9 December 2022 - Suicide - Cheree

It's the holiday season, which means it's time for a significant uptick in perfume ads.   So, how you you sell something that smells in a visual medium that doesn't have an odor component?

In the case of Marc Jacobs, when selling the perfume Daisy (as in "fresh as a"), this is what they chose (for a 2019 commercial that seems to be getting a lot of airplay this year).  .

Creepy, right?

However terrifying I found this commercial, I found the music underneath compelling.  So, I had to do some digging, and found that it was a remix of the the song "Cheree" by the band Suicide. From 1978, the synth-heavy oft-covered song is considered "important" and influential, but isn't necessarily a song that was a hit.  Still, we'll take interesting.

Here's the remix they used in the commercial, by the way:

6 December 2022 - Missy Elliott - Work It

"Call before you come.  I gotta shave my cha cha."

By 2002, it was starting to not be so taboo for a woman to talk about sex in such an explicit manner.... but it was still a big deal for this song to hit #2 on the POP charts (for 10 weeks, which is a record, by the way).... which means it was getting a lot of radio airplay for a sexually explicit song....which Missy Elliott hid with sound effects (the elephant trumpeting, for example), but everyone knew what she was saying.  

But this song isn't just a bold sexual triumph.  It features some old school samples ("Peter Piper", "Request Line") as well as other classic songs ("Heart of Glass").  

And, let's be honest - we know why you're here.  It's not for Missy's badonkadonk.  It's the line "Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gnaht ym tup i."  Guys, she's not talking backwards.  It's backmasked.  And it sounds really cool, doesn't it?  

Whereas a lot of artists wouldn't have the guts to perform such a heavily produced song live, Missy Elliott did... many times.  Of note is her 2003 American Music Awards appearance, which turned it into a call-and-answer and featured a male artist doing her backmasking for her.

30 November 2022 - The Cars - Drive

I know.

We've been deficient on posting.

We're going to get better, I promise.

For now, let's feature the 1984 Cars hit song, sung by bassist Benjamin Orr and written by Ric Ocasek.  The video was produced by Timothy Hutton (the actor) and features supermodel Paulina Porizkova, who would later become Ocasek's wife.

Orr sang the song beautifully, giving a heartfelt and moving rendition of the tune.  He was clearly the right choice, and the American public agreed, as this became a rather big hit for the band.

Perhaps the song is best known for its Live Aid performance - which is spectacular.

28 November 2022 - INXS - The Gift

How did INXS become an afterthought on the US charts?  The answer may surprise you.

This 1993 single, the lead one from their album Full Moon Dirty Hearts, featured a video that MTV would not air, because it had "controversial images" - specifically Gulf War images, something that was still pretty fresh in the American psyche.  

It was, and is, still a great and exciting song.  It is a true shame that it was ignored to the extent that it was.  

Even though Michael Hutchence passed away in 1997, he still have time to give spirited live performances of this song.  Here is the band, performing the song to an excited crowd in 1994.

2 November 2022 - Public Enemy - 911 Is A Joke

This joke, co-written by and primarily performed by reality show dating star Flavor Flav, is about the paramedic response in predominantly black neighborhoods.  It is not about police response - only paramedic/ambulance response.  

I think a lot of people look at Flavor Flav is a joke because, well, the clocks, Flavor of Love's three seasons.  Come on, man - just pick New York.  However, he wrote and performed poignant songs like this one - and delivered the hard messages with a side of humor.   It's somewhat brilliant, really.   

24 October 2022 - The Manhattans - Shining Star

Leo Graham and Paul Richmond, record producers, were nominated for a Grammy for this 1980 hit song, the biggest by The Manhattans for several years - their second and final trip to the Billboard top 5 (although they'd continue to be the R&B chart hitmakers they had been for more than a decade).

But hey, that's not the point of this post.  The point is to make sure you know it's The Manhattans, and not Earth, Wind, and Fire, who perform this song.  Yes, EWF has a song by the same name.  It's not this song.  

31 August 2022 - Ten Second Epic - Every Day

"You were simping for that French Canadian lady yesterday, so you're gonna post a Lights song now, just to prove you aren't simping for that French Canadian lady, aren't you?"

"Actually, today we're going to feature Ten Second Epic.  Yeah, they're Canadian.  Maybe I should have saved this for Maple Leaf March, but whatever.  They have other songs."

"OK, sir, I am impressed.  Good way to break the mold.  Or do they spell it mould?"

"Good question.  I'll have to ask all my favourite Canadians."

"Well, tell me about this song!"

"OK!  This song was off their 2009 album Hometown, This video, for the third single from that album, was directed by Sean Michael Turrell, and centers around a guy asking his lady to forgive him for some ambiguous wrongdoing."

"Oh, I love ladies in videos.  Anything else you need to tell me before I watch this?" 

"Nope.  Go ahead."