Thursday, November 17, 2016

The Rebel Black Dot Drug Song of the Day

Ramones, "Chinese Rock" from Ramones Mania (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: This next odd little theme, Drug Songs, grows directly out of the Thunder Songs theme, in two different ways. First, a search of my iTunes library for "thunder" produces seven results, the six Thunder Songs of the Day & "Chinese Rock." Why? One of the listed composers of "Chinese Rock" is Johnny Thunders, of the ur-punk band The Heartbreakers. For more on the not-terribly-interesting story of the composition of "Chinese Rock" (or "Rocks," plural), see the song's Wikipedia page: Chinese-link.

The second reason is that the first Thunder song, They Might Be Giants' "Thunderbird," sounds to my ears as if it is about substance abuse (whether drugs or alcohol is not made clear):
"I know, I know, I said that I would quit,
Alright, I promise no more after this,
You don't know how I tried
To forget what it was like,
I remember now,
I remember now,
Why they called it Thunderbird…"
The heroin junkie lifestyle as portrayed in "Chinese Rock":
"The plaster fallin' off the wall,
My girlfriend's cryin' in the shower stall,
It's hot as a bitch,
I should've been rich,
But I'm just diggin' a Chinese ditch.

"I'm living on a Chinese rock,
All my best things are in hock,
I'm living on a Chinese rock,
Everything is in the pawn shop…"
We here at
The Secret Base are of course in no way endorsing drug abuse. We grew up in the Nineteen Eighties & took to heart First Lady Nancy Reagan's tireless "Just Say No" campaign.

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