Anyway, her song, Paper Planes, has been featured on trailers for the movie, Pineapple Express (I haven't been poking around YouTube for it; don't ask).  As a result, it debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 all the way up at #55.   AFT!!!

Somewhere, Joe Strummer is smiling and Mick Jones is counting his sample royalties...

Tracklist and download link after jump

1. “Dub Selection Intro”
2. Three 6 Mafia – “Late Night” (Unstoppable Mix)
3. Santogold – “Shuv It” (Disco D Blend)
4. Santogold – “I’m A Lady” (Diplo Mix feat. Amanda Blank)
5. Sir Mix-a-Lot – “Posse on Broadway”
6. Santogold – “Lights Out” (Diplo’s Panda Bear Mix)
7. Aretha Franklin – “Save Me”
8. Devo – “Be Stiff”
9. The B-52’s – “Mesopotamia”
10. Gerri and the Holograms – “Gerri and the Holograms”
11. Santogold – “Anne” (Switch Mix)
12. Santogold – “L.E.S. Artistes” (XXXchange Mix feat. Movado)
13. Cutty Ranks – “Dutty Six Pack”
14. Santogold – “You’ll Find a Way” (Grame & Switch Mix feat. Kid Cudi and Lunar Camel)
15. Richie Spice & Ratatat – “Marijuana”
16. Desmond Dekker – “Shanty Town”
17. Santogold – “Guns of Brooklyn”
18. The Dixie Cups – “Iko Iko”
19. Tony Matterhorn – “Big Belly Guns”
20. Santogold – “Get It Up” (Radioclit Mix feat. M.I.A. and Gorilla Zoe)
21. Mark Ronson In Studio
22. Trouble Andrew – “Run - Hide”
23. Sister Nancy – “Pigeon Rock”
24. Nora Dean – “Barbwire”
25. Shinehead – “Know How Fe Chat”
26. The Clash – “Ghetto Defendant”
27. Warrior Queen – “Check It”
28. Santogold & Benga – “Unstoppable” / “Night Dub”
29. Shawty Lo & Skream – “Dey Know” / “Stagger”
30. Santogold – “Creator” (Mumdance Mix feat. Jammer, Badness, Chronik Rage, Slikman and Tempz)
31. Santogold – “Starstruck” (Diplo Xray / Turbulence Debate)
32. Barrington Levy – “Send a Moses”
33. Prince Jazzbo – “Ital Corner”
34. Santogold – “Icarus”
35. Santogold & Diplo – “Right Brigade”

Download: Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub

from Get Weird Turn Pro

Puesto número 65.

The Rolling Stones. Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Puesto número 64.

The Clash. London calling.

Puesto número 63.

Patsy Cline. Crazy.

Puesto número 62.

Led Zeppelin. Kashmir.

Puesto número 61.

The Beatles. Strawberry fields forever.

Global a Go-Go

To me, "Johnny Appleseed" is as epic as anything he'd ever done with the Clash. Strummer's voice is still beautifully ragged around the edges, which is his trademark. And it showed that he'd got on the writing train again, just before his sudden and surprising death the following year at the tender age of 50. The posthumously released Streetcore, more the rock record than Global a Go Go, showed that he was just hitting his stride with the Mescalaros as a band, which is a bittersweet truth in an age where musical heroes are not just wanted, they're needed.

Never prolific, Joe Strummer made up for a relatively sparse body of work by making it eclectic. The reviews of this 2001 record with the Mescalaros removed the need to have a "don't expect the Clash" label on every copy sold. Even so, I think this record was hurt by those kinds of expectations. Still, the single "Johnny Appleseed" was certainly one that got my attention, being as it was imprinted the voice of a man who's music I'd grown up hearing, although in a different (yet welcome) musical idiom which is a sort of folky-internationalist fusion. I love the acoustic feel that seems to be almost country-sounding yet still retaining the energy of rock.

It's not as if Strummer hadn't dabbled in cross-pollinating musical genres before. Strummer had given up strictly defined punk rock for years. I'd argue that even London Calling isn't a punk record. For one thing, it betrays a love for the folk musics of the world too, although perhaps its reggae flourishes were camouflaged due to it being in the middle of 1979 when a lot of bands were embracing reggae and ska. So, I don't think Strummer's efforts here are much further afield.

On my long list of movies to see is the recent The Future is Unwritten, a documentary about Joe Strummer by one time Sex Pistols collaborator Julian Temple. Besides being in the Clash, Strummer himself was an interesting figure of contradictions apart from his role as co-frontman - he was a middle-class former hippie and son of a diplomat named John Mellors who transformed himself into punk rock year-zero flag-waver Joe Strummer, proceeding to play the part as if no one was looking. He would go onto inspire other bands of course and have a varied career as a solo artist, record producer, film score composer, and sometime actor.

I was lucky enough to see Joe Strummer play the Glastonbury Festival in 1999 with the then-newly assembled Mescalaros. I remember feeling that everything was right in the world, watching him as he was, virtually unchanged by the passage of time, cranking out the same fiery balls of musical fire as I'd heard sitting around a cheapo cassette player with friends in the eighth grade, listening to the magically alien sounds of the Clash. Strummer was a rock star in the best sense. He made you realize that it was possible to see to your own transformation, that worlds could be crossed by strumming a tune.

Enjoy!

Number 584

Kingsman

"Louie Louie"

(1963)
.

.

Genre:Rock

Picture by EmiValo666
Before the Datsuns, the D4, The Vines and even before the immortal Iggy Pop, Garage Rock was tub thumping in 1963. Define GarageRock you say, er ok "Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name. In the early 1970s, some rock critics retroactively labelled it as punk rock. However, the music style was later referred to as garage rock or '60s Punk to avoid confusion with the music of late-1970s punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash." Sounds like a load of old rock to me. (yea but good rock)

A rock & roll band from Portland, Oregon, the Kingsmen's one big hit "Louie, Louie" defined the garage-band style and became one of the all-time classics. The original lineup included Jack Ely (lead singer and guitar), Lynn Easton (drums), Mike Mitchell (lead guitar), Bob Nordby (bass), and Don Galucci (piano). After Ely had "incorrectly" taught the rest of the band the Wailers version of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" (thus altering the basic rhythm into the now famous duh-duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh riff that has become the only way anyone has played it since), they recorded it for fifty dollars at a primitive local recording studio with only three mikes, Ely hollering the lyrics into an overhead boom mike suspended ten feet in the air. Released on a local label, the record went nowhere after Paul Revere & the Raiders quickly covered it in the Northwest market, although it had quickly become a standard for all teen bands in that area.
In 1964, the record started to break nationally, causing the breakup of the original lineup when Easton copyrighted the group's name, informing the other members that he was now sole owner of the Kingsmen and its new lead singer. Ely formed his own Kingsmen, touring at the same time as Easton, who was lip-synching the record whenever possible. Only Easton and Mitchell were left from the original lineup, but they kept scoring big with frat-band versions of "Money" and "Little Latin Lupe Lu," reaching their peak with "The Jolly Green Giant," while Ely languished in relative obscurity and Gallucci formed Don & the Goodtimes. By the early '90s, history had redressed itself somewhat. While replacement members from the Easton version of the band toured as the "original" Kingsmen, Jack Ely finally received some of his due, headlining the 30th Anniversary Louie Louie tour. Though the song itself has been covered repeatedly, the version by Ely and the original lineup remains definitive. ~ Cub Koda, [All Music Guide]

For Iggy Pop see Number 980
For The Clash see Number 999

What does Rolling Stone think about the Kingsmen?
The Kingsmen's cover of a Richard Berry R&B song, a blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for fifty-two dollars, hit Number Two in 1963, thanks to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The song's indecipherability was unintentional: The Portland, Oregon, quintet recorded it crowded around a single microphone. "I was yelling at a mike far away," singer Jack Ely told ROLLING STONE. "I always thought the controversy was record-company hype." [RS Top 500 Songs]

Stuff, you just need to know..

"Wild Thing" - The Troggs
"Why Do I Cry" - The Remains
"Hold Me Now" - The Rumors
"Don't Tread On Me" - Outlaws
"Get Off of My Cloud" - Rolling Stones
"Vicious" - Lou Reed
"Beg Borrow And Steal"- The Rare Breed

Lyrics to the song

Previous Song 583 ..... Next Song 585

The Clash - "Straight to Hell"

My previous post about Joe Manning and the image I created of listening to him by campfire brought to mind another extraordinary musician, Joe Strummer. As mentioned in YESorNO DC recently, the documentary detailing Joe's life as a solo and collaborative musician is finally out. The Future is Unwritten is not just a movie about the Clash. It's not just a movie about 70's/80's London. It's not just a movie about punk rock or revolution. Rather it's a collage of these things plus an evocative look into the creation of Joe Strummer--punk rock warlord and (gasp!) human. It's nice to finally peek behind the curtain...Joe is more than just the 'leader' of the Clash. He's the son of a diplomat, boarding school failure, brother of suicide, former hippie, righteous thinker, father, escapist, and campfire enthusiast.

One refreshing thing about the film is that there are no chyrons--graphics announcing the name of the interviewee or location. Childhood friends, lovers, bandmates, fans, celebrities appear without fanfare. Just as, I assume, Joe would have preferred.

As a sidenote, this film sturred me to pick up Psychotic Reactions... again and re-read Lester's article about The Clash. If you have yet to read it, please consider.

Here's what I've rented recently:

* Coffee and Cigarettes (imdb link) - Jim Jarmusch (wiki link) is a great director.  However, this is not one of this better efforts.  If you're reading this in Memphis, I would recommend renting Mystery Train (imdb link).  If you're reading this anywhere else you should rent Night On Earth (imdb link).  For those of you who don't know JJ discovered Roberto Benigni and helped Billy Bob Thornton to get financing for Sling Blade (he has a cameo in the movie).  Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, and Forrest Whittaker have all had leading roles in his movies.

* Rock n Roll Documentaries/Mockumentaries - We all know I'm a rocker through and through ("AC/DC, Van Halen not Van Hagar, Skynyrd, Def Leppard..." ha ha).  I recently rented a documentary about the former lead singer of The Clash called Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (imdb link)and a documentary about Hunter S. Thompson called Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (imdb link).  It is amazing how many of the same people knew and hung out with both of these guys.  Both movies were interesting, but somewhat laborious.  However, both might be much better if you knew very little about either person.  BTW, there is a great movie waiting to be made concerning Joe Strummer's life from the time The Clash broke up until his untimely death.  If ever make it to NYU film school and if I find that patron - you know, the one who shares my vision and his/her wealth making my vision come true - I already have my senior project.

* The Bank Job (imdb link) - If this movie wasn't based on a true story you would never believe it.  It is an enjoyable rent.  It's not art and there isn't some redeeming message.  It's just enjoyable.

* Nora (imdb link) - I'm watching a lot of movies about Ireland since I just returned from there in June.  This movie is about the very different relationship between James Joyce and his wife Nora.  Not particularly well done, but still worth the rent if you want to learn more about James Joyce although it doesn't tell the secret of reading Ulysses without being a pompous ass.

* College Road Trip (imdb link) - There was once a time in cinematic history when rated "X" did not equate to pornography.  When Midnight Cowboy was originally released it was rated X, and just to clarify, yes, I am talking about the version with Dustin Hoffman and John Voight.  Well, apparently rated X now means porno and rated G apparently means sucks!  This movie shows why Donnie Osmond is not an actor.  Hopefully when he quits acting he will take Martin Lawrence with him!  So, you're thinking "surely there was something good in the movie" and you're right -- Donnie Osmond had some of the best movie hair in cinematic history!  No really, great hair!

* The Matchmaker (imdb link) - Once again, an Irish flick.  I saw this one when it was originally released on video (in the days of VHS) and didn't think it was all that good.  Guess what, first impressions are correct!

Late.  No really, it is still late.

now, junior murvin was basically a one-hit wonder.  but what a one-hit it was.  co-written w/ lee perry and later covered by the clash, here's the amazing "police & thieves".

burning spear (winston rodney) is still going strong at the age of 60.  born in the same small village as bob marley (and marcus garvey), that being st. ann's bay, burning spear has been recording since 1973 and has been awarded the jamaican order of distinction.  here's "marcus garvey".

peter tosh was one of the original wailing wailers with bob marley and bunny wailer, who first got together as a ska vocal trio in 1962.  tosh left the group in 1974 and became one of the leading figures in the roots reggae movement of the 70's.  tosh was killed in 1987 by robbers in his house.  his legacy lives on, and this song has become his theme.  here's "steppin' razor".

like the wailers, toots & the maytals got together in 1962 as a ska vocal trio (at the time known as the maytals).  the band has the most #1 singles in jamaican history, with 31, and several of them have been covered by various artists (the specials, the clash, ben harper, sublime, amy winehouse, etc.).  toots is one of few roots reggae artists to not have dreads, the term for which is "baldhead", and this is b/c toots isn't a rasta.  here's "54-46 was my number".

u-roy is basically the godfather of hip hop.  u roy is known as the originator, and he pioneered toasting, which would be the roots of rapping.  u roy would dj at the dancehalls, from 1961 on, and would toast over the records, basically saying quick little rhymes to get the people moving.  now, it should be known that the man who is credited with creating the breakbeat, the backbone of hip hop, is a jamaican immigrant - dj kool herc.  like u roy, herc would toast over the records.  so, hip hop is basically the child of jamaican music.  and u roy is the godfather.  his album dread in a babylon is a must for the reggae lover.  here's the man toasting.

rolling stone magazine (which sucks, but what the hell) said that the greatest reggae album of all time is the debut album from culture, called two sevens clash.  the band still plays today, though original front man joe hill has passed, and his son kenyatta has taken his place.  here's "natty dread taking over".

king tubby may be the runner-up to lee perry as the most important figure in the development of dub.  tubby worked as an electronics & sound engineer for one of the biggest producers in jamaica during the 60's, duke reid, at the legendary treasure isle studios.  it was in doing this that tubby picked up on the uniqueness that adding things like echo and reverb would bring to a record, and from there his creative touch expanded what would become dub.  here's "jah mercies", featuring yabby you on vocals and the skatalites tommy mccook on flute.

bob marley said that dennis brown (no relation) was his favorite singer, and dubbed him "the crown prince of reggae".  brown's career began in 1970, and he'd pioneer what would become known in england as lover's rock, an apolitical kind of reggae that appealed to the non-rasta, non-skinhead audience (skinhead reggae is not included in this, though i looooove symarip!).  but, brown wasn't just a loverman.  his catalog is very diverse.  and here he is with the legendary duo of sly & robbie doing "revolution".

black uhuru enjoyed popularity in the 80's, opening for popular rock bands and getting critical acclaim.  their music was conscious, and sounded great as much of it was produced by sly & robbie.  side note:  the best reggae album category was added to the grammys in 1985, and black uhuru won that year.  here's "guess who's coming to dinner".

and lastly, lee "scratch" perry has made an appearance on music monday already, as #10 on my all-time top 10 favorite artists.  he is the father of dub and both completely insane and an absolute musical genius.  if anyone is the runner-up to marley as king of jamacian music, i nominate scratch.  after all, he is "the upsetter".

JAH LIVE.

The classic punk bands for example remain relevent. There is always someone who wants to stick it to whatever 'man' is in power, and for them, the music rings as true today as when influential bands like The Clash, Dead Kennedys, The Stooges and The Sex Pistols came to prominence.

Metal is metal is metal is metal. A kick ass riff or mind numbing ear bleedingly great guitar solo is always awesome - wether is was wailed out by Deep Purple or Motorhead back in the day or by Lamb of God or Killswitch Engage last week.

Funk, Soul, Motown and the great girl groups from the 60's and 70's are always idolised by those who perform under the Urban and R&B banners today. Idolised - and rarely matched. By the way, don't get me started on R&B (if its not BB King or Muddy Waters singing about how his girl and his dog up and left him for another man - it aint R&B)!!

Great music is always great. Their albums sell consistently. Pop music inflates like bubblegum, getting bigger and bigger before bursting with a 'pop,' never to be big again. Pop is interchangable and produces more one hit wonders than any other genre. No I will not provide evidence - the fact that I can barely remember the rubbish Im attempting to attack is evidence enough that pop is pretty forgettable.

All you have to do is go into your friendly neighbourhood record store and look for 25th anniversary or even 10th anniversary editions of classic albums. Not greatest hits mind you - any idiot can put out a greatest hits compilation after two albums. Anniversary editions of albums, to me, suggest that the music contained therein is as relevent and wonderful today as it was when it was released. 
Michael Jackson, Weezer, NWA, Jeff Buckley, Dead Kennedys, Meatloaf and many more. The music has endured. It may not be your exact cup of tea - but you gotta respect its longevity.

Forever Cowbell!

Beck’s hair is longer than his new album.

An interesting phenomenon seems to be occurring among the bands the National Evil cares about: the drastic reduction of album lengths to a lean half hour. He wonders if any of you, dear readers, have noticed this happening to your record collections.

This really kicked off with Everything All the Time by Band of Horses, though that probably shouldn’t count because it was their first album. For all the Evil knew, BOH might just not have had any more good music in them. (Their second album was just as short and equally good.)

Then Spoon released Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Evil dutifully picked up the disc, slipped it into his car stereo, and had almost finished the album by the time he got to work the next morning. When he realized it was only 30 minutes long, he was taken aback. Confused. A muddle of emotions. On the one hand, the album was really good—near great—and its length (or lack of) made the Evil want to immediately start it over at track 1.

On the other hand—hey, they could have fit the entire album on the same CD again. Had Spoon just ripped the Evil off?

A decade-plus of the CD had accustomed the Evil to slogging through bloated, hour-long albums produced by bands that really shouldn’t ever have been inflicting that much music on the listener all at once. 45 minutes seems to be about the upper limit for all but the greatest albums; unless you’re a chunky metal band churning out 8-minute epics, you probably don’t have the quantity of good songs to spew an hour or more of album at the world every two years. He remembers the period in the mid-90s when it seemed every band was straining the waistband of their musical slacks. Soundgarden’s Down on the Upside. Any Tool album. And of course the most bloated monstrosity of all, the dreaded double album: Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and I’m Not Going To Write The Rest of This Long-Ass Album Title. TWO hour-plus CDs, for shame.

History shows again and again that the double album is almost always a mistake. That error is exacerbated with the 70-minute possibilities of a single CD. London Calling fits on one CD, people. You do NOT have 150 minutes of brilliance on hand at any given recording session. (That includes you, too, any hip-hop artist of the last ten years.)

Even R.E.M. fell victim to the Bloat. New Adventures in Hi-Fi is the most underrated album they ever made, but still . . . it’s 65 minutes. Or about four songs too long. This from a band that perfected art in the guise of the tight, three-minute pop song.

Fortunately, after a 12-year break from relevance, R.E.M. released the 30ish-minute Accelerate this year. This just after Super Furry Animals dropped Hey Venus! (love that term: "dropped"), which barely squeaks over the half-hour mark. By this time the Evil had become accustomed to this new order, convinced himself he wasn’t being robbed by the bands he loves, and—most importantly—decided this length-of-album reduction wasn’t the product of floundering creative drive, but a recognition that filling a CD doesn’t equal making the best possible album. Besides, we’ve all got shorter attention spans these days—seriously, are you still even reading this?

Evil has officially endorsed the concept of the half-hour album with the release of Modern Guilt by Beck. It’s good. And it doesn’t feature an ungodly, ten-and-a-half minute train wreck of the kind that ruined the end of The Information.

So. Have you noticed the musical anorexia? How does it make you feel?

To be continued [...]

Entre las curiosidades, me entero que hace poco derribaron el mítico Hammersmith Palais con el fin de construir apartamentos. El viejo local pasó a la posteridad en el momento en que The Clash, y luego Demolition 23 (Mike Monroe y Sammy Yaffa -y cuando yo los vi en directo, también con Nasty Suicide en la banda-, los mejores Hanoi Rocks tras los propios Hanoi), le dedicaron canciones de esas que al instante son más grandes que la vida.

Finalmente assisti, no fim de semana, ao dvd do documentário "Joe Strummer: the future is unwritten", do diretor inglês Julien Temple. O filme é comovente e muito bacana não apenas para fãs de Strummer e do The Clash mas também como um retrato dos movimentos musicais e artísticos pelos os quais Strummer passou e viveu: contracultura dos anos 60, punk nos anos 70, o final do mesmo nos anos 80 e o nascimento das raves e música eletrônica nos anos 80/90 - no filme, há uma cena brilhante de Strummer contando sua primeira experiência em uma rave. 

A vida de Joe Strummer é contada através de fotos e filmes - desde a infância privilegiada como filho de um diplomata, aos anos de adolescência hippie, até imagens raras dos primeiros ensaios do The Clash - e depoimentos de amigos e pessoas que, de alguma maneira, foram influenciadas pelo The Clash. Uma das coisas mais bacanas do filme é que a narrativa é toda na voz do próprio Strummer, com trechos de antigas entrevistas e também locução e parte da trilha sonora tirados de London Calling, um programa semanal que Strummer apresentou para a BBC World Service, entre 1998 e 2002.

Temple mostra no filme que não foi fácil para Strummer se reinventar através da vida. De família privilegiada, conheceu o movimento hippie no final dos anos 60, quando foi morar em squats no oeste de Londres e fundou um movimento social para dar moradia aos pobres da região. Na mesma época, formou a banda 101'ers. Em 76, viu o Sex Pistols tocando e conheceu o movimento punk, mas como ele mesmo diz no filme "ou você era punk, ou era contra". Entāo, para se encaixar, parou de escovar os dentes "para ser aceito como punk, basta ser feio" e passou a ignorar os amigos de anos. Com a fama do The Clash, Strummer começou a questionar se eles ainda eram a banda que queriam ser e, muitas vezes, era um líder autoritário. 

O filme, claro, tem várias imagens do The Clash em shows e entrevistas durante os 10 anos de existência da banda. Com o final do The Clash, Strummer passou anos em reclusão, primeiro exilado em Granada e depois participando de filmes obscuros e tocando apenas como convidado em bandas de amigos, como o The Pogues. Chegou a gravar um disco solo, mas foi somente com o surgimento da sua última banda, os Mescaleros, em 1999, que voltou de vez à cena musical. Há um depoimento de uma amiga que conta como Strummer ficou deprimido em ver que, na Guerra do Golfo, soldados americanos pintavam a frase "Rock the Casbah" em mísseis antes deles serem lançados sobre o Iraque. 

Nos últimos anos de vida, Strummer fez as pazes com antigos amigos e sua origem hippie, quando fundou a mais famosa fogueirinha de Glastonbury. Em um bilhete enviado a um amigo que não via há 25 anos, Strummer escreveu: "Nada mudou. No fundo, somos todos hippies no coração. Venha para a minha fogueira, adoraria te ver aqui." Com Mick Jones, tocou apenas mais uma vez depois do fim do Clash, em um show em apoio aos bombeiros, em novembro de 2002. 

Strummer era um artista brilhante, mas também um cara comum, que errou, aprendeu com os erros e continuou a viver. No último áudio do filme, Strummer reflete: "as pessoas podem mudar tudo o que quiserem, e eu quero dizer qualquer coisa no mundo. As pessoas vivem com pressa, seguindo suas pequenas trajetórias. Eu sou uma dessas pessoas, mas nós precisamos parar... As pessoas podem fazer qualquer coisa, isso é uma coisa que eu estou começando a aprender. As pessoas estão lá fora fazendo mal uns aos outros, porque elas estão desumanizadas. É tempo de tomar a humanidade de volta ao centro do ringue. Ambição não leva a nada. Eles deveriam escrever isso em um grande telão da Times Square. Pense nisso: sem pessoas, você não é nada." 

Para quem quiser ouvir alguns dos programas que Strummer apresentou para a BBC e que foram usados no documentário, o Public Radio Exchange é um website bacana que disponibiliza programas de rádio para serem ouvidos via streaming. Tudo o que você precisa fazer é criar uma conta (é de graça) e procurar por Joe Strummer's London Calling. Eu recomendo.

1979:  the clash london calling
1980:  joy division closer
1981:  black flag damaged
1982:  bad brains bad brains (it was really tough to not say thriller!)
1983:  u2 war
1984:  u2 the unforgettable fire
1985:  the pogues rum, sodomy & the lash
1986:  the smiths the queen is dead
1987:  u2 the joshua tree
1988:  public enemy it takes a nation of millions to hold us back
1989:  the cure disintegration
1990:  public enemy fear of a black planet
1991:  a tribe called quest the low end theory
1992:  morrissey your arsenal
1993:  strongarm the advent of a miracle
1994:  nas illmatic
1995:  radiohead the bends
1996:  wilco being there
1997:  whiskeytown stranger's almanac
1998:  pedro the lion it's hard to find a friend
1999:  mos def black on both sides
2000:  ryan adams heartbreaker
2001:  as friends rust won
2002:  pedro the lion control
2003:  death cab for cutie transatlanticism
2004:  sufjan stevens seven swans
2005:  sufjan stevens illinois
2006:  arctic monkeys whatever people say i am, that's what i'm not
2007:  ryan adams easy tiger
2008:  the street dogs state of grace (thusfar...it'll change i'm sure)

damn, '79 was a good year to be born!  joy division's unknown pleasures, the specials self-titled debut, the who's the kids are alright (soundtrack), michael jackson's off the wall, bob marley & the wailers' survival, the cure's three imaginary boys, the police's reggatta de blanc, madness' one step beyond, etc.  good times.

a funny thing about this was how ryan adams narrowly beat out radiohead twice.  in 2000, radiohead's kid a came out, which is also on my all-time top 10, alongside heartbreaker.  just a few spots behind it, though.  and last year, it's a close one between adams' easy tiger and radiohead's in rainbows.  though thinking about it at this moment, i might want to say the soundtrack to once is my favorite album of last year...but i'm still in the throws of ecstasy from just seeing it!  there were a lot of close ones on this list, i'd say the next closest was 1996, with wilco barely beating weezer's pinkerton.  the way i figure, wilco is still amazing, and weezer completely sucks now, so staying power gave jeff tweedy & co. the upper hand :)

side note:  you may have noticed, u2 has the most records on the list with 3.  almost 4.  achtung baby was real close for '91.  and, if anyone serves as the "voice" of my lifetime, it's u2, with them forming just before i was born and having released albums throughout my lifetime, and still being together.  God bless the lads!

no music videos this week.  that's weird, eh?  timbrown out.

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls!" spat Bruce McCulloch to Kevin McDonald in The Kids In The Hall's famous "Doors" sketch. But we all have a few, either out of laziness, convenience, or because we were collector scum and just had to have that unreleased track that the band didn't see fit to issue at the time, but is now tacking on to a package of previously-released material so we will spend $18 for one mediocre cut. But I digress.

The Story of The Clash Volume 1 was my first Clash record. My friend Justin and I went to see The Replacements play and before the show they were playing side 2 of Story over the public address system. I was familiar with The Clash to an extent (armadillos and mohawks, yes?), but my young brain had not yet been seared by "Clampdown" or "Guns of Brixton". I was instantly hooked, of course, and I vividly remember finding and buying the record the next day. And so began a long love affair.

I still like and listen to Story quite a lot (it's now out-of-print, replaced by newer Clash compilations). It's an odd "best of", much more an overview as the title implies than a straight hits collection. For one thing, maybe five or six of those tracks could be considered "hits" by the broadest definition, and yet it's four sides of vinyl/two CDs, 24 songs in all - a lot of superlatives for the mere five years worth of material collected here. But then that only goes to show how prolific The Clash were in their brief life.

It does double-duty as an odds'n'sods collection as well, collecting for the first time in one place a number of the band's non-album A-sides ("This Is Radio Clash", "Bankrobber", "White Man In Hammersmith Palais", et al.)  and a handful of rarities ("Capital Radio One", "Armagideon Time") alongside plenty of well-known album cuts.

It's also sequenced in roughly reverse chronological order, putting the later, poppier material first and then burrowing deeper and deeper into the punk bedrock of the band's catalog, eventually ending with perhaps their most sublime moment: the excellent appropriation of Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves", and the unofficial soundtrack to the Notting Hill riots of 1977.

The "Volume 1" part of the title has always been a puzzle. Undoubtedly a joke, and perhaps a gentle dig at singer Joe Strummer's "Clash Mark II" line-up that soldiered on for a short time after the dismissal of guitarist Mick Jones in 1983 (none of the output of whom is featured herein), it also raised hopes, however so faint, of a Clash reunion. It was not to be.

In the brilliant lyrics of Joe Strummer and the arrangements of Mick Jones, The Story of The Clash illustrates why The Clash were dubbed "the only band that matters" in their heyday, revealing in its chapters their progression from just another group of spiky-haired dole-queue dreamers to their ultimate flame-out as stadium rock superstars, charting their eager and insatiable hunger for boundary-pushing experimentation along the way.

1972 - The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street (runner up Bowie: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars)
1973 - The Who: Quadrophenia
1974 - The Rolling Stones: It's Only Rock and Roll
1975 - Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks (maybe the top album on this list)
1976 - The Ramones: The Ramones
1977 - Fleetwood Mac: Rumors
1978 - The Who: Who Are You
1979 - The Clash: London Calling
1980 - The Ramones: End of the Century
1981 - The Rolling Stones: Tattoo You (a bad year)
1982 - The Clash: Combat Rock
1983 - The Ramones: Subterranean Jungle
1984 - The Replacements: Let it Be
1985 - Bob Dylan: Biograph (it was a bad year for music, what can I say?)
1986 - Paul Simon: Graceland
1987 - Dinosaur Jr.: You're Living All Over Me
1988 - The Travelling Willburys: Volume 1
1989 - Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
1990 - Jane's Addiction: Ritual de lo Habitual
1991 - Nirvana: Nevermind
1992 - Rollins Band: The End of Silence
1993 - Liz Phair: Exile in Guyville
1994 - Beck: Mellow Gold
1995 - Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
1996 - Wilco: Being There
1997 - Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind
1998 - Marilyn Manson: Mechanical Animals
1999 - The White Stripes: The White Stripes
2000 - Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker
2001 - Bob Dylan: Love and Theft
2002 - The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
2003 - Ryan Adams: Love is Hell (Pts. 1 & 2) (The White Stripes Elephant is a close runner up)
2004 - Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
2005 - The White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan
2006 - The Black Angels: Passover
2007 - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Magic

A pair of winners get their report cards this week. Nice to hear Mellencamp getting his dignity back. As recently as, um, ten years ago, I could tell people I liked him without fear of embarrassment. He had a strong run of albums for a decade-and-a-half from 1983's Uh-Huh up through his self-titled Columbia debut in '98. The ones between The Lonesome Jubilee in '87 and Human Wheels in '93 were especially good.

As the Hold Steady's Stay Positive seems to have arrived without the tidal wave of hype that accompanied the release of their very-good-but-not-life-changing (though it probably changed their lives) revelatory Boys and Girls in America in 2006, I feel freer to enjoy it. It just sounds great. It's okay for records to just sound great sometimes, yeah?

“Yes that's right, punk is dead
It's just another cheap product for the consumers head
Bubblegum rock on plastic transistors
Schoolboy sedition backed by big time promoters
CBS promote the Clash
Ain't for revolution, it's just for cash
Punk became a fashion just like hippy used to be
Ain't got a thing to do with your or me” Punk is Dead – Crass

“Punk died in the 1980s. I wish they'd stop trying to resurrect it. I've debated this over and over. Punk is dead, kids. Get over it.” Urban dictionary

“Punk rock isn’t any more alive and thriving today than psychedelic rock or new wave. As far as the broader culture is concerned, it’s been dead for awhile and it ain’t coming back.” J.P. Gorman

Is punk dead? Having now fractured into so many sub-genres, it can be easy to see why people would look back 20-30 years if asked what music is punk. Additionally, considering the only punk music that gets any real exposure is pop punk, with lyrics typically about romance or bratty teenagers, or emo, which I will refrain from attacking, it is understandable that many people would believe the punk ethos to have either died, or to have dispersed elsewhere. However my friends, punk is not dead. It has, however, evolved and thankfully matured from its chaotic and often unintelligent infancy.

Romanticised past

When people think punk, they usually think Sex Pistols, Ramones, the Clash or bands of that era. Each of these early punk bands were products of their time, either as reaction against mainstream music and culture, or social and political movements. The music was honest, straight up and reflected the times.

Really, there was not a hell of a lot intelligent about the Sex Pistols. Anyone who has seen Johnny Rotten in an interview will understand why. That’s not too say they are devoid of meaning. I think the most important thing about that band and other early punk bands was the rejection of the sugar coated pop bullshit that received heavy radio rotation. Although it may appear a bit of a gimmick now, that music was a breath of a fresh air when compared to the clichéd bubble gum tripe that was popular. The Ramones were not a hell of a lot more sophisticated either. Joe Strummer and the Clash on the other hand will far more intelligent and purposeful, lyrically and musically, perhaps this is the reason the band remains more relevant today than many of its contemporaries. Successive bands have combined intelligent thought and the pace and fury of punk, such as the Dead Kennedys, but many earlier bands were simply caustic and that was their charm. All fuck you, no real substantive social and political commentary.

Biology 101

Like humans, music evolves. So don’t expect it to stay the same. Neither should we want it to. If you like early Bad Religion, but don’t like their new stuff, don’t listen to their new stuff. But if you do like their new stuff, you must be able to appreciate their experimental stages, such as Into the unknown or even No substance, that in some way lead to their fantastic Process of belief or New maps of hell. The same goes for the entire genre. If you like the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, UK Subs or Minor Threat, but don’t like Anti-flag, Pennywise, Me first and the gimme gimmes or Rise Against, don’t listen to them. And those who like the new bands and not the old, must be able to appreciate what inspired the bands they love. It is called a progression, get over it.

Punk has matured. Bands can no longer get away with being “anti-establishment” to set themselves apart. The bands that stand out are doing things different, adopting other styles, or singing about diverse topics than the “system”.

Perhaps introduced by the Clash, or maybe a similar predecessor, the introduction of reggae and ska to punk was a revelation. With the addition of upstroke guitars, funky basslines and even horns, punk was able to add elements to its style. As the years have gone on, bands have adopted metal, rap, folk and even polka influences. As simple maths equations it looks like so: Punk + Metal = Strung Out, Punk + Rap = Transplants, Punk + Folk = Bad Religion, Punk + Rock and Roll = The Living End, and Punk + Polka = All American Badass by Mad Caddies, or NOFX’s Theme from a NOFX Album. As a result, the typical three chords poorly recorded DIY sound has departed, but the passion, ethos and integrity still remains.

Three Chords and a half dozen clichés

I will not deny that a large part of the appeal of punk is its accessibility, in that, anyone can play it. Being able to play the songs when I learnt guitar was part of what got me into the genre. Embracing the DIY ethos, punk can be played and has been played by anyone with minimal musical ability. But for me, this is not intrinsically virtuous, because in all likelihood, the least capable musicians are going to make the least audibly pleasing music. Some skill, at both writing lyrics and writing songs is required to make good music. And for this reason, much of the romanticised punk of the 1970’s and early 1980’s was rubbish. Yes, the Sex Pistols and the Ramones made some great songs, songs that adequately reflected the societies they wrote about, but how much of it was honestly unintelligent and immature. I liked it when I was 17, but aged 24 it has lost its charm. It strikes me as thoughtful as a 15-year-old anarchist, who has no idea of the details of the social theory; they just like the idea of “fucking everything up”! Hell, chaos appealed to all of us at that age. It’s the kind of music you listen to after coming home from an afternoon school detention after swearing at the principal, and then abusing your parents for telling you can’t go out that weekend. And I think bands that try reflecting the attitude and utter simplicity of the songs from that era now (I’m looking at you early Anti-flag!) look a bit pathetic, uninformed and not very articulate.

Not too say that simplicity is necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t believe it is the meaning of punk. Bands such as the Living End (although mainly their earlier stuff!), Strung Out, Propagandi, Anti Flag or Rancid are retain the punk ethos, reflected in their lyrics, but each play technical musical, either with complex guitar riffs, exceptional basslines or unbelievably quick drummer. No three chords, and no clichés.

Lyrically, modern punk bands are arguably far more intelligent than their predecessors, incorporating thoughtful ideas and passion. Propagandi’s lyrics read like essays written by politics and history doctorates. And then there’s Bad Religion’s Dr Greg Graffin, whose lyrics are where poetry meets science, philosophy, theology and politics.

Vocally, singers like Tim from Rise Against or Thomas from Strike Anywhere are without parallel in any genre as the most passionate musicians around. From their stereo to the stage those guys, among others, come across sincere, dedicated and serious about the messages they are conveying. The motivation and passion that is heralded as a relic of a bygone era is arguably more present now than ever before.

Sure protest bands like Anti-flag or Pennywise can be horribly simple and blunt, applying the same clichés as their forefathers, but they do back it up with more complexity of thought in other songs. And sometimes it is nice to say, “Fuck authority” as simply as possible, but I don’t think it is the best that punk has to offer. And some bands still sing about the “scene”, what the hell is that all about?

If three chords and an attitude are all you are looking for, might I recommend Green Day or Blink 182.

Don’t take yourself so seriously

Some punks are Doc Martins, leather jackets and Mohawks; some are DC’s, hoodies, jeans and wallet chains. Some punks take it more seriously than others. Some live the message, follow the politics, or mix in the “scene. Some are straight-edge, others just like the music.

Some punk bands get their message across through sincere and passionate, others opt for satire and humour to spread the same message. Two bands that immediately come to mind are veteran punkers NOFX and Australian band Frenzal Rhomb (who need to tour New Zealand again!). NOFX have mastered the art of bad puns and other plays on words, and hide their political and social commentary behind metaphors and crap jokes. Sometimes their songs reach moments of genius such as the “Idiots are taking over”:

“There’s no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated, political scientists get the same one vote as some Arkansas inbred”.

Realising the paradox that punk is, Frenzal Rhomb declared themselves the “punkest” band in the world. Songs such as “Guns don’t kill ducklings, ducklings kill ducklings” tackle issues like animal rights and the fallacy of hunting as a sport (“It is not a sport if the other team doesn’t want to play!), but opting for humour rather than the more preachy tact taken by others (or shock tactics!!!). The message is still there; just the bands have fun spreading it. Because it is ok to have fun.

Or apparently not! I found myself having to make a case for the gimmes the other night, in the face of the accusation that they had no point to them, because they just do “bad” versions of other people’s songs. I had previously thought the gimmies were the one band that even people who don’t like punk usually can get into. My dad loves the gimmes. He’s also got a sense of humour and loves the way they take the piss out of clichéd ballads and soppy pop songs. I suppose you could call it musical satire. Well perhaps the joke is above some people.

“What’s the point? They only play covers. They don’t even write their own songs!”

Which must be the most ridiculous criticism one could make. So they don’t write their own songs, so what? Most pop groups do not write their own songs. Many of the originals of the songs the gimmes so masterfully cover, were not written by the artist that performed them! Hip-hop artists are forever taking backing tracks from other genres before recording an egotistic rant over the top. Techno is notorious for messing with other people’s music. What do you think a sample is? But as soon as a punk band decides to renovate a classic, out comes the hostility.

Perhaps there are two remarkable things the gimmes do. Firstly they make older songs accessible to a new audience. Taking songs from so many genres; country, pop, show tunes, and punking them up to share with them with new listeners. This has highlighted for me just how bad the lyrics to a lot of old songs are. Again, I think this is a case of old “classics” being romanticised. Like they say on their live album, “we took a bad song, and made it great!”

Secondly, the gimmes have a laugh. Anyone who has seen their live show or heard their live album “ruin Johnny’s Bar mitzvah” know these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. And neither does the crowd. Their show earlier this year at Galatos was attended by perhaps the most diverse crowd I have seen at a punk show. A lot of people who otherwise would not get into punk experience the music and have a good time. Then they go home and download the Decline (I mean, buy the Decline on vinyl!) The exclusive elitists of the scene won’t think that’s a good thing, but who gives a shit about the elite, right?

It was claimed that Me first and the gimme gimmes was merely a money making exercise for the members of other bands to cash in on other people’s songs. The ridiculousness of this idea was not apparent to them, because they did not account for royalties, which would huge considering the whole album is written by others, their tickets are not particularly overpriced (Galatos show in January only $40.50 in what is a relatively small venue) and they only release an album once every few years. I struggle to imagine huge profits there, although feel free to prove me wrong, if anyone knows exactly how much they do make from the side project.

Perhaps the Gimmes and the Sex pistols are alike, in that they fly in the face of the commercial music scene. What is more punk than unwrapping those carefully packaged processed parcels and producing the antithesis of the original product?

Music that matters

The way I see it, music should be one, or both, of two things. Firstly, it is a vehicle for ideas. Secondly it is a vehicle for getting people to let go and go crazy.

For me, punk ticks the boxes. I appreciate the ideas, how many other genres are defined by their approach to politics in the way punk is? Other genres may often deal with political ideas on occasion, some more than others, but along with perhaps folk and political protest music of the Vietnam era, punk by definition is about challenging the status quo, resisting established cultural notions and asking questions of authority. But then it doesn’t have to be so hard core all the time, it can be satirical or just plain fun, whilst still being subversive. It can adopt other genres, it can take examples from the old, or it can create new.

If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything. If you have something to say, don’t muck around, just say it. In preferably two minutes!

Punk is generally genuinely sincere. When most punk vocalists say something, they mean it and they say it share a message. Punk is often well ahead of the curve. Before bashing George W Bush was popular, punk bands had been criticising the President’s father. And Live Aid? When do those bands otherwise make a stand an environmental issues? Punk bands have been singing about the environment for decades. It appears as though many musicians jump on the bandwagon, adopting causes in a desperate profit driven search for CD sales. Yeah, some punk bands are definitely guilty, but many bands focus on issues long before it gets cool.

There is nothing like a punk show. In our fast paced individualistic society, the moshpit is a sweaty burst of fresh air. Sure, everyone is running around like crazy, smashing into each other, but there is a certain camaraderie. When someone goes down, everyone gives them a hand up. People can dive into a crowd of strangers and (on most occasions) be caught and carried across the crowd. You can sing “no control” with someone twice your age you have never met before. You can go absolutely crazy when the first chords of the “Decline” are struck, and know that 1000 people are just as stoked as you are. You can release the frustration of another week of nine to five monotony with a group of like-minded people. Nobody gives a shit what you look like, nobody cares what you wear. You can be yourself. (unless the “scene” punks turn up!)

Hell, I might be wrong about punk, feel free to tell me I’m full of shit. But don’t be alarmed when I tell you you’re living in the past and not to be so god damned precious!