September of 2007 found me in Memphis for Gonerfest, a week-long festival put on by Goner Records celebrating the kind of garage rock and power pop that makes you feel violated and then makes you blame yourself.
It's all a hopeless blur of humidity and horizontal stripes but this picture for the band Top Ten's set does it some justice:
The only way I know it was real is because I still have this copy of a book called Slade Vs. the Monkeys, which I do remember buying at Goner Records.
It's a collection of rock caricatures by someone named Crowbar. Some of the drawings, such as "Beatle zombies eating Chuck Berry's brains," invite an allegorical reading. Others, like "Jerry Lee Lewis riding a crab through a pubic forest" and "James Brown blowing up a beached whale," are clearly just innocent fun. Either way, these are some of the finest art works I have ever encountered.
You can get it here: http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2741
If you are ever in Memphis for any reason, eat as much as possible and go to the Stax museum.
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