Comments on: The Low Profile of R. Stevie Moore

The Low Profile of R. Stevie Moore

not_on_display — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:10:04 -0800

R. Stevie Moore likes to stay home and play himself some music. Having done so for over 42 years--that's over 2000 songs and 400 albums--he has become the undisputed grandfather of do-it-yourself psychedelic pop and punk. Tagged for decades as underground, an outsider and criminally ignored local genius, R. Stevie is now exploiting and exploding that myth, no short thanks to the internets. Here's where he has scattered his recordings; here are two places where he keeps his home-made videos. WFMU archives his pioneering appearances on their great radio station from 1978-1998. Finally, here are two complete albums' worth of his Greatest "Hits": Hobbies Galore (1973-2005) and Tra La La Phooey (1959-2003). Long Live R. Stevie!

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:20:01 -0800

This post may take a while to get comments because so much awesome must be unpacked.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:23:49 -0800

What about the internet: Your personal site is growing so fast it seems that it'll soon choke the entire net .... how did you do it? Got any help? I do it all using WebTV

By: jbickers

jbickers — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:24:13 -0800

I pride myself on being kind of a music nerd, and this guy is news to me. Awesome post.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:34:18 -0800

become the undisputed grandfather of do-it-yourself psychedelic pop and punk Then I'll dispute him, somewhat. I mean, to me, Hasil Adkins is my go to guy when it comes to the grandfather of DIY punk. When it comes to DIY psychedelic pop, I think The Fugs are better grandfathers. Personally I think R. Stevie Moore has made some mighty fine music, but he's not the pioneer he and his fans make him out to be.

By: mrcircles

mrcircles — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:05:18 -0800

R. Stevie Moore - Interview/Going Down The Way (1984)

By: Lipstick Thespian

Lipstick Thespian — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:14:24 -0800

I've never heard of this guy, but I loves him! Great post. It all sounds like Bon Iver got up to that cabin of his and inadvertently dropped some strange acid. Yay for us!

By: Joey Bagels

Joey Bagels — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:42:35 -0800

R. Stevie Moore is live on WFMU right now.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:46:22 -0800

soundofsuburbia: Then I'll dispute him, somewhat. I mean, to me, Hasil Adkins is my go to guy when it comes to the grandfather of DIY punk. When it comes to DIY psychedelic pop, I think The Fugs are better grandfathers. Personally I think R. Stevie Moore has made some mighty fine music, but he's not the pioneer he and his fans make him out to be. I will defend: Thanks for introducing me to Hasil Adkins; after viewing a few youtubes of him, he strikes me more as a lone performer or troubadour (?) than a DIY kind of person. Although I'm admittedly not up on the strict sense of what DIY is, it feels to me like an enthusiastic hobbyist making his own stuff in his basement. Hasil strikes me more like a very awesome porch-and-a-bottle-of-whisky kinda guy. "Punk" only in the sense that he seems to be a rebellious type. He seems much more Rockabilly to me. As for the Fugs, (god love'em I like boobsalot) they had a lot of support from an artistically-minded community, and they were a band. RSM lives in New Jersey--I presume by himself. Both of your selections are decidedly against the grain, and went way outside the normal means of distribution, but that doesn't equate to DIY in my mind. Thanks for uncovering Hasil for me, though; I'll look into him more!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:47:56 -0800

Joey Bagels: R. Stevie Moore is live on WFMU right now. Holy crap!! Thanks, Joey Bagels!!

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:15:48 -0800

Thank you, n_o_d! Great!

By: NiteMayr

NiteMayr — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:27:03 -0800

I'm sure this guy is an interesting character, but I'll keep my eccentric pop lauds for Hayden and Spooky Reuben All that said, R. Stevie Moore certainly sounds like a talented musician, I can only deal with so much awesome, and RSM appears to fall outside of my usually broad tolerances. Cheers to the DIY superstar either way.

By: joe defroster

joe defroster — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:42:57 -0800

Well, i guess he's less annoying than Daniel Johnston...

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:56:53 -0800

Now, n_o_d, your post is a plethora, nay, a cornucopia of links. BUT... like I'm always a'tellin' you youngsters, DON'T FORGET THE MYSPACE MUSIC PAGE! Sure, MySpace is "uncool" and all, but there's music to be heard on those pages! And R. Stevie has one. Er, that is... he has a few.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:57:52 -0800

Looks like my kind of post, thanks!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:07:17 -0800

flapjax at midnite: Sure, MySpace is "uncool" and all, but there's music to be heard on those pages! ~~There sure is!~~ WHOOPS, I mean, There sure is!

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:24:50 -0800

Haha! Thanks for the nod, n_o_d!

By: Faze

Faze — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:13:33 -0800

I have to admit, R. Stevie Moore has some great, great songs. He's a far better songwriter than, say, Stephen Merrit. But to hell with this DYI stuff. Moore's songs would sound a thousand times better with really slick, commercial production.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:26:44 -0800

I would beg to differ, Faze. I think the lack of slick production and the sound that comes through (knowing it was probably recorded with little money needed) give his songs a more personal quality, affecting me for many of the same reasons that I like MeFiMusic -- it's like there's a person, just like anyone you could know, communicating directly and intimately to me, and not a slick production team trying to hit a wider audience or trying to be all flashy or decidedly hip. Guided By Voices and Sebadoh are two examples of bands that I liked less once they started getting more produced. Production did, though, bring out new, wonderful sides of the Flaming Lips and Ween, admittedly... But no, I think RSM has plenty of nerdy slickness as is without sparing any of the personality.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:28:31 -0800

Guided By Voices and Sebadoh are two examples of bands that I liked less once they started getting more produced. Never listened to Sebadoh, so I can't say anything about that, but I definitely agree with you on GBV, n_o_d. I haven't heard anything from GBV or Pollard that moves me anywhere near as much as Bee Thousand, which was about as lo-fi and homemade as it gets.

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:38:26 -0800

I was just thinking about (the increasing crappiness of) Sebadoh yesterday. It was less the big studio sound IMHO than the departure of Eric Gaffney, but YMMV.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:11:32 -0800

I remember seeing his small display ads in the classifieds section of Trouser Press month after month back in the early 80's. I never mailed away for any of his cassettes, but I'm glad he persisted and has made a name for himself.

By: terrapin

terrapin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:14:49 -0800

Awesome post, not_on_display!

By: matthewstopheles

matthewstopheles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:07:05 -0800

Soooooo . . . I might as well say that I'm the guy that made the movie in the very first link. For a few months I was working on producing an R. Stevie documentary. The project never came together for a variety of reasons -- none of them having to do with R. Stevie, who was always wonderful, talkative, open and dedicated to the film. That little short is all that I managed to produce. I'm mentioning this because I've got hours and hours of talking head interview and performance footage I shot of him and if anyone's interested in picking up the project, they're more than welcome to it -- if R. Stevie approved. Hit me up on MeFi mail if you're interested . . .

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:11:50 -0800

Thanks for making that, matthewstopheles, and for popping into the thread! Being a DIY-type musician myself, and always looking up to R. Stevie's work, that footage really brought into focus more dimensions of the person whom I'd only known through his music (which can often feel very intimate). Good luck with your future projects!

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:59:17 -0800

I hadn't heard of him. Thank you for this post. (I haven't carefully thought about the advantages and disadvantages of DIY and commercial production, but I do think that "I Like To Stay Home" would have been seriously improved had the guitar he used in the TV studio been a Gibson....)

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:01:54 -0800

K2E, you are awesome. You can find a photo on flickr for just about anything.