// Category Archive for: Waxing Nostalgic

Waxing Nostalgic Connecting the Dots: An Introduction

By Jeffery X Martin

I was born in 1969. When we imagine 1969 now, through the shattered lens of revisionist history, we think of hippies and acid and the overuse of the word “quagmire” when describing the Vietnam War. I look at things through a pop culture filter, always, so it isn’t really a surprise that I would, one drunken night, check the charts to see what the number one song was the week I was born. It had to be something cool, with lots of flanging and sitar and lyrics about flowers.

The number one song the week I was born was “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet” by Henry Mancini.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Replicants, Replicants

By Jeffery X Martin

Take the guys from space-rock band Failure, Tool’s first bassist, and a kick-ass keyboardist and set them to deconstructing and rebuilding some of the finest rock songs of the 1970s and 1980s. The result is the band (and their eponymous 1995 release), Replicants.

It’s, well, a little weird. Therefore, I love it.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Bulletboys, Rocked & Ripped

By Jeffery X Martin

I don’t know what a Bulletboy is. I might have heard one of their songs late at night while driving. Someone might have mentioned the name at a bar. That seems right, because I was more than likely drunk. I don’t remember things so well when I’m drunk.

Here’s the funny thing.

Now that I’ve listened to a cover album by Bulletboys called, aggressively enough, Rocked & Ripped, I have to go back and listen to their entire catalog. If Bulletboys is as wacky, bluesy, and just flat-out good as this record is, I have some catching up to do.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Powerman 5000, Copies, Clones & Replicants

By Jeffery X Martin

When you die and go to hell, and Satan forces you and the other souls doomed to eternal torment into an aerobics class, the only album your sadistic demon instructor will ever play will be Powerman 5000’s cover album, Copies, Clones & Replicants. You will scream in agony and beg for relief. It will not come.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Duran Duran, Thank You

By Jeffery X Martin

Make no mistake: I have always loved Duran Duran. I have no problem admitting this. I had the John Taylor rubber bracelets, the uncensored version of “The Chauffeur” on VHS, the whole nine yards. Their last studio album, All You Need is Now, is criminally underrated. I say this just so you understand that I have no axe to grind. I’m not out to pick on some New Romantics, looking for that TV sound.

But good gods, folks. This album is a constant.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Tesla, Real to Reel

By Jeffery X Martin

Imagine going back in time to 1975. You’re at a rock and roll club on the biker side of town. Your dad is young; his polyester shirt is unbuttoned down to his navel. His gold chains shine like treasure amidst the jungle rope vines of chest hair he proudly displays. His straw cowboy hat encases his skull like a crown. He pounds down a Schaefer in this bar, filled with Tareyton smokers who would rather fight than switch. There’s an underlying aroma of the sweet leaf. You sit down at his table. He leans in and speaks to you.

“The band’s about to start, kid,” he says. “I’ve been into these guys for a while.” He raises his hand and almost immediately, a blond in a halter top is pouring a beer into your proper Pilsner glass. Feedback begins to bleed from the slightly raised stage. The musicians begin to tune their instruments. The drummer taps his snare cautiously and pounds out a quick bass rhythm.

“I bet they start with some Deep Purple,” your dad says. He takes a surreptitious bump of coke and waits for the band to get going.

The singer approaches the microphone. “Good evening, everyone,” he says, “we’re Tesla, and this is ‘Space Truckin’.'” Your dad nods knowingly. Tesla? What the hell is Tesla doing here?

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Styx, Big Bang Theory

By Jeffery X Martin

In retrospect, there weren’t too many corporate pop/rock bands quite as ballsy as Styx. They were great proponents of the concept album, managing to score hit after hit with singles that, taken out of their album’s context, gave no clue to the listener of what they were really about. While I was slow dancing with yet another girl who wouldn’t let me touch her butt to “The Best of Times” in Tracy White’s basement during another hormonally-interminable eighth grade party, I had no idea I was listening to a song about America, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the Seventies and rushing headfirst into the Eighties. I just knew I was staying a virgin for another long weekend.

Styx’s biggest hits tended to be the namby-pamby Dennis DeYoung ballads. The rocking songs like “Heavy Metal Poisoning” never had quite the same popularity. It’s interesting, then, that for their covers album, Big Bang Theory, the band reaches out for the rockiest rock they can rock your rocks to. Even more interesting is how well it works.

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Waxing Nostalgic Cover Albums: Ozzy Osbourne, Under Cover

By Jeffery X Martin

Ozzy Osbourne has been around since, what, the Dark Ages? Has he ever not been somewhere, skulking around a stage with one hand in the air and one hand on his stomach, like he’s about to do a drunk trick? He has done it all, seen it all, and even if reality television success did spoil Ozzy Osbourne for a while, he still has the respect of musicians and metalheads alike. It’s not a surprise to find three generations of Ozz-heads at a show. He has become transcendent.

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Waxing Nostalgic: An Introduction to Cover Albums

By Jeffery X Martin

There comes a time in every established musical act’s career when they say to themselves, “You know what? We should do an entire album of other people’s songs.” Most of the time, this is the worst possible decision a musician can make, yet these albums keep coming. Why is this? Why do otherwise intelligently managed musical acts decide to make cover albums? As far as I, a reasonably intelligent music outsider, can tell, there are three reasons.

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Waxing Nostalgic: METAL MAYHEM! with Spinal Tap, This Is Spinal Tap

By Jeffery X Martin

I’m prepared to catch hell for this, but I believe that no band, and no album, captured the true spirit of the Hair Band era than Spinal Tap. All the excesses, all the tropes, and all the energy and exuberance are captured on their first album, This is Spinal Tap. I also believe they are often overlooked when discussing Eighties Metal when, really, they should be hailed as one of the best examples of the genre.

“But, X . . . ” people say, ” . . . they’re a joke band. It was supposed to be funny.”

Oh, they’re extremely funny. That’s undeniable. But I can’t consider them a “joke” band. All three main members (actors/comedians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) played their own instruments. I don’t think anyone would have complained if these funny guys had pulled in session players, but they didn’t. They played live. They toured. They showed a genuine appreciation for the genre. Who loves rock and roll more: Guns ‘n’ Roses, with their 20 years between albums and absolute disdain for their audience, or Spinal Tap?

Your heart knows the answer.

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