If Music Could Talk

John McGeoch. Magazine, the Banshees, and PiL.

Did amazing stuff with Magazine, and he was the best guitarist of the Banshees. That guy kicked ass, and then wham, after PiL, total obscurity and then he died and nobody except music nerds noticed. Shame.

A couple others: Tymon Dogg, who seemed to be why the Mescaleros worked so well as an actual band after the first lineup, and he seemed to be Strummer's muse, as well as a great showman in his own right. Why isn't he on Streetcore more?! Why God, why? Also Garth Hudson, who's the one guy in The Band nobody seems to remember, but he's an amazing multi-instrumentalist and did some great stuff with them. Did some amazing work with Neko Case as well (also, weirdly, I have a John Doe gig from last year where he sits in - trippy hearing his distinct sound on Workin' Man Blues and The New World).

People who totally don't qualify for this thread and should actually die: Clarence Clemons.

Keith Levene.

(You know someone had to say it.)

Dave Allen. The difference between shitty or good Gang of Four and Shriekback and jaw-dropping Gang of Four and Shriekback is Dave Allen's bass. The dude is an anchor. A funky funky anchor.

Billy Joel wrote:People who totally don't qualify for this thread and should actually die: Clarence Clemons.

He probably will pretty soon.

Alice Coltrane. Somehow makes the craziness of the front line sound consonant.

matedog wrote:

Billy Joel wrote:People who totally don't qualify for this thread and should actually die: Clarence Clemons.

He probably will pretty soon.

You're trying to make me feel guilty, and you know what?

It won't work.

Billy Joel wrote:

matedog wrote:

Billy Joel wrote:People who totally don't qualify for this thread and should actually die: Clarence Clemons.

He probably will pretty soon.

You're trying to make me feel guilty, and you know what?

It won't work.

The correct response is:

Fuck him in his grave!

Pete Farndon.

Honeyman-Scott got the accolades in the original Pretenders and Chrysse always shoots for (with mixed results depending on who) some sort of top-shelf lead guitar pro when it's time for a new album/tour, but Farndon's loss took their punk attitude away. And they've never really gotten it back despite Chrysse's purist leanings because she's very disciplined about the quality control. Which is why they've been a good studio band but have been more workmanlike than mesmerizing live (whereas they used to be a force of nature). Farndon didn't give a shit about quality control...he just aired it out with max attitude and energy. He was a great visual draw if you look at old vids, the way he was sneering around and thrashing away, unkempt hair and usually some sort of statement-clothing like a flag tied around his head. Took a long time for Chrysse to realize it because of the open wounds about his drug spiral and because his theatrics made his playing inconsistent, but she's been frank in interviews the last few years that he provided more thrust and balls to the mix than she ever realized.

Billy Joel wrote:

matedog wrote:

Billy Joel wrote:People who totally don't qualify for this thread and should actually die: Clarence Clemons.

He probably will pretty soon.

You're trying to make me feel guilty, and you know what?

It won't work.

I'm serious, he looks pretty awful these days. Can't even stand for long periods of time during concerts. And his sax playing has gotten real bad.

Billy Joel wrote:John McGeoch. Magazine, the Banshees, and PiL.

Did amazing stuff with Magazine, and he was the best guitarist of the Banshees. That guy kicked ass, and then wham, after PiL, total obscurity and then he died and nobody except music nerds noticed. Shame.

Big time this. Amazing guitarist.

Billy Joel wrote:John McGeoch. Magazine, the Banshees, and PiL.

Did amazing stuff with Magazine, and he was the best guitarist of the Banshees. That guy kicked ass, and then wham, after PiL, total obscurity and then he died and nobody except music nerds noticed. Shame.

His obscurity was self-imposed. After PiL he became a nurse. No, really. And, yeah, he was kick ass in Magazine and the Banshees, but I never found anything special about his time in PiL (partly because the material was pretty tame).

Dr. Medulla wrote:

Billy Joel wrote:John McGeoch. Magazine, the Banshees, and PiL.

Did amazing stuff with Magazine, and he was the best guitarist of the Banshees. That guy kicked ass, and then wham, after PiL, total obscurity and then he died and nobody except music nerds noticed. Shame.

His obscurity was self-imposed. After PiL he became a nurse. No, really. And, yeah, he was kick ass in Magazine and the Banshees, but I never found anything special about his time in PiL (partly because the material was pretty tame).

Yeah, the blessing and curse of McGeoch was that he blended in to whatever band's sound so damn well. That worked awesome when Magazine and the Banshees were pushing themselves towards great music, but not so much when Lydon was apparently aggressively pursuing mediocrity.

EDIT: I didn't make any changes, but I wanted to point out that just I realized I wrote this exactly like I talk. The grammar is off in the same way my spoken grammar is.

Wolter wrote:but not so much when Lydon was apparently aggressively pursuing mediocrity.

Or as I put it, finding his level.

Dr. Medulla wrote:
His obscurity was self-imposed. After PiL he became a nurse. No, really. And, yeah, he was kick ass in Magazine and the Banshees, but I never found anything special about his time in PiL (partly because the material was pretty tame).

I love McGeoch's Killing Joke-ish guitar on Save Me, the best post-Levene PiL track IMO. And the lyrics on Save Me are actually decent enough where they don't cast a shadow of lameness on the proceedings (see: Angry).