So, today was Record Store Day.

[Kepler]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

Were you a WLIR boy?

Why yes, I am white. :-)

For non-Long Islanders, WLIR was the kind of station that would broadcast the Ramones and the Clash and anybody who had a big audience, but would do nothing with smaller or more, ahem, demanding acts. Throbbing Gristle and GG Allin were not going out on their air.

They were the kind of station that would play Run DMC in 1985 and still play no other rap artists.

But they were light years better than the stations that were playing Billy Joel and Foreigner or grinding through the embarrassing death throes of the Stones.

[rufus]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

Fun fact: GG Allin was born, and is buried, about an hour and a half from where I live.

But no, I don't want to hear him or Throbbing Gristle. I still need some sense of melody. I definitely would not have wanted to see GG Allin.

[bostonewe]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

Record store day was kind of a bust - I was looking for the Pearl Jam release (Live at Easy Street Records and the Otis Reading album featuring Booker T and the MG's and the Mar-keys Live at the Monterrey International Festival. Struck out on both at our local place - Newbury Comics (we got there at noon since I worked the night before until 7am and wanted to sleep). In past years, I've gone to multiple stores to chase down what I wanted (Taylor Swift's 1989 in clear and pink vinyl, Springsteen's Greatest hits (red vinyl), Rage Against the Machine (DNC 2000), Soundgarden A Sides, Frightened Rabbit, Sun Studios (Other Side of the Sun vol.2), and Stax Records compilation). I did miss out on the Green River release, but they're not something I'm super familiar with - more just because I like the idea of pre-Pearl Jam guys playing together (and there are plenty of other options for that).

I wasn't that excited about the releases this year - Buffalo Tom's release was an RSD first (but not exclusive) and the same with the Otis Reading Album. Pearl Jam had announced that 10 Club members will get an option to buy their record at a later date. I was surprised but the husband wasn't interested in picking up the Frank Black releases.

[Kepler]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

I definitely would not have wanted to see GG Allin.

I would. From a distance. <-- spectacularly NSFA

[Kepler]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

But no, I don't want to hear him or Throbbing Gristle.

It wasn't all "Hamburger Lady." (Note to non-TGers: do not, under any circumstances, hunt down HL if you don't know what it is. Just don't.)

They were about annihilating rules but they actually could do musicianship when it didn't get in the way of their mission.

But yeah, there's also, you know...

As a HS friend once said, "wait, you listen to this without drugs?!"

[The Rube]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

On that note, and this should be in the music thread, but, and a little story to go with it.

Back in the mid-80's, when new wave was taking over the airwaves, and a lot of stations were changing formats to capitalize, one of the biggest and most influential of them was KROQ, in Los Angeles. There was also a magazine called Musician, geared more toward people really into music, and also players of music. They did an article on The Dream Syndicate right after that album came out, and the article began with this anecdote about KROQ.


Basically, KROQ had just got the new Dream Syndicate single in, and being the arbiters and shapers of taste for this new music genre, they were going to play it. The DJ says something like, "And here we've got this new single in by this band called The Dream Syndicate, supposed to be one of the next big things happening. We just got it, and we're gonna play it for you now...……


drops the needle on the turntable, the song begins playing. Halloween has this long, quiet intro that slowly increases in volume until the guitars kick in and the song proper starts. DJ lets the song play, about 45 seconds, a minute, the song proper kicks in, and he immediately rips the tonearm off the record says, "well, that's the last time you're gonna hear that here on KROQ".


The Dream Syndicate-Halloween.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69wxeAJJlw0

Never the same after Karl Precoda left. Heard he's a teacher out in Michigan or someplace these days.

From what I remember, a similar action happened when the Ramones' first album came out. The DJ thought it was garbage, gave it another listen, and grew to like them.

As far as GG Allin...no surprise his stuff didn't hit radio. He was polarizing (a polite way of saying he was batsh* crazy).

[mookie1995]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

- Buffalo Tom

prime example of how record exec really are julie grendle. great band that got no push. incredibly popular with people who heard them (as evidenced by their music being on a number of commercials ).

[Slap Shot]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

My first year at Mankato I somehow managed (I was not a communications major) to get a PT gig DJ'ing at our college radio station, but the only slot they offered at the time was Friday mornings at 8 a.m. The positive was they said I could play anything I wanted so long as I mixed in some current events a few times per hour. No commercials. Their in-house music selection wasn't great and they didn't have a turntable, but I had fairly deep selection of CDs even by then (1989) so I knew between us I could keep it fairly fresh. They also said if they liked what they heard they'd give me a small monthly stipend to buy more music.

At Mankato at the time most 4-credit classes were scheduled M - TH, labs were very rarely on Fridays and lot of people would go home on Fridays. So Thursday was the main party night. It was not uncommon for my house to throw parties, or after-bars and finding my way back to campus by 8 a.m. Friday morning was more difficult than it probably should have been. So sadly my career as a DJ didn't last very long. In hindsight given my obsession for music it might have been a missed opportunity to consider it as a career path.

I was reminded of this going down a music rabbit hole with my music catalog (digital anyway) yesterday because my wife asked me to create a thumb drive of her music that she could listen to in the car. Incidentally I stumbled back upon so many artists that I hadn't listened to in quite some time including Dream Syndicate, Television, X, Velvet Underground...

I hate that I so often forget to dig deep because I don't have a proper setup for listening to music in the house here. But I've vowed to refresh what's on my own thumb drive moving forward for when I myself am driving or at my desk and no one is bothering me.

[mookie1995]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VEW-Uo097kU

Mookie has never seen this

[Kepler]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VEW-Uo097kU

Mookie has never seen this

I hadn't either -- that crowd is dead. The studio version is one of my favorite recordings. I prefer to listen to X and fantasize about what Exene looks like. That voice does not match her.

[rufus]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

I hadn't either -- that crowd is dead. The studio version is one of my favorite recordings. I prefer to listen to X and fantasize about what Exene looks like. That voice does not match her.

I always used to think that Exene was not an attractive woman. And these days, she is not. But back then, she was actually kinda cute.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWSPn5jZNSk


And gorgeous here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADmUT7dCDi8


See How We Are, the album, was a huge change from their early punk roots. But I think it's great, a fantastic piece of early Americana before that genre got a name. And Exene's best vocal performance in the band.

[Kepler]

Re: So, today was Record Store Day.

I always used to think that Exene was not an attractive woman. And these days, she is not. But back then, she was actually kinda cute.

Exene was not an attractive woman. Even in Decline and Fall, which was filmed when she was about 21, she's not cute, and virtually every woman on the planet is pretty at 21 just because they are shining with youth.

But her voice could make the proverbial dead man you know.

Los Angeles is my favorite X album.