Kill Rock Music

And here you will read perhaps the only music blog post in the universe this week not focused on Michael Jackson – well, except for the next few lines. I was sad to hear of Michael Jackson’s death, just as I was sad to hear of Farrah Fawcett’s and Steven Wells and that infomercial guy. Death is a sad thing, but I had no emotional attachment to Michael Jackson, as a person or as a musical entity. I was born too late to be conscious of the ubiquitous nature of Thriller and he never made music that spoke to me on an emotional level (friend’s tell me I am just not that funky). I have respect for his music, just as I respect jazz and classical and Alan Lomax recordings, but it doesn’t mean I reach for them when I want to be punched in the emotional gut (in a good way), or dragged into euphoria. It seems to me that everything I’ve read about Michael Jackson has either vilified him as a paedophilic weirdo or raised him on a pedestal of musical sainthood. For me he was neither. I don’t follow the tabloids and have only a passing knowledge of his catalogue (surprisingly easy to do if you avoid pop radio or music television). However, the sheer outpouring of emotion and words, often from the mouths of people whom I respect personally and musically, shows me that this man was obviously something special, musically, and even just because he was special in those people’s eyes, and that means a lot. In our world of blandness and middle of the road, he sparked passion in people, and that’s something I have to respect. RIP, Michael.

A death that hit me a little more than Jackson’s was Steven Wells. To be completely honest, there were other music critics I followed closer than Wells, but I appreciated his way with a word and his passion for the subject matter. He was well-spoken, did not suffer fools gladly and even when he was negative, you could tell that it came from the heart and just because he LOVED music so much that he didn’t want to see its specialness ruined. He wrote eloquently (and profanely – they don’t have to be mutually exclusive) for the Guardian and for the NME, even after the latter descended into rubbish, flavour-of-the-week children’s music coverage.

Finally, in death related coverage, this upcoming week marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of Rolling Stone Brian Jones. I like the Stones (what respectable music lover doesn’t?) but I was always a Beatles man, so I’m sure many other can provide a more thorough and generally better retrospective than I can, so I will just give a tip of my hat to one of the originators of everything we hold dear about sex, drugs and rock and roll.

I like my humour like I like my coffee (nope, wait a minute – I take my coffee white), so this week’s theme is death. We all do it (die that is), so why not sing along to it?

The Clash - Death or Glory

Good question, but maybe the smart ones would ask why it’s an either/or proposition.

Drive-By Truckers - People Who Died

I actually had my choice of death songs from these boys (runners up – The Day John Henry Died, or Dead, Drunk and Naked). However, I decided to go with this live cover of a Jim Carroll song. The Drive-By Truckers are a great band and one of my favourites. Boasting (at various times) a jaw-dropping FOUR talented songwriters (although Jason Isbell has left the group, they still have Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker all writing their fair share of classic songs). Some feel they play up the Southern mystique a bit too much, but I don’t agree, as I see Patterson Hood’s songs as more of a contemplation on what it means to come from a certain place (in his case, Alabama). Hood has a solo album out last week (Murdering Oscar) and Isbell released his second solo record earlier this year with the 400 Unit.

The Tragically Hip - Inevitability of Death

One of those peculiar ‘nation-specific’ bands, revered as gods in their homeland (Canadian) and barely known outside of it, lead singer Gord Downie has a mad way with words. This song is off their oft-dark, always superb album Day for Night.

Dover - Die for Rock & Roll

I like this Spanish band, purveyors of pure, straightforward rock and roll. Nobody ever writes songs about dying for accounting or teaching or anything though.

Spiritualized - Death Take Your Fiddle

This whole album (Songs in A & E) is focused on death, and I suppose understandably so after band leader Jason Pierce almost died from pneumonia. Death, much like Charlie Daniels, plays a fiddle apparently. I guess Tiny Tim had already done everything possible with the ukulele.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Death is Not the End

For Swells, Michael, Farrah and Brian, let’s hope Nick Cave has it right. They will live on through their body of work and blah blah blah says every eulogy ever written, but the world is still a poorer place without them.

New Music News

Wilco’s new album, Wilco (The Album) (Featuring Wilco (The Song) – and who said these guys don’t have a sense of humour?). However, I am currently exiled in Siberia (or some equivalent in some country) and roughly 180 km from the nearest CD shop, and I am nowhere cool enough to have record labels sending me promo copies, so you’ll just have to wait for a review, dear reader. See you next week!