Whatever else he does, Donald Trump remains committed to the Art of the Grift. Amid his soporific campaigning and military cemetery lawbreaking, he found time to peddle a new line of so-called digital trading cards. This is as close as one can come to paying money for nothing, but Trump fans can be counted on to fork it over. He’s not getting his chicks for free, however. Last time I checked he was paying more than $100,000 apiece for them.

I’m not sure this is Dire Straits’ signature song – “Sultans of Swing” might still hold that distinction – but it was MTV’s theme song during the video music channel’s Golden Age, mainly because it was the first hit that was actually about MTV, and had a video with what were then groundbreaking computer animation. Mark Knopfler didn’t write the lyrics so much as transcribe a conversation between two workers at an electronics store who were watching Def Leppard on the store’s wall of televisions tuned to MTV.

Sting’s guest appearance on the tune was a serendipitous coincidence. Knopfler, who was recording his “Brothers in Arms” album on Montserrat, speculated that it would be great if he could get Sting to add background vocals, and was told that Sting just happened to be on the island at the time. “I want my MTV” was the slogan the company used in its commercials at the time, as they were trying to convince cable companies to add their channel to their packages. That the line’s melody was the same as the Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” added a sly wink to the proceedings.

The song still gets played on classic rock radio, but only in its chopped-down single version, so it had been years since I heard this full-length LP edit. It starts with a long fade-in that builds to a frenzied drum-and-synth climax, erupting into Knopfler’s killer guitar riff (the tone was achieved with a half-open wah wah pedal), and fades out with three minutes of a long solo. It also eliminates the song’s second verse, which tends to shock young listeners by talking about “that little faggot” who’s a millionaire.

Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the Kamala afterglow – today calls for some sunshine pop.

Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) is part of the Animal Collective, a group of songwriter/producers who work together, separately and in various combinations on projects that usually bring an electronic/techno sensibility to pop, or vice versa. Sonic Boom (Peter Kember) isn’t part of that group, but he produced two of Lennox’s solo albums before they collaborated on 2022’s “Reset,” which was credited to both artists.

Lennox often works with samples. For a couple of tunes on “Reset” he used the opening bars of ’50s and ’60s pop hits that start off familiar before veering into new directions. It took me a minute to place the riff that opens “Gettin’ to the Point.”

“Edge of the Edge,” on the other hand, is instantly identifiable, but the result sounds like what might have happened if Buddy Holly had sent just the intro to Brian Wilson and let him finish the song.

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

So the rumors were confirmed this morning. The battling Gallagher brothers will bring back Oasis after 15 restless years and separate solo careers. It would have been hard to turn down the estimated $50 million the tour will bring. Noel’s on the hook for a huge divorce settlement, but there are many ways two blokes who grew up in a Manchester council flat could use the money.

This is good news. Some might say Oasis combined engaging melodies with powerful, ringing electric guitar as well as, or even better than, any rock group since the ’60s. At least the top group of the ’90s, according to some chroniclers of the era. A welcome rock band at a time when rock was in decline. An exuberant band when other bands were looking down at their shoes. Chart-topping songs and albums.

But don’t count on everything being peachy with the batting Gallaghers between now and the first concerts next summer in Europe. Liam and Noel famously don’t get along, at least since they were very young and a drunk Liam staggered into the house and took a whiz on Noel’s new stereo. Well, there used to be a toilet there, Liam said.

Huge early success only made matters worse. They were oil and water. Liam was rowdy with a guttersnipe flair, Noel was quieter, more thoughtful. That never changed. Band dynamics didn’t help. Liam was one of the founders, but Oasis didn’t take off until they brought older brother Noel in to write the songs and play lead guitar. The situation was ripe for resentment. Noel was the key to the music, but Liam was the more flamboyant (and better looking) lead singer and frontman. Liam likely resented Noel for being more talented.

So there was that time when Liam slammed a tambourine on Noel’s head (Noel quit for a while) or when he did the same thing a few years later with a guitar. Or the time when Liam spat beer in Noel’s face on stage, or when he called Noel’s band the High Flying Birds the High Flying Turds. Then there was the incident when Noel hit Liam with a cricket bat after he invited some unwanted friends to a recording session. At one point Liam missed a few gigs and blamed laryngitis. Noel said Liam had a hangover. Liam sued him and demanded an apology. They finally broke up the band after a backstage fight at a Paris concert was one spat too many.

Let’s see what happens now. Some might say it’ll be a rocky road.

Noel called this song from the second album the most “Oasis” song they ever recorded. One critic said it represented a shift in British culture. Noel was going for a thoughtful look at society’s ills, which he could pull off. But he got stuck at the chorus and “in the end I just gave up and thought, fuck it, I might as well just go with stupid stuff like fishes and dishes and dogs itching.” The surreal blend of serious and bizarre was a key to his success.

This stirring tune has the famous (or infamous) line about “walking down the hall/faster than a cannon ball.” Noel said he just needed a rhyme with “hall” and that’s all he could come up with.

Liam sounds particularly snarly in this one. Maybe it’s the Mancunian accent.

Trump is in legal trouble again, this time over music. The estate of Isaac Hayes has been granted an emergency hearing in its lawsuit against Trump’s campaign for repeatedly using “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” the Sam & Dave hit that Hayes wrote with David Porter, without permission at his rallies. (Odd choice for an adjudicated sex criminal, but never mind.)

Musicians objecting to use of their songs at political events – complaints mostly but not always lodged against Republicans – are campaign-season staples. Rarely if ever do the disputes make it to court. A cease-and-desist letter usually does the trick, but this is Donald Trump we’re talking about.

Hayes’ estate seeks $3 million from Trump for the unauthorized use of the song, which, well, good luck with that. Just to show that these disputes cut both ways, back in 2012 Sam Moore asked another campaign – Barack Obama’s – to stop using the 1966 track.

Moore and Hayes teamed up to perform the song at Hayes’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Here’s a clip of Moore and Dave Prater performing their breakthrough hit, which only reached No. 21 on the Hot 100 but topped the R&B chart. You can see why the duo, who didn’t get along – they once went 13 years without speaking to each other offstage – were sometimes called the Sultans of Sweat.

Guest post by Mike Dinsmore

I am relatively new to Tim Grimm. Or should I say that Tim Grimm is relatively new to me. I’ve had his album “A Stranger in This Time” (2017) for about four years, and it disappeared into my huge stack of CDs that I listened to once and then stored away.

It was only after I saw “Woody’s Landlord” on YouTube that I became interested in Grimm’s music. Or re-interested, perhaps. I played the song on the radio, and received a telephone call from an angry Trumper who did not appreciate my playing a song which made fun of the former president.

In early April, I found “Broken Truth,” which I think is the best anti-Trump song I’ve heard. I love the line, “Damn that man, who tears this country apart.” The great thing about the song is that he never mentions Trump by name, but leaves it up to listeners to work it out for themselves. The comments on YouTube echo my feeling about the song. Grimm released the CD single on April 5th., 2024, and introduced it in a concert at the Two Way Coffeehouse in Chicago. The segment starts at 45:50

I played “Broken Truth” on the radio a couple of times, and got a call from a listener who thanked me for restoring his faith in humanity. That sort of made up for the previous call!

After hearing these songs, I dug out “A Stranger in This Time” and put it on a flash drive so we could listen while driving around Scotland. I can’t believe I had shelved the CD after listening once. This is a wonderful album. As soon as we heard “Gonna Be Great” we realized that the song was also about Trump.

So that’s a Trump trilogy: “Woody’s Landlord” (2016), warning us about Trump (not enough people listened); “Gonna Be Great” (2017), warning us about what lay ahead; and “Broken Truth” (2024), warning us once again. As one commenter noted, “Broken Truth” should be played at Democratic rallies everywhere.

Tim Grimm is an everyman, or as described in his bio, a “Renaissance Man.” He has been an actor, having had bit parts in over 40 movies and TV shows, including “Clear and Present Danger” and “Backdraft.” He’s been a farmer, having taken over the family farm in Indiana, and for the past 25 years has been a songwriter and folksinger.

Grimm has been compared to John Prine and Woody Guthrie. Personally, I compare him to Bill Staines. Like Staines’ songs, Grimm’s are about everyday people and events. Nothing is overproduced. It’s just the lyrics and acoustic instruments. He has made at least 12 albums over the past two decades. I have no idea why I had not heard of him until recently. Perhaps when you’re from the Heartland, people on the coasts don’t hear about you unless you get discovered by someone famous.

Grimm’s songs are all over YouTube. This one is really special:

Currently, in addition to performing in the U.S., Western Europe, and Ireland, Grimm also organizes folk music tours of Ireland and Scotland. I would love to see him become more well known, because he is a brilliant songwriter. However, folk music does not get much airplay any more, except down at the left end of the radio dial, home to college and NPR stations. I’ll continue to do my bit to promote his music, and explore more of his back catalog.

And before I close, one bit of trivia: Tim Grimm grew up in Indiana. He went to high school with Mike Pence, and was on the debate team with him.

One of the best things about summer in Delaware is something we take for granted. Yeah, I’m talking about sweet corn. So was Tariq when a YouTuber interviewed him for a channel called Recess Therapy a couple of years ago. The kid is so adorable talking about corn he went viral.

When YouTube was young, like 13 years ago, a viral bit of video was a good bet to spawn a Songify This treatment. The Gregory brothers took found video, usually from news reports, and edited them into original tunes they wrote. They were all the rage at the time – their Bed Intruder song from 2011 has 156 million views. They’ll always have a place in my playlist for their songified version of the Christine O’Donnell “I’m Not a Witch” ad.

Though I haven’t heard of them in years, they’re apparently still at it, and even managed to get 38 million views for their remix of Tariq’s ode to corn.

Here’s the original interview with Tariq the Gregory brothers set to music.