Sparks have been given a raw deal by time. They may not have been the best or brightest band of their era, but they were making damn interesting, and at times insanely catchy, records of any genre, and particularly for early ’80s synth pop. In a field where you’re only as good as your latest synthesizer, the Mael brothers (Ron and Russell) dared to make art with their keyboards. Pity they’re not given more credit for that.
This song, from their 1982 album Angst in My Pants, is a sentimental favorite because it appeared on the first mix tape (that’s right, we said it, mix tape) that this writer received from the girl who would one day become his wife. We even played it at our wedding, something that we’re guessing the Maels would find amusing. This video is homemade, but it’s cute. The song is really the key here, though. (And for the record, love is not worse than war and worse than death. If it feels that way, you’re doing it wrong.)
This is by nature a fun column, designed to get people pumped up for whatever weekend festivities they may have planned. Sometimes, though, something comes up that is just begging for some kind of commentary. This is one of those times.
This weekend (starting yesterday, actually), deep in the heart of southern Illinois, the twelfth (!) annual Gathering of the Juggalos is taking place. Now, we’ve seen the word ‘Juggalo’ pop up here and there in the news cycle – usually near the word ‘Gallagher’ – but we were quick to dismiss it because Juggalos are fans of the Detroit hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse, who hit their commercial peak in the late ’90s and were perhaps best known for a feud with fellow Motowner Eminem. Are there really enough of these Juggalos to merit their own festival?
Usually at this time on the first Friday in August, we’re in Chicago’s Grant Park, soaking up the sun (or, in 2009, a lot of rain) and tunes galore at Lollapalooza. This year, well, we’re not there. Don’t ask, as it’s still a sore subject, but we will tell you that it has something to do with a cat, bungee cables, string cheese, and a bread maker. The gag order prohibits us from saying another word.
Strangely, the lineup is looking better and better now that we’re not going, though once again they scheduled several of our must-see bands against each other (Coldplay, Muse and Girl Talk at the same time? Really?). One band we’d like to get a second look at is White Lies, a pasty London trio who released an iffy EP a couple years ago, but opened their new album Ritual with one killer alt-dance rock groove called “Is Love.” Give it a moment to breathe, and when the second chorus hits, get out your air guitars.
Next up: Foster the People, another unfortunately named band (all of the good ones, apparently, are taken) who absorbed every note of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular as if it were the sun. To their credit, the best moments on their debut album out-do MGMT’s last album without breaking a sweat. “Pumped Up Kicks” is getting the airplay, but it’s second single “Houdini” that had us at the opening kick drum.
Which brings us to one of Friday’s headliners – come to think of it, all three of these bands are playing on Friday, which shows that Lolla once again front-loaded the festival, making it impossible to see everyone, or even half of everyone, you paid $220 to see – and one absolute must-see in concert: Muse. Lolla regulars know this already, since they headlined three years ago, but lest anyone be thinking of catching Coldplay, also a dynamic live band, the decision between the two is an easy one. Of course, the fact that anyone would have to choose between the two – one of these bands should be playing opposite Eminem. End of story – is just silly, but such is life. (Note: we wanted to go with the live version of “Stockholm Syndrome” here, but the damn thing isn’t embeddable, ugh.)
Happy Lolla, everyone. Don’t get too fried. Also, don’t get sunburned.
Our friends at Popdose – which is the ‘editorial we’ way of saying this writer is involved – are assembling a list of the best cover versions of a song ever recorded. The submissions were a curious bunch, to be sure. From the looks of things, any song that is sung by someone other than the person who wrote it is eligible. This was good in that it opened up songs like “The Air That I Breathe” from the Hollies for consideration, as well as Nancy Sinatra’s Quentin Tarantino-endorsed version of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Who knew that song was written by Cher?
As we were culling our favorites from the list, though, there was one staggering omission, and that is “Good Times,” INXS and Jimmy Barnes’ smoking hot remake of a tune by the Easybeats (yep, the “Friday on My Mind” guys, which gives us an idea for another Friday Video piece). Recorded for the soundtrack to “The Lost Boys,” which featured quite a few covers, though only half of which hit the mark (Echo and the Bunnymen nailed “People Are Strange,” while Tina Turner saxman Tim Cappello had difficulty making the Call’s “I Still Believe” his own), “Good Times” didn’t crack the US Top 40, but it didn’t miss by much, peaking at #47. (The band would score a #1 hit a few months later with “Need You Tonight.”) Listen to it now, though. Damn, what were we listening to that prevented this from being a smash? You know what, don’t answer that. It’s better that those artists remain forgotten.
Parting shot: “Good Times” was co-written by George Young, the older brother of AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young. Nice.
The opening drums might be faker than 60% of Posh Spice’s body, and sadly you’ll have to look elsewhere to hear them, because they were cut off of this upload, but hot damn, does this song still sound cool to us now. Not every rock song made it out of the ’80s alive. Most of Tom Werman’s productions, in particular, sound hollow and dated, and when a friend played a homemade best of Dokken he had made, the question that kept popping into our heads was, “Didn’t we just hear this song?” Ah, but “Run Runaway” still sounds awesome today. Huge power chords, those chugging synthetic drums, the fiddle, the chain gang backing vocals…love, love, love. The clip the band shot, though, is just silly, with lead singer Noddy Holder just making goofy faces at the camera for a good 10 seconds straight. Imagine Michael Bay or McG putting a shot like that in a video. The urge to hyper-edit will surely consume them.
All right, so maybe this isn’t a video to watch, but rather to listen to. And remember, Quiet Riot’s biggest hit was written by these guys, which would explain why the band went back to the Slade well for their next album by covering “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.” (That one didn’t work out so well, peaking at #51.) Happy Friday, everyone. Rock on.
