Going To The '80s Well.

Percival Sweetwater is back!

In his dubut guest blog, "Fresno, Then and Now," old man Percival compared Fresno's music scene to that of approximately 20 years ago. His words were enjoyed and digested by many. The blog caused a splash/minor stir in the LiveJournal community f_chip. (You should check out f_chip for local show postings and stuff.)

Anyway, all you musicians out there should pay close attention to what Percival has to say. He may be old, but he knows what he be talkin' about. I'm just kidding... About the old part, not the "he knows what he be talkin' about" part.

p.s. Before we get started here: What's up with this new text messaging show announcement phenomenon? Is this new thing or what? Do people just send out a mass text message to every number they have in their cell?

OK, let's get on with this. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Sweetwater...


Guest Blogger: Percival Sweetwater

I would like to thank Mitch on Speed for a second guest appearance on his increasingly popular web log. Please take a minute ... what I want to say will be quick so that we can discuss it below.

As Mr. Speed likes to point out at every opportunity, I’m old. In fact, I’m face to face with my 40th birthday, when life truly ends. And lately I’ve been very arrogant, flaunting the fact that I lived in the Eighties (like every other bozo my age did) as some kind of musical superiority when it comes to talking about new music.

I’ll decode that. Where you hear Interpol, I hear Joy Division. When you hear The Futureheads, I hear the first two records of The Jam. Bloc Party? Hmm, probably early Cure. A band from the U.K. called Hard-Fi sounds like a rockin’ Specials. Hell, Rancid sounds like the first Clash album, mi amigos.

Somewhere in the midst of listening to Hard-Fi it hit me in the face like a cold, wet trout: I’m not bitter that you young chumps are mining the intellectual property of Eighties bands. I’m mad that you aren’t ripping off of the right ones!

I can’t speak for all cool, young, hip Eighties kids (mind you, 95 percent of my high school friends were into Night Ranger, not the Violent Femmes). But those who were on the fringe of cool, at least the ones I knew, weren’t listening to Joy Division.

To my age-mates, I apologize immediately for the following list. These are the bands that I recall a lot of us listening to, meaning those people in my little circle of trust. Maybe it’ll inspire some people to check out influences other than the ones the NYC bands are suggesting.

Translator - a San Francisco band that was universally liked.

The Three O’Clock - Los Angeles band that amassed critical kudos. The guitarist dated a Bangle and co-wrote one of their hits, "Walking Down Your Street."

The English Beat. Seriously, I don’t think any modern band has copped them yet. That has to stop.

Public Image Ltd. - John Lydon, mates.

The Alarm. The first EP was awesome before they sold their corporate soul.

I’ll wrap it up quickly. Yes, there was U2 and R.E.M. Beyond that, there were XTC, Kate Bush, King Crimson, The Meat Puppets, Roman Holiday, Midnight Oil, Green On Red, Dream Syndicate, The Untouchables, Wall of Voodoo, Style Council (aka post-Jam crap), and Aztec Camera, to name a few.

Am I missing something, or are most of these bands unknown to today’s generation? I’m assuming yes, and I just wanted to say that I wouldn’t mind hearing them again. In other words, I wouldn’t mind hearing an unimaginative, lazy, thieving young band with an eye on commercial success rip off some of these bands. It’ll do my old heart good.