Music Videos (and why you posted them)

[Irrev-Black]

"People who never never go to war", "submarines... incognito", "planet earth, testing ground right now".

We haven't changed much in forty years.

Oh, Captain, my Captain...

(He said "wot?")

[Irrev-Black]

Hokay, it's Sparks. That means, of course, there will be lyrics of some complexity, an odd scenario, and all this will be delivered in Russ Mael's falsetto, with Ron's Chaplin-stached keyboards in there.

And Ron has some nice timbres on this one, like "almost-Caribbean-steel-drum"...

But, for me, and a thing I had to hear while my ears are still capable, it's the bass and guitar that make this track: that Rickenbacker four-string giving off woody grinding overtones during the verse, while the guitar waits for things to build before delivering a saw-blade keening that's paradoxically screaming, while meekly sitting there in the background of the mix.

Hear it at least once, while you still have ears.

[stylofone]

"People who never never go to war", "submarines... incognito", "planet earth, testing ground right now".

We haven't changed much in forty years.

Oh, Captain, my Captain...

(He said "wot?")

Yeah! The 80s were so good!

[stylofone]

The naturally left-leaning 80s reminded me of the stunning Venceremos by Working Week.

[Irrev-Black]

The naturally left-leaning 80s reminded me of the stunning Venceremos by Working Week.

How did I miss this band? I'll make up for a few decades of neglect very quickly.

[stylofone]

In 1982 when I was at uni my friend Mark and I made a weekly half-hour community radio program called "Beaming Down" full of news and features about science fiction books, movies and TV. For theme music we used the title track of OMD's Dazzle Ships, mixed with Depeche Mode's Nothing to Fear. The latter came around on my car stereo today and it made me ponder the OMD album too. They'd already proven themselves as gifted pop tunesmiths capable of pumping out radio-friendly unit shifters, but they chose to make an album peppered with high-concept musique concrete heavily influenced by Kraftwerk's Radioactivity. It was panned by critics but later rediscovered and reassessed as a classic album. Also, Andy McCluskey is a great exponent of 80s dancing, where the ELBOWS rather than the feet are stimulated most by the rhythm.

[stylofone]

Why post it? Hook-laden one hit wonder just came around on my "all day party" playlist; the drummer's shirt with the word "Fantasy"; behind the slapstick the existential horror of high school is abrasively depicted, especially the American experience. "He brings a gun to school" is a heavy lyric, I get why it's censored in later versions. "He drives an IROC", I just learned, refers to a particular model of Chevy Camaro muscle car, bringing to mind The Dead Milkmen's "Bitchin Camaro" and Prefab Sprout's "Cars and Girls".

[stylofone]

I was setting up the guest bedroom and it made me think of "Hotel California", so I listened to the album for the first time in decades, thinking as I always have that it's got a bit of filler on it for something so huuuuge. Then looking up trivia about it I stumbled on the Guitar World list of the greatest solos of all time, and the inclusion of Ace Frehley sparked my interest so I watched a couple of his performances. I found it interesting because I often disparage theatrical commercial American rock music for its gimmicks and formulaic trashiness... but then I also surrender myself to it and just enjoy rocking out. At the same time this is a kind of uncompromising avant-garde artwork, and the crappy old video quality enhances its mystique. It would be great if Ace was still in the band and Kiss bewildered everyone at the football by just playing this.

[Irrev-Black]

Woke up feeling like perhaps the dream I'd been having was a decent reality, and this scene in front of my bleary eyes was a cheap stage set, a Big Bother house in which I had to spend time for the entertainment of others.

Step back. This shit's peripheral, and I am its commentator/narrator.

As Laurie says, "You've already paid for this".

[stylofone]

My reading about the Eagles reminded me that members of the band had collaborated with Linda Ronstadt, which made me dig out "Different Drum", a song that never fails to move me. It also sends me further down trivia rabbit holes which I will resist typing here as they never end.