ROCK Sex likes to explore all those secret hook-ups. Here's an example of a rhythm idea linking together different artists.
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The idea came from jumping rope. Chuck Berry heard young girls chanting fast to the rhythm of rope-jumping and made this classic burner...
CHUCK BERRY -"Too Much Monkey Business" (1956)
The lyrics were delivered so fast, adults probably missed what a subversive protest song it is. But the kids didn't.
The song was covered by The Beatles, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Kinks twice, Elvis Presley, and countless Garage bands. (I love the version by The Trappers, who chanted it in native Swedish). But breaking up the boys club as is my wont, here's Liverpool's all-female hellions, THE LIVERBIRDS, putting some extra resonance into the lyrics...
THE LIVERBIRDS -"Too Much Monkey Business" (1965)
But then BOB DYLAN ramped up the lyrical fury with his own variant on the chant...
BOB DYLAN -"Subterranean Homesick Blues" (1965)
That opened it up for everyone to jump in...
ULTRAVOX -"Satday In The City Of The Dead" (1977)
Bringing back some of that Dylan scorn is the other Elvis...
ELVIS COSTELLO -"Pump It Up" (1978)
The riff kept skipping new ropes, such as THE ESCAPE CLUB's "Wild Wild West" (1988) and ROGUE TRADERS'"Voodoo Child" (2006).
"Runnin' to-and-fro, hard workin' at the mill/
Never fail, in the mail, here come a rotten bill!/
Don't want your botheration, get away, leave me!"
ROCK Sex cues you to how one song jumpstarts another.
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John Barry scored his first film with the driving theme for BEAT GIRL. The signature surf guitar and dynamic horns earned him the job to do the theme of a movie spy called Bond the following year.
JOHN BARRY -"Beat Girl" (1961)
"BEAT GIRL Opening Cridits" (1961)
Here's the vocal cover version by The Damned...
THE DAMNED -"Beat Girl" (1985)
Big Beat DJ Fatboy Slim sampled the original riff as a crucial piece of his breakthrough hit...
ROCK Sex is about how the liquid nature of culture involves everyone.
Today's example is how the relay baton of a musical idea moves easily between supposedly different music movements.
IN the mid-'70s, German progressive rock groups were challenging the structures and rhythms of Rock. Here's the pioneers Can, during their transition from noize jazz toward funk, churning a hupnotic sitar figure into a locomotive rhythm.
CAN -"Transcendental Express" (1975)
Following a train of thought, the german progressive group Kraftwerk had the masterstroke idea of becoming robots, making robotic music for the future. As 'anti-Rock' as this seemed, it was one of the most influential strategies and unending sonic revolutions in Rock history. Countless musical doors were opened by this move...
KRAFTWERK -"Trans Europe Express" (1977)
The Washington D.C. scene in the early '80s was dominated by GoGo, a heavily percussive funk with horns and synths. The prime band Trouble Funk intersected with Kraftwerk on this anthemic cover...
TROUBLE FUNK -"Trouble Funk Express" (1981)
The New York music scene between 1975 and 1982 was a hotbed of colliding styles -including the original Punk, HipHop, NoWave, PunkFunk, Salsoul, World Dub, Disco, Mutant Disco, and Noize Jazz. One of the originators of HipHop, Afrika Bambaataa ushered in Electro (which he called Electro Funk) with his merging of Rap and Kraftwerk...
AFRIKA BAMBAATAA And The Soulsonic Force -"Planet Rock" (1982)
When the postpunk band Joy Division suffered the loss of their leader, the remaining members became New Order, trading Manchester, England's grey factories for the excitement of the New York scene. They worked with rising 12" remix producer Arthur Baker on this classic track which extends the palette of the fusion of Kraftwerk and Electro Funk ...
NEW ORDER -"Blue Monday" (1983)
There are tributaries from this linking to New Wave, Darkwave, Coldwave, Industrial, Synth Funk, GoGo Funk, Techno, Rave, Jungle, and Electronica. But water is water...bask in it all.
The Mighty Mocambos crosses tracks with Can's title, a Dick Dale guitar approach, and a horn fanfare of Kraftwerk in this modern instrumental sequel.
THE MIGHTY MOCAMBOS -"Transcendental Express" (2011)
Her's the original song rethought by a legendary Jamaican steel drum ensemble.
THE EBONY STEEL BAND -"Tanzmusik (Jump Up)" (2019)
Here is it is interpreted as a Brazilian dance samba.
Guga Stroeter, Lucio Agra, Renato Soares -"TEE" (2020)
ROCK Sex is about the surprising trysts of culture and what comes from them. Today is an example of how a band inspires another band who re-inspires the first band.
THE KINKS are one of those British Invasion bands -like The Who, The Yardbirds, and The Animals- whose more aggressive riffs predicted the coming shift from pop rock to hard rock. They did it with tough hits like "You Really Got Me", "I Need You", and this one...
THE KINKS -"All Day and All of the Night" (1965)
THE SEX PISTOLS mutated the attitude of '60s Garage Rock into a whole other level with Punk music. You can still spot their influences, such as the reused Kinks riff in this grinder...
SEX PISTOLS -"Submission" (1977)
Inspired by the exhilarating/threatening energy of Punk and New Wave, The Kinks responded with this wry rewrite of their own song...
THE KINKS -"Destroyer" (1981)
Inspiration is cyclical and inclusive. Do as thou wilt, everything is permitted...
ROCK Sex is about how everyone's input in music expands it.
Yesterday I gave the example of how a single song, "The Train Kept A-Rollin" can be redefined by each person who relayed it on. But today is an example of how two different songs lead to a third song.
1. The Rolling Stones did "Stupid Girl"
(I know, I know, don't shoot me for their message)...
The Rolling Stones -"Stupid Girl" (1966)
+ 2. The Clash later made this song...
The Clash -"Train In Vain" (1979)
= 3.
And Garbage combined the sentiment of the Stones song with the sampled beat of the Clash song for something new in this big hit...
Garbage- "Stupid Girl" (1995)
There are some bands who are wizards at this kind of pop alchemy. Everyone synthesizes their influences, of course, but some take clear markers and make new paths right in front of you; like Garbage, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Portishead, Elastica, Beck, DJ Shadow, or Peaches.
I'm going to throw in a new feature to the Blog today: ROCK Sex, about how everything intersects together in great and surprising ways.
Culture isn't a fixed tradition owned by a few. It's actually an intersection of ideas from everyone that is constantly fluid and opening up more possibilities. Someone tries something, someone else is inspired to add something, some third party adds both together into something else.
This relay race is actually how true creativity runs and always will.
Here's an example...
Rhythm'n'Blues band leader Tiny Bradshaw first did "The Train Kept A-Rollin" as a jump jive number in 1951:
TINY BRADSHAW -"The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1951)
The Johnny Burnette Trio, fueled by the busted amp of guitarist Paul Burlison, redefined it entirely as a Rockabilly blaster in 1956...
THE JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO -"The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1956)
With the benefit of the British Invasion's popularity, The Yardbirds (featuring Jeff Beck on guitar) crystallized it into the Garage Rock anthem covered by everyone else...
THE YARDBIRDS -'The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1966)
They then retooled as it as "Stroll On" performing in Antonioni's classic film BLOW UP (1966), with Jimmy Page and Jeff Page duelling on guitars.
Here's Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn rollin' on a similar track.
T.REX -"Jewel" (1971)
From there it "trucked on down that old fairlane" as a standard, covered by everyone from Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Motorhead, Guns'n'Roses, and Metallica, to the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" video games.
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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