RIP Lou Reed: Baseball, Viagra, Misfits

Sunday morning and I'm falling 
I've got a feeling I don't want to know 

I started this blog post to talk about baseball and the Misfits.  Then I learned that Lou Reed just passed away.  So I wanna start this post off by wishing he rest in peace with the other rock and roll legends, many of whom were taken far too young.  He made it to 71, but couldn't he have had another decade or two?  His place in rock and roll history is monumental, due in no small part to his role in the emergence of punk rock.  Anyone who hasn't read Legs McNeil's "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk," I urge you to check it out.  Being an oral history, it's an easy read, filled with cool interviews from key pre-punk figures from the 60s/70s like Reed, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop (he spends a lot of time talking about about getting the clap), the MC5, etc.  Rest in Power.  NOTE: SOME OF THESE VIDEOS I'VE POSTED MIGHT GIVE YOU A MESSAGE THAT THEY MUST BE "WATCHED ON YOUTUBE" SO I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.

The obstruction call that sent Red Sox fans everywhere into a rage last night

If you've been watching the world series, you've probably seen the numerous ads for Viagria and Cialis.  I love how these commercials have evolved over time as these companies try to sell their pills to a younger and younger audience.  For most of my life, the commercials I saw for ED drugs tended to feature grey-haired Bob Barker look-alikes walking on the beach with their wives or sitting on a dock looking at the sun set over a lake.  At some point the commercials began to combine these sensitive, romantic scenarios with more traditionally masculine activities like manual labor or driving a boat or pickup truck.   The age of the men in the commercials began to change as well, shifting from post-retirement to a more ambiguous middle age. Nowadays, these commercials typically have couples of all ages, from a couple in their thirties paddling a canoe to a white-haired couple drinking coffee on the patio.  My favorite couple activity I saw in one of these commercials recently involved the narrator talking about the "spark that could happen at any moment" while a couple is painting a wooden bench and the man looks at the woman with a, "I bet you can't wait to sit on this wood later" look.

The Dead Kennedys told us that "TV invents a disease you think you have," and it makes me wonder how many 20-30somethings were too drunk to fuck one night and now rely on Viagra to ensure they never underperform.  I couldn't help but think of the irony of seeing these commercials during a baseball game, since throughout history, men have been told to think about baseball to last longer in bed or subdue their arousal, and baseball's 100+ year old association with sex in general.  My friend Zack made another funny point, that one of the biggest advertising campaigns during the world series is for a performance enhancing drug.  And now for something completely different...

Misfits "Horror Business" era lineup, 1979ish

It's hard to say who is the greatest punk band of all time, because although it is a matter of opinion to a degree, there are bands that reign supreme, either for the quality of the music, their influence, or in some instances, both.  The Ramones is a good answer.  Dead Kennedys is another.  My vote goes to the Misfits. Even though their influences were obvious and familiar (The Ramones, 50s rock, etc), their sound was their own, and I don't think there has been or will ever be a band that will sound like them, no matter how many bands have tried.  Obviously a large part of it has to do with Danzig's voice, the capabilities of which were often in direct contrast with how raw and pedestrian the musicianship might have been.  I could sit here and post countless Misfits songs, but I want to just post a few of my absolute favorites.

This might be the quintessential Misfits song, not just because of the classic Misfits 2-chord progressions or the B-movie subject matter, but because it proves you didn't need bold, powerful lyrics to make a great punk song.  You could make a similar argument for The Ramones, whose punk songs were great in spite of, and also because of, the simple lyrics.  This song takes it a step further, with Glenn basically singing the words from a movie poster.  The lyrics are secondary to the voice, which combines with the music to make a perfect punk song and one of my absolute favorite Misfits songs.

Children in heat are young little kindlewood, I see em burning

The fuzzy guitar that starts "Children in Heat" is one of my favorite sounds in all of hardcore/punk.  When people criticize the recording quality of many Misfits songs, I don't understand it.  It's part of the charm, for one, and a lo-fi punk band could have done a LOT worse.  That fuzzed out guitar is tattooed in my brain and remains one of my favorite aspects of many Misfits recordings.  

She walked out with empty arms, machine gun in her hands

She is good and she is bad, no one understands

I love the fact that the Misfits started out as a 3-piece with electric piano instead of guitar.  I love the original 1977 version of "She" because the way he plays the melody on the piano is ever so slightly different from the later recordings with guitar.  The piano adds a completely different vibe, although the tempo and delivery 

is very punk.  At some point in my life I would love to do a studio project that played 70s punk with electric piano instead of guitar. Glenn would bring the piano back a year or so later and use it to great effect in what is probably my all time favorite Misfits song...

Dry drunk on a corner, wet waste of a girl

Theme for a jackal...

That great bassline is repeated throughout the song while the guitar let's the occasional note ring out between bursts of noise.  Percussive piano combines with the bass and guitar to create a dark, menacing backdrop that builds to a climax that I can't quite put into words.  "LIKE YOU DO NOW, IN FACT, YOU SHOWED THEM HOW!!!!  PLAY, THEME FOR A JACKAL PLAY!!!!."  As the song draws to a close, the piano goes wild and adds a jazzy element that makes this one of the most unique, and in my opinion, underappreciated, Misfits songs.

Listen to the a capella of Astro Zombies and be blown away.  

Anyone who has been in a punk/hardcore band or gone to a show has either played or sang along to Misfits covers.  They are great songs and a lot of fun to play.  But are there any recorded covers worth listening to?  I don't know.  The trouble with putting a cover to wax is you have to acknowledge that it probably won't be nearly as good as the original, so you better do something creative with it.  Yes, even you, AFI.  Here are two Misfits covers that do a pretty good job and I am not sure whether my faithful readers will agree with me.  Let's see.

Farside were a great band, and they managed to be faithful to the original while approaching it from a completely different angle.  Thanks EMI for preventing this video from playing in my blog so my readers have to watch it on youtube. Yes, Earth Crisis attacked "Earth AD," slowed it the fuck down, and went all chugga-chugga, but god damn, I really think it works.  I mean, if the "Earth AD" record is credited as one of the early hardcore/punk records to add a metal influence, why shouldn't Earth Crisis cover it 15 years later and incorporate all the metal that hardcore had absorbed over those years?   Ok I'm spent.  Thanks for sticking with me.  Happy Halloween, listen to the Misfits, watch some baseball, and stay cool.  Take it easy everyone.