Episode 107

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

What is up, friends? Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck. I am your host, Mark, and every week, weekend and week out, I listen to hundreds and hundreds of newly released songs. A tiny, tiny percent of the 100,000 songs that are released every day, a near million songs a week, I’m only listening to a few hundred in the hopes that I find a few that simply don’t suck. And most weeks I’m successful, this week, I’ll give myself an 80% ’cause I found four for you this week. But, hey, before we get into those, I wanna take a moment to thank you for listening. If you’re a first-time listener, welcome. If you’re a long-time listener, thanks for coming back. And as always, I’ve always got something on the top of my head that I just kinda wanna talk about in this week. It’s a little tribute to Saturday Night Live.

So Saturday Night Live is celebrating their 50th anniversary, and there’s been a ton of focus, if you’ve been paying any attention to it, different aspects of it, right? Different casts, but I’ve obviously been focusing on the music over those 50 years. And I think a lot of people really see it as a comedy show, and they don’t really think about Saturday Night Live in the way that they have approached music as part of the show because they have broken boundaries and barriers and really kind of tested the norms of what would be acceptable on national television. They were breaking artists and including genres that had never been focused on before. If you think about fear, fear was a punk band, and John Belushi had seen them in the New York clubs or whatever. And when they put fear on the show, it shocked the audience. They were aggressive, they were slam dancing. I think they caused like $20,000 in damage to the set and the scene. But nobody had ever seen that on television. Saturday Night Live were the first to put hip hop on national television. And that was all thanks to Debbie Harry from Blondie. So it was Funky 4+1 more, were the musical guests. This was back in 1981, Debbie Harry was hosting. And Debbie being from, I think it was Brooklyn, if I remember correctly, maybe Queens, I forget. But anyway, she was aware of the Funky 4+1 more. And when she got to pick the musical guests, that’s who she picked. That was the first time that hip hop was on national television. If you kind of trace things back, there’s a lot of hip hop artists that like lean into that moment saying that that was transformative for them. They broke Nirvana really before they were huge, before they became a household name. Apparently David Geffen was friends with Lauren Michaels and David Geffen was like, there’s something happening here. So they put them on the show. And the rest is history. Other artists like Prince and Adele were put on before they became household names. It’s been kind of really interesting watching some of this. A lot of the stuff that was happening before I started watching SNL, I became really enamored with SNL when I was in high school and I’ll get into that in a little bit. But there has been some really incredible moments as I was kind of researching and looking at all of the artists that have shown up over the last 50 years. But some of the incredible moments that you might remember Sinead O’Connor when she ripped up the Pope’s photo, that was just a little bit provocative. Queen had their last US performance on Saturday Night Live back in 1981. And there was career ending things like Ashley Simpson when she was caught basically lip syncing. And it basically ended her career. I think probably one of the more famous ones, Elvis Costello’s mid song switch when he switched to play radio radio. There was a whole urban legend that he got banned from the show, which was bullshit because he performed later on. Really iconic performance from Paul Simon right after 9/11. And Paul Simon also did a reunion with Art Garfunkel after they had broken up as a duo. They did three songs on the show. Other good ones, Rage Against the Machine. They got put on with Steve Forbes, who was a presidential candidate, a very conservative presidential candidate. So you can kind of imagine how Rage felt about that. They wanted to hang American Flags Upside Down, which is a sign of distress for a country. And the producers like knows that there was a little bit of melee around that before the performance. Performance went off without a hitch, they were great. But then apparently the band got a little aggressive backstage with Steve Forbes family, which was a bad idea because he was a presidential candidate that was secret service protection. And they ended up throwing the band out of the studio. Luckily, they could have been arrested, but yeah. So that’s kind of like some great Saturday nightlife folklore.

And for every dozen or so amazing performances, there’s duds, right? ‘Cause sometimes it just doesn’t work. Like Garth Brooks, when he performed as Chris Gaines, or Edie Burkellen, the new Bohemians. Like, do you wanna talk about performances that fell flat? Those are two that really come to mind. The thing for me that I think will always hold true when it comes to Saturday Night Live is like seasons and casts really ebb and flow, different talent clicks. Sometimes it’s just hysterical and sometimes it’s a lackluster season, but musically they’ve always been top tier.

When I think about when I started watching Saturday Night Live, it was when I was in high school and I have really fond memories from those years because it was like I would watch Saturday Night Live and then I would switch over to Headbanger’s Ball and then I’d flip over again to catch the last performance on Saturday Night Live. But it was through Saturday Night Live that I was introduced some really amazing artists, bands like Faith No More, Fishbone, Morris Day in the Time, The Black Crows, Elvis Costello, Red Hot Chili Peppers. First time I ever saw Public Enemy was on Saturday Night Live. I mentioned Nirvana. That was the first place I saw Nirvana. It was the first place I became aware of Peter Gabriel, which led me into Genesis and their back catalog. And I mean, if it wasn’t for SNL, I mean, who knows when I would have been exposed to them. I’m sure I would have been at some point, but living in the small town that I did when I was in high school, not very likely, but so I guess I just, I wanted to take a moment and thank Saturday Night Live and the producers and the bookers for bringing some of that music to the masses, which might otherwise go unnoticed, especially those artists that they took a chance on because otherwise they may have flown very far under the radar and never got known at any level.

So, you know, when I think about it, it’s kind of what I do here at songs that don’t suck. Not as grand a scale, but why don’t we go ahead and do some of that right now? Let’s get into the new music for this week.

The first song this week is “Never Give Up” by Tors. Tors are a trio of brothers. They’re from the UK. And as I was listening to this, it was what I’m gonna describe as a very quick capture as the song entered my ears. It’s got a very anthemic chorus. It’s very upbeat and positive as far as the lyrical message. Stylistically, I kind of struggled as to where I would put this. I mean, it’s folk rock-ish, Noah Kahan, maybe a little bit, but not as sad, obviously. And then maybe like Sam Fender for some of the kind of the rock edge. But there is something special that just makes this song sticky for me. It is one that you will find yourself humming. It’s got a very catchy melody, great harmonies. There’s some really fun musical elements too. If you’re listening very closely, you’re gonna pick up multiple layers of guitars. And it creates this really beautiful tapestry. In the chorus, it’s then complemented with very cool, I’m assuming it’s keyboard, it could be just an affected guitar, but this like harmony or even a counter melody, if you will, the vocal walks up, the scale and the keyboard walks down. It’s really well done, I really like it. So here is a quick taste of Never Give Up by Tors.

The second song this week is America’s Favorite Pastime by Hotel Mira. This is the third visit to the podcast for Hotel Mira. And I was trying to think of like how I wanted to like describe this, but this band, Hotel Mira, just writes great rock songs. Plain and simple. There’s really nothing else you can say. The main guitar riff in this song, it’s infectious is a good descriptive word for that. But even more, I love this little guitar lick that sits between the verses in the chorus. It just kind of darts in and out. And in that moment where it’s kind of just the, this little guitar, it’s a lick. It’s not a riff, it’s a lick. It lets the two themes between verse and chorus, kind of like, it just gives a moment to breathe. And then the two parts, the verse and the chorus kind of flourish on their own merits. It’s a nice bridge. And then speaking of bridges, this song has a great bridge and it leads into an actual guitar solo, which is something I don’t get to hear a lot with modern releases. So I guess you could say I’m a sucker for classic song structures when it comes to rock. So you be the judge, give a listen to America’s favorite pastime from Hotel Mira.

The third song this week is, say something from the Luka State. This is also another band who it’s making their third appearance on the podcast this week. Yeah, so their latest release, say something. The one thing that I can always say about the Luka State is I love their lead vocalist. The voice is very distinctive. And he’s got a very powerful delivery when it is called for in the context of the song. And I think the thing that I really appreciate about this song is that you actually get a display of the more vulnerable side of his voice along with that powerful delivery side of it. So there’s a great contrast that happens. Some other elements that I really enjoyed in the song, the drum part in the verses. As you’re listening, you’re gonna hear some really kind of cool syncopation or what could easily be described as misplaced accents. And it gives the drums this great driving feel, especially as it heads towards the chorus. It’s really, really well done. Really appreciate what the drummer was doing there. So here is a little taste of say something from the Luka State.

The fourth song this week is London from Badflower. So thinking back to 2019, Badflower had a decently sized hit with Ghost. It was on the Alt Rock charts. And when I saw the name, I was like, I thought I recognized it. And then I went and listened and I was like, “Oh yeah, I remember these guys.” London is their latest release. And this one is very different compared to the feel of that track, Ghost. This track, how do I describe it? It’s slinky. It’s sexy. The drummer is laying down this really sweet little shuffle. And as slinky as it is through those verses, the chorus gets some teeth and the vocalist is just belting. Belting those lyrics. And it just feels really good. The transitions between the verses and chorus, it’s such a great juxtaposition of atmosphere. It’s honestly probably one of my favorite elements of this song. It’s just the two completely different yet complimentary themes in the way that the song is presented. In the bridge, there’s a little piano and vocal. It’s a little reminiscent of like crooner lounge music almost. It’s a really well put together song. Every element is distinctive. And everything fits in the context of what’s being presented. It’s fantastic. So check out a bit of London from Badflower.

And that, my friends, is it for this week. Only four songs, but I think I got four good ones for you. I hope you enjoyed them. So for my community friends, we are all going to the website, songsthatdontsuck.net. That is the place where you’re going to find everything you need when it comes to the podcast. You will find links to all of your favorite streaming platforms to find these songs. You can send me feedback. You can make recommendations. You can subscribe to the newsletter. You can buy merch. I recently put up a community forum. So if you just want to chat through a forum, that’s going to be cool, too. I figure these are the best places to build community rather than trying it on social media because there’s just too much noise.

So again, go to the website, songsthatdontsuck.net. That’s the place to go. On your podcast platform of choice, please take a moment to like, review, subscribe, follow, whatever the verbiage they use to support the podcast. Please do that. It helps with the algorithm. And in turn, it helps turn people on to the podcast. And if you’re going to turn people on to the podcast, tell your friends if you think they might enjoy the podcast.

So with that, as always, I want to thank you for listening. Really, truly do appreciate it. And as always, go out and support these artists.

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