"These are mountain people."

So I just got back from a wedding in eastern Tennessee, just a few miles south of the Virginia border. My father-in-law had lived there for five years or so, and when he described the area for us as he drove us around, he often condescendingly said of the locals, "These are mountain people." The bride, my sister-in-law, was marrying one of those mountain people, a very nice and responsible man, and she asked me to create a playlist of '80's music for the reception.

Not long after the festivities began, it became clear that there had been a slight change of plans, as a large South Pacific islander from New Zealand (if I heard correctly) took the stage with his wife, several microphones, and a computer-assisted karaoke machine and sang "Can't Help Falling In Love" to the dancing couple. I love Elvis's version of the song, and I had suggested it to them for their first dance and brought it with me on my iPod. He also sang something by f-ing Engelbert Humperdinck. Anyway, we spent most of our time playing suicide karaoke. I gave my wife an assist on The Talking Heads's "Burning Down the House." And because my wife hates it so much, my sister-in-law wanted me to sing "Achy Breaky Heart" to her, and I gleefully did. (One of my brothers-in-law told me afterwards, "You're family, so I feel I can be honest with you: you're not a good singer, but you're one hell of a showman.") I got to try my first moonshine, and it was incredible. It tasted like apples and cinnamon and burned all the way down. My father-in-law complained that, at 40 proof, it was weak, but I liked it.

I think everyone had a good time, in spite of the two teen-aged girls in attendance who insisted on singing a few contemporary dirges like Rihanna's "Stay." And so did I, in spite of the fact that my playlist wasn't used, even though I had spent many hours and a significant amount of coin to put it on the iPod for everyone's amusement. Perhaps it was the sight of my 18-month-old daughter on the dance floor.

So here it is: my playlist for an '80's-themed wedding reception:

1. George Michael, "Faith"
2. Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf" 
3. Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
4. Depeche Mode, "Just Can't Get Enough"
5. Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
6. Paula Abdul, "Straight Up"
7. Dexys Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen"
8. Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes"
9. Whitney Houston, "So Emotional"
10. Thomas Dolby, "She Blinded Me with Science"
11. Billy Ocean, "Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car"
12. The Human League, "Don't You Want Me"
13. Belinda Carlisle, "Heaven is a Place on Earth"
14. Micheal Jackson, "Beat It"
15. Bon Jovi, "Livin' On a Prayer"
16. Heart, "Alone"
17. Devo, "Whip It"
18. MC Hammer, "U Can't Touch This"
19. a-ha, "Take On Me" 
20. Fine Young Cannibals, "She Drives Me Crazy"
21. Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark"
22. Guns n' Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine"
23. Van Halen, "Jump" 
24. Men without Hats, "The Safety Dance"
25. Def Leppard, "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
26. The Power Station, "Get It On (Bang a Gong)"
27. Soft Cell, "Tainted Love" 
28. Phil Collins, "Two Hearts"
29. Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
30. Simple Minds, "Don't You (Forget about Me)"
31. Yello, "Oh Yeah"
32. Janet Jackson, "When I Think of You"
33. David Bowie, "Modern Love"
34. New Order, "Blue Monday"
35. Thompson Twins, "Hold Me Now"
36. INXS, "New Sensation"
37. Prince, "1999"
38. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
39. Adam Ant, "Goody Two Shoes" 
40. Eurythmics, "Missionary Man"
41. The B-52's, "Private Idaho"
42. Talking Heads, "Wild Life"
43. Aerosmith, "Angel"
44. Big Country, "In a Big Country"
45. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran"
46. The Cure, "Just Like Heaven"
47. Scritti Politti, "Perfect Way"
48. The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
49. Talk Talk, "It's My Life"
50. Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Two Tribes"
51. Howard Jones, "Things Can Only Get Better"
52. The Psychedelic Furs, "Love My Way"
53. Paul Simon, "You Can Call Me Al"
54. ABC, "The Look of Love (Part One)"
55. Oingo Boingo, "Weird Science"
56. Wang Chung, "Dance Hall Days"
57. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, "So In Love"
58. Madonna, "Into the Groove"
59. Billy Idol, "Dancing with Myself"
60. The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star"
61. Vanilla Ice, "Ice Ice Baby"
62. The The, "Infected"
63. Electric Light Orchestra, "Hold On Tight"
64. The Smithereens, "A Girl Like You"
65. Gary Numan, "Cars"
66. The Fixx, "One Thing Leads to Another"
67. Adam and the Ants, "Stand and Deliver"
68. XTC, "The Mayor of Simpleton"
69. Tom Tom Club, "Genius of Love"
70. The English Beat, "I Confess"
71. Bryan Ferry, "Kiss & Tell"
72. Roxy Music, "More than This"
73. Golden Earring, "Twilight Zone"
74. The Vapors "Turning Japanese"
75. Asia, "Heat of the Moment"
76. Daryl Hall and John Oates, "Private Eyes"
77. Rush, "Time Stand Still"
78. Wire, "Ahead"
79. The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now?"

Here's what shuffle play spat out at me

So a friend of mine published an iTunes shuffle play playlist on Facebook the other day. I told him that I couldn't publish a similar list because I have too many guilty pleasures on my iPod. He said that if I like a song, I have no reason to feel guilty about it. He may be right. So I thought about publishing a shuffle play playlist here, and here it is.

It's not very interesting. I like progressive rock, alternative or college rock, and classic rock most. And that's what's on the list. And no guilty pleasures, so publishing this was easy.

1. Oceansize, "Remember Where You Are," Effloresce
2. Simon & Garfunkel, "The Times They Are A-Changin'," Wednesday Morning, 3am
3. Astra, "Quake Meat," The Black Chord
4. Coldplay, "Viva La Vida," Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
5. Mr. Bungle, "Retrovertigo," California
6. Death Cab for Cutie, "Company Calls," We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
7. Moby, "Inside," Play
8. The Left Banke, "Lazy Day," There's Gonna Be a Storm
9. Bjork, "Isobel," Post
10. Foo Fighters, "Everlong," The Colour and the Shape
11. Pink Floyd, "Sysyphus: Part Three," Ummagumma
12. Tom Petty, "Time to Move On," Wildflowers
13. A Perfect Circle, "Lullaby," Thirteenth Step
14. The Chameleons UK, "John, I'm Only Dancing," Strange Times
15. Ultra Vivid Scene, "Medicating Angels," Rev
16. Electric Light Orchestra, "Everyone's Born to Die," On the Third Day
17. Daniel Amos, "It's Sick," Vox Humana
18. Sonic Youth, "Shadow of a Doubt," Evol
19. Frank Zappa, "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou," The Man from Utopia
20. De La Soul, "Eye Know," 3 Feet High and Rising
21. The Wolfgang Press, "Question of Time," Queer
22. Dead Kennedys, "I Am the Owl," Plastic Surgery Disasters
23. Rush, "Limelight," Different Stages
24. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, "Heart In Your Heartbreak," Belong
25. Stan Ridgway, "Drive She Said," The Big Heat
26. Thinking Fellers Union Local 242, "Cup of Dreams," Strangers from the Universe
27. Andy Partridge, "The Tiny Circus of Life," Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 6
28. Peter Schilling, "Fast Alles Konstruiert," Fehler Im System
29. Interpol, "Wrecking Ball," Our Love to Admire
30. Killing Joke, "Wintergardens," Brighter than a Thousand Suns
31. Todd Rundgren, "Word Made Flesh 1.0," No World Order
32. This Moral Coil, "Loose Joints," Blood
33. Fleetwood Mac, "Hypnotized," Mystery to Me
34. Mew, "Reprise," No More Stories Are Told Today...
35. Electric Light Orchestra, "Letter from Spain," Secret Messages
36. Ben Folds Five, "Steven's Last Night In Town," Whatever And Ever Amen
37. Thomas Dolby, "Dissidents," The Flat Earth
38. The Futureheads, "Skip to the End," News and Tributes
39. The Cure, "Bananafishbones," The Top
40. Elbow, "The Fix," The Seldom Seen Kid
41. The Smiths, "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side," The Queen is Dead
42. Chevelle, "Closure," Wonder What's Next
43. The Cure, "I'm Cold," Join the Dots
44. Ride, "Here and Now," Nowhere
45. Big Country, "Wonderland," The Crossing
46. The JV Allstars, "Today's Going to Be a Long Tomorrow," Take Me Back to Spectre
47. Sigur Ros, "Avalon," Agaetis Byrjun
48. Cheap Trick, "Oh, Candy," Cheap Trick
49. The Cure, "Jumping Someone Else's Train," Boys Don't Cry
50. The Cure, "The Baby Screams," The Head on the Door

Tribute or theft?

Back in 1987, I was a volunteer DJ at a college rock station. And I fell in love with The Ophelias' self-titled debut. The Ophelias were a short-lived college rock band from San Francisco featuring Leslie Medford on vocals. Here's "In America the Other Day," a song from that album:

Fast-forward to 2012, 25 years later. Now I'm a volunteer DJ at another college rock station, but this time I'm doing a progressive rock show. And I'm exploring the genre, listening to lots of progressive rock that I've never heard before, like Van der Graaf Generator, with Peter Hammill on vocals. And I hear this song, "Scorched Earth," from the 1975 album Godbluff:

Certainly, Leslie Medford is a fan of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator. The similarities, down to the feedback-drenched song endings, can't be a coincidence. I don't know whether to call Medford's vocal style tribute or theft.

When I first heard The Ophelias, I was impressed with the freshness of their sound. It wasn't quite as fresh as I thought, as it turns out. The same could be said for most music, I'm sure.

Smarter than you think

I can't believe that I'm making the time to write this.

Dana Stevens is a film critic for Slate. I like her reviews. But I have a problem with something she said in her review of Katy Perry: Part of Me. And no, I haven't seen the movie and I don't plan to. Anyway, here's what she said, first about the movie, and then about one of Perry's hits:

There’s no mention of Brand’s well-documented struggles as an alcoholic and drug addict—in fact, there are no unwholesome substances anywhere on view in Part of Me, with the exception of the you-go-girl blackout drinking Perry espouses in her mega-hit “Last Friday Night.”

About “Last Friday Night.” Not to sound like a scold, but I agree entirely with the comedian Rob Delaney’s brilliant line-by-line breakdown of this song, in which he takes the unnamed protagonist (and by association, Perry) to task for glamorizing a nightlife that includes unprotected sex with strangers, drinking to the point of amnesia, and possibly sexual assault. Why do I care whether a pop singer I never voluntarily listen to hits it big with a cute ditty about how awesome it is to spend your Friday nights doing stupid, dangerous shit? Maybe because I have a daughter who’s a born ham, someone who, like the younger Katy Perry we see in old home video footage in Part of Me, has dreams of standing on a stage one day doing something—singing, dancing, playing an instrument—in front of a cheering crowd. If and when that time comes, I want her to know she has options besides spraying whipped cream out of her bra.

I am a casual fan of Perry, but it's not because of her above-average looks. I like her music. I don't love it. It's not good enough to love, and her albums are too goddamned loud. I just listened to "Last Friday Night" again, and like too many casualties of the loudness war, it really does sound like dogshit. But I don't think that's Perry's fault. Anyway, I know a little something about this.



Stevens should tell us why we should assume, as she does, that a songwriter who sings about a morally objectionable lifestyle thereby approves of it or espouses it or glorifies it. If Stevens had taken the time to listen to the lyrics of "Last Friday Night," she would have heard the following:

Yeah, I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop
But this Friday night
Do it all again

That doesn't sound like glorification to me. That sounds like an indictment of the meaninglessness and pointlessness of the lifestyle Stevens finds so morally objectionable. And isn't that what one might expect from a songwriter who still considers herself to be a Christian? Stevens writes that she "left the film with a slightly higher opinion of Perry as a singer and songwriter." Then why not give Perry some credit and consider the possibility that the song has more than one layer of meaning? And by the way, why not teach your child to think, creatively and critically, about the music she consumes?

I grew up listening to the Dead Kennedys. On the surface, some of their songs appear to glorify horrible things. But of course their intention was to condemn those things, not glorify them. A perfect example is their song "Riot." Jello Biafra seems to celebrate the joys of rioting in the song as he describes the riot in detail:

Now you can smash all the windows that you want
All you really need are some friends and and a rock
Throwing a brick never felt so damn good
Smash more glass
Scream with a laugh
And wallow with the crowds
Watch them kicking peoples' ass

But a closer look at the lyrics reveals that he actually has contempt for the rioters. Here's the chorus:

Riot - the unbeatable high
Riot - shoots your nerves to the sky
Riot - playing into their hands
Tomorrow you're homeless
Tonight it's a blast 

At the end of the song, we can hear the rioter's high wearing off as he realizes that he's destroyed his own neighborhood, and perhaps it wasn't worth it after all.



So it's not difficult for me to imagine that Perry is ridiculing the lifestyle she describes in "Last Friday Night," and ridiculing those who enjoy that lifestyle and who also believe that Perry has expressed her approval of them in the song. And I suspect that she's a lot smarter than most of us think.

Here's some music I've been listening to lately

Here's some progressive rock for a Friday.

Source

Enjoy! 

IQ, "Frequency," Frequency:



Subsignal, "Beautiful and Monstrous," Beautiful and Monstrous:



Steve Hackett, "Shadow of the Heirophant," Voyage of the Acolyte:



Dream Theater, "Root of All Evil," Octavarium:

Thank you, R.E.M. (but not for everything)

I can't spend any more time editing this. So here it is, with all of its flaws. 

I've been thinking about R.E.M. since they broke up recently. I feel sad, even though I haven't really paid attention to them in almost twenty years. Here are my thoughts about R.E.M.'s music. They're not really very sophisticated or well argued-for.

I rank the R.E.M. albums I have listened to in the following order, from most to least favorite:

1. Murmur
2. Out of Time
3. Fables of the Reconstruction
4. Chronic Town
5. Green and Lifes Rich Pageant (tie)
6. Reckoning
7. Document
8. Automatic for the People 

The first two on the list, Murmer and Out of Time, are near-perfect wholes, and a best-of anthology that omitted any of the songs from either of them would be incomplete. As my wife put it, Out of Time is magical, and I would say the same about Murmer. I was alive when Murmer was released in 1983, and I remember listening to it for the first time with my best friend at the time and marveling at its greatness. I don't think the album has a single weakness. I have met people who dislike jangle pop, but anyone who takes the time to listen cannot deny that Murmer is a classic in the genre. Most people who have heard R.E.M. have probably heard "Radio Free Europe," which is a very good song indeed. But every song on Murmer is well-written and played. "Perfect Circle" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard:



So if you haven't heard Murmer, do yourself a favor and buy it or stream it on Grooveshark.

Out of Time, released in 1991, is a very different record. This is evident from the very beginning: the first song, "Radio Song," features the vocals of rapper KRS-One. By this time, R.E.M.'s sound had become more varied: different vocalists and instruments were making appearances on their songs. Every song on Out of Time is brilliantly written and executed, and they all somehow form a coherent whole. (Rolling Stone's negative review of the record is, in a word, idiotic.) "Losing My Religion" is one of those rare hit songs that is genuinely great. "Shiny Happy People" is perhaps the weakest song on the album and sounds like the kind of song that could grow annoying (and I have no doubt that it has for many people), but it never has for me. Because the album is more or less uniformly excellent, it's difficult to pick one song from the album to post here. "Low," however, is perhaps less well known than other songs on the album and represents the emotional thrust of the album well:



Third on the list is Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables, depending on how you read it).

Released in 1985, Fables may not be in quite the same category as Murmer and Out of Time, but it is significantly better than the next best album, in my opinion. When it first came out, I think that the songwriting struck me as being odd and it had to grow on me. Maybe it was all of those minor keys. "Feeling Gravitys Pull" doesn't sound quite like anything on their previous records:



But grow on me it did: the songs are truly great and they hang together quite well. "Wendell Gee" is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs of all time (pardon the inferior sound quality):

If I had to pick my favorite R.E.M. songs from the remaining albums, they would be the following, in no particular order:

• "Wolves, Lower"
• "Gardening at Night"
• "Stumble"
• "Get Up"
• "World Leader Pretend"
• "The Wrong Child"
• "Begin the Begin"
• "These Days"
• "Fall On Me"
• "Superman" 
• "7 chineSe bros."
• "Time After Time (annElise)"
• "Finest Worksong"
• "Fireplace"
• "Nightswimming"

Of all of these, my favorite is probably "World Leader Pretend":



Document never did much for me. (Though I like it a little better now than I used to.) "Oddfellows Local 151" is, I think, the first throwaway track R.E.M. ever recorded. And I have really tried to love the weirdly subdued Automatic for the People, and it just hasn't worked. There are half a dozen good songs on the entire album at most. (And no, "Everybody Hurts" isn't one of them.) Perhaps the songs seem lackluster because they just don't measure up to R.E.M.'s best material. I'm not sure. (Incredibly, Rolling Stone rates Automatic for the People as the 247th greatest album of all time, ahead of David Bowie's Low, Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy, The Cars, Talking Heads' 77, Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Frank Zappa's We're Only In It For the Money, The Pixies' Surfer Rosa, Jethro Tull's Aqualung, and The Doors' L.A. Woman, to name a few.)

I heard the follow-up Monster in the local Hastings soon after it was released, and I hated it. With the exception of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" it was just awful. After that, I wrote them off. I listened to at least part of New Adventures in Hi-Fi when it came out; I liked "Leave," but that was about it. A friend of mine tried to turn me on to Up when it came out, but it did nothing for me. And that was the last I had heard from them (due to my own lack of curiosity) until they disbanded. So I'm not sure why I'm sad now, since I've been missing them, or at least the good music they were once capable of making, for some time. For the great music you made, however, I thank you, R.E.M.

Electric Light Orchestra, "Concerto For a Rainy Day"

The following songs constitute side three of the vinyl version of Electric Light Orchestra's Out of the Blue which was released in 1977. If you're a sucker for strings like me, you'll enjoy it.

And I really don't feel like writing about politics right now anyway.

Mogwai, "Mogwai Fear Satan"

I know it's 16:19 long, but just kick back, relax, and listen to the entire thing.

Todd Rundgren, "Day Job"

From the outstanding 1993 album No World Order.



Don't quit your day job

Corporate-crybaby
A bit wiser and a whole lot older, feelin' bolder
Suckin' up to the last stockholder with a
Golden parachute slung over your shoulder

Jacked-up-B-boy
Another fool got stuck in the whirlpool
Lookin' for a fast break, not enough cake to go 'round
Another brother goes down, and he's out of the gene pool

Media-pimp
Day after day, night after night if the money is right
The campaign goes on to make right seem wrong
With computer animation and a hip-hop song

Land of opportunity, this is the
Stop
Don't quit your day job

Cowboy-politician
Suckin' up to the aristocracy
Not even sure if you like democracy
Tryin' to establish an american royalty, a personal dynasty

Priests-of-the-airwaves
Let the buyer beware, it's a jungle out there
So buy my advice and don't think twice
Then me and your money will go someplace sunny

Celebrity-stud-monkey
Kiss and tell, got a book to sell
'Cause you don't excel or do anything well
Since you slipped past thirty, better keep the sex dirty

Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money

(http://trconnection.com/lyrics/Song.21.4)

Songs for lesli_hannah on her move to California

Here are some random songs about California for your listening pleasure.

A few from Menomena

From the 2010 album Mines:

A few more from Mew

Porcupine Tree, "The Incident"

Meet XTC

Pink Floyd, "When the Tigers Broke Free"

Meet Pinback

From Autumn of the Seraphs:



From Summer in Abaddon:



From Blue Screen Life:



From Pinback:

Steven Wilson, "No Twilight within the Courts of the Sun"

This track from Wilson's solo album Insurgentes reminds me of Red-era King Crimson. 

Choir of Young Believers, "Action / Reaction," "Next Summer"

Electric Light Orchestra, On the Third Day, Side One

"Ocean Breakup / King of the Universe"



"Bluebird is Dead"



"Oh No Not Susan"



"New World Rising" / "Ocean Breakup Reprise"

Natacha Atlas, "Enogoom Wil Amar"