50 Years of Music, by Patty McCabe
Thumbing through my CD collection is always an enjoyable experience. Sometimes I find something I have not listened to in years and sometimes I find something that make seize up with embarrassment (I think Rod Stewart’s Greatest hits including ‘Do you think I’m Sexy’ did the trick this time). This time however, I decided to go through and pick out some of my favourites that are celebrated their landmark birthdays last year.
10 Year Anniversary 2003: The White Stripes, Elephant
If you strip away the husband/wife/brother/sister gimmick that surrounds the Detroit duo, all that you are left is their raw garage rock blues – it is hard, it is punchy, and it is what makes The White Stripes the most exciting rock act of the past 20 years. The band’s fourth album, Elephant, is one of their finest, maintaining all the honesty of White Blood Cells and the simplicity of De Stijl. ‘Seven Nation Army’ has one of the most famous bass lines in rock; it is hard and it makes an impact. The raucous romp of ‘Black Math’ has recently appeared in BBC Two’s popular drama Peaky Blinders along with ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ and various other offerings by The White Stripes and Jack White’s second outfit, The Raconteurs. The album is full of bursts of aggression mixed with the melodic simplicity and sweetness of tracks like ‘Well it’s true that we love one another.’ Sometimes, however, the simple and sweet melodies disguise much darker lyrics, for example in ‘You’ve got her in your pocket.’ The White Stripes are band that are about raw, musical energy – not music as a songs, but music as noise. Elephant is as true to this as any other of their records and deserves its place as one of the best albums of the decade.
10 Year Anniversary 2003: The White Stripes, Elephant
If you strip away the husband/wife/brother/sister gimmick that surrounds the Detroit duo, all that you are left is their raw garage rock blues – it is hard, it is punchy, and it is what makes The White Stripes the most exciting rock act of the past 20 years. The band’s fourth album, Elephant, is one of their finest, maintaining all the honesty of White Blood Cells and the simplicity of De Stijl. ‘Seven Nation Army’ has one of the most famous bass lines in rock; it is hard and it makes an impact. The raucous romp of ‘Black Math’ has recently appeared in BBC Two’s popular drama Peaky Blinders along with ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ and various other offerings by The White Stripes and Jack White’s second outfit, The Raconteurs. The album is full of bursts of aggression mixed with the melodic simplicity and sweetness of tracks like ‘Well it’s true that we love one another.’ Sometimes, however, the simple and sweet melodies disguise much darker lyrics, for example in ‘You’ve got her in your pocket.’ The White Stripes are band that are about raw, musical energy – not music as a songs, but music as noise. Elephant is as true to this as any other of their records and deserves its place as one of the best albums of the decade.
20 year anniversary 1993: Suede, Suede, and Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang Clan (36 Chambers)
I just could not decide between these two debut albums, both celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Completely different, yet equally brilliant, Suede and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) are both treasured members of my record collection and deserve a mention.
Suede’s Mercury Prize winning debut is sexy and dirty – think tight leather trousers and greasy hair accompanied by a cigarette. The enigmatic Brett Anderson, deliberately androgynous with a waist the size of your wrist, is vocally superb from the feet pounding ‘Animal Lover’ to the haunting ‘Sleeping Pills’. ‘Animal Nitrate’ must be one of the best tracks of the nineties and is dangerously catchy considering its dark subject matter (child sex abuse) thanks to Bernard Butler’s riff. The sexually ambiguous ‘The Drowners’ is reminiscent of David Bowie’s early seventies leotard romance with lyrics such as ‘Well he writes the line, wrote down my spine/ It says “Oh do you believe in their”’. Suede’s debut was (and still is) grimy and trashy, releasing it’s pent up angst in dark melodies. It was a sound that was to stay with them through Dog Man Star, developing into the dirty pop of Coming Up. They may have lost their way with their following albums (Head Music and New Morning), but their debut remains full of the lust and carnage associated with any teenager’s bedroom.
From grubby Art School London bedsits to Staten Island or ‘Shoalin’, as it referred to by the group, Enter the Wu-Tang was recorded on an extremely limited budget in a small studio, yet as Rolling Stone magazine would concur, it remains one the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Enter the Wu-Tang features all the usual content of East Coast Hip Hop; urban violence and marijuana, wrapped up in a caustic sense of humour. ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ remains one of the group’s highest charting singles, featuring Method Man and Raekwon, and is a poignant attack on cold-hearted capitalism. ‘Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ Fuck With’, ‘Protect Ya Neck’ and ‘Shame on a Nigga’ are hard and aggressive, revelling in the almost chaotic combination of the group. ‘Da Mystery of Chessboxin’’ is one of the best track on the album, featuring sample of Otis Redding’s ‘Tramp’ and the film Five Deadly Venoms. The track features 6 out of the 9 members of the Clan but it is the threatening, semi-crooning of Ol’ Dirty Bastard that really gives it its edge. Kickstarting the East Coast Renaissance in Hip Hop, a movement that would give birth to Nas’s Illmatic and The Notorious B.I.G., Enter the Wu-Tang with its urban harshness and none of the gaudiness associated with the genre is everything you want from a hip hop album.
I just could not decide between these two debut albums, both celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Completely different, yet equally brilliant, Suede and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) are both treasured members of my record collection and deserve a mention.
Suede’s Mercury Prize winning debut is sexy and dirty – think tight leather trousers and greasy hair accompanied by a cigarette. The enigmatic Brett Anderson, deliberately androgynous with a waist the size of your wrist, is vocally superb from the feet pounding ‘Animal Lover’ to the haunting ‘Sleeping Pills’. ‘Animal Nitrate’ must be one of the best tracks of the nineties and is dangerously catchy considering its dark subject matter (child sex abuse) thanks to Bernard Butler’s riff. The sexually ambiguous ‘The Drowners’ is reminiscent of David Bowie’s early seventies leotard romance with lyrics such as ‘Well he writes the line, wrote down my spine/ It says “Oh do you believe in their”’. Suede’s debut was (and still is) grimy and trashy, releasing it’s pent up angst in dark melodies. It was a sound that was to stay with them through Dog Man Star, developing into the dirty pop of Coming Up. They may have lost their way with their following albums (Head Music and New Morning), but their debut remains full of the lust and carnage associated with any teenager’s bedroom.
From grubby Art School London bedsits to Staten Island or ‘Shoalin’, as it referred to by the group, Enter the Wu-Tang was recorded on an extremely limited budget in a small studio, yet as Rolling Stone magazine would concur, it remains one the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Enter the Wu-Tang features all the usual content of East Coast Hip Hop; urban violence and marijuana, wrapped up in a caustic sense of humour. ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ remains one of the group’s highest charting singles, featuring Method Man and Raekwon, and is a poignant attack on cold-hearted capitalism. ‘Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ Fuck With’, ‘Protect Ya Neck’ and ‘Shame on a Nigga’ are hard and aggressive, revelling in the almost chaotic combination of the group. ‘Da Mystery of Chessboxin’’ is one of the best track on the album, featuring sample of Otis Redding’s ‘Tramp’ and the film Five Deadly Venoms. The track features 6 out of the 9 members of the Clan but it is the threatening, semi-crooning of Ol’ Dirty Bastard that really gives it its edge. Kickstarting the East Coast Renaissance in Hip Hop, a movement that would give birth to Nas’s Illmatic and The Notorious B.I.G., Enter the Wu-Tang with its urban harshness and none of the gaudiness associated with the genre is everything you want from a hip hop album.
30 Year Anniversary 1983: U2, War
Okay, so I know it’s really, really ‘not cool’ to like U2 but before Bono donned his sunglasses and started saving the world, and before The Edge lost all his hair they were this band – the U2 of War. Much harsher than the efforts of Boy or the spiritual October, War gave the band a political edge with tracks such as ‘New Year’s Day’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. The latter, 30 years on, still remains one of band’s most powerful live tracks with Bono proclaiming ‘this song is not a rebel song, this song is ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ before every performance. ‘Seconds’ is almost danceable; it is overtly political in the final lyrics (‘And they’re doing the Atomic bomb/Do they know where the dance comes from’) and the use of the children’s voices gives the track a much darker edge. ‘The Refugee’ is the most exciting song on the album with a fast-paced, tribal vibe. War is U2 unrefined and at their best. It is the sound of 4 young men angry at the state of the world in which they find themselves – it is state of mind that made the best literature, and it makes the best music too!
Okay, so I know it’s really, really ‘not cool’ to like U2 but before Bono donned his sunglasses and started saving the world, and before The Edge lost all his hair they were this band – the U2 of War. Much harsher than the efforts of Boy or the spiritual October, War gave the band a political edge with tracks such as ‘New Year’s Day’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. The latter, 30 years on, still remains one of band’s most powerful live tracks with Bono proclaiming ‘this song is not a rebel song, this song is ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ before every performance. ‘Seconds’ is almost danceable; it is overtly political in the final lyrics (‘And they’re doing the Atomic bomb/Do they know where the dance comes from’) and the use of the children’s voices gives the track a much darker edge. ‘The Refugee’ is the most exciting song on the album with a fast-paced, tribal vibe. War is U2 unrefined and at their best. It is the sound of 4 young men angry at the state of the world in which they find themselves – it is state of mind that made the best literature, and it makes the best music too!
40 Year Anniversary 1973: Bob Marley and The Wailers, Catch a Fire
Considering 1973 saw the release of the Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run, and The Who’s Quadrophenia, The Wailer’s Catch a Fire would probably not be the first album that springs to mind for most people. Re--issued in 1974 with Bob Marley appearing on the cover smoking a huge spliff, Catch A Fire was the album that made me realise just how brilliant Bob Marley and The Wailers really were. After the sunshine-style (though not light in subject) reggae of Jimmy Cliff’s ‘The Harder They Come’ which had popularised reggae in the West, Catch a Fire was darker, sexier, and equally brilliant. Good-time skanking tracks such as ‘Midnight Ravers’ and ‘Kinky Reggae’ feel like they are straight out of underground reggae dance halls, with the former possessing some of the greatest lyrics of any Bob Marely track – ‘You can't tell the woman from the man/No, I say you can't, 'cause they're dressed in the same pollution/Their mind is confused with confusion/With their problems since they've no solution/They become the midnight ravers.’ ‘Stop that Train’, written by Peter Tosh, proved that The Wailers could be more than just one man show and is a soothing addition amongst the darker ‘400 years’ and ‘Slave Driver.’ ‘Concrete Jungle’ is one the greatest songs of the past 50 years; it is dark, complex, and lyrically beautiful.
Considering 1973 saw the release of the Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run, and The Who’s Quadrophenia, The Wailer’s Catch a Fire would probably not be the first album that springs to mind for most people. Re--issued in 1974 with Bob Marley appearing on the cover smoking a huge spliff, Catch A Fire was the album that made me realise just how brilliant Bob Marley and The Wailers really were. After the sunshine-style (though not light in subject) reggae of Jimmy Cliff’s ‘The Harder They Come’ which had popularised reggae in the West, Catch a Fire was darker, sexier, and equally brilliant. Good-time skanking tracks such as ‘Midnight Ravers’ and ‘Kinky Reggae’ feel like they are straight out of underground reggae dance halls, with the former possessing some of the greatest lyrics of any Bob Marely track – ‘You can't tell the woman from the man/No, I say you can't, 'cause they're dressed in the same pollution/Their mind is confused with confusion/With their problems since they've no solution/They become the midnight ravers.’ ‘Stop that Train’, written by Peter Tosh, proved that The Wailers could be more than just one man show and is a soothing addition amongst the darker ‘400 years’ and ‘Slave Driver.’ ‘Concrete Jungle’ is one the greatest songs of the past 50 years; it is dark, complex, and lyrically beautiful.
50 Year Anniversary 1963 : The Kingsmen, ‘Louie Louie’
I’m breaking with the album theme here because although 1963 saw the release of both The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and Please Please Me, The Kingsmen’s cover of Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’ is an example of the hip-swinging, booty-shaking rock ‘n’ roll that has all but disappeared from the limelight these days. To our modern ears, the lyrics of ‘Louie Louie’ sound tame, but The Kingsmen were the subject of an 31 month FBI investigation after rumours circulated that the deliberate slurring of the lyrics concealed sexually graphic material. Like Elvis before he discovered Las Vegas, white suits, and cheeseburgers, ‘Louie Louie’ is an artefact of a by-gone era of rock ‘n’ roll where long hair and tight trousers were enough to get you into trouble. It is simple and shoddily recorded, yet it has surpassed The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ as the world’s most recorded rock song. The twangy guitar solo, Jack Ely’s rough vocals, and the background chatter all add to the unrefined charm of this rock ‘n’ roll romp which makes me want to slap n my red lipstick and dance. ‘Louie Louie’ is 2 minutes and 45 seconds of simple rock ‘n’ roll music without all the external glitter and glamour that clever production can provide – this is how music should be!
I’m breaking with the album theme here because although 1963 saw the release of both The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and Please Please Me, The Kingsmen’s cover of Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’ is an example of the hip-swinging, booty-shaking rock ‘n’ roll that has all but disappeared from the limelight these days. To our modern ears, the lyrics of ‘Louie Louie’ sound tame, but The Kingsmen were the subject of an 31 month FBI investigation after rumours circulated that the deliberate slurring of the lyrics concealed sexually graphic material. Like Elvis before he discovered Las Vegas, white suits, and cheeseburgers, ‘Louie Louie’ is an artefact of a by-gone era of rock ‘n’ roll where long hair and tight trousers were enough to get you into trouble. It is simple and shoddily recorded, yet it has surpassed The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ as the world’s most recorded rock song. The twangy guitar solo, Jack Ely’s rough vocals, and the background chatter all add to the unrefined charm of this rock ‘n’ roll romp which makes me want to slap n my red lipstick and dance. ‘Louie Louie’ is 2 minutes and 45 seconds of simple rock ‘n’ roll music without all the external glitter and glamour that clever production can provide – this is how music should be!