Doug Snyder & Bob Thompson – Daily Dance (1972)
You’re in a hell, and you’re gonna die in a hell, just like the rest of ‘em!
What better way to confront a crumbling and corrupt society?
The Daily Dance is the embodiment of that nihilistic beast of your dreams or nightmares, a righteous plague that reflects all the toxic elements of corruption and hypocrisy on display all around us.
In 1971, drummer Bob Thompson and guitarist Doug Snyder walked out of a Stooges / MC5 concert transformed, with one important realization coming to them: they decided that they needed to start a band. They needed to create a sound. Theirs was the mission to take the primitive rock’n’roll sound that poured over the audience that evening to its logical extreme. In other words, a death certificate for the fake and fashionable kaleidoscope hippie movement that had completely captivated the music press in the late 60s. A music industry unleashing the horrors of James Taylor and Emerson, Lake and Palmer on an drugged-out and unsuspecting public.
Instead of placating the public, Snyder and Thompson went in another direction, distilling the working class rage soon to be articulated by punk with the raw, psychedelic free jazz that we hear bubbling to the surface of both the Stooges’ Fun House and the Motor City Five debut.
While everyone remember the proto-punk-metal, sex’n’violence of the MC5’s anthem, “Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”, it is the apocalyptic experimentation of the lesser known side two – the Sun Ra cover Starship – that inspire The Daily Dance. This is the music to wash away that overlooked privilege of the hippies, the day-glow hypocrisy of the flower-power generation and the unpleasant reality of an economic system that only benefits the chosen few whose parents send them to elite universities.
Thompson and Synder’s music pushes the provocation of The Stooges and The Five but also managed to articulate the primitive intelligence so often disregarded. Daily Dance is a largely overlooked masterpiece. A complete head-fuck, in the most incredible way possible. You’ll either be angry that you were cheated and forced to live your life without this music or… not.
There’s really no inbetween space, no real room for compromise. Doug Snyder and Bob Thompson have done their part, pulling together the best of what contemporary music has to offer with simple beats and rhythms morphing into a wall complex of sound. Creating extremely loud, spatial sound collages that allow for a maximum of improvisational innovation that is exciting and fulfilling.
This music refuses contemporary labels. It’s the sound of a modern ritual, an attempt to clear a path forward and search for forgotten wisdom long since lost. It’s the sound of fear and hope that we haven’t so lost the scent of truth that there is no way to advance. That’s the fear we seek to overcome.
by Shawn Ciavattone
Shawn, I love your record recommendations and got especially hooked on Black Flower and The Necks. This one is a bit too brutal for me. That being said, I have to say that you’re the only page I’m visiting these days, a true refuge that often makes me think. Very special. Hope to follow you for many more years.
Shawn,
Brutal chaos. Certainly fitting for the current crises of 2020. I immediately listened to the entire 43:44 after reading your review.
Not only do I hear free jazz in Bob Thompson’s dexterous drumming and pummeling percussion and the primitive proto-punk of the MC5 and the Stooges (the noisiest sections are like instrumental variations of “L.A. Blues”) but I also hear the future.
Daily Dance–especially due to the distorted, fuzzed out fury of Doug Snyder’s guitar–was ahead of its time 5 years (I can hear the chugging grit of Wire’s 1977 “Pink Flag” track), 20 years (the desert heat haze of Kyuss’ “Mondo Generator” circa 1992), 30 years (I can hear the barren, empty, postapocalyptic wastelands of Earth’s Hex, or Printing in the Infernal Method in the quieter passages of this record.)
Way ahead of it’s time. Daily Dance influenced decades of musicians and artists. And what is most amazing to me, is that Daily Dance remains completely unique. When I put this record on, it takes me to a completely different place. Getting completely lost in the groove of this amazing record. Thank you for your comments Mark.
What great NOISE!! You have the best music recommendations, I discovered so much through your great reviews. Thanks!
Thank you for your comment, Brian. I appreciate you saying that. Daily Dance is a great piece of music that deserves more credit and recognition
I got hooked with the first quote, Shawn.
“The Daily Dance” encapsulates the contemporary events that are happening around the world.
2020 catastrophes haven’t ended, and they won’t (we knew it, the world was at the boiling point). Coronavirus, Latin America’s BRUTAL social inequitality,delinquency and massive protests against their “leaders” (fueled by the pandemic), the most recent riots in the US, environmental issues, etc.
I agree with Saliha, 40 millions unemployed in the US and some people are totally “in love” with Space X and aliens.
Thank you for introducing this thoughtful record, the facts about The Stooges and Sun Ra’s cover are very interesting. I’ll listen to it quietly…
Hope you enjoyed the record. Its a beautiful noise, indeed. The global disparity in income is real the economic issue of the day. Ironically, as workers become more productive, they have actually lowered their “economic value” in the capitalist system. Unfortunately, the government representatives of the ruling classes are not interesting in creating a more equitable distribution of wealth. In the US nearly 50 percent of the population has little or no healthcare. Everything has been “privatized”- from prisons to parks to libraries . Working people no longer have access to any sense of community. It’s a toxic brew and civil unrest will become increasingly violent and ever present. Thank you for your comments. Stay safe.
Gives me Neu! vibes, very cool stuff!
Absolutely. I hear that forward push of the rhythm and drums. I’ll bet Sonic Youth found some inspiration here too.
Vinyl writers is on fire lately- Türkan, GAS, Bunuel and now this! Snyder and Thompson were absolute pioneers and we can also thank them for the only existing VU Exploding Plastic Inevitable Live recording, since one of them taped it! Love your page, Greetings from Texas!
That’s a great piece of information about the VU recording. Lots of great articles coming out of Vinylwriters but the recent GAS article was pure perfection. I reread it last night and it unfolds like poetry.
Agreed on the quality here. Keep up the good work, love you guys.
Great review, and even more fitting now than 1 month ago when it was written. The economic misery & corruption is another big factor that fuel the US riots and protests, which are certainly not just about race as we discussed yesterday. Funny how 40 millions unemployed and a new young ‘ No future’ generation completely gets excluded from all discourse… But I guess Space X is the thing to focus on, aliens and US’ privatization of the moon… Fuck.
Anyway, this is an amazing record, thanks for showing me it back in the day. Never ever had heard of it. I like the term ‘primitive intelligence’, it’s on spot and also captures the Stooges essence – their intelligence and sophistication gets overlooked by almost everybody.
2 things made me laugh so hard here : “You either feel cheated… or not” – what a conclusion
And then how much you love Emerson Lake and Palmer and all American prog 😂🚀
Thank you for believing in the review. Your comments about the tinderbox of police brutality and economic despair is right on. The plague of US police murder, brutality and racism coupled with the 6 trillion dollars in “stimulus” the US Treasury Department sent to the largest corporations and banks while 40 million workers lost their jobs created the perfect atmosphere for the civil unrest, riots and violence that is unfolding.
When I first heard this album I immediately thought of you. It boiled down the essence of the Stooges so perfectly. I knew you would love it. Only Iggy’s croon and yelp is missing. So the music emphasizes the brutal perfection of the free-jazz and hard punk groove of the band. Only, somehow it comes out completely unique here. As for that quick-cut conclusion… lol. This extreme music and provokes extremely responses. And we can never kick those dinosaurs of American prog hard enough.