Tampa Calling

A Rant by Gabe

MOTOWN JUNK

… is the title of one of the earliest releases by Manic Street Preachers. That single was released way before the angry young Welsh band were even close to ever releasing a full-length album. The song is basically an observation of how obsessed we as a culture are with nostalgia.

We revel in the “Glory Days” (another song with a similar theme) and spend countless hours talking about how GREAT the “good old days” were. The irony is that although we were complete fuck-ups, douchebags and nerds, we still somehow only remember how young, hell-raising, wild and crazy we were. Selective memory, if you ask me.

This type of fond remembrance is great but it has its limitations. Such is the case with the warm fuzzy feeling that most people have for bands like Cheap Trick and The Ramones.

Undoubtedly these are two of my all-time favorite bands that I consider myself very lucky to have seen live many, many times. Both influenced thousands of bands who came after them and eventually eclipsed them both in terms of record sales and popularity. Thing is, both bands continued to create solid, respectable music throughout their respective careers.

Hell, Cheap Trick’s last record, Rockford, rocks as hard as anything they’ve ever released! Problem is the folks who go see these bands nowadays only want to hear “the old stuff.”

A chance to grab from the Vinyl Fever swag bag after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Oklahoma is cooler than Florida! At least as far as official state rock songs are concerned. Residents declared The Flaming Lips‘ “Do You Realize?” the rock anthem of Oklahoma via an online vote. However, the Oklahoma state House rejected the resolution. Some representatives, inclined against all things cool, protested the vote, citing the band’s profanity and provocative wardrobe. A bandmember once wore a hammer & sickle t-shirt? Say it ain’t so! When all was thought lost, Gov. Brad Henry, part-time rock savior, overruled the legislature via executive order and threw his support behind the people’s choice. Oklahoma is now cool despite the best efforts of certain politicians. As for the Lips (pictured right), they are currently prepping a double album.

Joey Ramone passed away back in 2001, but his family still throws the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash to raise money for the Joey Ramone Foundation for Lymphoma Research. In addition to sets by Fishbone and Supersuckers, this year’s show will feature a listening party of previously unheard Joey Ramone demos and rough mixes.

(Nick Cave’s Gladiator sequel, reissues from R.E.M. and Stone Roses, and more after the jump!) Read the rest of this entry »

By Vinyl Fever’s Gabe Echazabal

A young music lover whose taste I respect and admire told me something shocking the other day. The kid is in his late teens and listens to some pretty cool stuff — vintage

Bowie, freaked-out Zappa and some other worthwhile contemporary artists as well. I see myself in this person … when I was 18. I couldn’t get enough music. I read about it, listened to it, tried to play it … You get the idea.

We were talking music in the aisles of Vinyl Fever and he asked me for some suggestions. Everything came to a screeching halt when, totally unprovoked, he told me he did NOT want anything by the Ramones. My jaw was still mid-drop when he twisted the knife in my soul a little deeper. “All their music sounds the same!” he announced. I don’t know if I was more shocked, saddened or confused. I mean, I just assumed, based on his level of music knowledge, that he’d already been converted to the clan from Queens. I felt like he was cheating himself out of a vital part of his adolescence by denouncing the “bruddahs” who fueled the passion and fire for music for so many teenage boys (and lots of girls too) for so long. It was as if he were telling me that he hated candy, cartoons and videogames, too.

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