The Stooges are finally in!

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Moonage

Ever since I’ve been blogging here, I’ve lamented the fact that The Stooges were not in the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame. The Rolling Stones were the original bad boys of rock. But, they did it in a typical PR kinda way. It seemed contrived. Then, along came Iggy and the Stooges. They were bad. Real bad. There wasn’t much to like about them. Their music was very basic. It was recorded in a way that made it sound like someone literally sat a mic in front of the entire band. Iggy was prone to cut himself on stage, not terribly appealing. He was prone to make musical statements that didn’t really make a lot of sense. Basically, everything about Iggy was chaos. The staple that seemed to keep him from going completely over the edge were The Stooges. There are several legacies left in the aftermath of The Stooges. The most obvious being:

Although bands like Pearl Jam attributed Neil Young with being the godfather of grunge, they’re way off. Iggy made being stupid cool. While other bands were becoming more and more studio oriented, The Stooges stripped it all back down again, paving the way for The Ramones and punk.

While other bands were pretending to be bad:

That’s not fake blood. While others pretended to push sexuality to new levels:

Iggy did it on stage.

Social barriers?

That may be Iggy in white.

Contortionist?

Lounge lizard?

Bondage?

Glam?

Now, ya gotta keep in mind that Iggy did all this before the Beatles broke up. Michael Jackson wasn’t even a teenager yet. While major acts were polishing their images, Iggy did everything possible to destroy his. It became very uncomfortable to watch. Everything punk aspired to be, Iggy took it over the top while laying the groundwork. Iggy went solo at some point. He had some minor hits along the way. He teamed with Kate Pierson to have his biggest hit in 1990. The Stooges basically went nowhere and didn’t do much. In 2003 Iggy re-joined them toured with them since.

Iggy was pretty emotional about finally getting in. They had been passed over seven times while performers who had obviously less of an impact on rock got it. For Iggy, it was vindication. For guitarist and bassist Ron Asheton, it was meaningless. He died earlier this year.

There are so many bands that performed for nothing more than to sell a few records, maybe score some babes, or even better, make lots of money. Then there were true musicians and performers who felt music was something different, something special. The Hall of Fame is for special performers. They need to think long and hard about how they select their members. Ron Asheton never had the limelight, never made a bunch of money, and could have scored chicks without all the aggravations and notoriety of performing with Iggy. But, he seemed to know something special was happening. He’ll never know that the rock world knew it was special too.

Chant of the ever circling google ceo

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Moonage

This one’s for Eric Schmidt. If you got skeletons in your closet, you better not let Google know about it.

Adam Lambert does Bowie

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Moonage

Well, sorta. And, definitely not in that way. More like this:

This is part of a collection of Adam Lambert album cover parodies. Several are good. However, the comparison is there for a reason I imagine. Adam Lambert loves glam. Bowie loved glam. Therefore, they have to be compared, right?

I don’t really think so. Here’s the performance that got everyone all worked up:

And, here’s the glam I enjoyed as as kid:

Now, the difference being primarily, for me, that in Bowie’s glam days, it was the music that initially set Bowie apart. Then you tossed in the odd outfits and sometimes bizarre stage shows. Toss in a gay reference occasionally to keep them guessing. But, with Bowie, it was more of a WTF moment than a statement on sexuality. With Lambert, particularly this song and performance, it seemed to be purely a sexual statement. The music is lame. And, I mean, way lame. This guy can sing, but doesn’t at this time. Then you’ve got gay, S&M, bondage, blah, blah, blah. If you can’t figure what these people are emulating, you never will. This is no WTF moment.

People just don’t get what glam was. Sure, it was some outlandish costumes, but the music was what set it apart. As rich as the visual experience was, the music was much moreso. Until a Lambert or someone gets it, I’ll be disappointed. Quite frankly, I don’t think Lambert ever will.

Seven degrees of Bowie – U2

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Moonage

About a week or so ago, I had a discussion with my teenage step-daughter. She’s hip. She keeps one eye covered with hair at all times so the world can’t see her face. She’s not emo tho. Be sure to understand that. During some strange dinner time conversation, she questioned the fact that I seemed to have a David Bowie comment about anything pop we discuss. She really seemed to think I was stretching things a bit. I explained to her that the reason I focused on the world according to David Bowie is because he sort of is in the middle of everything musical for the last thirty years or so. I was fairly confident in my claim.

We then hopped in the car and drove to Atlanta, Georgia, to watch U2. Now, the only U2 connection was the fact that Bowie worked with a fella named Brian Eno. Brian Eno would later hook up with U2 to produce an album called The Unforgettable Fire. That was a pretty good mix. Bowie and Eno were a good mix as well, delivering one of Bowie’s most recognizable songs to this day. Eno has again teamed up with U2 to produce the album U2 is supporting for this tour. So, imagine how I felt when U2 was preparing to hit the stage and they played one song over the PA before the band came on:

David Bowie of course. And, in deference to Eno in some way or another, not a song Eno had anything to do with. They could have done Heroes…….

Needless to say, I had to get a dig in on the young and inexperienced step-daughter.

Tomorrow I’m taking the boy to see a movie that features this song:

During their shows, they often do Heroes, a Bowie/Eno collaboration.

And, they opened for U2 a time or two.

Small world huh?

The Absolute Prettiest Star

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Moonage

My friend JeniQ noticed something I had always noticed, but never really put much thought to. It’ll make itself kind of obvious as this post meanders. Some history first.

In 1969, following the success of Space Oddity, Bowie went back in the studios to release his next big hit. He teamed up with Marc Bolan, who was pretty hot at the time. And, he was pretty much totally infatuated with a babe named Angela Barnett. Tony Visconti was producing this round, and had a particular song in mind:

London Bye Ta Ta wasn’t floating too well with Bowie. So, Bowie and Bolan put together a little ditty pretty much featuring Bolan’s guitar work:

Catchy guitar riff, smooth lyrics, nothing shocking or weird. It went absolutely nowhere. A few years later, Bowie was a star, and he was putting together a quick album to follow up on the popularity of Ziggy Stardust. Most of the songs for Aladdin Sane were harsh, cold, disenchanted, and loud. Except for one song:

Not content that The Prettiest Star was so horrible no one would buy it, Bowie re-made it with Mick Ronson on guitar. Visconti once again was producing the song he didn’t want to produce in the first place. There was one very noticeable difference. They added doo-wops. What got left on the cutting room floor was the guitar solo intro. Starting instead with the classic guitar riff.

Fast forward a decade or so and Bowie’s friend Julien Temple was producing a movie. He got Bowie to do a supporting role. And, more importantly to me, record the theme song to the movie. This type of collaboration had previously yielded Cat People. So, the concept was promising. However, the song was not quite as creative as Cat People. It enjoyed a quick stint in the charts and pretty much faded from most Bowie fans’ song lists. There was most definitely a reason for this:

For those that had been around Bowie for a while, we had already heard it. He even brought back the opening solo.

But, it was still good. And, both are in my Top 20 Bowie tunes of all time.

Time to ignore The Stooges again?

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Moonage

Every year a few diehard rockers that actually can go back 25 years start thunping for The Stooges to make it into the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame. That’s Iggy Pop for the others. We do that for one very simple reason:

They invented punk. The Rolling Stones and others ran around snarling and acting bad. However, going to their concert was as exciting as watching Abba. The Stooges took concerts to a whole new level where you often truly feared for your safety and sanity. Sometimes, you were truly ashamed to watch the personal destruction occurring on stage. In other words, you were actually affected. Punk would spawn all kinds of spin-offs that we listen to today. Almost every young band emulates Iggy at some point by crowd surfing. Watch the video to learn how to do it right. Iggy didn’t just lay there and wallow around. He stood on people. He walked on people. He threw peanut butter. Most people like myself know that Iggy and The Stooges aren’t in there because their sound was unpolished, the band members not pretty, and the crowds at the time were small. However, what they created was huge and Kiss and The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be the first to tell you The Stooges belong there before they do. I’m not going into any argument about any of the rest of the list. But, before any of them get in, The Stooges need to be there.

Heteropoda davidbowie

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Moonage

I picked Bowie to do a blog on not so much specifically because of the music, or the person. I picked Bowie because he seemed to encapsulate about every aspect of life you could dream up, and then some. Today’s Bowie post is about science. Peter Jaeger discovered a yellow, hairy, spider living in Malaysia. Apparently this spider looks something like this:

Just kidding. I’m sure you guessed that. I’m sure it looks more like this:

Yeah, yeah. Gotcha again didn’t I? OK, this really is the bad boy:

Dear David Bowie

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Moonage

Due to the sudden famine of decent movies to watch with my kid, I started getting desperate. Then I heard a movie was playing that featured Bowie. I of course, had to go. Problem was it was on it’s next to last day showing, and it only showed at 4:15. The boy gets off his bus at 4:00. That meant it was iffy at best. Sure enough, he showed up at 4:02. We drove faster than I like, slower than he likes. We got in the theater at 4:19. The movie literally started the second we sat down. The first words of the movie were “Dear David Bowie”. We immediately saw The Lodger on the wall. Almost immediately we had fourteen year olds citing Velvet Underground. I was thoroughly stumped. No fourteen year olds go around citing Velvet Underground for anything. I doubt very many even have a clue who they were. This movie looked like it was ready to rock in a major Moonage way. It was even throwing Ziggy era Bowie as filler music. How much better does it get than that?

Then, it jumped the shark. It stumbled around with the cliche boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl back, first kiss, mom making out with teen boys, and oddly, music that was elevator music from the 80′s. It went from showing Bowie references such as a bookstore I think it was called Rebel Rebel, to sounding a lot like the Partridge Family. It quickly became typecast Vanessa Hudgens with all her clothes on.

But, every 30 seconds or so, we got to hear “Dear David Bowie”. So I endured. Even my six year old was perplexed why this kid kept saying “Dear David Bowie”. He knows Bowie’s old. In other words, Bowie isn’t relevant to a six year old. I’ll not ruin the ending here. But, it’s Bowie’s only real appearance in the movie. And, it was good.

I recommend this movie only to parents who love Bowie and have small kids. Bowiefiles will feel kinda creepy trying to sit through it without little wonders. One older kid in the audience did. He kept kinda wigging out during the movie. The oddity was getting to him.

One thumb up for this flick. I enjoyed the novelty of it, but that’s it’s only saving grace. I found it odd a movie was more or less marketed to either 40+ somethings who would be true Bowie fans, or small kids. As much of an icon as he is to my age group, he’s oblivious to young kids. Telling a six year old we’re going to see a Bowie movie just gets you a very quizzical look. Mine was expecting Screaming Lord Byron. He didn’t get that. He did enjoy the movie tho.

By the way, the movie was not named “Dear David Bowie”. That would have been perfect. It’s called Bandslam.

Comme d’habitude

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Moonage

I got an email alert about a guy, David Lister, who went to a show by The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain. They did a joke segment they called “plagiarism”. It’s pretty clever. Here it is:

Only thing is, there is no joke. And, as with every other form of entertainment, parody is not plagiarism.

It all started with this fella, Claude Francois wrote a melody called Comme d’habitude. It was a pretty piece. He got a fella named Jacques Revaux to put some lyrics to it. The original version’s lyrics were about a strained relationship. They go something like this ( pardon the bad Google translation ):

I get up
And I’ll upsets
You do not wake up, As usual
I back you on the sheet
I fear that you have cold, As usual
My hand caresses your hair
Almost despite myself, As usual
But you turn your back on me, As usual

Then I get dressed quickly
I leave the room, As usual
All alone I drink my coffee
I’m late, As usual
Quietly I leave the house
Everything is gray outside,As usual
I’m cold
I raise my neck, As usual

As usual
All day
I’ll pretend play
As usual
I’ll smile
As usual
I’ll even laugh
As usual
Finally I will live
As usual

And then the day will go
I will return, As usual
You will exit
And not back yet, As usual
All alone I will go to bed
In this cold bed, As usual
My tears I hide, As usual

As usual
Even the night
I’ll pretend play
As usual
You come home
As usual
I’ll wait
As usual
You smile at me
As usual

As usual
You undress
As usual
You lie
As usual
They embraced
As usual

Sorta strikes me as a song about someone who’s struggling day to day with finding anything meaningful. I know the feeling.

Bowie chanced upon the song and decided to put some English lyrics to it. His idea basically went nowhere. Then, someone else came up with the same idea. Paul Anka had also heard the song. He was hanging out with Frank Sinatra, and the story is Frank was pondering retiring, but wanted Anka to write a song for him. So, Anka, armed with Claude Francois’ melody, put “Frank” words to the song:

And now the end is near
So I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case of which I’m certain

I’ve lived a life that’s full
I’ve traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exception

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
Oh, and more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you know
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fails, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, no not me
I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself, then he has not
To say the words he truly feels
And not the words he would reveal
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Now, I get it. Frank Sinatra was not a person who ever presented the aura of being blase. He never struck people as struggling for something to be excited about. He was as arrogant and egotistical a personality as you’d find. He was the mob. He was the godfather. He did it his way, you did it his way. The lyrics were perfect for Frank Sinatra. It didn’t hurt that Frank Sinatra could belt it out loud:

Needless to say, Bowie’s version got stomped all over on. It disappeared. However, the whole incident did not. Seeing his idea become someone else’s monster hit didn’t fade for a while. So, when he signed with RCA with his first major recording deal, one of the very first songs he did, armed with Mick Ronson on strings and Rick Wakeman on piano, was a little piece called “Life on Mars”. Now, if you listen closely, it very strongly resembles My Way:

And, of course, there’s the lyrics:

It’s a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling “No”
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she’s hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause she’s lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It’s on America’s tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
‘Cause Lennon’s on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It’s about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

About people who are bored. Blase. Struggling to find something meaningful in life. A lot truer to the original song than My Way.

One final irony. Sinatra’s retirement wasn’t a kept secret. He had talked about it a long time. In 1971, he actually had a retirement performance. The last act to perform before Sinatra took the stage was Barbra Streisand. Sinatra came out of retirement to release “My Way”. At pretty much the same time, Barbra re-did Life on Mars?. Coincidence?

Five Years

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Moonage

The opening song that starts the campy romp that is Ziggy Stardust is a song called Five Years. It tells the tale of people learning they have five years left to die in. Over a period of time, I really felt this song was better suited for Diamond Dogs than Ziggy. Regardless, it’s a great tune and somewhat of a Bowie concert staple. Here’s a fairly hard to find version of Bowie singing it for Dinah Shore in 1975 I think it is.

And the original, along wit the rest of Ziggy:

* To be played at maximum volume.