TS: Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?

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Green On Red are EASILY the best band of this ilk. From the early records which sounded like a spooked, desert-rock Velvets to the sardonic wit of later albums with Chuck Prophet's Richard Thompson twang, they never failed to entertain. I once met them in Manchester and there really was no love lost between them and their Paisley Underground contemporaries - even Steve Wynn (and why weren't the Dream Syndicate on this list?).

Of REM, Dan Stuart said that they jammed with 'em on occasion, "but you're looking at a band that got more produced and more pop on every album and a guy who was deliberately very non-concrete about his sexuality".

He reserved most of his bile for Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, though. "Oh god, I hate that guy. He's just some rich Jew boy from Scranton Pensylvania who goes through his phonebook and gets people to make his records for him!"

Oh, and the Del Lords also ruled.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 11:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, and Jason & The Scorchers must look at the Kings Of Leon and think, "Hang on a minute..."

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 11:16 (nineteen years ago) link

**"but you're looking at a band that got more produced and more pop on every album and a guy who was deliberately very non-concrete about his sexuality".**

**He's just some rich Jew boy from Scranton Pensylvania**

Now I REALLY don't like this asshole. "Hey, man, I'm a authentic roots rocker, not some fag or jew poser." DESTROY!

lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 12:33 (nineteen years ago) link

I understand what you're saying. But in his defence he was keeping it real: never afraid of being out of step with the liberal media who'd wanked over REM from the start. When I accused him of doing a by-numbers loser schtick on one song, he kicked things around the room and fumed, "I wrote that song in a church, man. I was so strung out on dope you wouldn't believe".

Of course, between comments like these and firing three-fifths of his band to make ends meet, we get to the nub of why Dan Stuart was effectively ostracised frm the US music industry.

I still say they're worth investigating.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 12:40 (nineteen years ago) link

**But in his defence he was keeping it real: never afraid of being out of step with the liberal media who'd wanked over REM**

Keeping it real?? Suppose Stipe HAD come out of the closet in 1986, would Dan Stuart have been cheering him on? Hah. And his knee-jerk antisemitism re:Howe Gelb is pathetic. Stuart could've stuck to evaluating their music and stayed out of trouble. So fuck him.

But hey, even bigoted jerks can make good music. We're all sinners in the eyes of the lord, etc.

lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, I think his point about Stipe is that he stayed quiet about his sexuality in order to sell records. Obviously his comment about Gelb is indefensible. I included it to show that there really was no camerarderie between these bands. Stuart even made a record with Steve Wynn ('The Lost Weekend' - it's halfway decent) but wasn't above slagging him off for the same reason he dissed Gelb - namely that he saw him as something of a rich-kid pretender.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:11 (nineteen years ago) link

I used to like the Long Ryders a fair bit. And I'd add Divine Horsemen and True West in there as well and they were both great. Anyone ever hear the Russ Tolman solo albums? I liked those a heck of a lot at the time, maybe I should dig them up again.

NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

BTW Melody Maker was *really* pushing a lot of these bands at the time (1984-87?) while Allan Jones was editing it. One of these bands would be on the cover at least once or twice a month IIRC.

NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I guess we should add The Rain Parade, Thin White Rope and The Bangles to this list too.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm getting confused now, musically, because Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade and the (early) Bangles really didn't work the same turf as the groups mentioned in the question. I know many of them were part of the same LA scene, and as laticsmon points out, some were even friends/collaborators at one point.
My memory of True West is they were spikey & psychedelic, even Television influenced at first and then Russ Tolman veered toward the country/roots thing on his solo LPs. Whereas Green on Red were always roots-influenced, Dream Syndicate stayed psychedelic/hard rock etc. But I haven't listened to most of this stuff in years.
Maybe X were the role model, starting off as punx and gradually bringing the country influence front and center. Joe Ely, who's mentioned upthread, came to punk (and synth-pop on High-Res!) from the opposite direction.
I did listen to A Minute to Pray...by the Flesheaters recently and it totally slayed me (like it didn't back in 82) so maybe a wholesale re-investigation is in order. ILM does it again!

lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Thin White Rope always used to be irked by comparisons with those other bands, claiming (I think) that they were closer in spirit to the likes of the Butthole Surfers and the Meat Puppets.

NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:10 (nineteen years ago) link

"Cowboys from Hollywood" was a piss take on the REAGAN ADMINISTRATION, you Brit ding-a-lings. (RR was a movie cowboy employing Western rhetoric, remember?)

I remember seeing the Long Ryders cover "Public Image," and the singer almost broke his head doing a stage-dive on a sparse audience.

Both the "Del" bands were good live.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Can someone enlighten me as to what scene/context the Del Lords came from? They seemed to come from out of nowhere and, in the UK at least, were championed by only a handful of DJs (mainly on night-time Radio Caroline) around the time of 'Cheyenne' and 'Judas Kiss'. Never, ever the music press.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:35 (nineteen years ago) link

New York City ca.83-84. Guitarist/songwriter Scott Kempner was "Top Ten" of the Dictators and g/s Eric Ambel came from Joan Jett's band.

lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link

As for the Fuegos, I never thought of the country thing as being very relevant to what they did.

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 17 January 2005 15:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Jason and the Scorchers rule.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 17 January 2005 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link

That first EP sure does, anyway.

danh (danh), Monday, 17 January 2005 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

and at least part of the first album....there was this really great comp in the 90s called "Are You Ready for The Country" that had the EP, some singles and the first album....it made them look really great.....Such an amazing live band....I saw them once at the Cabooze in Mpls....Jason surfed through the crowd and then danced around playing harmonica on the bar.....They did an awesome Decendents style vers. of Country Roads by John Denver.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 17 January 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link

xpost yeah, starski's right, let's not get off into that 80s neo-psych stuff right now (found an interesting book about that, KALEIDOSCOPE EYES by Jim DeRogatis [ducks for ILM incoming]). Although come to think of it, John and Exene's vocal yowl kinda reminds me of J.Airplane, despite Marty and Grace having better voices, it all works out (X don't have Paul Kanter's chanting, lucky for them and us). And Freakwater, co-led by Janet Bean, is quieter thanthan what "cowpunk" implies, but a lot of weird deadpan lyrics that don't settle for altcountry womany stereotypes. I'm impressed by most of ANYWAY, by Amy Farris. She's a native of Austin, but got into country via the Knitters! Learned fast though, and played fiddle for ray Price. Dave Alvin produced and plays guitar and co-writes some songs, and she covers X's "Poor Girl" and Scott Walker's "Big Louise," but really the songs she writes solo are just as good. Dave gets carried away with the Spector of Orbisonics echo sometimes, but her voice always makes me think "Brenda Lee is comin' on strong." Yeah I got a one-track mind that way. I'm more frustrated by the Damn Lovelys' TROUBLE CREEK. Meredith Ochs's voice is cute, never cloying, but seems like it sinks back into the mix too often. But "Full Whiskey Bottle" made my Nashville Scene Top Ten and "Too Pretty" made my P&J, and I hear they're damn good live. I think both these acts fit what we're talking here pretty well.

don, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:25 (nineteen years ago) link

the blasters were one of the greatest live bands in any genre ever. they made some really great records for their time, too, though i can't say i listen to 'em much anymore. but they really weren't that much like the rest of the bands mentioned here. they were rockabilly revival all the way, coming straight out of the '50s while most of these bands were coming out of the '60s and '70s rock and country-rock.

the replacements kinda sorta fit in the scene, too. they certainly had some common ground. they covered x, rem and tom petty on "the shit hits the fans," as well as the carter family (a song they probably learned from alex chilton). they toured with steve earle. and they wrote a handful of fine straight-up country tunes themselves.

my two favorite albums that were totally of the scene were the knitters album and the danny and dusty album (a one-off all-star band featuring guys from the long ryders, green on red and the dream syndicate). everyone else had lots of great songs but almost no great albums.

oh, and i'd count dwight yoakam's first album, too, if he counts, though maybe the fact that he was clearly headed for nashville itself (instead of just dreaming of the nashville of the mind, like everybody else) disqualifies him.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 06:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Suppose Stipe HAD come out of the closet in 1986, would Dan Stuart have been cheering him on? Hah.

i could be completely wrong about this, but somewhere in the back of my mind i got it that dan stuart was gay himself. which would make his comments about stipe come across completely opposite from how they're being interpreted here. he's not criticizing him for being gay. he's criticizing him for being in the closet. it may be a pointless and unnecessary thing to say, but i'm not so sure it's evil.

calling howe gelb a "rich jew boy" is offensive. and if you don't think half the non-jews in rock (and probably a third of the jews) haven't said something exactly like this to someone somewhere while drunk in some bar at some point in their lives, well, you're probably wrong.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 07:33 (nineteen years ago) link

that first lone justice got a lotta play on college radio. it sounded kinda weird in amongst the new wave stars of the day.

well the 1st big single was written (co-written?) by Tom Petty and had that Benmont Tench organ sound so it had a lot of reasons to stick out.

gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 07:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Shame Maria McKee's solo career fizzled out so fast. Mick Jagger called her the best vocalist since Aretha Franklin. While the first album was a bit maudlin, the second had a nice Al Green warmth to it and the third took her into Tony Visconti glam directions. Since then... nowt.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 10:28 (nineteen years ago) link

As for Dan Stuart being gay, that would certainly be one explanation. Regardless, I think he was merely dissing Stipe for staying in the closet to sell records. GOR did make an early "AIDS song", though - 'Two Lovers Waiting To Die'.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 10:46 (nineteen years ago) link

For some reason, the Germans have always been disproportionately into stuff like this,. Anyone care to suggest why that might be? This German site has a particularly good Green On Red section, including interviews with Chuck and Dan from ten years after their split. Fraid they both had raging smack habits for a while.

laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 11:19 (nineteen years ago) link

x-post to f/c cuz

my response was a tad self-righteous, admittedly, I've used bigoted terminology before when I WASN'T drunk but Stuart said this shit in an interview and that's different whether he was stoned, drunk, withdrawing or whatever. And while every human being is prejudiced, I find it hard to believe that such a high per centage of musicians would castigate their peers in this way. I mean, when one jew calls another "jew boy" it's sorta like "nigga" you know what I'm saying? Stuart just sounds like a bitter fuck.
And this idea that Michael Stipe disguised his sexuality to sell more records strikes me as absurd. The thousands of people who bought REM albums in the 80s -- and probably most of the millions who did in the early 90s -- weren't viewing him as a sex symbol. I mean, the guy's never been exactly MACHO. I don't think his coming out would've been a big shock to the majority of fans. Now George Michael, that was another story...

lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 11:56 (nineteen years ago) link

...and I forgot to post the link to said German site

http://guitarbands.de

laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

ha ha. just went to that german site and the first thing i saw at the top of the page was a 1984 quote from tom stevens of the long ryders: "it's nice for an audience to hear real drums, real vocals and real instruments, rather than the pre-fab stuff making the rounds today." i love how NOTHING ... EVER ... CHANGES. so who said this exact same thing in 1964, 'cause obviously someone did. who said it in 1944?

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link

When I accused him of doing a by-numbers loser schtick on one song, he kicked things around the room and fumed, "I wrote that song in a church, man. I was so strung out on dope you wouldn't believe".

Nevermind the asshole comments, this is pretty fucken lame as well.

Jason and the Scorchers rule

It's funny it actually took me a long time to figure this out because I was in high school in Nashville during their heyday, and they were all over the college radio station I listened to and played at local clubs constantly.

Anybody here ever hear Web Wilder? Cause he's definitely in this group though he didn't even achieve the bit of recognition the bands in the title of this thread got.

martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Tex and the Horseheads!!!! Actually, I was a fan of the VERY first Jason and the Scorchers EP (the 7-inch with "Broken Whiskey Glass"), then sligthly less of a fan of their second EP on Praxis which was reissued on a major with a Dylan cover a year later. Liked the first Rank and File album at the time too (and the first Long Ryders album very very briefly). I thought the Bodeans (who had lots of fans at Creem in the mid '80s) were horrible, though. Didn't have any use for Loan Justice or the Del Fuegos. Learned to like Drivin' & Cryin' several years later (when they actually existed, right? They came way too late to be a cowpunk band, I think, but maybe somebody already said that.) (And did anybody mention the Danny and Dusty album yet? Wasn't that a Long Ryders guy and a Green on Red guy but better than anything either of them had done previously? Or something like that.)

chuck, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, um, what about the Blasters???? Heads and tails above all the above, pretty obviously, though even they only made 2 or at tops 3 really good albums. Not to mention Los Lobos, whose first EP and first album (How Will the Will Survive) after they decided to reach for an Anglo new wave crowd I liked before I decided they were corny as all fuck. (I still don't think I've ever heard their pre-debut-EP all-Spanish stuff.)

chuck, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, someone mentioned the danny & dusty one. my brother used to play that one a lot. it WAS pretty good.

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago) link

(oops, hadn't noticed that the blasters and lobos had already been brought up. i also loved the first 3 meat puppets albums and their *in a car* 7-inch at the time as well, though the first album -- or EP or whatever =- and the 7-inch obviously don't apply here. i have a rhythm pigs album at home that's i've always liked too; i doubt they apply here at all, but i notice somebody mentioned them above too. they always seemed more in the buttholes/minutemen genus to my ears, though maybe with some crosby stills and nash thrown in)

chuck, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:02 (nineteen years ago) link

(x-post)
the danny and dusty album -- which included the dream syndicate's steve wynn along with the green on red and long ryders guys -- was great. it was loose and it was fun, unlike most of the records all of their own bands made. (and i must now go and report it to the "athletes namechecked in songs" thread, since it had a totally gratuitous mention of ryne sandberg.)

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:05 (nineteen years ago) link

weren't the gun club and the flesheaters considered part of the "death rock" movement in L.A.? Maybe Tex & The Horseheads too. I used to think that was kinda weird, but maybe its not that weird. i usually don't think of them alongside christian death and 45 grave, but it was probably more of an L.A. club thing anyway. Kinda like how the new wave shockabilly groups from the u.k. were kinda lumped in with goth in england. Gothabilly! (i know, i know, the cramps.)

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago) link

i also loved country bob and the blood farmers, who were a lot more straight-up country and a lot more rude than all of these bands, and who to this day i know absolutely nothing about. the only evidence i have of their existence is their one (i think it was their only one) album.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:07 (nineteen years ago) link

and then after all the green on red stuff came the flat duo jets/mojo nixon kinda things with duos and trios playing washboards. they were going back to the land after the miller-lite excesses of the long ryders. all of which leads to the white stripes.

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link

there was a time when all they would show on 120 minutes on mtv were flat duo jets and mission u.k. videos. they were gothabilly all the way.

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago) link

and speaking of danny and dusty, there was also the after-the-fact supergroup gutterball, who featured dream syndicate's steve wynn along with a long ryder, a silo and a couple house of freaks. they made one good album, then went on tour as a kind of no depression version of ringo starr's all-starr band, then if i'm not mistaken started making not-so-good albums.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:16 (nineteen years ago) link

blood farmers -vs- beat farmers


i used to own a treat her right album that wasn't horrible. but they came a little later then the rest of these guys. (i think.)

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:20 (nineteen years ago) link

treat her right didn't have much country in 'em, though, did they? did they have any?

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Green on Red actually WERE cowpoke converts, for what it's worth. I have an early EP and it's pretty much paisley underground, though it does have a folk-rock basis, so, with that, you're already close to country territory.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link

"The thousands of people who bought REM albums in the 80s -- and probably most of the millions who did in the early 90s -- weren't viewing him as a sex symbol."

I think they had a lot of female fans who thought they were hott in the '80s, actually.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link

i think that first treat her right album had some country in it, but yeah, i guess they were more bloozy or whatever.

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:29 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, when stipe was a long-haired mumblepuss he was definitely the brainy girlz & boyz sex-symbol at the time.

scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link

>totally gratuitous mention of ryne sandberg

Heheh, I totally recall that on the D&D album.

Ditto above... A sizable minority of REM's early (female and gay male) fans most definitely considered Stipe a sex symbol in the arty downcast boy-poet vein. (I saw em in '83 at Queens College)

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm going to guess this thread is not a coincidence and resist the urge to hype.

Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 20:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Leave us not forget Neko Case and Kelly Hogan and most other folks on Bloodshot, incl. several thangs involving John Langford. Altough some Mekons albums are pretty dire, their cowpunk or proto-altcountry or whatever it was is pretty cool. Check ORIGINAL SIN and recent reissues of you haven't done so already. Skot! Just got the Nuns tape, thanks!Some pretty rowdy stuff on the live Dixie Chicks album and Steve Earle's JUST AN AMERICAN BOY.

don, Wednesday, 19 January 2005 06:04 (nineteen years ago) link

xpost Maria hasn't flamed out since her first glam album. Just took a while to count her Dixie Chicks money, and then there was some more after their live one came out in '03( and as well as covering "Am I The Only One Who Ever Felt This Way?" and another 'un too, I think, Natalie's audition for the foresister Chicks was Maria's "Panic Beach," a breakthrough for Maria too, creatively). Her second glam album, also in 2003, was HIGH DIVE, and then LIVE IN HAMBURG, and she;s contributed rootsier stuff to several comps in recent years. Supposedly her next will be more like her earlier solos and LJ. ULTIMATE COLLECTION modulated some of the Big Hair 80s blare of the originals, and she and LJ have both had colections since, so hopefuly the sound continues to ease down the EQ. Gun Club and the vesrion of the Flesh Eaters that incl. Blasters, etc. were notable for roots elements sticking out where pre-punk blues (yknow *hippies*! A fookin blooody mess!) got cut down. And the revelatory-appropriate rootsiness of the VU's LIVE IN TEXAS 1969 is a real good precedent.

don, Wednesday, 19 January 2005 06:58 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...
i forgot about fly me courageous by drivin' & cryin'. i like that one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_wRJVTVx3Bc


ten bucks sez i start buying old del fuegos and long ryders albums when i see them cheap at the store from now on. it had to happen.

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Although the first one I heard might make a better gateway--

xgau again:

The Brooklyn Side [ESD, 1994]
More raucous and pointed than such fellow Midwestern alternacountry-rockers as the Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo, and Blood Oranges, these citizens of Festus, Missouri will hit you where you live when they lay out other people's pains and foibles--the welfare mom on Saturday night, the Sunday sports abuser, the constable with his radar gun, the local Dinosaur Jr. fan. They also speak plain truth when they criticize their car. And if they seem to relive cliches when they confess their many romantic errors, how do you think cliches get that way? (Including this one.) A-

Yeah, romance is not their strong suit (relatable).

dow, Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:17 (one year ago) link

Never had any of their albums myself, but they were pretty big with the Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Jayhawks loving crowd in college, which makes sense since they were from not terribly far away.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link

Glad those bands' fans liked 'em, though actual sound/taste on record more like proto-Drive By Truckers, also kinda Great Plains (and later OH band Two Cow Garage).

dow, Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:36 (one year ago) link

Oh yeah, wasn't meant to connect them to those others necessarily, just kind of always filed them away in that whole group even if sonically they weren't that close.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:47 (one year ago) link

I still have a CD of The Brooklyn Side (in a box in the basement where my CDs live these days). Good album iirc, tho I haven't listened to it in forever. "Welfare Music" is one I remember.


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