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"Don't Call Us. We'll Call You" by Sugarloaf
 Posted
2/22/2012 6:00:00 AM
What a departure from the ode to the “Green Eyed Lady”. After that hit, Sugarloaf had trouble scoring a huge follow-up. It seems that some of the band’s frustration is vented in this song. Perhaps too many times, from too many people in a position of power in the early ‘70s music world had given them the line, “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You”.
The song caught on, and soon kids were grounded for shouting out the song’s title when asked by Mom to come to dinner, take a bath or go to bed. I’m sure the line was known before the song was released, but afterward it was added to the language of business and dating.
The song was the topic of conversation for other reasons: Was that really Wolfman Jack who uttered, “On Stereo 92”! There was also the Beatles lick in the tune which started the ...
"Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac
Posted
2/15/2012 6:00:00 AM
“Tusk” the album was the double follow up to the smash “Rumours”. There was a feeling amongst band members that they shouldn’t make “Rumours 2” and they didn’t, especially considering the title track. What other song can you think of that features a marching band.
The USC Trojan Marching Band joined Fleetwood Mac for a recording session/video shoot at Dodger’s Stadium. Watch the video and you’ll notice bassist John McVie isn’t present, but instead represented by a cardboard cutout fueling rumors that he had died just before production started.
We witness Stevie Nicks baton-twirling prowess while Christine McVie appears to be wearing a Cub Scout uniform. I personally love the den mother look. I can’t help but think that, with a few inserts and edits, you
"Rock Me Tonight" by Billy Squier
Posted
2/8/2012 6:00:00 AM
Four words: “What was he thinking”? I thought “Rock Me Tonight” the song was pretty decent. A late-early-eighties synth was added to usual guitar mix. What was with the video? Billy Squier “The Rocker” was suddenly, “The Prancer”. Not that this isn’t a place for prancing in our society.
Don’t remember the video? See it here. Billy wakes up in his trendy loft and puts on a shirt. Then it’s: prance, flail, prance, crawl, crawl, rollover, back flail, rip shirt, prance, flail, put on new pink shirt, prance, flail, prance, jump into scene with the band and then THEY ALL PRANCE AND FLAIL.
Squier has always blamed director/choreographer Kenny Ortega of High School Musical and Xanadu fame for this career stopper. I was always convinced though that Billy pranced, flailed and crawled with great conviction as if we were watching the real un-corporate rocked Squier.
He doesn’t prance nor ...
"Junk Food Junkie" by Larry Groce
Posted
2/1/2012 6:00:00 AM
Many lead double lives. How about that Dexter guy? This song is about the epitome of hypocrisy. The character lives a no preservatives, filler or artificial anything kind-of-a-life by day, and at night sneaks around partaking in the evil he preaches against. Wow, Jimmy Swaggart circa late ‘80s?
Larry Groce (pronounced gross) is a singer-songwriter who went to school in Texas with Michael “Wildfire Martin-Murphy. He spent a lot of time playing New York City coffee houses and traveled to many schools to perform, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. When “Junk Food Junkie” became a Top 10 Hit, he hit most of the major talk and variety shows. Since 1983 he has hosted a Public Radio program featuring singer-songwriters called “Mountain Stage”.
I’ll leave you with some lyrics that could discourage you from taking up the habit:
“I'm afraid someday they'll find me
Just stretched out on ...
"Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" by Spin Doctors
Posted
1/25/2012 6:00:00 AM
In 1992, if you weren’t grunge, or trying to look grunge, you were probably The Spin Doctors. MTV was still all about music back then, so when I think of this song, I picture that video that seemed to have no purpose. I was left not knowing why the “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”.
I also think of an SNL spoof of lead singer Chris Baron. I don’t know for sure if it’s was the case, but he always seemed “half-baked”. I guess I mean that it a “care free” sort of way. He was always smiling, with his eye half-closed and having the best of times. Was he the guy that set the tone for the Clinton era?
Now, back to the video. The back drop resembled modern art I’ve seen. I wondered why, every once in a while, a band member would float down like a feather. Perhaps ...
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Nicki French
Posted
1/18/2012 6:00:00 AM
Remakes are an interesting animal. Some are better than the original. Sometimes you ask yourself, “Was that really necessary”? Other times it’s a complete judgment call. For me, this song fits category number three.
Speeding up tempo makes it a snappy dance track. Does that take some of the Bonnie Tyler emotion out of it? Yes. So we’re even here and I have to rationalize one way or another. Okay... I danced to this at Elixur one time and the girl went on a second date with me anyway. So there you go.
It’s time for you to compare. Here’s the original. This is the Nicki version. Let me know which one works for you. Hey, and Jim Steinman wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart” so there’s probably a Meatloaf version out there somewhere.
"Love Rollercoaster" by The Ohio Players
Posted
1/11/2012 6:00:00 AM
Even in 1975, Urban Legends traveled around the globe. The fact that the went from mouth to ear instead of being a top ten search on Google made that more creative with many different versions. The most popular version created by this song was actually repeated by Casey Kasem on American Top 40.
Legend has it that at around a minute twenty-five into the 45 version of “Love Rollercoaster” by The Ohio Players, a woman was brutally murdered in the studio. Other versions have her outside the studio, being badly burned by heated-honey in a nearby room and my favorite: A rabbit was being killed outside for the band’s dinner. I have never heard a hare scream, so that one would be difficult to judge.
According to several sources including Allmusic.com, the screams were those of keyboard player William Beck. I hope I didn’t burst your bubble. You could always ...
"Lawyers In Love" by Jackson Browne
Posted
1/4/2012 6:00:00 AM
Have you ever taken a moment to read the lyrics to this song? Was Mr. Browne burning one with his former room mate Mr. (Glenn) Frey just before launching into a free-form stream of consciousness rhythmic rant about clothes, TV dinners and spaceships? I don’t think so.
Have you ever just sat in the main court of a mall for a half hour (because the person you’re with actually likes to shop) and watched people? I always wondered why many people wear the same trendy thing in an attempt to be noticed by other people who are actually concerned about what they’re wearing so that they can be noticed... In modern times this applies to the device said person is carrying around.
Go back to 1983 and “Lawyers In Love” is such a snapshot, but this time Jackson is peaking into living room windows as well. He can see the ...
"Dream Police" by Cheap Trick
Posted
12/28/2011 6:00:00 AM
(Editor's note-Thanks for a great year. I 'm giving you what some call an encore performance of this blog)
“They live inside of my head”. “They come to pee in my bed”. Those were my deciphered lyrics when the song came roaring out of my Argos speakers attached to my Sansui receiver tuned to Y-95. Okay, I might have been off on the lyrics, but there was no such thing as a lyric site back in ’79.
It was a new modern synthy-sounding follow up to Heaven Tonight at At Budokan. Cheap Trick was on a roll. Yeah, Japan made them stars, but there was plenty of local pride to go around. Shoes, bike seats and notebooks were suddenly checkered. Remember the homecoming concert at the reverby old Armory? How about the live Y-95 broadcast of the show that sounded like it was coming through a walky-talkie (I think it ...
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"Please Come Home For Christmas" by The Eagles
Posted
12/21/2011 11:32:00 AM
Charles Brown co-wrote and recorded a great Christmas classic in the early sixties and I would go with his version as a backup. There are many great country versions of the song as well as a Bon Jovi rendition that's a bit overdone. My favorite version of “Please Come Home for Christmas” came out in 1978.
The Eagle's take on the tune is the one that gives me the chills. There's plenty of California pickin' and just enough Don Henley melancholy to create a recoding that sounds like the band wrote it. Most people actually think of it as an original Eagles tune.
It was done pre-MTV so, unlike the Bon Jovi video co-starring Cindy Crawford, you had to conjure up you own mental picture. Here's mine: Don Henley sitting all alone in a big 'ol Malibu Mansion (maybe purchased from Barbie?) The artificial tree and boxes of decorations are ...
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