Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 7/17: Mr. Big, “To Be With You”
Most of the world considers Mr. Big a one-hit wonder. The Los Angeles-based glam-metal band, active through the ’90s, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1991 with an acoustic power ballad, “To Be With You.” The song also reached No. 1 in 14 other countries, notably including Japan. “To Be With You” […]
Song of the Day 7/15: The Strawbs, “Part of the Union”
Nearly all of Hollywood — oh, OK, just the actors and writers — is on strike, an ominous situation. Remember when the writers walked out in 1988? That brought on the flood of reality TV programming that led to the Kardashians. With both the writers and actors gone, producers might turn to robots and AI […]
Song of the Day 7/14: Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”
This song is proof (if we needed any after Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road”) that the term “country music” has lost all meaning except as a barrier to the “wrong people.” Country’s latest superstar, Luke Combs, has taken “Fast Car” to No. 1 on the country charts — not without controversy. It’s been […]
Song of the Day 7/13: The Pearlfishers, “We’re Gonna Save the Summer”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona How can we appreciate the sunshine and relaxing breezes of summer with all this constant MAGA stuff distracting us? Well, in this space we do it with songs. The title of the Pearlfishers’ “We’re Gonna Save the Summer” tells us what we have to do. Like so many summer songs, […]
Song of the Day 7/12: Badfinger, “Come and Get It”
You’d think a pillow maker would have engineered a softer landing. Mike Lindell, the Trump-loving MAGAteer who got rich selling shoddy, overpriced sleep products, is feeling the pinch, so he’s selling off his company’s “surplus equipment.” According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the firm has listed more than 850 items on an online auction site — […]
Song of the Day 7/11: Elvis Costello, “I’m Not Angry”
The national media have stumbled upon a story that anybody in Delaware could have told them decades ago — Joe Biden has a temper. Axios reported, rather breathlessly, that aides try to avoid one-on-one meetings with POTUS because of his explosive outbursts. Biden’s temper comes in the form of angry interrogations rather than erratic tantrums. […]
Song of the Day 7/10: The Pink Spiders, “Freakin’ Freakin’ Out”
Heard this one last night on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. It’s rare to hear a good new power pop song this late in the rock ‘n’ roll game — despite being designed for maximum pop appeal, power pop has rarely been popular, and most bands would like to make money. So I’m not even going […]
Song of the Day 7/8: Glen Campbell, “Turn Around, Look at Me”
The same Supreme Court justices who whinged a mighty whinge about protesters outside their homes hypocritically overruled the conviction of an egregious stalker a couple of weeks ago. I should have addressed the subject at the time, but I couldn’t decide which stalker song to go with. The Police classic “Every Breath You Take” would […]
Song of the Day 7/7: Roger Miller, “Me and Bobby McGee”
As Jason noted, Marge Greene got the boot from the Freedom Caucus. She’s the winner here — freedom, as Kris Kristofferson assured us, is just another word for nothin’ left to lose, so she’s freer than they are, because they could still lose their membership in the Freedom Caucus. So neener neener. Kristofferson wrote several […]
Song of the Day 7/6: Hem, “Half Acre”
Back in the ’00s TV advertisers indulged in a trend I liked. Instead of licensing songs that were already popular — remember Chevrolet beating Bob Seger’s No. 1 hit “Like a Rock” to death for 14 years? — they produced commercials with tunes most people had never heard before. The best-remembered example is Volkswagen’s use […]
Song of the Day 7/5: James Ingram, “I Believe I Can Fly”
Great news for fans of “The Jetsons” — you can sign up now, for a small deposit, for your flying car. Well, not exactly a car. As the article at the link notes, “To avoid automobile crash-test laws and other regulations, it will have a 25mph limit, and drive more like a golf cart than […]
Song of the Day 7/4: The Tubes, “Proud to Be an American”
Patriotism, as George Bernard Shaw pointed out, is the conviction that one’s country is superior to all others because one was born in it. Ambrose Bierce, in his “Devil’s Dictionary,” defined patriotism as “combustible rubbish ready to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as […]
Song of the Day 7/3: Train, “Meet Virginia”
Jason has already addressed the fallout from Virginia’s decision to put the onus of age verification on internet porn suppliers — Pornhub pulled the plug on the whole state. A reminder for those who didn’t pay attention in American history class: The Puritans landed in Massachusetts, not Virginia. The Cavaliers weren’t looking for religious freedom, […]
Recent Comments