Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm punk rock!

So what is it about rock n roll that the best stuff are the anti-establishment songs?

A long weekend and an opportunity to catch The UnXpected before Shirlyn flies off to LA in a few weeks' time. 2 outstanding covers that strike a chord tonight: The Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall and Metallica's Master of Puppets.

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave those kids alone
Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall


Now those of you who know my day job knows the irony of this. Let's be honest: I am establishment these days. So how come I identify so much with all these kill 'em all songs? (and if you must ask, that's the title of Metallica's 2nd album)

Master of Puppets
I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind
Smashing your dreams

Deep down, I'm still punk rock after all.

Closing song of the last set: Nirvana's Come As You Are. The UnXpected is wonderful for reminding us how great some of these songs and bands were. No one disputes Nirvana's influence and impact. But people tend to overlook how brilliant a lyricist Kurt Cobain was. It's haiku he was composing, the juxtapose, the reversals and the longing.

Come as you are
As you were
As I want you to be
As a friend
As a known memory

Take your time
Hurry up
The choice is yours
Don't be late
Take a rest
As a friend
As a known memory


Wonder if the band will cover Lily Allen's Fuck You one of these days.

5 comments:

Shaun said...

pink floyd rocks! Another brick in the wall is one of my fave songs from them, besides the whole dark side of the moon album.

shark fung said...

love the way shirlyn slide her finger across her nose when the crowd said "cbb". cutie pie.

Psychmetalfreak said...

Ya Nirvana, Metallica and Pink Floyd once meant something truly anti-estab and alternative but in today's everything's free download world they are part of the establishment whether we like it or not... Sad But True (a song from Metallica's breakthruu/sell-out album, depending on your perspective). Today troo underground/counterculture/alternative lies in: experimental black metal (i.e. Cobalt), punk infused sound poetry (Bob Cobbing/the Chocolate Monk label imprint/Henri Chopin's OU Revue), noise/power electronics (i.e. Merzbow/Hijokaidan/Incapacitants/Wolf Eyes/ Burning Star Core/Prurient/Whitehouse/Matthew Bower's projects like Skullflower/Sunroof!/Hototogisu), underground psych rock (Japanese psych like Keiji Haino & Maher Shalal Hash Baz/Americans like Wooden Shjips/Bardo Pond/OM/High On Fire), free jazz (William Parker and his axis), free folk (I dont mean anyone who picks up a guitar and pretending to be a mystical conduit, I am talking about "free" as in free spirited folks like No Neck Blues Band/Jackie-O Motherfucker/Sunburned Hand Of The Man/Heather Leigh Murray/Scorces/Matt Valentine & Erika Elder)and obscure minimalist composers like Arnold Dreyblatt/Tony Conrad/Henry Flynt/Angus MacLise/Yoshi Wada)... Sorry for me rambling on again...

Psychmetalfreak said...

Sorry for those of you interested to check out the current countercultural/underground vibes, go to the following:

1. Arthur magazine: http://www.arthurmag.com/store/

2. Sound Projector magazine:
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/

3. Tinymixtapes, an online music portal:
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/

4. Volcanic Tongue, record shop/ideologue/conduit of the underground:
http://www.volcanictongue.com

Hope you enjoy them...

ct said...

thanks man for sharing. very informative and ironically we need more good sources of info in this age of info overload. harder these days to sift the gold from the shit.