For Your Listening Pleasure
Weird Al Yankovic – Poodle Hat
“Tell me how was I supposed to know we were both related?
Believe me, if I knew she was my cousin we never would have dated
What to do now? Should I go ahead and propose
And get hitched and have kids with eleven toes
And move to Alabama where that kind of thing is tolerated?
No no no…” – “A Complicated Song”
(Parody of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated”)
It looks like Weird Al is back, and no one is safe! My brother just got a hold of the latest album from this master of pop music parodies, and let me just say that you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the “Angry White Boy Polka” — that’s right, a POLKA! medley of Papa Roach’s “Last Resort,” System of a Down’s “Chop Suey,” the Vines’ “Get Free,” the Hives’ “Hate to Say I Told You So,” the White Stripes’ “Fell In Love With a Girl,” the Strokes’ “Last Nite,” Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness,” Rage Against the Machine’s “Renegades of Funk,” Limp Bizkit’s “My Way,” Staind’s “Outside,” Kid Rock’s “Bawitdaba,” P.O.D.’s “Youth of the Nation” and Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady”… for your listening pleasure.
Make fun of me all you want, but the music industry – and true music fans everywhere – will NEED Weird Al as long as there are people like this getting ready to sell millions of albums:
(Photo credit: www.idolonfox.com)
News to You
I have nothing to say in this space that wasn’t already covered by 411mania’s Tom Daniels… but let’s just say that I’ll have a bunch to talk about regarding the return of Napster and the latest drugs found in Scott Weiland’s car.
All Growns Up?: Readers Spin Back
Last week, I talked a lot about how some of my friends (in their mid-to-late twenties) have seemingly out-grown “angst-rock”, practically to the point of no return, what this type of music from about ten years ago meant to me then, means to me now, and how to reconcile it all. While I made a few solid points, this is a conversation that’s far from over… as I saw when I looked through my email box this past week.
Let’s start with the man who inspired last week’s rantings, Eric S.:
Thank you. That was very nice. And your responses were damn good. However, and there’s always a however…
1) I think that there’s a certain age that’s a line of demarcation at which we end our “angry young men” stage and stop relating to what comes after. For me, that age was 27. “Here we are now, entertain us” has the same feeling for me as “Straight outta Compton, crazy muthaf*cka named Ice Cube”, Black Francis declaring “I am Un Chien Andalusian”, Westerburg claiming “We are the sons of no one”, Dee Dee chanting “1,2,3,4”, Strummer saying “Ain’t so lucky to be rich; Sten guns in Knightsbridge” (or “The Ice Age is comin’, the sun’s zoomin’ in), Rotten growling “Right….Now!”, or for that matter Fogerty’s pure bile on “Fortunate Son”, Daltrey going “People try to put us down” or even Mickey Dolenz singing “Aye-aye-aye-aye-ayem not your steppin’ stone” (there’s a reason every punk band in England covered that one). But nothing after that. It was like some switch was turned off. That’s when regression begins, and that pretty much defaults to your 15-17-year-old period. It’s when you felt comfortable with the concept of rage against the world, I guess. It’s not right for a guy pushing thirty to feel that way, but perfectly acceptable to recall teenage angst.
2) My greatest concert experiences were seeing the Replacements and Jane’s Addiction live at a small club in Frankfurt, and seeing the Pixies and Ramones at a festival (even during the C. J. age; all of these were 1989-1990). The energy was palpable. You didn’t feel the bodies crushing against you, whether in that club or in the mosh pit. You only felt the energy. It was a wave of anger against the world (or as Black Francis would have put it, a wave of mutilation), a reaction against rapid change mixed with stultifying inertia; that’s common in any adolescent experience. “We need change and we need it fast…but lately it all sounds the same to me.” Oh, you were so right, Joey. Bonzo Goes To Bitburg indeed.
3) I hate to admit this, but the reason I like “Evenflow” is because I think it’s a great update of “Aqualung”.
Eric
Thanks Eric. A lot to think about – but first, I must demand that you speak of C.J. Ramone with a bit more reverence (sure he’s not in the RnR Hall of Fame, but even Eddie Vedder recognized him in his seemingly 16-hour induction speech last year).
Around the time I was 15-17, I was an angry/confused gen-x adolescent, and of course NWA, Cypress Hill, and Nirvana were in prime rotation in my CD changer. But that grew into an appreciation for ‘good music that expresses strong feelings’… even if they’re not necessarily feelings that I agree with.
I admit, I’ve always been turned on by the idea of large groups of people, gathering to fight for “a cause”, for something they truly care about. I’ve sat in on protests for issues I didn’t necessarily believe in/know enough about, just to observe the emotion, to feel the energy.
The same goes for artists and athletes (some may argue that the latter is a subset of the former, but that is not something I want to discuss just yet). For some of them, you can get a good read on their passion through their body of work. You can see what they’re fighting for, what’s making them angry, what they love. And — as far as music goes — as long as my ears can stand it, if there’s a group who’s work fits this criteria, get me tickets to that concert, ’cause I want to be a part of it.
Sure, my tastes have changed a bit, and while I loved the aura and most of the performances at last Friday’s “Joey Ramone Birthday Bash”, I didn’t stick it out long enough to catch the Misfits’ performance (along with any special guests they may or may not have had on tap). But the movement they represent, the person who’s birthday they’re honoring, and the young bands who’ll be there, hoping to follow in their footsteps — this is something to get excited about. Just watching Joey’s brother perform some of Joey’s songs gave me chills. And being able to say that I was there when Tommy Ramone took the stage in a rare appearance, and SANG “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” is just too cool.
As someone who was 15-17 during the dawn of grunge and gangsta rap, I still had a great deal of appreciation and respect for the ‘movements’ that came earlier. From Sonic Youth to the Pixies to the Ramones, the Clash, the Pistols, the Replacements, the VU, the Who, Zeppelin, Stones and Beatles… And I’m trying to have that same level of appreciation for what’s happened since Kurt died. But it’s hard to put my finger on what that “next big thing” actually is.
Maybe that’s because it hasn’t arrived yet; maybe it’s because I’ve gotten old and out of touch; or maybe it’s out there, but it’s been clouded by all of the truly bad, watered down music the mainstream has been flooded with the past few years, and I’m either too old, or don’t have access to the right means, to recognize it. But I’m trying.
I feel for John Hinsz:
Hey, I really dig your column. Great stuff. I have to agree with JFB’s comments. He said that pop culture went to hell in 98. And unfortunately I happened to turn 16 that year. What was I greeted with? Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. What the hell did the people do to deserve such crap? LB went from a good first album, a decent second album, and all the way to an absolute piece of crap with the third one. I just can’t wait for this latest trash they have. I personally was stuck stealing from previous generations. I was really into the Seattle bands, the good metal bands (metallica, megadeth, motorhead), and later on into the industrial music like kmfdm and atari teenage riot. When a term like bling bling can get in a dictionary you just know that the culture has gone to pot. Forget rock music now as well. Most of the bands are too busy trying to get on MTV to put out a decent album. I’m only 20 now but I can not even begin to relate to the highschool students now. To us Ozzy is a legend of rock to them he’s this weird old dude that makes sounds and makes them all laugh. To steal from the Buggles, video killed music. If it weren’t for music videos we could have avoided the hair bands, Madonna, and all these annoying boy bands and teenage girl pop stars. So don’t let the people tell you to stop talking about grunge. It’s not like it’s gotten any better since then.
You’re a little all over the place, John, but I can’t blame you. As much as anyone may want to disagree with me, I really feel that the early-to-mid nineties was the last time there was a significant movement in rock music, and am glad I “came of age” during that time period. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I had to look towards Fred Durst or Christopher Carraba as a channel for my angst. I don’t think video KILLED music though. Please don’t sacrilege the Buggles like that. There always have been, and always will be, crappy, poppy acts topping the charts for long periods of time until the “next big thing” (or a solid country music soundtrack) knocks them off.
Cabbageboy316 interjects some thoughts on the subject also. Try to guess the points I disagree with:
I can’t really see there being a 90s retro movement, mainly because there was nothing appealing about the time period that is worth clinging to. The time period from 1990-93 was one of the most dreary and depressing times I can remember. That might be because I was in middle school and hated it, and hadn’t yet found stuff like Nirvana (started listening to them in late 1993 when I started HS).
The 90s was strange….it started with a bunch of goofy hair bands and cheesy pop rappers, boy bands…and basically ended the same way.
Make up your mind, Cabbageboy! Do you want dark and dreary or goofy and poppy? I agree, there isn’t any 90s retro movement on the horizon, so I wouldn’t worry. You can put your flannels away for now.
He continues…
In terms of what Eric Szulczewski said about the 70s punk bands, well I dunno. To me a lot of that stuff is dated as hell now. I mean seriously, the Sex Pistols were a band that couldn’t play to save their lives. Some stuff the Clash did still holds up, but even albums like London Calling sound creaky today. The Ramones at least still have quite a bit of stuff that holds up, from maybe their 2nd album through 1981 or so.
But here’s where Eric S. tends to miss the point. While everyone blathered about Seattle opening up the doors for punk rock, to me all they did was update old school Sabbath (and yes, there is some whining to be found there too). Listen to some Sabbath from 1971-75 or so and it’ll startle you as to how modern it still is. There’s nothing especially punk sounding about Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, or Soundgarden. Nirvana didn’t even have a definable sound, I’ve heard them do anything from punk stuff to wild hard metal on In Utero, to a lot that sounds in between.
I can see Eric’s comparison more if he compared those 70s punk bands to Green Day or the Offspring, but not to the Seattle scene.
Well, I don’t think Eric was comparing SOUND as much as feeling. Green Day and Offspring are anything but angst-rock. Meanwhile, the grunge bands of the 90s took the punk attitude and a bit of the punk sound, and combined it with the music THEY grew up with (any type of metal from Zeppelin to Sabbath) to form a ‘new’ sound.
Just waiting for that NEXT new sound — one that doesn’t need great producers and new computers to exist — and it doesn’t have to be all about great musicianship, or even knowing more than three power-chords for that matter. There’s more to good rock and roll than just knowing how to play your instruments.
Toe’s feedback takes this point, and brings it into some scary territory:
I was listening to the first Coldplay CD before, and it’s interesting what they did. They seem to have taken a formula of what was popular in 2000: Radiohead lite (Kid A), DMB, Brit-rok… and churned out swooning, “emotional” music that struck a chord w/ people because it reminded them of everything they liked. Travis
was once called the ‘next big thing’ until Coldplay came along. Now I’m not saying Coldplay is the next big thing… but if this (this being Coldplay) is what is being targeted to people our age…. what does that say? Does that say we are asking for it as the DMB/Radiohead fans? Are we being eased into our VH1 years? We, of the Nirvana/PJ ilk
were quick to embrace DMB – not that there is anything wrong w/ it – but DMB is pretty much anti everything that Nirvana was about. There’s no rage, there’s no angst, there is pure musicianship. We brought “growing up” on ourselves.
Well, I’ve never been a Radiohead fan, and that’s probably why Travis, Coldplay, and the like aren’t my cup of tea, but I see your point, and it’s an interesting one. “Being eased into our VH-1 years”… OUCH. I personally plan to resist growing up a bit longer, thank you very much.
Speaking of growing up, LilDwayne21 brought a great point to the table:
FUCK ROCK and ROLL. Rap rules. FUCK all ur lil punk rock artists. All dem muthaf*cka’z are goin down da toilet. Hip-hop is takin over.
Wow — I don’t have the time or the energy to check the Oxford English Dictionary, so I’ll have to pass on this one for now, Dwayne!
Finally, the always insightful Reggie R. brings us back to one of the topics I keep promising not to address for a while:
You see, I’m not the only one that doesn’t like Eminem. Also I like that article about the respect thrown out about Public Enemy, but please correct him by saying that rap music is not hiphop. Hiphop is the whole style and conscience of rap, break-dancing (and that crap with house music and lights either), graffiti art and turntable artistry. Please correct this person, it sounds like he has it all wrong. But then again if he really paid close attention to Public Enemy he would have gotten this straight. But he did know they existed, I’ll give that.
Hip-hop vs. rap, eh? Another time, Reggie. Another time…
Fun With Spellchecker!
Not sure if I’ve used this one already, but even if I have, it’s worth it…
I typed: “Lavigne”
Spellchecker’s suggested replacement: “Leaving”
One can wish, can’t he?
peace. love. moe.
– Matt
Till My Head Falls Off can be found weekly on 411 Music (old columns are archived in the pull-down menu below). Already hit everything on 411? You can find more from Matthew Michaels at moodspins and 1-42.
