When talking about Martha and the Muffins, we usually start with "Echo Beach". "Echo Beach" was a major Cancon hit in 1980 and Martha and the Muffins' definitive single. "Echo Beach" actually cracked the top 10 in the UK, making it an international success. In 1984, I remember well the
Did anyone else out there collect the Rap Traxx series of hip-hop compilation cds that came out in the late 80s and early 90s, or was I the only one? I totally dug Rap Traxx, especially Rap Traxx 2. Here are the tunes that appeared on Rap Traxx 2. # Artist
It's my mom's birthday today, and I'm off to a BBQ to join in the celebration. I decided to filter out all songs in my MP3 collection with "birthday" in the title. Out of 36447 songs I was very surprised to find only ten "birthday" songs. Here are the ten
The Pinery Provincial Park is about 3.5 hours from Toronto. I just made the round trip in a new Taurus lent to me by Ford. This Taurus has a great audio system, enabling me to sync my iPod or listen to Sirius satellite radio. I did both. One of
Do you watch Family Guy? I do. In 2008 the Family Guy episode "I Dream of Jesus" gave "Surfin' Bird" new life. In fact, if you've ever watched "I Dream of Jesus", you've likely burst into "Surfin' Bird" at one point or another. Here's Peter singing "Surfin' Bird" in that
All morning, I've been spinning tracks from Reggae Anthology: The Channel One Story. One track I dig, by this cat named Little John, is aptly titled "Smoke Ganja Hard". I wondered to myself, how many tunes are in my collection with the word "ganja" in the song title? It turns
The 2010 Polaris Prize nominees have been unveiled. The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night Owen Pallett – Heartland Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record Radio Radio – Belmundo Regal Caribou – Swim The Sadies – Darker Circles Karkwa – Les Chemins De Verre Shad – TSOL Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Back in 1994, I purchased my music collection on CDs. When I needed to make a mix for portable listening, I dubbed my selections onto a cassette tape and listened to it on my Sony Walkman. In 1994, I didn't go anywhere without my Sony Walkman and a good mix
I wrote a little entry about Gowan's concert in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his album Strange Animal. It wasn't meant to trash Gowan, a talented local singer-songwriter, it was meant to point out the ridiculousness of basing an entire tour around the 25th anniversary of an okay album
I think I'll like This Movie Is Broken, Bruce McDonald's new film. It tells the story of fictional lovers Bruno and Caroline in their quest to score tickets to a BSS concert. It was written by Don McKellar, and features a whack of fan-sourced footage of the band in concert.
Is this real life? How should I start to build my denial playlist? Five songs jump out at me. Denial - Dropkick MurphysDenial - Ozzy OsbourneThe Denial Twist - The White StripesDenial, Revisited - The OffspringEraser (Denial; Realization) - Nine Inch NailsThat's a pretty good start.
Here's a list of songs from my collection with "Mom" or "Mother" or "Mama" in the title. But be warned, not all of these mom and mother songs are appropriate for Mother's Day. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) - Jay-ZChild Without Mother - MotherlodeDirty Mother For You - Memphis MinnieDo You
I keep hearing an ad on the radio promoting Lawrence Gowan's concert in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his album Strange Animal. As I recall, and I was listening to a tonne of Top 40 radio in 1985 (680 CFTR!), Strange Animal spawned two local hits: "A Criminal Mind"
Insane Clown Posse have a new song called "Miracles". Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope sing about the miracles they witness everyday. Here's the tune: If you're at work and can't listen right now, here's the "Miracles" lyrics: If magic is all we've ever know Then it's easy to miss
I loved watching Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling on Saturday mornings. I had the theme song on my copy of The Wrestling Album, which I actually owned on cassette. It was called "Hulk Hogan's Theme". Here it is: My copy of The Wrestling Album confirmed it was called "Hulk Hogan's
I've loved music for as long as I can remember. I used to buy my favourite singles on vinyl as 7" 45 RPM records. We called these 45s. I used to buy my 45s at the Sam the Record man that used to exist on Bloor Street just east of
It's March break. Here are songs in my collection that have the word "march" in the title. 19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones21st Century Breakdown - Green DayA Room At Heartbreak Hotel - U2Achy Breaky Song - Weird Al YankovicAlone I Break - KornBallbreaker - AC-DCBend and Break -
Damian Kulash Jr. of the band Ok Go has contributed a great opinion piece to the New York Times. You may recall Ok Go's treadmill video for "Here It Goes Again". That clever, homemade video made Ok Go a huge success. They posted it to YouTube in violation of their
New BSS is coming. It's been awhile since we had a new record from Toronto's Broken Social Scene collective. The first song from Forgiveness Rock Record is World Sick and it's a free MP3 download from http://www.brokensocialscene.ca/ right now.
Sloan just quietly released a collection of b-sides and rarities they're selling at http://www.sloanmusic.com/ for $9.99. It's 26 tunes, and the first is the original version of Underwhelmed. If Sloan's embeddable player worked, you can hear this version of Underwhelmed above. I've never heard it before,
I'll admit it, I was digging the hair bands in the late 80s. One band I enjoyed in 1989 was Skid Row, fronted by Torontonian Sebastian Bach. Skid Row's self titled debut spawned a trifecta of mega hits that received a wealth of radio play in this city. It was
In my review of the Blue Rodeo concert at Massey Hall, I mentioned the opening act Dustin Bentall. He was great, but he was best when joined by Kendel Carson. This entry is about Kendel. I'm not really a country music fan, but I like folksy country rock and ol'
Last night, I was at Massey Hall to see Blue Rodeo. I've been a Blue Rodeo fan since 1987 when the DJ we hired for our grade school dance told us he was going to spin us a new one and I heard "Try" for the first time. And if
Like a sucker, I watched the Grammy Awards last night. I PVR'd the show and started it about 45 minutes in, so I could skip the commercials. I never like the Grammies, but I always feel compelled to watch them for some reason. The music was once again mediocre. Actually,
In my travels the other night, I stumbled upon Dead Teen Songs or Teenage Death Music or the teen death song or teen tragedy. In addition to being quite the title, it's quite the list. You've got to love songs about teenage death. Here are my ten favourite dead teen
