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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

The Chronic: You’re a penguin lookin’ mother f*****

In Music, Season 2 on 2011/04/25 at

They'd like you to know that although they're from different California cities, they are now together and in "full effect"

Let’s begin with a simple, known truth: I am the last person that should be writing about G-funk rap music. I grew up in the South, in the middle of the country part of the suburbs. I am fundamentally unqualified to say anything about the quality or s***ness of any rap album, much less an album that’s won multiple Grammys, been ranked #6 on the Vibe 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century, the 137th Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone or won a mother f***ing Grammy. Also, I may not have been in the right state of mind to listen to this album the 10 or 11 times that I did.* Honestly, of all the things that I’ve approached as Pop Culture Blind Spots, this one has been the most f****** daunting. There are so many potential pitfalls in reviewing something that’s so revered by so many g** d*** people. It’s definitely the biggest task that I’ve taken on since I originally declared ‘Top Gun’ a s*** movie that’s one step below porn. When ‘The Chronic’ was recorded in June of 1992, LA was just coming to grips with the 1992 LA riots that brought absolute chaos to the streets of the city of Angels. The country as a whole was still trying to process what had brought Los Angeles over the f***** edge of absolute chaos (spoiler alert: you can’t let cops beat spmeone up on video tape and then escape prosecution and expect everyone to be ok with that) and that December Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ sprung into the mainstream with a vengeance. Before we talk about the actual content of the album, I feel like I need to issue a couple of disclaimers:

  • Is the album homophobic? Completely. Dre, Snoop and the others on the album constantly use implied homosexuality as a way to infer that their enemies are somehow immediately less than them. At the end of “F*** wit Dre”, Snoop actually lists out all of the people that he doesn’t like who can s*** a fat d***. I’m not in any way condoning that kind of language anymore than I’m condoning that the best way to deal with those who dis you is to shoot them in the head. Both are wrong but that’s not the point of this post.
  • Does the album constantly use a word that I’m uncomfortable with? F*** yes. And it’s not the F word. I’m not even going to say which word it is because as comedian Louis C.K. points out as soon as I call it out, I’m actually forcing your brain to say the word in your head which is actually just passing the terrible swearing baton to you instead of me. Let me just say that I’m not comfortable with anyone using the word but I support Dr. Dre and the others using the word if they’re comfortable with it.
A Brief Synopsis of ‘The Chronic’: After a conflict with the other members of N.W.A. in 1991, Dr. Dre left the group and began producing his first solo album ‘The Chronic’. It’s largely considered to be the album that popularized the G-funk style of West Coast rap with it’s slowed down grooves, incorporation of P-funk (re: George Clinton) melodies and incredibly creepily off-kilter f***** synthesizers. Even now in 2011, I could play a few of the synthesizer riffs from ‘The Chronic’ and they’d be immediately recognizable as pieces of Dr. Dre hits. It’s an album that deals with everything from the party pieces of the West Coast Gangsta lifestyle. It’s an album that makes drastic swings from the comedic (on tracks like ‘ The $20 Sack Pyramid’) to the very tragic (with songs like ‘Lil’ Ghetto Boy’). It’s less a declaration of war on the status quo than a condemnation of it. The three singles ‘Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang’, ‘F*** wit Dre’ and ‘Let Me Ride’  (which all went at least Gold) speak to different aspects of life on the LA streets. One of the best descriptions of ‘The Chronic’ that I’ve read pointed out that it portrays the gangsta lifestyle as a non-stop party that’s sometimes interrupted by gunfire. There’s really no better description of what ‘The Chronic’ serves up. It’s all about the b*****s and weed until the s*** hits the fan and then somebody’s got to go all 187 on somebody else. Also, in the g** d*** middle of it all there’s more than one extended flute solo and a few comedy sketches. It’s a testament to the difficulty of life on the streets of LA at that time when everyone had to make a choice between life on the sidelines or a life that straddled the line between true honesty and crime. It’s really unlike any other album I’ve heard and that’s a very, very good thing. It’s also the album that brought the phrase “Deez Nuts” into the mainstream. So that’s gotta be worth something.
Why is it a PCBS? Really? You’re reading this f***** blog and you’ve never f***** heard of ‘The Chronic’? Outside of the accolades detailed above, ‘The Chronic’ was named one of the Top 10 Rap Albums of All Time by Vibe, one of the top 100 rap albums of all time by Spin and the third greatest hip hop album of all time by MTV. Outside of establishing Dr. Dre as a solo artist it also launched the careers of Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G among others. ‘Nuthin but a “G” Thang” is still considered one of the greatest hip hop songs of all time and has been ruined more than a few times by g** d*** idiots at karaoke bars all across the world. Outside of all of these culturally important reasons that it’s a PCBS, there’s a few more personal reasons that this album falls into the PCBS wheel house. When I think back to music videos that hypnotized me in the summer of 1993, I’m able to remember the video Dr. Dre’s ‘Nuthin But a “G” Thang’. Harken back to those glory days of MTV when they showed videos and felt the need to blur out corporate logos that might appear in them. ‘Nuthin but a “G” Thang’ is one of those videos that you just never f***** forget. From the haunting synth at the beginning of the track to the crazy house party atmosphere that leads Snoop to declare that “it’s like this and like that and like this and uh”, it’s one of those tracks that stays with you forever.
How does it look in the rear view mirror? Honestly, it all looks a bit odd. Since they burst onto the scene in ‘The Chronic’, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg have steadily become less social rebels and more and more mainstream. Snoop Dogg will basically guest on anyone’s track for the right price these days (e.g. Pussy Cat Dolls) and he and Dr. Dre have both become spokesmen for high end products from Pepsi Max to Dre’s own line of premium mother f****** headphones. Listening to these corporate pitchmen rap about how hard life is on the streets is a little hollow but you have to remember that it was recorded almost 20 years ago. The world has changed and Dre and Snoop have managed to successfully changed with it. Ignoring all of that, it’s hard to deny that ‘The Chronic’ wasn’t a f***** blueprint for rap for most of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Since then Dre, Snoop, Warren G and and Nate Dogg have all had success on their own and the roots of rap in 2011 can mostly be traced back to the West Coast movement started by Dr. Dre and ‘The Chronic’. There’s something more interesting that’s come up while listening to ‘The Chronic’ and that’s the idea of an f***** album as a form of protest. In my mind, the greatest example of an album created simply to give someone the finger is Marvin Gaye’s ‘Here, My Dear’ created in response to his wife’s court win requiring him to pay her the residuals from his next album. It’s an album that is soaked in a mix of remorse and disdain. It’s very clear from the beginning that it’s clearly aimed to make someone uncomfortable while also selling albums. To me, that’s the way ‘The Chronic’ feels. It’s an album that’s as much a rebellion against N.W.A. (and specifically Easy E) as it is a chance to showcase the Death Row Records funky a** artists.
Final Thoughts: When it’s all said and done, it would have been much easier for me to say that I didn’t like ‘The Chronic’. But with catchy hooks, a strong social message about the state of LA in 1992 and the seeds for all of the hardcore rap that I’ve loved in the ensuing two decades, it would be a bit disingenuous for me to say that I’m not a huge fan of ‘The Chronic’. A few weeks ago, on my other blog, I wrote about the comfort of continuity and how a continuing story makes every individual episode that much more enjoyable. For me, listening to ‘The Chronic’ is like reading the prequel to the 90’s and early 2000’s. ‘The Chronic’ laid the groundwork for everything from Warren G’s ‘Regulate’ to Chris Rock’s ‘Roll With the New’. Do I approve of all the imagery that Dr. Dre and his friends use on the album? No. Do I think they’re a bit homophobic and misogynistic? Of course. But at the end of the day, they do make me put my hands in the air and wave them around as if I just don’t care. Plus, Snoop is credited with the creation of the word “bootylicious” on this album (although he uses it as a slur against another rapper) and that leads to an awesome Destiny’s Child single years later so you have to support that. Word to the mother f***** streets.
*meaning I was not super, duper high when listening to ‘The Chronic’. Seriously, there’s a part of me that thinks this album would BLOW MY MIND if I were super, crunk ass high when listening to it but let’s face it: I’m 30 years old and that’s just g** d*** f***** irresponsible, you stupid b****.

Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”: Because making an album is cheaper than therapy

In Music on 2010/06/01 at

Mick Fleetwood and the dangerously introverted Stevie Nicks

First and foremost, in the interest of full disclosure, it’s not like I’d never heard any of “Rumours” before. In fact, as I mentioned in my “Exile on Main St.” post, I went through a bit of a Fleetwood Mac phase thanks to my Dad’s Eagles album in high school. But, because of my age, my exposure to the hard-charging drums of Mick Fleetwood and the absolutely bat-shit crazy antics of Stevie Nicks were thanks to their big comeback album “The Dance” in 1997. That means that while I’d become familiar with their hits, I’d never really heard “Rumours” straight through.

A Brief Synopsis of “Rumours”: “Rumours”, the eleventh studio album from Fleetwood Mac is basically the result of all the turmoil that any group of people could feel in such a confined amount of space/time. 100% of the women that I’ve dated have ended up hating me on some level so I can completely relate to the lyrics/tone of the drama filled “Rumours” at any given time. I’m pretty sure that the comments for this post will fill up with former flames agreeing to the tone of this album with no hesitations. It’s all lust and drama before it fades off into disgust and rage. But ignore those John-centric emotions for a bit and focus on the feelings that the actual members of Fleetwood Mac were feeling during the recording of “Rumors.” They were making up, breaking up and trying to deal with life cramped inside a tiny studio in a tiny port town, all while trying to record an album. The album contains some of FM’s biggest hits and even Mick Fleetwood admitted that the commercial success of the album allowed the band to continue for years to come. It’s half sell out and half masterpiece. Or 3/4 masterpiece and 1/4 sellout depending on how you calculate the averages.

Why is it a PCBS? Seriously? You’ve never heard of “Rumours”? Well, to be fair, I hadn’t always known that this was Fleetwood Mac’s definitive album (and one of the best selling albums of all time) until one soul sax playing presidential candidate decided to make track #4 famous during his 1992 campaign. When I first heard “Don’t Stop I was 11, stuck in a middle school that knew me only for my George Bush impersonation and ready for the big move to high school in 1993. But for some reason “Don’t Stop” with it’s pounding drums and call to arms lead guitar spoke to me in a way that apparently En Vogue and Red Hot Chili Peppers were speaking to everyone else my age. Fast forward a few years and Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” came out on CD with the “Don’t Stop” track backed by the USC marching band. It was the rousing close to a concert that I realize now meant virtually nothing to me as compared to people my parents’ age but that I still loved. I wore groves in my copy of the CD the summer after my senior year of high school (including the song “Temporary One” that I included on more than one mix tape trying to convince my friends that even though I was going far away for college, the sea that divided us was just a temporary boundary before we would all be together again). But even through all this, I never picked up a copy of “Rumours.” I was in a serious “best of” phase with CD’s covering the “best of” bands like Steve Miller Band, The Eagles and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. For me, the mysterious pull of “Rumours” as an album never kicked in…until now.

How does it look in the rear view mirror? Asking how “Rumours” stands up to the test of time is a bit like asking if the Great Wall of China is still standing (yep, it’s still there). “Rumours” really does feel like a therapy session where five people are talking and no one’s listening. Even though she’s become a bit of a parody of herself (or Steven Tyler) in recent years, Stevie Nicks (it’s funny ’cause she has a boy’s name) belts out songs like “Dreams” in such a way that you really feel just how anguished she is. Lindsay Buckingham (it’s funny ’cause he has a girl’s name) plays his guitar on songs like “Go Your Own Way” in ways that make you believe that he’s absolutely furious with it. I once heard Mick Fleetwood and John McVie described as the best rhythm section in rock and while I can’t agree with that (what up, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen!) I can say that their driving beats do well to represent the heart of a band that seems like it was ready to beat out of their chests. Also, Christie McVie is there (sorry, never been a fan…could totally do without her). For me, listening to “Rumours” for the last month or two has been a walk down the memory lane of all the relationships I’ve had that have gone south in one way or another. It’s musical bourbon…ready to inflame the worst anger in your heart while also making you remember the good times that got you in those situations to begin with.

Final Thoughts: What else is there to say about an album that so many people have called brilliant, timeless or genre defining? How about this: It’s good as an album. Christie McVie included, it’s one of the few albums that I’ve heard that is solid gold from beginning to end. Even “Exile on Main Street” which I reviewed a while back has some songs that could just be considered filler but “Rumours” feels like 11 songs that 5 people fought to get on the final album. In the years since, there have been bonus tracks and “never before heard specials” added to the mix but for me the 11 original songs from “Rumours” represent one of the great albums of our time. Will this be what the aliens listen to when they’re trying to piece together what kind of civilization could have lived on this planet so many years ago? No. But will this be an album that scorned wives and jilted husbands find solace in for years to come? Most definitely.

Everyone should get a few months of studio time instead of therapy at least once in their lives.

The Rolling Stones “Exile on Main St.”: The Songs of the South…of France.

In Music on 2010/04/29 at

Working on music without any pants...

I can’t say that I’ve always been a huge fan of the Rolling Stones. On the contrary, I’ve fallen in and out of love with them at different points in my life. As a kid, songs like “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction)” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” were in constant rotation on the Oldies stations that always seemed to be playing in my parents cars. As a teenager, I fell in love with “Paint it Black” (thanks, “The Devil’s Advocate”!) and “Start Me Up” (thanks for ruining it, Windows commercials!). In more recent years, I’ve found myself drawn to the more melancholy “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Gimme Shelter”, the latter of which can probably be attributed to the Rock Band explosion a few years back. I marveled at the video for “Love is Strong,” where 100 ft. versions of super models threaten to crush Manhattan and I laughed when Mike Meyers did his spot on impression of Mick on SNL. But I can’t ever really say that I went through a Rolling Stones “phase” like I did with other artists like the Beatles, the Who and even U2. The Stones were always sort of the “also ran” band in my mind. The second place team behind their Liverpool brothers who’d never made as big a splash. So it’s through that lens that I approached my latest assignment “Exile on Main St.” Now I’ll be honest, if it weren’t for Jimmy Fallon and his Rolling Stones Week, I’d still have never even thought to listen to this album straight through. But thanks to a little repetition, I downloaded a copy and listened to it straight through in one sitting, something that I can’t say I’ve done with any album in years.

A Brief Synopsis of “Exile on Main St.”: But before we get to what I thought, let’s quickly review the somewhat nutty circumstances surrounding the recording of the Rolling Stones tenth studio album. A quick search of Wikipedia reveals that “Exile on Main St.” was released in May 1972 but was recorded over a four year span with two main sessions: one in Los Angeles, CA (home of Beach Boys and asphalt) the other in Nellcôte, France. Why were the English rockers in France, you ask? Because they owed more taxes to the crown than they were able to pay. So Keith and the boys headed to France where smacked out Keith Richards had rented a former Nazi headquarters…you know, as you’ll do. So the Stones, in the throws of Keith’s love affair with heroin and Mick’s first marriage, apparently spent nights recording what would later become “Exile on Main St.” Jagger and Co. would later add to the tracks in LA including some influences from a local gospel church they attended. With all that going into one album, it’s really no surprise that it sounds like a mix of rock, blues, soul and whining about drugs and booze.

Why is it a PCBS? With classic songs like “Tumbling Dice”, “Happy”, “Shine a Light” and “All Down the Line” you can see why this album was panned by Rolling Stone when it was released. (Let’s just take a minute to realize that professional music critics are generally asshats. Seriously.) Of course, with the benefit of hindsight and time to realize that they were generally asshats, most music critics now proclaim that it’s one of the greatest albums of all time ever. It’s on multiple “Greatest Album Ever” lists and was the inspiration for a bunch of other artists including, most famously to my generation, Liz Phair’s album “Exile in Guyville” (another album that I should probably get my hands on at some point in the future). Even Matchbox 20 felt the need to reference it in one of their so-called “songs” so it must be important, right?

For me, it’s a bit more personal than that. <tangent> My music collection has always been heavily influenced by what the influential people around me were listening to at the time. It’s easy to wheel through my iPod at any given moment, stop on a random artist and immediately know exactly who got me into that kind of music or started me listening to a particular artist. I’ve loved everyone from Abba to Zappa all because someone around me was listening to them at the time. A few big examples:

  • Bruce Springsteen: I love the Boss. I’ve always loved the Boss…except that I haven’t. I came to the church of Springsteen quite late in life (around 14 or 15) when my friend Mike introduced me to his “Greatest Hits” album. But once I got a little taste of Bruce, I was a fan for life. I bounced from that compilation of singles all the way back to “Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ” almost immediately. Because of Mike I have seen the Ghost of Tom Joad, travelled to Nebraska and discovered the most perfect album ever recorded. He’s also to blame for Billy Joel and my obsession with obscure musicals.
  • Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: This one’s all the fault of Tracy. For some reason, I got to hang out with rocker chick Tracy and her friends around the turn of the century and was introduced to a local cover band called “Frontbutt” (I’d Google them to see if they’re still around and link to their site, but I’m not Googling that word). One night while waiting to see the band go on, the bar was playing one of the “Me First and the Gimme Gimmes” albums. I had to know who it was and how I could get their music immediately. I’ve always been a sucker for covers but any band that can do a punk cover of “Nobody Does it Better” just plain kicks ass (almost makes me feel sad for the rest).
  • Eagles: 150% my dad’s fault. My father owned one of those huge 5-disc changer CD players when they first came out and he started replacing lost LPs with CDs. One of those CDs was this one and once I found it, it was basically on a loop in my head. I imagined driving down the highway with the windows down in a pickup truck listening to “Take it to the Limit,” wrote angsty teenage stories to “Already Gone” and didn’t understand what “Tequila Sunrise: was until many years later. This little gem can also be blamed for my love of the Steve Miller Band and Fleetwood Mac.

The point is, the reason I never really got into the Rolling Stones is because, well, no one around me was really into the Rolling Stones. </tanget> Unlike others people around my age, I didn’t go and see the giant inflatable people they had during the Wheels of Steel tour and wasn’t really impressed by their “Voodoo Lounge” album. So this PCBS was more about trying to discover some music on my own than trying to catch up with something that everyone else my age already loved. Hopefully years from now when I hear “Sweet Virginia” I’ll think of me instead of someone else.

How does it look in the rear view mirror? It’s not really fair for me to criticize an album that’s beloved by many and revered by more. As I was listening to “Exile”, I was suddenly struck by the fear that if I didn’t like it then my ear was more tin than I’d ever imagined. I truly believe the “you are what you like” philosophy of Nick Hornby, so the idea that I’d not like something so close to my wheelhouse was a bit intimidating (not something I’d felt with things like “Nightmare on Elm St.” or “thirtysomething”). Luckily, I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it. In a world where there’s really no such thing as albums anymore (everything’s a single…except for musicals because they have a throughline of plot, but that’s a whole other post), it’s really nice to find something that feels like it was meant to be heard in the order it’s laid out (and not in a crazy way like “Dark Side of the Moon”).

That being said, I know that only a few of the songs will make it into regular rotation on my iPod. “Tumbling Dice” and “Loving Cup” both hit me in that rock/soul sweet spot that I’ve developed around things like Van Morrison and the Stones own “Gimme Shelter” but it was really “Sweet Virginia” that I know I’ll hang on to. Yes, I’m from the commonwealth of Virginia and yes, I’ve recently traveled there and become somewhat sentimental about the state made for lovers, but neither of those are reasons for loving this song. For me, it’s the Johnny Cash/Marvin Gaye/Steve Bassett sound that immediately makes me think of nights that were hotter than the days that preceded them. I’m reminded of standing in line for ice cream that melts as soon as you get it and driving fast with the windows down to try and stay ahead of the mosquitoes. It’s Southern Rock-blues-a-billy music at it’s finest and for me, it’s the anchor for my respect for this album.  Also, it’s better than 99.9% of the crap that’s released these days (suck it, Bieber) so, you know, get off my lawn you crazy kids with you rap music and low rise pants.

Final Thoughts: Since I’ve rambled on for almost 1600 words, I’ll keep my final thoughts brief: I’m glad I gave this album a chance because it’s something that I should have been listening to all along. Hopefully, some of you will give it a chance and when it comes up on shuffle on you iPods…you’ll think of me.

The newly re-mastered anniversary super pack edition of the album comes out in a few weeks. Give it a chance and let me know what you think about the album when you do.  Oh and watch the Rolling Stones week on Fallon. He’s a funny guy.