S2E2 – “My heart is almost breaking…”

Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck, with your host, Mark Bradbourne.

Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 2 of Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark. I’m the host, and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to this week’s episode.

You know, some weeks, we Gen Xers are reminded that we are getting older. This week, I was reminded that I was getting older by a list of songs that somebody published that were turning 40 this year. So I had to think back. In 1984, I was eight or nine, depending on the time of year, I was a very heavy watcher of MTV. MTV was only three years old at that time. And radio-wise, it was top 40 for me. I lived in a pretty small town. We didn’t have a whole lot of choice when it came to radio. But for me, I guess it really was MTV. MTV was kind of where all my music consumption was happening. And as I was looking through this list of songs that were turning 40, the titles of the songs basically caused the frames of the video to kind of pop into my head and remember those kind of iconic early 80s videos that were on steady rotation on MTV. The first one on the list that, like, triggered me was, like, Van Halen’s Jump. The slow-mo David Lee Roth leap into that iconic split that he did at kind of the end of the video was just, it seared into my brain for whatever reason, round and round by rat. Such a strange video. And for some reason, my nine-year-old self knew who Milton Burl was. I’m going to guess that was my parents’ influence. But the fact he was dressed in drag and the band was dressed like pirates, it was very odd video, but very catchy song, right? Sammy Hagar’s I Can’t Drive 55 Turns 40 This Year. Such a great song, great video. You know, nine-year-olds and red Ferraris. You know, that’s just great, great viewing. The Cars, you might think. That was such a fun video, just really creative, very artistic. I remember that one pretty vividly. Twisted Sister’s, we’re not going to take it. Kind of a shock to the system, right, for an eight or nine-year-old, but very catchy. I wanted to fight against something, but you know, at eight years old, there’s not a whole lot to fight against. Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions, also turning 40, wow. Now looking back, I’m thinking like 1984 feels very formative for me as far as music listening was concerned.

So definitely a lot of rock from this list is what resonated with me. And if I kind of think back three years later, I think it was 1987 or 1988 when Headbanger’s Ball launched, and I would have to put, you know, a tape in the VCR and I would record the episode because I was too young to stay up that late. And you know, MTV really kind of set the tone for me as far as like what music I really got into, and kind of makes me feel a little melancholy of the fact that MTV is such in shambles now, and the music industry has changed so much that basically music television, MTV is basically just 24-7 viewing of Ridiculous now, just very, very sad.

There was a couple of non-rock songs on the list that I was like, wow, that one’s turning 42.

For instance, when Dove’s Cry was turning 40, Go-Go’s Head Over Heels, Cool It Now by New Edition, one of the original boy bands, I Feel For You by Shaka Khan, who I believe just went into the rock hall just recently, but a lot of great music from 1984 to be sure.

All right, let’s get into kind of, I don’t know what to call this segment anymore because we’re not doing purely covers, this song’s from my vault of listening. It’s an artist that I wish he would have put out more music. His name is Tory Cassis, and the song is called Sunrise. Sunrise came from his one and only solo record that was released in 1999. The album’s called Anywhere But Here. And I saw Tory open for Moxy Fruvous at the Magic Bag in Detroit, Michigan. I don’t know if the Magic Bag is still there, but I remember that it had these great light fixtures that looked like giant strawberries. But anyway, I digress. Fantastic show. The album features a full band, full orchestration, which is fantastic. That live performance, he was solo acoustic, and I was simply blown away by his voice and stage presence and songwriting. On the album, Sunrise has such a funky backbeat. It’s got a great horn arrangement, great keys, great bass. Just rhythm sections, just solid. And it’s an amazing listen. Like, I’ve kind of rediscovered this song late last year as I was kind of planning for this year. And the whole album, honestly, is amazing. His voice is just silky smooth. The whole album, the whole album is fantastic. But some other tracks, like if you dig this one, check out some of these, Leaning on the Stair, the title track Anywhere But Here is fantastic. Such a Crime is, man, that is just, he belts, like, vocally in that, and it’s really good. All the Saints, and Down on My Luck, Down on My Luck is probably one of my favorite songs on the album. Just fantastic overall. Like, literally you cannot go wrong with any song on that album. He was playing with a band called the Lesters for a while, which featured Murray, who played bass in Moxy Fruvous. But as far as I can tell, like, his performing career is kind of done. I did kind of find him on LinkedIn randomly. He is now a label manager for Paper Bag Records in Toronto.

All right, let’s get into some new music, shall we? This is your first time listening. Welcome. It’s just another time that you’re listening, welcome back, appreciate it. Each week I listen to hundreds of songs. Most of them suck. I hope to cobble together five that I can share with you. Some weeks it’s less. I hope one day it’s more. But usually five is the good average of songs that I’m finding for you. So let’s get into it. It’s a little heavier this week, I think, than most. But I think a good spectrum of genres all around.

The first song this week is Kids Want to Dance by Gen and the Degenerates. First, great band name. Love the band name. Secondly, it’s a great song, honestly. Upon the first few listens, I was hearing a lot of, like, Blondie and Berlin. If you’re familiar with anything Berlin did besides take my breath away from Top Gun, like song like The Metro from The Pleasure Victim album, which I think came out in 82. Very, very similar stylistically, but obviously the sounds are a little more updated. It’s got this great kind of keyboard pulse at the beginning, which I feel is very 80s-inspired. Like I could totally see them. Like if I think about the bands that were frequent in CBGBs back in the glory days, I don’t think anybody would blink if Jen and the Degenerates showed up. It’s just got great energy. I was listening to it, and I challenge you to not bop your head as you’re listening to this one. Now the really interesting part here is lyrically, like, at first listen, you might not be paying attention because it’s got a catchy hook and, you know, it’s got great beat, you can dance to it. But as I kept listening to it and listening to it more closely, I actually went and looked up the lyrics, and that song is really kind of cry for help slash call for action just about the state of the world. The second verse of Kids Want to Dance says, the truth is I’m no nihilist. There’s a part of me hoping that we can fix all of this, but it’s not looking optimistic, is it? And the truth is I’ve always wanted kids, but it’s not the world I pictured bringing them up in, so I guess I’ll find something else to do instead. Fucking brutal. But dead on. Very true. I feel like it’s a very common sentiment. And yeah, I just, yeah, it just, it hit me, like, as I’m listening to this song, like the song and the lyrics are juxtaposed, you know, very, I don’t know, just different feels. Like, it’s just, it was good. I loved that. That was fantastic. Anyway, I gave some of their other songs a listen in the catalog that they have, and if you dig this, you will dig Gen and the Degenerates.

The second song this week is Nightingale from Afrodiziac. This one grabbed me pretty quick. Really great guitar riff and the vocal styling when I first heard of it, I thought it kind of reminded me of Kurt Cobain a little bit, a little bit of that growl, but this isn’t grunge by any stretch, right? There’s a lot of influence. So like it’s funky, it’s bluesy, it’s even a little bit retro. Like if you’re listening with headphones, you’ll kind of feel some maybe 70s keyboards that are kind of lower in the mix that kind of fill out the sound. Yeah, Afrodiziac pulls from a lot of different places, I feel like. This is the first thing he’s released on Spotify since 2018. I don’t know if he’s released in other places or what he’s been doing since 2018. I went back and gave some of that earlier stuff a listen as I have started to do. It’s all in the same vein, but I will say that Nightingale, the production is a much higher quality and there’s a maturity in his writing and composition. I really, really love Nightingale, really good and lyrically because I was listening to it and I’m not hearing the word Nightingale and you expect though the song’s called Nightingale, the word Nightingale will show up somewhere. But honestly, this song appears to be poetry that has been transformed into a song. There’s some great lines. The chorus specifically I really liked, I’m staring down the mouth of madness with nothing left to lose. Good poetry can evoke feelings and thoughts and Afrodiziac has really done that here. I think it’s really, really good.

The third song this week is Glow from the Rafters. I wasn’t paying attention when I was listening initially and like my first thought was it sounded like John Lyndon from kind of just the first few vocal phrases, but I very quickly snapped out of that. But I do keep going to bands like the Arctic Monkeys and the Strokes and the Kooks as far as bands that they kind of remind me of and I’m sure there are others that I’m forgetting about and I feel like that’s a very good sign, the fact that I can’t put my finger directly on who they remind me of and that makes me feel like they’re on to something, right? They’ve got a sound and they have put out a long string of singles since 2019, no full releases or anything and I gave a few a listen and they have their sound nailed down, right? High energy rock, great gravelly vocal and I get the impression that their live show is fantastic.

The fourth song this week is Give Me a Reason Why from Swim School. There are so many angles that love and relationships can be sung about, the highs, the lows, the endings and the rocky parts. I feel like some of my favorites are the ones that are about the rocky parts and the endings because those emotions are so raw and it leads to such great songs and I love it when they’re not ballads. When you can channel that emotion into something that gives me energy and just makes me feel that feeling, I feel like you’ve done your job as a artist and they’ve done that here. Swim School have done that, absolutely. And I think back, like as I’m listening to it, I’m thinking back to earlier relationships that I’ve had, granted I’ve been married for over two decades now, but thinking back, we’ve all had those relationships that we have probably had these discussions in. They’re unpleasant but necessary at the time and that’s what this song really evoked for me. All those moments in my history when you figure out that the person that you’re with isn’t the person you need to be with and that you have to move on and getting up to that point where you just throw it on the ground, you’re like, look, here’s what we’ve got to do. I’ve seen quite a few songs from Swim School in the new music playlist over the last few months and every time I listen to them and I like them, but this is the first one that really I latched onto and I feel like, and honestly, I hope that you feel the same way.

The fifth song this week is Someday, Someday from Pete Yorn. I first heard of Pete Yorn back in the late 90s or early 2000s. He was running in the same folk music circuit as a lot of the other bands I was following at the time, but I don’t know, listening to his music, it’s not all folky. This song is, and he’s got such a classic vocal sound, very talented songwriter. This song in particular has a very simple arrangement, layered vocals, nice crisp acoustic guitar. There’s some keys or strings kind of adding texture in the background and in the turnaround in the chorus, there’s some rhythmic finger snapping, which I just made me smile. You probably have to throw some headphones on to pick that up because it’s in rhythm with the strumming of the guitar right before the chorus, but you know me, those little percussive details get me every time. So if you dig this song, Pete Yorn has a massive music collection to check out and it kind of spans the musical genres.

All right, that is it for this week. As always, spread the word to your fellow music fans. If you’ve got a friend who has not heard this podcast, encourage them to give it a listen. You can follow the show on social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and threads. You’ve got a website, songsthatdon’tsuck. net. If you are an artist or you know a song that I should hear that I might not hear, you can submit artists through the website, it’s songsthatdon’tsuck. net. I’ve had a couple of artists recently reach out to me on Instagram and I’ve happily listened to their stuff. None of it has made the show yet, but you know, I wish them all the best of luck because as I’ve said in previous episodes, every artist has an audience and so does every podcast.

Thanks for listening and until next week, keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck.