Final batch of these, because frankly I've wasted more than enough time browsing the newsagents' shelves this week.
I was a regularly subscriber to Empire Magazine in the 90s, but I fell out of love with them when they gave 5 stars to The Phantom Menace. I think I'd sold my Empire collection (or binned it) by the time Attack of the Clones came out.
We close today though with a band named after a magazine..
...and when you take a look down their discography, it's amazing how many of their songs could well be (or feature) magazine titles. New Life. Master And Servant. Stripped. Strangelove. Personal Jesus. People Are People. In Your Room. That's like a whole magazine rack right there. Not to mention...
5. The city with the longest name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. But we call it...?
There was also a question about what the following three cities have in common… New York, Mumbai, Istanbul. But I’ll give you the answer to that one… as I might have done to one of the questions above, being unable to resist an obvious tune.
To me, and most 80s kids, Mary Elizabeth Spacek will forever
be Carrie, the awkward teenage girl who gets a bucket of pigs’ blood dumped on
her at the school prom… before carrying out an even bloodier revenge on those
responsible.
You may be unsurprised to learn that this famous scene gets
referenced in any number of rap, metal and punk songs. I’m not going to listen
to all of them, and I won’t make you do either, but this is the most obvious…
Carrie,
Carrie You're my
one true love You look so
good in pigs blood Carrie,
Carrie Would you
wear my ring? Don't make
me dig up what would've been Carrie,
Carrie You're my one
true love We'd look so
good in their blood Carrie,
Carrie Would you be my date?
I don’t think Cliff’s
song was about the same Carrie, but you never know with Cliff…
Sissy Spacek first came to fame a few years prior to Carrie, when she
starred opposite Martin Sheen in Terrence Malik’s Badlands, the critically
acclaimed story of a young Midwest couple who go on a killing spree across America.
The movie was inspired by the true story of Charles Starkweather and Caril
Ann Fugate, and Sissy is utterly convincing as Sheen’s 15 year old accomplice,
even though she was 24 at the time. Badlands, of course, proved highly influential on
a certain Mr. Springsteen, both here…
I saw her standin' on her front lawn Just a-twirlin' her baton Me and her went for a ride, sir And ten innocent people died
That opening image comes straight from the movie, so it’s
Sissy Bruce is picturing as he sings it.
Before becoming an actress, Sissy tried her hand at a
musical career, recording this 1968 single in response to John & Yoko
getting their kit off on the Two Virgins album cover…
Although pop stardom was not to be, this clearly
proved useful when Sissy appeared as Loretta Lynn in the movie Coal Miner’s
Daughter, a role that won her an Oscar. She pulled off a pretty good Loretta
impression on the soundtrack too…
None of this really helps us find a song that mentions Sissy
herself though. I did wonder if early noughties electronica band Spacek might have taken their name
from her, but it turns out no, they took their name from band members Steve,
Ed and Morgan Spacek. So now you know more than one famous Spacek!
Just as I was about to give up, Rodney Crowell came to the rescue with this track
from his 2008 album Sex & Gasoline…
I love my
friends, I love my wife Four little
babies are the light of my life I love Sissy
Spacek, I love Guy Clark All the
biscuits and gravy I can eat with a fork
I still have no internet, by the way. This week's posts were written off-line then uploaded in one block to cut down on tethering charges. This is why I haven't popped over to read any of your blogs recently. My apologies. I will catch up. They say we will have internet week commencing the 21st. I'm not holding my breath.
Answers...
10. Favoured by cats and dogs, eight or nine hours ago.
Inspired by Swiss Adam's excellent Isolation Mixes, here's ten songs about keeping your distance. I make no apologies for the fact that the Number One song appeared here just a couple of weeks ago.
Sometimes pop stars can be proper daft. Here's ten daft things famous people do in pop songs. Don't try these at home... 10. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
I broke into the palace with a sponge and a rusty spanner
Take it from me, you don't want to do that, lads - Lego is bloody expensive! 4. Queen - Hammer To Fall
Lock your door
'Cos rain is falling
Through your window pane
Maybe shut the window before worrying about the door, Freddie? 3. Elton John - Your Song
I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Generally, a roof that's covered in moss is going to be pretty slippy. Look what happened to Rod Hull, Elton. Accident waiting to happen #1. 2. Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl
Slipping and sliding, all along the waterfall with you
Accident waiting to happen #2, Van. Sir Thumbsaloft has some advice about that too. 1. Air Supply - All Out Of Love
I'm lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you till it hurts
Well, stop lying with your head on the blinking phone then! Particularly because, back when you muppets recorded this song, telephones looked like this...
...this was Number One in the hit parade. It's a wonderfully melodramatic performance of a hugely emotive song, written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger and originally released on their 1970 album, No Dice. Their version's pretty low-key compared to Harry Nilsson's "shatter the wine glasses" remake... only Mariah Carey managed to ever take the song one step further into undiluted histrionics... though most rational people understand deep down in their heart of hearts that her version is utter pants, and an insult to Nilsson's memory. She also managed to turn the track into a perennial X-Factor stalwart... for which there can be no forgiveness.
Harry Nilsson was a hugely talented singer-songwriter in his own right, so it's somewhat disappointing that the song he's most remembered for isn't one of his own. He certainly wrote and recorded far better songs... but none quite so popular and all-encompassing. That's not to say I don't like Without You, and I certainly believe his to be the definitive performance.
Despite winning the Ivor Novello award for Without You, the song led only to tragedy for its writers. After Badfinger's business manager ran off with all their money in 1975, lead singer Pete Ham hung himself. He was almost 28, and about to become a father. Eight years later, still mourning his former bandmate, Without You's co-writer Tom Evans also hung himself over a dispute over the royalties.
Harry Nilsson struggled to match the single's success, despite critical glories for subsequent releases. (I've got every Nilsson album - and there's some great material in there.) He went on to work on an album with his old friend John Lennon, but ruptured a vocal chord during the recording.
Nilsson also owned a flat in Mayfair, London, where two tragic rock 'n' roll deaths occurred. Mama Cass died in her sleep while staying there in 1974 (she did not choke on a ham sandwich: that's a cruel urban legend). Four years later, The Who's Keith Moon took an overdose there. Nilsson wasn't present for either death, but he sold the flat soon after (to Pete Townshend, of all people!), believing it cursed.
Conspiracy theorists might well argue the same about this song...
(Nilsson quit the music industry in 1980 following John Lennon's death. He died of a heart attack in 1994... while recording his "comeback" album.)
Without You was Number One on the day I was born.
Today, I'm working a 12 hour shift, starting with my worst class of the week.
"I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday," as some infamous northern miserablist once sang...
In which Mick & Keef take (gentle) piss out of their original manager, Andrew Loog Oldham... although this was recorded back in 1964 while they were all still mates. Never officially released, and probably a little NSFW if you do your blog reading in the office.
Originally titled Zanz Kant Danz in direct reference to Fogerty's old boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz, who (back in the 80s) owned the rights to the Creedence Clearwater Revival back catalogue. When Fogerty had a hit solo single with The Old Man Down The Road, Zaentz claimed it was a rip off of Creedence's Run Through The Jungle... and effectively sued Fogerty for plagiarising himself. He lost, but this was Fogerty's response...
Vanz Kant Dance, but he'll steal your money...
Watch him, or he'll rob you blind
To be fair, it's not Fogerty's finest hour (and the Claymation pig video is awful), but it's a great story, and because it's the 80s: we forgive you.
Allen Klein goes down in history as the music company mogul who managed to piss off both the Beatles and the Stones. You can chase up the history of all that yourself, but both the above songs have been seen as former Beatles having a dig at their former manager. An early version of Beware of Darkness contained the lyric "Beware of ABKCO" and many believe Steel & Glass was Lennon putting the boot in too (although John remained closer to Klein than the other Beatles and refused to confirm the song was about him).
A&R man Clive Davis was the guy who signed Janis Joplin, Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Earth, Wind & Fire and Santana (among others) to CBS before founding Arista Records where he brought us Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. One of his biggest signings at CBS though was Aerosmith, and Steven Tyler thanked him personally by mentioning him in the opening track to their 1979 album Night In The Ruts. It's not the band's best album as they were pretty much imploding at the time due to money issues, drug abuse and relationship problems (guitarist Joe Perry quit the band for five years during it's recording while still owing CBS a bill of $80,000 in room service... that's a lot of bottles from the mini bar).
No Surprize is the best track on an otherwise dodgy album, and it works as a potted history of Aerosmith from the early days...
Nineteen seventy one
We all heard the starters gun
New York is such a pity
But at Max's Kansas City we won
We all shot the shit at the bar
With Johnny O'Toole and his scar
And then old Clive Davis said
I'm surely gonna make us a star
...right up to the horrific realities of being a tragically impoverished rock star in 1979.
Candy store, rock n' roll
Corporation jellyroll
Play the singles, it ain't me It's programmed insanity!
You ASCAP
If BMI
Could ever make a mountain fly
If Japanese can boil teas
Then where the fuck's my royalties?
Hey, Steven: doesn't everybody boil tea? What makes the Japanese so different?
Another unconfirmed one, but most Dylan fans believe this to be a thinly-veiled attack on his Bobness's former manager, Albert Grossman: a man who, in name and appearance (Dylan described him as being like Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon) must be the archetypal music business boss.
Written and released posthumously, which is probably why it's a little more respectful than most of the "tributes" on this list, but there's also much to suggest that Anthony H. Wilson was a little different from many of the other bosses mentioned here. The Factory founder is held in high regard by most of the artists he signed and lots of other folk he crossed paths with along the way... which is demonstrated by the video which features contributions from the likes of Iggy Pop, Christopher Eccleston, Bernard Sumner, Shaun Ryder and Rowetta, Mark Radcliffe, Miranda Sawyer, Terry Christian, John Cooper Clark and Steve Coogan (who played Wilson in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People).
St. Anthony was written by Manchester poet Mike Garry and set to music (based on the tune of New Order's Your Silent Face) by composer Joe Duddell, who's previously worked with New Order, James, Elbow and others. It's a hugely affecting piece of music, a credit to all those involved. For more information (or to download the charity single or EP), click here.
Poor old David Geffen. He had such a tough time being a multi-millionaire music mogul that he could only ever feel free in Paris. Fortunately, Joni Mitchell was there to soothe his furrowed brow with this top tune from Court & Spark.
I deal in dreamers and telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If I had my way
I'd just walk through those doors
And wander down the Champs-Élysées
Going café to cabaret
Thinking how I'd feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was calling me up for favors
No one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star-maker machinery
Behind the popular song
Doesn't your heart just bleed for him?
By the way, I'd love to have given this one to Carly Simon for You're So Vain, but although she has claimed that song is about a composite of three men, she won't confirm that David Geffen was one of them (even though a lot of people suspect he was...along with Mick Jagger & Warren Beatty).
It's an indie top three this week, just like the good old days. Proper indie too, nothing yobby or from the watered down 21st Century!
Stuart Murdoch takes a backseat and lets Stevie Jackson sing lead vocals on this one, a story about the rest of the band flying out to LA to visit the legendary record producer while Murdoch stays home and moons over a girl. (Typical Stuart Murdoch, really: this is the same guy who called this album 'The Boy With The Arab Strap' as a reference to the grumpy Scottish band... and claims to have had no idea what they'd named their band after.)
I heard dinner went well
You liked Chris's jacket
He reminded you of Johnny
Before he went electronic
Interesting that both this and the next song reference The Smiths. That's proper indie right there!
Ah, the Pooh Sticks. Self-aware indie pop not afraid to mercilessly take the piss out of the whole business, where (more than any other profession), it's not what you know: it's who you know. And not only does this late 80s indie classic mention the notoriously grumpy Creation founder... but also this next guy too...
1. The Smiths - Frankly, Mr. Shankly
It's been so long since I featured The Smiths on this blog... you'd almost think I wasn't a fan.
As has been well established, this was Morrissey's ungracious tribute to Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis. He did apparently once write Morrissey a poem... and, well, Moz makes it quite clear here what he thought of that.
And finally, this is one to play to anyone who ever tells you the Smiths were "miserablists".
But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill I want to live and I want to love I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of!
The Beatles, The Stones, The Smiths, Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Shit, I'm turning into MOJO. Your suggestions are welcome for songs about the managers of less well-known music industry managers. I was surprised I couldn't find any songs about Phil Spector, Joe Meek or Berry Gordy. Perhaps you know differently...
John Fogerty's animosity toward his old record-company boss Saul Zaentz lasted until the latter died in 2014. It all stemmed from Creedence Clearwater Revival's
1967 contract with Fantasy Records, which Fogerty for years wrestled to
get out of. The wounds were still fresh in Fogerty's mind when he
released his comeback LP, 'Centerfield,' in 1985. The album's closing
track, 'Zanz Kant Danz' ("but he'll steal your money," went the
chorus) pissed off Zaentz so much that he sued Fogerty for defamation.
The song's title was later changed to 'Vanz Kant Danz,' but the point
was made and the damage was done.
Read More: Evil Record Label Songs | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/evil-record-label-songs/?trackback=tsmclip
