It's that time of the year again -- the best time of year for lovers of dark, heavy, malty, flavorful beers. Winter is my favorite beer season for that reason, and if you don't agree, hey man, that's treason. Like last several years, I will once again be engaging in a 24-day weight-gaining enterprise I call It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer -- a daily look at a different beers throughout December.
This year, I only bought two beer advent calendars. I bought the Costco German beer advent calendar, as usual, but like last year, I just bought that because it has a bunch of great German beers that aren't generally otherwise available in the U.S., so I can drink them anytime. For the second year in a row, I got my main beer advent calendar from local beer shop Beer on the Wall.
While I'm sure there will be a few hoppy or weird beers in there, if it's like last year, it will mostly be wonderful winter beers. To quote myself last year, "Just give me a heavy malty beer with some fucking nutmeg already."
This coming Saturday is the 40th anniversary of the release of Swedish pop superstars' ABBA's single "Under Attack," which was the group's final single before they released their 2021 album Voyager. I am of the firm belief that there are two types of people in the world: (1) those who love ABBA; and (2) those who lie about not loving ABBA. They crafted some of the catchiest pop music ever made. It has been scientifically proven to be the most pleasing music to people's ears made by any musician ever, or something like that.
Anyway, "Under Attack" is another catchy pop tune, but you can see how their sound was a few years out of date in 1982. Nonetheless, the song reached #26 on the UK pop charts and the Top 10 on the pop charts in Belgium, Finland, and The Netherlands.
The video is a bit soulless, as it appears the band is just going through the motions of having to film a music video at the dawn of the MTV era that would leave them in the dust.
Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. The movie was a big success at the box office -- becoming the second-highest-grossing movie of 1992 -- despite being panned by most critics and receiving seven Golden Raspberry nominations.
If the movie was a success, the soundtrack was an absolute smash. It topped the Billboard album chart, as well as 20 international album charts. It was the #1 album on the 1993 Year End Billboard album chart, #2 on the Decade End Billboard album chart, and #23 on the all-time Billboard album chart. It has been certified 18x platinum in the U.S., and it has sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling soundtrack of all-time and the third-highest-selling album of all-time worldwide, behind only Michael Jackson's Thriller and AC/DC's Back in Black.
Of course, the signature song from the album and movie is Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's 1982 country hit "I Will Always Love You." Houston transformed the song into a majestic pop soul classic, which spent a then-record 14 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is still the longest-running #1 hit from a soundtrack. In addition, the song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Year End chart for 1993, #7 on the Billboard Decade-End chart for the '90s, #54 on the Billboard all-time singles chart, and #1 on the pop charts in 24 other countries and the Eurochart. After Houston's death in 2012, the song reentered many of those charts, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 10 on 15 other international charts. It won dozens of music awards, including the Grammy for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Female.
The video is a classic too, featuring Houston sitting alone and singing, while scenes from the film mixed in, climaxing when she belts out "And Iiiiiiiiii will always love yooouuuuu" while sitting in a chair in the snow. In October 2020, it became the 7th video from the 20th Century to reach one billion views on YouTube, and the first video by a solo artist to hit that mark.
Friday will mark the 25th anniversary of the release of New Orleans-based rapper Mystikal's second studio album, Unpredictable. It was a big hit, topping the Billboard R&B album chart and going to #3 on the Billboard 200, starting a string of three consecutive #1 albums on the former and Top 5 albums on the latter. It was also his first platinum album in the U.S.
There weren't any big hits off the album, but there were several videos. I'm going with "Here I Go" because I just like the vibe of the song. Mystikal would go on to have success on his own and as a featured artist on songs by other No Limit Records artists, like Master P and Silkk the Shocker, as well as non-No Limit artists, like Ludacris and Joe, among others. Unfortunately, he has also had his fair share of legal issues over the last 20 years, spending six years in prison for sexual battery and extortion from 2004 to 2010, and then he was arrested in 2012, 2017, and 2022 on various serious charges.
First of all, please make sure you vote today if you haven't already done so. No excuses!
I meant to post this last week, but got wrapped up in your standard All Saints Day bullshit. This year was a return to our usual Halloween party, after a two-year COVID hiatus. We had a '70s theme, and people really went all out. Hell, one of our friends made this skullcuterie.
My only regret is that I didn't get pictures of everyone.
On Halloween proper, as usual, I went with a costume meant to instill fear in the hearts and minds of children. And boy did it work! But I tell ya, I do it so that they realize that scary costumes are just regular people underneath. When I see a kid who is clearly scared, I say, "I'm just a man." It usually works, though not when I'm swinging a freshly gutted rabbit over my head.
But anyway, let's get on with the costumes. Many, but not all, are from the '70s Halloween party. I'm giving you more than just my top ten because there were so many good ones. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. The Village People
2. Chrissy, Janet, Mr. Furley, and Larry from Three's Company. Unfortunately, Jack couldn't make it because Mr. Angelino wouldn't give him the night off.
3. Team Zissou
4. A child plague doctor.
5. Mary Tyler Moore
6. Kenny Loggins. But specifically, Kenny Loggins from the cover of his 1979 album Keep The Fire.
7. Laverne and Shirley
8. John Lennon and Yoko Ono
9. Jackie Moon
10. The Hanson Brothers
11. A man and Elton John
12. David Crosby. Though it may not have been a costume. It may actually have been David Crosby.
This past Sunday marked the 35th anniversary of the release of George Michael's massive debut solo album, Faith. Maybe "massive" doesn't even do it justice. Here are the stats:
It debuted #1 on the Billboard album chart, was #1 for 12 weeks, and stayed in the Top 10 for 51 total weeks. It was also #1 on the Billboard Year End album chart for 1988.
It also topped the album charts in the UK, Canada, Europe, The Netherlands, Spain, and Zimbabwe, and reached the Top 10 on the album charts in nine other countries.
It was the first album by a white solo artist to reach #1 on the Billboard R&B Album chart.
Michael had four #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from the album: the title track, "Father Figure," "Monkey," and "One More Try." This made him the first (and still the only) British male solo artist to have four #1s from the same album. The two other singles released in the U.S. from the album, "I Want Your Sex" and "Kissing a Fool," merely went to #2 and #5. If you're counting, that's 6 Top 5 songs from the same album.
The album eventually went diamond in the U.S. and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, putting it among approximately the Top 50 best-selling albums ever.
It won various Grammys and AMAs.
The album was ranked #151 on Rolling Stone's most recent 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list.
My first concert ever was George Michael at Alpine Valley in September 1988. I won tickets on the radio, swearing on air in excitement in the process. My mom took me to the show. I had to have the awkward conversation on the drive up there to let her know there was a song called "I Want Your Sex." Good times.
I'm going with the video to "Faith," which was the second single release from the album and was a worldwide smash. The video is also iconic with Michael in his aviators and leather jacket, shaking his ass while he's pretending to play a guitar. In retrospect, I don't know how none of us knew he was gay until years later. Anyway, it's a great pop song with some '50s rock and rockabilly influences.
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