Artists/bands that were once quite popular, yet nowadays are mostly ignored in canonical history books

'In a Big Country', on the other hand, is among the worst songs ever devised by human hands.

xp

"New Year's Day" is my OPO, yeah.

Thanks for that bass track, ymp. It's cool that I can't hear in my head how it fits with song at all.

Yeah, Mark Brzezicki (and Tony Butler) also did some good stuff with Pete Townshend. I went down a rabbit hole some months back and found this guy, who has done a whole bunch of Big Country drum covers, which are among the clearest examples of what Brzezicki is up to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREc3HZWm_M

Do you guys know the Rogue Wave cover of "In a Big Country" or any of the other covers from that project?

Yeah, Mark Brzezicki (and Tony Butler) also did some good stuff with Pete Townshend.

“My City Was Gone” too, apparently.

I could go for a Japanese Breakfast cover of “in a big country”

a totally unnecessary (and subtle as a room clearing fart) D-minor in the chorus while the entire song is in G-major

are you putting down just this particular instance ?

xpost: maybe i'm outting my own lameness here, but i honestly believe big country's steeltown is one of the more underrated records of the 80s. i generally prefer their first album, but steeltown rules.

You're not the only one. There was even a POLL, with a lucky number of voters! Big Country - Steeltown POLL

beatles also did "Words Of Love"

― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Sunday, August 16, 2020 12:54 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not really an official release, but the Quarrymen recorded "That'll Be the Day" in July 1958 (in a terraced house in Liverpool that I once lived a few doors down from). They recorded it while Buddy Holly was still alive, which seems incredible to me. I wonder what the earliest-released Buddy Holly cover was.

Not that they won’t ever not be canonical but when i was young the Sex Pistols were pretty much the iconic punk rock band. Now they get half the monthly listeners on Spotify that the Stranglers get, and the Clash are way ahead.

Sex Pistols are, again, a band I knew about BECAUSE of history books. If anything, they probably have more exposure in North America than they did in the 80s and early 90s. "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go" were actual hit songs. In terms of critical respect, too, London Calling was RS's #1 album of the 80s in 1990. ("London Calling" and the cover of "I Fought the Law" are the ones the classic rock station here plays in regular rotation now.) I also totally heard actual music by the Stranglers before the Pistols. They weren't in heavy rotation but a local rock station played a couple of their songs. They fit in OK with other new wave guitar bands.

Not really an official release, but the Quarrymen recorded "That'll Be the Day" in July 1958

It was, um, pretty hard to hear to The Pistols on the radio in the US at the time, to say the least.

If you told me the Clash had more plays than the Police, I'd be surprised.

The Sex Pistols are way, way behind both (rightly so, might I add).

Spinning off from the Steely Dan thread: The Osmonds. Several hit singles I never heard on Oldies radio when Oldies radio started playing '70s stuff, and 100 thou Spotify listeners a month.

late 80s/early 90s seemed like a big period for the Sex Pistols-- movie, documentary, tons of archival releases, Sid Vicious t-shirts everywhere. I think maybe Nirvana holds that niche for later generations?

Spinning off from the Steely Dan thread: The Osmonds. Several hit singles I never heard on Oldies radio when Oldies radio started playing '70s stuff, and 100 thou Spotify listeners a month.

I got wind of them in my late teens and they sounded cool on paper but the music itself did (and still does) zilch for me. Now, early PiL on the other hand…

xp

there are no retrospective Pitchfork reviews of the Sex Pistols, as there are for the Clash, Ramones, Buzzcocks, the Jam, etc. Just a 3.8 rating for "Spunk"

a totally unnecessary (and subtle as a room clearing fart) D-minor in the chorus while the entire song is in G-major

Pres. Keyes, I would be v surprised if that added up to more people in the general public knowing "Anarchy in the UK" than "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in 1991.

Yes that’s what I claimed

Idk what you were claiming; thought your point was surprise that the Pistols had fewer listeners than the Clash or Stranglers but I'm just waking up tbf. I prefer them myself tbc.

I’m talking about a general sense of importance. In the lates 80s Rolling Stone put Never Mind the Bullocks at #2 on their list of the best albums of the last 25 years. I doubt anyone rates them as highly these days.

Listening to “68 Guns” for the first time. Initial thoughts:

1. Far more a Clash ripoff than a U2 one.
2. Where’s this “minor chord” in the chorus? Is it “68 GUNS! can never die”? Urgh I don’t know jack shit about music theory.
3. This song is absolutely horrid!!!

The fact the Pistols are behind the Clash isn't surprising at all! The Clash stuck around and became a successful band and had pop hit.

Pistols are so great I think it's a testament to the fact, they still to this day, midtempo rock and all, be comfortably fit into a playlist at a coffee shop, Rotten still sounds to deranged, the guitars are to harsh...

Also saying that as far as year zero British punk bands go the Clash Seems to hold the popularity crown. Not surprised, just that they viewed as equally important as one time, and the Pistols were cooler

Never Mind is so classic, it sound huge compared to the first Clash record, so vicious

I was more surprised about them having lower numbers than the Stranglers. I think I've heard them before, but I'm not sure.

Re: "68 Guns," there are a bunch of minor chords bouncing around, but the most conspicuous ones are the Bm to Dm in the chorus. I did pick up my guitar and strum along just now, and it makes a certain sense, or at least I didn't have a big problem with it. Regardless, "68 Guns" is a total Clash rip but it's earlier in their career, early enough that maybe the U2 hadn't sunk in. But listen to this. I'm putting in the video so that you can see the "hold my beer" response to Bono's mullet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt2KymSj9TQ

Never Mind is so classic

It's a '70s rock album.

it sound huge compared to the first Clash record

See above. It took the Clash till their second album to hire Sandy Pearlman, but the Pistols had that big arena rock sound right away. You could swap Paul Stanley in for Rotten no problem.

The Clash debut is higher than NMTB on the p4k 70s list btw

Yeah, they had Elton John's producers on it iirc. xp

I thought the sex pistols were always more talked about then listened to? Anyway, they haven’t been erased from the history books!

If anything, they probably take up more space in any history book than any other act that only released one album.

yeah, as I said, they don't fit into this thread's main focus, but they are a group whose importance/profile/critical status has diminished over time. I haven't seen anything here that argues otherwise.

I would disagree, but not sure what smoking gun would dissuade you, maybe one of Jonesy’s heart attack stents would do.

You could swap Paul Stanley in for Rotten no problem.

Gene Simmons probably less skilled at bass than Sid Vicious

Eric Weisb@rd in the SPIN Alternative Guide was otm about NMTB: a lot of filler ("Liar," "Problems"), sacred singles, Important Album anyway.

lol, crüt

You could swap Paul Stanley in for Rotten no problem.
Gene Simmons probably less skilled at bass than Sid Vicious

― trapped out the barndo (crüt), Tuesday, August 18, 2020 11:03 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

steve jones plays most of it in the studio -- oddly, the only one sid is credited on is "bodies", the best song

undoubtedly my favorite song

The Spin Alternative Record Guide is a sacred text and cannot be questioned. I LOVE how Never Mind the Bollocks is #100

Ultimate Guitar etc. has Bm > D in the chorus for 68 guns. I can hear it both ways. I would have to listen to it again to confirm that it's Bm > Dm and... I don't care enough to check.

It is indeed a Dm. If you're too lazy to listen but care enough to post/argue, that basically sums up ILM and should be the new board description.

the vers 2 of it in Ultimate Guitar has Bm and listening it's definitely minor

never heard the song, agreed that the chords is weird in context