I didn't want to let the day go by without acknowledging this.
You might have noticed in my last post, about an hour ago, that I included a songwriting credit. All I have to say that, if you noticed that, good 4 u.
Yes, Hayley Williams and Josh Farro from Paramore got a songwriting credit on Olivia Rodrigo's song because Olivia Rodrigo interpolated the chorus of "Misery Business" into "good 4 u". The two songs are distinct enough that there isn't overt stealing - but the right thing was done by giving the songwriting credit to Williams and Farro.
The lyrics of THIS song were written by Williams, about Farro, on whom she had a crush.
Olivia Rodrigo is PRESENTLY nominated for seven Grammy awards, including one for this angry, sarcastic, biting song that she wrote - more specifically, THIS music video.
The song itself, co-written by Rodrigo along with Dan Nigro, Hayley Williams and Josh Farro, was her 2nd #1 hit from her debut album, Sour - a feat that had never happened before. Musically, it flows between pop-punk, grunge, and, well, music that Taylor Swift could be making. In addition to its #1 performance on the US pop charts (where it also spent 11 weeks at #2, tying the record), it topped charts around the world and cemented Olivia Rodrigo as a superstar.
Here she is, performing the song on Saturday Night Live in 2021. Clearly, she couldn't drop the crowd-pleasing f-bomb in the 2nd verse, but her laugh right after stayed in.
Released on their 1988 album Green but intended for 1989 single release (hence the title), the story of this song isn't really the song - which is a pretty standard pop song parody lyrically, and unimaginative in its simplicity musically. The video featured three topless women and a topless Michael Stipe dancing. This is the age restricted video you can't see below.
However, you can't show nipples on MTV. So, Michael Stipe put black bars on all the nipples, including his - because, as he said, "a nipple is a nipple."
It's rare that a B-side to a single is the same as the A-side, and yet, an acoustic version of "Pop Song 89" was the B-side. It is, in my opinion, a better version of the song - showing the beauty of the arrangement and the biting parody of the lyrics a little more pointedly.
Ten years ago from this very point - 3:36 PM, Eastern Standard Time, January 5, 2012 - I started a blog. It was born of a shared appreciation of a particular former sister-in-law of Nick Lachey and star of Melrose Place 2.0, and a thought that she got way too much shit for the SNL debacle.
I didn't know what the hell I was doing back then. I made a few sus style choices that I've stuck with (I'm not changing the font, people). I didn't know that I should be researching these songs a lot more. So, this is what I said:
"Let's open up this blog with one of the guiltiest pleasure songs ever performed. It's hard to be bad-ass in argyle, but Ashlee Simpson tries, and pulls it off to some extent. It's really hard to say "Ashlee Simpson" and "bad-ass" in the same sentence while keeping a straight face."
For our tenth anniversary, I am PURPOSEFULLY revisiting this song that started it all. It deserves a full treatment.
This song was based on real life experience, and is being sung to a very specific person. When you hear Ashlee singing "I didn't steal your boyfriend", she's singing it to Lindsay Lohan. And the boyfriend in question was Wilmer Valderama. That's right. THAT Lindsay Lohan. Simpson did deny it for many years, but she has finally come clean.
The song, which came after her "career-ending" turn on Saturday Night Live, would be a worldwide hit, reaching the top 20 in many countries.
You know what? Before we get into this video, I'd like to address the SNL thing, directly. Ashlee had a SECOND SNL performance. That's right. She came back after the debacle. And performed THIS SONG. This song, the second biggest hit she had, came AFTER her career was supposedly destroyed. Video of that performance appears on nbc.com - but they keep their rights pretty tight, so I can't post it here.
I also want to apologize to Ms. Simpson-Ross (Diana Ross is her mother-in-law now). I no longer have trouble calling her a bad-ass, argyle or no argyle.
Also, I wish a video existed that included the original lyric. Because, it's important to note, Lindsay Lohan bought a lot of shit to Ashlee's door.
Stop hating on Ashlee, people. She's the Simpson we all need.
Despite what you might have heard, this song is NOT at all against short people. You are not supposed to sympathize with the narrator. He's supposed to be seen as a bigot.
But a lot of people didn't understand that. Including the Maryland legislature, who attempted to BAN the song. Clearly, on First Amendment grounds, that was a failure.
Still, this was Newman's first big hit. And it endures to this day.
John Wetton was the lead vocalist for King Crimson. Geoff Downes was in a band called the Buggles. They both wrote this song - John Wetton as a lyrical apology to a woman he had wronged. Together with members of Yes and ELP, they made up Asia, a prog rock supergroup.
This was their biggest and only major hit - but it was a really big hit, making the top 5 in the US and charts around the world. I mentioned the lyrics earlier - it was a lyrical apology - but you might notice that it has a very country feel. That's because it was originally written as a country song.
I usually dedicate the last post of the year to a song by an artist that defined my year or otherwise was a huge song - sometimes an anticipated release. This year, this was an easy choice, despite what I literally just said.
But also, I thought I'd give you a peek behind the curtain of my process.
While researching a post for the song "Toes", by Toronto artist Lights (aka #1000), I listened to that artist's entire Siberia albumS - as she released an acoustic version of the album a year or so after the original. Doing THAT led me to another song of hers, "Peace Sign", which is the one that is the most dramatically different in its two versions (which I covered well on March 3rd). The acoustic version, a highlight of Siberia Acoustic, was reimagined as a bilingual duet, with Béatrice Martin, who is also known as Cœur De Pirate, who happens to be from Montreal, doing the French translation. I was desperate for a couple of Quebec artists for my #MapleLeafMarch that weren't Céline Dion, so I did some listening.
That discovery changed how I had the whole MONTH laid out, beginning to end. It also forever changed my Spotify stats, as she quickly became one of my top five listened to artists of all time, and them my MOST listened to artst, in like three weeks.
A couple of her albums have quickly become favorites of mine, despite me not understanding a word of French. The 2015 album Roses rises to the top, 1) probably because it's half in English and I can understand English but 2) because the songs on there in both English and French are both lyrically and aurally interesting.
I posted a song for which there is no official video, and so I start with the original album version of "Oceans Brawl", the best song off the best album. It is an epic piece, with a 10-second pregnant pause at about the 1:23 mark, so you can listen to the oceans.... brawl. The song itself builds in desperation to an impassioned crescendo before rolling back with the tide.
Any doubts about the real passion that goes into writing and performing this song need look no further than the CBC Music festival, where she cannot stay seated at her piano while performing the song. It is not the type of song to be merely sung. It is a whole body experience.
This live session was released prior to the release of Roses, which means it's a quieter and unproduced piece, and while it's not as bombastic at its crescendo, it's still a powerful version of the song.
