Yep, mentioned that in my comment, as well. Being a Bay Area resident since 1987 when that song was released I was like, "what? really? haha... that's funny." But as I mentioned in said comment, Gwen always explained it came from them spending time in the Bay when asked about it. I liked that.
And the Gwen version, which is better, wasn't even on the original release of Play. I'm not sure if it's been added to subsequent re-releases or not. But at the time the Gwen version was just for the Southside singles/EPs (of which there are many). But I agree that while there aren't many of them, Southside is a weak point on Play. There's more than a few b-sides from the Play singles that are better than Southside.
As far as the actual album goes...
"They stacked on the producers but chose wisely, looping in Nellee Hooper, Sly & Robbie (R.I.P. Robbie Shakespeare), the Cars’ Ric Ocasek, Prince(!), Steely & Clevie, and the Neptunes. Sometimes, producer-heavy albums run the risk of sounding disjointed. Here, though, you can tell who’s running the show."
I hadn't necessarily jumped off the No Doubt train by the time we got to 'Rock Steady', but I wasn't really into what they were doing anymore, either. Like, I never bought this album and I had picked up all the releases before it. I wanted to be excited because it had a Prince connection (that was important to me back then). Because Ric Ocasek had produced some things I loved, especially Weezer's Blue Album. Because the Neptunes were producing music years ahead of its time back then. Because Sly & Robbie! But, idk, never got into it. Maybe have been the singles - they just didn't grab me. I think Hey Baby was first and I've always been kind of lukewarm on that one (and don't think it has aged particularly well). I thought Hella Good was kinda funny because it was Bay Area slang (which at least Gwen always copped to). It was only Underneath It All that really pushed buttons for me and I still love that one. Underneath It All is a jam. Sexy af, too. Which is not something I say about a lot of music (outside of Prince).
And I think I might not be alone in that overall reaction and reception to the album. For whatever reason it felt like a lot of people had moved on from No Doubt around that time. They hadn't changed. They weren't suddenly worse and may even have been better than they were before. But the world had changed. Musical tastes had shifted just enough that this album didn't land as strongly as it should have. Which is too bad, really, because that along with Gwen's guest spot success and then solo success is definitely what led us to No Doubt disappearing for a decade (and then another decade after Push and Shove). Who knows? Maybe it is because of the ska influence. Maybe it is because the world isn't as accepting of a bunch of non-black kids, now middle-aged adults, making black influenced music. All I do know is that Tragic Kingdom is an all-time classic and (regardless of it's reception or sales) Return of Saturn isn't far behind it. No Doubt ruled... and then they didn't. Kind of breaking my brain a little that all these albums 20-25 years old.
"Largely inspired by the after-parties the band threw while touring Return Of Saturn, Rock Steady leaned all the way into Jamaican dancehall culture, and the band brought in local genre influencers such as the aforementioned Steely & Clevie (“Start The Fire”), Sly & Robbie (“Underneath It All,” “Hey Baby”), singer-songwriter Lady Saw, and reggae and dancehall DJ Bounty Killer. Now, I’m fully aware that a mostly white band standing on the shoulders of Black artists to make a Jamaican dancehall-inspired album hasn’t aged particularly well. But for the sake of this retrospective, I won’t get into the muddy ethics of that move, except to remark that it probably wouldn’t go over super well today."
No disagreement, because that's where we are now. But! I feel like there's always a few things that get missed in conversations like these and in particular with this one being about No Doubt. No Doubt had always, from day one, been a ska band. Their music's lineage is directly rooted in the music styles the people they hired had previously created, particularly Sly & Robbie. You could say that makes it even more egregious, something to be seen as an even stronger negative. I don't. I think that gives them at least a partial pass. I mean, if you're going to make that music, why not bring more exposure to the people who are authentically making it? Because No Doubt was always clear on their biggest influences - second wave two-tone British ska - and that was never exactly the purest form of the genre. Lastly, at the time No Doubt was making Rock Steady we were at the peak of huge bands spending vast amounts of money to make giant studio created albums. So whether it's a positive or negative to you, I'm quite certain all the people they hired were very well paid. Personally, I have no zero problem with that. Those people could have said no, they didn't.
Weird, I felt the opposite. I totally understand where you're coming from; it's not a Rickenbacker. But it's still a bass that McCartney actually played on records and on stage with Wings. I actually really like Wings, so I think sounds cool. And he is still that guy from the Beatles, even if it isn't a bass from that era. Imagine what one of those would go for these days.
It is really gorgeous but I too wouldn't mind hearing an instrumental version. Wondered if maybe such a thing was included on the soundtrack so I went and checked; it is not.
In all seriousness, glad it was a misdemeanor charge. Felony charges at/relating to airports can make travel difficult and dude is like, ya know, touring. I suppose most of this wouldn't apply so much to private planes. Don't really know.
I could not agree with you more. Hugely overrated. But I never got the impression they were the cashing in type. Of all the names at this event theirs was the one that made me go, "huh."
The next line is "ballers they gonna ball, shot callers they gonna call", which (along with being a pretty awful lyric) is not all that original either. Find it hard to believe nobody used something very similar to that before, or since.
Damn :/ Sly & Robbie are the foundation. The roots of the roots. They go as deep as you can go in reggae. They played on so many songs and were a part of so much music as to be damn near unbelievable. 1040 Appearances and 1662 Credits on Discogs and I would seriously doubt that's all of them. Too many of the reggae greats are gone and left us too soon. RIP Robbie.
Sly & Robbie made a lot of great music with a lot of great artists, but Black Uhuru has always been one of my absolute favorites. Dancing roots reggae.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWEGXb2juvM
The Joy Formidable fucking rule. In another era they would have been huge. Their discography is consistently top shelf and they barely get noticed (at least here in the states).
Well... damn. Evidently I've got a lot of listening to do...
The Men I Trust and The Armed albums were on my regular rotations for quite a while. The Armed album might be the thing I listened to the most this year outside of my usual electronic music life (of which exactly none made this list). Low and Halsey also got quite a few spins. Some of the rest of the list I've touched here and there, now and then. But I would say I haven't listened to a majority of it at all. I will, I always do. That's why I love these lists. This year was difficult for me though and I think I took more comfort in familiarity that newness.
Oh cool... at first I thought I had missed the whole show. Dec 22nd, got it. I record this one and fast forward as needed. Sometimes it's great, sometimes not. I'm into this one for Joni, of course.
I get the feeling that maybe part of why he did this is for Rutherford, Banks, maybe even Stuermer and Nic. Phil is obviously very self aware and has been really honest about his health struggles. It's got to be difficult to get out there and not be the man you used to be in front of twenty thousand people, but he's doing it anyway. He doesn't need money and he had previously said (more than once) that he didn't think this was ever going to happen. I'm glad they did it and I'm glad people are enjoying it. But I definitely get the feeling that a big part of why it happened was Phil doing it for everyone else. Get out there once last time and leave everyone in a happy place.
That being said... I still think that ? leaves the door open for Rutherford and Banks to go out with Gabriel one last time, as well.
What Can The Streaming Services’ Year-End Data Tell Us About Pop Today?
That most people streaming their music aren't digging very deep, have some pretty basic ass music tastes, and that current pop music is, by-and-large, pretty awful.
Love this one, maybe even more than The Tipping Point. The former is has more obscure lyrical content, but I absolutely love the music. This one is much more clear on the lyrics and as someone who is aging, going through some things and looking backwards more often than I would have expected I got some feels from them. Also really love how much it changes from beginning to end. These two songs alone being on one album have me really excited to see where else they've gone lyrically and musically.
Slavish sycophants gonna slavish sycophant
I should have been more clear so as to not leave anyone confused. What is Radiohead doing with NEW music?
No one in Radiohead needs rent money, that's why they tour.
This will be the longest length of time between Radiohead albums already. They are notorious for taking a long time when they do get around to making an album. Members of the band are working on other projects. I love Radiohead. The intentions and meaning of my previous posts were clear, even if some of y'all want to pretend otherwise.
By not recording and releasing new music? That makes you a heritage artist long before your time. Something it would seem Radiohead would never have been interested in being. They're amazing live, still, every time. But continuing to play the same songs year after year is the opposite of what the Stones and U2 did. Like them or not, the Stones and U2 released many quality (admittedly, some better than others) latter career albums and toured behind all of them. Would have expected Radiohead to continue doing the same thing. Ed, Thom and Jonny all writing and releasing new songs outside of the band 4-6 years after their last album is just not really what I would ever have predicted happening. As much as I love them, I'm not stuck in the world of their old albums. I was hoping to continue on the journey of what those guys would create together musically over the course of many years. Two albums in the last (what will be at least) 11 years isn't covering much ground. They won't comment on it, because that Radiohead and I'm fine with that. But that still leaves me wondering... what's going on with Radiohead?
Ed O'Brien released a damn fine album last year.
Two (or three) Radiohead members are in Smile.
There was five years between The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool, with the latter not containing entirely new songs.
It's been five years already since A Moon Shaped Pool and See Above.
I'm trying, but I'm not particularly moved by the Smile songs. I like Stream #3. And sorry Nigel, tossing a few minutes of improvised music ("free jazz") on the front of your song doesn't stop you from being a rock band. Unless the entire album is without these songs, it's a rock record.
Radiohead is putting out archival anniversary sets with previously unreleased tracks.
But...
What is going on with Radiohead?
I would have to assume that RZA and Tarantino would just, ya know, talk to each other. Because aren't they friends? Or acquaintances, at least. Seems like something QT would have been interested in, though. Shit, maybe Scorsese, too. He has done other music documentaries.
Not much to add, really. Just a solidly great lineup. Like, who's missing? D'Angelo for sure. Maxwell maybe. Only negative I can see is there will have to be a lot of people playing at the same time. Two days might have been more enjoyable. But you won't really be without someone you'd want to see all day, so no real complaint there.
Piece Of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son are "my" Iron Maiden albums so I'm pretty chill with this ranking. I knew of them and listened to them a bit before that, but those are the years I was deep into buying their albums and listening to their music. Always paid attention to whatever they're doing since then and got lost in the Iron Maiden documentaries on YouTube rabbit hole earlier this year (there's a lot of them - like, many many hours of watching), but my musical tastes moved on from this kind of music for the most part in the very early 90s and I could no longer call myself a diehard fan. Great fucking band though and I'm glad they've stuck around as long as they have.
Side note: I'm one of those people who ALWAYS loved Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Wore that cassette out. That album was very, VERY divisive around the time of its release. Concept album. Synthesizers. Not metal enough. Blah blah blah. It's nice that it seems to grown in acceptance and popularity over the years.
I think a band should be allowed to have one GREAT song that garners them a ton of hype and interest followed by a few good songs and a good first album. Give them time to marinate, live, experience and figure out what they want to be and where they want to go. A lot of bands used to get that opportunity and we would follow along, hoping they made it and stuck around. The modern pop perfection ideal, along with streaming music, has kind of eaten up that whole world at moment. We expect every song to be great, to service us as quickly as possible so we can move along to the next song, or it's not worth our time. I miss the music world where you could discover a GOOD band wit h some good songs who were given a few years, some singles and a couple albums to become GREAT. Even in the indie and micro label areas of the music universe this is becoming harder and harder to find. We hear about artists now and if they don't hit in some way big enough garner major attention they slowly drift away as we cycle quickly on to the next thing... and the next... and the next... Like, sometimes I think half the hate the Foo Fighters get is for no other reason than they're still around. People just expect bands/artists, even the REALLY famous ones, to be fast food these days. Single serving entertainment.
Except Kelly Clarkson has an absolutely fucking amazing voice and can literally sing anything. She's long ago moved past being the first American Idol winner, or even being the person who moved past being the first American Idol winner. She's more than a judge on The Voice. She's more than a daytime talkshow host. Idk, I'm just not one of those people who hates on everything that isn't exactly what I like. There are plenty of things I REALLY dislike. Believe me, plenty. But I can be objective and critical and deductive and, ya know, look at things from more than just the everything is below me if it isn't exactly my thing snark. Kelly Clarkson can fucking sing and sometimes she sings some shit that really impresses me. And the fact that her personality is upbeat and positive doesn't turn me off in the slightest. She's about as famous as famous can get and to my eyes she comes across like a regular person who is still having a good time doing what she's doing. I like that. I'm totally fine with there being people who aren't jaded and unhappy about everything. I'm also happy there are artists who are in that lane so when I feel that way I can go there, too. But damn it man, objectively, she sang the shit out of this song and her band did not one damn thing wrong. This kills and I like it.
Now, if somebody could explain to me, objectively, why it's so bad instead of just making a "hey I'm clever" negative, sarcastic comment... I'll listen.
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