August 23, 2007
Random, Relatively Unadorned Musical Ten
No lengthy explanations, no videos, just pure randomness from the master digital music jukebox. I've added a lot of potentially dodgy artists in recent months, and hopefully they'll make an appearance or two. Odds are, it may be the first time I've actually heard the song, given the breakneck pace of my downloading. Click the links for more information than you ever wanted.
1. Portable on My Shoulder by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. 30 years later, Radio Raheem would embody this song.
2. Pencil Test by Yo La Tengo. Coming soon to play Austin for the 1,329th time.
3. Drinkin' Wine by Electric Flag. One of the lesser-known bands from the Monterey Pop Festival; they performed this old boogie-woogie standard to the delight of the proto-hippies.
4. Click O.K. by Pong. Moogie goodness from the People's Republic of Austin.
5. Memphis Train by Buddy Miles. This may be a first in proximity and randomness, in that he was the drummer for band #3.
6. I'm So Green by Can. If you can classify this, more power to you.
7. Man Smart (Woman Smarter) by Harry Belafonte. Simpsons-related trivia: this is the song Marge and Homer are singing when the family becomes world-famous in the Treehouse of Horror "Monkey's Paw" segment.
8. Futurist Manifesto by Be-Bop Deluxe. Another very strange band, starting off as progressive glam rock and ending up as robot-obsessed New Wave, but never garnering that much of a core fan-base.
9. Funk by The Last Poets: Unfortunately, this is not from the pioneering rap/spoken word group's early output, but a 90s song that marries them with samples, guest vocals, etc. Still terrific poetry, though.
10. Protect and Survive by The Dubliners. Like the Chieftains if they were singing about nuclear war instead of Sally O'Quinn's emerald-green eyes.
Feel free to fire up your computer or portable device and list your own random playlists. No skipping over embarrassments, please! They're the crappy spice of life! We'll get back to shitty videos from godawful bands from excremental, made-up genres shortly. Maybe I'll move the 'news' to the weekend, it's all pretty much depressing anyway.
UPDATE: The greatest monologue in Simpsons history en Espaņol.
Just in case you wanted to hear the sound effects of Michael Winslow done by a Spanish voice actor.
Be-Bop Deluxe. Another very strange band, starting off as progressive glam rock and ending up as robot-obsessed New Wave, but never garnering that much of a core fan-base
They were popular in England, but of course that's not what you meant. A shame too, Sunburst Finish and Live in Air Age are terrific albums which built a decent cult following here but they couldn't follow up on that momentum; like a lot of English bands, they only become popular here just as they're on the cusp of starting to suck.
Hey, you might have invented a new rock sub-genre, prog glam! Must credit Norbizness, must credit Norbizness!
Posted by: Henry Holland at August 23, 2007 09:26 PMHeh, I actually got one of the same songs as you, Man Smart (Woman Smarter), which was followed by Mama look a Booboo.
And then Misery Business by Paramore.