Musical Invective

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more...

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:36:00 -0500

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.” -David Bowie

Kay Ballard talks about a trip to Palm Springs to visit Lucy:...

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:38:18 -0500

Kay Ballard talks about a trip to Palm Springs to visit Lucy: “Lucy and I were riding bikes when a dog came out of the woods, foaming at the mouth. She just looked at the dog and yelled, “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” The dog ran back into the woods. I turned to her and said, “That is why you are queen of the world and I am nothing.”

When I was in Bikini Kill I was pretty invested in screaming at...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:23:13 -0400

When I was in Bikini Kill I was pretty invested in screaming at the asshole dudes who were pissing me off. In Le Tigre there was a real shift. I started thinking “Shouldn’t we be inviting more women and weirdos of all kinds to our shows instead of spending so much time yelling at men we don’t even care about?” I mean, If we really don’t care about them why don’t we just not invite them to our shows?

(Kathleen Hanna)

“Rock’n’roll has to be destroyed and rebuilt...

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:15:58 -0400

“Rock’n’roll has to be destroyed and rebuilt in my name if it’s ever gonna accomplish anything.”

GG Allin, 1992

‘I felt that I was indestructible, but rock and roll does that,...

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:38:45 -0400

‘I felt that I was indestructible, but rock and roll does that, you strap on that guitar and think, ‘F—- the world.’ I wasn’t a very academic kid, and music was the way for all that feeling and angst and sex and love and anger to be channelled.”

Dave has always been “the other Kink”, and it is his dysfunctional relationship with his more famous, more acclaimed and, arguably, more accomplished brother that has come to define him in the public’s eye. They could be the prototype for the Gallagher brothers, their bickering, battling relationship so mutually dependent and disharmonious that, even though the Kinks disbanded in 1996, Ray still constantly hovers at the edges of conversation, alluded to directly and indirectly.

One moment Dave will describe Ray as “a vain, egotistical arsehole”, but another he will profess profound respect and affection, saying: “How could I not love my own brother? I just can’t stand to be with him.”

Dave Davies interviewed by Neil McCormick

“… upon hearing [Rod] Stewart sing, [Joe] Meek...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:54:33 -0400

“… upon hearing [Rod] Stewart sing, [Joe] Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left.”

(John Repsch)

In half a century, humans will be “literally pig-eared, if...

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:26:51 -0400

In half a century, humans will be “literally pig-eared, if not all together deaf as a moderately deaf post.”

(Irving Weil, on the rise of machines in music, 1927)

“Among [George] Antheil’s early avant-garde pieces,...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:40:00 -0400

“Among [George] Antheil’s early avant-garde pieces, none caused a greater sensation than his Ballet Mécanique, scored for automobile horns, airplane propeller, fire siren, ten grand pianos, and other instruments. When it was performed at Carnegie Hall in 1924, a concertgoer near the orchestra could stand no more than a few minutes of the racket. Tying his handkerchief to his cane, he raised the white flag in surrender.”

(Bartlett’s Anecdotes)

“An account of the mechanism of an automaton, or Image...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:50:00 -0400

“An account of the mechanism of an automaton, or

Image playing on the German-Flute; as it was presented in a Memoire, to the Gentlemen of the Royal-Academy of Sciences at PARIS.

By M. Vaucanson, Inventor and Maker of the said Machine. Together with

A Description of an artificial DUCK, eating, drinking, macerating the Food, and voiding Excrements, pluming her Wings, picking her Feathers, and performing several Operations in Imitation of a living Duck; Contrived by the same Person.”

(Brochure advertising an automata exhibition, 1742)

“At the end, we’re not sure what we’ve learned...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:41:24 -0400

“At the end, we’re not sure what we’ve learned about country music, about duets, or, most importantly, about Randy Travis.”

(Pop Matters on Randy Travis: Anniversary Celebration)

“Today, the scientist and engineer no longer presumes to...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:50:00 -0400

“Today, the scientist and engineer no longer presumes to dictate to the artist, he and his machines take over the artist’s role and métier, lock, stock, and ramrod.”

(Paul Henry Lang, 1960)

“Let us be candid about this. James Taylor’s immense...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:29:18 -0400

“Let us be candid about this. James Taylor’s immense popularity has had only negative effects among fanatical rock and rollers like myself. About a year ago, a mimeographed rock fan-mag called Who Put the Bomp?ran a ten-thousand-word appreciation of the Troggs (remember “Wild Thing”?) by Lester Bangs, a rock critic as well respected as he is wild-eyed, which was interrupted by a long fantasy in which Lester himself snuck off to North Carolina and ran Taylor through with a broken-off Ripple bottle. That’s how deep the feeling goes. Me, I only took the poster from his third album and ripped it into four or five pieces. Then I hung the face on my wall and scrawled upon it slogans from imaginary Maoist comic books, e.g.: ‘Eat felt-tipped death, capitalist pig!’”

(Robert Christgau)

“The weather was too good, the dope was too cheap, and the...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:16:49 -0400

“The weather was too good, the dope was too cheap, and the girls were too pretty, and there was no fucking way I was going to get anything done in a place like that.”
(Steve Earle on Austin, TX)

“That stupid white band that does horrible cover versions...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:18:03 -0400

“That stupid white band that does horrible cover versions of black musicians.”

(Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle on the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

“Blame baby boomers.” (Gordon Merrick)

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:34:00 -0400

“Blame baby boomers.”

(Gordon Merrick)

“Alexander Scriabin’s Divine Poem is the work of a...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:59:21 -0400

“Alexander Scriabin’s Divine Poem is the work of a neurotic, a Fourth of July celebration in which every member of the orchestra has signed a Declaration of Independence and makes just as much noise as he possibly can.”

(Musical America, 1907)

“Smash the records you possess which present a pagan...

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:39:27 -0400

“Smash the records you possess which present a pagan culture and a pagan concept of life… Phone or write a disk jockey who is pushing a lousy record. Switch your radio dial when you hear a suggestive song… Some songwriters need a good swift kick. So do some singers. So do some jockeys.”

(Catholic Bulletin, 1958)

“A gypsy commune of killer clowns reveling in their own...

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:25:48 -0400

“A gypsy commune of killer clowns reveling in their own morbid fascinations.”

(Dean Kuipers on the Butthole Surfers)

“Ow! That didn’t feel good. I don’t know why...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:01:31 -0400

“Ow! That didn’t feel good. I don’t know why she just threw that at me.”

(Justin Bieber on being hit in the head with a water bottle)

“The Cure, a new dimension to the word crap.”...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:09:09 -0400

“The Cure, a new dimension to the word crap.”

(Morrissey)