Namesakes #166: Salt & Pepper

It's time to go condiMENTAL!

SALT AND PEPPER #1

We kick off today over a hundred years ago, with some “Satanic” blues from 1924. Their real names were Cliff and Clyde.

Salt & Pepper – Crazy Blues

SALT AND PEPPER #2

Twangy rock ‘n’ roll instrumental from 1961 produced by Bob Crewe who went on to co-write a bunch of hits for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

Salt And Pepper with The Shakers – High Noon

SALT AND PEPPER #3

Soldiers from the US Air Force based in Thailand during the Viet Nam war, and the first Americans to ever record in Bangkok. I suppose that was preferable to hunting Charlie in the jungles.

Salt And Pepper – Linda

PEPPER AND SALT #4

Dutch soul band from the late 60s who were originally called Pepper & Soul until lead singer Johnny Pepper left the group… at which point they became Pepper & Salt. Don’t ask me. They later changed their name to Post Scriptum and went all prog. 

Pepper And Salt – It Was Yesterday Today

SALT AND PEPPER #5

Funky Texans from 1969 – accept no substitutes!

Salt And Pepper – The Real McCoy

SALT AND PEPPER #6

Classy soul number from the US in 1970.

Salt And Pepper - Love Makes All The Difference In The World

(HUGH BOYNTON &) SALT AND PEPPER #7

Short-lived backing band for funky Georgia soul dude Hugh Boynton, from 1976.

Hugh Boynton And Salt And Pepper – Funky Grasshopper

SALT AND PEPPER BAND #8

Norwegian condiments, sprinkled throughout the 70s.

Salt & Pepper Band – Look Around

SALT AND PEPPER #9

Spanish disco act from 1979…

Salt And Pepper – Flying High

SALT AND PEPPER #10

British reggae band from 1980…

Salt And Pepper - Weary

SALT 'N' PEPA #11

Cheryl "Salt" James met Sandra "Pepa" Denton while studying nursing at Queensborough Community College in Brooklyn in 1985. Soon after they hooked up with student producer Hurby Luv Bug and 16 year old DJ Spinderella… and then they really started to Push It.

Salt ‘n’ Pepa – Push It

SALT AND PEPPER #12

Radio-friendly Euro-pop-pop-pop from 1993…

Salt & Pepper – Radio

SALT AND PEPPER #13

No idea what to make of this except that it was released as a Limited Edition single sided C20 cassette in 2007 on the Scumbag Relations “Record Label”. Imagine you’d just got a Bontempi keyboard for Christmas and you recorded the first time you played it and sold a copy to each of your mates… and that’s me being kind.

Considering the many, many promising tracks I fail to locate on the tube of you while compiling this feature… like these guys, for example…

…well, the fact that someone saw fit to upload 10 minutes of this baloney says a lot about human beings.

Salt & Pepper – Clean Gram

PEPPER AND SALT #14

German a capella group active in the past ten years who youtube reliably informs me have released a lot more music than you (or discogs) would imagine…

Pepper And Salt – Mona Morgan

SALT AND PEPPER #15

And finally, an 80s-influenced trio from France, doing it all out of their garage, though they seem to have practiced their instruments a bit more than the Scumbag guy did.

Salt And Pepper – I Will Feel Blue

Which one shakes your pot?

Listening Post #44: Old Girls

If anyone's wondering what's happened to The Cancel Culture Club, we will be back a little later this month with two festive offerings... possibly our last, for reasons I'll discuss more later. 

In the meantime, in a belated follow-up to the first edition of that series, when we discussed Gary Puckett's Young Girl, here are a couple of tunes celebrating the virtues of older woman.

First, from his excellent 2025 album Only Frozen Sky Anyway, here's Jonathan Richman with a tale about being a lovestruck teenager obsessed with a "slightly older girl"...

And secondly, also from this year, and sadly from what turned out to be his final album, here's the late great Todd Snider again with a sentiment that many of his male rock star contemporaries might do well to take note of...

Ain't nothing that a young girl can do for me

'Cept to show me where some older women is

Snapshots #424: Songs About Weights & Measures

Yesterday we had Emma Stone, today it's Sharon. Two Stones!

Here are a few more weights and measures... 

15. Wolfed me taco… but ended up feeling out of sorts.

"Wolfed me taco" was an anagram.

Fleetwood Mac – The Chain

14. Capital resident, eh?

The capital of Canada (where I've heard they say "eh" a lot) is Ottawa.

Ottowan - Hands Up

13. Dip a digit in the flour.

Powderfinger - The Metre

12. There’s nothing Large about the Little Tramp.

No L in Chaplin leaves us with...

Harry Chapin – 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas

11. Inventive mother, mostly.

Frank Zappa was a Mother of Invention. Most of Zappa is...

Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce

10. Country Goth.

Goths wear black. He'd grow up to do the same...

Johnny Cash - Five Feet High & Rising

9. Bladdered bladder (for bile).

Bile is in the Gall bladder. So that gives us Gall on drunk. Or...

Gallon Drunk - Gallon Drunk

8. So long, Traitors.

So long, Marianne, said Leonard. Traitors fans will get the rest. (I don't watch it, but everyone else seems to.)

Marianne Faithfull - Full Fathom Five

7. City of Bulls and Bantams.

One for sports fans!

Bradford - A Pint Of Bitterness

6. Lazy gits.

Idles - Gram Rock

5. Red grave dug for extinct TV company.

Vanessa Redgrave & Carlton TV.

Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles

4. Greek Valhalla.

Elysian Fields - Black Acres

3. Met Jesus in the Wilderness.

Temptations - Papa Was A Rollin' Stone

2. Horse.

A Man Called...

Richard Harris - The Yard Went On Forever

I'll have some of what Jimmy Webb was smoking.

1. Inspiration for the original No Kings protests.

I understand the other dinosaurs were all up in arms about their tyrannical king...

Tyrannosaurus Rex - One Inch Rock

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I left this one out because it would have made the whole thing far too easy...

Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tonnes

More of this nonsense next Saturday... will you measure up?

Saturday Snapshots #424

Welcome, you Poor Things, to another edition of Saturday Snapshots. I'll try not to be too Cruella with you this week.

Below are fifteen musical people. Who are they and how might their songs be connected?

15. Wolfed me taco… but ended up feeling out of sorts.

14. Capital resident, eh?

13. Dip a digit in the flour.

12. There’s nothing Large about the Little Tramp.

11. Inventive mother, mostly.

10. Country Goth.

9. Bladdered bladder (for bile).

8. So long, Traitors.

7. City of Bulls and Bantams.

6. Lazy gits.

5. Red grave dug for extinct TV company.

4. Greek Valhalla.

3. Met Jesus in the Wilderness.

2. Horse.

1. Inspiration for the original No Kings protests.

If you think you got an Easy A, then come back tomorrow to check your answers...

Embarrassing Dad Songs #2: Boone

No, nothing to do with Michael Elphick. He didn't have an E on the end.

I briefly mentioned Benson Boone as a discovery at the end of last year, after Sam had got me listening to his mega-hit Beautiful Things.

Since then, I've checked him out a bit more. History tells us that he was briefly a competitor on American Idol back in 2021 (although that doesn't carry the same stigma it would over here) before he voluntarily withdrew from the show (respect!) and further went on to build a career on TikTok. 

Now that's a stumbling block for me, because I'm with the Australian government in considering TikTok a thing of pure evil... but I suppose artists these days have to wade through whatever sewer it takes to make their mark.

Various sources make lazy comparisons between Benson and Freddie Mercury, based largely on his extravagant performing style, the fact that he's taken to sporting a moustache, and his rather impressive cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, with Anita Dobson's hubby on guitar. But don't let that put you off, Queen-haters out there. Benson's really just a pop star in the old style (80s, mostly), of which I'm starting to see something of a resurgence these days. And he's only 23, so imagine what he might do when he grows up proper.

It's got a good beat, you can really dance to it.