Feel Good Hit Of The Summer 01.12.06: Chick Rock
Posted by Frank Estrada on 01.12.2006
This week we are talking Chick Rock. We are going to honor The Nazz with God-given ass. We are going to get laid and vertigo in Hawaii. Karen O is asking you to show your bones. Gwar up for an Academy Award in 2007? Plus the Coachella Artist of the Week!
Welcome to Feel Good Hit of the Summer, where we talk music and throw in some music bits for good measure. . Today I'm asking, what ever happened to Chick Rock? I'm not talking about Letters to Cleo or Frente; I'm talking about Garbage, P.J. Harvey, or L7? I'm talking balls out Rock Chicks. Remember the Lilith Fair? It was a good festival for those who supported it, but I feel it boxed all woman musicians/bands into one category. For better and for worse, it did expose some women to a larger audience but the women/bands who weren't in that scene seemed to disappear when the Lilith Fair ended as well. We do get an album time to time from Alanis Morissette, who I blame for all this, from P.J. Harvey, and from Tori Amos, but there is not a lot of female rock acts that are being sold to us; unless you concider Pink rock. For the past couple of years woman acts are mainly "Pop" singers. Thank American Idol for stretching that out too. I think that bands like Hole balanced out the music scene.
Let's talk about that Jagged Little Pill album. Yea I blame it for overshadowing all other female artists, but it's a good album. You'd be surprised who played on the album; Flea & Dave Navarro. Alanis' success had labels racing for other women acts like her with the same pain and/or message. (Funny thing is, following Jagged Little Pill, critics complained her following albums weren't as good. Honestly I like her later albums better.) When Sarah McLachlan wanted to do the Lilith Fair Tour, it seemed that this became the only outlet for women performing live. The Lollapalooza Festival was supposed to be diverse; never had a 50/50 line up between men and women acts. I'm ok with this. But then ended up dropping female acts alltogether. The same can be said of the Warped Tour, who once had acts like No Doubt and Save Ferris on their main stage; although had Juliana and the Licks in their line up recently.
What I am complaining about is that we lost bands like the Breeders, who were doing something different with Cannonball. The Lilith Fair acts seemed to wash out or hide these rock bands simply because they were lead by women. Kathleen Hanna left Bikini Kill and started electronic dance act Le Tigre. Yep, we even lost the Riot Grrls. I miss the diversity of Juliana Hatfield's guitar solos over her singing over the pages from her diary. I miss Shirly Manson's awesome videos. One band I saw on a Lollapalooza tour that blew me away was Shonen Knife (R.I.P. Mana "China" Nishiura). They kicked major ass and I didn't understand a thing they said. They are from Japan and had the devil horns out. I hope there will be a renascence of woman rockers, because it's been about 10 years since the Lilith Fair. I see hope in my wishes. Here are a few women who are pushing the envelope:
Tegan and Sara. They are Canadian sisters who have a great single Walking With A Ghost. They write catchy songs with good hooks. They are touring with Cake right now. They played Coachella last year.
M.I.A. All the way from Sri Lanka via London, she is dancehall with old school hip hop beats wrapped up in electronics. You think she listens to a lot of Bob Marley and the Clash, because of her lyrical content. Recently she just opened for Gwen Stefani. Talk about exposure.
Peaches. This is someone I found about 2 years ago. She is Punk going down on electronics in a dirty alley. Her lyrics are colorful if you catch my drift. She has a great song with Iggy Pop called Kick It. She is coming out with a new album this year; I believe Josh Homme is going to be on it.
That being said lets get on with the news.
Karen O calls you out.
Speaking about Chick Rock, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs announce they are following up their breakthrough album Fever to Tell with Show Your Bones. This is what I'm talking about. I was lucky to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs live. Karen O is one of the best out there. You can't take your eyes off her. Yes the music rocks too. The first single will be Gold Lion.
Get Leid and Vertigo in Hawaii.
U2's Vertigo Tour is continuing in 2006. So far they are returning to the U.S. on one weekend. They are going to play Hawaii, a place they haven't been to since the Unforgettable Fire Tour of 1985. For those of you in Hawaii or can afford to go, they are playing Aloha Stadium April 8 & 9.
I declare Gwar on Utah.
Playing at the Sundance Film festival, a film call American Hardcore traces the roots of Hardcore music in the 80's. Footage includes bands Gwar, Bad Religion, Black Flag and the Misfits. My wish is that this gets an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary and Gwar makes the thank you speech.
Grammy honors legends.
David Bowie, Cream, Merle Haggard and Richard Pryor will receive 2006 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. Are you surprised that they all haven't received this honor yet? Bowie is a Legend. After the Stones, the Beatles and Zeppelin, I feel that David Bowie is probably the biggest influence of the era. This is one man. .This is one man who hasn't been afraid of anything and is still doing it about 40 years later. Richard Pryor also should have had this along time ago as well. His albums influenced all who followed him.
Coachella Artist of the Week – Depeche Mode
In anticipation for the Coachella Valley Music Festival, I will introduce an artist of the week. Normally I will choose a band or artist that isn't the headliner so we all can possibly discover new music. Since the line up hasn't been announced yet; I'm going to choose Depeche Mode by default. Dave Gahan is saying that he and Depeche Mode are headlining one night. Who am I to argue with Dave Gahan?
Required listing: 101 – What a great way of getting ready for Depeche Mode than their best live album. It is two disks filled with music showcasing them at the top of their game. This tour was also chronicled in the move with the same name, with their final stop, and biggest show at California's Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Playing The Angel – I will admit that I haven't heard this album yet. This will defiantly be required listing for me. Plus the single Precious is awesome. At first it sounded dated, but I started listing to the lyrics and it grew on me. This is their current album so I bet they are going to play a few from this one.
Music For The Masses – Arguably their best studio album. Such classics as Never Let Me Down Again, Strangelove, Behind the Wheel make this an exciting album; chronicled in the live album 101. Plus it has the great song Pleasure, Little Treasure.
Black Celebration – Actually I don't listen to this album. I usually listen to Violator if I listen to DM. In the sprit of Coachella, I feel I must respect the hardcore DM fans and try to embrace this album. (I found that the hardcore prefer this album to Violator. Actually a few hardcore fans have admitted to me they stopped listing to DM after Violator, because those songs were "played out.") Songs like Dressed In Black and Sometimes (both sung by Martin Gore) really kept me away from this album, because I felt they were slow torch songs. Not my cup of tea. Are these songs good? Maybe. But I will try to listen to this album and appreciate it. If I can't, there is always Violator. Halo is my favorite DM song anyway.
