John Richards

Good morning, happy (and rainy) Friday, and welcome to The Morning Show with John Richards. We would love to play your requests today. Text 206-903-5397 or email dj@kexp.org. Thanks for being here! -- They call themselves "Seattle alt rock for the true heads...." Go here to their Bandcamp page: tvstar.bandcamp.com -- You can catch them tonight, Friday, February 17th, at the Cherry Pit in the Central District: www.cherrypitcd.com

Hello Mary is a three-piece rock band from NYC comprised of guitarist/vocalist Helena Straight, drummer/vocalist Stella Wave and bassist Mikaela Oppenheimer. Rolling Stone calls them "the next great New York rock band": bit.ly -- They were live in the KEXP studio last August: www.youtube.com

Did you know that this Minnesota sextet's 2018 album, "Meadowsweet," was beloved producer Owen Murpy's top album of the year? Go here to read Owen's interview with the band: bit.ly

This was written in 1987 and released on the band's 1989 debut album. Ian Brown wrote the lyrics for the verses, while John Squire was responsible for the lyrics for the chorus. -- Watch the renowned "Blackpool performance" in the video for this song: www.youtube.com

Built to Spill will perform at the Treefort Music Fest 2023 in Boise, Idaho on Wednesday, March 22nd. -- "Perfect From Now On" was 25 years old last year. This masterpiece was their third album and first major label release. This retrospective calls it "flawless": www.brooklynvegan.com

This song was inspired by an exhibit of the same name the band saw at the Chicago Peace Museum while on tour in 1983. The exhibit featured artwork from Japanese victims of the Hiroshima bombing. The Chicago Peace Museum also had a Martin Luther King exhibit, which would inspire U2's song "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." -- In the beginning of the song, from :04 to :07 seconds, you can hear Larry Mullen Jr. start to hit his drumsticks early. Immediately after, he mutters out "S-it." Then, at :22 seconds, he starts to drum at the correct time. The small glitch has never been removed from the album nor its inclusions on 'Best of' CDs.

In this issue of NME Song Stories, Joey Santiago and David Lovering from Pixies talk through the story behind their classic track.: www.youtube.com

Speaking of little fish... "You went looking for me dear Down by the sea You found some little silver fish But you didn't find me..." Here are the lyrics: genius.com -- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds performed this one live in Manchester back in 2007: www.youtube.com

"Vow" began in rough demo form in January 1994 before Shirley Manson joined the band. Drummer Butch Vig wrote the original lyrics after reading a newspaper article about a woman who had gone back to get revenge on an abusive husband. By the time Manson came on board, "Vow" was almost complete, but she ad-libbed some additional lyrics. One of the first lyrics she added were the opening lines: "I can't use what I can't abuse And I can't stop when it comes to you..." -- Director Samuel Bayer filmed the performance video over 12 hours in Los Angeles at the start of June 1995. When Garbage performed "Vow" live as Bayer shot the takes, it was the first time they'd played together as a group.: www.youtube.com

That's producer Scott Litt on harmonica, drums, and background vocals. See an intimate live performance on "Breakfast with the Arts": www.youtube.com

This is a new single from the band's forthcoming "Continue as a Guest," due for release on March 31st. It's the first album since 2019’s "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights." -- New Pornographers frontperson A.C. Newman said about this song: "I pictured this one as a weird little George Saunders–esque sketch, a snapshot. I found myself a lot more concerned with performance and/or delivery, changing melody and phrasing to get a better performance, less concerned, less precious about the original melody or lyric that I wrote. With that in mind, I had the idea of angels visiting me in the night with the message that 'melody ain’t got nothing on.'"

Listen carefully under the guitar and you'll hear a banjo line, which multi-instrumentalist Andrew Farriss added using a sampler. -- INXS guitarist/horn player Kirk Pengilly played the saxophone part, and yes, Michael Hutchence yells "trumpet!" just before it plays. This was an in-joke: The group's other guitarist, Tim Farriss, wanted to play trumpet on the track, but Pengilly overruled him and got his sax solo. In the video version, Hutchence's call for trumpet is removed because it sounds really dumb when you actually see the saxophone.: www.youtube.com

Nation of Language will be playing a sold-out show at The Crocodile on Thursday, May 18th, 2023. -- "Rush & Fever" was selected by John as KEXP's Song of the Day back in 2020. www.kexp.org

The song's music video was directed by Santigold along with Nabil and it sees the singer play a member of an idyllic 1950s American family in a pointed criticism of today's society. Watch out for cameo appearances from Wu-Tang Clan's GZA, Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter Kick Kennedy and snowboarder Trevor Andrew.: www.youtube.com

Ahhh.....the Friday song. (Rest your voice, dear Henry.) Go here to listen (until February 27th) to Gabriel Teodros' tribute to Trugoy the Dove.: www.kexp.org

See Common Market performing "Connect For" live with Gifted Youngstaz at the Crocodile in Seattle in 2019: www.youtube.com

Don't you love this song? You can purchase it on Bandcamp here: babydayliner.bandcamp.com -- Matt Berninger of The National notes the positivity Ethan Marunas emanates. "What I like most about Baby Dayliner’s writing is that there's rarely any meanness in his songs; no forced posturing or aggressiveness; and they are loaded with empathy. He sings about flawed and vain characters but with genuine understanding and kindness. The music is catchy, smart, and weird — something beautiful and odd, that only he does. Baby Dayliner is something uncommon in pop music. He’s unique."

In 2002, Joni Mitchell told Rolling Stone: The only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it was the New Radicals. I loved that song ‘You Get What You Give.’ It was a big hit, and I said, ‘Where did they go?’ It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, ‘Good for him.’ I knew he was my kind of guy. -- (Actually, Gregg Alexander built a lengthy résumé with his songwriting credits and Grammy-winning production work.: www.allmusic.com)

"Ah, sweet lovin' Christ...that's a grrreat song!" -- Enjoy this 2021 interview with Ned's Atomic Dustbin's John Penney about...well, about everything: www.indiependent.co.uk

Can you do a shoutout for my daughter Ellison who is turning 12 today and play the song "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode. A song she recently discovered on KEXP! We listen every morning on our way to school between 8:15-8:40. —Jennifer -- Happy birthday, Ellison! -- Here's a just-released episode of "60 songs that explain the 90's" that looks at this classic Depeche Mode song: www.theringer.com

Depeche Mode will be here in Seattle, playing Climate Pledge Arena in support of the new album "Memento Mori." They'll be here on Sunday, November 26th. -- "Ghosts Again" is Martin Gore and Dave Gahan's first new music since the sudden 2022 passing of bandmate Andy Fletcher. “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to," said Gahan "I’m excited to be able to share it.” www.depechemode.com

"Express" is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Love and Rockets. Here's a tribute to this classic: vaguevisages.com

"Goth club kids needed a love anthem of their own, and this song provided it, with this hooky depiction of the main relationship: 'And we tried so hard / And we looked so good / And we lived our lives in black.'": www.avclub.com -- Watch co-songwriterJim Reid shuffling about miserably for this rainy day classic here: www.youtube.com

My kiddo Rowan just heard this dedication and wondered if he could hear Yoshimi battles the pink robots on his way to school since he turns 8 tomorrow? ❤️🫶🏻💥---Lauren -- Happy birthday tomorrow, Rowan! -- Lead singer Wayne Coyne says the inspiration for the song came from a woman named Yoshimi who played with The Boredoms. He had a recording of her screaming that he thought sounded like a fight. The Boredoms were a Japanese noise-rock group from the early '90s, with roots in the experiments of artists like Sonic Youth. They gained a small following and even played at the famous Lollapalooza festival.

First single from the first album and 1996 release from Alan Sutherland, who goes by Land Of The Loops, is a Boston keyboardist who, inspired by avantgarde ensemble Negativland, composes eccentric collages of samples. This song was apparently used in a Miller Lite commercial: kspc.org ---

Tokyo Police Club is a band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. -- See a 2007 performance of "Citizens of Tomorrow": www.youtube.com

Cheekface is: Amanda Tannen on bass guitar and backing vocals, Greg Katz on vocals and guitar, and Mark Echo Edwards on drums and percussion. -- Want to see Cheekface performing this song live?: www.youtube.com

Greg Katz’s statement on the song: Me and Mandy [bassist Amand Tannen] were trying to wrestle with the feeling that success in your career or field kind of feels like selling out, even if you don’t think you’re knowingly capitulating to the demands of later capitalism. Like, work, or art, or whatever, feels somehow more authentic, or just better, if other people don’t like it, or if you’re failing. And maybe it feels like a badge of honor to just reject success altogether, and because of that, there’s maybe an impulse to self-sabotage, like, to do things on purpose that you know will not succeed. Also this song has a nice guitar solo in my opinion, although I am biased, because I played it.

"Peaches" was written by the three band members: Chris Ballew, Dave Dederer, and Jason Finn. Dederer came up with the part that closes out the song: Millions of peaches Peaches for me Millions of peaches Peaches for free "The song sounds like two different songs," Ballew said. "It's got my verse/chorus/verse/chorus, and then Dave's end part." "I love that that song was so popular because it really was a collaborative thing," he added. "Dave and I depended on each other to make that song work. Growing up as I did in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney, I thought it was cool that we had that collaboration."

This pop-funk jam is the second single taken from Record Collection. The record is the third studio album by Brooklyn-located English musician and producer Mark Ronson. It features Scottish vocalist Kyle Falconer from indie rock band The View crooning the chorus while American rapper Spank Rock supplies the rhymes. -- French model and actress Josephine de La Baume starred in the song's music video. She and Ronson had been dating since 2009 and they married in the French city of Aix-en-Provence on September 5, 2011.: www.youtube.com

Hi John, A few years back a girl, who I think was about 12 at the time, used to request "Take Your Mama" every year on her mother's birthday. I think it was in August. I remember because I happened to catch you announcing it three years in a row and it stuck with me. The girl's probably almost in college by now, because that's what happens to kids. At any rate, it would have been my mother's 82nd birthday tomorrow and I would like to request "Take Your Mama" for her, for that other mother whose birthday is in August, and all the cool mothers out there who need a good thank you from their kids this morning. Thanks! ---Ian in North Seattle -- Scissor Sisters was a vital part of New York's glam-rock scene in the 00's. Read how they ushered in an era of queer pop.: www.udiscovermusic.com This particular song, written by Babydaddy and Jake Shears at Shears' parents' horse farm in West Virginia, was inspired by Shears' coming out to his mother.: www.youtube.com

There are at least 28 samples in this song. The samples include the John Waters movie Polyester, a recording by the Enoch Light Singers and an album from the comedy duo Wayne & Schuster.: www.whosampled.com -- Don't miss the video: www.youtube.com

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet is the seminal Canadian instrumental combo formed in Toronto, in 1984. The band is perhaps best known for providing the theme song to the sketch comedy TV show, The Kids in the Hall. They released three albums before disbanding in 1996. -- Ever wonder what happened to this band? You're not the only one: www.forbes.com

At 2665 miles from Seattle and assuming a 70mph speed limit, the bridge from Seattle to Hawaii would be a 38+ hour drive. A wistful song for all of us dreaming of warmer places. -- Don't miss this live performance of "Bridge to Hawaii" by Tacocat in the KEXP studio: www.youtube.com

"This bed is on fire with passionate love..." -- This is the title song from Manchester-band James's fifth studio album, released in 1993. 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. While 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. See the video: www.youtube.com

Want to know how to play "Animal Nitrate" on guitar? Guitarist Bernard Butler of Suede will show you how.: www.youtube.com

In Simon Goddard’s "Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of the Smiths", Johnny Marr is quoted as saying that he wanted the song to be The Smiths equivalent to The Rolling Stones’ "Jumpin’ Jack Flash." He said: “I wanted something that was a rush all the way through, without a distinct middle eight as such. I thought the guitar breaks should be percussive, not too pretty or cordial.” Read the story behind this song: faroutmagazine.co.uk

Here is Pavement’s ode to R.E.M., “The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence,” in which Stephen Malkmus, working his way through "Reckoning"’s song titles, informs us that “Time After Time Was (his) Least Favorite Song.”

After Pavement's homage, here's R.E.M. themselves... --- This song indicts the Exxon Corporation for their environmental destruction: www.youtube.com

Hey, John and Owen - thanks for opening the morning up to requests. My mum Jean brought home my first drum kit when I was 14, and it changed my life. I met people and went places I never would have had she not been paying attention to how off the rails I was at that time. A colleague told her an instrument would offer me focus, and he was right. I still play the drums 34 years later with some of my best friends. I met my wife of 20 years because I play the drums. I hear music differently because my mum rented a Pearl Custom kit and set it up in our basement all those years ago. I owe her everything. My sweet, kind mother has undergone two surgeries this week and is currently recovering in ICU. We hope she'll be out of the woods today, so if you're able to, can you please play Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles? Thanks for everything you all do at KEXP! --Darin in Vancouver -- Get well, Darin's mum, Jean! --

Have a big time on vacation, John!! -- “Vacation” is a 1982 single released by the all-female rock band The Go-Go’s. The song was the first single and title track from their sophomore album. “Vacation” carries the distinction of being released as the first known cassette single or “cassingle” as trademarked by I.R.S. Records.

Of the brand new album, Norm, KEXP's Don Yates writes, "This Saskatchewan artist’s eighth album is a well-crafted set of folk-tinged indie-pop combining atmospheric synths, guitar, clarinet, piano, strings and more with his wispy vocals and often-dark lyrics of love, loss, faith and mortality." bit.ly Cheryl hosted Andy Shauf Live on KEXP in 2020: bit.ly