Ringo + The Smiths 003

The #22 Album Of All-Time

by with No Comment playlists

Ringo + The Smiths 003
If memory serves, some time in late 1984 Glenn O’Brien, in his music column in Interview magazine, mentioned a band that was all the rage among music critics in England. “Thus far the only people in the United States who have heard of The Smiths are some pretentious yuppies at Brandies University,” he wrote. I don’t know if I’d call us yuppies – we were college students – but my friends and I had discovered The Smiths.

Kathy discovered them when she studied in London for a semester. While there she made me a mix tape that included The Smiths’ “This Charming Man.” Its catchy melody and distinctive vocals hit me immediately.

Around the time O’Brien wrote the above-referenced item The Smiths released “How Soon Is Now?” The lyrics included “’There’s a club, would you like to go? You could meet somebody who really loves you / So you go and you stand on your own and you leave on your own and you go home and you cry and you want to die.” It’s like Morrissey, the band’s lead singer/lyricist, was reading my diary! The record went to #1 in Glenn’s Ten, though failed to chart nationally.

Morrissey’s over-the-top lyrics (and I mean that description in the most flattering way) coupled with Johnny Marr’s jangly guitar riffs separated The Smiths from other bands of that era or any other era. Songs such as “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and “Girlfriend in a Coma” were not the minor-key dirges their titles suggest. They were uptempo, in major keys, and melodic.

The group’s artistic pinnacle was their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead, #22 on my Top Albums of All-Time list. The lyrics are Morrissey at his most Morrissey-esque. “If a double-decker bus crashes into us – to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die” and “Sweetness, I was only joking when I said I’d like to smash every tooth in your head.” Marr juxtaposes these words with music that invites the listener to sing along.

Morrissey, who turns 55 today, releases his new album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, this July. Here are a few of my favorite moments from his career. (The Spotify embed tool still is not working.)

dogs + stuff 002

Oscar Oscar Oscar!

by with No Comment playlists

dogs + stuff 002
The Oscars will be handed out this afternoon/evening. Here are my predictions:

BEST PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave
ACTOR: Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Her
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 Years a Slave
FILM EDITING: Gravity
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Gravity
ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen
COSTUME DESIGN: American Hustle
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: Dallas Buyers Club
VISUAL EFFECTS: Gravity
SOUND MIXING: Gravity
SOUND EDITING: Gravity
ORIGINAL SCORE: Gravity
ORIGINAL SONG: “The Moon Song” from Her

Here is your Academy Awards-inspired playlist:

Ten Facts About Björk

by with No Comment playlists

1. Her last name is Guðmundsdóttir.
2. Her first album, entitled Björk, was released in December 1977 when she was twelve years old.
3. Before forming The Sugarcubes, Björk was in the bands Spit and Snot and Tappi Tikarrass. The latter is Icelandic for “Cork the bitch’s ass.”
4. When they formed The Sugarcubes, Björk was married to the band’s guitarist. They divorced and he married a woman who became the band’s keyboard player.
5. The Sugarcubes’ biggest US hit is entitled “Hit.” It spent five weeks at number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart.
6. Her single “Earth Intruders” reached #84 on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart. It is Björk’s highest-placing single to date on that chart.
7. She wrote “Bedtime Story” for Madonna. The 1995 single was Madonna’s first to miss the US top 40 since before her breakout hit “Holiday” twelve years earlier.
8. Her performance in the motion picture Dancer in the Dark won her the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
9. Her album Medúlla is mostly a capella. One song has a piano, one a bass synthesizer, and another a gong. The remainder of the sounds is created by human vocals.
10. Today is her birthday. I don’t know if she’s smoking cigars.