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Cheap Thrills, an album cover by Robert Crumb (2020)
- dotancohen 2y agoApproved by the Hell's Angels?
- _sys49152 2y ago>> The Hell’s Angels used to stage concerts in San Francisco in 1967-68, and Big Brother & the Holding Company played in some of them. You can find posters promoting these shows on the web.
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- 082349872349872 2y agowonder what R Crumb would've thought of Electro Blues (either before, or after, a few tabs from that black on yellow Joplin portrait)?
- narrator 2y agoAnyone see the documentary about him: "Crumb" (1994)? Everyone in his family is a little off, but back in those days, you just did the best you could with what you got and if you were a gifted artist like Crumb, you turned being an odd ball into a career.
- jb1991 2y ago“back in those days” … it really was not that long ago, and what you say is also true today.
- theFco 2y agoand furthermore, "families that are a bit off" are still plenty today, and people still do the best with what they got. I don't see the need to say that was that way then...
- gosub100 2y agoAgree, and the bizarre things that the family members were into have simply been replaced with a new set of things. Arguably the only difference is back then they weren't thrown out on the streets due to high rents
- leoc 2y agoYes, but they tend to be 'off' in quite different ways. Crumb's father was the kind of hyper-repressed figure who for most of us nowadays only exists as a boogeyman character in fiction, but who was much more of a reality in the pre-1970 world.
- ggm 2y ago1968 is over 50 years ago. As a 1961 vintage person, 50 years back was pre WW1. the past is another country. They do things very differently in Fritz the cat's time. I don't think you could publish that now.
- Joeboy 2y ago> I don't think you could publish that now Maybe you'd struggle to get widespread (physical) distribution, or to build an audience, or to make a living off it. I don't think anybody would stop you printing it, or take down your website or whatever. It wasn't mainstream or uncontroversial in the '60s either.
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- ZeroGravitas 2y agoThe intro about him not liking the music reminded me of the Letter of Note entry when Crumb is sent an experimental jazz album and replies to the musician: https://lettersofnote.com/2015/12/17/torturing-the-saxophone/ https://lettersofnote.com/2015/12/17/torturing-the-saxophone... > I gotta tell you, on the cover of the CD of your sax playing, which is black and has no text on it, I wrote in large block letters, in silver ink, “Torturing The saxophone—Mats Gustafsson.” I just totally fail to find anything enjoyable about this, or to see what this has to do with music as I understand it, or what in God´s name is going on in your head that you want to make such noises on a musical instrument. Quite frankly, I was kind of shocked at what a negative, unpleasant experience it was, listening to it.
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- rufus_foreman 2y ago>> I just totally fail to find anything enjoyable about this, or to see what this has to do with music as I understand it, or what in God´s name is going on in your head that you want to make such noises on a musical instrument When I was young, a music review like this would have 100% gotten me to buy the CD.
- NDizzle 2y agoWhat changed?! I'm going to check it out right now!
- shermantanktop 2y agoI used to do that too, except typically it was hardcore punk and 1980s noise/industrial, but yes there were some Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy records in there too. I finally realized that once I had satisfied my consumerist urge to be the coolest connoisseur, I now had to listen to the stuff, and I didn’t actually like it.
- grujicd 2y ago
- pavlov 2y agoThe album cover is from 1968. This article is from 2020. Just to clarify the ambiguous date added to the title on HN.
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- dghf 2y agoReg Mombassa's stuff is somewhat reminiscent of Crumb's, especially his designs for the surfwear label Mambo: https://www.regmombassa.com/pages/mambo https://www.regmombassa.com/pages/mambo
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- Teever 2y agoI had always know him as a visual artist so I was recently very surprised to learn that not only does Robert Crumb play music but he's actually been in a few different bands. It's a bit too early in the morning for me to find the specific albums that I found enjoyable so I'll provide the links to the bands and perhaps others who know more about the musical performer side of Crumb can expand on this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Crumb_%26_His_Cheap_Suit_Serenaders https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Crumb_%26_His_Cheap_Suit_... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_and_John%27s_East_River_String_Band https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_and_John%27s_East_River...
- aurizon 2y agoOne of his co-temps, Gilbert Shelton made great comics - the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Broth...) were my favorite. He had many characters in the FFFB, Norbert the Nark, Fat Freddy's Cat, Let My Chickens Free, and many others.
- waihtis 2y agoI came looking for this (thought the art style was very similar!)
- aurizon 2y agoGilbert Shelton is a comic genius.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXaHUMESoM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXaHUMESoM4 His comic were creative and had very little NSFW and were the funniest thing I ever read, while much of the other UG comics were a lot more gross, some extremely so, his were like Scrooge McDuck humor - overlaid with generous marijuana use as well as a sprinkling of other drugs. Norbert the hapless Nark always came to grief in a funny way. Now we sell marijuana in many special state shops, while the feds think it = damnation. It had no social effect on me - I am a non smoker = smoke zero combustion carried drugs, like Nicotine or THC from that day to this - I just enjoyed the vicarious thrashing of the man. As a cat lover = Fat Freddy's cat was my fave...
- JKCalhoun 2y agoLoved "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" too growing up. My step-dad had several — probably picked up from a head shop back then.
- aurizon 2y agoYes, thanks, you are right, it was Oat Willy I was thinking of, https://www.ebay.ca/itm/385506437409 https://www.ebay.ca/itm/385506437409, I was within the edit window = corrected.
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- user_james92 2y ago[dead]
- moralestapia 2y ago>about an artist who draws an album cover for a band he does not care for, playing a music style he does not listen to, appealing to an audience he does not connect with What? None of that is true.
- boomboomsubban 2y agoThe rest of the article contains quotes from Crumb backing most of that up.
- moralestapia 2y agoDid we read the same article? I'm talking about this one → https://musicaficionado.blog/2020/01/28/cheap-thrills-an-album-cover-by-robert-crumb/ https://musicaficionado.blog/2020/01/28/cheap-thrills-an-alb... >an album cover for a band he does not care for "I am going over to meet Janis Joplin tonight… CAN’T WAIT!" "Janis asked me to do an album cover. I liked Janis OK and I did her cover." >playing a music style he does not listen to "She wasn’t nationally known yet. I remember going to see her at the Avalon Ballroom and you could tell right away that she had an exceptional voice and she would go far. She started out singing old time blues like Bessie Smith. She was kind of a folknik originally." >appealing to an audience he does not connect with "But within six months Zap comics caught on and Crumb became known for his talent as an underground comics artist." "Janis, James (Gurley, guitar player) and I were all big fans of his work, we loved his cartoons which were appearing in the SF underground newspapers and Zap Comics."
- nerdponx 2y agoYou're cherry-picking quotes. The whole point of him saying what he liked about Janis was that he didn't like Big Brother & the Holding Company, both as a style/concept and as musicians. The article is also full of quotes from Crumb himself saying how he didn't really like the hippie movement overall, even though he liked certain things about it, and the general impression is that no, he did not really feel connected with many of his own fans and fans of Big Brother.
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- taylorbuley 2y agoCrumb is from my small town in CA. During the fires, not so long ago, my mentor kept some of his old journals safe for his family. 10 or so notebooks full of doodles, all in one place. I can only imagine what that was worth! Much more, culturally, to be sure.
- pavel_lishin 2y agoI hope they can be scanned and made available - assuming, Mr. Crumb is ok with it.
- egypturnash 2y agohttps://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/r-crumb#/filter:mfield_product_series_title:R.$2520Crumb$2520Sketchbook https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/r-crumb#/filter:mf... Fantagraphics has you covered. I’m sure someone has shared a PDF if you don’t want to track down physical copies.
- stivine22 2y agoamazing
- fallinditch 2y agoRobert Crumb was interviewed for a BBC Radio 3 program where he played some records from his collection and talked about them. One song was particularly fascinating: a primitive attempt at the new fangled sound called 'jazz' by a French country musette band from the early 20th C. Crumb explained that when early American jazz bands went to Paris in the 1910s, the new sounds caused a sensation when they performed in the up-market venues. So the country bands were aware of the new style of jazz but most people had never actually heard any and had to play what they imagined jazz to be, mostly based off verbal descriptions. I remember this record as a crazy sound, but brilliantly entertaining. Unfortunately I can't point you to the song or the interview, but if anyone else can please reply :-0
- kencausey 2y agoI got as far as finding this: https://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2011/01/crumb-and-blues.html https://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2011/01/crumb-and-blues.html
- nimbs 2y agoIs this the program? R. Crumb's Sweet Shellac - Early French Jazz Before Django: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHsqAK_kJ2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHsqAK_kJ2o You can find track list from here: https://www.organissimo.org/forum/topic/71710-r-crumbs-sweet-schellac/ https://www.organissimo.org/forum/topic/71710-r-crumbs-sweet...
- fallinditch 2y agoYes, this is what I was trying to remember, thanks for the links!
- Daub 2y ago> So the country bands were aware of the new style of jazz but most people had never actually heard any and had to play what they imagined jazz to be, mostly based off verbal descriptions. This I find fascinating. Misunderstandings (i.e. partial or third hand accounts) of ‘exotic’ art forms have played a vital part in the development of western art: Picasso ‘misunderstood’ African art to produce Cubism. William Blake ‘misunderstood’ Michelangelo to produce his etchings. Van Gogh ‘misunderstood’ Japanese prints to produce his paintings.
- throwme0827349 2y agoThere's a picture of Janis Joplin standing on the sidewalk in SF in which the city looks exactly the same, as though frozen in amber for 50 years.
- aithrowawaycomm 2y agoThis is just pure cowardice: > As for Crumb’s depiction of that scene from the musical [the viciously racist depiction of a black woman], lets not even go there. Suffice it to say that a cover like that will not see the light of day today. Especially if you're not completely avoiding Crumb's views on race: > Asked about how a white guy connects so deeply with black music created in the 1930s, he answered: “I don’t know. There’s something so raw, kind of beauty that speaks to me in a deep and direct way. Personally I barely even know any black people and I can’t relate to lower class black culture very well at all. It’s very alien to me in a certain way, and people I’ve known from that black culture, I’ve never been able to get very close to, because their values are so different. So what is it about their music that speaks so directly? It has some universal appeal because it has had such a big influence on the music of the entire world.” There's a straight line between "lower class black culture is very alien to me" and using darky iconography the same year MLK was shot - even in 1968 this was a deliberately racist provocation. There's also a line between Janis Joplin as a white blues singer and her approval of the artwork. And of course there's the straightest of lines between ignoring Crumb's racism while uncritically hagiographizing his connection to black music. You can still tell a sympathetic story about Crumb: he is far from the only young avant garde American artist to use racist rhetoric to elicit cheap thrills and controversy. And unlike, say, Quentin Taratino, Crumb's later work shows a sincere understanding of and repentance for his earlier dreck. But you can't claim to be telling the story of the album cover if you're whitewashing its most controversial aspect. What you're doing is spinning a fairy tale.
- SoftTalker 2y ago"lower class black culture is very alien to me" ... just sounds honest, I don't get racist from that. I'd probably say the same thing today, though "lower class white redneck culture is very alien to me" would be just as true.
- dmix 2y agoThe nice thing about vinyl album covers is there's plenty of space for art.
- zuoigg 2y ago[flagged]
- alcover 2y agoCrumb has been living in a small village in the south of France since the 90's. In the "Crumb" doc he says something along "They're all wearing baseball hats. I'm getting out of here.", speaking about the US. He also laments having taken too much LSD.
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- delichon 2y agohttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/440508407309861046/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/440508407309861046/ fly on the wall
- stivine22 2y agothis link not working