Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Top Ten Worthy-of-Being-Remembered Songs of 2009

2009 happened to be one of my best years, but I know that I’m one of the few who can say that these days. 

For most, 2009 blew big chunks and I’m not surprised to see many sticking their heads under their pillows, wrapping their rosaries around their neck, and praying for it all to go away. Fast.

Personally, I don’t think 2009 was a particularly compelling year for music, but there are a few stand-outs.  And btw, I’ve seen some of the other suggests from the music mags and I think most of them are reaching…trying to make stuff that was catchy-at-best appear larger than reality. Hey, we’ve all got blank space to fill, so I get it.

Alright, I’ll stop stalling and throw it at you.  See what sticks as the earworm in your canal…

10.  “How I Got Over,”  (The Roots)

It’s unusual for me to feature a hip hop selection because I think most of the genre’s turned to shit. These guys are the exception.  The Roots – out of Philly – really keep getting better.  Can’t find this particular track on iTunes, but found it through SPIN magazine’s Top 20 list.

9. “Daniel,”  (Bat for Lashes)

Everyone in the alternative music community went completely ape-shit over Bat for Lashes sophomore effort, Two Suns, this year.  Rightfully so because Nastasha Khan is an ethereal, indie rock shaman.  I had tickets for their DC concert at the 9:30 Club, but couldn’t go at the last minute. Sad thing is, I couldn’t give them away because no one’s really heard of them yet.  Pity because she’s amazing.  Think Goldfrapp with St. Vincent and you’re most of the way there…

8. “Laughter with a Mouth of Blood,”  (St. Vincent)

Ok, so I know I’m twelve years old, but I love music mixes and no one fucking makes them anymore. Well, not for me anyways.  There’s one exception and that’s my brother-from-another-mother, Chez Pazienza – from Deus Ex Malcontent dot com fame…he came to stay with us for five days earlier this year (leaving the toilet seat up every time) and I pestered him into making me a mix since I think his taste in music is infinitely better than mine.

This track was on there, and I think Annie Clark (St.Vincent) is a trip – sashaying her way through a song like soft pedaling it through an orchestral daisy field, but hits you with lyrics as dark as the tornado cloud sneaking up on your laissez-fare-loving ass.

By the way, do I ever get a mention on his blog?  No. Nada. None. I’m just saying, some love and props would be nice.

7. “Misguided Ghosts,” (Paramore)

 

There are a lot of people my age afraid to admit they like Paramore – probably because their sophomore album was such a raucous hit amongst the kiddies, plus them being featured on the Twilight soundtracks.  But fuck it because they’re awesome – a heart-pumping machiatto blend of Evanescence, Jimmy Eat World, and the early days of No Doubt.  This is actually one of their quieter tracks, which flew under many other’s radar for 2009, but not mine.

6. “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” (Cage the Elephant)

This is a hot track, reminding me of The Black Crowes in their heyday. You can’t help but bob your head and slap your thigh when listening to this one.

5. “Just Breathe,” (Pearl Jam)

This should probably be number one, considering the year most have had, because how can you go wrong when Eddie Vedder reminds you to be grateful for what you have, and breathe on through the rest of the shit ’til it passes? Pearl Jam hasn’t lost a thing since they came out of Seattle in the early 90s.  I’m so proud of these guys…

 4. “Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down.

God, I love this girl, and shame on me for not sharing that enough.  Not only is she an amazing performer and songwriter, but Ms. Keyes is one of those rare artists truly comfortable in her own skin.  And because of that, she’s got nothing to prove.

Maybe that’s why she keeps coming out with masterpieces such as ‘Empire State of Mind’ – which I consider on par with not only previous hits such as “No One” and “Fallin’ ” but should be part of the cannon of classics honoring New York City like Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York” and Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” It really is that good. Plus, she’s one of the few artists my baby girls’ and I agree on who rock.

3. “Furnace Room Lullaby,” Neko Case.

Hands down, Neko Case is the most powerful, sonorous vocalist you’ve probably never heard of.  Change that immediately.  Some want to label her as part of the singer/songwriter genre, others alt-country…but forget all that garbage. Like most women worth knowing and wooing, she’s beyond definition, so stop trying to box her in and enjoy the ride. Yeah.

2. “Hell,” (Tegan and Sara)

The best thing to come out of Canada since, well…anything.  For those thinking of Mike Myers and Michael J. Fox, go home to your Back to the Future sheet-covered beds and get a life.

1. “1901,” (Phoenix)

It kills me a bit to put this one on there.  Not just because this song is featured – I think – in a car commercial, although that’s a big part of it.  Many bands took 2009 as an opportunity to time travel back to the 80s, to the best and worst of what the synthesizer-laden pop rock era had to offer. Jesus, if Lady Gaga isn’t the regurgitation of Missing Person’s Dale Bozzio, I don’t know what is.  I personally don’t consider this to be an era of music worth emulating all that much, but if you’re going to do it, then capture the essence of what its pop scene was offering….flashy synthesizer work, a decent bass groove, and an undeniable hook. And that’s really about it.

So while Phoenix’s #1 single here isn’t necessarily the deepest or most soul-stirring selection I could have chosen, I think it’s the absolute, goddamn best of what everyone else was musically trying to do in 2009.  And for those of you who want a touch more analysis here, let’s just hope the fascination with electronic keyboards-inspired escapism and Wall Street ‘greed is good’ ethos of the 1980s which infestated 2009 will be dumped in the rest of the ditch that was this year for so many.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Guilty Pleasures of 2009: The Songs

 

I really can’t believe I’m going to admit to the following, but I was recently inspired by my doppleganger crew at Pajiba, who came up with yet another hysterical random list of their Top Guilty Movie Pleasures for 2009.  Well, I’ve got plenty of those too, but since this here is (ahem) supposedly a music site – although admittedly not a lot of music of late – I figured I too would be brave and come out of the Sucky Song Closet. 

Dustin, TK, Stacey (I’m thinking that butterfly sweatshirt), Nicole…it’s all your faults:

10. Taylor Swift’s “Should’ve Said No.”

YOU try living with a tween and a wanna-be tween who play this on a continuous loop and see if you don’t start humming along in spite yourself.  It’s catchy as hell.

9. Owl City’s “Fireflies”

Just when you thought Minnesota could be cool (think home base to Prince and independent magazine, Utne Reader) here comes Adam Young with his mop head and lap top ruining it all.  He’s cheerful and bouncy and just-so-godamn-glad-to-meet-ya! – and I like it all in spite of myself.  What can I say? It help offset the Seasonal Affective Disorder.

8. Kris Allen’s “Heartless”

I can’t stand American Idol and I personally thought that Adam Lambert was robbed by not winning this year.  That said, I thought Kris Allen’s live version of Kayne West’s “Heartless” was a killer.  Unfortunately, the version sold through iTunes was this orchestra-laden sap track. It didn’t have half the heart and soul of the one I saw on the show. And for me to say that anything coming out of Idol had a pulse is as close as I’m ever going to get with dancing with the corporate devil.

7. Katy Perry’s “Hot n Cold”

She’s just so friggin adorable, I can’t stand it.  And you can dance to her music too.  I can see what Russell Brand sees in her. Fur sure 😉

6. Colbie Caillat’s “Fallin’ for You”

I know, I know…she’s like the Jennifer Aniston of the music business.  Sweet and light and oh-so-vanilla.  But what the hell, sometimes I like a little extra saccarine in my coffee.

5.  John Mayer’s “Who Says”

Oy, what a douche bag.  But it’s oh so true when I say I hate myself for loving you. Or at least your music. God help me.

4.  Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream”

Yeah, yeah…she’s just this side of dumpy, which frankly made her rendition of this song all the more effective. Think about it. The song’s about a washed up single mom who has been beaten down by life. You look at her singing that song and damn it, you believe every word outta that bitch’s mouth!

3.  Any Song Off the TV Show “Glee”

This show not only made loving musical theater hip, but actually transformed such guilty pleasures of the past – like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Belivin'” – into a 2009 Top Ten hit.  That’s some powerful stuff – plus they feature original Broadway cast member, Lea Michaels, from “Spring Awakening” as the Jewess temptress. And I luv that.

2. All Music from Both the “Twilight” and “New Moon” Soundtracks

The movie was as hypnotic as a 10-car pile up, and the books – I hear – aren’t worthy of gracing one’s bathroom throne.  But color me in sparkles because I love the music featured on both soundtracks.  It’s kick-ass emo for a new generation of sop-heads. Go figure.

1. Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb”

I can’t believe…let me repeat….I can’t BA-LEEVE….I’m admitting to this, but when I had to take my Sweet Pea to see that God-forsaken Hannah Montana movie – which sucked – the one part that got to me was her singing this song. I actually got a lil’ misty.  And folks, I have no earthly good explanation for it.  Maybe I was premenstrual.  Perhaps I was caught up in my daughter’s excitement. I don’t know. But it’s obvious I need serious help.

Seriously.

What’s YOUR Favorite Song?

I know I tend to give Rolling Stones a hard time, but that’s how I show my love.  Anyway, while I’m not ambitious enough to post the Top 500 Songs of All Times, I’m up for offering the Top 100.  So let me know what you would put on the list.  Hell, give me your own Top 100 and see how many line up with I put on the blog this week 🙂

Can’t wait to see what you all come up with…

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Confession #15: Trent Reznor and Me

For those looking at the title and expecting to hear about some crazy-freaky, back stage romp session, stop reading now because I’ll disappoint you.  For those of you who follow music, you’ll know that it’s the 20th Anniversary of the release of NIN’s Pretty Hate Machine, and while 99% of the time I just shrug and roll my eyes at celebrating the anniversary of a record, for Trent’s seminal work, I’ll make an exception.

Pretty Hate Machine was like nothing I had ever heard.  Full of indignant rage and venom,  Reznor managed to capture the same white male fury over societal class inequities and social isolation often relegated to the metal subgenre, but instead, his message was filtered through the new wave derivative called “industrial”.   Taking most of his influence from glam alternative such as David Bowie, new wavers Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, and mixing it with industrial legends like Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails’ brought industrial to a wider audience.

And it came at the perfect time.  Having barely emerged from the greed and corruption of the Eighties decade in one soulful piece (remember Gordon Gecko’s edict, ‘greed is good’?), there were a slew of working-class anthems eschewing political and corporate corruption peppering the airwaves, like Tracy Chapman’s ‘Talkin’ Bout a Revolution’ and later on Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ capturing our collective attention.  Trent rallied against all of it, with a fury and intensity not yet experienced by Generation Xers.

I’ve gotta admit, at the time seeing the pampered and privileged at the University of Miami singing  with the likes of Vedder and Cobain was out-and-out laughable…what the hell do they have to be angry about? They’ve got the world by the balls and they know it.  But even with the earnest intention of the message, I knew they were singing along for(gulp) fashion and nothing more. 

Sooner versus later, I cast off the yoke of my former sorority self (it never seemed to fit anyway) and became a DJ at  WVUM.  That’s where all the smart kids on scholarships hung out, and another world opened up to me.  And they all listened to NIN and spoke fluent Reznor. He screamed of a world they knew all too well, one where even white male priviledge wasn’t a guarantee to the keys to the kingdom.  I admit, I was a tourist, but I knew enough to not pretend to be something I wasn’t…I was an upper-middle class, suburban gal who only worked jobs for extra spending money.  I didn’t know half of the socioeconomic shit they struggled with.  But I came from a messed-up family background all the same,  filled with long-standing abuse…in other words, I was damaged somehow and they were sharp enough to recognize that.  I was accepted as one of their own in a way I had hoped would have occurred through Greek-inspired sorority sisterhood (but fell tragically short).  It didn’t matter what kind of car I drove or if I was wearing the latest ridiculous pair of EG socks, but it did mattered what I thought and if I had the wit and wisdom to back it up.  And I couldn’t fake it – any of it – because that bullshit would be sensed a mile away and not tolerated.

And somehow, through songs like “Head Like a Hole,”  “Terrible Lie,” “Down in It,” among others, I found my voice – to express my rage at a family throwing me emotionally under the bus, to free myself from the suffocating dictates of my socio-religious culture, and from the heartbreak and tyranny of being taken for granted by the supposed love of my life at the time.  I think Pretty Hate Machine did that for a lot of us. 

It got worse before it got better, and listening to too much NIN will probably have you raging and wallowing in it longer than you should, but regardless, it was a great release at the time.  So there’s that…

Ms.Mix’s Picks: Phoenix (The Band, Not the City, Moron)

When I was in college at the University of Miami (that’s Florida, not Ohio, k?) – or should I say when I was in the midst of a major clinical depression while flunking out of said college – there was never a dearth of fellas filled with bravado, hubris, and a few other choice words – bragging about how someday they’re going to travel the world, write great works, and settle on some exotic coast someday.  Anything to tried to get laid, right?  Well, most of those guys are now either working for Daddy (and those are the lucky ones) or trolling hours away in a Dunder Mifflin-esque company in a cubicle the size of their former dorm closets.

But not all of them.  While hanging out on Facebook this afternoon, I had a chance to talk with an old friend of mine…one who certainly had his share of bravado and brass balls, but also had the brains, humor, and insight to back it up. A rarity in South Florida, trust me.  Anyway, he did end up traveling the world and while I don’t peak in his notebooks, he’s at least settled down with an equally cool wife and son off some remote British coast. 

Anyway, he and I have a similar music aesthetic (sp?) and he just introduced me to this band, Phoenix,  playing near him in Bristol this weekend.  If you like Air, Tahiti 80, Kings of Convenience, or Hot Chip, you’ll fit in here just fine.

Click on the word Phoenix for a You Tube video, featuring, “If I Ever Feel Better.”

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Top Ten Movie Soundtracks of All Times

 

Top Ten Lists are a very personal thing.  Ask someone to list their top ten favorite songs or bands, books or movies and you may as well be asking to explore the depths of someone’s soul.  I used to use such lists as litmus tests to either fall for or write off potential suitors.  So I give a lot of latitude to readers who write in and either praise or berate any of my posted selections because I get that you’re passionate about what you love.

So with that, here’s my latest Top Ten List.  I guarantee I’ll leave something out and you’ll think it’s blasphemous that I did so, but I may also surprise you with a choice you haven’t thought of before.  In any event, happy reading, and here it is…

 

 

10.    Singles

I must have seen this movie about a half-dozen times when it was out in theaters.  Not only did it beautifully encapsulate for me what it was like to be in my twenties in the 90s, but also introduced the Seattle sound to a larger audience.  Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone – many Seattle staples are featured on this soundtrack.  And ya gotta love a story line where the couple starts making out to Jimi Hendrix’s ‘May This Be Love’ and ends fucking to Mudhoney’s ‘Overblown’.  Well, that’s how they used to do it in my neighborhood at least.

Ms. Mix & Bitch Choice Track:  Dyslexic Heart  – Paul Westerberg

 

9.    Pretty in Pink

If you’re going to pick the quintessential Eighties movie which encapsulated the look and sound of the day glo era, you have to go with a John Hughes movie and what better choice than Pretty in Pink?  Especially this one, where Hughes go-to-it-girl, Molly Ringwald, supposedly helped pick much of the soundtrack.  The music is everything right and everything wrong with the era.  What’s right? The Psychedelic Furs, INXS, The Smiths and Suzanne Vega.  Of course, being an Eighties film soundtrack, there’s the unfortunate hiccup of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark’s  ‘If You Leave’ – with possibly the most asinine lyrics ever written – and New Order’s ‘Shellshock’ (I never got the repetitious dance machination fascination there). Whadaya gonna do… at least WHAM! wasn’t featured.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:   Pretty in Pink – The Psychedelic Furs.

8.   Saturday  Night Fever

I still kinda chuckle to myself  over this one, not because of the disco music (although many readers think I should keep that love on the down lo), but because by the time this movie came out, disco was on its last breath in New York.  Then SNF is released and every suburban center across the country starts pawning off  latin hustle lessons and disco ladies nights.  Men were walking around in white polyester suits and women of every skin color were wearing heaps of baby blue eye shadow. Scary.  But the music was – and still is – infectious, and is a perfect marriage of story and song. 

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:     More Than a Woman  –  The Bee Gees

 

7.     The Harder They Come

I’ve said this before when Jimmy Cliff was nominated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it bears repeating: this movie, this album brought reggae out of Jamaica to a worldwide audience.  And while I don’t adore reggae music, you’ve got to give props when one record brings an entire genre to global consciousness. Now, that’s power.

Ms. Mix & Bitch Choice Track:       Many Rivers to Cross – Jimmy Cliff

 

6.    Cabaret

I’m not a big fan of musicals.  In fact, I think it’s fucking annoying that right at the critical moment in a scene people break out into song.  It’s just so fucking contrived.  That said, Cabaret is absolute magic and Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles was pure perfection.  Period.  She’s so good that you actually rejoice every time it’s her turn to blow her pipes. There are other musicals I like, but this is the only one that’s art.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:    Cabaret   –  Liza Minelli

5.   Good Will Hunting

While most of the movie soundtracks highlight a time or musical genre in history, I put Good Will Hunting in my top ten for no other reason than it introduced us to the brilliance and artistry that was Elliott Smith.  Listen to him and discover that just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s not some of the most powerful music ever made.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:   Miss Misery  – Elliott Smith

4.   The Godfather

Unlike many film aficionados, I don’t pay a lot of attention to musical scores in film.  That doesn’t mean I discount their importance to creating mood and texture to the story, but I’m not getting my panties all wet over dressed up musak either.

Unless we’re talking about Nino Rota’s score for Francis Ford Coppola’s crime-family saga, The Godfather.  You hear that horn blow and my reaction is visceral, Pavlovian every time.  I just love it. 

Here’s a little music history for you.  Rota’s score was heavily favored to win the Oscar in 1972 until it was discovered that  Rota had reworked themes from his Fortunella score from the Fifties. The nomination was promptly withdrawn, and what a shame because it was certainly Oscar worthy. 

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:  As if you didn’t know.

3.   Garden State

Now I know many of you have had it up to here with Zach Braff (he has become quite narcissistically annoying post-Garden State success), but like it or not he made an incredible movie and compiled the seminal soundtrack for our generation.  Which is ironic to me because he found the musical voice for Generation X in the most typical way anyone of X accomplishes anything – by not trying at all.  Braff’s only goal was to take the songs which spoke to him and create a moment in time – unlike so many others whose primary goal was to define a generation yet fell embarrassingly short (think Reality Bites).  For me, having others discover bands such as The Shins and Frou Frou re-established my belief that good music will always find a way to be heard…something I need to hold onto in a time and place where music has become yet another extension of corporate branding.  Braff proved that the heart and soul of music is far from dead, it just takes more effort to find it. 

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:   Such Great Heights  – Iron and Wine.

2.   Trainspotting

Arranger Danny Boyle’s screen interpretation of Irvine Welsh’s novel has often been called ‘the Clockwork Orange of the Nineties – a movie which redefined the face of modern British cinema, leaving an indelible impression upon contemporary youth culture’.  Essential to the film’s success was the frenetically organized soundtrack which perfectly embodied the film’s outsider mystic.  Listening to the CD is like watching the entire movie in your head, from Iggy Pop’s frenetic ‘Lust For Life’ (the opening high-street chase sequence), through the ironic melancholy of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ (Renton’s heroin overdose), to the blood-pumping climax of Underworld’s chanting heartbeat ‘Born Slippy’ (our anti-hero’s gleeful escape). Brilliant.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:  Deep Blue Day – Brian Eno

1.   The Graduate

Before there was Garden State or Pulp Fiction or Trainspotting or frankly any of those pairing narrative voice and music soundtrack, there was introduction of the postmodern perspective through the lens and musicality of Mike Nichols.  Rock & roll had seeped into movies by 1967, but most of those films were concert flicks or Elvis embarrassments. All that changed with Mike Nichols’ gently satiric swipe at the establishment and the emerging counterculture. Nichols’ use of old and new Simon & Garfunkel songs was ingenious: Cue ”The Sound of Silence” as Benjamin rides a moving walkway to his uncertain future or ”Scarborough Fair” as his romantic dreams crumble. Even though half of it is devoted to a mood-music score, this landmark introduced ”youth music” to grown-ups’ movies, the reverberations of which are still being felt.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Choice Track:  Sounds of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel

Top Ten Songs of Women Who ROCK

I can’t recall whether I’ve mentioned this to you guys or not, but my older daughter – Sweet Pea – plays electric guitar.  She’s been at it for less than a year, but already she’s going to be performing with her band through the Paul Green School of Rock (are any of your really surprised that I’d send my kids there?). 

Actually, she’s performing tonight and tomorrow night at Ned Devine’s Irish Village Pub in Northern Virginia, so come on by if you want to see the birth of a rock legend 😉

Even though the shows’ rock sub-genre/theme is Southern Rock, I decided to dedicate this post to the Women of Rock-n-Roll.  For without them, there would be no stars in the heavens to light the way for my girl and others like her.

Side A:  The Masters

10.  “Do You Want to Touch Me (Oh Yeah),”  (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)  Fit to Be Tied.

09.  “Black Leather,” (The Runaways)  And Now…The Runaways.

08.  “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,”  (Pat Benatar) Crimes of Passion.

07.  “Magic Man,”  (Heart)  Dreamboat Annie.

06.  “Dancing Barefoot,” (Patti Smith) Waves.

05.  “Edge of Seventeen,” (Stevie Nicks)  Bella Donna.

04.  “Kool Thing,”  (Sonic Youth)  Goo.

03.  “Pretend We’re Dead,” (L7) Bricks are Heavy.

02.  “One Way or Another,” (Blondie)  Parallel Lines.

01.  “Bad Boys Get Spanked,”  (The Pretenders)  Prentenders II.

Side B: The Disciples

10.  “Modern Girl,”  (Sleater-Kinney) The Woods.

09.  “Violet,”  (Hole) Live Through This.

08.  “Rebel Girl,”  (Bikini Kill) Pussy Whipped.

07. “Seether,”  (Veruca Salt) American Thighs.

06. “Whip Smart,” (Liz Phair) Whip Smart.

05. “Naked Eye,” (Luscious Jackson) Fever In Fever Out.

04. “Gold Lion,” (Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs) Show Your Bones.

03. “Conflake Girl,” (Tori Amos) Under the Pink.

02. “We Float,” (PJ Harvey) Stories from the City – Stories from the Sea.

01. “Sour Times,” (Portishead)  Dummy.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Lame’s 2010 Nominees: One Day You’re In, The Next Day, You’re Out.

Earlier this week, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees for 2010, with the stipulation that only five out of the twelve are going to actually make the final list and get invited to Cinderella’s Ball at the Waldorf Astoria – another antiquated institution which actually makes it the perfect venue for a Rock and Rock Hall of Fame event. 

Don’t get me wrong…wanting to honor the Great Ones of Rock is a fine idea. Other music critics deem the whole idea of a music Hall of Fame as antithetical to the spirit in which rock music was created in the first place.  Maybe so.  Of course, if there was a category in the Hall of Fame for Most Influential Music Critic Demi-God, I have a feeling that criticism would wane as fast as the special effects smoke at a Motley Crüe concert.

Alright, so here’s the list of nominees and why these artists should – or shouldn’t – be graced with the golden ticket to New York for the awards:

ABBA

 

I know it’s hard to believe, but ABBA are one of the biggest-selling acts in pop-history.  This late-1960s Euro-hippie trash became an outed guilty pleasure when dinner theaters all over the country staged versions of ‘Mamma Mia’ and Meryl Streep decided to go commercial with the film version.  I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive her for that, but whatever.  Anyway, it’s only because of Mamma Mia that this kitschy act is even on the list.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  Not a Fucking Chance in Hell.

DARLENE LOVE

 
Ok, I didn’t know who she was either.  So, I did a little research for y’all.  Turns out her father’s church in East L.A was where she got her start.  At 16, Darlene sang at a wedding where two of the bridesmaids asked her to join their vocal group, The Blossoms. They quickly established a major presence in the L.A. session scene doing backgrounds for artists such as Sam Cooke. Darlene caught the attention of pre-felony days record producer Phil Spector and he made her one of the cornerstones of his “Wall of Sound” under various names (The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, and of course, Darlene Love). She sang lead on a string of hits, earning an important place on the landscape of 60’s rock & roll. She continues to have a prolific singing career, having starred on Broadway, and in recent years has returned to her gospel roots.

But what this Generation Xer thinks really rocks is that she starred as Danny Glover’s wife in the Lethal Weapon movie series 😉

 Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  I love her, but the competition’s just too great this year. A reluctant, no.

DONNA SUMMER

She’s the QUEEN of friggin’ DISCO.  How can you not let her in? Say what you want about the era, its fashion, and the vacuous nature of the movement, but Donna and her disco ducks lay the foundation for the whole dance/electronica genre and embraced multiculturalism (albeit under the umbrella of what Studio 54 deemed as mixed race ‘cool’) years before a nation would be ready for it – and helped legitimize gay culture on par with the Stonewall revolt.  And front and center was this liquid-voiced lady of the night…singing about last chance hook-ups, working-class heros, and even about cakes left out in the rain (yeah, no one understands what the fuck that song was about).  She’s a pioneer and I love her.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict: Let her in or I’ll cut you, bitch.

GENESIS

Believe it or not,  Genesis began as a cult art-rock band in England in the late 1960’s with Peter Gabriel before he left (he’s in the freaky-freak picture above).  Then, Phil Collins came front-and-center, and went on to pack stadiums across the globe in the 1980’s, 1990’s and on their 2007 reunion tour.  I had the misfortune of growing up during the 1980s and knew even then that most of their stuff was pop schlock squill.  Just because these guys used to sell a lot of records doesn’t mean they were any good. 

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  I May Have Been High, But You Still Sucked.

JIMMY CLIFF

For once, the R&R Hof Fame got it right, and wrote,  “Very few single albums can be said to have changed music forever.  Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come is one.  The album – and the movie that spawned it – introduced reggae to a worldwide audience and changed the image of the genre from cruise ship soundtrack to music of rebellion and inspiration. “Sitting in Limbo,” “The Harder They Come,” “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” and “Many Rivers to Cross” made Jimmy Cliff the first international reggae superstar and created the model that Bob Marley would soon follow. A beautifully gifted singer and a uniquely influential songwriter, Jimmy Cliff has made a profound impact on rock and pop music all over the world for 40 years.”

I couldn’t have said it better.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  Absolutely yes.

KISS

Yes, they were one of the most popular bands of the 1970’s – scoring countless hit singles, sold-out tours and appearing everywhere from comic books to lunch boxes to their very own TV movie. They continue to perform sold out concerts around the world. But they’re a Vegas act, nothing more and a hell-of-a-lot less.  This band owes its legacy to Maybelline, not to Metal.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  Not a chance in hell.

LAURA NYRO

Most of you reading this won’t know who she is, but singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro (1947-1997) was a true original – composing intricate, haunting songs which found a vast audience when recorded by other artists. Elton John acclaimed her influence to Elvis Costello: “The soul, the passion, the out-and-out audacity of her rhythmic and melody changes was like nothing I’d ever heard before.”  She’s at the silent heart of the singer/songwriter movement and the lo-fi groove of the 21st century, and I always love bringing the behind-the-scenes stars to the spotlight.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict: Yes, yes…a thousand times, YES.

LL COOL J

I fell in love with LL Cool J when I heard him sing “…cause it ain’t the glory days with Bruce Springsteen/I’m not a virgin so I know I’ll make Madonna scream.” A year earlier LL had made his debut on Def Jam, which was also the debut of the label itself.  He’s part of my 80s soundtrack loop, and continued his presence in all of our lives with such hits as “Going Back to Cali,” and “Mama Said Knock You Out,” along with countless TV and film gigs.  He’s one of the most charismatic figures in hip hop, and I still don’t think we’ve come close to seeing his best.  That said, as much as I love him, I think this nomination is a bit premature, even though it makes the Hall of Fame time cut out.

 Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict: With a heavy heart, I gotta say no.  But come back in another few years, and I promise to say yes.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the most flamboyant, commercially successful and musically influential bands of rock’s last quarter century. They were high school pals who combined their passions for Jimi Hendrix, Seventies R&B and hardcore punk with sexual exuberance and local skateboard culture, immediately becoming famous for their outrageous (often near-naked) live shows and incendiary jamming. The Chili Peppers broke through with 1991’s BloodSugarSexMagik, a multi-platinum fusion of metal and rap that was pivotal in bringing modern black street culture and music to the Nirvana generation.  The band’s 2006 two-CD set Stadium Arcadium went right to Number One and is their most ambitious collection to date.

Besides, I have a reoccuring sex dream starring Anthony Kiedis.  He’s not my usual type, but I always wake up smiling.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  You betcha, baby.

THE CHANTELS

They were not the first all-girl R&B group, nor the last, but The Chantels were the first to achieve a consistent run of chart records, thus paving the way for The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Supremes and all the other “girl” groups that followed.  The Chantels’ distinctive, choir-like sound, with its classical and gospel overtones, featured the soaring lead of Arlene Smith, who also wrote much of the group’s material including its signature song “Maybe,” which has been covered many times over the years, most notably by Janis Joplin.

 Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  Sorry sugar. Not this time.

THE HOLLIES

Their wide-open three-part vocal harmonies of original members Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, and Eric Haydock, inspired by the Everly Brothers,  gave the Hollies a sound apart from other British Invasion beat groups. They had such hits, including “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” “Long Dark Road,” “Magic Woman Touch,” “The Air That I Breathe,” and others. That said, I don’t know…this nomination doesn’t excite me.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  Nope. That simple.

THE STOOGES

The “Big Bang” that became punk, alternative, heavy metal, new wave, grunge, hardcore and industrial music, could very well have been the advent of Iggy and the Stooges in Ann Arbor in the late 1960’s. Confrontational, out of the mainstream and the complete antitheses of the hippie movement, the Stooges were adopted by those on the margins of rock. Their debut Elektra LP was produced in four days by the Velvet Undergound’s John Cale and contained at least three landmarks: “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “No Fun” and “1969.” Immediately embraced in New York, London and Los Angeles for the nuclear-powered simplicity of their music, the ironic nihilism of their lyrics, and the persona of Iggy himself, the Stooges have become icons in the history of modern music.

Ms. Mix & Bitch’s Rock the Vote Verdict:  A must-have.

Top Ten Couples of Rock-n-Roll

I don’t know about you, but Mr. M&B and I have come to that point in life where some of the longtime couples we’ve known and love(d) are headed for the proverbial dumpster-dive of divorce.  Frankly, with some of them we would look at each other and say, “oh thank GOD they’re finally splitting up ‘  because going out to dinner with them had become a migraine-inducing, miserable experience.  Yes, believe it or not, Mr. M&B and I actually don’t find it all that entertaining to referee your latest crisis of ‘why is he such a useless, lazy fuckwad?’ and ‘why is she such a heartless, control-mongering bitch’  Besides, it’s not good dinner table etiquette and about a shade worse than accidentally catching your friends naked at your last pool party.

But I digress.

While many of these couples we know (three and counting) at this point and time can’t remember what it was about them that made them magic together, I certainly haven’t forgotten.  I know there are plenty of ‘convenience marriages’ out there- people together for the sake of finances or the kids or just to not be alone anymore – but for some reason, those guys are all staying together and the ones who seemed to be held together by pixie dust and sex straps are the ones who have become ashes to ashes and dust to dust.  What’s up with that? Is it that something so cosmically powerful couldn’t sustain the long-burn? Were those unions based mostly on sex and pheromones and their moons being  in the 7th house or some crap like that which made them flash too brightly for too short a time? 

When I think of chemistry and magic and all that makes my heart all a-flutter, there are certain iconic couples who come to mind, and they’ll all in rock-n-roll.  Well, at least I’m a consistent kinda girl.  For me, these couples perfectly encapsulate a utopic image which may not have been their reality, but it sure looked like heaven from way down here. 

Some are still together, others not so much. But they are timeless. They are the original hot messes.  They are postmodern-day Gods and Goddesses, and I worship at their feet…

10.  Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard

Ok, I know I just semi-trashed Zooey’s album, but I do think she’s scrumptious and I have a sparkle of hope for her the next time around…and Jesus, Mary, and Josephine, I am completely in awe of Ben Gibbard’s (Death Cab for Cutie) talent.  So while at present they are far from, like, the rock-n-roll couple of all time, I think they’re a nod towards the future.  Albeit a vegan, gluten-intolerant, soy and dairy free future (see Top Chef Masters episode featuring Zooey to learn what I’m talking about).  Besides, they just got married, so consider this placement a wedding gift…

9.  Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks

Those of you who read me regularly understand my illogical obsession with Stevie Nicks.  And while I sure as hell don’t see what Stevie sees in Lindsay, I sure as hell know what he sees in her.  Ok, he’s talented and together they were kinetic stardust.  They are an example of when all the drama and tsurrus (Yiddish for a lot of trouble) are somehow worth it.  I pity those who had to work with these two – not only through the well-known Rumours album debacle – but through their years of being on-again, off-again.  I’m exhausted just reading about it.  But there’s no denying their heat.

8.  Chris Robinson and Kate Hudson

Okay, by now it’s pretty obvious I have ANOTHER unhealthy obsession with all things from the movie,  Almost Famous, because while Kate and Chris weren’t together all that long (although a lifetime in dog Hollywood years), they are so very rock-n-roll.  She was and will always be Penny Lane for me, and he’s the epitome of grubby 70s-style guitar sex demi-God.  Together, they were Beauty and the Beast in the most nasty, dirty porn way, and we were all repulsed and fascinated at the same time – the true test of a top rock-n-roll couple.

7. Tie between Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel/Linda and Paul McCartney

       

Nothing against either woman, but both represent the demarcation between when their men went from being artists to becoming entertainers of the Vegas variety.  They lost an edge.  Some artists can handle the happy; these two just drowned in it, like a fruit fly in a pool of syrupy Shirley Temple – producing such slop as “Uptown Girl” and “Jet.”  Mr. M& B is a big Wings fan (and yeah I know what you’re thinking, “and she married him anyways?”).  In spite of this heart-wrenching truth, I love my man, and I, at least, admire these relationships (well, at least until Billy was caught cheating. Yeah, I don’t get that one either).

6.  Winona Ryder and, Well, Everyone with a Dick in Rock-n-Roll

Courtney Love once said, “You’re not nobody in rock-n-roll if you haven’t played [music] with me or slept with Winona Ryder.”  While I def think the first part is an overstatement (and I’m being kind here), the latter is probably true.  Here’s as best of an up-to-date list as I can give you of Winona’s bed fellows:

Dave Grohl

Beck

Dave Pirner

Ryan Adams

Pete Yorn

Rhett Miller

Jack White

Paul Westerberg

Did I miss anyone? Actually, I don’t care who she fucks.  I’m just a lover of patterns and like to point them out.  So there.

5.  Dave Navarro and A Mirror, Reflection in a Pond, Outline Image of Himself in Chalk, You Get The Idea…

In an industry so heavily saturated with egomaniacal characters and self-entitlement paralleling that of the Republican Party, Dave Navarro stands out as King of the Self-Absorbed Pricks.  Yes, he can play guitar, and I absolutely adore Jane’s Addiction, but Jesus Motherfucker Christ can anyone be so completely self-obsessed as he?  I wish I could have put him and Carmen Electra in this slot – I was really rooting for them – but after watching him prance and preen and pucker more than any girl I’ve ever encountered, I knew there was no hope for her or them. 

4.  Debbie Harry and Chris Stein

She was the luscious treat with the world-weary voice and sleepy-sex-stare and he was the co-founder and guitarist for Blondie – an East Village New York force catapulting New Wave to the mainstream.  In a time when commitment was considered blaisé and monogamy laughable, Stein and Harry got it on whenever and wherever they could (even rumored to have fucked frequently in the bathroom stalls at CBGB’s, and if you ever saw them in their day, you know that’s not just devotion – that’s just insanity).  After their 70s glory days began to dim, these two still stuck it out – with Harry nursing Stein through a particularly debilitating illness on and off through a chunk of the 80s.  In fact, they were together up until the 1990s – when they finally split (they never married, but I’m sorry, you make it through key parties and cocaine and shoulder pads and come out the other side, then in my eyes you two were married, motherfuckers).  They’re still great friends and make music together, which – even though they didn’t stay together romantically – elevates them in this little list o’ mine.

3.  Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore

If I devoted myself for the rest of my life to be the coolest “me” I could be, my results would just shrivel and cringe next to even the mere shadow of Kim Gordon.  And I’m pretty friggin’ cool, so that’s saying something. 

I can’t say that I’ve always liked Sonic Youth, but I’ve always appreciated what they were trying to do.  Like Talking Heads, they attempted to merge the art movement of their time with a post punk music aesthetic which certainly made for an interesting intellectual exercise, but wasn’t always something I could groove with easily.  I’m veering off-track here, aren’t I? 

Anyway, Gordon met Moore through mutual friends, and along with the formation of Sonic Youth – the band often coined as the birth parents of the alternative rock movement – a romance also began.  They married in 1984, had a kid in 1994, and are still together, making art and music while living in Northampton, MA.  They’ve worked, lived, parented, slept, and created together for more than twenty-five years with no fanfare, no headlines, no drama – frankly, very un-rock-n-roll. Good for them.

2. John Lennon and Yoko Ono

I know, I know…they’re on everyone’s list.  But there’s a reason for that.  They were both married to other people when they met, but the draw to be together was so strong I don’t think the laws of physics could have kept them apart.  They were, simply, Kismet.

I don’t need to reiterate the rest…theirs is a well-known story.  Recently, though, I was watching an interview with her on CNN.  She was promoting her exhibit entitled, “John Lennon: The New York Years” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Annexin New York City.  As she was going through the varying displays (the last one being the brown paper bag with his personal belongings from the hospital after his assassination), she stopped at one the videos playing John talking.  Then, he waved on the film and she lit up and waved back and said, “Oh hi John” as if he had been standing there with her the whole time. It broke my heart.  They’ve been parted by death for more than 25 years and no matter who she’s sleeping with at any time (let’s face it, she’s not dead) that’s still her husband. Period.  

1. June and Johnny Cash

Alright, alright…they’re a country act.  But their relationship was very rock-n-roll, with one big difference – a happy ending.  They lived through being married to the wrong people, drug addiction, personal hardship to come out the other side (well, mostly) to find redemption, joy, love, and friendship.  June died in May, 2003, and Johnny – never recovering from the grief of his loss – died a mere three months later.  They were married 35 years. That’s fodder for eternal greatness, my friends.  Think about that the next time you want to scream at your man for leaving his dirty socks on the floor.

PS: I know I’m gonna hear “hey where’s Sid and Nancy? And Kurt and Courtney?” I know I could have, maybe even should have, but damn it, I wanted to shake things up some – and while I actually think Love has talent, she recently flapped her big,. botoxed mouth about how all them “Jew lawyers and accountants” were taking all her money. Yeah, Courtney (half breed Jew that you are, remember pookie?) and it has nothing to do with you snorting and shooting a bankful of money up your nose and in your veins.  Puhleeze…what’s even more annoying is that she practices the same sect of Buddhism that I do – so nam-myoho-renge-kyo this bitch and think before you talk…for just once.

Bitch Slap of the Week: Actors with Albums

I make no attempts at hiding the fact that I’m basically Steve Job’s nasty lil’ bitch.  If he and the rest of the Apple-tinis came out with the ability to put an iTunes chip inside my brain, I’d be the first to sign up.  So, it’s no big whoopin’ surprise that I cruise the iTunes music library as frequently as a perv at a playground, and under its My Groove section (yeah, whatev on that title) they have a tasty lil’ category entitled “Actors with Albums.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Although, it’s not like the idea is something new there, right?  Those pesky, attention-obsessed thespians have been trying to trample on the coattails of rock-n-rollers almost as much as rock stars have attempted to break into film (blame Elvis and Cher -among many, many others –  for the cross-dressing.  Aren’t so many culture faux pas always traced back to Elvis and Cher??). 

Anyhoo…

While I admit to having an inherent bias against actor-crossover-albums, I have decided to be less judgey and give a few of the latest albums a good, solid, listen-to…so here it goes…

Mix Tape Therapy’s Worth-a-Grab Track:  Saint Jerome

Coconut Records is actually the solo musical efforts of actor Jason Schwartzman (prob best known for his new HBO series, Bored to Death, along with movie roles inI ♥ Huckabees, Funny People, Shopgirl, amongst others).  Davy is his second release on his own label, Young Baby Records – his first was Nighttiming, also an indie pop album featuring – WHOA BIG SURPRISE!!! indie pop-styled singers such as Zooey Deschanel and Kirstie Dunst (before the rehab – ouch).   With his sophomore effort, he’s lost the Sundance Film Festival entourage and has produced a record indicative of Schwartzman’s California easy-breezy Cover Girl style- with just enough twenty-something, medium-bodied angst to keep it interesting.  In other words, Schwartzman-as-musician (which is, ironically, how he started) has some musical chops.  The range of reviews you’ll probably read for this album range from begruding acceptance of talent to comparables to the likes of Elliott Smith or Sgt. Pepper’s-fashioned Beatles.  The truth is somewhere in between. 

While there’s certainly a case to be made for choosing a favorite track or two, the beauty of this record is to keep it playing on a continuous loop and let it serve as the soundtrack of your everyday. It’s certainly not soulful enough for your next life crisis, but Davy has enough artistry and charm to keep you buzzing regardless.

 

           

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Mix Tape Therapy’s Worth-a-Grab Track:  This is Not a Test

First of all, I adore Zooey Deschanel.  I don’t always love her movie choices – but I fell for her almost as hard as I fell for Kate Hudson in their shared movie, Almost Famous.  Remember her?  She was the sister who left the prophetic note for her brother saying, “Someday, you will be cool.”  Of course, I’m still waiting 😉

Anyway, she’s the latest indie film flavor-of-the-month and to help her segue into the independent music scene is none other than indie pop music darling, M. Ward.  A musical marriage made in heaven or hell, you ask?  While I’m thrilled to say that this album doesn’t suck, I can’t go so far as to say it’s a must-have for your personal Christmas list either.  Unless, of course, you really dig those retro 60s and 70s, soft rock hits.

Which, by the way motherfuckers, I do.  Lots of music critics have been comparing Deschanel to the likes of Carly Simon and Rita Coolidge, and man o man, I sure wish I could do the same – psst, how many of my readers born after 1980 did I just lose with those references?  But somewhere, somehow…in the path where Deschanel’s  vocals breathlessly escape their strung-way-too-twangy chords, skipping the depths of her diaphragm altogether, her voice somehow gets lodged in the morass between the back of her throat and her nasal cavity.  The result leads to a sound more resonant of a Tammie Wynette whine than a Linda Ronstadt roar. 

Yeah, I know..that was bitchy, but I say it with a heavy heart because I so wanted to love her voice and this record.  Don’t get me wrong – M. Ward has accurately captured the upbeat, sing-song simplicity of this songwriter genre through his crafty string arrangements.  Covers of 60s gold classics and torch song standards – such as “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” and “You Really Got a Hold on Me”  are technically sound and relatively straight forward.  They just don’t have any soul.  The results ends up sounding like a karaoke act – a well-rehearsed, above-the-basement karaoke act – but a tribute band job just the same.

Until you get to tracks actually written by Deschanel and Ward, like “This is Not a Test.”  Then, the cutesy-twang sound filtered  through the dry-witted lyrics and sound work. And work quite well.  My advice? Stick to writing you own stuff for Volume II, k? M. Ward is not a creative enough arranger and Deschanel doesn’t have the musical chops to cover what they covering.  Keep it simple, don’t take yourselves too seriously, and inject your intelligence and sense of humor into what you’re writing – and I’m positive Diablo Cody will be calling you for some tracks to her next Juno-inspired classic.  Good luck.

    

 

Next:  Actors with Albums, Part II