Bloggerhythms

Here is the first of my ten entries celebrating WXPN's top 885 greatest songs by a female lead singer. Number ten   belongs to   Michelle Shocked  (real name, Karen Michelle Johnston),   who hasn't released any music since 2009 largely in protest of the meager compensation artists receive because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Also, while Shocked has always been respected for her music, controversies born of her political stances have also greatly hampered her career. The first song I ever heard by Shocked was "Anchorage" taken from her first major label, full-length CD, Short Sharp Shocked in 1988. It made it to #66 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was also her highest charting set, but it peaked at only #73. She never had another single on the Hot 100 again, and her albums didn't do much better. "Anchorage" is a unique song. Recorded mostly in an acoustic setting it has a very pleasant melody supported b...

This is a reprint of a post that first appeared on Bloggerhythms in 2005, the year of its inception. The controversial Michelle Shocked has always been one of my favorite singer-songwriters. She hasn't released an album since 2009, possibly due to some controversial comments she made during one of her shows in 2013.  Her recording career appears to be at a standstill even though she still tours. It should be noted that The Point, the venue where the concert below was held, no longer exists. _____________________________________________________________ The very eclectic and very entertaining Michelle Shocked played at The Point , an intimate and wonderful coffeehouse style venue in the Philadelphia suburbs this past Saturday night, and just as I hoped for she played a superb and very entertaining set of music. The evening’s performance was a big surprise because it was almost totally devoted to her recently re-released, previously long out of print, 1991 classic CD, Arkan...

The cover photo shows Shocked's arrest at the 1984 Democratic National Convention  Michelle Shocked has always been one of the more controversial figures in the music business. She hasn't suffered for her art but her political and religious views have caused her pain on more than one occasion and she has gotten in trouble with both sides of the political center. Shocked has been laying low in recent years and her neverending outspokenness and activism could explain why her last release was a decade ago. The singer-songwriter made everyone pay attention immediately with Short Sharp Shocked (SSS), her major label debut. It's the diamond in her uneven catalog and, while she came close to perfection on a few others, most notably Arkansas Traveler (1991), she never topped it. SSS contains rock, folk, protest music, songs that discuss the human condition (both good and bad), and straight pop songs. The terrific "If Love Was A Train" works because of the wal...

Unsurprisingly, Michelle Shocked's always unfiltered mouth finally got the East Texas musician in a lot of trouble when her recent comments about gays offended a lot of people. The eccentric bohemian's on stage diatribe resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of her tour as well as ruining her reputation among liberals who comprise most of her fan base. Shocked very quickly tried to make up with everyone and even participated in a nationally televised sit down with Piers Morgan that didn't do much to stop the growing criticism. Unfortunately, the affair generated a lot more publicity than she ever received for any of her artistic endeavors. Since Bloggerhythms is only interested in showcasing music, and not using this site as a soapbox for politics or religion, we're only going to concentrate on the singer-songwriter's work. We are leaving the controversies to someone else. Shocked's early career was superb. Her first three major label albums are p...

The always controversial Michelle Shocked is back. After fighting a losing battle for artistic freedom with Mercury Records in the early 90s (a result that left her without a label for seven years) the singer-songwriter's releases have been uneven. However, when Shocked is "on" she is so good her talent can not be denied. Such is the case with one of her harder rocking CDs, Soul of my Soul . It favors mainstream rock more than most of her albums do and that accounts for much of its artistic success. In Shocked's case "mainstream" is not synonymous with sellout. Despite the overall feel of the album Shocked still hits hard with her liberal to left leaning politics. If that's a problem then she is an artist who is clearly not for you. Three of the ten tracks blast the former George W. Bush Administration. "Ballad of the Battle of the Ballot and the Bullet, Pt. 1: Ugly Americans" is the most pointed example. Worried about her rights Shoc...

There is an unusual history behind Michelle Shocked's very hard to find CD Kind Hearted Woman . I accidently stumbled across it last week in the $2.99 section of the finest used CD store I've ever had the pleasure of shopping in, the Princeton Record Exchange . Someday I'll have to post an article about this great place to buy music and try not to make it sound like a commercial. Kind Hearted Woman was the first CD Shocked recorded after the demise of her contract with Mercury Records. It was originally issued as a limited edition in 1994 and was only available for purchase at her live performances. It was officially released in October 1996 and even then the album did not get wide release. The original CD featured Shocked as the only musician. After playing it on the road for two years she went back in the studio and rerecorded it with Fiachna O'Braonain and Peter O'Toole, two members of the Irish band Hothouse Flowers. Producer Bones Howe was at the controls. Ki...