Category: Music

I’ve often asked this when presented with the written title of a song and a band I’ve not heard of. Mostly, I’m joking.

But when I learned that Fozzy has a song (and album) called "All That Remains", I thought that was funny because there is actually a band called All That Remains (whose album I bought before I bought Fozzy’s Judas this autumn).

So I got to thinking: What other bands have songs that are actually the names of other bands?

Now, to gamify this, we would want to establish some rules:

• The song cannot be about the band or act. So Taylor Swift’s “Tim McGraw” would not count.
• The title of the song must be the complete name of the band and must not just include the band name (sort of) in it. So “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” would be out.
• Scoring would have to be based on the number of words somehow; one word titles/band names are easy, so maybe a multiplier of some sort.

Here are a couple samples:

• Montgomery Gentry, “Hell Yeah” (although Hellyeah presents it as one word–I’m not sure if that would be disqualified under the second rule how to score it–one word or two–if it’s allowed).
• Prince, “Cream” (the band).
• Prince, “Kiss” (the band in 1991–those old men back then look pretty young now).
• Alice Cooper, “Poison” (band).
• The Alternate Routes, “Nothing More“, (band).

Confession: I did an Internet search to get the last one, so I’ll leave it to those of you who want to play along to search for obvious choices like Breathe, Heart, and Jewel.

As I mentioned, I bought a Spyro Gyra album on Friday after having heard a Spyro Gyra song on WSIE in the last couple of weeks.

I was surprised, actually, that it was a pleasant, smooth jazz song that I heard on the radio. The album is, too. Apparently, Spyro Gyra is a jazz fusion group, and that caught me by surprise.

You see, I thought Spyro Gyra did zydeco, the accordion-heavy Cajun music style.

Why, you ask? I sure did.

The best I can figure is that Spyro Gyra played Summerfest a lot in the early days and on the same stages as a band called Buckwheat Zydeco.

So I tainted Spyro Gyra by association.

Spyro Gyra:

Buckwheat Zydeco:

Different.

And one fits my record album tastes.

To be entirely honest, I was not that familiar with Zydeco. As a matter of fact, the only song I ever heard completely (to this day, even after finding a Buckwheat Zydeco video on YouTube and hearing a couple notes of the squeeze box in it, which was enough for me to stop it) was sung by Ernie on Sesame Street:

You know, there was a time when I was excited for the new season of Sesame Street because I was eager to see new material. But that was a long time ago. Not as long as Summerfest, though.

At any rate, I am pleased with my album pick up and will look for more Spyro Gyra in the future.

If you see me walking or running on the track at the YMCA with one hand gripping an invisible stick and the other an invisible throttle, followed by salivation at the end, it can only be one thing on my iPod:

Queen, “One Vision”:

A funny story, that.

There was some confusion in at Nogglestead as the provenance of this song. My beautiful wife thought it was on the Highlander soundtrack. I knew it was on the Iron Eagle soundtrack because some almost thirty years ago, a friend of mine played the song to pump herself up for softball games. I thought perhaps Queen double-dipped and that it was on both soundtracks, but that is not the case. It is on the Iron Eagle soundtrack. But! It is on the Queen album A Kind of Magic which also features a number of songs from the Highlander soundtrack.

Another point of confusion: At the very end, Freddie Mercury says, “Gimmee fried chicken.” I have told Mrs. Noggle and the little Noggles that perhaps this was because in the movie Iron Eagle they called downed bogies “fried chicken.”

However, last night, I reviewed the source material:

But that is not the case. According to the Wikipedia entry for the song, Freddie was just goofing around.

Also, note: This is not the only Queen song on my gym playlist. But that is a post for another day if I remember it.

If you see me running on the track at the gym, and if my right arm looks like it’s twirling a lever action shot gun instead of pumping, you should know immediately what song I’m listening to.

“You Could Be Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses. In addition to being on one of the Use Your Illusion albums, it’s on the Terminator 2: Judgment Day soundtrack which explains why a young(er) Arnold Schwarzeneggar is in the video linked above.

Strangely enough, this is my favorite GnR song. I mean, “Welcome to the Jungle” is okay, but it’s a little self-conscious by now. And “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” isn’t an upbeat workout song.

I was at a church rummage sale today, and I picked up a copy of Ugly Kid Joe’s As Ugly As They Want To Be album.

“What’s that?” the old man taking the money said.

“Oldies,” I said.

The hit, of course, was “Everything About You”:

From 1991.

Twenty-six years ago.

I said, “Twenty-six years ago,” old man.

The title, of course is a take off of the title of 2 Live Crew’s 1989 album As Nasty As They Want To Be. Me, I’m just happy to have enough memory to remember 2 Live Crew’s name. Not many do these days since none of them got any roles in cop shows and didn’t die young or violently.

Watch closely when I’m working out at the gym, singing along silently to the music on my iPod. You can tell what I’m listening to by what I do.

For example, if it looks like I’m having flashbacks to popular media depictions of ‘Nam, it could be one of two songs.

“Paint It Black” from the television show Tour of Duty:

My father, who worked nights in the 1980s and almost as much of the 1990s as he had left to him, recorded this program on videocassette so he could watch it later, and over the summers, he would watch the program with my brother and I (and people think binge watching was invented in the 21st century). As I mentioned, when my father got out of boot camp, his troop was lined up, and the officer asked the first couple of guys if they knew their alphabet. My father and the others selected probably said, “Sir, yes, sir!” And they went to Okinawa instead of Vietnam. My father, I think, felt guilty about that the rest of his life.

Of course, it could be “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, which is used in the film Forrest Gump:

Of course, I have the whole songs, which sound like this respectively:

Frankly, I think both of the songs rock and I like the thematic material, but because of their born-on dates, they’re associated with the Vietnam War in popular culture.

Well, the popular culture of twenty-five or thirty years ago, anyway.

Not only would I have to explain the music to some of the kids at the gym, I’d also have to explain the Vietnam War. Best I just put the earbuds in and turn the music up.

So I was looking for Cage the Elephant’s song “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” to add to my iPod for workouts because I haven’t added anything in like six months.

And I couldn’t find it as a single song on Amazon, so I thought I’d order the CD. Amazon defaults, when searching for music, to its unlimited streaming feature, but it offered to let me buy the whole album in MP3 form for $9.99.

Or the CD form for $6.99.

Buying the CD, of course, comes with a free AutoRip MP3 version of the album, so I don’t have to wait the couple days to get the song onto my iPod.

Still, when Amazon even if Amazon discontinued the AutoRip, I’d still take the cheaper CD version of the album and rip it myself. Because I’m old school that way.

It seems like a lot of things are cheaper on physical media these days than digital versions. Especially if you’re buying them used in stores, book sales, or garage sales. Having patience and my own playback equipment saves me a bundle.

Herb Alpert, Lani Hall will perform in Springfield:

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall will perform at Gillioz Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. Reserved seating tickets start at $36.50 and go on sale Friday, July 14, at 10 a.m. Gillioz Club members will have a presale opportunity on July 13 from 10 – 10.

You know what I am doing on Friday morning: Burning up the Internet.

It crossed my mind to try to get him to autograph on of my LPs. But which one? Rise? The Lonely Bull? Whipped Cream and Other Delights? I could try to get Lani Hall to autograph one of my Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 CDs. I’ve got a bunch of their CDs as well, including recent work like Steppin’ Out and I Feel You, but, come on, a signed CD is not as demonstrably cool as a signed LP.

I probably won’t do that, but I am surely going to that concert.

but the song “1979” by Smashing Pumpkins (or is it THE Smashing Pumpkins like they say THE Ohio University?) was released 17 years after the actual year 1979.

But 1996 was 21 years ago now.

Chin up, laddie: The song “1985” is still closer to today that the title year. For a little while yet.

But most of you are far behind the ages mentioned in “It Was A Very Good Year” if I’m not mistaken. Probably past the age the narrator calls “the autumn of my life,” too.

I did manage to drag myself up to the Ozark Empire Fair Grounds on Friday morning to peruse the dollar album selection. However, there wasn’t much to choose from. I don’t know if they’re running out of album donors or if the collection had been cherry-picked in the first couple of days by dealers who’ll post said albums in Relics at $4 each for me to look at and reject later.

At any rate, I did find 13 albums. Which matched the amount of cash in my wallet, so I didn’t have to write a check. It’s called financial self-discipline. Look it up (I did).

I got:

• Son of a Preacher Man Nancy Wilson
   
• Lush Life Nancy Wilson
   
• Chartbuster Ray Parker, Jr.
   
• Italy After Dark Cyril Stapleton and His Orchestra
   
• Brass, Ivory, and Strings Henry Mancini and Doc Severinson
   
• Make Way For Dionne Warick
   
• Hit Boots Boots Randolph
   
• At the Movies Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme
   
• Amor Eydie Gorme and The Trio Los Panchos
   
• Jackie Gleason Presents Rebound
   
• Wild Flower Herbert Laws
   
• The Best of Sammi Smith
   
• Cha Cha Charm Jan August

I actually had to put some down to make it to 13, but a couple of them looked a little scratched, and I put back a couple of Pete Fountains’ works because I have a bunch that I don’t listen to that often.

Still, it ran me out of protective Mylar covers as it took my collection over another hundred mark, and it keeps me from overrunning the existing storage too much more, but that’s another story.

Speaking of Spanish language classics (which we weren’t, but this is my blog, and I’ll direct the conversation, thank you, but I want to give you the impression, gentle reader, that you were a part of it), we have “La Nave de Olvido”.

First up, we have José José, an artist I found when looking for test data that uses accent marks (don’t judge me–I am a software tester, and I judge YOU!).

Next, we have Vikki Carr, a pop singer from the 1960s who had a string of 60s sounding hits, but she was born Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona, so she could sing in Spanish naturally. As a matter of fact, she included “La Nave de Olvido” on her 1972 album En Español:

Of course, I have to go with the songbird here, too, favoring Ms. Carr’s version. In most cases, I’d rather hear a woman sing of love than a man.

But if you don’t want to make up your mind, here they are singing the song together: