18 August 2023 - Roxette - The Look

Something I think you didn't know - Roxette had four number one hits in the United States - which is one more than they had in their home country, Sweden.

This song, from 1988's Look Sharp album, was their first in the US (it did not reach #1 in Sweden - the only song, in fact, to top both the US and Swedish charts by the band was "Joyride", which, despite my prior attempt at humour, was not only a minor hit - ironically both their last US #1 and their first Swedish one). 

Dual vocalist/guitarists Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson played togeher from the mid 1980s until 2019, when Fredriksson passed away from complications from a brain tumor.  Gessle wrote this song as an exercise when he got a new synthesizer and was learning how to operate it.  It's an oddly consructed song, with weird chord progressions that no one reading this blog is going to hear about from me.   

I loved this song from first listen, and yes, I have the 12" single of the song around here somewhere.

As I stated earlier, the band performed together for a long time - until a few years before Marie's death.  This performance is from 2009 - with less epic hair, but just as epic performance.  

The band rerecorded the song in 2015, as part of an advertising campaign - with a new mix and new vocals.  It would be a Swedish Top 40 hit.

It's a different song - far more focused on electronic music and tuned to the slightly reduced vocal ranges of Fredriksson and Gisele.  It wasn't the last thing Fredriksson would record (they released another album in 2016) but it's one of the last, and that makes it somewhat sad.  

Marie toured with Roxette and announced that she could not any longer in 2016.  You can see her still performing her heart out, even sitting down, in 2015, which was one of her last live performances.

Per Gessle briefly reuinted the band in tribute to Marie under the name PG Roxette.  They did a tribute show for her and of course included this song - with him singing some of her part and other background singers picking up the rest.

17 August 2023 - Björk - Big Time Sensuality

Let's talk about Björk Guðmundsdóttir.  

She's not your typical pop star, and yet, you know who she is..... and not just because she wore a swan dress to the Oscars. 

No joke, this dress has its own Wikipedia page.  Photo credit: Cristiano del Riccio

She got her start at the age of 11, as a children's artist, and then started and joined a bunch of bands in her native Iceland.  Eventually, she joined a supergroup called Sykurmolarnir, which in English translates to The Sugarcubes.  That band released three albums to worldwide acclaim before breaking up... partly because their record label - Smekkleysa, or Bad Taste in English - was taking a lot of time (and still does - the band members still run it today) and mostly because Björk was a hot commodity and in demand for a solo career.

Her adult solo debut, called Debut, was an international smash hit.  This song, which was very much in the style of house music, was a huge club hit and a minor pop hit, her first to hit the US Billboard Hot 100.  Co-written by Björk and producer Nellie Hooper, it is a song not necessarily about sexuality but about bravery.  

Björk was - is - known for her unusual voice and ability to incorporate primal scream into her performance.  Nowhere is that more apparent than in the live performance of this song, which is of course a staple of her performances.

I wanted to share this rare performance with Talvin Singh (he's the guy on the Indian drums 0and a well-knwon virtuoso on them) & Guy Sigsworth. which is a lot more stripped down and quieter.  Björk's childlike raspiness really shines through here. 

The version she did for MTV Unglugged was different still - with more Indian-influenced instuments and less of the synthesizers that were the hallmark of the original.  

16 August 2023 - Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

I like to chose songs with an intresting story.  This is one of those songs.

If you are reading this in the United States, this is not the Pet Shop Boys song that hit the top of the charts.  This is the original version of the song, released by the group in 1984, produced by Bobby Orlando.  

If you are reading this in the UK, or were a clubgoer in the mid-1980's, you may recognize Bobby Orlando's attempt at British rap.  

In 1985, the Pet Shop Boys got signed to EMI records and rerecorded this song.  Whereas the original featured Orlando's instruments and samples, this version featured none of that - and was mostly created on synthesizers.  It was also less rap and more Neil Tennant talk-singing.  

This version resonated better, topping both the US and UK charts.  

This version is also a little darker and more haunting - kind of like audio film noir - and an objectively better song.  

It should come as no surprise that this is their best known song and biggest hit, although they've certainly had other hits.

The audience still knew the song a full 25 years after its initial release.

In 2022, the Pet Shop Boys changed the lyrics of the song, from "Finland Station", which is in Russia, to "Kviv Station", in Ukraine - by the way, it was called Kiev in 1984 - in solidarity with Ukraine in light of the invation by Russia.

Also, Neil Tennant has not lost a BEAT off this song or off his voice - after performing it for 40 years!

15 August 2023 - They Eat Their Own - Like A Drug

As many of you know, I was a college radio DJ.  As such, I had early access to music, some of which was on the fringe of music in the early 1990s.

That includes They Eat Their Own, an LA-based band founded by vocalist Laura B. (Baricevic) in or around 1989, which was together until about 1994.  They didn't have a lot of success, but they had that ONE SONG and that ONE VIDEO.

This is that song.  Released in 1990 or 1991, it got a fair bit of airplay and got the band a major label deal with Geffen Records.... that ended up imploding before anything came of it.  This song, however, is absolutely amazing.

Of course, they wouldn't have gotten their single released at all if they didn't perform live extremely well.  This version, performed live at the LA Music Factory, predates the studio recording, and it's sparser, but still great.  Laura is a terrific frontwoman.

I said "is" for a reason.  You see, after TETO broke up, Laura B. hopped around the country for a bit, settling in Pittsburgh, PA.  She started a band called The Off Labels, and they performed a lot of her old stuff.... like this song.  Have a listen to this performance from 2014. 

14 August 2023 - Trey Parker ft. Matt Stone - Kyle's Mom's a Bitch (in B flat minor)

This was an outtake from last week, where there was a lot of sugary sweet songs.  Plus Metallica.

We had to combat the saccharine.

So, we did it with South Park.  Season 1, Episode 10.

The song is far from politically correct, and features Eric Cartman (voiced by Trey Parker) repeating an insult about Sheila Broflovski, who happens to be Kyle's mom.

Kyle, voiced by Matt Stone, did not appreciate the song.  

In 1999, the Academy Award nominiated film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, was released.  An extended, uncensored version of this opus was included with the movie, as it should be.  

By the way, there's almost one "bitch" per second in this version.

Of course, it's more meaningful to see Trey Parket and Matt Stone actually perform this thing of beauty live.  They did just that at the 25th anniversary concert.

Yes.  South Park is old enough to rent a car.

The testimonial to this song is how many people know and love this song.  It's a classic - more so than the theme song.   

It's also incredibly crude.

The orchestral rendition is only a little bit less crude.

11 August 2023 - CHAII - LIghtswitch

The very first line of her biography on last.fm reads as follows:

Persian-Kiwi rapper CHAII has carved out a corner in the hip hop scene that is fresh, diverse and extremely exciting, drawing from her Iranian heritage as well as the multi-faceted and multi-cultural world of hip hop burgeoning in Australia and New Zealand.

Not wrong.

This video - for the title song of her debut EP - is self-directed, filmed in California (where a lot of her family and, indeed, a large Persian popluation, lives).  You can see the signs in Farsi - in CALIFORNIA. Everything you see and hear is all CHAII's vision - and she is clearly proud of her heritage.

OK, so yeah.  This song is objectively cool as f.

But why this week?

Because this song was featured, along with a lot of other modern Middle Eastern music, on the television series Ms. Marvel. I absolutely can easily make an entire week - a MONTH - out of great music from that one series alone.  It was hard to choose just one.  

I think I chose right.  

10 August 2023 - Metallica - Master of Puppets

By popular request, I'm posting this song.

In 1986, a band that was growing in popularity (but not getting much airplay) released their third albun, Master of Puppets.  The only single they released from that album was the title song, and it was a goddamn masterpiece.  The song is about their frustration with the music business how drugs can control your life. 

It was also the last album and therefore the band's last single that featured original bassist Cliff Burton, who passed away later in 1986.  This was his favorite song on that album, and its mine as well. The band all co-wrote the song, which features long instrumental breaks, dramatic tempo changes, and even an homage to David Bowie.

Those of you who know television know where I'm going here.

That's right.  James Hetfield's appearance on American Dad, which features this song.

 

No, no, that's not what you were looking for.

Of course, it was The Simpsons, where the band appears and featured this song and a super diss on the bus driver.

 

Ohhhh, no.  You meant Billions, the Showtime series.   You know, its seventh season comes tomorrow to Paramount+ (with Showtime).

 

OK, fine, 

Stranger Things generated TWO Billboard Hot 100 hits last year.  "Running Up That Hill" was a huge hit, but "Master of Puppets" featured prominently in the season finale, and made this song a top 40 hit - with airplay finally coming ON POP RADIO -(although rock radio played them even more) - in the United States, nearly 40 years after its initial release.

According to my sister, Eddie played this song on his guitar in the Upside Down to destract the demobats away from Venca's house, so Steve, Robin and Nancy could sneak in to try and hurt/kill Vecna before he got Max.

This is Eddie.   It's he who played the song.

There's no way in hell I'm posting a picture of Vecna.  I Googled that so you don't have to. 

I understood none of that, so I hope you did.

 

I just wanted to remind you that this song is 37 years old and the band still performs live, and they ALWAYS, to my knowledge, include this song, which is one of their most popular amonsgt fans (including my sister).

In current concerts, they actually use some of the Stranger Things images on the screen. Which you can see in this video, taken when they played in Western New York in 2022.  August 11, Highmark Staduim (which used to be called Rich Stadium and that's what it will always be to me).  I know this because my sister, Dawn, actually recorded this video.

The song is also featured in my favorite TikTok post... of mine.

@argylederojo This is @McRoblox17 ♬ Master of Puppets - Metallica