Taking Sides: Damo Suzuki v. Malcolm Mooney

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One African-American, one Japanese. One unintelligble, one unintelligent (or just crazy). One whose father could not yell and whose mother was up the duff, the other whose bag was blue and was so damned green. Each with 2 1/2 records.

Two Can vocalists, but one Can taste.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Love Damo, dont know of Malcolm.

― David Allen (David Allen), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i love them both. but if you didn't know it was can, it could easily be two entirely different bands.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

To have to choose between the two is to call madness upon oneself.

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

One unintelligble, one unintelligent (or just crazy).

a) this is ambiguous
b) this is mean (to one of them)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.spaceshipnofuture.org/pix/fhblog/yads_small.jpg

― GET TO THA' (PRICE) CHOPPA!!!!!!!! ROFFLE!!!!!!!! (ex machina), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 03:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Both excellent!

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

my heart belongs to mr. mooney.

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 04:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Mr Mooney picked the name "the Can" as it means "the Toilet" in American. When he left, they dropped "The". He's not unintelligent.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Malcolm is underrated, his edition of the band hardly recorded a bad track (OK, "Man Named Joe" is a bit crap) whereas later Can produced many a dud. Also Malcolm dragged Can towards being a rock group and not just a bunch of guys fannying about - as can be heard in the pre-Malcolm "Prehistoric Future".

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 08:54 (twenty-one years ago)

she brings the rain = classic

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 10:52 (twenty-one years ago)

be fair, theyre both unintelligible.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

"Radio equilibrium poised/ Aztec Indian turn out the noise" = classic

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

malcolm was more proto-punk, damo was more ?WTF?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

What punk ever sounded like Malcolm Mooney?!?!?!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Outside My Door" sounds like Joe Strummer.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmmmmmm, could be

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

do you know what proto-punk means?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I'm stupid

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"After fronting the group on their 1969 debut Monster Movie, Mooney's volatile offstage behavior and deranged onstage performances reached their boiling point, and on the advice of his psychiatrist he left Germany in 1970 to return to the U.S"

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll grant that Malcolm Mooney isn't unintelligent (that was more of a device than anything), but he sure as shit was crazy. Let's not forget that his last (or near-last) show with Can ended with him screaming, "UPSTAIRS!! DOWNSTAIRS!!!" for 3 hours after the band had left the stage and the crowd dispersed.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Did Can ever do live shows for Rite Time, the Mooney/Can reunion album (which I wish was better than it really is)? Is the above show one of those shows? Or are you referring to the last live show circa 1969/1970 or so?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

1969/70 — I don't know if they even toured Rite Time (though some of that Can movie has footage of them recording the record).

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

The story about how Mooney reunited with Can is hilarious. Apparently, he was doing some housecleaning and found a very old plane ticket to Germany underneath his couch, that, because of loopholes, was still honorable! So he got in touch with the Can guys, told them "hey, I have a free ticket to Germany, wanna get together?" and hence Rite Time (for better or worse.)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, to actually answer the question, it's a hard choice, but I'll go with Mooney. It's hard to top Monster Movie, most of Can Delay 1968, and amazing Mooney songs on Soundtracks.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Rite Time is actually underrated. But that might just be that I always had expected it would suck.

― wetmink (wetmink), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like Can a lot more if neither of them were ever in the band. I hate that so many bands feel like they have to have a vocalist.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Good point. I don't know how much Damo brought to the table during the years he was with the band, he's not even on the albums most of the time (e.g. "Halleluwah" = 3 min of singing, 15 min of groovadelicaliciousness).
Whereas Mooney's voice adds a major element to "Yoo Doo Right" or "Outside My Door". So I side with Mooney.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like Can a lot more if neither of them were ever in the band. I hate that so many bands feel like they have to have a vocalist.

Well, Can always had vocals on all their albums, maybe not "frontmen" per se, but dear god, having frontmen certainly helped Can in their case.. sorry, oops.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

It's not as if having to have a dedicated vocalist was especially a trait many a Dusseldorf band shared back in the day, anyway.. Neu!? Kraftwerk?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Only the bands from Cologne, apparently.

― dleone (dleone), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't say every band feels like they need to have a vocalist, but the vocals in Can's stuff seems so unncecessary and just...bad. I don't see how they wouldn't be better if they were purely an instrumental group.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

both "yoo doo right" and "mother sky" would suffer w/o vox.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd say at their best, they are both equivalently great.

however, damo's bad songs are not as bad as malcolm's.

damo is my choice.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(note: I dislike nearly every rock vocalist evah)

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:02 (twenty-one years ago)

what am i saying? damo would be my choice if only for the parrapa the rapper link.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

ha. gygax, i love that you know the parappa the rapper thing.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I would love an instrumental version of "Turtles Have Short Legs", while we're talking about vocals. Can someone arrange this for me, please? (I love the vocal version, and I believe this could be Damo's vocal talent peak, but there is so much sampling potential in an instrumental "Turtles")

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

db, buy parrapa the rappa...

but then, subtract out marsha warfield saying "you say boom boom boom, i say bam bam bam", "step on the gas, step on the brake", and "press and turn the signal to the left"...

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say, is there an option in the game to turn off the dialog?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

(actually, the loop is not exactly "Turtles", there are a couple of notes difference, surely to avoid a lawsuit)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

no, i think it is EXACTLY turtles

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

but it's not a sample, it's like a cover of a sample

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

it is almost exactly "Turtles", but I listened carefully, and there's a very small difference indeed.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

wait.. did you just go out and buy this after gygax said to?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:44 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/reviews/fullsize/427.jpg

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

No no, I've played Parappa at a friend's house a few months ago, and got to the second stage in question. I told my friends what this song sampled, and they were like "ummm, ok, whatever". I listened carefully, and just remembered that the Parappa "Step on the gas" song loop was just barely the same as "Turtles" but not exact.

Keep in mind that "Turtles" is my favorite Can song... I have it on that latest CD issue of Cannibalism 2 and on the "One More Night" EP (with "Moonshake" and "Turtles Have Short Legs" as B-sides). I've practically memorized that fucker. It was the very first song that blasted out of my car stereo when I first started driving.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

haha, Karoli on the right looks like Buckethead sans bucket!

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i dont understand why anyone wouldn't say that Damo-era Can were (enter some ridiculously large number here) times better than Mooney-era. Of course, he was cool too, but seriously thought, what kind of idiot would say no to Damo?

― Rob McD (Rob McD), Thursday, 6 May 2004 08:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Who's saying no? Just pointing out that Malcolm era barely recorded a bad track while all subsequent line-ups of Can were prone to releasing a succession of duds.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 6 May 2004 08:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone heard the ultrafantastic track Damo did with Sixtoo? It's the B-side of a 12" (A-side's ace as well) and apparently also appears on the soon to be released album. Fluxblog had it for a short time but it can also be downloaded from the Ninja Tune site. A motherfucker of a song, like you wish Can would sound like were they to reunite at this moment...

― willem (willem), Thursday, 6 May 2004 11:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i dont understand why anyone wouldn't say that Damo-era Can were (enter some ridiculously large number here) times better than Mooney-era
Oh, they were definitely better overall, but I think Mooney was the better vocalist. That's not to say that Can were good despite Damo, or that the songs he sang on would have sounded better with Malcolm instead.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

If Can were better with Damo, that's because Can had improved, not because Mooney was not as good.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

or not because damo was better?

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Can themselves have always said that the different vocalists they used had an effect on the sort of music they played - certainly they credit Mooney for propelling them towards being more of a rock band, albeit a pretty experimental one

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

<EM>Has anyone heard the ultrafantastic track Damo did with Sixtoo? It's the B-side of a 12" (A-side's ace as well) and apparently also appears on the soon to be released album. Fluxblog had it for a short time but it can also be downloaded from the Ninja Tune site. A motherfucker of a song, like you wish Can would sound like were they to reunite at this moment...</EM>

This is pretty good, but the drumming doesn't sound like Can.

― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone should download it, though, it's nice. kind of how i was hoping that new damo band stuff would sound but i've been too afraid to download it...

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

five years pass...

mooney has been unfairly written out of a lot of histories, but the prize still goes to damo.

― figuratively, but in a very real way (amateurist), Friday, 1 January 2010 19:05 (fifteen years ago)

I feel that by choosing one, the other will mysteriously disappear from the Polaroid I carry around.

So I chose neither. or both.

― my opinionation (Hamildan), Saturday, 2 January 2010 09:06 (fifteen years ago)

fourteen years pass...

No need to take sides but I learned that today is Damo's birthday! Happy birthday, man!!

I love Malcolm almost equally fwiw but it's not his birthday today that I am aware of. Wikipedia does not list his birthday!

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 17 January 2024 00:39 (one year ago)

Get Malcolm Mooney mixed up with this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nB0QpwRgV4

― B. Amato (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 17 January 2024 01:04 (one year ago)

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