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TAG: 90s music
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songspeak
Footos: The Fresh Fighter
Foo-syical Graffiti
Foo Fighters is probably one of Matt’s and my favorite current rock bands. It’s hard to believe they’ve been around more than 10 years, and are the product of Dave Grohl wanting to make music after Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. One must wonder whether Nirvana would have had the success that Foo Fighters is enjoying now if Kurt had decided to stay with us. But that’s neither here nor there.
Due to their large body of work, and the fact that we both like them so much, Foo Fighters have been involved in many a songspeak, so I’m sure this will be the first post of many to feature them.
One of the great things about Foo Fighters is their music videos. They’ve always had a knack for making unique, memorable, and funny videos. One of their first (and still one of my favorites) was their video for Big Me off of their self-titled debut album. The video was basically a parody of the Mentos Mints commercials that enjoyed popularity in the early 90’s. The main spots being parodied are the parallel-parking-dilemma ad and the crossing-the-street-conundrum ad. The best part about the Foo Fighters video are the exaggerated facial expressions and reactions (which really aren’t that far off from the real commercials now that I’ve rewatched them).
Tags: 00s music, 90s commercials, 90s music, big me, committed suicide, crossing the street commercial, dave grohl, exaggerated facial expressions, foo fighters, foo fighters music videos, foo fighters videos, footos, funny music videos, knack, kurt cobain, kurt cobain suicide, mentos, mentos commercials, mentos mints, nirvana, parallel parking commercial, the fresh fighter, the freshmaker, the knack
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songspeak
So help me Jesus
Toadies = Not Quitters (except for the bass player)
Toadies was one of those grungy rock bands back in the 90’s that have been forgotten by many, but still had a hardcore loyal following. They are best known for their debut album Rubberneck, and their biggest single Possum Kingdom (which still gets steady airplay on many rock radio stations). I just discovered that Toadies have reformed and recently released a third CD, No Deliverance. I look forward to getting it post haste.
Matt and I used to listen to Rubberneck quite a bit, with many tracks (Backslider, Quitter, Tyler) making it onto various volumes of the original Songspeak’s Greatest Hits. Possum Kingdom was the song that everyone knew, though, and therefore the song we heard the most. We always got a kick out of the “so help me Jesus” line, especially at the end how he repeats “Jesus…Jeeeeesus….Jeeeees-uuuh-uuusssss” as the song comes to an end.
Toadies were (are) an interesting band. Many of their songs sound just plain angry, and many of them deal with violent themes, stalking, unhealthy obsessions, and rape. Possum Kingdom is no exception. There are many interpretations of the song, including:
- a true story about murders that happened on or near a Texas lake
- the (fictional) story of a man who seduces a woman only to rape and kill her
- the singer being a vampire trying to get a woman to join him in eternal life (this is my personal favorite, because it’s creative and it really does seem like the lyrics could be pointing in that direction)Here is the video. Relive the song and draw your own conclusions. Or so help me Jesus…
Tags: 00s music, 90s music, backslider, burden brothers, hard rock, jesus, no deliverance, possum kingdom, possum kingdom lake, quitter, rape, rock, rock radio, rubberneck, so help me jesus, song interpretations, stalking, the toadies, toadies, toadies lyrics, todd lewis, tyler, unhealthy obsessions, vaden lewis, vaden todd lewis, vampires, violent themes
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songspeak
Did you have to pull my finger?
Yes, it's true. Dolores O'Riordan has man-hands.
Remember the Cranberries? They’re not around anymore, but in 1993, they released their debut album Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?. The first single was Linger. In fact, this was the Cranberries first single ever.
In the chorus, Dolores O’Riordan sings, “Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?” But I like to change the lyrics to, “Did you have to, did you have to, did you have to pull my finger?”
I think the band would have been a lot more successful if they’d used those words. There just aren’t enough popular emotional songs about flatulence. That’s my view, anyway.
Tags: 90s music, did you have to pull my finger?, do you have to let it linger?, dolores o'riordan, everybody else is doing it so why can't we?, fart, farting, farts, flatulence, let it linger, linger, man hands, pass gas, passing gas, pull my finger, the cranberries
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don't insult our intelligence
Isn’t it ironic? Don’t ya think? (No, Alanis. No I don’t.)
"All I need is a damn knife!"
Back in 1995 Alanis Morissette released a little album called Jagged Little Pill. This album launched Alanis (formerly of You Can’t Do That on Television and Dave Coulier popped my cherry fame) into international superstardom. The album spawned 5 hit singles, the first being You Oughta Know (supposedly in reference to the aforementioned Dave Coulier), but the one that gets my goat the most is Ironic.
Now, maybe Alanis really just doesn’t understand the meaning of the word. Maybe she’s legally retarded (I mean, she is Canadian, after all). But nothing in the entire song actually constitutes actual irony. Rain on your wedding day? Puh-leeeeeze.
Matt and I have had many debates on what constitutes actual irony. For instance, Matt would tell me about how he was writing on a post-it or something, and then the show he was watching would feature a tour through a post-it making factory, and then call it ironic. I’d explain that that’s just a coincidence, not irony, and we’d have to figure out what irony actually meant. This has been going on for years.
Collegehumor.com even modified the lines from Alanis’ song to make them actually ironic. I like their examples better, because, well, it really is ironic. Don’t you think?
Perhaps Alanis doesn’t think enough of her fans or the general public to believe we would know what irony is. Perhaps she doesn’t know herself. Or perhaps it was done on purpose, and the actual irony is in the fact that a song called Ironic contains no real examples of irony. That would truly be genius, but I’m not willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one. I’m gonna have to go with the second option here.
Maybe all that green slime affected her brain.
Tags: 90s music, alanis morissette, dave coulier, definition of ironic, definition of irony, don't you think, green slime, hit singles, ironic, irony, isn't it ironic?, jagged little pill, legally retarded, rain on your wedding day, you can't do that on television, you oughta know
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songspeak
Building a History
Back in 1997, Matt and I were still discovering the joys of the interweb. This was also the year that the album Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan was released.
The first big hit off of that album was Building a Mystery. We kinda liked this song, and were even quite surprised that she drops the F bomb in it. We saw her perform it live at MixFest in Boston that year (other notable acts included Barenaked Ladies, 10,000 Maniacs, the Monkees, Paula Cole, and Duncan Shiek, among others).
This was also the year that Matt and I found out about this “brand new and innovative” online instant messaging program called ICQ. Apparently, ICQ still exists, but I don’t think too many people use it anymore. Anywho, when using ICQ, it would save a log of any conversations you had with your online friends, and it called this a “history”.
Well, one night, in the middle of a rather lengthy online conversation on ICQ with Matt, he messaged, “You know what we’re doing, Jame?” I said, “No, what?”, and he simply responded with, “We’re building a history” (an obvious reference to Sarah McLachlan’s Building a Mystery).
That’s it. All that build-up for that. That was back when Songspeak was in its infancy. It was a simpler time.
"how r u? i m gud. lol"
Tags: 10000 maniacs, 90s concerts, 90s music, 98.5, 98.5 mixfest, barenaked ladies, boston, building a history, building a mystery, chat log, duncan shiek, history, icq, instant messaging, mixfest, paula cole, sarah mclachlan, surfacing, the monkees
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misheard lyrics
Come on now try and understand… the way I feel, I’m the Orkin Man
Every time I hear 10,000 Maniacs version of Because The Night, I think of our friend Bill singing…”Because the night… belongs to bugs” which only makes sense if you also know this line:Bill’s version: “Come on now, try and understand the way I feel, I’m the Orkin man”
The real words: “Come on now, try and understand the way I feel under your command”
Because The Night was originally written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, and released by The Patti Smith Group in 1978 on their album, Easter. When 10,000 Maniacs played an episode of MTV Unplugged, a popular 90s acoustic show on MTV, their cover of this song was notable. Today it’s still played on light rock and mix radio stations everywhere.
And what about The Orkin Man?
Well, it seems like they’ve retired the Orkin Man campaign in favor of these amusingly weird commercials featuring a giant bug creature devising clever ways of attempting to get into your house. Here’s one:
Tags: 00s tv commercials, 10000 maniacs, 90s music, acoustic, because the night, belongs to lovers, bruce springsteen, giant bug, mtv unplugged, natalie merchant, orkin, orkin man, patti smith, patti smith group, ten thousand maniacs
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misheard lyrics
This is not my kind of day
The Verve Pipe is one of the most talented and influential bands of this generation.
But, they still were a band. This much is true. They had a small measure of success in the late 90’s, and one of their more popular songs was Cup of Tea.
And even though this was the name of the song, Matt somehow always thought Brian Vander Ark was singing, “this is not my kind of day” instead of “this is not my cup of tea”.
I mean, come on Matt. It’s the name of the song. Get with the program.
You know what’s not my cup of tea?
Tags: 90s music, brian vander ark, cup of tea, get with the program, not my cup of tea, not my kind of day, the verve pipe, verve pipe, villains
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misheard lyrics
Ooo, ooo, ooo, kissed by a man
I'm so glad Mike Watt wrote that song for us!
Last night, my wife Jo and I were listening to Songspeak’s Greatest Hits Volume 9 in my car. This particular volume includes Piss-Bottle Man by Mike Watt. I would call this a somewhat obscure song, as it’s not a song you hear very often. Jo obviously wasn’t familiar with it, because as he was singing the chorus (”ooo, ooo, ooo, piss-bottle man”), she asked if he was singing “kissed by a man”. Perhaps she thought this 1995 song was a companion to Jill Sobule’s 1995 hit, I Kissed a Girl (and a precursor to Katy Perry’s recent lesbionic offering). I told her what the real line was, but honestly, it makes less sense than her misheard version, so who knows what the hell Mike Watt was thinking. Anyway, here’s the video. Decide for yourself.
Coincidentally, on a side note, Songspeak’s Greatest Hits Volume 9 also contains Invisible Touch by Genesis for the exact reasons stated in this post.
Tags: 00s music, 80s music, 90s music, evan dando, genesis, i kissed a girl, invisible touch, katy perry, kissed by a man, lesbionic, mike watt, phil collins, piss-bottle man, songspeak's greatest hits, volume 9
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songspeak
The Matt Who Hated the Man Who Sold the World
There is one purpose for this post, and that’s to get under Matt’s skin.
Some of you may remember that in the early 90’s, Nirvana did an edition of MTV Unplugged. It was pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Many of the songs from the set became singles and got lots of radio airplay.
One of those was their cover of The Man Who Sold the World, originally released by David Bowie. Well, this sent Matt into a rage the likes of which I’d never seen. Whenever it came on the radio, he would tell anyone within earshot, “I didn’t like this song when it first came out, and I don’t like it now!” It was as if Nirvana had performed the song just to stick it to Matt, or at least that’s what he thought.
This has become a running gag here at Songspeak, and if I ever hear the song when Matt’s around, I always bring up how he didn’t like the song when it first came out, and he doesn’t like it now.
So, just for Matt, here you go:
And just for good measure:
Tags: 70s music, 90s music, 90s tv, covers, david bowie, david bowie cover, i didn't like it then and i don't like it now, mtv, mtv unplugged, nirvana, the man who sold the world, unplugged
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songspeak
Is MC Hammer ready for some football?
There’s a new commercial for Monday Night Football on ESPN with MC Hammer, and I sure do get a kick out of it. I’ve discussed in other posts the usage of MC Hammer’s songs in commercials, but this one’s different. For one thing, MC Hammer actually appears as himself. For another, well, I won’t ruin it, but just listen to what’s said just before the dude wakes up. I just think this commercial’s great because who hasn’t had a totally weird dream that gets weirder when their alarm goes off, and the sound of their alarm is incorporated into their dream? I know I have.
Anywho, I get a kick out of it. So here it is, for your viewing pleasure (there is a second commercial after it that’s also pretty amusing, but it doesn’t have MC Hammer in it, so nuts to them):
I mean, I don’t even care about sports and this commercial almost makes me want to watch Monday Night Football. Almost.
Tags: 00s tv commercials, 90s music, alarm clock, are you ready for some football?, back to the grind, dream, espn, espn monday night football, football, hammer, mad keytar skills, mc hammer, mc hammer monday night football commercial, monday night football, monday night football commercial, please hammer don't hurt em, weird dreams
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