A LIFETIME OF MUSIC 1973-2011 (part 13)

1985. One year past George Orwell's expiration date. It was a strange time. The USA was being ruled by a puppet government, using the ever-progressing deterioration of Ronald Reagan due to Alzheimer's Disease to achieve their own ends of avarice and mass-brainwashing. It was an ugly, ugly time for the mainstream arts, as greedhead assholes cut arts budgets and school budgets. It was a good time to be rich and white and powerful. It was a terrible time for anyone else. The truly creative felt this and unleashed their creations. The music was the medicine, or at least the soporific, that we all needed. PRINCE was at his manic funky pinnacle, and anything he touched was gold, but he was offering his death for your happiness. METALLICA brought us their ode to loneliness, death, and oblivion, allowing the metal-heads to "feel it." TIL TUESDAY sang about the oppression of an abusive relationship. THE CULT brought back the bombast to rock and roll, reminding us that pure raw sexlove can provide shelter from the world's shit, if only for a time. NEIL YOUNG sang about heroin's beauty and toll at a concert to raise money for Ethiopian starvation relief efforts. THE SMITHS sang about "illicit" love in the face of violence and hate. -FUPPETS- remembers it as a weird time.

PRINCE - I Would Die For You

METALLICA - Fade To Black

TIL TUESDAY - Voices Carry

THE CULT - She Sells Sanctuary

NEIL YOUNG - The Needle & The Damage Done

THE SMITHS - Hand In Glove

A LIFETIME OF MUSIC 1973-2011 (Part 11)

1983. A decade into existence. The musical landscape is forever changing. Sounds disappear and sounds reappear, often in new strange guises. A young group in the UK was beginning their path to indie rock immortality, for THE SMITHS are truly immortal. A tiny Brit with a voice like Odin himself, RONNIE JAMES DIO penned an anthem to loneliness that actually rocked harder than anything he had done with Black Sabbath. Frank Zappa's band hooks up with a blonde from the future and helps MISSING PERSONS craft a sound that would be stolen by hordes of New Wave wanna-be bands. (Imagine if Gwen Stefani could actually sing and had original ideas). REM fired the opening salvo in their subtle yet passionate assault on the ears of the world. Other bands had their own way to do things, and POISON IDEA influenced many that would come afterwards. Meanwhile, -FUPPETS- House Band, SONIC YOUTH, was showing us how the city is a natural scape, and doing so with the severe chaos that only they are capable of.


THE SMITHS - Accept Yourself

RONNIE JAMES DIO - Rainbow In The Dark

MISSING PERSONS - Words

REM - Carnival of Sorts

POISON IDEA - Marked For Life

SONIC YOUTH - Making The Nature Scene

-FUPPETS- Remembers John Hughes

So John Hughes kicked the bucket yesterday while taking a morning walk in NYC. He directed and wrote so many funny movies. Among -FUPPETS- favorites are Mr. Mom, Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's Vacation and Christmas Vacation, Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
One of the many things about John Hughes' movies was their apt use of contemporary music. Here is the greatest title track from a John Hughes film, and this is the original version of the song, not the pussyfied lovey-dove version they did for the actual movie.

PSYCHEDELIC FURS - Pretty In Pink

From the same film, here are the Smiths performing Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, live.

The SMITHS - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want