Sat, 11 Apr 2020 05:07:48 -0700WeeblyMon, 10 Jun 2013 15:23:29 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/flashback-1970s-discofunkdanceI have a confession. I’m a sucker for 1970s dance music, specifically disco and funk and all their branches. If I had the opportunity to go back in time for a day, I think I would quite possibly choose to visit a dance club like Club 54 in the 1970s for a night of boogieing. My husband Perry cannot get his head around this and thinks I’m crazy. I can’t help it…I LOVE DISCO AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO ADMIT IT! The beats, the rhythms, the bass lines,  the falsetto, the dance routines and dance moves, the awesome hair and clothes that go along with it and most importantly the urge the music gives me to get up and shake what my momma gave me. Basically, just the pure cheesiness of it is enough to make my day.  I just can’t get enough of it. Here are some of my must-haves for the ultimate 1970s dance music playlist…perfect for an afro wig, bell-bottom, platform shoe wearing, groovy night out.

(Click on the song link to be directed to a YouTube video of the song....worth watching just to see the amazing dancing and outfits! Wow things sure have changed since then!)

1. Earth, Wind and Fire - "Boogie Wonderland"
This isn’t because it was featured in Happy Feet (I have an obsession with penguins). I’ve loved this song (and most songs by Earth, Wind and Fire) for as long as I can remember. The penguins just enhanced the lovability factor of it. In fact, I love Earth, Wind and Fire so much that they get two songs on this playlist!

2. Earth, Wind and Fire - "Let's Groove"
CLASSIC! And I love the falsetto....and the video! So cheesy, so awesome, so LOVE LOVE LOVE!

3. Curtis Mayfield - "Move on Up"
I love the popular instrumental riff from this song… you know the one I’m talking about…the one that seems to be heavily sampled nowadays

4. The Commodores - "Brick House"
Great bass line! And perhaps even greater afros!

5. The Gap Band - “I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops Upside Your Head)”
So this song was quite huge and there is even some sort of dance that goes along with it. I had no idea until I attended my mum-in-law’s 50th birthday party and her and her sisters started dancing it. As much as I like this song, I can only handle a little bit of it as it just repeats…and repeats…and repeats…and….

 6. Michael Jackson – "Off The Wall"
Love love love love the bass line

7. Michael Jackson – "Get on the Floor"
Another fantastic bass line

8. Rick James - "Give it to Me"
Just LOOK at that hair!

9. Chic – "Everybody Dance"
Love the bass line, the melody, the voices, and the way it makes me want to get up and DANCE!

10. Tavares - "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel"
These guys have got.the.moves! The cheesiness is just hypnotizing.

11. Boney M - "Daddy Cool"
Perry: What the HECK is that?
Me: It's amazing is what it is!
Just check it out for yourselves. A-MA-ZING. I wish dance floors had these kinds of moves and energy still...and not just when I'm on them.

12. James Brown – "Get Up Offa That Thing"
Ever since I heard this song for the first time on the movie Harriet the Spy when I was younger, it has made me want to get up offa that thing and dance dance dance. I love the horns in this and the energy!

13. The Miracles - "Love Machine"
…..na na na na na na na na na na woo hoo hoo…

14. The Spinners – "Working My Way Back To You"

15. Chic - "Good Times"

16 . A Taste of Honey- "Boogie Oogie Oogie"
The bass line just does it for me and I love that it is played by women. Girl Power!

17. Kool And The Gang – “Get Down On It”
Love the rhythm!

18. The O’Jay’s- Love Train

19. Diana Ross – "I’m Coming Out"
The beats and rhythms of this one just make me LOCAAAAA.

20. Bee Gees - "More Than A Woman"
Oh boy that falsetto just does it for me

21. Bee Gees – "Night Fever"
Absolute classic. It screams DISCO!

22. Bee Gees - "Stayin' Alive"
Because no disco playlist is complete without at least 3 Bee Gees hits on it!

23. Stacy Lattisaw – "Jump to the Beat"
….cause it…well…makes me want to jump to the beat :-)

24. Anita Ward – "Ring My Bell"
So so so funky.

25. Heatwave- “Boogie Nights”
Another great bass line...and some great outfits in the video!

26. The Four Season – "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)"
LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! Perry and I used to borrow one of his mom’s disco compilations when we would go on road trips and this was always the first track to come on. Great tune and one of my favorites on this list.

This list could go on for ages and does not include some of the obvious such as “YMCA” and “Disco Inferno” and so on but those aren’t on my personal list of top 1970s disco/funk/dance songs…of which there are A LOT. Even as I attempt to conclude this list, I keep thinking of ones I haven’t added and need to be on the list BUT I must stop. So this is my list for now but I am sure I will continue to add to it as more songs come to me. I know some of the songs were released after the 1970s but they are still heavily influenced by funk or disco so I have included them.

Perry's thoughts on this list: "I think you just love disco because of the bass lines". I am a bass player after all so maybe this is the reason. But whatever the reason, it is still one of my favorite eras and I am not ashamed to admit it. I would love to play in a high energy 1970s music group one day. Hope this brings some of you back to the good ‘ol days! Wish I knew what those good 'ol days were like! Come on time machine!!!

What are some of your favorite 1970s disco/funk/dance songs?!
]]>Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:19:13 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/album-of-the-day-elton-john-vs-pnau-good-morning-to-the-night1I happen to like Elton John but sometimes only in small doses. Some songs I LOVE (like the entirety of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) and some I loathe. My husband Perry however is a huge Elton John fan (need I be worried?!) so I have him to thank for introducing me to this album: Elton John Versus Pnau- Good Morning to the Night. It is a somewhat collaboration between the legend Elton John and Australian dance-music duo Pnau which you may be more familiar with their side project: Empire of the Sun. I had never heard of Pnau but Perry assured me that I sort of had as I happen to really like Empire of the Sun’s music and Pnau features a member from Empire of the Sun, Nick Littlemore, and also Peter Mayes, who co-wrote songs for EOTS’s debut album “Walking on a Dream”.

This album is essentially Elton John songs remixed into dance tracks by Pnau. It is a project that was initiated by Sir Elton himself and to be honest, I prefer some of the remixed sounds to the originals (sorry EJ)..but only some! It was released and peaked at number 1 in the UK charts in July 2012 so why am I reviewing it now? Because I can’t get enough of it, it is definitely worth a listen, and I want to share it with the world…just as Elton John is sharing the news of the newest addition to his family with the world (congrats Elton and David)! Plus, I wasn’t blogging back then…

My favorite tracks from this album are the title track “Good Morning to the Night”, “Sad”,  “Black Icy Stare”, “Phoenix”….ahhh who am I kidding? The whole album is great! The Elton John songs that are sampled (see below for a list) are primarily from the 1970s but the remixes provide a fresh and modern sound to Sir Elton’s classics. This is perfect for introducing the younger generation to Elton John’s sounds. At times, the underlying remixed sample is so different from the original that I can’t even hear what song is being sampled (For example the “Crazy Water” sample in “Sad”). However, the vocal samples do not stray too far from the original and it is evident which song is being sampled when the vocals are heard. It is a very creative project and although it is quite modern, it is bound to make some listeners nostalgic for the 1970s.

At only 8 tracks, and just over 28 minutes long, the album is rather short but I really have no problem playing it on repeat 4 or 5 times in a row as it is so upbeat. It may be a dance album but for me, the best time to blare this through the speakers is in the morning. It wakes me up and gets me going and best of all, it puts me in a good mood! Not a morning person? Try this album, it may help!

I am hoping that the collaboration between Elton John and Pnau will continue, but for now, this will keep me going! If you are not an Elton John fan, this may change your mind. It is worth a listen so check it out!

Album Tracks and Songs Sampled:
(Click on title to see/hear track on YouTube (where available) – links open in a new window/tab)

1. “Good Morning to the Night”
Featuring samples of:
“Philadelphia Freedom”
“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Tonight”
“Gulliver/It’s Hay Chewed”
“Sixty Years On”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”

2. “Sad”
Featuring samples of:
“Nice and Slow”
“Crazy Water”
“Curtains”
“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”
“Friends”

3. “Black Icy Stare”
Featuring samples of:
“Cold Highway”
“You’re So Static”
“Solar Prestige a Gammon”

4. “Foreign Fields”
Featuring samples of:
“Pinky”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“High Flying Bird”
“Sweet Painted Lady”
“Cage the Songbird”
“Chameleon”

5. “Telegraph to the Afterlife”
Featuring samples of:
“Harmony”
“We All Fall in Love Sometimes”
“Funeral for a Friend”
“Sweet Painted Lady”
“I’ve Seen That Movie Too”
“Love Song”
“Indian Sunset”

6. “Phoenix”
Featuring samples of:
“Grey Seal”
“Are You Ready for Love”
“Bennie and the Jets”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Where to Now St Peter?”
“Love Lies Bleeding”
“Border Song”
“Country Love Song”
“Three Way Love Affair”

7. “Karmatron”
Featuring samples of:
“Madman Across the Water”
“Funeral for a Friend”
“Stinker”
“The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)”
“Tonight”
“One Horse Town”
“Screw You (Young Man’s Blues)”

8. “Sixty”
Featuring samples of:
“Sixty Years On”
“Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)”
“Sixty Years On (17-11-70)”
“Indian Sunset”

Download this album on iTunes
        Buy this album on Amazon
(and check out all the great reviews on those links as well…see, I am not the only one loving this album!)]]>Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:17:36 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/look-out-for-everything-evrythingSo last month, one of the radio stations they tune into at work was heavily repeating this one song…actually they heavily reapeat every song which usually makes me hate every song on the radio, but this one I didn’t mind so much. I found out it was called “Kemosabe” by a band called Everything Everything. At first, I thought it was Panic! At The Disco as it sounded like the lead singers of both bands had something similar in the sound of their voices (to me anyways) but now I don’t hear it so much,e specially with the wide vocal range of Everything Everything’s lead singer . When I got home from work the first day I heard it, I played it on repeat and got my husband loving it too.

They have a bit of an indie sound but as my husband says “they’ve got all sorts in there, It’s pretty difficult to pin them down!” I think what I really love about this song, and this band in general, is the range of the lead singer’s voice and the vocal harmonies, both of which are highlighted in the chorus. The vocal range of the lead singer doesn’t just change from phrase to phrase or verse to verse but also what sounds like from word to word at times which makes it sound really unique. It is now getting more airplay than ever and hitting the charts. It came on this morning when my husband was scraping the snow off the car windows and I put it on full blast and danced around while he pretended he didn’t know me…it then came on three times at work as well!

Turns out that Everything Everything has been around for quite some time..since 2007 to be exact! Singer and guitarist John Higgs met bassist Jeremy Pritchard at Salford University where they were both studying Popular Music and they started a band with drummer Michael Spearman and former lead guitarist Alex Niven who has since been replaced by Alex Robertshaw (there is some more repetition: Alex and Alex). They even released an album in 2010 called Man Alive, the first single being “Suffragette, Suffragette” (wow they sure like repetition). The album peaked at number 17 in the UK album charts! I had never even heard of them until last month, so this is quite impressive!

It is now 2013 and they seem to be hitting the mainstream and getting some credit. “Kemosabe” is actually the second single from their latest album Arc which was released just ten days ago. The first single from Arc, “Cough Cough” (there is that repetition again!), was released in August 2012 and this song is really something else. It’s got that fantastic range in the vocals again and it just has a unique sound in general, the instrumentation helping in this as well.

It looks as they are about to embark on a UK and Europe tour. Of course it begins on the day that my husband and I leave for our Asia backpacking trip (February 6th) and ends the day we fly back (April 27th). Are we not meant to see them live?? Hopefully they add some more dates. Either way, I have high hopes for these guys! I am just not so sure about all the repetitions though! What is that all about!?

Download Everything Everything’s music here

What do you think of this band?]]>Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:16:25 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/flashback-90s-nostalgia1The 90s are very nostalgic for me, as they are for many people. For me, it was the decade that I moved to Canada from Greece, learned English, started going to school, started to get into music and started to understand things (or think that I was anyways). Some memories from this decade have faded, as they do, but there are always certain songs that come on that bring me back to the 90s and the aforementioned memories in addition to others.

Of course the following songs/artists/albums did not reach every corner of the globe and may not be nostalgic to some, but hopefully the following lists will help add to your playlist if you are having a 90s party…or if you just want to be brought back to the 1990s  and to fanny packs, flannel checkered shirts, tearaway pants (or trousers for those in the UK), Screech and the rest of the Saved by the Bell cast, Macaulay Culkin, McDonald’s pizza (yeah whatever happened to that?!), WWF wrestling, the Macarena, nanos and tamagotchis, pogs, Dr. Martens, slap bracelets and other pop culture of this era.

These albums are ones that I remember EVERYBODY having! Do you agree?:
Green Day- Dookie
Alanis Morrisette – Jagged Little Pill
No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom
Nirvana- Nevermind

In addition, these are ones that I also recall being heavily played on my DISCMAN (remember those?!):
Offspring – Smash
Silverchair – Frogstomp
Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Siamese Dream

And then there are the following songs that just SCREAM the 90s…many of them (but not all) were one hit wonders…these are the ones that make me go “OH YEAH! I REMEMBER THAT SONG! I TOTALLY FORGOT IT EVEN EXISTED”…Click on some links, I bet you will have that same reaction to some!:
Blur – “Girls and Boys”
Enigma – “Return to Innocence” (I was obsessed with this one…in fact, I remember doing interpretive dance to it in the house….how embarrassing!)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get” (wow this one brings me way back!)
Ace of Base – “The Sign” , “All That She Wants”, and tons of others
No Mercy – “Where Do You Go”
Baz Luhrmann – “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)”
Fool’s Garden – “Lemon Tree”
Blackstreet – “No Diggity”
C+C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
Chumbawamba – “Tubthumping” (wow ! believe it or not, I spelled both the artist and song title correctly, without googling!)
Shaggy – “Oh Carolina”
Soundgarden – “Black Hole Sun” (I remember despising this music video)
Eagle Eye Cherry – “Save Tonight”
Lit – “My Own Worst Enemy”
L.F.O – “Summer Girls”
Blind Melon – “No Rain”
Bone Thugs N Harmony – “Crossroads”
3T – “Anything”

Then you had your typical boybands and girlbands: Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, The Moffatts (which were my favourite, along with Hanson- hey at least they played their own instruments and wrote their own songs), Spice Girls, Take That, East 17, Five…

Then you’ve got a variety of others that had multiple songs on the airwaves like Oasis, Ma$e, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, R.E.M, T.L.C, L.F.O, (any other initials I am missing?), The Cranberries, Brandy (Moesha!), Radiohead, The Fugees, Beastie Boys, Daft Punk, The Prodigy, Blink 182, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears, Weezer, Eminem, Fatboy Slim, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Barenaked Ladies, Natalie Imbruglia, Savage Garden, Weird Al, Sublime, Sugar Ray  etc…the list really does go on…

It is quite scary how the time flies! Some great music and artists to come out of this decade, and great to see that some are still going…..at the same time, not so great to see others haven’t quit yet…

These lists are by no means complete. It’s impossible to sum up a whole decade of music. Even as I write this now, I can think of songs, albums, and artists that are definitive of 90s music that I have not included. This is just to get your nostalgia flowing…

Are there any songs, albums or artists that SCREAM 1990s for you and that you would add to your playlist(s)?]]>Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:14:28 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/the-song-of-20121Tomorrow is a new year… I thought I would end 2012 off by talking about what I think is/was THE song of this past year and would be the song to represent 2012 in a time vault. This is quite difficult to say because I live in the UK and the music that hits the charts and receives radio play here does not always make it to other parts of the world and same goes for music from other parts of the world – it does not always reach us. However, there are two songs I can think of that have reached the charts in multiple parts of the world this year that were big hits and would make good additions to a time vault representing 2012. These two being:

1. Gotye (featuring Kimbra) : “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2. Psy : “Gangnam Style”

Out of these two, I think THE song of 2012 would have to be Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”. Some may argue and suggest that “Gangnam Style” was a lot more successful what with breaking a record and reaching 1 billion hits on YouTube but for being a song that is kind of silly/parody-like and kind of a novelty/joke, songs like this are often quite popular amongst the YouTube world. I find that people may not necessarily like the song, but it is so ridiculous and unique that they all want to see what it’s about and watch the video. It is a pop-music phenomenon. Gotye’s on the other hand, is just another ordinary indie-style song that didn’t necessarily have a reason to hit the charts world-wide but there was something about it that appealed to many listeners – me being one of them.

When I first heard this song, it was not actually Gotye performing it. Somebody (no pun intended) shared a cover by Walk off the Earth that I immediately fell in love with and I kept seeing it circulating through Facebook. Shortly after I saw the clip, I heard another version on the radio while at work and with the magic of “Shazam”, I learned that it was the original by Belgian-Australian artist Gotye (which is his stage name). After “Shazaming” it, I pulled it up on my phone, and no joke, I must have listened to it on repeat about 50 times that day. I must have shared it a few dozen times on Facebook as well. I just couldn’t shut up about how amazing I thought it was! When I got home from work (I was living with my in-laws at the time), I pulled it up on father-in-law’s computer and literally said LISTEN TO THIS, IT’S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He wasn’t too keen and neither were the rest of the in-laws but I had a feeling about this song and made sure to say “Just you wait! It will get to number one!” They all thought I was crazy.

Weeks passed and surely enough, “Somebody That I Used to Know” was gradually receiving more airplay. Father-in-law would call me at work during these weeks and put the phone to the radio speaker and say “I DON’T BELIEVE IT, IT’S THAT SONG AGAIN!” and I would just keep saying “I told you, its going to get to number one!”. I kept an eye on the charts and it was creeping up. About 5 weeks after I said it would hit number one…guess what?? It did!! And here I was wishing I would have placed a bet on it! The world was going CRAZY over this song. It was all over the UK, Canada (where a majority of my friends and family are whom I raved to about this song), and when we went to Greece in the summertime, there it was as well! It came on during my bachelorette party and I went WILD!

Although this song was actually released in 2011, it did not reach worldwide success until 2012 (except for Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and the Netherlands where it hit the charts in 2011). I mean check out this video, made by Gotye himself. it shows you just how much people love(d) it. This montage also demonstrates the artistic inspiration “Somebody That I Used to Know” gives to so many people. The melody is so hauntingly beautiful. It just captivates people and you can see by many of the examples in the montage that it is very emotive.

Going back to Psy and “Gangnam Style”: although “Gangnam Style” broke the YouTube record for most views, “Somebody That I Used to Know” has achieved more prestigious results in terms of chart success and sales (although “Gangnam Style” has also done quite well).

And according to these stats (thanks Wikipedia), it seems like “Somebody That I Used to Know” may officially be THE song of 2012 based on sales:

“Worldwide, “Somebody That I Used to Know” has sold 10 million copies, making it the biggest selling single of 2012 so far and one of the best-selling digital singles of all time. It reached No. 1 in more than 23 national charts and charting inside the top ten in more than 30 countries around the world. As of April 2012, it is the most downloaded song ever in Belgium, as well as being the third best-selling digital single in Germany with sales between 500,000 and 600,000 copies, and the most successful song in the history of the Dutch charts. It received nine Platinum certifications in Australia, accounting for shipments exceeding 630,000 units. In New Zealand, it was certified four times Platinum. The song has sold 1.3 million copies copies in the UK as of December 2012, making it the best-selling single of 2012 in the UK.”

The only down side is, I think Gotye will have a hard time topping this….and probably Psy will as well…but it seems like just by the success of these hits alone, these two are probably financially set for the rest of their lives. If only I could compose a hit to reach the success of “Somebody That I Used to Know” or “Gangnam Style”!

So in 2012, I got married, I moved to Kent, I sold my first business, I survived the end of the world (again) and I fell in love with and predicted a number 1 for Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”. It seems like the rest of the world (well, a lot of it anyway) fell in love with it too! Not a bad year for me or Gotye (or Psy). I wonder what 2013 will have in store for us all! Maybe I’ll write that successful number one hit and somebody will be blogging about it being THE song of 2013 next New Year’s Eve! Don’t laugh, it may just happen!

Do you agree that Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to know” is THE song of 2012? What other songs do you think would belong in a time vault representing 2012?]]>Tue, 25 Dec 2012 20:11:45 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/my-ultimate-christmasholiday-playlist-and-perhaps-some-suggestions-for-yoursThere are some Christmas songs that make me cringe the minute they come through a speaker. However, the following put me in the holiday spirit:

• Paul McCartney – “Wonderful Christmas Time” just because I saw him perform this live last year in Liverpool, England complete with a children’s choir and everytime I hear it, it reminds me of that fabulous night. And I must admit, I really love the synthesized sounds that are heavily present in the song
• Hanson – “What Christmas Means to Me”. This is a heavily covered song and Hanson’s is not the original version, but this version brings me back to my youth when I was a big Hanson fan and the album “Snowed In” which was heavily repeated at Christmastime during my Hanson phase. Another version I like of this song is Stevie Wonder’s
• The Waitresses – “Christmas Wrapping”. I love how fun and 80s this song sounds and how it makes me want to boogie. I always thought it was a UK band as it is played A LOT here in the UK and has the sound that reminds me of many UK bands. It also only peaked in the UK charts adding to my idea that it was a UK band (they were from the USA). A definite must for playlists!
• The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl- “Fairytale of New York”. No matter how much this song is overplayed in the UK, I don’t think I could ever get sick of it. It is such a ballad and just makes me want to be in a bar singing along with all the people in it while swaying side to side with a pint in my hand. It also makes me think of the movie “P.S. I Love You”  and makes me think of Kirsty MacColl’s tragic death which makes it a bit sad but nice to see that her voice is heard every Christmas time.
• Bobby Helms- “Jingle Bell Rock” …just cause it reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movie: “Home Alone 2″…and lets face it, who doen’t love this movie??
• John Williams - “Carol of the Bells” – Again, a Home Alone 2 reference but I love this, Home Alone or not. Would love to sing it in a choir…if only I could sing! 
• Band Aid - “Do They Know Its Christmas?” - Again I love the 80s sound of this song and the cheesy synthesized sounds…and also because it involves quite the list of artists!
• John and Yoko - “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” - How could I not love a John Lennon tune (even if it includes Yoko…which I admit I actually do like!). I also do like the children’s choir that is heard in the background.
• Darlene Love – “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home” just cause this version is an oldie and I never get sick of the oldies
• Eartha Kitt- “Santa Baby” – another oldie and a fun and playful one

My least favorite include, but are not limited to, the following (mainly because they are SO overplayed). Listing these in case you’d like ideas for your playlists.

• Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas is You”
• Slade – “Merry Xmas Everybody”
• Wizzard – “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday”
• Chris Rea – “Driving Home For Christmas”
• Gabriella Cilmi – “Warm This Winter”
• Bruce Springstean – “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
• Any song by Michael Buble

]]>Fri, 21 Dec 2012 20:10:30 GMThttp://www.ohpoppycock.com/music/its-not-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-itSince today is when the Mayans predict to be the end of the world, I found it fitting to talk about R.EM’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”, in conjunction with some other songs, as my first blog post.

Every single time I hear this song by R.E.M, I can’t help but think of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and find myself comparing the two every time I hear one or the other. Surprisingly enough, R.E.M’s was released in 1987 – two years before Billy Joel’s was released. I assumed it was the other way around simply because Billy Joel has been around longer and R.E.M seem to be more recent than the 80′s (that’s a scary thought! I’m getting old).

There are MANY similarities between these two songs but what always gets me linking the two is the style of the rapid movement of the lyrics in the verses. While they move quite quickly from word to word, the lyrics also seem random and incomplete. This is because Billy Joel’s lyrics refer to historic headline events that occurred between his birth in March of 1949 to the year 1989 when the song was released. There are over 100 historic events mentioned or referred to so one can imagine how rapid the singing would have to be in order to touch on all these events in four minutes and fourty-nine seconds! Over 100 events in 5 minutes means if there are 20 events a minute, each event gets three seconds BUT that doesn’t take the chorus into consideration and also it is 11 seconds shy of 5 minutes so it is probably more like 1 second of mention per event….that’s a definite reason for rapid singing!!!

R.E.M’s song sounds a bit more random and the the lyrics don’t seem to fit together. I came across an interview R.E.M’s frontman Michael Stipe did for Q Magazine in 1992 where he discusses this:

“The words come from everywhere. I’m extremely aware of everything around me, whether I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just in day to day life. There’s a part in ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ that came from a dream where I was at Lester Bangs’ birthday party and I was the only person there whose initials weren’t L.B. So there was Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonard Bernstein… So that ended up in the song along with a lot of stuff I’d seen when I was flipping TV channels. It’s a collection of streams of consciousness.”

This demonstrates that the lyrics are quite random as it is a stream of consciousness.

In contrast to the rapid verses, the choruses of the two songs are catchy and have a flow similar to many pop songs. They are easy to sing along to and easy to remember.

A more obvious observation is that the lyrics of both songs include the names of famous people (ie Doris Day, Joe DiMaggio etc in Billy Joel’s and Leonard Bernstein, Lenny Bruce etc in R.E.M’s). Another obvious observation is that the lyrics of both choruses involve the plural “we”, and the word “world”, along with lyrics that literally represent destruction (“end of the world” and “fire” although in the song, this is more figurative/symbolic rather than literal).

R.E.M’s song is said to be in the style of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and perhaps it can be said that Billy Joel’s is as well since it was released not too long after R.E.M’s and has lots of similarities. Perhaps Billy heard it and felt inspired by the style…or maybe it was a subconscious stylistic nod. Who knows….but what I do know is that every time I hear one of these songs, I can’t help but be reminded of the other…oh and also that the Mayans were not exactly right in their predictions.

Are there any songs that you find to be quite similar or remind you of other songs??]]>