NOTE Updated and fixed
Isn't it, kinda annoying, a bit of a let down when band's you love, evolve, but evolve in a direction you don't like?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a fine example. the first several albums, right up until 'One Hot Minute', well they kicked ass. With the RHCP and some other bands, I called it the 'Scorpions Syndrome'.
I wasn't a HUGE Scorpions fan, but they had some monster albums right up until they released that 'Winds of Change' single and then that was it, they became a ballad band. Any singles henceforth were all ballads and that's what I feel happened to the guys in the RHCP, sure, 'Californiacation' had a couple cool songs, as did 'By The Way', but I just lost them from there. Our bassist Jake, is a HUGE RHCP's fan and I had lamented to him about my love for the older 'heavier' albums. I've spoke of it before about how music can be 'heavy' without it being loud distorted guitars and chaos, but I don't find it in later albums by the guys who wore socks on their cocks. "Mother's Milk' and 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic' were my favorites and 'One Hot Minute' has a few tracks I dig. But that's about it from those guys. There's some singles here and there, but I wish they'd just go nuts again instead of just tring to get women hot....
Years ago, I had walked into Fredericton's go to record store, 'Backstreet Records' and was perusing the new arrivals bin when I came across this album on vinyl called 'Bleach' by a band called 'Nirvana'. I did a lot of my discoveries, probably the same way a lot of people did back in the day (and maybe still do now) and that was judging an album by it's cover... If the cover caught my eye, I'd scoop it up.
So I loved 'Bleach', incredible album, then when 'Nevermind' came out, I grabbed that up and was blown away. The jump from 'Bleach' to 'Nevermind' wasn't very shocking, it was just they had evolved a lot in an album and of course about a year later, EVERYONE was into 'Nirvana'... They only had one more release before Cuntface Love had Kurt killed, so they didn't 'evolve' much from there anymore, mind you Grohls 'Foo Fighter's', which Chris Galbraith and I caught their very first show in Canada with Eddie Vedder's 'Hovercraft' (gawdawful). Grohls done amazing work since.
Radiohead is another band that ventured into a territory I didn't follow. Albeit the critics LOVED the more experimental side of Radiohead's later albums, really the first three albums are the ones I love.
I'm watching a 1997 concert of Radiohead at Glastonbury and EVERY song is a hit and amazing, the noise, the energy... A time to be alive to be sure.
'Pablo Honey', 'The Bends' & 'Ok Computer' are my favorite Radiohead albums.
Mike Fields and I got to attend a private concert with Radiohead AND the Foo Fighters in 1997. THAT was an amazing concert, to see these two bands at the top of their game, I was awestruck.
I had caught wind, somehow that The Foo Fighter's and Radiohead were doing a 'Thank You' Tour. It was supposed to be only for record label people and kids who worked in the record stores, but I tracked down the Foo Fighter's 'contact' deets and was soon on the phone with their people. I told them that a couple of the guys who work on the 'X-Files' would love to come down to see the show and well, that 'ol 'X-Files' charm worked and there we were in the balcony of an intimate venue in Vancouver, surrounded by record execs, drinking beers and rocking out to two of my favorite bands completely unobstructed!
Of course when the 'Real Thing' dropped in 1989, I had to know everything about this Mike Patton guy. His voice was like none other in my world of music. So it wasn't long before I got a hold of Patton's first project, which started in his high school years, Mr. Bungle.
Now, Mr. Bungle isn't for everyone, but it is for those who like just about every genre of music out there (like me). Mr. Bungle takes near every genre of music, from Death Metal to Polka and throws it in a blender for 48 hours on high speed then pours it into your ears. The self titled album that came out in 1991 made me laugh my ass off. I can remember walking down the hill in Fredericton here with my headphones on, laughing out loud, because it was fucking BRILLIANT. it was sheer madness, it was ridiculous and it was a new favorite.
I remember trying to play some Mr. Bungle for the guys at a Dreamkick practice and they laughed in my face. They thought it was stupid and just nonsensical noise (which at some points it is, but that's the beauty of it!). Years later, Pat Pelletier would apologize to me for laughing about it, because he grew to love the band so much, that he played in a Mr. Bungle tribute act. Even Peter Gillies has brought up my uncanny knack for 'finding amazing bands'... Maybe I shoulda been a record exec...
The bands next few albums were even crazier, it pushed people away. It's almost inaccessible music, but from the self titled debut (although there's some great EP's and self releases beforehand) onward it's sheer maniacal genius!
I had the privilege of seeing both Faith No More and Mr. Bungle when I lived in Vancouver. Mr. Bungle I saw on the 'Disco Volante' tour. The band (all 9 or so of them) came out dressed as ninja's with red headbands. They broke into Loverboy's 'Everybody's Working For The Weekend', then they'd play a song or two of their own before breaking back into Loverboy again!
Faith No More I saw on the 'King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime' tour. As I was getting on with age and my arthritis was bad, I no longer went into the pit. I can't remember what song it was, but I broke, I HAD to go into the pit and try to get close to the band. These guys are my favorite of favorites. I'd waited YEARS to see them. So, there I was, getting bumped and slammed around, when this guy was like, "Do you want up?" and I was like, 'FUCK YA!'. So up I went and was crowd surfing to my most favorite band in the World. All of a sudden, I looked up and I was eye to eye with Mike Patton and he pointed at me and said, "You're there man!" and then I was promptly dropped on the floor by my 'supporters'.... I ended up getting stomped on a few times, had some cuts and bruises but it was all worth it.
Isn't it, kinda annoying, a bit of a let down when band's you love, evolve, but evolve in a direction you don't like?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a fine example. the first several albums, right up until 'One Hot Minute', well they kicked ass. With the RHCP and some other bands, I called it the 'Scorpions Syndrome'.
I wasn't a HUGE Scorpions fan, but they had some monster albums right up until they released that 'Winds of Change' single and then that was it, they became a ballad band. Any singles henceforth were all ballads and that's what I feel happened to the guys in the RHCP, sure, 'Californiacation' had a couple cool songs, as did 'By The Way', but I just lost them from there. Our bassist Jake, is a HUGE RHCP's fan and I had lamented to him about my love for the older 'heavier' albums. I've spoke of it before about how music can be 'heavy' without it being loud distorted guitars and chaos, but I don't find it in later albums by the guys who wore socks on their cocks. "Mother's Milk' and 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic' were my favorites and 'One Hot Minute' has a few tracks I dig. But that's about it from those guys. There's some singles here and there, but I wish they'd just go nuts again instead of just tring to get women hot....
'Mother's Milk' was probably my favorite RHCP album. Then they became a 'ballad band' with 'Scorpions Syndrome'
Years ago, I had walked into Fredericton's go to record store, 'Backstreet Records' and was perusing the new arrivals bin when I came across this album on vinyl called 'Bleach' by a band called 'Nirvana'. I did a lot of my discoveries, probably the same way a lot of people did back in the day (and maybe still do now) and that was judging an album by it's cover... If the cover caught my eye, I'd scoop it up.
So I loved 'Bleach', incredible album, then when 'Nevermind' came out, I grabbed that up and was blown away. The jump from 'Bleach' to 'Nevermind' wasn't very shocking, it was just they had evolved a lot in an album and of course about a year later, EVERYONE was into 'Nirvana'... They only had one more release before Cuntface Love had Kurt killed, so they didn't 'evolve' much from there anymore, mind you Grohls 'Foo Fighter's', which Chris Galbraith and I caught their very first show in Canada with Eddie Vedder's 'Hovercraft' (gawdawful). Grohls done amazing work since.
Nirvana's debut album 'Bleach' was the pinnacle for me
Radiohead is another band that ventured into a territory I didn't follow. Albeit the critics LOVED the more experimental side of Radiohead's later albums, really the first three albums are the ones I love.
I'm watching a 1997 concert of Radiohead at Glastonbury and EVERY song is a hit and amazing, the noise, the energy... A time to be alive to be sure.
'Pablo Honey', 'The Bends' & 'Ok Computer' are my favorite Radiohead albums.
Mike Fields and I got to attend a private concert with Radiohead AND the Foo Fighters in 1997. THAT was an amazing concert, to see these two bands at the top of their game, I was awestruck.
I had caught wind, somehow that The Foo Fighter's and Radiohead were doing a 'Thank You' Tour. It was supposed to be only for record label people and kids who worked in the record stores, but I tracked down the Foo Fighter's 'contact' deets and was soon on the phone with their people. I told them that a couple of the guys who work on the 'X-Files' would love to come down to see the show and well, that 'ol 'X-Files' charm worked and there we were in the balcony of an intimate venue in Vancouver, surrounded by record execs, drinking beers and rocking out to two of my favorite bands completely unobstructed!
Radiohead's 'The Bends' is an epic album with so much crunch and over the top writing.
Soundgarden is another 'discovery' I made. Another find at 'Backstreet Records' and I think I might have caught 'Hands All Over' on MuchMusic early on. The 'Screaming Life' and 'FOP' EP's were really great but 'Louder Than Love' was what sold me on Soundgarden. Songs like 'Hands All Over', 'Ugly Truth', 'Loud Love' and 'Big Dumb Sex'. I never would have thought I'd see the day that I wouldn't love this band. 'Badmotorfinger' was released in 1991 and again I was floored! This band was going places and doing all the right things, but then with the release of 'Superunknown', I started to lose faith. Although it did have some incredible songs like 'My Wave' Superunknown', tracks like 'Spoonman' and 'Black Hole Sun' made me lose interest pretty quick, I found like with 'Nirvana' my 'secret loves' were stolen from me and now everyone loved them... I can't help but say that those feelings sucked.
Epic album! Soundgarden's 'Louder Than Love' was LOUD & Rockin'!
Pearl Jam (aka Squirrel Jam), again, another first album that was groundbreaking and had so many great songs from start to finish. Of course EVERYONE is familiar with 'Ten' the bands rocket to fame album. 'Porch' 'Even Flow' 'Jeremy', I could list the entire album as favorites BUT, I can't say the same for 'Vs.'... Their second album just seem to lose it and from there it seemed that Eddie was becoming a media darling (much the same that happened to Chris Cornell). I had seen a documentary on the Grunge scene not long ago and Eddie Vedder was talking about how shitty he felt because there were so many other amazing bands from Seattle that had been around eons longer than Pearl Jam had, yet his band was famous, maybe that had something to do with their 'downfall' or maybe the 'Grunge era' just didn't have the staying power that other 'new' genres did (how many NEW Grunge bands do you know of?)
'Ten' from start to finish, all killer no filler!
Now, some bands that have NEVER let me down.
Faith No More. Even before singer Mike Patton was in the band, Chuck Mosley (the bands not so original singer, in fact... Grrr, I hate her and hate to say her name, but, Courtney Love, actually sang for Faith No More at one point THANK Satan, she didn't record with them) and the guys put out two fantastic alternative records; 'We Care A Lot' & 'Introduce Yourself'. I had heard 'We Care A Lot' on Nick Oliver's Punk show on CHSR called 'Institutionalized' and like when I heard 'Rites of Spring', I called him up right away to ask, "What was that you just played!!???" and was hooked.
I was in Victoria B.C. living practically on the streets in 1989 when 'The Real Thing' came out... I had found it in a record shop close to it's release and none of my friends out there had ever heard of them, but I was raving about the band and while doing so, had NO idea that Mosley had been fired and their new singer Mike Patton would influence me in ways that were beyond my wildest dreams as far as singing goes.
Once we began to play 'The Real Thing' in my buddies car stereo, all of us were hooked. My friends couldn't believe I knew anything about this band and as much as I loved the first two albums with the original singer. Patton took the band to a new level and unlike Radiohead, who's experimentation turned me off, Faith No More's experimentation drew me in and I've loved EVERY album they've ever put out, every song from the start of the album to the finish. The only other band that I've had that much love and devotion for was Iron Maiden. What Mike Patton 'taught' me about vocals is that the voice can be an instrument, not just a 'voice'. Patton's abilities vocally shattered almost every idea as to what a 'vocalist' could do. His range, his noises, his screams, his guttural growls, the man is a musical genius and thank the Music Gods that he ended up with Faith No More (albeit he's had plenty of success with the plethora of other projects he's been a part of).
Ain't nothing like the 'Real Thing'
Now, Mr. Bungle isn't for everyone, but it is for those who like just about every genre of music out there (like me). Mr. Bungle takes near every genre of music, from Death Metal to Polka and throws it in a blender for 48 hours on high speed then pours it into your ears. The self titled album that came out in 1991 made me laugh my ass off. I can remember walking down the hill in Fredericton here with my headphones on, laughing out loud, because it was fucking BRILLIANT. it was sheer madness, it was ridiculous and it was a new favorite.
I remember trying to play some Mr. Bungle for the guys at a Dreamkick practice and they laughed in my face. They thought it was stupid and just nonsensical noise (which at some points it is, but that's the beauty of it!). Years later, Pat Pelletier would apologize to me for laughing about it, because he grew to love the band so much, that he played in a Mr. Bungle tribute act. Even Peter Gillies has brought up my uncanny knack for 'finding amazing bands'... Maybe I shoulda been a record exec...
The bands next few albums were even crazier, it pushed people away. It's almost inaccessible music, but from the self titled debut (although there's some great EP's and self releases beforehand) onward it's sheer maniacal genius!
I had the privilege of seeing both Faith No More and Mr. Bungle when I lived in Vancouver. Mr. Bungle I saw on the 'Disco Volante' tour. The band (all 9 or so of them) came out dressed as ninja's with red headbands. They broke into Loverboy's 'Everybody's Working For The Weekend', then they'd play a song or two of their own before breaking back into Loverboy again!
Faith No More I saw on the 'King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime' tour. As I was getting on with age and my arthritis was bad, I no longer went into the pit. I can't remember what song it was, but I broke, I HAD to go into the pit and try to get close to the band. These guys are my favorite of favorites. I'd waited YEARS to see them. So, there I was, getting bumped and slammed around, when this guy was like, "Do you want up?" and I was like, 'FUCK YA!'. So up I went and was crowd surfing to my most favorite band in the World. All of a sudden, I looked up and I was eye to eye with Mike Patton and he pointed at me and said, "You're there man!" and then I was promptly dropped on the floor by my 'supporters'.... I ended up getting stomped on a few times, had some cuts and bruises but it was all worth it.
What can I say about Mr. Bungle's self titled album. Pure Insanity!
I haven't done this with the other bands, but I DARE you to take a listen to some Mr. Bungle. I'll give you an 'easier' song so you are not completely shocked when your brains come dripping out your nose....
Grrr. I HATE this DAMNED 'Insert Video' feature.... I never get what i want.. 'Retrovertigo' is probably about as tame as you get with Mr. Bungle. So, go to Youtube and search some out. I'm sure you'll either hate it or REALLY hate it or love it.
What did ya think of them apples and pears and onions and liver? LOVE the zani maddness of Mr. Bungle.
The last but not least band I'll write about is another personal favorite and one that I didn't discover until they were on the verge of breaking up. I'm often surprised at the amount of people who've never heard of the band 'AMEN'.
It's insane to me that this band formed in 1994 and I never caught wind of them until much much later.
Amen, was formed in Los Angeles by a middle aged Punk named 'Casey Chaos'. Amen's music is loud, abrasive and disturbing. Chaos literally bleeds for his music. A lot of the songs are violent and laced with profanity, some songs are political and others are just straight up 'chaos'. Casey Chaos had been apart of some 'older' bands, 'Christian Death' being one of them. There's photo's of Casey as a kid, front and center at Black Flag shows.
If you've ever watched the 'Ministry'/Al Jourgensen documentary called 'FIX', at the end there's an interview with this bloated, drunk, drugged up dude. That's Casey Chaos. Why he was so messed up, I ain't sure, but I know that the bands demise centered around some major health issues that Chaos came down with in around 2009. I had been in touch with Casey through Facebook and at one point they had been recording a new 'Amen' album. But I haven't heard what's going on with that for some time now.
I played the band frequently on The Crazy Train and usually I'd rant and rave about the band.
I think it was around 2004 or so when I 'discovered' Amen. Perusing a bunch of videos on Youtube, I came across their single 'The Price Of Reality', after watching and listening to that song about a billion times, I began to binge on the rest of Amen's catalog and like, Iron Maiden and Faith No More there isn't a song by Amen I don't like.
Hopefully they'll get back together and finish the album. I'll leave you with Amen performing on former Black Flag singer Henry Rollin's show. From what I've read, the show was censored due to this performance and after playing a couple of other songs, Casey was paid a visit by the Secret Service for some of his 'dialogue'....
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