Earn It!

Not every band here is American. Priest is from Birmingham, AC/DC hauled in from Australia, and Bon Jovi is from New Jersey which some days feels like a separate country. Doesn't matter. This American rock pick is about the feeling, not the passport - the belief that where you start doesn't determine where you finish, and nobody gets to the top without earning it. Same one my mother had when she told me they became citizens so I could be president if I wanted to. Nobody said I had to. Just that nothing was stopping me. That's the whole point of the next 78 minutes.

Earn It!

01 Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger

02 Bon Jovi - It's My Life

03 Ted Nugent - I Still Believe

04 The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling

05 AC-DC - It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock'n'roll)

06 Kid Rock - American Bad Ass

07 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream

08 Foreigner - Juke Box Hero

09 Common Ground - This Is America

10 Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?

11 Heart - Barracuda

12 Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild

13 John Fogerty - Centerfield

14 Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly

15 Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'

16 John Mellencamp - R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.

17 Bruce Springsteen - Badlands

18 Boston - Peace of Mind

19 Rick Derringer - Real American

Stadium Stature

The World Cup is coming to the US this year. A few of the games not too far from my house. I was thinking of seeing Holland playing (and losing) and how many times I had seen those games. In the forum in '74 on this big screen and satellite and then at a British Pub for '78 and on my own big screen in 2010. So I put together these Stadium Songs to prep for this year. Songs from years ago to this year. I hope you pass this on and play it over and over again. I know Nederland  doesn't have much of a chance, but neither does the USA, but I will cheer them both on anyway. For more Soccer songs click there (only a couple that overlap) so a bunch of other songs to play as well.  A few of the songs on this comp are not neccesarily only songs for futbol, but are appropriate in many stadiums. You probably know most of them.

Stadium Stature

01 Queen - We Will Rock You

02 Ricky Martin - La Copa De La Vida (Spanish)

03 Nelly Furtado - Forca

04 Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam

05 2 Unlimited - Get Ready for This

06 Pitbull featuring Jennifer Lopez & Claudia Leitte - We Are One (Ole Ola)

07 The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

08 The Goal Line Groovers - Same Game, Same Goal

09 Magic System featuring Ahmed Chawki - Magic In The Air

10 Shakira - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)

11 Gala - Freed from Desire

12 Livin' Joy - Dreamer

13 Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie

14 Blur - Song 2

15 Sprong Hooligans - Oranje Back Again

16 House Of Pain - Jump Around

17 AC-DC - Thunderstruck

18 Metallica - Enter Sandman

19 Darude - Sandstorm

20 Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400

21 K'Naan - Wavin' Flag

BTW, bonus video of Sprong Hooligans: 

https://rumble.com/v78cm8s-sprong-hooligans-oranje-back-again-netherlands-football-tribute-1930s-to-no.html

What's The Connection? Ways 3

It's been Ways too long since the last one. I must have filed an extension, apparently. Posted right after tax day, so hopefully your return was better than mine. Twenty-two more tracks running from sweet to nasty with a few stops that are hard to categorize politely, and the Connection holds up across all of them. There are more Ways to go and you should try them all.

What's The Connection? Ways 3

43 Victor Feldman's Generation Band - Let Me Count The Ways

44 Willie Dixon - 29 Ways

45 Impressions - We Go Back a Ways

46 Elvis Presley - Separate Ways

47 Television Personalities - Mysterious Ways

48 Tammy Wynette - The Ways To Love A Man

49 Grip Weeds - Give Me Some Of Your Ways

50 Herman's Hermits - This Door Swings Both Ways

51 Bob Dylan - Quit Your Lowdown Ways

52 Kenny O'Dell - My Honky Tonk Ways

53 King Biscuit Boy - Twenty Nine Ways

54 Gary Busey - True Love Ways

55 Steve Hackett - Let Me Count The Ways

56 Willie Bobo - Evil Ways

57 Long John Hunter - Nasty Ways

58 Blue Zoo - Love Moves In Strange Ways

59 Cabaret Voltaire - A Thousand Ways

60 Electric Chairs - So Many Ways

61 Saturday's Children - Your Loving Ways

62 Esquires - Sadie's Ways

63 Willie Kendrick - Change Your Ways

64 The Movement - Ways Of The World

What's The Connection? Tax Day Repost

Repost: This is the day that's most hated by pretty much everyone, except for IRS agents and Tax Preparers. If you voted me in to be King, I would get rid of the federal income tax and abolish the IRS. There. Everyone feels better. It's fair to everyone. No one pays. Then we could charge for use. The states could still do what they want, tax or not. But this is not about politics. This is about music. Here are some songs about taxes in this What's The Connection? Let me know how you feel about these songs in the comments below. I don't care what you think about taxes themselves. But if we have to pay taxes, please do yourself a favor and read the book Tax Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright. Happy Tax Day! If you want to change your tax, change your facts. BTW, If you need a good bookkeeper here's a plug for my wife who is excellent.

Tax Connection

01 Don Henley - Workin' It

02 Celine Dion - Rain, Tax (It's Inevitable)

03 Guns N' Roses - I.R.S.

04 Relient K - Life After Death and Taxes (Failure II)

05 Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday

06 Tower of Power - Taxed To The Max

07 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes

08 Jimi Hendrix - Tax Free

09 B.O.B (Aka Bobby Ray) featuring Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You

10 Steve Howe - Success Story

11 Cheap Trick - Taxman, Mr. Thief

12 Ruder Than You - Tax Man

13 Blue Blot - IRS Blues

14 Toy Dolls - Lester Fiddled The Tax Man

15 Jethro Tull - Lap of Luxury

16 The Human Beinz - April 15th

17 Ultravox! - Life At Rainbow's End (For All The Tax Exiles On Main Street)

18 Kinks - Sunny Afternoon

19 Beatles - Taxman

20 The Who - Success Story

What's The Connection? Cherokee

There are a lot of ways to land on Cherokee, and this one covers more ground than most. It opens stretched all the way out, then snaps back into something more familiar and keeps shifting from there, bouncing between styles that don’t usually line up but manage to hold together anyway. The Indian connection is easy, but the approaches are all over the place, sometimes straight, sometimes barely related at all. Even Cher makes sense once you get there, which is kind of the whole point.

What's The Connection? Cherokee

01 Billy Ray Cyrus - Trail Of Tears

02 Gordon Lightfoot - Cherokee Bend

03 Jimi Hendrix - Cherokee Jam

04 Chet Baker - Cherokee

05 Manowar - Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee

06 Jerry Harrison - Cherokee Chief

07 Merle Haggard - Cherokee Maiden

08 Robbie Robertson - Cherokee Morning Song

09 Europe - Cherokee

10 Canned Heat - Cherokee Dance

11 kd Lang - Sweet Little Cherokee

12 Steve Howe & Martin Taylor - Cherokee Ridge

13 Paul Revere & the Raiders - Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian)

14 Hot Club Of Cowtown - Cherokee Shuffle

15 Beau Brummels - Cherokee Girl

16 Michael Martin Murphey - Cherokee Fiddle

17 Joni Mitchell - Cherokee Louise

18 Onie Wheeler - White Lightning Cherokee

19 John Denver - Trail Of Tears

20 Moon Mullican - Cherokee Boogie (Eh-Oh-Aleena)

21 Cher - Half Breed

What's The Connection? Get Up 2

Same idea, just with a little less discipline this time. It starts in a groove you recognize, then gradually pulls in sounds that don’t usually sit next to each other but manage to make sense anyway. The Connection is still obvious, but the ways artists get there are all over the place, from tight funk to looser swings and a few moments that feel like they might fall apart if you look at them too closely. Some tracks push, some resist, and a few seem to be negotiating the whole Get Up thing in real time, which is exactly what keeps it interesting.

What's The Connection? Get Up 2

20 Brass Construction - Get Up To Get Down

21 The Esquires - Get On Up

22 James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing

23 Suzy Q - Get On Up And Do It Again

24 Parliament - P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)

25 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Get Up Stand Up

26 Tata Vega - Get it Up for Love

27 Jodeci - Get Up On It (Instant Flava Mix)

28 Lil Brian & the Zydeco Travelers - Get Up On That Zydeco

29 Desmond Dekker - Get Up Edina

30 The Cramps - Let's Get Fcked Up

31 Ministry - Git Up Get Out 'N Vote

32 Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl) (12' Remix)

33 Ringo Starr - Gotta Get Up To Get Down

34 Yes - I Get Up I Get Down (Remix)

35 Anna Kendrick - Get Back Up Again

36 TobyMac - Get Back Up

37 Yoso - Time To Get Up

qBk

Every so often I end up with songs that did not make it into other picks, not because they were not good enough but because they just did not fit what I was building at the time. Rather than let them disappear I started throwing them into the three letter series, and the name is exactly what it looks like. I just randomly hit keys. This pick has no real theme and I am not going to pretend it does. What it has is twelve songs I genuinely like that needed a home. They should not go together and yet somehow they sort of do. Have a listen and see if you agree. That is what this is.

qBk

01 Transglobal Underground - Temple Head (Burundi Mix)

02 Ozomatli - Cut Chemist Suite

03 Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down

04 Not Bnot Avraham - Rai (instrumental)

05 Black Ivory - Mainline

06 Material & Nona Hendryx - Bustin'out

07 North End - Kind of Life (Kind of Love) (12 inch Vocal)

08 Santana - Oye Como Va (Remix)

09 Maximum Joy - Stretch

10 Emilie-Claire Barlow - These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

11 Shriekback - Nemesis (Extended Mix)

12 Michael Bennett - I Regret It All