September 07, 2007
God Didn't Make The Li'l Grey Hamsters, And It Don't Rain in East Austin in the Summertime
Time for Friday music and pets. Firstly, queue up the digital jukebox, hit shuffle. For the first ten available songs, find a video on YouTube of the songs' performance if possible (click on a corner to get a full-sized video on the main site). Stay tuned for a question for you, the esteemed readership, and hamster-related programs of mass destruction-based activities...
1. Where Have All The Average People Gone? by Roger Miller. I really think that he doesn't get enough credit for his inventive songwriting and subtle social critiques, especially when you consider the jingoistic state of idiot country music today. A kindred spirit to Johnny Cash, as you can see in this video.
2. Slow Death by The Flamin' Groovies: Lord only knows which lineup this was (I think the video's from 1972), but as a commenter on another video said, some Groovies is better than no Groovies at all. One of my favorite bands, roots-rock or otherwise.
3. Alright by Supergrass: Couldn't find a video for their Zombies-sounding She's So Loose, so we get their debut instead. No idea why Oasis made it big instead of them... too British?
4. Search and Destroy (cover) by The Dictators: Five billion videos of people farting or performing hamsters, and only one video of this great band... and the sound isn't even close to being synched up. Fantastic.
5. Ain't That Just Like A Woman? by Louis Jordan: A rock star before there were rock stars, shown here in one of those World War II-era proto-videos. His influence can't be understated, from the mixing of blues and pop, to the phrasing (and opening guitar lick) which must have struck a young Chuck Berry.
6. No Milk Today by Herman's Hermits: One of my enduring guilty pleasures, as HH vinyl was some of the more tolerable out of my parents' collection when I was a kid. Plus: this is a live performance! They didn't suck that bad!
7. Bad Scene by Ten Years After: Alvin Lee may not have been a great lyricist or singer, but damned if he wasn't a kickass guitar player. This video is the product of me trying to find something that wasn't from Woodstock or that lasted 12 minutes. P.S. Alvin's still around, to answer some of the commenters to the video.
8. Mista Dobolina by Del tha Funkee Homosapien: A rap video without champagne, rump-shaking, something above a nursery-rhyme level of lyricism, and more than one style sample (Parliament, jazz, gospel) going on at once? Must be the 20th century! Livin' in the past!
9. We're a Happy Family by The Ramones: Aside from being the Happy Furry Puppy Story Time community theme song, this video apparently comes from a live performance in Houston in February 1977. If only my parents were hipper, they could have dragged me there for a belated 4th birthday present. Any Houst-orians have an idea which club this could have possibly been?
10. The Ocean by Led Zeppelin: Looks like outtake footage from the 1973 concert that spawned the Song Remains The Same movie. A lot of songs on the Houses of the Holy album do have that one extra beat that makes them undanceable, don't they? P.S. The four-year-old who won his heart was his daughter Carmen, who's nearly 40 now. Time flies!
You can all join in by commenting on my offerings or spitting out your own random playlists... or not. Maybe I'll get back to the crap-rock video death-march later on. If you'd like a Friday Musical Question to chew on instead, how about: Name a band that you initially despised, then started liking, and are now in the third stage of regretting your re-appraisal (i.e. you're right back where you started in disliking him/her/them). My offering: R.E.M.
And now, on to the tiny rodentia... eight pics (click on the thumbnails for a full Flickr entry) and two lo-quality videos, one of which isn't even oriented correctly:
Well, I never thought I'd see the Monkees' "Zilch" sampled. Unless the "Bob Dobolina" line has another origin with which I'm unfamiliar.
Posted by: Me at September 6, 2007 08:56 PMBand I hated / liked / hate: U2.
Random 11:
1) "Vinyl Records" - Todd Snider
2) "Misery Loves Company" - Anthrax
3) "Let's Go Get Stoned" - Joe Cocker
4) "First Aid" - Subhumans
5) "During a City" - Rollins Band
6) "23 Beats Off" - Fugazi
7) "Observer - Gary Numan
8) "Pirate's Life" - The Vandals
9) "Jealous Again" - Black Flag
10) "Shut Up" - Madness
11) "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-A-Lot
meh. so-so.
Posted by: Ohio_lib at September 6, 2007 10:26 PMI feel like I just finished "This Is Your Life" - the Hermits were one of my favorites as a kid, along with the Kinks and Yardbirds; Ten Years After was my first concert; and a friend introduced me to punk through the gateway drug of Handsome Dick Manitoba (my friend was also a Dead Boys fan, so it's a twofer!).
hate/like/regret - country music in general. From cringing at Buck Owens on Hee Haw, to binging on the younger crowd after Emmylou Harris (I'd put Rosanne Cash's "Seven Year Ache" on a list of best ever 45's), to wondering how I ended up with so many Bobby Bare, Skeeter Davis and Jerry Jeff Walker albums.
Posted by: paperpusher at September 7, 2007 08:30 AMWe're tired of your games, Q! I'll just second that emotion on Roger Miller. He was teh real, and as his goofy solo in "Heartbreak Hotel" ("I'm gonna pick one!") shows, what looks like dilapidation and laziness in his work is actually the highest order of craft. It only *looks* easy.
When you teach Miller in whatever community college eventually offers you sanctuary, and the sprats ain't gettin' it, hit 'em with "The Riddle" and "Pardon this Coffin." Then play "I'd Come Back to Me" as an endless vamp, stuff some snuff up your ass, fart out a cloud and vanish. They'll remember the lesson always!
Posted by: roy edroso at September 7, 2007 09:46 AMJoni Mitchell. Except I skipped the liked part and went straight from hated to hated more.
Posted by: Tom Hilton at September 7, 2007 10:25 AMThe Beatles. And I only liked them for a very brief time.
Posted by: Nancy in Detroit at September 7, 2007 10:42 AMLong time reader, first time (possibly second) commenter. . .
When I read your question hated/loved/hated band, immediately, and I do mean immediately, like so fast I didn't even finish reading before it came to me, I thought of REM. So I'm not copying you or anything, it's just that for a brief time I was fully convinced that they didn't completely suck.
No hate-love-hate I can think of, but apathy-love-hate for Phish. Was into them for a few months in '93. It seemed to make sense. Soon realized their music was so much precious noodling for annoying trustafarian types.
Posted by: kmb at September 8, 2007 02:22 PM