The Current Music Blog: June 24, 2009 Archive

Today In Music History: Time of the Season

Posted at 6:14 AM on June 24, 2009 by Steve Seel

Jeff Beck (guitarist, The Yardbirds, Rod Stewart, solo) is 65.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood is 62.
Andy McCluskey (vocals, guitar, keyboards, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) is 50.
Curt Smith (vocals, bass, Tears For Fears) is 48.

1965 - John Lennon's second book of poetry and drawings, A Spaniard In The Works, was published. The book consisted of nonsensical stories and drawings similar to the style of his 1964 book In His Own Write.
1967 - The Monkees went to No.1 on the US album charts with Headquarters the group's second chart topper.
1967 - Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale" were released.
1990 - New Kids On The Block's Donnie Wahlberg spent two days in hospital after falling through an unlocked trapdoor mid-concert in Saratoga Springs, New York.
1995 - Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam left the stage after seven songs during a San Francisco concert because of stomach flu. Neil Young finished the show but was booed by fans who had come to see Pearl Jam.

Colin Blunstone, singer for the group The Zombies, is 65 today. Considered one of the great '60s rock vocalists, his signature soft, breathy style helped propel such Zombies' songs as "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" to the top of the charts. Blunstone continues to perform as a solo artist today. We played a Zombies classic, "Time Of The Season."

Today's Placebo is free, for what it's worth...

Posted at 9:39 AM on June 24, 2009 by Barb Abney

Placebo's sixth studio album, Battle for the Sun, was released earlier this month. Today on our Song Of The Day podcast we're featuring their tune "For What It's Worth" for free!

Read more about Placebo's non-endorsement of the new box set that was released on the same day as Battle for the Sun.

If you're a new subscriber to the Song Of The Day podcast, you'll also receive new music from Rancid, Sonic Youth and local music from Two Harbors.

Later this week we will be featuring free tunes from Dinosaur Jr. and local music from Toki Wright.

I Can't Believe You Just Did That On Live TV

Posted at 10:52 AM on June 24, 2009 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)

What exactly was on Thurston Moore's t-shirt when Sonic Youth played on Jimmy Fallon Monday night? ?uestlove of Fallon's houseband The Roots described it as "the riskiest shirt I've ever seen on broadcast TV." Apparently, censors agreed, forcing the cameras into a dizzying dance of direct-shot-avoidance for the length of the song:

Turns out (after New York Magazine did some sleuthing), it's a line-drawing of two nekkid people, er, touching. Jill and I agreed it wasn't the most scandalous thing we'd ever seen ourselves, but then, we're not the most squeamish people around. Still, I'm taking no chances, so that's why you'll have to go searching teh Googles yourself for the image.

So this minor kerfuffle got us thinking about scandalous moments in music television. Our theme for the 9:30 Coffee Break today: "I can't believe you just did that on live TV." Your requests:

1) The Replacemetns, "Bastards of Young" - Paul dropped the big f-bomber on SNL. I still can't understand what he's saying when I watch it, but Lorne Michaels sure did.
2) The Rolling Stones, "Let's Spend The Night Together" - Yes, Ed Sullivan got Mick Jagger to change the lyrics of the song to "Let's Spend Some Time Together," and Mick rolled his eyes in disgust with each repitition. But at the end of the song, he sang the real lyric. Ed wasn't happy. Awesome.
3) Elvis Costello, "Radio Radio" - Lorne Michaels was crossed once again on SNL, this time when Elvis was pressured to not play his indictment of coporate music on the show (I've always thought, "seriously?" That's pretty pathetic, even by TV standards). But Elvis famously stopped The Attractions some eight seconds into "Less Than Zero" and had them play the verbotten song instead. 12 years pass before Elvis returns to SNL.
4) The Doors, "Light My Fire" - Ed Sullivan again, not willing to let Jim Morrison sing "Girl we couldn't get much higher." Sure, Ed.

Honorable mentions: Prince's butt-less pants, Sinead O'Connor and the pope-picture, and of course, wardrobe malfunctions ...

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3 songs to make you yell, stand and then wind down..

Posted at 12:24 PM on June 24, 2009 by Barb Abney
Filed under: My Three Songs

Malasondra Dybevik from South Saint Paul picked today's My 3 Songs set because...

".. we need to yell, sometimes we need to stand and the final one.. is just a nice way to wind down!"

Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell"
Vampire Weekend - "I Stand Corrected"
Calexico - "Two Silver Trees"

Make your "My 3 Songs" requests here.