While I’m not even close to S or Tin the alphabet, I can mentionhow happy I am to get an early listen to two of my favorite musical artistsbefore I get to St. Vincent and before I get to Talking Heads.It’s hard to overstate how jazzedI was when I learned that myfavorite twenty-first century songwriterContinue reading “#638: B is for Byrne, David”
Tag Archives: early influences
#627: B is for The Boomtown Rats
It is difficultto put into wordswhat The Boomtown Ratsmeant to me as an aspiringpunk rocker and 16 year-old.Attracted mostly to music from across the bigpond, XTC, Elvis Costello, and these guys, these guysespecially, gave voice to every creative vibration pulsating through my little brain. Bob Geldof, that gangly, Irish punk, with his imprecise, manic, snarlingContinue reading “#627: B is for The Boomtown Rats”
#608: B is for The Beatles
I I couldn’t have beenmore than five or sixyears old, sitting on the floor of my sister’s bedroomin front of her portable suitcase record player spinning Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandover and over. Too youngto understand the magnitudeof their success or brilliance, and too young to be susceptible to whatever commercial influences mighthave beenContinue reading “#608: B is for The Beatles”
#596: A is for Anderson, the Laurie Variety
I “O Superman” might have beenthe strangest pop song I had ever heard in my lifeup to that point. I heard it for the first timethe year after I graduated from high schooland I bought the Big Science album.In ’87, in a fit of stupidity, obsessedover the hot new digital medium for music, I soldContinue reading “#596: A is for Anderson, the Laurie Variety”