Category: Music

Random songs of the moment.

Through postcrossing, I found a blog by a photographer who lives in Singapore who also reads YA fiction. We seem to have common interests and so I’ve been checking in.  She has a great feature where she will now and then post the video to a song. I think this is brilliant and plan to do the same thing. I’ll start by copying her. This is a very fun video, both to listen to and watch.  If you like dance numbers or cute 50s dresses, this is for you.

Here is Kathleen’s original post.
http://www.kathleenchere.com/blog/2014/7/7/i-couldve-been-your-girl

45RPM: Both Hands Ani DiFranco

Where I match a song to specific memory

 It was perhaps inevitable that I would come across Ani DiFranco’s music in college.  It was the 90s, it was a women’s college, there were a bunch of girls from everywhere in the states, so DiFranco and I were fated to meet.  In this case, she showed up on a soundtrack of  a play my friend had written.  Our college was small and fostered the belief that we could do anything.  So when two women said, “Let’s each write and produce a one-act and then direct it” that’s exactly what happened.  Well, nearly.  The other women didn’t write her own one-act, but she directed an already written one.  My friend wrote and directed, because that’s the kind of woman she was.

I was enchanted by this friend: she was from Canada and had a father in the Air Force, so she had lived many different places.  She was intelligent and a strong feminist, and with a long-time boyfriend.  Strangely, she seemed just as interested in me.  Her play was the first time I saw the words of a person I knew come to life, and realized with a jolt how much of their own lives writers use in their work.  This song always reminds me of her, not only because it was used in the one-act, but also because after we left school, she disappeared, not answering the letters I wrote to her.  It turned out she had, without telling me, applied for the same full-ride scholarship to a transfer college and got it, leaving me high and dry.  I heard about her coup from a friend.  We never spoke after college.

Power Ballads. A Blog Post.

My recent viewing of Rock of Ages got me thinking about the power ballad.  Here are some things the power ballad and their videos all have in common:

  • They show the band (mostly) but often have a side story or theme with actors, or sexy ladies
  • They are nearly all sung much higher than my range (What did all the bass singers in the 80s do?)
  • The band members almost always have very awesome clothing (with Damn Yankees being the exception)
  • There are usually a multitude of shots of sexy women, either models/actresses hired, or snippets of crowd shots
  • The lyrics are sometimes quite excellent in their banality
  • And, as I write this, not a single one of these videos has a commercial playing before you can view it

And so I bring you this retrospective of my favorites:
And I hope you understand the way I spin the word “favorites” to mean something like: at one time I desperately loved these songs and so I still feel a strong affection for them, even if now I find some of them a little silly.

To view, click the links, or, if the site lets you, you can watch the embedded videos.

Patience
Guns & Roses
“The record company made Guns & Roses write ‘Patience’,” said boyfriend #2 with a steely glint of admiration in his voice, “because the crowds were getting too out of control and they wanted the band to play something to calm them down.”
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I prefer this song to “November Rain” which has also has its merits.
Watch for:

  • Axl having to read the lyrics to this song while they are filming the video
  • Slash more interested in a snake than the many scantily clad women at his bedside
  • Panning over the sound guys, who look normal-80s and not rock-star-80s
  • The disappearing hotel hallway people
  • Axl’s pants
  • The smashing of the neon phone
  • Axl watching himself singing “Welcome to the Jungle” while looking a bit morose
  • The “ah” at the end of the song

Heaven
Warrant
Watch this and look for:

  • Jani Lane’s headband
  • Moving Polaroids of the band with names–perhaps J.K. Rowling saw this video?
  • Much footage of the band playing live
  • Hot woman serving as photographer
  • Excellence in lyrics: how I love the way you move/and the sparkle in your eyes/there’s a color deep inside them/ like blue suburban skies
  • I’m also noticing that the lead guitarist is much better looking than the singer.
  • Riding of motorcycle through empty stadium
  • Classic 80s double guitar
  • All-white outfits with their names on the jacket sleeves (!!!!!)
  • Jani Lane shaking the mother finger for emphasis in one spot
  • Fireworks on stage
  • Many candid shots of fans
  • Band posing in towels, with their long hair twisted up
  • Sexy wink.
  • “Yeah” ending

I Remember You
Skid Row
Their other ballad “18 and Life” is also good, but more sad-sad than sad-romance-ballad sad.
Look for:

  • Many shots of the band looking solitary, despite the fact they are playing the song together
  • Narrative of sad homeless man walking alone and staring at photos
  • Excellence in Lyrics: “All the tears you cry, they call my name”
  • Shots of a classic 80s 12-string guitar
  • Bass player singing along
  • A bridge
  • Really, there are many more excellence in lyrics moments in this song
  • Sad homeless man dropping pictures on the ground and in the homeless guy fire in the garbage can

High Enough
Damn Yankees
Look for:

  • Opening plot that works in the band’s name
  • Good gum chewing by the lead female in the story
  • Good gum chewing by Ted Nugent.  
  • Also sunglasses
  • Lead singer’s haircut, which was much like mine my senior year of high school
  • Slowest running from the police ever
  • Ted Nugent kicking down a door
  • Ted Nugent playing the guitar solo while being shot at by the police
  • Shirtless drummer
  • Apparently being the getaway driver leads one to the gas chamber in some states?
  • Ted Nugent as gum chewing priest

(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection
Nelson
Look for:

  • Disinterested twin brothers in backstage-like black and white setting
  • Harmony!!–not a usual feature of 80s Rock
  • Sudden transition to big set, in full color
  • Girl in bikini on set 
  • One brother in torn jeans, one brother in over-the knee red boots.  Maybe those are chaps?
  • Same set, but clothing change for verse two
  • Interesting botanical setting, but with foofy material on the ceiling
  • Brothers who play guitar leaving the guitar solo to yet another guitarist?
  • Expressive hand gestures that don’t involve playing music, yet music is still playing?
  • A LOT of twin brothers singing directly into the camera
  • Snow coming from the ground?  Not sure what that fluffy stuff is.
  • End with just twins playing guitar back in the backstage-like setting

Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Poison
I won’t lie.  I still love this song, it’s probably a top-10 from the 80s.  I probably love it partially because Bret Michaels sings in my range, something that was quite rare for the time period.  But the video, I have to say, is a bit disturbing.  At some point in his writing, Chuck Klosterman pointed out how this video is a “sobering examination of Poison’s alcoholism” and he’s not wrong.
Look for:

  • Sad and sighing Bret Michaels
  • Sad and sighing scantily clad woman
  • Shots of the band onstage
  • Many rather disturbing clips of the band in states of inebriation
  • Band hi-jinks
  • Smashing of guitar on stage
  • Wet drummer in slow-mo
  • Fan biting lip
  • Bret Michaels on a pole

Love Song
Tesla
I think this one holds up rather well, though I have to sing along an octave lower
Look for:

  • Day in the life of a concert from empty through setup, fan arrival and the concert itself
  • Band on the bus looking mellow
  • Band in rehearsal
  • White pants with black footprints on them (!)
  • Crowd shots, including attractive women singing along
  • Classic 80s double guitar
  • High kick by lead singer
  • Girl sitting on boyfriend’s shoulders
  • Many devil signs by the crowd
  • Playing while smoking
  • Headbands on the lead singer and the drummer
  • Airplane writing the word LOVE

When the Children Cry
White Lion
This was actually painful to both watch and listen to. It has not held up well. At all.
Look for:

  • Opening stills of the band
  • Lead singer looking sad and serious
  • Guitarist on playground, sitting on merry-go-round
  • Very serious message about being born into a world where “man is killing man, and no one knows why”
  • Picture of little child
  • All the band looking sad and serious
  • Despite all the serious, some quick cuts to band in concert
  • Excellence in lyrics: “no more presidents/one united world/under god”
  • Interesting geometrical shirt worn by guitarist during solo
  • Many shots of children looking serious
  • Excellence in lyrics: “when the children fight/let them know it ain’t right”

Living in Sin
Bon Jovi
I loved this album and liked this song a lot–enough to transcribe it into a journal.  But watching the video now!  Yow!  It seems fairly racy for my then-eighth-grade self.  O! MTV.  Such promises you made to us about romance. That said, the “kids” in this video look like they are in their early 20s, too old for their parents to be so interfering.
Look for:

  • Voice over by Jon Bon Jovi
  • Couple having sex in motel room (though just hinting at it in a PG way)
  • Couple on beach with waves crashing over them
  • Jon and Richie singing into the same microphone
  • Sex in car (we’ve moved to PG-13 sex)
  • Jon snapping with a cute smile
  • Catholic scenes of communion followed with the juxtaposition of man’s finger in woman’s mouth
  • Disgruntled look at parents by main male actor
  • More sex in motel 
  • Parents sleeping in twin beds with dad looking sad
  • Jon looking sad while singing and crossing himself
  • Couple being discovered in motel room by parents, who are very angry
  • Sad glances by couple as they are separated by parents
  • Couple anticipating the hand-on-window scene in Titanic (perhaps James Cameron watched this video?)
  • Girl in couple running off with hot guy in couple, leaving her parents angry and in the house

Love Bites
Def Leppard
I may have slow-danced to this song at a junior high dance.  Or I may have wished I was slow dancing to this song at a junior high dance.
Look for:

  • Girl on mattress reading magazine, but really lolling about in a sexy way
  • Lead singer in silhouette/half light
  • Sexy girl looking at the landscape while wearing gloves
  • Sighting of guitarist
  • Jean jacket with pin
  • Various band members singing up into the microphones.  Why did they not lower them?
  • Woman in red dress walking
  • Sexy gloved woman removing sunglasses while sitting by water
  • Singer and guitarist singing into same microphone
  • Woman running up spiral staircase to nowhere
  • Other various sexy women looking at the camera
  • Distorted final line: “if you’ve got love in your sights/Watch out: love bites”

Motley Crue
There is no embedded video for this song because Motley Crue’s “Official Video” for this song is from 1991 and has black and white stills and old photos and that was not what I was looking for.  It was only by googling “Where is the original version of Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home?” that I found a link.  But there it was, just as I remembered it, in all its trashy glory.
Look for:

  • Tour bus driving
  • Stage being set
  • Band taking the stage, but not before kissing all the posters of hot girls
  • Fireworks
  • Drummer spinning sticks
  • Decorative scarf on microphone
  • Jumping off risers on stage
  • White chaps
  • Pointing up when singing “up in lights”
  • Fans jumping on stage
  • Fans being carried off stage
  • Fan flashing the camera
  • Various things being swung around on stage
  • Drummer singing along to guitar solo
  • Iconic playing of piano riff at the end
  • Band taking a bow
  • Band walking off stage indicating they are number one
  • Tour bus that says “Rockin & Rollin”
Aerosmith
This is another favorite.  It has all the elements of a classic power ballad.  And so many fun details, I had to pause the video so I could type them all.
Look for:
  • Band on stage, and due to video magic also in several different rooms and landscapes.  Joe Perry is partial to the desert.
  • Stephen Tyler singing on the moon, but no! It’s reflection of Stephen Tyler in Stephen Tyler’s own pupil (!!!!)
  • Breaking down a wall when singing “break the walls between us”
  • Opening a trap door to look into another room where Stephen Tyler is singing
  • Floaty sexy angel
  • Stephen Tyler as lonely detective-type person
  • Sexy lady in silhouette while dancing naked
  • Who disappears when Stephen Tyler pulls down the sheet!
  • Stephen Tyler writhing and singing in bed while singing “sleeping in this bed alone”
  • Stephen Tyler reaching for sexy floaty angel
  • Joe Perry without a shirt
  • Floaty angel in concert
  • Floaty angel touching Stephen Tyler in a certain “area”
  • Stephen Tyler in two very good outfits. One white and sparkly, one grey with tails and stripes.
  • Stretching out the two syllable word “angel” into 8 or 9 syllables
  • Band (except drummer) all singing on one mike
  • Stephen Tyler spitting something at us

45RPM: 59th St. Bridge Song

Where I match a song to a specific memory

Sometimes I fall in love with a song, associate that song with a person and then because that song is imprinted on the person, I have a special place in my heart for that person.  I think the first time this happened with with Simon and Garfunkel’s “59th St. Bridge Song”, also known as “Feeling Groovy”

I had never heard it until a talent show in fifth or sixth grade.  But B., a boy who was (and is) a really good singer, wanted to sing it for the show and he recruited four or five other girls to sing it with him.  I was not one of them, though I wanted to be.  I loved a lot about this song, the nonsense melody ending in “feelin’ Groovy”, I loved how simple it was, and sweet.  The group even did some choreography to fit the singing and it looked great.  When I hear this song today, or sing it myself, I can still picture some of the choreography.

B. has grown up to be an outstanding guy.  And I will always remember him as a 12-year-old boy singing, “slow down, you move too fast.”

45RPM: Runaway Train, Soul Asylum

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

My brother is two years younger than me and we inhabited different worlds for most of our growing up.  I was books, he was sports.  I was rules he was push.  I was lonely, he was surrounded.  I was nerdy, he was popular.  I was struggle, he was ease.  By the time we had both settled into attending the same high school (he a sophomore, I a senior) we had our routines down and our orbits really only crossed at the dinner table and on vacations as well as a random day now and then when we did something together.

Except for a few standouts, most of his friends have melded into one friend amalgam.  They were of the same time, the kind of hippy, kind of athletic popular kids, who did much more socially than I ever did in high school.  Our age difference seemed vast at that time, and I always felt a combination of bemused at their childish/grownup antics and kind of inferior to their social status.  I mostly left them alone, though we weren’t unfriendly to each other.

Some of them sought me out, for whatever reason.  I found a journal entry that described a party my brother hosted while my parents were out of town (the exact kind of party, in fact, that kept my parents from leaving town for nearly all of my high school experience) where two of his friends found me in my room and chatted me up.  I even printed out and saved what they wrote when they were messing around on my word processor.  They cracked me up, even twenty years later.

I have a clear memory of one friend–name lost to time–encountering me on the stairs as I was leaving for work.  He gripped the Soul Asylum album Grave Dancer’s Union in his hand and was giddy with delight over something.  “Look!” he said to me, pointing to the CD cover.

“Butt.” he indicated the naked girl on the right.

“Butt” he indicated the naked girl on the left.

“No butt.” all that was left was the girl in the middle.

I smiled and nodded and continued on my way, confused as always by my brother’s friends.  And I think of that encounter every time I think of this song.

45RPM: Romeo & Juliet (Indigo Girls and Dire Straits)

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

 The Indigo Girls “Rites of Passage” came out when I was refusing to get over my first boyfriend breaking up with me.  This song was the last song on side one of the cassette, and the amount of power and hurt in Amy Ray’s voice sent me quickly unfolding the lyrics sheet in the case to read the words along with her.  There was only a title and songwriters’ names and no lyrics.  Blast!  It was a cover!  No matter, through repeated play, I had them down in no time and could belt them out right along with Ms. Ray.  It was an excellent song for encapsulating my scab-picking-of-the-broken-heart mental state, and I loved it.  At one point it was playing when my friend April was around.  “Hey, this is Dire Straits.  My parents have the album.”  So then I knew who wrote it.  But I never heard the original until…

…I was leaving for college early that morning.  To be more precise, my entire family was leaving to drive me to college several states away.  I had spent the last few days/weeks/an entire year saying goodbye to people, packing, sorting things, planning.  I served my last two weeks at Pizza Hut, an ex-boyfriend stopped by to give me a good-luck card, I dreaded leaving my cat.  It was incredibly early–possibly even five o’clock in the morning–and I stumbled awake and into the bathroom, flipped on the radio and went about my getting ready duties for the last time as a regular resident of the house.  And there, right in the middle of washing my face, I realized the song I was hearing, the song with the simple guitar accompaniment and the quiet lyrics, was Dire Straights “Romeo and Juliet.”  Mark Knopfler’s song was a sadder, more accepting version of loss and it fit perfectly with the many goodbyes I had just given.  To this day, I love both versions for different reasons.

45RPM: Only the Good Die Young

Where I match a song to a specific memory

Boston is a bar town.  I realize the case could be made for many other cities being “a bar town” but Boston has the Irish heritage, a compact and walkable city, a ton of colleges and–if I have to pull out the big guns–the city is the setting for the longest-running TV series ever to take place in a bar.  So take that, other bar towns.

There is a bar for everyone in Boston.  You’ve got your posh bar, your intellectual bar, your hip bar, your sports bar, your college bar, your dance music club bar, your local band bar, your neighborhood bar, your punk rock bar, your dive.  I’m sure I’m forgetting a few categories.  But let me tell you, in any of the bars in Boston that played music, this song was beloved at the turn of the millennium.  I can’t tell you how many times I was chatting with friends over a beer on a Friday or Saturday night and felt the transformation.  Before Billy Joel gets through the first line, “Come out Virginia, don’t even wait,” a cheer of joy went up from the women in the crowd.  I think it had to do with  the vast numbers of (possibly formerly) Catholic (definitely formerly) Girls in the crowd–Joel’s next line is “you Catholic girls start much too late”–but I think it also has to do with being out with friends and being reminded of that not-quite-appropriate guy who wants you to experience things you haven’t yet experienced, but wouldn’t mind doing.  There’s a gleeful freedom in this song that just beckons.

Second place in the beloved Boston bar songs at the turn of the millennium:  “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.  It has one of the most honest lyrics every sung by a man:  Come on Eileen, I swear on my knees/at this moment, you mean everything.

45RPM: Laid by James

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

I lose songs sometimes.  I will hear them once or twice, think, “that song is awesome, what is it?” and then, poof, it is gone.  If I have no snippits of lyrics there is no way to find the song again and I have to wait until it comes to me.

This song came back to me in a bar in Medford, Massachusetts.  I came to be in said bar because of a guy who I met working for Whole Foods.  He was short and charming.  The Boston Metro Area is chock full of short, and charming guys, thanks to the combined immigrant past of the Irish and Italian.  The guy’s hair line was receding at an alarming rate for his age, he wasn’t much to look at, but man, could he flirt.  He was also a musician–guitar player–and the son of Italian immigrants which meant he had a classic Italian name that rolled off the tongue.  We will say it was something like Donatello Gribiasi.  At the point I came to be sitting in the bar with him, we had both quit Whole Foods, but I called him up to see if he wanted to go out before I moved away.  He did, and that’s how we came to be sitting together bar when this song came back to me.  “Who is this?” I exclaimed as the song amped up. Donatello Gribiasi, being a musician, knew the title and the artist and, just like that, I had the song again.

45RPM: Wagon Wheel

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

I first heard this song at a friend’s singing party and experienced that weird feeling I get when everyone is singing along to an awesome song I’ve not heard before.  It was forgotten in the crush of songs that night but found again in a tiny Hawaiian restaurant in a mountain town in Colorado.

We had traveled to the cool breezes of the summer mountains to see my boyfriend’s brother get married.  It was a fun wedding on a ranch where we rode horses and every morning ate a good breakfast.  Our last night there we drove into town to see (follow this chain if you can) my boyfriend’s mother’s partner’s son Jon play a set at local restaurant.  I’d met the player in question at a different family wedding and found him full of good humor and easy conversation.  That he also lived in Colorado and played the guitar was a revelation for this trip.  It was sunset when we arrived and as the light faded we sang along as Jon played many songs I know.  His set lasted longer than we did and as we packed up to leave he launched into this song.  We walked to our car, we could still hear his singing drifting across a creek that ran through town.  I sang along with the chorus, “Rock me mama like a wagon wheel,” but the next line was interrupted when John spotted us across the way, “Rock me mama–goodbye Dad!” he called mid-line.  We laughed as we found our car and sped off into the night.