December 8 1980
The day we lost Lennon
I think it is the recent death of Michael Jackson, and the outpouring of grief of people who were his devoted fans that really draws me back almost 30 years to the day that I lost one of the icons of my youth. I remember when Elvis died. Both of my then sister-in-laws were he Elvis fans. I had a hard time comprehending why they were so upset over the loss of a pop singer, and probably said some joking things that I, then, thought was funny, but in retrospect, were cruel to those were his devotees.
I learned that lesson on December 8, 1980.
I was about 1 ½ years into my first teaching job. In August I had moved into a house in Sapulpa with my asst. coach and friend, Bud Sexson. We shared a small rental house and spent most of our free time around sports. We both coached Junior High football and he coached wrestling in the winter. I was free until spring track.
On Monday nights, we settled in the living room, Monday Night Football on the television. I usually had on headphones, listening to music and grading as I watched the visual part of the game. I must admit I had never been a big fan of the broadcasters who narrated the games. Especially Howard Cosell. This was his era in Monday Night Football.
Sometime around 10:30 pm, Bud shook my arm… saying “hey.. you’ve got to hear this. “ I took off the head phones and listened to Cosell make the announcement that apparently John Lennon had been shot.. Bud knew that I was a huge Beatles fan, as evidenced by my Beatles collection, both as a group and solo artists. I was stunned. I left the headphones off waiting for more news about John and the attack.
IT was just a few moments later that Cosell came back on with the tragic news.
“This, we have to say it, remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.”
I was stunned. John, the leader and rebel of the Beatle years was gone. He had just recently released his first new LP in 5 years, “Double Fantasy.” The song, “Just Like Starting Over” was frequent on the airwaves. John, after an absence that he spent as a househusband, caring for his new son born in 1975 on John’s own birthday, was gone.
The television that night was filled with news of Lennon’s death, and very little information about the event. ABC broke into programming to make the announcement. Walter Cronkite relayed the news to a watching population. I sat, switching channels, trying to find out if somehow there had been a mistake in the reporting. Maybe, it was all a big mistake.
I received two calls that night. The first call came from the girl I dated, Cas, who was a student at Kansas University. Cas had seen the news and knowing my feeling about the Beatles, called me to see how I was doing. A then student of mine, Ashley Peck, also called me. She, too, knew of my connection to the Beatles and called to talk with me about the shooting, in case I ahd not heard. Interesting, that today, after nearly 30 years, cas and I are still good friends and Ash and I have been married for 22 years.
The next few days, grieving fans swallowed the area around the Dakota apartments, where Yoko and son, Sean, lived. Flowers and pictures decorated the entrance to the apartments where the fatal shooting had occurred. People sang John’s songs and stood, in mass shock at the loss of a cultural icon. Who, alive then, did not have some memory attached to a song by John or the Beatles?
There was no funeral for John. He was cremated two days later. Yoko had made this announcement to the world…
"There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean.”
She also requested that the thousands who thronged the area around the Dakotas re-convene on Dec. 14th for a 10 minute, world wide silence for John. 30,000 gathered in London. 100,000 filled Central park. I, along with my cousin, Rob, his sisters and others joined scores of people in a silence sponsored by KMOD, the local FM rock station. Me met, somber and quite, as music played form loud speakers, and as the time grew near, the crowd bowed heads in silent remorse, shared by a chain of fans from around the globe.
More news came out about John’s assassin, Mark David Chapman. He had been a Lennon imitator, as far as dress, granny glasses and even marrying a Japanese wife. He sometimes signed his name as John Lennon. But, in Dec., of 1980, Chapman bought a plane ticket from Hawaii to NYC with the twisted plan of killing the man he felt had sold out to materialism.
Chapman waited outside the Dakota apartments the day of the 8th. Lennon was visited by Annie Leibowitz, Rolling Stone photographer who took candid shots of Lennon and Ono. Lennon also gave an interview in which he said that he liked being older and making music for everyone who survived the 60’s. He had just turned 40 on October the 8th of the same year.
At 5 pm, Lennon and Ono left the apartments for a studio session to remix tracks. On the way to his car, Lennon stopped to sign autographs from fans. One of those fans was Chapman, who had Lennon sign on his copy of “Double Fantasy.” Lennon left. Chapman drifted near the apartments, sitting and reading a book.
They were at the studio for several hours and returned to the Dakota at about 10:20 pm (EST). Later, the Dakota doorman said he saw Chapman standing in the shadows nearby. As Ono and Lennon passed by, Chapman stepped out and fired 5 shots, 4 of which struck Lennon in the back. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, even though he was still alive when the rushed him into a car.
Chapman was arrested without a struggle. The doorman had taken his gun and he sat silently waiting for the police. Chapman had been reading the book “The Catcher in The Rye.” Chapman apparently saw himself as the Catcher in th Rye, protecting others from Lennon.
People all over the world mourned John. The remaining Beatles made public statements about John. Paul recorded “Here Today” about John. George recorded “All Those Years Ago” with the help of both Paul and Ringo. Elton John, good friend of John and Yoko, released “Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny).” Even bands like Queen (“”Life is Real”-song for John”), Molly Hatchet (“Fall of the Peacemakers”) and close buddy Harry Nilsson’s “Lay Down Your Arms” either mourned the loss of artist, icon and friend or chided the public on the USA’s easy access gun laws.
Later, in 1984the award winning film, “The Killing Fields,” made the poignant use of the song “Imagine.” I can recall, sitting in the dark theater, tears streaming down my dace as the chords of the song echoed around the theater. The moment in the movie was both touching and memorable, but I think that, too, I shed those tears for the loss I still felt over John’s death.
As Christmas break arrived, Cas drove down to visit me in Sapulpa. I was still in school for a one last day, and occasionally I was called to run a substitute bus route before my classes. She rode with me, sitting in the front seat as I guided the large Orangish-Yellow behemoth (my own Yellow Submarine) along a country route. The young kids, jacketed against the cold Oklahoma December morning, anxious for winter break, jabbered and flirted. The radio, small, tinny speakers set in to the bus walls, strained to be heard above the raucous din.
It was then I heard the three bells that introduced “Just Like Starting Over.” I turned, looking over my shoulder at Cas. Bundled, warm inside the clattery bus, she smiled, acknowledging the song.
“It's time to spread our wings and fly
Don't let another day go by my love
It'll be just like starting over, starting over”
I nodded and smiled back. John is gone, but forever always around me.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
shoudl have been a rock star - top 5 rock wails
The greatest wails in pop music.
I know this is a tough category, but everyone has his or her favorites. I do too. I am a compulsive list maker…. either listing the top 10 LPs ever made to the best guitarists. My list of lists is awesome and of course, one sided. The top 5 actresses or top 10 songs I would perform if I had a band…. It goes on and on.
My list making went so far hat I finally decided to put my list in a physical form and make a CD collection of my favorite tunes, that I labeled “OM.” “Om” is the Hindu word for that musical note that permeates the universe tying all things together. Now, if that doesn’t explain music’s impact… what can? Even my IPOD is names “AUM” which the correct Sanskrit spelling of the westernized word “Om.” It ties the world together. Even Pete Townshend, a Hindu convert long, long ago, and dedicated follower to Baba tried to capture that moment in his song “Pure and Easy.”
“Pure and Easy” tells of the note that can create or destroy. It is everywhere.
“There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend and forever we die”
And, in the song, as it winds into the final chorus, the music pauses and Pete plucks a single note…soft and resonant… the sound of “Om.” That is what these great wails are… they connect to that “Om” in each of us.
As far as wails, I am thinking about the moment in a song when the singer lets go of this wail from way down deep and it causes your whole body to shudder. And, yes, I know there are some amazing wails to choose from. Obviously there are a lot of great contenders, but these 5 are my personal favs.
5. Wilson Picket – Mustang Sally
Picket’s style shows up in a lot of Rand B music and even shows an influence in the music of others on this list like Joe Cocker. His frequent screams and wails throughout the song are at their best when at 2:35 into the song he sings…
“You been runnin all over town
Ooooowwwwww!
I got to put your flat feet on the ground”
A screech that can’t be written in English words that amply describe the sound. No way!
4. Al Green – So Tired of Being Alone
Al Green’s wail is like Mark Knoppler’s guitar (Dire Straits). Sometimes his great guitar playing was so smooth and understated, without a wasted note to take away from the perfection that his songs, like “Sultans of Swing” were based on, that they could easily be lost.
When Al, half way through the song, wails “Yaaaaaaaaa….Baaaabeeeee….” a person can’t help but feel the intense loneliness of the man in the lyrics. Smooth, subtle and chilling.
“Ya baby,
tired of being alone here by myself,
I tell ya, I'm tired baby,
I'm tired of being all wrapt up late at night,
in my dreams, nobody but you, baby”
3. Janis Joplin- Cry Baby
What can you say about this wail? The songs starts with the simple bomp bomp bomp of guitar and then ….
“Cryyyyy…eiiii…eiii… Baby!” the wail building higher and higher as she begins the blues tune with a fiery blast of Texas summer heat! You can feel sadness and desperation in that few moments of cry that speak of loneliness and long nights of whiskey and cigarettes. Janis sings in her rat-a-tat style of conversation, trying to convince her desired lover. No better blues wail than Janis. Gone far, far too soon.
2. Joe Cocker _ A Little Help From My Friends
The film of Cocker singing this song at Woodstock in 1969 is captivating. The happy-go-lucky Ringo tune from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” becomes a bluesy and black gospel-sounding anthem.
Joe writhes and twist, contorted as he is completely absorbed by the song, much of the lyrics almost obscured by his growling delivery.
Many people, when they first heard the song by Cocker were surprised that it was a white English man singing instead of an American Black man.
At about 3:45 into the song, the guitar builds, and the back ground chorus sings “Do You Need Anybody?” In the Beatles version, the answer from Ringo is “I Ned somebody to love,” but ti is at that point that Cocker, leans back, and from the deep dark recesses of his souls simply answers with :Waaahhhhh-ahhhhh ahhhhh-ahhhhhhh… yeah! Yeah! yeah!” Beyond words, how much he needs someone to love.
I saw Cocker live a couple years ago, and even though his stage movements have seemed a bit more muted, man, can that guy still wail!
1. The Who- Won’t Get Fooled Again
Roger Daltrey hs always been a master of the rock scream. “My Generation,” “Pin Ball Wizard,” or “Baba O’Reilly,” Roger’s powerful voice defined the sound of the Who as an integral fourth. Twonshend’s windmill guitars, Enthwistle’s thundering bass, Moon’s energetic drums blended with Roger in a true “Om” experience.
In 1971, Townsehnd penned a rock opera called “Lifehouse.” It, as a total work, would not see the light of day until a solo Townshend rerecorded it in the 1990’s as a continuing work. It had the idea of “Om” as it’s basis, and many of the tunes he penned for it came out on his first solo LP (Who Came First) and on the Who’s great 1971 LP “Who’s Next.”
Perhaps the most seminal of those cuts is “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” The 8 ½ minute song on politics that announces, “Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss” begins with a crashing windmill guitar, and then followed by synthesized computer sounds. The bass and drums join in as Roger screams …
“I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again”
The song builds and builds, as Pete dances, bounces across the stage wind milling through chorus after chorus. Finally, a long musical interlude dies away to leave only the computer sounds playing. In the 2 times I have been lucky enough to see them play this song live, the band left the stage, and smoke rolled across the stage as light played across the darkened stage. It seems almost a good place form the song to wind down into fadeout, but it ignites back to life.
In Kansas City Arrowhead stadium, on their 25th anniversary tour, the drums broke the sound of the computer with a couple of disconnected rolls. Then as the drums rose to a pitch, Pete Townshend came flying through the air in a windmill power slide! The crunching guitar and Roger’s “:yyyoooooooowwwwwwwww!” split the air and the band finished the song in a pounding sledgehammer finish.
That song, every time it plays, still sends shivers up my spine. I still see Pete sliding across the stage in mid guitar riff and Roger stepping through the smoke, hand held high , blond fleece of hair as he roared across the late night Midwestern night.
Whew….
Following the events of 9/11, the Who played the Concert for New York (Oct. 2001). It was amazing. They played 4 songs, three of which were from “Who’s Next.” They followed several great performances, but it was that song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” that seemed to ignite the crowd in a sort of “We are of one accord” attitude.
The bass thundered. Roger screamed out his lyrics and Pete, like a kid without his Ritilin, bounced around the stage still powering the song with his signature windmill.
“We Won’t Be Fooled Again!”
I know this is a tough category, but everyone has his or her favorites. I do too. I am a compulsive list maker…. either listing the top 10 LPs ever made to the best guitarists. My list of lists is awesome and of course, one sided. The top 5 actresses or top 10 songs I would perform if I had a band…. It goes on and on.
My list making went so far hat I finally decided to put my list in a physical form and make a CD collection of my favorite tunes, that I labeled “OM.” “Om” is the Hindu word for that musical note that permeates the universe tying all things together. Now, if that doesn’t explain music’s impact… what can? Even my IPOD is names “AUM” which the correct Sanskrit spelling of the westernized word “Om.” It ties the world together. Even Pete Townshend, a Hindu convert long, long ago, and dedicated follower to Baba tried to capture that moment in his song “Pure and Easy.”
“Pure and Easy” tells of the note that can create or destroy. It is everywhere.
“There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend and forever we die”
And, in the song, as it winds into the final chorus, the music pauses and Pete plucks a single note…soft and resonant… the sound of “Om.” That is what these great wails are… they connect to that “Om” in each of us.
As far as wails, I am thinking about the moment in a song when the singer lets go of this wail from way down deep and it causes your whole body to shudder. And, yes, I know there are some amazing wails to choose from. Obviously there are a lot of great contenders, but these 5 are my personal favs.
5. Wilson Picket – Mustang Sally
Picket’s style shows up in a lot of Rand B music and even shows an influence in the music of others on this list like Joe Cocker. His frequent screams and wails throughout the song are at their best when at 2:35 into the song he sings…
“You been runnin all over town
Ooooowwwwww!
I got to put your flat feet on the ground”
A screech that can’t be written in English words that amply describe the sound. No way!
4. Al Green – So Tired of Being Alone
Al Green’s wail is like Mark Knoppler’s guitar (Dire Straits). Sometimes his great guitar playing was so smooth and understated, without a wasted note to take away from the perfection that his songs, like “Sultans of Swing” were based on, that they could easily be lost.
When Al, half way through the song, wails “Yaaaaaaaaa….Baaaabeeeee….” a person can’t help but feel the intense loneliness of the man in the lyrics. Smooth, subtle and chilling.
“Ya baby,
tired of being alone here by myself,
I tell ya, I'm tired baby,
I'm tired of being all wrapt up late at night,
in my dreams, nobody but you, baby”
3. Janis Joplin- Cry Baby
What can you say about this wail? The songs starts with the simple bomp bomp bomp of guitar and then ….
“Cryyyyy…eiiii…eiii… Baby!” the wail building higher and higher as she begins the blues tune with a fiery blast of Texas summer heat! You can feel sadness and desperation in that few moments of cry that speak of loneliness and long nights of whiskey and cigarettes. Janis sings in her rat-a-tat style of conversation, trying to convince her desired lover. No better blues wail than Janis. Gone far, far too soon.
2. Joe Cocker _ A Little Help From My Friends
The film of Cocker singing this song at Woodstock in 1969 is captivating. The happy-go-lucky Ringo tune from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” becomes a bluesy and black gospel-sounding anthem.
Joe writhes and twist, contorted as he is completely absorbed by the song, much of the lyrics almost obscured by his growling delivery.
Many people, when they first heard the song by Cocker were surprised that it was a white English man singing instead of an American Black man.
At about 3:45 into the song, the guitar builds, and the back ground chorus sings “Do You Need Anybody?” In the Beatles version, the answer from Ringo is “I Ned somebody to love,” but ti is at that point that Cocker, leans back, and from the deep dark recesses of his souls simply answers with :Waaahhhhh-ahhhhh ahhhhh-ahhhhhhh… yeah! Yeah! yeah!” Beyond words, how much he needs someone to love.
I saw Cocker live a couple years ago, and even though his stage movements have seemed a bit more muted, man, can that guy still wail!
1. The Who- Won’t Get Fooled Again
Roger Daltrey hs always been a master of the rock scream. “My Generation,” “Pin Ball Wizard,” or “Baba O’Reilly,” Roger’s powerful voice defined the sound of the Who as an integral fourth. Twonshend’s windmill guitars, Enthwistle’s thundering bass, Moon’s energetic drums blended with Roger in a true “Om” experience.
In 1971, Townsehnd penned a rock opera called “Lifehouse.” It, as a total work, would not see the light of day until a solo Townshend rerecorded it in the 1990’s as a continuing work. It had the idea of “Om” as it’s basis, and many of the tunes he penned for it came out on his first solo LP (Who Came First) and on the Who’s great 1971 LP “Who’s Next.”
Perhaps the most seminal of those cuts is “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” The 8 ½ minute song on politics that announces, “Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss” begins with a crashing windmill guitar, and then followed by synthesized computer sounds. The bass and drums join in as Roger screams …
“I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again”
The song builds and builds, as Pete dances, bounces across the stage wind milling through chorus after chorus. Finally, a long musical interlude dies away to leave only the computer sounds playing. In the 2 times I have been lucky enough to see them play this song live, the band left the stage, and smoke rolled across the stage as light played across the darkened stage. It seems almost a good place form the song to wind down into fadeout, but it ignites back to life.
In Kansas City Arrowhead stadium, on their 25th anniversary tour, the drums broke the sound of the computer with a couple of disconnected rolls. Then as the drums rose to a pitch, Pete Townshend came flying through the air in a windmill power slide! The crunching guitar and Roger’s “:yyyoooooooowwwwwwwww!” split the air and the band finished the song in a pounding sledgehammer finish.
That song, every time it plays, still sends shivers up my spine. I still see Pete sliding across the stage in mid guitar riff and Roger stepping through the smoke, hand held high , blond fleece of hair as he roared across the late night Midwestern night.
Whew….
Following the events of 9/11, the Who played the Concert for New York (Oct. 2001). It was amazing. They played 4 songs, three of which were from “Who’s Next.” They followed several great performances, but it was that song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” that seemed to ignite the crowd in a sort of “We are of one accord” attitude.
The bass thundered. Roger screamed out his lyrics and Pete, like a kid without his Ritilin, bounced around the stage still powering the song with his signature windmill.
“We Won’t Be Fooled Again!”
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Should have been a rock star---Beatles cartoons, Monkees TV and Chinchillas.
Beatles cartoons, Monkees TV and Chinchillas..
In the summer of 1968 I was caught in a conundrum. It was Saturday morning, and I was sitting, along with my younger brothers and sisters and buddy Larry, in my Grandma’s living room floor watching reruns of the Beatles Saturday morning cartoons.
I waited for that broadcast every week! The amount of rock music on television was abysmal, and about all anyone could count on weekly was American Bandstand. It was obviously for dancing and the bands lip-synced through their appearances.
The Beatles Cartoon, was of course, not really the Beatles, but it did fill a hole for the devoted fan. We would sit in front of the TV, watch the short silly clips and then sing along with the songs that each segment revolved around. Sometimes, we played guitar on brooms or sticks. We divided ourselves up as John, Paul, George and Ringo. We did the same with the Monkees TV show, which was simply a live action version of the Beatles cartoon. Sister Mary was Davey Jones; Tim was Mike Nesmith, etc.
We liked to watch at Granny’s because Grandpa had gotten them a color TV. We still had only black and white.
These shws gave us the music that we could only see form time to time on shows like “The Red Skeleton Show” ( I remember seeing Three Dog Night on that show… or is that a dream?), Carol Burnett, or Ed Sullivan. We missed most the Sullivan stuff since it fell during Sunday night church hours for us. Not even an appearance by Beatles or Stones could warrant missing church for rock and roll!
Anyway, back to Saturday morning….in the middle of the show, my older brother Keith came in to tell Mom, me and Grandma that he had a Saturday job for me , cleaning chinchilla cages for a friend of his. As much as I wanted to please my big brother, I also wanted to blurt out “NO!!” I didn’t want to miss those moments of Beatles music and happiness beamed straight from Liverpool into our TV set!
Reluctantly, I put on my shoes and followed Keith to his pickup and away to the chinchilla farm on the outskirts of Kiefer. There we met his buddy Bob and Bob’s uncle Dale, the two enterprising owners of the chinchilla farm. The farm to me was just a building that had stacks and stacks of cages filled with fluffy rat looking creatures. The building smelled of animal crap and Lysol.
I worked for them for several weeks, while Dale, a small chain-smoking figure of a man, guided me through the feeding, pumice baths and cleaning of the farm. After a few weeks, he let me in, then left me to clean and feed on my own. It was cool that he trusted me then, but at the same time, for this 12-year-old boy, the building full of chinchillas suddenly loomed quiet and ominous. I wanted to go home, kick off my shoes and watch Beatle cartoons with everyone else. I wanted to be a kid again, not an employee!
I could hardly wait for the 8 hoys to pass. The 12 dollar check Dale wrote me, at $1.50 an hour, was a pretty good amount for a kid then, but I just wanted to be at home.
The next week, when I went to work, I noticed Dale or Bob had left their radio in the building. I turned it on and immediately the building was less ominous. I played radio station KELI in the morning and KAKC in the afternoon. They were the two competing pop stations on AM radio of the late 60’s.
The workday flew by! I could work faster with the radio, and I was definitely no longer frightened by the loneliness of the day. I sang along with each of the songs. I wailed like a banshee to Steppenwolf! I crooned like McCartney of “Hey Jude.” I could even do, or so I imagined, the synchronized movements behind Diana Ross as the Supremes echoed around the small building. The tunes filled the ammonia tainted air and made my day slide by, even lessening the pain of no Beatles Cartoons with the variety of songs hat pop radio played in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
That was something I truly miss about radio today… it is so genre oriented that many people are never exposed to anything but their favorite flavor. The only place now that comes close to the variety of those 60’s AM stations is an IPOD on shuffle. The band, Ecerclear, captured that in their 2000 song “AM Radio”
“Yeah when things get stupid and I just dont know
Where to find my happy
I listen to my music on the am radio
You can hear the music on a am radio
You can hear the music on a am radio
I like pop, I like soul, I like rock, but I never liked disco
I like pop, I like soul, I like rock, but I never liked disco”
Variety…. Ahhhhh!
Maybe we appreciated that more because we were so desperate to hear and see any music on TV that it all was good to us? I was just as likely to watch the Carpenters when they appeared on a variety show, as I was to watch Three Dog Night. And, yes, I know the words to “Close to You” as well as I know the words to “Born to Be Wild.”
TV was a wasteland for rock music in the beginning. There were a few attempts to create something for this still fledgling genre that was beginning to be a marketing battleground. Dick Clark still reigned supreme for the dance oriented crowd. The change in 1967 became evident when “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” were premiered on his show as promo clips. The former mop tops, secluded for a year from touring appeared in the clips with beards, longer hair and mustaches in psychedelic imagery. Just 4 ½ motnhs before the release of “Sgt. Pepper.”
The Bandstand crowd remarked “I don’t like their hair”, “It was finny” “They were ugly.” “ They went out with the twist” “It was weird” and for the 24 to 26 year old band members, “ they looked like somebody’s grandfather.”
The changes had been unleashed. Dick Clark’s other venture, “Where The Action Is,” 1965-1967, had been a fairly non-offensive early afternoon pop show, showcasing lip-synching bands on the beach. The 30 minute format was fats and interspersed with witty comments by the show’s rotation of performers on call, such as Paul revere and the Raiders. As the mood shifted from the cuddly pop to the more explorative and protest oriented music, “Where the Action Is” died, to be replaced by another Dick Clark show every Saturday afternoon, “Happening 68.” Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay of the Raiders also hosted it.
The show was short lived and by the end of 1969, it had expired and been replaced as the new rock show by a prime time rock, comedy and politics venue called “The Music Scene.” It was hosted by David Steinberg, and as I wrote before, was responsible for my departure from the Boy Scouts in order to see their premiere of the Beatles “Ballad of John and Yoko,’ much to my parent’s chagrin.
It seemed that Rock shows didn’t carry the monetary weight for ads that made prime time run, so after just over a year, even “The Music Scene” died a slow death.
That left us hungry for live music on TV. It seemed like nothing was sustainable and a variety fo late night shows drifted in and out of the doldrums until the two most successful made their appearance on the national TV scene.
In 1972, the late night variety show “The Midnight Special” followed “The Tonight Show” on Friday nights with a long list of rockers, pop stars and disco artists performing live on stage, a which was a big change from the prepackaged performances of bands on other shows. “Midnight Special” lasted till 1981 in it’s 1 ½ hr late night format. Its success at the late night slot prompted a little competition from another channel in the form of “IN Concert” and then “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert..” Both shows eventually fell to the new king on the mountain in 1981.
Now, by the time I was in college in the late 70’s, there were several chances for televised live rock music. “Midnight Special,” “Rock Concert” and even the weekly live music guests on “Saturday Night Live.” Helped fill the void. I had still had the peculiar habit of turning on the stereo while the TV played in a muted mode. Sound and vision. It was as if there had to be more and more stimuli!
In my second year of teaching, 1980-81, my room mate convinced me to invest in cable TV based on the one innovation he was sure I would be drawn to… a 24 hour music television station. Music groups had always prepared promo music video to advertise on shows, such as the “Music Scene’s” airing of “the Ballad of John and Yoko.” I had also watched a Nickelodeon show called “Pop Clips.” It was the brainchild of former Monkee Mike Nesmith who sold the idea to the networks of collecting and airing the band promo clips. It featured the up and coming bands of the late 70’s such as the Police, and experimental and cutting edge music from bands like the Split Enz and “M’. (M’s infamous low tech video of “Pop Musik” which heralded the coming techno brand of New Wave.)
Video did indeed kill the radio Star in August of 1981. VJ’s (video Jocks) and a rotating catalog of edgy and familiar musicians crowded the airwaves and drew me closer and closer to the set. MTV even broadcast in FM stereo that you could also plug into you stereo speakers, freeing you from the tin box distortion of tiny TV sound.
Music had hit TV in a 24-hour format! The music was visualized before your eyes in performance clips, dramatization clips and finally, from Todd Rundgren ( A Wizard A True Star) even completely digitalized, c0mputerized video.
It was a long way from 30 minutes of Beatles cartoons on Saturday morning.
Of course, there were the drawbacks as well. It seemed in the early days that MTV had few black musicians on their shows. Artists complained about the fact that video took away the listeners own interpretations of the songs. Video drove out the unsightly, the fat and ugly musician in favor of the cute, fashionable and visual. Looks over content. Surprise! Surprise!
Now, today, in 2009, MTV has several incarnations and has drifted away from its music format with reality shows, fluff and commercial after commercial. Back where we started, wanting something that is real music.
And where is radio??? Each station crammed into some small marketing formula, owned and operated by sterilized format driven companies.
Ever see the movie “FM?” True today as it was in the 70’s.
Bring back that late night live performance. Bring back rock music uninhibited by the corporate bottom dollar.
I sure would like those Beatles Cartoons back.
In the summer of 1968 I was caught in a conundrum. It was Saturday morning, and I was sitting, along with my younger brothers and sisters and buddy Larry, in my Grandma’s living room floor watching reruns of the Beatles Saturday morning cartoons.
I waited for that broadcast every week! The amount of rock music on television was abysmal, and about all anyone could count on weekly was American Bandstand. It was obviously for dancing and the bands lip-synced through their appearances.
The Beatles Cartoon, was of course, not really the Beatles, but it did fill a hole for the devoted fan. We would sit in front of the TV, watch the short silly clips and then sing along with the songs that each segment revolved around. Sometimes, we played guitar on brooms or sticks. We divided ourselves up as John, Paul, George and Ringo. We did the same with the Monkees TV show, which was simply a live action version of the Beatles cartoon. Sister Mary was Davey Jones; Tim was Mike Nesmith, etc.
We liked to watch at Granny’s because Grandpa had gotten them a color TV. We still had only black and white.
These shws gave us the music that we could only see form time to time on shows like “The Red Skeleton Show” ( I remember seeing Three Dog Night on that show… or is that a dream?), Carol Burnett, or Ed Sullivan. We missed most the Sullivan stuff since it fell during Sunday night church hours for us. Not even an appearance by Beatles or Stones could warrant missing church for rock and roll!
Anyway, back to Saturday morning….in the middle of the show, my older brother Keith came in to tell Mom, me and Grandma that he had a Saturday job for me , cleaning chinchilla cages for a friend of his. As much as I wanted to please my big brother, I also wanted to blurt out “NO!!” I didn’t want to miss those moments of Beatles music and happiness beamed straight from Liverpool into our TV set!
Reluctantly, I put on my shoes and followed Keith to his pickup and away to the chinchilla farm on the outskirts of Kiefer. There we met his buddy Bob and Bob’s uncle Dale, the two enterprising owners of the chinchilla farm. The farm to me was just a building that had stacks and stacks of cages filled with fluffy rat looking creatures. The building smelled of animal crap and Lysol.
I worked for them for several weeks, while Dale, a small chain-smoking figure of a man, guided me through the feeding, pumice baths and cleaning of the farm. After a few weeks, he let me in, then left me to clean and feed on my own. It was cool that he trusted me then, but at the same time, for this 12-year-old boy, the building full of chinchillas suddenly loomed quiet and ominous. I wanted to go home, kick off my shoes and watch Beatle cartoons with everyone else. I wanted to be a kid again, not an employee!
I could hardly wait for the 8 hoys to pass. The 12 dollar check Dale wrote me, at $1.50 an hour, was a pretty good amount for a kid then, but I just wanted to be at home.
The next week, when I went to work, I noticed Dale or Bob had left their radio in the building. I turned it on and immediately the building was less ominous. I played radio station KELI in the morning and KAKC in the afternoon. They were the two competing pop stations on AM radio of the late 60’s.
The workday flew by! I could work faster with the radio, and I was definitely no longer frightened by the loneliness of the day. I sang along with each of the songs. I wailed like a banshee to Steppenwolf! I crooned like McCartney of “Hey Jude.” I could even do, or so I imagined, the synchronized movements behind Diana Ross as the Supremes echoed around the small building. The tunes filled the ammonia tainted air and made my day slide by, even lessening the pain of no Beatles Cartoons with the variety of songs hat pop radio played in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
That was something I truly miss about radio today… it is so genre oriented that many people are never exposed to anything but their favorite flavor. The only place now that comes close to the variety of those 60’s AM stations is an IPOD on shuffle. The band, Ecerclear, captured that in their 2000 song “AM Radio”
“Yeah when things get stupid and I just dont know
Where to find my happy
I listen to my music on the am radio
You can hear the music on a am radio
You can hear the music on a am radio
I like pop, I like soul, I like rock, but I never liked disco
I like pop, I like soul, I like rock, but I never liked disco”
Variety…. Ahhhhh!
Maybe we appreciated that more because we were so desperate to hear and see any music on TV that it all was good to us? I was just as likely to watch the Carpenters when they appeared on a variety show, as I was to watch Three Dog Night. And, yes, I know the words to “Close to You” as well as I know the words to “Born to Be Wild.”
TV was a wasteland for rock music in the beginning. There were a few attempts to create something for this still fledgling genre that was beginning to be a marketing battleground. Dick Clark still reigned supreme for the dance oriented crowd. The change in 1967 became evident when “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” were premiered on his show as promo clips. The former mop tops, secluded for a year from touring appeared in the clips with beards, longer hair and mustaches in psychedelic imagery. Just 4 ½ motnhs before the release of “Sgt. Pepper.”
The Bandstand crowd remarked “I don’t like their hair”, “It was finny” “They were ugly.” “ They went out with the twist” “It was weird” and for the 24 to 26 year old band members, “ they looked like somebody’s grandfather.”
The changes had been unleashed. Dick Clark’s other venture, “Where The Action Is,” 1965-1967, had been a fairly non-offensive early afternoon pop show, showcasing lip-synching bands on the beach. The 30 minute format was fats and interspersed with witty comments by the show’s rotation of performers on call, such as Paul revere and the Raiders. As the mood shifted from the cuddly pop to the more explorative and protest oriented music, “Where the Action Is” died, to be replaced by another Dick Clark show every Saturday afternoon, “Happening 68.” Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay of the Raiders also hosted it.
The show was short lived and by the end of 1969, it had expired and been replaced as the new rock show by a prime time rock, comedy and politics venue called “The Music Scene.” It was hosted by David Steinberg, and as I wrote before, was responsible for my departure from the Boy Scouts in order to see their premiere of the Beatles “Ballad of John and Yoko,’ much to my parent’s chagrin.
It seemed that Rock shows didn’t carry the monetary weight for ads that made prime time run, so after just over a year, even “The Music Scene” died a slow death.
That left us hungry for live music on TV. It seemed like nothing was sustainable and a variety fo late night shows drifted in and out of the doldrums until the two most successful made their appearance on the national TV scene.
In 1972, the late night variety show “The Midnight Special” followed “The Tonight Show” on Friday nights with a long list of rockers, pop stars and disco artists performing live on stage, a which was a big change from the prepackaged performances of bands on other shows. “Midnight Special” lasted till 1981 in it’s 1 ½ hr late night format. Its success at the late night slot prompted a little competition from another channel in the form of “IN Concert” and then “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert..” Both shows eventually fell to the new king on the mountain in 1981.
Now, by the time I was in college in the late 70’s, there were several chances for televised live rock music. “Midnight Special,” “Rock Concert” and even the weekly live music guests on “Saturday Night Live.” Helped fill the void. I had still had the peculiar habit of turning on the stereo while the TV played in a muted mode. Sound and vision. It was as if there had to be more and more stimuli!
In my second year of teaching, 1980-81, my room mate convinced me to invest in cable TV based on the one innovation he was sure I would be drawn to… a 24 hour music television station. Music groups had always prepared promo music video to advertise on shows, such as the “Music Scene’s” airing of “the Ballad of John and Yoko.” I had also watched a Nickelodeon show called “Pop Clips.” It was the brainchild of former Monkee Mike Nesmith who sold the idea to the networks of collecting and airing the band promo clips. It featured the up and coming bands of the late 70’s such as the Police, and experimental and cutting edge music from bands like the Split Enz and “M’. (M’s infamous low tech video of “Pop Musik” which heralded the coming techno brand of New Wave.)
Video did indeed kill the radio Star in August of 1981. VJ’s (video Jocks) and a rotating catalog of edgy and familiar musicians crowded the airwaves and drew me closer and closer to the set. MTV even broadcast in FM stereo that you could also plug into you stereo speakers, freeing you from the tin box distortion of tiny TV sound.
Music had hit TV in a 24-hour format! The music was visualized before your eyes in performance clips, dramatization clips and finally, from Todd Rundgren ( A Wizard A True Star) even completely digitalized, c0mputerized video.
It was a long way from 30 minutes of Beatles cartoons on Saturday morning.
Of course, there were the drawbacks as well. It seemed in the early days that MTV had few black musicians on their shows. Artists complained about the fact that video took away the listeners own interpretations of the songs. Video drove out the unsightly, the fat and ugly musician in favor of the cute, fashionable and visual. Looks over content. Surprise! Surprise!
Now, today, in 2009, MTV has several incarnations and has drifted away from its music format with reality shows, fluff and commercial after commercial. Back where we started, wanting something that is real music.
And where is radio??? Each station crammed into some small marketing formula, owned and operated by sterilized format driven companies.
Ever see the movie “FM?” True today as it was in the 70’s.
Bring back that late night live performance. Bring back rock music uninhibited by the corporate bottom dollar.
I sure would like those Beatles Cartoons back.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
I Should Hva been a rock star - Sgt Pepper Vs Across the UNiverse
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.
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.
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”
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