History of Punk Pt.1, Love Is Lost With My Chemical Romance & More!

    We're not even 4 months into 2013 and the drama wheel keeps turning. In all honesty, I'm starting to think that "drama" is fast becoming an outdated term. It seems like the "smash & grab" concept seems to be coming into vouge, especially out in the entertainment world. The term "Smash & grab" refers to information that is sudden, poorly planned, and deliberate. It only seeks to get the receiver off-guard (smashes) and then attempts to grab as much attention and reaction as possible.

  

 Latest case in point, My Chemical Romance. After 12 years and four studio albums, the band announced they're splitting up in a surprise blog post three days ago. While the band thanked fans for all their support and the whole decade plus experience was wonderful, they added the dreaded phrase, "like all great things, it has time for it to end." Maybe it's just me - it's cool to go out while you're on top, but this just seems... a little cold. Let me know what you think.

     I already did a separate post on this next tidbit, but it's worth repeating. The Library of Congress have selected numerous rock albums for preservation into the National Recording Registry. My God, there's hope for our government yet! One of their selections was the Ramones 1st album from 1976. I'm still speechless as I write this. Maybe we could write letters and have them preserve classics by The Sex Pistols, The Who,. and countless others. Hey - I can dream can't I?

     Another quick note, mainly because this story has gone viral to the nth degree is the band listing for Lollapalooza 2013. Some highlights include Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Mumford and Sons, and the Killers. Also confirmed for the Chicago festival, which runs August 2 - 4, are the Postal Service and the National. The full lineup will be officially announced in April, but early bird tickets are already on sale.

     Finally, as promised, we're starting a mini-series if you will, on the history of punk and alternative music. Guaranteed to raise some eyebrows, tick a few people off, but hopefully share and educate most. 

To truly and effectively tackle the history of punk and alternative music would be akin to trying to solve the mysteries of Easter Island, but I’m going to give it a shot anyways. The biggest dilemma I seem to run into is a starting point. I thought religion and politics was a touchy subject… that’s nothing when you start mentioning influences. Some purists state that punk and thus alternative started in the 70’s with The Sex Pistols and The Ramones. Others pay homage to The Stooges & The Velvet Underground. In my humble opinion, and in my experience, it started in the mid 50’s.

     Now before you compose that flaming email and hit the send button, press the pause button for a moment. I will be the first to admit that there is no exact time or year when the seeds of punk and alternative music were planted. But I’m going to use that key word from the previous paragraph – influences. Some of those influences weren’t even on vinyl. For example, Sam Phillips - the founder of Sun Records. A true visionary and without whom there would be no rock n’ roll… period. Some other milestones were various artists, like Buddy Holly, producing their own music, which was unheard of until 1956. While that may not sound like much today, it gave the individual artist freedom. Big time.

     Then you’ve got this cat from Memphis called Elvis Presley. Say what? Yup, Elvis and a bunch of other rockabilly artists like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. They were riding the crest of the new teen culture and rebellion. There’s another key word right there… rebellion. When you start mixing in a number of other rockers from James Brown to Little Richard to Chuck Berry, we’ve added another item to the mix - the wild (at least during that time) front-man and guitarist. Sorry folks, there’s no turning back now. These artists weren’t just banging on the door, they were kicking it in.

     These influences would carry us through the remainder of the 50’s until the early 60’s when all hell would start to break loose again. But we’ll save that for next time. 

     Until then, peace out.

We're Not Confused; Just Well Mixed - Touching On Nirvana, STP, Richard Hell, Punk History & More!

     Is it because it's late winter and the seasons are changing? Is it the phase of the moon? Or maybe the moon is in the phase of Nirvana... kinda chaotic? I don't know either, but whatever is going down, we seem to have an abundance of opinions, happenings, and emotions.

     First off, I finally got around to actually looking at a calendar and seeing what March 2013 is holding in store. I promptly threw that one in the trash because it ain't gonna matter. There's already too much shit in the fan and it seems the speed knob is going from medium to high. Being the music-mind that I am, (note: the official definition of "music-mind" is one where music is constantly playing in your head whether actual tunes are playing or not and remember obscure facts along the way that wouldn't matter to anyone else), I remembered that Nirvana's Nevermind was released 20 years ago. Great - now I really feel old...

     Digging deeper, however, there have been rumors circulating for some time about a 20 anniversary reissue of Nevermind. Yes - this reissue is a reality and it will be released shortly. Then bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl haven't had a lot to say about this project & I don't believe they really will. Butch Vig on the other hand, has offered a great deal of insight of the recording session of the album that changed and became the voice of a generation. Rolling Stone just posted on-line a rather cool article on this aspect - click here to check it out.

     Moving on to the he-said, they-said department, can anyone make heads or tails out of the latest Stone Temple Pilots / Scott Weiland drama / bullshit thing? The sometimes / former lead man for the Pilots now says the entire fiasco was a publicity stunt to boost ticket sales. Moreover, during a recent interview, Weiland first said that, "... in actuality, things are going great." However, he also mentioned that "... there are some issues that have to be worked out within the band - but they're the same issues as last year." Confused yet? Yeah... whatever. As the old saying goes, "...anyone who isn't confused here doesn't understand what's going on."

     They say timing is everything. In the last blog I commented on all the hoopla suddenly surrounding the small, short-lived NYC magazine called Punk. While a "best of..." issue will be coming out, it just seems natural that one of the founding members of Television (and the whole CBGB punk scene) Richard Hell will have his memoir hit the 'net on March 12th, not surprisingly entitled, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp. Whether you dig punk from the 70's or not, the book, at minimum, should be an interesting read. I've seen and read interviews involving Hell in the past, and they've always been... how should I put it... colorful. But I expect nothing less from the man. This is the guy who purposely ripped his shirts and then held them together with huge safety pins - and this was back in early 1975 - long before the Sex Pistols made it a staple. In fact, Malcolm McLaren was visiting New York at that time and caught Television playing at CBGB's on a Sunday afternoon. He saw Hell's ripped clothes & brought that look back to England. He then amped it up when he became manager of the Pistols. Of course, that look was adopted by many of the English punk music scene.

     Whatever attitude you take about Billie Joe Armstrong, I'm glad he's out of rehab (again). Maybe this time, he'll get it. He seems to be on the right track. Rolling Stone will be featuring an interview with him in their next issue. From what I've glimpsed, he'll be basically taking some time off to get his act in gear after their 33 date tour (which starts at the end of this month) is over. He also mentioned that if anyone is anxiously waiting for the next Green Day release - don't hold your breath. It's going to be a while.

     Lastly, I'm going to go out on limb here - mainly on myself. I'm going to start a sub-blog to the alternative rock blog. I've got tons of notes from over the past 15 years on the history of alternative music and punk specifically. So, starting this month, as a separate blog entry, I'll be tackling the history of punk in segments. It will not be replacing or in substitution of the regular blog. As I mentioned - it should be quite an undertaking. We'll see how this pans out.

     We'll leave you this month with a video clip of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit video. Just click on the title to go to the video. As I watch this, I can't help but thinking about the spoof Weird Al Yankovic did of this song and video. Watch both back to back if you can. You'll laugh at the material and most likely be amazed at how close they are in details.

     Until next time, peace out!
     - D -