Today marks the final post of 2008 for Bottom Feeders. So instead of starting the letter G and then going on break, let’s take a look back at the first 33 weeks of the series, with what I believe are the ten best, the ten worst, and the ten rarest songs in the series up to this point.
The Best
10. Jimmy Buffett, “It’s My Job” (download)
9. Bee Gees, “You Win Again” (download)
8. Crosby, Stills & Nash, “War Games” (download)
7. The Time, “The Oak Tree” (download)
6. The Cult, “Fire Woman” (download)
5. Dragon, “Rain” (download)
4. Devo, “Theme From Doctor Detroit” (download)
3. Jon Astley, “Jane’s Getting Serious” (download)
2. Joan Armatrading, “Drop the Pilot” (download)
1. The Cure, “Lullaby” (download)
I’ve listened to every song I own in my collection — every track to hit the Hot 100, thousands of tracks on the R&B and dance charts, and album after album, but listening to all of these songs pretty thoroughly while writing them up for Bottom Feeders has opened my ears to some tunes I didn’t realize were so good. Two of those are “You Win Again” by the Bee Gees, which I couldn’t stop listening to weeks after I posted it, and “War Games” by Crosby, Stills & Nash, which I listened to repeatedly only after reading your comments on it.
For bands like the Cure, that have been able to stick it out for 30 years of recording and touring, one must ask: “Is there anything left for these old codgers to say that’s musically refreshing?” No one really does the pain of love lost like Robert Smith, and 20 years ago, when I was in college, his songs certainly struck a chord with me because, you know, college is full of love lost/love found moments, and songs like “Just Like Heaven” or “Six Different Ways” strike just the right note. But does the Cure’s new music appeal to the same sense of desperation it did 20 years ago? If I were playing with my Magic 8 Ball while asking that question, it would say: “Signs Point to Yes.”
4:13 Dream is not quite the masterful pop of Head on the Door, or the dense atmospherics of Disintegration, but at times it comes close to combining the two. The lead track, “Underneath the Stars,” has a long intro and a dreamy feel that reveals something novel for a Cure album: beefed-up drums and a raw-sounding guitar. Smith’s vocals are delayed and echoed to create an ethereal quality to match the lyrics — which center on intertwined lovers lost in passion under a canopy of stars. Unfortunately, the effect is overdone, and what could have been a passionate song of the oneness of love comes off as kind of creepy.
Fortunately, Smith’s love affair with studio tricks is tempered on the pure pop sound of “The Only One.” But lyrically, the song definitely ventures into racy territory: Oh I love I love oh I love what you do to my skin/When you slip me on and slide me in …Oh I love I love oh Iove what you do to my bones/When you slide me off and slip me home … It’s the crush, oh yeah! If you’re not really paying attention to that fact that Smith is talking about a variety of sexual acts, you might just be nodding your head and enjoying the pop goodness of the music. I don’t know about you, but for me, the thought of Smith gettin’ busy and writing lyrics about it is antithetical to the “I just want to hold you forever and love you” persona Smith has cultivated as a passionate, but ultimately, asexual being. (more…)
I can say without hesitation that today’s Hooks ‘N’ You was written more quickly and with less forethought in the history of the column, but whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is a judgment call that only you can make. I guess we’ll find out soon enough, eh?
Earlier this morning, I posted some photos on Facebook from my college days at the school which is now known as Averett University. (It used to simply be Averett College, but it’s clearly much cooler now than it was when I attended.) The majority of the shots are of the various folks who haunted the halls of Bottom Bishop, where I made my home from 1990 - 1992, but the series begins with four photos of my dorm room. When I arrived in Danville, VA, I had just spent a year working music retail for Record Bar, so I had more posters to put on my walls than I had available wall space…but believe you me, I took advantage of the opportunity to plaster every last inch with something cool. If the space wasn’t big enough for a poster, then I put up an album flat. If it wasn’t big enough for an album flat, I put up a magazine cover.
In short, it was a desperate attempt to look cool.
It would be a lie to claim that this attempt succeeded, because there have been very few occasions in my life when I have been able to pass for “cool,” but at the very least, the combination of my decor and the music that was regularly blaring out of my room managed to help me in creating a circle of friends who have remained my friends to this day. Indeed, several of them have already commented on some of these photos on Facebook (I’m sure they will continue to give me shit about a couple of them for quite some time yet), and since I’m in a reminiscing mood, I thought I’d just offer up a few comments about some of the posters that can be seen in the photos and how the music has aged over the years.
After hurricane Gustav, I was deluged with a few emails from the American Red Cross asking for donations (both monetary and otherwise) to help out in the relief efforts. And yes, they were asking for blood donations - which made me start thinking of a certain Pete Townshend song. Pete’s song dovetailed into searching for other songs that either have blood in the title or mention blood in the lyrics, and here we have today’s “Bloody Hell” mix.
Because this is the song that started me thinking about this mix, why not put it first? I did see the film White City when it was released in ‘85, and had a tough time following the storyline, but I’ve always had a fondness for this solo album — even though it feels incomplete. It’s like Pete had these grand plans for a rather lengthy project and then scaled it back to a collection of songs that, while very good at times, seem like they were part of a larger narrative.(more…)
Let’s get all the cute little jokes about the title of today’s featured song out of the way first, shall we? I’ll pause while you do so.
G’head, get ‘em all out.
All done? Good. Moving on…
I don’t have to tell any of you guys about the Cure, since you’re all much more knowlegable and have a higher taste level than 90% of the blogosphere. And you’re all so lovely and good looking and very susceptible to shamless flattery. The Cure’s American breakthrough probably started in earnest with 1985’s, The Head On The Door, their most accessible and cohesive album up to that point. While “Let’s Go To Bed” and “The Walk” got a bit of MTV play, the videos for “In Between Days” and “Close To Me” got maximum spins on the channel, probably thanks to their new U.S. record label, Elektra. Elektra tried to get more mileage out of the album with a third video for “A Night Like This,” accompanied by a new four-song EP called “Quadpus.”
“Quadpus” is a strange little artifact, two songs (”A Night Like This” and “Close To Me”) alongside two b-sides, including one of my favorite Cure non-album tracks, “A Man Inside My Mouth” (download). The track is a sort of throwback to the strange little singles like “The Walk” the Cure released when reduced to the duo of Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst. And in typical Cure fashion, the lyrics can be about any number of things — a pregnant woman? Someone coming down off drugs? Someone going to the dentist? Only Robert and his therapist know for sure.
Instead, let’s pour a 40 in remembrance of the EP, the Jan Brady of record releases in the ’80s. Not as cute as a single, not as essential as a full album, the EP was where tossed-off tracks and baby musical acts went to wither and die. While some EPs were launching pads for huge success (hi, Missing Persons!), the vast majority served merely as filler between albums or for acts that didn’t quite have enough good material to fill a whole album (hi, Industry!). As the digital age zeroed and oned its way to the front of the line, the EP soon fell to the wayside, essentially replaced by the CD single packed with far too many unneccesary remixes. This one’s for you, little EP. You made those weeks when I didn’t have enough money to buy an album worthwhile.
It’s amazing sometimes to see how music brings the world together.
I was food shopping with my wife last week and “867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone was playing in the store. Even though I’m not a big fan of most of the larger hits of the ’80s, it was the only song that caught my ear the entire time I was there. After the song ended, I found myself whistling it through the next few aisles. About five minutes later, this goth-looking dude with a ton of tattoos passed me and was singing the chorus. Not long after that I passed a couple that had to be in their 70s, and the old man was repeating the famous phone number to his wife. So, at least five minutes after “867-5309″ was over, there was me, a goth kid, and an old man all still being entertained by it. Somewhere the guys from Tommy Tutone are smiling.
NEW SOUNDS FOR THE COLLECTION:
Riot, Restless Breed
Accept, Metal Heart
Europe, Wings of Tomorrow
Johnny Gill, Johnny Gill
Axe, Offering
This week we look at the final nine artists whose names begin with the letter C as we give you 15 more Bottom Feeders from the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ’80s.
Q: What the hell does that have to do with breaking up?
A: Clearly, if you have to ask, you don’t watch 90210.
Q: Wait. It’s the same person doing the Q & A, so why are you getting all snippy with me?
A: I don’t have to answer you.
Q. You don’t? Why not? I mean you’re “A” — which means “Answer.” So answer me A-hole!
A: Here’s an answer: we’re breaking up.
Q: Fine. I don’t really need you … do I?
A: [Silence]
Q: Why won’t you talk to me?
A: [Humming]
Q: A-hole? I mean Answer?
A: What?
Q: Don’t you love me?
A: Let’s look at the Magic 8 Ball for an answer since you have a problem calling me by my proper name. Hmm…It says “Ask again later.”
Breaking up is hard to do, isn’t it? But once you’ve broken up, the song that best reflects your feelings might be something a little abstruse like “Losing My Religion,” or maybe it’s something oh-so-obvious like “Love Stinks.” Whatever the case, here are six songs that say pretty much the same thing in different ways: “It’s over.” (more…)
Just so you know, it’s been raining like a mofo in the Bay Area (which is where yours truly resides). And in between driving to work, or taking BART into San Francisco a couple of times in the past week, I’ve been spending more time with my iPod than I usually do. Through the good fortune of “shuffle mode” luck, I was treated to a triple play of songs that reflect those rainy days where introspection and undefined longing dominate one’s thoughts. So, this week’s mix is dedicated to the rain and all the emotional baggage that comes with it.
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Let’s get all the cute little jokes about the title of today’s featured song out of the way first, shall we? I’ll pause while you do so.
or on 
Popdose represents the coming together of a veritable who's who of music bloggers and an ever-expanding roster of writers who've made it their mission to experience the best and worst in pop culture — from music to movies, TV, and books, with a dash of current events thrown in for good measure — so you don't have to. Popdose delivers coverage both in-depth (the all-encompassing 
