You say you want a Revolution?
The Beatles have you covered.
Most music fans are familiar with the Lennon-McCartney tune “Revolution”, the B-Side of the Hey Jude single, released in 1968 to promote the Beatles’ self-titled record, more commonly known as the White Album. Most Beatles fans, besides the supremely dedicated, are probably not intimately familiar with the deep cut “Revolution 9” from the White Album, however.
During the 20th take of John Lennon’s composition “Revolution”, which lasted longer than 10 minutes, the band descended into absolute chaos, playing random dissonances on their instruments, using screeching feedback, while John and Yoko Ono were screaming and repeating random words or phrases. Overdubs were added and the track was further overlaid with home-crafted sound effects tapes.
The first part of the take became the White Album’s “Revolution 1”, markedly slower than the “Revolution” B-Side, while the rest developed into “Revolution 9”. Lennon started work on more sound effects tapes, some recorded in studio or at home, and some taken from the studio’s archives.
“Revolution 9” is an avant-garde, experimental sound collage. It was given its name due to the fact that the words “number nine” are repeated often through the track, panning across the stereo image.
Despite being credited as a songwriter, as per John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney’s famous childhood agreement, McCartney was actually out of the country during the making of the track, and reportedly thought little of it upon his return to the studio. As such, most of the work was completed by Lennon, Ono, and George Harrison. Lennon said that he and Yoko Ono completed the final editing of the piece alone.
“Revolution 9” has sparked lots of debate, with many detractors stating that it ruined the White Album and tarnished the Beatles’ legacy. It received a fair amount of critical acclaim however, with many describing it as a genius, political, avant-garde work, and believing it to be extraordinary and innovative.
Whether or not “Revolution 9” tickles your fancy, it certainly offers something to discuss. The Beatles made a clear statement simply releasing the song: not all creative endeavours had to be catchy or appeal to a wide audience to be impactful, a lesson which has been carried forward by many, including the underground band Sex Moron.
It could perhaps be said that Sex Moron is to the modern musical landscape what “Revolution 9” was to Beatlemania.
Industry Pulse:
Houston Rapper Big Pokey Dies Age 45: Big Pokey was a member of the Screwed Up Click rap collective, based in Houston, Texas. It is said he fainted during a performance and later died in the hospital, but the exact cause of death is currently unknown.
Italian Opera Singer Wins Cardiff Singer of the World: Adolfo Corrado, an Italian opera singer, recently won the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
Glastonbury Festival 2023 Starts Tomorrow: The infamous Glastonbury Festival begins on the 21 June, with decidely all-male Pyramid Stage headliners amidst controversies: Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, and Arctic Monkeys.
Music History:
Jimi Hendrix Stays Hard In Iceland
The famous Cynthia Plaster Caster, an American visual artist, was known for her creation of plaster casts of celebrities’ penises. Their erect penises, that is.
Her most notable work hails from 1968, in Chicago, where she was to make a cast of the one and only Jimi Hendrix’s erect penis.
Jimi Hendrix had a very short mainstream musical career, spanning a mere 4 years, but his influence on rock and electric guitar playing is undeniable. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, of which Hendrix is an inductee, stated that Hendrix was “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s cover of All Along The Watchtower is legendary, and even Bob Dylan said: “I liked Jimi Hendrix’s record of this and ever since he died I’ve been doing it that way”.
As of April 2022, Cynthia’s 30-cm-long plaster cast of Jimi Hendrix will be displayed by the Iceland Phallological Museum. A pilgrimage to the museum is certainly a rite of passage for any die hard Hendrix fan: a unique Jimi Hendrix experience.
It seems Iceland is making it decidedly hard to forget Hendrix’s well-deserved legacy.
Song of the Day:
Halfway There is the standout track from Soundgarden’s 2012 King Animal. It is a phenomenal song with great lyrics, production, and melody. It is a Chris Cornell tune through and through, and his evocative vocal performance is on-brand with equal parts melancholy and power.
Read our: – King Animal Review
100 Albums to Listen to:
Automatic For The People – R.E.M.
R.E.M. was a colossal force in alternative rock, paving the way through the 80s for the 90s’ alternative explosion into the mainstream, with bands like Nirvana citing them as a major influence. 1992’s Automatic For The People, a commercial and critical success, is one of many landmark records that solidified R.E.M. as a magnificent band, that could be appreciated not only by the underground but could also reach wider audiences throughout the world.
2/100
Lyrical Lament:
Would you pardon me, kiss me/Make me ting-aling-aling
Good Golly, Miss Molly – Little Richard
JUNE 5, 2023