Description
Rocket and a Bomb is a solo album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Knott of Lifesavers Underground fame, released on Brainstorm Artists International in 1994, distributed by Word. The album was produced by Michael Knott and Gene Eugene of Adam Again fame. Rocket and a Bomb is a Nashville Skyline-esque collection of mid-tempo stories and songs and is Knott’s first predominately acoustic record. The subjects of these songs are based on real people that Knott knew while living in a run-down apartment complex in Hollywood.
‘Rocket’ is an excerpt from Knott’s audio journal of the time spent sharing a seedy Hollywood apartment with L.S.U. guitarist Brian Doidge. Although Knott’s lyrics can sometimes be a bit obtuse, there’s always a directon in which he points you. This time, the “succeed at any cost” attitude of Hollywood become a metaphor for the challenge facing the church in reaching those in the “fast lane” who don’t wish to get off. Also, for artists thought of by many as “fringe”, Michael and Brian seem positively normal compared to the characters who pass through their lives on ‘Rocket’. For instance, there’s «Jan the Weatherman», who lived across the hall from the pair “in an old beer can” and frequently dropped by their apartment with “a stick and a pan” because he wanted to play drums in Mike’s group; «John Barrymore Jr.» (progeny of the film legend) has “sixteen cats and a dog drinking beer from a bowl,” wore “golf shoes in the hall with the spikes still inside” and claimed to spank his acting student, James Dean; then there was «Bubbles», a friend who couldn’t escape the cycle of prostitution and drug addiction. Listening to Knott recount how the two tried to make their faith intersect with the real world and the tragic characters they met is like watching a film noir movie. One of Michael’s most compelling discs. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, December 1994]
By the time Rocket and a Bomb was released, people had grown accustomed to Michael Knott’s records often being surprising and frequently even alarming. Few were prepared, however, for the shock that would set in upon hearing the opening bars of «Jan the Weatherman» on Knott’s second solo record and the discovery that Knott had discovered Dylan-esque Americana. In a move that would shape the rest of his career, Knott turned down his amplifier, tuned out his demons, and crafted a record of stories that was both quietly and deeply affecting. Built mostly around Knott’s clean electric guitar and the twinkling organ of Adam Again‘s Gene Eugene, Rocket and a Bomb is collection of 11 tales about the eccentric individuals with whom Knott shared an apartment complex in California. There’s «Bubbles», a despondent drug addict who is abducted and raped on the very night he decides to clean up his life. There’s «Skinny» (aka Steve Hindalong, drummer for The Choir), a smoke-bumming drummer who Knott owes money to. And, most famously, there’s Kitty Courtesy, who may or may not have killed her husband and boiled his remains for dinner. Rather than use these characters as an object for scorn, Knott treats them with genuine respect. Witness the tender treatment he gives «John Barrymore Jr.», a delusional old man convinced he’s the son of acting great John Barrymore. Over a simply acoustic strum, Knott sings of a man so lost in his own fantasy that he clomps around the building in golf shoes and speaks wistfully of “his student,” James Dean. The music throughout is gentle and moody, comprised mostly of acoustic guitars and swooping strings. Knott’s voice has never sounded more tender and fragile, and he imbues each song with genuine care and emotion. It is a testament to the record’s power that Knott would revisit it several times over the course of his career, lifting two songs («Kitty» and the title track) for his wrongheaded record with the Aunt Bettys. He looks inward only once on the record, using the song «Rocket and a Bomb» to assess his career to that point. Where the introspection on Screaming Brittle Siren was merciless and angry, on «Bomb» Knott just sounds sad, singing: “Mr. In and Mrs. In, can you please tell me what’s in?/ What is wrong with me? I’m never in your company.” The song unfolds as a series of questions to anthropomorphized obstacles and trends. Knott saves his most potent query for the final verse, asking, “Mr. God, is there a Mrs. God? Can she help me find a job?” Rocket and a Bomb may not sound as furious as Knott’s early work, but its impact is easily as powerful. [J. Edward Keyes, AMG]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/rocket-and-a-bomb/686603398)
CD tracklist:
01. Jan the Weatherman – 3:06
02. Jail – 3:44
03. Make Me Feel Good – 5:12
04. Serious – 4:07
05. John Barrymore Jr. – 2:30
06. Train – 5:28
07. Bubbles – 4:17
08. Kitty – 3:43
09. Adrian – 4:07
10. Skinny Skins – 4:31
11. Rocket and a Bomb – 5:06
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Brainstorm. Re-issued by Lo-Fidelity Records in 2026, remastered by Chris Colbert for both CD and vinyl (pressed on Black, Red Marble, Grey Marble, and Yellow Marble vinyl).
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