Come all ye (un-)faithful! Welcome to the first of two “2023 in retrospective” type episodes! In this outing, we’re looking at some of the artists who left this earthly plane over the past fifty one-and-a-half weeks! Please click below as per your preferences!

Audio is like video without our handsomeness! #bogmonstermusic

Please be sure to check the YT playlist, if that’s your bag… man…

Dan’s Notes

In memoriam 2023

First off, one more round of Rest In Power to Sakevi Yokoyama of GISM (whose passing we discussed on the Favourite Compilations Episodes ep), Dave Jolicoeur of De La Soul (discussed on ep one “Five Band That Made You”), and Sinead O’Connor (discussed on our Favourite Non-Punk Artists episode). Check the show notes for those respective episodes for my thoughts on the artists in question!

Glenn Lockett aka Spot (producer)

The mastermind of the SST Records sound who had a surprise post script to his punk career by having a hand in one of the early bands of the folk punk scene later on. One of the overlap points between my list and Matt’s to no surprise, Spot was an integral part of SST Records and the creative community around the label. A longtime friend of Greg Ginn’s and the son of one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen of WWII, Spot produced records for Black Flag, Husker Du, Saint Vitus, and a host of other legendary bands who released records on SST, and the wild details of his life and adventures during that era are best summed up by Jim Ruland’s book on the record label “Corporate Rock Sucks”. One thing from after that time in Spot’s life that I thought was kind of a cool post-script to his original run of involvement in the scene, was that apparently he ended up at an early show by Florida country-folk punkers This Bike Is A Pipe Bom and was impressed enough to introduce himself to the band afterward, according to an interview with This Bike… frontman Rymodee I read awhile back, and mentioned to the band that he had been teaching himself to play the viola, leading the band to invite him to play the “fidola” on their Dance Party With…. album on Plan It X Records in 1999, which was a seminal record in the folk-punk subgenre. I always thought that was cool little mini-second act on his involvement in putting out some truly great records, and his 8mpaft on punk rock on the whole just from the SST era is unparalleled. RIP.

Shane McGowan (The Pogues)

Shane McGowan is one of the great poets of the 20th century, the face of a band who flew to unexpected heights for artists of their sub genre and even contributed a song to the legit canon of (sometimes inescapable) Christmas music. After starting out fronting early UK ‘77 punks The Nipple Erectors, McGowan formed The Pogues in the early 80’s to fuse traditional Irish folk music and a more raucous punk edge, weaving his own heartrending tales of sex workers, war veterans and the unhoused on the grimy streets of London with traditional folk standards like “The Wild Rover” and “Dirty Old Town”. His lyrics were like this amazing little heartbreaking short stories delivered in a  gruff but soulful voice through snagged teeth and the slurring of maybe one drink too many (as he would leave The Pogues for “health reasons” in the early 90’s due to his notorious amount of alcohol consumption). For him to pass around this time of year when his most famous composition, Fairytale Of New York, enters its usual place in the canonical rotation of kind of edgy holiday music that you can still put on without the aged members of the family take offense, makes his passing hit that much harder as his voice is just so much more present this time of year. I’ll admit I took a bit of a break from the music of the Pogues for a few years after my time working in a very music-focussed Irish Pub where they unfortunately became the soundtrack to a bit of a cruddy overworked era of my own life and therefore had built some unfortunate associations in my mind but revisiting it now in the wake of his passing he really deserves a spot in the canon of great singer songwriters of the 20th century alongside his country mate (and fellow 2023 passing) Sinead O’Connor and will truly be missed.

Founder of legendary hip hop crew Flavor Unit and archivist of the breakbeat with a fondness for 45 RPM singles (hence his DJ name), Mark James (1961-2023) was from the Bronx but helped put New Jersey on the map in the rap world at a time when just being from the wrong borough of NYC could call one’s hip hop credentials into question, let alone admit to being from outside the city (or even out of state). He first broke out in 1987 with “The 900 Number”, and then started putting together a crew of like minded artists he wanted to help get over from around NY and NJ like Lakim Shabazz, Chill Rob G and their breakout star Queen Latifah. The 45 King was also Latifah’s tour DJ while still producing for other artists (including remixes for the likes of Madonna and other), and also released multiple series of classic breakbeat compilations before stepping back from music altogether for a time in the 90’s dues to substance issues. By that point Flavor Unit was also home to other breakout stars Naughty By Nature and Redman, further increasing New Jersey’s profile in the hip hop world. In 1998 Mark returned to the world of hip hop long enough to produce two massive breakout hits for thir respective artists – Jay Z’s “Hard Knock Life” and Eminem’s “Stan”, his last musical efforts before stepping away entirely. He was 62 when he passed away this fall.

Rick Froberg

San Diego icon and one half of Jehu’s twin guitar onslaught. San Diego is one of those cities with a small but highly influential music scene, and the bands synonymous with that small but influential scene all either featured Froberg in some way (either through his musicianship or skill as a visual artist which he used to create album art for several of his own and other bands) or where influenced by his work in some way. Drive Like Jehu were also the rare heavy underground post hardcore type of band to get a major label push and distribution at a time in the early 90’s when that sort of music was something not as easily found so often, due to the fact that his Jehu-mate John Reis’ other band Rocket From The Crypt became a hot commodity in the music biz, with Reis insisting that his other band with Froberg also get a release alongside with them, leading to their second album Yank Crime getting a major label release at a time when not too many bands with screamy vocals and angular guitars were getting attention above the underground level. After DLJ, Froberg and his frequent collaborator Reis started Hot Snakes, who released several albums throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s on San Diego indie Swami Record, with album art by Froberg in his distinct style as well. After Hot Snakes, he played in The Obits whom I am still kicking myself over missing out on the one time they came through Halifax during Pop Explosion in the early 2010s. Unfortunately, he passed away from an undiagnosed heart condition at the relatively young age of 55 at the end of June this year, way too young for sure.

Ben Brennan (Barlow, Weed Thief, A Sight For Sewn Eyes, Surveillance, Word On The Street)

Had to include this beloved Halifax musician who passed away way too young at age 29 back in April of this year. This hit hard. Ben is someone whose music I first became acquainted with back in his early bands Megalodon and Castle Wolfenstein, though by the early 2010s during the nascent days of Halifax DIY venue Sad Rad, around the time that I was playing in my last band while also trying to bring my (not very good take on) standup comedy into underground venues outside of the traditional club environment, I feel like almost every single show I did in town was with one of Ben’s other bands like Barlow, Weed Thief, or the mighty Word On The Street (whose great 7” Street Spirit is still available via bandcamp). Ben’s other long-running project A Sight For Sewn Eyes were labelmates with Alexisonfire and more recently he had been playing with melodic indie rockers Surveillance, and he can also be seen on the cover of Botfly’s Lower Than Love LP from 2021. Losing Ben hit hard because he was a huge part of the past decade and a half of the Halifax music scene, and who knows how many other great bands he could have come out with had he been around a bit longer. Sorely missed.

End notes/honorable mentions

Matt’s Notes

After one heck of a year, I’ve got not much to say! For a change! Color me winded…

ANYWAYS, as mentioned during the episode… let’s a moment or two for some of the righteous souls who moved to their next phase of existence…

Van Conner (Screaming Trees)

Imagine forming a high school band with your miscreant brother and some other miscreants in your small, violent pre-internet WA state nowhereville… and within two years you’re on legendary punk and hardcore label SST Records… and within five you’ve also been on Subpop… and landing on a major label circa Nevermind-era grunge… you can’t go far into the major label “90’s northwest” wikis without reaching the Trees… and the Conner brothers…

And to which we can also add… an entire post-grunge musical life to be discovered… Respect…

Andrew Laing (Leatherface, Cockney Rejects)

These men lived hard and looked fifty before they even got started in the mid-eighties. I was scrolling around making notes for an episode of TNB… Leatherface related… and found this out. Not shocking by any means, but still… one of the greatest guitar bands of all time lost one more member… there are fewer and fewer left… respect!! And he leaves a whole bunch of music outside of Leatherface to be discovered for years to come…

Gordon Lightfoot

I can’t be Canadian and not post about this. I just can’t! Influential… and probably my ideal night-time-by-myself LP’s… The Replacements have released exactly one album of new music in the past thirty-three and counting years… which is the 2013 Songs for Slip EP… including a cover of I’m Not Sayin’… which is what led me to even going… Lightfoot… not just from your parents’ box of dusty phonographs…

Shane MacGowan / Sinéad O’Connor

Two amazingly generous, artistically brilliant Irish artists who left us too soon but having blessed us with hours and days and years of amazing recordings, writings, photographs, and other ephemera.

When I returned to NB from Korea after my first year of teaching… I was living with my Dad in an apartment on Regent Street… doing the one-year B.Ed teacher training program… living without my then-wife for the first time in a few years… that was the last year I was friends with a guy who went on to have a (more) troubled personal life… I had no idea I was going to go to Qatar or have two amazing kids… or do a Ph.D…

And Hell’s Ditch was the album I listened to most that winter, no question.

Suaimhneas síoraí

Spot (Producer, SST Records)

I’m going to defer in these written comments to everything that Dan said earlier! A major talent, without whom American alternative and punk music would sound far differently than it does! Under-recognized in his time, as with many legends!

I strongly recommend reading Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruland for an amazing read generally… and also to get some fascinating glimpses at some of these folks in the “prime” of their musical and cultural influence!

Sixto Rodriguez

My only thing here beyond what was mentioned during the recording…

He was a unique person who ultimately had the chance to share his music with the world well before passing this year. Respect!

We’re on the cusp of the New Year! The very freaking cusp! Have a frigging great holiday time, will ya?

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Filed under: Uncategorized - @ December 27, 2023 9:30 pm