Supporters of GIRL POWER, Scarlett Johansson is on your side! Johansson, one of the Haim sisters, and 3 other “girls” have formed The Singles. They’re a “girl group,” made entirely of “girls.” This is so cool! Check it out! Continue reading »
My wife and I were driving around yesterday when Heart‘s “Barracuda” came on the radio. A few measures in she said, “This song totally represents the ’70s!” I knew what she meant. It wasn’t just the sound and the ethos of the ’70s that the song immediately took us back to: it was the fabrics, the decor, the hair, the thick cut glass at restaurants, the smells…
Is there a song that completely encompasses a specific era every time you hear it, a song that couldn’t be re-created or otherwise faked in any other era?
I can’t believe he’s going to leave us! Before Jon Stewart is gone forever, tell us what’s on your mind.
I hope the subject line of this thread is self-explanatory. If not, try this pump-priming entry…after the jump!
I’ll need to get some time and write out my thoughts in some detail after hearing the news that Don Covay has died. I’ve loved Covay since discovering the man behind so many songs I first knew by other artists, thanks to a collection put out by the record label owned by a friend’s brother. My friend E. Pluribus Gergely and I, with whom I argued over who was better, Covay or Joe Tex (he was on Team Tex), went to a soul revue in Atlantic City about 10 to 15 years ago. Lloyd Price took a moment, at one point, to note his friend Don Covay in the audience. He made Don stand up and take a bow. A big guy in a white suit did as instructed. He was about 5 seats down from us. We so wanted to leap over the people beside us and hang with Covay!
Covay was probably the most rocking of R&B guys (see “Sookie Sookie” among songs rockers covered with ease and success) – not in an over-the-top “white” way but in terms of playing guitar-based rhythms that perfectly bridged the slight gap in the ’60s of “white” and “black” music. Graham Parker & the Rumour‘s live cover of “Chain of Fools” comes to mind. His knack for out-Stonesing the Stones continued into the early ’70s, with the amazing song “Hot Blood.” I can’t find it on YouTube just now, but it could easily pass for the best song on Black and Blue. So much great stuff that overcame a degree of hokiness, such as “I Was Checking Out (While She Was Checking In)”. I wish I could crank up “We Can’t Make It No More” right now. Hey, maybe I just took the time I needed to write down my thoughts.
“What is that?!?!” my wife said across the kitchen table one evening last week, as we each picked away at some work on our laptops. I was playing an album by Clinic in the background.
“I should have known you wouldn’t like them,” I said, “They appeal to my love of ’70s Satan movies.”
“Yeah,” she said, “it sounds like the Cure doing the soundtrack for a Satan movie.”
My wife shares a lot of my music tastes, but she doesn’t like creepy music. Or creepy movies or books or paintings, for that matter. She couldn’t believe how excited I was, recently, to tear through a new book on Charles Manson. The rare times she makes the mistake of being in a room with me while I’m watching a movie like The Omen and cackling with laughter she’s shocked at my ability to a) enjoy such schlock and b) laugh at the scary bits.
You know what Beatles song she doesn’t like, a song I assume all Beatles fans (which she is) likes? “Come Together,” because she says it creeps her out. I love the cult vibe behind that song. I love what I call Satan Movie Rock: Clinic, Psychic TV, individual songs like “Come Together” and “Season of the Witch”… I’m not talking about stupid songs about Satan, but songs that Satan might hum in a private moment.
How do you get your Satan on?
