At least this week's is only six days late, he says sheepishly....
Some years back, I made a playlist of my youngest son's favorite tunes on my iPod, and at some point, I added about fifty to sixty tunes that I consider to be classics that I thought he should have some knowledge of (for the three of you that care, some he liked, some were meh for him). When the weather is warm, we listen to the playlist while we play catch or shoot some hoops, and a few weeks back this week's tune came on and there was a bridge that I was totally unfamiliar with. I've heard it numerous times through the years and couldn't believe I'd never noticed it. Well, after doing my half-assed research, I discovered that the record label cut the bridge for its release as a single, but that on subsequent releases of the song on compilation albums, the Velvet Underground re-added the bridge because it made the song better (it does). All of which just goes to show...you never know when rock and roll will surprise you yet again....
I wrote about the Velvet Underground in Jukebox, Vol. CLXXVIII, and as the band is still defunct (two deaths, one no longer playing, and the last doing whatever it is musically that pleases him) I'll leave my brief bio right there. I should note, though, that for this week's featured album Doug Yule replaced John Cale (who left to travel the Avant-Garde Trail). I also noticed that when I wrote their original post, I didn't link to their all-important discography, which can be found here. Whew!
"Sweet Jane" was the first single from their penultimate album, the rather heavily entitled, Loaded. Neither the single nor the album charted. However, in another in a long line of examples that prove the maxim "He who laughs last, laughs best," the single is listed at #294 in the most recent Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs, and the album ranks at #242 in their latest listing of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Fun Fact: When recording this week's album, the band was told by its record label that it wanted an album that was "loaded with hits." Hence the name of this week's featured LP: Loaded.
"Sweet Jane" is as close to a perfect single as any band could ever hope for. From its three-chord acoustic guitar (which, ahem, I can play on my guitar, however half-assed) to Lou Reed's animated vocals (dare I say that Lou sounds like he's actually having fun?), from the band's full-throated backing vocals on the chorus (and at the end of many lines) to the "la-la-la's" in the bridge, the song hits every note, every vocal, every instrument with precision. It will forever be a mystery to me how this song is not as well-known as the most iconic rock songs from the seventies--from "Born to Run" to "Dream On," or from "Stairway to Heaven" to "More Than a Feeling," the Velvet Underground created just as big of a masterpiece. A beautiful single, everything that anyone could hope that rock and roll could ever be.
Lyric Sheet: "But anyone who ever had a heart/Oh, they wouldn't turn around and break it/And anyone who ever played a part/Oh, they wouldn't turn around and hate it..."
When I was fifteen I discovered, thanks to WLS 89 AM out of Chicago, the joys of top forty music. Thanks to his being on the cover of Time and Newsweek (they are magazines, for you young 'uns that may have never heard of them) in the same week when I was sixteen, I discovered Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, which remains my favorite album to this day. I started college when I was seventeen, and thanks to fellow students and a helping heaping of glory days Rolling Stone began to broaden my horizons when it came to rock and roll. When I was twenty-two, thanks to a) a rave review in Rolling Stone, and b) a customer who returned a copy with a "scratch" (customerspeak for "it sucked"), I discovered Lou Reed's The Blue Mask, and it forever changed the way I looked at music. In fact, I couldn't possibly overstate how much it influenced (and still does) my musical listening--I came to believe that a rock and roll album or song could be as much of a work of art as Dali's The Persistence of Memory or Shakespeare's Hamlet or Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. It changed the way I looked at Born to Run, Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, and Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, which were LPs I already knew, and would influence albums I would discover in the intervening years like The Who's Who's Next and Tommy, Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story, John Mellencamp's Scarecrow, Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten, and a holy host of others (to borrow a phrase). And the cherry on top was that it made me a Lou Reed fan for life--after months of listening to The Blue Mask I checked out his hits package Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980, which was chock full of incredible songs, and from there it became an acorn snowballing down a mountain.
Which helps to explain why this will be the fourth time I've featured Lou Reed (Volume XXXVIII: "Street Hassle," Volume CLVIII: "Coney Island Baby (Live)," and Volume CLXXVIII: "Heroin" from his Velvet Underground beginning), and also for the fourth time I'll not be attempting a paragraph bio of a musician whose career does not lend itself to a paragraph. As noted above, this year's birthday week ("Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?") album is The Blue Mask, a work of staggering genius (again, to borrow a phrase) that peaked at #159 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard 200 and sold considerably less than the 500,000 copies it would have needed to make a gold record.
And away we go...
My House--In which Reed and his wife use a Ouija board to conjure the spirit of American poet Delmore Schwartz (also a teacher of Reed's when he attended Syracuse University) and find he's haunting their home--and your first hint that this is not going to be just any old album. Interesting to me because Schwartz's story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" is one of my favorite short stories (although I know precious little of his other work). Favorite Line: "And to top it all off a spirit of pure poetry/Is living in this stone and wood house with me..."
Women--An interesting cut as it's a paean to how much Reed loves women, but his history shows a) he experimented with homosexuality, b) dated an androgynous woman for a while, and c) was rumored to have problems with abusive behavior toward women. Better late than never one supposes (though I have to admit, dear reader, that I most assuredly share Reed's love of women). Also need to mention the guitar play between Reed and guitarist Robert Quine--because a) it's fantastic the entire album, and b) it's mentioned in literally every fucking review of the album (deservedly so). Favorite Line: "They're a blessing to the eyes, a balm to the soul/What a nightmare to have no women in the world..."
Underneath the Bottle--It's well known that Reed struggled with alcohol and drug addiction through his early years, and while Reed says this song isn't autobiographical (and I have no reason to doubt him) one supposes he's at least writing of what he knows. It will occur over and over again on the record, but here's where I can insert how fantastic Reed's vocals were on this album--layered perfectly to fit with each song. Maybe his best vocals ever. Favorite Line: "It's the same old story/Of a man and his search for glory/And he found it there, underneath the bottle..."
The Gun--A stark character study of someone we've all become far too familiar with in the forty years since Reed released this album: a psychotic with a gun. Amazing how little gun violence has changed--you'd think by now we'd know better. A brilliant piece of work. Favorite Line: "I want, ah, you to be sure to see this/I wouldn't want you to miss a second/Watch your wife..."
The Blue Mask--Man, there's no way I could possibly do justice to this one. A brilliant diatribe on torture, pain, and internal demons. Sheer fucking genius. Repeat: sheer fucking genius. Favorite Line: "They stood over the soldier/In the midst of the squalor/There was war in his body/And it caused his brain to holler..."
Average Guy--Wherein Reed follows up an utter masterpiece with a tongue-in-cheek look at...himself. Yup, Reed honestly says he woke up one morning and realized he was actually just a pretty average guy (word of warning: it'll happen to you, too). Music makes brothers of us all. Favorite Line: "Average looks, average taste/Average height, an average waist/Average in everything I do/My temperature is 98.2..."
The Heroine--Another paean to how heroic women are (especially in terms of how much men need them), this time in the form of an abridged myth. Probably an underrated song on the album--there's a gentleness to it that truly makes it a cut above. Favorite Line: "And the baby's in his box, he thinks the door is locked/The sea is in a state, the baby learns to wait/For the heroine, oh oh the heroine..."
Waves of Fear--Whereby musically, vocally, and lyrically Reed captures the frenzy and terror of withdrawal from drugs and alcohol. While again it may not be autobiographical, Reed sings of what he knows. Anger, panic, and chaos, all with killer guitars and exploding drums. Favorite Line: "Crazy with sweat, spittle on my jaw/What's that funny noise, what's that on the floor/Waves of fear, pulsing with death..."
The Day John Kennedy Died--This one is actually autobiographical, as Reed, an unabashed admirer of JFK, recalls the day Kennedy was killed in Dallas. A eulogy for the hope that also died that day, and for a generation scarred by the death of a genuine hero. A beautiful ode. Favorite Line: "I dreamed I replaced ignorance, stupidity and hate/I dreamed the perfect union and a perfect law, undenied/And most of all I dreamed I forgot the day John Kennedy died..."
Heavenly Arms--My favorite song on the album, a love song to his wife. Just like he did with "Coney Island Baby," just like he did at the end of "Street Hassle," Lou Reed is once again telling us that it's love that will see you through, and yes, it can happen to you. Hell, if the tortured poet can find love and happiness, can we all? [Side note: Reed may have captured happiness, but the marriage eventually failed (though he would find love again). C'est la vie!] Favorite Line: "In a world full of hate, love should never wait/Heavenly arms reach out to me..."
It had been many years since I last heard The Blue Mask, and I had forgotten just how great of an album it was. A stunning, once in a lifetime work, from a stunning, once in a lifetime artist.
It's my once yearly "It's My Blog and I'll Write About an Album If I Want to" post, and this year it's an album that's not quite as well-known as some I've written about in previous years, Liz Phair's classic debut, Exile in Guyville. I wrote about Phair's song "Perfect World" for a post in 2018, so no need for a recap bio (plus this year's album has 18 tracks which will make it long enough as is), but I would like to note that on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time, Exile was ranked #328 in their 2003 version, #327 in their 2012 update, and in their 2020 revision had jumped all the way to #56.
I have to admit that while I was familiar with (and loved) the track "Never Said," I didn't discover the album until twenty years after its release when I found it for a dollar while I still worked for the thrift shop. One day I popped it in the CD player in my car, and it spent the next six months as the soundtrack to my drive to work in deepest darkest Detroit.
And away we go...
6'1"--Phair opens with a guitar driven rocker that gives you a taste of a) her unconventional vocal style, and b) her often unbridled lyrics (Phair has said the album is not autobiographical, for those wondering, and that the characters/thoughts therein were created from her imagination). Favorite Line: "And I kept standing six-feet-one/Instead of five-feet-two/And I loved my life/And I hated you..."
Help Me Mary--A prayer of sorts that we've all had at one time or another: make me rich or famous so all the people who treated me like shit will be jealous. But with great guitar work. Favorite Line: "Weave my disgust into fame/And watch how fast they run to the flame..."
Glory--Phair slows it down with an acoustic number that also shows a touch of the spiritual--just who is that guy in the bar? Favorite Line: 'You are, you are shining some glory on me..."
Dance of the Seven Veils--A sparse song that features two breaks where Phair's voice goes from its usual low tone (contralto?) to a much higher (and tuneful) range (soprano?). A little on the dark side, lyrically. Favorite Line: "I know all about the ugly pilgrim thing/Entertainers bring May flowers..."
Never Said--Sounded great the first time I heard it, sounds just as great today. A pop song with an edge, one of Phair's all-time bests. The song is about how catty the music industry is but works in numerous other contexts. A great, great tune. Favorite Line: "And don't look at my hands in my pockets, baby/I ain't done anything wrong..."
Soap Star Joe--One of the great things about this album is the diversity of the songs--so many different musical and vocal styles. This one has a bit of harmonica, and the guitars owe a little to Eddie Cochran. Still culturally relevant, as it could be about half the men in MAGA. Favorite Line: "Check out the thinning hair/Check out the aftershave/Check out America/You're looking at it, babe..."
Explain It to Me--This is the one where it dawns on me what an incredible album this is for guitar lovers, with a cutting acoustic that repeats from beginning to end. May be about star athletes or their role in sports? The drum at the end mimicking a heartbeat is eerie. Favorite Line: "Give 'em your medicine/Fame injection..."
Canary--And of course the next song merely features a stark piano.... Though the album is supposed to be a song-by-song response to the Rolling Stones' classic Exile on Main Street(heard it but not enough to know--both albums feature 18 songs for what that's worth), this one actually sounds more influenced by the Velvet Underground (to me). A diatribe about women and the dangers of submissiveness for all concerned? Favorite Line: "I jump when you circle the cherry/I sing like a good canary..."
Mesmerizing--The Stones are all over this one, both vocally and with the guitar riffs. Playing hard to get? Wishing for a wizard? Favorite Line: "You tossed the egg up/And I found my hands in place, boy..."
Fuck and Run--This one is actually a lot more romantic than the title suggests, and one of the more catchy songs on the album. Though many folks far more skilled than I have written about this one, I think it's about the havoc our inner demons wreak--or maybe it's as simple as romantic longing. Favorite Line: "And whatever happened to a boyfriend/The kind of guy who tries to win you over?"
Girls! Girls! Girls!--A killer queen, and another one that reminds me of the Velvet Underground. The staccato guitar shows the beauty of simplicity. Favorite Line: "You've been around enough to see/That if you think you're it, you better check with me..."
Divorce Song--This one became one of my favorites, mostly for the bits of kindness amidst a relationship on the brink. A nice character study, and one of the better written songs on the album. Surprisingly catchy, too. Favorite Line: "But you've never been a waste of my time/It's never been a drag..."
Shatter--At the risk of sounding like a broken record (CD?), this is another one that reminds me of the Velvet Underground. The guitar is a wonder, capturing the dizzying and frightening prospect of maybe, just maybe being in love. Favorite Line: "But something about just being with you/Slapped me right in the face, nearly broke me in two..."
Flower--This one isn't your usual rock and roll fodder--backed by an industrial vibe Phair recites over a choral backing lyrics that are raw and racy. I vacillate between liking and hating this one...which is probably the point. Favorite Line: "Your face reminds me of a flower/Kind of like you're underwater/Hair's too long and in your eyes..."
Johnny Sunshine--The effects of bad romantic decisions? Similar to the previous song Phair sings over (and over and over) her vocals, in an endless loop, somewhat like the life the protagonist is living. Favorite Line: "You took the house, you went and changed the locks/Now I am stuck living out of a box..."
Gunshy--The ennui of timidity? This one is another guitar driven (amazed at how much more I've noticed the guitars as I write this post) song, with an understated vocal for an understated life. Favorite Line: "See-monkeys, do monkeys/Story of my life..."
Stratford-On-Guy--An airplane flight, and all that is seen or seemed by Liz Phair. The deeper I get into writing this, the more I wonder how the hell Rolling Stone only put this album at #56. Favorite Line: "It took an hour, maybe a day/But once I really listened the noise just fell away..."
Strange Loop--Phair closes with one of the more straightforward rockers on the album, with an extended break of jangly guitars. Being true to yourself and true to your lover isn't as easy as it seems. Neither is writing an album full of eighteen iconoclastic songs--a fine ending to a monumental album. Favorite Line: "They're saying I can't be true/But I only wanted more than I knew..."
Sorry it took a while...thanks for reading! Enjoy:
A couple of years back I was browsing through our local library's music selection and came across a four CD collections called No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion. Featuring 100 songs by 75 different artists, the collection captured my fancy for the next year (highly recommend it). Over the coming years (yes, years) numerous songs from the set will be featured here, but I chose this week's first because, frankly, over the last ten years I cannot think of a tune that I enjoyed more (the first year I heard it, it was my #1 most listened to song on Spotify)...and it was fitting that it was originally released about the time my musical adventures began because it reminded me of exactly why I've devoted so much of my life to those adventures.
There probably is one, but I can't think of another band that had the kind of influence The Modern Lovers did and yet only released one album. Led by Jonathan Richman (the original incarnation also featured David Robinson who would go on to fame with the Cars, and Jerry Harrison who would eventually help to form The Talking Heads), the band began in 1970, recorded most of the songs that would make their history in 1971 and 1972, broke up in 1974, regrouped in 1976 (and released the album that contained the aforementioned songs from '71 and '72), and broke up for good in 1988. The only constant in the band was Richman, who would go on to release 8 more albums as Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and 17 solo albums, though Richman turned away from rock and roll and mostly performs folk music with acoustic instruments these days. The band also released three live albums. They are considered forerunners of the punk, new wave, alternative, and indie movements, and their songs have been covered by Iggy Pop, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and Joan Jett. Oh, and they're from Massachusetts....
"Roadrunner" was released as a single in 1976 from their debut, and only, album, the ever so cleverly titled, The Modern Lovers.While neither the single nor the album came anywhere near charting, "Roadrunner" ranked #274 (and should have been much higher) on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, and the album was ranked #381 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.
Fun Fact: The Modern Lovers have another song on the above compilation called "Pablo Picasso" in which they rhyme "Picasso" with "asshole." Why that gives me such glee is a wonder, but it is the little things in life sometimes, ain't it?
It's easy to forget that in the end, for all its merits, rock and roll is a lot of fun--and that's more or less the premise of "Roadrunner." A paean to Massachusetts, rock and roll, and driving at night with the (AM) radio on, the song's exuberance is a celebration of enjoying the moment...with the radio on. I've tried and tried to come up with an adjective for Richman's vocals, but the best I could do was droll...but it works so well within the song that that's all that really matters. The song is also a tribue to the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" (Richman was heavily influenced by VU). From Harrison's swirling keyboards, to the driving drums and the thunderous guitars, with Richman's witty repartee as he extols driving around Boston while listening to music, until he asks the band to join in and the band chants "Radio on!" around Richman's vocals you know you are in the midst of utter brilliance. It's a lovingly strange song for a lovingly strange time (Richman reportedly wrote it 1970 at the age of 19--there ought to be a law outlawing greatness at the age of 19). And to think I missed it for forty years--but believe you me, I've been making up for lost time ever since I first heard it.
Lyric Sheet: "Roadrunner once/Roadrunner twice/I'm in love with rock and roll and I'll be out all night..."
I have to admit to being surprised, even though at the time it came out I'm sure I read over it, that "Heroin" was listed at #455 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". While it certainly isn't your prototypical rock and roll tune, it's definitely one of the ten best, probably one of the five best, and maybe even the best rock and roll song ever written.
As with a few other artists featured here on FNJ, there really isn't much my meager writing abilities can add to the legacy of the Velvet Underground. There have been numerous books, articles, and blog posts written about one of the most influential bands in the history of rock and roll, but keep in mind that the band released a total of five albums, never had even the slightest sniff of commercial success, went through numerous incarnations in their, more or less, eight year (1964-1972) career, and they were still considered the #19 greatest band of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" (and is proof that Rolling Stone isn't always wrong...). They did reunite a time of two in the nineties, and the last time they played together was at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Sadly, of the band's four core members--Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker--only Cale and Tucker are still with us.
Lou Reed originally wrote "Heroin" in 1964 while he worked as a songwriter for a record company, which, surprisingly enough, wasn't interested in a song about shooting narcotics into one's veins. The song was worked on for a few years before being released on the Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nicoin 1967. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of radio stations playing a song about shooting narcotics into one's veins in 1967, so there'll be no call outs for the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The album would go on to sell approximately 30,000 copies, never getting higher than #198 (kind of weak bullet?) on the Billboard 200, but would end up at #13 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." A reminder that time can often be kind....
As noted above, there isn't much I can add to the song's legacy any more than I can to the band's legacy, but in taking the time over the past several days to listen to it again and again, I couldn't help but notice (as one who followed Reed's career from the early 80's onward), how much the guitar sound that Reed uses in "Heroin" would remain with him throughout his career. I was surprised how much I hadn't noticed Maureen Tucker's drumming in the song (one can't help but be overwhelmed by Reed's deadpan vocals, the jangly guitars, and Cale's screaming electric viola) before, and how essential it is to the song's greatness. Listen closely (and whether it was conscious or not, I've never read) you'll hear how much it sounds like a heartbeat, rushing up and down, one would suppose, as a heroin user's would. I'm not a fan of the drug culture, and I'd rather do a swan dive from the Golden Gate Bridge than stick a needle full of heroin into my veins, but the song, and the Velvet Underground's interpretation of it, is one of the most powerful musical listening experiences I've ever had. I don't know that rock and roll ever has really risen to be an art form in the way literature or film have, but "Heroin" is about as close as any rock and roll song has ever come.
Lyric Sheet: "I don't know just where I'm going/But I'm going to try for the kingdom, if I can/Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man/When I put a spike into my vein..."
"My God is rock and roll. It's an obscure power that can change your life. The most important part of my religion is to play guitar."--Lewis Allan Reed
I'm not an aficionado of live recordings. While there have been a handful worth listening to (Barenaked Ladies' "Brian Wilson," Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite," Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me," Jackson Browne's Running on Empty, Springsteen's Live 1975-1985), most live recordings pale dramatically compared to the original. But Lou Reed's "Coney Island Baby" recording from his Live: Take No Prisoners LP is a once in a lifetime phenomenon, and becomes a song that in its live version takes on a new persona, and comes as close to a spiritual experience as I've ever had in life. I shit you not--when I die (hopefully many years hence) I hope the live version of "Coney Island Baby" will be the background music as the lights fade to black.
I wrote about Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" in FNJ #38, and I begged off trying to write a synopsis of his career due to its complexity and wizardry--which I'll do again here, though I will note that this week Reed becomes a two time honoree here on Friday Night Jukebox. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Pshaw--he's got the emaycee seal of approval...twice.
"Coney Island Baby" was released in 1976 on Reed's incredibly aptly titledConey Island Baby album. The lyrics were from a poem, "The Coach and Glory of Love," which he had published in 1971 in The Harvard Advocate: Journal of Fiction and Poetry (not a bad place to get a start). While the album version isn't as grandiose as the live version, through the years I've developed a sneaking kindness for the original--its deadpan cool has a charm of its own.
Fun Fact: The Coney Island baby of the song was Reed's lover at the time, a trans woman named Rachel. Ooh la la!
I could tell you how Reed opens the song with a monologue about being a high school football player. Or I could tell you how the song is a symphony of sorts, how the instruments mesh so well that you can't even really tell--well except the triumphant piano--which ones are playing. Or I could tell you about the backing vocalists who turn the song into a religious experience--the gospel according to Lou Reed. I could tell you about Reed's prowess with the written word or the power of his vocals. And I could tell you how after the three minute mark or so, Reed and his band take the song to another level, where the song literally turns you into Saul on the Road to Damascus, but for rock and roll, not God. But all you need to know is that Lou Reed, Lou Reed the cynical purveyor of the dark underbelly of human nature, is telling us all that the glory of love just might see us all through, and despite your doubts, yes, it could happen to you.
And in the end, whether it's a spouse or a significant other, or the girl two seats up in History 101 or the boy who jogs for the cross country team past your door, your children or your parents, your best friend or even your dog or cat, isn't it the glory of love that makes this crazy roller coaster ride through the Hotel Hades worth it?
Can I get an amen, brothers and sisters?
Lyric Sheet: "But remember the princess who lived on the hill/Who loved you even though she knew you was wrong/And right now she might just come shining through/And the glory of love, the glory of love..."
And with those four words a legendary rock and roll band was born
It's hard to overestimate the legacy of the Ramones--despite their lack of commercial success (their highest charting album hit #49, their highest charting single hit #66--both, one presumes, with a bullet!) their influence on the punk movement and later the alternative scene (much like their non-selling kin The Velvet Underground) was astounding. Formed in Queens, New York in 1974, the Ramones would spend the next 22 years making fourteen albums and touring over two hundred days a year. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, were listed as #26 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," and in 2011 received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammy's. Sadly, much of this glory was missed by the original band members, as three of the four (Joey in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, and Johnny in 2004) had passed away less than eight years after their dissolution, and the last original Ramone (Tommy) died in 2014.
Fun Fact: There have been 48 (yes, 48) full-length tribute albums devoted to the Ramones. Not bad for four middle class kids from Queens....
Released on their oh so cleverly named debut album (which was certified gold--500,000 copies sold--thirty eight years later in 2014), The Ramones, in 1976. "Blitzkrieg Bop" was the world's vinyl introduction to the Ramones. I'm not sure there's ever been another band whose first song on their first album transformed a generation of musicians the way "Blitzkrieg Bop" did--when you listen to the guitars it's not hard to guess where the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Green Day (among a multitude of others) borrowed their guitar sounds from. In keeping with the Ramones disdain for long songs (their songs are generally three minutes or less in length), "Blitzkrieg Bop" is two minutes and nineteen seconds of pure adrenaline with Joey's shout singing vocals, Johnny's blistering guitar, and Tommy's no holds barred drumming. Even at the age of fifty-eight, it's hard when listening to it to not jump around the house with arms and legs thrashing. It's power pop at its finest...and as it often went in the Ramones' career, the song never even made the damn charts.
And it's a reminder that all too often, greatness is only seen in retrospect (Hello, Hillary Clinton!).
Other than The Velvet Underground, one would be hard pressed to name a band that had such a great influence on generations of musicians with such a short-lived career and small studio output than did Joy Division (VU lasted, give or take, from 1965 to 1970--when Lou Reed left--and released four studio LPs; Joy Division lasted from 1976 to 1980 and released one EP and two studio LPs). Though one could make a case for The Sex Pistols or Nirvana or Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin or The Doors...fuck it, you get the gist: seminal band, short career.
Formed in 1976 in Salford, England after being inspired by a Sex Pistols concert, Joy Division (originally named Warsaw after a Bowie song, "Warszawa," later changed to Joy Division after a sex slave wing of a Nazi concentration camp in the novel House of Dolls) was quickly on the fast track to rock and roll stardom, releasing an EP within two years and garnering a reputation as a great live band. Their first full length studio LP, Unknown Pleasures, was released to critical acclaim in 1979. Sadly, shortly before the release of their second studio LP and the beginning of their first American tour, lead singer Ian Curtis (suffering from epilepsy--he would on occasion have seizures while they were performing live--depression, and a failing marriage) committed suicide. The band members had a standing agreement that should any one of them leave the band, Joy Division would cease to exist, and thus the remaining band members formed New Order, which went on to have some commercial success.
Released in 1980 on their Closeralbum, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" would go on to become one of the all-time great singles, at one time being voted best song ever by NME and also showing up on numerous best singles ever lists (including Rolling Stone's top five hundred songs of all-time) despite its rather lackluster beginnings (it hit #13 on the British charts and never charted on The Billboard Hot 100). Fun fact: the song is a play on the (not so good) Captain and Tennille mega hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together" (if you've never had the pleasure...don't bother).
For me, the song has several stand out moments that make it a cut (so to speak) above the rest. The first is its driving rhythm--the drumming is like a gunshot, rat-a-tat, or even like a hammer hitting a nail, from the beginning to the end and the bass practically carries the song with its oh so danceable melody line. Second are Curtis' unforgettable vocals--he's been compared to the Doors' Jim Morrison (though I don't see it) but I think Curtis is a lot more deadpan than Morrison (at least on this song) and somehow it works rather well with the rather depressing sentiments of the song. Finally, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is one of those rare songs that gets better each time you listen to it--even these many, many years later for me, there's always some nuance or vocal inflection that I never seemed to notice before that makes it even more enjoyable than the last time I heard it. Throw in Curtis' own failing marriage and tragic ending, and you have a rock and roll classic.
Lyric sheet: "Why is the bedroom so cold? You've turned away on your side/Is my timing that flawed?"
So...Lou Reed. Yeah. Trying to write a paragraph synopsis of his career is like trying to write a paragraph about the life of St. John the Baptist: he may not have been the leading man, but he sure played an important role in the movie, and more than likely, you aren't going to do justice to that role. His seminal work with the the Velvet Underground would have been enough to insure his place in rock and roll history, and his solo work only cemented his reputation. He has often been called the inspiration for punk rock (a notion he adamantly eschewed) and its hard to imagine bands such as R.E.M., Nirvana, and Pearl Jam without his pioneering works. The Velvet Underground was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996; oddly (at least to me), Reed wasn't inducted into the Hall as solo performer until this year, two years after his death in 2013. Reed enjoyed very little commercial success--only a handful of the band and his solo albums made the Billboard Hot 100, and the only top 40 hit single he enjoyed was "Walk on the Wild Side" (but what a one hit hit to have).
"Street Hassle," from the aptly titled LP, Street Hassle, is an eleven minute ode to love and death in (presumably) New York City. The song is divided into three parts: "Waltzing Mathilda" which is the tale of a woman securing the services of a male prostitute (and how many songs have used that story line?); "Street Hassle" which involves the drug overdose of an unfortunate young woman; and "Slipaway" which is a paean to both love lost and love sought. Reed infuses all three sections with strings--leading off with violins and cellos, mixing in acoustic and electric guitars, and throwing in the odd bass here and there. Vocally, it's Reed's usual deadpan delivery, though parts one and three are sung, and part two is a monologue. Lyrically, there are few artists who can literally paint a picture with their words, but Reed is one of them. Reed is a master at keeping the words simple and using just the right touch of subtlety. I've always been a bit partial to section two, and his protagonist's detached take on the girl's overdose is both frightening in its heartlessness, and mesmerizing in its authenticity.
And if all of that isn't enough, Bruce Springsteen does an uncredited intro to section three, replete with a play on his famed lyrics, "tramps like us, we were born to run." Reed then closes the song with a masterful and heartfelt back and forth on love and loss.
Sheer brilliance from beginning to end.
These week's lyric link is apropos of nothing more than a nod to being the most cold-hearted lyric ever written: "But when someone turns that blue/Well, it's just a universal truth/And you just know that bitch will never fuck again."
"And you've got to fight to make what's right...." Lou Reed, "Legendary Hearts"
I titled my second novel (unpublished, and deservedly so--suffered the same fate as my first, also unpublished, that of its being overwrought horseshit) from a lyric in the above noted song. There are probably millions of people today--most of whom can wax much more poetically than I can about his career--writing about him and like them I mourn Reed's passing. While I've read today of people who started bands because of him (mostly because of the Velvet Underground), learned how to to be a rebel from him, or took art to heretofore never done before heights because of him, I myself took from his music that a sort of happiness comes to you as you get older and that's okay. It's a lesson I've learned over and over again as I've aged.
The last few years have not been kind to many of those I've admired and whose work I've enjoyed. John Updike. Kurt Vonnegut. George Carlin. Levon Helm. And now Lou Reed.
All of whom have left me with one irrefutable fact.
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
