Although a great many of them are really bad.
Of course, all tracks posted here are owned solely by artists and companies who control their rights and yada yada yada. They are posted here in streaming format only for your momentary listening pleasure (or displeasure).
Some of them may be available on iTunes, but many are not available anywhere.
Theme by nostrich.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]D.A.F. - Verschwende Deine Jugend / Greif Nach Den Sternen
This German proto-techno group leaves me confused and speechless. As I mentioned earlier, this 1981 album, Gold un Liebe (Gold and Life), is divided into a Light Side and Dark Side. This track is from the Dark Side of the vinyl disc.
The title of the first track translates into the imperative command “Waste Your Youth.” It transitions seamlessly into the album finale, which translates into “Reach for the Stars.” Though I hate to be devil’s advocate to some hardcore black leather-wearing Germans, don’t these tracks seem to create an electropunk oxymoron? Maybe that’s the idea. Either way, enjoy this nearly four minute send off of conflicting advice.
Wikipedia on D.A.F.
My first post about D.A.F.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Michael Jackson - Bad
In honor of the King of Pop, here is something that, despite its title, is not bad at all.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Group 87 - Lough Erin’s Mist
Today feels like this song. Totally blown and spun out, and now surveying the wreckage.
I’m gonna admit it—I like this record.
My first post on Group 87 here.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]The Harmonica Playboys - Chiribiribin
Back with another track from Borrah Minevitch & His Harmonica Rascals, although, this is a track recorded by the Harmonica Playboys after Borrah’s departure (or death, I’m unsure, he was pretty old by the time this album came out).
As I said in my earlier post about Borrah, the man certainly lived a storied life. His epitaph, place on his grave in Paris after his death in 1955:
Oh! Clamoring
Dying Immortality!
Swiftly Withdraw
From Your Sands of Time…
Rise and Glide Silently to Rest
On the Sun Baked Shore…
Bleach and Purify
Your Weary Bones…
Donate Your Marrow
To the Trouble Night
With its Sobbing Rest…
Deeds and Legends
Are No Longer Your Elixir
In God’s Groves…
The Golden Braids
Of the Celestial Being
Can Only Confuse You Now…
Yield Up Your Fossils
To The
Simplifying Delicate Tracery
Of Eons
Then Rise and Live Anew.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Gleaming Spires - All Night Party
The musical joy one can get from Revenge of the Nerds is truly endless. This is the OTHER song that Gleaming Spires did for the soundtrack, the other being the more famous “Are You Ready for the Sex Girls,” which probably ended up in the movie due to its enormous popularity on LA’s KROQ radio station.
Some brilliant bastards even made a music video for that song a few years back.
Wikipedia entry on Gleaming Spires.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]The Limeliters - The Midnight Special
The Limeliters have been around since 1959. This track comes from their album Fourteen Folk Songs (pretty straightforward), which was released in the early 60’s. You should take note: squeezing 14 tracks onto a single vinyl album is an impressive feat. Although, you’ll see how this is possible once you notice the tempo at which this song is recorded. Trust me, all of the others are just as fast.
Just so you know, there’s some heavy academia behind this group. The leader, Lou Gottlieb, received a Ph.D in Musicology before starting this band. They broke up in 1963, but got back together for some reunion tours in the 1970’s, and still perform to this day, although members have come and gone (and passed away). Basically, the Limeliters is like a folk music version of Justice League of America; the name and legacy remain, while the members often change.
More on The Limeliters can be found on Wikipedia and their official site, the latter of which is impressive both for its flash design, and goofy pictures of old guys holding banjos, dress shirts tucked into jeans.
A smattering of their work can be found on iTunes as well.
Personally, I think this version of “Midnight Special” is even creepier than the CCR version heard in Twilight Zone: The Movie. Are John Landis and Dan Aykroyd true respectable geniuses, just lunatics, or both?
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Alvin & The Chipmunks - The Gambler
Today seems like an appropriate day to post Alvin & The Chipmunks covering Kenny Rogers. This awful high-pitched country cut also comes from the album Urban Chipmunk.
And if the idea of the Chipmunks going country just gives you the most stellar of hard-ons, you can continue the journey by watching this cartoon where Alvin attempts to meet Dolly Parton. It is ALSO titled “Urban Chipmunk.”
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Deutch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Sex Unter Wasser (Sex Under Water)
Do you like leather muscle shirts, chains, and steamy warehouses? You’re gonna love this.
According to Wikipedia, “The name Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft – literally, German-American Friendship – is a satirical reference to the DSF, the East German Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft (German-Soviet Friendship Organization).”
I think the joke is readily apparent.
This song comes from their 1981 album Gold und Liebe. The record itself has two sides: the Light Side, and the Dark Side (I’m not joking). “Sex Unter Wasser” can be found on the Light Side—I promise to play something from the Dark Side later on.
D.A.F. still records to this day in their nihilistic electronic style. Check out their extremely German website here, and download some of their latest work here from iTunes.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]The Rubinoos - Revenge of the Nerds
Yes, another song from the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack, but how many of you that there actually IS a song called “Revenge of the Nerds”? The band is The Rubinoos. Best known for… I’m pretty sure they’re best known for “Revenge of the Nerds.” Although, from the looks of their website it seems they cannot legally lay claim to that song.
The most interesting thing about this song is that there is a fart track laid down through the refrain. Yeah, you read that right—a fart track. What’s even more perplexing is that I’m almost positive that the fart track is NOT in the version of the song that actually plays in the film, which means that the producers of Revenge of the Nerds most likely felt that the fart track was too broad (read: too broad) to be in the movie.
How something can be too broad for Revenge of the Nerds astounds me. Of course, it’s unclear who actually wrote this song… was it the Rubinoos, or was it the film’s composer, Thomas Newman? Mmhm, THOMAS NEWMAN SCORED REVENGE OF THE NERDS.
The Rubinoos are STILL making music. Go to iTunes and get all your favorite Rubinoos songs here.
Oh, and hey guys… please remember to vote No on 15.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Group 87 - Postcard From the Volcano
According to ProgArchives.com, “GROUP 87 were formed as a trio of highly-successful session and solo artists in the early eighties. While they existed for only a few years, they left behind two highly-acclaimed instrumental albums that are considered landmarks by many new-age, jazz, and progressive rock artists even today. The band consisted of multi-instrumentalists Mark Isham and Peter Maunu, as well as bassist Patrick O’Hearn.”
This album is not bad. At some points, it’s pretty cool. It’s the album you want to be listening to while you write your early 80’s corporate thriller.
These guys only put out two official record releases, the first titled Group 87 and the second called Experiments in Dada Processing, which is just a wonderfully pretentious pun. This song is the first cut off that album, their final.
Mark Isham went on to score such films as The Hitcher, Point Break, Cool World, Timecop, Blade, Varsity Blues, The Mist, and a slew of other less funny titles.
Here’s a great John C. McGinley scene from Point Break, just for the hell of it.
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