the damned

last night was BRILLIANT. as an early birthday present, my sister took me to see the the damned. i love this band. love them. as i was watching them play, i couldn't help thinking about how legendary they are, and here they are, right in front of me. legends! wow. i have actually seen them once before, but it was on that tour that was them, and the dickies and the misfits, and it was a while ago...i remember being impressed then also, but for some reason last night i was just totally blown away. also, they really shouldn't call themselves the misfits anymore..."misfit" would be more appropriate, seeing as jerry only is the only member of the band. whatever. so the damned! they opened with "love song." hell yes. and they closed with "smash it up." FUCK YES. they couldn't have picked a more perfect song to close with. and they had to do "new rose" and "neat neat neat" of course. captain sensible looked smashing as always, with the white plastic sunglasses and red beret, and tight leopard skin pants. dave looked like a mad scientist. and monty looked like...well...monty. ha. it was a really great time, and unfortunately the place didn't look as packed as i would have imagined that it would. i couldn't believe more people weren't there, but what can you do. and can i just talk about how much i love dave's voice? it's so unique, and deep and smooth...i guess not typically what you would assume a punk rock singer's voice to sound like, but that's what i love so much about it i guess.

these are my personal top 5 damned songs, and sorry that i already sort of gave a few of them away...

1. smash it up - starts off with a cool, sort of dreamy intro, and then kicks into this freaking amazing song...ahhh...if you have never listened to the damned, this would be a great song to start with.
2. i think i'm wonderful - this song rocks, obviously, but the lyrics made me smile the first time i ever heard the song, and they still make me smile to this day. "some stupid opinions on the way that i am, they can look at me and i don't give a damn, damn, damn." it's the perfect FUCK YOU song to people who think you dress weird, or act weird, or whatever. basically, my theme song.
3. wait for the blackout - well...what can i say...i just really love this song.
4. love song - it's just that, a love song, but certainly not a typical one. you should just listen to it.
5. **TOTAL COP OUT WARNING** the entired DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED album. told you it was a cop out. but honestly, my number five would have to be one from this album, but how can you pick only one? honestly the whole things kicks so much ass from beginning to end. i mean, i love new rose, but who doesn't? i also love born to kill, and so messed up, and see her tonite, and stab your back...you get my point, right? this was the first damned album i owned and it's hard to move past it because it's just so good. i wish i could have heard it when it first came out though, when there was nothing else that sounded anything like it...can you imagine hearing that in 1977? i feel like i missed out! there was so much great stuff happening in the 70s. oh well.

anyway, in case you haven't got the point yet - the damned are amazing! go see them if you ever get the chance, you won't regret it.

kick out the jams, motherfucker!

yeah, i was listening to the mc5 album kick out the jams today while i was on the train. have you ever listened to these guys? it makes you want to start a band. i'm already in a band, and it makes me want to start another one! the best description of them i ever heard is that they are "the first 70s band of the 60s." that about sums them up. this should be required listening for EVERYONE. actually, listening to it really makes me want to go find it on vinyl...perhaps that is my mission for the day.

marah

i guess i should post this now while it's still fresh in my mind...

i went to see marah last week. what a kick-ass band. these guys never disappoint. i'm one of those people who hasn't seen them a million times - most fans have - but you can just tell they're a great band when you see them. this was my third marah show, fifth if you count in-store shows where they were promoting an album.

anyway...so it's usually dave and serge bielanko, who are brothers. however, serge is taking care of a new baby (aww), so he hasn't been touring and there were some lineup changes and such since the last time i had seen them. i was a little worried, but i shouldn't have been. dave is a great performer and they still sounded amazing without serge. although everyone missed his harmonica skills. especially on walt whitman bridge. ah well.
if you have never seen these guys, i would highly recommend it. it's like nothing else you've ever seen. they always put on a great show, and are very appreciative of their fans. there is nothing i can't stand more than musicians who ignore their fans. hey, why do you think you're famous and/or rich? oh yeah, that's right, we bought all your shit. well, that's a whole different topic altogether. at any rate, they love their fans, and dave was out in the lobby signing stuff right afterwards. that's comittment.

top five marah songs (i kind of had to do one per album, otherwise this would be a top thirty):

1. for the price of a song - my personal favorite from let's cut the crap and hook up later on tonight. very pretty, very marah.
2. faraway you - off of kids in philly. it was tough picking one song off this. it could have just as easily been "it's only money tyrone" or "my heart is the bums on the street" or "round eye blues"...see, now i'm just cheating.
3. body - off of 20,000 streets under the sky. this is an example of their storytelling...they write a song about someone else, or from someone else's point of view, like this song, and you feel like it really is that other person telling you how it is.
4. walt whitman bridge - off of if you didn't laugh you'd cry. this whole album is really great, again, but this song gives me chills when i listen to it. and that harmonica...guh.
5. why independent record stores fail - ok, well, this one is not on an album...it's on the point breeze single. "i'm kinda t.rex meets the jam" ..... that was me falling in love with words.

i didn't include a few albums but that's only because i limited myself to five songs. there is also float away with the friday night gods, a christmas kind of town, and the newest, angels of destruction. they also have a live album and several other singles out.

so what did we learn? marah is your new favorite band!

i could have loved you girl like a planet
i could have chained your heart to a star
but it really doesn't matter at all
no it really doesn't matter at all
life's a gas
i hope it's gonna last
--t.rex

this is just my little blog about random music stuff and such that maybe you will be interested in. maybe not.