Not to toot my own horn…well, all right maybe a little, but not too much…I now have a groovy podcast up and running. It’s called Sniff The Tip (yes the same name as my webspace) and has its first episode up and running if you’d care to check it out. That is all. Move along, now.
Category: External Music (Page 43 of 50)
Welcome to the debut of our newest installment, Mix Disc Monday. It is exactly what you think it is. We won’t even bother to insult your intelligence by explaining the concept to you. In this age of iTunes playlists and podcasts, we know that you’re a step ahead of us. Fifteen songs about…well, whatever inspires us that day.
It therefore seemed fitting that we kick off this weekly event with a timely list of songs whose titles evoke images of All Hallow’s Eve. Most of the songs aren’t dark or scary, but do they have to be? If that’s what you want, listen to the main theme to “Requiem for a Dream” over and over again, if you have the guts. Oh, and feel free to pepper the proceedings with “Bring out your dead” quotes from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Ministry: “Everyday Is Halloween” (Early Trax)
Mmm-mmm bop mmm bop bop. Mmm-mmm bop mmm bop bop. Al Jourgensen says he hates this song now. Fool.
The Jazz Butcher: “The Devil Is My Friend” (Bloody Nonsense)
This long lost B-side (I won’t lie, you’re gonna have a hell of a time finding this one) is still the only song I know by the Jazz Butcher. But any band that’s friends with Frank Sinatra, Love & Rockets and the devil is a friend of mine.
Bow Wow Wow: “I Want Candy” (We Are the ‘80s)
Not everything about Halloween involves scaring people, you know.
Squirrel Nut Zippers: “Hell” (Hot)
I found a version of this on Napster back in the day that was filled with quotes from “The Simpsons.” Innnnnn the afterlife (“D’oh!”), you could be headed for the serious strife (“D’oh!”). Now you make the scene all day (Buuuuuurp), but tomorrow there’ll be hell to pay. Best, mash-up, ever.
The Killers: “Bones” (Sam’s Town)
Tim Burton was the perfect person to direct this video. If only he could have done something about the rest of the album…
Oingo Boingo: “Dead Man’s Party” (Dead Man’s Party)
While we’re talking about Tim Burton, we may as well give a shout-out to his composer’s former day job.
L7: “Pretend We’re Dead” (Bricks Are Heavy)
Girls can do grunge too, you know. Come on, come on, come on.
Concrete Blonde: “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” (Bloodletting)
How a lazy cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” by Guns ‘n Roses played over the credits of “Interview with a Vampire” instead of this is not just a mystery but a crime.
Dead or Alive: “Something in My House” (Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know)
Here’s the thing that people forget about Dead or Alive: their guitarist could shred, dude. For extra creep factor, find the 12” mixes, which have quotes from “The Exorcist” in them.
Book of Love: “Witchcraft” (Lullaby)
There’s something about the sound of Samantha wiggling her nose that gets me every time. That, and Susan Ottaviano’s voice, which my wife once described as “beautifully bored.” Yep, that sounds about right.
B-52’s: “Devil in My Car” (Wild Planet)
Heeeeeeelp!
Jellyfish: “The Ghost at Number One” (Spilt Milk)
It was a tossup between this and “The Ghost in You” from the Psychedelic Furs, but in the interest of keeping the energy levels up, we chose this mash note to Queen about a dead rock star who still dominates the pop charts. Awfully prescient, since this predates the deaths of Tupac and Biggie. Jellyfish were prophets.
Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.: “Creepie People” (The Land of Pure Imagination)
I probably should have put David Bowie’s “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps” in this slot instead of back to back Jellyfish-related tunes (Manning played keys for the’Fish). But hot damn, I just love this new record of his. And you should, too.
Gnarls Barkley: “The Boogie Monster” (St. Elsewhere)
You either love or hate this one. I’m in the former group, if only because it reminds me of Mike Wazowski, Sully and Boo from “Monsters Inc.” Kitty!
Divine Comedy: “The Happy Goth” (Absent Friends)
And on what day would Goths be happier than Halloween? The chorus to this is just money: “Well, her clothes are blacker than the blackest cloth / And her face is whiter than the snows of Hoth / She wears Doctor Martens and heavy cross / But on the inside, she’s a happy Goth.” The snows of Hoth? God, I love Neil Hannon.
P.S. To see the most unintentionally funny Goth clip ever on YouTube, click here.
Wired ran a pretty good article entitled “The Rise and Fall of the Hit,” that discusses the change from the marketing-driven hits of the ’90s (in the movies, television and music) to the niche market we’re seeing today. The entire article is worth a read, but this passage was especially on the money.
If it’s not a hit, then it’s a miss. It has failed the economic test and, therefore, never should have been made. This Hollywood mindset is now how we allocate space on store shelves, fill time slots on television, and build radio playlists. It’s all about allocating scarce resources to the most “deserving,” which is to say, the most popular.
Ultimately, our response to hit culture is to reinforce hit culture. The world of shelf space is a zero-sum game: One product displaces another. Forced to choose, each link in the entertainment industry naturally selects the most popular products, giving them privileged placement. By putting our commercial weight behind the big winners, we amplify the gap between them and everything else. Economically, this is the same as saying, “If there can be only a few rich, let them at least be super-rich.”
But now the audience is turning to a distribution medium that doesn’t favor the hits alone. We are abandoning the tyranny of the top and becoming a niche nation again, defined not by our geography but by our interests. Instead of the weak connections of the office water cooler, we’re increasingly forming our own tribes, groups bound together more by affinity and shared interests than by broadcast schedules. These days our water coolers are increasingly virtual – there are many different ones, and the people who gather around them are self-selected.
The mass market is yielding to a million minimarkets. Hits will always be with us, but they have lost their monopoly. Blockbusters must now compete with an infinite number of niche offerings, which can be distributed just as easily. Justin Timberlake still makes albums, but today he has thousands of bands on MySpace as rivals. The hierarchy of attention has inverted – credibility now rises from below. MTV and Tower Records no longer decide who will win. You do.
This is not meant as a reply to The Chauffeur’s post, as I believe he’s mourning the loss of the face-to face camaraderie and the information gleaned from the workers at Tower Records, not the death of the huge marketing forces behind such brick & mortar chains. Instead, the “new” music industry (and to a lesser extent, television and film) takes the best from the old model (word of mouth from store employees/other customers) and uses the internet to make it easier than ever to spread the word about your favorite band, or to find a new one.
The truth is that this “new” market is actually a return to the niche market that existed before the advent of television, when hits would sweep the nation via the unstoppable word of mouth. But instead of bringing our records over to our friend’s house for a listen, we’re shooting them an MP3 or directing them to a MySpace page.
I love it.
There’s nothing better for someone who’s a fan of both music and movies to sit down in a theater, watch a film, and find yourself in awe of how the director has utilized a pop song to set a scene or convey a mood. It’s easy to know that you need a romantic song for a romantic moment, but finding the right song…? That’s the hard bit…and it gets even harder as you have to provide the proper sonic backdrop for just about every key moment in the film. Bullz-Eye polled all of our movie and music writers (and then some) to get their favorite uses of pop songs in movies.
The only real criteria we set was this: the song couldn’t have been written specifically for the film or have made its debut on the film’s soundtrack. This was pretty rough on us at first, because it meant we had to say so long to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (“The Breakfast Club”), bid bye-bye to O.M.D.’s “If You Leave” (“Pretty in Pink”), and offer a fond farewell to Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” (“She’s Having a Baby”).
Fortunately, we had a lot of great songs – and movie moments – waiting in the wings. But be advised: our descriptions contain spoilers galore.
Some sample choices:
36. “Closer,” Nine Inch Nails – Se7en
When I popped in the DVD of “Se7en” to refresh myself with the film’s usage of Trent Reznor’s composition, I was legitimately surprised to find that it didn’t actually begin with it; there are, in fact, four minutes of screen time preceding the song’s appearance. The thing is, the film’s opening credits – over which the harsh, thumping industrial beat of “Closer to God” plays – are so damned creepy and set the tone of the 123 minutes that follow that it never occurred to me that they weren’t the first thing in the movie. The quickly-cut close-up shots of an unidentified individual (later revealed to be our man “John Doe,” a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) filling journals with miniscule handwriting, blacking out lines in books, going through photos of various medical experiments, and – worst of all – using a razor blade to remove his fingerprints will make you shudder. Reznor’s music does most of the talking. In fact, he only sings one line at the very end of the credits: “You get me closer to God.” Uh, actually, it’s about as far away from heaven as you can imagine. If you’d had any idea that this would be the most comfortable you’d feel for the next two hours, you’d’ve walked out of the theater right then and there. – Will Harris
28. “Jump in the Line,” Harry Belafonte – Beetlejuice
With all due respect to the “Day-O” sequence in “Beetlejuice” – it does appear first, and therefore comes as a complete surprise – it is the movie’s closing number, as it were, that gets our vote. Perhaps it’s the song’s relative obscurity (it did not make the Top 40, while “Day-O,” actually titled “Banana Boat,” reached #5), or maybe it’s the song’s brash energy and instant familiarity that roped us in. Oh, who are we kidding, it’s then-fifteen-year-old Winona Ryder, suspended in air and lip-synching to Harry Belafonte, shake, shake, shaking her body line, while the dead football players do a hilarious callback as her backup singers. It was also great to see Michael Keaton’s title character get a, um, little dose of karma from a witch doctor as well. All in all, it is the perfect ending to an unforgettably loony movie. – David Medsker
19. “Tequila,” The Champs – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
I think it’s safe to say that my entire generation discovered this classic rock song thanks to Pee-Wee Herman and his first flick. Seeing him turn a rowdy biker bar’s clientele into a bunch of grooving softies while dancing to the song on top of the bar in his trademark shoes was the highlight of the movie. How can you not hear this song and not get images in your head of Pee-Wee doing his great little dance? I recall seeing and hearing it for the first time and wondering just what the hell that song was; I even went so far to tape it from the movie itself onto a cassette, so I could groove along with it whenever I liked. Pee-Wee has always been one of the coolest, and we owe him so much thanks for introducing a ton of kids to this always-great song. – Jason Thompson
To see the entire list, click here.
Be sure to check out my review of the recent Black Keys show at the Avalon in Hollywood, CA.
Hailing from Akron, Ohio, the Black Keys [MySpace page] are a two-man outfit made up of Dan Auerbach (vocals, guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums). Their music is often described as blues-rock, but the Keys stay away from many of the traditional chord progressions that are far too familiar in the genre. They embrace the low-fi, so their stuff generally sounds rough around the edges, but it’s quite clear that the duo likes it that way. 
Auerbach mixes in his distinct, lived-in vocals with his thicker than thick guitar, while Carney passionately pounds the skins. They are a productive band, having released four albums in the last five years, including Magic Potion [Bullz-Eye review], released earlier this year. In 2006, they also released an EP, Chulahoma [Bullz-Eye review], where they covered six songs by blues hero Junior Kimbrough. They dabble in funk, rock and psychedelia, never straying too far from the blues-rock sound made famous in the mid- to late-‘60s. In short, any beer-soaked roadhouse would benefit from having these 14 songs in its jukebox, but they can all be found at iTunes. To listen to song clips at Amazon, click the link for each album.
Let’s get to know the Black Keys…
“Have Love, Will Travel” – Thickfreakness
It’s a sign of a good band when they are able to take a song they didn’t write and make it their own. The Keys do exactly that with this track, which was originally written by R&B artist Richard Berry and later made famous when The Sonics covered it on their eponymous debut in 1965. This version features a much thicker guitar and a smooth breakdown as it approaches each verse. Every Keys virgin should give it up to this song.
“Till I Get My Way” – Rubber Factory
There’s that thick guitar again. That little riff will carry the song, with Auerbach’s vocals leading us to a brief chorus before jumping right back into another cascading verse. The guitar solo in the middle is short but effective.
“Set You Free” – Thickfreakness
If this song sounds familiar, it probably is. It was featured on the soundtrack to Jack Black’s “School of Rock” and was used in a Nissan Xterra commercial. It’s faster than most of the group’s songs, and Carney really works over those drums, but it all works. There’s a writhing guitar that leads the track into each chorus and the last one is especially sultry.
“She Said, She Said” – The Big Come Up
This is one of those “are you kidding me?” songs. It’s always a dicey proposition to cover the Beatles, but the Keys take the seemingly innocent tune and turn it into a sexy, grinding blues fest. It’s familiar enough to be recognized, but the band is able to put its own stamp on it.
“Strange Desire” – Magic Potion
Listeners will be hard pressed to find a cooler first minute in a song. The choppy guitar goes perfectly with Auerbach’s “oh”s and the first lyric – “I don’t wanna go to hell but if I do / it’ll be ‘cause of you” – makes one ponder what vice he’s singing about. Parts of the initial minute are wisely repeated throughout the song, alternating with some trippy solos, which begs the question – is he singing about a woman or a controlled substance?
“Hard Row” – Thickfreakness
This song actually starts after it starts, when Auerbach comes in with the lines “If you wanna go/and leave your man/go on/I’ll understand,” singing from the point of view of a jilted lover. Both the rhythm guitar and the solos in the back half are terrific.
“Act Nice and Gentle” – Rubber Factory
In the Keys’ third cover on this list, the duo takes the up-tempo, honky-tonk song by the Kinks and slows it down to create a beautiful, sultry head-bobber. This is about as sweet as the Keys can get.
“Heavy Soul” – The Big Come Up
As Carney taps the cymbals, Auerbach enters the fray with a bluesy guitar, and after a few progressions, we hear his grainy voice. This is one of the most blues-laden of all of the Keys’ tracks. It’s a little noisy towards the back, but by this point, you’re a fan, so you can deal.
“The Desperate Man” – Rubber Factory
This song is all about Carney’s beat, but Auerbach’s voice and guitar compliment it nicely. There really isn’t a chorus and the bridge is a little noisy, but it isn’t too distracting. The rest of the song makes up for the occasional screeching guitar note.
“Meet Me In The City” – Chulahoma
This Junior Kimbrough cover is the most straightforward of all the material on Chulahoma, but it has its trippy moments. Auerbach is at his best when sings along with his guitar, begging the listener, “Please…please…please don’t leave me right now baby, right now.” The track closes with an impressive guitar solo.
“10 A.M. Automatic” – Rubber Factory
With its simple, repeating riff and good beat, this track worms its way further into the brain with each and every listen. Lyrically, the song reaches its peak when Auerbach asks, “what about my ways/makes you doubt/all these words from my mouth?”
“Girl Is On My Mind” – Rubber Factory
Of all the songs on this list, this track probably has the most familiar blues chord progression and the traditional repetitious lyrics often found in the genre. Still, it’s catchy as hell and it’s got a great breakdown, even if it is a little rough around the edges.
“Just Got To Be” – Magic Potion
The opening guitar sets the tone for the track, but things quiet down a bit as Auerbach starts the first verse. After the lyrics in the bridge – “I got to go because/something’s on my mind/it won’t get better/no matter how hard to try” – he mixes some crunchy guitar with a soulful “whoa!” and “yeah!” before laying down the two-line chorus.
“Midnight In Her Eyes” – Thickfreakness
This track is a little slower to start, but things pick up as the song progresses. Lyrically and musically, the song is at its best when Auerbach sings, “You never thought about goin’ wrong/now you wonder where your man has gone” just before the single-line chorus, which gives the song its name.
The following songs should be a bit more accessible once you’re familiar with the Keys’ distinct sound:
“Your Touch” – Magic Potion
“Elevator” – Magic Potion
“The Lengths” – Rubber Factory
Keys fans – are there any songs I missed?
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