Tag: Music

My Dad took me to my first concert, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.  Being a man who was in to Willie, Waylon, Hank Jr, Glen Campbell… my Dad’s music tastes shaped my early music tastes.

Recently, on a drive home from work, I suddenly had an urge to hear “Pancho and Lefty” by the aforementioned Willie and Waylon.  That got me to thinking about the Country music I used to listen to growing up, so grab your Stetson, pull up your boots and check out these old-school Country tunes…

Whiskey River – A cover of an earlier song, Willie first released this on his album “Shotgun Willie” in 1973.  Bouncing back and forth between Southern Rock and a Texas Two-Step vibe, it’s a catchy song that has become Willie’s signature song.

Dixieland Delight – Released by ‘Alabama’ on their 1983 album “The Closer You Get”.  In 2019, Rolling Stone put it as #7 in the Top 25 “Songs about the South”, and it has been an on-and-off ‘pre 4th Quarter’ song tradition of the Crimson Tide.

Devil Went Down to Georgia – This song by Charlie Daniels Band has more than just a passing history with me.  If you know, you know.  If you don’t, then you weren’t there and wouldn’t understand.

She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft) – The stereotypical “country song” about a guy who’s wife leaves him and takes everything, it’s cleverly done by Jerry Reed and his storytelling style.

Convoy – This song by C.W. McCall is more of a silly guilty pleasure (as is the movie).  It’s made even ‘better’ by the fact that there’s like 3 different versions of it.

What say you Somethings?  Hit us up on our socials and let us know!

-PCR

Hey Somethings!

So, I get in these weird music.. ruts?  Trenches?  Time Loops?  Not sure what you’d call them, but I inevitably end up stumbling across a song I enjoy that I haven’t heard in *years* and that leads me down this rabbit hole of stumbling across other songs in an amazingly frenetic headlong dash… much like a Tesla at a school crossing.  So without further ado, here’s what’s currently been playing in my ride…

Take On Me – Reel Big Fish

I don’t think I ever fell in ‘love’ with Ska as a musical type, there are just certain songs/bands I enjoy that happen to be Ska bands.  I first discovered my enjoyment of Reel Big Fish on the BASEketball soundtrack and this song immediately grew on me.  Great cover, great song.

Click Click Boom – Saliva

Probably the only song I could ever actually tell you Saliva did (I couldn’t name another Saliva song), this one was part of my karaoke repertoire back in the “Before Times”.  One day, I’ll get back to karaoke… and I’ll probably dust this song off.

Inside Out – Eve 6

Another karaoke staple of mine from days gone by, I forgot how much I love this song until it wormed it’s way into my YouTube “mix” randomly.  There’s just a certain drive in this song that I dig, and it’s one of my favorite songs to sing harmony to.

Butterfly – Crazy Town

I’m sensing a pattern here.. all these songs were released between ’98 and ’01.  Another band that I can only name one song from, this song takes me back to a time when you couldn’t beat The Wiz, Napster was brand new, and “I See Dead People” was blowing people’s minds.

How about you?  What’s been shuffling around on YOUR playlist?  Hit our socials and let us know!

– PCR

Hey all, PCR here (again!)

I’ve been in a weird music mood lately as I drive around for my job, and I’ve been falling back in to some Classic/Old School Rap tunes, so for those of you who love it so loud your rear view mirror vibrates, here’s what I’ve been bumping lately…

California Love – Dr. Dre/Tupac.  A quintessential West Coast anthem.  The lyrics from Dre feel laid back while Tupac’s verse has a sense of urgency feel to it.  Both sides of that coin flow amazingly with the beat and the musical hook.  “Bumpin’ and Grindin’ like a slow jam” indeed.

Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio.  Quite possibly the most memorable thing about the movie “Dangerous Minds”.  The haunting violins and chorus merge with the window-rattling beat as Coolio weaves his verses about being a victim of his surroundings and street upbringing. a subwoofer thumper for sure.

Rockbox – Run DMC.  An even further back classic from their debut album, it was one of the first rap songs I can remember that merged with shredding guitar tracks to create something that had as-of-yet been unheard of.

Shake Ya Tailfeather – P Diddy, Nelly, Murphy Lee.  From the Bad Boys II soundtrack, this is like a mini-recreation of “P. Diddy and the Fam”.  Each verse is unique and fits each artist’s style while still maintaining the flow of the song.  Still hits.

ANYthing off “No One Can Do It Better” – The D.O.C.  I can’t even begin to think of how many hours and hours and hours this CD used to play in my car on road trips back in the day.  A car accident crushed his larynx and changed his voice, but 7 years later he regained enough of it for his second album, but the debut record for the man who co-wrote Eazy E’s solo debut remains a classic.

– PCR

Back in the day, those 30 second Tiktok clips used to come in longer formats – 3 – 5 minutes at a clip… we called them songs.  A musician would then take 10 or so of them and make an entire album of them!  Crazy times.

To add to that, those albums used to have art and liner notes and production information and lyrics… and this was literally every song ever.  You can still see the remnants of these forgotten artifacts when you load one of those tracks on iTunes and see the square of prety colors.  Imagine that, on a shelf.. like you are some sort of art collector!  Amazing, really.

Well, the Somethings remember that time well and we settle in to talk about not the music – not the artist – but our favorite album covers.

Ready? Ok, here we go!

Full Episode

Hey Somethings, PCR here!

James and I had a great time recording our “Movie Quotes” episode…so much so that we both wanted to continue on the quote hype train.  While James waded back in to Movies and Television, I’m going to drift more in to music… and.. more specifically, quotes from one of my favorite YouTube channels… Epic Rap Battles of History.

Without further ado… my “Top 8 favorite ERB lines”!

8 – “It’s Wendy, the hip-hoppin’ Pippy Longstocking… no flows as Frosty as the salad bars that I’m droppin’” – Burger King vs Ronald McDonald (feat. Wendy).   The cameo we weren’t expecting, but absolutely elevated an already awesome battle.

7 – “Meanwhile I’ve mastered the atom more than any man alive, now I’m here to split you like 2 and 3 from 5” – J Robert Oppenheimer vs Thanos.   This was a DEEP dive line that showed these guys seriously do their homework.

6 – “Let’s skip the kick flips and McTwists, you’ll be speechless after three periods like an ellipsis…” – Wayne Gretzky vs Tony Hawk.   Another example of these guys diving deep to not only make lyrics rhyme, but show amazing creativity while doing it.

5 – “You swamp-school dropout you’re too whiny to rhyme, at least when I Slytherin a sister.. she isn’t mine” – Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker.    Two heavyweight franchises fighting it out gave us this fantastic dig.

4 – “Get beat by Count Dracula? You’re smoking crackula I dunk on your whackula raps like I’m Shaqula”  – Count Dracula vs Vlad the Impaler.    I’m a sucker for running rhymes and this one stole this battle.

3 – “Maybe Q can craft some new plotlines… you made Thunderball two bloody times” – James Bond vs Austin Powers.   As a Bond fan, this line almost broke me and once again shows the levels of research the team does for their lyrics.

2 – “O, happy dagger pierce me true, persuade my breath to stop.  Sheath yourself inside my heart, and like the beat…I drop” – Romeo and Juliette vs Bonnie and Clyde.    There was a LOT to like about this battle, but to have come up with this line was near perfection.

1 – “Face it Ernesto, you’re Castro but less so.  He’s Cuba Commander you’re more of the Destro”. – Che Guevara vs Guy Fawkes.    A brutal diss, great rhyme AND pop culture relevant?  Winner winner chicken dinner.

Sometimes a music video provokes a feeling of amazement at the world or astonishment at a special effect or it ties a song in with visuals that you never considered. 

Sometimes it’s about street racing and hot women.

This week, the Somethings delve back into the world with music, looking at some fast moving speedy four-wheeled auto-vehicular-transportative-combobulative machines that make sharp turns, deep drifts, and bootleggers reverses across the country while playing some of the songs we all know.

So shift into a higher gear, because we’re about to take you for a ride!

But before we do – we ask you to PLEASE take a look at this survey. It’s short. It’s to the point. It will help the show.  I swear.
The Something Survey

We mention in the episode that we would post links to Livestream for the Cure, but donations are now closed – but do not hesitate to donate directly to the Cancer Research Institute.

Now though – here – we – go!

Full Episode

Hey all you Somethings!

We haven’t talked much Music lately, and we’re always looking to give listeners an insight into what makes us “Us”, so I’ve compiled a list of 10 albums that, as a catalogue, speak volumes as to the person I am. In no particular order….

10 – Eat ‘Em and Smile – David Lee Roth.  The year was 1986, and an impressionable PCR was just entering High School.  Between Yankee Rose (with Steve Vai’s ‘talking guitar’, and the frequency of the video on MTV), Shy Boy, Tobacco Road and I’m Just a Gigolo.. this album quickly became one of the soundtracks of my High School years.

9 – Passion and Warfare – Steve Vai.  A second shout out on this list to Steve Vai.  Up until now, my musical interests had been rather… vanilla?  Commercial?  Mainstream?  Whatever the word, 1990 hit and this album caught my eyes and ears.  Liberty, Erotic Nightmares, The Audience Is Listening and The Animal spoke to ‘college Rob’ in ways other primarily instrumental music hadn’t.

8 – Raising Hell – Run DMC.  I remember recording the Raising Hell concert off WBLS when they aired it live (Fun Fact : Beastie Boys opened for them.  More on that later).  Full transparency, I love EVERY Run DMC album, but this is the one that started that love for me.

7 – Disney’s Robin Hood Album – Various.   I had this on vinyl.  I listened to it endlessly.  I can still quote 90% of the movie word for word in the accents.  Fight me.

6 – License To Ill – Beastie Boys.   The ‘sampling’ issue had been around for a while, but when License came out I was old enough to understand it.  Sampling from Led Zeppelin for Rhymin’ and Stealin’  felt almost like… well… stealin’, but the beats they dropped for other songs such as She’s Crafty, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and the rap/rock of Fight For Your Right. turned me in to a longtime fan.

5 – BomBARDed – The Library Bards.  The story of how we met Bonnie and Xander has been told before, but meeting them in person was one of the best things this show has ever done, and we were happy to support both of their albums, the newest of which is BomBARDed which can be found at https://librarybards.bandcamp.com/

4 – Running With Scissors – ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.  Much like Run DMC, I love ALL of Al’s albums, but for my money, this is probably my favorite in no small part to seeing him live and watching him do The Saga Begins and All About the Pentiums live.  The man is an unstoppable force when performing live and it remains one of my top concerts ever.

3 – Appetite For Destruction – Guns n’ Roses.  Not a bad song on the entire album.  My current workout jam.

2 – Un-Led-Ed – Dread Zeppelin.  Take a reggae band that does Led Zeppelin covers and give it an Elvis impersonator as a lead singer and you have this bit of genius.  First introduced to this band when it was background music at a party I was at, my brain kept saying “I know this song… but not… THIS.. song…”.  Once I was able to focus, I was hooked.  Seeing them live (with Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors) was hilarious.

1 – Sunshine On Leith – The Proclaimers.  This album was unexpected.  Originally purchased for one song and one song only (I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)) the rest of this album I absolutely adored.  From Cap In Hand, My Old Friend The Blues and Sunshine On Leith showing off their soulful side, to Then I Met You and Oh, Jean being more raucous and rambunctious, this album is still a go to for me on long road trips.

Honorable Mentions.
Music From The Elder – KISS.  My favorite album from one of my favorite bands.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles.  My top Beatles album.
Disraeli Gears – Cream.  For my money, the definitive Cream album.  

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!

Hey there Somethings!

If you’ve listened to our show (and… who hasn’t?) you know we’re fans of Bonnie Gordon and Xander Jeanneret, collectively known as “The Library Bards” (/jazzhands). Well, they’ve recently had the release of their second album “BomBARDed”, a follow up to their debut album “Bardcore”, and let me tell you.. this is an amazing and worthy follow up.

I grew up on the likes of “Wierd” Al and Doctor Demento, so for me, when it comes to parody songs, the bar is rather high, and I’m pleased to say “BomBARDed” delivers. One of the key things for me that makes a great parody song is the mixing of the parody lyrics into the original lyrics, and nothing is a better example of this than “Princess Bride”. The way Bonnie and Xander tell the story of the story while mixing the parody lyrics to those of “Mr. Brightside” feels not only flawless but natural.

Being a child of 80’s music, I also enjoyed the focus on music from that era. Using song such as AC/DC’s “TNT” and Styx’s “Come Sail Away” as the basis of “DnD” and “Come Fly Away” respectively really brought me back. “BomBARDed” also does an amazing job of touching a number of different (and overlapping) fandoms. Browncoat? Check (“Come Fly Away”). Trekkie? Done. (“Klingon”) Gamer? In to Comics? Want to clone dinosaurs? Check (“DnD”), check (“Comics Fan”) and check (“Welcome to Jurassic Park”). If you’re a sci-fi and/or pop culture fan, this album has something, and most likely multiple somethings, for you.

Not only do Bonnie and Xander show their musical ranges in styles and harmonies (I LOVE the way they growl out “DnD”, and their inter-song banter is amazingly spot on), but the music supplied by Bonecage and Sam Johnides does masterful job of staying amazingly true to the classics while adding enough of their own flourishes to make them fresh and original.

If you like great music, witty pop culture references and supporting independent artists, do yourself a favor and check out this album!

“BomBARDed” can be found at www.librarybards.bandcamp.com and at www.librarybards.com.

Follow The Library Bards on Twitter (@librarybards), Instagram (instagram.com/librarybards), Facebook (facebook.com/LibraryBards) and can also be found on Apple Music and YouTube

– PCR

What makes a superstar in professional?  Is it a huge finisher?  Is it the best tagline?

Well one of the things that is always memorable is a good old fashioned kick-ass theme song.

So the boys are going back in the ring to discuss themselves a little rasslin, but in this episode – it’s all about the music that makes the performer.

So if it comes crashing down and it hurts inside… you gotta take a stand, and ok, here we go!

Full Episode

We all like ourselves a little bit of television.

We also like ourselves the earworms that lodge into your head for 30 minutes and beyond. So Hatton’s taken a few. Rob’s taken a few. And they are going head to head to find out who has the best line-up.

And a battle as important as this needs an important guest. So we got our friend and co-host of ‘THIS IS IMPORTANT‘, Kyle!

If you are looking to find other interesting and random things match up, be sure to check-out Steve & Kyle’s show, and get updates on their Twitter

For now though – find out who won the THEME MUSIC CHALLENGE!

Full Episode