Rude Corps - Ed Wood

Hear The Track Here

Had to love Adele's rant about 'the suits' in the Brits over the past week, fair brought tears to my eyes to see someone actually saying what they think on prime time TV without having checked it with the producers first. What is it, I am often asked, that made the 1960's and 1970's such a positive golden age for music and the answer is in that first line. People willing to stand up and be counted, to say what they think and act on what they say. See, there was a time (very short admittedly) when WE were the music business and the music reflected that with songs that - literally - changed the world. Of course, then along came the suits and wrested it from us with the notable exceptions of punk and - at a pinch - grunge which wasn't exactly instructional as opposed nihilistic and depressing IMHO. Since then, things have become very tame indeed and it is rare indeed to come across a piece of music that actually says something.

There again, maybe you've never met Rude Corps.

Over the space of dozens of tracks (the man has 411 on his page at the last count) Rude Corps has kept the flame of radical thought alive virtually alone on Soundclick. Certainly there is no-one else on that site that even comes close to the kind of political commentary Rude Corps has become justly famed for - and it definitely helps that he knows his way around music too, some of his track are dynamite in every way. Aaaahh yes, just like the old days. Ed Wood has a reputation as being the 'worst film director in history' and the subject of a biopic featuring Johnny Depp in the title role and also for being the inspiration behind Plan 9 from Outer Space, probably the worst ever B movie in a world of terrible B movies. So bad it was good, know what I mean? Ed Woods story is more relevant these days than ever, here is a guys who just loved what he was doing and wouldn't have it any other way - despite some of the worst criticism known to man.

The story also lends itself to lines like 'I see a new world made of card and plasticine, I see space ships complete with child-proof caps, I see tin-foil dubloons and tea-stained treasure maps' because that accurately describes Wood's 'special effects' So how does Rude Corps choose to musically illustrate this scene? It could only be a weird cross between 1950's faux space sounds (the whirly thing going up and down) and the later spoken word songs that dotted the psychedelic era - all in all very tastefully done. So what about the political diatribes I mentioned early on? What, you don't think the Ed Wood story political? Look again. It's nice when Rude Corps veers off into songwriting and is something I have become used to over the years. Just didn't realise how sharp he was getting at it.

Highly Recommended Hollywood tale.