Christmas has come and gone
fot. Sławomir Ostrowski
Christmas has come and gone, and fortunately for everybody I didn’t write a blog entry of my favourite pop/rock Xmas songs. This would be impossible because all such songs suck except for Slade’s „Merry Xmas Everybody” and BINGE’s song, which I hope will be a huge hit someday and pay for my retirement.
Furthermore, I didn’t bother to write anything for the past two weeks due to my Christmas vacation in America. I was far away from Olsztyn (thank God) but the Strefa Jeffa blog never strayed from my thoughts. While there I was listening to classic rock radio and heard all the American bands that are unknown in Poland.
Many American artist are popular in Poland such as Metallica, Guns-n-Roses, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Aerosmith, but many others are too „American” and fail to translate to Poland. Just like baseball and American football will never reach the levels of popularity that soccer/football enjoys here, Bob Seger, Marshall Tucker Band, Foghat, Molly Hatchet, etc. will rarely or never be played on Trójka.
The cowboy is the character from American mythology/culture that many Ameircans, mostly men, still worship. A loner, independent, freedom, open highways, rugged, blue-jeans, rebellious but also patriotic – all these features are instilled in a cowboy and define a „real American man.” In comparison. Poles dream of the Polish chivalric aristocrat from long ago with the bushy mustache, sash for a belt, funny hair, devoted to Bóg, Honor, Kraj etc.
Of course, one of the biggest, maybe the biggest, living „American” singers is Bruce Springsteen with huge hits „I’m on Fire”, „Born to Run”(one of the greatest songs ever), and „Born on the USA.” A quick comment on „Born on the USA” – I hate that song. This song has the cheesiest keyboard-opener, as bad as Europe’s „The Final Countdown.” I used to listen to Radio Eska Rock when it was on the air not because it played good music but because in the Olsztyn region it was only station came close to playing rock music (let’s not mention Radio Ol*****). However, a rock station which plays „Born in the USA”, does not deserve to be on the air. I apply the same rule to radio stations that play Depeche Mode or Simple Minds’ „Don’t You Forget About Me.” Eska Rock is better off dead, and now we can hate Radio Vox – station that truly deserves our hate.
Back to Bruce Springsteen in a way. During my two-week stay in the States, I never heard the Boss on the radio once but instead his more „blue-collar” brother/ cousin… Bob Seeger. Bruce plays for the rich liberal folks in California and on the East Coast and Bob plays for the Mid-West Republican car mechanics and factory workers. Bruce’s fans drink expensive beer, and Bob’s fans drink cheap American beer. Now I’ll answer your quesiton, „Who the hell is Bob Seeger?” Probably most of my readers will know two of his songs. The first, „Old Time Rock-n-Roll”, was featured in Tom Cruise’s first hit movie „Risky Business” while he was dancing in his underwear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSVcRYh8dE
Poles also became familar with his material thanks to Metallica’s second covers album Garage Inc on which they recorded his classic song „Turn the Page”.
A decent cover, Metallica did not improve the song but due their crunchy heaviness the song lost a bit of the sadness that the original has.
Bob Seger sings with a raspy voice, just like Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart. Both singers enjoy popularity in Poland, but usually usually for their more recent crappy recordings. So if you enjoy that kind of singing but want some better songs, I recommend Bob Seger. Unlike the other two, this guy is an American icon. So I’ll leave you with one more song by Bob Seger, „Against the Wind.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPkLAeMJ5E
