Both songs have a lot of similarities. Both feature prominent samples that are easily identifiable - this one samples Prince's "When Doves Cry" (and, in a great example of a fact you cannot unlearn, it also interpolated "We Care A Lot" by Faith No More). Both are a little boastful, although this one a little more humbly so.
In 1995, Matthew Sweet released his album 100% Fun. His fifth solo album, it would be the biggest thing he would do for his whole career - including generating this big hit single, his only appearance on the US pop charts.
Really, Matthew Sweet has made a career making great pop-rock music in relative obscurity. So how did he get his gem in his hands?
Well, he wrote it. And performed most of it himself. Sure, he had a couple of guitarists and a drummer backing him on this track. Richard Lloyd's guitar is particularly strong here - but the licks were crafted by Sweet.
Here are Sweet and Lloyd performing the song live on MTV in 1995. You can see Richard just shreding and Matthew giving his all.
Sweet still performs, too. Here he is, with Jason Victor backing him on lead guitar, at the Paste Studios in 2017. With no rhythm section to back them, the song just becomes a guitar god dream, complete with trick ending.
This was the single that directly followed "Just A Girl". That single after a huge hit song is usually the indicator on whether or not a band has the legs for a long career.
By most measures, "Spiderwebs" ended up being a bigger hit, charting higher on most charts and getting more mainstream radio airplay. History might remember "Just A Girl" more, but this song... it was a bigger deal.
Written by Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal, it's clearly a song that leans heavily into their ska roots, while continuing the pop/rock sound that permeates the whole Tragic Kingdom album. It started off much slower, but the single release ended up being a pretty funky tune. Lyrically, it, like others on that album, their first without Eric Stefani (their prior principal songwriter and Gwen's brother), is a very personal song, of breakup and turmoil (likely the breakup of Kanal and Gwen Stefani was the subject).
Believe it or not, the band is still together. Sure, Gwen is a lot busier nowadays - with her solo career and other obligations - but in this performance from 2012, it doesn't look like they aged a day and have not lost a single beat.
Several years later, in this performance released in 2023 but likely a little older than that (the copyright is 2020, and they reportedly have not played together since 2015 (but are playing Coachella this year), so we're going with that), they still had not lost a step.
Few artists do as good a job bringing Middle Eastern, Indian and Tamil beats to western Hip Hop as well as M.I.A. consistently does.
This is a song that absolutely throws EVERYTHING at you - drums, horns, jumping, more horns, more drums, samples - and does not stop. It is an upbeat dancehall track and in your face, and it's all about, well, boyz. It's a fun, happy, upbeat song that ended up being a dance hit and a minor pop hit in the US. Co-written by the artist and Switch - both of whom also produced the track - the song includes strong influence from Tamil music - from M.I.A.'s home country of Sri Lanka.
It's a delight, seriously.
M.I.A. also puts on a hell of a live performance, such as this one from 2018 at the Sakifo Music Festival. You can see the Tamil drums in full effect in this performance - they are really used to get the song's unique sound.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are a band that has lived on the fringe of rock. They're certainly a talented, straight-ahead rock band. They've gotten some airplay on adult alternative radio, and have only hit the Billboard Hot 100 ONE time - in 2012, with "Stars" (a future song for this blog, no doubt).
This song, today's song, was not released as a single. It was kind of a throwaway song. And yet, without knowing who the artist is in a lot of case, this song is beloved and probably the band's best known song. It is credited by Potter as "the only reason I was able to pay my bills" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You see, the song played at the end of the 2010 Disney movie Tangled, over the closing credits. And it goes HARD - not a song you'd expect in a Disney movie. Written by Grace Potter herself, it is a tour de force.
Someone must have known, because a video for this song, filmed at Disney Animation Studios and featuring Potter, was filmed. And it was fun!!! (Edit: Disney took the video down. We added this fun 2023 live performance instead)
Now, sit down, because I'm gonna hit most of you with knowledge.
Grace Potter was on an episode of One Tree Hill in 2008 - two years before Tangled was released. Guess what she performed?
The song was slightly rewritten and definitely rerecorded for Tangled, but it was a repurposed song.
Even though the band is still together, Grace Potter's work over the last ten years has been largely solo. This performance in 2020 was a solo performance, but she still pulled out her best know song.
And, by the way, this woman is a rock star. No doubt.
This story starts with Cult Jam, a Brooklyn-based R&B group, led by a vocalist named Lisa Velez. At age 14, Velez auditioned for a group of R&B producers and performers who called themselves Full Force.
Somewhere along the line, they decided that Lisa Lisa's name should be pulled out separately.
This single, released in Europe in 1985, was such a huge radio hit AS AN IMPORT that CBS decided it needed a US release - and yes, it was not only a huge hit, but also would go on to be one of the most sampled songs in history.
The song was written by Full Force, and they also perform on the track. It's, of course, about teen sex. And, in this case, there's a pro/con list - they are, believe it or not, extoling the virtues of saying 'yes'. By the way, Lisa was 18 when she was singing this.
Cult Jam broke up in the early '90s, but Lisa Lisa still performs. She still has the same energy, too, as is clear in this performance from 2022.
You want to talk about recent? This single was released LAST WEEK.
It's already in my moderate rotation.
Dua Lipa wrote the lyrics with Caroline Allin, with a team doing the disco/Middle-Eastern composition. Is that an ABBA influence I hear? Maybe. It is a confident, fun song, to be sure.
It's not a big hit song yet, but give it two weeks. Geez!
The song was released last week, but she also performed it PRIOR to its release, at the Grammys.
You would not know it by her first Top 40 hit, an ode to new love. She wrote the bridge, but it was mostly a Dr. Luke special - and despite her badassery, her youth gave her what was called the "Call Me Maybe" of 2014.
It would be eight years before Becky G would have her 2nd hit.
Despite it not really fitting with the rest of her catalog - which is largely Spanish-language and harder edged - she still performs her first hit live. And she's gotten to be a truly complex performer.
Jon Batiste was nominated for six Grammys this year, including one for this song. He has WON Grammys in the past - including one for Album of the Year. He is a two-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner (so far - one of his nominations is this year). He was Emmy nominated when he was bandleader for Stephen Colbert on his late night talk show.
And no, I had never heard of him. I have a blind spot for some music, I suppose, and I am trying to correct that.
This jazzy, souldful, hiphoppy gospel song is an absolute delight, and I love it. Co-written by Batiste, it is a cornerstone of his Grammy-nominated concept album World Music Radio.
Of course I had to seek out live performances of this song. It is really good. One of our favorite was that time he returned to Colbert's show to perform. It is a quieter and yet energetic performance, and it is a work of art.
This is not the artist we posted on Monday, nor are we linking to it. You can look later, though.
This is Anita White, a blues singer who goes by Lady A and has since at least the late 90's. So, when Lady Antebellum changed their name in the wake of the George Floyd death - to get rid of a Civil War reference - it was a serious issue.
Luckily, this little confusion didn't stop Anita White, who still goes by Lady A - and can, legally, thanks to a settlement in 2022. She's still releasing music, too. We applaud her for standing up to a huge name and winning.
This song was clearly written as a response to the band formerly know as Lady Antebellum. It's also a really strong and empowering song that is full of soul.
We have featured Metric on this blog before - including last year, when they were nominated for a Juno Award. They're nominated again this year - and we think they might actually win.
This is a 2008 song of theirs, and not what they are nominated for this year. Although not their best known song today - now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend - it is their biggest hit, reaching #21 on the Canadian charts and even higher elsewhere. It was also their first time gaining any traction on the US charts -
Written by vocalist Emily Haines - and sung by her and not Brie Larson - it's an emotional powerhouse.
Does this song sound just as emotional and strong stripped down to an acoustic version?
This strange little song was released in 2010. Written by Seyfried, it doesn't REALLY have a title. It just kind of adopted this one. The video, made for postthelove, is just her, singing and playing the guitar.
The song itself is absolutely beautiful and you have got to hear it, so I figured today, Valentine's Day, would be a great day to release it. Enjoy.
I have to admit, when I was watching the Super Bowl halftime show, featuring Usher, it took me a minute to identify the female guitarist who was clearly a featured guest - as did a lot of people, I am sure. When I figured it out, which I did pretty quickly, I was ashamed of myself.
You see, Gabriella Wilson, still early in H.E.R. career, is already an accomplished and well-respected artist. A prolific songwriter and multiinstrumentally talented, she has already accomplish a lot - and won a few Grammys for her efforts. She's been redefining R&B, infusing country and rock into her sound as well.
So yeah. I should have known right away. To be fair, it took me a second on Ludacris, too.
This song was Grammy nominated for Song of the Year, and was co-written by H.E.R. It was an R&B and a minor pop hit in the US.
H.E.R.'s guitar skills are on full display in this live version of the song, from Austin City Limits. It is, in my opinion, the best version of the song that exists.
This was sitting in drafts for a VERY long time, and I am so glad to finally uncork it.
The band is Lady A, but they were Lady Antebellum.
This song was written by the band and Josh Kear - and it is the biggest thing they have ever done. Not only was it a huge country hit, it reached #2 on the Billboard POP charts and was the 2nd biggest hit of 2010 ("Tik Tok", by the way). The song won four Grammys, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year (with the album of the same name winning a 5th that evening).
The song is about someone making a late night drunk dial that they are going to likely regret in the morning. A lot of us have been there. I've been there.
Anyway, the song was and still is a force of nature, and now here it is.
I used to love The Dead Milkmen. I was introduced to them when a kid I met at summer camp wore his Big Lizard In My Backyard shirt. I was intrigued. So I checked them out. The jokey pop/punk fusion was fun and different and kept me interested.
Fast forward a couple of years, and they release this as the lead single from their 4th album, Beelzebubba. MTV starts playing the song in heavy rotation during the day, and people love it. Turns out, it was a song the band had written many years earlier and were heasitant to record as The Dead Milkmen (they had a side project called Ornamental Wigwam that they used for it).
By far, this song was their biggest hit - their only song to hit any Billboard chart (#11 on the Modern Rock chart) - and remained a staple of their live sets, especially after they reunited (they broke up for ten years and reunited soon after the tragic death of bassist Dave Blood).
Listen closely to the song, and you will hear references to Philadelphia locations, like the iconic punk rock store Zipperhead.
Famously, the song mentions Mojo Nixon, who was their Enigma Records labelmate and fellow jokester. In 2015, he made a suprise appearance on stage during this song right after them mention him.
Born Pranpriya Manobal, she did legally change her name to Lalisa Manobal on the advice of a fortune teller. So, in this, her debut single - a worldwide hit - she's literally singing her own name over and over.
A K-Pop live performance is about the performance, and not the singing. That's not a criticism. It's a fact and an entertaining one at that. I literally picked one of those at random, because Lisa's performance and dancing are absolutely flawless every single time.
I'm really not OK with this one. I grew up listening to Mojo. It all started with an EP I bought in the mid-1980s... before the rest of the world got to hear him on MTV and he was singing about how MTV should be covered in ejaculate.
"Stuffin' Martha's Muffin". It was real.
The name known at birth as Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. has passed away. He died doing what he loved - performing - on the Outlaw Country Cruise, an annual music cruise he played and hosted. He played a show LAST NIGHT (after playing one the afternoon before) and was partying until the wee hours.
He is literally playing guitar in the lower right photo in this tweet, last night.
Mojo was obsessed with gonads and making dirty songs about tying his pecker to his leg.... and his sideburns.... and pop culture in general. This song skewered the widely-held belief that Elvis Presley was still alive, and using that as an explanation for everything that happened.
Bermuda Triangle? Elvis needs boats.
With his longtime collaborator, Skid Roper, here is Mojo performing his best known song.
This song actually brought the fringe duo some fame, with them even able to play this song on late night network television.
It was tough for me to decide where to put this blog-wise. The lyrics of the song were written by Woody Guthrie - but the music is completely Dropkick Murphys. They wrote it. Ken Casey of the band found a fragment of these lyrics while looking through some Woody Guthrie archives.... and built a whole song around it.
It's likely Woody didn't release this as a single. He wrote a lot of stuff he didn't release. What is clear that the Dropkick Murphys turned this not only into a huge hit song - but a de facto anthem for all Boston sports teams.
The band, formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts, still exists, and they are presently touring. They're coming to a town near us, and I think we're going to try to go. At any rate, here they are in 2022 (missing Al Barr, so Ken Casey had to do all the vocals himself), performing the song for an eager crowd.
I did not know Toby Keith was sick, so when I found out he had passed away from stomach cancer, I was shocked.
Toby was known for his goofy and funny songs that also spoke plainly - "Red Solo Cup" was his best known. This 2001 single was his 7th country #1 and it falls in the plain speaking category. It was also nominated for several CMA and ACM awards - mostly for this fantastic video.
And yes, he performed it live. Here he is at the American Music Awards, where he was also nominated.
During the Grammys on Sunday, we saw a commercial with this song. I immediately clocked it as Megan Thee Stallion, so I had to look it up.
It wasn't Megan Thee Stallion.
It was Big Boss Vette, who finally broke through with this boastful song. I mentioned it's been in a commercial (the commerical's subject escapes me as I write this), and it's also been used in South Park. Is it a hit song? Not a charting one (it's probably too dirty for airplay) but people know who Big Boss Vette is now.
Seriously, the song is super funky and it's now going to be on repeat in this house. Sorry, guys.
By the way, when she keeps mentioning diamonds, she's talking about herself. Her real name is Diamond Alexxis Smith.
An official remix of this song, featuring some ad libs by Coi Leray, also exists. And it's fun.
I can imagine the people losing their minds right now.
A non-binary artist and a transgender artist singing about unholy things.
Well, this song won a couple of Grammys last year, making Kim Petras the first transgender woman to win a Grammy. Yeah, people lost their minds.
This song, which was a huge hit (and #11 on the 2023 year-end Billboard chart), is excellent and fun and somewhat delightful, and I'm glad it won awards.
These two did a lot of versions of this song live, but my favorite is this one that they did with a full orchestra. The Middle Eastern elements of the song really shine through here.
Why yes, that is a signficant and prominent Dionne Warwick sample in this song.
Sampling is nothing new. Artists do this all the time.
Because of the samples, there's a long list of songwriters, including Burt Bacharach, for this song, but Doja Cat wrote the lyrics 100% herself.
In 2023, it became her 2nd US #1 hit, and her 1st as a solo artist (she previously hit for "Say So" with Nicki Minaj). It was and IS a huge hit worldwide. It's constantly sung by other people in my house. It's infectious.
The song is nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance this Sunday, at the Grammys, and it's got a solid chance, being the only nomination for the song.
In this performance for BBC Radio 1, Doja Cat performs the song live with a full band and clearly sings the hell out of this.
For her part, Dionne Warwick is happy about the sample.
Who had "The Rolling Stones release an absolute banger of a single with an iconic video" on their 2023 bucket list?
I did not.
From the band's latest album, Hackney Diamonds, the song was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Andrew Watt (who produced the track). It's a pretty typical Stones song - but it's lyrically and musically distinctive enough to be literally the FIRST song of theirs featured on this blog.
The song is nominated for the Grammy this year for Best Rock Song, and it deserves it.
The video features the band on billboards, singing and performing the song. Clearly, they are older images of the band from throughout their career - a lot of images you will recognize - animated by AI.
Oh, and Sydney Sweeney in black leather studded chaps makes an appearance or two in the video. Don't sweat any objectification - she chose her own clothes and rejects any objectification calls, instead choosing to be empowered.
Of course the Stones toured to support this. Of course they play this song.
You probably didn't even know that Kylie Minogue was making music.
Let alone be a Grammy-nominated artist - in the Pop Dance Recording category, for this song.
This song, from her 2023 album Tension (her 16th!), was a huge hit all over the world, and got real airplay. Written by Ina and Lostboy (who produced it as well), the title isn't just gibberish, but rather an onomatopoeia for a heartbeat.
It's really good and my pick to win the Grammy in this category, by the way. It will be an upset win, but still.
At 55, Kylie is still touring and performing live, which I think is just great. Also, if anyone doubted me about it being a worldwide hit, just listen to the crowd, who are singing along. It's a hit.
SZA is an overnight success story who has been around for a decade.
Nominated for nine Grammys this year - three for this critically acclaimed song from her critically-acclaimed album SOS - SZA finally scored a #1 US hit on the pop charts (#3 on the year end chart!) with this song. Written by SZA with Carter Lang and Rob Bisel, the song is definitely named after the Quentin Tarrantino movies - and SZA emphathized with Bill, who didn't really know why he did what he did (at first. Clearly, it was love).
Anyway, the song is cool and nuanced and, well, it took me a while to get into it, but it grew on me.
When you perform a song like this live - like SZA did a lot - you don't even have to sing the song. Everyone knows the words. I mean, she did sing the song, but everyone knew the words.
Doja Cat and SZA are frequent collaborators, so it was not a surprise when Doja Cat remixed "Kill Bill" with a new video and her own vocals....
I purposefully posted this after the Ravens-Chiefs game. Not because I'm sick of seeing Taylor Swft's face on NFL broadcasts (she brings positive attention to the game, so she's a good thing for the games)
Congratulations to whoever won last night. You're going to the Big Game or something. (edit: Kansas City won that game).
This was the lead single from Taylor's album Midnights, which might be her best yet (I'm partial to Lover, honestly), written by Jack Antonoff and Swift. Swift herself is nominated for six Grammy awards this year, three of them for this song. The song was #4 on the Billboard 2023 year-end Hot 100. It is her longest-running top Ten hit (spending 29 weeks there but destined to lose that crown to "Cruel Summer")
Anyway, it's a good song and this post will make the Swiftie that lives in my house very happy.
On January 12, 2023, the band The 1975 performed live in London. As a surprise to the audience, Taylor Swift walked out on stage and performed this song live for the very first time. It was just Taylor with a guitar.
And these fans of a DIFFERENT BAND knew every word.
Blah blah Eras Tour blah blah.
Just kidding. Enjoy this more traditional live performance.
So this 2003 single came out at a time when I wasn't into new music. I felt the "alternative" wave that was being pushed was nothing more than power pop-rock repackaged as somehow outside the "mainstream".
Fountains of Wayne epitomized that for me.
But this song, about Stacy's clearly hot mom, was a cultural icon. Written by Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, the song owes a debt to "Just What I Needed" by The Cars, for sure - and they even tried to get Ric Ocasek's wife Paulina Porizkova to play the titular role in the video (they failed and instead cast band and song fan Rachel Hunter - who really was a good choice).
The band essentially broke up in 2013, but before that, they performed the song a lot. I find it endearing that they just look like normal guys and clearly have fun with this song.
Adam Sclesinger passed away at age 52 in 2020 from complications from COVID-19. It is a horrible loss and we hope you're taking this disease, which still persists, seriously.
You were thisclose to forgetting this song, weren't you?
That's why we're here.
Culture Beat was a German group. I say "was". They still exist. They've just changed lineups a LOT. Vocalist Tania Evans, heard here, led the group from 1993 (the year this single hit it big) to 1997, their most successful period. Jay Surpreme, also heard here rapping the verses, is also long gone.
This was by far their biggest international hit, and their only hit in the US.
This song was the debut single by Dire Straits - which I didn't know before writing this. It also hit #4 on the US pop charts - which would end up being their 2nd biggest hit - and was a huge hit worldwide.
And it sat on Mark Knopfler's shelf until he played it on a '61 Strat with open tuning. He found the song boring until that guitar made those chords come to life.
His finger-picked guitar solos in this song are some of the best known in music.
Of course, this 1978 hit was huge, but they became much larger in 1984 with another song that MTV still uses in promos.
So, in 1985, they were a star at Live Aid - and their performance of this song is absolutely iconic. Knopfler's guitar solos here are amazing and a thing to see.
Most of the world first heard of Jewel Kilcher with her debut single... this song.
I am part of most of the world.
Did you expect some hipster "I heard her so much earlier than that"?
No, no one did.
Jewel has been very clear that this was the first song she ever wrote - and wow, it was a doozy - while hitchhiking through Mexico at age 16. This version of the song was a radio-friendly version that removes a verse - and since it hit #11 on the US pop charts, it was probably a decent call.
The iconic video was recorded in the LA City Hall ladies room - so, if you are in the Los Angelas area, you can see a music video set, too.
Of course she performs this huge hit live, and it takes many forms. For example, this performance from Woodstock '99 is soulful, extended, and not at all encouraging people to break stuff.
The performance from 1997, on Later with Jools Holland, is sparse and folky, with just a guitar and faint piano. It showcases the beauty of the song and the unique style of Jewel's vocals.
This performance from 2022 - SHE IS STILL PERFORMING - is a little more laid back, and has a bit of a western flair (even down to the cactus motif of her outfit and the turquoise on her hat). Stick with it. It actually rocks by the end.
This is the band that Prince was a huge fan of, because they could do things he could not do.
Well, Liz Fraser's voice was absolutely unique.
This song was actually my first introduction to the Cocteau Twins, as the song was released on their 1988 album, Blue Bell Knoll. That was the year my musical awakening really took off. I did not know that this would be their biggest hit song in the US - and still have a huge following 35 years later.
Let's talk about these lyrics. You know, there are lyrics - this isn't just Elizabeth Fraser doing bird calls. Seriously, she harmonizes with herself on this song. She turns the word "love" into at least a three syllable word. She can hit the very high and very low notes. It's amazing.
The song is actually very guitar- and bass-driven, although there are electronic keyboards and drum loops as well. Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde somehow manage to get an ethereal sound that defined a record label - 4AD - out of those instruments.
When performed live in 1994 on the Jools Holland program, two things are apparent.
1) The song is clearly guitar- and bass-driven and not as electronic as it sounds - and sounds cool with real drums.
2) The song is immensely difficult to perform vocally, as Fraser struggles at first. Stay with it. She gets a LOT better.
This post is just to get us over a hump. We've been bad at posting lately, and we need to fix that.
So we went back to drafts. And this song, that came in a gap in Lorde's career post-Pure Heroine, was a good choice. Written by Lorde and Disclosure, they all took an active role in composition.
The song was a worldwide hit and not so much a hit in the States. However, it's a banger and was a huge club hit - the biggest of Lorde's career to date - AND an alternative and rock hit - Disclosure's first.
I debated whether or not to put this song here or on Totally Covered. Ultimately, I settled on here. Why?
The chorus is straight up "Cotton-Eyed Joe", a traditional American folk song from the 1800s. The song was repopularized in the early 1980s by the movie Urban Cowboy.
What Rednex - a Swedish group seemingly formed just to make this one song - did with that little sung sample - and it's not a sample. It is sung by Gƶran Danielsson. - is something different.... different enough to be a #1 in 25 countries and a top 30 hit in the US.
Is the song annoying? Yup. Is it catchy? Yup.
Does the song interrupt Canadian Open matches between Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek? Yup.
Caroline Polachek is a rising star that has taken a long path to that rise. Originally a founder of Chairlift, she has had a lot of irons in the fire, including a stint where she released music under the name Ramona Lisa.
She finally claimed her own name in 2017, and it's been a rise of electro-pop-rock since. She's made innovative music, both by herself and with other artists.
This, the fourth single from her album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, (which is a great album and you should listen to it. Top 5 of mine in 2023), is described by Polachek - who also co-wrote the song - as "bratty". I don't get that - but I do get a dreamy feeling (she spent a lot of her youth listening to Enya - no joke).
This song opened her set on tour in 2023.
Here she is performing the song on the Tonight Show in 2023. Most of the performance is dark and clearly played with a backing track (and clearly sung by her), but at 3:20, she pulls out a guitar and plays...
(edit: NBC took the video down. Which is a real shame.)
At Glastonbury, she was backed by a full band and the performance was dynamic.
There. Let's pull out some 80's glam rock to get us back on track.
This song, from December 1986, was the debut single by California band Tesla. Written by the band, the song ties old-time villians like Billy the Kid and Al Capone to the at-the-time current-but-dying Cold War. Lyrically, it's kind of brilliant. Musically, it held up to the hair metal of its day, rocking just hard enough to make an impression.
This song is what made me a fan of Tesla. It just hit right. The video, featuring Nikola Tesla playing old movies in a mostly abandoned theater, got me interested in the scientist as well.
All these years later, Tesla is still together and still touring. Here they are at the Clearfield County (Pennsylvania) Fair in August of 2023. Voices may be slightly faded, but the song still rocks.
I totally chose the Clearfield County Fair at random, and not becaue it's where I obtained half of my family's pet rabbits. Totally random.
So, I figured it was a good time to go back to where it all started.
Kind of.
You see, when we first started, Ashlee Simpson was a pop star who was married to Pete Wentz, and legally going by Ashlee Simpson-Wentz (although keeping the "-Wentz" off the professional name), but had recently divorced him.
Two years latter, she married Evan Ross-NƦss (whose mom is Diana Ross, by the way) - he was Evan Ross at the time - and became Ashlee Ross (later Ross-NƦss). (Don't worry, she's still professionally Ashlee Simpson).
Anyway, they make music togehter now. Here's a single from 2018 that they released. It's sweet and cute and not quite pop - more adult contemporary, I suppose.
A lot of you saw the artist in this title and were wondering if it's an artist named That Poppy or if it's actually that Poppy.
Yes.
Moriah Rose Pereira was 20 when she released her debut EP, bubblebath - and this, its lead single, was out for almost a year before that. Written by the artist, Simon Wilcox and Sir Nolan (who also produced), this song is less the electronic/metal sound people know Poppy for today. No, That Poppy was a ska/reggae/pop artist.
And she was good. This song is catchy - and although the video is as weird as a lot of Poppy's videos, the performance shines through.
I know what people think. Pop music is just vapid, autotuned garbage.
No.
Good music is being made, even in pop music. And Poppy can sing. Island Records released an acousitc version of this single as well - which highlights that. In fact, despite the weird guys behind her, this video isn't all the weird. It's a vulnerable young singer/songwriter who is performing her heart out.
We can do one better. Here she is performing it acapella in Brussels. And we think it's super cool.
It's gonna be that type of year where we struggle to get posts out on time.
That's OK. It's late, but here is Suzanne Vega with oue of her early singles, exhibiting her pop-folk sensibiliites from her very first album, her self-titled debut in 1985. We love how fast she sings at parts in this song.
Written by Vega, the song was her first top 40 hit in the UK and remains her biggest hit there. The "Marlene" in the title is actress Marlene Dietrich. An obscure reference for a pop song? Maybe, but it still works.
Nearly 40 years later, she still performs this very upbeat song, as she did at the Glastonbury Fedtival in 2022. She still sounds as brilliant as she did in the 1980s.
Happy New Year! Rather than regaling you with more Mariah Carey, we thought you might appreciate some Japanese hard rock music.
BRATS were formed in 2011 by sisters Rei Kuromiya and Aya Kuromiya. They were 10 and 12. Rei is the vocalist here, in this song and video released in 2018. They rock way harder than you might expect them to.
They are part of a generation who are actually influenced by Japanese rock bands, and not international ones. It is a great day for Japanese music when that is a claim that can be made.
The title of this song literally translates to "The Rules", which, well, doesn't seem like something a rock band would support.
And yes, they can do it live. They are, after all, a band and not manufactured.
If you thought I'd be ending the year with anyone other than Olivia Rodrigo, you haven't been paying attention.
Olivia Rodrigo released, in my opinion, the best album of 2023 - GUTS - and, unlike other years for me, it wasn't close. It's incredible, and, if you like pop music, especially power pop, you need to check it out.
This is my 4th post about Olivia this year - the most of any artist. This is mostly because every song she releases nowadays ia a straight-up banger.
I rarely swear on this blog. And, in two of my previous posts about her, I used the big one. The F-dash-dash-dash. I didn't say 'fudge'.
Anyway, this song contiunes the teen angst themes from GUTS, and it's deeper than you think. The phrase "get him back" could mean that she wants the relationship to resume, or it could mean that she wants revenge. She address both in her lyrics.
The video was filmed entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max - before its announcement - and released soon after that device was available for public purchase.
There are a lot of live performances of this song, but I am partial to this acoustic version It's practically acapella, with her voice shining through very strongly.
I lived in Rochester, NY from 1996 until 2022. In all my years there, I wasn't really someone that listened to the biggest hit band of the last twenty years to hail from the 585, Joywave. I was clearly aware of them, and heard them - but I wouldn't have called myself a fan, per se.
Then, one day in the summer of 2023, I was pooping in a Target bathroom in State College, PA. And I heard "Dangerous", which was a song I knew, but hadn't really resonated with me until that moment.
So, yeah, I am a fan now that I've left Rochester.
This song is from their third album, Possession, but, like most of the singles from that album, it was released before the album was. It is one of their biggest alternative radio hits to date. Recorded entirely at the band's studio in Rochester, I cannot help but feel a little adopted hometown pride. I find the song to be catchy as well.
The video is a bunch of fake movie titles and previews, and is cool as hell.
We really appreciate the band's attention to safety when performing. This live performance is from Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.
So I was on a bit of a Juliana Hatfield binge last week, as I am wont to do from time to time.
It surprised me that this, one of my favorite Juliana Hatfield songs, was missing from this blog.
Let's remedy that.
From her 3rd album, Only Everything, this was the album that she toured in support of that led to The Story. Juliana, you were right. The sound was more agressive and fuzzy than her prior work, both solo and with the Blake Babies - but it was still poppy and accessible.
Juliana still relentlessly tours and records - because that's how she puts food on her table and supports herself.
We actually wrote that first line in 2021. Mostly because, in 2021, it had been a while since we posted the Ting Tings. In fact, it's now been more than ten years. And, frankly, every post about the Ting Tings have been about songs from their debut albim, 2008's We Started Nothing.
Which is a shame, because they're still making music, all these years later. The duo are a talented pair.
This song, which was a UK minor hit and a US club hit, was written by the band, with Katie White writing that guitar riff you hear throughout (despite not being terribly proficient on the guitar at the time). It's a simple, sparse song (like a lot of theirs) but also a rich banger.
Anyway, just because we aren't posting about them incessantly doesn't mean we don't still love the Ting Tings.
If you are wondering
where some of the synthesized sounds are coming from when there's only two people in the band (even live!), watch Katie's feet during this live performance.
From their fourth album, Blow Up, this song was a mainstream and alternative rock hit song. Written entirely by Pat DiNizio, it's a straight-forward rock song, off what is arguably their most accessible album.
The video was directed by John Lloyd Miller (who directed several of their videos) and filmed in Atlantic City, NJ.
We think the best tribute to the band is that they live on, years after Pat DiNizio has passed. Here is the best underrated rock band on the planet, with Robin Wilson as a guest vocalist, still crushing it more than 30 years later.
Of course, we miss Pat, and nothing beats their live performances with him, like this one from 1991.
