Ten Most Significant Contributors to the History of Recorded Music - by Tonio K.
| So Robert sez:
Fascinatin'; simply fascinatin'. You should write a little something about all of these people for RED HOT. Unless you're kidding. Are you kidding? I mean, are you sure you're not kidding? Hugo Ball? Dick Dale? Sam Peckinpah?!? So I sez: O.K. I will. No, I'm not kidding. No. No. Yes, Hugo Ball. Yes. Yes. This was months ago. This was at lunch in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art. This was 53rd Street .This was N.Y.C.. That's the way these things get started. Heres the list:
HUGO BALL -- Hugo Ball never owned a guitar. He never owned (or even imagined) an amplifier. He did own a conga drum, a coneshaped Lat, a set of wings and the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1916 he co-founded the DADA movement. DADA said, "if 4000 years of rational thought have culminated in this WORLD WAR I business, then maybe IRRATIONAL is the deal. DADA barked, growled, - and beat the drum loudly. DADA paintings were always confusing-though not always paintings. DADA poems were nonsense. Songs were howled, not sung. DADA was very Rock'N'Roll.
KURT SCHWITTERS -- Inventor of Collage, part-time composer, and full time poet/archaeologist. Schwitters petitioned for something called the "MERZ" stage. This was to be, conservatively life enacted before a paying audience. Nothing much would happen on the stage/everything would (sooner or later) happen on the stage. Among the things Kurt wrote into the "soundtrack" of his play were sewing machines (singing) and an organ that played the notes FUTT, FUTT and FUTT.
JAMES BROWN AND THE FAMOUS FLAMES -- Back when he was interested, James Brown was the single best singer in the world; he was also the single best entertainer in the world. Two live albums, one recorded in 1962 at the Apollo Theater and the other at the Royal Theater in Baltimore, are among the best albums in the History of recorded music. The Famous Flames were the best back up vocalists/straight men in the History of recorded music. James' band was the best big band in the History of recorded music. James' capes were the best capes in the History of recorded music. I guess I've just got to admit it: I really liked James Brown.
DICK DALE AND THE DELTONES -- Surf Music is probably the purest expression of melodic mysticism yet, in the second half of the 20th century. Not only were tliere no words, the instruments weren't saying anything either. The ocean spoke; the beans were spilled: there really wasn't/isn't much to talk about. Dick Dale, aka the King of the Stomp, was surf music. My kingdom for the strength to sit at the masters feet and say nothing.
THE CRlCKETS --, This has become general knowledge in the last 6 months, but I'll say it again 'cause it's time: BUDDY HOLLY and the CRICKETS were, collectively, the world's first Rock & Roll band. They wrote, arranged, recorded and played their own material. They were the archetypical road unit. The cover photo of LIFE IN THE FOODCHAIN was made from an 8mm home movie taken (a long, long time ago) by Cricket drummer, J.I. Allison. Call it "Through the windshields darkly: on tour in the Rockies" and/or Write Robert Smith for details.
ROLLING STONES --Beatles or Stones? I guess everyone over 25 had to face that one as a kid. I voted Stones. Maybe I was wrong, who knows? But then, what have the Beatles had lately?
BOB DYLAN --What can you say about a guy like this? Writer painter, movie actor. He does it all. I guess anybody that's written a song about anything more involved than "their baby" since 1965 has been (somehow) influenced by Bob Dylan-but I know for a fact the guy stole Eric Clapton's sheets right off his bed one time in Malibu. You figure it out.
THOMAS MANN -- So far as I know, Thomas Mann never wrote a song or played an instrument professionally, but he wrote (among other things) a short story called TONIO KROGER. I'd never heard the melody. but I knew the words.
SAM PECKINPAH -- Sam Peckinpah, of course, makes movies, not music, but (you've got to admit) the stuff's got a hell of a beat. He's also from the same part of Central California I'm from, which, considering the nature of some of this music's worth thinking about. Mainly though, I'm just crazy about The Wild Bunch (the best, most intelligent Western, and one of the best movies ever made) and thought I'd give him a plug. Also, Sam had the courage to put Bob Dylan in a movie, which, when Bob saw the rushes, may have inspired him to start writing decent songs again. So who knows what Sam's ultimate impact on the History of recorded music will be?
JACKSON BROWNE -- Jackson may not have altered the "History of Recorded Music" just yet, but he's one hell of a swell writer as far as I'm concerned. Probably one of the 10 best songwriters in our particular galaxy cluster. I just thought I'd throw this in so's nobody would get the wrong idea when they hear "H-A-T-R-E-D".
Thank you so much Tonio K.
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