America 250 Rocktober Song #21: "It ('s A Monster)" by Extreme

Well, friends, our monthlong rocking musical journey through the U S of A has come to an end.  Be sure to tune in Monday, as we start GoProvember, a daily look at the most hilarious first-person-filmed biking, skiing, surfing, parkour, and skateboarding mishaps.

But before then, we have one last America 250 Rocktober song, and because it's Hair Band Friday, we're obviously going with a song by a hair band.  Formed in Boston in 1985, Extreme is best known for their acoustic ballads "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted," which respectively went to #1 and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Like many hair bands who fell into the ballad/power ballad trap, many unfamiliar with their whole catalog assume that's the only type of music they play.  Well, they don't.  They can actually rock quite hard.

"It ('s A Monster)" -- with its awkward and seemingly unnecessary parentheses -- was a track on the band's second studio album, 1990's Extreme II:  Pornograffitti, the very same album that featured the aforementioned massive hits.  The song is an uptempo, rollicking fun song that I could see being a show closer.  From what I can tell, the song appears to be about identifying a being as a monster.

Hair Band Friday - 10/30/26

1.  "Yankee Rose" by David Lee Roth

2.  "Rock Brigade" by Def Leppard

3.  "Days Gone By" by Slaughter

4.  "Push Comes to Shove" by Van Halen

5.  "Rock City" by Damn Yankees

6.  "Welcome to the Jungle" (live) by Guns N' Roses

7.  "VOA" by Sammy Hagar

8.  "Talk of the Town" by Roxy Blue

9.  "Flight to Nowhere" by Tesla

10.  "Breaking the Chains" by Dokken

America 250 Rocktober Song #20: "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" by Type O Negative

Somehow I haven't featured a song from a New York artist in this America 250 Rocktober.  So let's do it.  Brooklyn's Type O Negative was one of the premier American goth/doom metal bands in the '90s.

"Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)," off of the band's third album, 1993's Bloody Kisses, is an 11-minute musical and emotional journey.  There are slow parts, creepy parts, rocking parts, wicked solos, and two choruses, one of which anthemically shouts "Loving you was like loving the dead!"  The song is supposedly a facetious take on dating a goth chick, with references to various horror characters, and if you know that and listen to the lyrics, the song is pure satire about goth culture.  My favorite anecdote about the song -- and I say that like I know more than one anecdote about the song -- is how it was written.  Lead singer, songwriter, and one-time Playgirl centerfold Peter Steele drove a garbage truck before he was able to become a full-time musician, and he said this about writing the song:  "I was waiting in line for three hours to dump 40 cubic yards of human waste at the Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station, and I wrote the song in my head. I'm not kidding you."  More like Brown No. 2, am I right?  But seriously, it's a great song, all 11 minutes and 14 seconds of it, and a great addition to any Halloween playlist.  Oh, and Rolling Stone ranked it #64 on its 2023 list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs.

America 250 Rocktober Song #19: "Death Letter" by The White Stripes

Thanks to a combination of work and watching the Brewers win their first-ever World Series last night, I didn't have time to post a Rocktober song yesterday.  But alas, I will make it up to you, dear readers, by posting two today.

The first comes from Detroit, Michigan and my favorite American band of all-time, The White Stripes.  There were several options for a spooky or Halloween-appropriate song -- "Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground," "Bone Broke," "Death Letter," "Little Ghost" (though that's not necessarily rocking)," Rag & Bone," "Walking With a Ghost," and "Red Death at 6:14," for example.

I decided to go with what I consider the most "American" of the options, "Death Letter," off of the band's sophomore album, 2000's De Stijl.  Originally recorded by Delta Blues legend Son House, I was shocked to learn it was recorded in 1965, as House was party of the early wave of Delta Blues in the '30s and, well, the original sounds like it was recorded much earlier than 1965.  The song is about a guy who gets a letter telling him his special ladyfriend had died -- a death letter, if you will -- and he even goes to the morgue to see her laying on the cooling board.  Then the rest of the song is about his mental anguish.  They don't call it "the blues" for nothing, am I right?

Anyway, The White Stripes electrified the song, paying homage to the original while also making it their own.  And they even give it a little Detroit feel with a nice revving guitar solo.

America 250 Rocktober Song #18: "Heeby-Jeebies" by Little Richard

Our next Halloween Week America 250 Rocktober song takes us to Macon, Georgia, which has given the world many great musicians across genres, but none of them is more important to the history of rock and roll music than Little Richard.

Born Richard Penniman, he got the nickname "Lil' Richard" as a child.  Discovered by gospel legend Sister Rosetta Tharpe when he was only 14, Little Richard signed his first record deal a few years later and released his first single in 1951.

After a few record label switches, he found a home at Specialty Records, where he released a string of hits in the '50s, starting with 1955's "Tutti Frutti," which was his first of nine Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latter half of the decade (four of which reached the Top 10).  On top of that, he built himself into one of rock and roll's great showman and most flaboyant early ambassadors.

Because it's Halloween week, I'm going with his 1956 single "Heeby-Jeebies" -- delightful little early rock and roll ditty that's apparently about an overaggressive scorned lover who's knocking on his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend's door to figure out if she wants to be with him.  This apparently gives him the heeby-jeebies.  The song went to #7 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, his sixth of what would eventually be 13 Top 10 hits on that chart.

America 250 Rocktober Song #17: "Ghost With a Boner" by Diarrhea Planet

Our first song of Halloween week in this celebration of American music comes from a band with one of the most ridiculous names ever:  Diarrhea Planet.  Formed in Nashville in 2009, the band purposely chose an outlandish name to be "irritating."  And the name was somewhat appropriate because these guys were the shit.

I've sung their praises over the years here on GMYH, and I'll sing them again.  I had the pleasure of seeing them live multiple times, and their shows were amazing.  They had four -- yes, four -- guitarists, all of whom could shred, trading off solos, but also talking to each other through their instruments, sometimes going quad lead guitar (like a double Thin Lizzy).  They were a sight to see and a noise to hear.  I'm not sure they fit within a specific genre.  With the raw energy of punk, the DIY ethos of garage rock, the technical proficiency and guitar solos of metal, and the aural assault of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Diarrhea Planet combined influences from everywhere into a sonic stew of awesomeness.  

Between 2009 and 2016, they released three EPs and three full-length albums.  Like Bob Slydell with Michael Bolton, I celebrate their entire catalog.  Unfortunately, the band broke up in 2018, though they briefly reunited for some shows in 2022 and 2023.  I'm holding out hope that they'll get back together again and tour.

Since it's Halloween week, I'm going with "Ghost With a Boner" from their self-released 2009 debut EP Aloha.  It's a song about a male apparition with a fully erect member, or so I assume.  Rather than post the studio version of the song, I'm posting a video of their performance of the song at South By Southwest in 2016, so you can get a flavor for their shredding live shows.

America 250 Rocktober Song #16: "Streets In Paradise" by Vixen

It's hard to believe we only have a week left in Rocktober.  But I suppose that's an expected consequence of the wrenched, unforgiving hands of time.  As always, because next week is Halloween week, all the songs will be about death, monsters, demons, daemons, or devils, or will otherwise have some sort of dark theme.

But before we get there, we have another Hair Band Friday in Rocktober.  We're going back to the Midwest, to the frosty, mosquito ridden capital of Minnesota, St. Paul, where Vixen formed in 1980.  In a male-dominated genre like hair band music, the all-female Vixen was a unique and inspirational band.  They released their self-titled debut in 1988, and a year before that, they appeared in the legendary documentary The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years.  Their first album featured their two biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100:  "Edge of a Broken Heart" (#24) (co-written and produced by Richard Marx) and "Cryin'" (#22).

But I'm going with a deep cut from the band's second album, 1990's Rev It Up.  While their more popular songs are more on the pop metal side, they could rock out too.  "Streets In Paradise" is hot from the get-go, with a great riff and driving beat.  And the song keeps up the energy the whole time.  Parts of the song would have been fantastic in movie training montage or a montage where the gang is working together to build something that naysayers said they couldn't build.

Unfortunately, Rev It Up didn't perform as well as the first album, so their record label dropped them, and then they broke up in 1992, before reforming a few years later and releasing an album in 1998.  They have disbanded and reunited several times, including in 2004 to be on VH1's Band Reunited, putting out their last studio album in 2006 -- though they have remained together (in different iterations) and touring pretty much since then.

Hair Band Friday - 10/23/26

1.  "Love Song" (live) by Tesla

2.  "Squeeze Box" by Roxy Blue

3.  "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" by Van Halen

4.  "Fool's Paradise" by Lillian Axe

5.  "Rock & Roll's Gonna Save the World" by Y&T

6.  "Boomerang" by Kix

7.  "Cold is the Heart" by Lynch Mob

8.  "Twisted" by Dio

9.  "Bad Blood" by Europe

10.  "Sticky Sweet" by Mötley Crüe

America 250 Rocktober Song #15: "The Taste of Ink" by The Used

Before doing my research for this Rocktober, off the top of my head, I would not have been able to tell you any rock band from Utah or where The Used was from.  Now I can tell you both.  The Used are from Utah.

Formed in 2000 in Orem, and their music is a mix of emo, post-hardcore, pop punk, and alt rock.  Between 2002 and 2023, the band has released nine studio albums, four of which have cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard album charts.  And while they have gone through a couple lineup changes, they have never broken up in the 27 years since they formed, which is a pretty solid accomplishment.

The first song I remember hearing by the band was, coincidentally, their debut single, "The Taste of Ink," from their 2002 self-titled debut album.  The song was an instant earworm for me, thanks to its hypnotic staccato verses, followed by its pop-punky sing-along chorus.  And it's after midnight, so I'm going to bed now.

America 250 Rocktober Song #14: "American Music" by Violent Femmes

As you may know, the Milwaukee Brewers are in the World Series for only the second time in franchise history and the first time since 1982.  As you may not know, Violent Femmes are playing a pregame concert at American Family Field prior to Game 1 on the World Series on Friday night.

One of the stalwarts of the American underground alternative rock scene in the '80s, Violent Femmes formed in Milwaukee in 1981.  In August of that year, they got a pretty big break.  The Pretenders were playing a show at Milwaukee's Oriental Theatre, and Violent Femmes were busking in front of the theater earlier in the day.  Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott heard them, and then lead singer Chrissie Hynde asked the band to play a short acoustic set in between the opening band and The Pretenders' set.

The band released their self-titled debut album in April 1983, and it contained several of what would become the band's most well-known songs, such as "Blister in the Sun," "Kiss Off," "Add It Up," and "Gone Daddy Gone."  I was going to go with "Kiss Off" as my selection, but given that this Rocktober is a celebration of American music, how could I not go with "American Music"?

"American Music" was the first track off of the band's fifth studio album, 1991's Why Do Birds Sing?  The song starts out with the spoken-word line, "Do you like American music? / I like American music / Don't you like American music, baby?" before kicking into a foot-stomping shuffle that begs you to sing along with the entire song, before the song whips into a frenzy at the end, complete with the backing vocals singing excerpts of The Ronettes' song "I Can Hear Music" (more famously covered by The Beach Boys).  It's not hard to see why the song became a concert staple for the band.  "American Music" would reach #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it the band's highest-charting single on that or any other chart.