A little of this, A little of that

In The Moment

So, when I listen to music, I listen for various reasons, but I am never looking for something in particular. 

However, sometimes after a while, you start to find things that you didn’t notice. By the time I have heard a song 50 times, I am usually waiting for something.  Whether it be a solo or a cool lyric.

Sometimes it is none of that.   So here is a short post about some musical “moments” that I just so happen to adore.

Roxanne – The Police

The moment that I love in this song is right at the beginning.  It is actually not a part of the song at all. Rather it is a mishap.

Like 4 seconds into recording the song, Sting accidentally sits on a piano and you here a few piano notes followed by laughter.

The rest of the take was so good, that they just left this part in there. 

Ok, pick your side, Roxanne, or red light, and get ready to chug.

One Love/ People Get Ready – Bob Marley

So we move from one beginning, to another.

This time it’s not the beginning of the song, rather it is the word beginning.

Something about the way that Bob says it here, has just always attracted me.  I don’t know if it is an attribute to the timing of the song, his accent or both.

No matter what I love it.  So wait for the 1:22 mark and there it shall be.

So also, this is the new 40^th anniversary mix, but it is in the original as well. (Hopefully this will help sell more of the new one)

Feeling This – Blink 182

So from 2 beginnings to an ending.  I have always loved the way that this song ends.

This is from the last good Blink album to feature Tom.

They wrote this song in separate rooms.  So that explains the difference in verse and chorus.

But in the end of the song they break out and are screaming through the chorus and other added parts overlaying their own voices against each other and themselves.

It reaches a great moment where the music drops out and you just get the vocals

Don’t fast forward, just be there around the 2:10 mark

ABC- Jackson 5

So I talked about this before,

One of the main reasons I love this song is Michael breaking it down in the bridge.

It’s so smooth, but no matter how many times I have tried to use it, every girl has refused to show me what she could do.

Wait until 1:45 you’ll get it

Louie Louie – The Kingsmen

So, the part I always wait for is another mistake.

This wasn’t a case of using the best take, as there was only 1 take.  With 3 microphones hanging in the air. So it was wild

But after the solo, at about 1:59 lead singer Jack Ely starts singing too soon and then stops and waits and does it again.

Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car – Billy Ocean

Give me a dollar and one of those fancy juke boxes that works with the internet and me and my boy Tate Nugg are going to hit the dance floor

That’s all you need to know

But what you are waiting for is the awesome build up to the chorus at the 3:44 mark

Goosebumps

Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

I am sorry for all the memories I might bring up for Robin Williams fans.

But I love this song, the video is great

What a better message than to tell people to be happy

So at the 1:32 mark, there is like an extra smile of syllables sung that always makes me happy.

 

Good Vibrations- The Beach Boys (Live in London)

So this was the version of the song that I had known the longest.  I know, weird.  But this is how I remember the song. 

Obviously it is so much better than this version would show. 

But this was the record I had on my snoopy record player suitcase thing.

So this moment only exists on this version but I add it to the song no matter where I am listening.

Basically just wait until the 2:13 moment and listen to Mike Love’s adlibs

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay – Justin Timberlake (at the White House)

This is not about politics at all

I also left this for last because I figured the ladies reading might not move on.

I am not going to ruin it for you.  You’ll know.  And if you don’t, the audience will tell you.

OK that is all for now.   Go enjoy your day 

A Band by Any Other Name...... (Part One blink-182)

(I originally planned on highlighting multiple bands with 1 post, however, that got lengthy, so I am breaking it down into a multi part series.  Enjoy)

Is a band measured as the sum of its whole,  or are the parts more interchangeable than we realize? Does one man change a band? What about two, or three?  When is a band no longer what it once was and just a shell of itself?  What if someone leaves, do you fill in their parts, or just not do those songs anymore? Is it up to the fans, or the bands, who really gets to decide what makes a band?  I guess if ticket and album sales go down, you might say its up to the fans, but if a band continues on, regardless, are they really that band anymore?  How many more ambiguous questions can I ask and still have your attention? 

So what am I getting at?  When bands change out members, does it matter?  More importantly should bands be able to use their name in any capacity regardless of the members?

Blink 182

This is really the whole reason this whole question came about.  Blink 182 is back, Kind of.  It’s no longer The Mark, Tom and Travis Show; but instead the Mark, Matt and Travis Show.  Basically, if you don’t know, Tom Delonge is out of the group, and Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio has taken his place.  Some people love it, odd purists hate it, but the question remains, Is it still Blink 182? 

Let’s go back to the beginning, maybe I can make a more better point.

By the time What’s My Age Again? brought the band their breakthrough success, they were already on their third album and second drummer.  Sure Dammit had airplay and the band was on the Warped Tour, but 1999’s Enema of the State was the album that cemented them as the leaders of the pop punk movement. 

But originally it was the Mark, Tom and Scott show.  Scott Raynor  played drums for the first six and a half years of the band’s existence.  You can see him in  the band’s early video’s   even the one for Dammit: 

See, I wasn’t lying.  So in mid 1998 Scott had been heavily drinking and had never liked the direction Tom and Mark wanted to go in, so Mark and Tom got rid of him and recruited Travis Barker from The Aquabats to be their new drummer.  Mind you this happened mid tour and Travis had to learn the set list in like a day.  

Listen, I will be the first to admit that Travis brought a whole new aspect to the band that Scott never could.  Scott was a drummer, Travis Barker is an artist.  Just check out this live version of Stay Together For The Kids, put on headphones and pull in all the Travis that you can.

The other thing you can really see in that video is the difference between Mark and Tom’s reverence for the music.  What exactly happened to Tom’s voice, we will never know. I still listen to Angels and Airwaves.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves,

So Barker joined the band in 98 and they became a sensation.  Were they destined to reach that with any drummer? Who knows, but they did it. Everything they did for the next 7 years was golden and loved by their fans new and old.  During 2002 Delonge and Barker had a side project, you may remember as Boxcar Racer.

Barker also played drums in Transplants, another side project,

Blink put out their self titled album in 2003 and it had a new sound that was still a hit, but I already told you that they remained successful.  Then in 2005, they took a break, a hiatus if you will.  Tom started Angels and Airwaves, Mark and Travis  had Plus 44 and Travis had a reality show on MTV plus his work with DJ AM. So the boys of Blink stayed busy as they could.

The guys didn’t really speak to each other until 2008 after Barker had been involved in a plane crash that took 4 lives but spared him and DJ AM.  Barker required hospitalization and surgeries and it was in the hospital where the 3 met up and worked out a comeback. 

So they released a new album in 2011 and an EP in 2012,  but they lacked something, and I already showed you what happened to their live shows.  In 2015 Delonge bowed out from the recording process and was replaced in future gigs by Matt Skiba.  Eventually leading to Matt becoming a full-time member ahead of the band.  They recorded a new album, California, released July 1^st 2016 and to be honest, what I have heard so far is not all that bad.   Take a look yourself.

But what about the old songs and Tom’s parts? I thought you might ask that, so I dug this up.

It’s acoustic, and Travis is not there(he doesn’t travel by plane anymore)  So it’s the best there is out there right now.  There is some electric videos, but all fan shot.  Plus this gives you an idea of the new dynamic Matt brings to Tom’s old parts. Not to mention, who doesn’t like a good engagement. 

Also, I just want to point out, despite what you’ve heard, Tom isn’t out of the band so he can research UFOs, he’s been doing that since he was in the band.  

So, anyways, that’s it on the Blink 182 story for now.  They are still Blink 182, even if they only have 1 original member.  I guess that’s what most bands decide to do. 

Also, here’s what Tom is doing these days. It's music that coincides with a story. look it up. It's a nifty idea. 

Look at that, a whole post, and I didn't say fuck.