11 December 2023 - Green Day - Brain Stew/Jaded

I wasn't initially a fan of Green Day.  I'm not really sure why - they don't make bad music.  

And, really, this is the first time in my life that I was aware at the time that this was a band that was made up of people my age - or younger.  That's right.  This hip bastard is an old man now.  

This single - which is really two songs released together - changed that for me somewhat.  It was minimalist ("Brain Stew", anyway), it was well-crafted, and it was catchy.    It was also an alternative radio hit, like most of their singles before this one - in fact, this seems like LESS of a hit than their others.  It wasn't, really - it just seemed that way at the time.  

Anyway, "Brain Stew" remains to this day my favorite Green Day song, and you can't truly appreciate it until you also listen to it with "Jaded".  

You know this is a live favorite.  Just listen to the crowd.   They know the words.  

Green Day is one of those bands that formed in the late 1980s and never, ever broke up.  They're still back in the club they performed at in Berkeley, CA in the late 1980s - still bringing that energy now.

8 December 2023 - MC 900 Ft. Jesus - If I Only Had A Brain

It's hard to believe that this song is nearly 30 years old.   The song came from Mark Griffin's - that's his real name - 3rd album, Looney Toons.One Step Ahead of the Spider.  His first two albums were dark, and this one was bright and cheery.... and self-effacing.   

At any rate, this ended up being the biggest hit of his career.  This charming song about being stupid reached #25 on the Modern Rock charts.  

I will always remember this song from this clip from Beavis and Butthead, where Beavis annoyed the living hell out of Butthead.

MC 900 Ft. Jesus is a classically trained musician, which shines through in this clip from MTV's 120 Minutes.  That is what that is, right?

7 December 2023 - Danielle Dax - Cat House

You may have never heard of Danielle Dax.   That's a damn shame and I am going to remedy that situation now.  She's been sitting in my drafts for so long, it was time to do that.

Dax was previously in a band called the Lemon Kittens, and went solo in the early 1980s.  She self-released a few albums, and finally got a US record deal in 1988.  She released the album Dark Adapted Eye in 1988, which was mostly a repackaging of her 1987 album Inky Bloaters.  "Cat House" has only previously appeared on a compilation album, so it was a new single....

....and it ended up being a club hit.  Dax's combination of dance sensibilities and Middle Eastern inspired beats made for a unique sound.  

Dax went into musical retirement in 1995 and became a renowned interior designer.  She returned to performing in 2017, sporatically.  We hope to see her live soon.

6 December 2023 - Fetchin Bones - Love Crushing

I really really want to put an apostrophe at the end of Fetchin' but the band leaves it off.

This song was the lead single from the band's 1989 album, Monster.  Produced by the great Ed Stasium - the only one of their four not produced by Don Dixon - the North Carolina band heard a lot of "sell-out" talk upon its release... which likely broke up the band, because it wasn't a successful sellout if that's what happened.

This was the song that got me into Fetchin Bones.  I think it's a great song and a good album.  That's why this song made it into my drafts.  

The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame agrees, and the band was inducted into the Hall last month!  Congrataulations, guys!!!!

5 December 2023 - Charlotte Cardin - Feel Good

This one was sitting in drafts waiting for March.

You see, Charlotte Cardin is Canadian.  Specifically, she's from Montreal - and sings in both English and French.   It's been such a big year for Cardin, though, that it wasn't necessary to wait.

You see, her critically acclaimed 2nd album, 99 Nights, was released in August.  It was a hit in the French-speaking world but really should be a hit wider, because Charlotte Cardin is one of the best pop singers on the planet at the moment.  

Now, normally, that would be enough of an achievement for an artist.  Release an album, go on tour.  Not for Charlotte Cardin.  She followed this up with an EP in September that was ALSO a hit (admittedly centered around a French version of her hit single "Confetti").  This song is from that EP and it is a pop delight, even though it's mostly in French.  

Anyway, this song has been sitting in our drafts for a couple of months, and today seemed like the right day.  Enjoy it.  

It's a new song, so she has not performed it live, and our loyal YouTube listeners have not gotten a great reording of the song live - despite several stops on a US tour.  However, she also performed it live in studio for Basique, on French television.

It sounds a LOT like the studio recording.   

OK, OK, fine.  Here's a pretty poor recording of the song performed live in Philadelphia.  You can see the energy she brings to the song.  She goes into another song - "Main Girl", which was her first hit - afterwards.

4 December 2023 - Adriano Celentano - Prisencólinensináinciúsol

On Friday, I gave you my oldest draft.  Today, I give you my newest, and it started as a meme,

You might have heard about Adriano Celentano, the Italian artist who wrote a song that was complete gibberish but supposed to sound like American English, and whose absolutely bonkers song was an Italian hit.

I had to know if this was true.

It was.

Yep.  Celentano and his wife really did this, not to make fun of American English, but to show communication barriers - but also, to show that "ol rait" was a universal sound.   

The lyrics do NOT say "all right."  They say "ol rait".  

Celentano wrote the song over top of a bunch of looped drum beats in the studio and added bass guitar - and not the acoustic guitar he's playing here - and horns.  Despite making ABSOLUTELY no sense, it's a remarkably catchy song.

But how the hell do you perform such a dense song live?

In 2012, Celentano did just that, with what looks like a full orchestra.  Also, he would have been 74 when he performed this, and he's amazingly spry.

Those of you familiar with the TV show Ted Lasso may think this song sounds familliar.  

It is.  Season 3, Episode 3, over a montage of Zava.

The song was also part of an elaborate prank on Italian TV at Will Smith's expense.  No word on whether or not he smacked the host and said anything about keeping his wife's name out of anyone's mouth.

In 2016, Celentano rerecorded the song, with additional vocals from Italian star Mina and beats from Benny Benassi.  It's got a different feel, but it's clearly the same song.

This was not the first time he had done this.  In the 90s he gave his song new lyrics and turned it into the hip hop parody he didn't know he had written in 1972.

1 December 2023 - The Sundays - Here's Where The Story Ends

Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of drafts here.   There are literally hundreds of songs in my queue - and there are a few artists that are heavily represented in that queue and will be future Hall of Fame choices, probably.

I did decide, however, that this December would be one to remember, and I would highlight some of my very oldest drafts - ones that I have been sitting on for a good long time.   My very OLDEST draft was this song from 1990, this breakthrough modern rock hit by The Sundays.  Written by David Gavurin and Harriet Wheeler (members of the band, the latter the vocalist), it is a fun and sweet jangle-pop breakup song.  

The irony is, it wasn't released as a single in their native UK, as their UK label, Rough Trade, suffered an epic business collapse soon after the release of the album and went into recievership.

Still, this song is great.  Enjoy.