If you have not yet read Part 1, read it here.
The gold medal match of the rock band competition at the London Olympics pitted the Americans (who invented rock and roll) against the English. Each team was given 60 minutes of stage time to show off their talents, with the US up first. The visiting Americans ran into trouble early when Lou Reed decided he wasn’t interested in the competition and pulled the Velvet Underground from the bill. Then nobody could find Sly Stone, and the rest of his band dropped out. Team coach Bruce Springsteen hastily cobbled together a set that unfortunately lacked cohesion. The Ramones opened the concert with their blazing, stripped-down brand of rock including a blistering rendition of “Blitzkrieg Bop.” The transition to the pitch-perfect harmonies and complex arrangements of The Beach Boys was awkward, at best, but the crowd began to cheer loudly as they came out of the break leading into the final chorus of “Good Vibrations.” Hendrix took the stage next and almost replicated his set from the Monterey Pop Festival, but instead of lighting his guitar on fire, he segued into an unbelievable display of musical pyrotechnics using his dazzling technique and mastery of distortion to extend “Purple Haze” way beyond its original pop song format.
Just like The Who at Monterey, Nirvana and Metallica had the unenviable task of following Hendrix. Instead of presenting separate sets, they joined forces for a fascinating blend of post-punk grunge and thrash metal. At first, the groups had difficulty merging their sounds as the extreme tempo of Metallica seemed to throw off the Nirvana rhythm section, but when Kurt Cobain and James Hetfield teamed up on vocals for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the sounds of suburban teen angst and raw metal anger became one, bringing the American performance to a transcendent close.
Tomorrow, Team England responds...
No comments:
Post a Comment