On January 3rd I listened to Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Tom
Petty And The Heartbreakers, Hüsker Dü Everything Falls Apart and Deftones Koi No Yokan.
I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this New Year’s
resolution and I truly think I’m going to stick it out all year. I don’t know
how much writing I’ll be doing every day, but I’ll be listening to the music
for sure! One of my asshole friends in L.A.
was giving me some shit for this whole thing by saying that it’s a bit
“self-indulgent,” “nobody reads blogs” and “nobody wants to see pictures of
me.” It’s my own fault, really. I decided to run with the asshole crowd in
college and now I’m stuck with them. F U Fisher (sic)! Roudboy and Marcus
backed me up. Although, Bagodonuts didn’t seem to care either way.
Tom Petty And The Heartbreaker’s debut is another album I
don’t remember much. I love me some “American Girl” and “Breakdown,” but I did
also unearth some gems that I’ll be putting into rotation in my MP3 player.
(Has anyone noticed I call my iPod my MP3 player? Cause fuck Apple!)
SIDEBAR – The “Greatest Hits” package ruined Rock N’ Roll.
They basically did the same thing the MP3 players and the Spotifies are doing
now. There’s probably going to be a hundred albums that I’ll listen to this
year for the first time, because I had the radio singles on a greatest hits
thing. The Kids In The Hall’s Bruce McCulloch once said, “Greatest Hits album
are for housewives and little girls.” So true.
Back to Mr. Tom Petty! Does anybody remember the It’s Garry Shandling’s Show? There was
an episode of the show where Garry was flying somewhere, and Tom Petty was
there too, I don’t remember the specifics of the episode maybe Tom was Garry’s
neighbor? I dunno. Anyway, they’re all on a flight and the stewardess (You
ain’t nothing but a waitress in the sky.) comes by with dinner and says to Tom,
“and here’s your Kosher meal, Mr. Petty.” This was like 1987 or so. To this
day, I’m not sure if Tom is Jewish or not. But I just remember thinking it was
really funny.
“The Wild One, Forever” sounds super
familiar to me, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard it in over 25 years! I also
love “Anything That’s Rock N’ Roll.” “Strangered In The Night” is fucking
weird! I wonder if it couldn’t be called “Strangers In The Night,” because of
Frank Sinatra? The song’s about a black guy and a white guy and somebody gets
stabbed or shot. I dunno, maybe.
I know I have heard music from Hüsker Dü’s debut Everything
Falls Apart, but I don’t remember what. It was a staple on my college radio
station for years, I just didn’t play it. The Replacements were MY band and Hüsker Dü, I just didn’t get. Oddly enough, on Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The
Trash, which was listened to the day
before, there’s a song called "Something To Dü," which is a nod to Hüsker.
Falls Apart is definitely an old school lo-fi hardcore album. It’s got
some moments and it’s annoying in spots.
Ironically, I thought it was weird the word “fag” was
getting thrown around on the track “Blah Blah Blah.” Considering Bob Mould is
gay, I’m assuming in his youth he just kept quiet about things like this. His
book See A Little Light is next in my reading queue, so hopefully he’ll talk
about that in there.
Their cover of “Sunshine Superman,” is odd, to say the least
and I did like “Gravity,” but a record like this is tough to get into. Let me
explain:
I once had a discussion with a friend of mine about trying
to discover old indie rock music. I was playing him Please To Meet Me by The
Replacements because he had never heard it. To me the album sounds like a
favorite meal or seeing an old friend, to him it sounded like shitty production
and songs that meant nothing. The point is… sometimes the brilliance of a song
or album can only be recognized in the pocket of time it came out. Back in 1983 Hüsker Dü spoke volumes to people that were looking for something else. It
wasn’t on the radio, it didn’t sound like anything, and it was made by guys
that weren’t rock stars… just restless young men. It could even be you making a
record like this! If you fell in love with it when it was happening, then you
took it with you through the years. Sometimes, without that nostalgia it’s a
hell of a lot harder to enjoy something like that. Does that make sense?
I have gone back several times to listen to the big albums
from Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade and Warehouse, but they just didn’t speak to me. They’re
all going to be featured in 2013 The Year Of Music and I’ll try to listen with
an open mind and eagerness to find out what I’ve been missing. I love so much
of Bob Mould’s other stuff, I’m looking forward to go back one more time and do
the Dü! (NO I DIDN’T!)
Deftones are back! Although a dumb name Koi No Yokan (In
Japanese it means, “premonition of love.” Oh brother.) rocks and I love it!
Going back to the formula that made their first three records tit sandwiches.
(I’m trying to coin new phrases for great. I can’t keep saying “great,” or “awesome.”
Tit sandwich works, maybe?) Hopefully, we can all forget about the last three
records which were definitely shit sandwiches and nobody took a bite. (Man, I
suck.)
Although the formula is almost a little too much like tracks
off of Around The Fur and White Pony, I don’t give a shit. I missed the old
Deftones too much! Plus the cover just looks like something from their late 90's heyday. “Swerve
City” starts the disc off
and running and doesn’t falter from there.
Much love and positive thoughts for bass player Chi Cheng,
he is still recovering from a coma as a result of a 2008 car accident. Although
he’s making great progress he’s still got a long way to go and I hope he plays
with the band again someday.
