ITS AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS AND SOME CHANGE
You may even become Imortale.. like the Ramones. The song, "Rock and Roll High School" was also a film in 1979 and got the attention of Roger Corman. The song is listenable, the film is unwatchable and only kicks into high gear when the high school blows up in a fury of flames and explosions.
The Ramones started their entire recording career with a six thousand dollar investment. Pretty amazing.
Whats more amazing is that Phil Spector produced the album, "End of the Century". You can find Rock and Roll High School on it. I found the album so 60-ish that I actually thought it was a bunch of out of work Broadway actors trying to score a few quick bucks. I didn't think that an authentic gritty punk band had the smarts to pull off a 60's type sound. If you have ever seen footage from their film they didn't look very smart. "End of the Century" has a strong 6o's feel to it that the other Ramones albums seriously lack.
But they did look like some of the guys I grew up with in the east coast.
Oddly, this song didn't appeal to me when I actually attended high school. I couldn't relate to owning a GTO, etc. This outdated view on teenage life was like a message from another decade.... try the 1950's. I didn't grow up on the set of, "Happy Days". What were these guys babbling about?
I had to get into a certain frame of mind to enjoy them. I liked seeing them play live though and I finally got a chance to see the orignal line up at the Michigan State Fair of all places where yours truly lost a shoe in the pit.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
THE NEW YORK DOLLS - TRASH
Trash, wont pick it up
Take them lights away
Trash, wont pick it up
Dont take your life away
Trash, dont try to take my life away
And please dontcha ask me if I love you
(Lyrics)
These guys were the real reckless deal. Before Punk Rock even had a name these guys were the New York City scene. They snarled, wore makeup, were cross gender friendly, ugly, tough and they were doing all of this before KISS.
Sid Vicious, of the Sex Pistols, adored these guys. So did Morrissey of the Smiths. Morrissey was the president of the New York Dolls fanclub in Manchster England at age 14. And all of this gained the attention of Malcom McLaren who was looking for a band to manage. McLaren was really interested in fabricating a band of his own in England that were even more outrageous than the Dolls. The American rock scene soured on the Dolls after Malcom had them dress up like communists and drape the hammer and sickle flag over the backdrop of their stage show. The band fell apart on its own shortly after. Malcom hopped the pond back to England to begin his version of Punk Rock with Vivienne Westwood, (fashion designer and artist).
Dolls guitarist, Johnny Thunders, would delve further into Heroin. Frontman, David Johanson would still crank out loud rock music with , "Live it Up" and appear on the Uncle Floyd Show. His other incarnation, and one of his best, was Dexter Poindexter and his hit song, "Hot Hot Hot". After that he appeared in a few movies over the years in, "Let It Ride" with Richard Dryfus and "Car 54 Where Are You?".
The band has reformed. Minus Thunders, (he OD'd). The Dolls also spawned some imitators, most notably, The Trash Brats in Detroit. The New York Dolls have appeared on the IFC network on The Henry Rollins Show.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has handled the marketing for such innovative groups like http://www.WindsorBeauty.com and contributes to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
THE 90'S WAS A WEIRD TIME
Nothing happened much in music, nothing much happened in art and I was glad to get out of campus. Then a few gems would pop up a few times during this very bleak time in pop culture.
That Dog, was one of them. This song is interesting but it was also very common to what was happening. A lot of people were coming out of the closet or becoming Bisexual. Girls kissing girls in clubs, guys being with other guys. All of this coming to the forefront of the corporate America scene, (IBM handing out benefits to gay couples etc.). Plus it was all coming up to the end of the century and 911.
What a way to end the century.
This song sort of captures all of that in a nutshell. Its got the lathargic crunchy guitar in the middle as if the band had run out of creativity and its got melodic undertones. The violin is nice because it captures the narrative of the song but also it reminds me a bit of XTC.
That Dog was featured as the Catch of the Day on 89.X and from there I never heard it again. I dug this out of a dollar bin and this song really stands out on it. I don't recall the other ones as nearly as much as this track. I was surprised it was featured on 120 Minutes and that a video was made.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has handled the marketing for such innovative groups like http://www.WindsorBeauty.com and contributes to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
LENE LOVICH
"Did anyone know she was from Detroit?"
Lovich was born in Detroit, Michigan to a British mother and a Bosnian father, but after her father became mentally unstable her mother took her and her three siblings to live in Hull, England.
I found this woman very disturbing as a kid. She didn't fit into anything that was going on in commercial radio at the time. She didn't really fit into ANYTHING I had ever seen before and I was a huge fan of the Gong Show. The time that this was shown on television didn't help me out very much either. I saw this video at 2 in the morning. I was traumatized.
Discography
Stateless (1978)
Flex (1979)
New Toy EP (1981)
No Man's Land (1982)
March (1989)
Shadows and Dust (2005)
Source - Wikipedia
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This video seriously scared the crap out of me as a kid. I was on the couch at 2 AM, and this freakin thing comes on my tv. My mom is upstairs with the door closed. I am alone in the living room which was two levels down. It looks corny now BUT MAN.... this scared me.
Three things bothered me about this video. The pool ball rolling and coming to a complete stop to the screen freaked me out. The weird eye movements of Lene Lovich in the back of the car was strange. Her voice scared me too. The normal progression of the guitar by the bald headed guy was the only normal part of this whole performance.... but even that bothered me. Nobody was bald back in 1979. The only bald guy I ever knew was Curley from the Three Stooges.
Honestly? This video and song still bothers me.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
MUSIC FOR THE ULTRA HIP
This was made for the kids who couldn't wait for the songs to be officially released into the commercial CD release. I used to hear about Flipper spoken about in hush hush fashion and with a lot of speculation. The truth was nobody really knew too much about them. Major rock magazines only hinted at their existence.
Then before anything could really be released the lead singer OD's. The band becomes infamous.
"John Lydon's Public Image Ltd was widely accused in the US of stealing the cover art and concept of Flipper's album, Album. Consequently, Flipper entitled their 1986 double live album, Public Flipper Ltd. The album unfolded into a board game complete with a cutout spinner and game cards with Subterranean once again providing extra covers through mail order.
The original lineup began splintering after a long debauched period of touring, and singer and core member Will Shatter eventually died in 1987 of a drug overdose after forming A3I (Any Three Initials, a punk outfit whose title mocked the prevalence of acronymic band names). Subterranean packaged the band's most popular recordings in a greatest hits collection titled "Sex Bomb Baby" released in 1987. The initial release featured several different hand drawn covers and the cassette edition and later CD rerelease featured three bonus tracks."
Source Wikipedia
By 87 there were a ton of bands getting much attention thanks to independant labels getting college airplay. Still, even though new music was getting lots of praise, Flipper fell between the cracks and is only remembered by those who really followed Indy Music.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
