Muppetpastor 3.0

First off, this blog is getting more popular as of late. Lots of incoming links, which I like. Lots of bandwidth being used, which is not too bad. A few people are using my song links on their blogs, which I do not like. I’ve asked one or two to stop, and they’ve complied, which…is good.

The theme this week is…Leftovers. In this case, it means songs I’ve wanted to post in other updates, but didn’t. Track one this week comes from Breaking Benjamin, and is a leftover from the “What The Fuck?” entry a few weeks back.

Breaking Benjamin is an alternative rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Close to my hometown of Scranton, PA. (Suburbs represent, bitches!) Formed in late 2000, Breaking Benjamin signed up with Hollywood Records and released their first major-label record Saturate in 2002. The record had clear influences and touches of Tool, Korn, and Nirvana. The first single “Polyamorous” received much radio airplay, and propelled the band to stardom. On June 24, 2004, the band released We Are Not Alone, which featured the first single “So Cold”. They also created an original cut for the immensely popular video game Halo 2 entitled Blow Me Away. “So Cold” had two music videos made for it, one of which was made for the movie “Hellboy”. The song in question is off the “Killer Queen” tribute album.

Killer Queen is a tribute album of many of Queen’s greatest songs. The albums includes renditions by many in-demand artists of the time. The album is named for the Queen song of the same name that first appeared on the Sheer Heart Attack album. It was released in 1974, and was written by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. In early 1986 Queen recorded the album “A Kind of Magic”, inspired by the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander of the same year. This album was very successful, producing a string of hits including the title track “A Kind of Magic”, “Who Wants To Live Forever?” and “Friends Will Be Friends”. Queen is one of those bands who reached, for the most part, musical perfection in my never really humble opinion. All covers done are certainly inferior to the originals, and rightly so. However not all covers are bad, if taken as an alternate vision. This one, however, made me spit coffee the first time I heard it.

Breaking Benjamin - Who Wants To Live Forever? (Queen cover)

Second track this week is a leftover from the “White Kids Love Hip Hop” entry, and brought to you by the Fun Lovin’ Criminals. The Fun Lovin’ Criminals are an alternative rock band from New York City, United States. Their music is a blend of many styles, most notably hip hop, rock and blues, and their songs deal with everyday life in New York: drugs, organized crime and politics. They are best known for their hit “Scooby Snacks”, which featured samples from films by Quentin Tarantino.

In their native US, they are regarded by some to be a one-hit wonder. However, the band gained a considerable following internationally, notably in northwest Europe, especially around the release of their first two albums in the late nineties. In 2000, they appeared on the “Take A Bite Outta Rhyme” album, a collection of rap covers by rock artists. The cover they submitted was a song originally done by seminal rap group Eric B. & Rakim.

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals - Microphone Fiend (Eric B. & Rakim cover)

Track three is a leftover from the Amerikkka 2 project, and comes from British import and classic rock mainstay The Who. The Who is a band noted for the dynamism of their live performances and for their thoughtful music, including Tommy, one of the first rock operas. While not a heavy metal band themselves, their distorted guitars, epic songwriting, and over-the-top stage show left a certain influence on the genre. Pete Townshend’s guitar style based on power chords and constant lyrical theme of youthful rebellion also left their mark on punk rock.

In 1971 they began supplementing their stage act with pre-recorded synthesizer “continuo” parts in order to cover material such as “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” from that year’s Who’s Next album. In addition to feeding the synthesizer tracks to their stage monitors, drummer Keith Moon would wear headphones to ensure that he heard the recording clearly enough to sync the band with it.

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” originally appeared on the 1971 album Who’s Next, and has since appeared on various other recordings, including the live compilation soundtrack for The Kids Are Alright (a documentary film about the band). It is famous for its angular synthesizer backing part set against guitar power chords, leading up to an extended synthesizer break into a drum entrance followed by a long scream, a scream which is considered to be one of the defining moments in rock and roll history. The song is quite long, ranging from eight to nine minutes depending on the version being listened to. A shortened single was also released for use on broadcast radio.

Like many songs, the meaning has been debated by listeners for a long time. One interpretation is that it expresses disenchantment with the counterculture and supposed “revolution” of the 1960s. The song’s final lines are “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” which many take to be an expression of disgust with the results of the revolution.

This was the last song performed live by original drummer Keith Moon on May 25, 1978 in Toronto, Canada. Four months after this, on September 7, 1978, he died in his sleep at the age of 32 by an overdose of medication meant to control his alcoholism.

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” is used as the theme song for the CBS television series CSI: Miami.

The song, along with “Who Are You”, formed part of The Who’s Live8 line-up, which they performed in Hyde Park, London on July 2, 2005 to over 200,000 cheering onlookers. It was also performed at the original Live Aid in 1985, along with “Love, Reign O’er Me”.

Sadly, the version featured here is the shortened, radio friendly version.

The Who - Wont’ Be Fooled Again

Fourth track this week is another leftover from the “What the Fuck?” entry, this time coming from Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was a vastly influential singer and songwriter.

Cash was known for his distinct voice, the boom chicka boom sound of his Tennessee Two backing band, and his dark clothing and demeanor, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black.”

Fueled by his own rocky personal life and spiritual path, much of Cash’s music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. Hits include “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Ring of Fire,” “Man in Black” and “Hurt” However, he did record several humorous songs, such as “The One on the Right is on the Left” and “A Boy Named Sue.”

In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world, despite his distaste for the Nashville mainstream. Yet, like Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley, Cash is a figure that transcends genre. He’s recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly and folk and gospel and has had an influence on each of those genres. Many observers consider him to be “Americana,” a mixed genre that has grown in popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll, Country, and Songwriters Halls of Fame. Prior to his death, Cash was the only living artist to be inducted into all three, and is only one of three to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Halls of Fame alongside Elvis Presley and Hank Williams Sr.

In 1997 Polygram Records released “The Hits”, which featured this cover of a song originally by Cat Stevens, and later recorded by Ugly Kid Joe. This version is better.

Johnny Cash - Cat’s In The Cradle

And finally, the fifth track this week…a leftover from the various “Long Distance Dedication” posts made a few times here. Coincidentally, it comes from artist/actor Meat Loaf.

Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday September 27, 1947 in Dallas, Texas) is an American actor and rock and roll performer who came to fame with his album Bat out of Hell and for his movie performances such as Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Meat Loaf and Steinman started Bat Out of Hell in 1972, but didn’t really get serious about it until the end of 1974. Meat Loaf decided that he wasn’t going to do any more theater and concentrate only on the record. Then, the National Lampoon Show opened on Broadway and they needed an understudy for John Belushi, a close friend of Meat Loaf. He and Belushi had become friends in 1972 when they were doing Lemmings at the Village Gate. It was at the Lampoon Show that Meat Loaf met Ellen Foley who would end up singing “Paradise By a Dashboard Light” with him on the Bat Out of Hell album.

After the Lampoon show ended, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman concentrated on getting a record deal. They were rejected by every record company they approached. The record didn’t fit into any of the moulds that record companies insisted that every album and artist should fit into. While doing this, Epic asked Meat Loaf to replace Ted Nugent’s lead singer, Derek St. Holmes, on Nugent’s album Free For All. Finally they performed the songs for Todd Rundgren who decided to produce the album. In addition to producing the album, Rundgren played lead guitar on several songs. They then shopped the record around but still had no takers until Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance. On October 21, 1977, “Bat Out of Hell” was released.

His first gig in support of the record was opening for Cheap Trick in Chicago, Illinois. The audience started out hostile, but by the end of the show he had mostly won them over. Their next stop came a couple of days after the release of the album in New Jersey. The show was a complete sell out and people were lined up to see it hours before it started. Things really started to take off after Meat Loaf appeared on Saturday Night Live as the Musical Guest on March 25, 1978. The huge success of the album caused a rift to open up between Meat Loaf and Steinman. Steinman started to resent the attention that Meat Loaf was getting.

During a May show in Ottawa, Meat Loaf fell off the stage and broke his leg. The injury caused the cancellation of the rest of the tour. To deal with all of the pressure, he started to do cocaine. It all culminated with a nervous breakdown where he threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of a building in New York. Then in December of 1978, he went to Woodstock to work on Bad for Good with Steinman. It was at the Bearsville studio that Meat Loaf met his future wife, Leslie Edmonds. They met and were married within a month. Leslie had a daughter from a previous marriage, Pearl, who has followed in her step-father’s footsteps and become a singer. In the middle of recording his second album, Meat Loaf lost the ability to sing. His doctors said that physically everything was fine and that his problem was mental. Steinman decided to keep going with Bad for Good without Meat Loaf.

Just as it looked like life was going down the tubes for Meat Loaf, he managed to get the part of Travis Redfish in Roadie. The movie had cameos by Debbie Harry, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., but still was a box office flop. To keep his sanity, Meat Loaf played a tremendous amount of softball. Over time, Meat Loaf got his singing voice back by getting off drugs, playing softball and time.

Final track this week, I present:

Meat Loaf - For Crying Out Loud

Next week, we might explore the idea of…the soundtrack. Until later.