Hey There! We’re BACK.
Take that, Google Evil Empire!
In a process that was completely painless once I actually decided to try to figure out what I needed to do, I think popnarcotic is back in business.
One tiny, tiny change that hopefully trips no one up: the “www” is gone from the front of the URL. If you’re using a browser from sometime after 1997, the URL line in it should self-correct anyway, so if you’re addicted to typing “www”, don’t let us stop you.
Also, obviously switching from Blogger to WordPress, the formats aren’t exactly the same. You may see a few oddly formatted pictures or something. Best advice there: deal. Or let me know and I’ll see if I can fix it. All fairly recent links should work just fine, and the blog proper is as it ever was, albeit with a slightly newer look to it. Dare I say it: WordPress and the variety of options, UI, and sheer excellence of what it gives you blows Blogger/Blogspot/Google out of the ocean.
Back in a while with blatherings on why you should be listening to Hindi Rock, pimping of Teenage Fanclub, Dragoon, and Sweet Apple, and most importantly–me getting all serious and telling you that if you’re not a raving fan of a Seattle band called The Cute Lepers, you may hate rock and roll. Only slightly kidding with that last bit.
RIP Mike Smith
Not *that* Mike Smith. Or that one.
Sad to me that the world has seemingly forgotten the Tottenham Sound that briefly knocked the Beatles from the charts in 1964; you mention the Dave Clark 5 nowadays, and if someone remembers them, they remember them as a footnote in rock history….
…but I defy anyone to listen to “Bits And Pieces” and not define it as one of the great punk rock moments in rock and roll history. From Smith’s larynx-shredding soul shout to Clark’s tub-thumping kick drum signature, the song represents everything that is good or even great about rock and roll. (Clubs around Britain back in the day refused to play “Pieces” for fear that eager dancers would stomp their wooden dancefloors to splinters. That’s rock and roll, yo.)
Mike Smith, the DC5 vocalist, was maybe the only guy in the British invasion who could hold his own with Stevie Winwood and Little Stevie Marriott. It sounds as if his latter years were very difficult. Hopefully he’s at peace now.
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