Rock and Roll Fun
Saw the Sleater-Kinney show tonight at the 9:30 Club and it was . . . awesome. Indeed, it was awesome despite the fact that they hardly played any of my favorite Sleater-Kinney songs which only made it more impressive. On a related, but more substantive, note, there's been an interesting exchange in the blogosphere between Amanda Marcotte and Neil Sinhababu about the incorporation of pseudo-riot grrl elements into the mainstream.
Advertisement
Good choice for a show. You sparked what will probably become a good argument (note to self: people take feminism really seriously) about "feminist" music over at http://www.musiccherry.com about why the best female music has nothing to do with "feminism" as it's usually known.
Check out some Kaki King and Emmylou Harris if you're interested in more female music. I don't always agree with your politics (e.g., the SC's ruling on eminent domain), but we share taste in music sure so I think you'll like them if you don't already worship them :0).
June 26, 2005 4:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oooooooh, Emmy. Chief among treasured possessions is my "Happy Trails, Tom" pic auto'ed by Emmylou.
Anyone who can span Gram Parsons, Daniel Lanois, Buddy Miller, Dolly Parton, and Lucinda Williams, and make them all sound better has it, in every way, going on. Oh, and she can write. And produce. Simply brilliant.
June 26, 2005 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
June 26, 2005 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
But I had to deal with family things last night, and couldn't see my favorite band.
You've been a salutory participant in the ongoing debate about cultural challenges to parents with kids, and have often acknowledged the generation gap between pop-culture consuming singles and their pop-culture fearing elders. But you should also understand that among the burdens old-folks-with-kids face in navigating popular culture is that they can't, generally, take the time to go experience that culture at its best.
I miss my "rock-and-roll fun," but can't do much about it. I could "Call the Doctor," but when you're spending most of your time getting an 18-year-old son through the end of high school and into college, there ain't no cure for the summertime blues.
Ed Kilgore
June 26, 2005 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just saw their Chicago show last week. I was really impressed by the force and power of their voices in performance.
June 26, 2005 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
They covered "Mother" by Danzig. Nothing more needs to be said.
June 26, 2005 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
She was (is?) also one of the more prominent members of Music Row Democrats, a group of Nashville singers and industry execs who helped raise money for Kerry and heightened the profile of liberals in country music.
June 26, 2005 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, since you referred to seeing a show, maybe I'm over reacting a bit. But that is serious fun in and of itself. I think this is a great post, as good as the one Josh lauded on the front page. I continue to read Pandagon avidly in part because Amanda M intertwines music with her life so completely and shares it so well. I wouldn't have know what Le Tigre was were it not for this blog So please continue to put more stuff like this in the mix.
June 26, 2005 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ed, you're breaking my heart! Hopefully this will help: Just Concerts is streaming S-K's 2005-02-26 Vancouver show. The sound quality is great and it captures this tour the best out of all of the bootlegs I've heard so far. Crank it up and embarrass your kids by dancing around the living room.
I saw the NYC show at Roseland on Thursday and it was the best S-K show I've seen. A Danzig cover! The "don't like my guitar solo, well then f*** you" brilliance of going directly from Let's Call It Love into Entertain! And...and...Janet sang!
Don't miss them performing Jumpers on Letterman Monday night.
June 26, 2005 9:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Benton, I believe "Rock and Roll Fun" is a reference to the song "You're No Rock and Roll Fun" by Sleater-Kinney, not a commentary on the relative merits of feminism in rock-and-roll to issues like Social Security and Iraq. (You can download the song for free on S-K's website.) I support your general thesis, though -- music, basketball, and vampire posts are a good thing.
June 26, 2005 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ed Kilgore rocks.
June 26, 2005 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
They covered "Mother" by Danzig. Nothing more needs to be said.
I like heavy and alternative music. I mainly like heavy, from Sabbath and Iron Maiden to Godsmack. I just have never heard of Sleater-Kinney. But if the song Mother was covered, I will give it a listen...
June 26, 2005 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Emmylou puts her political self out there on a regular basis. She was an unannounced performer when Jim Wallis brought his "God's Politics" book tour/revival to Nashville last month, and is a featured host tonight for a Harold Ford fundraiser, also in Nashville. Y'all come.
June 27, 2005 4:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
S-K's newest album has a very heavy sound, as did their live show (which I caught at the Moore in Seattle a few weeks ago). My only complaint was that I forgot my rock-and-roll earplugs, and I was about 5 rows back. I'm too old for that ear blast...
Mary Timony opened the show, and did a great set.
June 27, 2005 7:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Becks -- exactly. Benton -- definitely check out the song . . . it's brilliant.
June 27, 2005 7:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Becks and Matt. I will check it out This is what happens when you start to approach the big 40 and the little one has seized control of your pop culture existence. I now know more about the wiggles then I do almost any other new musical development. The hermeneutic circle closes, and once again I'm on the outside. I think I'm supposed to write something like "Kids today....."
June 27, 2005 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Never forget (to quote Ian Anderson)...You are never too old to rock & roll if you are too young to die.
Heavy is good!!! 8-)
I have seen AC/DC, Black Label Society, Metallica (3 times), Rush, Suicidal Tendencies, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and the loudest concert I ever saw was The Kinks in 1982...go figure!!! My ears are still ringing, lol!!!
To keep this OT I am going to give Sleater-Kinney a listen just based on what people have said here
June 27, 2005 8:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
In line with the recent discussions of youth, media, and morality -- MTV profiled Sleater-Kinney last night on it's show Subterranean and felt the need to bleep the word "gun" when they played the Entertain video. The offending passage:
If your art is done, Johnny get your gun
Join the rank and file, on your TV dial
(full lyrics) That's ridiculous. I don't have children but I do have two younger brothers (16 & 13) and, compared to what's advocated in the lyrics of other songs, that's nothing. Apparently Nelly can pimp out all the hos he wants but S-K can't make a metaphorical call to arms.
This comes on the heels of a discussion my parents and I recently had about whether my brothers are allowed to have CDs bearing the Tipper Gore "Explicit Lyrics" sticker. After much debate (with my father wanting to ban all stickered CDs and me arguing on my brothers' behalf) they compromised and decided that music with explicit lyrics is acceptable as long as the context is political or social commentary. Yes, a total liberal moral relativism stance but at least it means I can hook them up with Green Day and the Sex Pistols. (Oddly, they never paid any attention to what I listened to in High School...)
There seem to be some parents in this thread. What are the rules in your households?
June 27, 2005 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 28, 2005 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink