Looks like the Grammys(TM) seem to be more Crabb themed with Robert
Plant/Alison Krauss getting five awards for their breakthrough Raising
Sand album and Coldplay getting a few for their album Viva La Vada too
but I didn't watch the awards at all. I ended up watching SCTV/Night
Gallery DVD shows on Crabb TV. The more I get to watch SCTV to more it
appears that the show was ahead of the times. Ya think the musician
guest stars today would appeared in sketches like Dr John or John
Mellencamp did back then. Perhaps this was the final golden age of
television although I think the SCTV season three may have been the best
season prior to them reaching NBC on the friday night slot. Still
twice as better than SNL was and ten times better than ABC's long
forgotten Friday's show, which shining moment was when Dave Edmunds and
Nick Lowe's Rockpile played on that show.
I don't think much of
the media today, the TMZ Perez Hilton taboids that call Jessica Simpson
fat. I do think she calls a lot of attention upon herself but judging
by the Star pics of the Fat Jessica, she looks all right by me. Maybe
better. I also give her credit for her concerts, at least she's not lip synching.
I haven't been any concerts in over ten years, the last
one I went to may have been the Blue Rags at Gabes in 98 and really
haven't cared much to pay fifty bucks to see some over the hill band.
The Ticketmaster convenience fees made me boycott most of them. But I
continue to read from the likes of Bob Lefsetz and others about the
death of the major label and the death of music today simply of the fact
that no nothings, lawyers and accountants plus the evil doings of the
fucked up RIAA have turned off the buying public. The RIAA is the major hemorrhoid on the ass of the music industry. Sales don't drop off by a
third this decade because of flukes, shutting down the original Napster
and the wonderful copy protect CDs did them in. I'm sure a couple years
from now we won't have cd stores to shop since everything will be
downloaded, or if cds are available they're be in crappy digipaks,
another RIAA ploy to take over the world. It's funny, when I started
blogging bout the top ten I didn't know I was documenting the death of
the music as it happens. But then again, the ratings for The Crabb
report at My Space are down big time too. Guess it's not like what it
was when it was the toast of The Roost at MSN.com. But then again I had
some help from Brooksie and Starman and it was great to feed off their
energies. I'm sure Mark Prindle is also wondering about where
everybody is at too.
And a Happy 200th Birthday to Abe Lincoln.
Songs of the week.
1.
Memories Are Made Of This-Dean Martin 1956 Number one for eight weeks
this is the most stripped down Dino that Capitol ever put out. Gale
Storm had a hit with this in the same year and Johnny Cash has covered
it too. We don't call Dino rock and roll but he was my favorite of all
the rat packers. Hard to believe he's been gone for 20 years now but it
seemed like yesterday that we got the news that he died.
2.
Repetition-Helmet 1990 Gotta watch out for those mood swings here in
Top Ten Land. I don't think radio would ever dare anybody to play Dean
Martin and then move into Page Hamilton. This was Aggro Rock before the
term was ever coined. On the downside, Helmet was also the forebearer
of Nu-Metal which gave us Korn, Deftones and Limp Bizkit. Not exactly a
fair exchange.
3. Teenage Head-The Flaming Groovies 1970 One
doesn't hear much of the Roy Loney led band, since most of their albums
go in and out of print as well as the Cyril Jordan led Groovies of the
mid to late 70s with their power pop rock. In fact, the Sire compilation only has this one tune from Roy Loney. Perhaps Sire didn't
want to pay royalties to BMG or Sony for the rest of the story of this
San Francisco band that sounded like they came from England.
4.
Bangalore-The Blazers 1963 There was a bridge between Buddy and The
Beatles and it came from the likes of surfing music and in the early 60s
there was no shortage of that. Sometimes I do feel that surf music gets
a bad rap since people only associate surf music with early Beach Boys
or Jan and Dean but Dick Dale or Link Wray also figure into this as
well. This is a minor, regional hit that has a Dick Dale like guitar
lead with a rumbling bass and cascading cymbals to give the listener as
they are "hanging ten" or "shooting a curl". Surf music was honest back
then and didn't have to rely on Pro Tools to make it sound real. This
would sound mean in Quadraphonic.
5. Switching To Glide-The Kings
1980 The band's biggest hit and it's actually part two of This Beat
Goes On but Elektra did know where to splice the edit at. Stoopid
lyrics but fun to sing if you had one too many Budweisers. Balance
within my hands indeed.
6. Fistful Of Love-Antony And The
Johnsons 2005 Lou Reed plays guitar on this number and I still can't
figure out the dood singer called Antony, who sounds like a cross
between Boy George and Pavarotti. Bob Lefsetz was singing the praises
of their latest album but I found this for two bucks at HP Books and
think I got taken. If this is the future of rock and roll, then I may
as well retire and take my scratchy records and cds with me. I still
like to know how Antony got Reed to play guitar and do the spoken
introduction to this.
7. Let's Talk About Girls-Chocolate Watch
Band 1966 Let's do. This band, I never got much into since they're
more dated sounding than the 13th Floor Elevators but this song was punk
rock fun before punk rock. Listen to that rave up chorus and tell me
if that doesn't get you to go rocking, or go pick up chicks on the
strip. You can't nowadays, you're too old.
8. Talkin About
You-Bob Wills 1969 I have yet to hear a Bob Wills album that doesn't
make me smile. This was late in his life and he was using session
musicians perhaps and most of the songs off this album are instrumentals
but Bob takes the lead vocal on this Ray Charles cover and does it the
Bob Wills way, lots of AHHHH Haaaas, and YEAH. And if Bob was hoopin
and hollering it meant he was having fun in the studio. Sure the Tiffany Transcriptions are classic and people speak fondly of the
Columbia years but The MGM, Kapp years hold their own. Even the
problematic Tomato CD with the bad mastering features gold among the
rust. Texas swing was around before Bob and still is after his passing
34 years ago but Texas Swing remains Bob Wills, no matter how hard
Asleep At The Wheel tries. And they try very well.
9. Ox
Driver-The Modern Folk Quartet 1963 My brother worries about me when I
start playing folk music such as this. These guys did make a appearance
on the Teen exploitation music Palm Springs Weekend to this band played
this song during the live music scene. Next to surf music, folk music
was the rage of 1963 and although it's more dated now than the freak out Psychedelia of the 1966 era, a lotta folkies would go on to form more
meaningful rock or pop bands. One of these guys went on the The Association.
10. High School Confidential-Mudcrutch 2008 Tom
Petty has been keeping busy, reforming this band and doing the voiceover
of Lucky on King Of The Hill and he seems to be a natural for voice
overs of hicks in cartoons. Mudcrutch made a belated first album and
although I liked it enough and so did Bob Lefsetz, old fuddy daddy
Robert Chirstgau didn't and perhaps Christgau's brains has been eaten
away due to all the world music and rap he listens to per month.
Whereas yours truly preferred three chords and the truth and no pro
tools to screw things up. This is off the live EP that Reprise stuck
out just before the holidays and it's a very brief four song with the
long 15 minute Crystal River the highlight but this song was the encore
and for five old geezers on stage they can still rock out harder than
Fall Out Boy or the other bands that kids love. But I guess funtime is
over for Mudcrutch as Petty decides to go back to his other day job, The
Heartbreakers. But I do have to say that Lucky, his alter ego in King
Of The Hill has continued to keep my interest in watching that show
which I think is the second longest running cartoon comedy going, next
to The Simpsons. One of the rare reasons why I watch TV.
And it so goes.
