John Richards

This song was originally released in 1979 by San Francisco synth-punk The Units. -- The track features the joint vocals of Joseph Evans & Hannah Peace and was recorded in the band’s new Salford studio Futuro House. -- The video, shot in Manchester in a day, sees singer Evans trapped in the corporate rat race - Evans & director Craig McLaughlin said on the concept: ”The video follows the cyclical white-collar nightmare of Mr. Everyman-office-worker, as he navigates through high-pressure days. His life is as stressful as it is banal, until an ethereal figure on his computer screen offers him a chance for psychedelic salvation.”: www.youtube.com

Devo will, no doubt, perform this song when they play The Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, November 7th! -- Read what The Seattle Times has to say about the band coming to town: www.seattletimes.com

The song was written by band members Charlotte Caffey and Kathy Valentine, and produced by English record producer Martin Rushent. The Go-Gos' rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin has cited "Head over Heels" as her favorite Go-Go's song, describing it as "just a classic..Like a little pop truffle of chocolate that's just completely delicious." -- Here's the video: www.youtube.com

A trigger for this song was the Civil War in El Salvador, which started in 1980. Most Americans weren't aware of the conflict, but Exene Cervenka felt compelled to help, even though there was little she could do. Here are the lyrics to this song about the unpleasant realities that can interfere with our contentment.: www.songfacts.com

Happy birthday to this album! On November 3rd, 1978, The Jam released "All Mod Cons." -- This is a cover of a song written by Ray Davies of The Kinks and originally recorded by The Kinks in 1967.

Iggy is one of a "select few" who have covered this song, including Marilyn Manson and Johnny Cash. Read about this song that "vaulted Depeche Mode to lasting legitimacy": ig.ft.com

Speaking of Jesus... Frontman and poet John S. Hall described "Jesus Was Way Cool" as a reflection on Catholicism and poetry. Here are the lyrics; songmeanings.com

Andy Partridge talked about why this song wasn’t originally on "Skylarking“: "It wasn’t on the original album because I honestly thought that I’d failed. It’s such a vast subject — human belief, the need for humans to believe the stuff they do, and the many strata involved, the many layers of religion and belief and whatnot. So I thought I’d failed to address this massive subject for all mankind — and also a big subject for me, because I think it’d been bugging me for many years. I’d struggled with the concept of God and Man and so on since I was a kid, even to the point where I got myself so worked up with worry about religion that — around about the age of 7 or 8 on a summer’s day — I saw the clouds part and, you know, there was this sort of classic Renaissance picture of God surrounded by his angels looking at me scornfully.”: dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com

This song sampled Radiohead's "Planet Telex." -- David Peter Meads, known professionally as Scroobius Pip, is an English actor and podcaster as well as a former spoken word poet and hip hop recording artist from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. This song began as a spoken word piece from Pip. -- Here's a long 2018 YouTube interview with Pip: www.youtube.com.

As Norman Greenbaum explained, he set out to write a religious rock song. He is Jewish, but instead of using a Jewish word for God, he used "Jesus" because he thought it would be more marketable. It took months for Greenbaum to finish the music, but the lyrics came really quickly. -- The 1969 song has one of the most recognizable opening guitar riffs to this day. Female backup singers on this track were provided by the Stovall Sisters, who were a gospel trio from Indiana.

Here's the story behind the song, aimed at rock star excess, that turned the band into rock stars themselves: www.loudersound.com -- And...here's the official video: www.youtube.com

“Within ten minutes he’d thrown up and fallen off the stool,” Al Jourgensen says, laughing. “And we’d got nothing. Eventually we propped him back up, and he just started singing complete gibberish. He was going: ‘Bing bing bing bang a bong bong bing bing binga binga…’ But it sounded really cool and just seemed to fit the track. Then he passed out. Basically, Gibby [Haynes of Butthole Surfers] just showed up, threw up, spit up some gibberish and left. But he was exactly what was needed. We finally had a song.” Read the hilarious story behind this song: www.loudersound.com

Ahhh....the Friday song! John Richards and Dr. Amy Lindsey will host the Death and Music event at The Moore Theatre on Sunday, November 12th. Go here to learn more and get tickets: www.kexp.org

This issue of the "60 Songs that explain the 90's" podcast features "You Get What You Give": www.theringer.com

Happy 63rd bday to Icicle Works singer Ian McNabb! == Icicle Works is from Liverpool. They took their name from the short story "The Day The Icicle Works Closed," written by American science fiction author Frederik Pohl. -- Enjoy this essay about this one-hit wonder: foreveryoung80s.wordpress.com

Happy 68th birthday to the one and only Adam Ant! === You must not miss the video of the "dandy highwayman" Adam Ant putting on his makeup and then going out to threaten victims on the highway.: www.youtube.com

This monster debut turns 43 today! == This is a cover of a T. Rex song. Watch a live performance of this brief banger: www.youtube.com

Released on this day 31 years ago... This song describes the operations of the FBI's "counterintelligence" program - which was to suppress any dissident movements in the '60s. It references the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. -- "Then came the shot..." Here are the lyrics: genius.com

Dr Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg's G-funk anthem 'Nuthin' But A G Thang' is now in the capable steel pan-playing hands of Hamburg's Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band.

Brooklyn singer Angélica Garcia recently announced she’s just signed with Partisan Records, and will have a proper debut LP for the label out sometime in 2024. Produced by Chicano Batman’s Carlos Arévalo, the music marks this as the first time Angélica sings on an album entirely in Spanish. It is her native language. --- For the video, Angélica’s vocal performance took such an emotional and spiritual toll that she couldn’t sing for two days after recording. See the video for "El Que": www.youtube.com

Control Machete is a Mexican hip hop group from Monterrey, Nuevo León.: www.allmusic.com "How many times has the sun stopped at noon (how many?) Because it no longer wants to experience sunsets (how many?)" Here' an Englis translation of the lyrics for "De perros amores": genius-com.translate.goog

That's Italian singer Costanza Francavilla on this song. She is a previous fan who approached Tricky at one of his shows and gave him a CD with songs. "Since relocating in Ibiza in 2016, she has been exploring vibroacoustic and sound-wave therapies through the stimulation in Theta brainwave frequencies, waves that are associated with deep relaxation, meditation, creativity and intuitive awareness.": mutek.org

For "War," Chuck D merges his lyrical flow with that of vocalist Ambersunshower over a straight drum-n-bass track from New York-based producer Ticc Tacc of Quarantine Inc. -- "After hearing so many drum-n-bass samples using Chuck D's voice, we figured it was about time we made our own statement." said Astralwerks executives.

Time Zone was a band consisting of early rap star Afrika Bambaataa, ex-Sex Pistol/Public Image Ltd. leader John Lydon, and producer/bassist Bill Laswell. - The single also includes renowned musicians-- keyboardist Bernie Worrell, guitarist Nicky Skopelitis and Sengalese drummer Aiyb Dieng-- all of whom would later play on PiL's Album. Laswell also played bass and produced that album.-

Go right here to purchase the white vinyl (!!) copy of the reissue of "The New Romance" by Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves: store.matadorrecords.com -- Pretty Girls Make Graves was an art punk band, formed in Seattle in 2001, named after The Smiths song of the same name (which itself was named after a quote from Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums").: www.allmusic.com

The album cover for Yeah Yeah Yeahs' fourth release was created by Korean-born, San Diego-based illustrator and animator Beomsik Shimbe Shim. He said: "I imagined a giant, hairy, female mosquito dragging up a helpless boy into the night sky. It could be happening onstage while Karen O is singing - or even in your room at night." He added: "Karen really wanted the mosquito to be a sexy and beautifully gross female. In the end I considered the mosquito as Karen O herself- the warrior-like female rock star."

IDLES has announced their "righteous and vibrant" fifth album. "TANGK," out in February of next year. You can pre-order it right here: idlesband.bandcamp.com -- "Dancer" features James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem.

Some significant shredding from Ritzy Bryan occurred when Welsh band The Joy Formidable performed "Whirring" in KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge in 2013. Watch that entire performance: www.kexp.org

In her autobiography "Girl in a Band," Kim Gordon says the song is about Joe Cole, a friend of theirs who was murdered during a robbery in Venice, Los Angeles in front of his friend and roommate Henry Rollins. She says: When Henry called to tell me about Joe. I burst into tears. I didn’t get over it for a couple of years, to be honest. The senseless, random act of violence against someone so full of life and innocence, was mind-blowing, and I hated Los Angeles for a long time after that. I wrote the song “JC” about Joe, while Thurston wrote “100%”. It was hard to sing without tearing up.

"Once in a while, you get in my way Once in a while, you know I got to say... I love you 99% of the time 99% of the time..." -- Soul Asylum performed it live in 2022: www.youtube.com

You want a hit? Visit the official website of this Liverpool band: www.genandthedegenerates.com -- Speaking about their new single, vocalist Genevieve Glynn-Reeves reveals, "If you want the highbrow answer, then BIG HIT SINGLE is about the experience of creating art under late capitalism. If you want the lowbrow –and slightly more honest– answer, then BIG HIT SINGLE is me trying to wind up our label." tinyurl.com

Manchester band PINS write: "The track is about how sometimes we feel like we only exist to make money for other people, it’s a swizz. We are promised things by saviours, these people who have come to rescue us, but it’s not true. “Serve The Rich” was my opportunity to assert myself. I’m saying that we as PINS, musicians, women, Labour voters, and feminists, are here to save the kids, we’re here to save each other, we’re here to save ourselves." bit.ly

The Bug Club are a three piece from the little-known rock n' roll hotbed that is Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales. After years of gigging relentlessly in Cardiff and Bristol, they finally released their upcoming double album, "Rare Birds: Hour of Song," on Oct. 18! You can go right here to buy it: thebugclub.bandcamp.com

Go back to 2009 to watch Scottish band The Vaselines perform "Molly's Lips" live in our studio: www.youtube.com

Nice was an Australian indie rock band which formed in 1991. The band was fronted by Randall Lee (formerly of The Cannanes and later of Ashtray Boy) on vocals and guitar.

The Hives will be performing at Neumos on Wednesday, Nov 8th. They will be LIVE in our Gathering Space the previous day, Tuesday, November 7th. -- "The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons" is the Swedish band's first studio release in over a decade.: pitchfork.com

On this date in 1990, EMF released "Unbelievable." -- Did you know that EMF stood for Epsom Mad Funkers? Read the "unbelievable" story behind the band: rockandrolltruestories.com --

"Known for their strong melodies and hooks, and for meshing club overtones with traditional rock guitar, Jesus Jones, alongside contemporaries like EMF, the Shamen, and Pop Will Eat Itself, helped shape the '90s alternative rock scene by showing that sample-driven dance music could comfortably fit into pop music.": www.allmusic.com -- This song contains a sample of the hook from Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return).

This is the opening track of the West Midlands band's debut album, "God Fodder," Read a retrospective on that much-loved album (which you may know because of the classic "Gray Cell Green"): www.offyourradar.com

How will this lead into Troy's Midday Show? Stay tuned... --- Soho were a collective made up of core members guitarist/songwriter Tim London (real name Timothy Brinkhurst) and twin sisters, Jacqueline and Pauline Cuff. In 1987 the Cuff sisters resigned their jobs as psychiatric nurses to commit themselves fully to singing in the band. -- This song was composed by Brinkhurst, but was also credited to Johnny Marr, since it samples The Smith's "How Soon Is Now?"

"Soul II Soul started spreading.... ideals of London sound system culture across the globe at the end of the 1980s. At a time when the highly mechanized sound of new jack swing was dominating contemporary R&B, the group -- led by producer, songwriter, and occasional vocalist Jazzie B -- found a way to synthesize breakbeat-driven hip-hop and house music with the elegant dancefloor R&B of disco-era groups..." Read more here: tinyurl.com