Bad Vinyl

D.A.F. - Verschwende Deine Jugend / Greif Nach Den Sternen This...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:44:57 -0400

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.

Michael Jackson - Bad In honor of the King of Pop, here is...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:43:00 -0400

Michael Jackson - Bad

In honor of the King of Pop, here is something that, despite its title, is not bad at all.

Group 87 - Lough Erin’s Mist Today feels like this song....

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:52:11 -0400

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.

The Harmonica Playboys - Chiribiribin Back with another track...

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:09:00 -0400

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.

Gleaming Spires - All Night Party The musical joy one can get...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:00:00 -0400

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.

The Limeliters - The Midnight Special The Limeliters have been...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:43:00 -0400

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?

Alvin & The Chipmunks - The Gambler Today seems like an...

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:49:38 -0400

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.”

Deutch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Sex Unter Wasser (Sex Under...

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:08:00 -0400

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.

The Rubinoos - Revenge of the Nerds Yes, another song from the...

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:41:40 -0400

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.

Group 87 - Postcard From the Volcano According to...

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:55:00 -0400

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.

Pearl Harbor & the Explosions - Drivin’ Now, when I...

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:27:00 -0400

Pearl Harbor & the Explosions - Drivin’

Now, when I saw the name of this band, I was immediately on board. Who has the audacity to call themselves Peal Harbor & the Explosions? These guys must be bad ass.

Not exactly…?

According the Wikipedia, “the band had limited success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with their debut single Drivin’, reaching the lower end of the American top 40 charts in 1980.” The vocalist was apparently once married to the bassist from The Clash and put out her own stuff… you can read what little is left here.

But let’s go back to the name for a second. Pearl Harbor and the Explosions. From a name like this, I want screaming. I want a .50 caliber gun firing into my face. I want someone shredding on the burning wreckage of the Arizona.

We get a little bit more from their live performance, as seen in this clip from Episode 19 of Girl George & the Superstars of the Future, which aired in 1979.

But not really. What we mostly get is that the lead singer is super burnt, and might be trying to bone herself.

Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals - Jazz Pizzicato...

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:22:00 -0400

Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals - Jazz Pizzicato Boogie

Ah, Borrah Minevitch. According to this record, produced in 1963, Borah was a true harmonica master, and instrumental in guiding what eventually became the Harmonica Playboys, which is what this band became when Borrah suddenly left (read: died in 1955). Only about four songs on this record are by Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals—the rest of them are by the Harmonica Playboys, without Borrah.

Understand? Neither did I, really. Thank God for the internet. After some searching, I found this fantastic bio. On a GeoCities page, no less. Apparently, Borrah Minevitch was one of the hottest vaudeville acts of his time. Also, he was kidnapped by Corsican sailors and held for ransom in 1932, while on his way to Abessinia to go hunting and pay off a huge gambling debt. The New York Times reported on this story (he was rescued).

Borrah made numerous short films. Check out this astonishing video.

One of the Rascals’ popular rivals were Charlie Snow’s Broadway Pirates.

This all actually happened.

Terri Gibbs - I’m a Lady Terri Gibbs is a lady. She wants...

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:27:00 -0400

Terri Gibbs - I’m a Lady

Terri Gibbs is a lady. She wants you to know it so badly that she wrote a song telling you so, and she put it on an LP also titled “I’m a Lady.” Incidentally, she is a blind lady. She is, according to Wikipedia, “one of only a few blind country musicians.”

I have to say, on the back of her album cover, she appears to be Napoleon Dynamite with a brown wig:

This song makes me think of department store shopping with my mother in 1984, hours upon hours of looking at the beige carpets and vinyl imitation wood floors.

Terri is still kicking around these days. She even has a website.

Alvin & the Chipmunks - I Love a Rainy Night From the 1980...

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:25:00 -0400

Alvin & the Chipmunks - I Love a Rainy Night

From the 1980 smash hit album Urbank Chimpunk comes Alvin’s rendition of this… country favorite? Or did it just happen to be a radio hit at the time, so they covered it? Mind you, all the country songs on this album have frequent lyric replacements. “Cowboys” becomes “chipmunks,” “beer” becomes “soda,” and perhaps the weirdest example is when “makin’ music” becomes “playin’ baseball” in the cover of “On the Road Again.” Maybe it’s because there was worry that Willie’s original lyric “makin’ music” might insinuate something sexual? Who knows.

Chipmunk caretaker Dave is on this album, screaming a lot about how the ‘munks are recording the record too late at night. Apparently, his bedroom is too close to the un-sound proofed studio in their house.

My mom bought this record, but not for me. It predates my birth by a year. Maybe she bought it because she loved the movie Urban Cowboy, but then again, who doesn’t?

FYI, Rolling Stone called this album “a piece of shit.”

Andrea & Hot Mink - Manhattan Yes, let the first vinyl track...

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:11:00 -0400

Andrea & Hot Mink - Manhattan

Yes, let the first vinyl track of this site be from the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack.

The only info I can find for the artist(s) in question, Andrea & Hot Mink, is that they recorded a song called “Manhattan” for the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack. According to Discogs, they may have also put out a song called “Let the Girls Have Their Way” on Rock n’ Roll Records, but hell if I can find it. It’s listed as the A side of the disc, with “Manhattan” as the B side, meaning it must be at least TWICE as good as “Manhattan,” so I’m sure when listened to, the A side immediately deviates your septum with a burst of candy cocaine valley girl madness. Oh well, looks like we’ll have to live with “Manhattan” for now.

Also, Revenge of the Nerds is one of my favorite films of all time, but I can’t for the life of me remember when this song plays in the film. Can anybody else? I mean, we all know what the best song in the movie is.

For now, let us enjoy these woozy synth drums and Bananarama-like vocals, and imagine we’re part of a gleeful teenage shopping spree amidst 1984 New York City.

BTW, it’s available on iTunes here.