"What the fuck was that ?"
Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, 1965.
Every time I see Oakland flash up on Feedjit, I start a little (Frank; if that's you, apologies). A hard-nosed businessman to the last, I'm not quite convinced Sonny Barger would approve of this choice cut, but I'm all out of Merle Haggard.
Still. If Harley-Davidson and (much older) Indian motorcycles were the officially ubiquitous oil-bleeding bad boys Stateside, Norton - alongside Triumph, naturally - was their very British counterpart.
▼ HASIL ADKINS: WE GOT A DATE from "Out To Hunch: West Virginia Recordings (1955-65)" LP (Norton) 1986 (US)
ORIGINAL ANGEL
SONNY BARGER OFFICIAL SITE
PURCHASE THE LEGENDARY OUT TO HUNCH
8 comments:
They tell me Sonny lives in Arizona nowadays. I'm sure your blog is wildly popular at the Angels clubhouse though. I was once at a tattoo convention where The HA's were offering a chance to walk into a motel room and shake hands with Sonny Barger for only $10. I declined.
WV is singskit
From the interview with Ben Jacklet:
"Q: A lot of people consider the group to be racist, or misogynist, or fascist, or ultra-violent, or homophobic. Is there any truth to this characterization?
A: I've never heard anybody say that.
Q: Probably because no one would say it to your face.
A: Well then it probably isn't true."
WV = "singsing" (well, actually not, but it wouldn't surprise me; that WV program is very astute.)
Uhm, Í think the regular Angel didn't dig the "Haze" very much and instead prefered Led Zep, AC/DC and the likes or (in the early sixties) Buddy Holly or Gene Vincent.
Although these guys were far out socially, esthetically they were (and still are) plain bores.
That's why the producers of the Hells-Angel-B-Movies, that were en vogue in the late 6ties had 2 produce there own soundtracks, simply because there was no typical "Bikersound" available then. The Choclate Watchband made some of the Sondtracks under the moniker of the Hogs. Highly entertaining indeed!
But who cares? Great track by the Haze though! th-y
anonymus no. 2
Glad you got a kick out of this one, anon. #2. The Haze was one of a kind.
Mind you, there's not much wrong with Zep, Buddy Holly or Gene in my book, either...
I'd rather hear any one of those in preference to that godawful track by Steppenwolf. Oh, and I definitely like the Chocolate Watchband.
Thanks for the comment!
Yeah, I agree. Gene Vincent and the likes were great. Even Led Zep had their highlights. No Doubt bout that.
What I meant was that the typical biker's horizon was going from Hard Rock to .....Hard Rock. At least where I grew up.
But reconsidering my opinion I have to admit that I was probably wrong. According to Tom Wolfe the Angels were involved in one of the first of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. The one where the Grateful Dead were performing and they seemed to enjoy what they were listening to. Forgive me Sonny,
anonymus no. 2
Rather fond of that song by Steppenwolf myself. Have you got Slade's great live cover of the song?
The Angels around here lean towards the blues.
Willy Nelson just played in SF. There was a large roped off VIP section, front and center, reserved for the HA's. The only time I ever saw Willy, he put on a dreadful show, in Oakland. The HA's had a reserved section in the mezzanine, but they didn't like it, so they came downstairs and got up on the stage and stood around next to the band members. I guess, in Oakland, they like Shotgun Willy.
Beer, I haven't heard that Slade cover.
Willy Nelson is a great writer of songs.
Post a Comment