Jake in the desertI love songs by millionaires telling us we can't always get what we want, or that love is all we need
Dan Kletter 🥑@jake4480 ALL WE ARE SAYIN’…
Alison Wilder@jake4480 @soundclamp I rarely boost without alt text but more people should see this, lol
John Lennon was such a blatant hypocrite. As anyone who is that preachy usually is.
@alisynthesis @soundclamp ha! I should've alt texted, I usually do. Not usually with replies. Yeah, I liked Lennon as a kid, but later, became a Paul guy. Lennon had many issues. He later apologized for Jealous Guy, etc. I even read his books. But yeah. Super problematic.
@jake4480 @alisynthesis I mean, you can always edit your reply to add in alt-text haha.
The Other Brook@jake4480 @alisynthesis @soundclamp As a reasonably well-off kid from a dysfunctional family, Lennon is unfortunately more relatable to most people with the surplus cognition to call themselves Beatles fans than the three poor kids who were in the band with him. "Revolution" is such a radical statement in defense of not upsetting the status quo.
As I've gotten older I've found myself respecting George more than either John or Paul. Not that he didn't have his own bullshit (like, couldn't he have just murdered Eric Clapton and made the world a better place?) but he has a naked honesty in his work that they rarely, if ever, achieved.
@theotherbrook @jake4480 @soundclamp yeah I would pick George if I had to pick a Beatle.
But honestly, I would pick Ray Davies.
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp wooo the Kinks! Yeah. I should play some of theirs later. Used to do a TON.
@theotherbrook @jake4480 @soundclamp they really were. Although the best best beatles were The Better Beatles
(I have no idea where I heard about this back in the day, but do NOT sleep on The Better Beatles.)
The Better Beatles - Mercy Beat 1981 (full album, 2007)
@jake4480 @theotherbrook @soundclamp yeah you're all welcome. the better beatles are CRAZY cool. I actually just looked them up for the first time, and they were about what you would think. I love punks.
@jake4480 @theotherbrook @soundclamp honestly I'm pretty sure I found this record searching for the Beatles on Limewire.
Much like I found Stockhausen is my Dick by Vaginal Beer https://www.discogs.com/release/1576357-Vaginal-Beer-Karl-Heinz-Stockhausen-Is-My-Dick
@alisynthesis hahahaaa LIMEWIRE. I just found Vaginal Beer on Soulseek. It's not even on YouTube haha. The Best Beatles aren't even on Soulseek. Obscure 2007 tunes!
@jake4480 I can hook you up with better beatles...
@alisynthesis THANK YOU for this, couldn't find it anywhere!! And I can usually track down ANYTHING. Obscure! 😂
@jake4480 np! I have seriously enjoyed it over the years
Rob@alisynthesis @jake4480
oh, that is seriously bent.
Saw your wikipedia post and see the Resident vibes (from what I can remember) - got the chance to see the Residents back in the day with Snakefinger before he past. I miss totally crazy people.
@alisynthesis
Awesome. They had blowup reindeer scattered all over the stage when I saw them (probably mid-80s) - that sort of things stays with you.
The mall was wierd in other ways 😜.
@alisynthesis amazing 😂 I love it
@theotherbrook @jake4480 @soundclamp it is legitimately fun and cool music and I would choose to listen to these versions over the originals 9/10 times.
Beatles songs are mostly very child-like imo, and they somehow really work in this setting.
(I feel kinda like @theotherbrook about the Beatles. They're just way too much at this point.)
@alisynthesis @theotherbrook @soundclamp I mean, those Beatles influenced most every great artist after, though. Sabbath, Motorhead, Nirvana, Beck, the list goes on. THAT is my takeaway from it.
@alisynthesis @theotherbrook @soundclamp and see, I liked some Beatles tunes, but as a teen, I was also listening to Half Japanese, stuff like this. Where my first punk band in 1996 practiced was RIGHT down the street from Jad & David Fair in Uniontown, Maryland. My best friend lived there, he'd see Jad. Once is enough! hahaha
No More Beatlemania
@jake4480 @alisynthesis @soundclamp Okay, I haven't listened to Half Japanese in forever. Time to remedy that. But it's also the moment when I point out that the line in "London Calliing" that goes "Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust" isn't about the Beatles or the cultural phenomenon of Beatlemania, but the exploitative "tribute" show Beatlemania ending its original run.
That tidbit is the weight I've carried a long time.
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp also, someone who has heard of Half Japanese. Hell yes. 😂 they had a record.. I think.. Last year, was it? Or the one before. Listened to it, it's cool. Too positive for me 😂🤣 'nice' music isn't something I'm always used to haha
@jake4480 @theotherbrook @soundclamp truth. And the recordings were pretty much revolutionary. To me, that's the real legacy of the Beatles, not the songs so much.
@alisynthesis @jake4480 @soundclamp I wouldn't casually dismiss the songs either though. They did some incredibly great work, though at times John's feel like a put on and Paul's can be too mannered. But it's a much more consistent songwriting catalog than the Beach Boys who I love for many of the same reasons I love the Beatles.
Needless to say my relationship with The Beatles is complicated. But my bigger problem is with the role they've been assigned in the culture.
Sometimes I've tried to write about the first time I remember consciously listening to music. Bear with me as I try to do it briefly here...
@alisynthesis @jake4480 @soundclamp It was January 1971, I was four, and we'd just moved again. It was dark and snowy and we were driving into town down a street with more neon signs than I'd ever seen before, which says more about where I'd lived previously than it does about the city we were driving in.
The radio was on and everyone was silent, so I was listening to the song playing. Or was it more than one song? It was confusing. But I liked some of the words which sounded familiar, while others felt like they were those sorts of things adults would say that I didn't understand and they'd only wink and laugh when I asked them to explain them.
Then a new melody and new words started, which felt like they were speaking right to me. "Boy, you're going to carry that weight a long time..."
Paul was speaking to himself and the rest of the band with that one. They each knew that as great as it had been for a while to be a Beatle, the cultural burden placed on them was too much, too unrealistic, and too inescapable. It would be a long time before I understood that was what the words meant, but in that moment I learned the power of a good song to make us think it is talking to, and about, us. And no matter what I may think about the Beatles' legacy now, nothing can take that away from me.
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp carry that weight. YES. Amazing. That song.. its melody, just all of it. Once you've heard it once, it's WITH you. There's some magic going on there, of SOME kind.
@jake4480 @alisynthesis @soundclamp That was 55 years ago and it's never lost its grip on me. I said earlier that Paul was too mannered sometimes, but that doesn't mean he couldn't just reach into our chests and grab our hearts at times.
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp I'm huge on Paul as I said- was listening to Egypt Station just last week haha - it's actually my favorite of his solo stuff.. not counting Wings, probably, yknow, Band on the Run is tough to beat haha. But yeah obsessed with Got to Get You Into My Life, and also Big Barn Bed, which is like, one of my favorite things in the world. I listen to it constantly. I can listen to it on repeat (sometimes I do) 😂 Something about it. Someday I'll write a song close to as good as this, I hope. Y'all have probably even heard this, but, yknow. For posterity. And leaping armadillos. Yes
Big Barn Bed (2018 Remaster)
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp yes. This is huge. And psyched to read, as I've been working on a blog post on creativity through (recent) history, kinda (will be mostly about songwriting haha)
Moss Wizard@alisynthesis @theotherbrook @jake4480 @soundclamp Better Beatles sound like they were a little inspired by the Flying Lizards self-titled 1979 album. (complimentary)
@Moss @alisynthesis @jake4480 @soundclamp Yeah, I had the same thought. It also made me think "What if Meet the Residents was more than just the name of the record..."
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp ah yes. All of this. Ah, racist-ass old Clapton. Ugh. But yeah. I see where you're coming from there. I did dig Lennon a bunch (not Revolution, I like the message, but dislike the song haha) - but Lennon had a lot of ones I dug. Like, Nowhere Man. Anything on Rubber Soul (my favorite Beatles all the way through, although 'Got to Get You Into My Life' is my favorite song of theirs, and a Macca one haha) - but like, Day Tripper, Don't Let Me Down, Happiness is a Warm Gun (my friends' band covered that, industrial style - wish I still had a copy haha) - I Want You, Come Together, Norwegian Wood, Lucy, Walrus, Tomorrow, Help, Strawberry Fields etc. GREAT tunes.
Lennon criticized Paul for 'grandma songs' but Lennon had plenty I found boring and dislike (Across the Universe) haha. I dig a bunch of George songs too. He's my wife's favorite.
@jake4480 @alisynthesis @soundclamp TBF, I'm not completely dissing The Beatles or any one member (I mean, who can diss Ringo?) but I've long been tired of living my entire life in an era where the music I most love is entirely overshadowed by a band that broke up before I even knew they existed.
I once realized that for some people the White Album is the double album that defined their lives, but for me it was London Calling. And I honestly think it is just as great of an achievement even if it's totally different in concept and execution. Joe Strummer actually was much closer to being John Lennon than John Lennon was.
I have a lot of love and respect for the Beatles but I also at least try to keep a realistic perspective on them. Of the British invasion era bands The Who, The Kinks, and The Zombie all have more personal resonance for me, perhaps because I never felt like people were shoving them down my throat and telling me they were the greatest band that ever existed, or could ever exist. Because I'm a reasonably well-off kid from a dysfunctional family and that means I'm a rebel, right?
@theotherbrook @alisynthesis @soundclamp oh, same. I don't put on those Fab Four. Listened to plenty as a kid. And like I said, the only one I like fully is Rubber Soul. Ok stuff on White, it's too damn long. Should've been one disc. If it comes on, I dig it. But London Calling, yeah, that's my jam. Discovered it as a teen, wore it out, still play it multiple times a year. One of my favorite records ever. True perfection.
@theotherbrook @jake4480 @alisynthesis I can relate. I was nine when The Clash released their debut LP. My friend’s sister waited in line outside Tower Records to buy “Give ‘Em Enough Rope” for us. On the other hand, the first rock album I ever heard was “Abbey Road” when I was five and it was transformative. In junior high, a classmate used to play “The White Album” on a boombox every day at 8am as we waited for our teacher to open the classroom. These things shaped my consciousness.
@soundclamp @theotherbrook @alisynthesis wild. And so badass. What a great ride haha. That first Clash is so damn great, too - I'm So Bored with the USA and White Riot - just essential. And from Give Em, Safe European Home and Tommy Gun. HELL yes. EVERY kid should hear these songs haha. My kid heard a LOT of rock growing up, even recently, I made sure of it (he just turned 19). Mostly Ramones for punk. But also Static-X, Clutch, Rage, etc. hahaha
James Britt