Where is the Danger in Rock and Roll?

[moff40]

Food for thought:

To us, rock & roll was about rebellion - from our parents, from our jobs, from social mores of the time. Now many of us are middle-aged or approaching it - certainly no longer rebellious teens and 20-something-year-olds. Now we say there's nothing left to rebel against.

Maybe we just think there's nothing left to rebel against because we don't think the things we rebelled against are a big deal anymore. I mean, think about it - what DID we rebel against, really? Having to go to school? Having to clean our rooms and follow our parents' rules? Having to come inside at night? Having to get a haircut? Not being allowed to screw Sally when we were 14? Not being allowed to have sex in public? "The Man" taking our money to pay for things like roads and schools? "The Rules" in general?

Time has passed, we've matured and become part of "the establishment" to a certain degree. We've come to understand the things we rebelled against, and accept those very things into our lives. Many of us are parents (or grandparents) ourselves, and our kids are in, or have been to school. We now understand those things we rebelled against and to US they're not so bad. So, to US there's nothing left to rebel against.

But talk to a teen or 20-something-year-old. I'll bet there are things in their world they think are worth rebelling against. Maybe it's the same things we rebelled against, but things we just don't see as being a big deal anymore... I think rebellion is still out there, we just need to tap into it again...

 

[Caoimhin]

Just heard Iggy on a Chrysler commercial...

 

[sonar1]

...Philly seeped into my blood young. Our teams rarely won. We always played hard. My friends and I would go out to "punish' ourselves. Alot of the times we would forget about the girls and be more into suffering. Drinking Wild Turkey in the woods. Reeling and reeling. Hung-over like dogs . Start again because the Eagles were playing. My friend has the perfect Philly analogy" We are the guy that gets his ass BEAT! through bloody lips he still says F'you!"...

Ha ha. Yeah in Boston (High School, though I never called it "home") we'd go to minor league Hockey games. Same thing as Bigtime Wrestling, but on skates!
Ever see "Slap Shot," with Paul Newman? Kinda like that.

Yeah I love Pat Martino's "Sunny." He really burns it down!

 

[Caoimhin]

Heard about this guy from Mike Ness (Social Distortion).
He writes some good lyrics. I Still Believe is about rock n roll [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ-D4jmkUiQ]YouTube - Frank Turner - I Still Believe[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQMVHhxTtLc]YouTube - Frank Turner - Photosynthesis[/ame]

 

[PapaSquash]

Thanks for that KR88

 

[Caoimhin]

Thanks for that KR88

I can't speak for all of Franks stuff because I haven't heard a lot but those two are good.

 

[PapaSquash]

Franks got a bit of old-guy rebellion against growing old in the second track and that's a fragment of rock and roll DNA as old as "My Generation"

Sonar is right though, that rebellion DNA used to come out against being constrained, it was the almost-an-adult tearing off of the bonds of parental restaint. But what kind of restraint do emerging adults even have these days? Big freedom used to be using the car so you go to the next town over and try to date people who went to a different high school. It seems now that the expectation is that you are already your own sovereign by the time you are 15.

Rock was exuberent in an era when the future was great, when we KNEW that we were going to build a better world when we got our turn. Does that optimism exist anymore? It's peak oil and humans as pollutants and bickering and polarization

A little bit edgy was fun: Some rock and Roll, a few beers and a kiss and a cuddle, not so much with screamcore, bath salts and a dead goat in the morning.

If that's the status quo, I wanna rebel against it too, but it's hard to make a dance party out of it. Or maybe that's the point. I need to rock and roll just because rollicking joy and a happy willingness to take on the future is counter-cultural. I'm not gonna live like I'm gonna die tomorrow, I'm going to live like we're all gonna live forever.

 

[Caoimhin]

"I still believe in the sound that has the power to raise a temple and tear it down" Frank T.
What a great line.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

Heard about this guy from Mike Ness (Social Distortion).
He writes some good lyrics. I Still Believe is about rock n roll YouTube - Frank Turner - I Still Believe
YouTube - Frank Turner - Photosynthesis

Frank T kicks ass! Exactly what I'm talking about. It is like Drift Away. The simple pleasure and power of R+R> I Still Believe has that great Drumbeat. that always works. It is nice to hear clear lyrics.

 

[dynabite]

"Where is the Danger in Rock and Roll?'

transportation

 

[Caoimhin]

We all forgot to mention a newer band. I read an interview on them where the singer said they are a gay band even though they actually aren't gay. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJvI1wbaMc]YouTube - Turbonegro - Denim Demon (official)[/ame]

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

We all forgot to mention a newer band. I read an interview on them where the singer said they are a gay band even though they actually aren't gay. YouTube - Turbonegro - Denim Demon (official)

You read my mind. TN are bad-ass! they just sound mean. Cro Mags are another band still chugging! I'm practicing tonight. i will do my best to bring some heavy R+R to Jody Kings garage. We do have two rotties and 4 horses that listen
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QheUzGqZDtg]YouTube - Turbonegro - The Age of Pamparius + Lyrics[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6UtOIXq8Lo&feature=fvst]YouTube - CRO-MAGS - The Path To Perfection (OFFICIAL VIDEO)[/ame]

 

[Caoimhin]

I think the drummer from the Cro Mags or maybe he was just a sub but he did a tour drumming for the Misfits because Robo is a Colombian citizen and isn't able to do a lot of tours.

edit: It wasn't the Cro Mags drummer, it was Murphys Law drummer.

 

[geochem1st]

This is todays attitude:


I'm through with standin' in lines to clubs I'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub
Big enough for ten plus me
(Yeah, so what you need?)

I need a a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet
(Been there, done that)

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher
And James Dean is fine for me
(So how you gonna do it?)

I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
(I'll have the quesadilla, ha, ha)

I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves
To blow my money for me
(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills from a Pez dispenser
Get washed-up singers writin' all my songs
Lipsynk 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong

Well, we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair

And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary of today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial

Well, hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

 

[Skintaster]

Agreed about Turbonegro kicking ass. Love "Good head", and this one:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH9WY3YtV4g&playnext=1&list=PL8DD6800EC56AC0EA]YouTube - Turbonegro Get It On[/ame]

Nice LP Special the guitar players got too.

 

[Roberteaux]

Where is the danger in Rock and Roll?

Probably in the middle ear-- as tinnitus!

--R

Edit: great thread! Lots of insightful comments, and all-new music I have never heard before! Thanks, guys!

 

[lespaul01]

A lot of the danger comes to from fast driving. Well at least for me. There are just some,, well.. many bands/songs/albums that jst make me drive very very fast and sometimes with reckless abandon. I don't know I am doing it or mean to.. Just sometimes I catch myself driving very erratic and correct it immediately. Sometimes I need to turn off the player for a bit.

 

[Skintaster]

I still think there's plenty of "dangerous" rock and roll being made... Or at least bands that offer "unpredictability" and edginess... Just not mainstream stuff.

And that's usually how it's been since the beginning. Something new and "scary" will become popular enough to get the attention of a mainstream audience, then it gets co-oped and absorbed.

Not bashing anyone in particular, but the late 60's/early 70's had some pretty "out there" artists... By the late 70's we had Boston and Reo Speedwagon. Nothing against those bands, but it took punk and other underground elements to shake things up again. It's cyclical. It'll happen again.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

A lot of the danger comes to from fast driving. Well at least for me. There are just some,, well.. many bands/songs/albums that jst make me drive very very fast and sometimes with reckless abandon. I don't know I am doing it or mean to.. Just sometimes I catch myself driving very erratic and correct it immediately. Sometimes I need to turn off the player for a bit.

Coltrane will be the death of me. Free Jazz makes me drive INSANE> Cecil Taylor and Sun ra are also deadly!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJwssBO5MQg]YouTube - Impressions - John Coltrane Quartet[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EstPgi4eMe4]YouTube - Cecil Taylor - Free Improvisation #3[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qjiQwD7VCI&feature=related]YouTube - Sun Ra Arkestra - Face the Music / Space is the Place[/ame]