Once upon a time (in 1982 to be exact) there was a song. It was a power ballad of nuclear reactor proportions, and it went a little something like this:
Now you may argue…
I thought this was an Awful Battle? I love that song!
Don’t let nostalgia taint the reality that if that song was made today, it’d be laughable. Journey-ing on…
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
Once upon another time (in 1986), there was another song. It was a remake of an older Randy Newman song that was featured in a little movie called 9.5 Weeks, or something like that. Again, if it was made today… well, I don’t know how many women wear hats that men would want them to keep on these days:
So why is it an Awful Battle? One hopes for endearment enduring, and one attempts to make this sexy:
The wheels on the bus go round and round and Far East Movement’s Like a G6 has my head spinning round and round like those wheels. If you’re unfamiliar, take a taste:
The line "fly like a G6" is all the more clever now!
So in celebration of (quickly) getting to the bottom of this Musical Musing, I thought I would celebrate even more songs about transportation devices.
I’ve neatly broken up the methods into groups. Add more in the comments! (I know no one will do this, or maybe one person only, but I keep trying! I love comments!)
It doesn’t happen often, but today I have some words of advice:
If you live in Detroit and you’ve had your house broken into twice, do not watch Detroit 1-8-7… it gave me a nightmare.
Luckily, I was able to fall back to sleep, but from now on I’m sticking with something positive, like MTV’s World of Jenks or The Buried Life. Here are the theme songs to each of the shows:
Kid Cudi’s Soundtrack 2 My Life from World of Jenks
Grits’ My Life Be Like (Ooh-Ahh) from The Buried Life
Someone once told me I would know The Grateful Dead’s Touch of Grey when I’d hear it after saying one time I didn’t know it. This happened a long time ago.
Well, I finally heard it. That person was right. I did know it. I just thought the song was by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or the Travelling Wilburys or something else with Tom Petty in it.
But the funny thing I noticed was that it actually reminded me of something else. Here’s a refresher for you in case you don’t know or forgot it:
Hear the ding-ding-ding in the background? It sounds to me a lot like The Magic Store from The Muppet Movie:
At worst, it’s as similar as these two images:
I once made a joke at a Ben and Jerry's that their ice cream flavor shouldn't be Cherry Garcia, it should be Grateful Red. The girl behind the counter laughed. I didn't do anything else.
Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. No wait - scratch that.
I once read somewhere that olfactory memories are the strongest (I don’t remember the specifics because I didn’t smell it), but I’d beg to differ. In my opinion, songs provide the greater capacity to throw you back, and here are some 80’s songs that do.
For starters, movie themes are cheats, and Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World is no exception, so much so that I also refer to it as the Real Genius song. It always instantly conjures this image in my mind:
Everybody wants to butter the world.
For whatever reason, The Motels’ Only the Lonely always reminds me think of playing summer baseball. My best guess as to the reason why? I used to watch Casey Kasem’s America’s Top 10 (or some other show like that… I don’t remember because I didn’t smell it) before I’d ride my bike to the park. As it is with most of these aural/cerebral connections… it’s best not to ask how or why.
I was only the lonely in right field.
This one’s an easy link up – Janet Jackson’s When I Think of You always makes me think of my first girlfriend, Brenda. I was in the sixth grade; she was in fifth. She was a cheerleader. This was the song that her team (group?) performed to at the Pontiac Silverdome. The odd memory attached to this? The handled neon green comb I used to carry around with me to fix my spiked haircut:
It kind of looked like this, but more rounded and more neon green.
This one is a bit sentimental. Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out always hurls me back to an early 80’s winter when I went ice fishing with my dad and his friends.
J. Geils Band’s Centerfold is about a man’s discovery of his childhood dream girl growing up and appearing in an adult magazine. To me, it’s about summer camp and reading this:
My memory has just been sold... on eBay for $1.09.
Unfortunately, Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like a Knife also makes me think of comic books… except I was in college, driving around town in a burgundy Cadillac Brougham in a pony tail and trench coat, searching for back issues, listening to his greatest hits cassette, So Far So Good.
Throughout the years, commercials have ruined many popular songs by using them to push products. Not only do the songs get overplayed, but they also become synonymous with that product.
Want to know the source of this rage? Budweiser has a couple of radio spots currently playing in which, I believe, this song is being ripped off:
I couldn’t find the spots anywhere on the TripleDoubleU, but one is about baseball being America’s pastime, and the other is about how there is 24 happy hours across the world.
If anyone can find those for me, I’d greatly appreciate it. I have far more ripping and riffing to do…
I was going to start this post with the video for Wings’ Silly Love Songs, and then mention that the following songs were exactly the opposite of Paul McCartney’sfluffy attack on John Lennon. So I did, but I don’t think that they are that different after all.
A love song is a love song is a love song is a sad testament to an abusive relationship. You’ll see…
MTV may no longer be Music Television, but that doesn’t mean videos no longer exist. I know, right?
Today I present some videos that are, in my opinion, better than the songs they’re meant to showcase.
(I didn’t include any 80’s songs such as A-Ha’s Take On Me or Genesis’ Land of Confusion due partially to the fact that back then MTV still meant Music Television, and also… songs from the 80’s are still good in a kitschy sort of way.)
The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
A very simple song with a very simple message in a very simple – but quite time-consuming to make – video.
Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We’re Going Down
This could have been a movie, me thinks. An independent film, of course. A pretentious one.
Nickelback – Savin’ Me
The concept doesn’t fully kick in until 1:30 minutes in, but this video is certainly worth the watch.
OK GO – This Too Shall Pass
If you haven’t seen this yet, here ya (OK) go.
Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
You may argue that the song is good, but I’d still argue the video is better. For the (mostly) uncut version, click here. (I say mostly uncut because this is still missing the heroin and pedestrian hits… intense video, eh?)
monkeyBLOG monkeyDO 