Bands – Page 4 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers – All Your Love

Every weekend I try to post some artists I never have posted before and this weekend it’s John Mayall and another band tomorrow. I’ve read his name and I’ve heard bits and pieces but never dove in so to speak. The one thing I can say…is tone. His band has some of the best tones I’ve ever heard from a guitar.

I could have picked about anything they did so I searched out some and found this one. This British blues band was formed in the early 1960s by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. The band is known for its huge role in the British blues boom and for launching the careers of many great musicians. Just to name a few, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, Chris Mercer, Harvey Mandel, Jesse Ed Davis, and the list keeps going.

Their most famous album I’m aware of is the album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (often referred to as the “Beano” album due to Clapton reading a Beano comic on the cover). This album helped make Clapton a superstar guitarist to many. It was released in 1966 and was the debut studio album of the band. The album peaked at #6 in the UK. I love that the band was fluid with members. Who is on this album? John Mayall, Eric Clapton, John McVie, and Hughie Flint.

The song was originally composed by American blues musician Otis Rush. It was first recorded by him in 1958 as “All Your Love (I Miss Loving).” I added a later live version by Otis Rush with Eric Clapton below. Make sure to listen to the studio cut of it as well…why is that? It’s because of the tone and playing by Clapton. It was back when Clapton was still playing a Les Paul through a Marshall. In the Cream reunion, he played a Fender and you could tell the difference.

John Mayall sadly passed away July 22, 20024. He was 90 years old.

All Your Love

All the love I miss loving, all the kiss I miss kissing
All the love I miss loving, all the kiss I miss kissing
Before I met you baby, never knew what I was missing

All your love, pretty baby, that I got in store for you
All your love, pretty baby, that I got in store for you
I love you pretty baby, well I say you love me too

All your loving, pretty baby, all your loving, pretty baby
All your loving, pretty baby, all your loving, pretty baby
Since I first met you baby, I never knew what I was missing

Hey, hey baby, hey, hey baby
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby, oh, oh, baby
Since I first met you baby, never knew what I was missing

Oddest Concert Pairings

I have always liked odd mixtures. Anything out of the norm and I pay attention. That is why I blog about the past more than today. I liked the 60’s and 70’s era because houses, cars, and music were for the most part unique. I couldn’t tell a Ford from a Chevy today. A lot of new houses look just alike in cloned neighborhoods.

I would have loved to have been at one of these concerts.

Jimi Hendrix / Monkees 1967 – This is number one on my list. Can you imagine the young Monkee fans hearing the sonic volume of Jimi Hendrix? Jimi had to play while a bunch of 12-year-old girls screamed “We want the Monkees” and “We want Davy. ” It was the sixties and Peter Tork said: “It didn’t cross anybody’s mind that it wasn’t gonna fly.”

The Who / Herman Hermits 1967 – Smash your guitar and drums. Hope I Die Before I Get Old and then Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter?… You can imagine Peter Noone tripping over shards of guitars every night.

Lynyrd Skynyrd / Queen 1974 – This one is a head-scratcher. The theatrical Queen and the southern boys from Florida just don’t seem a great match. It was a European tour and Lynyrd Skynyrd got a lot of recognition from it. They were probably more popular in the UK than here at one time.

Bruce Springsteen / Anne Murray 1974 – This one is baffling. Anne Murray’s managers demanded that Bruce open the show for Anne in NYC! They argued she was more successful and she was…but this was New York and Bruce Springsteen…what a fatal mistake…halfway through Bruce’s set Anne’s managers regretted their decision. Many of the audience had left by the time Anne took the stage.

The Ramones/Toto 1979 – This one doesn’t make sense at all…what promoter thought this through? The laid-back ToTo fans sat through the Ramones but Toto singer Bobby Kimball came out and apologized to the crowd for the “horrible band” they had to sit through. Nothing against Toto but give me The Ramones!

Cher/Gregg Allman 1977 – Yes they were married but what an odd concert to go to. You have Gregg who was one of the best blues singers at that time and Cher…who was Cher…Gregg Allman mentions in his book “My Cross to Bear” that the audience was mixed…some with tuxedos and some with denim jackets and backpacks and there were fights at each show on the tour between the two sets of fans.

Gregg Allman

“It was right after that—the tuxedos against the backpacks, because I think the Allman Brothers outnumbered the Sonny and Chers—that Cher came to me, and the poor thing was just crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me, “We’ve got to cancel the rest of the tour, because I can’t stand the fighting.” So we ended it right then, which was about halfway through it. We went home the next day, and that was the last time I ever played with her.”

The Ramones / Ted Nugent, Aerosmith 1979 – Bottles and debris were thrown at The Ramones from the crowd as Johnny Ramone was shooting birds at the audience.

Johnny Ramone about this concert…

“About five or six songs into the set, the whole crowd stood up, and I thought it had started to rain. Dee Dee thought the same thing, but they were throwing stuff at us – sandwiches, bottles, everything. Then, all of a sudden, I broke two strings on my guitar in one strum. I thought it was a sign from God to get off the stage, because I’d rarely break a string, maybe once a year. So I just walked to the front of the stage, stopped playing, and gave the audience the finger – with both hands. I stood there like that, flipping them off, with both hands out, and walked off. The rest of the band kept playing for another ten or fifteen seconds until they’d realized I was walking off, and then they did too. I wasn’t gonna stand there and be booed and have stuff thrown at us without retaliating in some way. We had to come off looking good somehow, and there was no good way to get out of that.”

Small Faces – Song Of A Baker

Another band this week that didn’t break America but should have.

A great pop song by The Small Faces with Ronnie Lane on the lead vocal. Ronnie Lane was inspired to write this song by a book of Sufi wisdom given to him by Pete Townshend. The song was credited to Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott. The Small Faces

In 1966-67 Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott moved into a Westminster apartment, and a new drug entered their orbit that expanded their artistic vision almost beyond all recognition… LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide).

This song came off of their best-known album, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. In its initial release, the album was packaged in a mock tobacco tin that was a circular metal container with oversized folded paper as one finds in a pipe tobacco tin. It proved to be too expensive and impractical, so later releases were packaged in conventional cardboard album covers. A compact disc reissue also was marketed in a mock Ogdens tin.

Ogden’s Nut-brown Flake was a tobacco brand produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.

The album was a psychedelic concept album. It was one of rock’s first concept albums coming before The Who’s Tommy. Side two follows a boy named Happiness Stan who is trying to find the missing half of the moon. The story was thought of on a boating trip to teh river Thames.

Ian McLagan on touring Australia and New Zealand: “[The Australian press] gave me hell from the very beginning, because I’d just been busted, I was on my way to Athens for a holiday but never got further than Heathrow. As I was showing my passport they smelt the hash on me, searched and busted me. As soon as we landed in Australia we had a press conference, so we’re all lined up in front of the television cameras and the first guy goes: ‘Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan… you’re the drug addict right?’”

“On our way to New Zealand we had to stop off in Sydney. You couldn’t drink on internal flights back then, but one of Paul Jones’ Australian backing band passed a bottle around and the police were called. We weren’t even drinking but they arrested and held us in the first-class lounge where a waitress came straight up to us and said: ‘What would you like to drink?’ “So we drank. The police arrested us as soon as we arrived in New Zealand, but we ended up having a great time. Steve had his 21st birthday party; Keith [Moon] wrecked his room; it was business as usual.”

Kenney Jones: “The lyrics came from Ronnie’s Sufi investigations, with the importance of the ‘wheat in the field’ and all that, I love his melodic bass playing on it. He used to think like he was playing lead guitar and that mentally fused into his bass playing.”

Ian McLagan: “It was weird that they allowed Here Comes The Nice to come out at all, we were dabbling in all kinds of chemicals and Methedrine was one of them. We were wrong to have written about a speed dealer. They weren’t the nicest people. The guy you bought your hash from was usually just a head, but a speed dealer – like a coke or heroin dealer – was only interested in getting your money. It was quite different. They weren’t your friends.”

Son Of A Baker

There’s wheat in the field
And water in the stream
And salt in the mine
And an aching in me

I can no longer stand and wonder
Cause I’m driven by this hunger
So I’ll jug some water
Bake some flour
Store some salt and wait the hour

While I’m thinking of love
Love is thinking for me
And the baker will come
And the baker I’ll be

I am depending on my labor
The texture and the flavor

…

Joe Cocker – Cry Me A River

I wanted to post something by Joe Cocker from the now legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. I have a Joe Cocker 1980s song in my drafts but I wanted to do another song from that tour.

I was lucky enough to see him one time. He was opening up for Tina Turner on October 20, 2000, in Gaylord Arena. It was a hell of a double feature with those two performers. Cocker still had that voice and he sounded excellent.

This song was written in 1953 by Arthur Hamilton. The first release of this song was by Julie London in 1955. London was Jack Webb’s wife at the time and she is probably best known for her role in Emergency.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen kicked off on March 20, 1970, and ended on May 16, 1970. Cocker’s manager, Dee Anthony, saw an opportunity to capitalize on Cocker’s rising fame and organized a new tour. A band was quickly put together by musical director Leon Russell. It included an eclectic mix of musicians, backup singers (such as Rita Coolidge), and even a dog mascot.

The tour was immortalized in the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, released in August 1970. It became a critical and commercial success. It is still considered one of the great live albums in rock.

The album peaked at #95 on the Billboard 100, #46 in Canada, and #2 in New Zealand. Looks like New Zealand is the only country that got it right.

The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #15 in Canada in 1970.

Arthur Hamilton: “I had never heard the phrase. I just liked the combination of words… Instead of ‘Eat your heart out’ or ‘I’ll get even with you,’ it sounded like a good, smart retort to somebody who had hurt your feelings or broken your heart.”

I Will See You Next Weekend!

Cry Me A River

Why don’t you, why don’t youWhy don’t you cry me a river?

Now you say that you’re lonelyAfter being so untrue

I want you to cry (cry me a river)Want you to cry (cry me a river)All over me (cry me a river)I want you to cry (cry me a river)Yeah, over me (cry me a river)Hey, yeah, cry (cry me a river)Yeah, I cried a river over you

Now you say that you’re sorryOh, for being so unkind

I want you to cry (cry me a river)Cry for me (cry me a river)Oh! (cry me a river)Over me (cry me a river)Want you to cry (cry me a river)Right on me, yeah (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my headNever shed a tearRemember, I remember all that you saidTold me love was a stupid thingYou were through with me

Cry me a riverCome on love (cry me a river)Won’t you cry? (cry me a river)Oh, yeah (cry me a river)Oh, cry (cry me a river)Cry me a river (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my headOoh, never shed a tearRemember, I remember all that you saidTold me love was a stupid thingYou were through with me

Cry me a riverYes, cry (cry me a river)I want you to cry (cry me a river)Cry me a river (cry me a river)Ah (cry me a river)Cry me (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

Yeah, I cried a river over you(I cried a river over you)Over you (I cried a river over you)Over you (I cried a river over you)

I, I cried (I cried a river over you)Let me (I cried a river over you)I cried a river (I cried a river over you)Cry me a river (I cried a river over you)Over the mountain (I cried a river over you)(I cried a river over you)Baby, I cried a river over you

One, two, three, fourCry me a riverCry me a riverCry me a riverCry me a riverYeah (cry me a river, cry me a river)Cry, cry a river over you

Thanks againThank you very much

Guadalcanal Diary – Always Saturday

I found this band in 2019 when I was covering alternative bands from the 80s. So many great bands from that era that never made it to the mainstream. It is a shame that these bands didn’t have a larger audience. They had many songs that were better than what the mainstream was providing. Some of the alternative bands of 2024 sound like their 1980s predecessors.

These bands didn’t get the 1980s production memos. They sounded different from their mainstream counterparts and added a sixties jangle with a much smaller production. It’s not as easy to date them…the music was a little more timeless.

This band came from Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, but they were often billed as being from Athens, Georgia, and were lumped in with the other Athens acts like REM. They were a college Alternative Band.

I blogged about this band years back. Watusi Rodeo and Trail Of Tears off their debut album Walking In The Shadow of the Big Man. I would recommend that album to anyone for catchy songs and good lyrics. It is one of the best debut albums I’ve listened to.

Still in high school, singer/guitarists Murray Attaway and Jeff Walls became musical partners when they joined the punk band Strictly American. Electing to strike out on their own, they formed the Emergency Broadcast System (I love that name!). Walls was teaching Rhett Crowe bass at the time and she was asked to join the band. Crowe accepted the offer and quickly suggested a name change to Guadalcanal Diary (based on the 1940s movie).

The band formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1989. They reformed in 1997 but never recorded any new material. After going on hiatus in 2000, Guadalcanal Diary temporarily reunited for a second time in 2011 for Athfest, where they celebrated their 30th anniversary.

They released this song in 1989. It was on the album Flip Flop. The song was written by Murray Attaway & Jeff Walls. The song charted at #7 on the Billboard Alternative Chart in 1989. It stayed around for 10 weeks on the chart. It was their most successful and remembered song.

Though Guadalcanal Diary never achieved the same level of commercial success as some of their peers, they left a lasting impact on the alternative rock scene of the 1980s.

The Chicago Tribune on the album Flip Flop – Terrific mainstream rock, a shade quirkier than John Mellencamp or Tom Petty but no less deserving of Top 40 status.

The Los Angeles Times: “One of the most underrated, overlooked and inaccurately compared to R.E.M. bands around doesn’t offer much to change that on its fourth album.”

The Northwest Florida Daily News: Artsy rock ‘n’ roll that doesn’t stray too far from homespun melodies and twangy guitars.

Always Saturday

Waterfall pavement shimmering
Sunshine washes everything
A basket of light, I am trusting
To water the lawn is a wondrous thing

If I could have it this way I know I’d
I’d wanna live where it’s like today
I’d wanna live where it’s always this way
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday

A chorus of laughter fills the air
Everyone’s going everywhere
So many choices it’s not fair
I hop in the car and I just sit there

I don’t need, need to think about how much I
I wanna live where it’s all the same
I wanna live where it’s all just like today
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday
In the shops are shining things

I can I can see them glittering
I wish that I could buy them all
I wish I lived in a shopping mall

Shady back yard afternoon
Summer clothes and tennis shoes
When the light begins to fade
A porch swing creaks with lemonade

A shower of whispers glow and bloom
Late night movie fills the room
Streetlights twinkling like dew
I close my eyes, it ends too soon

All in dreams, I can dream now oh how I
I wanna live where it’s like today
I wanna live where it’s always this way
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday

…

Paladins – Keep On Lovin Me Baby

I hope you are all doing well on this Saturday! This will fill your rockabilly quota of the day.

Here is some 1980’s roots rockabilly. What caught my attention is the relentless guitar on this track plus the groove. The guitar player is Dave Gonzalez and the tone reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughn. This song was written by blues guitarist and songwriter Otis Rush.

The Paladins are from San Diego and were into rockabilly. They billed their music as Western Bop. They played a combination of rockabilly and vintage country together with a blues groove. They were founded in 1980 by guitarist Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley.

Dave Gonzalez’s initial influences came from his mother, who listened to Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and the Rolling Stones. He mixed this with his father’s love of country singers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard who also made a strong impression on him. As he got older he got into blues artists like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Winter.

Put that all together and you come up with a varied roots style.

They did some tours with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lobos, The Blasters, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. This song was on the Let’s Buzz! album released in 1990. They were nominated for the 1990 Entertainer Music Awards but lost out to the Beat Farmers…but they won two years later.

Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley along with drummer Brian Fahey are still a top attraction at clubs at the present time. They have recorded five singles, nine full-length studio records, and three live albums.

Keep On Lovin Me Baby

I want you to love me (repeat) woh yeah.
Oh baby i’m so glad youre mine…
I want you to kiss me…
Woh baby i’m so glad you’re mine…

Early every morning, sometimes late at night i can
Feel your tender lips they make me feel alright.

Keep on loving me baby…
Woh baby i’m so glad you’re mine…

Max Picks …songs from 1995

1995

We have come to the end of the line for Max Picks. I decided to draw the line this year. What a year it was for me in music. I was 2 when the Beatles stopped playing music. I never got to experience a new Beatles song and this was it. It’s still a favorite of mine. I’m going to work up a few Missed Max Picks because of the songs I missed. I want to thank ALL of you for the support and your comments on this series. It was a fun one to do. We started this on June 23, 2023!

Beatles – Free As A Bird

In the 1990s I kept reading about the Beatles Anthology coming out and the three surviving Beatles getting back together to release old never heard before music as well as new. They were going to take a John Lennon demo and add something to it. This was beyond exciting for me. I was too young to remember a new Beatles song coming out.

It had an older feel but sounded modern at the same time. George Harrison’s distorted slide guitar playing brought an edge to it. It even had a strange ending like some of their other songs.

I got an early release of the Anthology CD from a friend of mine who worked in a record store and he said…don’t tell anyone. I sat glued to Free As a Bird because for once I was listening to a new Beatles song… I was one year old in 1968 so I missed them when they were originally out. I liked the song and still do. I have talked to Beatles fans who don’t really like it that much but the song has stuck with me. .

Was Free As a Bird the best song in the Beatles catalog? No not even close but just to hear something new was fantastic. The Anthology videos and CDs jump-started their popularity all over again…and it hasn’t stopped since then. I had cousins who were teenagers at the time who were never interested in them until Anthology came out. All I could say to them was…I’ve told you for years.

Also…my favorite music video of all time

Jayhawks – Blue

This song would rank high among my favorite songs. The Jayhawks were an Alt-Country band with a pop/folk sound formed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1985 and played alternative country rock. They have released 10 studio albums and are worth checking out.

The song was on the album Tomorrow the Green Grass.

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 combine country, folk, rock, and pop with good harmonies.

Oasis – Wonderwall

This song is awash in sixties influence…which isn’t surprising by Oasis. It caught my attention in the 90s seeing that it had a mod mid-sixties influence.

This song was supposedly about Noel Gallagher’s then-girlfriend Meg Mathews, who is compared with a schoolboy’s wall to which posters of footballers and pop stars are attached. He said: “It’s about my girlfriend. She was out of work, and that, a bit down on her luck, so it’s just saying, ‘Cheer up and f—in get on with it.’” Noel later married and then divorced Meg Mathews.

Noel also said… “The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. And how do you tell your Mrs. it’s not about her once she’s read it is? It’s about an imaginary friend who’s going to come and save you from yourself.”

Everclear – Santa Monica

With my big black boots and an old suitcase
I do believe I’ll find myself a new place

Those lyrics hit me for some reason as did the song. It was my first introduction to the band and I loved it. This is one of the few new bands at the time that I followed.

Art Alexaskis formed Everclear in Portland, Oregon, in 1991. Portland in the early 90s had a huge music scene. Everclear broke out first with this song nationally. Many bands there didn’t think Everclear deserved it over everyone else…there was a lot of competition there at that time.

Santa Monica is a seaside town in California where Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis grew up. He describes it as Like LA but on the coast.

The song peaked at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Charts, #4 in Canada’s Alternative Charts, #27 in New Zealand, and #40 in the UK in 1996.

It was on the 1995 album Sparkle and Fade. John at 2 Loud 2 Old Music reviewed all of their albums in this article. It’s a great review of their recording career.

Ramones – I Don’t Want To Grow Up

This came off of the Ramones’ last album Adios Amigos. This song is a Tom Waits cover. This song actually made the top 30 for the Ramones. Their reputation grew through the years. They probably got more popular after they broke up than they were when they were together. It’s a shame that many of their songs didn’t hit bigger at the time. Their songs are short, to the point, and usually very catchy. You would have thought radio would have loved them.

The album is really good and it was a good way to go out for them.

BONUS PICK… I’m going to break my own rule about only 5 songs since this is the last Max Picks…and I’m breaking another rule by featuring a band twice in one post. Which band should it be?

Beatles – Real Love

This was the second “new” song by the Beatles to be released in the 1990s and it was on the Anthology 2 album. I liked the song but it didn’t resonate with me like Free As A Bird did. Real Love sounded more like a Lennon solo song with the Beatles backing him…but I love Lennon’s solo output so I did like it but it wasn’t as “Beatle-ly” to me as Free As a Bird.

The song was more fully realized than Free As a Bird and didn’t take as much input by the other three shaping it. This is the only Beatles song where the songwriting credit is John Lennon alone instead of Lennon-McCartney or all four Beatles.

Paul McCartney did his best John Lennon’s imitation to help the lead vocal because the recording of John’s voice was low and spotty in some places. The lead vocal is actually a John and Paul duet.

…

Max Picks …songs from 1994

1994

We are nearing the end of Max Picks…we still have one more year to go.

R.E.M. – What’s The Frequency Kenneth?

This song along with Fall On Me is my favorite REM song.

REM really let loose on their album Monster. I love the tone on Peter Bucks’s guitar and the loud in-your-face production. Peter Buck played the late Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang, which he plays upside-down because Cobain was left-handed. This to me…is very close to having a REM and Replacements song all in one.

This song is about an incident that took place on October 4, 1986, when the CBS news anchor Dan Rather was attacked on a New York City sidewalk by a crazed man yelling “Kenneth, what is the frequency.” The man turned out to be William Tager, who was caught after he killed a stagehand outside of the Today Show studios on August 31, 1994. Tager, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, said he was convinced the media was beaming signals into his head, and he was on a mission to determine their frequencies.

Lead singer Michael Stipe says this is an attack on the media, who overanalyze things they don’t understand.

After this song I lost contact with REM’s music for a long time…the same with The Replacements. Those two bands represented the best of the 80s for me.

Weezer – Buddy Holly

This was released to radio on September 7, 1994, which would have been Buddy Holly’s 58th birthday.

The video for this song hooked me for not only the mention of Buddy Holly, Mary Tyler Moore but also the Happy Days set… Plus its a fun song.

Spike Jonze directed the video. Vintage Happy Days footage was intercut with shots of Weezer performing on the original Arnold’s Drive-In set. Al Molinaro, who played the diner’s owner on the series, made a cameo appearance in the video. One of the most popular clips of 1995, it scored four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards, among them Alternative/Modern Rock Clip of the Year.

Pretenders – I’ll Stand By You

Chrissie Hynde wrote this with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. “I’ll Stand by You” was released as the second single from the 1994 album Last of the Independents. It’s a beautiful song that has been covered a few times.

For Hynde, working with outside songwriters was different, as she was used to writing on her own. It ended up being a very positive experience that led to more collaborations.

Chrissie had said she was uncomfortable about having such a hit but felt better after Noel Gallagher said “he wished he’d written it.”

Chrissie Hynde: “When I did that song, I thought, Urgh this is s–t. But then I played it for a couple of girls who weren’t in the business and by the end of it they were both in tears. I said, OK, put it out.”

Green Day – When I Come Around

This was my first introduction to Green Day. The more albums they released the more I liked them. American Idiot is probably my favorite album but this song was a good introduction to the band for me.

Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool are listed as writers of this song. It was not released as a single, which was a strategic move by Green Day’s label Reprise to up the sales of the album.

When performing this song at Woodstock ’94, a fan threw a clump of mud on stage and Billie Joe stuck it in his mouth. This caused the fans to keep throwing mud and started the infamous mud fight. Many fans look back at Woodstock ’94 fondly, calling it “Mudstock ’94” largely because of this incident.

Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World

This version has a charm about it I like. Cobain did a great job on this.

David Bowie liked this cover saying, “I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.”

What he didn’t like were the kids that came up after his show and said, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘F**k you, you little tosser!”

Nirvana performed it on the MTV Unplugged episode a few months before Cobain died…it was released on the MTV Unplugged album in November of 1994.

Fanny – Charity Ball

Bonnie Raitt: Fanny was the first all woman rock band that could really play and get some credibility within the musician community.

When people think of female rock bands, this band doesn’t come up much but should. The usual suspects are the Go-Go’s, Bangles, and Runaways because they had more commercial success. The Runaways had more after they broke up.

Out of those three bands, The Runaways resembled more of a “rock band” but the talent level wasn’t up to these ladies. The other two had their moments but were mostly top-40 pop-rock bands…nothing wrong with that. There have been a few all-female rock bands (not enough) but this one…to me is the most talented one I’ve heard. They were not a “girl group”…they were a full-fledged rock band.

Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. 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 on the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.

David Bowie, who wrote the band a fan letter in the early 1970s – and two decades later in a Rolling Stone interview was still talking about how criminally overlooked they were. Bowie said: “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time, revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.”

They never got that one big hit single to break them to the masses. They had a few songs with a pop flavor that really should have made it such as All Mine… that would get my vote. Fanny broke up in 1975, reunited in 2018, and released an album titled Fanny Walked the Earth. I simply adore these women because they could rock.

The album Charity Ball peaked at #150 on the Billboard Album Charts. The title cut peaked at #40 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1971.

They have a documentary out called Fanny: The Right To Rock.

Joe Elliott: “I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes of music, and I was hooked.”

Kathy Valentine: They made 5 records. The Go Gos get a lot of attention for what we did and we only made 3 records.

Earl Slick: It’s always the ones that start it gets f**ked

Charity Ball

Dance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ballDance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ball

Get the musicians readyGet them good and hot, good and hot, wooStand and deliverGive ’em everything you’ve gotYou got my number

Charity ballOoh, stand, oohMove to charity ballDance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ball

Come on and grab a partnerWe’re gonna roll ’till the break of dawnAnd I need youI need youI need youOh, charity ball

Oh yeah, now I’m ready (I wanna be there)Yes, I’m ready (I wanna be there)Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there)Charity ball

Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there)(I wanna be there)(I wanna be there)

…

Animals – See See Rider

Many have covered this song and I’ve known many versions. It’s been covered over 100 times. I first knew this song by Elvis but I love the Animals version.

The biggest difference between the Animals and The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and The Who was that the Animals didn’t write many of their early songs. They kept looking at the Brill Building for songs. In this instance, they took an old blues song and breathed new life into it, creating a powerful recording that would become emblematic of their sound.

One of the earliest recorded versions of “See See Rider” was by Ma Rainey, one of the pioneering figures of blues music. Rainey’s recording, released in 1925, helped popularize the song and establish it as a blues standard. The writing credit on this song is Lena Arent and Ma Rainey.

Ma Rainey’s influence extended beyond her music… she was also a trailblazer for African American artists in the music industry. As one of the first African American women to record blues music. she was a vaudeville star in the early 1900s. In 1923, she started recording for Paramount Records. Earlier he took Bessie Smith under her wing and helped her. She was one of the first female blues artists to find a wide audience.

The C.C. Rider, also known as See See Rider or Easy Rider, is a blues cliché for the sexual partner, although originally it referred to the guitar hung on the back of the traveling bluesman. An easy rider was also known as an unfaithful boyfriend.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1966.

Over the years, “See See Rider” has been covered by many artists from various genres, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Janis Joplin. Per Secondhandsongs… it has been covered 450 times.

See See Rider

Oh see, see see rider girl see what you’ve doneOh oh, see see rider see what you’ve done nowYou’ve gone away and left me and nowAnd now the blues they come oh yes they do

Oh well I’m goin’ goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallOh yes I am goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallIf I get me a good lookin’ woman no no no I won’t be back at all oh rightNow see see rider I love you yes I do and there isn’t one thing darlingI would not do for you you know I want you see seeI need you by my side see see rider oh keep me satisfied

Oh he had see see rider see see riderSee see rider see see rider see riderSee see rider you keep on a ridin’, keep on a ridin’Here it comes baby look outBeat it all right don’t lose it now come on, come on, yeah

Here she comes she’s oh rightShe’s so fine she’s all mineSee see come on Jenny dig a ride now, hey

Well I’m goin’, goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallYes, I’m goin’, goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallIf I find me a good lookin’ woman no no no I won’t be back at allAnd that’s the truth baby listen I’m goin’ all rightSomebody told me somebody told meI jump catch on I leave it oh right oh right ah

…

Max Picks …songs from 1992

1992

Ride – Twisterella

This is a fantastic-sounding song by a band named Ride. It’s high up on my top powerpop songs. The band was part of the shoegaze genre. Along with the previous year’s There She Goes by the La’s…I was in power pop heaven.

Ride was formed in 1988 in Oxford by school friends Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, before recruiting drummer Loz Colbert at the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and local bassist Steve Queralt.

They broke up in 1996 because of differences between Andy Bell and Mark Gardener. Gardener wanted to go forward in a more dance style of music…Bell didn’t but both wanted to go more contemporary style. Bassist Steve Queralt said: The band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option.

They reunited in 2014 and released their first album in 21 years in 2017.

Melon – No Rain

This 1993 song has a sixties feel to it. The lead singer Shannon Hoon did a great job on this track. I think when movies are made about the 1990s…this has to be on the soundtrack. It screams 90s more than about any other song.

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.

R.E.M. – Man On The Moon

I’ve noticed that I have never written about this song which is a shame since it’s in my top 5 of REM. This song is about one of my comedic heroes…the very different Andy Kaufman.

It was the title of a new movie starring Jim Carey as Kaufman. I went to see the movie at the theater and this song fits brilliantly. I think it’s one of the best-written songs they did. Bill Berry came up with the melody and Peter Buck helped finish it off. Stipe came up with the lyrics as their back was against the wall to finish the album.

Bruce Springsteen – Better Days

On March 31, 1992, I purchased two albums by Bruce. Lucky Town and Human Touch…both albums released on the same day. I’ve always liked Lucky Town more than Human Touch. Better Days kicked off the album.

Bruce Springsteen: “With a young son and about to get married (for the last time) I was feelin’ like a happy guy who has his rough days rather than vice versa.”

Jayhawks – Waiting For The Sun

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. The Replacements had broken up by this time and The Jayhawks took their place beside REM.

Benmont Tench, Charley Drayton, and Nicky Hopkins play 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 Jawhawk’s 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.

…

Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night

This is probably one of the most studied songs by the Beatles in their entire catalog. Why is it studied? That opening chord or chords. It baffled musicians for years on how to duplicate it. It took around 40 years to figure it out to be exact. It’s probably one of the most recognizable intros in rock. A musician didn’t figure it out…that took a Dalhousie mathematician. None of the Beatles could remember exactly how they did it.

Here is a PDF you can download. A Hard Days Night Chord . It’s called Mathematics, Physics and A Hard Day’s Night. Here is what Wiki said: George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar. John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a Gibson J-160E 6-string acoustic guitar. Paul McCartney: high D3 played on the D-string, 12th fret on Hofner 500/1 electric bass. George Martin: D2-G2-D3 played on a Steinway Grand Piano.

I just don’t see how they thought it up…it was most likely helped by George Martin. Anyway, it’s a great song and a hugely popular one from their early years. The title came from something Ringo said and John remembered it. They all called Ringo’s odd phrases Ringoisms. Ringo said “We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day…’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘Night!’ So we came to ‘A Hard Day’s Night.”

A Hard Day’s Night was written and recorded in less than 24 hours. It only took them 3 hours to finish the song. It was another song that was written under pressure. The movie production had begun and this was the last song to be recorded. On the way to the studio, John Lennon was talking to a journalist Maureen Cleave who was sharing a cab with him.

He showed her the lyrics to A Hard Day’s Night. They were scrawled down on a birthday card sent from a fan to his son Julian. What the lyrics were was “When I get home to you / I find my tiredness is through …” and Cleave didn’t like the word tiredness and told John…so he grabbed her pen and wrote, “When I get home to you / I find the things that you do / Will make me feel all right.” Today Julian’s birthday card is in the British Library.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #1 in the UK in 1964.

The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK.

A fun fact about the movie. Phil Collins was one of the school kids brought in as extras for a scene in the movie where The Beatles perform. He didn’t make the cut, but years later, the film’s producer gave Collins the outtake footage with him in it and had Collins add commentary to the DVD release.

They won their first Grammy with this song.

A Hard Day’s Night

It’s been a hard day’s night
And I’ve been workin’ like a dog
It’s been a hard day’s night
I should be sleepin’ like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

You know I work all day
To get you money to buy you things
And it’s worth it just to hear you say
You’re gonna give me everything
So why on Earth should I moan?
‘Cause when I get you alone
You know I feel okay

When I’m home
Everything seems to be right
When I’m home
Feeling you holding me tight, tight, yeah

So why on Earth should I moan?
‘Cause when I get you alone
You know I feel okay

When I’m home
Everything seems to be right
When I’m home
Feeling you holding me tight, tight, yeah

Oh, it’s been a hard day’s night
And I’ve been workin’ like a dog
It’s been a hard day’s night
I should be sleepin’ like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright
You know I feel alright
You know I feel alright

…

Max Picks …songs from 1991

1991 was a huge improvement over the prior year.

1991

U2 – One

This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.

The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.

The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.

Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

A friend of mine moved to Seattle in the early 90s for a job. He called me at some point and told me about the music scene there and something big was happening. He said he had just seen a band in a dingy club with a left-handed blonde guitar player who had a strong voice named Nirvana.

I was the same age as Kurt Cobain. When this song came out it was more than popular. It was instantly embedded into the culture. I did like the rawness of it but I would have never guessed it would have been so popular. I just didn’t click with grunge music.

When I first heard it…what did I think of? More Than a Feeling by Boston.

Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the group Bikini Kill, gave Cobain the idea for the title when she spray painted “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his bedroom wall after a night of drinking and spraying graffiti around the Seattle area. In his pre-Courtney Love days, Cobain went out with Bikini Kill lead singer Tobi Vail, but she dumped him. Vail wore Teen Spirit deodorant, and Hanna was implying that Cobain was marked with her scent.

Kurt Cobain said that he was trying to write the ultimate pop song. He said he was basically trying to rip off The Pixies.

Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend

Great power pop song by Matthew Sweet. The song reached #4 on the Alternative Billboard Chart in 1991. The song was off of his 3rd album of the same name. The album was Sweet’s breakthrough album.

The song has a little of everything in it…noisy guitar, loud drums but with a pop melody.

Tom Petty – Into The Great Wide Open

I’ve always liked this song and album. I saw them on this tour and it would be the only time I got to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song is a cautionary tale about stardom and the record business. The album of the same name peaked at #13 in 1991. This was the first Heartbreakers album since Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) in 1987. Tom Petty released his solo album Full Moon Fever two years before this.

The video to the song was well made. Petty later commented that he was approached about making a movie out of the song. The video not only featured Johnny Depp but also Faye Dunaway.

REM – Losing My Religion

I hope everyone is having a happy Monday…at least as happy as it can be.

I heard early REM albums from friends. They really made an impact with college kids and built a following. Then they released The One I Love and the dam burst. This song took it a step higher.

Peter Buck has commented that after this song’s success that the bands popularity soared. He mentioned that R.E.M. went from a respected band with a cult following to one of the biggest bands in the world.

The title is based on the Southern expression “lost my religion,” meaning something has challenged your faith to such a degree you might lose your religion or cool.

REM was surprised when their record label chose this song as the first single from Out Of Time. Running 4:28 with no chorus and a mandolin for a lead instrument, it didn’t seem like hit material, but it ended up being the biggest hit of their career.

Michael Stipe revealed the lyrics about obsessional love were heavily influenced by The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” which he called “the most beautiful, kind of creepy song.”

….

Max Picks …songs from 1990

1990

The La’s – There She Goes

This song played a key part in making me love the power pop genre. It’s one of my favorite power pop songs of all time. It was originally released in 1988 but wasn’t played over in America until 1990. So I’m cheating on this but I had no way of hearing it before then.

A song by a British band called The La’s. A very good pop song that has no verses…it just repeats the chorus four different ways four different times. It was written by the singer Lee Mavers and recorded in 1988 and remixed and released again in 1990. It only peaked at #49 in 1990 in the US.

Many people think the song was about heroin. Paul Hemmings an ex-guitarist for the band denies that rumor. Either way, it is a perfectly constructed pop song. It’s been covered by a lot of artists but probably most successfully by Sixpence None the Richer. I’ve always liked The La’s version the best.

The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle

When I heard this song in 1990 I was thrilled because it sounded like the Faces of the 70s. It was plain rock and roll and had a timeless quality about it. I waited the entire 1980s for rock and roll like this to be back on the mainstream charts. The Replacements were the other rock band but not in the charts. It happened occasionally (Georgia Satellites and Guns and Roses) but not much. This song was originally recorded by Otis Redding, who wrote it with Allen Jones and Al Bell. It was the only cover song on The Black Crowes debut album which sold over five million copies.

The album also had songs like Jealous Again and She Talks To Angels. I knew things were changing when I saw the success of their album.

The two other versions that I like are Otis Redding and Grateful Dead version with Pigpen taking the lead.

The Replacements – Merry Go Round

This one is off of their last studio album All Shook Down. I was going to conclude with this one having one off of their studio albums but there is one more coming next week.

This is not my favorite off the album but it did have a commercial sound for that time and it’s something that I thought would have charted in the Billboard 100. Merry Go Round did peak at #1 on the alternative charts. The album peaked at #69 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1990.

“Merry Go Round” was written about the lives of Westerberg and his sister Mary (“They ignored me with a smile, you as a child”).

The band went to Los Angeles to make a video for Merry Go Round. With Westerberg’s okay, Warner Bros. hired Bob Dylan’s twenty-three-year-old son Jesse Dylan, who was just starting to direct.

AC/DC – Thunderstruck

As much as I love Angus Young’s intro to this…it’s his brother’s rhythm guitar that makes this song go. Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young wrote this song.

A side note to this song. In 2012 a couple of Iranian uranium-enrichment plants were hacked and their computers shut down but not before blasting Thunderstruck at maximum volume like you are probably doing right now or will be soon.

The album was recorded with producer Bruce Fairbairn at his Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, where he also produced Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and the Aerosmith albums Permanent Vacation and Pump. It was the group’s first time working with Fairbairn.

Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U

This song was everywhere in 1990. Prince wrote this song in 1984 but didn’t release it. He gave it to a group called The Family that was signed to his label. The Family included it on a 1985 album but it never went anywhere. Five years later it became the biggest hit of 1990. Prince recorded his own version as well, but it wasn’t released until 2018, two years after his death.

It was O’Connor’s manager, Fachtna O’Kelly, who suggested she record a version of the track. O’Kelly knew it would be perfect for her.

…

Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

“If looks could kill, it would have been us instead of him”.

I got the White Album and Abbey Road in the winter of 1981 and immediately fell in love with both, mainly the White Album. The sheer volume of variety knocked me out. I had heard a lot of the songs already but this album changed me musically. When our band started to play I always wanted a variety in our sets. I wanted to play the loudest raunchiest song and then the next one be the quietest song ever. One example would be AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long and then…Wonderful Tonight. I try my best for the blog to be like that also. John Denver one day and then The Stones…it’s warped…but so am I.

This song stuck in my head for months but I didn’t mind. John wrote this one while all of the Beatles were in India visiting the Maraharshi. It’s based on a true story. When they were there they did meet a hunter who shot tigers. The hunter’s name was Richard A. Cooke, and his wife Bronwyn explained that Richard, “had asked the Maharishi if it was a sin to kill a tiger. John and George were in the room. Maharishi’s response was, ‘Life destruction is Life destruction.’ Rik has not shot anything since. He became a freelance photographer for National Geographic.”

Richard Cooke in the blue shirt

This event ended the hunting career of Richard Cooke III. He decided instead to take up professional photography, working as a freelancer for The National Geographic Society for the next 40 years. His mother Nancy remained friends with fellow meditator George Harrison until his death in 2001.

Sometime in 1969, Capitol released “Bungalow Bill” on a short lived format called “Playtape,” which was a tape cartridge made for portable players. Since there wasn’t much tape allotted to a cartridge, it took five volumes to contain most of the songs on the “White Album,” “Bungalow Bill” being featured on “The Beatles Vol. III.” These tapes are highly sought after today and are quite valuable.

It was widely known that John Lennon didn’t write fictional story songs. He was amazed that Paul wrote so many about fictional people like Rita the Meter Maid or Desmond and Molly. The only fictional departure from this song’s actual story is the throwback reference to comic books that John enjoyed during his childhood in the late ’50s and early ’60s. “Captain Marvel – The World’s Mightiest Mortal.”

It’s John’s voice through the verses that I like…he could make any song sound interesting.

John’s lyrics contain “zapped him right between the eyes.” This American comic book reference to someone ‘zapping’ someone was something that John thought to be humorous, so he added it into the story as an inside joke, emphatically repeated afterward as “ZZZZAP!”

The White Album was released in 1968 and peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Chart, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #1 about everywhere else. The sessions were not the happiest time for the band but they came up with the most eclectic batch of songs they ever produced.

John Lennon: “At the Maharishi’s meditation camp, there was a guy who took a short break to go away and shoot a few poor tigers and then came back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It’s a sort of teenage social-comment song. It’s a bit of a joke.”

Paul McCartney: “This is another of his great songs and it’s one of my favorites to this day because it stands for a lot of what I stand for now. ‘Did you really have to shoot that tiger’ is its message. ‘Aren’t you a big guy? Aren’t you a brave man?’ I think John put it very well.”

John Lennon: “I had a sort of professional songwriter’s attitude to writing pop songs, I’d have a separate ‘songwriting’ John Lennon who wrote songs for the sort of meat market, and I didn’t consider them, the lyrics or anything, to have any depth at all. Then I started being me about the songs…not writing them objectively, but subjectively…I think it was Dylan that helped me realize that.”

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

He went out hunting with his elephant and gun
In case of accidents, he always took his mom
He’s the all-American bullet-headed Saxon mother’s son

All the children sing
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

Deep in the jungle where the mighty tiger lies
Bill and his elephants were taken by surprise
So Captain Marvel zapped him right between the eyes

All the children sing
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

The children asked him if to kill was not a sin
“Not when he looked so fierce”, his mommy butted in
“If looks could kill, it would have been us instead of him”.

All the children sing
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?

Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill
Bungalow Bill?