A little bit brighter, and a little more of it
It's easy to think of early rock 'n' roll as tame. TV specials and movies pair the sound with poodle skirts and drive-ins, and even when they romanticize it at "the sound of rebellion", it's still hard to divorce it from the sound of an oldies station that brags, "no rap or heavy metal".
I think there was a moment for people my age and younger when it finally hit us that this was more than just the beginning of the kind of music we listened to. It finally hit us that this was music with incredible grit and energy and just because it didn't have the levels of volume, distortion and sneer we were used to from the rebellious sounds of our lifetime doesn't mean it couldn't be just as thrilling.
That moment when I truly appreciated how exciting those early days of rock could be was a day when I walked into the Greensboro record store I was working in and saw that my tattooed punk-loving co-worker Elvis had put on a used copy of Jerry Lee Lewis' Live at the Star Club. I guess it would make a better story if I said that I immediately dismissed it, but that was a year of great musical discovery for me, and I was curious.
No amount of watching Great Balls of Fire or knowing that Jerry Lee was called "Killer" could have prepared me for that album. The energy is nothing short of shocking. He may be singing about high school kids having fun instead of hating the queen or wanting to kill police, but the sound of it has an intense, reckless energy that it's hard to think of the equal to. It's absolutely amazing.
So for a little jolt today, go listen to some songs from that night and be floored. On most days I would say, "If you're anything like me (and you should hope you're not)", but if your jaw doesn't drop as far as mine at the speed of those snare fills, I feel sorry that you're not like me.
3 comments:
I remember as a kid, hearing '60s music for the first time and wondering if my parents had the same reaction when they were kids and heard my grandparents' music from the '40s. Now I wonder whether kids today have the same reaction to '80s music. Do they consider Duran Duran and Pat Benatar to be "Oldies?" Do Flock of Seagulls now seem as tame to them as the Beatles, in their suits and bowl haircuts, seemed to us?
That makes me feel old.
Flock of Seagulls were ever not tame?
Well, their music was never exactly offensive or rebellious, but I'm sure it sound weird to some people, an impression which was only heightened by their haircuts which were anything but tame.
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