The best part of rock music is the incredible diversity, the oh-so-many different subgenres that fall within the category, from punk to emo to jam to pop. This week’s Grousing The Aisles features some incredible rock and/or roll bands from the past 30 years, each with its own unique style.

We’ll begin with some oldies, with punk rockers The Clash representing the ’70s and ’80s, and The Lemonheads bringing us the ’90s power pop. The other two entries are from seemingly always-on-the-road jammers RAQ and Outformation. When Bill Haley first sang Rock Around The Clock in 1954, I don’t think he realized how diverse the genre would become over the next five decades.

RAQ 02/08/07 DAUD (FLAC, MP3, STREAM):

It has been a few months since we’ve checked in on Burlington’s RAQ. The band has been out on an ambitious three-month tour that criss crosses the country, hitting 42 cities. Cleveland was the first city RAQ swept through, and unlike another Vermont quartet, this band sounded tight and heavily practiced.

The Grog Shop show featured here opens with the beginning of Carbohydrates Are The Enemy before segueing into Forget Me Not, a rockin’ little ditty that would surely have hit the top of the charts in the mid-1970s. Towards the end of the first set the band works its way back into the ending of Carbohydrates Are The Enemy — and I must say that the second segment of Carbs could be my favorite part of a RAQ song. Guitarist Chris Michetti lays down a fierce solo reminicent of Frank Zappa tearing through the middle of Inca Roads.

Other highlights from this hot RAQ show include the way the band weaves Bootch Magoo in and out of various songs throughout the second set and a ripping cover of ZZ Top’s I’m Bad I’m Nationwide. RAQ does a great job of presenting a bunch of different sounds throughout their show, always keeping it interesting.

My biggest issue with them is the lack of soundboard recordings. While I’m sure the taper (Jesse Scott) worked his ass off to pull a good tape whenever the music mellows out, all you can hear are people yapping away. Why don’t people shut the fuck up when a band is playing? Now that we’ve heard what the band sounds like at the beginning of the tour, we will check in with them in April to see what they sound like after a few months on the road. Until then…

Read on for the rest of this week’s edition of Grousing The Aisles…

The Clash On TV (DVD):

The Clash were a monumentally important band that bridged the gap between punk and pop before leading the transition to new wave. This video compilation features 33 tracks spanning from 1979 through the band’s performance at the US Festival in 1983. The quality on all of these clips are amazing, and it is quite a trip to see the band on some old television shows I had forgotten about.

Disc One features The Clash on British television, while the second disc presents many of the band’s American televison appearances. My favorite performances occur at the end of each DVD in the set. Clash City Rockers, Somebody Got Murdered, London Calling, and Safe European Home that end the first DVD from Ohne Maulkorbe in Vienna are played with the fierce passion of a band on the rise.

The footage from the US Festival that ends the second disc shows a band at the peak of their career. In fact, that show was Mick Jones’ last gig with The Clash. Some sources say The Clash only agreed to come on stage that night after festival promoter (and Apple Computers co-founder) Steve Wozniak agreed to pony up more money for the band, while others say The Clash wanted Woz to donate more money to charity.

Outformation 02/08/07 DAUD (FLAC, MP3, STREAM):

Sam Holt spent seven years as Michael Houser’s (Widespread Panic) guitar tech. Upon Houser’s untimely death in 2002, Holt decided to strike out on his own and formed Outformation. I’d heard a ton about this band, both good and bad, so I finally decided to check out a recording for myself.

One of the things that struck me immediately upon listening to this show from Philadelphia is how similar Holt’s tone is to his former employer. I can understand the criticisms I’ve heard about this band being Panic-Lite, but I kinda dug the similarities — Houser had such a unique “I’m going to play a bunch of different not-connected lead lines and see how it turns out” style to his playing. And Holt and Outformation don’t run from their close association with Widespread Panic, going so far as to cover the instrumental A of D towards the end of this show.

Houser was also a terrific (and extremely underrated) songwriter, something that is going to take Holt et al sometime to achieve. Outformation also needs to work on their vocals. The band is at its best when Holt is given room to solo and no one is singing. All in all, I enjoyed this show and look forward to catching the band live.

The Lemonheads 06/24/93 and 07/04/94 SBD (320kbps MP3):

The Lemonheads were my favorite band the year before I found Phish. There really aren’t any striking similarities between the music of the two bands, so I’m not sure how I transformed from power pop to jamtastic so quickly. But I did.

Evan Dando, the leader of The Lemonheads, is a rare singer/songwriter type that knows his way around a distortion pedal. Over the 20 years since the band formed in Boston, The Lemonheads music has gone through numerous changes. The mid ’90s brought a poppy element to the ‘Heads music, which had previously relied on punk rhythms and changes.

It’s A Shame About Ray and Come On (Feel The Lemonheads) show the music of this band at its best: catchy pop tunes with a rock sensibility combined with lyrics that hinted at a darkness behind the light. The two shows featured here focus on that material. Many songs are repeated between the two shows, but the way Dando and company performed the songs, they were always unique and different from night to night. Hey look at that: I guess I figured out the connection between the Lemonheads and Phish.

For tracklists, source information, and lossless files, feel free to check out the original torrents on Dimeadozen.

So what have you been listening to this week? Anything new and exciting? Please let us know by leaving a comment below…