Generally, I am the type of person that loves finding an artist’s work and delving into their catalog.
However, although there are many wonderful songs over the years that should have prompted a deeper dive…
I never sought out another song by that artist.
There are reasons for this:
1:
- I was lazy.
2.
- I suspected that this was the one great song by this particular artist, and if I heard more by them, I would be disappointed and maybe even love their great song less.
3.
- I did not have access to another song by the artist in the wild.
Mind you, I am An Old. So this made more sense pre-Napster/streaming, and I really don’t have an excuse anymore (see #1).
I’m not sure if this is just a “me” thing, so let’s see what y’all think. I have grouped some great songs into two categories. But first…
Honorable Mentions:
o “When Your Heart Is Weak” – Cock Robin (it took me 20+ years to hear a second song – turns out, the band has a female singer, too! She’s great!)
o “She’s A Beauty” – The Tubes (though I know and love “Dancin'” from the Xanadu soundtrack)
o “Close The Door” – Teddy Pendergrass (I have heard several Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes songs)
o “Hey Ya!” – Outkast (it took me 20+ years before I heard (and loved) “Bombs Over Baghdad”)
o “Love Train” – The O’Jays (it took me 20+ years before I heard “Backstabbers,” which is a 10.)
With that out of the way…
Let’s start with the first category:
THE SONG RULES, AND I BET THE ARTIST HAS SEVERAL OTHER BANGERS, BUT I NEVER INVESTIGATED FURTHER FOR SOME REASON:
o “I’m Not In Love” – 10cc
o “Werewolves Of London” – Warren Zevon
o “Marquee Moon” – Television
o “Shotgun Down The Avalanche” – Shawn Colvin
o “Charles” – Scrawl
o “Come On Eileen” – Save Ferris
o “Love Song” – Sara Bareilles
o “Killing Me Softly” – Roberta Flack
o “Selling Jesus” – Skunk Anasie
o “Free” – Phish
o “Ace Of Spades” – Motorhead
o “All My Friends” – LCD Soundsystem
o “My Sharona” – The Knack
o “Universal Heart Beat” – Juliana Hatfield
o “Life’s Been Good” – Joe Walsh
o “No Promises” – Icehouse
o “Son Of A Preacher Man” – Dusty Springfield
o “Punk Rock Girl” – Dead Milkmen
… And the second:
THE SONG RULES, BUT I SUSPECT THAT THE ARTIST HAS NO OTHER SONGS ANYWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AND THAT WILL MAKE ME SAD
o “Teenage Dirtbag” – Wheatus
o “Smooth Criminal” – Alien Ant Farm
o “Nellie The Elephant” – The Toy Dolls
o “Genius Of Love” – Tom Tom Club
o “Feel It Still” – Portugal. The Man
o “Million Miles Away” – The Plimsouls
o “I’ll Melt With You” – Modern English
o “Here It Goes Again” – OK Go
o “Respectable” – Mel & Kim
o “Up On The Sun” – Meat Puppets
o “The City Sleeps” – MC 900 Ft. Jesus
o “King Without A Crown” – Matisyahu
o “I Predict A Riot” – Kaiser Chiefs
o “And We Danced” – The Hooters
o “Feel The Pain” – Dinosaur Jr.
o “Groove Is In The Heart – Dee Lite
Anyone else have these self-imposed gaps?
Any artists listed here that I’m an idiot for not listening to more of?
Let the author know that you liked their article with a “Green Thumb” Upvote!
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
Views: 68
I don’t go super deep on any of the artists on those two lists, but a few thoughts-
Back when it was first out, somebody lent me a cassette of Nervous Night, from which “And We Danced” hails. I listened to it a lot and it’s a solid pop rock album. “All You Zombies” is actually very profound. Eric Bazilian liked to explore spirituality.
The comment section over yonder turned me on to the fact that Tom Tom Club has another banger off the same album as “Genius of Love”, that was a hit in the UK, but not here. It will be mentioned in an article I have coming up.
Deee-lite had another minor hit with “The Power of Love” that I really like.
A few years ago, I dove in on an album by The Tubes called Remote Control, produced by Todd Rundgren, and based on the novel Being There, by Jerzy Kosinski. It didn’t sell much at the time and faded into obscurity, but I think it’s really good. “She’s a Beauty” is from their later, more commercial period and doesn’t represent their earlier recordings, nor their purportedly crazy live experience.
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” is an all-time classic, and one that really moves me, but sadly, I too don’t go deep with Roberta Flack’s catalog. Her other big hits don’t really grab me, but her voice alone makes it worth further exploration. She had a breathtaking version of “What Child is This” that really haunted me, off of a long forgotten CCM Christmas compilation in the late 80s.
I gave some Matisyahu tracks a try a few years ago and liked what I heard.
I have “Weak” by Skunk Anansie liked on Spotify, for whatever that’s worth.
Early Tubes shows were insane, and so were their songs: “White Punks On Dope,” “What Do You Want From Life,” “Don’t Touch Me There,” and “Mondo Bondage.”
“White Punks on Dope” was a whole experience. I would not have thought them capable of “She’s a Beauty.” Video attached for the brave.
https://youtu.be/rs9wuaVV33I?si=OM8S4Jw3ZrSWU-lQ
Wow, now I know where N.W.H. got their material:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s4nyV0v6-I
OK, first of all, there is a practically limitless amount of music out there. And the amount is only growing. It is impossible for one individual to experience even a fraction of it.
That being said, I am often astounded at the depth of musical knowledge here and at the mothership. Especially as a group…but even individually, I am amazed at how much of so many genres that some people know.
Streaming really has made diving into catalogs a lot easier. It can be very fun, and yet often I am too lazy to do it. Oh well. But this is a fun thing to study. I should come up with a list of artists whose impression on me isn’t good, but I suspect they would have a lot more music that I would actually like, but I haven’t discovered it yet. What first comes to mind: Beastie Boys.
You really summed up my thoughts as well so no need for me to repeat!
If you like sample-based music, you might start on Beastie Boys with “Paul’s Boutique” and see what you think.
Love the premise. From your lists, some thoughts on particular artists:
Television: If you love “Marquee Moon” the song, you should almost certainly love Marquee Moon the album. There’s no other 10-minute epic like that on the album, but plenty of inventive guitar interplay, rockin riffs, and bad puns.
Modern English: If you love Joy Division and want a sunnier version of their sound, you should check out ME’s album After the Snow. Nothing can touch “Melt With You” in terms of pop genius (you could say it’s their “Love Will Tear Us Apart”), but the rest of the album is great 80s post punk.
Tom Tom Club: First album is enjoyable, though Byrne’s solo outings around this time were far more fruitful imnsho.
Meat Puppets: Nirvana’s Unplugged album introduced me to three great songs from Meat Puppets II, which is such a good album. I like Up on the Sun, but I return to MP2 more often than not. I should check out their later stuff though. I don’t recommend their first album unless you’re into The Shaggs / Captain Beefheart / hardcore cacophony.
Dinosaur Jr: I mostly know You’re Living All Over Me and Bug, which are fantastic. If you like quasi-shoegazy guitar sludge with creaky Neil Young vocals. I also like Green Mind and Where You Been, but I haven’t lived inside them as much.
Dead Milkmen: Great band, but “Punk Rock Girl” isn’t their most representative song, since it’s sung by their guitarist rather than Rodney Anonymous. Here is a Rodney pick from the same album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I2lmk50h1U
The first song off of Marquee Moon, “See No Evil” has a twin guitar line that just really does it for me. The whole song just bangs hard. That’s my two cents.
I get your point. You’re so sharp!
Bands that I haven’t dug into despite really liking a song or two: I’d have to think about it, but Oasis comes to mind.
Also Soundgarden. Squeeze. Garbage. Placebo. Pet Shop Boys.
One cousin to this idea is bands who you couldn’t wait to dig into based on their greatest hits, but are ultimately more of a singles band, if not a one hit wonder.
I’d put Queen in this category. And though I may lose Stereogum points for it, I’d also put New Order there. Substance is amazing, and their Best Of from 1995 is a great supplement, but that’s all I need.
For Oasis it’s basically the first two albums; Definitely Maybe which is more raw, and Morning Glory which is more polished. Plus The Masterplan compilation which collected up all the b-sides from that period.
After that the albums became very patchy. There’s good stuff scattered across them but as albums they’re not essential.
It’s the same with Placebo for me. Two great albums then a drop off.
I have tried delving deeper into Squeeze as they come highly regarded but for my ears they’ve got about two thirds of a great Greatest Hits and I can leave the rest.
I have similar gaps. I know I should check out more Oasis but I find them to be unlikeable people, so I don’t. I should also be more familiar with Pet Sounds, but it didn’t catch me the few times I listened to it. Maybe one of you can tell me what I’m missing.
I may repeat what others have said already, but some of the artists you listed deserve a deeper dive, like these songs:
When Pet Sounds really hit me, I was down in the dumps, and not a little drunk. Songs like “Don’t Talk Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and “Caroline No” were just indescribably beautiful, comforting pieces of music. More often than not I prefer the fun stuff, but when the mood strikes, Pet Sounds really is perfect.
I’ll sign off on this. One of the most exquisite albums I’ve ever heard, from start to finish. I do love it, but I also know that barring the 3 hits, it’s not as accessible as they were known to be, and not everyone who likes the Beach Boys gets into it.
To add to 10cc love- “Dreadlock Holiday” off of Bloody Tourists is an underappreciated song by them in my op.
Rocky Mountain Way is great. Not his solo stuff, but “Funk 49” by the James Gang with Joe Walsh on guitar is one of my all time jams.
Agreed on Oasis.
I know two Warren Zevon songs; Werewolves Of London and Keep Me In Your Heart. They’re both great but I’ve never thought to listen to anything else. Looks like I need to put that right.
Please do so, JJ! Zevon had so much fine stuff, all of it pretty idiosyncratic (particularly his lyrics). I’d recommend, just for starters, ‘Desperadoes Under the Eaves’ from his debut album, ‘The Hula Hula Boys’ from The Envoy, ‘My Shit’s F****d Up’ off of Life’ll Kill Ya, and his fronting of the Hindu Love God’s ‘Raspberry Beret.’ Yeah, that one. And, of course, the entirety of Excitable Boy, which is a snarling masterpiece. Enjoy!
I strongly disagree that The Knack merit a deeper dive. The misogyny of their lyrics gets more pronounced on the albums and it quickly becomes clear that they don’t have any more ideas musically.
I love “Showing Out” by Mel & Kim. Actually their whole album is quite good. Unfortunately, Melanie Appleby died of liver cancer in 1990 at age 23, so they never got to make more music together.
Kim’s solo career was not that impressive.
I’ve listened to a lot of OK Go. It came from covid times when we were locked down and would have evenings finding terrible songs from the past to entertain my daughter with – literally rolled around the floor laughing at Little Jimmy Osmond and Long Haired Lover From Liverpool. Or when the crimes of music past got too much showing her inventive music videos like Sledgehammer. OK Go came into that category.
It’s possible they spend as much time on them as the music. Watching all them encouraged me to listen to their albums. There’s nothing on the same level as This Too Shall Pass but they’re a solid outfit.
Or you can just watch the videos.
I was a bit too young for Dinosaur Jr first time round but I’ve gotten into them since they reformed. A bit more mellow now.
[voice in my head:]
[“don’t do it. it’s a terrible thing to do. you’ll regret it]
[me, with zero impulse control]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YriPIujLtsA
Disturbing
You really should have listened to the voice in your head. But I just posted “White Punks on Dope,” so who am I to talk?
😂
You haven’t lost credibility with anyone here (maybe the dudes at SUD, but who cares?).
As to your selections, the only one I can really address is our favorite backstabbing group. The O’Jays have lots and lots of good songs that continued well into the millennium. I think you’ll enjoy checking them out.
Tom Cruise shooting pool in The Color of Money.
R.I.P. David Lynch.
But Martin Scorsese is no slouch!
“…his hair was perfect,” was perfectly synched to Tom Cruise acknowledging his own perfect hair.
UPDATES!
o I forgot that 10cc created “The Things We Do For Love”, which I have most definitely heard
o I forgot about “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh, which I have also absolutely heard.
o That Tubes stuff is WILD.
o The Dead Milkmen stuff was fine – probably will just stick to “Punk Rock Girl”, though