Kudos from 'Hell Raisin' in her 'overlooked portrait'

The verbalrubble.com blog posted an energetic review of ... Tin Cans, Squeems and Thudpies by Hell Raisin (AKA Rodeo Sappho), who writes her #1 portrait entry in "Camera Obscura: Portraits of the Unfortunately Overlooked" -- "a randomly-published series calling your attention to the fascinating, talented, uncompromising, funny and unforgettable individuals lost within the yawning vortex of mediocrity and almost buried by the turdalanche of time."

In its entirety, she sez:
"What more can a music review do besides report the relative worthiness of an album for our consumer dollar? Well, if you've never read a review written by Rick Johnson, you may be as hard-pressed as a preacher in a cheater for an answer. It's not your fault. We all know most professional music reviewers suck because they're so... professional. It's simply good business to purvey the gooey glitterature of hype, regardless of the qualilty of the album. Toothless, truthless reviews are written in an age-old ploy called the ruthless grab for your wallet. There are a few musicologists still kicking out intelligent and fairly accurate critiques, but still, aside from the "bottom line", what else is there to a music review?

Well, if you're up on your Rick Johnson, there's bloato hype, gerbiltones, and smellbags, for starters. And squeems. And thudpies.

Johnson's main claim to fame (what precious little there is of it) was his 1975-1988 gig writing for Creem Magazine. It was there Rick continued in the gung-ho gonzo tradition of Lester Bangs, warping the paradigm of music review as mere consumer measuring stick. In his hands, a record review became something of a party. The question of a record's purchasability acted as a string of lights hung over the festivities, providing some ambience, but certainly not detracting from the hotwired hijinks that constituted Johnson's approach to the, er, art of the critique. Some examples:

* On Peter Frampton: "His voice whines like an overheated egg. His guitar playing is whiny as well. In fact, when he trades off his vocals with his guitar, it sounds like two extremely tired waitresses discussing a particularly obnoxious customer."
* On Lou Reed: "Lou Reed is the Fonz of rock comedy."
* On The Bee Gees: "Fuck the Bee Gees."

His comedic genius extended beyond mere one liners, and it seemed the more he hated an album, the funnier the review would be. His review of the Split Enz album True Colors is an epic account of his quest for the "certain types of lighting" recommended on the holographic album cover for its optimal visual impact. The album ends up burning in the barbeque and the review ends with "Also included are two instrumentals."

This is a guy whose review of a Cheap Trick album was the word "bam" 65 times. He could have easily also been the guy who wrote the two word review "shit sandwich" for Spinal Tap.

His irreverence and inventiveness (he was a consummate creater of new words defined only by their context) is an inspiration for any writer who aspires to the sort of "freedom and fearlessness" (as Rich Stim of the band MX-80 puts it) that was Rick's calling card. For music lovers, Rick was a constant reminder that rock is supposed to be fun.

Rick Johnson passed away last year, but his work lives on in collected form in the book Rick Johnson Reader: 'Tin Cans, Squeems & Thudpies'.

For the whole post, with graphics and great comments, go here --
http://verbalrubble.com/archives/429