With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now” April 26, 2010

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:24 pm
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The book is way better than the film!

As many of you know I am somewhat of a fan of lists, very much like the protagonist in Nick Hornby’s excellent book ‘High Fidelity’ Although I was pretty disappointed that the film was set in the US, were you? So back to those lists, there have been a couple published recently that you might be interested in. I certainly was! 

The first is from UK Radio Station Absolute Classic Rock whose listeners have voted in a poll to identify Britain’s favourite rock songs. I was a little surprised at some of the entries; The Beatles only song in the top ten is “Revolution” and only seven different acts appear in the Top 10. Led Zeppelin get three entries and the Who get two. Obviously I was incredibly disappointed that there was nothing from David Bowie in the final ten. Here is the top 10 and you can click here to go to the Absolute Classic Rock Radio website 

Dangerous Dave representing Freddie and the boys at number three, which is exactly where I hope he is after the election. Another One Bites The Dust perhaps?

1. Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven
2. The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
3. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta love
5. Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
6. The Who – Baba O’ Reilly
7. Led Zeppelin – Rock n ’ Roll
8. Free – All Right Now
9. The Beatles – Revolution
10. The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter 

The second of the lists is much more US centric and covers the best debut albums. These were selected by Dave White at About.com:Classic Rock 

‘Are You Experienced’ – Jimi Hendrix Experience 

‘Boston’ – Boston 

‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’ – Steely Dan – actually this is one of my favourite albums of all time as well 

‘The Doors’ – Doors 

‘Eagles’ – Eagles 

‘England’s Newest Hitmakers’ – Rolling Stones 

‘Led Zeppelin’ – Led Zeppelin 

‘Music From Big Pink’ – The Band 

‘Please Please Me’ – Beatles 

‘(pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd’ – Lynyrd Skynrd 

You can click here to see more details about the albums on the list. But where are the Clash and the Pistols? What was your favourite debut album? On reflection mine is probably ‘Grace’ from the late, great Jeff Buckley. Add a comment to let me know your choices

 

“They’re singing Deck The Halls, but it’s not like Christmas at all” December 24, 2009

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 9:26 pm
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I thought I would share with you a little project I undertook on Facebook during December. I called it my Advent Calendar of Uncovered Cover Versions. It is repeated here exactly as it appeared daily on my Facebook pages. I hope that my regular Blog readers enjoy it and that you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas and a brilliant 2010

December 1st

OK so the advent calendar is all about uncovering something good each day leading to Christmas right? So Ithought I would try to do something slightly related and try and post a cover version each day until Christmas. Starting today 1st December with Patti Smith’s version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

December 2nd

December 2nd of my advent uncovered cover versions project (did you like yesterdays?) Todays is Florence and the Machine with an excellent cover of the Source featuring Candi Staton’s “You Got The Love“…….. enjoy!

December 3rd

and so on to Day 3 of my under the cover versions advent project. The top tune for today is a cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ by the rather talented Richard Thompson. What do you think of it?

December 4th

Day 4 (December 4th) of the Advent Calender uncovered cover versions project (or obsession) of mine 🙂 Under the little cardboard flap today you won’t find some cheap and bland chocolate. Instead you will find Jimi Hendrix playing what in my opinion is the greatest cover version of all time. It’s Jimi’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” recorded at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 … enjoy!

 December 5th

 It’s December 5th and here is Day 5 in my advent uncovered cover versions project. This one is a real doozy! It’s Richard Cheese covering the rather spiffing Blink182 song “What’s My Age Again?” I love this one, what do you think?

 December 6th

 December 6th and day 6 of my Advent oncovered cover versions project. Today it’s the turn of Suzi Quatro with an Elvis classic “All Shook Up” . I chose this one because it is even in the news today. Check the story here

 December 7th

 It’s December 7th and therefore Day 7 of my Advent uncovered cover versions. Today’s is a bit obvious, but nonetheless a great cover. It’s Jacko’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ as done by the fantastically named Alien Ant Farm

 December 8th

 It’s December 8th and therfore Day 8 of my Advent Calendar Uncovered Covers project. Today’s was an easy choice really. On the 29th anniversary of his death this is John Lennon with a great cover of Ben E King’s “Stand By Me” I love this song

 December 9th

 Hello again peeps, it’s the 9th December which brings us to song number 9 in my Advent Calendar uncovered cover versions. Todays is a bit of an indulgent one in that it is a cover of the excellent Pendulum’s “Blood Sugar” by my son Luke’s band Steal The Smile. Enjoy!

 December 10th

 Hello folks. December 10th and obviously day 10 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Todays is one of my favourite songs as covered by my favourite band ever! It’s the Clash with Junior Murvin’s “Police And Thieves”

 December 11th

 It’s Friday December 11th and therefore it’s Day 11 in the Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today it’s the turn of Me First And The Gimmee Gimmees (and let’s face it no covers project would be complete without them). This is their version of the Olivia Newton John hit written by John Denver “Take Me Home Country Roads” By the way this is NOT a country version!

 December 12th

 December 12th and halfway through Advent calendar time, so onto Day 12 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today’s is a must have as far as cover versions go. It’s Nouvelle Vague with an excellent cover of the Joy Division classic “Love Will Tear Us Apart“. Enjoy

 December 13th

 December 13th and the thirteenth cover version of my Advent Uncovered Covers Project. Today’s is one of my most favourite cover versions ever. It’s the late, great Jeff Buckley with a live version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (You may know it as the one that was somewhat massacred by Alexandra Burke last Christmas courtesy of Mr Cowell! This version really is the dog’s testicles though, what do you think?

 December 14th

 December 14th and strangely enough Day 14 of my uncovered cover versions project. Today’s is sung by someone who in my opinion the greatest female singer ever (very sexy too). Yes it’s Kate Bush with her version of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”

 December 15th

 Day 15 in my Advent Calendar of uncovered cover versions. Todays is perhaps one of the strangest. It is the Deep Purple Classic “Smoke On Water” a true guitar shop classic as played by Senor Coconut and his Orchestra. Go on give it a listen, you know you want to 🙂

 December 16th

 Day 16 of the Advent uncovered cover versions project and today is a song that many people often don’t realise is a cover. It’s the Beatles with their excellent version of the Isley Brothers song “Twist And Shout“. Listen to this and you’ll see just how weak Olly Murs version from the X Factor was!

 December 17th

 It’s already Day 17 in my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions project. Today’s song is performed by the Section Quartet and it’s a great instrumental orchestral cover of the brilliant Muse song “Time Is Running Out”

 December 18th

 Day 18 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project and I thought it was about time for a Christmas song. This is a cover of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” for a whole myriad of charities and it features some brilliant bands and artists (well in my opinion) Fucked Up, Tegan & Sarah, Bob Mould, the wonderful Yo La Tengo and many, many more 🙂

 December 19th

 Day 19 of my Advent uncovered cover versions and thanks to the inclement weather I nearly missed this one (but more of that story another day!). Todays song may surprise some of you. It’s Marvin Gaye with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” which was in fact a cover of the original hit by Gladys Knight. Personally I prefer Marvin’s version!

 December 20th

 It’s now Day 20 of my Advent Uncovered Cover Versions project. This one is especially for the boys at Chris’ 50th last night (so that’ll be me, Glen, Neil, Phil and obviously Chris! Apologies from Bryan and Keith sadly!) The song goes back to the mid 70’s and was originally done by the Glitter Band. It’s “Let’s Get Together Again as recorded and mixed by the Human League. If you’d like to hear the original here it is

 December 21st

 And on to Day 21 (that’ll be 21st December then!) in my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today’s song is the Oasis classic “Wonderwall” as sung by the brilliant Ryan Adams (not Bryan ok!!) Apparently Noel Gallagher thinks that Ryan’s arrangement is even better than his own. For the hell of it here is the link to the Mike Flowers Pops version too!

December 22nd

Day 22 of my Advent Uncovered Cover Versions Project and there will be more Christmas songs included but not today. The selection for December 22nd is the Foo Fighters with a cover of the rather good Wings song “Band On The Run”

December 23rd

Day 23 of my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions Project, that means just one more day after this! So I decided to make today and tomorrow Christmas songs as the big Chrimbo thingy is upon us. Obviously I was always going to use this one. It’s “Peace On Earth/ Little Drummer Boy” from Bing Crosby and David Bowie

December 24th

It’s Christmas Eve and here it is, the final song in my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions Project (until next year anyway!) It is a song that originally featured on the Phil Spector Christmas Album from 1963 (Incidentally that album was released the day JFK was killed!) It is “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” originally by Darlene Love and played here by U2. The original song is my favourite Christmas song by a long way. Happy Christmas everyone and I hope that Santa brings you what you wish for Joriginally by Darlene Love and played here by U2. The original song is my favourite Christmas song by a long way. Happy Christmas everyone and I hope Santa brings you what you wish for 🙂

 

“You in your small corner, I stand in mine. Throw all the punch you want to, I can take them all” April 30, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:49 am
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Hello once again good Blog Peeps, this is the first time I’ve posted two days on the trot for ages, so I’ll try and make it a good one.

Firstly I recently reacquainted myself with the wonderful ‘KissThisGuy‘ website aka the Archive Of Misheard Lyrics. You’re probably all familiar with that classic Hendrix misheard lyric which gives the site it’s name. The lyric comes from “Purple Haze” and if you click on the song title you will see that perhaps this wasn’t necessarily the misheard lyric we all thought it was. Incidentally if you’re not familiar with this and you wondering what the hell I’m talking about the original line was ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky’ and has apparently often been misheard as ‘scuse me while I kiss this guy’. There are some excellent misheard lyrics on the site my favourite has to be the one taken from “Centrefold” by the J Geils Band, are you ready for this? Are you sure? Really, really sure? You won’t be offended? OK then here it is ‘my anus is the centre hole’ Isn’t that excellent?

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'! ;-)

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'! 😉

I’d like to finish this misheard lyrics piece with a comment about my Mum, she’s smarter than me in most things, but she has come up with some excellent misheard lyrics. My two favourites from her are Dr Hook’s “Sylvia’s Mother” where she heard ‘Sylvia’s mother’s dead’ rather than ‘Sylvia’s mother said’ and also Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” where my Mum for some strange reason heard ‘Hiawatha was a bullfrog’ instead of the actual lyric of ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’ Hopefully you’re reading this post Mum 😉 In defence of my Mum, I’m not perfect when it comes to misheard lyrics either. I was perhaps aged 9 or 10 when I first heard Max Romeo’s classic reggae single “Wet Dream“. being a complete innocent in those days I actually thought the whole song was in some made up foreign language. So I heard phonetically ‘lygo lygo hushy girl hushy girl lygo’ when in fact Max was singing ‘lie down gal let me push it up, push it up lie down” As you can see I wasn’t even close 🙂 The song was banned from radio in the UK for being sexually explicit, although Max did explain once that the song was about a plumber coming to fix a leak, you know somehow I reckon he was telling porkies, what do you think?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Anyway enough of that vulgar frivolity and onto the usual dull and boring stuff, starting with a birthday. April 30th 2009 is the 76th birthday of Mr Willie Nelson, one of the few country stars that I can actually listen to. Over the years Nelson has proved himself to be an excellent songwriter, perhaps one of his greatest songs was “Crazy” which became the signature tune of the late great (see the l’s & g’s never go away for long!) Patsy Cline. He has also collaborated with many other artists including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Snoop Dogg and a former Real Madrid goalkeeper Senor Julio Iglesias with “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” Nelson’s guitar is named Trigger after Roy Rogers ever present and faithful horse. Willie has said that when Trigger becomes unplayable he will probably retire. Enjoy some Willie here (ooooooooooh MATRON!) with “You Were Always On My Mind”

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

On this day in 1968 the ‘Cilla Black Show’ was launched by the BBC. Cilla apparently became the first British female artist to have her own show. The theme song “Step Inside Love” was written by none other than Sir Paul McCartney off of the Beatles!

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

And finally on this day in 1976 Keith Moon off of the Who paid nine cab drivers to block both ends of a New York street so that he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window. Now that is what I call rock n roll! They don’t make ’em like that any more do they?

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

 

“Is it really necessary 4 me 2 go out of the room, just because u wanna undress?” March 31, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:21 pm
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Well here we are again and it’s the end of March, that’s a quarter of the year gone already, where did it go exactly? I mean you often hear people say where did the time go, but does it actually go anywhere? Answers on a postcard please or just in the blog comments, or maybe you don’t have the time, if that’s the case where did it go? I mean you often hear…….. oh bloody hell it’s not Groundhog Day is it? 😉

I was going to call this post Big Balls and Sugar Walls, read on and I’m sure you’ll guess why!

If you read yesterdays post you may recall that I spoke about some of the search stats for the blog, well don’t worry I’m not going into that much detail today! But I just had to tell you that there have been 4 searches using the phrase ‘invisible man and invisible women naked’ that have arrived at this blog. The reason they arrived here is that in a previous post I made a joke comment about the invisible man in a picture. however what interests me is why anyone would search for something like that, I mean how would you know from a picture that the invisible man or woman was naked? So if you are prepared to admit it was you who searched then let me know. Also let us know whether you actually found the picture too.

I spent the usual ridiculous amount of time trying to buy Reading Festival tickets last night. The Seetickets site was down almost from the start and the Ticketmaster site seemed to have run out of tickets in a matter of minutes. As for the telephone lines, what a waste of space! So rather than give up I tried Viagogo, official ticket exchange partner of the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Viagogo are aimed at preventing touts from scamming money off real music fans, that is a principle I totally support. However when I pay more than double the face value and also get hit with a £50 plus admin fee my support diminishes somewhat. This seems no better than touting to me. What is the answer in the longer term, probably a Glastonbury style registration system and also stop putting the tickets on sale at 19.00 on a Monday evening, what happened to 9.00? when tickets used to go on sale in the morning they were usually available throughout the day. I have been going to the Reading leg of the festival for around 20 years and have missed only one in that time, but the shambolic way the tickets are sold tells me that I could be in line for missing more in future. Well at least the line up is pretty strong. Headliners are Kings Of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. I was totally gobsmacked that Radiohead are appearing, I mean I love them, but they always seemed like more of a Glasto or V Festival band. As for the rumours of AC/ DC or Blink 182 headlining, well that came to nothing. But already the rumour mill for Reading 2010 is turning and suggests that two of the headliners will be Blink 182 and Green Day. If that’s correct remember where you read it first ok? 😉

Reading Festival 2009 Line Up

Reading Festival 2009 Line Up

Now on to the usual stuff, starting with a birthday. It is Angus Young off of AC/DC’s 54th birthday today. Although some sources have him as 52 or 50, this is thought to have come about following comments made to the press when he first adopted the school uniform look for gigs. Although a part of one of the biggest and best Aussie bands ever, Angus McKinnon Young was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was just 18 when he formed AC/DC in 1973 with his brother Malcolm. They took the name from seeing those letters on the back of a sewing machine owned by their mother. Here is Angus with the rest of the AC/ DC gang with “Big Balls”

probably the only 50 something man who might seem attractive to Michael Jackson, but only if he is fooled by the school uniform!

probably the only 50 something man who might seem attractive to Michael Jackson, but only if he is fooled by the school uniform!

On this day in 1967 Jimi Hendrix began his first British tour with Cat Stevens. It was on this tour that Hendrix set fire to his guitar for the first time

No one could light farts the way Jimi could. The wind didn't cry Mary it cried fan me and flame me!

No one could light farts the way Jimi could. The wind didn't cry Mary it cried fan me and flame me!

And on this day in 1987 Prince’s – ‘Sign O’ The Times’ double album was released. The Purple One actually intended it to be a triple album but Warner Bros talked him down to a 22 track double album. I still rate this as my favourite Prince album. he even duets with Sheena Easton on “U Got The Look”. Although my favourite songs are “Starfish And Coffee” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend“. He also wrote a rather risque song for Ms Easton called “Sugar Walls”

Say what you like about Prince but he sure had big balls, well at least one anyway!

Say what you like about Prince but he sure had big balls, well at least one anyway!

And finally on this day in 1992 White Zombie’s ‘La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. One’ was released. It was their first release on a major label. The band named themselves after a Bela Lugosi film and lasted until the fabulous Rob Zombie left in 1998. In 1993 their single “Thunder Kiss ’65” was played hundreds of times on MTV. Here are White Zombie with a fantastic video and cover of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man”

So they made ugly music for ugly people did they?..........

So they made ugly music for ugly people did they?..........

....... yeah she is butt ugly right? ;-)

....... yeah she is butt ugly right? 😉

 

“Hey sugar, you almost got us punched in a fight” March 3, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:03 am
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Hello once again on this 3rd day of March. I would like to point out that todays post is a little shorter than other recent posts as I have been suffering from a bad case of man flu. Ladies you just don’t understand this, but it’s terrible! Anyway I do have a great way to kick off todays post. There has been a considerable furore over cuts to arts budgets in British Columbia in Canada and in a novel way of raising the profile of the issue a theatre director and an arts group treasurer have organised an excellent spoof recording of a Bonnie Tyler song. The link to the song is on the news page which you will find if you click on the song title, which is “Total Eclipse Of The Arts” I would like to thank Tracy, who runs a number of great Yahoo Groups, notably FAMOUS_WOMEN_IN ROCK, for this story.

So onto the birthdays first starting with Mike Pender of the Searchers who is 67 today. The Searchers took their name from John Ford’s classic western movie. They were a Liverpool band who like their contemporaries the Beatles also played at the famous Cavern Club and indeed the Star Club in Hamburg. They have another link with the Fab Four too, their original drummer Norman McGarry took over the drum stool with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes after Ringo Starr left to join the Beatles. The band had three UK number ones; “Sweets For My Sweet” in 1963, “Needles And Pins” and “Don’t Throw Your Love Away” both in 1964. All of these songs were covers, the originals were by the Drifters, Jackie DeShannon and the Shirelles respectively. In December 1966 the group changed drummers again, the new guy was in fact my namesake Billy Adamson, as far as I know we’re not related! Do any other readers have any namesakes like this? Major or minor any will do, just let me know. Anyway to close this piece on the Searchers here they are with “Needles And Pins” which incidentally fact fans was co written by Sonny Bono.

Before their initial success the boys had to share one guitar

Before their initial success the boys had to share one guitar

Today is also Ronan Keating’s 32nd birthday. Ronan is so far the only member of Boyzone to have carved out a solo career for himself. In my opinion he has slightly more talent than Robbie W, which those regular readers among you know is not a lot. If any Robbie or Ronan fans have stumbled upon this blog by chance, then please note this is my opinion! It is with great sadness that I have to add that Ronan entered the Guinness Book Of Records last year by becoming the only performer ever to achieve a run of 30 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK Charts. He also briefly managed Westlife. So are there any redeeming features? well actually for me there are two.Firstly Ronan is currently climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with a group of celebrities to raise money for Comic Relief. Secondly it is for one of my guilty pleasures, Ronan’s single “Life Is A Rollercoaster” It was a UK number one in 2000 and was co written and produced by the supremely talented Gregg Alexander the man behind the wonderful but short lived New Radicals.

Ronan had done everything he could to make himself lighter for his RyanAir flight, but now he didn't have a coin for the toilet!

Ronan had done everything he could to make himself lighter for his RyanAir flight, but now he didn't have a coin for the toilet!

On this day in 1973 Slade went straight in at number one in the UK singles chart with “Cum On Feel The Noize”. This was the first time this had been done since the days of the Beatles. The bands manager was Chas Chandler who was also Jimi Hendrix’ manager and was also credited with discovering him. When Chas first saw them in 1969 they were called Ambrose Slade. At Chas’ suggestion the band capitalised on the current skinhead craze and wore boots, braces and cropped their hair. Later that year they shortened their name to Slade. They signed to Polydor in 1970 and went on to have the first of their six UK number one the following year with “Coz I Luv You” Their trademark spelling appears to have predated text speak by many years! Allegedly the band turned down the opportunity to represent the UK in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, now that would have been interesting! So without further ado here are Slade with the excellent “Cum On Feel The Noize” Clearly by this time the skinhead look was long gone and just check out Dave Hill’s headgear, what’s that all about then? Please feel free to enter the Slade caption competition below 🙂

OK here's the deal, you provide a caption for what Dave and Jim are saying behind Noddy'd back and I'll include it in a future post!

OK here's the deal, you provide a caption for what Dave and Jim are saying behind Noddy's back and I'll include it in a future post!

It was on this day in 1985 that Michael Jackson visited Madame Tussauds in London to unveil his waxwork lookalike. Here is Michael on that visit and the picture below shows a very different version of his waxwork, so clearly it has been someone’s job to keep him up to date. That must be the busiest job at Tussauds!

Even a personal appearance in the ticket office didn't improve ticket sales

Even a personal appearance in the ticket office didn't improve ticket sales

 

“you have sent the maid home early like a thousand times before…” February 20, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:43 am
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I have in mind that today’s post will be much shorter than recent days, but let’s see how that pans out at the end shall we? before we get into the usual crop of birthdays and onthisdays I’d like to talk about what I listened to on my iPod today on a brisk walk into the city this afternoon. Don’t panic I’m only going to mention one song. That song being the magnificent “One Nation Under A Groove” by the mighty Funkadelic. This song is in my all time top 10 (which Catwoman tells me seems to contain at least 50 songs!) and for me should be used in the peace process for conflicts across the globe. Let’s all Funk for World Peace, a bit like Make Love Not War, only this is funkin’ instead of ………….. lovin’ (how rude are you? You thought I was going to say something else didn’t you? But funk has an ‘N’ not a ‘C’) Anyway I absotively posolutely love this song. How can you not want to dance to it? when it came out in 1978 I actually saw their show, which was a joint effort with one of George Clinton’s other wonderful creations, Parliament at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. It still ranks as one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen and there have been many since my first in November 1973. Sadly the song only just scraped into the UK top 10, peaking at 9. But it should have put the funk into the number one slot for weeks! George Clinton is the Funkmeister behind both Parliament and Funkadelic using both as vehicles for his prolific output, particularly during the 70s. If you don’t already own this song download it now! If you want to just listen to it click on the title here “One Nation Under A Groove” It would also be remiss of me to include no trivia about them so here is a George Clinton snippet or two (he’s no relation of Bill Clinton by the way!) In 1955 he was still attending the Clinton Place High School (now that’s some coincidence) when he started work as a foreman at New Jersey’s Wham-O Hula-Hoop factory. Now that would have been a cool first job. Mine was in the bus schedules mileage section at London Transport (we measured bus routes!) in 1975.

George and the gang had been caught raiding Mum's dressing up box and make up bag again!

George and the gang had been caught raiding Mum's dressing up box and make up bag again!

So now let’s get back to normal starting with the birthdays. February 20th is the 63rd birthday of J Geils who gave his name to, can you guess? yes the J. Geils Band! I can confirm that his real name wasn’t in fact just J, to his Mum he’s just little Jerome! Whilst Jerome may have used his name to name the band he wasn’t the singer (a bit like Van Halen then) the singer in their heyday was one Peter Wolf. Apparently at some point in their career the band also included the wonderfully named Magic Dick on harmonica. I’d love to know if that’s the name on his passport! The bands biggest UK hit was “Centrefold” which reached number three, the song was also a US number 1. OK click the song title and then after three….. all together now na na na na na na (repeat ad infinitum!)

He promised himself that next time he would check that the pole was firmly fixed before commencing his pole dance to Centrefold

He promised himself that next time he would check that the pole was firmly fixed before commencing his pole dance to Centrefold

The second of todays birthdays is that of Mr Walter Becker who is 59 today. Becker is 50% of Steely Dan along with Donald Fagen. The band have absolutely nothing to do with Steeleye Span (other than their names sound similar). Steely Dan took their name from the steam powered dildo in William Burroughs book “The Naked Lunch”. They were generally known as more of an albums band, although many of you may be familiar with the singles “Reelin’ In The Years”, “Do It Again” and “Haitian Divorce”. My favourite Steely Dan song though, is the supreme “Dirty Work” from their album “Can’t Buy A Thrill”

Donald never had a chance in the longest hair and most facial hair contest

Donald never had a chance in the longest hair and most facial hair contest

The third and final birthday for today is that of the late great (you knew those l and g’s would be back didn’t you?) Kurt Cobain. He would have been 42 today had he not taken his own life aged just 27 in 1994. Apparently 27 is a bad age for rock stars, not only Cobain, but also Jimi Hendrix (more of him later), Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin all died at 27. Kurt’s suicide note quoted some lyrics from Neil Young’s “My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)” Those words were “it’s better to burn out than fade away” Nirvana played their final gig on March 1st in Munich, Germany. Cobain’s body was found on April 8th. Have a look and listen to Nirvana’s excellent “Come As You Are” The “I don’t have a gun” refrain in the song is somewhat eerie given how Kurt killed himself.

Kurt in his prime.... and his Mum's cardigan!

Kurt in his prime.... and his Mum's cardigan!

And there is just one onthisday today. On this day in 1960 Jimi Hendrix made his stage debut at a High School show in Seattle. Although some sources suggest that this took place in 1959. when Jimi was born in 1942 he was registered as Johnny Allen Hendrix by his mother Lucille (who was a full blooded Cherokee indian). He was renamed James Marshall Hendrix four years later by his father. In 1964 Hendrix was the guitarist in the Isley Brothers touring band, it is said by many that this is really where Ernie Isley developed his Hendrix style guitar playing. Here is Jimi with Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 just a few months before his death

Bryan Adams may have played until his fingers bled, but Jimi played until his guitar caught fire

Bryan Adams may have played until his fingers bled, but Jimi played until his guitar caught fire

That’s all for today folks apart from this picture of one of our cats, Benny. He is named after Benny the Ball from Top Cat and he will be 1 year old at the end of March

Benny has unusual musical tastes, he is a big fan of 80s band Living In A Box

Benny has unusual musical tastes, he is a big fan of 80s band Living In A Box

I have an apology for all of you who have read this far, it wasn’t a particularly short post today!

 

Dead Folks poll February 13, 2009

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:21 am
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