Alone Again, Or

I keep hearing this song on the radio that reminds me of Love, especially of "Alone Again Or."



A great track, and if you're a fan of the movie Bottle Rocket, a song with multiple layers of memories.

This is the song - Calexico, Falling From The Sky.



Turns out they did a cover of Alone Again Or.



Looking into covers of Alone Again Or, The Damnned - yes, The Damnned - did a cover of Alone Again Or. That Captain Sensible, he's a wanker, but he's got taste. Or so I say. Maybe Dave Vanian picked that one.



I'm about as shocked as if I'd found Motorhead covered this song. Which they haven't, unless my Google Fu has failed me.

Love was quite the influential band.

Rancid, "Killing Zone"

Last post, I mentioned my friend Roxanne had used "Happy Up Here" as fight walk-out music.

I only got to walk out to music once in a fight - most of my matches were in a competitive system that didn't do that kind of stuff until you turned pro.

I didn't have a lot to pick from, because I needed a CD and I didn't have a burner. But what I did have was Rancid's B Sides & C Sides.

So I picked something rousing - in the end, it was a toss-up between "That's Entertainment" and "Killing Zone."

I went with Killing Zone:



To this day, I can't listen to the song. I love it, but I have to skip it when it comes up on the CD. As soon as it comes on, I feel all of the pre-fight tension. The nerves, the crowd noise, the tightness of the tape on the gloves the way I chew on my mouthguard, everything. It comes back in a rush and my heart beats faster and I feel my blood pressure rise. It's become a fight-or-flight cue. I can watch the fight without a lot of tension, but I can't hear the intro music. I tried when I wrote this post. But no, still not, more than 7 years out from the day I walked out to it.

Music is like that - it gets into you so deep that it becomes inextricably linked with what was around when you heard it, or the events you went through while listening to it.

It's a good song, though. B-Side quality at worst. I'd listen if I could.

Royskopp - Happy Up Here

One song I hear fairly often as filler music is Royskopp's "Happy Up Here."

I was introduced to this song when my friend Roxanne introduced me to it by using it as fight intro music - she's a professional MMA fighter. If this sounds pretty upbeat for fight music, just remember she's The Happy Warrior.



There is something to be said for live-action Space Invaders, too.

Ramones Walking Tour of NYC

My friend shared this with me today:

The Ramones Guide to NYC

It's a walking tour, basically, of NYC through the lens of the The Ramones.

And because Joey mentions it:

Sloan covering Gary Numan's "Cars"

In another installment of interesting covers, I found this:

Sloan Covering Gary Numan's "Cars"

Nice cover, and and a very interesting softer take on "Cars." You've got the tambourine, the synthesizer, and so on, but you've also got a nice variation on the chords on the guitar.

Belated Memory: AJ Pero of Twisted Sister

Back on March 20th, Rock-and-Roll lost a member of a band I really like: Twisted Sister.



You can see him in that video, hitting the glitter-covered drums. Great song, by the way - rocking beat, great lyrics, fun to sing along to in the car. Play it loud.

I always loved Twisted Sister, and I really enjoyed the fact that they played on the hard rock station's look in GTA3: Vice City. Dee Snyder snarling in that wig and awful makeup . . . it takes me right back to only the good parts of High School.

Forgotten Album Track: Atom Tan/The Clash

Possibly my favorite track on the last album by The Clash is Atom Tan.

It's a strange stream-of-consciousness indictment of society in a very typical Clash fashion. While Combat Rock is best known for Should I Stay or Should I Go? and Rock the Casbah - for good reason - and possibly should be better known for Know Your Rights, it's Atom Tan that I queued up the moment I finally got this again on CD. It is, hands down, my favorite track off the album.



Now you've caught an even atom tan.