Song Stuck In My Head

Why? Why not!

I had a random thought after talking with a friend about Huey Lewis. On the "Ghostbusters" theme, Ray Parker Jr. totally lifted the melody and bass line from this song. Turns out, Huey noticed it at the time, sued, and they settled for an undisclosed amount with a gag order preventing either party from dicussing the terms publicly. In his VH1 Behind the Music, Huey commented, "He stole my song!", Parker sued for violation of the agreement, and the judge dismissed it because Huey never disclosed the terms of the agreement. You gotta figure, these industry guys must have been at some of the same cocktail parties over the years. I wonder how that went?

One of my favorite early '80s songs. This was their only Top 100 song in the U.S., bolstered by heavy play on a young MTV Network. After playing the second US Festival in '83, the 2 main guys left for solo careers, citing the turbulent relationships between band, management, and record company. For the next 20 years or so, various members came and went, they put out some albums but none of them went anywhere commercially. I've always been surprised this song hasn't been licensed for more use in films.

While working construction during the summers and holiday breaks in college ('90-93), we'd hear this song every morning and afternoon, and sometimes at lunch. Love the cheeky lyrics. The frontman David Lowery is also the leader of the great post-punk college rock band Camper Van Beethoven. Highly intelligent fellow who exposed the major label record industry for what it was in a late '90s public essay. Cracker had an album left on its commitment with Virgin Records who instead of letting the band make a new record, issued a "greatest hits" album without the Artist's approval. The band was justifiably pissed off enough that they re-recorded all the songs for their own Greatest Hits Redux (so they'd own the rights and royalties), and added the song dedicated to Virgin Records, "Ain't Gonna Suck Itself" . If you don't know Cracker, you may know their biggest hit, Low . Great band, nice guys.

Had a great phone conversation with one of my high school football coaches, a teacher, friend and mentor earlier tonight. We at once agree on a lot and not too much, but the Venn diagram on our sensibilities mostly overlaps. One year we were teammates on a semi-pro football team, the Hyde Park Cowboys of the EFL. Thought of this song because we had a teammate named Larry DeVoe. We didn't even talk about Larry on the call, but I'm a sucker for the cheesy music of the 80s and 90s and Larry was such a character, it crossed my mind.

Just wrote a nice post about this song and what it means to me. It appears to have been lost in the stratosphere. Maybe it's the world's way of saying Christmas Is Over. So here's the song.

Jesus GD christ on a popsicle stick, it's already Christmas? Ok. Just kidding - I love holiday music. Gotta love Billy Squier, the pride of Wellesley, Mass.

I normally try and post the Artist's official video of the song. The video on this one is fairly goofy. In the Artist's defense, it's quite possible they had little control over the video and were just doing as told by the label. That dynamic was common at the time. Anyway, a good tune that got me through many flights in the late 90s.

Without looking, AC/DC may be the most-appeared artist on this blog. As a Blues guy, I've always enjoyed when artists of the genre got big. From Zeppelin and the Stones to the Black Crowes and Samantha Fish, it's all from the rhythm & the blues. This song came out well after Bon Scott had passed and AC/DC was at the height of its commercial powers with nothing to gain but for putting it out there a decade later.

While going through a break-up which I took harder than I should have, I did what you do: listened to the same song in headphones a hundred times while walking around town before snapping out of it. I don't recall how I came upon this song and/or this brilliant artist, but it got me through that time. Lyrically and sonically, the arrangement, the vocal delivery, this song just hits me in the gut on every level, every time.

This song was a recommendation from the old Sound Opinions message board in 2008. I fell instantly in love with it, and had no idea he was formerly one of the singers in Tony! Toni! Tone! until I saw him live at the Showbox Market (Seattle) the following year when he medleyed in their hit " Feels Good ." Before that, just before his 18th birthday he answered an open audition and got the job to play bass and sing backup for Shiela E.'s band on Prince's 1984 world tour. The artists he has collaborated with include Whitney Houston, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, the Roots, Macy Gray, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Nicole Richie's dad.

Classic r&b from the legendary Stax/Volt catalog which would later be bought and re-released by Atlantic. If you don't think you know a bunch of Sam & Dave songs... you do.

My favorite band, rock & roll anti-heroes who not only couldn't care less about commercial success, they seemed to decidedly sabotage it every chance they got. The SNL incident is a fine example, from which they were banned from ever playing the show again. Luckily, they're a great enough band that their cult following kept them in business as long as they wanted, which was only until '91 when they famously broke up on stage during a live radio broadcast in Chicago. Even luckier (for me), they reunited in 2013 and I got to see a few of those shows, a couple in Seattle and the first in Chicago, aka the scene of the crime. In between, Paul Westerberg had success as a solo artist, scoring the music for the great Cameron Crowe film Singles with his hits "Dyslexic Heart" and "Waiting For Somebody." Link to this song from RiotFest Chicago 2013 . Post edit: the only time I've ever seen a true encore was Westerberg at the Showbox Seattle in Feb. 2005

I've never been big into prog rock, more of a song and album guy. Rush transcends those. As kids, Jake and I used to sit and listen to Signals and Moving Pictures , among others. Jake's mom was the department chair of the music schools at Harvard and Boston College (then for over 20 years at U of Oregon), so as young music enthusiasts we naturally sought her approval, to which she would offer feedback honestly and accordingly, usually at the dinner table and otherwise while walking by. Anne would pop her head in to check out what we were listening to and let us know, either a nod of approval or would walk on by. This one got the nod. I miss you, Anne. You kept us honest and on good behavior, even when you drove us to concerts and sat in the car while we rocked out to the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, and Motley Crue.

Jesse is a NYC punk guy turned singer-songwriter whose music came to me in the best way: word of mouth. My friend Troy in Philly told me about him c. 2000. Bought the record, instantly a fan. Was lucky enough to see and meet Jesse later in Seattle when he was supporting Blues Traveler at the Showbox. Went to see Jesse's set, talked with him a bit after, then gave Blues Traveler 15 minutes to make me want to stay. I went home. And I like Blues Traveler! True story. I love this song and Jesse is one of the good guys.

Probably my favorite Sabbath song, everyone has a great part on this one. Geezer Butler (bass) gets some good licks in where he's usually in a more supporting role to hold it down for Bill Ward (drums) and Tony Iommi (guitar) who also get to show off their chops as usual. Cool drum breaks and guitar solos, strong lyrics on this anti-war classic. Maybe Ozzy's finest vocal hour.

In high school, we blasted this in our bedrooms and while riding around in our cars. They had a point, no?

Watching the guitar god Joe Satriani with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony on Howard Stern's podcast earlier and Howard asked, "What's the most difficult riff to play?" Sammy gave a couple examples of songs from the Van Hagar days, and without hesitation, Joe said the guitar intro to "Mean Street," off of VH's third album, Fair Warning (1978). Watching Satriani having dificulty playing it, and the bonkers finger tapping technique that goes beyond Eddie's better-known signature style, was crazy. At a point, Joe says, "It's impossible to play, right?"

Since we've been doing some covers lately, how about the original whose cover is better known? Soft Cell's version was one of the biggest hit of the '80s, but Gloria Jones is the Nothern Soul singer-songwriter who had a hit with it in 1965. Ms. Jones was also in the musical Hair , was keyboard player and vocalist for T. Rex in the '70s, and was in the Motown stable where she wrote for Gladys Knight & Pips, Commodores, the Four Tops, and the Jackson 5. She has recorded with Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis, Billy Preston, and '68 was in a rock & soul version of Shakespeare's Othello along with fellow cast members Jerry Lee Lewis, the Blossoms, and Dr. John. In 1977 while living in England, she was the drunk driver in an accident that killed her T. Rex bandleader and love interest Marc Bolan. She left all her possessions behind and took her son back to the U.S. before the court date, so the Court recorded a verdict of accidental death.

This album was recorded live at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, with the band sitting in a circle around one mic. It was recorded on a beta max analog video tape and then run through an analog to digital converter. To convince the church to let them use the space, they told them they were a family band making a Christmas album. Classic case of the cover being better than the original.

Cheap Trick is one the greatest bands that never got credit for it. Having gone long yesterday, I'll go short here. Aside from T. Rex, without Cheap Trick the "power pop" genre might not exist. This song isn't even one of theirs, a Fats Domino cover, but a hallmark of their live album ( side 2 is undeniably great ). Back when a live album meant something and we had to wait for it without knowing what a "YouTube sensation" had for lunch today. The tension and build-up in the first minute. That rhythm section os Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson! The magnetism of Robin Zander! The charisma of Rick Nielsen!

Took yesterday off from this, so I may go a bit longer! Today, a song from an artist whose music I love and who's also taken every oportunity to be a 28-karat prick. From being notoriously late for his own shows or not showing up at all, in one case cutting the support act's set short because the Lonnie Brooks Blues Band was killing it and Van the Man would not be shown up, so he gave Lonnie the hook (I was at that show), to phoning it in while standing at the back of the stage all night from audience view or (been to a couple of those), sometimes not showing up because he "didn't feel like it" but kept his 50% deposit, physically abusing his guitar tech on stage for trying to untangle the guitar cable he'd managed to get wrapped up around his ankle because he has zero stage awareness (I witnessed this and talked with the guitar tech after who told me, "We're 13 days into this regional 3-week tour, 9 guys on the crew, I'm one of 2 still here, he

One of the first albums I bought, used for 99 cents at Bus Stop Records in Newton, MA. Back when regular people could afford to live in Newton. Our parents hated it, and we blasted it when they weren't home.

Southside is one of the greats. Bruce stole both Little Steven and Patty Scialfa from the Asbury Jukes. So glad I got to see them back in the day when they played the House of Blues Chicago and my brother called me with one of his "get down here right now" calls. Steve made his bones with this incredible horns part, and wrote most of Johnny's big songs. Bruce did an amazing version of this song in '72 and never officially released it. I may put Bruce's version in the comments. What a song. My ex wife and I used to dance to it in the early days. It's the only song I ever heard that made her cry.

For Lester. It's a great cover. And Rick Rubin is a c*nt!

My great friend Lester is one of the few who actually looks at this place, so this one is for him. He suggested posting Johnny Cash's great cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" which was on one of his Rick Rubin-produced albums. I don't like Rick Rubin for a lot of reasons, so this, my favorite Johnny Cash song, is the compromise!

I saw this band at the greatest music festival I've ever been to, and I've been to a lot of them - Riot Fest Chicago 2013 (my caveman ass will figure out how to attach the showbill with the staggering line-up). I'd never heard of Best Coast but they swept me off my feet. I was planning on laying in the grass and resting/listening as I did for some other great artists (3 days, put ten miles on my shoes) and this band compelled me to get up and walk up front.

One of my favorite covers. I enjoy when an artist takes someome else's song and makes it theirs by smashing the already-great arrangement into their own.

Greatest concert film ever. No frills. Black backdrop, they never show the audience, just a great band at their peak. As the only tenth-grader starting on the varsity wrestling team, I always loved that during our intense conditioning sessions our co-captain Tony would shout, "this ain't no disco!" Maybe that made us run in place like David Byrne did in this song. Film directed by Jonathan Demme.

Greatest tv theme song ever. Fight me.

Oh boy... if you grew up in the 70s or 80s, you know this song. With my first serious girfriend, Jodi and I had a fairly respectable record collection in our Jersey apartment, '93-94, way before vinyl became all the retro rage. We had this on 45. Fast forward 20+ years from there in Seattle, it gets stupid. I made a tuna casserole but instead of using water I used Chelada, a beer flavored with tomato and clam juice. Thought I was onto something. Despite my ex-wife's constant "this is not gonna turn out well" warnings, I insisted on its forthcoming greatness and while preparing the dish, danced around the kitchen singing what I call this incredibly unfortunate dish to this day, "if you like Tuna Chelada!...Jessica was right. It was awful