A sweet 17 selection of well-known songs or artists
Arbitrary order, haphazard choices.
1. Gang of Four. Man in uniform. Ike warned us about the military-industrial simple.
Almost enough to get me into camouflage. Great concert, small attendance, Tucson 1985
(ditto Madness, Seattle 1980)
2. Franz Ferdinand. Dark of the matinée. Viva Scotland! (We needed something from the 21st cent.)
Glasgow (Fratellis, Jesus & Mary Chain, et al.) is obviously the Slough/East End muse-place of my ancestors' homeland,
though writers Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner ("Morvern Callar") make Edinburgh seem nearly as inspiring
Honorable metion to Sheffield (e.g., Arctic Monkeys) and Leeds (Gang of Four, Chumbawamba)
3. Elmore James. Done somebody wrong. Slide guitar from the master.
Or Junior Wells and Buddy Guy (as we walked through the South Side from Theresa's in 1978, a working girl said
"Hey Slim, come back here, Slim. Where you goin' with that grin, Slim?" Shortly afterwards, a fat white cop in
plain clothes pulled up and almost just shot us when my buddy asked for ID. Gave us a ride to
our motel
(two honkies fresh from Alaska in workboots and flannel shirts).
"I'd rather give you a ride home than fill out papers on you at the morgue."
4. Erik Satie. Trois gnossiens. Dans le mieux des mondes possibles. Way ahead of his time. Shannon Wright must listen to him.
5. Rolling Stones. Satisfaction. My first dance, utterly surreal (Caracas, Venezuela).
Some twit Brit post-modern rocker said "we don't listen to the Stones."
I bet noone will be listening to you in 40 years, luv.
6. James Brown. Get up offa that thing. My only CD box set -- nuff said
7. The Clash. Guns of Brixton. or several others....
8. Nirvana. Smells like teen spirit. When Weir Al Yankovic's parody is also a great song, you know you have something
9. Bob Marley. Zion train. All aboard
10. Patti Smith. Gloria. A great cover (as for the cover of Patti's "Because the night", oh god help us).
I liked him Them then.
11. Radiohead. You and whose army? Okay, so I have a weak spot for Brits who didn't really
survive childhood (I spent my deformative years -- age 9 to 14 -- in Brit boarding school)
12. Howlin' Wolf. Spoonful. Big guy sings Willie Dixon.
13. The Ramones. Teenage lobotomy. How would I have made it through grad school without this?
14. The Beatles. Helter skelter. Okay, so you either hate the group, or you hate the choice.
15. Madness. Swan Lake. Revival ska. Or Bad Manners (In the court of King Ska Fa) or English Beat (Twist and crawl)
16. The Troggs. Wild Thing. Okay, so it's not really music ... but one of them gave my brother a haircut once.
17. Neil Young. Guitar solo X ("Dead Man" soundtrack). A great soundtrack.... about six notes speak volumes
That wasn't so easy .....