Ashley O - On A Roll

Danette and I are late in watching Black Mirror, and we just recently watched the 2019 episode "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", which featured Miley Cyrus playing a fictional version of herself (in a dystopian, sci-fi Black Mirror idiom, of course).  In the course of the episode, the "Ashley O" character performed a cleverly rewritten, up-beat synth pop version of Nine Inch Nail's "Head Like A Hole", retitled "On A Roll".  At the end of the episode, once her character has been freed and rebranded as "Ashley Fuckin O", she performs an actual cover of "Head Like a Hole".  

The full story of how this song and episode came to be, as well as Trent Reznor's reaction. are detailed in a 2019 GQ article.  I particularly enjoyed this episode because I remember when "Pretty Hate Machine" came out in 1990 and the impact it had on popular music. Sure, there had been bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, etc., but NiN was the first to have genuinely catchy songs and find a cross-over audience.  They had popular impact, and when they were played on the radio/MTV, they sounded nothing like anyone that had been played before. Listening to "Pretty Hate Machine" now, it sounds relatively tame -- but that's not a not a knock against NiN, but rather a testament to Reznor's impact: the reason why "Pretty Hate Machine" sounds conventional now is because for the last 23 years, artists have strived to replicate, incorporate, and in some cases just straight rip-off their sound.  That's real impact.  That fact that "Head Like A Hole" was 1) chosen and 2) works so well for this "Hannah Montana-in-an-alternate-universe" episode is just further illustrates this point.  Also, the song just simply rawks.

Ashley O - "On A Roll"

Ashley Fuckin O - "Head Like A Hole"

Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like A Hole" (studio, live 2013)

The Specials - "Enjoy Yourself"

"Hello, Hi, I'm Terry, and I'm going to enjoy myself first."

Terry Hall, lead singer of The Specials, died last December of pancreatic cancer at age 63.  First of all, 63 no longer seems that old. Second, I was pretty young when The Specials were at their height, and though some songs got airplay in the early days of MTV, it was not until I was much older that I really appreciated them.  There were many good bands in the ska revival / Two-Tone genre, but The Specials were like The Clash with respect to punk: other bands might be enjoyable, but they were important, and Terry Hall was a big part of the reason why.  The membership of The Specials and their many permutations is a complex story, and certainly Jerry Dammers should receive most of the credit as the primary song writer, but to me, if it didn't have Terry, it wasn't The Specials.  

While I've mentioned The Specials here many times, I have yet to review the LPs.  I don't have time to really share all my thoughts about the two primary LPs from their classic lineup, but the short version is while their debut "The Specials" (1979) has better individual songs, I always thought their 1980 follow-up, "More Specials", was a better LP, start-to-finish.  It wasn't until researching this post that I discovered that genre-bending "More Specials" is credited with influencing 90s genres such as lounge and trip hop.  

So, if I'm not reviewing the entire LP, the obvious choice would be the opening/closing versions of the song about mortality, "Enjoy Yourself".  I always enjoyed how it joyfully opened the LP, as well as the dirge-like reprise that closed the LP.  What I did not know until recently is that this is a cover of a 1949 song, titled "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", first made famous by Guy Lombardo.  Ok, technically, it's a cover of the slightly different version by Prince Buster as a B-side in 1963 (and later released as an A-side).  Either way, all versions of this song are enjoyable and clearly timeless.  

Apparently, The Specials had been planning to work on a new LP, but I guess that won't happen now.  I'll eventually review "The Specials" and "More Specials", but until then you can appreciate the unexpected story of their sophomore LP's opening and closing song.  

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think 

Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as you wink 

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

The Specials: "Enjoy Yourself" (studio), "Enjoy Yourself (reprise)", "Enjoy Yourself" (live 1, live 2)

Prince Buster: "Enjoy Yourself", "Madness / Enjoy Yourself" (live)

Guy Lombardo: "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)"

While researching this article, I saw that original drummer John Bradbury died in 2015.