Throwback Tracks -- June 8, 2017
David R. Smith
God I suck at doing this ahead of time. Happy Thursday to you all! Literally. It's 8:05. This thing is due out in 2 hours and 55 minutes. I got this.
The first couple tracks of this week's Throwback Tracks are all my choice. The last 3 were requests from Shannon. I wasn't kidding when I said I'd take requests. So when you get to song number 3, don't blame me...
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.
Run Around - Blues Traveler
I was getting my haircut at a friend's place a few days ago and she had put on some awesome 90s playlist. I think it was an Apple playlist and it made me so happy. I knew every song and wanted to listen to more and more. Because 90s music is the best thing to come out of that decade.
Anyway, this song came on. I forgot how good it is. So as it came on while we were having our post-haircut beer, I made sure I wrote it down so I could remember to put it on this week's TBT. See? I was planning ahead of time! I just forgot to actually write this whole article. I blame my chaotic schedule.
Anyway this song, while a pop song, does definitely have a folky-country feel to it. I think it's the harmonica and the simple bass/guitar feel to it. There's nothing overly complicated about it, but that doesn't matter. Dylan's songs were basically 3 or 4 chords and they're some of the best songs ever written so...
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
One of the top artists on my bucket list. Son of a gun never seems to come through Calgary. And it kills me. From what I understand, he has a Pearl Jam-like following, in the sense that his fans will go to numerous shows on his tour. That is helped by the fact that he has so many songs to choose from, that his sets are never the same.
Admittedly, I know very few songs by DMB. And the first one I heard, I really didn't like. It was Ants Marching. I just didn't get it. It also came out when I was 12 and I wasn't the musically enlightened person that I am now. So because I didn't like that song when it first came out (I like it now, BTW) it took me a long time to like his stuff, because I just assumed all his songs were like that. They're clearly not. And this song is a fine example of that.
Dave Matthews does have a very interesting voice. It's one that you might not expect to have success when it comes to pop/rock music. But then again, I just referenced Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam in the last 2 songs, so what does that say about my musical tastes?
All Star - Smashmouth
Oof. I'm sorry. Only sort of. I forgot about this video. Do you guys remember when Dane Cook didn't suck?
Anyway. This song. Was. Massive. To the extent that despite the fact that it hasn't had regular airplay in well over a decade, I can still sing it word for word.
And you know what? It's not that bad. It's catchy as hell but is that necessarily a bad thing? If it wasn't a decent song, it wouldn't have gotten the love that it did. So I guess I can't complain too much.
Also, it generated all kinds of memes because of it, so the song itself has had something of a renaissance of late. I think my only real issue with it is that it's so g-d catchy, that it gets stuck in one's head so easily that it'll be there for 3 days. It's my cousin't stag this weekend and I'll be singing this song while I'm 3 (or 4) sheets to the wind and I won't even know it's happening. Sigh.
Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground
Oh man. Is this the ultimate one hit wonder? It could very well be. If it's not instantly the one that could have that title, it should at least be in the conversation.
I literally couldn't even type while this song was playing, because it brought back too many memories and I just sort of zoned out, thinking about stuff and idly tapping my feet to the music. It's like I was 14 again!
I remember when this song came out, I was pretty shocked that one could say "Sex" repeatedly on the radio. I didn't even lead a sheltered life; it just seemed like something that wouldn't generate a lot of airplay. But boy was I wrong! This song just catapulted itself into infamy and it's stuck around ever since. And really, are you shocked? It's so simple, yet so galt-damned catchy!
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
I knew a bit about this song, and this group. But Wikipedia is an interesting thing. My god, there was just all kinds of tension between this group. Apparently they broke up more than Ross and Rachel! (I figure, if we're doing an all-90s list this week, I might as well make a fairly heavy 90s pop-culture reference.)
Also, I knew there was a legal matter on this song but I didn't realize that it went down the way it did. Sounds to me like a lot of sour grapes from the Stones, if you ask me. As I would basically just be copying word for word what happened, I'm just going to be smart about this and pull the quote from Wiki...
“Although the song’s lyrics were written by Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft, its distinctive passage for strings was sampled from the 1965 Andrew Oldham Orchestra symphonic recording of “The Last Time”, arranged and written by David Whitaker, inspired by the 1965 Rolling Stones’ song of the same title.[8][9] The Rolling Stones’ song is itself strongly inspired from “The Last Time” from the Staple Singers.[10]
Originally, The Verve had negotiated a licence to use a six-note sample from the Oldham recording, but former Stones manager Allen Klein (who owned the copyrights to the band’s pre-1970 songs) claimed that The Verve broke the agreement and used a larger portion.[11][12] Despite its original lyrics and string intro (by Wil Malone and Ashcroft), the music of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was sampled from the Oldham track, which led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Klein’s holding company, and eventually settled out of court. The Verve relinquished all of their royalties to Klein, owner of ABKCO Records, whilst songwriting credits were changed to Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft.[13]
The Verve bassist Simon Jones said, “We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing. They rung up and said we want 100 percent or take it out of the shops, you don’t have much choice.”[14] After losing the composer credits to the song, Ashcroft commented, “This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years”,[15] noting it was their biggest UK hit since “Brown Sugar”.[14] ”
And there you have it, friends. Another sojourn down the 90s, exploring the best decade ever for music. This wasn't an intentional 90s week, it just sort of happened that way. That's the way it goes. I forgot to get Shaun the playlist again this week, so.... next week for the May playlist? If I don't have it by then, I'll give you guys an extra song on next week's TBT. There's my compromise. In the meantime;
Throwback Playlist for Dec 16/Jan 17
October 2016 Throwback Playlist,
September 2016 Throwback Playlist
-D (@davidronn)