B69-DES34
Perfect Rock Albums #2:
Love/Hate’s Blackout In The Red Room
Copyright © by Dan Schneider, 9/8/02
Love/Hate was 1 of the GREAT & unappreciated party bands of all time.
Unfortunately they never hit the commercial heights of other rock bands from
their era: Guns-N-Roses, L.A. Guns, Poison, Bon Jovi, etc. By the time their 1st
album: Blackout In The Red Room was released the hard rock of the 1980s
was on the way out, soon to be smothered by the grunge of Soundgarden, Alice In
Chains, Pearl Jam, & Nirvana. Yet, while the 1st 4 bands
mentioned have a distinctly 80s sound & ethos, & the latter quartet the
same for the 1990s, LH’s sound somehow straddles & transcends both. In my
opinion you can argue there have been a few other pure party bands their equal
(although I’m still waiting for nominees), there are none that can be stated
their superior.
While, at their best, bands like Soundgarden & Alice In Chains could
equal the wordsmanship of their lyrics, they had many songs which did not. The
1980s bands mentioned never sustained the musical intensity nor diversity that
LH did. Often they would give in to the weak putrescence of the vaunted ‘power
ballad’: ‘Sister Christian’, etc.- Oy!
In truth, I have the band’s 1st 3 albums: Blackout
(still on tape- the CD is a bitch to find, if it exists), Wasted In America,
& Let’s Rumble (on CD). I was torn between which of these 3 albums
to focus on. All are great & loaded with terrific shit. Let’s Rumble
got the boot because it’s not as hard rocking as the 1st 2-
although still scorching at times. I went with the 1st album over Wasted
simply because I think there’s a tiny bit more musical diversity in the actual
songs’ music. But Wasted is a killer album, too. LH is not just kick
ass drum-thumping, nor is it just death metal speed- yes, I like early Metallica
& Megadeth, at times, & Celtic Frost could hang it on at times. Hell,
the 1st concert I ever went to in 1979 was Mötorhead, opened by The
Godz! But, in truth, I prefer some diversity. Metallica, after all (&
despite their early fans’ protests), only became a GREAT band after the
diversity of the Black Album loosened their asses. I enjoy the complexity
& emotion of tunes which change stride midway- this is creativity. At their
best GNR did this. But they had a penchant for sap that LH never gave in to.
Unfortunately, the Grunge Tsunami of a decade ago killed all commercial hopes
for this killer band.
I will delve a bit in to the band’s history, culled from their online
website: http://www.lovehate.com/, then examine the great songs that make BITRR 1 of the great rock albums
of all time- as well as a perfect 1!
Like most young men of the
last ½ century the members of LH dreamt of being rock stars, fucking hot babes
(1, 2, 5, or more at a time) eager to get ramjetted, having alot of money,
hordes of screaming fans at concerts, the ability to put the past behind them
with a shot of this, a hit of that. After all, didn’t The Killer, Jerry Lee
Lewis, start it all? Didn’t the 1960s make it all open? Didn’t The Song
Remains The Same cement the dream in the minds of many a shit-talented punk?
Speaking of which- wasn’t that the reason behind punk? As lead singer Jizzy
Pearl declares on LH’s website- the band’s motto was Sic transit
Gloria mundi (earthly glory is fleeting).
JP was born to the name
James Wilkinson, in Chicago. He spent his childhood in the San Fernando suburbs
of Los Angeles. He claims a typical conservative, middle class upbringing, &
a youth pursuing music & stardom with several bands before hooking up with a
group that would become LH: Dataclan. Dataclan was a group that rode the early
1980s New Wave trends of Duran Duran, the Thompson Twins, etc. The head of the
band was bassist Skid (Chris ?),
who seems to have been LH’s resident dreamer. Although the band had offers
from Atlantic Records & Capitol Records, Skid wanted to get more labels
interested in signing the band. Drummer Joey Gold’s parents were in business
with L.A. Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, & helped the band use the renowned
Pickfair mansion, home of silent film era stars Douglas Fairbanks & Mary
Pickford, to show off their chops, in early 1985. JP was invited to the shindig
because Dataclan’s manager George Swade had managed several of JP’s former
bands. LH invited many label execs to witness their talent. At the time
Dataclan’s roster was Skid on bass, Joey Gold on skins, Jon E. Love on lead
guitar, a keyboardist named Rodney, & a lead singer named Mark Hollis.
Unfortunately the band bombed & received no offers. Dataclan’s name was
shit to most labels. JP is philosophical on the nature of this all- LUCK is the
single most important element, not talent. This is true in all endeavors,
artistic or not, yet most refuse to acknowledge this lest admit the true
helpless state we all bear before the brunt of the cosmos.
Meanwhile the band
descended into chaos- see the recent & humorous film Rock Star (with
Mark (-y Mark) Wahlberg) for all the clichés which happen to all be true. Having
been in the New York City poetry & performance art scenes in the late 1980s
I rubbed elbows with any # of wannabe rock stars & bands & heard many of
the same tales the film’s & Jizzy’s narratives reiterate. Lead singer
Hollis wants to leave the band & go solo, jealous over Skid’s growing
songwriting excellence. Sides are chosen but manager Swade (in shades of Spinal
Tap) sends the band to headline clubs in Japan, where they fall apart: arguments
over how ‘pop’ the band’s sound should be, Hollis decides he has the
makings of a Michael Bolton-esque career, Skid’s drug use, etc. With 2 weeks
left on their 6 week contract Hollis hauled ass out of the Empire in the middle
of the night. The rest of the band got canned, & on getting back to the USA
keyboardist Rodney lit out for greener pastures, as well. It is rumored that the
duo own a car wash in Dubuque. Of course, JP relates their end in a slightly
different tone: ‘somehow the
Rock Gods look upon quitting as unfavorable and WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN, they'll
put you on that express train to mediocrity and there you will stay....if you're
gonna quit, quit for a better band, don't quit for nothin', like a certain Bass
Player we all know, 'cause the moral is, you might not be able to get home
again....’ But this opened
the door for Jizzy. His pal, manager Swade, insisted JP take over as the lead
vocalist or else he would cease to fund the band. The marriage was tense at 1st
since JP was more of an ass-kicker to Dataclan’s techno-crapola. At the time
JP was a parking valet in Encino, Skid was a ‘flower boy’- think Chaplin’s
City Lights with hairspray!, Love’s income was a mystery, & Gold
mooched off his rich parents, which was another sticking point with the other
band members- except when their money & connections were useful: new
equipment, bail money, & free tickets to LA Forum events (his parents owned
a piece of the arena with Buss). The band moved in to an abandoned warehouse
near LA’s Skid Row (not the band- the slim!) that Swade had gotten a hold of.
The new lineup’s gigs did no better than the old lineup’s. JP’s tenor
voice was not meshing well with songs written for a baritone. The band then
tried to be a ‘Glam band’ in the era’s style. The band tried schmoozing
their way into many a trendy dance club. A while later the band tried to cut a
4-song EP that bombed. It was funded by Gold’s parents, Swade, & Swade’s
Mexican partner- a guy named Rami. The group hoped to tour Mexico as a Glam band
in late ’85. It was another Spinal Tappian disaster.
By 1986, the group dropped
the Dataclan name, hoping to drop its history as well. They chose Love/Hate
because they had a song Love and Hate that they performed at the time. As
JP relates the name change: ‘it seemed like a good name for the band.
Journalists in the future would always try to read some mystical significance
into the name, the yin and yang, whatever. But I am telling you it was just a
name.’ The band dropped their 3rd rate Duran Duran schtick
after hearing the album Love by The Cult. The band turned Goth & JP
even tried to pass himself off as British. Did Rob Reiner have a vision when he
filmed This Is Spinal Tap? JP reasoned that Pantera & Alice In Chains
were glam before turning heavy, & even Deep Purple turned from a very
Byrdsian Flower Power sound to becoming the seminal Heavy Metal band. Good &
bad performances at a weekend gig would determine the band’s psyche for the
following week.
But tension within the
group still existed- mostly between Love & the others. Jizzy details it: ‘Jon
could say the most hateful things that would really surprise you; they would
shock you. So what you did after the first year or so was build an emotional
wall around yourself so Jon couldn't push your buttons anymore. He was excluded
from most business dealings and musical decisions and over the years we sort of
existed in détente with each other. He was in the band because he was a good guitar player and a
good recording engineer, but no one would ever say that they were friends with
him. You never knew when he would turn on you.’
By year’s end Swade got
a new business partner (after Rami bowed out after the Mexican disaster) named
George St. John. Again, JP details: ‘This guy was a piece of work. When he
brought us to his house, his walls were filled with gold records that he told us
he had engineered. He told us he worked as a "second" engineer (and
therefore, uncredited on the actual LP) on Aerosmith "Toys in the
Attic", Led Zeppelin 4 ,Jimi Hendrix, etc. I must say we were impressed.
Probably more impressive was the fact that he was buying us beer. I can
motherfuck this guy now because he is dead, dead and gone.
This guy was a hardcore alcoholic psycho weirdo, we found out later that his
gold record for Led Zeppelin 4 was not for engineering but rather given to him
for being Jon Bonham's coke mule. He did coke with the old keyboardist from
Aerosmith and "Voila!"--free gold record. It was just a short step in
his alcohol dementia to think that he actually PARTICIPATED in them...’ He
was just 1 of many assorted tales of financial scam artist LH encountered, yet
they signed on with him as their manager. Swade & he formed Jungle
Management. They soon broke with St. John- but had signed a 3 year contract
before doing so.
By 1987 LH was without any
real manager, & broke, as well as blackballed in the industry due to St.
John’s Gestapo tactics in trying to get the band a label deal. The band’s
response? JP, again: ‘We bought more bad dope, we recorded more songs, etc.
At this time we had tired of the whole "drum machine " thing--the
strip was alive, bands like Guns n Roses and Faster Pussycat and L.A.Guns were
making their presence known and, of course, we got influenced. I always credit
Guns n Roses with helping us get a record deal ---they started the whole ball of
wax moving. It was weird. Bands were getting record deals left and right. We
were jealous and envious but you always had to suck it in, smile, congratulate
people---when inside you just felt rage -- why weren't WE chosen? well, as you
know, we WERE, eventually...thank god.’ Soon, a new person entered the
fray- Juan Crocier from the band Ratt. The band hated the over-produced sound
Crocier left them with but early versions of 2 songs that later appeared on
BITRR (Why Do You Think They Call It Dope? & She’s An Angel)
made it to the soundtracks of the films Critters & Nightmare On
Elm Street 4. The band had a little money coming in.
Friction still reigned,
though, as Jon E. Love was briefly replaced on guitar by a guy from Dio, called
Tracy G. That lasted a month, until Love returned. Then JP had 1 of those
moments upon seeing a videotape of the band’s performance: ‘I watched it
in stony silence, I was looking at a fucked -up drunk idiot singer, off-key,
saying stupid things, the very very opposite of cool--not many people can
remember a particular day that had such a complete profound impact on the rest
of their lives but I can... that video... changed my life. I KNEW that if I
didn't get my shit together, if I didn't become KINGJIZZO, then I would be
doomed to mediocrity. The Rock Gods WERE SPEAKING TO ME, through that horrible
hideous video, they were saying to me WISE UP MOTHERFUCKER--FIND THE LITTLE
AMPLIFIER ON YOUR BODY AND PUSH THE "BETTER" BUTTON---DO IT
NOW---well, I took it to heart, I practiced , hour after hour, day after day, in the mirror, refining, editing, calculating, I spent months in that
godamn mirror turning myself, transforming myself into a STAR, ....it sounds
corny, I know, but if I hadn't done this your humble narrator might be working
at UPS now, loading boxes onto boxes, for eternity.’
By 1988 things started to
get better. Skid wrote most of the BITRR songs this year. The band started
playing the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. LH played there week after week on Monday nights.
JP soon started getting out of control: ‘I once was on the roof of some 6-story building having a piss when Joey
in the nick of time grabbed hold of my shirt and most certainly saved me from
plunging to my death. are you getting the picture? I WAS OUT OF CONTROL. Jon
hated me, thought I was a psycho, but I think Skid and Joe were amused by my
antics, for you see this was "the Hammer of the Gods" , I was Keith
Moon and Robert Plant rolled into one, the center of Attention, the Village
Idiot--did this
contribute to our getting signed? I hope so...’
The band did a 4 song demo & was signed by Columbia Records. Another
hanger-on, a lawyer named Dennis
Rider, helped seal the deal. The band had built a following. They impressed some
Record execs from Sony (parent company of Columbia Records) & were offered a
deal in late December. Now, poets out there, read this next piece from JP, &
see how it squares with the Academic world of poetry publication & contests:
‘Then when all the record companies heard about Sony, then THEY ALL WANTED
US---how beautiful, what hypocrites, they who had scorned and chuckled now
besieging us with phone calls, calling us the " next big
thing"...there was a bit of vindication in THAT as well...so, Dennis
negotiated with the company and we signed the deal January 13th, 1989--the band
got a $100,000 advance,
we each took home almost $20,000 in our pockets, an obscene sum to me. I
remember us, the four of us driving home from the bank, just having received all
this $$$, and Jon still bitching, still not satisfied, saying how Sony
"fucked" us’. Now LH is hot & women & parties beckon,
David St. John returned for his cut- he sued for his 20%. The band countersued
& ended up paying almost $200k to St. John & Swade, & $42k for legal
bills. The band rented a condo in Hawaii & lived the high life.
BITRR was the 1st album the band released. The cover art was a painting by Skid, of the band toking, painted a year earlier. JP suggested the band use it for the album, after rejecting many a hoidy-toidy high-concept from the label honchos. The band got a huge promotional push which JP pins as the ultimate downfall of the band- they soon lost the desire & got fat. As JP says: ‘YOU'RE CHANGED.what I mean to say is that it probably would have been better for the band if we had started off with a SMALL deal, you know, like Metallica, start off slow and buildup over time....we weren't allowed that luxury, we were expected to go multi-platinum right out of the gate--IT WAS EXPECTED OF US ...
You see, the record label
puts out a shitload of money for you and they like to see a return on their
investment, they're really cool and real supportive as long as they think you're
gonna make them $$$$---now more than ever, it seems, I know of bands that don't
even get their debut record released, it's like the record company isn't even
confident that you're gonna sell ANY RECORDS AT ALL...so they just shelve your
ass...and your
dreams are shattered.
At least that didn't
happen to us, we got the BRASS RING FELLAS, WE GOT THE 'E' TICKET MOTHERFUCKERS,
WE GOT TO RIDE THE FUCKING PONY---most bands don't get a bus, we got BUSSES
GALORE, we got the best of everything... hedonism at it's best...ladies and
gents...let me tell you all a little story about four horny guys and touring...’
JP feels BITRR was the
band’s high point & they slid all the way from there. I’ll disagree, to
a degree, with Jizzy later on, when I review BITRR song-by-song, & some of
the later things the band did. But, yes, I give their debut album the slight nod
as their best. It was released in 3/90 & the band went on a binge-laden tour
to promote it. They opened for Mighty Midget Ronnie Dio’s titular band. From
there they moved up to tour with AC/DC, promoting their single Why Do You
Think They Call It Dope?. JP, again: ‘Then
we scored the AC/DC tour.....the "Dope" video was all over MTV at the
time and that was supposed to be the impetus that got us on the tour, but the
reality was that SONY records paid a lot of $$$ and they "bought " us
our spot on the tour. Not directly, mind you, but with $$$ in promotion and
marketing and full-page ads, it could have been Lynch Mob or Kings X but it was
us....that, my brothers, was the fucking best tour I was ever on....arenas,
stadiums, full plush Grade-A GLORY... it was marvelous, we got to fuck
"arena " bitches and eat arena catering and travel like visiting kings
everywhere. The absolute best....along the way we became a bit of an infatuation
in the U.K.-- they really loved us and still do to this day. Why? is it because
of the booze lyrics? was it our weird stage show? our sarcastic take on life?
probably a combination of all these things. We ended up being quite a phenomenon
over there, we had our most rabid fan response over there---people say "why
there, and not HERE"? well, ..fuck, I don't know...but it was just so cool
to be big SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE, we did a bunch of press and people gave a shit
about what we had to say.’
Even though BITRR sold OK
for a debut, considering the $ put in to it it was viewed as a little bit of a
flop. But LH had made a name, & the record was critically acclaimed for its
excellent lyrics, especially- much deeper than your typical Top 40 rockers. By
1991 the band worked on the songs that would make up Wasted In America-
album #2. But, Sony had other ideas about how the band’s sophomore disc should
sound. The Jizzster describes an almost typical Corporation-Employee
interaction: ‘They made us go back to the drawing board. now, the reason
why Joe and I were indispensable to the writing process was our contribution to
what I call QUALITY CONTROL. Skid brought in songs, sometimes too hastily, and
what we did was to kinda cut the fat off the piece of steak. Or sometimes throw
away the whole steak. The song SPIT was originally called "Your Little
Bump" referring to Skid's girlfriends clit, believe it or not. It was a
good song once we agreed to remove the offensive part. The first lyrics to
"Don't Fuck With Me" were horrible, really campy, so those got
rewritten. And on and on. No big deal, Joe and I just a part of the process,
separate the wheat from the chaff. So we kept at it until we came up with a
better batch of songs to submit.’
The band went to New York City to record WIA, flush with alot of Sony
moolah, in the hopes that WIA would just build on BITRR’s base. JP claims that
the move contributed to his alcoholism & Skid’s egomania. This snippet is
vintage- both in the real world of would-be rockers, & in the parodic Spinal
Tappian counter-cosmos: ‘Skid
wanted to write and direct a movie-WASTED IN AMERICA-" The Movie" –a
"Rockumentary" what he wanted to do was fly out our ex-singer Mark
Hollis, and PAY him to work and edit this film with him. We said no...for a
plethora of reasons--first off, Mark Hollis was neither a film editor or
anything, really, he was Skid's drinking buddy. He was still writing music and
it was good ...but a cinematographer he was not and of
COURSE the band would have to shoulder the bill for this movie.
I think if Skid had said "I want to
do this movie" and I'll pay for it...we might have thought different. I was
in New York to make a record,
NOT to be the "star" of some quasi-movie. Skid was furious, of course,
he started to call us the NON-ARTISTS--and wasn't it fucked that THE NON-ARTISTS
were standing in the way of what the ARTIST wanted to do...I won't go into it
too much, but this wasn't the first time that Joey and I had to put the brakes
on one of Skid's madcap schemes. Six months before we got signed to SONY, Skid
wanted to change the name of the band to the DEVIL DOLLS, we were gonna go full
Motley Crue, full make-up, Alice Cooper....we said no. Skid locked himself in
his room for 3 days and wouldn't talk to anybody... this kind of shit happened
ALL THE TIME, Joey could tell ya, Skid was and is very talented, maybe the best
songwriter I've ever worked with, but being a good songwriter doesn't always
endow you with other skills...like good judgment. so...we said no to the
movie... but it reared it's ugly head later as we shall see...’
The band thought WIA was a
good record, but Sony thought it less of a kick-ass album than its predecessor.
The 1st single from WIA was to be Happy Hour- a damned good
song but not laden with the pop hooks that get radio play. JP would’ve
preferred them releasing Miss America. Personally, I’d’ve gone with
the kick-ass Cream. But JP, in his commentary, is too hard on WIA. In
terms of musical growth the album does best BITRR, but its softer sound leaves
it just a bit short. By September of 1991 the album was done, LH was touring
with Skid Row- another potentially great band decimated by Grunge- in Europe,
pushing a single, Evil Twin, the band did not like, at Sony’s behest.
Skid let his feelings about corporate force-feeding surface in some interviews,
& the band toured the Continent teetering between JP’s excesses of the
flesh & Skid’s motormouth egoism. In early ’92 WIA was released, Happy
Hour was the 1st single, & LH was touring with Ozzy Osbourne.
But all tour long Skid persisted with his film idea, along with his pal &
former bandmate Mark Hollis they began surreptitiously filming the band. Things
got really Tappian when the duo decided to turn the documentary into a film meld
on par with, say, a Mike Hammer Meets Michael Myers motif. Run-ins with
other touring musicians, a video shoot for the 2nd single, Wasted
In America, & alot of negative fan mail were in the past at tour’s
end. JP even missed out on the lead singer gig for Mötley Crüe, after Vince
Neil took off from that band.
Meanwhile the 1st
2 singles from WIA flopped. Assorted publicity stunts also failed to get
anything but laughs, & Sony’s ire. By 1992 the band was dropped by Sony
& Jon E. Love, the lead guitarist, took a powder. They replaced him with a
guy named Darren, who proved to be as productive as many a LH manager. But the
band went on & planned recording their 3rd LP- Let’s Rumble-
without a label. Another wrench was JP’s desire to write some songs for the
band, something that was all Skid’s chore till then. BMG Records optioned LR
& the band toured the UK. But the label would not release the LP stateside,
so the band let their fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages to find a
label that wanted them. More fuck-ups followed, especially in kiboshed releases
of singles, even as the band started work on their 4th album- I’m
Not Happy; a CD I’ve never heard. LR did produce a hit single, Spinning
Wheel, but the label that picked LH up- Caliber- was lagging with the
release of the album- which, by the time of its release, was too late to
capitalize on the buzz from the single.
By this time Jon E. Love
returned to replace Darren on guitar. By this time the group was self-producing I’m
Not Happy- album #4. But little happened as the bandmates opted on doing
non-LH projects. A 5th, & final album- Livin’ Off Layla-
was also done, but the band was pretty much kaput. By this time it was 1997,
& the floundering band was in absolute anomy. But, by ’98 Jizzy tried to
reunite the band after getting a tentative offer from the manager of the band
Warrant. But things bombed, & JP ended up joining another band with a great
past but dismal present- LA Guns. He soon split with them as well.
Before I go into an
in-depth look at BITRR, & skim some of the rest of WIA & LR, let me just
sum up where LH currently stands- defunct. Yet in the last couple of years the
inevitable ‘Best Of’ CD has surfaced: The
Very Best Of Love/Hate.
That’s usually the death knell for 99% of bands- if not the actual interment.
JP sums up his take on the band’s progress: ‘here's the reality--BLACKOUT sold a couple 100 thousand, nowhere near
gold status, WASTED sold worse, maybe 100 thousand, maybe...RUMBLE sold shit,
negligable...I'M NOT HAPPY, next to nothing, and LAYLA, well, the less said
about THAT record the better. anyway, the point is that we were STRUGGLING
AGAIN, back to Square One...’.
So, now that the not so meteoric rise & crash of the band has been charted,
let’s look at some of their handiwork along the way.
There’s a reason BITRR is the 2nd album in this essay
series- it’s about as perfect a party album as you can get- there’s not a
bad song on it. The other 2 albums I’ve heard each have at least 1. & like
The Zombies’ Odessey & Oracle the major reason is
excellent song lyrics which subvert expectations (a major reason they, nor The
Zombies could match the Top 40 pop success of lesser bands), & a sound both
unique in their era & genre, as well as flat out musically excellent. Most
critics, & even the band members look at BITRR as the group’s best. Often
this is the case with bands’ 1st releases, as they’ve had years
to polish their material & have a backlog of their best songs to put forth-
this is also why 2nd albums are often busts, & a lot of groups
become 1-hit wonders (at best).
But, LH avoided this on the 1st 3 albums I’ve heard, not
just with their lyrics & abruptly changing tunes- but great harmonies &
backing vocals. Let’s go song by song: Song 1 is the titular Blackout in
the Red Room- this is a great song: pure hard rock- not heavy metal, per se.
JP’s falsetto is in perfect sync in this song, & his yelps & yips are
perfectly timed with the rumbling buildups & dropoffs. Too often rock
singers strain to hit the high notes. This is the 1st of many LH
songs which abound with drug references, & I will attempt to steer you a
little. But, you say, Dan, we know you’re a teatotaler, how would you know?
Well, as a kid I earned my 1st $ in the mean streets of Bushwick,
near the Wycoff Hospital’s methadone clinic, & playing in the nearby
heroin galleries. Granted, this was 20 years before this LP surfaced, &
across the continent in NYC, but some drug references are universal. Supposedly
named after the painting by Skid, which appears to be of a bongfest, the term red
room refers to the main room in a heroin den where junkies shoot up, usually
with shared needles- the red being the abounding blood. Apparently the
song references mixing booze with heroin- the result being an OD- possibly fatal
by songs end- the music suggests this as it starts off booming then ends with a
very teeter-tottery effect, as if the person is falling off of life. Tribute to
the excellence is that either interpretation (bong or heroin) works.
Blackout In The Red Room
So
you're going drinking tonight
It's party time
Gonna turn bad to maybe
So you're gonna paint the town red
It's party time
Gonna turn bad to maybe
Blackout
in the red room
Blackout in the red room
So you say you can't remember
It's party time
So you say you can't remember
So you woke up blind
It's party time
So you say you can't remember
Chorus
(3x)
Blackout, blackout (3x)
It’s a blackout
While not the strongest song lyrically, the sly references & the
strong musical background, especially the crashing drums, really deliver an
effective drug warning- a bit of medicine slipped in with the band’s sex,
drugs, & rock-n-roll oil.
Song 2, Rock Queen, is a major headbanger- from drugs to
sex- the guitaring in this song is wicked, especially during the main lyrical
body. The chorus is a wicked little piece- as well as being sly. How this song
never became a Top 20 smash is beyond me. How the 1st chorus kicks in straight to the 2nd main lyric
works well in depicting the breathless lust of the protagonist.
Rock Queen
I
got my wine
Get out of my way
Got a chip on my shoulder
Had a real bad day
Met a little girl
Just thirteen
She's a knock-down blue-eyed slut psycho-virgin tease
Chorus
Rock
Queen, thirteen, buxom blonde, bad dream
Let me touch your cookies--let me eat your cookies—now
Got some time
Won't go wrong
Sittin' on the sidewalk
Singing songs
Take my baby home
On the scene
Turns out she's a koochie-koochie-koochie
Chorus (multiple x)
The 2 best lyrical parts of the song are the description of the nymphette
as ‘a knock-down blue-eyed slut psycho-virgin tease’ & the offer
to ‘Let me touch your cookies--let me eat your cookies’. While not
deep, this song, barely over 2 minutes has a # of musical changes, great hooks,
& a refrain that is fast & furied- why did this not become a hit?
Looking back a dozen years later the song holds up far better than anything on
Nirvana’s Nevermind. Just goes to show you that timing is a lot to the
process of success.
Song 3, Tumbleweed, is a good song, but not on par with the 1st
2 songs. It opens with some nice guitar licking, but the song, about anomy
&- ultimately- death, is not the stuff most pop bands venture in to. But the
song, with its bit of Western pitch, & its constant regressive pull (sorry,
I’m not a musician- perhaps backbeat is the term?) toward the song’s end, do
really affect the idea of walking off in to the sunset. An effective song that
just is out of place in the Top 40 universe.
Tumbleweed
I'm
tumblin', tumblin' round
I'm tumblin', my feet don't touch the ground
'Cause I got no, got no place to go
Maybe if I did I'd settle down my roots would grow
I'm a tumbleweed
I'm tumblin', tumblin' round
I'm tumblin', like a wind blowin' through your town
Got a sharp thorn sticking in my side
On this dusty road I'm goin' for a ride
I'm a tumbleweed
Chorus
Tumbleweed
bad seed
No one I need
Tumbleweed bad seed
Got a home on a ghost town highway
Ooh I'm a tumbleweed
I'm tumblin', tumblin' round
I'm tumblin', someday I will be gone
When I grow old, grow old and pass away
Just spread my ashes on a windy day
I'm a tumbleweed
Chorus
Song 4 did not suffer from the same. Why Do You Think They Call It Dope? is especially effective with some of the unintelligible spoken word & musical effects behind the chori- very effective at rendering the bugged out drug stupor. The bass guitar also has alot of little crackly effects that render a very drugged out feel, a mind splintering- this is a very audience-friendly song, as well. It was 1 of LH’s most successful songs & it’s obvious why.
Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?
Chorus
Why
do you think they call it dope?
Nighttime, shooting star, the sun started to rain
Trees lost branches, gurus' trances, black-brassiered dancers, little dears
Showdown's coming, it's no joke, mouth is running, it's a stroke
That's what I think when I'm so fucked up I can't even find the door
Chorus
(2x)
When your heart beats fast, you're so broke, in your car with the red lights
flashing
Look sincere, smell like beer, roach in the ashtray, going to the pokey
Thirty days later, ten bucks left, hands are shaking looking for a dime bag
Chorus
(2x)
Dirty little dopers on dope, so bad (2x)
When two and two turn into five you'll probably see it my way
When bad is good, like it should, things turn upside down
Some people say it's hip to say no, my town it's green light go
For party rockin' angels now it's trigger happy slang-bang-pow
Chorus (4x)
Great images in the 1st stanza, drug references in stanza 2
are very effective, especially set off against the cutesy- & dated-
reference to prison (pokey). These sorts of things are things typical
songwriters won’t bother with- they are less sly & more straightforward-
they’ll pound a hook in to the earth. Another songwriter would never have
gotten to stanza 3, & probably not 2, the song would have been more preachy,
& certainly not as realistic-ending as this.
The next song- Fuel to Run- is basically on alcoholism. Not as
good as the prior song, & a bit of a downer in mood & verse, it does
contain some nice turns- most notably the inverted downward mobility. But the
song is not as high energy as others. The bass does mimic well the sound of what
could be a bum pounding the pavement, looking for places to score a shot.
Effective, but again not the simple-minded approach most hit songs take.
Fuel To Run
Smash
bam biff boom crack
Party still goin' six in the mornin'
Jim Beam, Courvoisier and Jack
We're goin' down
Chorus
I
need some fuel
I need some fuel
I need some fuel to run
I need some fuel to run
Yo Zeke stop! At the liquor store
We want some more
I'd like to introduce you to my fifth
That's who I'm with
Chorus
(2x)
I'm free to exercise my downward mobility
I'm free to exercise my downward mobility
My downward mobility
Chorus
The chorus is the most effective lyric, & the desperation of the lead singer has a yelping desperate sense that scores well, but just is a turnoff to non-afficionados of great pop tunes. The next song is about drinking, as well- but much hipper & upbeat- especially with an Eastern sitar feel behind the chori, & in the bridges. A real spangly retro-60s feel.
One More Round
Black-out
Bill, he's my bud, he brings over Jack
In the car to the Whisky
It's 1:30, stinking drunk, 50 cents in my
pocket
Turn around-Vicky!
On the cuff, on the house, line 'em up, line 'em down
One more round
Quarter of two, what to do.
Sharks start to circle
My my my my my my my
Last call alcohol, time we said bye-bye
My my my my my my-Vicky!
On the cuff, on the house, line 'em up, line 'em down
One more round--one more round
She said "start trottin' boy, my friends are thirsty"
Start trottin' boy, my friends are thirsty
Start trottin' boy, my friends are thirsty
14 yellow roses, windows for the light
One more round (4x)
The ‘Na-nas’ in the background chori also give a retro feel- back to
the 50s, even as the subject matter is very 70s & on. This gives the song a
very timeless quality. It’s a killer tune, & the most lyrically complex
yet- it ends side 1 of the LP- but not the CD. The named references to drinking
pals is effective & draws the listener into the tale, the shots being lined
up is a nice way of setting this song off as a light take vis-à-vis Fuel To
Run. Another thing that works well is Vicki’s command to the singer, as
well as the ‘moment’: 14 yellow roses, windows for the light-
whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. But, it works well! The fadeout
with the whooping also lends a light, fun sense to this great song.
The 2nd side’s lead song, the CD’s 7th, is a
really terrific tune- much deeper & resonant, emotionally, than the party
tunes that dominate side 1. She's an Angel, starts off with a furious
side 1-type blast of ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah’ 2 times- but the
song’s main lyrical body is a soft guitar-laden verse. Stanza 2 then picks it
up. The end’s return to the guitar alone works. The song’s musical
contrasts, as well as lyrical, really depict the bipolarism well. This could
have been subtitled ‘for Sylvia & Anne’.
She's An Angel
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah (2x)
She's
tryin' to have a good time
Even though these are the bad times
She's tryin' to get in--she wants out
Doin' some time for small crimes to herself
Sitting by a window--breathin' on the glass
Time will tell, time will pass
'Cause when you're young sometimes little things seem larger than life
She is a wild wind blowin'--she's my thunder and rain
She is a hurricane
They think she's insane
But she's an angel
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
They'll lock you away
They'll lock you away