I know what you were expecting. “See You In September” or “Summer Nights” from Grease or, in a sarcastic vein, “School’s Out” — but we don’t need no steenkin’ kitsch. Your Popdose Pals have something else planned entirely.
September is more than just the unofficial end of summer; it’s also back-to-school time, and with the migratory return to dorms and classrooms comes the return to computers for the sake of homework. Did you know that new semesters are traditionally a heavy time for music downloading, probably because of all that new time at the PC or Mac? Neither did I, because I just made it up right here, but it kind of makes sense (even though it’s utter B.S. on my part.) The thought of increased downloading certainly wouldn’t cheer the beleaguered record labels, which through expansive & expensive special editions, Wal-Mart and Best Buy exclusives and the like are desperately trying to maintain market share. The Internet is evil, I tells ya.
Not really. To prove my point, I asked the staff to contribute a song, band or artist they found through the Internet. It could be from random surfing, suggestions via Facebook, Twitter or other social networks or even PR companies and their electronic press kits. The premise is that these introductions opened up new sounds, and new wallets, through this oft despised medium. Without further ado, I cede the floor to my colleagues and wish everyone a fine and functional new school year.
And to the rest who don’t have to go back to school, ha-ha! We don’t have to go back to school! (more…)
You don’t know how badly I want to slap the words “Electric Boogaloo” onto the end of Ghostbusters II (1989). Actually, I think any movie sequel whose title ends with the number two should have “Electric Boogaloo” tacked on.
Think of all the possibilities. Grease 2: Electric Boogaloo. The Godfather Part II: Electric Boogaloo. Or my favorite, Kill Bill Vol. 2: Electric Boogaloo.
But I digress. Then again, I didn’t really start anything from which to digress, did I? Sorry about that — my brain crossed the streams. (Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week.)
I’ll bet you’re wondering why I’m writing about Ghostbusters II when I haven’t written about the first Ghostbusters yet. Well, first of all, the sequel’s soundtrack is out of print and harder to find than the original’s. Second of all, this soundtrack has BOBBAAAYYY!!! (if you don’t speak cracked-out Whitney, I’m referring to Bobby Brown) and Run-D.M.C. on it. Also, after the serious tone of last week’s post, I wanted to write about something silly. And finally, because I’m still in disbelief that Hollywood’s going to make “Ghostbusters III.“ (I know Pete from Ickmusic and Jason Hare are disappointed that this post isn’t about Short Circuit 2 or Cocoon: The Return, but I hope they’ll get over it.)
Last Friday, I saw my 25th Tori Amos show since 1996. Yes, I said 25th show. That may sound excessive, but believe me, that’s peanuts compared to the number of shows some of my friends and fellow Tori fans have seen.
I saw my first Tori show in August of 1996 in Dayton, Ohio during her extensive “Dew Drop Inn Tour” in support of the incredible Boys for Pelealbum. This was before I had any kind of regular Internet access, so the only way I knew about the show was hearing on the radio that tickets were on sale. I took a friend who wasn’t a big Tori fan and who spent a good chunk of the show out in the hall or in the bathroom, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the show immensely. I was awestruck by her performance and immediately decided that the next time she toured, I was going to see as many shows as possible
During the “Plugged ‘98 Tour,” which supported her fourth album, From the Choirgirl Hotel, I saw four amazing shows. The show I saw in Dayton proved to be another significant one for me, as I met Tori for the first time at the before-show meet and greet (these meet and greets have been a staple on “Tori Tour” for many, many years). After that, she could’ve gotten on stage and played the theme song from Green Acres twenty times in a row and I would’ve still been over the moon. I had so much fun that day, spending most of it camped out in front of the venue waiting for Tori to arrive, meeting and hanging out with some fantastic people. In fact, meet and greets became an integral part of my tour experience over the years. And even though I haven’t done one since 2003, I am glad that they gave me the opportunity to meet some of my dearest friends, who I still talk to regularly and see at shows I attend. (more…)
Very recently, I collected almost all the songs from the soundtracks of National Lampoon’s Vacation(1983) and National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985). I knew I wanted to write about one of the two this week, but couldn’t decide which one. So I asked my tweeps and Facebook friends to pick one or the other, not telling them why I made the request.
Winning with almost 100 percent of the vote was European Vacation. Some of my pals provided their favorite quote from the movie along with their vote, the most popular being, “Dad, I think he’s gonna pork her!” I can’t ignore what the people want, so the Griswolds in Europe it is. (Don’t worry, Vacation ‘83 fans — I’ll write about it soon enough.)
Written by our old pal JohnHughes and directed by Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless), European Vacation follows the Griswold family — Clark (Chevy Chase), Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), and their kids Rusty (Jason Lively) and Audrey (Dana Hill) — as they head off on a whirlwind [insert title of movie], which they won on the completely ridiculous game show “Pig in a Poke.” They make stops in England, France, Germany, and Italy, leaving a trail of injury, damage, and general confusion wherever they go.
This is one of those movies where I don’t think a plot synopsis would do it any justice. If you haven’t seen European Vacation, just know that it’s chock-full of physical humor and hilarious, quotable lines. One that my family and I still bring up if we’re out driving and we get lost and keep passing the same scenery is: “There’s Big Ben! And there’s Parliament!”
A couple months ago I was browsing around the vinyl section at my local Half-Price Books when I came across a near-mint copy of the soundtrack to Two of a Kind (1983), the film that reteamed John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John after Grease, the highest-grossing movie of 1978. Now, I know that when I wrote about Staying Alive(1983) last fall I was giving myself some shit for writing about a Travolta movie, and I promised myself it would be the only Travolta movie I’d write about. But when I found this soundtrack, I knew I’d have to break that promise. I mean, a movie like Two of a Kind is made for this column, don’t you think? And yes, I know it’s been brought up on Popdose before, along with its soundtrack, but it hasn’t been covered yet by me!
As with many of my favorite bad movies from the ’80s, Two of a Kind is one of those films I used to watch on cable all the time as a kid. I imagine it drew me in because of my love for Grease and Newton-John (”Physical” was my jam for much of 1982). I still have a soft spot for it, even though it is pretty terrible, but I prefer to think of it as one of those terrible-in-an-amazing-way movies.
About a month ago, while I was working on my Soundtrack Saturday post about Shag: The Movie, I tweeted that I never got sick of hearing Lloyd Price’s version of the blues folk song “Stagger Lee,” which is what Annabeth Gish and Scott Coffey’s characters dance to during the shag dancing contest at the end of the movie. In fact, I think I listened to it about 20 times just in the few hours it took me to write that post. The first time I’d ever heard any version of “Stagger Lee” was while watching Shag, and every time I hear Price sing it, I think of that scene and just want to put on my shaggin’ shoes and go to town. (Okay, so I don’t really know how to shag, but whatever.)
Seeing my tweet about my love for Mr. Price’s “Stagger Lee,” the lovely Jeff Giles asked if I’d ever heard the version by Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang. I replied that I hadn’t, and within the hour an MP3 was waiting in my in-box. After listening to it and telling Jeff how much I liked it, a discussion about some of the other versions of the song began, ultimately leading to the idea of this feature, which I hope continues with the thoughts of members of the talented Popdose staff on other oft-covered songs.
Now, much has been written about the Stagger Lee story and even about the many versions of the song; I’m certainly not going to try and rehash everything for you here. Instead I’d encourage you to read this and this, and if that’s not enough Stagger Lee history for you, there’s always Wikipedia. Rather, what I wanted to talk about here is what I love about the song and its many renditions.
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.
I should begin this post by telling you that I’ve only seen two episodes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. I’ve never read a single volume of the Twilight or Sookie Stackhouse books, I’ve never seen an episode of True Blood, and I generally don’t give a shit about the current vampire obsession all the girls seem to have thrown themselves into. That said, I love the original 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, and this is as close as I’m going to get to joining the vampire love-in.
So, let’s take a step back to 1992, when Beverly Hills 90210 was one of the most popular shows on the teevee and Luke Perry was one of the biggest teen-dream heartthrobs. At the time Perry only had two films under his belt, neither of which his 90210 fans, mostly teenage girls, probably would have seen. When posters for Buffy the Vampire Slayer started showing up in movie theaters, all the teenyboppers — myself included — were aflutter. Not long after it opened, I read a review in some magazine that basically said the movie sucked, but do you think that stopped me from seeing it? As Whitney would say, “Hell to the no!”
If you’ve ever ventured into that thicket of sweetness and stress known as Planning A Wedding, you’ve probably at least considered buying one (or five) of those awful compilations of “wedding music.” They come in all sorts of flavors – classical, country, Contemporary Christian, pop standards, classic R&B – and they’ve got icky titles like A Day to Remember, or Songs That Say “I Love You.” They tend to feature a lot of the same songs, like “Always and Forever,” and “Three Times a Lady,” and “Wonderful Tonight,” and Pachelbel’s Canon, and “The Way You Look Tonight,” and that horrible Boyz II Men song “On Bended Knee.” And, just like the Book of Common Prayer, they’re all diabolically designed to make your nuptials sound just like everybody else’s.
My wife Gwen and I wed 15 years ago today, and to celebrate that occasion – along with the onset of the June wedding season – I thought I’d give Popdose’s loyal readers an anniversary present: a mixtape of wedding songs and stories from some of our columnists, and an opportunity to share your own remembrances and ideas in the comments. These songs aren’t your garden-variety bridal standards; in fact, a few of them are downright bizarre. But even if you don’t find them suitable for your own purposes the next time you get hitched, hopefully they’ll inspire you and your betrothed to follow your own muse, and not some music conglomerate’s. Click here for a compressed file of all the tracks featured here, and read on! (more…)
I know I just wrote about a mid-’90s Gen X-centered tale a couple weeks ago, but I decided to do it again, just for kicks. I was inspired to write about Threesome(1994) for two reasons (not three). First, I recently decided to rewatch the excellent Aaron Sorkin comedy series Sports Night (1998-2000), which costars one of Threesome’sstars, Josh Charles, who I used to have a big crush on back in high school. And second, our own Robert Cass and I recently had an e-mail conversation about Stephen Baldwin’s bad acting and douchey haircuts, though it started out being about something else entirely.
Even if you’ve never seen this movie, I bet you can figure out what it’s about. But I’ll give you a quick and dirty synopsis anyway. Horndog jock Stuart (Baldwin) and sensitive film major Eddy (Charles) are roommates in their college dorm. Their testosterone-filled living situation is thrown into chaos when a clerical error made by the college’s housing office places Alex (Lara Flynn Boyle) — a chick! — in the dorm as their third roommate. At first, the three don’t get along at all, but eventually they get to know each other and start hanging out all the time, chasing away anyone who tries to break into their little circle (or is it be a triangle?). Here’s the fun part: Alex is in love with Eddy, who’s in love with Stuart, who’s in love with Alex. Oh, the drama! I don’t want to spoil the film for you, but since the title pretty much does it anyway, the three eventually act upon their desires all at once and engage in a threesome. But instead of bringing them together, their little tryst only drives them apart — and scares the shit out of them.
About a month ago, while I was working on my Soundtrack Saturday post about 
