This post is just an excuse to get feedback on my new sig pic/line.

[RandomKoolzip]

If you care to comment, go ahead. Even flame me, if you want.

For clarity, lemme add: this is a picture of Greg Ginn, guitarist for Black Flag, and founder of SST records, in 1982 at an outdoor show in Redondo Beach, California. Yes, he's wearing a Grateful Dead shirt. (They were his favorite band, and he never avoided an oppurtunity to tell punk fanzine writers that. *sigh*)

The quote comes from Joe Carducci's "Rock and the Pop Narcotic," the greatest book of rock criticism EVER. Joe worked at SST records in the early eighties and is one of the most important contrarian thinkers/philosphers to have ever walked.

So...there it is. Enjoy.

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Black Flag rocks.

Is this the second in a series of SST artists? Who's next, Zoogz Rift? :shrug:

[RandomKoolzip]

2. No, Joe Baiza!

I dunno, maybe I SHOULD do an SST sig pic cavalcade. Next it'll be Zoogz, then Elliot Sharp.....

[vi5]

3. Good God, was Greg Ginn awesome....

Even though at times his ego and attitude match/matched his talent he will always be a behemoth in my eyes. And I use his love for the dead to justify my own.

[RandomKoolzip]

4. Me too!

I love the Grateful Dead, but the Hipster Music PC squad on DU often make fun of me for it. Fuck, I won't let some clique tell me what's cool and what isn't. I'll make up my own mind, thank you.

Too bad Ginn WAS kind of a control freak...he let the bands he led get away from him due to his ego....much like most of the musicians I admire: Zappa, Pollard, etc....

[jpgray]

9. You must submit to the clique

We have ways of making you adhere to our trivial views of musical good and bad.

[RandomKoolzip]

10. I can like the Fall AND the Dead, goddamnit!

I love Yes AND Minor Threat. I like Everclear AND Can.

I contain multitudes (of shit).

[jpgray]

11. We all contain those multitudes--I'm a huge early Soft Machine fan

And frankly, they suck. Screaming Lord Byron has 'Starland Vocal Band' tatooed on his right testicle.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. And Hedges scrawls "I love Usher" on any available tree.

I've SEEN it!

[Magrittes Pipe]

13. You make me wanna leave the one I'm with...

And start a new relationship witchoooooooooooooooooooo!

[vi5]

15. I think he let too many hangers on feed his ego...

..and he focused more on the label and letting his friends joke bands release records on it and sully the SST name.

Seeing Flag live, even though it was during their last 2 years was a highlight of my musical life thus far.

[mitchum]

26. What, you didn't like Tom Troccoli's Dog or Nig Heist?

:)

[Magrittes Pipe]

5. Your sig line sucks.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Your avatar blows whale meat.

This ain't rocket surgery, fer cryin' outside!

[Magrittes Pipe]

7. Like my new sig line?

[RandomKoolzip]

8. "Like" is a very strong word.

[Magrittes Pipe]

14. My only question is...

...why are your "friends" in the picture Inga Swenson, Dustin Diamond, and Jordan Knight?

[jukes]

16. RKZ

as a musician yourself, the sig shd include you!
self-aggrandizement is virtue in the music world!

[asthmaticeog]

17. Even though you surely know my opinion...

...without my even bothering to chime in, I will anyway: old SST is the shit, and therefore your sig is also the shit. Though if it were me, I would have just left the Minutemen up forever.

On edit: Yes, that's a new Baiza avatar. So much talk of SST today, I couldn't help it.

[RandomKoolzip]

18. Right on right on right on....

:(There's lots of good SST stuff from the LATE 80's, too....I LIKE Elliot Sharp and all those other weird-ass artists Greg signed after Carducci left the label.)

I'll be looking for a Jack Brewer avatar now!

[asthmaticeog]

21. Here:

I did a Brewer, too. Feel free to use it or not.

[RandomKoolzip]

22. Verrah nice.

I think I'll stick to the Pollard, though.

Hey, I have a video of SWA, SacTrust, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, and Husker Du performing in San Francisco in 1985, put out by SST, called "The Tour." If you don't have it, I'll dupe you a copy, if you want.

[asthmaticeog]

27. That would rule.

I'll PM you a mailing address. Thanks!

That's Pollard? I was trying to figure that out. GBV's final show is in my town, but I can't go. Damn thing sold out really fast.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

19. Meat Puppets...........................

SST's finest contribution to (sur)reality.

[RandomKoolzip]

23. My favorite onstage comment from Curt Kirkwood:

"This song is dedi...uh, this song is dedicated to...uh.." (starts song)

[chiburb]

20. Is he a "shredder"?

ProfGAC taught me about that a couple of weeks ago, and I've been wanting to use the word ever since!

:-)

[RandomKoolzip]

24. He's more of a "mangler."

Ginn specialized in "horribly misshapen" guitar solos. When I first heard him solo, he gave me a headache. But the second time, I was in love.

[mitchum]

25. Love Ginn, but I have never been crazy about Carducci's strident ...

"theory" that essentially boils down to "my pop culture choices are better than yours" Whatever you say, Joe. A lot of sound and fury signifying consumption. Get over it, fanboy.

[RandomKoolzip]

28. We'll agree to disagree.

The first time I read it, I got pissed off. But Carducci deserves credit, at the very least, for treating rock music as MUSIC and not as sociology, like 99.9999% of all other rock critics do. And for having the cojones to try and DEFINE rock according to its aethetic characteristics and not along political or trend lines (i.e "rap is rock because it's what young people listen to.").

There IS a difference between pop and rock. Until I read Carducci, I myself was in a half-hearted attempt at pursuing a career in rock criticism; after reading "R+PN," I gave up.

Anyhow, I think it's the best book available on rock music. YMMV.

[mitchum]

29. There's nothing wrong with that...

:)
And of course, the irony is that I share Carducci's taste in music. Go figure.

Actually, my antipathy toward Carducci stems from the time he mailed me a warped Urinals lp. That careless bastard! :)