The 500 - #193 - Dookie - Green Day

 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: #193

Album Title: Dookie

Artist: Green Day

Genre: Punk Rock, Pop Punk, Skate Punk

Recorded: Fantasy Studios, Berkley, California; and Music Grinder Studios, Los Angeles

Released: February, 1994

My age at release: 28

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at position #375, dropping 182 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Longview

I once bought a birthday card for a friend that read: "Don't you wish you were as old as the first time you thought you were old?" It is a sentiment that lodged in my head and has stuck with me for many years.

The first time I felt old, I was turning 25 in 1990 – certainly the result of life choices. Foolishly, I had left my university studies to take a job as a restaurant manager. I presumed a career in the service industry would lead to financial and emotional satisfaction. That was dead wrong. Instead, I found myself living in a boring townhouse in Mississauga, Ontario, commuting through heavy highway traffic to Toronto six days a week so I could work long, frustrating hours earning less money than I'd made as a bartender and server. The only plus was that I worked with fantastic people who regularly made me laugh. Our softball team even made it to the finals of the North Toronto restaurant league and I fondly remember those warm, summer nights on the schoolyard diamonds of Thornhill, Willowdale and North York.

Tucker's Tornados - I'm #17 on the right.

Fast forward three years and I'd left the management world to return to university. By then, I had completed my baccalaureate degree but was still working in restaurants, slinging cocktails in my hometown of London, Ontario. However, I was making buckets of money and continuing to  play  restaurant league softball with a different group of fantastic people. I was in the best shape of my life. It was a great situation -- but I knew it was unsustainable. I knew I needed to figure out a permanent career and, with the big 3-0 looming, that had to be sooner than later.

Sidelines of a London, Ontario Restaurant League game with the
Kelsey's South crew. (I'm behind the camera on this shot).

Then, in 1994, Green Day came along with their third studio record, Dookie, and triggered my age anxiety. The album marked the start of a pop-punk revival and I was around for the original wave of this melodic, up-tempo sub-genre of music. To me, the reprise felt like it should have been the music of the next generation -- and I was working alongside them at the restaurant. With each passing year, more of my contemporary co-workers moved on with their chosen paths, while the cooks, servers and support staff got younger. I started to feel ancient.

Bussing a table at Kelsey's restaurant in September, 1994.
The song Basket Case from Dookie was charting in the Top 10.

However, feeling old didn't stop me from purchasing the Dookie album on CD. I made a cassette copy and it accompanied me to the gym throughout the summer of 1994. It, along with the Rage Against The Machine debut record and Soundgarden's BadMotorFinger, got me through many cardio workouts. However, the lyrics on Dookie weren't doing my mindset any favours. The songs address themes that include anxiety, apathy, panic attacks and failed relationships. At the time, my future wife and I were working our way through a rough patch that threatened to end our relationship. The lyrics to the Dookie's tenth track, When I Come Around, seemed custom made to reinforce my insecurities and amplify my melancholy.

Album cover for the single When I Come Around. 

Time passed and life sorted itself out. By 1995 I was in Teachers College and working toward a fulfilling career that I have now loved for nearly 30 years. My wife and I navigated the choppy waters of our late-twenties and, for a little while, I stopped feeling old. When I re-listened to Dookie ahead of this post, the emotional effect it had on me  in 1994 simply wasn’t there. It's just a record of catchy, up-tempo pop-punk that, it turns out, was part of my generation after all.

Addendum:

Former guest blogger, Steve "Lumpy" Sullivan, was also one of those terrific people I worked with in 1993 at Kelsey's Restaurant. In fact, he hired me. He recently attended the Green Day show in which they played Dookie in its entirety. He shared one of his trademark "Big Head" shots with me and I think this post is made better because of it.

The 500 - #194 - Transformer - Lou Reed

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: #194

Album Title: Transformer

Artist: Lou Reed

Genre: Glam Rock, Pop Rock

Recorded: Trident Studios, London

Released: September, 1972

My age at release: 7

How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at position #109, moving up 85 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Andy's Chest

I am excited to introduce a new guest poster to The 500 Blog series – Jennifer Jones. I have been friends with Jennifer for more than 25 years, having met her through her husband Oscar. Not only was Oscar the goaltender on my tournament hockey team, he was also a talented musician and is still part of the live music scene here in the city of London, Ontario. There were many nights when my wife, Jen and I would be in the audience at a local watering hole (The Wick, The Brass Door, The Salt Lounge, Call The Office) while Oscar played bass. I always appreciated her perspective on music, as her tastes varied from mine.

Last November, Jennifer was posting photos of some of her favourite albums of all time. Among those posts was the cover to this week’s record, Transformer by Lou Reed. I dropped her a line and asked if she would be interested in sharing a few thoughts and, delightfully, she agreed. Here is her post.

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As a really young teenager, the soundtrack of my life was monopolized by the Velvet Underground, and by Lou Reed in particular. It’s hard to explain my love for Lou: Despite his infamy, I can say that this love has been long-lived and has zero chance of dying.

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Lou Reed (Circa 1975) 

To me, Lou’s music is about stories: Stories that paint a picture of the people he surrounded himself with (or who happened to surround him) and the kinds of things that irked or inspired them. These stories are so raw and colourful and real, I’ve always felt a little transported back to Andy Warhol’s Factory and the dirty streets of New York. (Holly, good for you, girl - I would have gone too!) I feel like Lou did with his music what Andy did with his art, which was to create these stark, unapologetic snapshots capturing – even elevating - the culture around them and reflecting this back to those living it - and to anyone paying attention.

American visual artist Andy Warhol (left) and Reed in the 70s.
Warhol's studio in New York was called "The Factory" and
was a famous hang-out for artists, musicians and celebrities. 

I was later to the Transformer party, for sure, but since I first heard it, it’s always been my favourite: It is simply impossible to get sick of this album. Like my love for Lou, I find it hard to explain, but I suspect it’s because it is textured with a little of everything, from the catty, campy, burlesque (New York Telephone Conversation, Good Night Ladies), to the sweet, melodious, slightly tragic (Perfect Day and Satellite of Love) and of course the ultimate story-scape anthem that is Walk on the Wild Side.

Album cover for the single, Walk On The Wild Side. An
iconic song and Reed's best known, Rolling Stone ranked
it #223 on The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Although some of the songs were written or recorded earlier than Transformer, every single one belongs here - and has to be here - to make up this magnificent whole. Even in the midst of some of Lou’s most celebrated work, Andy’s Chest is still one of my all-time favourite Lou songs, less for the honour it gives Warhol (wonderful in itself) but more for the magical intimacy of its tiny, nonsensical, surely drug-fueled, vignettes. For me, this song has always been a kind of demented lullaby - maybe it’s all that swooping and rocking.

Marilyn Diptych - one of Warhol's best know art pieces.

While Transformer does feel a little gentler in some ways than what I think of as typical Lou (because of David Bowie’s involvement and influence?), Lou’s trademark “snark” is definitely felt all the way through. The connection between Lou and Bowie is interesting: I always saw Lou as much grittier and rougher around the edges, but maybe paired with Bowie’s grace and elegance, the match was all the better.

Friends and musical collaborators, Bowie (left) and Reed (right)

take a humorous photo with Iggy Pop. Collectively, with

14 records on The 500 list (as musicians).

I like to think about the album title and all that it evokes: Lou transforming himself, becoming “someone else, someone good”, moving in a different, separate direction (I’m So Free, Hangin’ Round), and the evolution/ transformation/becoming that occurs in some of the songs (Make Up, Walk on the Wild Side).

There’s an addictively bold, infectious, prideful energy to all of Transformer’s stories that draws you back to listen again and again - and again! To me, overall, Transformer is disarmingly poetic, a little fantastical, and a little snide – just like Lou.

Guest Blogger - Jennifer Jones

The 500 - #195 - Blues Breakers - John Mayall with Eric Clapton

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: #195
Album Title: Blues Breakers 

Artist: John Mayall with Eric Clapton

Genre: Blues, Blues Rock
Recorded: Decca Studios, London
Released: July, 1966
My age at release: 1
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite
Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Double Crossing Time

Once again, as has been documented in this blog series, there is a record on The 500 list that I discovered through the Eric Clapton box set Crossroads. In 1988, I wanted to learn more about the Blues genre in music and felt that a deeper dive into the music of Clapton would be a good crash course.

It turns out that, in a time before streaming services and easy Google searches, Crossroads was a wise and fortuitous purchase. The four-CD (72-song) compilation contained music from albums that now occupy nine spots on The 500 list.

• Eric Clapton has two records on the list as a solo artist. (461 Ocean Boulevard at #411 and Slowhand at #325).

• Cream (featuring Eric Clapton on guitar) have three entries. (Wheels of Fire at #205, Disraeli Gears at #144 and Fresh Cream #102).

• The Yardbirds have two records (one with Clapton). (Having A Rave Up at #355 and Roger The Engineer #350)

• Derek and the Dominos (again, with Clapton) have one. (Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs at #117)

Finally, this debut record, Blues Breakers, from English blues-rock band John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers appears at position #195. Colloquially, this is often dubbed The Beano Album, because Clapton can be seen reading a 1966 issue of Beano comics magazine on the cover of the Blues Breaker album.

Issue #1242 of Beano, published May 7, 1966 -
being "read" by Clapton on the Blues Breaker album cover

Beano, originally The Beano Comic, was a weekly newsprint publication by the Scottish company DC Thomson. Debuting in July, 1938, it is the best-selling comic publication outside of Japan, with more than two billion issues sold. It is available today, through subscription or in convenience stores and supermarkets throughout the U.K. There are also hardcover "annuals" traditionally published in August (in plenty of time for the Christmas season).

The cover for the 2024 edition of the Beano Annual,
celebrating 85 years of publication.

My first memories of Beano comics were from the early ‘70s when my family had temporarily relocated from Canada to the Greater Manchester (Rochdale, Littleborough) area. Sometimes, on walks with my elders, we would step into a Newsagents (a U.K. equivalent to a convenience store) and I would flip through the comic book selection while my pop, grandad or uncle chatted with the shopkeeper. If it was a good day, I might get a copy of Beano (or its sister magazine, Dandy) and perhaps even a sugary treat to go with it. I was a big fan of Curly Wurlys, Mars Bars, Flakies and Fruit Pastilles.

Modern packaging for a classic British treat - mine came in a 
tightly wrapped tube.

I remained an avid reader of Beano and collected issues every time I returned to England for visits. My mom, attuned to my interest, purchased Beano & Dandy Annuals for me regularly, continuing the tradition well into my thirties. I made them available to my students as part of my classroom library. Sadly, the few that remain are quite battered. I've moved them to a cupboard. I am concerned that some of the "gags" and "jokes" within the covers might not have aged well.

My grade 4 students learning how to pickle in 2012. A copy
of the Dandy Annual can be seen on my cluttered shelves at 
the back - circled in red.

My favourite bit of trivia about Beano magazine involves one of their longest running strips and a character named Dennis The Menace who has a wire-haired hound named Gnasher. The character is a badly-behaved schoolboy who pulls pranks and terrorizes a group of well-behaved classmates he dubs "The Softies". The main target of Dennis' scorn is a well-groomed, and effeminate boy named Walter the Softy. (See what I mean about the jokes not aging well?) That said, Walter often gets the last laugh on Dennis in many of the weekly strips.

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher.

North American audiences are likely familiar with a different version of Dennis the Menace. Created by American cartoonist Hank Ketchum, this daily newspaper comic strip centres on a blond, freckle-faced, five-year-old boy growing up in a middle class Kansas neighbourhood.

Unlike his dark-haired British counterpart, this Dennis is kind-hearted and his antics occur when he makes a genuine effort to help others. It is his enthusiastic naivety, coupled with his ebullient energy, that leads to comedic misadventures -- often at the expense of his beleaguered neighbour, Mr. Wilson.

Fascinatingly, the two characters debuted on the same day, March 12, 1951, without any of the creators or production team being aware of the other's project. Consequently, both were able to retain the rights to the character’s names.

As a kid who regularly traversed the Atlantic, spending time in Canada and England, I was, initially, a fan of both versions. However, I quickly grew bored of the U.S. version of Dennis. It was sappy and often over-sentimental. Blond Dennis was a playful, well-meaning scamp, with many jokes of the “kids say the darndest things" variety. Even as an eight-year-old, it felt like the U.S. comic was either trying to teach me a life lesson or working way too hard to get me to laugh at Dennis' malapropism and idiom gaffes.

The British Dennis with his peashooters, water pistols and slingshot seemed dangerous. His antics were ferocious and unpredictable and when they inevitably failed, he faced brutal repercussions -- often in some form of corporal punishment from his teachers and parents. In some strips, Dennis even ends up hospitalized.

The stark difference between the "antics" of the two Dennis characters.

Just the act of reading those strips felt rebellious. Even his dog Gnasher, with its spiky black hair, ferocious teeth and sinister demeanor was terrifying -- and I couldn't get enough.

While preparing this post, my rabbit-hole research led me to a 2016 article from James Parker, originally published in Smithsonian Magazine. Parker goes even further to connect these two Dennis variations to their respective homelands with the following quote:

"American Dennis radiated the irrepressible energy of a young republic. In contrast, British Dennis represented a form of transgression that didn’t even exist in the United States. He emerged during a time of class struggle and waning empire, when the U.K. establishment feared the oik, the yob, the ungovernable prole. In short, British Dennis was a proto-punk-rock-hooligan."

It would be a stretch to suggest that Clapton's "reading" of Beano on the cover of Blues Breaker held any significance. It seems more likely that the notoriously prickly guitarist was either bored with the photo shoot or amplifying his general disinterest with the entire experience. Sure, Clapton, Mayall and the other members of the band (John McVie and Hughie Flint) were from working class backgrounds. However, connecting the dots between the economic struggles of these musicians and a transgressive comic strip would require the musical history equivalent to a yoga master.

Blues Breakers (l-r) Mayall, Clapton, McVie, Flint

Clapton, despite his well documented reputation as a jerk, is the only individual to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times -- as a solo artist and a member of Cream and The Yardbirds. Mayall, who passed away this year - July, 2024 - will be inducted this October. Although it will be a posthumous induction, Mayall did learn about the honour in April, a few months before he died at 90.

I'm glad I discovered Mayall's distinctive and powerful voice when I wisely purchased that Crossroads record...26 years ago.

 

The 500 - #196 - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, 1965 - 1968 - Various Artists

 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: #196
Album Title: Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965- 1968

Artist: Multiple

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Recorded: Multiple Studios
Released: October, 1972
My age at release: 7
How familiar was I with it before this week: Surprisingly, many.
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at 405, moving down 209 spots.
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Dirty Water

Like any kid trying to fit in, I made some regrettable fashion choices in high school. Most of them, including bleaching a blond streak in my hair, I look back on with  affection. However, one decision still generates a cringey shudder when I think about it. It all started when I purchased tickets to see American rock guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Ted Nugent when he brought his 1981 World Tour to my hometown of London, Ontario, in support of his sixth studio release, Scream Dream.

If you are familiar with the troubling and sometimes odious controversies that have followed this angry media personality over the past few decades, you may have a suspicion about where this story is going – that I regretted spending money on this ticket. However, I am not. Within his range and style, "The Nuge" is a pretty good guitar player and there are still a few of his songs that I like -- mainly for old times’ sake. As I have said in previous posts, I generally try to separate the "art" from the "artist”.

Ted Nugent performing live in the 80s.\

The regrettable decision I made came the next day when I arrived in my first period history class proudly wearing the official concert shirt I bought at the show. I thought I would enjoy several nods of envy from my fellow rockers in the room. Instead, my history teacher looked at me and said... "Is that a naked man on your shirt?" (See below for evidence of the offending frock).

I found a photo of a vintage shirt, exactly like mine, online.

The class exploded with laughter as I clumsily defended the clothing choice that I was regretting more deeply with every beat of my racing, teen-age heart. I am not sure why I was trying to convince a stodgy, suited, 50-year-old high-school educator that a "Nugent shirt" was actually cool. I suspect I was trying to convince myself that this expensive ($10 was a lot of money in 1981) piece of memorabilia was worth the freight. The shirt remained in my bedroom closet for most of the next few years. It’s probably in a box in my mom's basement, and being in top condition it would likely fetch more than $100 from online vintage resellers. So, perhaps I didn’t make a bad investment after all.

A closer look at the shirt's logo - taken from Nugent's "Intensities
in 10 Cities" live album, released the same year.

Long before his solo career, Nugent belonged to the psychedelic, garage rock band The Amboy Dukes who had a hit single with Journey To The Center Of Your Mind. Released in 1968, the song reached #16 on the Billboard Charts and was a thinly veiled celebration of the mind-altering drugs that were wildly popular that decade, including L.S.D. and magic mushrooms. Nugent, who is now known for his ardent anti-drug advocacy, has claimed he had no idea what the song was about, which seems dubious unless the now aging rocker was terribly naive in his twenties…while playing in a self-described "acid rock" band.

The Amboy Dukes are among 27 bands that appeared on the 1972 compilation record, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, 1965 - 1968. The disc was painstakingly curated by Lenny Kaye, a writer and clerk at the Village Oldies in Greenwich Village, New York City, at the time. Kaye later became the guitarist for the Patti Smith Group whose debut album, Horses, ranks at #44 on The 500 list.

Lenny Kaye, working at Village Oldies - early 70s.

Kaye appeared on the most recent episode of The 500 Podcast and provided a rich and fascinating insight into the development of the outstanding collection of the eclectic songs he assembled. He also discussed the follow-up album, Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from The British Empire And Beyond, which was released as a four CD Box set in 2001. I encourage readers to take a listen to the podcast for a much deeper dive into the history of these bands and their music. Kaye even hints there are talks about a Nuggets III production.

Album cover for Nuggets II release (2001)

In previous posts, I have questioned the inclusion of compilation records on The 500 list. I need to amend that stance. My view now holds that anthologies are more than the sum of their parts; this one is akin to a love letter about the music of a generation.

Kaye is passionate about the rare and oddball music he discovered through his writing and work at the Oldies Record Shop, and that shines through on this beautiful tapestry of fascinating and engaging songs. The liner notes, authored by Kane, are further testament to the affection he has for the selections on Nuggets I. It also contains one of the first uses of the term "punk rock" -- a genre of music that exploded a few years after release of Nuggets I. The liner notes begin with a title that captures the spirit of this record, and I smiled when I read it -- "It's a Nugget if you Dug it".

Epilogue:

In 1995, while driving from London, Ontario, through Northern Michigan and across the top of Lake Superior toward Teachers College in Thunder Bay, I stopped at a Tim Hortons in Wawa. It was just before dawn and 11 hours into my 17-hour cross-province journey. I had set off the night before in order to avoid traffic and to enjoy the stunning landscape of the rugged, forest covered Canadian Shield as the sun rose.

Wawa, Ontario, known for its beautiful landscape and giant
goose statue.

As I walked into the Timmies to purchase a cup of conscious-propping caffeine, a slim man in camouflage gear and a ball cap held the door for me to enter as he left.

"Do you know who that was?" the cashier asked me as I ordered. "Ted Nugent" she said, excitedly answering her own question before I could respond.

I turned to see the door of a large pick-up truck close, so I couldn't confirm the information -- but, who would lie about seeing Ted Nugent at dawn in a Tim Hortons in Wawa, Ontario?

At least he had more clothes on.