The man is a national treasure.
UPDATE! Down the rabbit hole I go.
CNR
Weird Al Yankovic’s tribute to both Charles Nelson Reilly and The White Stripes. With a little help from Jib Jab.
The “5th Ramone” Speaks
Great interview with Monte Melnick on the Please Kill Me blargh. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, here’s the best part.
PKM: There’s a great story in your book that takes place in a Texas gas station.
Monte A. Melnick: My favorite story. This was early on. We were driving through rural Texas, driving five or six hours, and we pulled into a gas station to get some gas, and there was a little store there too, so they all pile out of the van, looking like zombies. They were staggering around because they were seven hours in the van. So they’re in the store looking at stuff, and I come in to pay for the gas and the lady says “It’s sure nice of you to take care of these retarded boys.”
I Was A Roadie For The Replacements
Pretty good interview with Bill Sullivan, Mats roadie and author of “Lemon Jail” about his time on the road with them. On the Please Kill Me blargh, no less.
Readith it here.
Who Is Alfred E. Neuman?
Bill Gaines explains Alfred E. Neuman’s origins in this clip from 1977.
I Want You … To Want ME
Great song from a juggernaut of a band.
“I Want You to Want Me” is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States.
“I Want You to Want Me” was a number-one single in Japan. Its success in Japan, as well as the success of its preceding single “Clock Strikes Ten” paved the way for Cheap Trick’s concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in April 1978 that were recorded for the group’s most popular album, Cheap Trick at Budokan. A live version of “I Want You to Want Me” from the album Cheap Trick at Budokan was released in 1979 and became their biggest selling single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of one million records. In Canada, it reached #2 in on the RPM national singles chart, remaining there for two weeks and was certified Gold for the sale of 5,000 singles in September 1979. It was also the band’s highest charting single in Britain, where it reached #29.
Nasty
https://youtu.be/3zPCkgUSchI
Season 2, episode 3 of The Young Ones, featuring Terry Jones as the drunk vicar and musical guest The Damned. (Original air date May 29, 1984.) For all of MTV’s evils, it did introduce the US to this crazy, offbeat British sitcom. I loved it immediately, and watching it now, I feel like it’s aged pretty well. Alexei Sayle was absolutely the show’s secret weapon.
If I had to pick, “Nasty” is my favorite episode. A horror movie theme and a punk band?
Fuhgeddaboudit.
Is Rock Becoming The New Jazz?
It’s an interesting question, although Rick Beato’s rambling and boring video is more a diatribe against artists who don’t allow their videos on YouTube.
I say rock is obviously becoming the new jazz. it’s still valid, of course. (I’m sure y’all have seen the deluge of clickbait articles the last few years announcing rock’s imminent death.) I mean, yes, it had its moment in the spotlight as the dominant form of popular music – a nice, long run – just as jazz did before it. But it’s not going anywhere.
Rock has taken a backseat as niche music now, and I’m okay with that. I’m curious to know what you guys think.
Johnny’s Dead
Johnny Thunders: Thy Will Be Done
The Death of Johnny Thunders
by Bob Mehr
The guy who wrote the Replacements Book.
Free Registration Required, but woith it.
The Short-Timers
This novel was the source text of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. It follows the career of the sardonic narrator from the organized sadism of Marine basic training to an assignment as a combat reporter in Vietnam to his experiences as a platoon commander after the Tet offensive, portraying the descent into barbarism that marked America’s intervention in Vietnam.
The Short-Timers has been out of print for a while, so used paperbacks are going for as much as $430.00 on Amazon (the cheapest is a mass market paperback for about $46.00). Luckily, the author’s family made it available for free as a PDF. There are some typos, but it’s a fair trade. Read the first sentence and you won’t be able to put it down.
The Short Timers (This is the PDF.)
I did a little research on Hasford, as is my want. Although he sounds foreign, he was an Alabama boy. Sadly, he got into some trouble for stealing books from several libraries. Like, $20,000 worth of books, and died broke off the coast of Greece from untreated diabetes. 45 is way too young.