Comedy

Countdown To Christmas 2021: Fat Les – ‘Naughty Christmas (Goblin In The Office)’

December 18, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Alex James (Bass Guitar), Keith Allen (Vocals) & Damien Hirst (Artist) (1998) with Paul Haye (Photo by Rex)

Good Morning to you! This is, of course, Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s time for you to make some room in the fridge for your sprouts and carrots (and don’t forget those tasty Pigs In Blankets) shortly after reading your latest entry in my ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ catalogue, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! When researching some Christmas and winter-themed tracks to discuss on the site every year – I always opt for some of the straight-up strangest and most alternative offerings to include alongside the more serious suggestions. I believe that I may have just found one of the most weird-but-wonderful (Depending on how you feel about terrible novelty songs that you would not get away with making today) in the case of 1998’s ‘Naughty Christmas (Goblin In The Office)’. This was an attempt at comedy produced by the UK novelty super-group of Fat Les. They were not really a British band per-say, but more of a weird type of side project involving Blur’s bassist Alex James, actor Keith Allen and visual artist Damien Hirst among their most famous line-up. Other iterations of Fat Les, however, have involved the likes of producer Matt Eaton and Happy Mondays’ Rowetta joining and replacing their ranks in later years. The post-Britpop hangover project of Fat Les were probably best known for recording ‘Vindaloo’, the unofficial theme song for England’s team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, a still reasonably well-liked serving of quirky Pop/Rock that reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, and the music video was memorable for being a spoof of The Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ and also Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ in its narrative, concept and structure. Released as their second single, the follow-up of ‘Naughty Christmas (Goblin In The Office)’ was not quite as successful, but it reached #21 in the UK Singles Chart and was notable for including additional vocals from a pre-fame Lily Allen and Kill City’s vocalist Lisa Moorish. The title of the bizzare yuletide anthem is also a bit of a misnomer, but the music video reveals what happens when an office Christmas party goes awry after drinking one too many cups of Eggnog at your works do. On that note, prepare yourself for the odd insanity below.

Fat Les also recorded tunes like ‘Who Invented Fish & Chips’ and ‘Jerusalem’ – their unofficial theme song for the England football team at Euro 2000 – with celebrities like Michael Barrymore, Ed Tudor-Pole, Andy Kane, the London Gay Men’s Chorus and the London Community Gospel Choir appearing in their music and videos as the usual suspects. You may have noticed already, but the music video that you’ve just seen for ‘Naughty Christmas (Goblin In The Office)’ featured an array of performers including Paul Kaye, Roland Rivron and Damien Hirst himself. If you were watching closely, you can have also spotted future Little Britain stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams at the office party, and I’m pretty certain that I spotted a young Mel Giedroyc during some of the background shots, but I may be wrong about that. The song itself is a really surreal one at best, with amusing hooks like “I am a naughty, naughty man/You are a naughty naughty woman” and “Cor blimey, You’re so slimey” that sees Moorish and Allen deliver some back-and-forth duelling in terms of the vocals. The songwriting isn’t exactly subtle or sophisticated then, with refrains such as “I’ll do anything/You’ll do anything too” that ensure the song isn’t likely to be played during a children’s stocking filling activity hour at a primary school. The sheer absurdity of the video and the song makes for some decent comedic value, however. Otherwise, I think I’ve already made it abundantly clear through my own implications that, from a technical musicianship perspective, this is fairly awful. The lyrics are not cohesive, the instrumentation lacks variety, and it’s not particularly catchy. However, in terms of fulfilling its main goal of making me crack a smile and simply enjoy myself for a few minutes, it succeeded. At a brief side note, who wears devil’s horns to an office party?

Pictured: Alex James (Bass Guitar/Vocals), Keith Allen (Writer/Actor) & Damien Hirst (2002) (Photo via IMDB.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for attending my weekend-before-Christmas party, and although I won’t be back tomorrow since I’ll be at work, good old Saint Nick himself will be continuing his takeover of my ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature instead. He’ll be talking about a festive track from a still well-liked 90’s rock band whose last release was the 2020 album ‘Cyr’ and they still record new music regularly today. The frontman and primary songwriter was also notably once a promoter for the TNA wrestling company.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Way Back Wednesday: Neil Pye – “Hole In My Shoe”

June 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

All that I have left is the hole in my shoe which is letting in Water. Let’s go Way Back…

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Neil’s Heavy Concept Album’ (LP) Released in 1984) (via WEA International)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to get down to business with your daily track on the blog, as always, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week for ‘Way Back Wednesday’, we’re going to tear up the rule book of seminal sounds for a re-evaluation of ‘Hole In My Shoe’, a novelty comedy Pop track, sung by a sitcom character. This was suggested for the blog by one of my most loyal readers, my mother. ‘Hole In My Shoe’, released in 1984, followed in the footsteps of Benny Hill and Harry Enfield in being a foray into odd music for a British comedian, in this case being Nigel Planer, who is also famous for appearing in several West End musicals like Chicago, Wicked and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. This practice is very much a thing of the past, as comedians nowadays tend to just appear on every single TV programme that you can think of, rather than trying to trouble the charts for a laugh. I’m looking at you, Rob Beckett – or Tom Allen for that matter. They are on EVERYTHING! I digress. Back on topic now, ‘Hole In My Shoe’ was performed by Planer in the character of Neil Pye from the hit BBC TV series, ‘The Young Ones’, which was popular in the 1980’s. In fact, it was the lead single from ‘Neil’s Heavy Concept Album’, which was, of course, taking the mickey out of high art progressive music and metal song structures. ‘Hole In My Shoe’ reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart, and it won the award for ‘Best Comedy Recording’ at the BRIT Awards in 1985, beating Alexei Sayle’s ‘Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?’. Let’s watch his performance on Top Of The Pops below.

Neil, one of the principal characters from ‘The Young Ones’, often sang a line from the track as a catchphrase, because it was actually a cover version of 1967’s ‘Hole In My Shoe’ by the Birmingham band Traffic, with the Spoken Word mid-section originally recited by Chris Blackwell’s stepdaughter, Francine Heimann, where she tells a surrealist story that has something to do with a giant Albatross – which was also a hit in the UK, Germany and Canada. For Nigel Planer, the tune, that was originally disliked by the other three members of Traffic for it’s deviation from their typical musical style, made for a brilliantly amusing addition to ‘Neil’s Heavy Concept Album’, which was a spoof parody of 70’s Prog-Rock Concept Albums in the sense that they started a trend of having “heavy concepts” attached to them, such as a narrative, yet Neil’s album did not, although that didn’t come from a lack of trying. Think of The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ from 1967 or The Rolling Stones ‘Their Satanic Majesty’s Request’ from 1967 too, and Neil’s effort is sat, rather intentionally uncomfortably, between those two. Neil’s ‘Hole In My Shoe’ unleashes the George Harrison-like Sitar sounds from the get-go, with the guitar grooves and the earthly Drum melodies giving everything a psychedelic and off-kilter feel. The lyrics of the verses are clear, with “I walked through a field/That just wasn’t real/With one hundred tin shoulders” and “I looked in the sky/Where an elephant’s eye/Was looking at me/From a bubblegum tree” trading fantastical elements for abstract comedy. The bridge of “I climbed on the back of a giant anchovy/And flew off through a gap in the clouds/To a land where music is playing” is interrupted with an “Except me” after a cheerful sentiment. Throughout the track, Planer plays his character with excellent timing, and Neil constantly brings us back to reality with his moaning quips like “Oh no, What a really heavy bummer” and goes through a literal ‘high’ with “Oh, what an amazingly beautiful vibe” to constantly toy around with the ideas of music and meaning. Was it good from a traditional standpoint? No, not really. The vocals are very flat, and the narrative makes no sense. Did it have me laughing for the whole way through? Yes, because it’s supposed to be pretty bad from a musical standpoint, and that’s part of the gag. Overall, it’s all hugely enjoyable. Listen to the lyrics, Paul Weller.

  • Pictured: Nigel Planer, an honorary Dr. Of Arts, Edinburgh Napier University (2011) (WikiCommons)

That’s all for now! Join me again tomorrow as we comb the cosmos for a cosmic track from a brand new Minnesota-based Art Pop singer-songwriter who got her inspiration for her debut studio album from the Golden Voyager record. She describes her craft as “Music In Search Of Other Worlds” in her biography. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesday: Alexei Sayle – “Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?”

May 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

The British stand-up comedian taking no wind out of their Sayles. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?” (Single) (1984) (Springtime/Island Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, as per usual, and it’s time for you to read all about your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today, we are revisiting the unlikely UK Top 20 chart success that was ‘Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?’ from Alexei Sayle. Sayle is a stand-up comic and novelist from Anfield, Liverpool – and a popular one at that. In 2007, he was voted by Channel 4 viewers as the 18th greatest gagster of all-time on their ‘100 Greatest Stand-Ups’ programme in 2007. He’s famous for his work in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ on the West End, his ‘Imaginary Sandwich Bar’ radio comedy on BBC Radio 4, and his often surrealist comedy routines in TV comedy programmes like ‘The Young Ones’ and his appearances in the ‘Carry On’ series of films. ‘Ullo John, Gotta New Motor?’ was originally released in 1982, before receiving mainstream attention when it was re-released in 1984. Sayle produced the track with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who have produced for Madness and Elvis Costello. The 12-inch Vinyl single package also saw many different versions arrive at shop shelves thanks to it’s profanities. He released two other albums prior to this single, and so it wasn’t a completely random venture into music. Sayle released two follow-up singles that were included on ‘Panic’, his third and final album, which is a parody of Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ of 1979. See if John’s Gotta New Motor yet below!

By the time that ‘Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?’ was re-issued in 1984, Sayle had starred in the popular BBC sitcom ‘The Young Ones’ and the ITV sitcom ‘Whoops Apocalypse’, which explains the better commercial luck the second time around. There has also been loads of different re-workings of the track, and a re-working from Ian Dury was ordered by Toshiba for an advertisement in 1985 because promoters started to spot the success of the single. Set to a Synthpop or soft Funk backdrop with some New-Wave synths and a few guitar licks, Sayle proceeds to perform a Spoken Word or light Rap set of sentences playing the character of a loudmouthed Liverpuddlian. The lyrics are generally a mix of banal absurdity and seemingly unconnected jokes, with off-kilter references to Barry Manilow, Bongo Drums, Avon representatives and Billy Joel taking up the picture. “Is there life on Mars?/Is there life in Peckham” is my favourite line, but “I keep tropical fish/In my underpants” and “Ere you wanna brown ale/Mine’s a light and bitter” are good moments too. There isn’t much that you can sensibly compare this record too, but there’s a playful sensibility of Ian Dury here, an abstract jumble of puns that remind me of Dry Cleaning, and it’s all dressed up in a Monty Python or Horrible Histories sense of British wit and humor in obscurity. There’s no chorus, no story, and seemingly no point, but Sayle is mocking a stretched Cockney banter that people used to talk in a certain manner around the city nearer back to the time. It’s a bit obsolete now, but Sayle pulls it off with an enthusiastic performance and a musical backdrop that uses distorted vocal effects and delay pedals to warp things a little and add to the bizzare humor. There’s not much musically here and it’s not an artistic masterpiece of complex multi-layered art, but it was never trying to be. I couldn’t really understand most of the lyrics without looking them up, but this adds a little depth to the vocals. Overall, it’s still a fun throwback to the times when comedians recorded Novelty singles around BBC Comic Relief time to assert themselves as a comedic force and that’s rather quaint these days. That said, I probably wouldn’t be asking for Michael McIntyre to record a Metal-themed parody about his Wheel, although a Novelty single from Rev Richard Coles would make sense due to his past experience as a member of Communards. It’s still a track that had me laughing though, and I’m probably going to be sorry when I find myself repeating it around the kitchen all day tomorrow. I’m sure you will be too.

  • Pictured: Alexei Sayle pictured in an article for The Irish Mirror (2016) (Photo Credit: The Daily Mirror)

That’s all for now! Tomorrow, I’ve got some new music to share with you from an emerging female solo act from Los Angeles who describes herself as a “Jazz School drop-out” who is now making her very own Rock music independently. The 22 year old singer-songwriter may have just a handful of releases out there in the world, but she’s also known for working with her childhood friend, Marinelli, on lyrics that have pointed observation and self-deprecating pop culture references about the surreality of growing up. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Gecko – “Climbing Frame”

February 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Karma Chameleon – You come and go, and back again, like Gecko! It’s new post time.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Climbing Frame” (LP) (Released on October 23rd, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get typing up with your daily track on the blog, since it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Gecko – aka Will Sanderson – is a singer-songwriter from London who uses a very anecdotal, story-telling style of songwriting about the big issues in life – such as iPhones, Tooth fairies and fruit juice – to him. Despite this niche subject matter, Sanderson has clocked up 26 Glastonbury performances and he’s taken two successful shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his Comedy Rock music, which has seen him share the stage with Ed Sheeran, Billy Bragg and Loyle Carner over the years. We’ve previously covered his amusing Christmas track, “That Time Of Year”, on the blog – and last October, Sanderson self-released his second studio album, “Climbing Frame”, which was funded through Kickstarter, and mixed by Ben McKone at Crosstown Studios in London. The record gained support from national radio DJ’s Huw Stephens, John Kennedy and Tom Robinson. Since it is Sanderson’s birthday in Lockdown today, “Climbing Frame” has been given a new lease of life with the release of a new Acoustic version of the track, which you can also check out at his Bandcamp page. For now, Let’s celebrate with him, with the Lee Thorpe-directed video for the track below.

The title track for Sanderson’s second full-length album project, “Climbing Frame” was inspired by the story of a young Sanderson using his imagination to literally turn a falling tree into a climbing frame when he was a child, and Sanderson has transformed the anecdote into a track that he describes is a “hopeful song for testing times” on his social media pages. You’ll also find a story about a German stray dog who went into space in the 1950’s, a man pedalling a bicycle at 3:00am, and other mishaps, on this record. While those tracks tend to be a little more Synth-driven, “Climbing Frame” has a more speak-sung, Acoustic-based sound right out of the gate. Sanderson starts off with a sample of a child riffing on education, before he opens: “Listen everybody, there’s something I have seen/I was just out walking and I stumbled across the scene”, with a rather monotone vocal delivery that feels ostensibly British. After telling the narrative of city folk turning a fallen tree into a climbing frame, Sanderson repeats the fact in a chorus that is bolstered by shuffling drum beats and a choir who sing the backing vocals with a strong range of harmonies. The story turns into a riff on coming-of-age and evolving intelligence, as Sanderson spits lines like “We all just grow upwards and get further from our roots” and “The giant trees that line our streets, Started with a shoot” over the top of a repeating Piano section that flutters in the background very softly. He goes for the breakdown, and introduces a slight hip-hop delivery to the mix, as his voice remains quite mid-tempo and flat, while the instruments sustain their child-like feelings evoked by the narrative. The lyrics too, feel twee and child-like – with a sense of optimism and reflection on adolescence being put across by the dialogue of the children in the story and the simplicity of the hook, with the somewhat mundane vocal delivery wearing the beats back down to the bare-bones of British human existence. While it doesn’t land the sparkling humor of his other work, it reminds me of Just Jack’s modern output with the dry, but laidback discussions on adulthood simply peaking through. This makes for a track that is easily listenable, but not entirely disposable. The music video is charming, and it captures a unique spirit. An accessible, yet enjoyable, listen.

  • Pictured: Gecko at the BBC Academy studio of BBC Radio Bristol (2018) (Photo via Facebook.com)

As previously mentioned, “That Time Of Year” by Gecko was also featured on the blog – in the past. I know we have got a long way to go until the festive season gets underway again, but I’m sure this is an artist who can really use your support in these trying times without any touring revenue at all, so please check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/18/todays-track-gecko-that-time-of-year/

  • Pictured: Title card advertising Gecko’s artist page on Spotify (Date unknown) (Photo via Spotify.com)

Thank you for checking out my latest post! Much like a real-life Gecko, my blog is also able to shift between multiple different genres at any given time of the week. Therefore, a complete detour is on the way tomorrow, with the arrival of a new Scuzz Sundays post! Join me then for an in-depth look back at a late-90’s to mid-00’s Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk classic. This time, the honors are done by a mixed-gender US Nu-Metal group who are known for their reunion in 2011, following the band’s dissension in 2003. The band’s first drummer, Jon Tour, was also notably replaced by Mike Cox, at one point too. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Boxing Day Special: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic – “Christmas At Ground Zero”

December 26, 2020 — Leave a comment

Believe it or not – I will be in Tiers by the time that this is all over with. It’s Boxing Day!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Greatest Hits Volume II” (Released on October 25, 1994) (via Scotti Brothers)

Stuffed yourself with all of the trimmings yet? Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for me to get writing up about your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! That means… Boxing day, since there is no rest for the weary-eyed. “Christmas At Ground Zero” is a rather bizzare and obscure Christmas-themed track from 1986. It was written and performed by the Comedy Rock singer “Weird Al” Yankovic – who was one of the original viral favourites. A track that is essentially about Nuclear Omnicide, the title of “Ground Zero” refers to the area where the Twin Towers stood, prior to the terrifying events of 9/11, once in New York City. Before this, however, it was a reference to the spot where a Nuclear Missle was targeted to hit, and since it was recorded in 1986, that’s what Yankovic is playing around with here. He wrote it in a parody style of a Phil Spector-produced Christmas track – so just think about The Ronnetes, Darlene Love and The Crystals – and you’re there. It’s pretty mind-bending to think about just how successful that Yankovic has been for a Comedy artist writing music about niche subject areas. He’s been going since 1976 and since that time, he’s managed to sell over 12 million albums, performed more than 1,000 live shows, and he’s also won 5 Grammy Awards, along with a further 11 award nominations. In more recent years – Yankovic has written two children’s books. Let’s stream the track below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t039p6xqutU

With his trusty Accordion at hand – Yankovic has managed to perform many viral hits in Comedy parodies for the likes of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Coolio, Madonna, The Backstreet Boys, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and loads more, mostly within his signature Polka style. “Christmas At Ground Zero” is no different for hitting the consistent running gags and eliciting some belly laughs in the process. Juxtaposing uplifting Sleigh bells to shots of disastrous nuclear explosions from the music video, Yankovic sets up the scene with: “It’s Christmas at Ground Zero/There’s music in the air” over the top of typically melodic Saxophone samples, before he adds: “The sleigh bells are ringing/The carolers are singing/While the air-raid sirens blare” as the tone shifts. Festive Trumpet melodies contrast with Macabre scenarios as Yankovic happily sings daft lyrics like: “We can dodge debris while we trim the tree, Underneath the Mushroom cloud” and “Just seconds left to go, I’ll duck and cover with my Yuletide lover” above the saccharine, 50’s sounds of Jazz instrumentation that conveys a jolly yet psychotic beat, while a subtle pair of Air Raid sirens sound blare quietly in the background. It’s the bridge at the end that spells it out for us, as Yankovic sends us off with: “What a crazy fluke, we’re gonna get nuked” as the depressing reminder that it’s the Ground Zero settlement that we’re dealing with springs to mind once again. It feels very child-like and silly, yet it struck a chord with audiences. I think that’s because Yankovic manages to subvert the standard Christmas track in terms of the musicality and lyrics with the darker, but still comedic and quirky, undercurrents. It’s a fun alternative to your bog-standard Band Aid or your obvious Cliff Richard fare, albeit probably not one that is suitable for the whole family. How very festive indeed.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Polka Party!” (Released on October 21, 1996) (via Scotti Brothers)

That’s it for Boxing Day! On another note – join me again tomorrow for a festive edition of our Scuzz Sundays feature – where we take a look back at one of the Pop-Punk or Emo-Rock ghosts of Christmas past to see if they can still deliver the goods to us in the present times… and this next one was a collaboration for the ages! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Ray Stevens – “Santa Claus Is Watching You”

December 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

He knows when you’re sleeping and he knows when you’re awake. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Christmas Through A Different Window” (Released: 1997) (via MCA Nashville)

Festive tidings to you – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to get typing up all about today’s track on the daily music blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “Santa Claus Is Watching You” is a quirky little Christmas track, which I found out all about when I was researching some alternative or obscure Christmas tracks to spotlight on the blog this year over the world wide web. Sadly, the name of Ray Stevens did not initially ring any Jingle Bells with me (See what I did there?), but it turns out that he’s really a very prolific Country and R&B singer-songwriter originally from the state of Georgia, over in the states. He’s also worked as a television presenter, music arranger and music producer too, and Stevens has also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame, the Christian Music Hall Of Fame and he’s even received Gold certification sales for some of his albums, so he may be just a little bit before my time, is all. After all, what do I know, eh? “Santa Claus Is Watching You” was a track which he originally wrote and performed as a one-off single released back in 1962, before he later re-released the track as a part of his “Christmas Through A Different Window” seasonal LP collection in 1977. You can still buy the record, but the single in it’s original form is a rarity now, and it’s worth a decent amount of money. I do not have that kind of money. Anyways, let’s laugh along to the music video below.

Ray Stevens has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, which happened just last year in 2019, and so he is still trucking along with his work. The track, specifically, has actually been doing the rounds for a long time now, and you can also get hold of it from his “The Best Of Ray Stevens” compilation album which he put out in 1967, where the track was even re-recorded, electronically, to simulate stereo. As a result of this, I sadly have no real idea of when the official music video, that you just saw above, was released. However, it’s still quite charming and memorable despite it’s dated production. The track, however, peaked at the #45 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. I think that it’s still quite funny, too. The start plays out with a showering of Sleigh Bell melodies, as Stevens calls out: “Now baby-doll, sweetie-pie, sugar-plum, honey-bunch, angel-face” above a stop-and-start combination of Piano and Guitar work, before delivering the killer hook of “Be careful what you say and do/’Cause Santa Claus is watching you” on top of the jovial, care-free rhythms. It gets more romantic and unveiling later on, as Stevens attributes “You’d better kiss and hold me tight/And give me a good lovin’ night” and “When Christmas comes, you’ll be crying too” to the repeated vocal hook. A quirky bridge of doo-wop filler lines and a list of reindeer’s names who are not a part of Santa’s elite group of Sleigh pullers follow up on the verses, to add a quirky sense of fun to the lyricism. He later claims that Santa Claus is the head of the CIA, and the track ends with some form of Spoken Word freestyle about his paranoia of being watched by the White-bearded international celebrity. It makes for a fun and entertaining listen, although the cohesion and flow of the track gets a little uneven at times, as Stevens keeps dashing through different modes of his wordplay vocal delivery and his instrumental breaks during the track. I’m not sure how appealing this track would be to children either, but I think that’s a good thing, in this case, because it makes it feel different to your bog-standard festive Pop track primarily aimed at Children that Pop singers like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are known to have performed in recent years. Stevens also manages to deliver some good comedy throughout the single too, even if the flow loses it’s way a little bit during the middle. The Rockwell of yuletide tracks – which came an odd 20 years before, perhaps. Overall, it’s still pretty hilarious.

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “Santa Claus Is Watching You” (1962) (Photo via Discogs.com/Mercury Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! Tomorrow marks a short-lived, but celebratory, new era for our weekly Scuzz Sundays series, because we’re going to be looking at some festive-themed emo-rock and pop-punk gems taken from the late-1990’s, up until the mid-2000’s, from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow’s Emo throwback comes from a classic American Heavy Metal band who are often regarded as “Glam-Rock” for their prominent use of makeup and female costumes. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: The Bloodhound Gang – “The Ballad Of Chasey Lain”

November 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

Well…Here we are again! It really is a Dog Eat Dog world out there! It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Jimmy Pop (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jared Hasslehoff (Bass Guitar/ Vocals), DJ Q-Ball (Keyboards/Synths/Turntables), Daniel P. Carter (Lead Guitar) & The Yin (Drums) (2015) (WeGow.com)
    Pictured: Jimmy Pop (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jared Hasslehoff (Bass Guitar/ Vocals), DJ Q-Ball (Keyboards/Synths/Turntables), Daniel P. Carter (Lead Guitar) & The Yin (Drums) (2015) (WeGow.com)

There goes your Sunday! Greetings to you, I am Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for another weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we take a listen back to an Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk relic released between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s, to see if they hold on to value and quality in our current times! We previously covered “The Bad Touch” in our series, and it’s a song that everybody is familiar with (Never Again!). However, generally, the public don’t seem to be very aware of their other material, but the band have actually been quite successful, commercially speaking, with sales of 6 million copies of their albums worldwide, and a particularly decent following in European territories. Today – that changes – as we take a listen to “The Ballad Of Chasey Lain” in retrospect. Much like their biggest hit, this track was released as a single from their debut album, “Hooray For Boobies” (Yeah….Seriously), which was released in 1999. The track was re-released as a single in 2000, with the single’s title alluding to Jimmy Pop (Yes, that is really the alias of the lead vocalist) seeing Chasey Lain, a pornographic film actress, in a clothing shop advertisement. He commented “No” when he was questioned if the infatuation was real…and this was an interview with BBC. This reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart. Let’s listen in below.

Of all places, the track has been frequently used as the bumper music for a lucrative US Texas-situated radio station, KRBE. Along with this, Jimmy Pop has confirmed in his interviews over the years that the core melody for the track was sampled from “Sea Of Sin” by Depeche Mode, of all bands. Writing from the viewpoint of a mock stalker, Pop recites lines like: “I just wanted to ask/Could I eat your a**?” and “You’ve had a lot of d**k Chasey, but you ain’t had mine” over the top of a jangled, heavy guitar riff and a harsh bass guitar riff. You’ve probably noticed – this is just incredibly, undeniably silly music, but I think that it’s important to remember that Bloodhound Gang have always been a Novelty group, and you’re not really supposed to take them seriously as a sub-contemporary piece of music. That doesn’t mean it’s really any good, though. Lines like “Now, show ’em them t***ies” and, in the end, “Would ya f**k me, for blow?” feel tired and ware very thin by the end, although I think the monotone delivery that Pop uses is quite amusing. This is much less Rap-Rock driven than a lot of their other work, with a skewed Punk instrumental giving off a low-fidelity Folk-Blues idiom instead. The lyrics are about the lowest common denominator nonsense you would expect, as a harsh and crude set of lines like “How could I ever eat your a**, when you treat, your biggest fan like that?” and “You’ve had a lotta d**k/I’ve had a lotta time” get repetitive and lose any charm they had, before you gradually get to the end-point of the track when you realise that you’ve just wasted 3 minutes of your life – I’m sorry for wasting yours. It’s a shame that Pop isn’t using enough variation to keep things, at least, mildly catchy here, as the Punk-Folk mismatch of instrumentation is more interesting. For what it’s worth though, it’s crap.

  • Pictured: "No reason to live but we like it that way" - Bloodhound Gang (2017) (Photo via Reddit.com)
    Pictured: “No reason to live but we like it that way” – Bloodhound Gang (2017) (Photo via Reddit.com)

I’m not sure why you really would, but if you must – You can read up on my thoughts of “The Bad Touch”, of which we already covered as part of our 1st Anniversary Special of our long-running Scuzz Sundays weekly feature on the blog, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/23/scuzz-sundays-1st-anniversary-special-the-bloodhound-gang-the-bad-touch/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hooray For Boobies” (Released on October 4th, 1999) (via Geffen Records)
    Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hooray For Boobies” (Released on October 4th, 1999) (via Geffen Records)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As always, I’ll be back at it all again tomorrow, as I hope to aid you through the daily grind again. We’ll be taking an in-depth look at the big return track from a UK hip-hop rapper, songwriter, lyricist and poet who previously appeared on a few episodes of Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox with his mother – Jean Coyle-Larner. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Tenacious D – “Tribute”

November 1, 2020 — Leave a comment

All right, let’s take a look at the facts – Shallow Hal still wants a gal. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Tenacious D" (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Tenacious D” (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)

You know what time it is! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to type up your new weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we dig out an ancient relic from under the marble ground of the Emo Rock and Pop-Punk classics of the decades past, to find out whether they can still hold up to quality and value in today’s era of rock. Actor, Comedian, Singer, Songwriter, YouTube Presenter and all-around likeable guy Jack Black is the cream of the crop when it comes to Hollywood talent. Along with the often praised rock singer-songwriter Kyle Gass, Black set up the Tenacious D side-project so that he could write and perform music with his best friend while he was not too busy keeping us entertained with funny movies like “School Of Rock”, “Shallow Hal” and “Nacho Libre” over the years. I consider myself to be a fan of Black’s work, and the band even got their own R-rated comedy flick, “Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny”, in 2006, although it was a Box Office misfire. Back on-topic, I can remember seeing the video for “Tribute” on Scuzz TV, in the early hours of the morning, very clearly as a child. This single came before the movie, and it was released in support of their debut studio album in 2001. It has garnered a huge cult following, and it’s one of the Tenacious D tracks that, at least, have always kept the band in the public eye, to their own merits. “Tribute” failed to make much of a commercial impact in the US, at first – but it has been certified Platinum in Australia, and it has been certified Gold in both the UK and New Zealand. “Tribute” was also the first track that Black and Gass performed together, as Tenacious D, live. The album managed to sell 426,000 copies in the UK, by 2005. Let’s pay “Tribute” to them below.

I’ve got to be honest… The demonic granny with the beaming red eyes at the end of the music video always used to manage to freak me out when I was a child. Liam Lynch directed the videos for both “Tribute” and “Wonderboy”, and they have both attained a strong cult status. “Tribute” is nearly entirely played in A-Minor, and the track’s chord progression is strikingly similar to “Wonderboy”. Written in the form of a comedy rock opera ballad, Black and Gass tell the story of slaying a Demon with the Best song in the world, with Black singing: “Long time ago, me and my brother Kyle here, We was hitchkikin’ down a long and lonesome road” before responding “Okay” to a Demon instructing them to “Play The Best Song In The World” to save their souls. Needless to say, “the Beast was stunned” after they played the Best Song In The World, which Black recites over the top of a heavy Acoustic riff and a clashing Drum beat. The bridge is hook-led and takes influence from Garage-Pop, as Black adds: “Look into my eyes and it’s easy to see/One and one make two, two and one make three/It was destiny” and Gass whips out a more electric-driven guitar solo for the breakdown, as Black concludes: “The song we sang on that fateful night, it didn’t actually sound anything like this song” over the top of a fading drum pattern and the incessant, rich acoustic bass guitar chords. The dynamic between Black and Gass is rather cohesive, and the vocals are delivered with a great deal of enthusiasm. This is a highly comedy-driven track, and so your mileage will likely vary on the humor. For me, it drags on a little, but it lands for the most part. While the claim that it could be “the greatest song in the world” is one that’s subjective – I feel it makes for a fun time.

  • Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)
    Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! After a weekend of special posts, we’re all back to normal tomorrow as we take an in-depth look at some brand new music from a singer-songwriter and poet from London who we have covered on the blog before, and she was included in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays 1st Anniversary Special: The Bloodhound Gang – “The Bad Touch”

August 23, 2020 — Leave a comment

Honestly, I can’t actually believe that I’m doing this, but it’s a special Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Jimmy Pop (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jared Hasslehoff (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), DJ Q-Ball (Keyboards/Synths/Turntables/Producer), Daniel P. Carter (Lead Guitar) and The Yin (Drums (2015) (via WeGow.com)

Oh, boy! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and we’ve reached the time of the week where we have a look back at an Emo-Rock or a Pop-Punk relic, one that would have been played on the defunct Scuzz TV channel, from the late 1990’s to the mid-2000’s, to see if it can live up to it’s stature! We’ve actually reached the point of an entire year since I began running the feature on the blog, so, therefore, to mark the milestone, we’re actually going there, with… THAT track. Of course, I’m talking about The Bloodhoung Gang’s “The Bad Touch”, a track that was on a VERY significantly heavy rotation on Scuzz TV, for all of the wrong reasons… I feel. It’s known for it’s very silly, memorable music video that made the track become a sizable hit commercially, peaking at #4 in the UK Singles Chart and #52 on the US Billboard Hot 100, alongside a #1 chart position in European countries including Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and a few others. This track came from the group’s third studio album, “Hooray For Boobies”… Yep, which was also released in October 1999 in the UK and the rest of Europe, with a US release early in the year thereafter. In case you were wondering, The Bloodhound Gang were a band who have done quite well for themselves, as they have sold more than 6 million copies of their albums worldwide. I guess, after “The Bad Touch”, they at least had a core fanbase to follow them. The 5-piece went on a hiatus in 2015. Let’s get this over with… with “The Bad Touch” below.

Referenced by Eminem in his hit – “The Real Slim Shady”, The Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch” is the exemplary track that bought Rap-Rock to the masses in a way that, for at least some merit, is still remembered to this day. The lyrics are sexual and vulgar, as Jimmy Pop (yeah, an apt name, for sure) recites: “Sweat baby, Sweat baby, Sex is a Texas drought” and “So, put your hands down my pants and I’ll be you’ll feel nuts” after a synth-led intro that introduces retro 80’s synth beats and a noticeable element of Space-Pop into the mix. The chorus trades nothing for no subtlety, as Pop unforgettably raps: “You and me/Baby me, Nothing but mammals/So, let’s do it like they do on the Discovery channel”, as he pairs up a very basic rhyme with a melodic Synth instrumental, with very little guitar-based instrumentation to be seen or heard. The rest of the track plods along with it’s established style, as Pop matches simplistic Hop-based hooks with repeating Synth instrumentals, with the odd “Gettin’ horny now” to remind us of the intentionally crass and deliberately oversexualised lyricism, with sexual references with every single turn, and a calming Synth bed undertone to complement the Innuendo-heavy vocals. To be fair, the music video is still rather funny and it elicits a decent chuckle out of me, and the refrains are slightly catchy, so I’m not going to take a No.2 all over this. The trouble is, however, you may notice how the sound never really progresses in any major ways. It never really gets to a point where it gets outright explicit, and, melodically, it’s just the same couple of hooks getting repeated over strikingly familiar Synth instrumental sections and the same old rap chorus. It gets tedious for the wrong reasons, and it simply just doesn’t quite go anywhere. But, where would we all be without this? Blissfully unaware… Perhaps?

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hooray For Boobies” (Album) (Released on October 4th, 1999) (via Geffen Records)

Thank you very much for reading this post! Scuzz Sundays will return for the foreseeable future, and although I’ve just about covered all of the main tracks taken from the era, I’ve still got plenty of sources to gather memories from and some lesser-known tracks that could have something interesting to them. I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at the new single from an established Australian Psychedelic Rock act who recently collaborated with Mike Skinner on his latest mixtape as The Streets. He also won the “Best Song Of The Year 2016” trophy at the APRA Awards in 2016. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

WWE WrestleMania 36 Weekend Special: The Nick Atoms – “El Santo: The Silver Masked Avenger”

April 3, 2020 — 8 Comments

It’s almost time for the Grandaddy Of Them All! As for now, it’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: El Santo with the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (no date) (via reprobatepress.com)

Vince McMahon doesn’t like it when you call it that! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and although it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different song on the blog each day, I thought that it would make a change to combine two of my greatest passions: Music and Professional Wrestling! WWE’s WrestleMania 36 PPV event, the biggest wrestling show of the year, is being held at WWE’s Performance Center in front of no fans over the weekend, so I’m going to mark the occasion by writing about wrestling-themed songs as a special treat! Now, when you think of professional wrestlers, the names that probably come into your head are John Cena, The Rock, Ric Flair, Triple H and so on, but probably the most famous wrestler of all-time is actually El Santo. El Santo lived between 1917 and 1984. In that time, he was basically the symbol of hope and justice, the face of Mexican popular culture, for five decades. He appeared in A TRUCKLOAD of fictional lucha movies, serialized comic books and other fictional narrative works. You’ll have most likely seen his youngest son, El Hijo De Santo, in Jack Black’s 2006 film “Nacho Libre” as Ramses. Allow The Nick Atoms, a niche cult cartoon-themed comedy rock band formed in 2000 in Minnesota to tell you more about him, with their rendition of El Santo’s cartoon series theme song: “El Santo: The Silver Masked Avenger”, released in 2005 via the “In The 25th Century” LP, below!

With just 526 views on YouTube, that’s very niche! Where to start? Well, it’s basically a parody band formed by three mysterious Robot characters who named themselves Dr. Ted Nelson, Coburn and Wyngarde! The composition of the track is simplistic, with just a kick drum and two acoustic guitars used to create a traditional Mexican, aristocratic indie rock melody. The vocals are low-pitched and of a very over-the-top, animated texture. Nelson sings about the fact that El Santos never took off his mask in respect of his mythology and to ‘keep the legend alive’, so to speak: “The man behind the mask is a mystery to all”, with “nothing can stop, that man El Santo” being the main vocal hook of the bridge, layered by a fast-paced acoustic guitar riff and a sharp, humdrum bass guitar riff. In the later stages, Nelson makes it clear that he’s singing the lyrics from the viewpoint of a child watching El Santo at a wrestling show, “Wearing a silver mask, driving a cool car and fighting monsters, could that be the life for me?”, “I wish I could be just like El Santo”, a shout which brings the return of the relentless acoustic guitar licks and the repetitous kick drum groove. To be honest, I think this has been, by far, the most difficult post that I’ve ever written on the blog due to the sheer legacy of El Santo and trying to condense that to as casual a level for you as I possibly can. I don’t think The Nick Atoms really manage to do the character justice because the audio quality is low and they’re obviously working with a low budget and minimal production values, but it’s such an enviable task that I don’t think anybody truly could manage to do it – and I feel they’re doing the best they can. The backing vocals add more depth to the sound and the guitar melodies are decently tuned. On the flip side, I could barely make out any of the lyrics on the first listen and so it’s taken me the whole morning to write this post, so I think it’s fair to question the level of artistic credibility. The sense of character is unique and fun, if disposable. This is “sweet”, but nothing much else. Long Live The Legend Of El Santo!

  • Pictured: Dr. Ted Nelson (Lead Vocals/Drums), Coburn (Lead Guitar) and Wyngarde (Bass Guitar) (2012) (via Facebook)

Thank you for reading this post! WrestleMania 36 is a two-night streaming event on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th April, available to watch on the WWE Network (watch.wwe.com)! I have previously covered Bowling For Soup’s “Alexa Bliss” (https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/12/todays-track-bowling-for-soup-alexa-bliss/) and Reverend & The Makers’ “The Wrestler” (https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/11/todays-track-reverend-and-the-makers-the-wrestler/) on the blog as well, so feel free to peruse those links to satisfy your grappling-in-tights cravings even further! I’ll be back tomorrow for the second part of the WWE WrestleMania 36 Weekend Special trilogy series! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime