(MOGS) Teenage Wasteland

Source of the title:  Who's Next

Let me just put this out there right now.  I love rock and roll.  I love it as a fan of music, I love it as a subject worthy of academic study (though hopefully, not the pretentious BS Chuck Klosterman warns us about in his books), a subject of film, a major social shaping force of the 20th century, as an amateur musician (me), and as the subject of many long hours of geeky conversation and post-gig Monday morning quarterbacking.  Some see it as a source of spiritual renewal, but I'm not sure if I buy into Springsteen's argument about that any more than I buy into the myth of "the Boss" as a champion of the working man.  Sacrilege for a guy from Jersey, I know.

Rock and Roll drives me to seek out the odd cultural relic and cast-off here and there, such as movies like this, or more recently, that, and getting even more out there, the just released on DVD for the first time ever, the other.  This post isn't a movie review, though I may get to that at some point.  Tonight, I'm actually talking about music itself. 

When it comes to rock bands, my taste skews slightly older and usually British or American bands who sound British (hence the presence of the Dandy Warhols in the links above).  British rock in the 1970s was the source of the some of the best, and some of the worst trends in the whole medium.  I'm going to start with Progressive, or "prog" rock and heavy metal.  Hawkwind (where Lemmy of Motorhead got his start BTW), Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, even to a lesser extent The Who and Deep Purple, gave us 20-minute keyboard solos, lyrics about elves and pseudo-Celtic bustles in the hedgerow, war, space truckers, war, Stormbringers, war, and more war (oh come on, just look at ANY Iron Maiden album).  Not to be outdone, the US gave us Blue Oyster Cult and cowbell, Iced Earth, and at the absolute nadir, Mr. Roboto.  (I really think the whole entire existence of Styx is proof positive that God has a sense of humor, and it's rather awful).

Well, along came punk, which really set out to prove more than anything else that one didn't need a degree in music from Jiulliard, hands like Eddie Van Halen, or Lord of the Rings crib notes to make killer rock and roll.  Sometime in the 80s, skinny ties were cool, and then the '90s came and bling and gangstas got big at the same time as paying $70.00 for flannel shirts and pseudo-metal-hardcore-punk out of the Northwest.

The whole point behind this mess?  We've had 50 plus years of rock and roll.  Like any memory with time, it's all meshed together, put out of order, into new context and means nothing like it was originally meant to.  That's how we got a band like Coheed and Cambria. 

Yes, they are a new band I actually like.  I've seen them live, 2003 at the House of Blues in Vegas along with Thursday and Thrice.  I was probably one of the oldest people there, and as far as I know, the only one rocking out when Coheed played Iron Maiden's "The Trooper."  They pretty much taken the whole gamut of influence from punk to Hardcore and '80s-tinged metal (actual GUITAR SOLOS and not a mean amount of shredding) and brought it back.  That and the emo kids seem to love them.  I am NOT going to get all started on emo tonight, if you're really curious,  go here.  Coheed has made it almost okay to like Rush (they kind of seem like Rush might have sounded, had they not been a bunch of wusses and listened to Metallica - good Metallica that is - while growing up).

They've also made it cool to make concept albums again - I wonder if Green Day's "American Idiot" would have done so well had not everybody already been listening to "Second Stage Turbine Blade" and "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth." 

Okay, the words make almost no sense.  I can gather that there is some weird science fiction- "2112" type story going on.  The title track to "Secrets" is like the opening score to some epic movie, I don't know, there's a Dune or Star Wars esque quality to it, - the guitar is massive, and there's also what can only be described as the "Emo Boys Choir" on the second half chorus.  Watching the live video of "Live at the Starland Ballroom" it becomes eerie when you realize that it's the audience actually singing it.  Emo/wannabe punks singing along to an 8.5 minute guitar epic.   There's moments when I can hear old school Master of Puppets Metallica, and this is all tied to excellent pop hooks (listen to "A Favor House Atlantic," you'll see what I mean)

We've come full circle.  I don't mind one bit.  Bring it Coheed, comic book tie-ins and all.

Oh and nice touch getting Dr. Know from Bad Brains on "Time Consumer" - good song, plus indie cred for all us rock snobs.  Approved.

Lastly, if you don't think the outro to "Everything Evil" isn't a killer riff, you have no soul.  I think the current generation of music fans have been lacking something in their lexicon, in fact, in the entire cultural landscape that surrounds them.  It's why all the great myths of the last century of pop culture are getting continually recycled, myth is a very basic human need, whether it's Star Wars, Batman, Emogame, or Coheed.  I think kids, and sometimes adults too, need superheroes, spaceships, and have an undying need to rock.

I wanna rock (ROCK).  I want to rock (ROCK). 

Good night.

Comments

[carly]

Oooh...Coheed and Cambria were just at Irving Plaza in NYC this weekend. I love this band! Some of their very earliest stuff (before they had the comic concept.. before they were even called Co and Cam...)is awesome as well. My usafa/punk/emo guitar dude friend gave me a very in-depth education in the music he loves and these guys--along with Thrice and Thursday btw--are at the top of my list.

Have to admit at first I thought they had a chick singing with them though...eeep that voice is high!

[MOGS]

Carly, you are a woman of taste :)

MOGSY