In Nature, Evolution occurs as tiny changes that accumulate over great periods of time. Such changes seldom affect only a single charactersitic of any species. Various traits of many species will be affected, and populations in different geographic locations will be affected differently. Language also evolves, but follows additional patterns, including word borrowing (inter-breeding?) from neighboring languages. This becomes self-evident from only a cursory survey of dialects, accents, slangs, and jargon within a single language.
Music evolves faster than any other cultural hallmark that I am aware of. This happens for a large number of reasons; large differences of musical vision, the free global exchange of ideas (no borders), rampant (and shameless) borrowing, culture clash, culture shock, commercialization....
If I were to forget what I was writing about, I might think I was writing a list of band names. My point is that it is extremely difficult to point out all the inspirations and forebears of Punk Rock, and dutifully honor all of them. Similarly, its impossible to track everything that was influenced by it. Musical genre names become more and more meaningless to me, especially with respect to Punk. I understand what "punk revivalist" is, but I'm still not clear on what "post-punk" is. Even more difficult for me is being open-minded about potential bands to keep as "proto-punk" groups.
If you happened to select Pandora's generic punk station, I can tell you exactly what you're listening to. The Ramones, the Clash, Iggy Pop, the Clash, the Buzzcocks, the Clash, the Damned, the Jam, Rancid, Fugazi, and a little from the Clash. The Jam??? It still mystifies me that anyone thinks that the Jam is a Punk Rock band. I suppose the same could be said of the Buzzcocks. Personally, I have to lump the Clash in the same category. They were a major reason that I started this station from scratch, I just could not control the airplay. "The Clash are Punk!" argues my buddy Jim. I think that London Calling was an important album for Punk Rock. What bugs me is that for every song like "Death or Glory" or "Brand New Cadillac", theres a song like "Lost in the Supermarket" or "Ghetto Defendant" - and Pandora doesn't do much to distinguish one from the other for seeded artists. Very anti-climactic. I'll give 'Brand New Cadillac' a *trial* thumbs up and see what happens.
Thats how I'm treating the Detroit Cobras right now. Its not hard to map their sound as pre-Punk, despite their playing all covers of previously recorded primitive rock and roll hits. I'm actually pretty happy with how they fit in, expect them to be seeded soon. Fake Fictions, Magenta Lane, and Manda and the Marbles are other bands that will probably be seeded in the near future.
I've recently realised that Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' was released in 1971. Holy Cow! The Stooges' first release was in 1969 (and to be fair, Led Zeppelin issued I and II the same year). It floors my modern perspective to realize that anyone was grindingly heavy like Sabbath that early. I like Black Sabbath, and I can hardly say they had NO impact on Punk, so I'll not give them a thumbs down if Pandora plays them. Pandora has played Black Sabbath and Motorhead on rare occasions, I'm just uncertain how much I want to encourage their appearance on the playlist. I definitely want to see more Motorhead.
I'm still agonizing about hardcore bands. I worry a little that I'm giving short shrift to some important bands. I'm sure there hardcore stations out there, so I'm not consigning anyone to oblivion. At the same time I know that the world of Hardcore Punk is very much greater than just Agnostic Front, the Cro-Mags and GBH. I worry about balance *way* too much, huh?
Added 4 Skins, the Adicts, City Mouse, Clit 45, Crass, Conflict, the Dicks, the Diodes, the Messengers, Television, Virus, and I think I forgot to mention the addition of X-Ray Spex previously. Some of these were thumbed up before and are graduating to being seeded. Clit 45, 4 Skins, Conflict and the Diodes are getting seeded so I can try to get Pandora to play more than one song. Call it probation, but I havent heard enough of their stuff yet to make a sound decision.
I thumbed-down a Pennywise song. I really do like them. They have one hit song thats tantamount to a cover of Bad Religion's ... crap, I forget the song now, but "the anchorman can't stop lying" is a musical and lyrical lift of "and the lamppost can't stop crying"... but I'll chalk that up to flattery. (By the way, Bad Religion FUCKING rules and they get less play than Stiff Little Fingers - something very wrong with that) Uh. Anyway, I like Pennywise but I don't want Pandora leaning so heavily in their direction.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Edging my Punk garden
Last time I said that I 'cut out' a number of Proto-Punk bands. What I did was remove them from the list of 'Seeded Artists'. A number of them are still being played occasionally. Most of them, actually. They are being played much less often, which is more in keeping with what I really wanted. Its just difficult to finely tune Pandora in matters like this.
At some point in time I removed Social Distortion. I wasn't happy about pulling them, but they were causing Pandora to pitch me some seriously not-Punk bands. I suggested to Pandora that they add a tool like: Play This Artist, But Do Not Play Others Like This. Even knowing what artist seeds caused Pandora to pick additional artists would be a great help. I'd like to bring Social Distortion back, but not for a while yet. I'm still pruning back some hardcore. Seeding Agnostic Front turned out to be dangerous from a Pandora perspective - the band has a large body of recordings and thus an enlarged influence on Pandora.
Added Be Your Own Pet, Betty Blowtorch, the Gossip, Vice Squad, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Be Your Own Pet and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are actually "on the fence". The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have some really Punk songs - and a number of songs that simply do not belong here. I've opted to actively manage that by thumbing down every song that I disapprove of. Thats more work, but the resultant mix is worth the effort.
Also added Television. I may give them the same harsh treatment as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but Television was one of Punk's cornerstone bands. They belong here more than others.
I mentioned waaaaaaaaaaaay down there that I gave a thumbs up to TOOL. I removed that thumb, leaving them neutral and will give thumbs down if Pandora adds it to the mix. I'm a great fan of TOOL, but they are an oddball from the standpoint of music genres. Keeping them would seriously screw up the mix.
I'm no longer going to list the individual groups that get a thumbs down. There are too many of them, and they often don't seem to be related to anything that I'm playing. The exeption will be to seeded artists that I give thumbs down to, and other bands that are played quite often that need controlling. Listening to such a one right now; Fugazi. Too much airtime. I havent decided which song to harsh on, but it will probably be one of the Minor Threat songs... no, that sends the wrong message. Guess I'll have to pick something from Repeater. I'm concerned about Rancid's airplay as well, but I want to be very careful with them.
At some point in time I removed Social Distortion. I wasn't happy about pulling them, but they were causing Pandora to pitch me some seriously not-Punk bands. I suggested to Pandora that they add a tool like: Play This Artist, But Do Not Play Others Like This. Even knowing what artist seeds caused Pandora to pick additional artists would be a great help. I'd like to bring Social Distortion back, but not for a while yet. I'm still pruning back some hardcore. Seeding Agnostic Front turned out to be dangerous from a Pandora perspective - the band has a large body of recordings and thus an enlarged influence on Pandora.
Added Be Your Own Pet, Betty Blowtorch, the Gossip, Vice Squad, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Be Your Own Pet and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are actually "on the fence". The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have some really Punk songs - and a number of songs that simply do not belong here. I've opted to actively manage that by thumbing down every song that I disapprove of. Thats more work, but the resultant mix is worth the effort.
Also added Television. I may give them the same harsh treatment as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but Television was one of Punk's cornerstone bands. They belong here more than others.
I mentioned waaaaaaaaaaaay down there that I gave a thumbs up to TOOL. I removed that thumb, leaving them neutral and will give thumbs down if Pandora adds it to the mix. I'm a great fan of TOOL, but they are an oddball from the standpoint of music genres. Keeping them would seriously screw up the mix.
I'm no longer going to list the individual groups that get a thumbs down. There are too many of them, and they often don't seem to be related to anything that I'm playing. The exeption will be to seeded artists that I give thumbs down to, and other bands that are played quite often that need controlling. Listening to such a one right now; Fugazi. Too much airtime. I havent decided which song to harsh on, but it will probably be one of the Minor Threat songs... no, that sends the wrong message. Guess I'll have to pick something from Repeater. I'm concerned about Rancid's airplay as well, but I want to be very careful with them.
Friday, December 18, 2009
So Very Much Punk... So Little Time
Many, many changes made. I decided to cut out all of the proto-punk bands; MC5, the New York Dolls, the Dictators, and others. I really like the Dictators, so it was hard to make that decision. The resulting radio station sounds better (more punk) so it was definitely the right decision. Those bands still get played occasionally - a result of Pandora's heuristics of playing similar music. Bonus for me.
I do like Faith No More, and I consider them to be punk. Many bands, unfortunately, evolve to different musical styles and genres during their lifetimes. Pink Flag, the Mekons, X, Glenn Danzig over his career, and I have to include FNM. Pandora kept playing cuts from the Angel Dust album, which I found very disappointing. So they had to go. Can't have that crap on my punk radio station.
Also dropped The Donnas. They aren't a bad band, and I sorta like them. While their names are inspired by the Ramones (their 'band' names are all 'Donna' ) they mostly play party-themed Glam Rock. They're more like Kiss than the Ramones. Out they go.
I've added a number of excellent bands in their places. Bands that I had never heard of, like the Adverts, the Black Halos, the Briefs, the Drones, the Queers, and the Ruts by a suggestion from Jim Zito. Best of all I've added a few Riot Grrrrl bands, or just female punk bands. Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Jack Killed Jill... , Red Aunts, and the Hedrons. I am *very* impressed by the Hedrons. This is why I love Pandora radio - there is a shocking amount of great talent out there that are getting zero recognition, and you just never hear of them through mainstream outlets.
Another band that I intentionally added was the New York Hardcore band Agnostic Front. Naturally, Pandora is playing more hardcore along with AF and the Exploited. I am trying to limit how much hardcore is being played. I think its important to have hardcore, especially some of the early groups that were hardcore innovators, but I also don't want to lose the focus on punk rock.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Until then, pogo 'til ya puke!
I do like Faith No More, and I consider them to be punk. Many bands, unfortunately, evolve to different musical styles and genres during their lifetimes. Pink Flag, the Mekons, X, Glenn Danzig over his career, and I have to include FNM. Pandora kept playing cuts from the Angel Dust album, which I found very disappointing. So they had to go. Can't have that crap on my punk radio station.
Also dropped The Donnas. They aren't a bad band, and I sorta like them. While their names are inspired by the Ramones (their 'band' names are all 'Donna' ) they mostly play party-themed Glam Rock. They're more like Kiss than the Ramones. Out they go.
I've added a number of excellent bands in their places. Bands that I had never heard of, like the Adverts, the Black Halos, the Briefs, the Drones, the Queers, and the Ruts by a suggestion from Jim Zito. Best of all I've added a few Riot Grrrrl bands, or just female punk bands. Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Jack Killed Jill... , Red Aunts, and the Hedrons. I am *very* impressed by the Hedrons. This is why I love Pandora radio - there is a shocking amount of great talent out there that are getting zero recognition, and you just never hear of them through mainstream outlets.
Another band that I intentionally added was the New York Hardcore band Agnostic Front. Naturally, Pandora is playing more hardcore along with AF and the Exploited. I am trying to limit how much hardcore is being played. I think its important to have hardcore, especially some of the early groups that were hardcore innovators, but I also don't want to lose the focus on punk rock.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Until then, pogo 'til ya puke!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
UnCramped
Got rid of The Cramps. Inserting them at all was an error on my part, but I will seed the Meat Puppets in their place. Un-thumbed down The Clash and The Jam. I didn't like to eliminate them in the first place but I could not control their air time. I put them back in because of all the other bands I added; I want to see what the complete 'mix' sounds like.
I'm concerned about the Proto-Punk bands that are seeded. I rather like having MC5 and the New York Dolls in the mix, but they cause Pandora to include other rock and roll bands. Apparently nobody told Pandora they were Proto-Punk. The 'Dolls in particular cause Pandora to include Johnny Thunders' post-'Dolls solo stuff. Its sloppy 3-chord Rock and Roll which is fine - but its less punk than the Dolls. So I may ultimately decide to lose the Proto-Punk bands. And the Donnas. They were inspired by the Ramones and others, but their music has mostly followed the others into a Party Hard Rock. More in common with Johnny Thunders than the Ramones. I'll decide over the next week or so.
I'm concerned about the Proto-Punk bands that are seeded. I rather like having MC5 and the New York Dolls in the mix, but they cause Pandora to include other rock and roll bands. Apparently nobody told Pandora they were Proto-Punk. The 'Dolls in particular cause Pandora to include Johnny Thunders' post-'Dolls solo stuff. Its sloppy 3-chord Rock and Roll which is fine - but its less punk than the Dolls. So I may ultimately decide to lose the Proto-Punk bands. And the Donnas. They were inspired by the Ramones and others, but their music has mostly followed the others into a Party Hard Rock. More in common with Johnny Thunders than the Ramones. I'll decide over the next week or so.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
What is Punk Rock?
To use a bizarre allegory; equating musical styles as family members, punk rock is something like this. Garage rockers are the great-grandparents. Iggy Pop is the Godfather. The Ramones are the Patriarch. Velvet Underground is an uncle. Offspring, cousins, nephews and neices include Art Rock, Indie Rock, Heavy Metal, New Wave, Power Pop, Grunge, Goth, Thrash, and eventually 'Alternative' music - whatever that is. All of the above, including 'punk' are labels that have been variously ill-conceived or misapplied by people that just wanted to label something that they did not understand.
Edit: I apologize for the above paragraph. Sometimes I'm creative in a stupid way. -K 10/18/2010
In the early 1970s it seemed like Rock'n'Roll had gone horribly wrong, and the developing sound has been described as a natural rebellion. Growing out of the popularity of garage rock and underground rock bands, punk rock appeared in the mid-1970s in the form of The Ramones. It should be noted that they were wildly popular in England, but couldn't sell out even tiny venues in the U.S. Initially, very few record labels were willing to sign punk bands, they just didn't see any market-ability in the strange noise. The only way to become popular was an extensive touring schedule featuring many small venues - which was previously unheard of; many bands would play New York, L.A., and maybe Chicago or Cleveland - and that was it.
At first, hallmarks of punk were a bare-bones sound, limited musical ability (3 chords were enough), fast-paced and brief songs, an anti-establishment attitude, and antagonizing the audience (largely discarded in the interest of record sales). The Sex Pistols undeniably hold the record for thumbing their nose at the establishment. Their first *released* single "Anarchy in the U.K." caused such a indignant reaction in England that their record label dropped them - before releasing the rest of the recorded album! Shortly therafter, their bass player left the band. A replacement was eventually found in the drummer of Siouxie and the Banshees (who were all great fans of the Pistols). This lineup change presaged the tumultuous nature of all future punk bands. The drummer's name was Sid Viscious, and he couldn't play bass.
Edit: I apologize for the above paragraph. Sometimes I'm creative in a stupid way. -K 10/18/2010
In the early 1970s it seemed like Rock'n'Roll had gone horribly wrong, and the developing sound has been described as a natural rebellion. Growing out of the popularity of garage rock and underground rock bands, punk rock appeared in the mid-1970s in the form of The Ramones. It should be noted that they were wildly popular in England, but couldn't sell out even tiny venues in the U.S. Initially, very few record labels were willing to sign punk bands, they just didn't see any market-ability in the strange noise. The only way to become popular was an extensive touring schedule featuring many small venues - which was previously unheard of; many bands would play New York, L.A., and maybe Chicago or Cleveland - and that was it.
At first, hallmarks of punk were a bare-bones sound, limited musical ability (3 chords were enough), fast-paced and brief songs, an anti-establishment attitude, and antagonizing the audience (largely discarded in the interest of record sales). The Sex Pistols undeniably hold the record for thumbing their nose at the establishment. Their first *released* single "Anarchy in the U.K." caused such a indignant reaction in England that their record label dropped them - before releasing the rest of the recorded album! Shortly therafter, their bass player left the band. A replacement was eventually found in the drummer of Siouxie and the Banshees (who were all great fans of the Pistols). This lineup change presaged the tumultuous nature of all future punk bands. The drummer's name was Sid Viscious, and he couldn't play bass.
Re Fine
Added Faith No More but I may change my mind depending how they change the mix. Gave thumbs down to Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Alice in Chains, Johnny Lives! and Reverend Horton Heat. I hated to do it, but there is already too much diversity. Thumbs up to TOOL, Iggy Pop and Jack Killed Jill...
I've made significant adjustments to the blog template. It looks a lot better now. I have also added ads. I generally hate ads. Its not their content, or even their distraction that I do not like. I don't like ads because most ads are loaded onto the page from a noticeably different location. That can screw up page load times like you wouldn't believe.
I've made significant adjustments to the blog template. It looks a lot better now. I have also added ads. I generally hate ads. Its not their content, or even their distraction that I do not like. I don't like ads because most ads are loaded onto the page from a noticeably different location. That can screw up page load times like you wouldn't believe.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Edits
Added Linoleum, MC5, the Dollyrots, the Boys, and the Cramps. Gave a 'thumbs up' to "Dead and Gone" by the Ettes (which means I want Pandora to play more songs like that).
I gave thumbs down to songs by Johhny Thunders, Discharge, the Jam, the Fastbacks, New Order, Carina Round, Marion Raven, and Upwell.
I actually like the Jam. They sound like... well... maybe a 1960's Dire Straits? But they aren't really punk in any way that I can tell, and they were getting way too much airtime. Discharge was a little too thrash metal for me. The Fastbacks are all right, but that song "Don't Eat That Its Poison" was just God Damned Annoying. The other thumb downs are pretty much self-explanatory. Or feel free to ask why if you think I gave them a raw deal.
'The Boys' are the very first 'power pop' band, but they never got the attention that they deserved. At Christmas they turned into 'the Yobs' and they released some very rude Christmas songs. You've probably heard "Run Rudolph Run". The Dollyrots are just damn good. Joan Jett gave them a contract the first time she heard them. Linoleum has a sound that is more new wave, mostly I want to see what Pandora throws into the mix.
The Cramps is a band name that I remember, but I never heard anything of theirs that I can remember. Pandora played some interesting things around the Cramps - like 'Surfin' Bird'. I like Surfin' Bird, but I may have to boot the Cramps if I get many more like that in the mix.
I'm thinking that I need more bands that are fundamentally punk. I'm not coming up with much of anything on my own. Many of my good ideas were Pandora reminding me of killer bands that I'd forgotten about. As always, hit me with your suggestions.
I gave thumbs down to songs by Johhny Thunders, Discharge, the Jam, the Fastbacks, New Order, Carina Round, Marion Raven, and Upwell.
I actually like the Jam. They sound like... well... maybe a 1960's Dire Straits? But they aren't really punk in any way that I can tell, and they were getting way too much airtime. Discharge was a little too thrash metal for me. The Fastbacks are all right, but that song "Don't Eat That Its Poison" was just God Damned Annoying. The other thumb downs are pretty much self-explanatory. Or feel free to ask why if you think I gave them a raw deal.
'The Boys' are the very first 'power pop' band, but they never got the attention that they deserved. At Christmas they turned into 'the Yobs' and they released some very rude Christmas songs. You've probably heard "Run Rudolph Run". The Dollyrots are just damn good. Joan Jett gave them a contract the first time she heard them. Linoleum has a sound that is more new wave, mostly I want to see what Pandora throws into the mix.
The Cramps is a band name that I remember, but I never heard anything of theirs that I can remember. Pandora played some interesting things around the Cramps - like 'Surfin' Bird'. I like Surfin' Bird, but I may have to boot the Cramps if I get many more like that in the mix.
I'm thinking that I need more bands that are fundamentally punk. I'm not coming up with much of anything on my own. Many of my good ideas were Pandora reminding me of killer bands that I'd forgotten about. As always, hit me with your suggestions.
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