Jun 28, 2022
Jun 27, 2022
Jun 26, 2022
Jun 25, 2022
Saturday Night Music / The Pretenders / "Message of Love" (Austin City Limits)
Inspired by FX's Pistol, we give you Chrissie (the biggest talent to emerge from that limited series) and the boys in Austin.
"Love walks in the room; everybody stand up."
~Kevin Broughton
Jun 24, 2022
YouTube Gems / Elizabeth Cook / "Sometimes It Takes Balls to Be a Woman"
The out of print album Balls has been reissued and is out today.
No Future: A non-punker’s review of Pistol on FX*
Spoilers ahead, okay?
London, 1975. That’s where and when the punk rock movement really got its groove on, at least in the minds of the suits at FX. (*asterisk: It’s an FX production, but available only on HULU… which is a bit of a rip-off in principle, since I had to re-up my Hulu subscription to watch this pretty good docudrama.) It’s a decent, if (probably) apocryphal account of the shooting-star history of the Sex Pistols, whom many people with shitty taste consider an “important” band.
Let’s do a couple of disclosures: 1. I’m not a punk rock guy. It took very little talent – indeed, less than marginal talent – to have a “good” punk band, especially 45 years ago. That was my impression going into this limited series, and it was only confirmed therein. The band – and their fans – acknowledged that they sucked as musicians. 2. I only care about punk rock to the degree it influenced 30 years’ worth of alt country bands. Johnny Ramone knew about five chords, which is two more than Sex Pistols “guitarist” Steve Jones ever knew. And nobody in the Ramones, or Sex Pistols – or even the Clash, which had actual talent – was as good a musician as anyone in Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, Lucero, or Blue Mountain.
The general story of Pistol is based on Jones’s memoir, which kinda makes everything suspect; he’s portrayed as illiterate in the series. So, his memoir is probably more of an oral history. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, otherwise.
Jones can’t read, but he can steal. And in trying to boost some exotic clothes from an exotic store, he runs afoul of an ex-pat American chick. Her name’s Chrissie*, and she’s from Ohio. (She’ll go *back* there one day and be *amazed* that the *farms* have *been replaced by shopping malls*.) Y’all can figure this spoiler out, right?
The store’s owner is a bon vivant named Malcom McLaren. He’s a faux-Marxist revolutionary – he doesn’t mind turning a profit on pervy clothing – who wants a band to spread his hypocritical version of chaos.
And he doesn’t give a shit that Jones can’t sing – that was Steve’s original vision: being the next David Bowie (LOL.) He gives him a nice, white Les Paul that allegedly belonged to a member of the New York Dolls, while simultaneously recruiting a similarly untalented freak as a “vocalist,” Johnny Rotten.
Objective viewers might be shocked that everybody, throughout this story, acknowledges that the band has very little talent. Seriously, the consensus is that they suck ass. There’s a strong suggestion that McLaren just wanted to orchestrate something in keeping with his Marxist/anarchist ideal…then pulled the plug when they became too “rock ‘n’ roll.” The best musician, bassist [his name doesn’t matter, does it?] was run off at Rotten’s and McLaren’s insistence and replaced by Sid Vicious who (wait for it) didn’t know how to play the bass.
Predictable results ensued. [OH, WAIT, Y’ALL, BIG SPOILERS AHEAD.]
A few months later, Sid said goodbye to his handpicked version of Yoko Ono by stabbing her in the guts multiple times until she bled out, then O.D.’d when out on bail. And there went the Sex Pistols. What a cool “punk rock” ending, huh?
Here’s the thing:
They were a shit band who couldn’t play worth a damn. They lasted all of two years and change. And yet, they’re some kind of iconic “band?” Whatever.
Truth: Rotten wrote a couple of decent songs. But they were essentially an overrated joke. They made one album. Best part of the series: Seeing a hot version of Chrissie *Hynde in some decent sex scenes. And, in truth, it’s a decent portrayal of a short period in rock ‘n’ roll history.
It was interesting to me in the same way a book on the “Know Nothing” Party of the 1840’s U.S. is to me: Mildly compelling in that particular moment, with several instances of “Dang, I didn’t realize that.” But, far less relevant than conventional wisdom, in terms of the history of rock music.
It really is worth the watch, if you have the time.
But the Sex Pistols were and are a shit band.
Good talk.
Jun 23, 2022
Just Hatin' on Aldean
(Note: this post has 0% to do with politics despite the obvious leanings of those mentioned - stupid comments will be deleted)
Album Review / The Damn Quails / Clouding Up Your City
By Megan Bledsoe
Almost exactly six years after The Damn Quails announced their indefinite hiatus in June 2016, leaving a hole in the Texas/Red Dirt scene and breaking the hearts of countless fans, they are once again making music. Their triumphant return comes in the form of the new album Clouding up Your City, originally marketed to be a Bryon White solo project but now proudly carrying the name of the Oklahoma-based band. With stories of heartbreak and life on the road and the overarching narrative of White’s own struggles with addiction, which culminated in a stint in rehab during the group’s hiatus, the new record is a welcome return to form for the band and a great showcase of the unique flavor that The Damn Quails bring to the Red Dirt scene.
The themes of battling demons and working to overcome addiction are certainly central to this record. White remarks on “Harm’s Way” that indeed, he might always stay in such a predicament. He laments the fact that the liquor is always on the “highest shelf” on the track of the same name, and almost ruefully reflects that he will continue to imbibe despite the bitter taste and negative consequences. This kind of wry self-deprecation is evident in the title track as well, as White sings about “clouding up your city with our sin.” He comments bitterly and sarcastically on “Everything is Fine” about the perplexing human tendency to echo this platitude when, in reality, our lives are crumbling around us. Perhaps all these sentiments are most succinctly summed up on “Mile by Mile,” wherein White announces, “I hung up my demons, they’re dry on the line, I just never could quite throw them out.” He seems to be accepting the fact that, although he may have overcome his struggles, addiction will always be a part of what has shaped his story and these songs.
Perhaps this is why, on a record so brooding in its thoughts, the production of John Calvin Abney is the album’s true ace in the hole. Abney’s production and the live feel of the project come together to add a warm, welcoming quality to these tracks that belies the often darker tone of the lyrics. White states, of the Quails, “We might be the least country band to ever break out in Texas,” and, while that point can certainly be argued, the truth is that this record does not really align itself with any genre. On the more upbeat selections, like “Someone Else’s city,” one might be tempted to classify this album as heartland rock or Americana. The country influence is certainly there in places also, such as in the hauntingly beautiful harmonica that explodes into prominence in the middle of “Highest Shelf.” The piano playing of Abney delivers a classical elegance to tracks like “”Harm’s Way” and “Mile by Mile.” And then there’s the unique vocal phrasing of Bryon White himself, which adds a definite, and incredibly charming, Celtic flavor to the whole thing. Clouding up Your City is, most accurately, a Damn Quails record, for no other band, in Texas or otherwise, possesses a sound quite like this, and John Calvin Abney was the perfect choice for a producer to bring out and accentuate these strengths.
Clouding up Your City is an album of triumph, both in the overcoming of the struggles of life and in the return of a band plagued by all manner of hardships. There is something intangible and infectious in these songs and in this narrative as a whole that renders the record both captivating and accessible. But more than that, this album is an excellent case for why The Damn Quails are special, and why the Red dirt scene certainly feels more complete now that they have returned to it.
The Empire Strikes Back Country Reaction Gifs
The day I turned on country radio and they were playing a song about shaking ass for the catfish
Say Walker Hayes is country or fall into the abyss
When an Upchurch fan asks you out
Waiting on country radio to play a Waylon song
Dustin Lynch: "party mode party mode party mode"
Me:
Be careful when you catch yourself tapping your foot to a FGL song
Aldean sings a high note
Jun 22, 2022
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