BluesHotel
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"Everybody Else Is Wrong"
Male
103 years old
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
United States
Last Login: 10/11/2008
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BluesHotel's Interests
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| General | music, books, food, writing, hangovers, meeting absolutely no one... | | Music | The Beatles were simply the greatest band/musical entity of all time. Disagree if you want; you will be wrong. In the 8 years between 1962-1970, they not only were they the single greatest force in the forwarding of (then) modern culture and mores (everything from fashion to progressive politics), they were, and will always be, the single biggest standing force in the monument of progressive reinvention of art.
Period.
Yes, there have since been acts that push more openly the envelope of outrageousness, with wild stage shows/freaky images and all the like; but, how can they, and their forced attempts at controversy in any way compare to the sounds made by the Beatles? They cannot.
Ultimately, a record or cd does not come with bullshit smoke and mirrors choreography as do some stage shows-- and , thus, must stand merely on the merits blasted through speakers and headphones. As much as I love Bowie, Velvet Underground and a whole slew of other bands with seemingly more 'dangerous' and allegedly more adventurous personas, the fact remains that true danger and adventure lie not in flashpots, makeup nor androgyny. True experimentation and 'danger' lies within the sounds one is willing to proffer; as it is those sounds that will last far after the face of fashionable rebellion is washed away with some Noxema and warm water...
The reason the Beatles are still held up as the never to be knocked off standard bearer Gods of progression lies simply within their music. It has nothing to do with nostalgia, nor with the misconception that they were simply some good-timey "yeah yeah yeah" band, either. In the aforementioned 8 years, they went from being only the most slamming rock and roll band of the time (go and listen to the live take of "I Saw Her Standing There" on Anthology 1-- disc one, track 30, and tell me I'm wrong), through folk rock (they are every bit as responsible for it as Dylan or the Byrds), psychedelia, concept albums/art rock, heavy metal, etc., etc., etc.....
Touching on psychedelia and heavy metal for a moment, if you think about it, the Beatles invented the hell out of both forms. REVOLVER, only the greatest LP of all time, is not only mind-bendingly 'psychedelic', it is also (taken as a whole) the scariest record ever recorded; and, while people love to cite Cream, Hendrix, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as possible inventors of heavy metal, I hereby cast a dissenting vote-- and ask those interested to conduct a little experiment...
Take whatever Cream, Hendrix, Sabbath or Zeppelin you may have. Find whichever track you consider to be the heaviest of each, and then blast the shit out of it-- either through speakers or headphones. After that, grab a copy of the White Album and play "Helter Skelter" at the same volume.
Game over.
In fact, you could take ANY so-called metal record by any band (Judas Priest, AC/DC, Slayer, Metallica, Michael Buble...any of 'em), blast the hardest songs you can find; and none of them will even come close to "Helter Skelter". Can you imagine what might happen if one of those idiots with a ton of subwoofers in his/her Escalade accidentally cranked out "Helter Skelter" at the same volume they currently give over to modern lame fake hip hop? Their moronic SUV would explode into a bazillion pieces and take out whatever neighborhood they were infesting at the time....
One last "Helter Skelter" comment: Yeah, Richard Ramirez (nee, the Night Stalker") killed a bunch of folks here in Cailfornia in the mid-80's while amped up by his love of AC/DC; but, if you go back and research it, it wasn't so much the music as the band's 'image' that made him do it. You know, Angus with the devil horns on the LP cover, song/LP titles, etc., blah blah blah...Hey, I'm not knocking AC/DC; just illuminating a point: In order to get cranked out enough to kill, this little pussy Ramirez needed a whole PR package he created in his mind for AC/DC.
Chuckie Manson only needed to hear "Helter Skelter" to freak out. I mean, it wasn't like the Beatles put horns and a tail on Ringo, is it?
No, and this leads to my point. True rebellion, and the ability to change society, one way or another, can never come from superficial smoke and mirrors, nor physical adornment. Yeah, the Beatles dressed up as a satin-festooned marching band for the cover of SGT. PEPPER; but, what people took away from the experience wasn't the look, just what they heard-- musically and lyrically. The exchange of ideas...
Although I have no hard scientific numbers here, take something of a look at the underground/indie/alt bands of the last 20 years or so. Maybe you have a big enough collection to do this at home; but, if not, do it the next time you're at a record store (or just check it out on the internet...). When/if you do, try to note how many of these bands have covered songs by the Beatles...
(a partial list...)
Husker Du
Laibach
The Breeders
The Parasites
White Flag
Doctor's Mob
Overwhelming Colorfast
Pop-O-Pies
Electric Love Muffin
Arcwelder
Tater Totz
Daniel Johnston
Utopia
Mrs. Miller
It does not really matter at all that half the band is now dead, nor that the remaining two are slowly morphing into old women. Mortality will one day claim us all; so age and death cannot be made an issue. Still, while they existed as a unit, the Beatles did more for art, nearly 40 years ago, than any collection of anyones has/have done since then-- and this is the sole reason they remain the ultimate arbiters of musical expression for now and all time. View them as merely some sort of "it makes my parents happy" oldies band phenomena if you must; but, if you look at the facts, and go and listen to the records, you will see something else entirely....
Yes, my little friends who think their tattoos and piercings somehow make them rebels, punks and whatnot, this is the truth. A tribal barbed-wire tat and a labial piercing might make your Daddy finally take notice; but, REVOLVER changed the world, and didn;t give a fuck what your Daddy thought...
OTHER MUSIC:
Tom Waits, John Coltrane, The Dream Syndicate, Pavement, Billie Holiday, The Rolling Stones, Archers Of Loaf, Apples In Stereo, Stereolab, John Lee Hooker, Duke Ellington, XTC, The Ramones, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, blah blah blah.... | | Movies | The Natural, Psych-Out, A Hard Day's Night, Down By Law, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, Drive He Said, The Philadelphia Story, Reservoir Dogs, The Fat Chicks From The "Facts Of Life" Go To Norway To Have A Fat Chick Adventure, Sideways... | | Television | Yes, I love television; and there are far too many entities to mention here... | | Books | STAY IN SCHOOL! | | Heroes | my Grandma, my Mom, the Beatles, Ted Williams... |
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BluesHotel's Details
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| Status: | Divorced | | Orientation: | Straight | | Hometown: | Los Angeles | | Body type: | 0' 0" | | Religion: | Agnostic | | Zodiac Sign: | Virgo | | Smoke / Drink: | Yes / Yes | | Children: | I don't want kids | | Education: | Some college | | Income: | $250,000 and Higher |
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BluesHotel's Blurbs |
About me:
After the heights I/we experienced as host(s) of the BLUES HOTEL on kxlu (88.9fm) for most of the last 20 years, I guess you could say I am somewhat feeling a bit down now. Still, I prefer being a bit depressed as opposed to how this bio blurb has looked for the last 6 months (when a friend convinced me that humiliating myself might be the way to snag an internship or P/T office job...WHAT THE FUCK WAS I THINKING?)....
Quite honestly, I'd rather be dead on your front lawn than bow and scrape like that ever again.
So I won't; but, since I still need something of a job, here comes a bit of a compromise:
RADIO IDIOTS: If you ever heard our show(s), hire the fuck out of me, and let's all get rich and take the group shuttle to rehab together! For those of you radio people who've never heard me/us-- well, fuck you-- and good luck with whatever artificial goofy bullshit trend-following format you've had rammed down your throats by the latest hired-gun consultants....
PAY ATTENTION SHITHEADS!
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Who I'd like to meet:
absolutely no one
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