The Importance of Stranger Things to the GenXers and Music Lovers

This is music! ~ Eddie Munson

If you grew up in the last breaths of the Cold War, the Netflix series Stranger Things is a nostalgic lifeline to the fond memories we collectively share about our youth. There are the unique characters, the bond of friends, the alienation of being different that creates those cliquish, the varied music that was our therapist, the constant threat of world annihilation, the roller rinks and arcades, and the pop culture references to items that sustained us.

We can all associate and name someone that reminds of us the characters on the show. Each of us has a Nancy, Lucas, Max, Will, Mike, Steve, Eddie, Dustin, or Joyce and Hopper that they can refer to from their childhood. The scenes of houses with bikes piled up in yards, going home at dark, wanting to fit in, and joining forces to save the world … these scenes so accurately depicted it’s like watching a VHS tape of our own memories.

While the show uses a lot of music, it is season 4’s use of music to save those from the evil forces of Vecna. The importance of music on the show is what I relate to most. Music is a character – let’s face it. When you hear the opening chords of The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, Dusting and Suzie singing Limahl’s Neverending Story theme song, or Eddie summoning the demobats with Metallica’s Master of Puppets, you know associate those songs with specific scenes and characters just as many of us do with music throughout our lives.

There was something incredibly fantastic and magical about music in the 80’s. GenXers were on the cusp of freedom from the Cold War, technology was giving us cool music videos and computer games, but we still relied on our imagination, a curfew of “when the streetlights come on,” and much of our activities revolved around music. While the global world order is passively referenced (using the Hawkins lab for work against Russia or the shenanigans of Enzo and Yuri around the gulag), the plight of saving the world moves from fiction (D&D) to fact (Demogorgon, Mind Flayer and Vecna). The use of music moves from background (Twist of Fate – Olivia Newton John) to life and death (Running Up that Hill – Kate Bush). Music was just always there thanks to radio and MTV/VH1. We had a soundtrack every waking moment of our days. Music was also different in that its accessibility was either on the radio, on the TV, or in the record stores. You had to wait for albums. You had to fast forward through cassette tapes. For God’s sake you had to memorize and guess lyrics.

There's a parable to Eddie's story, really, that is poetic, powerful, and beautiful
~ Joseph Quinn

The Duffer Brothers were too young to recall the years in which the first four seasons of Stranger Things took place (they were born in 1984) but they did a fantastic job capturing the feelings of the time. From social cliques to the fear of metal music and Dungeons and Dragons, the undertone of world demise (Russians or the Upsidedown), and the importance and constant presence of music, Stranger Things is a portal for the GenXers to reminisce and bask in the glory of complex, but simpler times. 

Season 5 should take us at least two years possibly into the future which means a post-Chernobyl and Live Aid, U2 releases Joshua Tree and George Michael releases Faith to the world.

Paula’s Upside Down, Save Me From Vecna Playlist (1980-1986)

Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House

Unforgettable Fire – U2

Orion – Metallica

Love Twist – Culture Club

Harden My Heart – Quarterflash

Listen Like Thieves – INXS

Let’s Dance – David Bowie

Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears

Love Don’t Live Here Anymore - Madonna

Raise Your Hands to Rock – Motley Crue

Private Dance – Tina Turner

Safety Dance – Men Without Hats

No Myth – Michael Penn

Overkill – Men at Work

Witness – Cyndi Lauper

**All images credit of Netflix** 

 

 

What Are Your Desert Island Discs?

 

Recently, a friend had asked if I had ever listened to Desert Island Discs? I hadn't. But then they told me what it was. I was immediately struck by the fact that I had never heard of it.

The BBC4 radio programme, hosted currently by Lauren Laverne, has been on the air since 1942. That's ~3,000 episodes! Each guest, or castaway, is asked what eight recordings (doesn't have to be music), a book, and a luxury item that they would take with them if they were cast off to a deserted island. For each selection, the guest discusses a bit of their life as part of this choice and the reason for the selections. At the conclusion of the episode, they pick their all-time favorite recording. 

Also, guests are given the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the appropriate religious/philosophical work for them. They are allowed to select one more book to take with them.

And one luxury itemis also allowed with specific instructions that it cannot be used to escape the island and cannot be living. John Cleese got around this by asking for Michael Palin ... dead and stuffed. 

Coincidentally, the first episode I listened to was Robert Plant. While closely matching his most recent answer to what his favorite ten songs of all time. I am so excited now to be obsessed with the show and cannot wait for the newest episode of the lovely Scottish actor, Alan Cumming.  

So, I figured I would answer these questions myself and take a deep dive into music that has been a part of my life. 

This was very difficult, I have to say. I looked at it through the lens of remembering music early on and its deep impact, through major music "ah ha" moments, as well as music that defines parts of my life. While noticeably missing bands and musicians like Led Zeppelin, The Clash, U2, Tina Turner, Crowded House INXS, Culture Club, David Bowie, Queen, The Doors, Neil Diamon, The Band, Edith Piaf, Victor Jara, The Police, Madonna, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Bill Withers, and Metallica ... you get the idea. 

So here we go. 

Disc One: American Trilogy – Elvis

Elvis was very present in my early life. My grandmother loved Elvis gospel. My mother loved Aloha from Hawaii. This one really always stuck with me for some reason. There is a passion, his iconic voice, and that note shift at the end. It's all magic and a reminder to me that music has always been present in my life. 

Disc Two: Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid

You may say it's cheating, it kind of is, but so many of my 80's artists are in this song. These are the ones who I listened to on my cassette player obsessively. This also reminds me of Christmas and I would want that feeling if I were a castaway.

This also takes me back to the feeling that Live Aid gave me and to understand that music can do good for others. 

Disc Three: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles

This one was so very difficult to chose one - but The Beatles definitely had a dramatic impact on my life. I was obsessed with them after I graduated from high school and it really pushed me to want to move to NYC more than Tina Turner or Cyndi Lauper had. There are so many different feelings to The Beatles, from young and innocent, to angry, to love. 

Don't Let Me Down is the one I would take with me because it has all of The Beatles (including Billy Preston), is a very powerful song that also was written at a pivotal time in The Beatles career, and you can really get a sense of each Beatle's influence in the song. 

Disc Four: Life Without You – Stevie Ray Vaughan

The blues were introduced to me at an early age by my neighbors. There was something about Stevie Ray. Stevie died a week after my dad and there was something so raw in my reaction. I realized his music was what I had been turning to for therapy when my dad was sick. Stevie was his music and his guitar was a part of him. He was 100% in his music. Stevie was also love and light to me. He came so close to losing it all and poured his heart and soul into his guitar and music. This song, it captures my soul every time to hear the passion, his plea for love, and that talent that he had and that we lost. 

Disc Five: Just for Today – George Harrison

Another difficult one. George is my spiritual guru. He's who I look to if I need peace and if I need to not take myself so seriously. This one reminds me of when I first was introduced to George. Could Nine's big hit at the time was Got My Mind Set on You. I would play it every time I went to Pizza Hut for my Book It personal pan pizza. While there are so many wonderful and moving George songs, this is the one for its purity and reminder to be in the present. 

Disc Six: Grace – Jeff Buckley

What can I say about Jeff? I was thousands of miles away from home in Sydney when I first heard his voice. Grace to me is a reminder of our fragile state and being ready for the inevitable fate that we all have. Jeff completely changed me. 

Disc Seven: Sinnerman – Nina Simone

It was through Jeff Buckley that I was introduced to Nina's powerful music. While a powerful and wonderful talent, it's her activism, and her drive that is a standard that I want to always have with me. 

Disc Eight: Crush – Dave Matthews Band

You may be thinking ... what? Dave Matthews Band has been a soundtrack in my life since the band formed. Introducing my then boyfriend (no my mister) to Dave in 2002 was special. This song, when he finally "heard" it and understood what it was about when we were at The Gorge in 2018 has to be on my list. It was the first time I ever saw someone "get" a song. When we got back to Seattle, he told me that if he could write ever write a song, that was the song he'd write for me. 

 

BOOK CHOICE: The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

Easy peasy choice. This is my all-time favorite book and I can't imagine not having this with me at any given time. I learn more about it each time I read it, which is every October. 

Luxury item: Moisturizer

Castaway's favorite: Crush - Dave Matthews Band

So, did you think you were going to guess all my choice? As I wrote this, I made a point to listen to each song and it was an amazing experience of reflection. Even if you don't blog it out, try it. Listen to those songs and why you might choose them. 

 

When Fact Is Fiction and TV A Reality: U2 War

War seemed to be the motif for 1982 ... Everywhere you looked, from the Falklands to the Middle East and South Africa, there was war. By calling the album War we're giving people a slap in the face and at the same time getting away from the cosy image a lot of people have of U2. ~Bono (War and Peace NME - 1983)

On this final day of February in 1983, U2 released its third album, War. Boy and October introduced us to the religious youth from Ireland with a few whispers of the political 80's, War gave us the first hint of the politics that would shape this band's songs and their hearts. 

The Edge honed his signature sound on songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Two Hearts Beat as One, not to mention his signature cold notes on the piano. He also had one of very few opportunities to sing co-lead on the Cold War atomic song, Seconds. It was also the advent of the video age and U2 was eager to take part, freezing on horseback for New Year's Day, the track first released to the world. It was a heavier sound that most were used to with U2, but it worked well with the politics of the tracks. 

The album ends with one of the most iconic U2 songs, 40. Was Bono telling us more songs were on their way in only the way expected of U2, through a Psalm?

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bono's mother was a member of the Church of Ireland and his father was Catholic making him both unable and unwilling to choose a side in the violence. The band tried to stay away from, ironically enough, the politics of Ireland. The song's main anthem is How long must we sing this song? That is the point of the song. One of the most gut-wrenching versions of this song was seen on The Rattle and Hum tour. Bono, angered by the events of a bombing in Enniskillen, sang an impassioned version of this song. The version most are familiar with is however, is the below iconic Red Rocks version.

Seconds
The Soldiers Girls and the atomic annihilation inspiration for this song. So many angry comments of the times yet echo so into the future. Also one of the few times we see Edge on lead vocals! 

New Year's Day
It is NOT, I repeat NOT a song about celebrating the start of the New Year. It is in fact a song about Polish Solidarity, a worker's party that was gaining popular support in the push towards the end of The Cold War. Adam's pulsing bass lines dancing with The Edge's tight piano notes are one of the iconic moments on this album.

Trivia (U2's little known except by fanatics as myself, Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop, was a B-Side to this single. And now you know).

Like a Song...
You think Larry Mullen was on fire for Sunday Bloody Sunday, he's the entire drum line on this song. This is a song about the generation of the 80's that was tired of war and fighting and revolution. In fighting, out fighting ... when does it stop?

But I won't let others live in hell
As we divide against each other
And we fight amongst ourselves
Too set in our ways to try to rearrange
Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song

Drowning Man
This song is not political but a cry to help their own bassist who was struggling with his own demons and the least religious in the band. There are so many layers to this song both beautiful and chaotic.

The Refugee
Okay ... a bit of a departure. The refugees are moving to America ... wait a minute. 

Two Hearts Beat As One
Okay, a love song this time. Bono wrote this while on his honeymoon with his wife Alison. 
Just take a moment to appreciate Adam's bass line in this one. 

Red Light
No overt political statements here ... love, red light ... and one of the stand-in back-up singers stripped to her bra under the red lights of the studio. 

Surrender
So many ways to interpret this song. Drugs, love, God ... 

40
Only U2 could get away with singing David's 40th Psalm. Here is a clip from Madison Square Garden in 2015. Chills every time.

You, My Love ...

Stand absolved

Behind your electric chair

Dance

Stand absolved

Behind your electric chair

Dancing 

Past the sound within the sound

The voice within the voice

Leave your office, run past your funeral

Leave your home, car, leave your pulpit

Join us in the streets where we

Don't belong

Here under the stars

Throwing light 

~Jeff Buckley- New Year's Prayer

While in year's past, the ringing in of the first day of the year is aways the symbolic new start, this promise of a clean slate in 2022 seems more fantasy than fact for many. But as we've done in the past two years, maybe some shifting of our old ways needs to happen. Call it self-preservation if you'd like, many have taken the turmoil of the last two years and started to Marie Kondo their lives: more life in the work-life balance, staying away from toxic relationships, tuning out from social media, becoming more involved in community, and setting and achieving new goals. Others see the new year as the gut check to assess and keep going on what they've built. 

All in all - be kind to yourself and to others. Don't forget to show yourself respect in addition to others. We've spent too many years trying to outdo one another and not paying any attention to ourselves as well as our loved ones. We've spent the last few years understanding the importance of togetherness and compassion - and that's something that needs to keep moving forward year in and year out. 

Musically, 2021 did give us back live music and some great new albums. Adele, Billie Elish, Nicole Atkins, Wolf Alice, and Robert Plant and Alison Kraus all used 2020 to work on new materials. And live shows also made a comeback. And being in that audience for the first time in so long was simply magic.        

And watching Get Back! was such a gifted highlight. Even if you're not a Beatles fan, what Peter Jackson did was allow us to peer into a part of music history in a special way, warts and all. 

And while there is a little flashback over the holidays, there is still promise of new shows and fresh new albums. The amount of creativity in our artists is paramount. These next few years will see them gifting us with what has been stirred within them over the past few years.

To quote my spiritual guru, George Harrison

Yesterday, today was tomorrow

And tomorrow, today will be yesterday 

May your New Year be what you desire it to be: a new beginning, just another day, or something else entirely. Have a happy, safe, healthy, and brave new year. 

My New Year's Eve Prayer by Jeff Buckley

performed live at Sin-é NYC 1996.

You my love are allowed to forget about the Christmas you just spent stressed out in your parents house

You my love are allowed to shed the weight of all the years before like bad disco clothes, save them for a night of dancing, stoned with you lover

You my love are allowed to let yourself drown every night in bottomless wild and naked symbolic dreams

You my love in sleep can unlock your youth and your most terrifying magic and dreaming is for the courageous

You my love are allowed to grab my guitar and sing me idiot love songs if
you lost your ability to speak, keep it down to two minutes

You my love are allowed to rot and to die and to live again more alive and incandescent than before

You my love are allowed to beat the shit out of your television, choke it's thoughts and corrupt its mind k*ll k*ll k*ll k*ll the motherf**ker before the song of zombiefied pain and panic and malaise and its narrow right winged vision and its cheap commercial gang rate becomes the white noise of the world (turn about is fair play)

You my love are allowed to forgive and love your television

You my love are allowed to speak in kisses to those around you and those up in heaven

You my love are allowed to show your babies how to dance full bodied, starry eyed, audacious, supernatural and glorified

You my love are allowed to suck in every single endeavor

You my love are allowed to be soaked like a lovers blanket in the New York summertime with the wonder of your own special gift

You my love are allowed to receive praise

You my love are allowed to have time

You my love are allowed to understand

You my love are allowed to love

Woman disobey

Little man believe

You my love are a rebellion 

 

Anticipating Nothing: When the Writing Answer Has Been There All Along

 

Okay ... so many of you are likely aware of the I've been writing this story. Said story started as a screenplay. Said story then began to take form of a longer than short story after I lived in Belfast. However, parts still aren't quite right. And the ending still eludes me. 

A few days ago - a song pops into my head when walking to the train. Nothing by Depeche Mode

What am I trying to do?

What am I trying to say?

I'm not trying to tell you anything

You didn't know when you woke up today

Sitting target

Sitting praying

God is saying

Nothing

Depeche Mode has inspired another story with their words (those characters got an ending, by the way. See Red Square Dawn for their story). Today, for whatever reason, this song made the synapses transmit a memory of this story to my neurons, which in turn said - you finally have the answer to that third scene. 

I needed character tension, some allusion to possible romantic feelings, and also the underlying feeling that there is an unspoken trust and bond between these two. 

If you'd like to continue - let me set the stage. Abbi Connolly is home in West Belfast after a very long evening at the emergency department where she works as a nurse. She is visited by her long-time best friend, Liam. I kept on trying to make them have this important and cryptic conversation about David, Abbi's husband. I could never find the words. 

*******************

It’s almost midnight as Abbi sits at the table in an almost dark kitchen trying to read about advances in spinal trauma. She squints, shakes her head, rubs her eyes, and flips back to the previous page of the article the head doctor of the emergency department gave all of the nurses to read. As she begins the first paragraph for the third time, she hears steps on the back porch. Two knocks and the door opens. Liam always appears to be in some state of dishevelment and always with a book in his hand. His black eyes and the wild mop of black hair suit the man who thankfully outgrew his shyness. 

            “Abigail,” he says to her quietly.

            “Liam,” Abbi greets him with a relaxed smile as she slides the article aside. 

            “Beer?” He asks as he’s already removed two cold bottles from the refrigerator and popped the caps onto the counter.

            Abbi shakes her head yes as Liam slides a chair closer to her, hands her the beer, and places his notebook on the table. “I knew David would be late tonight.”

            “What are you hearing? Are the peace talks fallin’ apart Liam?” Abbi rubs her eyes before taking a drink of beer. Today’s attack on the British soldiers is so far the pinnacle of tension between the Irish Republicans and the Loyalists.

            “Yer, askin’ me? Your own bloody husband is sittin’ in those secret talks I hear about on the BBC and yer askin’ me?” Liam gulps down his beer.

            “You know he doesn’t tell me a thing and apparently you don’t either, mister newspaper writer.” Abbi smiles before taking a drink. “You’re both bloody worthless.”  

            Liam puts his beer down and motions for Abbi to lean in towards him. Hesitantly, but also sarcastically, she leans towards Liam. 

            "Journalist," he whispers to her. 

            She laughs and whispers back. "A bloody worthless journalist."

            Bobby, who was in bed, patters into the kitchen. “Mommy,” he says quietly as climbs into Liam’s lap.

            “I thought you were sleeping little man.” Liam wraps his arms around his godson.

            “Do you want me to read you a story?” Abbi removes the single sock remaining on her son’s feet.

            He quietly says, “No. Liam,” and puts his head on Liam’s chest.

             Abbi smiles at both of them.

            Liam leans forward with Bobby. “How about a kiss for yer ma?”

            Bobby gives Abbi a kiss and a gentle pat on her face. Abbi gently takes his hand and gives it a kiss before Liam stands with his godson. They leave the room chatting about giants. 

            Abbi takes a long sip of her beer, stands, walks to the counter, and turns on the radio. She opens the refrigerator to look for something to snack on, tossing a few things in the garbage in the process. Her head lost in her thoughts and in the vegetable drawer, she doesn’t hear Liam come back downstairs until he turns up the radio.

            “Jesus,” she hits her head off a shelf.

            “Sorry. He’s sound asleep again.”

             “Hungry? How do you feel about leftover Chinese?” Before she turns around, she feels Liam’s presence very close to her. “Liam?" She turns to find see him standing directly behind her. He places his hand on her arm, letting it linger a few seconds before taking a step back.

             Abbi takes another two beers from the refrigerator, pops the caps off, and walks past Liam towards the table. When she sits, she takes a long drink of the beer as Liam makes his way to the other chair. He sits and slides his chair closer to Abbi.

            Abbi slides her shirt sleeves over her hands and then leans onto the table, crossing her arms. She tilts her head slightly. “What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until,” she pauses and looks at the clock before looking back at him, “six hours from now when you’re here having breakfast?”

            He runs his hand nervously through his unwieldy hair. “Em...nothing." He taps his knuckle on his ever-present book.

        She sits disappointed by her own anticipation. Bad news, a rumor, the need to pass along information, Abbi almost looks embarrassed as she holds back a bemused smile. Nervously, she starts to flip through the book Liam put on the table. 

            "Who is Ted Sorensen?" She sits back and begins to read some of the pages. 

           Liam excitedly smiles, "President Kennedy's advisor. I just sometimes need to read something other than ... well, about here." 

            Abbi's smile turns into a laugh as Liam goes on about Kennedy's advisor. She should be checking the doors, making sure Bobby is safe asleep, and headed to bed herself. But sometimes, nothing is better. 

The Hype of U2*

I don't remember exactly when it happened. I don't remember the moment where I transcended liking U2 to having to understand every word of every song they sang. Like many, The Joshua Tree was first U2 album that I owned. It was actually one of the first CDs that I owned (Kick was the other).

 

When I really started to listen to and read the lyrics, I understood that they were more than your average rock band. U2 was trying to tell you something. U2 became, and still is, the rock band with a conscience.

Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton, The Edge (Dave Evans), and Bono (Paul Hewson) joined forces in the late 70's, just some kids from the Mount Temple School that wanted to make music. 11 O'clock Tick Tock was the first the "world" heard of U2.

 

All of the elements of quintessential U2 are present: Clayton's very present bass lines, The Edge's signature guitar sound, Larry's fast snare, and Bono, the  preacher man. Their religious upbringing helped shape many of their songs, especially on Boy and October. The songs were mainly about teen angst and religion with Out of Control, I Will Follow and Gloria being the best known from those albums.

 

Politics really entered into U2's realm with the War album in 1983 with songs such as Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day,  and Seconds (one of only a handful of songs The Edge would sing). 40, based on Psalm 40, still makes the concert rounds. Under a Blood Red Sky and Unforgettable Fire would propel U2 into their role as super group and world savers. The biggest song for them with Pride (In the Name of Love) would ready them for what would come next.

 

We must give credit to Sir Bob Geldof here. I truly think that he influenced Bono by way of showing him what was going on in the world. It was the 80's and there was a hunger crisis in Africa. Enter: Live Aid. U2's performance at Live Aid was one of their best and when Bono danced with that young lady from the crowd, we knew a true showman was born. But what Live Aid also did was it took Bono and his wife, Alison Stewart, to Africa. Their visit influenced one of rock's biggest selling albums, 1987's The Joshua Tree.

Every single song on The Joshua Tree could have been a hit. The haunting sounds of Where the Streets Have no Name, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and the almost disturbing With or Without You were on rotation on every radio station ... and on MTV. Yes, the age of video most definitely helped U2 close the loop on being the number one band at the time. Not only did you get to hear them, you got to see Bono's brooding, The Edge's hats, and we were introduced to the genius of well thought and produced music videos.

Most don't realize this about The Joshua Tree: it's political. At least six of the songs on the album are about political corruption in the US, Columbia, disappearances, drug abuse issues, starvation, and hopelessness. Bono wanted to be the voice of the voiceless and give hope to the hopeless.

The tour that followed gave us Rattle and Hum, the album and movie. We were essentially on this journey with U2, yes, to quote Larry Mullen, Jr. It was a "musical journey." They had the world at their fingertips. The cover of Time, top selling albums and being called the best band in the world. But what made U2, U2, happened on December 30, 1989

Go away and dream it all up again...

What everyone wanted was The Joshua Tree again but that they were not going to get. What we got was Achtung Baby and a schizophrenic Bono wearing devil horns and pleather suits.

Achtung took many by surprise. It was different, but they liked it. I still cannot and refuse to compare Achtung and Joshua Tree. U2 reinvented themselves but the world was doing the same thing. Tiananmen Square was fresh on everyone's minds, the Berlin Wall fell and East and West were now one. U2 was actually in Berlin when the re-unification happened. This and the entire story of that period of the band's existence is told brilliantly by Bill Flanagan in U2 At the End of the World. Bono faces eviction without his pants, might be the best opening to any bio I have ever read. The world was changing and U2 was leading the charge. 

Next up - ZooTV and Zooropa. Again, U2 would conquer the world via live performance. The stage, complete with screens of all sizes, was a tribute to the out of control TV and satellite world that we live in. Each night, Bono (usually MacPhisto)  would call someone on his phone. The world was Bono's stage. And in the political atmosphere of the late 80's and early 90's Bono was a kid in a candy store. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69Gak4X2Jlc

Now, say what you will about the next album, I loved it (the tour was ok too if you can get over the Lemon Space Ship). Pop. It was disco-y and quirky but relevant. Songs like Please and Staring at the Sun question the violence in our world.

All That You Can't Leave Behind brought U2 away from the supersized techno glitz and re-invented themselves yet again with stripped down, but magnificent songs. Beautiful Day, Kite, Walk On, and Stuck in a Moment brought the fandom back to U2. But it would be the Super Bowl where U2 would bring the world to its knees in one of the most beautiful tributes to 9/11 I have ever seen. The names of those lost, floating up to heaven, never forgotten.  In case any of you are wondering what Bono says before the song starts, he is reciting a portion of Psalm 116:

What can I give back to God
For the blessings he's poured out on me
I'll lift hig the cup of salvation
A toast to God

I'll pray in the name of God
I'll complete what I promised God I'll do
And I'll do it together with his people

  

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, No Line on the Horizon brought U2 back on the road, and of course Under the Brooklyn Bridge. 

And then a moment of who let the band decide that it would be a good idea to place your new album on everyone's iPhone. However ... Songs of Innocence was a really good 13th album for U2. The longest release gap between albums saw what would be a tribute to the band's  personal lives and inspirations. Songs of Experience followed three years later (delayed by Brexit and Bono's Central Park bicycle incident) and was a heavier and more welcomed sound for the band. 

I am certain though, that every word of every song is methodically planned. A bible verse, a political jab, or an historical moment woven perfectly into the melodies.

Bono, Modern Day Psalm Writer

It is no secret that Bono loves the role of front man, but Bono is also morally conscience and seems to always be looking for something to tell the world about. To me, he is our modern day King David. Bono writes our psalms for us. He also does not shy away from his belief of God. He penned a wonderful piece in the Guardian prior to the release of a new version of The Psalms in 1999. An excerpt:  

David was a star, the Elvis of the Bible, if we can believe the chiselling of Michelangelo. And unusually for such a "rock star," with his lust for power, lust for women, lust for life, he had the humility of one who knew his gift worked harder than he ever would. He even danced naked in front of his troops -- the biblical equivalent of the royal walkabout. David was definitely more performance artist than politician. http://www.atu2.com/news/psalm-like-it-hot.html

The deep religious roots that almost drove the band out of existence in the 1980's still thrives within him. He's a humanitarian, a philanthropist, and a family man. I look forward to what he has to say next.

*U2 fanatics might get the title reference.

Excellent U2 reads:
Walk On Spiritual Journey of U2 - Steve Stockman
U2 At the End of the World - Bill Flanagan
Into the Heart - Niall Stokes

Hold on to the Thread: Pearl Jam - Ten

 

On Ten, Pearl Jam — descended from the late, lamented Mother Love Bone — hurtles into the mystic at warp speed. Singer-lyricist Eddie Vedder sometimes lets his words get way ahead of his good intentions: “I don’t question/Our existence/I just question/Our modern needs” (“Garden”). Focus instead on his voice — a ragged, enraged mongrel blend of Robert Plant and James Hetfield — and the Pearls’ surprising, and refreshing, melodic restraint. They wring a lot of drama out of a few declarative power chords swimming in echo. ~David Fricke Rolling Stone 1991.

 

Usually these reviews are usually less personal, but this is one of the albums that I can count on one hand that I can remember when I bought it, when I listened to it, and an album that I can hear in my head from first to last note without hitting play on the stereo. 1991 was a weird time personally and musically. I was 13, my father had passed a year earlier, musically there was a strange shift happening that Classic Rock or hair metal could not fill within me. I just didn’t know what was going to fill that void.

13 and angry, scared, confused and along comes this album that sounded like I felt. A bit quiet, unsure, heartbroken, but angry as hell and ready to take on the world. It was one of the albums I recall buying in the CD long box and the act of listening to it was more of a ritual, as was the process for any new album, especially in the phenomenal music release year of 1991. My room had a strange Pacific Northwest meets NYC studio vibe (I dare say, not bad for 13). Mood lighting, a breeze blowing the vertical blinds. I hit play expecting songs more like Alive, a song that was released before the album (very clever).

It was like nothing I had ever heard, but also had a familiar

feel of rock roots updated for the end of the century. There was raw emotion coupled with free flow ambient sounds thanks to the gifted producer Rick Parashar, ebbs and flows of energy, dynamic bass and guitar, combined with Eddie’s honest and raw vocals and their cathartic delivery. Of course the videos for Even Flow and Jeremy added to the love. As the years passed, I realized how complex the lyrics really were. Songs about loss, homelessness, depression, love, bullying, sadness, passion, and anger. This was Eddie’s album to, as the song goes, release a lot of the anger he had.

Now about how this masterpiece came to be.

Following the shocking death of Andrew Wood, the band wanted to start something new and started looking for a singer for the new band, Mookie Blaylock. Armed with instrumental demos, former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons knew exactly who to sell the band to: a surfer friend who was working at a gas station in San Diego – Eddie Vedder. So now you have a band still reeling from the loss of their True North and a singer who is young, angry, creatively impassioned, and ready to get out of the gate. With demo in his mind, Eddie went surfing and came up with the lyrics to what would become Alive and Once.

Recorded in less than a month due to the fast that many songs were complete because they were demos started by Gossard, McCready, and Ament, but then gaps filled with Eddie’s lyrics.

And while we hear perfection, the band hears overproduction: In subsequent years, band members have expressed dissatisfaction with the way the album's mixing turned out. In 2001, Ament said, "I'd love to remix Ten. Ed, for sure, would agree with me. It wouldn't be like changing performances; just pull some of the reverb off it."* In 2006, Vedder said, "I can listen to the early records [except] the first record...it's just the sound of the record. It was kind of mixed in a way that was...it was kind of produced."**

What has given Ten the staying power and the honor of being considered one of the top grunge albums since its release on August 27th, 1991? It has a timeless feel that arrived at the moment when many kids my age were looking for something new. The whole world had changed and shifted seemingly overnight - communism was going away, the Soviet Union collapsed, the innocence that many of us had felt in the 80’s was exchanged for uncertainty and angst. We were also going to save the world. The Cold War kids had emerged victorious and we wanted to snowboard and skateboard, shun the expected, and silo our teenage emotions into angry, flannel covered, Doc Marten wearing music. The album was such a new complex sound for many of us filled with anger and true sentiment while Eddie screamed the way we all wanted to. 

But also, this album is a memory Polaroid of sorts. When you hear the first notes of Once, the bass of Jeremy, or the slide into Porch, you're transported to a specific point of time in the universe. Sitting in your darkened room, your refuge, where plans are made to change the world, individuality is sacred, and feelings are so overwhelming. All of that is channeled into Stone's guitar that screams the opening chords to Alive, the meditative Oceans, or not really understanding the heartbreak in Black, but damn, you wish that song was written for you. Listening to Ten now allows us to reflect on how little we knew and how not super complex things really were for us juxtaposed to the politics of the world at the time. 

 

* Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten". Spin. August 2001.

** Hiatt, Brian. (June 20, 2006). Eddie Vedder's Embarrassing Tale: Naked in Public". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 18, 2006. Retrieved April 28, 2008