{"id":15904,"date":"2012-10-08T13:18:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T17:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=15904"},"modified":"2012-10-08T13:19:35","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T17:19:35","slug":"world-you-blew-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/world-you-blew-it\/","title":{"rendered":"World, You Blew It!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YoPkEbNaPvc?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>If you ask me, the world &#8220;blew it&#8221; in generally ignoring <strong>The Undertones<\/strong>. Actually, I&#8217;m not sure I can condemn the UK, which has seen fit to produce 2 documentaries on this little band that could, but my fellow countrymen can bite me for leaving proper appreciation for this band to what seems like a few dozen scattered Americans of my generation and the slightly younger <strong>Townsman Berlyant<\/strong>, who once bravely saw fit to defend the band&#8217;s lone demi-turd of an album, <em>The Sin of Pride<\/em>, at our first (and as-yet only) live Rock Town Hall symposium. Among the slightly younger generation of folks who should know better, not even <strong>Townsman Oats<\/strong> digs The Undertones. For shame! More power to Berlyant for his brave stance! More power to The Undertones!<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PozN8ckheQE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Please note: the clips I&#8217;ve included are not necessarily what I consider the band&#8217;s &#8220;best&#8221; songs or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/rock-against-racism-the-undertones\/\" target=\"_blank\">available live video performances<\/a>. In fact, they&#8217;re from the period that even most Undertones fans consider the end of the line, from 1980&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/overlookedgems.blogspot.com\/2005\/07\/undertones-positive-touch.html\" target=\"_blank\">overlooked gem <em>Positive Touch<\/em><\/a> (their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/roger-bechirian-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\">most important contribution<\/a> to humanity, in my opinion) to the aforementioned swan song by the original line-up. (They&#8217;ve since re-formed with an adequate replacement lead singer for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/holdouts\/\" target=\"_blank\">proud Feargal Sharkey<\/a>, allowing folks like myself to celebrate and pay homage to the band&#8217;s past glories.) What these clips do show and what I have valued so much since stumbling across their unbelievably energetic and creative\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/album-covers-that-delivered\/\" target=\"_blank\">first album<\/a> is a combination of rock &#8216;n roll smarts, energy, and idiosyncrasy that was unmatched among a generation of bands understandably influenced by the\u00a0<strong><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/ra-moaning\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Ramones<\/a> and <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/the-rock-town-hall-interview-lenny-kaye\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nuggets<\/a><\/em> records<\/strong>. With no &#8220;ace&#8221; musicians, nothing more distinctive than a unique singer and an endless supply of peppy riffs, they always relied on each other as a <em>band<\/em>. There was never a song that was clearly the tertiary songwriter&#8217;s bone or an excuse for the lead guitarist to wank off. The Undertones made <em>my<\/em> music, the way me and my friends could imagine ourselves making music. I am disappointed in you, world, for not seeing things my way.<\/p>\n<p>The point of this thread, however, is not to focus on The Undertones but to share what other ways the world blew it. What artist that failed to capture a larger audience and better sprinkle their magic pixie dust through the land makes you shake your head and feel the world blew a once-in-a-generation opportunity?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you ask me, the world &#8220;blew it&#8221; in generally ignoring The Undertones. Actually, I&#8217;m not sure I can condemn the UK, which has seen fit to produce 2 documentaries on this little band that could, but my fellow countrymen can bite me for leaving proper appreciation for this band to what seems like a <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/world-you-blew-it\/' 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":[102],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15904"}],"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=15904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}