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| From | "Durben, Steven" <Steven.Durben@cignabehavioral.com> |
| Subject | Re: Yo La Tengo |
| Date | Fri, 19 Nov 2004 11:02:24 -0600 |
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Stewart said..
"Speeding Motorcycle" is by Daniel Johnston, one of those artists I
have an uneasy relationship with. Johnston's mental health is
persistently fragile, and most of his songs have a bizarre childlike
"outsider" quality to them; as a result, during his first period of
notoriety in his hometown of Austin in the '80s, there was a large
subset of his audience who was quite openly laughing at the retard and
his goofy little songs. The thing is, many of his songs ("Speeding
Motorcycle" being one of the best) are really quite good, albeit
bizarre and primitive, pop songs; like Syd Barrett or Roky Erickson,
Daniel Johnston has actual musical abilities that he would still have
even if he wasn't mentally ill, but unfortunately, he also (like
Barrett and Erickson) has "fans" who are more interested in the creepy
crazy guy than the musician. (When you get down to it, most of
Johnston's music isn't that much weirder than that of demonstrably
sane people like Robyn Hitchcock or R. Stevie Moore.)
@@@ First off, Stewart, thanks for the background on Daniel Johnston! I had
no idea about him. Regarding the song "Speeding Motorcycle" I have thought
of Jonathon Richman, at times, while listening to it. This is per the sort
of childlike quality it has but still, that wasn't quite right. I really
appreciate the background and context for the song.
I also agree that people can lose focus that someone that has a mental
illness may (or may not) first have the ability to create fine songs,
separate from the odder themes they may explore. Sometimes it seems, the
illness of the artist takes on more meaning for some, then the songs do.
Conversely, many sane writers (and other artists) are able to explore the
dark or "twisted" areas of their psyche and are indeed very sane people.
Thus, I also can relate to your "uneasy" feelings regarding the fan base of
someone whom is mentally ill. Side trip story...
Several years ago I saw The Shazam in Nashville (hey, Miles!) when they
were the warm up for Wesley Willis. I had never heard of Willis before but
obviously I was a "fish out of water". People came in droves to see Wesley
perform. As many of you may know, Wesley was a large, schizophrenic, black
singer (I point out his skin color mainly per it added another layer of
discomfort for me). His show was had a very spontaneous, strange quality
too it. Highly repetitive. He was clearly using humor in his lyrics during
the performance and even had a tradition of head butting audience members.
However, I had that same uneasy feeling you mention Stewart. I don't doubt
that he had talent and unique gifts (not sure that it would be my cup of
tea) but it was hard to separate out where the art ended and the ridicule
began.
(Sadly, I remember reading that Wesley died a year or so ago)
Matty said...
there are two ways you can go with yo la tengo, 'cause they're kinda
sorta two bands living in one band's body. they're a droney, vaguely
velvet undergroundy electric guitar band who've produced some of indie
rock's most blissful guitar noise over the past two decades (while
slowly evolving into more of a stereolabby thing, with light electronics
and a softer palate overall). but they're also a pop song band who have
repeatedly cited nrbq and the kinks as two of their favorite bands. so
one day they're knocking out 10-minute jams and the next they're
blasting through catchy two-minute pop ditties.
@@ Very true Matty. I will confess the reason I never picked up more Yo La
Tengo (and I fully admit it's sort of lame on my part). A few of my friends
and I were very into FAKEBOOK at the time. We went to see YLT play live at
the 7th Street Entry. Well, the show was mostly sonic jams. It "felt" like
Ira was fueled almost in contrast to the style of FAKEBOOK. I was a big
Velvet Underground fan but I think I (we) were just looking for something
different in that moment in time. Somewhat amazingly, I've never explored
them further since this show (even though it wasn't a bad show, just
disappointing per what I was looking for at that time). So, I appreciate all
the recommendations and will be correcting this soon.
Steve D
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