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Grateful Dude

TMMAC Addict
May 30, 2016
8,925
14,261
Nice. Saustex has some amusing bands/characters under their banner. I've seen some of the Saustex guys around during SXSW events (probably like 8ish years ago now...fuck it has been a while since I have bothered to go do SXSW shit). Hadn't thought about this in a while, this was a good reminder!
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Bad Company – Bad Company

Friday song of the day: The title of today’s song is the same as the name of the band that recorded it.




The band Bad Company was a supergroup of sorts. It was formed in 1973 by former members of Free (Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke), King Crimson (Boz Burrell), and Mott the Hoople (Mick Ralphs). They released their first album, Bad Company, in June 1974. The album contained a song that was also called Bad Company, which told the tale of an Old West outlaw.

So here we have the rare case of a band, album, and song, all three with the same name. Where did this name come from? A lot of people theorized that the name originated from the 1972 Western film Bad Company, which starred Jeff Bridges. This would seem plausible, given the subject matter of the song on their first album. Paul Rogers, however, claimed in a 2010 interview that this was not the case. Instead, he said that, “It came from my childhood days. I saw a book on Victorian morals. They showed this picture of this Victorian punk. He was dressed like a tough, with a top hat and the spats and vests and the watch in the pocket and the tails and all of that. But everything was raggy. The shoes were popped out of the soles, and the top of the hat was popped out. And the guy is leaning on the lamppost with a bottle in his hand and a pipe in his mouth, obviously a dodgy person. And you’ve got this little choirboy kind of guy – a little kid, actually – looking up to him. And underneath it said, ‘Beware of bad company.'”

Bad Company the band ended up being very successful in the 1970s and 1980s, with numerous hit singles and several Platinum and multi-Platinum albums. The song Bad Company was not one of them. It was the third single from their debut album. The first single, Can’t Get Enough, placed at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the second single, Movin’ On, hit at #19. The Bad Company single failed to chart at all in 1974, but over the years has become a regular on the playlists of many classic rock radio stations and is now as well-remembered as some of the band’s bigger hits.


View: https://youtu.be/JXQJpyQBShU


Tomorrow: The way you’re acting lately makes me doubt
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Is You Is or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby) – Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

Saturday song of the day: Within two years, today’s song was a hit for two artists, and appeared in a feature film and a cartoon.




In late 1943, Louis Jordan recorded the song Is You Is or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby), which told of a man lamenting the way he is being treated by his girl and wondering if she is about to leave him. Jordan had written the song with Billy Austin, and Louis Jordan and His Orchestra performed the song in the musical film Follow the Boys, which was released in the spring of 1944.

The 1943 recording, credited to Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, was released as a single in April 1944 to coincide with the movie’s release. The Jordan recording of Is You Is or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby) rose to #2 on the pop chart, #3 on the R&B chart, and surprisingly, #1 on the Folk/Country chart.

As was common in the music industry at the time, several cover versions of the song were released shortly after the Jordan original, including one by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, which ended up also being a hit in 1944. This version also made it to #2 on the pop chart, several weeks after the Louis Jordan recording. Over the years, the song has been covered well over 100 times. One of the odder covers of Is You Is or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby) was performed by Ira “Buck” Woods, providing the voice of Tom the cat in the 1946 Tom & Jerry cartoon Solid Serenade.

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, 1944


View: https://youtu.be/g27XLCBQmYE


Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, 1944


View: https://youtu.be/jQ_rWnt_7no


From the Tom & Jerry cartoon Solid Serenade, 1946 (performed by Buck Woods)


View: https://youtu.be/PZcHR_zMRgU


Tomorrow: But the point is probably moot
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield

Sunday song of the day: Today’s song was inspired by a hot girl and a football jersey.




It’s hard to say if Rick Springfield is remembered more for his acting or his musical career. Before he became a star, he had recorded the album Working Class Dog, but it had not yet been released. Neither he nor his management had hopes of it doing well once released, so Springfield decided to concentrate on acting. Then he landed a role on the popular network soap opera General Hospital in 1981. He quickly became a heartthrob for the show’s female viewers, and to capitalize on this newfound celebrity, RCA Records released the Working Class Dog album.

The first single from the album made Springfield a rock star on top of his TV popularity. That song was Jessie’s Girl, in which the singer told of his obsession with the girlfriend of one of his best friends. Jessie’s Girl was a huge hit, making it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over a million copies of the single, and helping the album sell over three million copies. His records continued to sell well through the mid-1980s, with four straight Platinum albums and numerous Top 40 hits.

There has long been speculation on just who “Jessie’s girl” was. As Springfield later explained, the “Jessie” was not as close of a friend as the song implied, and while he did have an infatuation with the girlfriend, nothing ever came of it. As he tells it, “I don’t know her name. Actually, it was a brief relationship I had when I was making stained glass for a while. I was going to a stained-glass class in Pasadena, and I met this guy and his girlfriend. I was completely turned on to his girlfriend, but she was just not interested. So I had a lot of sexual angst, and I went home and wrote a song about it. Then about four months later I stopped going to the class and lost contact with them.”

He does remember that the guy’s name was Gary, but he changed it to
Jessie because it fit the song better. Also, Springfield was a fan of the Los Angeles Rams, and he got the name from their wide receiver Ron Jessie. “I was wearing his shirt that I had just picked up at a market that said Jessie on the back and it was spelt J-E-S-S-I-E which is a female. I meant to spell it J-E-S-S-E but the rest is kind of history.”


View: https://youtu.be/0Dpg9kkl7aw


Tomorrow: Learn how to hide your feelings
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Don’t Cry Out Loud – Melissa Manchester

Monday song of the day: Today’s song was a 1978 hit in both the United States and the UK, but by different singers.



In 1976 Peter Allen and Carole Bayer-Sager wrote Don’t Cry Out Loud, a somewhat maudlin pop song about hiding your feelings and not letting people know that you are feeling down. Peter Allen’s father had committed suicide, and since then Allen had a habit of keeping his feelings bottled up.

The first recorded version of the song was by R&B group The Moments in 1976, under the title We Don’t Cry Out Loud. This version was not a hit, managing to place only at #79 on the R&B chart. Allen included a live version of the song on his 1977 live album It is Time for Peter Allen, but he didn’t record a studio version of the song until 1978, for his album I Could Have Been a Sailor. This version was released as a single in late 1978, before the album came out in 1979, but did not chart at all.

It’s likely that Allen’s studio version didn’t get much traction because two other versions of the song released in October 1978 were already hits. The more well-known version here in the States was recorded by Melissa Manchester. Her recording of Don’t Cry Out Loud rose to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, Elkie Brooks released her version in the United Kingdom, where it went to #12 on the UK singles chart. With the song already a hit in these two major markets, it’s no surprise that Peter Allen’s version flew under the radar.

Melissa Manchester, 1978


View: https://youtu.be/LOGySPegQqs


The Moments, We Don’t Cry Out Loud, 1976


View: https://youtu.be/FR4a11yEG7E


Peter Allen, 1978


View: https://youtu.be/g0eF1Yh0qms


Elkie Brooks, 1978


View: https://youtu.be/G-WyHymRuk0


Tomorrow: When my baby smiles at me
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

I Go to Rio – Peter Allen

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song never charted in the United States but became the artist’s signature song.




Australian Peter Allen was more well-known as a writer, and wrote yesterday’s song Don’t Cry Out Loud, which was a Top 10 hit for Melissa Manchester. He also had a career as a performer as well. He never had a Top 40 hit as a performer in the United States, but was a popular live concert performer in the 1980s. Later, a musical play based on his songs, The Boy from Oz, opened in Australia, and later on Broadway. Hugh Jackman won a Tony award for playing Allen in the 2003 Broadway production.

One of the more popular songs in Peter Allen’s stage shows was I Go to Rio, a fanciful song about how thrilled the singer was by his love interest. Allen released the song in 1976 on his album Taught By Experts. The single didn’t chart at all in the United States but was a #1 hit in Australia.

While Allen’s version didn’t receive much notice in the U.S., the group Pablo Cruise released a cover version in 1979 that was a minor hit, placing at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Peter Allen, 1976


View: https://youtu.be/ouYavc1cz2k


Pablo Cruise, 1979


View: https://youtu.be/arbuX0CHLyU


Tomorrow: I’ve always been on your mind
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Magic – Olivia Newton-John

Wednesday song of the day: Today’s song first appeared in a movie flop.




In 1980, Olivia Newton-John had been a star for almost a decade, with numerous hits in her musical career. In 1978 she had starred in the film adaptation of Grease with John Travolta, which became the highest-grossing musical film at the time. Then she followed that film with the campy musical Xanadu, in which she played a Muse from Greek mythology come down to Earth to inspire an artist and open a dance club. It really was not very good.

Xanadu the film was a flop, but the soundtrack album sold very well, going double Platinum in the United States. The first single from the soundtrack was Magic, performed by Olivia Newton-John. The single went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for four weeks. Magic was her fourth of five number one songs, with Newton-John’s final time atop the charts coming four years later with Physical.


View: https://youtu.be/sDmjEN-6ekE


Magic used in a scene from Xanadu


View: https://youtu.be/C3_LmDAIGsM


Tomorrow: Crying’s not for me
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head – B.J. Thomas

Thursday song of the day: Today’s song was originally supposed to be sung by Ray Stevens.




The hit 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid contained a scene where Butch Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) and Etta Place (played by Katherine Ross) take a romantic farmyard ride on a new-fangled bicycle. The movie’s producers had songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David write a song as backing music for this scene. They came up with Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head.

Singer B.J. Thomas was chosen to perform the song on the film’s soundtrack after the first choice, Ray Stevens, turned down the job. On the day of the recording session, Thomas was recovering from laryngitis and his voice was still a bit hoarse. That version was used in the film – with an incongruous upbeat “circus” interlude about halfway through the song to coincide with the action onscreen.

Two months later, Thomas recorded another version of Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head. For this session, his voice had recovered, and more appropriate music was used throughout the length of the song. It was this version that was released as a single in October 1969. The record was very popular, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over two million copies. The song later won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 1970 Academy Awards, and in 2014 was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Single version


View: https://youtu.be/sySlY1XKlhM


Scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid


View: https://youtu.be/ZYwhvD2-fYw


Tomorrow: My pocket needs some money
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) – Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour and the Brazilians

Friday song of the day: Today’s song is about a laid-back lifestyle.




Popular singer Peggy Lee and her husband Dave Barbour took a vacation to Mexico in 1947 as Barbour was recovering from a severe ulcer (likely caused by his alcoholism). While there they were struck by the lack of stress in the resort area, noting that the people there didn’t get too worked up about anything. This led them to write Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me), a song in which various problems plague the singer, but she doesn’t worry about them, putting off doing anything until mañana (tomorrow).

She recorded the song using an exaggerated Mexican accent (this was 1947, remember, so this wasn’t nearly the issue it would have been in the 21st Century). While most had no problem with that, it did raise a few complaints, with some people thinking that the song was mocking Mexicans both through the accent, and the impression that the lyrics portrayed Mexicans as lazy. Lee always denied that, saying that she admired the easy-going attitude of the people she witnessed in Mexico. She later explained in her autobiography, “we packed our luggage and ourselves into our convertible and drove to the Rosarita Beach Hotel, down between Tijuana and Ensenada. After all the stress we had been under, it was also a perfect change. The totally relaxed attitude of the people was just what we needed after the tension in the hospital. I was so impressed with the seemingly happy, relaxed spirit of the place that it inspired me to write the song Mañana. David got his guitar out, and we had so much fun putting it together.”

Despite the mild controversy, Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) was a big hit when it was released in late 1947. Hitting the charts in January 1948, it eventually rose to #1 on the singles chart, and it stayed in the top spot for nine weeks, becoming Lee’s biggest hit.


View: https://youtu.be/EK1ipONVUSg


Tomorrow: Well, lay back and relax
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Ring My Bell – Anita Ward

Saturday song of the day: Today’s song was originally written to be sung by an 11-year old.




There was a whole lot of crap put out in the disco era, but occasionally disco produced some good songs as well. One was the catchy Ring My Bell by Anita Ward. It was written by Frederick Knight for the 11-year-old singer Staci Lattisaw and was about kids talking to each other on the telephone. After the song was written, however, Lattisaw signed with another record label and the song was given to Anita Ward.

With an adult singing the song, Ring My Bell took on some sexual connotations that were not initially intended by its kids’ song origins. Knight changed some of the lyrics and gave it a disco arrangement, making it a much sexier song. Released in early 1979 Ring My Bell quickly went to #1 on the Soul and Disco charts, and then also made it to #1 on the overall Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was Ward’s only Top 40 hit.


View: https://youtu.be/URAqnM1PP5E


Tomorrow: That’s just the way it goes
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

C’est la Vie – Robbie Nevil

Sunday song of the day: The artist did not want to use today’s song as his debut release.




Robbie Nevil started his career as a staff songwriter for MCA Records. While working in this position, he wrote a song called C’est la Vie along with Duncan Pain and Mark Holding. The song basically urged the listener to just take life as it comes.

Gospel singer Beau Williams was the first to record the song, with C’est la Vie being included on his 1984 album Bodacious!, but never released as a single.

Two years later, Nevil made the jump from songwriter to recording artist, and recorded his first album, Robbie Nevil. The album included C’est la Vie, but Nevil didn’t think it had much potential to be a hit. As he later related, “I had the song for three years, and I didn’t consider it one of my newer things. I just didn’t know how that song would be taken. You know, you get too close to it. I felt that wasn’t the right first single. There were a few people at the label, particularly Steve Reed, who said, ‘If you don’t go with this, you’re an absolute fool.’ Not that he forced it, but he was just so passionate and compelling and felt so strong. And he was right.”

The label convinced him, and C’est la Vie was released as his first single in October 1986. It was a big hit, and almost made it to the top of the charts, eventually peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, just short of the #1 position. Nevil’s next two singles from the album were also hits, with Dominoes and Wot’s It to Ya placing at #14 and #10 respectively. Follow-up albums did not do nearly as well as his debut, and by the early 1990s, Robbie Nevil concentrated more on writing and producing for other artists than his own performing career.

Robbie Nevil, 1986


View: https://youtu.be/SA6svlzU2Lg


Video


View: https://youtu.be/CGtf9QfITQw


Beau Williams, 1984


View: https://youtu.be/WQ0NVbLU9vA


Tomorrow: Bottles and cans and just clap your hands
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Where It’s At – Beck

Monday song of the day: Among other things, today’s song samples a 1969 sex education album.




Beck Hansen, better known as just “Beck”, had had a Top 10 hit in 1994 with Loser, and in 1996 he released his follow-up album, Odelay. The first single from Odelay was Where It’s At, a song celebrating the simplicity of early hip-hop. In addition to repeated uses of the memorable line “Two turntables and a microphone”, Where It’s At included various samples, most of which were non sequiturs. A few were sampled from the 1969 album Sex for Teens (Where It’s At), which was used in middle schools to teach sex education. The subtitle of that record also gave Beck the title for his song.

The album version of Where It’s At was longer, running for 5:30, while the radio edit that was released as a single was shorter at 3:43. The single was released in July 1996 and got adequate airplay on alternative rock radio and MTV, enough to peak at #5 on the Alternative chart. It had only mild mainstream success, however, managing to place only at #61 on the overall Billboard Hot 100. This was Beck’s biggest hit other than Loser, so while he was influential and respected for his body of work and his albums sold well, he is officially a one-hit wonder, with only one single cracking the Top 40.

Audio (album version)


View: https://youtu.be/-OnuOgJpa0U


Video


View: https://youtu.be/EPfmNxKLDG4


Tomorrow: Sneering behind a smile
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Peek-A-Boo – Siouxsie and the Banshees

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song has an odd sound, because part of the music is based on samples being played backward.




Yesterday I mentioned that Where It’s At was a success on the Alternative chart, but didn’t fare at all well on the more mainstream Billboard Hot 100. Today’s song also had a mediocre run on the Hot 100 but was highly placed on the alternative chart. In fact, it was the first song to top that particular chart when it was created in 1988.

Siouxsie and the Banshees had been a popular punk and post-punk band since the 1970s, (an early single was song of the day for August 9th, 2014 here: Hong Kong Garden – Siouxie and the Banshees ) and in 1988 they released their ninth studio album, Peepshow. Included on the album was Peek-A-Boo, a song about how women are portrayed as sex objects in the media. Part of the music for the song was a tape loop that was played backward. The Banshees had recorded John Cale’s Gun for an earlier album of cover songs and took a sample of part of that recording and played it backward to get a bizarre halting sound for Peek-A-Boo. A few lines of the lyrics were borrowed from the 1938 hit Jeepers Creepers, so that song’s writers, Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren, were given partial writing credit on Peek-A-Boo for legal reasons.

The song was released as a single in July 1988 and managed to climb only to #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. While it did not have mainstream success, it was very popular on alternative rock radio stations. In September 1988, Billboard created a new chart called Modern Rock Tracks (which was later renamed Alternative Songs, and eventually the Alternative Airplay name that it uses today). When the chart was first instituted, the #1 spot was held by Peek-A-Boo, and the song held that top position for two weeks.


View: https://youtu.be/FcXQrIqdoKs


Video


View: https://youtu.be/gGH_16SICL0


Tomorrow: But you didn’t try