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365 Day Song Challenge: Day 19 – “King Of The Mountain”
Day 19. A song that you love from a band that has since broken up:
“King Of The Mountain” — Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil was a bit of a one-hit wonder here in the United States. Which is a shame, because they were a really good band that put out a lot of really good music.
Today’s song comes from their 1990 album Blue Sky Mining. That was the studio follow-up to Diesel And Dust, which contained their only US Top 40 hit, “Beds Are Burning” (although I always felt “The Dead Heart” was the stronger song). They did get a number of songs into the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, including “King Of The Mountain,” which reached #20. But still, most people know them for only the one song, if at all.
In their native Australia, of course, it’s a bit of a different story. They had a number of Top 10 hits and albums during their career and had a large, somewhat (okay, very) rabid following. Heck, as I mentioned in my dance post, “Blue Sky Mine” even got played at dance clubs, and it wasn’t at all a dance song. Good beat, yes. “Who Let The Dogs Out”, no.
While I had discovered them before I went to Australia, I certainly came to know them better as a result of being there. They were strong advocates for Aboriginal rights and many of their songs addressed political, and sometimes controversial, topics. (“Blue Sky Mine,” for instance, is about the abuses of big business.)
I was able to see them live twice. The first on the tour supporting the Blue Sky Mining album. I remember driving to Springfield, Massachusetts from Worcester to see the show. I actually remember the drive home better. It was September, I believe and the driver’s side window of my car had shattered and was missing. That was a cold, cold ride home. The second time was in 2001, when they were supporting what turned out to be their final studio album, Capricornia. The second time was better. Mostly because, thanks to my friend Pete, I was three feet from the stage.
I remember that show fairly well, but two things stick out:
- It was 6 weeks after 9/11, and Peter Garrett, the always-political lead singer of the group, talked about how we as a country were handling it.
- I got sweated on by Peter Garrett.
Yes, you read #2 correctly. It was gross and somehow cool all at the same time. (But mostly gross.) The man sweats profusely during shows. Couple that with the weird, almost epileptic, movements he makes and us being so close to the stage, and I guess it was bound to happen.
Anyway, I picked today’s song (rather than “Beds Are Burning” or “The Dead Heart”) for three reasons:
- You’ve likely heard “Beds Are Burning” and I’m trying to broaden your horizons.
- “The Dead Heart” was also on Diesel And Dust, their most popular album in the US, so there’s an outside chance you’ve heard it, too, even if you don’t recognize it by name. (For those of you not reading this on a mobile device, I encourage you to check out the song preview on the Amazon Widget.)
- I do really love the song. It’s my favorite on Blue Sky Mining, which is saying something, because it’s a very strong album.
After the “sweat” tour, Midnight Oil broke up, with the exception of a couple of reunion shows. Peter Garrett ran for Parliament, and won. He’s recently retired from that, so fans are hopeful that the band will reform and record a new album.
That would be cool, not only for the new music, but because I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. I can’t decide whether I would or would not want to be sweated on again. Maybe I’d just settle for an autograph.
365 Day Song Challenge: Day 18 – “Bye Bye Love”
Day 18. A song you would consider part of the “soundtrack” of your life:
“Bye Bye Love” — The Cars
Although Genesis is my favorite band, The Cars’ debut is my favorite album. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I tell you that I’ve listened to this album at least a thousand times. So, if the challenge was an album that you consider part of the soundtrack of your life, I’d be done. (I better not hear you saying “I wish it said album.”)
But it did say song, so a little more work is involved.
It’s funny the things you remember. In 1978, my brother drove a 1971 Plymouth Valiant. It was a bizarre red-orange color, and so far as I recall, looked pretty similar to the car Dennis Weaver drove in the movie Duel. (I don’t have enough parenthetical space here to talk about just how mind-blowingly horrible that movie was, so I’ll save it for another post.) Looked similar, that is, until the front fenders rusted out and were replaced with blue ones. This was not a car you could “blend in” with to outwit cops if you were speeding at the outset, much less after the repairs. And I believe that’s the way it stayed at least as long as we had it.
The Valiant had been outfitted with an aftermarket 8-Track tape player, and in 1978, that 8-Track player was delivering The Cars through to the speakers on a very regular basis. It is here that I first remember hearing the album. And I have a specific memory of hearing today’s song in the front seat of that car, too. (This was in the days where no one cared about children enough to make them sit in the back seat, or even wear a seat belt. Ah! The good old days.) The reason this one sticks out over the others is that remember mishearing the lyrics for a long time, thinking Ben Orr was singing “Vi, my love”.
Like, short for “Violet” or something, I dunno. Don’t ask me why I would have thought those were the words over the actual “Bye Bye Love.” I was eight. My brain was barely big enough to fill my skull at that point.
From there, the album (and song) has followed me throughout my life. I’m not sure how many copies I’ve owned on different formats over the years. At least one “official” cassette, a homemade cassette recording of the vinyl, the vinyl, and two CDs. There may be more in there. Ric Ocasek has a beach house that I paid for, I think.
The point is, this song shows up at all the important points in my life. Adolescence, high school, college, working life, home life. It’s everywhere. And, that’s why I chose it for the “soundtrack.” It’s there, in the background, providing color for all the things that happen without being too overpowering. It makes you feel what’s going on that much more without really knowing why. That’s a good soundtrack song.
Now, if I could just figure out who “Vi” is.
365 Day Song Challenge: Day 17 – “Who Let The Dogs Out”
Day 17. A song you remember dancing in public to
“Who Let The Dogs Out” — Baha Men
These challenges seem to fall into two extreme categories: “What the hell do I pick?” and “What the hell do I pick?”
“Huh?” you say? Let me be more specific, they fall into “I can’t think of anything” and “How do I pick just one?”
Today’s challenge falls into the latter class. Most people have danced to any number of songs in their lifetime, even if it was “The Alley Cat” with crazy old Aunt Sally at a wedding back in 1982. (Modify as appropriate for your own life circumstance and crazy Aunt… or Uncle. Everybody has at least one.) How do you narrow it down to a single selection?
I have literally danced to “The Alley Cat” at more than one wedding (although I don’t have an Aunt Sally), as well as the other usual wedding suspects. “Chicken Dance.”
I’m not much of the dance club type, but even so, I’ve been to a few. Even at Shelly’s (read yesterday’s post for an introduction to Shelly’s) I did some dancing, although the mix was way eclectic. It included things like AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” John Cougar [Mellencamp]’s “Hurts So Good” and “Blue Sky Mine” by Midnight Oil, as well as dance tunes of the period like “Dizzy” and “Wiggle It.”
But I’m going with improbability and stupidity.
I missed the “Who Let The Dogs Out” bandwagon (as I typically do with hit songs, because I don’t listen to the radio). I knew of its existence, but didn’t really know the song. Although, when it was popular, I had a bizarre experience at a Hollywood Video store one night: I was the only customer in the place, and when I went up to the counter, the clerk, who I didn’t know from Adam, looked at my membership card, looked me straight in the eye and said: “Joe, I have only one question for you… Who let the dogs out! Woof woof woof woof woof!”
And yes, he sang it.
Up until my friend Pete’s wedding, that was the extent of my interaction with “Who Let The Dogs Out.” It was at that wedding that I first heard the dance mix of the song, and it immediately struck a chord with me. I’m not one who typically enjoys dancing that much (at least in public), but, for reasons I cannot explain, that one had me out on the floor, dancing like a maniac.
I have not had the opportunity to dance to the song in public since. To the relief of people everywhere. It sort of came and went from the playlist at most places.
And that, my friends, is why iPods were invented.
I really hope there are no secret cameras in my house. Because if that song comes on, I can’t help but start to jump around in whatever room I happen to be in. (This can be dangerous if I happen to be in our small bathroom when it comes on.) Cameras would capture this lunacy and the floodgates of blackmail would come rushing in. All hopes for my political career (if I actually had aspirations for a political career) would be over immediately.
Or would they? Dancing-like-a-maniac-to-Who-Let-The-Dogs-Out Joe has to be a better candidate for… well, anything really, than this guy, right? Right?
Please feel free to use the comments to tell me I’m right. And perhaps to tell me about your crazy Aunt Sally.
God, I hope you say yes.
365 Day Song Challenge: Day 16 – “Run To Paradise”
Day 16. A song you have seen performed live:
“Run To Paradise” — Choirboys
As I mentioned yesterday, I was fortunate enough to go on a student exchange to Australia in 1988. I was even more fortunate to return in 1992 to work on a college project with two of my classmates. However, it’s not all wine and roses. For those who have never traveled to Australia from the East Coast of the United States, let me give you a brief description of the travel.
- The night before you travel you get next to no sleep because you’re pretty excited about the trip. Yay! Australia! This is such a great idea!
- You get up at an ungodly hour (something like 5AM Eastern Time) to get to the airport. Man, I’m tired, but Yay! Australia!
- The flight to LA (or San Francisco, but in my case, LA) is about 6 hours. You arrive there at about 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific Time. Good God, this is just the beginning. But at least we’re going to Australia.
- Flights on Qantas over to Australia don’t leave until about 2AM ET/11PM PT, so that you arrive in Sydney in the morning. Therefore, you sit in the airport for 10-12 hours doing nothing, waiting until you can check through to customs 2 hours before the flight leaves. (Keeping in mind that as a high school/college student going abroad you don’t have the extra cash to leave the airport and take a cab to see anything.) Oh God, I’m so bored. When can we finally get on the plane?
- The flight itself is about 14 hours and change. When can we get off this plane? Are we $&*!ing there yet? Who’s idea was this anyway? $&*! Australia.
You arrive about 7AM Sydney time (3PM ET, 12 Noon PT). All in all, about 36 hours, not including the lack of sleep from the night before you left.
Now, it should be noted: I can’t sleep on planes, really. I might doze for 30 minutes, but then my cursed neck starts to hurt and I wake up in pain. You learn how long 14 hours really is when you’re cooped up in a coach seat that whole time, everyone around you is sleeping, and you’re trying to figure out how to pass the time. You start to ponder how something that big can stay aloft that long.
And yes, I’ve tried those airplane pillows.
And no, they don’t help me.
Yeah, yeah, I hear you: “Waaaah! You’re going to Australia ya whiner.” Point taken.
We finally land, get picked up, and, to make this part of a long story short, spend the next few hours getting settled.
“So what about the song?” you ask. Calm down; I’m getting there.
Round about 2PM (or in more applicable terms, 41 hours after I woke up), someone says “The Choirboys are playing at Shelly’s tonight. You want to go?” (Shelly’s is the night club at the Shellharbour Worker’s Club.)
“Are you crazy? That would be dumb. We’re tired. We’re not going.”
We were dumb. We went.
My recollection is that the show started at 9. And that there was an opening act (a band called The Tornados, if I remember correctly). And that it was at least 10PM (or in more applicable terms, 49 hours after I woke up) that The Choirboys hit the stage. For the uninitiated (read: almost everyone): they are an Australian hard rock band. Not quite AC/DC; in that vein but leaning slightly more in a pop direction.
Long story longer… As you might expect, I don’t remember a lot about that show, but I do know I enjoyed it and that they played this song. It had been their “big hit” a couple of years prior.
I don’t remember what time we got home or how many hours I’d been awake by that time. (The number 52 sticks in my head for some reason, but that may be the result of sleep-deprived insanity.)
As a side note, this song was also a favorite of my host sister Megan at the time. (This is not the same host sister that we bongoed the crap out of in yesterday’s post. Boy, that sounds dirty.) So even after the show, I heard it quite frequently over the next 4 1/2 months.
Outside of the sleep deprivation, the show was a fun way to start the trip. Until the flight home. Let me tell you about the flight home…