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Xolo1974

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Posts posted by Xolo1974

  1. 1 hour ago, Strider said:

     

    That would be a 5-1 smackdown by Man City.

    Liverpool 2 nil over Southampton today to sit snugly in third place.

    Yep I reckon we’ll finish runners up, above United 

  2. Just got tickets to see Roger Waters a week on Tuesday in Perth Australia. Can’t wait. $95 AUD. That’s $35 cheaper than Jason Bonham wants to see his copy band. 

    Anyone seen any of Roger’s shows in the States? Was he any good? This is the 4th or 5th time I would have seen him and he’s always put on a good show. Gotta be honest though - not a huge fan of the new album. 

  3. 1 hour ago, Strider said:

    Oh boy, here we go again with the "punk killed Led Zeppelin" hyperbole. Led Zeppelin "out of style" to whom? A small coterie of rock media and hipster kids on-the-dole?

    You must be English. You might have been there but you apparently weren't paying much attention.

    Punk was fueled by media-hype and the hipster crowd, who had decided it was time for something new, something back-to-the-basics. Apart from a few writers, the rock journalism and cognoscenti were never in Led Zeppelin's corner. The fact that Led Zeppelin became so popular and huge without their help and critical stamp-of-approval was an affront to the rock critics' self-importance. They would relish any chance they had to knock Led Zeppelin down.

    The Ramones provided that chance. It's no accident the seed of the "punk back to basics" idea sprouted in New York. The Andy Warhol jet-set crowd and the celebrity-obsessed glitterati New York scenesters never cottoned to Led Zeppelin and its hairy blue-collar Midlands of England roots, far preferring the cosmopolitan Londoners, The Rolling Stones and media-whore and aspirational social-climber Mick Jagger.

    The Ramones and the CBGB bands clearly were inspired by The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, MC5, and The New York Dolls. They had the stench and allure of the gritty East-Side art scene that Andy Warhol and his crowd liked to slum in. And wherever Andy went, the media was sure to follow.

    Once New York fell under the sway of the CBGB scene, the next objective was England. There is no overstating the importance The Ramones first trip to the UK supporting The Flamin' Groovies on the Fourth of July in 1976.

    Two shows...July 4 at the Roundhouse and July 5 at Dingwalls. Just about everyone from the nascent punk scene in England were at one or both of those gigs, and as has been quoted by many who were there, after The Ramones played "overnight every band in the UK played faster".

    The Sex Pistols and Damned and the Clash were just forming and trying to figure out their sound and it was as if The Ramones appeared and offered a blueprint. The NME lapped it up.

    From that point, it was one Malcom McLaren publicity stunt after another and next thing you know, the Sex Pistols and punk rock are the rage in the U.K. Naturally, all this press and publicity gets bounced back to the U.S.

    Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Who, ELO, Boston, Kiss, Frampton, Heart...these are the popular bands and still the backbone of rock radio and the concert circuit. But with the exception of the Who and the Stones, the critics tend to hate these bands, especially the hard rock, heavy metal bands. And even the Stones and the Who are starting to see more negative reviews and falling sales for their recent albums and tours.

    So with Malcom McLaren fanning the flames of the punks vs. dinosaur rock war in the U.K. press, many of the U.S. rock press see this as an opportunity to 1) knock Led Zeppelin and other FM rock royalty off their pedestal; and 2) kill disco.

    So that is how 1977 became the Year of Punk as the media onslaught began. The old bands were dinosaurs, old-hat and old-fashioned and out-of-touch with the kids on the street. It was the new young tough bands from England and CBGBs and the street-scenes from Cleveland and San Francisco and Los Angeles that spoke to kids now.

    I am not concerned now with the veracity or legitimacy of those claims...either at that time or today.

    The important thing is the result.

    Actually, I should say results, for there were two results... two entirely different results depending on where you lived.

    In the U.K., where radio was in the hands of the government, hence real rock radio a scarcity on the average Brit's radio dial, the kids were far more under the sway of NME and the John Peel Show than their American counterparts. Britain was also a more depressing, politically despondent country than the U.S. at that time in the 1970s. If you weren't a Sloane Ranger, it seemed as if your future was either in the mines or on the dole.

    So yeah, "Anarchy in the U.K." sounded like a good idea if you were a Brit teen. And in a country where it only took sales of a few hundred or thousand to make a dent in the Top of the Pops, it was fairly easy for the new punk bands to get in the charts. If NME named your single its "Single of the Week" then you were practically guaranteed to have a hit as NME's readers would go out like lemmings and buy the record.

    If all you did was read the NME and watch TV, "punk" did seem to be sweeping across the U.K. Until you go back and look closely and find that Led Zeppelin's "Presence", "The Song Remains the Same", "ITTOD", and Pink Floyd's "Animals" and "The Wall", and Queen's "News of the World" and "Jazz" albums all sold more than any punk record during that time.

    Oh, and Led Zeppelin played to huge crowds for two weekends at Knebworth. Demonstrating that three years of punk vitriol and hype had not diminished Led Zeppelin's appeal and concert-draw one iota.

    In the U.S., the disconnect was even more pronounced. Sure, the hipsters that lived in New York, Los Angeles and other coastal or college towns where there was an independent radio presence picked up on the new punk bands. But as hard as Rolling Stone magazine and other rock media outlets tried to hype the punk bands, the reaction of Middle America was a big yawn.

    For one thing, for a long time the only way you could buy any of the punk records was through costly imports. Secondly, most of mainstream rock radio refused to play punk at first....just outright rejected those bands. Third, it took years before many of those bands were able to tour the U.S. and when they finally did tour it was a short bumbling tour like the Sex Pistols 1978 U.S. tour.

    So for many U.S. kids and rock fans, the whole punk thing was not a tangible experience. It was hard to actually hear and see the bands for yourself. Whereas bands like ZZ Top, Rush, Kiss, Springsteen, and Tom Petty were touring non-stop around the country.

    By 1978, the music industry had created "new-wave", a more cuddly and approachable form of punk. But even these bands had a hard time penetrating the market, although they certainly made more headway and money than the Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders and Stiff Little Fingers.

    While the media was pumping up the punk hysteria, do you want to know which new band was taking over the youth of America? The Mighty Van Halen!

    As a further "fuck you" to Rolling Stone and the rock critics, when Led Zeppelin's "ITTOD" was released, sales went bonkers and it practically saved the industry that year. The Sex Pistols were dead as a band and Led Zeppelin was #1 for seven weeks (and every one of their previous albums were also in the Billboard Top 200 Album chart...a record never equalled).

    It was as if punk had never happened.

    Oh, and disco kept on during this time, too. Go back and look at the charts from 1976-1980 and you will find plenty of disco albums. More disco albums made #1 than punk albums during those years.

    I am not saying punk rock didn't have merit or wasn't needed in some way. I loved a lot of punk bands and as one who had grown tired of ELP, Yes, Eagles, Deep Purple, Grateful Dead, and hated most of the new corporate rock bands like Foreigner, Journey, Boston, Frampton, I welcomed the fresh influx of these raw power bands.

    But this whole idea that "Punk slayed Dinosaur Rock" and that kids everywhere burned or threw away their Led Zeppelin records is utter bullshit and punk mythologizing. Led Zeppelin's popularity remained constant, especially in America.

    Well bloody said Strider. I don’t think that can be topped. I also don’t recollect many punk bands playing at Live Aid in the mid 80’s. This merely demonstrates their lack of longevity and absence of a lasting appeal. “Dinosaur Rock” on the other hand! As a 10 year old kid, I remember the eagerly awaited performances of the Who, Queen, Page/Plant/Jones etc. Their popularity never died and hasn’t since

  4. 8 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

    :hysterical:. You are a wag? Ironically my Parents migrated up north from Shitsville before I was born - how close was that? 

     

    I’m planning on coming back to Liverpool next year to catch up with everyone. We should meet for a beer. Don’t think I’ve told you I used to live in urmston. Will send you a pm 

  5. 3 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

    A good idea there man but it would take more, a lot more, than listening to 2 albums for me to go down to the shit hole that is London. In fact even if there was a personal appearance by Page himself I would have to decline. 

    Are you sure? I thought you liked London 

  6. 1 hour ago, Doctor Jimmy said:

    First things first: i was talking about hard rock numbers, prompted by the "whoa mama" comments of gibsonfan. Percy has of course written his fair share of beautiful/smart/evocative etc. lyrics, but my point was: although on first glance the hard rock songs of the Stones and Zep may seem to be of equal lyrical quality, closer inspection reveals that the former had a way better knack for rocking out AND having words that most of the time (not always, of course) go far beyond the cock rock cliches Plant wrote.

    Second, I'm sorry, but Thank You has really banal lyrics for my taste, but to each his own, I guess.

    Finally, "all far more evocative tunes"? Really? Gimme Shelter, You Can't Always Get, Wild Horses, Dead Flowers, Moonlight Mile, Sister Morphine, Sympathy, No Expectations, Paint It Black, Shine A Light, Winter, 100 Years Ago, Waiting On A Friend are only some of the songs in their discography that display an astonishing marriage between music and lyrics. But I guess the thunderous terror of Shelter, the spiritual uplift of YCAGWYW, or the spooky, creepy "dark alleway" vibes of Sister Morphine are less evocative than what Zep had to offer...

    And don't make the mistake of dismissing their post-73 output...the "they sucked after that" myth is exactly that...a myth.

    Whoa there....somebody disagrees with you in a respectful manner and this is how you respond? This discussion has passed the point of being a productive and positive use of my time. I guess that means that you “win”. 

  7. Dr Jimmy I also have to respectfully disagree mate. Peak years as a lyricist to my understanding includes Kashmir, In the Light, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, Thankyou, Immigrant Song, That’s the Way, Over the Hills and Far Away, No Quarter, Rain Song, SRTS, Achilles Last Stand etc. All far more evocative tunes than anything the Stones ever did. 

    Don’t get me wrong, I love the Stones.....actually, let me qualify that. I listen to the Mick Taylor era Stones A LOT. Occasionally the stuff before that....BUT NEVER anything after. Don’t think they have done anything any good since ‘73. Just my opinion, and I very often have heated debates with my Dad about it. 

     

  8. 9 hours ago, 76229 said:

    This. I was surprised (even as a Londoner) when I read the Barney Hoskyns book on Zep, especially the chapter on Plant & Bonzo's musical life pre-68. How much snobbery there was towards the Birmingham music scene in London, and how much resentment it caused in Birmingham, not surprising given they were brewing great bands like The Move.

    To pick another example from sport, Roger Hunt retired from the England team (soccer) because he got dog's abuse from the crowd in London due to replacing the London hero Jimmy Greaves. And this was a player who'd helped the team become World Champion!

    As a Liverpool fan and scouser it’s “Sir Roger”..... lol

  9. 4 hours ago, shadowblue said:

    Kind of sad. Really what anybody would pay indicates the value of that experience to them. You previously thought this was "value".

    That's a pub tribute band with no "connection"! There is an Australian set-up, CCEntertainment, which does an annual 'Led Zeppelin Celebration' called 'Whole Lotta Love' - 4 alternating vocalists, 9 piece band, generally filling smaller theatres. Don't try to act as Led Zeppelin. Musically superb. I think last time I saw them it was about $70AUD. Easily worth double that.

    I'm not anti pubs. Amongst the best shows I saw this year were free in pubs or $15-20AUD in small rooms.

    I also paid the most I ever have for a concert ticket (last week in a 12000 seat arena). $406AUD for a pommy bass player playing tunes from his earlier bands - and well and truly got my money's worth. I'd have to dig back to Queen in 1976 or the O2 Arena 10/12/2007 show (which to attend, cost me nearly 10x the amount last week) for a show which I'd say might have been"better".

    Needless to say, I'm looking forward to JBLZE in Sydney, am OK with the price and don't care whose not there!

     

     

    I’ve re-read your post and can’t for the life of me figure out the point your making, or whether or not you’re having a go at me. 😂 

  10. 1 hour ago, chillumpuffer said:

    :o. I know but so much optimism, so much deflation. Thankfully I didn't fork out the £20 odd monthly to watch such drivel.

    40 degrees I know not much fun but believe me Jules at least the sky maybe blue and not permanently grey like it is here. 

    If it makes you feel any better, my life is a fuckin misery in work at the moment 

  11. On 14/12/2017 at 6:15 PM, chillumpuffer said:

    Excellent stuff from Malan and Bairstow. Gives us a foothold. We must press on tomorrow and bowl well. Rumours of bad weather Sunday and Monday could give the Aussies heart though. 

    Glad that’s the day I went to - day 2. Folks over from Liverpool so got tickets for me and my Dad. He loved it. His first test match in Australia. It was friggin hot 

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  12. On 08/12/2017 at 12:13 AM, IpMan said:

    Talk about the turning of the worm. To see the real Zeppelin at the O2 gig was roughly $200 per ticket now 10 years later the cost is $130 to see a tribute band with a much smaller stage setup.

    Not saying JBLZE are not fantastic, amazing even, but $130 for a tribute band is rather excessive. Shit, I balked at the $90 price for Robert Plant's 2018 show. Then again I am a cheap ass bastard.

    Goddamned Eagles & Madonna!!! Those two money whores started this whole mess back in the early 90's. Up until then you could see The Stones, The Who, pretty much any top billed act for around $25 then came Madonna with her Vogue Tour and the Eagles with Hell Freezes Over and next thing you know $100 tickets became the norm. And don't even get me started on the $200 starting price for Heart to play their greatest hits. Give me a break.

    Totally agree. They are coming to Perth, and I am fucked if I am paying $150 AUD for a tribute band. On principle

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