The Giant Panther

So, I had never heard of Sterophonics until I was watching FX's Rescue Me a couple of years back. I love a good TV show that also breaks (relatively) new music. My first class at Emerson College, way back in the Fall of 1978, was Introduction To Mass Communications. I couldn't tell you the professor's name for tonight's Mega Millions number, but down the road there were classes I had where the student teacher was Denis Leary. I don't remember if I took an Introduction To Comedy Writing course or what, but somewhere along the line I had Denis as a student teacher. Wikipedia says he graduated with the 1979 class, but I'm a bit skeptical. That would have meant we went to the same school for a year. I remember seeing his friend Mario Cantone (of Sex in The City Fame to name one thing) perform at The Emerson Comedy Workshop, but I can't honestly claim to remember seeing Denis Leary perform in person. I know I saw Eddie Brill (a national comic that warms up The David Letterman crowd nightly in addition to touring all over the place) perform several times. Every time I look at Gina Gershon though, who was also apparently a classmate of Denis Leary's, I think it's a shame I can't remember potentially having gone to school with her either. She's two years younger than I am so I must have. Remember you fool! No? Oh well...my loss for certain...

Where was I? Oh yeah, I discovered the Welsh band Stereophonics while watching Denis Leary's Rescue Me. The song they used was "Devil," which is apropos if I don't have time to do a Halloween blog tomorrow, but hopefully I will. I don't know much about Stereophonics to be honest, but I liked their record Language. Sex. Violence. Other? I gather the title of the CD was snatched from the back of a video rental, but no matter. I'm clearly a late bloomer here because they had been together since 1992 and had been making records since 1997. Language. Sex. Violence. Other? came out in 2005 and it was Stereophonics' fifth record already. All I know is I loved "Devil" after hearing it on Rescue Me so I went out and bought the CD. They remind me of another band I like that nobody seems to know in Monster Magnet. I'll probably catch some flak for that, but I think "Devil" would have fit right in on Monster Magnet's Dopes To Infinity. I realize Monster Magnet is considered Stoner Rock (there's a category for every imaginable sliver of Rock no?), but Stereophonics are all over the place themselves. Both of these records are very good, but New Jersey's Monster Magnet is a tad heavier. You'll hear some faint Oasis in Stereophonics' music, but that was almost to be expected in those days in that geography. Not that that's a bad thing. After all that's like two degrees of separation from The Beatles. With a love like that, you know it can't be bad...

Language. Sex. Violence. Other? featured the singles "Dakota" and "Superman" before "Devil" surfaced. A fourth song, "Rewind" has its fans as well. I haven't followed their career as closely as I probably would have liked to, but I understand they have a new record coming out in a couple of weeks called Keep Calm and Carry On. We wish them well. As for Rescue Me, I always wonder if somebody on the staff of the show is responsible for tabling this tune or if Denis himself chose it. Denis is plenty cool as is, but I'd like him even more if he knew his way around a modern rock record bin. Either way I enjoyed it and love this CD. I know TV shows like The O.C. have a string of CDs of music that they "broke" on their show, but I haven't seen that show believe it or not. I think it's really smart though to do what they're doing. I just looked at The Music From The O.C. Mix I on Amazon and Jet, Spoon and The Dandy Warhols (We Used To Be Friends....tremendous!...I know I told you to go out and buy The Dandie's Welcome To The Monkey House about a year ago, but I'm telling you again...fantastic record) are all on this CD so they've got some big names going for them. Oh wow, I gotta get with the program here...I just checked out Mix II and found great bands like The Eels, The Killers (though I'm fast getting sick of these guys), Death Cab For Cutie, Interpol, Nada Surf and The Thrills on it. Somebody knew what they were doing five or six years ago huh? I don't know if the show is still on the air, but that is tremendous branding. I always pay attention to the music in the background of any show. It's the music geek in me I guess.

OK, without further ado....I'm passing along 2005's Stereophonics' single "Devil." Hope you like.