Like any genre, I like the good stuff, and what is the good stuff is a matter of taste... but here's an innarestin perspective
if you-all aren't familiar with "Death May Be Your Santa Claus: An Exclusive Up-To-Date Interview With Jimi Hendrix" by Lester Bangs writing as Mort A. Credit in 1976 (some time after Jimi's death, duh...)
"Now, no sooner do I get off the stage than who do I practically slam foreheads with but Bill Graham. Asshole's been standin' there on the side of the stage watchin' me this whole time. Now he just blocks my way, grabs my arm, stares deep into my eyes and says: 'Jimi, why do you go out and play shit like that, when we both know you're capable of some of the best blues I've ever heard in my life, man.'
"Well, I hate to say it, but I just niggered out, played even more spaced than I was, because I didn't wanna hassle with the cat, I just wanted outa there. But if I'd been physically and psychologically capable of staying, man, I woulda said: "Because there are times when I strongly suspect, deep down inside, that I HATE THE FUCKIN' BLUES. Every broke-down nigger behind a mule he don't own can sing the blues. I only do blues because it's fun and easy to get into once in awhile, and because I know all them ofays don't think a music show by a black person is their money's worth unless they get to hear some ...
" ... I mean, 'I Don't Live Today" is REAL blues, modern blues — it's what happens when you drop a hydrogen bomb on the blues, which is what it deserves."
So there's that - I'm not endorsing, just pointing out. Bangs was probably an asshole, but there's some truth in every asshole (isn't there?) ...
Also I just saw a quote from very young Bob Dylan to the effect of that it was distressing to realize that while the originators of "the blues" used it to distance themselves from their troubles (perhaps, I suspect, by taking money from the very people giving them the blues in the first place!), their young white imitators were largely trying to identify with the troubles themselves, ultimately giving rise to a lot of sulky wankers, getting deeper into their own (petty?) suffering instead of transcending it through music ... oh poor me, I've got the BLUES!!!
Whereas BLUE CHEER, regardless of what genre inspired them at any moment, mainly just rubbed your face in din. YAWP!!
|
