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Archive for June, 2010
Eternal Wisdom (The Wolf Explains the Blues)
Monday, June 28th, 2010The Masters
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010No amazon.com link available. “High Noon Amsterdam” also features guest co-vocals by Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age).
Masters of Reality are really one of those unsung greats. They were never as well-known as they should have been. An absolutely awesome group led by the incredibly talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer, Chris Goss. He produced albums by stoner rock legends Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss. Ginger Baker, from CREAM, even played drums on the second album, “Sunrise on the Sufferbus”.
Ginger Baker is well-known for being very picky and snobbish about his music. I doubt that he would have played on one of their records if there wasn’t something special about them.
I was lucky enough to see the Masters play a show at either The Roxy, or The Whiskey a Go-Go (can’t remember now which one it was?), in about 1988-1989. I do remember that they played great that night. It was a show for mostly record-industry types (I saw Flea from the Red Hot Chili Pepper there) to promote their first album, “The Blue Garden”. I worked at Canterbury Records on Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, California during that time and I got a couple of promo-passes from a WEA (Warner/Electra/Atlantic) Records sales rep. I was already a huge fan of the first album, so I was happy to get those tickets. They were also one of the earliest rock bands on Rick Rubin’s, Def American Records (along with Slayer, The Cult, Danzig, and The Four Horsemen). Def American (now known as “American Records”) was Rick Rubin’s post-Def Jam label. Rick since went on to release all sorts of cool music from Slayer to Johnny Cash.
Enough meaningless details.
Fire one up and enjoy.
Eternal Wisdom (Jello’s Wisdom)
Friday, June 4th, 2010This song was released in 1982 on the Dead Kennedys second full-length album, “Plastic Surgery Disasters”. It’s really sad that Jello’s lyrics still apply, now more than ever, in 2010 (28 years after they were released in 1982)! I don’t generally like politics in music, but the Dead Kennedys (and The Clash) wrote awesome social/political lyrics. Jello’s main goal was always to get you to QUESTION AUTHORITY and THINK FOR YOURSELF. Sounds good to me.
As of today, the oil is still flowing into the Gulf…full speed ahead. If one of their “experimental” (they have no idea how to stop it) fixes doesn’t work soon…it “might” stop by flowing out into the ocean by Christmas 2010 according to B.P.
F*ck Big Oil.
F*ck B.P.
“Moon Over Marin” Lyrics:
The crowded future stings my eyes
I still find time to exercise
In uniform with two white stripes
Unlock my section of the sand
It’s fenced off to the water’s edge
I clamp a gasmask on my head
On my beach at night
Bathe in my moonlight
Another tanker’s hit the rocks
Abandoned to spill out its guts
The sand is laced with sticky glops
O’ Shimmering moonlight sheen upon
The waves and water clogged with oil
White gases steam up from the soil
I squash dead fish between my toes
Try not to step on any bones
I turn around and I go home
I slip back through my basement door
Switch off all that I own below
Dive in my scalding wooden tub
My own beach at night
Electric Moonlight
There will always be a moon
Over Marin
(by Jello Biafra)
F*ck the Military Industrial Complex (both Jello Biafra and President Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed on this one).
“When Ya Get Drafted”
Are you believing the morning papers?
War is coming back in style
There’s generals here, advisors there
And Russians nibbling everywhere
The chessboard’s filling up with red
We make more profits when we blow off their heads
Economy is looking bad
Let’s start another war when ya get drafted
Fan the fires of racist hatred
We want total war when ya get drafted
Drooling fingers
Panic buttons
Playing with missiles like they’re toys
There’s easy money, easy jobs
Especially when you build the bombs
That blow big cities off the map
Just guess who profits when we build ‘em back up
Yeah, what Big Business wants Big Business gets
It wants a war when ya get drafted
Trilateral Commission goonies laugh
and scheme for more when ya get drafted
Call the Army!
Call the Navy!
Stocked with kids from slums when ya get drafted
If you can’t afford a slick attorney
We might make you a spy
Forget your demonstrations
Kids today sit on their ass when ya get drafted
Just a six-pack
And you’re happy
We’re prepared
For when ya get drafted
(by Jello Biafra)
Ike has passed away in 1969, so it must be…Jello for President in 2012!
Top 11 Albums That Should Have Been Bigger
Wednesday, June 2nd, 20101.) Trouble (self-titled) (1990)
2.) Masters of Reality – The Blue Garden (1988)
3.) Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break the Oath (1984)
4.) Badlands (self-titled) (1989)
5.) Armored Saint – Symbol of Salvation (1991)
6.) Lynch Mob – Wicked Sensation (1990)
7.) Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds (1992)
8.) Queens of the Stone Age (self-titled) (1998)
9.) Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun (1992)
10.) Godflesh – Selfless (1994)
11.) King’s X – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989)
In no particular order.
If you look at the release dates of the albums listed here…most of the albums happened to come out from about 1988 to 1994…you know, otherwise known as the “grunge” years (no disrespect to “grunge”, I really liked a lot of those Seattle-bands).
I really liked Nirvana. I even got to see them open up for Dinosaur Jr. in Tijuana, Mexico right in-between the releases of, “Bleach”, and, “Nevermind”. They were really good. But Queens of the Stone Age is ten times the band that Nirvana ever was, and even though QOTSA has done pretty well, sales-wise…Nirvana has done WAY better. I listen to Queens all the time. I hardly ever play any Nirvana. I might as well also mention that even though Soundgarden was really popular in the early-nineties, Nirvana was bigger, and sorry to all you Kurt fans, but Soundgarden was about five times the band that Nirvana ever was.