{"id":1136,"date":"2008-01-14T11:27:19","date_gmt":"2008-01-14T16:27:19","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-04-09T00:21:17","modified_gmt":"2009-04-09T00:21:17","slug":"let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Stop the Nonsense, Shall We? You Don&#8217;t Really Like Sparks, Do You?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><ins><strong>Updated at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?p=1136&amp;more=1&amp;page=3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?p=1136&amp;more=1&amp;page=3\">page 3<\/a> with visual-free audio files for potentially less-biased consideration! (Courtesy of shawnkilroy and The Great 48.)<\/strong><\/ins><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s stop the nonsense, shall we? You don&#8217;t really like <strong>Sparks<\/strong>, <em>do you<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps you were really into <strong>Queen<\/strong> as a youth and needed another band that was remotely like them in your collection? If so, that&#8217;s cool. No need to explain.<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aoA1oQZyjUI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Perhaps you were totally into the <strong>Ice Capades<\/strong> and these guys turned you onto The Power and Glory of Rock? OK, I can see that.<\/p>\n<p>But plenty of critics and rock &#8216;n roll fans whose tastes I respect LOVE these guys. Have I had the bad luck of only hearing the likes of my man, <strong>Townsman The Great 48<\/strong>, rave about them on <strong>April 1<\/strong>? Stop putting me on, will ya.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/frankenslade\/TP46.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"258\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">Growth chart<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The January 1980 issue of <em>Trouser Press<\/em> (#46) has been hauled around with me since I left my Mom&#8217;s house. This special issue recapped the &#8217;70s on one half and then looked into the exciting future of the &#8217;80s on the other half. You have to flip it upside down halfway through. Pretty cool. To this day I keep it in the drawer next to my side of the bed. I still pull it out a couple of times a year to mark my rock growth. <\/p>\n<p>One feature that really helped me in my growth as a rock nerd was &#8220;Some 1970s Albums You Might Have Missed.&#8221; I quickly memorized this list and went about trying to track down as many of these albums as possible. To this day I&#8217;m sure I could find some of them online in a remastered CD version, but I still want to find what I&#8217;m missing on vinyl. Among the albums I might have (and did) miss were the first <strong>New York Dolls<\/strong> album, <strong>Tucky Buzzard<\/strong>&#8216;s <em>Allright on the Night<\/em>, <strong>Pink Fairies<\/strong>&#8216; <em>Kings of Oblivion<\/em>, and Sparks&#8217; <em>A Woofer in Tweeter&#8217;s Clothing<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>In 1980 my rock mind was nowhere near as formed (and ossified, some might say) as it is today. Phrases from Ira Robbins&#8217; write-up, like &#8220;all-time weird American art rock LP&#8221; held more weight than his initial impressions: &#8220;impenetrably arcane and smug&#8230;punny lyrics&#8230;&#8221; I was ready to trust Robbins in his claim that multiple spins at loud volume would allow the &#8220;true delight of Woofer to come to the fore.&#8221; I wanted to <em>believe<\/em>! I <em>needed<\/em> to believe.<\/p>\n<p>Around 1983 I tracked down a used copy of this album and another one from that period, <em>Kimono My House<\/em>, at an anarchist bookstore called <strong>The Wooden Shoe<\/strong>, which had a small, interesting record bin. I couldn&#8217;t wait to get home, fire up, and crank up this Ira Robbins-approved lp!<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ax8JYmoRhy4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I did not get it. Not after firing up. Not after cranking up. Not after repeated plays. I did not get it and I did not like it. Usually, after repeated plays of almost any album I bring home I find <strong>something to like<\/strong>, even it it&#8217;s something I like because it&#8217;s so uniquely bad. Problem was, Sparks wasn&#8217;t bad, they just hit <strong>all the wrong buttons<\/strong> for me:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I never cared much for Queen.<\/li>\n<li>I cared less for Queen without a few concise, emotionally resonating songs.<\/li>\n<li>Sparks&#8217; songs had too many unnecessary changes.<\/li>\n<li>The pretty boy singer&#8217;s voice did nothing for me.<\/li>\n<li>The Hitler mustache-wearing guy&#8217;s schtick was a major turn off, even in the days before YouTube, when just seeing a photo of him and that &#8220;mad genius&#8221; stare was enough to make me want to vomit.<\/li>\n<li>The pretty boy&#8217;s Robin Zander-cum-Ice Capades Look was a turn off. <\/li>\n<li>What I could make of the lyrics seemed to have nothing to do with my interests.<\/li>\n<li>The Hitler mustache was annoying. Post-Hitler, references to Charlie Chaplin&#8217;s mustache, unfortunately, expired.<\/li>\n<li>The pun-laden album titles quickly reminded me of other &#8217;70s bands with pun-laden album titles that I&#8217;d never cared to hear, such as <em>You Can&#8217;t Tuna Fish But You Can Tune a Piano<\/em>, or whatever that one was called.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reevisiting them now through YouTube, with the <strong>incriminating visuals<\/strong>, is completely unfair. I would like to revisit this band with a better attitude. Can you help me? Can you point to strengths that I may be overlooking, strengths that might overcome the image of the Hitler guy&#8217;s schtick and the singer&#8217;s <strong>Sweatin&#8217; to the Oldies<\/strong> stage moves?<\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly their synth-pop, mini-hit, &#8220;#1 Song in Heaven&#8221;, is the best thing I&#8217;ve found by them:<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9X_8OnDpayI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I thought this track they did with Jane Wiedlin, the Go-Go that we all once fantasized having the best chance with, would be good, but it reeked of all the things I initially hated about <strong>Pee-Wee&#8217;s Playhouse<\/strong>. I did come around to that show about 20 years after the fact. Is there hope for me and Sparks?<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IZF-ym7tHX8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another promising clip I found, in which their sense of humor, almost devoid of their music, shines.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qMMJbzQ02cI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I look forward to your aid in furthering my understanding of this critically acclaimed band.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VISUAL-FREE LISTENING ZONE ON NEXT PAGE<\/strong><br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<strong><ins>CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE REACHED THE VISUAL-FREE LISTENING ZONE<\/ins><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/frankenslade\/blindfold2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"192\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">I can hear clearly now<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>On this page, Townspeople have offered audio tracks they love by Sparks. It is hoped that fair-balanced listening to these tracks &#8211; devoid of bias-inducing visuals &#8211; will help Mr. Moderator and his Sparks-mystified colleagues reach a better understanding of this band&#8217;s music.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Shawnkilroy<\/strong> offers two numbers:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/ThisTownAintBigEnoughForTheBothOfUs.mp3\" title=\"Sparks, &quot;This Town Ain&#039;t Big Enough for the Both of Us&quot;\"><strong>Sparks, &#8220;This Town Ain&#8217;t Big Enough for the Both of Us&#8221;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/AngstInMyPants.mp3\" title=\"Sparks, &quot;Angst in My Pants&quot;\"><strong>Sparks, &#8220;Angst in My Pants&#8221;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Great 48<\/strong> provides the following:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/frankenslade\/WhenDoIGetToSing_MyWay_.mp3\" title=\"Sparks, &quot;When Do I Get to Sing &#039;My Way&#039;?&quot;\"><strong>Sparks, &#8220;When Do I Get to Sing &#8216;My Way&#8217;?&#8221;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Great One writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Here&#8217;s one, the 1994 single &#8220;When Do I Get To Sing &#8216;My Way&#8217;?&#8221; &#8212; in its favor, it&#8217;s quite possibly the most serious song they&#8217;ve ever done, and features Russell&#8217;s lower register exclusively.  On the other hand, it&#8217;s in a musical style that I am almost positive you&#8217;re going to absolutely despise. <\/p>\n<p>Why I like this song: absolutely top-notch chorus, well-placed bridge, excellent lyrics concerning a subject most rockers refuse to touch (what do you do when your 15 minutes are up?), and, just as important, extremely fun to dance to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated at page 3 with visual-free audio files for potentially less-biased consideration! (Courtesy of shawnkilroy and The Great 48.) Let&#8217;s stop the nonsense, shall we? You don&#8217;t really like Sparks, do you? Perhaps you were really into Queen as a youth and needed another band that was remotely like them in your collection? If so, <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/let-s-stop-the-nonsense-shall-we-you-don\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[159],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}