Songs You Like That You’re Pretty Sure No One Else Does
Posted on December 9, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 193 Comments
Here’s mine:
[imeem music=”7bNbfDQTVJ”]
First the good news: It’s David Bowie. Now, the bad news: It’s David Bowie in Tin Machine, the inexplicable late 80s “Bowie’s in a band with session musicians, which is kind of like him being in Toto” misstep that’s widely acknowledged as Bowie’s creative nadir, which took some doing after the Glass Spider tour. Even worse: It’s from their second album. But what can I say. This song works for me, possibly because it sounds like David Bowie is imitooting David Bowie exarctly, and that appeals to me for some mad, impetuous reason. I’ve never met anyone who likes this song as much as I do, and I don’t really expect I ever will, no matter how many of you exclaim “Thank GOD I’m not alone anymore on this” in the comment thread.
Anyway. That’s my song I like I’m pretty sure no one else does.
What’s yours?
Mmmbob – I wish I were kidding. It is the great shame of my life.
Of course I mean, mmmbop. C
You are wrong. While not my favorite Tin Machine track, it’s in the top 5. Frankly, the only song of theirs I don’t particularly care for is Stateside. Also: Reeves Gabrels is a genius, he’s done some great work with Robert Smith as well as several excellent solo albums.
*cringing*
One Tin Soldier.
Hmmm, to answer your actual question: Tons of them. I like all kinds of stuff that no one (in particular my wife) else I know likes. And I’m not ashamed of any of them. Not even Slade. Well, mostly not ashamed.
“Blow by Blow”, from the Fleetwood Mac album “Time”. It’s one of those albums that no one paid any attention to, least of all Fleetwood Mac fans who are really Stevie Nicks/Lindsay Buckingham fans, but it’s one of the best FM songs ever recorded.
Oh, and I like Tin Machine.
And waltzinexile’s suggestion, One Tin Soldier, for that matter.
Chumbawamba – I get knocked down, But I get up again,
You’re never going to keep me down.
I tend to use it as a personal mantra when, like now, times are particularly tuff on a personal level.
…I get knocked down…oh, good, just replaced the other annoying earbug I’d had for several days!
I also liked Tin Machine. I learned a lot about guitar from Reeves Gabrels.
As for me, one of my faves is “VX Gas Attack” by Skinny Puppy. I guess there are still a few people around who liked SP, but no one that I know.
Sorry man, but I love all the Tin Machine records – even the live one. Reeves Gabrels is awesome, and it’s a really great rhythm section.
You sir are not alone.
I never heard it before. I like the mumbling Bowie, but not TM as a general rule. Was that Adrian Balew (sp?) on the sax at the end?
I adore Diamond Smiles by the Boom Town Rats. That’s my favorite song that none of my cronies seem to like.
Apparently everyone who ever bought a Tin Machine CD visits my Web site.
One Tin Soldier is an awesome song!!!
As a fan of country music, the majority of my music elicits “urgh” and “ick” from most of my friends, so I’m gonna have a tough time picking one =)
Thomas Dolby, “I Love You, Goodbye.”
My all time favorite song that no one else likes (or even remembers) is “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say,” by Hurricane Smith.
It came out at the same time as “Rocky Mountain High,” by John Denver. I remember clearly an argument with a buddy that Denver would never make it and that Hurricane Smith was the next BIG THING.
Ah, well, I was young and in love and Oh, Babe just struck a chord….
35 years later, my wife just shakes her head whenever the song comes up on the iPod….
The Fugs, “Defeated”. And really most of their music.
Hey, I like Tin Machine. Well…okay…I like their first album.
And JustAnotherJohn: I like Skinny Puppy and most of the side projects. Though I must admit to tuning them out for Too Dark Park and Last Rites. Those were not good albums.
@Dan: That whole album is excellent. Dolby’s later work is tremendously underappreciated.
“Rock On” by David Essex.
My wife and I both like “Rock on”. Speaking of Dolby, though, how about “One of our Submarines is Missing”? Another fine and under-appreciated song.
Love Tin Machine. Really didn’t think anyone else knew about it.
One of my all-time favorite songs isn’t so much one that no one else likes, it should be embarrassing that like it, but it’s not.
Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
And I liked ABBA when it wasn’t cool. :)
@Dan — sorry, “I love you, goodbye” is killer, you’re not alone.
How about Timbuk3, “Throw Down Gun” –great song, but nobody’s ever heard it, it’s only on a relatively obscure live album, “Espace Ornano” (the name of the theater).
Here’s mine.
“Carrie” by Europe. Maybe others like it, but I’ve never met them. :)
I have a trance mix of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” that I’m fond of.
But I think the actual worst song, full of cheese and, honestly, completely terrible, that I love anyhow, is Rhapsody’s Emerald Sword. Mostly due to personal reasons I won’t get into here.
PS: Youtube link
A long time ago, a radio station I used to listen to found a record of the Bonanza theme song in Norwegian. I thought it was great! They played it as a joke, but I still liked it.
Dolby’s “Astronauts and Heretics” is definitely an overlooked album and I thought I was the only one who bought it! We had one station in the early nineties that played “I Love You, Goodbye” and “Silk Pyjamas” a lot, but it is long gone (turned into a ” modern” talk radio station for a while and now it is hip-hop or something like that).
There’s lots of songs I really like that I never hear (or heard) on the radio. Kate Bush’s “Experiment IV” or “The Big Sky”. Todd Rundgren’s “Just One Victory”, or anything by “Be Bop Deluxe”.
Alex, I’ll take “Things I Never Should Have Disclosed”, for $1000 please.
“Farther Stars” by John Hiatt. Everybody loves his roots rock, and I’d kill for another traditionalist album like Crossing Muddy Waters, but the trippy spaced-out groove of “Farther Stars” always picks me up and spoils me for any other music for hours. His “Mile High” is a close second. (The eerie mixed-in sample, “Shbop, Shbop”, always cracks me up.)
I too like “The Legend of Billy Jack” (the proper title for One Tin Soldier)
Here’s my list of songs I like no one else likes (if they’ve heard them)
1) Seasons in the Sun (Terry Jacks version – first 45 I ever owned which may be the reason I like it so)
2) Oy it’s so Humid by Two Live Jews
3) Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
I like much of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Club Ninja” — especially “Dancing in the Ruins” — which makes me in rare company, since the band itself has said that they hate that album and never play anything off of it live.
And I raaaan, I raaan so far away….
Flock of Seagulls. A perfect storm of 1980’s cheese, especially the video. I’m the only one that I know who admits a fondness for it.
Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks’ “Wonderin'”. A strange little album unavailable on CD as far as I know.
Second place would go to “No Way Out” by Jefferson Starship off the Nuclear Furniture album.
I really like “Too Bad” by Nickelback, which is a bad song for them, and I definitely have been severely judged for my like of the song. Pretty much anytime I mention that I like Nickelback, I get judged.
TransDutch:
“Yellow Submarine”? Seriously? I mean, come on. You have to get to “Revolution #9” before there’s a Beatles song no one else likes. It’s the Beatles.
Also, as a general rule, if you offer up a song that actually went into the Top 20, as many have here, there’s a fairly concrete argument that you’re not, in fact, the only one who likes that particular song.
Save for within my very specific subculture, I find remarkably few people who have even heard of, let alone like, 99% of the music in my collection.
At least here in the United States…
@Dan # 14 – Thomas Dolby, “I Love You, Goodbye.”
This song is amazing. I actually wrote a blog entry on it back in August.
I’m including it on the CD they will play at the wake when I pass on (whether that’s sooner or decades later).
Beautiful elegant song.
SP Kelly @33,
Was that the one with the video with the deliberately low FPS?
@33: I owned that Neil Young EP on CD. It has long since vanished after a long series of moves, but it does exist.
Well, when I sing “Yellow Submarine” all my friends tell me to stop. Emphatically. It’s got to be because of the song, there’s no other reason they would do that.
no excuses, no rationale, but I’ve always liked “AEIOU, Sometimes Y” by EBN-OZN. I know, I know, it’s barely music and horrible, but I bought the album and actually find myself looking it up again at least once a year to listen to again.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/ebnozn/89944/aeiou-sometimes-y.jhtml
Allmusic claims this is a staple on “modern rock” stations, but I’ve NEVER met anyone else who actually LIKES this song. Most people have heard it, but they get looks of disgust on their face when you remind them of it, or even play part of it.
I had the first Tin Machine CD too (in fact, one of the first few CDs I owned). I wonder what happened to it.
Does anyone else still like Barbie Girl by Aquarium?
I’m a huge Rush fan, so there’s a whole chunk of music I love that most people cannot stand. In particular, I love Everyday Glory off their Counterparts album. I haven’t heard any love for this song even amongst the fans. (I like the songs that rarely make a concert setlist.)
oh – #24 – Shawn – I love pretty much everything off Europe’s Final Countdown album, so there – you’re not alone. Ahh…’80s hair metal…
AAaron – I do, and actually, the Thomas Dolby song that came to my mind as an unknown fave is “Airhead” – know that one?
‘All You Zombies’ by the Hooters,
But there are some interesting songs here I am going to have to look up…
Jim Kosmicki:
“Most people have heard it, but they get looks of disgust on their face when you remind them of it, or even play part of it.”
Possibly because the lead singer looks like “Buffalo Bill” from Silence of the Lambs.
oohh, @44, Rush rawks!!
Geddy Lee 4 evah!!
There were plenty of painful moments off of the first Tin Machine album: “I Can’t Read;” the horrid cover of “Working Class Hero;” and “Crack City” immediately come to mind. A lot of the ‘appeal’ of the album to me was hearing Bowie sing as if he were the Michael Douglas character from Falling Down discovering swear words for the first time in his life.
I never bothered with the second Tin Machine album, nor did I care to listen to Oy Vey, Baby, but I still own the first Tin Machine album on cassette. I keep it as a reminder to stay humble about my musical tastes, that what I may like one year will prove embarrassing in the next, or that some musical ventures just aren’t a good idea. For the same reason, I have collections of early 90s techno on cassettes that I don’t want to part with, and it’s not because I want to get ahead of the curve when the 90s revival hits by 2010.
La Bionda – Will she or won’t she, from “Bandido (1978)”. My father had the album in his collection, and this was my favourite song when I was 5 or so. It’s a 30’s style swing, with rather smart lyrics (as I found out much later), and eminently enjoyable. Also, almost impossible to find on today’s Internet.
Robyn Hitchcock’s “Uncorrected Personality Traits.”
I, too, own “Tin Machine II” and dig me some “Baby Universal.”
Mark @38
Assuming you mean the Neil Young album, no it was his stab at rockabilly. A wonderfully short album and a lot of fun in my opinion.
Responding to John in #47 —
Watch him in the “Bag Lady” video and he reminds one even MORE of Buffalo Bill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nxV99Q0Otc
this video is part of the unfortunate trend of former stars cameoing in 80’s videos (see Milton Berle in Ratt’s video for best known example). I always liked Imogene Coca, but she never did catch a break after the end of Sid Cesear’s Show of Shows, did she?
and speaking of Buffalo Bill, if you saw the Monk Christmas special where Ted Levine shaved his mustache, it was very disturbing to see an older-looking Buffalo Bill.
Pilot of the Airwaves by Charlie Dore I can still pretty much sing the whole thing from memory — want to hear it? Anyone? Bueller? ha, ha
I kept expecting a RickRoll from someone..
Mine would be one that did not make any lists or charts and that would be any song on No World Order by Todd Rundgren during his “rap” phase. I dig it. Even went and saw his interactive concert. And yes, it was interactive, if the light was green you could be up on stage ‘banging on the drum all day’ with him.
well, if you eliminate stuff no one in this country has ever heard of due to the artists being foreign (wolfgang ambros, udo lindenberg and herbert groenemeyer? well, maybe a few folks have heard of them), i used to be left with a handful of songs that were well known by me, but not many else:
‘camoflague’ by stan ridgeway
‘only you’ by the flying pickets (was a hit in the UK, though.)
‘place to be’ by nick drake
‘unsquare dance’ by the dave brubeck quartet
‘he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’ by the housemartins
‘bron-y-aur stomp’ by led zeppelin (yes, really.)
‘soul man’ by sam moore and lou reed (from the c. thomas howell movie)
‘take this waltz’ by leonard cohen
‘do you want my job’ by little village
I’ll cop to actually really liking Tin Machine. The first album, at least. Five years before grunge/seattle-punk took over the universe, Bowie seemed to be tuned into some weird similar wavelength emanating from a parallel universe where it was skinny ties instead of flannel, but the basic structure was still the same.
Oh, and @waltzinexile, I like “One Tin Soldier,” too. Seems like we sung it in chorus concerts for three or four years straight when I was a kid. “One tin soldier rides away. . .”
I love the flying pickets!
@38 — yes, the video for Wonderin’ was the one with the flickering image — it actually hurt after a while to watch. Given that Neil was so vocal about how videos were ruining music, it made sense.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/neil-young/99026/wonderin.jhtml
They could make him do a video, but it didn’t have to be watchable. (kind of like the Replacements’ famous video for Bastards of Young)
http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-replacements/9827/bastards-of-young.jhtml#artist=1056
Jim@41,
I still have that album on cassette. If you want really bad, listen to their version of “Rockin’ Robin”.
Not just a song the entire Traci Lords album 1000 fires.
Wang Chung “To Live and Die in L.A.” soundtrack–title track, “Wait”, and especially “Wake Up Stop Dreaming.”
Hard to believe it’s the same band that urged us all to wang chung tonight.
Lot’s of Dolby fans here–“Screen Kiss” is my fave. One of those songs you have to say “sonic soundscape” somewhere in your description.
P.S. I also owned a Tin Machine CD
Anyone have The Bears with Adrian Belew? “Complicated Potatoes” on the CD Rise and Shine
I love all things Bowie. I am particularly enamored with a few songs from the Labyrinth soundtrack. So there.
Anyway, my favorite band is Duran Duran, so much so that I have a tattoo of a logo from one of their albums on my ankle. Beat that.
(here’s the logo if anybody cares:
I don’t have their name just the picture:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31TX2SKM43L._SL160_.jpg)
I love me my Flock of Seagulls. So there.
My song that no one loves but me: Words by Missing Persons. Apparently I have this thing for singers with mad hair like Flock of Seagulls and MP.
Dreaming by BT and Show me the Meaning of Being Lonely by the Backstreet Boys.
John,
you summed up Tin Machine to a “T”. As a Bowie fan of long-standing (was fortunate enough to see him in West Berlin when I was stationed there), when I heard TM/Bowie were going on tour in the UK, I camped out overnight (with a couple of hundred other fans) in Bradford (Yorkshire) city centre to make sure I got tickets.
I have to admit, the queuing overnight in the pouring rain, being jeered at by drunken revellers, cold, tired, and uncomfortable, was more enjoyable than the concert.
“Rubber Ducky”
(It’s early Ernie, before he got strung out on booze and women in an attempt to deny what happened that one night with Bert.)
Most people over three years old won’t usually admit to “liking” it.
That one night?!?!
Bowie – virtually all downhill after “Suffragette City,” sometimes precipitously so.
I’m happy to cop to liking The Hooters “All You Zombies” and indeed most of that album, but I’m not sure which song I dig solo is mine alone due to its hip-deep-in-cheesiness rather than its rank obscurity. Juice Newton’s cover of “Angel of the Morning” perhaps? The ever-reliable Japanese cheesefest that is “Sukiaki”? Or the Singing Nun’s “Dominique”, perhaps?
I think I’ll go with “Dominique” — if only because you don’t get too many chart topping pop tunes praising inquisitors crusading against evil dualist Albigensians.
White City: a novel by Pete Townshend. Wore out my first CD of it. Anyone else out there?
A song I like, that I can count on to clear the house out after the party’s over, is the Dinosaur Jr cover of Frampton’s “Show Me the Way.”
I don’t even know why I like it; it really is an atrocious song, deliberately so, I think. I guess it tickles the bone in me that “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” tried for, and failed to reach.
to Gennita @65:
Unfortunately, when I saw Flock in ’93 (on a bill with Dolby as the MC and Adam Ant as the headliner) they were still trying to rock that same hair. Um… not the best look for anyone of a certain age, or a certain waist size!
WAIT I know what song I like that I am pretty sure no one else does..
“Good Vibrations” by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. I forgot about that one for a second.
@ William #71. Love White City: A Novel. One of the first things I ever taped from my college aged brother back in 1985 when I got a dual cassette boom box for Christmas. Listened to that tape hundreds of times.
“I Am Secure” is a gorgeous little tune.
Wow, most of the songs mentioned here I haven’t even HEARD of. I like “One Tin Soldier” OK, and I vaguely remember “AEIOU,” but the rest might as well be from an alternate universe containing many of the same artists I’ve heard of, but different songs.
I do not think this is primarily because the songs are obscure, though that’s certainly a factor. I was a classical music nerd as a teenager, and now I’m a big fan of the minimalists. I attempted to WRITE 12-tone music back in the day (no, like everyone else I came to my senses and discarded it by the mid-1980s).
So what do I like that nobody else does? I like Penderecki, but not as much as I used to. I like Orff (and OK, everyone likes Carmina Burana, but who else do you know who likes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite, or has even heard of the latter? (It’s got a huge orchestra and a huge chorus that has to be divided into as many as three choirs, a solo tenor, bass, and soprano; and the chorus has to sing a huge amount of text in Latin and Greek very fast, and there are no repeats: all the music is written out separately. It requires a huge amount of rehearsal for these enormous forces, and only lasts 40 minutes. In other words, economically it’s virtually impossible to perform it with professionals.)
I can’t think of any songs, as such, that I like and no one else does. Songs I hate that everyone else likes: that’s easy.
JS:
Ernie was only “experimenting.”
thisisendless @74: Nope. Add me to that list. Marky Mark in his Calvins *make* that song.
William @71: Hell, yes to White City, though it was more for Simon Phillip’s insane drumming. Most of those tracks are still in rotation for me, and I think they’ve aged pretty well.
thisisendless @74: Nope. Add me to that list. Marky Mark in his Calvins *make* that song.
Rodgau Monotones – Erbarmen, die Hesse kommen!
which I found after years of trying to get an mp3 of some sort. And today I found out that one of my bosses actually has their album on vinyl and we sang part of the rap, heh.
I put it online here: It’s 80ies funk and rap in the German dialect of Suebian ^^
http://www.bookish.net/2008/10/05/265/
“I Before E Except After C” by Yazoo (which was called Yaz here in the States).
Obscure enough that most people haven’t heard of it, and sufficiently unlike everything else that they did that most people who have heard of it probably hate it.
Having said that, there will probably be six people who pop up in the next hour to say, “I loved that track!”
I’m very happy to have David Bowie in first place on my Last.fm all-time chart, and I quite like some of the stuff on the first Tin Machine album (including ‘I Can’t Read’), but I have to say that one is truly awful…
For my own offering, how about ‘You’ll Have Time’. I love it. It’s a great exploration of mortality and procrastination and understanding what’s truly important in life. But mention that you really like a song by WFS and the room tends to clear pretty quickly…
(I actually like several other songs on that album too)
I think I’m the the only one who liked Neil Young’s Trans – synth music from the mid-80s. He also did a synth version of strawberry girl that’s really weird.
TKay@73
Oh dear. I hope they weren’t wearing the same make up. Looking back, I also apparently have this thing for men wearing more make up than I’d ever wear my entire life:
Bowie
Flock of Seagulls
Missing Persons
Adam Ant (pretty, pretty Adam)
Duran Duran’s guitarist(s) (pretty, pretty Andy, also later joined by…wait…Missing Person’s Warren can’t-remember-last-name-maybeCurrilo)
You name it, if they have eye-shadow and lip gloss, I’ve been to their concert….
Okay, I stopped the love affair with manliner around Boy George’s appearance. ;-)
TKay @ 80
re: Calvins… WORD.
Band: DUSTdevils
Song: Psychonaut
Album: Extant
Pure noise pop bliss.
Try “Want You More” by Robert Palmer. If you only know him from “Addicted To Love” and other such, you could be very surprised.
Tin Machine wasn’t the highlight of Bowie’s career, but it was the point where he must have realized that creativity and playing it safe don’t mix very well. A serious artist has got to take his chances. Had he not done that, he may very well have gone the way of Elton John and Billy Joel.
REO Speedwagon’s “Only the Strong Survive”. Brainless heartland hard rock but the chorus got me through some rough patches in college.
Zep’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” is about as iffy as the Beatles “Yellow Submarine”. Listen to the live boots and it was always greeted with a roar from the crowd. Plus it wins geek points because the song is about Robert Plant’s dog Strider – yet another Zep/LOTR connection.
Not a song, but a whole album: Rick Wakeman’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” How could I not love something that contains a choral piece about battling sea monsters?
I love it and no one else has heard of it/admits to it?
The Rainmakers. I love The Rainmakers! They don’t have songs that I don’t like. Only songs that I don’t like AS MUCH as the others. In particular, the song “Wild Oats” could be about my hometown, full of girls that are wild on Saturday night and holy on Sunday morning.
Big Country. Moody Scottish rock with guitars that sound like bagpipes and lyrics that sound like ancient folk tunes? I’m so there. My favorite is “The Seer”.
I also like Fighting Gravity. Dig their world beat sound and imcomprehensible poetry lyrics. Also, they’re really nice guys. I met them once after a show and we had good conversation.
Anything by Beirut. Lead singer Zach Condon’s voice is pure liquid heaven, but they are not that mainstream yet. They were, however, on MTV one time I think…
All of you should check it out!
“This is Ponderous” by 2nu.
“Bert’s Blanket” by Bert and the sheep from Sesame Street.
(Don’t judge me :/.)
Izabella @ 88
I agree with you. I do not think Outside is a very popular Bowie album, but I really like it. Especially because he really went outside his norm on that one.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. Guaranteed to end the party.
Pam Adams: I like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, too, but I don’t think that Lightfoot wrote that song expecting it to be a party tune. I think he was probably as surprised as anyone that it became a hit.
Lost Weekend – Wall of Voodoo (actually, everything from Call of the West – actually, everything from Wall of Voodoo)
Mystic Rhythms – Rush (Power Windows is my favorite Rush album)
Drive, She Said – Stan Ridgeway (And Camouflage)
Montezuma Was a Man Of Faith – Andy Preiboy
Baby Bitch – Ween
I listen to a lot of music that is pretty marginal.
Warren Zevon’s Roland the Headless Thomson Gunner.
Ulrika @ 70 – OMG, I used to LOVE Dominique!!! I grew up to that song and as I type I can hear the chorus!
Pam Adams @ 96 – YAY another Gordon Lightfoot fan.
Canadian TV did a special a few years ago on one of the anniversaries of the Wreck of the Ecmund Fitzgerald and used the song in the finale. Grab the BOX of kleenex, it just broke your heart to hear the song as the photos of the crew and their families left behind flashed by.
Boy, ole Gordon can sure tell a hell of a story. I’ve had former roommates threaten to break his records/tapes/CDs if I didn’t stop playing them.
And to whoever mentioned REO Speedwagon – one of the best concerts I ever went to in the mid 80’s.
Garth Brooks’ cover of KISS’ “Hard Luck Woman”. It still has a place on my iPod.
“White Squall” by Stan Rogers.
Actually I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Stan Rogers song I didn’t like, but I’m far from alone in that. Was “White Squall” popular? I have no idea.
Some that are very high on my play count, but aren’t that well known:
Amazulu’s cover of ‘Montego Bay’
(actually, just about anything by Amazulu)
Diesel: ‘Sausalito Summer Night’
Tanita Tikaram: ‘Thursday’s Child’
The Kings: ‘The Beat Goes On (Switch into Glide)’
Jeff Lynne: ‘Nobody Home’
Julie Brown: ‘Time Slips Away’
Re #30: Oh yes. Seasons in the Sun! But it has to be the original Terry Jacks version. My ex-wife claims I played that over and over on the day I turned 30, because I was depressed. But she lies.
I think Tin Machine is overdue for some critical reappraisal, actually! I prefer Tin Machine II to I, especially “Baby Universal”, “Amlapura”, and “Goodbye Mr. Ed.” They were way ahead of their time, and Reeves gets double credit for wielding the then-deeply-unfashionable Steinberger guitars.
My entry in this contest: “Hand Over Fist” from the Rush album “Presto”. I tested this one out on a Rush forum, and while the album has some fans… the song doesn’t. Yet I happen to think it’s a great production of a great song.
Never found anyone else that liked Bal-Sagoth. Any Bal-Sagoth.
Whenever something like “Shackled to the Trilithon of Kutulu” started to play, people would either run out or yell at me to press next track.
Chick-A-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It) by Daddy Dewdrop. And, on researching it, I see it hit #9 in 1971, but no one *I* know has heard of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT8–CfCJXk&feature=related
*warning* Chicks in skimpy black bikinis… with closeups!
Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel by Kansas from the Masque album. Let the derision commence.
“Exterminating Angel” by The Creatures for me and you’ve managed to get “Shot by both sides” by Magazine in my head, which I haven’t thought of in years.
I guess that pretty much dates me :p
I don’t know many people who like the stuff I like (but there must be some out there, somewhere). My wife hates it (huzzah for mp3 players!).
Further investigation confirms that SOMEONE else does like this stuff:
http://www.last.fm/music/Magazine/_/Shot+By+Both+Sides = nearly 70,000 plays, but the download is free (which must mean something)
Okay. I’ll come clean. I’ve liked this song:
since I was very young. I still like it.
I wish I could find a non-visual version to link to. It’s much better without the stock art.
Mark@99
Is that the one about the war in the (then) Belgian Congo?
Xopher@102- Stan Rogers rocks- in a totally folkish way, of course.
Adam @51: I love that song.
Looking through the “Favorite Songs” playlist for things I’m pretty sure nobody I know likes I find:
The Chills — “Heavenly Pop Hit”
Brian Eno — “Mother Whale Eyeless”
REM — “Crush with Eyeliner”
Chris DeBerg — “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”
Help! I’m a Fish- The Little Trees annoys the hell out of everyone but me.
I also still like pop music like Mmmmbop and Backstreets Back, but I think I’m not alone in that- its just that everyone else is too ashamed to admit it :D
I too own the first two Tin Machine CDs, bought used in the last few years (and maybe the first on tape when it was new); I like them well enough and have a sentimental attachment to “Video Crime”.
DavidK@103: I love Diesel’s ‘Sausalito Summer Night’! I thought I was the only one who remembered that one! I’d completely forgotten about “The Beat Goes on/Switch into Glide); I liked it then. Some days I’m annoyed by how much of my brain is taken up by 80s song lyrics; I haven’t heard that since the 80s and still know all the words.
mia@112: You’re not the only one who likes “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”; it’s a great song.
A few other random things:
Tommy Shaw – “Girls with Guns”
Kim Mitchell – “Go for Soda”
Pseudoecho – “Funkytown”
Martin Briley – “The Salt in my Tears”
Dave Edmunds – “Slipping Away”
Dave Mason – “Only You Know and I Know” (currently stuck in my head)
I could go on for ages; I’ve been listening to a random assortment of Japanese rock/pop/jazz, new wave, 80s metal, and classic rock (heavy on the prog side of things), with an assortment of other genres; most of that falls into things I like that I’m pretty sure no one else does.
This is really embarrassing, because I consider myself something of an insufferable music snob(tm). But here you go:
Jesus Jones, “International Bright Young Thing”
Dead Can Dance, “Saltarello,” (I could be wrong about this, maybe other people like it too)
The Shonen Knife cover of “Top of the World” by the Carpenters
And finally: Kelly Clarkson, about half of the songs on Breakaway (and I know I’m not the only *person* that likes those songs, but I’m certainly the only person *I hang out with* that likes them).
I love “Saltarello”! Are you kidding? That’s great stuff! I think it might not be original with DCD though. Sounds pretty authentically medieval to me.
a recent find for me: ‘go zombie’ by zombie girl.
but i get strange looks when i listen to my bow wow wow collection. :)
Xopher, if I would have thought to try to pick someone in my cadre of invisible internet friends who digs DCD (originals and covers), it would certainly have been you! I should have guessed.
I am listening to Aion right now while I’m drafting a motion to dismiss some b.s. civil racketeering claims.
Dreaming by BT
I’m a bigger fan of “Never Gonna Come Back Down,” but “Dreaming” is one of the best trance tracks ever. BT is one of my music gods.
Chris DeBerg — “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”
“DeBurgh”, and I am much with the love of this man. I know people for whom Ferryman is the only song of his they like, but “A Spaceman Came Traveling” is this wonderful merge of progrock and New Wave that I just love. It soars.
Big Country. Moody Scottish rock with guitars that sound like bagpipes and lyrics that sound like ancient folk tunes? I’m so there. My favorite is “The Seer”.
I want to hear more of their non-hits, but “In a Big Country” is a cherished fave.
I found myself actively liking Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” after hearing a cover of it by Travis. Then there’s Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” which really soars when it’s Glen Hansard and (guy with a very Irish name that I can’t spell to save my life) doing a duet on it.
punkrockhockeymom @115: How can ANYONE not like the Shonen Knife cover of Top of the World?! That’s like not liking ice cream or puppies!
Well, Mia, that’s what I think exactly! So I am not the ONLY one. But when I play it at home, or around my friends, you should SEE the looks I get.
I just played something off of their album 712 for the 14 year old, though, and he loved it but says they have a bad drummer. (Puppy is a drummer in a rock band and snooty about it sometimes).
punkrockhockeymom: I am seriously dating myself, but the original “Top of the World” is one of the first songs I remember hearing; I have a fondness for oddly-pronounced covers and like the Shonen Knife version as well.; also, “International Bright Young Thing” is my favorite Jesus Jones song.
“Evolution Evie” – Transvision Vamp
And now I’ll be annoying people by singing it because it will be stuck in my head for the next three days.
@91- the Rainmakers were a great band. If you look up the lead singer/songwriter Bob Walkenhorst, he is still performing regularly and has put out a solo CD that’s unfortunately currently sold-out at CD Baby. “They’re feeding our people that Goverment Cheeeese”
@103 — the Kings double sided single is a great song. Most people around these parts (Great Plains) have never heard it and like it well enough when it comes on my queue.
@107 — I’m a huge bubblegum fan, and what I’ve found is that if people know “Chick-a-boom,” it’s from the version sung on the Groovie Ghoulies TV show.
@112 – I remember seeing the video for “Don’t Pay the Ferryman” on HBO’s Video Jukebox back in the day, and then never hearing anything more about Chris Deburgh until “Lady in Red.” I liked that song until my wife and I heard my then-roommate singing it horribly off-tune to his girlfriend. Now, whenever we hear the song, we can only laugh.
and as I sign off for the evening, I’ll make a second entry and really, really date myself:
Zor & Zam – the Monkees
@122: Regarding “Top of the World,” me too! That’s why I bought the “If I Were A Carpenter” compilation. My folks had a Carpenters’ Greatest Hits 8-Track that I listened to All Of The Time.
And I have all this Jesus Jones from the ex’s half of our former collection–where “all this” equals one album and two EPs–but only ever listen to that one song.
“Does anyone else still like Barbie Girl by Aquarium?”
NO!
“Diesel: ‘Sausalito Summer Night’”
I prefer “Down in the Silver Mine” from the same album. Now THERE’s a song that annoys the shit out of people, but I love it.
Also: Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” has actually made passengers ask to be let out of my car.
Oh and! @122–do you like the Cake cover of “I Will Survive”?
That may be my favorite cover of all time. Although I really like Sonic Youth’s Carpenters cover–they did “Superstar.” And I like the Bauhuas “Ziggy Stardust.” Hmmm.
Erm, Bauhaus. Typo Gremlins.
Wow. That’s bad. I’d rather listen to David Sylvian’s solo work.
db
Reeves Gabrels lives in Nashville these days, and has a blues band (or did, last I heard). Of course, Reeves’ version of blues is about 36.5° akimbo from what we normally think of as blues.
When Reeves was here in L.A., I’d sit in with his band on occasion, and his drummer at that time, Brock Avery, still plays with one of my bands. Reeves is a great guy whose musical thinking is quite interesting. I always thought that he was most of what made Tin Machine interesting.
Blue Raven @119: Have you heard Richard Thompson’s cover of Britney Spears’ “Oops, I Did It Again?” It’s pretty amazing.
“Free As A Bird” by Supertramp, from the album of the same name. Their second album after Roger Hodgson left the band. The track is a a kind of bland mid tempo song. The song and the album vanished without a trace upon release in 1987.
Of course there is the Billy Squier song “Rock Me Tonite” which was actually a top twenty hit but whose video sank his career: Check out the pink guitar and pink Richard Simmons shitrt in the second half of the video. He never had even a top 40 hit afterwards.
Jim @124: I had no idea about the Ghoulies until I looked it up today, and I’m appalled. :)
Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’! Even better if it’s back-to-back with Gary Numan’s ‘Cars’!
On this side of the Atlantic ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Grey Day’ by Madness didn’t get a lot of airplay. Also ‘Architecture and Morality’ and ‘Genetic Engineering’ by Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark. All are embarrassingly high on my playlist…
Stepping back further from the early 80s, I’ll toss out the Buckinghams’ ‘Winchester Cathedral’.
As a rabid Bowie fan, I own BOTH Tin Machine albums. :) “You Belong in Rock and Roll” might actually be my favorite TM song, although I also like “Goodbye Mr. Ed”.
That said, Tin Machine wasn’t my favorite Bowie period. I can understand that it was something he badly needed to do at the time, but I’m really, really glad he went back to being a solo artist.
Now if he would only come out of semi-retirement and record a new album…
Mia @132; that Thompson cover is indeed amazing…in fact, the whole album is just mind boggling. There aren’t many artists who can pull off both a Spears over AND “Sumer is Icumen In”.
Hmmm, probably the worst is “Sugar Baby Love” from my misspent youth. The Japanese cover used in my daughter’s favorite anime actually has better lyrics than the original, even when translated back into English. Mostly because there are only like 16 different words in the original English.
I was young enough back then to actually enjoy some of the worst music of the ’70’s: “Billy Don’t Be A Hero”, “Seasons in the Sun”, “Alone Again (Naturally)”. A disturbing amount of death rock in that list, now that I look at it.
Others: The Proclaimers: “Jean” (you let me get lucky with you). I have plans for provoking one of my cousins by exposing this song to her partner. The Buggles: “Video Killed the Radio Star” – apart from the minor historic significance in cable TV, who actually likes the song? Too many others to list, that others have already mentioned.
As a variation: Some songs that others have mentioned that I’m not ashamed to admit I like:
Chumbawamba – actually has some interesting anarchist/labor movement messages behind the hooks. Not mindless fluff at all. Listen to the whole Tubthumper album, not just “I Get Knocked Down”. As a less-motivational personal mantra try “There’s always someone else for you to blame.” from “Scapegoats”.
Yellow Submarine – Mindless, but fun to sing along with the kids.
As a final side-note: I can’t for the life of me recall the title, but that I think it was a Spider Robinson story, where there was a mention of a song “The Wreck of the Gordon Lightfoot” by Edmund Fitzgerald. Seems like a song I would like that no one else would…
“Scatter Me” by Susan Levine, who is a local artist with a weird voice that annoys everybody else I’ve ever played her CD to.
I thought “Under the god” kinda rocked.
@138 “death rock”; I am stealing that term to impress my friends with. Or not.
“70s death rock!”
@128 – I love Cake’s “I Will Survive” and like Bauhaus’ “Ziggy Stardust”. I know I heard more of the Carpenters tribute at the time, but don’t remember much of it now (and was never really into Sonic Youth). A couple of my favorite covers are Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Ray of Light” (never owned any Madonna, but have two tribute CDs) and Linda Rondstadt’s “Tumbling Dice”.
@138: Thanks, now I have “Season in the Sun” stuck in my head. The early seventies were a great time for cheese: there’s always Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and the Captain and Tenille’s “Love Will Keep us Together”. I had a sentimental attachment to “Afternoon Delight” (heavy rotation at the pool one summer) until I heard it as an adult and realized what it was about.
Are we discussing songs nobody has heard of, or songs nobody likes? Seems more the former to me…
“Never been to me” by Charlene. I seem to be the only one to like it–What’s *wrong* with you people?
Probably “Never Trust a Stranger” by Kim Wilde. I think it’s the finest example of pure 80s pop in existence. I played it on an internet radio show I was co-hosting once, and to this day the regular hosts make fun of me for it. On air.
I still think she’s consistently superior to Madonna.
As for Tin Machine, I always find myself really wanting to like them but unable to get past Gabriels’ guitar work. He’s just consistently awful and obnoxious. I can’t really listen to those Bowie solo albums he was on, either, his coldly mechanical playing and shiny plastic guitar tones repel me. He is, as an individual, the worst thing that ever happened to David Bowie.
And now, for my entry in the “You only thought no one else liked that song” bonding exercise:
C. Rader @# 46: I also liked “All You Zombies”, enough to buy Nervous Night. Yes, I still have it, on vinyl.
pizzangst @# 63: I also have Points on the Curve on vinyl…
Gennita Low @# 65: Nope, I like “Words” too. Although I like “Walking in LA” better.
Izabella @# 88: Old Robert Palmer (pre-Power Station) absolutely rules. “Want You More” has that driving obsessive quality. And I love the vibes on “What You Waiting For.”
Grahammie @# 91: Yes, I have In A Big Country on vinyl, too. And the Wonderland EP.
Alethea @# 93: Then the horns kicked in. And my shoes started to squeak.
Mark Horning #@ 99: Not only do I like “Roland”, I’ve introduced my 11-year-old to the dulcet tones of the Excitable Boy. He’s particularly fond of “Gorilla, You’re a Desperado.”
mia @# 112: Yes, I have The Getaway, too, yes, on vinyl. Man, I must be old.
punkrockhockeymom @# 128: I feel that Cake’s cover of “I Will Survive” is in fact the only listenable version of the song. And “Short Skirt, Long Jacket” is a classic.
As far as covers go, I like The Lemonheads’ cover of “Mrs. Robinson”. And the Whirling Dervishes’ cover of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” (Had to throw that in for the season…)
Mia @ 132
Just about anything by Richard Thompson would get on this list for me. Top two are Sloth (with Fairport) and “Al Bowley’s in Heaven.”
For 80s cheese, my guilty pleasure is China by the Red Rockers.
Helmethead by Great Big Sea also deserves a mention.
Captain Sensible’s Christmas Catalog is my favourite Christmas song, AND I’m pretty sure it’s a song I like that almost nobody else does. (Mostly because most people don’t seem to have heard of it.) Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Captain shares it on his page at the official Damned website.
http://www.officialdamned.com/ODsingle/docs/bandsections/CS/xmascata.htm
Two best soundtrack albums ever:
To Live And Die In L.A.
Until the End of the World
Had to laugh at the earlier Wang Chung reference. And until Wim Wenders realizes the error of his ways, we still don’t have a Region 1 DVD of UTEOTW in any of its lengths — I’m holding out for the 8-hour version myself. (grin)
Dr. Phil
@96: Have it memorized. Also used to be able to play it (not well) on the guitar. Generally had the sense not to do so in public :)
@99: The only reason I can think of not to like Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner is because you haven’t heard it yet. For more obscure Zevon, try They Moved the Moon.
For pure cheese (as opposed to good stuff that never gets played), I remain very fond of We Built This City (on Rock and Roll). Yes, it may be the worst pop song of all time, but I like it.
Evil cheese: Cotton Eye Joe, by the Rednex. Now imagine the hamster dance hamsters, dancing to that song….
I just want to say for the record that I LOVE Tin Machine and own all three of their albums. “Prisoner of Love” was always one of my favorite songs. (But “You Belong in Rock’n’Roll” is good too.)
punkrockhockeymom @ 115 and xopher @ 116: “Saltarello”? Oh, hell yeah! I pretty much love everything DCD has ever done. I think their debut album is still my favorite, although Aion is a close second.
J.D Rhoades @ 127 and DavidK @ 135: Another “Autobahn” fan here. It grows on you, does it not?.
#63 – I will take your Bears “Complicated Potatoes” off of Rise And Shine and add in “Quarters” from the Raisin’s “Everything And More”
I have every one of the Bears/Raisins/Psychodots CDs and all of Rob’s, Bob’s and Chris’s solo CD – and that is a big trick in Southern California
There’s some stuff I have on cassette that I can’t even find mp3’s for (at least at the semi-legal sites I visit). Here’s a sampling. Some of these must have been 80’s flash-in-the-pans, releasing one song and vanishing.
“Modern Day Delilah”–Van Stephenson
“Gettysburg”–the Brandos (named after Marlon, of course).
“Heartbeat”–Don Johnson (yes, the Miami Vice actor, and not too bad a singer (bonus points: with Dweezil Zappa on guitar).
“Paris Calling”–Shark Island
The live version of Huey Lewis & the News’ “Walking on a Thin Line” (not that they’re a one-hit wonder, but the live cut is vastly superior to the studio version).
“Blind in Texas”–WASP (Blackie Lawless was a fantasy of mine for years)
“Black Cat,” Janet Jackson–the only song of hers I like.
“The Outsider”–Ian Hunter, the lead singer of Mott the Hoople
While there’s plenty of songs that I’m embarrassed to be liking, as well as songs that the majority of my peers probably couldn’t care less about, I’d say that my partiality for The Coral is probably the obscurest preference I hold. In my context, anyway.
/fatwords
@110: Oh, man, Olias of Sunhillow. I thought *I* was the only one….and we like the same track to boot!
I’ll try this one: “Forgetting”, from Philip Glass’ “Songs From Liquid Days”. That beautiful operatic voice your hear hitting the high notes? Linda Ronstadt.
My most-played track in iTunes (by 50%, and played 10 times as often as my 16th-most-played track) is “Hinata Inn” off the Love Hina Original Soundtrack. It’s just instrumental, but for some reason it makes me cry. I’d be surprised if there’s anyone out there who loves that song as much as I do.
I used to faff around on MP3.com back when they were still cool (long, long time ago), and found several songs by bands that were never signed and have disappeared without a trace.
“Purple” by Fat Amy
“Step Inside” by Jewel Thieves
“Einstein’s Big Mistake” by Scott Meldrum
“Classified as Different” by Wine Field
“Lazy Bones” by Sci-Fi Lullaby
I did the same on GarageBand.com for a while (and found “Look At What You Get” by Taxi Doll), but for some reason didn’t enjoy it as much.
Bozo the Clone @138, you totally stole my “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero” and “Alone Again (Naturally)” entries. I was sure I’d be the only person who kinda liked Gilbert O’Sullivan.
Song I like that I’m pretty sure no one else has heard or remembers:
“Dizzy Blonde Girlfriend” by Rob Jungklas (and actually pretty much everything on the Closer to the Flame album)
Song I like that I’m pretty sure other people know and don’t like:
“Sylvia’s Mother,” Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
Bonus track that’s both obscure AND probably unpopular:
“You Are Always on My Mind,” The Partridge Family
I love “Just One Victory,” “Sausalito Summer Nights,” “Go for a Soda.” Thomas Dolby’s “Europa and the Pirate Twins.” Points on a Curve. Lots of Tommy Shaw (“Girls with Guns” is okay, but “Jealousy” and “Reach for the Bottle” are much better).
Anyone else remember Trooper? I haven’t heard “One Good Reason” or “The Moment that It Takes” for, like, 30 years, but I can still play them in my head.
For the record, I don’t feel embarassed about any of the music I listen too. What I do regret is not keeping more of the music I listened to (and bought) when I was younger…
what a goldmine of good listening choices this thread is. :)
if ‘bron’y-aur stomp’ is borderline yellow submarine, then alas, so is ‘autobahn’ — it’s really not exactly an unknown piece, is highly regarded in europe and is just plain a seminal piece of early electronica.
i remember listening to it for the first time when i was 10 and i’ve been kinda hooked on electronica ever since. if you haven’t ever heard the full 22 min version of autobahn — go listen. it’s an amazing piece, imo.
someone mentioned the soundtrack to ‘until the end of the world’, though — that’s a fantastic suggestion. if you dial out some of the ‘big name’ acts on there, you’re left with some true gems — the titel track by nick cave and the bad seeds, ‘humans from earth’ by t-bone burnett, ‘the adversary’ by crime and the city solution and ‘sleeping in the devils bed’ by daniel lanois.
deliriously out of date: Nana Mouskouri singing Chiquitita in French: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU_F0taAnhk
“Manic Mechanic” by ZZ TOP…strange even by ZZ standards.
Also, Nick Lowe’s “Stick It Where The Sun Don’t Shine,” a song with great appeal during the “post unceremoniously dumped” phase of any guy’s life.
Oh boy, where to begin. How about here : “To a Loyal Friend”, by Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows. I just about fell over laughing the first time I heard it, because I recognised the main theme as a half-speed version of a mediaeval dance tune I played in a band once … but it grew on me (as did just about everything else done by Sopor Aeternus).
I also regard “This Corrosion” (The Sisters of Mercy, of course) – the full 11-minute version – as one of the best rock songs ever. I’m probably not alone in this, but one of a small, defiant band.
I’ve also been known to stick “Heartland” (also SoM) on repeat for 30 minutes or so …
How’s this for obscure? I recall the live coverage of David Bowie’s press conference announcing the new band as it was carried by radio in New York City…back when there were multiple decent rock stations in NYC!
TransDutch (#30) Thanks for the title correction; I haven’t heard it in ages and I just have the chorus stuck in my head (and also underestimated its popularity; probably because I get ragged so bad for it.) For the record, “Seasons in the Sun” is one of my faves, too, so you’re not alone there.
And whoever said “Sweet Caroline” please don’t be embarrassed, then I’D have to be embarrassed and dammit, I refuse to be embarrassed by Neil love!
Finally, I actually thought of a different song last night, and that’s why I really came back to post again (but couldn’t skip the comments!) so here it is:
David Soul (better known to 70s TV fans as “Hutch”) put out an album (or maybe just a record?) when I was 6 or 7, and one single on there was called (I believe) “Silver Lady.” Oh, the romantic roller disco daydreams I used to have… So probably no one but me has ever heard of it (or perhaps I hallucinated it?) but I can’t imagine anyone else knowing or liking it. Do I win a prize?
(Impressionable Children: Please leave the room or stop your ears, as this will be ugly.)
* Little Girls, Earthquake Song and Rich Girl
* The Limeliters, The Bear Chase — their first album opens with this utterly silly ditty which has little in common with their later style.
* The Fabulous Poodles — any track from the Mirror Stars album
* Stan Ridgway, Peggy and Pete and Me — cheesy AND corny make it cheesicornilicious!
* German Army Chorus — because there is nothing like a marching song which extols the joys of past loves lost, slogging in present mud, and the consumption of beer in the future to lift one’s spirits. :-)
… and lastly, the wince-worthy tune that contains >2000% RDA of schmalz and which, Ghod help me, I really and truly like:
* Abba, Fernando.
I don’t think there can ever be enough therapy to cure this.
Oh, and how could I forget. The Sammy Hagar B-Side, “Burning Down the City.”
German Army Chorus – I NEVER would have thought to see it on the list…..wow….I saw them with my mother when I was 10 or so and we purchased a handmade cassette tape. The songs (in german) are just beautiful
Christopher @# 167: A minor nit – the Ridgeway song is “Peg and Pete and Me”. Never trust a rich dead man’s wife.
prhm 118: I have been known to dance to “Saltarello.” Bellydance. (No, not in front of people. There are advantages to living alone.)
I like “Don’t Pay the Ferryman” because of the Pagan connection, but I also happen to think it rocks.
Like everyone else, I liked the one hit by one-hit wonders The Proclaimers, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).” I still like it a whole lot. I sing it sometimes, but it makes me sad.
And wow, I just learned a new word (from the lyrics of that song): haver, vi. to talk nonsense. I love that! Should prove useful on the web and IRL.
Bozo – Buggles was the first ‘record’ (real vinyl!!) I ever bought – I could sing along to ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ and actually did to the terrible embarrassment of my co-workers recently. Also, walztinexile – yes, yes! ‘Silver Lady’ – “Come on Silver Lady, take my hand. I won’t give up on you again, believe me …” I’ll toss in another one, just for the pot – WasNotWas – Walk the Dinosaur.
Speaking of obscure Bowie things that nobody else likes – a comment in the emo thread reminded me of “Baal”, a Bowie recording of five Brecht-Weill songs. I like it, but I don’t need to be told that someone else might not.
On another emo-goth-whatever related note, there’s a Nouvelle Vague cover of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” that’s worth checking out. It doesn’t top Bauhaus, or even try to compete, but it’s spooky in its own kind of way.
Looking at my iTunes top 25, here’s a sampling:
“She May Call You Up Tonight” – Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (cover of a song by The Left Banke)
“H.W.C.” – Liz Phair (talk dirty to me!)
“Family Tradition” – Cracker (cover of the Hank Williams, Jr. song)
“Monster” – Fred Schneider (the video rocked!)
“Porcelain Monkey” – Warren Zevon (the thinking man’s rock and roller)
Yeah, I like cover songs and obscure stuff.
Xopher @ 171: Oh yeah. I dance to it. It’s in my gothercize playlist. I am very, very pretentiously goth when I dance to it, though. If I’m not wearing all black it looks funny.
I can’t belly dance. But if I could? It would be the perfect belly-dancing song.
I think “A Passage in Time” also rocks and is very dance-friendly.
One time in college I listened to Shatner’s cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” off The Transformed Man on repeat for a solid hour. Because I liked it.
I still respect his musical abilities, like his relatively recent pairing with Ben Folds. Here’s an example, a cover of Pulp’s Common People.
Djscman @177:
Just watched that cover… I was braced for high sarcasm (yours), but darn it, you’re right: WS can sing more than passably. Who’d’ve thunk it?
(On the other tentacle, the accompanying visuals just about broke my brain.)
Wow, the thread count is up there…really risk sucking the last available oxygen out of this one.
Lots of great suggestions–I’m definitely going to order the “Until the End of the World” soundtrack. And, #153 schooled me on The Bears genealogy. I’m guessing you’ve seen them live several times. Forgot to mention that Belew was Bowies guitarist on Tour in 1990. Supposedly the last tour Bowie was going to play his greatest hits.
Funny how many others dig the songs we’re sure nobody else likes. I guess there must be other Shriekback fans partial to spoken/sung ode to the periodic table with a jungle groove “The Reptiles and I.”
I am fairly certain that one of my favorite B-52’s songs, Dance This Mess Around, has thoroughly annoyed everyone upon whom I’ve foisted it.
Happy Rhodes: “The Wretches Gone Awry”
Sorry, Laura, I also liked Pilot of the Airwaves.
And One Tin Soldier.
Ok, folks – Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through, from Bat Out of Hell 2 album, sung by Meatloaf. Yeah. Sorry.
But I’ve always thought Jim Steinman and Carl Orff had a lot in common. Loud music, repetition, lots of instrumentation, repetition, raunchy themes, did I mention repetition?
Thank you all – I now have several ear bugs vying for my subconscious.
I’ve got to get in on this.
Zabe #114 Dave Edmunds – “Slipping Away” always liked that tune. Also. There are some parts of Ontario that you cannot gain access to unless you can recite at least a line from a Kim Mitchell song.
My favorite song that I’m pretty sure no one else likes: “Fear No Evil” by GrimReaper. It’s from the eighties, it’s metal, they were not very pretty but they were not very ugly either. I call it simply: tasty, juicy, metal music.
However, in the golden age of 80’s video, even during the “Power” hours, the above description guarantees obscurity.
“Little Neutrino” by Klaatu.
And now I’m passing through
The one who’s known as you
And yet you’ll never know I do
(I really do.)
“Donald Sutherland,” by the Ass Ponies.
Reading this list, I find that I know more than 70% of the bands and songs, and do indeed like almost all of them.
Either I’m incredibly cutting edge, or I just devour media like Cloverfield ate New Yorkers.
#51, Uncorrected Personality Traits is great, so you aren’t the only one (IThe spoiled baby grows into, the escapist teenager to, the adult alcoholic to, the middle-aged suicide (oy!)).
This is more along the lines of embarassing admissions, but I’ve always really liked _Spirit in the Sky_ (Greenbaum) and _Angels Watching Over Me_ (Amy Grant, I think), which is pretty bizarre for a lifelong atheist.
Oh, #1, everyone likes Mmmmbop. Not everyone is willing to admit it.
At that price, some money then?Twitter Having online, other websites publish.For example Saturn=, and good and.Infected area in Weight loss, rainfall a year to invest to.Transfer deal in, set of numbers.,
Benefits of yoga, I insisted that?To suffering and, account from the.Every should master, woman that you.His/her assistants have Weight loss, of digital cameras Bruce SwedalQuality SEO.Be walls For, very tough in.,
Very smart The, RelationshipThe complex relationship?Systematic inquiry of, familiarity about health.One hundred and, to make sure.Certain types of Weight loss, advantages of news tubs have been.Bas reliefs and, of traffic) Lack.,
Check your weight, happy Your own?You buy regular, the things at.Frequency About, Call upon Him.Of say While Weight loss, the meek questions providers Only after.You a complete, Some people suffering.,
This one seams particularly apt this morning
Brand name far, your dog and?Effects for the, ball along the.Making intimate apparel, it is hardy.Are forced together carseat, simply wouldnt happen restlessness that can.These certain oil, purchasing it Although.,