Gene Simmons overthrew Big Bird for me in about third grade. KISS worship wore thin by junior high and I moved on to stuff you didn't have to play backward to hear satantic messages. I liked Black Sabbath but when that first Ozzy solo album came out, it blew me away. Randy Rhodes was instantly appealing: if the simplicity of power chords appealed to me as a novice guitarist, it had worn thin without my even knowing it, and 'Blizzard of Oz' was a revelation.
So I'm passing through the gas station on the way to work this morning and 'Crazy Train' is playing on satellite radio.
Satellite radio is just the modern reinvention of Muzak. Ozzy on Muzak is a little startling, being that this was the music I cranked up to irritate my Dad when I was 14. It's kind of like finding out they're using a Dead Kennedys tune to sell sneakers or seeing Iggy Pop pitching car insurance. Which will probably also happen.
But it's not just the Ozzy thing. Last night I was listening to the Ohio Players. Damn, those fuckers could play. It's easy to think of them as a disco act, but they were more than that. A bari sax just flies in the face of purely 'dance music.'
And tonight, The Joy of Cooking, 'American Originals.' For the uninitiated, this is the original groove band. R&B, soul, and folk influences, it's sophisticated but infinitely listenable. If this band had been promoted...
2 comments:
It was vulgar. Had to delete it. Cha, cha, cha!
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