SID VICIOUS, A Christmas Story | 43 Years Ago The Pistols Deliver Christmas!
John Simon Ritchie, a name which will mean very little to people, bring little thought or judgement, however, his stage name or rather nickname does in Sid Vicious.
Immediately there is a violent thought, there are the thoughts of suicide, murder and perhaps a one of pity.
Some of these thoughts, especially the one of him committing a murder may not be fully true, but there is the violence, yes, there was a violent persona especially in his image, his self harm on stage and if you believe Nick Kent the way Sid could swing a bicycle chain.
But that is one view if you see the footage of the Sex Pistols playing a gig in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England on Christmas Day 1977 you get a totally different view.
In that year over 30,000 firefighters went on strike across England over unfair pay claims and conditions of work, although they were still answering emergency calls, the army was called in to handle everything else.
That Christmas the children of the firefighters were suffering as a result and so we have the most unlikely of events triggering and one which was going against the grain of the populist idea created by the press of the day.
The Sex Pistols played for the children of the striking firemen on that Christmas Day, now you start to come away with a very different image and idea.
Whereas the survivor footage shows, Sid Vicious dancing and laughing with children and having food fights, all good fun and all natural for a young twenty-year old man.
Seems very implausible that the anti-establishment, anarchists of rage the Sex Pistols could play the part of Santa Claus ,but they did.
What is more significant was, this occasion was the last time The Sex Pistols played in the UK with Sid Vicious, within three-weeks the band had imploded on the first leg of their tour of the United States.
Stories of good nature are not usually associated with Sid Vicious or the Sex Pistols, if there are such stories similar to this they have been buried underneath by the tabloid jewels of hate, but very soon you realise that they were victims of their own image, where the part they were playing took over the person they were and this is very true for young John Simon Ritchie.
Photo © Ray Stevenson
On this day, 4 years ago, Nine Inch Nails released 'Not the Actual Events'.
On this day, 4 years ago, Nine Inch Nails released Not the Actual Events (December 23rd, 2016), an EP released on Trent Reznor's own label The Null Corporation. On this EP Trent worked together with long-time collaborator Atticus Ross, his wife Mariqueen Maandig (How to Destroy Angels), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction / Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Dave Grohl (Nirvana / Foo Fighters).
Not the Actual Events is meant to be the first part of a EP trilogy. In July 2017 the second part Add Violence was released while the announcement for release from the third and final EP can be expected any day now.
The overall sound on this EP reminds to the 1990's sound of Nine Inch Nails’s, electronics, distorted bass, noisy guitars and of course one of Trent's most recognizable trademarks... The nostalgic piano tunes.
Reznor himself described the record as “an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make.”
Tracklist
1. Branches/Bones
2. Dear World
3. She's Gone Away
4.The Idea of You
5. Burning Bright (Field on Fire)
All tracks written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
www.nin.com
Belgian electro act Implant breaks silence with brand new EP 'Phantom Pain'
The Belgian electro act Implant breaks 3 years of silence with a surprising new EP, announcing the release of their 11th studio album “Cognitive Dissonance” in early 2021. The EP holds 9 tracks, offering 3 new compositions and remixes.
Len: “With “Phantom Pain” Jan and I decided to bring the Implant ship to unexplored electro pop waters, plunging our upbeat electro industrial style into a melodic bath of catchy synth lines, addictive sequences and sensual female backing vocals by Helalyn Flowers’ frontwoman Noemi Aurora.”
This title track received the remix treatment by the band itself and also by new Belgian upcoming electro act True Zebra and the French techno pop act People Theatre. Next to that the EP holds the exclusive non-album song “The Sinner Has Gone”. The third new track is the cyber industrial / dark electro oriented “The Devil Made Me Do It”. The track was remixed by Implant themselves and French veteran Vuduvox (aka Buzz) and Pre:Emptive Strike 0.1.
Phantom Pain (Tracklist):
- Phantom Pain - feat. Noemi Aurora 05:00
- Phantom Pain - feat. Noemi Aurora (Implant tragic rmx) 04:35
- Phantom Pain - feat. Noemi Aurora (True Zebra rmx) 03:40
- Phantom Pain - feat. Noemi Aurora (People Theatre sparadrap rmx) 05:51
- The Sinner Has Gone 05:15
- The Devil Made Me Do It 03:54
- The Devil Made Me Do It (Implant bonzai rmx) 03:59
- The Devil Made Me Do It (Vuduvox mk1 rmx) 04:19
- The Devil Made Me Do It (Pre-Emptive Strike 0.1 rmx) 04:08
Belgian electronic pioneer Dirk Ivens unleashes the long-awaited new album 'Where Do We Go From Here?' from his cult project DIVE.
Belgian electronic pioneer Dirk Ivens unleashes the long-awaited new album "Where Do We Go From Here?" from his cult project DIVE."Where do we go from here?" is another masterpiece of dark minimalist Electro-art. Between droning Noise and marching Industrial, Dirk Ivens created his very own unique style with DIVE. „Where Do We Go From Here?" is his masterpiece – an album transferring sound and spirit of the classics in today's time.
On „Where Do We Go From Here?", Dirk explores new ways to enforce his sound:
„For this album, I teamed up with Jan Dewulf, known from his bands Your Life On Hold and Diskonnekted", says the humble main man. „New collaboration means new sounds." Nevertheless „Where Do We Go From Here?" has an attitude of the early DIVE and The Klinik combined with state of the art production. The beats are even more brutal, the soundscapes even darker, the vocals even more touching. „The world we live in today will never be the same", Ivens comments on the obvious influences. „But even when things don't look hopeful, we try to keep a positive mind."
So „Where Do We Go From Here?" is the expected dark and heavy piece of music, yet it allows a glimpse of hope. „Where Do We Go From Here?" is now released as a CD as well as a wooden box limited to 500 which includes the album on vinyl, the CD-version, and an exclusive vinyl EP.
Watch the new DIVE video 'Inside Your Head' below!
Today, 49 years ago (17.12.1971) the late David Bowie released his first masterwork, Hunky Dory.
“Look out, you rock & rollers."
Following on from the garage-rock of “The Man Who Sold The World” the formula was now in place for Bowie to push the boundaries that bit further and make the world sit up and take notice, his travels to America had inspired the writing of his first masterpiece, the culture and the music soaked into his songs, from the Velvet Underground to Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol, all would play a role in the dynamic of David Bowie’s creativity.
From the infectious opener “Changes”, an instant pop-classic with the catchy chorus which would foretell Bowie’s career, the path he would take and the warning to the music world of his arrival.
“Oh! You Pretty Things”, this was “Starman” part-one, the full lineup of the Spiders coming into their own for the first time with the aid of Rick Wakeman on piano.
As “Life On Mars?” became the pivotal Bowie track of the day, the transcendent chorus, the uplifting piano working in partnership with the guitar solos, images of America and childhood dreams:
“It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again”.
On “Quicksand” he went shoulder to shoulder with the songwriting greats of the day in this tale which dealt with the occult, the Second World War and most surprisingly Aleister Crowley and The Golden Dawn. Bowie was at his darkest, pulling images and characters from the abyss and casting them in his latest play;
“I'm the twisted name on Garbo's eyes,Living proof of Churchill's lies, I'm destiny. I'm torn between the light and dark, Where others see their targets, divine symmetry”
The driving acoustic guitar of “Andy Warhol”, a psychedelic-ballad, an ode to art and it’s creator, though being able to sum up Bob Dylan in one line is an accomplishment all of its own, in his tribute to the folk-troubadour Bowie nailed it perfectly on “Song For Dylan”;
“With a voice like sand and glue”
“Queen Bitch”, was the template for the following albums, Bowie on acoustic guitar, Ronson tearing up a riff similar to The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane”, the melodic bass-run by Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey hammering out the drums, Bowie went at a sonic pace into area of a Glam-Rock.
The sinister folk of “The Bewlay Brothers”, a nightmare which would have fit in on the “The Man Who Sold The World”, the schizophrenic lyrics are terrifying, closing the album in a weirdness, to leave fans and critics warped;
“With our backs on the arch
And if the Devil may be here
But he can't sing about that
Oh, and we were gone”.
The songs were refined so well the album only took two-weeks to record at Trident Studios, he always worked at a frantic speed, creating the cabaret melodrama set the course for his career, his partnership with The Spiders and a world ready for the name Bowie.
A year later the glamrock-alien Ziggy Stardust would land to earth, taking the guitar driven elements of ‘Hunky Dory’ and releasing an album which would change music forever.
Hunkt Dory (1972 LP Tracklist)
01 “Changes”
02 “Oh! You Pretty Things”
03 “Eight Line Poem”
04 “Life on Mars?”
05 “Kooks”
06 “Quicksand”
07 “Fill Your Heart”
08 “Andy Warhol”
09 “Song for Bob Dylan”
10 “Queen Bitch”
11 “The Bewlay Brothers”
DISCOGS
[KB]
