Musical 'F*** my Hat, I didn't know that!'

[JaDanketies]

"Everybody's waiting for me to arrive", another lyric in the same song, would seem to argue the "up the stairs" thing.

Someone on the internet 18 years ago explains:


First of all "coming up" is slang for when you start to get high on ecstasy.

"Everbody's waiting for me to arrive" - because they want to buy some pills.

"I can go for miles if you know what I mean" - ecstasy lets you keep going all night.

"Making my connection as i enter the room" - letting people know there are pills for sale.

"Everybody's chillen as i set up the groove" - people aren't dancing hard, because they're not high yet.

"I'm your operator you can call anytime / I'll be your connection to the party line" - inviting people to phone up and buy pills.

[famethrowa]

ZZ Top started out as a fake version of The Zombies who their American record company set up to promote a single (Time of the Season) that became a hit after they split up

Wow I did not know that, good one. With no keyboard player too, those stinkers!

[AsparagusTrevor]

Someone on the internet 18 years ago explains:


First of all "coming up" is slang for when you start to get high on ecstasy.

"Everbody's waiting for me to arrive" - because they want to buy some pills.

"I can go for miles if you know what I mean" - ecstasy lets you keep going all night.

"Making my connection as i enter the room" - letting people know there are pills for sale.

"Everybody's chillen as i set up the groove" - people aren't dancing hard, because they're not high yet.

"I'm your operator you can call anytime / I'll be your connection to the party line" - inviting people to phone up and buy pills.

Was this somone Tommy Vance?

[JaDanketies]

Was this somone Tommy Vance?

songmeanings.com poster wwwill on July 30, 2002.

The song was written by the frontwoman from Three Non Blondes anyway and I don't think she's confirmed what she was talking about. Maybe she didn't even write the lyrics. It might always be a mystery. I defer to wwwill, he sounds pretty confident.

[Famous Mortimer]

Maybe the singer is the one with the drugs?

"I'm your operator, you can call anytime
I'll be your connection to the party line"

You're probably right.

[phantom_power]

This might be very specific to my spheres of interest but The Flowerpot Men who's Beat City appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off later became Sunsonic, who had a minor hit in 1990 with A Kind of Loving. And one of them is one of the main people in Juno Reactor as well

[Better Midlands]

This might be very specific to my spheres of interest but The Flowerpot Men who's Beat City appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off later became Sunsonic, who had a minor hit in 1990 with A Kind of Loving. And one of them is one of the main people in Juno Reactor as well

I liked the Oakenfold remixes of A Kind Of Loving, it sounded like a cross between The Shamen & The Beloved.
I didn't know they had a track on FBDO so I mark this post as interesting.

[Darles Chickens]

Today I learnt that George Michael was involved in an album called "Outrageous" by his cousin's band, Boogie Box High, released in 1989.



He wasn't credited in the album due to contractual obligations to Epic Records, although two songs he wrote for it are variously credited under the pseudonyms "T. Harris" / "H. Hoskyns" / "Harris Hoskyns Music".

Here's their only charting single from 1987, a very straight cover of the Bee Gees' Jive Talkin', definitely not George on vocals, oh no.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCwjpYOsls

And one of the George-penned songs, "Soul Boy" (not clear if this was its original recording, originally intended for the debut Wham album, or whether this is taken from the Boogie Box High album):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGlgore8LD0

[Crabwalk]

It was the worst-kept secret in pop when 'Jive Talkin'' became a hit!

[Darles Chickens]

Despite being an pop music-obsessed 11-12 year old in 1987, I never, ever heard that Jive Talkin' cover (until today).  Perhaps it was just one of those tracks that my local radio station never picked up, for whatever reason.  It reached number 7 in the charts as well, so hardly obscure.

[McChesney Duntz]

Any story behind the apparent band name change between sides 1 and 2?

[buzby]

Today I learnt that George Michael was involved in an album called "Outrageous" by his cousin's band, Boogie Box High, released in 1989.

[It also featured Nick Heyward on guitar, Mick Talbot on keyboards and Wham!'s bassist Deon Estus. The album was never released in the UK, only in The US and Japan.

And one of the George-penned songs, "Soul Boy" (not clear if this was its original recording, originally intended for the debut Wham album, or whether this is taken from the Boogie Box High album):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGlgore8LD0

That's not the BBH version of Soul Boy, it's the Wham! demo.  The version on Outrageous sounds more like a Heaven 17 song, with a recurring melody using an Emulator-sampled vocal and it definitely has Andros on vocals, not Georgios (despite what Discogs says - anyone with ears can tell it's not George singing it). The other track George gave him for the the album, Golden Soul, was also a leftover from Wham's debut album sessions (and you can see why, it's pretty rubbish).

George did sing on their second single Gave It All Away (which only reached #88 in the UK charts) but they appeared on TopPop in the Netherlands performing it, obviously minus George but all wearing masks and  T-shirts in the style of Wham's Choose Life shirts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZQGCgFu_r4
He allegedly appears in the video for the track though, but they deliberately only show glimpses of the band's faces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m2hv3TDdUU

[The Culture Bunker]

It also featured Nick Heyward on guitar

That nearly surprised me, but I think I'm right in saying Heyward supported Wham! at their last gig at Wembley, so there was a prior connection between him and George.

[Darles Chickens]

That's not the BBH version of Soul Boy, it's the Wham! demo.  The version on Outrageous sounds more like a Heaven 17 song, with a recurring melody using an Emulator-sampled vocal and it definitely has Andros on vocals, not Georgios (despite what Discogs says - anyone with ears can tell it's not George singing it).

Right - I thought it sounded very much like other tracks from the Fantastic era, and frankly I'd rather have that track than their cover of Love Machine.  I wonder where it was originally leaked from (everything on YouTube seems to come from the same low quality source).  Meanwhile the BBH version seems to be completely absent from the internet.

The other track George gave him for the the album, Golden Soul, was also a leftover from Wham's debut album sessions (and you can see why, it's pretty rubbish).

Yes, that's a terrible track.  Apparently, before Wham, they were in a band called The Executive, playing Ska/2-Tone type tracks, and that sounds like something of a relic from then.

George did sing on their second single Gave It All Away (which only reached #88 in the UK charts) but they appeared on TopPop in the Netherlands performing it, obviously minus George but all wearing masks and  T-shirts in the style of Wham's Choose Life shirts:

I actually don't think that's George singing, even though it sounds very much like him.  I think it's actually David Austin, a longtime collaborator of his, who happens to have an extremely similar voice and vocal style.  Here's George introducing David Austin doing a song which sounds exactly like a Wham song, with vocals which sound exactly like George Michael's (on Cheggers Plays Pop):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusIVyLwVFA

[buzby]

Right - I thought it sounded very much like other tracks from the Fantastic era, and frankly I'd rather have that track than their cover of Love Machine.  I wonder where it was originally leaked from (everything on YouTube seems to come from the same low quality source).  Meanwhile the BBH version seems to be completely absent from the internet.

It looks like those two demos leaked around 2010-11 from the same source. From the sound quality I'd say thay came from a nth-generation copy of a  'work in progress' demo cassette that was made while they were doing the prep work for Fantastic.

The BBH album is available from at least one MP3 blog via a Mediafire link. The one I got it from flagged up all kinds of trojan warnings from Avast though, so I wont link to it but seek and ye shall find.

[Darles Chickens]

Got it!  Thanks for the tip (and thanks to Google for the cached version!).

[JesusAndYourBush]

Despite being an pop music-obsessed 11-12 year old in 1987, I never, ever heard that Jive Talkin' cover (until today).  Perhaps it was just one of those tracks that my local radio station never picked up, for whatever reason.  It reached number 7 in the charts as well, so hardly obscure.

I remember that cover of Jive Talkin', and knowing at the time that "Boogie Box High is George Michael under another name" (I can see by recent posts it's more nuanced than that, but that's how I understood it at the time), so George's involvement was definitely no secret.

[Famous Mortimer]

For a lot of years, I assumed the lyric from The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" was either a reference to how naive the narrator was, or was factually incorrect:

"And someone played a Beach Boys song on the jukebox
It it was California Dreamin'
So we started screamin'
On such a winter's day"

But, of course, the Beach Boys recorded a version of it in 1986, for their greatest hits record, and it's even referenced in the Wikipedia article for the song:

The Beach Boys recorded "California Dreamin'" in 1986 for their greatest hits compilation Made in U.S.A. It was produced by Terry Melcher and featured Roger McGuinn of The Byrds on 12-string guitar. Denny Doherty was on the East coast and declined; Cass Elliot had died in 1974. This version of the song was referenced in the lyrics of the Dead Milkmen's 1988 novelty hit "Punk Rock Girl".

Quite how many jukebox spins this particular version got is a matter for debate, but hat fucked.

EDIT: I also just found out "Punk Rock Girl" has a music video, which manages to add layers to the tale. The couplet "it makes no sense / your Dad is the vice president" is sung while our narrator is at his girlfriend's home, and it's a filthy hovel; and then -

"We got into her car away, we started rollin'
I said how much you pay for this
Said "nothin' man it's stolen"

But he's driving the car, which doesn't really fit the lyrics. Perhaps the punk rock girl they hired for the shoot couldn't drive?

[Dr Rock]

'if you don't got Mojo Nixon then your store could use some fixin'

One of my fave lyrics.

[famethrowa]

'if you don't got Mojo Nixon then your store could use some fixin'

One of my fave lyrics.

From the funny pages:

[phantom_power]

Momus is the cousin of the lead singer of Del Amitri

[The Culture Bunker]

Momus is the cousin of the lead singer of Del Amitri

He (Momus) wrote a bit about their family connection on his blog many years ago:

https://imomus.livejournal.com/200676.html

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

He does say in the rant what led to him eventually leaving. He was happy working in the 'dream studio' that he had set up with The Orb's advance but over the last year before he left he grew increasingly tired of Patterson leaving him to do all the heavy lifting but taking half the credit. The final straw was when Patterson moved some hangers-on into the studio who kept disturbing him while he was trying to work, Alex then bought an ARP 2600 and spent ages trying to get a sound of of it without knowing what he was doing, and that was when he snapped and walked out.
It's actually a very similar story to what happened between Alan Wilder and Depeche Mode, but for him it took 13 years to get to that point compared to Thrash's 4.

He also says his publishing contract with Chrysalis/BMG ran out in 2013. Given his grudge against Universal/BMG, I expect he didn't want to give them any more money by releasing anything until he was out of contract. Also, he lost the studio he built and all of his gear (including a lot of stuff that belonged to him personally, bought with his own money earned from doing remixes prior to the formation of The Orb ) when they locked him out of it. He does sound design and writes VST plugins which he sells through his 100 Mountains website, and has a patreon going to get money for equipment to set up another studio.

His rants are also a great way of appreciating that there are usually two sides to every story.

[buzby]

His rants are also a great way of appreciating that there are usually two sides to every story.

Have you been time travelling again Shoulders?

[willbo]

the biggest shock for me recently was that Jeff Soto, currently singing in the prog-metal supergroup Sons of Apollo, did all the metal music and songs for the Biker Mice From Mars cartoon.

[Gregory Torso]

On my copy of Ween's album 12 Golden Country Greats, the song Powder Blue cuts off abruptly right at the end when Gene Ween has just introduced all of the musicians on the song and then says, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present Muhammad Ali". I just thought it was some kind of funny in-joke thing but I've just found out that, according to wikipedia anyway, -

In the tradition of country music, during the song "Powder Blue" Gene introduces each member of the band who then plays a short solo on their instrument. The original version runs for 4:16 and ends with a sample from Muhammad Ali. Ween were denied permission to use the sample by Ali's lawyers, but Elektra pressed the album accidentally. Repressings of the album contain a cut version, causing the song to abruptly end after the introduction "Ladies & Gentlemen, I'd like to present Muhammad Ali".

I think that's bullshit though, about it being only on the reissue. According to Discogs, that came out in 2010. My copy's the one on Flying Nun from 1996.

It's just done so badly and abruptly I always assumed it was just a bit of randomness and fuckery. That's Ween for you.

[famethrowa]

On my copy of Ween's album 12 Golden Country Greats, the song Powder Blue cuts off abruptly right at the end when Gene Ween has just introduced all of the musicians on the song and then says, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present Muhammad Ali". I just thought it was some kind of funny in-joke thing but I've just found out that, according to wikipedia anyway, -

I think that's bullshit though, about it being only on the reissue. According to Discogs, that came out in 2010. My copy's the one on Flying Nun from 1996.

It's just done so badly and abruptly I always assumed it was just a bit of randomness and fuckery. That's Ween for you.

Yes I always had the cut off version on CD as well, it was like a whispered secret around the indie circles that there was a forbidden version out there somewhere....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU4DC3fCUjQ

[MiddleRabbit]

Not quite hat fuckery so much as "Madness nicked part of Roxy Music's Serenade for Uncle Sam, an unfondly remembered anti-American late period single.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v45eYZjdRcA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jtXoHC9210s

There's a bit in The Pretty Things In The Square off Parachute that Radiohead took for a section in Paranoid Android. I can't imagine I'm the only one to have heard this?  Edit - No, I'm not, but it doesn't seem widely recognised, like say, Karma Police being pretty similar to Sexy Sadie.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q-h8Fc3Wx2k

[mrClaypole]

Not quite hat fuckery so much as "Madness nicked part of Roxy Music's Serenade for Uncle Sam, an unfondly remembered anti-American late period single.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v45eYZjdRcA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jtXoHC9210s

There's a bit in The Pretty Things In The Square off Parachute that Radiohead took for a section in Paranoid Android. I can't imagine I'm the only one to have heard this?  Edit - No, I'm not, but it doesn't seem widely recognised, like say, Karma Police being pretty similar to Sexy Sadie.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q-h8Fc3Wx2k

I never realised that.
Still love the demo better than the single

https://youtu.be/DlgExJyr-vY

[Johnboy]

Andy Summers of The Police is older than George Harrison.