You might wonder how I selected the songs for this Guilt-Free week.
I put my iPod on Shuffle.
And Track #2 was this song, the first national single for Los Angeles band Concrete Blonde. No one knew who they were, and then they disappeared for a few years. This song is angry, and brilliant, and paints a much different picture of Hollywood - a more true one, if you've ever been - than you see in the movies.
Many of you don't know who the Blake Babies are. But you do know who Juliana Hatfield is. Well, if you were paying attention to the cover of Sassy magazine in the 90s, you know who Juliana Hatfield is.
Before she was Juliana Hatfield, she was lead singer of a band called the Blake Babies, featuring John Strohm and Freda Boner (who recruited Juliana) and occasionally their buddy Evan Dando, who later went on to found The Lemonheads (who occasionally had Juliana and John as members). The Blake Babies broke up in the early 90's, but the four of them (not the well-received three-piece) got back together in 2001 for one last hurrah.
By far, the best song on God Bless The Blake Babies was this duet featuring Juliana and Evan. It's a dark, cool, angry, sad song that will worm its way into your ears and hook itself into your brain. It isn't a typical Blake Babies song - it's much darker and more mature, to be sure - but it's close enough that you know it's them.
The song was so good, and the chemistry between the two singers so strong, that they toured together as solo acts without the rest of the band and reprised this song. Check out the ad lib in this one!!!!!!
This isn't yet a single. I really hope that it is. The song that closes Sucker, it is, in this writer's opinion, the best song on the album. It is full of ache and angst and hurt and love. It deserves to be a gigantic hit, and I hope it is.
This live performance from The Late Show With David Letterman begs two questions:
1. When did Charli stop getting dressed for public appearances?
On the surface, this song is hugely misongynistic. Gee, T.I. has pretty high standards in women...
....until Iggy Iggy turns it into a brilliant call-and-response rap. There are few people who T.I. would allow to knock him down a few pegs. Iggy Azalea is one of them.
I was NOT a fan of "All About That Bass", which was a body shaming song against body shaming wrapped up in some back pride.
I AM a fan of "Lips Are Movin'", which has a lot of the same do-wop sensibilities, white-girl rapping.... and a kitty cat dress. Let's face it. We all love the kitty cat dress.
Truthfully, it's an angrier song, but it's a lot more fun. And I am truthfully happy to see someone with a lick of songwriting talent become more than a 1-hit wonder.
Get an unsung, excellent musician to score the TV show Gilmore Girls. Best show ever, by the way. But that's for another day;
Sam Phillips was that musician.
This song is from her first album as Sam (her real name is Leslie, under which moniker she performed as a Christian artist), and it is brilliant and quiet while still conveying the ache of the song.
