I posted a different song from this band a while ago. I’ve been listening to them recently and they were a special (see David Bowie quote below) band. The musicianship of Fanny was outstanding.
Their name was Wild Honey but…according to Wiki… The band was then renamed Fanny, not with a sexual connotation but to denote a female spirit
These women rocked…not pop rock but blues rock. They were pioneers before the Runaways, Bangles and the Go Go’s…and those bands all cited Fanny as an influence. Fanny was different than those bands… They had a blues edge about them.
Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. June Millington was the lead guitar player and her sister Jean was the bass player. June could play circles around many rock guitarists. Fanny would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (their self-titled debut, on Reprise, 1970) and land four singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.
Fanny toured worldwide, opening for Slade, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, and Humble Pie. They were praised by David Bowie, John Lennon, George Harrison, Lowell George, Sly Stone, and Bonnie Raitt but yet vanished without much fan fair. They were touring and releasing records between 1970 – 1975.
This song was on their Charity Ball album. The album peaked at #140 in the Billboard Album Charts. The title song charted at #40.
The worked with producers such as Vini Poncia, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Perry. They also worked with
June was described by Guitar Player as the hottest female guitar player in the music industry in the 70s. She made a career as a producer for artists including Holly Near, Cris Williamson and Bitch and Animal. June also operates a music camp for young girls. Jean has done studio work for many artists, including Keith Moon, David Bowie, and Roderick Taylor. Jean also married Bowie’s guitarist Earl Slick and is presently an herbalist. The Millingtons continued to record together after Fanny as well, most recently on the 2011 album Play Like a Girl on June’s label Fabulous Records.
They also worked with Barbra Streisand. Jean commented that they heard horror stories about her from other musicians but she treated the band with nothing but respect.
These ladies need to be heard and remembered.
David Bowie:
“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” “They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.”
This is a trailer for documentary about Fanny…it’s short and interesting.
Special Care
You there in the corner Staring at me Do you think I’m blowing my cool Playing the fool?
You there in the window Staring at me Do you think I’m trouble? Would you like to shoot me down? (Shoot me down, down, down, down)
Now, now, now, special care (Special care) Has been taken To make you aware (Special Care) You’re forsaken If you don’t care (Special Care)
They’re gonna come burn your house down (Burn it down, down, down, down)
Woaaaaa. Wooooaaaaaa (Guitar Magic) Ooaaaa (Special Care) Oo-hoo-hoo (has been taken to make you aware) Oo-hooooo (You’re forsaken. If you don’t care)
Ohh-huh, they’re gonna come and burn it down Down, oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh, do it, do it, do it
I have a confession…every time I look at this song my mind wants to read “Morman” not Merman. It’s an interesting song by Hendrix. Anything he did I will listen to…even songs still coming out to this day. The guy must have lived permanently hooked up to a recording console.
This song is basically a scifi story. A merman is a male version of a mermaid. In this song, Hendrix sings about how he wants to escape the war-torn world and all the horrible things going on.
This song was recorded in 1968 for the Electric Ladyland album and it featured Chris Wood of the band Traffic.
Sometimes Hendrix would play bass himself and he had many guests such as drummer Buddy Miles of The Electric Flag, Traffic’s Dave Mason, Steve Winwood, Al Kooper and Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady amongst others into the mix.
The went into the studio in February 1968 and the album was released on October 16th of that year. The final complete studio album ever recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and their only one to top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Electric Ladyland is Hendrix’s most experimental album and most musically varied.
Jimi Hendrix on going into the studio for Electric Ladyland:“We’ve been doing new tracks that are really fantastic and we’ve just been getting into them…“You have these songs in your mind. You want to hurry up and get back to the things you were doing in the studio, because that’s the way you gear your mind….We wanted to play [the Fillmore], quite naturally, but you’re thinking about all these tracks, which is completely different from what you’re doing now.”
Jimi Hendrix – 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
Hurrah i awake from yesterday alive but the war is here to stay so my love catherina and me decide to take our last walk through the noise to the sea not to die but to be re-born away from a life so battered and torn…. forever… oh say can you see its really such a mess every inch of earth is a fighting nest giant pencil and lip-stick tube shaped things continue to rain and cause screaming pain and the arctic stains from silver blue to bloody red as our feet find the sand and the sea is strait ahead.. strait ahead….. well its too bad that our friends cant be with us today well thats too bad “the machine that we built would never save us” thats what they say (thats why they aint coming with us today) and they also said “its impossible for man to live and breath underwater.. forever” was their main complaint (yeah) and they also threw this in my face: they said anyway you know good well it would be beyond the will of God and the grace of the King (grace of the King yeah yeah)
so my darling and I make love in the sand to salute the last moment ever on dry land our machine has done its work played its part well without a scratch on our bodies and we bid it farewell
starfish and giant foams greet us with a smile before our heads go under we take a last look at the killing noise of the out of style… the out of style, out of style
This one is chock full of good actors. Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, and my personal favorite Strother (what we have here is failure to communicate) Martin. It also features recognizable actor James Best and with the risk of sounding like a broken record…great casting! It’s set in the old West in a dried up dusty little town with bored towns people.
Lee Marvin…as always, is great as the tough guy. He plays Conny Miller who was paid to hunt down a man named Pinto Sykes. The towns people ambushed Sykes and killed him. Sykes with his last breath…claimed that Miller was a coward and avoided him. Miller comes into town and the action starts there. This is a creepy Twilight Zone and I’ve always enjoyed it…an incredible cast.
Lee Marvin, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef all appeared in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which was released six months after this episode was broadcast.
This show was written by Montgomery Pittman and Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Normally, the old man would be correct: this would be the end of the story. We’ve had the traditional shoot-out on the street and the badman will soon be dead. But some men of legend and folk tale have been known to continue having their way even after death. The outlaw and killer Pinto Sykes was such a person, and shortly we’ll see how he introduces the town, and a man named Conny Miller in particular, to the Twilight Zone.
Summary
Lawman Conny Miller rides into a small dusty town not long after the townsfolk have gunned down the man he’s been tracking for four months. He feels like he’s wasted that four months and someone bets him $20 he hasn’t the nerve to visit the dead man’s grave. He takes that bet and has little difficulty going to the grave. Leaving it however proves to be another matter.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Final comment: you take this with a grain of salt or a shovelful of earth, as shadow or substance, we leave it up to you. And for any further research, check under ‘G’ for ‘ghost’ in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling…Narrator
Lee Marvin…Conny Miller
James Best…Johnny Rob
Lee Van Cleef…Steinhart
Strother Martin…Mothershed
Stafford Repp…Ira Broadly
Elen Willard…Ione Sykes
Dick Geary…Pinto Sykes
William Challee…Jason
Larry Johns…Townsman
Great way to start a morning listening to this 60s influenced guitar riff. It’s a pure joy power pop song.
Nikki was influenced by The Stooges and the MC5 in her teen years, before a friend pushed her on stage in the Detroit punk scene in 1978. Nikki and The Corvettes formed and recorded their self-titled and only studio album in the late ‘70s in Detroit. It was released in 1980 by Bomp! Bomp! records. This song was on that self-titled album.
The album they released influenced many starting bands in the years to follow. Nikki didn’t realize this until it was reissued in 2000. The band was short lived. They were only together from 1978-1981. Nikki returned to music in 2003 with Nikki and the Stingrays. They released an album called Back to Detroit.
In 2009 she formed a band called Gorevette and they opened up for Blondie and the Donna’s at a few shows.
Sorry I couldn’t find the lyrics…Just enjoy the song!
Game Theory was a power pop band founded by Scott Miller in 1982. I remember they got some MTV airplay. Miller was the only constant member of the band which changed members frequently. Game Theory got a lot of college play in the 80s.
Mitch Easter, who produced R.E.M. produced Game Theory. This song was on their album The Big Shot Chronicles which was praised when it was released and now. In the 2007 book Shake Some Action the album was #16 in the top 200 power pop albums of all time.
Scott Miller was a special songwriter. He influenced artists such as The New Pornographers, Jellyfish, Velvet Crush, Matthew Sweet, Ben Folds, Guided by Voices, and more.
Miller committed suicide in 2013. After Miller’s death, it emerged that he’d been planning a new Game Theory album with the working title, Supercalifragile. Miller’s widow enlisted The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow, along with some Game Theory bandmates, to finish the L.P. It was released in 2017.
There are many that compare him to Alex Chilton musically…and also in terms of being a really good songwriter that doesn’t beyond a cult following.
Alex Chilton and Scott Miller
Erika’s Word
Erica’s gone shy Some unknown X behind the why All is some less today Mass not conserving in the old way
Checking out with Brother Jay I’ll miss your half of me Girl are you leaving something You might later need?
Erica’s word, taking me clear and leaving me blurred Erica’s news, singing the praise and playing the blues Pulling the rug out under my shoes
Twelve years ago Shorthand allegiance to the long throw Make believe and pretend I remember when they served the same end
You always liked the photo of us Sitting in our car Just like we’re driving Girl it’s not looking like we’ll go all that far
Erica’s word, taking me clear and leaving me blurred Erica’s find, blowing my hair and tearing my mind Throwing for grabs and leaving behind
Maybe you’ll find that promised love The tingle to the touch Girl and I hope it comes through for you in a clutch But I wouldn’t bet much
Erica’s word, taking me clear and leaving me blurred Erica’s news, singing the praise and playing the blues Pulling the rug out under my shoes
Erica’s find, blowing my hair and tearing my mind Erica’s word, taking me clear and leaving me blurred Knocking me down from second to third
Peter Falk, later of Columbo, is in this episode of the Twilight Zone. He plays a caricature of Fidel Castro. The episode plays heavily on paranoia…especially in the situation of one Ramos Clemente (Peter Falk)…where he questions who to trust. He overtakes a small Latin nation and the former General De Cruz (Will Kuluva) tells him of a certain mirror that will show Clemente his future assassins.
One of the highlights to me was the dialog between De Cruz and Clemente. De Cruz has seen this all before. He knows what’s going to happen and what is going through Clemente’s mind because he has been there. Once Clemente gets power he starts turning into what he was fighting against. All of his loyal comrades are seeing it and try warn him.
The Bay of Pigs happened around 6 months before this episode aired.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
“This is the face of Ramos Clemente, a year ago a beardless, nameless worker of the dirt, who plodded behind a mule furrowing someone else’s land. And he looked up at a hot Central American sun, and he pledged the impossible. He made a vow that he would lead an avenging army against the tyranny that put the ache in his back and the anguish in his eyes. And now one year later, the dream of the impossible has become a fact. In just a moment, we will look deep into this mirror and see the aftermath of a rebellion – in The Twilight Zone.”
Summary
When the peasant Ramos Clemente leads a successful revolution in his undefined country, the former dictator General De Cruz advises that his mirror is magic and can anticipate who will murder him. Clement becomes paranoid and kills each one of his revolutionary comrades believing that they want to murder him.
Sorry I could find no video preview of this episode.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
“Ramos Clemente, a would-be god in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o’-the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants – and any resemblance to tyrants living or dead is hardly coincidental, whether it be here or in the Twilight Zone.”
CAST
Rod Serling…Narrator
Peter Falk…Ramos Clemente
Will Kuluva…De Cruz
Richard Karlan…D’Alessandro
Vladimir Sokoloff…Father Tomas
Antony Carbone…Cristo
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr….Garcia
Arthur Batanides…Tabal
I’ve been posting bands that were in the Paisley Underground scene back in the 80s. This one is probably the most well known. Over the last few months I’ve become a fan of this 80s movement. For me…a better alternative to the top 40 at the time. I want to thank Dave at A Sound Day for introducing me to the song! They were called The Bangs before they released this song.
The Bangles were a breath of fresh air in the mid-eighties. The band played sixties inspired rock with Byrd’s chiming guitars. The lead singer, Susanna Hoffs, caught my eye right away. Yes for the normal ways but also for the fact she was playing a Rickenbacker guitar…what more could I want?
“Paisley Underground” was a moniker that helped music journalists describe their sound, which didn’t fit the New Wave or Rock. This song is an example of the genre, with a jangly guitar and ’60s-style reverb reminiscent of The Byrds or early Beatles. Other bands that fit this mode were The Rain Parade, The Dream Syndicate, and Rainy Day.
The scene also had a bit of early alt country rock (The Long Ryders and Green On Red) made more popular in the 90s.
The Real World was a song on the self titled EP the band released after signing with Miles Copeland’s I.R.S. Records. The EP wasn’t too successful but it did help get the band signed to the major label Columbia Records, which issued their first album called All Over The Place in 1984.
Guitarists Susanna Hoffs and Vicki Peterson wrote this song. This is one of the few Bangles tracks bassist Annette Zilinskas played on; she left the group soon after, replaced by Michael Steele. The song was released on the small label Faulty Products.
Rain Parade covered this on a 2018 compilation called 3 x 4, where four Paisley Underground groups…Rain Parade, Bangles, The Dream Syndicate and The Three O’Clock – cover each others’ songs.
The Real World
Forgot to tell you Sins are very hard to say And you know that the words are there, my love When I first saw you I didn’t notice it that day Now you’re the one I’m thinking of.
[Chorus:] Oh, you never bring me down Make me sad, it’s such a change, oh yeah (oh yeah) If I was insecure That was yesterday and now I’m sure Oh, so sure (oh so sure, so sure).
When I was a little girl I wanted everything ideal Yeah, and a love I could depend on This is the real world And I believe our love is real And it’s the only thing I’m counting on.
[Chorus] Oh, you never bring me down Make me sad, it’s such a change, oh yeah (oh yeah) If I was insecure That was yesterday and now I’m sure Oh, so sure.
[Chorus] Oh, you never bring me down Make me sad, it’s such a change, oh yeah (oh yeah) If I was insecure That was yesterday and now I’m sure Oh, so sure, oh.
This is the real world I really want to be your girl This is the real world (real world) I really want to be your girl This is the real world (real world) I really want to be your girl.
A classic episode. A Game of Pool has the great comedian Jonathon Winters and character actor Jack Klugman. This was Winters first dramatic role. The director Buzz Kulik thought his inexperience at a serious role would bring a freshness to his role…and it did. This was Klugman’s second Twilight Zone (his favorite) and he would end up in four of them.
The two characters share one thing. They both are great at pool… but Klugman’s character is obsessed with the game but doesn’t stop to enjoy life. Fats Brown lived life fully and pool was just part of it. Being the best carries a weight of where you are always looking over your shoulder to see who is gaining.
Jackie Gleason was approached about playing Fats Brown but turned it down.
SPOILERS
George Clayton Johnson’s script originally featured an alternate ending in which Jesse loses the game. Seeing that Jesse is bedazzled that he has lost a life-or-death game and is still alive, Fats explains that he will die “as all second-raters die: you’ll be buried and forgotten without me touching you. If you’d beaten me you’d have lived forever.” This ending was eventually filmed for The Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool in the 1989 reboot version.
This show was written by George Clayton Johnson and Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
Jesse Cardiff, pool shark, the best on Randolph Street, who will soon learn that trying to be the best at anything carries its own special risks. In or out of the Twilight Zone.
Summary
Jesse Cardiff is a frustrated pool player. He’s very good at his game but his frustration comes from the fact that no matter how well he plays or how often he wins, onlookers always conclude that he’s not as good as the late, great James Howard “Fats” Brown. He says he would give anything to have had the chance to play Fats and his wish comes true when the man himself suddenly appears. They agree to a game but Fats warns his eager opponent that winning has its consequences as well
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Mr. Jesse Cardiff, who became a legend by beating one, but who has found out after his funeral that being the best of anything carries with it a special obligation to keep on proving it. Mr. Fats Brown, on the other hand, having relinquished the champion’s mantle, has gone fishing. These are the ground rules in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling…Narrator
Jack Klugman…Jesse Cardiff
Jonathan Winters…Fats Brown
The lyrics won’t make you mistake these guys for Bob Dylan but the guitar action is pretty cool in this one.
Several years before it became fashionable…the Droogs were playing what would later be called “garage revival”. They started playing together as pre-teens in 1966 and began issuing singles in the early to mid seventies.
Ahead of My Time was released in 1974. They missed out on the garage band sixties and they were ahead of the curve of the 60s garage band revival in the late 70’s.
They started to release albums in the mid-eighties and were part of the Paisley Underground Scene. They released 8 albums between 1984 to 2017.
The Droogs just released an album in 2017 called Young Gun and are still together doing their thing.
Ahead Of My Time
Hey babe, this must be your lucky day babe I wanna kiss you if I may babe Don’t care what people have to say babe
I’ve got to love you, the only way that I can So please don’t misunderstand They’ll tell you that I’m not your kind But I’m just ahead of my time.
In your neighborhood, got a reputation that’s none too good. For knowing things no young man should I know baby, you would if you could
I’ve got to love you, the only way that I can So please don’t me be your man They’ll tell you true love’s hard to find But I’m just ahead of my time. I’m just ahead of my time. I’m just ahead of my time.
We’re just ahead of our time. We’re just ahead of our time. We’re just ahead of our time.
Hey babe, this must be your lucky day babe I wanna kiss you if I may babe Don’t care what people have to say babe
I’ve been listening to the Rain Parade’s album Emergency Third Rail Power Trip and I’ve heard influences from Buffalo Springfield to Rubber Soul. The Rain Parade were part of the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the early 80s. The Paisley Underground scene contained bands such as The Bangles, Green on Red, and The Long Ryders.
They were another band formed in Minnesota by college roommates Matt Piucci (guitar, vocals) and David Roback (guitar, vocals) in 1981, while they were attending Carleton College. David’s brother Steven Roback (bass, vocals) joined.
Their roots were in punk music but in this band…instead of the Sex Pistols and the Clash they went for the Byrds jangly guitars. The critics were mixed on this band…some saying they copied the psychedelic era too much and others saying they were ahead of their time. The Roback brothers were the main writers. After this album Dave Roback left the band.
From Wiki: Critic Jim DeRogatis would later write in his book Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock (2003) that “Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is not only the best album from any of the Paisley Underground bands, it ranks with the best psychedelic rock efforts from any era”, with uplifting melodies offset by themes that were “dark and introspective.”
They were together from 1981 to 1986. They broke up in 1986 and reformed in 2012 and have been touring since. Dave Roback passed away in 2020.
Daveid Roback: “Rain Parade was very much a recasting of our punk interests in more musical terms, inspired by our fascination with music history.”
One Half Hour Ago
What’s the point of looking back?
All you see is an empty track
Of lives you’ve lived
And things you tried to love
What’s the use of anything
That brings you down?
You can’t believe it for an hour
You’re in here just a while
Half an hour from an hour ago
From a half an hour from an hour ago
Call me early on Saturday
It’s my favorite day
I’ll come out to play
That is only, I go to bed
So that I can rest
I can leave my head behind
Disappointing everyone
I’m so much fun
Until I’m lost
Things we do are the way we choose to live
Gene Vincent’s voice and slap back echo go together perfectly. Every rock artist after Gene Vincent has went after that sound.
Cliff Gallup played some great guitar on this recording. He recorded 35 tracks with Vincent including Be-Bop-A-Lula. Gallup was ranked 79th by Rolling Stone magazine’s David Fricke in his list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. He ended up influencing many guitarists including Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer, and Jeff Beck.
This song was released in 1956 and it peaked at #96 in the Hot 100 and #28 in the UK.
He continued to record and tour and remained popular in Britain, where in 1960 he reinjured his leg in the automobile accident in which fellow rockabilly singer Eddie Cochran was killed. Elvis Presley was influenced by Vincent, and bands such as The Beatles played with Vincent in Hamburg in the early sixties.
…but forget who influenced who and enjoy the song.
Race With The Devil
Well I’ve led an evil life, so they say But I’ll hide from the devil on judgement day, I said Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line, oh yeah
Well me and the devil, at a stop light He started rollin’, I was out of sight, I said Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line, oh yeah
Well, goin’ pretty fast, looked behind A-hear come the the devil doin’ ninety-nine, I said Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line, oh yeah
Well thought I was smart, the race was won A-hear come the devil doin’ a-hundred and one Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line
Well, goin’ pretty fast, looked behind A-hear come the the devil doin’ ninety-nine, I said Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line, oh yeah!
Well I’ve led an evil life, so they say But I’ll hide from the devil on judgement day, I said Move, hot-rod, move man Move, hot-rod, move man Move hot-rod, move me on down the the line
I’ve always liked this episode. It takes place at the end of the Civil War. James Gregory plays the Sergeant and he would later appear on Barney Miller. Joanne Linville played Lavinia Godwin later appeared as a Romulan commander on Star Trek. Godwin is a lonely widowed southern woman watching the soldiers come home.
The Sergeant comes wandering by and just wants some water from Godwin. He spends some time with her and he finds out something that he didn’t expect. Again the acting is very good in this and there is not only a twist but a cameo at the very end.
From IMDB: Another Twilight Zone featuring multiple actors from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966). James Gregory portrayed Dr. Tristan Adams in Season One’s Star Trek: The Original Series: Dagger of the Mind (1966). Joanne Linville was the Romulan Commander in Star Trek: The Original Series: The Enterprise Incident (1968) and Rex Holman played Morgan Earp in Star Trek: The Original Series: Spectre of the Gun (1968), both from Season Three. In addition, Rex Holman later appeared in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) as J’onn.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
As the episode starts, a group of Civil War soldiers are walking down a road as Rod Serling narrates:
This road is the afterwards of the Civil War. It began at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and ended at a place called Appomattox. It’s littered with the residue of broken battles and shattered dreams.
After a brief opening dialogue between the Sergeant and Lavinia Godwin, Rod Serling resumes:
In just a moment, you will enter a strange province that knows neither North nor South, a place we call—The Twilight Zone.
Summary
In April 1865, at the end of the American Civil War, a Confederate Sergeant with other wounded Union and Confederate soldiers, stops to ask the Lavinia Godwin for some water. He asks to rest for a while and they talk about the damages of war as she now lives in her destroyed mansion.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
Incident on a dirt road during the month of April, the year 1865. As we’ve already pointed out, it’s a road that won’t be found on a map, but it’s one of many that lead in and out of the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling…Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
James Gregory…The Sergeant
Joanne Linville…Lavinia Godwin
Warren Kemmerling…Jud Godwin
Rex Holman…Charlie Constable
David Garcia…Union Lieutenant
Austin Green…Abraham Lincoln
Jamie Farr…oldier (uncredited)
I was really happy when I saw Mike’s choice of the Replacements song Can’t Hardly Wait in the draft. I had that one in the back of my mind but had this one ready to go later. I decided to go ahead and get this one in.
I could have picked a more instantly likable song like Skyway, Here Comes a Regular, or Alex Chilton but this song…was a great anthem that kicks you in the shins when it starts. It was recorded in the eighties but it has no giant production…it’s raw and honest about youthful uncertainty and alienation.
I recently visited Aphoristic’s site and he had his top ten songs of the 1980’s. I thought about it and I included this song on my list in the comment section. In popularity would it be there? No… but this is a lost anthem of the eighties that should have been taken up by that generation. Just because a song isn’t heard and embraced by the masses doesn’t mean it isn’t great.
Westerberg’s songwriting in the 1980s rivaled any artist in that decade.
Everyone who knows me… knows I’m not a huge fan of the top 40 in the 1980s but alternative rock is a different story. In my opinion, the two best alternative rock bands to come out of the 80s were The Replacements and R.E.M.
R.E.M played the music business game much more than The Replacements. The Replacements didn’t play at all until the very end. That hurt them on not being heard on the radio or MTV. If it weren’t for their penchant for self-destruction they would have been known more by the masses.
This song was on their album “Tim” released in 1985. Why was the album called Tim? There was no reference to the name on the album. The band’s manager said that he asked Paul Westerberg what the name of the album would be. Paul told him “Tim” and the manager asked why? Paul said “because it’s such a nice name.”
“Tim” was placed 136th on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 137 in a 2012 revised list. The album peaked at #186 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1986.
Paul Westerberg:“To me, a part of that song is about my sister who felt the need … to be something by going somewhere else. It is sort of the Replacements feeling the same way … not knowing where we fit. It’s our way of reaching a hand out and saying, ‘We are right along with you. We are just as confused.'”
They also played this song on SNL and got banned for life for being drunk and a certain swear word slipping out….supposedly by accident. This is the only video I can find of it. Westerberg eventually appeared on SNL in the 90s as a solo artist. The studio version is the second video.
Bastards of Young
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled It beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young The daughters and the sons
Clean your baby womb, trash that baby boom Elvis in the ground, no waitin’ on beer tonight Income tax deduction, what a hell of a function It beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young Not the daughters and the sons
Unwillingness to claim us, ya got no war to name us
The ones who love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest And visit their graves on holidays at best The ones who love us least are the ones we’ll die to please If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young Daughters and the sons
Young Young Young Young Young
Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours
A very good pop song. These guys were good song craftsmen.
It was written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. This song was released as a single in 1976 and later on their next album.. The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #5 in the Billboard 100, and #6 in the UK.
This was the first singe from the band’s fifth album, Deceptive Bends, their first without founding members Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who became a top music video directing team. It was an amicable parting, with all members going on to further success. Stewart and Gouldman kept scoring hits with 10cc; their next album contained the #1 UK hit “Dreadlock Holiday.”
Erik Stewart:“I remember walking through the rain and the snow when I lived in Manchester and we didn’t have a telephone,” he said in a BBC Radio Wales interview. “I had to go and find a phone box to ring the girl who was about to become my wife. The phones were down, and it was snowing, and these, these vivid pictures are there. If you put them in a song, a lot of people identify with a similar situation.”
From Songfacts
Love songs tend to be either giddy with joy or tinged with heartbreak, but this one is much more grounded, championing compromise and communication.
The guy in the song decides to man up and call his girl, but the phone lines are down because of weather. Undeterred, he walks through the rain and the snow – just one of the things he’ll do for love.
In a Songfacts interview with Graham Gouldman, he talked about writing this song with Eric Stewart. “When we started writing that, we had some of the music and he wanted to write a song about suicide,” Gouldman said. “I told him that was not a good idea and fortunately he agreed. He came up with the title ‘The Things We Do For Love,’ which is very up and a great title really. What are the things we do for love? What do you do? What should we do for love?”
Gouldman sees chords in colors – this one is “sort of light blue.” He told Songfacts: “Although it starts off in a minor key, there are certain parts that are in a major key as well. It’s a very multi-colored song.”
This is the only 10cc song released in both territories to chart higher in America than the UK. The group had 11 Top 10 hits in the UK, but all but two of them – “The Things We Do For Love” and “I’m Not In Love” – had much impact in the States.
The Things We Do For Love
Too many broken hearts have fallen down the river Too many lonely souls have drifted out to sea You lay your bets and then you pay the price The things we do for love (the things we do for love)
Communication is the problem to the answer you’ve got her number and your hand is on the phone The weather?s turned and all the lines are down The things we do for love (the things we do for love)
Like walking in the rain and snow When there’s nowhere to go And you’re feeling like a part of you is dying And you’re looking for the answer in her eyes You think you want to break up Then she says she wants to make up
Ooh, you make me love you Ooh, you’ve got a way Ooh, you’ve had me crawling up the wall
Like walking in the rain and snow When there’s nowhere to go And you’re feeling like a part of you is dying And you’re looking for the answer in her eyes You think you want to break up Then she says she wants to make up
Ooh, you make me love you Ooh, you’ve got a way Ooh, you’ve had me crawling up the wall
A compromise would surely help the situation Agree to disagree, but disagree to part Well after all it?s just a compromise For the things we do for love (the things we do for love) the things we do for love (the things we do for love) the things we do for love (the things we do for love)
I couldn’t continue these underground Mondays without featuring the B-52s. I always smile when I hear this band. I could not listen to them for hours on end but once in a while is great.
I like the sixties sound of this. It sounds that way because of the Farfisa organ played by Kate Pierson and the surf guitar sound that Ricky Wilson created.
Fred Schneider and B-52s guitarist Ricky Wilson were listed as the writers on this track, but at some point the other three band members – Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland were added to the credits.
Canada really responded Rock Lobster. The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #56 in the Billboard 100, and #37 in the UK, and #38 in New Zealand in 1978.
Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson’s fish noises on this song are an homage to Yoko Ono, whose work is filled with these kind of screams and blurts. Yoko performed these parts when she joined the band at their 25th Anniversary concert at Irving Plaza in New York City in 2002.
John Lennon noticed the The Yoko Ono influence on this song when he heard it in 1979. It reminded him of Yoko’s music so much that it inspired him to return to the recording studio after a five-year retirement, resulting in the 1980 album Double Fantasy.
Yoko Ono:“Listening to the B-52s, John said he realized that my time had come. So he could record an album by making me an equal partner and we won’t get flack like we used to up to then.”
Fred Schneider: “We jammed on it for hours and hours and miles and miles of reel-to-reel tape. Keith and Ricky went and spliced ideas together, brought them to Kate, Cindy and I, and we put in our six cents and we came up with this six minute and forty-eight second song. We have a hard time editing ourselves, but who cares?”
From Songfacts
Many B-52s songs have fun, whimsical lyrics, and this is one of them. It’s about a beach party where someone encounters a rock lobster (which is also known as a crayfish, but that wouldn’t sound as good), and hijinx ensue.
Fred Schneider of The B-52s stopped eating crustaceans at the age of four after going crabbing with his family in New Jersey and watching the crabs get boiled alive. He explained in a video he narrated for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that he got the idea for this song when he was at an Atlanta disco called 2001 where a projector displayed images of lobsters on a grill. He thought, “Rock this, rock that… rock lobster!” The band jammed on the title and “Rock Lobster” was created.
The B-52s’ guitarist, Keith Strickland, recalled to Q magazine that at the end of the song, “Cindy does this scream that was inspired by Yoko Ono. John heard it in some club in the Bahamas, and the story goes that he calls up Yoko and says, Get the axe out – they’re ready for us again! Yoko has said that she and John were listening to us in the weeks before he died.”
This was the first single the B-52s released. They recorded it on a shoestring budget at Mountain Studios in Atlanta in February 1978, and released the track as a single on DB Records in April. Danny Beard, who owned the label, recalls spending about $700 on the single in a session where a key on Pierson’s Farfisa organ didn’t work. The recording was rough but effective: it earned airplay and established the band as quirky, innovative, thrift-store punk rockers with pop appeal. Warner Bros. Records signed them and had them record a full album, complete with a new version of “Rock Lobster,” in Nassau, Bahamas, with producer Chris Blackwell. The album was issued in 1979 along with the single, which reached its US chart peak of #56 in May 1980. In the UK, where the band initially had a stronger following, it reached #37 in August 1979. When the song was re-issued in the UK in 1986, it reached #12.
In 1985, Wilson became one of the first celebrities to die from AIDS-related causes. He was 32.
This song has one of the most famous bass lines of all time, but it wasn’t done with a bass guitar. Guitarist Ricky Wilson came up with the riff, and Kate Pierson played it on Korg SB-100 Synthe-Bass, a little machine with a big sound that can also be heard on early Soft Cell recordings, including “Tainted Love.”
The original 1978 version runs 4:37; the album version released in 1979 goes 6:49, with the single edited down to 4:52.
Fred Schneider mentions several unusual sea creatures near the end of the song, including a narwhal, which is a rarely seen whale-like creature with a horn that makes it look like some kind of aquatic unicorn (one appears in cartoon form in the movie Elf). To the best of our knowledge, “Rock Lobster” is the only Hot 100 hit where a narwhal shows up in the lyric.
Other creatures mentioned: sting ray, manta ray, jellyfish, dogfish, catfish, sea robin, piranha, bikini whale. As Schneider sings, Wilson and Pierson approximate their calls with some impressive vocalizations.
“We always just did things our own way,” he continued. “You don’t have any preconceived notions. I was writing lyrics with Keith on the way into the studio, but then I changed my lines and stuff and then the girls added their noises at the end.”
This reached #1 on the Canadian charts in 1980, following Blondie’s “Call Me” and preceding The Pretenders’ “Brass In Pocket.” It held the pole position for one week. >>
This is one of the great cowbell songs; drummer Keith Strickland is credited with playing it on the recording, but when performed live, Fred Schneider would play it.
A video was made for this song in 1979 by combining stock footage with various band antics. MTV was still two years away, but the video helped promote the song throughout Europe. The group got their star turn on MTV a decade later when “Love Shack” became one of the most popular clips on the network.
The song appeared in the movies One-Trick Pony (1980), Lobster Man from Mars (1989) and Knocked Up (2007); it was used in episodes of My Name Is Earl (“Joy in a Bubble” – 2008) and Glee (“The Hurt Locker: Part 1” – 2015).
The song is also a favorite on the show Family Guy, where the character Peter Griffin performs it on guitar in two episodes, first in a 2005 episode where he plays it (inappropriately) to cheer up Cleveland, then in a 2011 episode where it plays to a lobster with the lyrics changed to “Iraq Lobster.”
The B-52s performed this on Saturday Night Live, January 26, 1980. This gave the song a big boost; in May, it reached its US peak of #56.
Ricky Wilson didn’t have high expectations for the riff when he came up with it. His sister Cindy Wilson told the CBC: “I came home one day, and Ricky was just working on his guitar, and he was just laughing to himself. He says, ‘I just made up the stupidest riff there ever was.'”
Panic! at the Disco sampled the famous “Rock Lobster” riff on their 2016 track “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time.” Panic! frontman Brendon Urie is a big fan of the B-52s; he was thrilled when he found out the sample cleared.
Rock Lobster
Ski-doo-be-dop Eww Ski-doo-be-dop Eww (Ski-doo-be-dop) We were at a party (Eww) (Ski-doo-be-dop) His ear lobe fell in the deep (Eww) (Ski-doo-be-dop) Someone reached in and grabbed it (Eww) (Ski-doo-be-dop) Was a rock lobster (Eww)
Aaaah Rock lobster Aaaah Rock lobster
Eww Eww We were at the beach (Eww) Everybody had matching towels (Eww) Somebody went under a dock (Eww) And there they saw a rock (Eww) It wasn’t a rock (Eww) Was a rock lobster (Eww)
Aaaah Rock lobster Aaaah Rock lobster
Rock lo-o-obster Rock lo-o-obster
Motion in the ocean (Ooh ah) His air hose broke (Hoo ah) Lots of trouble (Ooh ah) Lots of bubble (Hoo ah) He was in a jam (Ooh ah) He’s in a giant clam! (Hoo ah)
Rock, rock Rock lobster! (Aaaaaaaaah) Down, down! (Aaaaaaah)
Lobster Rock Lobster Rock Let’s rock!
Boys and bikinis Girls and surfboards Everybody’s rockin’ Everybody’s frugin’
Twistin’ round the fire Havin’ fun
Bakin’ potatoes Bakin’ in the sun
Put on your noseguard Put on the lifeguard Pass the tanning butter
Here comes a stingray (ooh wok ooh wok) There goes a manta ray (ah ah ah) In walked a jellyfish (huah) There goes a dogfish (rea-owr) Chased by a catfish (geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh) In flew a sea robin (Laaaaa) Watch out for that piranha (eh rek eh rek ah hoo) There goes a narwhal (eeeeh) Here comes a bikini whale! (Aaaaah!)
(Lobster rock lobster-ster) Rock lobster (Lobster) Rock lobster (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah) (Lobster rock lobster-ster) Rock lobster (Lobster) Rock lobster (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah) (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah) (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1402542-1421517046-6984.jpeg.jpg)
You must be logged in to post a comment.