ICONIC ROCK WEIRDOS

What do you do when you've achieved the status of a
Rock Snob?
Where do you go after you've listened to outtakes from the original "Smile" sessions, have championed the Rasperberries over Big Star, purchased a nudie suit, studied the canon of Eno, and obsessed over the nuances of post-punk and analog synths? Why, you begin to dig into the catalogs of ICONIC ROCK WEIRDOS.
ICONIC ROCK WEIRDOS are music artists who clearly have a level of talent that places them above the rock artists worshipped by the conservative critics. These mainstream artists that the conservative critics worship are people like John Lennon and Paul Simon; they have (or had) some talent, and are now icons of "artistry" in rock music. But the ICONIC ROCK WEIRDO is someone who has equal or (more likely) greater talent than these mainstream artists, but chooses to use it in absolutely strange and misguided ways...generally making albums for themselves, with critics and fans be damned. The wonder is how some of these guys had albums put out by big labels.

Well, the first Iconic Rock Weirdo I will discuss is Scott Walker (pictured above), who you may know from the catchy little song "30th Century Man" from the Steve Zisou soundtrack. Nice little track, kinda like Donavan or some other breezy, folky, English song. But wait, he's from Ohio. And in the past 16 years he has put out two of the most experimental and mind-bending records you could imagine. "The Drift" is the focus of this item. Check out a couple of these tunes, as well as this interview on British television. You may notice that he doesn't use the words LSD during the interview, so maybe he is creating these avant-garde works with only some brandy and clove cigarettes? Bravo, Scott.
http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpwhMiFNPcI&search=scott%20walker
http://jgmedanth.objectification.net/Music/Cossacks%20Are%20-%20Scott%20Walker.mp3
http://jgmedanth.objectification.net/Music/Jesse%20-%20Scott%20Walker.mp3
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:srkqikp6bb79~T1

Harry Nilsson is immediately more accessible, and I've posted some tracks from his big "hit" album, "Nilsson Schmilsson"...you will immediately recognize the posted songs. But Harry also went a little south after this hit record in the early 70's, recording some odd albums like "Son of Schmilsson"...He cleary had talent, and wrote some amazing songs, and had an amazing voice, too, but chose the hard way to follow his muse. His biography on allmusic.com (posted below) gives him more justice than I ever could.

Plus, how can you deny the brilliant move of wearing your bathrobe on the cover of your album?




http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=HARRY|NILSSON&sql=11:62d7gjyrj6iv~T1
http://jgmedanth.objectification.net/Music/07%20Coconut.wma
http://jgmedanth.objectification.net/Music/06%20Without%20You.wma
http://jgmedanth.objectification.net/Music/01%20Gotta%20Get%20Up.wma

I hope this has been helpful for those music fans who are seeking something "out there". After digesting a lot of popular music, these two ICONIC ROCK WEIRDOS are presently taking up a good portion of my time, in just trying to come to grips with what they've done and how they've followed their art.
A great site, where I am sure you can listen to many ICONIC ROCK WEIRDOS, is http://www.3wk.com/.
This radio site has a great classic rock stream that plays many, many obscure artists and songs from the 60's and 70's. Highly recommended.