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.”

Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)

This is one of the singles off of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s 2013 album, II. Something made me think of it the other day, so here you go. The video is both hilarious and poignant, in my humble opinion.

Attention: Other Other Elvis

Something of interest for you, perhaps?

Memoir by the cofounder and former lead guitarist of heavy metal giants Judas Priest

Judas Priest formed in the industrial city of Birmingham, England, in 1969. With its distinctive twin-guitar sound, studs-and-leather image, and international sales of over 50 million records, Judas Priest became the archetypal heavy metal band in the 1980s. Iconic tracks like “Breaking the Law,” “Living after Midnight,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” helped the band achieve extraordinary success, but no one from the band has stepped out to tell their or the band’s story until now.

As the band approaches its golden anniversary, fans will at last be able to delve backstage into the decades of shocking, hilarious, and haunting stories that surround the heavy metal institution. In Heavy Duty, guitarist K.K. Downing discusses the complex personality conflicts, the business screw-ups, the acrimonious relationship with fellow heavy metal band Iron Maiden, as well as how Judas Priest found itself at the epicenter of a storm of parental outrage that targeted heavy metal in the ’80s. He also describes his role in cementing the band’s trademark black leather and studs image that would not only become synonymous with the entire genre, but would also give singer Rob Halford a viable outlet by which to express his sexuality. Lastly, he recounts the life-changing moment when he looked at his bandmates on stage during a 2009 concert and thought, “This is the last show.” Whatever the topic, whoever’s involved, K.K. doesn’t hold back.

BONUS!

The Shining Set To Music

Who is Pogo, you may ask?

Pogo (Nick Bertke) is a music producer and remix artist based in Perth, Western Australia. His music has garnered over 110 million plays on YouTube and integration with many major studios and agencies around the world. Pogo also takes his work on the road having performed at the Guggenheim Museum, The Highline Ballroom and in most major cities across North America.

Watchoo Bastards A-Readin’?

I’m in the process of finishing up Vonnegut’s Slapstick, a book I picked up for $1.99 (Cheap!) on Amazon. I bought it five years ago but only recently got around to reading the damn thing. I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s the novel that gave us a quote you’ve probably seen here and there online: “Why don’t you take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? Why don’t you take a flying fuck at the mooooooooooooon?” (I really should start working that line into conversation.)

Next up, I may circle back to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or that Bowie bio I started a year ago.

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.