God Gave Rock n Roll To Us
This post inspired by a conversation earlier this evening and by the fact that I am currently watching the New York Dolls, possibly my favorite rock band ever, on Channel 13 on some show called "Soundstage":
What the fuck has happened to rock n roll?
Rock has lost all danger. When mainstream "rock" is represented by Lenny Kravitz and Coldplay, we are in serious trouble. This is one of the reasons I dont' know what is happening in music these days....
The pseudo pop punk of Blink 182/Sum 41/Unoriginal Name 2000 summons up images of spoiled 20 somethings playing Nintendo with their skater girlfriends in their suburban living rooms, while the rock of White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs has me visualizing teenagers cutting themselves in bathroom stalls and standing in the corner at the prom making fun of the jocks on the dance floor.
I want my rock stars to summon up images of depraved drug use and sexual acts that take place while trashing hotel rooms. This just doesn't happen anymore, and I do think it speaks to the decline of rock music in the public domain. No wonder rock is dead! Rap stars have supplanted rock stars at least in part due to the fact that they are the ones living the dangerous and outrageous lifestyles that once were the domain of the guitar gods. Rock is just a safe series of three chord ditties. The danger is gone.
Why were the last great rock stars Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain? I'm not saying I want every rock star to become a hermit, get weird fake dreads and take 13 years to make one album, or that they should blow their heads off with a shotgun, but c'mon!? The only "rock stars" on view are those that started their careers 20 or more years ago: Tommy Lee and Gene Simmons in their boring reality shows, the reunited New York Doll or Rolling Stones, etc etc....all fairly uninspiring....
Give me some fucked up misogynstic leather clad heroin addicts already!
Related stories from my past:
-My first concert was Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden.
I was 11 or 12 when I begged, BEGGED my parents to buy the $16 ticket (which they said was way too expensive) to sit in the nosebleed seats at MSG. I remember being 100 percent sure that myself and Simon Le Bon made eye contact from 500 feet away. Ah, youth.
-I was in a Buster Poindexter video (aka David Johansen from the New York Dolls).
I worked on a benefit concert with David Johansen and got a call a few days later asking if I wanted to be in a video and help them cast other people to be in the video. The name of the song was "Breaking Up the House" and the concept was that Buster had an apartment that was usurped by various groups that used it for their own purposes. The groups included curler-wearing mommies with strollers and skinheads. My group was the "Lipstick Lesbians for the Ethical Treatment of Sheep". I wore a very tight red dress and thigh-high boots. The end result really didn't highlight the original idea, but was still fun to watch. The shoot was directed by Amos Poe who was this very cool downtown filmmaker who made weird movies with Debbie Harry and the whole downtown punk rock scene. This shoot was fun and we all got drunk throughout it. The last shot was of us coming in and destroying the set, which we actually got to do on camera. Fun. You can see the video here. I am the one carrying the indecipherable sign that says "Lipstick Lesbians for the Ethical Treatment of Sheep." For the rest of the video, whenever you see a flash of a red dress, that's me. (You never see my face. Of course.)
Telling these stories makes me realize that my life is very very boring now.
What the fuck has happened to rock n roll?
Rock has lost all danger. When mainstream "rock" is represented by Lenny Kravitz and Coldplay, we are in serious trouble. This is one of the reasons I dont' know what is happening in music these days....
The pseudo pop punk of Blink 182/Sum 41/Unoriginal Name 2000 summons up images of spoiled 20 somethings playing Nintendo with their skater girlfriends in their suburban living rooms, while the rock of White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs has me visualizing teenagers cutting themselves in bathroom stalls and standing in the corner at the prom making fun of the jocks on the dance floor.
I want my rock stars to summon up images of depraved drug use and sexual acts that take place while trashing hotel rooms. This just doesn't happen anymore, and I do think it speaks to the decline of rock music in the public domain. No wonder rock is dead! Rap stars have supplanted rock stars at least in part due to the fact that they are the ones living the dangerous and outrageous lifestyles that once were the domain of the guitar gods. Rock is just a safe series of three chord ditties. The danger is gone.
Why were the last great rock stars Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain? I'm not saying I want every rock star to become a hermit, get weird fake dreads and take 13 years to make one album, or that they should blow their heads off with a shotgun, but c'mon!? The only "rock stars" on view are those that started their careers 20 or more years ago: Tommy Lee and Gene Simmons in their boring reality shows, the reunited New York Doll or Rolling Stones, etc etc....all fairly uninspiring....
Give me some fucked up misogynstic leather clad heroin addicts already!
Related stories from my past:
-My first concert was Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden.
I was 11 or 12 when I begged, BEGGED my parents to buy the $16 ticket (which they said was way too expensive) to sit in the nosebleed seats at MSG. I remember being 100 percent sure that myself and Simon Le Bon made eye contact from 500 feet away. Ah, youth.
-I was in a Buster Poindexter video (aka David Johansen from the New York Dolls).
I worked on a benefit concert with David Johansen and got a call a few days later asking if I wanted to be in a video and help them cast other people to be in the video. The name of the song was "Breaking Up the House" and the concept was that Buster had an apartment that was usurped by various groups that used it for their own purposes. The groups included curler-wearing mommies with strollers and skinheads. My group was the "Lipstick Lesbians for the Ethical Treatment of Sheep". I wore a very tight red dress and thigh-high boots. The end result really didn't highlight the original idea, but was still fun to watch. The shoot was directed by Amos Poe who was this very cool downtown filmmaker who made weird movies with Debbie Harry and the whole downtown punk rock scene. This shoot was fun and we all got drunk throughout it. The last shot was of us coming in and destroying the set, which we actually got to do on camera. Fun. You can see the video here. I am the one carrying the indecipherable sign that says "Lipstick Lesbians for the Ethical Treatment of Sheep." For the rest of the video, whenever you see a flash of a red dress, that's me. (You never see my face. Of course.)
Telling these stories makes me realize that my life is very very boring now.
posted by Rachael Mason at 9:37 AM
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