Idolator
Anyone who's read their share of REM interviews knows the tale in which a young Michael Stipe buys Patti Smith's Horses, plays it over and over while eating a bowl of cherries and decides "hey, I think I'll find a record store clerk with a guitar and mumble over his arpeggios" before vomiting. It's one of those anecdotes that helped establish the lineage of underground cool, along with the immortal adage "everyone who heard the Velvet Underground started a band." Now Stipe has given a self-professed "exclusive" to Death and Taxes magazine, admitting that Horses wasn't the only album he bought that day. "One of them was Hall & Oates, one of them was Foghat, Fool For the City." Have a field day, popists!
It's a part of my little corner of history that I went at the age of 15 and bought the Patti Smith album [Horses] the day it was released. And I sat listening to it all night, and it changed my life—I decided to be a singer in a band. What I've never told anyone, and this is exclusive, is that I also bought four other albums that day. One of them was Hall & Oates, one of them was Foghat, Fool For the City. I don't where I got all that cash from—records were kind of expensive at the time—but I think I bought five records altogether that day. I gravitated towards one over all the others. But all the others were still there, and still in my consciousness.That was the backdrop of me being in high school: Ted Nugent, Foghat, Styx, REO Speedwagon and these were the bands in the Midwest that resonated with regular kids and what was on the radio. It was rock. Pathetic, but there it is.
Will this revelation allow Foghat to join Hall & Oates in the ever-evolving Pitchfork canon?
Probably not.
The Mysterious Mr. Stipe [Death + Taxes]
FOGHAT-FOOL FOR THE CITY Live 1981 MTV Concert [YouTube]
Comments
Obviously you haven't been in the Pitchfork Party Van (a '73 Econoline with Ian Curtis riding a unicorn airbrushed on the side). It's Acapulco Gold and "Slow Ride" all night, bro.
I remember reading an interview with a friend of the teenaged Michael Stipe and she said he was a huge Led Zeppelin fan but would rather die than admit that now. What, he's too cool for Zeppelin? REM has been irrelevant since 'Green' and would have greatly benefited from a fiery plane crash.
That said, Hall & Oates is a million times better than Patti Smith and her pretentious dreck.
Ian Curtis riding a unicorn
Worst goth slash ever.
@Ned Raggett: Ahahahahahaha!
Hall & Oates > Foghat > Patti Smith
THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING
/kills self
@NeverEnough: My head just exploded reading that.
Am I the only one who now wishes he could listen to the latest Stipe & Buck blue-eyed soul single instead of Accelerate?
@Camp Tiger Claw: Apologies. Few things in life have disappointed me more then the quick devolution of REM. Remember when they were amazing? It all makes me sad and ranty.
@NeverEnough: It all makes me sad and ranty.
Well, if you're gonna be sad and ranty about a band, this is place to do it. See every post on Weezer. I guess the good thing is that the band must've been great at one time to conjure up sad and ranty. I mean, do you think there's anyone that gets sad and ranty about, say, Marcy's Playground?
Lessee...late '75, early '76...I guess Stipe bought the "Silver" album? (I.e., Daryl Hall & John Oates, the S/T record.) That's the one with "Sara Smile" on it; so he gets points for picking a decent single.
I suppose he also could've bought Abandoned Luncheonette, which is a better all-around album; or War Babies, which was produced by Todd Rundgren, thus preserving his 16-year-old, prepunk cred.
@Chris Molanphy: 'Sara Smile' is the one song containing my name that doesn't make my vulva recoil back into my body cavity in sheer horror. I won't even mention what the Jeffereson Starship song does to me...
I dunno. Maybe it's because I was 16 in 1976- just the right age at the right time for that sort of thing- but I've always kinda had a soft spot for the 'Hat. They were a solid (if occasionally plodding) BritBluesBoogie band that strove to entertain, make money, and get laid, nothing more...and I can find no fault in that. Plus, they could play a little, and their second LP has one of the best covers ever.
And I don't know if they're the greater artistes, but I certainly got more enjoyment from any Hall & Oates album (well, pre-1983 anyway) than I ever have any Patti Smith LPs...
@JohnnyBacardi: I'm not ashamed to say it: I like Foghat. Very much. Their bass player was awesome and they had two songs predominantly featured in Dazed and Confused.
@How do I say this ... THROWDINI!: They're no Marcy's Playground, but I get sad and ranty over LFO.
@NeverEnough: Yeah, what's wrong with Zep? Or Hall & Oates? Even Peter Buck said that one of his favorite bands was the Monkees (I suspect from Buck's style of playing, his fave Monkee was Papa Nez).
Anyway, that silver album cover? Daryl was pretty-pretty on it. It wasn't until I saw the sideburns on his face did I realize the blond(e) was Daryl, and when I saw it, it was post 1982. It must've blown a few minds back in '75.
Also: Foghat did "Slow Ride"? Huh. That song makes me snore-y.
@NeverEnough:
You are my hero.
@FionaScrapple: And you are the wind beneath my wings. :)
Wait, we're attacking Foghat now? Who makes these tules?
I meant rules, of course, but tules sort of applies.
That's funny, Patti Smith makes me vomit every time I hear her, too.
Anthony, has anyone ever told you what a great writer you are? I weep at your genius. Really.
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