Still an outcast after all these years.
Wearing a punk rock t-shirt (I’m obsessed with the sociology of concert shirts) to high school in Murfreesboro, TN in the year 1985 was a mark of incipient coolness that all of the Journey t-shirt wearers could only hope to understand. It's commonly thought that youth are more open to new ideas, but this is not really accurate. Teenagers may be outwardly showing rebellion, but there's a narrowness of thought even in this. I'd try to play a punk tape on the bus in '83 and everybody would scream at the driver to take it out of the player. Along with the music came an interest in books, which was a guarantor of outcast status back then and probably still is today. This post is about those books that helped shape me and the connection with my rock and roll rebellion against the mainstream.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Distorted Angel
My first two: well, the second was the aforementioned Doors concert and the very first was the Rolling Stones. A very long time ago. Even Keith looked like a kid.
27 - dbcooper
I saw Allen Ginsberg give a poetry reading around 1985 in Dallas at Bar of Soap (still in bidness).....He was a kind and gregarious man, and I was able to get his autograph which I later framed with his photograph (I know, I'm a geek).....
28 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thanks wally, this is one of the best things i've read in a long time. Excellent, brough back all sorts of memories. I'm working on a post right now dealing with Richey James Edwards, who went missing from the manic street preachers, and from the face of the damn earth, ten years ago. i guess he was my No One Gets Out Of Here Alive, a gateway to all sorts of reading material that third year high-school types aren't supossed to be worried about. It's amazing how much literature i was exposed to via the popular culture etc. Brendan Behan from The Pogues etc.
Brilliant, man.
29 - wally bangs
Thanks for the compliment Duke. I'm looking forward to reading your piece on Richey James. I love the Manics ever since "Motown Junk" dropped years ago. I ended up with a couple of penpals who were also Manics fans and I also even contributed some poetry to a fanzine called Counter Language put out by Nickey Wire's brother Patrick Jones. The Manics helped inspire me to put out my own fanzine called Anti-Society back around 1994.
30 - Mark Saleski
again, great post wally.
it had a big influence on this week's friday morning listen.
31 - wally bangs
Glad to be of service Mark. I enjoyed your post on Townshend this morning.
32 - Eric Berlin
Great job again, Wally.
This book review has been selected for Advance.net. You’ll be able to find this and other Blog Critics reviews at such places at Cleveland.com’s Book Reviews column.
33 - Bob A. Booey
You're so not punk and never were.
The Doors are one of the worst abominations in human history -- I've written about this more extensively on some other music topic, I think.
I have a lot of the same problems with Oliver Stone's "art" and I can see why he was drawn to Morrison as a subject.
Dune?
Shark: you saw a lot of horrible concerts.
That is all.
34 - Shark
"You're so not punk"
Booey, you've been missed.
Just a tip: to use a mall-rat, "Friends"-like phrase saying "you're so not ___" to mock someone's non-punkness is the ultimate in irony.
re: many horrible concerts -
yah, maybe. But I was there, babe, a witness to history.
PS: I met your mom at one of those concerts. Best hummer ever.
That is all.
xxoo
S
35 - Bob A. Booey
Sharky poo,
Thanks for the kind words.
I'm a mall punk, the best kind. I can't help it that Valley Girl/Friends-ish phrasings are a part of my generation's vernacular. Could I BE any more ironic?
I'd make a joke about your mom, but she's dead and I'm not that kinky :)
All kidding aside, I enjoy my however-brief triumphant return. Someone fill me in on what nonsense has been going on.
Will someone PLEASE write a right-wing perspective on Iraq? There's too much liberal media bias and I feel lost without some clear-headed tough talk.
That is all.
36 - wally bangs
Am too punk! If the "you're so not punk" was directed at me. If not, then carry on.
37 - Eric Olsen
Those who fail to grasp the inherent and underlying creativity, irreducible artiness and ultimate punkiness of the Doors are SO not comprehending the aesthetic composition of the universe as to be almost certainly willfully obtuse - it was all cobbled together out of raw Dionysian impulse and the fact that they were a pop success as well only makes them that much more remarkable. They didn't have a fucking bass player for God's sake! Be schooled or fall by the wayside.
38 - Dave Nalle
Shark may have seen a lot of awful concerts, but he DID see The Animals, so I'm jealous.
I, on the other hand, did see the two best concerts ever in the history of the world.
#1 1980 - Boomtown Rats w/ D. L. Byron at the Tower Theater in Darby PA. I have never seen two performances of this intensity before or since and I've been to hundreds of concerts. Almost no one in the audience knew who D. L. Byron was and no one knows who he is today unless they noticed his writing credit on 'Spirits of the Night', but after his set people were literally weeping in their seats and knew that they would never see a better rock and roll performance in their lives. After he played an unprecedented three encores and every song he knew including some bizarre covers, he left the stage with the audience stunned, secretly knowing that they had witnessed an entire career in one night. He would descend into obscurity and cocaine for the next 20 years before releasing a second album. Then darkness descended on the stunned silence and suddenly into the darkness came a flash of neon lights in time with the opening strains of "Wind Chill Factor Minus Zero" and we were faced with the miraculous revelation that we weren't looking at one of those embarassing concerts where the opening act outshines the headliners, but at something unique, a perfect concert where the opening act spurs the headliner on to their greatest performance. There's almost no describing the quality of the songs from "Fine Art of Surfacing" performed live by the Boomtown Rats at the height of their power. They were expressive rock that transcended any genre. It was new and timeless at the same time, with chords that roused dark emotions, elation and wonder. And then it was over and we knew we would never be the same again and would never experience music so perfect again.
Well, after writing that I realize that great though my #2 concert was it wasn't really in the same league, but I did see one hell of a lineup with Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker and Dion in one concert.
Dave
39 - Shark
Booey, I love you, maaaan!
PS: Didja hear? MacDiva was banned. I'm trying my best to replace her. Only time will tell if I'm successful.
EricO, re. the Doors - I love you, maaaan!
PS: ...and they also used a Farfisa, fercryin' out loud!
40 - Eric Olsen
Shark's list of concerts through (I assume) the early-'70s is the most impressive I have ever seen from a civilian - it's the mother lode. But I am inclined to wonder, anything notable in the last 30 years?
Brilliant description Dave, you never know when a show like that is going to strike, but everyone knows when it happens.
41 - Shark
Last 30 years?
(Ah, more fodder for mockery from the uber-cool Booey!)
Probably nobody 'cool' -- ie. no one you [younger] guys would find that interesting. (I don't do too much contemporary 'rock' -- unless it's Americana/Texian -- which is about the only place you'll still find real rock and roll anymore, imo.) I try to avoid anything too rough on the eardrums, which already have absorbed way too many decibels for their own good.)
Still, I never stopped going out to hear good music, (I saw the great Jack Ingram at the world's largest honkey tonk on xmas night; how's that for blasphemous?!)
Aaside from a lot of Texans yall never heard of -- it's mostly jazz.
PS: Hey, I saw k.d. lang with the Reclines when she was a 'nobody' opening act. I left the concert thinking this is our generation's Sinatra -- which she later became, sorta.
A quick list of "others" in the last 30:
Arthur Rubenstein
Dwight Yoakum
Steve Morse (whom I worship, btw)
Airto & Flora Purim
McCoy Tyner
Ella Fitzgerald
Joe Pass
Acoustic Alchemy
Uakti
Old 97s
Keb Mo
Pat Green
Steven Fromholz
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Steve Earle (w/Del McCoury band)
Phillip Glass
Ravi Shankar
L. Shankar (w//Zakir Hussain on tablas!)
Paul Winter
Bill Miller
James McMurtry
Kathy Mattea
Peter, Paul, & Mary
Elvin Jones
*Joe Ely
*Jimmie Dale Gilmore
*Butch Hancock
*solo, and as The Flatlanders
Kim Richey
Trisha Yearwood
42 - Shark
Yah, I know: totally un-punk.
43 - Eric Berlin
I don't know about y'all, but I'm so looking forward to hearing Bob's idea of what bands one should have been at over the last 30 years. I'm assuming it's some kind of powerhouse antithesis to Shark's... or is it?
Eric - Wonderful encapsulation of The Doors strange rise to popularity. Incredible mix of dark energy, tight musical chops, and the best carnivalesque séance one could ever ask for in a pop group. Even the name of the band comes via William Blake and Aldous Huxley: cool shit, to say the least.
44 - Dave Nalle
Peter Paul and Mary? In the last 30 years? Did someone pay you to go?
Dave
45 - wally bangs
Now I am jealous of Dave Nalle. The Boomtown Rats are just one of the most underrated groups ever. It all gets forgotten with Geldorf's knighthood.
46 - Eric Olsen
in their socio-politico-musico dynamic they are not unlike Midnight Oil
47 - HW Saxton
Since this thread has jumped towards the
discussion of The Boomtown Rats...
IMO,I think that the Boomtown Rats song
"Rat Trap" is the best Springsteen song
he never wrote. "Venus Of Avenue D" by
Mink De Ville coming in a close second.
48 - Eric Olsen
Mink DeVille! that first album is a triumphant milestone, as was the second - all downhill from there. iheard a recent Willy DeVille live album that just crushed my soul it was so not happening and misguided
49 - Eric Berlin
I must admit my ignorance as to the power and glory of the Boomtown Rats. I'm a huge Midnight Oil fan, though, so I suppose I'll have to be checking them out one of these days...
(Speaking of live concerts:
Two great ones I saw at Jones Beach on Long Island:
Midnight Oil / Ziggy Marley
Beck / Ben Folds Five )
50 - Shark
Nalle (aka Mr. Satire): "Peter Paul and Mary? In the last 30 years? Did someone pay you to go?"
Kerrville Folk Festival; probably the greatest gathering, homage, and launching pad for singer-songwriters in the world. No hyperbole.
But please, please don't come. Please. It's a small, intimate affair for diehard fans and old hippies like meself -- and we'd like to keep it that way.
BTW: Peter Yarrow is a co-founder/spiritual godfather of Kerrville; has been for over 30 years.
And for those interested and so inclined, Mary Travers is currently undergoing chemo-therapy for Leukemia. If you pray, pray for her. Other may send good vibes. Bless her heart, she's an American Treasure.
51 - HW Saxton
Eric O., I agree wholeheartedly with you
about the 1st and 2nd Mink DeVille LP's.
Criminally underrated. I guess his sound
was just too hard to pigeon hole for the
critics. Not "Punk" enough for the hard
core scene, too melodic and "rootsy" for
the New Wave types,etc.
I think Mink DeVille's sound esp. on the
first two could maybe be described as
The Velvet Underground meet The Drifters
write some songs with Bruce Springsteen
and get produced by *Phil Spector.
I picked up the latest Willy De Ville CD
last year "Crow Jane Alley" and it was
just awful.The critics had been giving
it these great reviews but after hearing
it I was just left scratching my head at
how bad it was.
* Of course Phil is just a mere spectre
of the producer he once was.
52 - Eric Olsen
classic characterization, HW! I actually heard them first on a CBGB's comp, and then was just transfixed when I heard that first album, damn
53 - Tim Hall
I didn't really start going to gigs until my student years, but which time all the stuff I liked had gone right out of fashion. A lot of these are from festivals, particularly Reading:
Pink Floyd performing The Wall
Hawkwind (when I saw them they had Ginger Baker, of all people, on drums)
Iron Maiden with their original singer, Paul Di'anno
Samson, featuring Bruce Dickenson (I think they were on the same bill as Maiden)
The Kinks (a band I was underwhelmed by, and still think are seriously overrated)
Gillan (Singles were cheesy and albums were patchy, but sure as hell rocked live)
Stevie Ray Vaughan, when he was a relative unknown
Randy California
Atomic Rooster
Saga
Diamond Head
Slade
Def Leppard
Pat Travers
Rose Tattoo
Twisted Sister
Rory Gallagher
Budgie
Thin Lizzy
UFO
Michael Schenker Group
Mama's Boys (who seemed to open every festival)
Jethro Tull
Gary Moore
Magnum
The Enid (anyone remember them?)
Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan and the infamous fibreglass Stonehenge
Marillion (Who blew Sabbath off stage!)
The Stranglers
Big Country (blew The Stranglers off stage)
Post-reunion Deep Purple
The Scorpions
54 - Mark Saleski
just for fun (and off the top of my head):
high school years:
Blue Oyster Cult
BeBop Deluxe
Ted Nugent
Journey
Nantucket
Angel
Styx
Muddy Waters
Eric Clapton
Kiss
New England
The Tubes
Frankie & the Knockouts
Boston
Sammy Hagar
Bruce Springsteen
College years:
Black Sabbath (w/Ronnie James Dio)
R.E.M (Murmur tour)
J.B. Hutto
Johnny Copeland
Jackson Browne
Steppenwolf
AC/DC
Gary U.S. Bonds
Marshall Tucker
The Clash
J. Geils Band
David Johansen
Southside Johnny
Bebe Buell & the B-Sides
Syl Sylvain & the Teardrops
Young Adult:
Depeche Mode
O.M.D.
Squeeze
UB40
Smithereens
AC/DC (just about every fricken tour)
KISS (oh hell, why not?)
Sting
Roger Waters
Pink Floyd
The Who
Los Lobos
Ronnie Earl
Robert Cray
B.B. King
Johnny Cash
Hot Tuna
The Band
10,000 Maniacs
Adrian Belew
Fishbone
Primus (who sucked!!!!)
Frank Zappa
approaching middle age:
Elvis Costello
Bonnie Raitt
Little Feat
N.R.B.Q
James Taylor
Greg Brown
Dar Williams
Ellis Paul
Santana
Phish
AC/DC
KISS
The Offspring
The Dickies
Southern Culture On The Skids
Tori Amos
Ginger Baker
Ronnie Earl
Bob Dylan
...all of this in parallel with:
Earthworks
Pat Metheny
Gary Burton
Chick Corea
Kenny Burrell
Jim Hall
Joshua Redman
Ornette Coleman
Philip Glass
Wynton Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Stanley Turentine
i'm sure i left some out, but ya get the idea.
55 - Eric Olsen
zowie - Mark and Tim live in parallel universes that never meet (except on the Internet) - a ton of cool shows for you both.
these shows stand out in my mind from the '70s:
Springsteen/Wishbone Ash (still can't get over that bill)
Queen/Camel
Roxy Music/Baby Ruth
Bryan Ferry (with both Phil M and Chris Spedding guitars)
Springsteen (at the much bootlegged WMMS anniversary show at the Agora)
Springsteen (in Akron when he played for almost 5 hours)
Stones and Peter Tosh at Cleveland Stadium
Pink Floyd (Animals Tour) at Cleveland Stadium
Beach Boys/Chicago at Cleveland Stadium
Bowie with Spiders
Mott the Hoople
Ian Hunter
Randy Newman solo (interveiwed him)
Hall and Oates
Elvis Costello
Iggy Pop with Bowie on piano and the Sales brothers, Blondie opening (front row, Columbus Agora)
Maynard Ferguson and Chase (in our high school gym when I was a trumpet player)
Lou Reed with the Rock and Roll Animal Band
The Cars (front row Agora)
UFO (front row Agora)
The Jam (front row Agora)
Tom Waits and Leon Redbone
Todd Rundgren and Utopia (on acid for Halloween)
Little Feat
Allman Brothers
Marshall Tucker
Wet Willie with Papa John Creach
Hot Tuna with Papa John Creach
Roy Buchanan (in a blizzard)
Return to Forever
Jean-Luc Ponty
Muddy Waters
Funkadelic/Parliament
Zappa
Jesse Winchester
Journey (right after Steve Perry joined - that was a voice)
Yes
ELP
Tommy Roe at a lounge outside Springfield, Ohio (he did "Dizzy," "Sweet Pea" and "Sheila" three times each)
BOC
Cheap Trick
that's enough for now
56 - Dave Nalle
My Neighbor Shark: Kerrville Folk Festival; probably the greatest gathering, homage, and launching pad for singer-songwriters in the world. No hyperbole.
Plus you can sit naked in the rain and have sex in public.
My Neighbor Shark: But please, please don't come. Please. It's a small, intimate affair for diehard fans and old hippies like meself -- and we'd like to keep it that way.
Sorry Shark, already been to the KFF. Perhaps I saw you there. I prefer Bocktoberfest in Shiner.
My Neighbor Shark: BTW: Peter Yarrow is a co-founder/spiritual godfather of Kerrville; has been for over 30 years.
I wasn't aware of that. To be honest, I used to be a big PP&M fan when I was younger, along with The Weavers and the Kingston Trio and Pete Seeger. That's what I listened to as a kid in the 60s - endlessly. I actually bought a PP&M greatest hits CD last year - mostly for the kids - and I found that their mustic no longer holds much charm for me. I still admire the earnestness and the dedication to issues and all that, but after all this time the music just seems a little washed out and dull except maybe "If I Had a Hammer" which holds up better than most of the songs.
I find contemporary protest music much more appealing, like Billy Bragg (who I agree with on nothing but the protest part) and The Proclaimers (who I agree with, but who are protesting in support of a movement that already won).
Dave
57 - Shark
Mark, The Clash. I'm jealous.
Hot Tuna - did they suck or what!
Eric, Todd Rundgren on acid. I'm jealous. And I'd kill to have seen Funkadelic/Parliament. I'll bet that was a blast!
re: Tom Waits - where did yall see him? I saw him in the mid-70s in a tiny (about the size of a large closet) dive in Dallas. He did all of "Searchin' for the Heart of Saturday Night" album. With a stripper.
Also: Your lists reminded me; I did see Zappa a few times; early on, and later with small 'orchestra' and the great Jean Luc Ponty.
Wish I'd seen:
* Pink Floyd (I had tickets for their UmmaGumma tour,but they had their equipment stolen the night before; one of the great musical regrets of my life.)
* Johnny Cash - sigh.
58 - Shark
Dave: "...already been to the KFF. Perhaps I saw you there."
I'm not hard to miss: I wear either my UnAmerican t-shirt -- or the one that says in big letters:
EAT THE RICH.
If you see me, Dave, say hello. We'll go smoke a joint and then I'll whip yer ass in the parkin' lot.
59 - Shark
That was a joke, Dave. I'm non-violent.
60 - Dave Nalle
My Neighbor Shark:I'm not hard to miss: I wear either my UnAmerican t-shirt -- or the one that says in big letters:
EAT THE RICH.
Like that would stand out at the KFF...
My Neighbor Shark: If you see me, Dave, say hello. We'll go smoke a joint and then I'll whip yer ass in the parkin' lot.
I wouldn't want to take advantage of a stoned old hippie, since I haven't indulged in drugs or alcohol in over 20 years as part of my bodily purity campaign.
My Neighbor Shark: That was a joke, Dave. I'm non-violent
Violence is the last resort of the witless.
Dave
61 - Eric Olsen
yeah, the Rundgren thing was outrageous. I lived in a big house with several other roommates and we had a huge Halloween party with the house all decorated and full sound effects - my girlfriend and I left to drive to the concert in the middle of the party and tried to time things so they wouldn't get too weird until we got there. Rundgren had an elaborate stage show where he climbed up a pyramid playing a long guitar solo, then dove off the top of it WHILE STILL PLAYING - we freaked. The drive back was an experience and a half, and then the party went all night.
The Funka-Parliament thang is just one long funk-dance groove every time to this day, but was most colorful, lively, freaky in the '70s.
62 - Mark Saleski
dang, forgot a few:
Tom Waits (just a few years ago, Mule Variations tour)
Cheap Trick (many, many times)
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jeff Beck
Rush
i have to say that the Tom Waits show just about blew the top of my head clean off.
it rocketed right to the #2 all-time best damned show i've ever attended (which is one of several Springsteen shows...either the one where Southside Johnny came out to do "I Don't Want To Go Home" (christ, it's makin' me tear up just thinkin' about it) or the boston show where they ended with Peter Wolf doing "Dirty Water".
phew! i'm all misty over here!
63 - Tim Hall
Eric, you got to see Yes and BOC in their 70s prime, when I've only seen them more recently on the nostalgia circuit.
Interesting that Yes can still fill enormodomes despite having not put out much in the way of good music since the early 80s, while BOC are now reduced to playing small clubs.
64 - Mark Saleski
i saw BOC on the Spectres tour. this was when they had the insane laser show that later had to be toned down for safety reasons.
i've also seen them in small club (the Middle East, cambridge ma).
it was very cool to see a one-huge band playing a little room. also, i think they play better now than back in the so-called day.
65 - Eric Olsen
I saw BOC a few times, most notably in a smallish club in Peoria Ill in the later '70s where my then-girlfriend lived - we also saw Cheap Trick there
Mark reminded me I saw Southside Johnny at least twice in the '70s: terrific shows, full of heart and horns and a really plain-looking guy with a truly great voice
And Tim, Yes was pretty spectacular around maybe '76 or '77 - the '70s are much maligned but there was an awful lot going on as far as I'm concerned.
I saw Waits and Redbone together, highly theatrical both in completely opposite ways: Redbone, solo with his guitar barely ever looking up from under his hat, Waits with a small combo LIVED every song - that was later '70s in Cleveland
66 - Mark Saleski
E, did you see Southside at the blossom?
several songs on their live record were recorded there.
67 - wally bangs
The only chance I've had to see the mighty BOC was in 1985 at a multi-band amphitheatre show in Nashville. The crowd had been pretty normal for most of the day long event - the best acts being Greg Kihn, Carl Perkins, and Nashville's Walk The West - until BOC hit the stage and all of a sudden the seats were filled with bikers that most have been drinking alcohol in the parking lot for most of the time. At first we were a little bit scared of them, but as soon as they saw we had sat through all of the crap just to see BOC they accepted all of my geeky friends and myself. It was a total blast.
68 - Tim Hall
I believe the moribund nature of mainstream rock nowadays is a direct consequence of the malignment of 70s.
Rather than just reining in the worst excesses, mainstream 80s music threw the baby out with the bathwater, and British music has been in decline ever since.
69 - Eric Olsen
interesting point Tim, and if "malignment" isn't a word, it sure as hell should be!
Mark, I recall theater rather than outdoor settings for the Johnnies - Miami Steve was with them for at least the first show
70 - Mark Saleski
doesn't beat Southside with Springsteen at the Richfield, but it's close!
71 - Eric Berlin
Mark - I've always wondered what The Middle East is like as one of the best live albums I've ever heard, The Mighty Mighty Boss Tones' Live from the Middle East, was recorded there over a few nights. I believe they still do several shows there every year for close friends and old time fans around the holidays.
72 - Mark Saleski
the Middle East is just a big 'ole room in the basement below the Middle East restaurant.
somebody told me it used to be a bowling alley.
pretty cool place to see a band though.
73 - adam
From 1972-3, London.
Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon).
David Bowie.
Neil Young.
Ike and Tina Turner.
Elton John.
Roxy Music.
Mahavishnu Orchestra (best musicians).
Lou Reed.
Eagles.
Stones.
The Who.
Van Morrison.
Only the greats.
74 - Marty Thau
How's this:
Elvis, Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. in Las Vegas
Velvet Underground at Electric Circus
Springsteen & Bob Marley at Max's Kansas City
NY Dolls at Mercer Arts Center
Concert for Bangladesh/MSG
Janis Joplin/Fillmore West
Van Morrison/Fillmore East
Grateful Dead/Fillmore East
Police & Damned at CBGBs
75 - Marty Thau
More:
Clash at Music Machine in London
Cramps, Patti Smith, Ramones, Talking Heads, Mink DeVille, Suicide at CBGBs
Tina Turner at Ritz in New York
Eurythmics at Ritz in New York
Beatles at Billboard Magazine party in '64
Rod Stewart at Wembley in London