Esquerita The First Wildman of Rock'n'Roll (Spin #62, Miriam Linna, August 1990)

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Ron & Scott Asheton - Raw Power, Iggy & The Stooges 1972 - Photographs by Mick Rock

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Loop - Loop 1987 (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.23)

 

It's fair to say that Loop were Spacemen 3's rivals. They were probably the only band that could pose any kind of threat to them. Hailing from South London, these noise terrorists were one of the few bands to reference the nastier end of the '60s bad trip. Many have name-checked the drugged grandeur of The Velvet Underground or the minimalist industrial noise of The Stooges, only a handful succeeded. The flame keeper of Mary Chain's early steps is kept alive by these recordings. In fact, they often sounded like a more psychedelic version of Mudhoney. (During Loop's US tour, they had Nirvana as the opening act.) Less pop, more drone. And fuzz. I mean, FUZZ! When Spacemen 3 split, the Telescopes and My Bloody Valentine stole Loop's thunder. I guess they were always thought of as outsiders, even when they reached number one on the UK indie charts a few times and even made it into the general top 40. Maybe it's better this way. 

This is the soundtrack of a vast, toxic wasteland. Proceed at your own risk.

The Heads - Reverberations: The 90s Singles & EPs (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.22)

 

This Bristol band had nothing to do with its hometown's trip-hop scene. In fact, it was a cornerstone of what was hyped to death in the '90s as 'Stoner Rock' (but it wasn't). While the rest of the UK music scene in the mid-'90s was busy dressing up for Britpop and rave parties, The Heads were holed up in a rehearsal room surrounded by their amplifiers' fuzz and cannabis smoke. Their entire output from the '90s, anchored by their legendary debut "Relaxing With...", alongside a string of singles, EPs and BBC Peel Sessions, stands as an unapologetic monument to heavy proto-punk psychedelia. 

The raw, lethal energy of the Stooges and MC5 was ingrained in their DNA and Sabbath was non-existent to them, unlike most other bands of the era. The Heads took the basic chord progression of dirty garage punk and stretched it out. Hawkwind were already there, of course, but their affection for Can and Neu!'s motorik beats was deeper and this allowed them to transform a simple blues riff into a ten-minute trance. (Am I hearing you shouting the name of Spacemen 3 as well?). The hasty comparisons in reviews from that period to bands like Monster Magnet, Kyuss and Fu Manchu may have some basis and share common elements and fans, but musically they were closer to Mudhoney and Loop or even The Scientists. I believe you have grasped the direction in which this is heading... 

As you can see, I have brought together all of The Heads' rare recordings from the '90s in one place. Their EPs and singles are now highly sought-after collector's items, showcasing their unique "one chord, three pedals" space-garage-grunge aesthetic. Before releasing at least three essential albums, they spent years producing raw, short-run vinyl pressings with staggering, monolithic and psychedelic results, as well as distinctive, high-contrast, pulp-heavy sleeves inspired by cult classics from the late '60s/early '70s such as Russ Meyer's films.

In brief, here are some of the initial chapters of the Stoogian Bible and their chaos theory, as well as instructions on how to appropriately abuse a guitar and an amplifier.

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Outsideinside (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.21)

 

I don't have a problem with the term 'heavy metal' itself, but I do have a problem with people confusing anything with a more heavy approach as heavy metal. Black Sabbath were the only band to invent this genre. Blue Cheer, Motörhead or the MC5, for example, never considered themselves to be metal and of course they weren't. Sorry, not sorry. Like any other band of the era, Blue Cheer's monolithic debut was rooted in rhythm & blues and their first single was an Eddie Cochran cover. However, it was their sheer volume that set them apart. They delivered a 100% rock'n'roll onslaught that bullied the hippies in their home city of San Francisco. 

"Vincebus Eruptum" is the epitome of primitive musicianship elevated to the level of artistic expression by mistake. Focusing on feeling over form, it directly foreshadowed the punk movement that emerged a decade later and along with Sabbath and Stooges influence, created what was called later 'stoner' or/and 'grunge' in the 90s. While "Vincebus Eruptum" was a brutal force unlike anything ever heard before (and probably never to be equalled), "Outsideinside" was a more polished effort, blending high decibels with psychedelia in a less mature way, but it still carried a high risk of damaging your home stereo speakers.

Both LPs were released in 1968, which makes it logical to me to combine them for a post. Together, these two records represent the brief and intense peak of Blue Cheer's original power trio line-up. Still unmatched.