Songs for Surviving the Pandemic(s); Dinging (sic) in the New Year, Hyperpop New Sounds Non-Extravaganzarama
Frank Chmielewski
Director of Assessments at The Institutes | Risk and Insurance Knowledge Group
[Other articles in this series appear at the bottom of this page. You'll find a table of contents at?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/songs-surviving-pandemics-year-end-sale-annual-report-chmielewski/?published=t.]
A. Happy New Year!!
It's Dec. 31, 2021, New Year's Eve, so let's start with an appropriate song. Ding Dong; Ding Dong, George Harrison (1974), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrXswIbWA7Y.
B. Pop Goes The Weasel!
Have you heard anything in the last decade or so that transcended pop music, stretched a genre, created a new sound or combined styles in an interesting fashion? Hyperpop (a category of pop music gone berserk), maybe? I don't know. What if we were to mix some hyperpop songs in with earlier tunes that somehow give off a similar vibe? Allow me:
Pop Muzik, M (1979), a statement on the 25 years of music that predated it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPoiv0sZ4s4.
I Feel Love, Donna Summer (1977), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfrdQ8h2Pw. The birth of electronic dance music? With the Moog synthesizer, just about any sound imaginable became possible to create.
Immaterial, SOPHIE (2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv3yIv9nwf8. Quintessential hyperpop from the late Sophie Xeon.
Vroom Vroom, Charli XCX (2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfAqtFuGjWM. More interesting hyperpop. A little disjointed for my tastes.
Judy In Disguise, Silicon Teens (1980). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGOafentmhw. (I could have gone with Devo.) A truly synthetic cover of a pop classic. Silicon Teens was the virtual band of Daniel Miller, who was behind another virtual band, The Normal, see https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/songs-surviving-pandemics-ssp-what-does-mean-edition-chmielewski/?trackingId=6zHXwc3rwgfOGqQL2YCFaQ%3D%3D.
Typewriter, Leroy Anderson (1953). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akwfqjtBn7Y. Somehow, this fits this train of thought (is that what this is?), doesn't it? Outside the box musical sounds, perhaps. There are several fun performances of the piece on YouTube, such as this one by the Strauss Festival Orchestra (2008), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LJ1i7222c.
The Adventures of Asterisk, short film by John & Faith Hubley, score by Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton on vibes, Lawrence Brown on trombone (1957). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKLqe_LJrvQ. Fits in here? I first saw this in my high school sophomore English class, which had a half-year dedicated to studying classic films. Cool stuff. One of the highlights of high school for me.
Popcorn, Hot Butter (1972), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK3ZP6frAMc. This corny (!) song fits here, doesn't it, with its Moog synthesizer? Do high school marching bands still perform it? They did like crazy in the mid-seventies.
C. Aha, Ha, Ha, Haa (or Oh Oh, Oh, Oh, Ohh) Songs
Are you ever in the mood for them? I am, once in a while. Here are two good ones. Can you think of others? (Sorry, "Popcorn," above, does not count.)
Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush (1978). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-4lXLM34g (the U.S. video). A very earwormy tune.
Fidelity, Regina Spektor (2006). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wigqKfLWjvM. Regina is always great!
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D. Not to be confused with Ohhhh, Ohhhh, songs:
Girl On Fire, Alicia Keys (2012). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J91ti_MpdHA. "Born To Run" is another one. Can you think of others?
E. Here is an innovative pop rendition by The Slits that could have lived under B., above. Except I had wanted to have an equal number of hyperpop songs to match the older ones, and I don't know enough about hyperpop to populate a list of popular hyperpop pop songs. Pop pop pop, goes the weasel.
Heard It Through The Grapevine, The Slits (1979), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQxvo_9DEqY. Post-punk meets reggae and disco. It was a staple on the dance floors in the Philly area in the late 70s, early 80s.
Watch this segue. The late Ari Up was lead vocalist for The Slits. Her stepfather was John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. PiL pretty much invented post-punk. As Lydon has said in all candor, "[i]s it luck or am I just a jolly smart lad to have been in two of the most influential bands this side of the century?" Let's go with Memories, Public Image Ltd. (1979). Here is a live video of a performance of it from Japan, 1985: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1znRWkDXzY.
F. Our son Matthew's home from college for the holidays. He is in the room with me as I compose this article, practicing his guitar (his seven-string, necessary to play most Trivium songs), and I like the track he is playing.
Down From The Sky, Trivium (2008). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EApnhO2OIrw. I am not a big fan of heavy metal growling vocals, but they seem to work here (and they are not used for the entire song).
G. Back to Pop Music. Not "popular music," but that mythological creature known to members of the rock 'n roll tribe, Pop Music. Or in this case, the subgenre of shoegaze, although like any term, once uttered it never quite fits. Tuneful noise, or noise with a tune over it, perhaps. Let's illustrate with a psyched-up cover of a pop classic:
Surfin' USA, Jesus & Mary Chain (1987). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Px6KX75jM8.
Uh oh, I feel J&MC taking over my brain!
H. My advice for celebrating the New Year: stay in and avoid the coronavirus, but crank up the Jesus & Mary Chain as loud as your hi-fi will go without distorting (there is already enough distortion in the songs to satisfy). Here are some of my faves, many from the J&MC 1986 masterpiece LP, Psycho Candy. (Forgive me if some of the years are off, as it is hard to keep track of single versions that came out before the albums, etc.)
You Trip Me Up, Jesus & Mary Chain (1986), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK2nJWNgZBA. Feedback, fuzz, distortion, and pop vocals, what more could you want?
Sidewalking, Jesus & Mary Chain (1988), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1AL2oTiTU0.
Taste Of Cindy, Jesus & Mary Chain (1986), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkv-pA8Z_mM.
Just Like Honey, Jesus & Mary Chain (1986), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EgB__YratE.
Upside Down, Jesus & Mary Chain (1984), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnO41-rKUsc. Their first single.
Never Understand, Jesus & Mary Chain (1985), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bzrCCKDwc.
Sometimes Always, Jesus & Mary Chain w/ Hope Sandoval (1994), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdAcS4c0-Qk. The wonderful Mazzy Star vocalist brings a softer side to the band (which it also reveals elsewhere, particularly on its acoustic songs that are quite lovely). [1/1/22. 2:46 AM. I am watching the video and I'm having a eureka moment. It could be an abridged version of one of my favorite films, "Paris, Texas." There is even a Harry Dean Stanton/Nastassja Kinski visual vibe to it. And the landscape is similar.]
Happy When It Rains, Jesus & Mary Chain (1987), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5x1F9ohRa4.
The Hardest Walk, Jesus & Mary Chain (1986), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89X18FWMSI4. My favorite J&MC song of all. What is yours?
I. Let's hope 2022 is better than 2021 and 2020! Happy New Year!
Director of Assessments at The Institutes | Risk and Insurance Knowledge Group
2 年I included a Trivium song above. Trivium is one of my son Matthew's favorite bands. He just finished an intensive 3-wk summer course on popular music. For his final project, he created a presentation on Trivium and its influences that included punk, as evidenced by an album outtake, its cover of the Dead Kennedys' "Kill The Poor." Really well done cover. Not that the DKs didn't have good musicians, but if you think very good ones ruin a rock 'n roll song, listen to this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QvYT47O8UQ.
Director of Assessments at The Institutes | Risk and Insurance Knowledge Group
3 年Late drummer Hal Blaine created an oft-copied beat in "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSPpbOGnFgk. One of the songs that uses it is "Just Like Honey," by the Jesus & Mary Chain, above.