Bloggerhythms

Gregg Alexander's mostly forgotten band, New Radicals, barely lasted two years. He disbanded it in 1999 so he could concentrate on writing and producing for other artists. The alternative rock group's best known song was their first single, "You Get What You Give." It peaked at #36 on the US Hot 100 but was a much bigger hit elsewhere in the English speaking world. It was also the highest charting song from New Radicals' only album, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too . The song has been been praised by Joni Michell, rapper Ice-T, and U2's The Edge. Mitchell said in the liner notes to her 2004 compilation album, Artist's Choice , that "You Get What You Give" is "rising from the swamp of 'McMusic' like a flower of hope." It is high praise indeed when a compliment comes from someone of Mitchell's stature. The song's closing lyrics became quite controversial.   According to Wikipedia,  Alexander "wrote this section f...

I don't have to tell you where the inspiration for this post came from, but oddly, compiling a good list of songs that name drop past American presidents was harder than I thought it would be. Many of the songs I found were about the most controversial Commanders-in-Chief or campaign songs. I believe using the latter would be cheating so a rule I applied is that the song, at one time, had to be commercially available to the public for purchase. The tunes mentioned here may not always be about a specific chief executive, but instead they could be about events that occured while that president was in office. Some famous songs, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Ohio," and Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" were left out as being too obvious. In the end, I hope you agree that I was able to find five good ones. They are listed here in no particular order. The Presidential Rag - Arlo Guthrie (1974) This is an extremely scathing ass...

Americana rockers Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters eponymous, debut album hit the streets in 2018 and their new digital 45, "The Lion & The Lamb" with "Six Feet Apart" included as the modern day version of the b-side is their first follow-up to that long player. Flynn has also released five albums under her own name before starting this all-female septet whose name honors Rosie the Riveter - the woman on the fictitious, iconic, poster from 1942 representing the strong-willed American women of World War Two who worked in the war production industries because their men were fighting overseas. Some sociologists will tell you this was the beginning of the liberation movement that allowed modern women to live on a more equal footing with their male counterparts. The band's songs pack a punch without being too aggressive. Both fit squarely into the Americana or country-rock genre. They're a well-rehearsed unit but they manage to so...

If you accuse me of writing this article as an excuse to feature Robert Lamm's composition, "A Hit By Varèse," a song that opened Chicago   V in 1972, you would be right.  Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) was an avant-garde, classical composer whose atonal music had a major affect on rock musicians - particularly Frank Zappa. The composer's "Ionisation" for thirteen musicians is the first ever all percussion piece written for a concert hall and it's a work that motivated Zappa to pursue a musical career. The eccentric rocker readily acknowledged he became obsessed with the composer's music. Lamm was apparently a fan too and Varèse's music was also an inspiration for two early Pink Floyd albums: Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother . Varèse was also a pioneer in the field of electronic music and the usage of tape loops. His trailblazing work in two areas that are quite mainstream today helped him to acquire the moniker "Father of...

Gerry Marsden, leader of Gerry & The Pacemakers, passed away today at age 78. The Pacemakers were one of many British Invasion bands that quickly followed The Beatles stateside after the Fab Four hit it big in America. The Liverpool group was the second act signed by The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. Marsden was a pleasant singer and the focal point of the quartet. They had some talent and rivaled The Beatles in popularity for awhile in their hometown, but after late 1965 they stopped having hits and broke up a year later. Unlike both The Rolling Stones and The Animals, The Pacemakers - like Hermans' Hermits - resided in the non-threatening side of the Invasion. Most of their best known American hits were ballads that featured string sections that often drowned out the band behind Marsden's vocals, but one of the rockers has an interesting backstory.  "How Do You Do It" was a song written by an English songwriter named M...

" Badge" is one of Cream's most famous songs even though it never got higher than #60 on the Billboard Hot 100. All these years later it's still played on both classic rock and oldies radio stations. In Cream's homeland it climbed all the way to #18.  The short single (2:35) appeared on the power trio's final LP, Goodbye , in 1969 and was written by Eric Clapton with one of his best buddies, George Harrison, partially as repayment for the blues-rocker's assistance on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "Badge" was originally untitled on the original sheet music. Harrison had written the word "bridge" indicating that is where the midsection of the song belonged. Looking at the sheet music upside down, Clapton misread it as "badge" because of Harrison's handwriting. Here is how The former Beatle remembers it happening as quoted in Wikipedia. " I helped Eric write "Badge" you know. Each o...