A few years ago after, the night after the Grammys or some such awards show, my Mom came over for dinner and struck up a conversation about U2, who had been a featured performer. “What do you think of that band?” she asked me, “Aren’t they really popular?”
My Mom is pretty hip and never hesitant to form and share an opinion. I told her what I thought of them, which wouldn’t surprise you, then she gave me her analysis.
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In preparation for the April 7 reissue of the remastered Dukes of Stratosphear records, Andy Partridge is retroactively recording what he has described as “sketches” of the demos that were recorded in preparation of the legendary XTC offshoot band’s recordings.
“Considering that most of the Dukes demos have already been released as part of my Fuzzy Warbles series,” said Partridge, “and to give ‘Stratosphans’ their full due of bonus goodies, I’ve been recording impressions of what would have been my original ‘sketches’ for the Dukes’ demos.”
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Townsman dbuskirk‘s recently shared thoughts on The Birthday Party reminded me of my half-baked theory that Rockabilly and Goth are subtly related subgenres, serving a similar set of audience expectations and needs. That may be too much to get into just yet, but as a way of discussing the expectations and needs we perceive at the root of any number of subgenres, how ’bout we play a little Subgenre Association Game?
For each of the following rock-related subgenres, briefly list the main audience expectation or need that you feel that subgenre promises to satisfy. Feel free to be more creative than “Reggae: Pass the dutchie.” I know you’re a bunch of deep thinkers and – I won’t tell anyone – even deeper feelers. Shine a light, OK? But do so from the gut!
I look forward to your responses.
Surely you’ll excuse us for taking a few days to determine the Comment of the Month winner for February 2009, but there was more competition than could be expected in the year’s shortest month. Among all the great comments, from sincere to snarky and all points between, Townsman Alexmagic‘s rationale for the Cool Pass granted to Arrested Development’s Baba Oje may have been the Hall’s most piercing piece of off-the-cuff-yet-informed commentary. Here’s the gist of what the Magic Man wrote:
His importance to the band can’t be overlooked, though. When they were famous, people would often watch their videos and wonder “What’s up with that old guy? What does he do?” And when ABC had some show a few years ago where they got defunct bands back together for a performance, I’m pretty sure everybody who watched the Arrested Development episode watched to see whether the old guy would be back and if he was going to sit on stage and maybe walk around a little bit.
He was.
He did.
It was awesome.
As was this comment.
As Townsman bobbybittman mentioned in our ways in which the Beatles suck thread, The Beatles could have followed the lead of Paul McCartney’s pseudonym during early tours, Paul Ramone, and called themselves The Ramones. I would think this is a rare piece of knowledge that we could run with that we won’t have on most bands, but I’ve been surprised by the depth of our collective wisdom before. However, we often know the original name of famous bands, and in some cases we might argue that that abandoned name might have been better than the name the band actually ended up using. For instance, I would argue that I’d have had a lot more interest as a young rock nerd checking out a band named The Warlocks than The Grateful Dead. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, but combing through original, abandoned band names and other missed opportunities for band names, such as the observation regarding The Coulda-Been-the-Ramones, have you ever felt that a band missed the boat with the name it eventually chose?
Here’s a Last Man Standing suggested by Townsman Mwall for those of you uncomfortable with The Beatles’ as-yet-unparalelled achievements in music. Here’s your chance to air out all the ways in which The Beatles suck. I look forward to what this short list will say about us!
Thanks to all of you who contributed to Rock Town Hall’s month of features bemoaning exploitive black rock history. Through our work, I believe we made important steps toward halting the cynical practice of pop musicians employing an African American Robed Choir at nationally broadcast performances. Was it a coincidence that last week’s Academy Awards ceremony was the first nationally broadcast event featuring musical performances that sidestepped this cheap ploy?
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