Throwback Tracks -- June 29, 2017
David R. Smith
Well this is it. My last Throwback Tracks
As a Calgary resident, that is.
As of next week, I'll be an official Lethbridgite. Lethbridgian? Lethbian? Seriously, if anybody knows what people from Lethbridge are called, can you please tell me? I'm stuck on this.
Anyway. Music!
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.
Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
Technically this wasn't the first song I had planned on putting in this week. (See next song for that.) But I was thinking about a show I did where we used this song. I always forget about this song because it never seems to get radio play (oddly enough they don't play a lot of 80s hits on sports talk radio) and I can never remember who sings it, so I have a hard time YouTubing it. But I just happened to remember some of the lyrics enough to Google "take these broken wings" and let Google do the rest. And now here we are!
This video is so 80s. It's awesome.
Girls - The Beastie Boys
Who would have thought that this is the same group that brought you songs such as Intergalactic, and Fight For Your Right (To Party)? Am I right?
When I first heard this song, I didn't really care for it. I also didn't know it was the Beastie Boys. When you hear some of their stuff, you just expect that it would be all hard rock/rap. But then you get this song with the weird synthesizer/xylophone sound to it.
And then as soon as the Beasities come in with "girls!" it just makes you so happy. And it makes me just want to bounce around! I'm glad it's on this week's TBT because now it's on one of my playlists!
Crazy On You - Heart
Oddly enough, this is the only song on this list that doesn't come from the 1980s. That wasn't the plan when I started this week's list. All I know is that I planned on having "Girls" on here because I heard it early this week and figured it would be a good song for this week. And then the rest of the songs just sort of fell into place.
This song, though. This song is amazing. I'm not sure there's a better introduction to a song than this. It has that terrific classical guitar/rock feel to it. Once it kicks into the heavy guitar, you know you're in for something special.
Great tune, tremendous band, phenomenal talent.
Jack & Diane - John Mellencamp
I have a list of songs on my phone that I can use for TBT. There are some days when I don't need to consult it because I have a certain theme I want to use, and as a result, I can just jam the songs together. Other times I get stuck and just scroll my way through until I can find songs that fit. This week was the latter.
I was trying to figure out what fit the motif of upbeat songs, that weren't overly rocky, or sad, or of one particular genre. This seemed like a good one to go with. I just have "John Mellencamp" in the phone, because there are going to be more of his songs coming down the pipe. He's got so many good ones. This one just seemed like a decent one to use for this week's TBT.
Also, if you can ever find the episode of Roadies with Mellencamp on it, do it. It's so good. Here's a taste for you.
Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles
This was another one that I just had "Hazy Shade Of Winter" written down on the list of songs. Because I forgot that the Bangles were the ones who sang it. Now before you rip my head off, I am fully astutely aware that Simon and Garfunkle also sing this song. Who do you think I am? But I also just have S&G on the list of TBT songs. When I wrote "Hazy Shade of Winter," on the list, I was clearly thinking about this version. Because it's a terrific cover.
Those of you who know me well, know I'm generally 90% anti-cover songs. (Unless it's live. That's a different thing altogether...) This song falls in the 10% category. And I'm not saying I like this version better than the original. I'm just saying it does a fine job of honouring the song while still giving it a feel of the artist singing it. In this case, the Bangles gave it their own flare, but didn't completely butcher the song (see: Sheryl Crow, Sweet Child O' Mine for an example of the latter part of my comment.)
What I find most surprising about this song is that it's the first Bangles song to make its appearance on TBT. Considering Shaun and I both love Walk Like An Egyptian, I can't believe that hasn't made its way onto a list yet. But that also means that you can expect that song sometime in the future.
That's it! So long Calgary. Theoretically, I should have my cable hooked up on Monday so you shouldn't see any missed TBT updates. I should also have internet at my office, so worst case scenario, I do it from the U for the first week. In any case, the next one I write will be on Lethbridge time.
...which is actually Calgary time, but it sounds better that way. Plus it's an homage to Pulp Fiction.
*cough*
More music!:
Throwback Playlist for Dec 16/Jan 17
October 2016 Throwback Playlist,
September 2016 Throwback Playlist
-D (@davidronn)