For example, I first heard Suburban Legends - Polyester, so I went to check Suburban Legends and they were just a regular ska band.
What’s your “that song was great, I wish the band did more of that” song and band?
I never understood this bands popularity until I listened to this song
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7n7WRidwYo
Their other songs are okay but this ones possibly one of my favorite songs of all time
This should become the new rickroll.
Hmmm
Something something username or whatever
Chris Isaac, Wicked Game
Fun fact: that song only became a hit after having been included in David Lynch’s ‘Wild at Heart’ and then being played on radio by Lee Chesnut, fan of the director.
Rockit by Herbie Hancock. It’s a great hip-hop/electronica track, but the rest of his work is mostly jazz.
He is a jazz legend, yeah…
It’s because ‘Rockit’ was made by Bill Laswell, Michael Beinhorn, GrandMixer DXT and three other guys on turntables. Hancock basically turned up at the end to play some synth lines.
Laswell and Beinhorn were in the band Material, and turned it into a production outfit, plus Laswell was a producer at the label Celluloid at the time, which label was a pioneer of hiphop. He also participated in the New York no-wave jazz scene as musician and composer.
Hancock was in his early forties, and his career was getting stale. His manager, twenty-five years old, pitched the idea of making a track to both him and Laswell. Hancock was taken by Laswell to hear some popular djs, but still required more coercing by the manager.
Material’s early stuff might be closer to ‘Rockit’, although it’s more disco-funk. Dunno about Celluloid’s output, as I’m not really into old hiphop. Laswell used scratching in some of his genre-clashing projects well into the 2000s, e.g. in the ‘Axiom Sound System’ concert with Tabla Beat Science and a bunch of other folks (including Grandmaster DXT). Laswell also co-produced and played bass on the rest of Hancock’s ‘Future Shock’ album and the next two albums ‘Sound-System’ and ‘Village Life’, and did other collaborations with him.
(Yall might be familiar with Time Zone’s ‘World Destruction’ with Afrika Bambaataa and John Lydon; and Material’s ‘Seven Souls’ with the voice of William S. Burroughs. Both of these were featured in ‘The Sopranos’, and both were produced by Laswell, just like PIL’s album ‘Album’.)
My favorite from a him was always Chameleon from exactly 10 years earlier. That’s the song I hear when Herbie is mentioned.
I had a jazz teacher say that Herbie Hancock would play straight up jazz until he ran out of money, and then release a funky track like chameleon to rake in the big bucks, and then go back to jazz
Seems like a good gig if you can get it.
I’m more partial toward ‘Watermelon Man’ reinterpretation from the same album.
Whoa, that’s some good insight. As a fan of that New York mutant disco/funk stuff I’ve always liked Material. Never knew they were involved with that song. Cool.
I’ve been a fan of Laswell for about twenty years, and it’s fascinating to dig through his catalog and see how easy production comes to him, how he always had his fingers in a lot of projects and how he gathered a whole bunch of other musicians in his orbit. ‘Future Shock’ also has Nicky Skopelitis, who did guitar on some of Material’s albums and was in The Golden Palominos with Laswell, and whom Laswell pretty much dragged from one project to another for decades.
Eraldo Bernocchi is another illustrative example. He had an ambient project with some dudes, released something like four records, and then did a collaboration with Laswell, inevitably falling into his gravitational sphere. After that all of Bernocchi’s later releases in the project and under his own name were clearly marked by Laswell’s methods and the library of sounds and effects, even without latter’s involvement.
…wow. This might be the most “stand on his lawn” comment I’ve ever seen.
Outkast - Hey Ya!
Mrs Robinson is the only other Outkast song I can stand.
Also Blur - Song 2, but in a good way. Song 2 is great, but their other music is very different but also great.
IIRC Song 2 was supposed to be a parody of how simple radio friendly rock music had become, then became their biggest hit.
Wasn’t Smells Like Teen Spirit also kinda like that? They have similar places in my head and I think I remember something about Cobain hating how popular that song got.
But Nirvana’s other songs were similar enough that that one didn’t come to my mind for the main question. Blur is like a different band from the one that did Song 2.
I think with Smells Like Teen Spirit is Kurt always felt that like he didn’t deserve as much praise because he considered the song to be a Pixies rip-off. It wasn’t done to poke fun at the Pixies but out of his love for them.
B.O.B., come on!
There’s like ten plus great Outkast songs, you need help
I might have given up too soon but the vibe is way different from Hey Ya! for the ones I did try.
Completely agree with the first part (Hey Ya is the only song of its kind, Andre3000 is a genius) but not the second part (you can’t stand their other songs?? What is wrong with you??)
outkast is an insane take
they have nothing but banger albums (including idlewild)
25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago
Everything else is more of a soft jazz rock. But this song is such a high energy banger
I could be wrong, but I believe there were at least two distinct phases of that band.
I think they started out as “Chicago Transit Authority”. A few years after changing their name to “Chicago,” one of their founding members died, so that might account for the change.
I’m weirdly more familiar with the history of this band, than their actual music, so I’m not sure where 25 or 6 to 4 fits in the timeline but it could be related
Terry Kath was essentially the leader, and also their main songwriter, and a truly spectacular guitarist. He died in a gun accident, and the artistic direction of the band changed.
No worries. Their music is just blah, basically. Background noise while waiting in line.
The guitar solo in that song has no right to be that amazing
Absolutely killer song.
Pretty much any individual Ween song
Ween is a truly mixed bag
Modern English - I Melt With You is a catchy new wave pop tune. The rest of their work is much, much darker
The subject matter is still pretty dark even if the tune isn’t.
The whole Gran Turismo album by The Cardigans. I was a angsty teenager, listened to that album and found it excellent for my angst sessions. Then I got all the other albums and they were not at all good for my angst sessions.
Luckily I got over myself and realized that the other albums are excellent as well, just different. Pikebubbles<3
@TheDoozer Last Resort - Papa Roach
Grateful Dead - Touch of Grey
Thanks for the new comic!
Oof that hits me right in the middle age
90s glam hair rock bands all had a hit ballad, despite rock tempo wall of main sound. Then there’s Extreme. “More than words” is one of the best ballads of the time. They had the glam hair look. The rest of their music is jazz fusion funk. Decent, but no real hits/bangers.
I think Extreme is one of the best examples of this where their most popular song is absolutely nothing like the rest of their music.
Also the power balland bands all had similar singing styles Motley Crue/Axel Rose screaming out tone that you knew were part of the generic rock genre. In addition to the ballads having big rock climaxes. More than words is like a Simon and Garfunkle song, even if rest of catalogue pretty loud.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Tap for spoiler
/s
TIL that song is by Queen. I had no idea. So definitely an appropriate song for this discussion!
Yeah, I had to list it because even though I actually like Queen in general, I couldn’t believe that was their first song. It is so very different from everything else they made.
Edit: Fun Fact. Freddie Mercury wrote that song in 10 minutes, while taking a bath.
My introduction to Cake was Arco Arena.
Now I enjoy Cake, but Arco Arena is not a great representation of their music, even though that song rules in its own right.
Mnamana!
That’s fucking hilarious. I didn’t know that they covered a muppets song, now I like them even more than I did before.
oh, it’s not originally a Muppets song.
Hoobastank, The Reason
100%, can’t even name another song by them
they had other songs??
Lol. Actually I was thinking about it last night and crawling in the dark wasn’t that bad. But it didn’t sound like them.
Morcheeba - Rome wasn’t built in a day ?
I think they chose the most pop song for the single and rest of their songs are very varied and less catchy.
It was “enjoy the ride” for me. One of my favourite songs of all time and the only Morcheeba song I listen to.
