This is starting to become an annual tradition, isn't it?
I mean, it's Christmas Eve, and here I am with the œ on my clipboard again.
La Voix is the French Canadian version of The Voice, a singing competition show I'm sure most of you have heard of. These were the four judges in the 2020 version of the show - right around the beginning of the pandemic. Do you remember the pandemic?
(I'm writing this in 2021. I really hope the pandemic is something we are remembering and not still living) (2023 update: yes)
This song was released in late 2019, ahead of the 2020 season as something of an announcement. It is, of course, a cover of a John Lennon classic.
Let's talk about Grease. An adaptation of a stage musical of the same name, it starred Olvia Newton-John and John Travolta. The soundtrack was the second biggest selling album of 1978 - second only to the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever.
By the way, both movies were definitely in theaters at the same time, because I remember going to see Grease in 1979 with my mother and literal one-month old sister and seeing posters for both.
Written by longtime ONJ collaborator John Farrar, this song did not appear in the original stage musical (the movie, to be fair, took several liberties with the source material), but was accepted into the movie immediately. It ended up being one of Olivia's biggest hits, reaching #3 on the Billboard charts and earning Farrar an Academy Award nomination (he also earned a Golden Globe nom for a different original song for the movie, "You're The One That I Want").
Because it was an Academy Award nominated song, Olivia performed the song at the 1979 Oscar ceremony. The backing was by the Oscar ceremony orchestra - and, if it's possible, she sang it bigger on that stage.
Olivia performed this song at least through 2017, as it was one of her favorites (mine, too). Here is one of her last performances (she retired from live performance soon after, and passed in 2022).
In 1978, the Bee Gees owned the music world. This song spent eight weeks at #1, on the strength of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album that was, essentially, a Bee Gees album. That soundtrack is the best selling soundtrack of all time, and one of the ten biggest selling albums of ANY kind.
It ended up being the second biggest hit song of 1978, behind their brother Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing", which, well, they wrote. In fact, five of the top ten songs of 1978 were either by the Bee Gees or Andy Gibb and written by the Brothers Gibb. 8
To put that in perspective, Debby Boone's cover of "You Light Up My Life", one of the biggest singles of all time, was the #3 song of 1978. In the moment, "Night Fever" was the bigger hit.
By the way, the movie was originally called Saturday Night, but the band, who hated that as a song title, convinced the director to rename the movie to match THEIR song. It was the right choice. The song began life as something of a disco-based rerecording of Perth Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place", which, now that you know that, you cannot unhear.
I promise I didn't plan a theme week this week. Sometimes, I go where the posts take me.
And this week, they took me to "Pink Venom", the 2022 hit song by BLACKPINK.
Fun fact - this song was BANNED in Korea.... not because it was dirty or anything. No, it's because Lisa rapped about the French brand Celine - which she endorses - and that level of product placement in songs is not allowed in music in Korea.
The song brings direct references to Taylor Swift, Rhianna, and Notorious B.I.G., all of whome are quoted in the lyrics - see if you can find them. It is a confident and bold song that critics have compared to musical anarchy - with shifting musical styles between pop, rock, hip hop and Middle Eastern influence - almost as if each member chose a style and shifted it every time it was their turn to sing.
It works, though. It remains one of the group's biggest hits.
We've mentioned that a live performance in the K-Pop world is more about dance than singing - but these ladies are getting better at the live singing part, too.
Well, AleXa may live in South Korea now, but she was raised in Oklahoma and is an American citizen. She was born in Tulsa. And, when it was announced that a K-Pop star was going to participate in this show, she became the odds-on favorite to win what was essentially American Eurovision.
This was the winning song, and remains her only US chart hit to date, reaching #38 in 2022.
The song is still a fan favorite, even in her adopted home country of South Korea. The focus is on dance performance here - and it matches what she actually did on the NBC show, and not the video above.
To compare, here is her week 1 performance from the show. To be clear, this is the song and performance that won the show for her. And the win was NOT close. She beat Michael Bolton, y'all!
In any language, this is real rock music. Jayoung is a charismatic lead vocalist with a hell of a stage pressence. The entire band is full of talented musicians who know how to play.
Watch at the 0:55 point of the video. It's clear the video director told the band to each individulally give a deep, serious, sultry look to the camera. Iree - the guitarist, who is a damn virtuoso - is way too happy to be there at 1:00. It becomes her song at 1:59, when she goes into what is arguably the sickest guitar solo in Korean music history.
I know there's a tendency to believe that a lot of Korean music is manufactured and built in a studio, with limited reliance on live talent. Yes, sometimes, that's true. It is NOT true with Rolling Quartz. Three things of note in this live performance.
1) It's not perfect. Live performances shouldn't be.
2) Yeonguen's feet are going a mile a minute on those drums.
3) There are actually TWO guitar solos in order. Rhythm guitarist Hyunjung gets a solo, too - and she's pretty damned solid herself.
One of my best friends in high school was a woman named Heather. We don't talk as much as we used to (and in fact, I really should check and see how she's doing because it's been a couple of years), but I still think of our friendship.
A lot of it was rooted in music. Her favorite artist back then was Heart, a group I didn't fully appreciate becuase, well, I first heard them with "What About Love", which wasn't really classic Heart. Because of her, I know now of older Heart.
This song, which peaked at #11 on the pop charts, was from Heart's 3rd album, Little Queen, and was written by the band. The song was produced by Mike Flicker, who is best known for his work with Heart. It also happens to be one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Heart is still together, a half century after they started - with the Wilson sisters as the only original members. In 2013, the whole band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and played with a band that included other Seattle legends, like Chris Cornell (who gave the induction speech) and Jerry Cantrell. This was the first time in three decades that the original lineup was all together on one stage.
This song is being posted not because it is one of my favorite Madonna songs.
I mean, it is. Absolutely. Co-written by Madonna and Mirwais, it is a minimalist masterpiece. Released in 2003, it was a bigger hit outside of the US than inside - but it was a minor hit here, too.... and a huge club hit. It was her first single in 20 years to NOT make the Billboard Hot 100, though.
It's not because the video is iconic.
I mean, it is. Madonna being Madonna all throughout this video makes this an even larger experience.
It's not because Madonna is a WGP Hall of Famer
She's likely to be our next inductee. Let's be honest.
No, no, there's another reason.
Before we get to that reason, let's hear "Hollywood" live.
Oh, wait. Maybe "Hollywood" was part of an infamous VMAs performance in 2003 when Madonna famously kissed both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on the mouth.... literally right as they finish the song.
Wow, did we have the debate behind the scenes where to put this worldwide hit song.
There is ABSOLUTELY no doubt that this song leans very heavily on the Fatboy Slim hit "Praise You". The question is, does it cross the threshold of being a cover.
Well, Rita Ora is credited as a songwriter here - and adds a LOT of lyrics. That's why it's here and not there. Absolutely, Norman Cook - who we know better as Fatboy Slim - is also listed as a songwriter, because it leans SO heavily on his song. However, Ora took his creation and made something new and different, that brings a completely different feel and a lot more lyrics.
For reasons we don't understand, Ora made two different videos for this song. We like the first one (directed by her husband, Thor:Ragnarok director Taika Waititi) better (because it pays homage to the "Praise You" video), but the second (directed by Joseph Kahn) is also pretty entertaining.
Lest you think Fatboy Slim isn't on board, here they are together performing THIS song at the Glastonbury Festival.
I wasn't initially a fan of Green Day. I'm not really sure why - they don't make bad music.
And, really, this is the first time in my life that I was aware at the time that this was a band that was made up of people my age - or younger. That's right. This hip bastard is an old man now.
This single - which is really two songs released together - changed that for me somewhat. It was minimalist ("Brain Stew", anyway), it was well-crafted, and it was catchy. It was also an alternative radio hit, like most of their singles before this one - in fact, this seems like LESS of a hit than their others. It wasn't, really - it just seemed that way at the time.
Anyway, "Brain Stew" remains to this day my favorite Green Day song, and you can't truly appreciate it until you also listen to it with "Jaded".
You know this is a live favorite. Just listen to the crowd. They know the words.
Green Day is one of those bands that formed in the late 1980s and never, ever broke up. They're still back in the club they performed at in Berkeley, CA in the late 1980s - still bringing that energy now.
It's hard to believe that this song is nearly 30 years old. The song came from Mark Griffin's - that's his real name - 3rd album, Looney Toons.One Step Ahead of the Spider. His first two albums were dark, and this one was bright and cheery.... and self-effacing.
At any rate, this ended up being the biggest hit of his career. This charming song about being stupid reached #25 on the Modern Rock charts.
I will always remember this song from this clip from Beavis and Butthead, where Beavis annoyed the living hell out of Butthead.
MC 900 Ft. Jesus is a classically trained musician, which shines through in this clip from MTV's 120 Minutes. That is what that is, right?
You may have never heard of Danielle Dax. That's a damn shame and I am going to remedy that situation now. She's been sitting in my drafts for so long, it was time to do that.
Dax was previously in a band called the Lemon Kittens, and went solo in the early 1980s. She self-released a few albums, and finally got a US record deal in 1988. She released the album Dark Adapted Eye in 1988, which was mostly a repackaging of her 1987 album Inky Bloaters. "Cat House" has only previously appeared on a compilation album, so it was a new single....
....and it ended up being a club hit. Dax's combination of dance sensibilities and Middle Eastern inspired beats made for a unique sound.
Dax went into musical retirement in 1995 and became a renowned interior designer. She returned to performing in 2017, sporatically. We hope to see her live soon.
I really really want to put an apostrophe at the end of Fetchin' but the band leaves it off.
This song was the lead single from the band's 1989 album, Monster. Produced by the great Ed Stasium - the only one of their four not produced by Don Dixon - the North Carolina band heard a lot of "sell-out" talk upon its release... which likely broke up the band, because it wasn't a successful sellout if that's what happened.
This was the song that got me into Fetchin Bones. I think it's a great song and a good album. That's why this song made it into my drafts.
The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame agrees, and the band was inducted into the Hall last month! Congrataulations, guys!!!!
You see, Charlotte Cardin is Canadian. Specifically, she's from Montreal - and sings in both English and French. It's been such a big year for Cardin, though, that it wasn't necessary to wait.
You see, her critically acclaimed 2nd album, 99 Nights, was released in August. It was a hit in the French-speaking world but really should be a hit wider, because Charlotte Cardin is one of the best pop singers on the planet at the moment.
Now, normally, that would be enough of an achievement for an artist. Release an album, go on tour. Not for Charlotte Cardin. She followed this up with an EP in September that was ALSO a hit (admittedly centered around a French version of her hit single "Confetti"). This song is from that EP and it is a pop delight, even though it's mostly in French.
Anyway, this song has been sitting in our drafts for a couple of months, and today seemed like the right day. Enjoy it.
It's a new song, so she has not performed it live, and our loyal YouTube listeners have not gotten a great reording of the song live - despite several stops on a US tour. However, she also performed it live in studio for Basique, on French television.
It sounds a LOT like the studio recording.
OK, OK, fine. Here's a pretty poor recording of the song performed live in Philadelphia. You can see the energy she brings to the song. She goes into another song - "Main Girl", which was her first hit - afterwards.
On Friday, I gave you my oldest draft. Today, I give you my newest, and it started as a meme,
You might have heard about Adriano Celentano, the Italian artist who wrote a song that was complete gibberish but supposed to sound like American English, and whose absolutely bonkers song was an Italian hit.
I had to know if this was true.
It was.
Yep. Celentano and his wife really did this, not to make fun of American English, but to show communication barriers - but also, to show that "ol rait" was a universal sound.
The lyrics do NOT say "all right." They say "ol rait".
Celentano wrote the song over top of a bunch of looped drum beats in the studio and added bass guitar - and not the acoustic guitar he's playing here - and horns. Despite making ABSOLUTELY no sense, it's a remarkably catchy song.
But how the hell do you perform such a dense song live?
In 2012, Celentano did just that, with what looks like a full orchestra. Also, he would have been 74 when he performed this, and he's amazingly spry.
Those of you familiar with the TV show Ted Lasso may think this song sounds familliar.
It is. Season 3, Episode 3, over a montage of Zava.
The song was also part of an
elaborate prank on Italian TV at Will Smith's expense. No word on whether or not he smacked the host and said anything about keeping his wife's name out of anyone's mouth.
In 2016, Celentano rerecorded the song, with additional vocals from Italian star Mina and beats from Benny Benassi. It's got a different feel, but it's clearly the same song.
This was not the first time he had done this. In the 90s he gave his song new lyrics and turned it into the hip hop parody he didn't know he had written in 1972.
Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of drafts here. There are literally hundreds of songs in my queue - and there are a few artists that are heavily represented in that queue and will be future Hall of Fame choices, probably.
I did decide, however, that this December would be one to remember, and I would highlight some of my very oldest drafts - ones that I have been sitting on for a good long time. My very OLDEST draft was this song from 1990, this breakthrough modern rock hit by The Sundays. Written by David Gavurin and Harriet Wheeler (members of the band, the latter the vocalist), it is a fun and sweet jangle-pop breakup song.
The irony is, it wasn't released as a single in their native UK, as their UK label, Rough Trade, suffered an epic business collapse soon after the release of the album and went into recievership.
When I think of the Pogues, I think back to my days at St. Bonaventure University. I ran in many different circles of friends there, each of whom frequented a different bar. The Pogues are a band that remind me of Hickey Tavern, in Allegany, NY - the smaller of the two towns that bordered St. Bonaventure, which was not legally in Olean, either.
I don't really have a particular reason why I associate the Pogues with the Hickey, but I do.
I do know that there was one friend I have, who passed away several years ago, to whom a lot of our mutual friends will dedicate the first play of the season of "Fairytale of New York". That friend was Jonathan Fabian.
Jon was a really kind soul, who I got to be a better friend to after the days of SBU and as Facebook came to be. He announced the deaths of celebrities with "*celebrity* is dead. Long live *celebrity"!" So, when I heard of Shane McGowan's passing, there was only one thing to say.
"Shane McGowan is dead. Long live Shane McGowan!"
Well, since Scott posted "Fairytale" 11 years ago, I felt this was an appropriate song for today. McGowan will be missed by those he touched, as is our friend by those he touched.
So, yesterday, Spotify released their Spotify Wrapped 2023 to all its loyal subscribers, which shows you what you listened to in 2023. My top song didn't surprise me - I listened to "Sugar Water" like it was going out of style.
My top artist sure did.
A woman not really known for music so much as being that Asian foul-mouthed comedian woman from Queens, Awkwafina, the stage name for Nora Lum, was my top played artist on Spotify in 2023.
Anyway, she DOES have more than the one song. She released an entire album, and even made some videos, mocking how poor she was - a recuring theme from her music. This doesn't really apply to her life anymore, as she is a successful actress with a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Vag... er, Actress. It DOES speak to her modest upbrinigng... and love of cannabis.
I'm really late getting one out today because of Spotify Wrapped. Wow, that's a lot of fun and I'm happy to say that 4 of the top 5 songs were featured in this blog this year.
I don't want you think I'm going to shut down anytime soon, so let's keep the music going with one of the few Rihanna songs I find bearable.
This link on this should have been www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts
It was addressed during the TV show The Office, but Creed Bratton was playing a fictionalized version of himself on the show. You see, he used to be in a band called the Grass Roots, and is a legitimate musician. The SAG Award-winning actor also has albums, both solo and with The Grass Roots.
There's a podcast, called Office Ladies, which is hosted by Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (Angela), who are also best friends in real life (and wrote a book together). The theme song, if you listen to the end of each episode, is a song called "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton. I always figured it was because they were supporting their good friend - and Creed has been a guest on their podcast.
But it's more than that. You see, Creed performed this song with The Scrantones - who are best known for their big hit "The Theme Song to the Office (U.S.)" and their appearance on the episode titled "Booze Cruise" - at the wrap party for The Office. Here is that performance.
Here is Creed performing the song live with special guest Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) on the banjo. It's a sweet little song.
We're back with a lesser-known song by singer-songwriter Daniel Moore. Released in 1973, there;s a reason why I call this huge hit song "lesser-known." You seen the song went to #3 on the pop charts in 1973, and everyone was singing about this mythical place, supposedly in Peru.
This was not the version that made it to #3. It's still a pretty good version, though. The version that DID was covered very quickly after this release by Three Dog Night.
If you know the Three Dog Night version (and you should - it's on Totally Covered today) you can hear a slight difference. This version rhymes the title with "Ham Bala", and not "Prom Bala", as the Three Dog Night version does.
Still, it's good. Here is Moore with JJ Cale live in 1993.
This song, Evanescence's third top ten hit in the US (and three years after their 2nd), was co-written by Amy Lee and Terry Balsamo - who started off working on very different songs musically. They played what they were working on and decided to merge the songs.
What emerged was arguably their most heartfelt single, with both the heavy sound that was the band's hallmark and very emotional lyrics. The lyrics were clearly written by Lee, and were very clearly about her ex-boyfriend, Shaun Morgan of the band Seether - who didn't really appreciate a song that painted him under the influence of an addiction as a bad guy.
I have to be honest - I was not a fan of Evanescence's 2003 debut, despite recognizing Amy Lee's huge voice. Their 2006 album changed things for me. It was simply better, more mature.
This live performance form 2007, which starts with a quiet Lee on piano and ends with her whippin' her hair back and forth mid-stage, really showcases the power of the entire band - the ability to do the quiet and the loud, and that''s probably one of the things I like te most about this song.
Fast forward to 2021 - the band is still rocking hard, although Amy Lee is whipping her hair less. The performance is largely identical, fifteen years after the initial single release.
This song is a noteworthy exception. Written by Pete Townsend, it was originally meant to be part of a rock opera follow up to Tommy. It's a beautiful song, and it was a top 40 hit in the US in 1971. Was it their biggest hit? No. It is, however, one of their best known songs today.
The Who are, believe it or not, still together, and still perform one of their fans' favorites. Here they are from 2022.
One day, David Bowie decided he didn't want to play alone anymore, so he put together a band. It was a supergroup, too - with Reeves Gabrels, Tony and Hunt Sales - these were guys with illustrious resumes.
This was their first single, from their 1989 eponymous debut, and their biggest hit. They would stay together for two albums and a live set, before disbanding for good in the early 1990s.
The music they made was noisy, and fuzzy, and energetic, the sound bordering on punk with obvious post-punk influence.
Bowie, who wrote the song, is pretty clear in this live version what his song is about - racism. I wonder if he'd think his song still applies today (hint: yes)?
This one is stuck in my head, and it was one of my favorite AiC songs when it was released, so I thought, hey, why not write a post that's all about it?
The song is kind of a slow burn of anger. Written entirely by Layne Staley, the song is about a guy who is angry and has been for a while.... and has come to accept it. It's brilliant, and showcases Staley's talents beautifully.
Pat Benatar made her debut in 1979 - a hard rocking solo woman act who debuted just as music videos were taking off.
This was her second single, and the first of hers to hit the pop charts - reaching the top 30 in early 1980, while also sticking around for more than four months. Is it her most recognizable song? No, of course not. But without "Heartbreaker", a great, hard-rocking song that also hit it big on rock radio - we might not have all the rest of the Pat Benatar early catalog that helped launch MTV.
You know I always love to put a live nugget into these posts. I felt the duet Benatar did with the country version of Pat Benatar - Martina McBride - was a good choice.
No word if the country fans watching became apoplectic, but the fans in the audience loved it.
This song - a song of a lonely person looking in envy at those in love around her - was a massive hit in France in 1962 and 1963 - where it spent 15 weeks at number 1..... strangely non-consecutively, as it kept coming back to the top spot four times.
What's really noteworthy about this isn't Hardy, who was and is a French icon. I mean, she is - she was a leader of the yé-yé wave of music in France in the 1960s, and was a fashion icon as well. No, what's noteworthy is that Jimmy Page - THAT Jimmy Page - was a session muscian on this song.
What's more noteworthy is that the song is absolutely beautiful and you know what the subject is wihtout being told, or knowing French.
After its success throughout Europe, Hardy rerecorded the song in several languages. I personally think it translates well to English. Titled "Find Me A Boy" in English, it's still the same theme, in an easier to understand language for English speakers.
The German version - "Peter und Lou" - tells a similar story, and brings a beauty that you don't normally see in German singing. The song didn't do AS well in Germany, but was still a top 20 hit.
In Italian, the song is "Quelli della mia età:, which literally translates to "Those my age." Again, same themes, different language, top 5 hit.
The Cure are a British band, but this song was only released as a single in the States. It was most noteworthy for what came next.
Written by the band, the lyrics describe a night on what appears to be Bourbon Street in New Orleans, which is probably why it was a US-only single. It opens with an extended instumental opening, which was shortened for the radio edit.
The song hit #46 on the US pop charts, but was followed by their massive "Lovesong".
You see, Malcolm McLaren was a manager to a lot of punk and post-punk bands, like the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow. It was the latter that brought him to New York City in the 1980s, where he went to an outdoor block party by Aftrika Bambaataa. There, he discovered hip hop and scratching.
So he, Trevor Horn, and Anne Dudley got together, wrote a song that replaced guitars with scratching, got a whole bunch of then-unknown DJs and MCs to perform on it, and made a hip hop classic.
In 1998, McLaren rereleased the song as part of a larger record that featured songs based on and interpolated from "Buffalo Gals". Our favorite reimagination of the song was by Rakim.
The Go-Go's were rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. This was the pinacle of their career, and they wrapped up their time as a band in 2022 - if Belinda Carlisle is to be believed. They've broken up before, though, so we'll see.
At any rate, let's feature the band's last Top 20 hit - from 1984 - and the song Jane Wiedlin calls her "favorite Go-Go's song." Written by Charlotte Caffey (the only one without a short haircut in this video) and Kathy Valentine (the bassist - who wrote herself a somewhat iconic solo), the song is pop-rock perfection.
In this 2001 performnace at Central Park, we get to see the problem with Go-Go's live performances - the camera is almost never on Gina Schock..... but when it is, you can see she's a bad-ass drummer.
I'm never really sure if anyone reads any of this anymore - because Google has changed how they measure stuff. On some metrics, it looks like people definitely read this. Using others, it's clear they do not.
Anyway, that doesn't mean I'll stop shouting into the void. Here's an early 1990s dance hit. This song is widely considered a classic, but it really started when a couple of DJs - Super DJ Dmitry and Jungle DJ Towa Tei - got together with a vocalist who went by Lady Miss Kier and formed a wild collective.
Their first single off their first album was a huge hit and is widely considered a classic.
For a while about a decade and a half ago, this song somehow popped into my consciousness. I'm not entirely sure why - despite my Spanish language studies, I don't usually listen to radio that isn't English-language based. I don't watch much Univision or Telemundo.
And I certainly don't watch telenovelas, and since this is a band that got its start ON a telenovela, on the Televisa network in Mexico, I have absolutely no idea.
And yet this 2006 single is so damn catchy even the most fervent gringos will be singing along. A song about unrequited love, you don't need to speak the language to understand the emotion.
The song DID end up making the Billboard Hot 100 (read: English-language charts) on its strength in markets with large Spanish-speaking populations.It was, of course, a top Latin radio hit.
Like I said, I studied Spanish.... so when I hear the Portguese version they also released in 1996, it kind of messes with me a little. It enjoyed some success in Brazil.
RBD (short for "Rebelde") broke up for a bit, but they are back together and touring. This version was recorded a month ago in SC. They still sound great and the crowd loves them.
Today is Election Day in the United States. Suzanne Vega's song from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack perfectly reflects a widely held political philosophy not held by either of the two major parties.
Seriously, this was one of Suzanne Vega's first hits, reaching charts overseas but not in the US. The piano in the background is brought to you courtesy of Joe Jackson.
Every day, it gets harder and harder to come up with new material for this blog.
Thank God we have a lot of pop culture to digest. Take the Season 9 episode of the popular NBC sitcom The Office - titled "The Farm" - where the Schrute family siblings inherit a farm. In one poignant scene, they perform a song together as a family.
So that got me thinking - is this some sort of traditional folk song I should know?
It was not. It was the 2006 song "Sons and Daughters" by The Decembrists, closing their fourth album, The Crane Wife. It is a live favorite. Which really shouldn't be a surprise - it's a beautiful song and it was on The Office.
The song may not have been a traditional folk song, but it sure as hell is now. The Decembrists are still bringing folk music to new and great places, and, all these years later, the Portand, Oregon band is still blazing new trails.
That doesn't mean audiences don't want to hear this song, though.....
fIREHOSE, which grew out of the ashes of The Minutemen after d.boon's tragic death, was never a huge band commercially, but they made a lot of great music. This song, from their 3rd album fROMOHIO, was recorded in Ohio, which is where vocalist/guitarist Ed Crawford is from (the rest of the band is famously from San Pedro, California).
The song is something of a love song - a simple, sweet love song. You don't expect that out of fIREHOSE, who are usually all about the boom stick, but here we are.
The band, which helped to bust Mike Watt out a deep depression over the death of his best friend, never really broke up - they just went into mothballs at times while everyone was doing other stuff. In 2012, they toured and of course played this song.
Ed Crawford still looks like he's living his dream.
It's a little known fact that I have a lot of draft posts already written. However, I have many MORE that are completely unwritten except for a video. There exist a subset of those posts that have a date attached to them.
This one was in that subset. It had "2024" attached to it. It was slated for next March.
And I've been staring at this post, at the top of my draft queue, thinking about busting it out early.
Over the past two weeks, I have gotten repeated notifications that Flower Face - real name Ruby McKinnon - is recording the followup to her brilliant 2022 album The Shark In Your Water - released on Nettwork Records, her first experience with a record label
This song, which reminds me slightly of my old Magnus Chord Organ, is beautiful and melancholy and deeply layered. This song, which came out of a long writer's block and a depressed period for the singer/songwriter, makes me think of Mazzy Star, or even a little bit of a Cocteau Twins influence. It's haunting, and fitting for today..
Also, the sharp tone shift at about 1:36 will wake you up.
The Shark In Your Water has made me a pretty big fan of what Flower Face is doing in music, and I find myself listening to her music a lot lately. This is why I uncorked this one for post #1500. It took me more than eight years to get to 1000. It took me a little over two to get to 1500 - and I wanted to feature a great artist I had discovered in that time frame.
So, I guess I need a new Flower Face post for next March.
Anyway, here she is, performing the song live. You can see the emotion she brings to the song a lot more clearly here on her face, even as you hear it in her voice.
Released in 1997, Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean, ex of the Fugees, crafted a laid-back top 10 hit for himself.
More impressive is the video, which features a cameo from Destiny's Child (who provide backing vocals). The best part? Bob Dylan showing up at the very moment he's mentioned in the lyrics - at about 2:27 of the video.
Of course, it being so laid-back and mellow, the song sounds great live and stripped down, with just Wyclef singing and playing guitar like Bob Dylan.
If you know me, you know how much I love Halloween.
Not in the slightest.
But I do love Cliff Richard, and this song, one of his biggest hits - and absolutely his biggest US hit - was a top 10 hit all over the world. It sold two million copies worldwide, which was a staggering amount even when album and single sales mattered.
The song is quite literally about a guy bewitched by a cat who goes to a medium - who, as it turns out, was the devil woman responsible for the bewitching in the first place. There's no metaphor here. It tells a story.
You might have, but more likely, you have danced to it at a wedding at some point.
Wikipedia says it best. "As a line dance song, "Cha-Cha Slide" is often played at dance clubs, school dances, prom nights, birthday parties, ice-skating rinks and roller rinks, B’nai mitzvahs, Quinceañeras, weddings, and sporting events....."
Let's face it. It's a song with a group dance you don't need to think about much. Mr. C tells you what to do. Slide to the left. Slide to the right. Everybody, clap your hands. Even your Aunt Tillie can do that one.
The song ended up being a legitimate chart hit in the early 2000s, all around the world. It is, however, better known for making your grandma cha cha at your cousin's wedding.
Sometimes, this song is billed to DJ Casper, and sometimes to Mr. C The Slide Man. It's the same guy. Either way, he passed away earlier this year, but his big hit lives on.
It's such an enduring cultural phenomenon, it was featured on Orange Is The New Black. Don't worry - Mr. C was there and he was safe.
This song was the lead single from Pink Floyd's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and was primarily written by David Gilmour, like so much of this era of Pink Floyd music.
The song is often seen as a metaphor for David Gilmour taking over leadership of the band following Roger Waters's departure, and in that sense, it works. But also, Nick Mason, Pink Floyd's drummer and a pilot, can be heard in the middle of the song, as if on an airplane radio.
The video was largely filmed in the mountains near Canmore, Alberta, which is a place I have been and mountains I have seen.
The song was a big hit in the US - on the rock and, to a lesser extent, the pop charts. This was due to a lot of MTV airplay. It was NOT, however, a hit in their native UK.
In the post-Waters era, this song was a centerpiece of Pink Floyd shows. It plays spectacularly live.
This is the last Smashing Pumpkins song I remember liking a lot. I was a huge fan of theirs... for their first two albums. Then they released the utterly self-indulgent Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness double album.
I was really excited to purchase that album until I heard it. It was uneven and, well, overproduced.
But the lead single from that album.... that was - is - a masterpiece. It opens with Billy Corgan in acapella, as if to punctuate his sentence "the world is a vampire" with James Iha's guitar coming in on the last syllable. The origins of the song do come from the Siamese Dream sessions, which probably explains why it's so much better than anything else on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
It also became a hit song - surprisinging, their first top 40 hit, reaching number 22 on the Billboard charts and rising on other pop and alternative charts worldwide.
This video is the last time Billy Corgan was seen with hair. That's actually true - he shaved his head soon after the filming.
They did tour in support of this album, but the band self-destructed soon after. This is a performance from 1995 that seems to interpolate their new sound as well - but it's still a great performance, one of the last with the classic lineup.
The band eventually broke up in 2000 only to reform in 2006 - and went through some lineup changes. This iteration from 2023 does include the entire classic lineup except for D'Arcy Wretzky, who I , for one, miss - but that reunion is not likely to happen.
Despite using a different bassist, the band still sounds great, nearly 30 years after this song's initial release.
If you know me in real life, you probably know where I'm eventually going with this post.
This song is really T.I.'s by title, but it was written by all four artists - and there's a long list of people with songwriting credits on this one, including one Mathangi Arulpragasam, who goes by a stage name we're getting to - the song was written around a sample that includes her voice - and all the members of The Clash - because THAT sample contains a sample of one of THEIR songs. We'll talk about Ms. Arulpragasam's song at another point.
The song was produced by T.I. and is pretty much nothing but a lot of boasting. But it's a collaboration of four rap superstars and their massive egos sharing a song.
The song won a Grammy for best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group - so all four of them are Grammy winners - and was nominated for Best Rap Song - so ALL those songwriters got nominations.
The song has only been performed live by all four of them one time by my knowledge, but here's where the fun of this post starts.
You know how I mentioned that song sampled by them that led to a songwriting credit for Mathangi Arulpragasam? Well, that song was "Paper Planes", and Mathangi Arulpragasam is better known as M.I.A. "Paper Planes", as it turns out, was nominated for Record of the Year at the same Grammy Awards as "Swagga Like Us".
The same ceremony.
So wouldn't it make sense that she'd just do her sample for them live?
Slight issue: the Grammys happened to be on the same night as the night she was due to give birth.
Which she did, a day and a half later.
So, you'd expect she'd do her little piece from the corner of the stage and rest?
Nope.
She OUTSHINED those four gigantic egos with a massive pregnancy belly in what is arguably the greatest Grammy performance of all time. She opened with "Paper Planes" and stayed center stage with the 4 of them the WHOLE time.
Chop suey is a dish in American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables ...
Oh, wait, that's not quite what we're writing about. No, we're writing about "Chop Suey!"
This song is 22 years old as of this writing, which is probably a huge surprise to many of you. It was released in 2001, and earned System of a Down a Grammy nomination - their first. It is full of Biblical references - quoting Jesus on the cross at several points.
But that title? The song has nothing to do with Chinese food. No, in fact, the song was originally titled, strangely enough, "Self Righteous Suicide"..... but they went with "Suey" - half of the word "Suicide" - or, in other words, "Chop"ped in half.
Yep. It's just that level of logic that makes for classic songwriting.
We haven't even talked about the song - which has several SERIOUS tempo changes, going back and forth between rock ballad and really fast speed metal. It's like audio whiplash, and it's just fantastic.
At the 2003 Reading Festival, the crowd seemed to enjoy the song.
When System of a Down performed the song in Armenia in 2015, they had not lost a single beat. The song seems to have softened ever so slightly - but still, the energy is really high.
And also, the crowd is feeling it - in the rain!!!
