Let Me Clear My Throat

I'm attaching a video of the song first for your listening pleasure while you read this post. Just try to keep it in your seat while it's playing. I dare you.
http://www.ilike.com/artist/DJ+Kool/track/Let+Me+Clear+My+Throat

I love to dance. Which means that a lot of my favorite songs are good ones to dance to. This also means that I appreciate rap and hip hop because who's got the phattest beats, yo? Let Me Clear My Throat is an excellent example of a song with a great beat that just makes you want to shake it. It didn't get much radio play, but back in the day you could hear it in the clubs...and the saxophoney sounding background would make you scream "This is my jam!" and drag your girls out to the floor to get your swerve on. The original song was by DJ Kool and this video has some collaboration with Doug E. Fresh and Biz Markie. Can it get any more classic than that?

This song got a lot of attention on Yo! MTV Raps with the Ed Lover Dance. Kids, this is back when MTV was all about the music and actually showing videos. (Did you know that MTV stands for MUSIC television? Yeah, I didn't think so.) Anyway, when they weren't actually showing videos, MTV had shows about music and artists so that everyone was in the know about all of the latest musical happenings.

Yo! MTV Raps was a show that helped us white kids in the burbs find out what was funky AND fresh. They didn't play this stuff on KWK, you guys. MAJIC 108, maybe, but there wasn't a station that really played rap. Yes, this is what life was like before the internets. After you hit fast forward and rewind about a hundred times to get the tape in the right spot, you had to sit in front of the tv to wait for your fave video with your finger poised over the record button of your VCR. Life is so different here in 2009.

Ed Lover hosted the show and named an easy, stupid-looking dance after himself. Let's face it, if I had my own show on MTV I'd do the same damn thing. So have a look at the Ed Lover Dance and let me know if you've got the moves to pull this one off. I bet you do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99lwNnrUNs8

Let's Get Rocked!

Do you wanna get rocked?! Yes, this is an acknowledgment of my appreciation for hoosier tunes. And let's not forget, in the pre-grunge days of the 80's Def Leppard was kind of a big deal. You have a drummer lose his arm and see how well YOUR band does after that. It didn't keep Def Leppard down! Plus, Def Leppard was my first experience with a laser show and it blew my teen aged mind!

The reason I chose this song is because I heard it today and remembered a particular story that went along with it. I'll set the scene of the song: slacker kid, old man hassling him to do some household chores and the kid ain't feeling it. "Sorry Dad, gotta disappear. Let's get the rock outta here." This line brings me to my story.

We're road-tripping to Chicago for the Cards/Cubs series, it's summertime, early in the new millennium. Now, if you've ever made that drive, you know that 55 through Illinois is possibly the most boring ride ever. Flat farmland, nowhere good to stop, and yet tons of traffic; we Cards fans are all about representing at Wrigley. So Tina, Larry and I are in our little part of the caravan. We brought out all kinds of old cd's to keep us entertained and Def Leppard made the cut. We did have 5 hours to kill... We were laughing at some of the lyrics in "Let's Get Rocked" and that's when Larry brought out the dare. At some point in the weekend I had to approach a male stranger and say to him, "Let's get the rock out of here." I took that dare and then turned right around and told him that his dare was a nod to the Gap Band, who we also listened to on this drive. I dared him to say to a complete stranger, "Girl you knock me out." (But that's where his part of the story ends since he never did it.)

So, back to my dare. We were at Murphy's Bleachers, the bar directly across from Wrigley Field. We spent the majority of the day there, out in the sun, loving baseball and drinking beers. Some old biker dude ended up around our group and, stud magnet that I am, he talked to me. This is when I saw my chance and I took it. He was a bit drunk and didn't hear me when I broke out my classy pick-up line the first time. So I raise my voice and again I say, "Let's get the rock out of here." I even used a thumb motion and pointed toward the exit to really bring the message home. I didn't consider how I'd handle it if he agreed to take me up on my offer...not much forethought going on in this situation.

Lucky me, the old bugger STILL didn't hear me and kept on rambling about whatever uninteresting thing drunk bikers talk about. At this point, Tina affirmed that she heard me say it loud and clear. Dare met, game over. Larry tried to say later that it didn't count because the guy didn't hear it, but Tina and I agree that wasn't my fault - the dare wasn't for someone to comprehend my very complex words, but only for them to be said. And I looked him right in the face and said them, not once, but two times! Let it never be said that I welch on bets or shy away from a dare...

Now let's get the rock out of here!!!

Welcome to the Black Parade

Let me preface this by saying that I would normally stay away from a heavy post and keep this light and fun. But you know what? Music is about life – ALL of life, and sometimes life is sad and messy. So, if you don’t want to read an honestly messy post today, come back tomorrow. I promise the good-time-positive memories will be back soon, but right now I have Megan on my mind and I’m not going to deny her the honor of a post. I do have happy memories of her and they are in this post too. My friend deserves it!

So, My Chemical Romance reminds me of my friend Megan who died senselessly and tragically last year. I’m trying so hard to believe and accept that it was her time to go, but her life just seemed so short and unfinished. She was the one to first introduce me to the band and I just fell in love with them. They are emo-punk at it’s finest. We both found the lead singer Gerard to be hot in a scary, sexy way. He gets these crazy eyes and he has teeth that are almost fang-like. And who doesn’t love a vampire mouth?! He wears his guyliner and has his tattoos and a gorgeous voice. He's mastered some emphatic screaming too. Megan often reminded me a lot of myself at her age - and that included a love for the bad boy! It's a rite of passage for all young ladies...

I have not been able to listen to this band since we lost her and have totally avoided them on my ipod. Finally tonight, I literally faced the music. It was gut wrenching and yet strangely cathartic. She and I always connected over music and I know I’d hate it if she was missing out because of me – and with the shoe on the other foot, I know wherever she is she feels the same. So now I can enjoy MCR and our sexy, screaming Gerard again because Megan would want me to. Yes!

All right, let's talk about the song - Welcome to the Black Parade. It starts off with a simple piano background which is always a winner in my book. It builds into this tremendous production with a fast tempo that you just can't deny. It’s really an anthem and it hooked me from the very first time I heard it. And the lyrics couldn’t be more fitting:

Sometimes I get the feeling she’s watching over me…

We’ll carry on, we’ll carry on
and though you’re dead and gone, believe me,
your memory will carry on.

It's an excellent song. I always loved it, especially to rock out in my car and now it has even more meaning because of the lyrics. (I am a lyrics junkie as you'll come to find out. I guess it's the writer in me who believes in the power of words.) So, please give it a listen or better yet, watch the video. http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--43629725 It's dark, but feel and appreciate the passion and the uplifting repetion of the chorus - We'll Carry On! Because isn't that an essential part of life and actually living it?

Thank you Megan for your friendship and your lessons. I'm so happy I knew you.

Paradise by the Dashboard Light

The album Bat Out of Hell got a lot of rotation during my childhood. Evidently one of my parents lost it in the divorce and the other one loved it so much they went out and bought another copy - they both had it and played the crap out of it even though it wasn't exactly child friendly. Look at the album cover - scary! Parents didn't worry about that stuff in the 70's and 80's and they didn't need to. My sister and I just thought it was a weird song with a couple fighting and some obscure baseball stuff thrown in.

Once we got older and figured out that this was an entire song of innuendo, we laughed pretty hard at Sally's interpretation. When Mr. Loaf said "Let me sleep on it" Sally thought the woman had his pillow and wouldn't give it back. He just wanted to sleep and she kept bothering him! Not quite...

As I mentioned earlier, this song got some serious play in our family. When asked by our grade school principal, Sr. Corinne (who was the tallest, scariest nun ever), what her favorite song was, five-year old Sally responded innocently "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Needless to say, my Mom was mortified. I don't remember Sr. Corrinne's reaction, but she probably didn't know what it meant anyway, what with that chastity vow and all.

And now this song of my childhood is a karaoke favorite...who knew all of those other parents of the 70's and 80's were corrupting their kids too?

Blinded By The Light

So this is the first song I remember hearing and thinking "I HAVE to hear this song again and I just can't wait. I need to own it." I was no more than 5 or 6 years old.

The keyboard, powerful vocals and the crazy obscure lyrics hooked me from the start. "Go Kart Mozart was checking out the weather chart" is so hilarious and clever when you're a kindergartener. I basically loved everything about it so the first chance I got, or rather, the first chance my Mom had to take me to a record store, I bought the 45 and in true Amy fashion, played the bejeesus out of it and tried to learn all of the words, but they were so ridiculous that what I heard, was not what was being said.

Did you know that this song was written and orginally recorded by Bruce Springsteen? As of 2008, the Manfred Mann's Earth Band recording of "Blinded by the Light" is still Springsteen's only Number 1 single as a songwriter on the Billboard Hot 100. Who knew?

P.S. I'm not even touching the deuce vs. douche debate...