7 February 2024 (Special Edition) - Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis Is Everywhere

I'm not OK with two of these in two days.  

I'm really not OK with this one. I grew up listening to Mojo.  It all started with an EP I bought in the mid-1980s... before the rest of the world got to hear him on MTV and he was singing about how MTV should be covered in ejaculate.

"Stuffin' Martha's Muffin".  It was real.

The name known at birth as Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. has passed away.  He died doing what he loved - performing - on the Outlaw Country Cruise, an annual music cruise he played and hosted.  He played a show LAST NIGHT (after playing one the afternoon before) and was partying until the wee hours.

Day 4, let's keep this ship rockin'! pic.twitter.com/zDWtCcqi6B

— Outlaw Cruise (@OutlawCruise) February 7, 2024

He is literally playing guitar in the lower right photo in this tweet, last night.

Mojo was obsessed with gonads and making dirty songs about tying his pecker to his leg.... and his sideburns.... and pop culture in general.  This song skewered the widely-held belief that Elvis Presley was still alive, and using that as an explanation for everything that happened. 

Bermuda Triangle?  Elvis needs boats.

With his longtime collaborator, Skid Roper, here is Mojo performing his best known song.

This song actually brought the fringe duo some fame, with them even able to play this song on late night network television.

We miss you, Mojo.  SUPER sorry to see you gone.  

7 February 2024 - Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up To Boston

It was tough for me to decide where to put this blog-wise.  The lyrics of the song were written by Woody Guthrie - but the music is completely Dropkick Murphys.  They wrote it.  Ken Casey of the band found a fragment of these lyrics while looking through some Woody Guthrie archives.... and built a whole song around it.

It's likely Woody didn't release this as a single.  He wrote a lot of stuff he didn't release.  What is clear that the Dropkick Murphys turned this not only into a huge hit song - but a de facto anthem for all Boston sports teams.

The band, formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts, still exists, and they are presently touring.   They're coming to a town near us, and I think we're going to try to go.  At any rate, here they are in 2022 (missing Al Barr, so Ken Casey had to do all the vocals himself), performing the song for an eager crowd.  

6 February 2024 (Special Edition) - Toby Keith - I Wanna Talk About Me

I did not know Toby Keith was sick, so when I found out he had passed away from stomach cancer, I was shocked.

Toby was known for his goofy and funny songs that also spoke plainly - "Red Solo Cup" was his best known.  This 2001 single was his 7th country #1 and it falls in the plain speaking category.  It was also nominated for several CMA and ACM awards - mostly for this fantastic video.  

And yes, he performed it live. Here he is at the American Music Awards, where he was also nominated.

6 February 2024 - Big Boss Vette - Pretty Girls Walk

During the Grammys on Sunday, we saw a commercial with this song.  I immediately clocked it as Megan Thee Stallion, so I had to look it up.

It wasn't Megan Thee Stallion.  

It was Big Boss Vette, who finally broke through with this boastful song.  I mentioned it's been in a commercial (the commerical's subject escapes me as I write this), and it's also been used in South Park.  Is it a hit song?  Not a charting one (it's probably too dirty for airplay) but people know who Big Boss Vette is now.

Seriously, the song is super funky and it's now going to be on repeat in this house.   Sorry, guys. 

By the way, when she keeps mentioning diamonds, she's talking about herself.  Her real name is Diamond Alexxis Smith. 

An official remix of this song, featuring some ad libs by Coi Leray, also exists. And it's fun.

5 February 2024 - Sam Smith & Kim Petras - Unholy

I can imagine the people losing their minds right now.

A non-binary artist and a transgender artist singing about unholy things.  

Well, this song won a couple of Grammys last year, making Kim Petras the first transgender woman to win a Grammy.  Yeah, people lost their minds.  

This song, which was a huge hit (and #11 on the 2023 year-end Billboard chart), is excellent and fun and somewhat delightful, and I'm glad it won awards. 

These two did a lot of versions of this song live, but my favorite is this one that they did with a full orchestra.  The Middle Eastern elements of the song really shine through here. 

2 February 2023 - Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red

Why yes, that is a signficant and prominent Dionne Warwick sample in this song.  

Sampling is nothing new.  Artists do this all the time.  

Because of the samples, there's a long list of songwriters, including Burt Bacharach, for this song, but Doja Cat wrote the lyrics 100% herself.

In 2023, it became her 2nd US #1 hit, and her 1st as a solo artist (she previously hit for "Say So" with Nicki Minaj).  It was and IS a huge hit worldwide.  It's constantly sung by other people in my house.   It's infectious.  

The song is nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance this Sunday, at the Grammys, and it's got a solid chance, being the only nomination for the song.  

In this performance for BBC Radio 1, Doja Cat performs the song live with a full band and clearly sings the hell out of this.

For her part, Dionne Warwick is happy about the sample.

1 February 2024 - The Rolling Stones - Angry

Who had "The Rolling Stones release an absolute banger of a single with an iconic video" on their 2023 bucket list?

I did not.

From the band's latest album, Hackney Diamonds, the song was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Andrew Watt (who produced the track).  It's a pretty typical Stones song - but it's lyrically and musically distinctive enough to be literally the FIRST song of theirs featured on this blog.  

The song is nominated for the Grammy this year for Best Rock Song, and it deserves it.  

The video features the band on billboards, singing and performing the song.  Clearly, they are older images of the band from throughout their career - a lot of images you will recognize - animated by AI. 

Oh, and Sydney Sweeney in black leather studded chaps makes an appearance or two in the video.  Don't sweat any objectification - she chose her own clothes and rejects any objectification calls, instead choosing to be empowered.

Of course the Stones toured to support this.  Of course they play this song.