Jehovah’s Witnesses and Music: 10 Connections

Monday, 09 January 2012 17:32

This list was a request from a fan of Songpeople. He asked me to compile a list of musical people who are or were Jehovah's Witnesses. And I thought he was a Black Forest Rosicrucian! Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment of God's kingdom on earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humankind. They also sell Awake and The Watchtower door to door in many neighbourhoods, including mine. They are notorious (if that’s the right word) for refusing blood transfusions, military service, and to salute national flags.  They also refuse to recognise Birthdays, Christmas, and Easter. I’m sure there are lots of plus factors to being a J-Witness or there wouldn’t be so many devout adherents to the teachings and preachings. By the way the symbol below is the Tetragrammaton, God's biblical name, Jehovah, as represented in the original Hebrew texts.  

 

1. Hank B Marvin (Shadows)

That’s our Horned-rimmed Hank on his trademark Red Strat, playing the first lick I ever learned on guitar. Our street was divided into fans of the Beatles and fans of the Shadows. Musically I think it’s fair to say the Shadows lost. But in our street we had “Mad” Peter Hopkins in our Shadows gang so we owned the street in the mid 1960’s (when both gangs got beaten up by Skinheads, cropped our hair and learned to love reggae).

The JW connection? Well he’s a committed Jehovah’s Witness.  Pointless fact: In the UK, his name is often used as cockney rhyming slang for the word starving. As in “I’m so Hank B, I could eat a horse!”



2. Jean Terrell (Supremes)



(Velma) Jean Terrell (centre), is best known for being a lead singer for the Supremes when she replaced Diana Ross in 1970. She initially joined Motown as a solo artist, but took Ross’s lead singing duties, supported by original Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong.  After a rough and uneven career at Motown, she left to join A&M Records and released a solo recording in 1978 and an album, “I Had To Fall In Love.”  However, as a  Jehovah’s Witness, she went into semi-retirement.

3. Alvin Nathaniel Joiner IV – “Xzibit”



American rapper, songwriter, and actor – probably best known for hosting MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” Xzibit began his music career as a member of the Likwit Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers. Dr. Dre invited him to perform on his American “Up in Smoke Tour” in 2000, which featured Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Ice Cube, among many others. Loud Records released his album “Restless” that year, with Dr. Dre as executive producer, who also produced the single “X” . He also played an FBI agent in 2008′s “The X-Files: I Want to Believe.” He was raised by Jehovah’s Witness parents, but that became a problem when he developed an interest in music. “My parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses and they didn’t particularly care for rap music…I would get my little headphones and sneak and listen to it at night. Every time they would catch me, they would get it and break my tapes. And I’d be mad. Eventually, I got sick of it. So I said, ‘You know what? I can rap my own stuff and they can never take that from me.” Guess that’s one Witness that left the scheme then!

4. Dave Hill

  

The Super-Yob himself! Flamboyant guitarist with Brummies Slade, Hill was famed for his weird Glam-Rock-Monk haircut and glitter fetish.

since a young age he used the number plate "YOB 1" on his cars.

He is still a JW, presumably super-yobbing the Devil for Jehovah. Rock on Dave!

 5. Ja Rule

Just love this video and the rap in the middle from the excellent Charlie Baltimore.

Ja Rule was born Jeffrey Atkins in 1976. A native of Hollis, New York, Ja Rule is best-known for major hits such as “Thug Lovin’”, “Livin’ It Up” and “Always On Time”, Born in Queens, New York, he was raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses by his mother, health care worker Debra Atkins, and his grandparents. He says he took on his stage name “Ja Rule” because a friend called him by that name; other friends call him simply “Ja”.  He had a brief cameo in the first Fast & Furious movie.

 6. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)

Here Mr Mustaine waxes lyrical on the Devil in an interview, interspersed with some footage of him playing live.

Mustaine was raised as a Jehovah Witness and over the course of his career has been born again as a Christian.

In 1988, in response to the British government's criticism of homosexuality, Mustaine said: "More power to them. It says in the Bible that men should not lay with men like they lay with women. I mean I don't wanna f--k up and not go to heaven." In an answer to a question about Judas Priest having an overt homosexual image, "I don't wanna talk about this. The last thing I need is a bunch of homos picketing us.” Enlightened. Unsurprisingly, he’s also touchy about appearing alongside black-metal/satanic bands, and refused an invitation to play on stage with the band Rotting Christ. It’s only a name Dave, Jethro Tull were not Gentlemen Farmers and Prince’s Dad wasn’t a King. Did I mention Prince?...



 7. Prince

Love the funky female bassist in this clip!

Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson; dob:1958)  Winner of seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and named the top male pop artist of the past 25 years in 2004. His 1984 album, Purple Rain sold more than 13 million copies in the US and was #1 on the Billboard 200 for almost six months. His Academy Award-winning film grossed more than $80 million in the US alone. In 1997, Prince approached funk bassist Larry Graham about his Jehovah’s Witness faith and apparently became very interested. He was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 2001. His album, The Rainbow Children, seems to be based heavily upon Jehovah’s Witness religious themes.

8. Patti Smith

American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the “punk rock” movement and has been called the “Godmother of Punk.” Her most widely known song is “Because the Night”, which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen. In 2007 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Raised by a Jehovah’s Witness mother, she left organized religion as a teenager because she felt it was too confining. The opening line, “Jesus died for some body’s sins, but not mine,” of her cover version of Them’s “Gloria” is her response to this experience.

9. George Benson

 American musician, jazz guitarist, and singer. Won Grammy awards for his 1978 song “This Masquerade” and for his live remake of “On Broadway.” He has collaborated with Chet Atkins, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, the Beatles and many other prominent musicians. He often appears as a guest artist on other performers’ albums. He has been described as semi-retired and living in Arizona. He apparently is still a Jehovah’s Witness.

10. Damo Suzuki

  

Suzuki was with Can from 1970 to 1973, recording a number of ground-breaking albums such as Tago Mago, Future Days and Ege Bamyasi. His freeform and often randomly improvised lyrics gelled with Can's rolling, evolving soundscapes.

Suzuki converted to the faith when he married his German girlfriend, who was also a Jehovah's Witness. He retired from music in 1974, only to start up again ten years later.

I saw Can with Damo “singing” in a club at the University of London in 1973 and it was pretty weird. There were no fewer than three liquid wheel projectors on the band, which really did give a psychedelic feel to the proceedings!

Sadly time has not been kind to Damo….

Numbers! Numbers! 10 Songs, Albums and Band Names with Numbers in the Title

Monday, 09 January 2012 15:21

When you enter your password to unlock your computer, it's usually a combination of letters and numbers to make it strong. Well the following people obviously see musical strength in having a name, song title or album title with numbers in it. So without further ado, let’s roll the dice, shake the Bingo Balls, and pluck some figures out of the musical ether!

1. 99 Red Balloons (Nena)

A big hit for the pop-rock German band all across Europe in  I983-4. I always thought the German-sung version of this protest song was better- and how does 99 luft ballons translate into 99 red balloons? You choose, there are both versions here.  So even before Rammstein were out of swaddling clothes, there was another German band with a hit, singing in their native tongue. 

“Hey man, let’s all be hippy-dippy peacemongers and release all these ballons in the air to, like, change the world, man…”

Hand me my air-rifle please…

2. Heaven 17

 

Here are the 17’ers miming live on the 1983 Top of the Pops Christmas Day show. It reached Number 2 in the charts in the UK in May of that year. And oh my little brothers and Droogs, rub your glazzies next time you watch the real Starry Horroshow “Clockwork Orange”, because there in the sequence where Alex buys a classical disc from a record store, up on the chart on the wall, is fictitious names of groups thought up by director Stanley Kubrick. Including “The Heaven 17” at Number 4, with “Inside”. He then takes the disc back and erm… woos two girls with the classical piece- The William Tell Overture by Rossini.  So that’s where the group got their name. As to why the name Heaven 17 was used in the film?? Lost in the mists of time, oh my droogies!

3. “A” 200

  

An all-instrumental track tucked away at the end of Deep purple Mark 3’s classic album “Burn”. It features Jon Lord synthing away on his ARPs to a bolero rhythm, and some lovely Blackmore licks.

The song was never played live by the Purps, but Glenn Hughes’ band did play it live. Glenn was the bass player with MkIII Purple, and is still going strong, despite considerable drug addiction in his Purple period.  Jon Lord used a couple of ARP synthesisers at this time, like the one above.

4. 10,000 Maniacs

  

Here 10k maniacs play Don’t Talk. Nice. Formed in 1981, this New York alternative band was and remains innovative and, well, different. In December of 2000, founding member Robert Buck died at the age of 42. Some of his compositions are among the band's most popular songs, including "What's the Matter Here?", "Hey Jack Kerouac", "You Happy Puppet" and "These Are Days". The band took a three-year hiatus following Buck's death. It was the bands 30^th anniversary in 2011.

The band started life as Still Life, then changed its name to Burn Victims and then to 10,000 Maniacs after the low-budget horror movie Two Thousand Maniacs! (Gruesomely stained in blood colour as it says on the poster!)

5. 5:15 (The Who)

The ‘Orrible ‘Oo released this track as a single from their second Rock Opera: Quadrophenia. Keith Moon’s drumming toward the end of the song mimics the rhythm of a train, slowing down as it enters a station. A highlight of the live performances of the song from 1996 to early 2002 was an extended bass solo by John Entwistle, pushing the song toward or past the ten-minute mark. It was also the song they performed on the infamous Russell Harty show where Moon and Townshend ripped each other’s shirts off, and mussed Russell’s hair.

Here’s the song being performed on Top of the Pops: 1973-

6. 500 Miles (The Proclaimers)

Oche Aye Jimmy Mun! Yer wannee Glasgie Kiss? Err that’s enough of my dissing the Scots dialect, less I meet Robbie Coltrane in a bar anytime soon!

Probably the duo’s most popular song, it only reached No 11 in the UK Hot Hit parade in 1988.

For Comic relief, the Proclaimers re-recorded the song, with Peter Kay and Matt Lucas, the latter two in the guise of their characters Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin (from Phoenix Nights and Little Britain respectively).

So 500 miles from where to where? Nowhere in particular, just a show of loyalty and affection from a dude to his woman! Very popular still in Scotland especially in their football and rugby stadia.


 

7. Get your Kicks (on route 66) (Nat King Cole)

 

He of the soft baritone voice, Nathaniel Adams Coles recorded this song in 1946. It was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling Stones in 1964, and Depeche Mode in 1987.

8. 59^th Bridge Street Song (Simon & Garfunkel)

"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" is a song by folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, appearing on their 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. "59th Street Bridge" is the colloquial name of the Queensboro Bridge in New York City (see pic). The song's message is immediately delivered in its opening verse: "Slow down, you move too fast".

9. 13 (Blur)

Blur are the English so-called “alternative” rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change—influenced by English guitar pop groups such as The Kinks, The Beatles and XTC—Blur released Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the “Britpop” genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a famous chart battle with rival band Oasis dubbed "The Battle of Britpop". In 2009 Blur reunited, with Coxon back in the fold, for a series of successful concerts.

10. Blink 182

Blink-182 is the American rock band consisting of vocalist and bass guitarist Mark Hoppus, vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide since forming in Poway, California in 1992. With original drummer Scott Raynor they released their debut album Cheshire Cat in 1994 and achieved moderate success with its follow-up, 1997's Dude Ranch, which went on to sell over one million copies. Raynor was replaced by Barker midway through a 1998 tour.

Shortly after the release of the album, the band was threatened with legal action by an Irish pop band of the same name. To avoid a legal dispute, the band appended "182" to the end of their name. Some people find them irritating little oiks. Your views? See them here-

The Hammer of the Gods! 10 Musical Connections with Vikings

Wednesday, 04 January 2012 15:46

Grab your shield, twist your long beard into forklets, grab your double-handed Axe, and step on board SS Long ship as we embark upon a journey to explore the land of fjords, and the (strangely inanimate) Norwegian Blue Parrot, but at a time, when men were men, and trolls were careful! And, as in the picture, make sure the seagulls don’t do a whoopsie on your winged helm, it really does spoil the Berserker Barbarian effect a tad…

      

1. Invaders (Iron Maiden)

From the Maiden’s Top Selling Number of the Beast album, comes this track about invading Norsemen. The album also contained songs about the cult 1960’s TV show The Prisoner, and the hit single Run to the Hills. In their heyday, the long-haired members of the band did indeed look a little Nordic, but they are now put to shame by some “real” Viking bands such as Bathory (see below).

2. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)

From the lands where the hot springs blow, come our overlords, Viking raiders hitting our Western Shores.  This opener from Led Zeppelin’s third album seemed to indicate that this was Led Zeppelin 2 all over again with its thunderous drums and crashing guitars- but the rest of the album was much lighter, and Zep were accused of “going folk”;  a crime as serious as stealing lead from Church roofs in those hard rock days!

People thought Percy Plant’s opening wail was in fact produced by one of these new-fangled synthesisers rather than the fair one’s lungs!

3. Bathory

The Swedish band that was at the prow of what became known as “Viking metal”. Curiously, they took their name from the Hungarian Countess Elisabeth Bathory, who died in 1614, renowned as the greatest female serial killer in history! Their album Hammerheart marked their transition from Black metal to Viking Metal. They later moved back to Retro Thrash, before embracing Viking metal once more. Their reign ended in June 2004 when the lead singer, Quorthon was found dead in his home, apparently due to heart failure.  Sadly, as he didn’t die in battle or on stage, he was unable to enter Valhalla.

4. Longships (Peter Hammill)



Peter Hammill’s first solo excursion from Van Der Graaf Generator included this song penned by him and Chris Judge Smith. Very evocative, and yet being acoustic, avoided all the metal trappings that later became de rigeur for songs about Vikings.  He’s a bit of a name-dropper as the lyrics show:

Aslak of Langadale, Einar Thorgeirsson,

Olaf the White and Sigurd the Powerful...

Thorfin Karlsefny, Aud the Deep-Minded,

Snorri Thorbrandsson, Thorstein the Black...

    

5. Lucky Leif & the Longships (Robert Calvert)

An unusual concept album released in 1975 by the Hawkwind saxophonist, it was produced by Roxy music’s resident eccentric (later ambient godfather) Brian Eno. It dealt with how American culture might have been different had the Vikings managed to colonise the continent. The album is a tour through various styles of American music ("The Lay Of The Surfers" is a Beach Boys parody), filled with references to modern American culture and ancient Norse myths and legends. Fantasy author Michael Moorcock (author of Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer and Hawkwind inspirer and collaborator) is credited with playing Banjo!

He is mainly remembered in his solo career for his Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, an attack on the US flogging hundreds of designed-flawed Lockheed F-104 Starfighters to the Germans in the 1960, over a third of which crashed . The jet was known as the Widowmaker.

6. Tyr (album by Black Sabbath)

Released in 1990, this album was released to rather poor reviews. The connection (as if you didn’t know) is that TYR is/was the son of Odin and the supreme sky god of the Northern peoples; the god of war and martial valour, the protector of the community, and the giver of law and order. Can’t imagine there was much law and order on a Sabbath tour!

The album had at least three Viking related songs on it.

7. Purple & Gold (Prince)

Bit of a fraud this connection… it is to do with Vikings, but not those of Dark Age Northern Rape and Plunder fame...

It’s a song his Purpleness wrote for his fave Football team- the Minnesota Vikings. The singer-songwriter authored the song after watching the team defeat the Cowboys in January 2010 in the Metrodome. At the time Prince told Fox TV in Minneapolis that he wrote the song the night after the game. "I saw the future" he told the station. Really?  Sounds more like a Church Sing-along, than what we might expect from Prince…

8. Ride of the Valkyries (Richard Wagner)

Wagner’s epic tune from the Ring Cycle Opera, brought to a wider audience through many cartoons, adverts and of course Apocalypse Now (“I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!”.

Brunnhilde was the Chief Valkyrie, having a larger pair of ….errr… wings… than the other girls!!

    

9. Midgard (Therion)

Labelled (probably wrongly) as “Swedish Symphonic Metal”, Therion often visit norse and Viking mystic themes. Midgard is the Norse name for the earth, and the track is from their 2001 Secret of the Runes album.

10. Nightwish

A very successful Finnish band (file under FOGM:  Finnish Operatic Goth Metal), they often perform songs of a fantastical nature and make reference to historical and spiritual events to do with Norse mythology. Even their excellent bassist Marco, styles his lower face fungus in the likeness of Swedish ruler of yore, Sven Fork-beard.

They recently had a change of lead (female) singer, yet seem to have weather that storm well. Here they are in full tilt, as though the very hounds of Fenrir were at their backs:



 …a song about a fallen angel/Valkyrie that looks as though the story got lost in translation somewhere. If you can work out what the flip it’s all about, send me a postcard!

Battle of the Best Riffs

Tuesday, 03 January 2012 21:11

Definition of a riff according to Wikipedia is: ''an ostinato figure: a repeated chord progression, pattern, refrain or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition”. I have no idea what an ostinato figure is!

The dictionary definition is:  “noun:  A short repeated phrase in popular music and jazz, frequently played over changing chords or harmonies or used as a background to a solo improvisation.”

Well excuse me, I always though a riff was an electric guitar set of single notes (occasionally chords or half-chords) that often appear as the intro to a song, and is then repeated at appropriate opportunities during the song. Mainly used in rock songs. Usually loud. Ostinato my Osteopath!

Here’s your opportunity to “throw shapes” (adopt guitar hero poses with your invisible Stratocaster) as we pair off some hoary riffs to battle in the arena. Many of the following are banned from you playing them at the better music shops across the country, in a forlorn effort to promote good taste and less retro guitarmanship from their customers. Up Yours, is what I say!

You could assess each riff for complexity, originality, and popularity, but I think that might cause too much of a problem. None of them are complex, all are original(ish), and all are popular, so “Battle” may be a misnomer. Therefore for each of the bouts, I shall use the Granny/Sister. Play each riff to your Granddad while he’s watching Ben Hur for the 13^th time, or your younger sister while she’s dressing her Saint’s Row Gangster character on the Wii. If you can distract them away from their activity- either because they recognise the riff, or because it is so striking and, well, riffy, then that one’s the Riff that Rogers!

Bout 1. Gipsy (Uriah Heep)

Vs

Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)

Why make it complicated? Simple is sweet if Riffsville. The ‘Orrible ‘Eep as they are sometimes affectionately known, display two riffs in their classic track Gipsy from the first album; the one that starts the song, then at 55 seconds in on this live clip, the main riff. This is composed of just five notes/chords, four of them the same, started on the Organ, and then picked up by the rest of the band.Altogether now, “Durr, Durr, Durr, Dur-Durr!”.

Purple’s riff starts on Ritchie Blackmore’s Strat and then then is joined by the mighty Hammond Organ, before tub-thumper Paicey hits the snare, and a one note lumbering bass from Roger Glover underpins the riff. Then we’re off to the shores of Montreux for the most famous rock song of the 1970s and possibly all time.

As great as Gipsy is, Granddad tolerated it, but said “Turn that bloody rubbish off!” to Smoke on the Water, so Purple and writer, Blackmore, take the prize. Tough luck Ken Hensley!

Winner:   Runner Up:   

 
Bout 2. Don’t Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)

Vs

Light My Fire (The Doors)

(Apollo 440)

(Peter Borbely)

While purists may regale against my designating the organ intro to Light My Fire as a riff, it is an instantly recognisable sequence of notes that makes ones ears prick up and hairs stand on neck. It also appears at least once more in the song, at the end of the solos. It’s also not the easiest of ivories to tickle right.

The Cultists’ Reaper has the main opening riff, and then a lengthy middle 8 section in the middle that introduces a new riff, before we return to the original one.

Just to be awkward, the songs here on the videos are not performed by the original bands… and one played on classical guitar- but do the riffs still stand out? Yesss!

Sister recognised Light My Fire because it was used as a soundtrack to a Grand Theft Auto scenario she played recently!

Winner:   Runner-Up:

 Bout 3. You Really Got Me (The Kinks)

Vs

Peaches  (The Stranglers)   

So here we have the seminal Kinks’ riff, that many claim was the door-opener for heavy metal, versus the trebly Rickenbacker bass riff of Jean-Jacques Burnel that was a hit for the Stranglers. One is poppy, has a chorus, and is regularly imitated on the pub and club circuit, the other, not so much…  But both obeying the first three rules of the riff (simple, original and popular.  This was a tie: Granddad recognised the Kinks (he was probably roadying for them) while Sister saw a movie with Peaches accompanying a sequence.  However being a born-again feminist she objected to the misogynistic lyrics of Peaches, until I explained that the word Hugh Cornwell used in the song was “clitares “ – a French bathing costume,and not female genitalia!

will you just take a look over there (where?) there

is she tryin' to get outta that clitares?

liberation for women

thats what i preach

preacher man

Result: A Draw!

Bout 4.  Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin)

Vs

Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)

(Chester Bennington and Slash)

(Fecal Coproboys)

 The clips are not by the original artists, just to see how the riffs come through… Slash and Chester give the riff some real welly, but the Sabbs eponymous tune is played… on an harmonica, which just sounds weird- and kinda scarier than the original. 

This was a bit of a no-contest, both Ganddad and Sister recognised the Zeppelin tune from a cover version of it used on Top of the Pops in the 70s/80s. I said that I was surprised they didn’t remember Jackanory (a children’s storytelling programme on TV in the 70’s) using Black Sabbath as the closing music. They didn’t recall it. Not surprising really. I was lying.

Winner: Runner Up:

Bout 5. Phantasm (Biosphere)

Vs

Pretty Toy (Velvet Acid Christ)

This was getting too darn rock-cosy, so I’ve thrown in a couple of curved balls for the final bout. Some electronica you may well not know. The first is a song using a spoken sample from the film The Krays "We had a dream last night, we had the same dream" against a very simple two note synth riff, that comes in just after the storm sounds… and is very scary and atmospheric. The composer, Geir Jennsen had a track from the same album, Patashnik, used in a Levi Jeans commercial and brought him to the attention of the wider public. The second tune is a very similar riff, using a synthed-up harpsichord, and again projects menace and unease. 

On balance I think VAC’s is a little more riffy, and the sampled drums (samples from John Bonham of Led Zeppelin methinks) really hit home. Hope I don’t turn you on to either band (actually they are individuals) as your life won’t be the same again! Aaarrghhh!

 Winner: Runner Up:

As a bonus here’s Biosphere’s Levi’s commercial, and a different video version of Pretty Toy