Albums I've Been Listening To:
-ZZ Top - Tres Amigos ('73) and Mescalero (2003)
-Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick ('77), In Color ('77), Heaven Tonight ('78), and Dream Police ('79)
-The Cars - The Cars ('78) and Candy O ('79)
-Otis Redding - His entire discography
-Voice of the Beehive - Let it Bee ('88)
-N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds (2008)
Shit I've Downloaded But Haven't Gotten Around To Yet:
-My Bloody Valentine - Loveless ('91)
-Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers guitarist) - The History of Dogs ('91)
-Radiohead - In Rainbows (2008)
Books I've Recently Read:
-I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski - Green, Peskoe, Russell, and Shuffitt (HIGHLY recommended for the serious Achiever. Stop reading this and go to the bookstore, now.)
-Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
-Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction - Brendan Mullen
-Slash - Slash & Anthony Bozza
Books I'm In The Middle Of:
-Under the Black Flag - David Cordingly (An as-factual-as-you-can-get account of pirate life...pretty fucking dry reading, though)
-Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman
-Mein Kampf - The Asshole with the Little Mustache (Now THIS is really fucking dry)
Books On Deck:
Does Anything Eat Wasps? - New Scientist
Killing Yourself to Live - Chuck Klosterman
Waiter Rant - by "The Waiter"
The Book of the Damned - The Collected Works of Charles Fort
The Rum Diary (again) - Hunter S. Thompson
A few things I noticed after typing this: I really like making lists, I read a lot of contemporary fluff and spend too much time on the "terlet", I rarely listen to anything remotely "metal", and the ratio of old albums to new albums is shockingly off balance.
This last one begs the question, and I want you to really think about this: When was the last time you put in a brand new heavy metal record, or, shit, any newer record for that matter, and went, "HOLY JESUS! I have NEVER heard anything quite like this before! This is fucking life changing! This will become an aural time stamp for this period of my life! Where have I been, and why was I not told about this?!?!?"
To which I answer, "You probably haven't for a long, long time...if ever."
And if you haven't? Well, I actually envy you. Nothing sucks more than realizing you haven't arguably felt like that since you heard "The Land of Rape and Honey" in 1988. "Arguably" being a key qualifier. I mean, sure it's happened with lesser impact before. Faith No More's "Angel Dust" in 1992. My introduction to The Jesus Lizard in 1995. Techno Animal's "Brotherhood of the Bomb" in the late 90's . And more recently, Jesu's "Conqueror", Shellac in general (yeah, I know...late to the game), and TV on the Radio's "Staring at the Sun" EP.
But I miss those life changing, musical "HOLY JESUS!" moments. When I bought The Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Uplift Mofo Party Plan" and Jane's Addiction's "Nothing's Shocking" cassettes on the same day in 1988, and sat in my El Camino listening with my fucking jaw on the floorboard. When I heard Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions..." for the first time, and hated it, but was craving it a week later. Hearing Skinny Puppy's "Rabies" and Revolting Cock's "You Goddamn Son of a Bitch" way back when...NIN's "Pretty Hate Machine" the week it came out. I suppose that the music I was exposed to between the years 1987-1992 left quite an impression on me, which would make sense, since I've heard that a person generally sticks to the music they listened to between the ages of 18 and 25. And if that is indeed the case, I feel sorry for anybody born after 1990. What kind of fucking legacy have you been left?!? The shambling, jangling crap on the cover of Spin? 50 Cent? Puff Daddy? The 367 modern rock radio bands that all SOUND LIKE THE SAME BAND? Blink 182? Panic at the Disco? The Black Kids? Fucking...Tokio Hotel?!?
Jesus. I'm that guy.
12 comments:
I can genuinely say that I have felt like "that" guy for quite a while.
Next thing you know, you're going to be yelling at the kids to "Stay off mah lawn!"
I'd have to say, Ministry's "The Land Of Rape And Honey" as well as "Rabies" by Skinny Puppy are brilliant albums. I totally understand what you mean, this is exactly why I can't stand being a part of my crappy Generation.
The last time I've had one of those "HOLY JESUS!" moments was probably when I first heard Skinny Puppy, it was when I started high school, I ended up downloading their song "Hospital Waste" from the album "VIVIsectVI" (which is also quite brilliant, Skinny Puppy is a band that releases albums that never get old for me.), I thought it was so strange, but I became ADDICTED to listening to that same song, over and over.
Nothing now days had really pushed the envelope for me, everything sounds so watered down and the same, and if I do in fact listen to a new record, it's from a band like Skinny Puppy (I found "Mythmaker" to be an instant classic). First time I heard "The War Of Art" though, which was probably a short time before, it tripped me out, that was probably another "HOLY JESUS" moment. That's the beauty about being born in 1989, you have to deal with stupid ass emo music and fake rap music. I mean, Soulja Boy? Fucking Underoath? Come on! Where's my generation's NWA? Where's my generation's Faith No More? "The kids" will eat up just about anything.
Have you tried listening to Folk Metal lately? Probably not life changing like some of the albums you listed but it is definitely a different change of pace compared to that everything sounds the same, slit your wrist, emo crap they play on the radio. To me its the only genre that has had some sort of creativity in a while. Something metal has been lacking as of late. Some bands i enjoy and would recommend to anyone in this genre are Turisas, Finntroll Eluveitie and Korpiklaani. (Damn Europeans! But what do you do? They make great music.) Again just my opinion, but metal that can incorporate instruments such as bagpipes, accordions, flutes, hurdy gurdys and violins, and can do it well, are like a breath of fresh air to the metal scene. Give em a shot... they may surprise you and if you don't like them, well, feel free to bitch at me about it.
I actually remember the last time I heard new music and said, "OH. MY. GOD."
Dallas, TX
Trees
March 2005
Your band
Love the blog. Thanks for sharing.
"Does Anything Eat Wasps?" is an extremely entertaining book. Sure it's much like any other random factoid/'questions you never thought you didn't know the answer to' book out there, but I got a kick out of it.
Not a page turner... more like a page jumper; better for the trivial fancy than expansion of intellect.
Yes, there has been much wringing of the hands on the fact that the next generation will be raised on complete crap when it comes to music. I believe it will lead to unimaginative people.
How knows though perhaps this trend is cyclic? Think of all those great albums you mentioned and and ask yourself "What was the music that preceded it?" Hair metal and synth-pop rock. So perhaps it is just a matter of patience in waiting for the next era of great bands to come and stomp the current top 40 garbage into the ground.
I do still find little islands of good music (good, IMO) amidst the drivel. There is some really creative stuff out there and it is easier to find than ever thanks to the internet but it is also harder to be heard over the torrent of content clamoring it's way into the people's attention.
I really tried to read Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs. I found it a very dry read. I did however love Fargo Rock City. But I think I only really liked it because he wrote what it was like to live in rural North Dakota. I would not recommend you to ever visit Wyndmere, ND. There's not much there.
I'm currently reading a book called Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max. I'd say if you're enjoying Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, you may enjoy this as well. It's written similarly, but by a guy who is a WAY bigger douche-bag. It has been saving me from customer service hell day in and day out, and I recommend it.
Palahniuk is one of my favorites. I suggest Tom Robbins for future reading. "Another Roadside Attraction" if you haven't already gotten around to it. I'm in the middle of "Jitterbug Perfume" myself.
Oddly enough, or perhaps not, as I was reading the paragraph about listening to an entire album and being somewhat affected by it, the only thing in my mind was "Nothing's Shocking". The difference being, I was in an 86 Dodge Charger. I remember that I didn't go to class because I had to listen to the whole cassette. I'm not sure if that will ever happen again, although I came across an old Dead Boys album the other day and really had no problem listening the entire thing.
A lot of us are "that guy" dude, I think it's only natural. I love rock and metal, I play in a metal band, but last weekend, Preservation Hall Jazz Band- BLEW MY FUCKIN MIND!
You get older and I think especially musicians do this, you appreciate everyone who loves to play and play for right reasons.
Plus theres nothing like the humbling you get from a 4ft. 11in. 67 year old jazz drummer that wipes the floor with anyone you've ever seen while moving his upper arms 5 times in and hour set!
check it out, quite the performers and damn humbling!
rock on banks
Trent Reznor gave an interview recently about how when he was growing up, buying a record was a big deal. You waited til pay day, went to the record store and made sure you weren't wasting your money on whatever you brought home. And even if you didn't really like the record, you still had to earn it, and you'd take the time to really listen to it and find something to appreciate.. Since i read that, i got a record player and buy all my music now.. But how many people can you think of that have that kind of patience for free/stolen mp3s? Especially when they think they know everything about music because they check myspace, facebook, youtube and wikipedia all day. Of course, most music is made for them anyway; mindless, hollow, verse-chorus pop songs. But that's just the mainstream.. It gets easy to overlook the real artists underneath that.. Some of the most mindblowing stuff i've heard is:
Trepanation; In 8th grade (1999), I never went anywhere without my shitty discman and that cd.
The Fragile; took a while to appreciate, but god damn..
Lateralus; obviously a great album but once i got into alchemy, esoteric, occult, Alan Watts, Alex Grey, etc.. holy shit..
Aenima; continues to reveal layers of depth and subtext, no matter how much 93x overplayed Tool for me growing up (when i still listened to radio).
Merzbow - Antimonument; makes the heaviest shit you've ever heard sound like easy listening.
Big Black - Songs About Fucking, NIN - Broken The heaviest shit i've ever heard.
The Breeders - Pod; This should be the bare minimum standard for pop music.
Nirvana - In Utero; The most perfect balance of pop music and noise rock Steve Albini ever recorded.
Charles Manson - The Way of the Wolf; Probaby the realest thing i've ever heard.
As far as new stuff.. i'm not sure about these ones yet, I think the best albums take a few years to fully appreciate.
Portishead - Third; So overhyped, but it shattered all my expectations..
Tv on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain; Wow..
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals; See these guys live.. Totally unique..
Zoe Keating; A really simple concept done really fucking well. Find her on youtube.
I could go on, but you probably lost interest already. Here's a few books i'd highly recommend:
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
The Mission of Art by Alex Grey
Haunted and Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
the Aegypt series by John Crowley
Buddhism by Steve Hagan
Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quigley
13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks
etc..
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