http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/home.aspxFind out more about Bob's Music.en-usCopyright 2012, WRTB-FMFri, 18 May 2012 18:05:26 GMTTue, 15 May 2012 19:57:38 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comI don’t believe you can write a song about having the hots for a teenage girl anymore. The (new) Great American (and British) Songbook is full of them. One glaring example that comes to mind is “You’re Sixteen” made famous by Ringo Starr and originally recorded by Johnny Burnette. “She’s Sexy + 17” appears to be one of the last before the world was more sensitive to that kind of thing. (Although I could research me some R. Kelly). My mother could only hope that the underwear-clad, tattooed girl in the video was at least 21. In defense of the Cats, they were playing High School kids in the teleplay. That defense gets all shot to hell when they start playing their instruments while the girl-in-question in dancing...in a bar! Gasp. I have to remind mom that the girl is now Sexy + 46. The only thing that bothers me ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10383622http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10383622Tue, 15 May 2012 19:57:38 GMTYou just don’t hear the 12-string acoustic guitar anymore. Maybe it doesn’t “chime” as well when tuned down to meet the range of modern male singers. In the eighties, the 12-string was in nearly every “hair ballad”. Add some more tempo and an uncharacteristic baritone voice and you have once of my favorite 12-string songs. While “I wish I knew what you were looking for. Might have known what you would find” were the most memorable lines in the song, the most memorable moments of video are when the creepy lady is walking around with the picture frame. Did a pre-Twin Peaks David Lynch direct this thing? (Remember the Log Lady?) The second best part is the opening where the guy is playing along to the twelve string part on a six string. The song got some exposure two years ago when the Sia Furler remake appeared in a Lincoln ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10381247http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10381247Tue, 08 May 2012 21:24:27 GMTI first saw this band called Extreme at Endless Night (See Bob Remembers) The Boston area quartet charged through a powerful set of glammy/funky hard rock lead by guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt. A year later I hear “Get The Funk Out” on WXRX. Soon afterward, I heard a stripped-down ballad, and so did my girlfriend-at-the-time.  “More Than Words” first appeared on rock radio, then on MTV and soon came the explosion on Top 40. As with many hard-driving hard rock bands, they found commercial success by getting mellow (remember when The Goo Goo Dolls were a metal band?).  My girlfriend-at-the-time played the cassingle in a loop for six months straight.  This is where a writer usually segues into the subject of Gary Cherone’s ill-fated stint as singer for Van Halen. Why go there? Remember the band for one of the great belly-rubbing slow dance songs ever created. I think my ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10378788http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10378788Tue, 01 May 2012 21:26:11 GMTBy 1986 Wang Chung was on their 4th album. It had been four years after changing the spelling of their name from Huang Chung. Under the old spelling, allegedly many called them Hung Chung.   What was it about that stop-motion video effect that was all the rage in ’86. When the song first came on MTV my eyeballs bounced into their lids. I definitely couldn’t watch it after consuming more than two cups of coffee without an anxiety attack. Reports that the video caused seizures seemed credible. “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” made Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” look like Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”. How many songs feature the name of the band singing it? I think of Bad Company’s Bad Company. “Everybody Wang Chung tonight” was in there.  According to an interview in ’86, that meant everybody good music tonight. Later it was revealed that Wang Chung would be translated ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10374686http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10374686Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:37:34 GMTAfter seeing Loverboy in the early ‘80s, I wore a stupid headband for an entire summer. Singer Mike Reno did it, why couldn’t I? He was from Canada though, and if I lived there, I’d get in the habit of partially covering my head at all times, eh. I put “Turn Me Loose” in my “Top Ten Songs Built around a Bass Riff” file. It shares that distinction with heavy hitters like Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” and Cheap Trick’s “Gonna Raise Hell”. Sadly, the bassist that provided those memorable notes was declared lost at sea after a freak sailing accident in 2000. The video has more kissing and women smacking men silent movie footage than I’ve ever seen assembled in one production. You can see why Loverboy and MTV caused the sales of headbands and red leather pants to skyrocket after the video was released. I can’t fit ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10372067http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10372067Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:13:33 GMTHe was a member of the Kingston Trio and wrote “Daydream Believer” for The Monkees, but I know John Stewart who made observation that, “there are people are there turning music into gold”. John Stewart the folk guy went electric, thanks to two members of Fleetwood Mac. Yes, if the song sounds like Fleetwood Mac, that’s because Lindsey Buckingham co-produced the song and played guitar on it. When the chorus kicks in, that’s Stevie Nicks singing in the background. Neither is present in this lip-synched video. With his dark glasses and late-seventies shaggy hair, who would ever know he was once a beatnik on the coffee house circuit. The profound message of the song: “There are people out their turning music into gold”. They do this when: “the lights go down in a California town” We don’t really need to know more. John Stewart died suddenly in ’08. To learn ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10369411http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10369411Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:39:17 GMTThe formula to any hot teen movie in the mid-eighties: Bratty ensemble cast of twenty-somethings, at least one character whose life was out-of-control because of an emotional trauma and a killer inspiring theme song. St. Elmo’s Fire had a Brat-Pack cast which included out-of-control Rob Lowe and Demi Moore at that John Parr song. Years before the movie, Producer/Composer David Foster, best known for accidentally hitting Ben Vereen with his car, wrote a song called “Man In Motion”. It was used by Canadian athlete Rick Hansen in his world wheelchair tour to spotlight the cause of spinal cord injuries. The song was later retooled for Parr; know for 1984’s Naughty, Naughty, and the line “Saint Elmo’s Fire” was added to up its promotional value. Parr, was instantly mistaken for Lou Gramm of Foreigner on the radio, but the video proved him as no Lou Gramm (I’m not sure what I ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10367295http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10367295Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:55:38 GMTTwo songs that charted in 1979 eventually caused people to raise their arms and make hand gestures. “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People went to #2 and made people awkwardly spell. That’s another edition of “Behind’s Bob Music”.  Today I’m talking about a cult classic that’s more famous because of the hedonistic tailgating that takes place before the singer’s concerts. Jimmy Buffet’s “Fins” peaked at #35, but charts have no meaning to Parrotheads. You even see cars, trucks, and RVs convoying up I 43 see the annual Alpine Valley show? Count the fins duct taped to the roofs. “Fins” is the center of Buffettopia It’s about the feeding frenzy that happens when a group of “Land Sharks” locate a single girl in the tropics. She escaped Cincinnati and just wants some peace and quiet. Together now, “You got fins to the left, fins to the right, and you’re the only girl ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10272677http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10272677Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:22:18 GMTWalking through Cherry Vale back in ’88, I saw a girl walking out of the t-shirt shop wearing her new, custom-designed “Jenny loves Johnny Hates Jazz” shirt. That caused me to pose the question, “Does Johnny Hates Jazz really hate... you know”? Not necessarily. For one thing, nobody named Johnny was in the band.According to the always-accurate Wikipedia and a couple of other sites that copied and pasted Wikipedia’s entry, band member Mike Nocito had  a cousin named Johnny who hated...you guessed it...jazz. 1988’s “Shattered Dreams” was our introduction and for most, the farewell to the group.Here’s another song that MTVcatapulted into culture, dance clubs and eventually into radio. My favorite odd portion of the video is when the singer is miniaturized and crooning while lounging upon a larger than life-sized hand. I believe careful attention was paid to make sure it, in no way, resembled a jazz ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10362103http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10362103Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:42:16 GMTIn the early ‘80’s my friend Jim got a hold of this EP. He said it sounded like Iron Maiden on speed. A particular song stood out, “Queen of the Reich”. The band was Queensryche. At that time, having an EP out made you an emerging act.  I heard the band here and there and fast-forwarding to 1990, I heard a DJ saying, “here’s a band currently filling the Floyd Void”. It was a more mature and complex Queensryche. Soon I even heard them on Top 40 radio. They must have really filled the void, because the Empire LP sold more than three million copies. Geoff Tate has an unmistakable vocal sound and I’m glad the comparisons to Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden, not the “more cowbell” guy) have stopped. You can see Geoff doing the acoustic thing with three May gigs in the area. After that Queensryche embarks ...http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10359500http://www.953bobfm.com/Blogs/BehindBobsMusic/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10359500Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:35:05 GMT