#536: just-ice ft. krs-one - going way back (1987)
“to the best of my knowledge, i guess that i’m fresh” would be best epitaph in the history of the world. not a bad way to start a song, either.
max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular
1960s on mon
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri
featuring the fine musical stylings of: the beatles, the rolling stones, serge gainsbourg, yo la tengo, the kinks, harry nilsson, ike & tina turner, antony, aretha franklin, wilco, elvis, talking heads, stephen foster, dr. dre, bonnie 'prince' billy, elvis c., neil young, the smiths, dusty springfield, al green, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, belle & sebastian, randy newman, cat power, the cure, queen & pavement
i write for the observer, email me at mabelson at observer.com
"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck
see the archives, or a random post.
"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso
"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus
"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul
"his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash, made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits
"i’ve still got things inside me—sad things, happy things—that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn
"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly
"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex
gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom
"keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes." -bob dylan
"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. i didn't really understand too much of what that meant when i was just a boy. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson
"i'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset." -lou reed
"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum: dirty ass rock and roll. -john cale
"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector
"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen
"we were having coffee or something to drink, i forget, at 2 am at the plaza hotel. phil had this long hair, down to his shoulders, he’s a very strange looking guy, it’s, well, anyway, this was before longish hair was everywhere, it goes back. i could see at this table nearby, there were two couples, i remember, they were older people, at least in the 60s, they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe
"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home" -gram parsons
woody allen's reasons to live: "i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face."
"i'm going to boogie my scruples away" -lowell george
"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police. i ate two loaves of bread. then the telephone rang. jonesy said, answer that for me will you? so i went downstairs to answer the phone and kept on walking right out into the street." -david bowie
brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk
ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch
#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun
"the only word is love." -john lennon
thelonious monk's middle name: sphere
"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" -charles aznavour in shoot the piano player
"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff" -radiohead
"i don't rap fast, i rap slow, 'cause i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne
"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash
"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues
"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead, don't let the microphones and loudspeakers faze you, make some yourself.” -pete seeger
"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau
mashable.com says about the spectacular: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy."
the 33 1/3 book series' blog says: "whenever i start playing around on youtube i always end up watching that lady fall over while stomping grapes, so it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."
see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & staches
make a tumblr!
2008: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2009: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2010: j. f.
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri
featuring the fine musical stylings of: the beatles, the rolling stones, serge gainsbourg, yo la tengo, the kinks, harry nilsson, ike & tina turner, antony, aretha franklin, wilco, elvis, talking heads, stephen foster, dr. dre, bonnie 'prince' billy, elvis c., neil young, the smiths, dusty springfield, al green, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, belle & sebastian, randy newman, cat power, the cure, queen & pavement
i write for the observer, email me at mabelson at observer.com
"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck
see the archives, or a random post.
"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso
"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus
"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul
"his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash, made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits
"i’ve still got things inside me—sad things, happy things—that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn
"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly
"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex
gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom
"keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes." -bob dylan
"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. i didn't really understand too much of what that meant when i was just a boy. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson
"i'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset." -lou reed
"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum: dirty ass rock and roll. -john cale
"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector
"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen
"we were having coffee or something to drink, i forget, at 2 am at the plaza hotel. phil had this long hair, down to his shoulders, he’s a very strange looking guy, it’s, well, anyway, this was before longish hair was everywhere, it goes back. i could see at this table nearby, there were two couples, i remember, they were older people, at least in the 60s, they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe
"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home" -gram parsons
woody allen's reasons to live: "i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face."
"i'm going to boogie my scruples away" -lowell george
"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police. i ate two loaves of bread. then the telephone rang. jonesy said, answer that for me will you? so i went downstairs to answer the phone and kept on walking right out into the street." -david bowie
brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk
ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch
#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun
"the only word is love." -john lennon
thelonious monk's middle name: sphere
"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" -charles aznavour in shoot the piano player
"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff" -radiohead
"i don't rap fast, i rap slow, 'cause i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne
"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash
"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues
"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead, don't let the microphones and loudspeakers faze you, make some yourself.” -pete seeger
"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau
mashable.com says about the spectacular: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy."
the 33 1/3 book series' blog says: "whenever i start playing around on youtube i always end up watching that lady fall over while stomping grapes, so it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."
see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & staches
make a tumblr!
2008: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2009: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2010: j. f.
![posdnuos (seated): “will anyone ever look as cool as we do at this 1989 moment?”
maseo (right): “how could one say for sure? probably not, though.
trugoy (left): not. no. definitely not.
[this concludes imaginary dialogue from late-80s time magazine rap photos, v. 1]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxp8lu4nPE1qz84mmo1_r1_400.jpg)
#529: de la soul (ft. q-tip and the jungle brothers) - buddy (1989)
the seventeen things that make buddy the best rap video of 1989, in order of appearance: prince paul against a brick wall, black and white footage of an electric scooter, that spoon, opening line “oh, hello! it’s the soul,” the little girl, the out-of-place african mask cartoons, the very complicated condom euphemisms, q-tip’s hat, q-tip’s spectacles, the subterranean homesick blues cards (especially “singing” during the singing), the air djing, the appropriately timed “flip” transition, the incorrect “this video makes no sense” voice bubble, the slow motion break dancing duet, the swatch watch cameo, and of course the “filmed in daisyvision” finale. also, jesus, what a song.
#524: t.p.o.k. jazz - testament ya bowule (1987)
besides the fact that he made 150 albums of sorcerous congolese rumba, the insanely great thing about franco is that his band, t.p.o.k. jazz, fostered generations of outrageously good musicians. and so even though he doesn’t play on this clip (the singer is malage de lugendo), his band sounds like silk. they show that you only need four acoustic guitarists playing incredibly finely for nine minutes straight to turn a song into something so fluid you can drink it with a straw.
#516: colin newman - b (1980)
the hearts and brains of massachusetts voters who thought it would be nice to fill the late ted kennedy’s senate seat with a man known only for being one of cosmo’s june 1982 centerfold winners must look exactly like this 1980 video from wire’s colin newman: small white spaces filled by men with boots on their hands bumping into men smacking trashcan lids next to men in tuxedos and flippers.
i’m really going to make an effort to get into u2 this year. i don’t see what the problem should be, considering that i like huge and beautiful songs, and i definitely like brian eno and daniel lanois, who produced the unforgettable fire and the joshua tree—both of which i just got as $1 lps at wonderful good records on east 5th street. i think i was put off by their late-90s eye wear choices, but that’s not a good enough excuse.
#507: u2 - i still haven’t found what i’m looking for (1987)
there are only two standouts in the short and indecorous history of dance circles in non-rap music videos: spike jonze and the torrance community group in fatboy slim’s praise you (a torrence public film production) and u2’s nevada-based i still haven’t found what i’m looking for, in which bono does some impressive jigs, twirls, and pre-pulp fiction twisting while the edge looks genuinely unamused.
#497: jonzun crew - pack jam (look out for the ovc) (1983)
do you ever just spend an hour staring our your window with your hands in your pockets and your chin hanging down wondering how much simpler life would be if you were an intergalactic space cowboy exploring the very limits of electromagnetic planetary funk in an oversized helmet and a frilly blouse on german television?
fans of the serbocroatian postpunk icons idoli will recall that bassist zdenko kolar was off serving in the yugoslav people’s army while the band’s second album was recorded. poor zdenko must not have mattered much, because čokolada was briefly the best-selling album in yugoslavian history, and, more importantly, its album cover is the hershey’s version of trout mask replica, only better.
#490: idoli - ime da da (1981)
what the world needs now is much less war and much more serbian postpunk with fuzzy guitars, indecipherable lyrics, mustaches, glowing cubes, and turtlenecks.
#479: elvis costello & the attractions - big sister’s clothes (1983)
even though trust isn’t as good as get happy!!, which isn’t as ferocious as this year’s model, which isn’t as pretty as almost blue, which isn’t as catchy as armed forces, which isn’t nearly as interesting as imperial bedroom, which isn’t as entirely and completely perfect as my aim is true, elvis costello’s first seven albums are all so wonderful that the least impressive one has songs that sound like carl perkins covering toots hibbert.
also, the green sweater he’s sporting here is almost better than his green shirt.
#475: tom tom club - wordy rappinghood (1981)
in 1980, david byrne put the talking heads on hiatus, so naturally bassist tina weymouth took her sisters and her husband and some friends to a dancehall in the bahamas to make the tom tom club’s debut album, a giant gulp of neon colored, double funky, triple poppy awesomeness. it’s also sort of a feminist triumph, considering the circumstances. and wordy rappinghood definitely made blondie’s rapture run home crying to its parents.
#470: r.e.m. - wendell gee (live, 1985)
young michael stipe fit three decades of extremely good hair styles into r.e.m.’s two best years: first the ’70s curls for the band’s 1984 t.v. debut, which a year later had grown into the ’60s jumble sported here (with ray bans, naturally), followed a few months later by the very short and very bleached 90’s look. bill berry’s hair changed too, but not for the better—though he looks quite good whistling here. more importantly, wendell gee, which doesn’t sound very interesting on record, quiets down to a pretty little attic ballad here, like tom waits’ georgia lee but slightly less devastating.
#465: billy joel - movin’ out (anthony’s song) (live in long island, 1982)
from the observer — anyone who’s listened to billy joel’s pleasant soft-rock piano ballads knows that life is hard, love dies, divorce is expensive, and material possessions like nice west village real estate eventually crumble into sand. earlier this year, mr. joel—who is either an evil overlord of sentimental schlock, a spoiled brat behind bulging eyes, or a genius with astonishing self-deprecation considering that he happens to be the sixth best-selling recording artist in history—announced his divorce from third wife katie lee joel. afterwards, news broke that he’d be selling off side-by-side homes in the hamptons for $35 million.
according to a deed filed today, he’s also parting with the perry street townhouse that he and ms. lee joel bought in 2005 for $5.9 million from the artist and heir seward johnson. earlier this month, the deed says, mr. joel sold his share in the house to his ex-wife for $3 million. “this deed is pursuant to the separation,” a spokesperson for mr. joel said. “that’s it.”
