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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Jeff Buckley

  • Big in the UK: Cooking the Charts with They Might Be Giants

    This is the sort of thing that probably wouldn’t happen here. I just don’t think Americans take their pop charts quite as personally or as democratically as they do in the U.K. Earlier this summer, a brand of kid’s shoes put out an ad featuring “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, the 1990 major label debut single by They Might Be Giants. The duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh have, since they started recording original songs onto a standard answering machine in the early 80s, become the godfathers of nerd-rock, and now that their original fans (like me) are pushing middle age with mortgages and children, the band have found renewed success recording four albums of “children’s music”, and performing alternate shows for grown-ups and kids on tour. The idea of sticking TMBG’s loving ode to the nightlight into an ad for kids’ shoes might’ve been genius if it weren’t so self-evidently perfect.

    I don’t know how it’s working out for Clark Shoes, but it seems to be doing well for They Might Be Giants. The song re-entered the British Top 100 pop songs late last month. Of course, songs featured in popular ads often get enjoy a run on the pop charts here as well – just as Sara Bareilles, Yael Naim, or Phoenix – but those successes seem more like happy accidents. In the case of “Birdhouse In Your Soul”, a strange populist cause – okay, a facebook group – has formed around keeping the song on the charts and trying to advance it to the top spot. That said, after four weeks, the song has only gone so far as #70 (on the chart dated 8/21; the song falls back to #72 on the 8/28 chart).

    But that’s not to say it couldn’t eventually succeed. This isn’t the first instance of the Brits attempting to cook their pop charts. See also: Buckley v. Burke. In 2008, after Alexandra Burke won the TV talent show The X-Factor, a campaign by apostles of the tragic 90s singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley attempted to thwart Burke’s cover of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” from making its predicted number one debut over that year’s Christmas sales week by urging fans to download Buckley’s own version of the song.

    It’s a Brand New Record for 1990!

    The campaign failed, but just barely. Buckley’s song charted at #2 behind Burke’s. Still, the TMBG song, while it may linger on the chart for as long as the ad airs, probably won’t reach those sorts of heights. For one thing, “Birdhouse In Your Soul” isn’t being pitted against another version of itself, or even another song. Moreover the Alexandra Burke debut was a one-off event sales week; it was also a holiday week, and it’s a holiday week that The X-Factor has annually co-opted for just this eventful purpose. So Buckley v. Burke was framed as the classic battle over artistic legitimacy between a tragic rock icon and a freshly minted “mass-produced” pop idol for the very soul of the pop chart.

    As a fan of both Burke and Buckley (although, when it comes to “Hallelujah”, count me in with Team John Cale), I, frankly, prefer not having to choose sides. They Might Be Giants‘ Elektra debut record Flood was essentially the first record of 1990, and “Birdhouse In Your Soul” was instant classic that still makes me giddy and giggly every time I hear it – even more so now that I’ve got two kids singing along with me.

    Here’s the original video from 1990:

  • Big in the UK: “All Night Long” by Alexandra Burke

    Hey all, remember Leona Lewis? You know, the 2006 winner of the Simon Cowell-headed British talent search show The X-Factor (which Cowell plans to bring to the U.S. later this year)? The British Mariah? “Bleeding Love”? Can it be that “Bleeding Love” is only three years old? Can it be that only two albums into her kid-tested, mother(-and-Cowell)-approved career, and despite an appearance on the soundtrack of one of last year’s most talked-about movies (the song “Happy” featured prominently in ads for Precious), she’s already adrift in has-been territory? There are a lot of plausible explanations – lack of raw talent, not one of them – for Lewis’s premature fade-out. The fact is, she’s sorta boring. And, despite the rubber-stamp of Cowell, who’s ever harping on the virtues of currency and relevance, Lewis is really neither. She’s a pretty cipher with a voice, now lost in a crowd of Autotuned provocateurs.

    Two years later, in 2008, Cowell anointed another pop starlet, then 20-year-old Alexandra Burke – The British Beyonce, maybe, maybe, fingers-crossed maybe? – as that year’s X-Factor winner, beating out stiff competition from crowd favorite Diana Vickers (who’s done quite well on the UK charts since then) and biracial boy band JLS (whose J.R. Rotem-produced single “Everybody in Love” has been flirting with American radio playlists for the last several months without quite breaking). Burke’s winning performance, yet another cover of Leonard Cohen’s revered but oft-abused 1984 classic “Hallelujah”, a song that, due to an intimately overwrought mid-90s cover, fans of the tragic singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley regard as a sacred religious text. Angry at the blasphemy of a common pop singer’s – nay, a common reality show competitor’s -performance of the song, British Buckley fans declared a sort of download fatwa against Burke the week her single version of “Hallelujah” was released, urging the rockist faithful to download copies of Buckley’s version in order to keep Burke’s from debuting at number one on the charts. Not only did the Buckley campaign fail, but Burke’s single sold a record-breaking 100,000 plus downloads in its first week.

    Compounding the irony: Alexandra Burke didn’t really care for the song. As is the case with many (most) Idol winners, that first single sailed on the ardor of a television audience; it’s success had little to do with the direction (specifically, a penchant for Euro club bangers) Burke would take on her debut album. Overcome, released in the U.K. late last fall, boasted collaborations with producer-of-the-moment RedOne (who, she’s said in a recent video blog that she is back in the studio with) and her first non-X-Factor related single, “Bad Boys” featured a guest spot by the reigning king of the club-ready (read: irresistibly empty) rap, Flo Rida. Her latest, which stormed the British Top 10 earlier this month is a great little retro-disco flavored number called “All Night Long”, featuring Miami rapper Pitbull. It seems only a matter of time before Cowell launches Burke here in the States (maybe he’s saving her for the American X-Factor debut). Given that Europe and the U.K. are already three singles deep into Overcome, it’s likely that if and when the album does show up here, it will, like Taio Cruz’s just-released Rokstarr, be a reconstruction of the British album – more a “greatest hits so far/what you’ve been missing” set than a proper debut.

    So here’s what you’ve been missing. For the video of “All Night Long”, Alexandra Burke invited a bunch of pals over to her place (presumably) for a night of music-fueled debauchery, armed them all with video cameras (a la Bon Jovi’s “Bad Medicine” video), and reports back with the results, crayola sunglasses, metallic sequined eyelids, alterna-drag queens and all. Pitbull appears poolside in what appears to be a pre-taped address to the freaky, freaky congregants.

  • The Sunday Seven 4/26/09: I Was Just Frontin’

    Yep, I know this column has been gone for a long time. A combination of laziness and sickness has prevented me from doing this for about 6 weeks, but I am back with a new sense of purpose. Plus, I wiped out my entire iTunes and started from scratch this weekend. I had my iTunes connected to my external hard drive, on which I have the vast majority of my music. I eventually realized that I was wearing out the “skip” button, because songs kept coming up that I either did not recognize or didn’t care to listen to. So I figured it was better to back up the good files onto my actual computer and sync my iPod to that. That way, I didn’t have to flip through the 10 crappy tracks on Rod Stewart’s “Blondes Have More Fun” (for example) to get to “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (OK, I didn’t say it was the best example). So this week I’ve only got about 2,000 tracks to choose from, and all of them should be quite familiar to me, so I don’t have to worry about bullshitting my way through this column. Not that I’ve done that before or anything. So away we go…

    Track 1: “Stuck with You” by Huey Lewis & the News (from “Fore, 1986)

    So, what should I talk about here? Should I discuss the fact that “Stuck” was the second of Huey & the News’ three #1 hits? Should I talk about the cool video? Should I talk about Huey Lewis’s legendary endowment? (apparently the news was in his pants). How about none of the above? I think these guys get shafted-they were one of the better singles acts of the Eighties, and for some reason, they always remind me of summer. Maybe it’s the fact that all their videos seemed to be set at the damn beach. If you’ve ever seen these guys tackle the national anthem at a sporting event, you know that they’re no joke vocally, either. So, give it up for Huey. He deserves your props.

    Track 2: “The Look of Love” by ABC (from “The Lexicon of Love, 1982)

    Ah, a classic from the glory days of British pop. There was a 2-year span when we got the best of Duran Duran, Culture Club, Yaz, Soft Cell, The Human League, Spandau Ballet, Heaven 17 and these guys-all more or less blue-eyed soul acts, and all hit at virtually the same time, thanks to MTV. It was an explosion of hairspray and makeup and accents. Martin Fry’s delivery on this song is very much in line with the hyper-dramatic flair many of these bands here. If you believe those VH-1 pop culture specials, apparently the spoken part of this song was suggested by David Bowie. Interesting, eh?

    “If you judge a book by the cover, then you judge the look by the lover”…truer words were never said.

    Lordy, is this video gay.

    Track 3: “Water Runs Dry” by Boyz II Men (from “II”, 1994)

    Remember when Boyz II Men were all over the place? They were at #1 on the charts seemingly every week, were winning every award in creation, and seemed to be unstoppable? This was probably their finest moment of that era, although they had bigger hits. I love the airy harmonies and the acoustic instrumentation. This is actually one of Babyface’s better written songs, and it doesn’t sound (much) like every other ‘Face song in existence.

    That Motown covers album restored BIIM’s luster a little bit. I’d love to see them come back with some new material.

    Track 4: “Change Your World” by Anthony Hamilton (from “Ain’t Nobody Worryin’”, 2005)

    There was a point in time when I was jocking Anthony Hamilton HARD. I’ve had the extreme privilege of seeing this guy in concert twice, and believe me when I tell you he puts just about every other male R&B singer out there to shame. Not only can he sing his ass off, but he brings a gospel-like fervor to his stage performance. He catches the Spirit for sure. This track is from the album before his most recent one, and it’s a beautiful, old-school styled ballad. Nice to know they still make songs like this these days.

    Anthony Hamilton – Change Your World – Anthony Hamilton

    Track 5: “Break My Heart” by Common (from “Finding Forever”, 2007)

    How did Common fall off so hard in just a couple of years? Success didn’t agree with the dude. After he broke through, he officially began to suck, and that’s a shame, because for a long time Common was one of the hottest emcees out. This smoothed-out song is much better from a musical standpoint than it is lyrically. The first verse is almost embarrassing. Although nowhere near as embarrassing as 90% of the material on “Universal Mind Control”, his latest piece of shit album.

    Break My Heart – Common

    Track 6: “Theme From Shaft” by Isaac Hayes (from the “Shaft” soundtrack, 1971)

    OK, now what the hell am I supposed to say about this? Do I make a joke about “They say that cat Mike…he’s a bad mutha-SHUT YO’ MOUTH! Well, I’m talkin’ about Mike. Well we can dig it”? Nope, because that would be lame. Ah, here’s something. There was this album cover from the Seventies, I’m not sure which one it was, but I know for a fact that it was Isaac Hayes. I used to be scared of it. I was a pretty jumpy kid. Prince’s “Dirty Mind” cover scared me too. And that was BEFORE I heard the music in between the covers.

    Go ‘head, Jesse. And what the fuck is Ike wearing?

    Track 7: “Frontin’” by Jamie Cullum (by “Twentysomething”, 2004)

    Yup, this is a cocktail jazz remake of the Pharrell/Jay-Z song that was huge five or six summers ago. This song actually lends itself well to the jazz arrangement. I like Cullum, he’s pretty cheeky. If you’re gonna do that kind of music, you might as well bring something different to the table, right? He hasn’t put out an album in a while, I wonder what happened to him.

    Here’s an interesting fact. Jamie’s the guy that got me into Jeff Buckley. I’d actually had a copy of “Grace” for years, but never really got into it until Jamie covered “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”. Then I went back to “Grace” and finally heard what everyone else had heard ten years before. Hey, we can’t be on time for everything, right?

    I would LOVE to see this kid live. Maybe an Anthony Hamilton/Jamie Cullum double bill? I’d probably be the only person in the audience for both sets-ha!!