Black Eyed Peas "Joints And Jam"

The Black Eyed Peas have for so long been slagged as the creators of hugely popular, vapid earworms, that I'd kind of forgotten that there was a time when they were heralded as some kind of alternative hip hop rebirth.

I mean, I'd even forgotten that I'd seen them in concert, until I was writing yesterday's post about seeing them in their pre-Fergie incarnation.

Can you imagine The Black Eyed Peas, as they are now, as part of the Punk rockest festival of the summer?  It barely makes sense.

But for a second, wipe out your memory of those massive hits like "My Humps" and "I Got A Feeling" and listen to "Joints And Jam" below.  And then put it in context.

This track was released in that period of time when popular, commercial hip hop had been dominated for the several years previous, by Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre and others who were delivering darker lyrics and darker messages.

"Joints And Jam" harked back to some of the more positive, thoughful, inclusive tracks from the late 80s, early 90s, from groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.

Seeing them at Warped made some level of sense, because it seemed like (similar to many of the bands there that day) they had a message and they were outside of the norm.

But in retrospect, here's where it probably turned a corner.

At the time, The Black Eyed Peas were a trio, and they worked the crowd into a fun, noisy mess with their songs and a lot of old school breakdancing stage moves.

But for a few of their songs, they needed a female vocalist.

It's not unusual for a group to employ a backup singer to tour with them, as was the case here.

What struck me, was the crowd's reaction to her.

For her parts, she stepped forward with this level of confidence and bravado, and delivered some walloping, powerful vocals.  She was a professional singer, as opposed to the guys in the group who were rappers, and sang a little.  The difference in talent on that count was apparent, and the crowd responded.

In an unusual move for someone who's essentially a support-player, they let her talk to the crowd between songs.  Whipping them up into a frenzy with some practiced banter, all based on this "I'm a strong female and I don't give a fuck" persona that she needed to project for the songs.

The crowd ate it up.  It became the most memorable part of the act.

At the time The Black Eyed Peas were a trio, but it wasn't lost on me, and I'm sure not on them, that adding a different gender, personality and look into the group created a whole new dynamic.

During the making of the next album, they ended up taking a vocalist they had brought in to cut one duet, and made her part of the group.  The success of adding Fergie no doubt changed the direction of their sound from Old School hip hop saviors, to creator of populist, dumbed-down, sexualized MASSIVE hitmakers.

I suppose if you want a career, that's what you do.

But forget what you know about the group and listen to the track below.  Hear it as a fun, summerish jam, and wonder where they might have gone instead.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Reel Big Fish "Sell Out"

I remember being 30 years old and going to the Warped Tour.

Looking around, I wagered that I was roughly twice the age of the average attendee.

But I loved the festival and I loved the day.  You'd see 30 punk bands plow through a dozen songs each in their allotted 30 minutes of stage time.  You'd see a few "name" bands, a few mid-level bands and a few bands you'd never hear of.

I remember looking around the festival, at age 30, knowing that I was enjoying the show as much as any teenager.  But also aware that there would probably come a day when I didn't want to go to the Warped Tour.

I happened upon this year's Warped line up, and was horrified.

Of the 30 or so bands on the bill, I'd only heard of one of them.

And the only band I'd heard of, last had a hit over 15 years ago.

So while I could go to an all-day punk rock show, and see one fun nostalgic ska-pop band while being thrice the age of the average attendee . . . maybe I'll just use my AARP discount to get the Early Bird Special.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Reverend Horton Heat “Psychobilly Freakout”

All Time Top Five Songs that shouldn’t make me cry, but do . . .

I can’t say that this song makes me cry every time I hear it. But it did make me cry on one very memorable occasion.

I had gone to The Warped Tour on a hot, late-90s summer day. The ticket said it was being held at RFK stadium, but what they meant was, the concert was in the parking lot outside the stadium. There were a half-dozen stages featuring various levels of punk and punk-offshoot acts, running all day long.

I was already a big fan of The Reverend Horton Heat, but this was the first time seeing them live.

As I expected, the show started off fast, and funny, and tight, and up to my high expectations.

Then they launched into “Psychobilly Freakout,” which is basically a rockabilly instrumental which builds to a crescendo, punctuated by the Rev screaming “It’s A Psychobilly Freakout!” followed by a machine-gun drum-fill and a relaunch into the song.

After a few go-rounds of this, The Reverend starts “preaching,” telling a story of a woman, and his temptation by her. The drums and the bass dig into a groove, rising and falling with his tale.

The story gets faster, more urgent, as the Reverend describes his base urges over-coming him, as his ability to resist becomes weaker, and the woman reveals herself to be the devil incarnate and when the Reverend tries to cast the demon out of his trailer she suddenly grows 50 feet taller, demanding that the Reverend succumb to his passion and as the music builds to a fever pitch and the breaking point of the story has almost been reached the music stops abruptly and the Reverend screams:

“It’s A Psychobilly FREAKOUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!”

The drums thunder, the amps roar and I swear to you that I gasped and burst into tears, in that spontaneous way one might if you suddenly someone you thought was long-dead walked through your front door with an armload of Christmas presents for you.

I didn’t sob for hours or anything.

But I had become so sucked in by the storytelling, that when he screamed and brought the song back, it caught me so joyfully off-guard, I don’t think my emotional brain knew what to do.

So I cried.

Seems kind of silly if you listen to the album cut. But see him live, and you may just have a visceral experience.



Hear the whole song:


From time to time on Every Day I Write The Blog, I do a week’s worth of my five favorite songs on theme. For the All Time Top Five rules, see this previous post.