Day After Day #179: Super Bon Bon

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Super Bon Bon (1996)

People think about the '90s as this grungapalooza of guitar rock, but that was only a small part of what was going on. The grunge thing was only really happening for a few years. By 1995, it was starting to fade and by '96, there was some really weird stuff getting played on the radio. Sure, there was new material from the likes of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and STP getting played, but they were moving away from the sounds of their first few albums. And you were also hearing artists like Geggy Tah, Crash Test Dummies, Nada Surf, Underworld, Butthole Surfers and Tracy Bonham with regularity.

Another band that had an interesting sound was Soul Coughing, a quarter from New York City that worked up a combination of jazz grooves, weird samples, electronics, odd sounds and singer Mike Doughty's off-kilter raps. Bassist Sebastian Steinberg and drummer Yuval Gabay formed an impressive rhythm section and keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni created interesting sounds. After the band's 1994 debut Ruby Vroom, they teamed with producer David Kahne (Fishbone, Mike Watt, Dick Dale) to create a more accessible sound. 

Irresistible Bliss came out in July 1996, just a few weeks after Beck's brilliant Odelay, and the two share some eclectic out-there vibes. "Super Bon Bon" was the first single and it features a menacing yet funky groove that pounces immediately. 

"Move aside/And let the man go through/Let the man go through/If I stole/Somebody else's wave/To fly up/If I rose/Up with the avenue/Behind me/Some kind of verb/Some kind of moving thing/Something unseen/Some hand is motioning/To rise, to rise, to rise."

The chorus is strange, choppy and compelling all at once.

"Too fat, fat you must cut lean/You got to take the elevator to the mezzanine/Chump change and it's on, super bon bon/Super bon bon, super bon bon."

The song got constant airplay on local alternative radio and MTV; I caught Soul Coughing at Avalon in Boston in early 1997 and enjoyed the show. "Super Bon Bon" has appeared in everything from Extreme Championship Wrestling, Gran Turismo 2, the Sopranos, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Last Dance and earlier this year in an episode of Reacher.

The band returned in 1998 with the album El Oso and had a hit with "Circles," but the inner tensions within Soul Coughing led to a breakup in 2000. Doughty was also suffering from addictions to painkillers, heroin and alcohol. He began releasing solo albums and eventually got a new contract with Dave Matthews' ATO label. His 2012 memoir The Book of Drugs focused on his addiction but also ripped into his former Soul Coughing bandmates and detailed how much he hated the music. Which makes it all the more interesting that Soul Coughing just announced a reunion tour for the fall.

"The end was acrimonious, but I just thought I'd give it a shot," Doughty said in a recent interview. "So I just wrote an email to all three guys. It took a little convincing for some of them, but I was really gratified that everyone wanted to take part in that again--to see if we can be a great band again."

I suppose the cynical viewpoint is they probably needed the money, but I certainly didn't expect to see Soul Coughing touring again. "We just decided to let bygones be bygones. You know, everybody had issues," said Doughty. "Our fans are going to be shocked, man. I can't believe how much they're going to be shocked."

There are plenty of bands who reunite despite the members hating each other. Why should these guys be any different? More power to 'em, I say.

Day After Day #178: Freddie's Dead

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Freddie's Dead (1972)

The goal for most songs written for movie soundtracks is to be entertaining and fit the particular scene they appear in. Social relevance is usually not a requirement, and when Curtis Mayfield was hired to write music for the 1972 blaxploitation film Super Fly, the producers weren't expecting one of the great socially conscious albums of the early '70s. But that's exactly what they got, backed by era-defining soul and funk.

Mayfield got his start in music at the age of 14, when he joined the Roosters in 1956; two years later, they became the Impressions. In the '60s, he wrote a string of hits for the group including "People Get Ready," "Keep On Pushing" and "It's All Right." In 1970, he went solo and released two well-received albums before Super Fly director Gordon Parks asked Mayfield and his band to appear in the background of a nightclub scene. Mayfield recorded "Pusherman" and then took a hiatus for several months, when he wrote an album for The Impressions and worked on his next solo album. 

Mayfield recorded the instrumentals for the Superfly soundtrack in three days, working with his band and a full orchestra. He wrote the songs in a Chicago basement apartment while on a trial separation from his wife and kids.

The movie Super Fly starred Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, a cocaine dealer who was trying to quit the business. The movie was both praised and criticized for its seeming glorification of outlaw drug dealers. Super Fly was the top-grossing blaxploitation film of the era. 

Mayfield's soundtrack provided both an exceptionally funky musical background, but also socially conscious lyrics about drug abuse and poverty. "Freddie's Dead" was the first single, written about the death of Fat Freddie, a character in the movie who was run over by a car. In the movie, the song only appears as instrumentals at several points, but on the soundtrack album, it speaks volumes.

"Freddie's dead/That's what I said/Let the man rap a plan said he'd see him home/But his hope was a rope and he should've known/It's hard to understand/There was love in this man/I'm sure all would agree/That his misery was his woman and things/Now Freddie's dead/That's what I said."

Freddie was more than just a junkie, even if the movie didn't fully portray that.

"Everybody's misused him/Ripped him up and abused him/Another junkie plan/Pushin' dope for the man/A terrible blow but that's how it goes/A Freddie's on the corner now/If you wanna be a junkie, wow/Remember Freddie's dead/We're all built up with progress/But sometimes I must confess/We can deal with rockets and dreams/But reality/What does it mean?/Ain't nothing said/'Cause Freddie's dead."

The song was nominated for a Best R&B Song Grammy but lost to "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." "Freddie's Dead" was ineligible for an Academy Award because its lyrics weren't used in the movie.

"Freddie's Dead" hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart. The soundtrack album topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks.

Mayfield followed up Super Fly with more soundtrack work, as well as regular solo releases for the next 25 years. In 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a stage lighting rig fell on him while he was being introduced at a concert. He couldn't play guitar anymore, but he continued to record vocals because he found he could sing while lying down in the studio. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and died later that year of complications from type 2 diabetes.

Stuck In Thee Garage #534: June 28, 2024

Two decades can make a huge difference in someone's life. For example, 20 years ago, I was basically just changing diapers non-stop because we had two kids under the age of 2. Now, those diaper days are a distant memory. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I did not play songs about diapers (not sure how many there are, tbh) but I played songs from 2004 in hour 2. 

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a playlist, but I don't know why you'd want to:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

MJ Lenderman - She's Leaving You/Manning Fireworks

Redd Kross - Born Innocent/Redd Kross

Islands - Boll Weevil/What Occurs

Ekko Astral - On Brand/Pink Balloons

Johnny Foreigner - What the Alexei/The Sky and the Sea Were Part of Me (Or I Was Part of Them)

Les Savy Fav - Void Moon/OUI, LSF

METZ - Glass Eye/Up on Gravity Hill

Ex-Hyena - Reptile/A Kiss of the Mind

Plus/Minus - Contempt/Further Afield

Cults - Crybaby/To the Ghosts

The Marias - Echo/Submarine

Neutrals - Phantom Arcade/New Town Dream

Dope Yeti - Death Machine/Dope Yeti

Waxahatchee - Crowbar/Tigers Blood

Ty Segall - Repetition/Three Bells

Hour 2: 2004

The Hold Steady - Most People Are DJs/Almost Killed Me

A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug/The Slow Wonder

Sonic Youth - Unmade Bed/Live on KCRW 6/10/04

The Futureheads - First Day/The Futureheads

TV On the Radio - The Wrong Way/Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

Mark Lanegan Band - Methamphetamine Blues/Bubblegum

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights/You're a Woman, I'm a Machine

Hot Snakes - Salton City/Automatic Midnight

PJ Harvey - Who the Fuck/Uh Huh Her

Mission of Burma - Hunt Again/ONoffON

Elliott Smith - Don't Go Down/From a Basement on the Hill

The Walkmen - Little House of Savages/Bows + Arrows

The Tragically Hip - The Heart of the Melt/In Between Evolution

Wilco - Handshake Drugs/A Ghost is Born

Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty/Good News for People Who Love Bad News

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Counting Down the Hours/Shake the Sheets: The Demos 2003-2004

Boom goes the dynamite RIGHT HERE, bucko!

Day After Day #177: PDA

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

PDA (2002)

With some bands, the first time you hear them is the most impactful. When I first heard Interpol's "PDA," it jumped out at me. It was 2002 and there was a lot of retro-sounding guitar music happening: the White Stripes, the Strokes, the Hives, Fu Manchu, etc. But Interpol was going for a different sound, combining a few different influences into a tight new concoction.

The band was formed in New York City in 1997 by Paul Banks (vocals, rhythm guitar), Daniel Kessler (lead guitar), Carlos Dengler (bass, keyboards) and Greg Drudy (drums). Drudy left in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. They leaned into post-punk influences, the most obvious being Banks' vocal resemblance to Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but also basslines reminiscent of Peter Hook and sharp, slicing guitar harmonies. The band also drew comparisons to Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths.

The group released two self-released EPs before signing to Matador in 2001. A self-titled EP was released by Matador in June 2002 with three tracks that appeared on Interpol's debut album Turn On the Bright Lights: "PDA," "NYC" and "Specialist." 

The band's brooding first single, "PDA" begins with the drums before the ringing guitars chime in as Banks's baritone intones about a failed relationship.

"Yours is the only version of my desertion that I could ever subscribe to/That is all that I can do/You are a past dinner, the last winner, I'm raking all around me/Until the last drop is behind you/You're so cute when you're frustrated, dear/Well, you're so cute when you're sedated, dear/I'm resting."

I have no idea what the chorus is going on about but it sure sounds cool. 

"Sleep tight, grim rite/We have 200 couches where you can sleep tight, grim rite/We have 200 couches where you can sleep tight, grim rite/We have 200 couches where you can sleep tonight/Sleep tonight, sleep tonight/Sleep tonight."

But the best part of the song starts at the 3-minute mark (gotta go with the 5:00 album version, not the single), when the band launches into a mostly instrumental coda for the last 2 minutes. As the guitars ring out towards the end of the song, Banks sings in a distant, non-Curtisy voice, "Something to say/Something to do/Nothing to say/When there's nothing to do."

The single didn't chart, but the video got some play on MTV and the song was popular in the Boston area on WFNX. But it built buzz for Interpol, which was part of the much-hyped post-9/11 NYC rock scene detailed in the 2017 book (and later documentary) Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman. Other bands that emerged from that scene were The Strokes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and LCD Soundsystem. 

For the most part, Turn On the Bright Lights was critically lauded, even if it wasn't a huge seller, only getting to #158 on the Billboard 200. It hit #5 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.

Interpol's second album, Antics, came out in September 2004 and was another strong effort, with "Slow Hands," "Evil" and "C'mere" all going top 40 in the U.K. They toured relentlessly, including opening for U2 and the Cure. The band's 2007 album, Our Love to Admire, came out on major label Capitol and sold about half as many copies as the previous two albums. The band returned to Matador for their self-titled fourth album in 2010, but Dengler left after the album was recorded; he was replaced by David Pajo on bass and Brandon Curtis on keys for the tour. Banks took over on bass for the fifth album El Pintor. There have been two more Interpol albums released since, with the most recent coming out in July 2022.

Each of the band members have released solo projects over the years, but the band continues to be a going concern. Still, Interpol's most interesting releases (for me, anyway) continue to be those first two, which are both excellent.

Day After Day #176: We Want the Airwaves

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

We Want the Airwaves (1981)

By the time this song came out, the Ramones had already been around for seven years and had released six albums. Their previous album, 1980's End of the Century, was produced by the infamous Phil Spector and was poppier than the band would have liked, moving away from their punk beginnings. For Pleasant Dreams, produced by Graham Gouldman of 10CC, the Ramones ventured more into hard rock territory.

By all accounts, the album was a commercial flop. It peaked at #58 on the Billboard 200 but had no singles released in the U.S. The sound was cleaner, but some felt that the Ramones were better when things were messy. The band had been pushing to work with Steve Lillywhite, but the label insisted on Gouldman.

The recording of the album also led to conflict between Joey and Johnny Ramone after Johnny began dating Joey's girlfriend. They also differed on how the band should sound, with Joey pushing for a pop punk sound and Johnny leaning toward hard rock. In addition, Dee Dee Ramone was struggling with a drug addiction and Marky and Joey were abusing alcohol.

Whatever the case, I always liked the album opener "We Want the Airwaves," which was a hard rock version of the single "Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio?" from the previous record. The band had begun posting individual song credits instead of sharing it four ways, and this was a Joey song. Of course, maybe it was too much to expect radio stations to play a song criticizing them for sucking.

"9 to 5 and 5 to 9/Ain't gonna take it/It's our time/We want the world and we want it now/We're gonna take it anyhow/We want the airwaves/We want the airwaves/We want the airwaves, baby/If rock is gonna stay alive."

Around this time, commercial FM rock stations, which were once bastions of freeform radio, had become heavily formatted to play what the big record companies wanted. So Joey Ramone was definitely on to something here.

"Where's your guts and will to survive/And don't you wanna keep rock n' roll music alive/Mr. Programmer/I got my hammer/And I'm gonna/Smash my/Smash my/Radio!"

Of course, there were still college radio stations to champion the band. Oddly, 43 years later, commercial radio has deteriorated even more. Here in the Boston area, you've got a few classic rock stations (who do play a small number of Ramones songs), but it's the college stations that remain the most interesting. If you want to hear new rock music, you're either listening to the left of the dial or you're going elsewhere.

Pleasant Dreams turned out to be pretty forgettable in the Ramones catalog, but the band kept chugging along, releasing eight more albums over the next 14 years before splitting up in 1996. Sadly, they weren't around for much longer to bask in the accolades from a great career. Joey died from lymphoma in 2001, a year before the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dee Dee was found dead from a heroin overdose in 2002 and Johnny died after a battle with prostate cancer in 2004. They never did take over the airwaves, but dammit, they should have.

Day After Day #175: See a Little Light

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

See a Little Light (1989)

This is Bob Mould's third time in this series. First it was for his band Sugar, then for his iconic first band Husker Du. This song came out in between the end of Husker Du in 1988 and the 1992 debut of Sugar. 

After Husker Du split up, Mould quit drinking and drugs and went to a farmhouse in Minnesota to write his first solo album. He teamed up with drummer Anton Fier (Feelies, Golden Palominos) and bassist Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu). Mould eschewed his usual wall-of-guitars sound for something lighter, mixing in acoustics and cellos. There were still rockers on the album, but the first single "See a Little Light" showcased a different side of Mould.

"Listen, there's music in the air/I heard your voice coming from somewhere/But look how much we've grown/Well, I guess I should have known/As the years go by, they take their toll on you/Think of all the things we wanted to do."

It's funny that he sings of the toll of passing years, given that he had just turned 28 when he recorded the song. But the Husker years were certainly packed full of ups and downs, I suppose.

"And all the words we said yesterday/Well, that's a long time ago/You didn't think I'd really go now/Are you waiting? I know why/You're already saying goodbye/Are you ready? I know why/I see a little light/I know you will/I can see it in your eyes/I know you still care/But if you want me to go/You should just say so."

The song, which was unusually positive by Mould's standards, was received well by critics and fans alike. The video got plenty of play on MTV and VH1 and the song was #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in July 1989. In a 2016 Rolling Stone interview, Mould said he was surprised at how the song turned out. "I don't know if it was inspired by a sunny day or one of the chickens on the farm. But what an optimistic song given how isolated I was and how shocking life after Husker Du was for me. I was living a singular, solitary existence. I wouldn't say my relationship at the time was hopeless, but it was pretty far out of reach that anything positive would come. So I'm seeing a little light. Not a ton! Just a glimpse of hope."

The song has since been a staple of Mould's live shows and became the title of his 2011 memoir.

Of course, it wasn't all rainbows and lollipops on Workbook. "Poison Years" is a direct broadside at his Husker Du bandmate Grant Hart. Still, the album hit #127 on the Billboard 200 and set Mould up for a successful solo career. His next album, 1990's Black Sheets of Rain, was pissed off and heavy and didn't perform as well. Mould then started Sugar with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis, releasing two excellent and strong-selling albums. After Sugar's breakup in 1996, Mould went back to solo albums with mixed success, especially when he incorporated dance music and electronica sounds. He gradually got back to a rock sound, which was aided in 2012 by a kickass backing band featuring Jason Narducy on bass and Jon Wurster on drums. Mould has worked with them on his last five albums, the most recent being 2020's Blue Hearts.

I never got to see Husker Du, but I saw Sugar in '94 and then have seen Mould solo and with Narducy and Wurster several times. The man never disappoints.

Day After Day #174: I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (2005)

In the post-Napster era of the early 2000s, young bands were figuring out new ways to get noticed. The traditional method of getting a song on the radio or even MTV was no longer the only path to stardom. In the case of Arctic Monkeys, it was MySpace.

The band was formed in 2002 by friends Alex Turner (vocals/guitar), Matt Helders (drums) and Andy Nicholson (bass). They soon added Jamie Cook as a second guitarist. An early set of 18 garage-rocking demos (now known as Beneath the Boardwalk) was burned onto CDs to give away at gigs and fans uploaded them to file-sharing services. They started to get attention from BBC Radio and the tabloid press in the U.K.

It was actually a fan-created MySpace page that created the buzz for the band, especially in northern England, and the group was fine with the extra publicity. An EP called Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys was self-released as CDs and 7-inch records, but also as downloads on the iTunes Music Store, which had just opened in the U.K. in 2004. Soon the band was playing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, and then they signed with Domino Records in 2005.

The Monkeys (named after a band that Helders' dad played in during the '70s) released their first single "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" in October 2005 and it went straight to #1 on the U.K. Singles Chart, as did the second single "When the Sun Goes Down" in January 2006. The band's first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, came out in January and became the fastest-selling debut album in U.K. history, selling 363,735 copies in the first week.

Meanwhile in the U.S., the Arctic Monkeys were getting attention on the many MP3 blogs that were posting new music. The band was credited with being one of the first to become famous totally via the internet. 

"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" is a great introduction to the band, an unpretentious bunch of lads in their early 20s. The Monkeys just explode right out of the gate.

"Stop making the eyes at me/I'll stop making the eyes at you/What it is that surprises me/Is that I don't really want you to/And your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night)/Oh, but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)/Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand/And lighting the fuse might result in a bang/I bet that you look good on the dance floor/I don't know if you're looking for romance or/I don't know what you're looking for/I said, I bet that you look good on the dance floor/Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984/Well, from 1984."

Helders is a powerhouse on the drums, pounding away while Turner absolutely rips hot guitar solos and lyrically, captures the mindset of young Brits who were out clubbing and scoping out potential partners on the dance floor. 

"Oh, there ain't no love, no Montagues or Capulets/Just banging tunes and DJ sets/Dirty dance floors and dreams of naughtiness/Well, I bet that you look good on the dance floor."

The album wasn't just a hit in the U.K. It became the second-fastest selling independent debut album in the U.S. and went platinum. Nicholson left the band after the album came out, replaced by Nick O'Malley. I saw them play at Avalon in June 2006 and it was a killer show; sadly, it was the last time I've seen them.

The band's second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, came out in April 2007 and was a similarly huge success, going to #1 in the U.K. again. Their third and fourth albums were more successful in the U.K., but it was 2013's AM that was the Monkeys' big breakthrough, debuting at #6 on the Billboard 200. The group combined hip hop beats with heavy guitar and had big hits with "R U Mine?" and "Do I Wanna Know?"

After a five-year hiatus, the Arctic Monkeys returned with their sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which found the band moving away from the indie rock song that made them popular. It was an exploration into loungier sounds with more keyboards and varied instrumentation. The next album, 2022's The Car, followed a similar path. I have to admit I haven't really listened to these, so I have no official opinion on them as of yet. But the band received critical acclaim for both albums and their last tour was filling up arenas, so clearly they're doing something right.

What I didn't realize was the band has appealed to a much younger audience, as my daughter Lily informed me. Apparently, the Monkeys are big on TikTok and have built a new Gen Z audience that is filling these shows even as their older fans are checking out. They were kids when they started and now they're older but appealing to kids at the same time. I had no idea, but good for them. 

Day After Day #173: Neat Neat Neat

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Neat Neat Neat (1977)

Early punk rock was all about the idea that anyone can do it, but man, the Damned could really play. The band formed in London in 1976, with lead singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. The Damned were punk pioneers, becoming the first U.K. punk act to release a single ("New Rose"), an album (1977's Damned Damned Damned) and tour the U.S. 

"Neat Neat Neat" was the band's second single, released in February 1977, as was their debut album. It was produced by Nick Lowe, who was the in-house producer for Stiff Records at the time. The band opened for the Sex Pistols in the U.K. along with the Clash and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, but only seven of the 20 dates actually took place because of cancellations by organizers or local authorities. The Damned ended up getting kicked off the tour by Malcolm McLaren,

"Neat Neat Neat" was a blistering anthem, kicked off by a killer Capt. Sensible bass line and then Vanian's urgent vocals.

"Be a man, can a mystery man/Be a doll, be a baby doll/It can't be fun, not anyway/It can't be found no way at all/A distant man can't sympathize/He can't uphold his distant laws/Due to form on that today/I got a feeling then I hear that call/I said/Neat neat neat/She can't afford no cannon/Neat neat neat/She can't afford no gun at all/Neat neat neat/She can't afford no cannon/Neat neat neat/She ain't got no name to call/Neat neat neat."

In direct response to the bloated prog and hard rock acts filling arenas at the time, the Damned just blast their way through the song with speed and piss and vinegar.

"No crime if there ain't no law/No cops left to mess you around/No more dreams of mystery chords/No more sight to bring you down/I got a crazy, got a thought in my mind/My mind's on when she falls asleep/Feelin' time in her restless time/Then these words up on me creep/I said/Neat neat neat."

The band whips through the song in a compact 2:40. The cover to the single features the band with bags over their heads, while the album cover shows them after getting pelted with cream pies.

"Neat Neat Neat" didn't chart but it was very influential; the album hit #34 on the U.K. albums chart. The Damned went on to open for T. Rex in March 1977, and later that spring they went on their first U.S. tour; the speed at which they played helped inspire the West Coast hardcore scene. The song was also covered by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, who reworked it in an interesting way (see below).

The band worked with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason on their second album Music for Pleasure, but the album was slagged off by critics and didn't chart. Drummer Rat Scabies left the band after recording was completed; he was replaced by future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss until the band split up in February 1978. Vanian, Sensible, Scabies and Lemmy of Motorhead teamed up in late 1978 for a one-off gig going by the name Les Punks; they then reformed the Damned with Lemmy but called it the Doomed to avoid trademark issues. Lemmy eventually left to focus on Motorhead and the band settled on Algy Ward of the Saints to play bass after Sensible switched to guitar. 

The Damned's sound was changing, moving towards goth rock as the '80s progressed. Sensible left in 1984 to pursue a solo career. The band released four albums in the '80s with a revolving cast of characters. They played a few shows in 1988 and 1989 with James and Sensible and then went on hiatus until 1993, when Vanian and Scabies reformed the group with three new members. The Damned had a little buzz at that time when Guns N' Roses covered "New Rose" and the Offspring covered "Smash It Up." They toured for a few years and released a new album in 1995, but by the time it came out, the band had split up once again.

Of course, they reformed again the following year and have continued to play in various formations since. This year, the '80s Damned lineup of Vanian, Sensible, Scabies and Paul Gray played a 10-date tour of North America and have announced a U.K. tour for later in the year. You can't keep a good Damned down.

Day After Day #172: Which Way to America?

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Which Way to America? (1988)

The downside of being a band that's primarily known for one song is it tends to overshadow everything else they've done. Living Colour has dealt with that for decades after rising to fame with the song "Cult of Personality" off their debut album Vivid. 

Formed in 1984 in New York City by guitarist Vernon Reid, the band had several lineups from 1984-1986 until Reid teamed up with singer Corey Glover, bassist Muzz Skillings and drummer Will Calhoun. Reid came from a jazz background, but the band also incorporated influences including Bad Brains, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Chic and many others into their sound. They eventually caught the attention of Mick Jagger, who helped them get a deal with Epic Records. 

Vivid came out in May 1988, but it took a while for it get some momentum. There was the novelty of four black men playing hard rock, but the success didn't come right away. I actually remember seeing the video for the album's first single "Middle Man" late night on MTV not long after it came out and being impressed and bought the album soon afterward. Then they did a show at TT the Bear's in Cambridge that was simulcast on WBCN; I had to work at Market Basket that night, so I had my brother record it for me. That bootleg was a mindblower; the sheer power and virtuosity exploding off the tape. I was a fan for life.

Then "Cult of Personality" was released as the second single and it totally blew up. The video got heavy airplay, thanks to Glover's dynamic stage presence and Reid's monster Zeppelinesque riff and screaming solos. The song went to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Album Rock Tracks chart. It also won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance and the video won a few MTV Video Music awards. 

The great thing about Living Colour was they weren't just a hard rock band. They could play any style. Vivid has the band playing funk, pop, gospel, country, funk and hip hop (with Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy guesting on "Funny Vibe"). They also didn't shy away from social issues. The band's look at politics and celebrity in "Cult of Personality" has never been more insightful than right now. And of course, Reid and company wrote about the realities of being black in America on a few songs on the album, including "Funny Vibe" and "Which Way to America?"

The latter song closes the album with furious energy as Glover examines the two Americas he sees.

"I look at the TV/Your America's doing well/I look out the window/My America's catching hell/I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?/I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?/I change the channel/Your American's doing fine/I read the headlines/My America's doing time."

The song was one of two that Jagger produced (along with "Funny Vibe") for a demo the band sent to the labels when looking for a deal. It became one of the staples of the group's live show.

"Where's my picket fence?/My long, tall glass of lemonade?/Where's my VCR, my stereo, my TV show? I look at the TV/I don't see your America/I look out the window/I don't see your America/I want to know how to get to your America/I want to know how to get to your America."

Glover screeches those last lines as the band careens towards the end of the song, raging against the seemingly ideal life on television that is out of reach.

In a 2019 Kerrang interview, Reid explained his rationale behind the song. "It's about the distance between the idealized America of home and hearth and the reality of life on the streets. It's a song about the schism and the idea of where does that highway go to? Where's the Yellow Brick Road for me? Where are these totemic symbols that we've arrived that are wrapped up in products and consumption? Certain references in the song have dated, like stereos and VCRs, but the materialism that those objects represent is more ferocious and consumptive than ever before. It's the haves and have-nots, it's divisions on racial lines and the difference between aspiration and reality is wider than it's ever been."

The band was able to follow up Vivid with 1990's Time's Up, which was equally successful and even more diverse musically, with thrash metal, Afro-pop, jazz fusion and Delta blues represented. Living Colour played on the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991 and released an outtakes EP called Biscuits. Skillings left the band in 1992 and was replaced by Doug Wimbish; the new lineup released Stain in 1993, which introduced an angrier, more industrial sound that went over the heads of much of the fan base. It didn't sell as well as the previous two releases and the band split up in 1995 over musical differences. 

Living Colour reunited in 2000 to play a surprise show at CBGB. A new album was released in 2003 and another in 2009. The band caught a new wave of popularity with WWE wrestler CM Punk started using "Cult of Personality" as his entrance song. The band's most recent album, Shade, was released in 2017, featuring an amazing cover of the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya?" 

I saw the band three time in the early '90s, twice on the Time's Up tour and once on the Stain tour, and then saw them 20 years later at the Paradise during a 25th anniversary tour for Vivid. And then I caught them in a tiny club in Hampton Beach last summer and they absolutely tore the place up. They were opening on a tour for Extreme, but I was happy to see them headline and kick total arse.

Day After Day #171: Unsung

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Unsung (1992)

In the early '90s as bands like Nirvana were ushering so-called hair metal bands into early retirement, other newer bands were embracing other forms of metal. Specifically, even if Black Sabbath (which had reunited with Ronnie James Dio around that time) wasn't getting the buzz it used to, bands like Soundgarden were clearly inspired by them. And then there was Helmet, which combined noise rock with metal and came up with a sound that influenced many bands after them.

Helmet was formed in 1989 in New York City by Page Hamilton, who had just left Band of Susans. The band signed to Amphetamine Reptile Records, releasing several singles and then its debut, 1990's Strap It On, which was well-received for its raw and relentless power riffage. Helmet was no nonsense, with Hamilton bellowing the lyrics like a drill sergeant.

The resultant buzz combined with the major labels' sudden hunger for guitar bands after Nirvana and Soundgarden broke led to a bidding war for Helmet. The band signed with Interscope and was touted by some as the next Nirvana, although Hamilton would later note that labels were circling around them even before Nirvana broke; he also said an A&R rep at one label called Helmet the next U2. This was hilarious because Helmet wasn't in the practice of writing anthemic radio-friendly music, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Helmet's major-label debut, Meantime, came out in June 1992 and its lead single showed that the band meant business. "Unsung" had actually come out a year earlier on Amphetamine Reptile as a single but was re-recorded for Meantime. The song is propelled by a chugging Sabbath-esque main riff, the pummeling bass of Henry Bogdan and the titanic drumming of powerhouse John Stanier. Hamilton's vocals on the song even bear a slight resemblance to a certain Mr. Osbourne.

"Your contribution left unnoticed some/Association with an image/Just credit time for showing up again/Attention wandered I'm left with it/Gone by sin too slowly/Can't pass it up/Then I thought nothing is right/I turned it off."

MTV started playing the video a lot on both 120 Minutes and Headbanger's Ball, illustrating the song's crossover appeal to both audiences. "Unsung" even got raves from influential rock critics Beavis and Butt-head. "If you, like, saw these guys on the street, you wouldn't even know that they're cool," says Butt-head.

"To die unsung would really bring you down/Although wet eyes would never suit you/Walk through no archetypal suicide to/Die young is far too boring these days/Your will to speak clearly/Exposed too much/Unsung once too often/Could not rub off."

The band's use of drop D tuning on both guitars and bass proved to be influential for the alt-metal scene that sprung up in the '90s, and the precision riffing of Hamilton and Peter Mengede was powerful and memorable. And the last 90 seconds of the song features the band just pounding away, with Stanier leading the charge. 

"Unsung" reached #298 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and #32 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart; Meantime would hit #68 on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually selling over 2 million copies worldwide.

Mengede would leave the band in early 1993 after a contract dispute and was replaced by Rob Echeverria. The band teamed up with House of Pain for a single off the rap-rock soundtrack to the movie Judgment Night (the soundtrack was much more successful than the movie itself) and then released the album Betty in 1994. The album was still heavy and rifftastic, but it also included jazz and blues songs, and it didn't sell as well as Meantime. Echeverria left after the tour to join Biohazard.

Helmet made 1997's Aftertaste as a trio, but it sold poorly and the band split up after the tour ended. Bogdan played in the Moonlighters and the Midnight Serenaders, while Battles played in Tomahawk, the Mark of Cain, Battles and Primer 55. Hamilton moved to Los Angeles and worked on movie soundtracks (In Dreams and Titus) as well as playing lead guitar on David Bowie's Hours tour in 1999. He also dated actress Winona Ryder for a year.

In 2003, Hamilton began working on a new project with drummer John Tempesta and guitarist Chris Traynor, who played in Helmet on the Aftertaste tour. Interscope label head Jimmy Iovine convinced Hamilton to make an album as Helmet; he still wasn't friendly with Bogdan or Stanier, so the new project became the new Helmet. Five albums have been released by Helmet in the last 20 years, with Hamilton as the only constant in the band.

I've never seen Helmet live but it seems like they're constantly touring. I still love listening to those early '90s Helmet albums, especially when I'm pushing through a workout. They locked into something timeless and powerful, and "Unsung" is the best example of it.

Stuck In Thee Garage #533: June 21, 2024

When you live in a four-season climate like New England, you know that during the winter when things are cold and gross, we grumble about how we wish it was hot. And conversely, when things get a little toasty in the summer, we grumble about how much heat sucks and how we wish it was colder. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about heat in hour 2. Perfect for a beach day...unless there's a special guest.

This playlist won't get out of the water:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Redd Kross - Candy Coloured Catastrope/Redd Kross

Johnny Foreigner - if you ain't at the table, yr on the menu/The Sky and the Sea Were Part of Me (Or I Was Part of Them)

Osees - Cassius, Brutus & Judas/SORCS 80

Islands - Drown a Fish/What Occurs

Ghost Party - Severed Hands/Ghost Moves

Clone - Dividing Line/CL.1

The Fall - Prole Art Threat/Slates (Live)

SWIFTUMZ - Almost Through/Simply the Best

DIIV - Somber the Drums/Frog in Boiling Water

Neutrals - Stop the Bypass/New Town Dream

Pedro the Lion - Spend Time/Santa Cruz

Plus/Minus - Driving Aimlessly (Redux)/Further Afield

Buffalo Tom - Come Closer/Jump Rope

Sharp Pins - When You Know/Radio DDR

The Lemon Twigs - They Don't Know How to Fall in Place/A Dream is All We Know

Lunchbox - This World/Pop and Circumstance

Hour 2: Hotness

The Cure - Hot Hot Hot!!!/Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

Johnny Foreigner - Feels Like Summer/Grace and the Bigger Picture

Chandos - Feel My Heat/Rats in Your Bed

Bambara - Heat Lightning/Stray

Deeper - This Heat/Auto-Pain

Pottery - Hot Heater/Welcome to Bobby's Motel

Sports Team - Long Hot Summer/Deep Down Happy

Patterson Hood - Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance/Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance

Snail Mail - Heat Wave/Lush

LVL Up - Primordial Heat/Hoodwink'd

Suedehead - Long Hot Summer/Constant Frantic Motion

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat / White Light/White Heat

David Bowie - Heat/The Next Day

Peter Gabriel - The Rhythm and the Heat/Security

The Afghan Whigs - Somethin' Hot/1965

The Flaming Lips - Hot Day/Suburbia soundtrack

X - Hot House/More Fun in the New World

Crank up the hot tuneage HERE!

Day After Day #170: Under the Milky Way

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Under the Milky Way (1988)

Every once in a while, a band writes a song that becomes so ubiquitous that it threatens to overwhelm everything else they do. That happened to Australian alt-rockers the Church with their song "Under the Milky Way." It was almost a throwaway song written by singer-bassist Steve Kilbey and the band didn't even like it. Then it blew up.

The band was formed in Sydney in 1980 by Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes on guitar and Nick Ward on drums. Ward played on the band's debut album and then was replaced by Richard Ploog. The band started off playing neo-psychedelic indie rock. The second single off that first album, "The Unguarded Moment," was a hit in Australia and New Zealand, but the band's label, Capitol, refused to release their second album in the U.S. because it felt there was a lack of radio-friendly songs. The band recorded five new songs but the label dropped them anyway. 

After an album and two EPs, the Church signed with Warner Bros. and released Heyday in 1985, which was well-received, although sales in Australia were flagging. The band signed a four-album deal with Arista Records in the U.S. in 1987 and flew to Los Angeles to make the follow up to Heyday. They worked and clashed with producers Waddy Wachtel (known as the long-haired guitarist in Stevie Nicks' and Keith Richards' bands) and Greg Ladanyi. The experience was not fun for the Church, but the resulting album Starfish ended up becoming the band's biggest, hitting the top 50 on the Billboard 200.

And it was mainly because of "Under the Milky Way," a beautiful jangle-rock masterpiece that Kilbey wrote with his partner Karin Jansson, a songwriter and guitarist who was in the punk band Pink Champagne. Kilbey put it on a cassette with a bunch of other songs and gave it to the band's manager, who asked the band to record it.

"Sometimes, when this place gets kind of empty/Sound of their breath fades with the light/I think about the loveless fascination/Under the Milky Way tonight/Lower the curtain down on Memphis/Lower the curtain down, all right/I got no time for private consultation/Under the Milky Way tonight."

Then the chorus sweeps in.

"Wish I knew what you were looking for/Might have known what you would find/And it's something quite peculiar/Something shimmering and white/It leads you here, despite your destination/Under the Milky Way tonight."

The song begins with a 12-string acoustic guitar, while the solo was played with an E-Bow on a guitar that was played through a Synclavier to give it a bagpipe sound. 

"Under the Milky Way" hit #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart, going to #22 in Australia and #25 in New Zealand; the video got plenty of play on MTV. The song "Reptile" was also a hit on rock radio and Starfish got up to #41 on the Billboard 200 and went gold.

In a 2016 interview with RBMA Radio, Kilbey said the band had no idea the song would become a hit. "...strange enough, 'Under the Milky Way' was the black sheep of that record. The producers didn't like it, the band didn't like it and I didn't really like it, either. We did [it] and then we only discovered it was a hit single when Arista came into the listening party."

After label head Clive Davis heard the song at the listening party, he declared that it was a hit, Kilbey said. "It was half a hit already, and then Arista made it a hit. They fucking pulled out every stop they had to make it a hit. I didn't spot that one coming. No one did."

The song was featured on Miami Vice in early '89 and also in the 2001 movie Donnie Darko, and it has been covered by Sia and Metric.

The Church followed Starfish up with 1990's Gold Afternoon Fix, which did not perform as well as its predecessor. Ploog was struggling with a drug problem and his drums were replaced on most of the album by a drum machine. He was replaced by Jay Dee Daugherty of Patti Smith's band for the tour. The band saw diminishing returns for its next few albums and lineup changes as Koppes left and then returned. Kilbey battled a heroin problem throughout the '90s before getting clean in the early 2000s. Willson-Piper left the band in 2013 and Koppes left again in 2020. The band has remained busy over the years, with 19 albums released in the last 30 years. 

I've never seen the Church live but I'm actually rectifying that tonight when they play the Royale in Boston with the Afghan Whigs.

 

 

Day After Day #169: Fix Up, Look Sharp

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Fix Up, Look Sharp (2003)

Kids, gather round and hear the tale of how Billy Squier became a hip hop icon. By 1980, Squier had already been around for a few years fronting the band Piper, which released two albums and opened for KISS in 1977 (they shared the same management company). 

Squier released his solo debut The Tale of the Tape in the spring of 1980 and although it barely made a dent in the Billboard 200 (hitting #169), it has become legendary thanks to the song "The Big Beat." It's a straightahead rocker that didn't chart, but it features one of the most famous drum sounds in music history. Recorded in Levon Helm's (yes, that Levon Helm) barn in Woodstock, the drums were played by Bobby Chouinard with overdubs from Squier hitting a snare case with his hands. 

Rap producers liked the sound and sampled or recreated it in many songs, most notably U.T.F.O.'s "Roxanne, Roxanne," which came out in 1984. When the group blew off a promotional appearance on a radio show, 14-year-old Lolita Shante Gooden was enlisted to make an answer song called "Roxanne's Revenge," which also featured the Squier beat. U.T.F.O. and their producers Full Force then released another answer song by The Real Roxanne, which led to a cottage industry of Roxanne answer songs over the next year.

Meanwhile, Squier was enjoying the early '80s himself, having blown up with his 1981 hard rock album Don't Say No and the big hit "The Stroke." The newly launched MTV played his performance-based videos constantly and Squier became an arena rock staple, opening for Queen and later headlining shows with Def Leppard opening for him. But even as his fourth album Signs of Life was becoming a hit in 1984, Squier's success was derailed by the Kenny Ortega-directed video for "Rock Me Tonite," which featured Squier dancing around a bedroom in a pink tank top. Almost immediately, Squier's shows stopped selling out and his popularity took a nosedive. He released four more albums with some modest radio hits, but by 1993, Squier walked away from music. He released one more album, 1998's acoustic blues release Happy Blue.

Fast forward five years and U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal is preparing his debut album when his producer played him "The Big Beat." The booming drum beat and Squier's vocals were sampled into "Fix Up, Look Sharp" and a hit was born. Well, in the U.K., anyway, where it went to #17 on the singles chart. It didn't chart in the U.S. but it caught a lot of buzz thanks to the nascent indie rock MP3 blog scene, where bloggers became tastemakers for folks like me. I'm pretty sure I've never heard "Fix Up, Look Sharp" on the radio, but I downloaded Dizzee Rascal's album Boy in Da Corner off eMusic and played the hell out of it on my iPod.

"Fix up, look sharp/Don't make me pick up with sign get park/Hear the bang, see the spark/Duck down, lay down just/Fix up, look sharp."

Squier is prominently featured in the song with the chorus from "The Big Beat": "I got the big beat/I hear the sound/I got the big beat/I get on down."

Surrounded by Chouinard's thundering drums, a brash Dizzee really rips it up.

"I've heard the gossip from the street to the slammer/They're tryin' to see if Dizzee stays true to his grammar/Being a celebrity don't mean shit to me/Fuck the glitz and the glamour, hey I'm with the blicks and gamma/Because they're talkin' 'bout rushin'/Talk behind my back but to my face they say nothin'/Stand up in the parks, keep a firm, steady stance/Keep the beanies touchin', keep the beanies hot flushin'."

The album ended up winning the Mercury Prize for best album from the U.K. and Ireland, peaked at #23 on the album chart and sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide by 2004. Dizzee Rascal singlehandedly brought grime music to the forefront and became the U.K.'s first internationally recognized rap star.

"Fix Up, Look Sharp" led to another hip hop rejuvenation for Squier, with "The Big Beat" sample showing up in Jay-Z's "99 Problems," Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire" and Kanye and Pusha T's "Looking for Trouble." In truth, the sample had already been showing up in varied songs including Beck's "Soul Suckin' Jerk," Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again," A Tribe Called Quest's "We Can Get Down" and Alessia Cara's "Scars to Your Beautiful." The song has been sampled around 300 times, reportedly earning Squier millions in royalties. "The Stroke" has also been sampled in many songs, including Eminem's "Berserk" and Mickey Avalon's "Stroke Me." Sadly, Chouinard died in 1997 at age 44 of a massive heart attack.

Meanwhile, Dizzee Rascal has released seven more albums, including Don't Take It Personal earlier this year. He remains a U.K. phenomenon, but he's done well for himself. Not as well as Squier, who spends most of his time volunteering for the Central Park Conservancy in New York while the royalty checks keep rolling in.

Completely Conspicuous 638: Le Noise

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2010. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Black Keys cancel arena tour after way overestimating their popularity
• Phil's #5: Black Keys establish their popularity with poppier blues sound
• Phil's and Jay's #4: Superchunk returns after a nine-year break with an energetic pop-punk ripper
• Phil's #3: Lo-fi psych from Philly duo Reading Rainbow (now called Bleeding Rainbow)
• Jay's #3: Nick Cave returns with his harder rocking Grinderman project
• Phil's #2 and Jay's #5: More rock-oriented album from Drive-By Truckers
• Jay's #2: Politically-driven melodic punk from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 
• Phil's #1: Neil Young with a solo effort with a lot of guitar effects
• Jay's #1: Titus Andronicus with your typical epic Civil War-meets-modern-day NJ concept album 
• Jay: Titus Andronicus is one of my favorite current bands 
• Favorite songs: "Hitchhiker" (Phil), "Theme from Cheers" (Jay)
• Next time we get together, we'll sum up the decade of the 2010s

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Day After Day #168: Fire

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Fire (1974)

When people tend to think of the pre-eminent funk bands of the '70s, they list off Parliament/Funkadelic (George Clinton's simultaneous bands), Kool and the Gang, Sly and the Family Stone and Earth, Wind and Fire (and of course the supreme funkiness of folks like James Brown and Stevie Wonder). But Ohio Players deserve to be on that roll call as well. They brought the heat in more ways than one.

The band started in Dayton in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables with Robert Ward on vocals and guitar, Marshall "Rock" Jones on bass, Clarence "Satch" Satchell on sax and guitar, Cornelius Johnson on drums and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks on trumpet and trombone. 

After a lot of infighting, the group split up in 1964. Ward found new backup musicians, while the rest of the band went back to Dayton and brought in Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner on guitar and Greg Webster on drums, changing their name to Ohio Players. They played for a few years before disbanding again in 1970 and then reforming a while later. They landed a contract on Westbound Records and released two albums, scoring a hit with "Funky Worm" in 1973. 

This led to the Players getting signed by Mercury Records and releasing two albums in 1974, Skin Tight and Fire. Skin Tight came out in April and was considered the band's commercial breakthrough, going to #11 on the Billboard album chart. Fire was released in November and the title track was an immediate hit.

A fire truck siren opens the song and the Players launch into a serious funk vamp that's, let's face it, about being an unrelenting horndog.

"The way you walk and talk/Really sets me off to a four-alarm, child/The way you squeeze and tease knocks me to my knees/'Cause you're smokin', baby baby."

Hey, I didn't say it was subtle. But damn, was it funky, with horns, guitar riffage and a slammin' bass line and of course, the refrain of "Fire."

"The way you swerve and curve really wracks my nerves/And I'm so excited, child, woo woo/The way you push, push lets me know that you're gonna get your wish/Fire/Fire/Got me burnin', got me burnin'."

The Ohio Players didn't hide their horniness. Their album covers featured models in various sexy poses; Fire's cover model was augmented with a fire chief's helmet and a fire hose.

The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1975, which was really interesting considering it followed number ones by Barry Manilow ("Mandy"), The Carpenters ("Please Mr. Postman") and Neil Sedaka ("Laughter in the Rain"). Those are three decidedly UN-funky songs. "Fire" only stayed at #1 for a week, but it's one of the biggest funk hits ever. Their funk contemporaries didn't top the charts; the closest was War's "Cisco Kid" at #2 and the Commodores' "Brick House" at #5. Kool and the Gang and EWF eventually hit the top spot, but with songs that were more pop than pure funk.

The album Fire went to #1 on the pop and R&B album charts. Ohio Players continued rolling along, with their next album, 1975's Honey, going to #2 and featuring the hit "Love Rollercoaster," which also went to #1 on the pop chart. As disco took hold, the Players saw their success diminish, with each of their next seven albums through 1981 selling less than the one before it. Two more albums followed in 1984 and 1988 that didn't even hit the Billboard 200.

Various incarnations of the band have continued to play live shows over the years. Their songs have been sampled and covered many times; the Red Hot Chili Peppers had a hit with "Love Rollercoaster" in the '90s, a young Soundgarden covered "Fopp" and even R.E.M. did a live instrumental cover of "Skin Tight." But ultimately, the band's story was in their live performances, as you can see in the clip from the Midnight Special below. Ohio Players were definitely a hot act in the '70s.

Day After Day #167: The Rover

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

The Rover (1975)

When you're a band as big as Led Zeppelin, it's only natural that you'll have songs that get overplayed. Zep is one of the greatest rock bands of all time. As such, there are certain songs they have that, while inarguably great, I never need to hear again. It's just the nature of growing up listening to rock radio. Songs like "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love" just get played to death. 

But fortunately, Zep still has albums that aren't overplayed. One of them is 1975's Physical Graffiti, a double album that featured new music and songs that were recorded for previous releases but not used. "Kashmir" has gotten a lot of play on FM stations, but the other 14 songs still remain fresh, or at least not beaten to death. 

"The Rover" was originally an acoustic instrumental when it was first written in 1970 and later was recorded in 1972 as an electric version during the Houses of the Holy sessions. Guitarist Jimmy Page added guitar overdubs before the song was included on Physical Graffiti. 

The song starts with a killer riff (one of Page's best) and John Bonham absolutely pounding the crap out of his drums (as he was wont to do) before Robert Plant launches in.

"I've been to London, seen seven wonders, I know to trip is just to fall/I used to rock it, sometimes I'd roll it/I always knew what it was for/There can be no denying, that the wind'll shake 'em down/And the flat world's flying, and there's a new plague on the land/Traversed the planet, when heaven sent me/I saw the kings who rule them all/Still by the firelight and purple moonlight I hear the rested rivers call/And the wind is crying, from a love that won't grow cold/My lover she is lying on the dark side of the globe. If we could just join hands, if we could just join hands, if we could just join hands."

Zeppelin never played "The Rover" live in their career (which was only parts of four years after its release), but a few bars were played as the introduction to "Sick Again" on the 1977 North American tour.

"You got me rocking when I ought to be a-rolling/Darling, tell me, darling, which way to go/You keep me rocking, baby, then you keep me stolen/Won't you tell me darling which way to go, that's right." 

Page then rips an amazing solo, which is only topped by the phased solo that closes out the song.

"Oh how I wonder, oh how I worry, and I would dearly like to know/Of all this wonder, of earthly plunder/Will it leave us anything to show?"

Physical Graffiti was the band's sixth album and the first on its Swan Song label. It went to #1 on the U.S. and U.K. album charts and has sold 8 million copies in the U.S. alone. Zeppelin would only release two more studio albums before Bonham's untimely death in 1980 led the band to break up.

I still like to listen to Physical Graffiti every so often. It covers so much ground and represents the band at the peak of its powers.