Dig it. Fuzztacular lo-fi guitar man, Kurt Vile covers Born in the USA era Bruce Springsteen. Don’t mind if I do.
Kurt Vile – “Downbound Train”
Download MP3 >> 16 Downbound Train
Neat. So Mr. Vile’s new record, So Outta Reach, is an EP of odds and sods from his recording session of the album Smoke Ring For My Halo.
I was reading about “Downbound Train” as I do when I download new songs. I want to learn about the history and what was going on. Nothing to flex my brain too hard, usually just poke around on Wikipedia.
Music critic Dave Marsh said that “Downbound” is one of the Boss’ worst songs! Heavy. Who is this Dave Marsh fella anyways?
Turns out Dave is pro Bruce (his wife is a co-manager of Bruce Springsteen) and he’s written a bunch of books about the man. BUT, what is more interesting is that dave marsh was one of the first people to use the term “punk rock” in a publication to describe a style of rock & roll. Now how cool is that?
I always knew that the first band to be described as “punk” was ? and the Mysterians. They had a number 1 garage rock hit in 1966 called “96 Tears.” The song doesn’t sound “punk” rock like you might hear on Jason Lamb’s Punk Show… but this was the first time a music critic described something as “punk.”
? and The Mysterians – “96 Tears”
More poking around on Wiki shows the term “punk” had been batted around in the late 60s and early 70s… but Marsh took it to describe a style of music in Creem in ’71. A member of the Fugs… used “punk” to describe his band’s sound in ’70… but for some reason, it wasn’t in the true “sense’ of the word I guess. BUT, fun fact… Fugs were the first band to have the word “fuck” show up on a recorded album. Neat.
Must be pretty cool to be THEE guy that invented a genre that gets used all the time today.
Right, so what was the point of all this?
Kurt Vile’s “Downbound Train” is a pretty good song. You should listen to it.
Go with yourself.
The Morning After 