Happy Halloween, it's Classics IV and Steppenwolf
Classics IV is a cover band. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it is vital that we understand them in that context. Even the songs they were first to record are recognizably done in the style of more famous artists/bands. So much so that The Four Seasons actually threatened to withhold future exclusives to radio stations who played their first single, "Pollyanna."
Regardless, we really only invited them to sing their biggest hit, "Spooky," but their lead single/ title track is the last song on the whole album. Uuuuuuuuggghhhhh. It's cheesy i know, but it's a Halloween staple of classic rock dj shtick, 'cause The Yost (that's what i call him) actually says "Halloween" (and if you didn't notice it in a previous photo, you definitely can't pretend you don't now know exactly what i'll play on next month's holiday). Actually, as soon as you associate "Spooky" with Halloween you realize that quite a few tracks on this album have that same haunting kind of vibe. Ok, ok, clap politely as they exit stage left, even.
Snaggle Pus, Steppenwolf, whatever.
Let's see, gotta tie it back to Santana somehow, um, oh yeah, critics hated For Ladies Only. Some people thought Steppenwolf woke up in 1971 and decided to suck. No. Some people thought the band was being sexist. No. Some people thought heading in a more prog-rock direction was blasphemy. No. There's a two plus minute blues piano solo in the title track, for crying out loud.
This entire album is 1 rhetorical question and a definitive answer. "Why are stereotypical women angry at men? Because stereotypical men are misogynistic pigs." This is an album about hypocrisy on both sides. It's an album about intellectual laziness, and those barbs are surprisingly sharp. Artificial gender roles are simply the entry point.
Point: every single time John Kay says the title phrase "for ladies only" it connotes something different. That's because he's smarter than a 12 year old.
Point 2 point zero: did irony not exist before 1982? Steppenwolf is sexist the same way Ozzy is actually "the prince of darkness." Which is to say, neither are actually those things. I live in a full on imaginary universe with bands and music and artwork i made up while i was sleeping, and that's more realistic than the actual words that come out of people's mouths when they talk about their own contemporary music. Did i miss the reverse psychology memo?
Simmer down, Bottle.
Let's tackle this problem systematically. 1) women are mad because you treat them like crap. 2) are you coming at me from the high ground, or do we both agree that there are things we need to personally work on? 3) i love you, and it's not my intention to demean you so let's actually talk about it. 4) oh shit, yeah i didn't realize i was such a douchebag (so i dumped her instead of dealing with that problem, and fantasize about winning her back). [Flip record over] 5) whew, glad that's over. Now i can go back to chasing women. 6) chasing women. 7) Waaaah! please take me back. 8) there's literally nothing else i can say [instrumental]. 9) you'll be sorry without me. I mean i'm the one whose actually lost and confused and doesn't know where to go, but you know i'm right, and you should totally ride off with me. 10) [aside] we tell these stories about ourselves because we have no goddamned idea what it is we're actually supposed to be doing.
The moral of the story is yes women have every right to kick you to the curb if you treat them like that. That's an easy moral to miss if you're writing a forty word newspaper blurb about a record you didn't actually listen to, but let's maybe give the multi-lingual war criticizing literary aficionado the benefit of the doubt. Maybe?
Next
Comments
Post a Comment