Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Bigmouth Strikes Again: Andy Gill’s Remembrance of The Queen Is Dead

Jul 012011

In the June 3 edition of The Independent, an article penned by Andy Gill and entitled “Days of Whine and Roses” opens, “Over the next fortnight, fortysomethings of a certain persuasion will be heard sighing into their lattes, lost in fond reminiscence of the sweet pain of adolescence. Because 25 years ago this month saw the release of The Queen is Dead…”

Gill, another sigh-inducing musician of us latte drinkers, goes on to state, “And if you were a teenager in 1986, no other record reflected the febrile mixture of loneliness, contempt, self-pity, petulance, sexual confusion, juvenile intellectual superiority and general emotional turmoil that characterises most adolescents’ experience of life.”

Further discussion of Morrisey‘s “sardonic stage laughter,” the “self-assured” rhythm section, and Marr‘s “array of African-tinged arpeggios, biting riffs and subtly wielded feedback” is included for the reader’s enjoyment. Finally, the article ends with several British music press heavyweights’ choices of their favorite song from the album.

Isn’t it time that we, the cogniscenti of RTH also review this important album? If REM’s I.R.S output and a critical upgrade of Husker Du elicited recent posts, shouldn’t we weigh in? Of particular importance is the concept of “cleverness,” recently eschewed by Mr. Moderator.

How did I miss this, miss?

Posted by machinery

Jul 012011

Equal opportunity crap?

Interesting article here.

Critical Re-upgrade: Husker Du

Posted by Oats

Jun 302011

On the occasion of Bob Mould’s recently published memoir, is it time to reverse Mr. Mod’s critical downgrade on the Huskers? Let’s put aside the muddy-sounding Flying V, the bad drumming, the terrible production values. At a time when so much indie-rock has become marketable,well-kempt, finely polished and polite, is there something especially worthwhile to be gleaned from the legacy of a band that was none of these things? If nothing else, can we put Husker Du at the forefront (along with Eleventh Dream Day) of my invented genre T-Shirt Rock (basically, the music I listen to balance out my love of dandyish fops like Pulp and The Kinks)?

R.E.M.’s First Three IRS Long Players: Certainly Worthy of Discussion

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 302011

The following post was submitted by my close personal friend E. Pluribus Gergely.

Hi y’all,

I’d like to get this whole thing settled…once and for all.

For years, the Moderator has been relentlessly jabbing at me for having the first three R.E.M. IRS long players in my record collection. Granted, I haven’t listened to them in years, but I decided to do just a few days ago. I’m here to to tell one and all that they are nothing to be embarrarassed about. They’re actually pretty solid. They feature a bunch of winners: “Gardening at Night,” “Radio Free Europe,” “South Central Rain,” “Pretty Persuasion”…all are tracks that still sound pretty friggin’ good. And “Rockville” borders on great. That’s right, great.

I caught them live as well, right around the release of Murmur. I saw them at the University of Pennsylvania, Bucknell, and the Tower Theater. They were phenomenal. Take a good look at the Letterman clips. That’s more or less what they looked like. To put it bluntly, they were cool, really cool, which is something that some of us (eg, Hrundivbakshi) refuse to admit is, was, and should always be a major point of criteria when judging a pop band. Continue reading »

All-Star Jam

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 292011

Let’s work together and be adults about this, OK?

What Musician Maintained Their Coolness for the Longest Period?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 292011

E. Pluribus Gergely posed the question, and alexmagic demanded that it be brought to The Main Stage:

What musician maintained their coolness for the longest period? I defy anyone to come up with a better choice than Keef (1963-1972). That’s a pretty good run.

E. Pluribus

As our resident Magic Man followed:

…we can get down into fighting over exact moments/years when people lost it.

Is there anything that disqualifies James Brown between 1956 and 1976? The appearance in Ski Party in 1965 would seem to be the biggest stumbling block, but I think it only adds to his legend.

Keef (1963-1972)…James Brown (1956-1976)… Agree? Disagree? Have someone more worthy to propose? The time is yours.

Paul Alone

Posted by machinery

Jun 282011

Usually I don’t go in for this whole isolating the instruments, but there’s a cool thing going on here. I think Paul Simonon gets a bad rap as a bass player. He might have started off weak, but he did his thing well and really grew into it.

You can check out all the separate tracks for London Calling here.

The vocals slay me.

Older Entries Newer Entries