Cross References

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  • #10595
    Johnny_Heartfield
    Participant

      It happened again. When I finally got the California EP and opened the gatefold cover I had an instant deja vu. As so often with Motorpsycho releases, posters or other media.

      I knew I had seen this scenery before – shadowy figures in front of a bluish california sunset sky. One or two trees in black to round up the panorama.

      Couldn't locate the reference at first, but had a strong feeling I had seen this inner sleeve before on a remarkable album.

      The riddle was solved when I finally took out my first It's A Beautiful day album and opened up the gatefold. There it was – the original band silhouette so closely mimicked by Motorpsycho.

      I had this before – remember when I got the Unicorn tour programme before the gig and startet reading the band biography. Four musician's portraits I new somehow. Of course it was the MP guys and Stale Storlokken on the images, but the biographic texts were familiar as well. Finally I started to laugh – the guys had just taken the musician's biographies from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and mashed them up. The tour poster on the other hand with Stale's head on a plate reminded me of Iron Maiden's Peace of Mind.

      I know the MP guys enjoy citing and referencing old heroes now and again – there's lots of musical references anyway. In the titles (Leslie's Vest, Mountain etc.), but in the tunes as well. Take The Cuckoo for instance – Black Sabbath's Country Girl riff from Mob Rules with a middle part from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

      Now I wonder – how many references – intentional or not – have you noticed?

      #31722

      Billions.

      Really, where do you wanna start from? :)

      Simple stuff: "false" covers from other bands. We have:

      "Sterling Says" – tribute to Velvet Underground

      "Motorhead Mama" – quite obvious

      "Whip that Ghost" – Song for A(llman) Bro(thers)

      "Captain Geebhardt" – Captain Beefheart

      Uh, no, really, it's a hell of a job! :)

      #31723
      Johnny_Heartfield
      Participant

        That's some of the easy ones. Titles that speak for themselves.

        Any trickier stuff?

        #31724
        Punj Lizard
        Participant
          Quote:
          "Motorhead Mama" – quite obvious

          Is it? Are you talking about Motörhead or Neil Young's Motorcycle Mama? Or both? ;)

          #31725

          S.T.G. is a good one, mentioned both Sonic Youth for the noise part and Crosby's Guinevere for the used tuning and the intro melody. And of course the melody of Yes – Changes can be found in Mutiny. I remember reading once the whole flute melody of WFTW is ripped of a Bevis Frond (?) song, but I couldn't find it yet.

          The coolest one I think is still found in Kvaestor, using Nicko McBrain's epic drumfill of Where Eagles Dare 8)

          #31726
          bionaut
          Participant

            Superstooge reminds me of the Stooges song 'Fun House'.

            #31727
            Deadnautpsychohead
            Participant

              Two songs on Jerry Garcia's 'solo' album "Garcia" called "The Wheel" (also in many Dead-live sets) and "Spidergawd".

              #31728
              Phoots Flower
              Participant

                @crosskip WFTO -> The Bevis Frond – Waving

                #31729
                Johnny_Heartfield
                Participant

                  Whole Lotta Diana – Just turned up in the "worst songs" thread – phew!

                  I love that one – the AC/DC reference is not only obvious in the title, but also in the somehow inverted "Whole Lotta Rosie" Riff. And they end the song with AC/DC's intro to "Sin City". R.I.P. Malcolm, by the way

                  #31730
                  Johnny_Heartfield
                  Participant

                    Oh – and 7th dream sounds a lot like "Cortez the killer" to me.

                    And "the faster we go, the rounder we get". That's Dead for you – Motorpsycho's title (part of K9 on RW1) is just the other way round. Got it fast ;-)

                    #31731
                    TAF
                    Participant

                      @Johnny_Heartfield: I'd say Whole Lotta Diana also quite blatantly references Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" with the hi-hat keeping time in a similar way in the silence between those short bursts of riffing.

                      #31732

                      As BronYAur pointed out, Whip That Ghost is a reference to The Allman Brothers – more specifically, the original song is called "Whipping Post" ;)

                      I also love how the classic Maiden fill from Where Eagles Dare is used twice in Kvaestor (where Greyhounds dare). Genious.

                      #31733
                      Ercarnar
                      Participant

                        What about the Pink Panther in the middle of the piano solo in Mountain?

                        And regarding where greyhounds dare…Kenneth has greyhounds, and McBrain is his favourite drummer

                        Heavy metal fruit is taken from ME 262 by Blue Öyster Cult

                        30/30 refers to the Beach Boys 20/20…"but more confusing" as Bent said

                        And a theme from one song in Begynnelser (please don't ask me to write the right name!) is also played in A pacific Sonata

                        My other favourite toghether with the pink panther…a reference to Motorpsycho themselves!

                        The electric psalmon and the acoustic psalmon in two different albums

                        #31734
                        Quote:
                        @crosskip WFTO -> The Bevis Frond – Waving

                        Right, that's the one. Thanks!

                        Another ref:

                        Joni Mitchell – Coyote: "And their pills and powders to get them thru this passion play"

                        Explains the additional title (Miss Mitchel in the Ladies Room)!

                        #31735
                        paolinogrande001
                        Participant
                          Quote:
                          Another ref:

                          Joni Mitchell – Coyote: "And their pills and powders to get them thru this passion play"

                          Explains the additional title (Miss Mitchel in the Ladies Room)!

                          And the lyrics to "Ladies Room" by KISS "Meet, meet you in the ladies room", you will never hear that line the same way again now :)

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