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    The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock
    The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock
    The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock
    Ebook96 pages55 minutes

    The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock

    By Rev. Keith A. Gordon

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    About this ebook

    The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives is a series collecting vintage artist interviews and record reviews from the archives of award-winning rock critic and music historian Rev. Keith A. Gordon.

    Volume Two of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives features interviews with eleven punk-rock trailblazers. Among those featured are Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, Joey Shithead of D.O.A., Billy Idol, Joey Ramone, and members of Rancid, the Screamin’ Sirens, and the Meat Puppets, among others!

    The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about music for 45+ years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has written or edited fifteen previous music-related books, including The Other Side of Nashville and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRev. Keith A. Gordon
    Release dateJul 4, 2018
    ISBN9780463956892
    The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock
    Author

    Rev. Keith A. Gordon

    The "Reverend of Rock 'n' Roll," Rev. Keith A. Gordon has almost 50 years in the pop culture trenches. Gordon's work has appeared in over 100 publications worldwide, as well as in several All Music Guide books and on the AMG website, as well as Blurt magazine and the Rock and Roll Globe. Rev. Gordon is the author of nearly two-dozen music-related books including The Other Side of Nashville, a history of the city's rock 'n' roll underground; Blues Deluxe: A Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide; and The Rock 'n' Roll Archives series.

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      Book preview

      The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Two - Rev. Keith A. Gordon

      THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ARCHIVES

      Volume Two: Punk Rock

      Artist interviews from the archives of Rev. Keith A. Gordon

      Smashwords Edition • Copyright 2017 • All Rights Reserved

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ARTIST INTERVIEWS

      Jello Biafra

      Blanks 77

      Choreboy

      Descendents

      D.O.A.

      Billy Idol

      Meat Puppets

      The Ramones

      Rancid

      Screamin’ Sirens

      Suicidal Tendencies

      ALBUM REVIEWS

      Jello Biafra – Become the Media

      Jello Biafra – In the Grip of Official Treason

      Jello Biafra & the Melvins – Sieg Howdy!

      Blanks 77 – Tanked and Pogoed

      Descendents – Cool To Be You

      The Meat Puppets – Up On the Sun

      The Ramones – Acid Eaters

      The Ramones – Adios! Amigos

      Rancid – …And Out Come the Wolves

      INTRODUCTION

      Welcome to the second volume of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives! This book features the Reverend’s frequent forays into the world of punk rock. While Nashville’s small but impressive punk scene wouldn’t really take off until the ‘90s with bands like Rednecks In Pain and Java Christ, there were ‘original gangstas’ like the Enemy and Cloverbottom in the early ‘80s that added a punk edge to the city’s local non-country music scene.

      But even in the cultural backwater that was Nashville in the 1970s, when I first started writing for Take One magazine, we’d heard of the Ramones and we were excited when they booked a show in the Music City. Sadly, though, the promoter had scheduled the show at the Municipal Auditorium, a hockey barn with 10,000 seating capacity. He sold only 500 tickets and subsequently cancelled the show. No matter, ‘cause the band’s label slotted them into the infamous Exit/In club as an opener for singer/songwriter Marshall Chapman and her band, who were playing an industry showcase for her first Epic Records album.

      The audience had no idea what hit them when hurricane Ramones took the stage, ripping through nearly 20 songs in 30 minutes. Their fast ‘n’ furious set prompted Chapman and band to play louder and faster, and the Ramones upped the arms race by playing an unbelievable second set. Chapman closed out with what was probably the heaviest performance of her career, and by the time our Take One magazine crew hit the street, we were dancing with the parking meters.

      It was my first – but not last – taste of the Ramones, and although I’d see them several more times with various band line-ups, they were never as good as they were that night. I also got a chance to interview Joey Ramone a number of times, which were some of the best conversations of my career.

      During the 1980s with Nashville’s The Metro magazine and later, in the ‘90s, with the city’s Bone Music Magazine, I got the chance to interview a number of punk rock’s best and brightest talents. When Jello Biafra, then feuding with the PMRC, appeared on Oprah’s TV show brandishing a copy of The Metro magazine with our Tipper Gore interview, I called his label and asked for an interview. The Screamin’ Sirens were the cover girls of the second issue of The Metro, and when punk-rock exploded in ’95 with the commercial breakthrough of bands like Green Day and the Offspring, I chose to speak with a member of Rancid for a memorable feature story.

      This volume features several of my favorite punk-oriented artist interviews from the archives, as well as a smattering of reviews of punk-rock albums from across my career. Although at 60 years old, punk-rock isn’t nearly as much a part of my daily listening as it once was, my favorites – The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, The Clash, Bad Religion – sound as vital and electrifying today as when I first heard them. It’s all rock ‘n’ roll to me, baby!

      Rev. Keith A. Gordon

      October 2017, somewhere in the hinterlands outside of Buffalo NY

      JELLO BIAFRA: THE HIGH PRIEST OF HARMFUL MATTER

      Jello Biafra is one of those names that even the most casual fan of punk music should know. As frontman for revolutionary hardcore outfit the Dead Kennedys, Biafra’s witty, acerbic lyrics and tortured vocals became the blueprint for many punk bands to follow. The stress created by a highly publicized obscenity trial broke the band apart and sparked a fair degree of animosity among the members that still exists today (don’t plan on a DK reunion tour with Jello anytime soon).

      After the late ‘80s break-up of his band, Biafra launched a subsequent career as a spoken word artist, a leftist gadfly commenting on the zeitgeist of the day with his highly personal and well-informed material. After flashing a copy of Nashville’s Metro music magazine during an appearance on Oprah, we knew that we had to track down Biafra for an interview. This conversation originally appeared in the Metro’s fifth anniversary issue, August 1990.

      After a politically motivated arrest and trial helped break apart the band, Biafra hit the road, taking his caustic commentary and razor-sharp wit to the stage in a series of spoken-word performances. Two spoken word albums, No More Cocoons and High Priest of Harmful Matter, document Biafra’s arrest and trial, as well as offering valuable insight into society’s ills. Long a champion of free speech and First Amendment rights, Biafra has

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