RobP says
Hey, the reply videos are already no longer available. If anyone has I'm Gonna Kill That Woman or Madman Blues please get in touch with me. I have an early John Lee album not yet converted from vinyl; he's in the rocknroll hall of fame, right? The same place that just inducted John Mellencamp and Madonna? Why create a pantheon if yr gonna instantly piss on it? John Lee was at his best when he was absolutely psychotic, and no one in their fucking right mind would vote for him for anything. You just avoid the crazy people, don't let em know you know they exist. And some of the best musicians have included the wildpeople, pretty much all of em if you restrict yrself to their music. Containment is for caged animals: John Lee, Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf - these guys were always bustin out. And not just the guys. Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, these were not people who naturally fit in at yr suit and tie hangouts. "Gimme a reefer and a bottle of gin" was not what you were supposed to be singin during prohibition, but I'm not sure the law was a part of Bessie's lifestyle except as an infringement. The best music has always come along as an impassioned plea that generally called for tearin shit up, whether we're talkin jazz, blues, or rock. Too much of the world is artificial, with schools of this and halls of that, and the idea is to find what's real. Or sometimes to escape it, reality ain't always a fucking picnic. Anyway, b-b-b-b-boogie! (I think that's how Robert Plant spells it).
Hey Keith, if yr not gonna rant on yr posts, someone has to.
RobP says
I was sure I had Madman Blues on vinyl, how the hell else do I know that song, but I can't find it. And I'm Gonna Kill That Woman got covered, by Nick Cave I think, on some anthology that used to be in the crowded house I used to live in, but who the fuck can keep track of all these people? The best ones are drinking too much in other cities now, while I drink what some would call too much here, but I'm sure I ain't had too much by John Lee's standards - bluesmen can't spell acohloic. Pretty soon, me neither. Anyway, my hall of fame is basically literally in the fucking hall: all my albums fit in one closet with many shelves, and all the candidates are in there. No one with cougar in their name, no one named after Jesus' mom (although Jesus' son comes up in a lyric - damn fucking right Lou Reed, I don't care how many people think he's an asshole, I' m more concerned with how many shitty bands started because of him - but that ain't his fault, I love Lou, he has more good songs than most people have iq points, so fuck em), no one who needs to be enshrined in fucking ohio (my mom's from there, but that don't make the place cool, not even close - ya think Lebron's stayin there when his contract's up and Jay Z owns the Nets? - Jersey's cooler than fucking Ohio). You know, if I started a rnr hall of fucking fame, I'd get Elvis, Jerry Lee, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, that's probably my initial 4 from the 50s, Jimi, Beatles, Stones, Velvet Underground, Dylan starts the sixties, and we go from there. That's the breeding ground. I'd put Captain Beefheart and the Yardbirds in damn quick after that then move to 70s bands, but I'd never give anyone a fucking plaque. Drinks, babe, absinthe and groupies, what you want is what you get, let's have a heroin room and an acid room and whatever makes the motherfuckers motherfuckers (not what makes them happy, necessarily, we want them to rock), I don't think much of what's legal has much to do with what makes great music, if we're gonna reward these people let's give em a red light district, hell, we probably have to put this fucking hall in Amsterdam, the US is kind of cheese and crackers when it comes to pleasure, on the other hand I don't know if great bands come out of Amsterdam, maybe they come out of places like Ohio wishing they were in Amsterdam.
Left out Bo Diddley, that takes the 50s to 5, and there's loads of music related to rnr that was around before the 50s - my god, have you heard the guitar solos on those howlin wolf records - i guaranfuckingtee you johnny thunders heard em or the new york dolls never woulda had that sound, that guitar solo that paints itself into a corner for the sheer pleasure of breaking through the wall.
John Lee Hooker's early guitar playing is so primitive, so perfect, so not what anyone would ever teach anyone else as a way to play guitar - it kills a school, it says play the fucking guitar the way you want cuz maybe yr a guitar genius, maybe you can do stuff with rhythm that no one could possibly teach cuz it's in YOU, and maybe it doesn't even sound good when anyone else does it cuz they're obviously copying. Ah shit, what decade was I was supposed to put John Lee in from? NONE, cuz he's a bluesman, and those motherfuckers don't fit in halls. You just stand back and watch and let yr jaw drop, or if yr psycho enough get into it. Mama and papa let that boy boogie cuz he woulda killed them if they tried to stop them.
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