When control of the House of Representatives changes hands, so does the prime office space. Republicans now occupy high-traffic areas, making more public one of the institution’s dirty little secrets: Smoking is allowed in the private offices of members of Congress.
Congressional offices from the first have been exempted from Washington’s ban on indoor smoking, but the issue burst out of the shadows recently when a journalist complained about the stench of cigars emanating from the office of Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the new chairman of the House Rules Committee. Because that office is near an often-used elevator, the smell has spread far beyond his personal space.
Confronted about it, Republicans, as usual, doubled down, because their motivation is the same as it’s always been — they have a desperate need to prove to themselves that they’re their own manly men, and nobody can tell them what to do. Teacher, don’t you fill me up with your rules. I bet they all think of themselves as Fang, too.
Brownsville Station was a Michigan band formed in the late ’60s by Michael “Cub” Koda, who wrote their biggest hit when he was 24 years old (they had another tune sneak into the Top 40, so technically they’re not a one-hit wonder). “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” turned them into a national act when it reached No. 3 in 1973.
In a stunning example of record executive stupidity, Doug Morris, who later rose to become head of Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, refused to release the tune as a single because he hated it. He relented only after a DJ in Portland, Maine, kept playing the album track and people started asking for a single. It had 100,000 orders by the time the 45 was pressed.
Brownsville Station didn’t survive the ’70s, but Koda went on to a career as a music writer and record collector, authoring the AllMusic guide to the blues and “Blues for Dummies” and liner notes for numerous artists. He was just 51 when he died in 2000 of kidney disease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oksTiOIuhHA
Mötley Crüe had their first Top 40 hit in 1985 with their cover of the tune, and it’s the first version on the list when you search for the song on the interwebs. As was sadly typical in the post-“Thriller” era of MTV, the record company felt compelled to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on an over-elaborate video. Just play the fucking song!
