Puscifer "Cuntry Boner"

Album: Single Only
Songwriters: Electric Sheep
Released: October 7, 2007

This is what Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan has been up to these days. Puscifer is a solo side project started as a band in Mr. Show sketch played by Keenan and Tool guitarist Adam Jones, though Jones is not involved with the later incarnation of the band. The first Puscifer album, titled "V" is for Vagina was released October 30, 2007. A remix album, "V" is for Viagra, is scheduled to be released April 29, 2008.

The song "Cuntry Boner" was originally written by Electric Sheep, a garage band that included future Tool guitarist Adam Jones and future Rage against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello.

Tool/Rage Against the Machine "Revolution"

Album: Unreleased/Bootleg
Recorded: 1993?

"Revolution" is a song that has been circulating around the internet through file sharing programs since the days of Napster, and before that on bootleg CD's and tapes during the 90's. I've never been able to find very much information about the song on the internet, and as far as I know the bands have said very little about it. Other titles that it has appeared under include "You Can't Kill the Revolution," or "You Can Kill the Revolutionary, But You Can't Kill the Revolution."

Tool and Rage Against the Machine have had a long history together. Both were products of the Los Angeles Metal scene, which was undergoing some drastic upheavals during the early 1990's. Tool guitarist Adam Jones and Rage guitarist Tom Morello went to high school together and were in the band Electric Sheep. Morello had a role in introducing Jones to Tool's future drummer Danny Carey. In 1991, Tool opened for Rollins Band, Rage Against the Machine, and Fishbone. As both bands popularity increased, they played the main stage at 1993's Lollapalooza along with Primus, Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr., Front 242, Fishbone, Arrested Development, and Babes in Toyland. According to the timeline at toolpantheon.com, it was after this tour that Tool and Rage Against the Machine collaborated together on "Revoultion." Apparently, the song was supposed to appear on the soundtrack to the film Judgment Night, but this never happened.

Tool and Rage are both two of the greatest bands Metal bands of their era, and they both had a lot in common in terms of the meaning that they infused into their music. However, listening to this collaboration, it seems that more of their differences emerge than anything else. Throughout, it is quite obvious which band is responsible for each part. The drums and rhythm for much of the song, including the intro up until about two and a half minutes in are clearly the work of Danny Carey. The guitar playing - which stops for the verses - is a very distinctive Tom Morello riff. The into section and the verses are reminiscent of Tools songwriting in songs like "Undertow," "Eulogy," and "H." Maynard's lyrics in the verse seem to deal with individual introspection, themes of loss and loneliness. Then, all of the sudden, Zack de la Rocha comes on repeating the lyrics, "You can kill the revolutionary/But you can't kill the revolution," completely changing the direction of the song. Maynard switches gears and simply repeats what Zack says. The result of this is that the song ends up sounding more like the two bands playing in a room together and switching on and off, to the point that some message boards dedicated to the song have users debating if this was actually a real song, or just some parts of songs by each of the bands spliced together. As far as I know, this is really both bands playing. It's cited as real in the FAQ at toolshed.down.net. Whether it would've made an effective single or not, readers can be the judge.

For anyone who hasn't heard it, here's the clearest YouTube rip I could find.

Mad Season "River of Deceit"

Album: Above (Columbia Records)
Songwriters: Barrett Martin, Mike McCready, John Baker Saunders, Layne Staley
Producer: Mad Season, Brett Eliason
Released: March 14, 1995
Video Director: Josh Taft

One of the great supergroups of the Grunge era. With vocalist Layne Staley from Alice in Chains, guitarist Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, drummer Barrett Martin from Screaming Trees, Mad Season put out some of the powerful, reflective, and honest works of the 90's, at a time when the introspective and sensitive nature of many of the bands of the era was being exploited by the music media - it was the transition from Grunge to Post-Grunge.

Mad Season's Above gives us some of Layne Staley's most powerful and tragic vocals, and it would prove to be one if his last recording sessions - along with Alice in Chains' self-titled album which came out the same year - as his health deteriorated due to his drug addiction. Moments on the album like "Wake Up," "Long Gone Day" (which featured guest vocals from Screaming Trees frontman and future Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Mark Lanegan), and the album's heart-wrenching closing "All Alone," take on a more devastating meaning in light of Staley's health. They are reminiscent of other powerful moments in Staley's oeuvre; like "Don't Follow," "Shame in You," "Frogs," and "Died," moments of vision and pathos that establish Staley as one of the most important and tragic artists to walk the Earth during the 1990's.

Another one of these moments was Mad Season's single "River of Deceit." The song itself did very well when it was released. It reached #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and hit #9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. In years since then however, it has received very little airplay, and its probable that this is a result of the single becoming so iconic with the mid-90's period of Alternative Rock music.

Staley was not the only member of Mad Season lost to heroin. In January 1999, two years after Staley was forced to leave the project do to his health, bassist John Baker Saunders died from a heroin overdose. It was at this point that the project, which had changed its name to Disinformation following Staley's departure and permanent replacement with Lanegan, officially disbanded.

Nirvana "You Know You're Right"

Album: Nirvana (DGC)
Producer: Adam Kaspar
Released: October 8, 2002
Video Director: Chris Hafner

The Mass Music Media loves stories about martyrdom and Messianic figures, so here's one more: In 2002, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who had committed suicide on April 5, 1994, came back from the grave, to mark the death of Rock Music.

In the years leading up to the release of the Nirvana greatest hits album in 2002, and the box set controversy, a strange phenomenon was occurring. Cobain had been dead for eight years, but the music media was working harder than ever to deify, and to sell his image. In the average FYE or Hot Topic store at the mall, you could find a special section of at least five or six Kurt Cobain posters. Music journalists, for MTV and VH1 in particular, had begun to rewrite the history of Rock music with Cobain as one of its central figures; the next in a series of rock "revolutionaries" which in this time went Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and him - in more recent years, these artists have been ignored, and the new sequence is Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Ian Curtis. One of the most blatant places we can see the trendiness of Cobain's image in death in the first years of the 21st Century is in the 2002 film Highway, starring Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal, which takes place in 1994 and where the central plot involves a pilgrimage to Seattle to honor Cobain's death.

There was a very visible conflict that went on over the release of the Nirvana box set, and the single "You Know You're Right," between Courtney Love and the surviving members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. The point of contention was whether or not the single should be released in a greatest hits format, which Love asserted would help it reach a wider audience, or in a box set. However, the media twisted the conflict, and made it seem that Love was trying to block the release, either so that she could generate more profit from it herself, or, as has been suggested over and over again, because the lyrics of the song were directed at her.

So much of the legend of Nirvana that the media created is dependent on the idea that Courtney Love drove Kurt Cobain to kill himself. One of the things that this myth does is it places the blame on someone else, and it diverts attention away from the ways that Cobain was exploited by the media and the music industry, and the ways that they have continued to own his image long after his death. There are interviews where Cobain discusses ways in which the media had tried to disrupt his marriage, or make it appear more volatile than it actually was. He was aware of what the industry was doing to him, and it's likely that he knew what they were going to do to his image and to Love when he was gone.

Here's a fact to disrupt the people who have insisted that Courtney Love was against the release of this song because she thought it would cause people to blame her for Cobain's suicide - Courtney Love didn't seem to have any trouble with people hearing the song, she covered it live with Hole during their MTV Unplugged performance in 1995, less than one year after Cobain's suicide. This performance has not been discussed since then, because it disrupts the backstory that the media has implied exists for this song. Still, the lyrics are powerful, and deserve to be examined:

"I will never bother you
I will never promise to
I will never follow you
I will never bother you
Never speak a word again
I will crawl away for good

I will move away from here
You wont be afraid of fear
No thought was put in to this
I always knew it would come to this
Things have never been so swell
I have never felt this well

Pain [3x]
You Know your Right [3x]

I'm so warm and calm inside
I no longer have to hide
Let’s talk about someone else
Steaming soup against her mouth
Nothing really bothers her
She just wants to love herself

I will move away from here
You wont be afraid of fear
No thought was put into this
I always knew to come like this
Things have never been so swell
I have never felt this well

Pain [5x]
You know Your Right [17x]
Pain [1x] "

I don't know if the lyrics to this song were directed at Courtney Love or not. I don't know what he had intended for them to do. But I'll suggest one thing, this song could just as likely be about us, the consumers. They describe a man who is trying to get away from someone, slowly, quietly - some force that has put enormous pressure on him.

Here's the video that was released in 2002, to promote the Nirvana box set:





And here's the video of Hole's performance of the song, which MTV has titled as "You've Got No Right" here, from 1995:

The Offspring "Gone Away"

Album: Ixnay on the Hombre (Columbia)
Songwriter: Dexter Holland
Producer: Dave Jerden
Released: February 4, 1997
Video Director: Nigel Dick

Coming out of Los Angeles' thriving Punk scene in the late 80's, The Offspring had an advantage over many of the bands of their genre that helped them find great, lasting success, in that, like Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring had the ability to write amazing pop songs that became radio staples, and are still played to this day. Though they came from punk roots, they had many of the characteristics of a Metal band. Their songs were often structured with Metal riffs, and guitar solos.

Their first single "Come Out and Play," from their album Smash, got them the attention of the newly formed American Mainstream Alternative media in 1994, and generated the other instant radio classics "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away," while their album became the highest selling record from an independent label at the time. Their greatest commercial success was their 1998 album Americana, which put them on TRL with the singles "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)," "Why Don't You Get a Job," and "The Kids Aren't Alright," and confirmed their standing as a Pop group.

Between these two albums, their 1997 release Ixnay on the Hombre didn't fare as well. I probably heard their single "All I Want" more times on the soundtrack to the Sega game Crazy Taxi, featured alongside the album's track "Way Down the Line," than I ever heard it on the radio. But the album's other single "Gone Away" was Ixnay's one success.

"Gone Away" may seem like a strange choice for me to pick out of The Offspring's body of work, but not only is it a great song, it also foreshadows a lot of what was going to happen in Metal in coming years. Based on the sound of the vocals and the lyrical content, this single could have come out in the early 2000's, and if that doesn't show the influence that this song had, it at least marks the beginning of a few trends. Holland was definitely doing some experimenting with his vocals on this album; there are tracks where he sounds like Jane's Addiction's Perry Ferrell ("Me & My Old Lady," "I Choose"). In "Gone Away," there are points where his voice is reminiscent of Tool's Maynard James Keenan, who is considered to have been one of the greatest influences on Nu Metal singers. Nu Metal would also be characterized by the overuse of similar lyrical motifs, like in Mudvayne's 2003 single "World So Cold," and Breaking Benjamin's "So Cold" in 2004. Within The Offspring's own body of work, a reflective song about mourning like this still has depth. In six years, Metal would be clinging to disposable singles that were made to sound like this.

The setting and lighting of the video are also reminiscent of videos that came out in the Nu Metal period, like A Perfect Circle's "Judith" in 2000, and also Korn's "Somebody Someone" and Papa Roach's "Between Angels and Insects;" both released in 2000 as well, though they shared a common overused insect motif.

P.O.D. "Youth of the Nation"

Album: Satellite (Atlantic Records)
Producers: Howard Benson, P.O.D.
Released: September 11, 2001
Video Director: Paul Fedor

Keep that album release date in mind. Readers might have wondered why I chose 2001 as the year that Hard Rock ended...

There is a history in Rock music, particularly in Metal, of aggression towards Christianity and, sometimes, towards organized religion in general. By the late 1990's, this aggression was taking an interesting - though highly profitable - turn. Artists like Marilyn Manson were finding great success in attacking religion and using heretical imagery. Trent Reznor had been writing lyrics attacking Christianity. Crucifixion imagery was popular in music videos throughout the decade, from Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" to Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" - as well as Nas' "Hate Me Now" video by Hype Williams - and this drew considerable controversy, thus, media attention and record sales. In 2000, A Perfect Circle's single "Judith" featured the lyrics:

"Oh so many ways for me to show you
How the savior has abandoned you
Fuck your God
Your Lord and your Christ
He did this
Took all you had and
Left you this way
Still you pray, you never stray
Never taste of the fruit
You never thought to question why

It's not like you killed someone
It's not like you drove a hateful spear into his side
Praise the one who left you
Broken down and paralyzed
He did it all for you
He did it all for you"

We can also look at the dominance of Eastern imagery and ideas as a way of conveying spirituality in the 90's (see Madonna's Ray of Light album, or Tool's Aenima and Lateralus albums). But the point is, Rock and Pop music were, for the most part, either indifferent to Christianity, or they were openly hostile towards it. The one notable exception was the band Creed, but they were mainly in the spotlight as a result of their Post-Grunge sound.

Then, a few things happened that changed the culture. The first was the election of George W. Bush to office. The second, and more dramatic, event was the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Following September 11, Rock music came under fire. Clear Channel Communications put out a list of songs that suggested should not be played in the aftermath of the attacks. The list can be found here. Some of the interesting listings are Cat Stevens' "Morning has Broken" and "Peace Train" (likely for reasons of Stevens' religious and political views) and all songs by Rage against the Machine.

P.O.D.'s album Satellite was released just in time to allow them to become part of the discussion on the role of Rock music in a "post-9/11 world," and they took an offensive stance. I remember hearing an interview with the group on the radio where they condemned much of the Rock music that was out at the time, for creating an aura of negativity. The AllMusicGuide review, written by Jason Birchmeier, captures the sentiments of a rising Christian influence to challenge Rock as it was. "The metal world needed an album like Satellite in 2002, just like it needed a band like P.O.D. to challenge longtime metal heavyweights like Tool and Korn for supremacy. The spiritual, emotional band writes songs about promise and hope -- songs that inspire you to celebrate life, not despise it." Christian rock zealots got right behind the band. A review from Jesusfreakhideout.com, written on September 11, 2001, has this to say: "These boys have something to say, and with the release of their new album Satellite, they're still spreading the love and representing Christ in a fallen world...I'm proud to find that the guys have not watered down their message in any way, shape, or form, and in some ways seem to hit harder with a message of hope and love in our Savior (who they often refer to as "Jah")."

With the release of the single "Youth of the Nation," which, in the new climate of fear and jingoism, capitalized on fear of school shootings, the band seems to have issued a rallying call for a "nation" of Christian Youth. Like the rest of the country at the time, a new era of Rock music was beginning, at the end of 2001, that had no interest in being something that all people, including those at the fringes of society, could relate to (for example, just try to find a black face in the video's chorus scenes, where the video attempts to define who the youth of this nation are). Like the rest of the country, Rock music would try to assume the identity of the "majority," and would succumb to the tyranny inherent in doing so, and this is why after 2001, Rock music became irrelevant - politically, socially, spiritually. This song is not simply based in a Christian faith, it is a political statement. It is not religiously-themed music, it is Christian Nationalist Rock.

Response to Ned Raggett

First of all, I want to say that I'm very happy to see a professional response (here) to my earlier post where I criticized a review of Depeche Mode's 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion, written by Ned Raggett and hosted on the All Music Guide (this review can be found here), as it means that there must be some people out there reading this thing. Part of my motivation in keeping this blog is to encourage a discussion on the historiography of Rock music in the 1990's, and I believe that this is an effective step in the process.

I'd also like to say that I would like this blog to be as accurate as possible in its factual data, so if anyone ever sees any mistakes or historical errors, point them out to me so I can fix them. I was incorrect in attributing the title Producer to Flood on his work on U2's The Joshua Tree, when his title was Engineer. While I can say that it was a mistake on my part, had this stayed up, one could easily have accused me of intentionally trying to diminish the legacy of Brian Eno, so I am grateful to have been personally corrected of this by a published music journalist.

However, I must say that I believe my argument against Ned Raggett's piece still remains valid, and since this blog is meant to cover not only Rock music from the period defined by it's title years (1990 - 2001) but also music that influenced the development of Rock during this time, I am going to respond directly to Ned Raggett's comments.

First of all, there is no question that Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails have occupied similar genres and developed similar sounds. However, I think that Ned Raggett is wrong to insist on placing Nine Inch Nails ahead, as being a source for Depeche Mode's sound. And I strongly disagree that Depeche Mode's "Rush" (1993) owes anything to the work on Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. If "Ruiner" from The Downward Spiral is not the song that Ned Raggett believed was the source of Depeche Mode's "Rush," then I would challenge him to point out which song, from Pretty Hate Machine, is. The only song off this album that I can imagine might been on his mind was the opening track, and probably the album's most famous song, "Head Like a Hole," but the only similarity in this song is in the lead synth line of its verse, but I do not believe it is close enough to warrant theft, as Raggett alleges. "Head Like a Hole" and "Rush" have very different rhythm, drums, lyrics, vocals, choruses, hooks, orchestration and use of guitars and synths, but you can be the judge.


Depeche Mode, "Rush," Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993):






Nine Inch Nails, "Head Like a Hole," Pretty Hate Machine (1989):






Which brings me to another point that I think is important. Not only is there little in common between "Rush" and the Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor's 1989 album shows great similarities to, and appears to be influenced by, Depeche Mode's 1986 album Black Celebration. I want to make it clear that I am by no means attacking either album, they are both innovative and they are two of my personal favorites. But I'm going to post a few side by side to demonstrate this.

From Black Celebration (1986), "Stripped:"





And from Pretty Hate Machine (1989), "Something I Can Never Have:"






The similarities continue. From Black Celebration (1986), "Fly on the Windscreen:"






And from Pretty Hate Machine (1989), "Terrible Lie:"






From Black Celebration (1986), "New Dress:"





And from Pretty Hate Machine (1989), "Sin:"






I could keep going on, but the point that I am trying to make is that Nine Inch Nails' album appears to be heavily influenced by Depeche Mode's Black Celebration, which came out three years earlier. However, I would shy away from saying that Trent Reznor must have been unwinding too much in the studio to Depeche Mode. It is also important to remember that Pretty Hate Machine came out during the age of Electronic Body Music, and that many other bands using the same sounds, often influenced by Depeche Mode. We could go on and on talking about bands who did the same, like Front 242:


"Headhunter v 1.0," Front By Front (1988):






And Die Warzau, with "Coming to America," Disco Rigido (1989)"






Cocteau once wrote: "Nous sommes à une telle époque d'individualisme qu'on ne parle plus jamais de disciples; on parle de voleurs." I believe that this quote applies to the current state of criticism of music, and to Ned Raggett's piece on Songs of Faith and Devotion. I am not trying to contribute to this, and I do not wish to call Trent Reznor a thief in this case. But an interesting cycle emerges: Ned Raggett accuses Depeche Mode of stealing from a Nine Inch Nails album (Pretty Hate Machine) that one could allege as being stolen from a Depeche Mode album (Black Celebration). For some reason, Ned Raggett decides to write an enmity between Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, and, oddly enough, to place Depeche Mode as 'student,' or, 'thief,' when they clearly had been influencing Nine Inch Nails' from that band's beginning, and this seems to be an effort to place Depeche Mode within, or eject them from, a sort of 90's Alternative canon - hence Ned Raggett's curious decision to have Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails framing the review.

I'll close with one more point. At the time of the release of Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion, Nine Inch Nails would have appeared to be going in a completely different direction. The Broken EP, released in September 1992 was dominated by guitars, with few drum machines, and had a much more Industrial-Metal sound, rather than the EBM of Pretty Hate Machine, and still seems to confuse many listeners as to its place within the Trent Reznor's oeuvre. Half a year later, when Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion came out, Nine Inch Nails sounded like this:


"Happiness in Slavery," Broken (1992):






It's up for the listeners to decide.

And while I'm at it, here's a great remix of Depeche Mode's "Rush." You can almost hear some New Jack Swing elements in the rhythm.


"Rush -Spiritual Guidance Mix" (Jack Dangers, 1993)