Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, March 31, 2025
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Friday, March 28, 2025
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXXIII--David Essex: Rock On
It might be, it could be, it is...three weeks in a row on time....
It was the spring and summer of 1974 when my musical journey began in earnest, so this week's featured tune would have been...a hit right before that, but still close enough for rock and roll. It was all over the radio when my family moved to Indiana in December of 1973 (first week's big surprise? Twenty inches of snow and the discovery of snow days), so it most assuredly had to be WLS-89 out of Chicago where I heard it again and again because it would be a couple more years before we owned a car that had that new-fangled FM radio....
Every now and again here on Friday Night Jukebox, I come across an artist that I had thought was a one hit wonder but actually had quite a successful career, and David Essex would be one such case. Born in Essex, U.K. in 1947, he originally had dreams of a soccer career but turned to music in his teens. Essex released his first single in 1975 (ripe old age of eighteen) and toured with his first band, David Essex and Mood Indigo, for two years. He'd release seven more singles and star in Godspell before the double whammy of starring in the critically acclaimed coming of age movie That'll Be the Day and the international success of our single of the week. While the song would be his only international fame, he parlayed the two into nineteen top forty singles and sixteen top forty albums in his native Great Britain, and would have numerous acting roles in movies, television, and theater there as well. For his career, Essex has released twenty-six studio albums, five live albums, and sixty-eight singles (not to mention numerous soundtracks and cast recordings). He continues to release new music on his own label and still tours the U.K. every year.
Fun Fact: As I was doing my half-assed research for the week, I had a feeling that back in the day I'd seen Essex in a movie about a fictional musician but when I read the synopsis of That'll Be the Day it didn't seem familiar. As I read more, I learned that Essex starred in a sequel to that film called Stardust, and when I read the ending to that film it came back to me as it's not an ending you're likely to forget.
"Rock On" was the first single released from his 1973 album, the rather correspondingly named Rock On. The single would reach #5 (with a bullet!) in the U.S. and #3 in the U.K. The album hit #32 here in America and #7 in Great Britain. It should be noted again this week, that our neighbors to the north delivered a #1 for "Rock On," proving yet again that there are so, so, so many cool kids in Canada!
You know you're onto something special when the Wikipedia entry for the single is about five times as long as the entry for the album. And special "Rock On" is--just a bass guitar (one of the greatest bass lines ever), percussion, and a smattering of carefully inserted strings and horns. Essex's vocals are enhanced with plenty of reverberation as he delivers a paean to rock and roll's past...and its future. Extra, extra credit for slyly name checking Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" and Carl Perkin's "Blue Suede Shoes," as well as giving a shout out to the colossus of cool, James Dean. A tour de force, a signature song of the seventies--if you're going to have one moment of rock and roll greatness, "Rock On" is the moment you'd want.
Lyric Sheet: "Hey, shout, summertime blues/Jump up and down in your blue suede shoes..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Funny thing is, the people most likely to be hurt by this are--wait for it--MAGA
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Friday, March 21, 2025
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXXII--Fastball: Out of My Head
On time two weeks in a row? My legion of fans (all three of them) has to be wondering what's up with that....
My introduction to this week's tune was via a cable TV music channel when I was living in the great city of Belleville, Il, on the east side of the Mississippi River and the suburban metropolis that is St. Louis. You've probably seen said channels, usually somewhere in the thousands on your channel numbers and featuring just about every genre and era of music (Cable Reggae, Cable Jazz, Cable Emo, Cable 70's, Cable 1890's). All these channels show is a picture of the album the song currently playing is from and a timer letting you know how much longer you a) can enjoy current tune, or b) you have to suffer listening to current tune. I used to use such channels to learn about new music (like our song for this week), but now it's mostly just to listen to some of my favorite golden oldies....
Fastball got its start in Austin, Texas in 1992, and like many a band before them were the result of its members being in a number of bands before finding the combination that clicked. The band earned its stripes through solid shows in and around its home, and word of mouth led them to a recording contract and releasing their first album in 1996. They would follow it up with a second record in 1998, which would be the only hit of their career, but quite the hit it was. It led to two Grammy nominations and a nomination for an MTV Award. While the band has not come close to the commercial success of that second LP, they've managed to continue to tour and record up to this very day. For their career, Fastball has released nine studio albums and one EP. The band retains all three of its original members and released its latest album just last year.
Fun Fact: Contrary to what you might think, the band is not named for the baseball pitch, but rather its favorite porn film. The band claims, and I have no reason to doubt, that despite its somewhat different origin their name has no ulterior meaning.
"Out of My Head" was the third single released from their 1998 album, the rather despondently entitled All the Pain Money Can Buy. The single would peak at #20 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would reach #29 on the Billboard 200. It should be noted, however, that in Canada the single hit #11 and the album #18--as we all have learned over the past two months, there truly are just so, so many cool kids in Canada!
Opening with some divine organ work, lead singer Tony Scalzo weaves the tale of a man finally figuring out that within the confines of a relationship talk is cheap and it's deeds that speak volumes (as the song is based on a past relationship one can assume that Scalzo was a bit late in coming to that realization). Scalzo delivers some fine blue-eyed soul with his vocals, and for whatever odd ass reason, I've always loved the cadence he uses in the chorus--it almost has a rhythm all its own. There's a nice guitar solo from Miles Zuniga, and an almost false ending that allows Joey Shuffield to show off his chops before the band breaks into the chorus just one more time. And speaking of that last chorus (segues are for amateurs), I never noticed until I was doing my half-assed research that Zuniga echoes Scalzo on that final chorus and it really makes for a rock-solid closing. I've always been a fan of smart pop, and "Out of My Head" is smart pop at its finest.
Lyric Sheet: "Give it a spin, see if you can somehow factor in/You know there's always more than one way/To say exactly what you mean to say..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Monday, March 17, 2025
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Saturday, March 15, 2025
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