Patti Rothberg has been playing music since she was three, joined her first band (a Rod Stewart cover band--not a bad start) at age 15, and released her first album at the ripe old age of 24. While Rothberg immediately struck me as a poor man's Liz Phair (nothing wrong with that and it sure beats the hell out of being a poor man's Britney Spears), she's still managed to work a 22 year (and still going) career out of her debut effort. Rothberg had a modicum of success with a cover version of Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" for the Beverly Hills Ninja soundtrack, and her debut album sold close to a half million copies worldwide. Rothberg has released six albums in her career (the last in 2016) and fifteen singles. She also is a painter--which is probably a not too bad side career for a musician.
"Inside" was released in 1996 on her first album, Between the 1 and the 9. It did not hit the Billboard Hot 100, though it did hit #25 (with an alternative bullet!) on the Alternative chart. In somewhat of an oddity here on FNJ, neither her album nor her single had a listing in Wikipedia. Usually get at least one of the two....
Fun Fact: Mr. Potato Head makes a cameo appearance in the official video for "Inside...."
I discovered this week's tune late one night in 1996 on VH-1 on one of the many evenings back in those days when sleep escaped me. It was love at first listen--as regular readers (both of you) know, I have a fondness for a) female vocalists, b) catchy pop tunes, and c) the sound of acoustic guitars, all of which "Inside" has. Somewhat akin to--though not as powerful as--Rilo Kiley's "A Better Son/Daughter," "Inside" deals with trying to put up a brave front despite the fact that one knows one isn't quite right in the head. But whereas Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley sings with a forced bravado, Rothberg seems to almost border on brusqueness, which may or may not be the difference between being raised in L.A. (Lewis) and New York (Rothberg). In any event, Rothberg managed to create two minutes and twenty-three seconds of a good enough single that some old doofus still remembers it with fondness twenty some odd years down the road....
Lyric Sheet: "I've been thinking about my friends/Saying they'll be with me to the bitter end/I don't know how I get that far/When I don't even know who the hell they are..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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