Hair Band Friday - 7/26/19

1.  "Fools" by Van Halen


2.  "Can't Live Without You" by Scorpions


3.  "Gettin' Better" (live) by Tesla


4.  "Tracy's Song/Only Time Will Tell" by Nelson


5.  "Mr. Tinkertrain" by Ozzy Osbourne


6.  "Feels Like a Hammer" by Dangerous Toys


7.  "What's It Gonna Be" by Mr. Big


8.  "Unchain the Night" by Dokken


9.  "I Want Action" by Poison


10.  "Rain" by Lynch Mob

Retro Video of the Week: "Break Stuff" by Limp Bizkit

What were you doing 20 years ago today?  Chances are, if you're between the ages of 32 and 47, you were either at Woodstock 99 or watching it on MTV.  

From the extreme heat to the price gouging inside the festival grounds to the lack of drinking water to the unusable and overflowing port-a-potties to the mud pits created by burst pipes to the violence to the vandalism to the sexual assaults to the bonfires, it was truly an unmitigated disaster.

For me, the "forever" memory of Woodstock 99 will always be watching people go absolutely ape shit during Limp Bizkit's performance of "Break Stuff," breaking off giant panels of plywood from somewhere and crowd-surfing them.  There are a lot of concerts and festivals where I think, Man, I wish I had been there.  Woodstock 99 is not one of those.  I am grateful I was wherever the hell I was between July 23 and July 25, 1999 that was not Rome, New York.

Here's the regular video for "Break Stuff" and the video of Limp Bizkit's performance of the song at Woodstock 99.

New Book: Chicago by David Mamet

Last week, I finished reading Lou Reed: A Life by Anthony DeCurtis, a fascinating look into the life of one of the most influential figures in rock history.  Reed, of course, was the lead singer of The Velvet Underground in the late '60s and early '70s before going solo for the next 40 years or so before he died in 2013.  From forced electroshock therapy as a teenager to hard drugs to the underground New York gay scene to making an album of industrial noise as a "fuck you" to his record label to dating a trans woman to getting married and going "straight" to that strange collaboration with Metallica, Reed lived a life full that won't soon be duplicated.  He was a notorious curmudgeon, but also had a total soft side and was a loyal and caring friend to many.  I definitely recommend this if you have any interest in the VU or Reed.  My favorite anecdote was from 1987.  Reed was going to be performing at Farm Aid, and he stayed with John Mellencamp in Bloomington.  You see, my favorite bar in Bloomington is The Bluebird, a live music venue.  On the back wall, there's a big picture of Reed performing, and I just figured that was an homage, but it turns out Mellencamp arranged for Reed to play an unannounced warm-up show at the Bluebird with Mellencamp's backing band.  So that was cool enough, but then Reed showed up to visit Glenn Gass's history of rock and roll class for a Q&A session.  Gass is my favorite professor or teacher at any level of education.  These Bloomington details seemed a little odd and too specific when I was reading it -- not that I was complaining -- but then I remembered that the author, Anthony DeCurtis, is a fellow IU alum.

Next up is Chicago by David Mamet, which came out last year and is Mamet's first novel in 20+ years.  It's historical fiction set in 1920s Chicago (Mamet is a native Chicagoan), so it should be pretty good.  Is there anything he can't do?

Books Read in 2019:
-The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone, M.D.
-The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
-Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross
-Chuck Klosterman X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century by Chuck Klosterman
-Lou Reed: A Life by Anthony DeCurtis

Hair Band Friday - 7/19/19

Apparently I didn't hit the "Publish" button on Friday, so enjoy some Hair Band Monday.

1.  "Save Our Souls" by Mötley Crüe


2.  "You Ain't the First" by Guns N' Roses


3.  "Always a Victim" by Trixter


4.  "Get All You Can Take" by KISS


5.  "A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)" by Van Halen


6.  "Sweet Sister Mercy" by Lynch Mob


7.  "Don't Say No" by XYZ


8.  "Hot Wire" by Kix


9.  "Baby Loves You" by Enuff Z'Nuff


10.  "Black-Hearted Woman" by Blue Murder

Retro Video of the Week: "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy

I have been very busy the last few days preparing for my full-scale, painstakingly faithful recreation of the Apollo 11 moon landing for this Saturday's 50th anniversary.  As a result, I haven't had time to devote to you, fair readers.  But here's a video by Loverboy.

Hair Band Friday - 7/12/19

1.  "Living in Sin" by Bon Jovi


2.  "One More Reason" by L.A. Guns


3.  "Perfect Crime" by Guns N' Roses


4.  "Tease Me Please Me" by Scorpions


5.  "Only Young Once" by Trixter


6.  "Makin' Magic" by Tesla


7.  "Diary of a Madman" by Ozzy Osbourne


8.  "Dr. Feelgood" by Mötley Crüe


9.  "Jack Action" by W.A.S.P.


10.  "Morning After" by Ratt

Retro Video of the Week: "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals

New Radicals were a flash-in-the-pan band in the late '90s, founded by lead singer and songwriter Gregg Alexander.  The band was kind of a collective, with various musicians performing at various times.  In October 1998, they released their only album, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too.  And then, on July 12, 1999 -- 20 years ago tomorrow -- Alexander announced that the group was disbanding.

Of course, if you know any New Radicals song, it is likely "You Get What You Give," a catchy alt-pop song with societal themes and that famous jab at various other musicians at the end of the song (Beck, Hanson, Courtney Love, and Marilyn Manson).  The song was the band's only charting hit in the U.S., reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was also a hit worldwide, going #1 in Canada and New Zealand, #5 in the UK, and Top 40 in Austria, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.  And the video features Alexander wearing his trademark bucket hat.  Does it get any more '90s than that?

Retro Video of the Week: "Cool It Now" by New Edition

This Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the release of New Edition's self-titled sophomore album, which eventually went double platinum in the U.S. and was the group's highest-charting album of the '80s, reaching #6 on the Billboard album charts.  New Edition, of course, was a pop R&B group featuring future new jack swing pioneers Bobby Brown, Bell Biv DeVoe, and Ralph Tresvant (and later Johnny Gill, who replaced Brown).

The group's debut single, 1983's "Candy Girl," flirted with the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 (reaching #46), but hit #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, setting the group up for success with their next album, which featured the group's first three Top 40 hits and first Top 10:  "Cool It Now" (#4), "Mr. Telephone Man" (#12), and "Lost in Love" (#35).

I'm going with "Cool It Now" because it was the group's first Top 10 song (and highest-charting song until 1996's reunion hit "Hit Me Off," which went to #3), their first gold single, and their second #1 on the Billboard R&B charts.  Enjoy the innocence, the fashion, and the hair.  Also, is it just me, or do you also think there's no way Ralph Tresvant's voice was that high by the time this video was shot?

Tuesday Top Ten: Fourth of July Songs

[Updated 7/9/19:  How did I forget "Living In America" by James Brown?!]

With the U.S. Women's National Team's big semifinal win today in the World Cup and Fourth of July on Thursday, it's a patriotic week for us Americans.

Lord knows I'm not some MAGA-hat toting psycho, but it turns out you can be a flaming liberal and still love your country.  You certainly don't need tanks to celebrate Independence Day, but a good playlist can never hurt.  So here are my top ten picks for songs you can mix into a Fourth of July playlist.  I'm limiting it to one song per artist, and I'm just going to order it reverse alphabetically by last letter of the artist.  There's an honorable mention section after my top ten, in case you want to go ape shit for America on your playlist.

1.  "The Star-Spangled Banner" (live) by Jimi Hendrix
As a former member of the 101st Airborne performing as the last act at the defining live music event of the '60s, Hendrix's version of the national anthem at Woodstock is legendary, blending patriotism with psychedelia and artilleristic sound effects.


2.  "Surfin' USA" by The Beach Boys
Nothing says idyllic summer in America more than The Beach Boys.  I learned all about America's great surfing beaches because of this song.  I still haven't ever been surfing.  That's a life goal -- almost literally, as I've wanted to go surfing for nearly 90% of my life.


3.  "American Girl" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Aren't we all raised on promises?  Like the subject of this song, unfortunately we all learn that those promises are not actually promises, unless the promise was that one day you'll be on a balcony hearing the cars out on 441, contemplating jumping.  If so, that's a horrible promise.


4.  "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)" by John Cougar Mellencamp
There were several Mellencamp options (see the others in the Honorable Mention), I'm going with "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." because it's the most uptempo.  And it's a fantastic little rock song about '60s rock, although the typo in the title does irk me.


5.  "This is America" by Childish Gambino
Donald Glover's morbidly accurate vision of modern America (and accompanying freaky video) is an instant classic.


6.  "American Woman" by The Guess Who
The only non-American artist on the list, The Guess Who were one of the first great rock bands to come out of Canada.  "American Woman" is their defining classic, with Burton Cummings's gravely, impassioned vocals setting the table and warning us all of the perils of an American woman.


7.  "Living in America" by James Brown

The Godfather of Soul added one of the more memorable moments in one of the ultimate American patriotic movies of the '80s -- Rocky IV.  Does it get more American than a song sung by James Brown dressed in American garb while Apollo Creed enters the ring, only to get beaten to death by a Soviet cyborg, who is then later beaten by Creed's best friend?  No.  The answer is no.

8.  "Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen
Yes, unlike various Republican politicians over the last 35 years, I am aware that this is not a song necessarily celebrating America -- but actually pointing out how poorly Vietnam vets were treated upon their return to the States.  But as a child of the '80s, this was one of the biggest songs of my childhood, and The Boss is a national treasure.


9.  "America" by Simon & Garfunkel
This is a classic tale of traveling across the country, brought to you in perfect two-party harmony.


10.  "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood
Sure, it's cheesy, but God bless the U.S.A. -- were there actually something called God.


11.  "America" by Neil Diamond
Sure, the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer starring Neil Diamond was a flop, but the soundtrack did all right.  "America" was the highlight.  It's a bombastic, optimistic ode to America's rich history of immigration -- the kind of song Stephen Miller must really hate.


Honorable Mention:  "All American Man" by KISS; "America" by Motörhead; "America" by Razorlight; "America's Sweetheart" by Elle King; "American Badass" by Kid Rock; "American Boys" by Halestorm; "American Fool" by John Cougar Mellencamp; "American Gigolo" by Weezer; "American Girls" by Counting Crows; "American Heartbeat" by Survivor; "American Horse" by The Cult; "American Idiot" by Green Day; "American Nightmare" by The Misfits; "American Pie" by Don McLean; "The American Scream" by Alkaline Trio; "American Slang" by The Gaslight Anthem; "Back in the USA" by Chuck Berry; "Geek USA" by Smashing Pumpkins; "Hello America" by Def Leppard; "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." by The Clash; "In America" by Britny Fox; "Independence Day" by Bruce Springsteen; "Justice and Independence '85" by John Cougar Mellencamp; "L'America" by The Doors; "Last Great American Whale" by Lou Reed; "Liberty" by Steve Vai; "Little America" by R.E.M.; "Living in the USA" by Steve Miller Band; "Miss America" by Styx; "New America" by Bad Religion; "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus; "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp; "Real American" by Rick Derringer; "Rockin' in the U.S.A." by KISS; "Somewhere in America" by Survivor; "Son of an American" by The So So Glos; "Spirit of America" by The Beach Boys; "Surf Wax America" by Weezer; "Theme From Greatest American Hero" by Joey Scarbury; "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup; "Which Way to America" by Living Colour; "(You Can Still) Rock in America" by Night Ranger; "Young Americans" by David Bowie