From: MHB@MITVMA.BITNET (Michael H. Bloom)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Subject: Hellhound on my trail
Date: 16 Oct 92 17:30:33 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

From:         Dave Hall <USTS060@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU>
Subject:      A slightly altered thread

>      Oddly enough, one of my classes this week focused on Carnival as
> ritualized blasphemy (there is more here so just hold on).  The relevance
> of this is that originally carnival was a form of "organized" rebellion,
> where for a period of time all aspects and standards of and in a community
> were inverted.  Carnival provided a period of time to blow off steam...

Yup. Well understood phenomenon. Rome had a tradition called the Saturnalia,
when things would be deliberately turned topsy-turvy for a day: slaves got to
lord over their masters, common soldiers got to give orders to the centurions,
und so weiter. As to the distinction between Mardi Gras and carnival, the USA
bought into the Victorian repression idea that you were supposed to stay in
control at all times (actually there's a lot of leftover Puritan heritage in
the American polity, viz. "family values"), so the drunken bash was actually
firmly in the rebellious tradition of carnival. I would argue that the powers
that be still fear ekstasis, and so actually managing to get truly out of it
is still a carnival-type action-- but alcohol is insufficient to do the job
properly; you need rather better drugs.

>      It appears that corporate America and the other sources of authority
> learned their lesson in the sixties.  Anything that bears even the slightest
> resemblance to rebellion is now snatched up and made mainstream.  By
> the mid to late sixties any piece of avant garde art that looked in the
> least bit unconventional was immediately praised as something new
> and innovative.

I don't even think they learned any "lesson," I just think they learned new
ways to market the product! I can't fault your analysis, except that I believe
most of the actors here aren't even aware that this is what they're doing; I
think they simply have tacitly agreed that nothing is too extreme to use in an
advertising/marketing campaign, and if it takes sex or whatever other "sinful"
human attribute to move more units, well, that's what it's there for. To the
extent Madonna has any genius, it lies in her cheerful embrace of her own
commoditization.

>    Oh God, now I'm depressed.  Can anyone brighten my day?  Prove me wrong!

Not a chance. You have hit on the big shameful secret of rock'n'roll, and
your "reward" is to bask in the same cynicism as me and the other old farts.

From:         "(Jeff Beer)" <ujwb@UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Not fade away

> You know, all this corporate downsizing thing going on, I wonder what
> form it would take in the music business.

Oh, it's been going on for some time: all the acts that get dropped from the
majors' artist rosters. Not to mention the periodic shakeups-- Atlantic/Atco
cleaned house totally this year, fired just about everyone from the presidents
(Derek Shulman, ex-Gentle Giant, was head of Atco) on down, and any artist who
any of these guys was taking a personal interest in developing just got hosed.

> The problem is with distribution and airplay.  That is another
> story, though.

In most ways it's the key story, and a horrible refutation of the idea that
people are responsible for their own taste. It isn't true (yet) that if you
get enough airplay you can sell any kind of dreck, but there was an incident
several years ago where some radio station in LA played a minor Mozart piece
once a day during drive time for a couple of weeks, and suddenly people came
to record stores in droves and started buying Mozart. And I subscribe to the
theory that Nirvana's popularity was the result of a carefully orchestrated
campaign promulgated by Polygram in collusion with MTV. It was something MTV
had to prove, that they could break an allegedly difficult alternative band
("break" in the sense of "make popular to a much wider audience"). That's
also why they're playing so much rap: they need to get out of being typecast
as metalhead tits'n'ass video.

> ( i trust you have read my book ? )

Book? What book?

From:         "The Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny"
              <ALEVIN@RCNVMS.RCN.MASS.EDU>
Subject:      Assorted Hoohaw

> Japanese import of Camel's _A Live Record_.

I was never more than lukewarm on Camel, and this is the only record I kept.

> Yesterday in the local paper there was mention of a new (sort of) Peter
Gabriel
> album due out soon that will contain material from the early seventies!

Tell me more, I shall be much interested. There's a fair number of Genesis
obscurities, the kinds of things that should have been CD bonus tracks, but
whoever at Atlantic is responsible for the Genesis catalog is asleep at the
switch: the single version of "Watcher of the Skies," the B sides "Happy the
Man" and "Twilight Alehouse," the _Spot the Pigeon_ EP (post-Gabriel, to be
precise, but I still like it better than _Trick of the Tail_), etc. There's
also an alternate version of "I Don't Remember," it was the B side of the
import single of "Games Without Frontiers," and was IMHO way better than
the album version.

From:         "(Shag)" <birchall@PILOT.NJIN.NET>
Subject:      Re: Christian Heavy Metal: what's the point?

> Christian metal is not very well known in the Mediterranean countries, true.
> Most Christian metal is made by members of Protestant sects, the Catholics [as
> far as I can see] have little to do with it.  In northern Europe and
> Scandinavia, where most people are Protestant, it's a lot more popular.

Interesting point. Most of the extreme evangelicals in the US, especially the
guys on television (and in the Republican Party), are Protestants, of course.

One of the issues that caused the original schism was, I thought, the extreme
wealth and ostentation they saw in the Catholic clergy. Now it's gone full
circle: the televangelists have elaborate broadcast studios and top of the
line suits, and the bands have spiffy costumes and equipment, and God doesn't
seem to object to any of this. Of course, the Protestants seem to think that
the earthly manifestation of grace is a fat bank account, no matter how you
acquire it...

> Conveniently, longtime Christian Rock band Petra's musical scope spread to
> cover some hard rock/metal turf.  [Petra have been around since the early
> 1970's, have released more albums than you could shake a stick at, and are,
> generally, rather good musicians.]

Oops, I forgot all about them. I have one tape by them, _Beat the System_,
which has to be over ten years old now... sheesh. It's pretty decent.

From:         Paul Hosken <RMCB@DLRVM.BITNET>
Subject:      2nd attempt

>         does anyone know anything about either of the two groups
>         BLOWZABELLA or PATRICK STREET?

I don't know much, but it seems to be more than anyone else knows, so...
Blowzabella was a trad band (their first record came out on a label that
Steeleye Span's drummer had an interest in) specializing in early music
and early instruments-- some of them crumhorns, hurdy-gurdys, etc. They
played stuff from the French repertoire as well. They were quite good;
I believe they got four albums done before they broke up, but I've only
heard one.

Patrick Street is kind of a supergroup in the trad arena, with people who
were associated with Planxty, Bothy Band, etc. But I think they play newly
composed songer/songwriter stuff and lite rock.

> Who or what is MEPHIME?

Rap/hip-hop. Lame IMHO. Only heard them once, but was not moved to repeat
the experience.

From:         "Leonard Watkins" <ISTS024@UABDPO.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Blues - Put up or Shut up

> they set the tone for the music we're hearing now

None of which you like.

> The point i was making here and it is something i live by muscially, of the
> people i admire muscially, i look at what they were doing and they didn't
> need that. I believe that if Jimi,Stevie,.....the list goes on,didn't need
> gadgets then i don't either. I believ if you know how to play you should
> practice by using something like a Fender champ or something similar with
> a very clean sound no effecets whatsoever and if you play nice and it sounds
> good than you are good without any help from effects.

Yep, Jimi never used a fuzz box or wah-wah pedal in his life, and it was purely
a coincidence that he commissioned the construction of a state of the art
recording facility called Electric Lady Studios. He didn't need any of that
shit, there's nothing on _Cry of Love_ that you couldn't do with your Strat
and your Champ, sure thing, dude.

>              now any fool can sample,midi, drum machine and come up with a
> catchy little tune that would probally get airplay, and every time you use
> one of the electronic "sound-creators" it's taking the job of a musician

Yup, that's why the most in-demand drum machine programmers are also prominent
among the most in-demand session drummers. Not a hint of real musicianship
there.

> Please don't try to start a big debate here anyone because i'm not
> participating .....enjoyed your thoughts and your tact,,,,,L.W.

Didn't think you knew that last word there, dude.

Lenny Ray also quotes Sonia Kovitz saying:
>blues!  Albert King hanging on ONE note is all you'll ever need...

There's an awful lot of context behind that one note, otherwise it's no more
meaningful than capturing that note on one of those abhorred samplers and
dropping it into some of that non-musical modern computer jive stuff.