I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.
September 10, 1984. The Murfreesboro UHF station channel 39 will air The Kids Are Alright tonight. I have been a big fan of The Who since at least 8th grade so I bet I watched channel 39 that evening then switched over to Monday Night Football.
Here's another installment of Monday Music for all of the cool cats out there who know you have to be viewing the web version of this blog to see embedded videos. Per usual it's just tunes I've been digging over the last few weeks or so. We'll start with some quintessential Generation X slacker vibes. I absolutely hated this tune when I first heard it. You'd think I would have been up for it since I had been reading about Beck's antics in Flipside magazine, but it took years for me to grasp it's meta mythic state. What kind I say, I was a loser.
I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me.
I lived on the farm of country music star Jimmy C. Newman for most of my high school years and got to know him and the members of his band. Most of them were Cajuns and they never forget to tell you that often. They were so proud of their culture and I thought they were very cool and interesting. Eventually, by just being around them so much I found myself subconsciously imitating their accent when I spoke with them. I watched Jimmy C. Newman and his band Cajun Country perform many times and much of the appeal of the music was provided by his accordion player Bessyl Duhon who is a legendary musician. This music seeped me into me and I've found myself on a Cajun music kick just this past week. I wish I could find the entire documentary of this which aired on PBS way back in the 70's. This features Louisiana musical giant Nathan Abshire.
Nathan Abshire
Thinking about Jimmy C. Newman naturally leads me to the tune "Alligator Man" which he co-wrote with Floyd Chance. He performed that song at every concert I saw. It's an ace tune and the man who is perhaps my favorite American musician loved to perform it too.
Alex Chilton "Alligator Man" 1998
And now for an upside down question mark with hair. This may have been released in 1990, but it's absolutely perfect music for a montage in an Eighties film. And this video..it's bonkers in the best way.
Steve Vai - I Would Love To
I wish this video was for the full song, but it's the 45 version we get. That will have to do. I find myself singing this song often these days. Black Sabbath was a visionary band. Such a combination of light and heavy in "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath."
They just tell you that you're on your own fill your head all full of lies.
I got The Who "Sell Out" box set and it's amazing. I had always rated the album highly, but immersing oneself in it like a bath of baked beans is truly the way to go. I am obsessing over it like a school kid really. This mono version of "Our Love Was" is just great. And then you've got to hear "I Can See For Miles" too. I hope everyone reading this has a great summer.
Our love was shining like a summer morning.
The Who lip syncing is still great cause they look hip
I couldn't resist any longer. I put my order in for this box set:
Then in July this baby will be coming out. I need to pre-order it soon:
The Who and The Beach Boys go together just fine. The Who are right up there with The Beach Boys on my favorite band of all time. Way ahead of the Beatles. The Beatles aren't even my favorite band from Liverpool. My current read is the Peter Stanfield book on The Who titled A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk. It's a really great book which is as much about pop culture as it is The Who. I highly recommend it.
My ever changing list of favorite bands may change from time to time, but The Who are always there. They're mod, they're pop, they're rhythm & blues, they're heavy metal, they're conceptualists, they're just this great combination. I've seen many people opine they are a band with a lead singer, lead bassist, lead drummer, and lead guitarist (although Pete is more aptly titled a rhythm guitarist), and it's not that far wrong. One of the grandest things about the group is their constant evolution. Pete Townshend's inability to ever be content is to our lasting benefit.
So about that list of favorites. I'm not numbering it since it's in no particular order, but I'll still keep it to 10. This is a list of bands as they pop into my head. Sorry solo artists. You can sit this one out.
The Who
The Beach Boys
Van Halen
Ramones
The Muffs
Cheap Trick
Jimi Hendrix Experience (they were a band! albeit one with a major dude leading the way)
There are only 7 days 'til Christmas, but you've got time for a film flashback to December 18, 1981 to see what was playing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We'll check out the Marbro Drive In first.
There's the college exploitation sub-classic H.O.T.S. about the H.O.T.S. college sorority fending off crooks while taking part in nude skydiving, wet t-shirt contests, strip football, and a pie fight from a hot air balloon to mention some of the highlights. Plus you get Danny Bonaduce too.
When I was younger I used to get Jacqueline Bisset and Adrienne Barbeau mixed up. They were both beautiful ladies and the Marbro features Jacqueline in Together? which has the tagline: "shocking, sensual...without shame!" Maximilian Schell costars and Terence Stamp has two brief scenes. It's sold as an exploitative film, but I'm pretty sure it's a fairly boring drama from what I've read about it. H.O.T.S. and its low brow comedy was probably the better movie in the double feature.
most intellectually stimulating movie of the year
The Cinema_One has horror thriller Wolfen and a late night showing of Quadrophenia which is billed as The Who in Quadra Phenia. Somebody go back in time and get the Cinema_One folks the correct spelling.
There was a spate of werewolf movies in the late 70's and early 80's and Wolfen is a good variant on the theme. A New York cop investigates murders which look more like wild animal attacks. The movie involves Native American wolf spirit legends and is bound to get your heart racing in fear. Albert Finney and Edward James Olmos are great along with Gregory Hines and Diane Venora.
they can sense the rhythm of your blood
Quadrophenia is based on The Who's Quadrophenia album which is about a mod named Jimmy suffering from multiple personality disorder. The movie is absolutely brilliant and would have been awesome to see in the big Cinema_One. Phil Daniels gives a great performance as Jimmy who takes glee in rumbling against rockers in Brighton, but can't stand his parents or his job. Sting, in his first film role, plays the Ace Face. Leslie Ash is Jimmy's love interest. My favorite bit player is Toyah Willcox as Monkey. This movie is a speed fueled masterpiece about youth.
You've got to be somebody
a motion picture for every generation
Phil Daniels = legend
The Martin Twin has some star power with Burt Reynolds in Sharky's Machine and John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in Neighbors. Burt also directed the action crime drama set in Atlanta. It was a decent hit, but I think by now most people were expecting comic performances from Burt so it wasn't as big a hit as it deserved to be. It's a violent Neo-noir classic. Neighbors is just not that good of a film. An obnoxious couple moves next door and comedic conflict ensues. Belushi plays against type as the buttoned up normal guy while Aykroyd is the weird new neighbor. I do have the blu-ray, but more for nostalgic purposes than any other reason.
