La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "You Bastid Kids Get Off My Lawn" Edition

[I originally posted a version of this back in 2010, but for a couple of reasons -- lingering depression brought on by this week's Snowpocalypse, thinking as I have of late how sad it is that my generation had Beatles and Stones while today's yoots are stuck with Geese and Goose, things of that nature -- I decided to run it by you again. -- S.S.]

So I had occasion this week to re-read Jules Feiffer's superb 1965 The Great Comic Book Heroes, still one of the best books ever written about pop culture and one that had a huge impact on me when it first came out. Feiffer concludes it with the following paragraph; he's talking specifically about comics, but in retrospect, I now I think the point he's really making is somewhat broader.

Comic books, which had few public (as opposed to professional) defenders in the days when Dr. Wertham was attacking them, are now looked back on by an increasing number of my generation as samples of our youthful innocence instead of our youthful corruption. A sign, perhaps, of the potency of that corruption. A corruption -- a lie, really -- that put us in charge, however, temporarily, of the world in which we lived and gave us the means, however arbitrary, of defining right from wrong, good from bad, hero from villain. It is something for which old fans can understandably pine -- almost as if having become overly conscious of the imposition of junk on our adult values: on our architecture, our highways, our advertising, our mass media, our politics -- and even in the air we breathe, flying black chunks of it -- we have staged a retreat to a better remembered brand of junk. A junk that knew its place was underground where it had no power and thus only titillated, rather than above ground where it truly has power -- and thus, only depresses.

As I said, Feiffer was talking specifically about comics, but he might just as well have been talking about...oh my gosh -- rock and related pop musics, no?

And if so, the question arises -- is what Feiffer's getting at just a philistine old man's prejudice or an actually valid point?

Discuss.

I go back and forth on this, BTW. 😎

Meanwhile, have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Hey, At Least It's Not a Completely Crappy Week Now

Well, so the delightful MonaLisa Twins, who should be household names, have a cool new song up on the intertubes.

Meanwhile, bogus "musical" acts like Geese get to be on Saturday Night Live.

I don't get it. 😎

My New Favorite Band (An Occasional Series)

From London by way of Ireland, and from their about to be released debut album, please enjoy Music City and their drop dead fabulously rockin' ode to "Common Sense".

I first heard about those kids over at our friend Sal Nunziato's invaluable Burning Wood blog the other day; normally, I wouldn't try to steal Sal's thunder but I fell so hard for Music City that I really wanted to second that emotion, if you catch my drift. 😎

In any case, the whole album is just fantastic, and basically sounds like a great '80s skinny-tie pop band you somehow missed. Which is to say they seem to have been genetically bred to make music I was guaranteed to flip over.

The album -- aptly titled Welcome to Music City -- is dropping (as the kids say) over at Amazon, Spotify and the rest of the usual outlets on Feb. 27th. Apparently the only physical version of it available will be on vinyl, which frankly I am planning to enjoy immensely.

I should add that you can preview the entire album on YouTube OVER HERE; the band doesn't appear to have an official website where you can find out more about them yet, but I'll keep you posted if and when that changes.

Tuesday's Music-Themed Cartoon Chuckles

I must confess, I didn't immediately get the Sondheim gag. 😎

Snowpocalypse Now: Special "Cheap Whores on Parade (I Keed -- I Keed!!!)" Edition

[Greetings from depressingly snowbound NYC, everybody! More to the point, I originally posted this back in 2009(!), a time that in most regards now feels unbelievably ancient and remote. I'm reposting it, however, because a) upon re-reading it, I thought it was pretty well-written; b) the music links have long-since disappeared; and c) because it touches, however tangentially, on some issues in our contemporary culture and news that seem suddenly relevant. Enjoy! -- S.S.]

So the other day, I was talking with a friend about The Rolling Stones -- something that seems to happen less frequently than it used to, now that I think of it -- and the subject of some of their, shall we say, problematic songs came up. By which I mean the, you know, kinda sexist stuff like "Under My Thumb" et al, and as often happens, we drifted off into the larger issue of morality in art, i.e., is it still art if it's also morally reprehensible? Or, frankly, does art have a responsibility to be moral?

Yeah, right, yada yada yada. I should add, BTW, that in terms of music, at least, it's not just pop that has these kinds of problems. For example, I have Jewish friends who absolutely will not listen to Richard Wagner and (to a lesser, perhaps less fair, extent) Anton Bruckner because the sound of jackboots intrudes for them. And what about my personal favorite guy, Carlo Gesualdo...

...the 16th century aristocrat and composer who wrote some absolutely sublime madrigals at the same time he was murdering and mutilating people and getting away with it because of his social status?

Anyway, at some point in our discussion the subject of Richard Thompson came up, and my friend allowed how it was becoming difficult to overlook the fact that Thompson -- genius songwriter that he most certainly is -- was responsible for what might possibly be considered an inordinate number of songs that demonstrate a, shall we say, problem with the ladies. I countered that this was more misanthropy than misogyny, but I was probably just being difficult; in any case, it got me thinking.

It also gave me an excuse to post clips of two not as different as you might think versions of a Thompson song that could be exhibit A for what my friend was talking about -- "Turning of the Tide."

How many lips, how many hands, have held you
Like I'm holding you tonight
Too many nights, staying up late,
Too much powder and too much paint
No you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Did they run their fingers up and down your shabby dress
Did they find some tender moment there in your caress

The boys all say "You look so fine"
They don't come back for a second time
Oh you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Poor little sailor boy, never set eyes on a woman before
Did he tell you that he'd love you, darling, for evermore?

Pretty little shoes, cheap perfume,
Creaking bed in a hotel room
Oh you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Okay, so first here's Richard's version, from his 1988 album Amnesia. As you'll hear, it's kind of a jaunty rockabilly song despite the downbeat lyrics. Amazingly lyrical guitar, too; the overall effect is strangely poignant.

And now here's the revved up punk rock version by Bob Mould, from the 1994 Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat. Apart from the dangerous speed level, you'll note that Mould sounds far more disgusted with the trollop in question than the composer did; I'm reminded of Jules Feiffer's famous line that "In this culture, it's not just homosexuals who hate women -- it's everybody." 😎

In any case, a great song, if arguably troubling, and both versions are keepers, I think.

Your thoughts?

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "In Matters of Opinion, One's Opponent is Always an Idiot" Edition

FYI -- I believe the title quote comes from George Bernard Shaw, who if he'd been born a century or so later would probably have toiled as a rock critic. 😎

In any event, it sprung to mind after I stumbled across this interesting story online a few days ago.

Here's a hint: The Floor Models pretty much agreed with Townshend.

Anyway, you can read the complete article over at the link HERE. In case you're wondering, it was Pete's daughter Emma who outed him in this regard.

Which leads us, inexorably, to the subject of the weekend's business. To wit:

...and your favorite objectively schlocky post-Elvis pop/rock/soul-r&b/country hit song that you love unreservedly anyway is...???

Discuss.

Arbitrary rule: I'm disqualifying obvious novelty records, i.e. "Gimme Dat Ding" or that kinda stuff. Instead, we're talking about records that aspire to something serious/artsy/significant, but simply fall short for whatever reasons. Or that you love, but everybody else makes fun of you for it. Or that just strike most normal people as kinda cornball.

And in case you're wondering, apart from everything else by ABBA, my nominee is...

Actually, a pretty good, if overly melodramatic song, and Pitney's great, but hey -- some of the arrangement touches, like the wailing girls chorus vocals? I mean, oy gevalt.

So alrighty then -- and remembering the Shaw quote -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

An Early Clue to the New Direction

From 1963, and one of those fabulous local teen rock TV shows somewhere, please enjoy extremely blonde nice Jewish girl Diane Renay and her smash hit tribute to pre-Vietnam military enlistment "Navy Blue."

I really liked that at the time, corny as it is, and still do. BTW, when I found that clip, it dawned on me that this was the first time I had ever heard it in stereo.

Wiki also informs me that the song was co-written and produced by the great Bob Crewe, of Four Seasons and Mitch Ryder fame.

In any case, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the song's significance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Essay Question.

Wednesday's Cartoon Chuckles and Photo Funnies

Love that last one particularly, although the youngsters in the photo probably have too many teeth. 😎

Those Fabulous Nineties

Attentive readers will recall that last week I sung the praises of a 2025 BBC/Britbox comedy/drama called Riot Women. Short version of the premise: A bunch of (mostly meopausal) British gals get together to form a punk band. Hilarity ensues.

So we're watching the first season cliffhanger episode the other night -- there's gonna be a second season sometime this year, I'm happy to say -- and this song, with which I was previously totally unfamiliar, comes on the soundtrack. And I flipped out over how cool it is.

Uh, hello -- why did't I get the memo? 😎

True confession -- back in the mid-90s, when Ms. Phair was at her peak, I really didn't pay much attention to her, or her alleged masterpiece (from whence that song derives) Exile in Guyville.

Although I was deliriously thrilled with this collaboration she recorded around the same time (with Chicago power pop band Material Issue) on a fabulous tribute album to Saturday Morning kids shows.

No fooling, I used to blast that at full volume over the sound system in my office at Stereo Review at all sorts of inapropriate times (I'm pretty sure I also raved about the album in print). And I was delighted to discover I still loved it. But in any case, that Phair song above is just great; I'm obviously going to have do a retrospective re-examination of the Guyville album.

P.S.: I was a huge fan of Material Issue, who were one of the fewer-than-you-might-suspect 90s bands I actually was nuts about.

In fact, I recall being far more upset over MI frontman Jim Ellison's suicide than by Kurt Cobain's. For the simple reason that -- unlike most his of contemporaries during the Grunge Era -- Ellison always projected the attitude of somebody who really, really enjoyed being a rock star.

I should add that I just discovered there's a Material Issue documentary movie available for streaming (1 dollar -- cheap!) over at Amazon Prime HERE. Gonna watch it tonight; I'll get back to you if it's worth the price of admission.

Your Monday Moment of Words Fail Me

And speaking as we were over the weekend of Beatles tributes, I stumbled across this one by accident the other day, and...well, behold it in breathless wonder. 😎

I can only add that I was delighted to learn that the Good Father (a/k/a Don Novello) is still with us, and still hilarious. As witness this recent performance on the Colbert show.

Hedgehog milanese. I really gotta try that. 😎 😎