27 September 2023 - Boston - Amanda

What was Boston's biggest hit song?

I know you probably thought "More Than A Feeling".

No.

It was the lead single from their third album, released in 1986 after an 8-year recording time, Third Stage. Guitarist Tom Scholz really built an epic album - and one that didn't use synthesizers.  All over the liner notes.  Tom Scholz really wouldn't shut up about that.

Written in 1980, the song existed as soon as 1981 and in a leaked demo version in 1984 - which raised the anticipation for Third Stage - which ended up being a massive hit.  

The song entered the US Hot 100 on September 27th, 1986, and I swear I didn't know that date when I chose this date to publish this.   In the era of MTV dominance, this song reached #1 - for two weeks - without a music video (although one is rumoured to exist).  

"Amanda" isn't a real person.  The name fits with the flow of the song.  It's also a power ballad - which isn't something Boston really did, so they were a little embarassed by the song.   Nevertheless, Brad Delp belted the hell out of this song.  

Brad Delp tragically took his own life in 2007 - and the band did go on after that, but it wasn't the same.  This performance from 2004 shows he still had the ability to sing such a beautiful song with the proper level of emotion. 

26 September 2023 - Butthole Surfers - Pepper

This song is, believe it or not, a parody.  

Of Beck. 

This is the Butthole Surfers writing the type of song - complete with slowed-down guitar riffs, spoken-work verses, and backmasked endings a la "Loser".  

It ended up being the biggest thing this very fringe band ever did - reaching the top 40 and getting POP RADIO airplay in 1996.

Pop radio airplay.  Wow, I cannot imagine those pop DJs having to say "Butthole Surfers" every day.

Worse, Capitol Records expected them to follow their success - which, of course, they could not, so they got dropped.  Which, artistically, was a good thing.  Although on a 7-year hiatus, the band, which formed in 1976 and had their biggest hit in 1996, is still together and not broken up.

A song like this is not exactly built for a live performance - but they did it.  They sure did it.

On French TV.  And other places, too, but this was my favorite.

25 September 2023 - Belly - Slow Dog

I know what you're going to say.

"You did this one already."

I sure did.  This is what I said.

"(The) EP (that was released overseas prior to the band's US debut), by the way, was called "Slow Dust", based on two of the songs on there - "Dusted" and "Slow Dog".  Belly later released a remixed version of the latter song in this country, and they even made a fun video for it.  Check out Tanya's jangly guitar work.  And lyrically, the song loaded with enough metaphor to make Kristin Hersh proud."  - Literally me, 7 November 2012 

C'mon.  That was a "Feed The Tree" post, though.

Plus, I was less than a year into this thing, and I didn't know I would still be writing this a decade later.

So, let's give "Slow Dog" its due.  Written by Tanya Donelly, she's also your vocalist here.  The lyrics are loosely based on a Chinese folk story about an adulteress who has a decomposing dog tied to her for punishment. 

  

But it wasn't meant to be a Belly song.   None of the songs on Star, Belly's debut album, were meant to be Belly songs. Belly never should have been.

No, this was originally demoed as a song from the Breeder's second album.  This demo didn't feature Kim Deal, but some of the Star demos did.  These weren't intended for a post-Throwing Muses band.  The timing didn't work out on that album, so The Breeders did Safari with Tanya and moved on, and then Tanya did this with Belly.

This wasn't a song that Tanya had recently written, so the name in the chorus was "Mariah" in this version.  Well, the label loved the song about Mariah Carey - who wasn't a thing when the song was written but sure was when the demo was recorded - so "Mariah" became "Maria".   

The Slow Dust version of the song is a little different than the one that was released in the US on Star.  It's a little more lo-fi - maybe a little more Muses-y.  

I do prefer this version, but only because I heard it first.  

Belly has not been consistently together since the 1990s - Tanya has been working on other stuff, like occasional returns to Throwing Muses and The Breeders, a lot of solo stuff, and being a doula - but in 2016, they were, and they were spectacular.

This performance is from Newport, RI - where Tanya grew up.  

22 September 2023 - Sky Ferreira - I Blame Myself

Free Sky Ferreira.

In 2013, she released her first album, Night Time, My Time, which was excellent.  This was the second single off the album, which is about Sky's public image - and her taking control and ownership of that (even though this wasn't a single chosen by her to follow "You're Not The One").

It's a great pop song.

So she recorded a second album, Masochism, which she finished in 2015.  

Depending on who you talk to, Capitol Records or Sky Ferreira are holding up the release of this album, which was due in 2015, 2018, and then 2022.  

It's been so delayed that, in August, fans bought a billboard in Times Square to ask for her freedom from Capitol Records.

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Well, we hope to hear the new album soon, but in the meantime, she's got her first album's music to sustain us.  

No, we're serious.  She hasn't disappeared.  She's performing.  This is from July of this year.  And her voice is still strong.

21 September 2023 - Kansas - Portrait (He Knew)

This song is prog rock at its finest.

Written by Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh, this song was featured on the band's fifth album, the huge hit Point of Know Return.  It is the single that had the job of following the band's huge hit, "Dust in the Wind".  

What better way to follow that song with Biblical references than with a song about Albert Einstein?

The song is absolutely huge, starting off with a vaguely orchestral opener, with straight-ahead rock and violin in the main part - and a frenzy of hard rock in the third act.  It did end up getting radio airplay, and I just heard it in the grocery store the other day, so you know it had impact.  

This version is from the band's 1978 live double album Two For The Show and is, in my humble opinion, the definitive version. 

Famously, Steve Walsh left Kansas in 1981 due to creative differences, and was replaced by John Elefante - an excellent vocalist in his own right who did Walsh proud with his version of this classic song. 

Walsh returned to the band in 1985, and the band went through various lineup changes.  This was a verison in 1992 that included a lot of the original band, but lacked Livgren - who had been in and out for a while.

Walsh didn't quite have as huge a voice as he once did, but he didn't do badly.

When I saw Kansas in 2012, Steve Walsh had lost his voice completely and could not hit these notes.  So, he adapted.  

He would retire soon after.  

In 2014, Ronnie Platt would take over as Kansas vocalist and remains so to this day - and yes, they are releasing new music, still.

In 2018, the band toured in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Point of Know Return by performing the album in its entirety.  And it was really good.  

20 September 2023 - King Missile - Detachable Penis

I rarely start by talking about the video, but I'm going to here.

You see, this video is directed by Richard Kern, who is best known for cutting-edge erotic stuff like Submit To Me and Fingered, the latter of which features Lydia Lunch in a portrayal of being sexually assaulted by a revolver.   

He's known to be showy.  

So, this video, which fits right into his style, is a natural choice for him.  

The song, which is a heavy guitar riff and organ over John S. Hall's trademark deadpan delivery, ended up being the band's biggest hit - and a song that was hard for them to follow up.  I mean, it's objectively hilarious.  How do you follow that?

It did make their 1992 album Happy Hour a commercial success.  It, however, did lead to the end of King Missile's second incarnation.

Most people who watched MTV only saw the censored version of the video, which is above.  The uncensored version features a dildo, and not a particularly realistic one.  Still, it beats a black bar.

There have been various incarnations of King Missile over the years, but in 2015, this lineup reunited and performed a show at Shea Stadium.

Yes.  That Shea Staduim.

I mean, not on the field.  Clearly under the bleachers.  But still.

They had not lost a single beat.  

19 September 2023 - St. Vincent - Masseduction

"Masseduction" was the fourth single off St. Vincent's late 2017 Grammy-nominated album (check notes) Masseduction.   

Co-written by Annie Clark (who, if you've been paying attention, IS St. Vincent) (by the way, Krist Novocelic didn't pay attention) and Jack Antonoff (they also co-wrote another song with someone else), the song is just.... beyond cool and beyond hot.  It was critically acclaimed (more on that in a minute) with the whole album appearing on a lot of year-end lists.

This song might just be the best thing from that great album.  

I have to be honest.

I was going to post St. Vincent today.  I wasn't going to post this song. Then I found this performance, which was St. Vincent performing this song at the 2019 Grammys leading right into being joined by Dua Lipa for her song "One Kiss" and weaving the two songs together.  Annie's very simple performance of the song is, in my opinion, better than the original - and yes, Dua Lipa's backing vocals help.

I mentioned Masseduction was nominated for a Grammy.  So was "Masseduction" - Best Rock Song - and it won that Grammy.  

Dua Lipa also won - for Best New Artist - that same night.  That's not a coincidence.  

Annie Clark does not, however, need Dua Lipa to be a rock goddess.  We offer this performance from the 2018 Austin City Limits Festival as evidence to that fact.