2015 - How Shit?

I've gotta say 2015 has got to be the worst music year since fuck before the 2nd World War, I reckon. I'm stuck in 90s musical zones (see above) myself and don't particularly care that my listening isn't drifting back to the now. In fact I want to stay right in those places when and where the possibilities seemed endless. Me and the Mrs discussed a furniture shop closing down near our house the other day and ended up in the terrain of "Is that it then? Music's finite so i guess furniture is too." I was saying how these retro interior design shops had become so uninspired and formulaic, why would anyone want to spend money on this new old shit when there's plenty of old shit anyway?. The retro eclecticism, of the products in these shops, is disappearing up it's own arse at an accelerating rate. Is it that no one is game enough to say right here's a new style? So we just continue down these tasteful but conservative aesthetic avenues? Nobody's killing their idols. There's way too much reverence. We lived through a modernist time but that has gone. Where are the generation gaps? The kids don't even want one. Teenagers don't seem to exist anymore, kids don't leave home until they're over 25 now. You used to leave home and disassociate yourself from your family and become a whole new you, severed from the past. Emma went to the Bowie exhibition in Melbourne last weekend and said there were kids sans parents there. I thought what the fuck? These youngsters are going back 40 years. In 1985 diggin the 60s seemed old but it had only ended 15 years prior. When I was 17 (by then we had Public Enemy, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jnr., Acid House, Hip-Hop etc.) I wouldn't have been caught dead being interested in a culture that was 40+ years old. Strange days indeed.

*This is raw thought data that's still being processed in my mind.

**A retro curio in itself. First issued in 1971 (maybe the year I was born) on his Hunky Dory LP then was later released as a single in 1973 when Bowie had reached stardom. It became a massive hit in the UK.

Music About Music

I guess this is a bit like an Aussie Rock'n'Roll (The Velvets tune) done in an old wave pretending to be new wave style that reminds me of one of those New York cats who was a solo old wave into new wave type dude. Too tired to check the net and figure out who I mean. As I think I've said before New Wave was such good music to have as a preteen. I still love it and the more nooo the better.

Was this nooo wave hard rock for the FM airwaves? Or was it just a pumped up/revamped of version of Glam? Whatever, it was bloody great pop music for the child I was at the time!

Now we're going meta meta. Don't you fucking hate the word meta and its overuse by fucking try hard turds who think life is a bloody University essay? (er...did i just describe myself?) This music here is about other music and I don't mean the words. I mean the sounds (the music & melody) are about the music David Roback and Kendra Smith love ie. The Doors, Glam etc. 

Never seen this video before but by the looks Kendra must have already left the band and that is a young Hope Sandoval at the intro (with Dave) who must have already replaced Smith prior to the name change to Mazzy Star.

I think I mentioned recently that this LP is one of the greatest examples of good record collection rock. Garage Rock, Blues, Psychedelia, Folk, Glam, T-Rex, The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Doors, Jefferson Airplaine are all chucked in to make Happy Nightmare, Baby one of the best LPs of the 80s. One of the few arguments for Retromania (along with Urge Overkill's Saturation, Hoodoo Gurus Stoneage Romeos) because it's one of the best LPs of all time. The glittery laconic tripped out vibe here is extraordinarily sparkling on this record and is pretty much unmatched by anyone including their predecessors or peers, making this rare and a unique case of a band bettering or at least equalling their influences. Bands used to add to and often surpass their influences (cf. Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Church, My Bloody Valentine, Seefeel) thus making them palatable and pretty awesome not mere copyists with the occasional listenable tune (cf. White Stripes, Tame Impala et al.). REM might have been influenced by The Byrds but fuck they didn't really sound like them, did they?

I must be wishing I was stoned, drunk on tequila and relaxing in the hot sun with this LP booming from the Hi-Fi out into someone's backyard. I'd love to be kicking back on a banana lounge, being wasted in the warm early afternoon sun without a care in the world instead of being stressed out, not wanting to go to work tomorrow, freezing my bollocks off as my dog eats my wallet (funnily enough he left the pet insurance card intact and in pristine condition) while barking his head off and that's not the half of it. 

This whole post was meant to be some kind of response to Blissblog's music about music but I got sidetracked and my puppy has driven me mental. I just want to keep listening to Opal but it's too late to get faded er...and I don't do that anymore. It's Sunday night and nearly time for bed. I wish I was 22 again and didn't give a fuck about anything!

Mott The Hoople - Groups I Never Understood Part 1

I can just see the attraction to this one as it's a classic Bowie penned tune. Bowie apparently loved Mott The Hoople so he gave them this gift of a song so they didn't break up. Did he realise it was one his greatest tunes? He must have been a really nice bloke. The following Mott tunes though I just didn't get and a few years ago I really gave them a good go to try and see what all the fuss was about. Don't get me wrong I love me Glam in particular Bowie, T-Rex, Suzi Quatro, Sweet and Gary Glitter. 

Perhaps doing this post is giving me a very late understanding of Mott The Hoople who I always saw as a 2nd rate tired Bowie, like his older brothers riding his coat tails or something like that. People love em though! This above tune is now growing on me.

Still dunno about this one? Then again if you listen back to those early 70s Bowie LPs there is a fair amount of a Rolling Stones influence on those. It's not that so much as the little bit of musical theatre in this one and hey I didn't like it when Bowie played this card either. I dunno Mott The Hoople just didn't have that instant Wham Bam! impact of an early Suzi, Gary Glitter or Sweet tune or the that insidiously glamorous androgyny of Marc Bolan. 

How about that for an outfit! They don't wear em like that anymore. I guess this tune kick-started it all.

More classic outfits and tunes. A really excellent short and snappy history of UK Glam resides here. Where they called this one The Glam Theme Song. I'm not gonna disagree with that.

A late bewdy for The Sweet just before glam's demise but then came the beginning of pub and punk rock in the UK.

Honorary Australian citizen Suzi Quatro. A Chinnichap classic! I did a bit on her here a while back. 

One of the few tunes by Skyhooks I actually liked. Kinda late 'got it wrong glam' but in a very good way. Sonic Youth's Dirty Boots always reminded me of this, probably just me. Of course not the only Aussie connection to Glam, Mike Chapman of Chinnichap fame was from Queensland and co-wrote and produced half of Glam's greatest hits along with his UK partner in crime Nicky Chinn. Chapman was also responsible for er... Smokie, Racey and Toni Basil. Don't hold that against him though he also used his powers for good ie. Suzi Quatro, Sweet and Mud. Actually come to think of it Mud were a band I never quite understood either until recently. Mud do have that instant Wham Bam! Glam Thrill.

No it's definitely there. Sort of half of the riff is very Horror Movie. Anyone agree?

It's Glam Party Time II....With Suzi Quatro

To be quite honest I don't recall this one from childhood. Maybe it wasn't a hit in Australia however I was only a toddler at the time. Actually it got to no. 4 here but the other 3 here were number ones. I think she was bigger in Australia than anywhere else, having hits long after this little run of gold.

To me these are the 4 classics that were released in succession. The next couple I didn't like so much (but others rate them). That's 4 classics though. The Buggles only managed one.