Eighty-Two from '82

 

A musical aspirin for the Empire's terminal case of war fever. A panacea for the 21st century blues.

Everything was better before 9/11. Let's stop pretending otherwise.

1982: Year of the Underwhelming Follow-Up LP

So I've done megaposts on 1979, 1981 and 1983, but what about 1982? What's the big story with that year? Well, it was an amazing year for movies and comics, certainly, but for music? 

For music, 1982 can be summed up in one word: disappointing.

The Secret Sunset of Rock : Insanely Great Records from the 2000s

You know, I still can't figure out exactly when Rock n' Roll died. Or at least when it went into a persistent vegetative state. It seems like an important thing to determine, but it seems like no one even cares to check anymore. That's something that needs to be remedied if the music is ever to live again. 

Opening Presence (Led Zeppelin's Presence, That Is)

Presence is an album a lot of Led Zeppelin fans don’t own, and even a lot of those that do don’t listen to it very often. Which is not to say it's unworthy: it’s simply that the after the remarkable run of classic, groundbreaking albums that the Mighty Zep blessed us with, Presence feels like somewhat of a retreat.

The Siren: the Great Archetypal Love Story of Our Time.

 

I was going to post this on Garlands Day, but with the death of yet another GenX luminary - Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins - today felt more appropriate. 

I'm not aware of any substantial connections between Our Lady, Queen Dowager of Sibyls and the Foo Fighters, but I won't be surprised if the Shimmer gets to rewriting the timeline and serves some up in the coming days. That's how it works.

This is a fact-corrected revision of the first series of Siren posts on The Secret Sun, all the way back in early 2008. If you're new to this story, this makes for a solid primer.

Wreck and Rule: Wendy O. Williams and The Plasmatics

Plenty of bands play at being subversive. But the final arbiter of the threat a band poses to the Establishment is ultimately how the Establishment reacts to their provocations.