Greatest Song Evah 5/10/24

Good Rockin’ Tonight

As time has passed Elvis Presley has become a terribly polarizing artist & personality. In short, it’s almost impossible to have a rational conversation about him, with his defenders (a particular segment of whom are so devoted that it’s practically a cult) and detractors both firmly dug in. One of most frequently heard criticisms is that he “stole” black music & made it safe for a mainstream audience. I feel that’s a little unfair; it’s not as if he was pulling a page out of the Pat Boone playbook and making a mockery out of things. He obviously had a deep love for the music that he was covering. A more valid criticism to me is that Chuck Berry is much more deserving of the King Of Rock & Roll honor. Berry more than anyone wrote the basic textbook of rock & roll - guitar based songs about girls, cars, & girls in cars.

That being said, Presley did so much to popularize the new sound and it can’t be stressed enough that he was a tremendous talent, with a keen ability to sing everything from rockers to a more polished form of blues to country to gospel and to admittedly sappy love ballads. As a young man he clearly listened to, and absorbed, a tremendous range of music and those multiple influences came in handy when he began his recording career.

Good Rockin’ Tonight was one of the earliest tracks he laid down at Sun Studios and it was one of the most exciting records of its time. Originally written and recorded by Roy Brown and then later covered by Wynonie Harris, it is one of the vital links in the evolution of the music that eventually became rock & roll. Presley’s interpretation hues more closely to Harris’s, but as opposed to the Harris version which is a heavily R&B laden record, this one is more recognizable as rock & roll.

Sun Records singles sounded much different than anything else did; there must have been something about the acoustic setup that Sam Phillips had in that studio. Even though recording methods were relatively primitive at the time, you can still hear how well the elements in that basic ensemble were mixing together. (Remember, this is 1954. No overdubs, no multi-track recording.) Bill Black’s bass just pounds; and even though it was a fairly simple line, Scotty Moore’s work somehow feels like both a rhythm guitar and a lead guitar at the same time. And then there was Elvis himself. The force of the Elvis persona has a tendency to overwhelm everything else for those of us who weren’t around to experience it firsthand (by the time I knew who Elvis was he was already wearing the rhinestone jumpsuits) but just listen to that voice. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have been a teenager in the 1950’s and hearing something that new and that exciting for the very first time.

There are many who claim that he was never as good as he was when he was recording for Sun. I understand that feeling, he too often defaulted to playing it safe rather than remaining innovative, especially once Hollywood came calling. But to be fair, he still recorded dozens of all-time bangers, even after he started to phone it in. Even when giving half-hearted efforts, he still produced magic on a frequent basis. I will agree, however, that even 70 (!) years later those Sun sides still sound as fresh and timeless as ever.

The Least Surprising News Story Of This Election Cycle

Come on, the writers aren’t even trying anymore. A literal brain worm? That’s a plot twist you generally don’t see until around season 7 or 8 of a long-running TV series that is desperately running short on ideas. Although to be honest, if a parasite has eaten a portion of RFK Jr.’s brain, that would explain so much.

Steve Albini 1962-2024

Producing the classic Pixies album Surfer Rosa was enough in and of itself to give Steve Albini a special place in music history, but that only scratches the surface of his massive discography. As a producer, an engineer (which was his preferred designation), and a bandleader his fingerprints have been all over the indie rock scene for more than 30 years.

This is only a partial list of the artists that he worked with over the years: Superchunk, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Jesus Lizard, Urge Overkill, the Breeders, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, he even worked with Bush. He wasn’t just a specialist in hard rocking music, either. Albini engineered a Joanna Newsom album, who sounds nothing like any of the artists I just mentioned. He was also a musician himself, leading the bands Big Black and Shellac. There are 2 albums above all in his discography that have stood out the most for me.

Rid Of Me by P.J. Harvey and In Utero by Nirvana came out within a few months of each other in 1993. Both were crucial albums in each artist’s career. Harvey was coming off of her critically acclaimed, yet very low-fi debut release. For her sequel, Albini really added an abrasive edge to her sound; she has never rocked quite so hard since. As for Nirvana, it was an ideal collaboration. Facing the near impossibility of following up one of the most phenomenal releases of all time, they had little desire to make an exact duplicate. Enter Albini. Nirvana at heart combined traditional rock songwriting with an underlying punk rock ethos; Albini’s work on In Utero kept that mixture of disparate elements fully intact.

Fully embodying that punk credo, Albini was uncompromising and provocative, sometimes unnecessarily so. Especially in his younger days he could make statements or record songs that were shocking for shock’s sake. To his credit, he recognized when he had pushed things a little too far, and he was never too proud to apologize when he needed to. In the social media age, he was a prolific s**t poster right up to the very end. Albini suffered a fatal heart attack earlier this week. He was 61.

It should be noted that Dennis Thompson, drummer for the MC5, has also just died. The MC5 are to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, and Thompson was the last surviving member of the band. Thompson was 75.

Ad Wizards At Work

It seemed like everyone has been talking about the ad that Apple dropped for its newest iPad, and the discussion has been overwhelmingly negative. The ad couldn’t possibly be that bad, could it?

Wow. Just wow. What did the rejected proposals look like? Mind you, this is coming from Apple, of all corporations. The company that prides itself on products that are visually appealing and fun to use. Things have gone terribly wrong when you see a cute anamorphic emoji crushed to death, and the first thing you think of is Judge Doom tossing the helpless squeaky toy shoe into an acid bath.

It hasn’t taking Apple long to realize what a clusterf*** they have created, and their VP of Marketing has already publicly apologized for the ad. It’s still unbelievable that Tim Cook signed off on this. Was there no one on the decision making ladder able to anticipate the backlash? Did no one run this past a focus group? This whole series of events disproves the old adage that any publicity is good publicity. Surely this is publicity that Apple could do without.

50 Years Ago - A Woman Under the Influence

John Cassavetes was one of those celebrities whom people looked at very differently depending on which aspect of his career with which they were most familiar. He was a successful actor, most notably in Rosemary’s Baby and The Dirty Dozen. Yet he made his most significant mark in entertainment history as one of the major figures in independent film. He wrote and directed a series of self-financed and independently distributed movies, often working with the same set of like-minded actors. Of those films, his masterpiece was likely A Woman Under the Influence.

This movie starred Gena Rowlands as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown brought on by a combination of mental illness and heavy drinking, with Peter Falk as her long-suffering husband. Each of them were never better than they were here. There were no actorly affectations to be found in Rowlands’s performance, it felt raw and naturalistic. And when I mention Falk’s name it’s natural that everyone immediately has the mental image of a crumpled old raincoat. As perfect as Falk was as Columbo, it causes people to overlook just what an outstanding actor he was. His role was tricky; he needed to convey both deep concern over his wife’s condition as well as complete exasperation, sometimes in the same scene.

In some ways this almost serves as a precursor to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which came out the following year. Like Cuckoo, it presented a harrowing and unvarnished look at the ravages of severe mental illness, including the controversy over unwanted and unwarranted electroshock therapy. In addition, the relatively low budget that comes with an independent film makes this almost feel like a documentary.

Cassavetes and Rowlands were both nominated for Oscars that year, although neither won. This was only one of their collaborations; they were married for decades and she was a major part of his de facto repertory company throughout his directing career along with others such as Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel. I’m not sure if John Cassavetes’s name still resonates much among younger people, but he was one of the giants of a decidedly non-commercial niche of American filmmaking.

SNL Preview

Maya Rudolph is someone firmly embedded in the ideal sweet spot of celebrity. Simply put, everyone loves her. She is among the most brilliant performers in SNL history - a skilled impressionist, a talented singer, and a big goofball with a propensity for creating delightfully over the top characters. Because she has made so many cameo appearances over the years it may come as a surprise that this week will only be the third time that she has actually hosted. Her visits are always a treat, and don’t be surprised if several fellow alum just happen to wander on stage. As an added bonus, this week’s musical guest is Vampire Weekend. The past few episodes have not been particularly strong; Maya Rudolph is exactly the type of host who can put the show back on the right track.

Closing Laughs

No brain worms to be found here, so if I’m incoherent there has to be a different explanation. Thanks as always for tuning on, & have an enjoyable weekend. See you again on Monday.