Yet another cool song that passed me by when it was relevant … but I’m just finding out about now. This time it’s “Drama Queen” by the Switches from 2008. A great blend of sleazy guitars and harmonies. Terrific opening line: “Load up the drugs, we’ll let the demons come in.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojeYbBpbeU
THE stand-out track on an album full of stand-out tracks, “Sheela-Na-Gig” is from Harvey’s ferocious 1992 classic “Dry.” The song (as well as the rest of “Dry”) s a complete stunner from beginning to end.
By the way, a “Sheela Na Gig” is an actual thing. Per Wikipedia, “Sheela na gigs (Síle na gcíoch in Irish) are figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are architectural grotesques found on churches, castles, and other buildings, particularly in Ireland and Great Britain, sometimes together with male figures … Ireland has the greatest number of known sheela na gig carvings … Such carvings are said to ward off death and evil.”
Allrighty then! Talk about “girl power.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ax1lWJfjKk
In 1985, Adam Ant finally hooked up with THE definitive 70s glitter rock producer (Tony Visconti) and came up with a song that rivals classic Bowie and T. Rex (two acts that Visconti produced during their creative and professional peaks). “Vive Le Rock” has the perfect mix of heavy, layered guitars and pop hooks. It’s a song that should’ve been a monster hit (and probably would have, had it been released in 1973), but wasn’t. Fortunately, most Adam Ant “greatest hits” collections since then have the good taste to include this.
The single of this masterpiece collaboration between Ministry and the Butthole Surfers’ lead singer Gibby Haynes allegedly sold 1.5 million copies. Yet the song never got any higher than #19 on Billboard’s “Modern Rock Tracks” chart. Forget about the Billboard Hot 100. Absolutely no chart activity there. And this was during the era of Soundscan … which linked chart positions to actual sales. Something tells me those dang Billboard charts are rigged. Ah, who cares? This song … and video … are classics. However, what I would have given to hear Casey Kasem on American Top 40 sandwich this song between Bryan Adams and Amy Grant and come up with “fun” trivia about the completely debauched Ministry and Gibby Haynes.
With the exception of “Rock Hard,” recorded for the flop Robert Stigwood-produced punk rock film “Times Square,” “The Wild One” is my favorite Quatro song. I was a big fan of Quatro’s, but strangely never heard “The Wild One” until I saw “The Runaways” biopic in 2010, where the song was used over the opening credits. Quatro was too often dismissed as a gimmick back in the day, but she had a lot of great songs and a true pioneer. And if her 2006 album “Back to the Drive” is any indication, she hasn’t lost any of her talent over the years either.
The opening lines are VERY inspirational: “All my life I wanted to be somebody AND HERE I AM!!! I know what I’ve got, and there ain’t nobody gonna take it away from me. So let me tell ya what I am!!”
Here’s a great song you almost never hear on Oldies stations these days … even though it was a Top 10 hit in 1969 (and got as high as #2 on the Billboard R&B charts). This is the late great David Ruffin on his first solo single after leaving the Temptations.
From their self-titled 2001 album (also known as “the Green Album”), “Photograph” is my favorite Weezer song of all time. This is a damn near perfect pop song, overlaid with lots of guitar noise, and says what it needs to say in 2 minutes 19 seconds. In other words, my wheelhouse.
Yes, the accompanying video seems a little too self-consciously geeky, but try to ignore the visuals and groove on the song.
Another killer B-side from the Stones … this time from their 1968 hit “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” No disrespect intended to “Flash,” but this is another B-side that would’ve been an A-side in a better world. Now available on “The Singles Collection: The London Years” boxset … which would be my Desert Island album. Yes, I realize that a 3-CD box set of the Stones singles and B-sides from 1964-1971 is cheating a bit … but if you insist on putting me on a desert island in the first place, we’re going to have negotiate a little if you don’t want to be physically harmed in the process of moving me to said island.
Back when I was an aspiring filmmaker (as opposed to … you know … actually BEING a filmmaker … writing scripts, shooting on VHS, etc.), I always thought this song, from the 1988 album “Peepshow,” would have made a great song for a sleazy sex industry thriller set in L.A. The sleazy sex industry thriller has always been one of my favorite genres of film (i.e. Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” Paul Schrader’s “Hardcore,” Gary Sherman’s “Vice Squad,” or Brian DePalma’s “Body Double”). “Peek-a-Boo” has always had a near-perfect mix of sleaze, glitz, and danger … and it’s catchy as hell.
P.S. If you have inclinations towards being a filmmaker, don’t waste your money and go to film school. Just write … and preferably shoot … your damn movie already! When you have a full 1080p HD camera at your disposal … on your freakin’ phone or iPod, for crying out loud … and with YouTube, you have instant distribution if no one officially buys it … you have no excuse if you’re even remotely serious. There’s no such thing as “aspiring” anymore. You just do it.
The first time I heard this was on a Saturday morning when I woke up with a horrible hangover. I had bought the album the night before and ran into a female “friend” while I was out and about. After spending several hours of drinking horrendously cheap beer together and having one of those conversations that get embarrassingly “deep” when too much imbibing takes place, I confessed my true feelings for this person and she gave me the “we’re better off as friends” speech. In retrospect, I don’t know what I was expecting. That Rob Reiner – Nora Ephron “When Harry Met Sally” nonsense is … well … nonsense. Every meaningful relationship I’ve ever had has started off on a playing field where both parties are clearly interested on a non-platonic level. Don’t let asinine Hollywood rom-com BS let you believe any differently.
Anyway, nearly 25 years later, I think I got the better end of the bargain with this album. I remember thinking this horribly recorded, but intense song summed up said hangover the next morning pretty well.
Dave's Strange World 