Bear Hands - "Giants" (forgotten song)

Last year we got married, and this year we had another significant life event: the joint purchase of our new home in Ghent, which partially inspired the choice of this year's birthday song.

"Giants" is a single from the 2013 Bear Hands LP "Distraction".  It received a moderate amount of airplay on 96X when it came out, although I'm not sure I've heard it on the radio recently.  I liked it immediately: it works the loud-soft-loud, with a frenetic hip hop structure followed with a slower chorus and meaty, early-80s guitar riff, lots of white noise and no negative space -- but I can't remember if Danette had strong feelings about it one way or another.  However, this is another installment in a list of songs that make me think about Danette, not necessarily a list of Danette's favorite songs.

The chorus is the obvious why it makes me think of Danette, with variations of:

I said I know you love me, I am loving you more
I am loving you more

And, a little more on the nose given our recent purchase:

Give you everything that I have ever owned
Soon I will have bought us up a house and home
Up on the seventh floor

Studying the lyrics and commentary a little more closely, there is school of thought that the song is actually about co-dependent junkies ("I've been awake for days in the dusk and the dawn"), but I'm just going to pretend I didn't read that.  Besides, the last several birthday songs have embraced more metaphorical connections; the song feels joyous and we're not going to let a possible Springsteen-esque dark undercurrent ruin the song.

The deciding factor for choosing this song is the video itself: a well-executed but presumably otherwise low budget affair that features the band members posing and what are likely their girl friends in a more celebratory mood.  The director visually conveys a youthful, hedonistic exuberance, and that's how I feel about Danette -- even if we're almost old enough to be the parents of the people in the video.

Bear Hands - "Giants"

Previous birthday songs:

2017: Alvvays - "Archie, Marry Me"
2016: Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' With Disaster"
2015: Avett Brothers - "Kick Drum Heart"
2014: Ani DiFranco - "32 Flavors"
2013: The Green Pajamas - "Kim the Waitress"
2012: The Cure - "High"
2011: Blink 182 - "Josie"
2010:  Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (spotlight)

Ed King, one of the original guitarists for Lynyrd Skynyrd, died last month.  He appeared on their first three studio LPs, and then left the band in 1975 (he later returned in 1987 for the post-crash reboot of the band).  Although he is best known for writing the guitar riff Skynyrd's signature song "Sweet Home Alabama" (he's also the one counting off at the beginning of the song), I also recently learned a few things about him.  First, he was originally in Strawberry Alarm Clock -- yes, the same Strawberry Alarm Clock that gave us "Incense and Peppermints" (insert "Listen to the Flower People" Spinal Tap reference here), he grew up in California and was the only member of Skynyrd that was not from the South, and obviously did not have the shared high school experience with the band's namesake, Leonard Skinner.

I had considered marking his passing using "Sweet Home Alabama", and the band's relationship with Neil Young, which despite the name checking in the song was quite positive.  As I've already introduced, Danette and I are big fans of both the band and the genre, but SHA is not our favorite song of theirs.  One of the songs that we do love and never fail to crank up and sing along with in the car is "Saturday Night Special", for which Ed King does have a co-writing credit (and he might have the count off at the beginning of this song too?).  It's a great song and was the only single from their 1975 LP "Nuthin' Fancy".  It also has the distinction of being a member of a trilogy of great Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that violate the lyrical norms of the Southern rock genre: cautioning against substance abuse ("That Smell"), running away from a fight ("Gimme Three Steps"), and being unambiguously pro-gun control ("Saturday Night Special"):

Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me

I recommend, based on the strength of the outstanding guitar work in "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special", we forgive Ed King for "Incense and Peppermints".

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (studio, live 1976-03-07).

Aretha Franklin - "Freeway Of Love" (forgotten song)

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, died today.  I'm not even an especially big fan of hers, but her impact is far too significant to ignore.  I'm not going to even to attempt to review her career -- spanning 60+ years, with over 100 charting singles, and 18 Grammys, her career speaks for itself.  I do count myself lucky to have seen her perform live once: Danette and I saw her at the Ferguson Center in Newport News in 2009. 

I will mark her passing with her 1985 single "Freeway of Love", from the LP "Who's Zoomin' Who?"  It's certainly not one of her classics, but it was her last #1 single and did result in her 12th Grammy.  It's a very 80s sounding song, and features Clarence Clemons (bonus Bruce reference -- he had a 1984 song called "Pink Cadillac").  And while you hear her classics all the time, I don't recall the last time I heard this song.

Aretha Franklin - "Freeway of Love": single edit, 12" "Rock Mix" (this version also features Dez Dickerson of The Revolution)

Grandmaster Flash - "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (forgotten song)

This post goes out to Terry as well as Drew's wife, Lian.  Terry and Drew had a 30 year class reunion (they are class of 88, I'm class of 87) on August 4, and Terry noticed that later that night at the Boathouse in Newport News, very near the reunion hotel, Grandmaster Flash was giving a concert.  Not missing a chance for a complete 80s weekend, Terry organized a post-reunion sortie to see this hip hop legend.  I have to admit that before this show I did not realize he was still touring!  Thanks to Terry for setting this up.

This post also goes out to Lian because, owing to being a few years younger than us, she did not know who Grandmaster Flash is.  Of course, she was raised on classical music and show tunes and knows more about those genres than me, Terry and Drew put together, but, well... "Flash is fast, Flash is cool".  Once we had conveyed the cultural significance of the night's show she was as pumped as we were.

Flash did not disappoint.  The entire show was given in the style of a history lecture, with a backing video helping him convey the origins, history, geography, and key figures of hip hop and turntablism.  I was unable to find the backing video online but GMF's Youtube channel has several other items worth checking out, including this letter to Kool Herc.

Flash did elements of "The Message" in his set, and I'm pretty sure he did not do "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", but I'm including it here because 1) I remember when it came out in 1981, and 2) this single was notable because it featured only Flash and not the Furious Five (as did last week's show).  While "Wheels of Steel" might seem straight-forward today, it is hard to overstate its significance in mainstreaming the role of DJing and mixing.  Zoom in on the label pictured above and you can see the "Special Thanks" and the source material listed.  Some of those songs were on the same label (Sugar Hill Records), but the prohibition against sampling had yet to catch up with the state of the art.

I'm really glad I had the opportunity to see GMF, catch up with Terry and Drew again, and that Lian filled in a gap in her musical knowledge!

Grandmaster Flash - "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel"

Terry's text message about the August 4, 2018 show.

A still from one of Terry's videos.

Bonus link: The "Boathouse" in Newport News?!  It's a nice venue, but it's not the real Boathouse.

2019-07-27 update: Like the "real" Boathouse, the Newport New Boathouse is now closed.

The Interrupters - "She's Kerosene" (spotlight)

Today on 96X I heard the DJ talking about Ska, explicitly mentioning her fondness for The Specials and The Selecter.  After accusing 96X of being less alternative than they used to be, the mention of those two bands got my attention.  The DJ then described The Interrupters as carrying on that tradition, and proceeded to play "She's Kerosene".

And while the 90s had a Ska revival, The Interrupters appear to be more indebted in sound and aesthetic to 2 Tone Records of the late 70s / early 80s, which gave us The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The English Beat, etc. 

The Interrupters have been active since 2011, and "She's Kerosene" is from their 2018 LP "Fight the Good Fight". Billboard has a nice interview about their "breakout hit", two days before they were featured on the Jimmy Kimmel show.  Sounds like another overnight success, 7+ years in the making...

Other tracks on their Youtube Channel make it clear the debt Aimee Interrupter owes to both Joan Jett and Joe Strummer, but I'll feature "She's Kerosene" here since 96X was kind enough feature a song that fits my definition of alternative: 80s alternative music, with updated production... 

"She's Kerosene": official video, live on Jimmy Kimmel 2018-07-27

Peaches - Live KEXP 2015-10-07

I'm about two weeks late for Pride Month and about six weeks late for the Samantha Bee controversy, but today I address both, via a live in the KEXP studio three song set by Peaches, aka Merrill Beth Nisker.

Why?

1. Peaches is awesome, and her entire canon is a wickedly-clever blend of feminist, LGBTQ, and social commentary.  Even though you've probably never heard of her, a scan of her guest appearances and remixes will establish her alt-cred. 

2. The Peaches song "Boys Wanna Be Her" is used as the theme song for Samantha Bee's TV show "Full Frontal".  Samantha Bee is also awesome, wickedly clever, fierce, and... I don't think she should have apologized.  One word should not distract us from the larger message, but I suppose this leaves us with the other "c-word".  

Velocity Girl - "Sorry Again" (forgotten song)

I already mentioned "Sorry Again" in passing in my review of Velocity Girl's self-titled 1993 EP, but I was recently reminded how much I love this song when it recently came up in my iTunes session the other day.  As the only single of their 1994 LP "¡Simpatico!", this actually received limited airplay locally in the mid-90s but I don't think I've heard it on the radio in 20+ years.  That's too bad because it's an amazing alt-power-pop song as well as a great aural mid-90s time capsule.  And the outfits in the video -- was 1994 really that long ago?! 

Eventually I should review the entire LP, and although it's solid, nothing else on it matches the magic of "Sorry Again".  For me, this song is like "Cruel to be kind" and "Jessie's Girl" -- I can play them 10+ times in a row without getting tired of them.

Velocity Girl - "Sorry Again"