John Richards

Good Morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the Morning Show with John! This single is from the band's second album. Thom Yorke said they were pressured into including it on the release, even though he personally hated the song. Even Thom Yorke is wrong, sometimes.

1994 debut and only album to feature all five original members of Oasis. Noel Gallagher said in an interview with John Harris: "At the time . . . it was written in the middle of grunge and all that, and I remember Nirvana had a tune called 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die', and I was like . . . 'Well, I'm not fucking having that.' As much as I fucking like him [Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain] and all that shit, I'm not having that. I can't have people like that coming over here, on smack, fucking saying that they hate themselves and they wanna die. That's fucking rubbish. Kids don't need to be hearing that nonsense."

Urban Hymns was conceived as a Richard Ashcroft solo album, as The Verve had broken up. As it moved forward, Ashcroft enlisted help from his former bandmates, and it ended up becoming a Verve album and re-forming the band. Urban Hymns earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year.

Catherine Wheel took their moniker from the firework known as the Catherine wheel, which in turn had taken its name from the medieval torture device of the same name.

KEXP listeners number 11 song on the KEXP countdown of the top songs of the last 50 years. Find the full list below www.kexp.org In August 21st, 1989 The Cure released “Love Song”, a track from the band’s eighth studio album Disintegration. The song was penned by frontman Robert Smith as a wedding present to his wife Mary Poole, whom he had married just a year before the song’s release.

John Ross wrote the lyrics to immortalize a moment just before his first cancer surgery; "I wrote that song right after my first surgery, about lying on the operating table where a member of the surgical team held my hand right before I went under. It sounds kind of arbitrary, and like it shouldn’t have been as impactful as it was, but I felt very comforted and wanted to capture that loving feeling in the song. I knew pretty quickly that I wanted it to be a duet, and I’m super grateful to Julien (Baker) for joining me on it. This was one of the first songs we rehearsed together as a band in the studio and David’s piano part felt great almost immediately. There were a couple moments like that in the recording process where a song just immediately fell into place as soon as we started playing it." wildpink.bandcamp.com

Catch Weyes Blood at the Showbox on March 23rd! bit.ly Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Mering, said of the song: “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other. We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection?” bit.ly Weyes Blood performed live in the KEXP studio back in 2019! Check out her incredible performance here: www.youtube.com weyesblood.bandcamp.com

Alvvays set the world on fire this year. Check out the Toronto band's latest release on their bandcamp: alvvays.bandcamp.com And read the Pitchfork review of this incredible album: pitchfork.com

Here is what the band had to say about "Everything is Simple": “At the beginning of something (a relationship, a project, a job, a new place) you have this very pure feeling toward it,” say Widowspeak about the song. “Everything feels less complicated because you’re oriented wholly toward that potential. It’s undefined, and that makes it easier to understand, because you can’t see the problems yet. As time goes on, you learn more, you experience more, and you see where the limitations exist: Not even necessarily ones imposed upon you, but where you draw your own lines. Maybe you can’t see what was holding you back until it’s in the past, and by then others’ perspectives contradict your own.” bit.ly widowspeak.bandcamp.com

According to her Bandcamp, Seattle artist Mt Fog is a creation of love and a response to the world’s chaos and absurdity. Mt Fog (Carolyn) layers minimal electronic sounds and her voice to evoke magical spaces, real and imagined. Reverberations of training in classical violin and years singing the traditional music of the Balkans can be heard. Go here to purchase 'Spells of Silence': mtfog.bandcamp.com -- A classically trained violinist who spent years singing Balkan traditional music, Carolyn B. started Mt Fog in 2019. Look out for her in studio recorded last week with Cheryl. Subscribe to the KEXP Youtube for notifications when it drops: www.youtube.com

Released on this day in 1973! Perhaps a watch of Licorice Pizza is in order.

“Raspberry Beret” was the first single released from Prince’s seventh album, Around the World in a Day. Originally demoed in 1982, the track was greatly reworked by the time it was released, reflecting the influence that Prince’s backing band, The Revolution, had on his mid-80s sound. (The psychedelic string arrangement and rhythmic middle eastern finger cymbals originated from band input.) -- Watch the official music video: www.youtube.com

Recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blonde Redhead, and a bunch of others) 'Teen Dream' is the third album from the Baltimore-based duo Beach House, and their Sub Pop debut. beachhouse.bandcamp.com -- Beach House performed "10 Mile Stereo" at the 2015 Pitchfork Music Festival Paris: youtu.be

TODAY'S Song of the Day as chosen by John! Subscribe to our SOTD podcast here: www.kexp.org Out March 10 next year, Radical Romantics is Karin Dreijer’s third album as Fever Ray, and the band's first in five years. It was written and recorded with Dreijer’s brother and former bandmate in the Knife, Olof Dreijer; Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and others, have contributed to the upcoming full-length. Here is the new video for the new single: youtu.be

South London trio PVA’s stunning debut BLUSH consolidates the beating pulse of electronic music with the raw energy of a life-affirming gig and reveals more than they’ve ever shared before. Ella Harris & Josh Baxter (who share vocals, synths, guitars & production) and drummer Louis Satchell, create 11 blistering tracks from a formula of acid, disco, synths, the dancefloor & queer-coded post-punk. pvaareok.bandcamp.com

Here's a biography of this theatrical industrial/dance group out of Chicago: www.allmusic.com -- and yes, there will be a test. -- Oh, BTW, here's a video on how you can make a daisy chain, for yourself, or Satan!: www.youtube.com

"On May 10, 1983, Ministry released their debut LP, 'With Sympathy,' a dark New Wave album that band leader Al Jourgensen later completely disowned. In hindsight, it's understandable why he dislikes the record: 'With Sympathy' is light years removed from the harsh electro-industrial-metal for which Jourgensen would later become known. Recorded in Boston at the Cars' studio, Syncro Sound, with producers Vince Ely (the ex-drummer of Psychedelic Furs) and Ian Taylor, 'With Sympathy' was full of British-inflected, slick synth-pop." Read more about this "disavowed" release: ultimateclassicrock.com

From Peak Park's bandcamp: "Peak Park is a multi-faceted art-rock project from Naarm/Melbourne. The group of multi-instrumentalists pride themselves on their eclectic soundscapes and ability to blend genres. Ethereal vocals deliver vulnerable and honest lyricism, centred on identity, existentialism and mental health. The earnest and wholesome three-piece is entirely self produced." peakpark.bandcamp.com

The latest signee to Partisan Records—the label home to IDLES and Fontaines D.C.—is Skinny Pelembe. The Johannesburg-born, Doncaster-raised musician shared the news with a new single called "Like a Heart Won't Beat." “The idea for the piano on this came to me years ago in Amsterdam," Pelembe said. "I didn't know I'd had whatever it was I'd eaten until I started hallucinating…fast forward past seeing myself standing on the roof of the hotel next to me, and thinking I was in the film A Perfect Storm (actually just on a static Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant boat). Anyway, fast-forward past all that and I'm lying on a bed, seeing Clint Eastwood, playing those chords while he told me I’m ‘base level’ and not getting deep enough. Hopefully Mushroom Eastwood thinks I did him proud with this one.” - floodmagazine.com skinnypelembe.bandcamp.com

New single + video from this Leeds producer, singer, songwriter and visual artist. www.youtube.com

This is based on a 1975 song by the actress and soul singer Camille Yarborough called "Take Yo' Praise." She released just one album, and this was the last track. It was a very obscure song, but Fatboy Slim found it on a compilation CD and sampled it. Yarborough's vocal is used throughout. She made much more money on royalties from this than she did on her own album.

This album is highly sought after by collectors. Fatboy Slim sampled this song for his hit "Praise You".

The main song sampled in Moby's "Porcelain"

From 1999! Moby told Billboard magazine in 2000 that "Porcelain" was inspired by an ill-fated romance. "I was involved with this really, really wonderful woman, and I loved her very much," he explained. "But I knew deep in my heart of hearts that we had no business being romantically involved. So, it's sort of about being in love with someone but knowing you shouldn't be with them."

Shame frontman Charlie Steen describes the band’s Drunk Tank Pink follow-up as "the Lamborghini of shame records," while a press release says the album, produced by Flood (Nick Cave, U2, PJ Harvey), "marks a sonic departure from anything they’ve done before, and—for the first time—the band are not delving inwards, but seeking to capture the world around them." Watch shame perform a blistering set in KEXP's Live Room, complete with a sweet kiss for host Kevin Cole: bit.ly

Karl started World Party in 1986 after leaving The Waterboys. Prior to joining The Waterboys, he was musical director of a West End performance of The Rocky Horror Show! Don't dream it! Be it! Watch World Party's 2013 in-studio performance here on the blog: www.kexp.org

"Hi John, one of my top 10 of 2022 is Kevin Morby's This is a Photograph. Could you please play the ear worm that is Rock Bottom from that fine release? Thanks for starting our week off right! Evan" ----- kevinmorby.bandcamp.com

"Good morning! Happy Monday! I wanted to write in and request some Tom Petty for my dad’s birthday! My dad and I live across the country from each other and stay in touch by texting back-and-forth about The Morning Show. We love you KEXP! - Hedy in West Seattle, for Bill in Weatherford Texas" ------- MTV ordered a shot of a grinning Petty while Alice gets served edited out of the video before they would air it. "They said it was just too lascivious," he told Billboard. "They were like, 'Well, you can do it, but you can't enjoy it that much.'" See the video: www.youtube.com www.songfacts.com

"Good morning John, Francisco here from Skyway. I want to request Your Hand In Mine by Explosions in the Sky to welcome my nephew Santiago to the world today. He is the first kid from my brother Omar who is a big fan of the morning show and KEXP. Please help me send all the love and good vibes all the way to Elche, Spain to let my brother Omar, my sister in-law Esther and my nephew Santiago that they are not alone and that uncle Francisco and aunt Julieta love them. -Francisco" -------- Released in 2003, The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place is an album about hope. Listening to the record on vinyl is a luxuriant experience. Its cover, designed by Esteban Rey, bears its titular statement scrawled over and over in stark black handwriting, a defiantly positive mantra in the post-9/11 landscape. “That way we could kind of imagine that it was written by someone who sees all the horror and terror of the world, but who is also trying to look at all the wonderful and beautiful things,” explained drummer Chris Hrasky. Read more here guitar.com

"Classic Girl" is a love song about Perry’s then girlfriend Casey Niccoli, written in early 1987 by Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro. In early performances of this song Perry sang the line ‘circus bears on the quilt I wore’ instead of ‘dinosaurs on the quilt I wore’.

"Morning John! Today marks the 3rd year since my husband Eric passed away. Bittersweet day. Didn't plan on spending it alone but I'm really sick. I don't feel as alone when i tune into the Morning Show! Thank you for being there! If you have time, would you play Lea Porcelain's I am ok? Happy Monday! -Amber from Poulsbo" ------- Lea Porcelain shared a Live on KEXP at Home performance with John in 2019, where they ended the set with "I Am OK." Find the performance and interview here: bit.ly "The song describes a time in everybody’s life that make you lose faith in yourself, in someone else, or in life itself and you just need to hear from someone that one day everything will be OK again. That no matter what, with time and patience we all will be OK.” www.kexp.org

Out of Time is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 8, 1991, by Warner Bros. Records. With Out of Time, R.E.M.'s status grew from that of a cult band to a massive international act.