This movie is a B movie all of the way…and it plays up that fact… It was released in 1990 and if you are wanting to watch something that spoofs the 1970s… This movie is for you. You will also learn the word tetrahydrozoline.
This movie stars David Cassidy, Lief Garrett, Carl and Rob Reiner, and Olivia d’Abo… Citizen Kane, it is NOT. It’s a fun film about the future where all is gray and they lost every record because of a magnetic storm including the US Constitution.
Adam-11 (David Cassidy) has built a time machine because he wants to go to a beach…beaches don’t exist anymore in the future. The government wants him to use the time machine to go into the past to 1776 and get a copy of the US Constitution so they can rebuild their society with it. To make it work he needs a chemical that’s rare in the future… tetrahydrozoline (the main ingredient to a very popular item in the ’70s… Visine).
The government agrees to give him some tetrahydrozoline but sends two more travelers Chanel-6 (d’Abo ), Heinz 57 (Geoff Hoyle) with Adam-11 to retrieve the document…but instead of going back to 1776 the time machine malfunctions and goes to 1976.
Devo makes an appearance as the “Ministry of Knowledge”…
It’s a corny movie but they have the 70s down in many parts of the movie. After meeting up with two teenage stoners (The group Redd Kross) they look for the constitution but lose the tetrahydrozoline. If you are looking for a second Gone with the Wind…don’t watch this but it’s funny and silly enough to entertain you.
You have to know a little about the 70s to get some of the jokes…Like David Cassidy’s character looking around a garage in 1976 asking “am I going to be stuck here forever?” while looking at a Partridge Family lunch box.
If you are bored, try this one. The trailer is below the complete movie is below that.
Thanks to Max, aka “Badfinger” for giving me the chance to write something for his site today! He’s likewise written something cool about the band from which he took his screen-name, for my site, A Sound Day, (http://soundday.wordpress.com today) One of the best things about writing a blog, for about four years now, has been getting to know other bloggers with similar interests and read their posts. Of those, Badfinger has been a favorite of mine almost since I came to WordPress. I’m amazed that he and I are similar in age and have very similar tastes in music, and in baseball as well. So, needless to say he’s a pretty cool guy!
What I do at A Sound Day is post daily articles generally involving things which have happened on that calendar day in the world of music – album releases, records hitting #1, musicians having birthdays, that sort of thing. A simple enough idea, and one which I must admit wasn’t entirely original. A decade or so back, ex-Sex Pistol John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) ran a short syndicated radio bit called “A Rotten Day” which did the same basically, but in headline form delivered in his characteristically snarky persona. So, it’s not a unique idea, but I try to go beyond the headlines and tell a story. Make it interesting. For example, we pretty much all know the song “Midnight Train to Georgia”, but how many knew it was indirectly inspired by a Mississippi songwriter talking to Farrah Fawcett? Lots of us like London Calling, but do we know that the big hit single on it, “Train in Vain” wasn’t included on the track listing printed on the record because it wasn’t supposed to be on the album? How about an avant garde new wave rocker who has a successful second career writing books about archaeology? It’s the details that make the stories interesting and I try to find them… and remind people of some great music that they might have forgotten. Or introduce them to music I love that they might not have even heard. Grudgingly, I sometimes even cover music that, well, didn’t really get my motor running but was important in its own way, and try to listen to it with a fresh ear. If it was rock, or pop, or maybe even occasionally country, and it was from the ’60s to the end of the century, I’ve probably given it a look. That’s kind of an overview of what I do there, but let me tell you a bit about why.
Music has always been important to me. A big part of my memories… so much so that it can be an almost Rainman-like, frustrating ability. I can barely remember the names of my teachers or classmates from 1974, for example, but I can probably name two-thirds of the #1 songs of that year without ever looking to Google or Wiki. I couldn’t tell you the name of a girl I might have danced with at a junior high dance, but I can still recall the song was “Car Wash” by Rose Royce.
Mind you, there weren’t a lot of dances for young me. I was rather ill a lot of the time, and had by 1970s standards, a very over-protective mother…although by today’s standards, she was pretty lax. At least I walked or cycled to school myself instead of being driven to the door. But if it was raining, or cold, I probably wouldn’t be going out with friends to hang out on the weekend – “you’d get sick.” So I was home (with chain-smoking adults) and prone to lots of asthma attacks and bouts of pneumonia. Things like reading, looking outside at the birds coming to the feeder and music took on an import to me that many wouldn’t be able to relate to. Music especially.
Both my parents liked music, and every vague memory I have of being very young seems to have included music somewhere in the background. One of my first memories was listening to Sgt.Pepper and marveling in the weird but delightful sounds coming from the big wooden-cabinet stereo in the living room, while being dazzled by the funny-looking cover of the record. I can’t say whether it was my Mom or my brother who had the album… my Mom loved the Beatles and my older brother was a rocker as long as I can remember. One time just after he was old enough to drive, my Dad let him drive the car home most of the way from a family Florida vacation. He played Wish You Were Here on 8-track for almost the entire ride. It took some years for me to be able to listen to that with happy ears, I can tell you! Pop, Beatles, Glen Campbell, some old-school country now and again… there always seemed to be music on in the house when I was little.
Around when I was five, I was given a little transistor radio. Might have been for my birthday, might have been for Christmas. I can’t remember. What I do remember is that little black plastic, mono radio with its’ rotating dial and tiny earbud let me listen to my own music…and life was never the same. And here, I feel very lucky because I grew up near Toronto, Canada… so I got to mature listening to two of the coolest radio stations on the continent…CHUM when I was a kid, and CFNY as I grew towards adulthood.
The first station I seemed to find on that little transistor was 1050 CHUM. A Toronto “hits” station that was by far the most-listened to station in the entire country at the time. It had been around since, well about since Noah went looking for two giraffes and two hornets ( did you really have to take them…but I digress!) but one which had switched to rock and pop before the curve, in 1957. “All Shook Up” was the first song they played apparently, and their first #1 song. Madonna’s “Live to Tell” was its final one, 29 years later before it changed formats (the station still exists but is now talk sports apparently) so it covered my early school and junior high years. My tuner rarely swayed back then, even though my radios got better and better through the ’70s, to a big transistor with a big built-in speaker to one of those only-in-the-70s white, plastic stereos with rounded corners and a turntable on top. And I put that to use; while other kids were spending their allowances on chocolate bars or comic books, I was saving my coins til we went to the mall and I could buy “Chevy Van” or “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You” as singles. I still remember the first LP I bought – Elton John’s Greatest Hits. Nearly 50 years later, that still seems like a pretty decent place to start.
CHUM was a pretty conventional “top 40” station, even though it actually had a “top 30”. And a cool thing about that was they actually published it weekly… I’d stop by the basement of Eatons and go to the records and pick up a little folder with the top 30 songs listed inside, as the picture shows. And take a look at that, a fairly typical example of one. Rock – how ’bout BTO or Rick Derringer? Country, dare you say? Umm, Tom T. Hall, John Denver. Cool pop? Elton John, Wings. Disco? It’s there. In fact, CHUM let us hear pretty much everything that was hot in the decade from Motown to Meco to McCartney. It was one of the great things about the decade, its music (which Max nicely reminded us last week with his 70s AM Radio series) and radio before it became too formulated and narrow in playlists. Plus, it mixed in a fair bit of Canadian content. That helped the homegrown artists and let us hear even more of a range of music. The world knew Anne Murray and BTO but we knew Wednesday (from my hometown, their biggest hit being a cover of “Last Kiss”) and Edward Bear too. Years before he was writing “Black Velvet” for his girlfriend Alannah Myles, we knew Christopher Ward as a decent singer of soft-rock ballads (www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E1VgsoS6i4 ) thanks to CHUM.
One thing Toronto was great for – many say best in North America – was being open to new sounds and “obscure” British music. By 1980, CHUM’s list of #1 songs included some classic rock mega-names – Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Pink Floyd – but also things like “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors and “Making Plans for Nigel” by XTC. That might have been inspired a bit by the second great station that I lived with – CFNY.
CFNY-FM was a station started in the late-’70s in “the little yellow farmhouse” in the outer suburbs. It’s reach was only a few miles at first; it’s nickname “the Spirit of Radio”… yes the one and the same name Rush wrote a song about. It concentrated on finding and playing great music other stations ignored. If you were going to hear the Damned, solo Peter Gabriel or Depeche Mode years before other people would in Canada, it was going to be on CFNY. As time went by though the station relocated, bought more powerful transmistors and was broadcasting to half a million regular listeners from the CN Tower. And making bands like the Psychedelic Furs and The Smths huge, arena-selling artists in Toronto. Such was their sway in the area that soon other stations began copying them to some degree. Not many hard rock stations were playing A Flock of Seagulls or “music at work” stations The Stranglers, but in Toronto they were. They had to to compete. Now, don’t get me wrong. I actually liked Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, even Madonna and I did hear them, once in awhile turning over to a hit station, or watching Much Music (our version of MTV) but by listening to so much CFNY I found incredible music by artists most elsewhere in North America never heard of – It’s Immaterial, Black (Liverpool singer Colin Vearncombe), (www.youtube.com/watch?v=koRT3HEmre4 )
Sinead O’Connor long before she flipped her wig and became a Saturday Night Live punchline. And as with CHUM, CFNY highlighted a lot of great Canadian acts. A couple of them went on to become national heroes with a lengthy string of platinum records at home… while remaining anonymous outside the Great White North. Blue Rodeo and Tragically Hip. The latter had very Canadian-oriented lyrics that made them so endeared the Prime Minister attended their final concert… which was televised nationwide on the national network! The former mixed country and rock seamlessly to create a great music that at the time defied labels – alt country? Country rock? Later it would probably be described as one of the early examples of “Americana” music (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqa4YzKPrFw ), following the traditions of The Band before them. Something we took to by the millions up there… but wouldn’t likely have ever heard were it not for that one station championing them in the early days. See an example of one of their year-end charts below.
When I was six or seven, and coughing and my parents were fighting, I could be in my room listening to Jim Gold or the Doobie Brothers on that transistor radio…and feel kind of happy. A decade or so later, I didn’t fit in that well in many places but when I went to the indie record store and picked up the latest import 12” Depeche Mode single, I was everyone else’s equal… the equivalent of a Sheldon in Stuart’s comic book shop on Big Bang Theory. Music was my friend.
It still is, and I feel priviledged to be able to help you discover some of it, and make some human friends all the while doing so. Thanks again Max, for giving me this space today.
When I heard this song in the 90s…I knew then it was one of those songs that would become an instant classic.
Most of this song was written by R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry. It is an anti-suicide song. Berry wanted to reach out to people who felt they had no hope. He quit the band in 1997 shortly before recording their album Up after an aneurysm. After that album, the band almost broke up, but decided to continue as a trio.
While he wrote this, he did not actually play on it. They used a Univox drum machine. R.E.M. bass player Mike Mills claims he bought Univox drum machine for $20, but it was perfect for the song’s metronome-ish feel.
It was on the album Automatic For The People, considered by some as the best album they ever released. The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in the UK, #4 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand.
The album title was inspired by Weaver D’s soul food diner in Athens, Georgia. They had a sign that said “Delicious Fine Foods – Automatic For The People.”
The song peaked at #29 in the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #12 in New Zealand in 1993. I’m shocked now that it wasn’t in the top 10 in Billboard.
The string arrangement was done by no other than Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
Michael Stipe:“It saved a few. People have told me. And I love hearing that. That’s for me, that’s my Oscar, that’s my gold on a shelf right there… that something we did impacted someone’s life in such a profound way. That’s a beautiful thing.”
Mike Mills:Mike (Stipe) and I cut it live with this dumb drum machine which is just as wooden as you can get. We wanted to get this flow around that: human and non-human at the same time.”
Peter Buck: The reason the lyrics are so atypically straightforward is because it was aimed at teenagers.
From Songfacts
On many R.E.M. songs, Michael Stipe purposefully sings indecipherably. He sang very clearly on this one though, because he didn’t want his message getting lost. “I don’t remember singing it,” he noted in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, “but I still kind of can’t believe my voice is on this recording. It’s very pure. This song instantly belonged to everyone except us, and that honestly means the world to me.”
The Nevada legislature commended R.E.M. for “encouraging the prevention of teen suicides,” noting this song as an example (Nevada has a high rate of teen suicide).
The music video was directed by Jake Scott, son of movie director Ridley Scott, famous for movies like Blade Runner (1982) and Gladiator (2000). Filmed on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, Texas, the clip is set during a traffic jam where people’s thoughts are revealed through subtitles.
The video won four MTV Video Music Awards: Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. When it won for Best Direction, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who were nominated for “Sabotage,” got to the podium before Michael Stipe. Dressed in character as his Swiss alter ego Nathanial Hornblower, he went on a rant, calling it a “farce” before being ushered off.
Disrupting an award for such a somber song is in poor taste, but it was hard to take this awards show seriously. Hosted by Roseanne Barr, it is best remembered for a cringe-worthy kiss between newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. MTV didn’t harbor any resentment: they gave the Beastie Boys the Video Vanguard award in 1998.
This was used on an episode of The Simpsons when Marge is walking in a thunderstorm and thinks she has no friends.
In February 2010 a charity cover was recorded by a collection of artists, Helping Haiti, to raise money for the victims of the earthquake that devastated the country. It sold over 200,000 copies in its first two days making it one of the quickest selling singles of the 21st century in the United Kingdom. Joseph Kahn directed a music video for the cover that features cameos from the performers and footage from the earthquake’s aftermath. Kahn is known for directing clips for the likes of Eminem, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.
This topped a poll compiled by PRS For Music, which collects and pays royalties to musicians in the UK, of the songs most likely to make a grown man cry. Second in the list came Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven” followed by Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” PRS chairman Ellis Rich said: “From this chart, it is clear that a well-written tear-jerker is one that people can relate to and empathise with. It is this lyrical connection that can reach deep down emotionally and move even the strongest of men.”
In a rare authorized comedic use of this song, Mayim Bialik’s character on The Big Bang Theory plays this on the harp when she is upset over being left behind by her two girlfriends, who are shopping for bridesmaids dresses. Her “boyfriend,” played by Jim Parsons, comes by to cheer her up, resulting in an awkward cuddle scene.
Peter Buck likens the vibe of this song to Otis Redding’s “Pain in My Heart.” He wrote in the liner notes for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011: “I’m not sure if Michael would have copped that reference, but to a lot of our fans it was a Staxxy-type thing.”
This was used in the 1992 film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry and Rutger Hauer. Speaking of the subsequent TV series, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter Buck said: “I’ve never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the idea that high school is a portal to hell seems pretty realistic to me.”
Pink and Kelly Clarkson sang this to open the 2017 American Music Awards. They were introduced by Jamie Foxx, who said the purpose was to “pay respect to all those affected by the events of the past year,” meaning the hurricanes, shootings and hate rallies that took place.
Another comedic use was on The Office in the season 2 episode “The Fire,” where Dwight retreats to his car and blasts the song after Michael takes Ryan’s side in a business discussion.
Everybody Hurts
When your day is long And the night The night is yours alone When you’re sure you’ve had enough Of this life Well hang on Don’t let yourself go ‘Cause everybody cries And everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong Now it’s time to sing along When your day is night alone (hold on) (Hold on) if you feel like letting go (hold on) If you think you’ve had too much Of this life Well, hang on
‘Cause everybody hurts Take comfort in your friends Everybody hurts Don’t throw your hand Oh, no Don’t throw your hand If you feel like you’re alone No, no, no, you’re not alone
If you’re on your own In this life The days and nights are long When you think you’ve had too much Of this life To hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes Everybody cries And everybody hurts sometimes And everybody hurts sometimes So, hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on
Let me start this out by being completely truthful. I am not an Eagles fan whatsoever but I like biographies and I do respect the band as musicians and songwriters. This is a good book for Eagles fans and rock fans in general. It covers a lot of history of the Eagles and rock in the 60s and 70s.
Felder by far was the most versatile of the band. He was offereded a teaching job at Berklee College of Music in Boston before he even joined the Eagles.
What made me want to read this book was…the documentary on the Eagles released in 2013 (I also love rock documentaries). One of the reasons they made the documentary was because of this book! Don Henley and Glenn Frey were livid about Heaven and Hell and wanted to tell their side. The funny thing is… they ended up proving Don Felder right on most of what he wrote.
It’s a good book…I liked it because it helped document an important time in rock music…the sixties and seventies. The book is interesting for more reasons than the Eagles. Florida in the 1960s was a hotspot for future rock and roll stars. Don Felder, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers, Stephen Stills, and Lynyrd Skynyrd just to name a few were all playing clubs on both coasts of Florida.
Don Felder grew up in Gainesville Florida and worked at a music store. He gave young Tommy his first guitar lessons…that Tommy would be Tom Petty. He played in a band with Stephen Stills in high school. He then met future Eagle Bernie Leadon and they started to play in bands together. Felder was taught slide guitar by no other than Duane Allman! They played many of the clubs that the Allman Joys did.
It’s worth reading just for his pre-Eagle days.
When the Eagles first formed, their goal was to divide the writing and singing equally. That way, they reasoned, nobody would become a star or feel like a sideman. That had happened in their previous bands, and they didn’t create the Eagles to go through all that again. After a while that plan went out the window and the problems started.
You learn about the dynamics of the Eagles and how everything changed after Hotel California. Henley and Frey took over the band and called the shots. The problem was Felder was a full member (owner) in the band unlike Timothy B Schmit and Joe Walsh who were just paid employees then and now. When Felder would sugggest something or would want to know where the money was going…he was ignored or pushed off to Irving Azoff the manager by Henley and Frey.
He also covers the problems that Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner had with Frey and Henley….and the close friendship that he had with Joe Walsh.
This is not a gossip book. Felder doesn’t use the book just to slam Frey and Henley. Felder has faults and we see them in this book. He does seem to try to be even handed. As I’ve mentioned before…one look at the Eagles documentary and most of what he says will be verified. He covers their career…up until he was let go.
It’s an enjoyable book and I would recommend it. As I said, I’m not an Eagles fan but I enjoyed it.
It’s that time of year…and this is one holiday song that is on my list and not worn out. I first heard this in 1994 when I bought the Beatles Anthology album. I never knew of this song before. this song was never officially released until it appeared as the B-side to “Free As A Bird” in 1994. I’ve posted it every year since I’ve blogged and will continue to do so…it’s repetitive butI like it…it drives home the point.
My friend Dave posted this song a few days ago and he has more info than I do so check it out.
The song, credited to Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey. The original version was distributed to The Beatles fan club in 1967. It’s the only song ever written specifically for the Beatles Fan Club members. Along with the Beatles…actor Victor Spinetti and roadie Mal Evans were on the recording.
Between December 1963 to December 1969, sent out 7 flexi discs that had spoken and musical messages to their official fan clubs in the UK and the US at Christmas time.
The Beatles recorded this in 1967 and wasn’t released until 1994 paired with “Free As A Bird”. It is a fun Christmas song that will stick in your head. The Beatles did not release a Christmas song commercially… only to their fan club when they were active.
Many performers of this era like The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons released Christmas songs, but The Beatles never had an official Christmas release.
Christmas time is here again
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time is here again O-U-T spells “out”
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time is here again O-U-T spells “out”
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time…[music continues and fades to background]
[spoken]
This is Paul McCartney here, I’d just like to wish you everything you wish yourself for Christmas.
This is John Lennon saying on behalf of the Beatles, have a very Happy Christmas and a good New Year.
George Harrison speaking. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas, listeners everywhere.
This is Ringo Starr and I’d just like to say Merry Christmas and a really Happy New Year to all listeners
[a John Lennon pastiche at this point, very hard to understand]
I first heard Webb Wilder in the late eighties with songs Poolside and Human Canon Ball. He looked and sounded different right away.
Webb Wilder looks like he dropped out of a 50’s black and white detective show. By 1991 I was walking through a street fair in Nashville and there he was playing with his band. He had just released an album called Doodad that got some local and national airplay. His music is a mixture of rock/country/rockabilly/punk and anything else he can throw in…including the kitchen sink.
He has described his music as “Swampadelic”, “Service-station attendant music”, “Uneasy listening”, “Psychobilly”…they all fit.
I purchased the Doodad album and this song is what I zero’d in on. The hit off the album was Tough It out which peaked at #16 on the Mainstream Charts. It included guest appearances by Al Kooper and Sonny Landreth.
The guitar riff is instantly catchy and the first verse was about losing your house/land in a poker game. A great story telling song.
Wilder got some MTV exposure with Human Canon Ball and a lot of local play with a song caled Poolside. He is a fantastic performer to catch live. He has been an actor, disc jokey, and a great artist…a true original.
The two videos are the same version…some were getting video not found.
Meet Your New Landlord
Neon lights don’t never dim
In the kind of bars that never close
In a back room game T. Jim yells
“Saint Gabriel, I’m gonna steal the show.”
He slapped his cards down on the table
Said, “Boys, i got me a winning hand.”
But the sight that made old T. Jim tremble
Was the king that took his land
Mister, meet your new landlord
Heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor
With a ticket burning in his hand
And the tip still ringing in his ear
Big Pete bet his whole life savings
As the race was drawing near
A shot was fired
The gates flew open
The years streaked right before his eyes
Too bad they were riding on a saddle
From the moment of ill advice
Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor
Other names and other places
Different rules but it’s all the same
Cause if that bug ever b***s you
The scar will bear you shame
Hey listen, son, you know you’re in trouble
When you wake up one morning in a daze
And as you peer into the mirror
The face leaning over says
Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Got plenty of room down on the floor
Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor
This 1993 song has a sixties feel to it. The lead singer Shannon Hoon did a great job on this track.
Blind Melon bass player Brad Smith wrote this song before he formed the band. He had moved from Mississippi to Los Angeles, where he fell into a down period. He said that the song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have nothing. At the time he was dating a girl who was going through depression and for a while he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective. He later realized that he was also writing about it himself.
The video was very popular. It has a very intriguing video featuring a girl dressed in a bee costume. The bee girl, Heather DeLoach, was 10 years old when she starred in it, creating one of the most enduring images on MTV.
The concept for the video was inspired by the Blind Melon album cover, which features a 1975 photo of Georgia Graham, the younger sister of Blind Melon drummer Glenn Graham. DeLoach was the first to audition for the role, and because she resembled Graham’s sister so much, director Samuel Bayer (who also directed Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) chose her.
This song peaked at #1 in Canada, #20 in the Billboard 100, #17 in the UK, and #15 in New Zealand in 1993.
Blind Melon’s songs, were credited to the entire band even when one member wrote most of the song, as Brad Smith did with this one. Brad says that even though he wrote it, lead singer Shannon Hoon took it to a new level with his vocal.
The video made #22 on MTV’s Greatest Videos Ever Made countdown at the end of 1999.
From Songfacts
The bee girl parlayed the role into a credible acting career, appearing in the movie Balls of Fury, a remake of the Shirley Temple film A Little Princess and the TV shows ER and Reno911. She got married in 2017. DeLoach recalled to MTV News her audition for the bee girl: “They told me Sam didn’t look at any other tapes. I went in with my hair in braids and wearing those chunky glasses, because they said to look nerdy. My mom said we had to find some glasses before we went in, so we ran to a local mall right before the audition and bought them, and Sam liked them so much they’re the same ones I used in the video.”
This was a hit on a variety of formats. It reached #1 on the AOR (classic rock), modern rock and metal charts.
The first performances of this song were on Venice Beach, where Brad Smith would do his busking. “That’s where the lyric and the song was inspired from, is just having to write songs,” he said. “Then being in the state of mind I was in and having to come up with material to go play down on the beach for change. I played that song on the beach for change for over a year before Shannon Hoon actually joined the band and really made that song a hit.”
The band didn’t always appreciate this song. When they opened some shows for The Rolling Stones in 1994, they left it off their setlist. Their tour manager, Paul Cummings explained: “They had become one of those bands that hate their hit – at least at that point. I couldn’t understand it, but it’s not my call. That probably would have been the only song that crowd would have recognized.”
A hallmark of Brad Smith’s lyrics a feeling of melancholy, which doesn’t always match the music he puts to the song. He describes the music to this song as a “jaunty little happy halfway island beat,” which sounds like “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” He explained: “A lot of my songs come from a darker place. And if you just met me walking down the street, you’d say, ‘Oh, you’re such a happy guy, Brad. Why the dark songs?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ For me, it just has more meaning if you can get inside someone’s soul and identify with them on a heavier level and try to connect with them on that level. Because when you’re sad and you’re down, you’re the most vulnerable, and you feel the most alone.”
In 1993, Heather DeLoach reprised her role as Bee Girl in the Weird Al Yankovic video for “Bedrock Anthem” (a parody of “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
The inertia described in this song sounds typical of the stoner ennui like that described in “Because I Got High,” but you can blame this one on the herb. “I wasn’t even on drugs or drinking,” Brad Smith told us. “It was just a tough point in my life. And the cool thing about that song, I think a lot of people do interpret those lyrics properly and can connect with it on that level, where ‘I don’t understand why I sleep all day and I start to complain that there’s no rain.’ It’s just a line about, I’d rather it be raining so I can justify myself by laying in the bed and not doing anything. But it’s a sunny day, so go out and face it.”
In 2003, this was used in a commercial where a girl in a hot dog costume meets a guy in a Pepsi costume. Love blooms.
Pearl Jam has a song called “Bee Girl” that they first performed in 1994. With lyrics like, “Bee girl, you’re gonna die. You don’t wanna be famous, you wanna be shy,” the track was seen as a very accurate warning to Shannon Hoon that he was on a path of destruction. The song can be found on their Lost Dogs rarities album.
In 2016, the pop singer Mandy Jiroux released a song called “Insane” using many elements of “No Rain,” including the signature riff. Her song has similar but different lyrics, for instance:
All I can say is that my life’s not really plain
I like dancing in puddles that gather rain
In places where Shannon Hoon sang “no rain,” Jiroux substituted “insane.”
This prompted Blind Melon to file a lawsuit using the same lawyer who won big bucks for Marvin Gaye’s estate in the “Blurred Lines” case. Had Jiroux simply covered the song, it wouldn’t be an issue, but Blind Melon claimed that she created a “derivative work” that requires licensing.
The suit is unusual in that the plaintiff is trying to prove that the defendant didn’t make the song similar enough.
This song was featured in the 2004 comedy movie Without A Paddle.
No Rain
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain I like watchin’ the puddles gather rain And all I can do is just pour some tea for two And speak my point of view but it’s not sane It’s not sane
I just want someone to say to me, oh I’ll always be there when you wake, yeah You know I’d like to keep my cheeks dry today So stay with me and I’ll have it made
And I don’t understand why I sleep all day And I start to complain that there’s no rain And all I can do is read a book to stay awake And it rips my life away but it’s a great escape Escape, escape, escape
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain You don’t like my point of view, you think that I’m insane It’s not sane, it’s not sane
I just want someone to say to me, oh I’ll always be there when you wake, yeah You know I’d like to keep my cheeks dry today So stay with me and I’ll have it made, I’ll have it made, I’ll have it made Oh, no, no, you know, I really wanna, really gonna have it made You know, I’ll have it made
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin band Violent Femmes are best known for their song Blister in the Sun released in 1983. A girl that I knew drove me crazy playing that song but after a while I started to like it…more than the girl. The song started to be played on alternative and college radio.
James Honeyman Scott (Pretenders guitar player) was booked to play a gig and he was so impressed by the Violent Femmes that he let them open for him. They were were then offered a record deal by Slash Records and soon after that they released their 1982 debut album, “Violent Femmes.” The album slowly hit and later went platinum.
This song was on their Why Do Birds Sing? album in 1991 and it was their fifth studio album. The album peaked at #141 in the Billboard Album Chart but the song peaked at #2 on Billboard‘s Modern Rock chart.
Through breakups and reunions the band minus the original drummer Victor DeLorenzo are still together. Gordon Gano is the singer- songwriter and Brian Ritchie is the bass player with new drummer John Sparrow.
They released an album in 2019 called Hotel Last Resort and it peaked at #29 in the Billboard Indie Charts.
American Music
Can I, can I put in something like… “This is “American Music”… take one.” 1-2-3-4! Do you like American music? I like American music. Don’t you like American music, baby?
I want you to hold me, I want your arms around me. I want you to hold me, baby… Did you do too many drugs? I did too many drugs. Did you do too many drugs, too, baby?
You were born too late, I was born too soon, But every time I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you. It reminds me of you… ooh-ooh-ooh.
I need a date to the prom, would you like to come along? But nobody would go to the prom with me, baby… They didn’t like American music, they never heard American music. They didn’t know the music was in my soul, baby…
You were born too soon, I was born too late, But every time I look at that ugly lake, it reminds me of me. It reminds me of me…
Do you like American music? We like American music. I like American music… Baby. Do you like American music? We like all kinds of music. But I like American music best… baby.
You were born too late, and I was born too late, But every time I look at that ugly lake, It reminds me of me… It reminds me of me It reminds me of me Do you like american music It reminds me of me Do you like american music It reminds me of me Do you like american music It reminds me of me I like american music It reminds me of me She like american music It reminds me of me I like american music It reminds me of me She like american music It reminds me of me I like american music It reminds me of me She like american music It reminds me of me I like american music It reminds me of me She like american music It reminds me of me I like american music It reminds me of me She like american music It reminds me of me
I love this band…it seems I have a fondness for bands that released good to great music but never could get over that hump to mass audiences. Maybe if they would have cleared that obstacle their music would have changed…but who knows… maybe it’s a part of their appeal.
This song comes out in 1997 and was on their Sound of Lies album. At first I thought it was about the Memphis band Big Star and it is kinda…and also about The Jayhawks and loving what you have now. The album peaked at #112 in the Billboard Album Chart and #61 in the UK.
They have a Kinks tie… They recently backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. Their 2016 album Paging Mr. Proust was produced by Peter Buck of REM.
They formed in the mid-80s in the Twin Cities .
Gary Louris when asked if the song is about the band Big Star: “Not exactly. Maybe in the back of my mind.” “You could say it about the Velvet Underground or Big Star or The Jayhawks,” “world’s unluckiest bands. They should have been bigger. But everybody in the audience started a band. Everybody that saw them started a band. The old cliché. But it’s true.”
“I have a lot of famous friends.” “about achieving a place that you thought you wanted to be and maybe it would make you happy. It’s a typical human response. If I get there, then I’m finally going to be happy. And in reality, you probably won’t be. You should just be happy with what you have.”
Big Star
I’m flat-busted Wild-eyed and free I couldn’t get arrested if I tried A has-been at a mere thirty-five
Straight, honest, forthright and true Great expectations for someone Doesn’t anybody know how to have fun But I’m
Gonna be a Big Star I’m gonna be a Big Star someday I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
Grape’s bitter I’m no quitter Revolutions come one by one Seems it’s high noon and I ain’t got no gun
But it’s so hard So hard So hard getting by
Gonna be a Big Star I’m gonna be a Big Star someday I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
Fine bourbon, Cuban cigars Rude remarks observed at the C.C. Bar I’m perfecting the finest art of wasting hours But I’m
Gonna be a Big Star I’m gonna be a Big Star someday I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
I’m gonna be a Big Star I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
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
This is a very good acoustic pop song by the Connells.
The Connells were an alternative rock group formed in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1984 by David Connell (bass), his brother Mike Connell (guitar), Doug MacMillan (vocals) and John Shultz (drums), who was soon replaced by former Johnny Quest percussionist Peele Wimberley. In 1990 they added Steve Potak (keyboards) to their line up.
The band placed some songs in the alternative charts in the late 80s and 90s as they were played heavily on college radio The band released their 8th album in 2001 and since then haven’t done much. They never broke up but would get together and play various concerts… they are about to release their 9th album Steadman’s Wake on September 24, 2021.
This acoustic 1993 song became an unexpected smash hit in Europe, topping the pop charts in a couple of countries. The song peaked at #14 in the UK and was #1 in Sweden and Norway…It was on their Ring album.
The video is pretty cool. It was originally shot at Needham B. Broughton High School in the band’s hometown Raleigh, North Carolina in 1993, and features members of the Class of 1975 showing their yearbook pictures and them in 1993. In 2015 they remixed the song and updated the video to show the classmates they filmed in 1993 originally… and what they looked like now.
’74 – ’75
Got no reason for coming to me And the rain running down There’s no reason And the same voice coming to me like it’s all slowin’ down And believe me
I was the one who let you know I was your sorry-ever-after seventy-four, seventy-five
It’s not easy Nothin’ to say ’cause it’s already said It’s never easy When I look on in your eyes then I find that I’ll do fine When I look on in your eyes then I’ll do better
I was the one who let you know I was your sorry-ever-after ‘seventy-four, seventy-five Giving me more and I’ll define ‘Cause you’re really only after seventy-four, seventy-five
Got no reason for coming to me And the rain running down There’s no reason When I look on in your eyes then I find that I’ll do fine When I look on in your eyes then I’ll do better
I was the one who let you know I was sorry-ever-after seventy-four, seventy-five Giving me more and I’ll define ‘Cause you’re really only after seventy-four, seventy-five
I don’t feature many instrumentals but this one reminds me of the great Telstar. Laika and The Cosmonauts formed in 1987 and was a working band until 2008. The band was named after Laika, a Soviet space dog that died on board Sputnik 2 in 1957. This song came out in 1994 on the Instruments of Terror album…without a hint of the 90s….80s, or 70s for that matter.
They are a Finnish band that take surf rock, ‘60s spy movie music and other twangy influences and give them a spacey feeling.
The song on the album is listed as Psyko (Themes From “Psycho” And “Vertigo”) and they give you an early 60s feel. It seems they take Telstar as a base and go from there.
Musicians who like this band? Del Rey, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers, and Dick Dale just to name a few.
They released 6 studio albums, 2 compilation albums, and a live album. If you have some time look them up on youtube.
Ever since I heard this band on our alternative radio station in Nashville…Lightning 100 I’ve liked them. The Jayhawk’s writing and voices won me over with songs like Blue and I’m Gonna Make You Love Me.
This song opens up their Hollywood Town Hall album. The album peaked at #192 in the Billboard Album Charts and #11 in the Top Heatseekers Charts.
Benmont Tench, Charley Drayton, and Nicky Hopkins plays on the album with the Jayhawks.
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul music scene in the mid 80s. Minneapolis had a strong scene for bands in the 80s. The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, and of course the big one…Prince.
The song, like most of The Jawhawks early cuts, is credited to the band’s guitarist Gary Louris and frontman Mark Olson.
Gary Louris: I didn’t know there was a song called “Waiting for the Sun,” I was not a Doors fan. I like them now, but I didn’t know there was a song called that. Maybe in my subconscious I did.
From Songfacts
According to Mark Derning of Allmusic.com, the song details, “a man who has lost his love under unpleasant circumstances and has hit the road, looking for something better from life and hoping a fair deal from the fates.”
Waiting For The Sun
I was waiting for the sun Then I walked on home alone What I didn’t know Was he was waiting for you to fall
So I never made amends For the sake of no one else For the simple reason That he was waiting for you to fall
It was not lost on me It was not lost on me Walkin’ on down the road Looking for a friend to handout Somethin’ might ease my soul
So I kept my spirits high Entertaining passers-by Wrapped in my confusion While he was waiting for you to fall
It was not lost on me It was not lost on me Walkin’ on down the road Looking for a friend to handout Somethin’ might ease my soul
It was not lost on me It was not lost on me Walkin’ on down the road Walkin’ on down the road Walkin’ on down the road Walkin’ on down the road
I came across Otis’s youtube channel and I think some of you would be interested. He is a singer songwriter but on his channel he has conversations musicians who have played or worked with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Waylon Jennings, just to name a few, and his own stories about different musicians. For you music fans it’s worth your time. The guy doesn’t interview people…he lets people talk and tell their stories. He is also a good story teller. I’m hooked on his channel.
He has stories about Jerry Reed, The Replacements, Dan Baird, Merle Haggard, Ry Cooder, Towns Van Zant, Bill Monroe, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, John Prine, Mike Campbell and more.
He lives in Indiana but interviews many Nashville connected musicians. Check this guy out…His music is VERY good as well. I’m just checking that out more as I go… his music is classified as alt-country.
I just picked a few random youtube videos from his page below.
I had to post this song. Even Eagle fans will admit Henley can be a bit pretentious…that’s not a put down…it just is.
You and your kind Are killing rock and roll It’s not because you are O L D It’s cause you ain’t got no soul!
Don Henley Must Die released in 1990 and it’s off of his album Otis. The song peaked at #20 in the Modern Rock Charts.
According to Nixon, Henley joined Nixon onstage one night in a small club before the Eagles reunion and helped Nixon sing it. This is a quote from Nixon: “There I was, the king of bullshit, completely flabbergasted,” “I took my guitar off, put it back on, did that like three times, then got on the mic and said, ‘Don, do you want to debate? Do you want to fist fight?’ He was shit-faced and he goes, ‘I want to sing that song, especially the part about not getting together with Glenn Frey!'”
When the chorus hit, Nixon let Henley take the lead: “Don Henley must die, don’t let him get back together with Glenn Frey!”
“He was beltin’ that shit out, screaming like he was Johnny fuckin’ Rotten,”
..Don Henley Must Die…
Don Henley Must Die
This is the sound of my brain.
Then I said, this is the sound of my brain on Don Henley!
Then I said, 1 2 3 4…
He’s a tortured artist Used to be in the Eagles Now he whines Like a wounded beagle Poet of despair! Pumped up with hot air! He’s serious, pretentious And I just don’t care Don Henley must die! Don’t let him get back together With Glenn Frey! Don Henley must die!
Turn on the TV And what did I see? This bloated hairy thing Winning a Grammy Best Rock Vocalist? Compared to what? But your pseudo-serious Crafty Satanic blot Don Henley must die! Put a sharp stick in his eye! Don Henley must die! Yea yea yea
Quit playin’ that crap You’re out of the band
I’m only kidding Can’t you tell? I love his sensitive music Idiot poetry, swell You and your kind Are killing rock and roll It’s not because you are O L D It’s cause you ain’t got no soul! Don’t be afraid of fun Loosen up your ponytail! Be wild, young, free and dumb Get your head out of your tail Don Henley must die! Don’t let him get back together With Glenn Frey!
Don Henley must die! Put him in the electric chair Watch him fry! Don Henley must die Don Henley must die No Eagles reunion The same goes for you, Sting!
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 