They have now released a live record, Fools Face Live at Last (Talk, 2005) that is among the greatest rock recordings ever made. The recording is superb, the audience is electric, and the music itself is timeless fist-pumping power pop, song after song after song.

I have seen the Rolling Stones, McCartney and Wings, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Santana to name a few, and I have sought live recordings of all of them. Live At Last ranks with the very best, apart from the reasons stated above, precisely because they are a relatively unknown band from the heartland. The record’s unexpected nature only enhances its greatness. 

Like Duke Ellington’s legendary Live at Fargo, 1940, this recording captures master musicians at the height of their powers.

“To Be Someone” leads with poignant bittersweet power chords like those used by their Midwestern brethren the Hawks and Spooner.

“American Guilt” should be the national anthem. It has a massive hook and invites sing-alongs. “Cherokee persuasion, Navajo town, got my reservation for the burial ground…Tell America her heart is in the right place, tell America be sure not to hate, tell America to move at her own pace, tell America it might be too late…when push comes to shove and we don’t have love…”

Guitars foam and snarl throughout. Listen to the guitar break on “Diamonds and Pearls.” It gave me a nosebleed. “Land of the Hunted” is a masterpiece of propulsion combining the urgency of 20/20 with the musical sass of the Buzzcocks. Brian Coffman and Jimmy Frink repeatedly hit an exquisite harmony that would have pleased the Everly Brothers. The recording was made in 2000 when these guys were in their forties and fifties. For anyone who loves rock this record will plunge you deep into your youth for sixty minutes.

Madonna is famous for, among other things, reinventing herself. “Reinventing” is show business talk for falling to a new level of depravity. You never see the Hollywood press praising someone for finding faith or cleaning up their act but if they demean Christian values or morality, they get raves. So I was interested to see if this was some sort of political or religious statement or just the latest fashion craze.

So I watched the performance for a few moments. The woman who was the focus to the number then moved to a piano inside a glass case which later ignited in flames. I started to suspect that this wasn’t Madonna because to the best of my knowledge she doesn’t play the piano and is old enough to remember that the late Michael Jackson set himself on fire awhile back. At the end of the song the woman leaned back with outstretched arms as if to say I have exhausted myself as an artist by dancing and lip syncing for three minutes.

In a few seconds I found this was indeed not Madonna but a woman who goes by the name of Lady Gaga, a reference to a “Queen” song. I was fascinated by this performer but not for the reason you might think. As a comedian I detected a note of farce in the act. The whole thing seemed to me to have a touch of “Borat” included.

With that in mind I did a little research on Ms. Gaga. The title “Lady” is a fake! I found no record of her elevation to that rank by any royal court. Perhaps she wants us to think she is English like Madonna and Kathleen Turner who have started using British accents for no apparent reason. She did however recently meet the Queen of England and wasn’t sure whether to bow or curtsey so she did a little of both. Lady Gaga is also prone to wearing outrageous get-ups which she refers to as “fashion.” She also has a habit of referring to herself in the third person. Just when I was letting all of this pretentiousness get to me I realized I was being had. Like a mark in the middle of a con who suddenly realizes things aren’t what they seem, I caught on.

Lady Gaga, I am a fan! You see, this performance artist isn’t following in the footsteps of Madonna. She is channeling the spirit of Tony Clifton. She is having us all on, the music industry, the fashion industry and the general public. Andy Kaufman lives.

1) The Scorpions- hair metal popular in the 80s, approximately as good as Winger.

2) KMFDM- plodding industrial metal from the late 80s/early90s.

3) That Nena chick of ‘99 luftballons’ fame. 

In short, a roster of acts so unnecessary that we could safely consign them to the same dark abyss as Croatian thrash or Russian hip hop and the human race would be none the poorer for it. And yet fortunately for the glory of popular Deustche musik this is not the end of the story- for in the mid 90s what rough beast slouched towards Germany to be born? Breathing flames and reveling in death and all manner of deviancy, its name was Rammstein. 

Formed in the early 1990s by veterans of several crap East German groups, Rammstein consisted of six men in their 30s who had grown up under communism. They took their name from Ramstein, a US military base where a terrible disaster had occurred during an air show in 1988, adding an extra ‘m’ to dislocate it slightly. With the Berlin Wall fallen, the band was now liberated to steal as many sounds and ideas as they desired. These included elements of classic heavy metal, industrial metal and gothic synth pop such as Depeche Mode; not to mention liberal appropriations from Laibach, a Slovenian group fascinated by the links between mass culture, pop music and totalitarianism. (If you have a few minutes I recommend you watch Laibach’s reinterpretations of Queen’s One Vision and Opus’ Life is Life: the originals will never sound the same again.)

From Laibach, Rammstein also stole the cross as a symbol, a collectivist ethos, and a fondness for flirting with totalitarian imagery. Most strikingly of all Rammstein’s singer Till Lindemann’s vocal style ‘borrowed’ heavily from Milan Fras’ absurdly deep bass snarl. As Laibach did not believe in ‘originality’ they did not complain; and as Rammstein were a much better band, they did not compete either. 

But Rammstein also introduced elements hitherto absent from hard rock, such as lyrics informed by German romanticism (decadent and otherwise), and elements of martial music. Rammstein thoroughly embraced their national identity and this unabashed ‘Germanness’ became key to their success- disciplined, ultra precise drumming, grinding riffs played by two guitars in perfect synchronicity, futuristic synths, a surprising ear for melody and sturm und drang lyrics sung entirely in German, with every guttural sound emphasized, and every ‘R’ rolled almost to the point of parody. On the last tour two members even wore lederhosen. Rammstein had thus revealed that heavy metal in its ideal form was not Anglo-American but Germanic, and having done so built a massive fan base in Europe, Asia and Latin America.  

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Rammstein’s live shows are legendary. The band loves fire: walls of flame; fire-breathing; self-immolation, you name it. At the center of this grandiose spectacle however stands front-man Till Linemann wearing a look of profound suffering on his face, as if he is being martyred every night. When he’s not in pain he inflicts it, usually upon the keyboard player, Flake, who is as lanky and skinny as Lindemann is huge. On Rammstein’s last tour, Lindemann roasted Flake alive in a giant cauldron while singing an ode to the German cannibal Armen Meiwes. Flake was also Lindemann’s victim in simulated male rapes that took place on a nightly basis during the band’s tours of the late 90s and early 2000s (I shall spare you the link.) And yet however outrageous that sounds, Rammstein’s provocations are always informed by an ultra-dry, ultra-black German humor.  

Unsurprisingly, Rammstein’s love of shock tactics has embroiled the band in numerous scandals. Their first album cover was an outrageous piece of totalitarian homoerotic camp, depicting the band as oiled, muscular Übermenschen stripped to the waist, standing in front of a giant flower (I remember wondering whether I had made a terrible mistake the day I bought it on cassette in Moscow’s Gorbushka market). German music critics accused them of being Nazis. Delighted, the band then used footage from Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia in the video for their cover of Depeche Mode’s Stripped. Later however Rammstein would insist that they were perplexed by all the Nazi hullabaloo- was it not obvious that they were fervent leftists? After all on their 3^rd album ‘Mutter’ (the one with the dead baby on the cover) they had recorded a song entitled Links 234. Now admittedly this is simply the march ‘Left 2, 3, 4’ sung in German and the video showed thousands of ants stamping around in militaristic fashion, even saluting grainy black and white footage of the lead singer. But Rammstein insisted that it was a song of praise for left ideas, and really meant ‘forward with leftism’, or some other such nonsense. Whether the band’s members were being naïve, humorous or archly ironic, none of the other songs on the album were notably left in orientation (‘Zwitter’ was a song about a hermaphrodite in love with him/herself, ‘Rein Raus’ a spectacularly blatant metaphor for sexual intercourse). 

It was perhaps a different set of scandals that stung the band more. The Columbine massacre shooters were big Rammstein fans, and around the same time as that tragedy members of the band were arrested in Massachusetts when Lindemann prepared to rape Flake on stage with an ejaculating dildo. Clearly that experience left a bad taste in the mouth, because Rammstein have never returned stateside. Indeed the band has had a troubled history with the USA. On their second release Sensucht (Longing), they succumbed to record company pressure, recording some embarrassing English language versions of selected songs. Although Rammstein swore never to do this again, they have since played with the English language on tracks such as Amerika and Pussy (find that video yourself). Now however there is a political undercurrent to their use of English- admittedly it is a tedious, Coca Cola bashing, anti-globalization kind of undercurrent, but then, nobody’s perfect. 

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At the end of October Rammstein released their sixth record ‘Liebe ist fur alle da’ (Love is there for everyone). The record goes nowhere new, Rammstein choosing instead to elaborate upon the sonic and thematic realm they have made their own. However this lack of innovation is no weakness, and from the very first track ‘Rammlied’ all memories of Rosenrot, their wretched fifth album, are dispelled. ‘Liebe..’ is their heaviest release in years, faster, darker and more punishing, a brutal noise made by ageing men striving to prove they can still crush their peers, and succeeding. It is the sound of six Germans on the march, six Germans out to conquer, six Germans intent on proving that they reign supreme over the heavy metal reich. 

The plan seems to have worked. Liebe entered the charts at #1 in multiple countries; # 16 in the UK and most remarkably of all- #13 in the Billboard Hot 200. As a Briton, I am already accustomed to the fact that Rammstein have superseded the accomplishments of metal bands from the UK, in much the same way I know that Germany has a superior infrastructure, stronger industrial base and higher standard of living than my homeland. And now with Rammstein’s unprecedented assault on the American charts, will all you patriotic Americans begin to feel that you are living inside a Philip K. Dick style parallel universe? Are Slayer, Metallica, Mastodon et al about to surrender before the might of their Teutonic metal masters?  Is this the latest sign of what the perpetually grinning Fareed Zakaria- a man who looks as though he just swallowed a live hamster and is terribly pleased with himself for this achievement- calls ‘the Post- American World’? 

Ich don’t think so. But it might mean that Rammstein will come here on tour. And as someone who has seen the band live four times in three different countries I can reassure you that that would be a very good thing indeed. Unless you don’t like middle-aged East German provocateurs bludgeoning you to death with heavy music, that is. Then you might want to consider staying home, and play your Colbie Caillat records instead. I don’t know- whatever turns you on.  

Auf Wiedersehen!

Adam has an amazing vocal range and a falsetto so rich in quality that it is imperceptibly different from his chest voice.  His incredible ability to control his vocals enables him to hold his high notes seemingly forever.  His versatility is unmatched in “Idol” history.  With the arguable exception of country music (his rendition of “Ring of Fire” received strong emotional reactions both pro and con, as it was more like Johnny Cash doing Goth music with Middle Eastern undertones), Adam excels in every genre of music.  He sings soulful ballads to pop to heavy metal and glam rock, all with ease, style, and pitch-perfect tone.

Week in and week out, other “Idol” contestants appeared on stage in sneakers and T-shirts without sets or lighting design, all of which are in the contestants’ control.  But enter Adam, and the show began!  One could criticize his attire (and did!) but every week Adam came with an outfit, sets, lighting, and moves that fit his song choice and made his performances both unpredictable and more entertaining.  He’s not just a singer; he’s the whole performance package.

Unfortunately, talent has not always been the focus of commentary on Adam.  Rumor has it that some on the Christian-right refused to vote for Adam because of his ambiguous sexual orientation.  Explicit photos of him making out with other men, attending the Burning Man (an annual event in Nevada which constitutes an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance), and occasionally dressing in drag, detracted from his deserved praise.  Supposedly, Kris Allen’s church pastor urged “all believers” to vote for Kris (though Kris emphatically objected to votes based on religion).  Additionally, “Idol” contestant Danny Gokey, who touted his Christianity, had a similar performance style to Kris’.  His devout following likely swung in favor of Kris once Danny was booted off the show.

Many deemed it unpalatable if not morally wrong to deny Adam his hard earned votes based on sexual orientation.  This should have no place in the “Idol” competition.  As Kris explained, this was supposed to be a competition about singing, not a vote for the presidency.

Yet, as soon as the winner was announced and the finale was over, the left-wing media started bashing Adam for not being gay enough.  Adam has admitted that the explicit photos were of him, and he has not been at all shy about anything including his sexuality. (To date, interviewers have beaten around the bush and have not put the “gay question” to him directly.)  But neither has Adam made his sexuality a political issue…at least thus far.  Still, the photos and Adam’s behavior, which are about as “out” as can be, still leave some dissatisfied.  As is often the case with leftists, words are more important than actions, and one isn’t truly “out” until he mouths the words “I’m gay.”  Adam hasn’t done this and thus will suffer the wrath of leftist activists.

No sooner had he walked off the stage than criticism has befallen him — not for his performances, which were controversial but fair game, but for his alleged “silence” on his sexuality.  Indeed, Entertainment Weekly Online dedicated four whole pages to chastising him for failing to announce his orientation.  But, making one’s private life fodder for public consumption seems to be something the gay community does often.  In the recently released film “Outrage,” the filmmaker assumed that if he outed gay Republicans, they would change their votes on gay marriage.  The presumption seems to be that gay marriage is the world’s most pressing issue, and everyone who is gay should prioritize this about all else.  To hell with national security, the arts, or whatever else one might be interested in.

Adam has acknowledged feeling pressure from some quarters to use his sexuality and “alternativeness” to influence how America views related social issues.  Contrary to helping those in the gay community, they are doing Adam and the gay community a disservice.  By pressuring Adam to act differently than his straight counterparts, they separate him out rather than allow him to integrate and be accepted as equal.  They are also denying him the right to define himself as he wants to be defined and decide for himself how his talents will be used.

It is unlikely that at age three when Adam starting singing around the house, or at age ten when he first began musical theater, that his goal was to achieve success as a vehicle for gay rights activism.  Why does everyone who is gay have to represent a political cause?  Why can’t Adam just be a singer and an entertainer like other artists?  Both those who withheld votes because Adam’s gay and those who are bashing him for not being gay enough, insist on defining Adam by his sexual orientation.  But Adam clearly defines himself by his music.

Politics aside, it is apparent that Adam is not going to be a flash-in-the-pan like previous “Idol” contenders.  Adam was the only reason to watch the cheesy show this season.  My prediction is that he is destined to be a national star, if not international.  Offers are already pouring in, and there’s talk of him touring with Queen, being courted for Broadway leads, and making his own CD’s.  Refusing to be boxed into a specific genre as most record labels demand, his first album promises to range from pop to rock to funk with innovative electronics.  Additionally, he hopes to do corollary theatrical performances.  His goal is to fill an artistic niche of theatrical pop music which is currently female-dominated on the scene, and largely devoid of male artists.  It is Adam’s artistic expression and personal style that make him notable, not his sexual orientation.  If he does have a political message, it’s one of personal empowerment for anyone who might not fit the mold…sexuality aside.

Those making social criticism of Adam based on his sexuality — one way or the other — should apologize.  I myself owe him an apology for using his orientation in the title of this article.  However, I doubt if he cares much about any of this.  Adam is all about the music, and I’m sure he’s too busy singing to pay this any mind.

I would love to see Adam Lambert join Queen.  I already know all the songs.  And that’s a problem.  Singer/songwriters have been moving off-grid since the nineties.  With the demise of the major music conglomerates, innovative talent understands it’s up to them to record and release their own material.  The internet makes this possible.  No one knows the extent of the effect downloading has had on the music industry, but if we are to judge from the reaction, it has been devastating.  The Recording Institute Association of America has brought suits against parents whose children illegally download songs.

The music press that used to serve a vast range of interests is dying.  No Depression and Blender bit the dust last year.  Paste is asking its readers for financial contributions.  Rolling Stone and Spin long ago gave up covering innovative grass-roots rock in favor of the ever-dwindling supply of “mainstream” acts.  Rolling Stone now resembles an uncomfortable cross between The Nation and Vanity Fair.

The remaining music rags seem to be involved in a conspiracy to cover the same artists.  How else to explain the simultaneous cover appearances of such bands as Vampire Weekend, Connor Oberst, and Bat for Lashes?  These are the “official,” industry sanctioned “edgy artists.”  Trouble is, all these music venues are waiting for someone else to sanction an artist before they’re interested.  They are missing the forest for the trees.

The internet and home recording obviate the need for Big Music.  Yes, having some edgy TV show choose a song off your record can be a career-maker (The Fray, anyone?), but somebody has to hear that song first and have the power to use it.  So let me tell you what’s been going on in the pop underground this year.  Like last year and the year before it, 2009 is shaping up as one of the most exciting pop music years ever.  It’s early June and I’ve been stunned with the breadth and quality of releases thus far.

Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder: Makes Your Ears Smile.  Andy Morten, formerly of The Nerve and Bronco Bullfrog has recorded a masterpiece of summer pop that is simultaneously simple and liltingly complex.  Andy Morten made all the sounds himself.  The closest precedent might by the Dukes of Stratosphere (XTC) who donned the mantle of psychedelic warriors to record songs that echoed their inspirations.  Morten is an excellent singer and an inspired composer.

Roger Klug: More Help For Your Nerves. Two years ago power pop aficionados were gob-smacked by Bryan Scary’s debut which displayed superb musicianship, terrific dynamics and strong songwriting.  Last year it was Josh Fix.  This year it’s Roger Klug whose More Help For Your Nerves opens with “Tinnitus,” an ear blast comparable to Greg Pope’s “Sky Burn Down.”  This disc is an embarrassment of riches clocking in at just under an hour with 17 tracks.  None of them are throwaways.  Klug’s mostly a one-man band with inspiration up to his ears and a voice that hints at hidden cabaret chops.

The second song, “Dump Me Hard,” announces that this is an artist who’s got it going on in every department.  Every song is a standout although I would single out “For the Kids” for its bittersweet poignancy.  And it’s not just verse/verse/chorus/verse.  Klug breaks it up as in “About Time” which segues from upbeat pop to exuberant bluegrass before falling back into a hard rock groove.  Mental Giant, his music label, is just Klug.

Broken Promise Keeper: Ice Cold Pop.  Another one man band.  Seldom have I heard such a strong debut of songs.  As powerful and memorable as Marshall Crenshaw.  Rob Stuart possesses an effortless musicality that affords his songs good bones-the changes, choruses and bridges are both surprising and inevitable.  Stuart has a radio friendly voice and the songs segue from one to the next.  Superb dynamics-one listen and you’re hooked.

The opener “Directions” with its insanely catchy hook contains the lyrics: “Change – new scenery sure would be nice/Change – but before we turn, let’s think twice/‘Cause when you take that fork in the road/ It helps to know where you’re trying to go.” Hmmm….

Greg Pope: Pete.  Pete’s an extended play-seven songs-but they hit with the impact of last year’s triumphant Popmonster, which perched at the top of most Ten Best last year.  And here’s something the music dinosaurs can only dream about: Greg recorded these songs in March and April and the CD, with beautiful cover art, came out in May.  This type of inspiration to market in two months occurs because the lone singer/songwriter doesn’t have to wait for the suits’ approval.

Valley Lodge: Semester at Sea Second release from New York-based rock quartet jangles and buzzes its way from start to finish with delicious hooks, unique vocal choruses and great dynamics.  Highly reminiscent of Plimsouls, if slightly more sophisticated.

There is more.  Much more.  These independent releases are coming at the rate of about four or five a day.  That’s over a thousand records a year.  The music is infinitely better than what Big Music seeks to cram down our throats, yet one will search in vain for any mention of the above bands-or the hundreds of others of similar vein-in the traditional music press.  So what’s a pop fan to do?

There are numerous websites devoted to power pop.  My favorites are Absolute Powerpop, popaholic.com, and of course notlame.com, which in addition to being a label (The Toms, The Well Wishers, The Shazam) acts as a clearinghouse for all these great new bands….

Two notes: A lot of these bands are releasing their CDs in simple cardboard sleeves.  You can get all the info you want on the back of one of these, and if the band chooses to print lyrics, such as Fastball, cardboard sleeves come in fold-outs like miniature versions of deluxe LP sleeves, which allow for more art.  This is a big step up from the odious plastic jewel box.  It’s also a big step back.  This is the way 45’s and LPs used to come.

The second note is that if you contact these artists via their websites, most of them will talk to you.  Try e-mailing Gwen Stefani.