Burning with Anxiety
Clinton Heylin's new book, Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge was supposed to be released this week (according to Amazon), but the publisher's website says March 2007. Heylin is the author of From the Velvets to the Voidoids and books about bootlegs, Dylan, Van Morrison, PiL, Orson Welles, and Sandy Denny. In June 2007, Grove Atlantic is also publishing another Heylin title, The Act You've Known for All These Years: A Year in the Life of Sgt. Pepper.It looks like Babylon's Burning starts with Lester Bangs and the Detroit scene (MC5, Stooges, Creem Magazine), and ends with Kurt Cobain's suicide. Should make for good reading.
I recently acquired a CD by the band Moving Parts, which was formed in 1977 when Roger Miller moved to Boston from Detroit (where he had been playing with Destroy All Monsters, among other bands). Roger Miller (not the "King of the Road" dude) hooked up with Erik Lindgren, who was a keyboard player influenced by Pere Ubu and 1960's garage bands. When Lindgren and Miller had a falling out in 1978, Miller and the Moving Parts' bassist, Clint Conley, became Mission of Muthafuggin' Burma. Burma's "Max Ernst" single came out in 1980.
Mission of Burma returns to Atlanta tomorrow (Saturday 1/13) at the EARL.
Moving Parts: Max Ernst (1978)
Moving Parts: Talk Talk (Music Machine cover)
Buy Wrong Conclusion by the Moving Parts at Bomp.
12 Comments:
I don't know. I found Heylin's previous punk book, From the Velvets to the Voidoids, to be too dry and clinical. Much of what he wrote about the Cleveland scene has been disputed by the musicians he was writing about, too.
Plus, Heylin doesn't like the Ramones. I know, it's punk to think for yourself and bust up icons, but, really, you write a book about punk (er, two, now) and you don't like the Ramones?!
How was Mission of Burma? I was tempted to go but opted to go to APA's free concert instead.
Is the Roger Miller you are talking about the one that recorded some for SST?
Also, at risk of asking too many questions, do you know about the Ladyfest that is coming to Atlanta? I just made a brief post about it.
Re: the Ramones.
The Ramones' first album ushered in a whole new era in my own young record-listening life, helped turned me on to punk, gave me some civic East Coast pride, etc. But...eventually...they kinda sucked. I can't say I really listened to 'em by the end of their tenure. Is that sacrilege? oh, well. I have mixed feelings about Bob Dylan and the Beatles, too. And the Clash. But, strangely, not Camper van Beethoven, or Boxcar Willie.
I'm not as familiar with the later Ramones' albums as I am with the first few, but I would agree that the later songs I heard were less compelling than the first few albums (though I really like "I Want to Live".) I agree with James that you can't write a good history of punk if you have no appreciation for the Ramones. I think Legs McNeil (and John Holmstrom) went to the opposite extreme in "Please Kill Me" by asserting the primacy of the NY punk scene over anything that came out of the UK (or Cleveland, for that matter).
I got into an argument recently at my local record store with a guy who said he hated the Sex Pistols because they stole from the Ramones, and because they were just a creation of Malcolm McLaren. My counter-argument was that McLaren didn't write any of the songs, and that Johnny Rotten was a truly original frontman in terms of the antipathy (nay, contempt) he displayed toward his audience. Rock's first anti-hero?
Bobby (to answer your questions): I didn't go to Mission of Burma, and I will probably miss Ladyfest. I work twelve hour shifts every Saturday and Sunday, and I am an old man who needs a long nap after a night on the town. The next show I plan to attend is the Black Lips at Whirlyball Atlanta next month.
And yes, Roger Miller recorded several solo albums for the SST label. He was also a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic (with his former Moving Parts bandmate, Erik Lindgren).
Bobby, do you know the origin of the Slits' "Grapevine" remix that I posted on December 12?
The link to that mix didn't work.
I can't think of a remix off top of my head. There was a version they did for an XFM session.
I'll repost it...
That's just from the 12". The only thing that really sets the 12" apart is the brink-style dub of Typical Girls.
Re-reading my comment, I think I may have missed the point. Although I do believe the Ramones got too cartoonish for me (or remained so for too long) I do agree w/ManyJarres that you can't exclude them from the history. They were important.
And while I never really liked the Sex Pistols for many of the reasons cited above, I do credit Johnny Rotten with being an original. Good point.
Uh-oh, I'm feeling too agreeable. Jon, that sweater is all wrong for you.
Sweater hater.
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