Seminal acts quite often never get the kudos they deserve. It's odd in this day and age that a lot of the acts come through and the fans who are oblivious to their predecessors are unable to acknowledge the artists they were influenced by.
It's through this ignorance that i bring this up to discuss the hopelessness of a situation where by music lovers have forgotten about respecting the people who inspired their favourite artists. It must be said that it's pretty common for people listening to current bands not to know who people like Gang of Four, King Crimson, Pere Ubu, Moby Grape, Spirit etc.
I went to see the Black Keys earlier this year during their "Attack and Release" tour. They played at the Metropolis Fremantle which is great venue for their kind of show. The supports played, they were pretty good, including a great set from local bands The Silents.
After the Silents got off the stage, they were setting up for the Black Keys to come on. Anyway, the house music was playing and "You Aint Goin' Nowhere" by The Byrds came on.
A guy in front of me started frowning and proclaimed that "this music is hillbilly shit, what are they playin this for?". Because it suited the venue, and because without The Byrds, The Black Keys may have never come to be.
The Byrds released an album in 1968 entitled "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". After a few years with nominal success through albums sich as "Younger than Yesterday", "Fifth Dimension" and "Mr Tamborine Man", they had a few linup changes which resulted in a change of direction for the band. David Crosby and Micheal clarke left the group after they recorded "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album.
Coming to a crossroad in their career, they had to do something to move forward. After exploring pop folk with "Mr Tamborine Man, "My Back Pages", psychedelia ("Eight Miles High"), they started expanding out into a more country orientated version of rock. Gram Parsons was recruited into the band at the time he was only 21. Deciding to record the album in Nashville, the bulk of the songs were covers of songs written specifically having the country rock sound in mind.
Parsons wrote "Hickory Wind, "Lazy Days" and "A Hundred Years From Now". The three originals continued in the vein of the country rock sound. Others including "You Aint Goin Nowhere" written by Bob Dylan and "Pretty Boy Floyd" by Woody Guthrie also continued in this vein.
Due to the controversial change in style, it signaled the start of the commercial decline of the group. However, this album was highly instrumental in the way bands out of the west coast honed their sound in years to come. Together with Buffalo Springfield and The Eagles, later in the 70's with country rock sound would become prominent and it's because of Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
Also, a lot of artists who were into blues rock had incorporated elements of country into their sound. Ted Nugent, Ry Cooder, ZZ Top, Wilco, My Morning Jacket and Whiskeytown are all indebted to the Byrds.
And so is The Black Keys, so in condemning this music you ultimately condemning the people who have made them who they are.
Metal Machine Music, by Lou Reed. A commercial failure upon it's release in 1975, it signified the innauguration of abstract noise in rock music. even though it was incredibly criticised at the time without it we wouldn't of had the likes of Sonic Youth, Gang of Four, Bauhaus, Jim Jamusch, Theoretical Girls, Merzbow,Mogwai etc.
Big Star, a very overlooked band whom without them we wouldn't of had a entire movement. Indie rock.
Suicide, the trio from New York whose ultra violent confrontational stage act involving whips and assaulting audience members, was a precursor to the punk movement which would emerge 5 years later in England.
So you see their are many bands whose influence has been overlooked in the history of 20st
century music, and their is nothing much anyone can do except acknowledge these acts. but next time you criticise a band or artist because you don't like a certain aspect of their sound, remember that bands like the Black Keys, who even though are a heavy blues rock band, can still be influenced by such a band as The Byrds.
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