Kick Out the
Jams: The Modern Relevancy of Rock and Roll
By An Article of Opinion by Travis Becker
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Driving into Washington DC on a Sunday,
the rain spitting at me like so many British punks at a Black Flag concert,
my hopes and expectations were limited. Not getting murdered and finding
somewhere to park my car, where it stood at least a reasonable chance of
remaining for the duration of my business in city, pretty well summed them
up. Feeling reasonably confident about those objectives, my friend and
I strolled down 14th Street in downtown DC. We stopped in front of a Domino's
Pizza and stared across the street at the front of Black Cat and spouted
the usual complaints about doors not being open and the likely outrageous
drink prices while trying to shelter from the now steady downpour. Behind
us, in the restaurant, sat two long-haired, leather-clad members of Swedish
rock superstars, the Hellacopters. Kenny Hankansson and Nicke Andersson
cordially chatted with us for a few moments before we departed, leaving
them to finish their dinner in peace in the empty dive. While not one for
star struck awe in the face of admittedly minor celebrities (at least in
America), the encounter did leave me considering the place of the music
I love so dearly, Rock and Roll, in America today.
When the Hellacopters made their way to
America back in the mid-Nineties by way of their debut album, Supershitty
to the Max, released on the now defunct Man's Ruin label, people in
the underground immediately began to take notice. The unhinged, explosive
guitars and drums along with the overdriven vocals seemed to tear at the
speakers and, indeed, at the very fabric of time, space, and sound. As
the band grew they refined their sound, shedding some of the punk influence
along with Backyard Babies guitarist, Dregen, while reining in the amps
to maybe 11 from the 14 or 15 to which they had been cranked. Popular reaction
was mixed. While those who had discovered the band early on missed the
raw power, the band brought in scores of new followers with the catchy
but uncompromising retro-rock stylings of such albums as High Visibility,
By the Grace of God, and this year's Rock & Roll is Dead.
Although they have already accomplished such feats as winning Swedish Grammy's
and selling to platinum levels in their homeland and throughout much of
Europe and Australia, the band has mysteriously failed to achieve even
moderate success in the US. Perhaps we've forgotten the past or maybe the
Nationalism of George Bush's America prevents the U.S. from embracing an
act that doesn't pledge allegiance to the Flag, whatever the reason, the
Hellacopters offer as much of our Rock and Roll past and future to us as
listeners and fans as any other band out there today. Indeed, they carry
on the tradition of underappreciated, but unrelenting, Rock and Roll.
Perhaps the most immediately obvious influences
of the Hellacopters are the Detroit bands of the late Sixties and early
Seventies, defined by allmusic.com as Proto-Punk. "Proto" as defined by
Webster's comes from the Greek meaning "first" or more appropriately in
this case, "primitive." The MC5 and the Stooges filtered bands like the
Who and the Doors through the sensibilities of dozens of garage bands and
psychedelic acts, such as those featured on Rhino's Nuggets collections,
and added just a dash of the Motown soul that so defined the musical identity
of that working class city. The MC5, in particular, created a formula basically
stating: volume minus pure virtuoso talent (although I'd put money on Wayne
Kramer or Fred "Sonic" Smith in a guitar duel anytime) plus a beat you
can dance to with a message laid over top equals beautiful chaos over and
Rock and Roll ecstasy. Regardless of what you call it, the music tugs at
you in a primal way with unfettered energy and undeniable ass-moving rhythm.
While other acts, like the Stooges, may have pushed the sonic envelope
further and may have paved a more direct road to Punk, as a pure Rock and
Roll band, the MC5 were the best of the bunch.
Later, other acts followed in the footsteps
of the MC5. Bands spawned directly from the MC5 like Sonic's Rendezvous
Band ultimately proved commercially unsuccessful and broke up soon after
forming. Many punk acts also cite the MC5 and the Stooges as huge influences,
the Ramones notably, who also suffered from a lack of commercial viability
for much of their career. While some acts garnered critical acclaim later
on, or became big sellers after their prime, like Radio Birdman, no act
with the unbridled sound of those so called Proto-Punk bands made a lasting
impact on the charts or on radio, rather they had to settle for success
down the road or not at all. So, why does it take the music-listening public,
which ultimately is not a huge portion of the population, so long to catch
on to these bands? And why, when a new band comes along that harnesses
the sound and fury of those acts, does it meet the same sad fate during
its own time? Important questions, indeed, but ones with no acceptable
answers.
What is important is that there are bands
to carry on the legacy of uncompromising Rock and Roll. While most of the
modern bands who have taken up the torch for the MC5 generally lack that
band's incendiary political stance, several of them have begun to stamp
the music with their own signature. Whether it's the spacey excursions
of New Jersey's Lord Sterling, or the Southern Rock tinge of Georgia's
Bad Wizard, each of these bands is helping to create a new tradition based
heavily on the old. New York's own Mooney Suzuki has even taken heavy does
or R&B influence and made the leap to airtime in commercials for major
car dealers, and the Brought Low, another New York band, possesses one
of the most transcendent guitar tones heard in the last twenty years. Just
try to find one of these bands on the radio, though. And, of course, the
mighty Hellacopters keep cranking out anthems in our own time that would
probably sound at home on most any rock radio station, modern, classic
or otherwise if given a chance.
I suppose it could just be a case of people
needing extremes. Maybe these bands aren't heavy enough for the modern
rock radio set who seem content to feed on the likes of Metalcore and the
misery of post-Grunge, or nu-Metal. While Rock and Roll has always had
a dark side, the ultimate message has always remained uplifting, that is
until the last ten years or so. It could be the always manic message of
the Hellacopters and their ilk clash with people's medication. Who knows?
By the same token, maybe sweat-soaked Rock and Roll guitars are just a
little too straight forward and upbeat for the Indie and Emo kids, who
also seemed destined to wallow in misery and self-pity. To each his own
as the saying goes. But me? I'm happy right in the middle of two or three
guitars, intelligent but not overly serious lyrics, and a damned catchy
hook somewhere in there. That may place me in the minority of an already
small minority, but maybe that's the fun of these bands, and any underground
band for that matter-knowing you're in on something special that the rest
of the mass media-fed world just hasn't locked onto yet. Still, there would
have been something vaguely satisfying about having to fight through a
Beatlemaniaesque mob to meet the mighty Hellacopters. Then again, I don't
know if that kind of validation is really necessary. What I do know is
that I would drive hours through the rain into a veritable war zone to
catch the Hellacopters again, to see real Rock and Roll again.
This article was inspired by the
Hellacopters. Be sure to read Travis' review
of the new CD as well as his
review of the concert mentioned in this article.
Preview
and Purchase The new Hellacopters CD Online
Visit
the official Hellacopters homepage
More
articles for the Hellacopters
tell
a friend about this review
.
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