"Michelle" Lynyrd Skynyrd (1971) [independendtly released 45, very rare] "Twist & Shout" Cramps (1979 demo)→[More:]

Both these bands lost important members recently. Skynyrd's keyboard player Billy Powell about a week ago, and Lux Interior from the Cramps today. I've gotten a lot of pleasure over the years out of both men's contributions to rock and roll. Quite frankly I think both men are more alike than they are different and while somebody could like their music for very different reasons, I like both their music for the same reason: IT ROCKS! (and from all reports, both Powell and Lux were great guys. This separation shit is more on the part of audiences than musicians, I've found. Yes, I've known narrow-minded meathead assholes in the butt-rock/metal audience, yes, I've known insufferable snot-nosed elitists in the 'underground.' But the number of fantastic people (and music) I've discovered in both camps leaves both in the dust. 'nuff said?)

The skynyrd record is a 45 they had pressed on a local label when they were still a bunch of high school dropouts sharing an un-airconditioned cinderblock house on the outskirts of Jacksonville. You can definitely tell that they've been listening to Cream, The Who and Zep, but you can also hear their own voice beginning to emerge. Ronnie Van Zant's attempt to redefine what being a Southerner meant, both socially and musically (the guys in Skykyrd had a comfort level with the blues and country that British artists never could after all).

Ditto the Cramps track as well. It's an early demo. Like the guys in Skynyrd, you can hear the cramps groping towards their identity and vision, namely Lux and Ivy looking at piles of old forgotten rockabilly and garage 45's and thinking 'This stuff is great, let's do stuff like it and make rock and roll fun again!" (I should add, I don't think Lux was being ironic about loving this old stuff, he genuinely dug it...)

Anyways, here's to two departed comrades and hope you dig their early escapades.