in brief : much more than just a fire in the disco.
the living things look like the verve on crack instead of heroin. i start w/ this b/c, in this new rock world, the influence of appearance and the seeming loyalty to a particular drug say as much about a band as their record collection.
so, kasabian? no, these boys--three brothers and another guy, like the early bee gees--are american. not the killers, but you wouldn't be far off in thinking louis xiv, both bands sharing an interest in the t. rex strut. the living things, though, are far less obsessed w/ their dicks, and more concerned about the biggest dick of them all. just look at the website, touched by the hand of chomsky and zinn.
manic street preachers, then? kinda. if the manics pledge allegiance to guns n' roses, the living things salute those about to rock, "bom bom bom" carried along by industrial-strength ac/dc riffs. lead singer lillian is no j.d. bradfield, though, or no bon scott, for that matter; instead, his deathbed hiss barely rises above the din of guitars. and when he sings of shaking the city to the broad day light, think less about "you shook me all night long" and more about boms over baghdad.
2 comments:
You might want to check out some of the other Living Things songs, esp. "Bombs Below", where Lillian cuts loose with a raw, deep bellow. This band has an interesting history, which was detailed in Spin Magazine not too long ago. They had an album in the can for Dreamworks called "Black Skies in Broad Daylight" and were touring with Velvet Revolver, but there was a dispute between the Living Things and their label, with the band claiming that they were "too political". The songs' lyrics don't really bear that out (I have a promo copy of the album, and all but two of the songs on the newly released "Ahead of the Lions" are old). But apparently Lillian's onstage anti-Bush antics got them kicked off the Velvet Revolver tour, though Duff was a fan. The other fun facts I recall from the Spin article are that Lillian had a heroin addiction and fathered a child with an Italian model. Just like a real rock star! -- jonhope
I miscounted: three of the songs on "Ahead of the Lions" are new. -- jh
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