Earl Scruggs, 1924-2012

What else can anyone say about the great Earl Scruggs? He pioneered and popularized the three-finger picking style that helped propel the lowly banjo to a prominent position in bluegrass. He helped Bill Monroe create bluegrass when he joined the Blue Grass Boys in 1945. And he was able to move past his bluegrass roots, and find ways to make music with musicians from many genres.

I can't disagree that the sublime "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" showcases Scruggs at the height of his picking genius. But last night I was wowed all over again by the banjo breaks in the simpler "Molly and Tenbrooks", during Scruggs' time with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. Here it is:

Video Vault

I was scanning channels in the car and came across "Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat.  The video goes hand in hand with the song telling of a young gay man dealing with  rejection, loneliness, and homophobia in British society in the mid 80's. 

Something about this song always grabbed me.   Maybe it's the electronic beat along with the repetition of the phrase "runaway" that really set the tone of needing to escape.  The small piano coda helps create the loneliness felt.  

The song has become somewhat of a gay anthem, yet pop culture/sportswriter Bill Simmons even respects the song and recommended using it as a song to preview a past NBA final. Still, for the average listener, most have forgotten about Broski Beat and the smalltown boy.

"Dude Rocks Like a Lady"

I (slowly during my class SSR time) have been reading the collection of essays  IV,by Chuck Klosterman.  One of the more fascinating articles that I read dealt with these all female cover bands playing masculine "crotch-rock." I was fascinated with some of the play on words and pseudo names the bands would take.  For example, the article, early on, focuses on lesbian rockers "Lez Zeppelin."  Back when the article was written, they were sponsored by the Showtime series The L Word to perform. The question remained, are they lesbians, or did they just market themselves to play an angle?

One of my two favorite bands featured had to be AC/DShe, who only perform pre-1980 AC/DC, with stage names like "Bonnie Scott" and "Agnes Young."  What made me chuckle was that AC/DShe had all-female, rival cover bands they had to deal with in the LA area, such as "Hell's Belles" and Zepparella.

The band I appreciated most had to be "Cheap Chick" - the Cheap Trick cover band.  (seriously, an all-female Cheap Trcik cover band?!?!) Someone at Nissan liked them, and felt they would be a good example of viral marketing and gave them a Nissan Quest to tour in.  I wonder how "Bunni" Carlos feels about it.

This is just one of many articles that I appreciated.  Check it out.

What's Popular in Music Today

We spend a lot of time in the car.  From dance to soccer, to school to the grocery store, we are logging miles.  The hardest part about any drive is agreeing on a song.  My kids are generally pop/top 40 kids.  After trudging through some awful songs, here are the two (at the moment) we mostly agree upon when we are in the car together.

Grouplove - Tongue Tied. 
This song is probably best known as the iphone 4GS song, but it is poppy and fresh.  Even my two year old will sing along to it. 

Gotye - Someone That I Use to Know

This seems to be the "song Du Jour" at the moment for all pop loving hipsters. I don't know too much about Gotye,except that his real name is Walter, and that he speaks Flemish.  According to Wikipedia, he wrote the song in his parents barn, and played most instruments including the xylophone.  I also like that he sampled the traditional folk song "Baa Baa Black Sheep."

Song In My Head

"We Share the Same Skies" - The Cribs
Nice guitar work in the intro and under the verses by -- who else? -- Johnny Marr.

Poetry In Music Project

We just wrapped up a poetry in music project.  Most kids choose songs like "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, or "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction.  Once in a while, you get an interesting kid.  I saw this list of possible songs on my floor, and got a chuckle at what he/she was interested in examining.  The choices weren the following:

Beatles - Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Aerosmith - Angel

Beatles - Mean Mr. Mustard

Gary Lewis & the Playboys - This Diamond Ring

J. Geils Band - Love Stinks

La Roux - Bulletproof

Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness

What 12 year old kid spans Kid Cudi to Gary Lewis???  I am fascinated to see what song is chosen!

Best Year in Music - the Rebuttal (1975)

Off the top of my head, The one year that came to mind would be 1975.  A crucial year for music.  Classic Rock apex's, the singer-songwriter begins to fade, disco will begin to creep in, punk roots are formed, and alternative radio influences begin to form.  Do I listen to this stuff much now, not really.  But I can appreciate the influence it has had.

Here are my examples:

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

Patti Smith - Horses

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Blues for Allah by the Grateful Dead, Katy Lied by Steely Dan, Night at the Opera by Queen, Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith, Alive! by Kiss, Tonight's the Night by Neil Young, Red Octopus by Jefferson Starship, Dreamboat Annie by Heart, and Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed are not shabby runner-ups. 

Plus songs like "No Woman , No Cry," by Bob Marley, "Love is the Drug" by Roxy Music, "Low Rider" by WAR, "Slow Ride" by Foghat, "I'm not in Love" by 10cc, "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell, and "If" by Telly Savals all help to make a strong case for our country's199th year!

1979 - The Best Year Ever?

I dare you to find another year as musically fruitful as 1979. Post-punk -- arguably the most important rock genre in my life -- was at its zenith. (1979's output of  post-punk albums alone would put the year at or near the top of the heap.) Than add what is widely considered to be the best album ever -- London Calling -- which took the urgency of punk, fused it with dub and made it all mean something. Then throw in the contribution of new wave and the nascent rap scene and it's an unbeatable year in music.

Here's the evidence:

London Calling - The Clash

Metal Box - Public Image Ltd.

Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division

154 - Wire

Entertainment - Gang of Four

Reel to Real Cacophony - Simple Minds

And I didn't even include "Cars" by Gary Numan or "Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang!

Go ahead ... name me a better year in music.

Video Vault Friday

This one's in my head today -- but it's Rick Rubin's headbanging I really like.

Here you go:

Song in My Head

"Home" by Edwin Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

No doubt one of the great tunes of the past couple of years, and a kooky video to go with it.

Three Of My Favorite Things

Honestly, this is all coincidental. First I found the new Fender Johnny Marr guitar, then I see Johnny Marr in a skit on "Portlandia", then my brother sends me the Mario Brothers version of "This Charming Man."

And now this. The Amoeba Records "What's In My Bag" series of videos. Each video features another celebrity shopper talking about what they're about to buy at Amoeba. I stumbled upon it today when I found Johnny Marr's "What's In My Bag.". It's no secret how much I love Amoeba -- I've even done a version of my own Amoeba list right here. Marr's buying some Ennio Morricone records and a few documentaries -- including about one about Ralph Waldo Emerson he doesn't think will be any good. (Sure enough, the little clip they play of the documentary proves him right.)

And then... yet another coincidence. Johnny's buying a Wire CD. And I was just reading an article in The New Yorker about a 15-year-old girl in Vancouver who adores Wire and made a bunch of videos for Wire songs. She's even reached out -- admittedly annoyingly so -- to Colin Newman, who basically told her to f--- off. Sad, but funny.

So Johnny Marr to Amoeba to Wire... Three of my favorite things.

Smiths, Super Mario Style

Check out this nifty version of "This Charming Man" by the Smiths done in Super Mario Brothers style. It's actually quite good, and much more elaborate than I would have thought. (H/T to Nev on this one.)

http://soundcloud.com/lazyitis-1/super-morrissey-bros

By the way, here's another nice version of the song -- it's Johnny Marr demonstrating the layering technique he used to write it.

Song In My Head

It's "Brains" by the Baltimore band Lower Dens. It seems to be in heavy rotation on Sirius XMU, which is where I've heard it the past few days.

Johnny Marr Gets His Own Guitar

Johnny Marr is a certified guitar god. And now the folks at Fender agree. I just got my new Musician's Friend catalog and was thrilled to see this entry: it's the brand new Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar -- with his name on the headstock and everything. And it can be yours for $1750.

I did some further research and found this terrific video on the Fender website of Johnny explaining all the things that went into his signature model. Oh, and he plays a bit on it. And it sounds really good.

It's no secret how great a guitarist I think Marr is. But I wouldn't think Fender would take a step like this. After all, this is usually reserved for the absolute legends or harder rockers -- Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Steve Vai (even Ace Frehley doesn't surprise me.) After all, Marr isn't flashy -- he's technical. But he is masterful. And I was happy to see him achieve this level of success.

Video Vault Friday!

I have no idea how I got this song in my head, but here it is - "Life of Illusion" by Joe Walsh.  I remember being fascinated with the video in the early days of MTV.  The entire video stems around the photo for the album cover, There Goes the Neighborhood.  The song is catchy, (mariachi horns & all) and I know they used the song  in the opening credits of The 40 Year Old Virgin, but it's not something you hear often.

Enjoy the garbage!