Episode 102

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

What’s up friends, welcome back to Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark and every week, I am here listening to hundreds and hundreds of newly released songs, most of which suck. I do this to spare you the agony of having to try and find some decent new music. So, each week, I try and share a handful of songs that I think are worthy of your ears. Before we get into this week’s selections, I need to talk about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So, the Rock Hall inductions happened recently and every year without fail, there are arguments as to why some bands continue to be overlooked and probably more loudly, folks debate why non-rock acts are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, right? So, if you look at the inductees this year, acts like Cher, Mary J. Blige, a tribe called Quest, they are among the inductees. Now, why? Why are they being inducted?

Now, for context, I live in Cleveland. I go to the Rock Hall once a year, maybe every other year, it depends on the inductees to be honest because they change the exhibits out and if it’s an artist I’m a fan of, I wanna see that exhibit. And when you’re walking through the Rock Hall, there’s all these different sections. So, you’ll see a section that’s around the roots of rock and you’ll get like early blues artists and you’ll see the early influences of rock. So, your Chuck Berry’s, your Elvis Presley’s, all that makes sense. But then you’ll start to wander and you’ll find exhibits like hip hop at 50 years. And then you’re questioning that as to why is it in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You go through the inductee signatures on the third floor and you’ll see country greats who have been inducted into the hall, rap artists, modern R&B artists.

And as an eclectic music fan, I appreciate all that these artists have done for music. But this is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now, I’ve been to the country music hall of fame in Nashville. Black Sabbath is not inducted into that hall. There is a hip hop hall of fame in New York. I’m gonna guess that Cream is not inducted into that hip hop hall of fame. There is a big band hall of fame, a jazz hall of fame, a blues hall of fame, a dance music hall of fame, and a polka hall of fame, just to name a handful of these things. And you get the idea. Artists that are not considered from that genre do not get inducted into those halls. But, and I wouldn’t expect them to be. So it begs the question, why is the Rock Hall open to what seems to be all comers, especially when so many acts are sitting on the sidelines waiting to be inducted into their hall of fame? Iron Maiden is a great example of this. And quite frankly, Iron Maiden says, “Fuck the hall of fame.” They don’t care about it. They don’t wanna be inducted. Have no desire to be inducted at this point. And to me as a fan of Iron Maiden, I think they deserve it more than a lot of other bands that are still waiting. They’ve done so much. Like if you think about the British metal invasion, like that was a huge thing.

But I digress.

Because what has to be asked is like, how does one define rock and roll? I suppose some of it is generational. So if you grew up when Elvis was the king, you probably identify that early rock and roll as it. And everything that came after it is just derivative noise. Those of us who grew up in the 70s, maybe the classic rock bands and punk bands of the era are the ones that should rule the rock hall. The 80s and 90s, we saw the rise of metal, an alternative, and today it’s the indie rockers that are starting to knock on the door. The definition of rock has changed without a doubt. But what is rock? Can rock just be attitude? Yes and no. Like I think Run DMC who are in the rock hall have a rock and roll attitude about things. But their music is not rock. Have they done collaborations with rock artists like Aerosmith and Anthrax? Absolutely they have. But it doesn’t make what they do rock and roll. Does Dolly Parton belong in the rock and roll hall of fame? No, and she said as much. And despite her wishes, they put her in anyway. And then she went and put out a rock album, which let’s be frank, wasn’t that great? It’s not what she does. The definition of rock I think is lost. I don’t think it could ever truly be nailed down, but I think it’s been so watered down and spread thin that it’s just gone. It’s funny because I listened to the new rock playlist when I’m reviewing music for the show. And a lot of times when I’m listening, I will literally say this isn’t rock. Why is it on the rock playlist? But I’m sure maybe some of these bands down the road when I’m older and grayer, they’ll be the ones being inducted into the rock hall. And I’ll just have to sit back and accept it. Or maybe I’ll just laugh. Who knows? Now, it begs a question. Should the rock and roll hall of fame change its name to the music hall of fame or something like that? Perhaps. Will it? Not a snowball’s chance in hell. They’ve said as much. They will be the rock and roll hall of fame until it ceases to be or through all eternity, whatever comes first.

Anyway, so this podcast is truly for people who really love music. People who seek out new music. And I had a moment of clarity recently. Maybe it’s an epiphany of sorts. When I think about this podcast, I have very steady listenership. It grows a little bit over time, but it’s pretty steady and I’m cool with that. I like people appreciate what I do. I hope they find the songs that they are looking for. But when I started to think about the population of people in the world, there are millions and millions of people who fall into the same category that I do as far as how they love music. But for billions of people on the planet, music is just a background variable. It’s the thing they hear when they get in their car and turn on their radio. These people are probably not my people. And I’m okay with that. You listening to my voice right now are my people. So thank you for being my people. The people who really love music and people who for them, music is life.

With that, let’s get into this week’s new music, shall we?

The first song this week is “Save My Soul” by Elijah Elias. Now, my first thought when I heard this song and the opening piano lick was that it reminded me a little bit of Tori Amos’ “Corn Flake Girl,” like that little bouncy piano thing. But that comparison fell away very, very quickly. Very gravelly voice came in and just started singing his ass off. The more I listened, I picked up a pretty strong Beatles influence, I think. And honestly, it’s not a bad influence to have. Elijah’s 18, he records in his bedroom. And while that tells me that the drums are probably programmed, I kind of like what’s being delivered here because what he’s doing from a programmed drum standpoint falls within the realm of reality. And sometimes when you have these programmed drums, they just, it’s not. Anyway, he has a really distinctive voice on this track, has really good control of it. And I really like the way he plays with the rhythm and delivery in the first verse. The phrasing is really interesting. And then in the subsequent verses, things are filled in a bit more, but it still pays homage to that first verse. And it’s kind of a nice transition throughout the song. Now, I usually don’t do this, but the one thing that I am not a fan of in this song, and it’s probably a personal preference, but you tell me, at like the three minute and 14 second mark of the song, the song actually just needs to end. There’s another minute or so, tacked on to the end, which sounds like a demo recording that he was doing when he was in the writing process. And to me, it takes away from the finished product that was just delivered. But you listen and be the judge. I’m not gonna play that section, but here’s a little bit of “Save My Soul.”

The second song this week is “Butter Knife Suicide” by Dolour. I think I’m pronouncing that right. Dolour falls into the power pop genre, which for me is ruled over by jellyfish and will be forever to the end of time. But this song has all of those great DNA marks, right? Poppy hooks, there’s some great organ playing in here, very percussive. And just a lot of warm harmonies. All of that’s wrapped up in this really great sounding production. It’s very warm and it almost feels like it was recorded on analog tape. Like it just has that feel to it. It’s got a really nice flow from the verse to the chorus and it’s got a bridge. It’s got a great bridge, which I’ve mentioned before. A lot of new music seems to miss writing a bridge and bridges are important. You just can’t get anywhere sometimes without a bridge. And the fun vocal play that’s going on in the bridge is outstanding. It’s very beat-a-lask honestly. It definitely pulls from some of the things that they did during their career. But anyway, here is a little bit of “Butter Knife Suicide”.

The third song this week is “Automobile” from The Cold Stares. Now The Cold Stares have been on the podcast previously back in episode 31. And I remember at that time with that track, it reminded me a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The track was called “Cross the Line”. And it definitely had that southern blues funk thing going on. This track, it’s just me, riffs and rock and roll. The structure is very blues inspired. Lyrically, it kind of matches like the 12 bar blues vocal pattern if you’re familiar. And it’s timeless, it works. It’s never gone out of style honestly. To go along with what I think is probably one of the better riffs that I’ve heard in a long time is this driving pounding bass line. And it just pushes the song from beginning to end. It’s just solid eighth notes. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. It’s so good. Anyway, it’s a fantastic song. If you haven’t checked out the Cold Stares yet, it’s definitely one of those bands that, I feel like they’re flying under the radar. So it might be one of those bands that you need to like dig into. So check out a little bit of “Automobile” from the Cold Stares.

The fourth song this week is “One Bullet Left” from Yam Haus. I think I’m pronouncing that right. We’ll see. Yam Haus definitely brings kind of that Midwest rock into the modern day. They inject a little bit of indie rock, which is good. And there’s honestly a little bit of this track that reminds me of “Wilco.” So if you’re a fan of “Wilco,” this might be a band that you can dig. And then, you know, when you start to do the math, Tweedy’s from Illinois, so the math maths in this case. Sonically in this track, it feels like a wall of sound. So you’ve got acoustic guitars layered with electric guitars. There’s an elite guitar that’s kind of sitting on top of it. And then there’s this very solid rhythm section that fills up all of the sonic space. The vocals layered at points, but then there’s moments of real vulnerability, like right at the end of the track where it’s just the vocal on its own kind of sitting out there. Really well-constructed song, really, really like this one. So check out a little bit of “One Bullet Left.”

That is it for this week. Four songs, but four songs that are really, really good. And I will take that. Now, if you haven’t, connect with me on social media. You can find me on threads, Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky. There is a Discord community. You can find that link to join that Discord community at songsthatdon’tsuck.net. There’s also a place there where you can recommend artists to me. I really appreciate that. You can also send me feedback about the podcast. Tell me what you like, tell me what you don’t like. Whatever you say, just say it with your chest. You can also find links to all of the songs that I talked about, not just on this episode, but on every episode that I’ve ever published since episode one. Those links take you to your streaming platform of choice. They produce a search, and you can find these songs very, very easily. You can also subscribe to a newsletter that I’m trying to launch, as well as by Merch, if you wanna support the podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, review, whatever your podcast platform lets you do. Please do it for the podcast. I appreciate that more than you know, and just tell your friends about the podcast, because you are my best advertising. Now, hope you have a great week, and as always, thanks for listening, and go out and support these artists.

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