Our greatest rockers are people who apparently never used their “indoor voice.” Why should they? They were future rockers! Anyhow, the other day I was thinking that the one ingredient basic to any good rock and roll song – besides a guitar solo, of course – is a blood-curdling scream.
It could be an expression of rage and defiance, like Roger Daltrey’s classic scream at the end of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” or it can be a cathartic release of pain and frustration, like John Lennon in “Well Well Well.” Screams can be ominous and threatening, like Axl Rose in “Welcome To The Jungle” or it can be just plain weird and inexplicable, like Jim Morrison in “When The Music’s Over.”
Screams can be old and trailblazing: Bo Diddley and Little Richard loved to scream, although Richard’s were more like a shriek and Bo’s were more like a holler. They can be punk (The Stooges), they can be metal (Iron Maiden), they can be funny (Tenacious D) or they can be very soulful (Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett). As Eddie Murphy once said about James Brown’s famous scream, “He wrote that.”
So let’s celebrate the weekend with a dozen cool rockin’ screams. Turn it up!
Face it – rock and roll isn’t that scary. Unless you’re an uptight parent, or some kind of preacher. Rock music about Halloween, and the stuff that comes with Halloween, is goofy and funny, but it isn’t frightening. Although I must admit, I got a bit of a fright the first time I saw Adam Lambert perform … but thankfully that’s not rock and roll. Or is it? Bwahahahaha!
Back in the day, there was Alice Cooper. He had an act that involved boa constrictors, decapitating baby dolls with a guillotine (or something) and an electric chair. Alice also had Top 40 hits – “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” among them. Successful, certainly; entertaining, probably. But scary? No.
Before Alice, back in the 1950s, there was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. He jumped in and out of a coffin during his stage act, performed fake voodoo rituals and had some pretty crazy music. But his snake wasn’t even real. After Alice, you can take your pick among the punk rockers of the late 1970s: they were kind of disturbing, but honestly not scary. And from the 1990s, you had Marilyn Manson – the less said about him the better.
So by default, I guess Alice Cooper is the scariest guy in rock and roll. Unless you count Adam Lambert …
Just a few weeks ago we were all bothered about yet another female celebrity caught naked, after someone hacked into her private cellphone stash. I still can’t figure what’s the problem – she took the pictures herself and obviously wanted somebody besides herself to see them (otherwise she could have just used a mirror to look at her own ass).
Maybe she doesn’t want us all to see these photos; maybe she just doesn’t want us all to see these photos for free. Maybe she would rather we pay 10 bucks for a movie ticket to get a glimpse of her ass … I don’t know.
The news said the FBI is investigating to find out who stole the pictures and leaked them; maybe the actress wants to give him a commission for getting her name out there. Wow, good to know there aren’t more dangerous criminals that the FBI should be looking for.
We live in a world of self absorption and technological privilege. The internet has opened up our lives with a huge picture window that isn’t always so easy to close.
Meanwhile, we fuel the gossip whores by listening and watching. Somebody’s always watching – and it’s no wonder, because somebody’s always putting something out there to watch.
The big Super Bowl game is coming up, this year it’s in the new Cowboys Stadium up in Arlington, and it got me to thinking about the halftime. Now these things pretty much exist only to please advertisers and, I suppose, people in the stadium. For us millions of TV viewers the Super Bowl halftimes are usually a losing proposition.
A wardrobe malfunction might be welcome during this year's show with the Black Eyed Peas
We had a Super Bowl in Houston, back in 2004, and the MTV-produced halftime at that event included performances by Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Nelly, P. Diddy and of course, Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. So after that holocaust they’ve had more mainstream rock acts – Paul McCartney, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, the Who – who were not really as exciting as they are in a regular two-hour concert. The halftime performers in Dallas this year will be the Black Eyed Peas, so maybe they want to get the demographic a little younger again. You watch: one of these years it’s going to be “American Idol” winners/runners up and the cast from “Glee,” and it will be very popular – and truly deadly.
Anyhow, we were thinking about some acts that we’d like to play the Super Bowl halftime, if only because they would never be asked to do this in real life. Think of this as our Fantasy Super Bowl Halftime Act list, like your weird still-single uncle’s Fantasy Football Team. We helpfully included some stats and a small dose of reality, as explanation why this could never happen.
KISS – The hard rockin’ kabuki-faced quartet is known around the world, they like to “party” and they are rich enough to be their own sponsors. What’s not to like about Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and co.? Although you certainly can’t tell with all that makeup, Simmons and Stanley are certainly old enough to qualify as Senior Classic Rockers. And another plus: they bring their own pyro!
Rookie season: 1973 Recent triumph: Sonic Boom, which went to No. 2 in 2009
Playlist: “Strutter”/”Detroit Rock City”/”Calling Dr. Love”/”Beth”/”Rock and Roll All Nite”
Why they’ll never play halftime: Actually, I bet they will in the next few years. (Editor’s note: KISS did perform during opening ceremonies for Super Bowl XXXIII, in Miami in 1999.)
Neil Diamond – Newly accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after years of being ignored, Neil certainly has a flashy enough stage show to play the Super Bowl. He rocked the pop charts in the late 1960s-early 1970s, he’s successfully played Vegas and in recent years he has made a bit of a comeback with some mellow new material. He would get the Grannies rockin’ during halftime; keep a defibrillator handy!
Rookie season: 1962 Recent triumph: Hot August Night/NYC in multiple formats, available at a Wal-Mart near you!
Playlist: “I’m A Believer”/”Solitary Man”/”I Am … I Said”/”Play Me”/”Cracklin’ Rosie”
Why Neil will never play halftime: “Dad, who’s that old guy?” “What’s wrong with his hair?” “Hey, Grandma’s breathing heavy!” “Call an ambulance!” (The last one could be used in the stadium as well.)
Willie Nelson/Bob Dylan: Personally, I’d love to see this one. What a package deal – Willie could come up and sing some reggae songs about smoking weed, then he could bring Dylan up to mumble one or two of his classics in a strange rhythm that would require subtitles for the TV audience. Nelson can – and does – play with everyone, and Dylan has been touring continuously since about 1969.
Rookie season: Nelson – 1960; Dylan – 1961 Recent triumph: Nelson – Country Music (2010); Dylan – Christmas In The Heart (2009)
Playlist: Nelson – “On The Road Again”/”Crazy”/”Funny How Time Slips Away” Dylan – (Unintelligible)/(Unintelligible)/(Unintelligible)
Why they will never play halftime: Their combined ages total up to 146 years. After the performance you’d have to wake everyone up, including the stadium audience and football players.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
The Stooges – The punk rock godfathers, still going strong in their sixth decade, have enough energy to power through a rockin’ two-hour show so they’d be great for a Super Bowl halftime. Guitarist Ron Asheton could bring the thunder, but he died in 2009; current guitarist James Williamson (from the Raw Power era) is flashy and almost as good. They could be sponsored by Cialis and Geritol and the network won’t have to worry about a wardrobe malfunction on lead singer Iggy Pop – he never wears a shirt anyway.
Rookie season: 1967 Recent triumph: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Playlist: “Search and Destroy”/”No Fun”/”TV Eye”/”I Wanna Be Your Dog”
Why they will never play halftime: “My d**k is turning into a tree” (lyrics from “Trollin'”)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Ozzy Osbourne: What red-blooded rock and roller would not welcome a Super Bowl halftime appearance by the Prince of F***ing Darkness? Currently on a U.S. tour, Ozzy is rocking audiences with Black Sabbath classics and his choice solo gems. Booking Ozzy could be the ultimate act of heresy, as it may encourage millions of youngsters to worship something besides wholesome professional sports, shameless corporate pandering and the single-minded pursuit of money.
Rookie season: 1969 Recent triumph: Scream, and his 2011 tour to support that album
Playlist: “Mr. Crowley”/”Iron Man”/”Let Me Hear You Scream”/”Crazy Train”/”Paranoid”
Why he will never play halftime: He’s the Prince of F***ing Darkness
Damn … it’s time to say goodbye to my back porch beer drinking buddy, ol’ Ranger. He lived with us for about nine years and yesterday he moved on over to the next life. Ranger’s heart was bigger than 10 backyards but it gave out too soon.
He wasn’t afraid of anything that crawled, climbed or slithered. The heat or cold didn’t bother him, although he didn’t mind paying a visit indoors once in a while. That sonovagun liked to run, but he never ran away. Adios, big boy – we’ll keep your house in case you ever come this way again.
While we were in New York City the other day everyone was talking about this new record, “Favorite Recorded Scream,” with 74 brief clips of rock and roll screams, yells, howls and other noises from songs by the Who, the Stooges, the Pixies, Slayer, Bjork and many others.
New York City artist LeRoy Stevens came hatched the idea after hearing “A Change Is Going to Come” by the 1960s soul singer Baby Huey, a song that climaxes in a series of screeches. So he went to Manhattan record shop clerks and asked them to choose their favorite song scream and to tell him why. He mashed them up together into a single and then included all of the individual clips and put it on a vinyl LP, retailing for 15 bucks in your finer record shops in NYC and online.
One of the greatest songwriters and singers in rock and roll, Paul McCartney turns 67 on Thursday (June 18). With the Beatles and later as a solo performer and bandleader, McCartney created some of the best (and worst) music in rock and roll history. He isn’t as cool today as he was in the 1960s, or in the early part of the 1970s, but even at the twilight of his career McCartney is still a formidable talent. His album Electric Arguments, released as The Fireman late last year, was considered to be one of the year’s best and a return to form for McCartney. A collaboration with fellow legend Bob Dylan may be in the works – if it happens, that would be another milestone in an incredible career.
In 1965 McCartney wrote “Yesterday,” which the Guinness Book of World Records says is the most covered song ever. It has been covered more than 3,000 times and in the 20th century alone the song was performed more than 7 million times. We thought about doing a marathon with different covers of one song (as we did a few weeks ago on Bob Dylan’s birthday) but thought it would be more fun to just dig up songs from throughout McCartney’s career. So after the jump you have some of McCartney’s best music as performed by others, as well as a few versions of “Yesterday.” McCartney may be rather unfairly judged by his output over recent years, but most of this shit rocks. Happy birthday!
The South by Southwest music conference is a big event every year in Austin that masquerades as an important opportunity for music industry types to get together, discuss their business and get exposed to a few new acts. What it really is – and it shall hereafter be referred to as SXSW – is a huge-ass party with more than a thousand music acts playing nearly continuously for about four days. Big Fun.
Over the years we’ve covered this event for various news media outlets, but we stopped doing that about 10 years ago. Now we just go for the free, unofficial “side” events (also known as day parties) that are way more fun than the official SXSW-sponsored events. Plus they almost always have free beer. If you’re lucky (or get there really early) you might get a cup or two.
The Gaslight Anthem, 2008
So we’re going over to Austin next week. My advice has always been to make a plan, pick a few must-see acts and just “go with the flow.” Last year we parked the car and heard a band playing. Just a few steps, and we’re watching the Gaslight Anthem. Take a look at the crowd in the photo … you wouldn’t see that for this band today.
And that’s really why you go to SXSW, to discover new acts that you really like, and who might sooner or later (or never) become big stars. Oh sure, we had a blast when the Stooges played in 2007 and when Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Jones of the Clash returned last year with Carbon Silicon– and this year the big rumor is a possible appearance byMetallica– but that sort of stuff is actually a sideshow.
Iggy Pop, Mike Watt and Ron Asheton in Austin, 2007
Guitarist Ron Asheton of the Stooges has died in Ann Arbor, Mich., at the age of 60. Asheton is a founding member of the seminal punk band, which is nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. Asheton’s riffs on Fun House (1970) and “TV Eye,” in particular, are rock legend. We saw the Stooges in 2007 at South by Southwest and Asheton (along with his brother, drummer Scott) could still really bring the thunder. Ron Asheton is truly one of the godfathers of punk.
30 Days Out 