Once Upon A Time 1

I had been wanting to do this pick for a long time. It's all about songs that tell a story. Now many, many songs tell a story, you might say, but these are really stories. And I guarantee that there will be a few songs that you do not like, and some that you think should've been in this series, but I didn't pick it. Sorry. In advance I will say it: Sorry. There just are too many and after all, these are my picks. If want to add some, add them in the comments section below. But remember a couple of things: This is just volume one of many. And two, I made add your suggestions on a later version. Obviously, the biggest story songs of all time have to include Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree, but I am hard pressed to keep any of these songs out of the first volume. But hard to beat that as the first of the stories.

Once Upon A Time 1

01 Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant Massacree

02 Don McLean - American Pie

03 Coven - One Tin Soldier The Legend Of Billy Jack

04 Vicki Lawrence - The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

05 Billy Joel - Piano Man

06 Dickey Lee - Patches

07 Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun

08 Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue

09 Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

10 Marty Robbins - El Paso

11 Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto

12 Beatles - She's Leaving Home

13 Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe

14 Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A.

15 Jim Croce - Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)

16 Harry Chapin - Cats In The Cradle

Baroque Pop 2

This is part two of the Baroque Pop pick. More Beatles. More Beach Boys. More Zombies. More Left Banke. More Turtles. More Love. And some newer bands as well. It didn't just end in the 60's. I told you I would tell you about the cover. Originally, I got a classical music cassette from an old girlfriend. She played violin.  And she also liked some very cool music. Made some cool cassettes for each other and this one was called Go For Baroque. All baroque music of course. And I thought of that cassette when I made this one. So part of the cover is a scan of that cassette. Part is all digital design of mine. But the idea of notes and the words over it were hers. I always did like it. Coloring scheme stayed the same. Some day I will track down all of the original classical music she used (I have all the songs, but not all of the same conductors) and redo that one and post it up here. But that isn't now. Now is time to comment and leave your favorite Baroque Pop songs for me below.

Baroque Pop 2

25 Stranglers - Golden brown

26 Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

27 Rolling Stones - Lady Jane

28 Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair-Canticle

29 Beatles - Yesterday

30 The Mamas And The Papas - Monday, Monday

31 Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale

32 The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina

33 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

34 Turtles - Happy Together

35 Beach Boys - Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)

36 Stone Poneys - Different Drum

37 Van Dyke Parks - Palm Desert

38 The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin

39 The Ronettes - Be My Baby

40 The Zombies - She's Not There

41 Beach Boys - Good Vibrations

42 Radiohead - Climbing Up The Walls

Baroque Pop 1

I am not sure what song inspired me to make this pick, but I have loved this genre since before I knew it was a genre. I just knew I liked these songs. So most of these two volumes is just my favorites mixed in with some of the best of the genre according to multiple lists all over the internet, a couple of books and a magazine article on Baroque Pop. I love all these artists, although I might not have picked these exact songs as my very favorites, they are great examples of the genre. Part two will be tomorrow and I will tell you about the cover.

Baroque Pop 1

01 Honeybus - I Can't Let Maggie Go

02 Beatles - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

03 Roy Orbison - Crying

04 Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning

05 Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

06 Glen Campbell - Guess I'm Dumb

07 Love - Orange Skies

08 Bee Gees - I Close My Eyes (Stereo)

09 Walker Brothers - Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

10 Beach Boys - God Only Knows

11 The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

12 Harmony Grass - What A Groovy Day

13 The Association - Songs In The Wind

14 Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons - Mrs. Stately's Garden

15 Turtles - Elenore

16 Nancy Sinatra - Sand

17 Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By

18 Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

19 The Zombies - Care Of Cell 44

20 The Cyrkle - Please Don't Ever Leave Me

21 Harpers Bizarre - Leaving On A Jet Plane

22 Emitt Rhodes - Come Ride, Come Ride

23 The Orange Bicycle - Last Cloud Home

24 Love - Alone Again Or

What's The Connection? Church

Appropriate for a Sunday this connection is all songs with Church in the title. Been wanting to do this one for awhile. So many church songs. I already had done Amen, Angels, Jesus etc. So it was about time. The cover is a picture of my old church in the Bay Area. Miss the people there. Anyway Hozier had been playing at my house and it inspired me again to start this pick up. It wouldn't be WTC? if there wasn't some songs that you may not know. And yes, I really do listen to and own some Jo Stafford (with and without Gordon Macrae) and enjoy her work especially. I do think it is nice right next to Elvis Costello, too. So enjoy this in your car to or from church on any Sunday (or whenever your services are.)

What's The Connection? Church

01 Fall Out Boy - Church

02 Dolly Parton - Church In The Wildwood

03 The Willows - Church Bells May Ring

04 Steve Vai - Building the Church

05 Brian Setzer Orchestra - Get Me To The Church On Time

06 Sinead O' Connor - Take Me To Church

07 Little Big Town - Little White Church

08 Elvis Costello - Church Underground

09 Jo Stafford & Gordon Macrae - The Little Old Church Near Leichester Square

10 Hozier - Take Me To Church

11 Drive-By Truckers - Late for Church

12 David Bowie - Sex and The Church

13 Tim Mcgraw - Neon Church

14 Culture Club - Church Of The Poison Mind

15 The Waterboys - Church Not Made With Hands

16 Xtc - Church Of Women

17 Jason Aldean - Church Pew Or Bar Stool

18 Christian Death - Church Of No Return

19 Lyle Lovett - Church

20 Maren Morris - My Church

More Smoke Again

This is another one of those CD picks I made for a buddy of mine. We went to so many concerts together. If you want to know about the More Smoke reference, look at the explanation on yesterday's post. Some of the bands that we saw, include David Bowie, Lou Reed, Yoko Ono (he went under protest, but we got to meet her and Sean), Jonathan Richman, Joe Pop-O-Pie, Roxy Music, Nina Hagen, Kraftwerk, Tones On Tail and hundreds more. Always a good show and always a great time. On the way we'd usually listen to the new album or whatever they were promoting and later, who knew. This was just a follow up pick to the last one. I can't remember who was coming soon then. Might have been Shonen Knife, or maybe Zappa Plays Zappa. or Lost Sounds. So long ago, I don't remember which one for sure.

More Smoke Again

01 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso

02 Beck - Loser

03 Radiohead - Creep

04 The Humans - Get You Tonight

05 Fabulous Poodles - Mirror Star

06 The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet

07 The Strokes - Hard To Explain

08 David Bowie - Fly

09 Shonen Knife - Mosquitoes

10 Lost Sounds - Energy Drink & The Long Walk Home

11 The Faint - Agenda Suicide

12 Wall Of Voodoo - The Good The Bad & The Ugly-Hang 'Em High

13 Rosenkrantz, Almond, Nina Hagen - Total Eclipse

14 Pink Coffee - Another Brick In The Wall

15 Kraftwerk - Mega Mix

17 Thee Headcoatees - Come Into My Mouth

18 Dweezil Zappa - Dick Cinnamon's Office

More Smoke

My friend Phil and I would often go to concerts in the Bay Area. We have similar tastes in some music. We disagreed on a few things, but usually we were pretty much on the same wave length. Although he would rather listen to old Velvet Underground or Brian Eno rather than listen to new stuff if he had the choice, he was open to new music every now and again. When we drove to concerts, many times I would drive and since I had a CD player in my car, I would make a CD that had songs that I figured he would like if he heard them. Anyway one day I had tickets to see a band that he did not know (My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult). We had a drive from San Jose to the I-Beam in San Francisco and I put together this pick to play on the drive. A few bands he knew (but not these songs) and some he didn't know. I ended up naming it More Smoke, because the I-Beam show had so much smoke that you could barely see the band. I won't even talk about drunken-ness and Back Seat Betty's, but that happened.

More Smoke

01 Red Zone - News From The Red Zone

02 Frank Zappa - Variations On The Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression

04 The Sisters Of Mercy - Emma

05 Pop -O- Pies - Fascists Eat Donuts

06 Nina Hagen - Hare Krishna

09 Devo - Mongoloid

10 Yoko Ono - Why

11 Quiet Sun - Mummy Was An Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil

12 Wall Of Voodoo - Dance You Fuckers

13 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus

14 Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name Of

I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow All Of My Life 2

Okay, this is side two of this pick (an old cassette brought back to life) of stuff I was listening to feverishly around this time. Yes, another Frankie song (and better than the hit). A double, because they were so good. This song really got me to start looking at other ZTT album. I already loved Art Of Noise, but had figured that sound to be only for them, but now realized that Trevor Horn had a lot to do with the sound. Two Madonna songs, Rockwell instead of Prince and, of course, Romeo Void who was too cool. I think originally Lucky Star was on side 1 with a shorter version of Relax, but when it moved to newer formats, I extended Frankie (because I could and it was great) and Madonna moved over.

I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow All Of My Life 2

09 Madonna - Lucky Star

10 Soft Cell - Torch (Extended Version)

11 Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me

12 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes (Annihilation Mix)

13 Madonna - Borderline

14 Romeo Void (extended) - A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)

15 Fixx - Are We Ourselves

16 Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow All Of My Life 1

This is side one of one of my old c-90 cassettes. Side 2 tomorrow. Stuff I was listening to in the 80's. I redid it as a playlist using better original sources rather than the old cassette. I was completely enthralled with Matt Johnson and The The. I would listen to it over and over again and wonder why it wasn't being played on the radio. And when I found out that (like Prince) he did most all of the album by himself, I was even more hooked. I had heard one track by him before this album. From a compilation, the song was The The (from the band The The) so I knew I wanted to hear more. I was very pleasantly surprised how good it was. Anyway that is what started me making this pick. Looking back, does Rockwell and Frankie Goes To Hollywood ever belong together? I thought so, then. 

I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow All Of My Life 1

01 The The - I've Been Waitin' For Tomorrow

02 Billy Idol - Flesh for Fantasy

03 Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It

04 Prince & the Revolution - Let's Go Crazy

05 Wang Chung - Wait

06 John Waite - Missing You

07 Thompson Twins - The Gap

08 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (Original 12 inch mix)

What's The Connection? School

It's starting to be time for school to start again (or maybe it's already started in your area), so here is my pick of school songs in this WTC. Yes, please put your choices that I missed in the comments. I'm sure there are plenty. I don't know much about history, but I do know that these all are about school and learnin'. No, it wasn't that funny, but it's a rush job today. There is one title here that is not in English by Herman Brood: Ex-boyfriend of Nina Hagen. His song is in Dutch and means "Never back to the rotten school" or something close to that. I first learned to speak and read Nederlandse, but I never got much past elementary school in reading and writing. Either way I still enjoy an occasional song sung in my first language.

What's The Connection? School

01 The Beach Boys - Be True To Your School

02 Supertramp - School

03 Steely Dan - My Old School

04 Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard

05 Cat Stevens - (Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard

06 Earth Wind & Fire - Yearnin', Learnin'

07 Prince - Schoolyard

08 Sylvers - High School Dance

09 Frankie Avalon - Beauty School Dropout

10 Chuck Berry - School Days

11 Jerry Lee Lewis - High School Confidential

12 Stranglers - School Ma'm

13 School Of Rock - School Of Rock

14 Yardbirds - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

15 Toy Dolls - Modern Schools Of Motoring

16 Ramones - Rock 'n' Roll High School

17 Nirvana - School

18 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Catholic School Girls Rule

19 The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death

20 Pixies - Weird At My School

21 The Replacements - Fuck School

22 Herman Brood - Nooit Meer Terug Naar Die Rotschool

23 Alice Cooper - School's Out

Fakin' Jamaican 3

It is amazing to me to look for Jamaican influenced music. It's not as simple as looking for songs with a specific word in the title. Although you will notice that the Motels have a song on this pick called Porn Reggae (and previous volumes had songs with Reggae in the title - like Nina Hagen's African Reggae). The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Santana, Led Zeppelin all had some fake Jamaican songs. One of the least likely is Styx on this volume. They had a hidden track on one of their early albums that is a joke comedy song about a toilet done with a reggae beat. If you listen to all the volumes, you'll notice a couple of novelty songs done in a Jamaican style.  This is the last volume I'm posting for now. Leave a comment if I missed a great white washed reggae tune. I will add it to another volume in the future.

Fakin' Jamaican 3

43 Frank Zappa - Bolero

44 Steely Dan - Babylon Sisters

45 The Motels - Porn Reggae

46 The Toyes - Monster Hash

47 J Geils Band - Give It To Me

48 Three Dog Night - Black and White

49 Carlos Santana, Sean Paul, Joss Stone - Cry Baby Cry

50 Cabaret Voltaire - Silent Command

51 The Orb - Perpetual Dawn (Solar Youth Mix)

52 Leftfield - Release The Pressure

53 Killing Joke - Turn To Red

54 Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

55 Rolling Stones - Luxury

56 Jah Wobble - Dreadlock Don't Deal in Wedlock

57 Styx - Don't Sit Down On The Plexiglass Toilet

58 Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends

59 Todd Rundgren - Bang the Drum All Day

60 Led Zeppelin - D'yer Mak'er

61 No Doubt - Spiderwebs

Fakin' Jamaican 2

The more you look at popular and rock music, the more you see influences of other musical genres. This is especially true of Jamaican music, specifically, Reggae, Ska, Dub, etc. Putting this pick together (all of the volumes) was fun. And watching the expression on my friend's face as he realized that he actually does like Jamaican music was even better. He is a big Jeff Back fan and when he realized that Beck incorporated reggae on one of his favorite albums, blew him away. Oops! Sorry. You can find so many artists who have been influenced by the little island of Jamaica, that it's not even funny. It's that way with a lot of genres. The Slipped My Disco series did that with disco. So many bands were influenced by that genre, too. You can really find it with every trend of music. Some last longer than others, or mutate into something new, but it's all good.

Fakin' Jamaican 2

23 The Members - Stand Up And Spit

24 Clash - Police & Thieves

25 Jeff Beck - She's a Woman

26 Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

27 Bauhaus - Harry

28 Nina Hagen - African Reggae

29 The Police - The Bed's Too Big Without You

30 Eric Clapton - I Shot The Sheriff

31 Blondie - The Tide Is High

32 Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

33 Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

34 Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind

35 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers

36 10cc - Dreadlock Holiday

37 Paul Simon - Mother and Child Reunion

38 Sublime - Smoke Two Joints

39 No Doubt featuring Lady Saw - Underneath It All

40 Annette Funicello with Fishbone - Jamaica Ska

41 Elektrics - Pretty Plastic

42 Gruppo Sportivo - I Shot My Manager (Edit)

Fakin' Jamaican 1

I've always loved ska and reggae since I first heard it. So bouncy and fun, even when it was political in nature. The whitewashing of reggae has also interested me. In fact any genre that influences another group of artists can make some really cool music. It can also water it down. But there have a been a few times in my life that to get someone to like a type of music, they need to be eased in to it. I've made blues comps that were not "original" blues that have gotten people to look for old blues artists. Same with punk and rap. This pick is because I had a coworker who said he couldn't stand reggae or ska, but I knew he liked the Police and Bauhaus and Eric Clapton. So obviously he did like the music, even though he didn't realize it. So I made this series of what I called whitewashed reggae or Fake Jamaican music. I hope you enjoy it.

Fakin' Jamaican 1

01 Full Moon Tan - No Money, No Chick, No Car

02 Stevie Wonder - Master Blaster (Jammin')

03 Joe Jackson - Fools In Love

04 Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives

05 The Police - Man In A Suitcase

06 Fishbone - (Modern Industry)

07 Dinky Toys - Out In The Streets

08 Clash - Guns Of Brixton

09 Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone

10 Untouchables - Free Yourself

11 Madness - One Step Beyond

12 Let's Go Bowling - L.G.B.

13 Skankin' Pickle - Fakin' Jamaican

14 Toasters - Secret Agent Man

15 Bad Manners - Bonanza Ska

16 Bluekilla - Hawa Negila

17 Fishbone - Ugly

18 Gangbusters - Bad Attitude

19 Mr Cranky - Get Out Of My House

20 Bim Skala Bim - Hung Up

21 Sublime - Date Rape

22 Fishbone - Lyin' Ass Bitch

End Of The World 2

To see why I started this pick see yesterday's post. Today I continue with the End Of The World, Apocalyptic playlist. Great songs on both volumes and perfect for an End Of The World party. Which I assume you will be having (and you will invite me, right?) But today I am going to talk about the cover which has a few familiar images. You may have noticed the background is from one of my favorite dystopian movies: Idiocracy. Started out as a comedy and is slowly coming true. You can even see the twisty buildings now in Las Vegas. Look for them, they are there. And also a logo from another movie about the end of the world, Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. Be prepared! Don't Panic! Bring your towel. Anyway, it's also got the end of the world in that movie. Anyway there are tons of movies about the apocalypse and this is now volume two of the music to play along with it. Leave a comment about your favorite songs about the end.

End Of The World 2

22 David Byrne - Tiny Apocalypse

23 Hooters - All You Zombies

24 Doors - The End

25 Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

26 The Motels - Apocalypso

27 Pink Floyd - Goodbye Cruel World

28 Peter Gabriel - Here Comes the Flood

29 Chris and Cosey - Apocalypso

30 Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

31 Nine Inch Nails - The Day The World Went Away

32 Tom Waits - Earth Died Screaming

33 Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

34 Ministry - End Of Days (Pt.2)

35 X-ray Spex - The Day The World Turned Day-Glo

36 Muse - Apocalypse Please

End Of The World 1

What with all of the weird stuff going around the world, every few years one side or the other starts predicting the end of the world. Every president is predicted by the other side to be the doomsday president. It usually doesn't quite work out that way, although we have had some close calls. When Nixon was going to China, Doomsday! Even one of the now favorite presidents, Reagan, was called a crazy actor who was going to push the red button. Even Obama was criticized for starting wars with drones. Bush, Carter, Clinton, all of them were going to start the end of the world to one extent or the other. Even Gore predicted the end of humanity by 2012. All started one war or skirmish or the other, but somehow, by the grace of God, we didn't start the End Of The World. But with the protests and talk of another Civil War, I started to come up with a playlist for the next time someone predicts the END of the World! Here's the first volume of my pick. More tomorrow.

End Of The World 1

01 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising

02 Black Sabbath - After Forever

03 Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around

04 Simple Minds - Waiting At The End Of The World

05 U2 - Until The End Of The World

06 REM - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

07 AC-DC - Hells Bells

08 Sisters of Mercy - Gimme Shelter

09 Paul Anka - Blackhole Sun

10 Elvis Costello - Waiting for the End of the World

11 Pink Floyd - Run Like Hell

12 Europe - The Final Countdown

13 Pet Shop Boys - The End Of The World

14 Prince - 1999

15 Skeeter Davis - The End Of The World

16 The Cure - The End Of The World

17 Beatles - The End

18 Turtles - Eve Of Destruction

19 The Clash - London Calling

20 Nine Inch Nails - The Beginning Of The End

21 Cheap Trick - Auf Wiedersehen

Beatlesons

Like probably most of the world, I like the Beatles. And there are millions of Beatles compilations. I started thinking about all of the great music that came out from the Sons of the Beatles. Each of the sons had some really good tracks and they haven't been released as a compilation, so my pick of the best of the sons is here. My guess is that Julian had the biggest hit on his own. Zak probably has played with the biggest names in music. Sean has been in or started some of the coolest bands. Dhani and James have also all done their fathers proud. Not much recorded with Jason, sorry. I'm sure I am missing some tracks, but I limited it to what would fit on a CD. I wish all of them would do a track together, just to see what they could come up with. It's amazing how they all have their own flavor, but each also has a little of their father in them. Anyway tell me what you like or not in the comments.

Beatlesons

01 James McCartney - Old Man

02 Sean Lennon - Dead Meat

03 Cibo Matto - Spoon

04 Oasis with Zak Starkey - The Importance Of Being Idle

05 Dhani Harrison - Motorways (Erase It)

06 Fistful Of Mercy with Dhani Harrison - Father's Son

07 Thenewno2 with Dhani Harrison - Crazy Tuesday

08 Sean Lennon - Into The Sun

09 Julian Lennon - Too Late For Goodbyes

10 The Claypool Lennon Delirium - Cricket And The Genie (Movement I, The Delirium)

11 Julian Lennon - Now You're In Heaven

12 Paul Weller & Graham Coxon with Zak Starkey - This Old Town

13 Julian Lennon - Saltwater

14 Dhani Harrison - All About Waiting

15 Penguins Rising - Hatemale

16 James McCartney - Angel

17 Julian Lennon - Valotte

18 Sean Lennon - Parachute

19 The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger - Animals

20 James McCartney - Strong as You

21 Sshh - Babylon's Burning

Just Say Yes...No...Maybe...3

This is the last pick of the series (for now) so make suggestions in the comments if I missed something you think I should add to a future volume (I still have a few left to add.) I like that the very last track on each of these volumes is a short bit. Today's bit is from the Hair Broadway show. Growing up that soundtrack had great meaning to me. It was one of the few non-jazz albums in our house growing up. My mom and dad used to host dance parties in the early 70's where I used to play the records. They mostly ballroom danced (our garage had linoleum tiled floors and a dropped ceiling and a bar so they could dance.) I played records and tended bar with my brothers for all my parent's friends. Lots of fun. But she claimed that the Hair soundtrack was an album that someone else brought to our house and left at one of their parties. I don't know about that because my mom and dad dressed pretty "groovy" (as Greg Brady used to say). Anyway, I used to listen to it a lot. The whole thing is about being a hippy on drugs.

Just Say Yes...No...Maybe...3

43 Catatonia - Is Everybody Here On Drugs

44 Marilyn Manson - I Don`t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)

45 Lords Of Acid - Marijuana In Your Brain

46 Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five - Hustlers Convention

47 Kim Fowley - The Trip

48 The Jazz Butcher - She's on Drugs

49 Rick James - Mary Jane

50 Steppenwolf - The Pusher

51 Huey Lewis and the News - I Want A New Drug

52 Electronica - Coke, Sex, Drugs

53 Black Uhuru - Sinsemilla

54 20-20 - Yellow Pills

55 Translator - Favorite Drug

56 Neil Young & The Restless - Cocaine Eyes

57 The Verve - The Drugs Don`t Work

58 Robby Fulks - She Took A Lot Of Pills (And Died)

59 Nashville Pussy - You Give Drugs A Bad Name

60 Courtney Love - All The Drugs

61 Hair Company - Be-In

Just Say Yes...No...Maybe... 2

Once you get started on this pick, you notice so many songs that are about drugs. Some with a message like Grandmaster Melle Mel and some that are just about drugs being fun like Buckcherry and everything in between. A couple of good covers in here. Storm and The Balls mashing up two songs in a brilliant way is so good. Nina Hagen from a soundtrack covering Knocking On Heaven's Door, but changing the lyrics to talk about her relationship with heroin addict Herman Brood is another brilliant song. Some of my highlights on this series. I also love The Stairs and their psychedelic Weed Bus. I got that as a promo CD single years ago and it made me want to find the whole album (also good). System 01 features Timothy Leary - hard to get more druggy than that.

Just Say Yes... No... Maybe... 2

21 Queens of the Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer

22 Buckcherry - Lit Up

23 Weezer - We Are All On Drugs

24 Sly and the Revolutionaries - Cocaine

25 Black Slate - Legalize Collie Herb

26 Grandmaster Melle Mel - White Lines

27 Lydia Lunch with The Anubian Lights - Champagne Cocaine Nicotine Stains

28 Storm and The Balls - Star Spangled Pushernoia

29 Motel21 - Drug Addict (Monoloop Remix)

30 System 01 - From Psychodelics to Cybernetics

31 The Toyes - Smoke Two Joints

32 Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned

33 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

34 Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Women #12 and 35

35 Nina Hagen - Herman's Door

36 The Velvet Underground & Nico - I'm Waiting For The Man

37 Stairs - Weed Bus

38 Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Tell Me About Your Drugs

39 The Cramps - Drug Train

40 Murderdolls - I Take Drugs

41 Nashville Pussy - She's Got the Drugs

42 Cheech & Chong - Acupulco Gold Filters

Just Say Yes...No...Maybe... 1

I got the idea for this pick from the title from the old commercials during the 80's, Reagan Era anti-drug campaigns. These are all drug songs. Some anti drugs, some pro drugs and some a little ambivalent. Hence the Yes, No, Maybe. All the songs are about drugs in one sense or the other. I'm Libertarian, so I think it's up to you. Make your own judgement as long as you are an adult and we'll judge your actions. So these include my favorite drug songs in several volumes, some covers and some originals. It covers the genre spectrum and there is at least one song in each volume that you will hate (and hopefully many you will like). Let me know what drug songs I am missing in the comments and maybe I will include them on later volumes, if they aren't already on the way.

Just Say Yes...No...Maybe... 1

01 Soft Boys - Cold Turkey

02 Peter Tosh - Legalize It

03 The Tubes - White Punks On Dope

04 NWA - Dopeman (Remix)

05 Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

06 This Mortal Coil - Drugs

07 The Velvet Underground & Nico - Heroin

08 Eric Clapton - Cocaine

09 Frank Zappa - Cocaine Decisions

10 Pato Banton - Don't Sniff Coke

11 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated

12 Dead Kennedys - Drug Me

13 Simpletones - I Like Drugs

14 The Golfers - I Used To Do Drugs

15 The Fall - Totally Wired

16 Pat Travers - Snortin' Whiskey

17 General Kane - Crack Killed Applejack

18 Jackson Browne - Cocaine

19 Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain

20 Jackson Browne - Cocaine Ending

Mostly Peaceful

 Around the summer as Kenosha was burning under riots from BLM and antifa, we had already seen riots and burning flags all over, CHAZ, CHOP and violence around the country as CNN called them Mostly Peaceful protests. I started coming up with this pick for a playlist. I'm sure you can come up with more songs to fit this (I did and someday I will make volume 2) so leave a comment about them below. In the meantime listen to this when you start thinking of lawlessness and how some politicians refused to stand up against this kind of violence and brutality. All the bad parts of protests and very little good. Except for this playlist which has a great pick of songs from all over the map genre-wise. Actually even though the events weren't funny, I chuckle every time I listen to this comp. CNN thinking they could gaslight us.

Mostly Peaceful

01 Starkweathers - Burn The Flag

02 Mick Farren - Let's Loot The Supermarket Again Like We Did Last Summer

03 Nine Inch Nails - Burn

04 Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn

05 Deep Purple - Burn

06 The Clash - White Riot

07 The Cure - Burn

08 Blow Monkeys - Burn The Rich

09 Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning

10 Death In June - Burn Again

11 Gwen Mccrae - Keep The Fire Burning

12 The Wailers - Burnin' and Lootin'

13 John Wesley Harding - Protest Protest Protest

14 Scorpions - The Riot Of Your Time

15 Ministry - Antifa

16 Rugburns - Rioting

17 Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot

18 Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot

19 The Ruts - Babylon's Burning

I'm Just A Dreamer

I admit it. I like ballads. Smooth seductive sometimes. Slow most of the time. I've made many picks of ballads, slow songs. This is just another one. The title is from the Jacksons lyrics. I like the song. Notice that some of these songs are not about love. So I wouldn't use all of these at a wedding. A few are about loss or cheating. That doesn't stop it from being a great ballad. At the time, these were some of the slow ballads I was listening to. I hope you enjoy the playlist.

I'm Just A Dreamer

01 George Michael - Careless Whisper

02 Honeydrippers - Sea Of Love

03 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time

04 Culture Club - Time (Clock Of The Heart)

05 Bronski Beat - It Ain't Necessarily So

06 The Cars - Drive

07 Tina Turner - Private Dancer (extended remix)

08 Corey Hart - It Ain't Enough

09 USA For Africa - We Are The World

10 Jacksons - Dreamer

11 Spandau Ballet - True

12 Quincy Jones & James Ingram - 100 Ways

13 Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You

14 Heatwave - Sho'nuff Must Be Luv

15 Commodores - Zoom

16 Billy Ocean - Suddenly

17 Smokey Robinson - Being With You

18 Rose Royce - I Wanna Get Next To You

19 Jermaine Jackson - Do What You Do

20 Sade - Smooth Operator (Long Version)

Hardly Soft

This pick came about because of Concrete Blonde (and Krezip). I met Johnette Napolitano at a radio convention when their first album was coming out. They hadn't even seen it in print yet. And they were not famous and they were really nice. Hanging out with me and my buddies waiting for their rep to bring out the first copies of their LP. So we talked for awhile, had some common interests and just messed around. One of the things that she told me was that they came up with the name Concrete Blonde (After Dream 6) because it was Hard and Soft at the same time which is what they were trying to sound like. Later that day I got to hear Still In Hollywood and I thought it was as good as if not better than anything on Dream 6 (Tomorrow May Never Come, etc). Later when Krezip, a Dutch band, came out, it reminded me of Concrete Blonde and some other hard, but soft songs. That's when I made this playlist compilation pick. The title was a play on the original idea behind it all.

Hardly Soft

01 Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

02 Krezip - All Unsaid

03 No Doubt - Don't Speak

04 Garbage - Til The Day I Die

05 Hole - Jennifer's Body

06 Juliana Hatfield Three - My Sister

07 The Pretenders - Kid

08 Concrete Blonde - True

09 Letters To Cleo - Dangerous Type

10 Josie and the Pussycats - 3 Small Words

11 L7 - Pretend We're Dead

13 Patti Smith - Gloria

14 Joan Jett - Crimson and Clover

15 Brix Smith - Oringina

16 Pixies - Gigantic

17 Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

18 Jefferson Starship - Somebody To Love

19 Mary Lou Lord - Some Jingle Jangle Morning

20 Bjork and PJ Harvey - Satisfaction

21 The Heads - Damage I've Done

Maceo Parker Pick

You probably saw the other family picks from some of the P-Funk family and there certainly could be a lot of crossover. You will see more. I have several all prepared. This is a Maceo Parker pick. Most of it is solo Maceo Parker with a couple of extra track. For a full family pick, you will have to wait. This has some James Brown, but it doesn't even have a Parliament or a Prince track. Although you can find him on albums with all of those bands and more. These are just some of my favorite Maceo tracks. I hope you like them. And I hope you look up the other P-funk family picks I posted already (like Eddie Hazel and George Clinton).

Maceo Parker Pick

01 Maceo Parker - Shake Everything You've Got

02 Maceo Parker - Rabbits in the Pea Patch

03 Maceo Parker - Uptown Up

04 James Brown - Hot Pants, Pt. 1

05 Bootsy Collins - The Pinocchio Theory

06 Keith Richards - Big Enough

07 Bootsy Collins - Bootzilla

08 James Brown - Sex Machine

09 Maceo Parker - Pass The Peas

10 Sweat Band with Bootsy Collins - Freak To Freak

11 Ryuichi Sakamoto - Broadway Boogie Woogie

12 James Brown - Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud), Pt. 1

13 Maceo Parker - Parrty

14 Maceo Parker - Let's Get It On

Heart Full Of Soul

There was no trouble naming this playlist. I was born with sarcasm in my voice. I picked songs that had soul less vocals, robotic, bland, no heart vocals. Although that's really only true on the surface. Most of these songs do have a lot of heart. Machine robot hearts maybe, but heart none the less. I started with The Flying Lizards covering Money and added the Plastics, The Bakersfield Boogie Boys, Mrs Fun and it just went on from there. I don't know much about some of these bands, but it does flow nicely from yesterday's connection of Robots. I love songs like these, so if I missed a great song, or a band that has a song in this "style", pretty please tell me in the comments. I would appreciate it. I like the cover.

Heart Full Of Soul

01 The Flying Lizards - Sex Machine

02 Bakersfield Boogie Boys - I Get Around

03 Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

04 Jah Wobble - Blueberry Hill

05 Plastics - Last Train To Clarksville

06 Mrs. Fun - Stand By Your Man

07 Polyphonic Size - Mother's Little Helper

08 The Normal - Warm Leatherette

09 Gary Numan - Cars

10 Residents - This Is A Man's, Man's, Man's World

11 Trio - Da Da Da

12 Space Negros - Heart Full Of Soul

13 Yellow Magic Orchestra - Day Tripper

14 Silicon Teens - You Really Got Me

15 The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want)

16 Suburban Lawns - Janitor

17 ChicKs on Speed - Gimme Back My Man

18 The B-52's - Don't Worry

19 Melon - I Will Call You (And Other Famous Last Words)

20 Negativland - Yellow Black And Rectangular

21 M - Pop Muzik

22 Kraftwerk - Numbers (Komplete Version)

23 Julia's Child - The World Owes Me A Lunch

What's The Connection? Robots

Pretty much every science fiction geek, like me, likes robots. Maybe as a kid you go Rock-em, Sock-em Robots or maybe you just watched Lost in Space or Giant Robot. You might even know Klaatu Barada Niktu from the Day The Earth Stood Still (the bw original, not with Keanu Reeves). But either way there are some cool Robot songs. I include Iron Man and Magneto and Titanium Man as well as Bionic Man. Had to include The Fabulous Poodles as well as Devo and The Dickies. This connection goes all over the map in genres but they all are basically about mechanical men. Enjoy the reggae next to the new wave and experimental from the Space Negroes (Erik Lindgren) to Praxis (Bill Laswell). And yes even Mr. Roboto shows up.

What's The Connection? Robots

01 The Alan Parsons Project - I, Robot

02 Kraftwerk - The Robots

03 Plastics - Robot

04 Space Negroes - Robot

05 Fabulous Poodles - Bionic Man

06 Devo - Mechanical Man

07 The Dickies - Gigantor

08 Scorpions - Robot Man

09 Black Sabbath - Iron Man

10 Wings - Magneto and Titanium Man

11 UB40 - Hip Hop Lyrical Robot

12 Buggles - I Love You (Miss Robot)

13 Was (Not Was) - Robot Girl

14 Styx - Mr. Roboto

15 Neil Young - Transformer Man

16 Praxis - Giant Robot-Machines In The Modern City-Godzilla

What's The Connection? Spiders

I don't like spiders, I don't like most bugs. But I love songs with Spider in the title. There are so many good ones. And I do like Spiderman (the comic). This Connection has nothing to do with Peter Parker, though. You would think I would put one of the cool versions of the Spiderman Theme in here, but I didn't. Had to put in Jim Stafford. That's one of my favorite Spider (and Snake) songs. Of course the Toy Dolls and The Who. But one of the coolest tracks, I got from a friend of mine (Liz) who used to live in the UK. I can't verify this, but I believe her story. She heard I was making a playlist of Spider songs and she said that she had a 45 that she got from a cereal box in the 70's with a Spider song and did I want it? OMG, YES! So this 45 is by the Tigers and it's called "Spider In The Bath" and it ends up being a really cool new wave-ish, ska-pop kinda song. So, it's on here. You are welcome. Don't really know much about the band and I looked. All I got is that the band put out some 45's and one album: Savage Music (late 1979 or 1980). Anything else you can find probably is one of the three other bands called Tiger. Just enjoy it.

What's The Connection? Spiders

01 Jim Stafford - Spiders and Snakes

02 Toy Dolls - Spiders In The Dressing Room

03 Who - Boris The Spider

04 Rolling Stones - The Spider and the Fly

05 Tigers - Spider In The Bath

06 Sweet - The Spider

07 Chick Willis - Black Widow Spider

08 Tony Joe White - Stud-Spider

09 Muddy Waters - Mean Red Spider

10 John Lee Hooker - Crawlin' Black Spider

11 Hoodoo Gurus - Mind The Spider

12 Shonen Knife - Spider House

13 Captain Sensible - I'm A Spider

14 They Might Be Giants - Spider

15 Cage The Elephant - Spiderhead

16 No Doubt - Spiderwebs

17 Lee Hazlewood - The Black Widow Spider

18 Uriah Heep - Spider Woman

19 Alice Cooper - Return of the Spiders

20 Dio - Along Comes A Spider

21 Ozzy Osbourne - Spiders

22 Slipknot - Spiders

23 Little Richard - Itsy Bitsy Spider

I'm adding this at the end, because I ended up following up more with Tigers and one of the guys is ex-Van der Graaf Generator (Nic Potter bass) and the other ex-Starry Eyed and Laughing (Ross McGeeney guitar)

What's The Connection? Monkeys

I was listening to a monkey song (that I didn't even put on this connection, but that I liked a lot, so there will have to be volume 2) and started thinking of Ape, Gorilla, Monkey songs that I liked. I came up with this pick. You'll probably know most of the songs. Perhaps not the Fela Kuti or the Residents unless you like that kind of music. And I doubt you've seen the movie that features Jo Kennedy's "Monkey In Me". It was an Australian film in the 80's with some cool, but obscure tracks. Starstruck came out in 192 and didn't really get a good release in the US, but that's too bad it's decent cult film and features music from Tim Finn. The character Jackie played by Jo Kennedy made the film for me, though. She and her "cousin"  get into some great musical antics. Funny movie. And that wasn't even the hit from the movie.

What's The Connection? Monkeys

01 Peter Gabriel - Shock The Monkey

02 Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey

03 Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

04 Michael Franks - Monkey See-Monkey Do

05 Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench

06 Residents with Snake Finger - King Kong

07 Arctic Monkeys - Who The Fuck Are The Arctic Monkeys?

08 The Miracles - Mickey's Monkey

09 Fela Kuti - Monkey Banana

10 The Dickies - You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

11 The Kinks - Apeman

12 Traveling Wilburys - Tweeter And The Monkey Man

13 William Bell - Monkeying Around

14 Honey Cone - One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Part I)

15 Kristin Hersh - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

16 Major Lance - The Monkey Time

17 Billy Butler - Boston Monkey

18 Black Eyed Peas - Shake Your Monkey

19 Starz - Monkey Business

20 Jo Kennedy - Monkey In Me

21 Counting Crows - Monkey

22 TeeVee Toons - Magilla Gorilla

PS: The track I didn't add, but like is Peace + Love + Pitbulls " Do The Monkey"

What's The Connection? Swimming

This connection started at the request of a friend, Neb. He loved Siouxsie & The Banshees and came up with the idea of a swimming connection. And he turned me on to the Phil Manzanera and Wire swimming songs. I put it aside a few times. I'd pull it out every now and again, when I noticed a song about swimming. I think one of the last ones was Florence + The Machine. So this covers all genres, multiple years (both looking and finding). Persistence pays off, because here it is. just in time for the summer when we all want to be swimming in the pool. A bonus track could be a track I originally had on the list: Dire Straits "Twisting By The Pool" and Neb might be disappointed since I also removed The Cure "The Drowning Man" Sorry, Neb. But it doesn't quite fit except as this footnote. It's in the middle of the writeup, so more of a parenthetical thought without parenthesis and not a footnote. BTW, that is my pool on the cover.

What's The Connection? Swimming

01 The Call - A Swim In The Ocean

02 Glen Campbell - Swimming Up Stream

03 Simple Minds - Swimming Towards The Sun

04 Billy Currington - Swimmin' In Sunshine

05 Fishbone - Swim

06 Bush - Swim

07 Madonna - Swim

08 REM - Nightswimming

09 10cc - Channel Swimmer

10 Elvis Presley - Moonlight Swim

11 Florence + The Machine - Swimming

12 Gaelic Storm - Swimmin' In The Sea

13 Phil Manzanera - Swimming

14 Kimberley Rew - We Will Swim Together

15 Wire - Our Swimmer

16 John Foxx - Swimmer 1

17 Siouxsie And The Banshees - Swimming Horses

18 Little Nell - Do The Swim

19 Martha And The Muffins - Swimming

20 Bobby Freeman - C'mon And Swim

21 Sly & The Family Stone - Swim

What's The Connection? Suicide

I told you yesterday that I get uncomfortable with stressful situations. Usually I joke my way out of it. But many times I just make a compilation. This is one of those times. No, I do not feel like killing myself. But I did know someone who actually went through with it. Years ago and very surprising to me. It  took me awhile to get to making the playlist, although I started thinking of it then. I couldn't deal with actually putting it together at the time. But eventually I put this pick together: A Suicide Connection. Probably not too many times you will want to play this, but here it is anyway. I'm sure I missed some songs, so feel free to leave those songs in the comments below. If you are thinking about suicide, please call someone: try 1-800-273-8255 or a friend. Remember this too shall pass.

What's The Connection? Suicide

01 Pink Floyd - Goodbye Cruel World

02 Concrete Blonde - Tomorrow, Wendy

03 Lou Reed - The Bed

04 REM - Everybody Hurts

05 Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe

06 Manic Street Preachers - Theme from M A S H (Suicide Is Painless)

07 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours

07 Queen - Don't Try Suicide

09 Sisters Of Mercy - Emma

10 Van Halen - Jump

11 Blue Clocks Green - Hemingway (12 Version)

12 Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

13 Pere Ubu - Final Solution

14 Fabulous Poodles - Suicide Bridge

15 Cheap Trick - Auf Wiedersehen

16 Ozzy Osbourne - Suicide Solution

17 Dead Kennedys - Straight A's

18 Eminem - Stan

What's The Connection? Heart Attack

This came about because I had a friend that had a heart attack. I deal with stress with humor and making compilations. Let's me deal with stuff. That works in love and in times of sickness, in this case: heart attacks. Anyway I started looking at everything in my life associated with chest pains and immediately thought of several songs about heart attacks. First that came to mind was my friend and work buddy Paul Engemann's band Device. Might not be the first one you thought of (Probably Queen), but for me, I played that song Hanging On A Heart Attack way before I met Paul or started working with him. And that band was before he worked with Giorgio Moroder or the band Animotion. But I played the hell out of that twelve inch single at clubs, on the radio and at events. So the first song I thought of for this WTC. The rest came after. Not sure if anyone else would think it's proper to play to someone who has just had a heart attack, but I never was known for tact. You'' have to decide for yourself.

What's The Connection? Heart Attack

01 Thin Lizzy - Heart Attack

02 Demi Lovato - Heart Attack

03 Beastie Boys - Heart Attack Man

04 Queen - Sheer Heart Attack

05 James Cotton - Heart Attack

06 Device - Hanging On A Heart Attack

07 One Direction - Heart Attack

08 Eric Burdon - Heart Attack

09 Toni Braxton & Babyface - Heart Attack

10 Nina Hagen - Love Heart Attack

11 Johnny Winter - Serious As A Heart Attack

12 Freak Kitchen - Chest Pain Waltz

13 Jerry Goldsmith - Chest Pains

14 Liars - Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack!

15 Bush Tetras - Heart Attack

16 Olivia Newton-John - Heart Attack

17 Enrique Iglesias - Heart Attack

18 Old 97's - Murder (Or a Heart Attack)

19 Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart

What's The Connection? Fun

Just a fun WTC? for you. A little bit different than most of my Connections, because I added a couple of songs that are about Good Times. Mostly songs with Fun in the title, one funny song, one enjoy song and the two with good times in the title. Obviously there are a million other songs about fun, but these are the ones I chose from the songs I own. I'm pretty sure I made this around the time that Puffy Amiyumi was popular with Teen Titans in the USA. Because I started listening to them (even saw them in concert) because my daughter liked theband and the cartoons. They were pretty good in concert for what they were. The rest of the songs came from their collaboration with Cyndi Lauper and looking through my albums as I remembered Fun songs. And all of them are pretty fun.

What's The Connection? Fun

01 Daryle Singletary - Too Much Fun

02 Stevie Wonder - Fun Day

03 Jennifer Lopez - Ain't It Funny

04 Jacksons - Enjoy Yourself

05 Spice Girls - If You Wanna Have Fun

06 Britney Spears - I've Just Begun (Having My Fun)

07 Cars - Good Times Roll

08 Chic - Good Times 

09 Con Funk Shun - Ffun

10 Commander Cody - Too Much Fun

11 The Harmonizers Quartet - Ain't We Got Fun

12 Kool & the Gang - Big Fun

13 X - We're Having Much More Fun

14 Inner City - Big Fun

15 Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun

16 Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun

17 Madness - House Of Fun

18 Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight

19 Cyndi Lauper with Puffi Amiyumi - Girls Just Want To Have Fun

20 Tony Bennett & Count Basie - Are You Havin' Any Fun

21 Sly and the Family Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime

22 The Beach Boys - Fun, Fun, Fun

23 The Fantastic Baggies - Summer Means Fun

Shaggin' On The Beach 2

Here's part 2 of my Shaggin' pick. I actually made them both at the same time, making sure I had most all my favorites on these two. Finally got play in the Carolina's and played a bunch of these tracks. They actually go over pretty much everywhere, just not as Beach music or Shag or even as Carolina beach. Just great tracks to dance to. Probably that's sacrilegious talk in a Carolina Beach club, but I'm not from there. I'll dance to whatever it's called. This is the last one for awhile, so if you find your favorite song is missing, make sure to post it in the comments, because I probably have no clue.

Shaggin' On The Beach 2

22 Chairmen Of The Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time

23 Temptations - My Girl

24 Cornelius Brother & Sister Rose - Too Late To Turn Back Now

25 J.J. Jackson - But It's Alright

26 The Embers - I Love Beach Music

27 The Tymes - Ms. Grace

28 Temptations - Ain't Too Proud To Beg

29 Tams - What Kind Of Fool

30 Four Tops - Baby I Need Your Loving

31 The Drifters - You're More Than A Number

32 Fontella Bass - Rescue Me

33 Showman - 39-21-46

34 The Platters - With This Ring

35 Willie Tee - Thank You John

36 Dominoes - Sixty-Minute Man

37 Bruce Channel - Hey Baby

38 Fantastic Shakers - Myrtle Beach Days

39 The Swingin' Medallions - Hey Hey Baby

40 The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

41 Tams - Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy

42 Band Of Oz - Shaggin'

43 Fiestas - So Fine

44 The Showmen - It Will Stand