Sgt. Pepper Vs. Across the Universe
In 1978, the movie “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” hit the screens. I’m sure to the movie world, mixing the music of the Beatles with cream of the crop music stars. The movie was a campy romp featuring Sgt. Pepper’s band made up of Peter Frampton, recently made recognizable world wide by his monster biggest selling live album of all time and the reborn Bee Gees, riding the wave of disco mania with their “Nights On Broadway” LP and featured songs in “Saturday Night Fever.” A miracle mad in Hollywood!
Trouble was, it was too slick. A lot of we die hard rock fans, who had a great distain for disco saw the Bee Gees as sellouts. From great tunes like “How Can You mend a Broken Heart” and “I Stared a Joke” to ear splitting high pitched “Nights on Broadway.” Wailing to a soulless disco beat meant not for hearing, but for dancing. While rock always had a certain dance element to it, there was also the underlying rebellious nature of it that seemed pasteurized and homogenized by the disco movement.
Peter Frampton the young prodigy guitarist who played his way to early fame as a guitarist for British rock-Blues band, Humble Pie, had scored big with a masterful solo album, “Frampton.” He followed it with the “Frampton Comes Alive” tour and then dipped his feet into the disco world with the album “I’m In You.” That album and single left his admirers wondering “where did the guitar god go?”
The movie paired the 3 Bee Gees and Frampton as Sgt. Pepper’s band, dressed in slick, shiny disco style marching band uniforms. The cast was rounded out by a few rockers, like Aerosmith, who snarled a decent version of “Come Together,” Alice Cooper and a cameo by Beatle collaborator Billy Preston. More campy roles were filled by Steve Martin, George Burns and a cute blonde Strawberry Fields.
I refused to see it. I couldn’t make myself go to the movie and see Beatles music sung by the enemy. And I didn’t. It was a few years till I finally gave in and watched it on cable TV. I decided I had been right the first time. It was embarrassing. I can’t imagine it did the careers of Frampton or the Bee Gees any good.
Other people tried Beatle songs in their movies over the years, some with success and others a complete failure. A bizarre vision called “All This and World War II” had been released 2 years before “Sgt. Pepper.” It combined film footage of WW II with Beatle songs performed by a collection of artists covering the Beatles. The point of this movie still baffles people. Images of Adolph Hitler at the Eagles Nest while Helen Reddy sang “Fool on the Hill?” All I can think is that someone had a lot of extra money and cheap drugs available. That film defined bizarre and I am sure made the Apple Corps nervous about the use of other Beatles tunes.
Other flicks came and went including a few about kids trying to get into see the Beatles at the 1964 Ed Sullivan broadcast. But the best use of that period was probably the “Ferris Bueller’s day Off” movie of 1986, where th4e lovable Ferris lip-synchs the Beatles version of the old tune “Twist and Shout.” A true highlight moment of that film.
In the succeeding years, Beatle fans watched as Michael Jackson purchased the rights to Beatle songs out from under McCartney and Lennon’s wife Yoko. He licensed them out to a variety of companies to the great distress of the surviving Beatles. There were lawsuits to prevent the actual use of the Beatle performances in commercials.
Finally, in 2001, a movie, which seemed to use the Beatle tunes in an uplifting and sympathetic role found it’s way on to the screen starring Sean Penn as a ‘special’ father called “I Am Sam.” The artists who covered the tunes for that movie made endearing and listenable versions of the beloved tunes. Even the movie ”Pleasantville” featured a surprisingly decent version of “Across the Universe” by Fiona Apple in ‘98.
When I saw the first movie ads for “Across The Universe,” I was instantly energized with hope. The clips contained bits of psychedelia and were voiced by mostly unknown actors. The music leaped from the screen like a familiar friend with a new hairdo. I waited in anticipation for what I hoped would be a gem among so many other pieces of Fool’s Gold.
I was not disappointed. From the first haunting strains of “Girl” sung mournfully by Jude at the seashore, I was entranced. Director Julie Taymor’s vision, like a message form the gods of rock, glittered across the screen in a sequence of 60’s era happenings. The Beatles’ music, not adapted to World War II, or scripted loosely in a fantasy play of the Sgt.’s band, but as a soundtrack for the era from which it was born.
Songs were given new meaning in the screenplay, and characters named for one-time ghosts form the lyrics of the Fab Four such as Jude, Max, Lucy and Prudence. The story chronicles the journey of a Paul McCartney looking Englishman named Jude as he arrives in the states and slowly becomes part of the New York counter culture of the 60’s. Vietnam and protests, race riots and concerts, and even a Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix look-a-like fill in the roles that made the movie more than just a music video.
I was left speechless by the Joe Cocker chameleon cameos as a street person, a pimp and longhaired street preacher as he wailed through a funky version of “Come Together.” Bono as the mind expansion guru Dr. Roberts gave memorable jaunts through “I Am The Walrus” and “Lucy IN The Sky With Diamonds.”
One of the most beautiful moments of the film occurs in wind swept fields as the gang, lying on their backs, sings a haunting version of “Because.” It brought tears to my eyes. I always felt cheated because that was something so amazing that I could never hope to do. So close to the original, where 4 young guys from the working class city of Liverpool managed to make sounds like angels. Amazing.
And in the end, broken hearts and war torn souls are renewed with a “Let It Be” Beatlesque rooftop performance by Sadie and gang. They , faithful to the Beatles, sang the same song the Beatles had used to start their final performance as a 4 man band from that rooftop above Apple headquarters at 3 Saviile Row in 1969; “Don’t Let Me Down.” Jude, in search of his lost love Lucy, makes his way to the roof to begin a soft acapella “All You Need Is Love” that transforms into a victorious statement that, “yes, All You Do Need Is Love.”
Jim Sturgess, as Jude, was amazing. Evan Rachel Wood, even though she was dating Marilyn Manson at the time, sang heart-wrenching versions of “Blackbird” and “If I Fell.” Joe Anderson’s Max wailed like Lennon on “Happiness Is A Warm Gun.”
The most poignant of scenes, tying together the tragedy of both the race riots of the 60’s and the loss of young men in Vietnam came with a gospel version of “Let It Be.” The song morphed into a hymn-spiritual sang with amazing depth and emotion at the funeral of a young black boy. The song, written originally by McCartney as a reference to the mother he lost at an early age, seemed to underscore the great loss felt by so many through the years of racial conflict and war torn families.
What can I say? A beautiful and astounding movie. The soundtrack plays nearly as well as the Beatle albums them selves.
I am humbled by the emotion that bubbled form inside me as I watched, listened and shed tears throughout the film.
Jai Guru Deva.. Nothings Gonna Change My World.
beautiful lyrics, but I ahve to say, their music changed my world.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
I Should Have Been a rock Star - Guitar Fest
Eric Clapton Guitar fest
Ashley, the boys and I traveled to Dallas Texas in June of 2004. The event that drew us there was the huge Eric Clapton Guitar Fest at the Cotton Bowl.
From the first moment I saw ads for the 2-day show, I was drooling over the prospect of seeing so many great guitarists all in one place. Some of them, I had seen live before., Some, I was ready to see and hear for the first time.
Ashley has a way of making things happen even when I feel like there’s no money for it, but we did decide that one day of the show was about all we could afford. The show ran on a Friday and Saturday, and the choice was a tough one.
Fletch, who had just finished his junior year of high school, and listened to a lot of classic rock also wanted to see the show. He and I scanned the lineup and decided that the Saturday show was what we would shoot for. Cor and Ashley had big plans on making the most of a hotel stay, swimming and lazing through the day after dropping us at the fairgrounds. They would also retrieve us late that evening, so she could keep the car that whole day.
Our choice of days meant we would miss a few great artists, such as Johnny Lang, Eric Johnson, Robert Cray and the one I missed most, J.J. Cale, who had penned so many tunes I loved. It was a tough choice for us, but the line-up for Saturday promised to be spectacular.
We drove to Dallas the evening before, MapQuest instructions close at hand. I spent a restless night in the hotel, cell alarm set to get up early and be at the gate awaiting the opening.
The day started out hot, warmer than normal for an early June day in Dallas. Of course, the festival allowed no outside drinks, water included, into the Cotton Bowl. I was really kind of shocked at the age of the stadium. It was the site of the yearly football showdown between U. of Texas and the Sooners, so I guess I expected something more on par with what Memorial Stadium in Norman or the stadium at Austin.
We wandered our way to an entrance, following other early morning devotees. It was like a crowd on the way to see the Pope pass by, or devotees of the Dalli Lama. Each, ranging in ages form teens to gray haired rockers in their sixties, all adorned in their personal favorite concert T-shirts. Everyone wore their colors, advertising either the last time they saw Clapton, or any other of the musicians to appear on stage.
“Clapton is God” I had seen splashed over the pages of “The Rolling Stone” in the 70’s. I had no doubt then as he was the man who wailed on “:Layla,” and provided the pounding guitar to “Sunshine of Your Love.” He even played the guitar solo on the Beatles “While MY Guitar Gently weeps.” Clapton was god, and walked in the circles of other rock gods. Who else could command the lineup he had procured for charity? Only George Harrison’s “Concert for Bandla Desh” and Bob Geldoff’s “Live Aid” had come close.
I had seen Clapton one time before. In the late 70’s he played a show in Tulsa, with a band that at that was made up primarily of Tulsa musicians and imitated much of what people referred to as the Tulsa sound. His first solo album had even featured Leon Russell, another Tulsa legend. His band included Tulsan Jamie Oldaker on drums, Tulsa bassist Carl Radle who had also played on the Dominos LP, backup singer Marcy Levy, who had recorded and performed with Leon. In fact, at one point in his frequent trips to Tulsa, Eric had been arrested in the Tulsa Airport for drunk and disorderly conduct after tossing his bags from the top floor to friends below.
The old concert had been fantastic, with Clapton and guitarist George Terry exchanging licks. For the final encore, Clapton was joined by opening act, blues guitarist Freddie King for a blistering guitar battle. That would be King’s last tour, as he would pass away that December from heart failure at the age of 42.
Fletch and I made our way to the front half of the Cotton Bowl floor. It was covered, to protect the turf, but that covering reflected the sun. It promised to be a hot day, with a sweaty and raucous crowd. I told Fletch that because of the h4eat, he might get his wish for a large, outdoor semi-clad ocean of females! The rising temps, as we waited for the opening acts, promised that.
At just about noon, the MC walked to the front of the stage to introduce Neal Shon and Jonathan Cain of Journey. Neal is a great guitarist, who got his start as a young guy playing for Carlos Santana. Cain came to Journey from the Babys. They opened up the show with a tune that Fletch said would be hard for any of the rest of the bands to beat. Schon and Cain played an amazing blistering version of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child!” It was a greta tribute to Hendrix. The song was later left off the concert DVD. I can only imagine that the Hendrix estate wouldn’t allow it without compensation. I had read they were pretty stingy with Jimi’s tunes.
But, there was no let up in rocking music. Steve Vai an dhis band had a scorched earth policy. They left no survivors. The climax of their set found the entire band at stage front on guitars, each playing the fret board as the other picked. Pretty amazing.
Vai was not someone I ordinarily listened to, but there was no doubt that this guy, whom I knew primarily as the devil’s guitarist from the movie “Crossroads” (not the Brittany Spears same titled flick) played like someone possessed.
We saw Larry Carleton, jazz guitarist who played the lead guitar on Steely dan’s “Peg.” We listened to blues by Jimmy Vaughn, once of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and brother to another guitar legend, Stevie ray Vaughn. Vaugh’s band acted as house band for several of the following acts, including Bo Diddly, Buddy Guy and BB King.
Those blues icons were later joined by John Mayer, who showed he could soar with the eagles, and Clapton in a huge mid jam on the stage. BB seemed unwilling to ever let the jam end, forcing the show behind schedule.
BookerT and the MDG’s palyed and then played behind other rock legends Joe Walsh and Clapton. Walsh, always the clown, as he was when I saw him on a solo tour in the 80’s commented before palying “Rocky Mountain Way,” “If I had known I would have had to play this song so many times, I would have written something else.”
Things mellowed out with Okie product and country star Vince Gill. Vince displayed some fine picking and we saw wife Amy Grant standing just offstage. James Taylor and his smooth voice were joined by Jjerry Douglas on dobro. You can’t help but feel good when Taylor sings.
The day was hot and we drank several expensive bottles of water. The sun beat down and we retreated into the hall of guitars to get a rest from the rays. On the way there, I sighted the first semi-clad female and asked Fletch if this was what he had been waiting for. Unfortunately for my 16 year old, the skimpily dressed woman was older than me and almost as big!
Night fell. Clapton introduced Carlos Santana and the crowd roared. The lights came on to show him beginning the sounds of “Black magic Woman.” Fletch and I, who stood maybe 30 yards from the stage, were suddenly shoved this way and that as crowds of young Hispanics rushed toward the stage. Santana was definitely the highlight of the show for the Hispanic portion of the crowd. After a few songs, Clapton walked on stage to duet with Santana. Spectacular moment.
With time winding down, and a n apparent curfew on sound and lights, Jeff beck made a quick appearance on stage. He and Clapton, both ex-members of the Yardbirds, traded licks to a still standing, but weather beaten crowd.
The weather changed with the darkness and the clouds began to roll overhead. As the stage darkened for the local favorites, ZZ Top, winds whipped at the stage and some drops of rain fell. The plan on the schedule had been for Eric to finish off by playing with the Top, but weather and the curfew forced that guitar duel between Billy Gibbons and Claptoon to await another time.
People know ZZ Top now for their songs like ”Legs” or “sharp Dressed man,” but I have seen them several times early in their career, when Billy would make his guitar whine with the blues. Not any better blues song than his :”Blue jean Blues” from the “Fandango” album. Unfortunately, the LP also contained “Tush,” which was a hit and many later songs imitated that rather than his much better bluesy style.
The show ended, Fletch and I slogged out of the stadium, searching for Ash and Cor and the car.
It had been a spectacular day in guitar heaven.
Fletch and I saw Clapton live again that Fall in OKC. The Randolph family Band opened and he played a fiery set that showed no signs of age.
What guitarist would I still like to see???
Let’s see……
11:50am Neal Schon
12:10pm Steve Vai and his band
12:30pm Sonny Landreth
1:00pm Larry Carlton and his Band
2:00pm John McLaughlin
2:30pm Robert Cray Band
3:00pm Jimmie Vaughan
3:40pm Booker T and the MGs
3:50pm Bo Diddley
4:00pm David Hidalgo
4:30pm Joe Walsh
5:00pm Vince Gill with Jerry Douglas
5:30pm James Taylor and his band
6:00pm Buddy Guy
6:30pm B.B. King
7:00pm Carlos Santana
8:00pm Eric Clapton
9:20pm Jeff Beck with Eric Clapton
9:45pm ZZ Top
Ashley, the boys and I traveled to Dallas Texas in June of 2004. The event that drew us there was the huge Eric Clapton Guitar Fest at the Cotton Bowl.
From the first moment I saw ads for the 2-day show, I was drooling over the prospect of seeing so many great guitarists all in one place. Some of them, I had seen live before., Some, I was ready to see and hear for the first time.
Ashley has a way of making things happen even when I feel like there’s no money for it, but we did decide that one day of the show was about all we could afford. The show ran on a Friday and Saturday, and the choice was a tough one.
Fletch, who had just finished his junior year of high school, and listened to a lot of classic rock also wanted to see the show. He and I scanned the lineup and decided that the Saturday show was what we would shoot for. Cor and Ashley had big plans on making the most of a hotel stay, swimming and lazing through the day after dropping us at the fairgrounds. They would also retrieve us late that evening, so she could keep the car that whole day.
Our choice of days meant we would miss a few great artists, such as Johnny Lang, Eric Johnson, Robert Cray and the one I missed most, J.J. Cale, who had penned so many tunes I loved. It was a tough choice for us, but the line-up for Saturday promised to be spectacular.
We drove to Dallas the evening before, MapQuest instructions close at hand. I spent a restless night in the hotel, cell alarm set to get up early and be at the gate awaiting the opening.
The day started out hot, warmer than normal for an early June day in Dallas. Of course, the festival allowed no outside drinks, water included, into the Cotton Bowl. I was really kind of shocked at the age of the stadium. It was the site of the yearly football showdown between U. of Texas and the Sooners, so I guess I expected something more on par with what Memorial Stadium in Norman or the stadium at Austin.
We wandered our way to an entrance, following other early morning devotees. It was like a crowd on the way to see the Pope pass by, or devotees of the Dalli Lama. Each, ranging in ages form teens to gray haired rockers in their sixties, all adorned in their personal favorite concert T-shirts. Everyone wore their colors, advertising either the last time they saw Clapton, or any other of the musicians to appear on stage.
“Clapton is God” I had seen splashed over the pages of “The Rolling Stone” in the 70’s. I had no doubt then as he was the man who wailed on “:Layla,” and provided the pounding guitar to “Sunshine of Your Love.” He even played the guitar solo on the Beatles “While MY Guitar Gently weeps.” Clapton was god, and walked in the circles of other rock gods. Who else could command the lineup he had procured for charity? Only George Harrison’s “Concert for Bandla Desh” and Bob Geldoff’s “Live Aid” had come close.
I had seen Clapton one time before. In the late 70’s he played a show in Tulsa, with a band that at that was made up primarily of Tulsa musicians and imitated much of what people referred to as the Tulsa sound. His first solo album had even featured Leon Russell, another Tulsa legend. His band included Tulsan Jamie Oldaker on drums, Tulsa bassist Carl Radle who had also played on the Dominos LP, backup singer Marcy Levy, who had recorded and performed with Leon. In fact, at one point in his frequent trips to Tulsa, Eric had been arrested in the Tulsa Airport for drunk and disorderly conduct after tossing his bags from the top floor to friends below.
The old concert had been fantastic, with Clapton and guitarist George Terry exchanging licks. For the final encore, Clapton was joined by opening act, blues guitarist Freddie King for a blistering guitar battle. That would be King’s last tour, as he would pass away that December from heart failure at the age of 42.
Fletch and I made our way to the front half of the Cotton Bowl floor. It was covered, to protect the turf, but that covering reflected the sun. It promised to be a hot day, with a sweaty and raucous crowd. I told Fletch that because of the h4eat, he might get his wish for a large, outdoor semi-clad ocean of females! The rising temps, as we waited for the opening acts, promised that.
At just about noon, the MC walked to the front of the stage to introduce Neal Shon and Jonathan Cain of Journey. Neal is a great guitarist, who got his start as a young guy playing for Carlos Santana. Cain came to Journey from the Babys. They opened up the show with a tune that Fletch said would be hard for any of the rest of the bands to beat. Schon and Cain played an amazing blistering version of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child!” It was a greta tribute to Hendrix. The song was later left off the concert DVD. I can only imagine that the Hendrix estate wouldn’t allow it without compensation. I had read they were pretty stingy with Jimi’s tunes.
But, there was no let up in rocking music. Steve Vai an dhis band had a scorched earth policy. They left no survivors. The climax of their set found the entire band at stage front on guitars, each playing the fret board as the other picked. Pretty amazing.
Vai was not someone I ordinarily listened to, but there was no doubt that this guy, whom I knew primarily as the devil’s guitarist from the movie “Crossroads” (not the Brittany Spears same titled flick) played like someone possessed.
We saw Larry Carleton, jazz guitarist who played the lead guitar on Steely dan’s “Peg.” We listened to blues by Jimmy Vaughn, once of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and brother to another guitar legend, Stevie ray Vaughn. Vaugh’s band acted as house band for several of the following acts, including Bo Diddly, Buddy Guy and BB King.
Those blues icons were later joined by John Mayer, who showed he could soar with the eagles, and Clapton in a huge mid jam on the stage. BB seemed unwilling to ever let the jam end, forcing the show behind schedule.
BookerT and the MDG’s palyed and then played behind other rock legends Joe Walsh and Clapton. Walsh, always the clown, as he was when I saw him on a solo tour in the 80’s commented before palying “Rocky Mountain Way,” “If I had known I would have had to play this song so many times, I would have written something else.”
Things mellowed out with Okie product and country star Vince Gill. Vince displayed some fine picking and we saw wife Amy Grant standing just offstage. James Taylor and his smooth voice were joined by Jjerry Douglas on dobro. You can’t help but feel good when Taylor sings.
The day was hot and we drank several expensive bottles of water. The sun beat down and we retreated into the hall of guitars to get a rest from the rays. On the way there, I sighted the first semi-clad female and asked Fletch if this was what he had been waiting for. Unfortunately for my 16 year old, the skimpily dressed woman was older than me and almost as big!
Night fell. Clapton introduced Carlos Santana and the crowd roared. The lights came on to show him beginning the sounds of “Black magic Woman.” Fletch and I, who stood maybe 30 yards from the stage, were suddenly shoved this way and that as crowds of young Hispanics rushed toward the stage. Santana was definitely the highlight of the show for the Hispanic portion of the crowd. After a few songs, Clapton walked on stage to duet with Santana. Spectacular moment.
With time winding down, and a n apparent curfew on sound and lights, Jeff beck made a quick appearance on stage. He and Clapton, both ex-members of the Yardbirds, traded licks to a still standing, but weather beaten crowd.
The weather changed with the darkness and the clouds began to roll overhead. As the stage darkened for the local favorites, ZZ Top, winds whipped at the stage and some drops of rain fell. The plan on the schedule had been for Eric to finish off by playing with the Top, but weather and the curfew forced that guitar duel between Billy Gibbons and Claptoon to await another time.
People know ZZ Top now for their songs like ”Legs” or “sharp Dressed man,” but I have seen them several times early in their career, when Billy would make his guitar whine with the blues. Not any better blues song than his :”Blue jean Blues” from the “Fandango” album. Unfortunately, the LP also contained “Tush,” which was a hit and many later songs imitated that rather than his much better bluesy style.
The show ended, Fletch and I slogged out of the stadium, searching for Ash and Cor and the car.
It had been a spectacular day in guitar heaven.
Fletch and I saw Clapton live again that Fall in OKC. The Randolph family Band opened and he played a fiery set that showed no signs of age.
What guitarist would I still like to see???
Let’s see……
11:50am Neal Schon
12:10pm Steve Vai and his band
12:30pm Sonny Landreth
1:00pm Larry Carlton and his Band
2:00pm John McLaughlin
2:30pm Robert Cray Band
3:00pm Jimmie Vaughan
3:40pm Booker T and the MGs
3:50pm Bo Diddley
4:00pm David Hidalgo
4:30pm Joe Walsh
5:00pm Vince Gill with Jerry Douglas
5:30pm James Taylor and his band
6:00pm Buddy Guy
6:30pm B.B. King
7:00pm Carlos Santana
8:00pm Eric Clapton
9:20pm Jeff Beck with Eric Clapton
9:45pm ZZ Top
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I Should Hav e been a Rock Star- Turn Me ON Dead Man
Turn Me ON Dead Man
In the late 70’s, the fear of pop music as a carrier wave for satan once again reared its ugly head in the form of back masking allegations.
Seems like TV preachers and touring circus ministers always needed some gimmick to demonize the music ever since rock and roll crawled from the primal ooze in the 50’s. Even then, some DJs refused to play that Devil Music, even calling people like Elvis evil. I wonder what happened to those people when they saw the heavy metal mayhem of the 70’s and 80’s which co-opted Satan, 666 and the upside down cross for their fiery stage shows.
In the early 80’s, then a new teacher, I had several students come to my classes worried and traumatized by a traveling revival minister that preached on the dangers of rock music and its hidden Satanic messages. He played the crowd clip after clip of songs from the Betakes, Led Zeppelin, Styx, Ozzy and Electric Light Orchestra and then reversed the song in his proof of the great satanic conspiracy to steal the souls of the young through rock music.
He also sold tapes. A lot of tapes. Not only did this minister spread his word through the Love offerings given by the crowds each night, but his soul saving cassette tapes loaded with audio proof of the demonic messages made their way from his daring hands to their s, each eager for evidence of the great conspiracy.
Many of these kids were upset. Some told me that the very evening following the sermon, their parents went home, confiscated their Led Zeppelin LPs and destroyed them. Styx went in to the trash. ELO, Black Sabbath and Judas priest followed. Once again, a fever as great as that in 1965 when John Lennon uttered the words to a reporter that he thought a friend, “We’re more popular than Christ.” Lennon’s words jumped up and bit him on the ass a s radio stations in our country, and teamed with hell and brimstone preachers to organize Beatle record burnings and marches to protest Lennon’s smart ass remark outside the concerts.
That was the comment that led my Dad to tell me “Don’t buy any Beatle albums.” I did. Secretly. And funny enough, a few years later, the great fervor forgotten, my own dad remarked after walking into my room, Beatle LP playing, “At least I can understand what they’re saying.”
A girl, who would one day become my wife, loaned me the tape she had bought at the revival. She didn’t believe in it, but wanted my opinion.
I listened to the tape. The minister would play an excerpt from an album, such as the Beatles “White Album,” then play a reversed section after telling the audience what they were about to hear. He suggested to them before their hearing that a message was in that snippet.
To me, it was sort of like this… say someone yells at you from afar and you can’t really hear what they say. The person standing next to you says, ”Oh, they want you to give them a call.” Then suddenly, that collection of unintelligible sounds does make sense. It’s one of those things our minds do, fill in the blanks with the familiar, or, in this case, the suggested.
Number nine, Number nine, Number nine,” became “Turn me on dead man….”
Now, was there some smoke that this fire rose from? Yes.
Sometimes, the best lies actually have a few bits of truth attached to them. Just enough to make the lie something we can see attached to something we can believe.
Two things come to mind that made the revivalists and TV preachers plenty of money and screen time.
The “Paul is Dead conspiracy” paved the way for people to tear apart every tiny bit of music, lyrics and album covers looking for clues of secret messages and hidden facts.
After their 1966 tour, the Beatles left the road. They played their last show in San Francisco in August of ’66. In September, the LP “revolver” came out. Their whole world changed. The mop tops disappeared, replaced by older, more mature bearded Beatles. The next time the world saw them, they had completed and released “The Sgt. Pepper” LP and previewed the song clips “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny lane” on American Bandstand to a gape mouthed clean-cut crowd.
In 1969, the Duke University paper broke a story that included clues that Paul was dead, and that was the true reason for their absence from the road. An imposter, surgically altered to look like Paul in his new hippie styles, had replaced him. They continued to release music, but even that was not the Beatle music of old.
The clues were everywhere, from the cover of the “Abby Road” LP to song lyrics and hidden messages. “I buried Paul” seemed to be heard t at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The freaky song “Revolution 9” was rumored to hold the entire night in question when Paul left angry from a recording session and had a fatal car wreck that took his life.
The hunt was on in earnest. It was helped by the fact that Lennon and George martin, famous Beatle producer had experimented in 1965 and ’66 with tape loops and backwards sections in the songs. "Rain" was the first song to feature a back masked message: "Sunshine … Rain … When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads"; the last line is the reversed first verse of the song. Lennon, in his eternal search for new sounds in the limited studios of the mid 60’s found he could splice out sections, reverese them and get different sounds for not only vocals but also guitars.
The race begins.
Soon, other bands also used the technique.
The idea that it was Satan masquerading as a rock musician probably just falls in line with what rock music has always been. It is a form of not only art, but of rebellion. The youth have their music and it is feared by the parents who don’t understand it. Parents take the comfortable music of their own youth with them, and as always, the parents view the things of their youth as something good, and the things of today as something with less value, and with the power to pervert their children from the narrow path.
There were court cases where Ozzy Osborne and Judas Priest were sued by families who insisted that the subliminal messages in the music forced their children into suicide. Tragic as that was, it was not the music. Other bands, such as Styx and ELO were attacked with the accusations that demonic messages were hidden backwards in their music. ELO’s “Eldorado” LP was supposed to hide demonic messages. From tthat, ELO and other bands struck back in parody. ELO’s 1975 release had intentional and obvious backwards messages including “Turn back, Turn Back, the music is reversible,” “thank you for listening” and “You’re playing me backwards.”
Pink Floyd added their 2 cents worth with the song “Empty Spaces.” In reverse, it said "Hello, hunters. Congratulations. You've just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont." Most people thought they were referring to original member Syd barrett.
Satyx went further and produced a concept album against the whole movement. “Kilroy was here” was based upon a religious movement that forced rock musicians to flee from society.. In 1981, Styx had been accused of putting the backwards message "Satan move through our voices" on the song "Snowblind." Side 2 of “Kilroy..” opens with a song “heavy Metal Poisoning” and contains this line in reverse. "Annuit Cœptis, Novus Ordo Seclorum" ("He approves (or has approved) [our] undertakings", "New Order of the Ages") The LP featured those famous words, “Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto!” The religious movement probably made Styx even more famous due to their response.
What happened to the back masking furor? It settled into a quiet murmur after the PMRC hearings. The parental Music resource Center movement led by Tipper Gore shed a less than favorable light on those attempting to censor the music. No doubt, there was some music out there that probably had little artistic merit or was offensive to much of the population, but the gearings of capitalism took care of most of that early in their careers. Bands like 2-live-crew and their “nasty As They Want To Be” LP faded as fast as their fame had come.
Some bands still use back masking. Tupac, the White Stripes, Weird Al and Linkin Park are just a few of the bands who have employed it to much less than Demonic purpose.
For the curious, there are mile sof files, pretty files of Back masking stories in Wikipedia, and it is a pretty complete job of reporting there. There are also a lot of YouTube videos, especially regarding the messages and “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy.
The challenge is this…. Listen to the backwards songs first without looking to see what it is supposed to be saying. Are you getting a message from Satan or the sudden urge to beat up sheep?
Domo Arrigato, Mr Roboto!
In the late 70’s, the fear of pop music as a carrier wave for satan once again reared its ugly head in the form of back masking allegations.
Seems like TV preachers and touring circus ministers always needed some gimmick to demonize the music ever since rock and roll crawled from the primal ooze in the 50’s. Even then, some DJs refused to play that Devil Music, even calling people like Elvis evil. I wonder what happened to those people when they saw the heavy metal mayhem of the 70’s and 80’s which co-opted Satan, 666 and the upside down cross for their fiery stage shows.
In the early 80’s, then a new teacher, I had several students come to my classes worried and traumatized by a traveling revival minister that preached on the dangers of rock music and its hidden Satanic messages. He played the crowd clip after clip of songs from the Betakes, Led Zeppelin, Styx, Ozzy and Electric Light Orchestra and then reversed the song in his proof of the great satanic conspiracy to steal the souls of the young through rock music.
He also sold tapes. A lot of tapes. Not only did this minister spread his word through the Love offerings given by the crowds each night, but his soul saving cassette tapes loaded with audio proof of the demonic messages made their way from his daring hands to their s, each eager for evidence of the great conspiracy.
Many of these kids were upset. Some told me that the very evening following the sermon, their parents went home, confiscated their Led Zeppelin LPs and destroyed them. Styx went in to the trash. ELO, Black Sabbath and Judas priest followed. Once again, a fever as great as that in 1965 when John Lennon uttered the words to a reporter that he thought a friend, “We’re more popular than Christ.” Lennon’s words jumped up and bit him on the ass a s radio stations in our country, and teamed with hell and brimstone preachers to organize Beatle record burnings and marches to protest Lennon’s smart ass remark outside the concerts.
That was the comment that led my Dad to tell me “Don’t buy any Beatle albums.” I did. Secretly. And funny enough, a few years later, the great fervor forgotten, my own dad remarked after walking into my room, Beatle LP playing, “At least I can understand what they’re saying.”
A girl, who would one day become my wife, loaned me the tape she had bought at the revival. She didn’t believe in it, but wanted my opinion.
I listened to the tape. The minister would play an excerpt from an album, such as the Beatles “White Album,” then play a reversed section after telling the audience what they were about to hear. He suggested to them before their hearing that a message was in that snippet.
To me, it was sort of like this… say someone yells at you from afar and you can’t really hear what they say. The person standing next to you says, ”Oh, they want you to give them a call.” Then suddenly, that collection of unintelligible sounds does make sense. It’s one of those things our minds do, fill in the blanks with the familiar, or, in this case, the suggested.
Number nine, Number nine, Number nine,” became “Turn me on dead man….”
Now, was there some smoke that this fire rose from? Yes.
Sometimes, the best lies actually have a few bits of truth attached to them. Just enough to make the lie something we can see attached to something we can believe.
Two things come to mind that made the revivalists and TV preachers plenty of money and screen time.
The “Paul is Dead conspiracy” paved the way for people to tear apart every tiny bit of music, lyrics and album covers looking for clues of secret messages and hidden facts.
After their 1966 tour, the Beatles left the road. They played their last show in San Francisco in August of ’66. In September, the LP “revolver” came out. Their whole world changed. The mop tops disappeared, replaced by older, more mature bearded Beatles. The next time the world saw them, they had completed and released “The Sgt. Pepper” LP and previewed the song clips “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny lane” on American Bandstand to a gape mouthed clean-cut crowd.
In 1969, the Duke University paper broke a story that included clues that Paul was dead, and that was the true reason for their absence from the road. An imposter, surgically altered to look like Paul in his new hippie styles, had replaced him. They continued to release music, but even that was not the Beatle music of old.
The clues were everywhere, from the cover of the “Abby Road” LP to song lyrics and hidden messages. “I buried Paul” seemed to be heard t at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The freaky song “Revolution 9” was rumored to hold the entire night in question when Paul left angry from a recording session and had a fatal car wreck that took his life.
The hunt was on in earnest. It was helped by the fact that Lennon and George martin, famous Beatle producer had experimented in 1965 and ’66 with tape loops and backwards sections in the songs. "Rain" was the first song to feature a back masked message: "Sunshine … Rain … When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads"; the last line is the reversed first verse of the song. Lennon, in his eternal search for new sounds in the limited studios of the mid 60’s found he could splice out sections, reverese them and get different sounds for not only vocals but also guitars.
The race begins.
Soon, other bands also used the technique.
The idea that it was Satan masquerading as a rock musician probably just falls in line with what rock music has always been. It is a form of not only art, but of rebellion. The youth have their music and it is feared by the parents who don’t understand it. Parents take the comfortable music of their own youth with them, and as always, the parents view the things of their youth as something good, and the things of today as something with less value, and with the power to pervert their children from the narrow path.
There were court cases where Ozzy Osborne and Judas Priest were sued by families who insisted that the subliminal messages in the music forced their children into suicide. Tragic as that was, it was not the music. Other bands, such as Styx and ELO were attacked with the accusations that demonic messages were hidden backwards in their music. ELO’s “Eldorado” LP was supposed to hide demonic messages. From tthat, ELO and other bands struck back in parody. ELO’s 1975 release had intentional and obvious backwards messages including “Turn back, Turn Back, the music is reversible,” “thank you for listening” and “You’re playing me backwards.”
Pink Floyd added their 2 cents worth with the song “Empty Spaces.” In reverse, it said "Hello, hunters. Congratulations. You've just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont." Most people thought they were referring to original member Syd barrett.
Satyx went further and produced a concept album against the whole movement. “Kilroy was here” was based upon a religious movement that forced rock musicians to flee from society.. In 1981, Styx had been accused of putting the backwards message "Satan move through our voices" on the song "Snowblind." Side 2 of “Kilroy..” opens with a song “heavy Metal Poisoning” and contains this line in reverse. "Annuit Cœptis, Novus Ordo Seclorum" ("He approves (or has approved) [our] undertakings", "New Order of the Ages") The LP featured those famous words, “Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto!” The religious movement probably made Styx even more famous due to their response.
What happened to the back masking furor? It settled into a quiet murmur after the PMRC hearings. The parental Music resource Center movement led by Tipper Gore shed a less than favorable light on those attempting to censor the music. No doubt, there was some music out there that probably had little artistic merit or was offensive to much of the population, but the gearings of capitalism took care of most of that early in their careers. Bands like 2-live-crew and their “nasty As They Want To Be” LP faded as fast as their fame had come.
Some bands still use back masking. Tupac, the White Stripes, Weird Al and Linkin Park are just a few of the bands who have employed it to much less than Demonic purpose.
For the curious, there are mile sof files, pretty files of Back masking stories in Wikipedia, and it is a pretty complete job of reporting there. There are also a lot of YouTube videos, especially regarding the messages and “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy.
The challenge is this…. Listen to the backwards songs first without looking to see what it is supposed to be saying. Are you getting a message from Satan or the sudden urge to beat up sheep?
Domo Arrigato, Mr Roboto!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Zen Music Momnent - VooDoo Child
VooDoo Chile ‘09
Driving back to the house from the grocery store. I had just pickled up grocery stuff for the state track meet. It had been a long long day at the end of a hectic week.
Reservations at hotels and places to eat for the track team while we stayed for 3 days in the Oklahoma City area. Tired. Exhausted. Traffic was moving slow with everyone just off work and pushing to get back home to comfort of Cable TV and the 6 o’clock news.
My IPOD was on shuffle and the unseasonable heat beat through the windshield into my face and hands. It was at that moment, deep breath and sigh of resignation, that I heard the first quiet Wah-wah pedal sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s “VooDoo Child.”
Those soft waca-waca sounds turned into the sledgehammer power chords just after my hand, in anticipation, turned the volume high enough to vibrate the little Nissan I sat in, waiting for a green light.
“Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand”
IT is a song that demands that you play air guitar! As Jimi wails both on guitar and vocals, the urgent solo weaving in and out of the repeated power chords, my ahnds at first thumping in time, then my right dropping to my chest to strum in poor imitation of Jimi’s Voodoo cry.
I lift my voice singing…
“If I dont meet you no more in this world then uh
Ill meet ya on the next one
And dont be late
Dont be late”
Unaware now, and uncaring, if the people sitting hot and impatient in the next cars see the idiot patting his hand in time, playing one handed air guitar, face twisted in rock and roll wail. The car becomes my stage. Jimi is my muse. The tired feeling sloughs from me like skin from a snake. I am energized again. My car moves, as the light turns green, maybe a bit too fast along the mile or so to our house. It is hard to keep Jimi Hendrix at 35 miles per hour.
Refreshed, I think, “I’ll see you in the next life, Jimi.” Why???
“cause Im a voodoo child voodoo child
Lord knows I’m a voodoo child”
Driving back to the house from the grocery store. I had just pickled up grocery stuff for the state track meet. It had been a long long day at the end of a hectic week.
Reservations at hotels and places to eat for the track team while we stayed for 3 days in the Oklahoma City area. Tired. Exhausted. Traffic was moving slow with everyone just off work and pushing to get back home to comfort of Cable TV and the 6 o’clock news.
My IPOD was on shuffle and the unseasonable heat beat through the windshield into my face and hands. It was at that moment, deep breath and sigh of resignation, that I heard the first quiet Wah-wah pedal sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s “VooDoo Child.”
Those soft waca-waca sounds turned into the sledgehammer power chords just after my hand, in anticipation, turned the volume high enough to vibrate the little Nissan I sat in, waiting for a green light.
“Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand”
IT is a song that demands that you play air guitar! As Jimi wails both on guitar and vocals, the urgent solo weaving in and out of the repeated power chords, my ahnds at first thumping in time, then my right dropping to my chest to strum in poor imitation of Jimi’s Voodoo cry.
I lift my voice singing…
“If I dont meet you no more in this world then uh
Ill meet ya on the next one
And dont be late
Dont be late”
Unaware now, and uncaring, if the people sitting hot and impatient in the next cars see the idiot patting his hand in time, playing one handed air guitar, face twisted in rock and roll wail. The car becomes my stage. Jimi is my muse. The tired feeling sloughs from me like skin from a snake. I am energized again. My car moves, as the light turns green, maybe a bit too fast along the mile or so to our house. It is hard to keep Jimi Hendrix at 35 miles per hour.
Refreshed, I think, “I’ll see you in the next life, Jimi.” Why???
“cause Im a voodoo child voodoo child
Lord knows I’m a voodoo child”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
