#286: Los Angeles- X

Listened to: MP3

Now, I’ll come right off the bat. I’m not sure why “Your Phone’s Off The Hook But You’re Not” is supposed to be so special. I made it on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, but to me, it’s standard punk fair. The second track, “Johnny Hit And Run Paulene”, however, has a much more unique sound. It blends it’s punk beat with Chuck Berry style guitar riffs, and Morrissey type vocals. I would almost cringe at the punk cover of “Soul Kitchen”, the Doors classic. But knowing Ray Manzarek was sitting behind the board, while Jim may still be spinning in his grave, is a little more comforting.

It’s this third track that makes me realize why this doesn’t impress me as much as it should. I’m a big fan of Bikini Kill, and have been on a kick of them the past few weeks. This sounds like a more instrumental version of them, but ten years prior. By track four, “Nausea”, and it’s incorporation of an organ, it becomes abundantly clear this was a punk band who still understood music. X brings a musicianship to punk, with organs and glockenspiels, proving that punk can be more than thrashing guitars and thumping drums. And to those who say that well composed instrumentals isn’t punk rock, I say…well…

So, the next track “Sugarlight” brings in, yes, a cowbell. But the track is really held together by guitarist Billy Zoom, whose instrumentalism far exceeds anybody else in the band, as much as I adore Exene Cervenka. “Los Angeles” is a fun punk duet between the band’s two singers. Choosing to change the, is it the key, I don’t know, but by not using the same two chords, the song takes on a musicality that may or may not lose it it’s punk rock street cred. “Sex And Dying In High Society” has Exene and John Doe doing a harmony that feels more like a B-52’s song than a punk jam. “The Unheard Music” has a bass line that feels deeply Doors influenced, with deep, low harmonics from the two singers, and a prominent organ, all of which seem to suggest Ray Manzarek had some effect on X before they ever came to a studio.

The album ends on a song worthy of Elvis Presley, but with Patti Smith and Kathleen Hannah’s love-child on vocals (I know Kathleen is younger, but the image of Patti and Kathleen making a love child…yeah). This is anything but what I’ve grown up believing punk rock is.

It’s a real shame about X. It seems like from their debut in 1980 with this album, they were out to take punk to a new place, the next step in the evolutionary chain. Instead, it basically floundered through the 80’s, and found a slight return in grunge, and later with Green Day and Blink-182. The organs, the guitar riffs, everything seems to be from another world. This is a terrific album, but not a great punk album, at least not by the standards of what punk is. Most albums are on this list because they show where music went. X’s Los Angeles shows where music should have gone. I would have loved if more bands turned out like X, but no, we got cheesy pop-punk later instead. This is some great stuff, and definitely worth the listen.

-Mike

See you guys tomorrow for #338: Cheap Thrills by Big Brother And The Holding Company. We go from a highly underrated woman of rock (Exene Cervenka), to a woman who is, to me, the first lady of rock and roll, Janis Joplin.

#494: She’s So Unusual- Cyndi Lauper

Listened to: CD

You know, in the 80’s, Madonna was all the rage, but as a kid growing up in the 90’s, which was when radio stations still played 80’s music, since apparently the 90’s only had good music once the people who made it either broke up or died, her sexuality was lost on me. Instead, I found Cyndi Lauper to be more enthralling. She was fun, bouncy, colorful, and like a 13-year-old with a record contract (way before 13-year-olds actually became recording stars). She’s So Unusual is her debut album, and god bless it, it still has the same attitude and effect it did when it first came out. You can love it or hate it, but you’re sure to feel something.

The album kicks up on “Money Changes Everything”, with Cyndi’s voice howling and yelping out like a neon Patti Smith. It’s hard to appreciate this album, it’s simplistic themes and little girl posturing, in an age where every radio station is blasting Miley Cyrus or the 50 other Disney starlets who all get albums, but this kicked open that door, for better or for worse. Except, the composition on this far exceeds today’s musical candy. Listen to that accordion. Is Selena Gomez gonna bust out any of that any time soon? I think not. Plus, our lovely Cyndi here knows how to mix the pretty (her melodies) with the gritty (her vocals).

Of course, the song we all remember from our youth (when we were too young to appreciate “Time After Time”, but don’t worry, I’ll get to that) is “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Hell, a video with Capt. Lou? Can it get any better? And could this song be any more girly fun? Come on. This is still the go-to anthem for pillow fights and jumping around in an effeminate fashion, as far as I’ve been made aware (unfortunately, I do not know first hand. Nobody ever accepts my invitation for pillow fights and effeminate jumping). Seriously, though, this is a brilliant pop song, compositionally, and Cyndi capitalized on the “girl power” market before anybody even knew what a Spice Girl was.

Do you recognize “When You Were Mine”? For those who have been following this whole time, this track first appeared on Prince’s “Dirty Mind” album. Personally, I think Cyndi does it better. Plus, her lack of changing the genders in the song either implies a lesbian affair or a lover who went the other way. Either way, pretty brave for little miss “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.

Now, for anyone who says Cyndi can’t sing, and that her songwriting sucks, she putsone of her masterpieces right here to throw you off. “Time After Time” is a gorgeous song, and it’s amazing that the first three bubble-gum tracks came from other people, and this beauty was co-written by Cyndi. The harmonies, the melody, the simplicity of it, it’s so moving, so charming. Hell, this song was so good, it was covered by Miles motherfucking Davis! And I love toward the end, where rather than continue to harmonize on the chorus, she goes into that high “I will be waiting!”. I wouldn’t change a second of this song, or a note out of Cyndi’s mouth. Say she can’t sing now. I fucking dare you.

If you’re looking for that same beauty in “She Bop”, shut your eyes and ears. People love this track, but I’m not too big on it. It’s not my style, but for fans of this style, it’s a great example. I still dig the reverb and synth for what they are, but it’s just not my dig. Sounds too much like…the 80’s….eugh. I mean, what I like about Cyndi is she’s so saccharine that it’s forgivable, it’s like so colorful it’s blinding, which makes it great. This is just standard 80’s fare.

“All Through The Night” is not, in fact, the Cole Porter song from the musical Anything Goes. They are two very different songs. This did not stop me from being over-confident, thinking they were the same, and not bothering to learn the other one in 11th grade, leading me to look like an ass at rehearsal when I sang Cyndi Lauper. This anecdote ought to be enough to show you the emotions I have toward this song.

“Witness” sounds more like The Clash than the Cyndi Lauper we’ve all come to believe in. Just listen to the bass (or bass-y synth in this case) or the guitars. This is a fun kinda track, nothing mind blowing, but shows Cyndi’s diversity in musical taste. It sounds as reggae as it does pop. Especially the drum only breakdown toward the end. “I’ll Kiss You” can be summed up best by the wikipedia entry “The song is a ska-influenced track that typifies Lauper's quirky songwriting from early in her career. With lighthearted lyrics it details a woman's quest to find the perfect love potion so that she can seduce her boyfriend. The B-side, "Witness", has a reggae feeling to it.” Yeah, suck it Gwen Stefani. You ain’t the First Lady of ska, it turns out.

“He’s So Unusual” typifies what I always respect in artists, and does it in the oddest way. I always respect artists who “know their roots”. Cyndi does, but not Patti Smith or Janis Joplin. Instead, she honors the individual who’s heavily influenced her, the woman for whom this song was first written, Betty Boop. Much love to Miss Lauper for her odd homage. Admit it, she’s cute.

The album closes on “Yeah Yeah”, which is a fun, upbeat number to close on, even if it sounds like a lost B-52’s track. It’s nice to listen to, though not one of the albums most stellar tracks. I like the way Cyndi sorta just blends that cute-sy voice from “He’s So Unusual” with the Patti-esque wailing.

Honestly, I like the hell out of this album. It’s fun to drive to, it’s fun to just let it all loose to, and it’s a great example of pop song crafting. Cyndi may have been singing about simple themes some times, and may have been putting on some really girly, poppy acts, but to me, it’s clear by this album that Cyndi is truly the mother of the “riot grrrl” movement, and god bless her for it. A world without Bikini Kill is a world I don’t want to live in. Except Cyndi had a sensitive side, as seen in “Time After Time” and the later release “True Colors”, and she really was a gifted songwriter. Though, now that I’m rolling with the thought of Cyndi doing riot grrrl stuff…can we get Cyndi and Kathleen Hannah in the same studio?

Long story short, definitely listen to this album. There is no way to completely hate it, no matter how opposed you are to all things pink and frilly. Here to prove that is my good friend, Tom Lorenzo (though he hates everything except one track).

-Mike

By the way, tomorrow is #214: Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley by…yeah.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Lorenzo:

Ok ladies and gents. I’m gonna keep this one a bit short and sweet. If you guys remember, I guest reviewed Led Zeppelin II a little while back. Well I’m back and this time, I am not fucking happy.

So Mickey recommended I review Cyndi Laupers “She’s So Unusual”. I figured, why the fuck not? I enjoyed reviewing Zeppelin II. I figured I may like reviewing other albums as well. But good god man, this album was excruciating to listen to.I’m gonna be up front. For the most part, I hate the 80’s. Some good movies have come from the 80’s, and my favorite band Metallica rose in the 80s. But good lord, I hate the popular music of the time. And I am here to say, this piece of shit album is too 80’s for its own good.

I can say, there is only one good song on this album. We’ll get to that in a bit. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was a big hit in its day. Wanna hear what I say to that? Fuck you people of the 80s. Almost every song on this album just comes off as amateurish. The lyrics were nothing to write home about, the beats are antiquated as shit. The only positive I can say is Lauper is a semi decent singer. What’s the good song you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. It is “Time After Time”. It didn’t have any stupid beats or synthesizers or shit. It doesn’t sound 80s at all. It’s a good ballad and I actually like it. Not because everything else was shit. This was really good and I’ll give some props for that. But not much and not for long.

So at the end of the day, I sure as shit wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they were my sworn enemy. It really blows my mind to think this was popular back in its time. I mean, what the fuck has happened to music? In my Dads day, popular music consisted of Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Rolling Stones. Then the 80s came and fucked everything up. But I’ll give the 80s three things. One, pop music was so shit, we had Metallica rise up and unleash hell. Two, it allowed rap to come about and change things. And three, it sure as shit is better than todays pop like Lady Gagonacock. When an album like this is popular, it really makes me fucking hate everyone. See you guys soon. I plan on reviewing Tom Waits’ “Mule Varitaions” next.