The first track from Zevon’s stunning self-titled album from 1976, produced by Jackson Browne. Roy Orbison allegedly was going to cover the song at some point in the 1970s. The opening piano melody is also repeated during the album’s last song “Desperados Under the Eaves,” a nice way to bring continuity to a brilliant song cycle about people living desperate lives.
Probably the closest thing to a hit that Philly’s The Dead Milkmen ever had, 1989’s “Punk Rock Girl” is one of those songs that seems to have been created with the Dr. Demento show in mind. However, despite the self-conscious “wackiness,” it’s still a lot of fun even almost (gulp!) 25 years later. Gotta love those Philly accents that ooze through every pore of this song like Cheez Whiz on an authentic cheese steak.
Arguably, the first “gangsta” song to reach #1 on the Billboard pop charts … way back in 1959. “Stagger Lee” is an adaptation of a popular blues/folk song whose first published version came in 1911, but apparently had been around since 1897 in a version called “Stack-a-Lee” by “Prof. Charlie Lee, the piano thumper”. It’s based on a true story of the murder of William “Billy” Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton in St. Louis in 1895.
Even though Price’s version is relatively slick and is now considered one of those “safe” oldies relegated to Cousin Brucie-style radio shows, it still packs quite a wallop and if a similar song was released nowadays, would arguably be extremely controversial.
A sweet acoustic ballad that beautifully conveys the experience of love when you’re in middle school, you don’t have a license to drive, and your big social events with your significant other are walking each other home from school and going to the middle school dance. I don’t know how much of that has survived in these increasingly jaded times, but I feel sorry for anyone who leapfrogs over a stage like this.
This is an alternate version of the song that wound up on Big Star’s “#1 Record.” There’s some very nice and (I’m sure) extremely rare footage of Big Star in this clip. I know “Radio City” is the critic’s favorite in Big Star’s oeuvre, but I have to say I love “#1 Record” more. The song was recently heard on “That 70s Show” when it underscored the romance between Eric and Jackie.
I always liked Neneh Cherry and thought she was a severely underrated performer. Here is an absolutely electrifying cover of the classic punk reggae song by X-Ray Spex. This is the best quality I could find online, but if you stay with it, I swear you will be richly rewarded. Cherry punks out quite energetically on this one and with the drums and bass slamming incredibly hard, you will be dancing around the room if you have a pulse.
Before Van Morrison disappeared “into the mystic” (and as some fans would allege “up his own a–“), he was the leader of a nasty Irish garage punk / Rolling Stones-like band called Them. “Gloria” may be Them’s biggest claim to fame, but this sleazy little gem arguably should have that honor. Later covered quite well by the MC5.
The hardest rocking Scandanavians in recent memory (Norwegian death metal excluded) returned in 2012 with the album “Lex Hives.” “Go Right Ahead” was the single and it’s kind of a louder, crunchier version of ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down.” This is a killer live version and, like most Swedish pop bands, the band is still rocking the matching suits.
A pre-Blues Explosion Jon Spencer rocks the paint off the walls with his notorious former band Pussy Galore. From the album “Sugarshit Sharp,” here’s “Sweet Little Hi-Fi”.
From Nixon’s 1990 album “Otis,” this is a funny slam on Boomer superstar Don Henley by the ever-sensitive Mr. Nixon. Bizarre / cool footnote: Don Henley joined Mojo Nixon on stage in Austin, TX several years later to perform this song, which impressed Nixon enough to change the name of the song to “Rick Astley Must Die.” Per Nixon: “(Henley) has balls the size of church bells!”
My favorite Boomtown Rats song and one of my favorite songs about paranoia of all time. This is a truncated version, but it still contains my favorite verse in full: “And I wish you’d stop whispering … don’t flatter yourself, nobody’s listening … but it makes me nervous, those things you say …” before exploding into a hateful and angry invective at a perceived (possibly imaginary) adversary.
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