I was really trying to buy more time to think of more songs like these, but I needed to share what I have now. I’ll add more later one day, but these are the songs that make me feel like:
I’m sitting alone at a bar
on a rainy day
feeling introspective
not in a self-loathing type of way
but in a how did I get here and where do I go next type of way
and there’s a band playing one of these songs
regardless of the song’s content
and nobody’s really listening
except me
Bob Seger’s Mainstreet
The Jeff Healey Band’s Angel Eyes
Billy Vera and the Beater’s At This Moment
Dan Fogelberg’s Same Old Lang’s Syne
That’s enough of me being cheesy today. You’re probably thinking:
This imagined post from the past comes upon the heels of two interesting and recent developments: my re-falling in love with Kelly Preston, and that there will (possibly) be a sequel to 1988’s Twins called Triplets! Eddie Murphy will play Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s long-lost brother. My head is spinning, and not a because of a tum-ah! (Sorry, wrong film…) Here’s what I might have written when I was 13:
Good thing presidents don’t have sequels!
1988 has come and gone. So has a great year at the movies.
Not only did the best action film ever get released (by the way, it’s Die Hard), but there was a return to animation being mixed with live action in the incredible Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Time will only tell if they’ll make any more movies that mix real actors and cartoons (doubt it), and who could possibly make another action film about one guy taking on an entire group of baddies in such a believable manner (no one)? But what I really want to write about are this year’s “big” comedies.
There’s a reason I put big in quotes – Big is one of the fantastic comedies that came out this year. Beetlejuice and Naked Gun were good clean-ish fun, and I wasn’t supposed to see the unclean-ishComing to America, but I did.
For me, the stand-out was Twins and you might be inclined to think these are the reasons why:
It was truly good clean fun (and funny).
Kelly Preston is beautiful.
Arnie and Danny have comedic chemistry.
In jest truth, it was the film’s on-the-nose soundtrack. Aside from The Spinners’ Brother to Brother (playable down below), you had this gem by Little Richard and Phillip Bailey:
I don’t know who made this, but it was found here. Sometimes the TripleDoubleU truly is Pandora’s Box (I’m not talking about a portable web radio device)…
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get what being a hipster really is. That having been said, I’m going to extrapolate their reactions to a current trend I see.
To begin, let’s imagine that Rivers Cuomo of Weezer is Patient Zero in this analysis. When Weezer hit the mainstreamlamestream (that’s lame) mainstream with Undone (The Sweater Song), people noticed because it had a distinctive voice and sound. Their follow-up, Buddy Holly, was much more accessible and — normal.
So here are some newer artists with their first releases and their follow-ups, and we’ll gauge the responses from hipsters.
AWOLNATION’s Sail
AWOLNATION’s Not Your Fault
What do you think about that, hipster?
"Get out of my way!"
Foster the People’s Pumped Up Kicks
Foster the People’s Helena Beat
What do you think about that, hipster?
"Have you seen my friend? He's around here somewhere."
I’ve written about this song before in this post (please read… it’s one of the better ones where I actually tried*), but I’ve never seen the real video until now.
Until.
Now.
Un.
Til.
No… please don’t…
*This post is an example of one when I didn’t try.
I don’t know what made me think of this list. And I promise you, it will not be anywhere near as insightful as this article.
In fact, I won’t even cover one of those on that list… which shortens my considerably (really, all I would have included were John Lennon/Paul McCartney tracks, and maybe a Foo Fighters tune).
So without further adieu, here are some Strange Songs About Other Singers.
WHY IT’S STRANGE: It’s not a particularly good song, for one. For two, this group faced a tragedy not long after this song was released – an automobile accident claimed the lives of two band members.
WHY IT’S STRANGE: He’s a basketball player! And he chose his jersey number based on the amount of weeks Thriller was number one! (FYI, it’s 37… in a row!)
It’s been a while since I’ve found a true Happy Find. By that I mean I found a website or blog user that’s new to me and makes me happy.
This makes me happy (which is long overdue you horrible, horrible movie):
For the remainder of The Schwarzenegger Follies, you can click here. You’ll find wondrous classics, such as Conan the Barbarian: The Musical and Predator: The Musical.
And because I’m so kind, here’s another called… Commando: The Musical.
I’ve never made it secret that I love my 80’s music satellite station. (I have tried to make it secret that I love the love song station… terribly though.)
So of course it’s natural that I would rediscover The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince That’s Now Known Only As Prince’s I Would Die 4 U while bouncing around the dial.
A refresher from 1984 (in the form of a strange college project in 2009):
Then the thought occurred to me, could this be the first song that used leet speak in its title?
…and in 1990, Sinead O’Connor struck gold with Nothing Compares 2U (which was also written by Prince)
But there was nothing sooner. Or was there?
Now if I had actually done all this homework, I probably would have stopped at Prince’s I Would Die 4 U. I wouldn’t have even delved to the album that preceded Purple Rain and 1999 called Controversy. (Released in 1981, it had a song called Jack U Off.) So does that make it official that Prince started leet speak since he has three of the earliest appearances of it?
But even better than that – the first song on the album is called:
Happ-E-2-C-U-A-Ginn
Can we be sure PR1NC3 knew about Graham Central Station? According to Wikipedia:
In 2011, Graham Central Station opened for Prince on Prince’s “Welcome 2 America” tour.
Isn’t it ironic? Don’t U think?
(SIDENOTE: Thanks to my brother-in-law and fellow blogger, Judd, for the research. Check out his insightful site Pancake Dominion by clicking here (or over there —>)…)
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