Stayin Alive...

Wow, it sure has been a weak year for movies when I'm practically praying for The Hangover 2 to come out. What the fuck is going on, are there really no good movies out this year, or do I just not read the papers anymore? Finally there's one: a Mudhoney documentary coming out late summer, which, lacking a decent trailer, I'll just post some old live footage instead. Here's them in their prime (1988):

Remind you of anyone? Kinda seems exactly like Nirvana three years later. Mudhoney have always been one of the most overrated bands in my opinion (although they certainly get gold medals for style), but that's probably because they were so 'influential'. Without Mudhoney there would be no Nirvana as we knew it. Without Nirvana.... what would there be? I feel like Nirvana was more anti-influential than anything else, though. They effectively killed the grunge aesthetic by being so good at it, and really have prevented (and will prevent) grunge-y vibes from being relevant again for 20-__ years after the fact. It's still so uncool that the current Dali Lama of hipness, Ariel Pink has predicted that it (along with all cultural artifacts from the 90's) will never come back, that we'll oscillate back and forth imitating the 70's and 80's for e t e r n i t y. Has anyone made such a ludicrous claim before, or could it indeed be true?

ANYway, all this rambling about Mudhoney got me thinking about another overrated but highly influential group: The MC5. Here's an excerpt from a documentary about them from 2002 that never was released. What a bummer it is that the fuckin 'suits' couldn't free their minds & wallets to put this movie out (not even straight to DVD?!):

I've never explored garage rock as thoroughly as I probably should, mostly because of the quasi-conservative old white guy vibe surrounding that subculture. Very aggravating how those types refuse to admit any new musical innovation since 'Some young workin' class kids got together and just started makin noise in the garage man! Wooh!' [tune to Sirius XM channel 25 for a non-stop, commercial-free example of this phenomenon] Me and Drew were at the pool yesterday, choppin it up about how similarly annoying hip hop 'headz' are (our boy J. Strader naturally excluded of course) Which got me thinking: what's the most annoying musical subculture?

[rate the following from 'Extremely Disagree - Love that Shizz' to 'Extremely Agree - Nuke those F***s]

- Jazz purists

- Beatlemania!

- 60's Garage Rock revivalists

- Soul boys (esp. 'Southern Soul' boys)

- Anglophiles

- Ravers (i.e. ppl who can name more than 1 artist that exemplifies the 'breaks' genre)

- Hip Hop headz (includes 'backpackers', Southern Rap apologists, Wu Tang disciples, and anyone who listens to pre-1985 rap regularly)

- White Blues Rock connoisseurs (have u evr been cornered by one these types in the living room of an affluent American suburb?)

- Classical 'lovers'

- Effing Hipsters (musical emphasis changes every 18 months)

- The Proletariat (considered as a single genre by intelligent ppl, includes: Juggalos, adults who listen to Mall punk/emo, purveyors of Christian acoustic music, ardent fans of Kid Rock or Eminem, rap/techno metal hybrids, Mainstream Rock Radio rockers.... and every possible combination therein)

- Moms with large Celtic music cd collections

- Metalheads (ppl who, every time you have a conversation with them, hit you with a genre of metal you never knew existed - e.g. 'Finnish satanic metal')

- Goths

- XXX ers (includes 'Abercrombie' hardcore, gas-station attendant hardcore, and 'classic' hardcore)

- IDM nerds

- '____ Is God'

- Psych/Krautrock/Beefheart/Zappa scholars

- Aged Hipsters (like a wine you've had for too long and are now scared to drink, these ppl are visibly stuck in the past, at the exact moment of last relevance. see Molly Ringwald. at the time of this writing, they are mostly 80's Jangle Poppers)

- Rednecks

- Funk fascists

- Library Science majors (used as an excuse to 'learn about' a lot more shit than you ever will. love 'archival recordings', field recordings, 78s, wax cylinders, the Dust-to-Digital and Sublime Frequencies labels)

- Elvis crazies (an older subset of The Proletariat)

- Cassette exclusivists (ppl in the 21st century who collect music only released on cassette as a way to escape the Tyranny Of Blogspots - anyone who is familiar with the words 'Belgian Minimal House' is likely one of these)

- Asshole bloggers (...)

I think that about covers it. I'm sure you've chanced an encounter with many of these archetypes - did they enrich your life? Did they teach you to appreciate many musical genres to the point where you sit on your computer 24 hrs a day engaged in cultural arbitrage limited only by the speed of your broadband, like myself? Or did they make you say, 'nope, I'm good. I'll just listen to Pandora and take up a physical hobby, like rock-climbing'?

Please, share your thoughts. Drew insists we have a lot of readers...