5 June 2024 - Culture Club - Church Of The Poison Mind

Yeah, we're doing a thing and we are proud of it.  

This song was the lead single from Culture Club's 2nd album, Colour by Numbers, and it was a top 10 hit worldwide, including the US (#10) and UK (#2).  Was it their biggest single? No.  "Karma Chameleon" was.  But it was such a big and enduring hit that it was in the top 10 at the SAME TIME as "Karma Chameleon", which was released later.

I think history has forgotten just how huge Boy George and Co. were in the mid 1980s.  We were all embracing this gender-androgynous vocalist without issue.   I hope this post remedies a little of that.

Anyway, this was my favorite Culture Club song, off the first cassette tape I ever bought with my own money.  It was a good purchase.   Written by the band, the song features uncredited backing vocals by the huge voice of Helen Terry - and she appeared on several other tracks as well - who appears in the video (and several others by the band).

Helen Terry also performed with the band live, which is amazing, and their 1983 performance of this song is incredible.

This more recent performance, from the late 2010s, does not feature Helen Terry, and features a less androgynous Boy George - and also interpolates Wham's "I'm Your Man".  

It is incredibly cool.

4 June 2024 - Jazmin Bean - Puppy Pound

So, let's talk about Jazmin Bean.  Who are they?

They have been releasing music for six years - their first performance at age 15 involved a bar and a chicken liver they rubbed on themself.  They rose to prominence with their extreme makeup styles (and they do have a makeup line, by the way).  They come from music royalty of sorts, as borh their mother and their father are from well known British punk bands.

They are a very interesting person. They idenify as non-binary, use they/them pronouns, and specifically refer to themself as "generless".  

We are cool with that.  Because they seem happy. 

This song and video are kind of a fever dream.  That's about the best we got here.  But it's interesting pop electronica, and we think you should listen.

They also perform to sold-out crowds and we think they're really singing and not lip-syncing. 

3 June 2024 - Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away

We took a break, but we're back with a vengence. 

So, let's talk about Peaches.

She's definitely unique. A sex-postiive musician (and yes, this is her signature song) and performance artist, she was once roommates with Feist - and yes, they have collaborated, a lot.  She reinterpreted Jesus Christ Superstar as a one-woman show (and it's beautiful).

Peaches Christ, Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?

She's also from Toronto, which is in Canada, and the 2nd t is silent.  Go ahead, fight me on this. She started her career as a drama teacher at conservative Hebrew schools in Toronto - she also attended Jewish school as a child, for which she was bullied.

No one is bullying Peaches now.  

Let's talk about this song, her best known and, yes, you've probably heard it - in The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, the movie Lost In Translation, or maybe as Liz Lemon's ringtone on 30 Rock. 

This song was released in September of 2000, and appears on her 2000 album Teaches of Peaches.  Its original recording was not done in a studio.   So, this 2022 recording from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is just as credible as the one on record. No, we're not sure what the hell she's wearing.

Well, crap.  That was age-restricted.  It's worth the click to get to YouTube, though.  Let's see if this 2009 performance of the song is any better.

Stay in school, 'cause it's the best.  

23 May 2024 - Nelly Furtado - Turn Off The Light

The Juno Awards happened back in March.  For those not familiar and who don't read this damn blog, that's basically the Canadian Grammys, for Canadian artists (with one award exception).  

Nelly Furtado was the host of the 2024 Junos.  She also hosted the 2007 ceremony.  

And, with more than 45 million records sold, she is one of the most successful Canadian artists in history.

Her debut album - Whoa, Nelly! - was a huge hit - generating two top 10 singles in the US.  Her first, "I'm Like A Bird", is well-known, and hit #9 on the US charts in 2001.  Its follow-up, this song, written by Furtado, hit #5 and was a bigger hit in the States.  

Neither song was as big a chart hit in Canada (the former did hit the top 20, and both got a fair amount of airplay), but she would continue to record hit after hit on both sides of the border, and also in other countries.  

This is a song for which two official videos exist, and yes, we have them both. Same song, sparser video.

Nelly has been known as something of a musical shapeshifter, bridging pop, rock, folk, hip hop and even Latin music.  In 2006, she was in her hip hop period, and this live version of the song surfaced.

It's actually pretty much the same song.

Furtado, whose parents were Portuguese immigrants to Canada, performed the song for a very small audience - the cast of Big Brother Brasil.   Yes, she speaks Portuguese.

When she recorded the song in 2012 for Walmart Soundcheck... well, it was harder and slower.  Still, very cool version of the song, even if it was comissioned by Walmart.

Guys, this is our last post until next week.  Please stay safe this weekend.

16 May 2024 - Emei - That Girl

Meet Emei.  She was born in California (as Emily Li) and raised in New Jersey to Chinese immigrants.

She also competed on Chinese Idol and Dancing With The Stars China.  She was enough of a star in China to be on THAT show.  

She's an angry pop-rock artist with some great songwriting chops, like this 2022 single by her.  Did it chart? No.  Did it make an impact?  Yuppers.  This song is fun and angry and empowering and you will be dancing by the end of it.  

14 May 2024 (special edition) - Mélanie Renaud - J'm'en veux

For most of you, you don't know who Mélanie Renaud is.  

Born in Haiti in 1982, she was adopted at 8 months to parents from Quebec.  She built a hell of a career as a singer and a stage performer.  Today's song won the Félix Prize, an award for Quebec songwriters, for in 2002.  Her debut album, Ma Liberté, won the Canadian Independent Spirit Award for Francophone Album the same year. She fought and beat substance abuse.  Her huge voice never suffered.

Renaud passed away today at age 42, from overian cancer.  Her legacy and her music remain. 

A few months before she passed, Renaud did a beautiful acoustic version of this same song.  It is breathtaking and haunting.

14 May 2024 - Marie-Mai - Tu t'en fous

I tried like HELL to get this song into Maple Leaf March this year.  Since we featured Marie-Mai as part of a Simple Plan post in 2023, I've been trying to slot her in.

Marie-Mai is not that well known outside of Quebec, but inside Quebec, she's a star.  She got her start on a Quebec-based singing competition show, finishing third, and followed that with a part in the musical Rent. 

It's been a lot of music over the last twenty years as well, with hits in francophone Canada and France.  She has gravitated a little more pop nowadays, but she was always pop/rock.  This is one of her earliest, from her debut album, Inoxydable, from 2004

Of course she performed one of her biggest early hits live.  By this time, she had gone a little mellower and more towards a poppier direction, but the rock edge is still here.