The Not-Pop Jukebox

Apparently once a year I feel the need to post an OH SNAP!! song. The first time I posted High Top Fade was when The NPJ was but a baby blog and I didn't have this whole "Grooveshark is my best friend" thing down. Naturally, that means that I didn't have the song included in the post. Well, I'm going to not only fix that but add I'm Too Fat to Be a Hipster as well. The latter is one of those songs that's not only an earworm around my house but funny as well. I can think of few things more entertaining than my little beanpole boys bopping around the house singing it, which they do with somewhat disturbing regularity.

At any rate, enjoy the tracks from two white boys who have turned old-school rap into a DJ career. Personally, I like the gimmicky, funny old stuff more than their new things like Shake It Like a White Girl and Single Girls Rock. I'll take self-deprecation over stereotyping and misogyny any day. I do like Aussies Love Tank Tops, though.

It's mashup time again, boys and girls! Today I bring you but a taste of and entire album, free for the downloading and filled with grimy, funky, bass-filled fun. You already know I'm a fan of Minnie the Moocher so naturally I decided to share Faroff's mash of a great Cab Calloway version with House of Pain's Jump and a remix of Vaya Con Dios's Nah Neh Nah.

It's from the second installment of the Smash the Dancefloor series released last December. You can listen to a download the whole thing on the Elconep web site where you can find another 13 albums filled with mashups and remixes to get your booty moving. If you can't find something to entertain you in there then you simply aren't trying hard enough. Enjoy!

Ages ago I posted the uber-cute Blue Dragon song from Hot Lava and mentioned that I’d intended to post Apple+Option+Fire but had been distracted by the video. I think it’s high time I actually post the song that brought Hot Lava to my attention in the first place. And since it's Friday and it's been a long week that's all you get. Rest assured I'll find a lot more to say tomorrow. Don't I always?

Fair warning, these are NFSW, big-time. For no apparent reason, I was listening to Atari Teenage Riot today (Sex Law Penetration, if you’re curious) and it reminded me of what used to be called Green Jellö back when I got their first album and they hadn’t yet been sued into changing their name to the far-less-entertaining Green Jelly. The song, of course, is House Me Teenage Rave. The mental connection came not really through the sound of the songs, although there is a passing similarity, but through the word teenage. Ah, the imprecations to “put me on the wheel” that my co-worker used to sing to me!

Naturally, I had to listen to these two teenage hormone songs in juxtaposition to one another and that meant sharing with you, my darlings. I would never let you miss such a combination. And should you have missed the band back when they were actually clever and Three Little Pigs was a cult hit, do have a listen to the first album. I wonder if that old cassette is worth anything, post-lawsuit. Nabisco or whoever might pay me a bit to keep the Green Jelly Theme Song with their repeated declaration that "Green Jell-O sucks!" off The NPJ, at least. Whoops! Too late. [Disclaimer: I actually like lime Jell-O, as long as you keep the fruits and veggies out of it. Please don’t sue me, enormous corporation.]

Hands up, all of you who remember Tim Curry’s rock recording career in the late 70s. Now those of you who think I’m talking about the Rocky Horror Picture Show put your hands down again. Anyone left?

Don’t worry, I don’t either. I've heard him sing quite a lot in movies but it never crossed my mind to look for an album of his own work. Somehow I ended up with I Do the Rock. At first I didn’t care for it but I love Tim Curry so I put the song on my play list anyway. Every time it pops up I love it a little more. Finally, I’ve decided to see if I could dig up a video.

In truth, had the track not come with his name on it I would not have immediately pegged this as Tim Curry. It reminds me a bit of Plastic Bertrand’s Ça Plane Pour Moi of the same era. It’s very strange to me to think that those bygone days were thirty years ago. I wonder if Mr. Curry could still pull off I Do the Rock. Somehow, I suspect he could.

Because I've long owned both the Little Charlie & The Nightcats and the Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women versions of Don't Do It I was under the mistaken impression that there must be a dozen more covers of this delightful song floating around out there, if only I could find them. But, alas, it was on these two artists on the wonderful Alligator Records who tackled this great bit of fun. I was waiting to share it until I could find anyone else who'd done it and post all of them but the only other cover I could find was some band playing at what looked like a birthday party.

So I'm just going to post the original Don't Do It and maybe you, darling readers, can explain to my why half of the blues bands in the world don't play a version of this song. It's a major earworm for me and one I would love to hear interpreted by more artists.

A while ago I posted about Apache and touted it as one of the most sampled songs in hip hop and rap. Today I was alerted to Let a Woman Be a Woman, Let a Man Be a Man which provided not only the funky break of How You Like Me Now but a little piece of Beck's Jack-Ass (which I don't really hear in the song) and Above the Law's seminal rap Menace to Society (which I could hear even in the thirty-second preview I found), if the lawsuits filed last year are to be believed.

Now, Let a Woman Be a Woman happens to be a fantastic song in its own right. Apparently the folks who ended up with rights to it heard How You Like Me Now in a Kia commercial (see? selling out is bad for you!) and recognized it as will you if you listen to the whole song. So thrilled with their suit of the car company, CBS, the NFL, and others having resulted in what was no doubt a fat settlement Drive-In Music Company scouted around for other people to challenge. Apparently they've found a slew of alleged instances and are in the process of suing everyone, their brother, and their dogs.

Whether or not they win, take undisclosed settlements, or get booted out of court I can't help but think that it's a great thing to bring such fabulous funk before the public ear again. And thanks to Music Registry for tweeting this article and bringing it to me. How long do you suppose it will be before the company finishes suing people and releases a box set from Dyke & The Blazers?

I had a wonderful string of posts ready for you darlings this weekend but I left them at work. Instead, you'll have to suffer through my digging about in my music library at Grooveshark and saying to myself, "Why the hell didn't I post this song already?!" Well, you don't have to hear that part but you do get to enjoy the results of the music I tucked away for a rainy day.

The first one I bumped into that I knew I had to share was Forro in the Dark. Imagine my surprise when I realized I'd neglected to alert you fine people to the joy of these Brazilian expats and songs like Indios do Norte. Well shame on me and I apologize. You should have been dancing to these great guys three years ago!

Let’s get old-school today. For a punk band The Ramones were wildly popular for a time. How many other bands of the genre can boast their own movies (Rock 'N' Roll High School, naturally)? (Should there be a trivia buff with an actual answer to that question I am willing to pretend it was not rhetorical but I doubt it was more than two and then only if you count the Sex Pistols.)

The Ramones might have punk style but they wrote some ridiculously catchy songs. Many of them had verbal hooks that had stayed with me for decades now. Such is the case with Rock and Roll High School, which popped into my head this morning from, “Well I don’t care about history…”

If you are so very young and sheltered that you cannot name five Ramones songs at the drop of a hat [drops hat] then get you hence to Grooveshark and have a listen. I'll bet there's at least one earworm waiting for you on that list.

In considering love songs for my Valentine’s Day post I endeavored to think of something more than the usual sappy, crappy fare most people end up playing for someone on that, arguably the most commercialized of all holidays. Indeed, I tend to think of creepy or generally anti-love songs when I contemplate the songs I want to share with you all for the big V.

But lest you think I can’t appreciate an unusual love song that doesn’t involve death, dismemberment, or an ode to usual body parts I thought I’d share what was a pop song many moons ago. I think Prince has sunk into enough obscurity these days (due to his own efforts to completely alienate his fans) that 7 is eligible for posting here on The NPJ as no longer a pop song. It is, however, the new shortest post title.

And so I offer to you a song from a man so wrapped up in himself that he changed his name to a symbol you couldn’t even say and then made some funky, gunky music that was so good people were willing to play it (and to buy it) in droves even while they mocked him. The trick is that Prince can play and he can write a nasty groove when he’s not too busy trying to sound esoteric and in charge of his own destiny. Methinks he’s trying to compensate for something. And he likes numbers.

I’m not going to make this a round of “You Pick the Winner” because who the hell can compete with Jimi Hendrix, though I would actually love to hear from someone who would vote for The Pretenders on the strength of this song, if one of you happens to be reading this. If it’s you please do share your reasoning. Personally, Hendrix seems so in command of the song and this is such an anti-hippy-sounding sort of free love song that I can’t help but love it. Regardless of which you like better I found the juxtaposition of these two songs so interesting that I wanted to share.

By now you might have realized that I regularly sort through song titles looking for connections to find instances like this where songs with the same name go in much different directions. But in this case I discovered that the two have very different themes but some lyrics that could work in either song. And that Chrissie Hynde can sing “I love you” seven times in a row very quickly indeed. Please note that I've excluded the Journey song of the same name as, well, it stinks. You're welcome to disagree with me, of course.

Rather than post this slow, sappy, drippy, really interesting love song on Valentine's Day, which would be predictable and dull, I'm going to post Infamous Love Song on some (not really) random Saturday. I heard Over the Rhine interviewed the other day and they talked about this song as it played in the background. I'm not generally big on sickly-sweet songs so you must know that this one offers more than your standard fare of hearts, rainbows, and kittens even if the title didn't give you pause. What really got me about this one was the imagery of the lyrics. Over the Rhine is generally more country and western than my tastes prefer but I cannot deny that they've got a way with words and what sounds like an amazing relationship.

What can I say? I've been working on my list of the Top 100 songs with the word love in the title that I've been meaning to finish since November. Plus, that hearts and candy holiday looms on the immediate horizon. I promise to post something a little more up-tempo tomorrow. Probably.

I heard on the radio last night that one of the government spending lines that Republicans have in their sights is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of all of the areas in which the federal government spends money I was hard-pressed to think of one that contributed more to the intellectual life of people starting at the age of two and continuing their whole lives. Or, to put it as succinctly as I did at the moment, “WHAT?!”

And so today when The Dead Milkmen popped up on my mp3 player singing of the joys of learning from PBS in Born to Love Volcanoes it seemed appropriate for me to point out both that “Beelzebubba” was their best album and that even people as purposefully low-brow as The Dead Milkmen love public broadcasting and the shows that help educate people, often about things they didn’t even know were fascinating.

So let this serve as my notice to legislators that they should leave PBS and NPR funding along (and please don’t force Click and Clack off of the air!) and as my post for today. Let me know what you think, either of the song or of the allegations that public broadcasting has too liberal a slant to deserve federal dollars.

I tend to forget just how weird Blue Oyster Cult really was. But every time I decide to give them a good listen again I am surprised by the goofiness. Songs like Godzilla and I'm on the Lamb but I'm No Sheep bring me back to them every time. But my favorite of their songs isn't the over-played (Don't Fear) The Reaper and no, it's not Tattoo Vampire. When I really want to get nostalgic I listen to Fire of Unknown Origin off of the album of the same name. It was the first song of theirs I ever heard, on a turntable in a house where I was babysitting for a whole weekend for the first time.

Now, at the time I was about fourteen. I wouldn't trust a kid that age with a toddler and a baby for anything but this was...um, several years ago. At any rate, the folks for whom I sat regularly had a great record collection but this was the first time I really decided it was okay for me to mess with their stereo. And so my ears were opened to BOC a few years later than they could have been but I made up for it by getting the album at the earliest opportunity and then picking up a bunch more. I took shelter in the land of "Imaginos" in my most angst-y teen years and still have the cassettes and vinyl I picked up so long ago. So I'm sharing this little blast from my past and wondered if any of you had a song that introduced you to a band or a genre that has stuck with you for a very long time. Anyone?

I received an e-mail from The Barettas last week asking me to have a listen to what they called "rough edged pop numbers". You can imagine how favorably I thought of that description but, ever curious, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Imagine my delight at finding them to be just about precisely what they described--pop-like songs with enough grit to them that they don't set your teeth on edge and enough lyrical spark to capture your interest. I'm sharing here the video for Touché so that you can have a look at the ladies getting down as well as enjoying their sound. It's not quite punk and not quite pop, occupying a territory with a lot of attitude and enough fuzz to keep the music from being "chick rock". As an added bonus, you can download Touché and Black Sheep for free from The Barettas' Band Camp profile.

I posted about Lobster Bucket two years ago but, in listening to a pile of their songs today, I realized just how many animals they talk about in their songs. If you aren't familiar with them, The Aquabats are self-styled superheroes that act as their own bards, singing of their super exploits. Indeed, Canis Lupis and Giant Robot-Birdhead come from their album "The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death". You have to love a band that takes themselves that "seriously". Well, I do, anyway.

And so for this Sunday afternoon I offer you all eight great songs from The Aquabats, including Lobster Bucket and The Cat with 2 Heads, two of my favorites. Please do let me know if you've a favorite Aquabats song as well, even if it doesn't detail an epic battle with a half-robotic monster.

It's Saturday night. That means we need a naughty little funk, a little bow-chika-bow-wow song that doesn't involve Barry White or an actual porn soundtrack. Happily, I have just the thing: JJ Grey and Mofro performing Slow, Hot, & Sweaty. After I posted their video for On Fire I'd intended to do something a little cleaner from them this time but I just couldn't get out of the groove of this one. It's got some funky blues guitar, some slick-talking lyrics, and a little trumpet at the end. Now all you need is a willing and able partner and you're good for the night!

As I was listening to my extensive list of songs with the word love in the title as a part of a separate project I found myself snickering along with The Corrs and their song I Never Loved You Anyway. But as I listened to the lyrics I was struck by the line where Andrea Corr asks, “Does she know you’re not a spender?” Naturally, I immediately thought of Fuck You and Cee Lo Green’s accusations of gold digging.

And then I thought of you, my darlings, and your response to these two songs in opposition to one another. Would you consider I Never Loved You Anyway a response to Fuck You? Which one do you prefer? In truth, I don’t have a horse in this race: I love them both for very different reasons. I just wanted to get your opinion on who does a better post-break-up put-down song, though. While Cee Lo does a masterful job of sounding cheerfully furious telling off the guy he sees with his ex The Corrs sound a fair bit more bitter as might befit the situation when addressing the new flame of an old beau.

I know, I know, I already posted Fuck You. But that was with Albert Collins as a pair of examples of men crying in songs. This is completely different, honest.

I couldn't tell you why it's taken so long to post something from Suburban Legends. They're one of my favorite ska bands, sticking with the horns-and-backbeat formula rather than sliding into the ska punk end of their sound like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have. And yet I somehow haven't gotten a sample to you folks yet. I was going to post Blingity Bling but then I remembered Waikiki and a quick re-listen decided me that you really ought to hear it.

And so in celebration of the fact that that little groundhog predicted an end to this obnoxious winter, weather forecasts notwithstanding, have a bouncy, silly song about sitting on the beach in Waikiki. Don't miss the time machine portion. I'll post more from these gents in the relatively near future, I promise. And if you've a favorite ska band to recommend or a Suburban Legends song that you think ought not to be missed please do share. Maybe I'll post Gimme Gimme for the holidays. Apparently they're done playing Disney parks and have a new album coming out this year. I'll let you know if it's as snarky and fun as their older stuff as soon as I can (and if anyone can get me a copy I'll love you forever).

I've been going back through my in-box and having a listen to upcoming releases this week. One thing that caught my interest was Telepath (that'd be Michael Christie, by the way) and the fact that his new, vocal-heavy album was released last month. Said vocal tracks were not recorded with him and most were sent via e-mail or recorded over the telephone from a variety of singers around the world. Naturally, the album hasn't yet found its way to Grooveshark (despite my constant attempts to get record labels and PR folks to go that route) but I did want to share a great song that gives you a flavor Telepath's sound. Thus I've included Chaos Theory here, with its international sound and heavy bass. You can sample three of the tracks and find out where to buy the album on the FlipSwitch web site. They've been promoting a whole bunch of great bands lately so explore the site while you're there. If you're a fan of The NPJ then you may well like their unusual and far-flung set of clients. And if you'd like to hear more of his older work you can find lots of Telepath on Grooveshark, too.