It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

It's a major coincidence that just as Springsteen was being touted as Rock and Roll's future, it's actual future was making it's debut---The Ramones with their first album! Far more influential to Rock n' Roll than Springsteen, or anyone else since The Beatles, in my opinion. No? Name one! That doesn't necessarily mean one will like them, however. I sure do, though there ARE less influential artists I like even more.

Here's another thought for ya'll (I'm sure you'll let me know if I'm boring you ;-):

Around the same time that Springsteen was being anointed, and The Ramones were heading to England to play (the effect of which was to ignite the whole punk movement over there. Everybody who ended up being in a Punk Band saw The Ramones on that tour. Joe Strummer quit the Pub Band he was in---The 101er's---and started The Clash.), an album came out which was immediately recognized by the more discerning fans of Rock n' Roll as an instant classic. The album also had an enormous influence amongst aspiring musician's of a particular stripe, most notably Tom Petty.....

"I'm On Fire", by The Dwight Twilley Band. It (along with "Music From Big Pink" by The Band, though they are very different from one another), is the most astonishing debut album I've ever heard. It remains in my Top 10 Albums of All Time list, and it's a debut! Hearing it in 1975 gave Petty hope that his brand of Rock n' Roll (which showed musical influences and taste similar to Petty's own) would find a home at one of the Los Angeles record labels. So Tom and the rest of Mudcrunch (their name before coming to their senses) loaded up the van and headed for L.A., stopping in Tulsa Oklahoma to ask Dwight for career advice and people to contact in L.A.

Greg Shaw predicted major stardom for Dwight, his singing/drumming partner Phil Seymour, and their amazing guitarist Bill Pitcock IV (the Group name had been Oyster, but when Shelter Records President Denny Cordell heard Dwight's name, he thought it too good to waste) in the great L.A. music publication of the 70's, Phonograph Record Magazine. Alas, it was not to be. At least, not to the degree it should have. Minor success, I guess you'd call it. Petty played bass in one of TDTB's first videos (wearing a choker around his neck!). Phil Seymour, not content playing second banana to Dwight, left after the second DTB album ("Twilley Don't Mind", a good though disappointing follow-up to "IOF") to start his own solo career on Planet Records. He has some success, even a hit single, before ended up playing drums for Carla Olsen in The Textones. Dwight slugged it out in L.A. into the 80's, but all three of them---Dwight, Phil, and Bill---ended up back in Tulsa.

Dwight lives in Tulsa, putting out an occasional album, with little success. Phil and Bill have both passed away of Cancer (Phil's Lymphoma, Bill's Lung---he smoked like a chimney). And Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, who sounded like nothing more than slightly above average Pop/Rockers to me (especially in comparison to the far more talented Dwight Twilley Band) is a major star. I never claimed my taste was or should be universal!

Don't worry, Bieber is a flash in the pan teen star, who won't even be a footnote in 40. To each his own, but I have owned over 2k Lps, none of which were Springsteen's. Nebraska would be the one if I broke down.

Well, I guess John Hammond (John Hammond at Columbia Records was responsible for discovering Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, and Bruce Springsteen, among others.) doesn't know much about good music then, does he?

I have to say Petty is another artist who had me scratching my head over his popularity. It's not bad stuff, just not the stuff musical dreams are made of (IMHO). I like the guy as a person, from what I've seen, and I think he has good taste in music. But what he does does not drive my monkey wild.