Nothing to do with Lennon seeing as George wrote it, I am sure if you work your way through Lennons catalogue he will have borrowed from someone somewhere along the line. Weller has never hidden his influences and is on record as saying that his writing is 50% perspiration and 50% inspiration. Start! is obvs the most blatant steal, but there are plenty of others. I assume Macca wasn't bothered either!
I always thought of Start as a tribute never a rip off , seeing the Jam from the very early gigs they always gave the aura that the late 50s early 60s was an inspiration and it was no surprise to hear them cover Davi Watts by the Kinks
If there's more than 10 bands who never ripped off someone else's work, I'd be amazed. The opening riff to 'Clash City Rockers' is The Who's 'Can't Explain' and The Damned's 'Machine Gun Etiquette' contains the drums and riff from the chorus of 'Do You Wanna Be In My Gang'.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can give to greatness, as Wilde said. Most bands are inspired to make music by their heroes. They wear their influences as badges of honour. But invariably, they copy a style. Their songs are usually original, although in the style of the influence. You still have to able to write a decent song with a good melody, otherwise you might as well just be a covers band. I listen to loads of “Ramonescore” bands - those influenced predominantly by the first three Ramones albums. They dress like them. They copy the low slung guitar stance, 1,2,3,4 intros - the whole caboodle! Three chord songs in the style of the Ramones are going to sound like the Ramones too, although there needs to be a catchy melody at the heart of it for a song to be any good. The Beatles sound was much more diverse over the years so the influence will be broader. Rolling Stone nominated The Beatles as the most influential band of all time (no surprise). The Ramones were second It’s a measure of your greatness if you’re imitated.
Is it true (I could probably just google this) that their name was inspired by Paul McCartney because he used to check into hotels using the alias Paul Ramon?
Yes. Dee Dee was a big fan and started to use the surname “Ramone”. The rest followed suit and decided to name the band “Ramones”. And it sounds like a ‘50s/‘60s rock n roll or doo-wop band - which was the image they wanted.
I really am lost for words! It's music, it's performance art, it's spoken word - and it all comes from a really strange, dark and personal place!
I actually rather like it, I think Alfie posted it a while back, and I checked out some of his other stuff. Its very dark and some songs are quite disturbing.
Sorry if I missed the original posting. It's really impressive on a few levels. Not sure if I'd necessarily use the word 'like', although the guitar work is impressive and I really appreciate the creativity.
I think it was my niece who pointed me in his direction , he stopped me in my tracks, he is not my usual taste far from it but I like Changenow and then Ren has health issues, Lymes disease and is undergoing treatment in Canada
For once on one of your posts I am missing the unlike button. Paul McCartney reinvented Bass playing and Ringo Starr is a first class drummer in a steady no frills sort of way. As songwriters they are so far above everyone else it is ludicrous. How many bands do you know where album tracks are mistaken for No1 singles. They had the top 5 places in the US charts.
Great songwriters as I said, no argument there but will have to disagree re: musicians. Their musicianship was ideal for their material but not revolutionary, particularly not the bass playing when compared to the likes of Entwhistle, Bruce or slightly more latterly Squire. But heh, it's opinions - and as we know, they are like arses!
Of course. But I think Macca paved the way for the people you mention. It was pretty revolutionary in early 60s to play bass as a lead instrument. Better came along (as you say) but McCartney was pretty startling in his day.
Because streaming didn't exist. Swift's Anti-Hero was streamed 17.4m times on Spotify on the first day of it's release, for example. She's still sold over 200m albums. I don't even like her music, but it's a good example that sales don't equal quality. Probably not as good an example as Bieber's 150m+ sales, though.
Stevie Winwood is 75 today , I'll forgive his appearance at the coronation concert, my favourite version of one of my all time favourite songs
