WNEW | Where Rock Lives

MGMT and the Ting Tings, Waiting in Line: The Review

Two of the most buzzed-about bands in the indie music world

Plus ...

A free concert in the hippest venue in the heart of Hipsterdom

Plus ...

Did I mention it was a FREE concert?

Equals ...

A scene akin to the most colorful and exuberant refugee camp that you've never seen.

The JellyNYC Pool Parties at the McCarren Park Pool are always well-attended events (partly due to the high-quality lineup of bands such as The Black Keys, Wilco and Sonic Youth, and also due to the fact that they are very free) and feature 'like being in middle school again' activities such as Dodgeball and Four Square. But when it was announced that The Ting Tings and MGMT were going to be sharing the stage on the 25th of July, it was clear that even a venue as large as McCarren Park was going to be pushed to its limit.

I knew that I had to arrive early in order to guarantee that I would make it into the show, and so made the extraordinary effort of waking up at 9AM and heading out the park. Surely that far in advance I would be the first one there. I mean, it's not like I was trying to get an iPhone. Oh, how wrong I was. The saga began:

10:30 AM

I joined the already-lengthy line around 10AM and mentally prepared myself for the wait to come. Spirits were high, and in sporting fashion, everyone did a good job of making the wait an event in-and-of itself. There were many games of Keep-Me-Up using the oversized beach balls provided to us by the corporate sponsor, and there was copious mingling and flirting among the hipster herd.

1:00 PM

As the day wore on into the heat of the afternoon, patience started to wane and tempers started to flare as the outside temperature rose and the lines only stretched longer and longer. The Keep-Me-Up games devolved into something much more aggressive and destructive. The enmity between the two separate lines, the North and the South, heightened and a mere mention of the other line would inspire comments such as "Oh the North? I hate those guys so much."

2:30 PM

There was clearly a rift growing between those who had arrived early in the morning and those who had just wandered into the line later in the day, and as the threat of line cutting increased, some were inspired to threaten violence on those who would try to commit the cardinal sin of cutting in line. On the 'Southside' this guy vigilantly kept watch over the line threatening all suspicious-looking bystanders with 'If you cut the line, Ill cut you.'

2:45 PM

Fortunately, right before inter-directional violence broke out, the chain link fence was loosed and the giddy hordes of hipsters poured into the pool; with not many stopping to look back at those less-fortunate still stuck on the other side of the wall.

Gazing back, I only hoped that the concert itself would be as half as exciting as the line had been. (It was pretty good; the Ting Tings definitely took the cake.)

Video Classics: 'Psycho Killer'

1977's Psycho Killer was the signature debut hit for the Talking Heads, who would go on to become one of the '80s most critically-acclaimed New Wave/No Wave/Punk bands. It only made #92 on the Billboard charts, yet even so, it was the only song from their Talking Heads: 77 album to go so high. As the band's fame grew, so did the song's popularity, enough for it to make the Firecracker 500 in 1996, coming in at spot #249.

Ostensibly written from the point of view of a serial killer, the song was originally intended to be a semi-narrative of the killer actually committing murders. Frontman David Byrne has said of the song (from Wikipedia) ...

'When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.'

The Talking Heads' 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense opened with the following footage, in which David Byrne appears alone onstage and performs a frenzied acoustic version of Psycho Killer, apparently accompanied only by a boom box. After the jump, check out a very early version of the song performed with a raw, indie feel and a few alternate lyrics.

Rock 101: Bigger Than Jesus?

Not everyone is a rock expert, so here is your weekly Thursday primer on the events and happenings that shaped Rock and Roll from J.A. Bartlett of the Hits Just Keep On Comin'...

In 1966, John Lennon bragged that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. A worldwide backlash ensued, causing Lennon to back down. Right? Well, not exactly. The tale began in March 1966, when Lennon gave an interview to British journalist Maureen Cleave. One paragraph of the wide-ranging article addressed Lennon's intellectual tenacity, and gave an example:

Experience has sown few seeds of doubt in him: not that his mind is closed, but it's closed round whatever he believes at the time. 'Christianity will go,' he said. 'It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first -- rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.' He is reading extensively about religion.

And that was it. Cleave went on to write about Lennon's house, his possessions, what he liked to read, and so forth. The "more popular than Jesus" remark went unnoticed in Britain and Europe. Five months later, an American teen magazine, Datebook, pulled "I don't know which will go first--rock 'n' roll or Christianity" from the article, added an exclamation point, and put it on its cover with other quotes from Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Timothy Leary ("Turn on, tune in, drop out!"), and others. Inside, the magazine ran only the paragraph from which Lennon's quote had come and not Cleave's entire article. Other media outlets picked up the story -- "Lennon claims Beatles more popular than Jesus" -- and controversy exploded. The anti-Beatle backlash centered mostly in the American South, where radio stations stopped playing Beatles records, and where rallies were held where Beatles records and merchandise were destroyed.

Days later, a shaken Lennon held a press conference at which he apologized, sort of. "I wasn't saying whatever they're saying I was saying. I'm sorry I said it really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologize if that will make you happy. I still don't know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do but if you want me to apologize, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry."

In a newly uncovered 1969 interview, Lennon explained further: "It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ. Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, 'cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do." (More on the 1969 interview here.) Lennon's 1969 remarks almost make the Beatles sound like a Christian rock band, and speaking strictly for myself, I wonder if he really believed what he was saying. Having learned the lessons of 1966, however -- when he and his mates got death threats after the original remark -- nobody should blame him for talking that way.

Not the way you heard it? Add your thoughts below or check out Rock 101s past...

A.M. Nuggets: Jack White's New Bond Theme, Best Ever?

The title of the new James Bond movie - Quantum of Solace - may be a headscratcher, but it looks like the new theme song will be more of a toe-tapper. The film's producers announced yesterday that Jack White (you know, Meg's little brother) has written the theme song, no doubt a cheerful little ditty, titled Another Way to Die. The song will be a duet with vocal powerhouse Alicia Keys so it's sure to be a screamer.

White and Keys join an exclusive club of artists who have written and performed the now 22 Bond theme songs - a mostly proud lineage including the likes of Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, a-ha, Duran Duran, Bono and Tina Turner.

What's the best Bond theme ever? Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger? Live and Let Die? Don't say Sheryl Crow on Tomorrow Never Dies. Leave me your pick for top Bond track below.

'An Evening With Ween'; McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn

Friday night, Ween closed out their Summer 2008 North American Tour with the bucolically-titled An Evening with Ween. The show itself though was anything but bucolic, with Dean, Gene and the rest of the Ween family providing their adoring minions with 3-plus hours of pure manic energy. Starting promptly at 7pm, with no opener, and refreshingly with none of the standard-issue concert drama. (Huge fans of WNEW.com, the boys of Ween clearly have been taking advice from our own jabartlett's post on concert cliches we can do without.)

Playing everything from the classics such as Voodoo Lady and Dr. Rock to future favorites off their newest album like With My Own Bare Hands and Spirit Walker, the band ran through the complete gamut of their almost 20-year catalog, taking only a few brief moments to rest and drop a few witty and ironic quips: ("Here's another one ... by Ween.")

Ween has always been one of my favorite bands that I never really listen to much.

It can be difficult to find the right context in which to properly enjoy Ween's jet-black humour (here and definitely here) to their withering musical satire.

Ween makes 'mood music' for the bipolar.

And it's most likely for this reason that despite the consistent quality and volume of recording and touring that they have done over the past two decades, they have not achieved mass market success. But despite this the vast majority of the pop-music-consuming world can hear the influence of Ween deeply embedded in the music of Tenacious D, and most intensely in the movie and TV performances of Jack Black. JB's simultaneous satire of rock music and his wide-eyed, child-like passion for the same music that he mocks completely sums up what Ween is all about.

Highlight of the Show: During the first encore the lights and the speakers suddenly cut out for a few moments and it was clear that someone in the Tech Booth had mistakenly hit some buttons that shouldn't have been touched. Once the lights and speakers were restored, the band immediately kicked into a riotous version of You Fucked Up, with the whole crowd going crazy.

For more Ween goodness, make sure to check out their delightfully surreal website where you can download full versions of their past concerts and purchase their new album.

National 82-Year-Old Kool Aid Month

As with July so goes August: another sizzling month chock full of special days to make you aware of special causes and make you buy special things.

Though August is Get Ready for Kindergarten Month (for which I'm about 40 years late), it's those special individual 'Days' that are most exciting. Here's a list of the most important of August's daily celebrations and some songs to sing while serving cake and ice cream.

August 1
National Girlfriend Day
Check with your wife before you decide to get one.
Five For Fighting - Angels and Girlfriends

August 4
National Chocolate Chip Day
Serving Suggestion: A handful straight out of the bag
Isaac Hayes - Chocolate Chip

August 5
National Night Out
A.K.A: National Breaking And Entering Night
Judas Priest - Breakin' The Law
(August 5 is also Physic Sunday. But, if you're interested, then you already knew that.)

August 6
My Mom's 82nd Birthday
Mom still digs ice cream, listens to Bob Marley and flies all over the country. Props to Mom
The Beatles - When I'm 64 + Moby - 18

August 8
Kool Aid Day
Just beware of who offers it.
Big Audio Dynamite - Kool-Aid

August 10
National Duran Duran Appreciation Day
It had to happen, didn't it? We're guessing it was Simon LeBon's suggestion.
Duran Duran - Rio

August 12
Sewing Machine Day and Vinyl Record Day
Together, racing for ubiquity.
Nurse With Wound - Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella and Aerosmith - Big Ten Inch Record

August 13
National Underwear Day
Reduce, recycle, reuse
Pulp - Underwear

August 15
National Men's Grooming Day
Repeat after me: nose hair is not sexy, nose hair is not sexy.
Ray Stevens - Harry The Hairy Ape

August 28
Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day
For those who truly have too much free time
Mouse On Mars - Yippie

Video Classics: 'Maybe I'm Amazed'

While the studio version was never released as a single, 1970's Maybe I'm Amazed remains one of Paul McCartney's most popular songs, and for many it is the best-loved of all of Sir Paul's solo efforts.  Attesting to this is the fact that when Wings finally released a live version as a single in 1977, it became an instant Top 10 hit in the United States.  As far as the Firecracker 500 goes, Maybe I'm Amazed was solid enough to hit #124 on the list in 1991 and #270 in '96.

The song is the second of five love songs McCartney wrote for Linda Eastman McCartney, his first wife, though it is the first he wrote as a solo performer ('I Will' and 'Two of Us', written for her prior to their marriage, were released while he was still with the Beatles). Written in the uncertain period just after the Beatles' breakup, the lyrics (particularly the lines 'Baby I'm a man and maybe I'm a lonely man, Who's in the middle of something, That he doesn't really understand') reflect McCartney's uncertainty about his life at the time, but mostly they stand as an ode of appreciation for the love of the woman who was standing by him through it all, and would continue to stand by him until her death 28 years later.

The song's original video plays (quite appropriately) like a McCartney family photo album, filled as it is with photos of Paul, Linda and their children during private moments.  After the jump, see McCartney and Wings give a live performance from 1973.

This Week in Rock History: 'Marry Me, Sid'

This week in 1983 one of the greatest bassists in history, James Jamerson, died at age 45 from various complications. Jamerson was a former member of the Funk Brothers, the house band at Motown Records, and played on some of the most important and  influential records ever made. At the televised Motown 25 celebration earlier that year, the Funk Brothers went unmentioned; Jamerson had to buy a ticket from a scalper.

... in 1977, American waitress/rock critic/punk rocker wannabe/complete unknown Chrissie Hynde, threatened with deportation from England, reportedly offered Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols (pictured) two pounds to marry her. He didn't. One year later, Chrissie met two mates and formed a band called the Pretenders. Two years later, Sid would be dead. (The offer has never been confirmed.)

... in 1971, one of the first rock star benefit concerts, the Concert for Bangla Desh, were held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Two shows, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, were held on a Sunday. Concert organizer George Harrison fronted an all-star band featuring Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, and Ringo Starr. John Lennon had agreed to perform with the stipulation that he not bring Yoko; when she objected, Lennon changed his mind. Paul McCartney turned down the invitation entirely. The concert resulted in an album and film; proceeds from both continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF today.

... in 1942, Jerry Garcia was born in San Francisco. For his 15th birthday, he received his first musical instrument as a gift -- an accordion. At his request, his mother exchanged the accordion for an electric guitar. In 1965, he rechristened a band in which he was playing the Grateful Dead.

A.M. Nuggets: Lollapalooza's Siren Call

The Lollapalooza Mindfield scavenger hunt is back! Colleect 5 tags & win 2009 VIPs.

So began the text message last night - the siren call of the Lollapalooza festival, quickly reforming itself again in Grant Park after a year's slumber. This year is no slouch, in fact it's in the running for biggest. lolla. ever.

Radiohead,  Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails occupy the primetime slots, with a solid crew of Lolla alums like Wilco, the Raconteurs,  Broken Social Scene and Gnarls Barkley in tow.

Our best buds 93XRT will be all over this monster, after all it lives right in their Chicago backyard. Some of us will be along for the ride and we'll report back on all that goes on throughout the weekend.

If you haven't seen the list of aftershows, go now, it's ridiculous. It looks like the Lolla nightime has taken on a life of its own.

Video Classics: 'Money'

The lead-off song to side two of Pink Floyd's most-successful album, 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon, the riff-driven Money is also the only song from the album to crack the Top 20 on U.S. charts (hitting #13). The song also rated #54 in 1991's Firecracker 500, but managed to squeak into the top 40 (at #40) in 1996's list.

The song is notable for its introductory passage of cash registers and other money-related sounds. Music enthusiasts will also point out that Money is a very challenging song to keep the beat to. This is because most of it is performed in 7/4 time. Almost all of rock music is recorded in 4/4 time, and very little music of any genre is recorded with seven beats per measure.

The song's very authentic bluesy feel may have something to do with how Pink Floyd originally worked it up. From Wikipedia ...

The song was created in a makeshift recording studio Roger Waters had in his garden shed, and the released version has a bluesy, transatlantic feel as opposed to the original demo version which is described by Waters as being "prissy and very English" (this was stated in Classic Albums: Pink Floyd - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon). Though credited solely to Waters, since he wrote the basic music and all the lyrics, it is very much a group effort; the instrumental jam was a collaborative effort from the band, David Gilmour overseeing the time change and guitar solo, Dick Parry doing the tenor sax solo, and Richard Wright and Nick Mason improvising their own parts.

The first video clip is the original studio recording, supported by images of wealth, poverty and the band. After the jump, see Pink Floyd's classic lineup perform Money at Live8 in 2005.

Best Music Blog: Hidden Track

Every week, we will be profiling the best music blogs on the Internet. But instead of writing a simple blog review, we've decided to give the blog creators the opportunity to tell you a little about themselves...

Hidden Track is an independent blog affiliated with the good people at Glide Magazine. Narrowing the scope of what this rag covers would be criminal, but the great vision involves covering anything having to do with music, ever. We concentrate on the 'live,' but this site ain't no one-trick pony, and everything made in a studio need not fret about exclusion. We started with an audience of about 50 loyal readers and have since grown the site to reach an average of around 45,000 visitors a month. Not bad for a couple of dudes with 9-5 jobs.

The Background: In September '06 the owners of Glide Magazine decided to start a new blog to offer readers news and opinions about music on a daily basis. Some Dude, our current Managing Editor, was asked to write the blog, but he couldn't devote the time needed. He suggested Ace Cowboy of Slack LaLane to the Glide guys and Ace took the gig. Ace enjoyed reading message board posts from Scott Bernstein, and asked him to help start this new venture. On October 25, 2006 Ace published the first post on Hidden Track, and nearly two years later we just posted our 2,000th piece. Earlier this year Ace quit and Scott stepped up to take the reigns assisted by the previously-mentioned Some Dude.

What We Cover: From that very first day we never wanted to pigeonhole ourselves into covering a specific genre of music, as our tastes are all over the place. Within a week you can find posts about the Specials, RAQ, Willie Nelson and Dr. Dog on Hidden Track. If we dig the band, we'll post about them. That being said, we all grew up seeing Phish shows, so we tend to post news, interviews, remembrances and opinions about that band more than others.

How We're Unique: Scott and Some Dude write the majority of the posts and manage a staff of twenty contributors. All of our writers have different likes and dislikes when it comes to music, and we're not afraid to speak our minds. We have over 10 weekly columns and about 20 different columns that run either bimonthly or monthly. Some of our most popular columns include Cover Wars (which lets our readers decide who does the best cover of a particular song or artist), the B List (HT's version of the music list) and Blips (where we look at emerging artists who may not be on our readers' radars).

The Three Coolest Moments in HT history according to Scott:
1. Legendary rocker Alice Cooper gives Hidden Track a shout out on his nationally syndicated radio show.
2. Getting to interview Phish keyboardist Page McConnell on three separate occasions.
3. When one of my favorite writers of all-time, Randy Ray, asked if he could contribute a biweekly column.

The Future: We've been working on a redesign of the site for the past four months. We hope to go live with Hidden Track 2.0 by Labor Day. Our longterm goals include adding contributors from Chicago, LA, Seattle and other cities where we don't have any staff members, continuing to build our traffic and to eventually start covering more happenings outside of the music world.

Make sure to check out Hidden Track at http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/

A.M. Nuggets: McCartney at Shea; Free Kings of Leon mp3

Big, loud rock band Kings of Leon have released a big, loud rock single called Crawl, and they want you to go here and get it for free. This track is a preview of the Kings' upcoming album Only By The Night, due out September 23rd. 'Big' and 'loud' are the only adjectives I can use for these guys, but that's exactly what they sound like. If you're in NYC, check them out at the All Points West festival in Jersey City, NJ next month - right now it's the only U.S. date on the band's schedule.

In other big rock news (I guess he's loud too) Paul McCartney was interviewed by NME about his trip to Shea Stadium to play with Billy Joel at the ballpark's final concert. Seems the NYPD and Air Traffic Control played a big part in getting the Beatle to the show on time. So where are those guys when I'm running late for a Mets game? In any case Sir Paul had this to say about the soon-to-be-imploded Shea, recalling his other appearance there in 1965:

"This stadium is such a special place to us.  We’ll never forget it and its memory will live on."