Michael Christopher Rock Menu

Depending on which side of the political divide you are on, Tuesday was either a great night or the beginning of fears of a long road and many battles ahead.

And, like the rest of us, rockers and other musicians are worried about the fact that Donald Trump won the presidential election and returned to the United States.
White House after defeating Kamala Harris.

“What an amazing night for America!” – country star Travis Tritt captioned a video of himself drinking a bottle of champagne.

“They called it a ‘red mirage’… Instead we gave them a ‘red enema’,” Ted Nugent wrote before posting a photo of him and his wife with Trump during the latter’s first term.

However, not everyone shared the views of Nugent and Tritt.

“As democracy improves, the office increasingly reflects the inner soul of the people,” wrote singer and actress Bette Midler, who previously joked that she would drink Drano if Trump won before deleting her post, in part. account X. “We are moving towards a high ideal. On some great and glorious day, the common people of the country will finally get their heart’s desire, and a real idiot will grace the White House.”

Pop superstar Billie Eilish simply wrote: “It’s a war on women.”

Singer-songwriter Ethel Kane wrote: “If you voted for Trump, I hope the world never finds you. Instead, I hope that one day clarity will strike you like a bolt of lightning and you will have to live the rest of your life with awareness and guilt for what you have done and for who you are as a person.”

“(Expletive) America,” said Sebastian Bach, former lead singer of the New Jersey rock band Skid Row. “I don’t want to be here anymore. What’s the (expletive) wrong with you people? Goodbye.”

Echoing Bach’s sentiments, rapper Cardi B wrote, “I hate y’all.”

“It doesn’t do anyone any good to scroll through events, watch the news and be depressed all the time…” said the pragmatic Moby. “So this may sound like a New Age cliché, but we should practice self-care, we should eat well, exercise, spend time with the people we love, help animals and do anything that helps us stay sane and health.

“I really hope (and) pray that we can all come together. Unite. Stop the negativity and move forward as Americans, not as Reds or Blues,” wrote singer Michael Sweet, who plays The Keswick this Saturday as part of his band Stryper’s 40th anniversary tour. “We’re all in this together. We are family, neighbors, brothers, sisters, colleagues, friends and more.”

“Well, I was very wrong,” Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said after talking about Harris before Tuesday. “The American people have spoken. I accept their choice.”

“One thing we know for sure: there will be no thug meeting this January,” Public Enemy frontman Chuck D tweeted, referring to the events of January 6, 2021. “It will be a concession without the (expletive).”

Vinyl of the week

Keep an eye on this video as each week we will be reviewing new or soon to be released vinyl records from a different artist. This could be a re-release of a landmark recording, a special edition, or a new collection of a legendary band.

This week, two games have been added to the current premium series of vinyl releases.

The Stooges, “The Stooges” and the Ramones, “Road to Ruin”

Anyone with even the slightest interest in vinyl collecting should be on the lookout for Rhino High Fidelity’s latest releases. The premium series of high-quality limited edition reissues launched a year and a half ago and has not yet brought a single failure.

From jazz to new wave, from Black Sabbath to television, all titles have received acclaim from fans and critics.

Rhino Hi-Fi’s latest albums are a punk double-take: The Stooges’ self-titled debut and the Ramones’ seminal fourth full-length, Road to Ruin.

Each release is released on 180-gram vinyl, limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and priced at $39.98.

The Stooges released their groundbreaking debut on August 5, 1969, and quietly sparked a revolution.

Led by the inimitable frontman Iggy Pop, the record spawned such classics as “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “1969.” The latter featured prominently on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs” list, and the record also earned a place on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list.

The High Fidelity release notes feature an insightful Q&A with legendary photographer Glen Craig, led by A&R producer Jason Jones.

During the conversation, Craig recalls recording The Stooges, photographing the musicians performing live in the studio.

He recalls: “I took a picture of Iggy shirtless, basically in his underwear, dancing on the amps and everything. That’s pretty much how it all happened.”

The Ramones premiered “Road to Ruin” on September 22, 1978. Notably, this marked Marky Ramone’s debut behind the drums.

Collaborating with producers T. Erdely and Ed Stasium, the band recorded the album at Mediasound Studio A, a location that turned out to be a former Episcopal church in midtown Manhattan.

Active in the early summer of 1978, they released signature anthems such as “I Wanna Be Sedated”, which impressively racked up nearly half a billion streams.

Stasium has written new liner notes for Road to Destruction. He recalls the sessions in great detail, discussing various recording techniques at a fascinating and impressively detailed level.

It also highlights the meticulous care—and often surprisingly layered nature—at the heart of the Ramones’ sound.

Find “Road to Ruin” and “The Stooges” online exclusively at rhino.com.

To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, email [email protected]. Also visit his website at thechroniclesofmc.com.

Originally published: November 7, 2024 11:31 AM EST