Reverend Horton Heat "Sue Jack Daniels"

Let me start with Homer Simpson's famous quote about alcohol:

"The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

With the success of the Save mvyradio campaign, and the Big Chili Contest madness (on a full moon night, no less), uh, yeah, we're dealing with more of the former than the latter.

We'd be litigious, in the Finn household, if it didn't make our heads pound to just try and spell the word "litigious."


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bruce Springsteen "Darlington County"

I used to be this huge Simpsons geek.  Up to a certain point (through the first fifteen seasons or so) I had seen every episode.**

At the time it came out in 1997, "The City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson" was one of my least favorite episodes.  The plot involves Homer, his car ticketed and booted between the World Trade Towers, waiting for his car to be released by the police.   I remember thinking that a lot of the jokes were weak (though there is a really funny "crab juice" gag) and the target ("New York City sure is a rough, unfriendly place!") was a been-there-done-that concept.

After September 11th, 2001, when this episode comes on in syndication, I stop and watch.

Same thing if I happen to catch the opening "Working Girl," where they show the ferry going into the city.

I can't really explain why.  I had never, and have never, been to the World Trade Center.  I can't really tell you what I am looking for.

But its what keeps "Darlington County" in rotation on mvyradio, too.

It's a perfectly serviceable Bruce Springsteen song.  While it is funny and full of well-realized details, it probably doesn't even make the list of the top 40 Springsteen songs. 

But hearing him try to impress a couple of girls by saying "Our pas each own one of the world trade centers" for some reason makes me want to hold on to it.


Hear the song on Youtube.

**Once I got married and started having kids, my ability to be an episode completest was vastly diminished.

The Ramones "Spiderman"

Here's another Weekend Post:

After pointing out the less-than-stellar-but-not-offensive Superhero song yesterday, I was compelled to post a couple of Super-Awesome Superhero songs, including The Ramones' version of the TV Cartoon "Spiderman" theme (lyrics by Stan Lee!!!), and, of course, its modern successor, Homer Simpson's (and Alf Clauson's) "Spiderpig."


See The Ramones video on Youtube.


Hear Homer sing the Spiderpig song on Youtube.


Hear the orchestral version on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

The Jayhawks "She Walks In So Many Ways"

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

---William Shakespeare

"There's nothing wrong with crabgrass. It just has a bad name, that's all. Everyone would love it if it had a cute name, like, uh, elf grass."

---Homer Simpson

While Shakespeare understood that the intrinsic value of something doesn't changed based on its name, leave it to Homer to note that a name has everything to do with marketability.

I, for one, was sad in the mid-90s when Mark Olson left the band The Jayhawks. The way his voice intertwined and played off of co-lead-singer and songwriter Gary Louris made the band for me. Without that dynamic, without Olson, they were still a good band (and they continued to put out good records), but they weren't exactly what The Jayhawks were, to me.

Flash forward a decade later . . . Olson is ready to work with Louris again. They write some songs, do some shows, and eventually decide to make a record.

They release "Ready For The Flood" under the name "Mark Olson & Gary Louris." It is greeted warmly by old Jayhawks fans, receives some positive reviews, but makes only a minor impact on radio and record sales, only a minor impact culturally.

In 2011, however, Olson and Louris have recorded more songs, but this time they are releasing the record under the name "The Jayhawks." And yes, they do have some of their former bandmates in tow, and yes, those guys are great players. But does the addition or subtraction from the equation of the particular bass player, drummer and keyboard player make the record sound more or less like a "true" Jayhawks record? Not to me . . .

So how do you explain then, that while the Olson & Louris album was somewhat tepidly embraced, within a couple of weeks, The Jayhawks record is quickly climbing the Adult Alternative charts?

Clearly, Olson and Louris shouldn't have called their album "Ready For The Flood," they should have called it "Elf Grass."


See the video on Youtube.


See the album preview on Youtube.

Cake "Sick Of You"

Homer Simpson once called them the two greatest words in the English language:

De. Fault.

In spite of Homer's claim, it's got to be a little a dispiriting/depressing/embarrassing to win by default.

To be crowned Miss America, like Suzette Charles who won the honor after Vanessa Williams had to relinquish her crown.

To win a playoff slot, despite a losing record, like the 7-9-but-division-winning Seattle Seahawks did in the NFL this year.

To have the Number One record in the country, like Cake, who also have the honor of selling the least amount of records by any band to get to Number One.

It's not a knock on the band. Like most cases of winning by default, it's that the bar has been lowered.

Cake is actually pretty consistent at selling a certain amount of records. But across the board in the music industry, sales have plummeted so far in the last decade and a half, that selling enough records to be Number One in 2011 wouldn't have even gotten you in the Top 10, in 1995.

In keeping with most of this week's posts, which all seem to relate to stories in the news, here's a New York Times story about this post.