CHAPTER TWO- WE’RE SAVED (OR ARE WE?) 1. The breakup of the Beatles had been traumatic for us. Every time a former Beatle was interviewed, up until the death of John Lennon, he would be asked about them getting back together. We looked for a replacement for them for years, but we never got one. 2. Instead we got several disparate genres of music, many of which were barely recognizable as rock and roll. This was nothing new. Rock and roll had always contained sweetie music, harmonic bands, dancers, mumblers, lunatics, screamers, guitar monsters, religious nuts, and lounge singers. 3. From the ashes came two somewhat related types of music (among many others); Glam and Shock Rock. Neither was as popular as Disco or Hair Band, or even the new “Southern” Rock. However, both were very influential, even to established bands. Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, and Elton John went through face makeup/androgynous phases, and a new king of Shock Rock, channeling Arthur Brown and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, pissed off parents everywhere. His name was Alice Cooper and he was VERY popular. 4. David Bowie was easily the most popular of the Glam acts. There were plenty of them, Gary Glitter, the Sweet, Marc Bolen, etc. Rolling Stone magazine usually gave them a page or so between Dylan articles every month. They were not bombastic, loud, troublesome people in most cases. A kit and a European tour usually kept them going. Then a different kind of Glam arrived in New York City, in the BAD part of town. In 1973, the high energy, cross-dressing, very dangerous New York Dolls released their first album, called New York Dolls. I reviewed this album for our high school newspaper. I remember being stunned by the record. I literally did not know what to think. I did know that it was better than Eddie Kendricks or R.E.O., and certainly better than another new band I reviewed that year, Z.Z. Top. You know who agreed with me? Almost no one. I think I remember reading that the first Dolls album sold 3000 copies. The New York Dolls were VERY unpopular. 5. However, both Cooper and the Dolls proved to be very influential on later bands. Cooper, wildly popular, spawned bands like KISS and White Zombie, and later, Horror Punks like the Misfits. The Dolls played a European tour in 1973, and while it might have seemed like no one cared, there were people watching. Many bands now give the New York Dolls credit for starting the Punk movement. Btw, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) LOOOOVES Alice Cooper. I know. . .weird. . . 6. In 1979, the Chicago White Sox held an anti-Disco night in which they blew up a crate filled with Disco records. This triggered a riot that nearly destroyed Sox Park. The weird thing to most of us was that we thought Disco had been dead for some time by 1979. 7. So how’s the story end, Uncle Mike? Do the good guys win? You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that, kids. Remember though, this is a story about rock and roll; there aren’t any good guys.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:49:05 +0000
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