The Dead Notes came from the realization that there's a lot of great music out there that's been overlooked, or even forgotten over time - hence the name. So I started this blog to bring the lost music of rock 'n' roll's ages back into the spotlight, where it belongs.
I was driving down a highway at night with a friend of mine. The guy's twenty years older than me. He really digs rock 'n' roll and knows his shit better than most people. He grew up hanging out in front of the 7-Eleven drinking beer bottles out of paper bags and reading Creem magazine under a sparky lamppost.
So we're sitting in the car mesmerized by a Robin Trower song. Once the song's over, the next song on the playlist was from Rory Gallagher's band, Taste. My friend didn't know the band. He'd heard of Gallagher, but had no clue what the guy was doing before his solo career. I was surprised. I mean, this is some really good rock 'n' roll man!
So we're sitting in the car mesmerized by a Robin Trower song. Once the song's over, the next song on the playlist was from Rory Gallagher's band, Taste. My friend didn't know the band. He'd heard of Gallagher, but had no clue what the guy was doing before his solo career. I was surprised. I mean, this is some really good rock 'n' roll man!
That night, when I got home, I decided to review Taste's first album. I thought of posting it on Facebook as a note. Then I realized it would only reach my 200-something friends, most of which, won't even read it. "This shit needs bigger exposure," I thought, and that's when I got the idea to start this blog.
Whenever I bring up Grand Funk Railroad, or Jack Bruce's solo career, people stare at me with blank faces, bored, and waiting for the conversation to go back to the feud between Metallica and Megadeth. Man, like I haven't heard that one before . . .
People should be keen on everything that's great about rock 'n' roll, instead of being stuck on the same bands everyone's already obsessing over. I think bands like Little Feat, Frijid Pink and Ten Years After deserve as much spotlight as The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. I don't think the bands I'm going to write about here have any less of a right to be exposed than any of the other well-known rock 'n' roll legends.
People should be keen on everything that's great about rock 'n' roll, instead of being stuck on the same bands everyone's already obsessing over. I think bands like Little Feat, Frijid Pink and Ten Years After deserve as much spotlight as The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. I don't think the bands I'm going to write about here have any less of a right to be exposed than any of the other well-known rock 'n' roll legends.
I'll be pacing in my room with my earphones snug tight, rocking out through over 20,000 songs in my iPod, looking for that hidden gem. When I find it, I'll blog about it here. Sure, maybe at first only two or three people are going to read this blog. To me, that's two or three people more appreciating good music. They'll start digging through history to find that buried treasure, and once they do, their friend's will come along for the ride.
