Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXXV--Fatboy Slim: The Rockafeller Skank

Once again, late for the sky....

I'm relatively sure my introduction to this week's tune was a music video, but whether it was on MTV or Much Music I can't recall.  I do remember that it was one of those songs that struck me instantly, and that I wanted to hear again--and the sooner the better....

I wrote about Fatboy Slim (aka, Norman Cook) in Vol. CCLIV, so I'll dispense with the bio for this week.  In the six years since that post, Mr. Cook continued to make music until late 2024, when he decided to give up creating music to concentrate on his DJ performances.  He was also nominated for a Tony Award (along with Talking Heads' frontman David Byrne) for writing the score for the musical Here Lies Love.  

"The Rockafella Skank" was the first single from Fatboy Slim's breakthrough album, the rather smokingly entitled You've Come a Long Way Baby.  The single would reach #6 in his native U.K., and #76 here in America.  Though I've noted the album before, as a reminder it hit #1 in Great Britain, and #34 in the United States.

Fun Fact:  "The Rockafella Skank" samples nine different songs, and Mr. Cook has stated that in order to get permission he had to release 100% of the song's royalties and has not received a penny of said royalties for himself.

In some ways (especially lyrically) "The Rockafeller Skank" seems to accomplish a lot with very little, but after doing my half-assed research I learned that Fatboy Slim created a truly wondrous piece of music with an awful lot of help (see "Fun Fact" above).  The song basically repeats the same two lines again and again (which makes the song's captivation all the more amazing), though what I've thought for years was sound effects turned out to actually be a lyric, repeating the word "rock" rapidly (and adding in a "rockafeller" here and there for shits and grins, one supposes).  I noted last week that sometimes a song just has a good groove, and I should note this week that "The Rockafeller Skank" just has a momentous groove.  Twenty years before hearing it I never would have imagined that such a song would fill my soul, but that's one of the continuing wonders of my musical adventure--and why it's included here in the annals of Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "Right about now, the funk soul brother/Check it out now, the funk soul brother..."

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXII--Guided by Voices: Bulldog Skin

 I believe I've noted a time or two here about songs discovered on the Canadian MTV, Much Music (which was actually, uh, much better than MTV).  Sadly, Much Music as a music channel no longer exists...but we'll always have Paris....

Guided by Voices got its start in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio, and while they haven't had a great deal of commercial success, they have found their niche with a solid cult following that allows them to still be touring and recording to this day.  There have been 25 different members, with the only constant being lead singer and songwriter Robert Pollard.  The band has had three separate stints, from 1983-2004, 2010-2014, and from 2016 through the present.  For their career, they have released 33 studio albums (including three just last year and one this year), two live albums, 19 EP's, and twelve compilations.  Only three of their albums have ever hit the Billboard 200, with the highest hitting #160.  They've also released 39 singles (many of them of my beloved 7" 45 records), and have never had one hit the Billboard Hot 100.  Still, while I'm not familiar with most of their material, they are one of those bands that you just have to love, who have persevered and continued recording and touring despite their lack of commercial success, if only for the love of music and to please a small, devoted following.  Hear, hear!

"Bulldog Skin" was released in 1997 on their oddly named LP, Mag Earwig!  Neither never so much as sniffed the charts, though the single should have, goddamnit.

I enjoy nuanced and multi-layered rock and roll songs as much as anyone, but there's still a lot to be said for three chord garage rock, and "Bulldog Skin" is a proud member of its legion.  There's nothing fancy (and there doesn't need to be) as the guitars rip right through those three chords and drive Pollard's defiant vocals through to the end.  Near as I can tell this one's about developing mental toughness the hard way (experience) and keeping the gumption train rolling even when it's breaking down.  There's an excuse me guitar solo thrown in toward the end, and the short and sweet chorus closes it out.  "Bulldog Skin" makes the most of its two minutes and forty seconds, leaving us with a power pop punk gem--and another fist pumping wonder for Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "I played around/I heard the sound/Of certain trouble on the way/I got bulldog skin..."

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the official music video (it's a heartwarming treat) on YouTube, so I had to settle for the famed Album Cover Video--nonetheless, enjoy:

537,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLIV--Fatboy Slim: Praise You

I was introduced to this week's tune by the music video for it (seen below--well worth watching for the humorous approach it takes without turning the song into a novelty hit), with a big assist once again from my darling daughter for making a tape of the album for me to enjoy the song more than just when the video was playing on Much Music.

Fatboy Slim, born Quentin Leo Cook (aka Norman Cook), began making music in the late 70's as both a DJ and in various bands in England before becoming the bassist for the Housemartins where he enjoyed his first commercial success.  Cook was in a couple more bands (frankly, Cook has been in more bands than a cat has lives and it's a bit much to cover all of them in a paragraph) before taking on the persona of Fatboy Slim (moniker chosen because Cook liked its oxymoronic nature) and having even more commercial, as well as critical, success.  Cook would go on to release four albums as Fatboy Slim before moving on to more bands and more commercial success.  For his career, Cook has used 24 aliases and been in nine different bands, and holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most top forty singles under different names.  He is credited with popularizing the big beat genre of music (and yes, I had to look up big beat music), and has won ten MTV Video Music Awards and two Brit Awards.

Fun Fact:  The Housemartins were a Socialist Christian band (take that American Evangelicals), and their first album had the message "Take Jesus--Take Marx--Take Hope" on its back cover.

"Praise You" was released in 1999 as the third single from the album You've Come a Long Way, Baby.  It would go on to be a #1 single in the UK (Cook has enjoyed considerably more success in his native UK than here in America) and Iceland, #4 in Canada, #6 in Ireland, and, ahem #36 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States (apparently not nearly enough cool kids here in the States).  The album was also #1 in the UK, though only reaching (says the man who has had soooo many albums hit the top 40) #34 on the Billboard 200.

It takes an incredible amount of musical talent to take something so complicated as making a record and make it sound so incredibly simple...but Fatboy Slim pulls it off with honors on "Praise You."  Cook uses less than twenty-five different words for the lyrics and repeats the music again and again, but when you've got an admirable aspiration (praise) and a fantastic groove you're often going to have a hell of a hit single.  The music is no more than piano, bass, and drums (there may be a synthesizer/organ toward the close), but it's more than enough to drive the melody and the funk.  The lyrics may or may not be a reference to God/Jesus (a lover perhaps?), but it makes no matter.  Fatboy Slim has created a gem of a song that once again serves as reminder why I've devoted so much of my life to listening to music, and makes it all the worthwhile.

Rap Sheet:  "We've come a long, long way together/Through the hard times and the good/I have to celebrate you baby/I have to praise you like I should..."

Enjoy (for those wondering just how funky emaycee is, just take a look at the dancers in the video and know that they are much better than I...):

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXII--Matthew Good Band: Apparitions

For the second time in three weeks we're going to the Great White North for this week's tune....

My oldest son turned thirty-two this week, which struck me as kind of amazing since it seems like he was only born yesterday.  In addition to the thoughts about the vagaries of time, his birthday also brought back memories of late Saturday nights when he and his sister would come over and we'd channel surf until the wee hours of the morning.  On one such night we discovered MuchMusic, the Canadian version of MTV.  At the time, MTV was turning into dreck (a trend which continues to this day--though in fairness, old farts like me aren't exactly their marketing target), and MuchMusic was like a breath of fresh air.  Even better, they featured a lot of Canadian bands unfamiliar to us--some of which turned out to be quite good.

One such group was the Matthew Good Band, which we discovered due to their exceptionally good video of this week's featured song, "Apparitions."  Released in 1998 on their Underdogs album (which was voted the 18th greatest Canadian album of all time by Chart--Canada's Billboard--magazine), the single would also garner a Juno nomination (again--Canada's Grammy) for Best Single.

While my son went on to become quite the fan of Matthew Good, my knowledge of the band and the man is pretty much limited to "Apparitions."  But if you're going to like but one song by a performer, best it be an exceptional one--and this one is.  Oddly enough for a song titled "Apparitions" the song is otherworldly--there's an overarching eeriness to both the vocals and the melody.  There's also a disjointed nature to the way the lyrics are sung--a note held long before a quick transition to a short phrase that only adds to listening experience.  Add in guitars both acoustic and electric, some fear and anger, a little angst, and you have yourself a hell of a Canadian tune.

Are we "stuck inside our own machine?"  Not for mortals such as I to decide.

Hope your birthday was happy, Son--I know it's one of my favorite days....

I'd completely forgotten how good this one was.

Couldn't find the original video, but nonetheless, enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee