http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZO69hhHeE
From the legendary and incredibly dark “Tonight’s the Night” album, comes the very scary “Lookout Joe.” While it sounds a little peppier than many of the songs on the album, it’s actually the roller coaster going downhill into hell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEr3z0THed4&feature=relmfu
Reed’s bone-chilling live version of his classic mini-rock opera “Street Hassle” from 1978. The “Take No Prisoners” album is legendary among Reed fans as being a stand-up comedy album because Reed gets back at some of the critics that have bothered him. However, I don’t think this is the “camp” masterpiece some people think it is. I believe it may be his best solo album. His band is phenomenal, the playing is powerful, the backup singers are terrific, and Reed, as f–ked up as he sounds, gives it his all. This version of “Street Hassle” is particularly memorable, especially the middle section where Reed takes on the character of the callous dope dealer talking to a client about getting rid of someone he brought over who OD’d. The way Reed spits out the lines is frightening and makes one believe he could have been a hell of an actor if he had gone down that road as an artist. The guitar playing during the last third will make the hairs on your neck stand up. A severely underrated masterpiece, even though Reed sounds really troubled and f–ked up on most of the songs. Oh, and the binaural sound that Reed embraced at that time (and had the album recorded with) sounds absolutely smashing on CD.
Lyrics that stop me in my tracks every time: “You know, some people got no choice … And they can never find a voice to talk with that they can even call their own … So the first thing that they see that allows them the right to be … Why they follow it, you know, it’s called bad luck.”
What was it about Joey Ramone that inspires the most loving tributes from fans and fellow musicians? Probably because in most of the tributes I’ve read and heard, he was universally talked about as being a sweetheart and a gentleman. This is a lovely song by Amy Rigby that I heard over the weekend on the Sirius satellite radio channel Little Steven’s Underground Garage. Joey’s brother Mickey Leigh paints a far darker picture of the man in his memoir “I Slept with Joey Ramone.” I don’t doubt Mickey’s account, but I also don’t doubt everyone else’s accounts either. I interviewed Joey for my college newspaper in 1990 and got a chance to meet him (and the rest of the Ramones) backstage after the gig he played near my local college. The show started 2 hours late due to (from what I was told) some issues with their road crew at the previous gig, but the Ramones gave it their all and still performed a great show. A friend of the club owner invited me backstage, and as soon as I got there, I immediately felt that I needed to leave. Not because I didn’t feel worthy, but because the band looked really tired and I felt they needed their space. However, Joey and the rest of the band received me graciously and were very cool. I told them they played a great gig, that I appreciated their music, and then left after a minute or two of minor chitchat. Again, they had no reason in the world to be cool to me, but they were. I’ll always be thankful for that and it’s an example I’ve always tried to keep in mind on how to treat people, even when you don’t feel like being your best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkDURWODmSo
Once upon a time, there was a vocalist from England who was probably the greatest rock singer of his time (the late 1960s/early 1970s). He achieved some critical respect as lead singer of The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces and a couple of decent solo albums. However, he decided that critical acclaim and minor commercial success wasn’t enough … he needed greater fame. So my theory is that he went to the same crossroads that Robert Johnson went to many years ago and made a deal with Satan for commercial success. Satan’s deal was that this singer would record one legendary, phenomenal album (“Every Picture Tells a Story”) and then with each progressive album, the quality would go down slightly … and then keep going down. So, the next solo album (“Never a Dull Moment”) was pretty good, but not as good as the previous endeavor … and then, this once great vocalist would progressively get worse (1978’s “D’ya Think I’m Sexy?”) … and then hitting the bottom of the barrel with sub-Tom Jones / Broadway garbage during the 1990s and 2000s that paradoxically was ridiculously successful commercially. Rick Rubin, if you’re out there, another terrific singer on the artistic skids needs your help!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7yABFmmIeU
I find that this version of “Sister Morphine,” sung at the time when Marianne Faithfull was actually going through the hell of what she’s singing about, is more compelling than the version she did at the end of the 1970s. Yes, the Stones’ version on “Sticky Fingers” is damn good, but this version is better in my opinion.
A special dedication to all of those who have shown their appreciation and support of this blog during the first month of its existence. To everyone who has browsed, thrown up a like or comment, or has officially followed this blog, it always brings a smile to my face and means more than you know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSzZHkTzpDc
If anyone wants to know what song corrupted me forever and led me down a dire musical path that has included KISS, the Sex Pistols, the Mentors, the Angry Samoans, and G.G. Allin, it was hearing (and owning!) this song at the age of 6.
Let’s take the wayback machine to Christmas 1976. I saw a K-Tel album advertised on TV that had a lot of hits of the day on it. Since some of the music sounded cool to me, I asked my parents to buy the album for me for Christmas. I didn’t get the album, but what I got was way cooler. In addition to receiving a portable record player, I got forty or so 45 RPM records. The songs were things my Mom thought was good back then, mostly MOR adult contemporary stuff (Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond). The MOR stuff also included an Alice Cooper’s ballad called “I Never Cry.” My mom thoughtfully put a check mark on the A side of each single to indicate the song to listen to … Except … She made a huge mistake on the Alice Cooper record. She accidentally checked the B side of the single instead of the A side. The B side of “I Never Cry” was “Go to Hell,” which is about “being a living obscenity” and roasting in hell forever. Not only did the song have the “7734 upside down” word in the title, but it described all kinds of things that scared (and admittedly, thrilled) me at such a young age. This record was a secret I shared with my friends at the time and we all marveled at getting away with something so dark and forbidden. Ah, those were much more innocent times. Anyway, thank you Mom for inadvertently leading me down the path of dark pop culture. I mean that with all sincerity, trust me.
From early 1970s Cleveland, comes one of the most negative, nihilistic songs ever recorded. Look I love me some Iggy, Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson, and GG Allin, but these cats are all Mama’s boys compared to the Eels, who allegedly only performed 5 gigs, because they’d wind up beating the crap out of each other and the audience by the end of each performance. Now, you can enjoy them from the safety of your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Ahhh, technology!
Aside from a few token plays on Alternative stations in the late 1990s, this terrifically smart, sharp, and funny hard rock anthem got lost at the time of its release, apparently due to the parent record label (Polygram) being bought by Universal … or something like that. In any case, this should have been one of the biggest hits of the 1990s and is one of the best songs of that decade (or any decade for that matter). It says everything Nirvana’s “Serve the Servants” says, but with much greater wit and class.
A straight edge anthem from the early 1970s … when it was REALLY REALLY not cool to be straight edge. Apparently, Jonathan Richman and company used to be pelted with rotten food when performing this live. I find this song hysterically funny, incredibly annoying, agonizingly heartfelt, and … very very weird. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan. The fact that the YouTube video looks like it was shot on Super 8 adds to the lo-fi, dorky appeal.
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