songs we taught mudhoney
(thanks to Way Back and their "Songs we taught the Fuzztones" for the title
inspiration --and for the compilation!)
Ever wondered why Mudhoney covered other bands? Well most of all because those
were great bands. After listening to the cover, hopefully, you'll want to know
more about the original, and that's where this page comes into play.
Since I don't have all of the LPs mentioned below, and since I'm not a great
rock critic (especially when I have to write in english), I decided to comment
most of the covers by using some reviews I ripped off at
AllMusic.com.
Here's how the songs are listed:
|
BAND NAME Covered song title | |
|
Record where the original version was released for the first time |
Record where the cover version was released for the first time |
|
Easier/cheaper way to find the original |
Easier/cheaper way to find the cover |
|
Home page of the covered band | |
|
Picture, notes with short bios and other stuff about the song and
the bands. | |
COVERS INDEX:
| Adolescents | Who is who | [info] |
| Angry Samoans | You stupid asshole | [info] |
| Bill Nye | Bill Nye main theme | [info] |
| Black Flag | Fix me | [info] |
| Blue Cheer | Magnolia caboose babyshit | [info] |
| Cheater Slicks | Ghost | [info] |
| Circle Jerks | Back against the wall | [info] |
| Cooper, Alice | Long way to go | [info] |
| Costello, Elvis | Pump it up | [info] |
| Crucifucks | You give me the creeps | [info] |
| Damned | Stab your back | [info] |
| Dicks | Hate the police | [info] |
| Fang | The money will roll right in | [info] |
| Gilmore, J.D. | Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown | [info] |
| Hawkwind | Urban guerilla | [info] |
| Kinks | Who'll be the next in line | [info] |
| Mr Epp | Baby help me forget | [info] |
| McBroom, Amanda / Midler, Bette | The rose | [info] |
| Mighty Caesars | You make me die | [info] |
| Milkshakes | She's just fifteen | [info] |
| Motörhead | Over the top | [info] |
| Os Mutantes | Baby | [info] |
| Reverend Horton Heat | Psychobilly freakout | [info] |
| Psycho Surgeons | (none) | [info] |
| Queen Haters | We hate the bloody queen | [info] |
| Rev, Martin | Baby o baby | [info] |
| Roxy Music | Editions of you | [info] |
| Sex Pistols | Anarchy in the UK | [info] |
| Scientists | We had love | [info] |
| Alexander Skip Spence | War in peace | [info] |
| Sonic Youth | Halloween | [info] |
| Spacemen 3 | Revolution | [info] |
| Stooges | 1969 | [info] |
| Stooges | I wanna be your dog | [info] |
| Troggs | Wild thing | [info] |
| Van Zandt, Townes | Buckskin stallion blues | [info] |
| Void | Dehumanized | [info] |
|
ADOLESCENTS Who Is Who | |
|
"Adolescents" LP |
split w/ Jesus & Mary Chain promo 7" |
|
"Adolescents" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/5945/adolescents.htm | |
A wild Los Angeles hardcore band, the Adolescents were fronted by guitarist Rikk Agnew. The
band released its first album in 1981, disbanded and re-formed in 1986 with Agnew, singer Tony
Montana, and bassist Steve Soto. The group again disbanded in 1989. Social Distortion tends to
be the band which gets venerated these days as the flagbearers of Orange County punk, while Agent
Orange gets its own credit for amping up the surf sound for the slampit generation, but in terms
of what could be called classic OC hardcore -- brattish, young, sneering and energetic -- it's
all about this brilliant album, jam-packed with songs that to this day are constantly covered
or cited by other acts worldwide. That the original lineup of the Adolescents itself spawned at
least four separate future bands, if not more, further demonstrates that something good was
going down, thanks to five kids who really were adolescents or had just barely gotten past that
stage. The Descendents were the obvious role models for nearly everything on the album, if
anybody -- same general sense of catchy bash and crash while voicing incipient youth-of-the-'80s
angst -- but the Adolescents were just that little bit more aggressive and pissed, tempering
goofiness, especially from Tony Cadena's sneering vocals, with an at times barely concealed
outrage at being stuck in Orange County's cradle of right-wing conservatism. | |
|
ANGRY SAMOANS You Stupid Asshole | |
|
"Inside My Brain" LP |
split w/ Gas Huffer 7"/12"/CS |
|
"Inside My Brain" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.maniaman.com/gregturner.html | |
Along with X, Black Flag, Fear and the Circle Jerks, the savagely satirical Angry Samoans rode
the first wave of Los Angeles punk. Formed in Van Nuys, California in the summer of 1978, the
band was founded by singers and guitarists "Metal" Mike Saunders and Gregg Turner, a pair of
erstwhile rock critics who previously teamed with fellow writer Richard Meltzer in the group
Vom. After considering names like the Egyptians and the Eigen Vectors (a mathematical term --
Turner later became a math professor), they settled on the Angry Samoans, enlisted Saunders'
brother Kevin on guitar, bassist Todd Homer and drummer Bill Vockeroth, and initially set out
as a Dictators cover band. Being one of the pivotal bands that fueled the early Southern
California punk scene, The Angry Samoans were one of the first bands to prove that one can
express their frustrations of day to day life and still have a sense of humor about it; as
evident with songs like "You Stupid Assholes" and "My Old Man's a Fatso." | |
|
BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY Main theme | |
|
Bill Nye the Science Guy |
(unreleased on record) |
|
Bill Nye the Science Guy |
Bill Nye site - sounds page |
|
http://nyelabs.kcts.org/goodies/sounds.html | |
"Bill Nye the Science Guy" is a divulgative american tv program dedicated to
sciences and culture. Mudhoney used to play its main theme during the "My
brother the cow" tour, and were later asked to performe it for the tv show.
They played it live during one of its episodes; just like David Bowie, this
song is for now only available on Internet: you can find a .wav of it on the
Bill Nye page. Also the Presidents of the USA covered this tune, and their
version is downloadable from the Bill Nye page too. | |
|
BLACK FLAG Fix me | |
|
"Nervous Breakdown" 7" |
"Trademark Of Quality 1992" CD compilation |
|
"The First Four Years" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://pages.nyu.edu/~vqd6140/bf/flag.html | |
In many ways, Black Flag were the definitive Los Angeles hardcore punk band. Although their
music flirted with heavy metal and experimental noise and jazz more than that of most hardcore
bands, they defined the image and the aesthetic. Through their ceaseless touring, the band
cultivated the American underground punk scene -- every year, Black Flag played in every area
of the U.S., influencing countless numbers of bands. Although their recording career was hampered
by a draining lawsuit, which was followed by a seemingly endless stream of independently released
records, the band was unquestionably one of the most influential American post-punk bands. A full
decade and a half before the fusion of punk and metal became popular, Black Flag created a
ferocious, edgy and ironic amalgam of underground aesthetics and gut-pounding metal. And it
didn't matter who was in the band -- throughout the years, the lineup changed numerous times --
because the Black Flag name and four-bar logo became punk institutions. | |
San Francisco-based Blue Cheer was what, in the late '60s, they used to call a "power trio":
Dickie Peterson (bass, vocals), Paul Whaley (drums), and Leigh Stephens (guitar). They played
what later was called heavy metal, and when they debuted in January 1968 with the album Vincebus
Eruptum and a Top 40 cover of Eddie Cochran's hit "Summertime Blues," they sounded louder and
more extreme than anything that had come before them. As it turned out, they were a precursor
of much that would come after. Unfortunately, Blue Cheer itself didn't get much chance to profit
from its prescience. Shortly after its breakthrough, the group was wracked by personnel changes.|
CHEATER SLICKS Ghost | |
|
"Forgive Thee" 2xCD |
"Tomorrow Hit Today" CD |
|
"Forgive Thee" 2xCD |
"Tomorrow Hit Today" CD |
|
http://iglo.cpedu.rug.nl/~evert/bands/cd/cheaters.htm | |
Started in Boston in 1988, the Cheater Slicks have built a huge body of recorded
trash-garage-noise-melancholy pop-psychedelic-dementia-rock n’ roll that has gone
largely unrecognized by the music press and has made many garage rock purists run
for the door. Their music is sometimes abstract and always intrusive and
confrontational. Real connoisseurs of truly intense music have recognized the
brilliance of this criminally over-looked band. The Cheater Slicks
began as a four piece that included a bass player – first with Merle Allin (GG’s
brother) and then with Alpo (former member of the Real Kids). After a couple of
years the band decided to scale their line up down to a three piece – doing away
with bass altogether. The band toured heavily with the likes of the Blues Explosion,
Mudhoney and the Red Aunts. Their live shows were played at deafening volume.
Bands such as Mudhoney and the New Bomb Turks
have covered their songs. In 1996 the band relocated to Columbus, Ohio where they
remain to this day. | |
One of the leading lights on the L.A. hardcore scene of the early '80s, the Circle Jerks
were formed after Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris left that group after their Nervous
Breakdown EP and hooked up with former Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. The band's early
lineup was rounded out by bassist Roger (Dowding) Rogerson and drummer Lucky Lehrer. The
Jerks developed a stellar live reputation among the skateboarding and slam dancing crowds
and released their debut album, Group Sex, in 1980. A year later, they were featured in the
L.A. punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization and appeared on the soundtrack.
The albums Wild in the Streets and Golden Shower of Hits continued in much the same loud,
fast, tastelessly funny vein, and the latter included a medley of AM radio hits like "Along
Comes Mary," "Afternoon Delight," "Having My Baby," and "Love Will Keep Us Together" done
Circle Jerks style.
After releasing My Aim Is True, Costello assembled a backing band called the Attractions,
which were considerably tougher and wilder than Clover, who played on his debut. The
Attractions were a rock & roll band, which gives This Year's Model a reckless, careening
feel. It's nervous, amphetamine-fueled, nearly paranoid music -- the group sounds like
they're spinning out of control as soon as they crash in on the brief opener, "No Action,"
and they never get completely back on track, even on the slower numbers. Of course, the
songs on This Year's Model are typically catchy and help the vicious sentiments sink into
your skin, but the most remarkable thing about the album is the sound -- Costello and the
Attractions never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, ever again.
[NOTE: Mudhoney recorded two different versions of this cover: the original version was
issued in the "Freedom of choice" CD compilation, and eventually released on "March To
Fuzz"; a later mix can be found on the "PCU" soundtrack (other than on various one-track
promo items and on the rare red 7" single extracted from the soundtrack, with George
Clinton on the flip), and is probably the song Mudhoney hates the most.]
Originally, there was a band called Alice Cooper led by a singer named Vincent Damon
Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent
brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies,
vaudeville, heavy metal, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured
electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated
by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the name for his
androgynous onstage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the
group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs
and melodies that derived from '60s guitar pop as well as showtunes, it was rock & roll
at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelia and art rock.
After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo career as Alice Cooper, his
actual music lost most of its theatrical flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal,
yet his stage show retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock.
Formed in Michigan and led by vocalist Doc Corbin Dart, the Crucifucks achieved, if
nothing else, one of rock's most potentially offensive band names. Signing to
Alternative Tentacles, the label of their heroes the Dead Kennedys (whose
confrontational tone the Crucifucks often mirrored), the band debuted in 1985 with a
self-titled album that featured soon-to-be Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. The
follow-up, 1987's Wisconsin, was more musically accomplished, but the Crucifucks
broke up soon afterwards. Dart released a solo album, Patricia, in 1990; the
Crucifucks' two albums were paired on the 1992 Our Will Be Done.|
DAMNED Stab Your Back | |
|
"Neat Neat Neat" 7" |
"Another Damned Seattle" LP+7"/LP/CD compilation |
|
"Damned Damned Damned" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.thedamned.com | |
The Damned usurped the Sex Pistols, working behind their backs to become the first
British punk band to release a record, the first to have a hit single (the epochal
"New Rose") and the first to tour America. That, in a nutshell, is the appeal of
the Damned -- they weren't revolutionaries, they were drunken louts who would do
anything for a prank. Like many of their first-generation punk peers, the band were
rooted in pub-rock, playing simple three-chord pounders, but the group played fast,
loose and sloppy, often sounding like everything was about to fall apart. | |
Original title was "Dicks hate the police". The Dicks started in 1980,
went through a major line up change in 1982 and broke up in 1986, after
releasing two LPs, a split live LP and a few singles and compilation
tracks; their sound was pretty unique, a violent old school punk heavily
influenced by classic blues, expecially thanks to Gary Floyd, founder,
singer and the only band member that didn't change throughout their career
(he later played in Sister Double Happyness and in the Gary Floyd Band).
They were highly respected and influenced many famous bands: Alternative
Tentacles released a nice retrospective CD in 1995, and its booklet
contains liner notes by artists such as Mike Watt, Ian McKaye, David Yow
and Mark Arm. Their mix of "soul, Motown and punk" (as Yow defined their
sound), added to the unique voice of Floyd and the elegantly riouttous
lyrics makes them one of those cult that just can't be missed.|
FANG The Money Will Roll Right In | |
| "Landshark" LP |
"Let It Slide" 10"/CS |
| "Landshark/Where The Wild Things Are" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
(none) | |
Punk band from USA. Mr Epp (early band with Mark Arm and Steve Turner in the
line-up) opened their show in Seattle (and broke up a few days later). Fang
guitarist Tom Flynn now runs Boner Records, while Sam McBride, the singer,
was thrown in jail till mid '97 for having killed his girlfriend (or something
like that): he is now out and reformed Fang with a totally new line-up. The
new band released a 7" on Man's Ruin in early '98 and is recording new
material. (Thanks to Alex for the news
about Sam's new projects). | |
|
GILMORE, J.D. Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown | |
|
"The Flatlanders" LP (Flatlanders version) |
split w/ J.D. Gilmore 7"/CS |
|
split w/ Mudhoney CS (solo version) |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://monsterbit.com/jdg/ | |
The Flatlanders became legends long after they broke up because the
band's three primary members -- Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and
Butch Hancock -- each attracted a large, loyal cult following as
solo performers. In 1972, when their lone album was recorded, they
were part-time musicians who hooked up after each returned to their
native Texas after exploring some different region of the world. The
record wasn't released, and they went their separate ways, each
abandoning music briefly. Their careers continued to intertwine in
the ensuing decades with great results. | |
One of England's longest-enduring heavy metal bands, Hawkwind was formed during the late '60s,
just as art-rock was coming into its own. They combined bold guitar, synthesizer, and Mellotron
sounds, creating heavy metal music that seemed to cross paths with Chuck Berry and the Moody
Blues without sounding like either of them. At their best, their early records sounded like the
Beatles of "Yer Blues" combined with the Cream of "I Feel Free." The introduction of lyrics
steeped in science fiction and drug effects on their second album helped define the group and
separate them from the competition -- in some ways they were like Pink Floyd with more of a rock
& roll beat and a vengeance. They've never charted a record anywhere near the heights that Dark
Side of the Moon has achieved, but it's a sign of the dedication of the fans they do have that
the group has about 30 CDs out, including archival releases of decades-old live shows and multiple
compilations. [NOTE: the song was not in the original version of Doremi Fasol Latido, but is one
of the four bonus track added to the 2001 UK-only CD reissue of that album, so make sure to pick
up the right edition, catalog number EMI-530031.]|
THE KINKS Who Will Be The Next In Line | |
|
"Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" 7" |
"Give The People What We Want" CD compilation |
|
"Kinda Kinks" CD |
"Give The People What We Want" CD compilation |
|
http://kinks.it.rit.edu | |
Although they weren't as boldly innovative as the Beatles or as popular as the
Rolling Stones or the Who, the Kinks were one of the most influential bands of
the British Invasion. Like most bands of their era, the Kinks began as an R&B/blues
outfit. Within four years, the band had become the most staunchly English of all
their contemporaries, drawing heavily from British music hall and traditional pop,
as well as incorporating elements of country, folk, and blues. At the conclusion of
their summer 1965 American tour, the Kinks were banned from re-entering the United
States by the American government for unspecified reasons. For four years, the Kinks
were prohibited from returning to the U.S., which not only meant that the group was
deprived of the world's largest music market, but that they were effectively cut off
from the musical and social upheavals of the late '60s. Consequently, Ray Davies'
songwriting grew more introspective and nostalgic, relying more on overtly English
musical influences such as music hall, country and English folk, than the rest of
his British contemporaries. [NOTE: The definitive "Kinda Kinks" reissue is the one
on Castle Records; in 2001 Immortal Records took over Castle, and the new versions
of the Kinks CDs are lacking almost all of the Castle bonus tracks: the newest CD
version of "Kinda Kinks", for example, doesn't have "Who'll be the next in line"
anymore. So it's much better to search for the Castle editions.] | |
|
MR EPP Baby Help Me Forget | |
|
(never recorded) |
"This gift" 7"/12" |
|
(never recorded) |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.unofficial-mudhoney.com/sideprj/epp1.htm | |
Mr. Epp (complete name "Mr. Epp and the calculations") was an early '80
Seattle combo with Mark Arm and, in its last days, Steve Turner in it. This
song was often played by Green River during their shows; and when Mark and
Steve later formed Mudhoney, they paid tribute to their earliest band
recording this cover. All the members of Mr. Epp are now famous and rich
musicians. Their retrospective CD, "Ridiculing the apocalypse" is out on
Turner's Super Electro label. Note anyway that Mr Epp never recorded a
"studio" (i.e.: bedroom) version of this song, and if it was ever recorded
live, its tapes are now lost.
| |
Bette Midler counts singing as only one of her talents; at times, since 1972, when she
first came to national recognition, it has seemed to be the least of her talents. Still,
she has managed to score a number of major hits in a roller-coaster career as a recording
artist. She was signed to Atlantic Records and released The Divine Miss M (1972), which
went gold and included a Top Ten single cover of The Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle
Boy." Bette Midler (1973) was similarly successful. Midler's album sales fell off during
the rest of the '70s, though her records always reached the Top 100 in the album chart.
But in 1979 she starred in the film The Rose, a fictional account of the life of Janis
Joplin, and the title track became a Top Ten hit.|
THEE MIGHTY CAESARS You Make Me Die | |
|
"Surely They Were The Sons of God" LP |
"You're Gone" 7"/12" |
|
"Surely They Were The Sons of God" CD |
"You're Gone" 7"/12" |
|
http://www.psychogarage.co.uk/childish/ | |
Just one of garage punk poet Billy Childish's (born Bill Hamper) many side bands,
Thee Mighty Caesars differ little from Childish's standard output -- energetic,
inspired, raw, amateurish garage punk rock & roll with a reluctance to sacrifice
spontaneous expression for self-editing. After stints in the Pop Rivits and Milkshakes,
Childish briefly worked with the Delmonas in 1984, but then formed Thee Mighty Caesars
with Milkshakes' John Agnew (bass) and Bruce Brand (drums). Between 1985 and 1990, Thee
Mighty Caesars released nine albums (many of which are now out of print), one EP, and
two compilations. After their self-titled debut, drummer Brand left and was replaced by
ex-Prisoner Del (born Graham Day); in 1986, the Caesars added Sarah (Delmonas) and Fay
(Makin' Time; organ, vocals) for Acropolis Now. This lineup held until 1990, when Agnew
chose to spend his time as a soundman for the James Taylor Quartet. Del resumed work
with the Prime Movers, while Childish concentrated on side projects and a new band, Thee
Headcoats. Thee Mighty Caesars' name was retired until the basic trio, who have not
officially disbanded, is able to find time to reunite. [NOTE: The version with Childish
on vocals is only available on the "You're gone" 7" and 12". Another version, done for a
Peel Session can be found on various vinyl bootleg and on Mudhoney's "Best Of BBC" CD]. | |
|
THEE MILKSHAKES She's just fifteen | |
|
(unknown) |
split w/ Halo of Flies 7" |
|
(unknown) |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.psychogarage.co.uk/childish/ | |
When his punk band, the Pop Rivets, broke up in 1980, Billy Childish formed a new group with
Mickey Hampshire, a Pop Rivets roadie who had been performing in a group called Mickey and
the Milkshakes. The two began writing songs together and released their first LP, Talkin' About, in
1981. With Childish on guitar and vocals, Hampshire on guitar and vocals, Bruce Brand on drums,
and Russ Wilkins (later replaced by John Agnew) on bass, the Milkshakes sound was a primitive
blend of British beat groups, like the early Kinks at their toughest, and hard-rocking American
guitar instrumentalists, like Link Wray. This sound came to be known as the "Medway sound" and
Childish has been playing a variation on it throughout his whole career. The Milkshakes were a very
prolific group, recording nine records in their six years together. Childish and Hampshire split the
lead vocal duties and the band was very much a blend of Childish's primitive songwriting and
Hampshire's more melodic leanings. The Milkshakes broke up in 1984 and Childish, Brand, and Agnew
went on to form Thee Mighty Caesars where Childish's raw punk-blues could roam untainted by any
semblance of professionalism. | |
|
MOTÖRHEAD Over the top | |
|
"Bomber" 7" |
"Suck you dry" 12"/CS |
|
"Bomber" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.imotorhead.com | |
Motörhead's overwhelmingly loud and fast style of heavy metal was one of the most
groundbreaking styles the genre had to offer in the late '70s. Though the group's
leader Lemmy Kilminster had his roots in the hard-rocking space-rock band Hawkwind,
Motörhead didn't bother with his old group's progressive tendencies, choosing to
amplify the heavy biker-rock elements of Hawkwind with the speed of punk rock.
Motörhead wasn't punk rock -- they formed before the Sex Pistols and they loved
the hell-for-leather imagery of bikers too much to conform with the safety-pinned,
ripped T-shirts of punk -- but they were the first metal band to harness that
energy and, in the process, they created speed-metal and thrash-metal. Unlike many
of their contemporaries, Motörhead continued performing well into the '90s.
Although the band changed its lineup many, many times -- Lemmy was its only
consistent member -- they never changed their raging sound. | |
Though rarely heard outside their Brazilian homeland (especially
during their brief career), Os Mutantes were one of the most
dynamic, talented, radical bands of the psychedelic era -- quite
an accomplishment during a period when most every rock band
spent quality time exploring the outer limits of pop music. A trio
of brash musical experimentalists, the group fiddled with distortion,
feedback, musique concrète, and studio tricks of all kinds to create
a lighthearted, playful version of extreme Brazilian pop.
With his highly stylized, backwoods hick-preacher image, it would
be easy to dismiss the Reverend Horton Heat as a poseur. But it
would be wrong. Instead of treating rockabilly as a campy joke
like the Cramps, the good Reverend rocks the hell out of his
modern-day rockabilly, playing it as if it were the hardest of punk
yet without any of the self-conscious trappings of either genre.
Although his lyrics can be too silly, his music never is; it rocks
harder than most of his punk and metal contemporaries.
Mudhoney were credited as "Psycho Surgeons" on the 4-track bootleg split-single
with Melvins. It's not an invented name, a band with such a name really existed:
they came from Australia and, to describe them, a magazine said that they were
"more than a punk band, a bunch of vandals and criminals; some of them have
been thrown in jail, or died by overdose, or both". But they were a good band
neverthless. Their most famous song, "Horizontal action", was included in
highly respected punk compilations like "Killed by death vol.2" and "Feel
lucky punk?!?".
The Queen Haters were a fictional band that appeared once in a famous
canadian comedy TV show (SCTV, Second City TV). The band was basically
a rip off of the Sex Pistols, and was fronted by canadian comic Martin
Short.|
REV, MARTIN Baby o baby | |
|
(unknown) |
"An Invitation To Suicide" CD compilation |
|
(unknown) |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.limbos.org/suicide | |
Although they barely receive credit, Suicide (singer Alan Vega and keyboardist
Martin Rev) is the sourcepoint for virtually every synth-pop duo that glutted
the pop marketplace (especially in England) in the early '80s. Suicide had been
a part of the performing arts scene in New York City's Lower East Side in the
early/mid-'70s New York Dolls era. Their approach to music was simple: Rev
would create minimalistic, spooky, hypnotic washes of dissonant keyboards and
synthesizers, while Vega sang, ranted, and spat neo-Beat lyrics in a jumpy,
disjointed fashion. Onstage, Vega became confrontational, often baiting the
crowd into a riotous frenzy that occasionally led to full-blown violence,
usually with the crowd attacking Vega. With their reputation as controversial
performers solidified, what was lost was that Suicide recorded some amazingly
seductive and terrifying music. [NOTE: originally titled "Baby oh baby",
this song comes from a Martin Rev solo LP, but when Mudhoney picked it up
they obviously intended to pay tribute to his former band: the track was
originally going to appear on a Suicide tribute comp, and due to the many
bands there, all the Suicide songs had already been taken]. | |
|
ROXY MUSIC Editions of you | |
|
"For Your Pleasure" LP |
"March To Fuzz" 3xLP/2xCD |
|
"For Your Pleasure" CD |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
http://www.dlc.fi/~hope | |
Evolving from the late-'60s art-rock movement, Roxy Music had
a fascination with fashion, glamour, cinema, pop art, and the
avant-garde, which separated the band from their contemporaries.
Dressed in bizarre, stylish costumes, the group played a defiantly
experimental variation of art-rock which vascillated between
avant-rock and sleek pop hooks. During the early '70s, the group
was driven by the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian
Eno, who each pulled the band in separate directions: Ferry had a
fondness for American soul and Beatlesque art-pop, while Eno was
intrigued by deconstructing rock with amateurish experimentalism
inspired by the Velvet Underground. This incarnation of Roxy Music
may have only recorded two albums, but it inspired a legion of
imitators -- not only the glam-rockers of the early '70s, but
art-rockers and new wave pop groups of the late '70s.
[NOTE: "For your pleasure", the band's second LP (1973), features
a front cover picture of... Amanda Lear!] | |
The Sex Pistols may have only been together for two years in the
late '70s, but they changed the face of popular music. Through
their raw, nihilistic singles and violent performances, the band
revolutionized the idea of what rock & roll could be. In England,
the group was considered dangerous to the very fabric of society
and were banned across the country; in America, they didn't have
the same impact, but countless bands in both countries were
inspired by the sheer sonic force of their music, while countless
others were inspired by their independent, do-it-yourself ethics.
To look at the career of the Scientists is, in essence, to look at the career of Kim Salmon,
one of the most vibrant musical talents to emerge from Australia in the 1970s. Not that he
was the only one. Nick Cave, for example, may have made more of a splash outside of the
country, but Salmon is arguably just as important -- if not more influential. His first
group, formed in 1976, was the Cheap Nasties -- which already gives some indication of his
distinctive "trash" aesthetic (à la the Trashmen, the Ramones, etc.). The Nasties were the
first punk band to emerge from the remote city of Perth in Western Australia. Salmon has
claimed they really weren't much good, but they did give birth to the Perth punk scene --
from which many of Australia's finest musicians would emerge. When the Nasties came to an
end the following year, Salmon went on to join the Invaders. The Scientists rose from the
ashes of this (also unrecorded) band in 1978, and broke up in 1987.
No matter what he may do next, Kim Salmon will always be -- or certainly always should be --
remembered for the musical ground he broke with the Scientists. At their best they were so far
ahead of their time, they transcended the very notion. The proto-grunge they were cooking up in the
late '70s/early '80s prefigured the music Sonic Youth, the Spacemen 3, and the Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion would be cranking out a decade later. In 1993, they received their own tribute
compilation in the form of Set It on Fire!, which featured covers by Mudhoney and the Laughing
Hyenas. Mudhoney would even perform a live version of "We Had Love" with Salmon in Australia.
Henry Rollins, whose group the Rollins Band has toured with him, has gone so far as to declare the
man a "national treasure."
Like a rough, more obscure American counterpart to Syd Barrett, Skip
Spence was one of the late '60s' most colorful acid casualties. The
original Jefferson Airplane drummer (although he was a guitarist who
had never played drums before joining the group), Spence left after
their first album to join Moby Grape. Like every member of that
legendary band, he was a strong presence on their first album, playing
guitar, singing, and writing "Omaha," one of the LP's best songs. The
group ran into rough times in 1968, and Spence had the roughest flipping
out and (according to varying accounts) running amok in a record studio
with a fire axe, ending up committed to New York's Bellevue Hospital.
Upon his release, Spence cut an acid-charred classic, Oar, in 1969.
Though released on a major label (Columbia), this was reportedly one
of the lowest-selling items in its catalog, and is hence one of the
most valued psychedelic collector items. Sadly, it was his only solo
recording; more sadly, mental illness prevented Spence from reaching
a fully functional state throughout the remainder of his lifetime. He
died April 16, 1999, just two days short of his 54th birthday.|
SONIC YOUTH Halloween | |
|
"Halloween" 7" |
split w/ Sonic Youth 7" |
|
"Bad Moon Rising" CD |
"Superfuzz Bigmuff plus early singles" CD |
|
http://www.evol.org | |
Sonic Youth was one of the most unlikely success stories of
underground American rock in the '80s. Where contemporaries
R.E.M. and Husker Du were fairly conventional in terms of
song-structure and melody, Sonic Youth began their career by
abandoning any pretense of traditional rock & roll conventions.
Borrowing heavily from the free-form noise experimentalism of the
Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and melding it with a
performance-art aesthetic borrowed from the New York
post-punk avant garde, Sonic Youth redefined what noise meant
within rock & roll. Sonic Youth rarely rocked, though they were
inspired directly by hardcore punk, post-punk and no wave.
Instead, their dissonance, feed-back and alternate tunings created
a new sonic landscape, one that redefined what rock guitar could do. | |
Spacemen 3 were psychedelic in the loosest sense of the word; their
guitar explorations were colorfully mind-alterating, but not in the
sense of the acid rock of the '60s. Instead, the band developed its
own minimalistic psychedelia, relying on heavily distorted guitars
to clash and produce their own harmonic overtones; frequently, they
would lead up to walls of distortion with over-amplified acoustic
guitars and synths. Often the band would jam on one chord or play a
series of songs, all in the same tempo and key. Though this approach
was challenging, often bordering on the avant garde, Spacemen 3
nevertheless gained a dedicated cult following. After releasing
several albums in the late '80s, the band fell apart after in 1991.
During the psychedelic haze of the late '60s, the grimy, noisy
and relentlessly bleak rock & roll of the Stooges was conspicuously
out of time. Like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges revealed the
underside of sex, drugs and rock & roll, showing all of the grime
beneath the myth. The Stooges, however, weren't nearly as cerebral
as the Velvets. Taking their cue from the over-amplified pounding
of British blues, the primal raunch of American garage rock, and the
psychedelic rock (as well as the audience-baiting) of the Doors, the
Stooges were raw, immediate and vulgar. Iggy Pop became notorious for
performing smeared in blood or peanut butter, diving into the audience.
Ron and Scott Asheton formed a ridiculously primitive rhythm section,
pounding out chords with no finesse -- in essence, the Stooges were
the first rock & roll band completely stripped of the swinging beat
that epitomized R&B and early rock & roll. During the late '60s and
early '70s, the group was an underground sensation, yet the band was
too weird, too dangerous to break into the mainstream. Following three
albums, the Stooges disbanded, but the group's legacy grew over the
next two decades, as legions of underground bands used their sludgy
grind as a foundation for a variety of indie-rock styles, and as Iggy
Pop became a pop cultural icon.
Remembered chiefly as proto-punkers who reached the top of the
charts with the "caveman rock" of "Wild Thing" (1966), the Troggs
were also adept at crafting power-pop and ballads. Hearkening back
to a somewhat simpler, more basic British Invasion approach as
psychedelia began to explode in the late '60s, the group also
reached the Top Five with their flower-power ballad "Love Is All
Around" in 1968. While more popular in their native England than
the U.S., the band also fashioned memorable, insistently riffing
hit singles like "With a Girl like You," "Night of the Long Grass,"
and the notoriously salacious "I Can't Control Myself" between
1966 and 1968. Paced by Reg Presley's lusting vocals, the group
-- which composed most of their own material -- could crunch with
the best of them, but were also capable of quite a bit more range
and melodic invention than they've been given credit for.
Townes Van Zandt's music doesn't jump up and down, wear fancy
clothes, or beat around the bush. Whether he's singing a quiet,
introspective country-folk song or a driving, hungry blues, Van
Zandt's lyrics and melodies are filled with the kind of haunting
truth and beauty that you know instinctively. His music comes
straight from his soul by way of a kind heart, an honest mind,
and a keen ear for the gentle blend of words and melody. He can
bring you down to a place so sad that you feel like you're
scraping bottom, but just as quickly he can lift your spirits
and make you smile at the sparkle of a summer morning or a loved
one's eyes -- or raise a chuckle with a quick and funny talking
blues. The magic of his songs is that they never leave you alone.|
VOID Dehumanized | |
|
"Flex Your Head" LP compilation |
"March To Fuzz" 3xLP/2xCD |
|
"Flex Your Head" CD compilation |
"March To Fuzz" 2xCD |
|
(none) | |
"Void is one of the few bands that should scare parents and
politicians. They sound very insane and murderous." --Steve Turner. | |
