You see, I am currently going through a project to listen to 1000 albums in a year, and I asked for suggestions (and, by the way, I'll take more). There are a few bands that were definitely over-recommended - Pink Floyd, Tool, and Incubus were probably the top three.
At this point, I am 1/3 of the way through my little project, and I have listened to one album by each of those bands - which, well, the over-hyping really lowered my expectations on.
The Incubus album I listened to was 8. Even though Alternative Press magazine called it their worst album, I rather enjoyed it. Four stars, guys. This song, the third single from the album, opens Side A and, frankly, it's a stand-out for me. It's a straight-ahead rock sound without being heavy for heavy's sake.
So, whoever suggested Incubus.... bravo.
The thing about solid rock bands - and I have to say, Incubus falls in that category - is that their live performances, like this one from Kuala Lumpur in 2018 - sound just like the studio, but with more crowd noise and shaky camera work.
I was really angry yesterday, because when I wrote that post, I had just listened to an album by that songwriter that I absolutely loved - and I went into it wanting to hate it because of the things she had done.
But here's the thing. The song was really chosen by Jennifer Warnes, and she chose Joe Cocker - not known for his love ballads - as her duet partner, and it was their contrast that made this a great song that I very much did not appreciate when it was new. THEY won a Grammy for this song. THEY sold the song for the Oscar.
And, given that Jennifer Warnes performed on THREE Oscar-winning songs, she knew a thing or two about successful movie songs.
Even though he was much older, and she was just a childhood fan, from this song grew a 30-year friendship. They continued to perform their song together thought the rest of Cocker's life. This was their final performance, in 2013.
I am extraordinarily angry with Buffy Sainte-Marie.
For many years, Sainte-Marie was seen as a pioneering Canadian Indigenous singer-songwriter and an outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights and culture. However, extensive investigative journalism - led notably by CBC’s Fifth Estate - revealed strong evidence that Sainte-Marie was not born into the Cree community, as she long claimed. Instead, her Massachusettsbirth certificate reportedly indicates she was born to white parents - Italian, in fact - contradicting decades of her public narrative.
She was not only not Indigenous - at all - she was also not Canadian - at all. Sainte-Marie, in fact, was a Francophone-sounding version of her birth last name - Santamaria - that her parents changed to due to anti-Italian sentiments after the Second World War.
That, in itself, is pretty bad. But it gets worse.
She spent years claiming an Indigenous identity and then leveraging it - for awards, visibility, resources, and representation, which was meant for other people. By her actions, she told the access of others, and their real First Nations stories. This isn’t just a personal failing but an act that perpetuates erasure, appropriation, and betrayal, especially given how fiercely Sainte-Marie was defended and celebrated for her supposed identity - with statements and threatened lawsuits.
And she claimed she didn't mislead anyone, but this clip from Sesame Street says otherwise.
She may be "real", but her story about her heritage certainly was NOT.
I’m angry because Buffy Sainte-Marie made a career and earned accolades by claiming an identity and heritage that evidence now shows she didn’t have. This isn’t just a personal lie; it’s a harmful act that took away opportunities and space from genuine Indigenous people, betrayed the trust of fans and communities, and undermined the ongoing fight for First Nations voices to be heard and honored.
However, the one thing I cannot take away from her is that she is a songwriter with a rich and long resume. She has won many awards for her songwriting and performing - many of which have rightly been stripped because she earned them at the expense of actual Indigenous voices. However, her Academy Award for Best Original Song - that, I can't take away from her.
She doesn't deserve her Juno Awards, but I can't say she doesn't deserve the Oscar.
This song was featured in the movie An Officer and A Gentleman, and was a huge hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. It was a huge hit, and it was co-written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, in perhaps the most honest moment of her entire career.
It's a real shame, because she made a lot of great music. She's genuinely a gifted musician, and some of her albums are must-listens, even after all this. But she tarnished her own legacy.
Here she is performing the most honest song she ever wrote.
The title song from Snail Mail's second full length album, this is probably the closest thing to a hit she/they have. The stage name of Lindsey Jordan, this project has been met with wide critical acclaim - and with good reason. Jordan writes indie pop with a heart unlike any other artist today.
Personally, I think this is the best modern example of the quiet-loud-quiet structure of music. It opens quiet, and goes to a rockin' chorus. The video is very much a violent Bridgerton homage.
Also, you should be listening to Snail Mail, and now, you have an opportunity.
Of course, Lindsey and her band perform this song an awful lot, and I could have highlighted several performances.
I chose this one for The Current in 2021 because it was the most audible. Also, she sounds amazing and that guitar is very large for her.
But also, this performance from last month, four years after the one above, shows how much Lindsay has matured in those years as an artist.... and also, the guitar doesn't dwarf her anymore.
On Saturday night I was watching Storage Wars and a Michelin commercial came on. I'm not sure if this was the commercial - but this was the song.
It made me remember how absolutely amazing The Chemical Brothers were for a few minutes. Featuring vocals by co-writer Q-Tip and making heavy use of a song by Morrocan singer Najat Aatabou, the song clearly endures more than 20 years after its initial November 2004 release. It also won a Best Dance Recording Grammy in 2006.
The song is a great pump-up and an absolute banger.
Lest you think they made up that beat and did not sample it, here is the Najat Aatabou song.
Also kind of a banger.
I was concerned that I would not be able to find live performances of this song that is so clearly electronica.
I was wrong.
But this version from the 2019 Glastonbury music festival is.... strange and not really cohesive, although the beat is clearly there.
I did, however, find great footage of Najat Aatabou performing her song live.
This is not one of those times. This is a short 2-minutes song by Mumbai-based Adi - a fusion of EDM, hip hop and Bollywood. This is a cool little song, and a very cool self-made video (that he clearly made in California, not Mumbai)....
.... that looked very familiar to old-time Bollywood fans, as Adi was playing the part of Kishore Kumar, an artist he sampled for this song..... and this is the scene from the Bollywood movie - Chalta Ka Naam Gaadi, a 1958 film - where Kumar appeared. Should look familiar, no?
No one really knew when Run DMC hit the scene, but they had a couple of big hits when they hit the studio for their next recording - but they had to wait, since they were not well-established, for rock band Riot to finish recording. Inspired by their rock sound, they recorded a song with heavy rock guitar over their beats...
... and hated it.
So they chose to release a version without guitar.
However, both versions got released, and it was the guitar version that was a huge hit.... and ultimately won the group over.
Because of course it did. This song is a classic.
Run DMC first said a DJ could be a band, according to Public Enemy. This is the song they said that in, by the way..
I mention this now because this live performance with Jam Master Jay on the turntables really illustrates the power of the DJ.
So Jay passed in 2002. This ended Run DMC as a group - they were no more without their band. That doesn't mean that they stopped performing. Here is DMC in 2011, paying tribute to what he called the first rock-rap song.... and he may very well have been right.
Fast forward to 2021, and they did reform for occasional performances..
