Rock and Roll Love Letter

I’ve been in a serious Undertones mood for a few weeks now (well possibly for the past 10 years, but I meant more so lately). Reaching what I would call an unhealthy obsession with playing a copy of their debut album at least twice a day. How lucky I am that CD’s don’t wear out (anyone else remember being told how the grooves in vinyl will heat up if you play a song twice in a row)?

For my money, The Undertones are a perfect pop band. 5 pimply teenagers from Derry, Northern Ireland fronted by the uniquely warbly voice of Feargal Sharkey playing brisk, jumpy, 3-chord wonders that stick pretty much to the topics of chocolate, girls, and teenage hijinx. I recently bought a documentary made about the band - “The Undertones: Teenage Kicks” where band members spend considerable time wandering the Irish countryside reminiscing with their guardian angel, the late BBC DJ John Peel. The documentary itself though is as much an upper as a downer. Hearing about the band’s early days and seeing Peel with the band who even now in their 40’s still reek of a sweet earnestness is lovely. But Sharkey, filmed sitting in a room somewhere quite far away from the rest of the band spends most of his on-air time being far from proud of singing in a truly seminal punk/pop band. Rather he gives the impression that he views his time with The Undertones as a lead up to his horrible solo career, capped with his odious soft rock single “A Good Heart.” Seems Sharkey was always a hired hand even in The Undertones, singing someone else’s lyrics to someone else’s music, a fact which he’s oddly self-righteous about. Lord only knows why.

I actually just corrected the band’s Wikipedia listing to include their 1999 reformation with new singer Paul McLoone, which led to 2003 the release of the surprisingly good CD “Get What You Need”. Who would have imagined the band could put out a release which would hardly suffer for lack of Sharkey’s unique vocals? And what is Sharkey up to nowadays? Hanging with all those other singers who refuse to tour with their old bands like Dennis DeYoung and Steve Perry?

Random linkology:
My favorite Undertones song. My recent obsession. And thank you for playing football in a video for no reason.

Tom Waits for no man (or 14 year old girl)

I’ve had two encounters of the Tom Waits kind this week. The first was finally seeing the gent in the Jim Jarmusch film “Coffee and Cigarettes” where he discusses with Iggy Pop that the previous generation was the “coffee and pie generation, but" he brilliantly declares "we are the coffee and cigarettes generation”. A few days later I caught him being interviewed on The Late Show with Jon Stewart, being gruff voiced, irreverent and delightful as ever. After the interview he returned to sing “Day After Tomorrow”a lovely song about soldiers, war, and futility, which was depressingly cut off so the network could go to commercial. Even on cable there is hardly a respite from capitalism!

20 years in, Waits is able to convey so much that is both intimate and true, yet profound and global with his music. There are a few imitators (more artists who have drawn on his work for inspiration, like Reverend Glasseye and His Wooden Legs) but no one I'd quite call a 'contemporary.' He remains one of the few musical artists I can think of who is onto himself a genre. And what exactly is that genre? Well, I remember seeing Waits interviewed (I think) by David Letterman probably more than a decade ago. The question was "What are you listening to lately?” and Waits replied “I’m listening to the sound of the radio in the other room, when it’s tuned between two stations and there’s a lot of static...” Yes, that seems about right.

I’m beginning to believe that the people most worth listening to musically are the unfashionably old and the very young. The former because they know exactly what they’re doing, and know how to use their talents to convey a message eloquently; the latter because they haven’t yet arrived at having their honesty and passion beaten out of them in favor of what (they believe) will sell. Witness my blossoming interest in Smoosh, a band comprised of two pre-pubescent sisters whose music, although not always perfect, is pleasingly experimental, and oddly adept, yet not nearly as painful as The Shaggs.

Do you have to be a 14-year-old girl or a 57-year-old man to be able to breathe the heady air of uncontaminated creative selfhood? You shouldn’t have to be, but lord knows it certainly doesn’t seem to hurt.

Prescription Drug or Metal Band?

This item brought to me courtesy of my sister.
And no, I didn't know which was which either.