Ask 411 Music 10.06.08: Invasion Bands, Punk, Death Cab for Cutie and Magners Irish Cider...

Posted by Rob Samuels on 10.06.2008

The eagerly anticipated return of Ask 411 Music features bad jokes, a tasteless list and I think there are a few questions in there somewhere.

‘Hello, I Love You...'
(Intro)

Welcome to Ask 411 Music - the column written for the people by a people. The theory here is simple; You ask the questions, and I try my best to answer in a coherent manner. Simple enough eh? I am your new host Rob Samuels, a name you will undoubtedly recognize, as I am a world-renowned writer, musician, actor, producer, best boy, studio runner, grip, janitor, Member of Parliament for Dunny-on-the-Wold and general assistant at a Tesco Express in Wakefield. Ok, I'm lying... I retired from acting last year.

Obviously this column was formerly hosted by the incomparable Beatle-maniac that was Blake Lauderback. Hopefully I can step up and fill the humungous shoes he has left behind. I can't claim to be as knowledgeable, or indeed as handsome as young Blake, but one thing I can say for certain is that I am definitely more English than he is. In an effort to differentiate my version of Ask 411 Music from Blake's I have cunningly ripped off his format in a delightfully subtle way. Enjoy.

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Make Sure To Send Your Music Questions Now To [e-mail]!

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‘I Can't Tell You Why...'

I hope I will be able to tell you why, as this is the first round of questions! Hooray! Remember to send any query you may have to me otherwise I'll have to start approaching strangers in the street for questions and I don't want to be arrested...again. Because I'm obviously new to this gig, I haven't had anything emailed to me yet by you, my loyal viewers. So I decided to ask my friends for questions, consequently they are mostly opinion based. So don't think you have to send questions like these in, you can send good ones in instead if you want.

From Jimmy C,

Apart from the Beatles, who do you think was the best band from the British Invasion era?

Well Jimmy, this is a hard one as it depends entirely on what you mean by ‘best'. If you are talking most successful in quantifiable terms i.e. most records sold or biggest venues played, then I would have to say The Rolling Stones. Ok, I admit that was an easy answer and The Stones have easily outgrown the term ‘Invasion band'. In chart success terms, The Troggs certainly did well off the back of ‘Wild Thing', and you can't deny the success of Petula Clark (the highest selling British Female Solo Artist of all time) but it was probably The Dave Clark Five who had the most success charting several singles during the mid-sixties in the States.

On the other hand if you want my opinion on the best bands musically I would have to go for The Kinks and The Who - both of whom had minimal success in America, despite having arguably the best sound of all the British Invasion bands. The Kinks had their share of problems, being banned from America for much of the sixties, and The Who just never really took off over there.

From Ronnie Jepson,

Do you agree with the way Punk has developed over time?

Like any genre of music, Punk has evolved over time and mutated into many different styles. We now have so many sub-genres ranging from things like Hardcore Punk to Horror Punk and even things like Pop Punk and Ska Punk. While some Punk bands went down a more melodic route like The Clash, who incorporated Ska and Reggae sounds into their music, others took a heavier route like Anti Flag. Development and evolution is vital in all forms of music otherwise it gets stale. So I don't disagree with Punk developing over time per se.

However, I am a classic Punk fan and bands like Green Day, Gallows and Blink 182 etc turn me off. Mostly because I dislike the way they classify themselves as Punk. Green Day are not Punk anymore (They too have evolved), Gallows are poor man's metal and Blink were never anything more than Pop-Punk. Punk is about the mentality, the attitude and the politics as much as it is about music, and most modern ‘Punk' bands don't understand that.

Rant Over.

‘A Quick One While He's Away...'

Much like my predecessor I intend to use this section to pad out the column. Over the coming weeks I'll be putting in a few lists, some opinion based stuff and maybe a rant or two if you're lucky. These little sections will hopefully encourage plenty of debate in the comments section - because who doesn't like to bitch about music? This week I'll be writing an opinionated list (because I know you all love those). The list will be:

(drumroll)

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Top erm... 4 Rock ‘n' Roll Deaths.

Yeah it's a tad morbid, but Rock ‘n' Roll is all about living life to the excess, and what better way to prove you led an excessive life than an excessive death? So who had the most Rock ‘n' Roll deaths? (Disclaimer: Top 5 is a registered trademark, and Top 4 has no affiliation to said column.)

4. Robert Johnson - The founding member of the '27 Club', the infamous Robert Johnson's death is still shrouded in mystery. Most claim that he drank poisoned whisky, which was spiked by a jealous bar owner. Like most of his life the truth behind the controversial bluesman's death will probably never be fully known.

3. Janis Joplin - The troubled 60's star had struggled with heroin addiction her entire life, constantly on and off the drug until 1970 when she passed away. It was during the recording of her final album, which was released incomplete - a chilling experience to listen to. Coming only a month after the death of Jimi Hendrix, the two tragedies were seen by many as the end of the 60's care-free spirit. Both died at 27.

2. John Bonham - ‘Bonzo' was very well known for his alcoholism. The latter days of his life were plagued with booze-fueled incidents, and in 1980 it eventually caught up with him. According to Richard Cole's autobiography, the drummer had consumed 40 shots of Vodka that day - starting in the morning when he ordered 8 measures and a ham sandwich for breakfast. Despite one of his band mates turning him onto his front he was found dead the next morning at the age of 32.

1. John Entwistle - The Who bassist is the odd one out on this list as he is the only one who didn't die young. Entwistle was renowned for living an excessive and glamorous life. Mansions, fast cars, women, drugs - he did it all by the boatload. The reason the Who kept doing reunions in the 90's was to help the broke bassist out. In 2002 he was found dead in his Las Vegas hotel room having spent the night with a prostitute and a few lines of cocaine, all at the age of 57. Pete Townshend has described the death as ‘something that should have happened in the 60's, not in 2002.' That is Rock ‘n' Roll excess.

We salute you John Entwistle.

‘You Really Got Me...'

That's enough of that, let's get back to the questions...

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Make Sure To Send Your Music Questions Now To [e-mail]!

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From Murray,

Do you prefer the new Death Cab for Cutie album or the last one?

I can't profess to be familiar enough with either album to answer this question Murray, having only heard the odd Death Cab track. However, by some miraculous stroke of luck my flat-mate happens to be a huge Death Cab for Cutie fan... what are the chances? So I shall hand the question over to him, Alex?

Alex: Thanks Rob, Always a pleasure. For me the newest album, Narrow Stairs has a much more raw sound to it, whereas the first one sounds more heavily produced. I prefer the high energy levels and more ‘real' sound of the newest album. Back to you in the studio Rob.

Thanks Alex, but there's no need to say "Back to the studio", I'm sitting right next to you. Anyway, that was Alex Jones, Ladies and Gentleman. Welsh guitarist extraordinaire. Hopefully we won't be hearing from him again, but you never know...

From Flandango,

What's the name of the song in the Magners Irish Cider advert from earlier on this year? It has the lyrics ‘Her hair was black and her eyes were blue' in it. Cheers.

Thanks to good old YouTube I have an answer for you Flandango, if that is your real name. The Song is called Galway Girl, and it's by Steve Earl. For those of you not in the know, here is the advert. It's a good song actually so it's well worth 41 seconds of your time:

‘Don't Believe A Word...'

This section of the article will contain a little light entertainment. Maybe an anecdote or joke that I found amusing, or appropriate. I hope you enjoy, and if you have any of your own feel free to send them to me and I may well put them up next time. Unless they're shit.

Seen as though death has been a hot topic this edition, here's a vaguely relevant joke:

Eric Clapton dies and goes to heaven, when he gets there Saint Peter greets him with glee, "Eric! We've been waiting for you! We're putting together a supergroup." Saint Peter shows the guitarist through to the studio and introduces him to the band. "There's Jim Morrison on vocals, Jimi Hendrix on guitar, Jaco Patorious on Bass and John Bonham on drums..." says St. Peter. Eric looks over at the band and notices a strange man walking around banging a tambourine. "Who's that?" Eric asks inquisitively. "Oh" says Saint Peter "Thats just God... he thinks he's Bono."

‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat...'

Tragically we have reached the end of this weeks edition of Ask 411 Music. Alas, you shall have to wait a week for another. But fear not dear reader, for you can catch me on Friday when I review a dusty old album from my shelf with the all-new Classic Record Review! I can't wait, can you?

In the meantime get your brain ticking and send in any questions, queries, quibbles or quandaries to me at - [e-mail] and I shall endeavor to answer them in a witty yet informative way... either that or I'll just throw in some more tacky jokes and a few wicked cool pictures. Until then have a corking week.

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Make Sure To Send Your Music Questions Now To [e-mail]!

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