Thursday, 31 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Alt US 1980's



The middle of last week, I finished editing Book 2.  So I decided to give myself a week off work and do very, very little.  In fact…I could do anything.  Anything!!!

Problem is, I have a plot hole that I can't rectify.  So I'm stuck in a rut!  Basically - goodies arrive at destination, have to bail out, use escape pods, land and are stuck in a ravaged, suddenly abandoned Tokyo.  Whatever happened was swift, immediate, scary, shocking!  Problem for the heroes, they can't get out because there is a sky shield/dome hanging over their heads.  It's a shield that was used some decade or so earlier to protect the city from nuclear attack - nothing gets in, nothing gets out.  It's been turned off until a 'big bad' takes over the city and switches it back on to keep the govt/army out so they can't be attacked.  

And there's my dilemma.  I need the shield/dome on when they arrive AND to trap in my heroes.  However - HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THROUGH IT!?!?!?!?!  ARGHHHH!!!

So anyway, have been watching some old films.  My library has a whole collection of DVDs that look like they've never been watched so I've been making way through them.  Amongst the stack, I watched REPO MAN with Emilio Estevez and loved it - so off-kilter for 1984.  The other night, I had a hankering to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master.  Both films contain wonderful tunes from alternative / underground US bands from the 1980's.  The stuff that sort of paved the way…was strangely different yet prescient.  

I'd say most the of the bands were highly influential, though at least half of them, never really made it out of their niche (though they are loved and cherished and succoured by their fan bases) and/or made much cash.  Which is quite sad really, but them's the reality.  Some got major label backing and went on to hit the heights briefly, or as REM did, continued to do so.  A few had their moment in the spotlight and left a legacy of powerful, amazing music.  

You might know a couple of songs on here.  You should check 'em all out though.  It's all a bit of a hodgepodge…a bit of connect the dots.  In no way is this definitive or finished.  Hell, once I blog it, I might even add more songs.

But please sift through and give them your attention.  I recommend Jane Says, Sunless Saturday and Anything, Anything….just to ease in to it.

Please!  Listen.  Anything.  Anything!

Enjoy!




Dramarama : Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)             
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azj_AjdNWwY

The Replacements : Left of the Dial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J004aQUKbO4

Bad Brains : Re-ignition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXTE5wAtBzo

Fishbone : Sunless Saturday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B61XAN2Ujw

Nirvana : Even In His Youth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7U_c1_EmV8

Jane's Addiction : Jane Says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjAfYuwmiEo

The Pixies : Where Is My Mind?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iC0YXspJRM

The Pixies : Monkey Gone To Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3iSglbZUM

Wall of Voodoo : Mexican Radio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCEexG9xjw

Wall of Voodoo : Far Side of Crazy 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6_YsP7u-JY

The Dead Kennedys : Holiday In Cambodia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rm-Fu8rBms

Violent Femmes : Blister in the Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-dqW4uBEE

Husker Du : It's Not Funny Anymore 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISGjNeBENXw

REM : It's The End Of The World As We Know It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY

They Might Be Giants : Ana Ng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEjutUbgpH8

Fugazi : Waiting Room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGJFWirQ3ks   LIVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOAXm94VWo

Melvins : Honey Bucket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp5r9qwqpPc

Minor Threat : Straight Edge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMybxAoSvS8

Dinosaur Jr : Feel The Pain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQtZsS9e1Y

Dinosaur Jr : Freak Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxLpEX2bt8w

Minutemen : This Ain't No Picnic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDr25zjd4yM

Sonic Youth : Teen Age Riot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPytYrYqDbA

Mudhoney : Touch Me I'm Sick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGsT_qFMBs

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Friday, 25 July 2014

Plug It In: Ok Go



Finally!  art-rock royalty OK GO release their new track The Writing's On The Wall.

A wildly creative film clip full of illusions and a lush pop sheen.

An amazing video to an amazing song.  Am loving the New Order vibe too.

Cannot wait for the album.










For those who don't remember, OK GO did Here It Goes Again…

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Thursday, 24 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Roxy Music


This week, we're doing something different.

Instead of me doing the sharing, I am very proud to present to you a wonderful co-worker of mine and a massive Roxy Music fan - Rob.

Rob is a kindred spirit.  He's a bloke who loves his music and is a passionate Roxy Music fan.  He also loves a chat, often when making a coffee in the staff room, about bands he's seen and heard, and since he's a couple of years old than me, he's attended some really great gigs, clipped plenty of articles out of magazines and seen some great bands over the years, some that he laments didn't make it as big as they should.  We swap CDs of tunes we might like and sharing stories and songs, well there's a real buzz and it's something I cherish - to be able to sit and gasbag and escape the workplace humdrum. 

Roxy Music were/are a British art rock band, leaning towards sophisticated glam.  Visually and musically, they were very 'cool', with their very early works influencing punk rock, whilst also defining a template for New Wave bands that followed them in their wake, and for electronica acts even to this current day.  Lead by the suave crooner Bryan Ferry the band also included pioneering producer Brian Eno,  guitarist Phil Manzanera, drummer Paul Thompson saxophonist and multi instrumentalist Andy Mackay - all key ingredients in the Roxy Music sound and look.  Eno would leave after the second album after differences with Ferry and have a long and varied career as a producer, recording artist and innovator.

Rob says:  The group's name [Roxy Music] was partly a homage to the titles of old cinemas and dance halls, and partly a pun on the word 'rock'. Ferry had named the band Roxy originally, but after learning of an American band with the same name he changed the name to Roxy Music (other names considered - Rialto, Locarno, Gaumont & Odeon).

Of particular interest, for red blooded males of the era, the album artwork imitated the visual style of classic "girlie" and fashion magazines.  In fact, for their fifth album Siren released in 1975, Rob notes : Bryan [Ferry] saw Jerry Hall  modelling in fashion magazines and was so impressed he asked her to pose on the cover of the album.  Soon after they were an item. She 19; he 30. Engaged after a few months they never set a date and after two years, Mick Jagger stole Jerry's heart.   See…sometimes rock stars don't always get the girl.

With continuous album releases - 8 studio albums in 10 years - and touring.  As frontman and vocalist, Bryan Ferry's persona of being the 'epitome of the suave, jaded Euro-sopisticate' [Ferry was a miner's son], soon he Ferry real and rock lives merged - him becoming a bonafide international rock star, fashion and style icon, who had love affairs with numerous glamorous women. By 1976, the band was in hiatus, but they reconvened in 1978 to mixed critical acclaim but much commercial success.  

In 1981, Roxy Music recorded Jealous Guy as a tribute to Lennon after his 1980 death. The song topped the UK charts for two weeks in March 1981, ironically becoming the band's only No. 1 single. 

I  saw them when they played at the Hordern Pavilion on 30/1/81 when they finished with Jealous Guy Rob continues.  The concert was amazing because straight from the first song every one in the crowd stood on there plastic chairs for the entire concert swaying and singing . I happened to be on holidays at the time so the following night I went by myself this time to see them again. Every one sat down for this one though.

And so we get to the band's swan song - Avalon.  This is the album where I came in.  More Than This is an amazing piece of pop music (and the album reclaimed their critics whilst also being a massive seller).  To this day, More Than This is exhilarating in every way.  

Roxy Music never officially broke up and have toured off and on since 2001.  For many years, Bryan Ferry has led a dual life as singer of the band whilst conducting his own solo career to much success.  Funnily enough, many of the band members have played on a lot of Bryan's solo work, so whilst not actual band 'recordings', Ferry's solo work certainly has contained many elements that made Roxy Music who they were.

Now I'm not sure if Rob wants this to be known, but he is an avid collector and scrap booker of the band's career.  He knows all the names, dates and venues, the hard to find B-sides and can recommend those obscurer tracks tucked in at the backend of Side 2 of an LP.  He's helpfully compiled a list of songs he thinks you should at least check out.  As someone who loves Virginia Plain, Same Old Scene, Love Is The Drug and More Than This, it's a pleasure to delve in to my collection of remastered CDs and sniff out songs I've skipped or ignored for far too long.

Roxy Music are an important band in the scheme of things.  But they're also very listenable.  In a time before the internet, exotic overseas travel and affordable fashion, Roxy Music delivered a dream to teens everywhere.  For Rob, they're a big fat helix in the DNA of his musical journey.  More than this?  Nope.  There's nothing.  Roxy Music are IT!

So from Rob…this week…everyone ROX ON!!!




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Thursday, 17 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Metallica 


When I was a kid, there was two types of music - mainstream and alternative.

Mainstream was basically your Top 40 popular stuff, released on a 'major' label.  Alternative was anything that got released by smaller labels.  As a kid, I had no idea.  The polemic raged and I was forever being told by older kids to ditch the pop stuff and check out this or that.  Eventually, I realised, every one has their bent, their guilty pleasure, and it was a useless exercise planting my feet in either camp - I would just sit on the fence, with a foot in both.  I liked what I listened to, and I listened to what I liked.

Eventually, ironically, many of the so-called alternative bands ended up being mainstream in the 1990's…bands like R.E.M and Nirvana, as well as a thrash heavy quartet that hailed from San Francisco - Metallica.

Metallica built up a ferocious reputation based on speed, thrash metal that blistered ear drums and made long hair, denim clad youth of the 80's raise their fist, bang their head and mosh like there was no tomorrow.  They had a much-copied band logo, thousands of black band t-shirts (Pushead was the major designer) with catchy slogans and toured relentlessly to showcase their raucous skills.

Now up to 1990, Metallica was seen as the pinnacle of alternative, releasing four albums that became templates for the heavy metal scene.  They were considered the greatest metal band never to sell out.  Yet by 1988, with the release of ...And Justice For All, two things happened.  Their song One gained major radio play and earned them positive kudos.  However, with only 8 tracks, the sixty-five minute opus was long and riff laden, and the band  found some of the long song structures had begun to bore them, and having to play the songs on tour each and every night became a slog.

So the band locked themselves away.  Hot Metal magazine (this is wayyyyy before the instant internet era) used to glean month old rumours from overseas and each month, pretty much devoted a column or a page to what Metallica were doing - all just hearsay.  Seriously, along with Guns N Roses recording their Appetite For Destruction albums, the world waited anxiously to see what Metallica did next.  For many, the cardinal sin - before an inch of tape had been heard - was they had signed producer Bob Rock, hot off producing Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood album.  As perfectionists, the band toiled, not caring that the rumour mill was angst ridden and impatient.

And then it arrived.

I still remember sitting up sometime in June/July 1991 because I'd heard Metallica's new song was being debuted on RAGE.  A group of boarding mates waited for it, and then it arrived.  The intro started, the crunch was delivered and somehow one of the biggest metal songs (well, it's now 'hard rock' really) in Enter Sandman was unleashed.  And the funny thing was, lots of people went nuts.  When the new album - Metallica (The Black Album) hit stores, it set sales records and stormed the charts the world over.  Hot Metal printed page after page of release news, tour diaries, live appearances and 'will they, won't they' tour Australia articles.  

For the bong in hand, hard core Metallica fans, this was the moment when Metallica 'sold out'.  However, for the millions who bought it, nobody cared.  And for someone like me, one thing Metallica always did was record great heavy metal/rock covers for their CD singles (Queen, Black Sabbath, Budgie, Misfits, Killing Joke, Motorhead).  In 1992, Metallica hit the zeitgeist and became one of the biggest bands of all time.  Touring relentlessly for three years, Metallica became a household name.  They played the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, they conquered awards shows, they travelled to all four corners of the globe and the men in black took on the world and conquered.  By the time they toured Australia in 1993 with the Snake Pit - an area for fans to get real close to them whilst they blew audiences away - you couldn't avoid them.

The album would glean five MASSIVE singles in Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven (the first - gasp - quasi-ballad!!!), Nothing Else Matters (the first - gasp - real ballad!), Wherever I May Roam and Sad But True.  All lean, riff-a-rolla classic tunes that could blare on the radio and be belted out live each and every night, or sung along to, cigarette lighter held aloft.  But the album still contained Holier Than Thou, Don't Tread On Me, Through The Never, Of Wolf And Man, The God That Failed, My Friend Of Misery and The Struggle Within all bonafide classics.  The album is a corker from start to finish - all 12 tracks and an hour's worth of metal heaven.

After this, Metallica were 'stars'.  They'd tour continuously and release solid 'hard rock' albums in Load and Reload [about the time I said they'd started to sell out].  The single Until It Sleeps (the last Metallica 'classic' IMHO) was remixed by Moby!  By the turn of the century, they were counting their cash, kicking out their bassist, writing song sequels, taking on Napster and selling themselves exclusively to the fans who were willing to part with their cash to join the Metallica online fan club.  I used to be the kind of guy that would buy all 3 versions of a CD single, then look overseas for other 'limited' releases, ending up with at least 100 CD singles and EPs from the band, as well as the limited edition ultra expensive Live box set which was numbered but when it sold out, they just printed more, pi$$ing off heaps of fans.  And when the documentary Some Kind Of Monster came out, detailing their lives, I lost complete interest in them as an entity.

But the Black Album [and the four before it - all huge sellers in the Black Album's wake] continue to succour me when I need a heavy metal fix.  It takes me back to being 15-16, and scratching the Metallica logo on to school desks and dunny doors.  There was an energy, an excitement and 'my' music was leading the charge.  I can only imagine how much money I spent on Metallica paraphernalia, but I'm sure it's enough to keep Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield comfortable in to old age.









If you don't own them - at least buy the album Master Of Puppets - just brilliant.  Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning and …And Justice For All are fantastic too.  Oh, and download Until It Sleeps   [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3WIHtOmkBg ] and One [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc ]





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Thursday, 10 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Thompson Twins


Originally written December 2012...

For Christmas 1984 (our first family Christmas in Indonesia), I got a tape that would change my life.  Thinking back, I believe it is the 'first' album I ever got that was 'mine'.  I played it to death, still have it to this day and love it to infinity and beyond.

That tape was the Ghostbusters soundtrack.

Anyway, this column isn't about that tape.  It's about one of the band's on that tape:  the Thompson Twins.

The song : In The Name Of Love.  It has this kitschy keyboard line, heaps of rhythms and jungle beats.  It was a club hit in the US where they were seen mainly as a curiosity and was tacked on to the Ghostbusters soundtrack.  This catapulted them to stardom and a major album/touring act.

See, the Thompson Twins were one of those massive new-wave 80's pop groups that dominated the airwaves with a slew of dancy, pop songs and were distinct and fashionable.  Probably a year after Xmas 1984, I got another Thompson Twins tape, which was also called In The Name Of Love (it was the US combination of the Thompson Twins first two LPs, Set and A Product Of...).  If I played the Ghostbusters tape to death, then I murdered this one.  Whizzing it back and forth on my Sony Walkman, I felt like the coolest kid in school when our music teacher set us the task of learning Hold Me Now for the school performance.  We had to sing it and play it on xylophones or recorder - I was on xylophone...LOL!

Anyway, Jakarta was a great place to live, because they pirated EVERYTHING and you could get tapes for a dollar.  All these pirated "Greatest Hits" tapes, that basically wedged 10 songs per side on to cassettes, with made up artwork and little song booklets (the lyrics are askew from the person transcribing them AND/OR if they wrote the wrong lyrics they couldn't be sued for copyright breaches!).  So I  got one that slammed all the Thompson Twins hits on to one cassette tape.

It was aural nirvana.

The Thompson Twins, along with Duran Duran, really utilised video, producing out-there, memorable video clips that got huge rotation on the young MTV.  They were in the right place at the right time.  Suddenly, middle America was seeing these new-wave punks on TV and whilst many went WTF?, plenty of kids rallied behind the hooks and the looks.  I remember once seeing an interview with Tom Bailey, the singer, and he said he let people chose for themselves how they liked their music.  But he had been told by fans in staid mid-Western US towns that they were the only kid who dyed their hair, or broke out of the John Cougar Mellencamp mould and saw there was more to small town living.  


I bought all the vinyl in the mid-late 1990's because they always released albums with remix singles and/or cassettes with heaps of B-sides, 12 inch remixes and dance remixes.  And a bit like New Order, they even released differing 7 inch single mixes of their songs in different markets.  You can never get enough mixes of the same songs :-)  It was also impossible to buy their first two albums (when they were still a seven piece collective) as they only hit it big when they trimmed down to a trio and released Quick Step and Side Kick in 1983.  Sadly, they were all in pristine condition in the bargain bins at Lawsons.

Remembered disparagingly by some for their haircuts and 80's fashion, as a trio, their three albums Quick Step and Side Kick, Into The Gap and Here's To Future Days would launch them to the top of many charts.  They released an album a year for five years, but the pressure began to mount.   Tom Bailey had a nervous break down (and was in a relationship with co-band member Alannah Currie - a no no in music) and percussionist Joe Leeway split.  As a duo, they popped out 1986's Close To The Bone and 1989's Big Trash but the hits slowly dried up.  The last popular single was Long Goodbye.  Kind of sums it up.

If you squint at the video of Get That Love, you could pass them off as Roxette.  And they still had a delicious ear for a pop hook.  Sigh.

Then they went techno.  In 1991, they released white label acidic housey tracks anonymously and got HUGE wraps in the music press in the UK until they discovered it was the Thompson Twins.  By now, seen as naff, the album Queer died immediately.  Weird eh?  I'd have thought enjoyable music was enjoyable music.  C'est la vie!  The renamed themselves Babble and released a few ambient albums.  But the game was up.

And back in the day, I used to get Smash Hits and Hit Songwords.  So lame, I know.  But I actually wrote in to a competition and won a LP version of Big Trash, as well as a plastic garbage pail full of lollies and some TT promo gear.  

Now you may be wondering how the Thompson Twins could be 'cool'.  Well here's a list of reasons why:

* They played Live Aid
* Their song If You Were Here appeared on the movie Sixteen Candles.
* Tom Bailey wrote Debbie Harry's I Want That Man.
* They haven't regrouped, or toured for a 80's retro reunion cash in.
* Their catalogue is amazingly diverse.

Then a couple of years ago, they did something wonderful : they remastered ALL the albums PLUS the remix tapes AND B-sides and released 2 disc versions of their first FIVE albums (Set, A Product Of..., Quick Step and Side Kick, Into The Gap and Here's To Future Days.).  Then they bundled them up in one box and I bought two of them.  Ahhhhh...the majesty.

The band members now have different lives.

Alannah Currie is married to a member of the KLF and an upholsterer.
Joe Leeway busies himself with hypnotherpay and neuro-linguistic programming.
Tom Bailey is involved in music and the arts, and charity works.

All remain friends, but they have no interest in re-living their younger, popular music years.  They're proud of their work but like ABBA, they feel they were of a time and a place and have moved on.

For me, they will always be a huge part of my music life.  The amount of nights I laid in bed, reading Choose Your Own Adventure novels listening to them on my Walkman cannot be counted.  That best of tape is so engrained in my head, their songs sequence in my head and when the i-tunes doesn't play the song I expect next, I have to either alter my singing in the shower OR flip to that track and be in synch.  

Of all the 80's bands, the big pop ones, The Thompson Twins would have to be close to being my favourites.  Because they haven't mined their rich legacy and done all the retro stuff, they seemed to be forgotten.  But their legacy should not be forgotten.  I hope there's some kid out there watching these YouTube videos and wondering what it's all about.  If they came to me, I'd just hand over my beat up old walkman and cassette tape and tell 'em to go enjoy.

Addendum - 2014: 

And now Tom Bailey is out there, touring Thompson Twins gear after eschewing the overtures to re-group.

To say I'm excited is an under-fucking-statmement!!!  Mine your back catalogue for all it's worth!!!




In The Name Of Love

Lies

Love On Your Side

We Are Detective

Watching

Hold Me Now

Doctor!  Doctor!

The Gap

You Take Me Up

Lay Your Hands On Me (I had the UK version on my tape...it's the one I love most and prefer) but I'll let you have a choice.

King For A Day

Get That Love

Nothing In Common

Long Goodbye

Sugar Daddy

Come Inside



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That's Entertainment : Goldfrapp


Sometimes you hear a song and abracadabra, it just reaches out and grabs ya!

That's what happened with me, the one and only time I ever saw Goldfrapp's Number 1 on Rage.

It has this wonderful, epic synth line and fairly catchy synth bass/drum that tickles your ears and taps your toes from go to whoa!

And the video clip is hilarious and seductive.  When I was on my honeymoon back in March/April 2006, we were going on a road trip to the Margaret River and I bought the CD Supernature at one of those $10 boutiques and played it pretty much most of the time we had the hire car.  And still today, Number 1 is a go to song for when I want to write anything with a little bit of a romantic slant.

Much like most of Goldrapp's work, baring the turn of the century ambient debut, their's is a mix of retro and contemporary disco pop with the requisite amount of dance floor filling hooks, sexy vibrancy and understated genius.  Lead singer Alison Goldfrapp is a combination of sultry sex poppet and chic goth mistress, with breathy vocals, lipstick stained kisses and feminine superiority.  She's a 'real' pop star - 'wow' and 'eccentric' - hatched out of the similar mould that begat us David Bowie and Marc Bolan amongst others.  Meanwhile, partner in crime Will Gregory is almost reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boy's Chris Lowe - heard but not seen.  He is the keyboardist, producer and composer of much of the duo's material and spent some of the 80's recording and touring with Tears For Fears [as a saxophonist amongst other things] and in the 1990's collaborated with Portishead, Peter Gabriel and The Cure.  To be sure, Goldfrapp's partnership is quite possibly one of the best going around.

Critically acclaimed, popular international sellers (especially in their native UK), they are always bubbling just under the surface with their electronica.  Unable to be pigeonholed, Goldfrapp have been described as cinematic, edgy, ambient and other worldly and at other times, roosty, folky and pop perfection.  Pitchfork Media labelled their debut simultaneously smarmy and seductive, yet elegant and graceful.   It was also called a strange and beautiful mix of the romantic, eerie and world-weary.  And not ones to eschew commercial opportunities, their music is equally at home in cinema and television, whilst Ooh La La was used for a highly successful 2013 Apple I-phone 5s advertising campaign.  

For a long while, TVS used to play live concert films on a Saturday night.  Goldfrapp's Wonderful Electric live set appeared probably every 12 weeks or so (repeated during the week a couple of times).  Their live show was a mix of erotic cabaret - haunting, eclectic yet uplifting and playful - and stylish, energetic synth pop.  Alison Goldfrapp has been blessed with a wonderful set of vocal chords, and she does sound amazingly good live.  

But all in all Goldfrapp are great chill out, relax with a cocktail type of fun.

And if there's one song you listen to, give Number 1 a spin.  You shan't be disappointed.  



The best …


The rest … 

Lovely Head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ggLQckReDk

Utopia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUB7e3BtnvU  

Black Cherry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisI4tBArSw
Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHnYe5Nj0F0

Strict Machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeawPUpTHJA

Ooh La La https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uco-2V4ytYQ

Ride A White Horse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFF8bubMc40

A&E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Ptai9I6eo

Rocket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJppnG1tflU

Alive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdZAkA4VpA

Thea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NqyngadYc8
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Thursday, 3 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Motley Crue


In 1991 when Motley Crue decided to release a sort of 'greatest hits', they titled it Decade of Decadence.  And it literally was.  The sleaziest, grimiest, rockiest band of the decade, Motley Crue had survived heroin overdoses, car crashes, punch ups and global world tours to finish the the 1980's on an absolute high with the multi-platinum Dr Feelgood album.  Taking their glam and punk roots, these snot nosed lads - bassist Nikki Sixx, tub-thumper Tommy Lee and bleached bombshell vocalist Vince Neil - and their older bluesier guitarist - Mick Mars - crawled out of the LA bars and clubs and created some of the most explosive, anthem ridden rock music ever.  

Albums called Too Fast For Love, Shout At The Devil, Theatre of Pain, Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr Feelgood sold by the truck load, spawning countless imitators, claiming a legion of party mad fans whilst infuriating parental groups.  They hogged the MTV spotlight with numerous videos taking their brand of good time snot nosed revelry to the airwaves and shoving it up authority figures.  And whilst they owed much to KISS, the Sex Pistols, Slade and Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue took the baton and ran with it, making glam/hair metal one of the big genres of the mid to late 1980's.  Their power ballad Home Sweet Home was pretty much the template for other rock bands to win over their 'chick' fans and melt hearts.  Their big, dumb and loud live shows ushered in bigger and brasher arena shows.  The sleaze of Girls, Girls, Girls and Wild Side and Same Ol' Situation was every teenage boys fantasy; the machoism of Piece Of Your Action and Kickstart Your Heart a call to arms.  And Shout At The Devil was just baiting.  Myself, attending at a stern boarding school, this was my way to say "F U" and put myself at the front of the line for the daily caning.

Later, they would release the band's biography - The Dirt - all tales of debauched tours, tattoos, strung out recording sessions and sin aplenty - which helped sell concert tickets, LPs and tabloids on the back of their extraordinary rock n roll deeds.  And despite the clownish glam trappings, teased hair and MTV-era excesses, Motley Crue delivered on so many fronts.  As a young teenager, no one seemed more 'rock and roll' than these guys - so much so, my entire boarding school cubicle was decorated top to toe in hundreds of posters gleaned from fanzines and plastered on every conceivable space…a living, breathing scrap book if you please.  My boom-box blasted their sickly treats and I wore their t-shirts with pride and raised the eyebrows of the boarding school masters who wondered what my obsession was.  There was a point when I drove everyone insane with endless repeats of Nona - one minute and twenty-six seconds of pure pop bliss (with orchestration) - a song I would many years later discover was about Nikki Sixx's nan!  Oh, and did I tell you I could air guitar ALL the licks and riffs?!?

With a back catalogue brimming with thrills and spills and numerous pills, Decade Of Decadence (the CD and the Video compilation) hit late 1991.  The single, Primal Scream (one of my all time rock out faves!!!) dropped at about the same time Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was beginning to munch up the airwaves.  You can tell me who was the ultimate winner.  Seismic change was already coming and the over-bloated, long haired hair metal scene was hit a telling blow.  Nikki Sixx saw it coming and at the peak of their powers, on Valentine's Day 1992, he decided to split with Vince Neil the vocalist, and thereby broke my heart (I'm serious…it really, really hurt) and destroyed my youth.  Grunge was it and hair metal was left to RIP.  Things would never be the same.  These days, sure, I rock out.  But I'm pretending I'm fifteen again.  The music is as catchy as the many VDs they probably caught over the years and I can prance about pretending my bald pate is a flowing mane of teased hair and I'm shredding frets.  

And sure, after a self-titled, ego trip of an album with another singer in 1994 trying to get on the 'grunge' bandwagon, Tommy Lee became Pamela Anderson's handbag and Vince Neil finally returned in 1997, but it wasn't the same.  They became caricatures of themselves trashing their legacy and ended up in that cycle of tour/greatest hits package that befalls so many long-term bands where the lawyers keep everyone at bay.  And sure, they lived off their legacy of being 'rock gods', remastering all their great stuff and sure, they dropped the odd piece of pop/rock greatness (2009's Saints of Los Angeles was a stunning return to form) and continued to rub authority the wrong way, but nobody wants to see fifty year old guys acting like teenagers getting their teenage kicks.  

So recently, Motley Crue signed a legal pact amongst the band members that when the current Farewell World Tour was completed, that was it.  It's legally binding - apparently - and quite a stunt.  

I still have the scrap book full of magazine, newspaper cuts, cloth patches and single covers.  I still have the Decade of Decadence laminated promo poster that I had blu tacked on so many walls.  I still have those days when I whack on a Motley-Mix and throw reckless abandon to the wind.  I'm a Rock N Roll Junkie and I once loved Motley Crue more than anything.  But unlike the band, I eventually grew up.

Still…there's a twinkle in me…that snot nosed, authority loathing, sneering punk ar$e teenager buried deep inside that beckons me over to the jukebox.  I toggle the volume and turn the stereo up that little bit too loud and drive along screeching the lyrics to Kickstart My Heart.  I wear my Decade of Decadence t-shirt - now a fetid rag (which I will never, ever allow to be chucked in the bin) and wonder if I should blu tack the promo poster on the lounge room wall.  And I wish I had my long hair.  

Rock on!!!

[Language Warning on some of these clips too]




















And later …






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