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The return of the Slits
Nov. 20th, 2006 08:28 amMaybe I need to stop writing about how busy work is this time of year. Everyone I run into is totally all, "How’s it going?" in hushed tones like I’m trying to survive cancer or something. It’s not really bad. I’m just focused and busy. And a little obsessed. Since I find fun in my obsessions, I’m actually kind of enjoying myself.
I went out after work on Saturday to see the Slits reunion show. It seems it is now my role in life to go see old punk bands and write about it on LJ. It was at Mezzanine which is an ok place despite the fact that it is the only place I ever see bands where I feel like I didn’t put enough effort into my wardrobe. They also have shows where the headliners never go on until after 12:30 or so. I saw about eight co-workers there and we were all complaining that old-timers shows should start earlier. But then again we are all in our time of work which is the Hardest, Most Painful Time that Any Human has ever Survived.*
I don’t even know what to say about the Slits. My feelings about the show were very love/hate. Some songs (mostly the old ones) sounded great. Other songs (mostly the new ones) were… uh… less great. But, as Ari-Up kept saying, "This is not retro! This is Slits 2006!" Lots of songs got played twice at the whim of Ari and some were arranged to be slower and more reggae than the original versions. There was an obligatory old punk song about the power of youth rebellion that was somehow rationalized to be relevant. Ari did a good job of setting up a SF-LA rivalry in terms of yelling and dancing and I have to say that no matter how stupid I know that formulation is, I’m still a Bay Area boy and it gets me every time.
Highlight for me and my co-workers was when they played "Shoplifting" and invited a couple of audience members up on stage. One of them was someone we caught shoplifting at our worker-owned coop and asked not to come back to the store. We laughed, but I’m not sure who’s laughs were bitter and who’s were ironic. The complexity of Ari’s choice of a stage dancer definitely added a layer of intrigue to the song. Not retro.
One of the new guitar players had such an unhappy put on her face that my friend suggested she must be Ari’s daughter. I have no idea if it is true but she looked young enough and certainly seemed to have the pouting teen look down pat. Was it an anti-retro statement about the youthfully cute disdain that we once had for the music of old people?
"Typical Girls" is one of the tone-setting songs for all that would become feminist punk:
Typical girls are looking for something
Typical girls fall under spells
Typical girls buy magazines
Typical girls feel like hell
Typical girls worry about spots, fat...natural smells
Taking fake smells
Who invented the typical girl?
Who's bringing out the new improved one?
And there's another marketing ploy
Typical girl gets the typical boy
Removing any trace of retro, Ari re-invented the song by inviting up "typical boys" to dance with the band while they played. In the moment it was funny and entertaining, especially the geeky-chic dude bowing down to Ari and dancing crazy. But upon reflection and after talking to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
final_girl, it was kind of striking to take a song that attacks the concept of compulsory boy/girl pairings and decorate it with (simulated) heterosexual pairings. It’s a visual interpretation of the song that is much more limited, suggesting that atypical girls should simply find their atypical boy pairing that is waiting for them out there.
Yes, I do overanalyze music. That's one of the ways I enjoy it. As for the show, I had fun when the reggae was minimized and the old songs were played. They actually sounded really good and they were certainly songs I never thought I’d hear live. The Slits were an awesome band and I would fully recommend "Cut" or the "Peel Sessions" CDs if you can find them
But the questions does remain, unfortunately. If this isn’t retro then why are we all so old?
* I do appreciate people’s concern though. I do.
**While looking up some Slits lyrics, I found this incredibly defensive site about how ‘77 punk wasn’t racist. This page might be more embarrassing than the original lyrics.
***I guess I just preferslit to the Slits. At least in 2006.
I went out after work on Saturday to see the Slits reunion show. It seems it is now my role in life to go see old punk bands and write about it on LJ. It was at Mezzanine which is an ok place despite the fact that it is the only place I ever see bands where I feel like I didn’t put enough effort into my wardrobe. They also have shows where the headliners never go on until after 12:30 or so. I saw about eight co-workers there and we were all complaining that old-timers shows should start earlier. But then again we are all in our time of work which is the Hardest, Most Painful Time that Any Human has ever Survived.*
I don’t even know what to say about the Slits. My feelings about the show were very love/hate. Some songs (mostly the old ones) sounded great. Other songs (mostly the new ones) were… uh… less great. But, as Ari-Up kept saying, "This is not retro! This is Slits 2006!" Lots of songs got played twice at the whim of Ari and some were arranged to be slower and more reggae than the original versions. There was an obligatory old punk song about the power of youth rebellion that was somehow rationalized to be relevant. Ari did a good job of setting up a SF-LA rivalry in terms of yelling and dancing and I have to say that no matter how stupid I know that formulation is, I’m still a Bay Area boy and it gets me every time.
Highlight for me and my co-workers was when they played "Shoplifting" and invited a couple of audience members up on stage. One of them was someone we caught shoplifting at our worker-owned coop and asked not to come back to the store. We laughed, but I’m not sure who’s laughs were bitter and who’s were ironic. The complexity of Ari’s choice of a stage dancer definitely added a layer of intrigue to the song. Not retro.
One of the new guitar players had such an unhappy put on her face that my friend suggested she must be Ari’s daughter. I have no idea if it is true but she looked young enough and certainly seemed to have the pouting teen look down pat. Was it an anti-retro statement about the youthfully cute disdain that we once had for the music of old people?
"Typical Girls" is one of the tone-setting songs for all that would become feminist punk:
Typical girls are looking for something
Typical girls fall under spells
Typical girls buy magazines
Typical girls feel like hell
Typical girls worry about spots, fat...natural smells
Taking fake smells
Who invented the typical girl?
Who's bringing out the new improved one?
And there's another marketing ploy
Typical girl gets the typical boy
Removing any trace of retro, Ari re-invented the song by inviting up "typical boys" to dance with the band while they played. In the moment it was funny and entertaining, especially the geeky-chic dude bowing down to Ari and dancing crazy. But upon reflection and after talking to
final_girl, it was kind of striking to take a song that attacks the concept of compulsory boy/girl pairings and decorate it with (simulated) heterosexual pairings. It’s a visual interpretation of the song that is much more limited, suggesting that atypical girls should simply find their atypical boy pairing that is waiting for them out there.Yes, I do overanalyze music. That's one of the ways I enjoy it. As for the show, I had fun when the reggae was minimized and the old songs were played. They actually sounded really good and they were certainly songs I never thought I’d hear live. The Slits were an awesome band and I would fully recommend "Cut" or the "Peel Sessions" CDs if you can find them
But the questions does remain, unfortunately. If this isn’t retro then why are we all so old?
* I do appreciate people’s concern though. I do.
**While looking up some Slits lyrics, I found this incredibly defensive site about how ‘77 punk wasn’t racist. This page might be more embarrassing than the original lyrics.
***I guess I just prefer
slit to the Slits. At least in 2006.
