I grew up on country music. My parents were big fans. So, in the 1970s, I spent a lot of time hearing that music.
Bobbie Gentry was one artist that came up over and over. This was one of her biggest hits, reaching the top 40 on the pop charts - the second time she had done that - and the top 30 on the country charts - well, she did that a lot.
Bobbie Gentry was also a feminist. This song was about turning to prostitution to escape poverty - but also, more than that. It was about a woman gaining financial independence. The song was released in 1969, so it was a little racy for its time.
Bobbie Gentry is still around, but she disappeared from the music business in the 1980s. If you want the other half of that story, you'll want to head over to Totally Covered.
Why did a band from Georgia do a song about Idaho in 1980 - a state that they did not play in live until 2011 - and why did they take it private?
Written by the band, the song reflects the mystery that is the state of Idaho to these beatniks from Athens, Georgia. It's just that simple. They didn't understand Idaho - so beautiful! so conservative!! They kind of romanticized the state - it's not parody. It ended up being their second Hot 100 hit, and became a dance club staple as well.
Plus, Gus Van Sant was a fan of the song - so much so that he titled a movie of his My Own Private Idaho. He first heard the song while he was visiting Idaho - apparently, they like the song the B-52's wrote for them - and the movie takes place largely in Idaho....
....unlike the band, who, as I previously stated, did not visit the state until 2011.
Idahoans actually attended that 2011 show and took video.... of "Private Idaho" in Idaho, where you probably needed a ticket to see them live.... so, yeah, private.
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.
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.
"(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.
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.
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.
