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3 months ago

in Popdose Interview: Rick Springfield on Popdose
I must argue with you here. First off, I assume you are talking about Working Class Dog, which was NOT Rick's first album, but, rather, more like his 5th.
He started off with a hit single in Australia that made a little noise here. Then, after a couple more records, he was the star of and wrote music for a saturday morning cartoon show called Mission Magic.
His LP, Wait for Night, is one of the more accomplished power pop entries and Working Class Dog is considered one of the the best examples of the genre.
There is, perhaps, one or two weaker tracks but, all in all, it's a pretty relentless example of the style. No doubt aided by the likes of Neal Geraldo. I suggest songs like "Everybody's Girl" and "Love is Allright Tonight" as examples above the deserved hit singles.
His follow up was almost a carbon copy and stands up pretty well, although the production does scream 80s.
Rick was invited on Oprah a few years ago to be a part of a One Hit Wonder show she was putting together. He declined, since he has had over 17 top forty hits. Hardly a "One Hit Wonder". But, since Jessie's Girl is so massive and iconic it's easy to see why she might have thought that.
Squeeze is great and I would put east Side Story or Argybargy on PAR with WCD. But not in its stead.
1 reply
DannyH's picture
DannyH You are partly correct Allen. RIck's top hit in Austrailia was Speak to the Sky, which climbed the charts all the way up to #14 in the USA. RIck had a few labums that were great at that time, but was being shopped around as the next David Cassidy, but was writing more like Elton John, about Death adn very serious writing. a serious argument led to a divorse of management, and Rick was not allowed to put another album for several years. When the tie finally broke for good, RIck started writing for WCD, which didn't take off at first, but when Jessie's GIrl was put out, it skyrocketed. BUT, when SHSMY(Success ablum) came out, it sold way more than WCD, and it went all the way to #2 for the year! At that point, Rick already had Beautiful Feelings, Wait for Night, Comic Book Heroes out as Albums as well as WCD and SHSMY. At that point Rick left GH and was on his own as a house hold name and put out Living in OZ, then Hard to Hold, which sold faster than any CD. He was clearly on top of the world. But at the birth of his first son and Tao coming out, he was sort of torn between his career and his family, so he took two years off and became a self described hermit, or house husband. When Josh was born, he put out ROck of LIfe, and started to take off again and had a major accident while 4x4ing, and broke numerous boned in his arm and shoulder and couldn't hang a guitar from it, so he had to cancel his tour(which I had tickets to)Once again, he fell off the face of the earth, but kept writing. Then he formed a band called Sahara Snow, and put the CD out in Europe, and had some succcess. Finally coming back to the US, he put out Karma in attempt to come back, but although teh CD was written as a good CD, the stations were not going to let Rick become a household name again, and didn't play it . But he kept touring, as the fan base never left, so he kept on writing. Shock(SDAA) cd was criticaly acclaimed, and got some airplay, Beautiful You went to #14 on the AC, and put Rick back on the map again as someone who could break out with the right single/CD.
This CD, Venus in Overdrive(VIO) is everything every critic has wanted from Rick for a long, long time. It relates to every style of listener, and could have up to 9 hits on it. It is a great CD.

3 months ago

in Popdose Interview: Rick Springfield on Popdose
So glad to see Rick get some love. I think the idiot's guide should be republished (God I miss those......)
I really liked the album, better than the last. And incidentally, in concert, Rick comes across as either a rock star who really loves to give his fans what they want, or a nimble 50-something with a God complex.
either way, very cool interview.
http://septenary.blogspot.com/2008/07/listening... is my (brief) review.

4 months ago

in Listening Booth: The Hold Steady, “Stay Positive” on Popdose
Most of the tracks have been available on blogs. Try Hype machine or Elbo.ws or something.
Thing is, after hearing those tracks I KNEW this was Boys and Girls part 2 and decided, why would I need to screen the rest? I liekd that album, I'll buy this one.
I did. I was disappointed. The best tracks were the ones I downloaded for free.
Same with The Fratellis new one.
It's not a very good year, is it?

4 months ago

in Jesus of Cool: “Weeds” Goes to Pot on Popdose
In an interview with LAist Kohan, perhaps jokingly, suggested that she was worried that she would lose her writers to boredom and pilots. So, she says she shook everything up to keep the show going.
I felt that it was in kind of rut. And I'm enjoying the new season. Maybe not immensely, but have you ever immensely loved Weeds?
1 reply
JonCummings Yeah, actually, I immensely loved the first two seasons. Maybe that has something to do with my adult-lifelong mooning over Mary Louise Parker, but still...yeah, I thought the first two seasons were really something special.

Interesting that Kohan would say that--because I'm pretty sure that if she pitched Weeds' current scenario rather than its former one, she probably couldn't even get a pilot made.

4 months ago

in Top of the First on Popdose
Really? No love for the Mountain Goats?
I submit that you just haven't heard Jukebox the Ghost. Or it would have made one of these lists.
I guess these lists are fine. It's a pretty crappo year.
2 replies
TaylorTSides's picture
TaylorTSides For what it's worth, I liked the last Mountain Goats album more than any others of theirs I've liked.
DavidMedsker's picture
DavidMedsker I've heard Jukebox the Ghost and like it. I just liked these others better.

4 months ago

in Lost in the ’80s: Oingo Boingo on Popdose
What I meant by Burton was: Tim Burton gave Elfman his first scoring job. Pee Wee's Playhouse (Paul Reubens, another LAer would more than likely known of the Knights). That score led to Batman, which led to Simpsons, which led to incredible wealth.

4 months ago

in Lost in the ’80s: Oingo Boingo on Popdose
I see you didn't mention it but I thought it was important to add that Oingo Boingo grew out of a performance group called "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo." Their stage shows were legendary, akin to the early Tubes shows, but even more zany, due to the music.
The MKofOB show became the basis of the film "The Forbidden Zone" written and directed by Richard Elfman, founding member of the Mystic Knights and scored by Danny Elfman who had a supporting role.
If you were to watch the dvd release of this amazing z grade film from the early 80s you would get to see videotaped footage of the Mystic Knights on stage AND you would learn that one of the original members and stars of the film was Matthew Bright who would go on to write and direct the Freeway movies.
The Forbidden Zone includes the first music Danny scored for a film. It is very likely that Burton, living in LA, would have come into contact with the Knights at some point.
I encourage all to watch.
1 reply
allen What I meant by Burton was: Tim Burton gave Elfman his first scoring job. Pee Wee's Playhouse (Paul Reubens, another LAer would more than likely known of the Knights). That score led to Batman, which led to Simpsons, which led to incredible wealth.

4 months ago

in The Three Strike Rule: “Lost” on Popdose
Lost is an anomoly. A television show that is a fully contained story with a beginning, middle and an end.
There has never been anything done on television on this scale.
I expect, like a great novel, it will be very satisfying when it's over.
I also recognize that, like a great novel, we are in the middle of the story and that is usually where books get more dense, expository and slow.

5 months ago

in Listening Booth: Radiohead, “The Best of” on Popdose
You are aware that Radiohead left their label last year and this is an attempt, as was the box set, for said label to recoup as much $$ as possible in the wake of the success of the (self/internet released) In rainbows. How could it mention "In Rainbows"? There is no relationship between the label and post "Hail to the Thief" Radiohead.
1 reply
TaylorTSides's picture
TaylorTSides Oh yes, I know. But it's ridiculous to me that they're marketing this as a "career retrospective" when it's clearly not. They didn't even mention the record in the literature that accompanies the release. If they were able to release tracks that were previously unreleased, they might've tried to get their permission to use one from "In Rainbows." It just points out - even more - that this is about the label and not about the band.

5 months ago

in Lost in the ’70s: Mud, “Dyna-Mite” on Popdose
Having only heard Tiger Feet I appreciate the hell out of this.

5 months ago

in CHART ATTACK!: 5/28/83 on Popdose
when I was in film school we had a class devoted to various genres. The very first film shown that year was flashdance. We were flummoxed. Until it was over and the prof declared it as an example of truly horrible filmmaking. God bless pretentious film school teachers.

6 months ago

in The Three Strike Rule: American Idol on Popdose
I found it very interesting (and possibly telling) that Chris Daughtry's announced appearance never materialized.
You spoke to a lot of the the problems with the show this year and I won't waste too much time adding to them. The biggest two are, I believe, these:
First off, it became very obvious through the season that the judges (specifically Jackson) were in the tank for certain contestants, especially Archuleta. That, in and of itself, doesn't destroy the program but it does erode the confidence the emerging tween viewer has in their show.
The other issue is one that most programs either ignore or try depserately to address and fail:
Namely the 7 year itch.
Programming like this (or pop music) appeals to the innocent and emotional 14 year old girl. This is how we explain Titanic and the WB. The tweener only stays innocent and interested for a few years before she realizes that Donny Osmond is gay and Jim Morrison will bend her over a table and bang the shit out of her. It happens to every generation. And, in her wake are a few of her peers. At some point, however, the next grouping of tween girls are not interested in the pop ideology of her older sister. She eschews it in favor of finding her own, one that she can call her own and claim as the representative of herself.
The little girls who screamed for Clay Aiken are 21 now. I trust they have fallen in love with their dirty rockers or brooding emo boys and that most of them have outgrown the gay boy they wish was straight.
The fact that it's Archuleta's harmless faux-homo vs Cook's emotional and pained dirty rocker says a LOT about the quandry the show is in.
Has it jumped the shark? Probably. It'll be back, it'll be renovated but one thing is clear, whatever cool factor it may have had (and that is far flung, at best) will be gone.
It's not just the Mike Douglas show with special guest host John Lennon. It's the Dinah Shore show with special guests The Bay City Rollers.

6 months ago

in The Three Strike Rule: Tom Cruise on Oprah Winfrey, 5/2/08 on Popdose
I have to agree with Elaine. He seemed...like a man kind of beaten down. That plus he is completely unable to answer questions didn't engender him to me. It all came out as a puff piece.
And it was recently reported that Nicole wants her kids OUT of the religion. Doesn't jibe with what he just said on that show.

6 months ago

in Billboarding: 5/5/08 on Popdose
In the trumped up BS war between The Bravery and The Killers, who won, exactly? Certainly not the listeners......

6 months ago

in Billboarding: 5/5/08 on Popdose
While I confess to actually liking Jack White's stuff I will explain why it's good this way:
It's not Puddle of Mudd or 3 Doors Down. That should count for something.

6 months ago

in Jesus of Cool: The Rock Yearbooks, 1981-89 on Popdose
Thank you for bringing this back to light. I only had some early 80s issues but I read it from cover to cover. Between that and Trouser Press I really got to learn about great (and not so great) music. I guess that's what blogs are today...eh?

7 months ago

in Billboarding: 4/21/08 on Popdose
Billboarding is, officially, my favorite new addition to PopDose. Sometimes variety dilutes the whole. This piece keeps me abreast of what's going on, isn't snarky and is relevant.
Thanks, Jeff!
1 reply
jefito's picture
jefito Thanks for saying so, Allen! We're going to be introducing a few new features here over the next several weeks -- I hope you're excited about them all!

7 months ago

in Goodbye, Danny on Popdose
Fuck, Darren, now I have to call my mother...

7 months ago

in The Three Strike Rule: Not Just Kid’s Stuff — Quality Animated Television on Popdose
Isn't Power Rangers just a live action version of Battle of the Planets?
5 kids in costumes with above normal abilites? each has sort of a specialty? there is some goofy, short robot-esque assistant. The evil overlord? It's the same show. I recall watching PR with my stepson when it first aired around 92 and thinking that it was actually pretty cool. The PR stuff was obviously ciut in from the original show and it had energy and seemed harmless. At the time PR toys were the rage and if you didn't get one for your kid at X-mas, you might as well not show up.
I haven't seen it in years but I have fond memories of that.
There is a great program for wee ones called "Jack's Big Music Show". It's emphasis is on music, it's well crafted, well performed and there are some great musicians that appear, like Laurie Berkner.
It's not insipid like the dino or as obnoxious as the four monochromatic aussies.
I think you will like it.
3 replies
Malchus's picture
Malchus I've seen "Jack's" and it is pretty good. Both of my kids have sort of out grown those type of shows. I never put the PR connection with "Battle of the Planets". That's a pretty good catch. Though, there have been, like, a thousand different Power Ranger shows since its first inception (trust, I know.... I knooooooow). I hope to track down Battle on DVD someday to watch it wait my son.
a9 Nah, it's more of a Voltron thing with the five separate vehicles creating a new one. Not one big one with the other vehicles hidden away. Plus, the colors weren't as exact on BoP.

Voltron on the other hand, is totally ripe for the picking because it's more fundamental. Five colors, five vehicles roughly the same size, etc.
show all 3 replies

8 months ago

in CHART ATTACK!: 3/22/75 on Popdose
I just played my VINYL copy of Have you Never Been Mellow three weeks ago. Lush and lovely that thing is.

8 months ago

in Basement Songs: Wings, “Silly Love Songs” on Popdose
regardless of whether or not it's top 40, pap or pop, listen to that bassline. I mean, really listen to it. This is before Chic, this predates disco. It might have helped invent the damned genre.

8 months ago

in Basement Songs: The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun” on Popdose
For what it's worth, I lost my daughter 2 years ago to this disease. It's a mean illness, as many are, but, in this case, more so, because it affects children. Some, fortunately, get to grow to adulthood, while others, like Lizzie, are lucky to reach their 13th birthday. One thing I have come to learn about CF kids is that while they might not grow too well, physically, they are among the wisest children I have ever known. But, with all the missed school and medical costs, some of them need some extra help getting to college.
For them we have started the Elizabeth Lulu Scholarship Foundation. www.lizzielulu.com.
I am not mentioning it to try to siphon donations, I mention it because, as you enter this world and meet some of the most amazing people you will ever have chance to meet, just remember that we are out there. Send a teen our way and maybe he or she can get a few extra bucks for college.
We are in the process of choosing our two new recipients for 2008. It isn't much, but it's the best we could do.
My heart goes out to you.
If there is anything at all that you want to ask, discuss, commiserate, I am here.
Good luck.
My heart goes out to you.
1 reply
Allen's picture
Allen Apologies for the redundancy at the end. It was difficult to read your account without welling up myself.
Again, feel free to contact us if you have any questions. allenlulu@gmail.com

8 months ago

in Listening Booth: Nine Inch Nails, “Ghosts I-IV” on Popdose
Dammit. I wanted to review this for the boil, but I never got my confirmation email....
1 reply
TaylorTSides's picture
TaylorTSides maybe it went into the junk folder?

8 months ago

in Lost In The ’70s - Suzi Quatro on Popdose
are you working on it?

8 months ago

in Lost In The ’70s - Suzi Quatro on Popdose
Not sure I am up to the task myself, recuperating from surgery and all, but, do you have some kind of list?
1 reply
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