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RIP X Ray Spex Singer Poly Styrene: Germ Free Adolescent

Posted 4/26/11 11:46 am EST by in Music, Obituary


"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard ... but I think ... OH, BONDAGE UP YOURS!" Those are the opening lines of one of the greatest punk songs of all times, X Ray Spex's 1977 firebomb, "Oh, Bondage, Up Yours!"

They're spoken in a girlish English accent by Poly Styrene, the band's singer and one of the most iconic figures in punk history, who died on Monday at the age of 53 after a long battle with cancer.

Styrene (born Marianne Elliot-Said on June 3, 1957) came to embody everything that punk meant to this budding teenage anarchist when I first discovered the sound of youth in revolt. More than former flatmate Johnny Rotten's sneering snarl, Joey Ramone's snub-nosed hiccup or Joe Strummer's agitated yawp, Styrene sounded like punk felt: messy, untrained, unrestrained, unafraid and uninhibited.

Her strangulated vocals, atonal, piercing, and yes, at times annoying, embodied the DIY aspect of the first wave, an explosion of anger, aimlessness, class revolt and freedom of expression that blew up in the messy blast of songs like "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" and the pogo-ing face-punch of "I am a Poseur."
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Civil-Rights Folk Legend Odetta Dies At 77

Posted 12/3/08 1:10 pm EST by in Obituary


Odetta rehearses on January 10, 1963Odetta.

The name might not ring a bell for you, but along with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, the one-named singer — who passed away Tuesday of heart disease at the age of 77 — was one of the giants of the folk world. Her deep, haunting tones made her one of the voices of the civil-rights movement in the 1960s.

Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 31, 1930, at the height of the Depression, the singer's musical style was formed by the prison and work songs of the era recorded in the fields of the Deep South, according to a New York Times obituary. "They were liberation songs," she told the paper in 2007. "You're walking down life's road, society's foot is on your throat, every which way you turn you can't get from under that foot. And you reach a fork in the road, and you can either lie down and die or insist upon your life." Read More...

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Remembering MC Breed, A True Hip-Hop Pioneer

Posted 11/22/08 11:01 pm EST by in Obituary


By Shaheem Reid & Sway Calloway

Legendary on the West Coast for solo classics such as "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'" and collaborations with superstars such Tupac Shakur ("I Gotta Get Mine"), Flint, MI native MC Breed died Saturday, his publicist confirmed. He was 36 years old.

Breed was rushed to the hospital in early September for kidney failure. The rapper was on life support for two days before slightly recovering. In late September, he conducted a phone interview with his publicist Jonathan Hay where he talked about his health crisis.

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Former Marilyn Manson Bassist Gidget Gein Dead

Posted 10/13/08 5:07 pm EST by in Obituary



Gidget Gein (born Bradley Stewart), the onetime bassist for Marilyn Manson, was found dead in his Burbank, California, home on Thursday of a suspected drug overdose. Gein, 39, was the second bassist for the Manson band, appearing on several of the band's early recordings, as well as their full-length 1994 debut, Portrait of An American Family.
 
Read more about Gidget Gein's death here.

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Jerry Finn: You May Not Know The Name, But You Know His Work

Posted 8/25/08 9:54 am EST by in Obituary


AFI's Sing The SorrowLast week, the music world lost a great producer. Jerry Finn, who was just 39, died on August 21, close to two weeks after he'd been taken off life support and about one month after he had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage.

The name may not be instantly recognizable, but chances are you're familiar with Finn's work. He mixed Green Day's 1994 release Dookie and their 1995 LP Insomniac, and produced Rancid's breakthrough disc ...And Out Come the Wolves. He also helmed records by Blink-182, the Vandals, Fastball, Madness, MxPx, Sum 41, Sparta, Alkaline Trio and Bad Religion.

Finn will always be remembered, in my mind at least, for mixing Jawbreaker's 1995 offering Dear You. But more than that, for me, he'll always be the dude who worked with AFI on their two smash hits, 2003's Sing the Sorrow and 2006's Decemberunderground, two records that brought the band out of obscurity and straight to TRL. The man will be missed.

Do you have a favorite Jerry Finn-produced album? Let us know about it in the comments section below.

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Jerry Wexler, Legendary Producer And Atlantic Records Executive, Dead At 91

Posted 8/15/08 1:24 pm EST by in obits, Obituary


Jerry WexlerJerry Wexler, producer of classic recordings by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield and many others, died early Friday, according to The Associated Press. He was a pivotal executive with Atlantic Records during the label's first three decades, and worked extensively with label co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, who died in 2006. All Music Guide has an extensive overview of Wexler's long and storied career.

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