Bands that took risks

I absolutely loved "Psycho Candy" when it came out. My roommate at the time (who got me into hi-fi) was absolutely convinced the white noise-jet engine distortion droning was going to fry the tweeters in his speakers. I thought it was magic on vinyl. There was sort of a prickly comfort to it. I was also smoking a lot of dope at the time.

 

Oh god, I know some of them feels. It's the only reason I miss dope- it explodes your ability to dig deep into sound. Psychocandy has so much texture, it's pretty overwhelming at first.

I don't have a turntable, but my favourite tube amp and Gungnir Multibit will at least give me a decent run at it. I'm going to have to dig it out and re-acquaint myself. Shame.

 

I'm not sure Bjork actually took conscious risks, I think she's just half-crazy half-genius from birth. She actually started singing at a very early age and if I remember correctly she was first noticed on the school bus in Iceland because she used to sing all the time, then she became a child star and just kept doing whatever she was doing after that. She's also said things like "music for me is like fact. Totally like algebra. For me, it not about humans. In a weird way it’s about math and physics." So she definitely has a pretty unique outlook and tends to do things very much her own way.

Something similar can probably be said for Zappa. He did rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, thought himself how to compose, has been mentioned among the 100 greatest guitarists ever and is generally regarded as having had a genius level IQ. But did he take big risks? I don't know... that was just Zappa being Zappa if you ask me.

 

Sure she did. She chose to visit our planet!

 

She should go home and make sure Elvis is doing alright.

 

We're Only In It For The Money. Straight-up offensive to hippies, freaks, the establishment... everyone! And a wonderful album. A regular source of my earworms.

But, since mentioning The Dead (there I go again), and thinking about other "progressive" bands of the time, it occurred to me that, if you were part of that psychedelic age and community, then being a singer more akin to regular pop was taking the risk. Maybe the Mamas and Papas were more risk taking that the Jefferson Airplane?

 

Art of Noise.

 

I think they tried very hard to do the complete opposite, remaining nearly anonymous for as long as possible.

They were awesome though, Anne Dudley has turned into a mighty soundtrack composer/conductor. Not sure what happened to that Trevor Horn feller, though

 

It seems to me that the attempt to remain anonymous is a huge risk, at least if you want to continue making music. Or maybe I misunderstood your comment.

Certainly the music itself, at least at its time, was pretty risky, at least if I am not misunderstanding the term.

 

I was going to mention the Dead Kennedys but then thought, no, Jello Biafra probably didn't care either way if people got what they were doing or not. Then I remembered the obscenity charges and parent group outrage over the Penis Landscape insert from the Frankenchrist album. They took some risks with that. Or just plain bad judgement.

How I wish video footage existed from when they performed "Pull My Strings" at the Bay Area Music Awards. The backstory is one of the greats in punk rock, but a video would just be priceless.

 

The KLF.

Their (unexpected) farewell performance was at a big music event (the Brits), organised by an old boss of mine. They were supposed to be performing their big hit 3 am eternal- a sort of inoffensive stadium house confection.

They did, but with the help of vegan thrash metal band Extreme Noise Terror. Bill Drummond was wearing a long duster-style coat, and lurching about on a crutch- for a reason. At the end of the song, he pulled a machine gun out of his coat, and fired over the heads of the great and the good of the UK record industry. They then left the stage to the announcement "the KLF has left the music industry".

Yeah, they were blanks- but still, the shock was genuine. You can see the fatcats sitting stunned at the end, and my old boss looking around nervously as if to say "is this funny? should I laugh now?".

I'm glad that no-one shot Bill and Jimmy (and indeed ENT) that night.,



Edit:

On a more serious note, Nina Simone.

 

I was going to mention Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins, Laurie Anderson, Afrika Bambaataa and Dead Can Dance. But like Bjork, I think they would have done what they did anyway.

I think 'risk' has to be put in the context of its time. For example Jazz was banned in Germany in 1935 as were Jewish musicians performing. So, if you were a Jewish musician playing Jazz in Berlin, you were probably taking a risk.

 

May not sound like it now, but in 1967 The Doors 1st Album was risky. Light My Fire was banned in certain places in the U.S. and The End was so out there a lot of us didn’t get it, until later on.

Edit: The band was banned from ever doing The Ed Sullivan Show after Morrison sang “girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Not sure if it was banned on AM or not. Memory is getting foggy. It was “Love me Two Times” that was banned in 1967.

 

Deciding to record this was distinctly risky:



Columbia records and CBS wouldn't touch it, way too risky due to the potential backlash from the South. They gave Billie Holiday a temporary "holiday" from the contract to record it with a smaller label, Vocation.

 

Weezer's second album, Pinkerton, was totally different then their self-titled blue album. It's a bit dark and at first was dismissed by the press but is now a favorite by many fans.

BTW, the first two albums are the only ones worth listening to. Post-Matt Sharp Weezer is just empty.