Bloggerhythms

Ringo Starr turns 86 this year, and yet he never stops working. He continues to record albums and EPs and goes out on the road annually with his all-star band. Not bad for someone who was so sickly as a kid that many people believed he wouldn't survive to adulthood. Starr continues to collaborate with some of the top musicians and producers in the business and he mostly lets them run his recording sessions. I don't know if he lacks the confidence or the skills needed to take more control of his own work or whether he just enjoys the camaraderie and teamwork. Last year, he and T-Bone Burnett worked together on Look Up , Starr's very good, heavily country influenced, full-length album. Previously, for his 2024 EP, Crooked Boy , he turned the sessions over to Linda Perry, who's best known for the #14 single, " What's Up ," by the alt-rock, one-hit wonders 4 Non Blondes back in 1993. Perry gave Starr a couple of songs for two of ...

"What's Up" is one of my all-time favorite one-hit wonders. In March 1993 it was pulled as a single in an abridged version for radio from 4 Non Blondes' only album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More  that was released the previous October. The single climbed to #14 on the Hot 100 and finished the year at #50 on Billboard's year-end chart. It was composed by the quartet's controversial lead singer, the full-throated Linda Perry, and completely overwhelmed every other track on the loud, eleven-song set. The album hit #13 on Billboard's top 200 album chart. Like most people, I thought the song was called "What's Going On?" because that line was sung repeatedly throughout the record. Its actual title is never mentioned. "What's Up?" has been called a "massive neo-hippie anthem" by AllMusic 's Tom Demalon. It appears to be about Perry's search for meaning in life as the opening lines...