Category: Pop Culture

My Sunday Song – “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins

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My Sunday Song #62 is the song “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.  The song is off the album, Face Value, and was released as a single on January 8th, 1981.  The song is one of Phil’s most recognizable and most popular songs and it reached #2 in the UK and #19 in the US on Billboards Hot 100.

What makes it so recognizable is the drum work throughout.  The slow build up to that drum beat that comes screaming in and there throughout the rest of the song.  Who hasn’t been in their car and when that part comes up, you air drum and everyone around you looks at you like you are a nut…and also wondering why you aren’t holding on to your steering wheel.

The song’s popularity even increased when it was used in the pilot episode of Miami Vice in 1984.  That helped it remain a part of pop culture forever.  The creepiness of the song and the dark overtones worked nicely in the episode and showed how well music and TV could work together.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Cum On Feel The Noize”

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For the third installment, I wanted to cover the Slade song “Cum on Feel the Noize”.  Yes, I said Slade.  If you didn’t know Quiet Riot did a COVER version of this song (any many others), they did not write it. As a kid, I thought they wrote it and it was their song.  They definitely made it their own, but it was years later I learned it was actually a cover of Slade’s song.

Of course, I am a huge fan of the Quiet Riot version as that is what introduced me to the band.  However, once I discovered the band Slade, years later, I became a bigger fan of them than Quiet Riot. I really enjoy the Glam rock era of the 70’s and the fact they are the ones that wrote these great songs, I now lean more towards their version.  Let’s talk a little about each version and then you can tell me which one you like best.

SLADE:

“Cum on Feel the Noize” was originally titled “Cum on Hear the Noize” until Noddy Holder changed it because he believed that at a Slade concert you felt the music and the crowd.*  The single went #1 in the UK in February 1973 and was their fourth #1 song.  It was also the first song to go #1 in its first week of release since the Beatles back in 1969.

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Bob Rock – Producer Extraordinaire #4

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We are now on our 4th Producer Extraordinaire in this series.  We have seen Robert John “Mutt” Lange, Brendan O’Brien and Bruce Fairbairn so far, and now it is time for Bob Rock.  Bob Rock actually got his start as a recording engineer and mixer under the great Bruce Fairbairn so he learned from one of the best.

Bob’s musical career started back in 1979 / 1980 when he started engineering from Bruce as well as joined the band Payola$ who had a big hit in 1980 called “Eyes of a Stranger”. They were pretty successful in Canada and won a Juno Award in 1983 for Single of the Year.  However, Bob’s real talent (or at least to me) is his ability to work with bands and produce amazing albums.

METALLICA:

Bob Rock has worked with some of the biggest bands in the world, but they don’t get bigger than Metallica.  Bob was selected as the Producer for the band’s biggest album they had ever done, however, at the time they did not know it would become so big. “The Black Album” as it is commonly known made Metallica cool in the mainstream world as well as the Thrash world.

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My Sunday Song – “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh

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For My Sunday Song #59, I have to go with Joe Walsh’s classic song “Life’s Been Good”.  The song is off his 1978 album ‘But Seriously, Folks…” and was released as a single in May of that year.  The song has two versions, the album cut which is an epic 8:56 and the radio edit which is only 4:35.  The radio edit is great, but the full version is where all the magic happens.

“Life’s Been Good” is song that speaks to the excess of the rock gods of the 70’s.  Lyrically, it paints a beautiful picture of how everyone thinks the huge Rock Stars live and probably resonated because everyone wants to be that Rock Star.  The song hits all the high points, the mansion, the exotic sports car, the hit records, the fans and the money.  What’s not to like.

The song is a mid-tempo beat with almost a reggae feel to it.  It has a great guitar riff throughout and includes a bizarre little inside joke about 10 seconds after the song ends.  Walsh very humorously goes “uh-oh, here comes a flock of wah wahs” followed by a chorus of duck or geese noises.  I have no idea what the inside joke was, but it is quite funny regardless.  I wonder what they were smoking?????

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The Original Vs. The Cover – “The Sound of Silence”

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Welcome to the second edition of ‘The Original Vs. The Cover”.  This month we are highlighting the Simon & Garfunkel classic, “The Sound of Silence” and the best cover version I have ever heard of this song by the Metal band Disturbed.  Yes, I said a Metal band.  So the Folk version vs. the Metal version.

The song was originally recorded back in 1964 and was titled “The Sounds of Silence”. The song was a folk traditional version and it basically flopped.  The song was overdubbed in 1965 without Simon & Garfunkel’s knowledge and some electric instruments were added to give it more a folk rock sound which was big at the time.  The song became a hit and Simon & Garfunkel became famous.

The song everyone knows is actually the second version, the folk rock song.  Later the song was retitled for some strange reason to “The Sound of Silence” and the ‘s’ was dropped from “Sounds”.  Rather odd to me, but what do I know.

The song has one of the best opening lines of any song…”Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again”.  The way they sing that opening line is kind of eerie and seems to hold so much meaning.  And has always made me think about loneliness as that was the overall feeling I got from that verse.

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My Sunday Song – “Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny)” by Elton John

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For My Sunday Song #56, I have gone with one of the greatest John Lennon tribute songs ever written or performed…”Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny)” By Elton John.  The song was released in 1982 which was about 18 months after Lennon’s death.  It is off the album ‘Jump Up!’ and was not one of his best albums, but this was the best song on it.  It was a minor hit and only reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

However, for me it resonated as such a beautifully written song.  Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics (as he did for all of Elton’s songs) and Elton did the music.  The lyrics tell such a touching story and the metaphor of an empty garden fort he absence of Lennon is brilliant.  Put that along with the beautiful piano and Elton’s vocals and you have a song that can touch you on so many levels.  Knowing that Elton John was such good friends with Lennon (including being Sean Lennon’s godfather), you could feel Elton’s true feelings of how much he missed his friend and that even adds more to the song.

In researching the song (wikipedia mostly had the better information), I found that the “Garden” was also a reference to John Lennon’s last performance which was at Madison Square Garden in 1974 with Elton John.  The line “Can’t You Come Out to Play” is a reference to the Beatles’ song “Dear Prudence” which is cool. I love finding those things out as I never made that connection so now it adds to the song for me.

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Scooby-Doo and KISS – Rock and Roll Mystery – Movie Review

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For some reason, my youngest daughter has been fascinated by the band KISS.  I am sure it stems from all the KISS albums and videos I have. When she was younger, we would joke that her tongue was like Gene Simmons, so the Demon became the character she liked best.

My youngest also loves Scooby-Doo.  So when KISS and Scooby-Doo joined forces for a video, naturally she had to have it.  And being the great father and Kisss fan that I am, I made sure she had it.

Instead of me trying to be creative and explain this hard to explain movie, I will let the editors of Amazon.com do it for me…

Get ready to Rock! Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. Gang team up with the one and only KISS in this all-new, out-of-this-world adventure! We join the Gang at Kiss World – the all-things-Kiss theme park, as they investigate a series of strange hauntings. With help from Kiss, they discover that the Crimson Witch has returned to summon The Destroyer from the alternate dimension of Kissteria! The evil duos ghastly plan, to destroy the earth! Can the Gang’s cunning and Kiss’s power of rock save the day?! Tune in to this Rock and Roll Mystery for some thunderous, heavy FUN!

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Def Leppard – ‘Hysteria’ 30th Anniversary (Deluxe Edition) – Album Review

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Thirty years ago on August 3rd, 1987, Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, ‘Hysteria’.  Little did they know this ground breaking album would go on to sell over 25 million records, produce 7 hit singles and go to #1 on the Billboard Charts.  The album was a labor of love for the band as it took several years to record and they struggled so much during this time.

There were so many setbacks during the recording of the album.  First, Robert John “Mutt” Lange turned down the producing job for the record after he had recorded “High & Dry” (my personal favorite) and “Pyromania” although he did help in the initial song writing for the record.  The band went through several producers during the recording including working with Jim Steinman of ‘Bat Out of Hell’ fame.  Their relationship did not go smoothly and he was later fired (they paid him a lot of money to get out of the contract so it must have gone badly). Later in the process, “Mutt” did come back and produce the final product and then history was made.

The second big obstacle was Rick Allen’s car accident that severed his arm.  Yes, the drummer of the band lost an arm.  With all respect to the band, they did not abandon Rick.  They stood by him and supported him until he was capable of playing the drums with one arm using an electronic drum set and a set of foot pedals to compensate for the lost arm.  It definitely was a trying time.  I won’t go into much more as you can watch the documentary included to learn more.

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“Nothin’ To Lose: The Making of Kiss 1972-1975” by Ken Sharp, Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley – Book Review

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I try to read at least one book a month and for July it was “Nothin’ to Lose: The Making of KISS 1972-1975” by Ken Sharp, Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley.  All thanks to a Amazon running a $2.99 special for the Kindle.  That is exactly how I read Paul Stanley’s autobiography for only $2.99.

As a KISS fan this was a really a no brainer to read.  I knew a bunch of the stories, but not everything.  As a side note, I found a way to enhance the experience of reading this book.  If you have Kissology DVD series, you can watch the shows they are talking about in the book.  You definitely need the 1st series which covers 1974-1977.  You also need Volume 3 which contains the much talked about Queens, NY Coventry Show from December, 1973 the band’s first ever concert filmed in make up in its entirety.  When you add this to your reading, it truly enhances the whole experience.

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The Original Vs. The Cover – “Can’t Find My Way Home”

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Welcome to the new in yet another series that is called “The Original Vs. The Cover”.  Not a very original title, but it gets the point across.  Each month I will pick a song and compare the original to my favorite cover of the song.

And there is not a better way to kick off this series than with Blind Faith’s song “Can’t Find My Way Home”.  The song was written by Steve Winwood and on Blind Faith’s only album back in 1969.  Blind Faith was one of the earliest super groups as it consisted of Steve Winwood from the bands Traffic & The Spencer Davis Group, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton from the band Cream and lastly, Ric Grech from Family.  Not a bad set of musicians.

Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” is a slow ballad with Eric Clapton playing acoustic guitar and Steve Winwood singing.  Of course Ginger Baker is playing percussion and Ric Grech is on bass, but the guitar work is of note.  The guitar work is fantastic as expected and it is rare you get Eric Clapton playing acoustic (at least back then).  The vocals have an eerie hollowness to them and I don’t know if that was Winwood’s intention or just the production of the song, but it works.  The overall production is simple and not much too it and I think that is why the song works so well. The overall tone fits the time period which was the end of the 60’s.

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