In memory of Mike Nesmith - The Monkees, "You Just May Be the One"

Here is a lovely song written and sung by Mike Nesmith, with The Monkees. This is from the later period where he'd exercised a lot more control over the band's material.




Here it is on the TV show, if you prefer:



Enjoy. Thanks for the music, Nez.

Wet Leg - Live - Tiny Desk Concert

Here is Wet Leg doing an NPR Tiny Desk Concert:

The Ramones - I Don't Wanna Grow Up

The Ramones covering Tom Waits.

And here is the original:

Shonen Knife - Pop Tune

Shonen Knife = happiness, so enjoy some happiness.

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue

Thanks to WFMU for playing this and Ed for sending it to me independently. Great stuff.

"Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?"

Rancid - If the Kids are United (Sham 69 cover)

Thanks to Dylan for reminding me about this cover by Rancid:



I'd forgotten about this, because someone had borrowed all of my Give 'Em The Boot CDs a long time back and never gave them back. So I need to track them down again.

And of course, because Matt Freeman, they kicked up the bass line a lot on this one.

Angelic Upstarts - If the Kids are United (Sham 69 Cover)

I was listening to the Angelic Upstarts recently, and found this:



I love the original, I like this cover, too. And thanks to the Dropkick Murphys for reminding me about these guys the other day with one of the records displayed on their video wall behind the band as they played.

Klaatu - Calling Occupants of Interstellar Craft

One of my favorite prog songs is this one, Calling Occupants of Intersteller Craft by Klaatu:



This song feels like such a clear connection the band's name - as if calling out to the pilot of the spacecraft from The Day the Earth Stood Still.


I first encountered this song as a cover on The Langley Schools Music Project. Next I heard the Klaatu version, and then finally the version by The Carpenters.

The Carpenters:

The Langley Schools Music Project

Oh, and trivia - the owl sound at the beginning is one of the band members blowing across a half-empty Labatt 50 shortie's open top.

Rancid - Live at Randall's Island, 1998

This is most of Rancid's set from July 1st, 1998, at the Vans Warped Tour.

I'm out there, somewhere, off to stage left (and to the back left of that VANS tent. I was up against a barrier, and basically got ground against it during that big circular mosh pit during "St. Mary."

It was a brutally hot, dry, and dusty day. I was literally sneezing out and coughing up dust for days after this . . . we'd laughed at the people we saw wearing masks. Next outdoor show I go to on a dry field, I'm bringing a dust mask and a hat that covers my ears. I spent the day in the sun and dust and drove us all home exhuasted and dehydrated, for this one little set.

Still worth it. I don't regret going. It was the first time I heard "Hooligans" live, and the first time I heard them cover Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder they Come," ever. I hadn't heard "The Brothels," either, but subsequently tracked it down.



Not great video, not great sound quality, but I've never seen any other footage of this set. Sadly it cuts off while Tim climbs up the amps on stage left.

The Ventures - Wipeout (Live in Japan, 1966)

Here is an outstanding live version of Wipeout:



That's some excellent drumming.

Tuff Darts - (Your Love is Like) Nuclear Waste

For reasons I can't adequately explain, the Tuff Darts "(Your Love is Like) Nuclear Waste" has been stuck in my head this week.

I heard it today on the radio!

So now here it is for you, too.

Abba - The Visitors

This is a very underrated song by Abba . . . very new wave and it fits in with the alienation and paranoia of early Gary Numan / Tubeway Army and DEVO . . . it's a still a catchy Abba song yet really screams "our lives are coming apart."

Toots & the Maytals - Pressure Drop (live)

The more times I hear this song, the more I like this song:



I like this live version a lot. The original is pretty amazing, of course.

The Plasmatics, "Dream Lover" live

Wendy O Williams, rest in peace.

Ready? Ich-ni-san-shi!

Altered Images - Happy Birthday

It's been years since I heard this, and then I heard it today on the radio . . . WFMU of course.

Devo - That's Good

I'm not sure I ever saw this video . . . but this was my favorite DEVO song when I was younger. "Oh No! It's Devo" was one of my first two albums - I received it and the first A Flock of Seagulls album for Christmas. I asked for both.



Apparantly this ran afoul of MTV and had to be edited . . . yeah, DEVO getting censored for explicit context. Heh.

Otoboke Beaver - Don't Light My Fire

I'm not sure how I missed this in 2019 . . . but miss it I did.



That's great, great stuff.

Television Personalities - Part Time Punks

They've got 2.50 to see The Clash.

Happy St. Valentine's Day - Double Post!

Here are my answers to "favorite love song" and "favorite not-love song."

The Hollies - All I Need is the Air that I Breathe


J. Geils Band - Love Stinks

Steve Jones Duff McKagan - "Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"

Here are Steve Jones and Duff McKagan covering the Johnny Thunders classic:

The Lords of the New Church - The Lord's Prayer (live in Vienna 1988)

Good version of "The Lord's Prayer" by the Lords of the New Church. I still miss Stiv.