Musings of a Punk Rock Father

I keep missing doing my Friday Random Ten. So I turned on the computer this morning to see what came up.

Story of My Life - Social Distortion - From my favorite Social D album. I love the way Mike Ness incorporates punk rock and country into his songs. For a great country album, check out Ness's solo album, Under the Influences.

My Will Be A Dead Man - Project 86 - This is from the newest Project 86 album, ...And the Rest Will Follow, and it's a big, bombastic song with a western theme.

Godlust - Smoothies - The Smoothies seem to be played on my iTunes a lot, even though they only put out this one LP. This band had a lot of hype to live up to in Chicago, and did, but then seemed to implode.

Bittersweet Romance Song - Dirtbombs - Mick from the Gories. His voice is one of the best in rock n' roll.

Just Can't Go to Sleep - Kinks - Here's some 60's rock n' roll for you. THe Kinks are right up there with the Rolling Stones, Shadows of Knight, the Standells and Paul Revere and the Raiders (not counting that terrible song "Indian Reservation," which I don't think was recorded in the 60's anyway) as one of the best 60's rock n' roll bands.

All Messed Up - Donnas - The Donnas started out in eight grade with then name Raggedy Ann, then changed their name to the Electrocutes. In high school, they were discovered by an ex-member of Supercharger, Darren Rafaelli, who set them up almost as a Ramones cover bands. Their early material is very catchy bubblegum pop. Once they got out from under the Svengali-eye of Darren Rafaelli, though, they started putting out albums that sounded more bubblegum metal, and also very catchy. I kind of think their schtick is getting boring, however.

Gamera (Live) - Tortoise - Avante garde Chicago supergroup. I saw Tortoise once, and I loved it and thought it pretentious, all at the same time. Some part of me wants to dislike the band, but once I hear the music, I am entranced.

Through the Black - Demon Hunter - Are they a joke? Are they serious musicians? One cannot really tell with Demon Hunter, a Christian nu-metal band. They are actually one of my guilty pleasures.

Jeers of a Clown - New Bomb Turks - Playing on Smoky Robinson's "Tears of a Clown," the Turks turn out another piece of rock n' roll perfection. Really, you cannot go wrong picking up anything with their name on it.

Who's Stopping You - This Train - They play great rockabilly that at times can be called beautiful. This is one of those songs. I'm sad that their last album came out in 1999.

I tried to find a common thread as Kyle often does, but I cannot find any. Just the fact that Tortoise and Demon Hunter are side by side causes my brain to start sizzling. I'm sure Tortoise would be horrified.

It's interesting, because after these, the list went to all garage rock: more Dirtbombs, a couple of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion tunes (one with Dub Narcotic Sound System, and the Dirges, the Devil Dogs).