Oh, you know I hate Florida!

Despite being very much into the world of sweaty men (and women) with guitars / drum-kits /basses /keyboards /triangles etc, I tend to stay away from publications such as the NME. Like any other magazine, the NME's dilemma is that it has to sell. And to appeal to buyers, it can't exactly just talk about bands whose members are either dead or in zimmer frames (although I suppose magazines like Classic Rock seems to survive through doing this), so it likes to throw a band into the limelight, strap them into a chair, and point at them, telling everybody that they are the next big thing. This has happened to a fair few bands that I like, and it's highly irritating. Because for everyone that hypes the band there are will inevitably be a bunch of people that claim that they are overrated and terrible because of this hype which is a little depressing. I know I've discussed this before, but isn't it sad that people still judge bands on their popularity?

Don't lie, you'd love to be in there

My favourite band for the past three years has been a group called Rocket from the Crypt (The Clash taking second place). They had a fairly large following in the US, providing the definition of 'cult status' for the dictionary. Followers of the band that tattooed the band's insignia onto their body got into gigs for free, and of course there were a select group of people that bought every one of the group's records and tried to attend all of their gigs. In the UK, the band were remembered for their hit 'On a Rope' and little more. To this day I skip that song whenever I listen to the band's albums. It's built around some silly catchy riff that is extremely dull. Even frontman Speedo dismissed the song as a 'piss-stain to the band's legacy'. Every band probably has one of those songs (e.g Blur - Song 2). So why do I like the group so much? Well, they didn't really bring anything new to the table in terms of a new genre. They were slightly unusual, however, in the fact that they were a balls out rock and roll group with a horn section in the middle of the nineties. Were they ska? Were they punk? Critics of course, love to put bands into silly genres, and RFTC could only be put into something so painfully obvious that it really wasn't cool.

Rocket from the Crypt's songs are all incredibly catchy and danceable, and yet they have that hard punk edge without being some overly garish pop punk band. At least in my opinion. I can't get enough of them. So why didn't they become so popular? I could name a number of reasons, such as how Interscope decided to put all their publicity and promotion funding on Marilyn Manson, and how the band were more interested in touring constantly than promoting themselves in interviews. But I suppose the reality is that it's the luck of the draw, y'know? What if 'My Generation' didn't get enough airplay? Would the Who still become megastars able to live off their past for decades to come (*cough* superbowl 2010)? Who knows. Maybe RFTC aren't so great, and maybe I'm just clutching at straws. It's hard to relate to people that don't share your obsession. But I suppose difference of opinion really makes the human race pretty wonderful.

Drunk blog #whatever

p.s - I've been wanting to do a blog on this band for forever, but I saw this and I was inspired. It's nice to know a few other souls share your opinion.