5 July 2023 - Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F

This song was commissioned for the 1984 hit movie Beverly Hills Cop.  Most of you probably knew that.  I mean, it's Harold Faltermeyer's best known song.  

"Alex F" was named for the character Axel Foley, portrayed by Eddie Murphy in the movie.  What you may not know is that it was composed in the key of F minor, continuing the F theme.  Faltermeyer wrote the song, and performs all the instruments, which are all electronic.  He also appears in the video, strangly wearing an overcoat, sunglasses and a hat while pounding away on what was probably state-of-the-art computer equipment in 1984.

Before you all go running off to the Wikipedia page for this song and tell me that I'm wrong and that the song was written by Hans Faltermeier, you should know that his full name is Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeier.... and he anglicized his name for single release (mostly because Americans are more likely to listen to a Harold than a Hans, to be frank and sad about it).

Anyway, it was a worldwide instrumental hit, and you should just listen to it.  

Now enjoy Peter Griffin dancing to it.

4 July 2023 - Van Halen - Jump

Well, Happy Independence Day to all our US readers.

We decided it was appropriate to go with a 40-year-old motivational song that started off as something very different than that.

You see, Eddie Van Halen wrote the synth part first - and the rest of the hard-rockin' band rejected it.  When David Lee Roth was finally convinced to give it another shot, he recalled a news story of a person who was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a building... and, well, there's always that asshole who has to yell "C'mon, Jump!"  

Well, since encouraging suicide isn't really something that record labels are going to get behind, the lyrics the band wrote ended up being a bit more motivational and less... well, death-y.  

What the end result turned into was the biggest hit of Van Halen's career, by a lot.  Deservedly so, too - it was a great, energetic song that brought rock to the masses.

Famously, David Lee Roth left Van Halen and was replaced by Sammy Hagar - which really begat a different band.  This live version of the song from 1993 is a lot less synth-y, which tracks with the harder rocking feel of the band.

Funny enough, this live version was released as a single in Europe and ended up being a bit of a minor hit, too.  

Perhaps not so famously, Sammy Hagar left Van Halen and was replaced by Gary Cherone from Extreme.  Not surprisingly, he needed to perform David Lee Roth's songs, too.

This version was not released as a single and was not a hit because no one liked Gary Cherone as the lead vocalist of Van Halen.

Because this is a blog post, we are very much oversimplifying the history of Van Halen, but the short version is, David Lee Roth came back and the band, of course, performed this song.  It is very much a fusion of the rock and synth styles - and that's Wolfgang Van Halen on bass.

There was supposed to be a "kitchen sink" reuinion with Hagar, Cherone, and Michael Anthony rejoinign the band - but, sadly, Eddie Van Halen passed away before that could happen.  So, this post ends here. 

3 July 2023 - Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

We want July 2023 to be the coolest month on Wicked Guilty Pleasures ever.  This is why we opened it with the absolute coolest song ever recorded.

The song was released as the debut single from the Digable Planets's debut album, and it was a Top 20 hit in the US and elsewhere.  It remains their biggest hit to this day.  More to the point, it is a Grammy-winning song and is considered to be the pinacle of the fusion genre known as jazz-rap.  You hear the jazz, right?  Well, that's "Stretching" by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, which they sampled for this track.

The Cleveland-based trio formed in 1987, and broke up for a bit in the late 90's, but they're back together and still together.  All three of them have remained - no lineup changes.  

And, as you can see from this 2016 live performance, they're still way cooler than I am.  

30 June 2023 - Madonna - Like A Prayer

This song started life like most others.

As a Pepsi commercial.

No, seriously.

Madonna wanted to use the commercial to launch her song, before its release to MTV and radio as a single.  She had somewhat stepped back from music for a couple of years, but in 1989, she was ready to make a splash. 

The commercial was a hit.

The next day, she released this video to MTV.

Because of the controversial use of religous imagery, an immediate boycott of Pepsi, including their brands like KFC and Taco Bell, was called by Christian groups.  Pepsi resonded by dropping Madonna.

MTV responded by playing the video even more.  

The song is widely regarded as one of Madonna's best, and its chart performance supports that - it was a #1 song in the US for three weeks and a huge hit worldwide.  

As huge a hit as it was, the song itself was also huge, and never is that more apparent than when performed live - like this performance in Miami.  The song employs the use of a choir, and having that choir in the room, live, just adds to the depth and majesty of the song.

(Update: 13 September 2023) Pepsi has now reversed course and do recognize the genius of the commercial - with an updated commercial.

29 June 2023 - The Cranberries - Zombie

On the 20th of March in 1993, the second of two bomb attacks happened in Warrington, Cheshire, England.  The Irish Republican Army, a group who was trying to pressure the UK into pulling out of Northern Ireland, claimed responsibilty for the attack, which killed Johnathan Ball, aged 3, and Tim Parry, aged 12.

Why am I opening this post like this?   

Because "Zombie" was written in response to that attack,   

You see, Irish band The Cranberries were on a tour bus near the explosion. so it really hit home for Dolores O'Riordan.  She wrote this song very quickly and the band immediately started performing it live, also adding it to their second album.  In fact, here they are, performing the song in January 1994, a full nine months before the song was on any album.

While all this was going on, the band's first album was blowing up (figuratively) and they were becoming the band of the moment, with videos in heavy rotation on MTV and hits on the pop charts - so their second album was hotly anticipated.  When it was released, it became a smash hit, topping charts worldwide and bringing the band's second album, No Need To Argue, with it.

The song, a grungy departure from the band's style, was loaded with political overtones that were largely lost on the US audience.  They were NOT lost on the UK audience, and the band was heavily criticized by some for them in the press.  Who did NOT criticize the band were the families of Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry, who thanked the band for their song and for its magesty and real lyrics.  

The Cranberries are no more, ending with the 2018 death of Dolores O'Riordan, but she didn't lose a bit of passion right up until the moment she died (which was during a recording session).  Here's the band in 2016, more than 20 years after the song was written, performing the song with equal passion as the day it was first performed.

28 June 2023 - Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

This is a week of a lot of firsts for us.  Here's another: our first Metallica post.

We chose a well-known and relatively not-metal song for this first post, for reasons.  But it's a song with a story.

Written by James Hetfield (who also gave Lars Ulrich a credit for insisting upon bringing it to the band), it wasn't intended to be for Metallica - and in fact, Hetfield was hesitant to bring it forward, as it's a love song (about his girlfriend at the time).  On the recording, Hetfield gave lead guitarist Kirk Hammett a break and took the guitaring duties himself (of course, by the time they hit the tour, Hammett had to learn the song). 

The song ended up being released as the 3rd single from Metallica's eponymous fifth album that featured a very black cover.  It was a huge hit for the band, nearly making the US Top 10 (unheard of for such a heavy band).

The song was rerecorded by the band in 1999 with an orchestral accompanyment by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.  This version ended up being a European Top 10 hit.  This version, in my opinion, does a better job at building - but there were 100 more instruments used in this version, so I guess that's a reason why.  

As part of a celebration of the 30th anniversary of what was commonly called The Black Album, Metallica recorded this song with Miley Cyrus, who had famously covered it, on Howard Stern's show.  

It was incredible.

We like to highlight when bands are still performing their songs - and thanks to YouTube, we have a video from literally this month of the band performing it in Göteborg, Sweden - and not missing a beat.

27 June 2023 - Ashley O - On a Roll

I know some of you are seeing the title of this post and having one and only one reaction:  We know.  There's plenty of precedent here, though. 

Ashley O was the biggest star on the planet - a huge pop star that people could not get enough of, including Rachel, her biggest fan (although Rachel's sister, Jack, wasn't really on board), so much so that there was a toy marketed that mimic's Ashley's personality. Ashley's success was orchestated by her controling aunt, who didn't pay attention to Ashley's desire to perform in a different style. Tragically, Ashley fell into a coma and her fans worldwide mourned her.  

If this sounds like an episode of Black Mirror, that's because it is.  And when I first heard "On A Roll" in the episode titled "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too", I sat right up and said "That is "Head Like A Hole"' without hesitation.  

Three things immediately came to mind.

1) It was way better than I expected it to be.  Miley Cyrus, who played Ashley O in the episode, also recorded singles as the character, which she had never ever done before,  She freaking nailed it.  And, since the song was a worldwide hit, it's clear that I'm not the only one who thought so.  Were the lyrics ridiculous? I mean, the song is full of ambition and verve, but they read like a motivational poster.  It's still a bop.

2) There's no way Trent Reznor was OK with this.  I was wrong about that.  Not only was he on board with the lyrical and stylistic rewrite of arguably his best song - by Black Mirror creator and showrunner Charlie Booker and Cyrus - he released Black Mirror-themed merchandise for sale himself.  

3) Son of a bitch, this is gonna be our third Miley post this year.  

Ashley O made an appearance at the 2019 Glastonbury music festival - complete with glitter and A hat.  Not gonna like - we're here for this.  It's really a solid performance of what was supposed to be a vapid song.