Kumar's Blizznog: Thurston Moore

Showing posts with label Thurston Moore. Show all posts

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Day After Day #129: Youth Against Fascism

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Youth Against Fascism (1992)

I wouldn't necessarily consider Sonic Youth a political band, but when they do decide to write a political song, it's a doozy.

It's funny to think back to the political scene in the early '90s. Liberals thought George H.W. Bush and the Gulf War, not to mention the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, were signaling the end of democracy. Turns out that was barely scratching the surface. Nevertheless, things weren't great at the time and Sonic Youth was not happy about it.

SY started off in 1981 as an anti-commercial noise rock act, experimenting with feedback and unorthodox guitar tunings. Throughout the '80s, they released classic albums like Daydream Nation, Sister and Evol, but remained on the fringes of indie rock. A decade later, they had signed to DGC and while they were still unlikely to ever get played on commercial radio, Sonic Youth was writing shorter, more conventional songs. Their major label debut, 1990's Goo, was their best-selling album (#96 on the Billboard 200) and "Kool Thing" (featuring Chuck D) got some airplay on MTV.

The band's next album was 1992's Dirty, which got a big push from DGC in the wake of Nirvana's success. I remember seeing SY playing "100%" on Late Night with David Letterman, which ended with guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo rolling around on the floor, much to Letterman's delight.

The second single was "Youth Against Fascism," which is kind of funny because there's no way in hell any radio station would play this song. Ian MacKaye provides additional guitar work on the song, which is powered by Kim Gordon's bass and Ranaldo's squalling guitar as Moore spits out the lyrics with extra vitriol.

"Another can of worms/Another stomach turns/Yeah, your ghetto burns/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate/You got a stupid man/You got a Ku Klux Klan./Your fucking battle plan/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate."

Moore holds nothing back as he eviscerates the Republican administration.

"A sieg heilin' squirt/You're an impotent jerk/Yeah, a fascist twerp/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate/Black robe and swill/I believe Anita Hill/Judge'll rot in hell/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate."

Geffen exec Mark Kates pushed to make the song the second single off the album, but it didn't sell well and got zero airplay because, well, you know. It was originally called "Hate Song" for a reason.

"Yeah, the president sucks/He's a war pig fuck/His shit is out of luck/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate/Another Nazi attack/A skinhead is cracked/My blood is black/It's the song I hate/It's the song I hate/We're banging pots and pans/To make you understand/We're gonna bury you, man."

Sadly, we didn't realize what real fascism was until 30 years later. So I guess Thurston and the gang were on to something, even if they didn't realize what it was. I mean, we all knew Clarence Thomas sucked in 1991, but man, he's surpassed all expectations.

As for Sonic Youth, they continued releasing excellent albums until 2009. The band broke up in 2011 after Moore and Gordon announced they were splitting up (and eventually divorcing). Moore, Gordon and Ranaldo have all gone on to release solo albums in the years since. I'm glad I got to see them a few times over the years.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Completely Conspicuous 233: Between the Bars

Guest Ric Dube and I dig deep and analyze two '70s rock classics. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.

Show notes:
- Recorded in Shrewsbury, Mass.
- Check out Ric's podcast More Lost Time
- Digging into Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"
- Irony-free, over-the-top theatrics
- Song is in three parts
- Jay: Remember as a kid thinking it was risque
- Paradise turns out to be hell
- Jim Steinman was known for ridiculously long song titles
- Song goes from rockabilly to disco in the middle, with Phil Rizzuto mixed in
- The debate over third base
- Ellen Foley's odd career
- Third section tries to emulate punk
- The strange allure of Robby Benson
- Meat Loaf's acting career
- Part 2: "Brother Louie" by Stories
- A classic '70s one-hit wonder
- Stories actually had well-known musicians in band
- Louie was whiter than white
- Super catchy chorus
- Ric: This was a "Neapolitan relationship"
- The lesson was about equal opportunity sexing
- Why is the name Louie popular in songs?

- Did Jeff Lynne swipe the ELO string sound from this song?
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Redd Kross - Researching the Blues
Chelsea Light Moving - Burroughs
Cat Power - Ruin

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Redd Kross song is from the forthcoming album Researching the Blues on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Chelsea Light Moving song is from the band's forthcoming album on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Cat Power song is on the album Sun on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Mixology: Ito is Neato

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes (or CDs) I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Ito is Neato (9/2/95)

It has been just over a year since the last installment of Mixology, mainly because I had run out of mixes to write about. But yesterday I was going through some old bins of stuff that had been stashed away in the attic eaves and sure enough, I found a few more tapes including this choice selection.

The name of the mix was an obvious reference to the judge in the infamous OJ Simpson murder trial, which was at its peak in September '95. A month later, the jury delivered the not guilty verdict that shocked many who felt Simpson was obviously the killer. The evidence was pretty overwhelming, but so was the terrible way the prosecution handled the case.

At any rate, it was a good time for me, albeit one that wouldn't last. I was about to give my notice at the newspaper for a writing position at the healthcare publishing company for which I still work, and was having a lot of fun in general. In the span of a few months, my girlfriend would dump me, I was having trouble adjusting to the new job and my dad's health would get progressively worse. But in early September, I was loving life.

I still dig every song on this tape, to varying degrees. By '95, the grunge explosion of the early '90s (and Kurt Cobain's subsequent death in '94) had begun to deliver its first wave of copycat acts that started to clog up rock radio: Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox, Bush, et al really brought the suck. Fortunately, I had started branching out with more interesting artists like Morphine, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Elastica, Pavement and The Jayhawks. The original grunge acts still interested me, but what came after was fairly shitty. Fortunately, mixes like this helped me ignore that stuff.

Side A: Ito
Weird-out - Dandelion
Summer - Buffalo Tom
I'll Stick Around - Foo Fighters
Bed for the Scraping - Fugazi
Execution Style - Mudhoney
More Human Than Human - White Zombie
I'm Above - Mad Season
Ono Soul - Thurston Moore
Waydown - The Catherine Wheel
Act of Love - Neil Young and Pearl Jam
Eternal Life - Jeff Buckley
Serpentine Pad - Pavement

Side B: Neato
Army of Me - Bjork
Long Snake Moan - PJ Harvey
Shimmer - Throwing Muses
Super Baby - Matthew Sweet
Will - Kevin Salem
Din - Chris Whitley
I'd Run Away - The Jayhawks
Free Love - Morphine
Stutter - Elastica
Los Vargos - Green Apple Quick Step
X-Static - Foo Fighters
Trailer Park Girl - Dandelion

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Completely Conspicuous 175: Politics as Usual

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Jim Corrigan as we talk politics. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

- Corrigan's a lifelong but "not typical" Democrat

- Mixing up Obama and Osama

- Debate over releasing Bin Laden photos

- OBL was "hiding" in plain sight for years

- Kumar: Very jaded about politics

- Making sense of Ron Paul

- Is Obama more liberal than Bill Clinton?

- Jim's brother worked for Mike Dukakis campaign

- Kumar: Two-party system sucks

- Gitmo's still open despite Obama's promise to close it

- Jim first encountered Clinton in Arkansas in '88

- Four years later, he came out of nowhere to win Dem nomination

- Politicians getting in trouble with sex scandals (John Edwards, Gary Hart)

- Republicans in the 2012 presidential race face tough odds

- Trump is a joke

- Jim: Not fired up about Obama, but committed

- Jim's brother "made" Obama

- Key to campaigning now is canvassing

- Gotta get out and shake hands

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Thurston Moore - Circulation

Joel Plaskett and Shotgun Jimmie - Jimmie's Still Jimmie

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Livin' in the Jungle

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Thurston Moore song is on the album Demolished Thoughts on Matador Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Joel Plaskett and Shotgun Jimmie song is on the 7-inch Jimmie's Still Jimmie on New Scotland Records. Download the song for free at Pigeon Row.

The Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears song is from the album Scandalous on Lost Highway Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Completely Conspicuous 169: Strange Brew

Part 2 of my podcast conversation with special guest Chris Lohring, brewer/founder of Notch Session beer as we discuss the rise of craft brewing in the U.S. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

- Recorded at In a Pig's Eye in Salem, Mass.

- Chris was a bartender at legendary punk club The Rat in Boston in mid-'80s

- Samples came in from new brewer called Samuel Adams

- Met a local brewer and got interested in craft beer in '89

- Chris took a liking to porter at Cambridge Brewing Co.

- Visited Anchor Steam brewery in California

- Boston Brewers Festival in early '90s started to draw big crowds

- People in attendance had never tried most of the beers there

- Pete's Wicked Ale had a good run in the '90s

- Commonwealth Brewery was ahead of its time, first brew pub in Boston

- Craft beer peaked in '90s and then fizzled

- Many local brew pubs ended up closing

- In early '90s, there was an explosion of new craft breweries

- By end of the decade, many of those breweries went away

- Things dipped with the economy after 9/11/01

- Bounced back a few years later

- Now craft beer has always been around for young drinkers

- Craft beer is still a very small percentage of overall beer market

- More of a market now for products that aren't mass-produced: beer, bread, coffee

- Chris: Budweiser is a high-quality beer, it's just not flavorful

- Major brewers have tried making so-called craft beers over the years

- Chris: I actually like Bud American Ale

- Craft brewing scene is kinda like indie rock

- Fat Tire in Colorado and Sam Adams are seen by some beer snobs as sellouts because they've grown

- Chris: Every brewer and consumer owes respect to Jim Koch for introducing craft beer to the masses

- Chris: I don't get involved in beer snobbery

- For Notch, Chris hopes to meet demand and slowly grow from there

- Hope to expand Notch regionally, but find a balance

- Locally, Chris sees return to focus on local beers

- Nationally, he's hoping for "return to sanity"

- Innovation means product fits consumer need and it sells

- Need to find ways to expand craft beer category

- Session beer could be a good transition for folks trying craft beer

- Sam Adams Light was an interesting experiment

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Thurston Moore - Benediction

Tres Mts. - My Baby

The Biters - Born to Cry

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Thurston Moore song is on the forthcoming album Demolished Thoughts on Matador Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Tres Mts. song is on the album Three Mountains on Monkeywrench Records. Find out more and download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The Biters song is from the EP All Chewed Up on Underrated Records. Find out more and download the song for free at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Completely Conspicuous Episode 43: Brother, Can You Spare a Buck?

Another long weekend came and went. I'm still cranking away at my NaNoWriMo book; I'm up to 17,000+ words. Found time to run a 10-mile race in Andover Sunday morning and set a PR with a time of 1:16; it was 29 degrees out and I was running in shorts, so I figured that made me run faster. Took the girls bowling today.

And here's the latest episode of tha CC. Download it directly here (right click and "save as").

The show notes, maestro...

Topics:
- The troubled U.S. economy
- The impact of 20somethings on the workplace
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Thurston Moore - Fri/End
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Berlin
- The Black Furies - Murder City Shakedown
- Mudhoney - Blindspots
- Jarvis Cocker - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time

Promo:
- New England Podcasting.

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is on their album Baby 81 on Red Int/Red Ink Records; find out more here. The Jarvis Cocker song is on his album Jarvis on Rough Trade Records; find out more here. Both songs are courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The song from Mudhoney is on the album Under a Billion Suns; find out more here. The song is courtesy of Sub Pop Records.

The song from Thurston Moore is on the new album Trees Outside the Academy on Ecstatic Peace Records; find out more here. And the Black Furies song is on their album Death Trip Saturday Night on Gearhead Records; find out more here. Those two songs were provided by IODA Promonet.

Thurston
"Fri/End" (mp3)
from "Trees Outside the Academy"
(Ecstatic Peace)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

Buy at Napster

Buy at GroupieTunes

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Completely Conspicuous Episode 42: Here Comes Sickness

Here's another episode of podcasty goodness for ya. If you're not subscribed, you can download it here (right click and "save as").

Show notes...

Topics:
- The spread of the MRSA superbug
- The connection between sports success and self-esteem
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Thurston Moore - Frozen Gtr
- Ray Davies - Vietnam Cowboys
- Ween - Your Party
- Iron and Wine - Innocent Bones
- The Bottle Rockets - Mountain to Climb

Promo:
- New England Podcasting. Find out more at http://www.newenglandpodcasting.com/

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from Ray Davies is on his new album Working Man's Cafe on V2 Music; find out more here. And you can download the track for free here. The Iron and Wine song is on the new album The Shepherd's Dog and courtesy of Sub Pop Records.

The song from The Bottle Rockets is on the album Zoysia and courtesy of Bloodshot Records; find out more here. The song by Thurston Moore is on the new album Trees Outside the Academy on Ecstatic Peace Records; find out more here. And the Ween song is on their album La Cucaracha; find out more here. Those two songs were provided by IODA Promonet.

Thurston
"Frozen Gtr" (mp3)
from "Trees Outside the Academy"
(Ecstatic Peace)