Live To Tell - Madonna

As promised, albeit a month later, here's my post about Madonna's "Live To Tell". This is one actually gets a decent amount of airplay at work, just about everyday. I've always liked this song, as with most early Madonna records. It's dark, dreamy and dated, but in a good way. I remember the video with scenes from Madonna's then-husband, Sean Penn's film, "At Close Range", which I've never seen.

There's also scenes that include weirdo extraordinaire, Christopher Walken (with a mustache!) who I think plays Penn's dad. There's also fellow weirdo, Crispin Glover in the credits, along with Sean's brother Chris who starred (not as Sean's character Spicoli, but a similar character named Tom Drake) in the hard to find "Fast Times Are Ridgemont High" sequel, "The Wild Life". You (and me) can watch the whole movie here, which is based on the true story of 1960s gang leader Bruce Johnston Sr. and his son Bruce Jr. who later testified against his dad in 1978.

I remember having the "Live" music video taped off of TV on a VHS and the ending being cut off (I think Los Lobos' Ritchie Valens cover of "La Bamba" from the movie was on there too). I've noticed at work they play a different version of "Live" than in the original video that has a longer pause in the middle, with an extra weird sound effect. When I hear it, I always picture the gun held in Penn's hand again Walken's face at that point in the song. It's off the 1986 Madonna album, "True Blue", which has many good songs on it including this and its title track. I'm pretty sure I heard it originally though from the "Immaculate Collection"cassette my sister had and eventually wore out. I'm wondering if that "best of" was sort of the bridge between the gap in Madonna's career from her awesome 80s pop to her even more risque and I guess more serious, but meh 1990s transformation with "Vogue" and such. She always has weird religious references in her work, with "Conception" being swapped out for "Collection" in that compilation and her crazy video for "Like A Prayer" (which was co-written by Patrick Leonard, who also scored "At Close Range"). Also, from what I've read, "Live To Tell" is apparently performed with a crown of thorns upon Madonna's head when played live. Interesting...

yikes!

Apparently, "Immaculate" is all remixed, somewhat redone versions of her classic songs, so that would explain the differences between that and the originals. It's almost always a good bet to stick with the original songs. Why mess up a good thing? Hear that, George Lucas? Ugh, why would do back and mess up Star Wars? By the way Steven Spielberg, it's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", not "Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark". 

Counting Stars - OneRepublic

The obvious, work bums me out. I guess its all in my own attitude. I'm tired and when I'm off from work (like today), I sorta sit around and not do a whole lot. This can attributed to working 40 hours a week, or also my occasionally crippling anxiety and by association depression problems. It's all excuses though I think. I'm at least writing something so I don't feel like a total jerk and wasted my day off.

I contacted the company I work for in reference to the music they play in my store. They said it was up to the district manager what kind of music is played. Oh boy, well forget about asking her. When I was still fairly new at my job, I neglected to say "hello" to her when she came in the door because I was with a customer at the register. Needless to say, my manager wasn't pleased based on the district manager telling her I didn't greet her. The irony though is I was never officially even introduced to the district manager; she never said hello to me. This is the vicious cycle of retail or probably any workplace; you're told one thing, but shown something else entirely different. They never "practice what they preach". It's beyond infuriating. Especially when you 8-10 hours a day hearing the same songs over and over. This brings me to my next victim.

I'm really starting to relate to this song lately but unfortunately, we gotta hear the crap-fest below

I HATE

OneRepublic. I'll hear these guys' songs at least a few times a day. As of late, it's neck and neck between "Love Runs Out" and "Counting Stars" as far as repeated playings go. I can't stand hearing them, this goes for "I Lived" which is another one of their s"hits". "Counting Stars" was used in an ad for a Patrick Wilson TV show in which I don't think is even on anymore. I've also heard it without the little acoustic introduction in other stores I've shopped at. I'm guessing that portion of the song makes it more "adult contemporary"? I've noticed most of the songs I hear just sound like contemporary Christian music to me. I'm wondering if that's partly intentional or not. bleechhh. In "Counting Stars" he does say "praying" a lot though... Hmmm.. Well apparently one of this guys went to a Christian high school, so there ya go! 

ugh, I just really hate this song. I'm sure there's some sort of underlining deep meaning, but holy crap, it's just so derivative and just stupid sounding. There's that short guitar intro and then the rest sounds like a Casio demo. "Take that money/watch it burn" just *vomits*. Just make it go away! Read the words below.

"Counting Stars" 

[Chorus:]

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars

Yeah, we'll be counting stars

[Verse 1:]

I see this life like a swinging vine,

Swing my heart across the line

In my face is flashing signs,

Seek it out and ye shall find.

Old but I'm not that old

Young but I'm not that bold

And I don't think the world is sold

I'm just doing what we're told

And I I I I feel something so right by doing the wrong thing

And I I I I feel something so wrong by doing the right thing

I could lie, couldn't I, couldn't I?

Every thing that kills me makes me feel alive.

[Chorus:]

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

[Verse 2:]

Baby. I feel her love and

And I feel it burn down this river every time

Hope is our four-letter word, make that money watch it burn

Old but, I'm not that old

Young, but I'm not that bold

And I don't think the world is sold

I'm just doing what we're told

And I I I I feel something so wrong by doing the right thing

I could lie, couldn't I, couldn't I?

Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly

[Chorus:]

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

Oh, take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive

[Chorus:]

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Take that money watch it burn,

Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Here's some "interesting" quotes from the YouTube video: 

Read their "SameThatTune" entry where "Counting Stars" is compared to Madonna's 2005 song, "Hang Up". 

In lieu of that, my next entry will be a "like" of Madonna's "Live To Tell". 

Spotify Playlist, etc

I started working a ridiculous Spotify playlist that I based on my own findings of what I've heard at work (past and present) and also a master list I found on one of the SiriusXM message boards. I take screen shots (as I'm sure you've noticed) of what's "Now Playing", because without that, I probably would have no clue who sings most of the songs I hear while at work. Most contemporary, radio-friendly music just goes over my head, I'm not really into it. Certain songs will sometimes age okay, but as a whole, meh, not too interested. You'll this gargantuan playlist (and it's not done, it's a work in progress), at top right of the blog page, or just below this text for your convenience. I guess I'd suggest hearing snippets of it to the get the general idea. I can't imagine anyone reading this blog would actually want to thoroughly listen to this playlist, but hey, you never know. There are a few good songs on there to be fair, some I don't personally remember ever hearing at work, but have apparently been played on "The Blend" at some point. Any-hoo, enjoy (or not)! Let me know if there's something missing. There is a particular song I used to hear at my old job at TJ Maxx. I have no idea who sang it, but I'm guessing it's from the late 1990s and it's a dance type of song, you know really artificial sounding. The only lyrics I unfortunately remember are just "nah nah nah-nah" and something along the lines of "we're going round the world again..". I also heard that same song at Universal Studios once when I stepped onto one of those flat escalators into the park from the parking garage. Any ideas?

Cool Kids - Echosmith

MEH

A group of young siblings who call themselves Echosmith somehow ended up blowing up the charts, all while still being high school age. Oh, they're from Los Angeles? No wonder. Like I've mentioned in previous posts, location is seemingly your second or hell even first priority when becoming a success in music. Its pretty frustrating, so tons of otherwise mediocre at best artists profit from their craft, while someone doing it way better in an small town somewhere else isn't going to near the same heights. As I think to myself occasionally at work while I'm mentally writing this blog, that Le Tigre song really holds true (believe it or not!); MEDIOCRITY RULES.

Anyway, Echosmith I guess aren't' the absolute worst thing I've heard, but it's sorta bland. I appreciate that they probably heard a bunch of Depeche Mode and decided to somewhat revive that New Romantic sound of the 1980s, but in this case, these kids actually seem to care what people think of them. "Cool Kids" is supposed to be some sort of "it's okay to be yourself" type of anthem for adolescents. Maybe its a case by case situation, but besides not wanting to be "like the cool kids" in high school (which was in the mid 1990s when this band was just being born), I don't even think I knew who they were. hahaha. I hung around with a different crowd every year. The "weird" girls, the druggies, the goth kids, the virginal boy band lovers, the hippies. I always considered myself "miscellaneous" because I didn't really belong to a specific group. Hell, I gave a report in one of my classes on 1960s punk (when I was just starting to get into it at about 17 and first started playing live shows in a band).

Upon reading the YouTube comments for Echosmith's music video, I discovered that many misheard the lyrics as "cookies" instead of "cool kids", which is pretty funny. And also, that apparently the girl from "The Grudge" makes a half-second appearance in the video. Are there subliminal messages packed into that 4 minute whine about peer pressure? I'm amazed by singer, Sydney's appearance. Holy jailbait! I always think it's odd when you can see a girls inside back hem of her dress. Then the rest of the band sorta dresses like Ducky from "Pretty In Pink". It's Andie And The Duckys, ladies and gentlemen! Ahhh!!!! Sydney's pronunciations are very strange also. Words such as "background" sound as if she can't close your mouth all the way. I'm not sure why it sounds that way.

I hope today isn't as insanely busy as it has been. Being one of the few stores in town can have its good points and bad. Today is Monday so it's Senior Discount Day. UGH.

"Cool Kids"

She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style.
And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind.
Nothing in this world could ever bring them down.
Yeah, they're invincible, and she's just in the background.
And she says,

"I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids."

He sees them talking with a big smile, but they haven't got a clue.
Yeah, they're living the good life, can't see what he is going through.
They're driving fast cars, but they don't know where they're going.
In the fast lane, living life without knowing.
And he says,

"I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to get it.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids."

And they said,
"I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to get it.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids."

Whoa [3x]

Like the cool kids

Vance Joy - Riptide (updated-Monday April 6th)

I HATE

Ugh, ugghhhhhh. Well today's post is about a "brand new" song introduced by "The Blend". They say he's an Australian "singer/songwriter" apparently singing about a girl and a motel. This is "Riptide" by Vance Joy, which sounds more like a new kind of candy bar (Almond Joy, anyone?). I was sure hoping that this incredibly bland and irritating song would go away. As I've mentioned in previous posts, "The Blend" will add a new song, and then probably use their survey to determine if they should keep it or not. So far, I've heard "Riptide" multiple times, so I think it may have surprisingly made the cut. *barf*. Now, I gotta hear this asshole's (harsh! he's probably a really nice guy!) psuedo-indie rawk wailings everyday. I swear, there's so many of these adult pop guys trying to sound like maybe The Decemberists (not really into them much either) or to a lesser extent (because they're just not all that great to begin with) The Shins. I have a preliminary image of Joy in poofy hair and suspenders, looking like a Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen" reject. Of course, nothing again the 'Runners, whom are supposedly a good band, although I have not researched them further than their "meh" hit song. haha.

Dexy's Midnight Runners

Let the crap-fest commence: 

There's an interesting VHS appearance by a fake film called "Velocite" in the music video. They even packaged it as a Vestron film, how funny! Apparently there's not a whole lot of debate on whether its a real film or not (I think it's fake), but I found this entertaining Google+ conversation about it. I'm guessing the age group who would listen to this song would probably be too young to even know what a VHS tape is. The music video is extremely literal to the song, but in this case, the video is way more interesting than the song itself. I would suggest just watching it on mute. haha. VHS has had a slight resurgence in the past few years. Most recently, French blogger, Julien Knez wrote a fake article about VHS tapes, with new films and Tv Shows repackaged as such. This is such a fun project. It's interesting to see the ridiculous artistry that goes into a movie poster or VHS cover. The reinterpretations of the original poster art are always interesting to see.

Vance Joy (aka James Keogh) is a 27 year old and is from Melbourne, Australia. He toured with Taylor Swift in the USA, so I'm sure that laid a hand in his growing popularity. Do yourself a favor, and just listen to the following surperior Australian artists below:

UPDATE (Monday April 6th):

I would like to say after reviewing this song again (and while at work too), this definitely a much lesser evil than the many many other songs I hear at work. My apologies to Mr. Joy. I think the first few times I heard that (I guess) vibrato type of vocal style, I was immediately annoyed. This is a case of where (as said above), the music video can really transform a song. I see it as much darker and weirder than I when I originally heard it. I also think it's pretty extraordinary that this is his first album and he's already world famous, and not from Los Angeles or New York City (or the USA for that matter, so good for him! 

I'll get to work on my next entry after typing this of something worthy of picking apart its excruciating existence. I mean, it is Senior Discount Day at my store, so I'm sure the frustrations will be plentiful! Arrghhh. 

It's Too Late - Gloria Estefan (1994)

UGH, I HATE

I really hate this cover because I love the Carole King original:

It's such a sad, yet sorta sweet sounding song. Gloria Estefan's vocal delivery is cold and unfeeling at best. I mean frankly, "something has died" alright, the emotion that was in this song. Her sing-speak of "I just can't fake it" just makes me want to throw tomatoes at her Fozzie Bear style. It just comes off as super lazy and distracted. I wondered if she was mentally somewhere else when she recorded it. Maybe she had her mind on something else. "Did I lock the front door?", "did I turn the oven off before I left the house?". She sounds so vacant from the song, just devoid of any sadness that the song originally evokes. This is yet another example of singers who don't know what they're singing about. It's also an example of older songs that can't fit into "The Blend's" time frame but the newer cover is acceptable. Other violators of such magnitude are Seal (Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"), Annie Lennox (Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You"), and Michael McDonald (Van Morrison's "Moondance"). All of these are just gawd-awful!

Maroon 5

I'm finally off today after what seemed like a marathon work schedule. I'd have to look, but I don't think I worked more than five days in a row, but when your store is one of the few in this small mountain town I'm currently in, it's always insanely busy. The past couple of days, I'd finally had a break from the register, which is what I seem to do mostly. The customers are probably 85% nice, but there's that 15% leftover of mostly mean old ladies, and they just seemed to have all joined together and said, "let's go pick on the workers at..." So, I had it with register and people just degrading me. With fitting room, there's no attendant at my store, so you have to empty all the rooms (which are always full of junk) and then put all the clothes back up in the store. I thankfully didn't have any horror stories (that I remember anyway) that fellow co-workers have expressed in the past. One time a kid peed on the floor because their mom was too caught up in her shopping to take her poor kid to the bathroom. Another time, someone dumped a bunch of clothes on the floor and someone I work with went to pick them up only to discover them dripping in urine. *shudders* People are so disgusting sometimes.

I HATE

As far as music goes, I almost have too many songs that I want to cover. I hate that when I'm at work, I'll suddenly have an idea, but I never have any time to write them down. I sometimes wish I could just write my entries right then and there, but obviously that's not going to happen. When I work fitting room, I'm more aware of the music playing in which I notice more of the repetition of songs. One of the groups most guilty of this is Maroon 5. I can't stand Maroon 5's music. There's at least 3 songs I hear every single day that I work by them; "Love Somebody", "Maps", and "Daylight". "Maps" is played like clockwork after an ad by "The Blend" that combines three music clips from songs with the word "love" in them, which incidentally includes "Love Somebody", Amy Grant's "That What Love Is For" and Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me" (*vomits*). This happens every single time.

"Daylight" I'm wondering if it has something to do with vampires. He says, "when the daylight comes I'll have to go, but tonight I'm gonna hold you so close". I guess I'm actually romanticising his actions a bit, because for all I know, he might just have to work in the morning. Or, he could be one of those scumbags that leaves immediately after sex. I guess it depends on their individual arrangement. Did they use this song in one of those "Twilight" movies? Upon further investigation, the song's meaning isn't explained. That's fine and all because whatever writings, art, etc I come up with, it usually ends up being left up to interpretation. If you read the wiki entry for "Daylight" (linked above), you'll see much harsh criticism towards this song. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"Love Somebody" makes me want to punch somebody. I'm probably misinterpreting this song also, but sounds like another asshole guy, here pressuring this girl to have sex with him. "I'm only halfway baby, but take me all the wayy". Is he referring to blue balls? Aren't blue balls a myth anyhow? I see in the text of the Wiki entry that one of those assholes (again, they're probably all really nice guys!) from OneRepublic helped write this crap-fest. I'll save my OneRepublic distaste for another entry.

uh oh!

I remember seeing Adam Levine in the first episode of the second season of "American Horror Story". I'll have to re-watch it, but if I remember right he gets killed in that episode. I'm sure he's a nice guy and blah blah blah, but damn, sometimes when hear his music enough to makes you want to kill the guy. Sorry Adam and co!

Tea Will Be Loved, get it? Remember when Snapple was good? I think it went downhill after The Snapple Lady left. Watch all those great old commercials HERE.

I used to hear another one of their songs when I worked at a beauty supply store "She Will Be Loved". That song just grates on my nerves, so at least with their newer songs, they're consistent. "Moves Like Jagger" is another one, but probably not soft enough for work radio station status. My husband had a conversation with a co-worker of his where he found out the poor guy didn't even know who this Jagger character was. hahaha MICK JAGGER!! I guess they never heard the Rolling Stones. Do they live under a rock (nice pun!)? No one "moves like Jagger", in yer dreams!

I watch "Project Runway" and one of the contestants is related to one of the members of Maroon 5. She would say something along the lines of her brother being a "rock star". Ugh, I think he'd have to play rock music to ever be considered as such. I've always hated that "rock star" term anyway. All Maroon 5 songs sound less than natural to me. I can't imagine a live band playing these songs. It all sounds like the result of a couple of keyboards and a drum machine.  Maroon 5 seems to be the new Matchbox 20 as far as soft rock stations go. They're constantly played on rotation with annoying "unique" lead vocalists. I still hear some Matchbox 20 at work unfortunately. The only thing different about Matchbox 20 though is it sounds like actual guitars, etc. I didn't think I could dislike Maroon 5 anymore because they just made me give a slight compliment to Matchbox 20. Bastards! haha. Also, there's way too many "name and number" bands out there. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any good ones. Blink 182? Nope. Eve6? Nope. Sham69? Ah, they're good from what I've heard, I don't know enough of their music though. Effiel65? Nooo.

Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk!" is unbelievably terrible. I don't know if I'm just being a totally close minded jerk about it, but damn, the first time I heard it, all I thought was who is taking a dump on James Brown's grave? This song is first credited to Mark Ronson, who is a DJ and producer with many famous artists on his portfolio. He's worked with many random artists such as Amy Winehouse (R.I.P.), Adele, Foreigner (who include Ronson's step-dad, Mick Jones) and even Black Lips.  Bruno Mars supplies the vocals and songwriting credits along with Ronson, Jeff Bhasker and Philip Lawrence. Mars is a modern work radio station favorite, with at least two songs on rotation at my current job. I had mentioned in another post about "Locked Out Of Heaven", which I used to hear clips of at my old Target job. I'm sure he's a kool dude, etc but man, I'm always less than impressed by his musical efforts but I haven't seen any of his performances to be fair. They also play "When I Was Your Man" at work, in which he belts his best Michael Jackson impersonation. It sorta grates on my nerves, the vocal delivery, because the verses are sung LOUD and then quiet. For example, he says, "I SHOULD'VE BOUGHT YOU...flowers/SHOULD'VE GIVEN YOU ALL MY...hours"

As far as "Uptown" is concerned, it sounds a hell of a lot like Arsenio Hall's gawd-awful music project called "Chunky A". It's basically a terrible parody of Cameo. Haven't heard of it? Check out the "25 Lamest Videos" version of it below. 

I appreciate the efforts made on this song, but damn, there's just so many more superior examples of funk music. I think also this being heard while I'm at work is hurting its appeal for me. The video definitely improves this song, which pumps up the theatricality of the 1980s throwback style they seem to be going for. I'd suggest as far as modern funk and R&B goes, to check out the Daptone Records discography. Funny enough, Ronson worked with Daptone artist, The Dap-Kings on Amy Winehouse's "Back In Black" record. I'm not sure why "Uptown" doesn't sound anything like that though. I'm more into the 1960s/1970s funk sound, though Ronson is going for more 1980s. For me, 1980s R&B, is somewhat spotty. There's Prince and others that are super fun though. Here's some good funk songs that I really like below, enjoy! 

Also, there's an interesting comment section on "Uptown Funk"'s WhoSampled.com entry. 

Try - Colbie Caillat

I'm off from work today and tomorrow, but a couple of work songs have been nagging me. I've been working about 35-40 hours a work, which is great, but of course that means more exposure to terrible music. Boo-hoo. haha. I end up with some songs stuck in my head and I'll annoy my husband by singing them terribly. That's carried over from work where I'll also more or less speak the lyrics, resulting in the usual "don't quit your day job, Kristin" type of comment. haha.

I HATE

"Try" by Colbie Caillat is played about 3 (incidentally, it took more "songwriters" than than to write this crappy song) times a day. It's a terrible song and to me just screams ROUGH DRAFT. The song seems so unfinished and has "in the meantime" or "holding place" types of lyrics. The repetition of a single word isn't always a downfall of a song, but the execution here really hurts the supposed message lurking underneath.

I sorta understand the sentiment to the song. It's referring to that teenage girl trying their best to get guys to like them or making friends and pretending to be something you're not. That constant need to have people like you, even if it means sacrificing your own sanity. I don't understand the "Try, try, try, try-yy..." remark though, because it sounds like a put down, as in why bother trying? It's a weirdly backhanded the song, mostly in the words chosen to express these fleeting emotions involved in one's self-esteem and view of themselves in this difficult world. I'm also perplexed by the "get up-get up-get up" line the song. Wait, what? The poor girl has already taken her clothes off so guys will like her, she maxed out her credit cards (is she old enough to even have said cards?) to buy "cool" clothes (which nowadays are all horribly unflattering anyway). I think she's done more than her fair share of "getting up". Which one is it?

This song is supposedly about Caillat's own personal struggle with image as a pop star. The video resembles a Dove soap ad, with various women in white tops looking at the camera. It apparently features a cornucopia of bland ("The Blend") artists such as Sheryl Crow, Christina Perri, and many more. It's the epitome of accessible feminists patting themselves on the back for their mainstream contribution to society. I guess that's a harsh thing to say. I'm sure they're nice people and everything, using their notoriety to help their young fans cope with the trials and tribulations of being a woman or really just a human (no one has it easy). Maybe they're just trying their best to put to rest some of the stereotypes women have been trying to shake off for centuries. I suppose any positive change made (whether fueled by popularity or not, which comes off as the ultimate irony, feminist ideals are trendy) is step towards the right direction. It's just too bad, positive message or not, this song is just terrible.

As for her background, Caillat is a California native and her dad, Ken Caillat, co-produced the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac record, "Rumours". She also sings other "work song" hits (ugh) "Realize", "Falling For You" and possibly some others I'm not aware of. You sorta wonder about the supposed "struggle" that these "artists" go through if they're from southern California and have a music producer in their family. I'd say it shouldn't matter, but sometimes its a bit annoying when these music careers are seemingly handed to some. I think I'm just saying this because, while Colbie's probably a really nice person and everything (already said that), but someone like her in say a small town on the other side of the country would probably never reach these same heights. I like California, but I hate that location is so important to one's success, despite how much talent they have. That's why New York and Los Angeles are over populated. I sure wish that would change. Talent is talent no matter where you're from or reside.

Young Turks - Rod Stewart

I LIKE

I luv hearing "Young Turks" by Rod Stewart at work. I had a co-worker at my current job who said it was "her jam". In this stormy cloud of horrible songs raining down on us at work, the once mediocre seems to swell into a surreal greatness. There's many Rod Stewart songs played at work, but unfortunately many many bad ones. This includes the asinine covers he's done over the years. Carole King's "You're So Far Away", Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart Of Mine", etc. There's a contemporary song he's done that's played called "She Makes Me Happy", which unfortunately makes me want to kill myself. It's poorly written, redundant, just boring as hell. What a waste.

I saw the "Pop Up Video" version (unfortunately doesn't seem to be available for viewing online) of "Young Turks" this morning. That's such a great show and it's too bad it's not on anymore, although music videos aren't as widely seen or as important as they used to be. E.G. Daily is in the music video. You may know her best as either the voice of Tommy from Nickelodeon show, "The Rugrats", Pee-Wee Herman's girlfriend Dottie in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" or as the lead singer of the band that plays the dance in "Better Off Dead". She's also one of Julie's friends in the great teen film, "Valley Girl". Russell Mulcahy directed the video and has made tons of music videos and more over the years.

I Won't Hold You Back - Toto

This is a YouTube user's video. I couldn't seem to locate an official music video for this song. 

I CAN TOLERATE IT

I don't mind this song, it of course, gets even better when heard at the work in the midst of far inferior songs. I'm not sure where I originally heard this one, but the first time I re-heard it at work, it was super familiar. At first I thought maybe it was a 1980s Bee Gees song, but I looked it up and figured out it was Toto. My dad had a few Toto records, so I probably heard it from then. There's, I think 7 (6 according to the picture below) guys in Toto. I've always referred to them as a band of "ugly secretaries". Sorry guys, they're a super nerdy lookin' bunch, and added to that equation are the wonderful shades of tan that is early 1980s mainstream fashion. But, I do absolutely love to see bands of pretty much average looking guys succeed in popular music, especially in these appearance obsessed times. 

They're still better looking than glam rock group Mud

"The Blend" usually plays this song either late at night (around 9pm-10pm) or on Sundays. I'm guessing it's too un-hip for their listening base? Who knows. All I know is I'd rather hear Toto than crap like Capital Cities and Passenger's "Let Her Go". Check out the "WhoSampled.com" entry for "I Won't Hold You Back". It has been sampled in 9 songs, very interesting.

Break

Mac'n'cheese with Adele and godawful Imagine Dragons' "Demons".

 

KT Tunstall

They say "woo-hoo" 30 times in this. THIRTY!!!!!

When Smokey Sings by ABC

I used to hear "When Smokey Sings" by ABC at TJ Maxx when I worked there in 2001-2002. I think its in my top ten songs that I hate the most. I'm sorry guys, but this song is horrible. I can't even bring myself to re-listen to the song for this post. I don't think I've heard this song in 13 years. The radio feed at TJ Maxx was all their own. It wasn't commonplace for businesses to use SiriusXM at the time, even though it existed then.  I remember the first commercials I used to see for the satellite radio service featured David Bowie.

Nice Chanel guitar! *barfs*

UPDATE:
Do yourself a favor and just listen to the original Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. For cryin' out loud, the guy's still alive, I don't care what ABC was thinking.

Train, Phillip Phillips

I had three days off in a row (*whew!*), but today I have to go back to work (boo). There's two songs that they play at work that have almost the exact same "whoaaaa" type harmony sung. It took me awhile to figure out who sang one of these songs because there's so many newer groups they play on The Blend that I've never heard of. Hopefully these songs eventually go away, but I know there's a few songs that I still hear and remember hearing when they were new. One example that I need to cover is anything by Faith Hill or Shania Twain. Ugh, the worst! This time though, I'm covering "Angel In Blue Jeans" by Train and "Home" by Phillip Phillips.

Train dominates the station at my job, even though as far as I know, they only play two of their songs, over and over. "Drive By" is another crap-fest by them that I'll hear at least 3 times a day. "Angel In Blue Jeans" is also played constantly. There's only one redeeming quality to this song is the two second twang of surf guitar thrown in there randomly. Train's biggest hit is probably "Drops Of Jupiter" which I always thought was total rip off of "Don't Go Away" by Oasis, whom I'm not that a big fan of either, but I'd rather hear them than Train.

Train is a terrible band from San Francisco, who formed in 1993. According to the Wikipedia I skimmed, their songs have been used in tons of TV, movies and commercials. They're also responsible for other horrible songs such as "Soul Sister", "Calling All Angels", and others I'm probably not aware of. Make this band go away already.

Phillip Phillips I just learned is a winner from TV show "American Idol", basically the resurgence of 1980s talent show, "Star Search". It's good to see some success from those kinds of shows that promise so much, yet deliver so little. There's very few winners that have careers for themselves (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, etc), at least as far I know, I stopped watching many years ago. Apparently, the best way to succeed from that show is to not win (Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert, Daughtry, etc) because many of the contestants who didn't have actually done better for themselves. From what I've heard its because the contract they're signing onto is extremely rigid. I believe the same can be said for other competition type shows like "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model". It seems like the emotional roller coaster people put themselves through to win just doesn't pay off.

Wilson Phillips/Berlin

I HATE

At work, there are many cover versions of superior original songs played throughout the day. Here's "Go Your Own Way" originally by Fleetwood Mac, redone by Wilson Phillips. Like many of the songs I hear throughout the work day, I'm not sure who sings most of the songs I hear. This one came as a surprise because it was a group I had actually heard of. I think back in elementary school either myself or my sister had a Wilson Phillips tape or CD. They play a few of their songs at my present job and I've heard their songs probably all throughout my retail "career" (*shudders*). If you're not familiar with their singing, do yourself a favor and just skip to their parents music, Brian Wilson (father of Wendy and Carnie) of the Beach Boys and Michelle Phillips (mother of Chynna) of the Mamas And Papas.

MTV had a special, or a pilot that never launched called "The 25 Lamest Videos". It starred Denis Leary, Janeane Garafalo, Jon Stewart and Chris Kattan (the only funny thing I think he ever did). I have it taped off of TV, but unfortunately it's not available in it's entirety online. Number 23 on the countdown is Wilson Phillip's "Hold On" which is hilariously torn apart. I recall such lines "Prince Valiant haircut" referring to Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson after harshly being called "the fat chick" is said to also have the "best personality". Soo wrong. Speaking of Carnie, have you seen her on "Celebrity Wife Swap"? Her husband was such a jerk. If anybody should "go their own way", it should be her.

Fleetwood Mac's original version of "Go Your Own Way" (released in 1977) is bitingly cruel but ended up being a huge hit song for them. The group consisted of two on again off again couples and a weird drummer. This particular song is about guitarist Lindsay Buckingham and backing vocalist Stevie Nicks' deteriorating relationship. I mean the whole time he's telling her "YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY" or really, "get the fu** outta here!". It's a pretty mean song despite it's upbeat sound. BUT, this is a blog about work songs, so I'm stuck with the neutered Wilson Phillips version which has about as much energy as a coma. It's almost as if they have no clue what they're even singing about. It's devoid of emotion and any sort of understanding of the lyrics. I find this true among many newer artists; it's all vocal acrobatics and absolutely no sense of what they're singing about. It's soulless and meaningless.

Courtesy of http://www.azlyrics.com

"Go Your Own Way"

Loving you

Isn't the right thing to do

How can I ever change things that I feel?

If I could

Baby I'd give you my world

How can I

When you won't take it from me?

You can go your own way

Go your own way

You can call it another lonely day

You can go your own way

Go your own way

Tell me why

Everything turned around

Packing up

Shacking up's all you wanna do

If I could

Baby I'd give you my world

Open up

Everything's waiting for you

You can go your own way

Go your own way

You can call it another lonely day

You can go your own way

Go your own way

I LIKE

"Take My Breath Away" (1986) by Berlin isn't played too often at work, but I get pretty excited when I hear it, saying "yes!" to myself. I like Berlin, although I only have their first record ("Pleasure Victim") with "The Metro", "Sex (I'm A..), etc. This song was written by soundtrack great, Giorgio Moroder and also Tom Whitlock which was used in the film "Top Gun".  It even won an Oscar for Best Song that year. My husband Jeffrey and I while traveling across California stopped at some landmark from that film in San Diego. Apparently this song caused a rift in Berlin because it wasn't written by band songwriter, John Crawford and shortly after they split up. 

"Take My Breath Away"

Watching every motion

In my foolish lover's game

On this endless ocean

Finally lovers know no shame

Turning and returning

To some secret place inside

Watching in slow motion

As you turn around and say

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

Watching I keep waiting

Still anticipating love

Never hesitating

To become the fated ones

Turning and returning

To some secret place to find

Watching in slow motion

As you turn to me and say

My love

Take my breath away

Through the hourglass I saw you

In time you slipped away

When the mirror crashed I called you

And turned to hear you say

If only for today

I am unafraid

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

Watching every motion

In this foolish lover's game

Haunted by the notion

Somewhere there's a love in flames

Turning and returning

To some secret place inside

Watching in slow motion

As you turn my way and say

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

The Blender Survey

A few days ago, I received an email from SiriusXM to participate in their periodic, "Music Blender Survey." What's that you say? Well, it's a survey that this particular station (which is the station they play at my job), where you can supposedly help "pick the music". They "want to know what you think of the music". I managed to figure out how to sign up for this ability to attempt at picking better music which at the time seemed a bit challenging. I recall on the main website being a slew of strange demographic type questions and an activation code that didn't seem to exist. I think they've made it easier since then. By following this link (which is from Facebook), you might be able to take the quiz.

Basically what the survey consists of are song samples and choices as to what your opinion of them are. I took a bunch of screen shots to show examples of this.

This goes one for all these songs: 

1. Best Day Of My Life - American Authors
2. Roar - Katy Perry
3. Uptown Funk - Bruno Mars
4. Story Of My Life - One Direction
5. I'm Not The Only One - Sam Smith 
6. Let Her Go - Passenger
7. Rude - Magic
8. Just Give Me A Reason - Pink + Nate Ruess (see post 1)
9. Brave - Sarah Bareilles
10. Superheroes - The Script
11. Headphones - Matt Nathanson
12. All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor
13. Come To Me - Goo Goo Dolls
14. Counting Stars - One Republic
15. Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran
16. Try - Colbie Caillat
17. Angel In Blue Jeans - Train
18. Maps - Maroon 5
19. Stay With Me - Sam Smith
20. Daylight - Maroon 5
21. Jealous - Nick Jonas
22. Carry On - Fun.
23. Me And My Broken Heart - Rixton
24. Drive By - Train
25. The First - Villains
26. Demons - Imagine Dragons
27. Bartenders - Lady Antebellum
28. All Of Me - John Legend
29. Try - Pink
30. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz
31. Cool Kids - Echosmith
32. True Love - Pink
33. Say Something - A Great Big World
34. Am I Wrong - Nico And Vinz
35. Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
36. A Sky Full Of Stars - Coldplay
37. Night Changes - One Direction
38. I Choose You - Sara Bareilles

With the exception of just a couple, these are the songs that are repeated over throughout one of my 8 hours work days. Over time, I've noticed very little changes to the songs that they pick for this survey. Although, this past one did have a couple of newer ones, but still consisted of a few pesky songs that for some reason will not go away. Is this modern day payola? Are these songs' companies, labels, etc paying for these songs to be aired constantly? It just doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Do that many people actually like these terrible songs? Well, there's no accounting for taste among the general public. Even in this day and age where your own personal choices are so much more in reach than ever. You can listen past the radio format to find bands that you may have never heard otherwise. When I was younger, I had my older brother's interests to take as an influence on my own likes and dislikes when it came to music, movies etc. We listened to college radio, had pen pals mixtapes, independent magazines, etc. The internet just makes so much of the legwork in this almost nonexistent and much more accessible. So because of this, it boggles my mind as to why people still buy into garbage music such as what they play on "The Blend". BUT, there are a few folks out there who have a similar opinion to mine as to redundancy of this station.

 "The Blend"'s poor Facebook sap sometimes chimes in on the comments:

While others make some interesting songs requests:

Also in the survey, there are a few "fill in the blank" type questions. Here are some of my answers: 

 

In conclusion, I'm pretty certain the "become a music blender" program doesn't really change a whole lot. If you want to sign up for it, this is the link from their main website. If that doesn't work, try the Facebook one towards the top of this post.