Master Index of Archived Threads


Stranded: In Stripes

The La La Song

0 votes

Who's Behind the Door?

1 votes

Tell Me What You Want

0 votes

As I Said Before

0 votes

Take Your Fingers from My Hair

3 votes

One More Chance

0 votes

Bears

1 votes

Lullaby

0 votes

Wait Until the Summers Gone

1 votes

He's Making You the Fool

0 votes

Other (write in)

0 votes

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 20 2012 08:32 AM

Led Zeppelin's breakup following the sudden death of drummer John Bonham created a huge void from which rawk radio never really recovered, for better or worse. It hastened the end of the 70s, and could be seen as a boost to the Punk & New Wavers coming from behind them. Then there were the bands who took up the flag for those who refused to move on. Zebra formed in New Orleans in the 70s but for a short period in the early 80s were H-U-G-E local heroes on Long Island, thanks largely to WBAB, which picked up on their Zepplinesque sound and advertised their constant Island gigging. Seemingly modeling every song after Stairway to Heaven's gentle acoustic start and jamming climax, Zebra also called to mind other trios like Rush (for the Plant-ish falsettos) and Emerson Lake and Palmer (for proggy synth flourishes and lengthy jams). Back then, seemed to me as though there were Zebra fans, and there was anyone who'd heard Elvis Costello, and those groups rarely hung out together. I was solidly with the latter crowd and still think of Zebra with a little sense of slummy, douchey bemusement. I kinda like them but still have trouble admitting it. The band's 1983 "major label" debut album, which thanks to WBAB every kid on the Island knew by heart for years already, was reportedly the fastest-selling debut in Atlantic records history, but likely as a result of the changing times and a lack of variety, it never hit big nationally. Their second and third records seemed simply to rework their formula from the first, and that was that. Vocalist/guitarist Randy Jackson does the National Anthem at Mets games sometimes and some of their fans still haven't moved on, providing Zebra an open invitation to outdoor jams in Patchougue and reunion gigs at the Salty Dog for as long as they live, probably. Were they any good? What Zebra song accompanies you on your lifetime of stranded solitude? The La La Song [youtube]B9_NPfHpPyc[/youtube] Who's Behind the Door? [youtube]Qe7iYcIwArw[/youtube] Tell Me What You Want [youtube]RqT3G7shF34[/youtube] As I Said Before [youtube]bqM9oIdqa3c[/youtube] Take Your Fingers From My Hair [youtube]Y2iUElkCJ1w[/youtube] One More Chance [youtube]aipZ3p7545Q[/youtube] Bears [youtube]xmBmV0IbwHs[/youtube] Lullaby [youtube]IseVpQeV198[/youtube] Wait Until the Summer's Gone [youtube]GpFeIZvDwk0[/youtube] He's Making You the Fool [youtube]GvbZkfYkbN0[/youtube]

Edgy MD Jan 20 2012 08:41 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I still haven't moved of on from my sneering teenage contempt for the baldfaced Zeppelinity of "Who's Behind the Door?" and never bother learning any of the rest of this. My rawk colleagues in high school bristled at my skinny tie and haircut sophistication and insisted I was missing something, but I never bothered finding out what. I'm shocked that they were formed in New Orleans. I felt for sure that they sprung into being fully formed in the parking lot of a multiplex in Bay Shore.

TransMonk Jan 20 2012 09:07 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I saw online that you were listening to this on Spotify and thought it was pretty unique choice. I don't know Zebra well enough (but I do remember them on MTV when I was 8 or 9). I will check these out over the weekend.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 20 2012 09:18 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I still haven't moved of on from my sneering teenage contempt for the baldfaced Zeppelinity of "Who's Behind the Door?" and never bother learning any of the rest of this. My rawk colleagues in high school bristled at my skinny tie and haircut sophistication and insisted I was missing something, but I never bothered finding out what. That's what the Desert Island Mix Tape is all about. I saw online that you were listening to this on Spotify and thought it was pretty unique choice. I gotta disable that feed! It will ruin my reputation as a dude. I haven't voted yet but am leaning toward "Bears." Goddamn I love it.

Edgy MD Jan 20 2012 09:20 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I still haven't moved of on from my sneering teenage contempt for the baldfaced Zeppelinity of "Who's Behind the Door?" and never bother learning any of the rest of this. My rawk colleagues in high school bristled at my skinny tie and haircut sophistication and insisted I was missing something, but I never bothered finding out what. That's what the Desert Island Mix Tape is all about. Oh, yeah, I'm looking to sink my teeth in this weekend.

TransMonk Jan 20 2012 09:23 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I gotta disable that feed! It will ruin my reputation as a dude. F that. It's you being you. Nothing wrong with it.

HahnSolo Jan 20 2012 10:28 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Saw them live--for free!--on a weekday afternoon at Queens College, probably 87 or so. Wait Until the Summers Gone for me.

Edgy MD Jan 20 2012 10:29 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Yeah, a lot of their appearance fees have certainly come out of the student activity budgets of thousands of colleges and JCs across our land.

Frayed Knot Jan 20 2012 11:28 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Zebra formed in New Orleans in the 70s but for a short period in the early 80s were H-U-G-E local heroes on Long Island, thanks largely to WBAB, which picked up on their Zepplinesque sound and advertised their constant Island gigging BAB Host (usually Bob Buchman): "Caller, how do you show the world you love Rock 'n Roll?" Caller (usually a teens-20s female with an over-the-top LI accent): "With a B-A-B bumpa sticka" Host: "You got it, we'll get one out to you ... now what band can I play for you?" Caller: ZEBRA!!!" I swear, nine times out of ten that question was answered with 'Zebra'.

Fman99 Jan 20 2012 12:18 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Much like the Zebra's stripes alternate between black and white, the Zebra songs alternate. Between "shitty" and "also quite shitty." Which, to a point, is not really as much of an alternating pattern.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 20 2012 12:41 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

That's what makes this contest so great. You gotta pick one!

seawolf17 Jan 20 2012 12:57 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I grew up on Long Island. I live on Long Island. I like hair metal. I played in a band. I see and hear concert advertisements with the phrase "Randy Jackson of Zebra" year-round. Yet the only one of these songs I know is "Take Your Fingers," and I only know that one because Dream Theater covered it. Somehow Zebra has completely eluded by conscious memory, like Casey Fossum with a guitar.

metsguyinmichigan Jan 20 2012 01:31 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I have a cool Zebra story! The band played at Nassau Community College after the first album came out. As the editor of the campus paper, I decided it was my job to do the interview -- because it couldn't go worse than the epic Joe Perry interview. Zebra's drummer, Guy Gelso, talked to us after the show for a long time -- more than we expected. Either he had nothing better to do, was working hard to promote the album or didn't mind a little hero worship. They had spent some time touring with Cheap Trick, and I asked what Rick Neilsen was like, and he made a face that seemed to imply that Rick was a bit of a jerk. We talked about "Who's Behind the Door," and one difference between the version on the WBAB Homegrown album and the new album was some some talking during the epic shift in the song -- sounds like an announcer saying something like "to the sound of a thousand frying shrimp." We asked him what in the heck the guy was saying, and why they added it to the song. He wouldn't tell us. I saw them at Hofstra, too. The first album was really good, and I never got the second one. Jackson has been in Grand Rapids a couple times, singing with the local symphony in a Led Zep tribute.

vtmet Jan 21 2012 08:43 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Loved the first album, and it had a lot of fun personal history for me...the rest of their music, I never really heard...Saw them at the Mid Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY in the early 80's, warming up for I believe Triumph...i voted for Take your finger from my hair, but it was a tough choice...Funny thing is, I always thought that Fastway sounded more like Zepplin than Zebra did...I thought of Zebra as more of a cross between Jazz Fusion and Hard Rock than as a Hair band...

Rockin' Doc Jan 22 2012 11:32 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

The music Zebra completely escaped my notice during their time as a band. After sampling the songs included in this thread, I don't feel that I missed out on anything significant. They sound like Zeppelin wannabes playing Zeppelin lite; nothing wrong with it, but nothing memorable either.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 26 2012 07:22 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Five votes. C'mon people, where's your respect for overproduced 80s rock?

metirish Jan 26 2012 07:46 AM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

I remember the name form rock mags at home but not the music.........

Edgy MD Jan 31 2012 06:46 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

"The La La Song" [list]"That's an understated title" thinks I, "for a band I long thought of as comically self-impressed." Opens with unpossibly perfect and overpowering harmonies. The interweaving instrumental work sounds like Yes without real lyrics, but then finally the smug lyrics in the second minute about not having the time to tell me about the things that are absurd. That's the suckiness of art rock right there: the smug detachment from the foolish society that doesn't recognize a progressive prophet when they find one on the radio. Oh God, they start slowing down at 2:45. Such indulgence this band asks for.[/list:u] "Who's Behind the Door?" [list]Opens with overproduced acoustics. Vocals come in more human, though, like seventies soft rock. Who know Dan Seals was singing for Zebra? There's a lostness. Aye, a lostness. But then the bass starts kicking me in the gut and I get some minor chord imperatives from the suddenly once again knowing art rockers. "Think about what you are." Like I never confront that issue. "Looking out to the stars Think about what you are What do they think of you? Animals in their zoo They haven't got the time Landing's not on their minds How do they have the nerve? We're animals in preserve" Oh, OK, really? Is that why you're "Zebra"? Come on. I don't care how good your instrumental dexterity is or how careful your attention to production is, I've seen Twilight Zone too, guys. If I need the answers to my existential questions of my place in the great chain of being, I'll listen to Genesis, thank you. Here comes the big falsetto. I thought this was all a big Zep knockoff back when, but once you get past that falsetto, it's more Floydian. (Not as Floydian as Queensryche, of course, but...) And then I listen on, and the higher race that watches us doesn't know what's above them either. So the answers just bring more tormented questions. Do I have to to keep listening? Oooh, more falsettos! Rocking tempo change! Laser fights! We're rebelling against the higher race for not having the answers! NO, I'M NOT AFRAID!! HOW'S THAT FOR "ANIMALS IN A ZOO"?! HOW DO YOU LIKE US KNOW, YOU DETACHED DOUCHEBAG OVERLORDS?! Seriously, do I have to keep listening?[/list:u]

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 31 2012 06:58 PM Re: Stranded: In Stripes

Yes.