#125d - CONTRA VII, Part Four: Dead On Revival
Added 2022-09-28 21:10:01 +0000 UTCIn Part 4 of CONTRA VII, Dimitri and Khalid begin exploring the musical origins and Shakespearean career arc of the East San Francisco Bay’s most legendary quirked up white boys (and eventual Castle Bank victims) Creedence Clearwater Revival, including: the murky and arguably Islamic roots of blues music in the Mississippi Delta, growing up in the sleepy post-war SF suburb of El Cerrito, Tom and John Fogerty getting blues-pilled by the local black radio stations in Oakland, John getting constantly hit on by Christian Brothers at Catholic school, joining forces with schoolmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, becoming Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets, signing with the offbeat dirtbag cawmedy jazz label Fantasy Records in 1963, being forcibly named “The Golliwogs” to ride the Bri’ish Invasion wave, John’s unfortunate stint in the US Army Reserves from 1966-68, rebooting as Creedence Clearwater Revival during San Francisco’s Summer of Love, John’s deep hatred of the MK Silk Topper Grateful Dead scene, his even deeper hatred of LSD, Timothy Leary, and stoner culture, his insistence that they always play sober despite CCR’s tactical appeal to the psychedelic crowd on “Suzie Q” and “I Put a Spell on You”, John’s assumption of full Stalinist leadership over the band, his growing anxiety that there’s “somethin’ missing” in Doug’s shuffle beat, and the construction of Fogerty’s mythical bayou from the violent fever dream swamp of the Vietnam War, the political assassinations of 1968, San Francisco MK culture, and President Richard Nixon.
Comments
Blue Eyed Soul only becomes problematic when you call it that. F you’re a just a white dude who loves and empathizes with soul music and are talented enough to make it work, then so be it, but if you’re selling t as “check it out: Soul…but from a white guy!” Then you’re messing up. You’re separating yourself from the black creators of the genre and selling that as if it were an improvement. That’s why the best (both talent wise and respect wise) white rappers are the ones who don’t talk about being white. It’s not part of the gimmick
Max Fennig
2024-07-24 19:38:41 +0000 UTCThank you for pointing out that relation to Islamic vocal performance/styles (around 21 mins)! I heard the call to prayer every day growing up and had not made the connection at any point, feels so so obvious now
Hector
2022-12-19 14:55:26 +0000 UTCThis rocks, but so does The Big Lebowski
Sam
2022-10-04 02:42:34 +0000 UTCListened to this one while riding to the beach at sunset, sublime ❤️
Turtle
2022-10-03 13:36:47 +0000 UTCAlso good ep
globalist shill
2022-10-03 10:31:44 +0000 UTCJosh citarella, mat dryhurst and all the new models careerist charlatans can suck my rod
globalist shill
2022-10-03 10:31:32 +0000 UTChttps://www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/the-american-quest-for-redemption/hawaiis-unexpected-role-in-american-blues-music
Intellectual Dark Wave
2022-10-01 16:40:49 +0000 UTCI'm going to need some sources on Hawaiian music being "the most popular". but to your point, people were more crazy for ukes too, i would argue they were more ubiquitous than Hawaiian guitars . Not an instrument that really screams blues to most people. Though most people couldn't define the blues.
s_ou_b
2022-10-01 16:16:01 +0000 UTCLove this episode. If you ever do an episode on blues, you definitely need to dive into the history of slide/steel guitar, which has a deep connection to the American overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. After the overthrow, the new white government of Hawaii actively petitioned for annexation by the US. Part of this effort was introducing Americans to Hawaiian music in the late 1890's. Hawaiian music became the most popular music in the US and steel guitar became ubiquitous throughout the first few decades of the 20th century. The biggest guitarists in the 20's were people like Sol Ho'opi'i. Blues and country guitarists started to copy the style and in many cases, blues guitarists were taught to play by Hawaiian guitarists who had been sent to various parts of the mainland on goodwill missions.
Intellectual Dark Wave
2022-10-01 03:47:38 +0000 UTCtfw you’re chooglin’ so hard you forget about the Fifth Bay’ul :/
Subliminal Jihad
2022-10-01 03:29:27 +0000 UTC♥️
Ashley
2022-10-01 03:17:13 +0000 UTC“I think the Beatles had producers.” Come on. George Martin!
Brendan Garcia
2022-09-30 22:47:18 +0000 UTCGreat episode again.
Jade Schulz
2022-09-30 20:50:50 +0000 UTCMost true to being a radio station episode yet, as good a structure as you'd want breaking up the dialogue with little wasted time and loads of love. Good shit.
Tyler SJ
2022-09-30 00:57:43 +0000 UTCThe radio announcer intro sounds like a passage from Inherent Vice.
Brendan Garcia
2022-09-29 17:57:46 +0000 UTCYour understanding of the blues.woof.
s_ou_b
2022-09-29 17:24:47 +0000 UTCDimitri’s passion for these classic rock bands I’ve always overlooked is so contagious :’)
sortition crank
2022-09-29 13:50:58 +0000 UTCThe production on these episodes is so good
dfsbs
2022-09-29 13:36:41 +0000 UTCThe call and response form in blues was popularized in cotton fields, basically as a way to stay sane. This is continued through the birth of blues from forced prison labor, especially picking cotton under the barrel of a gun at Parchman Farm (aka Mississippi State Penitentiary), which was the state's largest source of revenue in the Jim Crow era. Read "Worse than slavery" on the evolution of convict labor in Mississippi from reconstruction through Jim Crow. Also there was black market traffic in wives girlfriends and sex workers that the superintendent coopted in the 40s, and he called this innovation "conjugal visitation," which is the first use of that phrase. This and frequent use of firearms because the property was way too big to wall off and monitor the perimeter. It was divided into "camps" and when they finally got permission to make it state executions hub in the early 50s, they went with the gas chamber option.
Martin Kasey
2022-09-29 05:19:24 +0000 UTCBeing a "square" is actually a masonic term, derived from "being on the square," meaning acting in an upright and trustworthy manner. John Fogarty is a free mason confirmed.
The Cheerful Comrade
2022-09-29 02:56:02 +0000 UTCThis was one of my favorite episodes, really interesting stuff. Fogerty is mick excellence!
Dan
2022-09-29 01:24:53 +0000 UTC
