English rocker
Tony Sheridan, who took the Beatles under his wing in their early Hamburg days, using them as one of his backing bands, acting as their fashion guru (outfitting them in sleek, bad boy black leather) and introducing them to the music of Little Richard,
has died at age 72.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Feb 18, 2013 -
12 comments
Grantland's
Steven Hyden writes the winner's history of rock and roll, in four parts (so far), and charts the death of rock music as a major pop-cultural force in the 21st century by looking at some (not necessarily well-loved) bands that helped to transform it into a Big Business:
Led Zeppelin,
Kiss,
Bon Jovi,
Aerosmith (and coming up in the next installment, Metallica).
Rock isn't dead, by any means. But for better or worse, it ain't what it used to be.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken
on Jan 31, 2013 -
82 comments
Mina Caputo began her career as Keith Caputo, founder of the heavy metal band
Life of Agony. In the early 1990s the band became huge in Europe, and the teenage Caputo found herself trapped in the life of a macho metal superstar when what she really wanted was to be a nice young lady attending Julliard. She performed as Keith for over 20 years, then in 2010
Niko Bikialo's quietly devastating music video for Caputo's song
Got Monsters [brief nudity] put the viewer inside the mind of a
transwoman as she struggles to find her place in the world and make a friend of the stranger she sees in the mirror. A year later, Caputo shocked metal fans when
she officially announced she was transitioning.
[more inside]
posted by Ursula Hitler
on Jan 23, 2013 -
15 comments
The Rolling Stones rock Warhol's East Hampton Pad, Montauk 1975 -
Half way through the tour, Truman Capote met the group in Kansas City. In tow was his new best friend, Lee Radziwill. The mix of rock royalty and Fortunate Four Hundred did not work well. Jagger hated Capote’s mincing manners, and Capote called Mick – "…a scared little boy… about as sexy as a pissing toad." Stones guitarist Keith Richards welcomed the cultured Radziwill by banging on her hotel door that night, screaming "Princess Radish… C'mon you old tart, there’s a party going’ downstairs!"
posted by madamjujujive
on Sep 8, 2012 -
44 comments
While Quebec’s status as the only primarily French-speaking province in Canada has resulted in a distinct cultural industry—particularly with regard to film and music—the province still enjoys many cultural products from English Canada. While movies and TV shows are often subtitled or dubbed into French, it is rare that the same is true of music. A notable exception is the music of Toronto-based
Big Sugar.
[more inside]
posted by asnider
on Aug 30, 2012 -
19 comments
On Halloween night 1992, a skinny, gravel-voiced man in a blue dress and horn-rim glasses took the stage at a tiny Atlanta dive bar/strip club along with his band, The Opal Foxx Quartet (which was not a four-piece; around a dozen people crowded the dark, low-ceilinged space).
This would be their final show, and it's a barn-burner.
[more inside]
posted by BoringPostcards
on Aug 17, 2012 -
20 comments
Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story. While not as famous as Bill Graham's
Fillmore Theaters, from 1966 to 1970, Detroit's
Grande Ballroom hosted national acts such as
Cream, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, and Pink Floyd. The brainchild of
Russ Gibb, with help from activist
John Sinclair, the Grande provided a stage for local bands like
The MC5,
SRC,
The Rationals,
The Amboy Dukes,
The Frost and the
The Stooges. The Grande had it's own psychedelic poster artists
Gary Grimshaw and
Carl Lundgren.
Leni Sinclair took
pictures.
Local boys from the Grande that went on to national prominence included
The Bob Seger System,
Alice Cooper, and
Grand Funk Railroad.
[more inside]
posted by marxchivist
on Jun 20, 2012 -
8 comments
Closed Frontier: Is rock over? "Rock ’n’ roll is to 21st-century America what the Wild West was to 20th-century America: a closed frontier, ripe for mass mythology....Exciting new music still thrives in the subgenres, but modern musicians draw increasing amounts of inspiration from tradition, not originality. The sexagenarian Rolling Stones do serial victory laps around the world, just as an aging Buffalo Bill toured America and Europe in the 1880s and 90s, performing rope and horse tricks alongside Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull."
posted by Sticherbeast
on Apr 3, 2012 -
193 comments
Before
hip-hop beefs, there were response records, also known as
answer songs, usually replies to well-known songs. There are a few key eras: blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s through 1950s, including a number of responses to "
Work With Me, Annie" (1954), recorded by
Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, with answers including "
Annie had a Baby," and "
The Wallflower" by Etta James; and Big Mama Thornton's "
Hound Dog" (1953), with a quick response by
Louis Innis and Charlie Gore, made a mere week after the original was released, and
Rufus Thomas' "
Bear Cat" (1953),
Sun Records' first hit. Country, rock & roll, doo-wop and pop music picked up where the blues left off, with most activity in the 1950s to 60s. Two examples from this era are
"Are You Lonesome To-night" and "Who Put The Bomp," and responses to both. The most well known from the next decade was Lynyrd Skynyrd's "
Sweet Home Alabama" (1974), a response to Neil Young's "
Southern Man" (1970) and "
Alabama" (1972). Until the 2000s, no answer songs had charted as high as the original hits. That changed with
Frankee's "
F.U.R.B. (Fuck You Right Back)" (2004), a response to
Eamon's "
Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" (2003), which was the first answer song to reach number 1 in the UK. Six years later and across the pond, Katy Perry's "
California Gurls" was a response to "
Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z. It was the first answer song to reach No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100. More Responses inside.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Mar 31, 2012 -
53 comments
Do you know
The Treniers? Back in the 40s and 50s, they straddled the lines between jump blues, swing, early rock'n'roll, jazz dance, hep jive and comedy.
They were a whole hella fun, and they happened to be the backing band for what must be the best dance performance
Jerry Lewis ever gave the world. That particular clip, BTW, from a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis "Colgate Comedy Hour" in 1954, is purported to be the first rock'n'roll performance on national television, and it may well have been.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 28, 2012 -
14 comments
60 years ago, two moments in musical history took place in Cleveland, Ohio: The first, being the original Moondog Coronation Ball, hosted by disc jockey Alan "Moondog" Freed; the event was hailed as the first ever rock concert, and continues in spirit with a
commemorative anniversary performance featuring Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees, Sam Moore, and Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
The second event was the subsequent riot which broke loose that evening, when a printing error on the venue's tickets caused twice the audience's standing capacity to be sold. Frustrated and impatient concertgoers surged into the building, which led to cancellation, a formal apology from Freed, and the cementing of the 50's music scene as dangerous and unruly.
posted by Smart Dalek
on Mar 21, 2012 -
5 comments
Well, bust my britches, here it is January 8, Elvis Presley's birthday! Now, a mere 20 days after the young rock crooner had celebrated his 21st, back in 1956, he stepped onto the stage at CBS Studio in New York City and made his
US national television debut, on the Dorsey Brothers show. Seems he was hot property from the get-go, cause he was back on that stage, straightaway, for five more appearances, on February
4th,
11th and
18th, then again on March
17th and
24th. And, yeah, heck, he was pretty good.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 8, 2012 -
42 comments
A lady, back in 1957, addressing the camera in an elegant evening gown, fit for some grand society ball, had this message for the oldsters: "Now, whatever you think of rock and roll, I think you have to keep a nice, open mind about what the young people go for." She then proceeded to announce Buddy Holly and the Crickets, who obligingly performed their hit
Peggy Sue for the ballroom dancers' pleasure and edification. That same Buddy Holly would've been quite the oldster himself, had he lived to see today, his 75th birthday. So, if you have a little time on your hands today, you might like to learn more about Buddy by viewing
The Real Buddy Holly Story 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9 and
10. Cause, hey, Buddy was not only one of the most unique and vital voices of the early days of rock'n'roll, but he wore the same glasses that every other hipster in Berlin is wearing
right now.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 7, 2011 -
60 comments
Sleazefest: The Movie [
rather nsfw] is a documentary of the first Sleazefest, a two day festival of bands, barbecue, b-movies and beer that took place in August of 1994 at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC. The festival was extended to three days and became an annual event for the next
decade.
[more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue
on Sep 1, 2010 -
3 comments
You Can't Catch Me, Music and Lyrics by Chuck Berry.
The Stones covered it. John Lennon was
sued (twice!) for
covering it and
appropriating the lyrics. If Iggy Pop and the Stooges were never sued for doing the same thing as "Come Together" in
1970, perhaps it's because nobody could understand what exactly he was saying,
not even the bands that took their names from the adapted lyrics. Perhaps JJ Cale was thinking of the chorus when he wrote
Call Me The Breeze in 1971. Finally, though Jonothan Richman's "Roadrunner" clearly took inspiration from the
Velvet Underground's Sister Ray and Bo Diddley's "
Road Runner"(
among other things), but,
as a Berry fan, you can hear Richman echoing the lyrics in the Spirit of 1956 going Faster Miles an Hour, with the radio on, tuned to Rock And Roll.
[more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue
on Jun 19, 2010 -
43 comments
Larry Williams is not as famous as many of his contemporaries, but was responsible for a long string of hits beginning with
Short Fat Fannie in 1957. He continued to produce such rock and roll staples as
Slow Down,
Bony Moronie, and
She Said Yeah. His songs are probably better known today through other artists' interpretations of his songs. Williams' songs have been covered by:
The Beatles,
The Rolling Stones,
The Beatles,
The Replacements,
The Beatles,
Johnny Winter,
The Who,
The Plastic Ono Band,
Paul McCartney, and
The Jam.
Also Sha Na Na. And every garage band in the world. [more inside]
posted by marxchivist
on Sep 30, 2009 -
14 comments
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival was held forty years ago today. Performers included: the Doors, Alice Cooper, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The highlight for many was the appearance of John Lennon. Lennon was backed by the Plastic Ono Band, then comprised of Eric Clapton,
Klaus Voorman, and
Alan White (w/occasional vocals by Yoko). "We're just gonna do numbers we know because we've never played together before."
D.A. Pennebaker filmed it . YouTube videos of Lennon's set:
Blue Suede Shoes,
Money,
Dizzy Miss Lizzy,
Yer Blues,
Cold Turkey, and
Give Peace a Chance.
[more inside]
posted by marxchivist
on Sep 13, 2009 -
11 comments
