A Trio of Van Halen Songs

Big ups to Steve, who turned me on to Van Halen Asteroids while at work today. Screamingly (pun!) funny. So it's time to shake off the cobwebs and get back to the whole reason I love Music in the first place.

WARNING: VERY MIGHTY

Hot for Teacher

So This Is Love

House of Pain (Demo Version)

Wake Up Song: Sigur Ros - Hoppipola

It's Icelandic and I don't understand a single word. But it has a very pretty piano hook. I've always liked this song, and I desperately hope the lyrics aren't about strangling family pets.

Wake Up Song: Jesus Jones - Move Mountains

Audio only. I guess I got this one stuck in my head after yesterday's Soup Dragons post. Took a little searching to find this song, and I came across a lot of other Jesus Jones tunes while doing so. I forgot how much I used to like these guys. Has it aged well? I dunno.

Wake Up Song: Soup Dragons - Pleasure

These guys were kinda-sorta like a Scottish Jesus Jones in the early 90s. I like the Blondie sample at the beginning.

Joe Walsh - Walk Away

Audio only. Apologies if I got this wrong and should have labeled this as the James Gang. Joe Walsh wrote some devastating hooks in the 70s, and this will definitely not be the last time he's featured here.

Wake Up Song: Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

A couple of years before "Nothing Compares 2 U," there was this intriguing song by this unusual artist that had a better-than-average riff. If I recall correctly, this song was on 147 consecutive episodes of 120 Minutes.

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Nirvana - Molly's Lips

Pay close atention to the chord progression of this song. That's right, there's just two of them, played over and over again. Proof that, in the right hands, the simplest works can be the most effective.

For comparison's sake, here's the original:

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Spiderbait - Black Betty

OH GEEZUS HELL YEAH THIS VERSION OF BLACK BETTY THUNDERS AND ROARS. IT'S SO DAMN LOUD I HAVE TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN READ IT. TAKES THE RAM JAM VERSION OF THE SONG, SHREDS IT INTO LITTLE PIECES AND STUFFS IT DOWN YOUR EAR CANAL SO HARD THAT YOUR SINUSES ARE STILL CLOGGED THREE DAYS LATER.

The original, for comparison's sake:

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Kula Shaker - Hush

Kula Shaker put this one out a few years ago, a reexamining of one of Deep Purple's finer works. I have to say, I think I prefer the cover version, it has more of an attacking, relentless feel to it. For comparison's sake, here's the original (audio only):

George Harrison - What is Life

Audio only. Of all the Beatles' solo careers, George Harrison's is the most overlooked. The man could write a hook.

Wake Up Song: Curve - Coast is Clear

Back on the mend today, though I did wake up at 4:30 for no easily discernible reason. Today's wake-up song is by a long forgotten Britpop band who remind me a little bit of Garbage, with heavier beats and layered guitar tracks. Hope you like it.

Music for Sick Days

Yeah, I'm under the weather pretty good today, and I'm going back to bed after posting this. Just a miserable cold. Ugh. So here's a pair of good songs about being sick.

Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself

Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick

Stereophonics - More Life in a Tramp's Vest

Rock on, Kelly Jones. See my earlier note about huge there, unknown here.

Wake Up Song: MC5 - Kick Out the Jams

Forgive the afros and bell bottoms. They know not what they do. Straight up hard driving rock and roll from the Woodstock era. Forgive, also, the local Detroit TV show breaking in before the end. But this is the best version of the song I could find on YouTube.

Every now and then I'm happy with a song I wake up to. This is one of those times.

Human Radio - Me & Elvis

NOTE: embedding this video is forbidden, but you can click on it to go to the proper YouTube page. Please do, it's cool.

For some reason, whenever I get nostalgic for the 1987-1995 music time frame (in my mind, the greatest period of musicmaking in my lifetime), this song comes to mind. Gotta love a band with electric violin. Yes, they came long before DMB, shut up.

Earth Wind and Fire - Let's Groove

One of the marching bands played this song in front of the Obamas' review stand today, and it was driving me crazy trying to remember who it was who did it.

REM - It's the End of the World as we Know it, and I Feel Fine

Had to chase the wakeup song, and decided to post this as a dedication to the new president. Oh my, I feel fine. DAMN, I feel fine. It's the promise of a new day.

What? A promise of a new day?

Wake Up Song: Europe - Final Countdown

You wake up, you hear the phrase "final countdown to the inauguration," and you get a song stuck in your head that you prefer just slightly to rats digging in your ear canal and eating your eardrums. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Wake Up Song: Gary Wright - Love is Alive

Gary Wright is much better known for the song Dreamweaver, of course, and the picture on this video (the album cover) sure looks like a guy who would sing that song. but not this one. A retooled version of this, with better guitar work, would be pretty epic.

As with the Ratt song from a couple of days ago, I have no idea why this song is in my head this morning.

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend

The latest iPod ad campaign uses this bouncy, heavy-rhythm, horn-section song. I dig it.

David Lee Roth - Sensible Shoes

Honestly, I have no idea whatsoever why I have this song in my head.

Cover Songs Woth Examining: Newton Faulkner - Teardrop

Just saw this guy perform a gutsy cover of Massive Attack's Teardrop on Palladia's V-Fest show. Isn't it cool? I really dig it. Don't know much about the guy, but I'll investigate.

For comparison's sake, here's the original.

Smithereens - A Girl Like You

No self-respecing fan of hard rock running a blog can deny having several Smithereens songs kicking around in his head from day to day. The best description of these guys I ever heard is that they're a cross between AC-DC and the Beatles. I love these guys.

Explaining the Radio Station References

A couple of folks have asked me about the WAVA, WHFS references in the labels under every post. Growing up in DC in the 80s, you had a choice of radio stations that clearly defined who you were in the social strata of West Springfield High School.

Q107 was the top 40 radio station. Sure, others came around later on, but their "Top 10 at 10" was a show that you were not allowed to miss if you wanted to hear what the hot girls were listening to.

WHFS was the "alternative" station. far and away the coolest station around, even if you didn't really understand what the music was about. Lots of the bookish girls I had crushes on listened to this station, and even if I didn't understand it, at least they played lots of REM and pre-Joshua Tree U2.

WAVA was the AOR station that was DC101's younger, brattier brother. It also eventually went Top 40 (and later became a Christian station), but for a few short years, it was the station to hear all the hard stuff that was too gritty for DC101 and had better reception than 98Rock out of Baltimore. If you watched Beavis and Butthead, Todd would listen to WAVA. West Springfield had a hell of a lot of Todds.

WCXR was the Classic Rock station that came along in about 1985 or so. I actually worked there for a couple of years between my first and second attempt at college. Classic Rock was a new format at the time, and was the most eye-opening format ever for me. Up to that point the only place you could hear the Beatles was on Oldies stations, and you never heard Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, or CCR on the radio until it came along. everyone loved it, and it was a unifying presence in high school.

So if you're confused about the kind of music you think you'd like, keep this in mind and click on the appropriate label on the right to find stuff you think you might like.

RESPEK

"Fire" Songs

Just came in from watching the smoke. The Arlington County Fire Training Academy caught fire tonight (irony!), and Shirlington House is enveloped in smoke as we speak. So in honor of our brave firefighters, I'm presenting four excellent fire songs.

After the Fire - Der Kommissar

Dokken - Into the Fire

Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn

Ozzy Osbourne - Fire in the Sky

Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

I discovered this song on a lazy Saturday afternoon with the now-defunct Mojo channel playing in the background. Downloaded it, put it on the 2008 OBX mix, and now it's in at least three commercials I've seen. I am a music god.

Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me

Take Amy Winehouse, move her to Australia, subtract the drugs and the lunacy, and you'll send up with something like this.

Oasis - Lyla

Audio only. Don't Believe the Truth was a surprisingly good album.

Wake-up Song: Ratt - Lay it Down

Seems like every morning I wake up with a song in my head and I have no idea why. It's like acknowledging the bad dream you had last night. As screwed up as was, it's all yours and you have to deal with it.

As far as the song goes, I freely acknowledge that I grew up loving hair metal. As ridiculous as most of it is, there are still a couple of bands who could put a good riff together and Ratt was one of them. These guys cracked me up. They all hated each others' guts, but they were a lot better than most of their peers. Enjoy.

Manic Street Preachers - Stay Beautiful

THIS is what I mean about a song with a great hook! IRRESISTIBLE.

Tim Capello - I Still Believe

Song from the Lost Boys soundtrack, written and originally performed by The Call (see post below).

The Call - Let the Day Begin

Audio only. In the stint between my first and second attempts at college, this song was one of my friends' favorite drinking games. I'll let you guess how it was played.

The Pursuit of Happiness - Cigarette Dangles

These guys always blew the roof off the Bayou when they came to town. Just straight up rock and roll.

The Refreshments - Banditos

These guys are still cranking out stupid-fun rock and roll, though not with each other.

School of Fish - Three Strange Days

Buzzy guitar pop from Tampa, circa 1992. Woot.

Gary Young - Plant Man

Oh, why not?

Judybats - She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)

these guys had a run of minor success making bizzarro world pop music. Kinda like the 1990s version of Fountains of Wayne.

BoDeans - Still the Night

Audio only. Yes, they did more than the theme to Dawson's Creek. Or whatever the hell show that was. A fine, fine Milwaukee product producing some serious pop masterpieces.

Dada - Dizz Knee Land

"I just flipped off President George" is thankfully no longer a timeless line.

Mary My Hope - Wildman Childman

These guys were about four years too early for the breakout of grunge. A hidden gem in the back of my CD collection.

Nirvana - Jesus Don't want Me for a Sunbeam

The electric version of this blows away the acoustic one on the unplugged album. My favorite moment is when Dave Grohl plays so hard the cymbal stand collapses.

Stone Roses - Fools Gold

Audio only - full, nine-minute version. Simply legendary. Watch for I Am the Resurrection coming a little later.

Van Halen - Black and Blue

Audio only. I'm putting this in for the benefit of the Flying Rote Brothers.

Jim Noir - Eanie Meany

Can't find the remixed version that Adidas used in its World Cup ads in 2006, but this is still solid, hook-laden pop.

LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My house

Another discovery thanks to Subterranean. The guys dressed as the VU meter make this video

Sons of Butcher - F*ck the Sh*t

54 seconds of why hard rock kicks ass.

Brandston - Earthquakes and Sharks

Audio only. As far as I could tell, no music video exists for this bouncy, fun pop song. Some dude took it and put its audio over a Vanessa Hudgens video. And, after watching it, I find that I don't really mind all that much.

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

Audio only. Don't say a word about this being house music. This song almost singlehandedly brought about the Madchester / Britpop explosion in the early 1990s. I missed it, because I was seriously into grunge, but it's better late than never.

World Leader Pretend - Bang Theory

Another band who I'm not sure even exists anymore. They hit from New Orleans just before Katrina hit. I know they played some benefit shows just after, but if they've done anything since, I don't know.

Failure - Stuck On You

How these guys never broke big is beyond me. Ken Andrews, the lead singer, does more producing than performing now, but he left an archive of tremendous tunes. Look for their (original) version of The Nurse Who Loved Me coming soon.

Van Halen - The Full Bug

I'm including this for two reasons: (1) it's the MIGHTY FUCKING VAN HALEN and (2) I was at this concert. Capital Centre 1982, baby! It was Heavy Metal Parking Lot two years too early.

Interpol - Untitled

Every time I hear the opening to this song, I stop and say "goddamn."

Secret Machines - Nowhere Again

Discovered these guys on Subterranean in 2005 or so. They are long overdue for a new album

People in Planes - Last Man Standing

Saw these guys open for the Stereophonics at the 9:30 Club. Their newest CD has some awesome freaking tunes on it. Check them out.

Oasis - Step Out

You know, when you get past all the bluster and bullshit, Oasis writes some awesome freaking music.

The Clash - White Riot

I specifically put this in here to see if I could get Keith to notice. Is that pandering? This is a clip from the movie Rude Boy. I wonder how much overdubbing was done on this, it sounds phenomenally good.

Stereophonics - Moviestar

I equate the popularity of the Stereophonics with Styx in the 70s. Hugely, massively, powerfully popular on one side of the Atlantic and virtually unknown on the other. Personally, I love these guys, and I think they're making the best music of any current band that I'm into.

Test Post

Welcome to my little corner of the Web.

I am a music snob. A terrible, incorrigible music snob. But not as bad as CJ. Or Roach. well, maybe. I am constantly arguing with Jill over the merits of good bands that she's never heard of and trying to encourage her to see shows like the Sterophonics or Secret Machines.

(I contend that she's the music snob, because she only listens to like-oh-my-gawd POP-ular stuff, but that's an argument for another day.)

I hope to use this site to broaden horizons, and to be broadened by many of you as well. If you've ever felt that thump in your chest when a hook reaches out of the speaker and grabs you, or ever taken 10 minutes to play a three minute song because you keep backing up to hear that segment just after the bridge, then this is a site that I bet you'll enjoy.