ROCK Sex: Iggy Pop

Showing posts with label Iggy Pop. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2017

BEST MUSIC: 2016, with Music Players!

Weyes Blood

Nevermind those suburban-angst
"Best Music" lists that taste like paste!

These tunes will unhook your outlook
and hijack your sacroiliac!

Shortcut to Music Players:
BEST ALBUMS: 2016
COOL SONGS: 2016
BEST REISSUES: 2016

Savages
(photo by Colin Lane)
B E S T
N E W
A L B U M S : 2 0 1 6
This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.BEST ALBUMS 2016

This music player has songs from the following albums, in the same order.

-Hannah Williams And The Affirmations, "Late Nights And Heartbreak"

-The Claypool Lennon Delirium, "Monolith Of Phobos"

-Stereo Total, "Les Hormones"

-Electrocute, "Double Diamond"

-Charles Bradley, "Changes"

-Sonny & The Sunsets, "Moods Baby Moods"

-Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings, "Miss Sharon Jones!" (soundtrack)

-L7, "Wireless (Radio Session)"

-Bacao Rhythm And Steel Band, "55"

-The Monkees, "Good Times!"

-The Coathangers, "Nosebleed Weekend"

-Heron Oblivion, "Heron Oblivion"

-Ramin Djawadi, "Westworld: Season 1" (Soundtrack)

-David Bowie, "Blackstar"

-Iggy Pop, "Post Pop Depression"

-Weyes Blood, "Front Row Seat To Earth"

-Lee Fields And The Expressions, "Special Night"

-White Denim, "Stiff"

-PJ Harvey, "The Hope Six Demolition Project"

-Ultimate Painting, "Dusk"

-Pixies, "Head Carrier"

-Lake Street Drive, "Side Pony"

-Deerhoof, "The Magic"

-Childish Gambino, "Awaken, My Love!"

-Angel Olsen, "My Woman"

-Savages, "Adore Life"

-The Jayhawks, "Paging Mr. Proust"

-Thao And The Get Down Stay Down, "A Man Alive"

-William Bell, "This Is Where I Live"

-Pretenders, "Alone"

-Fantastic Negrito, "The Last Days Of Oakland"

-Kate Tempest, "Let Them Eat Chaos"

-La Femme, "Mystere"

-Esperanza Spalding, "Emily's D+Evolution"

-The Mystery Lights, "The Mystery Lights"

-Marta Ren And The Groovelvets, "Stop Look Listen"

-The Julie Ruin, "Hit Reset"

-Adrian Younge & Ali Rasheed Muhammad, "Luke Cage: Season 1" (Soundtrack)

-The Shelters, "The Shelters"

-The Kills, "Ash & Ice"

-Guerilla Toss, "Eraser Stargazer"

-Death Valley Girls, "Glow In The Dark"

-Xiu Xiu, "Plays The Music Of TWIN PEAKS"

-Barrence Witfield And The Savages, "On Audiotree Live"

C O O L
S O N G S :
2 0 1 6*

Rockabilly! Funk! Psychedelic!
Soul! Spaghetti Western! PostPunk!
Electro! Riot Grrrl! Dementia!
This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.COOL SONGS 2016

*(The Player is limited to the first 200 songs.
Hear the unlimited Playlist here.)

Cody Chesnutt; Pussy Riot;
Kate Tempest; Thao And The Get Down Stay Down

11 hours of mind-whomping, booty-stomping music, featuring:

Bleached, Goat, Le Tigre, Baaba Maal, Radiohead, Calibro 35, Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra, Melvins, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Santigold, The New Mastersounds, Neil Young, Lush, Deep Street Soul, and The Real Gone Tones!

B E S T
R E I S S U E S :
2 0 1 6

Quality is timeless.

This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.BEST REISSUES 2016

This music player has songs from the following albums, in the same order.

1960s
-The Beatles, "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" (1964-'65)

-Various Artists, "Pebbles, Vol. 4: Africa, Part 2" (African garage rock)

-Dan Penn, "Close To Me: More Fame Recordings"

-Bob Dylan, "The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert"

-The Beach Boys, "Pet Sounds: The 50th Anniversary Edition"

-Otis Redding, "Live At The Whiskey A Go Go"

-Pink Floyd, "The Early Years: 1967-1972, Cre/ation"

-Betty Harris, "The Lost Queen Of New Orleans Soul" (late '60s compilation)

-Betty Davis, "The Columbia Years, 1968-1969" ⇧

-Led Zeppelin, "The Complete BBC Sessions" (1969-'71)

1970s
-Bruce Haack, "The Electric Lucifer" (electronic psyche)

-Yoko Ono, "Plastic Ono Band" (1970) ⇧

-Black Sabbath, "Black Sabbath", "Paranoid", "Master Of Reality" (expanded editions)

-Arthur Verocai, "Arthur Verocai" (1972 Brazilian psyche-jazz)

-David Bowie, "Bowie At The Beeb" (early '70s BBC sessions)

-Various Artists, "Venezuela 70: Cosmic Visoins Of A Latin American Earth" ('70s Venezuelan experimental rock)

-Various Artists, "Wake Up You!: The Rise And Fall Of Nigerian Rock, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (1972-1977)"

-Devo, "Hardcore" (mid-'70s art-punk)

-The Headhunters, "Survival Of The Fittest" (1975)

-David Bowie, "Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976)" (mid'70s remasters and unreleased)

-Various Artists, "Space Oddities: Studio Ganaro (1972-1982)" (French/German electronic pop)

-Various Artists, "Cosmic Machine: The Sequel - A Voyage Across French Cosmic & Electronic Avantgarde ('70s-'80s)" (French electronic music)

1980s
-Various Artists, "Boombox: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro, And Disco Rap (1979-1982)"

-Lizzy Mercier Descloux, "Mambo Nassau" (1981 World Funk) ⇧

-Tom Tom Club, "Tom Tom Club" (1981)

-African Head Charge, "My Life In A Hole In The Ground" (1981)

1990s
-Jeff Buckley, "You And I" (unreleased cover versions)

-Gillian Welch, "Boots No.1: The Official Revival Bootleg" (1996, expansion) ⇧

-L7, "Slap Happy" (1999)

2000s
-Connie Price And The Keystones, "Wildflowers" (2004)

-Angry Angles, "Angry Angles" (2005) ⇧

-Barrence Whitfield And The Savages, "Savage Kings" (2011)

© Tym Stevens

"A splendid time is guaranteed for all!"

Sunday, April 10, 2016

MUSIC 101: The 1970s

With
M U S I C
P L A Y E R !

The MUSIC PRIMER Series!

A fun INTRO into the great musics
of each decade
in one Music Player!

M U S I C
1 0 1 :
1 9 7 0 s !

MUSIC 101: The 1970s
by Tym Stevens
This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

101 SONGS
FROM 101 GREAT ALBUMS!
In chronological order,
one album per act,
one song per album.
Rock! Soul! Folk!
Funk! Prog! Fusion!
Glam! Disco! Soundtracks!
Reggae! Punk! Electronic!

From 1970 through 1979!
A crash course in crucial!

Music Primer series:
300 Albums: 1956-2015
The 1950s
The 1960s

The 1980s
The 1990s
The 2000s

The Music Player contains one song each
from these 101 classic albums!

1 9 7 0
01) John Lennon, "Plastic Ono Band"
Confessional ballads and grunge.

02) Doris Troy, "Doris Troy"
Rock'n'Soul.

03) Ananda Shankar, "Ananda Shankar"
Sitar Rock.

04) Vashti Bunyan, "Just Another Diamond Day"
Ethereal Folk.

05) The Stooges, "Funhouse"
Hard Rock Jazz Punk.

06) Kris Kristofferson, "Kristofferson"
Outlaw Country.

07) The Doors, "Morrison Hotel"
Blues Rock.

08) The Delfonics, "The Delfonics"
Philly Soul.

09) Rodriguez, "Cold Fact"
Protest Folk Rock.

10) Ike And Tina Turner, "Workin' Together"
Rock'n'Soul.

11) Os Mutantes, "A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado"
Tropicália Psychedelia.

12) Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Cosmo's Factory"
Swamp Rock.

_______________

1 9 7 1
13) The Staple Singers, "The Staple Singers"
Gospel Soul.

14) Tonto's Expanding Head Band, "Zero Time"
Electronic experimental.

15) Cradle, "The History" (rec. early-'70s)
All-female Hard Rock.

16) The Last Poets, "This Is Madness"
Protest Rap.

17) Serge Gainesbourg, "Histoire de Melody Nelson"
Cinematic Rock.

18) Isaac Hayes, "SHAFT"
Stax Soul film score.

19) Paul and Linda McCartney, "Ram""
Pop Rock.

20) Ann Peebles, "Straight From The Heart"
Memphis Soul.

21) Hound Dog Taylor, "Hound Dog Taylor And The HouseRockers"
Chicago Blues.

22) Black Sabbath, "Master Of Reality"
Metal Rock.

23) Fela, "With Ginger Baker -Live!"
AfroBeat.

24) Booker T And The MGs, "Melting Pot"
Stax Soul instrumentals.

25) Dennis Coffey, "Evolution"
Funk Rock.

26) Redbone, "Message From A Drum"
Native American Rock'n'Soul.

27) Piero Umiliani, "Synthi Time"
Electronic.

_______________

1 9 7 2
28) War, "The World Is A Ghetto"
Funk.>

29) Fanny, "Fanny Hill"
All-female Rock band.

30) The O'Jays, "Back Stabbers"
Philly Soul.

31) T.Rex, "The Slider"
Glam Rock.

32) Aretha Franklin, "Young, Gifted, And Black"
Atlantic label Soul.

33) Miles Davis, "On The Corner"
Funky Fusion.

34) Deep Purple, "Machine Head"
Hard Rock.

35) Yoko Ono, "Approximately Infinite Universe"
Avant-Garde singer/songwriter.>

36) Bill Withers, "Still Bill"
Soul.

37) Brainticket, "Psychonaut"
Prog Rock.

38) Al Green, "I'm Still In Love With You"
Memphis Soul.

_______________

1 9 7 3
39) George Harrison, "Living In The Material World"
Pop Rock.

40) Led Zeppelin, "Houses Of The Holy"
Eclectic Hard Rock.

41) Sly And The Family Stone, "Fresh"
Funk.>

42) Dr. John, "In The Right Place"
New Oreans Funk.

43) Bob Marley And The Wailers, "Catch A Fire"
Reggae.

44) The Who, "Quadrophenia"
Rock concept album.

45) Herbie Hancock, "Head Hunters"
Funk Jazz.

46) New York Dolls, "New York Dolls"
Trash Glam.

47) The Isley Brothers, "3 + 3"
Rock'n'Soul.

48) Kim Jung Mi, "Now"
Korean singer/songwriter.

49) Curtis Mayfield, "Back To The World"
Social Funk.

50) Hawkwind, "Space Ritual"
Space Prog.

51) Black Nasty, "Talkin' To The People"
Rock Blues.

52) Ellen McIlwaine, "We The People"
Guitar virtuoso.

53) Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR"
Gospel Rock soundtrack.

_______________

1 9 7 4
54) The Ohio Players, "Fire"
Ohio Funk.

55) 10cc, "Sheet Music"
Zappa-esque Pop.

56) Funkadelic, "Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On"
Funk Rock.>

57) Badfinger, "Wish You Were Here"
Beatlesque Pop.>

58) Gene Clark, "No Other"
Soulful singer/songwriter.

_______________
1 9 7 5
59) The Pointer Sisters, "Steppin'"
Funk.

60) Los Dug Dug's, "Cambia, Cambia"
Mexican Beatlesque.

61) Bernard Fevre, "Suspense"
Electronic Dance.

62) Babe Ruth, "Babe Ruth"
Funky Rock.

63) Betty Davis, "Nasty Gal"
F-U-N-K.

_______________

1 9 7 6
64) Marvin Gaye, "I Want You"
Erotic Soul.

65) Frank Zappa, "Zoot Allures"
Rock Jazz.

66) Jorge Ben, "Africa Brasil"
Tropicália Funk.

67) Bob Dylan, "Desire"
Poetic singer/songwriter.

68) The Upsetters, "Super Ape"
Reggae Dub.

69) The Modern Lovers, "The Modern Lovers"
Indie Rock.

70) Parliament, "The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein"
Space Funk.

71) The Runaways, "The Runaways"
All-female Hard Rock.>

72) Stevie Wonder, "Songs In The Keys Of Life"
Funky singer/songwriter.

_______________

1 9 7 7
73) The Clash, "The Clash"
Punk Rock.

74) Kraftwerk, "Trans Europe Express"
Electro.

75) The Jam, "In The City"
Mod Punk.

76) Suicide, "Suicide"
Synth Punk.

77) Fleetwood Mac, "Rumours"
Classic Rock.

78) Iggy Pop, "The Idiot"
Proto-Industrial.

79) Ultravox, "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Punk Pop.

80) Brian Eno, "Before And After Science"
Indie and Ambient.

_______________

Queen of noise.

1 9 7 8
81) John Williams, "SUPERMAN"
Symphonic soundtrack.

82) Brides Of Funkenstein, "Funk Or Walk"
Funkadelic.

83) Eddie Hinton, "Very Extremely Dangerous"
Muscle Shoals Soul.

84) Patti Smith Group, "Easter"
New York Punk.

85) The Rolling Stones, "Some Girls"
Punky Rock and Disco.

86) Nick Lowe, "Jesus Of Cool"
Power Pop.

87) Buzzcocks, "Another Music In A Different Kitchen"
Punk Pop.

_______________

1 9 7 9
88) Elvis Costello And The Attractions, "Armed Forces"
Punk Pop.

89) Wire, "154"
PostPunk.

90) Joni Mitchell, "Mingus"
Jazzy singer/songwriter.

91) Roxy Music, "Manifesto"
New Wave Disco.

92) Casino Music, "Amour Savage"
French New Wave Disco.

93) David Bowie, "Lodger"
Art Rock.

94) Essential Logic, "Beat Rhythm News"
PostPunk.

95) Pink Floyd, "The Wall"
Cinematic concept album.

96) Talking Heads, "Fear Of Music"
New York Indie.

97) Lijadu Sisters, "Horizon Unlimited"
AfroBeat Pop.

98) The Knack, "Get The Knack"
Power Pop.

99) The Cars, "Candy O"
Art Rock/New Wave.

100) The Pop Broup, "Y"
PostPunk Dub.

101) Nikki And The Corvettes, "Nikki And The Corvettes"
Power Pop.

Rastaman vibrations.

© Tym Stevens

The Music Primer Series:*
1) 350 GREAT ALBUMS That Will Change Your Life!: 1956-2020

2) MUSIC 101: The 1950s

3) MUSIC 101: The 1960s

5) MUSIC 101: The 1980s

6) MUSIC 101: The 1990s

7) MUSIC 101: The 2000s

* The albums heard on the Decades series are different than the 350 Albums overview.

_______________

Further Study, dept.:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

• 1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples, with Music Player!

__________
• FUNK, The True History: 1970-1974, with 3 Music Players!

• SLICE TONES: Sly Stone And His Infinite Influence!, with 5 Music Players!

• BEYOND COOL: Pedro Bell, Funkadelic's visionary!
__________
• BEATLES 'Reunion Anthology': 1970-Now, with Music Player!

• LENNON-esque: All-Star Homage Playlists To His BEATLES And SOLO Styles!, with 2 Music Players!

• McCARTNEY-esque: All-Star Homage Playlists To His BEATLES And SOLO Styles!, with 2 Music Players!

• BEYOND COOL: Badfinger, the Beatles of the 1970s!, with Music Player!
__________
• THE RUNAWAYS, And Why Women Of Rock Are Essential!

• "Exile On GRRL Street", Or How THE STONES Can Tribute Riot Grrrls Tributing Them!
__________
• "Ground Control to Major Tom" - THE LONELY ASTRONAUT Movies, with Music Player!

• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - Its Transcendent Influence on all Pop Culture, with Music Player!

• How STAR WARS Is Changing Everything!

_______________
• 2000 Great Albums on Pinterest!

• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

SAY WHAT?!: "Touch Me", The Doors

SAY WHAT answers the lyrical question, 'what did they just say?'

_______________

In this occasional feature we'll look at playful asides that got slipped into songs. Sometimes it'll be entendres, backwards messages, or cheeky comments. Today it's "Touch Me" by The Doors.

If you listen to the end of the song, the triumphant coda has the chant, "Stronger than dirt!"

THE DOORS -"Touch Me" (1969)

This was an in-joke about the melodic resemblance to the popular Ajax detergent TV ad of the time, with its slogan, "Stronger Than Dirt!"

"Ajax: Stronger Than Dirt" #1

The Doors' song also bears a striking rhythmic resemblence to The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love".

© Tym Stevens

Monday, February 15, 2010

ROCK Sex: "Nightclubbing" - Iggy Pop > Human League > Grace Jones > Nine Inch Nails > Oasis

ROCK Sex is going out on the town tonight.

_______________
"Nightclubbing", the proto-Industrial song by Iggy Pop, grew out of his times with David Bowie in the late-'70s Berlin scene.

Electronic and progressive German musicians like Kraftwerk, Neu!, Faust, Kluster, and Can were rethinking the soundscape of modern music. Pop, Bowie, and Brian Eno were among the first to recognize and expand on this profoundly influential movement.

IGGY POP -"Nightclubbing" (1977)

It's been noted that the riff has a sly similarity to "Rock and Roll" by Gary Glitter. Human League must have noticed because they recorded a "Rock'n'Roll/ Nightclubbing" medley.

HUMAN LEAGUE -"Rock'n' Roll/ Nightclubbing" (1980)

Grace Jones was so taken by this song that it became the title track of her breakthrough album.

GRACE JONES -"Nightclubbing" (1981)

Nine Inch Nails used a sample of the kick drum in their big hit.

NINE INCH NAILS -"Closer" (1994)

And Oasis also sampled the drums for this song.

OASIS -"Force of Nature" (2002)

Because you're bound to run into someone you know when you go out, here's Iggy and Grace together bringing the party with them!

IGGY POP and GRACE JONES -"Nightclubbing" (2009)

"We walk like a ghost
We learn dances brand new dances
Like the nuclear bomb
When we're nightclubbing"

© Tym Stevens

Saturday, December 5, 2009

ROCK Sex: "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes > Iggy Pop > The Jam > David Bowie

...with Music Player!

ROCK Sex thinks you can't beat a great beat.

_______________

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)

_______________

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.

This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

© Tym Stevens

Friday, November 13, 2009

ROCK Sex: "I Wanna Be Your Dog!" - The Stooges > Sonic Youth > Las Vulpes > Nirvana

ROCK Sex comes unleashed.

_______________
The original...

THE STOOGES -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (1969)

New York Punk.
RAMONES -"Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" (1976)

London Punk.
SID VICIOUS -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (1978)

No Wave.
SONIC YOUTH -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (1983)

Spanish Punk.
PARALISIS PERMANENTE -"Quiero Ser Tu Perro" (1982)

Spanish Punk.
Instead of "come on" she may be saying "cabron", which is even better...

LAS VULPES -"Me Gusta Ser Una Zorra" (1983)

Rock.
JOAN JETT -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (1988)

Grunge.
NIRVANA -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (live, 1989)

Alt-Country.
UNCLE TUPELO -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (circa 1990)

Industrial.
MISS KITTIN AND THE HACKER VITALIC -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (live at 2002 Montreux Jazz Festival, 2002)

Electro.
EMILIE SIMON -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (live, 2010)

Dream Pop.
KATY GOODMAN + GRETA MORGAN -"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (2015)

Go ahead, chant with me:

"Now I wanna read your Blog/ now I wanna read your Blog...!"

© Tym Stevens

Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Pedigree of PETER GUNN

...with Massive Music Player!

RockSex
now brings you the actual, all-inclusive history of Rock'n'Soul music, with Music Players.
▶ Music Player Checklist

Spotify playlist title=
PETER GUNNThis is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

This Music Player contains 5 hours of covers, clones, and cousins of "Peter Gunn",
from 1958 to today in chronological order, spanning all musical genres.

The Pedigree of PETER GUNN

"Louie Louie" is a riff that underlines the whole history of Rock'n'Roll, and "Peter Gunn" shadows it on the same trail.

It was created by unusual supsects who would become the world's most wanted. Writer/director Blake Edwards created the 1958 TV show, bringing in Henry Mancini to compose the themes, who cloaked the worldly detective in a jazz-noir score of torrid sax and motor engine riffs. (They went on to make their fame with the Pink Panther films.) The pianist on the sessions was future film composer John Williams.>

It was a surprisingly sophisticated and yet street-lethal score for the fresh new world of television. In fact, with its liberal use of West Coast free jazz, it opened the door for using Jazz in movies and television from then on. The bestselling soundtrack became a hinge into modern jazz for mainstream audiences. And its fusion of dramatic intrigue and brashly sensual bop created the Crime/Spy Jazz sound, paving the grooves for the soundtracks of James Bond and all his clones.

More immediately, it captured the dangerous allure of the modern city in the fantasies of young people nationwide.

Craig Stevens (r), starring as Private Eye "Peter Gunn".

Most of all, it was the power of that striding strain that arrested their attention. "Peter Gunn Theme" was the sound of walking cocky, punching felons, chasing roadsters, talking cool, and entangling hot. It was steamy and unseemly, a grinding prowl, a hungry stare, a hip-grinding dance. It was the entirety of the forbidden side of adulthood that teenagers ached to have. "The Peter Gunn title theme actually derives more from rock and roll than from jazz," Mancini clarified.

Rock'n'Roll guitarist Duane Eddy snuck his way into the club first. His twang-bar style, with its extra heavy reverb, amped the walking bassline into a tougher strut on his 1959 cover version. While Mancini's was sassy horns swinging in a hot nightspot, Eddy's was horny young nightowls on the prowl down midnight tarmac. At least in teen fantasies, it was a sidedoor into the sleazy twilight underworld they longed to slink into. The hard clang instrumentals of Duane Eddy and Link Wray ushered in Dick Dale and Surf guitar, which kept the edgy heart of Rock'n'Roll alive into the British Invasion.

Duane Eddy; Sarah Vaughan; Dick Dale.

Beyond simply the riff, the moody sound evoked by Eddy mutated into a shroud of instant atmosphere. For instance, the mid-60's English bands The Lost Souls ("This Life Of Mine") and The Syndicats ("Crawdaddy Simone") aren't playing "Gunn" specifically, but their songs are clearly rewrites of its chords and sound. Same thing for instrumentals by Freddie King ("Hide Away") and James Brown ("The Scratch"). When The Monkees broke free of their producer to play on their own records, the first thing they tried was a shambling pastiche called "Peter Gunn's Gun". Its status as a standard in any upstarts' repertoire carried it through the rehearsal holes of the world. Somebody somewhere would always don its instant cool, no matter whether honest or bootleg. Jazz queen Sarah Vaughn sang a lyrical version called "Bye, Bye" in '64. Dick Dale, Jimi Hendrix, and myriad garage bands donned its trenchcoat for some midnight rambling.

In the 70's, as rock began rebelling against its overblown indulgences, the tight riff became crucial. It was like cutting to the chase with a switchblade. Boston's Jonathan Richman had admired the lethal lyrics and blunt buzz of the Velvet Underground; he and the Modern Lovers trawled the city's dusky deadends in Peter Gunn's roadster in 1974's "Pablo Picasso". (This song is most remembered for its immortal lines, "Pablo Picasso was never called an a$$hole/ not like you.") His terse hum would soon transport punks.

X-Ray Spex; The Cramps; The B-52's.

For punkers, this edgy sordid nightscape was their reality. It became a theme song where the usual suspects were now the heroes. You can detect it in the surging buzz of X-Ray Spex's "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" in '78. The Cramps crimped that stalking stocatto for their mix of pychobilly, garage, and horror movies by mutating it into 1979's "Human Fly". Duane's rival, the original psychobilly Link Wray, sprungload it with new edge in his "Switchblade", with punkabillies nodding in approval. The B-52's relay that riff into an alien signal via throbbing satellite with 1979's "Planet Claire", cut through with the stabbing clang of silver surfer Ricky Wilson.

The Blues Brothers; Nina Hagen; REPO MAN soundtrack.

The BLUES BROTHERS movie (1980) may have done more to expose the song to a new generation that any other source; their version is fueled by the guitar of Steve Cropper and bass of Duck Dunn, of the legendary Booker T And The MG's. Conversely, out in some bleak no man's land, Bruce Springsteen hears it on his dashboard as "Mr. State Trooper", burning through the ebon byways with some bad menace in his heart. His stripped down acoustic seethes like a harrowing confession before something terrible happens. Also in 1982, German alien Nina Hagen germinated the riff with Captain Beefheart's rasp, quotes of Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust", and cascades of cosmic clang and shrill in "Iki Maska".

The title theme of the 1984 REPO MAN film, by Iggy Pop, has definite treadmarks of Peter's ride. To underscore the point, fellow acolytes Burning Sensations repo-ed Richman's carriage, putting a Duane Eddy kit on it in their "Pablo Picasso" cover for the same movie. This version is so popular that many thought it was the original.

The shamus haunts the darks of Bauhaus' "Hair Of The Dog", Front 242's "Body To Body", and L7's "Uncle Bob". Grandmaster Flash and Tthe Furious 5 flipped fresh spin on the theme with "Style (Peter Gunn's Theme)", where Flash honed back in on the horn riffs. The British Art Of Noise chopped that HipHop with some orchestral flourish, congas, and the hard twanging strut of the actual Duane Eddy himself in their "Peter Gunn", an alternative dance smash in 1986. Aussie rebels Midnight Oil called in the lawman's ghost to bust its country's guilty conscience over issues of Aboriginal land-rights with "Beds Are Burning", with the riff's phantom flickering through their 1988 breakthrough hit. (There's also brief chops of Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" in there, too.)

The TWIN PEAKS soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti.

Much of Mancini's original score haunted Angelo Badalamenti's brilliant music for the TWIN PEAKS TV series (1990); the clanging reverb takes possession of the title theme, while the fingersnapping hipster jazz tunes take their cues from Mancini tracks like "Brief and Breezy". Poison Ivy, the axe-slinging dominatrix of The Cramps, claims to own about every cover of "Peter Gunn" ever made; she puts her stiletto all the way through the floorboards in her ultimate version. Covertly, Peter dogs the footsteps of '90s era songs by Living Colour, Diamanda Galas, and The A-Bones.

England's vastly underrated Elastica, known for their chop shop tricks, trysted Peter with The Beatles' "And I Love Her" for a scintillating twist in their fuzzy stomp, "Love Like Ours" (2000). Iggy & the Stooges refueled their reunion in 2003 cruising Peter's night haunts with "Skull Ring", skewering the mugging partystars and glampires who have gentrified his beat. It's the propulsive bassline of The Strokes' "Juicebox" (2005). On the eternal trail, the flatfoot still pounds the beat of The Come Ons, Los Explosibvos (Mexico), and Django Django.

Have riff, will travel. That memorable hook and the atmosphere that surrounds it always resonate beyond the moment, transporting anyone who ever hears it, and forging new paths into the future.

© Tym Stevens

See Also:

• The Legacy of LOUIE LOUIE, with Music Player!

• Shock Waves: How SURF MUSIC Saved Rock'n'Roll!, with 2 Music Players!

• JOHN BARRY: The Influence Of The JAMES BOND Sound On Pop Music, with 2 Music Players!

_____________________

• John Barry > Fatboy Slim

• "Misirlou!" -The Deep History of Dick Dale's Surf Classic

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