Monday, April 18, 2005

Handsome Beast




Ok.

BigRockCandyMountain. Scouring the globe for all the latest bands you crave. Future Spin cover stars and modern rock heroes? We've got it covered. Where music comes second to promotion, and we're always trying to land that big gig writing for How to Sell Rehashed Crap to the Masses magazine.

Somebody's a little tetchy today, hmmmm?

Thanks for yr patience. I was beginning to forget what this whole world wide web thingy looked like. Future mother-in-law is safely returned home, and half the apartment is now reflecting a fine shade of cardboard-box brown. Yikes. I'm pretty sure I packed something away that I'm gonna need.

Well, gee, yr here for music, not a daily packing report.

First, I was hoping to solicit some ideas. I'm soon going to start a series of posts dealing with artists that should be in some sort of Hall of Fame, but aren't and will never have a chance to be. While I'm sure we can all agree on the importance of Bob Seger in the pantheon of rawk, or at least pickup truck advertising, but what about Captain Beefheart? Charlie Feathers? Screamin' Jay? The New York Dolls? 13th Floor Elevators? Sun Ra? The Legendary Fuckin' Stardust Cowboy? Do the Minutemen and the Germs and the Dead Kennedys have a shot? And why not? I've gotta believe the Replacements might manage to slip in, but will they ignore Husker Du and Yo la Tengo? Mark E. Smith and Billy Childish are probably toast. And don't even get me started on how many rap artists will get ignored by the old white men with ponytails who make this decision as to what musicians are valuable. There's a thousand great artists who will never get the recognition they deserve. Sad fact, and true. Doomed to live a dusty life in the rekkid collections of awkward fan boys and girls.

Now for the solicitation part. Got a musician or band that you'd nominate for...oh...let's call it the Fringe Hall of Fame (until I or you come up with a better name for it)? Let me know. I'm taking submissions. If you make a good case (even if I disagree), I'm gonna give you a guest spot. That's right, you get to use and abuse the BigRock name and bandwidth for yr own personal use. There's no limit. There could be 50 winners or 5. Or this could be a complete failure, and y'all'll'll'll be stuck with just me. And who wants that, really? Leave a comment or email me at jukejoint@gmail.com. The Mountain's an opinionated bastard. You should be too.

And now for something completely indifferent. Sir Bald Diddley and His Wig-Outs. Frankly, I could find very little info on this band on the web. What I do know is that they're a British band in the grand tradition of Thee Headcoats. The album these two songs are pulled from is called To Baldly Go, and can be found from the essential Sympathy for the Record Industry label. Mixing spiittle soaked harmonica, THE Bo Diddley guitar riff (in all it's glorious forms), and a twisted take on surf music, it's the perfect album for yr next hi-fi rent party. Oh, and the man wears a fez. It may not be Bob Seger, and it probably doesn't even qualify for The Mountain's hall of fame, but it'll shake yr ass nonetheless....really. Download it now. If you don't find yrself twisting the night away, I'll give you yr money back.

Sir Bald Diddley and His Wig-Outs: Handsome Beast (mp3)

Sir Bald Diddley and His Wig-Outs: Bull Moose(mp3)

Fer Pete's sake, why are you still buying from The Man? Check out yr local independent record stores. Amongst the dust lies a wealth of treasures Rolling Stone's never heard of. And that's a good thing.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Here are the ponies that I'm betting on for winning a spot in the Fringe Hall of Fame
in no particular order:


The Saints: When the majority of music-loving people finally shout themselves hoarse on the virtues of The Clash or the Sex Pistols, it will be my deepest hope that the Saints are given the recognition that they so richly deserve. Stranded and Eternally Yours are two of the best albums from that period. The band had energy, hooks and a clarity of vision that has seldom been matched by anyone. Sure, The Saints have done their fair share of stinkers in latter years, but that shouldn't tarnish a highly impressive early catalogue of work. RFTC have made a 20+ year career of re-writing "Know Your Product" without producing an equal.

Gid Tanner & The Skillet-Lickers: Primitive, brilliant and unforgettable are rare adjectives used in describing contemporary music. Not so with the Skillet Lickers.

The Move: Maybe not an unsung group in England, but the Move are almost unknown in North America, save a few pockets of know-it-all Cheap Trick fans. The band combined an energetic freakbeat sound to some truly inventive pop songwriting early in their history and then added some more orchestral bits later on. The results were some of the best music to come from England. Ever.

Since I'm tired, I'll just run through a couple of other worthy contenders:
The Pink Fairies - The true Psychedelic Warlords
Killing Joke - Where would today's white belt set be without the 'Joke?
Roky Erickson - Few people make me listen to lyrics as intently as Roky does.
The Sadies - One of the best live bands that's probably playing tonight in a town near you.
Simply Saucer - There ought to be a chicken in every pot and Simply Saucer's "Cyborgs Revisited" in every music library.
The Stranglers - I don't care what anyone says on this one - The Stranglers are the bees knees.
The Kinks - Maybe they straddle the line between praised and unsung, but that just seems all the more fitting for Davies & Company.
Johnny Horton - Sure, everyone remembers the novelty songs, but it's a crime that his barn rockin' country is overlooked.
Thin White Rope - A lot of people hated Guy Keysers voice, I did not.
The Country Teasers - Kinda like the Fall, except better.


Anyway, there's my picks. Keep up the good work on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Yeesh! I can't believe I forgot Neu! and Chrome.

Reverend Frost said...

I can't mention 150000 bands here but hey, you know my tastes right?
Thanx for Sir Bald...check out "Locked in to surf vol 1 & 2" (there's an excellent french band on vol.2 ehehe)

Brian K Reese said...

Adam...great selections. (though i'd quibble about the 'Teasers being better than the Fall (though i'm a big fan...particularly their Fat Possum albums...how many bands can get kicked off FP for being too offensive?)). Email me at jukejoint@gmail.com to set up a guest post...we'll discuss some of yr choices.
Good Rev.-you know i'm gonna be bugging you for a guest spot too...

Anonymous said...

My nomination goes to the one who brought the blues, and rock together again, produced the last Muddy Waters albums, recorded Sonny Terry & Willie Dixon, and was the hardest phsycadelic rocker of his day as well. I nominate Johnny Winter.

D.Rey said...

I'd nominate:

Link Wray
Gram Parsons
Dick Dale
Bobby Fuller
Ike Turner

Those are folks I see as being slighted by current non-inclusion. As for adding fringers, I would say Charlie Feathers, Johnny Burnette Rock and Roll Trio, Townes Van Zandt and Doug Sahm all left some sort of indelible mark on the music collective consciousness.