X is for X-rated

If you are offended by naughty words look away now - this is a celebration of the f-word in all its glory.

Because cursing is fun and squeaky clean music sucks, I've taken inspiration from Daft Scots Lass who posted M is for Muthafucker earlier in the game and compiled a lovely, naughty word inspired collection of songs.

I was going to do a whole post about x-rated music, with banned record sleeves and albums, but sadly I don't have the time to go into all that. What I will say though is that the original artwork for Guns n Roses 'Appetite For Destruction', which depicted a robot having just raped a woman and was based on a painting by Robert Williams, was deemed too offensive for record stores to stock. The banned artwork was replaced with the classic skulls image that has adorned the album since.

Sadly, there are many acts of similar censorship in music. Instead of having artwork that makes us think, record companies are more concerned with having sleeves that shift units. So it goes.

My top three uses of the word motherfucker in song:



Don't Say Motherfucker, Motherfucker - Turbonegro





Binge and Purge - Clutch






Die Like a Motherfucker - Therapy?


Also check out:

Heartless Bastard Motherfucker - Frank Turner

History's Stranglers - The Bronx

M is for Mixtapes (the soundtrack to an adventure)

Back in the days when I had a Walkman - up until 2003 actually, I was a latecomer to the iPod - and money to blow on going to gigs that were really far away, I used to make mixtapes for my journey. These usually consisted of tracks by whatever band I was on my way to see, as well as some John Peel sessions, festival performances and songs I was hooked on at the time - largely a healthy mix of punk and rock n roll.

Last summer, during my own take on Jack Kerouac's coast to coast American road trip - from LA to New York via New Orleans on the train - I made my own soundtrack for the journey based on the states and cities I passed through and the bands that call them home. Sadly, this wasn't on a tape, but it still kicked ass. Go clicky-click!

Here's my American adventure soundtrack:

* Los Angeles, California: Shitty Future - The Bronx

* Palm Springs, California: Freedom Run - Kyuss

* Arizona: A Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World

* El Paso, Texas: Invalid Litter Dept. - At The Drive-In

* Birmingham, Alabama: Step Up (I'm On It) - Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

* Atlanta, Georgia: Curl of the Burl - Mastodon

* Virginia: I'm Your Opposite Number - Strike Anywhere

* Washington DC: Minor Threat - Minor Threat

* Baltimore, Maryland: Electric Worry - Clutch

* New Jersey: Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen

* New Jersey: Backseat - Gaslight Anthem

* New York City: Jamestown - The Movielife

C is for Cover Versions

A good cover version, by definition, is a song transformed. It's what happens when a band has the vision to see past the original, to take a song in a new direction and completely run away with it. I think it's pretty lame when bands can't manage to put their own spin on a song, when they don't have enough character or heart to give it a new personality - afterall, who wants a shitty, second-rate version of the original? No, they'll be none of that here. Come with me and I'll show you five bands who have the vision to make a song their own...


Here's my top five cover versions:


'Whiskey in the Jar' - Metallica
A traditional Irish drinking song taken on by Thin Lizzy back in the early '70s, but completely remolded by Metallica into a meaty beast of a track. And, it's got awesome riffage you can't help but sing along too.


'Hurt' - Johnny Cash
A truly haunting and thought-provoking number by Nine Inch Nails, some say about heroin addiction, some say about suicide. Latterly destroyed in an appalling cover version by Leona Lewis. However, while the original makes for heavy listening, Johnny Cash's take on the track is simply beautiful and he makes it into his own story of a man at the end of his life apologising for his mistakes. If you don't like this you have no heart.


'To Have and to Have Not' - Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards
It's got attitude, it's got swagger and soundwise, it comes with a lot more balls than the original by folk/punk singer Billy Bragg. That's not to say I don't love the original - as a leftie and political song writer, Bragg's lyrics always stand way above the music and always capture the world just how it is.

Check out these prophetic lyrics:

The factories are closing and the army's full,

I don't know what I'm going to do,

But I've come to see in the Land of the Free

There's only a future for a chosen few

'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight' - Frank Turner
The one man acoustic warrior is the maestro of cover versions, effortlessly turning Black Flag's 'Fix Me' and Bad Brain's 'Pay to Cum' from bile-ridden blasts of pure fury into songs that could easily pass for his own. Here, he takes The Postal Service's electronic number, removes the fluff and strips it back down to its bare and beautiful bones. Stunning.


'Immortal' - Clutch
There's making a song you're own, then there's totally re-writing it. Once upon a time, this dirty rock gem was a '70s classic rock, Free-sounding Leslie West (of Mountain) number titled 'Baby I'm Down'. Not only was West ok with it being rewritten both lyrically and musically by Clutch, he helped them do it.


This is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, find out more HERE.