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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars



Long ago, when I was still in high school, some friends and I were hanging out listening to some rock and roll, as you do. It was the nineties, and we lived in a small town and none of us had much in the way of money so were still listening to cassettes, as the transition to CDs was only beginning. One of my friends had a copy of Blue Oyster Cults Greatest Hits. It was sixteen songs and apparently, they were all hits.

At that time the radio was our only venue to listen to music, and CJay 92 had only provided us with two songs by The Blue Oyster Cult, the legendary “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and the equally awesome “Burnin’ for You.” A few years later we would discover “Godzilla” which I believe we heard in the movie “Road Trip,” but I do not feel like researching whether or not I am remembering that correctly. Basically, between the three of us, we only knew three Blue Oyster Cult songs.

I wish I could tell you, we put that cassette in and listened to it and discovered the greatness of songs like “Astronomy,” but we did not, at least not while I was present. I would discover the depth of Blue Oyster Cult later in life.

When you only know three songs by a band and only really love two of them, but they have a bunch of supposed classics and fourteen studio albums, trying to decide where to start can be a paralyzing endeavour. One easy option would have been to purchase a greatest hits collection, but that is for posers, so that is no longer an option for me, I mean I have literally made writing about music a hobby, I cannot chance being a poser anymore. I did the next most logical thing I picked up the album with the song I liked most “Burnin’ for You,” was the song, and it was on the 1981 album “Fire of Unknown Origin.”

Loved it, I freaking loved it.

I listen to a lot of progressive rock and “Fire of Unknown Origin” was a perfect progressive rock album. My perspective of Blue Oyster Cult was not just enriched but I now saw them for what they always were, a highly experimental and creative progress rock band.

I have listened to a lot of Blue Oyster Cult since then. I learned to love songs from every point in their career. From their most recent album the 2001 “Curse of the Hidden Mirror” which has a song called “The Old Gods Return” which is Lovecraftian, so it really appealed to me. Or from the 1977 album “Spectres” mostly with the song “I Love the Night” a song I am enjoying so much I almost chose to write about it instead of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.”

On “Fire of Unknown Origin” there are many songs that I would call psychedelic, but the most out there, and probably the greatest for it, is “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.” The title tells you a lot about what you are getting into before you even hear the song, it is an inward journey of hardship and self realization.

“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” opens with drums like a military march, and very quickly it is joined by the synth keyboard with strange echoing calls. With these two sounds the two married themes are presented, war and the supernatural.

The very first opening line is thus:

“You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,”

A thousand. A thousand psychic wars. The song title implied plural, but a thousand? That is a lot of wars. This song is already intense after only a single lyrical sentence.

I also really like this line:

“All the stars are on the inside.”

The chorus introduces all sorts of potential interpretations:

“Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!”


It was at this point in the song, on my first listen, that I began to really wonder what this song was truly about. It could be literal. These soldiers with psychic powers could be causing real damage to one and another’s brains, and the post dramatic stress of such an unorthodox, and perhaps intimate, sort of warfare could very believably leave the survivors with shakes. But this could also be a song about deep introspection, with the greater depth one soul searches, the more lost in their own thoughts they become. This second imagining of this song’s meaning fits comfortably with the use of psychedelic drugs, which were likely used to assist in the creative writing process.

I think my favorite line is this one:

“Wounds are all I'm made of!”

Once again marrying the two themes, this dark line introducing the final verse works perfectly for both. The literal wounds of a soldier dominate his memories and personality, which is made all the more harrowing when the wounds are from mind damaging psychic attacks. Or it works just as well to describe the exhausted philosophical introvert, voyaging into the violent recesses of their inner most thoughts; presumably with additional guidance from mind altering drugs.

As much as I like the idea of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” being about a journey into one’s inner self, I think I prefer the wacky concept of psychic soldiers engaging in some indescribable war across the cosmos, battling alien psychics with projected thoughts, and in that vast infinite battlefield, the war just goes on forever and it is nigh impossible to get any sort of break from it. That is a wild science fiction tale in waiting, the stuff of progress rock dreams. Especially drug induces dreams.

The Blue Oyster Cult has always been a highly respected band, but most people are unaware of the power of their song lists. Like any great band, the more you look into their work the more you discover just how great they are. For me, there was never any surprises about the quality of Blue Oyster Cult’s music, but the style, was just what I wanted from them, even if I did not know it ahead of time.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

P.S.

“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” was on the animated movie “Heavy Metal” soundtrack, because of course it was.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Pearl Jam - Better Man



In the nineties the world experienced a sudden outpour of new music from Seattle, Washington. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, were all getting radio play, and were becoming massively popular. These three bands were instrumental in the creation of the subgenre of “alternative rock.” This was all happening during some of my most informative years, and the importance of these three bands is well remembered by me. The impact of their presence is well documented in my memories.

At the time there was a rivalry between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Kurt Cobain for reasons I never fully understood hated Pearl Jam. This created a cultural rift between their fans. Sides were taken, and war was declared. It was unofficially confirmed you could like one or the other, but never both.

This was a big deal. Here is a charming video of Arcade Fire’s Win Butler discussing this feud with his wife and band mate Regine Chassagne, how she could choose only one, Nirvana or Pearl Jam:


What is the resolution? Well for Win and Regine, despite Win’s insistence you can only choose one, they both, like them both; this is the reality for most people now. More than enough time has passed for everyone to realize there was never a dichotomy, we could enjoy both. The common census is that both bands were amazing.

Not me though. I am different. I choose Pearl Jam.

Maybe the impression this moment in time and my feelings about the situation has left a lasting impact on me, but once I chose Pearl Jam, I stuck to it.

I never liked Nirvana, primarily because I never liked Kurt Cobain, whom always came across to me as an ungrateful brat. I have always believed that if Layne Staley had killed himself back then, we would be talking about how great Alice in Chains were instead of Nirvana right now. However, after all this time I have come to realize there is nothing preventing us from appreciating all three bands, and whatever feud Cobain started never mattered. My dislike for Nirvana now feels more like a over zealous reaction out of loyalty to Pearl Jam more than anything else, and I can now appreciate the positive aspects of Nirvana and how they inspired so many others. However, nonetheless, Nirvana never really grew on me, unlike Pearl Jam.

I consider Pearl Jam to be one of the greatest rock bands of the nineties, if not number one. I hold them in very high esteem. I went through the same introduction phase as everyone else did back then. The album Ten came out and it was great, everyone enjoyed “Alive” and “Jeremy,” then Vitalogy came out three years later and with it their biggest hit song “Better Man.”

“Better Man” is not my favorite Pearl Jam song, in fact it is not even my favorite song from the album Vitalogy, I always really like “Nothingman” and “Immortality,” however “Better Man” is the first song I think of when I think of Pearl Jam. It has not happened very often in my life where I was just as impressed and happy with a hit song as the general public, and “Better Man” is one of the few times were the charts and I were in full agreement. It was a perfect song for radio play and personal listening, it met all criteria to impress. The popularity of “Better Man” is unrivaled in Pearl Jam’s discography. For some reason I vividly remember Pearl Jam playing a slightly modified version of “Better Man” to David Letterman on his show during his birthday. The song was a huge cultural phenomenon.

Another reason I like “Better Man” is that I can sing it respectably well, and I have successfully impressed strangers at karaoke on two separate occasions by singing it. So that is fun.

There are countless love songs in existence, unavoidably many, if no most, tread upon identical grounds, but few explore the sort of relationship depicted in “Better Man.” It is a complacent relationship, where the woman is largely disinterested but finds herself staying because;

“She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man.”

There is more to it than just that, there is an expression of loyalty, or at least consideration.

“She loved him, yeah, she don't want to leave this way.”

This is a curious study of human relationships, in my younger years I found it interesting.

I hold the belief that “Better Man” falls into the category of music that is about something sad but is performed with a positive expression. The scenario at hand is rather bleak, “she dreams in color” but her reality is loveless and colourless, but worse still, she is the beholder of the feelings of shame and guilt because she cannot find a better man, so she sadly stays. However, the melody and mood of the song is not so dark, but rather energetic. Like I said before “Better Man” delivers on multiple fronts, and it is enjoyable in so many ways as to end up being loved by virtually everybody… except maybe that Kurt Cobain guy… no wonder I did not like him very much.

Part of growing older is being surprised at how much has passed through the aging of media. I remember vividly “Better Man” playing on the radio, and now it is a classic rock song. Twenty-two years have passed. I was thirteen when this song came out. My peers let it sink in, along with every meme reminding you that your childhood is now a long time ago but take joy in knowing the lasting effect and timeless nature of your nostalgia has held up.

- King of Braves