It’s December 24th. Christmas Eve. Let Them Eat Vinyl headquarters is a lively place tonight. We may or may not be getting drunk. And by that I mean we are. You know what else we are doing? Dancing around our living room, listening to our favourite Christmas song.
There are many great Christmas songs out there, but this one holds a special place in our hearts. The Finn was in high school when it was released, and tells me that everyone loved it — the punks, the headbangers, the new wavers, the rockers. It was a universal song, and those don’t come along too often. I was seven years old and actually living in Africa at the time, and although I was one of the lucky ones who never had to worry about food on my table, it’s important to remember that this is still an all-too-common problem in the world, almost 30 years after this song came out. So let’s continue Bob Geldof’s good works, and try to help out those less fortunate than ourselves, whenever and however we can.
This Christmas, we wish the best to you and your family. We love you, and we hope that you keep visiting our site, because it is our goal to entertain you and hopefully make you think about why you love music. Music is one of the greatest things in the world, and we are all lucky to have it.
So please enjoy our favorite Christmas song, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’:
p.s. How amazing is this song?? Paul Weller! Boy George! Simon Le Bon! Bono! Phil Collins on drums! And I am kind of crushing on a young Sting. Also, how beautiful is Jody Watley? Everyone looks so ’80s and awesome. We love it. Peace, love and joy to you all.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. This might be true, I don’t know. Since I am a writer – rather than, say, a photographer or a painter – I am obviously biased to disagree with this statement. I love words. I am fascinated by them. I studied them in school, and I think about them all the time. Words communicate so much, and, when employed skillfully, are truly breathtaking in their range and ability to convey meaning and expression.
And yet, they can sometimes fall short. So much of what happens in our lives isn’t even expressed in words, from the millions of thoughts we have each day to the extensive forms of non-verbal communication that we use to interact with one another. Often when I sit down to try and write something, I am overwhelmed and stymied by the sheer impossibility of conveying exactly what I want to say, as I see it in my head. Most of the time I feel like I am taking a stab in the dark, and if I manage to capture even some part of what I was striving for, I feel lucky. Obviously some of that can be chalked up to my skill level, rather than a lack on the part of the words themselves, but there are intrinsic limitations to language. How can one ever truly express what it feels like to experience the emotions of joy, grief, despair, or hope? Or describe the experience of falling in love, without sounding like a hopeless sap? Or talk about how a particular song at a particular moment can make you feel like everything is perfect, and why that is. Translating feelings into words is in some ways a loser’s game – you’ll never really be able to do it. But we keep trying – because it’s a challenge, and because it’s fun, and because ultimately we want to connect to something larger than ourselves.
As great as words are, though, sometimes brevity is amazing. Today, I would like to talk about a rarity in music – the One Line Song. There are only two that I can think of off the top of my head, and I appreciate both of them for what they manage to convey with only a limited use of words.
The first is the Pixies’ Stormy Weather. Here is the song:
One line, my friends. “It is time for stormy weather”. That’s it, that’s all. As with a lot of Pixies’ music, sound and feel are given more emphasis here than lyrics, but this is concise even for them. He wields the line in such varied ways, though, that it feels like he’s saying something different with each iteration. I think this is a perfect example of how sometimes tone matters way more than the actual words being used. They’re communicating different moods without changing what’s being said.
Song #2 is Evan Dando’s In the Grass All Wine Colored:
Again, only one line: “I’m in the grass all wine colored”. No further description provided, and yet you can totally see it, can’t you? Do you need any more words than these in order to picture the scene in your head? No, you do not.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes one line is worth a thousand pictures.
Are there any other One Line Songs out there? Let me know if you know of any!
It’s been a slow week here at Let Them Eat Vinyl. Our apologies. The Finn is recovering from his prog odyssey, which kept him out until the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. I think he is still collecting his thoughts on the experience. As for me, my day job in magazine publishing works in a cyclical manner, with some weeks being supremely busy. This is one of those weeks, especially since we are putting out two issues at once. So unfortunately, you will have to live without my astute and engaging commentary for the time being. I know, it’s sad. You miss me. I miss you too. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back before you know it.
In the meantime, here is a song for you that I’ve been listening to a lot over the past few days. The Bangles are of course known for hits such as ‘Eternal Flame’ ‘Manic Monday’ and ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ but I love this short and sweet little tune of theirs, ‘James’. Not only is James one of my favorite names, there is just something super adorable about the way Susanna Hoffs sings this song about an unreliable boy breaking her heart. I think every girl out there has had at least one guy like this in her past (sometimes more than one, ahem). That is, the type of guy who is a total flake but you put up with it because they are super hot, or whatever. You just love them even though you know they’re going to end up letting you down. And when they invariably do, you really only have yourself to blame, for getting involved in the first place. It’s a lesson that every girl must learn — and most of us, if we are lucky, learn it fairly young. With this type of boy, you have to just enjoy the ride and not take things too seriously. You can’t lose your head and start thinking you can change him — that only leads to tears and frustration. Sometimes wisdom is knowing when to walk away. I like how this song captures all of that, while at the same time being pleasingly upbeat and poppy.
Also, I think we need to take a moment to acknowledge the insane hotness of Susanna Hoffs. Seriously, you guys. So ridiculously beautiful. I love her.
All right, got my ticket to the concert, check the calendar… 3 weeks to go, what’s next? Train man — train hard like Rocky would.
A typical training regime begins with listening to the artist’s latest CD, over and over again. Sometimes it’s easy. The songs come to you and you feel them immediately. Your body and brain react unconsciously, like Neo dodging bullets. You understand, accept and feel the music completely. This is rare. Training is usually difficult because you have your favorites from the artist and when the new stuff is not measuring up, it becomes work — like running in Siberia with a log on your back (Rocky 3).
I have been training very hard over the last few weeks, and at times have felt totally overwhelmed. I feel like I have given myself only 3 weeks to train for a marathon. Sometimes I question myself — do possess the endurance and mental fortitude necessary to rise to the occasion? Self-defeating thoughts have been entering my mind: I should have started training for this years ago (or maybe when I was 14)… it’s too big, too complex…I’ve never been challenged like this before, and I need more experience. But something brings me back each day to listen again and again, and search the interweb for different interpretations of the music. It is exhausting and excruciating, but then I feel my music muscle memory kick in and I’m starting to get the music version of a runner’s high. I just want to keep listening. I think can…I think I can — I just might be able to — get my mind and body in tune for The Musical Box‘s performance of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway this Saturday at the Danforth Music Hall.
This record is the New York Marathon of progressive rock concept albums. Genesis released the epic double album in 1974, and it is the sprawling storey of Rael, a streetwise kid from Brooklyn and his quest to make a name for himself. Transpose the “a” and “e” and it’s Real — or is it a play on Peter Gabriel? — and that’s just the beginning… I found pages and pages online written by people attempting to deconstruct the plot and explain the symbolism. I feel like I need an English teacher to help me understand this. And this has been the great fun of my current training exercise — remembering the things I love about concept albums. It’s pure escapism, suspension of disbelief, entering Rael’s world and following him along the gritty streets of 1970’s New York and through fantastical magical caves and endless staircases.
Spending time with this album has reignited my interest in revisiting some of my old favorite concept albums and taking a chance on some new ones. Maybe its time for me to give some of the contemporaries a shot – Coheed and Cambria come to mind. I took a break today from training and listened to Arcarde Fire’s concept album The Suburbs. I thought to myself “damn, Rush said all of this in one one song, ‘Subdivsions,’ and also released 3 concepts albums – one about necromancers, one about a dystopian society and one about Greek gods fighting for man’s conscience — and they still didn’t win a Grammy”. Maybe Arcade Fire’s Grammy for The Suburbs was more of a recognition of the brilliance of the concept album. A calling card to other artists to take an idea, add adventurous music, dare to be grandiose, and something special might happen. So special it is still being recreated 37 years after its’ release.
For more on the history of The Musical Box & their collaboration with Genesis, click here.
We are not music snobs here at LTEV. If someone wants to throw on Britney Spears or Rush*, who are we to judge? (Please see: my embarrassing love for Enrique Iglesias). The point is, when it comes to music, you like what you like and there’s no sense fighting it.
*The Finn is the biggest Rush geek ever.
And yet…every once in a while I find myself totally loving a song that surprises even me. I mean, I know very well the type of ultra-cheesy pop that my taste in music sometimes veers towards (again, may I repeat, Enrique Iglesias) but this one…well, this was unexpected. Given the fact that I am not a tween and all (although I do watch the Disney channel fairly often, so, you know…I guess this actually does kind of make sense).
I blame the video. Sometimes a good video can allow a song to worm its way into your consciousness without you realizing it. I love this video. Selena Gomez is ADORABLE. Like, she looks like a tiny, perfect little doll, doesn’t she? I just want to scoop her up and put her in my pocket. The bit where she channels Max Headroom kills me. Kids these days! She is too cute for words.
Selena is, of course, famously dating Justin Bieber. It would be supergross and pervy to have a crush on either one of them (especially him), but the two of them together are like the walking, talking embodiment of teenage first love & thus they are kind of fascinating to watch. When they break up, I wonder who will be the first to release a song about it. Is it wrong that I am kind of looking forward to finding out? Not to worry, it won’t happen any time soon! For now, their love is still “magical, lyrical, beautiful…” And I keep hitting re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat…
Aw, you guys. Seeing Pretty in Pink on the big screen was just as good as I had hoped it would be. Even though I’ve watched it a million times on DVD (not to mention every time it’s on TV), there’s just something about being there in the theatre getting the full moviegoing experience that makes it really special.
This time around, I kept thinking about the fact that Robert Downey Jr. auditioned for the role of Duckie Dale and came very close to winning the part. If RDJ had been cast, I think it would have been an entirely different movie. I mean, Jon Cryer did an excellent job and imbued the character with a certain exasperating-yet-endearing charm, but there were no sparks between him and Molly Ringwald. If you watch the movie picturing RDJ in the role, you can definitely imagine Andie ending up with Duckie instead of Blane.
This works for me. You?
Anyway, here are my thoughts on seeing the movie again in the theatre, 25 years after the first time…
Today is a beautiful day. It’s sunny out and (relatively) warm, it’s Friday, and I am in a great mood. But more important than all of those things put together is the fact that tonight, I am going to see…oh, only one of the best movies of all time on the big screen.
Whether or not you are a fan of John Hughes, you have to admit that his films were a huge part of 80s pop culture, helping to cement the careers of a handful of young actors (Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, Eric Stoltz, Ally Sheedy, to name a few), and were seminal in the establishment of the teen movie as a genre. Which, as far as I’m concerned, was one of the most important developments of the 20th century. Sure, there were a few other “big” things that happened (women achieving the right to vote, desegregation, man walking on the moon, the invention of the internet by Al Gore, etc) but I’d say that the creation of the modern teen movie ranks pretty high up there.
Although The Breakfast Club is probably considered his masterpiece, Pretty in Pink is my favorite John Hughes movie (with Some Kind of Wonderful coming in a close second). Pretty in Pink has everything — great music, unbelievably awesome 80s fashion, a classic love triangle, new-wave hairdos…all set amidst the backdrop of the ’80s high school class divide (rich kids vs. poor kids, preps vs. outcasts) — obviously a recurring theme in Hughes’ work. Throw in a young James Spader in a crumpled linen suit in what is surely the most amazing portrayal of a rich sleazebag ever to hit the big screen, and what’s not to love?
I mean, look at this guy.
The disdainful smirk, the unbuttoned shirt, the feathered hair… goddamit, everything about this look is complete & utter perfection.
There’s one scene in the movie in which Blane (Andrew McCarthy) takes Andie (Molly Ringwald) to a party, and they stumble upon Steff (James Spader) and his rich bitch girlfriend Benny hooking up in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and oh my god Steff and Benny behave like such awesomely horrible rich douchebags to her that it makes me want to punch myself in the face from pure joy.
I need these two in my life so they can sit around all day making disparaging remarks about my outfits. Somebody please make this happen.
Anyway, I can feel this quickly devolving into a rant about why Steff is the best character in the movie so I’ll stop here for now, but there are many other amazing parts of this movie that we need to discuss (Duckie’s fashion stylings! Harry Dean Stanton! Annie Potts as Andie’s record store boss!) I’ll be posting this weekend about my thoughts on seeing Pretty in Pink again on the big screen, 25 years after I first saw it in theatres (I was 10). Will it live up to expectations? Will it be as good as it was all those years ago?*
*Spoiler alert: of course it will. Obviously I own the DVD and watch it every few months.
Most importantly, we will examine the music that appears throughout the movie and determine whether Hughes hit the mark with the songs he chose for the soundtrack.
I’m taking a walk down memory lane tonight, my friends. If all goes according to plan, at around 10:30 pm I will be sitting in a dark movie theatre sobbing with happiness as this song plays during the movie’s epic final prom scene:
“We’ve always had time on our sides
Now it’s fading fast
Every second, every moment
We’ve got to, we’ve gotta make it last…”
No, you certainly don’t shine, Brandon Flowers. And yes I do mind.
Look, people, there aren’t many things in the world that I get ridiculously, out-of-my-mind excited about*, but I read an article in Rolling Stone about 3 and a half years ago in which Brandon Flowers described a disco ball suit that he was prototyping and testing out for The Killers’ upcoming tour.
*This is a total lie. There are many things that I get ridiculously, out-of-my-mind excited about.
Well. If you’ve been reading this site for long enough (or likely if you’ve even just met me once) then you know how much I love shiny, glittery things (especially clothing). Imagine a disco ball suit. Like, seriously, close your eyes for a moment and just really take the time to consider the gloriousness of it. A suit made to resemble a disco ball!? How would this work? Would it be heavy? Who would even think of it in the first place? I became obsessed. Ask The Finn, I wouldn’t shut up about it. To this day, when he mentions The Killers and I get a faraway look in my eye, he’s like “You’re thinking about the disco ball suit, aren’t you?”
So, what of said suit? It never materialized. The Finn and I went to see the band on our first wedding anniversary, when they were touring in support of Day & Age (an excellent record) and I was pretty sure by then that the suit wouldn’t make an appearance. I hadn’t heard it mentioned again since that original interview.
I was briefly consoled this past summer by Bono’s laser jacket, but I’m still waiting for the disco ball suit. You gotta dream big, you know? I know it’ll find its way into my life someday. For now, that’s enough.
So, here’s the deal. There’s this awesome new scripted show on MTV (I know, right? I totally thought they were only doing reality shows now) called Awkward. I’ve tried to force The Finn to watch it with me, but he’s having none of it, because it’s a “teen” show. For anyone out there who likes that sort of thing (which I’m guessing is not many of you since you’re probably not as lame as I am), find this show online and watch it now, I’m telling you. It’s got a lovably snarky main character (Jenna), awesomely weird friends, plus the requisite super-hot-but-emotionally-distant love interest (Matty) as well as a secondary nice-guy love interest (Matty’s best friend, Jake. Oh yes people, it’s that kind of love triangle. I mean, the Best Friend Love Triangle. This will not end well). At the end of the season finale, our main character is torn between Matty and Jake, but there are some MAJOR swoons going on all over the place and honestly, I don’t even know who I like best. I keep going back and forth. Emotionally Distant Matty is totally…well, emotionally distant, but he is so cute. Witness:
Awwww...are these two meant to be together or what?
Jake, on the other hand, is REALLY nice and totally into Jenna and not making her hide their relationship. So he gets major points for that.
Also cute together...gah! I can't decide!
But Matty and Spencer Jenna really do have the best chemistry, and in the end chemistry trumps all, right? Plus Matty definitely redeems himself big time in one of the final episodes, which has a ‘Sixteen Candles’ theme — obviously one of the best movies of all time, and not only because Molly Ringwald’s character’s name is Samantha (which just so happens to be the given name of yours truly).
Anyway, it was during this episode that I first heard today’s Song of the Day. It’s playing in the background just after Matty knocks on Jenna’s door and proceeds to be totally adorable and emotionally available at last, which we all know is the magical formula for getting into the pants of teenage girls (or probably girls of any age, for that matter).
Yeah...she didn't stand a chance.
So here’s today’s Song of the Day, ‘Jungle’ by Emma Louise:
Whenever I hear a song by Cat Stevens, I think of the following conversation that DamnYouSkylon had in high school with his friend Brian:
DYS: “Dude, so Cat Stevens gave away all his money, converted to Islam, and changed his name to Yusuf Islam”.
Brian: “Really? He changed his last name to the same name as his religion?”
DYS: “Yeah man, I guess that’d be like changing your name to, like, John Christian or whatever”.
Brian: “Or Bob Hindu…”
DYS: “Richard Buddhist…”
Brian: “Ricky Jehova’s Witness…!”
Now every time I think of Cat Stevens I hear a little voice in my head saying “Ricky Jehova’s Witness!” and it totally makes me laugh. You could say I’m being disrespectful of Stevens’ (Islam’s) life choices, but to be honest with you I think that “Spencer Christian” has a nice ring to it, so I might change my name too. I’m not renouncing all my worldly possessions though. I’m no dummy. My collection of old Sweet Valley High books might be worth something someday*, you know.
*They will never, ever be worth anything.
Anyway, when it comes to Stevens’ (Islam’s) music, I am totally divided. I love some of his songs (‘Morning Has Broken,’ ‘Another Saturday Night,’ ‘Father and Son’ — which always, always makes me cry) but others annoy the f*ck out of me (‘Wild World,’ for example, literally makes me want to punch myself in the face).
However, my very favorite Stevens (Islam) song is this one, ‘Trouble’. The lyrics are so sad and dejected, and yet the song is somehow uplifting. You can hear the weariness in his voice during the verses, but then all of a sudden he’s got this amazing harmonizing thing going on and it sounds so pretty and hopeful. It’s the perfect song to listen to when you’re feeling down…in fact, I’ve always thought that it was written about depression. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know, but with lines like “You have made me a wreck / Now won’t you leave me in my misery” I have to think that he’s pleading with the “black dog” of depression (as Winston Churchill so aptly described it) to move on and let him be. Anyone who has experienced a depressive episode will be able to relate to this sentiment, the feeling of being “Shattered and tossed and worn,” and the desire to have the cloud lifted.
But even if you’re not sad, it’s a great song — simple yet eloquent, haunting yet hopeful.
And as a bonus, here’s my boyfriend, Eddie Vedder, performing his take on the song:
Let Them Eat Vinyl 