[kj] The Only Poll

[TB]

"BS Crack" wrote:

>

> "Define the difference between a band that's the "real deal" and a "rawk"

> band."

> ***** I suppose that "rawk" bands are in it for the women, drugs , booze 

> and Rawk & Roll lifestyle and play up to the rock n roller image i.e Kiss, 

> Kid Rock , Motley Crue. And "real deal" bands are in it because they enjoy 

> making music ie Killing joke, The Jam/Weller , Headcount , Oasis etc etc. 

> Its quite easy to distinguish between the two , basically ALL American 

> bands are pretenders and All/most English bands are the real deal .****


Oasis?!? Noel is up there with Tommy Lee in the tabloid news rock n' roll 
lifestyle. Oasis has come up with some nice pop tunes over their career but 
arguably so has crummy ol' Motley Crue.


> Killing Joke has always straddled that gray area almost since day one.

> *****Although KJ always have always flirted with Rawks excesses , I 

> believe that they ve always believed in what they did , however 

> misconstrued it turned out to be in the end.

>     Kiss wore make up, Killing joke wore war paint. Thats the 

> difference*****


That said, you don't refute my opinion that Killing Joke have always 
straddled being a "rawk" band and a "real" band, whatever that means.


> I can come up with songs from any point in their career that would qualify 

> as

> perfectly fine rock tunes or even (gasp) pop tunes.

>  *****Its not about the music, its about the sincerity*******


I'm sure KISS was very sincere when they wrote and recorded their "Elder" 
concept album (jaw dropping silence ensues).

Seriously though, imo, any band that has a record contract has lost some 
element of "sincerity" and purity of art once they are writing songs with 
the intent of getting radio play or even with the intention of selling 
records and playing shows to a paying audience. It doesn't matter if they're 
wearing makeup or a sock on their dicks or just everyday jeans, they're in 
the music "business." They cross the line when they are producing music to 
make a living. Doesn't matter if it's some virtually unknown, cultish band 
like Christian Death or U2, both which make (or made) the kind of music 
*they* want yet still have been a part of the music biz and thus could never 
claim to be totally the "real deal" despite what their respective fanbase 
may think otherwise. The level of success is irrelevant in this argument.

Probably about the most honest and pure rock artist or band I can think of 
would have to be the Brian Jonestown Massacre (a US band, btw), who 
basically produced and released their own idiosyncratic music on their own 
for most of their career and that's in large part due to the fact the leader 
Anton Newcombe is a certified genius/psycho.

T.B.