max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular

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1980s on wed
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2000s on fri


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this website ft. the beatles, aretha franklin, neil young, dr. dre, will oldham, serge gainsbourg, the kinks, dusty springfield, jimi hendrix, pavement, the clash, the smiths, al green, rolling stones, cat power, yo la tengo, stevie wonder, antony, wilco, elvis, talking heads, elliott smith, r.e.m., ray charles, velvet underground, the monochrome set, randy newman, the cure, queen, duke ellington & more


"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul


"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck


see the archives & a random post


"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso


"gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom


"keep a clean nose, watch the plain-clothes." -bob dylan


"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


"she had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits


"you can't hold the hand of a rock 'n' roll man." -joni mitchell


"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" - shoot the piano player


"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. -john cale


"i’ve still got things inside me, sad things, happy things, that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn


"to try to maximize the relationship of listening to a record through promotion is like experiencing driving a car by reading about stimulus programs." -bonnie 'prince' billy


"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


"we can make each other happy, or we can make each other happy." -harry nilsson


"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson


"i'm an idiot for you." -iggy pop


"i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne


"lyrics choochoo from my mouth like locomotion." - pato banton


"i'm going to boogie my scruples away." -lowell george


"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex


"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


"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


"he's got a mind like a sewer, and a heart like a fridge" -elvis costello


"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


"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." -woody allen


"where have you been all my life?" -emmylou harris, to my brother tommy


"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." -david bowie


"tired of the tango? fed up with fandango? dance on moonbeams, slide on rainbows, in furs or blue jeans. you know what I mean." -roxy music


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


thelonious monk's middle name: sphere


"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff." -radiohead


#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun


"the only word is love." -john lennon


"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


"i could even find it in my heart to love mike love." -belle & sebastian


"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.” -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 us: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy," 33 1/3 says: "it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction," others say: "pulitzer."


download albums, see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & 'staches


the olden days: 08 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 09 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 10 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 11 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 12 j.


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June 13

#806: tony joe white - poke salad annie (1969)

the beach boys’ vegetables is a better and sweeter song, and it has paul mccartney chewing celery in the background, but as far as highly vulgar late-60s vegan-approvable rock songs go, poke salad annie gets extra points for crossing a certain invisible line of innuendo. it’s hard to put your finger on, but elvis presley said it well when he offered, “everybody calls it poke salad. and that’s poke! salad! poke! hut, two, three, four, hut, hut, two, three, four, hut, hut, two, three, four, yeah, ang, ang, ang, mom, mom, pop, pop, huh, huh, huh, bop, two, three, four, hut, hut, hut, two, three, four.” wonderful.

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March 28

#767: the beatles - baby’s in black (1966, live in munich)

middle-to-late march and very early april are just like beatles for sale: not as lovely as what comes later, but lovely just the same. and both are good in germany.

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November 16

#694: the beatles - maxwell’s silver hammer (1970, let it be)

when i die i’d like to come back as the guy who got to play the mallet on maxwell’s silver hammer, which, incidentally, observer editor tom acitelli asked very earnestly today if i was named after. i wasn’t, although it then came to light that for a long time tom believed he was named after tommy james and the shondells, because his seven older siblings told him so, though eventually he found out he was named for his great uncle). in any case, as far as the mallet player goes, he was longtime beatles associate mal evans, who didn’t have the hottest post-band life, but we all pay prices.

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if the beatles-on-itunes news doesn’t excite you—because, like all normal people, you already own the twelve beatles studio albums, plus magical mystery tour, plus maybe one of those anthology sets, and on top of that you’ve seen a hard day’s night and help! and magical mystery tour and yellow submarine, although maybe not michael lindsay-hogg’s strange 1970 documentary let it be—the obvious solution is to watch let it be. how else will you know exactly what yoko ono looked like when giggling at john’s joke about the queen saying no to pot-smoking f.b.i. members? it’ll be the best 81 minutes you spend online all day: click on the following for pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6, pt. 7, pt. 8, and pt. 9. and then if you’re done with all those but unhappy, which is unlikely, you can go look at the exceptionally colorful, boozy and opiate-coated music videos that mr. lindsay-hogg directed for the beatles and stones.

if the beatles-on-itunes news doesn’t excite you—because, like all normal people, you already own the twelve beatles studio albums, plus magical mystery tour, plus maybe one of those anthology sets, and on top of that you’ve seen a hard day’s night and help! and magical mystery tour and yellow submarine, although maybe not michael lindsay-hogg’s strange 1970 documentary let it be—the obvious solution is to watch let it be. how else will you know exactly what yoko ono looked like when giggling at john’s joke about the queen saying no to pot-smoking f.b.i. members? it’ll be the best 81 minutes you spend online all day: click on the following for pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6, pt. 7, pt. 8, and pt. 9. and then if you’re done with all those but unhappy, which is unlikely, you can go look at the exceptionally colorful, boozy and opiate-coated music videos that mr. lindsay-hogg directed for the beatles and stones.

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September 23

#659: paul mccartney - off the ground (1993)

ok listen i really hesitate to air personal laundry here, but i just want to say it is absolutely offensive that katiebakes is spreading such despicable lies about this website and the veracity of its scheduling commitments. “contrary to the mission statement of his blog, max is posting 80’s content on a thursday,” she just wrote, referring to the gem of a 1987 george harrison video that i posted at exactly 10pm last night, which means it wasn’t today but yesterday—sept. 22, a wednesday, the right day for 80s videos. and on top of that? katie’s reblog excised the list i wrote, which was clearly close to my heart. so basically, you guys, shots fired.

only joking. anyone who has ever spent even like six minutes on the internet in new york city knows that katiebakes can do absolutely no wrong. being with her (and i was with her last night, and as i biked home i thought of the beatles post) is like being in paul mccartney’s off the ground music video. it’s very weird though that sir maccartney’s flying effects were designed by industrial light & magic, which you wouldn’t have guessed because they look like they were put together using a mac newton, some string, a wad of linda’s gum, and a pound of expensive marijuana. great song, though. with great hand claps!

in conclusion, katiebakes is the best, and this thursday 90s video goes out to her. but if she says one more falsehood about this site it’s absolutely over between us.

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September 22

#658: george harrison - got my mind set on you (1987)

ten steps of really loving the beatles, outside of loving actual beatles songs:

10. realizing that ringo starr is heroic, and understanding, deeply, why

9. feeling sad about brian epstein’s suicide

8. appreciating the beatles for sale album cover

7. falling in love with paul mccartney’s ram, and then ringo starr’s ringo

6. and then george harrison’s all things must pass, but also the got my mind set on you video (above)

5. and finally john lennon’s plastic ono band and imagine

4. having opinions about phil spector’s production of imagine, let it be, and especially all things must pass

3. george martin’s production of america being a really strong sore point

2. crying to harry nilsson, the beatles’ favorite singer (rightly)

1. realizing that a day in the life is the beatles’ crowning achievement (even rolling stone sometimes gets it right), and that, if you think about it, it’s crazy that it comes after sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band (reprise) on sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band, and that even though john and paul clearly just take different sections of the song, and obviously hate each other, that together the halves are perfect, and that the hatred is conquered by the love, and that that is what makes the beatles the beatles.

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September 20
how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall: beatles manager brian epstein with seats torn up during a chuck berry concert, february 1967

how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall: beatles manager brian epstein with seats torn up during a chuck berry concert, february 1967

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September 13

#653: the beatles - ‘till there was you (royal variety performance, 1963)

you may have seen the luridly stupid trailer for tony scott’s upcoming unstoppable, which as its title suggests is a movie about a train that will not stop. it features the lines “it’s coming straight at us,” “the train is increasing in speed,” “we’re going to run this bitch down,” and “hey!!”

as far as redeeming factors go, it may remind you of the plot of one the greatest episodes in the history of the simpsons, marge vs. the monorail, which features the all-time classic monorail song. that’s a tribute to trouble from the music man, whose best song is ‘till there was you. that song, of course, was covered just outrageously beautifully on with the beatles, and then played, as you’ll see here, in front of queen elizabeth ii. so good job to tony scott and the other artists behind unstoppable for making something so bad that it reminds us of the few good things the world has to offer.

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i’m working on an encyclopedia of ringo starr’s facial expressions. the toast above provides the first entry (this is second, this comes third), and i’ll send a signed galley to you in exchange for a mint copy of the single that featured this classic triangular half-grin, plus ‘till there was you and crying, waiting, hoping.

i’m working on an encyclopedia of ringo starr’s facial expressions.

the toast above provides the first entry (this is second, this comes third), and i’ll send a signed galley to you in exchange for a mint copy of the single that featured this classic triangular half-grin, plus ‘till there was you and crying, waiting, hoping.

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August 2

#633: the beatles - rain (1966, dir. michael lindsay-hogg)

i thought i’d heard every beatles song i needed to hear, and then the b-side to paperback writer, a hit i’d never been crazy about, just turned out to be a throbbing, drenched, perfect little pop song. it smells like lemonade, tastes like sunflowers, and was recorded on a magic new abbey road console called the automatic transient overload control, which made it the loudest single ever. and, thank god, it even has a music video with ringo starr in blue sunglasses.

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ringo keeps his umbrella white, his turtleneck black, and his spectacles blue

ringo keeps his umbrella white, his turtleneck black, and his spectacles blue

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June 29

#610: ringo starr - back off boogaloo (1972)

today’s news that john lennon’s solo catalog is going to be reissued from his highness’ original masterings is wonderful, especially because his phil spector-debut plastic ono band is one of the universe’s great underrated masterpieces. it’s the only record anyone’s ever heard that’s unbearably crisp and wildly sludgy at the same time, just like it’s both sweet and very terrifying. and go listen to harry nilsson’s cover of isolation, too.

but when will ringo starr get the same ultra royal reissue treatment? the man was a sweet-faced, outer-space, hard core boogie ace. even marge simpson loves him! richard starkey deserves better: that the metropolitan museum of art is displaying his gold-plated snare drum for his 70th birthday is merely a start.

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April 6
desmond dekker says to molly, “girl, i like your face.”

desmond dekker says to molly, “girl, i like your face.”

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February 19
i totally call dibs on yoko ono’s sunglasses collection if the smithsonian hasn’t yet.

i totally call dibs on yoko ono’s sunglasses collection if the smithsonian hasn’t yet.

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