Musical Musings

Musical Musings… What’s The Deal With The Music Circa 93-95?

Posted on by sgottahurt

The other day, BoDeans’ Closer to Free sneaked its way back onto my radio from 1993, and it refueled my loathing of it.  Why do I despise it?  Although it was the theme to Party of Five (and apparently in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron), that’s not why I can’t stand it.  Just listen to it:

Ugh.

But then all of the sudden, a few other songs popped in my head that had long ago wore out their welcome (or never had a welcome in the first place), and that’s when I realized the title of this post (in the style of Seinfeld):

What’s the deal with some of the music that came out between 1993 and 1995?

Need examples? How about this 1993 song that’s actually from 1988.  It’s probably what started this sound scene…

Although I can still enjoy The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) from time to rare time, I can no longer even tolerate The Rembrandts’ I’ll Be There For You.  Did you know it was written by the creators of Friends and shopped around?  OMG!  It was written by the creators of Friends and shopped around.

And then there was Blues Traveler’s Run-Around everywhere you turned (their Hook gets a pass – its video is quite the time capsule merely for containing the late host of Remote Control, Ken Ober):

Make it stop, you say.  I say here’s Spin Doctor’s Two Princes:

And howzabout Deadeye Dick’s New Age Girl:

Okay, that song I still like, and it has nothing to do with the song being in Dumb and Dumber.  (To be honest, I’m not a fan of The Farrelly Brothers.)  But this song has to be considered the death knell of the movement.  The nail in the coffin.  The Roll to Me by Del Amitri.  Seriously, this song sucks:

It’s all of this music’s fault that we still have to deal with these guys:

Hey, Dave Matthews Band!  What Would You Say if I said jam bands suck?

Musical Musings… That’s The Title Of The Song? Really?

Posted on by sgottahurt

"Don't worry 'bout a thing..."

While driving to the radio and jamming my car (wait I think I mixed that up), I was listening to a Bob Marley song.  I always thought it was called “Don’t Worry,” but then I started to worry about the perception of reality when it was revealed to me that the song was in fact called “Three Little Birds.” My universe came crashing down around me.  I screamed at the top of my lungs:

How could anyone do this to me?!

But then I realized Marley does mention three little birds in the song, and all was well with the world.  And it’s not like any other musicians have ever given their song a title, and then not repeated the titular line in their lyrics.

Here’s a list of musicians and their songs that don’t use the title in the lyrics:

Moby’s Porcelain should be called That Song From “The Beach” Preview

The Who’s Baba O’Riley should be called Future CSI Opening Credits (or Teenage Wasteland, I guess)

Gorillaz’s Clint Eastwood should be called Hey, What Happened? (The Cartoon Band Song)

Wyclef Jean’s Perfect Gentleman should be (and usually is) called The Stripper Song

Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit should be called A Mulatto, An Albino, A Mosquito, My Libido (a pretty cool name, no?)

Blur’s Song 2 should be called Only Song (‘natch)

Staind’s Epiphany should be called Waaaah… Wait, what?  Are you sure he didn’t say that in the song?

System of a Down’s Chop Suey should be called Wake Up!  Why Don’t You Put On a Little Makeup (or whatever it is that he says)

The Toadies’ Possum Kingdom should be called I’ll Not Be a Gentleman, which is somehow a creepier line independent of the song

The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody should be called I Need Your Love

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody should be called Mama, I Killed a Man or Beelzebub

The Refreshments’ Banditos should be called The World is Full of Stupid People

Fall Out Boy’s The Take Over, The Breaks Over should be called We Don’t Fight Fair (and don’t get me started on most of their other song titles)

Panic! At the Disco’s Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Off Her Clothes should be called anything shorter than that, like Testosterone Boys and Harlequin Girls (and especially don’t get me started on almost all their other song titles other than Nine in the Afternoon)

Green Day’s Basket Case should be called The Creeps (they also have a penchant for mismatched song titles, like Longview and Brain Stew and She…)

And the kings of not using song titles in their lyrics – Muse!

  • Uprising should be called They Will Not Control Us
  • Resistance should be called Could Be Wrong
  • Hysteria should be called Cause I Want It Now
  • Knights of Cydonia should be called No One’s Gonna Take Me Alive (the video should also be turned into a movie)
  • Starlight should be called what it already is…

(thanks to this site and this thread for some ideas)

Musical Musings… America’s Next Top American Idol Judge!

Posted on by sgottahurt

This idea simply popped in my head, just like how the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man did in Ray Stantz’s.

With Simon Cowell leaving American Idol to host his own version of American Idol called X-Factor, there has been a buzz around the TripleDoubleU about his replacement.  I say look no further than one of Fox Network’s early birds (and The Simpsons surrogate mother), Tracey Ullman.

I thought this was funny and actually LOL'd. 4RLZ.

The reasoning?

  • She could take on the roll of two judges – Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres.  Cowell for the British honesty; DeGeneres for the comedy.
  • She’s been in the music business à la Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and in particular – Paula Abdul.

I searched to see if any others had thought this, and yes – there was one site.  But I think this needs to happy.

Or Ricky Gervais.  For the very same reasons… Okay, I’d prefer Gervais, but in a pinch, Ullman will do.

He LOL'd, 2. 4RLZ.

Musical Musings… “Liberal Borrowing” (BONUS: Sound-Alike Mystery Solved!)

Posted on by sgottahurt

"A Meeting of the Minds," er, I mean "A Meeting of Weaves and Nests"

Criminy.  In the course of working on this post (which I thought was going to be a nice break from all the work on the Final Foursome brackets – NOT!), I started to feel like Nick Cage in 8mm.  The further I started digging, the dirtier I felt… which happens when you actually dig.

And maybe I’m exaggerating my Nick Cage analogy.  Perhaps it was more of a National Treasure debacle, where one clue lead me to another, until my head started spinning.

Regardless, I stuck to it (courtesy of my stick-to-it-iveness, which bears no association with nocturnal emissions).  These are my findings…

ORIGIN(S)

The idea for this post was a sort of fruitful one; variations of it jumped at me from every direction.

The concept: LIBERAL BORROWING, a.k.a. STEALING, in the music business.

Ray Parker Lewis and the Electric Light News, Jr.

Chicago Green River Day

Then that lead me to…

  • …memories of the Jump controversy.  It wasn’t a scandal really, but 1984 me distinctly remembers The Pointer Sisters having to add (For My Love) to their version’s title, as not to confuse it with Van Halen’s anthem.

And then came this thought…

  • Nickelback and Mariah Carey have two (almost three) songs with the same title: Hero and Someday. Her If It’s Over is answered abruptly by their It’s Over.

Then my mind wandered to this revelation…

THE ACTUAL MISSION

Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s new song, Telephone, has been driving me freaking crazy, and not for the expected reasons.

At the 3:33 mark in the NSFW extended video (or the 0:47 mark in the regular video according to other TripleDoubleU inquiries), her line:

Stop calling, stop calling, I don’t wanna talk anymore…

Sounds just like another song, the likes of which I could not think of.  I scoured the web and scrambled my brain.  I started getting Britney Spears’ 3 stuck in my head, and couldn’t get past it.

Once I found out Gaga actually wrote Telephone for Spears, the mental block worsened.  I had a feeling it was one of those backup singer hooks from all the early Aughties’ R&B hits.

I searched song lists of Mya, Ashanti, Aliyah… then it occurred to me: Ciara’s Goodies (at the 1:24 mark).

Looking for the goodies, keep on lookin’ cuz they stay in the jar…

Excitedly, I returned to the website where someone else shared my pain.

What song does Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” sound like?

I hit the “Comments” button to answer…

…and somebody else already had.

(BONUS WEIRDNESS!  Both Ciara and Lady Gaga have been rumored to be hermaphrodites!)

Musical Musings… Better Lady Than Never

Posted on by sgottahurt

Hey Ladies!

This shit is bananas!  B-A-N-A-N-A-S!  Or at least it’s P-L-A-N-T-A-I-N-S!

From my understanding (which translates to “I just learned this”), Lady Antebellum has been a part of the music scene since 2007, but I’ve only recently heard about the group courtesy of their simple and catchy crossover hit, Need You Now.  The group is composed of Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, and Hillary Scott (pictured above), which makes the trio’s name no less strange.  It’s two guys and one lady.  And antebellum means pre-war so no further help there.

Like Lady Sovereign before them and Lady Gaga after them, perhaps their moniker was inspired by…

BONUS MUSICAL MUSING: I’ve intended to gripe about this for a while now, but I kept forgetting to.  It’s more shit that is plantains, and I didn’t hear any mention of it anywhere else.  Why was Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl (I’m not linking the video for spite) such a huge deal when Jill Sobule sang about the same thing back in 1995, when it was still sort of taboo?  Nowadays, it’s kind of slutty.

SIDENOTE: I’m not saying I want it to stop.

BONUS NON-MUSICAL MUSING: Cougars grow up to become cat women.

Musical Musings… So Wait, What’s Better? Being 2 Or 1?

Posted on by sgottahurt

Sugar and Spices, not in that order

When bouncing between radio stations like I do, the mind wanders along with the melodies.  Sometimes the music is anthemic; sometimes it’s depressing.  At other times, it’s flat-out confusing.

For instance, Taylor Swift (and Boys Like Girls) have a new(er) song out called Two is Better Than One (click on highlighted song titles to watch the videos).  In this song, they say that, duh, being two is better than one.

And here I thought couples were supposed to become a singular entity?  At least that’s what the Spice Girls taught me with their song 2 Become 1 (shouldn’t it be “2 B3cm 1“?)

Singer/songwriter/crooked teeth-haver Jewel stated the same thing with her 2 B3cm 1, I mean, 2 Become 1.

U2 proclaimed that Two Hearts Beat as One, and they’re not alone in that sentiment.  Long ago, Stacey Q agreed that Two of Hearts should beat as one, and Phil Collins even crooned that Two Hearts are best when they’re believing in just one, um, mind.

What about when there are more than two hearts?  Ask Feist and Plain White T’s about 1234?

Village People 2K10

SIDENOTE: Weezer might agree with Boys Like Girls and Taylor Swift because they sing I Want You Two… oh, it’s I Want You To.  Well, then what about in their ditty Can’t Stop Partying?

In that tune, Lil Wayne (ugh) makes an appearance and auto-tune (ugh) raps:

Party like tomorrow is my funeral
Gotta stop mixing alcohol with pharmaceuticals
And the unusual is the fucking usual
Man, my life is beautiful and my girls are mutual

The key word there is mutual.  What does he mean by saying that?

The definition of mutual is this:

  1. (a.) Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc.
  2. (a.) Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or things at the same time; common; joint; as, mutual happiness; a mutual effort.

So see?  Weezer via Lil Wayne agree that two is better than one.

finis

Musical Musings… Sir Charles = Saint Nick, At Least According To Taco Bell

Posted on by sgottahurt

Immediately upon hearing the song in this commercial, I liked it:

It’s infectious, it’s about my favorite fast food joint, and it’s… Christmas-y?

The jingling in the background of the “rap” sounds like this to me:

Musical Musings… When Did I Stop Caring?

Posted on by sgottahurt

In the early 90’s, I had my musical awakening, if you will.  My tastes might not meet the standards of most high-brow music snobs, but those years should be celebrated merely for opening my eyes ears.

Here were some bands that I quickly attached to, and somehow just as easily detached from.  Was it a demise in the quality of their music?  Did they grow beyond me?  Did I grow beyond them?  Or did I simply stop caring?

Musical Musings… Okay, So Noooow I Get It

Posted on by sgottahurt

Somebody's Heine was crowding their icebox.

When Weezer hit the music scene waaaay back in 1994, bassist Matt Sharp decided to work on a little side project called The Rentals (he would ultimately leave Rivers Cuomo and gang after the release of their second album, Pinkerton).

So here’s the thing I could never remember, and hopefully will forever remember now that’s it’s transcribed in blog-form…

The spinoff band was The Rentals, and not Placebo.

It might not seem like a big deal to you, the casual reader, especially since I already mentioned the revelation in the first paragraph.  But I always remembered the song, Friends of P (which I actually remembered as Friends with P), and I think the similar lyrics in Placebo’s Pure Morning meshed in my mind to cause the perpetual confusion.  (I also blame my supposed friend P.)

  • Friends of P lyrics:

If you’re friends with P.
Well, then you’re friends with me
If you’re down with P.
Well, then you’re down with me

  • Pure Morning lyrics:

A friend in needs a friend indeed,
A friend with weed is better,
A friend with breasts and all the rest,
A friend who’s dressed in leather

(Click image to see video)

(Click image to - you guessed it - see video)

Musical Musings… You Just Don’t Hear These Songs Enough Me Thinks

Posted on by sgottahurt

Without further adieu, and with only one more misused French word, here are some songs I liked at one point, but that don’t really hit the radio playlists anymore.  Do I still enjoy them?  I don’t really non.