THE NINETIES-IST
Welcome to another edition of Brook Pridemore’s The Nineties-ist. This edition discusses 1996, Mr. Pridemore personally insulting a Monkee, the fuck-ups involving the 1996 Lollapalooza festival, and the torture and slaying of animals at Marilyn Manson concerts. For earlier installments, go here.

In July of 1996, I called Mickey Dolenz a fucking liar. Waiting in line for an autograph of the Monkees’ Greatest Hits CD I’d just purchased, I became incensed over a soundbite I’d heard from Dolenz a few years previous. Dolenz (in my memory) had said something like, “I don’t understand all the hoopla about the Monkees. The Monkees were talentless.” As I approached the Prefab Four’s drummer that evening, I brought up the soundbite (which, admittedly, may have been a product of my imagination) and told him I thought he’d belied the catalog of songs in the band’s repertoire and the Monkees’ cultural staying power through the years.

I was the oldest fan in attendance, who wasn’t a parent ushering in sons and daughters. When Dolenz denied having said such a thing, I said, “You’re a fucking liar,” grabbed my newly-autographed CD, and stomped off, leaving at least a couple of bewildered kids and one washed up pop star in my wake.

I take little pride (besides the anecdote) in having wrecked Mickey Dolenz’s evening, and no satisfaction at all in having ruined the night for anyone seeking autographs. And while my borderline-Trekkie rebuking of Dolenz’ offhandedly delivered callous comment doesn’t really fit into the greater cultural landscape of 1996, it seems important to let the reader know that your narrator’s manic obsession with twelve tones arranged in varying patterns runs deeper than Lake Superior.

Possibly a greater crime committed against seventeen year old rock fans across the country was the 1996 Lollapalooza Festival. The traveling “alternative” rock festival, which had served an unhip suburban kid like me his first exposure to bands like the Coctails and Brainiac only a year before, had lost their founder, Perry Farrell, to other projects. Not surprisingly (though still disappointing), the festival’s new organizers eschewed a lot of its’ grassroots leanings, scuttling past eclectic lineups for the likes of the mainstream Metallica, Soundgarden, the Ramones and Rancid.
More on #13: 1996

No More Radiohead Albums? AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH! [The Tripwire]

Watch The Drums New Video for “Let’s Go Surfing,” Look Out For Their Upcoming Shows [Brooklyn Vegan]

C-Murder Convicted of Second-Degree Murder [NME]

Co-Owner of Matador Records Loses House In Fire [Brooklyn Vegan]

Don’t Look A Gift-Horse In The Mouth and For God’s Sake Don’t Punch It!!! Man Arrested For Punching Police Horse After Lollapalooza [Pitchfork]

Watch The Trailer For Tom Waits’ Upcoming Film, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” [Prefix]

And In More Tom Waits News…Anton Corbijn Is Publishing Book Of Tom Waits Portraits [The Tripwire]

If Morrissey Ain’t Making Money Off It, Why Bother? Morrissey Tells Fans Not To Buy Reissues [Rolling Stone]

I Always Secretly Hoped Elton John Would Work With Alice In Chains, Now My Dreams Are Fulfilled [Prefix]

821 Entertainment To Make Hank Williams Biopic [Prefix]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

ORIGINALITY CORNER
Sunday night in Chicago, some lucky Lollapalooza after-partiers will be the first to hear what happens when Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) have at it. The group has booked a surprise debut show at the 1,100 capacity Metro, following the close of the three-day festival. My guess is that it will be sheer collective rock genius. But for now there’s only speculation.

Going by the name Them Crooked Vultures, the trio has decided it’s time to stop bullshitting and join forces, but it’s all so ambiguous. For four years, rumors have itched ears that one day this could happen. In 2005, Grohl told Mojo about the prospective project that would feature him on drums, a treat in itself. He hasn’t been dedicated to his kit since the flannel days of Nirvana. The only solid information known is that October 23 is the official release date for the album, Never Deserved The Future, on Interscope.

If you look for them on Myspace there’s nothing more than the logos of each of their respective bands – no music, no pictures, no friends, no comments, nothing. There is a website, but again, a state of nothingness – well, except for a simple silhouette of some sort of being, part human, part vulture.

Public relations are keeping a tight lip. Fans will just have to wait until Monday to catch buzz of The Crooked Vultures with hopes that someone out there will be recording and posting clips on YouTube, or something to that nature. Leave it to these guys to make years-long hearsay come true.

In the two day wait, why not listen to “Go With the Flow,” off the now-classic 2003 Queens of the Stone Age LP Songs For The Deaf, streaming below.

by Genette Nowak

DAILY NEWS PICKS

We Still Wish He’d Made “G Train” Instead: Sufjan Stevens to Release “BQE” Multimedia Set [Pitchfork]

Legendary “Nasty Gal” Betty Davis to Rerelease Two Albums. Funk Yeah! [The Tripwire]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Replace Beastie Boys at Lollapalooza, No No No Word on Replacement for All Points West [Stereogum]

Yo La Tengo, Bill Callahan, Jay Reatard and More Contribute to Chris Knox Covers Compilation [Pitchfork]

Watch Our New Favorite Joy Division Cover: Steel Drum Band Plays “Transmission” [The Tripwire]

And For A Couple of Not-So-Good Covers: Ian Brown Covers Michael Jackson, Releases Jackson-Inspired Album [Prefix]

Jimi Hendrix’s Doctor Says It’s Plausible That He Was Murdered [NME]

Mmmm…Casper & The Cookies On Tour and in Town Tonight! [Brooklyn Vegan]

New Jarvis Cocker! (Gives Ya Enough Time To Learn The Words And Sing Along At MHOW Next Week) [Stereogum]

Check Out Tour Dates, Download Demos From Raveonettes [SPIN]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

NOT ROCK
Two years have gone by without the pretty pain and masochistic outgivings of Tool. No perfectly starched performances backdropped by bizarre animations of human activity and, worst of all, no new albums. Since the 10,000 Days tour, I have checked in every two months with fingers crossed that Tool’s status quo would change.  Finally, it has.

Tool is headlining Lollapalooza (I can’t believe they are listed second to Depeche Mode).  Though excited to learn they aren’t dead in the water – I was a little worried – there was a bit of shock factor upon learning that their two-year hiatus will come to an end at a frat-boy festival. I never really thought of Tool as the festival-type band, but hey, if Nine Inch Nails can do it – three Grammys or not, their progressive and churning approach to metal, dark and desolate, has always been underappreciated and severely misunderstood – then so too can Tool. It’ll be interesting to see how Snoop Dogg fans receive them.
More on Open Up That Old Tool Box