Popdose: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 12
Johnny Bacardi
· 1 year ago
I’m the only person he knows that discovers new music — 25 years after it was released.
That's what separates them from us, my friend! Heck, I'm still discovering new (to me) music from the 60's and 70's as well...
steed
· 1 year ago
I figured I'd find a lot of people here that also continue to discover!
Jack Feerick
· 1 year ago
It’s tough to listen to a Peter Godwin record for the first time and not think it sounds completely dated.
...or that it sounds, y'know, kinda like something by The Knife. What goes around comes around. What matters is that "Images Of Heaven" is an amazing song, catchy as influenza and with melody for days. Production cannot entirely make a song, nor can it entirely break it.
As far as discovering stuff 25 years late - yeah, I'm with you and Johnny. I can't believe it took me til this spring to hear Big Star, for instance - and they're more or less part of the canon! What's really weird is when some also-ran with zero critical reputation manages to colonize a big chunk of your headspace. I still shudder to think of the great Armoury Show binge of 2006...
Jack Feerick
· 1 year ago
And re: the Bulletboys, and shitty covers: I still have a soft spot for their version of "Hang On St. Christopher." If nothing else, they succeeded in getting a Tom Waits tune onto rock radio, and lots of fat royalty checks into Tom's hobo bundle.
steed
· 1 year ago
Not a Waits fan myself, but if nothing else I certainly can dig getting other people paid. I have to start putting out my Rockwell covers.
thefxc
· 1 year ago
Can't wait for the "C's"--the letter "B" has not been good for the bottom feeders. I give the Jenny Burton "Remember What You Like" the win 'cause I loves the freestyle. To all you freaks: don't stop the rock..
I think discovering "new" 25-year-old songs is the greatest benefit of the mp3 age. Now that people can digitize vinyl records that never came close to a CD release we can re-discover all the stuff that didn't pay out enough payola to hit the Top 40. Fay Ray's Contact You and Trees' Sleep Convention are two such albums that I never new existed until people started swapping them in new wave/80s online groups; now they're favorites...
Excellent column, thanks!
steed
· 1 year ago
Thanks!
"B" was interesting - I think it started off well and then by the last few weeks, the quality had really dropped off. I too, hope "C" brings some good tunes right away.
douglynner
· 3 months ago
Don't just read about Trees and Dane Conover. Meet him and listen to his music in my streaming interview and music radio show with him at http://tinyurl.com/mjduhu Unreleased tracks included!
wags
· 1 year ago
Being from central PA which had a love affair with hair metal in the 80s, the Bulletboys track was quite a trip down mem'ry lane for me. I think "Smooth Up In Ya" must've been on heavy rotation there for the better part of my junior and senior years of high school.
And I think that Volcano's a much better Buffett track than "It's My Job" but I'm no parrothead either so I may be typing some sacrilege there...
steed
· 1 year ago
"Volcano" is definitely one of his staples, so I don't believe you're off base if you believe that.
JP
· 1 year ago
Billy Burnette's cousin is Rocky Burnette, who had his only hit in 1980 with "Tired Of Toein' The Line," a cool powerpop/rockabilly merger. Their respective fathers, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, were 2/3 of the Johnny Burnette Rock & Roll Trio, whose lone Coral album in the fifties set the standard for the rockabilly genre.
As far as Billy himself, he's had several albums over the decades, some in the roots-rock vein, some not, and he's still going strong as a performer, releasing the occasional album here & there.
steed
· 1 year ago
I love "Tired of Toein' The Line"!
JP
· 1 year ago
I do too. Rocky Burnette looked like Ted Nugent, but sounded like Roy Orbison on that track, and it's too bad he couldn't follow it up right away.
DavidMedsker
· 1 year ago
I had forgotten all about that Billy Burnette song, and listening to it now, my first thought was: Marshall Crenshaw. Anyone?
Ah, the Bulletboys. Boy, did they suck. Still, I bought a copy of the cassette because they made me and my roommate laugh until it hurt. "24 blue! 24 blue! Hut, hut, hike!"
Arthur Baker had to have produced that first Jenny Burton track. It sounds just like New Order's "Confusion." I love that early freestyle stuff.
steed
· 1 year ago
Pulled out the 45 of this one for the first time in years just to check - nope - "Remember What You Like" was produced by John Robie.
Breadalbane
· 1 year ago
Re: Burnette
I'll agree that the arrangement sounds somewhat Crenshaw-ish, but I always think this tune sounds a little closer to Dave Edmunds.
DavidMedsker
· 1 year ago
That would have been my second guess. Robie was a Baker disciple. Loved his stuff, too. He produced some New Order mixes as well, namely "Shellshock," "Subculture" and "Shame of the Nation."
Retro_Remixes
· 1 year ago
Freddy, my love . . . I miss you more than words can say . . . ahh ahh ahh ahh . . .
Brendan
· 1 year ago
would you mind posting that Follow You song again? Been looking for that for ages (and I don't know why).
Thanks
George
· 10 months ago
hi I just discovered a short sample of cindy bullen's 'trust me' and just did this mega search online to find it and came here but your link does not work. could you please post trust me again? I was too young to have recorded it in 1980 but I really want to hear the song in its complete form.
Austenn
· 6 months ago
bah >.< found this post while hunting info on bottom feeders 2006 movie. enjoyed reading this post. i like sampling old tunes as well and always end up finding something cool. found peter godwin thanks to this post and his 'images of heaven' vid on youtube. haha real cool stuff. many thanks
All Comments
That's what separates them from us, my friend! Heck, I'm still discovering new (to me) music from the 60's and 70's as well...
...or that it sounds, y'know, kinda like something by The Knife. What goes around comes around. What matters is that "Images Of Heaven" is an amazing song, catchy as influenza and with melody for days. Production cannot entirely make a song, nor can it entirely break it.
As far as discovering stuff 25 years late - yeah, I'm with you and Johnny. I can't believe it took me til this spring to hear Big Star, for instance - and they're more or less part of the canon! What's really weird is when some also-ran with zero critical reputation manages to colonize a big chunk of your headspace. I still shudder to think of the great Armoury Show binge of 2006...
I think discovering "new" 25-year-old songs is the greatest benefit of the mp3 age. Now that people can digitize vinyl records that never came close to a CD release we can re-discover all the stuff that didn't pay out enough payola to hit the Top 40. Fay Ray's Contact You and Trees' Sleep Convention are two such albums that I never new existed until people started swapping them in new wave/80s online groups; now they're favorites...
Excellent column, thanks!
"B" was interesting - I think it started off well and then by the last few weeks, the quality had really dropped off. I too, hope "C" brings some good tunes right away.
And I think that Volcano's a much better Buffett track than "It's My Job" but I'm no parrothead either so I may be typing some sacrilege there...
As far as Billy himself, he's had several albums over the decades, some in the roots-rock vein, some not, and he's still going strong as a performer, releasing the occasional album here & there.
Ah, the Bulletboys. Boy, did they suck. Still, I bought a copy of the cassette because they made me and my roommate laugh until it hurt. "24 blue! 24 blue! Hut, hut, hike!"
Arthur Baker had to have produced that first Jenny Burton track. It sounds just like New Order's "Confusion." I love that early freestyle stuff.
I'll agree that the arrangement sounds somewhat Crenshaw-ish, but I always think this tune sounds a little closer to Dave Edmunds.
Thanks