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| Gazza |
Only rock'n'roll
Just one kind of music speaks to 'Little' Steven Van Zandt: rock'n'roll. As he explains it, the Rolling Stones are more than a band, they're a religion
Will Hodgkinson
Friday July 1, 2005
The Guardian
Keeping on rockin' ... 'Little' Steven Van Zandt.
"Little" Steven Van Zandt is on a mission: to save rock'n'roll from extinction. "If the Rolling Stones came out today, there's not one radio station in America that could play them," says Van Zandt, currently dividing his time between filming the last season of The Sopranos (he plays Silvio Dante), being the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's re-formed E Street Band, and recording his weekly Underground Garage radio show. "The Rolling Stones wouldn't fit anybody's format! How did we end up in a world where there's a format for everything apart from rock'n'roll?"
Van Zandt claims that rock'n'roll is his religion, and as he talks with messianic fervour about the importance of saving America by ensuring it doesn't lose the music of its youth, you have no reason to doubt his faith. With his paisley bandanna and psychedelic shirt, Little Steven certainly doesn't look as if he's been paid a visit by the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy team.
His headquarters, on a stretch of Manhattan that looks out over the Hudson river, is filled with B-movie posters, records in their thousands, and a Sopranos pinball machine. And Underground Garage, his two-hour show that plays modern garage bands alongside both obscure and famous rock'n'roll from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, is a nationwide hit that's currently syndicated to an audience of around a million. But when Van Zandt and his producer Dan Neer approached stations and syndicators five years ago, every single one rejected them.
"There was one thing missing in all the radio station statistics," says Van Zandt. "It's called human nature. I was told that the audiences are leaving and you had to give people familiarity. But there's a reason why the audiences are going away from mainstream radio. It sucks! There's a generation out there that needed to hear cool radio of the kind I grew up on, and a ridiculous egomaniac like me was needed to give it to them."
The idea for Underground Garage began in 2000, after a seven-year fallow period in Van Zandt's life was ended by the discovery of a thriving garage-rock scene coming out of New York City. Having organised the Sun City anti-apartheid concerts, played guitar for Bruce Springsteen and released solo albums throughout the 1980s, Van Zandt entered the 1990s to find Mandela released, Springsteen going solo, and music, in his opinion, taking a turn for the worse. "I moved away from music at that point and did nothing. I literally walked the dog for seven years," he says. "Then an old friend of mine came up to me one day and said: 'You know that band I was in as a teenager in the 1960s? Richard and the Young Lions? Somebody's putting our single on a compilation. Now we're re-forming and doing a gig next week.' It turned out that there was this whole scene I knew nothing about."
The compilation was the Nuggets box set; a collection of mid-60s singles by mostly teenage bands that drew their inspiration from British invasion groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the Beatles. Some, like Open Up Your Door by Richard and the Young Lions, were modest hits, but most were obscurities to be unearthed as forgotten gems decades later. It was the kind of music that Van Zandt had grown up on and first learned to play on the guitar.
"We didn't call it garage at the time," he says. "Back then I just knew I was hearing great songs on the radio, whether that was a soul track like Knock on Wood by Eddie Floyd or a garage single like Talk Talk by the Music Machine." The idea of garage as a genre was born in 1972 when Patti Smith's guitarist Lenny Kaye compiled the original Nuggets album. It featured great songs by mostly one-hit wonders like the Standells and the Shadows of Knight. "Garage bands were linked by a snotty attitude and a sense of teenage frustration. And the fact that they knew the Rolling Stones were the coolest band in the world."
Van Zandt's enthusiasm is infectious, even if you didn't already know that 96 Tears by ? and the Mysterians is the best song ever written. He sees the Ramones, the much-loved, much-missed punk heroes of New York, as the cornerstone of all the music he champions. "I like everyone who influenced the Ramones and everyone the Ramones influenced," he says. So, having heralded the return of rock'n'roll radio, championed a generation of new bands and held down day jobs in The Sopranos and Springsteen's band, what's next? "I need to get Underground Garage on in Britain because England seems to be full of arty romantic stuff right now, like Coldplay and Radiohead. You know, it's great, God bless them all. But it ain't rock'n'roll."
Need to know
First record bought: Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler
Favourite film: Performance
Record to grab in an emergency: The London Sessions by the Rolling Stones
Inspiration: 1960s radio DJ Alan Freed
Recent discovery: Hawaii Mudbombers
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| jb |
Finally a guy who know what rock is all about telling it like it is. |
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| Gazza |
he's well qualified, considering the great band he's in... |
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| sirmoonie |
I agree with this Van Zandt person. |
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| jb |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
he's well qualified, considering the great band he's in...
Gazza, did you know aside from the Stones, I have seen Springsteen over 20 times!!! First show was literally front row at the Jacksonville Coliseum in 1980 on the "River" tour..absolutely one of the greatest shows I ever saw(it didn't hurt that the Boss jumped into the fisrt row and Iliterally held him up!!!! |
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| Nellcote |
Silvio Dante is a great person |
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| jb |
quote:
Nellcote wrote:
Silvio Dante is a great person
Aside from all my b.s., I really wish the Stones got more respect from both the older and younger rockers...I guess it's just a different world as far as music today...A band like Coldplay is certainly not influenced by the Stones. |
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| Gazza |
quote:
jb wrote:
Gazza, did you know aside from the Stones, I have seen Springsteen over 20 times!!! First show was literally front row at the Jacksonville Coliseum in 1980 on the "River" tour..absolutely one of the greatest shows I ever saw(it didn't hurt that the Boss jumped into the fisrt row and Iliterally held him up!!!!
yes, Josh. I was aware of your past Bruce fandom, but not to that level. I'm impressed.
"The River" tour was my first time as well (Wembley Arena, 29th May 1981 - the night before my 18th birthday). First time I was ever in London and the first time I ever went away for a concert. Still the greatest concert I've ever been to or probably ever WILL see. My favourite tour of all time by anyone as well
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| patioaintdry |
Van Zandt referenced The Nuggets box set. This, as well as Nuggets Vol.II, is essential to anyones collection. 4 disc's each, it is simply fantastic music. |
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| Dan |
quote:
jb wrote:
Aside from all my b.s., I really wish the Stones got more respect from both the older and younger rockers...I guess it's just a different world as far as music today...A band like Coldplay is certainly not influenced by the Stones.
Music would be even more boring these days if everyone was influenced by, or tried to copy the Stones. The Stones themselves don't care about respect so much as the cash flow. And many people, even musicians I have spoken to, view the Stones as more of a corporate behometh that places emphasis first and foremost on "marketing" than an actual rock n roll band. Or in Keith's own words, a "virtual corporation."
I listen to Underground Garage whenever I can. I just got a killer DVD of Little Steven and Joey Ramone joining Michael Monroe in NYC in 1993. |
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| jb |
quote:
Dan wrote:
Music would be even more boring these days if everyone was influenced by, or tried to copy the Stones. The Stones themselves don't care about respect so much as the cash flow. And many people, even musicians I have spoken to, view the Stones as more of a corporate behometh that places emphasis first and foremost on "marketing" than an actual rock n roll band. Or in Keith's own words, a "virtual corporation."
I listen to Underground Garage whenever I can. I just got a killer DVD of Little Steven and Joey Ramone joining Michael Monroe in NYC in 1993.
True, the 89 forward Stones are like a virtual corporation. My guess is they must have thought "we are the greatest band on earth and have relatively little $$$ to show for it". Thereafter, the creativity was second to the $$$..it seems to have worked financially as they have grossed over 1 billion since 89. |
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| luxury1 |
OH yeah??!! Well, I partied on Bruce's tour bus back in the day........ |
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| jb |
quote:
luxury1 wrote:
OH yeah??!! Well, I partied on Bruce's tour bus back in the day........
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