Re: They Just Seem a Little Weird

TP contributor Doug Brod has just published a really great book about four '70s bands. TBH, I don't give a fig about two of them and have only mild interest in the third, but he's researched the ever-lovin' shit out of that era and tells a hell of a good story, jam-packed with weird connections, fun facts, hilarious anecdotes and revealing quotes. I'm very good friends with Doug and he quoted me in it, so I can't pretend to be objective, but I hadn't read a word until I got my copy and enjoyed it immensely.

If you need eight hours of rock to pass the time, he's done a 101-song playlist which is guaranteed to bring out the pimply teenager in anyone born in the '60s.

[ew.com]

[open.spotify.com]

I loved that excerpt about KISS vs Aerosmith. If I wasn't Aerosmith, I wouldn't feel so bad - Judas Priest apparently blew KISS away when they opened for them a few years later. This looks like a good book - thanks for the tip.

Both the passage and the playlist were a nice diversion this weekend.

I’ve been growing more and more familiar with much of the 70s cheese rock like starz, angel, kiss, etc.... it starts to grow on you. And you realize their pop hooks aren’t that far off the power pop I loved in the late 70s/early 80s.

Starz and Angel both made out-and-out power pop albums late in their (admittedly brief) careers. Both bands were key inspirations for hair metal.

> Starz and Angel both made out-and-out power pop albums late in their (admittedly brief) careers.
> Both bands were key inspirations for hair metal.

Perhaps so, but I recently noticed a two-record set by Angel in the racks, of pretty recent vintage. Only two members of the original quintet were on board. The whole band (a six-piece, these days) was dressed entirely in white, of course. I didn't buy it, but I checked out some of its songs online. Total fake-rock. No thank you.

I get kind of a kick out of Angel's early stuff, which is sort of a low-rent prog/glam hybrid. The power pop record is OK, but the songs don't stick.

Starz has some solid songs in their early years, kind of a cross between Aerosmith and Cheap Trick, though not as good as either. (I should say "not as memorable as either" - over the years I've come to loathe Aerosmith.) But I don't know if they have enough good ones to even fill up a best-of. Both bands are the type I dial up on Spotify on the rare occasions I feel the need, then I'm satisfied for the next several years.

On WFMU Wednesday nite...