Mr Martin Percival just sent me a message about the Time Out list that reports The Clash at The Rainbow in 1977 as the best London gig ever. My arse.
Anytime I saw The Clash (I think 3 times) they weren't that good. Now, I've no doubt that Joe Strummer was a great guy, I never met him but know many who did and who hold him in high regard. I'm not so sure about the others but in my experience, this is a band overrated to the point of being The Beatles. I like some of the records but consider none of them to be anything approaching a masterpiece. Most especially "London Calling". I've seen concert footage that is well cut and that would convey (to moi) some kind of special intensity but consider that to be a trick of the editing.
Anyways, these lists are sent to send me into a tizzy I'm sure. It's time I got to working on my definitive list of the greatest stuff that ever was. Or is it?
9 comments:
Dont agree, the Clash WERE the best live band I ever saw, and i've seen them all (more or less). Only bands who came close to the Clash at there peak were the Ramones and Iggy on the Instinct tour, otherwise no one,that includes The Who, Bad Seeds et al. By the way i'm going to see Wreckless Eric in about a half hour (thought I would add that fascinating information)
Now there's a band I would have loved to have seen in their prime. Anything pre Give 'em Enough Rope is A-OK in my book.
As for these "all-time best live shows" lists; I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Just tryin' to kick-start the gray-matter on this gives me a headache.
The Ramones of course, Fleshtones, Culture, (early) Sonic Youth, Dictators, Blondie, Nitwitz, Nomads, Lyres, Gregory Isaacs, Pop Group, Jerry Lee Lewis, Oblivians, Sid Presley Experience, Cramps, Lyres, Nixe, Radio Birdman, Lazy Cowgirls, Treble Spankers, Public Enemy, White Stripes, Buzzcocks, Silverfish, Babes In Toyland, Ivy Green, Dave Edmunds, A-Bones, Rousers, (early) Swans, Motorhead, Specials, Townes van Zandt, Headcoat(ee)s, Phantom Surfers, Teengenerate, Firebirds, New Bomb Turks, Turbonegro, Mighty Lemon Drops, Hellacopters, Runaways, Boys, Barracudas, Alan Vega, Gun Club, Johnny Thunders, Lurkers, Reigning Sound, Birthday Party, New Christs, Nine Pound Hammer, Prince Far I, et fuckin' cetera. How can you cram close to three decades of seein' bands into a "top 10"?
Besides, gigs are a on/off experience one can never return to again, unlike records which can loose their magic over the years...
We'll have to agree to differ then I guess. I've seen 'em all more or less too (not Nick Cave though, like his stories, never rated the music) and The Clash would be well down any list I could scrape together. Iggy is another one I haven't had much luck with. Only once did I see him with a decent band, the time he had the Hanoi Rocks guy with him. Wreckless on the other hand is great, he's never let me down.
J is right, a list of 10 is outrageous. Why not run a small series of short "memories" type features or something? N*E*R*D? How could they be associated with anything but lame disco? I often hear, "It wouldn't be any fun if we all liked the same things" when I'm getting stuck in to something thats supposed to be good. That's true but in the interests of debate I could never actually bring myself to agree.
The whole "Top x" listings concept as entertainment amuses me and has got way out of control. I remember as a "yoof" doing my fave 45s, lps, films, gigs etc of the year lists. Now Channel 4 fill up an evening of prime time tv viewing with the things and roll out Paul Morley et all to comment!!
I agree with Jeroen on the subject of the Clash's prime period. I only saw them once - first date of the "16 Guns" tour 5 Jan 1980 Aylesbury Friars - and for me they were already past their best by then. Ian Dury & the Blockheads were the unannounced special guests and the then unknown Theatre of Hate started the evening. A lot of my pals, especially American friends, get green with envy when they hear of that gig and then think I'm just winding them up when I say the Clash were really not that good that night. They genuinely weren't. Seeing Strummer and the Mescalaros in Oct 99 ironically was a much more enjoyable evening with much better renditions of a lot of the Clash songs than the band themselves could manage nearly 20 years before.
Here's the link to the whole story on this "Londons best ever gigs.." thing:
http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_1402159.html?menu=entertainment.music
I'm sure the staff of Time Out is populated with myriad numbers of people who were at the Duke Ellington 1933 gig.......
Nice to see the Rainbow mentioned though. It's a crying shame the place is still just standing empty. I had some great nights there - give me the Rainbow over Hammersmith Odeon or Brixton Academy any day....or night.
So how come the Ramones at the Roundhouse 4/7/76 or Rainbow 31/12/77 get missed from the list?! Who cares really.........!
These "definitive list" things bug me, PARTICULARLY if Morley is involved. Perhaps the discipline of keeping one's own council is the way to go here, but where's the fun in that?
Nothing wrong with top-lists as long as they are personal. Any list put together by "a team of experts", always ends up with the most mediocre stuff at the top.
Oh, and as someone who did see Justin Timberflake live, I can assure you it was even worse than what you imagined, tho' not as bad as Avril Lavigne...
Well the printed article with the whole top 100 is now out. The Ramones did feature......number 73 - Nov 19 1981 at the Venue, Victoria.
Mmmmm.....
the venue!,wow that brings back memories,snogging exene cervenka,mitch ryder blasting, but also a certain ratio and a bottle of tequila yikes
:)
You managed to suffer ACR using just one bottle?
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