SAMMY HAGAR - "Marching To Mars" (1997)

 

I'm not a big fan of Van Halen or Sammy Hagar, but I am a big fan of this song with it's slinky guitar multiple changes, and driving drums.

I just never get tired of it because it's just that good!!

SAMMY HAGAR - "Marching To Mars 

THE BEAU BRUMMELS - "Bradley's Barn" (1968)

 

The Beau Brummels' first album came out in 1965, and by the time "Bradley's Barn came out in 1968, their shining star had pretty much fizzled out, but they were still making some really good music.

The soaring voice of lead vocalist Sal Valentino is distinct and unmistakable throughout this album.

In 1971 Sal started a new band called Stoneground with Steve Price and Cory Lerios, who both went on to form their own band in 1975 called Pablo Cruise, while Sal Valentino basically retired from the music business.

THE BEAU BRUMMELS - "Deep Water" 

THINKMAN - "The Formula" (1986)

 

"The Formula" is the best David Bowie album that David Bowie never made, or at least I think that's what Thinkman thought.

In reality, Thinkman was singer, songwriter, and producer Rupert Hine. 

Rupert produced albums by everybody from Stevie Nicks to The Fixx, Rush, Suzanne Vega, and Tina Turner, so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about.

THINKMAN - "The Formula" 

THE VIOLENTS - Strings Of Hits" (1962)

 

The Violents were an instrumental group from Stockholm, Sweden who recorded in the early 60's.

Their first album came out in 1962 and was called "Strings Of  Hits." The first  song on the record was titled "Liebestwist" and was banned on Swedish radio because it was considered a violation of a classic work, that being "Liebestraum" by the composer Franz Liszt.

 

THE VIOLENTS - "Liebestwist" 

 They fared better with the last song on the record titled "Alpens Ros"("Rose Of The Alps"), which made it to number five on the charts in Sweden in 1962, but when it was released in the U.S., it went nowhere.

THE VIOLENTS - "Alpens Ros" 

AEROSMITH - "Made In America" (1997)

 

I love this song because it sounds like Aerosmith as a band playing in your local bar instead of an arena rock band of mega proportions.

I never get tired of it, it's just that good!

What a freakin' groove! 

AEROSMITH - "One Way Street" 

OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" (1982)

 

Rich here, betting that you know of the composer Danny Elfman -- and that if you don't know his name, you've surely heard his soundtracks in the past 40 years, including in more than 20 Tim Burton films. He's been nominated for numerous Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy Awards.

 

Maybe you didn't know that Elfman's been composing music since he was a teenager. In the early '70s, he became the music director for his older brother's street theatre art troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, which by 1979 had evolved into an the 8-man rock band Oingo Boingo with Elfman as the lead singer and primary songwriter. Oingo Boingo's music was wildly eclectic with Elfman's angular compositions that careened all over the musical landscape while combining sophisticated arrangements and bizarre subject matter. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and though Oingo Boingo had a taste of mainstream success with "Dead Man's Party" and "Weird Science," Elfman's quirky ska-meets-new wave-meets-jazz-and-pop was more suited to a quirky new wave cult audience -- the kind of audience sought by Tim Burton when he recruited Elfman to compose soundtracks for his equally quirky movies, starting with "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) and "Batman" (1989) and to the present day. 

 

Meanwhile, here's an emblematic taste of Elfman's work with Oingo Boingo, "Insects," from their 1982 album "Nothing to Fear."

OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" 

SPIDER SONGS!

 

I didn't know until recently that the 1966 album by The WHO titled "Happy Jack," was originally named "A Quick One." Apparently the title was changed for the American version after the song "Happy Jack" started getting some airplay, and also because they thought the title was a double entendre, that might be perceived as something dirty or nasty by the general public. 

This is one of my favorite WHO albums, and also one of my favorite 'spider' songs all in one neat package!

THE WHO - "Boris The Spider" 

 

This is the back of Link Wray's 1969 album titled "Yesterday And Today," that included his song "The Black Widow." "The Black Widow" was originally on Link's earlier album in 1962 when he was performing as Link Wray And His Ray Men.

It doesn't get much more classic than this!

LINK WRAY - "The Black Widow"

Even though there are hundreds of spider songs out there, I'd be doing a great disservice if I didn't mention the 1967 film "Spider Baby Or, The Maddest Story Ever Told" that had music written by the incredible Ronald Stein. If you're not familiar with him, Ron Stein was the mastermind behind the music in films like "Invasion of The Saucer Men," "Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman," "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow," "Dementia 13," "Journey To The 7th Planet," etc, etc!!

The cherry on top is who performs this song!

LON CHANEY JR. - "Spider Baby"