“Ok, ok, ok. I get it. You can’t change. Now will you please just shut the f*&k up?!?!?!?!”
Nostalgia Friday!
Anyone remember this?
Dennis DeYoung Update (A little bit of nonsense)
Dennis De Young, onetime lead singer for baby prog band STYX, has joined The Nightbreed at their home of Midian.
Dennis (pictured far left), developed an aversion to sunlight soon after his turn as Quasimodo in the Blaine Community Players version of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame around 1994. His time spent in seclusion has dramatically affected his appearance, most notably his head taking the shape of a banana (a condition unique to Dennis and subsequently named “Domorobotoism”).
His only public appearance since the diognosis (the a fore mentioned “Hunchback” performance) was a disaster, and it was then that he fled to Median to join The Nightbreed. Little is known of The Nightbreed, but we do know that many are sensitive to sunlight. Cabal, the leader of The ‘Breed (according to one eyewitness account), welcomed Dennis into their fold with open arms and even placed Dennis’ quarters in close proximity to the berserkers, an honor usually befitting a member of greater tenure.
At any rate we wish Dennis luck with his new family, and as I hear additional updates I’ll be sure to let you know
The 1980’s (a tragically underrated decade, musically speaking)
I’ll be 42 this month and over the last couple of years I’ve been contacted with ghosts (friendly ghosts, mind) from the past wanting to reconnect via Facebook. It’s been neat to see how wrong (or right) my predictions were of where I thought these old friends would end up, both professionally and personally. Aside from the odd casualty I’ve been relieved to find that most of my friends have ended up on their feet and are living happy, productive lives. Some own their own companies and others, like me, ended up working for “The Man”. When I was in high school the thought of being a parent, owning a house and staying in the same profession for over 20 years seemed like a fantasy. All I cared about were clubs, concerts, drinking and where I was going to sleep that night. 16 years ago I made the decision to move countries, by myself, with nothing but a duffle bag of cd’s, a suitcase full of clothes and about $1,500 in cash. No job secured, no car and no prospects. I moved from the east coast of Canada to San Diego, California, something I said I would do ever since I was a junior in high school, and thank God I was arrogant enough to believe I could actually make a go of it. I ended up getting a job at a daily newspaper, saved up enough money to buy a car, ended up meeting my wife, had two kids and eventually moved to northern California and bought a home after being promoted up through the ranks of advertising management. Somewhere in between I became somewhat mature, a dedicated husband and father with, EGAD, responsibilities.
The weight and the strain of the current recession here in the States has hit all of us hard, and the fact that I work in an industry that is dependant on local businesses and is desperately trying to re-invent itself to varying degrees of success and failure is a massive pressure.
What reconnecting with these friends from the past has done is reenergize my sense of adventure and given me a faith that all roads, bumpy as they may be, will lead me where I’m meant to be. I am grateful that I work for a media organization that is more forward thinking than 95% of the others out there and are investing in multi-media solutions that will hopefully lead to an overall solution to this industry crisis…eventually.
I graduated high school in the late 80’s and, this being a music blog and all, I thought it apropos to list some of the tracks and albums that defined my life’s soundtrack during those halcyon days. The list is massive, and I left off quite a few, because one damning fact when revisiting your musical past that everyone should be aware of is that it can be cringe inducing to a very large degree if you’re not careful. My obsessive nature demands that I spend a ton of time searching, researching, analyzing and listening to these songs, but rest easy folks I won’t bore you with the gory details. Suffice it to say that the hair on the back of my neck stood up more than a couple of times and that the phrase “Oh God, did I really listen to that?” came up more often than I actually thought it would.
Oh well. So here we go, your ultimate 80’s soundtrack for a gloomy February winter. Enjoy! First, the songs of the 80’s!!
ABC, The Look Of Love
Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Two Tribes
Aztec Camera, Oblivious
Adam Ant, Friend Or Foe
Art Of Noise, Moments In Love
B52s, Love Shack
Bauhaus, Bella Lagosi’s Dead
Big Audio Dynamite, The Bottom Line
Black Flag, My War
Butthole Surfers, Movin’ To Florida
Camper Van Beethoven, Take The Skinheads Bowling
China Crisis, Working With Fire And Steel
The Clash, Rock The Casbah
The Cure, In Between Days
The Damned, Grimly Fiendish
David Bowie, Let’s Dance
Dead Kennedy’s, Holidays In Cambodia
Dead Or Alive, You Spin Me Round
Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Come ON Eileen
Dire Straits, Money For Nothing
Elvis Costello, Everyday I Write The Book
English Beat, Mirror In The Bathroom
The Fixx, Saved By Zero
Foreigner, Juke Box Hero
Frank Zappa, Valley Girl
Genesis, Turn It On Again
Hoodoo Gurus, Like Wow, Wipeout!
The Housemartins, Happy Hour
Human League, Fascination
Icicle Works, Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)
Images In Vogue, Call It Love
Jazz Butcher, The Human Jungle
Jesus And Mary Chain, April Skies
Joe Jackson, Steppin’ Out
John Lennon, Just Like Starting Over
Killing Joke, Love Like Blood
The Kinks, Destroyer
The Lilac Time, Black Velvet
Lloyd Cole, Brand New Friend
Love And Rockets, Ball Of Confusion
Madness, Our House
Malcolm McLaren, Buffalo Gals
Men Without Hats, The Safety Dance
Michael Jackson, Thriller
Ministry, Everyday Is Halloween
Nash The Slash, Psychotic Reaction
New Order, The Perfect Kiss
Orange Juice, Rip It Up
O.M.D., Souvenir
Paul McCartney, Take It Away
Paul Simon, Graceland
Pet Shop Boys, Left To My Own Devices
Pete Townshend, Let My Love Open The Door
Peter Gabriel, Games Without Frontiers
The Pixies, Wave Of Mutilation
The Pogues, Dirty Old Town
The Police, Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Pop Will Eat Itself, Grebo Guru
Prefab Sprout, When Love Breaks Down
Psychedelic Furs, Forever Now
Queen, Another One Bites The Dust
The Ramones, The KKK Took My Baby Away
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Higher Ground
Renegade Soundwave, Biting My Nails
The Replacements, Alex Chilton
Rolling Stones, Emotional Rescue
Roxy Music, Avalon
Rush, Tom Sawyer
Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Love Missile F1-11
Simple Minds, Someone Somewhere In Summertime
Sisters Of Mercy, Dominion (Mother Russia)
The Smiths, How Soon Is Now?
SNFU, The Devil’s Voice
The Special AKA, Nelson Mandela
The Spoons, Nova Heart
Squeeze, Tempted
Tin Tin, Kiss Me
Stone Roses, Fools Gold
The Stranglers, Skin Deep
Stray Cats, Rock This Town
Styx, Mr Roboto
Talk Talk, It’s My Life
Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime
The The, Uncertain Smile
They Might Be Giants, Birdhouse In Your Soul
Thomas Dolby, One Of Our Submarines
Time Zone, World Destruction
U2, New Years Day
Urban Dance Squad, Deeper Shade Of Soul
The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues
The Who, You Better You Bet
The Wonder Stuff, Grin
XTC, Making Plans For Nigel
Yes, Owner Of A Lonely Heart
And Now, The Albums!!!!
Pixies, Doolittle
The Wonder Stuff, Hup!
The The, Mind Bomb
XTC, Oranges And Lemons
Pop Will Eat Itself, This Is The Day, This Is The Hour, This…Is This!
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mothers Milk
New Order, Technique
Spacemen 3, Playing With Fire
Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
They Might Be Giants, Lincoln
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
The Cure, Disintegration
Renegade Soundwave, Soundclash
The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues
Happy Mondays, Bummed
Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Sessions
My Bloody Valentine, Isn’t Anything
Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
Jane’s Addiction, Nothing Shocking
Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation Of Millions
Pixies, Surfer Rosa
Pet Shop Boys, Introspective
The Pogues, If I Should Fall From Grace With God
…plus…
Pop Wil Eat Itself, Box Frenzy
Replacements, Pleased To Meet Me
Big Black, Songs About F*#!ing
Def Leppard, Hysteria
The Cure, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death
Prince, Sign O’ The Times
The Cult, Electric
The Sisters Of Mercy, Floodland
Love And Rockets, Earth Sun Moon
George Michael, Faith
Butthole Surfers, Locust Abortion Technician
Men Without Hats, Pop Goes The World
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, Bo-Day-Shus!
Guns And Roses, Appetite For Destruction
Jesus And Mary Chain, Darklands
Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Flaunt It Rock
Beastie Boys, Licenced To Ill
The The, Infected
The Housemartins, London 0, Hull 4
Billy Bragg, Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
Talk Talk, The Colour Of Spring
Mojo Nixon, Frenzy/ Get Out Of My Way
Paul Simon, Graceland
Run-DMC, Raising Hell
XTC, Skylarking
Bad Brains, I Against I
The Woodentops, Giant
Pet Shop Boys, Please
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
New Order, Brotherhood
Love And Rockets, Express
The Cramps, A Date With Elvis
Husker Du, Candy Apple Grey
Big Audio Dynamite, No. 10 Upping Street
The Jazz Butcher, Distressed Gentlefolk
Nick Lowe, The Rose Of England
New Order – Low-Life
Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen
The Pogues – Rum Sodomy And The Lash
The Cure – The Head on the Door
Love And Rockets, Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
B.A.D., This Is Big Audio Dynamite
The Fall, This Nation’s Saving Grace
Tears For Fears, Songs From The Big Chair
Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms
Mekons, Fear And Whiskey
Big Black, Atomizer
Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
The Jesus And Mary Chain, Psychocandy
Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves
Replacements, Let It Be
u2 – Unforgettable Fire
The Minutemen, Double Nickels On The Dime
The Smiths, The Smiths
Simple Minds – Sparkle in the Rain
Depeche Mode – Some Great Reward
Echo and the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Welcome To the Pleasuredome
Talk Talk – Its My Life
Bruce Cockburn – Stealing Fire
Alphaville – Forever Young
Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods
Stranglers – Aural Sculpture
Art of Noise – Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise
Thomas Dolby – The Flat Earth
Jazz Butcher, Sex And Travel
Icicle Works – The Icicle Works
Aztec Camera – Knife
The Alarm – Declaration
Orange Juice – The 3rd Album
Nash the Slash – American Bandages
Prince – Purple Rain
Tones On Tail, POP
Malcolm McLaren, Duck Rock
Tears for Fears – The Hurting
U2 – War
Neil Young, Trans
Jazz Butcher, Bath Of Bacon
Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues
Big Country – The Crossing
New Order- Power Corruption and Lies
China Crisis – Working with Fire and Steel
The The, Soul Mining
Pink Floyd, The Final Cut
Ramones, Subterranean Jungle
Elvis Costello – Punch the Clock
UB40 – The Labour of Love
The Police – Synchronicity
Yazoo – You and Me Both
Blancmange – Happy Families
The Cramps, Smell Of Female
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Aztec Camera – High Land Hard Rain
Heaven 17 – The Luxury Gap
The Stranglers – Feline
Blue Peter – Falling
OMD – Dazzle Ships
Bauhaus – Burning from the Inside
The Style Council – Introducing
Bruce Cockburn – The Trouble with Normal
R.E.M. – Murmur
The Fixx – Reach the Beach
XTC – Mummer
The Kinks – State of Confusion
Prince – 1999
Modern English – After the Snow
Gang of Four – Hard
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
Paul McCartney, Tug Of War
Roxy Music – Avalon
Nick Lowe, Nick The Knife
Orange Juice, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever
The Spoons – Arias And Symphonies
ABC – Lexicon Of Love
Joe Jackson – Night And Day
Peter Gabriel – Security
The Cure, Pornography
Clash – Combat Rock
The Beat – Special Beat Service
Men At Work – Business As Usual
Psychedelic Furs – Forever Now
Yazoo – Upstairs At Eric’s
Haircut 100 – Pelican West
China Crisis – Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms
Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Too-Rye-Ay
The Jam – The Gift
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age Of Wireless
XTC – English Settlement
Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Gang Of Four – Songs Of The Free
Stray Cats – Built For Speed
Depeche Mode – A Broken Frame
Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom
Talking Heads – The Name Of This Band…
Pete Shelley – Homosapien
Fun Boy Three – Fun Boy Three
Grandmaster Flash – The Message
The Buggles – Adventures In Modern Recording
Men Without Hats – Rhythm Of Youth
Nash The Slash – And You Thought You Were Normal
Bauhaus – The Sky’s Gone Out
Simple Minds – Sons & Fascination
Psychedelic Furs – Talk Talk Talk
OMD – Architecture & Morality
The Clash – Sandinista!
Kraftwerk – Computer World
Japan – Tin Drum
Adam And The Ants – Kings Of The Wild Frontier
Killing Joke – Killing Joke
Eno & Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
The Police – Ghost In The Machine
Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
Joy Division – Still
The Jam – Sound Affects
Joe Jackson – Jumpin’ Jive
The English Beat – Wha’ppen?
Elvis Costello – Trust
The Stranglers – La Folie
New Order – Movement
Squeeze – East Side Story
Gang Of Four – Solid Gold
The Kinks – Give The People What They Want
Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club
Black Flag, Damaged
The Cars, Shake It Up
The Cars, Candy-O
The Cramps, Psychedelic Jungle
Depeche Mode, Speak And Spell
Bauhaus, Mask
The Pretenders – The Pretenders
The Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It
Echo And The Bunnymen – Crocodiles
Joy Division – Closer
Psychedelic Furs–Psychedelic Furs
Bauhaus–In The Flat Field
Dead Kennedys–Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
Adam Ant, Kings Of The Wild Frontier
AC/DC, Back In Black
Alice Cooper, Flush The Fashion
David Bowie, Scary Monsters
The Clash, Sandinista!
Blue Peter, Radio Silence
Yello, Solid Pleasure
Bob Marley, Uprising
XTC, Black Sea
The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta
PiL, Second Edition
The Ramones, End Of The Century
The Stones, Emotional Rescue (underrated!)
RUSH, Permanent Waves
Bruce Springsteen, The River
Teenage Head, Frantic City
Queen, The Game
The Cramps, Songs The Lord Taught Us
The Cure, Boys Don’t Cry
D.O.A., Something Better Change
Joe Jackson, Beat Crazy
Elvis Costello, Get Happy!
Squeeze, Argybargy
John Lennon, Double Fantasy
Madness, Absolutely
The Monks, Suspended Animation
OMD, Organisation
The Specials – More Specials
Talking Heads – Remain In Light
Killing Joke – Killing Joke
The Jam – Sound Affects
T$#T Of The Year Award
…well, that was a long meeting!
Just been busy with work, home life, you know, the usual shit. But all of a sudden a thought occurred to me, an oversight that I needed to post right away. After all those year end lists and end of decade lists I forgot to announce my “Twat Of The Year” award. Billy Corgan came in Second, just nudging out Michael Stipe, who came in third. But one individual stood out as the biggest twat, and it was not anything specific he did in 2009, either. This individual is just an idiot supreme and just to look at him makes one want to hurl chunks. His stupid hats, his stupid shirts, his stupid flip-flops, his stupid…everything. And to think that he was a member of one of the most beloved rock groups of all time makes this very sad indeed.
So (drumroll…BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR)
Announcing the winner of Uncle E’s Musical Nightmare’s prestigious Twat Of The Year Award, in his 42nd consecutive year with this honor, is Mr. Hawaiian Shirt himself, Mike Love!!! (cue polite applause).
I guess I am not alone. A few minutes trolling the web for ammo and I come back with a veritable cornucopia of dirt on the guy. Hey, I just thought he shat on the Beach Boys legacy!
He apparently beat his wife.
He rewrote the Leiber/Stoller song “Riot in Cell Block 9″ into the song “Student Demonstration Time”, which sucks ass, yet somehow made it onto the Surf’s Up album while excellent songs by Dennis such as “4th of July” and “Fallin’ in Love” stayed in the can. (Of course, Dennis got the ultimate revenge agains his longtime foe by marrying Mike’s illegitimate daughter and giving him a grandson just to piss him off.)…but wait, there’s more!!
- His cousin Stan, along with Rocky Pamplin, kicked down Dennis’ door and beat the shit out of him, messing up his larnyx and ruining his voice.
- He really got into transcendental meditation, and just wouldn’t stop writing shitty songs about it.
- He pushed a very obviously mentally ill and terrified Brian onstage as part of the “Brian’s Back!” campaign, and even wrote a song called “Brian’s Back” in which he pretended to like him.
- He’s an alleged racist.
- He’s a right-wing Republican, but he did give $5000 in start-up capital to Tipper Gore to start up the PMRC to censor pop music.
- He thinks no one will notice he’s bald if he just keeps wearing a hat.
- He created a TV miniseries full of revisionist history to glorify his own contributions to the band and take credit for a lot of things he never actually did. He also used it to give the impression that John Lennon wanted to jam with him, although Lennon is quoted as calling him a “jerk”.
- He sued Brian over songwriting credits he claimed he never received, which might have been due to his not actually having done the songwriting he claims to have done.
- He did do a little songwriting, which used all kinds of hip slang that didn’t age well at all and sounds retarded years later. And his onstage patter was lame and unfunny.
- He keeps suing poor Al every time he tries to tour.
- He was a real dick to lyricist Van Dyke Parks during the Smile era, and even 20 years later, took a cheap shot at him on the “Wipeout” single the Beach Boys did with the Fat Boys.
- He introduced himself to Sean O’Hagan of the High Llamas, a huge Beach Boys fan who Bruce Johnston brought in to produce an album for them, by saying, as soon as he met him at the airport, “You’re English, right? Aren’t all you English guys fags?”
- He went on a drunken, bizarre, classless rant when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, calling out the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, the Supremes, and possibly the MC5, for no discernible reason.
- His solo albums suck, even for Beach Boys solo albums, which mostly kind of suck to start with.
- He is responsible for “Kokomo”. And he’s proud of it.
- He just plain has one of those thin-lipped humourless-asshole-looking faces you want to punch.
- He’s still alive, while Dennis and Carl are dea
Another Meaningless List
Blog posts on an artists’ “best” album are legion, and any debate on the subject is more often than not an exercise in ineffectuality. I have been found guilty of thinking my posts on this very subject will be a revelation to some poor bastard who has never heard “Revolver”. Oh, how delusional.
A much more interesting topic for discussion is a bands worst album, but the fine folks over at 3min, 49seconds are doing a more than adequate job with that particular subject.
So what’s left? How about “second best” album? Sure, why not! Of course this is still very subjective and totally indulgent, but I’m bored and have a few minutes to spare. I was going to publish a draft of a post I wrote a while back entitled, “People Who Smoke Clove Cigarettes Are Douche Bags”, but it felt a little too prickly and confrontational for a Wednesday.
So here I am, presenting yet another ridiculous list of meaningless personal opinion. Without further adieu…
Since the Eels have just released their second album in less than a year I thought I’d start there. Electro Shock Blues, an album of dark introspection and inventive time structures, is considered the Eels best overall and most cohesive album. I agree. Their second best is Daisy’s Of The Galaxy. Now if Blinking Lights And Other Revelations was paired down to a single album then it might have been a bit closer to call, but to my ears it’s a little bloated. That, coupled with the fact that Daisy’s contains one of my all time favorite lyrics (Grace Kelly Blues), makes this an easy one.
This one won’t be popular, but I contend that London Calling is the Clash’s second best album, losing out to Sandinista!. Sure, it’s bloated and self indulgent, full of sound “experiments”, but to me it’s always been the more interesting album of the two.
Oops, forgot about a meeting I had scheduled. Gotta go.
To be continued…
HELP!
I can go months without seeing a movie. I can go weeks without reading a book. If hard pressed I could go the rest of my life without watching a single minute of television.
But it would be damn near impossible for me to try and go one single day without listening to music. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I have gone a single day without listening to music since I was about 12 years old. Am I a freak, or do y’all feel the same way?
The real reason for this post, though, is a little more self-serving. I am making the trek to my local independant record store (God bles ‘em!) to trade in a bunch of stuff for some fresher stuff and I need your advice. I’m thinking the new Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors, but I’m open to your suggestions. Hell, I need your suggestions.
Thanking you all in advance,
Uncle E
Did The Poison Pen Of Uncle E Kill John Hughes?
According to my wife I owe the surviving members of the Hughes clan an apology for killing their beloved John. I posted an angst ridden diatribe on the man July 18th, 2009 (see below) and on August 6th he drops dead of a massive heart attack!
Did he die from myocardial infarction, or simply a broken heart due to the callous words of your very own Uncle E?
Well, I guess I’ll just have to live with the guilt, eh? In the words of my beloved Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
John Hughes: Soul Sucking Destroyer Of Dreams
Jim Kerr, lead singer for the pop group Simple Minds, has been looking for film Director/ Producer John Hughes since 1985. That’s the year the Breakfast Club was released and that’s pretty much the same year Simple Minds promising career went into the proverbial shitter.
Simple Minds were a very good group back in the day. They were an experimental art band with some progressive and electronic leanings, releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums from 1979 (Reel To Real Cacophony) through 1984’s brilliant Sparkle In The Rain. They were neck and neck with U2 to be the next “Biggest Band In The World”. Seems almost funny now, in a sad way.
Musically speaking Simple Minds were far and above the better band at that point, but they made a critical error in judgment by agreeing to lend their talents to John Hughes for a little movie he was working on at the time called The Breakfast Club.
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” was a massive hit for the band and helped propel the movie to box office bliss. Written specifically for the movie, Bryan Ferry (of Roxy Music fame) was offered the song but quickly, and wisely, rejected the offer. Jim Kerr almost did as well, calling the lyrics ‘formulaic’ and ‘juvenile’.
But the lure of fast cash won the day! “Don’t You…” became a worldwide smash (#1), ruined the band’s bright future and alienated them from their core fan base (myself included). For the short term Simple Minds actually became quite huge, but their new teenie-bopper wannabe alternative fans were fleeting. Simple Minds poster goes down, Flock Of A Thousand Hair Cuts poster goes up!
And of course we all know what became of U2. Bono and the boys steered clear of anything Hughes related (as far as I know…tell me if you know different) and went on to actually become the biggest band in the world. Of course they suck now, but that’s another story.
There were others, too, who as soon as they lent their songs to a John Hughes film were immediately relegated to the “Where Are They Now Files”.
From the Pretty In Pink soundtrack: Psychedelic Furs, O.M.D., Echo and the Bunnymen.
From Ferris Bueler’s Day Off: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Dream Academy, General Public, and to a lesser extent, Big Audio Dynamite.
From Sixteen Candles: Madness, Stray Cats, Adam Ant, Altered Images, Nick Heyward, Spandeau Ballet, Billy Idol, Thompson Twins.
All bands poised for global success but cut short in their prime by little old producer/ director/ dream smasher John Hughes!
And the actors weren’t immune from the reverse Midas touch of Hughes: poor Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy and Jennifer Grey! I even think he had something to do with the oh so early and suspicious demise of the wonderful and talented John Candy (appeared in FOUR Hughes films: Vacation/ Planes, Trains and Automobiles/ Uncle Buck and The Great Outdoors!).
OK, the John Candy thing may be pushing it, but the guy is evil incarnate, man!
The fact remains, though, that a lot (not all–Spandeau Ballet were NEVER going to rule the world!) of the afore mentioned bands had great potential and directly after some form of involvement in a John Hughes film they simply…vanished… into a sea of faux teen angst.
Although Jim Kerr and Simple Minds continue to put out albums you won’t hear about it unless you make a real effort to search them out. And if you do find one and download it to your ipod chances are you’ll hit the ‘delete’ button the next day. ‘Cause they, like all the other poor bastard bands who have succumbed to the Hughes curse out there, have never been able to regain that spark, that pre-1984 spark, that made them so promising.
Damn you, John Hughes.
Damn you to Hell!!!
Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child
Quick note: Just checked the stats of this here little blog and noticed that I got a referral click through from Deborah Gibson’s official web site!
I’ve made it!
A High Fidelity Moment
I pulled a High Fidelity the other day.
I reorganized my albums by decade, then alphabetically and chronologically by artist. Previously they were boringly organized alphabetically and chronologically. I knew I shouldn’t have started this but I was bored and needed to kill an hour or so. Trouble was it took me over three hours to complete. Stacks and stacks of cd’s littered the floor and after half an hour or so my back started to hurt from all the bending over and sorting, but I had to continue, had to finish.
Which I did eventually, and I noticed a few interesting facts about my collection I thought I’d share with the rest of you minutiae-loving music fans.
Fact #1: 30% of my collection is comprised of 70’s material, 50% is split evenly between the 80’s and 90’s, and the remaining 20% is all 1960’s and 2000’s albums.
Fact #2: Most of the 1960’s stuff is 1965-1969; the 70’s albums cover the entire decade; the 80’s is all early stuff spanning the years 1980-1985; the majority of the 90’s is early and about 75% of the 2000’s stuff is the latter half of the decade.
Fact #3: I didn’t know what to do with all of the “Greatest Hits” comps, so I organized them alpha and chronologically at the end of the shelf. A cop out to be sure, but I was tired and didn’t feel like thinking anymore.
Fact #4: I have far more English bands in my collection than any other country, although the US is gaining due to some excellent additions from the prior decade.
Fact #5: I don’t recall ever buying Jim Croce’s Greatest Hits!?!?!?
Fact #6: Since I burn cd’s and print covers of all my digital downloads I can easily calculate how much money I’ve spent in the last few years on itunes and emusic and it makes me ill. Jesus, I could’ve bought a new car!
Fact #7: My late 70’s early 80’s punk rock fetish is poorly represented. All that vinyl was never replaced except for some choice albums by the Damned, The Clash, The Ramones and Dead Kennedy’s. Guess I don’t have angst in my pants anymore…
Fact #8: Although I thought I had purged my collection of all of the duds I have bought over the years I still found a few. I still had albums by the Soup Dragons, The Farm and Carter USM. Sheesh!
Fact #9: I am a compulsive obsessive, a sick individual and definitely need to get a life.
