Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Never Trust A Hippy

Artwork by Stephen Youll


Like, faaaaar out, maaaaaaannnn....

Sorry, couldn't resist. The latest Contrast Podcast is out, and since this week marks the 67th episode, Dearest TiM has decided to take us back to the year 1967. Yep, back when it was all long hair, kaftans, free love, patchouli, psychedelia, be-ins, and all that hippy-dippy stuff.

Actually, the contributions this week are very balanced, with only a smattering of hippydom. Yay! That said, when I think 1967 I think flower power & all that, so I'm going to continue in this vein. At any rate, Dearest Friends, tune in, and drop out all at the same time either by downloading the cast here. After listening don't forget to comment here! You can also spiritually meld with the podcast through this magical, mystery RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ContrastPodcast.

(00:29) Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to love
Ross from Just gimme indie rock
(03:33) Erma Franklin - Piece of my heart
Michael from The Yank Sizzler
(07:00) Dusty Springfield - The look of love
Linda from Speed of Dark
(11:18) The Turtles - Happy together
Natalie from Mini-Obs
(14:51) The Impressions - We’re a winner
Ally from dustysevens
(17:12) Kaleidoscope - Dive into yesterday
ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away
(22:43) Louie Prima - I wanna be like you
Crash from Pretending life is like a song
(27:34) The Stooges - Search and Destroy
FiL from Pogoagogo
(34:03) Green Day - 86
Andy from Circles of Concrete
(37:13) Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take 5
Marcy from Lost in your inbox
(43:07) John Coltrane - Everytime we say goodbye
Alex from Totally True Tales from Texas
(48:39) R.E.M. - Femme fatale
Kristi from Are you embarassed easily?
(51:47) The House of Love - The Beatles and The Stones
Tom from Better in the Dark
(56:20) Prince - Alphabet street
Greg from Broken Dial
(59:06) The Adult Net - Incense and Peppermints
SAS Radio
(01:02:15) Chris Coco with Nick Cave - Sunday Morning
Matthew from Song by Toad (YAY! Toad's debut! YAY!)

So, why my distaste for hippiedom? Not sure... Perhaps it's because when I was a wee lad it was all I heard on the radio (that plus 1970s soft rock), and it said nothing to me about my life. On top of that, I cringe when I hear people say the sixties (read: mid-late sixties) were all that ever mattered musically. Why, only last week I had a tedious conversation with a rather pompous fiftysomething who crapped on about how nothing musically worthwhile came after Cream, The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd and all their ilk. I begged to differ. I mean, shite attitudes like that are what prompted the Punk Wars of the mid-late 1970s.

But I digress, and over-simplify; after all, Nancy Sinatra released the sublime Sugar Town that year and my personal construct of a hippy hegemony fall to pieces in the face of "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees. 1967 was actually an interesting year, for it saw the swelling of a reaction against all that psychedelia, folk-rock, and happy poprock; The Velvet Underground, Electric Prunes, and, yes, The Psychedelic Stooges (as they were known then), who played their first concert on Halloween, 1967. So that's the story behind my choice, even though the song itself was released six years later. Don't blame me, blame the drugs...

But I did consider a couple of other songs, which I will share with you:

The Second Helping - Let Me In (buy e-here)
Even before 1967 a guerrilla war was being waged by an army of garage and surf bands. One such outfit was The Second Helping, which, amazingly, was fronted by Kenny Loggins. Yes, he who later defected to the dark side and pumped out soft dreck in the 1970s before penning the atrocious theme to the 1984 film Footloose.

The Polyphonic Spree - Light & Day/Reach For The Sun (buy here)
Why? Cos they're neo-hippies. But I really, really like them. They make me happy, though I can't explain why.

Ten Pole Tudor - Who Killed Bambi? (buy here)
Cos it's got the lyric "never trust a hippy." Ripped from my vinyl copy of The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

Next week Tim asks us to think "Young." To find out how, look here.