Published on Aug 2, 2005
So rock & roll is dead, huh? I thought that was the case
back in 2000. I really did. I never would have guessed this to be
the case today.
Back in 2000, I was a relatively naïve music fan that got
introduced to this little band from Stockholm, Sweden that aurally
raped my senses and kicked my rear for actually thinking that rock
n’ roll was dead. It took only one listen to
High Visibility to send me racing to the Internet to snap up
what, at the time, was the unheard (to me) back catalog of the
Hellacopters at full price retail, including import tariffs and
wack-ass shipping charges.
Admittedly, I have to say that this impulse was, hands down, the
best thing I ever did as it relates to music. I haven’t seriously
listened to FM radio since then and even find that satellite radio
these days is a crippling exercise in keeping sustained interest.
Why? The Hellacopters rocked in those days, plain and simple, and
the band’s lead guitarist/vocalist, Nicke Andersson, successfully
turned me on to every other obscure action rock band in Scandinavia
with his constant wearing of ball caps and T-shirts referencing
their names.
Fast forward to today and my repeated listens of
Rock n’ Roll Is Dead have me cringing at the sight of such a
wonderful rock band withering in front of me. Long gone are the
wonderfully distorted rock anthems from the days of my Hellacopters
discovery, as they are now replaced by crap such as the thoroughly
cleansed honky tonk riffs found on “Before The Fall” and “I Might
Come See You Tonight.”
Once upon a time I really believed the Hellacopters when they
claimed to be born broke and as they reveled in bitching about
being psyched out and furious. Additionally, I also bit when the
band claimed to have started random riots while even taking them to
the rocks when necessary. But
Rock n’ Roll Is Dead shares absolutely no similar thoughts
of hedonistic agendas as it relies on tracks that give us female
backing harmonies found in “Leave It Alone” and softened easy
listening ditties with nearly every other track.
Sad to say, folks, but it’s a bad scene. Think of the Black
Crowes recording with Betty Ford’s influence and you’ll have my
impressions of
Rock & Roll Is Dead nailed to a T.
Seriously, what makes this evolution so damn disgusting is that
the Hellacopters took the past year off from recording and touring
to concentrate on individual projects that were admittedly as
different in their focus as what I am now complaining about. Under
the guise of the Solution, Andersson can get away with making an
R&B album and even be lauded for his collaboration with Scott
Morgan in magazines such as Rolling Stone. Same thing goes for
guitarist Robert “Strings” Dahlqvist and the softer rock sounds his
side band, Thunder Express, performed during the time off. The
whole idea of side projects, I thought, was to break away from a
parent project for a spell and then come back rejuvenated.
Right?
Well, that’s not what the Hellacopters are giving us with the
Rock n’ Roll Is Dead release. Plain and simple, they’re
giving long-time fans a real snoozer of an album.
Fortunately though, I know better today than to think that rock
n’ roll is dead. The real message to be taken from this review is
the knowledge that it’s just the Hellacopters who are on life
support.