Hindsight

As with every visit to You Tube, I went on the site in search of one thing that led me to another and another and so on. That's the circumstance of this find. It's from 120 Minutes in 1994 with guest host Thurston Moore, already an elder statesman of alternative music at the time, interviewing Beck and Mike Diamond.

Beck's noncompliance is astounding, and Mike D doesn't do much to bring maturity to the fold. It's no wonder that generation was labeled "Gen-X"; they played themselves off at slackers... deliberately, apparently. Beck was 23! TWENTY THREE!!! I'm sure both of these artist cringe when (or if) they see this interview. They obviously both went on to be respectable performers in their own right.

My thought is this: what if musicians chose to carry themselves this way in this generation, and during a US military conflict? How ridiculous would someone look if they acted this way on television today? I'm looking at you, Jonas Brothers.

One Album Wonderfuls

I was sad to hear that Georgie James, a DC-based pop duo, has decided to disband. I felt they were a rather underrated group that seemed to get overlooked in the plethora of "indie" bands whose music is floating in cyberspace. They were able to release one album on Saddle Creek Records that I hope everyone gets a chance to hear.

I thought I'd take the opportunity to list some other significant bands that for any number of reasons left behind only one album before calling it quits.


The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers 1976
   Jonathan Richman's group practically paved the way for art punk bands, probably proven when the band's keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison went to join The Talking Heads. "Roadrunner" and "Pablo Picasso" are just plain fun rock songs, free of pretensions.


Derek & The Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs 1970
   Of course we all know that Clapton is God. But Duane Allman was Jesus, in the sense that he died young and left behind such a relatively small catalog. This recording was a rare case of the stars aligning and two colossal blues proteges working together in the studio. Having Tom Dowd producing didn't hurt much either. Allman died in '71, Clapton kicked heroin, and the rest is history.


Minor Threat, Out of Step 1984

Operation Ivy, Energy 1990
   I'll be the first to admit that I never listened to either of these bands as much as others have, two reasons being I was too young and I lived in small town in a time the pre-dated the internet. But that didn't keep me from understanding the importance of both of these bands and their effects on what became two popular genres in the '90s: grunge and ska-punk. Operation Ivy probably compared notes with their Bay Area neighbors, Green Day, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a modern band that features a distorted guitar that DOESN'T call Ian MacKaye influential. Neither of these bands disappeared from the radar; Operation Ivy practically became Rancid and Ian MacKaye formed Fugazi and still plays all-ages shows with his latest duo The Evens.


The Postal Service, Give Up 2003
   Although technically a side project, The Postal Service's lone album was so popular it could have easily put Death Cab for Cutie out of commission for good. In its initial release, Give Up was only mildly received but its songs were ubiquitous in the next few years, thanks to Zach Braff and every product known to mankind. Rumors abound as to whether we will actually hear a follow-up to this classic, but seeing is believing. But honestly, this album alone could secure the group's legacy.

Of course there are many others not named. Feel free to append.

Word is bond!

Like most major industries, I know little about hip-hop as a business. But, at least to me, it's blatantly obvious that industry suits exploit entertainers every single day for the benefit of money. This New York Times article about a raid supposedly over the illegal proceedings by the Atlanta mix-tape crew, the Aphilliates, makes for an interesting situation involving the relatively useless RIAA.

Reunited Against the Machine

The LA Times reported today that Rage Against The Machine will reunite for a one-time show at this year's Coachella Festival in Southern California.

This news is only marginally exciting for many reasons, one being that the rap-rock movement is completely stale and out-dated. However, I will be the first to admit that if any band from that era made any sense it would be Rage. There is hear-say as to why the band split in the first place, probably the most believable being that MC Zach de la Rocha felt the band wasn't making the political impact he set out to make in the first place, and capitalize too much on an image that someone else was selling.

I'm curious myself as to why this is even happening, but it's great to know that with our country in such a state of limbo that popular musicians (other than Toby Keith) are making statements to their fans and the general public.

Miles Ahead

God bless the YouTube revolution.

Not too long ago, my professor, Mike Formanek, a great jazz musician and all-around nice guy, spoke eloquently about the impact of YouTube with music history. Many clips have already been posted of rare footage (albeit sometimes grainy and noisy) of music performances, interviews, etc. ; material that over the years has been passed hand-to-hand or shared with one another through whatever means possible.

But as most issues with copyrighted material often turn out, these commodities can only last so long before they must be removed for "legal purposes." I've already seen this happen as one of the most notorious clips in jazz history has been posted and subsequently removed from the video-sharing site for such reasons: Paul Gonsalves "sleeping" on the Duke Ellington's bandstand at Newport, just feet away from the pounding drum kit.

So I'm sharing with you (while I can) this clip of the Miles Davis Quintet performing "So What" on CBS in 1959, near the time of the release of "Kind of Blue," which is appropriately the best-selling jazz album of all time and one that any music-lover should own. This quintet features Davis and John Coltrane playing at peak form, and also includes drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and pianist Wynton Kelly.



Sometimes, my generation can really take for granted the technology that is available to us, and can't truly appreciate the simplicity of typing a few words into a search engine, which returns gems such as this.