The Chemical Brothers

On Saturday, May 10th, I lost my virginity. My electronica virginity, that is. I put aside two decades worth of rock education and exposed an unused part of my brain to the sonic pummel of the Chemical Brothers, who were doing their live thing in front of about 4,000 people at the Shrine. Forget the Beatles, Stones, Clash, R.E.M., Replacements and Nirvana--this was '90s groove time. And when Los Brothers Chemical started to do their live DJ thing--whatever that means--my hips swayed, my head banged. Heck, it was impossible not to, the collage of rhythms, sounds and visual enhancements were freakin' concussive! About 10 minutes into it, the Brothers were rockin'. I was rockin'. And all the post-modern free-lovers around me--like Deadheads after a shower and a trek to Urban Outfitters--were just tripping away, digging their scene. Cool. The counter-culture rules, man.
But soon, my drugless body was no longer undulating, and the tunes (Song titles? Yeah, right.) were gettin' mighty chilly, like a forgotten Trader Joe's heat-'em-up lodged in the back of a frosty freezer. Eventually, it was not chorus-less electronics filling my brain but rather a list of tomorrow's chores. Hmmm...laundry, clean the house... Then I thought, this was not quite the big bang that MTV, Spin magazine and KCRW promised. Suddenly, Neil Young's Tonight's the Night came to mind. So warm, so flawed--perhaps the anti-techno album. You know, maybe Neil should collaborate with the Brothers. Now that would be something to hang your Dr. Suess hat on.

by Neal Weiss

First appeared in BAM magazine 5/30/97
Courtesy and © BAM magazine, internet © Synthesis Network.

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