photo & text by nacrowe
seriously, that GUITAR TONE!
not sure what else to say other than guitarist LESLIE WEST has one of the THICKEST, NASTIEST, TASTIEST and downright GNARLIEST tones in recorded ROCK AND ROLL history as evidenced on his band MOUNTAIN's debut album CLIMBING! (WINDFALL, 1970). i remember the first time hearing that ICONIC intro guitar lead in "MISSISSIPPI QUEEN" blasting from the stereo of my father's car stereo as a child. it was OTHERWORLDLY and completely TRANSPORTIVE to another psychic dimension of existence. it also had GROOVE and deep sense of DELTA BLUES SWING to it, as if it had emerged fully-formed from the SWAMPY depths of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. it wasnt until my late 20s that i learned that WEST was in fact from the TRI-STATE area, which seemed unbelievable to me at the time. for years previous to CLIMBING!, WEST was involved in the INFLUENTIAL 1960s COUNTERCULTURE scene emanating form the GREENWICH VILLAGE. before his passing, WEST even spoke about this era on HOWARD STERN's radio show about an IMPROVISATIONAL jam with JIMI HENDRIX on bass at a small club. with everything calcified and formatted now with CLASSIC ROCK labels, its INTRIGUING to think about how FLUID and almost JAZZ-like things were back then in terms of impromptu collaborations without concern for commercial implications. that sort of thing would now be rehearsed and planned out in advance out of fear of shitty cell phone camera footage uploaded for posterity. just a different era. other STANDOUT tracks besides the LEGENDARY "MISSISSIPPI QUEEN" include "NEVER IN MY LIFE" and "THEME FROM AN IMAGINARY WESTERN" with all share the DNA of those EXPANSIVE riffs with that inimitably MASSIVE P-90 PICKUP TONE through a GIBSON LES PAUL JR and SUNN COLISEUM amplifiers that is so indelibly embedded in the hearts and minds of generations of ROCK AND ROLL enthusiasts. there is a reason WEST is so BELOVED and especially this record as songs from CLIMBING! have been covered the years by everyone from UFO, ACE FREHLEY and VAN HALEN to MINISTRY, OZZY OSBOURNE and even the late comedian SAM KINISON. to me his SINGULAR GUITAR TONE is the very EMBODIMENT and SPIRIT of ROCK AND ROLL bar none. cant help but listen and smile.
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photo & text by nacrowe
it is not hyperbole to state matter-of-factly that LINKIN PARK's debut album HYBRID THEORY (WARNER BROS, 2000) is one of the more culturally CONSEQUENTIAL releases of the new millennium. and that judgement is separate from the album having gone 27 times platinum worldwide since its unveiling more than two decades ago, making it the most SUCCESSFUL debut release of the 21st century. the album itself represents the COHERENT and SEAMLESS integration of HIP HOP PRODUCTION and SONIC AESTHETICS with the INTESITY and AGGRESSION and TRADITIONAL SONGWRITING STRUCTURES of ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL.
what is interesting is that LINKIN PARK was not the first out of the gate with this HYBRID sound, arguably KORN, INCUBUS, LIMP BIZKIT, DEFTONES, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and several other acts of the period associated (FAIRLY or UNFAIRLY) with the NU METAL tag predated them at times by several years. but whereas those bands to a certain extent experimented with CHOPPED BEATS, RAPPED VOCALS and SCRATCHED VINYL TEXTURING as a means of expanding their SOUND, such dalliances didnt necessarily constitute a SOUND centered around such. in LINKIN PARK and especially on HYBRID THEORY, said SCRATCHED TEXTURES, BEAT-MAKING and RAPPED VOCALS inverted such AURAL EXPECTATIONS. those ELEMENTS were the main focus of their SONGWRITING, with METAL tropes like DETUNED, DISSONANT guitars and THUNDEROUS drumming a more secondary compositional element. LINKIN PARK very clearly represented a clean break from the pack and 2.0 version of the NU METAL genre to the music-buying public, which was trending towards becoming GENRE-LESS. id go so far as to say that the current DIGITAL MUSICAL ENVIRONMENT, where TRIBALISM has wained significantly as the new generation (POST MALONE, LIL UZI VERT, MACHINE GUN KELLY) makes music that is DIVERSE, IMAGINATIVE and ICONOCLASTIC as they defy staid genre prescriptions of the past. along with BECK, WEEN, MIKE PATTON and countless other artists, this new musical reality is a world that LINKIN PARK introduced the greater world community to with such a COHESIVE statement as HYBRID THEORY. which is FUNNY, because people at the time thought LINKIN PARK were an INDUSTRY PLANT. literally every song on that album could have been marketed as a single. it was such a STRONG release that TASTEMAKERS and some IRRESPONSIBLE MUSIC CRITICS were immediately convinced that there was no possible way this band wrote their own material. the truth was the band (formerly XERO) had been struggling and turned down by literally every major label (some multiple times) repeatedly for years, some multiple times. they ended up on the ARTIST-FRIENDLY WARNER BROS label due to a previous relationship with their new A&R director at the time, otherwise theyd probably still be looking. the core of the SONGWRITING PARTNERSHIP was rapper MIKE SHINODA and vocalist CHESTER BENNINGTON, the former often providing FORM and CONTEXT to riffs and ideas provided by the rest of the group. producer DON GILMORE (GOOD CHARLOTTE, EVE6, DURAN DURAN, LIT) was an INDISPENSIBLE resource assisting SHINODA with SONG ARRANGEMENTS and navigating him through the process of manipulating the studio to your creative will. this instuction would reap substantial benefits on subsequent releases as SHINODA took on more PRODUCTION duties for the group. this is all to say that the band quite literally was a SELF-CONTAINED PRODUCTION entity in and of themselves, far more AUTONOMOUS then their ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL peer group and far more in keeping structurally and organizationally with HIP HOP PRODUCTION teams of the period (i.e. TIMBALAND, THE NEPTUNES and ORGANIZED NOIZE). i first heard LINKIN PARK during my junior year of high school. my family had moved to KUWAIT and i learned of HYBRID THEORY through an AMERICAN classmate there. i just remember being taken away by how strong the SONGWRITING and PRODUCTION was, which is not necessarily something you associated with an ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL album. if anything, bands like PANTERA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT and SYSTEM OF A DOWN traded not on their POLISH, but on how RAW and BRUTAL the music was while still maintaining a recognizable STRUCTURE. like a caged rat or something. HYBRID THEORY was more like a PRISTINE, highly STYLIZED art piece were everything was seamlessly INTEGRATED and thoroughly CONCEIVED and thought out compositionally for MAXIMUM AURAL IMPACT. it was a departure from what i expected yet fit in with SONIC EXPECTATIONS of MODERN POP and HIP HOP PRODUCTIONS of the period. i also remember the apparent VAGUENESS of the LYRICAL CONTENT, with BENNINGTON repeatedly opining and referencing how he wanted to remain himself and be less effected by another NAMELESS third entity. there was a lot of SECOND-PERSON PERSPECTIVE being thrown around which was a SONGWRITING quirk that was addressed on subsequent releases. there was also a STRIKING lack of CURSING, which seemed ODD at the time yet UNREMARKABLE in retrospect. in that regard they were much like 311 with such being a CONSCIOUS DECISION. the effect at the time was that BENNINGTON came off as slightly INAUTHENTIC. his vocals were so POWERFUL and strangely PROFESSIONAL that not CURSING while emoting ANGER seemed oddly RESTRAINED, especially when compared to his immediate peer group in MAX CAVALERA, JONATHAN DAVIS or even (sadly, yes) FRED DURST, he came off as a bit of a lightweight. a METAL singer for the POP audience. his untimely TRAGIC passing brought to bear in a very public way how deeply TROUBLED, TRAUMATIZED and emotionally affected he had been throughout his adult existence by lingering consequences of surviving SEXUAL ABUSE and severe BULLYING throughout his childhood. i'll speak for myself, but i hear his lyrics very differently now in light of such then i did as a seventeen year-old when HYBRID THEORY was released. i now am of the opinion that BENNINGTON was such a COURAGEOUS dude, bearing his heart in hopes of allowing others to suffer less. i just hate the fact that it took his death for people, including myself, to open up and pay attention to his message. HYBRID THEORY still holds up. again, literally ever song could have been a single, but to me the STANDOUT tracks include "IN THE END," "WITH YOU," "A PLACE FOR MY HEAD," "ONE STEP CLOSER," "POINTS OF AUTHORITY," and my FAVORITE song, "PAPERCUT." more than any other record from this era, i hear the reverberations of the massive CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT that was HYBRID THEORY down the line in HIP HOP and ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL music from the past two decades. like NIRVANA before them, what came in their wake were lots of TERRIBLE copycats (i.e. EVANESCENCE, BREAKING BENJAMIN, CRAZY TOWN) as well as some very INSPIRED and CONSEQUENTIAL adherents (i.e. A DAY TO REMEMBER and BRING ME THE HORIZON), but throughout such the ORIGINALITY and CONSISTENCY of HYBRID THEORY and the LINKIN PARK SOUND remains. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
as has been reported, commented, opined and discussed ad nauseam for more than three decades now, in the wake of NIRVANA's release of NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991), everything basically changed. seemingly overnight, SEATTLE became the most UNLIKELY of cultural MECCAs with ALTERNATIVE ROCK scene peers in groups like SOUNDGARDEN, MELVINS, ALICE IN CHAINS, PEARL JAM, TAD, MUDHONEY and THE SCREAMING TREES all leading the charge to varying degrees of COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, CULTURAL INFLUENCE and CRITICAL PRAISE throughout the decade and beyond. so far and vast was the cultural pull of this scene that bands from the era that were far beyond the PACIFIC NORTHWEST geographic vicinity were huddled together into the movement, such as THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (CHICAGO), STONE TEMPLE PILOTS (SAN DIEGO via OHIO and NEW JERSEY) and BLIND MELON (LOS ANGELES via INDIANA, PENNSYLVANIA and MISSISSIPPI). its super INTERESTING because the SEATTLE so-called GRUNGE bands took inspiration from some variety or amalgam of PUNK ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK and METAL whereas THE SMASHING PUMPKINS incorporated SHOEGAZE, POWER POP and GLAM ROCK with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and even FOLK MUSIC with BLIND MELON. in retrospect its all a bit RIDICULOUS that these bands with DISPARATE influences got lumped together under the GRUNGE tag. but so it was.
but what is interest is the reaction to the SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion, where bands moved to the area in the hopes of getting signed. FORGOTTEN INDIE ROCK bands, some local some from out of town, like BEST KISSERS IN THE WORLD (MCA), POND (SONY), TRULY (CAPITOL), FLOP (SONY 550) and HAMMERBOX (A&M) all were signed to majors in the wake of the MASSIVE GRUNGE wave and fizzled out shortly thereafter. CANDLEBOX is an INTRIGUING case. they area a local SEATTLE band that came to prominence after the peak of the ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion. their sound was adjacent enough to those aforementioned bands that they were signed by MADONNA's major-label WARNER BROS. imprint MAVERICK (which over its CELEBRATED lifespan would have a DIVERSE roster including DEFTONES, ALANIS MORISSETTE and MUSE among others) and released a surprisingly COMPETENT debut self-titled album CANDLEBOX (MAVERICK, 1993). tracks like singles "FAR BEHIND," "YOU" and "COVER ME" had singer KEVIN MARTIN's EARNEST and EMOTIVE singing as their center-point and more than held their weight against the OGs of the scene. unfortunately they were tagged as POST-GRUNGE, which had a DISMISSIVE ring to it and critically lumped them for posterity with less COMPELLING acts like BUSH, COLLECTIVE SOUL, SILVERCHAIR and LIVE and later DERIDED and DERIVATIVE acts like DAYS OF THE NEW, SEETHER, NICKELBACK, CREED, MATCHBOX TWENTY and STAIND. i find CANDLEBOX to be interesting in retrospect because they were a SOLID band that had a distinct sound that was an INVITING variation on a theme from the period. they sounded like themselves unlike their POST-GRUNGE peers who largely seem to be aping ALICE IN CHAINS in particular. timing really is everything and PERCEPTION IS REALITY, which did not benefit CANDLEBOX in the least. in spite of all that, the CANDLEBOX record is definitely worth checking out, especially for those familiar with and fans of the more prominent SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK acts of the period. i still argue and maintain it holds up more than favorably. photo & text by nacrowe
sonically and aesthetically, the initial long-form OFF! release that is the FIRST FOUR EPs (VICE, 2010) compilation is in essence a spiritual continuation of 1980s HARDCORE as if the ensuing decades never happened. just these brief PRIMAL minute-long spasms of UNRELENTING aural INTENSITY. from the moment the BLISTERING opening track "BLACK THOUGHTS" rages out the gate, it is beyond self-evident how EXCITING and REFRESHING it is to hear a ROCK AND ROLL band recorded this RAW, consciously OUT-OF-STEP with modern industry standards for sonic fidelity. yet even with the AUSTERE RAYMOND PETTIBON artwork and STRIPPED-BACK SONIC PRESENTATION reminiscent of early BLACK FLAG, there is nothing nostalgic about this record or this band, which is made up of vocalist KEITH MORRIS (CIRCLE JERKS, BLACK FLAG), guitarist DIMITRI COATS (BURNING BRIDES), bassist/PRODUCER STEVEN SHANE MCDONALD (REDD KROSS) and drummer MARIO RUBALCABA (ROCK FROM THE CRYPT, HOT SNAKES). if anything, it feels and sounds like the way forward and an IDEAL response to what ROCK AND ROLL uniquely provides (PASSION, INTENSITY, UNBRIDLED EMOTION) in the age of UNTETHERED sonic adventurism that is MODERN HIP HOP and EDM.
FIRST FOUR EPs just feels like HARDCORE at its most FUNDAMENTAL and AMOEBIC level, constructed for maximum impact. no bullshit or decorative window-dressing, just a DIRECT shot to the head. i can point out STANDOUT tracks like "I DON'T BELONG," "DARKNESS," the aforementioned "BLACK THOUGHTS" and "UPSIDE DOWN," but the truth is that this record is meant to be experienced in its totality, as if it is one extended 20-minute rant with 18 varieties of WHITE-KNUCKLE VERBAL CONFRONTATION and UNYIELDING SONIC AGGRESSION. for one, MORRIS has never sounded more FOCUSED or VITAL and arguably COATS' decidedly UNDERCOOKED PRODUCTION CHOICES served this end spectacularly. there is an INTENT and IN-THE MOMENT ENERGY that you can only get from a demo, when songs are still in the process of congealing and emerging into shape, of becoming. this record has that feel of a PROMISING demo, which in itself is REVOLUTIONARY. no need to recreate or manufacture it again for real. it is done, on tape, ship it out. if only all ROCK AND ROLL could be that PURE. at the time of its 2010 release, the debut FIRST FOUR EPs compilation by OFF! is probably one of the most CONSEQUENTIAL records in at least a decade. forget HARDCORE or PUNK ROCK, it is a reminder of how ROCK AND ROLL at its core essence should be created and presented. i view it as absolutely ESSENTIAL and most definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
one of the earliest music memories i have is riding with my father as a child in his HONDA ACCORD listening to music to and from his work in a neighboring town in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. it was on those small excursions that was introduced to everything from BRITISH INVASION bands like THE BEATLES, THE ANIMALS, THE WHO and so forth to PUNK / NEW WAVE / INDIE ROCK bands like THE RAMONES, JOHN HIATT, THE STRANGLERS, NICK LOWE, TALKING HEADS, ELVIS COSTELLO and especially THE SMITHS / early MORRISSEY. in and amongst that cohort of artists was THE POLICE and the DISTINCT, INDELIBLE memory i have is of those ICONIC flange and reverb-drenched open chords to "WALKING ON THE MOON" by THE POLICE on their second release REGGATTA DE BLANC (A&M, 1979).
and on a purely EMOTIONAL level, that song is THE POLICE to me. that EXPERT use of SPACE by guitarist ANDY SUMMERS and the POLYRHYTHMIC but TASTEFUL, LAIDBACK GROOVE of drummer STEWART COPELAND with PUNCTUATED PULSES promoting a PROPULSIVE forward MOMENTUM by singer/bassist STING. i dont know if its REGGAE per se (the album in english translates to white reggae), but it is a DISTINCT SONIC AESTHETIC in the history of ROCK AND ROLL, with no real precedent outside of the JAMAICAN DUB TRADITION. COPELAND for one, having grown up overseas as a THIRD CULTURE KID in places like EGYPT and LEBANON (his father being involved with the CIA), has a renowned ability to incorporate COMPLEX POLYRHYTHMS that are distinctly rooted in AFRICAN and ARABIC TRADITIONS he experienced as a child and young adult. SUMMERS likewise had a NILES RODGERS-esque affinity for INTERESTING JAZZ INVERSIONS and VOICINGS for TRADITIONAL GUITAR CHORDS that made his sequences feel UNIQUE and EXOTIC. STING has always been a mystery to me as his BRASH VOCALS are what keep the band tethered to street level in a sense. it makes all of these sonic muso TEXTURES feel grounded in POST PUNK EXPERIMENTALISM and not the possible opening prelude to an extended PROG ROCK song. it is entirely ironic to me that his later discography followed the unfortunate trajectory of PAUL SIMON in exploiting WORLD CULTURES rather than TASTEFULLY curating them into a COHESIVE ARTISTIC STATEMENT a la PETER GABRIEL. in THE POLICE all of these DISPARATE DYNAMICS played to their STRENGTH and on singles like "MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE" and "WALKING ON THE MOON" off of REGGATTA DE BLANC, this was parlayed with striking results. i am aware that as personalities, COPELAND and STING in recent years come off as SELF-CONGRATULATORY, NARCISSISTIC pricks. i for one am a huge fan and student of SUMMERS' GUITAR PLAYING and specifically his penchant for utilizing UNIQUE CHORD VOICINGS throughout their catalogue. if anything, stay for that and try to forget about the other two. if anything, that in particular is definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY's CHEAP THRILLS (COLUMBIA, 1968) album is basically the STUNNING major label debut of the LEGENDARY POWERHOUSE singer JANIS JOPLIN. building off the hype that followed her in the wake of her ELECTRIC performance at the MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL the previous year, JOPLIN on CHEAP THRILLS showcases her PRETERNATURAL ability to channel both a sense of GUT-WRENCHING VULNERABILITY and HARD-WON SELF-AWARENESS that is as INTENSE as it is RAW. her UNMISTAKABLE voice today is every bit the PRIMAL SCREAM that it was back in the late 1960s. it is completely INIMITABLE and uniquely JOPLIN. when i consider the thought of similar like-minded singers, the FEROCIOUS yet UNGUARDED genius that was early BLUES singer BESSIE SMITH comes immediately to mind. with both singers there is UNBRIDLED and UNCOMPROMISING AUTHENTICITY to their voice that feels like they reached deep down and took their heart from their chest and placed it on a platter for you to observe. no show business trickery, just PURE INTENTION and DIRECT EXPRESSION.
the STANDOUT tracks from CHEAP THRILLS include renditions of both "BALL AND CHAIN" and "PEACE OF MY HEART." "BALL AND CHAIN" is an EMOTIVE cover of an absolutely BRUTAL BIG MAMA THORNTON song that dwells in the pits of despair over the PAIN, SUFFERING and SELF-DIRECTED ABUSE that comes with LOVE gone SOUR. in a BLUES setting it is an UNSETTLING number and JOPLIN carried that tradition forward in her BLUES ROCK interpretation of such. she is so CONVINVING in her delivery and presentation that it is difficult to not be moved by it. youd have to by a sociopath or dead to be unmoved by "BALL AND CHAIN." likewise "PIECE OF MY HEART" is arguably the most BELOVED song in JOPLIN's short catalogue, which besides a forgotten SUB-PAR, poorly produced debut on the INDEPENDENT MAINSTREAM RECORDS, entails two CELEBRATED solo albums, I GOT DEM OL' KOZMIC BLUES AGAIN MAMA! (COLUMBIA, 1969) and PEARL (COLUMBIA, 197`), before her untimely TRAGIC passing in 1970 from a heroin overdose. written by songwriting duo JERRY RAGAVOY and BERT BERNS, "PEACE OF MY HEART" was originally composed as a R&B/SOUL ballad for ARETHA FRANKLIN's sister ERMA, of all people, but in the hands of JOPLIN became something of a generational 1960s ROCK AND ROLL anthem. again, JOPLIN deftly projects a SEXUAL and PERSONAL CONFIDENCE by basically commanding the ROMANTIC object of the song to take a peace of her heart. its a confidence that is baked in a PALPABLE sense of VULNERABLITY. that UNNERVING CONFIDENT / VULNERABLE dynamic that JOPLIN so incredibly balances is arguably the reason she is such a RENOWNED 20th century icon and undisputedly one of the great MODERN singers of any genre. her voice just taps something PRIMAL and moves people to their core, even decades and generations later. CHEAP THRILLS is required listening. end stop. for me personally the music of JANIS JOPLIN always reminds me of my mother, who i see channeled to another time and place every instance she hears her voice. i believe she still very much mourns her death like many from her generation. what a UNIQUE TALENT. photo & text by nacrowe
in the summer of 2001 i went back to my hometown in ORANGE COUNTY for the first time in years to stay with a childhood friend and it was during that stay that i was enlightened (or more like indoctrinated) into the world of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUNK ROCK. of course i was familiar enough with BLACK FLAG, DESCENDENTS, BAD RELIGION, X, CIRCLE JERKS, THE VANDALS and SOCIAL DISTORTION and the 90s bands from the area but was unfamiliar with IMPACTFUL but lesser high-profile groups like WASTED YOUTH, D.I., FEAR, ADOLESCENTS, DR. KNOW, MINUTEMEN, RICH KIDS ON LSD, THE GERMS, CHANNEL 3, T.S.O.L., BATTALION OF SAINTS, THE MIDDLE CLASS and AGENT ORANGE. in fact it was during that trip that i got to see a reunion ADOLESCENTS show with CHANNEL 3 opening in SANTA ANA as well as FEAR at WARPED TOUR in VENTURA. and T.S.OL. at a gig in POMONA. it was an INFORMATIVE and thoroughly EDUCATIONAL summer to say the least.
amidst the pack of HARDCORE acts coming out of the region in the 1980s, AGENT ORANGE stood out primarily because of their highly IDIOSYNCRATIC hybridization of PUNK ROCK with SURF MUSIC. such an INTRIGUING mix with those long MELODIC, DICK DALE-inspired barrel-roll guitar runs at HARD-CHARGING tempos is heard all over their debut LIVING IN DARKNESS (POSH BOY, 1981) on IMPRESSIVE tracks such as "EVERYTHING TURNS GREY," "LAST GOODBYE," "BLOODSTAINS," "A CRY FOR HELP IN A WORLD GONE MAD," and of course, a cover of "MISERLOU." there is a PROFESSIONALISM and TECHNICAL PRECISION and ELEVATED level of MUSICIANSHIP at play throughout LIVING IN DARKNESS that is UNMATCHED from bands of the period, who tend to sound MUDDLED if not AGNOSTIC to basic recording aspects like PRODUCTION VALUE or playing in time or in key. founding bassist STEVE SOTO left AGENT ORANGE to cofound arguably the other main group of the period with a similar penchant for MUSICIANSHIP and CRAFTSMANSHIP, ADOLESCENTS. this propulsive, kinetic sound naturally found a kinship in the nascent SKATE scene of the period and provided both a soundtrack to the pastime and a sonic template, along with MELODIC HARDCORE bands like BAD RELIGION, to the UPTEMPO SKATE PUNK bands that rose to prominence over the next decade. most notably PENNYWISE, NOFX, FACE TO FACE, NO USE FOR A NAME, MXPX and so on. i just find it INTRIGUING that a sound that is a variation on SURF MUSIC served as the sonic backdrop to an activity and lifestyle that itself was a variation and innovation on SURFING itself. it is an ODD and FRUITFUL synergy of sorts that seemingly could only take place in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. because of this, for me AGENT ORANGE is the very embodiment of an ORGANIC and wholly AUTHENTIC version of PUNK ROCK from the area. the other vein is the more NIHILISTIC, DRUG-ADDLED and VIOLENT variant exemplified by THE GERMS and FEAR that was more-or-less continued (sans drugs) by AGGRESSIVE bands like BLACK FLAG, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and the BELLIGERENT and CONFRONTATIONAL COASTAL cohort. both breaks in the family tree are VALID and have their proponents. for me, the example of AGENT ORANGE is one that offered a polished version of PUNK ROCK that was IMPACTFUL due to its reigning in of excess and creating a record with a POWERFUL, DELIBERATE sonic impact. LIVING IN DARKNESS continues to be required listening in my opinion for anyone interested in HARDCORE or PUNK ROCK in general. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
there comes a point at times where PARODY is so cutting and on the nose that it becomes in effect INDISTINGUISHABLE at times from the subject of which it is serving up. such feels that way in retrospect when considering SPINAL TAP's actual debut (as opposed to FICTIONAL discography from the film) in SPINAL TAP (POLYDOR, 1984), the soundtrack to the LEGENDARY ROB REINER-directed MOCKUMENTARY film THIS IS SPINAL TAP (EMBASSY, 1984).
it is not a coincidence that ROCK AND ROLL royalty from SLASH (GUNS N' ROSES) and JOE PERRY (AEROSMITH) to STING (THE POLICE), ROB HALFORD (JUDAS PRIEST), EDDIE VAN HALEN (VAN HALEN) and OZZY OSBOURNE (BLACK SABBATH) have admitted to having a difficult time watching this film starring the generationally gifted IMPROVISATIONAL comedy team of CHRISTOPHER GUEST (lead guitarist NIGEL TUFNEL), MICHAEL MCKEAN (singer and rhythm guitarist DAVID ST. HUBBINS) and HARRY SHEARER (bassist DEREK SMALLS). to them it was an accurate depiction of their actual lives. much of the actual film was based on the reported real-life experiences of bands ranging from YES, LED ZEPPELIN, DEF LEPPARD, BLACK SABBATH, URIAH HEEP, STATUS QUO, THE ROLLING STONES, VAN HALEN, THE BAND and FRANK ZAPPA among many others. the cumulative effect was that even a much later musician like KURT COBAIN (NIRVANA) was rumored to have been vocally hyper-aware of that thin line separating PARODY and REAL-LIFE so expertly depicted in the film. like others, that dynamic was a real-world trap and occupational hazard. the songs themselves absolutely hold up decades later. besides the WELL-KNOWN tracks that PARODY the inane lyricism ("TONIGHT I'M GONNA ROCK YOU TONIGHT"), macho posturing / rampant mysogyny ("SEX FARM" and "BIG BOTTOM") and outlandish iconography ("STONEHENGE" and "ROCK N ROLL CREATURE") of 1970s METAL (BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW, DIO) and PROGRESSIVE ROCK (RUSH, KING CRIMSON, GENTLE GIANT), there are also those less CELEBRATED tracks that PARODY earlier phases of 1960s ROCK AND ROLL history such as LAUREL CANYON-inspired FOLK ROCK ("LISTEN TO THE FLOWER PEOPLE") and the BRITISH INVASION ("GIMME SOME MONEY"). the fact that they depict the inherent RIDICULOUSNESS of each stage so convincingly is really quite a creative achievement. its also the reason that generations of musicians love this FICTIONAL band, as evidenced by the LEGENDARY LIVE EARTH performance at WEMBLEY STADIUM in 2007 when over 18 musicians (from bands ranging from the BEASTIE BOYS, METALLICA, FOO FIGHTERS, BLOC PARTY, MADONNA's backing band and so on) came on stage to slap bass with DEREK SMALLS on, of course, a very MEMORABLE and INSPIRED self-effacing CHEEKY rendition of "BIG BOTTOM." the GUEST, MCKEAN and SHEARER comedic triumvirate have gone on to make other loosely IMPROVISATIONAL films, some even with a musical flourish like the FOLK send-up A MIGHTY WIND (WARNER BROS, 2003), but in my humble opinion the only other MOCKUMENTARY film that comes close to SPINAL TAP in terms of the quality of the music and PARODY is the much earlier NEIL INNES (BONZO DOG DOOH-DAH BAND) and ERIC IDLE (MONTY PYTHON) led THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH (NBC, 1978) TELEVISED (and GEORGE HARRISON approved) send-up of THE BEATLES cultural phenomenon. now if only i could find a RUTLES cassette tape... regardless, SPINAL TAP is a CLASSIC album with music culled from a CLASSIC comedy. it all holds up decades down the line and is essentially required viewing and listening in my opinion. definitely worth checking out for the uninitiated. should also mention there is a rumored sequel in the works for 2024 for the 40th anniversary of the original film. why not? the dreaded cash-in sequel of an established intellectual property seems like as good an opportunity for RIDICULE and PARODY as any other these days. photo & text by nacrowe
the title kind of says it all. when the ALTERNATIVE ROCK band GARBAGE came out with their second album VERSION 2.0 (ALMO, 1998), it very much felt like the more STREAMLINED, UPGRADED version of their SEMINAL debut nearly three years earlier. the band is less a group a musicians and more a VERITABLE BRAINTRUST. drummer BUTCH VIG and bassist STEVE MARKER were the cofounders of SMART STUDIOS in WISCONSIN with a list of clients that included L7, NIRVANA, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS and KILLDOZER among many others. VIG and guitarist DOUG ERIKSON were former bandmates in the NEW WAVE band SPOONER, respectively. effectively VIG, MARKER, ERIKSON and singer SHIRLEY MANSON (ANGELFISH) were all TALENTED and ACCOMPLISHED SONGWRITERS to boot, so VERSION 2.0 is essentially the band at their most COHESIVE and commercially POTENT point in their career. arguably.
the band's SOUND was always a mix of ALTERNATIVE ROCK with seamlessly integrated SAMPLED ELEMENTS most famously associated with HIP HOP PRODUCTION. in fact, after the release of NIRVANA's NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991), VIG was asked to make single REMIXES for upcoming releases by major artists, and brought along his friends MARKER and ERIKSON in for these sonic experiments, which effectively laid the foundation of GARBAGE. in addition to ALTERNATIVE ROCK, their UNIQUE futuristic sound recounts the best aspects of TRIP HOP, SHOEGAZE, NEW WAVE, DANCE MUSIC and DREAM POP. UPTEMPO tracks like "WHEN I GROW UP," "I THINK I'M PARANOID," "SPECIAL," "TEMPTATION WAITS" and especially "PUSH IT" sounded like nothing on the radio at the time and really had no antecedent in the ROCK N ROLL genre. years later LINKIN PARK would likewise take similar elements, albeit with a NARROWER and more HARD ROCK PRESENTATION, to absolute global domination. i'd credit both GARBAGE and LINKIN PARK for the current growing trend towards a GENRE-LESS variant of POP MUSIC in the entertainment industry. i'd argue it started with MANSON and company. more DELICATE, ETHEREAL and DOWNTEMPO tracks like "THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING," and "YOU LOOK SO FINE" were written in the tradition of previous tracks like "MILK" off of GARBAGE (ALMO, 1995). when i hear these tracks what shines through is the VERSATILITY and FORCE OF PERSONALITY that is SHIRLEY MANSON. as much as the band is the summation of its parts with its INCREDIBLE PRODUCTION and SONGWRITING prowess, in MANSON you have effectively a FORCE MULTIPLIER of generational proportions. ive said this before in a previous write-up about their STELLAR debut (review linked HERE), i believe she is one of the most UNDERRATED SINGERS of her era. on paper the band's SOUND and PRESENTATION appears CONTRIVED, TECHNICAL and something only NAVEL-GAZING musos might be interested in, but MANSON brings it all back down to street level. her PERSONALITY and PRESENTATION confronts the listener and gives the band an edge. and for me, that is the real MAGIC of the band. and never is that more apparent then on VERSION 2.0. required listening in my opinion. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
the NEW ZEALAND four-piece THE BETHS is everything you want in an INDIE ROCK band. elements like MEMORABLE melodies, tight song construction with THOUGHTFUL, EARNEST LYRICS and a knowing dry sense of HUMOR sans any pretension. its just JOYFUL, HONEST music presented well with INTENTION and CARE. having spent time with musicians in a recording studio setting its always interested me how difficult it is to construct something that sounds LIGHT and EFFORTLESS.
all that being said, my initial impression of their second release JUMP ROPE GAZERS (CARPARK, 2020) is that such is an astonishing CREATIVE as well as TECHNICAL achievement. such is even more IMPRESSIVE knowing that much of their SONGWRITING and RECORDING is done at lead guitarist JONATHAN PEARCE's home studio in AUCKLAND, where he is an active in-demand ENGINEER. PRODUCTION WORK is exceedingly difficult on both a technical and customer expectations level, so the fact that he can balance those INTENSE inter-group dynamics is deeply telling. STANDOUT tracks include "DYING TO BELIEVE," "JUMP ROPE GAZERS," "MARS, THE GOD OF WAR," and "I'M NOT GETTING EXCITED." on the latter track when the solo comes in and rips it is made all the more jarring and EXCITING by how it juxtaposes in terms of AGGRESSION and feel with the more LAIDBACK vocals of ELIZABETH STOKES. at the very least, the band is adept at navigating SONG COMPOSITION and SONIC DYNAMICS in an emotionally AFFECTING manner. similarly STOKES has a UNIQUE, seemingly EFFORTLESS VOCAL DELIVERY that has a tendency to TONALLY SHIFT multiple times, even within a PHRASE, providing forward MOMENTUM and CONTRAST between VERSES and CHORUSES. i wonder if she had theater training since that feels like a very professional move, the utilization of STRETCHING and MODULATING SYLLABLES to bend language to your own creative will. the only other ROCK AND ROLL singer that comes to mind who does a similar thing (albeit to a much different end) is ROBERT SMITH of THE CURE. you hear that sort of thing all the time in the JAZZ PHRASING and ELOCUTION of CELEBRATED and generationally TALENTED singers like ELLA FITZGERALD and SARAH VAUGAN. STOKES does not have their RANGE, CONTROL or TONE, but she does seem to have the INTUITION and INSTINCT to vocally MANIPULATE SOUND to her advantage all the same. i think on JUMP ROPE GLAZERS, THE BETHS continued a trajectory they were on since their debut FUTURE ME HATES ME (CARPARK, 2018), that later culminated and came into full fruition on their third release EXPERT IN A DYING FIELD (CARPARK, 2022), which found them expanding their SONGWRITING and PRODUCTION range. all their records are worth checking out and JUMP ROPE GLAZERS is no different. i think they are a PROMISING band that are on to something UNQUE and EXCITING. photo & text by nacrowe
by the time of PANTERA's eight studio album THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL (ELEKTRA, 1996), the band was probably in desperate need of an extended hiatus. singer PHIL ANSELMO had been dealing for years with back problems that led him down a SELF-MEDICATED SPIRAL of PAINKILLERS and ALCOHOL that would eventually culminate in a HEROIN OVERDOSE on tour not long after the release of this album. in retrospect this album is the first PANTERA effort conceived of by a splintered collective, with ANSELMO recording his VOCALS alone with producer TERRY DATE at TRENT REZNOR's NEW ORLEANS studio and the band at the ABBOTT BROTHER's home studio in TEXAS. not surprisingly given the INTERNAL CHAOS, this would be the final DATE-produced PANTERA record, having worked on every release since their COWBOYS FROM HELL (ATCO, 1990) major label debut.
all that being said, THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL was the record i first became aware of the band through, given that it came out at the end of my sixth grade school year in NIGERIA. i know for certain that by seventh grade i had a taped copy of the record. being surrounded by oil brats from the AMERICAN SOUTH, most of whom were at least LATENTLY RACIST towards our WEST AFRICAN hosts, i've always had a hard time stomaching SOUTHERN PRIDE which this album has a lot of. the concept for the record was that in the midst of ALTERNATIVE ROCK largely replacing TRADITIONAL METAL, with longstanding legacy bands like METALLICA, ANTHRAX and SLAYER all making concessions to the new format, PANTERA was standing STRONG (the unsubtle insinuation being much like their confederate forefathers of yore) and flying the freak flag of UNDILUTED, UNADULTERATED METAL for the hardcore fans. THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL is an UNCOMPROMISING album about STUBBORNNESS, INTRANSIGENCE and PERSEVERANCE in the face of environmental headwinds like popular opinion and cultural trends. despite the process that birth it, the record is sonically and lyrically one of the most FOCUSED and DIRECT efforts in their catalogue. themes include SOCIAL DEFIANCE and the VULNERABILITY and SHAME involved with ADDICTION. AGGRESSIVE tracks like "SUICIDE NOTE, PT. 2," "WAR NERVE," "THE UNDERGROUND IN AMERICA" "THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL" and "DRAG THE WATERS" are made more impactful by their STRIPPED, BACK-TO-BASICS PRODUCTION, especially in contrast to the more THICK and LUSH, MULTI-LAYERED guitar overdubs found on their CELEBRATED previous effort, FAR BEYOND DRIVEN (ELEKTRA, 1994). more MELLOW affairs like "SUICIDE NOTE, PT. 1" and "FLOODS" is where this album really separates itself from the pack, especially the latter and its ICONIC GUITAR SOLOS and much REVERED OUTRO. even in the midst of a BRUTAL RECORDING, the exceptionally AFFECTING "FLOODS" outro is arguably the most beautifully MELODIC COMPOSITION DIMEBAG DARRELL ever wrote. looking back at THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL, there are some REGRESSIVE POLITICAL and SOCIAL ASPECTS of the lyrics i still find deep issue with, but musically this record is an absolute BEAST. its the album in my opinion that most effectively showcases the COMPLICATED PANTERA legacy bar none. that being said it is worthy of investigation and most definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
in the mid-to-late 1990s there seemed to be a whole cadre of POP-ORIENTED, RETRO-THEMED NEW WAVE-adjacent bands coming out of CALIFORNIA that included everyone from LIT, SUGAR RAY, GOLDFINGER, ZEBRAHEAD and SMASH MOUTH. this wave of artists was obviously a direct consequence of the recent success of fellow POP-FRIENDLY local artists like NO DOUBT, GREEN DAY and THE OFFSPRING in the wake of the untimely demise of NIRVANA and that more somber strain of ALTERNATIVE ROCK that dominated the beginning of the decade.
when i listen back at SMASH MOUTH's debut, FUSH YU MANG (INTERSCOPE, 1997), the title itself a cultural reference to AL PACINO's slurred "fuck you, man" line in SCARFACE (UNIVERSAL, 1983), i hear a TOP-HEAVY album that is indicative of the period in which singles pushed OVERPRICED albums. as singles go, "WALKING ON THE SUN" is a BANGER. singer STEVE HARTWELL never sounded more RELAXED and CHARISMATIC. like DEXTER HOLLAND (THE OFFSPRING) before him, he would go on to construct formulaic and trite lyrics meant for mass consumption on film soundtracks or worse, doing away with originality altogether and just covering cheesy 60s pop drivel. on this song however he serves the song and does it extraordinarily well, which is why i remember being INTRIGUED by the band when seeing them perform this song on MADTV way back in the day. the SECRET WEAPON of SMASH MOUTH is the UBER-TALENTED main songwriter and multi-instrumentalist GREG CAMP. the dude is very CLEVER with how he utilizes vintage sounds out of HAMMOND organs, reverb-drenched FENDER JAZZMASTERS and SWINGIN' LOUNGE drum beats to create an aural landscape that oozes HIPNESS and NOSTALGIC intimations of 1950s-era bowling alleys, drive-thrus and roadside diners while sounding thoroughly MODERN. in fact, all through his initial discography with the band, i.e. ASTRO LOUNGE (INTERSCOPE, 1999) and SMASH MOUTH (INTERSCOPE, 2001) i felt that the band was a waste of his gifted abilities as a songwriter, composer and arranger. i almost look at him like a modern JEFF LYNNE (ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA). the risk of looking back at the superficial cultural elements of the past, especially the pre-CIVIL RIGHTS era 1950s, is that it whitewashes the SEEDIER elements into a bygone utopia that is historically INACURATE and intrinsically MISGUIDED. some of these bands unfortunately fall into that category, but with CAMP's deft vision he re-contextualizes such for something that felt FRESH and of the 90s, not a rehash of something four decades its predecessor. is FUSH YU MANG worth checking out. i dont know. "WALKING ON THE SUN" definitely is. for me this album would not exist if not in the pre-file sharing / pre-SPOTIFY era, because the other songs on the album are meh. back then an album had a better return on investment then a single, so that was the music industry scam that came to a close at the turn of the millennium rendering this nostalgic album somewhat of a modern day anachronism of a past business model that thankfully became OUTMODED. on a side note, im just glad CAMP is out there again these days with his new project, THE DEFIANT, featuring members of THE OFFSPRING and THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES. that band looks promising by evidence of what theyve put out recently. now check that out instead! photo & text by nacrowe
since childhood ive always been partial to LED ZEPPELIN's fifth album HOUSES OF THE HOLY (ATLANTIC, 1973). written and recorded in comfort at the band's two home studios in the wake of their landmark LED ZEPPELIN IV (ATLANTIC, 1971) release, its contents are a bit more EXPANSIVE and EXPERIMENTAL than their previous material and marked a turning point in their sound.
not that i knew that as a kid. i remember going to my father's stereo system and plugging in his SONY MDR7506 studio headphones and completely get lost in the MAJESTY of epic tracks like "THE RAIN SONG," "OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY," "THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME" and especially "NO QUARTER." i recognized that these songs had a sonic narrative arc to them, as if through the music alone an EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE had been expressed evocatively in VIVID TECHNICOLOR. for me that DOWNTEMPO and ATMOSPHERIC side of LED ZEPPELIN's material always stood out, even amongst the ROCK N ROLL numbers they are renowned for. the CINEMATIC peaks of HOUSES OF THE HOLY hold up and are still RELEVANT today and one needs to look no further than ALL-EMBRACING bands like TORCHE, BARONESS, JANE'S ADDICTION, ISIS, TOOL, MASTODON, HIGH ON FIRE and INTRONAUT, all of whom touch on this same HAZY DYNAMIC in their sound. strangely, this is also the record where LED ZEPPELIN seemingly found their GROOVE, like literally. tracks like the downright FUNKY "THE CRUNGE," the START-AND-STOPE-ON-A-DIME riffage of "THE OCEAN" as well as the REGGAE-inspired "D'YER MAK'ER" found the band playing around with UNCONVENTIONAL TEMPOS and SONIC TEXTURES hitherto unexplored. some find this record unfocused relative to their previous discography, but in my mind i liken it to THE BEATLES' WHITE ALBUM (APPLE, 1968) in that they were taking advantage of the opportunity their stature in the industry afforded them and really went about exploring the STUDIO AS AN INSTRUMENT in and of itself. the only song ive never been crazy about is "DANCING DAYS," which the ALTERNATIVE ROCK band STONE TEMPLE PILOTS famously did a STANDOUT cover of in the 1990s. for me that song stuck out as something more down the middle and a retread of past ideas, not that there is anything wrong with that. for me this is an all-time CLASSIC album of the first order. its part of my early childhood and my personal narrative of getting into music, so im completely prejudiced, much like i also am when discussing THE SMITHS, THE STRANGLERS, THE BEATLES or THE ANIMALS as well. regardless, HOUSES OF THE HOLY is absolutely worth checking out and exploring again and again and again. photo & text by nacrowe
as one-off collaborations go, ABOVE (COLUMBIA, 1995) by the ALTERNATIVE ROCK band MAD SEASON, made up of members of PEARL JAM, SCREAMING TREES and ALICE IN CHAINS, is one of the most COHESIVE, POTENT and EMOTIONALLY RAW creative efforts from the RENOWNED SEATTLE scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. in the wake of getting SOBER around the time of the making of VITALOGY (EPIC, 1994), PEARL JAM guitarist MIKE MCREADY wrote some loose outside material with bassist JOHN BAKER SAUNDERS (THE WALKABOUTS) and drummer BARRETT MARTIN (SCREAMING TREES) as a means of therapy as much as anything else. eventually he recruited the generationally TALENTED but profoundly addicted LAYNE STALEY (ALICE IN CHAINS) to the fold in hopes of providing a SOBER ENVIRONMENT for him on his road to recovery. at that point in the wake of JAR OF FLIES (COLUMBIA, 1994), STALEY had been something of a recluse in that ALICE IN CHAINS were FAMOUS for not touring due to his SPIRALING HEROIN ADDICTION.
STALEY is arguably in top form throughout ABOVE, providing absolutely WRENCHINGLY AFFECTING performances on STANDOUT tracks like "WAKE UP," "LONG GONE DAY," "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING" and "RIVER OF DECEIT." sonically this record is sparsely constructed with a sound-bed that is almost JAZZ-like in its sparseness and use of space. it provides the perfect accompanying and unimposing support for a DELIBERATE focus on the weight of STALEY's VISCERAL and emotionally WROUGHT vocals. STALEY for his part never sounded so EXPOSED and VULNERABLE, even in his more ACCOMPLISHED compositions with ALICE IN CHAINS. even the artwork, an illustration also provided by STALEY, seems to showcase a couple deep in the throes of CODEPENDENCE which feels like another metaphor for his DOOMED relationship with NARCOTICS. ABOVE very much is a gift to music fans as many of is collaborators sadly lost their battle with HEROIN over the next few years, including that of STALEY (in 2002) and SAUNDERS (in 1999). for STALEY, the tragic passing of his fiance from a HEROIN OVERDOSE in 1996 is something he never recovered from. in recent years, the project was resurrected for various benefit concerts with SEATTLE luminaries like MARK LANEGAN (who originally guested on two ABOVE tracks) and CHRIS CORNELL (SOUNDGARDEN) filling in for STALEY and DUFF MCKAGAN (GUNS N ROSES, THE FASTBACKS, 10 MINUTE WARNING) in for SAUNDERS, but nothing permanent came of it. especially in the wake of the CORNELL and LANEGAN's recent passings the door seems finally closed on such. to me ABOVE and this project is not CURSED or DOOMED as some in the press of morbidly attested, in fact i feel the opposite. DRUG ADDICTION is a powerful force and the MAD SEASON project was an attempt, however futile in retrospect, to fight the good fight through art, COMMUNICATION and EMPATHY. that deep well of COURAGE and VULNERABILITY that shines through in the material is something that is uniquely human despite its ultimate FRAGILITY. its like a DYLAN THOMAS poem attempting to give voice to DESPAIR and EXISTENTIAL PLIGHT and to find BEAUTY in spite of itself. to me that is enduring legacy of ABOVE and why it is a SINGULAR achievement even among the CELEBRATED catalogues of its participating members. this record is required listening in my opinion. photo & text by nacrowe
when you look back at the nascent HIP HOP scene in THE BRONX in the late 1970s, there was a lot of EXPERIMENTATION going on. the form itself was justing coming into being and the sonic possibilities that came with remixing one's record collection on turntables with a clever DJ running copilot was seemingly limited to one's imagination.
what is INTRIGUING about going back to the source, of which AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & SOULSONIC FORCE's EPOCHAL release PLANET ROCK: THE ALBUM (TOMMY BOY, 1986) is how informed his range was of the musical AVANT-GARDE, even going so far as to sample KRAUTROCK contemporaries KRAFTWERK for the LEGENDARY title track. in his hands (along with collaborating co-producer ARTHUR BAKER), the consciously RIGID and MACHINE-LIKE efficiency of "NUMBERS" off of KRAFTWERK's COMPUTER WORLD (KLING KLANG, 1981) became something totally unexpected: FUNKY. in the MODERN lexicon of HIP HOP as it has develop over the ensuing decades, "PLANET ROCK" has one of the DEFINING samples of the genre. so much so that the song helped provide the impetus for the ELECTRO movement that followed. sometimes genres become more CALCIFIED over the course of their development as a form and there is this fallacy that develops that the early FORBEARERS somehow held onto this UNADULTERATED, UNALLOYED, PURE DISTILLATION of the TRUE SPIRIT of the genre. you see that type of incorrect thinking and mythologizing with everything from PUNK ROCK and the BIBLE to BASEBALL and the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. its a very human thing to distort the past. the further you go back, often what becomes apparent is how in flux and undetermined all these later DOGMATIC parameters were at the time of formation. HIP HOP is no different and "PLANET ROCK" is a PRIME and INTRIGUING example of such. i would be remiss if i didnt mention the other STANDOUT track, which is "RENEGADES OF FUNK," decades later MEMORABLY covered by BAMBAATAAA acolytes RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. lyrically the song celebrates all these BLACK EMPOWERMENT and is a bit of history lesson of such, listing past THINKERS and REVOLUTIONARIES that pushed the ball forward in terms of the LIBERATION and FREEDOM of the AFRICAN DIASPORA. in fact, BAMBAATAAA headed the UNIVERSAL ZULU NATION, an international HIP HOP awareness group he initiated while still in high school that promoted PAN-AFRICANISM and BLACK EMPOWERMENT. later NOTABLE affiliates include Q-TIP (A TRIBE CALLED QUEST), KOOL MOE DEE, BIG BOI (OUTKAST), KURTIS BLOW, IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE and ICE-T among many others. i should also state that in recent years BAMBAATAAA has become something of a CONTROVERSIAL figure, with many allegations surfacing of his alleged involvement in the molesting of young boys going back to the 1970s. BAMBAATAAA has vehemently denied these charges and to date no charges have been leveled against him. all the same it goes without mentioning that these allegations have complicated his legacy as a HIP HOP ORIGINATOR and CULTURAL INNOVATOR of the first order. photo & text by nacrowe
i know its hard now to imagine a time when AEROSMITH didnt suck, with all the EMBARRASSING, SCHMALTZY, TRITE DIANE WARREN-cowritten torch songs the NEW ENGLAND quartet became known for in the later years of their career, but there was a time when they were a LOOSE, SWAGGERING outfit that competed with the best of them. that period was the early-to-mid 1970s which coincided with their first four records, i.e. AEROSMITH (COLUMBIA, 1973), GET YOUR WINGS (COLUMBIA, 1974), TOYS IN THE ATTIC (COLUMBIA, 1975) and ROCKS (COLUMBIA, 1976). for context, during this time AEROSMITH was prominent enough to have prominent support acts including the likes of RUSH, JEFF BECK, SLADE, NEW YORK DOLLS, FOGHAT, TED NUGENT, AC/DC and MOTT THE HOOPLE. it is this era of their career that had a profound influence on everyone from SLASH (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER), MICK MARS (MOTLEY CRUE) and JAMES HETFIELD (METALLICA) to less obvious musicians like DC HARDCORE legends HENRY ROLLINS (BLACK FLAG) and IAN MACKAYE (MINOR THREAT) among many others.
ROCKS is considered by many to be the pick of the litter from this period and the STANDOUT album of their career. singer STEVEN TYLER and guitarist JOE PERRY were never more on point as a songwriting tandem. guitarists still look back at the SLINKY, DIRTY grooves on tracks like "BACK IN THE SADDLE," "NOBODY'S FAULT," "GET THE LEAD OUT" and "RATS IN THE CELLAR" as a master class in CLASSIC ROCK N ROLL riffage. id even argue that for guitarists of a certain age, this is the PERRY that comes to mind in their childhood imagination. and TYLER comes off untethered like a feral cat slithering throughout the songs adding exponential ENERGY, CHARISMA and PASSION to already UNDENIABLE instrumentals that were already SMOLDERING to begin with. that being said, just like some people are not a GEDDY LEE guy (and i know plenty), i want to be frank and admit that i was never a TYLER guy. unlike PERRY, i just find him to be a SECOND-TIER talent next peers like ROBERT PLANT (LED ZEPPELIN), IAN HUNTER (MOTT THE HOOPLE), ROBIN ZANDER (CHEAP TRICK), RONNIE JAMES DIO (RAINBOW), BILLY GIBBONS (ZZ TOP) and even BON SCOTT (AC/DC) and PHIL LYNOTT (THIN LIZZY). in fact, much as with SCOTT and LYNOTT, TYLER had a similar role in being a bit of a hype and ENERGY man for his band that superseded his somewhat DIMINUTIVE natural talents. because of that lack of INDISPUTABLE talent and the EFFORT exerted on stage, again like SCOTT and LYNOTT, there has always been a WORKING-CLASS appeal to TYLER and his band that extends to the modern day. such is seen with their sold-out arena tours long, long after their CREATIVE peak years in the mid-1970s. and more power to them. ROCKS is a CLASSIC ROCK masterpiece and most definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
for the uninitiated to the world of AFROBEAT and AFRICAN music legend FELA KUTI, there is a slight learning curve to appreciating this COMPLEX and REWARDING music. much of his music is a HYBRID of the AMERICAN JAZZ and R&B he took in while traveling stateside in the late 1960s at the tail-end of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, as well as intricate WEST AFRICAN POLYRHYTHMS with TRADITIONAL CALL-AND-RESPONSE GROUP VOCALS. there is almost a SPIRITUAL aspect to his music in that the POLYRHYTHMS create an INHALATION and EXHALATION mantra-like experience that is not as much SONG-ORIENTED as it is VIBE-BASED. you just have to acquiesce and let the MUSIC envelop and subsume you to its will, and not fight it seeking out markers such as RECOGNIZABLE CHORUSES and VERSES and the like.
ARMY ARRANGEMENT (CELLULOID, 1985) is a STANDOUT example of FELA's creative output in his later years. by this point he had long since established himself as a revolutionary cultural icon for all AFRICANS with his musical diatribes against the various MILITARY DICTATORSHIP REGIMES that effectively suffocated NIGERIA in the POST-COLONIAL period since the 1960s. REVERED albums such as GENTLEMAN (KALAKUTA, 1973), ZOMBIE (KALAKUTA, 1977), EXPENSIVE SHIT (KALAKUTA, 1975) and COFFIN FOR HEAD OF STATE (KALAKUTA, 1981) questioned and challenged AFRICAN identity in the wake of BRITISH rule, which still held HEGEMONIC cultural and economic influence over their former subjects, much as he also eviscerated the unabated CORRUPTION of NIGERIA leadership who acquiesced to the agenda of their former superiors for financial motives. these themes are a constant through-line amidst most of his catalogue and is part of the reason he is still so widely CELEBRATED even two decades after his passing in 1997. with ARMY ARRANGEMENT, FELA sets his sights firmly on the CORRUPTION of the MILITARY DICTATORSHIP of MUHAMMADU BARI, who overturned the second republic of NIGERIA in 1983 before being toppled himself in 1985. the song "ARMY ARRANGEMENT" is about the transition to DEMOCRATIC RULE in the late 1970s and the mindset of the military who wantonly STOLE, MURDERED, KIDNAPPED, IMPRISONED and even RAPED the NIGERIAN population seemingly at will. not surprisingly, BARI had FELA arrested on trumped up charges due to him being a vocal critic of his REGIME. had him DETAINED at the airport en route to a stateside tour. his release happened shortly after the regime fell apart. "GOVERNMENT CHICKEN BOY" takes aim at NIGERIAN citizens that support the REGIME out of fear of reprisal. i spent almost three years in LAGOS between 1996-1998, which coincided with his final years, and his message was as POWERFUL as ever with the locals. in fact, i learned about FELA through the NIGERIAN help that my parents employed during our stay there. i still wish i had those original NIGERIAN-manufactured cassette tapes of I.T.T. (KALAKUTA, 1980) and CONFUSION BREAK BONES (KALAKUTA, 1990). FELA and his message was stridently POLITICAL during an era of TURMOIL and PALPABLE REAL DANGER. even during my stay, the BRUTAL dictator SANI ABACHA had people TORTURED and even HUNG on public beaches who dared to cross him. what FELA did was beyond PUNK ROCK, beyond posing or making ARTFUL, METAPHORICAL stances against CORRUPTION. he looked POWER square in the eye and spit in its face point blank. one man versus a CROOKED GOVERNMENT. the dude is still an icon. his MUSIC should be taught and appreciated everywhere. photo & text by nacrowe
the HAMBURG-based INDUSTRIAL METAL band KMFDM was on a bit of a role in the mid-90s with a string of ICONIC releases in ANGST (WAX TRAX!, 1993), NIHIL (WAX TRAX!, 1995) and SYMBOLS (WAX TRAX!, 1997) that included arguably their most CELEBRATED tracks to date. those albums specifically serve as the centerpiece of their touring operation that has continued seemingly unabated now for close to four decades now. nudged right between NIHIL and SYMBOLS was XTORT (WAX TRAX!, 1996), which was relatively TOP-HEAVY with its "SON OF A GUN," "POWER" and "WRATH" tracks inter-midst more relatively PEDESTRIAN material.
its difficult pinpointing what makes for a strong KMFDM record since much like MOTORHEAD, AC/DC, THE RAMONES and SLAYER, they all tend to bleed into each other. such is the risk one takes when mixing unadulterated UPTEMPO JUNGLE DANCE BEATS with AGGRESSIVE OVERDRIVEN GUITARS and deep PUMMELING BASS DRUMS. its odd calling KMFDM a singles band, but it is true to an extent that their STANDOUT tracks are generally those they release individually, given that they usually depart in terms of MELODY and TEMPO from the UNRELENTING SAMPLE-HEAVY INDUSTRIAL assault that makes up the rest of their work. in later years a heavy dose of PARODY and HUMOR was added to the mix, both lyrically and sonicly, but XTORT is firmly in this previous era of GENRE-DEFINING releases that went on to influence countless INDUSTRIAL-adjacent acts from ATARI TEENAGE RIOT, MARILYN MANSON and THE PRODIGY to RAMMSTEIN and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE. if you are interested in the development of INDUSTRIAL MUSIC then XTORT is well worth checking out, as are similar releases by peers like SKINNY PUPPY, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT, FRONT 242 and MINISTRY as well as more FORMATIVE bands like THROBBING GRISTLE and EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN. my personal favorite KMFDM releases to date are NIHIL and SYMBOLS, so my advice would be to start there and then branch out accordingly. photo & text by nacrowe
after the career-defining twin cultural HIP HOP milestones that were THE SLIM SHADY LP (INTERSCOPE, 1999) and THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP (INTERSCOPE, 2000), DETROIT rapper EMINEM settled in and released THE EMINEM SHOW (INTERSCOPE, 2002). by the time he recorded his third album, he'd gone through the ringer publicly after resolving a CONCEALED WEAPONS CHARGE, being SUED BY HIS OWN MOTHER for defamation, as well as a lengthy DIVORCE with a related CONTESTED CUSTODY BATTLE for his young daughter. for EMINEM, his life very much felt like a WARPED spectacle that was fodder and entertainment for the masses, so why not just give them all an actual show on his third album.
the first two records were mostly produced / co-produced by DR DRE with EMINEM gaining confidence along the way. THE EMINEM SHOW is SIGNIFICANT in his catalogue as the majority of tracks are produced by EMINEM, showcasing a FIERCE new SKILLSET he developed under the watchful tutelage of DR DRE. such being the case, the piano-derived single-note MELODY LINES share a DNA link with the N.W.A. legend, as made evident on tracks like "BUSINESS," "WHITE AMERICA," "SQUARE DANCE," "WITHOUT ME" and especially "CLEANIN' OUT MY CLOSET." i was aware of EMINEM throughout high school, as THE SLIM SHADY LP came out my freshman year and THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP my sophomore year, but i didnt initially take to his music because his stuff was popular with the jocks. and by that i mean the hockey players that TERRORIZED and BRUTALLY HAZED me and my friends as an underclassman. i was at a boarding school so there was literally no escape from those ASSHOLES and their ABUSE. by the time THE EMINEM SHOW came out, i was near the end of high school and a lot had changed. i was no longer in boarding school, having spent my junior year with my parents in KUWAIT and then senior year with a relative in SACRAMENTO after 9/11 happened that year. the company my dad worked for had a policy that his family could fly out twice a year, airfare fully paid, so it was on a five-and-a-half hour solo journey FRANKFURT-KUWAIT CITY flight that i first really dug into a copy of THE EMINEM SHOW i got at the airport and finally came to appreciate its appeal. as with all great MCs, EMINEM is a GIFTED POET. not just technically-speaking, as the dude can INTERNAL RHYME SCHEME and CADENCE his way with DEXTERITY with the best of them, but in term of his ability to emote a wide dynamic range of mental states through his PERSONAS. he can be COY and HUMOROUS to ireedemably CAUSTIC in zero seconds flat. targets include his family, his WHITE AUDIENCE, the BUSH ADMINISTRATION, former girlfriend MARIAH CAREY, the MUSIC INDUSTRY and those who seek to censor him. besides his lyrical acrobatics, the songs work because of the sonic bedrock he's established to fortify and buttress the complex architecture that is his SOPHISTICATED RHYME SCHEMES, WORDPLAY and CULTURAL REFERENCES. it is a style that is definitely old school with prominent structural elements that give the listener an innate sense of METER and PITCH of which he is bouncing ideas off of. today's MODERN, more ABSTRACT cloud rappers don't mess with this type of beat as it limits their choices, which makes EMINEM's achievements that more SPECUTACULAR in comparison. personally i love THE EMINEM SHOW and feel it is required listening, but in terms of his catalogue the first two albums really are where one needs to begin their journey. everything else is a variation on a THEME, including the standout THE EMINEM SHOW. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
some records are of a place and time and PENNSYLVANIA's SOPHOMORIC yet highly INTELLIGENT BLOODHOUND GANG for me was all about junior year of high school. the band is undoubtedly CELEBRATED and/or RIDICULED for the over-intellectualized JUVENILE HUMOR of one JAMES MOYER FRANKS, a.k.a JIMMY POP. and really it is all about how one relates to said CRUDE COMEDY that largely determines ones opinion of the band.
on HOORAY FOR BOOBIES (GEFFEN, 1999), the bands commercial break-through, the conceit of most of the songs surrounds HUMAN SEXUALITY from a male perspective/gaze, with all the PROBLEMATIC associations that assumes. although topics range from LUSTFUL odes to PORN STARS and allusions to ANIMAL SEX on the DISCOVERY CHANNEL, the real lyrical conceit here is the HUMILIATION of MALE INADEQUACY. such can be inferred on tracks ranging from "THE BAD TOUCH," "RIGHT TURN CLYDE" and "MOPE" to "ALONG COMES MARY," "MAGNA CUM NADA" and "THE BALLAD OF CHASEY LAIN." i'd even go so far as to argue that HOORAY FOR BOOBIES is ultimately a MISGUIDED, but INSPIRATIONAL and HOPEFUL grand gesture for the possibility of one day securing HETEROSEXUAL ROMANTIC LOVE for the SOCIALLY CHALLENGED and habitually INADEQUATE males out there. all of this messaging would matter little if the songs were not so damn CATCHY. main songwriter JIMMY POP really does have a talent and ear for MEMORABLE hooks exploited by tight TRADITIONAL POP COMPOSITIONS. his adroit use of vintage samples undoubtedly taken from children's educational programming ingeniously pushes the thematic DELINQUENT agenda that much more forcibly with all the ABSURDITY that such entails. during a late 1990s period when RAP ROCK and NU METAL was all the rage, JIMMY POP and his VOCAL DELIVERY is almost a throwback to CLASSIC 90s rappers like RAKIM with CLEVER internal RHYME SCHEMES and multiple TEMPO SHIFTS employed throughout. POP's HUMOR and SELF-EFFACING disposition also blunted any forced comparisons to such JOYLESS hacks and supposed peers from that period like FRED DURST (LIMP BIZKIT) or JONATHAN DAVIS (KORN). has HOORAY FOR BOOBIES aged well? not really. in today's INCLUSIVE atmosphere its BRAZEN un-PC presentation and CONFRONTATIONAL disposition seems tailored made for MAGA country and their false equivalencies under the baldly, BAD-FAITH banner of "free speech." but im not sure that was the context of its creation two decades ago. i think it was meant to be a SELF-MOCKING, wink-wink nudge-nudge, CLEVER album about MORONIC topics that lionized STUNTED ADOLESCENCE and IMMATURITY writ large. it was an album meant and intentionally designed to be stupid that celebrated its profound SILLINESS and ABSURDITY. to that end it succeeded, but like all things politicized for today's polarized population, i have no doubt that HOORAY FOR BOOBIES still has the potential to prod and aggressively provoke a REFLEXIVE reaction. but that wasnt its intention: i dont believe THE BLOODHOUND GANG was ever about being CRUEL. it was about DELAYED ADOLESCENCE and being cleverly MORONIC. everyone should take a deep breath. its all a joke. a joke CELEBRATING MALE INADEQUACY. |
NICHOLAS ARCHIVES
May 2024
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