Who were rock’s lastminute substitutes?
Time to resolve rock’s thorniest problems around the blazing campfire of musical knowledge.
I was saddened by (Slipknot drummer) Joey Jordison’s death in July, and never knew he’d stood in for Metallica’s Lars Ulrich at short notice at the Download Festival in 2004. Any other good examples of “is there a doctor in the house” concert situations? Keith Gibbons, via e-mail
MOJO says: For last-minute, hoping-against-hope substitutions, it’s hard to beat the time The Who played San Francisco’s Cow Palace in November 1973. When a befuddled Keith Moon couldn’t finish the show – downing sticks during Magic Bus – Pete Townshend asked the crowd, “Can anybody out there play drums?” Nineteen-year-old Scott Halpin duly volunteered and acquitted himself well, though historians differ on what he played. Another seat-of-pants drummer switch involved The Fall at the 1998 Reading Festival: having abandoned sticksman Tom Head en route, Chemical Brothers manager Nick Dewey, formerly of shoegazers Revolver, was recruited backstage with an hour to go. Though Dewey protested he hadn’t played for years (as Dave Simpson’s estimable Fall memberography The Fallen recounts), guitarist and pressganger Neville Wilding replied,
“Don’t worry about that, we’re all pissed anyway.” The gig went surprisingly well, though Mark E Smith appeared bloodied. What goes on in the mind of the last-minute stand-in was revealed by pianist/organist Chris Morrison, who deputised for all of Rory Gallagher’s fogbound-in- London backing group at the Birmingham Town Hall in December 1975. “I can’t begin to comprehend my bravado and Rory’s recklessness,” he wrote in 2015, recalling Gallagher yelling key changes at him in real time. “How I coped, God help me, my brain refuses to say.” Again, reports say the show was a good one. To end, let’s go back to July 25, 1971, when the theoretically split Stooges played Wamplers Lake Pavilion in Michigan. With Iggy and James Williamson absent, the Asheton brothers turned up and asked the crowd if anyone fancied being frontman for the night. Fan Steve Richards volunteered. Iggy later recalled hearing a recording: “I used to hear it and thought, ‘I don’t remember. I was pretty good!’ …then I realised that was the guy.” Naturally, please let us know your suggestions.
BLACK KEYS CD QUERY
On listening to track 15 from the CD accompanying MOJO’s July edition I noticed that this version of The Black Keys’ Yearnin’ is NOT the one from The Big Come Up. And it ain’t the alternate ‘live’ version from Slaying Since 1996 either. So wossitollabout? Martin Schreiber, Lahr, Germany
MOJO says: Good point, Martin. We asked our CD compiler-inchief Dave Henderson, who says, “Patrick Boissel at Alive Naturalsound says he supplied the ’streaming’ version of the track, which is different from the live version.” So there we have it.
ROCK’S WEIRDEST BILLS
On May 9, 1980, I saw Eric Clapton at the Glasgow Apollo. I was surprised to learn that the ‘special guests’ for ‘God’ were none other than Chas & Dave. Have you got other examples of support bands that make you think “What the hell?” Paul Murray, via e-mail
MOJO says: Echo & The Bunnymen on the bill with Bad Manners at the Lyceum in October 1980 springs to mind, as does (suggests Keith Cameron) Slade supported by U2 and Discharge at the same venue in the same month. Other tasty examples include the Ramones supporting Toto, The Marshall Tucker Band paired with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and The Jam opening for Blue Öyster
Cult in the US. The Stranglers also favoured incongruous support acts, including, variously, Frank Sidebottom, a barber shop quartet and an elderly tap-dancer. But the most mindwarping cases, we’re saying, are Engelbert Humperdinck on the same 1967 package tour as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the time Einstürzende Neubauten picked Leicester’s drape-suited retro-teds Showaddywaddy as support in September ’87 at the Kilburn National. (Showaddywaddy’s Dave Bartram recalled, “We blew them off stage that night!”) Readers, we hope you have examples to add.
REVERSING, FORWARDSLY?
Re: Who Ran Backwards? (Ask MOJO 334). In 1934, the MGM movie We Live Again had part of its soundtrack involving a Russian Orthodox church service mistakenly played backwards, but MGM producer Sam Goldwyn was so taken with it no one dared tell him it was a cock-up. Kevin Forshaw, via e-mail
HELP MOJO
The burning question raised by MOJO 332, page 111: Israel Top 10 Singles on June 4, 1982. Can you explain/hypothesise why We Have A Dream by The Scottish World Cup Squad made it into the Israel Top 10 – storytelling, bagpipes and all? Patrick Evens, via e-mail
MOJO says: It’s a wonderful vision of international friendship, like 1979’s Nottingham Forest tune We Got The Whole World In Our Hands outselling Michael Jackson and The Police in the Netherlands, or Three Lions reaching Number 16 in Germany. But who can explain it? Over to you!