Alvin Lee Remembered

     And so the first great rock and roller to pass away during 2013 happened today, when the great Alvin Lee lost his life due to complications following surgery. You can't imagine the shock I felt when I logged on to my Twitter account today to find Peter Frampton's comment on Alvin's death- maybe it's the same shock you're feeling now, if this site is the first one to tell you of this? It was a real blow to me. I was just thinking of Ronnie Montrose's death... the epic guitarist of Montrose fame shot himself a year and three days ago from today. I haven't gotten over that yet... and here comes this.

     Alvin was 68 years old. We've lost great rock stars at younger ages but still, any age is too young for the greats, and Alvin was great if anybody was. As well as a handful of other peculiar hair-colored musicians, I call Alvin my red-haired brother... He was a genuinely great guy, an amazing guitar player, a terrific songwriter, and an exciting stage performer. Ten Years After put out the best music of the psychedelic era and some of the very finest British blues, and beyond that, just some very good music in general. Alvin will truly be missed by his many fans- music was never quite the same after him and his legacy will make an impact forever. 

Ten Years After- Woodstock- I'm Going Home

The Possible True Meaning of Hymn For The Dudes

     Describe Mott The Hoople's lyrics in one word. Brilliant, enigmatic, interesting, insightful, confusing, may be some words that come to mind. I for one, will mainly use the first one: Mott The Hoople were brilliant, and Ian Hunter was one of the geniuses of the industry. But of course, with lyrics like these, you will always have people trying to interpret what he was really singing about, and a lot of people will wind up being wrong. I'm gonna tackle one of the greatest Mott songs ever, Hymn for the Dudes, and I'm gonna hope I'm a little closer to the truth than most people get.

     The song in its entirety is pro-Christian: it opens with some really pleasant lyrics:

God ain't jive
For I can see his love as it runs alive

     But the band also express contempt over the false Christians, those who only give a damn about their religion when they're facing tough times and need help, in my personal favorite lyrics from the song.

Oh my sweet instant Christian, you are such a sly clown
Too many questions, no replies now

     So Christianity seems to be a true message of the song. Another, to me, seems to be the life of adolescents, gangs, trouble; common topics in Hunter's writing (AKA, Crash Street Kidds, or even All The Young Dudes, although of course they did not write that themselves.)

Over the fields of barbed wire, the war has just begun

     Reminds me of the Outsiders each and every time.

     But what I feel is the main theme of the song is the glam rock movement. Hunter takes several shots at the stars of the day, who were glitter and glam and no substance. It is commonly believed that these were references to David Bowie, the man who made Mott famous, but I don't think such would be the case, because Ian and Bowie were good friends, and Mott may have just quit the business had Bowie not given them what would become their best and most celebrated song. I believe the lyrics lend themselves more to say, Marc Bolan, or even Mick Jagger. But evidently, they talk about how those stars though they would be the top of the world forever, and Ian warns them that they will lose their identities in fame, and soon they're gonna burn out and nobody's gonna remember them anyway.

I got an idea
Go and tell the superstar all his hairs are turning gray...

     And all the lyrics that follow this emphasize this point, up to:

You ain't the nazz 
You're just a buzz
Some kind of temporary

    While this seems like a direct shot at Bowie, for he uses the word "nazz" in good old Ziggy Stardust, I believe it is more likely to be a shot at Todd Rundgren, who of course, was in the awesome band The Nazz before finding fame as a producer, member of Utopia, and solo artist.
     I believe that the repeated line,

 N' rejoice for the king ain't lost his throne
He's still here. You are not alone

     ...is really a reference to the King himself, Elvis Presley: I think what he is saying is with the glam and the flash groups, a lot of the music coming out had no substance; but don't worry, because Elvis is still Elvis, he's still the king and that won't be changed; and as long as good music exists, there is still hope. Elvis didn't stop being the king throughout the glam rock movement: Ian is saying that real talent stays talent forever and what's great will not change. Quite a reassuring message, when you think about it!

     But Ian Hunter himself, about the song, simply said that it is a song of friendship and support, to the kids who feel alone, and as he wrote it, its true meaning is really his say and his say only. I believe that's the most important message to take out of the song, and so maybe we should just leave it as that.

Underrated Musician #8: Steven Adler

    Somebody who has seen my earlier posts may know I have a certain soft spot for Steven Adler, Guns N' Roses drummer. Now this gives me a chance to talk a little more about why he is one of my absolute favorite musicians ever.

     First and foremost, Steven Adler was a really fantastic musician. I don't think many people ever got how good a drummer he was. His style wasn't loud, boomy and heavy like most metal drummers; instead, he was light, happy, danceable. He brought the swing, the rhythm, the glam and the fun into GNR's signature brand of rock music, which was somewhere between glam, metal, and punk. His personal taste in music centered on KISS, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Mott The Hoople, 60s vocal groups like Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, even funk and soul along the lines of Sly and the Family Stone. He incorporated all these aspects into his own style of music.

    People tend not to realize what kind of an impact a drummer has on a band, but a good drummer is everything. They lay down the foundation of the music, they decide what the best and the rhythm will be, they create the groove and the feel of the music. GNR bassist Duff McKagan considers Adler's sense of grove to be his strong point, and describes the band as having great chemistry during those days, where everybody needed each other and relied on the unity of their musicianship to make the band what it was. When Adler was fired from the band a couple years later, (for reasons I could go on about for quite a while, so I'll save it for a future post) the band lost its last shreds of comradeship, and ultimately sparked the band's downfall.

     Steven was also responsible for the band's songs. He wasn't just involved in the sound, he collaborated immensely to the writing process of their music. Slash now speaks of what Steven's contributions meant to the band, stating that he always had brilliant, creative ideas, and deserved more credit than he got.

     And now, well, this doesn't really impact how good a musician one is, but in Steven's case, is definety worth mentioning, and that piece of information is that Steven was a really, really wonderful guy. He came from a disastrous home life and saw a good share of shit in his time, but he always remained a great guy, talkative and friendly, and to quote Duff again, he was the best friend a guy could every ask for. To me, being such a great guy only makes you enjoy and respect a brilliant musician even more, and Steven Adler epitomizes that in my eyes. Steven is still active in the music business, with his own band like Adler's Appetite, and is still turning out good rock music. (For the record, they're really the only new band whose music is on my iPod.)

The Most Important Bands In Rock History (An Alternate Version)

     Who are the most important bands in rock history is a commonly asked question which usually generates the same few answers: The Beatles, the Stones, etc. And while it cannot be denied that band like those are rock's founding fathers, there are others out there too who made a big impact.

     For example, Slade-not T. Rex- founded the glam movement. While Marc was still strumming his acoustic guitar and singing folk nonsense, Slade were defining the look and the sound of what would become the next generation of Anglo-rock.

     David Bowie and others picked up where those guys left off, but glam didn't last forever, and by 1975, most glam bands were a thing of the past. When glam saw its renaissance in the early 80s, in the LA club scene, it was the doings of a Mr Randy Rhoads, who emulated his hero, Mick Ronson, in hairstyle and dress. The look caught on and we have him to thank for Poison, RATT, and the rest.

     How about that good old British power  metal? I believe we have Rainbow to thank for that. I'm not talking about Stone Cold Rainbow, Can't Let You Go Rainbow, I mean the original Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio. They must have been the first British power metal band: Dio is considered to be the king of the genre, and his early recordings with the band were an obvious influence on the rock bands to come. 

     The roots of punk rock are very commonly debated, but I'm gonna have to give the nod to the Stooges, the MC5, that Detroit stuff, and to Led Zeppelin. Calling me a desperate Zep fan? Maybe I am, but listen closely to Communication Breakdown again and tell me if I'm that wrong.

     There you have it, folks: A slightly different take on an often heard question. I hope my opinion was somewhat justified and that you can take something new out of my unorthodox theories.

Underrated Musician #7: Mick Mars

     Motley Crue are a band best known for a look: larger than life party boys, who were addicted to everything but who lived through it all. They were dangerous, crazy, vile, self-abusive, and dirty. MTV wouldn't play their videos and sometimes, for good reason. They had a wild image, which attracted plenty of bad attention, but it worked, and very well. They became superstars.

     But like I said, the Crue were mostly known for the look. People tend to overlook the fact that they weren't just some Los Angeles partiers, they were actually musicians, and rather good ones too, who wrote a lot of good songs and put out excellent albums.

     I could put any of the musicians of this band in this feature, but I decided to write foremost about Mick Mars because he seems to be the least well known of the band members. It's unusual for a guitarist to be in such a position; a band's unsung hero is usually a bassist or drummer. This is not the case in the Crue because Mars was the most private member of the band- the other three were more known than he, but mostly for their antics, arrests, and romances. 

     While he did not write the songs or direct the videos, Mick was there at the root of all of them. His signature guitar riffs and licks are what begin nearly all Motley Crue songs, they give them their backbone and make them easily identifiable as the work of LA's most infamous group. Maybe music wasn't all the band was about, but it was the band's foundation, and like many similar bands, it takes an unfair backseat to other factors. The band was always about the music to Mick, their shyest member, and it was truly him which made it great all along.

My Complaint About People Who Hate Mainstream Music In Favor Of Crap People Have Never Heard Of

     This message is aimed first and foremost at those pretentious farts who think that commercial music is bullshit, and that it's only worth listening to if 99% of all people have never heard of it before. Music is music is music is music. What makes you happy is your own business, but don't go around telling the world that your taste in music is better than theirs because you choose to listen to less well-known music. Because there are a lot of people out there who do, and to these people...just knock it off. 

     When I'm hanging out, the music I chose to play for myself tends to be the stuff you don't hear on the radio, because if I wanted to hear that stuff, I could just listen to the radio, and I've gotten toured of a good deal of that stuff. I do not consider my taste in music to be superior to the person whose favorite Beatles song is Hey Jude, while mine is The Night Before. It just is, and it doesn't mean anything. (However, I do consider my taste in music to be better than that of the person who listens to Jay-Z and Katy Perry. Understandable...)

     When I'm on my own, I might listen to Tommy Bolin, or Suzanne Vega, or Alcatrazz, or Yngwie Malmsteen. All this stuff I like, and find interesting. But when I throw a party, or when I'm playing music for others to enjoy, I play music that's commercial, fun, and recognizable, because that's the kind of stuff that most people like best, and it's the stuff that reaches the most people. In these cases, I'm inclined to choose Whitesnake, or Cheap Trick, Quiet Riot, KISS, Billy Squier, Bon Jovi. Poison gets a great reaction, people go nuts for Fallen Angel or Cry Tough especially sometimes. People like that stuff and because it's good. Sure, having a taste in music which compromises solely of bands like that is not particularly original, but that is good music, and there's no shame in favoring them.

      So for the handful of people pusher there who are convinced that the best Rolling Stones song is Have You Ever Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadows, well, it's your opinion. But don't cram out down our throats in the name of taste. Music isn't a competition or a religion, it's a matter of taste.