Michael Knott had a life of emotional and spiritual anguish that showed up in his music. His lyrics spoke of the streets he lived on and the people that he lived among. He was prolific, with over 35 albums and EPs between his solo work and his work with the bands he played in. He was born in Aurora, Illinois, but moved to California, where he was part of the emerging alternative Christian rock scene. He also founded the record labels Blonde Vinyl Records and Siren Music, and served as an inspiration for the founding of Tooth & Nail Records. Below are some of the bands that Michael Knott recorded with.
- The Hightops – Early pop-punk band when Knott was a teenager (songs appear as bonus tracks on Huntington Beach album)
- The Lifesavors or Lifesavers – Early ’80s pop punk
- Lifesavers Underground, aka L.S. Underground, aka LSU – Darker, goth-y alt-rock
- Bomb Bay Babies – General market guitar-driven pop punk band
- Idle Lovell – Dark alt-rock in a slightly different vein than LSU
- Michael Moret – A Dead or Alive-style new wave dance album that Knott wished he’d never made
- Aunt Bettys – a storytelling general market rock band Knott started in 1993
- Cush – Post-modern rock band with former members of The Prayer Chain
- Strung Gurus – Acoustic rock band with Social Distortion guitarist Dennis Danell (RIP February 29, 2000)
- Struck Last May – 2007 project with Rick McDonough that dabbles in “… To Kill a Mocking Bird meets Sesame Street”
I don’t have physical copies of every release, but I do have a decent slice of his output. However, I am not going to do a career-spanning overview of Michael Knott in this blog; that would be on the verge of overwhelming. What I want to do is highlight the album and band, Aunt Bettys, and a few side roads thrown in. I drove to the grocery store today and listened to Aunt Bettys again. I’ve had Aunt Bettys in my car for ages now and haven’t tired of it. It came out in 1996 and has aged well in my opinion. What got me hooked was the song “Rocket And A Bomb.” Knott released an album titled “Rocket And A Bomb,” but the lyrics are different other than the refrain, “And all I ever wanted was a good job and some bus fare and a rocket and a bomb.” I will focus on the Aunt Bettys version, as well as some of the other tracks on this album. So here we go…
Aunt Bettys are like Pink Floyd. There is no “The” in the title. Formed in the mid-1990s in Hollywood, California, Aunt Bettys was signed to Elektra Records by Seymour Stein. The band released a self-titled, 16-track alternative rock album featuring tracks like “Jesus,” “Mother Trucker,” and “Rocket & A Bomb”. Though championed as the “next big thing,” the album suffered due to label disputes and was largely overlooked at the time, later becoming a cult favourite. The band later released an EP titled Off the Record. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
The album starts with the song “Jesus”, which no doubt alienated him from the popular music market. His music also alienated him from the Christian market because of his honest approach to touchy topics and the occasional “shit” in the lyrics. I can relate. I got my fingers slapped at a Christian church for playing the intro to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”-no lyrics, just the intro. It was OK to play a clip of the Iron Man movie, but not the song.
Michael Knott was not afraid of taking on touchy topics like addiction, sex, and hypocrisy.
Knott’s songwriting appealed to many people, particularly those who could admit their flaws and appreciated the honesty with which he confronted his own shortcomings. A lot of his music was biographical and spoke to the issues he struggled with, such as addiction, and the people he encountered on the streets where he lived. Real people. I probably relate to much of Michael Knotts’ music because addiction and life on the streets have been a huge part of my life story.
Getting back to the song “Jesus”, I couldn’t help but see a parallel here with the song “Mercedes Benz” written by the American singer Janis Joplin with Bob Neuwirth and the poet Michael McClure.
Michael Knott:
Jesus
Won’t you help me find my way?
Won’t you send me some money in the mail?
Janis Joplin:
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Michael Knott:
Jesus
Won’t you let me drink one more?
It helps me to ignore how much I’ve failed.
Janis Joplin:
Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
I’m counting on you, Lord, please don’t let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round
The song “Mercedes Benz” was recorded in 1970; “Jesus” was recorded in 1996; there are similarities, but they are not the same. I don’t think this is a Jimmy Page moment.
Michael Knott goes on to sing a long litany of things that he is getting.
I’m getting sick, getting ill, getting tired, getting fired
I’m getting killed, getting chilled, getting crazy, I’m getting lazy
I’m getting screwed, I’m getting used, I’m getting kicked, I’m getting tricked
What a way to start an album. I am sure there were some people who never got past the title and wrote it off as a soppy Christian song. The lyrics might shock some because they don’t align with the white Christian evangelical movement. Perhaps they didn’t think Jesus would show up in the places and people that Michael Knott sings about.
“A man after God’s own heart is not welcome in the Christian industry,” he said, laughing, in a 1998 interview. “I think that the fault belongs to American Christianity — it is cultural. Everyone runs away from drinking and smoking, experiencing and living life, and they end up being extremely disturbed and they lose all their faith and have no hope in the end.”
Mike Knott told an interviewer that “Jesus”
“gets violent at times, but that’s what life is like. The song is not anti-religious. I believe in God, but my life has gotten screwed up somehow, and no matter what I believe, this is how it I feel.”
The song closes with a refrain that will no doubt ring true to anyone who has struggled with addiction.
“I’m getting out, getting out, getting out, getting out
I’m getting out, I’m getting out, I’m getting out, I’m getting out
I’m getting out, I’m getting out, I’m getting out, I’m getting out.”
Telling other people not to worry about me because I’m getting out, I’m gettin’ out startin’ Monday.
https://music.youtube.com/search?q=startin%27+monday
The next song, “Mother Trucker,” is directed at church culture.
“Can I make all your insecure decisions?
And can I steal all your cash for my religion?
And can I tell you what to think and how?”
Next up is Star Baby. In Michael Knott’s own words
The true story behind “Star Baby” is pretty much as it appears in the lyrics: A beautiful woman came into Mike Knott’s bar in Hollywood, announced that she was the product of a sexual relationship between her (human) mother and a Martian, and then told him that she’d been commanded to kill a rock and roll singer. As Knott says, “of course, everyone in the band pointed at me.”
The song “Feel” is a wild ride, in which the singer is a man whose wife has become a lesbian and who wants to stay with her badly enough to get a sex-change operation. Wow, I bet this song went over well in the Bible Study group.
And now we come to the song that kept my finger on repeat for the last month, Rocket and a Bomb. It is not “A”Rocket and a Bomb; it is just Rocket and a Bomb. I love this song.
“Rocket And A Bomb.”
[Chorus]
All I ever wanted
Was a good job, some bus fare
A rocket and a bomb, uh huh
Yeah
[Verse 1]
Had a dream I’d be all right
Had a nightmare I’d be cracking
Up this ‘caine
I lit your vision for a time
‘Til it snapped my spine
And bled me from your vein
[Pre-Chorus]
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing you away
[Chorus]
All I ever wanted
Was a good job, some bus fare
A rocket and a bomb, uh huh
Yeah
[Verse 2]
It’s not your fault I made you ill
From this open sore that spills
Pus in your name
I tried to fix on what I feel
Beg another meal
And shame your pride again
[Pre-Chorus]
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing you away
[Pre-Chorus]
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing
It keeps pushing you away
[Chorus]
All I ever wanted
Was a good job, some bus fare
A rocket and a bomb, uh huh
All I ever wanted
Was a good job, some bus fare
A rocket and a bomb, uh huh
Yeah
[Coda]
Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit.
The singer starts by telling us what he wants, simple desires that could apply to many of us. “All I ever wanted was a good job, some bus fare.” They show the singer’s plea for creature comforts, financial security, and the ability to just get by in a stressful society. I can get behind that sentiment because those are wants that I have wanted throughout my working life. I’m retired now, so my wants have altered somewhat. Now I want a comfortable chair, some good music on the turntable, and to watch the fireworks on July 1st. Similar to a rocket and a bomb, not quite as violent though.
In sharp contrast to those reasonable hopes is the chorus line: “And a rocket and a bomb.” This pushes aside societal norms and lashes out in anger and desperation. Unable to fit in, the singer lashes out. This brought to mind the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats. The protagonists in both songs resort to violence when the American Dream of a good job and a house in the suburbs fails to materialize.
Had a dream I’d be all right
Had a nightmare I’d be cracking
Up this ‘caine
I lit your vision for a time
‘Til it snapped my spine
And bled me from your vein
He had a dream that he could be all right. The Great American dream, a two-car garage in the suburbs, 2.4 children, and mow the lawn on Saturday. Martin Luther King also spoke of a great American dream that ended in violence, as the two songs “Rocket and a Bomb” and “I Don’t Like Mondays” did. And a nightmare of crack cocaine that gave him a spark for a time till it broke him and left him bleeding from the needle in his vein.
All he ever wanted was a good job and bus fare. A good job and bus fare. Is that too much to ask for? Unfortunately, that dream all too frequently becomes a nightmare of survival on the streets, begging for the next meal, craving the next fix and a life of emotional torture. A life that “Rocket and a Bomb” spells out for us clearly and concisely.
Michael Knott’s lyrics push boundaries. From the character in the song “Feel” being willing to have a sex change to keep a lover happy to “Addict,” which is about drugs, a recurring theme in Michael Knott’s lyrics. “Speeder Mode” is about a crazy girlfriend he can’t keep up with. “Suicide Sex Doll” is about a veteran’s sexual desires. A wild punk girl with “a great big mouth, a great big lie/there’s a handful of this, a throatful of that, and she gets it done, it’s a bloody mess” is in the song “Little Fighter”. This album is full of characters who populated the bars and alleyways of Orange County, Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip, where Michael was living and making music. These songs are stories about the lives of people he met. These are also songs about his own struggles with addiction and mental health. This album is rough around the edges, but well worth the effort of listening to. AllMusic gave it 2.5/5. I give it 4/5. It has only gotten better over the years and with the many times I have played it. It may move up to 4.5/5 in the near future. Until then, enjoy the music.
A bonus of having physical copies is the artwork that goes with the music. Aunt Bettys have visually strong artwork. Michael Knott was also an avid painter and used that for many of his album covers. Not on this CD, though; the original artwork was by Tim Okamura. It is amazing. Physical copies are available on Discogs and eBay.
Weathered Music 