ROCK Sex likes 'the way you walk and the way you talk'.
Creativity compounds itself in unexpected directions. Here's another example.
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The original version of "Susie Q" was by unsung swampabilly guitarist Dale Hawkins.
(The slamming guitar break by James Burton shows how Rock'n'Roll was the Punk of the times).
DALE HAWKINS -"Susie Q" (1957)
In the early to mid-'60s, it was subsequently covered by luminaries like Lonnie Mack, Gene Vincent, The Rolling Stones, The Everly Brothers, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and even the early Velvet Underground.
But it was the epic workout by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their debut album that many folks remember so well that they think it's CCR's song.
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL -"Suzie Q" (1968)
Glam queen Suzi Quatro built her style out of '50s boogie-woogie and leather, and it was an easy association to make likening her to a real-life "Suzie Q":
SUZI QUATRO -"Can the Can" (1973)
Suzi's image clearly inspired Joan Jett and Gaye Advert, and her name may have inspired the Punk Suzie Q, SIOUXSIE SIOUX; on their first gig, they were called 'Suzie and The Banshees' before the spelling change.
LADIES FIRST wants to clear up any misunderstandings.
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In today's installment of "she did it first", here is Nina Simone with the original version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The song was written especially for her to record.
While it is a metaphor about emotional relationships, her vaunted activism gives it a broader social context.
NINA SIMONE -"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (1964)
The Animals released their international hit cover version the following year, making it a staple in many Garage bands' set lists. It was propelled by the distinctive vocal of Eric Burdon, the guitar figure by Hilton Valentine, and organ harmony of Alan Price.
THE ANIMALS -"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (1965)
In the late '70s it took on epic dance dimensions by the Disco group Santa Esmeralda. This version gained new street cred when its instrumental break was used in the film, KILL BILL, Vol. 1 (2004).
SANTA ESMERALDA -"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (1977)
The KILL BILL soundtrack included the Santa Esmeralda track as well as Nancy Sinatra's cover of "Bang Bang". Perhaps taking their cue from this, here is STRANGEFRUIT combining the guitar sound of Nancy's song along with Nina's version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood":
STRANGEFRUIT -"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (2009)
Booker T And The MG's were the premiere Soul band of the 1960s.
They backed Atlantic Records stars like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Sam And Dave, as well as Stax Records artists like William Bell, Eddie Floyd, and Carla Thomas. They also made their own classic instrumental albums, inspiring bands like The Meters, the Muscle Shoals studio bands, and CCR.
Here they are backing up Otis on this killer groove.
OTIS REDDING -"I Can't Turn You Loose" (1965)
A few years later, when doing the soundtrack for the film UPTIGHT, the MG's retooled the riff into this proto-Funk instrumental classic.
BOOKER T & THE MG'S -"Time Is Tight" (1968)
Notice their heavy influence on the sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, like for instance this song.
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL -"Down On the Corner" (1969)
Directly on the MG's heels this Ska version quickly followed.
SOUND DIMENSIONS -"Time Is Tight" (1969)
The song gained new life in the late '70s as an into theme for The Blues Brothers, whose band included guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn from The MG's, which they combined with Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose".
THE BLUES BROTHERS -"I Can't Turn You Loose" (1978)
About the same time it was covered by these eclectic Punk upstarts:
THE CLASH -"Time Is Tight" (1978)
ELVIS COSTELLO used it as the basis for this song.
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Memphis Minnie was a ferocious guitarist in the early decades of Blues music. She could hold her own in any guitar dual, and if you got out of bounds she whipped out her knife.
While she sang most of her recorded songs, on this occasion the vocal was done by her then husband, Kansas Joe McCoy.
This song laments the terrible Mississippi River flood of 1927.
MEMPHIS MINNIE -"When the Levee Breaks" (1929)
Like the tremendous inspiration that they had from Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny, Led Zeppelin likewise canonized Memphis Minnie's song with this evergreen...
LED ZEPPELIN -"When the Levee Breaks" (1971)
So tell your rockboy friends that "she did it first".
ROCK Sex is debuting a new feature that will rotate regularly in the future: LADIES FIRST.
Today's spotlight could also be called "She Did It First". Rock'n'Roll was always made by men and women from all genres and backgrounds. But at the end of the day, sexist marketers and lazy journalism reduced it to a cock fight; male male white man yadda yadda yeah. This blog is one long reality check in general, and here very specifically.
Many of the songs we grew up on assuming were originated by tough men were in fact trailblazed by cool women. Here's our first example...
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Famed hitmakers Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich wrote scores of classic songs that we all love. For one of their girl groups they had to come up with a throwaway B-side in twenty minutes. So THE RAINDROPS recorded this song...
THE RAINDROPS -"Hanky Panky" (1963)
Soon after, another girl group did their take on it, with more Rockin' swing.
THE SUMMITS -"Hanky Panky" (1963)
Tommy James heard a local Indiana garage band cover it. He was unsure of the lyrics, from that quick impression, so in true "Louie Louie" fashion he kind of fudged and improvised them. It became a leftfield hit that ignited his career.
TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS -"Hanky Panky" (recorded 1963, hit in 1965)
In Singapore women again took up the call. But this time Rita Chao sang James' version phonetically (making an unintentionally delightful lesbian anthem), while Nancy Sit sang it in her own language.
RITA CHAO & THE QUESTS/ NANCY SIT -"Hanky Panky" (1967)
"Hanky Panky" was meant as filler, but it lasted because it was so brazenly about sex and being proud to love having sex. What's cool is that despite all the changes in its handoff, that core randiness never gets lost.
Now that's Rock'n'Roll...the very name of which came from slang for rockin' and rollin' in bed.
I love Elastica because they were the sum result of a lot of great influences gelling into something unique.
Every act is the sum of their parts, it's true, but sometimes someone pulls it together just right for you. It's the difference between laying all the ingredients out on the table versus cooking them with your own touch.
Elastica expanded on some melodies from the great PostPunk band Wire, and get no end of grief for it from literalists. Whatever. I enjoy what they brought to already fine songs.
WIRE -"Three Girl Rhumba" (1977)
ELASTICA -"Connection" (1994)
WIRE -"I Am the Fly" (1977)
ELASTICA -"Line Up" (1995)
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Perversely, in light of all the flak they got in '95, Elastica returned in 2000 to also do a couple more songs almost willfully interpolating melodies from Wire.
WIRE -"Kidney Bingos" (1977)
ELASTICA -"Nothing Stays the Same" (2000)
WIRE -"Lowdown" (1988)
ELASTICA -"Human" (2000)
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Elastica's leader, Justine Frischmann also admired the arpeggiated use of guitars in the riff for this song...
THE STRANGLERS -"No More Heroes" (1978)
Though The Stranglers didn't get any grief from Bach for their baroque moves, Elastica didn't escape so lightly in kind for using the same playing approach with their own unique song.
ELASTICA -"Waking Up" (1995)
I say it's all good. We're lucky to have had each and get such great work between them.
Today, an "A + B = C" song chain, featuring the Doctor Who theme.
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One cool thing added to another another cool thing gives you a third cool thing. It's like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the color spectrum, and babies.
Ron Grainger may have composed the theme for "Doctor Who" on paper, but everyone knows it was Delia Derbyshire who performed her sonic wizardry in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to make this Electronic classic what it is.
The true wielder of the sonic screwdriver is Delia.
DELIA DERBYSHIRE -"Doctor Who Theme" (1963)
As a flipside to his Glam Rock single "Rock'n'Roll", Gary Glitter did this epic instrumental. Long before it was massacred by your local sports event. (Gary made a handful of cool songs, but Gary himself...well, that's a sad story.)
GARY GLITTER -"Rock'n'Roll, Part 2" (1972)
And The KLF, under the alias The Timelords, combined the two in this dance club hit.
THE TIMELORDS/ KLF -"Doctorin' the Tardis" (12" version) (1988)
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The youth entranced in the '60s and '70s by Delia Derbyshire and the BBC radiophonic Workshop's eerie textural soundtracks grew up to become New Wave, EDM, and Industrial pioneers. Here's proof in what could have been an alternate theme for DOCTOR WHO, named after the Fourth Doctor himself.
We all know that the '80s renaissance of comix included WATCHMEN, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, AMERICAN FLAGG, MIRACLEMAN, and LOVE & ROCKETS.
But easily as bold, much more ambitious, and far more funny was STARSTRUCK. Yet the acclaimed series by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta was criminally overlooked. And let's face it... it's because it starred kickass funny women instead of terse aggro men. Now it has returned in monthly issues with expanded art and stunning color.
Time to catch up to the better revolution and support STARSTRUCK today!
You may have heard that "Me And Mrs. Jones" have a thing going on. But evidently everybody is getting a bit of the jones as they make the rounds around and around.
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BILLY PAUL -"Me and Mrs. Jones" (1972)
LORDS OF ACID -"She and Mr. Jones" (explicit version, 1998)
"She sends out an aroma of undefined lust
It drips on down in a mist from above.
She's just the girl, she's just the girl.
The girl you want."
Today's culture baton handoff evolves from devolution.
Devo starts it with the great Electro anthem "Girl U Want":
DEVO -"Girl U Want" (1980)
Later, Soundgarden slows it down to a grunge grind.
SOUNDGARDEN -"Girl U Want" (1991)
Devo, ever re-evolving, then remade it for the 1995 TANK GIRL soundtrack taking Soundgarden's cue. TANK GIRL: DEVO WIth Jula Bell -"Girl U Want" (1995)
In turn, Devo's song has covered by Robert Palmer, Superchunk, Zombie Ghost Train, and CRX; and here in Spanish by Chancho en Piedra. CHANCHO EN PIEDRA -"Calentón" (1998)
At this point the standard evolves into the abstract, with the riff interpolated into a new song by Polysics.
POLYSICS -"Each Life Each End" (2000)
Scouting for girls, the cool and underappreciated Boyskout admitted she's just the girl, she's just the girl, the girl they want:
BOYSKOUT -"Jesse James" (2004)
Continuing the 21st Century overwrite, here's a flip on the blips.
DEVO 2.0 -"Boy U Want" (2006)
"You hear her calling everywhere you turn/
You know you're headed for the pleasure burn"
Another musical relay race today, where one song changes hands and sounds and names.
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Between 1970 and 1977, you couldn't go up against WAR.
This formidable Funk troop could take down all comers with their scary chops and continuous hits. Here's the abstractly anti-drug anthem, "Slippin' Into Darkness".
WAR -"Slippin' Into Darkness" (1972)
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer spliced that riff into their spliff with this classic of their own:
THE WAILERS -"Get Up Stand Up" (1973)
Meanwhile the deluge of covers began. Here's a survey of the different slants everybody brought to the groove.
THE 19th WHOLE goes with vibraphones, organ, and peels of acid guitar:
THE 19th WHOLE -"Slipping Into Darkness" (1972)
Ohio grew great Funk like it was grass (Bootsy Collins, Ohio Players, Zapp). Here's THE DAYTON SIDEWINDERS putting some serious Meters-style hard kick into the song:
THE DAYTON SIDEWINDERS -"Slipping Into Darkness" (197_)
Now original groover RAMSEY LEWIS sasses some Jazz razzmatazz on it, with some slow slunk in the style of Sly And The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On.
RAMSEY LEWIS -"Slipping Into Darkness" (1973)
CARL BRADNEY goes Marley one better by giving it the full-on Reggae treatment, with beautiful harmonies.
Naturally hardcore L.A. HipHop put a kit on it.
FUNKY AZTEKS, ft. 2PAC -"Slippin' Into Darkness" (1995)
The song is now a standard for every self-respecting Funk band.
LETTUCE -"Slipping Into Darkness" (2012)
The song has also been used in the films AMERICAN ME (1992) and SUICIDE SQUAD (2016).
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There's a "War" touring around nowdays, but it's just one guy with a legal name-grab. Instead, go see THE LOW RIDER BAND, which has all the surviving members in great form!
"Where I talk to my brothers who never said their names."
ROCK Sex has been known to be "the longhair who doesn't like the shorthair for being such a rich one who will not help the poor one".
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Starting off today's relay, here's the godly Sly And The Family Stone talking about you and me:
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"Everyday People" (1968)
Sly's original phrase, "Different strokes for different folks," was also the inspiration for the name of TV's "Different Strokes" series (1979), and the film title EVERDAY PEOPLE (2004).
JOAN JETT keeps it all in the family:
JOAN JETT -"Everyday People" (1983)
"Everyday People" has also been covered by The Staple Singers, Peggy Lee, Billy Paul, The Supremes, Dolly Parton, Aretha Franklin, Medeski Martin And Wood, Pearl Jam, and Jeff Buckley.
It's nah-nah kids chant "And so on and so on" can be heard in the rhythm of the taunt "Yes I had your boyfriend" in this song.
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO -"If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" (1994)
And ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT remain sliced in familial tones:
The Supremes amped up the Motown beat to spectacular effect in their smash hit "You Can't Hurry Love".
THE SUPREMES -"You Can't Hurry Love" (1966)
Iggy Pop turned that same beat around on his own "Lust For Life".
IGGY POP -"Lust For Life" (rec. 1978)
The neo-Mods The Jam used the beat in this song. At the time, the classic film "A Town Like Alice" had just been remade, and the title punned off of that.
THE JAM -"Town Called Malice" (1982)
As the Motown permeated New Wave and Pop in the mid-'80s, the beat became a shorthand for any Motown homage.
DAVID BOWIE -"Modern Love" (1982)
Here's the Glasgow all-female band Lustleg put their own spin on Iggy. LUSTLEG -"Lust For Leg" (1997)
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There are scores of songs that use or peruse the beat, which you can hear on this Music Player.
The songs are in chronological order from 1966 to today.
Previously we explored the themes of "I'm A Man" and "I'm A Woman". That's a couple of colors, and now let's get into the rest of the spectrum.
Rock'n'Roll is all about dancing your way out of your constrictions. From the beginning it laughed at 'Either/Or' deadends like race, status, and age. It also cocked a snook at gender and sexuality barriers, too.
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What better avatar of androgony than the ever fabulous Little Richard, from whom Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and Rupaul all descend?
LITTLE RICHARD -"Lucille" (1957)
While the sensual abandon and preening glamour of Elvis Presley unnerved the squares, imagine how they must have felt about the legions of young Rockabilly women who belted it out just as strong. Alis Lesley went beyond mimicking his name to wearing his clothes, doing his moves, and styling her hair in a pompadour with spitcurls for sideburns!:
ALIS LESLEY -"Heartbreak Harry" (1957)
It's always been common for singers to keep the lyrics of a song the same without changing the gender context, such as Ella Fitgerald covering "Lady, Be Good". The Beatles' version of The Shirelles' "Boys" is one of those. But for an act who had already rattled the androgony limits with their haircuts, this song must have had a special import to certain fans:
THE BEATLES -"Boys" (live, 1964)
As proven out by the subtext of this song by Ray Davies, working out his kinks:
THE KINKS -"David Watts" (1967)
Singapore's Rita Chao was probably just reproducing the Tommy James hit song "Hanky Panky" phonetically, but it takes on a deeper dimension nonetheless when she sings it.
I made this video to illustrate the history of women in love throughout the centuries:
RITA CHAO & The Quests/ NANCY SIT -"Hanky Panky" (1967)
Maybe the only label that's interesting is in the collar. Syd Barrett says grin and bear it.
PINK FLOYD -"Arnold Layne" (1967)
You are who you say you are.
THE TAGES -"She Is A Man" (1967)
By the late '60s, with long hair, free love, liberation movements, and tribal bonding, a more open attitude about gender, sensuality, and orientation came out. Previously Paul McCartney had made an unintended crossdressing implication by mis-singing the lyrics to "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da". This time he does it on purpose:
THE BEATLES -"Get Back" (1969)
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Enter Ray Davies again with one of the most loaded moments in Rock lyric history;
"Then I looked at her, and she at me...":
THE KINKS -"Lola" (1970)
Lou Reed hung out in Andy Warhol's Factory scene with those who put the free in freak. Here's his transversive travelogue:
LOU REED -"Walk On the Wild Side" (1972)
Why choose between being The Rolling Stones and The Shangri-La's when you can have it all?
THE NEW YORK DOLLS -"Personality Crisis" (1973)
For those gandering at the spruce gooses, here's a gander goosing it up herself. (Who writes this stuff? Oh, heh heh, it's me.) From Suzi Quatro we get Joan Jett and The Runaways, Gaye Advert of The Adverts, and myriad more riot grrls:
SUZI QUATRO -"Glycerine Queen" (rec. 1973)
John Lennon opined that Glam Rock was "Rock'n'Roll in lipstick". Here's the almighty Alien Androgyne to declare the rouged rebellion:
DAVID BOWIE -"Rebel Rebel" (1974)
"He could lick 'em by smiling/
He could leave 'em to hang..."
BRETT SMILEY -"VaVaVa Voom" (1974)
Time for education by reading the physical graffiti...
MEG CHRISTIAN -"Ode To A Gym Teacher" (1974)
From Motown to GoGoTown...
THE MIRACLES -"Ain't Nobody Straight In L.A." (1975)
Parliament/ Funkadelic was as Glam as anyone, with their platforms, make-up, and flash costumes:
FUNKADELIC -"Jimmy's Got a Little Bit Of Bitch In Him" (1975)
The all-female Funk collective known as Isis was led by Carol McDonald, who wrote openly about her lady loves in her songs. Evidently Glam guys could get away with the genderbender thing while women couldn't, which is why few people have ever heard of this great and neglected band:
ISIS -"Bobbie And Maria" (1975)
This movie was a disastrous flop when it came out, but forged a hardcore fandom that would have astounding influence on the next decade:
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: "Sweet Transvestite" (1975)
Let's tryst again with Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, and David Bowie in a blender.
ELTON MOTELLO -"Jet Boy Jet Girl" (1975)
Funk-Rock shocker Betty Davis was so fierce that sometimes her voice became a gutteral lion's roar that might possess even Linda Blair to twist to attention:
BETTY DAVIS -"Shut Off The Light" (1975)
If Keith Richards had a sister who didn't give the slightest damn about your gender ideas?...
PATTI SMITH -"Pumping (In My Heart)" (1978)
The Rolling Stones had dressed in drag on the cover of their 1966 single, "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby (Standing In the Shadows)". A lot of artists would make a career from that revelatory moment. Here's the future Jayne County of Georgia being man enough to be a woman:
WAYNE COUNTY And The ELectric Chairs -"Man Enough To Be A Woman" (1978)
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They say this video killed Queen's career in America. Maybe just with people who have no sense of humor:
QUEEN -"I Want To Break Free" (1981)
'What's the buzz, cock?' We're all human, pass it on...
PETE SHELLEY -"Homo Sapian" (1981)
Here's Boy George with this soulful Lover's Rock classic:
CULTURE CLUB -"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" (1982)
Bowie's daughter tears the roof off the sucker:
GRACE JONES -"Demolition Man" (1981)
Bowie's other daughter opens up heaven wider:
EURYTHMICS -"Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This" (1983)
If Rita Chao had sung Tommy James' "Hanky Panky" in innocence, then JOAN JETT knew exactly what she was saying with his "Crimson and Clover":
ROCK Sex knows that "woman is the other half of the sky".
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Yesterday we followed how the threadline of the statement "I'm a Man!" twines through pop music. Today we tilt through more of the human quilt with the statement "I'm a Woman!"
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote dozens of classic Rock'n'Roll songs, including "I'm A Woman". This used the same blues vamp as Muddy Waters "Hoochie Coochie Man", which of course was the inspiration for Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man".
Here's a version from the 1995 Broadway show based on Leiber & Stoller's many hits:
SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE: "I'm A Woman"
When it was written in 1962, Peggy Lee scored the chartbuster with it, becoming a key song in her repertoire:
PEGGY LEE -"I'm a Woman" (1962)
In 1972, Helen Reddy hit #1 during the rise of Women's Liberation with this empowerment anthem, a different song with a similar name and more advanced outlook:
HELEN REDDY -"I Am Woman" (1972)
Bar none, Yoko Ono was the strongest Feminist in Rock history, one of the actual reasons she is still resented by dwindling lunkheads. In her work "the personal was political" and she took the full brunt of dumb hate while opening the door for The Slits, The Au Pairs, The Poison Girls, Lydia Lunch, Kim Gordan, Bikini Kill, The Gits, Tribe 8, MeShell Ndegeocello, Le Tigre, and Pussy Riot after her:
YOKO ONO -"Woman Power" (1973)
(The Soul Power choruses anticipate the same move in the 1976 "Wonder Woman" theme.)
As a parallel track to that, there's John Lennon. As a young man he wrote the song "Girl", a catchy ode with a young man's attitude. Here's another take on that:
NIKKI CHORE -"Girl" (2007)
Later, as his politics became more sophisticated, he joined his wife Yoko in the humanist struggle for empowerment, and made a "grown-up" response to his earlier song:
JOHN LENNON -"Woman" (1980)
Here's Neneh Cherry with a different song of the same name that has very Lennon-esque use of ballad pace and chamber strings:
NENEH CHERRY -"Woman" (1996)
If Peggy and Helen sung as one strong person that many women identified with, then Chaka Khan decided to be completely universal in this classic:
CHAKA KHAN- "I'm Every Woman" (1978)
Broadening the concept even deeper are artists beyond gender parameters.
WAYNE COUNTY AND THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS- "Man Enough To Be A Woman" (1978)
Here's how the declarative statement, "I'm a Man!", took some terrific and unlikely paths.
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Bo Diddley was inspired by the riff and swagger of Muddy Waters' Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954) to rewrite it as a youthful boast:
BO DIDDLEY -"I'm a Man" (1955)
Muddy Waters was a labelmate with Bo at the legendary Chess Records. He responded with a wry wink in this response:
MUDDY WATERS -"Mannish Boy" (1956)
Later, as a generation of rock groups kept homaging his work, Waters responded by re-recording his song in an Acid Rock style:
MUDDY WATERS -"Mannish Boy" (1968)
Acolyte JIMI HENDRIX can be heard in this candid studio jam taking that further:
JIMI HENDRIX -"Mannish Boy" (1966?)
Jimi also used the phrase "I'm a man/ at least I'm trying to be" to kick off his song, "Steppin' Stone".
Coming round lately, here's BLACK STROBE (France) merging the tough Blues with a touch of Electronica:
BLACK STROBE -"I'm a Man" (2007)
Taking the electronic angle to fruition, here's perennials DEVO protesting violence against the common people:
DEVO -"Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" (2008)
On a parallel track, The Spencer Davis Group, propelled by the soulful organ and vocals of young Steve Winwood, kicked out the jams with this proto-Funk classic of their own:
SPENCER DAVIS GROUP -"I'm a Man" (1967)
Here's organist Mick Weaver, working under the band name WYNDER K. FROG, tearing up the party some more:
WYNDER K. FROG -"I'm a Man" (1967)
And here's how many people know the song, in this stellar cover by the emerging band CHICAGO, with lead guitar and vocals by the late Terry Kath, along with bassist Peter Cetera:
CHICAGO -"I'm a Man" (1970)
The song was done in Disco versions by the appropriately named MACHO from Italy in 1978, and by rocker KEITH EMERSON for a 1981 film soundtrack.
Lately the song has been covered by these Texican brothers:
"I loved THE PRISONER, which was a very odd sort of hybrid of sci-fi, mystery and character, and certainly there are elements of THE PRISONER in both ALIAS and LOST."
-J.J. Abrams
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THE PRISONER is uniformly hailed as one of the smartest and most innovative TV series ever made.
It is also one of the most influential, inspiring decades of popular culture including Rock music, television shows, and comics. Its sophisticated use of symbolism and ambiguity has excited fevered debates to the present day, inspiring such shows as Twin Peaks, Life On Mars, Mr. Robot, and The OA.
Everything comes around again and here's a charter course of the loop.
Patrick McGoohan plays a nameless secret agent who resigns.
He is abducted to an unknown location called The Village, a mod and cosmopolitan 'rest home' for those who know too much.
THE PRISONER Opening Credits; music by Ron Grainer (1967)
THE PRISONER: "I am not a number"(1967)
He is renamed Number 6, but rejects it vehemently and defends his identity against a rotating parade of interrogators called Number 2.
Will he get out, and who is Number 1?
ROVER
THE PRISONER was 17 episodes that fought fiercely against the encroaching corporate/military state, and ended with one of the most surreal, challenging, and outrageous epilogues ever broadcast.
Its relentless defence of the rights of the individual against a repressive state has made it a timeless classic.
The series' bold use of Mod Futurism, theatrical style, anti-authoritarianism, and personal rebellion ensured it as a constant inspiration for decades of Rock music.
Featuring:
The PRISONER soundtrack, Johnny Rivers, The Beatles, The Clash, The Times, Devo, Iron Maiden, XTC, The Chameleons, Imperial Drag, thenewno2, and more!
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Patrick McGoohan first achieved fame in a previous spy series called DANGER MAN. Running from 1960 to 1962, the show preceded the smash success of the James Bond films, which then ironically reignited the series from 1964 to 1968.
When the series was re-broadcast in the USA as SECRET AGENT, Johnny Rivers scored a resonant Pop hit with the new title theme "Secret Agent Man". It's widely theorized that the series' hero, spy John Drake, later becomes the nameless former-agent designated as Number 6 in THE PRISONER series, which brings chilling poignancy to this song's lyric, "They've given you a number, and taken away your name".
JOHNNY RIVERS -"Secret Agent Man" (1966)
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THE PRISONER was filmed in Portmeirion, a Welsh village designed like a baroque puzzle of Mediterranean styles by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis across 50 years. His direct refute of cold and symmetrical modernism for the ornate, complicated, and unique paradoxically created a postmodern and cosmopolitain futurism out of the classic past.
McGoohan recognized its rich metaphoric complexity on a vacation visit, seeing it as the ideal backdrop for his visionary series, familiar and yet alien. The village has been used many times over the years in music videos as an homage to the show.
Here's the Mod Revival band The Times giving our man a leg up...
THE TIMES -"I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape" (1982)
Altered Images also filmed their video for "See Those Eyes" (1982) in Portmeirion.
During this same period, there was a Mod/Garage band called The Prisoners who may have been named after the series.
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Iron Maiden paid tribute to THE PRISONER twice...
IRON MAIDEN -"The Prisoner" (1982)
IRON MAIDEN -"Back In the Village" (1984)
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In 1987, Jools Holland did a spoof called THE LAUGHING PRISONER, written by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It featured guest appearances by musicians performing in Portmeirion, including XTC and Souxsie And The Banshees.
XTC -"The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" (1987)
XTC -"The Meeting Place" (1987)
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES -"The Passenger" (Iggy Pop cover, 1987)
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This SUPERGRASS video was also filmed in Portmeirion with subtle winks at THE PRISONER...
SUPERGRASS -"Alright" (1995)
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The live performance album/dvd "Hullabaloo" (2002) by Muse uses imagery that was inspired by THE PRISONER...
Top: a free man Bottom: Muse
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The final episode of THE PRISONER, "Fall Out", featured The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" in the score. The influence of mod clothing styles, mid-'60s pop, and The Beatles still rings through the sounds, fashions, and videos of The Times, Altered Images, XTC, and Supergrass.
Fittingly, here is George's son, Dhani Harrison, cheekily taking the name of his band thenewno2 from the series and a lot of its rebel outlook in this video...
THE PRISONER's themes of fascistic control, identity and individualism, mysterious internment, and interrogation and rebellion have resonated ever since.
It clearly inspired many film works, including TV series like Nowhere Man, The Simpsons, Persons Unknown, Wayward Pines, Mr. Robot, and The Oa; and films like THE TRUMAN SHOW and (quietly) ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
Nowhere Man intro (1995)
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The Simpsons did a hilarious tribute/parody of THE PRISONER, in which Homer was exiled to The Village and met Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan himself).
The Simpsons: "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (S26/E06; 2000)
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THE TRUMAN SHOW trailer (1998)
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Life On Mars, Season 1 trailer (2006)
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In 2009, THE PRISONER was reimagined in an alternate vision for a 6-episode mini-series, starring Ian McKellen, Jim Caviezel, and Hayley Atwell. The series loosely implied connections to the original, while also being primarily an elseworlds take on the general concepts.
Jack Kirby, the architect of most of the great concepts of Marvel and DC, loved the PRISONER series. It directly influenced the epic 4-issue storyline of FANTASTIC FOUR #84-87 (1969), set in the sinister Latverian villages of overlord Doctor Doom.
FANTASTIC FOUR #86 (May 1969),
by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott.
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Marvel Comics actually attempted to do a comic adaptiation of THE PRISONER in the mid-'70s... or rather, two.
They did a partial pass with writer Steve Englehart and legendary artist Gil Kane, before Lee suggested that Kirby do a take on it instead. Incredibly, despite the pedigree of the famed creators involved, neither version was ever released. The dialogue-heavy panels and static scenes didn't lend themselves to the kind of action that Marvel felt their readers craved.
THE PRISONER,
written and pencilled by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.
The two versions finally saw print in a deluxe hardbound book published by Titan Comics in July, 2018.
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V FOR VENDETTA (1982-'88),
by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
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In 1989, DC Comics published a superior illustrated sequel to the series called "THE PRISONER: Shattered Visage", by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith. The 4-issue prestige series carefully homaged and extended all the best aspects of the story, and was universally acclaimed by fans with attention spans.
The series reads like a perfectly scripted and storyboarded maxi-series ready to be made. Ahem.
THE PRISONER: Shattered Visage,
by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith.
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In 1991, illustrious author Neil Gaiman paid subliminal homage to THE PRISONER in his script for MIRACLEMAN #21, abetted by xerographic art by Mark Buckingham.
THE INVISIBLES #17 (Feb 1996),
by Grant Morrison and Phil Jiminez.
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The moment before Mina
kicks James Bond's ass in
THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: The Black Dossier (2007),
by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
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"THE PRISONER: The Uncertainty Machine" (2018), a contemporary sequel by Peter Milligan and Colin Lorimer, printed in four issues and a collected edition.
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"You still have a choice.
You can still salvage your right to be individuals.
Your rights to truth and free thought.
Reject this false world of Number Two. Reject it. Now!"
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. ROCK SEX is about all of the creative connections that link our shared culture together: ____________
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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