Nowadays we have the internet, where you spend half your life, and high-speed file sharing that lets you grab whatever you want whenever you want it... Back in the eighties, you only had maybe four people—guys like Mike and Steve in Chicago, plus a couple of contacts in New York and maybe someone in LA—who actually owned decent records and would sit there dubbing them onto cassettes for you... Then, the second one package arrives, you’re already ordering the next one. Just try to imagine how hard it was to actually find information back then. You can't. It's impossible to wrap your head around it...
The Fall. Gang of Four. Stooges. Joy Division. Pure, raw, and essential. No fluff—just that relentless, driving tension. They defined an era before they even left it behind. Ramones. Pure, stripped-down energy. No fluff, no nonsense—just three chords and a whole lot of attitude. They defined the sound of the streets. Period. Velvet Underground. Essential. Everything else is just noise. Talking Heads. Essential. Don't bother arguing.
Dammit—the Pixies hadn't even dropped Surfer Rosa yet. I didn't catch them until a year or two later—much like Big Black, Fugazi, and a whole host of other great bands. No offense intended.
Yes, unfortunately... as I stated before—Oldham decided to head somewhere he’d never been before...
But on the bright side, we got Olson's promo yesterday... the new album cover is packed with photos of Ott Siegner from the thirties... most of them were shot right here in the States... I could hardly believe my eyes when I started flipping through the booklet...
Well, this was the final straw... A few guys wander back to the set near Times Square, where they were busy drinking away their troubles and celebrating some damn sports victory that won't mean a single thing in their lives by tomorrow—and then they have the nerve to ask me to play some Thompson during the soundcheck. I shut them down, obviously, and that's when the real bullshit started. And after all that, I've officially decided to change my nationality... since they won't let me identify as a Southerner, I'll just be filed under "Other"... whatever.
I actually traded my first two Buzzcocks vinyls back in the day for the first two Birthday Party records... those guys were truly a genius singles band above all else.
Look, most of the "local" artists listed on AllMusic are only there because they checked a box—it’s basically just a lazy attempt to say, "Let's throw in one famous name from every country to look diverse."
Have you even noticed that there isn't a single word written about him or any of his albums on that site? It's the same story with Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, or even The White Stripes...
The only ones you can actually find meaningful info on AllMusic are the acts that truly made it on the international stage. In order: Bruce Springsteen Metallica Nine Inch Nails Steely Dan and (more recently) Nirvana
Everyone else is only featured because the editors want to pad out their encyclopedia with a handful of names from every region. They probably just asked someone, "Hey, who's anyone in the States?" got a list of names, and logged them. Bottom line: seeing Justin Timberlake on AllMusic doesn't actually prove anything at all...
Just got an offer for an Oldham solo tour... I’m going to try to slot him in the day after Olson so you guys can spend two days in Chicago instead. 😉
By the way—Oldham specifically asked to play only in the States, despite getting offers from Toronto and Mexico City... clearly he actually enjoyed his last show here.
Heh... I'm happy to beat Frank Wright14 to the punch—since he's the one in our little community tasked with tracking everything related to the US and Germany—to let you all know that Mark Olson will actually be playing at KSET on March 31st. I’m genuinely curious to see how many of you will make the trek from San Francisco 😉
mark olson & the creekdippers feat.victoria williams
Right now, they're only playing shows up in Northern Europe—but if they decide to head down toward Austria, we might actually get lucky and see them here...😉
haha... remember when they played that encore where he didn't even know the chords? He just kept staring at the bassist to catch the progression—then tried to follow along on that insane keyboard setup... haha