before i wrap up for the year, i leave you with a christmas mix i made that focuses on original xmas songs penned after 1958. that year serves as ground zero as it saw the release of "run rudolph run" by chuck berry, a ground zero unto himself, which announced rock's entry into the holiday fray.
1. chipmunks with david seville, "the chipmunk song"
2. stevie wonder, "what christmas means to me"
3. saint etienne, 'i was born on christmas day"
4. elton john, "step into christmas"
5. bing crosby & david bowie, "little drummer boy/peace on earth"
6. waitresses, "christmas wrapping"
7. beach boys, "little saint nick"
8. britney spears, "my only wish (this year)"
9. pogues ft. kirsty maccoll, "fairytale of new york"
10. john prine, "christmas in prison"
11. charles brown, "please come home for christmas"
12. james brown, "sweet little baby boy"
13. stevie wonder, "someday at christmas"
14. ramones, "merry christmas (i don't want to fight tonight)"
15. chuck berry, "run rudolph run"
16. low, "just like christmas"
17. darlene love, "christmas (baby, please come home)"
18. wham!, "last christmas"
19. donny hathaway, "this christmas"
20. vince guaraldi trio, "linus and lucy"
21. burt bacharach, "the bell that couldn't jingle"
22. james brown, "go power at christmas time"
23. clarence carter, "back door santa"
24. run-dmc, "christmas in hollis"
25. slade, "merry xmas everybody"
happy holidays!
23 December 2002
apologies to those of you who were hotly anticipating the number one single on saturday. that very morning, i slammed my right index finger in my car door and thus had a harder time than usual writing. then again, if you visit this site often enough to be looking forward to such a thing, you probably also have a good idea of what that pick would be. and so...
1. andrew w.k., "party hard"
i was watching one of the episodes of vh1's i love the 80s and under discussion was the key-tar, that very 80s combination of guitar and keyboard. dave mustaine came on, dismissed it (obviously), but he also dismissed the ideas of keyboards in rock, which is a fairly common attitude unfortunately, and one that negates the influence of little richard, johnnie johnson, and jerry lee lewis, to name only a few, on the history of rock 'n' roll. andrew w.k. isn't of the same mind -- to say the least -- and it's one of a handful of the reasons why he is maligned. however, andrew w.k. is rock 'n' roll, in a way that no other band or artist today can lay claim to. "party hard" is "tutti frutti" and "let's spend the night together" and "louie louie" and "blitzkrieg bop"; not "a day in the life" or ok computer or even "you know you're right." its appeal, in true nuggets fashion, lies in its ability to make you forget you have a brain for 3:04; its creed: "life is to be lived and not thought about," and also: "pleasure is never guilty." "meaning," as far as awk is concerned, is not found within poetic couplets but in the immediacy of sound: the electric surge that coarses through your veins, the sudden rush of blood to yr skull. he's wagner, penniman, and steinman wrapped up in one: volume, grandiosity, absurdity. he speaks in CAPS LOCK. he smashed his face with a brick because...well, why the hell not? he's elvis in high tops, our stupid messiah, and unlike the beatles or velvets, he's not why people form bands: he's why we listen to music.
1. andrew w.k., "party hard"
i was watching one of the episodes of vh1's i love the 80s and under discussion was the key-tar, that very 80s combination of guitar and keyboard. dave mustaine came on, dismissed it (obviously), but he also dismissed the ideas of keyboards in rock, which is a fairly common attitude unfortunately, and one that negates the influence of little richard, johnnie johnson, and jerry lee lewis, to name only a few, on the history of rock 'n' roll. andrew w.k. isn't of the same mind -- to say the least -- and it's one of a handful of the reasons why he is maligned. however, andrew w.k. is rock 'n' roll, in a way that no other band or artist today can lay claim to. "party hard" is "tutti frutti" and "let's spend the night together" and "louie louie" and "blitzkrieg bop"; not "a day in the life" or ok computer or even "you know you're right." its appeal, in true nuggets fashion, lies in its ability to make you forget you have a brain for 3:04; its creed: "life is to be lived and not thought about," and also: "pleasure is never guilty." "meaning," as far as awk is concerned, is not found within poetic couplets but in the immediacy of sound: the electric surge that coarses through your veins, the sudden rush of blood to yr skull. he's wagner, penniman, and steinman wrapped up in one: volume, grandiosity, absurdity. he speaks in CAPS LOCK. he smashed his face with a brick because...well, why the hell not? he's elvis in high tops, our stupid messiah, and unlike the beatles or velvets, he's not why people form bands: he's why we listen to music.
20 December 2002
2. eminem, "lose yourself"
i didn't want to put "lose yourself" this high but eminem was implacable; that he's not in the top spot is only because he was shouted down by the artist at number one. "lose yourself" is inexorable and obstreperous; people who didn't like eminem up to this point -- my nephews, for two -- are caught up in it, and that's in no small part due to the use of rock dynamics. when i first heard it, i mistakenly lumped it in with "cleanin' out my closet" and it wasn't until i saw 8 mile that it finally set in and made sense. one of eminem's rare gifts is that he brings real-life people into his rhymes -- his mother, his ex-wife, his daughter -- and makes them interesting if only be association. (even benzino.) with "lose yourself," he draws the audience in, regardless of age or race, and refuses to let them go. greil marcus has called it a career-defining hit. it's amazing that, with all of the huge, epochal hits eminem has behind him, marcus could make such a claim; and it seems ridiculous that he could compare it to "like a rolling stone" or "gimme shelter." but most amazing of all though is that he's right on all accounts.
i didn't want to put "lose yourself" this high but eminem was implacable; that he's not in the top spot is only because he was shouted down by the artist at number one. "lose yourself" is inexorable and obstreperous; people who didn't like eminem up to this point -- my nephews, for two -- are caught up in it, and that's in no small part due to the use of rock dynamics. when i first heard it, i mistakenly lumped it in with "cleanin' out my closet" and it wasn't until i saw 8 mile that it finally set in and made sense. one of eminem's rare gifts is that he brings real-life people into his rhymes -- his mother, his ex-wife, his daughter -- and makes them interesting if only be association. (even benzino.) with "lose yourself," he draws the audience in, regardless of age or race, and refuses to let them go. greil marcus has called it a career-defining hit. it's amazing that, with all of the huge, epochal hits eminem has behind him, marcus could make such a claim; and it seems ridiculous that he could compare it to "like a rolling stone" or "gimme shelter." but most amazing of all though is that he's right on all accounts.
19 December 2002
3. missy elliott, "work it"
musically, "work it" (and under construction) offer big, honking nods to the old school. this is, of course, a new development since missy and timbaland have always seemed to be forward-thinkers. as i think someone else may have said, we expect missy singles to create new subgenres of music, but here instead she and tim are content to revitalize the old school and introduce not just the sound (cf. "grindin'" and its updating of schoolly d.) but the look and the culture. in a war-torn, materialistic hip-hop world, missy is bringing it stylistically and sonically back to the simpler days. missy herself has always been a throwback, particularly to the pre-rakim days of rap when rhymes were rarely metaphorical (or metaphysical) or political. at the beginning of her career, she was maligned by purists for lines like "beep beep who got the keys to the jeep," much the way an andrew w.k., himself redolent of an earlier time (and i don't mean the 80s), catches flak in a post-kurt cobain world. for his part, timbaland foregos the role of traditional hip-hop producer (a.k.a. beat-maker) to instead play the gil evans to her miles, the nelson riddle to her sinatra. the track is propulsive and in a state of perpetual motion, but it always allows missy to speak, to sing, to just plain bug-out. missy and tim press rewind, take it back one time, and get us to do the same.
musically, "work it" (and under construction) offer big, honking nods to the old school. this is, of course, a new development since missy and timbaland have always seemed to be forward-thinkers. as i think someone else may have said, we expect missy singles to create new subgenres of music, but here instead she and tim are content to revitalize the old school and introduce not just the sound (cf. "grindin'" and its updating of schoolly d.) but the look and the culture. in a war-torn, materialistic hip-hop world, missy is bringing it stylistically and sonically back to the simpler days. missy herself has always been a throwback, particularly to the pre-rakim days of rap when rhymes were rarely metaphorical (or metaphysical) or political. at the beginning of her career, she was maligned by purists for lines like "beep beep who got the keys to the jeep," much the way an andrew w.k., himself redolent of an earlier time (and i don't mean the 80s), catches flak in a post-kurt cobain world. for his part, timbaland foregos the role of traditional hip-hop producer (a.k.a. beat-maker) to instead play the gil evans to her miles, the nelson riddle to her sinatra. the track is propulsive and in a state of perpetual motion, but it always allows missy to speak, to sing, to just plain bug-out. missy and tim press rewind, take it back one time, and get us to do the same.
18 December 2002
4. bruce springsteen, "the rising"
the most classic(al) evocation of the springsteen legend since..."badlands," i'd say, and it's due in large part to the e street band who sound mythic themselves here. quiet verse, chorus with thrumming bass, drum fill, full band on second verse, chorus, la la las, guitar solo, bridge, quiet extended verse, slow build, full band on chorus, la la las. like "the scientist," it sounds overly calculated on paper but that's because max weinberg's drums and bruce's wailing guitar don't translate well to paper and ink. that "the rising"is about a 9/11 rescue worker is no longer news, but what still surprises me is how the bridge -- with the "faces gone black" and "eyes burning bright" -- still affects me so. like many songs within his catalog, "the rising" is a celebration of a life even as it was written in the shadow of death. it's a reminder that the best way to honor those who died that day is to live unafraid; that despite the events of that tragic morning, it's still no sin to be glad you're alive.
the most classic(al) evocation of the springsteen legend since..."badlands," i'd say, and it's due in large part to the e street band who sound mythic themselves here. quiet verse, chorus with thrumming bass, drum fill, full band on second verse, chorus, la la las, guitar solo, bridge, quiet extended verse, slow build, full band on chorus, la la las. like "the scientist," it sounds overly calculated on paper but that's because max weinberg's drums and bruce's wailing guitar don't translate well to paper and ink. that "the rising"is about a 9/11 rescue worker is no longer news, but what still surprises me is how the bridge -- with the "faces gone black" and "eyes burning bright" -- still affects me so. like many songs within his catalog, "the rising" is a celebration of a life even as it was written in the shadow of death. it's a reminder that the best way to honor those who died that day is to live unafraid; that despite the events of that tragic morning, it's still no sin to be glad you're alive.
17 December 2002
5. conway, "lisa's got hives"
it's arguable that the worst tracks on the recent tlc and missy albums were the treacly tributes to left eye. when intimate relationships are involved, sadness is the first reaction to a death. as fans, though, without the sense of personal loss, i think we tend to want a celebration of that lost life. the best thing that could be done is to find a way to release this commercially, a la "freak like me." it represents lisa at her best (the hives, too) -- vibrant and excited. what's more, it flat-out rocks; as mike pointed out, it's the only rap-rock that has ever sounded fully convincing, and the only bootleg i've heard that surpasses the originals that comprise it. i don't think i'm misstating the case to say that the interest in bootlegs has waned. a few more numbers like this -- where the artist is not trying to be snarky or cheeky or, worse, obvious, but strictly attempting to entertain -- should reverse that trend.
it's arguable that the worst tracks on the recent tlc and missy albums were the treacly tributes to left eye. when intimate relationships are involved, sadness is the first reaction to a death. as fans, though, without the sense of personal loss, i think we tend to want a celebration of that lost life. the best thing that could be done is to find a way to release this commercially, a la "freak like me." it represents lisa at her best (the hives, too) -- vibrant and excited. what's more, it flat-out rocks; as mike pointed out, it's the only rap-rock that has ever sounded fully convincing, and the only bootleg i've heard that surpasses the originals that comprise it. i don't think i'm misstating the case to say that the interest in bootlegs has waned. a few more numbers like this -- where the artist is not trying to be snarky or cheeky or, worse, obvious, but strictly attempting to entertain -- should reverse that trend.
attention must be paid. i really need to apologize for not linking to the church of me before today. it is maintained by ilxor don marcello carlin, and if you're familiar with him i don't need to tell you that it is absolutely required reading. right now, he's working on his favorite films of the year (which i really can't do until i see the two towers, about schmidt, gangs of new york, and the hours), compilations, and he does me a great service by reviewing the new common record, electric circus (verdict: i must buy it.) so go there now; don't waste your time here!
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