Blog: UNDERNEATHICA

I was really happy when I recently found this song again. It used to be a single on the jukebox back in my own school days. I don't know a lot about Stanley Frank, and his website isn't very illuminating (although you can hear a few more of his songs there, and you can read the lyrics to "S'Cool Days"). This was a hit song in Britain in 1977, and probably in Stanley Frank's native Canada as

A quick one today. Bimbo Toolshed was an all-female punk band from California who released one album in the 1990's before splitting up. This song was the highlight for me. "Scott's Life" has a great guitar sound and is fun to sing along to ("Bus to Phoenix! Bus to Phoenix!"). I really wasn't sure if Swoopo (the singer) was male or female until I looked up the band. I got this from Falling James,

GAM was a really interesting Savannah band from the late 1990's. They had a strange sense of humor. One of their songs was called "Greg Ginn Body Bag". They wore outrageous costumes on stage. You can check out some of their visuals and hear their music at this site. GAM was led by Keith Kozel, a musician, actor, and artist. A "memorial fansite" suggests that he is deceased, but a quick search of

There's something about white performers' cover versions of rap and RB songs that is both compelling and disturbing. Lots of attention was given in the blogosphere to Nina Gordon's NWA cover and Ben Folds' "Bitches Ain't Shit". I have to admit that I liked the Gourds' bluegrass version of "Gin and Juice". I even used to like the Barenaked Ladies' cover of "Fight the Power". But even when the

One of my favorite releases from 2005 was the Swervedriver compilation. It’s amazing how a band could be so popular just a decade ago, and now all its CD's are out of print. These thoughts remind me of the Screaming Blue Messiahs, another great British guitar band (and like Swervedriver, obsessed with American car and gun culture) whose music is now neglected. If my mention of the Messiahs has