How did I come to this point? Of course I've always been into punkrock/hardcore like all of you have noticed from my reviews and other stuff I've written, but this time I'm not talking about punk or hardcore at all. I'm talking about rock 'n' roll music.
Bands like Iggy & The Stooges, Danko Jones, Smack, and Guns 'N' Roses, they are/were rock bands in the whole meaning of the term. Some of you might think "Where's MC 5?", but I haven't gotten their stuff yet; I swear I will get some. And many other bands' who play pure rock music. Or maybe I'm talking a little bit about punk rock too because Electric Frankenstein has a punky sound, but I think they're more rock than punk. And like all of us know there's a lot of punk bands who have really rocky sounds like UK Subs, Dropkick Murphys, Pressure Point etc� Maybe Endstand these days too even though they're hardcore. And Blood For Blood too.
I have noticed that almost all of my favorite bands have kind of a rock sound when I listen to them carefully. Even Slayer. And I know why. I think I know why. Because rock 'n' roll has the power. Raw power. I think those metal bands who look neat and playing black or death metal or something aren't as hard as pure rock 'n' roll. But some black or death metal bands have behind them even a bit of R 'n' R spirit and it's always better. Bands like Impaled Nazarene, Children Of Bodom, Raging Speedhorn, and Slayer have the sound. And I don't go wrong when I say that it's because those guys listen to something other than Dark Funeral or Mortiis or Slayer.
Danko Jones said it best: "If you wanna know how to play rock 'n' roll, you must know how to play the blues." It's almost same in every case. If you want to know how to play hardcore, you have to know how to play punk rock. Before that you have to know how to play rock 'n' roll. It's kind of hard for me to say anything about blues because I didn�t realize this till now. But the whole point is that you have got to know your roots. If you're playing in an oi! band and your all of your influences are from Last Resort, 4-Skins, and Combat84 it would be OK stuff, but you won't get anything special. Joel from Nobody's Fools said it when FUTI interviewed him: "To try to be a good musician, you gotta listen to a wide variety of music." This went off topic, back to business...
The first band that led me to rock 'n' roll was Smack. For a long time it was almost the only rock band I listened to. But when I noticed there's a R 'n' R side in me I went to rock gigs. When I would hear that there was going to be good rock, I knew I should at least check it out. Then I found bands like Zerocharisma, Sunride, Danko Jones, Sweatmaster and Divison Of Laura Lee. And I mentioned Stooges... My first experience with the Stooges was from Smack's album when they covered "I Wanna Be Your Dog." It didn't really impress me. But when my friend Tricia sent me a tape where were three songs from Iggy (Search & Destroy, Gimme Danger, & Raw Power) I knew I had to get that album. It took six months, but now I have it and of course listening to it while writing this.
I'm a still total novice in the whole Rock 'N' Roll thing, but at least I think I got a good start. Next I have to get MC 5's "Kick The Jams Out" and some day even pick up a good blues record, but I don't even know any legendary blues artist! And I think I'm not ready to step into the blues just yet. I think I should stay in the Rock 'N' Roll at least until I buy the MC 5�s album�