An Amazing Story

A truly amazing story.

Peace.

Putting the M back in MTV

If, like me, you came of age (whatever that means--in my case, it means college years and early adulthood) in the early-to-mid '80s, then you remember when the M in MTV stood for "Music." Well, fear not, "me decade" compadres. MTV has recently revamped its website, and now you can view pretty much every video it has ever aired. So check it out....and, as Styx said in its 1979 song "Never Say Never" (Cornerstone): "Don't look now, here come the '80s...."

Top 50 of the '80s--1-5

Here they are--the songs absolutely nobody has been waiting for--my top 5 songs of the 1980s:

1. "St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)"—John Parr (St. Elmo’s Fire Soundtrack)
2. "Rock and Roll Girls"—John Fogerty (Centerfield)
3. "Let My Love Open the Door"—Pete Townshend (Empty Glass)
4. "Do You Believe in Love"—Huey Lewis & The News (Picture This)
5. "This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide"—The Kings (The Kings Are Here)

Clever Ad Line

Best ad line I have heard in a long time: John Corbett for Applebee's: "It's not Tuesdays or Fridays...it's everyday at Applebee's." Very subtle way to mention without mentioning your competition.

Top 50 of the '80s--6-10

Finally hitting the homestretch...here are, according to me, the second Top 5 of the 1980s:

6. "The Ties That Bind"—Bruce Springsteen (The River)
7. "Lonely Nights"—Bryan Adams (You Want It, You Got It)
8. "Small Town"—John Mellencamp (Scarecrow)
9. "867-5309 (Jenny)"—Tommy Tutone (Tommy Tutone 2)
10. "Talking in Your Sleep"—The Romantics (In Heat)

Top 50 of the '80s--11-20

11. "I've Got a Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart"—Eric Clapton (Money & Cigarettes)
12. "Just Between You and Me"—April Wine (The Nature of the Beast)
13. "Watching the Wheels"—John Lennon (Double Fantasy)
14. "Your Wildest Dreams"—The Moody Blues (The Other Side of Life)
15. "Sausalito Summernight"—Diesel (Watts in a Tank)
16. "Jeopardy"—Greg Kihn (Kihnspiracy)
17. "Goodbye to You"—Scandal (EP)
18. "Take My Breath Away"—Berlin (Top Gun Soundtrack)
19. "How Does It Feel to Be Back"—Hall & Oates (Voices)
20. "One Night Love Affair"—Bryan Adams (Reckless)

Top 50 of the '80s--21-30

21. "Need Your Loving Tonight"—Queen (The Game)
22. "Tired of Toein’ the Line"—Rocky Burnette (The Son of Rock and Roll)
23. "Turn and Walk Away"—The Babys (On the Edge)
24. "Fantasy"—Aldo Nova (Aldo Nova)
25. "While You See a Chance"—Steve Winwood (Arc of a Diver)
26. "Heat of the Moment"—Asia (Asia)
27. "You Shook Me All Night Long"—AC/DC (Back in Black)
28. "Burnin’ for You"—Blue Oyster Cult (Fire of Unknown Origin)
29. "Edge of a Broken Heart"—Vixen (Vixen)
30. "No One Like You"—Scorpions (Blackout)

Top 50 of the '80s--31-35

31. "Little Red Corvette"—Prince (1999)
32. "Nicole"—Point Blank (American Exce$$)
33. "You Better You Bet"—The Who (Face Dances)
34. "The Kid Is Hot Tonite"—Loverboy (Loverboy)
35. "American Storm"—Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (Like a Rock)

Top 50 of the '80s--36-40

36. "Magic"—The Cars (Heartbeat City)
37. "Back on the Chain Gang"—Pretenders (Learning to Crawl)
38. "Some Like It Hot"—Power Station (The Power Station)
39. "I Got You"—Split Enz (True Colours)
40. "Head Over Heels"—The Go-Go's (Talk Show)

Top 50 of the '80s--41 to 45

As promised--or threatened--here is the next installment:

41. "Hearts on Fire"—Randy Meisner (One More Song)
42. "I Missed Again"—Phil Collins (Face Value)
43. "Teacher Teacher"—Rockpile (Seconds of Pleasure)
44. "Wasted on the Way"—Crosby, Stills & Nash (Daylight Again)
45. "Always Something There to Remind Me"—Naked Eyes (Naked Eyes)

TBC.....

Top 50 of the '80s--46-50

Recently some college friends of mine and I swapped a series of e-mails listing our Top 50 songs of the 1980s (the era in which we were in college). I thought I would post my list--in increments--as the mood strikes me.

50. "Emotional Rescue"--The Rolling Stones (Emotional Rescue)
49. "Hold On"--Santana (Shango)
48. "I Love a Rainy Night"--Eddie Rabbitt (Horizon)
47. "Misunderstanding"--Genesis (Duke)
46. "Givin' It Up for Your Love"--Delbert McClinton (The Jealous Kind)

More to come.

Whatever Happened to the Original Version?

Haven't blogged in awhile, for a couple of reasons. 1. Been under the weather. 2. Nothing has pissed me off lately, politically speaking. 3. Been busy. What I have been doing this evening, however, is listening to, repeatedly, something that a friend of mine found somewhere out there on the internet: the orginal version of "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" by Chris Rea. I've read that Rea wasn't happy with the original version of this and other songs on his debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, and he subsequently re-recorded this song on his first greatest hits album, giving it a much blusier feel. But to people like me, who did much of their growing up in the 1970s and hearing this song on stations like WLS-AM in Chicago, this is the ultimate version, and finding it is like discovering Eldorado. I did find on YouTube a video clip of Rea doing this version from what looks like a late '70s British TV show, but they don't have the full version. Think I'll listen to it a couple of more times this evening.

Wally Phillips, 1926-2008

Just got around to reading Saturday's paper and, while I normally skip over the obituary pages, something in that day's paper caught my eye. Longtime Chicago radio host Wally Phillips died last Thursday after suffering from Alzheimer's. For those of you who never heard of Wally Phillips, he was the king of morning radio in Chicago from 1966 through 1986. When I was a kid, I spent many nights at my grandparents' house in Valpo, and every following morning I would hear Phillip's rich voice coming through their radios on WGN. Phillips was perhaps the most dominant local radio personality in US history; at his peak, he had local listenership of 1.5 million--that was half the population of Chicago! His mix of drop-ins, humor, and local news (plus an occasional song or two) made me want to get into radio when I was a kid. He will be missed.

The Internet: A Wondrous Thing

It's amazing what one can find on the 'net. Today I am at home, enjoying a day off (well, considering it's snowy and cold outside, I am making do inside), with XM Radio on, listening to some "classical" (read symphonic) music. On comes Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2 in E Minor--3rd Movement. Normally, it would just be background noise to me...but, wait....what do I hear? Is that Eric Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"? It can't be! But wait, wait...there it is again!

Wow...I wonder if anyone else has noticed that? Since I know almost nothing about music, other than what I like and don't like, I figure somebody somewhere has picked up on this. So I do a search on the phrase "Rachmaninoff and Eric Carmen" and get the website Songfacts. I don't get the one I was listening to, but I did get to a page linking Carmen's "All By Myself" with Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, even quoting Carmen how he used parts of that piece in his song (he wrongly assumed it was in the public domain). Following the link More songs that use parts of Classical compositions, it turns out that there are at least 46 (yes, 46) songs that Songfacts has identified fitting this description. And on that list, sure enough, is the pair that sent me on this chase.

Speaking of music that sounds similar, have you ever listened to "Do Ya" by ELO, "What Is Life?" by George Harrison, and "I'll Supply the Love" by Toto back-to-back-to-back? Tell me if those guitar riffs aren't eerily similar?

Sectionals = Snow

OK, I haven't done any historical research on this, but there is a legend in Indiana that it always snows around here when the boys high school basketball sectionals begin. And guess what starts tonight?