Interactive Poll # 666 - GUILTY!

Snicolette wrote: Easy Money wrote: Re Snicolette: Very thorough, Max needs to double your salary!   LOL, I know, a freaking novella.  I can't imagine how people that are actually living real lives would have time to listen or remark, there were so many alternates.

Max has done the math and has agreed to quadruple your salary for your contributions to PA. So very generous of Him. All praise to our glorious and benevolent sitemaster M@x. ;)

Seriously, I very much have enjoyed reading your comments in these polls, and on the forums generally. Thanks for being here. It definitely adds great worth to the forums in my books, and your presence is worth more to me than any presents Max might have offered if he had offered any (well, it would have to be a very nice present to match your presence -- a free PA tee shirt would have been nice, or even a pen).

jamesbaldwin wrote: Logan wrote: What's funny with the Shaggs is that it wasn't made as comedy, but it achieved cult status. The young girls who made the Philosophy of the World album had not been playing their instruments for long. Love the album and the lyrics, such as in the title song "Philosophy of the World". While I did major in Philosophy, I think I found this more enlightening. "Oh, the rich people want what the poor people's got And the poor people want what the rich people's got And the skinny people want what the fat people's got And the fat people want what the skinny people's got You can never please anybody in this world..." (The Shaggs - "Philosophy of the World") Shaggs now and forever! Greg, if you choose this song it'll got my vote!

Done, that will be my choice. It was initially what I was going to choose from The Shaggs, but I changed my mind just before posting.     

Re Snicolette: Very thorough, Max needs to double your salary!

Lewian wrote: I was hoping for the odd comment on my potential nomination of Subway to Sally's "Das Messer" and particularly what I wrote about it on p.3 (you don't need to listen to the song to have an opinion about this). Is it of any interest to go into this kind of thing, or should I just nominate something that is baaad but I like it, like everybody else does? (Which would point to the other two things I posted; I haven't yet decided which one, but of course it can be done if required.) My gut feeling is that in this jungle of things people will probably not bother to read the English lyrics of "Das Messer" and think about them, so that it'd be just a nominated piece of good music that makes me feel guilty for some reason that isn't of interest, which wouldn't probably sit well in this poll. However, if anyone would like that one in the poll, I may just do it.

This one took some doing.  I was going to not go into each thing this time, just a top three and why and contenders.  But.  There is so much here that needed special notice without replying/quoting each, I found this easier this time.  The Top Three will actually be equals, since I am entering my favourite novelty piece, favourite “serious,” piece and one for what caused me the most pain (and only the primary selections of the contributors).   My feelings will not be hurt if you don’t want to read this, either.  😊

George:  Great idea for a poll!  Congrats!  Plasmatics, gets lots of points for a wild gal with a Mohawk haircut, riding on top of a (school)bus, crashing through a bunch of TVs.  😊  Donna Lewis:  There are songs that I can recall that really bring back a specific time and place (a Foreigner song comes to mind, for me here, “Waiting for a Girl Like You”, which played constantly in the FEMA office I worked in, in 1982 after the big mudslides in Santa Cruz.  Can’t say I liked it, but it takes me right back there and to the nice people I worked with.  FEMA was a different animal then).  Batang’s “Thunderstruck,” was a lot of fun, I like novelty songs, too, and takes on other’s material.  BTW, when I heard “The Raging Horse,” you beat me to posting that Mr Ed clip.  Priceless.  😊  Kiss, thank you for summing them up for me. 😊  Of course I know of Kiss, not really a fan.  Gene Simmons was at every. single. KNAC metal show backstage.  Never could take them seriously, although it’s certainly straight ahead, formulaic, no apologies rock.

Micky:  Graham Parsons ~ In My Hour of Darkness ~ Gram of course is legend .  I also loved The Byrds “Sweethearts of the Rodeo,” LP, which this echoes (with good reason).  Also, I had no clue you would be such a fan of The Wiggles.  😊  Hatebeak, kind of a “Lark’s Tongues,” on speed.  New Kids on the Block, another boy band of another generation than The Monkees.  Lotsa of staging, dancing, cute boys in costumes, what’s a young girl not got to love there? 

Raff:  Bronski Beat ~ Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy,” (also an old fave of mine, and their version of “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”  Living in LA at the time this was played on KROQ a lot, also hits nostalgic notes for me.   I also know Foreigner and “Urgent,” even though I am not a fan of Arena Rock per se, it’s still a great song in it’s genre.  David Lee Roth, what a ham!  Not a fan of them, but what a perfect band for it’s type.

Shadowyzard:  Eyüp Hamiş - Gel Gör Beni  I just love Turkish and other Middle Eastern music, so this is a strong contender for being a winner from the get-go, if I’m using songs I like in this , (for whatever reason) with which I was previously unfamiliar.  Not as crazy about the other Turkish song, but the rhythms are good, which should be expected. 

Who would have thought the same person presenting the Turkish piece would also bring Baby Shark and Construction Vehicles for Kids to the table?  Cute as heck.  Loved The Raging Horse, too.  And I am also familiar with the Mr Ed song, one of my faves for novelty songs, ever.  Extra points to George, for knowing it!  😊

And then you had to add the piece de resistance,  “Yes, I Am A Barbie,” by Nanowar of Steel.  I am consumed by hysterics.  Just a wonderful bit of I’m not sure what, but I love it!  Nothing exists after this brilliance.  :D  Gregorian Christmas, very beautiful, and I too, loved the story of The Little Match Girl.   Not sure if you know of Edward Gorey, but you might enjoy his takes on tragic Victorian children’s lit (warning, very dark humour).

Easy Money:  Aha ~ Take On Me….of course I know this one….When I worked at a Whole Foods in Nashville for 3 years every time this came on the house music, you could hear everybody in the place, joining in the chorus.  Most were godawful, but there are some good pipes in Nashville and sometimes you could hear some people hitting those high notes.  I had to attend  a Lynyrd Skynyrd show while carrying them on our buses when I lived outside of Denver, once.  Scary.  Journey, another one that is Arena Rock that I don’t mind hearing, but never owned anything by, who had to, with radio?  Great voice, Steve Perry, and I understand he’s a nice guy.  Conway Twitty….brings me back to my Mendocino days when I’d befriended my neighbour’s daughter of an ex rodeo rider.  I was 10 at the time.  We rode horses all over the dunes and beaches and back into some of the most magical forested dirt roads, imaginable.  One of them led to a truly iconically Western ranch, several thousand acres with large sparkling creek and sprawling ranch home tucked up in the valley just under redwood forested hills.

I introduced my friend and her brothers to The Beatles, and they introduced me to country music.  Excellent choice.

Grumpyprogfan:  Fan already of Joe Jackson and They Might Be Giants here.  The Dogs Die In Hot Cars is kind of an earworm.  Had me laughing, too    Way familiar with Weird Al, in fact, just love his song parodies, one of my favourite odd subgenres (and awakened in me from MAD Magazine, which used to do these, but in cartoon panels).  He’s just a wonderful parodist and a fine musician.

Lorenzo:  Fun, silly song, DARIO FO & ENZO JANNACCI: HO VISTO UN RE Makes me think of Sid Caesar, the classic comedian, if you’re familiar.The second, CORO DEI POMPIERI FROM THE MOTION PICTURE "ALTRIMENTI CI ARRABBIAMO",  had me laughing, too, kind of like Alvin and the Chipmunks with some deep voices thrown in. I Gufi - La Balilla  Even though I can’t understand the words, the humour is there.  Both of the Amanda Lear pieces, pure cheese and kinda kitchy.  😊  Goran Bregovich: O Bella Ciao.  I liked this one more than the rest in these selections, especially the slow parts.

Greg:  Clouds Across The Moon ~ RAH Band:  You hit the nail on the head, cheesy yet charming.  And Subway to Sally, “Das Messer,” this could almost have been in the catchy poll, I liked the sort of bombarde sound going on during the piece (bombardes being those horn thingies [my ultra technical term] in Alan Stivell’s music).  Reading the lyrics, interesting that it is a piece about a love/hate relationship (at least to my understanding).  The Karat piece, I don’t understand the language, but it Is a pretty ballad sounding thing to my ears. 

Mike, love Squirrel Nut Zippers!  Such a fun novelty act.  Completely had forgotten about them.  Might give Barbie a run for her money.  Particle Man, so funny!  And SoaD……Those guys have too much energy!  Good thing they have this outlet 😊 (my friend that I live with adores this band).  Can we have a Top 6?

RushFan4 ~ I remember Samantha Fox, but not this song.  And also the Paula Abdul and Twisted Sister selections.   All three are kind of cartoon-y, teen-boy-centric to me (which is how hair bands appear to me), and very MTV-friendly, of course.  Maybe it was because I was living near the Hollywood area at that time.  Which is not to denigrate your taste, they actually fit into the idea, for me, of guilty pleasures. 

Dr Wu ~  Very familiar with all three of these, I often see music from you that I enjoy and that was part of what was being played about.  The Go Gos were fun, I kind of preferred The Bangles (they might have worked as a guilty pleasure, these days, for me).  All those women bands were being stalked by Kim Fowley when I was shopping a female-fronted synth-rock band, including “my” singer, back in the 80’s.  Robert Palmer….really nice guy and what a fantastic video that was, and song.  And I loved that Dr Hook really DID finally get on the cover of The Rolling Stone, after all.  Poetic justice.

I prophesy disaster ~ The Osmonds….I just can’t…..Too squeaky-clean for me, even though my own entrant is The Monkees.  Nik Kershaw, I remember from KROQ, 80’s rock radio in LA.  I liked a fair amount of this kind of music, even had a synth band that I represented. 

Meltdowner ~ lena d’Agua & atlantida Reminds me of Nena, poppy and upbeat, but in a kind of quirky way.  I could see this becoming an earworm.  Let’s see if it does in the next couple of days here.

Logan ~ The Shaggs.  Definitely wonderful comedic act.  The infamous “Barbarella!”  Absolutely a treasure to keep forever.  This one could certainly be in a Top 3, kinda cheesy.  The visuals go along with all of the Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass LP covers.  I certainly remember Bauhaus, another played on KROQ in LA.  Always reminded me of Lou Reed/Velvet Underground vibe.  The Cure one is wonderful, actually like the band from back in the day and had no idea either, that these Shreds are a “thing.” The A-ha one is also intriguing, but I am not really fan, so perhaps less enjoyable to my ears. 

The Anders ~ Pot Band.   Definitely a strange one, maybe they’ve indulged a bit too much and have entered what my old friend, Andy, used to call “The Balloon Stage,” of cannabis high.  Not sure what to call it, but it sounds like they had fun.

Gentle and Giant ~ Sique Sique Sputnik, another KROQ radio daze memory.  Too familiar to enter into my potentials to vote, but it sure did get a heckuva lot of airplay back in the 80’s.

Cristi ~ Lana Del Rey, sort of current singer/songwriter sound to me.  I actually also kind of liked this, I could see the appeal.  A bit melancholy. The only complaint I have with it is that she has that tremolo and a baby-ish affectation to her voice that so many current singers do.  I liked the production for the piece, there was a harp.  😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cure one is ridiculous while being cleverly done in its way. Most shreds are just plain silly. But if one like Lorenzo finds the Cure one too elegant, then others might appeal more as most are inelegant. Shreds can get old very fast. If I were to do a shred, I'd want tit to be plausible to those who don't know the original (or perhaps the band singer well), and then they might have a "hang on, that's odd" effect. Good enough that it might fool some into thinking that is the real version. I love many movie trailer remakes, some which might fool some people.



Edited by Logan - July 02 2020 at 10:15

jamesbaldwin wrote: Logan wrote: I've got four for now: The Shaggs are often ridiculed, but I genuinely love the whole Philosophy of the World album: "My Pal Foot Foot" -------------------------------------------- Bob Crewe and Charles Fox - Barbarella -------------------------------------------- A friend on mine offered me good money to destroy my Bauhaus CD that has this on it. I refused out of principle. Bauhaus - In the Flat Field "Yin and yang lumber punch Go taste a tart, then eat my lunch" (I love to quote those lyrics) ---------------------------------------------- Also, I love many "Shreds", but others have not appreciated such things. This is a favourite of mine (that bassoon!) -- could almost be RIO/Avant: The Cure - If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (Shred version) ------------------------------------------------ Ultimately I'm not really embarrassed to like such stuff(well, it depends on who I'm sharing such things with). I do have guilty pleasures. ---- 1) The Shaggs: very demential song 2) Barbarella: I love Jane Fonda, one of my sexual dream! Pimp (is it the right word?) music. 3) Bauhaus: terrible 4) Cure? Too elegant.

I expect quite a few will know that The Shaggs song here. Zappa called it better than the Beatles, even if he was joking. I think it's a good album for those young girls who were still learning to play and I genuinely enjoy that notoriously bad album. I do often like so bad it; good kind of things, but I never found it that bad in its way I find it charming.

As for the Bauhaus, methinks oud get along well with my friend. He offered me, I think, a hundred bucks if he could personally destroy the album (we were roommates at the time, when I was 20, so he had an added incentive). I got so tired of listening to him playing Rush all the time. I find myself strangely amused by some of the lyrics of that song. Terrible, perhaps, but I strangely enjoy it, but then I like offbeat things often.

I bought that compilation album because of Bela Lugosi's Dead, which became a sort of anthemic Goth song. Unlike, say, Dean (a past illustrious member who I sorely miss), I was never into Goth culture, but I lovd a failm called The Hunger with David Bowie,Catherine Deneuve and Suan Sarandon, and it starts with Bela Lugosi's Dead.

This remains my favourite Bauhaus song:



As for that The Cure shred (based on an MTV unplugged concert), it is strangely elegant in a way for a shred. The bassoon in particular makes me laugh.

Some others I like:







This is the first shred I heard:



I can't say that I am as into shreds as I once was, and when I was it was a guilty pleasure.


As for Barbarella, I love that Jane Fonda film. The film is more of a guilty pleasure than that song. I shouldn't feel guilty at all, but it comes down to when I watched it with a religious girlfriend who later became my wife. She was a little shocked, but then she not much later loved Betty Blue. I corrupted her some might say.

Edited by Logan - July 02 2020 at 10:01

I definitely won't be discounting things I know well this round.

jamesbaldwin wrote: I WOULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED TO POST THREE GOLIARDIC CHOIRS HERE ON PA, ONE TAKEN FROM A COMIC FILM WITH BUD SPENCER AND TERENCE HILL AND THE OTHER TWO SONGS IN MILANESE DIALECT, BEING TRADITIONAL SONGS OF MILAN, OFTEN SUNG IN CABARETS. I'M SORRY THAT YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE HUMORISM OF THE TEXTS BUT I HOPE THAT YOU WILL HAVE ALL THE FUN AND I EXPECT YOUR OPINIONS.

Just don;t expect an interesting or insightful opinion from me. I did check those out, but I can't yet think of what to say or how to say it.   

Lewian wrote: I was hoping for the odd comment on my potential nomination of Subway to Sally's "Das Messer" and particularly what I wrote about it on p.3 (you don't need to listen to the song to have an opinion about this). Is it of any interest to go into this kind of thing, or should I just nominate something that is baaad but I like it, like everybody else does? (Which would point to the other two things I posted; I haven't yet decided which one, but of course it can be done if required.) My gut feeling is that in this jungle of things people will probably not bother to read the English lyrics of "Das Messer" and think about them, so that it'd be just a nominated piece of good music that makes me feel guilty for some reason that isn't of interest, which wouldn't probably sit well in this poll. However, if anyone would like that one in the poll, I may just do it.