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Here are the first lines from the Italian Wikipedia page about The Smithereens: "The Smithereens are an American power pop band formed in the early '80s in Carteret, New Jersey, led by Pat DiNizio and composed of Jim Babjak (guitar), Mike Mesaros (bass), and Dennis Diken (drums), still active. The lineup remained unchanged until 2006 when Mesaros was replaced by Severo Jornacion."
Precise, aseptic, and punctual, as usual, but in my opinion, it could have been done differently, a bit more... how to say... well... a bit more like this: Do you know the Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Green Day, a lot of Weezer stuff, and many similar bands that flood MTV channels and fake rock radio stations like Virgin Radio? Well, this whole herd of fake rockers (because they are all pop bands, which shouldn't be despised for this, but should be heavily insulted when they profess to be rock!) have drawn all their '90s-sounding vibe from a damn band of the early '80s!
BANG! Here are the freaking Smithereens!
Don't you like it better? No? Well, I do. I don't like talking too much about pop; I know little about it, I listen to it very little, but when some group of slicked-up folks, with their Brit pop outfits ranging from the elegant and minimal of Franz Ferdinand to the fake grunge sloppiness of the Foo Fighters, is defined as rock, my blood boils. Does the difference between the Elvis of yesteryear and Jerry Lee Lewis suggest anything to you? The former, after the great concerts with old rock&roll hits interspersed with new and rather tiresome ballads, denigrated himself in those goody-goody films replete with subliminal military sponsor (aaah, the joys of money!), while the latter, after burning the piano and in the best case starting an epic brawl with the audience, returned to his ruthless life of prostitutes and alcohol, just as he was portrayed in his fiery rockabilly tunes.
- Oh come on, Beppe, that's not what makes rock! So, for you, to be a true rocker, do you have to wreck your liver and cheat on your wife every two seconds? -, - But you didn't understand a damn thing, my dear friend.
Nick Cave, who now plays the “saint,” is no less of a rocker than someone who shoots up before a concert. Similarly, Iggy Pop, who from the beautiful somersaults on broken glass and near-death fights with biker gangs, now sells himself for a crust of bread, recycling like the best De Chirico when he backdated his paintings, is no longer a damned rocker, he's just a pauper. A talented, charismatic, magnetic pauper.
The great thing about the Smithereens is that they never posed as rockers! Why would they care? Their sound was ruthless power-pop, exceedingly brash, tasty in the substantial riffs that were and still are the only substance in an all-form genre. Their idols, in fact, were the Beatles, and the only way they could interact with rock was in its pop influences. Try it to believe it, folks: listen to their 2009 revisitation of The Who's “Tommy” (“The Smithereens Play Tommy”) and tell me what happens. There is no attempt at modernization as might be the case with “The Dark Side of the Moon” by the Flaming Lips, or the technical rediscovery always of the famous Pink Floyd album promoted by Dream Theater a few years ago (a pretty big mess, by the way), the “Tommy” by the Smithereens is just the original album pimped up to a thousand, an almost scientific pop version of Townshend's great rock opera. But if the Foo Fighters deeply piss me off because they propose this tragically MTV-style approach (if we then consider how Nirvana fared with MTV it’s quite thought-provoking) while insane bands like the Thee Oh Sees do rock with balls but don't wave it in your face by pulling up pitiful concerts with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, I respect the Smithereens.
Yes, okay, it's pop, it disgusts the average rock listener regardless (because they're dumb), but a band that brings out such an advanced sound in the early eighties that became fashion and trend only in the '90s deserves respect. Well done Smithereens, remind the MTV sissies that you can make pop with electric guitars without being ashamed of it. Aaaaah, right, the review... eh. Okay, I'll do it in a flash: this is the band's third album, released in 1988 after a few years of apprenticeship and two EPs featuring several Beatles covers (their only love) and reinterpretations of '60s Brit pop. The first album, “Especially For You”, would only come out in '86 and would be followed in '89 by “Green Thoughts”, where finally the powerful guitar riffs that distinguish them would emerge. But the apex is with “11”, also in '89, much more power and a lot more pop.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 A Girl Like You (04:42)
I used to travel in the shadows
And I never found the nerve to try and walk up to you
But now I am a man and I know that there's no time to waste
There's too much to lose
Girl you say anything at all, and you know that you can call
And I'll be right there for you
First love, heartbreak, tough luck, big mistake
What else can you do
I'll say anything you want to hear
I'll see everything through
I'll do anything I have to do
Just to win the love of a girl like you, a girl like you
People talk and people stare, tell them I don't really care
This is the place I should be
And if they think it's really straange for a girl like you
To be in love with someone like me
I wanna tell them all to go to hell
That we're doing very well without them you see
That's just the way it is and they will see
I am yours and you are mine the way it should be
Chorus
Now if I seem a little wild, there's no holding back
I'm trying to get a message to you
I won't take anything from anyone
I won't walk and I won't run, I believe in you
London, Washington, anywhere you are I'll run
Together we'll be
Inside, outside, got my pride
I won't let him take you from me
Chorus
04 Baby Be Good (03:20)
Baby be good, baby every night
Better be good, you know it's only right
Baby be good, 'til I come back home
Baby don't be bad 'cause you're all alone
I don't wanna go but I leave today
Just remember what I had to say
All I ask of you when I go away
Is baby be good, baby be good
Baby be good, baby every night
Better be good, c'mon and let it show
Baby be good, try and understand
Baby don't be bad with another man
If you7re gonna play I don't want to know
It would break my heart 'cause I love you so
All I wanna say now before I go
Is baby be good, baby be good
I never really thought that I would lose my heart
But I love all the things that you do
It's funny 'cause I just don't think you fit the part
I always wanna be here with you
If yo're gonna play I don't wanna know
It would break my heart 'cause I love you so
All I wanna say now before I go
Is baby be good, baby be good
Baby be good, baby every night
Better be good, you know it's only right
Baby be good 'til I come back home
Baby don't be bad 'cause you're all alone
I don't wanna go but I leave today
Just remember what I had to say
All I ask of you when I go away
Is baby be good, baby be good
07 Cut Flowers (02:59)
Sentimental gestures never
Meant that much to me
But if I had her here today
I'd shed a tear for all the world to see
Cut flowers sent
To a girl with sentimental ways
Cut flowers meant
More to her on ordinary days
Gentle girl who needed
All the love I had to give
But I was blind to her and would not give her
What she needed most to live
Cut flowers sent
To a girl with sentimental ways
Cut flowers meant
More to her on ordinary days
Cut flowers, flowers, flowers
Cut flowers, flowers, flowers
Cut flowers pressed between
The pages of a book she gave
I go to her and say, "I'm sorry"
Then I put cut flowers on her grave
Cut flowers sent
To a girl, with sentimental ways
Cut flowers meant
More to her on ordinary days
Cut flowers, flowers, flowers
Cut flowers, flowers, flowers
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