We celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest live albums of all time, Deep Purple’s Made In Japan. This is a truly live album– no doctored-up, overdubbed fixes here, just a killer band at the top of their game, tearing through a live set with little thought to the recording process. They thought this album would only be released to a limited audience in Japan… turned out to be a huge hit and the ultimate Deep Purple album. This episode, we explore the power of Deep Purple in all their glory with the definitive version of “Highway Star”.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out these 2 other episodes featuring Deep Purple: https://lovethatsongpodcast.com/the-albums-that-made-us-with-special-guest-greg-renoff/ https://lovethatsongpodcast.com/deep-purple-burn/
And remember to follow this show, so you never miss an episode.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, it’s Brad Page, back once again with another edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on the Pantheon Podcast network. Each episode of this show, I pick one of my favorite songs and we dive into it together, looking for all of those magical moments that make it a great song.
You probably all know by now that Deep Purple is one of my favorite bands. Today we’re talking about the album that made me a Deep Purple fan. In April 1973– 50 years ago this month– Deep Purple released their “Made in Japan” live album, and it became a true classic. So let’s celebrate the 50th anniversary of this great record with a look at one of the standout tracks on the album: “Highway Star”.
We’ve talked about Deep Purple on this show a few times before, and we’ll talk about them again, I’m sure. So I’m not going to go into deep detail on their whole history right here, but here’s a quick overview, just to catch us up to where this album entered the picture in the Deep Purple universe:
Deep Purple was founded around 1968, with the core members being Richie Blackmore on guitar, John Lord on organ and Ian Pace on drums. After recording their first three albums, they fired their original singer and bass player and brought in two new members: In Gillan on vocals and Roger Glover on bass. This became known as the “Mark II” lineup of the band.
By 1972, this Mark II lineup had recorded four albums together, including the “Machine Head” album. That’s their record that includes “Smoke on the Water”, as well as the original version of “Highway Star”.
“Machine Head” came out in March 1972, and the band hit the road to promote it. And by August of ‘72, they headed to Japan to play three shows.
Now, in my opinion, at this point, 1972, Deep Purple were one of the greatest live bands in history. The band was simply on fire, and they were unbeatable on stage. They had retooled their live set to feature more songs from that recently released “Machine Head” album, which were all songs that just came to life when performed live.
The Warner Brothers office in Japan decided that they wanted to record those three Japanese concerts for a live album that would only be released in Japan. The band kind of reluctantly agreed, but they insisted that their favorite recording engineer and producer, Martin Birch, would come to Japan with them to handle the recording.
The band performed the three shows, and though they knew the gigs were being recorded, they didn’t really think much about it. They were just concentrating on putting on a few really good shows for their Japanese fans. Honestly, they didn’t consider the album to be that important either. They figured it was only going to be released in Japan and not that many people would end up hearing it. In fact, most of the band didn’t even show up to hear the final mix.
But somebody at Warner Bros. must have been smart enough to know what they had, because they ended up releasing the album in the U. K. as well, in December of 1972… and it was a hit. So a few months later, “Made in Japan” was released in the US in April 1973. It reached number six on the Billboard chart, and to this day, it’s almost universally considered one of the greatest live albums of all time. Unlike a lot of live albums, there are no overdubs and no fixes done to this record. It is a true live album, representing the band exactly as they were on stage.
Of the three shows that were recorded, most of the album was taken from the August 16 show in Osaka, Japan. “Highway Star” is one of the tracks taken from that show.
“Highway Star” was the song that they chose to open the show, and it’s the first song on the album. It features Ian Pace on drums, Roger Glover on bass, John Lord on keyboards, Richie Blackmore on guitar, and Ian Gillan on vocals. All five band members share writing credit on the song.
The track begins with the band pretty casually taking the stage and getting their instruments warmed up. John Lord leads us into the song with the organ. Ian Pace begins a build up on his snare drum; Ian Gillan introduces the song. Roger Glover is in on bass, and Richie Blackmore’s guitar is revving the engine. This song is about to take off.
[Music]
Ian Gillan was never happy with his vocals on this album. Apparently, he was just getting over a bout with Bronchitis and he just wasn’t satisfied with his performance. But I always thought he sounds amazing on this album. Let’s see if we can bring up the vocal tracks a little bit in the mix and listen.
[Music]
I’ve always loved the interplay between Ritchie’s guitar and John Lord’s keyboards. The way they create this massive sound that’s just greater than the sum of their parts. Let’s hear their parts here. Simple but effective. Richie’s guitar is panned to the left, john is on the right.
[Music]
Love Richie’s guitar at the end there, he’s just wrenching the whammy bar on his Fender Stratocaster.
[Music]
Let’s bring up the vocals again.
[Music]
That is a vintage Ian Gillen vocal right there. And there’s a great drum fill by Ian Pace that leads us out of that chorus.
And that leads us into an organ solo by the great John Lord. There’s a fantastic little instrumental riff here that leads us into the next verse.
[Music]
And let’s focus a little bit on what the bass and the drums are doing.
[Music]
Now it’s time for Richie Blackmore’s guitar solo. And remember, this is recorded live; there’s no overdubs, no punch ins, no fixes. Not every note here is perfect. If you want to hear perfection, go listen to the studio version of this song, which is iconic. But here, you get a performance that is a go-for-broke, knock the audience right out of their seat performance. Richie is on fire here.
[Music]
Once again, Richie is just yanking the hell out of his Annie bar.
[Music]
Here’s the last verse.
[Music]
Listen to Richie, his guitar on the left, and to Roger Glover’s bass, too.
Deep Purple – “Highway Star” from “Made In Japan”, released in the US. 50 years ago this month.
I think for every music fan, there are specific albums you remember hearing for the first time, like watershed moments. This was the album that showed me the power of a live performance, how intense music can be when performed by five musicians at the top of their game.
John Lord passed away in July 2012. One of the most important keyboard players in the history of rock and pop music. I don’t think he often gets the credit that he’s due.
Richie Blackmore, one of the most important guitar players of all time, pretty much walked away from rock and roll around 1997 and formed Blackmore’s Night with vocalist Candace Knight, playing sort of a contemporary version of medieval in Renaissance music.
But Ian Gillan, Ian Pace and Roger Glover still play in a version of Deep Purple today.
Thanks for joining me for this tribute to one of my all-time favorite albums. If you enjoyed this show, there’s plenty more like it. You can find all of our previous shows on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or just search for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on Amazon, Google, Apple Podcasts. Spotify… anywhere that you can find podcasts.
This show is part of the Pantheon Network of podcasts, home to many other great music related shows, so be sure to check them out.
If you’d like to comment or leave a review of this show, Podchaser is the best place to do it. And of course, you can keep in touch with us on our Facebook page. If you’d like to support the show, the best way to do it is to just tell people about it and share it with your friends.
I’ll be back in about two weeks with another new episode. Until then, go get a copy of “Made in Japan” and crank up “Highway Star” by Deep Purple.
Cheap Trick is one of the great American bands. The new book, This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick by Brian Kramp details their history from the very beginning up to their breakthrough album, Cheap Trick At Budokan. It’s an incredible story of hard work & dedication. On this edition of the podcast, Brian joins me to discuss 5 songs that reveal how unique and special Cheap Trick was in their early years. If you only know this band from their hits, this episode is a good introduction to what makes Cheap Trick Cheap Trick.
Besides being an author, Brian Kramp is the host of the “Rock And/Or Roll” podcast, one of my all-time favorite podcasts– an absolute must-listen for every music junkie. Check it out.
TRANSCRIPT:
‘Elo, Kiddies! Welcome to the “I’m in Love With That Song” podcast on the Pantheon Podcast Network. I’m your host, Brad Page Age, and I’ve got something really special lined up for you this time.
Brian Cramp is the host of the “Rock And/Or Roll” Podcast, one of my all-time favorite podcasts. And after a long hiatus, “Rock And/Or Roll” is back with brand new episodes. So I’m very excited about that. But in even bigger news, Brian has a new book out. It’s called “This Band Has No Past – How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick”. In this book, he tells the story of one of America’s greatest bands, from their very beginnings right up to their breakthrough album, “Cheap Trick at Budokan”.
The book is exhaustively researched and covers every detail. It was a very entertaining read, so I couldn’t be happier to have Brian join me on this episode to take a look at the early years of Cheap Trick. For the uninitiated. That’s guitarist and primary songwriter Rick Nielsen, vocalist extraordinaire Robin Zander, the master of the 12-string bass Tom Petersson, and the incredible drummer, Bun E. Carlos.
Brian’s picked five songs as examples of why Cheap Trick is such a great band. And these songs are a great place to start if you’re just getting into Cheap Trick. So, we’re going to talk about these songs, talk about the band, and of course, talk about Brian’s new book. So here’s our conversation about how Cheap Trick became Cheap Trick.
[Music]
BRAD: Well, Brian Cramp, welcome to the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. I’m a huge fan of the “Rock And/Or Roll” podcast, so I’m really happy to have you on the show. And I’m excited to introduce people to the new book, “This Band Has No Past – How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick”. The book will be available September 6, right
BRIAN: As of now, that’s the plan, yeah.
BRAD: September 6, 2022. But people can preorder it now, which I highly encourage people to do right now– go do it right now.
So, to get started, I know the book is, like, over 300 pages, and covers the earliest history of the band in great detail. So I know this is tough to ask, but if you could just give us a broad summary of where Cheap Trick came from and how the band came to be.
BRIAN: Yeah, that’s what the book really gets into. What I found interesting in telling the story is the collision that happened of the baby boom generation, and the British Invasion and the Beatles, and the British Invasion. And that’s exactly where Cheap Trick comes from.
All of them were teenagers, they loved the British Invasion and they all joined bands. So in the mid to late 60’s, all four members of Cheap Trick had their own band. They were all in different bands, but all in the Rockford area.
But the thing is, everybody was in a band. I have a statistic in the book that by 1967, I think it’s two thirds of males under the age of 23 were in a band. I mean, it’s an insane number, but that’s because at that time, what else did they have to do? They barely even had television. But there was nothing else. There were records, instruments… there’s so many distractions for young people these days, but back then, the internet, video games, all of that rolled into one was a guitar and an amp. That’s what they had.
BRAD: Yeah.
BRIAN: And eventually, the book almost becomes kind of like a day-to-day telling of how they formed, how they built this catalog of songs played almost every night of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, even in bars, almost all of them in Illinois and Wisconsin. They made plenty of treks to Michigan, Iowa, Minneapolis, stuff like that, and a few trips outside of that Midwest. But almost everything they did from like ‘73 to through ‘76 was in Illinois and Wisconsin. But it was every night, and just 1 bar after another.
BRAD: Well, one of the things they always say about the Beatles is that they weren’t really that great of a band until they went to Hamburg and played every night for 8 hours a night. And nothing will hone you as a band, both as an individual musician and as a unit, as that kind of level of playing together, and these guys put in that many hours and then some.
It’s interesting how Rick Nielsen, I think is, when you think of 70’s guitar icons, he’s definitely one of those guys that comes to mind. But he started his career as a keyboard player.
BRIAN: Yeah, well, he played guitar before that. He would go back and forth in the early versions of his band, The Grim Reapers. The Grim Reapers and Toast And Jam kind of merged at one point, when they decided they wanted to write their own songs. And there was this guitar player named Craig Myers, who everybody I’ve talked to says he was just a genius, a virtuoso. So, yeah, Rick kind of became the keyboard player. He would play guitar once in a while, but like on the record. Yeah, they made one record for Epic, and he played guitar on the album
BRAD: The Fuse album, right?
BRIAN: Yeah, they were called the Grim Reapers and the record label made them change their name. So, Rick had this band, the Grim Reapers, going back to 1965, but when they joined forces with the guys from Toast And Jam, it was a completely different band. But they still used the Grim Reapers name, just because that was the name with the most notoriety for getting bookings. It was a completely different band called The Grim Reapers, basically.
BRAD: And the Grim Reapers have a connection to Otis Redding and the infamous plane crash, right?
BRIAN: Yeah, they were the opening band for that show. And also, it’s important to mention Ken Adamany, who became Cheap Trick’s manager and was a huge part of writing this book, a lot of my information comes from him and I mean, he’s become a friend. He told me he considers me a friend, which was insane. Yeah, Ken Adamany owned the club, The Factory, where Otis was supposed to be playing. And Ken Adamany was booking bands since the late 50’s. He had his own band called The Night Trains, which is interesting, because he eventually ended up playing with Steve Miller and Boz Skaggs, who were going to the University of Wisconsin in Madison. And Ken kind of went from playing in his own band to eventually just becoming a guy who booked concerts and promoted concerts. And then he started managing some of his bands, and eventually his entire career became Cheap Trick for a while, pretty much. But, yeah, he owned The Factory, booked Otis Redding; The Grim Reapers, yeah, they were supposed to open. This was not the band that I was just talking about with Craig Myers and Tom Peterson, this was the earlier version of the Grim Reapers. So, the only guy from Cheap Trick in that band was Rick Nielsen. But, yeah, they were supposed to open, and then Otis’s plane crashed into Lake Minona, which is really just 5, 10-minute drive from where I am right now. Yeah.
BRAD: All right, so I had asked you to pick five songs that would kind of be like a primer for the first period of Cheap Trick. And so, let’s dig into some of those songs. The first one that you wanted to talk about was a song called “Downed”.
[Music]
BRIAN: It’s hard to know when Rick wrote this song. It’s about a period when he thought about moving to Australia in, like, 1971.
BRAD: Yeah, that’s like one of the first lines of the song, right? He references in Australia.
BRIAN: Yeah. There’s even a newspaper article when the second version of Fuse that had Stewkey and Tom Mooney from Nazz in the band, when that band broke up, the newspaper said that all the guys were going to different places; Rick is going to Australia, Tom Peterson was going to Germany, Tom Mooney back to California, and Stewkey to Texas. That’s what it said in this newspaper article. And Rick has explained later that one of the reasons he didn’t go was because he couldn’t bring his dog [laughs].
[Music]
BRIAN: I’ve seen him kind of imply, too, that he wrote this song at that time. But the thing is, this song was never played with Sick Man of Europe, the band that he had in ‘71 to ’73, and it was never played in the earliest years of Cheap Trick. So, it’s weird if he would have had this song and then they never played it, so I’m not sure when it, but it is one of the earliest Cheap Trick songs.
BRAD: Well, that’s interesting, too, that it’s one of their earliest songs, but it’s not on their first record. It’s on the second album.
BRIAN: Yeah, most of the songs on the second album they had for the first album, including “I Want You To Want Me”.
BRAD: Me which is so incredible, because the classic thing that everybody says about bands, they have a lifetime to accumulate the songs on their first album and then after that, they’re kind of spent. The sophomore slump and all of that. But here’s a band that had such an incredible catalog of songs that they were able to draw on that for not just their second album, but their third, and even beyond that, which is pretty incredible.
BRIAN: Well, Jack Douglas picked about 20 songs for them to record during the sessions for their first album. And three of those songs were “I Want You To Want Me”, “Surrender” and “Dream Police”. And then none of them were on the album.
BRAD: Well, “Downed”, the intro of the song is great. It’s this descending melody, really strong melody, reminiscent of, like, “Dear Prudence”, but there’s a million songs that do that. It’s got the Cheap Trick patented harmony vocals in there, and then it kicks in with that really heavy riff. And to me, it just encapsulates everything that’s great about the Cheap Trick sound in that one song. You’ve got it all: you get the melody, you got the heaviness, it’s all there. It’s just a super strong track.
BRIAN: Yeah, it really is. It’s a brilliant piece of work.
[Music]
BRAD: The second song that you picked is a song that brings us back to that first album, which there’s some history to this song, “The Ballad of TV Violence”. Why don’t you tell us the story of this track?
[Music]
BRIAN: Yeah, this is another one. One of the earliest Cheap Trick songs, definitely one of like the first ten. This song, I think, is a perfect example of what was so different about Cheap Trick. If you picture a song like this in 1975, if you really listen to the song, and then ask yourself , “who the hell would write this?” It’s a very different song. It’s a very unique, brilliant song, I think, but it’s really odd in a lot of ways, because the song is about Richard Speck, a mass murderer, and you’ve got Robin Zander kind of playing that role. By the end, he’s just screaming. Just screaming like a maniac.
[Music]
BRIAN: It’s an insane song. I mean, there’s a concert they played, on Mother’s Day in a park in Rockford in 1975. And they play this song. And you’re just thinking, “This song is insane. And they’re playing it to a bunch of families in the park.” There’s an article in the newspaper about all the families out for this nice spring day. It’s Mother’s Day. And then the band is playing this song
BRAD: This song about a mass murderer. And the original title of the song was “The Ballad of Richard Speck” or something, right?
BRIAN: Yeah. Richard Speck was a spree killer in Chicago, in I think the late 50’s that happened.
BRAD: Yeah. He murdered a bunch of nurses, right?
BRIAN: Yeah. I think he murdered eight young women just in one night. This insane crime. Yeah.
BRAD: It’s a horrific story.
Speaker C: Yes. And since it was in Chicago, it was virtually like a local event for Cheap Trick, you know?
BRAD: So “The Ballad of TV Violence”, it’s got a great stomping riff to it. I love how the guitar kind of follows the vocal. It’s like you said, Robin is just shredding his voice at the end of the song. I imagine this must have been the last session of the day, because I can’t imagine going back and singing anything else after he finishes this take. It’s intense.
[Music]
BRAD: Well, another song off the first record that you picked is a song called “He’s A Whore”. What’s the story behind this one?
BRIAN: This song came after the last two songs we talked about, at least by a little bit, but they had it by ‘75. And I mean, this is kind of the quintessential Cheap Trick song, really, especially the early version of Cheap Trick. And you think about a song like this in 1975, it’s almost a punk song. It’s just a perfect example of how unique and original Rick Nielsen’s songwriting was at the time. Rick Nielsen’s songwriting is probably more influential than we even realize. You know, the bands like Kiss and even Cheap Trick, a lot of the people they influenced are not considered, by elitist or pretentious people or whatever, they’re not considered top-tier bands, or important bands, or whatever. But if you look at all these people that started bands in the ‘80’s and even the ‘90’s, tons of them were influenced by Cheap Trick. And Rick Nielsen was, his songwriting style was very individual and unique. The way he played guitar and the way he wrote songs, he really developed his own style. And I think this song is a perfect example. Nobody else would have written this song.
[Music]
BRIAN: I think it’s just a brilliant song. But it’s so Cheap Trick. It really kind of sums it up about what was unique and special about the early years of Cheap Trick, I think.
BRAD: Yeah, it’s a classic Robin Zander vocal. And, I mean, he still sounds like that today, which is incredible. Then you’ve got Rick’s backing vocals, which are again, it’s a trademark Cheap Trick sound, those backing vocals that he does.
[Music]
BRAD: The song clocks in at 2 minutes and 43 seconds. I mean, there’s not a second wasted in this song. And that’s, that’s a Cheap Trick thing, too. I mean, all of these songs we’re talking about today, but just in general, their songs are always tight. You know, “Downed” is just over four minutes; “Ballad Of TV Violence” clocks in at over five minutes. But that’s about as long as a Cheap Trick song ever really gets.
[Music]
BRIAN: And a really interesting thing I have in the book is, Ken Adamany had told me a story about how Rick Nielsen, when he would write some lyrics, he would call Ken Adamany’s office, he was the manager of Cheap Trick, and he would dictate the lyrics over the phone to Ken’s secretary, who would take them down in shorthand and then she would type them up. So, then Rick had his lyrics typed, you know, and so Ken Adamany still has this piece of yellow paper from a legal pad, says “He’s A Whore” at the top, and then it’s a bunch of shorthand symbols. And the picture of that is in the book. It’s pretty amazing.
BRAD: Shorthand. Talk about a lost art, right?
BRIAN: It’s hilarious, too, because it’s all these shorthand symbols and you get town towards the bottom and you just see the word “gigolo”, because there’s no shorthand symbol for ‘gigolo”.
BRAD: That’s great. All right, so the fourth track on your list jumps ahead to the third album, a song called “Auf Wiedersehen”. It’s the first song we’ve talked about that wasn’t entirely written by Rick Nielsen; this one, Rick and bass player Tom Petersson share writing credit. But what’s the history of “Auf Wiedersehen”?
BRIAN: Well, they had it for the first album. They had this song, was written in ‘76. It seems like the original title of it was “Kamikaze”. There’s at least one article where the author refers to it as that. That might have been the original title. But again, this is a perfect example of how unique and interesting Rick Neilsen’s songwriting was, especially for the time; it’s another song that’s completely insane. I do a podcast with Ken Mills called “Cheap Talk” where Ken has laughed multiple times on the podcast about when I brought up the concept of you go see Cheap Trick at like a state fair, and by the end of the show, Rob Zander is just screaming suicide over and over at the top of his lungs. It’s a perfect example of early Cheap Trick and how out there it was. But also, it’s a great song. It’s such a cool song, the riffs are amazing.
[Music]
BRAD: Yeah, you’re right, it’s a great riff. Great riff. It’s another pretty tight song, this one’s 3 minutes and 41 seconds long. You can clearly hear Tom Petersson’s 12-string bass at the beginning of it, which is kind of another element of their sound. Not that many people are playing– still today, not that many people play the 12-string bass. Kind of an integral part of their sound in a lot of ways. And Robin’s voice, this is his classic punky voice.
[Music]
BRAD: In your book, you point out what a great mimic Robin was as just as a singer. He really is a guy who could sing anything.
BRIAN: Yeah. And it’s interesting, because when Robin first joined Cheap Trick, when he was like, 20, 21 years old, I don’t think he knew exactly what he was capable of. And I think he learned as he went. He mostly sang, like, folk music, and he was playing for years. He would play Neil Young. Bee Gees, early Bee Gees, Crosby Stills and Nash, he was doing a lot of stuff.
BRAD: Yeah, he was mostly performing as a duo with another guitar player, right? They were primarily acoustic kind of stuff.
BRIAN: Right. Yeah, he did that for years. And he had never really been in a rock band. He had a couple of flirtations with it. But if you hear the really earliest recordings that are available of Robin with Cheap Trick, you can tell that he really developed his vocals, and I think actually learned what he was capable of. You know, eventually Rick Nielsen just starts using Robin’s voice as another instrument. That’s another facet of Rick Nielsen’s songwriting is, he only could write some of the songs he wrote because he knew Robin could sing it.
BRAD: Yeah, there’s so many influences in there. You mentioned it right at the top that all of these guys were big fans of The Beatles and the British Invasion. So, you’ve got The Beatles influence and The Who and all of that. But there’s just elements of everything in his songwriting, and the fact that he had a singer who could pull off whatever he gave him, like whether it was a Beatles pop melody or just an all-out screamer, or something that had that kind of punky edge to it. He could write whatever he wanted and Robin could sing it.
BRIAN: Yep. Yeah, that was very important because it gave Rick Nielsen the freedom to just kind of go wild with his songwriting and run the gamut, from nice and sweet and syrupy to completely over the top insane screaming at the top of your lungs.
BRAD: And that brings us to the last song that you had on your list, which is “On Top of the World”, which is one of my favorite Cheap Trick songs. It’s got everything. It’s got that Peter Gunn style guitar riff at the top. Then it goes into that brilliant chorus that is super catchy. The verses have these very… it’s not a three-chord blues type of riff, there’s a lot of chords in there. It’s very kind of Beatlesque. There’s the piano in there, I assume that’s Rick playing the piano on the track? And then at the end, you have almost this ELO-style, Beatlesque bit at the end. I mean, once again, all the elements of what make Cheap Trick great are in this track.
[Music]
BRIAN: So this is the only song I picked that they didn’t have in the early years. This is one that was actually written probably right before “Heaven Tonight”. They had never even played this song live before they recorded the album. But to me, this is one of the most incredible songs of all time, by anyone. And I think it’s really a quintessential example of exactly how brilliant Rick Nielsen was and exactly how great this band was. The arrangement of this song is stunning. I don’t know how anyone could not be impressed by a song like this. This is one of the best examples, I think, of the capabilities of Rick and the band. It’s an amazing, incredible song.
[Music]
BRIAN: The arrangement and the melodies and the instrumentation and the musicians playing it, everything about it is pretty stunning. Yeah, I thought it was a good way to round it out and maybe the best example, just in terms of songwriting and arrangement, it’s one of the best examples you’re going to find of the brilliance of Rick and Cheap Trick.
BRAD: Yeah, and I think it points in the direction that the band would follow. You’ve got a guy who can write a song like this and of course, a guy who can sing it, but also a band who can execute on all these different parts and changes. It’s kind of like a little mini tour de force of what makes Cheap Trick such a great and unique band. It’s, it’s a great song.
[Music]
BRIAN: Yeah, exactly. Both Jack Douglas and Tom Werman, who have worked with a lot of bands, both basically say Cheap Trick are the favorite band they ever worked with, the best band they ever worked with, the tightest band. They took the least amount of time in the studio. They would just hammer everything out, play it perfectly, because they had been doing it for so long by that point. And they were at the top of their game. But also, they were very creative and unique. Rick Nielsen always injects an element of kind of sloppiness or just wackiness into everything, which I think in some ways, is one of the reasons, maybe, that people don’t realize quite how talented and skilled he was, because he never took himself seriously and never really let anybody else take him seriously, either.
BRAD: Right.
BRIAN: But if you look past that, a song like this makes it so obvious how talented they were.
BRAD: So the book is called “This Band Has No Past”. Obviously, you’ve got to love a band to devote that much time and energy into writing a book about them like this. How did you first get into Cheap Trick?
BRIAN: Well, they were always around when I was growing up. But when I was a kid, everything for me was about heavy metal. So, I knew Cheap Trick, I had a couple of their records ‘cause I would buy records at my local record store for a buck. And so, in my first, like, 50 records I had, I had “In Color” and “Dream Police” in there or something. But they were not one of my favorite bands when I was growing up, it wasn’t until I got to college and it was really the revelation of the first album, which I had no idea about until I was in college and started just collecting records like a maniac. And when I heard the first Cheap Trick album, that was kind of the realization of, wait a minute, this is the same band? That album probably my favorite album of all time. It’s very different from anything else in Cheap Trick’s catalog. And it blew me away at the time. And then I got “One On One”, it’s another of my favorite Cheap Trick albums that I just had no idea about when I was growing up. Once I started getting their entire catalog, and learning more about them, they just became my favorite when I was in college. Of course, Kiss was my favorite band growing up.
BRAD: Yeah, me too.
BRIAN: That’s another thing: I went to college in Madison, where Cheap Trick were complete legends. That was like their home away from home. They were from Rockford, but Madison was where Ken Adamany, their manager, was based. They had a huge fan base there. I don’t know, it just went from there. But yeah, I became kind of obsessed.
BRAD: And what inspired you to write the book?
BRIAN: When I started the podcast– which was one of the smartest things I ever did– I met a lot of people; one of my earliest episodes, I had Greg Renoff on, and this is when he was just working on “Van Halen Rising”. I guess that was part of my inspiration. My original idea was to pitch a “33 1/3” book about the first album; that’s that I first started working on. And I started interviewing people, including some people from the record label. And then I talked to this guy named Jim Charney, who was part of signing the band to Epic, worked for Epic at the time. Turns out Jim Charney had been friends with Ken Adamany since the late ‘60’s. And he’s like, “I could put you in touch with Ken”. And for me, Ken Adamany was like this mythic figure. You know, anybody who was a fan of Cheap Thick just knows about Ken Adamany. But by the time I became a fan, that was kind of around the time they broke ties with Ken. So, Jim Charney puts me in touch with Ken Adamany, and then Ken Adamany gets involved. And that’s when I started to realize that might I have to expand the scope of this thing. And then I was supposed to go meet with Ken, and when the meeting finally happened, he got Bun E. Carlos to come. So, then I had this, like, three-and-a-half hour meeting with Ken Adamany and Bun E. Carlos, and it’s like “OK, OK… Now this is really turning into something.” So, this has been like five years in the making.
BRAD: What were the biggest things you learned writing the book?
BRIAN: I guess I learned that with a project like this, there’s a long period of time where you might not, would never even say it out loud or admit it to someone, but you’re not sure you can actually accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish. And at some point you get over the hump and then it’s a downward slope. And that’s an amazing moment when you realize, “I actually am going to pull this off. I actually can do this.” It’s an insane process to get from a blank page to a 400-page book. So I guess one lesson is, you can do it. I wasn’t anybody, but I just tried. So, if you want to do something like this and you think that you can do it, even if you feel like nobody else thinks you can, there’s no harm in trying, so…
BRAD: Well, we mentioned a few times throughout this episode, you host a podcast called “Rock And/O Roll”, you’ve been doing it for years and that’s how you and I first connected. And you’ve recently relaunched the podcast, which I am totally psyched about. So, just drop a few hints or tidbits about what you’ve got coming up on your podcast.
BRIAN: Well, I. Have a whole bunch of interviews in the can with guys from the history of power pop from the 70’s & 80’s, that’s one thing that’s coming up, and probably a series about Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s con-man grifter manager. And then episodes here and there that’ll be similar to what I used to do.
BRAD: That’s awesome. I’m particularly looking forward to those power pop interviews, that’ll be great. I said it before, and I will never stop giving you credit for it, it was you and a handful of shows like yours that inspired me to start this podcast. This show would not have ever existed without you, so I thank you so much for that. And I thank you so much for coming on the show today. Brian Cramp, the podcast is “Rock And/Or Roll”. It’s available again on your favorite podcast service. The book is called “This Band Has No Past – How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick” It’ll be available September 6, 2022, published by Jawbone Press, right? That’s the publisher?
BRIAN: Yeah, they’re a publisher out of the UK. Do you have their Todd Rundgren book?
BRAD: Mm-hmm.
BRIAN: I figured.
BRAD: Yep. Yep. Yeah. So, Jawbone Press. You can order it from Amazon today. You can get it from your local bookstore. Brian, so good to talk to you. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
BRIAN: All right, thanks, Brad.
BRAD: And thanks to everyone for listening to this episode on Cheap Trick. They’re an amazing band with a really rich, deep catalog. I hope this episode gave you a taste of what the band has to offer and inspires you to check out more of their records. You’ll be glad you did.
Brian’s podcast “Rock And/Or Roll” is part of the Pantheon Podcast Network, right alongside this show and dozens of other music related shows. So please check out “Rock And/Or Roll” and some of the other shows on the Pantheon Network of podcasts.
The “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast will be back in a couple of weeks with a brand new episode, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook and check out our previous episodes on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, as well as anywhere you can find podcasts.
Thanks again for listening to this episode on Cheap Trick. Farewell, sayonara, auf wiedersehen, so long.
"Look The Other Way" (Rick Brewster, Doc Neeson, John Brewster, Brent Eccles) Copyright 1984 ATR/EP/Cat Songs
The Angels (known as “Angel City” in the US) are one of those fantastic bands that made it big in their home country– in this case, Australia– but never caught on in the US. A shame, because these guys had it all: big riffs, great hooks, and clever lyrics. Let’s check out this great track from the band I like to think of as “the intellectual AC/DC”.
“Look The Other Way” (Rick Brewster, Doc Neeson, John Brewster, Brent Eccles) Copyright 1984 ATR/EP/Cat Songs
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Greg Renoff, author of “Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal” and “Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music”, joins us to talk about a pivotal album in his youth, “Burn” by Deep Purple. It also happens to be one of my favorite albums, too. We also spend some time talking about the first solo LP from bass player Glenn Hughes, another personal favorite of mine.
If you liked this episode, check out the previous episode where we do a deep dive into the song “Burn”: www.lovethatsongpodcast.com/deep-purple-burn/
— This show is one of many great podcasts on the Pantheon Podcasts network. Check ’em out!
Frankenstein" (Edgar Winter) Copyright 1972 EMI Longitude Music
In our previous episode, we looked at the history of instrumental songs that topped the pop charts. For my money, there’s never been a more unlikely hit instrumental than the synth-infused, riff-heavy stomper that is Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”. This episode, we break down this instrumental classic featuring Edgar Winter on keyboards, sax and drums.
“Frankenstein” (Edgar Winter) Copyright 1972 EMI Longitude Music
— This show is part of the Pantheon podcast network — THE place for music junkies, geeks, nerds, diehards and fans!
"Kings And Queens" (Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford and Jack Douglas) Copyright 1977 Daksel Music Corp. and Song And Dance Music Co. All rights administered by Unichappel Music, Inc.
Aerosmith was a band on the brink of self-destruction when they set up in an old convent to record their next album in 1977. But despite the tension, drug abuse and general bad behavior, they managed to lay down a few great tunes, including “Kings And Queens“. Let’s dig into this Aerosmith classic.
“Kings And Queens” (Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford and Jack Douglas) Copyright 1977 Daksel Music Corp. and Song And Dance Music Co. All rights administered by Unichappel Music, Inc.
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome, jesters, minstrels, and Knights of the Round Table. This is the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on the Pantheon Podcast Network. I’m your host, Brad Page, and on this episode, we’ll be traveling back through the mists of history to the time of “Kings And Queens” with Aerosmith.
Aerosmith and I have one small thing in common: I was born in New Hampshire and grew up in Massachusetts– and you could say the same thing for Aerosmith. The band members met around Lake Sunapee, a vacation area in New Hampshire where families from the Boston area, and as far away as from New York, would vacation for the summer. In the 1960’s, with all the teenagers in town just looking for something to do, the area became a place where a half-decent band could get steady gigs during the summer, and that’s where Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, and Steven Tyler met. They eventually moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and over time, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford joined the band, and that became the classic lineup of Aerosmith.
By 1977, Aerosmith was one of the biggest rock bands in the country. The days of struggling to make it, sharing a house together, and scrounging up enough cash just to get by– those days were over, but success brought with it a whole bunch of other problems, especially the drugs.
When Aerosmith began work on what would be their new album, the situation was not great. From the start, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton, and Brad Whitford had spent a month prior doing some pre-production, working up new material and some ideas. But Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were nowhere to be found. They never showed up.
Looking to try something different, to get out from the traditional studio into a different environment, the band rented an estate in New York, an isolated place in the mountains on 100 acres with a half mile long driveway. It was called The Cenacle. Built in the 1920s, it had been most recently used as a convent.
Tom, Brad, Joey, along with producer Jack Douglas, moved into the house, and eventually Joe and Steven showed up separately, and promptly disappeared into their rooms and didn’t come down for days. For the recording, Jack Douglas set up each band member in a different space in the house; Joey’s drums were set up in the chapel. Joe Perry’s guitar was recorded in a big walk-in fireplace, and Steven Tyler’s vocal booth was on the second floor. But not a lot of work was getting done. The days were spent shooting guns, driving their cars around the area at dangerous speeds, and just getting loaded. Cocaine and heroin were the drugs of choice.
The fractures were clear. Joey Tom and Brad, who did more than their share of partying, would still be able to pull it together enough in the evenings to work on recording, but Joe and Steven would rarely show up. Joe Perry was clearly dopesick. He’d work for a couple of hours and then disappear back to his room for days at a time. In later years, Joe Perry would describe this period as “we were drug addicts dabbling in music, rather than musicians dabbling in drugs”.
After six long weeks of recording at The Cenacle, the album was still unfinished, but the band packed up and headed home. On the way back to Boston, Joey Kramer crashed his Ferrari doing 135 on the highway, and shortly after Joe Perry crashed his Corvette. That’s what life was like for Aerosmith in the late seventies, like a series of car wrecks.
They would eventually finish the album at the record plant in between gigs. One of the songs that they worked on at the Cenacle and would finish later was “Kings And Queens”.
Now, most of the classic Aerosmith songs were written by Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, but “Kings And Queens” was written by Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer. Later, Steven Tyler and Jack Douglas would come up with the lyrics together. So all five of them share writing credit. But it was really Whitford, Hamilton and Kramer that put the music together back at The Cenacle when Steven and Joe were nowhere to be found– Joe Perry is barely on the track at all.
So, let’s get into the song. It begins with the main riff: classic guitar, bass and drums.
Build into the first verse.
First, let’s look at Steven Tyler’s vocals here. I think he sounds great on this song. Some of his best work is when he’s singing lyrics that are on the darker side. He’s really able to nail that eerie, foreboding mood here.
This song doesn’t have a traditional song structure. There’s no chorus really. And this next line is one of the few times he actually uses the song title. It comes around at the end, but there it’s buried in the mix. This is the only time “Kings And Queens” is up-front in the mix.
Let’s take a listen to some of the other things going on in this track. The bass part couldn’t be more simple. It doesn’t sound like much on its own, but when you combine that with the drums, guitars and other parts, it creates the essential foundation for the feel of the song. Other bass players wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to gussy up their part. But Tom Hamilton surrenders his ego for the benefit of the song. And as we’ll hear later on, he gets his moment to shine.
Besides the guitar, bass and drums, there’s some other instruments here too. Most interesting, I think, is the banjo, played by Paul Prestopino.
Now, one instrument I don’t associate with medieval England is the banjo, but they really make it work here. For those of you already familiar with this song, I wonder how many of you noticed the banjo before?
And notice they’ve added harmony vocals here.
Another instrument in the mix is a mandolin, played by producer Jack Douglas. It’s a little harder to hear in the mix, but you can kind of pick it out. Listen to the channel on the right.
At this point, the main riff returns and this time, they’ve added a screeching guitar part on top of it. It’s reminiscent of that classic soundtrack to the movie “Psycho”.
In concert, Joe Perry would play that part. I’m not sure who plays it on the recording. And if you listen closely, it sounds to me like Steven Tyler is also singing that note.
Check out this great drum fill by Joey Kramer. As the drum fill reaches a crescendo, a new element is added, a string section. The chord changes are also a little different.
In this next verse, let’s hear what one of Brad Whitford’s guitars is doing under this.
And if we take the guitars and the bass out of the mix, you can hear a little more clearly what the string section is doing.
Brad Whitford doubles Tyler’s vocal line there.
I love the way that guitar slides up into that riff.
That little pinging sound there, that’s Brad Whitford’s guitar. He’s doing some nice stuff that’s deep in the mix here. Let’s listen to some of that.
And now, here’s where things get even more interesting. Almost a little bit of Prog Rock, Aerosmith-style. I love this section.
The song breaks for an interlude that features the bass and a piano, which is an instrument we haven’t heard up until this point. Let’s just listen to Tom Hamilton’s bass part.
Now let’s go back and listen to the piano part. It’s Steven Tyler playing the piano here. Notice how it’s recorded. The high notes played with the right hand are in the right channel. The low notes played with the left hand are in the left channel.
You can hear how the low notes on the piano are duplicating exactly what the bass guitar is doing. By doubling those up, it really punches up both parts. They’re stronger together than each part playing individually. Let’s listen to the finished mix here.
Then the whole band comes in for a very ethereal solo section. Now, Joe Perry is lauded as the guitar hero in Aerosmith, but Brad Whitford is always overlooked and underrated. He may be overshadowed by Joe Perry’s rock stardom, but Whitford is every bit an equally talented player. It’s Whitford who takes the solo on this song. And it’s a great one.
Brad Whitford. That’s a great solo. It’s an interesting guitar sound too. A notched EQ tone. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably using a wah-wah pedal in a fixed position to get that tone. Something that David Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson used to do all the time. It’s what they call a “cocked wah” tone coming out of the guitar solo.
The band plays this cool little passage leading into the next section. After the guitar solo, we enter the final section of the song where Steven Tyler sings kind of a vocal round as the band churns away underneath.
And let’s take a closer look at the arrangement here, especially the layers of guitars. Here are the drums, vocals and at least two guitar tracks panned left and right.
And then we have these guitar tracks layered on top. Let’s bring everything back into the mix.
Aerosmith – “Kings And Queens”.
Steven Tyler said “the band comes up with the licks and then the music talks to me and tells me what it’s about.This one was just about how many people died from holy wars because of their beliefs or non-beliefs. With that one, my brain was back with the knights of the roundtable and all that.”
Well, thanks for joining me for this epic journey into a great song. We’ll be back in two weeks with another episode. Be sure to join me on Facebook, just look for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, where you can keep up with what’s happening on the show. And if you’d like to leave a review or a comment on the show, head over to podchaser.com. Podchaser is the best place to leave your feedback. Of course, all our past episodes are available there and on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com.
We are also just one of a bunch of amazing podcasts on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Whatever music you’re into, there’s more great podcasts for you on Pantheon, so check them out.
As I head back into my castle and pull up the drawbridge behind me, I’ll leave you with one last look at “Kings And Queens” by Aerosmith.
If you’re anything like me, after listening to a deep dive like this, you’ll want to hear the whole song again. So go buy the album or the CD, or the MP3 files and support the music you love.
"Don't Fear The Reaper" (Donald Roeser) Copyright 1976 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Join us for this Halloween Episode where we take a deep dive into one of the spookiest songs to ever hit the charts. There’s a reason why this song has shown up everywhere from TV shows like “Supernatural”, to films including “Halloween”, the videogame “Ripper”– its lyrics are even quoted in Steven King’s “The Stand”: because few songs are able to create a mood as deep and rich as this one. And it features one of the best guitar parts of all time. (And yes, we mention the cowbell.)
“Don’t Fear The Reaper” (Donald Roeser) Copyright 1976 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
— This show is one of many great music-related podcasts on the Pantheon podcast network. Check ’em out!
"Achilles Last Stand" (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) Copyright 1976 Flames Of Albion Music, Administered by WB Music Group (ASCAP)
Sure, everyone knows “Stairway To Heaven”, but “Achilles Last Stand” may be Jimmy Page’s greatest masterpiece. Layers of guitars intertwined & augmenting each other in a virtual guitar orchestra, with stellar performances from the rest of the band. In this episode, we take a closer look at this underrated classic.
“Achilles Last Stand” (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) Copyright 1976 Flames Of Albion Music, Administered by WB Music Group (ASCAP)
TRANSCRIPT:
Good times, bad times you know I’ve had my share– but it’s all good here on the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, one of the many great shows on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Thanks for being here. On this episode, we’re exploring an extremely ambitious track called “Achilles Last Stand” by a little band named Led Zeppelin. Maybe you’ve heard of them…
After Led Zeppelin wrapped up their 1975 tour, the four members of the band, along with their manager Peter Grant, were planning to leave England to avoid the high taxes. There they were doing what other rock stars had done before them, including the Rolling Stones. They would be tax exiles.
Vocalist Robert Plant was on vacation in Greece with his wife and two children when, on August 4, they had a terrible car accident. The kids were okay, thankfully, but Robert’s wife Maureen, who was behind the wheel, was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured skull and broken pelvis. Robert had multiple fractures in his right leg and elbow. The doctors said he wouldn’t walk again for six months, maybe more.
An American tour had been planned for that summer, but after Robert’s accident, that was never going to happen. Which meant that all that money they were counting on from that tour wasn’t going to happen either. The only way to make up for that loss of income was to make another album. Luckily, guitarist Jimmy Page had a bunch of ideas for new material and Robert wanted to get back to work to do… something. Anything was better than sitting around feeling miserable.
So in September of 1975, Robert Plant, still in a wheelchair, joined Jimmy Page in Southern California to write some new songs. Bass player John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham would join them not long after. Once they finished rehearsing most of the material in California, the band then relocated to Musicland studios in Munich, Germany, to record the album in November. The challenge was that the Rolling Stones had already booked the same studio for December, which left Led Zeppelin with about two weeks to record the whole album.
Jimmy Page, who not only played all of the guitar parts, but also wrote virtually all of the music and produced the album, was working 18 to 20 hours a day on it. In the end, they ran out of time, and Jimmy had to ask Mick Jagger for two more days in the studio to finish up. Jagger gave him the two days, and Jimmy Page, almost by himself, recorded all of the overdubs seven songs worth in one single night. And then Jimmy and engineer Keith Harwood mixed the whole album the next day.
The album would be named “Presence”, and it was released in March of 1976. Robert Plant described the struggle to make the “Presence” album as “our stand against everything, our stand against the elements, against chance. We were literally fighting against existence itself.”
Unlike every other Led zeppelin album, there are almost no acoustic instruments on “Presence” at all. No keyboards, no mandolins or recorders, no acoustic ballads. This is an album dominated by Jimmy Page’s electric guitar wizardry. And “Achilles Last Stand” may be the pinnacle of his guitar playing and arranging genius.
“Achilles Last Stand” is the first track on the album, opening the record with a slow fade in on Jimmy Page’s guitar played on his legendary Gibson Les Paul, nicknamed number one. The part is doubled and then panned left and right.
Almost imperceptibly in the background there, you can hear John Bonham hit a few notes on a cymbal. And with one hit of a snare drum, we’re into the song. Essential to the driving force of this track is John Paul Jones’ bass part, played on an eight string bass. He’s using a Becvar Series Two Triple Omega Bass. This is the first time on any Led Zeppelin track that an 8 string bass is used. He’s playing it with a pick, too, which gives it an extra attack and a little bite to the high end. Listen to how John Bonham uses his snare drum to reinforce Jimmy Page’s guitar riff. Here comes the first verse.
Robert Plant doubles his vocal only on the second half of each line.
Let’s listen to that drum fill.
And notice how the reverb swells up when Robert sings about the devil in his hole.
Now, here’s a new riff introduced into the song. It’s a pretty classic Jimmy Page riff. Let’s listen to that guitar part. And that riff is immediately followed by an ascending guitar part. Two guitar tracks playing in harmony. One has some heavy effects on it. Sounds like some modulation and effect and maybe some phasing too. Let’s hear all those parts together.
Here’s another doubled and harmonized guitar part.
This is another point where they crank up the reverb on the vocal
And here’s a classic Robert Plant moan, saturated in reverb. Next up is Jimmy Page’s guitar solo, and it’s a great one. He rated it himself as one of his best, right up there with his “Stairway to Heaven” solo. And I agree, it’s one of his greatest. It’s full of his unique bends and phrasing that make him one of the most identifiable and unique guitarists.
More doubled and harmonized guitars.
And I love this layered guitar part here.
All right, let’s break this section down. The bass and the drums are totally in sync here, each part reinforcing the other, while Jimmy Page weaves one of his mysterious guitar parts around the others. The unique sound of the 8-string bass is particularly noticeable here.
Robert sings a very haunting vocal refrain, thick with reverb. After a couple of times through, he layers another vocal part over that. Let’s hear that all together.
And here, Jimmy Page combines two different sections into one. Beneath that section, Jimmy Page is now playing slide guitars in harmony. Let’s go back and listen to that drum fill there. And let’s bring Jimmy Page’s guitar part. It’s a great one.
They just keep building it up. Let’s listen to his slide guitar, Here’s multiple parts playing off of and intertwining with each other. Notice how Robert’s vocals move back and forth across the sound field.
Listen to Robert’s vocal here. And so the song ends as it began, with a slow fade on Jimmy Page’s guitar.
“Achilles Last Stand” – Led Zeppelin
After all the blood, sweat and tears—literally– that went into making the album. “Presence” would be Led Zeppelin’s least commercially successful record. Although it’s often ranked towards the bottom of their catalog, I think this album is a triumph, both musically and under the conditions that it was made. And you don’t have to look any further than “Achilles Last Stand” to hear the genius of this band, with each member playing to perfection.
Thanks again for joining us here on the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, let us know what you think on our Facebook page. Just look for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast page and you’ll find us there. And you can catch up on our previous episodes on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com. There’s a ton of episodes there, just waiting for you to discover them.
We are part of the Pantheon Podcast Network, where you’ll find even more music-related podcasts to check out.
We’ll return in two weeks with a new episode. Thanks for joining us this time for our exploration of “Achilles Last Stand” by Led Zeppelin. (To listen to the song again in its entirety, stream it, download it, or buy it from wherever fine music is sold.)
"Ace Of Spades" (Ian Kilmister, Edward Clarke and Philip Taylor) Copyright 1980 Motor Music Ltd, All rights administered by EMI Intertrax Music
If Motorhead is to be remembered for one song, it would be “Ace Of Spades”. The title cut from their most commercially successful album, a track that encapsulates Motorhead– fast, loud, defiant. Let’s dig into this heavy metal classic to see what makes it work.
“Ace Of Spades” (Ian Kilmister, Edward Clarke and Philip Taylor) Copyright 1980 Motor Music Ltd, All rights administered by EMI Intertrax Music
— This show is one of many great podcasts on the Pantheon Podcast network. Check ’em out!
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on the Pantheon Podcast Network. I’m your host, Brad Page, and on this episode’ we’re gonna pummel our ears with two minutes and 46 seconds of the most relentless rock ever produced” this is Motorhead and “Ace of Spades”
[Music]
In Madison, New Hampshire– about an hour from where I live– there’s a giant granite rock called the “Madison Boulder”. It sits in the forest, in the middle of nowhere, pushed there thousands and thousands of years ago by the unrelenting flow of ice during the Ice Age, and then left alone when the ice receded. 83 feet long, 23 feet high, 37 feet wide, weighing about 5000 tons, it’s the largest known glacial Boulder in North America.
The only thing I can think of that’s as heavy as that rock, and as relentless as the ice that brought it there, is the music of Motorhead.
Ian Frazier Kilmister, better known as Lemmy, did a stint as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and eventually landed a gig as the bass player for the ultimate Space Rock band, Hawkwind. Oddly enough, it was Lemmy who came up with the only hit Hawkwind ever had– a song called “Silver Machine” that reached number 3 on the UK charts back in 1972.
[Music]
Apparently within Hawkwind, there was a clash over drug use; the rest of the band was into psychedelics, whereas Lemmy preferred speed. So after Lemmy was busted for possession of amphetamines, they fired him from the band. So he started Motorhead. With Lemmy handling bass and vocals, the lineup eventually settled on “Fast” Eddie Clark on guitar and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums. This would be the classic Motorhead lineup.
Struggling to find any success at all, the band was just about to split up when they went into the studio to record one final song; they ended up recording a whole album’s worth and released it as their first album in August 1977. It actually did alright sales-wise, enough to keep them afloat. They released a single in September 1978, a remake of “Louie Louie”.
[Music]
It managed to make it to 68 on the UK charts, high enough to get them an appearance on the TV show “Top of the Pops”. They released their second album, “Overkill”, in March 1979, and by then, the Motorhead formula was fully established: loud, fast, arrogant, speed-freak rock and roll.
The album was an unexpected success– it reached number 24 on the UK albums chart. The band worked non-stop; by the time their third album “Bomber” reached number 12 on the charts, only six months after the release of their previous album, Motorhead were bonafide rock stars.
Motorhead was one of the few bands that appealed to both punk rock and heavy metal kids alike. Lemmy once said he thought they had more in common with The Damned than with Judas Priest, but no matter which camp you are in, everybody loved Motorhead. And now that they had actual hit records, the pressure was on for the next album.
In early 1980, they headed into a studio in South Wales to work up material for the new album. One of the tracks was “Ace of Spades”. Lemmy didn’t have to look far for inspiration for this one– he already had the Ace of Spades tattooed on his left arm, with the credo “Born to lose, live to win”.
That first version of the song that they laid down is not drastically different than the final version, but there are some important differences. The main riff is slightly but significantly different; it’s in a different key, the breakdown in the middle is missing, and the ending is different:
[Music]
saw the potential in the song and encouraged them to work on it some more, so they revamped the riff into the unforgettable classic we know today. So again, here’s the original riff:
[Music]
and here’s the final version:
[Music]
OK, so let’s get into the track. It kicks off with Lemmy’s bass. He played a Rickenbacker 4000 Series bass, plugged into a modified Marshall Super Bass amp head. Apparently, he set the bass and treble on zero, turned the mids up to 10, and then cranked up the volume.
[Music]
So that’s the intro with the guitar. Actually, I think it’s two guitars double tracked playing the same riff, while Lemmy hammers away on one note.
[Music]
Here’s the first verse. An additional riff is overdubbed on top of the main riff which carries on underneath.
[Music]
Here’s the second verse, and let’s listen to Lemmy’s vocal.
[Music]
It’s a little hard to hear in the final mix, but he actually doubles his vocals there.
The next section of the song is what the band always referred to as the “tap dancing section”. The producer Vic Maile had a cardboard box in the studio full of percussion instruments and noise makers. He pulled out a set of wood blocks and had the band whack away at them, creating this clickety-clack sound effect that sounds a little bit like someone tap dancing to “Ace of Spades”:
[Music]
Next up is a vocal break that’s probably my favorite part of the song;
“You know I’m born to lose and gambling’s for fools but that’s the way I like it, baby I don’t want to live forever”
That’s pretty much Lemmy in a nutshell.
[Music]
Let’s listen to what Lemmy was doing on the bassunder that part:
[Music]
That’s like the gnarliest bass sound ever. That section leads us into the guitar solo:
[Music]
Lemmy really lays on the gambling references here; “pushing up the ante”, “read them and weep”, “the dead man’s hand”.
(The expression “dead man’s hand” is a poker hand consisting of two Black Aces and two black eights; supposedly the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot and killed. There’s no actual proof of this, probably not true but it’s what Lemmy believed, which is why it’s in the song.)
Interestingly, Lemmy really wasn’t much of a card player at all. He preferred playing the slot machines. He even brought one on tour with him.
[Music]
Lemmy is actually playing chords on his bass. Sometimes, as a three-piece band, that’s a way to fill out the songs, but it just adds to the thundering sound of that bass.
[Music]
And let’s not let the song end without giving a listen to what Phil Taylor is doing on the drums:
[Music]
Let’s hear the final verse as they drive the song home:
[Music]
There’s the tap dancing again.
This ending is just perfect:
[Music]
Motorhead – “Ace of Spades”
“Ace of Spades” was released as a single in October 1980, and though it got virtually no airplay on British radio, it managed to hit number 15 on the UK charts. The album entered the charts at number 4– a remarkable achievement. That success did not replicate in the U.S., though “Ace of Spades” was the first Motorhead album to be released in the US. As American commercial radio wouldn’t touch themwith a 10-foot pole, they had to start from scratch here. Motorhead eventually became Legends in the U.S., Lemmy in particular; there was simply nobody else like him, but they never had anywhere near the commercial success in the U.S. that they had in Britain.
“Fast” Eddie Clark once said that out of the millions of dollars that people have made in the music business “I’d rather have ‘Ace of Spades’ than a million quid in the bank, because ‘Ace of Spades’ will be here after I’m gone. It’s a classic and you don’t get cassics every day.” So true.
Eddie would leave Motorhead in 1982 and he died in January 2018. He was being treated for pneumonia at the time he died; he was 67.
“Philthy Animal” Taylor left the band in 1984, though he did return in ’87 and played with them until 1992 when he quit for good. He was 61 when he died of liver failure in November 2015.
And Lemmy, the seemingly indestructible Lemmy Kilminster, died less than two months after Phil. He passed away on December 28 2015 from cancer. There’s a great documentary about Lemmy– it’s simply titled “Lemmy”, and it’s worth watching for sure.
And I hope you thought this episode was worth listening to. The “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast will be back in two weeks with another show, so tune in for that.
In the meantime, share your Motorhead memories on our Facebook page; just look for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, or on our website lovethatsongpodcast.com. And you can always leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to the show, that’s always appreciated.
On behalf of the Pantheon Podcast Network, I thank everyone for listening and supporting these shows. And with that, I’ll leave you with Motorhead and “Ace of Spades”.
"Burn" (Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Jon Lord and Ian Paice) Copyright 1974 Purple (USA) Music
I’ll happily go out on a limb and say Deep Purple was THE hard rock band of the ’70’s. They could shift from monster guitar riffs to complex classical-influenced passages to outright improvised jams– all within one song. Built around a trio of top-of-their-game players (guitar, organ & drums), with a series of distinctive, powerful singers & bassists — the lineup changes so iconic they became known as Deep Purple Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, etc. This episode, we’ll break down the classic Mark III track, “Burn”, and listen to all the ingredients in this witch’s brew.
“Burn” (Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Jon Lord and Ian Paice) Copyright 1974 Purple (USA) Music
— This show is one of the many great podcasts on the Pantheon Podcasts network. Check ’em all out!
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