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January 31, 2007
Retrohump - Reunion Rock
Retrohump genie, who else will catch reunionitis in 2007?
SMASHING PUMPKINS
Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock" (acoustic)
Before Billy Corgan's dome doubled as a mirror, before Jimmy Chamberlin's overdose, before Melissa Auf Der Maur replaced D'Arcy as the hot bassist and certainly before James Iha became chummy with the Misshapes crowd, a band called Smashing Pumpkins existed as peers to the alt-rock revolution of the early 1990s. Possibly because of the de rigueur trends of those days they recorded this acoustic version of the rifftastic Cherub Rock.
VAN HALEN
Van Halen - "You Really Got Me" Live in Montreal
These days an outburst towards an (alleged) "stupid motherfucker right down front shooting water at me" might be laughed off as either A) self parody, or B) hilarity in such lack of self-awareness. But in 1984, when Van Halen ruled the (then massive) stages of rock, Diamond Dave meant it and probably did fuck that dude's girlfriend. The screechingly awful sound quality of the Kink's classic is the toll you must pay for the profanity payoff.
Van Halen - "Panama" Live in Toronto 1988
Double D climbing into a floating boxing ring and prancing about in a matador outfit. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't make this stuff up. Nor can you underestimate the amount of cocaine that must have been consumed during the production meetings.
Producer: "Let me get this straight, you want a both a boxing ring and giant surfboard hovering over the crowd?"
David Lee Roth: "YEAH I WANT TO SYMBOLICALLY SPAR WITH THE CROWD BEFORE I BLOW THEIR MINDS BY CARVING THROUGH A HUMAN SEA BABY! YEAH, DIAMOND DAVE HERE ROCKING IT!"
THE POLICE
The Police - "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" Beat Club, 1979
You've heard the Police hits so many times that listening with fresh ears is an impossibility. What if I told you that in 1979 very few people outside of Jamaica knew what reggae was, let alone what it sounded like, would it change things? Not biting eh,...ok. If I described a night in which the always cool as a cucumber, lute loving Sting had it in for a particularly dastardly French heckler would you watch? Rated 'R' for language and loogie missile violence. You think Sting fucked his girlfriend?
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Rage Against the Machine - "Kick Out The Jams" DNC Protest, 2000
This was a free concert outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles during the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Like so many displays of protest these days (counting 2000 as these days) much of what goes on comes off looking like a half-assed retread of history. The MC5 cover solidifies this. Sigh.
Here is the real deal.
Posted by Merry Swankster at January 31, 2007 12:29 PM
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Comments
You mean besides the Jesus and Mary Chain and Crowded House?
Or was that question rhetorical?
Posted by: lucy anne at January 31, 2007 06:55 PM
