Brian mostly writes about movies and TV, but he’s contributed some music commentary over the years. This week, I’m revisiting seven of his song reviews and recommendations. “Oscar Mayer Wiener Song” – #6 from “The Top 15 Advertising Jingles” (2015) Oscar Mayer bears the rare distinction of having not one, but two awesome jingles. The company’s ode…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Spotlight: Chris Farley When I was in elementary school, my friend Andy introduced me to Chris…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Spotlight: Things that make me feel old When I looked up “I’m on a Boat”…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Spotlight: Bizarre #1 hits from 1958-1972 Reading about “Purple People Eater” inadvertently sent me down…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Spotlight: Public domain, fair use, and parody In 1955, Philco released an affordable turntable made of…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Spotlight: Variable-Frequency Oscillator In 1966, Jerry Samuels worked as a recording engineer for…
Novelty, parody, and sketch songs have never been a major interest of mine. And most of my reviews would sound the same. So this week, instead of writing about the song, I’m going to pick one of its intriguing quirks or a related topic to spotlight. Quirk: “Second verse, same as the first!” Back in 2014, Colton, Brian, and I ranked…
This week, I’m going to share some cover songs that I like. I’ve long believed that someone’s preferred version of a song will almost always be the first one they hear. It’s not a matter of which one truly came first, just which one came first to that listener. Such it is with “The Boys…
This week, I’m going to share some cover songs that I like. My wife and I often talk about cultural institutions from our childhood and how they define our generation. The obvious one is Harry Potter, but it’s far from the only one. Disney‘s Renaissance; news coverage of 9/11; Max Martin‘s Britney/Backstreet Boys breakthrough. While not at…
This week, I’m going to share some cover songs that I like. Gary Jules is not the first person to discover that stripping down a song’s production can give it new interpretive layers. But his rendition of Tears For Fears’ “Mad World” stands out as a particularly excellent example of the practice. The original, though a…