violent femmes

Playlist #264

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Happy Monday, folks! After last week’s multiple fiascos, I’m hoping this week (which will feature the last time I see some of my students before graduation) will go smoother and with fewer towed cars. Let’s get into the playlist.

  1. Neil Young, “Walk On”: Among the many challenges I faced last week was trying to find a cover of this song that simply didn’t exist. I heard an alternate version of it on the Tonight’s the Night 50th Anniversary set, which somehow tricked my brain into thinking there was a cover I’d heard of it back in the late 90s/early 2000s and I just couldn’t remember who’d done the cover. Spent a few hours Thursday evening trying to figure it out, only to discover it was…the version I’d heard on Neil’s Decade collection back then. I Mandela Effect’d myself, I guess? I dunno. The song is a jam.
  2. Jack Johnson, “Taylor (4-Track)”: Speaking of songs I heard back in the late 90s, I had the MP3 of this song on my computer back in college and preferred this version to the album version that came out on Brushfire Fairytales, but I hadn’t been able to find this version of the song for more than 10 years and had despaired of ever hearing it again. Along comes Surfilmusic, a collection of soundtrack cuts and a bunch of early 4-track demos, this song among them. Made my weekend, let me tell you.
  3. Brian Fallon, “Better Before”: I knew Fallon (and the Gaslight Anthem) had some Bon Jovi in their musical DNA; it’s damn-near required for a Jersey band to have JBJ and the Boss in their musical make-up. But this is the Bon Jovi-est song the man’s ever recorded, and I kinda love it.
  4. Wilco, “Everyone Hides”: While a lot of Wilco’s newer music seems like it was designed to just wash over you in an acoustic hush, but some songs still stick out. Like this one. It’s got a very insistent rhythm and a neat guitar figure.
  5. Lazlo Bane, “Superman”: Have you watched the Scrubs revival? I was pleasantly surprised with how good it is. And the theme song – this song – still hits just right.
  6. Radiohead, “These Are My Twisted Words”: A glitchy, stuttering number, the sort of song that you hear and immediately recognize as peak Radiohead.
  7. Galaxie 500, “Isn’t It A Pity”: An elegiac 80s college rock take on the George Harrison classic. Whereas George’s version relied on the wall of sound wash of guitars and voices to carry the tune, Galaxie 500 strip it down to a single guitar, bass, and drum kit and prove the bones of the song are as solid as can be.
  8. The Fray, “Over My Head (Cable Car)”: Can you believe this song is more than 20 years old? I still think of them as a band that just came out! Am I just an Old now?
  9. Kate Wolf, “Across the Great Divide”: I love this song, I just hate the harmonica in it. I feel it undercuts the tone of the song.
  10. Violent Femmes, “American Music”: What could I possibly say about this song other than, if you don’t sing along, you’re not American.

Playlist #205

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Happy Monday, folks, and Eid Mubarak! Karaoke was fun over the weekend, and we did all of the songs as a big group sing-along. Also, in case you missed it, my new album came out on Friday, available on the streaming service of your choice. Go listen to that! Then come back and look at this list of songs:

  1. Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”: Yeah, this is how we kicked off the karaoke. Bold move, I know, but we’re a bold bunch.
  2. A-Ha, “Take On Me”: If you’re not trying (and failing) to hit that high note at the end of the chorus, what even are you doing at karaoke?
  3. Fine Young Cannibals, “Good Thing”: Turns out, “She Drives Me Crazy” would’ve been a better choice, since we all actually know that one.
  4. Cake: “The Distance”: If you want a bunch of Millennials and Gen-Xers to sing along as loud as humanly possible, you could do worse than this.
  5. Violent Femmes, “Blister In The Sun”: Yeah, we all knew all the words to this one without the karaoke version flashing them up on the screen.
  6. Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”: I think we eventually found our sweet spot in ’90s alternative.
  7. Wham!, “Careless Whisper”: The song where Wham! earned that exclamation mark.
  8. The Beatles, “I Saw Her Standing There”: Can we, for a just a moment, stop and cringe at the first line of this song and then move on? Yes, he’s singing about a 17 year old girl. Yes, it’s creepy and skeevy and gross. This song is still a banger, though.
  9. The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”: Did we sing this one? I can’t remember. We should have, if we didn’t.
  10. Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”: Look, there were a lot of people at this thing, and everyone has different ideas of what makes a good karaoke song. Also, that Brooklyn 99 cold open that features this song is brilliant.

Playlist #168

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Happy Tuesday, folks! We’re back from the beach, and for once I did not get sunburned! Don’t forget that the new Eddie Hazzard book is now available on the ‘Zon.

  1. Foo Fighters, “Best Of You”: “I’ve got a confession to make”: I didn’t realize this song was over 20 years old. It somehow seems older? And yet somehow also timeless. David Grohl is a pretty good songwriter.
  2. Sonic Youth, “Teen Age Riot”: Never really got into noise rock when I was young and malleable, so it’s kind of strange that I started listening to them this week and didn’t hate it. Still don’t fully understand the genre, but that’s on me, not them.
  3. Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”: Dylan rarely writes straightforward love songs, and calling this one is maybe a bit of a stretch. It’s easier to decode than many of his other songs: “She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful/Yet she’s true like ice, like fire,” is a damn good line.
  4. Fleetwood Mac, “Silver Springs”: Man, the 1997 live version of this song is just gloriously mean. Stevie Nicks sings it directly to and at Lindsey Buckingham, a great big lyrical fuck you the likes of which you rarely get even in the best sad songs.
  5. Wilco, “Livid”: Wilco’s new EP is pretty good, if sadly short.
  6. Flying Burrito Brothers, “Dark End of the Street”: These guys were putting the country in country-rock well before that was even a genre.
  7. John Prine, “The Great Compromise”: I’m still discovering amazing songs written by this guy. He left us far too soon.
  8. The Shins, “Phantom Limb”: I kinda like the Shins still. They didn’t change my life, contrary to what the movie Garden State would have you believe, but they’re good.
  9. Violent Femmes, “American Music”: The snide condescension in the vocals on, well, all Violent Femmes songs sustains me in my dark moods.
  10. The Velvet Underground, “Rock & Roll”: Why does this song include a Bb6? What is the point of that damn chord other than to infuriate me when I try to play the song?

Playlist #98: Commercial Break

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Seems like everyone is cashing in these days, selling their soul to the highest bidder, trading their art for cash. I’m not against that, I just want my cut of the action. Here’s ten songs I’ve heard in commercials.

  1. Bob Seger, “Like A Rock”: Chevy trucks used this as their slogan for many years, as I recall. Here’s a compilation of their commercials featuring the song.
  2. Jimi Hendrix, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”: Hey, counterculture hero and guitar god Jimi Hendrix, how does it feel to be shilling for Acura these days? Seems legit, right?
  3. Blur, “Song 2”: Known more colloquially as the “Woo-HOO!” song, it featured quite prominently in an Intel commercial back in the day. I wonder if they had to change any of the lyrics?
  4. Bob Dylan, “Love Sick”: Man, if latter-day Dylan doesn’t make you wanna go out and buy skimpy lingerie, I don’t know what will. Maybe that’s Victoria’s secret?
  5. The Black Keys, “Howlin’ For You”: Why are so many of these for car commercials? Does no one else sell anything anymore?
  6. Yael Naim, “New Soul”: Featured in an Apple campaign for their then-new MacBook Air. It’s a good song. Apple picks good songs for their commercials, which should probably surprise no one.
  7. Tom Cochrane, “Life Is A Highway”: Okay, this one actually makes sense in a car commercial. Maybe not a Hyundai commercial from 95, but still…
  8. Hem, “The Part Where You Let Go”: I guess this one also kinda makes sense? It’s for an insurance commercial, so who even knows anymore.
  9. Sarah McLachlan, “Angel”: ASPCA, baby! You know I had to include this one and make everyone cry and go adopt a thousand puppies.
  10. Violent Femmes, “Blister In The Sun”: This one is actually kinda…painful? Violent Femmes, helping shill for an HP laptop, of all things? I’m all for selling out, but at least sell out to a decent company with a solid product, man.
  11. Neil Young, “Rockin’ In The Free World”: Bonus! This song hasn’t been used in a commercial (at least, not to my knowledge), but the original music video for it was so obviously a send-up of commercial culture and the way we are all always shilling for someone somewhere that I had to include it.

Playlist #3

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A little less of a downer this week. Let’s gooooo:

  1. Hunters & Collectors, “Throw Your Arms Around Me”: Apparently Australia’s unofficial national anthem? So says one of my coworkers who told me I should learn the song. It’s only three chords, so that will be pretty easy.
  2. Nur-D, “Brighter Day”: Rapper out of Minnesota who decided last year to shift from rapping about nerd culture (Superman, Power Rangers, etc.) to discussing Black Lives Matter and issues near and dear to his community. He still slips in stuff about superheroes and nerdy stuff, though.
  3. Hozier, “Take Me to Church”: Someday I’m gonna put together a playlist of songs relating sex to religion (this one, Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” and Bruno Mars’s “Locked Out of Heaven,” just to name a few) and write an essay about the concept.
  4. The Replacements, “Alex Chilton”: Back in the day when the sister-in-law and I played Rock Band every day, we loved playing this song. It took us forever to five star it at the hard difficulty, but the rush when we finally did…awesome.
  5. Savage Garden, “I Want You”: Did you know there were actual words to this song? I mean, more than that whole “chickey-cherry cola” line? It’s true!
  6. Violent Femmes, “American Music”: “Everytime I look at that ugly moon/It reminds me of me” is one of the best self-deprecating lines ever. Fight me.
  7. The Wallflowers, “Misfits and Lovers”: I know my brother doesn’t like the album this song is off of, but I absolutely love this track (and that whole album, Glad All Over). Again, fight me.
  8. Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine”: I just love the way she works her words and phrases in this song. It’s just perfect, as is the church bell.
  9. The Flaming Lips, “Fight Test”: Best Flaming Lips song. Fight me (it’s appropriate this time).
  10. Fleetwood Mac, “Gypsy”: My wife hates Fleetwood Mac. Hates them. But this song is my jam. She won’t fight me, but that’s probably for the best.