The Common Monoxide Didn't Work
- Thread starter Warbler
- Start date
betsmate
At the Start
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2004
- Messages
- 5,752
English Rose, a relative sang with a band and now performs solo and the song was/ is often featured in tribute to my baby niece who died.
If anyone wants a good read try The Modfather (my life with Paul Weller) it isn't about Paul or the Jam as such but it tells the real life story of a boy growing up and discovering the Jam, hero worshipping Paul Weller, and the sometimes hilarious steps that he took to be like his hero.
Anyone who has ever been obsessed with a band will find it is really close to home.
At times touching and other times a right good giggle, I really enjoyed reading it, and recommend it.
If anyone wants a good read try The Modfather (my life with Paul Weller) it isn't about Paul or the Jam as such but it tells the real life story of a boy growing up and discovering the Jam, hero worshipping Paul Weller, and the sometimes hilarious steps that he took to be like his hero.
Anyone who has ever been obsessed with a band will find it is really close to home.
At times touching and other times a right good giggle, I really enjoyed reading it, and recommend it.
Muttley
At the Start
I was a huge fan of The Jam - saw them live a few times.
I think my favourite tracks were Tube Station, That's Entertainment and Going Underground but also liked their cover of In the Midnight Hour.
I think my favourite tracks were Tube Station, That's Entertainment and Going Underground but also liked their cover of In the Midnight Hour.
Isinglass
At the Start
I worked for a concert promoter in California who used to do stadium concerts at the time when the heavy metal bands were on their way out and punk was in. After much prompting he agreed to do small clubs again and brought the Jam, Elvis Costello, the Damned, Clash, Sex Pistols and others over so I met the Jam on their first tour and then saw them on a later tour as well. Loved 'In The City', but live my favourite was the Who song Away From the Numbers which was their little tribute to their idols. Loved the Jam, reminded me of early Who, and my best friend and I moved over to London and got to see them play here and in Paris before they split. 
Paul's lyrics, like Costello's were very clever. I really like 'Thick As Thieves', 'Saturdays Kids' and 'Eton Rifles'. We planned to buy a colt by Double Trigger and call it Eton Rifles but instead the broodmare popped a filly who got named Purdey!
Paul's lyrics, like Costello's were very clever. I really like 'Thick As Thieves', 'Saturdays Kids' and 'Eton Rifles'. We planned to buy a colt by Double Trigger and call it Eton Rifles but instead the broodmare popped a filly who got named Purdey!
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
When exactly was this. Would any punk/new wave have outdrawn Zeppelin or Kiss in 1979?
Surely thats the point Isinglass is making, when she says that he agreed to do small clubs again, which was afterall the life blood of the movement. The small club offered an intimacy, energy and vibrancy that no stadium could ever hope to capture. The relationship between band and crowd was much rawrer, closer and spontaneous and both sides thrived on it. The bands were accessible, and for a brief couple of years it seemed anyone could form a group and join in, as punk was very much about participation, and the excitement of it. How coudl a fan hope to connect with a so called super group, when they're mere specs on the horizon, standing behind barbed wire and minefields and just going through a routine that was tantamount to putting up a chasm, between band and fan. In that respect the fan was no longer a participant but reduced to the role of passive spectator. Surely the idea of 'stadium fill' is irrelevant as it misses the point.
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
Firstly the fact that anyone could join in was one of punks main problems - 99.999% of it was ######. Secondly Kiss were the best band i`ve seen live - they were all over 6ft and had like 8" platforms on their feet, specs in the distance they were not.
Harbinger
At the Start
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2004
- Messages
- 11,282
Kiss were one of the few exceptions though. I reckon there's barely half a dozen acts that have been able to make a stadium gig truly work consistently - Queen, U2 & Springsteen (love 'em or loathe 'em) being the only ones that spring straight to mind.
Isinglass
At the Start
Euro, The time was between 1977-1979, I agree with your take on this, at the time when punk first hit the West Coast of the USA the stadium gig was still sold out only by the big acts, The Who, Stones, Zep, Elton, Aerosmith, Kiss etc. But on the East Coast and in England those bands were dubbed Dinosaurs and the new wave had a whole new generation of listeners who did not want to hear Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Having attended and worked at loads of stadium shows some were brill, but most of them disintegrated into ego trips, drunken slurrings and backstage antics that even now would make front page news. The energy that had once come from these acts was tarnished and they seemingly went thru their sets with great boredom. I used to be insulted for the fans who paid a fortune and waited, and waited, while some acts laid about backstage doing dope and groupies. One band kept fans waiting for 3 hours in the hot sun and still got cheered when they finally took the stage with a lame excuse about traffic! Doh! They then did a 45 minute set, picked up a cheque for near to $200,000 and went back to their hotel to a party.
It taught me one thing, do not look too close at your heroes!
Whereas, as Warbler so well translated for me, (thanks!) the energy and accessibility of the new wave acts was just that, new. I agree some of them were trashy and even at times the best ones were not that good. But it did not matter, it made you feel as if you could do it too. Clubs were cheap, and you could get right next to the stage. I used to love all of the 'old' bands but began to understand that singing about poverty, being young and changing the world while owning 13 rolls royces and throwing thousands away on dope and houses they never even visited did not go together. The dream of that generation got lost along the way. How can you be an angry young man when you have more money than you can ever spend?
Blondie, Johnny Thunders and the Ramones brought it out west from the east, and then the English landed. The Jam did not do well on their first tour, America was still stunned by the time that the Pistols came, aand broke up, nd finally when the Clash did Broadway the US understood punk. But by then it was over.
I think the US never really got into punk except as fashion statement because there is too much abundance there, and it was middle class kids who decided to dance to it and have their own bands, not the welfare state who needed it most. They preferred to dream and kept their idealised rock stars and ways of life they could only wish for. Punk was about doing it.
I first saw Queen in a smallish place, about 10,000 and then they returned to do a stadium. The atmosphere did not change at all. Amazingly. Very professional too, no backstage antics. Well, maybe just a few minutes fretting about costume changes form Freddie! Kiss did put on a great stage show, I tried really hard not to like them because they were so uncool, but ended up dancing. They were fun and at least they never pretended to be serious.
The Who were awesome too. Plenty of naughty stuff with Keith Moon and equipment being smashed etc but always on time, unless Moon was sick, and always did as many encores as fans asked for. Whatever was going on backstage did not stop them giving their all. And Townshend was already half deaf. They used to come offstage exhausted.
A great story from that time (well about 1974) was how much Emerson Lake and Palmer hated each other so they had to travel to each gig in a separate limo. It was true! :laughing:
Ah well, those were the days but I will not go to a stadium again for any band. Give me a club anyday.
I'm not sure I could attend a re-union concert - I don't think you can ever go back. But good luck to Bruce and Rick with theirs. The songs should be heard again and hopefully they can give new life to them. Joe Strummer manged to play the Clash songs with his last band and they sounded really great.
It taught me one thing, do not look too close at your heroes!
Whereas, as Warbler so well translated for me, (thanks!) the energy and accessibility of the new wave acts was just that, new. I agree some of them were trashy and even at times the best ones were not that good. But it did not matter, it made you feel as if you could do it too. Clubs were cheap, and you could get right next to the stage. I used to love all of the 'old' bands but began to understand that singing about poverty, being young and changing the world while owning 13 rolls royces and throwing thousands away on dope and houses they never even visited did not go together. The dream of that generation got lost along the way. How can you be an angry young man when you have more money than you can ever spend?
Blondie, Johnny Thunders and the Ramones brought it out west from the east, and then the English landed. The Jam did not do well on their first tour, America was still stunned by the time that the Pistols came, aand broke up, nd finally when the Clash did Broadway the US understood punk. But by then it was over.
I think the US never really got into punk except as fashion statement because there is too much abundance there, and it was middle class kids who decided to dance to it and have their own bands, not the welfare state who needed it most. They preferred to dream and kept their idealised rock stars and ways of life they could only wish for. Punk was about doing it.
I first saw Queen in a smallish place, about 10,000 and then they returned to do a stadium. The atmosphere did not change at all. Amazingly. Very professional too, no backstage antics. Well, maybe just a few minutes fretting about costume changes form Freddie! Kiss did put on a great stage show, I tried really hard not to like them because they were so uncool, but ended up dancing. They were fun and at least they never pretended to be serious.
The Who were awesome too. Plenty of naughty stuff with Keith Moon and equipment being smashed etc but always on time, unless Moon was sick, and always did as many encores as fans asked for. Whatever was going on backstage did not stop them giving their all. And Townshend was already half deaf. They used to come offstage exhausted.
A great story from that time (well about 1974) was how much Emerson Lake and Palmer hated each other so they had to travel to each gig in a separate limo. It was true! :laughing:
Ah well, those were the days but I will not go to a stadium again for any band. Give me a club anyday.
I'm not sure I could attend a re-union concert - I don't think you can ever go back. But good luck to Bruce and Rick with theirs. The songs should be heard again and hopefully they can give new life to them. Joe Strummer manged to play the Clash songs with his last band and they sounded really great.
Isinglass
At the Start
PS Forgot ACDC! Despite comic pretensions in school boy outfit they were a very good stadium band. 