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Themes in Music

Back Door Man - The Doors
Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap) by AC/DC ("I'll be your back-door man")
Lola The Kinks

Hmmmmmm.
Apparently, I have some thinking to do......I know I (inadvertently) started us down the dude-on-dude path earlier, maybe I'm now seeing too much of it as a result. Always welcome the opportunity to revisit my first interpretation of songs, though.:D

Never cared for the Doors at all, (maybe didn't pay enough attention as a result);). Always figured the Lizard King was guy who came and went secretly via the literal back door of the residence, to hump the girl while the husband was away at work......no other guys in the residence. Please tell me that's the correct interpretation.

And I never heard anything other than (delightful, literal) violence and malevolence in the AC-DC song......On review, clearly there is more than this naive little boy ever imagined, going on in that song. (Love being wrong, thanks for forcing me to revisit it again). And RIP, Bon.

As for Lola, not much room for misunderstanding there, pretty straight forward song........Despite the lyrics being so transparent, I remember my friend Todd, in high school (with a fairly strong homophobic streak) enjoyed and grooved to it for quite a few years; Before he (finally) put 2 and 2 together. He practically grabbed us by the collar and shook each of us in the room....."Have you listened closely to that F'ing song?......Do you realize what it's about?":eek:

Yes, Todd, settle down, we've all heard it. It's just a song; Glad we're all on the same page now.:rolleyes:
 
LOL even louder......NOTHING Cheap Trick ever made it into any door for me, front or back! Zero interest.

I enjoy being open minded......But Cheap Trick? There are limits! (Also revel in being nasty and closed minded):p when it makes my point!:D

But I will follow your lead and check it.:)
 
Hmmmmmmm.....
'Nother topic comes to mind, suddenly.

You LOVE the band.......but this song in particular makes you embarrassed to be a fan. Seriously, when you hear it, you think..."I apologize to all mankind and every culture on the planet...... Perhaps the entire galaxy for the nasty horror of that performance"!

I'll start with: "Eyes Of The World"- Grateful Dead.

And come to think of it: As big of a fan as I am; I'm confident I can come up with two, or fifty more of theirs, that make the list!:D:rolleyes:
 
Hmmmmmmm.....
'Nother topic comes to mind, suddenly.

You LOVE the band.......but this song in particular makes you embarrassed to be a fan. Seriously, when you hear it, you think..."I apologize to all mankind and every culture on the planet...... Perhaps the entire galaxy for the nasty horror of that performance"!

I'll start with: "Eyes Of The World"- Grateful Dead.

And come to think of it: As big of a fan as I am; I'm confident I can come up with two, or fifty more of theirs, that make the list!:D:rolleyes:

Mmm-Bop... Hanson:oops:

Edit: Didn't read well enough, thought you meant guilty pleasures!
Well that's kinda awkward.
 
^^^^^^^
Because.......You were a huge fan of the rest of their vast catalog, the overflowing treasure chest that was Hanson?:p

Especially funny, however, because other obsession of the afternoon.....
Mmm-Bop... Hanson:oops:
Takes me directly to:

Mmm-Bop.............................."Pop Muzik" by "M". Really cool, under rated, and ahead of it's time.
Busy meditating on, and writing the essay on, as we speak.:)
 
EDIT: (this would be an edit, but deserves a nipple twistin' post of its own!)

Becauseeeeee.........It would somehow be OK if your transgression were a simple misunderstanding, between "guilty pleasure" and "shameful horror scene"?

Hanson? Seriously?:p

Also: Seriously.......U think I can't come up with something worse from my own closet of skeletons to further embarrass myself, flesh out this new category?
Hmmmmmm.......Gimmie' a minute;)
 
I like it, though apparently not enough to actually add it to my collections (unlike Rapper's Delight and The Bee Gees)...
 
Hope everyone knows I'm just pullin' pigtails and kickin' shins, all in good fun.:p

Seriously, Hanson, The Bee Gees.......Perfect examples of stuff I don't care about, but fully recognize they have/had great appeal to many, for some very good reason.
For me, add:

Journey- Don't Stop Believin'........(Anything Journey, really.) Yuck.
Boston- More Than a Feeling.........(Anything Boston, really.) Yuck.
Steve Miller- Jet Airliner..........(Anything Steve Miller, really.) Yuck.
Jimmy Buffett- Cheeseburger in Paradise..........(Anything Jimmy Buffett, really.) Yuck.:p

No evidence to offer, but suspect anyone with a background in music theory would take one look at the list and say to me: "Of course, dummy.......Look at that chord progression, or look at the rhyming scheme; It's mathematically perfect, and for hundreds of years, very popular music has been using that basic structure".

Kind of like the meter of a Shakespeare play..........You might not even know why you respond so favorably to it, ya' just do. Not that I expect Mmm-Bop to still be around 500 years from now.:rolleyes:
 
Thanks to another member for the idea, elsewhere. Standard disclaimers.

"Interesting musicians who either transformed themselves, or started a parallel career track; Aside from front man, stage performer to "behind the scenes" as musical director or composer, film, television, etc.

Danny Elfman. Oingo Boingo; Then on to many, many Hollywood projects, as @shalemail pointed out. His single most important contribution IMHO: Opening theme song/ music for The Simpsons.

Mark Mothersbaugh. Definitely paralleled, influenced and inspired by Danny. Interesting Bio. He joined Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis, co-founders of DEVO, when all were art students at Kent State University; Mutual friend was one of the students killed by National Guardsmen in the infamous riot, genesis of their notion that mankind was in fact DE-eVOlving.
After very interesting first career, did an enormous amount of scoring since, outstanding work both film and television; Pee Wee's playhouse, The Rugrats, video game soundtracks, Wes Anderson films, much else.
Saw DEVO a few years ago in a club, they can definitely still bring it!:cool:

Feel like I'm definitely missing significant one similar between Danny and Mark.......who? help me out.

Randy Newman. Favorite artist of mine, believe he grew up in the industry, father did score work. Very wry sense of humor, outstanding piano player, solo artist and showman, terrific songwriter, story teller unique personality, responsible for a lot of great quotes. More credits than could possibly list; Particular note, Disney/Pixar catalog. Are we sensing a "sub-theme" here yet? Cartoons, target audience=children (or arrested adolescent, adult children):D

Mark Knopfler. Another HOF guy for me, favorite guitar player, nothing better than early Dire Straits.
Did significant film work, for some big names as well as small. Music for "The Princess Bride"......I know, "Inconceivable", right? "Local Hero", "Wag the Dog", others. Also on record as a fan of "(This Is) Spinal Tap", so how bad could the guy be? Story I read somewhere is that he agreed to do music for (Rob Reiner's) Princess Bride on the condition that the ball cap Reiner wore in Spinal tap appear on camera somewhere in PB. Yet to verify for self, but hear it is visible in the room, behind Peter Falk, when reading the story to young Fred Savage.;)

Others?
TMBG
 
Here's a theme in much "popular" music...

Autotune.jpg
 
Had to look up what TMBG was......and still not there with the connection; But happy to follow another's lead to something new.:)

So in keeping with a relatively new theme in my life......(Looking in mirror) "Try to find something nice to say about everything, instead of being such a D-head all the time!"

So, the mirror opposite of an above suggestion: "You love the band, but this one song makes you cringe"......

Opposite:

"You don't really care for the band at all, but this track in particular speaks to you", feels HOF worthy......Put it in the time capsule to represent this band, leave the rest of their catalog in the bin. Often it's one of the tracks that doesn't sound like the rest of their songs, (at least in my case.)

First few to mind:

Chicago - Make Me Smile. Not much affection for them, but like this song. A positive, happy message, thought it was Ray Charles, when I was young.

Steely Dan - Any World (That I'm Welcome To). I like other SD songs as well, but the few I like, are vastly outnumbered by the ones I don't have much use for. This one is also a positive, happy message....('nother theme developing?)

Led Zeppelin - The Ocean Don't have much use for LZ, most of it just exhausts me, seems kinda' blunt. But this track makes me happy, (continuing the secondary theme)........"SO GOOD!" he proclaims, at the end. And love the way at the beginning, there is stage patter and count in, Way low in the mix.....Practically begs you to turn it up to "11", just before the "big" hit opening riff. Odd time signatures sandwiched in between, strange pacing.

The meat of the story is true, unsure of the details and connections:
Oakland, date easy to verify, but feelin' lazy, (You Google it for me):p
Zeppelin is performing in town, as is Bob Dylan. Zeppelin's manager of the day (by all accounts, a brash, loud, aggressive "blunt" type, approaches Dylan.

Peter Grant, (with chest all puffed out): "Bob, I'm Peter Grant, I manage Led Zeppelin, and............."
Dylan: "Hey man, I don't come to you with my problems, so.........."

There was a big story that came out of Oakland around that time, LZ involved in a backstage fight, lawsuits ensued.....I never knew if the two incidents were related, or just a general comment by Bob. And too lazy to Google it for myself.:rolleyes:

Edit: BTW.....I walk into the room expecting that I am real average........Half the people are taller than me, half of 'em shorter. I usually include a lot of links......I'm betting at least half the people here have no use for them. But half the people might never have heard of the act, might like a quick link to the thing.;)
 
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Shame on you. [emoji14]

They Might Be Giants do music for television shows as well as albums dedicated to kids.

Though they generate plenty of stuff for us original fans.
 
Yeah, I'll readily admit I'm not there......I can think of one or two songs by TMBG.....the ones that all "late adopters" would all be able to cite, clearly indicating they/we are not "original fans".

I have an incredibly broad base of knowledge.........and most of it is about 3/16 of an inch thick!:rolleyes:
Happy to investigate something new, thanks!
 
Songs (or individual lyrics) WRITTEN by young artists (under 25?) relating to or commenting on, the experience of being / getting older. Songs about nostalgia another, separate topic, songs about mortality and death a whole separate category......Maybe for tomorrow, (if I make it through the night.):p

Most (hopefully) poignant and prescient, displaying maturity beyond their years; Some just snotty.
Old Man - Neil Young (Neil probably over 25 at the time, but still a masterpiece, imho.)
When I'm 64 - The Beatles
Where Have All The Good Times Gone? - The Kinks
Seventeen - The Sex Pistols 18-20 year old says: "You're only 29, gotta' lot to learn; Like when your mummy's gone, she will not return"
Like A Rolling Stone
- Bob Dylan.....A significant stretch, but it's on right now, a few rooms over. Some old fart in the house is reliving his youth.:rolleyes:;)

My Generation - The Who. Honorable mention, but doesn't quite have the empathy, forward looking quality I was going for.

Quite sure I left dozens out, and many from other genres....Point me there, please.:)
 
"Magic Bus" - The Who
"Bus Stop" - The Hollies
"Bust a move" - Young MC
"Drive" - Incubus
"The Wheels On The Bus" - Miss Annie's preschool class
"Dangerous (One)" - Busta Rhymes
Omnibus, Succubus, and.......................Universal Cereal Bus.

Do you feel abused?:(
Because I'm Bussin' yer' chops, that's why, @Dngrsone :p
 
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