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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

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  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #15: Pardon My Pussy

    URGE OVERKILL  THE STULL EP   (Insipid Vinyl/Touch & Go Records IV-10, 1992)

    Chicago power-trio Urge Overkill ultimately proved to be one of those “in-between” anomalies we sometimes stumble upon in the record world:  too glammy and commercial for indie-rock snobs, yet too rough-hewn and tongue-in-cheek for serious corporate shilling.  Like fellow Illinoisans Cheap Trick before them, UO should have been the ultimate teenagers’ rock group of their era, pumping out one hard-driving, head-banging smash after another while giving a knowing wink on the side to their smarter-than-average loyal fans.  But, in the words of a more famous power-trio, nevermind.

    In 1992, after a few Steve Albini-produced releases that proved UO to be non-starters in the nascent alternate rock universe, National Kato, Blackie Onassis & King Roeser loosened the reins a bit on their tightly-wound glam-punk sound and released this sweet Kramer-produced 4-song double-7″ EP, Stull.  Disc 1, Side A opens the EP on a stellar note, with UO’s stunning and sexy rendition of the Neil Diamond 1967 Top-10 hit, “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon.”  For most people, this is the only Urge Overkill track they’ve ever heard, because Quentin Tarantino planted it smack-dab in the middle of his hit film, Pulp Fiction, two years later.  At the time of this release, however, it was just a super-cool Neil Diamond cover.

    See the video for URGE OVERKILL\’s \”Girl, You\’ll Be A Woman Soon\” on YouTube

    The B-Side of Disc 1 gives us the King/Kato-penned title-track, “Stull (Part 1).”  Exorcising some long-standing Rolling Stones demons, this 5-plus minute workout resembles the introduction to “Gimme Shelter,” yet it never fully explodes into a “Gimme Shelter” if you know what I mean.  But that’s not really the point here;  it’s all about the hypno-groove, something this newly electrified version of Urge did very well.  Check it out.

    Click here to play URGE OVERKILL’s “Stull (Part 1)”

    Disc 2, Side A wakes us up with another cover song, this time of obscure Seattle punk legends The Alan Milman Sect’s “Stitches In My Head,” here retitled simply, “Stitches.”  As purely psychotic as American punk songs get, “Stitches” accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do: disturb.  Make sure the DJ spins THIS at your next wedding, and watch the mayhem ensue.

    Click here to play URGE OVERKILL’s “Stitches”

    And, last but not least, Side B of Disc 2 bids us a tearful farewell with “Goodbye To Guyville,” as much of a kiss-off to their native Chicago (which was never all that friendly to them in the first place) as a divine inspiration to fellow Windy City heterosexual-relationship authority Liz Phair, who titled her butt-kicking Matador debut, “Exile In Guyville” the following year.  Let the last teardrop fall.

    Click here to play URGE OVERKILL’s “Goodbye To Guyville”

    Originally just a sexy little sampler platter of what these guys were capable of when given a chance to stretch out, The Stull EP  turned out to be a stepping stone for UO, leading to a couple of stellar major-label releases, lots of MTV airplay and massive world tours.  But alas, the public at large never really caught on to their heady brew of cocky rock swagger, nudge-&-wink humor, and super-rock monster riffs.  A shame, really.  In the long run, I think we may have missed out on something truly great.

    (Note:  The CD version of Stull adds two slammin’ tracks from UO’s ’92 Sub Pop Singles Club release #SP109, “(Now That’s) The Barclords” and “What’s This Generation Coming To?”.  With any luck, this platter will be the feature of a future 45 RPM column.)

    NEXT WEEK:  I get all excited and go to a yawning festival.

  • Infatueighties: #64: Pass the Dutchie

    Ba-psssshhh! Dis generay-SHUN, brrrrap! ruuules the nay-TION, brrrrrap! with VER-shun!!

    Whether you’d been grooving to reggae since its’ inception or had never heard a song by a Jamaican act before, there was no doubt that Pass The Dutchie got asses wiggling and backs off walls as soon as it came on a sound system. A remake of a song called Pass The Kutchie, the title was changed because of the fact that the members of Musical Youth were all in their early-mid teens (for the uninformed, a “kutchie” refers to a joint. A “dutchie” is a pot that food gets cooked in. Pot? Pot!! Oh, those crazy Jamaicans).

    The members of Musical Youth, who were British of Jamaican descent, brought reggae to the Top 10 on the pop charts for one of the first times, presaging acts ranging from Shaggy to Shabba Ranks to Sean Paul. The reason this song sticks out from so much other music released around this period is that it sounds like everyone involved in the recording is having a blast. Must have been one good kutchie being passed around!

    Watch the video. I dare you not to dance or at least bob your head (because you might be reading this at work and if you start dancing, your co-workers might worry a little bit). I can even help you out with a translation of some of the Jamaican patois. Just don’t ask me why the kid croaks “ribbit!” at the end of the song.

  • The Sunday Seven: Relax Yourself Girl, Please Settle Down

    Hey Folks, I’ve been asking for volunteers to put their iPods on shuffle and let me know what they’re listening to (in totally random fashion, of course), and lo and behold, somebody bit!

    Ladies & Gentlemen, coming straight out of the Jersey suburbs, here’s my boy Kyle, taking over the Sunday Shuffle from me. Kyle is a full-on hip-hop head, although he’s also enjoyed music by everyone from John Mayer to Ben Folds (which means that this is someone who has damn good taste in music similar tastes in music to mine). Take it away, Kyle!!

    Aight, since my iPod lacks a working skip button thanks to a dumb decision I once made to listen to it during a long walk during a rainy vacation day I was thinking about listening via iTunes, but decided I might as well just listen to it through my iHome. There are plenty of times I skip songs just to get to ones I wanna hear, so I am not doing that today.

    “Puppy Chow” – Common: Maybe it’s finally time I try to write a review of “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” (although one of these days I also have to do “One Day It’ll All Make Sense”.) I’m sure as of now there are plenty of people ready and willing to write an essay comprising 24 paragraphs about how and why Common has fallen off (even though I’m worried about his new album too) but I won’t go into detail about that right now, I’ll fight temptation. This song is fun and has a lot of Common’s hard-to-describe old style, but it’s definitely not as memorable as some of my favorite tracks on his debut.

    “Electric Relaxation” – A Tribe Called Quest: I’ve been meaning to pull out my copy of “The Low End Theory” for weeks (although I do think “Midnight Marauders” is better.) My opinion of this song is no different from any other big hip-hop head/Tribe fan, and it also has a classic Phife Dawg punchline, great stories from both emcees (I’m relistening to Q-Tip’s November solo album to see how much I like it) and I accidentally once found out the actual words they say in the chorus. There’s actually been a remake of the song by producer Marco Polo and J*Davey (that I thought wasn’t too good) and I think it’s also been sampled a few times in hip-hop songs as well. Probably the best song on their best album.


    “Mama Had A Baby And It’s Head Popped Off” – Atmosphere    : Not my favorite Atmosphere song (off my favorite Atmosphere album – their debut “Lucy Ford”.) It’s got some interesting lyrics from Slug regarding God and politics, but the beat is just sinister and not something I really like. I don’t know what else to say about this one…wish a better song from them came up here.


    “The Definition” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & Kel Spencer    : The emcee Kel Spencer (ed.: Isn’t Kel Spencer the dude who was on “All That” with Kenan Thompson back in the 90s?) raps over some pianos and DJ scratches here about observing the bad habits and trends perpetuated by wack emcees around him, and how he doesn’t like being overlooked by them. Jeff’s last album, “The Return of the Magnificent” was started off by lesser-known rappers like Kel (that has so far been the only time I’ve heard him) but still was one of 2007’s best, and perfect to listen to during a long-ass road trip (the album concept was that Jeff was forced to listen to the radio during a trip between Philly and Florida because there was no CD changer in his rent-a-car.)

    “Final Frontier” – Blueprint & RJD2    : I want Soul Position to release another album, and I also want to know whether or not it has been confirmed that RJD2 is no longer doing hip-hop producing. This is kind of a tough song to describe thanks to Blueprint’s unusual lyrics, which some people could say are obviously pretentious. Blueprint also needs to release another album – it’s been pushed back for years. He’s done better than this song, but it’s still enjoyable (although the best performance on “Deadringer”, RJ’s first album which this is on, is from Copywrite on “June”…but that’s another story.)

    Final Frontier – RJD2

    “American Dreamin” – Jay-Z: This song is kinda moody. Jay rhymes about trying his hardest in the New York grind he’s detailing, and he sounds good throughout the whole song (even though there are many other tracks I’d rather listen to from “American Gangster”.) Considering Nas and Kanye West dropped great albums I was really anxious about this year, hopefully Jay will next year.

    “Inherited Scars” – Sage Francis: Damn, had to end this on a depressing note. And I’ve been in a decent mood today so far too. He’s an easy artist to play when you want self-pity or are reflecting about your life’s misfortunes, but here he’s kinda vulnerable, talking about a secret his sister told him about a deadly habit of hers and is not sure what to do about the situation. The lyrics are fantastic as is the message, and he details what he’s feeling and what he expects his sister is feeling, hoping for empathy from her side. I’m gonna have to listen to some more happy music soon.

    Inherited Scars – Sage Francis

    There ya go, folks. Thanks Kyle, for sharing at least a portion of your music collection with us. Now that someone has thrown down the gauntlet. Anyone else wanna share? You know where to find me.