Maybe you never knew that Bob Seger made a punk record. If you didn't know, it's not your fault; neither music history nor Seger himself has seemed interested in the secret revelation of a dynamic, furious 1968 record called "2 + 2 = ?"
It's a difficult dichotomy to reconcile. Seger's mass-market reputation is built largely upon a series of popular mid-tempo heartland ballads and MOR rockers, beloved by many, despised by others. They are soundtracks for truck commercials, banal and inoffensive radio fare with the bland personality of margarine.
Even as I type that, I really don't mean any disrespect to those who love "Like A Rock" or "Against The Wind" or even--shudder--"We've Got Tonight" and "Old Time Rock & Roll." Nor to margarine. There are no guilty pleasures in pop music. If you like something, a guy writing dismissively about your familiar favorites is unlikely to alter your tastes, nor should it. We say again: Dig what you dig. Just, y'know, forgive me for cringing when I hear any of that stuff. I have to dig what I wanna dig, too.
The contrast in styles makes Seger's earlier work all the more remarkable to me. I knew Seger's fabulous Chuck Berry pastiche "Get Out Of Denver" via '70s covers by Eddie and the Hot Rods on record and the Flashcubes live, both incendiary performances that were not departures from Seger's own fine original rendition. Much later, I rejected Bob Seger and the Last Heard's 1967 track "Heavy Music" as "a stupid song about sex"--which it is--but ultimately grew to appreciate its own sweaty, boppin' merit.
True revelation came via a deeper dive into Seger's '60s and early '70s c.v. Although it's been said that Seger didn't want that hard-to-find material reissued, my friend Rich Firestone thought I should at least hear it and judge its rockin' worth. A little bit of it was, like, wretched--"Ballad Of The Yellow Beret?" Really?--while a lot of it was...was....
Goddammit. A lot of it was magnificent.
It's galling to admit you've been wrong. In this case, I comfort myself with a reminder that I still loathe the songs that made me critical of Seger's work to begin with, and (more importantly) that it's good to discover a redemptive portion of an artist's body of work. Seger's supposed to be a good guy; I'm happy to find concrete evidence that he made some records that I can love without reservation. Some of this has since been reissued on a 2018 collection called Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967. All of it remains relatively obscure.
"Get Out Of Denver" had been far and away my favorite Seger record. This fresh treasure trove of archival nuggets introduced me to new favorites, recorded and originally released under the names Bob Seger and the Last Heard, the Bob Seger System, and Bob Seger solo. "Noah." "Rosalie." "Lucifer." Renewed spins of the still-great "Get Out Of Denver" and the now-welcome "Heavy Music (Part 1)." Rockin', man. And there was the immense, monumental "East Side Story," a triumphant appropriation of Van Morrison's "Gloria" riff in service of a tenement tragedy that was absolutely The Greatest Record Ever Made for the approximately two and a half minutes of my first spin of its cantankerous glory.
"2 + 2 = ?" is even greater.
We talked a while back about Nuggets, Lenny Kaye's groundbreaking 1972 celebration of 1960s garage, punk, and psychedelic rockin' pop. Nuggets spawned imitations, expansions, and an accepted understanding of its guiding DIY philosophy. It's no exaggeration to call Nuggets the most influential various-artists rock compilation ever released. It established a recognized aesthetic of '60s garage punk, penciled in some broad parameters for discussion, and elevated critical appreciation of previously-undervalued acts like the Standells, the Chocolate Watchband, and the Electric Prunes.
Listen to me: Not only would "2 + 2 = ?" by the Bob Seger System have fit in perfectly on the original Nuggets, it would have been one of its single most striking cuts. As you consider that, consider also that Nuggets already includes some tracks discussed elsewhere in this very book, and some others (by the Remains, the Nazz, the Electric Prunes, Castaways, and more) that could have been. The surly brilliance of Seger's "2 + 2 = ?" is of that same transcendent proto-punk ilk.
The Greatest Record Ever Made. By Bob Seger. The mind bogglewoggles.
How did this happen? How could the Bob Seger of the horrid peacenik-baiting diatribe "Ballad Of The Yellow Beret" also be responsible for the gooseflesh-raising intensity of the antiwar "2 + 2 = ?" And how did that guy go on to produce such mundane background noise to such numbingly popular effect? Seger's large. He contains multitudes.
But the multitudes need to hear "2 + 2 = ?" It's at least as savage as the Sex Pistols, as angry as the Clash, as explosive as the Stooges or the MC5. Never mind the bollocks, here's Bob Seger. Seger is a punk rocker.
(And just in case you wonder, the title is pronounced "two plus two equals what." As in your likely answer when you hear it for the first time: WHAT...?!)
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
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