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wingsoverlagos · 6 months

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The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 1: Before Lewisohn

0. Mark Lewisohn’s Star Witness 1. An Introduction and Primer 2. The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 1: Before Lewisohn >You Are Here< 3. The Classic™ Contract Story, and Why Lewisohn Distrusts It 4. The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 2: Tune In 5. Lewisohn’s Other Sources 6. Lewisohn’s Portrayal of Kim Bennett & George Martin

After two posts and as many months of build-up, it’s finally time to look at Kim Bennett’s presence in Beatles history before Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In. As a refresher, Kim Bennett was a music plugger involved in a brief chapter of the Beatles' story, who Lewisohn draws on as a crucial witness to ~debunk the myth~ of how the Beatles’ first landed their recording contract with Parlophone. I’ve previously shown an example of Kim Bennett’s presence in Beatledom here, in an issue of Beatles Book Monthly, just a few pages before the name of a young Mark Lewisohn. I’ve also discussed some of the ways Lewisohn slants a story when he’s set on overturning a classic narrative – you can find that here.

Section 1: Mark Lewisohn on Kim Bennett

Part of the appeal of Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles-signing scoop is Kim Bennett’s oft-stated absence from the Beatles narrative. Lewisohn found and memorialized a man who had been marginalized from the Beatles’ story, a hero integral to their success who was erased from history due to his inconvenience to the legacy of a certain acclaimed producer. Not only has Lewisohn turned a classic narrative upside down, he’s righted the wrong done to Kim Bennett by the powers that be--or so he would have us believe. The importance of Bennett’s testimony and his exclusivity to Tune In is a crucial element of Lewisohn’s myth-building around himself and his work. Let’s take a look at a few examples:

In a 2014 interview with Dierdre Kelly, Lewisohn calls his revised version of the Beatles’ recording contract “probably one of the biggest things in the book.” As for how he came to that version of events, Lewisohn says, “It all fell into place when I met a man called Kim Bennett…without whose incredibly tenacious efforts—and he was never named in any book—we would never have heard of the Beatles. He literally was the story’s hero and he tells us a very different story.” [Emphasis mine]

From Allan Kozinn’s 2013 interview with Lewisohn, we get the following exchange:

Kozinn describes Bennett as “someone who had never been interviewed,” and Lewisohn not only doesn’t correct him, he furthers that idea by saying Bennett “had been trying for years to get people to listen to his story…and nobody wanted to know.”

As a final example, we’ll return to the episode of Nothing Is Real (season 7, ep. 7) that I excerpted in my first post on Bennett.

A partial transcript [emphasis mine]:

“I approached him, and he was so happy that I got in touch with him because he knew the true story of how the Beatles came to be signed to EMI and he knew that it was his efforts that had made the difference, and without him, it wouldn’t have happened. The Beatles possibly may never have happened without Kim Bennett, and he’d been trying to tell people for years, and people didn’t want to know.”

“He was a very frustrated man because no one had ever paid him the attention that he felt was his due.”

“…and if I hadn’t of got to him when we did, we wouldn’t know him, and we would always have that bizarre gap of how they got signed by someone who never met them.”

Again and again, Lewisohn tells us that Kim Bennett had been trying desperately for years to gain recognition for his action, and everyone ignored him--everyone but Mark Lewisohn. This is decidedly untrue. He has been mentioned in multiple Beatles publications by major names in Beatles history, which you can find in Section 3. But first!

Section 2: Biographical & Background Info

Here he is, the man of the hour, Kim Bennett - and I bet you thought that was the Barry Sisters! On the left, we see Kim Bennett's floating head from his days as a singer, and on the right, we see him fraternizing with Russ Conway circa 1967 - Bennett is in profile on the right. I've dug up some biographical information on the enigmatic Kim Bennett, and I wanted to share it here along with a little context about music publishing to make the accounts shared in the next section make mroe sense. If you're confident in your early-1960s music industry knowledge and know who Kim Bennett and Sid Colman are, scroll right along to Section 3.

I've cited Lewisohn a few times in this section when other sources weren't available. Every time I cite him, I put a quarter in the "Risky Citations" jar - once I've filled it a few hundred times, I'll take it to CoinStar and use the money to buy a copy of Fifty Years Adrift.

The Parlophone Contract Story is a story with many bit parts, most of whom won't appear until my next post--there will even be a figure! I'll assume you know the Beatles, Brian Epstein, and George Martin, the man who would become the Beatles' main producer. In the parlance of the times, George Martin was the A&R man (artistes and repertoire) of EMI's Parlophone label. As the A&R man at Parlophone, George M. has the head of the label, with duties including scouting artists, matching his stable of artists with songs, and overseeing the recording process.

Alongside record labels like Parlophone, Columbia, and HMV, EMI had other companies under its corporate umbrella. One of these companies was the music publisher, Ardmore & Beechwood (A&B).

Music publishers manage song copyrights; they make money by marketing and disseminating those songs. In the early 20th century, the big moneymaker for music publishers was sheet music sales. By the 1950s and 60s a sea change was in progress as record sales grew and eventually eclipsed the sale of sheet music. Just as the medium through which songs were sold changed, so did the way in which music publishers sold those songs: originally, song pluggers from publishing companies would pitch their songs to orchestras, brass bands, and dance halls, seeking out groups who performed live music, so that their audiences would go out and buy sheet music of the songs they’d heard (Southall & Perry 2006, p.ix-xii). With the rise of records, song pluggers would pitch their songs directly to A&R men; they would visit the A&R men in their office and sing the songs they had on offer, accompanying themselves on the piano while they did (Martin & Hornsby 1979, p.48). They could then market those records to sell their songs. If a song was recorded by multiple artists, as was often the case, the song publisher benefited regardless of which version of a song played. This set their interests slightly apart from record producers, who only benefited if their version of a song sold.

Let's illustrate with a Lennon-McCartney original: the music publisher for Lennon-McCartney's music, Northern Songs, would profit from both the Rolling Stones version of 'I Wanna Be Your Man' and the Beatles version, but the record companies would only benefit from the version they released - the Stones version meant money in Decca's pocket, while the Beatles version benefited EMI.

(I'm sure their are some additional business/contract complexities that come into play, but I believe the general principle is correct)

EMI Music Publishing would one day be a Big Fucking Deal, but when the Beatles joined in 1962, it didn't exist yet. Publishing was a minor interest for the company, and they had only a small publishing presence in the form of A&B, which opened in 1958 (Martland 1997, p.262). A&B was set up to handle the publishing interests of two American companies, Ardmore Music Corp. and Beechwood Music Corp., both of which were owned by Capitol Records (Cash Box 1958 Jul 26, p.34). Capitol Records had been purchased by EMI in 1955 (Southall 2009, p.25), and A&B was set up a few years later to handle their catalogue in the U.K., while also providing and option to publish through EMI for any interested songwriters. This was done at the behest of EMI Chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood (Southall 2006, p.9-10).

From its genesis, veteran music publisher Sid Colman (1905-65) served as general manager of Ardmore & Beechwood (Cash Box 1958 Jul 26, p.34). He would serve in this role until his untimely death in April 1965 (Cash Box 1965 Apr 24, p.47). You will encounter multiple spellings of his name, but Lewisohn assures us that Sid Colman (rather than Syd Coleman) is correct (2013, p.856). Kim Bennett served as his assistant and music plugger.

Born Thomas Whippey (1931-2004) (Lewisohn 2013), he became a Decca recording artist in 1954 under the name Kim Bennett. He recorded six singles, none of which charted. I haven’t found any of his work online, but for an idea of the type of music he released, here are other versions of two songs he put out: ‘Softly, Softly’ by Ruby Murray and ‘The Kentuckian Song’ by Eddy Arnold. He maintained a day job as an office worker until 1955, then briefly worked as a musician full time. He worked a season at Butlin’s (not the same location as Ringo), played some clubs, and toured with the Ambrose orchestra, but his career as a singer had petered out by late 1956. As Don Wicks puts it “[h]e was a victim of the growing rock and roll industry no longer interested in a soft pleasant vocal style.” (Wicks 1996 pt.1)

He resumed work at a toy warehouse, (Wicks 1996 pt.1) but later took a job in music publishing with B. Feldman & Co. Ltd. (Cash Box 1967 Jul 22 p.65). He began work with Ardmore & Beechwood no sooner than August 1958. He was still with Ardmore & Beechwood as of June 1965 (Cash Box 1965 Jun 5 p.55). By July 1967, he had moved to South Africa, where he ran a newly launched publishing company, Francis Day (S.A.) (Pty), which was established to manage copyrights of B. Feldman & Co. Ltd., Francis Day & Hunter, and Robbins (Cash Box 1967 Jul 22 p.65).

According to Lewisohn, Bennett spent his later years in Shropshire in “quite humble circumstances (Nothing Is Real, Season 7 Ep. 7, 29:30). He was interviewed by Lewisohn on July 27-28, 2003 (Lewisohn 2013 p.869). He died in 2004.

While biographical information on Bennett between 1967 and 2003 is slim (perhaps nonexistent), his role in the Beatles story received several mentions in print in those intervening decades.

Section 3: Kim Bennett in Beatles History

As I highlighted in my first post in this series, Kim Bennett was quoted in Beatles Book Monthly Issue 70, but that isn't his earliest appearance in the Beatles lore - he first appears in an earlier issue of BBM, issue 13, published in Augst 1964, p.22-3. He's mentioned by BBC DJ Ted King in relation to his work plugging 'Love Me Do'.

To summarize: Kim Bennett went to lunch with Ted King and pitched “Love Me Do” to him. King wasn’t fond of the record, but Bennett’s enthusiasm convinced King to play it on “Twelve O’Clock Spin.”

Our next Bennett sighting (and the first to use Bennett as a source) is the aforementioned BBM Issue 70, p.8, published May 1969.

This is part of a piece titled “When did you Switch On?” whose author is unattributed. Whoever they are spoke to Kim Bennett directly. Here’s what we can gather from this piece:

Kim Bennett was Sid Colman’s assistant

Colman “had quite a job to persuade George Martin to see the Beatles”

Bennett, presumably, was in the room when Colman “first heard the Beatles’ tapes”, since Bennett is able to relate what Sid Colman said on the matter

Colman decided to call Martin because he did not have a similar-sounding pop group, while the other EMI A&R men did

Bennett next crops up in several of Bill Harry's books, starting in 1982. Bill Harry is the founder of Mersey Beat and was an art school chum of John and Stu's; he's written a number of reference books about the Beatles, including The Beatles Encyclopedia, The John Lennon Encyclopedia, and The Book of Beatle Lists, among many others. Four of his books mention Bennett. The information in these books seems to be pulled from the two BBM articles highlighted above - with the possible exception of the last one. The books where Bennett is mentioned include:

The Beatles Who’s Who (1982): An encyclopedia of Beatle people. Bennett does not get his own entry, but he is mentioned in the entry on Sid Colman (p.84). Bennett is said to be Colman’s assistant, and his involvement in “Love Me Do” promotions is noted without detail.

The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia (1992): Bennett now gets his own entry (p.84-5). Again, this appears to draw from the Beatles Book articles. More detail is included here than in The Beatles Who’s Who. Bennett is mentioned again in Sid Colman’s entry (p.168). There’s a reference to Colman and Bennett liking the demos for “Love of the Loved” and “Hello Little Girl”, which is not mentioned in BBM above. However, these songs were referenced in relation to Sid Colman in The Beatles Who’s Who, so I think Bennett is just lumped in with Colman here.

Also in the Colman entry, Harry points out two conflicting accounts of the promotion of “Love Me Do.” George Martin wrote in his memoir that Ardmore & Beechwood did “virtually nothing” to promote the song, but Ted King, in BBM Issue 13, said it was Kim Bennett who got him to play the song on “Twelve O’Clock Spin.” This apparent contradiction will be discussed in detail when we deal with Tune In’s version of events, but for now, I’ll say this: it can be true that Kim Bennett did his best to promote 'Love Me Do' and acheived limited success while still falling short of the expectations of George Martin (and, crucially, Brian Epstein).

The Encyclopedia of Beatles People (1997): Bennett has a brief entry (p.45) and is mentioned in Sid Colman’s entry (p.92-93.) The Sid Colman entry includes this quote from Sir Joseph Lockwood about the Beatles’ publishing rights “I don’t blame Sid Coleman [sic], because he published the first two songs without a contract. He wasn’t getting any support from either the record producers or the solicitors.” This quote appears in Ray Coleman’s The Man Who Made The Beatles (1989), seemingly from an interview conducted by Coleman while researching that book.

The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia (Revised & Updated, 2001): The entry for Kim Bennett includes the entirety of the entry in the 1992 version with an additional two paragraphs (p.135-6). These paragraphs are emotionally charged and add information not available in the two articles from BBM. After detailing Bennett's involvement in 'Love Me Do' promo, Bill Harry writes,

“It’s ironic that the two people who were so enthusiastic about the Beatles and helped to get them with EMI in the first place were to have George Martin shut the door in their face by suggesting to Brian Epstein that he see Dick James about being their publisher. For one thing, it was Coleman [sic] who, after talking to Brian realized that the only A&R man at EMI who hadn’t rejected the Beatles was George Martin. Apparently, Coleman had a hard job persuading Martin to see Epstein. Even then, Martin wasn’t initially impressed by their sound. He only agreed to a test session at EMI’s No. 3 studio four weeks later, then another three months elapsed before the release of their first single. EMI and Martin weren’t even confident enough to give the Beatles a plug rating. Artists such as Cliff Richard received an ‘A’ plug on EMI’s Radio Luxembourg shows. The lowest was ‘B2’. The Beatles weren’t even given this low plug, EMI gave ‘Love Me Do’ a nil rating. “So Bennett had a hard job pushing the record without EMI using their clout. As a result, Epstein refused Ardmore & Beechwood the future Beatles publishing. Had he done so, the Beatles might have retained the rights to their own songs, and Coleman might have received some acknowledgment for having placed the Beatles into his hands in the first place.”

It’s hard to say whether or not additional information from Kim Bennett made it into this article. Much of this could be pulled from other sources and presented through a negative lens stemming from Dick James’ involvement in the Northern Songs debacle. There are, however, two elements here that are consistent with Bennett’s later accounts that might suggest that he spoke with Bill Harry: (1) the phrasing that George Martin “shut the door” in the face of A&B, rather than Brian Epstein actively seeking out a different publisher and going to George for advice, and (2) the blame placed on George Martin for the Beatles low plug rating. Both new elements, and both inconsistent with certain other versions of events.

In Philip Norman's revised Shout! (2003), there is unambiguous evidence of Kim Bennett's participation.

In the original 1981 release, Sid Colman and A&B are mentioned, but not Bennett; in the revised edition, not only is Kim Bennett present, but the information surrounding him is clearly more than the familiar, regurgitated tale found in Beatles Book Monthly.

Norman doesn’t give citations, so I can’t say conclusively how he got this new information. There may be an interview with Kim Bennett published somewhere that I haven’t come across, though I’m inclined to believe either Norman or one of his research assistants spoke to Kim Bennett directly. The phrase “According to Bennett” appears a few times in Shout! (2003), which reads as if the information is coming directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Since the revised edition was published in the same year as Lewisohn’s interview with Kim Bennett, I considered that Lewisohn might have shared his information with Norman, and Norman may have rushed an edit. I looked for the exact publication date for the revised edition of Shout!—it was weirdly hard to find—and that put to bed any ideas of Norman cribbing off of Lewisohn’s notes: Pan Macmillan Australia gives the release date as January 9, 2003, several months before Lewisohn interviewed Bennett.

The Contract Story, as presented in the revised Shout! starts in the usual way: Brian gets an acetate made from the Beatles’ demo tape, the technician likes it and puts Brian in touch with Sid Colman, who works for A&B upstairs. Colman is interested in publishing the original Lennon-McCartney numbers. Then Kim Bennett enters the picture (Norman 2003, p.164-5):

Bennett likes the disc, too, and suggests they record the Beatles independently in the for-hire studio below their Oxford Street office. Colman takes Bennett’s idea to Len Wood, managing director at EMI, but it goes against protocol, and Wood won’t allow it. Only then does Colman put Brian in touch with George Martin. Colman and Brian have a “gentlemen’s agreement” that A&B will get the Lennon-McCartney publishing rights if they get a contract with George M.

It’s a short passage, but there are already a few problems here. First, the timeline doesn’t make sense. Most early accounts have Brian’s meeting with George M. occurring the day after Sid Colman hears the tapes (see A Cellarful of Noise, The Beatles (1968), and All You Need Is Ears). The largest gap is given by Lewisohn’s Chronicle (p.53-55), in which Epstein is said to have met Colman “around February 8” (a Thursday), with the Epstein-Martin meeting occurring on Tuesday, February 13. The Epstein-Martin meeting date seems to be pulled from George Martin’s date book (he has a meeting with a “Bernard Epstein” on that date), but I’m unsure what brought Lewisohn to the February 8 conclusion. Based on other information in the Chronicle, my best guess is either a meeting between Colman and Martin on February 9th, or a letter sent to Decca by Epstein on February 10th stating he had secured a recording contract. Whether or not he had met with Colman, Epstein certainly hadn’t secured a recording contract on that date – it was purely bluster, a kiss-off to Decca.

Regardless, even if Epstein met Colman on February 8th rather than February 12th, that’s a narrow window of time for Bennett’s story to occur. Rather than trying to place the group with an A&R man at EMI, Colman does nothing until his assistant suggests they record the Beatles themselves. This is unorthodox. A large part of the job of music publishers, as I’ve said above, is to pitch songs to A&R men to get them recorded. In this case, they’d be pitching a group along with the songs, but it seems strange that they wouldn’t try to work their contacts at all before making the jump to DIY. Still, let’s assume that happens. Colman takes the idea to Len Wood. Len Wood’s office at the time was probably at EMI House in Manchester Square, which isn’t far from A&B’s Oxford Street location, so assuming Len Wood had an open schedule, and Colman felt a high enough degree of urgency to immediately take Bennett’s idea to the managing director, I suppose it’s possible that Colman took Bennett’s idea to Wood, was immediately shut down, and then called Epstein back in to set up a meeting with George Martin if we assume Epstein’s first meeting with Colman happened on the 8th rather than the 11th. Still, it seems odd to me that these events wouldn’t turn up in Epstein’s account – getting shut down by the managing director of EMI Records is sort of a big deal, and would add to the drama of the everyone-rejected-them-but-George-Martin-story.

The other big issue here is that this version of events contradicts Bennett’s account from 1969. Rather than simply overhearing Colman’s conversation with Epstein and subsequent persuasion of George Martin, Bennett now has a more active, central role. He’s not driving the story, but he now gives a version of events in which he’s one of the Beatles’ earliest champions. I don’t think it’s unfair to consider that Bennett’s increased involvement in the story might indicate an interest in being more than a footnote in Beatles’ history.

Bennett is mentioned again during the promotions of ‘Love Me Do’ (p.182-3):

Bennett secures some airtime on Two-Way Family Favourites by “repeatedly nagging a radio producer friend.” This is not the same radio show mentioned in Beatles Book Monthly Issue 13 (above), but it’s in keeping with Bennett’s role as a plugger—and that’s where Bennett’s involvement ends in Shout! (2003). There’s one more tantalizing mention of Brian’s “gentlemen’s agreement” with Colman, which he breaks due to his dissatisfaction with A&B, turning to George Martin for publishing advice.

There you have it: Kim Bennett’s evolving story pre-Tune In. It starts as a bit of extra detail that fits inside the greater framework of the Beatles’ Contract Saga, and, after thirty years, morphs into something that contradicts Bennett’s earlier version and the many other accounts of the same events. Things will get even stickier once we get to Tune In. But first...

Section 4: Why Does It Matter?

I can think of three explanations for why Lewisohn pitched Bennett as an unheard witness when he had, in fact, gone on the record before, and none of these explanations helps the credibility of the story.

Explanation 1: Neither Lewisohn nor Bennett knew about Bennett’s previous statements on the matter. This would be extremely damning for Bennett’s reliability, as it would mean he had forgotten both his 1960s statement to Beatles Book Monthly (plausible) as well as the interview that led to the information included in Shout! (concerning). This scenario also requires Lewisohn to be unaware of the above Bennett appearances, which doesn’t reflect well on his abilities as a researcher. If you find someone who you think has never been on record, you might want to at least look him up in the glossary of books by major Beatle authors.

Explanation 2: Bennett knew; Lewisohn didn’t. Perhaps Kim Bennett either neglected to inform Lewisohn of his past interviews, or outright lied to him on the matter. Lewisohn says that Bennett is “known for a dogged persistency” (Lewisohn 2013, p.571), has said that Bennett “just picks something up and he will not let it go,” (Let It Roll 2020, ~25:50), that he is “very insistent about things” and by the time Lewisohn interviewed him, “was a very frustrated man because no one had ever paid him the attention that he felt was his due.” (Nothing Is Real S7Ep7) Could this tenacity and feeling of entitlement to a part of the Beatles’ legacy have led Bennett to present himself as a bigger scoop than he really was? Might he have sold Lewisohn a tale of exclusivity and, perhaps, a version of the Contract Story more salacious and headline-grabbing than the truth?

Again, this explanation also hinges on the idea that Lewisohn was in the dark about Bennett’s prior interview(s), which is a huge oversight, but not as damning as explanation 3.

Explanation 3: Lewisohn knew and lied. Whether Bennett told Lewisohn outright that he had been interviewed in the past or if Lewisohn came upon that information in his research, Lewisohn chose to portray his interview with Bennett as exclusive. Perhaps this was purely to make his “scoop” seem juicier. Perhaps he was reluctant to give Philip Norman credit for finding Bennett first – there seems to be no love lost between Lewisohn and his former employer. Or perhaps Lewisohn knew that Bennett’s prior accounts made the story told in Tune In less credible. The early anecdote related in BBM already conflicted with the revised version in Shout! – if Bennett’s account, as related in Tune In, presented further inconsistencies, it would undermine Lewisohn’s major finding.

I’ll close with a segment from one of the better Lewisohn interviews I’ve heard. It’s from Ken Michaels’ radio show ‘Every Little Thing’, conducted in ~2013, and it’s one of the rare instances where an interviewer gives Lewisohn any pushback or asks follow-up questions regarding some of his more explosive claims. It’s an uncomfortable listen – Ken Michaels even appeared in the comments of this YouTube channel to counter claims that he has beef with Lewisohn– but satisfying to hear some meaningful questions when so many people are content to simply deify Lewisohn. Here's the relevant exchange:

youtube

KM: Aren’t there also problems with certain people that you’ve interviewed that have played some part in Beatle history that want to really elevate their status?

ML: Oh yeah, oh yeah, and it’s up to authors to ensure that they don’t get what they want. And there are unfortunately too many authors who just very happily take the stuff they’re given without challenging it. You’ve got to challenge all these things. And unless something completely fits into the framework of the story, you can’t use it.

Next time, on Days of Our Lies: the Classic Version of the Contract Story, and why Mark Lewisohn is so intent on debunking it. After that, we’ll finally look at the Contract Story as portrayed in Tune In.

Sources:

Cockcroft S, Carty J. 2023 Feb 14 [conducted 2023 Jan]. Nothing Is Real – Season 7 Episode 7 – Mark Lewisohn Returns [podcast, season 7, episode 7]. Nothing Is Real. 1:17:15. Available from: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mtbNIreAY0Car6VASuZGV?si=b1e322e001a347e3

Coleman R. 1989. The Man Who Made the Beatles: An Intimate Biography of Brian Epstein. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 400p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 19. Available from: https://archive.org/details/manwhomadebeatle00cole/mode/2up

Kelly D. 2014 Jul 30. Setting the Record Straight: Interview with Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn. Critics at Large. Accessed 2024 Mar 4. Available online: https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2014/07/setting-record-straight-interview-with.html

Kozinn A. 2013 Dec 27. Tune In, and Turn On the Reading Light. ArtsBeat: New York Times Blog [accessed 2024 Feb 6]. Available from: https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/tune-in-and-turn-on-the-reading-light/?_r=0

Lewisohn M. 1992. The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York(NY): Barnes & Noble Books. 365p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 14. Available from: https://archive.org/details/completebeatlesc0000lewi/mode/2up

Lewisohn M. 2013. 1st U.S. Edition. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. 932p.

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Apr 24. Great Britain. Cash Box XXVI(40); International Section p.45. Accessed online 2024 Mar 18. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox26unse_31/page/44/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Jun 5. Great Britain. Cash Box Vol.XXVI(46); International Section p.55. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox26unse_37/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Jul 24. Great Britain. Cash Box Vol. XXVI(53); International Section p.53. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox27unse/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1967 Jul 22. Overlooking South Africa. Cash Box Vol.XXVIII(52); International Section p.65. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox28unse_50/mode/2up

Martin G, Hornsby J. 1979. All You Need is Ears. New York (NY): St. Martin’s Griffin. 293p.

Martland P. 1997. Since Records Began: EMI: The first 100 years. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 359p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 17. Available from: https://archive.org/details/sincerecordsbega0000mart/mode/2up

Michaels K. 2013. Mark Lewisohn interview [radio broadcast episode]. The Beatles – Every Little Thing. Originally aired on XM Radio. 1:53:18. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjAUtngSoKc

Parnes S [editor]. 1958 Jul 26. Ardmore & Beechwood Open London Office. Cash Box Vol. XIX(45); p.34. Accessed online 2024 Mar 18. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox19unse_43/page/34/mode/2up

Southall B, Perry R. 2006. Northern Songs: The True Story of The Beatles Song Publishing Empire. London: Omnibus Press. 218p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/northernsongstru0000sout/mode/2up

*Wicks D. 1998. Updated 2012. The Ballad Years: From the Bombs to the Beatles: a Directory and Discography of British Popular Music-makers from 1945-1960. Accessed online 2024 Mar. Available from: https://archive.org/details/theballadyears/Book%20Contents/

Wilcox N. 2020 Apr 27. How The Beatles Got Signed [podcast, season 7]. Let It Roll. 57:21. Available from: https://dcs.megaphone.fm/PAN2878353172.mp3?key=5204cb23c38410bae94e208461239e2d&request_event_id=e800ecea-9c5e-40f2-90e3-dad820306501

Images from The Ballad Years and Cash Box 1967 Jul 22

*The Ballad Years by Don Wicks was originally published circa 1998 (by a company called In Tune International, of all things!) There is some great contextual info included at the Internet Archive link; to condense it here, after the original print run of the book, Don Wick continued to update the book, primarily to reflect the death of artists. He distributed these via Microsoft Word Document, and the 2012 version of these documents was uploaded to the Internet Archive. I believe that is the reason for “The Barry Sisters” being plastered across Kim Bennett’s face – the pages including artists’ pictures have very wonky formatting.

#mark lewisohn #the beatles #tune in #kim bennett #sid colman #ardmore & beechwood #it's TOO LONG but what can ya do #bless you if you read this whole thing

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matan4il · 6 months

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ok first of all congrats on step 1 of your ship but second of all as someone who has never watched but wants to catch up with no time to watch seven seasons: best meta to read first? when exactly do both characters start appearing on the show? If it’s later than s1 I may be able to watch enough of it. But yea most importantly where to start with meta for the ship and has anyone done a primer for the ship I could read? No rush and sorry if this is too much work for you!

Hi Nonnie!

Thank you so much for the congrats! XD It's a delight to have been screaming, "Buck is bisexual!" since ep 107 and get to 704, and get it confirmed as canon. ^u^

Well, I guess the good news for you is that Eddie doesn't appear in s1, so if you're less interested in seeing the shown when it was only featuring Buck out of the ship, then go ahead and skip that. I do think it matters to see that season, to better understand Buck's journey, and also why Eddie was such an important and positive person in his life once they became friends (plus s1 is just 10 eps), but if you're more inclined to skipping, Eddie shows up in 201.

As for meta, I didn't sit down to write anything until the end of both s2 and the first half of s3, by which point I felt like I would explode if I didn't. So, that meta was more summarized than my weekly Buddie meta posts I started doing starting in the second part of s3. And you can probably just... skim through that first round of Buddie meta (it looks like it has a lot of parts, but some are quite short) and my other buddie meta posts (which you can find through my pinned post) to get a good idea of the Buddie r/s overall.

Honestly, the big moments that really cemented things, are the beginning of Buddie, in the first few eps of s2, ep 210 which gives us our first glimpse of Buck and Eddie being co-parents to Chris, 218 where you see how much they've come to mean to each other already, the start of s3, 309 and THE kitchen scene (don't ask, but it will be THE kitchen scene for you as well, once you've watched it), the end of s4 and the shooting storyline, s5's best Buddie moments were IMO in 504, 506, 513 and 514, s6 was a bit of a mess, but eps 610 to 612 or so are probably the vital ones. So if you're interested, you can check out the weekly meta posts for those specific eps.

I hope this helps, and that you enjoy Buddie a lot! xoxox

#ask #anon ask #buddie #buddie meta #911 #9-1-1 #911 show #911 meta #911meta #911 on abc #911onabc #911 abc #911abc #evan buckley #eddie diaz #evan buck buckley #edmundo diaz #buck x eddie #i really do hope this helps

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kolbisneat · 2 years

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MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2023

Okay I didn’t watch any movies this month BUT I’m very excited for the D&D movie and I watched plenty of youtube.

……….TELEVISION……….

Arcane (Episode 1.01 to 1.09) It took a few episodes for me to get invested (and a few mid-season eps that felt like a CW series...only young beautiful people allowed) but by the end I was into it. I know nothing about League of Legends and to the show’s credit, I couldn’t tell when there was fanservice. I’ll check out season 2 if it happens.

The Great (Episode 2.01 to 2.08) Loved the first season and currently love the second. Still a few eps left but it’s kept me guessing the entire time. Stellar characters, very funny, and the world continues to walk the edge between whimsical and dangerous.

Spy x Family (Episode 1.01 to 1.07) Super fun premise and very funny. I’ve only just started but I hope we get to see more of Yor’s world. It seems to be spy-centric and psychic-centric (which, based on the name and current plot, makes sense) but I hope it can start weaving in more of her role in the future.

Cunk on Earth (Episode 1.01 to 1.02) Sure I’ve only seen two episodes but both were very funny. Something about her timing and delivery just works every time for me.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Chronically underwhelmed? This might be why... by Daily Mindtrap A concise reflection on why we’re not having as much fun as when we were kids. Touches on a lot of thoughtful points though my hatred of subscriptions does make me a little biased. VIDEO

The Decline of Tim Burton by Broey Deschanel One thing that scares me as an artist is that I’ll get stuck in a spot and start copying and reiterating on my own work to the point that it becomes caricature. Just a random thought and totally unrelated to this video. VIDEO

How To Analyze Movies – Film Studies 101 and What Do The LOONEY TUNES Mean In 2023? by Patrick Willems Both really great in their own way. Film studies 101 is fairly universal as a lot of the topics apply to all art. And the Looney Tunes share a room in my mind palace with the Muppets: concepts I love but haven’t connected with anything of theirs in the last 15 years. VIDEO (Film 101) VIDEO (Muppets)

……….READING……….

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Death Pedlar by Jimmy Sangster (Complete) The cover was so good and the write-up pitched it as a comedy that I took a gamble on a thrift store find. Swing and a miss. Comedy is difficult in your own time let alone 50 years after being published. Are the offensive bits a sendup of the time, or have they just aged poorly? Comedy that requires context doesn’t land for me so this whole thing fell flat. Anyway all this is to say I’m a sucker for a good book cover.

Confronting Capitalism by Vivek Chiboer (Complete) An easily digestible primer on Capitalism and it’s...faults. It really gave a lot of insight into the structural problems with politics in a capitalistic system and for that alone, I recommend. I wish the last chapter (talking about how a society moves past capitalism) was a little more robust, but hopefully I can find some other books to fill in those gaps.

Batgirl/Robin Year One by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Marcos, Martin, and Javier Pulido (Complete) Great introductions to both characters and the perfect balance of fun and dangerous. It feels like there are real stakes while not getting too dark. I’d love if a Batman movie could strive for this sorta tone, you know?

……….AUDIO……….

Paranoid by Black Sabbath (1970) One thing I appreciate about getting into Girl Talk years ago was it introduced me to bits of really great albums. And I somehow missed that Ozzy Osbourne was the lead singer. Anyway filling in a lot of blind spots here and War Pigs holds up so well. The whole album really.

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The group is unearthing some underground tunnels and playing the political game as well. If you want to read more of the recaps, they’re over here!

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 group is busy making plans and saving Pirates. They recently acquired some protective suits so they’re now exploring the iron mines and its fluctuating temperatures!

And that’s it. See you in March!

#Monthly Media #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

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everybodyknows-everybodydies · 1 year

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tagged by @morihaus! thank you for thinking of me!! c’:

describe one wip you’re planning to work on over the summer: I have made the teeniest of dents in the Amanda Lee revelation chapter which I consider a great success! also have a handful of short pieces I’m working on besides the ones for tesfest. the one closest to being done is one I thought would be a good primer for how I’ve been thinking of the mechanics of restoration in a less um. immediately urgent setting lol.

recommend a book: OBLIGATORY: read Peter S. Beagle. cough. anyway I think while last time I recommended books I hit a couple of my favorites but I’ve been thinking about Anna Pigeon again so let me tell you once more in more detail about Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series. gimmick setting mysteries where the gimmick setting is a different national park each time bc Anna Pigeon is a middle-aged park ranger, who used to be on the tech side of live theatre, has a Tragic Past involving a Dead Husband of Many Years Ago, is 100% unknowingly bisexual (which I would say is just me projecting but 1. Barr has written at least one book about a wlw relationship and 2. for a while she lives with her lesbian friend and is like oh :( I’m so sad eventually she’ll find a gf and I’ll have to stop living with her :( if only I were gay and also her type so we could keep living together :( like... ma’am.), and she’s so much fun. I love her. Track of the Cat is the first one and the ending KILLS ME. light spoiler territory ahead, but listen. LISTEN. do you want to read about a scrawny 40-something woman covered in blood and leaving a man to certain death? OF COURSE YOU DO. read the Anna Pigeon books. pls.

recommend a fic: as always, everything in my fic rec tag is, obviously, a hearty and resounding recommendation!! however I am also going to take this opportunity to plug EBStarr’s Cordano work bc they get it. I have never otherwise seen someone who nails their characterization and dynamic so precisely so naturally I come back to their work every so often like a moth to candlelight. OBSESSED. had the jaw-dropping realization a few months ago that they were apparently only like 17 when they wrote these and then I had a bit of a crisis lol. EBStarr if you’re out there I NEED to know what you’re writing now bc I think you’re a genius

recommend music: the song I have been looping for days on end now, from my all-time favorite band: Nothing Lost by Anberlin. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Stephen Christian’s voice could resurrect me!! it’s from what was previously their most recent EP until like three weeks ago and the most recent one is ALSO exceptionally good, this is just what’s currently feeding the brain worms

share a piece of advice: run the garbage disposal in your sink every couple days even if you don’t think you need to. trust me you do need to you really really need to please my friends listen to me do not make my mistakes run your garbage disposal right now

tagging the usual suspects @bwayfan25, @codenamesailordarillium, @flugames and anyone else who wants to do it (please do it and say I tagged you I love tag games and seeing what people’s answers are!! :D)

#Mouse talks!#(thank you also for saying those very nice things about my writing!!! got me like ;o;)#every time I decide to work on my longfic I'm like why don't I do this more often and then I get in there and I'm like oh right.#bc I'm a sprinter not a marathoner :( I'll get there just very very slowly it's been six years what's a few more

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ghostcultmagazine · 2 years

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#RIPVivienneWestwood We're raising money until 1/21/23 for Help Replace Ghost Cult's Broken Camera Gear. Can you help? https://ift.tt/bHD4rA0. Help Hamorage recover from their van crash and replace their gear too! https://ift.tt/MLuK68t Help Scattered Hamlett recover from their van crash - by some music and merch https://ift.tt/kXM6EAN NEW AFFILIATE PARTNER! Phenyx Pro https://ift.tt/6UkXaPA 5% off at checkout Use the code ghostcultmag VidIQ - Make awesome content on YouTube even better by using data and pro advice https://ift.tt/TM7FpWU Check out our weekly news show! 📰 We cover the major stories of the week in heavy music, rock, and metal news, tour dates, and festivals, New Music Friday, and more! Hosted, written, and co-produced Keefy (https://ift.tt/FO8zwuC). Co-produced and Edited by Omar Cordy (https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics). New Music Friday narration by Keefy. Theme song by Salted Wounds (https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc). Fight riff by Fahad Syed (https://www.instagram.com/fahanzi). Time for your weekly dose of Rock and Metal news! Catch up on what you missed this week in the world of Rock and Metal news with our show! #musicnews #rocknews #metalnews #interviews #newmusicfriday #vinylcollector #metalmerch #musicnews #metalnews #rocknews Features: Maurizio Iacono of @Kataklysm/ Ex Deo/ Invictus https://youtu.be/3DVE6Izkj20 Sam Loeffler of @CheVelle https://youtu.be/DxkWzX-TCPE Justin Foley of Killswitch Engage/Lybica https://youtu.be/eehAirC5sBI Ugly Riffs - A Noise Rock Primer https://ift.tt/gnJEQ58 Top 50 Death Metal Albums of 2022 https://ift.tt/CexFhaU Album of the Year Countdown https://youtu.be/uGwGY7jPU3k @glacially pouredcast The Top Death Metal Bands of All-Time Ranked https://ift.tt/Aw4eohW Last few days of our advertising sale https://ift.tt/w2rHXhO Invictus, Chevelle, Lybica/Killswitch Engage, Bamboozle Fest adds bands, Heavy Psych Sounds announces three new festivals, Modified Ghost Fest, Festival Au Lac has punk and metalcore greats, Pitfest bands announced, Alcatraz 15th Anniversary lineup, Motorcultor fest books legends, Dynamo adds big bands, Twin Temple New Year's Eve gigs, Unto Others holiday show, Tenacious D in Las Vegas for NYE, Unearth to tour Europe in 2023, King Buffalo adds worldwide dates, Meshuggah and The Halo Effect to tour, The Big Six - “Metal Boy Band” featuring Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos, Attila’s Chris Fronzak, Fit for an Autopsy’s Joe Badolato, Left to Suffer’s Taylor Barber, Infant Annihilator’s Dickie Allen, and Traitors’ Tyler Shelton tease first single, Hemorgae van accident, Coutney Love new album progress and new song about Kurt Cobain, Slipknot's V-Man is the real life "What About Bob," Enslaved new single, Vital Remains guitarist Tony Lazaro brain tumor battle and fundraiser, Drain STH is teasing something, Crosses cover George Michael, Angerot new album, David Lee Roth cover Van Halen, Mono new Christmas EP, Chloe Trujillo and Rav Medic new music video, Cult of Luna new boxed set, and in our mailbag, the final album from Porcupine Tree on collectors vinyl. Gear we use: - ***These are affiliate links and Ghost Cult makes a small commission on every sale. Set up A: Sony A7 III - https://amzn.to/3tQm422 Tamron 17-28 - https://amzn.to/3ePrlTd Tamron 28-75 - https://amzn.to/3fqCjgY Desview Mavo-P5 Monitor- https://amzn.to/33LlTub Manfrotto Befree Travel Tripod - https://amzn.to/3hxbL0e Lighting: YONGNUO YN600L - https://amzn.to/2QkNrn5 YONGNUO YN300 Air - https://amzn.to/2QjN5gu Dfuse Softbox - https://amzn.to/3uQq4AN Aputure MC - https://amzn.to/3oirFgx NanLite PavoTube II 6C - http://bit.ly/NanLitePavoTubeII Light Stands - https://amzn.to/3uSBl3x 5 in 1 Reflector - https://amzn.to/33KHdjo And our iconic Rope Light https://amzn.to/3ycdmyz For the full list of Ghost Cult gear: http://bit.ly/OJCPicsKit

#IFTTT #YouTube

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semirahrose · 6 years

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Nirvana in Fire (for the hopelessly confused)™.

Or, “How to survive the first few episodes.”

Nirvana in Fire takes in medias res to a new level, then throws in an ensemble cast in the middle of political machinations to top it all off. It may be one of the best shows you’ll ever watch, but only if you can survive the beginning.

Unless you've read the novel it’s based on, the Confusion is Real. Some viewers may be reliant on subtitles in their native language and have less time to commit faces to memory. The first episodes are central, but very hard to digest. Here’s something for folks who want to give the show a shot but also want to live.

(Nothing on these graphics or in the accompanying text includes info beyond the first two episodes and the beginning of the third.)

Lin Shu (A.K.A Mei Changsu, Su Zhe): Man on a mission. One-stop-shop for all your hurt/comfort needs. Prodigy, was once a skilled fighter. “Died” in Meiling at 19 years old. Has been plotting and dealing with an as-yet unspecified illness in the 12 years since the massacre of the Chiyan army. Goal: get justice, root out corruption in the court, put his friend ▼ on the throne. Method: get invited to capital by his pal Jingrui and get cracking.

Xiao Jingyan: Very hotheaded if you know which buttons to push. (Everyone knows which buttons to push.) Traits of note: Loyalty, rock-solid moral backbone, occasional leaps before looking, eviscerating snark and a give-no-f***s attitude. Still mourning Lin Shu (and many others). Won't show up until episode 2. (Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it...) Hates strategists, which is too bad for our main character ▲, but also good for him, because while Prince Jing is busy hating him—and MCS purposely makes it easy for Prince Jing to do just that—he won’t find it easy to question his strategist’s motives and uncover his true identity.

And now for a rousing round of...

On first watch, it’s really hard to parse allegiances. Too many shifty folks Doing Secret Stuff. Below are some simple charts to demystify the first two episodes.

The charts have simple information. Consult them if you just want a quick primer. If you need more in-depth information, see the bullet-pointed lists below.

Xie Yu, father of Jingrui and husband of the Emperor’s sister Liyang, plays at being neutral but is actually supporting the crown prince, all while knowing that his younger son by blood, Xie Bi, is supporting Prince Yu. Because of the custody arrangement due to Jingrui’s uncertain birth status, he is close friends with the Zhuo family, who are masters of a sect of martial arts outside the capital. He uses them regularly to do his dirty work.

The Zhuo family (above: father Dingfeng and son Qingyao) is a martial arts family. In this episode, they attempt to assassinate prince Yu while he is outside the capital. (Jingrui has no freaking idea any of this is going on. Completely clueless.)

When that doesn’t work, Qingyao moves to help an elderly couple (pictured above), get to safety from some of Prince Yu’s supporters (ish) in big boats, who would really like to kill them. Mei Changsu slides in like a true drama queen, playing the flute, and the couple does, indeed, get to safety. This couple, as revealed at the end of the episode, has dirt on Duke Qing, an influential minister under Prince Yu’s control. Duke Qing and his people have been appropriating property and killing folks, among other things. It is to the Crown Prince’s advantage that Duke Qing is put on trial, so Xie Yu asks the Zhuos to ensure the couple’s safe passage.

Basically, this whole episode is about the two highest ranked princes (jerks, the both of them), trying to one-up, smear, and/or kill one another.

Turns out that, while Prince Yu went in person to Langya Hall to ask how to become Emperor, the Crown Prince sent some of his supporters to ask for the very same information. They both receive it in episode 1.

At the end of the first episode, you see Nihuang and the Emperor speak with Xia Dong, an investigative officer. The Emperor has successfully received the elderly couple’s report. He sends Xia Dong to investigate its veracity.

Xiao Jinghuan, Prince Yu: Xiao is his surname, and the name his father emperor and all his brothers share. The “Jing” in his given name is, you might notice, a bit of a theme. All the children of the emperor have this character in their names. (Xiao Jinghuan, Xiao Jingxuan, Xiao Jingyan.) Though Xiao Jingrui, son of the Xie and Zhuo families, has that whole imperial name thing going, he is not related to the emperor. The reason will be explained mid episode 3, actually!

Qin Banruo is very smart and has a network of spies she puts to use for Prince Yu’s benefit.

Duke Qing has been stealing land and murdering people. Things like this are not too terribly out of the usual for the supporters of the Crown Prince and Prince Yu, or the princes themselves.

Xie Bi wholeheartedly supports Prince Yu because he’s swallowed Prince Yu’s facade of wisdom and kindness hook, line, and sinker. Has absolutely no idea that his father, Xie Yu, is supporting the Crown Prince in order to play both sides. Xie Yu, however, is aware of his son’s allegiances.

We are now done with the primary princes and their supporters. Here are a lot of cool folks who show up in the first episodes and very short descriptions of their roles/relationships. None are affiliated with/supporting the Crown Prince/Prince Yu.

Commander General Meng Zhi: The only person Lin Shu/Mei Changsu informed of his plans before arriving in the capital. He was worried for Lin Shu and strongly advised him never to return. Knew Lin Shu when he was a boy, and once fought with the Chiyan Army. Now is in charge of the Imperial Guard. Will not act to harm the Emperor directly, but supports Mei Changsu’s bid for justice.

Li Gang shows up in the first episode giving a report to Mei Changsu/Lin Shu. Nice guy, member of Jiangzuo Alliance. Mother hen of MCS.

Xia Dong and Nihuang would have been close friends, but their respective positions in the massacre put them at odds. Xia Dong lost her husband, and believes the Lin family murdered him to keep him from reporting the “rebellion.” Mu Nihuang lost Lin Shu, to whom she was once engaged, and believes in the Lin family’s innocence. Xia Dong is about ready for Nihuang to marry so Nihuang’s connection to the Lins is no longer hanging between them. She hates Prince Jing because he has actively defended the Lin family in the past. The emperor mostly wants to tie Nihuang to a husband in order to control her.

Yan Yujin and Xiao Jingrui: Very close friends. Jingrui spent some time with his Other Dad outside the capital, exploring. He goes to pick up his friend Mei Changsu, since he has received news that Mei Changsu is suffering from a serious illness. He and Yujin go to invite MCS to the capital to recover at Jingrui’s family’s manor. (All according to Mei Changsu’s plan.)

Grand Princess Liyang: Soft-spoken. Unbreakable. Core of steel. Does not deserve to be married to Xie Yu, honestly. :(

Grand Empress: AKA that nice old lady who will make you cry in ep 2.

Mu Qing: Nihuang’s brother. Very, very invested in her suitor tournament and is angry that any of those fools would dare to seek his sister’s hand. Nosy, sweet, best intentions. Will fight everyone.

Tingsheng: I can’t spoil you, but keep an eye on him. Good fella, wants to learn how to read.

Lin Chen, friend of Mei Changsu and inveterate troll. Young master of Langya Hall. Exhausted doctor to Mei Changsu. 1000% done with everything. Also a troll. He gave both princes the exact same information when they came to ask after the throne: If they wanted to become Emperor, they’d need none other than Mei Changsu himself.

#nirvana in fire #lang ya bang #琅琊榜 #mei changsu #xiao jingyan #my stuff #*mynif #*nif #a primer for the first few eps #feel free to use or share or whatever #<333 #and feel free to yell with me if you watch

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anotherghoul666 · 2 years

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Under Our Black Cult tour primer

@battiestbelfry as promised my dear! Now, I don’t have info on Gaerea yet because I don’t know them yet, Imma deep dive in the next few days. But the other 3 bands on the bill I know well, so here we go!

Under the read more: primers and my personal opinions on the bands Uada, Carach Angren and Rotting Christ. Song and album recommendations to start off. And the mask kink thing, with pics. 3/4 of the bands on this bill are or can be confidered masked bands, you know I gotta touch on the mask kink in there!

UADA

Uada, which means “haunted”, are a melodic black metal band from the United States. They are based in Portland, Oregon and have been active since 2014. They are currently signed to Eisenwald records, an independent music label from Germany. In this house we love and support independent labels! They are specialized in black metal and have a very fun roster.

Uada have 3 releases out so far, all full length albums. They don’t do singles, they don’t do demos, they don’t do splits, they don’t do EPs. They make full albums and drop them on a roughly 2 years cycle, though with the pandemic we are at 3 years since the last record, so these mysterious hooded figures are ripe for new material! Their debut album Devoid of Light in 2016 was well received by the metal world as a promising debut, albeit very classic black metal that didn’t surprise much. 2018’s Cult of a Dying Sun seems to be their album with the most acclaim. The sound quality difference between these two is astounding. The tracks tend to be longer, which helps some songs and doesn’t help others. 2020’s Djinn is their latest release and the reception’s been this: Djinn is way more niche, as in, you have to be down for 14 minutes atmospheric black metal songs to like it, but if that’s your vibe? It’s fucking good. Quality up, marketability down. They still don’t do anything super different, but it’s good black metal. It feels like European black metal despite being American, which is what I love, because I’m intensely biased towards the EU scene. US bands have to be either 1)extremely fucking special or 2) European-sounding to get in my good graces XD

The guys are “masked”, in the sense that they play with hoods over their faces with the aim of not being seen, for atmospheric purposes:

They also do “the hand thing” when taking pictures.

But they’re ok being approached in public by fans, as long as you don't pressure them to take a pic with their faces showing. They are not anonymous, their names are out there if you wanna know.

As far as recs go, I would rec all of the albums honestly cause it’s less than 3 hours of music and there’s nothing truly bad in there. My favorite album personally is Djinn but that’s because I fucking love atmospheric albums that make me lose track of time. I’m aware that’s not everyone’s cup of tea xD So, to my previous recs of Devoid of Light, Black Autumn White Spring and Cult of a Dying Sun, I’d add all of Djinn, but specifically the title track and In The Absence of Matter as a first contact.

CARACH ANGREN

Carach Angren are a symphonic black metal band from the Limburg province of the Netherlands. They’ve been active since 2003 and they’re currently signed to French label Seasons of Mist, one of the few major metal labels I feel positively about! The Seasons of Mist roster is INSANE. They specialize in the darker genres of metal, black, death, gothic, doom and some prog. Many of my favorite bands have been on them through the years.

So. Listen. Carach are one of my absolute darlings in the black metal world. When I began my exploration into black metal in the early 2010s, their first three records have been instrumental in making this genre my favorite. I would not be where I am today without them. I will forever have a very special in my heart for these guys. I hung out with them several times, I’m attached, ok? But. And there’s a huge But. Dear fucking god did these guys fall off. I’m still reeling from how perfect their music used to be, and how fucking atrocious the output has been since 2015. In my opinion. These primers are only my personal opinions and ramblings ok XD They’re doing fine, their latest albums did get decent reviews which I? Don’t understand? But you do you, boo? XD They’re one of the big names in black metal right now, they’re headlining tours, they’re doing good on the new material ok. But I can’t fucking stand it hahaha.

The main problem for me was the vibe shift. Carach Angren’s themes are horror stories. They recount fantastic tales of horror, fright and gore, psychological horror, body horror, historical horror, the like. The storytelling in their first three albums is stunning. There was always a sense of realism there, of horror being grounded in reality. It’s classy, it’s tasteful, it’s striking and horrifying but it’s never cheap and nothing is played for shock. 2008’s Lammendam is about “true stories” in a 1700s an 1800s backdrop, a historical version of our “I heard from a friend of a friend that…”, tales from the crypt and all that. Ghost stories that we’ve heard before, la Dame Blanche for example, but set to music. 2010’s Death Came Through a Phantom Ship is about nautical horror. Historical stories of phantom ships, captain-less ships, mutinies and their disastrous bloody consequences. It’s so grounded. Their masterpiece, 2012’s Where the Corpses Sink Forever, is about the horrors of war. We follow soldiers in trenches, feel their desperation, their fear of death yet longing for it. The heart-wrenching beauty to be found on battlefields because they are so human, yet the absolute bone-chilling reality of it. It’s so fucking real. This album, no joke, is one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. It’s a 10/10 record for me, and I do not give out 10/10 easily. I’m rather critical. I have less than 20 albums that I’ve ever rated as perfect in my life, and this album is unanimously recognized as the pillar of this band, and one of the pillars of symphonic black metal altogether. This is one of the albums that made black metal click for me. It changed everything.

And then, there was a tonal shift. I suspect, coming off from such a resounding success, the band didn’t know how the fuck they could live up to it, and they crumbled under the pressure. 2015’s This is no Fairytale is, as the title suggests, bases in the Grimm fairytales. It’s a weird modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel and like. Yeah. It started to get cheap. The language used in the lyrics shifted. There’s a ton of unnecessary cursing all over this album, graphic depictions of SA, p*dophilia, incest, drugs abuse and overdose, and like, yes, Hansel and Gretel is a tale about child abuse, of course, but there’s a way to approach those topics you know? With feeling, with emotion, with realness, and here it just feels cheap. Ghastly “twists” are constantly played out for shock value, it’s surface, it’s plastic-y. The stage show changed from refined hustorical costumes and atmospheres to, like, female-bodied mannequins being dragged around and getting their throats cut on stage with copious amounts of fake blood, and for what? It’s just, tasteless now. The band lost its delicacy. That’s where it started to feel cheap, and it only went downhill from there. 2017’s Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is a joke. Legit, this album sounds like a joke. The songs are boring, uninspired, structure-less. The lyrics are so cheap. It’s like we went from a museum quality horror painting that moves and inspires, to a cheap clown trying to be scary at a kid’s birthday party. 2020’s Franckensteina Strataemontanus was very “meh” to me. Less offensive than the previous two, and the story is inspired by classic horror literature like Mary Shelley and the strange scientists that inspired her Frankenstein. There’s potential, but the magic is dead for me. Bad taste in my mouth. I can’t do it anymore, but maybe a fresh pair of ear that doesn’t have the baggage I have with this band will like it? You let me know.

In this context, you’ll understand why my recommendations will only be from the first three albums. If you want to go for it, just listen to all three. There are no duds in any of them. But for specific songs, from Lammendam: Haunting Echoes from the Seventeenth Century, The Carriage Wheel Murder, Heretic Poltergeist Phenomena and my absolute favorite La Malédiction de la Dame Blanche. From Phantom Ship: The Sighting Is a Portent of Doom and Bloodstains on the Captain's Log. From Corpses? Listen to the whole thing man. For real. It’s a concept album, so grab the whole thing, sit down, close the lights, get the lyrics out, and follow along. Prepare to be sobbing by the end. I could recommend every single song, but they hit so much more powerfully within the context of the story.

In terms of aesthetic, there guys are “masked” in the way that they have a very unique look of corpse paint (the face paint typical to black metal).

They coined this look, not corpse paint as a whole, but their style of it. It’s been copied a million times since (like by Cradle of Filth notably, though they'll argue to the ends of the world it wasn't copied. It looks the exact same, it's a bit ridiculous), but it was Carach who did it like this first. The band members have character names, though they are not anonymous. Their real names are out there, but on stage, they’re not themselves, they are Seregor and Ardek (Namtar used to be their drummer. He quit in 2020. I have no clue how the band will record anything else in the future without him because he was the CORE of the band for me. Absolute drummer crush. I digress.) Seregor is a hobbyist mask maker and he makes masks for his different characters from his stories, like these:

Imo they still hit on the mask kink somewhat. The guys on and off stage feel like they are radically different people, and to have met them masked at the end of a show and unmasked at more proper events, there’s a world of difference in the vibe. I love it.

Oh also they have spawn a good few big metal memes like this one XD :

Which they found funny enough they turned it into a shirt XD :

(and yes of course I have one hahaha)

ROTTING CHRIST

Rotting Christ are a seminal band in black metal’s history. They have been at it for 36 years under the Rotting Christ banner, 39 years if we count the first iteration of the band under a different name. Dare I say it? I’ll say it. They’re the black metal daddies. I’m so sorry, I said it, it’s out there now XD They are daddy and I don’t make the rules. Anyway! They’ve been active since 1987, as I said, and they are signed to, yep, Seasons of Mist. I wasn’t kidding when I said this label’s roster is nuts. They are from Athens, Greece and they’re more towards the melodic / gothic side of black metal. They influen ced black meal heavily because this early in the 80s (black metal as a genre really kicked off in the 90s), there were no other bands who did what they did, and especially not in Greek. Rotting Christ have a lot of songs in Greek, in Latin, later in their career they made songs based on Hindu mysticism, their lack of fear when it comes to singing in everything but English at the time was genre defining. They made many songs in English since, but man the ones in Greek just hit different you know? They changed the game before the black metal game was even a thing.

Currently there are only two original members left in the band, brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis, vocals/guitar and drums respectively. Everyone else right now are tour musicians or session studio musicians. As their band name suggests, their themes are of anti-christianity, satanism, occultism of many different cultures, mysticism, it’s all good shit. One more band we traumatized christian kids can heal our religious trauma through, weeeee!! They have 13 full length records out, their latest one being The Heretics from 2019 (we are starving from new material, please feed us) though they haven’t paused during the pandemic, re-recording older material and releasing compilations instead. There was a new single in 2022 called Holy Mountain, and I hope and pray that means new album soon. Sakis Tolis also released a solo project in 2022, Amongst the Fires of Hell, which was fucking DELICIOUS my dude. More laid back, but so fucking crunchy. Highly recommend if you feel their sound.

In terms of recommendations, you’re in luck because they released a massive best of for their 30th anniversary called Their Greatest Spells: 30 Years of Rotting Christ. That’s the must-listen. If you want into this band, start here. You’ll get a taste of the sound of every single full lenght that came befoee. It’s 2 albums, 33 songs: find your favorites, check which album they're from, and go from there! Non Serviam, Grandis Spiritus Diavolos, In Yumen-Xibalba, Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, everything’s on here, besides my personal favorite song of theirs, Apage Satanas. It’s a weird chanty, trance-y song but it’s the one that made me fall in love with the band. It scratches at something deep inside my brain idk.

Rotting Christ are not masked, nor is there an aesthetic to latch onto, really. They’re just cool dude doing cool things and doing their part spreading the message. They’re honest and raw. No frills. What you see is what you get. They’re the OG.

And that's the bill! Lemme know if you listen to anything and if the bands catch your interest :D

#asks #band primers #metal band primer #uada #carach angren #rotting christ

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sweetdevil-sims · 2 years

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I have three sims for you today!

A few days ago I decided to give the Sim & Color Challenge a go, and I received three prompts: Silver from @wannabecatwriter, Mango from @wren-der, and Green from @nectar-cellar (thanks for the prompts! if anyone wants to send more, my inbox is open~).

As I’m terrible about creating original sims, I decided to base them on real people. I went with a more realistic approach in case I want to let them loose as townies eventually, hence why they use as little CC as possible. I opted to use the assigned color in ways that say “this sim likes this color” without it being overwhelming.

All downloads include a list of the CC the sims have been created with. The descriptions below are just for fun, as the sims don’t have any written Biographies. You can modify and use the sims however you like.

Pose credits: beo-dl (Normal Poses), k2m1too (01, 02), simchronized

1. Silver: Patricia Cobweb

Patricia is a Teen sim who likes Fruit Parfait, Classical Music, and the color Gray. She is a Hopeless Romantic who takes great interest in the arts and Loves spending time Outdoors. She still doesn’t know what path to follow in life, which sometimes makes her feel like a Loser compared to her peers.

Download: SFS | Mega

2. Mango: Enitan Wambold

Enitan is an Adult sim who likes Stu Surprise, Latin Music, and the color Orange. He is Athletic and a Natural at Cooking, which he enjoys so much that he wants to learn to cook as many recipes as possible. Enitan’s talents extend to keeping his house very Tidy and Fixing anything that breaks — which goes just fine with his Frugal nature.

Download: SFS | Mega

3. Green: Facundo Garza

Facundo is a Young Adult sim who likes Hamburgers, more niche music, and the color Green. Musically-inclined since he was little, he dreams of making it big as a Rock Star. While he enjoys flirting with others, his relationships never seem to last too long. He’s also the first to try something new on a dare.

Download: SFS | Mega

See under the cut for the CC!

The skin, eyes and clothing aren’t mandatory, but the sliders are!

For all three sims:

Nraas Master Controller: Body and Facial slider multiplier is 1x

Skin: Kurasoberina Primer HD+

Eyes: Mouseyblue N19 (BrntWaffles) (default)

Sliders: Head Size + Shoulder Width (Jonha), Chin to Neckline (Heiret), Sim Height (CmarNYC)

For Patricia Cobweb:

Hair: Leah Lillith Grace (IfcaSims)

Sliders: Hip Size (Jonha)

Everyday outfit: Ruffled Shirt (Simlicious), Doris Capris (me)

Formal outfit: tfBodyLoftPulloverDress*, BG Loafers (me)

* included in the download

For Enitan Wambold:

CAS: beard from University Life EP

Sliders: Butt (Jonha)

Everyday outfit: Blazer & Turtleneck Combo Edit (Simtanico), Business as Usual Dress Pants (Peacemaker)

Formal outfit: Business on the Top Edit (Nectar-Cellar), University Life professor slacks (me)

Outerwear: Denim Jacket and Turtleneck (Tucked) (Nectar-Cellar)

For Facundo Garza:

Hair: WingsTO0307M (Nemiga)

Beard: Scruffy Facial Hair Combination (Chibikinesis)

Sliders: Hip size + Butt + Waist (Jonha)

Everyday outfit: Diesel Braddom Jeans edit (BuckleySims)

Formal outfit: Plain Rocker Jacket (Aikea-Guinea), Braddom Jeans, Dr.Martens (Pixicat)

Outerwear: Long Sleeve Turtleneck and Jacket (peacemaker), Braddom Jeans, Dr.Martens

#s3cc #sim

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stinastar · 4 years

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The Witcher Resources

If you’re coming to this list from a reblog, please click through to the original post as it may be updated with more content!

Please note I haven’t read everything on this lists, so I can’t speak to all it contains/accuracy, ya dig?

A Guide to The Witcher Content aka what is all this? - by @bamf-jaskier

What the fuck are the Trials by @bamf-jaskier

WTF are The Witcher Schools according to the books - by @bamf-jaskier

All about Jaskier’s name and more! by @hungarianbee

Jaskier’s jewelry in the show by @lettenhcve

Lemon’s Lute Facts - about lutes in general as well as Jaskier’s lute specifically - by @honeylemontrashcat

Rosin is the opposite of lube!! Please!! Also what Jaskier would smell like, and what would work instead, by a few ppl

Food of the Continent - by @asweetprologue with additions from @storm-and-starlight & @rawrkinjd

Eastern european flora used in folk medicine by @faetxlity

Walkthrough of Kaer Morhen in TW3 - by @inber

world building cause twn doesn’t - by @bloededhoine

Who The Fuck is Coën - A Primer from the books - by @bamf-jaskier

Who the Fuck is Eskel? from the books - by @bamf-jaskier

What I See in Eskel Based on His Physicality in TW3 - by @sometimesiwrite

Let’s talk ESKEL, my dears - by @fangirleaconmigo

Essi Daven: Character Reference - by @sometimesiwrite

Letho of Gulet from the Gwent game

Geralt (Witchers) is/are literate and educated - by @fangirleaconmigo

Elder Speech - Conlang Dialogue: The Witcher (Netflix)

Elder Speech translator

The Official Currency Converter Table

First Draft/Alternate Lyrics of Her Sweet Kiss - by @garroterjuryandjudge

Partial dialogue from Rare Species, ep 6 of the show by @stinastar

Bee’s “Overlooked Witchers” slide series: bears, cats and lone wolf, griffins, vipers - by @hungarianbee

Roll for Rare Char! - character lists for The Witcher by @tumbleweedtech

When the Time Comes - witcheress Ważka aka Dragonfly by @oxenfurt-archives

Disabled Witchers - “Medicine on the Path” by Sara Thompson (post by Rawr)

A wealth of resources on the Witcher schools and characters

Rawr’s thoughts on Cat school training techniques by @rawrkinjd

Hunting Higher Vampires from Erland of Larvik, A Witcher’s Journal

Joseph Anderson’s Witcher video series talking about the games story, plotline and different choices The first video about The Witcher; The second video about The Witcher 2

TW3 Game Image References - by @geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde

The Witcher Wiki - can be handy, especially if you’re a Netflix baby like me, but also know it’s a bit of a disaster and those into lore hate it haha.

Find resources for sword-fighting, injuries, horses, castles, homoerotic potential of armour and much more on my Resources for Writers list!

- -

If you have rec’s please send them my way!

#the witcher fanfic writers #the witcher resources #writing resources #the witcher #the witcher fandom #the witcher fanfiction #Jaskier’s lute #lute #writing references #The Witcher references #the Witcher books #The Witcher games #the witcher netflix #TW3 #TWN

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dangermousie · 4 years

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Monarch Industry/Rebel Princess sorta-primer

Since you will see a LOT of this on my tumblr in the next few weeks, I thought I’d make it.

WHAT IS IT

Monarch Industry (also known as Rebel Princess) is a 68 ep Chinese costume drama (cut down from 80 eps, whyyy I want them all!) It is currently airing.

WHAT IS THE PLOT

It follows two protagonists - Awu, the most favored royal princess and Xuao Qi, a capable general who rises from commoner ranks to royalty. It’s a bit epic a bit war a bit intrigues a bit romance.

Let’s meet our protagonists...

When the story opens, Awu (Zhang Ziyi in her first drama ever!!!) is leading a charmed life. The empire’s most favorite princess, she is the Emperor’s beloved niece, the only pampered daughter of the Prime Minister and a member of the Wang family, one of two most powerful families in the Empire. Awu is happy and optimistic as only someone who’s had a consistently good life can be; all she wants is to marry Prince Zidan, a gorgeous genuinely sweet guy with whom she’s been in mutual live since childhood. But alas, she is a protagonist in a period drama, and not one of those cheap fluffy web ones either...

Xiao Qi (Zhou Yi Wei) is the Empire’s best (and possibly the only capable) general. Despite coming from a poor commoner family, he protects the empire single-handed, and when the story opens, he kills the King of Helan, the hereditary enemy kingdom, personally. The Emperor has promised to make him a royal prince if he managed this fit, and to the horror and indignation of his inbred nobles, he keeps his word.

And the story goes from there...

These two OST song videos make good previews:

youtube

WHERE CAN I WATCH IT

Both youtube and viki are putting the eps up under the title of “Rebel Princess” and both are subbing; youtube’s subs are faster. If you want to watch ahead and don’t mind unsubbed eps, dramacool is your friend.

I WANT TO READ THE NOVEL IT’S BASED ON

The translation (it’s in progress; not too many chapters have been translated so far) is suihansanyou.wordpress.com

If you can read Chinese or, like me, are impatient, and are OK with making a Machine Translation, you can find the original novel here: kanunu8.com/book2/11131/ (thanks @andoqin !!) You can just use one of the many online translators like google or deepl to make your own MTL.

I AM SO OBSESSED I WANT RELATED THINGS RECS

Zhang Ziyi has never made a drama before but she has made many excellent movies; I recommend checking out her extensive filmography. Zhou Yi Wei has been in a bunch of dramas; my favorites are Tribes and Empires and Longest Day in Chang’an. If you like sexy generals x smart women, The Story of Minglan and General and I are very different dramas but both have that.

The end...

#cdrama #monarch industry #rebel princess

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gayenerd · 4 years

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An interview with music journalist Paul Zollo. I believe this is from 2000. I’m a sucker for Billie Joe talking about his songwriting process.

By PAUL ZOLLO

SEVEN STORIES ABOVE THE SUNSET STRIP in Hollywood is the Chateau Marmont, an old hotel rife with the ghosts and scandals of Hollywood’s recent and not-so-recent past. Famous for the elegant, old-world discretion it affords all its guests, for decades it’s been a safe harbor for stars seeking to circumvent the squall of media surveillance. It’s where John Belushi died, sadly, back in bungalow three, and where Jim Morrison wrecked his back by swinging Tarzan-like from the roof, using a drain pipe as a vine. Every star, it seems, from Chaplin and Bogart to Dylan and Lennon have hidden out here while in Hollywood. “If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont,” Harry Cohn, the first boss of Columbia Studios, once told William Holden.

So it’s an appropriate setting for Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of Green Day, to be holding court. Armstrong and the band are no strangers to scandal – they’re the ones who started a mudfight that bordered on insurrection at Woodstock II; they’ve been outspoken about their fondness for drugs and alcohol; they’ve been especially harsh in their expressions of scorn for many other bands; and they’ve frequently “redecorated” hotel suites, bars and Tower Records stores alike with a flair for creative demolition that brings to mind the heady decadence of the Doors and others.

In fact, parallels between Armstrong and Jim Morrison abound. Like the leader of the Doors, Billie Joe is the creative catalyst of his group, but only writes within the fold of his fellow musicians. Like Morrison, Armstrong has been known to walk on the razor’s edge of life, bringing an authentic, expansive passion to every song he sings. He’s also been known to match his inclination to strip his soul bare in song by taking off his clothes in concert. The difference is that when Jim Morrison did it, all hell broke loose, the country was shocked and the singer was arrested. But when Billie Joe does it, he gets acknowledged on the MTV news, Kurt Loder smirks, and that’s about that. Being shocking these days is just not like it used to be.

‘It’s something unpredictable,

But in the end is right

I hope you had the time of your life.”

From “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

By GREEN DAY

Few things seemed more unpredictable than the thought that Green Day would have a Number One hit with a pretty ballad of all things. Even more unlikely would be that the song, officially entitled “Good Riddance” but better known as “Time Of Your Life,” would become as ubiquitous in the American consciousness as the Star Wars theme. Used on “Seinfeld,” two episodes of “E.R.,” and extraneous sporting events (as when Mark MacGuire became the king of baseball’s home-run derby), Green Day’s ballad quickly became more famous than Green Day itself.

“Good Riddance” now stands alongside Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”, Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” and Sting’s “Every Breath You Take,” as one of the nation’s most misappropriated hit singles. Like all of those songs, which are much darker if you examine their core than the mainstream ever seemed to recognize, “Good Riddance” actually comes closer to condemnation than the kind of nostalgic celebration for which it’s been used:

“Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial

For what it’s worth, it was worth all the while

I hope you had the time of your life. “

From “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

By GREEN DAY

Though Green Day’s presence on the world stage shifted from popular to astronomical because of this song, many of their old fans felt alienated by their secret heroes’ injection into the mainstream. “[`Time of Your Life’] was a drastic change for us to record,” Billie Joe said. “We knew that there were going to be some people that weren’t going to like it because it’s not a 1-2-3-4-Let’s-go-punk-rock tune. Mike [Dirnt] said, `This is a real beautiful song, who cares what people think?’ So we just went for it. Long term thinking, you know. Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a life-style. We’re just as much punk as we used to be.”

Of course, definitions flow fast and fluid, as purveyors of punk, such as Armstrong, play along the borders of pop. “A lot of punk rock bands are always trying to be so hard all of the time,” he said. “Macho brutality doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good songwriter. I think that some of the Beatles’ songs are way more punk rock than most punk songs written today. Like the song `Yesterday.’ It’s such a bittersweet song. “

Billie Joe was born in 1972 and grew up in Rodeo, a little Californian town just outside of Berkeley. His father and uncle were both jazz drummers. “I was a guitarist in a house of drummers,” he said. His father died when he was ten, the same year he met a neighbor named Mike Pritchard who shared his passion for making music. Together they decided to drop out of high school to start a band, which they called Sweet Children. It was a decision Billie’s mother encouraged. “My mom sort of let me do whatever I wanted,” he said. “When I quit school, she thought that was a good idea because I was really ambitious to play. So I started touring when I was seventeen.”

Pritchard changed his name to Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool replaced Al Sobrante as official drummer, and they called themselves Green Day, a Bay-area euphemism for a day spent smoking pot. Their first release was an indie EP called 1000 Hours, after which they signed with Lookout Records to make 39/Smooth and Kerplunk. In 1994 they ascended to the major leagues, signing with Reprise, and released Dookie. They soon became an MTV mainstay, and their mudstorm performance that year at Woodstock cemented their reputation as a band on the edge. Three more singles followed, as did sales of more than eight million albums worldwide, and a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance.

Insomniac was released in the fall of ’95, but instead of going on a European tour as planned to launch it, they elected instead to stay home and write and record more songs. The result was the most popular, and most critically acclaimed album of their career, Nimrod, which included “Time Of Your Life.”

Warning was the new album at the time of this interview, and the impetus for Billie to talk. Inspired by the rich lyricism of Springsteen’s The River and Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, Green Day went away for a while to write and play the songs before recording them. It’s their first self-produced and most sonically adventurous album to date, blending layers of acoustic guitars in with the electrics, and with some unexpected detours, such as the German beer-hall stomp of “Misery,” and the Clash-meets-Kinks pop-punk of the title song.

“Caution police sign you’d better not cross

Is the cop or am I the one that’s really dangerous?

Sanitation expiration date question everything

Or shut up and be a victim of authority

Warning, live without warning…”

From “Warning”

By GREEN DAY

Today Billie Joe is ensconced within an overstuffed burgundy couch in his hotel suite. Although he’s drinking coffee from china cups, and eating fresh fruit and croissants from a silver tray, he’s remained loyal to the punk lifestyle, and is wearing a black t-shirt and baggy jeans. Prior to our talk, rather than linger in the luxury of his suite, he ducked down into the hotel’s bleak back stairway for a cigarette. Though he’s undeniably a star of the first degree, he’s uncomfortable with such designations, and shuns all the trappings of stardom. As opposed to the Ferraris and Lamborghinis driven by his peers, an old Ford Fairlane remains his vehicle of choice. He did admit to one extravagance, however, which he revealed somewhat sheepishly. “As soon as I could afford it,” he confessed, “I went out and had it primered.”

BLUERAILROAD: You write all the songs together in the band. Do you start songs on your own and bring them in?

BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG: Yeah, sometimes. I’ll come up with the song with the chord changes and the lyrics, and then I bring them into practice, and then we sort of restructure them together. I like to come in with a tune. I’ll just play guitar and sing it for them, and then we start to learn it. And as soon as we start to learn it, we can make changes and come up with a different structure. Move the chorus around, make the verse a little longer. That kind of thing. I definitely like to think of it as a collaboration between the three of us.

Do you always change the songs?

Well, we have a lot of songs. There have been some that I have brought in and nothing really needs to be done. Sometimes I’ll suggest a part that needs to be worked with, and we’ll try some different things. And then they’ll write their bass-lines and drum parts around it.

Do you ever have a problem sharing credit on songs you wrote alone?

Well, we’re a band. We’ve been able to stick through a lot of years because the three of us support each other. The songs come from Green Day, and I like to stick by that. We like to just keep things equal in the band, and I think it’s what has made our band healthy over the years. We give each other respect. There is no one who stands out more than the other one in this group. Especially since we’ve known each other for so long.

These days do you write on electric guitar?

No, on acoustic. I have a Silverine Harmony. But it sounds good. I just have it around the house, so I’ve written most of the songs on it.

Do those songs then shift a lot when you bring them to the band, and play them on electric?

No, because I always have it in the back of my head about the dynamics of electric guitar and drums and bass. Between me and Mike and Tre, I always have that dynamic in my head – what am I going to bring to the table that they’re going to be able to play, and which will have our certain energy. I always keep our energy and our music in mind, sort of subconsciously. But I think that’s the beauty of this. That not only can I play these songs with a band at full volume, but also that I can play them on a cheap, acoustic guitar. And it can have the same kind of impact.

“Warning” would work that way.

Yeah, it does. That kind of came all together at the same time. I think lyrics on this record were really important to me, and to have a well-rounded record as far as what kind of topics I wanted to write about, and sing about. That was one of those songs that seemed to just write itself. It just came really naturally.

Is that unusual for you, the feeling that a song writes itself?

Well, I try to go for inspired moments. But if I want to write a song that sounds like it has a pop kind of edge to it, I really want to be able to say something. I have to say something – it’s vital for me. I can’t just write something that would be sugar-coated, and have a pop song with nice lyrics that go along with what everyone is doing on the radio these days. It’s very important for me to have a message that goes along with the writing. So, you know, what comes to mind for me is a song like “The Ballad of John & Yoko,” where [Lennon] had this really nice sounding song. But the lyrics penetrate like a knife. “They’re gonna crucify me…” That’s kind of nice way — nice, I mean, in an oxymoronic sense – to put forward something you want to attack.

You’ve done that in many songs.

Yeah, I think it adds a sort of demented side a little bit, sort of like a clown in a circus. But it also makes the lyrics a lot stronger. If you take a band like Rage Against The Machine, the music is aggressive, and the lyrics are aggressive at the same time. And I love Rage Against The Machine, but sometimes it feels like you getting bombarded by someone’s else’s point of view. The person is not telling you to think, but what to think. And that’s one thing that I really wanted to come across in the music and the lyrics. To think about the world around you, and not what to think, so to speak. And at the same time, to have my opinions coming through at the same time.

Are you always clear about the meaning of a song while writing?

No. That’s hard. I mean, sometimes I’ll have things in the back of my head that I want to write about. But I never want to come across as pretentious or preachy. So I just wait for my thoughts to settle. To a certain extent, you have to be a little self-righteous and I think it’s healthy. Especially when, nowadays, there’s so much stuff that is about decadence. And when it comes to rebellion, a guy who has a Rolex watch and is driving around in a Porsche, talking about that he really wants something to break, I don’t really think of that as rebellion, I think of that just as a decadent rock star.

Do you have any kind of routine for songwriting?

Last record I was just sort of pounding songs. Anytime I had any inkling of an idea of anything at all, I would just grab my guitar and play it and work on it no matter what the song was like. Whether it was inspired or I just got drunk and started playing. But this time I waited for inspired moments. And I think it took me a long time just because of that. I wanted everything to sound refreshing, and something that would make you want to turn it up a little more.

Did you have times when you tried to work and nothing would come?

Oh yeah. You get frustrated. You feel, “Man, I just want to write a fucking song.” And sometimes it’s just not there. And you can’t dwell on that when that happens. You have to just let it go.

I don’t ever want to try to outdo myself. I feel like if you try to outdo yourself from the last thing, instead of just working on your inspiration, I think the music kind of suffers a little bit, sometimes. Sometimes I’ll just get a very general idea about the kind of song I want to write. And I’ll just sort of store it in the back of my mind and see what comes out. It can come out in five minutes, it can come out in five days, five years, five decades.

Are there songs you worked on for years?

Yeah. “Longview” was one that we worked on for years. We knew what we wanted to write about. I told Mike to write a bass line and one day I came home. This is when we lived in the same house. He had just dropped some acid (laughs) and he said, “Listen to this.” And I said, “Okay, I guess it sounds good.” He came up with this bass line that really worked well, so we ended up practicing and came up with the song.

Are there many songs you start that you don’t finish?

Yes. And I’ll just wait for the right time and the right place for it. There are some songs I finish but then I think it’s not right for the record we’re working on. There’s a couple of songs like that off of Nimrod. “Time of My Life” had been written a couple of years before.

That song resounded in enormously with the public. Was it just a fluke, or did you sit down with the intention of writing that kind of song?

Both. I think that anyone can sit down and write a song. Whether or not it’s any good is another thing altogether. You know, there’s no school you can go to that will help you learn how to become a songwriter. But you can sit down and do it. Especially with rock & roll. But to put something down that is actually really great, it does go beyond you a little bit, and sometimes it takes patience.

Do you write all the time?

Yeah. Whether it’s good or bad, I don’t know. Or if it’s appropriate for what kind of idea or sound that we want to get across on the record.

Where do you think the great songs come from?

I don’t know. I really don’t. It comes from somewhere deep down inside of you that you didn’t even know existed. It’s kind of like seeing a shrink or something. (Laughs) There can be a lot of anger, or sadness, or joy, that you had but you didn’t even know you really had – but it can all come out. You feel a connection with it, and so other people can, too. You strike a nerve.

Does songwriting get easier the more you do it?

I think so. I think you definitely learn more as you go. I think you find new ways to motivate yourself. You test yourself a little bit more and see what comes about. And you challenge yourself in new ways to see what comes out. You learn new ways to get the engines going. But whether or not it does get easier, it’s what I do. And I love doing it.

#'I don’t ever want to try to outdo myself'#HE'S SUCH A FUCKING LIAR #at least he knows the music suffers from it #BUT HE'S A GODDAMN LIAR #article #articles #interview #billie joe armstrong

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