Die Kreutzen
Circa 1987 I went to a concert in Madison, Wisconsin. DIE KREUTZEN opened for the BUTTHOLE SURFERS.
I hated DIE K. at the time. I thought they were the worst band I had ever seen, except for one thing: The lead singer started out at the top of his best possible scream and did not relent through the rest of the set. It was all one top high pitched wavering scream that went over the bass/drum/noise rock "songs."
You had to respect that. It's an admirable aesthetic: Start from your best then see what else you've got.
John Zorn does it.
Ornette Coleman. Sun Ra. Eugene Chadbourne.
*
Die Kreutzen. It was just about the most irritating noise I'd ever heard. It pinned me back up against the last row of the theatre, my hands against my ears.
*
Then the SURFERS concert ensued. Dada spectacle upsidedown film smoke pandemonium.
A great show.
*
Kids staggering up the aisles from the mosh pit holding their bloodied skulls.
*
But the audience had been warned: "If you have a single brain cell left leave now because the show is about to start."
*
Eventually I understood why DIE KREUTZEN were chosen as the opening act. I'd actually read an astute music journalist's question to Gibby Hayes asking: Why DIE KREUTZEN to open, and his response was pure genius: Because they're a hard act to follow.
*
If the group before you totally destroys the idea of music song and form: Hey! We can do what ever we want!
All art is strategy.
I hated DIE K. at the time. I thought they were the worst band I had ever seen, except for one thing: The lead singer started out at the top of his best possible scream and did not relent through the rest of the set. It was all one top high pitched wavering scream that went over the bass/drum/noise rock "songs."
You had to respect that. It's an admirable aesthetic: Start from your best then see what else you've got.
John Zorn does it.
Ornette Coleman. Sun Ra. Eugene Chadbourne.
*
Die Kreutzen. It was just about the most irritating noise I'd ever heard. It pinned me back up against the last row of the theatre, my hands against my ears.
*
Then the SURFERS concert ensued. Dada spectacle upsidedown film smoke pandemonium.
A great show.
*
Kids staggering up the aisles from the mosh pit holding their bloodied skulls.
*
But the audience had been warned: "If you have a single brain cell left leave now because the show is about to start."
*
Eventually I understood why DIE KREUTZEN were chosen as the opening act. I'd actually read an astute music journalist's question to Gibby Hayes asking: Why DIE KREUTZEN to open, and his response was pure genius: Because they're a hard act to follow.
*
If the group before you totally destroys the idea of music song and form: Hey! We can do what ever we want!
All art is strategy.
posted by borneman at 9:28 PM
3 Comments:
either we have art
and it should not even be a word
that is directed to
the ideas of the sacred
or the expression
of what is most honorable in
our community
or we have artifice
pretense amplified
the excessive degenerate
excretions of demented imaginations
and perhaps sartre and
gide
and william burroughs
beleived that that is all that matters
when art is selfless
then it can speak
we do well to observe
the phenomena
emerging as cultural expression
we do better to disavow most it
meaninglessness has its own form
as does the local dump
lady virtue can endure
raw shit in her face
Die Kreuzen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Man, there was a point there when Die Kreuzen were the best band in the USA." - Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth..
Thanks.
PS- It's 'Kreuzen'.
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