Recorded in my basement in Kent. Psychedelic Rock must never die! ?

A circa-1995 punk show in Chillicothe:

 

That open door to the Budweiser/Bud Light cooler and its bright lights is super distracting. 

4 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

That open door to the Budweiser/Bud Light cooler and its bright lights is super distracting. 

 

The crazy thing is that some of these small towns had more hardcore stuff going on than Cincinnati.  It's crazy how punk and hardcore evaporated in Cincinnati in the late 80s and never returned other than a smattering of house shows in Corryville and Northside but a place like Chillicothe had a legit scene involving upwards of a dozen bands.  It gave me the impression as a Cincinnati native that punk and hardcore were completely over and it made the 1990s punk rock comeback look like an industry plant, which it mostly was, except those bands were all plucked out of thriving local scenes that Cincinnati just plain did not have. 

 

It was crazy when I moved from Cincinnati to Boston.  There were *so many* punk and hardcore kids there.  Like enough that there were some nights with multiple events going on around town whereas in a smaller city there was just one event per month for the whole scene.  I have photos of some of this stuff and you'd be in disbelief that hardcore, specifically, was still going so strong in Boston 10 years after its national heyday, and punk was actually bigger.  I went to one local show with like 400 punk rock kids in 2002, all in leather jackets like it was England in 1977.  They sold out a goddamn gay disco in 2002 for 2-3 local bands.  People were shoulder-to-shoulder.  If I hadn't been there myself I wouldn't have believed it. 

Portsmouth was INSANE with punk in the late '90s/early 2000s when I lived there. 60%+ of bands were punk, maybe 75%.

Cincinnati had a lot of funk bands in the 90s.  I just searched for them and there is...nothing.  It's like it never happened.  I have one of their CDs...I have to dig it up. 

Oh boy.  This makes me feel old.  The people I went to college with who are in that 2-hour+ circa-1998 Fugazi documentary were about this old when they were filmed for that. 

 

People forget how stigmatized Fugazi was in the 90s because they brought so much virtue signaling to their act.  They were straight-edge vegetarians who didn't allow moshing (there actually were a lot of straight edge hardcore bands in the 80s, but Fugazi was about the only one still going in the mid-90s).  I think they quit playing their early "hits" (like this one) by the mid-90s because of the moshing.  They sucked after that because they were afraid to rock.  I don't think that these teenagers know or care about Fugazi's pretentious decline.  Oh well Ian MacKaye is worth like $25 million now., along with Fat Mike and the other punk guys who started their own labels.  

 

 

^You know, when I was younger I had no idea why a lot of women like older guys so much

 

That video really hammers home how young guys have all these girls right next to them but...

On 4/11/2020 at 12:47 AM, jmecklenborg said:

Cincinnati had a lot of funk bands in the 90s.  I just searched for them and there is...nothing.  It's like it never happened.  I have one of their CDs...I have to dig it up. 

 

 

its true.

 

much of everything right before the start of the internets era just doesn't exist.

 

its like everything that started coming online just went forward.

 

or way back.

 

1995-2000 aka the go-go nineties was passe, left out and lost.

 

looking back today ... it probably never really did happen.

 

 

3 hours ago, GCrites80s said:

^You know, when I was younger I had no idea why a lot of women like older guys so much

 

That video really hammers home how young guys have all these girls right next to them but...

 

Yeah these girls are 16-17 years old and can all get in to clubs right now.  The guys in the band aren't getting in until 2023. 

11 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

 

 

its true.

 

much of everything right before the start of the internets era just doesn't exist.

 

its like everything that started coming online just went forward.

 

or way back.

 

1995-2000 aka the go-go nineties was passe, left out and lost.

 

looking back today ... it probably never really did happen.

 

 

 

I pay a lot of attention to what people age 20-30 play at work.  Young adults seem to have a lot less awareness of rock & roll and pop history than people did before streaming.  People don't seem to have much sense for what came before what or how popular various things were at the time they were released.  In the past, the physical packaging of records and CDs gave you all sorts of context. 

 

Also, there is this dumb way that people think about decades.  Almost everything completely turns over every five years.  1960-64 is totally different than 1965-1969.  Same with the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  But there is a weird bias with these playlists toward the late 90s, which was the bad half of the decade. 

 

 

it was the bad half for pop, but the good half for anything that was not top of the pops.

 

which was opposite of 1990-95. that era was better for the hits. 

 

 

6 hours ago, mrnyc said:

 

 

its true.

 

much of everything right before the start of the internets era just doesn't exist.

 

its like everything that started coming online just went forward.

 

or way back.

 

1995-2000 aka the go-go nineties was passe, left out and lost.

 

looking back today ... it probably never really did happen.

 

 

 

Yes the '90s were very poorly documented/archived, especially the second half. In the '80s everything got saved. Not helping is the huge masters fire of 2008.

7 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

 

 

Also, there is this dumb way that people think about decades.  Almost everything completely turns over every five years.  1960-64 is totally different than 1965-1969.  Same with the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  But there is a weird bias with these playlists toward the late 90s, which was the bad half of the decade. 

 

 

 

Those playlists are trying to make things as poppy and optimistic as possible, which means late '90s. I remember being in a supermarket in about 2012 and them having a late '90s mix on. This was pretty early for that so my first thought was "Oh they're trying to bring back the late '90s in stores due to the consumerism"

 

The 2010s are barely over yet I feel like I can identify the difference in 2010-2014 and 2015-2019: First half, '80s-influnced power-pop with a banjo festival in the back, Second half, mumble

Yeah, there was all of that stupid neo-folk stuff 2010-2015.  Lots of beards and pretending to be from the hills.  I blame Arcade Fire for making people think it was okay to bring in mandolins, banjos, etc. 

Oh no.  How much does sending your kid to School of Rock cost?  A lot, apparently.  Nothing but the best instruments, recording equipment, rehearsal spaces, etc.  I have never rehearsed or recorded in a space this nice!

 

The singers seem to completely not understand that this song is for fun.  Maybe they should have taken a field trip to Dayton for some context. 

 

 

22 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

The singers seem to completely not understand that this song is for fun.  Maybe they should have taken a field trip to Dayton for some context. 

 

That mix isn't helping.  And I am 101% sure that girl isn't chainsmoking Camel Lights with her Starbucks in mom's Range Rover...

17 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

 

That mix isn't helping.  And I am 101% sure that girl isn't chainsmoking Camel Lights with her Starbucks in mom's Range Rover...

 

Some German (I think) TV crew did a Breeders documentary back in 2002 or so.  They followed the sisters around Dayton and LA quite a bit.  You could tell that the producers were trying to turn it into something like Tiger King.  They were totally off-put by how outspoken and uncouth the sisters are compared to the average...German.  But they're not unusual people in Ohio, except that they're actually critically successful musicians, unlike this state's tens of thousands of wannabe's. 

 

Here it is:

 

Another foreign film crew did a Pixies documentary when they got back together in 2006 or so.  Similarly, the crew tried to portray the band as a bunch of eccentrics who couldn't stand each other. These sorts of documentaries like to pick out some unusual hobby that individuals in a group have and then insinuate that they can't come together in the studio or on stage because said outside hobbies are incompatible.  Plus, they simply couldn't deal with the fact that The Pixies record dark music but the band members themselves are pretty chill and upbeat. 

 

 

I thought i’d add Beyonderers as a phenomenal Ohio band. They recently won a contest in Akron as best band in Devil Strip monthly. I’ve seen them perform maybe a dozen times. Its a surf/space rock trio. 

 

My mom just found this stub and emailed it to me...made sure to remind me that she was pregnant with me at that time:  

Thought I’d add one of the best bands performing in Cleveland these days.  Punch Drunk Tagalongs. Found this video that is a good idea of their sound and range. 

 

Edited June 25, 20204 yr by audidave

Here is a photo of The White Stripes playing in Cincinnati around 1999.  I now work with a guy who opened for them that night. 

 

 

looks lorain has its own version of school of rock.

 

 

 

 

 

Lorain: Music lessons bring beat back to Broadway in downtown

 

By Richard Payerchin

[email protected] @MJ_JournalRick on Twitter 

 

Jul 15, 2020

 

 

Jaclyn Bradley, founder of the Lorain Rock Town Music Academy, 401 Broadway, plays guitar in the Dark Side of the Moon instruction room at the studio on July 13, 2020. The academy began lessons the week of July 6 with instructors and students taking appropriate precautions to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus. Bradley, a Lorain native whose musical career has led to gigs from Los Angeles to Holland, hopes to grow the space as public health conditions improve.

Richard Payerchin - The Morning Journal

 

 

 

A new school of music is bringing the beat back to Broadway.

 

Music teachers and students have begun coming together at Lorain Rock Town Music Academy, located in the Duane Building, 401 Broadway.

 

Lessons began the week of July 6 and will continue with safety precautions in place due to the novel coronavirus.

 

“It was so exciting to have kids here,” said founder Jaclyn Bradley, a Lorain native whose musical career has taken her across the country and to Europe. “They left their lessons on a high and were totally excited to be learning music.”

 

 

more:

https://www.morningjournal.com/news/lorain-county/lorain-music-lessons-bring-beat-back-to-broadway-in-downtown/article_d60338a0-c5ff-11ea-bff0-4f0ccb3cb95f.html

I can't believe it has been 10 years since The Greenhornes released their last (and probably final) album. Tomorrow marks exactly 10 years since they stopped by KEXP to perform one of the new songs:

 

 

7 hours ago, taestell said:

I can't believe it has been 10 years

 

 

 

This song is now 8 years old and is up to 12M hits on Youtube and was probably the high point for a Cincinnati band in the 2010s. 

 

Edited December 11, 20204 yr by jmecklenborg

For me 2010-2016 went by very quickly but 2017-2020 have been very long. I didn't know it could get like that; I thought things would only speed up as life went on.

4 hours ago, GCrites80s said:

For me 2010-2016

 

I'm too old to know for sure but it seems like there has been a broad erosion of indie rock (and I use that term very broadly).  Are there still a bunch of teenage punk and metal bands?  I don't get the sense that there are. 

 

When Bogart's had the High School Band Challenge and The Rumble, 100+ upstart bands comprised of people ages 15-25 were active in Cincinnati alone.  That means there were thousands upon thousands of rock & roll bands trying to write original music across the United States.  If Bogart's brought back the High School Band Challenge, would anyone show up? 

 

10 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

I'm too old to know for sure but it seems like there has been a broad erosion of indie rock (and I use that term very broadly).  Are there still a bunch of teenage punk and metal bands?  I don't get the sense that there are.

 

I would view pretty much any teenage punk or metal band as a novelty, like School of Rock or Glee, but with guitars. 

 

Let's face it, those genres are pretty well-worn territory. 

I recently found out Starset is from Columbus. Awesome band. Alternative/hard rock band with heavy dose of electronic.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starset

 

Quote

Starset is an American rock band from Columbus, Ohio,[7] formed by Dustin Bates in 2013.[8] They released their debut album, Transmissions, in 2014[9][10][11] and their second album, Vessels, on January 20, 2017.[12] The band has found success in expanding the ideas of their concept albums through social media and YouTube, with the band generating over $230,000 in revenue from views from the latter as of November 2016. Their single "My Demons" had accumulated over 280 million YouTube views in the same time period.[13] Their most commercially successful song, "Monster", peaked at number 2 on the Billboard US Mainstream Rock chart in May 2017.[14] A third studio album, Divisions, was released on September 13, 2019.

 

Some tracks from a couple of their albums. Their first album was good, but a little derivative from pop-hard rock from the aughts. The second and third albums were fantastic.

 

Album / Track

Transmissions (2014) / Halo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01BsH0p_T8c

 

Vessels (2016) / Satellite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbdQNGBw9E

 

Vessels (2016) / Monster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqmjBSurfWY

 

Divisions (2019) / Trials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dG9pXeOgT0

 

Divisions (2019) / Manifest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPofvnz5lDI

 

9 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

I'm too old to know for sure but it seems like there has been a broad erosion of indie rock (and I use that term very broadly).  Are there still a bunch of teenage punk and metal bands?  I don't get the sense that there are. 

 

When Bogart's had the High School Band Challenge and The Rumble, 100+ upstart bands comprised of people ages 15-25 were active in Cincinnati alone.  That means there were thousands upon thousands of rock & roll bands trying to write original music across the United States.  If Bogart's brought back the High School Band Challenge, would anyone show up? 

 

 

Nowadays if a band is coming up they're a lot more likely to be 2-3 family members plus 1-2 people that they've known since like, elementary school. That's about the only way you can get rock people to agree on anything. Way too many different influences out there. It's not like the '80s where it was super-easy to find band members since everyone listened to Judas Priest, Ozzy and Van Halen so you just played stuff like that.

15 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

This song is now 8 years old and is up to 12M hits on Youtube and was probably the high point for a Cincinnati band in the 2010s. 

 

 

Obviously not the biggest commercial success, but definitely one of the best songs released from a Cincinnati band in the 2010s.

 

Walk the Moon's 2014 single "Shut Up and Dance" was almost certainly the biggest song out of Cincinnati during that time period. You couldn't go out in public for more than a few hours without hearing it.

9 hours ago, Mendo said:

I recently found out Starset is from Columbus. Awesome band. Alternative/hard rock band with heavy dose of electronic.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starset

 

They were fun to watch when they opened for Halestorm here in Akron.

11 hours ago, surfohio said:

 

I would view pretty much any teenage punk or metal band as a novelty, like School of Rock or Glee, but with guitars. 

 

Let's face it, those genres are pretty well-worn territory. 

 

The garage rock of the 2000s (The Strokes, White Stripes, etc.) was mostly centered around the sound of a single band, the MC5, who was 30 years old at that point.   

 

I think the larger issue is that most guys spent thousands of hours practicing drums and guitar and put bands together as a way to meet girls.  Now there are apps for that.  

 

 

2 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

 

Obviously not the biggest commercial success, but definitely one of the best songs released from a Cincinnati band in the 2010s.

 

Walk the Moon's 2014 single "Shut Up and Dance" was almost certainly the biggest song out of Cincinnati during that time period. You couldn't go out in public for more than a few hours without hearing it.

 

Boy bands weren't bands, they were groups.  Similarly, Walk the Moon was a group, not a band.  The fact that they could play their own instruments was incidental.  

 

The two Afghan Whigs records from the 2010s had good stuff on them but there was no way for them to make a cultural impact in an era without a monoculture.  

I was excited to hear your bad opinion on music, and you did not disappoint. Thanks.

48 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Boy bands weren't bands, they were groups.  Similarly, Walk the Moon was a group, not a band.  The fact that they could play their own instruments was incidental.  

 

Lol they are a band, and they still exist. Why the past tense? 

6 hours ago, DEPACincy said:

 

Lol they are a band, and they still exist. Why the past tense? 

 

I just reread my first online criticism of this band, from 2011, and chuckled to see that I complained that their homemade music venue shot in the basement of the Mockbee had been watched 190,000 times.  It is now up to 26 million views.  The second of their two hits is up to 350 million views.  The ubiquity of that damn song at weddings is single-handedly keeping me from joining a wedding band since you're not getting paid unless you play it.  What's really hilarious about that song "Anna Sun" is their temerity to sing "we've got no money but we've got heart".  No, it's the opposite.  Those guys all went to Mediera High School and are from wealthy families. 

 

Tons of people used to take music very seriously and immediately called out fraudulent back-stories and lyrical flourish by bands.  Upstart bands with expensive equipment were viewed suspiciously if not immediately dismissed.  One guy at my high school had an expensive 6-string bass and one drummer had an expensive Gretch drum set with like 10+ cymbals.  Another drummer had a double pedal, which was a very impressive contraption.  Otherwise everything was "entry level" or a hand-me-down.  You'd go to the High School Band Challenge and the east side schools had all of the best everything.  

 

Something I always chuckle about when I think back to it was the time when I auditioned to play in what was essentially a Rage Against the Machine cover band comprised of Sycamore high school students.  I drove over there and they all had awesome guitars and amps and my drums were like falling apart.  Plus, even then I thought it was absurd that these guys from wealthy families were raging against the machine.  However I was willing to look past all of that because a lot of girls came to their shows.  

 

Hell, I just keep recording in my living room. Let’s get me to 150 views and I’ll be happy! 😁

On 12/11/2020 at 10:11 PM, Silent Matt said:

Hell, I just keep recording in my living room. Let’s get me to 150 views and I’ll be happy! 😁

 

I am old enough to remember what a giant production going to a recording studio was.  I recorded with a band on 2" tape twice at this same studio, in 1997 and then again in 1998.  As you can see from the hand-written 1998 receipt, we recorded 12 songs in 12.5 hours.   I don't think we did more than 2 takes on any song.  I remember that we ran the tapes at half speed to save money, which unfortunately increased the tape hiss.  Unfortunately I am not able to share the music because we named the band after a guy who wasn't even in the band as a joke and years later he became embroiled in a high profile legal case in which is infant son was shot and killed.  The perpetrator of the crime is from Cincinnati was granted parole this year after 10~ years in prison and we're still worried that he's going to track down people affiliated with the guy.  10+ years ago we had to take all evidence of the band off the internet.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 20204 yr by jmecklenborg

Never really broke through, but is very well-known in the industry....the pride of Akron!

 

 

On 3/2/2020 at 3:34 AM, Silent Matt said:

Recorded in my basement in Kent. Psychedelic Rock must never die! ?

 

Sounds like The Pixies. 

 

Thanks to this thread I keep getting Heartless Bastards suggestions on youtube.  The band sounds great on this one.  The drummer is so solid and the band never gets tense and rushes. 

 

I think what's upsetting about seeing this from 2013 was still having the confidence at that time that there would be plenty of decent bands around.  Like at least 100 good but lesser-known rock bands touring the United States at any given time and plenty to fill up a multi-stage regional festival like the Nelsonville festival. 

 

But I'm not so sure now.  People are coming to prefer the sound of music coming from ear buds as opposed to full-size home stereos.  Rather than pointing film cameras at the world, people are increasingly pointing digital cameras at themselves. 

 

My dad cracked us up this weekend by telling a "before I met your mother" story about a party he went to the night Led Zeppelin IV was released.  A new record release can never be a big event anymore.  Music isn't bringing people together informally like it used to, only at formal events, where the main event is just taking photos of yourself.  #Vanlife

 

 

^I remember in 1996 there was a night that both Metallica's Load and a new Jimmy Buffet record came out. People at the time had no idea that Load isn't very good so things were still really rockin' at the midnight release at the South Hamilton Road Media Play (now a charter school last I checked). People were sitting in their cars smoking weed and blasting tunes waiting for the store to open up almost like it was a live show.

 

My groups of friends don't just stand there and take pictures of each other all the time. Maybe it's because we are old but we were done with all that business by our late 20s already even with MySpace and Facebook around.

32 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

^I remember in 1996 there was a night that both Metallica's Load and a new Jimmy Buffet record came out. People at the time had no idea that Load isn't very good so things were still really rockin' at the midnight release at the South Hamilton Road Media Play (now a charter school last I checked). People were sitting in their cars smoking weed and blasting tunes waiting for the store to open up almost like it was a live show.

 

The release of Use Your Illusion I & II was like the biggest album release event, ever.  They were still releasing singles off those records like 20 months later.  It was ridiculous!

 

It was also a high point in CD bloat.  They put 16 songs on each album.  A single 10 or 11-song album would have been way better, artistically, but the whole thing was about being as gigantic as possible. 

Same with the Loads.

Except with the Loads (which came out 1.5 years apart) the bloat came from trying to showcase how many styles other than metal they could try. I guess it was just the mid-'90s way of doing things like Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Especially since metal was completely off the table in 1996. On the other hand, with the Use Your Illusions too many of the songs were trying to out-epic each other.

48 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

Except with the Loads (which came out 1.5 years apart) the bloat came from trying to showcase how many styles other than metal they could try. I guess it was just the mid-'90s way of doing things like Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Especially since metal was completely off the table in 1996. On the other hand, with the Use Your Illusions too many of the songs were trying to out-epic each other.

 

There are only two types of songs on I & II - the epics and then little Izzy Straddlin songs that got put through the epic production machinery.  They should have put out the epic record and then come back 10 months later with the small song album as a stocking stuffer.  Like how Pink Floyd followed up Dark Side with Wish You Were Here, which of course had one epic on it, but had humor as well (Cigar).  

 

 

I always thought most of the Straddlin songs on it were just filler and I still skip them. I like your idea of the epics vs non epics separate discs.

7 minutes ago, Silent Matt said:

 I still skip them. I like your idea of the epics vs non epics separate discs.

 

Axl's extended to-nigghghghghgghghghghghghghghggh-ieieieie-t at the end of Don't Cry is epic in itself.  Everything else going on with that band was so over-the-top that things that would single-handedly stand out in the context of any other band are just taken for granted with GNR.  

 

The one small song on those albums that I still think is great is Yesterdays.  I love it when a big band puts out a small song.  The Rolling Stones did it a few times in the 70s and 80s, like She's So Cold.  And basically the entirety of Some Girls and Tattoo You.  

 

 

 

 

Absolutely, Yesterday’s and Don’t Cry are two highlights of the album. Another point of, did this really need to be a double album. Did we REALLY need two Don’t Cry’s?!

12 minutes ago, Silent Matt said:

 Did we REALLY need two Don’t Cry’s?!

 

It was a new release and a box set at the same time.  It would be like if Black Sabbath put "War Pigs" on their first record a second time but with the original lyrics.