Other Mixes By Pop Kulcher
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Theme - Narrative
The Lunatic Is In My Head...
| Artist | Song | |
| Pink Floyd | Jugband Blues | |
| Daniel Johnston | Psycho Nightmare | |
| Kristin Hersh | Your Ghost | |
| Fleetwood Mac | The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) | |
| Roky Erickson & The Aliens | If You Have Ghosts | |
| Skip Spence | Lawrence Of Euphoria | |
| Joy Division | Exercise One | |
| Nick Drake | Time Of No Reply | |
| West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band | A Child Of A Few Hours Is Burning To Death | |
| Leonard Cohen | Who By Fire | |
| Nirvana | Dumb | |
| The Beach Boys | Do You Like Worms | |
| Elliott Smith | Don't Go Down | |
| Epic Soundtracks | She Sleeps Alone/Love F*cks You Up | |
| Hole | Violet | |
| Syd Barrett | Dark Globe | |
| Roky Erickson & The Aliens | I Think Up Demons | |
| Television Personalities | The Man Who Paints The Rainbows | |
| Daniel Johnston | I Know Caspar | |
| Throwing Muses | Hate My Way | |
| West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band | Suppose They Give A War & No One Comes | |
| Chris Bell | Look Up | |
| Moby Grape | Seeing | |
| Joy Division | I Remember Nothing | |
| Derek & The Dominos | Layla (closing section) | |
Comment:
Ah, the dreaded mental illness mix.Watched last year's Daniel Johnston documentary a couple weeks back -- great, if disturbing, movie. Raises some interesting questions. How closely is mental health tied to artistic genius? Where do we as listeners cross the line from entertainment to exploitation? Anyway, my first inclination after watching the movie was to put together a Daniel Johnston mix -- but Rob Conroy recently did more justice to this than I ever could.
So I opted for Plan B: A mix dedicated to those of fragile sanity. From the truly insane to the clinically depressed to the just a bit disturbed. And I tried to pick the songs from the artists that seemed (lyrically or aesthetically) to best capture whatever inner demons they were battling. And here it is.
Feedback:
Ha ha ha ha ha! Frenchy's not coming out to play today so I the great Monsieur Montaudin shall pass comment upon his behalf. Tis a veritable feast of tortured souls you serve before us here.
Dreaded? I think not. The voices in my head are telling me to tell you how very wonderful this is, esp the Syd to West Coast Pop Art stretch.
crazy is good.
great idea and great performance,
Nice cover.
Ah, one of my favorite genres, great stuff. And unaware of the demons haunting Fleetwood Mac, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and Television Personalities 'till now. Gots some reading up to do.
love 7-8, 10-13, & the closing run -- this looks cool
Good stuff here. Love the Kristin Hersh, Roky, Nirvana, Syd, Hole and WCPAEB tracks a bunch.
The Layla closing section is a brilliant closer to a brilliant looking mix.
Insanely good, and definitely a mix of the week contender. Thank God for mental illness.
This is incredible...
In response to Blasikin below:
The early Fleetwood Mac was actually riddled with mental illness. Founding guitarist Peter Green, something of a blues legend, left the band after a few albums and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Guitarist Danny Kirwan later succumbed to alcoholism (and is said to have had mental issues of his own), while guitarist Jeremy Spencer left the band to join a cult (not necessarily symptomatic of mental illness, but who knows). As far as I know, no allegations of mental issues from the far more popular Buckingham/Nicks era.
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was funded by one Bob Markley, who, though lacking musical ability, wrote many of their lyrics. Markley allegedly fronted the band for the sole purpose of meeting underage girls, and his bizarre obsession with young girls became apparent in some of their later lyrics. His obsession apparently got him into trouble, and he disappeared into oblivion in the 70s, when he was either institutionalized or incarcerated. For the whole fascinating story of this band, check out this website.
Finally, Television Personalities frontman Dan Treacy apparently has suffered from mental illness, and myriad drug problems, although he resurfaced in the past couple years.
The early Fleetwood Mac was actually riddled with mental illness. Founding guitarist Peter Green, something of a blues legend, left the band after a few albums and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Guitarist Danny Kirwan later succumbed to alcoholism (and is said to have had mental issues of his own), while guitarist Jeremy Spencer left the band to join a cult (not necessarily symptomatic of mental illness, but who knows). As far as I know, no allegations of mental issues from the far more popular Buckingham/Nicks era.
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was funded by one Bob Markley, who, though lacking musical ability, wrote many of their lyrics. Markley allegedly fronted the band for the sole purpose of meeting underage girls, and his bizarre obsession with young girls became apparent in some of their later lyrics. His obsession apparently got him into trouble, and he disappeared into oblivion in the 70s, when he was either institutionalized or incarcerated. For the whole fascinating story of this band, check out this website.
Finally, Television Personalities frontman Dan Treacy apparently has suffered from mental illness, and myriad drug problems, although he resurfaced in the past couple years.
I can't believe that I never thought to do this!!! This is fantastic, my friend, and I'd love a copy (if you still want to swap sometime soon).
mmmmm, great mix, but the presentation is treading on dangerous ground between entertainment and exploitation, in my humble - as you have recognised.
It's something like 25% of the population who suffer from some kind of mental illness at some stage in their lives . . . I think one or two of the comments below from my otherwise erstwhile friends, colleagues and mixers are a little inappropriate . . . . (end of sermon from a surprisingly sober Gobi).
It's something like 25% of the population who suffer from some kind of mental illness at some stage in their lives . . . I think one or two of the comments below from my otherwise erstwhile friends, colleagues and mixers are a little inappropriate . . . . (end of sermon from a surprisingly sober Gobi).
Very interesting compilation. Nice work.
I'm in complete agreement with Gobi on this one.Musically, it's wonderful, but I've always been ambivalent when it comes to the "tortured genius" bit.
The freak-show element that often implicitly underscores discussion of people like Spence , Erickson, Wild Man Fischer & the like sometimes makes me uncomfortable & question my motives for listening to them.
But as I say, as a purly listening experience it's fantastic & I'm certain your motives are honourable. (I say this with some authority after straying into similarly murky territory with my Dirty Old Men" mix some time ago.)
The freak-show element that often implicitly underscores discussion of people like Spence , Erickson, Wild Man Fischer & the like sometimes makes me uncomfortable & question my motives for listening to them.
But as I say, as a purly listening experience it's fantastic & I'm certain your motives are honourable. (I say this with some authority after straying into similarly murky territory with my Dirty Old Men" mix some time ago.)
And, just to throw this into the mix: the bigger question for me isn't so much the one of expoitation, but whether the music would be half as interesting stripped of its context. Would anybody listen to Daniel Johnston if they didn't know he was unbalanced? And there it sort of varies. I think Syd Barrett's solo work stands up pretty well on its own, as does much of Roky's work. Johnston is sort of hit & miss -- maybe some of his more soul-baring work might lose some intimacy and just be a tad annoying if it was by any other artist; but, then again, it's hard to imagine any other artist producing the same music. Skip Spence, I have to admit, I find far less interesting; I've never really loved his sole solo album, Oar, and its real interest (indeed, only interest) is as a window into his tortured mind (and, unlike Barrett's work, I don't see much of a window on it).
Very interesting, and an excellent mix. (You've picked one of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs there, incidentally.) Re: Pop Kulcher's comment, I think the question around Johnston's music is more, would it even exist in the first place if he didn't suffer from mental illness? It's an interesting balance, though, and this mix addresses it nicely!
This is brilliantly done and well handled. There are so many degrees and variations on the theme here, I do believe that context adds alot to many of these tracks.
I share the concerns of gobi and plushpig on this one - can't say I'm entirely comfortable with the premise of this one. That said, musically you did an excellent job - especially love the Daniel Johnston & Nick Drake picks, and that Epic Soundtracks track is one of my favourite songs ever (even though - well okay, precisely because - it completely destroys me every time I hear it).
This is fantastic and of truly questionable taste, which is generally a good thing.
Outstanding Marc, and truly a fascinating topic.
To the discussion below, I would note that now that we're in the midst of the psychopharmacological revolution, many might be quite treatable today with the meds available. But, to Siobhan's point, would that be to the detriment of their artistic output?
To the discussion below, I would note that now that we're in the midst of the psychopharmacological revolution, many might be quite treatable today with the meds available. But, to Siobhan's point, would that be to the detriment of their artistic output?
Wonderful and inspired, in a crazy kinda way ;)
As the kids today would say: "This is SICK!"
FYI, just to amend my MotW comment: I meant "madness and genius," not "genius and creativity." It seems like I make some sort of mistake every time I write comments for the MotW...
I'm on the 'dubious taste' side of the fence here I'm afraid... I can't agree with comments like 'Thank God for mental illness'. That said- terrific music, and some pertinent points. Who was it said that, if offered a permanent cure, they'd take their depression...?
very cool idea for a mix. whenever someone asks me what kind of music i listen to i tell them music by drug addicts and crazy people.
Excellent theme idea & execution :)
Very, very cool. I'll tell you what, though - DJ just doesn't do it for me. Sorta seems like the odd man out here.
Congratulations! Questionable taste - perhaps - excellent job? - absolutely.
love it!
Great idea, Great mix!! Well-deserved MOTW.