POWER POP & SKINNY TIE BAND IPOD PLAYLIST

I noticed, while rereading an older post, that I would do a post and Ipod playlist for power pop or, as they were known in L.A. in the 80s, "skinny tie bands."

This is one of those "Is it a genre or not" forms of rock & roll. The term "power pop" was first coined by The Who's Pete Townsend, who used it to describe the music of The Who and Small Faces. Other bands of that era (The Monkees, The Raiders, The Searchers, The Kinks) could be considered as influences on the Power Pop sound, however the major influence on the sound and look of Power Pop was The Beatles.

Shortly after the 70s began, a group of bands began springing up that hearkened back to that British Invasion sound. One of the first was the British band Badfinger, who were on the Apple label and even recorded a song written by Paul McCartney (He produced it, as well).

Another group that set the pattern for the Power Pop bands to come was the American group The Raspberries, lead by Eric Carmen. Later on, the San Francisco based band The Flaming Groovies switched from a rockabilly sound to a Power Pop sound.

The phrase Power Pop was next used by a music critic in 1978 to categorize this growing trend. The boom years for these bands were from 1978 to around 1986. The most successful of these groups was The Knack, who were from L.A. Club owners in L.A. dubbed the Power Pop bands, with their Beatle-like suits and ties, the "Skinny Tie bands." The glam/heavy metal bands, known for their mounds of sprayed, long hair, were dubbed "Hair bands."  That is where those terms came from.

Of course, the early Power Pop bands didn't dress like The Beatles did in 1964. They looked like other bands of the early 70s. It was The Knack, who started the fashion trend to dress like The Beatles. They also took a ton of flak over it.

While the last year of this trend is 1986, the music continued to be popular at college frat parties for years to come. More recently the sound has hit the charts again by bands such as Fountains of Wayne, Semisonic and The Rembrants.

This is not a countdown. I'm not ranking these songs, it is just for your listening pleasure. It is the order they came up on my Ipod.

"My Sharona" - The Knack
"Shake Some Action" - The Flaming Groovies
"Cruel To Be Kind" - Nick Lowe
"What I Like About You" - The Romantics
"Scream" - Artful Dodger
"A Million Miles Away" - The Plimsouls
"The Hero Takes The Fall " - The Bangles
"You Don't Want Me Anymore" - Steel Breeze
"Yellow Pills" - 20/20
"Someday Someway" - Marshall Crenshaw
"Alex Chilton" - The Replacements
"This Beat Goes On / Switching to Glide" - The Kings
"I Wanna Be Wit You" - The Raspberries
"Every Word Means No" - Let's Active
"Walking On Sunshine" - Katina & the Waves
"There She Goes" - The La's
"Wake Up Boo" - The Boo Radleys
"Love Is For Lovers" - The dBs
"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - The Rubinoos
"Blood & Roses" - The Smithereens
"Hazy Shade of Winter" - The Bangles
"I'll Be There For You (Theme from Friends)" - The Rembrandts
"And We Danced" - The Hooters
"Superman" - R.E.M
"That Thing You Do" - The Wonders
"Girl of My Dreams" - Bram Tchaikovsky
"867-5309 / Jenny" - Tommy Tutone
"September Girls" - Big Star
"I Want You To Want Me" (live) - Cheap Trick
"Down On the Boulevard" - The Pop
"Hold On To Something" - Great Buildings
"All Come True" - World Party
"The Good Life" - Fire Town
"No Matter What" - Badfinger
"Talking In Your Sleep" - The Romantics
"Just a Smile" - Pilot
"Baby Its Cold Outside" - Pezband
"I Want To Help You Ann" - The Lyres
"Starry Eyes" - The Records
"Precious To Me" - Phil Seymour
"She Don't Know Why I'm Here" - The Last
"Lay Your Love On Me" - Racey
"Behind the Wall of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"Mary Anne" - Marshal Crenshaw
"Where Have You Been All My Life" - Fotomaker
"Tell That Girl To Shut Up" - Holly & The Italians
"Radio Free Europe" - R.E.M
"Driver's Seat" - Sniff N the Tears

"Tell It To Carrie" - The Romantics
"Magic" - Pilot
"Go All The Way" - The Raspberries
"Your Love" - The Outfield
"Stacey's Mom" - Fountains of Wayne
"Tonight" - The Raspberries
"I'm On Fire" - Dwight Twilley Band
"Ship Of Fools" - World Party
"Baby Blue" - Badfinger
"Too Late" - Shoes
"Good Girls Don't" - The Knack
"Rock & Roll Girl" - The Beat
"This Is Airebeat" - The Squares
"Day By Day" - The Hooters
"Time Won't Let Me" - The Smithereens
"In the Street" - Big Star
"Dreaming Is Easy" - Steel Breeze
"She Goes Out With Everybody" - The Spongetones
"I Will Dare" - The Replacements
"Lisa Anne" - Bill Lloyd
"Nothing From Today" - The Vipers
"Get Over You" - The Undertones
"Places That Are Gone" - Tommy Keane
"Whatever Happened To Fun" - Candy
"Chemistry" - Semisonic
"Girls" - Dwight Twilley Band
"Buried Alive" - The Lyres
"Come On, Come On" - Cheap Trick
"Fall On Me" - R.E.M
"Boy On a Roof" - The Outnumbered
"Honor Among Thieves" - Artful Dodger
"In a Different Light" - The Bangles
"L5" - Fools Face

The last one is a Springfield, MO. band, that had a statewide following in the 80s.

DESDINOVA'S HALLOWEEN PODCAST 3 (Pitney Bowes worst nightmare)

Another podcast and I still have more than enough music for another podcast before Halloween. This one such great Halloween jams as:

• "Black Juju" - Alice Cooper
• "She's My Witch" - Kip Tyler
• "Vampire Rock" - Fabulous Poodles
• "I'm In Love With Dracula's Daughter" - Screaming Lord Sutch
• "Igor's Party" - Tony's Monstrosities
• "Frankenstein" - New York Dolls
• "Plan 9, Channel 7" - The Damned

Along with appearances from Torgo, the Monty Pythons, Criswell, Colin Clive, Bela Lugosi, and a hot babe that was married to Frankie Lane. Also I'll continue to make fun of that STL Cardinal fan, who chewed me out at work over a commercial that had a screaming woman in it. Oh yeah, Elmo & Patsy get theirs.

PUSHIN TOO HARD IS A COOLER SONG THAN CHICKEN FRIED

I realize the last "cooler than" post probably lost some people, but it was a personal vindication for me. Now comes another apples to oranges "cooler than" but I it is a point I feel I have to make. The Seeds 1966 hit "Pushin Too Hard" is cooler song than "Chicken Fried." I posted about my disdain for the song "Chicken Fried" on the old blog.

Why this comparison? These are two totally different songs. True, but there was a time in the recent past when these songs were part of a battle at the local location of a popular chain restaurant. I began going there after I would get off from work. It was a stressful time for me at my job. Part of the stress was due to the fact that some of the people, who worked at the radio station where I was employed, didn't like that I frequently made fun of a competing radio station. I'll let you think about the absurdity that situation. It was kind of like the CEOs at K-Mart not wanting anyone to disparage Wal-Mart.

Back to the subject of the post. I would go to The Buffalo Wild Wings location on Battlefield Road in Springfield to blow off steam and because it was near my apartment. One reason I liked to got there was they had a Touch Tunes jukebox. This jukebox isn't bound by a limited number of CDs or records, but you can find just about anything in one of these (with a few exceptions). It is kind of like a giant Ipod on a wall.

I find when I'm in a bad mood, there are certain songs that I want to hear that make me feel better.  So I was pleased to find that one of my all-time favorite songs could be played on the Touch Tunes jukebox: "Pushin Too Hard" by the Seeds.

I discovered the song when I was eight years old on a compilation LP of my older sister's called 24 Original Happening Hits (above). When I was eight years old, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Torquemada (not her real name), hated me. She treated me like dirt. One day, I decided to play this record to see what it sounded like because I had always been intrigued by the cover art of dancing people without faces. I heard a song with a guy snarling these words:

"All I want is to just be free
Live my life the way I wanna be
All I want is to just have fun
Live my life like it's just begun
But you're pushin' too hard
Pushin' too hard on me (too hard)" 

This song summed my life at eight years old, and pretty much the rest of my life. I also loved the fuzztone guitar solo in the middle of the song, which I always described as giving me the same sensation as chomping down on a piece of tinfoil while sticking your tongue in the prong on a 9 volt battery. Every time I hear it, I have to play air guitar to it.

So I was thrilled to find "Pushin Too Hard" in a modern jukebox. I began playing The Seeds only Top 40 hit every time I was at  Buffalo Wild Wings. The Touch Tunes jukebox had a section that listed the most played songs at that location and I had succeeded in making "Pushin Too Hard" one of the most played songs at the Battlefield Road location of Buffalo Wild Wings. That also made me some enemies.

At that time, there was a group of regulars that would be at BWW when I would be there. The nicest way I could say it is the group was made up of redneck goober guys in their late teens and early 20s, one or two attractive girls and a foursome of marauding fat girls.

This last group were the worst. If they saw you put money in the jukebox, they would run up and ask you what you were playing. When you told them what you were selecting, they would scream in your ear, "DON'T PLAY THAT! PLAY "CHICKEN FRIED"!" The nerve of these young women to ask me to play THEIR FAVORITE SONG with MY MONEY was maddening. Obviously, there were some people just stupid enough to comply with their demands, because "Chicken Fried" would play usually about four times in the two hours between the time I arrived after work and closing time. If you refused they did something that I called "song jumping." The jukebox has a feature where if you pay extra money you could "hear your song next." They would use their own money to "jump" my selections, including "Pushin Too Hard."
  
Why do I believe "Pushin Too Hard" is a cooler song than "Chicken Fried"?  One word: conformity!  "Pushin Too Hard" is in-your-face rebellion at it's best. It is the musical equivalent of a middle finger. It is Brando saying "I don't know. What ya got?" when the girl at the soda counter ask what he is rebelling against in The Wild One, it is Peter Fonda tying up the preacher in Wild Angels, it is Jack Nicholson telling the crabby waitress to "hold the chicken between your knees" in Five Easy Pieces, it is the Delta House gang disrupting the homecoming parade at the end of Animal House, it is Andy Travis putting the KISS Spirit of 76 poster over a funeral home calender in the pilot of WKRP in Cincinnati, and, for that matter, it is The Seeds performing "Pushin Too Hard" on The Mother-In-Laws (watch the adults faces).  The Seeds "Pushin Too Hard" paved the way for The Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen," Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It," The Beastie Boys "Fight For Your Right" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

"Chicken Fried" is a checklist for people wanting to live the small town, redneck, square in the post 9-11 America (or is it Murica). It is the equivalent of those dumb memes posted every day on Facebook by the people you didn't like in junior high school. I'm surprised it doesn't mention watching The Waltons or Little House on The Prairie reruns on satellite TV.


Which brings me to another reason I don't like "Chicken Fried." I hate most country music anyway, but "Chicken Fried" is part of a trend I dubbed the "cut-and-paste" country song. All of these songs have identical lyrics. I was surprised to find out that Zac Brown, himself, has criticized this trend.
Granted, there were several songs of the same theme as "Pushin Too Hard" in the late 60s, i.e: "Let Me Be" The Turtles, "I'm Not Your Steppin Stone" The Monkees, "Talk Talk" The Music Machine, "Satisfaction" The Rolling Stones. The difference is the lyrics are different not exactly the same.

Every crappy country song these people played on the Touch Tunes jukebox was indistinguishable from "Chicken Fried."  They may have called them "Country Boy" by Aaron Lewis or "Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean, but they are basically "Chicken Fried." I will go further that these songs are barely removed from "Dixieland Delight" by Alabama. 

As I mentioned, my love for the song "Pushin Too Hard" by the Seeds goes back to childhood. When I was younger, I heard a longer version of  "Pushin Too Hard" on oldies stations. I cannot seem to find a version of this. It was not on the original LP. Sadly, most oldies and classic rock station no longer play the song. Even worse, Touch Tunes has removed The Seeds masterpiece rock anthem from their jukeboxes. Unfortunately, "Chicken Fried" remains in the jukebox and is only a one credit play. There is some horrible injustice about the disrespect for a song as cool as "Pushin Too Hard" and idiots liking "Chicken Fried."

RIGHT, CASEY??


 

British comedian Rik Mayall dies at 56

British comedian Rik Mayall dies at 56

SIDE NOTE: I didn't always have a blog. I started off commenting on Missouri Radio Message Board and Ron Davis' Chatter blog, where I made numerous enemies. During this time, I swiped one of Rik Mayall's catchphrases from The Young Ones.

On The Young Ones, the character of Rick, frequently would say, "Please don't make fun of the woman I love!" if the punker, Vivian, made a disparaging remark about a female celebrity (usually British TV star Felicity Kendall).He also got upset if people made fun of singer Cliff Richard.

There was an anonymous commenter on the Chatter blog, who hated former KYTV reporter/anchor Cara Connolly (above). Anytime this jerk slammed Cara Connolly, I would reply with "Please don't make fun of Cara, she is the woman I love!"

From what I understand, my comments and old blog used to cause someone at KSGF to have violent fits like Vivian on The Young Ones.       

I AM NOT ASHAMED IPOD PLAYLIST 10

Yes, it is hard to believe but this is the tenth Ipod playlist of songs in my playlist that could be considered guilty pleasures. Of course, I am not ashamed of liking these songs, no matter who tells me I shouldn't like them. You should hunt them down and enjoy them too.

"Flash's Theme" - Queen
"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" - Green Day
"Key Largo" - Bertie Higgins
"Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" - Glass Tiger
"Strawberry Letter 23" - The Brothers Johnson
"Lost In Emotion" - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
"Silent Running" - Mike and the Mechanics
"Whip It" - Devo
"Sk8er Boi" - Avril Lavigne
"Come To The Sunshine" - Harper's Bizare
"I Was Made For Loving You Baby" - Kiss
"Exodus (Theme)" - Ferrante and Teicher
"(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" - The Amen Corner
"Radio Nowhere" - Bruce Springsteen
"Fallin in Love" - Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
"Skip a Rope" - Henson Cargill
"My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion
"Barbie Girl" - Aqua
"Ride Like The Wind" - Christopher Cross
"Last Friday Night" - Katy Perry
"Monster Mash" - Bobby B. Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
"Moonlight Feels Right" - Starbuck
"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" - Crystal Gale
"A Wonderful Dream" - The Majors
"My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" - The Mothers of Inventions
"Bobby Sue" - The Oak Ridge Boys
"You're Holding Me Down" - The Buzz
"Come Back When You Grow Up Girl" - Bobby Vee
"A Sign of the Times" - Petula Clark
"Free Ride" - Edgar Winter Group
"Things I'd Like To Say" - New Colony Six
"Centerfold" - J. Geils Band
"Love Is In The Air" - John Paul Young
"Images" - The Freeborne
"Gary Gilmore's Eyes" - The Adverts
"Rock The Boat" - The Hughes Corporation
"Seminole Wind" - John Anderson
"Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" - The Cramps
"House of the Rising Sun" - Frigid Pink
"I'm On Fire" - The Dwight Twilley Band

NOTE: I try to delete songs I list from the playlist I use to create these list. Occasionally, some songs are either not deleted or multiply recordings wind up in the list, causing duplicates across the other list.

Stooges drummer Scott Asheton dies at 64

Stooges drummer Scott Asheton dies at 64

Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies at 61

Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies at 61

Lou Reed Passes On At Age 71

Lou Reed Passes On At Age 71 | AllAccess.com

NOTE: I tried posting a photo of Lou yesterday, but MetroGoogle and my Windows Phone wouldn't cooperate. 

COLLEGE RADIO IPOD PLAYLIST

I loved college and have written about it on the old blog. When I entered college at Southwest Missouri State University, the buzz word in Billboard and Rolling Stone was "college radio was going to be the next big trend in radio." Eventually, the industry changed the name of it to alternative radio and made the stupid mistake of putting emphasis on country and talk radio, which about killed the industry by driving away the young listeners.

Let me take you back to my college days with the great music of that time (in no particular order). Some of these were around since junior high and elementary school, but they weren't considered cool until we were in college. Along the way, I may throw in some mainstays of the college party culture.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the college freshman are listening to this year. It may blow what we liked out of the water. I probably should check it out. I'm not one of those old curmudgeons who complain about modern music and believe young people are stupid.

"Like the Weather" - 10,000 Maniacs
"The One I Love" - REM
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Joy Division
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - The Proclaimers
"Talk To Ya Later" - The Tubes
"Pretty In Pink" - Psychedelic Furs
"Talk Talk" - Talk Talk
"25 O'clock" - The Dukes of the Stratosphere
"Just Like Heaven" - The Cure
"Loaded" - Primal Scream
"Eye of Fatima" - Camper Van Beethoven
"Musique Non Stop" - Kwaftwerk
"Cool Places" - Sparks with Jane Wielden
"Epic" - Faith No More
"I Melt With You" - Modern English
"Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?" - The Cramps
"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" - The Ramones
"Victoria" - The Fall
"Tower of Strength" - The Mission
"Under the Milky Way" - The Church
"I Wanna Be Sedated" - The Ramones
"Hey Jealousy" - The Gin Blossoms
"Knock Me Down" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
"I Don't Like Mondays" - The Boomtown Rats
"A Girl In Trouble" - Romeo Void
"Love Buzz" - Nirvana
"Anarchy in the UK" - The Sex Pistols
"About a Girl" - Nirvana
"Eloise" - The Damned
"Ship of Fools" - World Party
"Indian Giver" - The Ramones
"That Is Why" - Jellyfish
"Balloon Man" - Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians
"Orange Crush" - REM
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" - Bauhaus
"World Shut You Mouth" - Julian Cope
"Greenback Dollar" - Washington Squares
"I Wanna Be Adored" - The Stone Roses
"Rock and Roll" - Velvet Underground
"1976" - Redd Kross
"Baby Baby" - The Vibrators
"I Want to Help You Ann" - The Lyres
"Goo Goo Muck" - The Cramps
"Hey St. Peter" - Flash & the Pan
"What's Inside a Girl" - The Cramps
"Buried Alive" - The Lyres
"Happy Hour" - The Housemartins
"Euro-Trash Girl" - Cracker
"All Come True" - World Party
"Strangelove"- Depeche Mode
"Blister In the Sun" - Violent Femmes
"I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" - The Sex Pistols
"So Alive" - Love & Rockets
"This Beat Goes On/Switching To Glide" - the Kings
"Gone Daddy Gone" - Violent Femmes
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants
"Echo Beach" - Martha & the Muffins
"What Girls Want" - Material Issue
"Private Idaho" - The B-52s
"Personal Jesus" - Depeche Mode
"No Rain" - Blind Melon
"Someday Someway" - Marshal Crenshaw
"What I Am" - Edie Brickle & the New Bohemians
"Rough Night In Jericho" - Dreams So Real
"Girl of My Dreams" - Bram Tchaikovsky
"No Fun" - The Stooges
"Charlotte's Remains" - The Fuzztones
"The Good Life" - Fire Town
"Cuts You Up" - Peter Murphy
"Blood & Roses" - The Smithereens
"Ashes To Ashes" - David Bowie
"Istanbul (Not Constadinople)" - They Might Be Giants
"It's the End of the World (As We Known It)" - REM
"TV Eye" - The Stooges
"Behind the Wall of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"Walk On By" - The Stranglers
"Step On You" - The Happy Mondays
"I Can't Stand It Anymore" - Velvet Underground
"Mayor of Simpleton" - XTC
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nivana
"Low" - Cracker
"Hazy Shade of Winter" - The Bangles

And for the Animal House fans:

"Fight For You Right" - The Beatsie Boys
"Funky Cold Medina" - Tone Loc
"Bust a Move" - Young MC
"Me So Horny" - 2 Live Crew
"Mony Mony" Billy Idol
 "What I Like About You" - The Romantics
"Shout" - Isley Brothers
"Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen

  

I'M THE ONLY SPITTING IMAGE FAN IN AMERICA

As a retro blogger, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I feel I have neglected posting about the decade of my teen years - the Eighties. Part of this may be due to the fact that I had rough time during my junior high and high school years. I have some bad memories of that era.

Don't get me wrong, I love quite a bit of the pop culture of the Eighties. The problem is those who felt it necessary to push me around and make my life a living Hell wanted to denigrate what music, movies, TV and clothes made me happy. They wanted me to change and like things they found acceptable.

I've noticed that the Facebook poster/banner machine has begun romanticizing certain elements of the Eighties which didn't interest me in my teen years. It is a view that the world was a happy place in the Eighties. I was getting beat up by Donny Dickweed and turned down by Eunice Moneymaker, so I didn't find the Eighties to be a great time. Also anyone watching an old TV newscast or reading a newspaper would see that there was trouble then as there is today.

If you want a funny and rather accurate look back at the Eighties, go to You Tube and look up Spitting Image. This was a satirical puppet show (Yes, I said puppet show) that ran on British television from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. No world leader nor entertainment personality was safe from being transformed into a hideous puppet with a giant head.

If the puppet's looks weren't enough to garner a laugh, the writers twisted the personalities to an extreme. Mikael Gorbachev birthmark was replaced by a red hammer and sickle. Margret Thatcher was a cigar chomping boss-from-Hell with Norman Tebitts as her leather-wearing Teddy Boy henchman. Ronald Reagan was a scatterbrained goofball with square-headed Ed Meece and vampirish (Think Nosferatu/London After Midnight) Casper Weinberger at his side. Princess Di was a Valley Girl (The Brits call them Sloan Rangers) and Prince Charles was a boring doofus, with Prince William having a voice and personality like Martin Stephens in Village of the Damned, constantly plotting against the family. Queen Elizabeth was hopelessly out of touch with reality, while her mother was a feisty grandma who drank gin and bet on horses.

Celebrities got it too. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was constantly passing gas. Micheal Jackson wore a space helmet and got whiter (Once he turned into Diana Ross). Madonna not only changed clothes and hairstyles during songs, her nipples gave interviews. Bob Dylan was a middle aged guy writing protest songs about things that annoyed him (Losing his undershorts, cheese molding etc).

British rock icon were picked on as well. Cliff Richard was a sainted virgin. Paul McCartney was recycling the same songs over and over. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were always stoned. Ozzy Osbourne was shown to secretly be a "nice boy from Sheffield" and Boy George was catty.

According to the Spitting Image milieu, Ed McMahon and Bill Cosby were secretly running America, Sly Stallone was an idiot, Jack Nicholson never stopped smiling, tennis champ Evan Lyndel was a corpse, Richard Chamberlin's face was pulled tight with clamps, Cher was all plastic and Al Pachino, Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman couldn't tell each other apart.

The show was huge in England, but the success couldn't transfer over to America. NBC tried a few hour long TV specials. While critics loved the show, ratings were not very good. Supposedly, the "humor was too rough for Americans." Americans frequently trash the clips on You Tube, but of course, these are probably Tea Party idiots, whose idea of humor is to Photoshop President Obama's face to look like the Joker from The Dark Knight or Photoshop Rosie O'Donnell's head on to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's body. In other words, the American who don't like Spitting Image wouldn't know comedy if it bit them in the ass.

However, the place most American's became familiar with the Spitting Image puppets were through the video to the Genesis hit "Land of Confusion." There are people trashing it on You Tube and, locally, when KYTV's Ethan Forhetz featured it in a countdown of 80s music videos on KY3.com, Ozarkers were complaining about how they hated it.

Which leads me to believe, I'm the only person in America that liked Spitting Image. It's satirical comedy was an influence on the old blog. I concur with many of the British comments on You Tube, that it would be great to see a show like this on TV again. What killed Spitting Image was the cost of making the puppets. It was very expensive.

I should note that within the last two weeks, there has been a surge of hits on old Spitting Image clips on You Tube among Brits. The clips they are watching are all of the Margret Thatcher character, especially this one, with characters singing the Moody Blues hit "Go Now." Since it is spring, I'm going to throw in Spitting Image's parody of the bubble gummy dance hits of the British duo Black Label. Who could really hate that?
  
   

         

The Troggs frontman Reg Presley dies at 71

Reg Presley is seated in the middle.

The Troggs frontman Reg Presley dies at 71

In the mid-70s, The Troggs released an LP called The Troggs Tapes. It contained some rather off-color and some what abusive studio banter between band Presely and the other band members. Most of it involved at word that started with "F."

Not long afterward, a longtime NBC employee retired from the Standards and Practices division. As a send off, the cast of Saturday Night Live performed a sketch that poked fun at the Troggs Tapes. The characters were Medieval Traveling Minstrels, who used the phrases "flogging" and "flogger." The retiring NBC employee loved it.

I AM NOT ASHAMED PLAYLIST 5

It is time for me to list more songs that are in my Ipod that I'm not ashamed to admit to liking. Some call these guilty pleasures. Life is to short to be guilty about your entertainment choices.

Ars Nova - "March of the Mad Duke's Circus" (An early prog rock band)
Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army - "Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army" (Really Bobby  Bloom of "Montego Bay" fame)
The Monroes - "What Do All the People Know" (Great lost hit of the 80s)

Geoff Goddard - "Sky Men" (A sci-fi Joe Meek novelty. Goddard played keyboard on the more successful Joe Meek production "Telestar")

The Squares - "This is Airebeat" (British New Wave/pop pop of late 70s/early 80s "This has always been a backwater")
Tommy Roe - "Dizzy"
The English Congregation - "Softly Whispering I Love You"
The Fabulous Poodles - "Mirror Star" (A 70s punk song about playing air guitar)
Chad McDevitt Skiffle Group with Nancy Whiskey - "Freight Train" (Early British hit in this country in the 1950s)
Baz Luhrman - "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" (One of the best spoken word/recitations ever)
Cee Lo Green - "Forget You" (One of the great ultimate break up songs - How could anybody not like it?)
Ray Parker - "The Other Woman" (A great R&B hit of the 80s that you don't hear anymore)
Blondie - "Heart of Glass"
Louie Armstrong - "Old Man Mose"
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - "Abba Zaba"
The Rembrandts - "I'll Be There For You" (YES I DO LIKE THE THEME SONG TO FRIENDS! WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!)
The Breakfast Club - "Right On Track" (A memory from high school)
Owl City - "Fireflies"
Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" (Barry Gordy Jr's son - featuring backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson)
The Combo Kings - "Batman A Go Go" (A soul dance hit from 1966 - There was a similar James Bond dance number)
The Seeds - "Pushing Too Hard" (One of my all time favorite songs. It sums up my life. If I ever find who was responsible for taking this out of the TouchTunes juke box at Buffalo Wild Wings, I will kill them!)
Charlie Dore - "Pilot of the Airwaves" (A song about a girl in love with a radio DJ. Dore was a Emmylou Harris sound alike from Australia)
Robbie Dupree - "Hot Rod Hearts" (I was told this was "dirty" when I was in elementary school - Never figured out why)
The Lettermen - "Come Back Silly Girl " (Early sunshine pop -slightly un-PC title)
October Country - "My Girlfriend Is a Witch" (Psychedelic/Sunshine Pop by Ray Bradbury fans - he even wrote the liner notes on their only LP)
Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford - "The Phantom of the Opera"
The Beginning of the End - "Funky Nassau" (Fast reggae hit of the early 70s)
The Bosstweeds - "The Theme from Faster Pussycat Kill Kill"
The Coasters - "Little Egypt" (Singing Yiiiinnnng YYYaaang! Gitchy gitchy!)
The Hollywood Argyles - "Alley Oop"
Morris Day & the Time - "Jungle Love"
Even & Jaron - "Crazy About This Girl"
Cliff Richard - "Dreaming"
Hank Ballard & The Midniters - "Annie Had a Baby"
The Floaters - "Float On" (A Quiet Storm hit featuring the most romantic line ever "Cancer and my name is Larry")
The Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Neil Sedaka "Bad Blood"
Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"
The Hollies - "If the Lights Go Out" (From their 80s reunion LP - Why was this song not a bigger hit?)

If you want to see the previous "I AM NOT ASHAMED" Ipod playlist, here are links:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4 

DESDINOVA'S CAMPY 80's PLAYLIST

As I promised (or threatened), I have created a campy 80s playlist, much like the campy 70s playlist. I mentioned I was apprehensive about doing this, because some people that grew up in the 80s don't have a sense of humor about the music and culture of that era. On the other hand, as graduate of the class of 1987, I want to point out those songs that scream 80s. None of these songs are not bad. As a matter of fact, I don't think any of these are as bad as some of the songs on the 70s playlist, it is just they sound "so 1980s." The minute you hear them you say "That song  is from the 80s." As with the other list, I have included songs by some great major artist, because it wouldn't be an 80s list without these artist or the particular song. Also a few of these are actually songs from around 78 or 79, but they sure sound like the 80s. These are in no particular order.

The Buggles - "Video Killed The Radio Star"
The Mo-Dettes - "White Mice"
Prince - "1999"
Devo - "Whip It"
Bauhaus - "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
Stacey Q - "Two Hearts"
Loverboy - "Notorious"
Eddie Rabbit - "I Love a Rainy Night"
Frank & Moon Zappa - "Valley Girl"
Flock of Seagulls - "I Ran (So Far Away)"
Animotion - "Obsession"
The Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Corey Hart - "Sunglasses at Night"
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
Olivia Newton-John - Physical
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Aldo Nova - Fantasy
The Gap Band - "You Dropped a Bomb on Me"
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - "Lost In Emotion"
Kim Carnes - "Bette Davis Eyes"
The J. Geils Band - "Centerfold"
Duran Duran - "Hungry Like The Wolf"
Bruce Springstein - "Born in the U.S.A"
Diesel - "Sausalito Summer Night"
Rick James - "Super Freak"
Cyndi Lauper - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
Human League - "Don't You Want Me"
Madonna - "Like a Virgin"
Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"
Peter Schilling - "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
Nena - "99 Red Balloons"
Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl"
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go"
Thomas Dolby - "She Blinded Me With Science"
Wham! - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
The Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)"
Yaz - "Situation"
Earth, Wind and Fire - "Let's Groove"
Billy Idol - "Hot In The City"
Culture Club - "Karma Chameleon"
Van Halen - "Jump"
Kool & The Gang - "Celebration"
Gary Numan - "Cars"
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "I Love Rock & Roll"
Michael Sembello - "Maniac"
Motley Crue - "Shout at the Devil"
Pat Benetar - "Sex as a Weapon"
Robert Palmer - "Addicted To Love"
Warrant - "Cherry Pie"
Sheena Easton - "Morning Train"
The Police - "Roxanne"
Peter Gabriel - "Games Without Frontiers"
Mike & The Mechanics - "Silent Running"
Katrina & The Waves - "Walking On Sunshine"
The Cars - "Shake It Up"
Bonnie Tyler - "Total Eclipse of the Heart"

I'm sure somebody reading this is thinking I left off something or one of their favorites. This is just one playlist. Since I'm a product of the 80s, I may do another 80s playlist. I also plan a heavy metal playlist, so I may take care of some omissions there.

THE MO-DETTES - WHITE MICE

I thought I would post this video of the punk girl band the Mo-Dettes to announce that 1) I am planing a 80s playlist like the recent "Campy 70s" playlist. I intend to make it fun, even though I notice when it comes to the two decades in the world retro blogs, some of the 80s folks don't have a sense of humor about the decade.

These people don' wallow in the badness like the 70s crowd does. They tend to either think the 80s were the greatest decade ever and not to be made fun of or they are embarrassed by the fun and frivolous things. These bloggers will tell you that their favorite song is "God Bless the U.S.A" by Lee Greenwood, their favorite movie is Red Dawn and since junior high they wanted to be either a stock broker or a computer analyst. Trust me, I'm from the 80s and I wasn't like that, although most of the people I graduated high school with were. In the words of Holden Caulfield, these people are "phonies" or, as I used to say on the old blog, they are "weenie bloggers."

The 70s oriented retro bloggers can't make up their mind if their favorite movie is Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Blazing Saddles or Behind the Green Door. They like the Eagles, the Bee Gees and Led Zeppelin, but also "The Night Chicago Died" or "Kung-Fu Fighting." In college, the 70s bloggers were still try to decide between being a science fiction author or an adult film star.

Some 80s fans may whine and complain about what I choose. Oh well. My opinions are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks. Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

2) I have removed some of the other You Tube videos from the blog because they were either removed from You Tube or You Tube is blocking them. Honestly, I'm not that concerned about them at the moment, because most were posted during the Countdown to Halloween or Countdown to Christmas. In other words, they were posted by me just so I could have something to post. No big loss. So watch the Mo-Dettes while you can.   

I AM NOT ASHAMED or DESDINOVA'S MUSICAL GUILTY PLEASURES

This post has two titles, because websites call what I'm about to post by another name and people looking for such will no doubt Google the more common phrase. This is a list of songs I like that many bloggers and pop culture websites refer to as "guilty pleasures." However, I have a different view point than most people (Don't I always) on this. I will turn 43 later this year and I have two college degrees...I WILL LIKE WHATEVER I WANT AN NOT APOLOGIZE FOR IT!

I have gotten flak about the music I like ever since I was in elementary school. Rednecks who tell you that the only music you should like is Hank Junior or people, who  tell you that the music you like is affiliated with the Satanic/Leftist/drug culture. I thought being in radio, I would meet people that liked as many various kinds of music as I did. WRONG! The problem with radio is there are people who only like what is popular at that moment or hate everything that is popular. Of course, the morons in the talk radio area HATE pop music of any kind and want it all banned from radio.If you mention that you like a certain pop song around these people they frequently tell you "The only song I like is the Star Spangle Banner." These people also claim to carry a copy of the Constitution with them everywhere.

On a personal note, I have always made fun of people who like country music and I tell people that I hate country music. Truth is there are a few songs on here that are country songs that I cannot live without.

So I have decided to swipe a phrase from the types of people, who usually criticize my musical taste, use in their little cut-and-paste postings on Facebook.. This is not so much a guilty pleasures list but the "I AM NOT ASHAMED" list. This is only the start of this. I plan to do follow up list.

DESDINOVA'S GUILTY PLEASURES "I AM NOT ASHAMED" PLAYLIST LIST
(In no particular order)

"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" Culture Club - (Boy George is the most underated singers of all time).
"Lonely Boy" - Andrew Gold (I hated this song when I was younger, until I noticed it kind of rocks).
"May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" - Little Jimmy Dickens
"Just Like Heaven" - The Cure
"Fancy" - Bobbie Gentry
"Batman, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Dracula" - The Diamonds (If I ever meet a horror movie loving girl like the one in this song, I will marry her on the spot).
"Click Click" - Dicky Doo & the Donts
"Green Slime" - The Green Slime
"Dress You Up" - Madonna
"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" - Edison Lighthouse
"Grazing In the Grass" - Friends of Distinction
"Rock & Roll Waltz" - Kay Starr
"Goodbye Earl" - The Dixie Chicks
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" - Bauhaus
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" - David Frizzell & Shelly West
"Alice Long (You're Still My Favorite Girlfriend)" - Boyce & Hart
"Take On Me" - A-Ha
"Eloise" - The Damned (One of the few remakes that is better than the original).
"She-Bop" - Cyndi Lauper
"Point of No Return" - Expose
"Mmmbop" - Hanson
"Batman's Theme" - The Markets
"How About Us" - Champagne
"Let It All Hang Out" - The Hombres (Some people have called this a bad Bob Dylan imitation. I believe it is a really good imitation of Roger Miller).
"Della and the Dealer" - Hoyt Axton
"Gotta Get Away" - Jackie Trent & Tony Hatch (This song is in the pilot episode of the TV 70s show The Persuaders).
"Come Softly To Me" - Jane Olivor (Another remake that is better than the original).
"Pop Muzik" - M (This song bridged the gap between the disco era of the late 70s and the new wave era of the early 80s).
"Stop & Get A Ticket" - The Clefts of Lavender Hill
"I Can Make It With You" - Pozo-Seco Singers (Another underated singer, Don Willaims, before he was a major star).
"Psilocybe" - The Mad Violets (80s psychedelia)
"If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman
"Give It Up" - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
"Bad Time" - Grand Funk Railroad (This is as close as Grand Funk came to a power ballad - ignorred by classic rock radio).
"In The Year 2525" - Zager & Evans (The greatest one-hit wonder of the rock and roll era. It was number one the day we walked on the moon and the day I was born).
"Goody Goody Gumdrops" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"Seventeen" - Winger
"I'd Love To Change the World" - Ten Years After
"Pretty Blue Eyes" - Steve Lawrence
"Rock Me Gently" - Andy Kim
"Unbelievable"  - EMF
"Experiments With Mice" - Johnny Dawkworth Orchestra
"Radioactive" - The Firm
"125" - The Haunted
"Yankee Rose" - David Lee Roth
"Don't Stop Believin" - Journey
"Walk Away Renee" - The Left Banke
"If You Seek Amy" - Britney Spears
"Rio" - Duran Duran
"Dust In the Wind" - Kansas
"Cherry Hill Park" - Billy Joe Royal
"King of Wishful Thinking" - Go West
"Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
"Bubblegum Factory" - Redd Kross
"Indian Reservation" - The Raiders
"Bend Me, Shape Me" - The American Breed
"Windy" - The Association
"Laid' - James
"My Special Angel" - Bobby Helms
"Butterflies Are Free" - The Free Design
"Who Do You Love (I Want To Know) - The Sapphires (One of the great lost R & B classics. Why oldies radio stations don't play it anymore is beyond me).
"Naughty Naughty" - John Parr
"Lotta Love" - Nicolette Larson
  

WHAT IS YOUR MUSICAL FLASHPOINT?

Click on image to enlarge

Some of the recent passings in the music world got me to thinking about this. KTXR radio personality Wayne Glenn has put forth a theory an his radio show that pretty much holds water. Nothing involving scientific research but just a general observation from talking to listeners and taking request from them. Wayne Glenn has observed that people seem to gravitate toward the music that was popular when they were between the ages of 9 to 12. This is when most people first become interested in music.

I call this the "musical flashpoint." My musical flashpoint would be 1978 since I was nine years old at the time. That summer, the tube on our TV went out and my parents didn't fix it for along time. This may have been responsible for my discovering pop music and radio in general. During that summer, I noticed that the Springfield Leader and Press (Now the News Leader) published the Billboard Top 10 in the Sunday edition. I would flip around the dial to the see if I could find these songs being played on the local radio stations. I even started keeping a chart that tracked how often these songs were played and on what radio station (This is how boring my life was at age nine).

In those days, you could find more "popular hits" on the radio. In those days, most radio stations felt that you had to play what was popular especially if you were the only radio station in town. Many small town radio stations had what was called a split format. Usually, they played country from sign on through the early morning for dairy farmers, easy listening during the midday for housewives and rock/pop from the afternoon until sign off. The horrific plague of "we-can-only-have-country-or-talk-in-the-Ozarks" only came about in the 90s.

I found a chart on ARSA to use as an illustration of that summer's great music. I look down the list and notice many of my favorite songs:  Gerry Rafferty "Baker Street," Eddie Money "Baby Hold On," The Sweet "Love Is Like Oxygen," Rolling Stones "Miss You," Jefferson Starship "Runaway," Patti Smith Group "Because The Night," Foreigner "Hot Blooded," Donna Summer "Last Dance,"   Meat Loaf  "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad," Bob Seger "Still The Same," Styx "Fooling Yourself," Pablo Cruise "Love Will Find A Way" Abba "Take A Chance On Me," and The O'Jays "Use Ta Be My Girl" are there, as well as the guilty pleasures like Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing," Chuck Mangione "Feels So Good," Steve Martin "King Tut," The Trammps "Disco Inferno," Bonnie Tyler "It's A Heartache," Yvonne Elliman "If I Can't Have You," Frankie Valli "Grease," England Dan & John Ford Coley "We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again," Barry Manilow  "Copacabana"  (the only Barry Manilow song I have ever really liked).

I've also figured out that even if I didn't hear the song or group in 1978, I usually like anything made at that time. An example of this would be a big British hit by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley called "If I Had Words." Sure it is a sappy bubble gum/reggae song based on a song by Saint-Saens "Symphony No. 3," but I like it, because it has an energy and playful nature like many of the songs of that era. I really didn't hear the Sex Pistols until sometime in the early 80's (although I knew of them back then), but they immediately became one of my all-time favorite bands. I don't think I heard Pousette-Dart Band until college, unless they weren't identified on radio (the late 70s was the beginning of that bad trend in radio).

There, of course, are other singers and bands that were popular in 1978 that were not on that particular radio survey that I cannot live with out. Groups like Kiss, the Eagles, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Van Halen, the Cars, Bruce Springsteen, the Bee Gees, Kenny Rogers,  the Jacksons, Kansas, Earth, Wind and Fire and...I could go on and on.

Now, if you are waiting for me to trash today's popular artist, you can keep on waiting. I like most popular music and enjoy listening to it, as a matter of fact I'm madly in love with Katy Perry (Okay, okay,  I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC, but I admit it). I'm not be one of those old guys who sit around complaining about what younger people do, because I never liked for older people to say disrespectful things about the music I liked. Also, I have more friends who are younger. I wonder what year was their musical flashpoint?  

Guitar amplifier pioneer Jim Marshall dies aged 88

Guitar amplifier pioneer Jim Marshall dies aged 88

THE MUSIC MACHINE'S SEAN BONNIWELL DEAD AT 71

According to a website called Rock Edition, Sean Bonniwell, lead singer of the influential 60s garage band The Music Machine, has died at age 71. This is about the only article on Boniwell's death on the Internet. Apparently, the mainstream media is more interested in unimportant people like Tim Tebow and Sarah Palin.

The Music Machine had one major Top 40 hit in 1966 with "Talk Talk," followed by "People In Me," which made it to #66 in 1967. They also had two singles in 1967 that became cult favorites, "Double Yellow Line" and "The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly."  When they moved to Warner Brothers in late 1967, they became known as The Bonniwell Music Machine, which was more sunshine pop than early punk/metal.

With Sean Bonniwell and Michael Jackson both deceased (as well as Slappy White), we will probably be forced to listen to some doofus country singer who wears two gloves (probably those Wells Lamont gloves because Paul Harvey advertised them).

The video is of the Music Machine performing "Talk Talk" on Where The Action Is. Along with "Pushin Too Hard" by the The Seeds, "Talk Talk" could be the story of my life.

UPDATE (12/29/2011):  The Los Angeles Times has an article on the death of Sean Bonniwell. Kudos to them.