It’s a fact that there will never be another band like The Beatles. I mean, it takes too long to even talk about. But for about 15 years, Oasis sure did have us imagining what a second coming of the Fab Four might be like, didn’t they? Tabloid tales of poor personal hygiene and ridiculous sibling rivalry / rampant fisticuffs between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher aside, Oasis was a real rock & roll band! Together with whoever happened to be in the band at the time, the brothers Gallagher wrote and recorded so many classic melodic pop songs that are better and more enduring than anything you’ll hear on the radio today. Continue reading Oasis Receives the Legacy Treatment→
On This Date, January 11th in 1982: The Stranglers released their nineteenth single, “Golden Brown” from their sixth studio album, La Folie. “Golden Brown” — written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield — reached the #2 spot on the U.K. singles chart, is pretty obviously a love song about the pleasurable effects of heroin. Just take a casual glance at the lyrics.
On This Date, November 7th in 1979: The Damned released their amazing third album, Machine Gun Etiquette, which included the singles “Love Song,” “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” and “Smash It Up (Part II).”Machine Gun Etiquette was the London band’s first album without founding guitarist Brian James. Captain Sensible moved from bass to guitar and Algy Ward (ex-The Saints) joined TheDamned as their new bassist. I actually saw The Damned on this tour in 1979, at the infamous Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa, California, and hung out with Damned drummer Rat Scabies for most of the evening. Machine Gun Etiquette refuses to sound dated even thirty years after its release, and is still one of my favorite albums, ever. Punk Rock! Read my fantastic interview with Captain Sensible from 2001 at This Link.
Glen Matlock, bassist for the Sex Pistols, was born on this day, August 27th, in 1956. The Sex Pistols, including Matlock, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Favorite Sex Pistols Songs: “I Wanna Be Me,” “Pretty Vacant,” “Silly Thing.”
On this date in 1977: The Vibrators released their third single, “Baby Baby,” backed by “Into The Future.” Both songs appeared on the band’s debut fantastic album, Pure Mania, which remains one of my favorite albums of all time, to this day. The album also included the track, “Stiff Little Fingers” – the song from which Stiff Little Fingers took its name. The London punk band has gone through numerous lineup changes but is still active, with lead singer Knox and drummer, Eddie, still present from the original band.
