For those like me who grew up in the 80's and tripped out on the shambolic metallic music of Quiet Riot, the death of lead singer Kevin DuBrow is sad news indeed.
Kevin was found dead in his Las Vegas home. He was 52. The Associated Press released the following report:
Lead singer of Quiet Riot Kevin DuBrow found dead
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS --Kevin DuBrow, lead singer for the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot that scored a hit with Cum on Feel the Noize, was found dead in a Las Vegas home. He was 52.
The cause was not immediately known.
A neighbor summoned police and paramedics Sunday to the house, where Mr. DuBrow was pronounced dead, police and coroner's officials said.
There was no forced entry, and no suspicious circumstances were reported, police Officer Jose Montoya said Monday.
Quiet Riot was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of Cum on Feel the Noize. The song, featuring Mr. DuBrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album Metal Health -- which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
Mr. DuBrow recorded his first solo album in 2004, In for the Kill, and the band's last studio CD, Rehab, came out in October 2006.
"I can't even find words to say," Quiet Riot drummer Frank Banali wrote on his Web site. "Please respect my privacy as I mourn the passing and honor the memory of my dearest friend Kevin DuBrow."
Determination of the cause of death was pending an autopsy and toxicology results, Clark County coroner's spokeswoman Samantha Charles said.
I remember first hearing Quiet Riot's version of "Cum On Feel the Noise" in 1983. Man, it blew me away - all that noise, the addictive guitar-solo, and DuBrow's smart-alecky gravel voiced howling. There was a time back in high school when every self-respecting rocker in school should own their "Metal Health" album and be able to sing at least a couple of lines from "Cum On..." if they wanted to maintain their creds.
We'll miss you, Kev. Rock on!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Name Game 2
It's been a long established and accepted practice, musicians adopting stage names. I don't know why they do it. Anomimity? Shock value? Additional street creds? I dunno.
But every now and then, somebody in popular music would break out carrying a name he wasn't really born with. There's nothing wrong with that I guess. I mean, they are, after all, still part of the whole tradition of showbiz.
The stage names that musical artists have come out with in modern music have been witty, tough-sounding, apt, not-so-apt. Whatever it is, most of them have all been interesting and memorable.
Let's take a look at some examples.
1. Johnny Rotten
Okay, since I'm extremely partial to old school punk, let's start with one of my anti-heroes. The Sex Pistols howler was born John Lydon. The "Rotten" appelation is said to have referred to his precarious dentures.
2. Sid Vicious
Another Sex Pistol alumnus, the Pistols' main image guy's real name was John Simon Ritchie. "Sid" was said to be the name of his pet hamster (he had a fucking pet hamster?) and "Vicious" was an intentional misnomer as, to paraphrase his buddy Johnny Rotten, "Sid was the most non-vicious person I knew."
3. Ringo Starr
The drummer for the legendary (they deserve this tag, like it or not) rock n roll band was Richard Starkey in real life. "Ringo" was a nod to his predilection for rings while "Starr" was simply an abbreviation of his real surname.
4. Ritchie Valens
The pioneering rock n roll star was born Ricardo Valenzuela. To make him more acceptable to a then very caucasian-oriented music-buying public, his manager convinced him to shorten - and anglicize - his thoroughly hispanic name.
5. Freddie Mercury
Queen's flamboyant and inimitable lead singer was born Farrokh Bulsara. I guess his onstage alias does sound more bang in tune with his mission to make it to rock stardom.
6. Flea
Red Hot Chilli Peppers' bassman was born Michael Balzary. How he got this nickname is still something of a mystery to me.
7. Bono
The U2 frontman originally went by the name Bono Vox, which means "good voice" and which was taken from an advertisement for hearing aids, but later decided to shorten in to just "Bono". His real name is Paul Hewson.
8. The Edge
U2's resident anti-guitar hero guitar genious is David Howell Evans in real life. Why "The Edge"? Well, some say it's because of his particulary "edgy" guitar style. Others say it's because he often preferred to just "stand by the edge" while things happen. You decide.
9. Billy Idol
Prior to adopting the name with which he would gain fame, the Generation X lead singer and one-time member of Sex Pistol fan gang Bromley Contingent was known as William Michael Albert Broad.
10. The Ramones
We know the original line-up of these guys as Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, and Tommy Ramone. Their non-Ramone names are Jeffrey Hyman (Joey), John Cummings (Johnny), Douglas Glenn Colvin (Dee Dee), and Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy).
The other Ramones who subsequently became part of the legend were Marc Bell (Marky Ramone), Richard Reinhardt (Richie Ramone), Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone), and Christopher John Ward (CJ Ramone).
There are still a lot of other musicians out there with intruiging, interesting, or cringeworthy stage names. And there will still be a lot more of them who will choose to present themselves under an alias. But what the hell, it's still rock n roll to me.
But every now and then, somebody in popular music would break out carrying a name he wasn't really born with. There's nothing wrong with that I guess. I mean, they are, after all, still part of the whole tradition of showbiz.
The stage names that musical artists have come out with in modern music have been witty, tough-sounding, apt, not-so-apt. Whatever it is, most of them have all been interesting and memorable.
Let's take a look at some examples.
1. Johnny Rotten
Okay, since I'm extremely partial to old school punk, let's start with one of my anti-heroes. The Sex Pistols howler was born John Lydon. The "Rotten" appelation is said to have referred to his precarious dentures.
2. Sid Vicious
Another Sex Pistol alumnus, the Pistols' main image guy's real name was John Simon Ritchie. "Sid" was said to be the name of his pet hamster (he had a fucking pet hamster?) and "Vicious" was an intentional misnomer as, to paraphrase his buddy Johnny Rotten, "Sid was the most non-vicious person I knew."
3. Ringo Starr
The drummer for the legendary (they deserve this tag, like it or not) rock n roll band was Richard Starkey in real life. "Ringo" was a nod to his predilection for rings while "Starr" was simply an abbreviation of his real surname.
4. Ritchie Valens
The pioneering rock n roll star was born Ricardo Valenzuela. To make him more acceptable to a then very caucasian-oriented music-buying public, his manager convinced him to shorten - and anglicize - his thoroughly hispanic name.
5. Freddie Mercury
Queen's flamboyant and inimitable lead singer was born Farrokh Bulsara. I guess his onstage alias does sound more bang in tune with his mission to make it to rock stardom.
6. Flea
Red Hot Chilli Peppers' bassman was born Michael Balzary. How he got this nickname is still something of a mystery to me.
7. Bono
The U2 frontman originally went by the name Bono Vox, which means "good voice" and which was taken from an advertisement for hearing aids, but later decided to shorten in to just "Bono". His real name is Paul Hewson.
8. The Edge
U2's resident anti-guitar hero guitar genious is David Howell Evans in real life. Why "The Edge"? Well, some say it's because of his particulary "edgy" guitar style. Others say it's because he often preferred to just "stand by the edge" while things happen. You decide.
9. Billy Idol
Prior to adopting the name with which he would gain fame, the Generation X lead singer and one-time member of Sex Pistol fan gang Bromley Contingent was known as William Michael Albert Broad.
10. The Ramones
We know the original line-up of these guys as Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, and Tommy Ramone. Their non-Ramone names are Jeffrey Hyman (Joey), John Cummings (Johnny), Douglas Glenn Colvin (Dee Dee), and Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy).
The other Ramones who subsequently became part of the legend were Marc Bell (Marky Ramone), Richard Reinhardt (Richie Ramone), Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone), and Christopher John Ward (CJ Ramone).
There are still a lot of other musicians out there with intruiging, interesting, or cringeworthy stage names. And there will still be a lot more of them who will choose to present themselves under an alias. But what the hell, it's still rock n roll to me.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Eighties
Over the past couple of days, I've been mulling over the bands I grew up listening to in college, deciding which ones to relegate to the back recesses of memory and which ones to brag about to my kids.
Growing up in the eighties, I got huge doses of the most diverse music to ever populate the airwaves. I mean, back then we had punk, oi, hardcore, rockabilly, punkabilly, psychobilly, new wave, ska, reggae, goth, trash metal, death metal, noisepop, early riot grrl - you name it! What's more, each of those genres had loads of great bands that proudly carried their torches.
But, for the purpose of this post, there is one band - and one song - that, aptly, stands out: Killing Joke and their song "Eighties".
Taken from their 1985 album Night Time, "Eighties" boasts of snappy rhythms, snaky bass lines, impassioned vocals (I just love lead singer Jaz Coleman's thick Brit accent!), and a hook-y guitar riff that people say was ripped off by 90's grunge legend Nirvana for their hit song "Come As You Are".
Anyway, I'm happy to note that "Eighties" hasn't lost any of its teeth despite being two decades old already. Check out the video!
Growing up in the eighties, I got huge doses of the most diverse music to ever populate the airwaves. I mean, back then we had punk, oi, hardcore, rockabilly, punkabilly, psychobilly, new wave, ska, reggae, goth, trash metal, death metal, noisepop, early riot grrl - you name it! What's more, each of those genres had loads of great bands that proudly carried their torches.
But, for the purpose of this post, there is one band - and one song - that, aptly, stands out: Killing Joke and their song "Eighties".
Taken from their 1985 album Night Time, "Eighties" boasts of snappy rhythms, snaky bass lines, impassioned vocals (I just love lead singer Jaz Coleman's thick Brit accent!), and a hook-y guitar riff that people say was ripped off by 90's grunge legend Nirvana for their hit song "Come As You Are".
Anyway, I'm happy to note that "Eighties" hasn't lost any of its teeth despite being two decades old already. Check out the video!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Hey Ya, Nice Cover Man!
I just love it when I run into terrific YouTube performances by non-mainstream musicians by chance. This guy named Matt Weder of Obadiah Parker does a really impressive cover of the Outkast song "Hey Ya". Nice work, my man.
Check out the video!
Check out the video!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
When God Is In The Lyrics
Popular music covers just about any topic under, over, around, and even beyond the sun. I find it awe-inspiring that musical artists can come up with songs tackling almost anything you can think of. Of course, the most covered topic is, well, l-o-v-e. Good love, bad love, straight love, gay love, eternal love, 15-minute love. It gets pretty sickening after a while, really. I wish more artists would cover more off-the-wall topics, stuff that you don't normally hear being sung about. Like God, for instance.
Well, I know God gets sung about all the time in churches, in religious gatherings, in a lot of other places and situations. But when you use the idea of God in popular music, somehow it come across as sacrilege even though it wasn't meant to be. Now I'm not encouraging people to knock God. I just find it intruiging, in a philosophical way, when God becomes the center of a secular song.
Anyway, just the other day this old song suddenly pops into my head and plays in a loop for half a day. It's an quirky and dark old dirge called "Blasphemous Rumours" by 80's synth-pop icons Depeche Mode. Basically, it tinkers with one of the most irritating ironies I know in life: when you have no desire for something (like your own life), you get it by the truckload; but, when you want something real bad (like wanting to live to be 100), you're always left holding an empty bag.
"Blasphemous Rumours" is sort of a rant against the seeming unfairness of a god with a terrifying sense of sick cosmic humor. It tells of a sad and bored young girl who tries to commit suicide but somehow survives. After a few years, she matures and finds peace and Jesus, and decides that life is beautiful after all. This is when she gets hit by a car and eventually dies. What a total bummer.
Check out the lyrics:
Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode
Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists, bored with life
Didn't succeed
Thank the Lord for small mercies
Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again
Sixteen candles burn in her mind
She takes the blame, it's always the same
She goes down on her knees and prays
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die, I expect to find him laughing
Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything
Found new life in Jesus Christ
Hit by a car
Ended up on a life support machine
Summer's day as she passed away
Birds were singing in the summer sky
Then came the rain
And once again a tear fell from her mother's eye
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die, I expect to find him laughing
Well, I know God gets sung about all the time in churches, in religious gatherings, in a lot of other places and situations. But when you use the idea of God in popular music, somehow it come across as sacrilege even though it wasn't meant to be. Now I'm not encouraging people to knock God. I just find it intruiging, in a philosophical way, when God becomes the center of a secular song.
Anyway, just the other day this old song suddenly pops into my head and plays in a loop for half a day. It's an quirky and dark old dirge called "Blasphemous Rumours" by 80's synth-pop icons Depeche Mode. Basically, it tinkers with one of the most irritating ironies I know in life: when you have no desire for something (like your own life), you get it by the truckload; but, when you want something real bad (like wanting to live to be 100), you're always left holding an empty bag.
"Blasphemous Rumours" is sort of a rant against the seeming unfairness of a god with a terrifying sense of sick cosmic humor. It tells of a sad and bored young girl who tries to commit suicide but somehow survives. After a few years, she matures and finds peace and Jesus, and decides that life is beautiful after all. This is when she gets hit by a car and eventually dies. What a total bummer.
Check out the lyrics:
Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode
Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists, bored with life
Didn't succeed
Thank the Lord for small mercies
Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again
Sixteen candles burn in her mind
She takes the blame, it's always the same
She goes down on her knees and prays
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die, I expect to find him laughing
Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything
Found new life in Jesus Christ
Hit by a car
Ended up on a life support machine
Summer's day as she passed away
Birds were singing in the summer sky
Then came the rain
And once again a tear fell from her mother's eye
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die, I expect to find him laughing
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