Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruland

 I spent a lot of time as a teenager listening to music released on the SST label.  Black Flag, Minutemen, Husker Du, Descendents, Bad Brains and many more released music via SST in the halcyon days of the 1980s.  Then it all went wrong.  The good bands stopped releasing music or moved to another label and eventually SST ground to a halt.

This book highlights how successful SST actually were at their peak and documents the fall.  It's not totally clear what precipitated the fall but the departure of key team members such as Chuck Dukowski and Mugger seems to have played a part.  Greg Ginn is often cast as a pantomime villain in events although I'm  not sure how accurate this is.  Certainly, early on, he did a lot of good for these bands and gave them a step up to better things.

I was an American hardcore/alternative enthusiast when I was younger but this book contained viewpoints I was unfamiliar with and has introduced some music that I did not know.  I was left pining for a world where SST signed Nirvana and managed to keep Sonic Youth happy/release Daydream Nation.  That may have been an exciting world.

What does the future for the SST bands hold?  Will we see reissues and remasters with unreleased material?  Has it all been lost?  Do they even have decent tapes of the 1982 Black Flag demoes. 

Ian MacKaye took a very different, archivist approach with Dischord and we will have much of the DC scene for posterity.  The LA scene may just be degenerating, covered in some green mould.

Beastie Boys Book

I've been digesting the Beastie Boys Book for the last month or so.  It's amazing, disjointed and brilliant just like the band.  I've been listening to the audiobook due to my lack of free reading time.  It's one of the best audiobooks I've ever encountered.  They have invited a stellar cast of narrators including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Kim Gordon, Chuck D, Will Ferrell, Bette Midler and Steve Buscemi as well as many many others.

The narrative jumps about from their childhood, through early punk adventures, Bad Brains and Black Flag concerts, New York Discos, career low-points (Def Jam), clothing labels, recording with Lee Scratch Perry and lists of equipment, recipes and mix tapes.  Everything is in this book.

Much of the book is a tribute to Adam Yauch, MCA, who died in 2012 from parotid cancer.  His fellow Beastie Boys clearly and understandably miss him.  In some ways he appears to have been a pathfinder for the band and is credited as being the Beastie who made things happen.

The physical release is beautifully illustrated with photos and comics strips reminiscent of the old Grand Royale magazine from the 90s.  It's a thing of beauty but the audiobook is worth your time too.

A fitting legacy for a great band.  Sadly, I never saw them and I deeply regret it.  I am glad I had their music (and their music videos).

Finding Joseph I: The HR From Bad Brains Documentary

The Bad Brains were co-headlining the second proper gig I saw, playing with Fishbone at the Glasgow Barrowlands in 1993.  Sadly H.R. was not with them that night with vocals from Israel Joseph instead.  It was still mind-blowing but I would have loved to see them with H.R. at their peak.

Bad Brains made amazing music but they were troubled at times.  H.R. was an amazing frontman but, as this film makes clear, he had problems.  His story is told by his brother, friends, bandmates, colleagues and fans. Humorous anecdotes eventually become sadder and the reality of the situation becomes clear.  At times H.R. (or Joseph as he is sometimes called) is homeless and making bad decisions.  He hears voices.  Onstage he can be seen visibly hallucinating and interacting with voices.  Eventually his wife manages to get him proper medical attention and anti-psychotic medications.  He gets better after that.

I learned stuff about HR that I didn't know through this film.  I heard some of his non-Bad Brains music (although I've had a few of his post-Bad Brains SST solo records for decades).  It compiles some great live footage.

Enlightening and sad, it ends on a positive note.

The Death of the Record Shop

Society has changed.  People have changed.  A lot of the stuff that I loved as a kid has gone.  Sadly, record shops are dying out.

HMV, a mighty giant, has been fatally wounded.  HMV used to be dominant in the field.  It was the alpha-shop.  It wiped out all opposition.  HMV was the same everywhere; East Kilbride, Argyle Street, Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester.  The HMV brand was everywhere.  In the early '90s it was modern and cool (in a corporate way).  The good stuff was often overpriced but they punted a lot of landfill CDs in their sales.  I spent a lot of money there.

Over the past 5 years or so HMV hadn't been looking so good.  They had lost their way.  They wanted to sell iPods and stereo systems.  They had less music (or at least they seemed to have less).  I would walk into HMV and realise I didn't have a reason to be there.  I could buy my disposible media from Amazon and I didn't need to wander around HMV to do it.  If I wanted anything cool I could go to Monorail or Fopp (although Fopp has been an indie stalking horse for HMV for years now).

When I  was a teenager I loved trudging about record shops to buy  second  hand Husker Du  lps and Butthole Surfers tapes.  I would bump into people I know.  It gave you something to do.  Life goes on and now I have plenty to do but I feel that teenagers of the  future will miss out on something.  I guess elderly trainspotters feel that the teenagers today are missing out on the steam trains of the '40s and '50s.

HMV is fucked.  I will try and spend some money in Monorail this month.  I bought some stuff in Fopp last month.  I'm probably pissing in the wind.

Primavera Day 3

Day 3 of Primavera started in the Parc Joan Miro in the centre of town. I went there mainly to see Circulatory System who I had missed on Thursday but I also caught A sunny day in Glasgow and Thee Ooh Sees again.



I bought the Olivia Tremor Control album Black Foilage when it came out in 1999 but I only became aware of Circulatory System in 2007. I was very keen to see them and the Parc Joan Miro is a beautiful setting. Again, photos will follow if I can work out how to do it. The Parc stages are surrounded by palm trees. Circulatory System had interesting instrumentation including a flugel horn (I think) and a stringed instrument of some form.



They were plagued by poor sound initially. After a bit of tinkering about they sorted this out and the rest of the set was great. I was amazingly chuffed to be sitting in a park in the centre of Barcelona watching some good music in the shade. Perfect moment time.



I made my way to the main festival site for about six and hooked up with the Greenock blokes. They went to see Real Estate first. I hadn't heard them before but the sound was fairly good. Nice, summery indie rock. A bit teenage fanclub.



I then caught a bit of Nana Grizol, another elephant 6 band. I liked their stuff but I need to hear more of it. Sadly they had sold out of CDs before I could pick one up. They sounded a bit like neutral milk hotel although that shouldn't really be a shock to anyone.



My next band to see was the slits. I love their first album, cut, and I still listen to it regularly. After being impressed by public image limited on their recent tour I had high hopes for the slits and while they were competent they were not amazing. They did play a lot of material from cut but the reggae quotient had been jacked up significantly. I like a lot of reggae but the Slits material that I really love is the early unique sounding mess of songs like typical girls and shoplifting. They were OK but I wasn't blown away.



I went to see Grizzly bear next. Some of my friends have been raving about Grizzly bear for some time but I had not previously 'clicked' with them. The Greenock contingent were

firm fans and had developed some sort of relationship with the band based on an obscene drawing. To further this relationship they had drawn the obscene picture on three frisbees which they then threw at the band. The singer picked up the frisbee, said 'I know that picture' and proceeded to piss himself laughing. The set was good and I plan to give Grizzly bear another chance in the future.

I haven't written about the gastronomic genius of the pizza cone yet. A pizza cone is an ice cream cone type made out of pizza crust and filled with pizza topping. It's easy to eat and very tasty. As an added bonus you don't get pizza all over your fingers. I can see these things having a great future in Scotland.

I went to see No Age on the Pitchfork stage after that. We were standing fairly far back so the sound wasn't great. I've listened to No Age a lot and I've seen them before but I stuggled to recognise some of their songs.

During the No Age set I met a really cool girl called Lorraine from Glasgow but in a massive FAIL I didn't manage to get her number. This girl had seen the Fall 8 times and she likes Flipper. She seemed to be perfect. She had good chat, a sensible job and a sense of humor. I talked to her though the Sunny Day real estate set but I lost her on the way to see Lee 'scratch' perry. I made a heroic attempt to get in touch with her via record shop employees and her best friend on my return to Glasgow but it was a futile effort. Major loss.

Lee 'scratch' Perry was amazing. I love superape and arkology but I never expected Perry to be any good live. I've missed him at several festivals before. That was a massive mistake on my part. He was fucking amazing live. I danced like a fanny for a full hour.

Finally it was 3AM and orbital took the stage with satan

daddy

yes son

what does regret mean?

well son, the funny thing about regret is, it's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done and if you see your mother be sure and tell her SATAN, SATAN, SATAN

I would have regretted not going to Primavera when I was in Barcelona. I'm really glad I went. I had a great time even though I didn't know anyone there. It's always better to regret something you have done....

I'll go again if I can