Category: Music

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One for Friday: Randy Newman, “New Orleans Wins the War”

Dan Seeger

They started to party and they partied some more Cause New Orleans had won the war There are probably songs that should come to mind more quickly for me when I think of New Orleans — something steeped in the jazz, zydeco, or blues that serve as the city’s musical pulse. But, in truth, Randy Newman’s “New Orleans Wins the War” is the track that echoes up from my memory when I head out for another visit to the Crescent City. It’s probably because this was the first song about New Orleans that I truly embedded into my head — … Continue reading One for Friday: Randy Newman, “New Orleans Wins the War”

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CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 88 – 86

Dan Seeger

88. Eurythmics, “Would I Lie to You?” In 1985, when Eurythmics released their album Be Yourself Tonight, the safe bet would have involved creation of calculated echoes of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” their smash hit single from a couple years earlier. Doing so was anathema to the duo. “It’s just to do with the original concept of Eurythmics, which was to keep changing every situation all the time so it never got stale,” Dave Stewart explained while the album was still in its formative stages. “In order to make this album, we had to do a load of … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 88 – 86

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One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “This Is Where It All Begins”

Dan Seeger

As I’ve shared previously, I first played music from the Balancing Act because of magnets. In conjunction with the L.A. band’s second and, as it happened, last LP, Curtains, I.R.S. Records inundated college radio with a huge batch of refrigerator magnets. Sporting the band’s odd little logo, the magnets were scattered across practically every metal surface in my happy broadcasting outpost in Central Wisconsin. That included all of the door jambs. I couldn’t cross from one end of the station’s offices to the other without being remind multiple times about the Balancing Act. Luckily, I wasn’t being coerced into playing … Continue reading One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “This Is Where It All Begins”

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Top Ten Movies of 2016 — An Introduction

Dan Seeger

We can say this: 2016 was memorable. Aside from a history-making improbability delivered by the Chicago National League ball club in the fall, though, I’m confident most folks are going to look back at the those twelve months of broader global culture — popular, political, and social — with a measure of contempt. The only way 2016 doesn’t stand as a banner year for misery, is if 2017 is even worse. So far, it’s on track. A year so thoroughly scorched by overwhelmingly miserable news can make the very act of retrospective celebration feel hollow and pointless. And yet here we are. As … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2016 — An Introduction

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CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 91 – 89

Dan Seeger

91. The Replacements, “I Will Dare” Paul Westerberg had a “Stop the presses!” moment after he finished off songwriting chores on “I Will Dare,” though he would have been referring to the hydraulic presses that bring a vinyl record into shape. Hootenanny, the second full length album from Westerberg’s band the Replacements, was in its final mastering stage when he called up Peter Jesperson, head of the group’s record label. “I got a call from Paul saying, ‘I’ve just finished the best song I’ve ever written. We need to record it now,’” said Jesperson. “But the record was already done, so … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 91 – 89

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One for Friday: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country”

Dan Seeger

Ted Leo wrote “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country” in response to the first term of George W. Bush, another Republican president who took possession of the Oval Office despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent. Though “Now that Georgie’s reign’s begun” is right there in the lyrics, the track feels highly pertinent today. Though my name of bygone years In the land, in the land I’ll uproot it without tears And I’ll change it if I can And, no more shall I be loyal to my sorrowful country No more shall I be loyal to my sorrowful country Rousing, fierce, … Continue reading One for Friday: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country”

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CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 94 – 92

Dan Seeger

94. Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, “Tomorrow People” Realistically, the 1988 album Conscious Party was always meant to be be a sort of coming out party for Ziggy Marley. Signed to Virgin Records with his band the Melody Makers, which included a handful of his siblings, the son of the most legendary reggae artist of all time was a focus of the new label, certain they’d be able to capitalize on the familial connection with all those high school and college kids who tacked posters of the Legend album cover to their walls. Talking Heads members and Tom Tom Club … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 94 – 92

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One for Friday: Dsico, “Dirty Bottle”

Dan Seeger

In writing about the music of 2016, I noted that the inclusion of major pop stars was something of an anomaly for me. I’ve long carried a certain snobbishness about the tracks that easily carry over to Top 40 radio (if that’s even a thing any more), an intellectual affliction I suspect a great deal of a college radio alumni carry with them. When bands that fall into the alternative or indie rock realm cross over, they’re reflexively dismissed as a sell-outs, and when material seems as designed to appeal to mass audiences as a plastic container for laundry soap, … Continue reading One for Friday: Dsico, “Dirty Bottle”

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CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 97 – 95

Dan Seeger

97. Howard Jones, “New Song” “I’ve played in lots of bands since I was fifteen,” Howard Jones explained in 1983, at the time his debut single, “New Song,” was bounding up the charts. “But the thing that got me down was that other people in the band used to land up arguing at the end of the day, and I wasn’t really into that. So I decided I just wanted to get in with it in my own way. I found there wasn’t anyone around I wanted to play with.” Luckily for Jones, he took that creative stance at precisely … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 97 – 95

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One for Friday: The Bears, “Fear is Never Boring”

Dan Seeger

There are plentiful reasons to long for the rock star life. For most, I suspect the main enticement are those that might show up in the most debauched sections of a memoir penned by one of the members of Kiss. I suppose there may have been a time when I would have eagerly agreed with that, but now that I’m older, I understand that hope is better directed at different glories. For example, if you have the ability and entitlement to demand anything, there are few better uses of that power than enlisting Mort Drucker to draw your album cover. … Continue reading One for Friday: The Bears, “Fear is Never Boring”