Music Break 2 (Or, What’s Playing On My Zen)

Just listening to my Zen Vision: M on my work break, and thought I’d let you know what I’m hearing. Enjoy!

Freedom by George Michael…. This song is great. I was a huge George Michael fan from Faith, obviously, as anyone who was listening to pop music at that time was. He was cool, the music was cool. Gone away were the florescent hot pants and message shirts of the Wham! Days and now it was George being the essence of cool, with a haircut I tried years to emulate. Later, when he came out with Freedom, it was refreshing for him to talk (or sing) about how he had become just a face and that the music was the most important thing. Not something you’re bound to hear from most musicians, especially nowadays. And he underlined the message by not appearing in the video, just having hot, half-naked models lip synch the song. I’ve always liked George, and this song made me respect him, both as a man and as an artist.

Pets by Porno 4 Pyros… This was one of the first cd singles, therefore first cd at all, that I ever bought. It was this and belly’s feed the tree, both of which I think I still have. I know I still have Belly’s at least. Got this song in 94, after I moved out of the parent’s pad and moved in w/ my cousin to start my year of slackerdom w/ him and his wife. Kurt had just offed himself (or so Courtney wants us to believe) and grunge was holding strong, with Alternative Radio really making a big splash. Perry Ferrell was doing the Lollapalooza thing, which was awesome. I remember seeing The Breeders (awesome band), Beastie Boys, Arrested Development….and I can’t remember who else. It was an awesome gig. So anyhow, great song. About how we’re fucked up and probably will do ourselves in the way of the dinosaurs and become some intergalactic bad boy’s little bitch. We’ll make great pets, we’ll make great pets….

Norwegian Wood by P.M. Dawn…. How do I love PM Dawn, let me count the ways….okay, I’m not gonna count the ways, but I have always loved these guys. Their first album was quite popular and had some really great tunes on it, but then interest in the guys kinda waned w/ their subsequent albums, which is a shame. They’re kinda like a spiritual hip hop-ish kinda groovy group. This song is from the Bliss Album, which was their 3rd record I believe, and is actually a remake of a Beatles tune, if you can believe it. That really rocks, because it translates really well into the light hip hop track it became. I have all of PM Dawn’s albums and I suggest everyone should also.

Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough by Michael Jackson….I love old school Michael Jackson. Heck, I really dug what MJ was doing when he put out Dangerous, but by that time he had gotten just so odd that it was overshadowing his music, which is a shame. MJ, by and large, really knows how to make great music, and this song reflects that. I honestly have no idea what album this song is from, but it’s one of those pre-Thriller tunes from the 70’s/80’s that really built up to his firestorm of Thriller. Okay, wikipedia says that it’s from the Off The Wall album, which I thought it was. Not sure what it’s about, but it has a great groove and some classic MJ sounds, w/out going overboard w/ the hee hee’s and woo’s and the over pronunciations of the last syllable he does on his later stuff. You know what I’m talking about. Anyhow, I will never be ashamed to admit that I had not one but TWO MJ posters in my room when I was 10 years old and wore out 3 copies of Thriller on record. Still the king of Pop, just stay away from my kid.

That’s all on this jaunt! Hope you enjoyed the break, now back to work!

Take a Music Break

Finding topics to discuss on here can sometimes be tough, and finding extra time to really delve into those topics can be even tougher, so I decided to just ramble about the one thing I can get into most of the time: music. To be exact, the music currently on my Creative Zen Vision: M player, which I have gone on about in great lengths on here on how wonderful and great it is. Where I work, I cannot listen to music unless I am on a break. So on my breaks, I plug in and take a walk, to get the blood circulating and to jam a bit and try to get through the day. I’ve found, though, that as I’m walking and listening to songs, I’m thinking about things. Things about the song, things about the artist, things about what those other two things remind me of. Basically, I got stuff running through my head that’s sometimes interesting, mostly inane, but at least it’s something, so I thought I’d get those thoughts down and blog them.

Also, it’ll let others have a chance to see what’s on my playlist. I have a fairly eclectic range of music that I like to listen to on a daily basis, so maybe someone will see a song and actually go looking for it, and I might expose some people to some really cool music they might not have normally come across. Especially those under the age of 20, who will probably not recognize ANYTHING I have on my player, simply because most good music stopped being made in the mid-90’s.

But I digress….

So let me bring to you my very first, hopefully of many, Music Break.

Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot…. I have to say I really love this song. Aside from being one of the lovers of the larger posterior, this song brings me back to my high school days. This was really popular my senior year and the summer before. I recall driving around in my friend’s Lincoln Continental (yeah, he was that kind of guy) and really pumping out Baby Got Back, which I actually had on a cassette single. This was before everyone had CD’s and CD players, in 1993. The B side to the song was Cake Boy, which is a kick ass song too. Very funny. You have to give it to Mix A Lot for making good hip hop that’s very funny and interesting, without sounding like everyone else out there. I consider this song to come out around the end of descent rap music. If you haven’t heard the whole album this song comes from, Mack Daddy, then definitely pick it up. It has lots of great tunes that got some major play from me and my friends. It may be played out, but it never gets old. Even white boys gotta shout.

Doctorin The Tardis by The Time Lords (AKA The KLF)…Wow, what a kick ass song. Okay, there are two reasons this songs really rocks. One, it’s a Doctor Who song, and two, it’s by KLF who called themselves the Time Lords for this release. The fact that they remade the popular dance song into a Doctor Who fanboy tune is just awesome. I used to watch Doctor Who with my friend Chris when we were like 10 years old and they were showing them on PBS. It’s when Tom Baker was the Doctor and he just ruled our prepubescent worlds. Now the KLF really were an interesting group. Their major release, The White Room, had hits like Last Train to Transcentral and What Time is Love and things like that, that were popular during my later years in high school. What a great song.

I Know What You’re Doin by Dionne Farris…Not a surprise, another songs from the mid to early 90’s. I don’t remember exactly when this song came out but you don’t hear it nearly enough nowadays on mix stations and I don’t know w hat Dionne Farris has done since then, but I like this tune. Good beat and very clever lyrics. I like the jangly backbeat that kind of reminds me of songs like Hippy Chick by Soho or something by the chick who sings Tom’s Diner. This songs really has the feel of the 90’s, music-wise. Things were a little lighter then, and not so played out. Have I mentioned that most music nowadays sucks?

Leather by Tori Amos….Ahhhh…Tori. This song is just brilliant. From her first major album, which is just a blessing to listen to, this song really kicks ass for being mostly a piano ballad w/ some really sublte guitar in the background. Some major depth of emotion going on in this tune. I used to really have a giant crush on Tori. Aw hell, I still do. Saw her in concert a few times and she does not disappoint. I kind of prefer her older stuff to the newer but I love everything she does. My friend Susan got me into Tori and I’ll always love her for that.Oh god, could it be the weather, oh god, it’s so very clear, if love isn’t forever, and it’s not the weather, hand me my leather. Does she mean a whip? What exactly, is she wanting her leather for????

Track 10 by Michael Schmidt…. Okay I’ve mentioned Michael before in my previous entries, and I stand by the fact that he kicks ass. I’ve been lucky enough to get a chance to hear his new album pretty much. This one doesn’t have a name in my player because I have the names written down. Just some great guitar playing and Michael’s hypnotic lyrics and vocal stylings. Very soft and sentimental. I have about a dozen tracks of his in my player and while I do skip by a lot of songs while I’m listening, I never skip by one of Michael’s. Hopefully you’ll check his stuff out and see what I’m talking about. Go to his VIRB.com page and listen, where he has most of his tracks available for listening to.

Well that’s all for this break. I’ll listen more later….will you??