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The Current Music Blog: August 7, 2009 Archive

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Today In Music History: The Pistols Make The Cover

Posted at 7:32 AM on August 7, 2009 by Steve Seel
Filed under: Music History

Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) is 51.
Raul Malo (The Mavericks) is 44.
Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses) is 43.

1957 - The Quarry Men played at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, (without Paul McCartney who was away at Boy Scout summer camp). The Cavern was still a jazz club, but skiffle was tolerated. However, when John Lennon played "Hound Dog" and "Blue Suede Shoes," the club owner sent a note to the stage saying, "Cut out the bloody rock!"
1965 - Herman's Hermits went to No.1 with "I'm Henry VIII I Am."
1974 - Peter Wolf from The J Geils Band married actress Faye Dunaway in Beverly Hills. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979.
1997 - Garth Brooks played to the largest crowd ever in New York's Central Park. An estimated 1 million people attended the live concert with an additional 14.6 million viewing live on HBO.

Today in 1976, the British music weekly Melody Maker gave The Sex Pistols their first front cover. Since some Sex Pistols would go so well with a Friday morning, I played you "Holidays In The Sun."

Random Vinyl 8/3-8/7

Posted at 8:02 AM on August 7, 2009 by Steve Seel
Filed under: Random Vinyl

Monday: Sparks, "Angst In My Pants" (1982)

As a kid, I had seen the brothers Ron and Russel Mael on TV before - I think it was Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or something - and I knew I was equally intrigued and freaked out (actually, downright frightened is more like it with regards to Ron), but it wasn't until seeing them perform "Mickey Mouse" on Saturday Night Live back in 1982 that I was actually fired up by the band. Mom and Dad, who policed my record collection at the time like good Christian parents, never would have approved of this one (who's the guy with the Hitler moustache in the wedding dress on the cover?), so I had to get a bit older before I could get away with buying it.

Tuesday: Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Getz/Gilberto" (1964)

Our Saturday morning host Jacquie Fuller loaned me this one, the jazz-cum-bossa-nova sensation that helped spur the boss-nova craze of the mid 1960s. It became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, and turned Astrud Gilberto, who sang on the track "The Girl from Ipanema", into an international sensation.

Wednesday: Let's Active, "Cypress"

The first full-length record from Mitch Easter's Winston-Salem based band (Easter is probably best known for producing, including records by R.E.M., Pavement, Suzanne Vega and others). I played "Blue Line."

Thursday: "Instrumental James Bond: 25 Years of 007" (1988)

This one is just weird: it's a recording of instrumental versions of all the theme songs from the James Bond movies over the years. No, I didn't subject you to a muzak-y version of "Nobody Does It Better" (although that would be pretty spot-on Random Vinyl material), but I did play the theme from "Dr. No," which became the theme associated with all the James Bond movies after that.

Friday: Golden Palominos, "Visions of Excess" (1985)

The second album from the revolving-door project led by drummer Anton Fier - this time featuring guests appearances from the likes of John Lydon, Syd Straw, Chris Stamey, and Michael Stipe - the last of whom was featured on the track I played, "Boy (Go)."

Tori Amos: In Studio Video

Posted at 8:34 AM on August 7, 2009 by Steve Seel

Step right up, we've got your video footage of Tori's Thursday morning in-studio appearance here at The Current right here.



9:30 Coffee Break: A John Hughes Tribute

Posted at 9:50 AM on August 7, 2009 by Steve Seel (3 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

A bittersweet morning today, with very sad news that director John Hughes died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 59. Why bittersweet, you ask? Because Hughes' death has brought forth so many memories for so many people - quoting their favorite Hughes-movie lines, talking about their favorite scenes ... and recalling the music. John Hughes ushered in an era where pop music was used in the score in a way it hadn't been before; he really gets the credit for this. And the reasonance he created with his use of music truly shows to this day, both in modern film and in the way those original movies created indelible memories in the people who saw them. Indeed, the music was at least as important as the the story and the actors in many John Huges films.

So today for the 9:30 Coffee Break, I asked what some of your favorite tunes were from John Hughes movies, and the response was overwhelming. I wish I could have played them all, but in 30 minutes, I only got to about a quarter of them. So here's a sampling - including, naturally, the biggest hits, and a couple of the more obscure ones.

1) Simple Minds, "Don't You Forget About Me" (The Breakfast Club)
2) The Smiths, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (Pretty In Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
3) The Beatles, "Twist And Shout" (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
4) Kate Bush, "This Woman's Work" (She's Having A Baby)
5) The Psychedelic Furs, "Pretty In Pink" (Pretty In Pink)
6) The Jesus And Mary Chain, "The Hardest Walk" (Some Kind Of Wonderful)

Oh my, there are so, so many more. We might have to extend this into next week. I didn't even get to Sixteen Candles! Then there's Planes Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, the Nation Lampoon Vacation movies (which he wrote), and others (did you know he wrote Mr. Mom? I didn't either. Beer? Scotch?)

Rest in peace, Mr. Hughes. If anybody messes with the bull in heaven, you tell 'em they'll get the horns.

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