Now if you’re a young ‘un, who believes they’ll be healthy until the day they die, working all the while, there’s no need to prepare for the future. But if you’re a boomer, living on a fixed income.
You had to own stocks just to keep up with inflation.
So…
That’s the story of the day, how the market crashed. In the wake of Trump hinting at a recession. And in today’s print edition, the “Wall Street Journal” had an article whose headline says it all:
“Are Stocks a Sure Thing Over the Long Term? Not Necessarily – While it doesn’t occur frequently, U.S. stocks, as well as international markets, have produced losses over 10- and 20-year periods, research shows”
They’re coming for you next. Whether they’re going to fire you, cut your Medicaid, remove support for your research…
But today they reached Elon Musk. And he is FREAKING OUT!
Why?
BECAUSE OF THE MONEY!
The best article I saw on this was in “Rolling Stone”:
“Musk Melts Down as Tesla Stock Price Plunges – The electric vehicle company has become a toxic brand as its CEO wreaks havoc in Washington”
https://apple.news/AVUSDPFCDRYadaxWUhQAsvg
That’s behind a paywall, but if you subscribe to Apple News+ you can read it. You may think the internet is still free, but if you want to know what is going on you have to pay. And information is the key to knowledge and success. The more sources you’ve got, the better you can divine the truth.
So…
Tesla stock went down 15% today.
So it must be Reid Hoffman’s fault. Who Elon is accusing of hanging on Epstein’s island in response.
Or else it’s George Soros, the right wing bogeyman, he’s behind all this anti-Tesla activity. It was all funded via ActBlue, which in truth doesn’t fund anything at all!
And to combat the negative press, Musk is retweeting the comments of Laura Loomer. Talk about credibility!
It shouldn’t be a big surprise, if you know anything about people and business.
Brands have equity. And Musk has completely undercut Tesla’s. He made a cool brand toxic overnight. And this ain’t Bud Light, cars are expensive, good luck getting his bros on X to buy one.
History is littered with brands that were kings until a faux pas. Hell, it even killed the career of Billy Squier. You maintain and nurture your brand equity, it is everything.
BUT NOT TO ELON!
Oh, you’re a believer in Elon?
You should read this piece in the “Times”:
“Musk’s Tweet-Fueled Bubble May Be About to Burst”
Here’s the money shot:
“The high-wire act goes something like this: Dream up a business so ambitious that any setback is trivial and every accomplishment heroic. Identify yourself as the manic genius behind this ambitious business in order to personally capitalize on outsize returns from excited investors. Enlist social media to cement your iconic status, keeping your believers so enthusiastic that their fervor beats back any skeptics who dare to bet against your ventures, even as you pitch more and more fantastical ideas. At this point you hit the flywheel: Other investors, searching for outsize returns, flock to the shares of your other companies, pushing their valuations ever higher, thus fortifying your wealth and burnishing your reputation as a business mastermind.”
Everyone bought the myth. But is it built on a foundation of sand?
Musk’s bona fides are bedrock amongst the bros. He’s an icon, they tell me this every day in a slew of e-mails.
But Richard Nixon still had supporters when he was impeached.
And today, Elon resembles no one so much as Nixon, in that he’s PARANOID!
Elon believes they’re out to get him and none of it is his fault. Which is hilarious if you think about it.
Now let’s be clear, we can’t credit Musk’s freak-out to the Democrats. No article pissed me off today as much as this one:
“Democrats Voice Regret on Scattered Responses to Trump’s Speech – Progressive and moderate Democrats criticized a protest by Representative Al Green as a distraction, and the party leadership tried to refocus attention on economic issues.”
The Republicans don’t do this. Marjorie Taylor Geene and Lauren Boebert are literally looney-tunes, but are they censured by their right wing compatriots? OF COURSE NOT!
Don’t these Democratic bozos know we like that Al Green had a backbone and stood up against the inanities spewed by Trump? It was all a circus, Green was acting appropriately.
But in the circular firing squad known as the Democrats, he undercut their message. Which is exactly what?
I saw a great clip by Chelsea Fagan on TikTok today.
WHO?
I had no idea, but she was served up by the algorithm and she nailed it:
The elected Democrats are paying us lip service, but they really don’t care about us, the working people, the hoi polloi. Everybody knows this, but nobody in the party will say it.
So what happens now?
If you search on Tesla in the Google News you’ll be confronted with a plethora of negative stories. Ditto in Apple News+.
Once again, if we’re depending on the media for change, we’re going to wait forever. The people make change. The media just reports.
And the people are PISSED!
The rich and famous believe they’re inviolate. But when they’re exposed, when they’re confronted with the words of their detractors, they can’t believe it, they’re flummoxed, their intentions were good, how dare you decry me!
It’s hilarious to watch these heroes take a fall. Because they’re so blind.
The public has Elon Musk on the run. Not the Democrats, but the people. Who have taken matters into their own hands.
They hit Elon where it hurt, in his pocketbook.
Who are they going to hit next? Trump? Marco Rubio?
It reminds me of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King verdict. Unlike in ’65, with the Watts riots, this time they came north, into Hollywood. And next time they’re going into Beverly Hills, and Bel-Air too!
People aren’t stupid. They go where the money is, where it will hurt the oligarchs the most.
You may be in a bubble, you may be unaware of all this.
But that does not mean it’s not happening.
There’s a war in America, and it’s just getting started. And it’s being fought by people who have nothing to lose. And when you’ve got nothing to lose, you put it all on the line. Which is why America couldn’t defeat the North Vietnamese.
Can Elon and Donald defeat the American people?
They may have defeated the Democrats, but the public?
It’s not about the album. It’s not even about Spotify, et al.
It’s about social media. And somehow the algorithm didn’t serve it up to me and every story about him didn’t mention this.
I’ve got to give the guy credit. He broke through doing it the newfangled way. Going direct to the customer with a constant slew of new songs. It’s closer to being a comedian than a traditional recording artist. He doesn’t even need an album, never mind conventional streaming traction. He’s the labels’ worst nightmare.
Assuming any other acts take notice and repeat the formula.
I’m not on Facebook. I hear from enough people already and I have no desire to interact with everybody I ever knew. But Facebook doesn’t work like TikTok and Instagram Reels, in that the users post the info and it ends up being seen by their friends, whereas with the latter it’s all about the algorithm.
I don’t want to get into a big debate about Facebook. But I will say things can grow there, you can work it in a way you can’t on TikTok, but you’re mainly reaching an older demo. But Jesse Welles is the kind of act that appeals to old school music fans, those who still believe music counts, that it’s more than mindless drivel, the kind who protested back in the day and had friends over the house to turn them on to their favorite records.
And then there’s YouTube. I didn’t know some people use it like TikTok, just seeing what it serves up, until an alta kacher told me this yesterday. So I tried it out and it works…but if this is your goal, you’re much better off on TikTok.
However, I asked a twentysomething if she was a fan of social media yesterday and she hesitated, then reluctantly said TikTok. The younger generation knows the older generation despises TikTok. Only in modern America does someone have a deep opinion on that which they’ve never used. And what flummoxes me is it’s so easy to use!
Just a note here on the YouTube press release. Do not conflate the subscription numbers with those of Spotify, et al. I guarantee you many people are paying the fee just to get rid of ads. Then again, duplicity is Lyor Cohen’s strong point.
So…
This is the ultimate creation of niches. If the algorithm doesn’t serve it up, you’re out of the loop. Everybody gets their own feed. It’s one to one. To the point where you may have no idea what your buddy is seeing and never will. Something has to rise above for there to be discussion. And very little does. Jesse Welles a bit, then again did everybody get e-mail about him like me? I doubt it.
So it’s impossible to be seen. But if you want to play the game you don’t complain, but start. And everything starts slowly. Sure, there are exceptions, but I can’t tell you how many e-mails I get where people said they had a big viral moment, that was not worked, was not contemplated, and then crickets. No, you’ve got to build it in the wilderness, steadily.
I have no idea how Jesse Welles decided to make social commentary music. This was not his focus for years before… But usually an idea like this comes in a bolt of inspiration. But then you must decide whether to do it or not, execution is everything.
So Jesse Welles is channeling the frustration of viewers, oftentimes with a sense of humor. And to my knowledge, he’s a party of one. And he has some talent and he’s cute and…
Once again, it’s got nothing to do with the album, which has no protest music. Which is another reason it doesn’t stream.
But streaming music is faceless, whereas TikTok, et al, are the opposite. Video is all about the face, the expression. And when you connect…
Also, unlike the vaunted influencers, Welles is authentic, in a sea of bogosity. And that resonates. I’ll tell you, TikTok serves me up these influencers… Usually young women who’d rather try and sell clothing and cosmetics than get a real job. My favorite, facetiously, is the woman who says her videos are only meant for women, who bitches about guys’ comments, and then posts a demo video to be in the “Sports Illustrated” Swimsuit Issue. Jesse Welles is the antidote.
So you don’t go to the show to hear the album, you go to the show to see the videos live. To see what else Welles has come up with. It’s an experience, not just a recitation of what was… The show is alive and breathes.
So, can you do this?
Well, not if you think singing is everything, if you’re dreaming of being on “Idol” or “The Voice” to make it. As a matter of fact, your voice is secondary to your intellect.
And you’re getting no help. Sure, you can buy boosts on Facebook, but… Really, you’re waiting for people to get you to the point the algorithm serves up your videos more.
And you’re not in control. TikTok controls the algorithm.
But if you’ve got something…
I get why people are going to see Jesse Welles.
I understand why conventional media missed the paradigm, it misses everything new, never mind those who write about music being lame, if they have a job at all, the media having downsized most of these people out of a gig.
And when pitched by a PR person…
To be an expert today, to get it, you have to experience it. Here’s where you need to do your own research, to quote those looking for stories to back up their already hardened beliefs.
But music is not about hardened beliefs, it’s about the new and different. People are hungry for the new and different.
And Jesse Welles presented it, but never forget, distribution is king. Rather than putting his music on streaming services and complaining no one is listening, he bypassed them completely and went straight to the potential fans. He sold them, he didn’t wait for them to come to him. This is what players no longer understand. They must do the marketing, and they must be new and different. And this is anathema to most… I learned my instrument, I wrote songs, why isn’t anybody listening!
Because you’re not doing anything special.
Jesse Welles had no one to complain to. When you’re outside the system… Well, what’s that Dylan quote…”to live outside the law you must be honest”?
Music today is a sea of dishonesty. Become my fan so I can sell you stuff. Hell, the industry itself is trying to rip off superfans. It’s buyer beware.
But not with Jesse Welles, not at this moment.
And if all the money is in touring anyway…he cut out the middleman.
And top-down marketing no longer works. That press he got will just send people to Spotify, et al, where they won’t get it.
It happens first on social media. The oldsters won’t admit their cheese has moved or will try to game it, which is nearly impossible to do.
But one lone journeyman musician came up with an idea, the idea is the most important thing, and put in the effort and succeeded.
“‘You’re so smart!’ she said accusingly, ‘I never understood it! Why would someone so smart be fixated on pop music?'”
That’s what Percy’s mother tells her.
My mother went to see my shrink to complain all I wanted to do was buy records and go to concerts, couldn’t I get on the right track? In one of our fatal arguments, an old girlfriend told me that when she moved in with me she didn’t think she was moving in with my RECORDS!
Now the record business has changed a bit since the seventies. From the music itself to the penumbra…the branding, the money. Then again, that’s today’s America, entrepreneurship, and if you run over a few people in the process, so be it.
But the boomers who got into the business…they’d all seen the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, most tried their hand at playing, and after failing the only way their lives could have meaning was to work with musicians, to get closer to the music.
Music used to be run by nerds. And back when the world was cohesive, many were hipsters. And Holly Brickley nails hipsters:
“She made quick work of two fundamental truths about hipsters: that they had all been miserable kids, the boys too sensitive and the girls too willful for the social systems of the late twentieth century; and that nobody wanted to admit they were one of them.”
BINGO!
I can see these guys in my mind’s eye instantly. With their long hair like it’s still the seventies and their leather motorcycle jackets like they’ve ever been on a bike… They’ll criticize your taste…if you like something popular, you’re doomed.
And they haven’t gotten the message that we no longer live in that world, that the joke is on them, that no one cares about their taste, we’re all deep in our own niches foraging for satisfaction.
Me?
I’m an alienated f*ck.
And so is Percy.
This is the first rock novel I remember being from a woman’s perspective. I’m sure there are more, don’t bother e-mailing me about them, because rock novels are historically lame. Or a reboot of truth, like “Daisy Jones & the Six.” But something brand new, that encompasses the reality and truth of being a music fan?
I’m not sure any book exists that nails it as well as “Deep Cuts.”
Percy has no friends. But she can quote lyrics at you ad infinitum. And when she finds her tribe…
She doesn’t forfeit her personality, but doubles-down on it. Which is gratifying in a world where everybody is shaving off their rough edges to be a member of the group. Artists are never members of the group.
Which brings me to another quote from “Deep Cuts”:
“Writers are not natural collaborators.”
BINGO AGAIN!
If you like to collaborate, go into the movie business.
Then again, collaboration now rules the top line music business to its detriment. Hell, a decade before he died John Lennon delineated which songs were his and which were Paul’s, and rarely did the twain meet.
I’m not saying you should be immune to blowback and criticism. But you know when it’s helpful and real and when it is not. Sure, bounce ideas off me, but don’t expect me to take heed.
Because being a writer is about vision, about doing it your way. And if that’s not your outlook, you’re a hack. Plain and simple.
Write for a publication and editors will cut and twist your words to evidence that they’re superior. And sure, there are people who don’t know how to spell, never mind write, but they are not legends.
I’ve shied away from collaboration since elementary school. It’s only with decades of distance that I learned that they were teaching us how to get along, to work at Procter & Gamble… I couldn’t get hired at P&G or another corporation, because I don’t specialize in getting along, but speaking my truth, and people don’t like that.
But really they do. That’s what they look to artists for.
So…
Percy is from Indiana, she’s going to Berkeley and develops a crush on Joe, but he’s got a longtime girlfriend Zoe.
I remember I was at Wong’s West and got into this conversation with a woman… You know when it’s real, when they want to hear everything you have to say, when they can’t tear themselves away.
And my friend who introduced us went wild. SHE’S GOING TO GET MARRIED TO DOMINIC, BACK OFF!
Well, they broke up in a matter of weeks, but I had no way to contact her.
Anyway… Joe is a musician, and definitely not a student. And unlike most he’s got talent. But not quite enough. And this is where Percy comes in.
So… Should you read this book?
Chances are you don’t read any books, and I wouldn’t make this the first.
And yes, there’s a thread of romance throughout, I don’t mean a romance novel, I mean a relationship, the push and pull. And I know this doesn’t float the boat of so many men.
But if you lived for the music… Man, you’ll get this book.
Every chapter is a song. And although the book is set mostly at the turn of the century, from the perspective of a millennial…Percy is also into older stuff, like “Surf’s Up”…she tells how her mother turned her on to that.
And, of course, Joni and “A Case of You,” which is analyzed…
Percy is into analyzing the music.
“I used the music to write about real life, pulling from half a century of songs instead of fawning over every latest indie release.”
But there are indie releases, like Neutral Milk Hotel. It was eye-opening to see how Percy is as into the music from her era as I was from mine.
And you can check out the playlist here:
https://shorturl.at/BE5wZ
Have I intrigued you yet?
“Deep Cuts” is not a classic. But there’s a good chance Percy is you, or me. And Joe makes headway, but it’s not of the Spotify Top 50 variety.
It’s hard to write about music.
But Holly Brickley captures the essence of being a fan.
You’d think people in the industry would be talking about “Deep Cuts.” But either they’re selling out to the Fortune 500 or complaining that their indie careers are not delivering enough bread.
At the bottom, at the base, is the music. And I bet if you’re reading this at one point, if not still, it meant as much to you as it does to Percy.
Not that “Deep Cuts” is a 10 throughout.
But how many albums reach that threshold today?
“Deep Cuts” is better and more honest than most of the records out there. I don’t want to overhype it, it’s not that good, but there’s an essence you’ll resonate with.
What a pleasant surprise to read your words on Molly Hatchet…
When manager Pat Armstrong brought the boys up from Jacksonville to Atlanta to audition for me,I jumped at the chance to work with the 3-guitar attack I had first observed when I tried to sign Skynyrd a few years earlier. Epic turned me down on Skynyrd before Al signed them.
At the time, this guitar trio thing was something distinctive to the South, and surprisingly polished.
I loved these guys, and over 5 albums I countinued to wonder how a
sheltered Boston preppy found himself in a studio with this group of humorous,
considerate, self-proclaimed rednecks. “Dreams” was one of the few covers we did, at their suggestion, and Duane Roland was the most underrated guitarist I’ve ever seen or heard.
Duane doubled all his guitar parts and solos with his eyes closed. On their cover
of “It’s All Over Now” (the ” Flirtin’ ” album) he smoothly and precisely executes the lead break which Keith had composed years earlier. Duane’s dexterity and natural feel clearly stand out as the guitarists take turns.
Sadly, this is the only band I produced whose members, much younger than I, are all gone.
Working with them on 5 LP’s was a great pleasure.
Tom Werman
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Hi Bob — You are 100% correct about Molly Hatchet — “a band considered so unattractive they weren’t even on their own album covers.”
That’s why Epic marketing came up with those Frank Frazetta paintings for the covers of their albums. Visually striking, created a consistent graphic image, made the group’s albums instantly recognizable, screamed “pick me up” when spotted on the record racks. Problem solved.
I do not recall whose idea it was in the beginning. It may have come from the packaging art department; may have originated with Larry Stessel, who did a fine job as Molly Hatchet’s Epic product manager; maybe even came from the group or its management.
But I do remember we had a hard rocking band considered too ugly for a big cover shot. They were relegated to a small image on the back.
It worked.
Jim Charne
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RE: Molly Hatchet
I remember them well. Phil Walden, myself, and others had formed a merchandise company for The Allmans. Hatchet was red hot and their manager, Pat Armstrong, wanted a $90,000 advance for merch and when we went to the bank to borrow it they wanted personal warranties from all of us for repayment of the loan. I was nervous as hell about that, but to my relief they sold enough merch in the first month for us to recoup the advance and pay off our bank loan. Many times the merch gross was higher than the box office gross for the concert. Those were truly great days for “Southern Rock” and everyone was making a small fortune on seemingly every endeavor. Poor Molly Hatchet didn’t last too long at the top, but few do.
Willie Perkins
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Always so much stuff in these missives!
To me the Allmans transcended southern rock. Most of the other bands patterned themselves after Skynyrd. The Allmans were a richer band musically.
Check out the version of “Dreams” that Buddy Miles did. Molly Hatchet lifted the guitar arrangement from it, but Buddy’s version had a terrific horn chart and it wails.
I saw Marshall Crenshaw open for George Thorogood (!) in 1991 and he did a cover of “Flrtin With Disaster.” It was terrific. It really is a great song.
How many bands toured for years on the strength of one or two hits? Better than none at all, I guess.
Joseph Taylor
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“Molly Hatchet has a collective IQ of 10, and 8 of it belongs to their road manager!” -a deceased Southern Rock legend.
We were new wave kids, and Hatchet was the butt of many jokes. But all these years later, I’m with you on their cover of “Dreams,” which is actually a cover of Buddy Miles’ version of the song. MH might have seemed silly, but they were real and they were everywhere. Drive-By Truckers’ “Southern Rock Opera” is a remarkable album that encapsulates what it was like to be a kid in that era, also exploring “The Duality of That Southern Thing” with songs about the region’s tangled history and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s as well. “Let There Be Rock” is an anthem. The album is Essential.
Bob Anthony
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Bob, as much as I love the this version of Dreams it is a copy of the Buddy Miles cover that he did on the Them Changes record. A bit more funkier without the grit of the Danny Jo Brown vocals.
Adam Gerstein
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Buddy Miles covered Dreams in 1970.
Big R&B arrangement with horns.
Possible inspiration for the Hatchet version?
A couple of young Connecticut natives not even out of high school in the band at the time, Charlie Karp and David Hull.
JD Dworkow
Westport, CT
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Hi Bob, I had the pleasure of being the lighting director for Molly Hatchet in the early 80s. One of my favorite parts of the show was doing lighting for Dreams. The dynamic changes were so alive. There was a lighting cue on Dreams that was not used anywhere else in the show. On the breakdown I used 8 aircraft landing lights mounted in the front of the drum riser to project a rainbow over the guys in their guitar line up at the downstage edge. The dynamic changes made the cue awesome. Steve Holland MH guitarist was credited with the arrangement that Molly performed.
Tony L, LD
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Hi Bob, I was lucky to see them several times in the early 80’s they were great. Having grown up in South Florida they were a mainstay on the local rock scene. I can remember my first time seeing them at Summers on the Beach and being blown away, especially when they did Dreams (I have always preferred the Hatchet version). When the three guitarists and Danny Joe joined up and did what I was told was the Hatchet two-step the crowd wants nuts, it was rock-n-roll magic.
Through a good friend, I got to know Danny Joe Brown a bit. He was great. Had an amazing voice. Sorry to say they are all gone now but their music lives on. Thanks for bringing back to active listening memory.
Jonathan
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Saw Molly Hatchet in Chicago twice around the time Flirting With Disaster. One show was opened by some generic southern rock band called Point Blank. The other show was opened by The Babys, an odd pairing. The crowd wasn’t having the Baby’s and they were more or less booed off the stage. As they were walking off, of the guys in band doubled back to a mic and said “f—-off Chicago”. Was funny to hear. Flash forward forty some years I was listening to your podcast with John Waite and he mentioned a show in Chicago opening up for Molly Hatchet and his bandmate yelling that.
Jack Powers
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I saw Molly Hatchet live in 1980 at WIU in Macomb. Amazing concert: intense, fun, and full of swagger. I served on the Host and Hospitality Committee of the student programming board, which meant I was an usher at all concerts. Thus, we all knew the contractual start and stop times for all the shows. Molly Hachet was one of the bands that did a true encore and went beyond the contracted stop time.
Kevin Lampe
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As a youngster, I thought Flirtin’ With Disaster was a great album. At the time, I didn’t realize how closely they were imitating Lynyrd Skynyrd. Danny Joe had so many Ronnie Van Sant-isms in his delivery that it was akin to Greta Van Fleet’s singer aping Robert Plant. But in the end, f*ck it – it still sounded great because they actually had talent and could pull it off. Thanks for sending me down memory lane.
-Dave Lackey
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Didn’t expect a piece on Molly Hatchet from you, it’s a nice surprise. My high school friends and I, from a rural S. MN town, went to all the rock concerts in the late 70s, driving to the twin cities in our parent’s beasts. My fondest memory was passing a joint down the row then reaching up to find a MH drum stick in hand. Pure tingling joy. Communal indeed. I wish I had kept all of those concert tee shirts, they were our mark of achievement in the high school cafeteria.
Thanks for the memories.
Marit Sathrum
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Saw them live in Montgomery AL, right around this time, headlining an all-day festival with several other lesser know Southern Rock bands (remember Mother’s Finest?). They kicked major ass…..
Donald Bartenstein
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Flirting with Disaster was a great album, the whistles calling in the solos. Saw them open for the Outlaws at the CU Boulder Events Center in 1980. They blew the Outlaws off the stage.
Barry Levinson
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I’m a HUGE Allman’s fan. College wasn’t working out for me. Living at home. I had broken up with my first long term girlfriend. My older brother lived in Denver and I decided to go hang out with him to see if I could get a job and achieve some level of independence.
My brother’s apartment had a pool. I was in it one day and someone had a radio playing. Molly Hatchet’s version of Gregg Allman’s Dreams came on. I was mesmerized! They had taken an amazing jazz inflected song and turned it into a driving rock anthem. Totally reinvented the tune. Pure genius!
I thought back to the long broken up Allman’s such that someone had remembered them….me.
Tim Pringle
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The thing I appreciated with Molly Hatchet was, you could hear the same verve in a live concert that they played on record. It was absolutely electric, there’s nothing (I’m aware of) that is close to it today
SpikeProspector
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A very nostalgic read for me. Molly Hatchet at the Oakland Auditorium was my very first concert at age 16. Parents didn’t take their kids to shows back then, at least mine didn’t. You had to drive yourself, so I had to wait a couple years to see one of my favorite bands. They were touring on Take No Prisoners, which was two full albums and a new lead singer removed from Flirtin’ With Disaster. Not sure who had the genius idea at Bill Graham Presents to book a show on Super Bowl Sunday, but this one took place in the Bay Area on the same night that the San Francisco 49ers won their first Lombardi Trophy. Needless to say, not exactly a packed or buzzing arena. Though clear to me now but not then, this was a band in steep decline. But I was oblivious to that and they were gods to me. The six guys on stage were a fierce and totally locked in unit. I didn’t realize it in the moment, but that night sealed the deal that I had played my last inning of baseball, or any competitive sport for that matter. I got my first real taste of live rock and roll, and there was no turning back. I was hooked. I went to every show I could after that. The financial barrier was so incredibly low. For the cost of going to the arcade, a movie, or bowling, you could be front and center and in the same room with Judas Priest, ZZ Top, Rush, Tom Petty, Iron Maiden, Y&T, you name it. And if you think of it like that, you understand that very few of these acts were getting rich, even though we thought they were all living in mansions and drove Ferrari’s. Not the worst way to make a living, but how devastating it must have been for those without longevity when things dried up. The next time I saw Hatchet was a year or so later, this time with the return of Danny Joe Brown. However, instead of performing at a sparsely filled 8,000-seater, they were at Wolfgang’s, a 500-cap room in downtown SF. It still rocked pretty hard, but they were never able to rise above this tier of venue, at least not on the coasts. As with so many brand-name acts with zero, one, or two original members, it’s become little more than a form of employment, and they’ll stay out on the road until people stop coming.
Niels Schroeter
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In 1982 I was going to college in upstate NY. Me and some pals had tickets to see Blue Oyster Cult. and stopped at a bar near the venue for a pre-show beer. The bartender couldn’t stop talking about how the members of Molly Hatchet had been drinking there the night before, and that each member had ordered a bottle of Jack Daniels – and not a drop left before leaving. He was… impressed?!
I was in college then = not working in the music business. This story could have been made up, but it sure felt real. And seeing how young most of the band members were when they passed, it makes me wonder if the bartender was giving it to me straight all those years ago.
Jeff Pachman
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So ironic that I had just finished my guitar warmups playing this song (the guitar solos are just so good and melodic), and when I finished playing I got your email.
I’m an Iranian that grew up in Maryland playing guitar, so probably one of the less likely fans of ’southern rock’, which I think today is the only surviving form of rock for the most part?
When we were inundated with all the fantastic music in ’78, ’79, ranging from Bill Bruford to Boston to Rush, this band was a great complement to everything else. The album cover art, the whistles, the tip of the hat to Marshall Tucker musically in this song at the end, and the lyrics to Gator Country (Old Richard Betts will tell ya Lord he was born a ‘Ramblin’ Man; Well, he can ramble back to Georgia, but I won’t give a damn). So good, so much FUN.
What makes this song stick out is the lyrics and guitar solos- the best line IMO…
Just one more morning
I had to wake up with the blues
Pulled myself out of bed, yeah
Put on my walking shoes
Climb up on a hilltop, baby
See what I could see, yeah
Whole world was fallin’ down, baby
Right down in front of me
Feels like every day with the news these days…
Thanks for the call out to these great guys. We are of a certain age, for sure, and finding balance between nostalgia and finding the great new music that is there (but harder to find in all the noise) is so much fun. We ARE the A&R people of our age- we have to listen to all the demo tapes to find the good stuff. It could be worse!
Thanks again Bob,
Merdad Parsey
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thanks for that. I LOVED this band. as a teenager in Long Island in mid to late 70s, southern rock was huge. saw them all, multiple times. charlie daniels, marshall tucker, outlaws, blackfoot, 38 special, henry paul band, didnt see LS but the follw up, rossington collins in 1980. I had a jean jacket and in high school I paid some guy to paint the back with the firt MH LP cover, the guy on the horse, and when I got to Uni people thought it was so cool. But in my first year at univeristy, somebody stole it in the bar. saw them warm up for the Stones at the Carrier Dome in 1981 and a few other times recall goign to binghamton to see them and blackfoot. Those were the days
Brian Barry Esq.
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Molly Hatchet – my first ever rock concert. They were the real deal. I remember the jeans, the boots and the bright lights.
Danny Joe Brown – in the tradition of Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett, Ronnie Van Zant, Jimmie Hall, Don Barnes, etc. – was the last of that 70’s generation of great Southern Rock frontmen. Although I think they considered themselves more of a hard rock band that happened to come from the south rather than be pigeonholed with the “Southern Rock” tag.
He and Dave Hlubek were a killer classic rock ’n’ roll pairing and had they been able to keep it together longer (they never regained their commercial/artistic momentum after Danny Joe left for a couple of years in the early 80’s) could have been as lethal as a Petty and Campbell, Bowie and Ronson or Benatar and Giraldo.
It was Hatchet’s debut album that introduced me to “Dreams” – I didn’t catch up with The Allman Brothers until I was a little older. I still like what they did with the song – Hatchet’s version sounded great blasting out of the windows of a 1978 Camaro.
As an aside, check out Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers “First Flash Of Freedom” from their 2010 album Mojo – it’s a brilliant deconstruction of the Allman Brothers’ “Dreams” and The Zombies “I Want You Back Again”.
I’d put those first two Molly Hatchet albums up against any one-two punch by any blues-based hard rock band you can name – Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mountain – even Skynyrd themselves – and as the legend goes it was Ronnie Van Zant who was working with Hatchet in ’77 and planned on producing that first album.
Great point about the music being inescapable – I saw the Talking Heads the same year.
Vince Welsh
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Thanks for this one after the week we’ve had. Nice to step back for a moment. Molly Hatchet first hit when we were juniors in high school. The album cover was foreboding scary—perfect high school boy fodder. The feeling you captured in your story was dead on—there was no pretense in their music and they helped fill up the rock n’ roll side of my power pop brain. Elvis Costello was my new hero, but Molly Hatchet was welcome to play the courtyard.
A few years ago, Billy Joel was playing Target Field. Midway through the show, he picked up a guitar and introduced Axel Rose to the stage. What song did they sing? Highway to Hell by AC/DC! I watched as an entire stadium of Piano Man fans sang every word at the top of their lungs. In that era, you owned albums by Joel, Hatchet, Costello and AC/DC and loved them all. Thanks again.
Gary Judson
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Big fan of Molly Hatchet , Holland, Europe. May I suggest 2 MH tunes that are over the top great?? Fall of the peacemaker and I can’t be watching you. Makes skynyrd look like a saturdaynight coverband.
Grtz. Joop
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You’ve captured the essence of the lifestyle perfectly in this Molly Hatchet piece, Bob. I remember driving down the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1979 in my beat to sh*t Country Squire station wagon loaded with my drums on the road to our next band gig with ‘Flirtin With Disaster’ blaring from the speakers, chuggin’ a Genesee Cream Ale at 8am, having not slept and driving straight from our last gig that had ended at 3am. This was rock and roll. Thank God someone out there is still keeping the memory and essence of this time alive. Love your writing and interviews, Bob. You aren’t afraid to speak truth, blowback be damned… whether it’s politics or music. I appreciate your courageous voice, it’s a beacon of truth in the darkness of delusion. Keep doing what you do. F*ck em all.
Mark W. Curran – West Coast Performing Arts Concerts – Los Angeles
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Total f*cking banger, Bob.
Capitol Passaic or Port Chester?
Best Regards,
Eric Seifert
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It went like this for me:
1. Flirtin’ With Disaster (one hit s**t)
2. Found the Frank Frazetta cover in the record store (instant buy – Heavy Metal magazine!)
3. The Allman Brothers
4. Took a while to ‘get’ Dreams. I was still like 10 at this point. But eventually did.
5. The Capitol Theater!
Best place ever IMO to see a show. But I was too young to ever go to the FIllmore. Little known fact: One of the reasons the Capitol had such a great vibe is when the Fillmore East closed, some of the staff came across the river to work at the Capitol in Passaic (The Armpit of NJ as my Uncle put it in the car on our way to my first show there). Great, great folks. It also had the multiple act bills of its predecessor (this video was Molly Hatchet / Outlaws 11/10/78)
Then there was its origin as a golden age movie theater, with sound-proofed walls making for exceptional acoustics. If I remember correctly, for a while it remained a movie theater too. Pornos by day, Rock n Roll at night.
I would love it if you did a piece on the Capitol someday. I still have (latter day) t-shirts of the venue. I love to wear them to shows in the Northern NJ/NYC area. Why? Because people literally come up to me, eager to tell stories of the great, great times they had there. It’s wonderful. There is such good vibes attached to the place that the shirt even got me backstage once!
By the way, the theater also had an early video system. With screens! That’s why you can see almost everything online. Apparently whoever owns them never monetized them. Maybe more proof why the Capitol was such a special place, filled with special people. Wear a Capitol shirt to a show. You’ll likely meet some of them.
Phil Nazzaro
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when Danny Joe Brown came back to Molly Hatchet,
it was a hush-hush medium launch at the Hallandale Agora.
you have to understand, South Florida in the ’80s was disco, but it was hard redneck, too —
the reason the Miami Herald tapped a college kid to cover country music, they needed it done, no staff writer was willing.
Eric Schabacher, who owned BeeJay Recording in Altamonte Springs, Florida where the band recorded, listened to me doing mornings my freshman year at Rollins. we became friends, even though I was a pretty preppy kid, because I loved music so much.
when I heard Molly Hatchet was coming — in tact — I called Eric to get the exclusive.
nobody wanted it. the University of Miami Hurricane took it, though my editor at the Herald took a review of the show
if you didn’t drive a Camaro or Trans Am, have feathered hair, a Stars’n’Bars t-shirt, Jordache jeans or a big belt buckle,
you wouldn’t understand. I was raised by Southern golf pros. Hatchet was religious.
“Flirting With Disaster,” but also “Gator Country,” “Whiskey Man,” and yes, “Dreams I’ll Never See.”
macho in extremis, big stones, big swagger, big, big thrust when it came to the guitars and Brown’s vocals.
got jerked around by the tour manager… Eric got Danny Joe down to the bar.
nobody wants to disappoint a kid; i probably looked 12, sitting in the lounge of the 2nd tier sheraton (or was it a hilton)
here’s what people don’t realize and you scratch at… the man who showed up was that sweaty, snorting, paw the ground hunk of blue collar frustration who would hit you over the head w a pool cue, but was also raised by a strong Southern mama, so he spoke like a gentleman, really thought about his answers and occasionally, admitted he had no idea.
back when, working class white kids enlisted or landed in dead end factory jobs, but they worked… there was no choice
the wild haired, the screw ups, the rebels needed another plan
so when DJB hit that stage, he wasn’t flirting with disaster, he was shrieking for his life.
and to show you the “oh, yeah” of this era, this genre…
once DJB was in the bar, answering my intently focused questions about cultural dynamics, working class rock expressions and sexism, Eric Schabacher called David Hlubeck to inform him the new return was in the bar… with the girl… and, btw, your road manager’s an a&&h*#e
right around the time, DJB was telling me he should stop and save his voice, the girthy Hlubeck shows up in a duster at 3 pm, hair wet and falling down his back, shades on, clearly miffed, but not being left out of the story. the look on his face when he scanned me was priceless… and other than his garble about the Book of Revelations, he was shocked at how hard I leaned into the valiant piece of Southern rock, the culture and the notion they’re bikers whether they wear leathers or not.
like them? I liked Patti Smith. But I knew a good story, and that young, this was a scoop — even if no one wanted it
ironically, when I turned my review in at the Herald, my editor was nowhere to be found. I left it on his chair.
when I got back to my dorm, there was a message to call him.
“Holly,” he said when he heard my voice. “Is this a joke?”
“Joke, Doug?”
“I mean. it’s powerful writing, but is it a joke?”
“Why would it be a joke?” I asked, a little annoyed.
“You actually liked them?”
“Liked might be too strong a word, but I respect them. They came, they raged, they slammed and went hard. It’s not my thing, but damn, they left blood all over the stage…”
“Wow,” said my sanguine editor.
“I know. Last thing I saw coming… Promise”
“Okay, then we’re good.”
That’s the thing about the ones with dirt under their nails, sweaty arm pits, angry about how Yankees see them, they seethe. Not because they care what others think, but because they’re gonna burn off all that judgement to stand equal. Crazy, but that’s what Capitol Theater 1978 or Hallandale Agora 1985 was all about.
