Oof. How’s your year been? Yeah, I know.

No one in our scholarly communications community has been untouched by the ongoing devastating attacks on libraries, the research enterprise, on academic freedom, and even on the most basic of scientific concepts. Add on top the cultural and environmental damage being done by AI, and this year’s US Thanksgiving holiday doesn’t feel quite right.

But sometimes it’s the little things that get us through the day, and we need to hang onto those basic pleasures as we do the long term work of fixing the damage being wrought. For me lately, I’ve found joy in the 50th anniversary re-release of one of the great artistic achievements of my lifetime, Patti Smith’s Horses. Pre-dating The Ramones eponymous debut album by a year, Horses shows something entirely new being invented, a blend of the high and the low, Rimbaud and Keith Richards, a genderless exploration of art and sound. The new re-release is expansive, including unreleased tracks and demos and is well worth your time. Below find Patti’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, at the height of her early powers, melding her 1970 poem “Oath” with Van Morrison and Them’s garage rock anthem “Gloria” into an irresistible entry into a new world of possibility.

We’re off for the holiday and will return on Monday with new posts, but in the meantime, I hope you too can find solace in something that moves you — feel free to share below in the comments.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is the Executive Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Founded in 1933, CSHL Press is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, and is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public. Previously, David was a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion

5 Thoughts on "Reasons To Be Thankful: 50 Years of Patti Smith’s Horses"

After a challenging day last week, I got in the car and drove to the coast while belting out “Gloria” at top volume. Massively improved my mood. I didn’t clock that it was the 50th anniversary! Thanks for sharing.

I was lucky enough to get to interview her in 2003 as a graduate student. I was in awe of her ability to throw herself so fully into every moment. She uses so many forms of media to excite people and to get them thinking. At the time, it seemed radical that she was challenging some of George W. Bush’s acts as tyrannical. It gives me déjà vu.

I saw Patti & her band play the Horses album in Sydney, Australia some years back. The E chord that was struck as the band came in on, “…my sins, my own, they belong to me!” was the finest and most powerful E chord I’ve ever heard in my life. Thanks for posting!

Thank you for this! I went to the Philly show this past Saturday, the last stop of Patti’s 50th Anniversary of the Horses Album Tour, this past weekend, and it was an inspiration in so many ways! The Arts feed us in these trying times.

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