Southern Rock 'n' Roll OGs

Dexter Romweber with his lovely sister Sara (RIP).

Gettin By Til You Run Outta Time

Bash & Pop L-R: Steve Brantseg, Tommy Stinson, Kevin Foley & Steve Foley

Bash & Pop was Tommy Stinson’s band following the breakup of the Mats and their 1993 album, Friday Night Is Killing Me, is good, if not great. “He Means It,” “Loose Ends,” “First Steps,” and “Tiny Pieces” are perfect little rock ‘n’ roll gems and “Fast And Hard” is Replacements by way of the Faces. I put "He Means It" in the "Happy" slot on my alt.Exile partly because it's Stonesy and partly in homage to the famous Jim Dickinson quote. Dickinson, who produced “Brown Sugar,” “You Gotta Move,” and "Wild Horses" for the Stones and Pleased To Meet Me for the Mats, once said:

"I want to say this about Tommy. Some people say that Keith Richards is the embodiment of rock ‘n roll. Well, I know ‘em both, and I say it’s Tommy Stinson. Keith is a cowboy, he goes back to Gene Autry. Tommy, he goes back to Johnny Thunders. Tommy Stinson is rock ‘n roll.”
—Jim Dickinson on Tommy Stinson

There you go, Tommy. No pressure living up to that.

Everything’s Alright Until I Run Into Trouble

Dexateens L-R: Matt Patton, Nikolaus Mimikakis, Craig "Sweet Dog" Pickering, John Smith & Elliott McPherson

“Own Thing” is the “Sweet Black Angel” of Exiled From Main St, a perfect match in basic structure and charming lo-fi-ness. Where the Dexateens differ significantly is their lyrics aren’t an embarrassing relic of blackface minstrelsy. Even worse was that a generation of gaslighting white dudes insisted, “IT'S NOT RACIST! IT'S AN IRONIC TRIBUTE TO ANGELA DAVIS!” (generation caplock)

One of the things I'm trying to impart with Don't Call It Nothing is that the best bands of the 1990s (and 2000s) often IMPROVED what came before. The Dexateens are from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where matters of race aren't a fun little toy that you wind up and it quasi-ironically sings, "Mammy." Actual black people died because actual white people were -- and some still are -- paranoid sadistic fascists. The members of The Dexateens grew up keenly aware of this and existed in opposition to it, which is why instead of making excuses for adults who should know better, you should be rewarding real-ass, red dirt, southern punk 'n' rollers like the Dexateens. In fact, drummer Craig Pickering was one of my students at UA. Sweet Dog!

I love the arrangement of “Own Thing” because other than producer Dave Barbe overdubbing some kick drum, this is a simple, four-track John Smith demo. There’s a lead vocal, harmony vocal, an acoustic guitar (possibly doubled, but I think that’s just reverb), and slide guitar playing that main riff. That’s it. Very skeletal, very awesome. Can you whoop it?

Yes.

Podcast Episode 19 – Exiled From Main St (Pt 2)

Welcome to Don't Call It Nothing, the podcast dedicated to the lost history of '90s roots, rap, and rock 'n' roll, and now officially based on the book of the same name. Go to dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com/book and a PDF download will be available there FOR FREE!!! There’s also a Book button in the nav bar, so however you get there what do you have to lose? Now, if you wanna kick me a few bucks in a tip jar kinda way, I am not gonna stop you from doing that. Hit me up at PayPal and Venmo dontcallitnothing@gmail.com thank you in advance. The other thing you could do is sign up for the podcast at the $5 and $20/month levels. You get bonus episodes and at the $20/month level, maybe we can collaborate on a podcast or you can make a request for a podcast. I’m open to a bunch of different ideas. There’s a “Buy Me a Coffee” button at the top of the page and a “Support” button at the bottom. Both of those work. And if you just wanna hang out and listen I am cool with that, too.

Today, I’d like to dive back in to my song-for-song interpretation of Exile On Main St. I specifically chose songs from the ‘90s and 2000s because I wanted a way to talk about the Stones and Exile without talking about the Stones and Exile. I wanted to think about the album differently, as if its 18 songs were 18 individual ideas that influenced thousands of future bands in obvious and less obvious ways. You know I’m more interested in the less obvious path and so that’s what we’re gonna discuss. I wanna dig a little deeper than the Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, and White Stripes. As a reminder, you can find this playlist on Spotify under Exiled From Main St. And that’s ST for Street, not fully spelled out. Exiled From Main St. OK, let’s do this.

Exiled From Main St

1 Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver - Red Room - 1994 - 3:12

1 Rocks Off 4:31

If you’re gonna do something as ludicrous as a track-by-track interpretation of Exile On Main St, you need to open with a fucking banger because “Rocks Off” is no joke. And that’s why I opened with Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver, a rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut for a few short years in the mid-‘90s, first in San Diego, where they were from, and then in Seattle where they moved in early ’95. That’s where I saw them a ton, usually at the Crocodile with the Fastbacks, Meices, or Overwhelming Colorfast. On “Red Room” you have Dave Jass on lead vocals, Andrew McKeag on backup vocals, and both of those guys are doing the 100 mph dual guitar weave, as George Vidaurri on bass and Paul Brewin on drums hold down the pocket. There's a brief downshift before the band barrels headlong to the finish.

2 Deadly Snakes - Born To Burn - 1999 - 2:28

2 Rip This Joint 2:22

Primitive, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll produced by Greg Cartwright, who’d actually join the Toronto band for their next album. Their energy and lo-fi approach is better than their songwriting, but Deadly Snakes have their moments and “Born To Burn” is probably the best. It opens Love Undone much like “Red Room” opens Uncle Joe’s: with the band’s hair on fire. Hence its role as the "Rip This Joint” of Exiled From Main St. Andre Ethier (still going by St. Clair) nails the vocal howl, we get pumping piano from Max Danger, a great looping bassline from James Sayce, and pocket horns from Matt Dog Carlson on trumpet and Carson Binks on tenor sax.

3 R.L. Burnside & Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Poor Boy - 1996 - 3:38

3 Shake Your Hips 2:59

Recorded in a single afternoon in Holly Springs, Mississippi, A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey — not AN Ass Pocket Of Whiskey, A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey — is an awesome title and the album works because the Blues Explosion plays it straight. It's obvious they have a ton of respect for Burnside, so there’s no schtick. It probably helped that Kenny Brown, R.L.'s slide guitarist, was there as a liaison between the two camps. Whatever the case, R.L. sounds like he’s having fun. “Poor Boy” is one of my favorite songs on the record -- and the "Shake Your Hips" on my alt.Exile -- features Spencer’s in the red guitar fire over a bed of straight up, north Mississippi, electric boogie blues.

4 Gourds - Ants On The Melon - 2002 - 3:40

4 Casino Boogie 3:33

The Gourds aren't an obvious match for the Stones. Most people would compare them to The Band or Doug Sahm. But, they have their Stonesy moments. "Weather Woman" is one. Jimmy Smith wrote that for 2006’s Heavy Ornamentals. "Ants On The Melon" is another, which Kevin Russell wrote for 2002’s Cow Fish Fowl or Pig. Play "Casino Boogie" and then "Ants" and you'll hear a similar shuffling gait, a deep in the pocket swing, and most importantly, a proper mashed potatoes and butter to all the other ratio. Max Johnston plays a similar role in the arrangement to Bobby Keys, except on fiddle instead of sax, Kev is Stray Cat Jaggering on vocal, and Keith Langford on drums is the band's forever secret weapon, down in the engine room making the Gourdian knot move.

Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Lollapalooza, Grant Park, Chicago, August 1, 2008
Photo: Roger Kisby/Getty Images North America

5 Cat Power - Aretha, Sing One For Me - 2008 - 3:13

5 Tumbling Dice 3:45

The first time I heard Cat Power do "Aretha, Sing One For Me" it totally reminded me of "Tumbling Dice," so this part of my alt.Exile was easy. The song is about a couple who get in a fight and break up. The boyfriend is going to see Aretha Franklin, so the girl wants Aretha to sing so good the boy changes his mind.

"Hey Aretha, sing one for me
Let him know our life's in misery
Will you sing a song that'll touch his heart
And make him sorry we are apart"

Jim White's massive drums start with a beat so far back I think they're technically from the previous song. A guitar enters, panned left, also behind the beat and syncopating with White. That's the great Teenie Hodges, who played on the George Jackson original (1972). By the way, Willie Mitchell produced that one. Gregg Foreman (Delta 72) then comes in with some sweet organ fill over the top and centered in the mix. Erik Paparazzi subtly swoops in on bass and, he too, is centered. By the time Chan Marshall's sultry voice enters following a White press roll, we're all about fever in the funkhouse now. Fun fact: Marshall’s guitarist on the rest of the album – and he might be lower in the mix here – is Judah Bauer from the Blues Explosion.

George Jackson was asked about this cover shortly after the release of Jukebox and he had a fantastic response.

“It's got a really different feel from my version. She stuck to the basic melody of the song that I recorded, but I noticed that she added a Bonnie Raitt-style guitar lick. On my version, I mostly used the piano for the melody and the solos, but she uses the guitar, which I thought was really interesting. I'm thrilled she decided to cover it. I've always liked that song, but I think it's great that she liked it enough to do it herself.”
--George Jackson to Andy Tennille, SF Weekly, April 9, 2008

6 Wilco w/Billy Bragg - California Stars (Conan O'Brien) - 1998 - 4:58

6 Sweet Virginia 4:27

"California Stars" as a "Sweet Virginia" sub was a no brainer. And while there are hundreds of live versions available, on top of the Mermaid Avenue original, the one I chose as my favorite was recorded for Conan O’Brien on September 30, 1998. I think it’s got the right balance of moxie, sass, and dare I say verve? Jay Bennett on guitar, Leroy Bach on piano, John Stirratt and Ken Coomer hold down the pocket, and Billy Bragg himself shows up about halfway through to sing co-lead with Jeff Tweedy.

7 Uncle Tupelo & Doug Sahm - Give Back The Key To My Heart - 1993 - 3:26

7 Torn And Frayed 4:17

Obviously, going from Wilco to Uncle Tupelo is fun, given the lineage between the two bands. But, “Sweet Virginia” into “Torn And Frayed” is the rootsiest back to back in the Stones catalog. Those songs require the big guns. “Give Back The Key To My Heart” and “Torn And Frayed” work together because they’re both three-chord country strummers about the downside of drug dependency.

Sahm sings:

"Well, you got a friend named cocaine
And to me he is to blame
He has drained life from your face
He has taken my place"

While Jagger sings:

"Joe's got a cough, sounds kind of rough
Yeah, and the codeine to fix it
Doctor prescribes drug store supplies
Who's gonna help him to kick it?"

Max Johnston’s fiddle plays a role in the arrangement similar to Al Perkins’ pedal steel. That’s two songs now with Max in a feature role. I’m beginning to think he’s pretty good.

Dexateens L-R: Nikolaus Mimikakis, Craig "Sweet Dog" Pickering, Matt Patton & Elliot McPherson (not pictured: John Smith)

8 Dexateens - Own Thing - 2006 - 1:34

8 Sweet Black Angel 2:54

I’m proud of myself for remembering this Dexateens track. “Own Thing” is the “Sweet Black Angel” of Exiled From Main St, a perfect match in basic structure and charming lo-fi-ness. Where the Dexateens differ significantly is their lyrics are not an embarrassing relic of blackface minstrelsy. Even worse was that an entire generation of gaslighting white dudes insisted, “IT'S NOT RACIST! IT'S AN IRONIC TRIBUTE TO ANGELA DAVIS!” (generation caplock)

One of the things I'm trying to impart with Don't Call It Nothing is that the best bands of the 1990s (or 2000s) often IMPROVED what came before. The Dexateens are from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where matters of race aren't a fun little toy that you wind up and it quasi-ironically sings, "Mammy." Actual black people died because actual white people were -- and some still are -- paranoid sadistic fascists. The members of The Dexateens grew up keenly aware of this and existed in opposition to it, which is why instead of making excuses for adults who should know better, you should be rewarding real-ass, red dirt, southern punk 'n' rollers like the Dexateens. In fact, drummer Craig Pickering was one of my students at UA. Sweet Dog!

I love the arrangement of “Own Thing” because it’s stripped down. In fact, it’s just a John Smith demo. He’s playing acoustic guitar, he’s singing lead, he’s also singing harmony with himself, and he adds that steel-sounding slide guitar part. The drums that you hear would normally be Sweet Dog but are, in fact, (producer/engineer) Dave Barbe. If you're a Drive-By Truckers fan and somehow haven't heard the Dexateens, you need to take care of that post haste. This is where the Truckers got bassist Matt Patton and Hardwire Healing, the album containing "Own Thing," was produced and mixed by David Barbe and Patterson Hood.

9 Jayhawks - Waiting For The Sun - 1992 - 4:20

9 Loving Cup 4:25

I don’t really need to go into detail on the greatness of The Jayhawks because I just did that in Episode 17. It’s well established. But, I brought them into alt.Exile because I love how “Waiting For The Sun” and “Loving Cup” are arranged around piano. I get that “Sun” was written on guitar and features predictably excellent Gary Louris lead work, but take away the piano and the song loses a good deal of its punch. The cool thing about Nicky Hopkins playing piano for the Stones and Benmont Tench playing piano for the Jayhawks is that Tench was the logical successor to Hopkins in terms of rock ‘n’ roll piano. He’s obviously best known as a Heartbreaker, but Tench did a ton of studio work in the ‘90s. Leaving aside Petty because he’s a given, check out this list of records on which he plays. And keep in mind this isn’t even close to complete. This is just the stuff I like.

1990 - Replacements - All Shook Down
1990 - Indigo Girls - Nomads Indians Saints
1991 - Dramarama - Vinyl
1991 - Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose
1992 - Cracker - Cracker
1992 - Thelonious Monster - Beautiful Mess - The song I featured in Episode 16, “Body And Soul,” had Tench playing organ on the studio recording.
1992 - Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall
1992 - Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World
1993 - Maria McKee - You Gotta Sin To Get Saved
1993 - Bash & Pop - Friday Night Is Killing Me
1995 - Jayhawks - Tomorrow The Green Grass
1996 - Johnny Cash – Unchained (OK, this is kind of a Petty and The Heartbreakers record)
1996 - Screaming Trees - Dust
1998 - Mike Ireland & Holler - Learning How To Live

Not a bad resume.

Bash And Pop L-R: Steve Brantseg, Tommy Stinson, Kevin Foley & Steve Foley

10 Bash & Pop - He Means It - 1993 - 3:32

10 Happy 3:04

Bash & Pop was Tommy Stinson’s band following the breakup of the Mats and their 1993 debut, Friday Night Is Killing Me, is good, it’s probably not great. But, “He Means It,” “Loose Ends,” “First Steps,” and “Tiny Pieces” are perfect little rock ‘n’ roll gems and “Fast And Hard” is Replacements by way of the Faces. I put "He Means It" in the "Happy" slot on my alt.Exile partly because it's legitimately Stonesy and partly in homage to the famous Jim Dickinson quote. Dickinson, who produced “Brown Sugar,” “You Gotta Move,” and "Wild Horses" for the Stones and Pleased To Meet Me for the Mats, once said:

"I want to say this about Tommy. Some people say that Keith Richards is the embodiment of rock ‘n roll. Well, I know ‘em both, and I say it’s Tommy Stinson. Keith is a cowboy, he goes back to Gene Autry. Tommy, he goes back to Johnny Thunders. Tommy Stinson is rock ‘n roll.”

There you go, Tommy. No pressure living up to that [laughs].

11 You Am I - Junk - 1998 - 2:39

11 Turd On The Run 2:36

You can’t have a playlist inspired by Exile On Main St and not invite You Am I. I actually could’ve had them in about 6-7 different slots, but they’re perfect on “Junk.” This is Peak You Am I. Swaggering fuck rock with bigtime guitar riffs and a horn section. Love the sequence from 1:55-2:20, which starts with a sweet Andy Kent bass riff, Stooges-esque handclaps and horn stabs, and then at 2:06 Rogers grinds out a lead under the “junk junk junk” chanting.

12 Jack O'Fire - Green Onions - 1993 - 2:45

12 Ventilator Blues 3:24

This is one of my favorite Exile comps because both “Green Onions” and “Ventilator Blues” work around hypnotic circular riffs. It’s kin to the John Lee Hooker, Slim Harpo, and R.L. Burnside-style drone boogie, but kind of a wild hair offshoot. I love how Walter Daniels (harp) and Tim Kerr (guitar) wrestle for control of the song as Pepper Wilson (organ), Dean Gunderson (standup bass), and Josh Larue (drums) hold down a loose, funky pocket. That it sounds like it’s about to come off the rails at anytime, but doesn’t, is rock ‘n’ roll.

13 Bad Livers - Puke Grub - 1994 - 3:14

13 I Just Want To See His Face 2:52

This might be my favorite pairing just because “Face” is so damn hard to mirror. Part of its structural genius is that it doesn’t really make any sense on Exile itself. It SHOULD be an outtake. So, including it is punk as fuck and I needed a song to match. Wouldn’t you know it? The Bad Livers were the mensches for the job. Danny Barnes plucks banjo and sounds like he’s singing through a CB radio as Mark Rubin blows tuba and Ralph White saws on fiddle in the back of the arrangement, giving the song a strange kind of depth. Appropriately, “Puke Grub” doesn’t end so much as dissolve, fading out with a couple of audio clips taken from TV.

Gary Floyd (Sister Double Happiness), Crocodile Café, Seattle, 1993-94

14 Sister Double Happiness - Dark Heart - 1991 - 5:06

14 Let It Loose 5:16

Raise your hand if you think Sister Double Happiness was one of the most underrated bands of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I see a lot of hands raised. I should see more. Lead singer, songwriter, and harmonica player, Gary Floyd (formerly of The Dicks), was like a fully realized, apex version of Janis Joplin, a big-voiced, blues rocking Texan who relocated to San Francisco from Austin. However, Floyd wasn’t just a shouter. He was a supple-voiced crooner who could go big or small as needed. Which is good because "Let It Loose" is one of Jagger's best vocals and any comp worth a damn needs a singer with pipes. “Dark Heart” is an anti-war power ballad featuring Floyd on harmonica, Lynn Perko doubling on piano, and Ben Cohen playing either mandolin or an acoustic capoed high on the neck, as well as unleashing a Mick Taylor-esque electric guitar solo towards the end of the song.

15 Blue Mountain – Sleepin’ In My Shoes - 1999/2008 - 2:45

15 All Down The Line 3:49

Similar to Cat Power in that the first time I heard “Sleepin’ In My Shoes” I thought it sounded like “All Down The Line.” We got Cary Hudson on lead vocals and big dog slide guitar, Laurie Stirratt on bass and harmony vocal, George Sheldon on piano, Frank Coutch on drums, and Jim Spake pulling double duty on tenor and bari sax. I wanna note that the version on Spotify from Omnibus came out in 2008 when the band briefly reunited and re-recorded new versions of their older songs as a way to reclaim their legacy and maybe, you know, make a little money. And while I’d prefer “Sleepin’” with the horns, I do like on Omnibus how Cary calls out Frank and George like he’s Bob freakin Wills. It’s really good.

16 Damnations - Happy Woman Blues - 1997 - 3:12

16 Stop Breaking Down 4:34

This was another that didn’t take long to figure out. Sweet Gary Newcomb’s pedal steel is to the Damnations as Mick Taylor’s slide is to the Stones. And while Jagger’s blackfacey mushmouth is my least favorite part of the Stones, his harp playing on “Stop Breaking Down” is fucking awesome. Like both Little Walter and Walter Daniels gotta tip the cap to Mick. Similarly, “Happy Woman Blues” features one of my favorite Rob Bernard solos in his entire discography, twelves bars of slash and burn from :53-1:16. Newcomb actually adds his own tilt-a-whirl solo from 2:00-2:26.

This song is also kind of a built-in Easter egg because though it’s a cover of Lucinda Williams, Lu was basically covering Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” which the Stones covered in 1964 while at Chess Studios in Chicago. And obviously, their name comes from Muddy Waters. So, many levels.

Maria McKee in Option Magazine #53, November/December 1993

17 Maria McKee - Why Wasn't I More Grateful - 1993 - 5:05

17 Shine A Light 4:14

Like “Let It Loose,” “Shine A Light” needs a showstopper, someone who can take us to church. I’d say Maria McKee fits the bill. “Why Wasn’t I More Grateful” is one of her greatest vocals and I love this arrangement. Most everything is center in the mix. Maria, Marvin Etzioni on bass and Don Heffington on drums (aka the original Lone Justice rhythm section), Ben Tench is on gospel piano and organ waft, and Edna Wright, Julia Waters, and Maxine Waters are on glorious backup vocals. Again, all of that is center in the mix, but the guitars and horns are set off in each channel. It gives the arrangement an extra level of syncopation, a little wiggle. It gives you an idea how much Gary Louris was trusted that he’s all alone in the right channel delivering surgical strike lead guitar. So fucking good. Meanwhile, in the left channel are Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor sax (aka the Memphis Horns), there’s a second electric guitar, essentially serving as a third horn, and finally, there’s a single acoustic guitar way back in the mix. It’s always there, always in the left channel. The romantic in me wants that acoustic guitar to be Mark Olson, but it very easily could be Maria herself.

18 Marah - Head On - 1998 - 2:51

18 Soul Survivor 3:49

It takes about 30 seconds for “Head On” to reveal itself as a doppleganger for “Soul Survivor,” but when it does there’s no let up. Like You Am I, Marah feels ideally suited for any kind of mid-‘70s Stones retrospect. The sense of recklessness, the swagger, “Head On” sounds like a band careening toward the edge of a cliff, but never losing control. It’s got that Mummers parade, New Orleans second-line polyrhythm, Dave Bielanko sings like another drum, there’s heavy brass playing guitar riffs, pounding piano in the left channel, oh, here comes a sweet Chuck Berry guitar lead (thanks Serge!), and finally, some subtle ooh aah backing vocals towards the end of the song. It’s rock and fucking roll in less than three minutes. That’s how it’s done.

**Years Covered: 1991-2008**

On the transcription page for this podcast, I’ll list each of the songs chronologically because I think it’s kind of interesting to look at the playlist that way. FYI, the earliest track was from 1991 and that was Sister Double Happiness. The latest was from 2008 and that was Cat Power, as well as Blue Mountain. If you knew nothing about 1990s and 2000s rock ‘n’ roll, you could do a whole lot worse than start here.

1991 - Sister Double Happiness - “Dark Heart”
1992 - Jayhawks - “Waiting For The Sun”
1993 - Uncle Tupelo & Doug Sahm - “Give Back The Key To My Heart”
1993 - Bash & Pop - “He Means It”
1993 - Jack O'Fire - “Green Onions”
1993 - Maria McKee - “Why Wasn't I More Grateful”
1994 - Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver - “Red Room”
1994 - Bad Livers - “Puke Grub”
1996 - R.L. Burnside & Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - “Poor Boy”
1997 - Damnations - “Happy Woman Blues”
1998 - Wilco w/Billy Bragg - “California Stars” (Conan O'Brien)
1998 - You Am I - “Junk”
1998 - Marah - “Head On”
1999 - Deadly Snakes - “Born To Burn”
1999/2008 - Blue Mountain - “Sleepin’ In My Shoes” (podcast has ‘99, Spotify playlist has ‘08)
2002 - Gourds - “Ants On The Melon”
2006 - Dexateens - “Own Thing”
2008 - Cat Power - “Aretha, Sing One For Me”

You Am I L-R: Russell Hopkinson, Tim Rogers & Andy Kent

**Most Popular Year**

1993 - 4
1998 - 3

I think it’s worth mentioning that the two most popular years on the playlist were 1993, which had four selections, and 1998, which had three. That could be coincidence, just happened to be randomly selected. But, is it possible that this overrepresentation speaks to the depth of those years? This might be something I explore more in the future. Just putting it out there.

Outro

Anyway, please visit the Don’t Call It Nothing Facebook page and website, dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com. PayPal and Venmo dontcallitnothing@gmail.com. Like, comment, tell yo mama, and tell a friend. Talk to ya next time!

Sing a Song That’ll Touch His Heart

The first time I heard Cat Power do "Aretha, Sing One For Me" from 2008's fantastic Jukebox, it totally reminded me of "Tumbling Dice." So, this part of my alt.Exile was easy. The song is about a couple who get in a fight and break up. The boyfriend is going to see Aretha Franklin, so the girl wants Aretha to sing so good the boy changes his mind.

"Hey Aretha, sing one for me
Let him know our life's in misery
Will you sing a song that'll touch his heart
And make him sorry we are apart"

Jim White's massive drums start with a beat so far back I think they're technically from the previous song. A guitar enters, panned left, also behind the beat and syncopating with White. That's the great Teenie Hodges, who played on the George Jackson original (1972). Gregg Foreman (Delta 72) then comes in with some sweet organ fill over the top and centered in the mix. Erik Paparazzi subtly swoops in on bass and, he too, is centered. By the time Chan Marshall's sultry voice enters at :30 following a White press roll, we're all about fever in the funkhouse now.

George Jackson was actually asked about Marshall's cover shortly after the release of Jukebox and he gave a great response.

“It's got a really different feel from my version. She stuck to the basic melody of the song that I recorded, but I noticed that she added a Bonnie Raitt-style guitar lick on her version. On my version, I mostly used the piano for the melody and the solos, but she uses the guitar on hers, which I thought was really interesting. I'm thrilled that she decided to cover it. I've always liked that song, but I think it's great that she liked it enough to do it herself.”
--George Jackson to Andy Tennille, SF Weekly, April 9, 2008

Comin Down, Crackin Up

Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver, "Red Room," 1994. The leadoff track to my Alt.Exile is also the leadoff track to UJBOD's self-titled debut. It's ok if you like rock 'n' roll shot out of a cannon. Dave Jass (lead vocals, upper left) and Andrew McKeag (backup vocals, lower right) do the 100 mph dual guitar weave as George Vidaurri (bass, lower left) and Paul Brewin (drums, upper right) hold down the pocket. There's a brief downshift before the band barrels headlong to the finish. RIYL: Thin Lizzy, Mats, 1986-90 Soul Asylum, Slobberbone & Grand Champeen.

Podcast Episode 18 – Book Now Available / Exiled From Main St

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Welcome to Don't Call It Nothing, the podcast dedicated to the lost history of '90s roots, rap, and rock 'n' roll. I’m your host Lance Davis and today I have a pretty big announcement. You know that book I keep talking about? It’s done! Yay!!! It only took three years of my life. Actually, three years, two months, and 18 days OR 28,200 hours. Take that Malcolm Gladwell! [laughs then laugh cries] I’M NOT DELIRIOUS! YOU’RE THE NOT DELIRIOUS!!! Seriously though, if any of you are thinking of writing a book someday, I have one recommendation. Before you start writing, run as fast as you can, head first, into a brick wall. When you wake up in the ambulance, ask yourself if you’re ready to run into the brick wall again. If the answer is yes, then congratulations. You’re a writer.

The best part about this book? It’s free! I know what you’re thinking, “Lance, is maybe the free part tied to the headwound you suffered when you ran into that brick wall.” Maybe. But, the reality is this book is like Paul’s Boutique. There’s so many goddamn samples and references in this thing, there’s no earthly way I could get all that shit cleared in a reasonable amount of time. Besides, that’s not why I did this. Sure, there’s a small part of me that would love to say, “Don't Call It Nothing: The Lost History of '90s Roots, Rap, and Rock 'n' Roll available now at your local B. Dalton.” But, there’s a much bigger part of me that just wants people to have this information. I don’t really care about having an actual book on an actual shelf. It would be nice, but that’s an ego thing.

Please go to dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com, click the “Book” button in the nav bar, and a PDF download will be available. By the way, the book is almost 900 pages. Part of that is because I added photos, but part of that is because I figured since the book is electronic anyway, who gives a fuck how many pages it is? I mean, whether it’s 600 pages or 900 pages, the difference is slightly more space on your hard drive, so why not maximize the output? That was actually an unexpected upside to the self-publishing angle. And while the book is free, I’m certainly not above tip jarring – PayPal and Venmo dontcallitnothing@gmail.com thanks in advance! – but if you don’t pay me a lick I’m ok with that, too. Seriously. If I wanted to get paid for writing about rock music I’d be shitting out Springsteen bios. I’m writing about Prescott Curlywolf, Uncle Tupelo, and Bikini Kill [laughs]. Publishers don’t give a shit about this stuff. If they did, this book would’ve already been written and it would’ve sucked.

If anything, sign up for the podcast because the spirit of the book and pod are basically the same. You can join us here at the $5 and $20/month levels. All family members get bonus episodes, but at the $20/month level, we can collaborate on a podcast or you can make a request for a pod. Whatever. It’s all good with me. Hit that “Buy Me a Coffee” button at the top of the page or the “Support” button at the bottom.

The other thing I wanted to mention was that while I was finishing up the book, I was also working on the next podcast, this one. This is gonna be another two-parter and I think – I hope – you’re gonna like it. So, over the Christmas break I was listening to Exile On Main St and I’ve got a smoldering hot take. It’s still pretty damn good. But – he prefaces dramatically – what if I created a song-for-song interpretation of Exile? 18 songs that individually match the aesthetic of the 18 songs on Exile. Oh, and to add a level of difficulty, most of the songs are from the 1990s — this makes sense given this podcast — and even the 3-4 that were recorded in the 2000s are by bands who began in the ‘90s.

So, what we’re gonna do is spend the next hour listening to those 18 songs. Gimme a week or two and I’ll write and record my track by track commentary. I’ll tell you why I picked the various songs and how they match up with the Stones. Obviously, the “Rocks Off” leadoff track has to be a banger, followed by an equally rippin “Rip This Joint” type track, etc. No pressure. Just the greatest rock ‘n’ roll album maybe ever. What could possibly go wrong? [laughs] So, I’m gonna get out of here and let Exiled From Main St take over. That is also the name on Spotify, so if you just wanna play your favorite tracks, search for Exiled From Main St. And that’s “ST” for Street, not fully spelled out, which is just like the album. Also, please visit the Don’t Call It Nothing Facebook page and website, dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com. PayPal and Venmo dontcallitnothing@gmail.com. Like, comment, tell yo mama, and tell a friend. And now, rock ‘n’ roll.

Exiled From Main St

1 Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver - Red Room - 1994 - 3:12
1 Rocks Off - 4:31

2 Deadly Snakes - Born To Burn - 1999 - 2:28
2 Rip This Joint - 2:22

3 R.L. Burnside & Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Poor Boy - 1996 - 3:38
3 Shake Your Hips - 2:59

 
4 Gourds - Ants On The Melon - 2002 - 3:40
4 Casino Boogie - 3:33

 
5 Cat Power - Aretha, Sing One For Me - 2008 - 3:13
5 Tumbling Dice - 3:45

 
6 Wilco w/Billy Bragg - California Stars (Conan O'Brien) - 1998 - 4:58
6 Sweet Virginia - 4:27

 
7 Uncle Tupelo & Doug Sahm - Give Back The Key To My Heart - 1993 - 3:26
7 Torn And Frayed - 4:17

 
8 Dexateens - Own Thing - 2006 - 1:34
8 Sweet Black Angel - 2:54

 
9 Jayhawks - Waiting For The Sun - 1992 - 4:20
9 Loving Cup - 4:25

 
10 Bash & Pop - He Means It - 1993 - 3:32
10 Happy - 3:04

 
11 You Am I - Junk - 1998 - 2:39
11 Turd On The Run - 2:36

 
12 Jack O'Fire - Green Onions - 1993 - 2:45
12 Ventilator Blues - 3:24

 
13 Bad Livers - Puke Grub - 1994 - 3:14
13 I Just Want To See His Face - 2:52

 
14 Sister Double Happiness - Dark Heart - 1991 - 5:06
14 Let It Loose - 5:16

 
15 Blue Mountain - Sleeping In My Shoes - 1999/2008 - 2:45 (podcast has ‘99, Spotify playlist has ‘08)
15 All Down The Line - 3:49

 
16 Damnations - Happy Woman Blues - 1997 - 3:12
16 Stop Breaking Down - 4:34

 
17 Maria McKee - Why Wasn't I More Grateful - 1993 - 5:05
17 Shine A Light - 4:14

18 Marah - Head On - 1998 - 2:51
18 Soul Survivor - 3:49

Gary Floyd of Sister Double Happiness, Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, 1993-94

**Years Covered: 1991-2008**

14 Sister Double Happiness - Dark Heart - 1991 - 5:06
9 Jayhawks - Waiting For The Sun - 1992 - 4:20
7 Uncle Tupelo & Doug Sahm - Give Back The Key To My Heart - 1993 - 3:26
10 Bash & Pop - He Means It - 1993 - 3:32
12 Jack O'Fire - Green Onions - 1993 - 2:45
17 Maria McKee - Why Wasn't I More Grateful - 1993 - 5:05
1 Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver - Red Room - 1994 - 3:12
13 Bad Livers - Puke Grub - 1994 - 3:14
3 R.L. Burnside & Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Poor Boy - 1996 - 3:38
16 Damnations - Happy Woman Blues - 1997 - 3:12
6 Wilco w/Billy Bragg - California Stars (Conan O'Brien) - 1998 - 4:58
11 You Am I - Junk - 1998 - 2:39
18 Marah - Head On - 1998 - 2:51
2 Deadly Snakes - Born To Burn - 1999 - 2:28
15 Blue Mountain - Sleeping In My Shoes - 1999/2008 - 2:45 (podcast has ‘99, Spotify playlist has ‘08)
4 Gourds - Ants On The Melon - 2002 - 3:40
8 Dexateens - Own Thing - 2006 - 1:34
5 Cat Power - Aretha, Sing One For Me - 2008 - 3:13

**Distribution by Year**

1991 - 1
1992 - 1
1993 - 4
1994 - 2
1996 - 1
1997 - 1
1998 - 3
1999 - 1 / 2*
2002 - 1
2006 - 1
2008 - 1 / 2*

**Most Popular Year**

1993 - 4
1998 - 3
1994 - 2
2008 - 1 / 2*
1999 - 1 / 2*
1991 - 1
1992 - 1
1996 - 1
1997 - 1
2002 - 1
2006 - 1

*Blue Mountain - Sleeping In My Shoes - Podcast has 1999 version. Spotify has 2008.

Thank you, Brian Paulson

Thanks to Scott Danbom and Caleb Rose for bringing up Brian Paulson on my Facebook page. I knew he was involved in a lot of records, but once I started going through his catalog, good God. His run in the '90s is crazy. And this list isn't complete. These are just records I like.

1986 - Soul Asylum - While You Were Out (mixer)

1991 - Replacements - “Kissin' In Action” (mixed track from Don’t Buy Or Sell, It’s Crap EP)

1991 - Slint ‎- Spiderland (producer, engineer)

1992 - Joe Henry - Short Man's Room (producer, engineer, mixer)

1992 - Babes In Toyland - Fontanelle (mixer)

1993 - Slim Dunlap - The Old New Me (producer, engineer, mixer)

1993 - Spinanes - Manos (producer)

1993 - Joe Henry - Kindness Of The World (engineer, mixer)

1993 - Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne (producer, engineer, mixer)

1993 - Hüsker Dü - Everything Falls Apart (remixed 1982’s In A Free Land 7” for the Everything reissue)

1993 - Unrest - “Cath Carroll” single (producer)

1994 - Joe Henry - Fireman's Wedding EP (producer, engineer, mixer)

1994 - Superchunk - Foolish (producer, engineer, co-mixer)

1994 - Jesus Lizard - Show (mixer)

1995 - Son Volt - Trace (producer, mixed “Route,” “Ten Second News,” “Drown,” and “Mystifies Me”)

1995 - Wilco - A.M. (producer, engineered, mixed “It's Just That Simple,” “Dash 7,” and “Too Far Apart”)

1996 - Kelly Willis - Fading Fast EP (producer)

1996 - Archers Of Loaf ‎- All The Nations Airports (producer, engineer)

1996 - Archers Of Loaf - “Vocal Shrapnel” single (producer, engineer)

1997 - Jayhawks - Sound Of Lies (producer, mixed “Think About It” and “Bottomless Cup”)

1997 - Son Volt ‎- Straightaways (producer, engineer, co-mixer)

1997 - Dinosaur Jr - Hand It Over (co-engineer)

1998 - Golden Smog - Weird Tales (producer)

1998 - Archers Of Loaf - White Trash Heroes (producer, engineer, co-mixer)

Brian Paulson on Discogs

You Had One Job, Def American

Signs that your label is not making your band a priority.

Podcast Episode 17 – Waiting For You to Fall (Pinkpop 2)

The Jayhawks at Farm Aid, Ames, Iowa, April 24, 1993. L-R: Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg, Gary Louris, Mark Olson & Ken Callahan.
Photo: Paul Natkin

Welcome to Don't Call It Nothing, the podcast dedicated to the lost history of '90s roots, rap, and rock 'n' roll. I’m your host Lance Davis and today we’re gonna finish our look at Pinkpop ’93.

But first, lemme give a shout out to Mike McAfee for buying me so much coffee I started shaking. That’s how you know it’s working. When you hit that “Buy Me a Coffee” button at the top of the page, you can become a member or you can use it like a tip jar and that’s what Mike did. Honestly, no one had done that before, so cool. Also, much love to Shayne Deal who signed up for an annual membership. Shayne and I go all the way back to Seattle and she spent some time in HB with me and Craig. One of my enduring memories was us watching the insanity pepper episode of The Simpsons over and over because obviously I taped it – I see Anne Warth over there nodding in agreement – and that episode never stopped being hilarious. The brick of weed had nothing to do with it.

If you, dear listener, wanna take a spiritual journey, find your soul mates, your kindred spirits, the ones with whom you share an unspoken bond, join us at the $5 and $20/month levels. All family members get bonus episodes, but at the $20/month level, we can collaborate or you can request a specific podcast. I’ll also give you access to the YouTube and Spotify playlists that are a backbone of this pod. Again, hit the button at the top, the button at the bottom, or just hang out and listen.

Gary Louris doing Gary Louris things

OK, so let’s return to May 31, 1993, and the Pinkpop Festival in The Netherlands. Last time we went dark with the Red Devils and Thelonious Monster. Blues, drugs, fights, cops, jail, death. Add in my bonus episode about Bob Forrest and I separately growing up in racist-ass Huntington Beach and we’ve been knee deep in the muck like the Toxic Avenger. This time around, not totally light, I’m still gonna discuss sexism in the context of the ‘90s music industry, but I promise there will be no staring into the existential void. Today we’re hanging with The Jayhawks and Bettie Serveert, two of the chillest bands to carve out space in the 1990s and beyond. They’ve had weird parallel careers, too. Check this out.

• 1992 - Jayhawks release their third album, Hollywood Town Hall. In Europe, Bettie Serveert releases their debut album, Palomine, but it doesn’t come out in the US until the following spring.

• 1993 - Obviously, both bands play Pinkpop.

• 1995 - Jayhawks release Tomorrow The Green Grass, Bettie releases Lamprey.

• 1997 - Jayhawks release Sound Of Lies, Bettie releases Dust Bunnies.

• 2000 - Jayhawks release Smile, Bettie releases Private Suit.

• 2003 - Jayhawks release Rainy Day Music, Bettie releases Log 22.

Both bands also put out fanclubby type albums in this time frame. In 1998, Bettie released an awesome Velvet Underground covers CD — but in Europe only — and that was from a show they played in November ‘97. Similarly, in 2002 The Jayhawks released Live From The Women's Club, an acoustic performance from that April released through the band's online fan page.

Even though they played after Bettie, let’s start with The Jayhawks. They were one of three Def American bands on the Pinkpop bill, The Red Devils and Black Crowes being the others. Looking at those three bands, it’s like Rick Rubin was assembling a Rolling Stones frankenlabel. The Devils represented the R&B roots of the Stones, The Black Crowes were basically a Stones/Faces cover band with a Jackie Jormp-Jomp lead singer, and The Jayhawks were like the Stones when they were palling around with Gram Parsons and writing songs like “Loving Cup” and “Moonlight Mile.” What separated The Jayhawks from those other two acts is they had the two best songwriters (Mark Olson and Gary Louris), arguably the best musician (also Louris), and an exquisite vocal blend that had its roots in the Louvin Brothers.

That’s The Jayhawks from September 27, 1991, at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis covering “You’re Learning” by the Louvins. Olson is the Charlie down low and Louris the Ira up top as the two Jayhawks extend the close harmony tradition of brother acts like the Louvins and Everlys, but via country rockers like Roger McGuinn, Gram Parsons, and Chris Hillman. For all of the country and folk elements in the band’s arsenal, though, The Jayhawks were at bottom a rock band. You listen to drummer Ken Callahan and bassist Marc Perlman, they’re a rock rhythm section who can play country beats, not the other way around. And we know they’re rock because you have to have rock thickness to support Gary Louris' headcutting Fuzz Face leads and behind the beat, steel-esque guitar bends evocative of the late, great Clarence White. It was a guitar tone completely out of step with the drop-D grunge riffage and metallic funk so popular in the early-to-mid ‘90s.

For example, from that same Uptown show, check out this version of “Wichita,” which appeared on the following year’s Hollywood Town Hall. Perlman and Callahan keep a rock pocket through most of the song, with Perlman going into a countryish backbeat only in the chorus. Their job is to support the vocals and Louris snatching wigs off the dudes who think they’re good guitar players.

Hollywood Town Hall, which came out in September 1992, was way too rock for Nashville, but also couldn't find a spot on commercial rock stations, despite the fact The Jayhawks weren't all that different from Tom Petty and R.E.M. and historically speaking, fit very comfortably in the Byrds/Eagles camp, insert obvious bird joke here. Instead, they found a whole lotta nothing. Gary Louris was interviewed by Rolling Stone in 2016 and he had this to say.

"There was no scene that we felt like we were part of. If anything, there was Uncle Tupelo, but I think we were a little bit ahead of some of the other bands. There weren't a lot of people doing what we were doing at the time and that was part of the thrill of it. It didn't fit in Minnesota and didn't fit anywhere else. There was never any kind of country rock summit meeting. Even to this day, we're still outsiders. We never get acknowledged by any kind of Americana music festival. It's almost like we don't exist in some way, and that's ok. Part of it is probably a result of being isolated up here in Minneapolis."
–Gary Louris to Andrew Leahey, Rolling Stone, April 29, 2016

The worst part of all this is that Hollywood Town Hall, Tomorrow The Green Grass, Sound Of Lies, and Smile is a four-album run on par with any comparable run in the Byrds, Eagles, Petty, or R.E.M. catalogs. If you know me, you know how much I’ve listened to The Byrds [Adios Lounge]. The Jayhawks did everything The Byrds did, but better. Olson sings like GP and writes like Gene Clark. Louris is so good he’s like Clarence White on guitar multiplied by Roger McGuinn the singer AND songwriter — and he’s better than McGuinn at both. Perlman and Hillman are a push on bass and Callahan and Tim O’Reagan may not be as busy as Gene Parsons as drummers, but do plenty fine in holding down a pocket. The Byrds have Dave Crosby. The Jayhawks have Karen Grotberg. Massive advantage Jayhawks.

And yet it’s The Jayhawks who became cult artists instead of a legacy act, which is what they deserved. If you were programming commercial radio between 1992 and 2001 and didn’t put The Jayhawks into medium rotation – I’m not even saying heavy, medium would’ve been fine – consider yourself a failure at your job. Is it any coincidence the music industry was collapsing when Smile came out? Industry apologists will say file sharing killed the golden goose, but if you couldn’t fucking turn The Jayhawks into household names – which should’ve been a layup since they did all the work – you dicks deserved Napsterpocalypse.

That’s The Jayhawks from Pinkpop ’93 with “Waiting For The Sun,” another one of those “impossible to market” songs from Hollywood Town Hall. I mean, how could normies possibly enjoy Olson/Louris harmonies, Karen Grotberg throwing down diamond tiara piano lines, and Louris’ big riff swamp guitar? Pfft. Back in the loincloth, Keidis!

The Jayhawks were in that unenviable position where other bands loved them, their fans knew how good they were, but they couldn’t gain any traction in the marketplace. Which is how they found themselves playing with Joe Henry for a spell. They all lived in Minneapolis, so Henry and The Jayhawks became fast friends. They played, toured, and wrote together. Henry contributed liner notes to Hollywood Town Hall and The Jayhawks supported Joe on a pair of albums, Short Man’s Room, which came out in ’92, and Kindness Of The World, which followed in ’93. Kindness has a few jams, like “Fireman’s Wedding” and “Dead To The World,” but I think Short Man’s is the more cohesive record. For example, here’s “Reckless Child” featuring Razz Russell on violin, Dave Boquist (a few years before he joined Son Volt) on banjo, and The Jayhawks on the beach.

The other thing Olson and Louris did before and after Hollywood Town Hall was record demos. There were two different sessions in 1992, one in February and one in October. In my opinion they did this for three reasons:

a)   The songs were pouring out of Olson and Louris and not documenting them would’ve been stupid,

b)   Some of these demos were gonna end up on Jayhawks albums, and

c)   If the band couldn’t breakthrough on their own, maybe another artist could take an Olson/Louris song to Radio City. Them songwriting checks cash the same as all the others.

They cut dozens of tracks during those two sessions, most of them just Olson and Louris, but the February session also included Razz Russell on mandolin and violin. Naturally, several of the songs ended up on Hollywood and Green Grass. Louris took “Won't Be Coming Home” and “White Shell Road” to Golden Smog and Olson took “She Picks The Violets” to the Creek Dippers. And finally, some tracks were farmed out to other singers.

As it happens, George Drakoulias, who produced Hollywood Town Hall, was working on his next project and he needed Olson and Louris to play back up on one of the songs from those demos.

That’s Maria McKee, Mark Olson, and Gary Louris taking Jools Holland to the backporch. “Precious Time” was broadcast on the Beeb on June 11, 1993, only a couple weeks after Pinkpop and a couple weeks before the song was officially released on Maria’s fabulous You Gotta Sin To Get Saved album [Adios Lounge] – another record that inexplicably sold nada because this country hates nice things.

Maria actually allows me to segue to this episode’s political content. Amidst the hours of video coverage of Pinkpop 1993 is a very brief exchange between an interviewer and Karen Grotberg, The Jayhawks’ keyboard player. She joined the band in ‘92 to build on the Ben Tench/Nicky Hopkins piano and organ parts on Hollywood. As much as I enjoy the band before her arrival, Grotberg added depth to the arrangements and was another beautiful voice in the harmony. Anyway, listen to this.

Karen Grotberg interview about women in rock

OK, two things. First, if you didn’t catch that, Pinkpop ’93 featured THREE female musicians on stage. NOT three bands fronted by women or three different female singers on the bill. Three female musicians total. There was Lenny Kravitz’s drummer, Cindy Blackman Santana, there was Carol Van Dijk, who we’ll get to shortly from Bettie Serveert, and Karen Grotberg. That’s it.

Which brings me to the second thing. Having just pointed out this unfortunate fact to Grotberg – which clearly caught her off-guard – why does the host ask her why there are so few women musicians? That’s a rhetorical question. It’s because he’s a clueless fucking idiot male. Here’s the thing, dude. If you have a massive music festival and only three female musicians were invited, you’re basically telling women and girls that being a rocker is a man’s job, which is categorical bullshit. Be happy I didn’t continue with the audio clip because the guy suggests women don’t wanna rock because of babies.

One of my pet peeves about the constant glorification of late ‘60s/early ‘70s rock – and God knows, I’ve been part of the problem – is there’s virtually no female representation outside of a handful of singers. And everyone seems to be ok with this. What I love about the ‘90s is that women were rockin right with the men, you just had to be self-aware enough to notice. Hell, in 1993 alone you had excellent releases by Maria McKee, PJ Harvey, The Muffs, Liz Phair, The Breeders, and Bikini Kill, any of whom would’ve been a welcome addition to Pinkpop. Name me ANY year in the ‘60s or ‘70s with comparable female rock ‘n’ roll excellence and of course I’m kidding there isn’t one.

From Pinkpop 1993, that’s Bettie Serveert with “Tom Boy.”

"Call me a tom boy and I love it
'Cause only a tom boy could stand above it
And simply change it"

That’s what I’m talkin about. First things first, Bettie Serveert is not a person, it’s a band, and the oddness of the name — to an American anyway — is because they’re Dutch. Well, guitarist Peter Visser, bassist Herman Bunskoeke, and drummer Berend Dubbe are Dutch. Lead singer and songwriter, Carol Van Dijk, was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, but moved to the Netherlands when she was seven. Bettie was one of two Dutch bands on the Pinkpop bill, but where Claw Boys Claw was a Dutch band FOR the Dutch, Bettie was a Dutch band trying to break into America. And though Palomine wasn’t released in America until the spring of ’93, Bettie had been touring Europe since the previous fall, so the band was firing on all cylinders by the time they got to Pinkpop.

Like The Jayhawks, Bettie Serveert gave their label a near-perfect album and were rewarded with polite indifference. It makes no sense. Palomine is like if Dinosaur Jr had Debbie Harry singing and writing. I mentioned how the band released a Velvet Underground covers album. That influence was there from the beginning. The band’s use of wide open space, fluctuating dynamics, and pile driving Neil Young guitar reminds me a lot of Silkworm, who I’ll pod about in the future. And I also hear a lot of Robert Smith in Van Dijk’s ability to give the listener a melancholy pop life raft amidst swells of dissonance.

“Tom Boy,” for instance, has an insanely catchy melody with that sweet descending chord progression doubled by Bunskoeke’s bass, who then wanders around a little bit. As much as I love Visser’s ferocious guitar sound, Bunskoeke is the band’s secret weapon. He can carry the low end with drummer Berend Dubbe, but also act as a melodic counterweight to Carol’s voice. Check this out. I’m gonna play “Under The Surface” and listen to the bass underneath Van Dijk’s voice in the first part of the song. Then, play the song again and listen to it just for the poetry of the lyrics.

That’s Bettie Serveert a few months before Pinkpop on a Dutch TV show called Tom & Herrie with the track “Under The Surface.” I mentioned the Velvets earlier. This song’s bridge, where Carol sings, “Now I got this notion and it's bottled up inside,” is very late period Velvets a la “Foggy Notion,” which is why I don’t that lyric is accidental. Which is why I wanna show some respect to Van Dijk the songwriter.

"You better watch out what you're saying
These words could cut like swords
You better watch out while you're praying
Find out what you're praying for
People tell you what they know
They're mostly wrong from the word go
Cause it's under the surface and it's up in the sky
That's why you won't reach it, so don't even try"

That’s next level stuff. She’s beautiful, has a great voice, is obviously a talented songwriter, so when we go back to that stupid interviewer asking why there are so few women musicians, maybe it’s because when lottery pick talents like Carol Van Dijk and Maria McKee and Kim Shattuck and Kathleen Hanna were ready to get their piece of the pie, men in the music industry had no idea what to do with them. Or ignored them. Or vilified them.

Bettie Serveert L-R: Peter Visser, Carol Van Dijk, Herman Bunskoeke & Berend Dubbe

Consider this. KROQ in LA has been one of the biggest commercial alternative radio stations since the late ‘70s. And I know it wasn’t alternative until the mid-‘90s. Before then it was new wave. Whatever was considered alternative or punk or post-punk, they’ve been there since the late ‘70s and in the mid-’90s they were at a peak. What they played influenced many, many other smaller stations and even what MTV played on 120 Minutes. I think I talked about this on a previous podcast, but every December they publish their top 106 songs for the year because they’re 106.7 on the FM dial. They’ve been doing this for years. And while it’s alternative rock for the basics and normies, it’s valuable in telling us where female alternative rockers fit into the equation. There are 106 potential landing spots, so if we can see how KROQ playlisted women in 1993, we can probably get a good idea how that translated nationally. So, here’s every rock song featuring a female singer and I believe in every one of these cases the singer is also the songwriter. Here we go:

KROQ’s Top 106.7 Songs of 1993

11. Breeders – Cannonball
24. 4 Non Blondes - What's Up?
30. Belly - Feed the Tree
40. Juliana Hatfield 3 - My Sister
42. Bjork - Human Behavior
66. Cranberries – Dreams
98. Belly - Slow Dog

That’s it, and again, I restricted the list to rock songs. The Cranberries’ “Linger” was at #7, but that’s chamber pop, not rock. And Bjork might not be rock, but “Human Behavior” has a heavy beat, so I included it. The final count is seven rock songs featuring a female singer by six total bands out of 106. Roughly 5%. No Muffs, no Maria McKee, no Bikini Kill, no PJ Harvey, no Liz Phair, no Fastbacks, no Bettie Serveert.

Bettie Serveert from that same Tom & Herrie show in February 1993 doing “Get The Bird,” a Palomine outtake eventually released on the “Kid's Allright” CD single. Where some songs lean into melody and others focus on space and dynamics, this has that early Dino Jr post-punk hailstorm feel. Drummer Dubbe keeps the pocket loose as bassist Bunskoeke circles around the main riff keeping time. Visser’s wah wah divebomb guitar is predictably spectacular. And Carol brings a hard edge to her singing, not quite into growly bear territory, but holding her own amidst the chaos around her.

Lack of female representation – let alone Bettie Serveert representation – was a subset of a less obvious, much bigger problem. And by less obvious I mean less likely to be fixed. That larger problem was this: Industry gatekeepers were paid handsomely to be terrible at their jobs. It’s easy to villainize record labels because they’re villains [laughs]. But, up and down the music industry supply chain – program directors, music directors, booking agents, promoters, magazine editors, newspaper editors, even us lowly writers – you were constantly rewarded for promoting the thing that was already popular. Conversely, there was little incentive for taking a chance on The Jayhawks or taking a chance on Bettie Serveert. If the numbers came back and said, “Cut bait,” you cut bait. I once made a reference to shareholder rock and this is where that process lives. It’s not a genre. It’s not even about music. It’s fast food. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, the problem wasn’t just that KROQ wasn’t playing women rockers. It’s that even when they played women rockers, they were playing the same handful of women. And we know they were doing this because KROQ was only playing the same handful of men. 1993 was one of the strongest years in rock ‘n’ roll history and you wouldn’t have a clue looking at the playlist of one of the most powerful commercial radio stations in the country. Instead of allowing more have nots to the party, KROQ tripled down on the haves: Stone Temple Pilots, Blind Melon, Pearl Jam, Nirvana – oh hey, there’s “Cannonball” – Radiohead, Rage, the Pumpkins. Oh, and I specified women rockers. I didn’t say anything about lackluster folk/pop because while KROQ had no Muffs, Maria McKee, Bikini Kill, PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Fastbacks, or Bettie Serveert in their top 106, they had four tracks by 10,000 Maniacs!!! FOUR!!! Uggggh. No Natalie, not everybody wants that candy.

That’s Bettie Serveert doing “Crutches” at Pinkpop ’93. It showcases their Silkworm-esque ability to create ocean-sized arrangements using space, depth, and dynamics. I love how the song kicks into high gear at 2:00, eases back into the verse about a minute later, and the Pinkpop crowd starts clapping in time to Carol’s vocal, only to head back into the firestorm led by Peter Visser’s massive guitar. Van Dijk singing, “Let the shallowness surround me, let me drown in it” feels like an apt commentary on commercial alternative radio in the ‘90s.

Bettie should be swimming like Scrooge McDuck in piles of gold coins, but we all know that’s not how the music business works. Some make it, some don’t, but luck has way more to do with it than talent. In fact, talent might get in the way. So fuck it. All a band can do is write and record the best songs possible so that years in the future when they listen back they can be proud. Jayhawks, Bettie Serveert … you both did that.

That’s gonna do it for this week, y’all. As I said at the top of the show. you can become a member at the $5 or $20/month level. Just hit that Buy Me a Coffee button at the top of the page or Support at the bottom. Please visit the Don’t Call It Nothing Facebook page and website, dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com. Like, comment, tell yo mama, and tell a friend.

Talk to ya next time!