Last year, I was feeling all boo hoo about the fact that no one, and I mean no one comes to our house on Halloween. Call it fear of strangers with candy (who might shove a razor blade in that Snickers bar, or snap off a hypodermic needle in that family size peanut butter cup), or, more realistically, it’s the fact that I live in a condo complex where the motto is “A place for the newlywed … and the nearly dead.” Yeah, there really aren’t any kids around here, so we just gave up buying candy for those non-existent trick or treaters. So, that leaves me with you, dear reader and lover of the ye olde Mix Six, to spoil you with musical treats. So grab a mug of bitches brew and get ready for a Mix Six Six Six for ‘09!
You can’t always start out a mix with a top of the hour cooker. Nope, sometimes you gotta dig a little deeper and find a song that signals the keynote of the mix in a “deep cut” kind of way. Sure, this tune by Whodini has a pretty long shelf life because, well, the title of this song pretty much guarantees that it’s going to end up on a Halloween mix. And look: it did! (more…)
Two years ago, when I was working on this column’s debut, I wrote about Bruce Springsteen’s “Book of Dreams” and what the song means to Julie and me. During the first month of our courtship I created my first mixtape for her, entitled HEY, HEY, JULIE! On that tape was the Springsteen song, one that’s grown to have profound meaning in our relationship.
We began dating in August of 1992, and soon thereafter, I threw this tape together in a flurry of inspiration, wanting to give Julie something that came from my heart. I don’t recall the actual minutes spent in my parents’ basement picking the songs or laying them down on a Maxell cassette (my brand of choice), but looking back on the list of songs, I’m happy to see they still add up to 90 quailty minutes of music.
Before Nick Hornby wonderfully wrote about what makes a good mixtape in High Fidelity, I assembled exactly the right combination of hip, well known and somewhat obscure songs from my small music collection. Combining big hits like “Learning to Fly,” “What I Am,” and “All This Time” with lesser-known songs by popular artists such as “Until the End of the World,” “Shining Star,” and “Getting to Know You,” while tossing in some hard to find (at the time) songs like “Baby Mine” and “Wild Night” made this tape eclectic, but still enjoyable to listen to and quite accessible. (more…)
Hey, y’all. Matthew McConaughey here, fillin’ in for Mr. Mayor of Bootleg City this week. Cassanova gave me a jingle-jangle the other day and said, “Matty Mac, do me a solid and make a celebrity cameo in the BLC this week so I can cut out early for Labor Day. Surf, sand, sun, and sobriety — I’m all over it this weekend. Except for that last part, brother, knowwhatI’msayin’? Hahaha! Cool. Later.” (I did use the words “Labor Day.” The rest is from the mind of Matthew. —Ed.)
Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last talked to y’all on Popdoze so Bobby C. could have another week off. I’m a big fan of Sugar Water(Stop it, you’re embarrassing me! —Ed.), so I was sad to see it move from entree to after-dinner mint on Bobby’s menu when he became mayor of Bootleg City last fall. But we all have to make sacrifices when we take on new responsibilities, don’t we?
Take me, for example — my son, Levi, is almost 14 months old. Can y’all believe that? Crazy. I can’t even remember life before he was born. Part of that’s because of the weed, but life really does change once you’re a daddy. And my wife, Camila, is expecting our second one by the end of the year.
Whoa, did I just say “wife”? Back up, y’all — that was a slip of the tongue. Camila’s my partner. My main squeeze. My colleague in baby raisin’. But not my wife. Neither of us are into that right now. Maybe one day, but we’re not like normal people — we don’t need the tax breaks, know what I mean? When you’re rich, money has no effect on love.
About once a month I’ll send off an email to Ted with suggestions for Mix Sixes. Usually he incorporates them into his post, which I greatly appreciate. This past Friday I came up with something ludicrous and sent it with the message, “Ted, here’s a Mix Six for when you’re really desperate.” Little did I know that my good friend Mr. Asregadoo was going to take some time off. His email back was “Hey this would be fun, Scott, why don’t you do it up for next week?” To me it read, “Great job, Scott, I’m on my way out the door so… whydon’tyoudotheMixSixformenextweekseeya.” Door slams!
Thanks, Ted.
So now you’re all stuck with my lame-ass “Sax in the ’80s” Mix. Enjoy!
Oh, and I apologize for not having the true mix up for y’all. I don’t have the software to do things up properly.–Scott
Before Dave Matthews made the saxophone cool again (RIP Mr. Moore), several of bands in the 1980s (mostly early ’80s) were incorporating the famous woodwind instrument into their sound, and I’m not just talking about a certain dude from Jersey (or that other dude from Jersey who sounds just like the first dude from Jersey and whose music was used for a cult film called Eddie and the Cruisers). In fact, several modern rock bands had sax in them as a central part to their makeup. Today we look at some of those acts and their well-known songs. (more…)
I’m going to guess most of you have seen Pretty in Pink (1986), but if you haven’t, I’m sure you have a good reason — like being totally lame.
I kid, I kid. You’re not lame. (Or are you?)
Of all the movies John Hughes wrote, produced, and/or directed, this one just might be my favorite. I had wanted to see it in the theater when it was first released, but I was only eight, so that never happened. I did, however, get to watch it many times on video and cable and could probably recite every line of dialogue by the time I was 12.
Written by Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch — who also directed Hughes’s Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and The Great Outdoors (1988) — Pretty in Pink is the story of Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), a high school senior “from the wrong side of the tracks” with a new-wave fashion sense, an unemployed father, and a best friend, Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer), who’s madly in love with her.
Rich preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy) makes a visit one day to Trax, the record store where Andie works, and the two do some serious flirting. After a few more flirtatious encounters there and at school, he finally asks her out. The two attempt to start a romance but encounter judgment and resistance from their friends, including Blane’s best friend, Steff (James Spader), who secretly likes Andie; Steff’s girlfriend, Benny (Kate Vernon); and Duckie.
Things get especially rough after Blane asks Andie to the prom, and once Steff gives him the hard sell, Blane backs out of taking her. Heartbroken, but refusing to let the “richies” get the better of her, Andie decides to go to the prom anyway — by herself. But once they’re both there, she and Blane realize they do love each other and want to be together in spite of their friends’ objections.
We finish up the ninth letter of the alphabet today as we look at the last half of the letter I and chat about all those glorious songs that charted no higher than #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1980s.
James Ingram
“There’s No Easy Way” — 1984, #58 (download)
James Ingram sang on two Quincy Jones tracks and had two duets with Patti Austin and one with Michael McDonald, all of which reached the Hot 100, before he released his debut album, It’s Your Night, in 1983. “There’s No Easy Way” was his only pure solo track to chart during the ’80s. (Thanks to “Crockett,” who pointed out that I missed this song as part of last week’s post. It’s only the second time I’ve missed an artist in the past 43 weeks; the last time was in the very first Bottom Feeders post. A pretty good hitting streak, I’d say, but it was bound to end at some point.)
INXS and Jimmy Barnes
“Good Times” — 1987, #47 (download)
It’s good timing to have INXS appear in Bottom Feeders thanks to them being back in the spotlight right now, even if just for a moment, thanks to singer J.D. Fortune’s claim that INXS fired him with a handshake in a Hong Kong airport (which the band denies). I think CBS’s Rock Star: INXS (2005) is the reason I love music-based reality shows so much. No one can really replace Michael Hutchence, but it was great seeing a bunch of singers try, even some female ones. There definitely needs to be more rock ‘n’ roll reality shows, but the dismal Rock Star: Supernova (2006) really killed the format.
Anyway, we’re talking about the ’80s, right? INXS had a string of really awesome albums, starting with their third, Shabooh Shoobah, in 1982, which produced their first two U.S. hits, “The One Thing” and “Don’t Change.” With each new album you could see INXS growing as a band and polishing their sound, moving from a mix of new wave and ska to more of a pop-funk feel. It was 1985’s Listen Like Thieves that certified them as hit makers in the U.S. before the almost perfect Kick (1987) blew the roof off. At that point they graduated from Bottom Feeders status. (The Easybeats cover “Good Times,” featuring Cold Chisel singer Jimmy Barnes, was featured on the soundtrack of The Lost Boys.)
Sorry for the long delay between mixes, kids. Some real-life issues took over for the past few weeks and I had to take a break from Popdose. But things are settling down and I’m back for more fun! This week’s mix is the result of me going through some old 45s from both my mobile DJ days and when my brother and I had a ten-watt pirate radio station broadcasting out of his bedroom. Almost all the 45s in our collection are pretty much Top 40 pop, but one of the great things about 45s was the B side that most ignored — and sometimes for good reason! But sometimes there were good songs on the flip side that were only available “for a limited time.” Translation: “We’re saving them for rereleases or box sets.” Okay, on with it! (Before we get going, my apologies for the crappy pics. I snapped photos of the 45s in my backyard, and from the way I framed them, it’s clear I’m not a photographer. )
“Another Day,” Sting
This is the flip side of “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” and it’s really not a throwaway from Sting. It’s not one of his strongest tunes, either, but for a flip side to the lead single from his first solo album, I would say that he gave people a lot of value for $1.49. (more…)
John: I was always appreciative of INXS for holding X back until 1990 so I could accurately say their best stuff was back in the ’80s. There are currently 272 used copies of X available on Amazon for one cent each.
Vrabel: Was this the period when INXS was dropping, like, four albums a year? I seem to remember them having a fairly ludicrous output around this time. Not a bad song, I guess. Was X the album that had “Not Enough Time”? That’s not a bad song either, I guess.
David: “Not Enough Time” was on Welcome to Wherever You Are, which was a pretty damned underrated album.
Few people loved INXS as much as I did in the ’80s, but “Suicide Blonde” just felt off to me. Every record up to that point was an expansion on the previous one, but X marked the first time that the band just tried to repeat the previous album. Loved the second single, “Disappear,” but this one feels like it’s trying too hard. I’m betting Taylor loves it, though, because her boy Dan Bejar references it in a New Pornographers song.
Zack: A while back there was a short-lived sitcom featuring Breckin Meyer called Inside Schwartz, where he played an aspiring sportscaster and the scenes were intercut with cameos from sports figures (such as Alex Karras) offering commentary on the story. I watched it with my friend Brian, who really wanted to like it, and found myself wincing each time the show’s lame jokes forced him to laugh.
In retrospect, I realize that my reaction to “Suicide Blonde” and X was very similar. I was a big INXS fan based on earlier albums like The Swing and Shabooh Shoobah, and I really wanted to like the first single from their new album, but I just couldn’t. It was terrible then, and it’s even worse now. (more…)
Two years ago, when I was working on this column’s debut, I wrote about Bruce Springsteen’s 
Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last 
It’s good timing to have INXS appear in Bottom Feeders thanks to them being back in the spotlight right now, even if just for a moment, thanks to singer J.D. Fortune’s claim that INXS fired him with a handshake in a Hong Kong airport (which the band denies). I think CBS’s Rock Star: INXS (2005) is the reason I love music-based reality shows so much. No one can really replace Michael Hutchence, but it was great seeing a bunch of singers try, even some female ones. There definitely needs to be more rock ‘n’ roll reality shows, but the dismal Rock Star: Supernova (2006) really killed the format.
