Time for a good, old-fashioned Friday video post. Today's video features the singer Role Model and his song, "Sally, When The Wine Runs Out" from his performance on The Tonight Show. There's a nice cameo part-way through too. This song gets regular airplay on SiriusXM's Hits One station (the only place where I hear new music) and is really good.
Enjoy!
For my Pittsburgh friends, Role Model attended Point Park University and is highly influenced by and his career was kick-started by Mac Miller.
One of the podcasts I listen to regularly is The Tony Kornheiser Show. As a former Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, much of the show is about sports, but Tony also discusses random things about his life and in the Washington DC area. The podcast also features original music, and a recent episode included Passenger Seat by River Iris. I love the guitar riff that starts the song. Just a great song to listen to while driving!
I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube recently of 90s alternative songs with female lead singers. There are some really amazing songs that definitely take me back. 6 Underground, this smash by Sneaker Pimps, has been in my head for weeks, so I thought I would share it today.
I've mentioned several times that my kids only seem to want to listen to current pop music. Sirius XM's Hits One station ends up being played much of the time when we're in the car. There are two current songs by major artists that could easily fit into FM radio in the 1980s. The first is Music for a Sushi Restaurant by Harry Styles.
If you go to just after the 1:00 minute mark, the horns could easily be in a Phil Collins song. I'm thinking Sussudio.
The second is 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) by Lizzo.
The chorus sounds like a song that The Pointer Sisters could sing. Maybe on the next track after I'm So Excited.
There might be more, but the drive from the school to my home is rather quick, so I'm turning off the car and turning the music off. Get out of the car!
It's been a while since I shared some of the great things I've read and watched, but today is a day to change this! Let's start with some music. This is "Fall" by Temple Brothers, who are amazingly talented and still can't legally buy alcohol! In full disclosure, I knew their mother in high school, and I previously included their father in my annual "Best Of" posts for his incredible nonfiction books. There's some fantastic genes in this family!
One of the benefits of writing this blog is that I've become friends with numerous people that I never would have interacted with otherwise. Aaron Brame fits this description. He is a gifted writer and shared his first blog post in a long time recently about being an accordion-playing busker. I really missed seeing his writing! [Aaron Brame]
In Josh's most-recent blog post, he shared that he's scaling back his writing. I really relate to this post since there are a lot of similarities to what I've been thinking about regarding my writing. [Josh's World]
Fellow Ithaca College graduate Veronica Hernandez became the first Latina general manager in minor league baseball history. Go Bombers! [MLB.com]
Fellow Woodland Hills graduate Sarah James recently released her first book, The Woman with Two Shadows: A Novel of WWII. This is her interview with Joshua Axelrod in the Post-Gazette. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Let's close with one more song. Gallo Locknez was recently featured on the YaJagoff podcast. I like this song with Buddhakai. Definitely gets you pumped up! [YaJagoff]
With everything happening in Ukraine, I feel really silly posting this today. Even just typing this sentence makes me think I shouldn't do it. I guess if you're fortunate enough to be able to take a short break from watching and reading about the news, you can check out this cover of Celebrity Skin by Doja Cat.
While I understand that this cover was part of a Taco Bell commercial during the Super Bowl, I dig it. I love the original (the guitar riff is just awesome) and feel like Doja Cat did a nice job recreating the song. I hope that it gets released as a single, assuming that's still a thing.
Here's the original song by Hole in case this song is new to you or if you just want your 90s nostalgia fix!
In 2019, Lil Nas X had a monster song "Old Town Road" which featured a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus and included a video featuring Chris Rock. I feel like many people became fans of Lil Nas X simply based on his visit to Lander Elementary School in Cleveland and the reaction by the kids. It's a cool video.
His next song (Panini), arguably most notable for his sample of Nirvana, didn't do nearly as well (which is natural since I believe Old Town Road held the #1 spot on the Billboard chart for longer than any other song all time). Still, how does Lil Nas X follow this? Was he basically a one-hit wonder (or 2-hit wonder if you count Panini) and done? The answer is a clear no. I listened to a lot of pop songs this year (more on that in my best of 2021 which I'll write hopefully before the end of January 2022) and his songs Montero, Industry Baby, and now That's What I Want are all really good and smash hits. Enjoy That's What I Want though not at work since the video is a little racy and has some bad language near the end.
One of my favorite songs of 2021 (which I wrote about in June) is "good 4 u" by Olivia Rodrigo. I recently learned that there are a lot of similarities between this song and "Misery Business" by Paramore, so much so that Paramore is getting writing credits for Olivia Rodrigo's song.
They really do sound alike. A nice and very detailed breakdown of the two songs is available here:
To me, yes, they are similar, but they are both great songs that I will continue to enjoy.
There was a recent trend on Twitter where many people shared the first song that came to mind from their first year of college. For me, I could pick a song by Rusted Root, Dave Matthews Band, Stone Temple Pilots, or even Ace of Base. Instead, I'm going with "Chief Rocka" by Lords of the Underground. My roommate must have had this tape and played it regularly. I write tape (even though it could have been a CD) because I clearly remember our other roommate buying a Discman when he got bored at an airport. This was not an inexpensive purchase and one that I definitely could not afford at that time.
This video is NSFW because of one word, but that word is in a line that I still use to pump myself up sometimes even now.
I've listed to a lot of pop music this summer. On our drive on interstate 95 (more on this next week), the kids constantly wanted to play the Hits 1 station on SiriusXM. One of the songs we heard is "Love Again" by Dua Lipa. It's not her best song, but it's fine.
The point of this post is the sampled music in the song above that is very familiar to 90s music fans. After seeing Green Day and Weezer recently, maybe I'm just on a nostalgia kick right now. In any event, I still like "Your Woman" by White Town.
Congratulations to AJR for being featured in two separate Friday videos! (The first was for their song Sober Up.) Today's video is Way Less Sad, which is another catchy song by the band. I dig the song and the band!
By now, most people are familiar with singer Olivia Rodrigo or at least one of her songs. This is my Olivia Rodrigo experience. I heard the song "Driver's License" and thought the song about teenage love and loss was fine. I'm definitely not the target audience on this song. Then, I heard "Deja Vu," and really liked the Billy Joel references. A kid who appreciates Billy Joel? I approve. Then, I heard "good 4 u," and decided I am all in even though I would prefer the title to be Good For You. I love the song. The lyrics are great. The music is great. It's like a 2021 version of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," and I definitely did not expect the NSFW word at the 1:20ish mark of the video below. It works though. Like a damn sociopath!
Before writing this blog post, I had no idea what Rodrigo looked like or anything about her. It seems like she writes most of her songs which makes me appreciate her more and think that she's going to be a household name like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, or Taylor Swift soon.
This is a video of Rodrigo appearing on Saturday Night Live in case you want to see a live version of the song without the inappropriate word in the official video.
I've written about the Brood X cicadas several times over the last month or so and included pictures and even a video. They really are amazing. They emerge from underground every 17 years for about 2 months and then just go away. The amazing part wears off quickly though if you're living through it. They are everywhere, and they're loud. While the cicadas are harmless, it's still unpleasant when they land on you.
The Fairfax County government shared this cicada rap by MC Bugg-Z. While I expected it to be terrible like Pennsylvania's G-Hog rap (Go G-Hog! Go G-Hog!), this is actually pretty good.
While this song has been out for a while now, I dig "Levitating" by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby.
They were great during the performance at the Grammys too.
I'm half-way through my 30 blog posts in 30ish days challenge. Just curious, do you like these more frequent, but less detailed posts, or do you prefer the longer posts that come out once or twice a week?
I'm convinced that the song "Golden" by Harry Styles was written in the hopes that it would be used frequently during the Tokyo Olympics. It's a catchy song, and you could definitely see NBC and other networks around the world playing this song constantly.
Perhaps you remember the 2006 song "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae. It's a really pleasant song that received several Grammy nominations.
While the song isn't very old, Ritt Momney released a cover version late last year.
I know nothing about Ritt Momney other than what I just found in this Billboard interview. Apparently, Ritt Momney is a band, but it's pretty much one guy, Jack Rutter. I'd prefer that he called his group Jack Rutter since I think we can pretty much agree that Ritt Momney is a terrible band name. This has nothing to do with politics either. Boe Jiden, Hamala Karris, and Mitch McConnell would also be awful. Come to think of it though, Pancy Nelosi wouldn't be a bad band name.
In my best and worst of 2020 post, I awarded The Weeknd's Blinding Lights as my song of the year. There are two songs that emerged late in 2020 that received some consideration, and I figure now is as good a time as any to share them. I mean, there's nothing else going on in the country.
The first is Monsters by All Time Low featuring blackbear and Demi Lovato.
They were on Good Morning America too (without blackbear and Demi Lovato).
The second is Kings & Queens by Ava Max, which I really thought was by Lady Gaga the first time I heard the chorus.
I have some Ava Max trivia for you.
What is Ava Max's favorite streaming service? HBO Max.
Where does Ava Max like to shop? TJ Maxx.
If Ava Max was alive in the 80s, what type of video cassette would she have used? Betamax.
I remember in the late 90s, Green Day had a song that was everywhere. It was played during graduation ceremonies and at the series finale of more than one TV shows. Most people know the song as "Time of Your Life," but the actual title is "Good Riddance" (with time of your life in parenthesis).
Today's video is "Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)" by Powfu featuring Beabadoobee. The chorus to this song is so catchy. My kids even sing along to it. And it's just like the Green Day song. It's slow and the chorus sounds like a feel good song. Coffee for your head sounds nice. Just ignore the Death Bed title!
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
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