In honor of one of my favorite articles of clothing, which I will leave to you to identify through today’s Last Man Standing, let us cite bands named after articles of clothing. Need I say more? Go!
Nov 092012
Oct 072012
I’m tempted, as I’ve been tempted too many times before, to think that I’ve come up with the shortest Last Man Standing contest ever, but you’ve proven us wrong too many times before. I’m so confident you’ll surpass my expectations that I’ll give away the one movie that recently came to mind for me that fits what I will hold according to strict criteria: non-Hollywood musical movies based on a song.
By “non-Hollywood musical movies based on a song,” I mean movies that were written outside the Hollywood musical tradition (whether actually made in Hollywood or not [ie, French musicals also don’t count]) specifically to play out the story of/capitalize on a pop song. Movies that simply use the title of a pop song (eg, High Fidelity) do not qualify. In fact, I think we long ago did a Last Man Standing on that topic. The movie has to be some (I would think in most if not all cases) misguided idea that the content of the pop song was not enough, that the pop song’s content had to be fleshed out as a feature film. Imagine, if you dare, an actual film portraying the events and evoking the moods of Don McLean‘s “American Pie” (the teen-exploitation film series of that title being a good example of movies that will NOT quality for this LMS). The screenplay, in other words, needs to be based on the song.
As I said, I am so confident that you will come up with dozens of instances of this practice, a practice I’d forgotten ever happened even once until spending a solid 45 minutes with the following 1978 gem, that I will kick things off with our first entry…after the jump!
Sep 302012
I thought there had been a thread about this subject awhile ago, but I guess not. If not, then the time has come to honor the iconic drum intro to The Ronette‘s “Be My Baby.” You know the one: Bum-ba-bum-BOOM!
Phil Spector added echo to drummer Hal Blaine‘s bass drum, and everyone’s tried to imitate it and capture its Wall of Sound grandiosity ever since. How many imitations, renditions, samples and variations are there?
Sep 242012
The facts in the case follow thus: In 1895, Lee Shelton, a pimp also known as Stack Lee, killed one William Lyons in a fight concerning a hat. Through that wonderful American machinery known as folklore, we went from murder to myth.
Stack Lee, Stagger Lee, Stagolee, Stack O’Lee, The Midnight Rambler, The Crawling King Snake, The Brown-Eyed Handsome Man, Superfly, he goes by many names and he recurs in the oral traditions of song as a metaphor that structures the male ethos, black as well as white. Stagolee has taken shape as ballad, as blues, as jazz, as rap, as epic, as folk song, and as rock and roll.
He’s the “bad man”, the rebel, the counterculture hero, and the perfect figure for us to mine our collective knowledge of song to find his instances. Any variant of his name is acceptable, and let’s see how far his legend stretches (á la the examples set by Mick Jagger, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, and Curtis Mayfield, above).
Sep 052012
Today’s Last Man Standing is posted for selfish reasons. You know how important the movie Easy Rider was to my development. The references to that movie in the middle of this video for Dead Milkmen‘s “Smokin’ Banana Peels,” presented here through the eyes of Beavis and Butthead, was a great thrill. Other examples of musical/rock video references to the movie are not springing to mind. I’m not sure if this LMS has any legs beyond this initial entry. If there are other references of this sort I would like to know about them and have them handy for future reference. Thank you.
Aug 262012
I read that Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, died on Saturday. In celebration of his feat, an event I remember watching in the middle of the night with my family in some hotel room in Ocean City, New Jersey and then falling out of the top bunk in my sleep later that night, let’s have a Last Man Standing for songs specifically about travel to the moon (or at least into space, where the traveler will at least pass the moon). The song can’t simply be about the moon; someone’s got to be going there, living there, what have you.
Aug 132012
It’s 5:12 PM EST and I just learned that today, August 13, is Left-Hander’s Day. What the hell? I’ve been left handed all my life and no one’s ever told me about this day. In the remaining hours of this blessed day, let’s have a time-sensitive Last Man Standing on left-handed guitarists. Lefty bassists count too, but we’ll rule out banjo players, mandolin players, lute players, lap-steel players, and the like. We’ll also rule out guitarists like myself, who are left handed but decided to learn to play right handed to make it easier to buy guitars and play other people’s guitars. The guitarist (or bassist) has to play left handed.
I’m kicking things off with Justin Bieber, who coincidentally I just learned was a left-handed guitarist about a half hour ago, when I picked up a recent issue of Rolling Stone and saw him strumming southpaw.
Entries in this time-sensitive Last Man Standing will run through 11:59 pm EST. The actual Last Townsperson Standing will be awarded a VERY SPECIAL PRIZE! Game on!
