Month: February 2024

Wang Chung – Dance Hall Days

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week12 Comments

Gonna take the song machine back to 1984 this week and visit the first hit of an act who’d go on to score big in the US a few years later.

Dating this one to 1984 does come with a few caveats, though – the song was originally released in 1982 when the group were known as Huang Chung. That single failed to chart. The band renamed themselves to the much more familiar Wang Chung and redid Dance Hall Days, releasing it on their album Points On The Curve. That record did get released in some territories in 1983, the US and other areas would see it in early 1984. For the purposes of my mega 1984 40th anniversary celebration, it’s a 1984 song.

Dance Hall Days got a fair bit of traction on music charts across the globe, no matter the actual release date. The song hit number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also number 1 on the Dance chart. It was a number 21 hit in Wang Chung’s native UK. Oddly, that was the best chart placement ever for Wang Chung in their home territory, the band saw the bulk of their success career-wise in the US. The song was also a top 10 hit across many European countries, as well as Canada and Australia.

Today’s song fits straight into the new wave movement of the early 1980’s. The song is a nice, atmospheric mix of electronics and organic instruments and it sets a really chill vibe. It’s easy to hear how new wave became an important facet of music in the ’80’s. This is a beat that most anyone could get behind.

The song’s overall theme is a celebration of old-time dance halls that singer/guitarist Jack Hues remembers his dad playing in years gone by. Hues himself played in the band at times. This information comes from a podcast called Just My Show, which I have difficulty accessing but have transcribed the transcription of this site.

While the chorus is an innocent celebration of those dance halls, the verses do offer something a bit different. On the surface it’s just a collection of words that rhyme with body parts to move the song forward – “take your baby by the heel and do the next thing that you feel.” It’s not rocket science and I always took it as just words they put together to get the song done without any real deep meaning behind it.

But, just as I was doing some internet sleuthing for this post, I stumbled into a subset of people who think Dance Hall Days has sinister intentions behind the lyrics. There are people who interpret the passages more literally and believe there is some bent toward coercion or abuse in the various mingling of actions and body parts. I had a bit of a pause when I first saw it.

This 2013 article from Paste outlines the possible hidden creepiness of Dance Hall Days. Now this specific piece has a clear tongue-in-cheek air to it and is pretty amusing, but a lot of the other stuff I saw on reddit and in forums seemed to ascribe more ill intent to the lyrics. All I’ll say is I disagree that there is anything to these lyrics.

Dance Hall Days got two different music videos. The first, posted above and apparently age-restricted, was directed by the late Derek Jarman, and features his father’s home movies interspersed with the band goofing around. A second video was shot that did more to relate to a literal dance hall – that video is tougher to come across. I posted an unofficial upload down below, but we all know the video may not remain up long.

There are two other interesting pieces of trivia around the song. One is that Wang Chung almost didn’t release the song themselves, they instead offered it up for consideration to another artist. As multi-instrumentalist Nick Feldman recounts in this talk with Soundfacts, the song actually wound up in the hands of Quincy Jones, who was producing Michael Jackson and Thriller at the time. Jones and Jackson reportedly liked the song and considered recording it, but ultimately decided not to. That would have been quite a twist of fate for Wang Chung – the song got them on the map, but having a song on Thriller would have been its own world of success. I admit I can’t quite “hear” this song on that album, but I’m sure Jones and Jackson would have done a different arrangement for it.

The other factoid on offer is one I’ve shared about several songs – this was one of many tracks to feature in my favorite video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The song is a perfect fit for the vibe and setting of that game, these two fit together like a glove. It was a match made in heaven and the song goes great with committing digital felonies.

For Wang Chung, Dance Hall Days would be the first score of their career, setting them up for further success in 1986. For me it’s a fantastic reminder of my youth and the “golden era” of 1980’s music.

Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week3 Comments

This week it’s time to head back to 2006 and get ready for war – the war party is gathering in the longboat, it’s Viking time!

Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side

Released September 22, 2006 via Metal Blade Records

My Favorite Tracks – Gods Of War Arise, Valhall Awaits Me, Cry Of The Black Birds

Sweden’s Amon Amarth had been a going concern since 1992 and already had no shortage of praise for their crisp and simple take on melodic death metal. By this, their sixth album, the wider metal audience would lend their ears, and even those outside the metal spectrum would gravitate toward the Viking horde. The band’s name is from an elvish language J.R.R. Tolkien invented for his fantasy realm, “Amon Amarth” is another name for Mount Doom.

The band were in the middle of a very long run of line-up stability, there were no changes between 1998 and 2015. Johan Hegg was the vocalist, and Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg were the guitarists. Ted Lunström was on bass and Fredrik Andersson on drums. The record was produced by Jens Bogren, who came in on his ninth credited production involvement; today he has literally hundreds of production and technical credits in the realm of metal.

Today’s album features nine songs at a 42:17 runtime. There was a special edition released of the album with a second disc of bonus tracks, a commonplace practice at the time. While not a concept album, the band did take some inspiration from the album’s namesake, the Norse god of gods Oden.

Valhall Awaits Me

The opener sets the table for how the album will go as a whole – a decently paced song with guitar parts showing influence from Iron Maiden while Johan Hegg offers a grizzly bear vocal attack that keeps the lyrics comprehensible. This song is a tale of a Viking berzerker who has amassed a large body count in battle but is outnumbered and meets his end. He hopes he his worthy to ascend to the hallowed hall of the slain for his deeds in battle.

Runes To My Memory

The next track offers up a similar story to the first – a group are fighting well into the enemy territory of the Rus, which would indicate ancient Russia. This warrior is mortally wounded in battle and hopes to have a runestone laid in his memory. The runestone would indicate that this was an important Viking leader who has perished. The song is another well-paced tune that maintains a sufficient level of brutality while still being catchy and ear-pleasing.

Asator

“Asator” is a combination of words that reference the famous Norse god Thor, and this song offers tribute to him. This song goes hard and fast, suiting the nuclear-level assault that the Thunder God smites his foes with.

Hermod’s Ride To Hel – Loke’s Treachery Part 1

Up next is a bit of high concept Norse storytelling. The story told here is the tragic tale of Baldr, son of Oden and whose death is the catalyst for Ragnarök, the Norse end of the world. Baldr is not easily slain, but of course there is someone up to the task – none other than the infamous trickster god himself, Loki. The deceiver fashioned a spear and gave it to Baldr’s brother, who threw it in a game to see how strong Baldr’s armor was. Baldr was slain and Hermod was tasked with riding to Hel and petitioning for Baldr’s release, as his death would kick off the end times.

The song itself slows things down a bit, and the tragic tale is given more weight in the doom-laden pace. Amon Amarth would tell the next part of the story in 2011. Spoiler alert – it doesn’t go well, again thanks to Loki.

Gods Of War Arise

Now it’s back to what the Vikings are most famous for – raiding and battle. This is an account of a village sacking, replete with all of the killing and plundering that goes along with it. The song nails the perfect background for the day of battle. Here the Viking horde are victorious – they completely sack the target village, killing or capturing its population and making off with a load of treasure. This one hits all the marks and is a standout.

With Oden On Our Side

It’s back to battle – this time the Vikings are massively outnumbered, but with their ferocity and with Oden on their side, they are able to see out the day. There are parts in the song with climbing guitar riffs that make me wonder briefly if Dave Murray and Adrian Smith aren’t on here.

Cry Of The Black Birds

This one slows things down a tad and goes a hair more melodic, but the song retains the power of the album. It is an ode to the “black birds” who feast on the corpses of the battle slain, as well as serve as the eyes of Oden, the one-eyed god. This one got a single release and a video.

Under The Northern Star

This track has the feel of an older Amon Amarth song. It runs a bit slower, Johan Hegg goes lower with a lot of his vocals and the guitars are running a lot more leads over the song. The track is an homage to the star that Vikings used to navigate the seas, it’s fair to assume that it would be easy to get lost on small wooden boats out in the middle of the water.

Prediction Of Warfare

The closer offers up nothing unusual, again the Vikings are heading in to battle. One of the combatants has visions of a fight with a great serpent the night before the skirmish. The next day he finds himself with his raiding party fighting instead a group of the Irish, who the Vikings quell.

With Oden On Our Side saw Amon Amarth begin their climb to the top of the heavy metal pyramid. The album charted in Austria, Germany and their native Sweden. It also landed on two US Billboard charts – the Heatseekers chart for emerging artists and the Independent Albums chart. After this release, the group would see their records on the Billboard 200 as their fame grew.

The album was well-received by both critics and fans, the simple and effective melodic death metal paired with the Viking themes that have long been a part of metal worked for everyone. Amon Amarth had now honed in on a sound and presentation that worked, and they were on the way to greater success.

Later albums would mark the height of Amon Amarth’s success, but it is this one I recall fondly as the true kick-off of the band’s rise to the top. We ate this up back in ’06, this was done with precision and skill. Although the band have become a bit of a meme in the past few years as their act has worn on and they literally turned a mosh pit into a rowing exercise, Amon Amarth are still one of the best offerings of 2000’s heavy metal.

The Billboard Number One Albums of 1984

On By bigbadburchIn 198411 Comments

This being the 40th anniversary of 1984 and all of the great music that came from that year, I want to go a bit beyond just looking at albums from then and get into some other stuff. I will be looking at albums again today but in a different context – today I’m going to discuss all of the albums that topped the Billboard 200 chart in 1984.

If I were doing this for most any other year, I’d be up against it. Many years feature between 15 and 20 albums that hit the top chart spot, sometimes even more. It can be absolute carnage up there, especially now with several different genres commanding attention and shorter attention spans leading to more albums going number one, then heading off down the Billboard slide afterward.

But my cup runneth over with luck – in 1984, only five albums reached the top of the Billboard chart. It was the lowest amount for any year in Billboard history and is not something likely to ever be repeated. Seeing the very short list will shed light on exactly why that is, two artists basically dominated the number one spot that year and it’s glaringly obvious who those are, to anyone who was around at that time.

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Of no surprise to anyone, the King of Pop dominated the charts in the early going in 1984. Released in late 1982, Thriller spent 37 total weeks on the top of the chart. Here 40 years later in the year of our lord 2024, the album is still on the chart and has been for 612 weeks. Oh, and it’s the best-selling album in history.

The thing is that Thriller doesn’t relate to the music of 1984, at least in terms of my evaluation of the year, with it obviously having been released in 1982. Now, Michael Jackson certainly does relate to 1984 and the whole of the ’80’s – this guy was THE star and he was still grabbing the spotlight even with an album over a year old. All seven of the album’s singles had been released by the end of 1983, but the title track and its crazy video were omnipresent through 1984. Jackson was on top of the world in a way very few stars ever had been.

For the purposes of my year-long look at 1984, Thriller won’t be a part of it for obvious reasons. But I am certain to discuss the album at some point in time.

Footloose – The Soundtrack

Finally on the chart issued April 21, the King of Pop’s reign was over. It was a movie soundtrack that took the crown. Footloose the movie was about a dancing ban in a small Midwest town, and that would put a focus on the movie’s music. The movie did respectably well at the time and is fondly remembered by many, but the soundtrack was the true star of the show. It would spawn six top 40 hits, two of them going to the top of the Billboard 100.

The Footloose song by Kenny Loggins was the prime hit, and Let’s Hear It For The Boy, performed by Deniece Williams, joined it as a Billboard number one. Almost Paradise, performed by Mike Reno of Loverboy and Ann Wilson of Heart, hit number seven on the charts. The Jim Steinman-penned and Bonnie Tyler-performed Holding Out For A Hero charted at 34 in the US, but would take the top spot in the UK.

The soundtrack album hung on to the number one spot for two months, finally bested in late June. Movie soundtracks were big business in the ’80’s and Footloose was a monster even among them. It was certified nine times platinum in the US and has a host of other platinum and gold certifications around the world.

I do not have any plans to discuss this soundtrack further as I look back on 1984 – nothing against it, but a lot of it wasn’t really my jam beyond the Bonnie Tyler song and I have plenty else to talk about.

Huey Lewis and the News – Sports

1984 was often about an album hitting the top spot and hanging around for awhile, but in this lone instance, the album hit number one and was dethroned the next week, though the album did spend a total of 160 weeks on the chart.

But that is no shade to Huey Lewis and his band. Sports was the group’s breakthrough – after a gold record on their prior album, this one would catch fire and wind up 7 times platinum. Four of these songs would hit the top ten of the singles charts, stuff like If This Is It and The Heart Of Rock & Roll were commonplace on airwaves during this time, and for years afterward. It was catchy and pleasing music that just about everyone could get into and a lot of people did.

I will be covering Sports at some point this year, I’m not sure exactly when that will be.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA

Just after Independence Day in the US, The Boss arrived with a transformative album that would define his career and sell like hotcakes. The July 7th chart was the first of four consecutive weeks at number one for this record, which would then again claim the spot for a few weeks in early 1985.

The album would offer up seven singles, all of which went top ten in the Billboard 100. Famously, none of these or any of Springsteen’s other singles would ever hit the top spot on the singles chart, but success is relative.

And success was here in droves – the album was the best-selling record from 1984, moving over 30 million units eventually. (distinct of course from the best seller in 1984, which was Thriller) Bruce has recorded several heralded albums, but Born In The USA is the one that is the first mention when he is discussed. We can wax poetic about many of his works before and after, but this is where the conversation with Bruce Springsteen comes or goes.

There is a lot to say about this record – in term of Springsteen’s shift to pop rock, themes of working class struggles and triumphs, and the misplaced political implications behind the title track. And I will get into all of that – here soon, when I discuss the album in detail, which is coming up in the next month.

Born In The USA would reign atop the Billboard 200 for a month, then the rest of the year would be defined by someone we can only call “the artist.”

Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain

Springsteen would be bounced out of the top chart spot on the chart released August 4 of ’84. The replacement album would reign supreme for the rest of the year, 22 weeks, then the first 2 weeks of 1985 before the favor was returned by Springsteen.

Purple Rain was not just an album, but also the soundtrack to Prince’s first feature film of the same name. The movie was a hit, raking in ten times the amount of money spent on it, while the soundtrack was an absolute monster smash. The album has gone on to sell 25 million copies across the world, with 13 platinum certs in the US. Prince joined the rare company of Elvis and The Beatles by having the number one film, album and song all at the same time.

Prince’s landmark offering saw him slide more into the pop world, but also utilizing a grand scope of band composition and arrangement. A handful of Prince’s signature songs can be found here, including the title track and the mega-hit When Doves Cry. The controversial Darling Nikki is also featured in both the film and on record – it would be the song that kicked off the PMRC and the “Filthy Fifteen.”

Prince ruled the roost for the back half of 1984, and Purple Rain was the Billboard chart champion for most weeks at number one. I will do a write-up on this one, but be warned – I have always planned it to be the final post for the 1984 anniversary thing, so it’s not coming ’till the end of the year.

That covers the number one albums of 1984. A bit down the line I’ll look at a few records that were blocked out of the top spot by the stone cold lock these few releases had on the year. I’ll also dive into the number one songs of the year, a spot open to a lot more variety. And I’ll have some more companion pieces dealing with various things in 1984 as we go along. Enjoy the weekend.

High On Fire – Burning Down

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week10 Comments

Last week brought a highly anticipated new track as High On Fire offered up the first single from their upcoming album. Burning Down is the lead single from Cometh The Storm, an album that will see the light of day on April 19. The record is a highly anticipated one in my household, High On Fire have been one of the most consistently awesome bands of the 2000’s.

Burning Down keeps the streak going – this is all riffs and tone in that space between doom, stoner and flat-out heavy metal that High On Fire have occupied their whole career. This one holds a mid-tempo pace, though the band have always been able to operate effectively on any point of the speed spectrum.

The video is also sufficiently gnarly – it starts with people suffering from what looks to be an old school plague, then some monsters show up and burn everything. It’s a very creepy and well-rendered video, kudos to whoever put that together.

I don’t have much else to say about this one – the song rocks, the video is great and the new album stands to be another barnburner in a discography full of them. High On Fire are back after an uncharacteristic six-year absence, marked by health issues and the pandemic mucking everything up. But they are back and all is right with speaker systems everywhere.

Scorpions – Love At First Sting

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week15 Comments

Keeping with 1984 this week as I have a bit of schedule re-shuffling coming up soon. Today I’m tackling one of rock’s signature albums.

The Scorpions – Love At First Sting

Released March 1984 via EMI Records and Mercury Records

My Favorite Tracks – Still Loving You, Bad Boys Running Wild, Rock You Like A Hurricane

The Scorpions were poised to conquer in 1984. They had already been forging a solid identity in the rock scene through the late ’70’s and especially with 1981’s Blackout. The band had shifted styles a few times through their career by this point but were settled on a line between rock and metal that suited the 1980’s soundscape perfectly.

The band’s form was the same as it had been for several years, this was the long-running, stable period of the band’s line-up. Rudolf Schenker played guitar and wrote the band’s music, Matthias Jabs was the lead guitarist for most songs. Francis Buchholz provided bass and Herman Rarebell was the drummer and occasional lyric writer. The incomparable Klaus Meine was the singer and wrote the bulk of the lyrics. The band did rehearse early in these sessions with Jimmy Bain and Bobby Rondinelli, late of Rainbow, but nothing from those sessions made the album. The record was produced by Dieter Dierks, the “sixth Scorpion” who was nearing the end of his long run as the band’s producer.

The album cover is yet another famous case of the band having to do an alternate version – the original features a couple making out and some retailers were concerned about the sideview of the woman’s breast, so a sanitized cover with a band photo was released. This one is a massive nothing burger in the history of Scorpions cover art lore, it’s super tame compared to a few of the scandalous earlier covers.

Love At First Sting features 9 songs at a nearly 41 minute runtime. There are deluxe editions with bonus material available but I’m handling the original release today. This includes a handful of the band’s best-known songs so let’s get into prime Scorpions here.

Bad Boys Running Wild

The opener brings the requisite energy and attitude to kick off an explosive rock album in 1984. Everything is loud and bombastic, the riffs lay a tough foundation for a song about a group of miscreants causing havoc, and everything here sounds fantastic. It’s a perfect song for the mullet-headed, denim and leather-clad metalhead that would run wild throughout the ’80s.

Rock You Like A Hurricane

A song that likely needs no introduction, this was a decent US hit at the time and has gone on to become the group’s signature song. Even people unfamiliar with The Scorpions are generally aware of this riff and Klaus Meine’s strangled accent singing about sex. The main riff and lead guitar work as well as the simple chorus make this one of rock’s biggest anthems. The song has stuck around and is still used in public now 40 years after its release.

It’s well known that The Scorp’s biggest song is 1990’s Wind Of Change, it was a mega hit that still stands as one of the best-selling singles ever. But I’d argue that Rock You Like A Hurricane is probably the band’s most recognizable song, especially in the US. This song was everywhere and has been ever since.

I’m Leaving You

Another single from the record, this is a perfectly written and recorded hard rock track. This one has a very ’80’s feel to it, showing off a sound The Scorpions would pursue further as the decade wore on. Its premise is very simple – I’m leaving you, woman, and I’ll be back some time later, so be ready to be rocked like a hurricane at some later point in time. Nothing to misinterpret here.

Coming Home

This one starts off with a ballad feel until it kicks in to an all-out rock track about two minutes in. The song is a take on the “being on the road” song that so many rock acts have composed over the years. On this one, The Scorpions don’t lament being on the road, instead they consider the stage to be their home and are looking forward to their next gig. They’d have a lot of them during this peak period of their existence so it’s a good thing they embraced the role.

The Same Thrill

This one has a touch of rawness to it, a shade of old glam or punk maybe. But in the end it is another rock anthem, again worshiping at the altar of the rock gods and also placing The Scorpions in the pantheon of those gods. There was nothing like it when all these guys who were “born to rock” were doing just that.

Big City Nights

It’s another more polished effort here, a smooth rock track that celebrates being out for love and fun in the big city. The song fits the “simple yet very effective” category and has become of the band’s better known hits. It’s an ear-pleasing number set against the halcyon backdrop of the immortal 1980’s.

As Soon As The Good Times Roll

A more mid-tempo number that keeps things moving along nicely here. The rhythm sounds like Rudolf Schenker had a record from The Police on his turntable while writing, with the quasi-reggae riff running through the song. This one’s all about letting go of the bad moments in life because there will be plenty of good times to still rock out.

Crossfire

This one has a marching drum thing going on throughout the song’s run while still retaining a solid rock feel that allows the song to fit on the record. It’s a plea for peace in the grim reality facing people, especially Germans, in the last decade of the Cold War. In some respects this might have been a dry run for the band’s later mega hit on the same theme.

Still Loving You

To say the album closes with a ballad would be a woeful understatement – more like the album closes with one of rock’s best ever ballads. This is not the formula-ridden, sappy ballad that would come to define later ’80’s rock – this is a masterfully written and executed tale of heartbreak and loss. The song slowly builds from a quiet introduction with only a guitar and Klaus singing into a full band performance. Klaus Meine conveys the pain felt in the lyrics splendidly here, he is totally on fire behind the mic.

This is an ever-relatable tale of losing someone but being unable to shake the feelings and it’s presented in a sublime package. It’s one of The Scorpions’ best songs and also one of the best ballads from the “rock ballad” era of the ’80’s. Europe was in agreement as the song was a huge hit across the continent. The song is even tagged as being responsible for a boom in France’s population in 1985, as so many in 1984 were succumbing to the feelings conveyed in the song.

Love At First Sting was a milestone for The Scorpions. The album charted in the top ten across Europe as well as the US, where it hit number 6 on the Billboard 200. It was certified triple platinum in the US for 3 million copies sold, and also has several other platinum and gold certifications across North America and Europe. The Scorps toured heavily behind the album and became household names in rock and metal through the ensuing tour cycle.

The Scorpions have endured as one of rock’s longest-running acts, continuing to wow audiences into 2024. Their ascension into rock godhood occurred in 1984 with this album, delivering a record without a single note of filler material and presenting several of their most recognizable songs. When the band’s legacy is examined, Love At First Sting is often found at or near the top of any discussion of their greatest works. The mark on 1980’s rock cannot be overstated – The Scorpions were instrumental in laying out the path for rock music going forward in the decade.

The Cars – Heartbeat City

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

Today it’s back to 1984 and also time to lean the focus away from heavy metal for a bit. Here today is one of pop rock’s massively triumphant albums and a career highlight for a band who was, sadly, not far from being done.

The Cars – Heartbeat City

Released March 13, 1984 via Elektra Records

My Favorite Tracks – Drive, Hello Again, You Might Think

By 1984, the sounds of new wave were at times synonymous with pop and rock. The innovators of this trend were none other than the Cars, who exploded on the scene in 1978 with a debut album that went six times platinum. The band had wrote several other hits in the years since, but had been a bit shunted off critically in 1981 and their most recent album Shake It Up. But the time was ripe for the Cars to ascend again, and that they would do in spades.

The Cars at this point were comprised of the two principal songwriters and vocalists, Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr. Joining them to round out the band were Elliot Easton on guitar, Greg Hawkes on bass and David Robinson on drums. Ocasek and Orr also handled guitar and bass, respectively.

Heartbeat City saw the band leave their long-time producer Roy Thomas Baker and instead set up show with Robert “Mutt” Lange. This album would slot into Mutt’s world-conquering production resume, which already had Back In Black and Pyromania to its list, and would add Hysteria a few years later.

There are 10 songs with a 38:41 runtime on today’s album, of course deluxe reissues with slews of bonus tracks do exist. There is a ton to get to here, given that the record spawned multiple top 10 hits.

Hello Again

The opener sees the Cars full-on new wave with some music that would sound to a younger listener like “total video game music.” It’s a fun, upbeat song generally about returning to a scene after a time away, pretty fitting for the Cars at this point.

This would be a single and hit 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as number 8 on the Dance chart. Everyone was having fun with this one, including Andy Warhol, who directed and guest-starred in the video.

Looking For Love

One of the album’s few non-singles, this one keeps a mid-tempo, very melodic pace through the adventures of a young woman doing just what the title says. It’s another fun track that I suppose could be danced to, if dancing is one’s thing. This song did catch the attention of Falco, who reworked it in German as Munich Girls in 1985.

Magic

Up next is the second single and one that did great business, going to number 12 on the big chart and topping out at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It’s another simple, well-worked tune about how it’s magic when two people are together. It’s clear at this early point in the album that the Cars are about keeping an upbeat spirit with everything, they weren’t a band to explore the more somber side of things.

Drive

And here is the band’s sad, somber ballad which would mark a thematic departure from their prior work and also chart the highest of any Cars single, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gaining top 10 placement on the charts of 9 other countries. It was also a major part of the campaign of the 1985 Live Aid concerts and fundraising drive.

Drive is a lovestruck ballad with a gorgeous atmosphere driven by the synth. It seems to be someone in love with someone else who is perhaps unavailable and also certainly on a downward spiral in life, this person needs someone to drive them home, to hear them scream or pick them up when they fall. Music and the lyrics delivered by Ben Orr come together for an absolute whale of a song.

This is a track that certainly deserves its own post and will get one some day. The music video is of note, as it starred young model Paulina Porizkova, who was the distressed woman in the video alongside Ric Ocasek and would later go on to marry him. This is my favorite Cars song and honestly one of my favorite songs, period.

Stranger Eyes

It’s back to the upbeat new wave stuff here with a song that is totally 1980’s. There’s no lyrical analysis here – this is a song that has words because most songs have words, there’s not much going on here. But it all comes together to produce another great song, one that was used in the trailer for the mega-hit film Top Gun but did not make the soundtrack.

You Might Think

Here is the lead single and the first sign that the Cars were on to something bigger. The single went to number 7 on the Billboard 100 and also topped the Mainstream Rock chart. The video was an early example of using computers for graphics and would land a brand new accolade – You Might Think was the winner of the first ever MTV Video of the Year award, even beating out Thriller for the trophy.

You Might Think is another upbeat and fun track, this one a bit more conventional and not as “video game” sounding. It’s a perfect representation of the Cars and a true link between this album and their earlier work. If songwriting were a poker game, the Cars were holding all aces in 1984.

It’s Not The Night

Another absolute 1980’s song with a fair bit of synth tricks sprinkled in. It’s not the night for a lot of things, according the lyrics Ben Orr is singing here, but it is the night for probably something that people who might fancy each other like to do. This song hit number 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart. And that’s without even being released as a single.

Why Can’t I Have You

This was the album’s fifth single and would go to 33 on the Hot 100 chart. It’s another ballad and another sad one, with Ric Ocasek heartbroken that he can’t still have his old flame. The music’s atmosphere suits the lovelorn words perfectly.

I Refuse

This poor song is the only one that either wasn’t released as a single or doesn’t have another piece of trivia to it. The song itself is a nice example of a prototypical ’80’s pop-wave track. While the music is upbeat, the lyrics see Ric Ocasek admonishing his lover for being a two-timer.

Heartbeat City

The album closer also serves as the title track, though the song was originally worked up as Jacki before the title change. This was also the final single and only released outside of the US. This one is total new wave, this sounds just like other NW examples from the time period and doesn’t feel pop much at all. It’s a very nice and trippy way to end the album, a slight bit of a left turn at the album’s close.

Heartbeat City was another massive win for the Cars. The album hit number 3 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Rock Album chart in the US. It also placed well internationally on several charts. The album is certified four times platinum in the US, with more updated sales figures for the US and abroad not readily available.

This was a huge score for the Cars, who were white hot in the late ’70’s but fell off in the early ’80’s after some experimentation. The band was back, and the next year would see the release of a greatest hits set that would sell over six million copies and have the Cars all over the place on radio and MTV.

The Cars would get one more album out in 1987 before disbanding a year later. A reunion wouldn’t come until many years later in 2010, and it would be without Ben Orr, who died in 2000. Ocasek and the remaining members would get out one more album and a few tours, then would reconvene one last time for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2018. The band was laid to rest for good with Ocasek’s death in 2019.

Describing Heartbeat City is pretty simple, in the end – if someone who wasn’t around in the ’80’s asks what the decade sounded like, just put this album on for reference.

David Bowie – Suffragette City

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week9 Comments

Today I’m entering territory I’m not horribly familiar with – I honestly have not listened to a ton of David Bowie. I hit on this song today because I’ve been hearing it around a fair bit lately after not hearing it for a very long time, and also because it does come from the one Bowie album I am somewhat familiar with.

Suffragette City comes from Bowie’s fifth album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released in 1972. The song was released as a B-side to the single Starman a few months before the album hit stores. Suffragette City later got its own single release in 1976 as part of the greatest hits compilation Changesonebowie. That single did fail to chart, though our song today is a beloved part of the Bowie catalog and can’t be contained by mortal constructs like lousy charts.

Bowie was joined on this song by his Spiders from Mars band on this effort. Bowie handled vocals and some guitar, while his legendary companion Mick Ronson did guitars, piano and synth. Trevor Bolder was on bass and Mick Woodmansey, whose last name is amazing, on drums. Bowie produced alongside Ken Scott.

Today’s song is a total rock and roll banger. It runs in the proto-punk space, with a fast tempo and a bit of boogie with the piano running along too. It does seem another nod from Bowie to The Velvet Underground, a group Bowie admired and had paid homage to previously. While clearly informing the punk rock to come, the song is also an early example of glam rock, something Bowie was a huge contributor to around this time. And the song’s false ending before a “wham, bam thank you ma’am!” and another run of the ending chorus is just great work.

In an interesting bit of trivia, Bowie at first tried to give the song to someone else. He wanted Mott the Hopple to record this track, it was Bowie’s way of trying to keep the troubled band from breaking up. Camp Hopple rejected this song but did record another Bowie-penned tune, All The Young Dudes.

Now comes the question – what the hell is this song about? And honestly, there are no clear-cut answers.

The only concrete thing that Bowie really offered is that he was inspired by Stanley Kubrik’s film A Clockwork Orange when making this album. Bowie wanted to incorporate some of the lingo and alternate language stuff that was in the film into his work. Bowie does mention droogie in the second verse, a very common term from the movie. It doesn’t really tell us what the song is “about” but it does give us an idea as to his headspace at the time and that he might be talking in code on purpose.

Beyond that, we are left to speculate. The term “suffragette” refers mostly to the drive to allow women to vote across various nations in the early 1900’s. The word can also be more loosely applied to refer to women’s liberation and/or feminist causes.

But our song today has precious little to do with women’s progress. The line “this mellow thighed chick just put my spine out of place” pretty well rules out any advancement of women’s causes or shattering of the glass ceiling here. The song is clearly Bowie addressing a friend named Henry, and Bowie is asking his friend not to come around because he’s wrapped up with a woman.

So what is really going on here? Well, there are two prevailing theories, both of which are coherent and make sense, so we can get right into them.

The most practical and seemingly fitting narrative is that the song is a coded communication of Bowie’s bisexuality. The friend Henry was a male lover, and Bowie was spending time at “suffragette city,” or hooking up with women for a spell instead. Bowie doesn’t want Henry around because things are swinging the other way right now. It’s a logical explanation that fits everything very well, though to my knowledge there is zero confirmation of this idea.

The other theory is a time-honored crutch for what rock songs are really about and also, well, a time-honored crutch for David Bowie – drugs. “Henry” is a slang term for heroin, and the song could be Bowie trying to shake the demon because he’s into a girl. It’s also a fair guess but again, I don’t see any evidence to corroborate the theory. I’m not a Bowie expert but he never seemed to be one to unveil the meaning behind his songs anyway so guessing is what we’re left with.

Whatever Suffragette City is about, this is one absolutely monster song that flexes real rock muscle and gets the job done. I hadn’t heard this song in many years when it came on a month or so back when I was eating at Arby’s, of all places. For whatever reason, the Arby’s right by my house has a pretty nicely curated selection of classic rock playing in the dining area. And Bowie has been popping up a lot lately on others’ blogs and in-person conversations so I figured it was as good a time as any to revisit this belter of a tune.

Sepultura – Arise

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week5 Comments

This week I’ll leave 1984 alone and explore other waters. We can politely ignore the fact that I’m going to the other massive year in my musical fandom, the apocalyptic soundscape of 1991. And few soundscapes were more world-ending than that of Brazil’s metal madmen and their extreme thrash masterpiece.

Sepultura – Arise

Released March 25, 1991 via Roadrunner Records

My Favorite Tracks – Dead Embryonic Cells, Arise, Infected Voice

By 1991, Sepultura were through a few demos and two full-length efforts, and their profile was on the rise all through the world. As heavy metal was moving into more extreme directions, Sepultura were in prime position for their “thrash plus” metal to have an even bigger impact, which it certainly would.

Arise was recorded at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida during 1990 and ’91. It was produced by the band as well as Morrisound mastermind Scott Burns, who had a massive impact on the early 1990’s metal scene. Burns cranked out a host of extreme metal’s finest albums out of the Morrisound hotbed, and this one was one of the crowning achievements from that period.

Sepultura’s line-up was the same as it had been through their full-length recording history – Max Cavalera was on guitars and vocals, his brother Igor Cavalera was the drummer, Andreas Kisser was the lead guitarist and Paulo Jr. was credited as the band’s bassist. In a twist, Paulo Jr. did not actually play bass on the albums, it was Andreas Kisser who actually recorded the bass parts. This was the final album for that arrangement, Paulo did begin recording bass on the follow-up Chaos A.D.

Today’s album features 9 songs in 42 minutes, a tad more bulky than a lot of peers at the time. A few re-issues and other editions exist with bonus tracks, they can be worth seeking out as they have a supremely excellent cover of Motörhead’s Orgasmatron.

Arise

The title track opens as many songs here do, with a creepy industrial-tinged intro. The setup is brief as the band slams in with riffs coated in their sick guitar tone, simple yet amazingly effective at hooking the listener in to this maelstrom of instrument bashing.

Arise may come off as an uplifting thing on surface level, but this song is about the war between religions, politics and other ways people define themselves as “better” and how it is killing the world. We only “arise” after the obliteration of mankind, under a pale grey sky – this is the end of it all, not a self-help track.

This was released as a single and got a music video, featuring the band playing in a desert. A few poked fun since the scene mimicked Slayer’s Seasons In The Abyss video. MTV was not a fan of the video in the US, not airing it due to a figure of Jesus hung on a cross and in a gas mask.

Dead Embryonic Cells

Another brief, crazy industrial sequence opens into another absolute scorcher of a thrash track. A sick rhythm riff slices through while Andreas offers up some trippy leads over everything. The song is about how people are born into a world already up shit creek. This is not simply a straight up thrash number, either – this song goes through several movements and changes, all the while retaining its core and brutal aura. My personal favorite of the entire Sepultura catalog.

Desperate Cry

This gets a nice, brief acoustic opening segment before launching into its doom-thrash main bit. It’s a tortured song (go figure) about someone facing their dying moments. The acoustic bit pops up again briefly in the middle, before more electric chugging commences to headbang out to the end.

Murder

This is a pretty straight ahead track in terms of thrashtality. The song is a grim look at Brazil’s prison system and their very, very bad track record in dealing with inmates. The topic is grotesquely disturbing and continues to this day, as I understand it.

Subtraction

On to another song that is like a thrash homing missile, this one takes off and doesn’t stop until it hits the target. There is a fair amount of “chug” and groove in this one too, showcasing that Sepultura would be a massive influence on 90’s metal to come. The song is about how a person loses their individuality through the pursuit of money and glory – subtraction of personality, as Max howls in the chorus.

Altered State

Here we get a howling wind start and some South American tribal drums to kick things off. This would be a new addition for Sepultura but would be far from the last – this drumming style would permeate Chaos A.D. The song’s title was taken from a movie of the same name and is about human experimentation on brains, fun stuff.

Under Siege (Regnum Irae)

A small bit of a stylistic departure here as the song moves quite slowly, but the doom-thrash thing fits the album well. Parts of the lyrics are transcribed from the controversial The Last Temptation Of Christ, and the song is about how people are generally born into or forced into their religion of “choice,” rather than freely picking it. In the hands of lesser bands this concept could have fallen apart pretty quick, but Sepultura show they are quite capable of working with different lyrical and musical concepts here.

Meaningless Movements

It’s back to full on thrash here, though still tempered a bit in pace. The song is another study in religion and the effects it can have on personality, essentially warping someone and especially casting out anyone with a dissenting view.

Infected Voice

The album’s closer is a true testament to Sepultura’s sheer thrash insanity, this song goes harder than hard. The running joke has been that the song is about Max Cavalera’s actual voice, which would get confused with a rabid grizzly bear before it was compared to another singer. But the song is actually about the fear of growing up, essentially, having to make tough decisions and all of that. It’s actually the most pragmatic song on an album full of deep and dark themes.

Just as music was shifting rapidly in 1991, Sepultura would truly announce their presence with Arise. The album would chart in at least six countries, no super high positions but a truly international showing. It would gain a silver certification in the UK as well as gold in Indonesia. By 1993 the album had shifted one million worldwide units, just as their true mainstream arrival in Chaos A.D. Would launch.

Arise is also critically hailed by many as Sepultura’s finest hour. The reviews from the metal press have been glowing, both on release and in the 33 years since. It makes many metal “best of” lists. The critical acclaim at the time helped vault Sepultura into widespread coverage just as heavy metal was again mutating into many other forms. The band’s influence on the mainsteam of 90’s metal can be heard in both the “groove thrash” and alt-metal to come and even in the nü-metal that would comprise the latter half of the decade. And Sepultura were kingpins of the extreme metal movement, being vastly influential to death metal and most any form of the world’s darkest arts.

I would personally hear this album for the first time in the late summer of 1991, just as I entered my freshman year of high school. A dude in front of me in algebra class knew I liked metal and asked if I’d heard this yet. I had not, so I borrowed his walkman for a minute and checked this out. I was totally blown away. I had been into the “big four” by this point but hearing this was a total ass kicker. Thank you Shane, wherever you are, for introducing me to this and shaping my musical journey, as well as probably truly rotting my young brain.

Sonata Arctica – Dark Empath

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week2 Comments

So I started this blog in August of 2021, after a few months of planning beforehand. I can’t count the number of times I’ve planned something for this and then been derailed by new releases and information.

I had intended to do an Iron Maiden album ranking as one of my first posts, but just as I was beginning to plan this all out in early 2021, Maiden announced a new album. Took me two years to do that ranking.

I also recall having a post about the fantastic movie This Is Spinal Tap ready to go when, just hours before the post, the actor who portrayed drummer Mick Shrimpton died. I went ahead with the post, but the eerie timing was just unreal.

And now, a new one – a few weeks back I was planning a huge post about something I had originally teased a year or more ago. Sonata Arctica, the stalwarts of Finnish power metal (and far beyond, honestly) have a complicated and intertwined series of songs known as the Caleb Saga that paints a deep and dark picture and runs through a lot of the band’s career. The main story tells a tale of lovers and adversaries Caleb and Juliet. It’s not just lovers – this saga involves a lot of early abuse and neglect, a whole truckload of stalking, and at least in the given canon ending of the saga, Juliet’s ultimate and only way out via dispatching Caleb. (that means killing)

But there are a few other songs tied into the Caleb saga over the years that aren’t necessarily canon in terms of how the story flows, but they are thematically tied to the same pair. They can be considered alternate endings or parallel dimensions, whatever you wish. But it’s a songwriting well that Tony Kakko goes down a fair bit for inspiration and almost always cranks out a belter when he does.

My intention is to compile a post detailing the entire Caleb saga. There are five past Sonata Arctica songs tied to this saga over the band’s career, which began in 1995 but started proper in 1999. They came into form in the early 2000’s, and by 2004 they had found solid ground as a band equally owing to European power metal and American prog/classic rock with Reckoning Night and among that album the excellent song Don’t Say A Word, the “second” part of the Caleb saga and where it became a multi-song story in the first place.

I have previously covered Don’t Say A Word as part of a now-defunct series, but the words written remain true and it is one of the best highlights of Sonata Arctica’s catalog. It brought the Caleb saga to life, and the band has run with the premise for 20 years since it became a true story.

And, as I more than mentioned earlier, my posts often get thrown off just before I go with them. I have what is currently the base of a Caleb saga post ready to go, just needing to cross a few t’s and such. And, here comes the inevitable curveball.

Sonata Arctica are due to release a new album on March 8th of this year. Clear Cold Beyond is not just a statement of fact regarding where the band live in arctic Finland, it is the group’s 11th studio album. It is the first album in 5 years, after a few acoustic tours and dealings with COVID.

Now, none of this is new information. The band released this info back in November, along with the album’s first single First In Line. But it’s the newly-released single Dark Empath that gains the attention today.

I’m sure the hook here is obvious since I’m 600 words into a post about Sonata Arctica, a new album and the Caleb saga. But if anyone is missing the point, Dark Empath is the newest entry in the Caleb saga. From interviews Tony Kakko has given, this song is not necessarily “canon” to the saga but is another branch of it. This occupies similar space to 2019’s song The Last Of The Lambs from Talviyö. While that song might be considered a hair “light” in relative terms to this dark stalker saga, I don’t think Dark Empath treads as lightly. This is a very dark and all-encompassing song, the narrator who is presumed to be Caleb is still stalking his prey, presumed to be Juliet. But Caleb sees weakness in Juliet’s new love and is ready to bare all to her, exposing her own inadequacies as well as his. And Caleb continues with the “one and only” talk, as if Juliet can only belong to him after all they’ve been through, which in canon involves ignoring the fact that Juliet killed Caleb for – you guessed it – stalking.

I don’t really know what keeps Tony Kakko involved in still writing these songs after all this time, clearly it’s a wellspring of inspiration for him. But here in 2024, a full 23 years since the song The End Of This Chapter and the kick-off to this long-winding saga, we get a new song to fortify this winding story, and one on an album that the band has promised to hold closer to the group’s older legacy.

So at some point in the near future, probably after this new album releases, I’ll deliver my long-overdue post on the whole of the Caleb saga, as twisty and turning as it is. But until then, we get this new entry to the series, and one I’m very happy to hear and I feel slots well alongside some of the absolute bangers the band have already offered in this story, including one of their best songs. March is proving to be a very busy release month for metalheads, and Sonata Arctica have made sure to call attention to their album.