The Beatles are overrated. Bob Dylan can't sing. Kiss sucks. The Grateful Dead are terrible. Jimmy Page is a thief. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of these statements make me twitch, but I am doing my best to ignore those who just refuse to get it. Anyway, it's their loss.
There is something though, that I really want to understand, and that is the godlike reverance for Johnny Thunders and Willy DeVille. It can't be as simplistic as rooting for the underdog. This is music we are talking about. Everyone gets passionate about what they love and what they don't. I like Willy & Johnny, but I can think of plenty of junkies who wrote better songs and recorded better music.
Every year, the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees bring out the worst in social media. And to quote a very good friend of mine, "I hate Journey as much as the next guy, but what the hell did the New York Dolls ever do to get in the Hall Of Fame?" Well, they aren't, but it seems like a growing number of devotees think they should be.
With Johnny Thunders, the New York Dolls made one iconic record. They broke ground and became iconic for good reason. I really like the Dolls first record, but it is of its time. To my ears, it just doesn't hold up musically. "Too Much, Too Soon" pales in comparison. The reunion records are actually very good, but they are no better or worse than so many other glammy records that get zero attention.
Musically, I think "So Alone," Johnny's solo record, is better than both Dolls records. But that's me. The Heartbreakers records are great punk records, but then after that, there is mostly painful recordings that probably have been better off unreleased. Just a recorded mess of someone not keeping it together. Yet, Johnny Thunders is a god.
Less baffling, but still of interest to me is Willy DeVille. There is something very charming about the first three Mink DeVille records. In the middle of the outbreak of punk and new wave, here were albums that seemed to pay tribute to the bygone era of the Brill Building and girl groups and doo wop. Really fun records. But let's admit it, most of these songs were just second rate versions of the original hits from the era Willy loved. DeVille doesn't even bother to come up with new titles for his songs. "Mixed-Up Shook Up Girl?" "River Of Tears?" "This Must Be The Night?" "Lipstick Traces?" None of these are covers. Then, from the 80's on, drugs took over DeVille's life, some arguably mediocre records followed, he became impossible to work with, and now he is an icon in France and a rock and roll hero to many.
What am I missing?
There needs to be more than just an image, or a story. There is something juvenile about knocking music because it is well-produced and well-played. Compared to Johnny Thunders output, Willy DeVille's records are walls of sound. And I do like them. But he is not Bob Dylan. He is not Dion, Barry Mann or Neil Diamond or Doc Pomus, or any of the singers and songwriters he tries to be. That's okay. He had talent. It's one thing to root for the underdog. I just never got trashing the winners.
There is nothing wrong with being able to sing and play, to solo, to harmonize, to keep time, to sing in key, to produce and to write well. It's not cooler to be a mess. And if anyone thinks I am defending Journey, you can kiss my Pineda.
4 comments:
I still love love love the Dolls debut. I think it holds up great, and "So Alone" is right up there with you. I agree on Willie, though. Not my thing, really.
But i'm going to say something unpopular and say that I ALSO love the 3 "Dolls" (really David and Sylvain) records from the 2000s. They're really fun. It's not the same band. But they're professional and well done and there are some really great lyrics. I know it's like saying you like "Free As A Bird", but hey. I like what I like.
Obviously, I'm in no position to tell you what you're missing, and nor is anybody else, really. Speaking for myself, though, I can tell you that a big part of Willy's merit is as that of a signpost, which pointed me in the direction of so much other fantastic music -- and other fantastic musicians -- that it probably would have taken me years to have discovered on my own. His records were sort of like a really hep big brother who took me aside and gave me an encouraging little shove to seek out and listen to many of the brilliant albums that came before. That's something that, as a music lover, I can't overstate the importance of. Maybe that's just me, though!
Cow, thanks for this. I hear what you’re saying. I heard the same thing from those who defended The White Stripes. It’s not them, per we, but maybe now, people will appreciate Son House and Howlin’ Wolf. Whether they did ir didn’t , isn’t the point. I like Willy. But if you’re saying that he was the only signpost or was a better signpost, that’s what I don’t get. There’s a real difference in the reverence for Willy than there is for others.
From my experience at the time, 1979 seemed to be when forward motion sort of stopped to catch its breath, and music took the time to look backwards -- the mod revival, the ska revival, the rockabilly revival, etcet. I suppose it was a matter of me being the right age at the right time, being impressionable coupled with my passion for music and my general sense of curiosity. And, for me, it all seemed to coalesce -- if that's the right word -- with The Clash's London Calling album, which pointed me in a hell of a lot of musical directions and discoveries. So, no, for me, he was far from being the only signpost, but all you need to do is to speak with a handful of music fanatics to realize that they, for the most part, tend to be a really fucking myopic bunch! So, for some, yeah, Willy may have been the only signpost... or the Stray Cats, or Jack White. But, if they eventually get to Howlin' Wolf or Wynonie Harris in the end, god bless 'em, I suppose!
For me, a big part of consuming and enjoying music is joining the dots and seeing how everything connects and leads somewhere else. Others don't take it that far, and still others don't even set a toe on that path. And that's their loss, really.
Should I clarify that I've never had any time at all for The White Stripes?!
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