Musicians of Note

So I knew I forgot to do something today....

These music posts are not the easiest to write, as I gotta try to figure out why I feel the way I do about something. When I start these off, I get a decent idea of who I could write about, but then ideas change and new bands are chosen. When I opened up this post, I was going to write about Queen. Then I realized I already did Elvis last week, and if I go down this road, it's going to be two weeks and then I have to start figuring out why I like the Beatles. So I'm going to go back to the roots of this, and try to find slightly unknownish bands and see if I can re-introduce them to people.

Huey Lewis The Jam were an English band from the 70s and 80s who largely focused on Mod revival music. Mod revival was a style where past songs were used as a backbeat to new, punk-style lyrics. For example, in the Jam's song "Town Called Malice" you can hear the bassline from "You Can't Hurry Love," and you can hear the bass from the Beatles "Taxman" in the song "Start!"

So it's fast music with 60s sounds included in. What's not to like there? The other interesting thing about The Jam was that as opposed to their punk peers, wearing ripped shirts and scuzzy jeans thanks to Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten, The Jam wore nice suits and looked presentable. With my love of debonair style, you gotta admire that. Plus they were willing to critique other bands and styles they didn't like. Their song "A Bomb In Wardour Street" is about how typical punk music is just about fighting with the rest of the members of the punk scene. And they also were willing to attack those who prey on the weak as well. The song "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" calls out those who smell of "too many right-wing meetings" who end up beating the narrator of the song to death.

Their song "Strange Town" to me speaks of the loneliness you get when you try to go back to someplace you once knew, but it's been cleaned up and all the heart, character, and dirtiness is gone from it. It's now a tourist trap for people to visit and admire. Combine that with "When You're Young" about how you can take the world on when you're young, but the world comes back and smashes you to bits in the end, and you've got a nice melancholy style going on. But you've also got "Beat Surrender" about how you have to care about living your life and being as happy as you can be. There's also the previously mentioned "Start!" about finding love wherever you can, even if it's only for 2 minutes.

I guess I like them because they give me the beats and sounds I want while still having meaningful lyrics behind them. They can get political, with "That's Entertainment" deriding the use of the poor commoner lifestyle as subject for TV shows, or "Going Underground" about how nukes and fighting aren't the answer.

I like them, feel free to take a listen and check them out.



We'll start with "Start!" because I'm cool like that.



"When You're Young" because I like rebelling against negativity, and the fact that I can be awesome now and all, as I'm young. The world still hasn't beaten me down yet.



"Beat Surrender" doesn't have a music video I can find, as it was one of the last songs they recorded.



And we end with "Going Underground," and as it's still 11:56 here on the east coast, I got this done. Woo, go me. See people tomorrow for the usual Monday zaniness.