11 January 2021 - Blues Traveler - Hook

Despite how cynical this song might song, this is an incredibly positive tune - albeit the angriest one I'll post this month.  I'll explain.  

This song very clearly acknowledges that people are complex, and feel anger, and rage, and sadness, and yet still put on a positive face and push forward.  Yes, absolutely, it's a satire of how hit music is written - the hook truly will bring you back - but it's deeper than that.  The song is an absolute piece of art, because it works on so many levels.   

Now, usually, we talk superficially about the music, and dive deep into the lyrics on these posts.  This one is different, because the genius is just so much better.  When John Popper wrote the song, he took inspiration, and by inspiration, I mean the chord progression, from Pachelbel's "Canon In D".  It isn't anything ground-breaking that he did that - but given how much that song is used at weddings, it adds to the positive vibes of the song.

Now, over on Totally Covered, we have a tremendous cover that mashes the two together. Here, we have a little live music for you.

8 January 2021 - Pixies - Tony's Theme

As some of you know, I used to be a college radio DJ.  This song opened almost every one of my shows, regardless of format.  (This one closed most of them, as you well know). 

  

You see, the Pixies were (and are) one of my favorite bands.  And they were formed in Amherst, MA, not too far from where I grew up in Northern CT.  To have one of my favorite bands with a song CLEARLY named after me..... well, there's no way I could pass up the opportunity to use the song, a lot.  

I hope they made a fair bit of money off my incessant plays of the song.  It still makes me smile every time I hear it.  I hope it similarly brings you energy today.

7 January 2021 - Hole - Beautiful Son

It is crazy to me that we have not yet featured Hole on this blog.

Today, a lot of people think of Courtney Love as Kurt Cobain's crazy wife, but before that, she was something of a musical genius herself.  Her band Hole's first album Pretty On The Inside, released in 1991, was a gothcore classic.   

Yes, I just coined a term.  Use it.

The follow-up to Pretty On The Inside didn't come out until 1994 - ironically just days after Kurt Cobain's death (the release could not be stopped) - to satisfy their fans, Hole released the Beautiful Son EP in 1993.  It was decidedly less dark than its predecessor - and on purpose, as Courtney was trying to be a bit more accessible.  

6 January 2021 - Blackstreet ft. Dr. Dre & Queen Pen - No Diggity

(Editor's Note: This post was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but in light of Dr. Dre's brain aneurysm that occurred as of this writing, I decided to move it up a day. I hope I don't have to add a 2nd post today) 

Trivia question:  Which song ended  the epic "Macarena" run at #1 in the United States?

Answer:  This song.

However, it almost didn't happen.  Dr. Dre wrote the beat for Tupac Shakur before Dre extracted himself from Death Row Records and took the beat along with him, selling it to primary songwriter Teddy Riley.  Plus, Blackstreet HATED the song at first - so much so that it took Riley himself performing on the track to convince them to go along.

It's a good thing he did.  This song ended up being their biggest hit and made Blackstreet into household names.  Plus, it's a slammin' new jack jam.  So I'm told.   

5 January 2021 - Salt - Bluster

Nino Ramsby fronted the Swedish group Salt in the 1990s.  Back then, he was Nina Rambsy, but in 2015, he came out as a transgender man - something he had privately and internally identified as for years.  

None of that matters to the music, which is amazing.  I just wish we had heard more from Salt - this song hit US shores in 1996, and they were broken up a year later.  Ramsby is still a star in Sweden and still making music - his last few albums have been less grunge and more jazz.

At any rate, enjoy this gem.  

4 January 2021 - Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)

On a cold day nine years ago, my friend Scott and I were talking about music.  We were DJs at a little radio station called WSBU in the early to mid 1990s, and we shared a love of alternative music at the time.  We were a couple of old punks.   

On this day, we'd find out we shared a love of Ashlee Simpson and other fun poppy music.  And so, I started a blog, with this post - an Ashlee Simpson song.   In fact, this is exactly what I said:

Let's open up this blog with one of the guiltiest pleasure songs ever performed.  It's hard to be bad-ass in argyle, but Ashlee Simpson tries, and pulls it off to some extent.   It's really hard to say "Ashlee Simpson" and "bad-ass" in the same sentence while keeping a straight face.

That was the whole post, people.  I also made this questionable font and design choice for this blog - but in nine years, I haven't bothered to change that.  

I hope 2021 brings us some new Ashlee music, but for now, enjoy her 2007 single that was a chart disappointment but is still entertaining and pokes fun at some of the scandals that plagued Ashlee throughout her career.  

1 January 2021 - The Primitives - Sick of It

OK, enough positive.  Let's pull out an angry song that speaks PRECISELY to how we feel about 2020.

It's over now.  So enjoy a little nihilism and one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands - who are also really really nice.