If Grandpa Simpson was addicted to meth, this is what he’d sound like.
Archive for May, 2009
Great Moments in Music History
Posted in Music with tags Crystal Meth, D.A.R.E. to Keep Kids off Drugs, Glen Goza, Just Say No, Kerry Von Erich, the Curse of the Von Erichs, Von Erichs on May 22, 2009 by jnagle4Eminem: Relapse
Posted in Music, Reviews with tags 3 AM, 50 Cent, Crack the Bottle, D-12, Debbie Mathers, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kurt Loder, Marshall Mathers, MTV News, Music, My Mom, Obie Trice, Relapse, Reviews, Slim Shady, The Marshall Mathers LP, The Slim Shady LP, We Made You on May 21, 2009 by jnagle4
It’s amazing how much Eminem has changed in the past ten years. In his very first interview with MTV News, the still hungry Marshall Mathers told Kurt Loder that hip hop had become a stagnant artform. He was going to take it back to its most basic form, away from the bloated samples and guest rappers. Five years later, Encore was cluttered with guest verses from Obie Trice and Martika samples. Relapse finds Eminem trying to go back to his original mission.
The good news: Relapse is not as bad as the first single, “We Made You” suggests. The bad news: Eminem is a shadow of his former self. It follows the template set by The Slim Shady LP a decade ago. The “serious” side of Eminem is balanced by the “funny side.” However, the funny side isn’t funny, and the serious stuff is flogging a dead horse. Did you know that Eminem’s mother did drugs? How about that Eminem had a hard time in school? It wouldn’t be so bad if Eminem brought his razor-sharp tongue, but he didn’t.
Eminem’s themes remain the same, but his delivery has changed. He doesn’t sound as listless as he did on Encore, but the familiar annoying cadence of his alter-ego Slim Shady has been replaced by an odd mixture of Detroit street slang and dancehall scatting. Slim Shady wants to lickey-boom boom down. One of the bright spots of the album is Dr. Dre’s production. Although it’s nowhere near his previous work, he keeps it simple and loud. It’s reminiscent of the early LL Cool J records, where the forceful beats are meant to accentuate the rhymes. For the first time, the beats outshine Em’s rhymes, which has never happened before.
Relapse is meant to be Eminem’s redemption. It opens up with Marshall Mathers in rehab, preparing for his release. The doctor comes in to release him, and transforms into a demon. He wakes up at 3 AM, and begins to tell us just how fucked up his life is. He spares no detail about his drug abuse, and it’s tired. When Slim Shady gave a girl an entire bag of mushrooms on “My Fault” it was shocking, but “3 AM” sounds out of touch, especially with the Silence of the Lambs reference. Nobody has ever referenced Buffalo Bill before, way to be innovative. On “My Mom,” Debbie Mathers is portrayed as a terrible mother. You might have heard this before on much better songs, like “My Name Is” and “Cleaning Out My Closet.”
He does throw one curveball though. On “Insane,” he accuses his stepfather of sexual abuse. We’re supposed to be shocked, but we’ve been told about his horrible childhood so many times that it has lost all of its cache. The sing-song tone of his voice doesn’t help his cause.
In the middle of the drug abuse, sexual abuse and Munchausen’s syndrome, we are given “We Made You.” On his earlier albums, Eminem’s one lighthearted song would be the sugar coating that made the dark themes palatable. “We Made You” kills what little momentum Relapse has. We’re all supposed to laugh at Em’s “irreverence,” but when was the last time Jessica Simpson was culturally relevant? It’s like he has been hermetically sealed in 2004.
In the beginning of the decade, the rock elite was predicting that Eminem would probably be the next Bob Dylan. Based on his first two albums, that was a fair assumption. However, an artist is like a shark, he has to keep moving. Eminem is just coasting on the good will given to him by The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. The innovative, shocking, funny, inventive rapper on those two records is gone, replaced by a rapper determined to milk every last metaphor from the same themes.
Out in the Street
Posted in Essays with tags Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, Clarence Clemons, Essays, Music, New Jersey, Out in the Street, The River, Verizon Center on May 19, 2009 by jnagle4
I just got back from seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band at the Verizon Center. This is not going to be a teary-eyed essay about why Springsteen is awesome. I’ve written plenty of those for this site, so instead I’m just going to share a short anecdote.
Many people made signs with song requests on them. Midway through the set, the band played an instrumental soul-type tune as Bruce collected the signs from the crowd. After he had several dozen, he started going through them all. When he saw one that he liked, he would hold it up to the crowd and play the song.
Bruce went through the pile and started to smile. He held up a sign written by a nine-year old girl that said: “Jonas Schmonas! Smart 9-year olds are Out in the Street with Bruce and the E-Street Band.”
Bruce was clearly knocked out by the poster.
“Who made this sign?” he asked. “Was it you honey?”
The Jumbotron cut to a little girl on her dad’s shoulders, nodding at Bruce with wide eyes.
Bruce winked at her and said, “You got it!”
Springsteen glanced at Little Steven, and the band started to play “Out in the Street” for the girl.
During the second verse, Bruce brought the girl onstage and sang the rest of the song to her. The place went nuts.
My cold, cynical heart melted.
Moments like that make me forget that he didn’t play “Jungleland.” I probably shouldn’t be complaining though, especially since he played “Rosalita.”
Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown
Posted in Music, Reviews with tags 21 Guns, 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong, Dookie, Green Day, Mike Dirnt, Music, Pete Townshend, punk rock, Reviews, rock operas, The Who, Tre Cool, Viva La Gloria on May 18, 2009 by jnagle4
Legendary wrestling announcer Gorilla Monsoon was known for his Yogi Berra-like sayings. When a wrestler would miss a high-risk move after landing it successfully the first time, he would say, “He went to the well once too many times.” That’s the feeling you get after listening to 21st Century Breakdown. Green Day nailed the slippery slope of the rock opera with American Idiot, but with 21st Century Breakdown, the results are a bit shaky.
21st Century Breakdown is even more ambitious than its predecessor. The album’s 19 songs are divided into four acts, which document Christian and Gloria’s love affair in a post-apocalyptic America. If that summary seems vague, it’s because the storyline is impossible to understand. Christian and Gloria’s names come up, but it’s not exactly clear what’s going on. American Idiot had a convoluted storyline too, but you could pick up on it after a few listens. No such luck this time around.
The best thing about 21st Century Breakdown is the sound. Producer Butch Vig really brings out the muscle in Green Day’s core sound, and the result is unbelievable. The sound is so huge that it makes American Idiot sound like Kerplunk. There are layers upon layers of guitars and actual solos. The punk influence is still there, but the Ramones riffs are now awash in Queen-like pomposity. The sound is propelled by Tré Cool’s drumming, which is unbelievable. He bashes those drums into oblivion, and there are a few moments where your heart skips a beat because of the unbelievable power. “Before the Lobotomy” begins as a nice acoustic ballad, but once Cool kicks in, it’s full on rawk mode. “Before the Lobotomy” is also one of the most puzzling tracks on the record, because the band rips off an old Firehouse song. Apparently Billie Joe enjoys “Love of a Lifetime.” Who knew?
21st Century Breakdown has many admirable qualities, but the idea overtakes the music. The key to making a decent concept album has always been the songs. The defining trait of a great concept album is the ability of the songs to stand up on their own. They work best as a whole, but you can listen to them separately without the storyline. This is not the case with 21st Century Breakdown. The songs all kind of run together, mostly due to length. After a while, it just gets exhausting. There are some standout moments though. “21 Guns” is a grand ballad with a huge chorus. “Viva la Gloria” begins as a piano ballad before becoming a punk-raver, similar to “St. Jimmy” from American Idiot. The title track is fine, but the mid-tempo pace doesn’t work as an album opener, even though it quickens towards the middle.
Green Day has been making records since 1990, and have gone from snot-nosed punks to middle aged arena rockers. Billie Joe Armstrong is not 19 anymore, so songs about masturbation have obviously lost their fun. That’s understandable, but not every record needs to be a Big Artistic Statement. The band’s ambition was admirable, but the concept swallows up everything that is great about Green Day. The humor and the heart that is so evident on their other records is in short supply on 21st Century Breakdown. If the album had been trimmed a bit or if the concept was reigned in, they might have had another classic. Unfortunately the concept got bigger than the album. If American Idiot was Green Day’s London Calling, then 21st Century Breakdown is their Sandinista.
The New York Dolls: Because I Sez So
Posted in Music, Reviews with tags Because I Sez So, David Johansen, glam, Jerry Nolan, Johnny Thunders, Killer Kane, L-U-V, Lookin For a Kiss, Making Rain, New York Dolls, proto-punk, punk, Syl Sylvain, Temptation to Exist, Trash on May 16, 2009 by jnagle4
Boring was not an adjective used to describe The New York Dolls. The band came screaming out of New York City in the early 1970s and virtually created punk rock with their sleazy train-wreck rock n’ roll. They held it together long enough to make two albums, before disbanding in 1975. Guitarist Johnny Thunders died of a drug overdose in 1991. Drummer Jerry Nolan passed away a year later. Bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane died in 2004 of leukemia. Now only guitarist Syl Sylvain and frontman David Johansen remain. The reformed Dolls released One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This in 2006, which seemed like a fitting end to The Dolls’ recording career.
Cause I Sez So is a classic example of a once great band outstaying their welcome. There is nothing explicitly bad on the album; it’s just the Dolls going through the motions. The title track sounds like classic Dolls, with a Stonesy guitar riff and Johansen mincing like Mick Jagger’s illegitimate son, but something is missing. You could make the argument that Thunders was the spark of the band, but there was a lot of fire in their last album. Producer Todd Rundgren tries to recreate the loose feeling that he produced back in 1973, but largely fails.
You can play the sleaziest three-chord riff possible, but you can’t get beyond the polish. The Dolls are much older, so the edge has worn off. It happens. Johansen is showing the most strain, especially on the ballads. “Temptation to Exist” is pretty much a rewrite of “Lonely Planet Boy” with a more acoustic touch. Johansen’s voice is a deep baritone, but that’s not what you want from a Dolls album. The shouting and barking is conspicuously absent, and “Temptation” suffers because of it. Singing does not belong anywhere near a New York Dolls album. On “Making Rain,” he sounds like Bob Dylan, which is really odd. The rain sound effects are adorable, but completely unnecessary.
The album closes with two completely odd tracks. The first, “Nobody Got No Bizness” sounds like Johansen’s alter-ego Buster Poindexter mixed with Archie Bell and the Drells. Johansen has a couple monologues similar to “Showdown,” only not as tough or cool. He mugs through the whole thing, and sounds like Bowzer from Sha-Na-Na. The second is a reworking of their classic “Trash,” reworked as a reggae song. The original is threatening, sleazy and you need a shower after hearing it. This version is a squeaky clean love song. It’s an insult to Thunders, Kane and Nolan. When Johansen asks “How do you call your loverboy?” he sounds like an old drag queen. Wait, he is an old drag queen.
With Because I Sez So, the New York Dolls have messed up their virtually perfect batting average. One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This worked because they had something to prove. Because I Sez So is just a cheap cash-in. It’s a shame, because the Dolls had a perfect batting average. As mediocre as this record is though, nothing can devalue the visceral power of the Dolls first two records. The next time you want to have a sleazy good time, pick them up. You might want to get some protection first though.
