Gone But Not Forgotten # 7

One of my heroes of the punk and new wave scene in the late 1970s was the unforgettable Ian Dury.

Ian Dury was always a total outsider. As he was a handicapped child(he contracted polio at the age of 7) of a university teacher and a bus driver he staged himself as a poet of the gutter. He accosted and spat and was like the mocking court jester and cynical berserk. So Ian Dury became a model for many punks. His music, a blend of pub rock, Music Hall, Comedy, Jazz, Funk and Reggae met the late 70s, early 80s the spirit of the times. Ian Dury was a great poet and entertainer and he worked until his death, also a successful actor, writer and painter.
When Ian Dury jamming in the summer of 1978 at his home in north London district of Hampstead along with Chaz Jankel, the two met on an incisive, funky riff. Chaz Jankel of the Blockheads played on his Fender Rhodes keyboard into a frenzy and Ian Dury machined drums and improvised slant rhymes in rough Cockney working-class slang to:

Hit me with your rhythm stick. I don't take arithmetic. Hit me with your rhythm stick. It's nice to be a lunatic

The next day the demo version of "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" and Ian Dury and his Blockheads already emerged were pretty sure that they would order a hit. In January 1979, the single climbed to # 1 on the UK charts, relegating the "YMCA" by the Village People. Ian Dury and his band, the Blockheads sold over a million singles. "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" had a lot to offer: There was this loud radio, a compelling disco beat, a shot of comedy and a freak show with free jazz insert. And there was this aggressive rockabilly singer with the lard hairstyle, a metal rail on the left leg and a hoarse voice Cockney, who rarely met a sound. Here the forefather of punk movement seemed at work. As "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" 1979 Charts stormed, Ian Dury was already 36 years old, breaking the unwritten law: "Who is not a pop star to 30, which also is no more".

From Wed Eder 80s commercial success evaded and the albums were rare. Ian Dury was traded as a discontinued model. The British pop ruled by Stock, Aitken, Waterman and its widescreen productions. New Romanticism and the androgynous appearances as Boy George ruled the charts and the new music television. Ian Dury's aggressive energy work, however, almost entirely, to the stage. And his acerbic jokes, as well as his tender ballads of the 80 were in the middle no longer in demand. In the second half of the 80 Ian Dury reinvented itself and became a painter, actor and author. He appeared in musicals in London's West End and appeared in numerous movies and television films. In supporting roles, he has starred in Roman Polanski's "Pirates" and in Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover".

1996 was found in Ian Dury cancer. He knew it would only remain to him three or four years, and he worked tirelessly. Made films. Wrote books and plays. Took care of his family, regulated the estate and played until shortly before his death despite severe pain 90 minute live shows with the Blockheads. And he committed himself to UNICEF as an ambassador for polio victims and visited Vaccine Clinics in Zambia and Sri Lanka. In 1997, he was accompanied by a 23-year-old singer, who was pretty broken and confused and had just left the boy band Take That: Robbie Williams. A huge fan and admirer of Ian Dury. Robbie Williams was even able to memorize entire songs. The two hit it off splendidly on this UNICEF tour. When Ian Dury on 27 March 2000 had lost the battle against cancer, Robbie Williams sang at the grave Ian Dury & The Blockheads song "You're The Why".

Rest In Peace, Ian

Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Wake Up And Make Love With Me
Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Billaricey Dickie
Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll
Ian Dury and the Blockheads - What A Waste
Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Reason To Be Cheerful Pt. III

40 Records In 40 Years (28/40 - 2001)

2001 was the year that changed everything in our whole life. If we thought that everything's easy and don't bother us we were interrupted by the attack to the Twin Towers in NYC in September 2001. Nothing was before since than. George W. Bush declared the war on terrorism and all the secret services started to collect informations where ever they could get. As John Orwell told us in his novel we got our Big Brother throughout the years. And the last we knew from Mr. Snowden was that we were close to Orwells thoughts about controlling us all. Like NSA and all the secret services in the whole world will do. We ought to krype our messages and think what we probably think about every word we say or post in the Internet, we have to think about what we talk when we call our friends via mobile phones and so on. But do we feel more safe than before or are the services taken more part of our life than they ought to? I don't really know but this is what I think right now when I look back to 2001. Surely there was a lot of more things in this year that I might remember very well without setting 9/11 in the middle of it.

I still remember when I got the news of this horrible crash into the WTC. It was at the time when I used to finish work and I took a last click on the news. I read about a plane got crashed into the building and thought that this must be a joke and couldn't be true. Later this evening we went to friends to invite them to our wedding (yes there was one thing this year without the shadow of 9/11 on it) - one of those things that was brighter than this terrorism attack. We visited several friends and at all their places the TV was running. I think we saw this pictures 100 times this evening and so they were burned inside our brains. We have refused to marry ecclesiastically and to celebrate a party instead of this with our narrow friends and the family. In our neighborhood there was a villa that was pursued a bar and we rented this location for a whole Friday night. All of them made us an unforgettable night.

As usual - some records that are worth to remember

• The Strokes - This is it: The return of Indie Rock with a sensational debut album
• Jan Delay - Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels: Fantastic reggae with German lyrics
• Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud: Beautiful Indie folk pop from Norway
• Spiritualized - Let it Come Down: Another great record from them
• Fun Lovin Criminals - Loco: Eclectic mixture of hip hop, rock, blues and a little bit of jazz
• Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy: Very good songs from the Welsh alternative band
• India.Arie - Acoustic Soul: Perfect combination of hip hop and R&B
• Diana Krall - The Look of Love: As good as her album before
• Robbie Williams - Swing When You're Winning: Great songs never die

Here some songs that are typical for this year:

• Monster's Ball: Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in a great drama
• Memento: Crazy idea to tell a story from the end
• The Lord of the Rings: I didn't like the novels and don't like the movies (but it was a chart buster)
• Amélie: Wonderful movie about a good person (only could made in France)
• Enemy at the Gates: Fantastic story about two snipers in Stalingrad
• Blow: Based on a real story Johnny Depp tells us about smuggling  drugs
• From Hell: Johnny Depp (again) try to tell his version of Jack the Ripper
• Black Hawk Down: First good movie about a useless war

I renounce this time out to mention something else that has happened in the world.

I seldom listened to a record that combines so many influences from the last 40 years in music to a very own sound. It's like you have a grab bag of music in front of you. Open this fund has the magical Welsh band Super Furry Animals. And they take all of the best. Of course they have studied the mid Beatles work and the Beach Boys as well. You can hear also Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra in a song and in the next one sounds like a Barry White inspired song. You might call this retro but the retro case still not snaps, plus the band sounds ultimately to their own. It is opulent instrumented with big melodies and pomp.

Super Furry Animals - Alternate Road to Vulcan Street

Super Furry Animals - Juxtaposed With U

Super Furry Animals - Run! Christian, Run!

Super Furry Animals - No Sympathy

40 Records In 40 Years (25/40 - 1998)

In 1998 was one year which had a basic incision in my life. As I have already indicated in the last post of this series, a final decision has liked. Me and Kerstin decided to go separate ways.We didn't made it easy to decide but I didn't want to move away from my native country to follow my wife to hers. She got more and more homesick to her family and the way of living. It isn't that Cologne was more attractive but she missed the Rhenish way of life so much. It was decisive also that our daughter should be sent to school and we both agreed that it better to make a cut right now than to deliver it on the back of our children. I remember when we sat together for evenings talking about all our options, drinking and having tears in each other eyes. And finally we have separated in friendship and love to allow it to everybody to start a new happy and contented life. The hardest thing was to explain it to the kids because in their age they cannot understand the reasons for separating. Although I have mourned about the loss of the children of the deepest heart, we both had to tell them about a new nice world in which they will live in future. So we packed the things together and moved them to their parents house in spring. I started to sell the house and found me a nice apartment in my hometown and contacted people I haven't seen for long years. Suddenly I recognized that I was back in my older life as a free man with less responsibility, however, also more desire in the life.

In this time I spent a lot of time listening to my old records and looking for the new ones that was released this year.

• Air - Moon Safari: Superb record made in France
• The Notwist - Shrink: German arty new rock music
• Massive Attack - Mezzanine: Another fantastic record
• Tortoise - TNT: Even their second record is great
• Two Lone Swordsmen - Stay Down: First time I recognized the great Andrew Weatherall
• Madonna - Ray Of Light: Maybe her last good record
• Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children: New great sounds from Scotland 
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Carry On: A compilation of great songs and voices
• Robbie Williams - I've Been Expecting You: Perfect pop - nothing more or less

A few well known songs that I listen to this year:

Here are some movies that are worth to remember:

• Saving Private Ryan: Steven Spielberg shows us the real World War II
• Life Is Beautiful: It is hard to explain a KZ as a playground to your son
• American History X: Shocking that this could happen in the United States
• The Big Lebowski: One of my favorite movies. No one is cooler than The Dude
• The Celebration: Wonderful Drama about lifelong lies
• Run Lola Run: Every Story has three sides. Fantastic!
• The Truman Show: Are we real or are we in a show?

Somethings that happened in the world:

More massacres in Algeria // Suharto resigns after 32 years as President of Indonesia // India and Pakistan testing nuclear weapons // The second Congo war begins - 3.900.000 people are killed until it ends in 2003 // Hugo Chavez is elected as President of Venezuela // Pol Pot dies in Cambodia // Marc Dutroux a Belgian child abuser and child murder escapes from prison // The era Kohl ends in Germany after 16 year; Gerhard Schröder is elected to the new chancellor // France is the new FIFA World Cup champion // Kaiserslautern becomes as the first promoted team this years champion in the German Bundesliga

"Make my nipples hard, let's go"! This input sentence of Danielle Brisebois directly with the entrance in the CD describes what happens while hearing this CD: Creeps! And if we are honest: When did we have the last time creeps while hearing music?? That's what I thought when I first listened to this record. Gregg Alexander was the leading figure behind The New Radicals. Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too is one of these records walking on the narrow burr between perfect pop music and pure kitsch. What it makes it worth to listen are his screaming song, the crashing guitars, these catchy, almost in a kitschy way mainstream to seeming ones. This album contains cool good mood wrecks directly beside soulful ballads of this decade. I think it was the right record at the right time this year. After all I have to say that this record is a very underrated diamond in this genre.

The New Radicals - Someday We'll Know
The New Radicals - Crying Like a Church on Monday
The New Radicals - You Get What You Give
The New Radicals - Mother We Just Can't Get Enough

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

I don't know why but these afternoon I remembered Ian Dury. He was an English rock and roll singer, bandleader, artist and artist who intitially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave area. He's best known as founder and lead singer of the Blockheads. Still can remember when this small and handicapped man hit the stage, telling us songs about sex and drugs and rock and roll. He also combined funk with his punk attitude. Great songs, great sound - worth to remember him. He was awesome and died too early in 2000. His first record will have his place in history forever. His influence might be shown as Robbie Williams covered his 'Sweet Gene Vincent'.