I hovered over Flag Day as one of my 3 but didn't quite make the cut.
Each year I learn more about how Paul Heaton has done so much for other people when he didn't have to. His support for the Proclaimers alone puts him at the top table for me.
Best support act I ever saw was these guys. A sort of queen style band who grabbed the audience attention and held us all in their grip. I intend to use this one at my funeral - if only to see the vicars face (will that be possible, I wonder) . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlVZh8IlC8&ab_channel=WarnerMusicSweden. Main act the Darkness were also bang on form making it a great evening. Saw the Darkness again a couple of years later and they phoned it in. very disappointing.
First gig had a second support from a local uni girl group - drummer made up for a seeming lack of talent by beating hell out of her kit non-stop but with any semblence of a tune being purely accidental. She is rumoured to have had a sex change after the gig and was last seen watching a Lg1 footy team....
For the general edification of the Gasroom and because I know that there are some broad tastes out there, I'm going to throw in some stuff that Uri from Mexico City might recognise. I got tuned into all this stuff because of my wife who hails from Mexico and is into her music as widely and variously as me.
Cafe Tacuba - could have picked any number from these guys, seriously good stuff but this one is a cover of a Juan Luis Guerra (Dominican Rep.) tune which features a joyous traditional violin amongst other things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZnptHowv4 I know that some other tastes will run closer to this truly funky piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7IPxngsAPY
Juan Gabriel is an institution, passed away a couple of years before the Covids and they took it worse than when the John Paul II popped his clogs. For comparison, he is of the magnitude of Freddy Mercury or Elton John, spanning decades, writing his own music, lyrics and has a massive set of pipes on him. Moves well too. So no apologies for breaking the rules by double-featuring this chap either: Hasta Que Te Conoci - sounds amazing and the subject matter of the lyrics is brutal (look it up) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5Bo4YdgH4 and this one is just a solid uplifting bit of pop featuring a mullet that would have made some 80's Wycombe players jealous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQW-zB_JHbs
There's a lot of scope for discovery if you fancy following up on these two artists, there's also an excellent documentary called Rompen Todos on Netflix about the development of the music scene in the Spanish speaking parts of South and North America which features the likes of Almendra, Los Jaivas, Leon Gieco, Soda Stereo. It also gives some background on the political backdrop in places like Argentina, Chile, Mexico
On your recommendation I’ll give it a watch. I had forgotten that RZA was named Robert Diggs. However he doesn’t seem to be related to Daveed Diggs of Hamilton, Snowpiercer and the outstanding Clipping experimental Hip Hop project fame. Perhaps not surprising as they were born on opposite coasts.
Has anyone on here read Please Kill Me / can anyone recommend any other good books on the history of punk? US mainly (hardcore if poss, although I appreciate that's probably quite niche for reading material!).
Not a book @ReturnToSenda, but I highly recommend this episode of Broken Record with Henry Rollins having a lovely, old-friends chat with Rick Rubin. Rollins is such a likeable bloke, and listening to him chat with a mate about how he got started in Black Flag and where his career went from there is just joyful.
Please Kill Me the Legs McNeil oral history? Thought it was excellent. John Robb did a British one that was pretty good as well, called Punk Rock or something similar.
You've probably read England's Dreaming by Jon Savage but recommended if not.
and when you've got over all that, @ReturnToSenda, Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again is great for the post-punk era.
A personal favourite, but not really for those who are unenthusiastic about Liverpool music, is Paul Du Noyer's LIverpool - Wondrous Place, which plots a timeline of the city's music from the 60s to the 00s.
Ooh, I'm gonna have to get my hands on that. I recently blasted through Peter Hook's 'Unknown Pleasures' in about 10 days - better than I expected. Gave me a different perspective on 24 Hour Party People...
Made of stone is Shane Meadows film fanboying over the stone roses comeback and is a great film. Includes the sort of haphazard stuff you might expect but with some real genuine bits where he has to decide whether to push it for the film's sake or leave them to it for there to be any kind of comeback at all. Even if you don't like them, and lots of people are quite snobby towards them, not always entirely unfairly, it's a great piece capturing some proper characters and some very devoted fans. I missed being in it by one row of people oddly obscured by a Morrissey lookalike. Recommend.
Dig! is a great watch, about the relative successes of the 90s west coast bands the Dandy Warhols and their friends / rivals the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s fun and insightful even if you don’t know or like the bands involved.
Dig! is an absolutely magnificent doc. Back in the day I watched that in a double bill with Overnight which, while not a music doc, is similar enough in the self-destruction themes that the two make excellent bedfellows.
Comments
I hovered over Flag Day as one of my 3 but didn't quite make the cut.
Each year I learn more about how Paul Heaton has done so much for other people when he didn't have to. His support for the Proclaimers alone puts him at the top table for me.
I loved the fact that for his 60th birthday he chose 60 pubs around England & put money behind the bar to buy everyone a birthday drink from him.
They were the support act last year, loved it
Best support act I ever saw was these guys. A sort of queen style band who grabbed the audience attention and held us all in their grip. I intend to use this one at my funeral - if only to see the vicars face (will that be possible, I wonder) . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlVZh8IlC8&ab_channel=WarnerMusicSweden. Main act the Darkness were also bang on form making it a great evening. Saw the Darkness again a couple of years later and they phoned it in. very disappointing.
First gig had a second support from a local uni girl group - drummer made up for a seeming lack of talent by beating hell out of her kit non-stop but with any semblence of a tune being purely accidental. She is rumoured to have had a sex change after the gig and was last seen watching a Lg1 footy team....
Lot of info to take in there
For the general edification of the Gasroom and because I know that there are some broad tastes out there, I'm going to throw in some stuff that Uri from Mexico City might recognise. I got tuned into all this stuff because of my wife who hails from Mexico and is into her music as widely and variously as me.
Cafe Tacuba - could have picked any number from these guys, seriously good stuff but this one is a cover of a Juan Luis Guerra (Dominican Rep.) tune which features a joyous traditional violin amongst other things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZnptHowv4 I know that some other tastes will run closer to this truly funky piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7IPxngsAPY
Juan Gabriel is an institution, passed away a couple of years before the Covids and they took it worse than when the John Paul II popped his clogs. For comparison, he is of the magnitude of Freddy Mercury or Elton John, spanning decades, writing his own music, lyrics and has a massive set of pipes on him. Moves well too. So no apologies for breaking the rules by double-featuring this chap either: Hasta Que Te Conoci - sounds amazing and the subject matter of the lyrics is brutal (look it up) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5Bo4YdgH4 and this one is just a solid uplifting bit of pop featuring a mullet that would have made some 80's Wycombe players jealous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQW-zB_JHbs
There's a lot of scope for discovery if you fancy following up on these two artists, there's also an excellent documentary called Rompen Todos on Netflix about the development of the music scene in the Spanish speaking parts of South and North America which features the likes of Almendra, Los Jaivas, Leon Gieco, Soda Stereo. It also gives some background on the political backdrop in places like Argentina, Chile, Mexico
For any other hip hop fans on here, Wu-Tang: An American Saga is way better than I even dared hope it would be. It's available on Disney+ in the UK.
@peterparrotface Flag Day just missed out on mine too. Selecting only three is brutal !
i have posted ‘Sunshine on Leith’ on here in the past, albeit accompanied by the ‘Hibernian choir’, after defeating Rangers at Hampden....
On your recommendation I’ll give it a watch. I had forgotten that RZA was named Robert Diggs. However he doesn’t seem to be related to Daveed Diggs of Hamilton, Snowpiercer and the outstanding Clipping experimental Hip Hop project fame. Perhaps not surprising as they were born on opposite coasts.
Wirh @LeedsBlue 's permission..the Proclaimer's 'Sunshine on Leith.' A must for anyone's playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7NYX1TOgs
Thanks for that LX1. Beautifully happy/sad.
A rather good musical as well
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=74WEwUnmH-Y
That movie gets a lot of flack but I quite enjoyed it.
George MacKay always reminds me of Alfie Mawson
He should definitely play Alf when they make Wycombe Wanderers The Movie.
Has anyone on here read Please Kill Me / can anyone recommend any other good books on the history of punk? US mainly (hardcore if poss, although I appreciate that's probably quite niche for reading material!).
This Band Could Be Your Life is the essential US hardcore/punk tome. Just amazing.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Band-Could-Your-Life/dp/0316787531/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=59980122464&hvadid=259113145146&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9045449&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1640774738707216969&hvtargid=kwd-331787443154&hydadcr=16874_1798475&keywords=this+band+could+be+your+life&qid=1681230858&sr=8-1
The Butthole Surfers chapter is particularly eye opening.
Not a book @ReturnToSenda, but I highly recommend this episode of Broken Record with Henry Rollins having a lovely, old-friends chat with Rick Rubin. Rollins is such a likeable bloke, and listening to him chat with a mate about how he got started in Black Flag and where his career went from there is just joyful.
Please Kill Me the Legs McNeil oral history? Thought it was excellent. John Robb did a British one that was pretty good as well, called Punk Rock or something similar.
You've probably read England's Dreaming by Jon Savage but recommended if not.
Ah nice, cheers! Rick Rubin and his aversion to shoes...
That's the one - haven't read any of those actually
I thought there was a big chunk on Sonic Youth in that book, but I might be making that up?
The Butthole Surfers are great - 'Independent Worm Salloon' is such a wanky album title and I love it.
and when you've got over all that, @ReturnToSenda, Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again is great for the post-punk era.
A personal favourite, but not really for those who are unenthusiastic about Liverpool music, is Paul Du Noyer's LIverpool - Wondrous Place, which plots a timeline of the city's music from the 60s to the 00s.
Ooh, I'm gonna have to get my hands on that. I recently blasted through Peter Hook's 'Unknown Pleasures' in about 10 days - better than I expected. Gave me a different perspective on 24 Hour Party People...
Yes, all the seminal acts get a chapter. Including Big Black. My personal faves. Misanthropy made music
Made of stone is Shane Meadows film fanboying over the stone roses comeback and is a great film. Includes the sort of haphazard stuff you might expect but with some real genuine bits where he has to decide whether to push it for the film's sake or leave them to it for there to be any kind of comeback at all. Even if you don't like them, and lots of people are quite snobby towards them, not always entirely unfairly, it's a great piece capturing some proper characters and some very devoted fans. I missed being in it by one row of people oddly obscured by a Morrissey lookalike. Recommend.
Dig! is a great watch, about the relative successes of the 90s west coast bands the Dandy Warhols and their friends / rivals the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s fun and insightful even if you don’t know or like the bands involved.
I quite enjoyed Keith Richards' 'Under the Influence'. I think it's still on Netflix.
Dig! is an absolutely magnificent doc. Back in the day I watched that in a double bill with Overnight which, while not a music doc, is similar enough in the self-destruction themes that the two make excellent bedfellows.