Couple of things...

I could care less if anything stays underground (no such thing anyway, especially with the internet and media saturation). I haven't worried about "street cred" for probably 25 years, if I ever did. That's not at all my point. The quality of the video has nothing to do with my ire - it's what it represents that set me off.

I don't mind labels and bands getting paid for their hard work. I have played in bands since 1980 and run a record label and have published zines and ran a screen printing and sticker company. As much as I would love somebody to pay me for my hard work, I'm not going to take corporate money. Period. When I was a kid, if we wanted anything we did it ourselves. If we wanted to do a show or put out a record or make t-shirts and stickers - you just went out and did it. There was a scene that supported your efforts and that's how you got paid - not taking a dollar from McDonald's. I still feel that this is the way things should be done. Everything I've done has gotten by and I've very rarely lost money on any of my projects and this has all come from the support of fans, etc who have specifically done things with because I am anti-corporate. I've had a couple of offers over the years and I turned them down (Virgin and WEA). In 1998, an instrumental song I had written and recorded in 1991 (and had forgotten about) ended up in a national ad for an insurance company (take too long to explain how they got the song). I didn't even know it until I got a pretty substantial check (I owned a TV and VCR with no access to broadcast TV). Even though I was in somewhat dire financial straits at the time, I donated the money to a homeless shelter and a food bank. It has nothing to do with "street cred" or "hip factor" or "staying underground". I just don't believe in taking corporate money for my crap. I avoid all corporate culture as much as possible and it's easier than you'd think. I can think of several labels who are doing quite well without becoming corporate whores and taking their filthy lucre. They are very successful and did it with fan support and they're bigger than any of these labels that are selling their souls.

A good chunk of these bands are about as real as the tits on a Barbie. When you interview some of these bands and they don't have any reference point for the music they're playing, it makes you wonder. They don't know anything about the 60s bands or even the 80s garage bands that made all of this possible. They don't know anything about the people who built this from the ground up. That's not only unforgivable, it's suspect (age is NO excuse, especially with the availability of all of this stuff). It's just like when punk broke in the 70s, bands were all of the sudden "punk" bands because they saw it as a way to get noticed. The same thing's happening with this. I don't see most of these bands as the "real deal" - I see them as just the opposite. I'm not operating in a vacuum here or sitting in an ivory tower pontificating. I am actively involved as a promoter, a label owner, a "musician" and a "journalist" and have been doing this shit for 30 years (shit, I am old!). I call bullshit on most of these newer bands.

Most importantly, I am a crotchety old fuck and earned the right to be a fucking curmudgeon.

Honestly, I don't really care as much about this as I make out. Though I believe in everything I said, the bottom line is that I am laid up after knee surgery, I don't watch TV and am really bored. I do believe that Scion are corporate assholes and Vice are a bunch of douche bags. I hate seeing people smooching corporate ass and I kind of felt like baiting people - I am that bored. I guess that makes me an asshole.

Agreed. This is actually a pretty cool thing and people are still gonna poop all over it. I am totally fine with this video, ITR, Vice, Goner, Scion, etc. Sure, it's not the best video I've ever seen. Nor is every single band mentioned God's gift to music (but if it was, people would still piss & moan). I mean, this video and it's sponsors are not pure evil or anything to really worry about. This is stuff to just have fun with. I listen to this kind of music because it's fun, not because I want to take part in some "who's cooler with more cred" pissing contest. Lighten up. People like to bitch about how lame everything is. Now, here I am bitching about how lame those curmudgeonly whiners are. Does that make me cool? Does anybody care? Fuck no. Is anybody still reading this? Who cares?

TeenFink said:

some people just gotta bitch about everything. the same thing always happens when people suddenly hear a cool song on a TV commercial. this has happened countless times in the past. people will bitch that the so-and-so's "sold out" and complain about it somehow ruining the music they love. fucking crybabies. it's like they want the music to stay "underground" to help their street cred, so they can be the only ones on their block that like this band or that. they hate the idea of a band or label actually getting paid for their hard work. most of the time these bands don't even have a say in it. marketing agencies buy the rights to use the songs from whatever performance rights organization the band or label belongs to.

"waaaah! it's not '60s enough! waaaaah, they're trying to sell cars! waaaaaah, i overheard some kid say something dumb at a show and it's THEIR FAULT!" jesus christ, shut the fuck up already. you guys sound like crotchety old fucks.

in case you haven't noticed, Scion & Vice have gone well beyond this by actually trying to promote a new (to most people, anyway) musical phenomenon or movement. they're sponsoring it, so obviously they're hoping for some kind of kickback (in the form of selling cars and magazines), but that's the nature of capitalism. they've invested a lot of time and money into doing something cool for a change, and they're obviously doing their homework. i think it was worse back when the mainstream was calling crap like the Strokes garage rock. that, to me, was the biggest insult ever. so instead of being your typical corporate sponsor and going after hip hop or warped tour bullshit or whatever other lame pop music you can name, they're actually tapping into the real deal. how often do bands, people, labels, etc in this scene get any chance to get some real exposure or to make any real money? cut 'em some fucking slack.

some people just gotta bitch about everything. the same thing always happens when people suddenly hear a cool song on a TV commercial. this has happened countless times in the past. people will bitch that the so-and-so's "sold out" and complain about it somehow ruining the music they love. fucking crybabies. it's like they want the music to stay "underground" to help their street cred, so they can be the only ones on their block that like this band or that. they hate the idea of a band or label actually getting paid for their hard work. most of the time these bands don't even have a say in it. marketing agencies buy the rights to use the songs from whatever performance rights organization the band or label belongs to.

"waaaah! it's not '60s enough! waaaaah, they're trying to sell cars! waaaaaah, i overheard some kid say something dumb at a show and it's THEIR FAULT!" jesus christ, shut the fuck up already. you guys sound like crotchety old fucks.

in case you haven't noticed, Scion & Vice have gone well beyond this by actually trying to promote a new (to most people, anyway) musical phenomenon or movement. they're sponsoring it, so obviously they're hoping for some kind of kickback (in the form of selling cars and magazines), but that's the nature of capitalism. they've invested a lot of time and money into doing something cool for a change, and they're obviously doing their homework. i think it was worse back when the mainstream was calling crap like the Strokes garage rock. that, to me, was the biggest insult ever. so instead of being your typical corporate sponsor and going after hip hop or warped tour bullshit or whatever other lame pop music you can name, they're actually tapping into the real deal. how often do bands, people, labels, etc in this scene get any chance to get some real exposure or to make any real money? cut 'em some fucking slack.

agreed, kopper -
I think Goner and ITR records are two very cool labels doing cool stuff. I'm sure people are accusing them of selling out, too. People have the right to bitch and be negative about the video and not like it. I mean, you can't please all the people all the time, right? But, I think, in the big picture, it is not a bad thing at all.
If a car company wants to help get a video out there showing this little slice of the music world, that is a good thing, if you ask me.
I wouldn't worry about "garage rock" getting all commercial and selling out anytime soon and "ruining how cool it is" or anything.
I mean, look at the "garage rock revival of the early 2000s":
That lasted a little longer than a half gallon of milk...


Hideout Admin said:

Goner gets a pretty good plug in this, too, and really, what's the harm in that?

Do I dig all the bands? No, not particularly. But I do dig most of them, and I think exposing this music to a new generation of kids can do nothing but help the entire scene and culture surrounding it. The great thing about garage rock is it's the melting pot of rock'n'roll. REAL rock'n'roll. In it you'll find the roots of all great rock'n'roll... '60s garage, psych, rockabilly, R&B, frat rock, freakbeat, '70s punk, new wave, surf, power pop, swamp rock... even heavy metal, hardcore punk, goth and noise.

"Pretty fucking revolting" is quite a stretch, though, Mr. Electrocute Your Cock. I can find a helluva lot more "pretty fucking revolting" music out there to be pretty fucking revolted by (like this, for example), but the Vivian Girls or the Magic Kids? Come on.

The only thing that really bugs the SHIT outta me about this FUCKING video is that they bleep out all of the FUCKING curse words. If they're so into promoting this music, why are they censoring it?

KK Dirty Money said:

I thought the video was pretty cool and well done. And I think Vice and Scion are doing kind of a cool thing by "getting involved" with this type of "culture". Sure, the video was pretty much a good way to plug In The Red Records, and it is also a way to promote Scion and Vice. Sure, it's all commercial, etc., but without getting all bent outta shape about it, it is still entertaining and cool (just keep in mind it is totally spun from the perspective of Scion, Vice, In The Red).
But, unless you seal yourself off in a cave, we're all cogs in the wheel of our corporate American machines. Garage rock (of almost any form) plays a role in it all. Sure, hipster/scenesters can be annoying, no doubt about that.
But, I gotta say: I've driven a Scion XB for years and it is the best car I've ever dealt with (in terms of economy and practicality, esp for a musician), and I dig In The Red and Vice, too. So, whatever. I'm entertained...
As far as record labels, car companies, and other capitalist machines go in terms of doing anything for "garage rock of today", this is probably one of the coolest things I've seen lately. Lighten up, we should just sit back and enjoy that shit like this is being created for us.

Goner gets a pretty good plug in this, too, and really, what's the harm in that?

Do I dig all the bands? No, not particularly. But I do dig most of them, and I think exposing this music to a new generation of kids can do nothing but help the entire scene and culture surrounding it. The great thing about garage rock is it's the melting pot of rock'n'roll. REAL rock'n'roll. In it you'll find the roots of all great rock'n'roll... '60s garage, psych, rockabilly, R&B, frat rock, freakbeat, '70s punk, new wave, surf, power pop, swamp rock... even heavy metal, hardcore punk, goth and noise.

"Pretty fucking revolting" is quite a stretch, though, Mr. Electrocute Your Cock. I can find a helluva lot more "pretty fucking revolting" music out there to be pretty fucking revolted by (like this, for example), but the Vivian Girls or the Magic Kids? Come on.

The only thing that really bugs the SHIT outta me about this FUCKING video is that they bleep out all of the FUCKING curse words. If they're so into promoting this music, why are they censoring it?

KK Dirty Money said:

I thought the video was pretty cool and well done. And I think Vice and Scion are doing kind of a cool thing by "getting involved" with this type of "culture". Sure, the video was pretty much a good way to plug In The Red Records, and it is also a way to promote Scion and Vice. Sure, it's all commercial, etc., but without getting all bent outta shape about it, it is still entertaining and cool (just keep in mind it is totally spun from the perspective of Scion, Vice, In The Red).
But, unless you seal yourself off in a cave, we're all cogs in the wheel of our corporate American machines. Garage rock (of almost any form) plays a role in it all. Sure, hipster/scenesters can be annoying, no doubt about that.
But, I gotta say: I've driven a Scion XB for years and it is the best car I've ever dealt with (in terms of economy and practicality, esp for a musician), and I dig In The Red and Vice, too. So, whatever. I'm entertained...
As far as record labels, car companies, and other capitalist machines go in terms of doing anything for "garage rock of today", this is probably one of the coolest things I've seen lately. Lighten up, we should just sit back and enjoy that shit like this is being created for us.

I thought the video was pretty cool and well done. And I think Vice and Scion are doing kind of a cool thing by "getting involved" with this type of "culture". Sure, the video was pretty much a good way to plug In The Red Records, and it is also a way to promote Scion and Vice. Sure, it's all commercial, etc., but without getting all bent outta shape about it, it is still entertaining and cool (just keep in mind it is totally spun from the perspective of Scion, Vice, In The Red).
But, unless you seal yourself off in a cave, we're all cogs in the wheel of our corporate American machines. Garage rock (of almost any form) plays a role in it all. Sure, hipster/scenesters can be annoying, no doubt about that.
But, I gotta say: I've driven a Scion XB for years and it is the best car I've ever dealt with (in terms of economy and practicality, esp for a musician), and I dig In The Red and Vice, too. So, whatever. I'm entertained...
As far as record labels, car companies, and other capitalist machines go in terms of doing anything for "garage rock of today", this is probably one of the coolest things I've seen lately. Lighten up, we should just sit back and enjoy that shit like this is being created for us.

Wow, you guys must be what they call "garage purists."

Eastwood said:

yeahhhhhhh...
pretty lame overall...


Count Brockula said:

Revolting. Watching this thing made me want to punch a wall. Corporate co-opting of a culture in order to market to a new demographic. Vice and Scion are what's wrong with the scene. They're not injecting anything into it or helping it at all. Shit like this is poisonous to the development and maturation of a scene. A good chunk of the music is just garbage (Hunx & His Punx, Vivian Girls, Smith Westerns, blah blah blah) while real garage bands (and I hesitate to use that term) are being ignored as they don't sound like the pablum people are being spoon fed that they've been told is garage. I was dj-ing the other night and it had been billed as a night of garage, punk, and r and b. Hipster assholes kept coming up to me all night asking when I was going to play some garage - after I had just played a 30 minute set of 60s garage and 60s influenced garage (they wanted to hear "REAL" garage - White Stripes, Strange Boys...fuckin' losers). At a Cynics show earlier in the month, I heard more than one conversation along the lines of "I thought they played garage". Fuck all this Scion and Vice bullshit - it's a dance with the devil. Luckily, this will all die out, the corporate vultures will circle the next victim to pick clean, and things will shake out and get back to normal.

ever heard the Ramonetures? it's like the ventures meet the ramones. i guess the same thing could be done with black flag, but i'm not a big fan of novelty acts. you wanna make a good playlist? write your own songs. there's a novel concept!

I'll be honest with you, I'm not a musician so have no idea how you could do that, but it is an original idea. And after hearing the idea I relistened to some of their stuff and could imagine it. Of course the vocals of Black Flag are too coarse so they would need to be softened a bit. The bass needs to be heavier and take a leading roll, while the guitar should be undistorted with a higher pitch.

Giannis KRI said:

I don't get it man.I mean how can you change songs like wasted and nervous breakdown into surf?I just can't imagine it.



Mike Humsgreen said:

That sounds like the most interesting idea. I think most Black Flag is perfect for surf, you just need to put a bit more emphasis on the bass than on the guitar.


Giannis KRI said:

You really believe we can do that?No,wait.Do you believe this is possible?



wasted pido said:

play the black flag stuff you know in surf style

I know Danelectro Spring King is not a real analogic reverb, someone tried to leave the spring off and it works the same...About this topic there's another interesting discussion HERE

Gonzo said:

Dan Electro spring king is cool, has a real spring in it although I'm not %100 positive it's for the actual reverb.
EH Nano Reverb is good, the larger variant is also good but just hissy.
There's a new pedal made by goldfx called the SurfRider which is meant to be quite good, I've also heard good things about the BYOC reverb pedal and ultimately there's the vanamps serious, all worth having a look at.

What's your price range? The Danelectro Spring King does use a real spring but it's combined with a digital delay. Of course I would recommend going by the sound rather than just being snobby about the digital part. That said, I haven't actually played one in person. It can probably get pretty garagey sound from what I've heard. Van Amps Sole-Mate is a real spring pedal. It's a little expensive but supposedly really good. Little Lanilei by Songworks is also a real spring pedal but I've heard it's more subtle. Might be good to look into. There are a few digital options. I have a Digitech Digi-Verb which seems to be the best cheap option. It's pretty good actually, but if you want to go fully wet you can tell the difference. It sounds good with an overdrive or fuzz in front of it as well as clean which I like. The new boss '63 Reverb pedal looks pretty good. Look it up on youtube. There are some "boutique" options too. I've heard a lot of people like the Malekko Chicklet which is actually analog based I think but doesn't have a spring. If you figure out how to build one let me know.

I was thinking about the spring king too.It must be good but i can't be sure because it looks a bit cheap.Though as i can see there aren't many pedals to choose from.

Gonzo said:

Dan Electro spring king is cool, has a real spring in it although I'm not %100 positive it's for the actual reverb.
EH Nano Reverb is good, the larger variant is also good but just hissy.
There's a new pedal made by goldfx called the SurfRider which is meant to be quite good, I've also heard good things about the BYOC reverb pedal and ultimately there's the vanamps serious, all worth having a look at.

Dan Electro spring king is cool, has a real spring in it although I'm not %100 positive it's for the actual reverb.
EH Nano Reverb is good, the larger variant is also good but just hissy.
There's a new pedal made by goldfx called the SurfRider which is meant to be quite good, I've also heard good things about the BYOC reverb pedal and ultimately there's the vanamps serious, all worth having a look at.

Best spring reverb pedal to buy, or how to build one?

Hey man, great to see you keeping the rolling, uhm, rolling. Cool to see the voice mail line up! Also, is there a chance we get to hear some old voice messages collected for the now long gone savage kick 70? Where there even any? It would just be fun to listen in. Questions over questions...

Hideout Admin said:

Call and make a request, leave a comment, tell me a joke, whatever! I might use it on an upcoming episode: 314-266-8472

And don't forget to check my blahg for the latest episodes!

Last month eMusic made a deal with another of the major labels -- Universal. In doing so, they lost several independent labels, including Matador and Merge.

They also changed their pricing structure. It's in dollars and sense now instead of credits. The prices also slightly increased, (49 cents for most tracks). Plus, eMusic no longer allows you to download for free tracks you've already paid for. (So be sure to back up your digital music collection!)

That's all bad news. But the good news is a lot of the cool labels -- Norton, Crypt, In the Red, Voodoo Rhythm, Bloodshot, etc are still there. And there's still lots of good deals on some albums, especially on the older stuff. And it's till cheaper than either iTunes or Amazon.

Here's what I've downloaded from eMusic in the last month:

* The Wild Man by Hasil Adkins. This was the Haze's sophomore Hunch album in the late '80s. Back in 1986, Billy Miller and Miriam Linna  decided to launch a record company to unleash this West Virginia backwoods one-man-band's early recordings --  which go back to the 1950s. That compilation, Out to Hunch was the birth of  Norton Record.  For The Wild Man, they let him loose in a studio for a fresh bunch of recordings.

And happily, the result was pure Punchy Wunchy Wickey Wackey Woo. Most of the tracks are just Adkins singing, playing guitar and playing the bass drum with his foot -- though on a few cuts he's aided, minimally, by various members of the A-Bones. Nobody gets their head cut off here, but it's still a lot of fun.

In addition to his own crazed tunes -- "Chicken Flop," "Big Red Satellite" and "Wild, Wild Friday Night" are classic -- Adkins also performs several tunes by the likes of The Carter Family, Carl Perkins, Jimmie Rodgers and Merle Haggard (a slow and heartfelt "Turning Off a Memory"). But my favorite cover here is a hunchin' take on Jumpin' Gene Simmons' Halloween classic "Haunted House."


* Live In Hollywood '91 by Lavern Baker. The first time I heard the song "Bumble Bee," performed by the under-rated British Invasion group, The Searchers, I thought it was a real bitchen song.

The first time I heard it done by LaVerne Baker, I nearly covered my head for fear of getting stung.

Baker was one of the most powerful R&B performers of the 1950s and early '60s. She's best known for her hit "Jim Dandy" and the follow-up "Jim Dandy Got Married" (I forgive her for accidentally spawning Black Oak, Arkansas), but for my money Baker's best was the song about that bumble bee (an evil bumble bee!)

Baker was on the comeback trail by the time she recorded this live album in 1991, six years before her death. Past her prime for sure, and her band lacked that first-generation R&B urgency. And yes, there's too many easy-listening standards like "That's My Desire" and "What a Difference a Day Makes Here" (though LaVern injects a lot of soul into these chestnuts). But still, it's a good listen. "Tomorrow Night," which she recorded in the '50s, (I'm most familiar with Elvis' version) is full of irresistible emotion, as is is her 1959 hit  "I Cried a Tear."

But my favorite one here has to be the grand finale, the  Lieber & Stoller novelty classic, "Saved,"
 the Salvation Army spoof, which was a title cut of a Baker album in 1961. "I used to cuss, i used to fuss/I used to cuss and fuss and boogie all night long!" she sings. Elvis did this song on his '68 "comeback special," The Band covered it on Moondog Matinee and , yes, I used to do it in my cheesy nightclub act in the '70s and '80s. But nobody did it like LaVern.



* Outta Here by The Gories. This 1992 album was the last album for this Detroit trio, whose stature and reputation continued to grow long after the group broke up. (They started doing reunion shows a couple of years ago. I saw them in New York last summer -- that's where I snapped the picture to the left.)

With Mick Collins (who later formed The Dirtbombs) and Dan Kroha on guitars and vocals and Peggy O'Neil bashing the drums, The Gories billed themselves as "punk blues. Along with their originals, they covered blues and R&B classics in their minimalist, primitive style.

One of my favorites here is "Great Big Idol With the Golden Head," which Leiber & Stoller wrote for The Coasters. They also do a tune called "Crawdad," which basically is a rewrite of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley."

But best of all on this record is "There But For the Grace of God Go I," which came from a late '70s New York disco group called Machine. The song is a story of a couple of immigrants who try hard to protect their baby daughter. But by the time she's 16 she's running wild and ends up running away. The Gories cut it down to its basics and it sounds even more urgent the original.

You gotta give The Gories credit: They gave it their all to the very end. Though they were ready to break up by the time this was recorded, this definitely does not have the feel of some contractual obligation product or document.

PLUS

* The seven songs I didn't already have from Evol. by Sonic Youth. This was Sonic Youth back in 1986, back before hardly anyone knew them. Back before hardly anyone else was trying to sound like them. No Wave had already crested and Grunge was waiting to be born.

But still there was Sonic Youth exploring those strange darkened corridors of sound.

Highlights of Evol include "Shadow of a Doubt," which might be Kim Gordon's sexiest vocal ever; "In the Kingdom #19," in which the lyrics, which tell of a car crash, are spoken by Lee Ranaldo, reminding me of The Velvet Underground's "The Gift"; and the 7-minute excursion "Expressway to Yr Skull," that sounds like folk-rock played by Neptunians.



*Seven tracks from  A Night on the Town With the Rat Pack by Frank, Dino & Sammy.

How can you not love these guys? This might not be rock 'n' roll, but the power, swagger and humor of these monsters shares a lot of common ground with the rock beast.


I'm not sure what the circumstances of this album are -- not even when it was recorded. (As for the where -- there's references to Chicago as well as St. Louis, so you have to assume these performances were taken from more than one night on the town.)
 
There's plenty of good old-fashioned fucking around here, ("What kind of fool am I," sings Sammy as he begins his famous hit. "You're a schmuck!" Sinatra answers.) But when they get ready to rare back and sing a song, their talent is unmatched. And the Count Basie band plays on at least several of these numbers.

I spent the last of my month's allotment on songs from this album. I'll pick up the remaining 31 tracks when my account refreshes.

W E I R D O N I A said:

Actually there are no power chords in Blue Orchid..
He's using an POG octave generator, and he used his whammy live

Oh, I guess they do sound more like octaves than power chords. What's a POG? I'd also like to mention that, surprisingly or not, Johnny Ramone used barre chords.

Green Day? Nickelback? I wish you wouldn't use the observational selection fallicy to support your "reasoning". I mean of the literally thousands of good rock bands that play power chords, you choose the worst, Green Day and Nickelback (and Dookie was actually a good album, you bastard)

Gonzo said:

imo full chords are 60's fuzz nugget psych folk neo garage punk, power chords should be left for the likes of Green Day & Nickelback. In answer to your question....either way your going to learn how to play both.

Man or astroman are so fresh and innovative; The Cavaliers and Barbwires are awesome, and Bambi Molesters is just pure , beautiful music.

Hell yeah!!!!!!

You know the singer for Coachwhips is John Dwyer, who is now leading Thee Oh Sees.

hahaha! oops, LIVE! stupid sausage fingers.

Some of my favorite rock and roll books: We Got the Neutron Bomb : The Untold Story of L.A. Punk by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs by Brendan Mullen, Don Bolles, and Adam Parfrey The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music by Nick Kent and Iggy Pop From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock by Clinton Heylin Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain Highway to Hell: The Life and Death of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott by Clinton Walker And the 3 books Dee Dee Ramone wrote: Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones Chelsea Horror Hotel Legend of a Rock Star: A Memoir Next on my list: Diary of a Rock'n'Roll Star by Ian Hunter

Hellin Killer
Handsome Dick Manitoba
Rat Scabies
Lux Interior
Gyda Gash
Pig Champion

I have to agree with Son House. And this Furry Lewis record I'm listening too right now is really good too.