A Little British Glam Makes the Day

I started this morning off knowing that I would need a pick me up to deal with the 4 pallets I expected today, which actually ended up being 6. Not fun, but at least I planned ahead by uploading some classic glam in the form of Mott the Hoople and Slade. Mott the Hoople was one band in which I was completely ignorant ,except for a song I always believed to be Bowie's. Slade on the other hand had one hit in the early 80's but were an inspiration to several cock-rock outfits during this time, so I knew a bit more about them, but not much. My past experience with British Glam doesn't go much past T. Rex and Bowie. I've always been of the opinion the nothing else mattered in early 70's Britain than the two, so I never felt the need to pursue the style and era further. Lately though, I have been all about hunting down the 70's era music I discarded, and I find that I missed many a gem over the years. Today I discovered that of the two bands I previous mentioned, both kicked my ass on my morning commute but one did it a little harder, and that was Slade.

Slade fuckin' rocks and you can bet your ass I will be purchasing several more of their audio riches. I don't know whether it's the attitude or the griminess, probably a bit of both, but they are one of those bands I can see listening to multiple times a day for the next few weeks. i had a similar experience with Fear a couple months ago but have felt very little like this, music-wise, since the spring. Thankfully, the magic is back.

I'll leave you with one of the asskickers from their album, Slayed. The song, as well as the outfits, are the glam rock equivalent of sober sex with a celebrity crush.

Camel Joe and the Hard Pack

Those of you who read this are probably old enough to remember Camel Joe Controversy. Apparently, the powers that be, known to many as the Nanny State, felt that cartoonish images of camels smoking cigarettes contributed to underage usage of tobacco. Although I missed underage smoking by a year, I can attest that to me and my peers, there was nothing cool about Joe Camel. Except for the fact that he smoked, and we all know that makes everyone looks like a bad ass.

Anyone who did think the image of Joe Camel was, cool probably feasted on paint chips in quantity as a child. These would be the same kids who owned the Joe Camel t-shirts and would be referred to my peers as a "spazz". It's pretty sad when someone such as myself, who as a geek was low on the High School social scale, could actually look down upon somebody as a lesser. These are the same type of people who partake in such glorious activities as backyard wresting and are frequently found as winners of the Darwin Award. Unfortunately, this is a large portion of the current US population. But I digress.....

I've posted this image of the "Hard Pack" to show you how not cool Camel Joe, or his friends, are. This image was from the early 90's. I was a teen during this time, and I can attest, there is nothing cool about dressing like the Blues Brothers in 1991. If the marketing team at Camel were really trying to cater to a teenage market, don't you think Joe would have a hi-top fade and a pair of Cross Colours? Or maybe long greasy hair and a flannel? I'm sorry, but teenagers don't give two shits about the Blues Brothers. I didn't, and nobody I knew did. Adam Sandler, sure, but nothing as thoughtful as the Blues Brothers.

I far as the "Hard Pack" is concerned, I'm sorry, but there is nothing "Hard" about a dude with a saxophone. In fact, saxophone is probably the anti-hard. Take for example, Huey Lewis and the News.... you know what I'm saying. If they really wanted to make the "Pack" hard, maybe they should have been given glocks and jheri curls. That, my friend, would have been the meaning of hard, and probably would have been directed at a teenage audience.

So was Camel Joe a marketing gimmick aimed towards underage smokers? I think not, but if it was, that marketing team knew nothing about what kids liked or didn't like in 1991.

Trader Joe's test

I just downloaded a blogging app(BlogPress lite) and am going to spend today's word space testing out said software's photo uploading capability.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone