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I am the last of the famous international playboys. — Morrissey, song of the same name
Reggae music is vile. — Morrissey, 1980s interview
It began as one of those pub conversations about culture and art. You know how it is: Four or five guys (no chicks, please; they tend not to know much about music, and they are a distraction) not so much shooting the breeze as machine-gunning it. (more…)
The Clash at the 1983 US Festival.
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On Memorial Day weekend, 1983, The Clash held their final concert. It was a meaningful one aside from that, given that it was part of a four-day festival in San Bernardino, California that featured some of the most popular music acts in the world at the time. The Clash headlined what was called New Wave Day on Saturday, May 28, and played to perhaps 100,000 people in the stifling heat. (more…)
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Rammstein was formed in 1994 in Berlin by six men who were originally from East Germany. Their name came from the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster. They created a new musical genre called Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hard Rock), which was basically a combination of hard rock with elements of techno. (more…)
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Right-wing music: Is there such a thing? Dissident rock, anyone? I imagine our enemies picture us sitting around all day thumbing through our well-read copies of Mein Kampf and listening to Wagner, Joy Division, and the “Horst Wessel” song — sort of Reich ‘n’ roll. But, as with the rest of culture, I have found that people on the Right tend to listen to music they instinctively enjoy, rather than what their ideological commissars tell them they may listen to. (more…)
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Nick Jeelvy was joined by Counter-Currents writer Mark Gullick PhD, OMIC to discuss the United Kingdom in the 1970s and ’80s as he remembers it, with a special focus on music of that period, on the latest episode of The Writers’ Bloc, and it is now available for download and online listening. (more…)
Robert Plant (left) and Jimmy Page (right), Chicago, 1977.
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Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair
— “Going to California”
Led Zeppelin’s back catalog already includes songs like “Ramble On” from the rocky Led Zeppelin II and the melancholic classic “Tangerine” from the flower-powered III. (more…)
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Steely Dan is a band composed of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Their biggest hits have a kind of eternal life, anthems that grace barbecues, bars, and band jams for their simultaneously irreverent, yet wholesome outlook on American culture. This is perhaps best expressed in the group’s own name (more…)
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As you can see. . . girls, music, disease, heartbreak. . . they all go together. . .
About three months ago, I was asked to give one of those “four recommendations” type interviews for an eminent publication (an old buddy’s blog) in the old country. (more…)
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Let’s steal some stars
For Avalon . . .
Let’s make a quest
For Avalon
Quest for finger cymbal and gong
For Avalon
— Tyrannosaurus Rex, “Stones for Avalon” (1969)
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Greg Prato
The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s
London: Jawbone, 2018
“They kind of moved it away from just mellow/hippie/campfire music and into something new – something that was consciously pursuing the aesthetic of softness. (more…)
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Side One
When I was growing up in the ‘80s, I considered Bruce Springsteen to be a buffoon. Watching him prance around in the video for “Dancing in the Dark” at the age when you think GI Joe is where it’s at embarrassed me profoundly, and made me feel embarrassed on behalf of those around me who were mesmerized by this spectacle. (more…)
Pink Floyd in 1968
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“White culture is Family Ties and Led Zeppelin and Guns N’ Roses – like, this is white culture. This is all we have.”
–Christian Lander[1]
Rock music’s descent mirrors the recent late-stage decline of confidence in the West.
Yes, rock music is complicated – cue the liberals retorting with, “It’s all just black blues, man!” and certain conservatives contesting, “But it’s degenerate!” (more…)