As much as I’d like to click on your link, Brad, I just can’t do it right now.

P.S. Think of teh poor Preview Button, don’t you want it to come home?

Where working on the preview button. It’ll be here soon, we hope.

And I knew you wouldn’t click on the link. YOU JUST DON’T HAVE THE BALLS.

Homer: “Everyone knows that rock achieved perfection in 1974.”

FYI: I think the Golden Age of Rock was 1965-66. In that period, you saw PET SOUNDS, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, BLONDE ON BLONDE, RUBBER SOUL and REVOLVER. Plus, the Stones’ great run of early singles, from “Sassifaction” to “Gitoffamycloud!” to “19th Nervous Breakdown” to “Paint It Black” to “Ruby Tuesday.”

You know, Dennis DePantload, it really defeats the purpose if you run around chattering “Secret secret! I’ve got a secret!” like a Japanese schoolgirl.

Damn it! Damn it!
Why can’t I learn from the past and not click on Styx links?
Haven’t I been here before…

Dear god in heaven, for the sake of all humanity, if the YouTube wars must continue, can we al least get all sides to sign on to the Late Period Prog-Rock Non-Proliferation Treaty?

Thank you, Brad!

As much as Rush and ELP may divide us, you can always count on Styx to create a united front of musical opposition.

And that preview button had better be coming back! I’m running out of vaguely threatening classical allusions borrowed from high school Latin* with which to taunt you! Nautae sunt in insulam!

* “Vaguely threatening classical allusions borrowed from high school Latin” concept created by Josh Treviño.

I think Styx was just trying to get in on that Japanese-weirdness gravy train.

Robots! Rock! Fascist Police States!

But they missed one element that would have made Roboto a huge success:

Hot women.

With Robots.

IN tight futuristic video-wear.

Well, look at it this way. If you really begin to hate Styx, there’s always the Little River Band…

The classic period was the middle seventies, by the way, with Heart, Boston, BTO, Journey, Starship and so much more…

mikey

I had the great misfortune to be a teenager during Styx’s peak (of Popularity). I already knew they sucked back then, but I had forgotten how much. I managed the first 30 seconds of that godawful clip.

My sophmore (SP) college roommate was heavily into Styx, Ambrosia, Boston, Quarterflash, etc. If it blew, he liked it. I was just getting into the Velvet Underground, X and similar bands at that time. We had some pretty intense conflicts over the music played in our room.

Looking back on it now, I was in the early stages of becoming the IMS (insufferable music snob) that I am today. At that stage I was a year away from my carreer as a college radio DJ and used record store employee. I was truly one of those socially awkward music geeks portrayed in the book/movie High Fidelity.*

S.C.

*Minus the women… Sigh…

The fascist robots can have my Styx when they pry it from my cold, dead MP3 player…

Ah yes, Mikey, BTO, whose only redeeming quality is that they provided the basis (necessity?) for one of the wittier names I’ve heard–one a local punk band came up with: Kathleen Turner Overdrive. Are they still together? Hopefully not .Ephemerality is the soul of punk.

BTO, whose only redeeming quality is…

Don’t sass BTO, DrBB… Fred Turner is living proof that fat, furry Canadians know how to boogie…

And yes, I am old enough to use the word “boogie” in all seriousness.

Styx? Rush? ELP?… rank amateurs! These dudes were hardcore prog rockers:

Imagine a stupid future where rock’n’roll has been banned and where morality is strictly enforced…

Come on, let’s face it: that’s exactly the world envisaged by Dobson and Donohue.

… by fruity C3PO-wannabe robots.

And if the Religious Right gets their fascist morality, what would be more scary to them than a gay-looking robot?

All looks hopeless when suddenly, out of the darkness, comes some loser whose most attractive qualities are his tight pants and shitty haircut.

….OK. That’s pretty lame. Even Rush used a long haired hippy weirdo who could play guitar to defeat the fascist overlords. With a cape.

All looks hopeless when suddenly, out of the darkness, comes some loser whose most attractive qualities are his tight pants and shitty haircut.

Mark Hamill?

Does this mean that Styx was (were?) the original Wyld Stallyns?

I just want to announce here that my first two rock concerts ever were, in order, ELO (the Stupid-Looking Flying Saucer, er, “Big Night” Tour, 1977) and Styx (the Grand Illusion Tour, 1978).

Then I saw the Boomtown Rats in concert (Boston Gahden, 1979) and heard Ultravox’s Ha! Ha! Ha!, and it was all over.

For some reason, I confused Fred Turner with Fred Penner.

Great, thanks Brad. Now where exactly do I get new pairs of eyes and ears? Mine are ruined.

In high school I stopped hanging out with this group of guys ostensibly because they began smoking dust. But I had also had it with hearing Red Barchetta and Subdivisions over and over again in the basement while I had to fight to get even one side of a Clash record played. Then there was the drama over me wanting to tune to WLIR instead of a regular rock station in my own fucking car.

And sorry to go slightly OT but anyone who is a parent/aunt/uncle and hasn’t gotten their little loved ones the They Might be Giants kids CDs yet is guilty of child neglect. Fuck that Laurie Berkner and dan Zanes shit they’ve heard, this is what they need to hear. Mix that in with some of your other cool but not scary music and you too can have a toddler who’s a budding music snob.

Is this the beginning of the future?

No books, no sound, no rock and roll?

Meet Kilroy and feel grateful you’re saved!

A few years ago, I developed the inexplicably theory that “Kilroy Was Here” was, in fact, an underrated gem of an album, a thing of great quality. I decided to test this theory by actually going out and buying a copy of the record, which I had not heard since, oh, 1986 or so. I got about 1/3 of the way through “Heavy Metal Poisoning” (YEAAAHH!) before I realized that my theory was desperately, horribly wrong.

Also, one of the major downsides of being a fan of the Chicago White Sox is that your team’s biggest celebrity booster is Dennis DeYoung.

Hey, I was just happy to see my niece and nephew both go the Blink/Greenday/Skaterpunk route rather than the HipHop/UrbanPOP path. I like to think I had just enough influence to help them along…

mikey

Brad R. said,
February 27, 2007 at 15:53

FYI: I think the Golden Age of Rock was 1965-66. In that period, you saw PET SOUNDS, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, BLONDE ON BLONDE, RUBBER SOUL and REVOLVER. Plus, the Stones’ great run of early singles, from “Sassifaction� to “Gitoffamycloud!� to “19th Nervous Breakdown� to “Paint It Black� to “Ruby Tuesday.�

Without the shadow of a doubt; and “Blonde on Blonde” is still the best Rock and Roll –(not Rock) — Rock and Roll album ever made.

You only want to drink me ‘cos all your friends are whores.

[…] to pore over the excruciating minutia, of every single, daily event… « KILROY!!! KILROY!!!!!! […]

And if the Religious Right gets their fascist morality, what would be more scary to them than a gay-looking robot?

What, like Ted Haggard?

Hey, c’mon. That’s the album and tour that broke up the band. (You knew it was good for something.)

Now it’s a car commercial. Does anyone wonder why no one wants to buy cars?

I love Styx. I saw their Paradise Theater tour live at Syracuse University and it was teh awesome. Christ. Christ. Christ. Bob Seger would sell his kidneys to a lizard in leather pants to be able to sing like that. I swear he would. He told me once. It was when we were hiding out in Mexico.

If you’re trying to sit there and tell me that you have never played air guitar along with “Renegade” or “Blue Collar Man”, then you, my friend, are no fellow traveler to Mr. Rock, nor boon companion to Senor Roll. Program Lawrence Welk into your Walkman and hang your head in shame forevermore as you 23 skidoo through the remainder of your sad, pathetic life.

Not to throw a grenade into the fire, but the surest sign that you have become an Old Fart is when you talk about rock music as having had a golden age, and that that age was decades ago.

These damned kids today with their crap music. They don’t know what rock is… and they won’t stay off my lawn!

I was a little young for the punk revolution; I completely missed it the first time around. I was born in ’72, making me a teenager in the mid-to-late 80’s. I also played in bands, and my favorite music was guitar shred metal. I loved Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and yes, Yngwie Malmsteen, along with lesser lights such as Tony MacAlpine and Richie Kotzen. I played in a pussy-ass metal band that sounded quite a bit like Winger. Worse still, I played KEYBOARDS in a pussy-ass metal band that sounded like Winger. I was way into Queensryche. I saw Extreme in concert.

Then I went to college and had my first bong hit. My gradual transformation into King Of The Music Snobs was underway. It started at the end of freshman year when my floormate turned me on to the Velvets’ “Heroin.” Sophomore year, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” came out and all of a sudden everything was very exciting. Junior year, it was all about “Slanted and Enchanted,” Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Superchunk.

Now it’s fifteen years down the road, and I’m an out-of-control music snob. Just yesterday I bought two records on vinyl: Big Star’s “Third” and a pricey import that is apparently a live recording of a rare Kevin Shields performance. I’m loving the new Menomena record and I’m also grooving a lot to the debut record by The Bird And The Bee, which was made by two friends of mine. I’m a pro musician and tour a lot (I’m in St. Louis right now) and I’m finding that “The Many Sides Of Fred Neil” is a great road listen.

There are lots of artists making very interesting music right now– rock is far from dead. Check out the most recent records by Yo La Tengo, TV On The Radio, M. Ward, Peter Bjorn & John, Neko Case, Hold Steady, Mystic Chords Of Memory/Nobody, Ghostface Killah, Mastodon, Vetiver, Califone and Grizzly Bear– all outstanding records that came out in 2006. Just because radio is dying a slow, painful death doesn’t mean there isn’t great music out there. You just have to work a little bit harder to find it nowadays.

I’m 27 years old. I wasn’t even alive for “rock’s golden age.” But 65-66 was undoubtably the best two years as far as staying power and sheer volume of quality music produced. Similar periods included the 77-79 when you had the Clash, Bowie and Talking Heads making great music every other week, and 89-91 with Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, Nirvana, Sonic Youth et al in their primes.

You just have to work a little bit harder to find it nowadays.

You have to work less hard than ever thanks to the mp3 and people blabbing on message boards. And I’m grateful.

,,,most recent records by Yo La Tengo, TV On The Radio, M. Ward, Peter Bjorn & John, Neko Case, Hold Steady, Mystic Chords Of Memory/Nobody, Ghostface Killah, Mastodon, Vetiver, Califone and Grizzly Bear– all outstanding records that came out in 2006. Just because radio is dying a slow, painful death doesn’t mean there isn’t great music out there. You just have to work a little bit harder to find it nowadays.

I’ve been an IMS and had been scared that I would have to abandon the insufferableness.

But I’m happy to say your list of great new stuff aligns nearly straight up with mine, so obviously I haven’t stagnated.

Not like those smug Boomers…

I’m 27 years old. I wasn’t even alive for “rock’s golden age.� But 65-66 was undoubtably the best two years as far as staying power and sheer volume of quality music produced. Similar periods included the 77-79 when you had the Clash, Bowie and Talking Heads making great music every other week, and 89-91 with Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, Nirvana, Sonic Youth et al in their primes.

I’d have to agree. The intersection of Dylan, The Beatles and The Beach Boys had a magical effect– Dylan influenced Lennon, Brian Wilson influenced McCartney, and the Beatles influenced the Beach Boys. Rubber Soul led to Pet Sounds which led to Revolver which led to the Smile vs. Sgt. Pepper race… It’s hard to imagine something like that happening today.

American culture in general is clearly in decline. It blows my mind to think that someone like Dylan had the effect he did– people had more soul, more conscience. Enjoying Dylan requires attention, patience and some sort of emotional commitment, and people don’t have patience for that now. A guy like Elliott Smith, who was a gargantuan talent, was basically ignored during his own lifetime. The inept, money-grubbing, evil music industry is certainly partly to blame, but take a gander at the TV any time and it’s clear to see that this country has become soulless and vapid.

JK47,

I’m going to check out a couple of bands on your list that I don’t know but I especially second TVotR, Neko Case & Ghostface. I’ll add to the list of great ’06 records the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Gnarls Barkley (despite the commercial success it’s still a great record) and these two less well known acts:

Drive-by-Truckers

People Under the Stairs

JK47 – I’d smilicon this, but I find those little yellow goobers a little cloying:

Just because radio is dying a slow, painful death doesn’t mean there isn’t great music out there.

Because radio is dying a slow, painful death means there’s great music out there.

Fixed.

I’ve only got seven years on you (–So Just Fuck Styx–) but–as a guy whose favorite musical experience is listening to friends practice–under the Ancien Regime, if you weren’t Dylan, you were screwed. While the new instrumentality may not appear to be as amazing as Steam Engine + Cotton, it’s providing a lot of inspiration to people who just want to do it mostly for the music.

Oh hell, ;)o