Throwback Tracks -- May 25, 2017
David R. Smith
Hoo boy. Quite an eclectic mix this week. There's literally no rhyme or reason behind any of these songs, save for the fact that I heard them and thought, "Yeah. This will make a great TBT song this week!" So then I put them on.
Except for Little Richard which was Shaun's suggestion. Even when he's not writing these articles, he still has his dirty little fingers in them. Though, I guess I should say that I'm not upset about it. I welcome suggestions from anybody. (Hint to the readers; if you want something on here, let me know. I'll put it on. I'm that easily suggestible.)
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible...which is totally hit and miss with oldies), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Over, Under, Sideways, Down - The Yardbirds
One could argue that this group was once the best band on the planet. If nothing else because at one point they had either Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, or Eric Clapton playing for them. Remember earlier this month when I wrote about Buffalo Springfield and said that people would just play with whomever, whenever? Yeah, it seems like that's sort of the same with the Yardbirds. Looking at a full list of their members, it seems like they just had everybody and anybody they wanted.
While I would say For Your Love is their most popular song, this one is pretty fun too. There was just something about that easy going, 60s psych feel that the Yardbirds were so proficient at.
Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks
It took me forever to figure out what this song was called when I was growing up. I remember hearing it and not knowing who it was or what it was called. I think, like many people, I just assumed it was called something like One Wing Dove because she says that so many times during the song.
It's an interesting song, in the sense that I don't hear it too often, but whenever it comes on, anybody who hears it really gets excited. I've never met a person in my life that doesn't actually like this song. And for good reason.
The lyrics are great and Stevie Nicks does such a good job of singing them, in her post Fleetwood Mac career. But it's that guitar riff that everybody loves. It's so simple, but so, so effective. So good that even Destiny's Child borrowed it. Seriously, though; how good is Bootylicious??
Cut Your Hair - Pavement
In the podcast that drops tomorrow, I mentioned that my cousin Sean was a huge influence on me, musically. (That conversation was in regards to the Smashing Pumpkins, but that's all the hints I'm going to give you.) I can guarantee you that I wouldn't know anything about this song if it weren't for him. There was one summer where he sang a few songs over and over again, and this was one of them.
It wasn't until years later that I heard the real version and couldn't believe how much he loved this song. It's so weird. But yet, so good. The weird thing is, while I wouldn't call Pavement a super great band, others would disagree:
“have often been described as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the American underground in the ‘90s. Some prominent music critics, such as Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine, went so far as to call them the best band of the 1990s.[6][7] In their career, they also achieved a significant cult following.[1][8]”
Weird, right?
If you ever get a chance to read the book Love Is A Mixtape by Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield, he goes on and on about Pavement. Clearly I missed something when I was growing up. But this song is still great!
Alright - Supergrass
For some reason, I didn't realize this song was this old. It came out in 1995, you guys! I don't remember it at all from when I was growing up! Now, maybe I wasn't listening to the right radio stations but I feel like I would have been. This was right in my formative years of music and this was right in the era of many of my favourite songs. It would have made so much sense that I listened to this song, and yet I just assumed it came out sometime in the 2000s. Though, it also does have a very old-school feel to it too.
Apparently it's just timeless? As you listen to it, you could totally picture hippies dancing to this song. Or at least I can. Thought it may not be protesty enough for them. I don't know the rules.
Anyway, this was their biggest hit and, according to Wikipedia (which as we all know, is the best possible source for information) I Should Coco, the debut album from which this song can be found, was the biggest selling debut album for Parlophone Records since The Beatles' Please Please Me. Crazy, non?
Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
I honestly thought Little Richard was dead. Does that make me a bad person? I could have sworn that I heard he had passed away. And yet, I have been proven wrong. So there's that.
This song is so good. Once again, according to Wikipedia, the opening "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom" was actually originally supposed to be an opening drum bit that Little Richard had envisioned. He was hoping for a drum lick there, and instead got the best opening lyrics to any song ever. (Try to contest me on that. I dare you. Maybe I'd accept Doo Wah Ditty Ditty Dum Ditty Do.)
This song was on the Cocktail soundtrack; a soundtrack that is so good, I haven't seen the movie and really don't want to because I'm scared it won't be as good as the soundtrack. But man did I love listening to it when I was younger. My parents definitely didn't buy the soundtrack, but they definitely had it so I'm guessing somebody made them a copy of the tape (as people tended to do back then) and it was a family favourite on holidays. And this song was a driving force behind that.
That's it, folks! Another sojourn through the world of the was-before, exploring all kinds of weird songs and seeing how they fit together. In this week's case... they don't. If somebody can find a thread with these 5 songs, I would love to hear it!
As per usual, here are the playlists you can still listen to from other TBTs.
Throwback Playlist for Dec 16/Jan 17
October 2016 Throwback Playlist,
September 2016 Throwback Playlist
-D (@davidronn)