rock is dead, the kings of leon are pussies...
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
...and Morrissey is full of shit.ok, so I went to the show in Nashville and had the considerable privilege of watching the show from the stage. You know those concert films where there is just a random dude standing on the side of the stage? Well, I was that random dude last night. The show was at the Grand Ol Opry, it was sold out and it was something else to see the crowd from the bands point of view. The crowd was mainly 15-21 year olds, mostly girls. The girls where going apeshit. When dude dropped to his knees for his pathetic guitar solo, I swear I saw a sea of 17 year old girls wet themselves. It was amusing. But also a little sad, this is one of the biggest "rock" bands around right now, and they are well, not very good. I have read where they are touted as representive of vintage Stones and the Stooges, but with none of the danger....i.e. boring. But Eric, you may be asking, "you called them pussies, why does mediocrity call for such a derogatory description?" Well, after the show, there is of course, parties backstage and what not. We all climbed into limos to go to the after party. My buddies(who kindly invited me to the show to hang out) The Secret Machines decided to break out a bottle of Familia Reserve Tequila and take it with us (sidenote, holy shit, this tequila is fucking amazing) anywho we get out of the limo and the "lead" guitarist of the Kings of Leon is standing there...all in his vintage '69 Keith Richards regalia, the mussy, proto mullet hair, cigarette hanging out of his mouth...you know what I am talking about. Josh, takes a cup and pours a considerable shot into the glass for him, and says "here man you gotta try this"....KOL dude, asks "its not going ot burn is it?" WHAT THE FUCK???!!! Dude was afraid of the liquor burning..this is a rock star? This guy wants to be Keith Richards? He took a little sip of some tequila that was so so smooth, that I doubt it would burn if you poured it on an open wound, and makes a face like he just tasted napalm...good god dude. We then went into the party and the dude ordered a amaretto sour...an amaretto sour. Some of y'all might think I am being harsh just because dude isnt a drinker and a lightweight partier..but I think it speaks volumes about the state of rock..he doesnt play in a straight-edge band, the dude supposedly plays "rock n roll", he looks the part, trys an act like a bad boy...uggh I am rambling...But methinks this is why rock on a major scale sucks ass today...no one remembers how these dudes like Keith and Iggy lived their life...it was reflected in the music. Amaretto Sours does not good rock music make.Ok now to qualify the "Morrissey is full of shit" statement. I just said that because doesnt he have a song called "we hate it when our friends are successful"?Well, last night was surreal for me, I played in the Secret Machines for a short while, the co-headliners at the show last night. It took me getting through four layers of security until I could get to their dressing room, but thats the business. The really weird part was seeing them before they went out on stage. These are guys I have known for 10 years, dudes I have played with in shitty little rehearsal studios, dudes who never had any money..and now they are successful, sitting in dressing rooms with $700 worth of booze and food in it, and as Josh, the drummer said, "this is weird, I have a monitor guy, there is someone hired for the soul purpose of making sure I can hear the bass and keyboards, that is all they do, thats weird man" Let me also say that they know the bottom could drop out at any time and the tour busses, european tours, and champagne and brie backstage could vanish at any time, so they are just enjoying it while they can.Anywho, the real surreal part was right before show time...it was like concert movies, where the tour manager gets the band and leads them down the hallway, to the stage entrance, and they stand there until the house lights go down and thousands of people start screaming. Brandon and Josh just turned to me and started laughing, they are diggin this shit. Of course there was a small part of me that was kinda like "fuck, that could be me"(actually it could be anyone of dozens of friends and people I have played with) but I was so happy for those dudes...I know what they are into, I know they played shit bars for ten years, I know their ex-girlfriends, I know what they drink, I know they deserve it. Also what made me smile was the fact they are playing 10 minute covers of Harmonia songs to a sold out grand ol opry...making thousands of kids listen to krautrock and making them like it..that is cool as shit. Harmonia never played to that many people and The Secret Machines are taking this unheard music to the MTV watchers. Hot. So Morrissey, you are wrong.
Comments
I just dress the part.
& Moz said it right "It's really laughable. Ha, ha, ha ..."
So don't waste your time, when I was 17 I wet myself during an Iggy Pop gig :gofigure:
/methinks you're a mook.
- spidey
hug a nut spidey
also, they act like bad boys...they are posers, dude smoked a cigarette on the grand ol opry stage..a major "sin" and flat out disrespecting the place to people who care about that shit, he wants to be cool, they wear Jack Daniels t-shirts...but the actual beverage would burn their tongues.
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wow, that's a pretty intensive tatoo of arm hair.
those leon tools are beyond heinous. i heard there daddy is some kinda preacher man and the boys were raised in a pretty strict religious backgorund, even playing music for daddys whitey xian review and what not. which certainly explains his inability to hold his liquor.
but you have to remember jack daniels shirts and messy hair is the uniform of hilary duff / ashley simpson these days. shit has been so co opted its not even funny. hell i even saw an olson twin in a pushead t-shirt.. the same t-shirt i got kicked out of gym class in grade 8 for wearing. pathetic.
incidently im surprised you were unable to see the shitness of the secret machines as well man.. maybe its the close to home bias but man those guys certainly classify as another reason "why rock sucks in 2005".
but this is also part of the reason rock sucks these days.. people draw such arbitrary lines of whats good and bad. like kings of leon are weak for being an imitation southern rebel rock band but secret machines arent an obvious imitation space rock band? they both look like the same attempt at furry freakiness to me.
yeah, well, I guess the fact I made "fake space rock" with bands like the Secret Machines would make me biased...I dont think the Secret Machines are "fake space rock"...Michael Rother just showed up to one of their shows in Germany and went backstage and asked them if they wanted to play "#3"?..."#3? what do you mean?" they asked...Michael Rother said, "I want to play the third song on your CD with you tonight"...I think that says a lot, I mean if one the biggest Krautrock pioneers shows up at your shows unanounced and wants to jam with you, I think you are doing something right as far as playing "fake space rock"..thats akin to being a "fake funk band" and James Brown just showing up and wanting to jam on one of your songs from your CD.
Also, why are they fake? lets see, as long as I have known them, they have been into taking drugs, hooking up a bunch pedals, writing, recording and touring their ass off...so I am confused of what a "real" space rock band does differently...
Sounds like "real" space rock to me!
if you work in a garbage dump don't be surprised if some of the stink rubs off.
that sounds like every 'rock' band out there today with promoshots.
I couldnt agree with you more. The guys getting credit for saving rock are a bunch of serious pussies who are far more concerned with the image of a rockstar than anything else. This reminds me of a story where my homeboy and I were backstage at punk show. The headlining band was all deck out in the cliche punk attire: plaid pants, spiked belt, torn PiL shirt, combat boots, spiked hair, etc etc. My boy had a video camera and posed as a rock journalist and started to do an interview wih the bands. Asking all kinds of questions that made them look like fools. ie: "So what do you think about the death of Nancy Spungen?"......"uh, Nancy who?". And these were the guys the media was hailing as perserving the punk scene. yeah right.
seriously....just bands digging up the most tired aspects of the past and forgetting to bring along their own energy or personality(oh, wait, most of the cats never HAD any personality). People wanna sound like the Velvets or the Stooges or Skynyrd but they don't wanna pay any dues or carve out anything for themselves. No vision, no fun.
Co-Sign.
I'd like to know when ROCK turned the corner and died? Is there a specific moment or is it just obvious when there are no new "great albums" being made?
the immediacy is gone...it used to be about putting out a record every 10 months, playing every city you could, and living the life. Not many bands do that anymore, and it is reflected in the lameness of the music...as the great Diamond David Lee Roth said "what kind of inspiration can you get out of a glass of iced tea?"
Whilst your backstage/after hours adventures at the Opry sounded sufficiently dubious, I wonder if you might have overlooked something in your argument against the Kings of Leon...the music, perhaps?
I consider myself a lush, so I too agree that any kid worrying abuot tequila burn isn't doing much for his rockstar image, but quite frankly you fail to make a point on any level that a person truly pondering the, "Is rock dead?" debate would give a shit about.
Next time try listening to the records or the actual performance and comment on that, not pre-pubescent girls and a frighteningly low alcohol tolerances, for reasons as to why ROCK IS DEAD.
I disagree. You need ALL of the crucial ingredients for rocking out:
Sex, Drugs, and obviously Rock 'n Roll.
Rock wasnt founded, defined, or carried out by fags who bought their pre-worn Jack Daniels ringer tees at the mall. In order to rock to the fullest, you need to puke blood at somepoint, and I have a feeling that the Kings of Leon havent earned that badge yet.
uhh, yeah, I saw the show...I heard the music, I heard the dozen bad notes the bass player played, I heard the boring rudimentary solos, I heard the
"...Backstage again, we were outside the catering tent, about to cross the path back to the dressing rooms when loads of massive blokes in suits and shades came out of nowhere shouting "don't move, don't move, DO NOT move" whilst pushing people back to the sides of the track. Was it Obama?
Tom explained that he was just crossing over to the dressing room to start getting ready.
"No you're not" said a big man.
"Yes I am" said tom.
Out came the enormous hand.
The conversation between tom and the big man got more heated. Then 4 blacked out range rovers came round the corner. One for each King of Leon. As it became clear what all this presidential fuss was about, tom gave the worldwide one fingered sign of dislike as the cars went past. The last one stopped. The drummer got out making "come on then" type gestures. "Come on then" tom gestured back. Instead, the drummer went back behind his bodyguards, and, pointing towards Tom, Paul Weller, and the various other musicians who were pinned by the side of the road, said "I want them removed."
"You will be removed" said the big man.
"No we won't"
The promoter came over, smoothed it over and apologised. Bearing in mind this was all happening backstage in the area shared by all the bands, it's hard to see what the Kings thought they were protecting themselves from. Was Paul Weller going to hound them for autographs? Was Florence going to wrestle them to the ground? Or maybe Stereophonics were going to ask them to write "your sex is on fire" on an album sleeve?
Nevertheless, the Kings had 4 minutes before going onstage to enjoy all those showers and toilets they'd kept to themselves..."
Hahaha definetely I'm blind! I'm sorry, didn't see your post, I wrote the same below. Stunning experience.