24 posts tagged “music”
Recently there's a song on country radio--I know neither the title nor the "artist"--that mentions the singer's (or, more likely, writer's) 401(k), and I find myself repulsed by that. To me, that is a sign of the degradation of country music, the takeover of my beloved genre by the aging Baby Boomers and other totally boring people. A 401(k)? You're supposed to die way before you take retirement, from all the years of honky-tonkin and fast women and stuff.
*sigh* And now this and this. Rock has gone lame, too. Of course, there was a time when rock and country were not quite so differentiated; listen to Johnny Cash's Sun recordings and Elvis Presley's and you'd be hard put to tell which were "country" and which were "rock." So, I guess it makes sense. The lameness is occurring in sync.
And everyone knows punk is dead. Dead, dead, dead. Jazz is a wasted shell of its former self.
To hell with the whales. Whole genres of our beloved and enchanting native music are dying, being eviscerated by whiny white guys who just want to do some cardio and maybe sip some mineral water before surfing the Internet. DOES NO ONE CARE????*
So, great, that leaves us with Eminem yelping juvenile jokes about his pee-pee or whatever the fuck.
/wrists**
*Yeah, I know, just as there are still whales floating about and polluting our oceans, artists exist in all of these genres who are still rockin and dying young and shouting out great lyrics and all of it. I know. Please don't get all up in my face about whatever unknown rock band you listen to who is still so totally rocking and keeping it real. I don't care. I'm generalizing about genres here.
This brings up an important question: By what miracle is Keith Richards still alive?
**Yeah, I got that from you, Inci. Enjoy.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
OK, I'll play along for a change. This is my musical horoscope as given to me by the Windows Media Player, which is the closest I have to a shuffle player). Bear in mind, the catalog of music in my PC is extremely limited at this time. But, here goes.
- Gretchen Wilson: Redneck Woman
- Mudhoney: Here Comes Sickness
- Los Amigos Invisibles: Asomacho (ummm...how did this even get in my computer? I love the Amigos, but this particular selection is, um, well, you'd understand if you heard it)
- American Music Club: More Hopes and Dreams (which is just beeps...seriously, just beeps. I assume this has to do with the feeling I'm experiencing being in training for my new job. Repetitive beeping about sums it up. That's why I'm Voxing so much all of a sudden.)
- Volumen: Super Confident Guy ("Look around and ask yourself who's got the badass shoes...")
- American Music Club: Apology for an Accident (sweet mercy. Two AMC songs? This is going to be that kind of day, eh? Hand over the Xanax. Fuckin love this song, though. "I'm an expert in all things that nature abhors..")
- Brad Paisley: Ticks (hahahahahahaha...one of these is not like the others!)
- Volumen: Mighty Dwarves ("Flying in the sky! Fighting in the night!" I didn't really associate dwarves with airborne violence until I heard this song. And I'm at a loss as to how this applies to me and my day. I'm going to be attacked by flying dwarves?)
- Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus (OK, this is becoming quite funny to me.)
- Pixies: Is She Weird? (haha...but of course. Of course she is.)
I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this. What does it all mean? I do feel, in some strange way, that it came full circle. In some very strange way.
What song do you wish would never show up on a karaoke list?
It must be said: I love Prince, but I really wish no Prince song was ever in a karaoke list. Because inevitably some hayseed white guy gets drunk enough that he thinks he can Prince. You can't Prince, whiteboy. Not even close. No one wants to hear you get up and do some wack-ass, cracking high-pitched voice and entreat us to give you our extra time and our kiss. Go, like, sing some ABBA or some shit and leave the Prince to the Prince. Fuckin cracker.
Although, on the other hand, I could really do without ever hearing anyone sing "Dancing Queen" again, even ABBA themselves.
Lately, for some reason, most of the music I've been listening to is from the past, from my teen years or thereabouts. I don't know why. Suddenly, though, I find myself thinking, "Hey, I want to listen to _____!" and fill in the blank with some song I haven't listened to in years and years. Here are 5 of them that I've fixated on in the past couple of days:
1. INXS "Need You Tonight" Why did I never notice before how hot Michael Hutchence was in this video? Maybe he was always hot. I don't know. I never really noticed it before, but now I'm kinda thinking I missed out on a pretty obvious teenage crush target. But, like, those other INXS guys are kind of not so hot. They should remain off screen.
2. The Pursuit of Happiness "Cigarette Dangles" Until I heard this song, I had no idea Canadians were sex fiends. How happy I was to find this on the YouTube.
3. Scott Goddard "Cowpunk" I couldn't find a video for this, which is probably just as well. Let's see if we can find an mp3. I have the CD somewhere, but...ah, I thought I had it, but it's failure. Maybe I'll look for the CD tomorrow. You can listen to it, if you're motivated, here.
4. Soft Cell "Tainted Love" I know, it's totally classic. But I haven't heard it in forever, since back in my gay-clubbing days. Um. Don't tell my son about those days, eh? Actually, maybe I should encourage him to hang out in the gay clubs. That's where all the fun is.
5. The Cure "Killing an Arab" Yeah, sure, we were talking about The Cure a few days ago, and my man Itchy Dawg mentioned this song, so I suppose that's what made me want to listen to it again. When you go through that phase when you first read The Stranger, I think you have to think this song is the coolest thing in the world. Because when you read The Stranger, you are obviously deeper and darker and cooler and way more nihilistic than your companions. You are too hip to continue referring to it by its English title--even though you cannot read French, you must refer to it as L'Etranger. You, of course, are the only person who has ever read Camus.
You're the DJ: what are the next five songs coming up after the break?
Well, it's classic night here in my basement, and it's time to RAWK dudes. Oh, feedback, baby. Turn it up!
1. Sonic Youth, "Catholic Block"
2. Jane's Addiction, "Had a Dad"
3. The Pixies, "Is She Weird?"
4. NIN, "Get Down, Make Love"
5. Mudhoney, "Here Comes Sickness"
What a fun trip down memory lane. Ah, now you know exactly how I wasted my youth. I remember the first time my parents made the mistake of asking me to play some NIN for them--my mom couldn't comment at all, and my dad could only come up with, "Boy, he sure uses the F-word a lot, doesn't he?" Yeah, dad, he's subtle that way. Thank god they never heard "Closer." I think my mom would be forced to commit hara-kiri upon hearing such things.
Hey, it's time for a commercial, but stick around. When I come back, I think we'll rock some Cypress Hill and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Meme of sorts--the idea was stolen from Jack, but I've changed it a bit to suit me.
List seven songs you are (were) into right now (at the time period in question). No matter what the genre,
whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must
be songs you're really enjoying now (were really enjoying then). *I mostly went with albums, I guess, because that's mostly how I remember them, not just one song by a band, but such and such an album. If it's not italicized, then I mean the song. Why am I saying this? It's not like it matters.
Newest Acquisitions (last 6 months, give or take)
- Brad Paisley - Time Well Wasted
- Josh Turner - Your Man
- Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (I lost this CD in Japan and just recently reacquired it).
- Marty Stuart - Badlands
- Johnny Cash - The Sun Recordings
- Masters of Reality - self-titled first album (another re-acquisition)
- Prince - um, the album that has "Sexy M.F." and "7" on it. Whatever it's called.
Childhood (1980-1988)
- Pat Benatar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
- Jerry Jeff Walker - Sangria Wine
- Hank Williams, Jr. - Country Boy Can Survive
- Madonna - Get Into the Groove
- Prince - When Doves Cry
- Guns n Roses - Welcome to the Jungle (a song to which I still remember all the lyrics, God help me)
- Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
- Steve Earle - Guitar Town
- Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs
- Clint Black - Better Man
- Garth Brooks - The Dance
- Metallica - Master of Puppets (yeah, I know, it was already old by then, but this is when I first started listening to it)
- Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (this is nearly all I listened to in the first half of 1992)
- Nirvana - Nevermind (pretty much all I listened to in the second half of 1992--well, that and NIN)
- Violent Femmes - Kiss Off (and all the other Femmes as well, it's just I think of that song the most, I guess)
- Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (naturally)
- Primus - Pork Soda
- NIN - Broken and The Downward Spiral
- The Spent Poets - self-titled? I think. Damn, I had totally forgotten about them. They sang about Virginia Woolf and Walt Whitman and such. Good lyrics. I wonder if I still have that CD around somewhere.
- Consolidated - The Myth of Rock
- Soundgarden - Power Child
- And of course, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana--and Mudhoney (Here Come Sickness!) and Screaming Trees and name a fucking Seattle band, and I loved them, except Queensryche or however you fucking spell that--fuck! they had a gratuitous umlaut, too, didn't they? Bastards. Anyway. Yay Seattle.
- Volumen - everything. You guys already know.
- Sonic Youth - Sister (I know it was old, but I think it's still my favorite album by them)
- The Pixies and Frank Black. I guess if I had to pick two songs that I think of most in this era, they might be "Is She Weird?" and "Brackish Boy."
- John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
- Bill Frisell - Bill Frisell Quartet
- Los Amigos Invisibles - The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera.
- Morphine - all of it.
Post-Divorce, Post-Uni (2001-2006--much of that time was spent across the sea)
*remarried in 2005, but this husband cares not at all about music--it's all just background noise to him
- Miki Dozan - Lifetime Respect
- Moomin - Triple M
- DJ Krush - Milight
- Elvis Presley - Rhythm & Country
- Foreign Legion - Kidnapper Van
- Elvis Costello - My Aim is True and This Year's Model
- XTC - Skylarking
Yes, by the way, that does mean that I still have both Purple Rain and Appetite for Destruction in my collection, along with some nice, vintage Duran Duran (regrettably perhaps, I do not still own a copy of Slippery When Wet, but I can still sing every word of "Livin on a Prayer" which I feel is my duty as an American). Why not?
Do you own all the albums of any particular musical artist or group? Who?
Submitted by dutterman.
Well, back when I was married to Mr. GinBaby the First, we had complete collections by any number of artists. He was a fanatical CD collector. When my student loan check would come in (which coincided nicely with the time that our local shop was having their huge sale), off he would run to purchase box sets and armloads of CDs. By the time we split up, we had in the neighborhood of 800 CDs (bear in mind that we sold many that he didn't like, too).
Sadly, when I told him I was leaving him, the ugly monster Avarice reared its head, and he kept nearly all the CDs. I had to remind him of those that had been mine before we met and/or had been given to me as gifts during our marriage. He tried to keep my Mark Lanegan CD, the fucker. Is there no love?
Anyway, my CD collection is now much diminished. I have not devoted the funds to reacquiring most of those CDs, since I have been busy drinking myself into a stupor and traipsing all over the globe. Thanks to the miracles of the Internet, though, the situation is improving now at very little cost. Ahem.
I do have complete collections of a few artists, though. Most of those
artists are artists whose output was limited. For example, I have
every Jody Grind album ever made, to my knowledge. Sadly, I believe they only
made two albums before half their band died in a car wreck. This is
still my favorite song from them:
I also have every Volumen album that exists, so far as I know. I even have most of their former projects and side projects, including my cherished cassette (cassette!) of Poor White Trash. I will continue to purchase every Volumen album and Volumen side-project album until there are no more to buy. I also have a lot of their T-shirts. I know I've put lots of Volumen music on here before, but what the hey? Let's have another, or even two. "Mighty Dwarves" is particularly special during their live shows.
I have every Steve Earle album that I know of, and again I will
continue to buy them even if he starts putting out albums filled with
nothing but beeps and static, such is my love for Steve Earle. "Guitar Town" is the song that started the obsession.
I have nearly every Los Amigos Invisibles album, too, and it is only a
matter of time before I get the one I don't have. Here's a favorite couple of
songs from them. "El Barro" cracks me up, man.
Oh, and of course, I have all the Morphine albums that there were. I
miss Mark Sandman. I even have the Treat Her Right album, and it's
brilliant. God, I'm so glad I got to see Morphine once before Sandman
keeled over. I get the feeling he's sitting up in purgatory, smoking a
cigarette and drinking whiskey. Listening to Morphine makes me want a cigarette and a whiskey. Mmm, whiskey. Anyway, here's a smoky Morphine song or two:
Yeah, but of course, Mr. Ex-GinBaby could have added Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Police, Bill Frisell, maybe John Zorn/Naked City, The Pixies/Frank Black, Sonic Youth, and a bunch of others to this list. Dammit. Well, at least I got out with my sanity...maybe. I still have a reasonable collection of all that stuff, and a nearly complete Pixies and SY collection. Here's a Frank Black song, you know, for the road. The astute among you will recognize a line from this song as a tagline on this blog. Cheers.
Audio: Share a song guaranteed to get your party started.
Submitted by Felipe Anuel.
Well, the thing is that there are different kinds of parties, with different sets of friends, different drinks, and different music. Plus, it was Friday back when I started answering this, and that means it was time for a 5.
1. The Redneck Party: Or, the Party that would totally appall Lokii.
The drinks served would be cheapish beer, sangria, and Jack. Food served would include nachos and, oh, maybe some cocktail wieners.
Also on the playlist would be this gem--almost required at a redneck party:
2. The Missoula Party:
Drinks served would likely include Missoula microbrews and some sort of cocktail. Food would be cheese and crackers that Ken Twist stole from a motel room. Seriously.
Oh, no question it has to be a Volumen song. And this one always gets me going:
3. Fiesta!
Drinks: Mojitos and batidas. Food: Empanadas and arepas. Dancing: Sexy. Bring it.
4. Party for Two:
Food and drink are unimportant at this type of party.
Marvin Gaye is certainly always welcome at this party as well. I don't mean Marvin Gaye, the man, as he is long-since dead and probably not singing all that well these days. But Marvin Gaye, the music, is always a good thing at this type of party.
5. Stoner party.
Drinks are unimportant but should probably include clear, cool water. Food is of the utmost importance and should revolve heavily around Doritos.
So, there you go. Five parties for a Friday night (now early Saturday morning, as I learned the joys of file sharing, since I have apparently lost some of my CDs). Actually I only have the Camper van Beethoven on vinyl, which prompted rude comments from some quarters about my age. Feh. I'll show you whippersnappers who knows how to party.
Hey, brother. This song is a big hit right now on country radio, and it makes me think of you and our discussion about geeks all the time. Here's a link to the YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GcVnhNjWV0
And the lyrics:
Online by Brad Paisley.
I work down at the Pizza Pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I'm 5 foot 3 and overweight
I'm a scifi fanatic
A mild asthmatic
And I've never been to second base
But there's whole 'nother me
That you need to see
Go checkout MySpace
'Cause online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm 6 foot 5 and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati
I'm a black-belt in karate
And I love a good glass of wine
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell them I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day
I could have a three way
Chat with two women at one time
I'm so much cooler online
So much cooler online
When I get home I kiss my mom
And she fixes me a snack
And I head down to my basement bedroom
And fire up my Mac
In real life the only time I've ever even been to L.A
Is when I got the chance with the marching band
To play tuba in the Rose Parade
[ Online lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]
Online I live in Malibu
I pose for Calvin Klein, I've been in GQ
I'm single and I'm rich
And I've got a set of six pack abs that would blow your mind
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell them I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day
I could have a three way
Chat with two women at one time
I'm so much cooler online
So much cooler online
When you got my kind of stats
It's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight
Every time I login
Online
I'm out in Hollywood
I'm 6 foot 5 and I look damn good
Even on a slow day
I could have a three way
Chat with two women at one time
I'm so much cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online
I'm so much cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online
Yeah, I'm cooler online
Yeah, I'll see ya online
Audio: What was the first song you ever slow-danced to with a girl or boy?
Submitted by Rev Stan.
You know, I don't think I've ever slow danced, in the way that I think this question is meaning it. We just didn't really do that where I come from.
See, I come from rural America--the country, hillbilly heaven, whatever you want to call it. We danced a lot, almost exclusively to country-western music. We two-stepped. We waltzed. We polka--dude, what the hell is the past tense of polka? Polkaed? Polkad?--anyway, we did that, too. We even did a little cotton-eyed joe and schottische. Occasionally, at our dances, someone would put on some Skynyrd, and we would all look around uncomfortably while trying to figure out what we were meant to do with our bodies to this crazy rock-and-roll, and then the girls would dance, and the guys would look sheepish and dorky and head to the sidelines. I do remember, back in the halcyon days of Hammer Time, that we were taught to do an exotic dance known as "The Running Man" by some visiting fellow from Tucson (seriously--I am completely not making that up), and after that someone would inevitably play "Can't Touch This" obliging us all to make total asses of ourselves.
There were slow waltzes, sure, and even slow two-steps sometimes--lots of them, of course, from King George (that would be George Strait, for those of you who are unintiated in the ways of countryfolk). And I was trying to think of what song I probably first danced to that was slow, and then it occurred to me that the writer of the question probably meant that weird, cuddly, wobbling-back-and-forth thing that I've seen city people do at the prom.
We just didn't do that.
During a slow love song, you might get a little cuddly with your boyfriend or the boy you wanted to be your boyfriend, but it was still a waltz--some form was maintained, some distance was kept (lest the knees bump too much, which isn't fun--that damn Michael, man, for some reason he and I were always getting our knees all tangled up--I could dance with Brandon or Blaine or even Richard and not have a problem, but not Mike).
Our prom theme song my junior year (I didn't go to prom my senior year) was "The Dance" by Garth Brooks, which is a slow, sad song. I don't suppose anyone cried over it at the prom, but it brought back sad memories, and I think if ever we were inclined to do that wobbly, cuddly slow-dancing it would have been during that song at that prom.
[There are a lot of reasons why we chose it as our theme song, but the sad memories had to do with the deaths of several friends during our high school years. Our high school was very small--my class had 12 or 14 kids in it--so the deaths affected everyone deeply.]
So, here is a song I possibly did a slow-dance to (although...I don't know, but it seems likely):
That song always makes me sad.
Here's a fun bit of trivia about my junior prom: All of the boys wore jeans instead of tuxedo pants (they wore tux shirts and ties and jackets, with black jeans, a look I'm pretty sure would get fugged if they took it to LA, but in the country, we like it that way) and most of them also wore black cowboy hats. The girls wore normal formal dresses. My mom made mine, and it was awesome. Damn...I should scan in my old prom picture! Ha!
Now, we need to two-step. How about this one?
In case you were curious, that's the song I hear in my dreams. Steve Earle, wherever you are, I think you are the awesomest person ever.
Or this one--this was huge in my high school. HUGE.
Onward, to Dumas Walker's we go:
Ah, yes, fun times. Wish I could find a video for "Guitars, Cadillacs." Yes, I still listen to and love all this music. Country and bluegrass (along with jazz, Motown, and the Delta Blues) are among America's finest achievements, and no matter how much I love XTC and Morphine and Coltrane and all of that, there is nothing else for me like country music. In my heart, in my dreams, in my very deepest recesses, there is mainly country music and deserts. I will never feel at home anywhere that gets a lot of rain, and I will never feel at home without Johnny Cash and Steve Earle on the jukebox.
Oh, and what the hell, since I'm enjoying this, and since I mentioned him: King George. Be still my beating heart. Note: This song is not from my high school years; it's quite recent. But, Jesus, look at his starched-and-creased Wranglers--my kind of man. Yum.
Damn, I used to spend hours every week ironing my jeans into those same starched crease lines. Sigh--the folly of youth. My jeans weren't Wranglers, of course--they were Rockies, and they made my ass look perfect, which is nigh miraculous.
OK, enough. I guess. If you hate country music, I don't really want to hear about it, OK? This is a topic to which we shall return, someday. And as Hank, Jr., would say, if you ain't into that, I don't give a damn.
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