beginning of the movie, the first 15 minutes or so of which I missed, but let me tell you, I was pretty pissed when… [SPOILER ALERT!] Continue reading »

Rock’s Unfulfilled Fashion Ideas: The Scarf

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 192011

Dashing!

It’s finally starting to warm up, so I should have no business thinking about scarves for the next few months, but Robbie Robertson is showing up in the rock press to promote his new, certainly terrible album, and I’m finding myself thinking about the promise held by the silk scarf he wore in The Last Waltz.

I can’t stand wearing a scarf, even in freezing cold weather. They make my neck sweat and itch. I can’t get them to stay on my neck and shoulders. Within a few minutes of trying to wear a scarf I’m bugged that I can’t zip or button up my coat properly, and next thing I know one end of the scarf has slipped down and is practically dragging on the ground.

When it’s really cold out my wife tells me I should wear a scarf. When I was a kid my Mom used to tell me to wear a scarf, too. I don’t get that cold, especially around my neck. Most fashionable accessories we cover in our ongoing series on Rock’s Unfulfilled Fashion Ideas are not regularly recommended by both wives and mothers, but the Rock ‘n Roll Scarf had the dashing mastermind behind The Band as an advocate. Continue reading »

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and the Evolving Rock ‘n Roll Landscape

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 042011

I finally saw the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World last night. It was so good, so sweet, so true to a time in life that I’d bet—cultural and technological changes aside—a lot of Townspeople can identify. The whole family dug it, and my wife and I took great, snobbish pleasure in explaining to our boys why the film couldn’t have been the massive popular hit and Academy Award winner it clearly would have been had more of the world been more like us.

This morning I’m thinking about some of the key cultural developments since my teen years (that would be the mid-1970s into early 1980s, kidz) that have worked their way into the modern-day rock ‘n roll youth culture. For instance, the history of rock ‘n roll through my teen years was framed by the ubiquitous landscape of cars & girls. There was a good chance that a rock ‘n roll artist in the early days of the genre, such as Chuck Berry, through bands like Loverboy was going to sing about “cars and girls.” Drugs and alcohol would join the mix, but cars and girls were long the driving force, no? I wish I could explain it better; would it make sense if I said cars and girls were key to the mise-en-scéne of rock ‘n roll? (My apologies to film buffs and the French, if I’m using this term incorrectly.)

If it wasn’t clear enough to me, thanks to my Swing Era–loving, “gamer” teenage son whose love of The Mills Brothers, Dean Martin, et al has been furthered by the soundtrack to his favorite video game, the Fallout series, Scott Pilgrim vs the World drove home the point that video games have replaced cars in the rock ‘n roll mise-en-scéne. For that matter skateboards have eclipsed cars. What fun would there be writing about a Toyota Camry?

Girls are still essential to the landscape of rock ‘n roll, but boys are included too, and not just in “Girl Group” songs written by highly frustrated, compensating, domineering dudes.

Video games, skateboards, boys… What else might be new to the rock ‘n roll landscape since you moved beyond its core demographic?

Dugout Chatter: Rock Oscars Edition

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 282011

The day after the Oscars is probably the third-best day to hold this special edition of Dugout Chatter! You know the drill: please provide your gut answers to the following questions. There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy…

What’s the best use of a rock song in a non–rock themed movie?

If Stanley Kubrick had filmed a rock video, what song should he have filmed?

What rock artist or band is most deserving of a future rock biopic?

What’s the most egregious rock ‘n roll detail inaccuracy you recall on film?

What’s the Jaws of the music business?

Of existing rock biopics, what overlooked aspect of the artist’s life do you most wish had been covered?

I look forward to your responses.

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