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Once a decade for an entire year, I get to make myself the subject when I sing Blink 182’s What’s My Age Again? Today is the last day of that year. Sing it for me as well. See you in 9 years.
I’m still a child.
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To make some of you feel as old as I do, here are things that have or will turn 50 this year. Some held up very well.
All of these things are younger than I.
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No, this isn’t about something serious. Rarely will I discuss serious things on my blog. Drastic Measures is the title of my favorite album by the band Kansas. My guess is that their most popular album is either Leftoverture or Point of No Return (both of which I love), and so perhaps in that way they’re in some odd sense objectively better albums, but the value of an album is always subjective, and this blog isn’t about your opinions. 😛
Sure this album’s hits weren’t as popular among their 18 hits. None of its songs are in VCR’s top ten list of Kansas songs. In fact, Leftoverture and Point of No Return are the only two albums with more than one entry. The same can be said for Louder’s list, Classic Rock History, Return of Rock, and Chaospin. I think there’s a clear consensus, but just like with my favorite Rush album, Grace Under Pressure (also an unpopular choice), the heart wants what it wants, and as far as Kansas is concerned, mine wants Drastic Measures.
Being that this is a subjective issue, there’s no point in providing an argument, but there is something that I can say about the album that I find interesting. First, an anecdote. The first concert I ever attended was Billy Joel on The Bridge tour. Among many great aspects to his show was his ability to reduce the intensity at exactly the right moment (ordinary among true pros). His first three songs were high energy, followed by a slower song, Piano Man (which nowadays he reserves for the final encore), and then he ramped it right up again. Once we got to Only the Good Die Young, no one sat down again . . . but I digress.
Drastic Measures mirrors this technique on a smaller scale. The first three songs (Fight Fire with Fire, Everybody’s My Friend, and Mainstream) are high energy, with the first two being the songs released as singles. After that, they slow it down a bit with Andi. Andi is a song that’s either ahead of its time or a prediction of the end of the world, depending on your politics. I’ll let all of you dopes argue over that one.
In any event, Andi has a wonderful sound to it. After Andi, everything picks up again. Don’t let Dust in the Wind fool you. Kansas has always been a high-energy band, and Drastic Measures is no exception.
I know we no longer listen to 8-track tapes, so we can listen to songs in whatever order we want, but even today you may sometimes just want to put on an album and let it ride exactly how the artist intended. This is the best way to enjoy my favorite album, Duke by Genesis, and it’s certainly the best way to listen to Drastic Measures.
. . . which I’ve been doing an awful lot lately.
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Still on break from gaming posts, today’s post is about a thought triggered by a tweet from Eric Alpert.
This is by no means an original idea, but I suspect I have something to add to it. As we all know, there are some song lyrics that have been famously misinterpreted by the fans. For example, in Manfred Mann’s Blinded by the Light, “wrapped up like a deuce” has been misinterpreted as “wrapped up like a douche.” Then there’s Rockin’ the Casbah by the Clash. Cingular Wireless made a commercial in which the actors were arguing over the song’s lyrics, including the title itself (e.g., “rock the cash box” v. “stop the cat box”). Again, this is not an original thought.
There are two examples of this going back to my teen years that I’ve never discussed with anyone. It’s not that these embarrass me; I point that out to illustrate that I have no idea whether anyone has ever misheard these lyrics in this way. First, in Every Breath You Take by the Police, I always heard, “how my poor heart aches” as “I’m a pool hall ace.” It didn’t make any sense to me, but I can’t understand these damn British and their mangled form of the English language.
Then there’s Caught Somewhere in Time by Iron Maiden. The lyric in question is the title of the song, so of course I always knew what was being said. Nevertheless, “caught somewhere in time” still sounds like “constant wear and tear” to me. I have to force myself to hear it correctly. Considering Bruce Dickenson’s tedious inflection and tone while singing it, there’s some sense to that being the lyric, isn’t there?
There was another silly one for me, but at least a couple other people heard it too.
Again, I’ve never discussed these with anyone, so I have no idea whether either is common. I’d be surprised if “pool hall ace” is common, but as I point out, Bruce’s approach leans a bit towards my mistake. In any case, I bet you’ll never hear those songs the same way again.
Suckers.
What are your weirdly misheard song lyrics?
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It’s time for another break from gaming posts. This one will last two days.
A random thought popped into my head on my morning commute on March 18 (I’m way ahead on writing posts) when my random music mix spit out AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and Van Halen’s Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love in succession. For lack of an established term, I’m calling them participatory songs. Fans sing along with all sorts of songs, but some songs actively encourage it, giving the crowd cues as to when it’s their time connect with the musician.
Sing Along
The two songs I mentioned above have moments serving as a clear cue for the crowd to sing along in unison. All they have to do is sing one word, “Thunder” and “Hey” respectively, with a particular cadence and repetition. Even the worst singers in the world can handle that.
Another song comes to mind: Wildest Dreams by Asia. Back in the 80s, there was a Friday or Saturday night show that ran concert footage for a different band every week. One week, it was Asia playing in Japan. When they got to the relevant points in the song (I think this is the actual video), the crowd knew exactly what to sing. Why? Because all they had to do was repeat exactly what John Wetton (R.I.P.) had just sang. This was made even easier by the fact that in the studio version of the song, the crowd’s part is intentionally sounds like a crowd shouting rather than a chorus singing. Again, that’s easy for everyone.
Sometimes it’s forced. I have an mp3 of Linkin Park’s In the End live in Mexico City. The singer tells the crowd, “Sing along with Chester [Bennington]!” I guess that works too, but the best songs in this regard don’t require a command. Still, that song demonstrates a benefit to creating a participatory song. By encouraging a particular part for the crowd to play, the majority tend to sit out waiting for their moment. More on why that’s a benefit in a moment.
Playing the Beat
Then there’s another type of song that cues the crowd to make some noise, but not with their voices. Queen’s We Will Rock You immediately comes to mind. Not only is its three-beat hook extremely recognizable, but as it’s such a simple rhythm, it’s easy to perform. The movie, Bohemian Rhapsody was heavily dramatized, taking remarkable liberties with history, but that was discussed as the intended goal of the song, which is certainly believable.
Dance Moves
These two types of songs can screw up the musician’s cadences. For professionals, not so much, but I’ve heard bar-band amateurs actually say, “I hope they don’t start clapping.” As I mentioned with In the End, expressly or implicitly cueing up the crowd keeps them focused and in turn keeps their distracting effect to a minimum. But there’s a third way to involve the crowd that avoids that issue altogether. Enter the third category of songs: Dance moves.
Note: “Dance” is being used very broadly here, but “dance moves” is easier to digest than “bodily movements,” and is, well, less suggestive of digestion.
When people hear that opening guitar riff to Nirvana’s Smells Like Team Spirit, they start stretching, because they know within seconds, they’re going to be getting an aerobic workout. As soon as the rest of the band kicks in, everyone starts jumping. Then there’s Jimmy Buffet’s Fins, a song that analogizes men in a bar to sharks hunting their prey. The crowd uses their hand(s) to simulate a shark’ dorsal fin, leans to the left, leans to the right, and then sways back and forth.
Songs made for audience participation allow the audience to feel connected with the artist, and thus can make a song particularly memorable.
What are you favorite participatory songs?
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Music has a way of evoking emotion, and I’m certainly no exception to that. I’m writing this after a trip to the gym. Like most people, I listen to music while I work out, and a particular song came up on my random music mix, inspiring this post.
There are two songs that oddly fill me with dread when I hear them, and one of the artists is one of my favorites.
And then there’s this one.
Horrifying, right? These two songs make me very uncomfortable, and I don’t know why. It’s certainly not the lyrics. Just the opening of the song starts the dread. I did find this fascinating though.
I should see a shrink.
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Sundays now are lazy days for me. I either post something silly or other people’s work. Usually both. Today, it’s about a recent conversation. Strangely, a coworker asked me just this past week whether I enjoyed the Genesis concert from 11/18/2021. I told him . . . yeah.
But as you know, I also love Star Trek.
A perfect mashup.
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Sundays now are lazy days for me. I either post something silly or other people’s work. Usually both. Today, it’s a lesson in how to work music into your other classes. First up, geography.
How about combining music with your English lesson?
Health class?
Believe it or not, I’m not a professional teacher.
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I was browsing Google headlines today and came across this article detailing my second favorite Stevie Nicks songwriting story. The jist of it is this: Stevie wrote Stand Back while listening to Prince’s Little Red Corvette, and the influence was too great. So, she called Prince and asked permission to use the riff. Not only did Prince grant permission, but he flew out to Los Angeles and played the keyboard part on the song. Prince was credited on the album as Alexander Nevermind and shared 50% of the revenue from the song.
My favorite story? I learned of it only recently. One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs is Silver Springs. In 1975 or 1976, Stevie was leaving a concert at the Capital Center in Landover, MD, riding along the Washington, DC beltway (I-495). As she passed the exit for New Hampshire Ave. (Route 650), she read the sign, “Silver Spring, MD,” and thought, “What a great name for a song.” (Here’s the longer version of the story. As brilliant and tortured as Rumors was, imagine how much moreso it would have been with Silver Springs on it.)
What’s great about this story was that, because of the time of night, I was almost certainly snug in my bed less than one mile from her as she drove by. I wouldn’t even know of the band, Fleetwood Mac, until 1977, but I was in some small sense there for the start of one of my favorite songs from one of my two favorite bands.
Seems appropriate.
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I’m constantly listening to music, and yet I’ve never really enjoyed going to concerts. I love it when a bar has a live band, but I don’t buy tickets and go to concerts. It’s just never been my thing, except when it’s critical that I see a band live. I never saw my two favorite bands, Rush and Fleetwood Mac, in concert, and with Peart dead and Buckingham probably out for good, I never will. (EDIT, 7/29/2023: Well, shit.) That’s a shame, but here are the concerts that I’ve seen. All of them were must-sees for me.
1. October 10, 1986: Billy Joel, Capital Centre, Landover, MD. The Bridge tour. My first concert was for what was at the time my favorite artist. I saw this with my sister (foreshadowing!).
2. August 9, 1987: Night Ranger/Great White, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD. I was there the night before for Howie Mandel, then I came back the next day for this concert, which was also my first date (you know, with a girl). I chose Night Ranger over Chicago because I really wanted to see the Outfield (though I did, and still, looooove Night Ranger). Unfortunately, the Outfield cancelled and were replaced by Frehley’s Comet, who also cancelled, leaving me with Great White. I didn’t appreciate Great White then as much as I do now. Still a great show.
3. December 13, 1987: Yes, Capital Centre, Landover, MD. This was the Big Generator tour. Earlier in the week, I was on the University of Maryland’s radio station (my cousin knew the DJ well) hyping the show.
4. June 1, 1988: Pink Floyd, R.F.K. Stadium, Washington, DC. A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. A holographic dogfight? Yeah, I had to see that, and I had to see it outdoors. Surprisingly, this was only the second best visual concert I ever saw. The best was . . .
5. August 8, 1988: Iron Maiden, Capital Centre, Landover, MD. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour. It was the most impressive visual show I’ve ever seen, and the music was fantastic, and I was on the floor (10th row, IIRC). One of my strongest memory relates to the concert t-shirt I bought there. As I was leaving the show, someone told me that I was wearing it backwards. I wore that damn thing backwards the entire night. I’m such a dipshit.
6. August 7, 1989: Mike and the Mechanics/The Outfield, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD. Vindication! I finally saw the Outfield! Oh, and MatM was pretty good too. I especially remember how much better All I Need is a Miracle is live. Unfortunately, there’s a weird and tragic memory attached to this concert relating to the first time I had ever really experienced death. This gets a bit convoluted, but bear with me. I never liked the Outfield song, 61 Seconds. So, every time the cassette tape reached that song, I flipped it, and it placed the tape exactly at the start of All the Love, which was a huge hit for them. As a result, I never heard Mystery Man until the concert. I loved the song, but for whatever reason took notice of the repeated, stressed use of the word, “goodbye,” in the song. It turns out, a friend (18 years old) was killed in a car accident that morning. That messed me up for about a week.
7. August 26, 1992: Bruce Springsteen, Capital Centre, Landover, MD. Springsteen is really good, but for whatever reason, this concert was just meh to me. In fact, I’ve said elsewhere that, prior to Genesis the other day, I had seen only 11 concerts. This is one of the ones I forgot because it had little impact on me. The other was . . .
8. August 11, 1995: Jimmy Buffet, Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, Virginia. This should have been my answer to the “worst concert” question from the tweet, but I didn’t recall the memory quickly enough. Buffett thought he was in the deep south, and almost all his songs were country music. I wasn’t a fan of it. He also played his biggest hits — Fins, Margaritaville, etc. — in the middle of the set rather than as encores. It was a rather strange choice. I still enjoyed the show because, well, it’s Jimmy Fucking Buffett.
9. June 12, 1999: Guinness Fleadh (Chicago: Van Morrison, Hootie and the Blowfish, Steve Earle, Black 47, Elvis Costello et al.), Chicago Motor Speedway, Chicago, IL. This was amazing. There was a ton of variety in the music played. I went because my late cousin, Ann Marie, came down from Madison, WI for the show and asked me to go with her. Elvis Costello was a huge disappointment. He played every song by himself on an acoustic guitar and spent more time complaining about modern music than he did playing. He was a buzzkill. Van Morrison and Black 47 (who I had seen in a bar about 5 years earlier) killed it.
10. June 30, 2000: Dave Matthews Band, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL. This was an incredible show. You have to like his music, of course, but they’re remarkable musicians. Also, Al Green showed up and sang with the band! For this one, I had a regular seat, but Alissa snuck me onto the field.
11. August 8, 2002: Sammy Hagar/David Lee Roth, Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, Virginia. The place was surprisingly empty, but that allowed me to enjoy the show more than otherwise. (I really don’t like going to concerts.) David Lee Roth spent most of his set hitting on a particular woman in the front row. Ummm . . . the years had not been kind to her, but she was giving him the pop he wanted, so he maintained focus on her the entire show. We were all hoping that Michael Anthony would join Sammy for his set. He had done that at a few shows, but we weren’t among the lucky ones.
12. August 14, 2006: Billy Joel, Verizon Center, Washington, DC. My only repeat concert, I saw this with my sister (again) and her adult son. We were behind the stage, so we saw the TV screen that provided Joel the lyrics so he didn’t have to remember them. Look, the guy had a lot of material going back over three decades. I don’t blame him. He played everything everyone wanted to hear. I missed Allentown due to a bathroom break, but my sister had it worse. She missed her favorite Joel song, Pressure, during hers.
13. July 30, 2017: .38 Special, Wolftrap, Vienna, VA. .38 Special was actually the opening act, and I left after their set. I was more interested in seeing the new Game of Thrones episode than I was sticking around. I saw what I wanted to see. The parking at Wolftrap sucks. Otherwise, it’s a good venue.
14. November 18, 2021: Genesis, Capital One Arena, Washington, DC. I’ve said enough about this already. Here’s the opening:
15. August 5, 2022: Omega Concern (n/k/a the Rush Experience), Tally Ho Theater, Leesburg, VA. This was their first concert together.
16. July 28, 2023: Living Colour, Tally Ho Theater, Leesburg, VA. These guys are insanely good, and the show was fantastic. I’m so glad I saw them. Here’s a video from the show.
And here’s a tweet that was retweeted by the band’s official Twitter handle and liked by bassist Doug Wimbish, who we got to speak to (briefly) after the show.
We also got to thank Vernon Reid, but he was occupied with other fans, so we let him be. He most certainly did not snub us. He was just busy showing everyone as much appreciation as he could given how my attention he generated.
17. May 16, 2025: Night Ranger, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, Charles Town, WV. This is now only the second time I’ve seen a band more than once. It’s the day before my birthday, and I wanted to do something cool. What’s cooler than Night Ranger?
Unfortunately, the show was somewhat disappointing. First off, Jeff Watson can’t be replaced. Second, they played only one song off of Big Life. Third, Kelly Keagy no longer sings; he shouts. It was tough to listen to him yell some of the most subtle and emotionally impactful lyrics Night Ranger ever produced, especially my favorite song by them, Sentimental Street.
Still, I don’t regret seeing the concert. The songs are still the songs I’ve always loved, and I can assure you that Jack Blades hasn’t lost a step as singer, bassist, and showman. So, if you see them, lower your expectations a tad, and you’ll be fine.
18. August 13, 2025: Toto, Christopher Cross, and Men at Work, Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA. One day after visiting Kings Dominion for the first time in over 30 years (loved it), I went back to what used to be called the Nissan Pavilion for the first time in 23 years (see above). This was a solid show, and considering that every artist I’m interested in seeing is charging as much as $120 per ticket, it’s amazing I saw three such artists for $31. Before I share some videos, here’s a disturbing image from the men’s room.
Now for a few videos. Here’s Men at Work playing my favorite song of theirs, It’s a Mistake.
And here’s Christopher Cross playing my favorite song of his, and, IMHO, the greatest pop song ever written.
And lastly, here are the last two songs of Toto’s set, which were fittingly Hold the Line and Africa. Christopher Cross and his band joined them for Africa. Oddly, Colin Hay did not. In all seriousness, I’ve never seen marijuana in person during my entire life, but by the time this concert ended, I once again reeked of it.
I’ll continue to add more concerts as I see them.
But I really don’t like attending concerts. 🙂
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