As I get over the demise of WBCN, I'm going to feature bands that the radio station had a hand in breaking way back when. The Jim Carroll Band was something of a red hot meteor that bounced off my twenty year old noggin' back in 1980. Their debut album Catholic Boy was one of those records that came out of nowhere for me. I didn't know much of anything about who Jim Carroll was back then and what separated truth from fiction, but "People Who Died" was a tremendous track that instantly put this album on the map. People wanted to know who these guys were. Not exactly Punk Rock, but the urgency was incredible. It seemed so tongue in cheek that it had to be more funny than vicarious right? Apparently wrong. Legend has it that Carroll was a bonafide heroin addict at 13. 13! And here I was thinking I was a bad ass stealing a Budweiser from my father's beer only refrigerator located in our garage at 14. Guess again rookie. Can you imagine Waiting For The Man at 13? Jim Carroll was also a basketball junkie and apparently played in the National High School All-Star Game in 1966. Twelve years later he wrote The Basketball Diaries which was made into a movie in 1995. Who played Jim Carroll you ask? Try Leonardo DiCaprio. Whoa. That young man has the world by the tail no? Oh and did I leave out that Jim Carroll was allegedly a male prostitute to support his habit? The Basketball Diaries was said to be excerpts from his own diary between the ages of 12 and 16 detailing his world of drugs, sex and basketball. They say he worked for Andy Warhol and received encouragement from Patti Smith regarding his band. I would imagine that connection comes from the fact that they were both poets, but I'm only guessing. The Band came and went inside of three years essentially (though there was a late 90's comeback of sorts), but they had a lot to say.
"People Who Died" has been on numerous lists of great 80's songs and still gets a little radio airplay every now and then, but "It's Too Late" is the song I came to talk about today. The first line is a killer, no pun intended...It's too late to fall in love with Sharon Tate. You'd instantly think this was going to be a song about the beautiful actress who appeared in 1967's Valley of The Dolls, but was later murdered by The Charles Manson "Family" in 1969. It wasn't, but the lyric is ingrained in my brain forevermore. "It's Too Late" is three minutes and four seconds of hard driving frustration. I've always been a big fan of this tune. The Jim Carroll Band never again reached the heights of their debut record, but I have a feeling the Catholic Boy is getting by just fine these days. If I had to hang my hat on two songs, these two would be just fine by me if I were him. Enjoy.
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As a kid brought up Catholic in the Boston archdiocese, sometimes I think "there but for the grace of God go I" when I hear more stories of the predatory priests of the time. The bastards creeped me out back then and I can't help but think back to what might have been the insidious motives of the priests when they tried to get us involved, but I was always rebelling, skipping out of my CCD classes, and Church activities. So, you can imagine that Jim Carroll Band's Catholic Boy album resonated with me big time. Yeah, I didn't do much more than "steal beer at 14" and "accidentally" miss Sunday morning Mass because I'd have stayed with a different friend than who I'd told my folks. Nonetheless, my transgressions were "unforgiveable" in my Dad's eyes. But at least my rejection of the evils of the Church kept me safer from the creeps! Ironic, eh? Thanks Jim Carroll! While you didn't inspire me to become a heroine addict, you did help me escape what could have been dangerous place!
"Redeemed through pain, not through joy..."
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