No Beatles, No Stones in '07
It's always difficult to begin a project without both being too intense about it as well as not trying to be too gullible to think that people are going to listen to what you're going to do. Having said that I would like to thank you for coming by this blog and taking time to see what maybe the craziest, if not the stupidest idea in rock journalism ever. I need to admit that I'm not a very good "rock" critic. I'm not really hip. I get into bands very late in their careers and I am generally skeptical of buzz. I do read Spin, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly religiously but then are they really the purveyors of correct opinions, maybe not. I was one of those people who really thought Pitchfork was good in '01 but then again I didn't really know the type of backlash that sight was going to get and a "cooler" friend told me about it to begin with. I also didn't like "overrated" acts like What Makes Milwaukee Famous or Sufjan Stevens until I saw them on Austin City Limits. I know that this kills my credibility but does that matter.
Having said that I love music. With a passion. An awful, super obsessive, pissed that High Fidelity was made into a movie set in the United States b/c they wouldn't mention the Stiff Little Fingers passion. My politics and music tastes align a lot...and that is the reason that I am writing another blog about the Clash.
The boredom is creeping over you I know but I think you should know that this Clash blog is going to be different. Turn to page 58 of your December 2006 copy of Spin. I'll wait while you get it from the magazine rack in the bathroom. Got it. If you don't, don't buy it, it's the one with the cover shot of Robert Planet and three rejects from Graham Parson's backing band...I mean it's the one with the Killers on the cover. Okay, everyone on page 58. This is an article about making everyone on your Christmas list happy with a boxset. This by the way is lame but necessary music journalism. But think about it this way, if the New Yorker has its yearly boxset list, this is not something that should be done anymore. The first boxset featured is the much-ballyhooed Clash: the Singles set. Every Clash single in a plastic case, don't they use oil to make plastic, either on CD or on 19 45s. If you don't own these songs already you’re not a Clash fan. If you don't own these songs on vinyl already you're a poor Clash fan, like me. (Is there any other type of Clash fan?)
Anyway the Clash blurb ends with the statement that the box is for anyone "for whom there are no Elvis, Beatles, or Rolling Stones in 2007.” And if you haven't gotten much from the title of this post or the URL of this blog, I'm one of those people.
But what does that mean and why blog about it or even worse, what's with this no Beatles no Stones crap. I'll try to explain.
In late February of 1977 as the Clash were working on their self titled debut album they released their first single, the touchstone "White Riot," which as so many more eloquent people before me have pointed out is not about White Power. The B-side to that song, which you can find on the aforementioned singles boxset is a song by the title "1977". The song, though not heard in the United States was something of a rallying cry to the Punk of '77 to realize that even rocks "old guard." The lyrics that are now so famous are:
Danger stranger
You better paint your face
No Elvis, Beatles, or the rolling stones
In 1977
And though Strummer and Jones could both say later in their careers that the Beatles are a band that they did listen to there was change in the air.
Or not. But the question is now, thirty years later, can there be a year without the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis? That's what this undertaking is going to be. I'm going to try to avoid the Beatles, the Stones and Elvis for a whole year. I know in a media saturated society that I won't be able to do it completely but I am going to document how many time without trying we interact with this acts during a whole year. I have set a couple ground rules:
1.) I will go about my life in a normal way (i.e. if I run into a reference to the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis I'm not going to go running out of a room like a screaming idiot).
2.) If I come across the reference in print I will stop reading whatever it is that I am reading. If it is a newspaper or magazine article I will just move on to the next article after noting that a reference has been made. If it is a book I will stop reading that book.
3.) I will not listen to albums by the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis for one year. This will be hard as Exile on Main Street is one of my favorite albums of all time, but then I haven't listened to it for months now so it shouldn't be that much harder to keep going.
4.) If a Stones, Beatles or Elvis song is on the radio and I am listening alone then I will change the station. If Susan is with me then I will let her be the only one in charge of the radio. Anytime that one of these songs is played I will make it here on the blog.
5.) A trip to Cleveland for their Clash exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been planned for sometime before April. When that happens I will be in Cleveland with a No Beatles/No Stones in '07 t-shirt.
6.) Television will work the same way as radio.
7.) If I am in a movie theatre and a Beatles, Stones or Elvis song comes on the soundtrack if will be marked on the blog. (Are you crazy I'm not going to waste seven bucks and walk out of a theatre?!)
8.) We will not be going to Las Vegas anytime in 2007.
Those should be the only rules. There are a couple things I don't know how to handle. First off I don't know if I also shouldn't listen to solo Ringo, George, John, the Traveling Wilburys, Yoko or Wings. Listening to solo Stones members is just redundant so I'm not so worried about that. Also, the hardest thing about '07 is going to be the press for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. (Why do you have to be in this film Keith, why?)
Well, it took more then a day but that should be it. See you in a couple more for some updates and more about myself.
Having said that I love music. With a passion. An awful, super obsessive, pissed that High Fidelity was made into a movie set in the United States b/c they wouldn't mention the Stiff Little Fingers passion. My politics and music tastes align a lot...and that is the reason that I am writing another blog about the Clash.
The boredom is creeping over you I know but I think you should know that this Clash blog is going to be different. Turn to page 58 of your December 2006 copy of Spin. I'll wait while you get it from the magazine rack in the bathroom. Got it. If you don't, don't buy it, it's the one with the cover shot of Robert Planet and three rejects from Graham Parson's backing band...I mean it's the one with the Killers on the cover. Okay, everyone on page 58. This is an article about making everyone on your Christmas list happy with a boxset. This by the way is lame but necessary music journalism. But think about it this way, if the New Yorker has its yearly boxset list, this is not something that should be done anymore. The first boxset featured is the much-ballyhooed Clash: the Singles set. Every Clash single in a plastic case, don't they use oil to make plastic, either on CD or on 19 45s. If you don't own these songs already you’re not a Clash fan. If you don't own these songs on vinyl already you're a poor Clash fan, like me. (Is there any other type of Clash fan?)
Anyway the Clash blurb ends with the statement that the box is for anyone "for whom there are no Elvis, Beatles, or Rolling Stones in 2007.” And if you haven't gotten much from the title of this post or the URL of this blog, I'm one of those people.
But what does that mean and why blog about it or even worse, what's with this no Beatles no Stones crap. I'll try to explain.
In late February of 1977 as the Clash were working on their self titled debut album they released their first single, the touchstone "White Riot," which as so many more eloquent people before me have pointed out is not about White Power. The B-side to that song, which you can find on the aforementioned singles boxset is a song by the title "1977". The song, though not heard in the United States was something of a rallying cry to the Punk of '77 to realize that even rocks "old guard." The lyrics that are now so famous are:
Danger stranger
You better paint your face
No Elvis, Beatles, or the rolling stones
In 1977
And though Strummer and Jones could both say later in their careers that the Beatles are a band that they did listen to there was change in the air.
Or not. But the question is now, thirty years later, can there be a year without the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis? That's what this undertaking is going to be. I'm going to try to avoid the Beatles, the Stones and Elvis for a whole year. I know in a media saturated society that I won't be able to do it completely but I am going to document how many time without trying we interact with this acts during a whole year. I have set a couple ground rules:
1.) I will go about my life in a normal way (i.e. if I run into a reference to the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis I'm not going to go running out of a room like a screaming idiot).
2.) If I come across the reference in print I will stop reading whatever it is that I am reading. If it is a newspaper or magazine article I will just move on to the next article after noting that a reference has been made. If it is a book I will stop reading that book.
3.) I will not listen to albums by the Beatles, the Stones or Elvis for one year. This will be hard as Exile on Main Street is one of my favorite albums of all time, but then I haven't listened to it for months now so it shouldn't be that much harder to keep going.
4.) If a Stones, Beatles or Elvis song is on the radio and I am listening alone then I will change the station. If Susan is with me then I will let her be the only one in charge of the radio. Anytime that one of these songs is played I will make it here on the blog.
5.) A trip to Cleveland for their Clash exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been planned for sometime before April. When that happens I will be in Cleveland with a No Beatles/No Stones in '07 t-shirt.
6.) Television will work the same way as radio.
7.) If I am in a movie theatre and a Beatles, Stones or Elvis song comes on the soundtrack if will be marked on the blog. (Are you crazy I'm not going to waste seven bucks and walk out of a theatre?!)
8.) We will not be going to Las Vegas anytime in 2007.
Those should be the only rules. There are a couple things I don't know how to handle. First off I don't know if I also shouldn't listen to solo Ringo, George, John, the Traveling Wilburys, Yoko or Wings. Listening to solo Stones members is just redundant so I'm not so worried about that. Also, the hardest thing about '07 is going to be the press for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. (Why do you have to be in this film Keith, why?)
Well, it took more then a day but that should be it. See you in a couple more for some updates and more about myself.
posted by J Gall. at 8:32 AM
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