childe,
know this
in the beginning there was nothing
nothing like it
the music had not yet formed itself into rock
in the long dark night of the 1950s
hideous schmaltzy monsters dominated the landscape
oozing foul doo-wop n corny dance routines
in the darkness the ancestors of rock raised their heads
and cried out in the wilderness
a new voice
a new cry
soon the ugly fifties monstrosities would crumble n wither
deep down in memphis elvis presley took shape
chuck berry was writing rocknroll
his little finger walkin’ up n down the guitar
as the common era (1960s on) dawned
the corn n schmaltz seemed set to prevail
until the beatles
n then rolling stones
and bobby dylan i guess
and then the floodgates burst
and the who and all the rest
and lo rock was created for the people by the people
no tin pan alley cynical hit job
or advertising mans con-dream
rock was urgent wild unpredictable tender strange destructive
satanic holy loud peaceful violent
and its main voice was the electric guitar
and for the first time the possibilities
of amplification distortion echo reverberation
phasing flanging leslieing panning whammying
etc
for the first time man had an instrument which could bleed
for him
it could express rage
urgency
decay
panic
emptiness
it could be as sweet as the sweetest kiss
or blow yer fucking head off in squall of feedbacke
armed with our new instrument
aided n abetted by the new souped up drums n drummers
a more primitive approach to drums
bang out that beat like a savage
cos this music can get out there mister
let that bass guitar throb n push this thing along
and when we do get in a studio
lets see what that thing can do
lets experiment with this mess
hey maybe ya can turn a sows ear into a silk purse
a little reverb, a little strings, ride it a little there
you see
you can do anything in rock…
as long as its good that is
you can be whoever you wanna be too
if you dont wanna be who you are
it seemed like the people finally hadda voice
goodbye pleasantville n yer square bullshit
cos we got jimi hendrix n now anything is possible
when i hear pete townshend n ent n moony play underture
i feel like impossibility has been negated
this music appealing to something that other jive dont reach
ok ok
some good tunes in classical music
cmon theres some great stuff
but it dont fuckin’ bleed for me, baybee
neither does it take me up there on mt olympus
when spaceship hawkwind lifts off
the guitar strings scraping, the sax squawking in dim ‘verb
the oscillators falling through space in a hiss
as they part the etheric ions
the bass grimly pulsing, the synthesizer going up n up
well…
there is no other music that can or even wants to do this
its our music
its the peoples music
precious n quicksilver stuff
explosive n narcotic music
thats why us olde rockers keep on rocking
we’re hooked on our own medicine
viva la rock, baybee!
is it love that makes us rock?
you can bet yer life it is!
and that,
*
thats for sure