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Friday, Sep 22 2017, 6AM
Good morning and happy Friday. Head Head David Byrne shed some light on his lyrical inspiration when he told Time Out: "Most of the words in 'Once in a Lifetime' come from evangelists I recorded off the radio while taking notes and picking up phrases I thought were interesting directions. Maybe I'm fascinated with the middle class because it seems so different from my life, so distant from what I do. I can't imagine living like that."
In 2003, The Edge inducted The Clash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his speech, he said, "There is no doubt in my mind that "Sunday Bloody Sunday" wouldn't - and couldn't - have been written if not for The Clash." Here's U2 performing this anthem live in Berlin earlier this year: www.youtube.com
According to lead singer Perry Farrell, there was an actual Jane - with an actual heroin habit and an abusive boyfriend named Sergio - who lived with him and nearly a dozen others in a group house in Hollywood as the band was forming in the early '80s. She talked endlessly about scrimping for a jaunt to Europe: "Jane says, 'I'm going away to Spain, when I get my money saved," and she took an occasional swipe at a housemate, but she never seemed to connect: "She gets mad and starts to cry, takes a swing but she can't hit."
Read an obituary of Vincent Ford, a friend of Bob Marley, who is credited with writing "No Woman No Cry,"a depiction of what life was like "in the government yard in Trenchtown" where Marley spent his teenage years."Vincent Ford is a bredda from Trenchtown," Marley once said. "Me and him used to sing long time. Me and him used to live in the kitchen together long, long time.": www.independent.co.uk
Scaramouche is a clown from traditional Italian ‘Commedia dell’arte’ theater where characters usually appear in masks. Scaramouche often wears black and ‘Scaramuccia’ translates into English as skirmisher. He’s a bit of a rogue and a buffoon.: www.abebooks.com
Watch the official video for this wonderful song: www.youtube.com
Springsteen came up with this song in the studio during recording sessions in early 1982. He was playing around with a slow Johnny Cash rhythm which he put to some lyrics he had already written. The song was recorded in May 1982, and originally intended for the Nebraska album, but it was not released until Born In The U.S.A. was finished in 1984. In 2000, Johnny Cash, who inspired this song, covered it on Badlands: A tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska.
Torres will be LIVE on KEXP on Tuesday, October 10th, 2017, at noon. This performance is open for the public to sign up and attend. She'll be playing Neumos that night.
Read a 2016 interview with Suzanne Vega: www.theguardian.com
Who? Oh, Pixies will play The Paramount Theatre on Sunday, December 3rd, 2017.: www.stgpresents.org
The song's refrain of "Everything's gonna be OK," is about the self-delusion that is sometimes necessary for surviving modern life. The band's Dave Sitek told NME: "The 'I keep telling myself...' line means that it might not be true. Everyone goes through that, on multiple levels. There's a lot of doubt floating around. What has modern living and its aspirations led to? ''Trouble' at least for me, is about putting your helmet on."
Watch The Mountain Goats play "This Year" with The B-52's Cindy Wilson: www.stereogum.com
R.E.M. wrote the song using Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” as inspiration. More facts about this important song: ajournalofmusicalthings.com
"It’s what makes a song like “All My Friends” feel as if it has its finger firmly on the pulse of the times, like its whole being is a perfect representation of an era characterized by its fragmentation, and thus by endless paradoxes we live alongside daily." Read a thoughtful essay deconstructing "All My Friends": www.stereogum.com
In the Guardian newspaper February 24, 2006, Karl Hyde said: "A drunk sees the world in fragments and I wanted to recreate that. The vocals were done in one take. When I lost my place, I'd repeat the same line; that's why it goes, 'lager, lager, lager, lager.' The first time we played it live, people raised their lager cans and I was horrified because I was still deep into alcoholism. It was never meant to be a drinking anthem; it was a cry for help. Now I don't mind. Why Born Slippy? It was a greyhound we won money on."
"How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that's so cold? (So cold)..." Here's the official video for "When Doves Cry": www.youtube.com
Waterboys chronicler Ian Abrahams wrote that the album and song were about Mike Scott painting, "...a mystical, spiritual route that can be attained simply through letting-go of the mundane and trusting to the sanctity of the inner self." Abrahams further described the song as, "...an instruction to throw away the old and embrace the new, catch the train, see the previous existence as something old and gone."
The music for this song was written by guitarist Stone Gossard before the band had a lead singer. It was part of a three-song instrumental demo they made at London Bridge Studio in Seattle while looking for a vocalist and drummer. Jack Irons, a friend of Gossard's who played drums in The Red Hot Chili Peppers,thought Eddie Vedder might be a good fit as the singer, so he gave Eddie the demo tape. At home in San Diego, Vedder wrote lyrics and added his vocals to the song using his four-track recorder. The band liked what they heard and made him lead singer.
Ahhh......the Friday song. Get a head start on the Fall Fundraising Drive by donating now to the station that is truly listener-powered: www.kexp.org
Mad Season was a collaboration of artists from our area --- Layne Staley on vocals from Alice In Chains, Mike McCready on guitar from Pearl Jam, Martin Barrett from the Screaming Trees on drums. They first played together at a show where the audience had no idea who the band was and expected them to be just some newcomers.
Their fifth album, called, appropriately, "V," is out today. The Guardian says these "spindly indie survivors hit their sweet spot": www.theguardian.com
No, this is not payola. A donor said that he would make a contribution if we played this particular version of New Order's "Temptation." You, too, can be a KEXP donor who supports the music that matters: www.kexp.org
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will sing this song when they come to The Showbox next year on February 20th, 2018. The new album will be released on January 12th.: www.rollingstone.com
Watch Bob Mould performing "A Good Idea" live in KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge in 2013: blog.kexp.org
Watch this video of The The performing "Dogs of Lust": www.youtube.com
What are your ten favorite Public Image Ltd. songs?: www.stereogum.com
OMG, they won The Super Bowl on "Friday Night Lights"! It must be true because John Richards said it on the radio. www.gq.com
The crowds are quite enthusiastic in the video for Fidlar's "West Coast": www.youtube.com
You can say "detachable penis" on the air. Here's the, ouch, oral history of this song: www.spin.com
Yes, John, summer's gone. Yesterday was the September Equinox. Now, it's fall!: www.50thirdand3rd.com
Read a biography of this talented Texas singer/songwriter: www.allmusic.com
"There's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas..." We know you've frequently, secretly wondered about the lyrics: songmeanings.com
Here's what you may want to know about the firing of the Kermit the Frog actor this summer: www.businessinsider.com
This is a perfect segue from Kermit the Frog. The video for "Testify" features rather boyish clips of George W. Bush and Al Gore: www.youtube.com
Another terrific segue. Louis Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World" turned 50 this year: www.latimes.com
Thank you, Louis, for that "Oh, yeah" introduction. Watch Ministry perform this little ditty live:www.youtube.com
Ministry....weddings....get it? This song started out as a bank commercial. Songwriters Paul Williams and Roger Nichols were commissioned by an advertising agency to write it in 1968 for Crocker Bank, which was trying to attract young people and newlyweds to their institution.
The Carpenters lead straight into "Straight Outta Compton": www.youtube.com
The Chemical Brothers have just announced a rare gig in Bristol, England: www.bristolpost.co.uk
Wow! This topical song is 40 years old this year: www.telegraph.co.uk
Watch Motorhead on the double-decker bus in the video of this Sex Pistols cover: www.youtube.com
Whale were a Swedish alternative rock group active from 1992 to 1999. The music video for "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe", directed by Mark Pellington, won the first MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video in 1994.: www.youtube.com
Happy birthday, Nick Cave. He was born in Warracknabeal, Australia on this date in 1957, making him a mere 60 years old.: www.thefamouspeople.com
"Black Betty" is often attributed to Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter.
This is a traditional folk song, known as "In the Pines": www.youtube.com
Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile will be LIVE on KEXP on Sunday, October 22, 2017, at 1:00 PM. They'll be playing The Showbox that night.
Noah Gundersen will be playing at Easy Street Records at 7:00 p.m. tonight, Friday, September 22nd, 2017.
Noah Gundersen's new album, "White Noise," comes out today: noahgundersenmusic.com
Go here to visit Noah Gundersen's Facebook page: www.facebook.com
You can hear Noah Gundersen at The Neptune Theatre on Friday, November 17th, 2017.