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| Let's Get Outta Here!!!!! |
Turns out that there is also a musical dimension to Mr. Ving, who for years has been the singer of the hardcore thrash Fear. Their first album is a punk classic, nihilistic, crude, hate-filled, misogynist, hilarious. They freaking hate everything that moves. But the music is incredibly tight, tuneful, and accomplished. Ving has a stentorian, almost operatic voice. The over the top lyrics and Ving's intense shock rock persona are so ridiculous that you can't take the band that seriously. Cartoon manifestos. But I stress this isn't for everyone, maybe not anyone. This is not your parents' kumbaya. Andrew Dice Clay for punks.
I thought this would be a nice segue from my last post.... and it being almost Christmas....
So here we go, from penthouse to macadam.
I still remember hearing this music for the first time. Remember that the music industry as I knew it growing up was very different from now. The music we bought was censored, edited to omit obscenity. Thus the constant presence of double entendres and allusions in popular music. It was the most amazing thing for us to hear Steven Tyler briefly cursing on an Aerosmith Live Album. Cut to the early 80's. It all seems quaint today.
This aggressive high powered music is blasting off the walls of my 80's dorm room. My college radio station had the vicious I Don't Care About You, and I Love Livin' In The City on fairly regular rotation. Apparently the FCC was taking a nap that semester. But I remember hearing the chorus of I Don't Care About You with complete astonishment, the blatant obscenity smacking me like a punch to the face. It was such a complete contrast to the music I knew and grew up with that I of course had to run out and get a copy for myself. The rest of the album was a blast also, as it turned out. Aside from the Live Album, the other Fear albums are pretty dicey at best, but this one is pretty awesome.
On the first song screams out, Let's Have A War, so you can go die!, basically a retort to warmongers and crass politicians who make cold blooded decisions based on their calculators. Beef Baloney I think must be the greatest tribute ever to the face paced and secret world of the delicatessen. At least I think, though there could be some very well hidden double meaning coded into the obtuse and unblunt lyrics. (ha,ha). It goes from a parodic blues intro into a misogynistic thrashy rant. A hardcore version of a hair ballad, the closest thing to a love song on this album. This is kind of funny, but I think they get out of line with the song on Fresh Flesh, which is a really hateful song without really anything to redeem it. It is all shock value and pure venom on a very personal level. But you must understand that these guys are in essence provocateurs, who want to push peoples buttons in a very straightforward manner.
It's a shame about that song because other songs are extreme but enjoyable like the anti-East Coast rant, New York's All Right If You Like Saxophones, which of course is full of saxophone. Another good one is Camarillo, an expose of Mental Institutions very much in the manner of the Dead Kennedys. Also enjoyable are the nihilistic closer No More Nothing, and the anti family values screed We Destroy The Family. Ditto with Foreign Policy and Gimme Some Action ("I don't want no satisfaction"...). But the big hits are of course the aforementioned I Don't Care About You (FU)....
I've seen an old man have a heart attack in Manhattan.
Well he just died while we just stood there lookin' at him.
Ain't he cute?
Well he just died while we just stood there lookin' at him.
Ain't he cute?
and I Love Living In The City.....
Spent my whole life in the city,
Where junk is king and the air smells shitty.
People pukin' everywhere.
Piles of blood, scabs and hair.
Bodies wasted in defeat,
People dyin' on the street,
But the suburban scumbags, they don't care,
They just get fat and dye their hair!
Where junk is king and the air smells shitty.
People pukin' everywhere.
Piles of blood, scabs and hair.
Bodies wasted in defeat,
People dyin' on the street,
But the suburban scumbags, they don't care,
They just get fat and dye their hair!
Words to live by. Death Wish in a can. In addition to Lee, Fear includes Philo Cramer on guitar, Derf Scratch on bass, and Spit Stix on drums. Fear are forever memorialized in the classic punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, Part 1, by Penelope Spheeris, of Wayne's World fame. A few years ago I heard rumors that an expanded version of the film would finally be available on DVD for the first time, but to date there has been no release. Hopefully it will be available soon, as it is an important movie.
When Fear are on stage they bait the crowd like the consummate professionals that they are. They are saying anything that they could possibly think of to get the ostensibly hard core punk audience to kill them. You have to love the ugly candor. So often you go to shows and the band thanks the crowd so much that I start thinking they want to buy me dinner. This is just brutally funny..when I saw their segment of the film when watching this for the first time over at Clark University I'm surprised I didn't wet my pants. Watch as the magic unfolds....
A record not for the faint-hearted. I've given a thumb nail sketch of this album, if I get any complaints from people, saying this album caused convulsions to their cats, don't say I didn't warn you. To make an apocalyptic punk record you have to crack a few eggs, or longhairs. But hey, this band even performed a brutal moshing set on Saturday Night Live, back when their musical guests could be eclectic, not necessarily known quantities. I leave you this classic snippet, the last noel, where Ving and company put a big stake in the hearts of Christmas Past Present and Future.
Thank you so much. Your continued patronage is important to us here at C-Funk.
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