Punk Is Attitude
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”― William Golding
Road to Ruin by the Ramones. It was the first of their records I bought and dug into, purchasing it for $4 from Billy behind the counter at Revolver Records on Clement Street, San Francisco c. 1983. It was a year before I saw Rock n Roll High School, the crazed film they stared in around the time of recording Road To Ruin, and few years before I would first see them live at the Fillmore…so beyond knowing a few of their songs from listening to KUSF and whatever little information I gleaned about them in my brother’s Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, I had no idea which record to listen to first…what to really expect from the listening experience…and had a sense of gleeful apprehension towards what chaos was in store for me from this ripped-jeaned, leather jacket wearing brood.
I had no idea that I was hitting The Ramones at a crossroad. This was the record that they attempted to break out of their founders-of-punk legendary status and hit the mainstream. Yes, they still gave the listener a heavy does of classic Ramones with songs like the opening track I Just Wanna Have Something to Do (the song they make their triumphant first on-screen appearance in Rock n Roll High School) to the now legendary I Wanna Be Sedated to other album tracks like Go Mental…but there were also those tracks displaying a new direction, never leaving the Ramones attitude behind, but adding bigger production and slower gates, with songs like Don’t Come Close, Questioningly and the Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono penned Needles and Pins (made famous by Jackie DeShannon) . As they said in interviews, they never changed their sound: what they were doing on Road To Ruin was explore different sides of it.
Usual suspect engineer Ed Stasium was back behind the console along with former Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone and the two achieved a thick, buzzing guitar sound for Johnny and as well as a powerfully driving rhythm section (led by Dee Dee’s bass prowess) that fit like a glove as soon as the needle hit the first sound of the first song on the record and then that second song picks up the pace, with I Wanted Everything, a total classic punk anthem. Damn, The Ramones were such a great band.
As a 13-year-old, I sat on my bed, staring out the window to the alley behind our house, stunned at the power that was coming hitting my eardrums knowing instantaneously that the recordings I was listening to were not from just a great band, but from a band defining a genre: one of those few bands that rewrite and celebrate rock music simultaneously. When the following song Don’t Come Close hits, it showcases Ramones rock with a more poppy recording, with a great melody that Joey snarls his way throughs with new drummer Marky Ramone aggressively attacking the kit as if he was playing Blitzkrieg Bop. A new direction? Maybe? Still the Ramones? Definitely.
Through and through, Road To Ruin is a classic, still sounding fresh and defining today.
I blasted The Ramones while driving the streets of Santa Rosa yesterday, picking up tamales at the great Tamales Maná while grabbing some birthday gifts for Kaya (she will be 12 tomorrow!). And when I was done with Road To Ruin, I went back to the first record…to the new mono mix that was released a few years ago (which supposedly is the way the band wanted to the first record to sound) which comes off even more exciting and crushing than the classic release (and is a must-listen).
Damn the Ramones were a great rock band. Damn.
Does Someone Know My Name? Library of Congress' Mystery Photos!!
I love these installments of photos that the Library of Congress is crowdsourcing, trying to figure out who they are of. The photo above: I know I have seen it somewhere and am bending my memory to try and figure out where. Do you know any of the people in the photos?
The Phonebase data bass of century old recordings is dangerous
You have to use google translate to read this page in English but it is worth it, and warning: the site is a major rabbit hole. Henry Chamoux is the musicologist behind the page showcasing recording after recording from over 100 years ago. The age of the cylinder is his focus, with crazy finds from all around the world…compelling international recordings that I have never conceived of before. A fantastic find.
Reboot Ideas Presents: The Dark Side of Web 3.0 with Laurie Segall and Aza Raskin
Reboot hosted this incredible…although dark…conversation between Aza Raskin, who came up with infinite scrolling and helped create The Center for Humane Technology (they are behind the film The Social Dilemma) and legendary tech journalist Laurie Segall. Compelling and scary stuff: technology advancement could seriously lead us into incomprehensible times.
This looks like a fantastic exhibit: “A major figure in the Bay Area art scene since the 1970s, Villa left behind a studio in the Mission District when he died in 2013 of cancer…In 2016, Dean Johnson called an electrician to fix some wiring in their building, but there was one hitch: ‘The electrician never got into the attic, complaining he couldn’t examine the wiring because the space was too crowded with storage.’ That storage as it turned out, held over 50 unaccounted canvases by Villa.”
That's a wrap! Suffolk filming for new Detectorists episode comes to an end
Definitely one of my favorite shows of the past decade, I cannot wait for the new episode…get to see my English country metal detector using friends again…
The surprising history of giving someone the finger
Thank you David Pescovitz for turning us onto a video that explores one of the most enduring finger-signs of all times. Flipping the Bird….my parents generation knew about it, I know about it, my kids giggle because of it.
Strange advice from an old Black Metal-er: “Fucking don't start another black metal band. Don't do it. Go on Spotify. There's millions of bands with logos that you can never fucking read, with names that you can never fucking remember….Plus, Immortal has already been done. Burzum? Done. Mayhem? Done. Behemoth? Done. And so on. Don't do it.”
Sci Fy writer Damon Knight would have been 100 yesterday…and a good reason to read his most famous short story, To Serve Man, which was adapted into one of the best Twilight Zone episodes. The link above goes right to the story. Enjoy!
The Edges of Time
by Kay Ryan
It is at the edges
that time
thins.
Time which had been
dense and viscous
as amber suspending
intentions like bees
unseizes them. A
humming begins,
apparently
coming
from stacks of
put–off things or
just in back. A
racket
of claims now,
as time flattens. A
glittering fan of things
competing to happen,
brilliant and urgent
as fish when seas
retreat.
