1990

Wayne's World was on the other day and I couldn't get over the fact that the movie came out in 1992, only 'cause I started doing some math in my head. 17 years?! That movie could've come out 5 years ago for all I could remember. And then, because I can't do my figuring correctly, I was trying to compare 1961-1980 (which is actually 19 years) to the Wayne's World thing. Since it's a flawed scale, let's bump it back two years to make it fair. 1990.

In 1961, the world had no idea who The Beatles were. They didn't even know. Ringo hadn't even joined the band yet, and in 1980, 19 years later, the world was collectively mourning the loss of John Lennon.

1961

1980

And whether you like them or not, it's hard to deny The Beatles' legacy and how they OWN music as we now know it (or the Yoko Ono and the estate of Michael Jackson do anyway).

So let's see what's happened in 19 years for us. That takes us back to 1990.

Top 10 songs of 1990. =)

1. Hold On, Wilson Phillips
2. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
3. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
4. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe
5. Vogue, Madonna
6. Vision Of Love, Mariah Carey
7. Another Day In Paradise, Phil Collins
8. Hold On, En Vogue
9. Cradle Of Love, Billy Idol
10. Blaze Of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi

Who knew, or remembered that 1990 was so RAD music-wise?! I could tangent this for hours, but we're going to hone in on my FRIGGIN' FAVE of 1990. Bel Biv DeVoe... Now you know. Yo, Slick, blow.

The Poison album is a party in a small, plastic box. No jokes about it.

Then there was the tv.

And guess what debuted in 1990.  Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air




And Beverly Hills, 90210.



Oh snaps.

And then the movies...

And as great as that all is, Carnie Wilson is now hosting Newlywed Game, Madonna is adpoting Malawian babies, Will Smith is earning Oscars, 90210 is seeing a second go, I think Bel Biv Devoe might be reuniting and Goodfellas is still the greatest movie in the entire planet. But I can't really say that any of it has the same impact that the 60s and 70s gave to the world. I know it's objective but say that to my face! I'll  throw down in a dance off! 

"Their manager's name is Mr. Brian Epstein"

Brian Epstein was a beautiful, troubled man, and today, August 27, marks the 42nd anniversary of his death.

He made The Bealtes and they made him and the world would likely be much less wonderful if, as legend has it, a teenager didn't come into his furniture store with a small music department in the corner and ask for a "My Bonnie" record by The Beatles (actually Tony Sheridan and backed by The Beatles).

And here's what I think is so awesome about Brian Epstein. He was a genius. An absolute marketing genius. It starts out that his family owns this furniture store. He gets put in charge, flips all the furniture so the backs are to the window and turns the failing store into booming business. He gets put in charge of the music section. It was like three racks in the back corner. He turns it into NEMS (North End Music Store).

So this kid, says Legend, rolls on into this NEMS, asks for this record by this German band called Beatles (we know now that they weren't German) and Brian orders the record, finds out that this band is playing a club called The Cavern during the lunch hour. He figures he must hear this band so, The Cavern being just down the street, Brian strolls on in with his high powered suit to this sweaty, stinking hole. He sees this sweaty, stinky band, clad in leather and charisma and he falls madly in love.

"I was immediately struck by their music, their beat, and their sense of humour on stage — and, even afterwards, when I met them, I was struck again by their personal charm. And it was there that, really, it all started" -Brian Epstein

He took The Beatles from this:

To this in the matter of a year. Impressive.

Now, to think that Brian Epstein had anything to do with The Bealtes' talent would be wrong. Brian made them marketable. He put them in suits and ties. He had them stop swearing, drinking and smoking on stage. He packaged them. He sold them.

Brian was gay. Brian was theatrical. He brought this to The Beatle image. And whether you want to believe it or not, even on the most sub-conscious level, girls love boys who may love boys. And so do boys. It's win win. But nobody loved "the boys" like Brian did.

Managing The Greatest Band in all of Music History opened the way for Brian to manage a few other bands, none to the heights of mania like his first catch (though no one else has yet to do so either, so you can't hold it against the guy).

His other bands included:

Gerry and the Pacemakers

Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas

The Fourmost

The Cyrkle

(alright, one more The Cyrkle, for Amy <3)

and Cilla Black

To name a few.

Thanks Christine! 

Brian's heart was with The Beatles, though and he worked tirelessly to jump start what we now know as "Beatlemania". Sure, Brian made a couple of mistakes (like, for one, taking 10 cents to the dollar for Beatle merchandise, costing The Beatles millions in revenue. Oops), but he meant well. But when The Beatles decided to stop touring in '66, he felt they didn't need him anymore, and was devastated. Heartbroken. Finished. With that self-imposed feeling of failure, and of being homosexual in a very... illegal time (though it did become legal in Britain, sort of, in '67), Brian fish-tailed out of control.

Sgt. Pepper was released in June of '67. A promotional party was held at Brian's house in May.

Where, incidentally, Paul met Linda who was there as a photographer

Then the Beatles did the All You Need Is Love bit in June.

And went to see the Maharishi in Bangor, Wales in August. And then found out that Brian had died.

And then The Beatles just couldn't get it back together.

Yoko Ono and Linda Eastman (later McCartney) both are remembered and blamed for their roles in "The Break-up of The Beatles!", but August 27, 1967, the day the Brian Epstein was found dead in his bed of an apparent over-dose was the needle that burst the Beatle bubble. Yoko and Linda just crawled in through the cracks.

Brian Epstein. Quite possibly one of the most important cogs in the Rock N Roll History wheel, and he did it all before the age of 32. Look it up if you don't believe me.

Elvis.

In case you have been living under a rock, or aren't as hardcore insane as I am, then you prob don't know that today marks the 32nd anniversary of Elvis Presley dying on a toilet. Sadly, when most people think of Elvis, they think of "Velvet Elvis"

and "Viva Las Vegas" Elvis.

And Elvis impersonators

And ... these people.

But the Elvis I think of first is him.

The sweet Elvis. Elvis before the boozin' and pillin' and beatin' and tv shootin' and Nixon cahootin'

I think of fun Elvis, Blue Hawaii Elvis.

Live A Little, Love A Little Elvis.

I like to think of the Elvis that walked into Sun Studios to record a song for his mother, Gladys.

I heart Elvis.

And without Elvis, neither John Lennon or Paul McCartney would have picked up a guitar.

RIP Elvis Aron Presley. (Jan 8, 1935 - Aug 16, 1977)

60s Girl Groups.

I have a girl group itch. I don't know what happened. I started thinking about The Shangri-las and it just came rolling over me like the heroin. I WANT MORE.

I started digging deeper and I found out that Beatlemania (and no, I cannot go 20 minutes without a reference) began this craze of girl groups. It seems like a lot of them came from New York. You've got the most famous one, and I think, the only one that lasted through 1966, The Supremes.

The Supremes - The Happening (From 1967) And OMG how I forgot how much I LOVE this song.

There's The Ronettes (Ronnie Spector was married to that guy),

Then there's The Dixie Cups

And so on. I found the COOLEST album though, in my travels through Netland. It's called Girls In The Garage. Holy Awesome, Batman!

There are skulls and a devil right on the cover of the album! Right there, that equals Rockstar. They have the album for listening over on Lastfm.com (there are multiple volumes too. ::in auditory heaven::)

DENISE & CO.: Take Me As I Am

THE PUPPETS: Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart

THE MODELS: Bend Me, Shape Me (1966)

THE CHYMES: He's Not There Anymore (1966)

THE BITTERSWEETS: Hurtin' Kind (1965)

THE ID: Those Ever-Lovin' Baby Blues (unreleased)

THE BELLES: Come Back (1966)

THE BELLES: Melvin

THE LUV'D ONES: Up Down Sue (1966)

KIM & GRIM: You Don't Love Me (1965)

LYDIA MARCELL: The Girl He Needs (1967)

THE CONTINETNAL CO-ETS: Medley Of Junk (1966)

THE BEATLE-ETTES: Only Seventeen

ALTHEA & THE MEMORIES: Worse Record Ever Made(1964)

THE BLUE ORCHIDS: Oo Chang-a-Lang

THE GIRLS: Chico's Girl

THE LADYBUGS: How Do You Do It?

THE BOOTLES: I'll Let You Hold My Hand

THE TERMITES: Tell Me

THE SANSHERS: Gonna Git That Man

THE WHYTE BOOTS: Nightmare

LYN & THE INVADERS: Boy Is Gone

THE CHYMES: Quite A Reputation

THE DAUGHTERS OF EVE: Don't Waste My Time

THE CONTINENTAL CO-ETS: I Don't Love You No More

THE CHIMES OF FREEDOM: Jungle Rock

THE STARLETS: You Don't Love Me

And yes. On the album there is a band called The Beatle-ettes (You think this isn't right up my alley!? Ha!)

And The Bootles?! NICE!

Maybe it's just that I live my life subconsciously to become as awesome as The Carrie Nations in Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. Complete with gay vampire manager guy.

If I could Punk Rock, I would be a Shangri-La

I have long wished I was in a girl group. I used to joke that I wanted to be a Monkee so I wouldn't have to learn an instrument (I know, Monkee people, I know, I'll get to the talent of the Monkees in a later post). Problem is though, I can't really sing either. I suppose I could be in a punk band, just not too hard core and I don't want to have to wake up bloodied in vomit on a dirty floor somewhere with a safety pin through my nose. Which brings me to The Shangri-Las. Holy crap these girls were cool!

In 1964, the average American teenaged girl looked like this:

And here come these four girls, aged 15-17 from Queens who are wearing leather and singing about a biker boyfriend who DIES.

Even though they look a little Lavern and Shirley here,

They were tough, they were rumored to carry guns, they scared the guy groups they were on tour with. Earlier I said there were four of them and you only see three, right? Well one of the girls, she was even too cool to tour.

This is Mary Weiss, the lead singer. She's my favorite. She's totally awesome, right?!

I found a really cool blog while looking for stuff for this little spittle from my fangirl brain. Check it out. RAD!!! www.theshangri-las.com

And this song, Remember (Walking in the Sand) was in Goodfellas. It's tough.

Beatles First US Visit.

Must be that I'm in an early Beatles mood lately. Must be. Anyway, First US Visit is Fab, it's Gear, it's switched on. If you've never seen it, well, here you are. It's a documentary of literally their first visit to the U.S of A. February 7, 1964 they landed in New York and Beatlemania became official. This film is from the inside looking out on the craziness. While you watch this, you get the sense that it might not have been the music or the hair-styles that made them, it was just them. As a matter of fact, they had been turned down by all the major record labels and as a last resort, their manager, Brian Epstein took a demo to their eventual producer, George Martin who hated the demo, but decided to take a chance and meet them in person.

"The infamous first meeting began with a well timed comment (George Martin asked the Beatles what they thought of Parlophone, to which Beatle George replied, “I hate your tie”), which broke the ice, and set the stage for their future collaborations. Martin later noted that though he really liked John, Paul and George, he didn’t necessarily think they showed any signs of being great songwriters."

It was all about the charisma. And did they ever have it. So, enjoy.

Part One.

Part Two. (By the way, is that the beginning of Strawberry Fields that John is working out at about 8mins 30 in?!)

Part Three.

is missing. Hmm. Guess you'll have to go rent it to see it or something, anyhow,carry on.

Part Four. (This might be my fave one. Ringo's dancing, "Lingerie, Ladies' underwear, floor 12". My fave fans EVER roll out of the Women's Restroom at about 4:30. Oh, and then there's other fans, It's good stuff)

Part Five. ("George and John. Buddies and Pals")

Part Six.

Part Seven. ("Look, Ringo, I doon an abstract" Oh Paul.)

Part Eight.

Beautiful Boy - Man. And hot. Did I mention hot?

Sean Lennon. *Sigh*

Yes. At first I bought a Sean Lennon album only because of who his parents are. I admit that. But something happened that I wasn't expecting. I enjoyed it.

Being a Beatle fan, it's impossible to not know who Sean Taro Ono Lennon is, who his mother is; "She who broke up the Beatles!" As a Beatle fan or a John Lennon fan, the image of Sean goes something like this.

In the 90s sometime, he reemerged from pop-culture trivia (to my knowledge anyway) looking a little...um...,

“When I was 15, a cabdriver asked me if I was Paul McCartney’s daughter.” -Sean Lennon.

I've read that that is what made him decide to cut his hair. Thank god! Because OMG. So after seeing him looking like the male version of Saffron from AbFab about 15 years ago, I didn't expect to be so overcome by how impossibly COOL he's become.

I guess that must be what happens to you when you come from a Beatle and a conceptual artist. And you grow up in Central Park. And someone calls you Paul McCartney's daughter.

His last album was "Friendly Fire." Buy it. It is amazing and still finds daily play on my ipod.

The coolest part about this album, the genius part is that he did a short film to go along with the album. Like videos, but they tell the story of the album as a whole. Here's a little snippy snips.

After obsessing over Friendly Fire, I saw Sean Lennon in concert. He blew my mind. So I came home and wrote this.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Sean Lennon makes me swoon... Tonight I came to a realization. I am that fan. I am her. I am the one I always laughed at when I'd watch A Hard Day's Night with my friends. You know the one. The one that would grab her ears and scream until she passed out. This one. I always thought that I MIGHT be that girl. But it had never happened exactly like that. I have seen weezer more times than I can count, I met Rivers Cuomo a couple of those times. And I'm in love with Rivers Cuomo. It was awesome. But I never once got dizzy, blacked-out and tried to hold back that feeling of vomit. I didn't think it existed. At least not on Earth. Perhaps, though, Disneyland no longer counts as Earth... Even though it is its happiest place. For me anyway. After tonight. April 27th, 2007 will be the day that I became her. I became the fan. Sean Lennon played the House of Blues in Anaheim. Downtown Disney. There was an opening band called Women and Children". They were alright, but for their last song, they brought out a "friend" and as Sean Lennon stepped out and tossed a guitar onto his shoulder, it happened. I tried shifting my weight because I thought that I was locking my knees or something. I kept trying to swallow the mass amounts of saliva that were now pooling under my tongue. I was very uncomfortable. And I could not take my eyes from him. I was mesmorized. And all I could think of was that little boy craddled by JOHN LENNON that I'd seen in pictures a million times. A million times I'd seen these pictures and believed they didn't exist. They weren't real. There was no way that any of it could be real. But it is real. And he looks like him. Just like him. And I became that girl. I regained composure between acts, and I could see him as I had before, as a hot guy who played awesome music, but for that one moment..... This and this became this and this which lead to this

So he's in this new band with an impossibly beautiful, and dumb girl, girlfriend, whatevs. And they're hot together and they make real good music and it just makes me, it makes me hate her and love her all at once. Anyway. They are called Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger

I think they are making an album right now. That will definitely be mine. So in the mean time, you can stalk him here on YouTube and at seanonolennon.com - which is a super rad site, by the way, and you can see some really great photos by older (half)bro, Julian.

Oh, also enjoy this little viddy that I cannot stop watching.