Jay Reatard dies.
January 13, 2010 2:32 PM Subscribe
much too young.. Prolific, awesome, sometimes hated musician Jay Reatard dies in New York.
I first saw him at this show, and was struck by his Ramones-like ability to boil a song down to it's essence then rock the hell out of it.
Only 29, far too young. Rest in peace.
I first saw him at this show, and was struck by his Ramones-like ability to boil a song down to it's essence then rock the hell out of it.
Only 29, far too young. Rest in peace.
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posted by Fuzzy Monster at 2:36 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 2:36 PM on January 13, 2010
What is it with astonishingly-prolific people dying young?
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posted by box at 2:38 PM on January 13, 2010
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posted by box at 2:38 PM on January 13, 2010
Some clarification from a midtown Memphis gal here: he didn't die in New York. He died in Memphis, unless I have my facts waaaay off; an ex-colleague of mine's brother lives with him and had the unfortunate position of um, finding him.
I feel like way too many people under 50 are dying lately.
posted by ifjuly at 2:38 PM on January 13, 2010
I feel like way too many people under 50 are dying lately.
posted by ifjuly at 2:38 PM on January 13, 2010
Hey 2010! Fuck You!
posted by chillmost at 2:41 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by chillmost at 2:41 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
at least he got to stay in a hotel and not crashed out on somebody's couch.
christ this sucks.
posted by Hammond Rye at 2:42 PM on January 13, 2010
christ this sucks.
posted by Hammond Rye at 2:42 PM on January 13, 2010
I feel like way too many people under 50 are dying lately.
And those over 50, too.
posted by bz at 2:47 PM on January 13, 2010 [4 favorites]
And those over 50, too.
posted by bz at 2:47 PM on January 13, 2010 [4 favorites]
I remember being at SXSW and standing outside of a club on the sidewalk listening to him rock out.
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posted by chillmost at 2:49 PM on January 13, 2010
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posted by chillmost at 2:49 PM on January 13, 2010
My bad about the location. I read 'Midtown' and immediately assumed NY. Yeah, it's Memphis.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:52 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by lumpenprole at 2:52 PM on January 13, 2010
Holy shit. "It's no fun. It's no fun".
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
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posted by dig_duggler at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by dig_duggler at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
Out of curiosity, why did he go by Reatard? was there some compelling reason for it, or was it just an assholish punk gesture?
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:53 PM on January 13, 2010
I would suspect OD (his entire band quit during the last tour reportedly due to his excessive drug taking). Just sad. A real talent.
posted by dig_duggler at 2:55 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by dig_duggler at 2:55 PM on January 13, 2010
♪
posted by roll truck roll at 2:55 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by roll truck roll at 2:55 PM on January 13, 2010
AZ, his first project (when he was 15) was called the Reatards, apparently out of some joke about how stupid you'd have to be to misspell that. Like the Oblivians (who signed the Reatards) and the Ramones, everyone in the band took Reatard as their last name.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:58 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by lumpenprole at 2:58 PM on January 13, 2010
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(Willie Mitchell and Jay Reatard!? What a shitty couple of weeks for Memphis musicians.)
posted by thivaia at 3:05 PM on January 13, 2010
(Willie Mitchell and Jay Reatard!? What a shitty couple of weeks for Memphis musicians.)
posted by thivaia at 3:05 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:08 PM on January 13 [+] [!]
Eponytragical.
(And RIP for Reatard. I didn't like most of what he did, but that was entirely a personal taste thing and has no bearing on the fact that 29 year olds shouldn't be dying in their sleep.)
posted by sparkletone at 3:17 PM on January 13, 2010
Eponytragical.
(And RIP for Reatard. I didn't like most of what he did, but that was entirely a personal taste thing and has no bearing on the fact that 29 year olds shouldn't be dying in their sleep.)
posted by sparkletone at 3:17 PM on January 13, 2010
i was just about to hit 'post' on my own obit an hour ago when a friend called to talked about it
got lost running through memories of his awesomeness and speculation whether we'll ever see another real punk like him. i've interviewed and met him at his shows several time and he was never anything but nice to me. Here's something from a review of mine after one of his shows in DC:
I saw him on the way back from the club with his bass player in the Chinese food place and I had a conversation with him that ended up at this impasse: “Man you should get some fried chicken, Jay!”
“I don’t think they have any, this is a Chinese place…”
“Man, every Chinese place in DC has fried chicken, man.” Glaring at menu, which has no fried chicken on it, “How ’bout some fried chicken dude?”
Chinese guy: “No fried chicken! No!”
Me: “Man, Jay, you guys should get fried chicken!”
Jay: “Help!”
the conclusion my friend and i came to is it's worthless to be sad or regret shit...whether he was crazy or just unlucky, he would rather we crack a beer, play one of his songs and move on rather than making tears and speeches. so thanks jay and let's rock instead
Here's my more inside:
The troubled but brilliant musician was arguably the reigning king of punk rock. He recently broke up with his longtime touring companions for unspecified reason, just the latest in a series of dramatic turns in his dramatic career that included punching a kid out at a concert, being cyberstalked by haters, and being generally troubled. Despite all of that he was unquestionably amazing live and on record, cornering the market on hard-edged, anxiety-ridden garage punk in the vein of the Saints, early Devo, and his idols and early mentors the Oblivians. He was 29.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:19 PM on January 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
got lost running through memories of his awesomeness and speculation whether we'll ever see another real punk like him. i've interviewed and met him at his shows several time and he was never anything but nice to me. Here's something from a review of mine after one of his shows in DC:
I saw him on the way back from the club with his bass player in the Chinese food place and I had a conversation with him that ended up at this impasse: “Man you should get some fried chicken, Jay!”
“I don’t think they have any, this is a Chinese place…”
“Man, every Chinese place in DC has fried chicken, man.” Glaring at menu, which has no fried chicken on it, “How ’bout some fried chicken dude?”
Chinese guy: “No fried chicken! No!”
Me: “Man, Jay, you guys should get fried chicken!”
Jay: “Help!”
the conclusion my friend and i came to is it's worthless to be sad or regret shit...whether he was crazy or just unlucky, he would rather we crack a beer, play one of his songs and move on rather than making tears and speeches. so thanks jay and let's rock instead
Here's my more inside:
The troubled but brilliant musician was arguably the reigning king of punk rock. He recently broke up with his longtime touring companions for unspecified reason, just the latest in a series of dramatic turns in his dramatic career that included punching a kid out at a concert, being cyberstalked by haters, and being generally troubled. Despite all of that he was unquestionably amazing live and on record, cornering the market on hard-edged, anxiety-ridden garage punk in the vein of the Saints, early Devo, and his idols and early mentors the Oblivians. He was 29.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:19 PM on January 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
He didn't always hit, but when he did he made some fantastic fucking rock songs....
my favorite: D.O.A.
See/Saw
An Ugly Death (Ummm.......)
Now that look at his songs on my MP3 player, a few of my Jay Reatard faves seem a bit creepy at the moment.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:23 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
my favorite: D.O.A.
See/Saw
An Ugly Death (Ummm.......)
Now that look at his songs on my MP3 player, a few of my Jay Reatard faves seem a bit creepy at the moment.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:23 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's the obituary i wrote early today with pictures and old reviews of his shows.
mods please to delete if it violates self linking.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:28 PM on January 13, 2010
mods please to delete if it violates self linking.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:28 PM on January 13, 2010
I'm at the point where I look back at all the stupid shit I did when I was young (and I'm not much older than Reatard), and I think, Christ, I'm lucky to have realized actions have consequences. I had only a passing familiarity with his music, but RIP.
posted by dortmunder at 3:29 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by dortmunder at 3:29 PM on January 13, 2010
Out of curiosity, why did he go by Reatard? was there some compelling reason for it, or was it just an assholish punk gesture?
RIP.
I heard from someone who knew him, or read, that he thought "retard" was spelled that way originally. I don't know if that's false, or what. I'm sure I'll get corrected here if so.
posted by Liquidwolf at 3:30 PM on January 13, 2010
♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:36 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:36 PM on January 13, 2010
Fuck, that's rubbish. I met him after a (fucking awesome) show he did in Glasgow a few years ago; couldn't have been a sweeter chap, very generous and friendly and funny and liberal with the beer on the rider. RIP.
Time to dig out some Reatards/Lost Sounds/Oblivians/Compulsive Gamblers records. Not listened to any of them in too long ...
posted by Len at 4:13 PM on January 13, 2010
Time to dig out some Reatards/Lost Sounds/Oblivians/Compulsive Gamblers records. Not listened to any of them in too long ...
posted by Len at 4:13 PM on January 13, 2010
Can we get an edit on the FPP? He died in Memphis, goddamnit.
The Reatards opened for my old band at Barrister's in Memphis in 1996. I thought it was their first show for a long time, but just yesterday while doing research for a documentary I found another flyer that seemed to indicate it was actually their second show. Point being, he was a fixture on the Memphis punk scene for a long time, and everybody who makes the scene knew him or had a story about him.
If you want to hear the best work he ever did, IMHO, it's this album: The Lost Sounds Black Wave. He also played drums for The Final Solutions. I just did a top ten Memphis songs and albums poll for Live from Memphis, and literally everything he did received votes.
I don't really know what to say. He was at times a really difficult guy to like. You could hear people call him a "really sweet guy" and a "total sociopath" in the same breath. But he was a great musician and a really incredible songwriter. Blood Visions is one of the best albums of the last decade. It's like what you hoped the Minutemen would still be doing if D. Boon was still around, or a lost English punk masterpiece.
Yeah, I just don't know what to say. Fuck.
posted by vibrotronica at 4:18 PM on January 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
The Reatards opened for my old band at Barrister's in Memphis in 1996. I thought it was their first show for a long time, but just yesterday while doing research for a documentary I found another flyer that seemed to indicate it was actually their second show. Point being, he was a fixture on the Memphis punk scene for a long time, and everybody who makes the scene knew him or had a story about him.
If you want to hear the best work he ever did, IMHO, it's this album: The Lost Sounds Black Wave. He also played drums for The Final Solutions. I just did a top ten Memphis songs and albums poll for Live from Memphis, and literally everything he did received votes.
I don't really know what to say. He was at times a really difficult guy to like. You could hear people call him a "really sweet guy" and a "total sociopath" in the same breath. But he was a great musician and a really incredible songwriter. Blood Visions is one of the best albums of the last decade. It's like what you hoped the Minutemen would still be doing if D. Boon was still around, or a lost English punk masterpiece.
Yeah, I just don't know what to say. Fuck.
posted by vibrotronica at 4:18 PM on January 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
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posted by joe lisboa at 4:25 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by joe lisboa at 4:25 PM on January 13, 2010
nth-ing the request for an edit. 'midtown' in the story is in Memphis.
posted by mwhybark at 4:42 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by mwhybark at 4:42 PM on January 13, 2010
Slightly off-topic, but can anyone suggest a good book or article exploring the relationship between musicians/artists and premature deaths? Been wondering about it a lot lately.
posted by decoherence at 4:44 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by decoherence at 4:44 PM on January 13, 2010
Ah that sucks.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 4:49 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 4:49 PM on January 13, 2010
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posted by SageLeVoid at 5:01 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by SageLeVoid at 5:01 PM on January 13, 2010
This Wikipedia article has some info. And apparently there's this book.
posted by roll truck roll at 5:23 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by roll truck roll at 5:23 PM on January 13, 2010
That was in response to decoherence.
posted by roll truck roll at 5:23 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by roll truck roll at 5:23 PM on January 13, 2010
Here's the Live From Memphis memorial post. I especially recommend scrolling down and watching the first video of Jay doing "Oh It's Such A Shame" at Goner Fest.
posted by vibrotronica at 6:00 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by vibrotronica at 6:00 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Dammit- this is truly sad news.
Blood Visions and the 7" singles will be remembered as classics.
posted by Dr-Baa at 6:22 PM on January 13, 2010
Blood Visions and the 7" singles will be remembered as classics.
posted by Dr-Baa at 6:22 PM on January 13, 2010
Going to chime in with another anecdote about drug use. A friend of mine played with the Lost Sounds a few years back and said that he was snorting a giant amount of coke out of a ziploc bag with a metal straw.
Don't know much about him, don't know much about his music, but this is fucking sad. 29 is too young.
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posted by josher71 at 6:37 PM on January 13, 2010
Don't know much about him, don't know much about his music, but this is fucking sad. 29 is too young.
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posted by josher71 at 6:37 PM on January 13, 2010
I liked this dude. I'm sorry he died.
posted by Juicy Avenger at 6:59 PM on January 13, 2010
posted by Juicy Avenger at 6:59 PM on January 13, 2010
I JUST saw him in Houston, last month. He got into some shit while here (shots fired after the Houston show, drama in Austin involving two fans getting arrested). He called me an asshole in the comments of my glowing review of his show. I liked him. :(
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posted by Brittanie at 8:03 AM on January 14, 2010
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posted by Brittanie at 8:03 AM on January 14, 2010
Aww. I always figured I'd be able to see him some other time when he came through. Gotta remember to see punk musicians early, I guess.
I'd waited on this because I was really hoping it would be a hoax.
posted by klangklangston at 8:36 AM on January 14, 2010
I'd waited on this because I was really hoping it would be a hoax.
posted by klangklangston at 8:36 AM on January 14, 2010
And I never saw him live. I'm really bummed about that.
posted by zzazazz at 9:58 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by zzazazz at 9:58 AM on January 14, 2010
I just found out. He was very, very talented. His cover of the go-between's "Don't let him come back" is fantastic.
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posted by elmono at 7:34 AM on January 17, 2010
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posted by elmono at 7:34 AM on January 17, 2010
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RIP.
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posted by tiger yang at 2:36 PM on January 13, 2010