Charty Chart Chat: In And Out Of The Garage

09/16/03 1:00pm

by ChartAttack.com Staff (CHARTattack)

It seems that musical fads and trendy genres are falling in and out of style more quickly then ever. During the ‘50s it seemed as if there was little diversity or divergence in rock 'n' roll fans. Early patrons of the genre were drawn to the sensuous beat and the illicit nature of the lyrics. In response to the music’s growth in popularity, the music industry smartly reacted by creating material to meet the demand. Due to some outside pressure from parental and religious groups, the industry began to police itself, recording and releasing tame approximations of rock ‘n’ roll. Safe imitations of Little Richard and Chuck Berry songs were recorded and sold. But original versions of hit songs were considered to be more serious by true fans.
GruesomeologyThis practice may have set in motion the two camps that led to the development of England’s Mods and Rockers and became the basis for the guitar/keyboard battle. In the early ‘60s, mid-‘70s, early 80s and mid-‘90s were critics who announced the death of the guitar, while trumpeting the piano and all of its descendents. Each time this has happened, within four to six years, either these same critics or their cookie-cutter replacements complain about the absence of the guitar andsome snotty young punks with attitude like The Sex Pistols, The Pixies and The Strokes come along and introduce the axe back into the musical landscape. Recently, the charming red and white duo of Meg and Jack White, a.k.a. The White Stripes have brought garage rock back to mainstream, a position it hasn't been in since the days of The Ramones. In the interim, garage rock had survived on the fringes. The appearance of both The Chesterfield Kings and The Gruesomes on UBC-based CITR's Top 30 chart brings back fond memories of my early days at CFMU, McMaster University. Lo-fi pre-grunge bands like The Lyres, Dik Van Dykes, Wet Spots, Deja Voodoo, Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper, and the aforementioned Chesterfield Kings and Gruesomes were all charting kingpins.
Show Me Your TearsSpeaking of CFMU, it should be noted that there is a reunion of CFMU alumni on Saturday, October 4 organized by The McMaster Alumni Association. If there are folks out there who hung out at the station, which is celebrating its silver anniversary this fall, contact The McMaster Alumni Association at reunions@mcmaster.ca.Let's move back into the present and have a look at the top 50 chart for the week ending September 12. The big news is the return of CKLU to the reporting posse. The Laurentian University-based station in Sudbury been absent for a number of years. The Constantines’ Shine A Light holds off The Weakerthans for another week, remaining at #1, while the Winnipeg quartet's Reconstruction Site moves up one spot to #2. The rest of the Top 10 looks like this: Ween's Quebec drops to #3, while Metric's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? jumps three spots to #4, matched by The High Dials' A New Devotion move to #5. The Dandy Warhols' Welcome To The Monkey House drops to #6, while Frank Black And The Catholics' Show Me Your Tears sits at #7, followed by Broadcast's Haha Sound at #9 and Ox's Dust Bowl Revival at #10.
Earthquake GlueThe highest debut of the week belongs to Guided By Voices. The Dayton-based band's return to Matador Records, Earthquake Glue, arrives at #15, edging out Sloan's Action Pact, which comes in at #17. Then way down the chart the third highest new entry is Quasi's Hot Shit at #35. Other notable debuts this week: The Raveonettes' Chain Gang Of Love at #37, Prefuse 73's Extinguished: Outtakes EP at #40 and Josh Rouse's 1972 at #49. Finally, there are seven returning entries. The Barmitzvah Brothers' The Night Of The Party re-enters at #12, Mayor McCa's El Limb Men Oh Pee is at #22 and Andrew Vincent And The Pirates I Love The Modern Way is at #24 — all of which have been absent for a single week. At the other end of the spectrum, The Farrell Brother's Rumble @ The Orgy at #43 has not seen the light of a Top 50 chart since the week ending July 25. —Chris Burland