The 500 - #185 - Self Titled Debut - The Stooges

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #185
Album Title: Self-titled Debut
Artist: The Stooges

Genre: Proto-Punk, Garage Rock, Rock, Experimental

Recorded: The Hit Factory, New York City, New York

Released: August, 1969
My age at release: 4
How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Be Your Dog

Growing up, I genuinely thought I could do anything with my life. My career aspirations changed regularly. During my adolescence, I wanted, and thought, I could be, a professional hockey player, a writer, an actor, a teacher, a psychologist, a musician, and even an Anglican minister. I have my parents to thank for my ebullient optimism and prodigious confidence. Not once did either balk at the grand designs I had for my adulthood.

Me at age 11, positively brimming
with confidence and epic ambition.

Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg Jr.) had the same good fortune as I did. Raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan, his parents were high school teachers who supported his every passion, particularly his love of music. They saved so that he could purchase a drum kit when he was in the fifth grade. The family was not wealthy and the Osterbergs lived in a mobile home in a trailer park. However, as Iggy put it in a 2007 Rolling Stone Magazine interview, he was rich beyond measure:

"Once I hit junior high in Ann Arbor, I began going to school with the son of the president of Ford Motor Company, with kids of wealth and distinction. But I had a wealth that beat them all. I had the tremendous investment my parents made in me. I got a lot of care. They helped me explore anything I was interested in. This culminated in their evacuation from the master bedroom in the trailer, because that was the only room big enough for my drum kit. They gave me their bedroom."

Osterberg's music career began in high school and he performed with a variety of bands, including one named The Iguanas. It was this connection that earned him the nickname "Iggy". After dropping out of The University of Michigan, Iggy travelled to Chicago to play in more bands and learn about the blues. Upon returning to Michigan, Iggy decided to put his drum sticks down for a microphone. As he put it, "I got tired of looking out from behind a bunch of butts every night." In 1967, he formed The Psychedelic Stooges taking inspiration from the blues and the experimental and garage rock bands of the era, such as The Sonics, MC5, and The Doors (the latter two groups having, collectively, five records on The 500.) The MC5 (Motor City Five) were at The Stooges’ first gig, a Halloween Party in Detroit in 1968. Impressed, MC5 invited the band to open for them the next year in New York City, shortly after the release of this week’s self-titled debut record.

Flyer advertising the
1969 NYC concert featuring
MC5 and The Stooges.

This is the second of three records by The Stooges on The 500 list. I wrote about #191, Fun House, a few weeks ago; their 1973 record, Raw Power, appears at #128. The first line-up of the band comprised Iggy Pop; brothers Dave (guitar) and Scott Asheton (drums); and Dave Alexander (bass). It was the last three musicians who gave Iggy the surname "Pop" after a Detroit local called Dave Popp whom they thought Iggy looked like after Iggy shaved his eyebrows for a gig. However, on the debut record, he is billed by another pseudonym, Iggy Stooge.

Iggy (centre) on stage with The Stooges. (l-r), Alexander, S. Asheton, 
Pop, and D Asheton.

Earlier this week, I was chatting about this Stooges' record with Various Artists, a friend and former guest writer on The 500 Blog. We agreed that it is an enjoyable debut, with some terrific songs and one unlistenable track -- the strange, experimental 10-minute "psychedelic" opus called We Will Fall. Rolling Stone Magazine writer Edmund O. Ward called the piece "a ten-minute exercise in boredom that ruins the first side of the record."

Various Artists let me know that We Will Fall was necessitated because the band only had "about 15 minutes worth of material" when the opportunity to record in New York arrived. Consequently, they wrote three new compositions over the five days they were in The Hit Factory studios. The other two tracks, Real Cool Time and Not Right were also quickly cobbled together through improvisational jam sessions.

The Hit Factory studios when it was located on 54th street. It
has been located in six New York locations over 55 years.

I'll admit, I started skipping We Will Fall after my first two listens to the entire record. However, its presence made me respect Iggy even more. The confidence his parents instilled in him has shone throughout his career. He has been a risk-taker and innovator who dares to try new things. He "swings for the fences" with his artistic endevours and seems unruffled in the face of adversity.  Still performing, shirtless and energetically at the age of 77, Iggy has earned the accolades afforded him and the legendary moniker, "The Godfather of Punk Rock".

Oh, and as for my long ago ambitions – I became a school teacher, act in amateur theatre, noodle about on a few instruments and still play old timers hockey. Oh yea…and I write this weekly blog. So, I got a few of those boxes ticked.

The 500 - #186 - Fresh - Sly and the Family Stone

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #186
Album Title: Fresh
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone

Genre: Funk, Progressive Soul
Recorded: The Record Plant Sausalito, California

Released: June, 1973
My age at release: 7
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Que Sera Sera

I love funk music, a genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-‘60s. There is something about funk's focus on the rhythmic groove of the electric bass that just makes me happy. As I noted in my April, 2022, post about James Brown's In The Jungle Groove (#329), funk gets its energy from the emphasis the musicians put on the first beat in a four beat measure  -- "The One". It creates a sense of propulsion that motivates and energizes me. The uplifting sensation might be subconscious, but there is plenty of research to suggest it is chemical. Music decreases cortisol (the stress hormone) and increases serotonin and endorphin levels, elevating mood. I don't really care what it is; I like to get funky.

Funk's Founding Father - James Brown.

While James Brown is considered the Founding Father of Funk, San Francisco band Sly and the Family Stone infused it with a psychedelic twist and, on many records, a socially conscious and political agenda. The group was formed in 1966 by multi-instrumentalist Sly (Sylvester) Stone with his brother Freddie (guitar, vocals) and sister Rose (keyboard, vocals). Rounding out the group were trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini and bassist Larry Graham.

Sly and the Family Stone in 1968. (l-r): Freddie Stone, Sly Stone, 
Rose Stone, Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico.

Fresh (1986) is the first  of four records from Sly and the Family Stone to appear on The 500 list. Their 1969 release, Stand, is at #121, There's A Riot Going On (1971) is at #99, and their Greatest Hits record, at #61, was released in 1970. The group has had a powerful impact on the music industry, influencing artists in multiple genres such as R&B, Soul, Pop, Funk and Hip Hop. As music critic Joel Selvin put it, "there are two types of black music, black music before Sly Stone and black music after".

Sly Stone (1971)

I am familiar with the many hits the group has released, but this was the first album of his that I listened to in its entirety. Expecting not to know any of the songs,  I was surprised to find a version of the catchy Que Sera Sera — a hit for Doris Day in 1956 and one I loved as a kid. Day's version appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Man Who Knew Too Much, which netted songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans an Academy Award that year.

Livingston (left) and Evans with one of several
Academy Awards they won.

I also recognized the song If You Want Me To Stay, having heard it on the 1985 Red Hot Chili Peppers record Freaky Styley. I wasn't aware it was written and recorded by Sly until I remembered that Freaky Styley was produced by another funk heavyweight, George Clinton.  Clinton is best known for his work with two seminal funk bands – Parliament and Funkadelic, sometimes grouped as the Parliament-Funkadelic Collective. They have three records on The 500. Apparently, Clinton persuaded the Chili Peppers to record If You Want Me To Stay.

Album cover for Freaky Styley

Now that I've heard both versions, I prefer the original from Sly and the Family Stone. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've started to outgrow the Chili Peppers sound. Freaky Styley was a CD I played a lot in the ‘90s...and now it just doesn't resonate with me. However, Fresh, the funky offering from Sly and the Family Stone sure does. I look forward to hearing Stand in about a year. Until then, stay funky on "The One!”

The 500 - #187 - Peter Gabriel Part Two

This is part two of my Peter Gabriel blog for the record So - originally posted on November 10, 2024.

In my previous blog, found here, I recounted five of the six times I saw Peter Gabriel perform live and saved the story of the sixth event for this post.

Gabriel’s sixth studio record, Us,was released in 1992 It had been a half dozen years since So, the critically acclaimed 1996 record that sold seven million copies and landed at #187 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2012 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The lyrics of So explored universal themes of faith, religion, materialism, consumerism, belonging, love and conformity. Us, by contrast, was much more personal for Gabriel, whose lyrics addressed his difficult divorce from his first wife, Jill Moore, in 1987, and the depression and therapy that followed. He also reflected on his relationship with Rosanne Arquette, who was an A-list actor in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Gabriel and Arquette.

The opening song on the album, Come Talk To Me, focuses on the growing distance between Gabriel and his teenage daughters during his marital difficulties It also features backing vocals from Irish singer Sinead O’Connor (#408 on The 500) with whom Gabriel had an on-again, off-again relationship throughout the ‘90s.

Gabriel and O'Connor

Although Gabriel released new music during this challenging time, his output was a mainly instrumental record – 1989’s Passion, which became the soundtrack for Martin Scorcese film, The Last Temptation of Christ. The music score was considered a landmark in the growing popularity of World Music and it won the Grammy Award in 1990 for best New Age Album. I absolutely loved it and it got me through many tedious shifts when at a box factory in the summer of 1989. My job was to fill a bailing machine with scrap cardboard that I gathered in a cart I pulled around the factory floor. I was one of the few employees allowed to wear headphones because I wasn’t operating a machine most of the time. Whenever I listen to Passion, I’m reminded of that mind-numbing, low-paying job. That September, I returned to the restaurant game and studied extra hard in school – factory work was decidedly not for me.

Album cover for Passion 

In early 1993, it was announced that Gabriel would be embarking on a massive world tour promoting the Us record. The ambitious gig was dubbed The Secret World Tour visiting 28 countries over 17 months. My friend Jeff and I snatched up a pair of tickets the day they went on sale for his June 26 concert in Toronto at the 50,000-seat Skydome (now Rogers Centre), which had opened four years earlier. The concert sold out quickly, but we secured two seats in the last row of the lower bowl, directly facing the stage. Jeff and I were also at our first Gabriel concert six years earlier at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds on my 22nd birthday.

To say we were excited about the upcoming performance is an understatement as Jeff and I were devoted fans of Gabriel and his former band, Genesis. We had collected nearly everything both singer and band had released, including the solo efforts from the various Genesis members. Together, we’d attended two Genesis concerts in Toronto (sans Gabriel) in 1996 and in 1992 – the first at the CNE grounds and the latter at Skydome.

Genesis on the We Can't Dance Tour (1992)

At the Skydome, we were gobsmacked by the elaborate stage and set design. We later learned that Gabriel had worked with Canadian artistic director Robert Lepage to create two platforms, one square and one circular, connected by a moving walkway. The subliminal message of the two stages was the interplay of tension and union between male and female forces.

Secret World Stage being constructed - pre-show.

In the early 90s, the McDonald’s franchise was heavily invested in the Skydome and the burger empire opened its 600th restaurant, a giant concession stand, on the main promenade, of the stadium’s lower bowl. Our seats were directly in front of the glowing yellow arches that became a problem when the concert began.

The opening song, Come Talk To Me, began with Gabriel inside a red British phone booth on the square “male” stage. His duet partner, the incredibly talented Paula Cole, appeared at the centre of the round “female” stage some 20 metres away. Gabriel emerged from the booth, singing into a headset microphone but giving the illusion he was singing into the telephone. As he moved closer and closer to Cole, the telephone line stretched out behind him. Ever the theatrical performer, Gabriel struggled and strained as he attempted to close the distance between himself and Cole, who served as a metaphoric representation of his daughter. It was a powerful opening number that physically and emotionally captured the pain Gabriel felt as a father who, due to his extensive touring schedule, struggled to maintain a connection with his daughters – often talking only briefly over the telephone, an arrangement that became rarer as the girls grew older and more independent.

Gabriel approaching Cole during Come Talk To Me.

The song ends with Gabriel failing to bridge the final short distance in order to reach out and touch Cole as he is pulled back to the booth along the moving walkway, resisting the inevitable drama of hanging up the phone in the red booth. A video of the song from the 1994 DVD of the concert can be found here.

The glow from the neon yellow arches was an impediment to the emotional tension of the duet, despite an attempt to block the distracting light with a black curtain. The effect was to wash the stage lighting in a yellow haze. No sooner had the song ended than I sprang up from my seat, not saying a word to Jeff, and bolted for the box office I had noticed on our arrival. 

There was no line up and I quickly explained the situation to the clerk who was pleasant and sympathetic to my complaint.  She reached into a drawer and offered me a replacement ticket … “It's for the first row,” she said, smiling.  

Elation tempered as I remembered Jeff, still awash in that sickly yellow haze and likely perplexed about my sudden departure. “I’m with a friend,” I said, hopefully.

She returned the front row ticket to the drawer and said, “I’ve got two together, but I will need the other ticket.” 

Earning my everlasting gratitude, she locked up the booth and accompanied me back to where Jeff was seated. At this point, Gabriel was performing Steam, a song that had hit #1 on the Canadian charts the previous January. It is an up-tempo number, so the crowd was swaying, many standing and singing along. I leaned into our row and beckoned Jeff to come with me, but he ignored me. And concert-goers behind me were getting irritable at having their view of the on-stage action blocked – as if the yellow haze wasn’t enough. I grabbed Jeff’s arm and, with strident urgency, said: “Jeff, trust me, let’s go!”  Thankfully, he relented and, with a confused look on his face, followed me and the ticket agent down toward the stage. I told him to turn over his ticket.  She handed over replacement tickets and at the end of the long walk, pointed to two seats in the second row of the round, “female” stage – about two metres from Ms. Paula Cole.

The replacement ticket I received, notice the price is $0.00

The reality of what had just happened began to dawn on Jeff, who turned to me with a wide grin and proffering an outstretched arm for an appreciative handshake – which I accepted vigorously.

The rest of the show was spectacular and I encourage people to watch the live video. Filmed during his performance in Modelo, Italy, it has recently been remastered into 4K resolution. However, a good version is available on YouTube for free. Needless to say, it remains my favourite Peter Gabriel concert and is certainly in the Top Three shows I have ever seen.

The 500 - #187 - So - Peter Gabriel

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #187
Album Title: So
Artist: Peter Gabriel

Genre: Art Rock, Progressive Pop, World Beat
Recorded: Ashcombe House, Swainswick, Somerset, U.K.; Power Station Studios, New York, U.S.A.

Released: May, 1986
My age at release: 20
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #297, dropping 110 places.
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Mercy Street

In the summer of 1980, shortly after moving to London, Ontario, I visited the local library on a quest to borrow records. I returned home with two under my arm, both from English solo artists -- David Bowie and Peter Gabriel. The first was Heroes, Bowie's twelfth studio release, and the other was the third, and most recent, record from Gabriel. Like Gabriel’s two previous albums, it was untitled. However, fans dubbed it Melt because of the picture on the jacket -- which depicts Gabriel with half his face distorted as if made of candle wax.

Melt album cover - the effect achieved by smearing
portrait pictures of Gabriel taken with a Polaroid SX-70 
instant camera as they developed.

The album contained the song Games Without Frontiers, released six months earlier and a Top Ten hit in the spring of 1980. However, it was the opening track, Intruder, that immediately captured my attention. The combination of a dark narrative about a home invasion coupled with this powerful, punch-to-the-chest drumbeat was captivating. I would later learn it was played by Gabriel's former Genesis bandmate, Phil Collins. It also marked origin of the gated-reverb sound -- an audio processing technique that would dominate the 80s (and is making a comeback in the 2020s).

The final track, Biko, was an anti-apartheid protest song about South African activist Steven Biko, who died while in police custody. Infused with Soweto-inspired rhythms and traditional mbube singing style, Biko introduced me to a wider world of music, as well as amplifying the impact protest songs can have on social change.

News article following the death of Steven Biko in police custody.

This was the beginning of a Peter Gabriel fandom that continues for me to this day. He is, without a doubt, my favourite solo artist and among my top five groups of all time. His first band, Genesis, had also massive commercial success after his 1975 departure.

The classic line-up of Genesis (1975), (l-r) Tony Banks, Phil Collins,
Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel.

Deciding what to write about for this blog post was a challenge because of the many choices between what to include and what to leave out. Much like determining what to watch on television in the age of multiple streaming channels, I am somewhat paralyzed by the tyranny of choice. When promoting this record on social media earlier this week, I joked that I could write five different posts about Gabriel.  He was a  rare artist who not only entertained but  made me a more thoughtful, socially informed and kinder person. His body of work and socially conscious, humanist philosophy and fearless creative spirit influenced me toward better, kinder and braver choices in my teens and early-twenties.

Gabriel (right) on The Human Rights Now
Tour in 1988 with (l-r) Sting, Tracy Chapman
Bruce Springsteen and Youssou N'Dour.

I have seen Peter Gabriel perform six times in four cities and each concert was memorable.

In 1987, on my 22nd birthday, I saw him at the Canadian National Exhibit Stadium (CNE) in Toronto. Over a pre-show beer I chatted with an "old" guy (he was probably 35) wearing a vintage Genesis concert shirt who had seen Gabriel with Genesis at Massey Hall, also in Toronto, in 1973. In a time before the internet, the “geezer” provided a first-hand account of the group’s storied performances.

Peter Gabriel on the 1986-87 This Way Up Tour, supporting So.

In December, 2002, after a lengthy hiatus, Gabriel released the album Up and brought his tour to Toronto's Air Canada Centre for a spectacular show on a round stage in the middle of the arena. The event included a performance of the song Sky Blue with The Blind Boys of Alabama -- a gospel group with changing members who have been active since 1939.

Sky Blue performance. The Blind Boys of Alabama at the centre
or a round stage, surrounded by Gabriel and his band.

In July, 2003, he brought a stripped down version of the Growing Up Tour to my hometown of London, Ontario. I convinced 10 friends to join my wife and me, and we had a terrific night that began and ended (in the wee hours of the morning) at our downtown apartment.

A polaroid snapshot taken of my wife and me taken by our  friend Reeny
on the night of the London Gabriel concert - July 5, 2003.

In 2010, Gabriel released Scratch My Back. Accompanied by the New Blood Orchestra, Gabriel recorded versions of 12 of his favourite songs, including the aforementioned Heroes by David Bowie, which was a bit of a "full-circle moment" for me.

Scratch My Back album cover.

A few years later, many of the same artists whose songs Gabriel had covered contributed to an accompanying record, called And I'll Scratch Yours. It featured their interpretations of songs from Gabriel's catalogue. It was a wonderful collaboration with contributions from amazing groups and artists, including Manchester's Elbow, Montreal's Arcade Fire, and New York's The Magnetic Fields.

And I'll Scratch Yours album cover.

The project culminated with a three-year, 44-city world tour by Gabriel and a 54-piece New Blood orchestra.  As a surprise for my wife, we travelled to New York City to see it at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in May, 2010.

A photo I snapped outside Radio City Music Hall prior to 
the New Blood Orchestra concert with Peter Gabriel.

I purchased the tickets through StubHub, an online ticket resale broker. They cost a pretty penny (about double the $130 U.S. face value) but secured us seats in the front row of the lowest balcony for a perfect view of the stage.

My concert ticket from the Radio City Music Hall performance
by Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra.

In September, 2023, Gabriel embarked on the North American leg of his most recent tour to promote his upcoming record I/O (initials for Input/Output). The Toronto show was on a weeknight, but we caught his Saturday night show in Ottawa which gave us the opportunity of making a weekend of it with my dad who lives in nearby Manotick.

Gabriel worked, for the second time, with Canadian stage director Robert LePage and each song was built around projected set pieces that celebrated visual artists. It was stunning and, as my wife commented on the drive home, "it had a level of sophisticated maturity that few artists would dare to attempt".

Indeed it had. Gabriel, now in his early 70s, was inviting us to connect with the fragile beauty and, sometimes, terrifying perils of life that have been an artistic preoccupation of his for more than 50 years.

A shot from the Ottawa performance of Gabriel's September 9th show from our
seats at the back of the Canadian Tire Centre.

It was on that drive home that it struck me. Peter Gabriel and his music have been part of my life for more than 40 years. He “melted” into my attitudes, memories, emotions and experiences throughout my teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. I have seen him perform in five consecutive decades. He was 37 at that CNE concert in 1987 and 73 when we last shared a common space in Ottawa.

When I hear his music, I still feel the same excitement I had when listening to the Melt record in my bedroom at 14 years of age. He continues to make me think, reflect and want to be a better person.

You may have noticed that I said I saw Gabriel six times and I've only shared memories of five shows. There is one more concert I have not mentioned. In 1993, I saw The Secret World Tour at Toronto's Skydome (now Rogers Centre). I’ve decided to make that a separate post for publication later this week. It's one of my favourite concert stories of all time. Thanks for that indulgence.