Musicology | Love 'em, Hate 'em

[Typhoon]

. . .
It was only later that we found out Les Rallizes connection with the Japanese Red Army. Some member of the band even helped them hijack a plane.

Talk about hardcore.

Hardcore coincidence. On my way to a meeting, said "Ohayo" | "Good Morning"
to an elderly woman outside a hotel in Takatsuki, Osaka as I passed by as she was looking at me.
A moment later, as I turned the corner, the air was full of helicopters and police were arriving from all directions.
Turned out that woman was Fusako Shigenobu, a wanted senior member of the Japanese Red Army.



In her heyday,



Probably the weirdest chance encounter of my life to date.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

. . .
It was only later that we found out Les Rallizes connection with the Japanese Red Army. Some member of the band even helped them hijack a plane.

Talk about hardcore.

Hardcore coincidence. On my way to a meeting, said "Ohayo" | "Good Morning"
to an elderly woman outside a hotel in Takatsuki, Osaka as I passed by as she was looking at me.
A moment later, as I turned the corner, the air was full of helicopters and police were arriving from all directions.
Turned out that woman was Fusako Shigenobu, a wanted senior member of the Japanese Red Army.



In her heyday,



Probably the weirdest chance encounter of my life to date.

Whoa, that is crazy. Must've been alarming- did you turn around to see what was happening? Did she seem nervously expecting it? I get that impression from the way you tell it.

[Typhoon]

. . .
It was only later that we found out Les Rallizes connection with the Japanese Red Army. Some member of the band even helped them hijack a plane.

Talk about hardcore.

Hardcore coincidence. On my way to a meeting, said "Ohayo" | "Good Morning"
to an elderly woman outside a hotel in Takatsuki, Osaka as I passed by as she was looking at me.
A moment later, as I turned the corner, the air was full of helicopters and police were arriving from all directions.
Turned out that woman was Fusako Shigenobu, a wanted senior member of the Japanese Red Army.



In her heyday,



Probably the weirdest chance encounter of my life to date.

Whoa, that is crazy. Must've been alarming- did you turn around to see what was happening?

No, as I had no idea that she was the target of all the activity and I had a meeting to get to.

I've seen police raids happen before, on a smaller scale, never with helicopters involved.

Did she seem nervously expecting it? I get that impression from the way you tell it.

From my admittedly vague recollection, she did not appear nervous at all.

Rather it was reported that she was defiant when arrested, smiling and stating that she will "Fight on." and gave a thumbs up as in the image.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

It's true though I overly dramatize it for effect. My mother is not hysterical for starters. And while she couldn't articulate it, it's the point I've been making:

Musical forms (even popular forms) matter and what you allow in matters too (though one shouldn't act fanatical about it). For example:

Despite all the sadness or raunchiness someone can associate with blues music and musicians, there is also a great amount more to it than that...someone put it that all blues musicians have songs about great debauchery on Saturday nights and even greater, and sincere depths of veneration on Sunday mornings. It's a complete picture of man, warts and all with a solid philosophy which permeates it- southern stoicism.

The starting point for hard rock culminates in that suicidal end point- whether an actual suicide like the one mentioned above, or by stupefaction or arrested development, it happens if you buy into it too much or don't smarten up- not everyone does. It has to- that primitive Beethoven, me against the crowd, quasi-religious/nature experience calls for ever more personal music. And the way to make it ever more personal is to make it ever more negative...minor keys, self-loathing, self-pity, negative emotions all around....it's debauched and that's it because it's more personal. It's angry, and that's it because it's more personal. It's some sort of pantheistic overreaction because nothing is ever personal enough. As the late Peter Lawler was fond of saying (something to the effect of,) "It's creepy (and creeping) liberal-tarianism. Ever more and more about 'me' transgressing all 'we' boundaries."

does make you ponder the inevitable backlash of the authoritarian "we" which fixes all that.

Hopefully it's more of a communitarian 'we'

Which, for the foreseeable future, is not in the cards. And that's okay.

On the long list of problems in life, this is way down there. 'Cause at the end of the day, people need to socialize, and if they do it around this silly band or that pop star or country singer or, or, or....that moves 'em; well, it's awfully unfair to be the puritan worried that somewhere, somehow, someone is having fun.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Okay, this combines a few things we've been talkin'bout:

-Aussie band? Check.

-Over the top? Check.

-Hooks a'plenty? Check.

-Even more smug version than the original? Check + +

I present Zoot:

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It's horrible, it's wonderful...it leaves you with a headache.

[noddy]

hah never heard of them

looking at the wiki - they went on to become little river band and rick springfield so my ignorance appears to be self preservation.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

"Tell me a Bobby D story"...

"It's like going to see a sorcerer. It's all a test."

"He's like a retarded child."

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"Look, I'm on the Bob Dylan train."

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Jealous of the Birds "Plastic Skeletons"

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[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Here's one I can never make heads or tails of:

Billy Joel. And I'm talkin' just the singles/pop tunes.

I can never seem to decide whether his songs are incredibly genius or monumentally stupid and cheesy- sometimes even extra cynical.

The thing about Joel is that something about his music is off is an outsider artist sort of way.

I remember years ago, a website of outsider music I searched around allegedly had a demo reel of a young Billy Joel, picked up by someone at a Long Island yard sale who didn't quite know what they had...

And it was...interesting. If it wasn't Joel himself, it was the closest I've ever heard anyone get to Billy Joel's overall sound.

Which is unique; even as (most?) of his catalogue is him shamelessly aping others.

[noddy]

not a fan, but Tom Waits is probably the only piano lounge type guy I can actually enjoy in doses, so its not exactly an area of speciality

did watch some thing on backup bands and session musicians which had an interesting sub section on Billy - namely he carried the same band for ages then decided they wanted too much money/too big for their boots and then sacked them all in favour of disposable session musicians.

painted a picture of quite a nasty little fellow, though your characterisation also fits quite well.

[noddy]

the outsider angle isnt one id thought of.

i just thought it was cheesy and gave it no extra time

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

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This is a blatant Mick Jagger/Rolling Stones derivation. But it's done wrong- like something got lost in translation.

Nevermind how silly the juxtaposition of Jagger/Joel is. Lyrics are bad and the accompanying music is cheesy.

But it all hangs together almost because it's wrong in a way it shouldn't be. Like an enthusiastic guy tinkering around with music in his garage.

Some of that is Joel's voice which has great range-stage voice. Everything's theatrical.

But the theater part where shoves in the insincerity....

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

not a fan, but Tom Waits is probably the only piano lounge type guy I can actually enjoy in doses, so its not exactly an area of speciality

did watch some thing on backup bands and session musicians which had an interesting sub section on Billy - namely he carried the same band for ages then decided they wanted too much money/too big for their boots and then sacked them all in favour of disposable session musicians.

painted a picture of quite a nasty little fellow, though your characterisation also fits quite well.

Word on the street has been that he can be one of the nicer rock stars to work for, as long as he's sober- he's a terrible, terrible drunk. However true that is, I can't say.

The band thing is definitely an infamous point of contention. But he started dumping them near the end of his "run". Joel hasn't made an album in 25 years; he's said it himself, he felt his catalog was complete and he couldn't contribute anymore to it. Carrying the original band, at a higher price, as a nostalgia act (and one a lot smaller than Paul McCartney types) probably played a big role.

Plus whatever he pays in alimony.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

But yeah, the not-quite-derivation of his catalog and his clear aping/playing with concepts from artists he liked and admired

is an extremely "outsider" music thing.

Everyone copies from who/what they like. But Joel takes it to Daniel Johnston territory.

[noddy]

a bad photo copy of elton john.

who isnt much better at it now that i think of it.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Speaking of derivative

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These guys are blowing up with a real media push.

I meant to post this earlier, before it was hip to do so.

[noddy]

will listen later when not sneeking in distraction at work. cough.

speaking of derivative rock - ive never quite got the Jack White/White Stripes thing beyond the hit single pop appeal - as its all a bit samey but somehow the Dead Weather incarnation has remained listenable and in my playlist, despite it mining the same ground itself and slipping into predictable parody a few times too many.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

a bad photo copy of elton john.

who isnt much better at it now that i think of it.

hah! I'm disagreeing with you there.

Elton John was an old school rock n roller stuck in the wrong era. His biggest problem is that he gave up a long, long, long time ago. And he was stuck with an awful lyricist.

Bernie Taupin is always spoke of so fondly but I think he's absolutely terrible all wrong.

Case in point: he was the songwriter of Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City".

Elton John because of his voice and musicality was able to take this guy's straw and turn it into gold.

[noddy]

he was stuck with an awful lyricist.

Bernie Taupin is always spoke of so fondly but I think he's absolutely terrible all wrong.

Case in point: he was the songwriter of Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City".

case closed, i just never bothered looking for the detail

ok, so a bad photo copy of elton john's lyricist.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Jack White...that last solo album he released is rough.

I'm with you on Dead Weather and only a little less ambivalent about the White Stripes.

The cool, earlier records I grew right out of because of that sameness and without the later pop. Even then, I was never a fan of the big one- Elephant.

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground is a favorite though.

The singles off of White Blood Cells in general.

I really, really enjoy "Get Behind Me Satan" which is the most panned one making me an unfortunate contrarian.

But from start to finish, it's a fully realized album with coherent themes. The different instrumentation and the time constraint it was recorded under (I think everything was written and recorded in two weeks) give it a lot of breathing room and little less of the stultifying pretension of the other albums. (but only a little)

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Jack White seems like the type of guy who relies on a comic's sense of surprise. I think he's even described himself as being more like a stand-up comic, going with the flow of the crowd (in concert.) That sort of surprise gets harder and harder to achieve, as the audience learns all your tricks.

And, giving him too much time to try to "think" out his music, you end up with albums like his last one which is too much.

So, he's sorta stuck.

[noddy]

I think i agree with most of that summary.

the main initial appeal for me was the uglyness was refreshing at that point in time, memories of rock when it was still working out what it was and hadnt formulated and produced itself into generic irrelevance.

but one guy only has so many ideas and then you need something else.

[Nonc Hilaire]

Joel and Bocelli are two of a kind. Technical perfection without a dram of genuine emotive expressiveness.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Speaking of those 00s garage rockers- The Mooney Suzuki's Electric Sweat album is a good one.

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[NapLajoieonSteroids]

If one is in the mood for Iron Maiden type heavy-metal instrumentals, the F*ing Champs- IV may be up your alley!

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How can you go wrong with a band who titles their songs "What's a Little Reign?" and "Thor is Like, Immortal!"