12 November 2025 - Soul Asylum - Somebody to Shove

Gosh, it was tough to choose what to go with when it came to Minnesota.  

Soul Asylum, a band I was listening to long before their breakthough Grave Dancers Union was released, and that album came out in 1992, a vulnerable time for me.  I was in a position in college where I knew who this hot band getting all the MTV airplay was - and trying to convince them that the earlier stuff was better....

.... which wasn't true. Grave Dancers Union is arguably their best album, so it's great that it was the one that broke through.  This was the first single - and a huge hit song.  Plus, it was boisterous while remaining accessible, which was something I liked about the band. 

I know, when I start posting these things, I always get asked "but, Tony, has your sister seen them live?"

Why yes, she has!!!! And they still sound great!!!

11 November 2025 - The B-52's - Dance This Mess Around

This is our 1900th post on this blog, and I can't think of a more appropriate song.

"Dance This Mess Around" was the third single from Athens, Georgia band The B-52's 1979 debut album.  Written by the whole band - which at the time was a five-piece - the lead vocals on this song were taken by Cindy Wilson.  

So, why did I choose a 1980 live version of this song to lead the post?  Because it very quickly became a live performance favorite.  You can see just how passionately Cindy Wilson performs the song.  It builds slowly and relatively quietly, but builds louder and faster as she expresses heartbreak over having no one to dance with.  The rest of the group picks it up and cheers her up, and it works! They don't even get a chance to do all sixteen dances!

There were a few years in the 1990s where Cindy Wilson left the band for awhile (her brother, Ricky, also a band member, had passed away in the mid-1980s).  During her time away, the band did NOT perform this song.

But when she came back, they performed the HELL out of this song. 

So, here we are, in 2025.  Do you think it's still a live favorite, even as there are only three members left (Keith Strickland no longer touring with the band)?

Yes.

The question you SHOULD be asking is if my sister saw them live - but you know the answer.  

Cindy Wilson calling herself out for being out of key is utterly charming - but also, the out of key desperation is the POINT of the song.  

10 November 2025 - The White Stripes - Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground

I remember the first time I heard the White Stripes (from Detroit, Michigan - which of course is today's state).  

October 19th, 2002.  Technically, it was probably October 20th, in the early morning hours.   My ex-wife and I were in bed and watching SNL. We saw the musical guest was someone we had never heard of, and she wanted to turn it off before the musical guest came on.  

I insisted we not do that.  And, for once, I won one. 

This is what we were greeted with.

She didn't like them. I LOVED it. (This may have been part of the reason she's my ex-wife now) I was completely into this, and wanted to hear more, so I that week went seeking out more of their music - including the studio version of this song, with lyrics by Jack White and music by Jack and Meg White.  

For the uninitiated, yes, those are their government names.  Jack was born Jack Gillis but took his wife's name when they got married in 1996.  And yes, Meg was that wife, and by this point, they had been divorced for two years - clearly amicably, but the band didn't last forever.

The destruction projected in this video tells me that it was a very personal song for both of them - it is speculated that it was about the end of their marriage, although neither has confirmed or denied that.    

Edit: They were literally just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which I did not know when I wrote this post.  Congratulations!

7 November 2025. - Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. ft. Faith No More - Another Body Murdered

I've talked about a lot of these days being hard.  

I wasn't looking forward to American Samoa.  

However, it wasn't hard at all.  

Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are a hip-hop group from American Samoa (although they were based in California for most of their career).  This was probably their best known song, a collaboration with San Francisco band Faith No More.  An early hip-hop/rock fusion song, it was a sign of things to come for music - a preview of later acts such as Limp Bizkit.  

And they bring pride to the islands.  

6 November 2025 - Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains

I know exactly what you're thinking right now if you know this band.

"Shirley Manson is Scottish."

She is.   

The other members of the band are NOT - and Butch Vig is from Wisconsin.  Garbage was formed at his studio in Madison, WI. 

That's true.  It was called Smart Studios, and it was founded in 1983.  

So, of course, with three producers and a hell of a dynamic vocalist, you know they put on a great live show..... and they did.  This was from a festival in 1996.

But I'm sure ten years later, at Glastonbury 2005, they slowed down.... right?

Wrong.

Don't be fooled by this 2017 performance, guys.  Keep listening.  They, again, bring the angst and energy.

They are currently on a tour that they are alluding to being their last.... in 2025.   But, let's be clear - they're not stopping the touring because of their energy levels.  It's economic conditions.  But I think they're not done yet.   

5 November 2025 - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Refugee

Florida was too big a state for just one post - and people keep moving there.  

I don't know why.

They have alligators. 

However, they also had Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers (from Gainsville), who had a TON of hits, including this Top 20 hit from their 1980 breakthrough album Damn The Torpedoes.  Co-written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, it was reportedly a tough song to record, with perfect being the enemy of good and a LOT of takes needed to get the song just right.

But they DID get it right, and the results brought us a raw, noisy, brash song. 

This song was a live favorite, and every time they did a benefit concert of some sort - like Farm Aid in 1985 (and Live Aid, too, by the way), this song was a staple.

Petty consistently said that this song was really hard on his voice.

And yet, in 2012, when they were STILL performing the song live, he STILL sang it largely in the same key.

5 November 2025 - Pitbull ft. TJR - Don't Stop The Party

Nowadays, big cities have more than one area code.  

Miami, FL is no exception.  

But it's usually more prestigious to have the original one, from when there was only one.

Miami's was 305.  

Mr. Worldwide is also Mr. 305.  

That's it.  That's the post.  

It's not actually the whole post.

Pitbull has made a career representing Miami and making fun pop/dance music.  He's not making a career winning awards (although he has plenty - including a Grammy for his 2016 album Dale which, for my English speakers, has two syllables), but rather, making fun, exciting music and putting on a hell of a show.

And you cannot deny it - this is a hell of a show.