Johnny Is a Man / And He's Bigger Than You

Friday, March 04, 2005

Northeast Ohio shoutout

...and to everyone else, too.

I'm feelin' this Friday, big time. I'm also feelin' for NE OH, hammered by snow. Get to Cali already, you rassa frazza.

Friday, get hyped, get horny, get hyper. Keep it in the round-in-the-front, round-at-the-end and hi-in-the-middle vein by blasting this jam at high volume in your car on the drive home, in your cubicle, in your headphones at the gym, wherever. Guaranteed smile and possibly erection as you recall being an eternally horny 17 year old ("But it was my first time...with you..." - Jerri Blank).

Don't care for the Raspberries? Let's pretend you didn't say that. Perhaps this vintage 1973 radio spot will convince you.

Get some for me.

P.S. Cleveland rocks.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Update

My '80s music blog, Lost in the '80s, has been updated today. Go forth and clicky.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

just give me your love and hate on both my hands / i'll show you what i'm made of

Let's hear it for The Sundays.

I mean it, let's hear it, people. David Gavurin and Harriet Wheeler created two beautiful, moody, dark and atmospherically perfect albums, plus one more upbeat, still excellent one. Two of those albums went Gold, videos were played, hundreds of other 4AD/Rough Trade bands were inspired (Cranberries and Sixpence None the Richer anyone?).

Then they quit.

To have babies.

I mean, not the most rock and roll thing to do, but it's not like you can really argue with it. That doesn't change the fact that I miss them terribly. I still play "Reading, Writing & Arithmetic" and "Blind" at least monthly, with tracks from their final album "Static & Silence" and various b-sides peppered in the mix. I remember the excruciating three year wait between their first and second album...then, the even more painful six year wait between the second and third. Their last album was released in 1997.

We're hitting the ten year mark.

I've read they built a home studio back in the early '90s and that's where the third album was recorded. I can understand not touring anymore or doing promo, but to never even record again? With a home studio? You guys are killing me. KILLING ME.

Perhaps they got pissed at all the pretenders to their sound scoring multi-platinum hits while they never even hit the Hot 100. Perhaps they lost the drive. Perhaps they don't even care.

I just want them to know they're missed. It's amazing to me that when I mention them to younger friends, they have no idea who I'm talking about. That is criminal. It's like being a big Tori Amos fan and never having heard of Kate Bush. So wrong.

I want every one of you Sundays lovers to sign in the comments of this post. I want this post to have comments in the hundreds. Think of it as our very own, ineffectual internet petition to get those happy youngsters off their butts and back in the studio to give us that fourth album we want. We need. To motivate you, here are two rarer Sundays b-sides, a studio outtake called "Noise" (that's very short) and the original, somewhat superior demo version of "You're Not the Only One I Know".

Download "You're Not the Only One I Know (Demo)"
Download "Noise"

Sign in and show your Sundays love.