? about "One Big Holiday" lyric

[Willard1979]

I could be way off, but everytime I hear the line "All the leather kids were loud" I immediately think of Punk Rock.  Is that what he's referring to, or am I alone on this??

[sweatboard]

I know what you mean, I wouldn't associate MMJ's music as appealing to a crowd of leather wearing kids, UNLESS we're talking East Germany or something.  Which is exactly how I like to imagine it.  MMJ starts playing an impromptu concert in the town square in some East Germany city (Berlin), and all the towns people the passer biers etc. etc. are kind of looking around like "What The HELL Is This!!" EXCEPT for the group of about 12 teenagers over smoking cigarettes in their leather jackets beside the corner of the church, who after about two songs make their way to the front of the stage and proceed to go completely apeshit.  Meanwhile there is a record exec. that just so happens to be taking the whole thing in from his seat outside the cafe.  He sees the whole scene and grins while telling the person on the other end of his cell phone he'll have to call them back.  Mr. Record EXEC. Proceeds to walk over to the band and offer them a recording contract.  I think it could make a pretty hilarious video for the song, especially if the record exec. started drooling and then splice in shots of a wolf at real quick half-second bursts.  Seriously though, I think it's just a funny way of poking fun at the whole record exec./"cool kid" chain of events deal.  It's not so literal.  The record exec. is interested in a bottom line so he want's to make sure his product applies to the "cool kid" (everyone follows the cool kids, haven't you heard") and the "cool kid" wants to make sure he's cool so he wears leather.........meanwhile MMJ are just getting down the only way they know how and all of a sudden everyone is happy.  

[Sleazy Rider]

Or maybe he's talking about the ol' Louisville hardcore scene?

[aMD]

Or maybe he's talking about the ol' Louisville hardcore scene?

that's my interpretation as well.

[sweatboard]

So what was this hardcore scene all about?  What bands were in it, why does it seem relevant to the lyric etc. etc.  I remember in many of the earlier interviews with the band Jim seemed pretty disconnected from the whole Louisville music scene, but now it seems like he's a strong supporter of many Louisville bands.  I'm just curious about how natives of Louisville feel about the relationship of the band to the city.

[aMD]

oh god, brian.  don't get me started... okay, you got me started.

the hardcore scene pretty much began with slint and will oldham in the 80s.  The scene went slowly downhill from there in my opinion until the late 1990s.  Fittingly and perhaps not coincidentally, the scene pretty much disappeared when mmj hit the scene in 1999.  Some of the more popular bands from the scene were endpoint, rodan, onslaught, and eliot.  

here's where I may get myself in trouble and I don't want to act like I speak for Jim or the band, these are my observations based on my experience in the city. Jim's observations can be found in early interviews, most notably the interview in the car from the "This is Not America" documentary.

The louisville hardcore scene was known as much for their audiences as for their bands.  The shows were like going to a private party and if you weren't wearing the right clothes or were friends with the band then it often felt like you were an unwanted guest.  Everyone had the same 90s hipster/hardcore look and they seemed to care more about being seen at the show than seeing the show or enjoying the music.

As far as the band's relationship to the scene.  Month of sundays were, in most people's view, part of the louisville hardcore scene.  Jim was really young, 14 to 16 years old, when they were on the scene.  And it seems he grew weary of it as he grew up.  He also started writing songs as my morning jacket rather as one half on mont de sundua.  

When mmj hit the scene they hit a bigger scene than the dying hardcore scene, they hit an international scene almost immediately by gaining more popularity in the netherlands than in louisville initially.  In interviews from this time Jim was not shy about expressing his views about the hardcore scene.  he talked about how he was trying to distance himself from the scene and what it represented to him. Obviously the scensters did not take kindly to Jim no longer embracing the scene, bad mouthing them, and getting more popular than they had ever been in the process.  As mmj grew more popular the scenesters grew more bitter.  To this day there are some very bitter musicians in this city who bash and trash mmj and their fans to no end.  

These days the hardcore scene is all but dead but some great bands have replaced them.  Jim seems to have committed one of the major sins of the hardcore scene by supporting bands that feature his good friends-- Dennis (Follow the Train) and Kevin (Wax Fang), but the difference is that those bands actually do kick ass.

The city in many senses is supportive of the band but the hardcore scene looks at them and their fans as many of us view Nickelback, that is as an overrated, sell-out band with a ton of dopey fans.  Obviously, I disagree with this notion 100 percent.  It mainly stems from jealously from not "making it" themselves and being dissed in the process.  

[sweatboard]

Wow, that was an outstanding explination.  I've always had the sense that there was just something a bit strange about the bands relationship to Louisville.  After reading your explination it all makes much more sense to me.  Things Jim has said in interviews in the past especially make more sense.  I could see how it would be a sticky situation and one not easy to talk about.  Thanks for that Dylan.  

I remember after we got done seeing Spoon in Nashville we were standing outside the venue watching everyone file out and Tracy looked at me and said.... "man, I'm glad I'm to old to be in a "scene" I just don't have the energy"  :)    

[dragonboy]

Yeah cheers aMD, that was an interesting read.

[sweatboard]

I always assumed that OBH was written about the time period when MMJ  was getting signed, but after reading that it does sound like it could have been about events that took place while he was in Month Of Sundays.  It seems like Jim was pretty proactive about his relationship with Darla and really happy with the whole situation.  I could see how being in a scene llike the one described would provoke him into being really proactive about the way he handled MMJ.  

[mjkoehler]

Thanks Dylan. That was a very interesting read and gives me a whole new appreciation for JJ. I agree with what you said, that haters sound like a bunch of jealous folk who having nothing better to do but complain about someone who became succesful except maybe become talented, write better songs, become better musicians,etc. Naw just easier to piss and moan...

[cmccubbin25]

Dylan...how would you define "hardcore"?  

what did the music sound like?  

what popular bands from that day would you have compared it to?

[Ghosts_on_TV]

Dylan...how would you define "hardcore"?  

what did the music sound like?  

what popular bands from that day would you have compared it to?

I don't think it was "Hardcore' Hardcore. Slint certainly wasn't.

[cmccubbin@work]

Dylan...how would you define "hardcore"?  

what did the music sound like?  

what popular bands from that day would you have compared it to?

I don't think it was "Hardcore' Hardcore. Slint certainly wasn't.

can you compare them to a popular band from the same time period that these bands sounded like?