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The Most Ut in 2006 - Part IIIDecember 26, 2006... As you've prolly already heard, James Brown, "The Godfather of Soul," died earlier this week. Like most of the maladjusted dweebs in the mp3 blogosphere, my introduction to "Soul Brother Number One" was indirect. In my case, it was through the Contortions. Oh, how I loved the Contortions when I was young! The scratchy, minimalistic guitar! The squealing, atonal sax! The declamations! The Contortions - Designed to KillImagine my surprise when, many years later, a classmate at grad school put on a James Brown record and I heard those carrion sounds again... As is clear from their 1980 take on the James Brown hit, "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud," L.A. (p)fun(k)sters Black Randy and the Metrosquad were also in thrall to "The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business." Black Randy and the Metro Squad - Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm ProudIn case you ain't noticed, Black Randy quickly dismisses early punk paragons Johnny Rotten, Dee Dee Ramone, Patti Smith and Joe Strummer in "Say it Loud," but sets aside an entire verse with which to spray venom on James Chance, leader of the Contortions:
In truth, I prefer the Contortions and James Brown to Black Randy and the Metrosquad. But in 2006, after years of only reading about Black Randy and the Metrosquad, I finally got to hear them, so I listened to them a lot. Thank you to The Last Days of Man on Earth for making their legendary album, Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie, available. Black Randy and the Metro Squad - Marlon BrandoPermadink | | |
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