John Richards

Wet Leg will play a sold-out show at The Crocodile on Friday, March 26th, then will be back to play the Thing Festival in Port Townsend this summer!!! DJ Larry Mizell Jr. sat down with British band Wet Leg for a recent KEXP Sound & Vision podcast and found out just how silly they really are. Check out the whole segment here: bit.ly Here's the video for "Too Late Now": bit.ly

#406 on the countdown! This song was inspired by the short story "The Rocket Man" in The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, and echoes the theme of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" (both recordings were produced by Gus Dudgeon). Taupin has denied that the Bowie song was an inspiration, but has acknowledged borrowing from Pearls Before Swine's 1970 "Rocket Man," written by Tom Rapp, which was also influenced by the Bradbury story. According to an account in Elizabeth Rosenthal's book His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John, the song was inspired by Taupin's sighting of either a shooting star or a distant aeroplane. www.kexp.org/donate

#404 on the countdown! June Carter wrote the lyrics about her relationship with Johnny Cash. She felt being around Cash was like being in a "ring of fire." Cash was involved in drugs and had a very volatile lifestyle. When she wrote this, both June and Johnny were married, but they became singing partners and close friends. By 1967, Cash and Carter were single again and they got married in 1968. Johnny claimed that June saved his life by helping him get off drugs. June died in 2003 after 35 years of marriage to Johnny. Check out KEXP's "Friday On My Mind: International Cash Day!" www.kexp.org kexp.org/donate

#403! The Emperor's New Clothes was a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837. As the story goes, an emperor orders fine clothing, is given nothing, yet told that what he is wearing is magnificent, though invisible to underlings. When he parades naked down the street, the people pretend to marvel at his clothes until a child points out that he is naked. In O'Connor's song, she sings about her own personal tribulations amid oppression and judgement. www.kexp.org/donate

Racer-X is the third EP by American post-hardcore band Big Black. It was released by Homestead Records in 1984 and reissued by Touch and Go Records in 1992. This is not on the countdown, but there's just no way to wait until August to play it. If you love to hear Steve Albini on the radio, donate now to KEXP: www.kexp.org/donate

#402!!! "Cloudbusting" is about the very close relationship between psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. It describes the boy's memories of his life with Reich on their family farm, called Orgonon where the two spent time "cloudbusting", a rain-making process which involved using a machine designed and built by Reich - a machine called a cloudbuster - to point at the sky. The song was inspired by Peter Reich's 1973 memoir, 'A Book of Dreams'. - https://bit.ly/3aXzIJA Kate Bush fans love to donate! www.kexp.org/donate

#401! In the "Today" video, Billy Corgan plays the role of a guy who takes an ice cream van into the desert (on his uniform, his name is spelled "Billie"). Part of it was shot at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, California in a homage to the 1970 film "Zabriskie Point." Corgan says he remembers a time when he was younger and the local ice cream man decided that today would be the day that he quit, so he drove around the neighborhood giving free ice cream to all the kids. At the start of the video this is echoed when Billy's character gives smiling children free treats, then drives off on his wild ride.: www.youtube.com kexp.org/donate

#400!!!! This song's music video was directed by Maureen Towey. "Sharon wanted to use this video to create a love letter to New York, her home for the last 15 years," said the director. "She showed us around all her old haunts – the places that made her the musician that she is today. Some of these spots are still around, some are just empty lots now." Towney added: "We took an eye toward the city that was both tender and tough, trying to find the ways that a beautiful city can fall apart while still nurturing the hopes of a young artist." bit.ly You can watch that bittersweet video here: youtu.be sharonvanetten.bandcamp.com kexp.org/donate

Not on the countdown! But it is Monday! If you don't like Mondays, donate now! Donate if you do! Donate just because! www.kexp.org/donate

#399!! Dolly Parton said during an interview on the Bobby Bones Show that she thinks she wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" on the same day. www.kexp.org/donate

#398!!! Released in 1973, 49 years ago, this song was ALMOST too old to make it onto the countdown. https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-search-and-destroy-by-iggy-and-the-stooges www.kexp.org/donate

#397!!! The third single released from Paul Simon's classic album, 'Graceland' www.kexp.org/donate

#396! This title track to George Michael's debut album begins with an organ fanfare that was actually the music to Wham!'s "Freedom" played as if in a cathedral. www.kexp.org/donate

#Super special secret probabtion song of specialness for u! Watch a live version from the Tokyo Dome in 1990. One person comments, "30 years ago, when Keith was only 98... I hope they live forever." Another says, "Maybe if we can get a DNA swab off Keith we might synth a Corona virus killer and live FOREVER!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAP1GHNuwQ8 www.kexp.org/donate

Bonus! Released in July 1987. Cynthia Rose is a real person, and that's her real name. Prince's musical cohort (and girlfriend) Susannah Melvoin went to school with her and told Prince all about her. Together, they crafted the lyrics, with Melvoin earning a songwriting credit. To understand just how a little girl could have starfish and coffee for breakfast (or butterscotch clouds), requires an open mind: "If you set your mind free, baby Maybe you'd understand..." www.kexp.org/donate

Ministry Mondays are a thing if we say they are. Al Jourgensen and his cohorts get loud and heavy with this single about the love of drag racing and hot-rod cars. The title track features vocals from the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes and great guitar work from Jourgensen. www.allmusic.com

#395!!! Band member Gordon Gano commented: "I was in my bedroom—that's where I wrote it—feeling frustrated. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. It just happened to feel good lyrically ... and it still does." www.kexp.org/donate

#394!!! Enjoy Live Video from First Aid Kit's beautiful KEXP In-Studio, in 2014: https://bit.ly/3qb6iwF. If you enjoy our in-studio performances, consider becoming an amplifier today so you can power them: www.kexp.org/donate

Wicked bonus song time! Steamy video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd-qI62gNJM This track was featured in David Lynch's 1990 film "Wild at Heart" with Laura Dern and Nick Cage, leading to it becoming a chart-topper around the world -- it's since been covered by artists ranging from HIM and Giant Drag to October Noir and DJ XENO www.kexp.org/donate

#392! A point of inspiration behind "Gypsy", as stated by Stevie Nicks, was a nostalgia for her life before Fleetwood Mac. Before joining the group, Nicks lived with Lindsey Buckingham, who would also join Fleetwood Mac. Nicks and Buckingham were musical and romantic partners; however, only their musical partnership has survived. Nicks met Buckingham at a high school party, where he was singing "California Dreaming" by the Mamas and the Papas. Nicks joined in with perfect harmony, then they introduced themselves. They did not see each other again until college, where they started a relationship and a musical a duo called Buckingham Nicks. www.kexp.org/donate

#391! Originally viewed by the band as a throwaway song and a possible b-side, Brian Eno soon convinced them of the potential of this track. Whilst only reaching a disappointing 22 in the UK charts, it made serious inroads for the band in the US where it lead to performances on prime-time TV shows such as Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laid_(song) www.kexp.org/donate

#390! "There She Goes" is a song with one crazy story, so hang on. It was written by the Liverpool singer and guitarist Lee Mavers, and recorded by his band The La's. The La's released it on their only album, titled The La's. "There She Goes" was released as a single, not once, not twice, but four times! The first release scratched the UK Singles chart in 1988 at #51. The second release in 1990 was the peak, with #13 on the UK Singles and also charting in the US. The third release was in 1999, and it charted the UK Singles at #65. The fourth release was in 2008, on vinyl only for the song's 20th anniversary, and charted again at #181.: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-las/there-she-goes www.kexp.org/donate

BONUS SONG The first of what would turn out to be five compilations Ian Broudie released from 1996 to 2006. Pure, The Lightning Seeds' first release by Virgin, is almost a reissue rather than a compilation, since it consists of all but three of the songs released by Epic on the first two albums, Cloudcuckooland from 1990 and Sense from 1992. https://bit.ly/3IeED8s If your kids are growing up dancing to KEXP, like John's kids did to this song, consider donating to power KEXP so that THEIR kids can do the same one day: www.kexp.org/donate

#389! This song is about a man in a relationship with a woman who is seeing someone else, and seems to be both wilfully ignorant yet all too conscious of it. It was accompanied by an iconic music video showing varieties of animals, spliced together from various nature documentaries as a protest against lip-syncing commonly used in hit music videos. https://youtu.be/cFH5JgyZK1I www.kexp.org/donate

#388!!!! American Songwriter wrote, "Love is certainly one of the pet topics on Talking Book, and the album features the masterful closing ballad '“I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever.)' As romantic testaments go, it’s hard to top, in part because Wonder understands that the bright side of love looks all the more luminous when compared to the unfathomable darkness of loneliness." https://americansongwriter.com/stevie-wonder-believe-fall-love-will-forever/ www.kexp.org/donate

BONUS SOOOOONG On Wednesday, March 9th 2016, KEXP DJs John Richards, Cheryl Waters, and Kevin Cole paid tribute to one of the most sampled breaks in music history: the iconic eight-bar unaccompanied solo by session drummer Clyde Stubblefield in the 1970 James Brown single "Funky Drummer." https://kexp.org/funky-drummer/ If you love specially programmed days and tributes, please power KEXP today and become an amplifier: www.kexp.org/donate