[kj] Johnny Depp/Dave Vanian

[Leigh Newton]

We're all just well aware of the massive pickle you have stuck up your ass about anything to do with the mainstream that, you know, we just gotta bust your balls about it (this is me throwing my hat in the ring in that regard).

Leigh

PS - It's Keith, not Kieth. Sorry, but it's making my eyes hurt.

----- Original Message ----
From: B. Oliver Sheppard <bigblackhair at sbcglobal.net>
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!) <gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 3:46:43 PM
Subject: Re: [kj] Johnny Depp/Dave Vanian

I agree, overall.

This skit with King Buzzo trying to buy a house with the influence he'd 
had on multi-million dollar-making artists came at a time when Nirvana 
and L7 were both in the Top 20 and seemed to regularly wear Melvins 
t-shirts on national TV, or name-drop the band in interviews. Nirvana's 
famous SNL show had them wearing a Melvins shirt, even, IIRC. It was 
enough in those days for Nirvana to simply wear a band's shirt (Flipper) 
on TV to prompt that band to either reform or suddenly get press 
attention/back catalogue reprints they'd never had before.

Also, I'd like to be clear the whole point I brought this up was: 1) 
Damn, look how much Johnny Depp looks like Dave Vanian in this new film; 
2) I looked into it further, and thought, 'Wow, this is really weird; 
here's a side by side comparison.' Given Depp routinely borrows others' 
personae, it's hard to dismiss this as coincidence; 3) If that is so, 
wouldn't it be nice if Vanian got credited or even some residuals, given 
that The Damned have influenced bands that went on to make a lot more 
$$$ than them? And then I showed one hypothetical way it could be done, 
though I agreed Vanian was too modest to probably do any such thing 
anyway. (They didn't seem to care about the "Life Goes On" and "Eightes" 
similarities, after all, unlike a certain other band, who cared about a 
song's similarity.)

Of course, on this list that became "BWAHAHA! YOU THINK DAVE VANIAN 
SHOULD SUE JOHNNY DEPP BECAUSE HE HAS A STREAK IN HIS HAIR? OMG LOLOLOL!!"


-Oliver




Alexander Smith wrote:

> Come now -- The influence of the Melvins is in absolutely no way 

> comparable to the influence of the Damned.

>

> Alex in NYC

>

> On Nov 13, 2007, at 2:39 PM, B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:

>

>> Another hugely influential band have been The Melvins. That influence 

>> hasn't translated into money.

>>

>> To wit: There was an old show on MTV where King Buzzo of The Melvins 

>> took around a suitcase full of newspaper clippings of bands like 

>> Nirvana who name checked them as being really influential. He asked 

>> realtors to give him a tour of a mansion he was thinking of buying, 

>> stating he was a well-known music star. At the end of the house tour, 

>> Buzzo declared, "I'll buy it!" The realtor looked excited. Buzzo 

>> opened his suitcase of newspaper/magazine clippings, and said, "Here 

>> -- I'd like to pay you with my musical influence on people!"

>>

>> The joke was, yeah, he apparently was influential to a lot of 

>> good-selling bands, but had little money to show for it, so he was 

>> going to see if he could cash in his cred for the house. The realtor 

>> was not amused. I thought it was hilarious.

>>

>> -Oliver

>>

>>

>> Alexander Smith wrote:

>>>

>>> The Damned have already well earned their place in the annals of 

>>> rock history, let alone the pantheon of Punk Rock greats (first 

>>> British Punk band to issue an album). Their influence is massive, 

>>> and they're constantly name-checked in otherwise foreign quarters -- 

>>> in the latest issue of MOJO, Jimmy Page admits to being blown away 

>>> by the Damned. Sting continually cites "New Rose" as an all-time 

>>> fave and Nick Mason of the `Floyd even produced their second album. 

>>> If it's one thing the Damned haven't really been, it's ignored.

>>>

>>> I could be completely wrong, but I really doubt that Dave gives a 

>>> fuck about his look being appropriated. And I can't think of a 

>>> single working musician -- save possibly Sioux, and she's well over 

>>> it -- who'd want to take credit for the Goth aesthetic.

>>>

>>> Alex in NYC

>>>

>>>

>>

>

>


_______________________________________________
Gathering mailing list
Gathering at misera.net
http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs