Nirvana Ruined Everything

Let’s face it: Rock 'n Roll is inherently ridiculous. Rock stars make a living wearing clothes that would get them laughed at on the street and striking poses that would get them beaten up at the pub. If you don't believe me, watch a Rolling Stones live DVD with the sound off. Or better yet, any Metal video from the 80’s.

How Did We Get to Lady Gaga?

Signaling to the Algol cult

It only took two or three years but I finally found an interesting Lady GaGa story.

It might sound like a plot lifted from The Outer Limits or Friday the 13th, The Series, but it appears that GaGa (aka Lady GorGon) is channeling the spirit of her dead collaborator, one Lina Morgana...

Grail Guitar Doors

 I need to tell you all something: the catalyst for everything I’ve done on The Secret Sun -- and with Synchromysticism in general -- ultimately stems from a five-month period in 1984 in which I had a genuine religious experience during what I now see as a bonafide mystery cult convocation. 

And that experience in turn set me on a Grail quest, which I am extremely happy to say was finally fulfilled last week, after thirty-seven long years. Along the way I learned a lot of invaluable, immersive lessons in shamanism, dream reality, parapolitics, establishmentarian cultism, the power of apocrypha and our false reality simulacrum.

Let's Get Kinky

 

Kinks guitarist Dave Davies isn't just the pioneer of the power-chord riff, he's also an experiencer. His 1994 autobiography Kink tells the story of how Davies believes he was contacted telepathically by alien intelligences...

NOTE: The comments form seems to have vanished here, so you can post comments here.

Altered Egos

Sometimes the strangest revelations can come from the most unlikely quarters. 

Dave Stewart was one half of the 80s Synthpop hit machine Eurythmics, and has also done a lot of work as a producer and soundtrack artist, working with a number of high-profile artists and on various films and TV shows. He's not exactly a button-down kind of guy, but he's not Marilyn Manson either. So you can imagine I was a bit surprised to read this the other day:

Dave Stewart — one-half of ’80s duo Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, who’s gone on to collaborate with Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Katy Perry — says that since 1979 his body’s been inhabited by another being, who’s written all his songs. 

 

1981: The Year Everything Changed

The Jam ring in the new year with a bulletproof classic

You may not realize it, but 2021 is the 40th anniversary of the Year Everything Changed. Well, musically-speaking, I mean.

The true importance of 1981 may not be realized for some time to come, given the intractable and reactionary nature of popular music today. But 1981 was a pivotal year in that many of the important innovations made in Rock music flowered in this brilliant, amazing year. 

For those such as myself who were conditioned to expect non-stop excitement in popular culture, many of the years since have been bitter disappointments. 

My Essential Punk Rock Discography

Even though this is my personal list, every record listed here is invaluable for its historic and artistic significance and are listed in no particular order. Every band here, though all comfortably fitting in the Fast/Loud category, has a strong identity and sound, and no two of these bands are alike, whether in concept, sound or image. 

I consider every band on this list to be trailblazers and pioneers, and all of these records to be essential documents of a time and place. So if you want to know what my personal experience of Punk was like, buy these records, research these bands and ponder what the difference is between them and the modern acts that call themselves Punk Rock. 

Doctor Strange is Always Changing Size

I'm probably a bit older than a lot of you out there. And I'm very grateful for that. I also had a lifeline to the culture of the 50s and 60s through my aunts and uncles, and spent much too much time alone when I was a kid. 

And having a touch of puer aeternus, I've been able to experience five decades of youth culture, even if it was often second hand.

It Really Does.

When I talk about the Scottish knack for making music that digs deep into my soul, Nazareth's definitive version of the Everly Brothers' standard "Love Hurts" is one of the songs I am thinking about. 

The Witches' (Black) Sabbath

 

Back when I was a kid the only you got to see your favorite rock bands was on late weekend nights -- usually Saturdays -- with shows like Don Kirschner's Rock Concert or Midnight Special. 

There were a few scattered shows here and there that showed music videos, and if you absolutely had to, there was Dick Clark's loathsome American Bandstand. 

Read Us the Book of the Names of the Dead.

If the Aquarian spirit of the late Sixties essentially kept its sunny disposition in California New Age mysticism, its East Coast counterpart found a distinctly darker expression, with the OTO (or more accurately, competing OTO sects) rising to pole position among the welter of witch cults that popped up like mushrooms after a rainstorm.

Killer Clowns from Other Space

 

I've been trying to wrap my head around the events of the past two weeks, on account it seems like somebody might have opened a Gate or broken a Seal somewhere. I'm still waiting for some fresh shoes to drop so please bear with me while the apocalyptic cake bakes. But then again, you don't probably need to tell you just how weird everything seems to have gotten out there, as if the Watchers may have come back from vacation and wanted to hit the ground running.

Well, we know how this all started, but the Secret Sunnification of the entire world isn't truly complete without a certain quartet of apocalyptic horsemen. And right on cue, they done rode into town...

A Short History of Goth

Note: this is a revised version of a 2009 post 

Well, tonight is cold, rainy and oppressive- what better time to get out the old Goth videos? Like so many memes from my youth, Goth has now been mainstreamed, particularly with the smash success of Twilight and True Blood. 

Which brings it all full circle, since the Goth aesthetic drew heavily on vampire mythology and Hammer horror films. 

Heavy Metal B.C.

Metallic Mysteries and Headbanging Hellenes

Originally written for The Daily Grail by Christopher Knowles

It’s not a shocking new revelation to compare rock ‘n’ roll to ancient pagan rituals. Writers have been throwing the term “Dionysian” around since Elvis first showed that a white man could sing the blues. But as I discovered while writing my new book, The Secret History of Rock ‘n Roll, the parallels go much, much deeper than that.