Jerry Lee "The Killer" Lewis has passed on. Disaster Amnesiac is nowhere near an obsessive fan of the man, but I do realize that his musical vision was important to the early evolution of Rock 'n Roll, and his music is always enjoyable when I hear it. More than that almost, it strikes me that with along with the man, a certain attitude towards life and music has also gone. The attitude of take no prisoners, perhaps the original Punk Rock "fuck off and die" stance towards everyone and everything (save some dame dancing atop the rockin' 88), perhaps Dixie Fried country soul, maybe some element that Disaster Amnesiac isn't even aware of. Bull in a china shop types like Lewis are more and more rare, and maybe that's a good, and maybe that's not. But it seems a fact, especially within the music industry. There's just too much at stake, and too long a time of set standards and practices in place. The wild men are off doing something else now, if they're allowed to get past their childhoods with those wild hairs at all intact. Lewis epitomized an approach that has mostly been caged, and the so-called rebels of this era can't replicate the raw authenticity of guys such as him, try as they might.
Race on, Jerry Lee Lewis, may your spirit find new hot corn mash and sassy jigglin' action up on some other, freer plane.
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