Little Steven's quest to get rock and roll out to the people that need and want it the most continues. Now, in addition to his weekly syndicated Underground Garage show, the Sirius Satellite Radio channel of the same name, and the rock and roll shows that criss-crossed our country from September through November, Little Steven re-launches Wicked Cool records.
The first wave of releases is impressive. I wrote about Davie Allan's Fuzz For the Holidays in an earlier post. Today's post looks at The Coolest Songs in the World! Vol. 1.
For those of you that aren't aware, the Underground Garage selects one song to be "the coolest song in the world this week." You would be hard pressed to find a weak track in those selections. Occasionally there's a song or two that doesn't do much for me, but in general, the selections are top notch.
This cd collects the best of those tunes since the Underground Garage hit the airwaves back in 2002. Getting things started is "On the Airwaves" by a Nashville based band called The Shazam. The Shazam have had their music featured on a Coors beer commercial since this song was released. According to their website, the band is also working on new music. If you dig this tune, check out the group's cds.
The first five tunes come from bands with "The" in their name. In the garage-rock world, you can almost guarantee any band with "The" in their name will be good! The Greenhornes, The Forty-Fives, The Charms, and The Chesterfield Kings are excellent bands that had coolest songs in the world and are deserving of your support.
Cotton Mather is the first band featured in this collection that has no "The" in their name. No one's perfect! Cotton Mather is an Austin, Texas band that makes a noise as close to the 1966 version of The Beatles as any current band that I've heard. Unfortunately, the band has been quiet since their 2001 release, The Big Picture.
The Boss Martians and The Mooney Suzuki round out "The" bands. The Mooney Suzuki have had a major label release with 2004's Alive and Amplified. They were also a part of Little Steven's Rolling Rock and Roll Road Show that went out in September. I caught the show in Minneapolis and got to see The Mooney Suzuki. Great live band, great records. A new one is in the works.
The remainder of the bands with coolest songs in the world have names without "The." No harm in that, I guess!
Reigning Sound, Caesers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Ko & The Knockouts, Mr. Brown, Creatures of the Golden Dawn, and Davie Allan & The Arrows round out this collection, and while it may be unfair to brush over them collectively, I do this with the utmost respect.
These bands, along with "The" bands deserve to be heard. Did I say that already? Too bad. I know rock and roll fans have had to endure a long space of time where rock music sucked. It wasn't for a lack of quality bands, mind you. Some of the bands on this collection have been making records for several years (and this is just the tip of the iceberg folks). I say blame it on the lame radio stations and the changes in FCC regs governing ownership of radio stations.
As rock and roll fans we share some of the responsibility too. We grew older, started families, settled in careers, and along the way, softened up a bit in our tastes. When the radio stations we used to enjoy began playing more Metallica, Ozzy, and Scorpions, we went running away with our tails between our legs.
Little Steven is working his backside off to get people to listen to these new bands, and to re-visit some bands that we missed 15-20 years ago. We owe it to the music we love to find this music and buy it. Wicked Cool releases are being sold at Best Buy stores, so they should not be hard to find. There's not a section devoted to Garage Rock at the store I visited in Omaha, but maybe it's happening at larger stores.
As for me, I can't wait to hear Volume 2 of The Coolest Songs in the World!
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