Stiff Little Fingers - White Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Rancid - Christmas Eve (She Got Up and Left Me)

Rancid Christmas song:

The Clash - Straight to Hell

One of my music-loving clients was training with me this morning and we heard what we thought was the intro to this:



No such luck. It was a song that either sampled Straight to Hell, or just lifted the riff and re-made it. It sure sounded just like Straight to Hell.

So I had to sit and listen to this track tonight.

Jimmy Cliff - Ruby Soho (Rancid)

Here is another cover of Ruby Soho, by Rancid. This time covered by the legendary Jimmy Cliff.



It's produced by Tim Armstrong, but it's very cool to see an old-school Reggae original covering a band that draws a lot from old-school Reggae.

Vampire Weekend - "Ruby Soho" (Rancid)

I was just talking to one of my friends about this today:



It's a really interesting cover. It plays like a Vampire Weekend original, but retains the lyrics and pace that make it one of Rancid's best tracks.

Weird Al cover The Ramones "Beat on the Brat"

I approve of this cover in every way possible.



I thought the U2 cover of Beat on the Brat was good, but this is better.

Rest in Peace Malcom Young

If you haven't heard, we lost Malcom Young of AC/DC today.

Here is my hands-down favorite AC/DC song, by way of tribute:


Warning: Lip Syncing.

AC/DC is a band where you just hear that power chord, that lead guitar magic of Angus Young. People say it's just simple, one-riff one-idea music.

They're wrong.

AC/DC songs are just as complex as they need to be. No more, no less. They don't waste any chords and they don't over-play their hand. If listen closely, you can hear all of the pieces coming togther oh so well. Listen to Let Their Be Rock live in 1978. It's not a simple song - it's just no more complicated than it needs to. Malcom's steady rhythm guitar is part of the underlying base on which it all lays.

I saw this little eulogy on Instagram from one of my favorite musicians:

Lost another legend today. He was the sole reason I wanted to be a rhythm guitar player. He was the man. No one could hold down the fort like this guy or hold a candle to him. Simply the best. I could only dream of being as good. (RIP)

A post shared by Lars Frederiksen (@larsfrederiksen) on Nov 18, 2017 at 9:28am PST

Rest in peace, Malcom. Thanks for all of the music.

Polysics - Lucky Star

Polysics just keeps cementing themselves in my head as "Japanese Speed DEVO meets Art of Noise."



None of that is a bad thing.

Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good (Live)

Joe Walsh recently played Life's Been Good on the Stephen Colbert show:



Not so different from when I first saw him live like 30 years ago. Still so good.

The Ramones - Little Bit O Soul

The first Ramones album I owned was Subterranean Jungle. I got it from a damaged cassette rack at a record store for $2 and played the living hell out of it.

The first track is a cover from Music Explosion, but to me, it screams Ramones.

Romeo Void - Never Say Never

Romeo Void. I literally know no other songs by them. I'll listen to more right now, but only after I post this. This is all I needed to think they were amazingly awesome. I still love this song. That opening riff and lines - "If time itself was his demeanor, there'd be no sunlight or a glimmer of sunlight landin' on the street" - always grabs me.



"I might like you better if we slept together" - yeah, I can see that. Only one way to find out?

These, too:

"Old couple walks by
As ugly as sin
But he's got her
And she's got him"

And that's all that matters.

The Plasmatics - The Damned

This is probably the first thing I ever saw of The Plasmatics. That's all it took to get me hooked right in.



Performance art metal-punk.

Sham Pistols - Natural Born Killer

At one point, the Sex Pistols had broken up and then Sham 69 broke up.

So Steve Jones & Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) joined up with Dave Tregunna & Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69) teamed up and made music.

Here is Natural Born Killer.



It's not clear what they were called, if anything, but they've been retroactively named the Sham Pistols. Which is as accurate as it is ironic, really. They really rock in a way that's very much a blend of the two bands. You can hear so much of the Jones/Cook blend you got in the post-Rotton pistols music with that later Sham 69 vocals.

Missing Persons - 3 songs

The first time I encountered Missing Persons was on MTV with this video:




I was blown away by the look, the sound, that head cock and squeak that the lead singer made - all of it. I loved them.

The next song was Destination Unknown:



I thought they were really cool. As I got older I moved away from New Wave music. Years later I got some CDs from the period that included Missing Persons doing Walking in L.A.:




I tracked down some of the songs I hadn't heard for years, and listened again. I was really impressed with the musicianship, the lyrics, and the presentation. Then I found out that Dale and Terry Bozzio were in Frank Zappa's circle. It made a lot of sense - their talent level, the way they had a whole package together and made such good, smart music. FZ had good people in his circle.

Only a few months ago a younger guy I train and I were talking. He's being getting into FZ, so I mentioned Missing Persons. He didn't know them until I mentioned they had a singer and drummer married pair that were connected to FZ. He know instantly it was Terry Bozzio. So this post is partly for him. And this is for my friend E-chan, who I have been chatting to recently about FZ. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Stiv Bators!

It would have been Stiv Bator's birthday today.

So here is "Don't Worry Children" off of the Lords of the New Church album "Is Nothing Sacred?"

Andy Shernoff - Who Will Save Rock and Roll? (Acoustic, Live)

No, seriously. Andy Shernoff singing Who Will Save Rock and Roll live, acoustic, solo:



Great lyrics. I named this fucking blog after that song, so you know I like it. I didn't know I'd like it acoustic and without the Manitoba snarl on it. It still works.

The Undertones - Male Model (live)

Here are the Undertones doing one of my favorite tracks, live on The Old Grey Whistle Test. This is "Male Model."

Stinky Toys - Free From Love

This is the French band Stinky Toys, from 1979, doing Free From Love.



I heard of these guys thanks to Jon Savage's book England's Dreaming. Back when I read it in college (during my 2nd year, I remember distinctly) they were only a name on a page. Thanks to YouTube, I can go back and watch them sing the songs I'd read about decades ago.

They're pretty good. I'd probably queue them up with my tracks from Gang of Four, Souxie and the Banshees, and The Slits.

Uncle Tupelo - Factory Belt

I posted a cover by Uncle Tupelo the other day. Here is an excellent original song of theirs, Factory Belt:

The Darkness - Solid Gold

Don't sing along to this too loud at work.

AC/DC backbeat, pure Darkness lyrically.



Heh, "sacred promise" indeed.

John Lennon - Working Class Hero

This would have been John Lennon's 77th birthday.

I Wanna Destroy You (Uncle Tupelo, Robyn Hitchock)

I've blogged about this song before, because it's so damn awesome.

Here is the original version by the Soft Boys and the one by the Circle Jerks.

Today it's a cover version by Uncle Tupelo:



and a live version by Robyn Hitchcock himself:

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - Birdman

The same Japanese guy who introduced me to Maximum the Hormone also introduce me to Thee Michelle Gun Elephant.

If you've got 9 minutes, this is a good way to get introduced to them as well:

The Darkness - All the Pretty Girls

I'm planning to go see these guys when they come around again next year:

Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love?

This blog has had a major shortage of the Buzzcocks. Let's fucking fix that.

Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ) - Top of the World

More Shonen Knife, because Shonen Knife is always better when there is more, or more volume.

Cover of The Carpenters from the tribute album "If I Was A Carpenter."

Hagfish - Stamp

This was the first song I heard by Hagfish, I think from seeing this video on MTV. I ended up getting "Rocks Your Lame Ass" mostly on the strength on this. Good album, but a cruddy car CD player in my old Dodge scratched it until it was unplayable.

I like how cheery and blatant the whole song is.



and Hagfish did this nice cover of Walking in L.A. by Missing Persons.

Xiu Xiu - Wondering

I was digging through AV Club covers a while back, and found this band Xiu Xiu doing Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top. I didn't like the cover. But I was intrigued enough to want to hear their own music.

This?

Oh, wow.



Just goes to show, sometimes an interesting cover is just a lead-in to the great originals of a band.

Paranoid - released 47 years ago today

Thanks to MK for pointing this out today - it's the 47th anniversary of the release of Paranoid.

Here it is:



and what the fuck, here is The Dickies doing it, too, because The Dickies. This is a nice live version:



I can't say I like the cover better, but I can say I like them equally well.

The Vapors - Turning Japanese

I loved, loved, loved this song the first second I heard it - probably seeing this video on MTV. I haven't stopped loving it since.

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark.



Weird to see the video again after all of these years. I remembered it, pretty much exactly, even after a long time not seeing it.

Let's say this is for my friend K~, who a Japanese person we both know - a bona fide woman from Toh-Kay-Oh - commented had a very Japanese manner. He even said the same, "I think I'm turning Japanese."

All could say back was, "I really think so."

Not sure he caught the reference. Well, maybe he will now.

And hey, Liz Phair cover. I can't find anything wrong with the phrase "Liz Phair cover."

The Lords of the New Chuch - Holy War

Still my favorite super-group, The Lords of the New Church.

God I miss Stiv Bators.

The Undertones - Mars Bars

The second album by The Undertones started with a track called "More Songs About Chocolate and Girls." Chocolate? Mars Bars. This was on the first - and I gather it was the B-Side to "Jimmy Jimmy."

Len - Steal My Sunshine

I'm pretty sure my buddy Jeff introduced me to Len when we worked at A~.com back in 1999.

I sincerely love this song. It grabbed me right from the start. It's a song I wish more people knew, so here we go. You know it now, too. It's been on every MP3 player I've had and every assorted playlist in the car since I first heard it. Sometimes, I just need to hear it, either to cheer up or to stay cheery.



"Well, does he like butter tarts?"

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet

Just a really charming punk love song - The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet. Oddly Jonathan Richman-like.



Looking that one up, I saw that Blink-182 did a nice cover, too. Pretty straightforward, just sped up a little to the faster basic speed of a Blink-182 song. And Blink-182's drummer is in The Transplants, so I've seen them live once removed, putting me, what, two steps from seeing the The Only Ones? Maybe not, but there you go.

The Replacements did a cover, too.

I'd avoid the comments sections on all of these - each one is filled with people slagging off the covers, or the originals, or the bands that cover it, or the original bands. I mean really, that's fucking nonsense. If the band you like, likes another band, you're going to slag that band off? If some band you don't like, likes a band you like, you're going to complain about that? What the hell, people.

X-Ray Spex - I Live Off You

This is my favorite X-Ray Specs song. Great tune, great lyrics:



I live off you
And you live off me
And the whole world
Lives off of everybody

See we gotta be exploited
See we gotta be exploited
By somebody, by somebody, by somebody

The cat eats the rat
While the pimp beats the whore
As she just screams out
For more and more

See we gotta be exploited
See we gotta be exploited
By somebody, by somebody, by somebody

La la la

I live off you
And you live off me
And the whole world
Lives off of everybody

See we gotta be exploited
See we gotta be exploited
By somebody, by somebody, by somebody

La la la



Just go listen to the whole album, okay?

X-Ray Spex - The Day the World Turned Day-Glo

I really needed to hear this today.



X-Ray Spex is a band I'd heard of, as Poly Styrene & X-Ray Specs, written up in a book about punk I'd read. But it took my co-worker Glen to actually pass me a copy of Germ-Free Adolescents on tape so I could hear them.

I copied the tape and then wore my copy out. Poly Styrene is one of the most punk rock people to ever live.

Enjoy.

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks

Come get your Teenage Kicks.

Galaxy Express - Oh Yeah

My new friend Eh-chan recommended this band Galaxy Express to me. I haven't listened to that much of them yet, but I do like this song:

The Ramones - The Crusher

For no reason except that I got in some good grappling today. The Crusher - written by Dee Dee, here sung by CJ.

Gary Numan - My Name is Ruin

Hurrah, new Gary Numan:



He was on Jonsey's Jukebox recently, too, talking about music, going to Katy Perry concerts with his daughters, and facing death in a plane with the engines out over the Pacific Ocean.

Steve Jones - Silly Thing (live)

I always liked this Cook/Jones track from "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle." Post-Rotten Pistols stuff isn't quite the same, but seen as a Cook/Jones solo track, it's just a good rock tune. Steve sings better in 2016 than in 1978, too.

The Undertones - Get Over You (live)

I was looking for a good recording of Get Over You to share with a friend, and I found this great live version:



I love how Beach Boys they look here. Nothing against the Beach Boys, they're one of my favorites. It's just you don't think "Irish 70s punk" and "sweaters," or I least I didn't.

I first heard this song long ago, right after breaking up with someone in a messy and heartbreaking fashion. And I told everyone about this great song. I figure they must have seen it as a cry for help or a disguised message. It wasn't - I just loved the song, the chord progression, the raw and jangly notes, and Feargal Sharkey's voice. I only heard this, Here Comes the Summer, and Gotta Getta, and out of the three this is the best one. So I had little else to go on or to play for other people to show them what the band was like.

Le Tigre - Deceptacon / My My Metrocard

I discovered Le Tigre thanks to airplay on WFMU, on the Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T. Her show also introduce me to Puffy and to Peelander Z.

I was never into Bikini Kill, I've mentioned that before. I recognize they are good, but they aren't for me in general. Le Tigre, though, I just liked. The first two songs I heard by them were these two:

Deceptacon



My My Metrocard



Catchy.

Rancid - Ghost of a Chance (Live on Conan)

Rancid played on Conan O'Brien's show last night:



Short, loud, and awesome.

Polysics - I Me My Mine

This band and this song were introduced to me yesterday by my new friend Eh-chan, who described them as the weirdest Japanese band she knew.

She's not wrong about weird.

She likes punk, especially Rancid and Green Day, so I introduced her to Ken Yokoyama. I featured him on this blog, so what the heck, here is Polysics. I think weird fits. Catchy, though.



Just keep checking out Polysics videos if you want more of the same kind of thing. It's not a one-off oddity from this band. They've got just enough Devo going to suck me in.

Dead Boys / Ramones at CBGBs

Thanks to my friend Ed for finding this and sending this along:

The Dead Boys and The Ramones live at CBGBs in 1979.



The Dead Boys song is Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth; as Joey says The Ramones play Loudmouth.

Too bad it's a little bit rough, but it's good to see them live back in the day.

Speaking of the Dead Boys and CBGBs is a whole set:

Foxboro Hot Tubs - Mother Mary

Just some music I'm listening to right now:

I really like this Green Day side project.

Joey Ramones & the Dictators - The Kids are Alright

Distorted, but really good - The Dictators with Joey Ramone on vocals covering The Who's "The Kids are Alright."



They're at Coney Island High, which if I recall correctly was managed by Lindsay Anderson of The Kowalskis.

The Criminals - Parlez Vous F*** You

This isn't the best track ever recorded by The Criminals, but it's got the best title and it's really awesome.



There is a good live version up on Youtube, too, plus one as part of a whole show including a "cover" of a Blatz song. Nice! I've only managed to see them live once, at Coney Island High in NYC, opening for Voodoo Glow Skulls* and another band whose name escapes me at the moment. (Editing later - it was Zeke)


* Who I've seen at least three times, and it might be more like five or more. I've seen three shows were they were headlining (went to see the opening band) or where they opened, and they played at a festival show I went to and I can't recall if I stopped to see their set. They've popped up a lot of shows I've been at not to see them and got to see them anyway. Kind of how I got to see H2O, actually.

Hi-Standard - Another Starting Line

I'm off to visit some old friends, back in the city where I was first introduced to Ken Yokoyama's and Hi-Standard's music. So here is a recent one, from their long-awaited reunion release.



I still need a "FUCK KEN" t-shirt, but I doubt I'll ever find one.

I think I've said this before, but I've had a running argument about Ken Yokoyama's English. I think his accent is very, very thick - but his English is correct, idiomatic, and smooth. It sounds very Japanese, but you don't get a lot of "Let's Fighting Love!" errors in his songs. Check out Ricky Punks III for what I mean:



Here is a bonus track, as well - Ken Yokoyama, "Ten Years From Now."



I think that's Fat Mike from NOFX and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on the bass.

Rancid - I Kept a Promise - all I hear is Ramones

Ramones much?

I know the guys in Rancid love The Ramones. You can hear the influence on their song "The Brothels." They were on the stage for the last Ramones show ever, and did 53rd and 3rd with them for fuck's sake. But they generally don't sound very Ramones-y to me. But then comes along a track like this:



I just hear about five different Ramones songs in that one, not the least of which is I Wanna Be Sedated.

The Armstrongs - If There Was Ever a Time

So this took long enough - Tim Armstrong (Operation Ivy, Rancid, The Transplants, Tim Timebomb & Friends) and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day, Foxboro Hot Tubs, etc.) and two other guys last-named Armstrong that I'm less familiar with formed a band.



It's a fund-raising track for 924 Gillman Street. I've never been there, but my friend Jesse (The Criminals) has long been involved in keeping it going.

Green Day w/Tim Armstrong - Knowledge / Radio

Here is a good-quality sound video of Green Day featuring Tim Armstrong of Rancid, aka Lint of Operation Ivy. They cover Knowledge by Op Ivy, and then play Radio by Rancid. I can't really say "cover" here because Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote Radio - he's got songwriting credits on it along with Tim and Matt Freeman.



It's a nice image - Tim and Billy Joe sitting on a porch writing, with no idea of their respective, successful, futures ahead.

The Kowalskis - 100% Fun

I first saw The Kowalskis at a show including Mental Decay and SUX at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ.

I went to see SUX. What I didn't know was:

- it was a birthday bash for Lindsay Anderson, lead singer of the Kowalskis

- that those three bands had overlapping members.

I ended up really falling for The Kowalskis. Great, great band. Even better live than on their CD - and their CD kicks ass. It's 100% Fun.

King Missile - Saturday

Because it's Saturday.

Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ) - Bear Up Bison / Riding on the Rocket

I was just telling someone the other day about Shonen Knife. This is my favorite version of Bear Up Bison - the lead off track from Pretty Little Baka Guy. It just feels more raw and fuzzed out than the cleaner (but still good) version off of Let's Knife.



Same thing with the Japanese language version of Riding on the Rocket. Even when the only Japanese I knew was ich-ni-san-shi-go-roku-shichi-hachi-kyu-jyu, hajime, yame, and sensei, I liked this version more than the English language version. Again, it just feels more raw.



Probably didn't hurt that Pretty Little Baka Guy was one of the first two albums I owned by them, so I played it to death. And it helped me learn the planet names in Japanese, except I can only sing them.

Music Mythos: The Ramones

This is a pretty entertaining, very angry, long retrospective/rant about The Ramones.

And this guy likes one of my favorite albums by The Ramones - Subterranean Jungle. That was the first full-length album by The Ramones that I owned. It was a $2 cassette from the discount bin because someone had driven a nail through the case when it was being packed. The tape was fine, and I played the living hell out of it.

The Kinks - Live in London 1973

My sibling showed me the final song of this set by The Kinks today, Village Green Preservation Society. It's outstanding. But the whole 10-song set is worth listening too.

Such a good, good band.

Pantera - Walk

Pantera is one of those bands I missed, more or less, when they came around. They weren't a big-name metal band when I was listening to metal.* They pretty much started making the music I'd have liked, and like now, after I wasn't really seeking out and listening to metal bands.

But this one song kept coming up - Walk.

It's really what I like in a metal song. It's one I can't turn off when it comes on. If you haven't heard it, give it a try.


* Not just metal, for sure, but most of the metal I got into was when I was in high school.

Rancid - Trouble Maker

The new Rancid album Trouble Maker kind of fits the bill. I put the CD in my CD player in my car when I got it, oh, a week or so ago. It hasn't been ejected since. I've been playing it straight through over and over alternated with brief bits of skipping around randomly through the tracks.

If you'd like to hear it all the way through, here it is.



Great stuff, once of their best. Right up there with . . . And Out Come the Wolves and Rancid (2000) in my book.

Rancid - Trouble Maker

Rancid's latest album is out as of today:



My CD, t-shirt, and pin are on the way . . . but naturally these days you can download the MP3s right away.

I did that, queued them up in my car . . . and got "unplayable file." Grr. I came back from work and fixed that and I'm playing it right now.

Great stuff. I'm really enjoying it.

Generally Rancid albums are a slow burn for me. I play it through, I kind of go, "Ok, that's fine." Then they settle in and never leave. Rancid (2000) is a good example of that. It went from "Huh" to my hands-down favorite Rancid album.

This one won't kick that one to the curb but it's really excellent. I'm a total die-hard Rancid fan, so that take my review with that in mine - I rate their albums on a scale from "love it!" to "totally kicks ass!"

This one falls somewhere in that range. Heh. LET'S GO!

Shonen Knife in the news

Shonen Knife got featured on a local radio station:

Ramen Rock: These Japanese Punk Legends Sing About Food

Stiv Bators and the Zeroes - Mr. MX-7

I finally saw Tapeheads, which I watched basically because a) Stiv and b) Bators. Stiv Bators is in it as Dick Slammer, obnoxious lead singer of The Blender Children.

The song they sing is Mr. MX-7, which was released as Stiv Bators and the Zeroes:

Rancid - Telegraph Avenue

Second single from the upcoming Rancid album was posted up today:



I love the "PUNK" switch that gets stomped just before the song ramps up.

Sid Vicious - My Way

John Simon Ritchie would have been 60 today.

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Por Moi + The Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died

These songs were back to back on a mix tape I made in the 90s, and they're now inextricably linked in my head as a double-header:

Part 1

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Por Moi


Part 2

The Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died



Poor Tony. He couldn't fly.


And for what it's worth, the Rancid album . . . And Out Come the Wolves is named after a line in the song "Junkie Man" that album penned by and recited by Jim Carroll.

Rancid - Live at the Filmore 12/12/1995

Here is a throwback to Rancid arend when I first saw them - this not long after And Out Come the Wolves . . . came out. My first show was a year or so before this, after Let's Go. I still regret not making sure to get one of those burgundy-colored Let's Go T-Shirts, but they'd sold out before I realized I should push my way to the merch counter and buy a shirt.

I always try to get T-shirts or CDs or something at the show, if only because I know the band gets so much more of the cost when I do. I have to support what I love, or who will?

Anyway, Rancid live.



Enjoy.

Rancid - Ghost of a Chance

New Rancid!



Album comes out June 9th. I'm going to miss their NY/NJ area show because I'll be out of the state. Bad timing. I'll make sure to catch them the next time.

Anthrax - Caught in a Mosh

It's weird to see these guys with hair. Big, big hair.

I Like the Cover Better: Motorhead - Shoot 'em Down

I love the original of this song by Twisted Sister. It's very TS and really feels like it could be a Brian Johnson-era AC/DC song with just slightly too many chords to really be AC/DC.



But the Motorhead version is everything that's good about the original and everything that is good about Motorhead.

Iron Maiden - The Prisoner

I really wanted to hear this yesterday, and requested it, but our music streaming service at work just wouldn't bring it up. I heard plenty of excellent Iron Maiden, some Metallica, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Pantera, and Megadeath . . . but it didn't scratch this itch.



There, that does it.

Good song, and of course, it's got the snippet of Patrick McGoohan as No. 6 in the beginning.

J. Geils Band - Love Stinks

We lost J. Geils . . .



The J. Geils Band was the biggest and most popular band in my school when I was in 4th grade. Before that, I was in another school and Styx was huge. But that's when I first heard them. Freeze Frame and Centerfold, of course, but if they'd only ever done Love Stinks they'd still be a favorite of mine.

The Lords of the New Church - Like A Virgin

I can't believe I didn't post this before. Part of my commute home music this morning.



Better than the original. Play this one loud and belch along with Stiv Bators.

45 Grave - Evil

Today's post is brought to you by the number 45.



Thanks to a co-worker of mine way back when who included this song - along with two other 45 Grave tracks - on a mix tape.

The Ramones - Every Time I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me Think of You

The other day my friend Ed and I were listening to the radio and Girlfriend in a Coma came on. I said, I prefer The Ramones take on the subject:



Really catchy. Really what-the-hell? too, which is very Ramone-y to me. "Did he just sing about Thorazine?" Yep.

That's from Subterranean Jungle, the first album by The Ramones that I owned personally.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - You Got Lucky

First off, this was a very cool video when it came out. It's probably not looking so cool to much younger folks seeing it the first time. But it's post-apocalyptic and had radiated-looking skies and a nice electronic intro. Tom Petty videos generally were worth watching as videos.



But also, this song is great. It's good solid rock and roll, for one. But also, rock and roll is filled with songs about getting broken up with, unrequited love, the pain of loss, and women that done broke your heart and men who don't deserve it (and vice-versa). But Tom Petty stands out with a trio of tracks that turn that around. You're leaving me? Go ahead, but I'm the catch here. Confidence, not loss. I loved it when I first heard it even if that kind of confidence took years to sink in to my life.

I'll post the other two some time, too - Free Falling and Don't Come Around Here No More, my favorite Tom Petty track. But for now, you got lucky. And got post-apocalypse.

BNQT - Restart

I love this song. It reminds me of Matthew Sweet and T.Rex at the same time, plus a few other things I can't put my finger on.

Manitoba's Wild Kingdom - New York New York

"If I wasn't blasting Sister Ray I would lose my mind."

I love songs that reference songs. I also love it when both songs rock.



This is New York New York by Manitoba's Wild Kingdom - as in Handsome Dick Manitoba of The Dictators, plus friends (some of whom are in The Dictators.) If you visited NYC in the scary 70s and grimy and dangerous 80s this song will stick to you. Me, I grew up in one of them there safe suburban slums. Still, this song makes me sing out loud, so be wary of playing it around me. It's the song that pops into my head on long subway rides when people start dancing or singing or panhandling. Fun stuff. The song, anyway, not the subway nonsense.

The Dictators - Faster and Louder

For a blog named after, themed after, and inspired by a song by The Dictators, it's had a nearly criminal lack of The Dictators recently.

Let's fix that, right now, faster and louder.

It's got Bruce Springsteen doing a 1-2-1-2-3-4 count on it, too.

For fuck's sake, it's about time I posted that.

Shonen Knife - It's a New Find

Wear your socks inside out. Get a weird haircut. Have fun. It's a new thing!

There is nothing I don't like about Shonen Knife.

Lemmy & WOW - Jailbait

Lemmy. Wendy Orlean Williams. Jailbait.

Enough said.

The Blue Hearts

I mentioned these guys before, and linked to a cover of their stuff from the movie Linda Linda Linda.

I'm not sure I've talked about them before.

I wish I'd heard of them earlier, but I have to admit I don't think I did prior to 2005 or 2006. I stumbled across the movie Linda Linda Linda, discovered The Blue Hearts, and then had friends (and a great Japanese teacher, Kimura-sensei) lend me their stuff.

I wish I'd known about them much earlier. I'd have loved them when I was in high school and college, when I was discovering bands like Naive and digging deeper and deeper into punk's roots.

Once I discovered this band, I got turned on to The High-Lows, and later onto Cro-Magnons, both successor bands to The Blue Hearts. Neither band really grabbed me as much as the original did, but they're good, too.

Here is a quick selection of standout tracks of theirs:

Owaranai Uta


Linda Linda


Train Train


Here is a good, full, live set. That YouTube user has a number of full set videos.

Paranmaum - Linda Linda (The Blue Hearts cover)

This is one of my favorite fake bands.

Fake band?

Not a band. It's the band in a movie. It's actors playing - check Bae Doona on vocals, and Girls #15 Aki Maeda on drums - but it's really good.

In this case it's Paranmaum ("Blue Hearts" in Korean, I'm told) covering The Blue Hearts "Linda Linda." It's from the movie Linda Linda Linda, which is extremely watchable. I could follow along even when I caught about 10% of the Japanese. And it has a dream sequence featuring The Ramones.



If you keep going they go into Owaranai Uta over the credits. Yeah, you just caught the payoff. Still worth watching the whole movie.

Shonen Knife & CJ Ramone - Blitzkreig Bop

I love The Ramones. I loved CJ Ramone, and in fact when I finally got to see The Ramones it was CJ on bass at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park (motto at the time: post-apocalypse charm, pre-apocalypse parking!)

I also deeply love Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ), another band it took me forever to get to see. Finally saw them live at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ.

Here they are together, slamming through Blitzkreig Bop.



If you check CJ's channel, there is a video of them doing a song called Scattergun together as well.

Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Arms Around a Memory

He's right, you can't. Don't try.

Warren Zevon's birthday

Warren Zevon would have been 70 today. I'm sorry he didn't get there. I'm pretty much sad he didn't get there every time I hear one of his songs - he was unique even in a field full of personalities.

Happy Birthday Warren. I hear your shit is fucked up, though.

Joey Ramone & Holly Beth Vincent: I Got You Babe

I hadn't heard this before, but my friend Ed told me about it today. I like this version.

Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

Wall of Voodoo is a band largely known for one song - this one. They're a lot deeper than that, though. Still, "Mexican Radio" is painfully catchy, memorable, and has a weird video.



Periodically I just need to hear Mexican Radio.