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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 28, 2019 15:06:53 GMT
The greatest rap song of the decade – I could make a case for it as not just the song of the decade but also THE greatest song in its genre ever, and it’s not dated at all (the video however is ) In fact, very little in its genre can compete with it because it speaks the truth – not “my” truth or “your” truth, but THE truth – it has nothing to do with celebrations of wealth or passing style in its genre now but rather like most great music - and like “The Breaks” posted earlier - is rooted in the Blues. A searing look at the connection between poverty, hypocrisy, drug use, despair, jail, teen pregnancy, education, dead end jobs and at the end police harassment too. What did “This is America” say better or that was more relevant than The Message (1982)? What could it have said? THAT is how great it is.......
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 29, 2019 19:40:03 GMT
A contender for album of the decade more than Imperial Bedroom (overrated to me) and King Of America (very great) - Get Happy!! featured a frantic Attractions and dazzlingly quick witted Costello. Every song is short, loaded with stinging barbs and insanely catchy. One of the best cuts is this one, where he dismisses his romantic rival - and himself too - with a sneer worthy of any Punk rocker ever:
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cherry68
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Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
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Post by cherry68 on Mar 30, 2019 9:10:35 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 30, 2019 12:34:09 GMT
1988 - A song with the impact of - Smells Like Teen Spirit - 3 years before that song even existed?
Well yes, sort of. The band themselves could have sold millions clearly but they distinctly chose NOT to - they could not use it as the song says. "Teen Spirit" maybe shook the whole world, but this song reached out specifically to its core group of fans - each individually. By any standard, whether you like the song, the sentiment, or the band, the cross-section of Art and commerce, entertainer and fan was never more fascinatingly drawn than in this 2:54.
It never quite happened before, it certainly won't again......
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 30, 2019 17:33:25 GMT
Lots of guys had overt comebacks in the 80s - one of the more surprising/gratifying was Lou Reed - topical, political, modern and yet utterly recognizable as the artist you always liked. The best kind of comeback.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 31, 2019 11:43:08 GMT
The Police are sort of like Tom Petty is to me – in no way do they suck - but I generally got what they did from some of their peers who were more idiosyncratic, sarcastic, punkish or weirder.
But this song is one of my favorites of theirs because it’s really weird – just the timing, tone and rhythm structure of this song is kind of maddening – if you know anybody who plays drums ask them if they could play this – I would doubt it myself....... it’s tricky – insanely smart and deceptive ............and they would have never, ever have thought to play it this way originally obviously.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 31, 2019 18:09:54 GMT
This song, one of the their very best from arguably their best album is almost like the plot of the film Memento in a way - the lyrics confounding "facts" with "feeling" and information with paranoia about all the details that surround you, confuse and overwhelm you.
"I'm still waiting" becomes a scary refrain.......
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Apr 1, 2019 2:02:27 GMT
The Police are sort of like Tom Petty is to me – in no way do they suck - but I generally got what they did from some of their peers who were more idiosyncratic, sarcastic, punkish or weirder. But this song is one of my favorites of theirs because it’s really weird – just the timing, tone and rhythm structure of this song is kind of maddening – if you know anybody who plays drums ask them if they could play this – I would doubt it myself....... it’s tricky – insanely smart and deceptive ............and they would have never, ever have thought to play it this way originally obviously. You might even say that the title of the song is a pun on the shifting beat emphasis, or the tension between hearing groups of 2s and/or 3s. The first 40 seconds of the song are interesting because you think the beats are initially grouped in 3s (with the bass drum seemingly on beat 1), but at 0:17 the offbeat bass drum attacks kind of cue you into the shift that takes place later on when everything settles into 2s (it becomes really clear at 1:00 with the bass drum occurring on “1” and the snare happening on “2”). The first 40 seconds are kind of a fake-out, or like you said “deceptive.” A fun exercise is to try listening to JUST the hi-hat in the beginning and follow its pulse because it remains constant, but try tapping the 2-beat pattern that happens at 1:00…. It can be tricky because you’re doing it AGAINST what seems like a 3-beat pattern, but you’ll eventually sync up with what happens later. And then you get very pronounced 2-against-3 at the same time in places like 3:21 where Sting says “1, 2, 3…” I haven’t listened to a ton of Police’s stuff, but I feel like they often do some similarly interesting things in terms of rhythmic play. In Roxanne, for instance, the bass line feels like it’s a beat behind where you would expect it, and every cymbal crash prior to “Roxanne” feels half a beat ahead. The tension between beat groups of 2s and 3s in this song reminds me of the opening of this other song, where the first 10 seconds sound like groups of 3, but then you shift and end up tapping your foot in 2s: It also makes me think of this other example where the shift between 2 and 3 happens literally every bar of music (0:57 seconds in):
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 2, 2019 16:36:43 GMT
Not one of my fave bands, but the biggest band of this decade and to a lot of Gen X'ers they were probably the band of their whole lives. To me they were sort of like the bad side of The Clash or a sub-Clash even - like maybe sub-Midnight Oil - or a more prosaic and boring REM before REM became that themselves. One of my favorites from them though is this track - which is sort of creepy and unusual.
On one hand who wants to hear the lead singer talk this much .........on the other hand if you never cared that much for his singing - it is a fair trade.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 2, 2019 19:44:15 GMT
Now the Replacements and Husker Du were my favorite bands of the decade and they engaged in an insanely great battle throughout it. Husker Du disbanded in '88 and the Replacements a couple years later. The last Replacements song - a great one - literally called "The Last" was a quiet, piano driven plea to put the bottle down and fall in love, live, go on - very Replacements thematically but different in style.
The last Husker Du song, also a great one, was more typical - a giant F-You from Grant Hart to Bob Mould with Mould's guitar answering him for the last 3 minutes of cathartic noise. Hart utters a revealing line at one point "I can be fine......I can be free.....without you torturing me" .......but the guitar drowns it out.
They couldn't have possibly left in a better, or more bitter way.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 3, 2019 9:51:37 GMT
This song has an insane almost pathological cult following - as much as anything can be cult now. This was goth for people who didn't get or were scared of goth and you know also liked sunny days and ice cream and stuff but could, if needed, dress appropriately sexy at night. This song also exists in a much longer version and people love that too - it really is sexy, and kind of preposterous, but it works for what it is and just like your crush on Morticia Addams it makes a kind of sense...............and good luck getting that chorus out of your head.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 3, 2019 19:43:50 GMT
The Magnolias were from Minneapolis and they sounded it evoking all the heavy hitters from their town, and this song, by far their best was an anchor around their neck, years later they re-recorded it trying to recapture the magic..........its all people wanted to hear ..........but it wasn't the same.
This original version has the exact mix of sandpaper vocals and ragged glory. Still holds up as an obscure left field classic.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 4, 2019 10:36:36 GMT
The best Joy Division songs are about walls closing in on you physically, mentally, emotionally and here in one of their finest moments it's literally about the day closing in, time running out, the pressure is on and it's unbearable. The last words are "before it gets too late" and despite all the pretension and gloom they were capable of, at their peak Joy Division songs spoke about an all too real horror and a simple universal truth that Bob Dylan first formulated 15 years prior to this song ......."he not busy being born...... is busy dying".
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 4, 2019 22:04:44 GMT
The patron saint of power pop, alternative Rock which he kind of invented, career self-sabotage and hiding in plain sight had quite an 80s - returning to take his place as the legend he was on a throne he never wanted anyway.
He'd produce The Cramps, The Replacements, be celebrated in songs and championed by every band who was worth anything and he made a couple of fine EPs too.........this music thing might be worth pursuing after all.
This was a particularly funny, sarcastic Chilton - can't call him country 'cause he can dance ok?
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 5, 2019 13:59:50 GMT
Australia had its share of big bands in the 80s - Men At Work, INXS, AC/DC........ but one of the most fascinating was the not as big but still active The Church - a sort of 80s version of The Only Ones or The Psychedelic Furs in a way.
Poetic, dreamy, hazy and sometimes overtly romantic too - flirting with psychedelia flourishes too much at times. Their leader, Steve Kilbey was an ace songwriter - who really knew how to craft a song - he's written a lot of great ones and to some he's a heroic cult figure.
They had a bigger hit than this too in the 80s .......but I always like this song myself. Another one-hit wonder where they are some musicians favorite band and who have several songs legitimately better than their one hit (which is pretty terrific anyway).
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 8, 2019 23:16:26 GMT
Might be a rough night.........
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cherry68
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Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
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Post by cherry68 on Apr 12, 2019 20:59:49 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 12, 2019 23:29:54 GMT
Earlier I posted Bowie's Ashes To Ashes which references his Space Oddity......so does this song - so the very rare "artist referencing another artist's song" .....
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Post by Joaquim on Apr 14, 2019 20:34:38 GMT
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cherry68
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Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
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Post by cherry68 on Apr 14, 2019 22:40:58 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 16, 2019 23:41:00 GMT
I love Elvis Costello but he made 2 acclaimed records in the 80s I never quite understood - Imperial Bedroom and Blood and Chocolate........but he also made 2 I love Get Happy!! and King Of America which rank with his best imo. But this song, the closer on Blood and Chocolate is one of his greatest songs and a lyrical ending that's a knockout punch:
Sometimes I name and number all the things you gave to me Your elastic love, this velvet-line purgatory You used to take the breath out of me Now I think you'll be the death of me
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Post by Joaquim on Apr 20, 2019 19:24:00 GMT
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Post by Joaquim on Apr 24, 2019 7:12:34 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 24, 2019 18:15:45 GMT
Circle Jerks were masters of this short sharp truth telling style. They would go crazy with today's social media style climate all which is made for this kind of social commentary. Do you think this sounds 80s - because this sound to me never really existed prior or after really.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 25, 2019 16:01:34 GMT
Sort of the Circle Jerks peers, but The Descendents were even better, broader and holds up better too. Years later when they reformed as grown middle aged men they were still quite good - which showed how good these songs actually were.
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