From their 1996 album “Popular Favorites,” “Guitar Shop A–hole” is my favorite track from this particular Oblivians album. I’ve never been able to make out all the lyrics, but the title alone has always brought a smile to my face.
I always thought this Irish version of 1970s Bruce Springsteen was pretty cool. The Boomtown Rats would never earn points for originality, but they did produce a lot of great singles during the mid-late 1970s / early 1980s, many of which were very popular in the UK and Ireland. Their greatest hits album released in the early 2000s has been one of my most played albums for the past 10 years.
David Byrne performs a clumsy and endearing impromptu cover of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” I have to say … it’s almost as clumsy and endearing as the original.
According to Tony Russell’s book “The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray,” Lewis was described as “the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on a formula for slow-rocking, small-band numbers like ‘The Bells Are Ringing’ and ‘I Hear You Knocking’ only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music more ingratiatingly delivered. Lewis was practically drowned in Domino’s backwash.” Ouch! I don’t want to dump on Domino, because I love his music dearly, but it’s a shame Lewis is not as famous.
To add insult to injury, Dave Edmunds’s 1970 cover of Lewis’s “I Hear You Knocking” is better known than the original. While the Edmunds song is justifiably considered a classic, Lewis’s original is so damn good. It’s a slightly edgier version of Domino’s New Orleans R&B and the song should be a staple on Oldies stations, but sadly isn’t. Raise a glass of fine bourbon in Lewis’s honor.
From 1973’s “Vagabonds of the Western World,” here’s one of Thin Lizzy’s best songs: “The Rocker.” Thin Lizzy is one of those bands I’ve grown increasingly fond of over the years. They’re a terrific, unpretentious hard rock band with soul. In America, I think they’re ridiculously underrated and aside from “The Boys are Back in Town,” “Jailbreak,” and maybe “Whiskey in the Jar,” you’d never know they’d ever recorded anything else.
“The Rocker” is a great balls-out 70s hard rock song. While it failed to chart in the US and Britain, it did get as high as #11 in Ireland. The extended guitar solo by Eric Bell on this song is one of the sickest solos in rock history. The song appeared last year in the critically acclaimed-Ron Howard film “Rush.”
Since the rise of punk / New Wave in the late 1970s made little commercial impact in the United States, most rock stars of the era just shrugged their shoulders and kept pumping out the same formulaic rock that got radio airplay and sold records. However, there were a few that attempted to understand the music and put their own spin on the new genre. Peter Gabriel is arguably the most commercially successful of these classic rock artists who dipped their toe into the New Wave pool. Alice Cooper? Not so much, but this is not due to the fact that the music was lacking.
Alice Cooper’s New Wave attempt from 1980, “Clones (We’re All),” from his “Flush the Fashion” album, is actually very good … not that far removed from Gary Numan or Peter Gabriel’s self-titled third album released that same year. “Clones” actually scraped into the Top 40 back then, but is pretty much forgotten these days. Some truly progressive 80s or New Wave radio programmer should seriously consider dropping this into their station mix.
When my wife opened the package from Amazon.com and noticed this book, she barely … but distincntly … raised an eyebrow and said … in that smart-ass way I’ve grown to dread and love … “Oh .. what a ‘wonderful’ purchase you made.” My wife forgets that GG Allin, the notorious poop-eating self-mutilator from New Hampshire played a pivotal role in an internship she had prior to when we got married. You see, I had a videocassette of one of GG’s legendary “performances” that magically shot out of a toilet somewhere … sanitized, by the way … and landed mysteriously in my VHS collection (I swear). Anyway, when the mentor in charge of my then fiance’s internship learned I had a videotape of GG’s shenanigans, he desperately begged to see it. I loaned him my tape … for educational purposes … and my wife got high marks on her internship. Granted, much of that was due to my wife’s talent, but I imagine some of that had to do with the madman from New Hampshire.
But I must start at an earlier date. Let’s start 29 years ago in the year 1985. I was reading the punk zine “Maximum Rock N’ Roll” and there was a letter in the letters section that caught my eye. It was from a performer who called himself “GG Allin” who bragged about pooping on stage and eating said poop, in addition to beating the snot out of audience members and causing other mayhem to himself and others. Being all of 15-years old, I laughed hysterically. In fact, I hadn’t laughed this hard since I read a synopsis of the John Waters’ film “Pink Flamingos” three years earlier in Danny Peary’s seminal alt-cinema book “Cult Movies.” Here … I thought … was a real-life version of a John Waters-film character.
I kept tabs on GG over the years, eventually scoring a bootleg cassette my first semester of college in 1988 of a live performance GG did from Texas in 1985 when he performed with a band called “The Texas Nazis.” The quality of the tape was terrible, but while I heard GG perform many “songs,” the highlight was GG baiting the audience with violent sexual taunts and threatening to throw his poop on them. This odd cassette, which also contained some answering machine messages for GG, as well as some tracks from Nico’s first solo album “Chelsea Girls,” was a prized selection in my tape library during my college years.
During this time, GG threatened to commit suicide live on stage … and to take some audience members with him, but always seemed to find himself in jail when said moment arrived. While I don’t doubt his sincerity in his mission, the execution of his plan always seemed to be hindered by his drug abuse and penchant for always doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Which of course, led to his death by drug overdose in 1993.
Dan Moxham’s book “GG Allin – Son of Evil” may not be the definitive biography GG fans have been waiting for, but it is a worthy document nonetheless. The book is not a straight biography, per se, but it is a chronicle of GG’s misadventures over the years, along with song lyrics, rants, and poetry. It’s more of a compilation than straight biography. But considering the fact that no major publisher … or even minor publisher of note … is announcing any GG biography in the near future, Moxham’s book will have to do. Trust me, there’s more than enough bile to send shivers up the most jaded masochist’s spine. And credit is due to Moxham putting pen to ink to memorialize the most notorious rock and roll performer of all-time. As much as I admire Marilyn Manson, he doesn’t even come close.
Hole’s pulverising Velvet Underground-style cover of Joni Mitchell’s most famous song. From Hole’s 1991 debut album “Pretty on the Inside,” this will probably piss off a lot of fans of the original. I don’t think it approaches Judy Collins’s very famous cover version from 1968 (one of my Top 10 favorite songs of all time), but I have to give it up to Courtney and company for their original interpretation here.
I don’t have much to say about this, other than the fact this is my all-time favorite KISS song. Some people love “Rock & Roll All Nite.” Some people groove on “Detroit Rock City.” Some people love “Beth,” one of the first power ballads. All of these are respectable choices. But in my mind, “Strutter,” the first song off their eponymous debut album in 1973 is one of the best Side 1 Track 1’s in rock history. It’s the one KISS song that never ceases to put a smile on my face and involuntarily puts my fist in the air and head bobbing in admiration.
If you grew up in Southeastern Virginia or Northeastern North Carolina, the name of this band is hopefully bringing a smile to your face, as it’s a clever take on the Great Dismal Swamp. Want your smile to grow bigger? Take a listen to their song “Death Mansion.” This is nasty, snotty garage punk at its finest. It reminds me a lot of the New York Dolls’ “Chatterbox” only faster and more aggressive.
Dave's Strange World 