Friday Playlist
A delayed but very special playlist for this week. Today would have been Joe Strummer’s 68th birthday. To celebrate, a group of musicians is doing [a virtual tribute concert](https://www.joestrummer.com) for Joe later today. Sadly I’ll be running around getting the girls then heading to kickball, but I will certainly be watching a replay over the weekend. As Strummer is on…
Friday Playlist
All about the ladies this week. Well, kind of. There is a male artist in the PL, but as you’ll learn, he was “in a phase,” as my mom would have said. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qnJThjEn3irKQDbqIwjNu?si=uQNjlCdESFyn7EOxNKP4UQ “the 1” – Taylor Swift I give Taylor all the credit: show knows how to write a fucking song. I keep getting drawn back to her folklore…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 46
Chart Week: August 2, 1986 Song: “Your Wildest Dreams” – The Moody Blues Chart Position: #20, 16th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 for two weeks in July. Having a teenage crush on a teacher is kind of a rite of passage, the stuff dozens – perhaps hundreds – of trashy novels and movies have been based on over…
Friday Playlist
With our situation constantly in flux, a lot can change in a week. But as it stands this morning, all three of our girls are scheduled to be back in a school classroom this time next week. Which makes this the final playlist of a rather long summer. Nothing specific to celebrate that, but this will be a mega playlist…
Friday Vid
“Vacation” – The Go-Go’s As we enjoy our final day of vacation, please enjoy this classic video on the subject.
Friday Playlist
“Mariana Trench” – Bright EyesI’ve never listened to Bright Eyes, but I enjoyed Conor Oberst’s collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers last year as part of Better Oblivion Community Center. As if for people like me, Bright Eyes is about to put out their first album in over a decade. Based on this track, I’ll at least give it a courtesy listen.…
Friday Playlist
“Divine Accidents” – 5 Billion in DiamondsThis band features Butch Vig, the drummer for Garbage and producer for dozens of big 1990s alt acts, and Ebbot Lundberg of Soundtrack of Our Lives. It sounds like a mashsup of SOOL and ELO, which is not unpleasant at all. “Destroyer” – Lala LalaPhoebe Bridgers recently recommended Lala Lala’s new album. I have…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 45
Chart Week: July 3, 1982Song: “Hurts So Good” – John CougarChart Position: #5, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for four weeks in August. This entry is about how the biological information Casey Kasem shared on American Top 40 was not always accurate. John Cougar (Mellencamp) is the perfect artist to demonstrate this point, as he charted under…
40 at 50
I missed an absolutely huge anniversary over the holiday weekend and have been grievously late in finally getting to it. Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the first American Top 40 broadcast. If you follow here closely you know that there has likely been no bigger pop culture influence on my life than AT40. I remember my parents and…
Friday Playlist
“Light in the Heart of Our Town” – Joensuu 1685This Finnish band created some buzz about 10 years ago then splintered into side projects. They are back after that long fallow period and arrive with this absolutely gorgeous song “same mistakes” – We Were Promised JetpacksAlong with label mates The Twilight Sad, WWPJ practice a wonderfully miserable brand of Scottish…