By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON - The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.
It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.
The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.
Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
"These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."
The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says.
When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.
The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn't know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights.
Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.
"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment."
I read this and I am frightened. And frustrated. This is scary, folks.
I am frightened by the fact that 50% of high school students think the government SHOULD have approval over what is printed in newspapers [which I apply broadly to ALL media: TV, cable, internet, etc...]. I am frightened that 50% of high school students think that the government can control what is available over the internet.
I understand having government looking into and controlling what we see on the 'Net and in the papers would make digesting all the mass media input we have these days a whole lot easier. And I understand we're talking about high school kids afraid to 'rock the boat' and not familiar with thinking for themselves a whole lot... I blame the current school system with it's 'regurgitate names, dates and numbers' and 'lowest common denominator' mentality. [I know, you work with what you've got, but sinking millions into HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STADIUMS ala Southlake and not teaching kids to think for themselves? You THOUGHT I was a total right wing nut, but see, I am a social moderate, Dad.]
actually, I had a couple of good influences in free thinking... J. Michael Leone, Richard P. Zottola, Deborah S. Maness and Tracey Berry. And I learned a lot hanging with the Debate nerds in high school; G.M. 'Marty' Thompson III, Oliver Motes, Clinton M. Brown Jr. And a couple of good teachers, Barb Tatum and Blair Lybbert. They taught me to take the information, process, discuss and form my own opinions.
But back then we only had the three majors networks plus a handful of UHF and PBS. And the three major daily newspapers in DFW. And no internet. But my point was/is that I had/have people who I trusted and took the time to point a kid at the 'right book' at the 'right time' or to sit down and discuss issues besides sports. I had a network of people whom I could talk to about what I was digesting... I didn't just read something on the net and take it as 'fact' or 'gospel.' I'd do my homework and figure out what was really what. How many kids today have this framework or the interest [or attention span] to follow up and find out what's fact and what's opinion?
I am REALLY frightened that 17% of the people polled think that people should not be allowed to express 'unpopular views.' What is an unpopular view? Is saying the Britney Spears is a no talent, lip synching poster girl in spite of selling 5 million records in unpopular view? Is thinking those 50,000,000 Elvis fans CAN be wrong?
Look, I am disappointed that the Dixie Chicks are leftists who are disappointed that the President is from Texas.But I support their right to say it. I am disappointed that some Republicans want to claim God, Mom and apple pie as Republican inventions and sole property of the GOP. But they have a right to say it. People say that Ashlee Simpson has TALENT. They're wrong, but they can keep saying it.
This is a frightening wake up call on the state of the understanding of basic Civics in schools today. I know I had to take a 'Government' class in school [and they made 'Economics' a requirement after I graduated... this I know because Lybbert was teaching Milton Friedman's Free to Choose.] Understanding the basic working of the government, how a bill is passed into law, how the judicial system works, and I thought we covered the Constitution. But what can we expect from a populace who gets most of their understanding of how the judicial system works from Law and Order and other TV cop and lawyer shows?
Is this a warning about the children we are raising in the multi-mass media age? Is it any wonder that we have children with attention deficit disorders or hyperactivity disorders in our GO GO GO society? Are we giving people more information faster than we can process it OR are they holding it long enough to regurgitate it for a test and discarding it to hold video game cheat codes? Is this the warning about keeping children occupied with video games and car DVD players instead of reading and conversation? Is this a warning that the next generations may being programmed for the Big Brother, being readied for the government controlling what we read and see and think? What is Ritalin buit a 'slow down and shut up so you can pay attention and be programmed' drug? Is this a warning about raising our kids in the 'instant gratification' age? ["We want it all and we want it YESTERDAY!"]
I've been reading about a radical new movement lately: a SLOW DOWN movement, people unplugging cell phones and disconnecting from the internet and getting OFF the GO GO GO train. Probably still read newspapers, too... Have we all ready reached a point over media oversaturation that this is necessary? I thought I was alone in my desire sometimes NOT to be reachable, hence no cell phone.
People walk around all day with those things to/in their ears... in the gym, in the bank, in line at the grocery store... is this about being so important in your own eyes that you are lost without your connection to other people? Are you so afraid to miss some trivial piece of information from someone that you can't take a piss without your cell phone? You're not paying attention to what you're SUPPOSED to be paying attention to, like driving in YOUR LANE because you have your cell phone to your left ear and you can't see me over here. You're not paying attention to handing the cashier your debit card or your children running around and terrorizing other patrons because your mother called and is complaining about her sore feet in your ear! What's so damn important?
Maybe I'm over-reacting. But I don't think so. And it's STILL my constitutional right to say so.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
In reply to the comments on the SMC review: [I have thought Since You're Gone is one of the top records of the 80s,]"...oft mentioned in the same breath with Def Leppard's Photograph and the Replacements' Can't Hardly Wait."
Any one who mentions Def Leppard and The Replacements in the same breath must be gasping for breath because their head is so far up their ass they can't breathe.
All right, can one like the pop metal of Def Leppard, the new wave Cars, the basic rock of the Replacements all at the same time?
I'm trying to remember what else current I was buying in the 80s: I found things as diverse as Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, Pat Metheny, Prince, Peter Gabriel, the Replacements, REM, the Rave Ups, Del Fuegos, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, the Cars and Def Leppard... and I liked them all. Hell, I still like them all!
I don't think it's that odd that I can say Def Leppard, the Cars and the Replacements produced three of the best songs of the 80s... I can add some other great songs of the 80s like Peter Gabriel's Red Rain, Prince's The Cross, X's White Girl, The Pretenders' Back on the Chain Gang, the Police's Wrapped Around Your Finger, XTC's Making Plans for Nigel, AC/DC's Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long or Death or Glory by the Clash, just off the top of my head... I have trouble keeping the late 80s and early 90s separate, and I was buying a lot of things from the 70s then, too.
Why do I let this bother me? Can one argue that the Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK and Bowie's The Jean Genie and Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby and Sweet's Love Is Like Oxygen and Queen's Spread Your Wings, Television's Marquee Moon, The Stooges Search and Destroy, the Who's Baba O'Riley, the Bee Gees Jive Talkin', Fleetwood Mac's Dreams and Steve Miller's The Stake are all great songs from the 70s? Just because one or two of those sold a lot of copies doesn't make it any less appreciable than the others.
I am sorry that person thinks so narrowly. That's like saying one cannot appreciate Hank Williams and Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello and the Replacements because they're all so different. Hell, I can argue that Michael Jackson is/was one of the greatest POP songwriters of all time; I choose not to listen to or buy it because that doesn't appeal to me. One can make the same argument for ABBA or Nirvana or the Monkees or whatever.
Yeah, sometimes I do it too. I say I don't like something just because it's something new or whatever. And I mean it. But if it moves you, then it rocks. And that's cool, even if I don't get it. I have been known to come around later on things and even apologize and tell people they were right.
So I quote Wichita Deb: Listen to anything that doesn't listen to you first.
Coming next: The $ 43 Experiment
Any one who mentions Def Leppard and The Replacements in the same breath must be gasping for breath because their head is so far up their ass they can't breathe.
All right, can one like the pop metal of Def Leppard, the new wave Cars, the basic rock of the Replacements all at the same time?
I'm trying to remember what else current I was buying in the 80s: I found things as diverse as Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, Pat Metheny, Prince, Peter Gabriel, the Replacements, REM, the Rave Ups, Del Fuegos, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, the Cars and Def Leppard... and I liked them all. Hell, I still like them all!
I don't think it's that odd that I can say Def Leppard, the Cars and the Replacements produced three of the best songs of the 80s... I can add some other great songs of the 80s like Peter Gabriel's Red Rain, Prince's The Cross, X's White Girl, The Pretenders' Back on the Chain Gang, the Police's Wrapped Around Your Finger, XTC's Making Plans for Nigel, AC/DC's Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long or Death or Glory by the Clash, just off the top of my head... I have trouble keeping the late 80s and early 90s separate, and I was buying a lot of things from the 70s then, too.
Why do I let this bother me? Can one argue that the Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK and Bowie's The Jean Genie and Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby and Sweet's Love Is Like Oxygen and Queen's Spread Your Wings, Television's Marquee Moon, The Stooges Search and Destroy, the Who's Baba O'Riley, the Bee Gees Jive Talkin', Fleetwood Mac's Dreams and Steve Miller's The Stake are all great songs from the 70s? Just because one or two of those sold a lot of copies doesn't make it any less appreciable than the others.
I am sorry that person thinks so narrowly. That's like saying one cannot appreciate Hank Williams and Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello and the Replacements because they're all so different. Hell, I can argue that Michael Jackson is/was one of the greatest POP songwriters of all time; I choose not to listen to or buy it because that doesn't appeal to me. One can make the same argument for ABBA or Nirvana or the Monkees or whatever.
Yeah, sometimes I do it too. I say I don't like something just because it's something new or whatever. And I mean it. But if it moves you, then it rocks. And that's cool, even if I don't get it. I have been known to come around later on things and even apologize and tell people they were right.
So I quote Wichita Deb: Listen to anything that doesn't listen to you first.
Coming next: The $ 43 Experiment
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Here's a conundrum for you to puzzle on: Your band has been together going on nine years. You toured Ohio hundreds of times in a station wagon, caught a break with your third album, sold lots of copies of that and your fourth, sold a respectable bunch with your fifth, though it's a major disappointment, mediocre and the band shows signs of burn out and now you're trying to do an album with one hand and tour and your singer and your lead guitarist are major dope fiends and are at each other's throats every night.... Is it time to break up your band?
Try this one: You're together ten years, you're replaced one guitar player, you're coming off a string of successful albums, [though the last two are critical duds, they sell well], your lead guitarist is sinking into a drugged out haze, and suddenly, without warning, your other guitar player quits.Is this a sign you should break up your band?
John Lennon when asked in 1964 or 65 about how long the Beatles would go on, replied "You want to be big headed and say you'll go on for ten years." [Remember, at that time rock and roll was barley ten years old, depending on what you say the first rock and roll record was...] And the Beatles, when they broke up had been together ten years. Was John Lennon right? Is ten years about the workable limit for a rock and roll band?
Lets look at our examples above: Band one is Aerosmith. Joe Perry left, Jimmy Crespo made one great [criminally under-rated] record with the rhythm section and Tyler, then the Toxic Twins got back together, got sober, then lost their artistic integrity after being back together about five years and they continue to tour and make record, though their original fans continue to wonder why other than for the money and Steven Tyler's ego.
Band two is the Rolling Stones of course. They made an album with a hodgepodge of guitar players [Black and Blue, which is not as bad as you think, not as bad as Goat's Head Soup or It's Only Rock and Roll] then brought in Ronnie Wood, who injected life into the band for exactly ONE record [Some Girls; Tattoo You is a collection of songs from 1974 to 1979] then the band falls apart, comes together and puts out new records every three years and a live records after every tour... Basically they've been skating by on name and reputation since 1978. Balls you say? Need I mention Undercover and Dirty Work? I see you all shuddering at those memories!
Think now about this: Chris Cornell [don't kid yourself, when Chris said it was over, it was over] broke up Soundgarden after eleven years. The Clash and the Jam all said their peace in five years worth of recordings. The Replacements did all that in ten years. Should there be a mandatory rule/ law that bands have to break up or take a mandatory three year hiatus ten years after the release of their first record?
Before you snap to a decision, think about this: How many band produce GREAT work after their ten year anniversary? How many bands hit their artistic peak after ten years? Think about the careers of storied, legendary bands:
The Who 1964 - ???: Last Great Record - Quadrophenia 1974 [10 yrs]
Queen 1973 - 1996: LGR - The Game 1981 [8 yrs]
Aerosmith 1973 - ?? LGR 1st time around: Rocks [3 yrs]
LGR 2nd time around [1984- pres] Pump 1989 [5 yrs]
U2 1981 - ??? LGR - Achtung Baby 1990 [9 yrs]
REM 1980 - ??? LGR - Document 1987 [7 yrs]
Yeah, there are a few souls who continue to do it and do it well, but how many mediocre albums litter the wake of Lou Reed [The Bells, Magic and Loss, Ecstasy], Neil Young [Sleeps With Angels, Re-Act-Tor, Everybody's Rockin] and the Kinks [Think Visual, Low Budget]? The history of Rock and Roll is just littered with bands who peak after 5 years, then die slow spiraling painful deaths like the Jefferson Airplane. Point all you like to the longevity of Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Kiss and the Grateful Dead and I ask again, how many great or even really good or interesting albums came after their ten year anniversary?
Face it, after ten years bands get weighted down with self importance [U2] or trying to meet critical expectations [REM] that they lose touch with the fun and spirit that drove them to be rock and rollers in the first place. Tommy Lee was a cool rebel in 1987; now he's a clown. The only thing worse than someone trying to meet critical expectations or puffing themselves up in the mirror are those who can't let it GO [ATTENTION MOTLEY!!!]. 'No one's buying our solo rekkids, let's reform and make some scratch and party like it's 1995 again...' I HOPE they have the good sense to KEEP AWAY FROM THE SPANDEX!!! Sadly, just like my parents generation flocks to see Paul McCartney hoping to relive that glory, people my age will dig out those Crue tour shirts and try to party like it is 1985 again and they will grouse and moan for days afterward about how they never USED to get hangovers.
They and we have to occasionally be reminded that rock and roll is a young man's game. Sure the Stones can point to Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker doing it until they're 70... Those guys weren't playing stadiums in front of football field sized video screens that do not hide the aging process. They weren't jumping around like they had firecrackers in their shorts. They sat and PLAYED. It's one thing to be Joni Mitchell or Van Morrison trying to play music, it's another to be Mick Jagger. Anyone who made records in the 60s and still thinks their music is RELEVANT other than being Classic Rock is kidding themselves. People go to see Bruce, Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Stones, the Allmans, Paulie McC for the LEGEND... They don't go to hear "Here's a song from our new album." As a matter of fact, that goes for the 70s and 80s bands, too. DO YOU HEAR ME ROD STEWART WHO'S TRYING TO RE-INVENT HIMSELF AS THE ENGLISH TONY BENNETT??? Hell, U2 almost followed the Queen path right into the sunset, though I hear this new album is more like War or October than anything else. But they took a long vacation after Pop and asked themselves if they'd gotten too big for their britches and at least took the right road and said 'Yeah we have.' Has REM done anything worth listening to since Bill Berry left the band? [I remember reading a long article in Musician back in 87 about how Berry and Buck were the 'stay a cult band' guys and Stipe and Mills were the 'willing to go for mass appeal' guys. Of course, Michael Stipe was quoted "I understand you can utilize this stuff and make it work for you without becoming a victim of it." Better check again, Mike.]
I will admit bands do come up with good albums late in careers. AC/DC seems to cough one up every five years. And do the artists still have something to say? Probably. But are they going to reach numbers like they did way back when? No way. Did anyone see Stevie Nicks on VH1 trying to explain to Lindsey Buckingham how people who buy CDs now are the 17-35 demographic and how Mac fans won't just drop everything to buy their new album; they have houses and cars and kids to pay for? [Which did not stop them for soaking us for 125 a pop on tour. And Say You Will was just another Lindsey Buckingham solo record he allowed Stevie to add to.. she is not much more than a presence on the record; and very mediocre at that. Maybe Lindsey did save his best work for his solo record again.]
All I am suggesting is this: after ten-twelve years of working together, yes, you have a good feel for each other and where the other guy is going to be at any time... but most of the time, that leads to stale recordings and ego clashes. Even John Lennon knew that the end of the Beatles had come [though he was talked into Abbey Road, "something slick to preserve the myth."]. Too many bands try to hold on after their time or keep pushing forward when what they really need is a good two year BREAK from each other. I'm not saying kill ALL of the dinosaurs, but be realistic about your expectations.
Try this one: You're together ten years, you're replaced one guitar player, you're coming off a string of successful albums, [though the last two are critical duds, they sell well], your lead guitarist is sinking into a drugged out haze, and suddenly, without warning, your other guitar player quits.Is this a sign you should break up your band?
John Lennon when asked in 1964 or 65 about how long the Beatles would go on, replied "You want to be big headed and say you'll go on for ten years." [Remember, at that time rock and roll was barley ten years old, depending on what you say the first rock and roll record was...] And the Beatles, when they broke up had been together ten years. Was John Lennon right? Is ten years about the workable limit for a rock and roll band?
Lets look at our examples above: Band one is Aerosmith. Joe Perry left, Jimmy Crespo made one great [criminally under-rated] record with the rhythm section and Tyler, then the Toxic Twins got back together, got sober, then lost their artistic integrity after being back together about five years and they continue to tour and make record, though their original fans continue to wonder why other than for the money and Steven Tyler's ego.
Band two is the Rolling Stones of course. They made an album with a hodgepodge of guitar players [Black and Blue, which is not as bad as you think, not as bad as Goat's Head Soup or It's Only Rock and Roll] then brought in Ronnie Wood, who injected life into the band for exactly ONE record [Some Girls; Tattoo You is a collection of songs from 1974 to 1979] then the band falls apart, comes together and puts out new records every three years and a live records after every tour... Basically they've been skating by on name and reputation since 1978. Balls you say? Need I mention Undercover and Dirty Work? I see you all shuddering at those memories!
Think now about this: Chris Cornell [don't kid yourself, when Chris said it was over, it was over] broke up Soundgarden after eleven years. The Clash and the Jam all said their peace in five years worth of recordings. The Replacements did all that in ten years. Should there be a mandatory rule/ law that bands have to break up or take a mandatory three year hiatus ten years after the release of their first record?
Before you snap to a decision, think about this: How many band produce GREAT work after their ten year anniversary? How many bands hit their artistic peak after ten years? Think about the careers of storied, legendary bands:
The Who 1964 - ???: Last Great Record - Quadrophenia 1974 [10 yrs]
Queen 1973 - 1996: LGR - The Game 1981 [8 yrs]
Aerosmith 1973 - ?? LGR 1st time around: Rocks [3 yrs]
LGR 2nd time around [1984- pres] Pump 1989 [5 yrs]
U2 1981 - ??? LGR - Achtung Baby 1990 [9 yrs]
REM 1980 - ??? LGR - Document 1987 [7 yrs]
Yeah, there are a few souls who continue to do it and do it well, but how many mediocre albums litter the wake of Lou Reed [The Bells, Magic and Loss, Ecstasy], Neil Young [Sleeps With Angels, Re-Act-Tor, Everybody's Rockin] and the Kinks [Think Visual, Low Budget]? The history of Rock and Roll is just littered with bands who peak after 5 years, then die slow spiraling painful deaths like the Jefferson Airplane. Point all you like to the longevity of Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Kiss and the Grateful Dead and I ask again, how many great or even really good or interesting albums came after their ten year anniversary?
Face it, after ten years bands get weighted down with self importance [U2] or trying to meet critical expectations [REM] that they lose touch with the fun and spirit that drove them to be rock and rollers in the first place. Tommy Lee was a cool rebel in 1987; now he's a clown. The only thing worse than someone trying to meet critical expectations or puffing themselves up in the mirror are those who can't let it GO [ATTENTION MOTLEY!!!]. 'No one's buying our solo rekkids, let's reform and make some scratch and party like it's 1995 again...' I HOPE they have the good sense to KEEP AWAY FROM THE SPANDEX!!! Sadly, just like my parents generation flocks to see Paul McCartney hoping to relive that glory, people my age will dig out those Crue tour shirts and try to party like it is 1985 again and they will grouse and moan for days afterward about how they never USED to get hangovers.
They and we have to occasionally be reminded that rock and roll is a young man's game. Sure the Stones can point to Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker doing it until they're 70... Those guys weren't playing stadiums in front of football field sized video screens that do not hide the aging process. They weren't jumping around like they had firecrackers in their shorts. They sat and PLAYED. It's one thing to be Joni Mitchell or Van Morrison trying to play music, it's another to be Mick Jagger. Anyone who made records in the 60s and still thinks their music is RELEVANT other than being Classic Rock is kidding themselves. People go to see Bruce, Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Stones, the Allmans, Paulie McC for the LEGEND... They don't go to hear "Here's a song from our new album." As a matter of fact, that goes for the 70s and 80s bands, too. DO YOU HEAR ME ROD STEWART WHO'S TRYING TO RE-INVENT HIMSELF AS THE ENGLISH TONY BENNETT??? Hell, U2 almost followed the Queen path right into the sunset, though I hear this new album is more like War or October than anything else. But they took a long vacation after Pop and asked themselves if they'd gotten too big for their britches and at least took the right road and said 'Yeah we have.' Has REM done anything worth listening to since Bill Berry left the band? [I remember reading a long article in Musician back in 87 about how Berry and Buck were the 'stay a cult band' guys and Stipe and Mills were the 'willing to go for mass appeal' guys. Of course, Michael Stipe was quoted "I understand you can utilize this stuff and make it work for you without becoming a victim of it." Better check again, Mike.]
I will admit bands do come up with good albums late in careers. AC/DC seems to cough one up every five years. And do the artists still have something to say? Probably. But are they going to reach numbers like they did way back when? No way. Did anyone see Stevie Nicks on VH1 trying to explain to Lindsey Buckingham how people who buy CDs now are the 17-35 demographic and how Mac fans won't just drop everything to buy their new album; they have houses and cars and kids to pay for? [Which did not stop them for soaking us for 125 a pop on tour. And Say You Will was just another Lindsey Buckingham solo record he allowed Stevie to add to.. she is not much more than a presence on the record; and very mediocre at that. Maybe Lindsey did save his best work for his solo record again.]
All I am suggesting is this: after ten-twelve years of working together, yes, you have a good feel for each other and where the other guy is going to be at any time... but most of the time, that leads to stale recordings and ego clashes. Even John Lennon knew that the end of the Beatles had come [though he was talked into Abbey Road, "something slick to preserve the myth."]. Too many bands try to hold on after their time or keep pushing forward when what they really need is a good two year BREAK from each other. I'm not saying kill ALL of the dinosaurs, but be realistic about your expectations.
I admit it, I am not up on the modern rock scene. I know a few names, Foo Fighters, Get Up Kids... that's about it. But I know my classics and I know my Cars backwards and forwards in my sleep [25 years of listening to it will do that to ya]. They've been one of my favorite since receiving Panorama from my Dad [who also brought the Police into the house] in 1980. And I have though Since You're Gone is one of the top records of the 80s, oft mentioned in the same breath with Def Leppard's Photograph and the Replacements' Can't Hardly Wait. So I see Not Lame is putting out a Cars tribute album AND donating part of the proceed to cancer research in Benjamin Orr's memory. Contribute to a cause and check something NEW out, cool deal.
My copy of the Cars Tribute Substitution Mass Confusion arrived today...
Opening the wrapper I am torn.. I know no one is going to recreate the layers of keyboards nor Ben Orr's deep rich voice [just think Just What I Needed] nor Ric Ocasek's quirky yelp. I just think about that legacy and wonder if the Cars were products of their producers, Roy Thomas Baker [also responsible for Queen's rise through News of the World, including the over the top A Night At the Opera] and Robert John 'Mutt' Lange [best known for Def Leppard, AC/DCs killer trio Highway to Hell, Back In Black and For Those About to Rock, and producing his wife, Shania Twain.. I still say he has fiddles playing left over Def Leppard riffs on her albums...]. But I am also excited, knowing that hearing someone else's interpretation can open up a song a whole lot. Seeing what other people see as the essential part of the song and then adding themselves to it. Sure it's easier with great material, but it takes stones to try something like this knowing someone can and probably will say 'You're ruining my favorite song!'
Three songs in I am wildly pleased... Hello Again with big Led Zeppelin sounding drums and good, not too cheesy keyboard parts by the Arguement. [And believe me, some of those keyboard parts are cheesy to start with and if not handled right can over-cheese in a hurry... happily this never happens on this album!] Damone tearing through a speeded up Just What I Needed with a female singer that just kicks ass, just the right snarl on the vocals... Jason Faulkner tackling the tricky Touch and Go with a more fleshed out sound than the quirky, almost minimalist original, and it comes of really well, a fantastic take! Butch Walker does a minimalist take of My Best Friends Gir melted with Magic that proves that Ric Ocasek was just repeating himself all those years [that faker!]. The Millions turn out a rocking You're All I've Got Tonight, complete with phasing all over the place. Owlsey take on the filler track Got A Lot On My Head [side 2 Candy-O] and just rock the snot out of it, equaling Elliot Easton's off the wall solo and Greg Hawkes bad 60s keyboard fills. Purr Box supercharge Shake It Up much the way the Goops revved up Build Me Up Buttercup on the Mallrats soundtrack.
But it all stops with Chris Von Sneidem's take of Drive.
The one song I thought could NOT be done, the signature song of the late Ben Orr. Just stop and think about the lush production that frames Orr's vocals, possibly one of Lange's best productions, from someone best known for piles of guitars... but undetered Chris plows in with an acoustic guitar and some nicely layered, deeply backgrounded keyboards [or accordion or vibraphone or something... I still don't know if I am just imagining these parts. I've listened three times, the last time in headphones... it could be guitar harmonics but it sounds similar to whatever he used to produce the solo... GREAT PRODUCTION CHRIS !!!] And with a plain and simple vocal and a guitar and some background noises, Chris pays a great tribute and still manages to make the song his own.
Things kick up again with Johnny Monaco tackling Dangerous Type and nailing Easton's solo. He also contributes a great impression of the Cars original times in his liner notes: "I think of high school dances, making out at sleepovers, truth or dare, the drive in, kick the can, jean jackets, cherry slurpees at 7-Eleven..." to which I add baseball cards with bubble gum inside the packs and riding the bus... The Bravery contribute a true synth pop/New Wave take of It's All I Can Do that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Iggy Pop's The Idiot. Gigolo Aunts contribute a minimalist I'm Not the One, lush and ethereal, even mildly psychedelic...The Andersons take my fave Since You're Gone in a totally different direction, totally ignoring that cross beat click - click - click - clickclick that just totally makes the original for me, but ir WORKS! Dum Dog Run knock off a totally metallic/ Husker Du take off of Let's Go, and THAT works! I'd been waiting to hear Misfit Kid since I saw it on a tracck listing, one of my favorites from Panorama, and John Auer turns in a minimalist take with the right elements of echo, power guitar and/ or tympani drums all at just the right spots. And he nails Elliot Easton as 'the secret weapon of the Cars' and 'the heavy metal George Harrison.' The Cautions contribute a cold but powerful Night Spots. And the Daybirds wrap the whole thing up with a version of Good Times Roll that sounds like it was dipped in caramel and is being stretched on a taffy pulling machine, kind of Good Times Roll meets Champagne Supernova... different from the original but not in a bad way.
I am happy to report that all of the artists here kept the basic elements of the songs and added their touches and their perspectives. Again it's easy to do with good material, but it takes balls to do it. The song selection surprised me a bit: five from the classic Cars, six from Candy O, two from Panorama, three from Shake It Up, three from Heartbeat City, two non LP tracks and nothing from the final Door to Door, which it not a bad record. Someone could have tried the metallic Double Trouble or title cut, the moody Fine Line or the ballad-ish Coming Up You or Wound Up On You... maybe that just leaves songs for the second edition.
I think the summary of the CD is this, taken from the notes by the Daybirds: "When it was all said and done, we had the essence of the original but with new revelance that was in line with the current day experiences. Middle America in the 00s is not the East Coast of the 70s bit the good times still roll around here." AMEN BRUTHA to that.
4 Stars out of five... that's four big round 55 T Bird headlights in your rear view mirror... check it out!
More info: Substitution Mass Confusion
Not Lame Records
My copy of the Cars Tribute Substitution Mass Confusion arrived today...
Opening the wrapper I am torn.. I know no one is going to recreate the layers of keyboards nor Ben Orr's deep rich voice [just think Just What I Needed] nor Ric Ocasek's quirky yelp. I just think about that legacy and wonder if the Cars were products of their producers, Roy Thomas Baker [also responsible for Queen's rise through News of the World, including the over the top A Night At the Opera] and Robert John 'Mutt' Lange [best known for Def Leppard, AC/DCs killer trio Highway to Hell, Back In Black and For Those About to Rock, and producing his wife, Shania Twain.. I still say he has fiddles playing left over Def Leppard riffs on her albums...]. But I am also excited, knowing that hearing someone else's interpretation can open up a song a whole lot. Seeing what other people see as the essential part of the song and then adding themselves to it. Sure it's easier with great material, but it takes stones to try something like this knowing someone can and probably will say 'You're ruining my favorite song!'
Three songs in I am wildly pleased... Hello Again with big Led Zeppelin sounding drums and good, not too cheesy keyboard parts by the Arguement. [And believe me, some of those keyboard parts are cheesy to start with and if not handled right can over-cheese in a hurry... happily this never happens on this album!] Damone tearing through a speeded up Just What I Needed with a female singer that just kicks ass, just the right snarl on the vocals... Jason Faulkner tackling the tricky Touch and Go with a more fleshed out sound than the quirky, almost minimalist original, and it comes of really well, a fantastic take! Butch Walker does a minimalist take of My Best Friends Gir melted with Magic that proves that Ric Ocasek was just repeating himself all those years [that faker!]. The Millions turn out a rocking You're All I've Got Tonight, complete with phasing all over the place. Owlsey take on the filler track Got A Lot On My Head [side 2 Candy-O] and just rock the snot out of it, equaling Elliot Easton's off the wall solo and Greg Hawkes bad 60s keyboard fills. Purr Box supercharge Shake It Up much the way the Goops revved up Build Me Up Buttercup on the Mallrats soundtrack.
But it all stops with Chris Von Sneidem's take of Drive.
The one song I thought could NOT be done, the signature song of the late Ben Orr. Just stop and think about the lush production that frames Orr's vocals, possibly one of Lange's best productions, from someone best known for piles of guitars... but undetered Chris plows in with an acoustic guitar and some nicely layered, deeply backgrounded keyboards [or accordion or vibraphone or something... I still don't know if I am just imagining these parts. I've listened three times, the last time in headphones... it could be guitar harmonics but it sounds similar to whatever he used to produce the solo... GREAT PRODUCTION CHRIS !!!] And with a plain and simple vocal and a guitar and some background noises, Chris pays a great tribute and still manages to make the song his own.
Things kick up again with Johnny Monaco tackling Dangerous Type and nailing Easton's solo. He also contributes a great impression of the Cars original times in his liner notes: "I think of high school dances, making out at sleepovers, truth or dare, the drive in, kick the can, jean jackets, cherry slurpees at 7-Eleven..." to which I add baseball cards with bubble gum inside the packs and riding the bus... The Bravery contribute a true synth pop/New Wave take of It's All I Can Do that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Iggy Pop's The Idiot. Gigolo Aunts contribute a minimalist I'm Not the One, lush and ethereal, even mildly psychedelic...The Andersons take my fave Since You're Gone in a totally different direction, totally ignoring that cross beat click - click - click - clickclick that just totally makes the original for me, but ir WORKS! Dum Dog Run knock off a totally metallic/ Husker Du take off of Let's Go, and THAT works! I'd been waiting to hear Misfit Kid since I saw it on a tracck listing, one of my favorites from Panorama, and John Auer turns in a minimalist take with the right elements of echo, power guitar and/ or tympani drums all at just the right spots. And he nails Elliot Easton as 'the secret weapon of the Cars' and 'the heavy metal George Harrison.' The Cautions contribute a cold but powerful Night Spots. And the Daybirds wrap the whole thing up with a version of Good Times Roll that sounds like it was dipped in caramel and is being stretched on a taffy pulling machine, kind of Good Times Roll meets Champagne Supernova... different from the original but not in a bad way.
I am happy to report that all of the artists here kept the basic elements of the songs and added their touches and their perspectives. Again it's easy to do with good material, but it takes balls to do it. The song selection surprised me a bit: five from the classic Cars, six from Candy O, two from Panorama, three from Shake It Up, three from Heartbeat City, two non LP tracks and nothing from the final Door to Door, which it not a bad record. Someone could have tried the metallic Double Trouble or title cut, the moody Fine Line or the ballad-ish Coming Up You or Wound Up On You... maybe that just leaves songs for the second edition.
I think the summary of the CD is this, taken from the notes by the Daybirds: "When it was all said and done, we had the essence of the original but with new revelance that was in line with the current day experiences. Middle America in the 00s is not the East Coast of the 70s bit the good times still roll around here." AMEN BRUTHA to that.
4 Stars out of five... that's four big round 55 T Bird headlights in your rear view mirror... check it out!
More info: Substitution Mass Confusion
Not Lame Records
Monday, January 17, 2005
IT'S BEEN A WHILE, SO...
The Road Goes On Forever:
So I am sitting around the homestead Sunday night making the 2004 tape [acquisitions & rediscoveries, CD and vinyl] partially to kind of put a date stamp on some things, partially because I need a new fucking tape... yes there are days I look at the pile of tapes [150?] and NOTHING seems interesting, like I've heard it all before, which I guess I have, but still, you'd think something would jump out.
Of course I even have a wealth of mix tapes, mostly mine. Sometimes they're for reasons, like International Chaz 2000 made for a road trip into Canada; sometimes challenges to myself like the First Cut Is the Deepest, [all 1st songs avoiding the obvious like Rocks Off, London Calling, Rock and Roll], The Last [and you'd be surprised how many great songs end records like the Cars' Up and Down, Iggy Pop's Squarehead and Winners and Losers, Soundgarden's Like Suicide] and The Sidewinders [first side all songs that end a side, second side all begin a side other than side one]... Some things to bring times and places back into focus...
Anyway, so I am making the new tape and I slide on an album I got a couple of months ago that I haven't tracked through yet, though I have listened to World Party's Private Revolution [bought the same day] a few times.... Danny Wilde's Any Man's Hunger. Boy is it a good record in an 80s kind of 'character band' way best described in an article on Robbie Robertson in another late 80s Musician magazine article when talking about the Bodeans adding background vocals: "They sound like a bunch of guys who step up to the microphone to sing a chorus, not a bunch of professionals!" There was something about that period in the late 80s, probably much attributed to my youth, where I found a bunch of glorified bar bands like the Replacements, Long Ryders, Rainmakers, Del Fuegos, Bodeans, et al that were bands with CHARACTER, that seemed to stand for something! Even though looking back it was a bunch of leftist/populist propaganda, the MUSIC was so great. My first adventures with things not found on radio. Was there a changing of the guard at this time? Where did this movement come from? A lot of these bands sounded like they were having fun with the music again They weren't doom and gloom like the 'save the world' singer songwriter/60s holdovers and not caught up in all of the macho 'cucumber in your trousers' posturing of the heavy metal movement. But I can't put my finger on what would have sparked such a movement [other than a backlash] except REM and John Mellencamp. And it seems to be a very American thing [well, NORTH America, as in Canada, though I would put the Waterboys in with this]. I remember Rolling Stone doing long articles on 'College Radio' and they were playing fresh stuff like this. I wish I had started buying their College chart then, but I seem to have acquired a lot of that stuff in the meantime [though not the Cure or the Smiths].
Of course this was a different time. Labels [which were just then being scooped up by 'Corporations'] allowed a band 2-3 albums to find their niche or they bought the better ones off the indies [X from Slash, REM from IRS, Replacements from Twin Tone]. But I don't want to get into 'Corporate Greedheads Killing the Music Industry right now...
I saw the Church doing Metropolis on VH1 Classic the other night... the Church had their 'big moment' during the period I am speaking of, though they were a little moody and darker than most of these other bands. Starfish and Gold Afternoon Fix were/are very good records, but the ones after tended to be 'disappointing' to critics. Is this a problem of repeating themselves or the quickly changing public tastes?
Anyway, back to the subject: The other thing this reminds me of is the reat lost art of The Road Tape. It reminds me of The Road Tape because I first heard of Danny Wilde on one of my friend Jim's road tapes for me. For a few years, before every major road trip, I would give Jim a tape and say I need this by... and he would throw it together. And I've found tons of things through these tapes: Televison, Pere Ubu, Ian Hunter, Stiff Little Fingers, Superchunk [from one song on one tape to the freak I am for this band!], the Damned, Dream Syndicate and Buzzcocks to name a few. Some things I asked for like the Damned's New Rose and Chainsaw Kittens' Angel on the Range, but you find things like Bad Religion's American Jesus, Magnapop's The Garden, Babes In Toyland's Blue Bell, Big Black's Jordan Minn and the Gits Another Shot of Whiskey were just put on because it fit the mood or it was a left turn from the song before. Jim had a very diverse collection of records from working the stores from 1980 - 1987 and he continually sought out things like Superchunk and things like that that he'd heard of or someone said they think he would like. So I got to cruise lots of thing during many many days drinking at his place. We had a friendly argument going because I can't stand Mike Ness [and his famous pick slide in EVERY SONG] and Social Distortion and he never liked the Cars, CCR or early Who [for someone who loved short catchy pop that clocked in under four minutes these should be no brainers!]. To explain the group we had, once four of us piled into a car to drive to New Orleans, about 11 hours each way, and the only song we heard twice [other than me playing Mott the Hoople's Mott album twice] was OF ALL THINGS: Neat Neat Neat by the Damned.
Does the Road Tape survive into our brave new world with MP3 players and car CD players? Does anyone but me make compilations for just puttering around or to take on the road knowing your collection is not portable and you will be in rental cars with CD players? I know you can fit all those songs on MP3 CDs, but you can't really program them; you're at the mercy of the 'random' selection button.
More ranting and raving about WILCO:
I saw Wilco on Austin City Limits the other night [and I am BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED they did not get the full hour. What were the ACL people thinking?!? BUT I see they will be showing Elvis Costello March 12th! MARK THOSE CALENDARS!!! And the Wilco will be re-run March 29th]. Is anybody else writing anything that seems so simple but has so many layers? If there is, I'd really love for someone to send me that CD.
They kicked off with At Least That's What You Said from A Ghost I Born and they kicked as much ass as it does on the record. Yeah, it seems like you could play that, but even with the crappy TV sound you can hear the way the bass and piano and drums bubble up, in and out of your conscious thought. Tweedy steals from the best. On listening I hear touches of Pink Floyd and Bob Ezrin's production on the Alice Cooper albums, especially on Muzzle of Bees. And I love the use of the piano; just listen how it interacts with the other instruments on Hell Is Chrome. I find it adds flavor, the same way the mellotron was used on Summerteeth. Then they did Ashes of American Flags from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But then they fall into the hyper fun I'm A Wheel from Ghost. Now a song like I'm A Wheel doesn't mean anything, but Tweedy knows it's fun to play and hear after the longer slower songs they've just played. It says, to me anyway, yeah I like playing my moody, deep stuff, but sometimes you just have to rock out a little.
I say again, Tweedy steals from the best, while appointing falling into rock's haphazard cliches and/or falling into dated, fashionable sounds [60's sitars, 70s abstract noodling, 80s guitar pyrotechnics]. And he adds the right touch for the songs, like the plaintive harmonica on She's A Jar from Summerteeth. It's simple and it's hummable and it gives the song just one more hook. That's why Wilco records seem to have a timeless quality that allows the listener to think of the first time one heard the record without sounding locked into one specific time period. A few records that hold this quality are Pink Floyd's Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, Who's Next by the Who and U2's Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. Those records still sound fresh and vital, not locked in by 'this year's sound.'
PS: Everyone is Somebody's Brother
We found out my father and his lovely bride Barbara are due mid March and they will be having a GIRL. Disappointed in the girl thing, but girls can be taught to like hockey and Black Sabbath, too.
The Road Goes On Forever:
So I am sitting around the homestead Sunday night making the 2004 tape [acquisitions & rediscoveries, CD and vinyl] partially to kind of put a date stamp on some things, partially because I need a new fucking tape... yes there are days I look at the pile of tapes [150?] and NOTHING seems interesting, like I've heard it all before, which I guess I have, but still, you'd think something would jump out.
Of course I even have a wealth of mix tapes, mostly mine. Sometimes they're for reasons, like International Chaz 2000 made for a road trip into Canada; sometimes challenges to myself like the First Cut Is the Deepest, [all 1st songs avoiding the obvious like Rocks Off, London Calling, Rock and Roll], The Last [and you'd be surprised how many great songs end records like the Cars' Up and Down, Iggy Pop's Squarehead and Winners and Losers, Soundgarden's Like Suicide] and The Sidewinders [first side all songs that end a side, second side all begin a side other than side one]... Some things to bring times and places back into focus...
Anyway, so I am making the new tape and I slide on an album I got a couple of months ago that I haven't tracked through yet, though I have listened to World Party's Private Revolution [bought the same day] a few times.... Danny Wilde's Any Man's Hunger. Boy is it a good record in an 80s kind of 'character band' way best described in an article on Robbie Robertson in another late 80s Musician magazine article when talking about the Bodeans adding background vocals: "They sound like a bunch of guys who step up to the microphone to sing a chorus, not a bunch of professionals!" There was something about that period in the late 80s, probably much attributed to my youth, where I found a bunch of glorified bar bands like the Replacements, Long Ryders, Rainmakers, Del Fuegos, Bodeans, et al that were bands with CHARACTER, that seemed to stand for something! Even though looking back it was a bunch of leftist/populist propaganda, the MUSIC was so great. My first adventures with things not found on radio. Was there a changing of the guard at this time? Where did this movement come from? A lot of these bands sounded like they were having fun with the music again They weren't doom and gloom like the 'save the world' singer songwriter/60s holdovers and not caught up in all of the macho 'cucumber in your trousers' posturing of the heavy metal movement. But I can't put my finger on what would have sparked such a movement [other than a backlash] except REM and John Mellencamp. And it seems to be a very American thing [well, NORTH America, as in Canada, though I would put the Waterboys in with this]. I remember Rolling Stone doing long articles on 'College Radio' and they were playing fresh stuff like this. I wish I had started buying their College chart then, but I seem to have acquired a lot of that stuff in the meantime [though not the Cure or the Smiths].
Of course this was a different time. Labels [which were just then being scooped up by 'Corporations'] allowed a band 2-3 albums to find their niche or they bought the better ones off the indies [X from Slash, REM from IRS, Replacements from Twin Tone]. But I don't want to get into 'Corporate Greedheads Killing the Music Industry right now...
I saw the Church doing Metropolis on VH1 Classic the other night... the Church had their 'big moment' during the period I am speaking of, though they were a little moody and darker than most of these other bands. Starfish and Gold Afternoon Fix were/are very good records, but the ones after tended to be 'disappointing' to critics. Is this a problem of repeating themselves or the quickly changing public tastes?
Anyway, back to the subject: The other thing this reminds me of is the reat lost art of The Road Tape. It reminds me of The Road Tape because I first heard of Danny Wilde on one of my friend Jim's road tapes for me. For a few years, before every major road trip, I would give Jim a tape and say I need this by... and he would throw it together. And I've found tons of things through these tapes: Televison, Pere Ubu, Ian Hunter, Stiff Little Fingers, Superchunk [from one song on one tape to the freak I am for this band!], the Damned, Dream Syndicate and Buzzcocks to name a few. Some things I asked for like the Damned's New Rose and Chainsaw Kittens' Angel on the Range, but you find things like Bad Religion's American Jesus, Magnapop's The Garden, Babes In Toyland's Blue Bell, Big Black's Jordan Minn and the Gits Another Shot of Whiskey were just put on because it fit the mood or it was a left turn from the song before. Jim had a very diverse collection of records from working the stores from 1980 - 1987 and he continually sought out things like Superchunk and things like that that he'd heard of or someone said they think he would like. So I got to cruise lots of thing during many many days drinking at his place. We had a friendly argument going because I can't stand Mike Ness [and his famous pick slide in EVERY SONG] and Social Distortion and he never liked the Cars, CCR or early Who [for someone who loved short catchy pop that clocked in under four minutes these should be no brainers!]. To explain the group we had, once four of us piled into a car to drive to New Orleans, about 11 hours each way, and the only song we heard twice [other than me playing Mott the Hoople's Mott album twice] was OF ALL THINGS: Neat Neat Neat by the Damned.
Does the Road Tape survive into our brave new world with MP3 players and car CD players? Does anyone but me make compilations for just puttering around or to take on the road knowing your collection is not portable and you will be in rental cars with CD players? I know you can fit all those songs on MP3 CDs, but you can't really program them; you're at the mercy of the 'random' selection button.
More ranting and raving about WILCO:
I saw Wilco on Austin City Limits the other night [and I am BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED they did not get the full hour. What were the ACL people thinking?!? BUT I see they will be showing Elvis Costello March 12th! MARK THOSE CALENDARS!!! And the Wilco will be re-run March 29th]. Is anybody else writing anything that seems so simple but has so many layers? If there is, I'd really love for someone to send me that CD.
They kicked off with At Least That's What You Said from A Ghost I Born and they kicked as much ass as it does on the record. Yeah, it seems like you could play that, but even with the crappy TV sound you can hear the way the bass and piano and drums bubble up, in and out of your conscious thought. Tweedy steals from the best. On listening I hear touches of Pink Floyd and Bob Ezrin's production on the Alice Cooper albums, especially on Muzzle of Bees. And I love the use of the piano; just listen how it interacts with the other instruments on Hell Is Chrome. I find it adds flavor, the same way the mellotron was used on Summerteeth. Then they did Ashes of American Flags from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But then they fall into the hyper fun I'm A Wheel from Ghost. Now a song like I'm A Wheel doesn't mean anything, but Tweedy knows it's fun to play and hear after the longer slower songs they've just played. It says, to me anyway, yeah I like playing my moody, deep stuff, but sometimes you just have to rock out a little.
I say again, Tweedy steals from the best, while appointing falling into rock's haphazard cliches and/or falling into dated, fashionable sounds [60's sitars, 70s abstract noodling, 80s guitar pyrotechnics]. And he adds the right touch for the songs, like the plaintive harmonica on She's A Jar from Summerteeth. It's simple and it's hummable and it gives the song just one more hook. That's why Wilco records seem to have a timeless quality that allows the listener to think of the first time one heard the record without sounding locked into one specific time period. A few records that hold this quality are Pink Floyd's Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, Who's Next by the Who and U2's Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. Those records still sound fresh and vital, not locked in by 'this year's sound.'
PS: Everyone is Somebody's Brother
We found out my father and his lovely bride Barbara are due mid March and they will be having a GIRL. Disappointed in the girl thing, but girls can be taught to like hockey and Black Sabbath, too.