8 July 2020 - Transvision Vamp - Kiss Their Sons

By this time, I think y'all know that I think Transvision Vamp was one of the most underrated bands of the late 80's and early 90's.  And, if you are reading this from the UK, you probably think I'm bonkers.  They were relatively consistent hitmakers there.

This song was not a hit.  Or even a single.

I personally have a favorite album by them - Velveteen.  I consistently list it among my five favorites of all time, and usually around #3.  I purchased that album the day it was released, and it is fantastic, end to end.  I remember every song on that album had its lyrics printed in the liner notes, except one.

"Kiss Their Sons" was that song.  And this song was a lot darker and angrier than anything else on the album - because it was angry and the band was angry - at journalists who were calling these punks with credibility and careers "sell-outs", with very specific anecdotes and a lot of very colourful language.  The song opened Side 2 of the album, for those old enough to remember those - and it opened it with a guitar screech and a hell of a bassline.  The lyric "If you went away and never came back, that wouldn't be too soon" is possibly one of my favorite opening lines of any song, ever.

It is my favorite song on my favorite album of theirs, and it is a go-to for me all these years later.



I include the only live performance of this song I could find - as part of a whole live show.  The anger really shines through live - and unless I'm mistaken, Wendy James is naming names!

7 July 2020 - Dweezil Zappa ft. Moon Unit Zappa - Let's Talk About it

Dweezil and Moon Unit were the elder children of Frank Zappa, and frequent MTV VJs.  They did a couple of singles together - this Dweezil-penned antiwar song being their best known collaboration, from 1986, when it received a lot of MTV airplay.  Look for the Frank Zappa cameo at around the 2:03 mark of the video, by the way - as well as a LOT of other celebrity cameos (I count no less than 6). 

I was a teenage boy.  I was watching for Moon Unit. 

By the way, Dweezil was 17 in this video, and reportedly wrote this song when he was 15. The WHOLE song - lyrics and music. 

Moon Unit, of course, is better known for her appearance on their father's single "Valley Girl", but this is an objectively better song. 

1 July 2020 - Robin Sparkles - Let's Go To The Mall

Yes, this is really Cobie Smulders singing this.  I figured, let's just put that right out there.

If you are a fan of the TV Show How I Met Your Mother, you know this song well.  It's possibly more iconic than the show itself - and it endures to this day, several years after the show left the air.

I mean, everybody loves going to the mall.  Let this song rock your body until Canada Day (which happens to be today).

Oh, if you had doubts about my claim that it actually was Cobie Smulders.... as part of all this COVID-19 fun we're all having, she recorded an updated and quarantine-appropriate version..... 

These's one more thing.

Go to www.twitter.com/redargyle and start reading down.  First word of each tweet is all you need.

26 June 2020 - Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj - Side To Side

At this point in her career, Ariana Grande wanted to be taken seriously, as an adult artist.  And while she tries to mask the suggestive nature of the song with this video, with ladies moving... er, side to side on exercise bikes, it ain't about going to the gym.  (Nicki Minaj, for her part, is a bit more direct.)

What this song is, even with its somewhat naughty premise, is a grown-up, densely layered dancehall-pop song that is surprisingly strong.


But what if you strip the layers and the overproduction?  It's still a surprisingly strong song - Grande has a voice that, while still maturing at this point in her career, is evocative and still a little innocent.....sounding.

25 June 2020 - The Juliana Hatfield Three - My Sister

Those of you know have read this blog for awhile know that there's a story that goes along with Juliana Hatfield for me.

I won't tell that one again.  I will say that the show I reference in that story came BETWEEN the ones in which I saw Veruca Salt and Letters To Cleo.  So, I figured I'd post it today.

For its part, Juliana's first all-ages show really was the Violent Femmes and the del Fuegos.  She did not, however, have a sister (although she explains in all in her book, When I Grow Up) .



The Juliana Hatfield Three was a seemingly one-off project, but she got the band back together in 2015.

24 June 2020 - Letters To Cleo - Awake

As many of you know, I am a fan of the show "Parks and Recreation."  If I had to identify one moment in this show with which I most personally identify, it's this one:

"I love you, Kay Hanley!"

I had that shirt.

23 June 2020 - Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls

A couple of weeks ago, I told you which was the best band I ever saw live.

Today, I tell you about the most disappointing. But there's a happy ending.

The band was Veruca Salt, opening for PJ Harvey and Live.   I was a really big fan of the energy they brought to their music - but in  September 1995, they brought absolutely none of that energy.   Let's be clear - I have seen WORSE bands live (and, to be fair, when I wrote THIS, I had not seen the band I now consider the worst I've seen live) but this was a show I thought would be amazing, and it wasn't.

This song came after that, and they clearly recaptured the energy they had lost that one day.  So, I'll forgive them.  Plus, this song is so creative, it completely switches tempo and plot at 2:25 - which I always found to be intriguing.  Veruca Salt knew what their fans wanted, so they catered to it.

Besides, now we know who the seether is. 

It's Louise.



Two years later, they seem to have gotten their mojo back, so maybe I'd give them a 2nd chance.