Okay, put on your dancing shoes and crack out a can of something because it’s time for the weekly MBIP Sunday Record Party! Let’s pick out some tunes from the MBIP record collection and get this party started!
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C•30 C•60 C•90 Go by Bow Wow Wow (From “C•30 C•60 C•90 Go” Cassette Single)
I think this is such a great song! Bow Wow Wow is mainly known for their cover of “I Want Candy,” which was originally a hit for The Strangeloves in the 60’s. I think that C•30 C•60 C•90 Go, which came out two years prior would’ve been ten times bigger, but EMI, their record company refused to promote the single because it glorified taping songs off the radio instead of buying records. It didn’t help that the other side of the cassette single (the very first song to be released as a cassette single by the way) was left blank so you could record your own song on there.
EMI dropped the band in 1981, that same year they got signed by RCA and released, “I Want Candy” in 1982 and Bow Wow Wow was off and barking!
Dance To The Music by Sly and the Family Stone (From the album “Sly and the Family Stone Greatest Hits”)
"Cynthia and Jerry got a message that says: ‘All the squares go home!’”
‘Nuff said!
Ladykillers by Lush (From “Lovelife”)
I always liked this band and was disappointed they never got beyond kind of a cult hit status. Ladykillers is from their last album, “Lovelife,” which showed the band headed into more of a power pop direction and it’s my favorite album by them. This song cracks me up and I like the lyrics about a woman in a bar being disgusted by the chowderheads trying to pick her up. This song and album were the strongest in both songs and sales, but sadly, after it came out, the drummer, Chris Acland committed suicide by hanging himself and the band was devastated and broke up.
I Feel Fine by The Beatles (From the album “Beatles ‘65”)
When you hear the word, “feedback,” as in guitar feedback, Jimi Hendrix or Pete Townshend might pop into your mind because they’re both known for incorporating that sound into their songs. But one of the very first times feedback appeared on a rock ‘n’ roll record was on “I Feel Fine” by The Beatles.
Here’s John Lennon talking about the feedback in "I Feel Fine" in a 1980 interview with writer David Sheff:
“That's me completely. Including the electric guitar lick and the record with the first feedback anywhere. I defy anybody to find a record—unless it's some old blues record in 1922— that uses feedback that way. I mean, everybody played with feedback on stage, and the Jimi Hendrix stuff was going on long before. In fact, the punk stuff now is only what people were doing in the clubs. So I claim it for The Beatles. Before Hendrix, before The Who, before anybody. The first feedback on any record.”
This is Paul McCartney’s memories of the “I Feel Fine” sessions from the book, Many Years From Now by Barry Miles:
“We were just about to walk away and listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it. He really should have turned the electric off. It was only on a tiny bit, and John just leaned it against the amp when it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!' And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' 'Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp.”
Cherry Bomb by The Runaways (From the album “The Runaways”)
Joan Jett and The Runaways manager, Kim Fowley wrote this song as a tribute/send up of The Runaway's lead singer, Cherie Currie’s first name. Joan Jett later covered it on her, “Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth” album. But I think the definitive version will always be this one off of their first album.
Their debut album came out in 1976 and they broke the door down for bands like The Go-Go’s, The Bangles and The Donnas in the years to come. Before The Runaways, the closest thing to an all girl rock and roll band were the girl groups from the late 50’s and early 60’s. They never really broke out in the States, but just like Spinal Tap, they were huge stars in Japan. No word on if their amplifiers went to 11, though.
When I Was A Freeport and You Were The Main Drag by Laura Nyro (From the album “Christmas and the Beads of Sweat”)
Laura Nyro wrote many classic songs in her career and artists that acknowledge her as an inspiration and influence include: Rickie Lee Jones, Kate Bush, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Todd Rundgren and Elvis Costello. In an interview on Elvis Costello’s “Spectacle” show Elton John cited her as one of the greatest songwriters that has been largely ignored.
While a lot of people have never heard of Laura Nyro, almost everyone has heard some of her songs which were butchered by bands like The Fifth Dimension, Blood Sweat and Tears and Three Dog Night. None of those bands that covered her songs came close to being half as good as the original versions recorded by Nyro, but from what I’ve read, Laura Nyro didn’t care. She never really wanted to be a full-blown rock star and happily cashed her royalty checks as they came flying in.
Related Posts: MBIP Sunday Record Party (Number One).