The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Our-Band-Could-Your-Life/dp/0316787531/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217694124&sr=8-1

This is going to be a massive post.

I was turned on to this book by one of my coworkers (Jason) who knows as much, if not more, about bands that you've never heard of than I do. Seems impossible doesn't it? I was a little bit skeptical about starting a 500 page book, mainly because I have the attention span of a three year old after a pound of Skittles and a gallon of Mountain Dew, but it actually didn't take me long to read. That's probably because I'm totally into this kind of music. In fact, of the bands profiled in the book, seven make up the core of the music that influence me the most (The Minutemen, Black Flag, Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr.), two are bands that I listened to sporadically (Butthole Surfers, Mudhoney), and the remaining four bands I never really got into (Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Big Black, Beat Happening). And while this book covers the bands, it's almost as much about the record labels than it is about the bands themselves. SST, Dischord, Sub Pop, K, and Twin/Tone are the labels that provided most of the bands I listened to in the 80's ... that is, once I found out about them. But when I did find out about them, I absorbed them a great deal. And, of course, it was about the time where I was susceptible to a lot of outside influence, especially if it was far different than where I grew up. When I got my first guitar, a white American Fender Strat, one of the first things I did was plaster an SST sticker on the back of it. And with just that, I thought I was immediately cooler than you. Turns out I was, and I still am. Ha, ha.
So, rather than talk about the book as a whole, which I thought was generally well written, I thought I'd cover each band as they are presented in the book, interspersed with my own impressions.

Black Flag

Greg Ginn was a genius. He was also a bit of a shyster, although I don't think he did so on purpose. I think SST records just became bigger than he could handle and he was reluctant to let go of it. And in the end he became the bad guy. But SST records was the epitome of the do it yourself attitude that spawned a million bands and for that Greg Ginn should get paid. Paid in maybe everyone recognizes the accomplishments and sort of sweeps the shyster under the rug. Unless, of course, you happen to be a band who recorded on SST and are owed money, or masters, or both. While today's musician can spend a couple hundred bucks on Pro Tools and record in their basement, in the 80's it was a much tougher thing to do. I'd like to think that, computers or not, the DIY attitude that still survives in thousands of artists you'll never hear about, none of that would be here today if wasn't for SST records. There are a smattering of original issue SST CD's in my collection and although they didn't inspire me to start my own band or record label, they did show me that being different from everyone else was a cool thing to do. It validated my weirdness as an awkward teen.
Black Flag wasn't my favorite band from this era, but I did listen to Damaged a hell of a lot. I know the band (esp. Henry Rollins) hate songs like TV Party and Six Pack, but as goofy as they might seem, they were great tunes to me. Who knew you could sing punk rock tunes and be comical about it at the same time? Without these songs there wouldn't be bands like NOFX and I wouldn't have survived the teen angst years without a lot more violence than I perpetrated. That sarcasm kept me in check. So, I guess you could say that Black Flag as a band were inconsequential, but SST records and the vibe that Black Flag put out were anything but inconsequential.
I thought I knew everything there was about Black Flag and the first couple pages of this chapter turned my world upside down. I'd always been a fan of Raymond Pettibon's art work on Black Flag albums, (even more so on Sonic Youth's major label Goo release in 1990), but I had no idea he was Greg Ginn's brother. It all makes sense now. This revelation to me underscores a common theme throughout this book and the bands it covers. All these bands were interdependent on each other despite their geography and style. Raymond Pettibon's supplying art for the releases is just one example of that attitude.
An interesting side note: Dez Cardena and ROBO, original members of Black Flag are touring as the Misfits (minus Glen Danzig) this summer. They open for Lemmy and Motorhead.

The Minutemen

Besides The Pixies and Camper van Beethoven, there is no more influential band for me than The Minutemen. Mike Watt is a god to me and I truly understand that the world has gone downhill pretty much from the point that D. Boon was killed in a car wreck in the Arizona desert. OK, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. The truth is that I like the post D. Boon band fIREHOSE probably a little more than the Minutemen, but I know in my heart of hearts that Ed Crawford is and will never be D. Boon. Ed got Mike Watt to play again after D. Boon's death and for that he should receive a medal, but I'll bet even Ed knew he'd never replace the legacy of D. Boon and I don't think he ever tried to.
So, why did I love the Minutemen so much? First off, they weren't punk rock, a genre which I love but then again don't always love. The Minutemen adopted only the ideals of punk, which was to be different, and because they were so different from everyone else, punk was the only genre where they sort of fit. But The Minutemen were at times a jazz group using odd, syncopated rhythms, and a downright funky groove group at other times. And then sometimes they were just plain loud. Second off, they didn't just sing songs, they spieled them, and to me that was just outrageous. That spieling was more prevalent in fIREHOSE mainly because Mike Watt can't sing. Thirdly, it was their ethos that made me like them so much. Living fucking econo had some real meaning to me, especially in the lean early college years with no job, no money, and too many beers and smokes to buy. It wasn't an ideal to me. It was real life to me. Sometimes I wonder how I got to here (suburbia, boats, luxury cars, Makers Mark) from that (Ramen noodles, generic Mac and Cheese, Busch), given I was proud of the econo lifestyle. Not that I had a choice at the time.
Double Nickels on the Dime is their finest recording, no doubt, and as much as I love the fact they are poking fun of Sammy Hagar, I still love What Makes A Man Start Fires? more. Hell, I didn't even realize that Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs until D. Boon pointed out the obvious to me. Fucking Bob Dylan.

Mission of Burma

Never got into these guys. Too weird. I know saying that after The Minutemen is a bit of an asinine thing to say, but Mission of Burma was just way too odd for me. There are art bands that I can tolerate but not many of them. I generally need some semblance of melody and Mission of Burma wasn't really focused on that. I don't how many times I went to a record store, listened to Vs. and just couldn't bring myself to buy it. After reading this chapter I tried to listen to it again and it still evades me. Is Mission of Burma deserving to be in this book? Probably, but not if you ask me. I would have preferred to see The Pixies in here instead of them, but then again The Pixies deserve their own book.

Minor Threat

How is it possible that I never listened to Minor Threat you ask? Probably because their catalog is so small and Dischord records was so new during my time period that none of those disks filtered to the record stores nearest me, which by the way constituted a 80 mile drive either north or south prior to 18 and much further after age 18. Instead, those disks were being snatched up by D.C. kids, and from the Thurston Moore's and Calvin Johnson's across the country. Yes, I could have ordered them back in the day and that would have made me tres cool, but in the very early eighties I was anything but cool. Hard to imagine, I know, but it is true. There was also that pesky detail about the fanzines that included ordering information never making it to the hokeytown where I lived. Instead, I waited (although not on purpose) for Ian MacKaye's next band Fugazi. The truth is I'm not sure Ian MacKaye's no drinking, no drugs stance would have related to me since that didn't really fit in with my philosophy on life at the time.

Husker Du

When I heard Land Speed Record I was blown away. How in the hell could someone make so much noise and still have the balls to call it a record? I still love that release, but it was Candy Apple Grey and New Day Rising, both infinitely more melodic than Land Speed Record, that really made me love this band. Ask my sister. She must have heard me sing give the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats and get the catskins for nothing about a bazillion times, although she's probably trying to repress that. Sometimes I still sing that in my head. I really wanted to read more about Husker Du than was in this book, but then again Husker Du is like the Pixies in that they deserve their own book. But, I especially wanted to read some about the Bob Mould, Grant Hart dynamic and there was only passing mention. I'm sure being gay in a punk rock band circa the mid-eighties, with the AIDS epidemic circulating fear, that coming out of the closet was not an easy thing to do. My take is that it's the reason that Husker Du split up, but some more in depth probing from Azerrad (insert gay joke here) would have made for some interesting reading. OK, let's not kid ourselves. Everyone knows it's a simple fact that Bob Mould is kind of a giant dickhead. That still doesn't stop me from loving his music. Mould's band Sugar, while receiving a ton of critical success, is probably the most underrated band from the nineties, receiving accolades from those who know and blank stares from those who don't. In fact, the litmus test of whether someone is worth talking to or not should be based solely on that person's perspective of Sugar's Copper Blue. If they don't know what you're talking about, just keep walking. Was Bob Mould the singular genius behind Husker Du? In my opinion he was at least 65% of the brains of the operation. That's just my opinion though.
Bassist Greg Norton runs a restaurant in Red Wing, MN now.

The Replacements

The Replacements are what rock and roll is supposed to be. Look up rock and roll in the dictionary and The Replacements picture should be there. Loud, drunk, sloppy, and played with the attitude of I don't give a fuck what you think about our music is the perfect definition of rock and roll. Period. End of sentence. The fact that The Replacements even got as popular as they did is somewhat of a miracle, given the fact that they were the most self destructive band ever invented. Yes, the members of Fleetwood Mac all slept with each other, and yes Husker Du were hiding behind a wall of gay, and yes Alice in Chains were all whacked out on heroin, but The Replacements tried to do themselves in by basically doing the opposite of what they were supposed to do. Big studio execs coming to the show? How about we show up so drunk that we can't play and then deride the audience for even showing up in the first place. Playing a one dog town and only six locals with no music industry ties show up? Let's put on the best rock and roll show possible. That's how it was with The Replacements. If there was a chance to fuck up success, you can damn well bet they were going to fuck it up. You know my stance on bands; the more dysfunctional they are, the better their music is. The Replacements early stuff ranks up near the top of the pantheon of great music.
And then one day they did something crazy. They kicked Bob Stinson out of the band. Was Bob Stinson the problem? No, he wasn't. They were all degenerates. Even kid next door Chris Mars would get so drunk he'd dress up like an evil clown on occasion. Hardly the model of sanity. But Bob Stinson, despite the fact he was a fantastic guitar player, was the thing holding the band back from being a national success. Bob was satisfied by being the local faves. Unfortunately Paul Westerberg's songwriting was just too damn good to just stick around the Minneapolis/Chicago/Milwaukee scene. And now, of course, Westerberg is famous for all kinds of movie scores and records and such. The Replacements were never the same after Bob Stinson's departure and instead of an edgy, punk band, they became more indie rock, which is where Paul Westerberg's talents lie and my tastes generally gravitate.
Personally, I like both the before and after Bob Stinson split, but I tend to lean towards the major label releases rather than the early Twin/Tone stuff with Bob. It reinforces that I'm just more of a pop guy than a punk guy. And just so you know, it pains me to see Tommy Stinson playing with Guns 'n Roses, but I'll wait for the new G 'n R album to come out to make a real decision on that. We've only been waiting a dozen years or so. Maybe some of the rough edge Replacements vibe will rub off on Axl Rose.

Sonic Youth

I always wondered why I could never figure out how to play a Sonic Youth song. This book explains it. I didn't like the band Yes, Tangerine Dream was too out there, Jethro Tull was interesting if not hippie, but Sonic Youth is the first 'art band' that I could tolerate. This is mostly due to the fact that they were loud. They took cheap equipment, tuned them in bizarre tunings by doing such crazy things as jamming a drumstick between the fret board and the strings, and then wailed on these things with little to no musical experience. Thurston Moore is a genius. Kim Gordon is a genius. Even Lee Renaldo is a genius. And Steve Shelley is, well, a very good drummer. I have a tough time thinking of drummers not named Jack DeJohnette or Bill Stewart or Art Blakey as geniuses. Together they formed a band that made me look at music in a radically different way.
I didn't really get into Sonic Youth until the early nineties, long after the indie band became somewhat mainstream. Yes, I knew they were on SST, but I couldn't really approach them in those years. In fact, I probably wouldn't have even picked up their first major label release Goo if it hadn't been for Raymond Pettibon's art work on the cover. Oh, and I was a big Public Enemy fan at the time and since Chuck D made an appearance I had to listen. I remember being disappointed that Chuck's appearance constituted him saying Word and Yeah a couple of times on Kool Thing. This was back when I didn't always connote major label with being a bad thing. Chuck D showing up on a 'punk' album seemed like a novel idea to me. And then I started actually paying attention to Sonic Youth. Dirty Boots, Tunic, and Kool Thing blew me away. Mildred Pierce not so much. So I worked my way backwards through the catalog before deciding that Sister is their best work. Yes Goo is a great release, but it doesn't have the cover of Crime's Hotwire My Heart and no other album (besides Sinead O'Connor) questions Catholicism more than Thurston Moore does on Sister.
I haven't really gotten into too many art bands since then, but those that come closest are early Modest Mouse or perhaps Tom Waits. Really, there is no other band quite like Sonic Youth.

Butthole Surfers

You couldn't have lived through the eighties without at least hearing the names Butthole Surfers or Gibby Haynes. Butthole Surfers! What a fucked up name that has just become part of the American lexicon. You couldn't ignore record names like Rembrandt Pussyhorse or Locust Abortion Technician either, but somehow I did. The Butthole Surfers were assholes that didn't play the kind of music I wanted to listen too. Plus, if you said you were a fan of the Butthole Surfers, their name sort of implied that you must be gay, regardless of the fact that they were quite the opposite of gay. Being a somewhat scrawny kid, this was not something I wanted to be associated with in a small town with southern ideals and tendencies. i.e. - let's kill the queer boy who ain't listenin' to Bocephus. And so I chose to ignore Gibby Haynes and his merry band of jackholes. I did, however, pay attention to the Jesus Built My Hotrod tune and for a brief period of time I was a Ministry fan. I soon found out that Jesus Built My Hotrod was nothing like the rest of Ministry's catalog, and they fell out of favor with me, but they are probably the entry point for me giving electronic music a shot. Them and Kraftwerk. It still didn't make me want to listen to the Butthole Surfers any more and for the most part I haven't. There have been some tangential listens now and again, but being a drunken asshole just for the sake of being a drunken asshole just never has struck a chord with me. Being a drunken asshole because that's who you are (see Bob Stinson), is much more palatable to me.

Big Black

You can't listen to 'Alternative' music in the nineties without running across the name Steve Albini. And for years I heard the name Steve Albini and pictured this ultra cool hipster even though I never knew what he looked like or where he came from. Holy shit, this guy's a ninety pound nerd. And yet, all 90 pounds of him are full of vitriol and hate for just about everything. The paradox of Albini is that he is responsible for a large number of indie recordings and popularity in the nineties and yet at the same time Albini trashes everything that's popular. And for that, I can find a common ground. That and the fact he's a particularly giant music snob. My wife jokes that if more than 10 people have heard of a band I have to stop liking them and this must be the same hell that Albini deals with. He has an ear for what makes a song good and that makes him one of the most sought after producers even today, but that same ear causes songs to become popular and he has no choice but to denounce them.
I never listened to Big Black. I still haven't listened to a single Big Black song but I'm guessing that most of the music sucks. Those of my friends that have listened to it generally refer to it as abrasive, as if Albini is challenging you that there is no way you are going to like it. Instead, just listen to it, hate it, and shut the fuck up. I'm just going to pass altogether and instead I'll just pretend that all I know about Albini is that he is a music producer and looks like a combination of Matthew McConaughey and Jude Law.

Dinosaur Jr.

I never thought of J Mascis being an asshole, but according to this book he is. I shouldn't say asshole. Mascis had his vision and he was unrelenting in making that vision come to fruition. It just so happens that he stepped all over Lou Barlow and Murph in the interim. Murph didn't care too much other than he wanted to give J a good beatdown. Lou Barlow on the other hand invented a whole genre of music through his moniker Sebadoh. Lou Barlow is just a quiet genius, while J Mascis is the in your face genius. I never got into Sebadoh, but I did love Dinosaur Jr. Up to a point that is. Sometimes their rambling noise machine got to be a little too much and sometimes it seemed like they were trying too much to be dissolute sound demons just for the sake of making more noise. But there is no denying that Mascis' burning, slashing, guitar work is brilliant. Mike Watt referred to it as stun guitar on the liner notes for fIREHOSE's Mr. Machinery Operator, and it's definitely the defining sound for Dinosaur Jr.
I actually don't own a lot of Dinosaur Jr., but what I do own is on original SST pressings. I suppose that makes them worth a little more than the re-releases on Merge records. I'll listen to them every once in awhile, but I can't take it for an extended period of time. It's like taking acid to me; OK in moderation if you are in the right mood and have two days of your life to burn off.
If given this question:

Which band is least likely to get back together with the (almost) original lineup?
a. Led Zeppelin with John Bonham
b. The Who with John Entwistle and Keith Moon
c. Dinosaur Jr

And given that the three names mentioned are dead, I still would have picked answer c. I would have been wrong. Dinosaur Jr with Lou Barlow, Murph, and J Mascis have been touring again over the last couple of years and in 2007 they released new material.

Fugazi

A long time ago, somewhere around 1990, I asked my friend Tom if Fugazi was any good. He didn't even speak, instead he just made this face and gave me the devil horns. That told me everything I needed to know. Fugazi was a little tougher to come by, but by this time I was living in the big city of Springfield and had some access to records on indie labels. Not much, mind you, but way more than the stickville I grew up in. Yeah Waiting Room was great and everybody loved it, but Margin Walker was just incredible and it still remains so to this day for me. If I ever feel the need to be amped up, this is the song I listen to.
Punk had been dead for some time, but someone forgot to tell Ian MacKaye, mainly because D.C. wasn't in the loop musically. And so they formed a band that was something more than punk. It was was still loud and had that punk ethos, but these songs were more complex than your run of the mill turn the amp to 11 stuff. Fugazi ran their own record label and sold their CD's for less than the big label stuff and they were successful in doing so, building a cult following of music fans like me in faraway crapholes. Places Fugazi or any other band weren't willing to play. I still long for the day I get to see Fugazi live, but until then I'll live vicariously through their CD's.

Mudhoney

Kurt Cobain said they were cool so I listened. They were cool, but not quite the same. If Nirvana were a meal presented to you, the presentation would be nice. If Mudhoney were the same thing, there would be mashed potatoes and gravy everywhere, and right in the middle of it would be someone's thumbprint. Most likely it wasnt' the waitress' thumb either. Nirvana's Bleach CD, while composed of a lot of great songs, was pretty much a rip off of the Mudhoney sound. So, while I love Nirvana and I love the fact that through them I was able to find bands like Mudhoney, the truth is that Nirvana owes at least 35% of their royalties to Mark Arm. The remaining 65% should be split mostly between Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain with a small part going to Chris Novoselic. And we all know Novoselic would do something socially responsible with his share of the money, be paid back one hundred fold, and still be perceived as exactly the kind of citizen our forefathers had in mind.
I love Mudhoney's sludgy sound and it's bands like this that give me comfort in being such a horrible musician. But, truth be told, Touch Me I'm Sick is the best Mudhoney has to offer. I know, hundreds of others will disagree, but to me the dropoff in quality from their one big hit is a pretty steep precipice. It still shouldn't detract from the reality that Nirvana changed everything and Nirvana was nothing without Mark Arm and Mudhoney.

Beat Happening

I hate this band. No amount of talking to me will change my mind. I understand Calvin Johnson is a cult of personality, but it's a cult I can't join. I can get behind the whole I'm not a good musician thing to a point. It's just that you need some distortion to cover up the mistakes. When you do it like Beat Happening it just sounds awful. I know I'm missing the boat, but bon voyage, have a good sail. I'll miss you. Write when you hit land.
I know that Beat Happening was included solely for the K Records story and in some respects the list of bands on K Records hasn't really gotten any better than Beat Happening. Kimya Dawson/Moldy Peaches are perhaps more famous thanks to Juno, but Kimya Dawson is like a cheese grater on the brain to me too. (Yes, I know there was also some early Modest Mouse on K Records). I would have preferred to have read about The Pixies, or fIREHOSE, or Primus, or The Red Hot Chili Peppers for god's sake.

Overall, this was a very good book. There's some times where Azerrad ventures off somewhere and it's a dead end, (the allusions to Bob Mould being a dickhead but never relating a story), and that drove me a little nuts, but I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves popular music and either grew up in the eighties or wants to learn about the bands that laid the groundwork for the music you hear today.