Sure, George Michael's been sleeping in his car and he’s gotten caught in public bathrooms enough times that even when buoyed by the best self mockery and sense of humor, it’s beginning to get sad. But never say never! The world has considered the man on the outs before and he hit back, settomg his former image (literally) ablaze, supermodels by his side.
Of course, I'm talking about the double whammy punch of Freedom '90 and Too Funky that featured anyone who was anyone at that time in the supermodeling world. Linda, Naomi, Christy, Claudia, even Ty-Ty. And as side note, has anyone else noticed how these ladies are still dominating (minus Nadja Auermann, who I might just miss the most) – it seemed like at least half of the new September campaigns feature these throwbacks.
Freedom '90 (but friends can just call it “Freedom”) came first and that iconic video was shot by David Fincher. G.M. was sick of his old image, man! No longer desiring to be a whore for the cameras (later he’d make an acception for the Beverly Hills public toilets) he decided not to appear in front of the camera. Supermodels were flown in and the rest is early '90s pop culture history.
The campier, day-glo Too Funky was next, featuring the outrageous work of Theirry Mugler (see this week’s style icon) and yet another bevy of models, including some more interesting choices like former Cat Woman lovely Julie Newmar and Pedro Almodovar's muse, Rossy De Palma Maybe I was just at the right impressionable age but in my book fashion and music have never made such good friends.
There was this song, randomly downloaded from Lime wire by me due to a mislabeling, and it became an obsession. In it, energetic kids scream/sing about having a boyfriend in Spanish. It is fun and fast and amazing, and in the six years it’s been in my ipod (labeled simply at Belle and Sebastian) it has never failed to life my spirits.
I have never been able to put a name to it, however, until this very week. I have found out through the miracle of the internets, that it is called Toma Que Toma and the version I love is from an album called All the Children in School.
A band called Los Ninos also covers it (as do tons of other Latino bands) and they have a video that is flat out awesome. Big headed clay kids melting into the sand and blinking their eyes the way only a claymation kid can, it’s a bit of surreal summer sunshine madness that I think we can all appreciate amidst our own surreal summer thunderstorm madness.
A hot and heavy ode to education in the bedroom, even Salt 'N Pepa found it sexy enough to inspire a song on their 1990 Black’s Magic, an album I played on my 6th grade Discman fairly constantly; and De La Soul sampled it for a song called Transmitting from Mars.
It was originally written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds and later released on their compilation PreFlyte, but their take was a bit less interesting.
by Tommy James and the Shondells (1969) and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1981)
Well sir, what do you fancy? Snarling, leather girl punk pop, or are you feeling a bit more psychedelic and peace lovingly dreamy? The beauty of Crimson and Clover is that you can have it both ways! Choose the cover by Joan Jett and the Black Hearts or the original number one hit by Tommy James and the Shondells. The lyrics are as simple as they are scant:
Now I don't hardly know her But I think I could love her Well if she come walkin' over Now I been waitin' to show her My mind's such a sweet thing I wanna do everything What a beautiful feeling
The rest is just "Crimson and Clover, over and over". And over and over and over.
While looking for up the lyrics I found this nerdy fact: “In the PC game Heroes of Might and Magic 2, there was a playable map based on this song. When the entire map was viewed in the overhead window, it looked like a green clover on a red background.” The worlds I am missing out on by being a mac-only nerd...
Being the celebrity that got himself kicked out of the exclusive Milk and Honey by acting obnoxious isn’t the only thing you have to give credit to Quentin Tarantino for. He also happens to have pretty impeccable taste in music, if you can forgive him for the fact that the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack was overplayed by every guy you didn’t want to date in high school–then again in college–and accept that it was a revolutionary soundtrack that pretty awesomely got millions of awkward teens grooving to Harry Nilsson Schmilsson.
Strawberry Letter 23, most famously recorded by the Brothers Johnson in 1977, was featured in his best picture to date (in my opinion), Jackie Brown. It was originally written and recorded by a seventeen year old named Shuggie Otis (who I imagine looks like a teddybear) about his girlfriend who wrote notes to him on strawberry scented paper.
Jesus, if I had a lover writing me on strawberry scented paper in 1977, I’d be inspired to write a song about it too–though it’s debatable if mine would have as much soul. But, on closer inspection, maybe there is something of teenage Brittany in the lyrics:
In the garden - I see west Purple shower, bells and tea Orange birds and river cousins dressed in green and
Hello, my love I heard a kiss from you Red magic satin playing near, too
Ahh, this song just makes me feel good. Like a rainbow flying into my ears. And by the way, both versions are worth a listen.
The song title is also the name of a Dear Abby type show where you can ask Steve Harvey to solve all your problems. Seriously.
I remember listening to the song on repeat over and over and over on my Walkman, straggling behind my mom at the mall, day dreaming of Corey Feldman and massive backyard adventures. I remember that I even cleaned my room (probably the only time in my life) because it was my dad’s ingenious stipulation for me seeing Goonies on opening day. Ooooh. Can’t you just remember how fun it was to get excited as a kid? It makes me happy that it still happens with the Harry Potter movies and such.
So it's sad to learn that the glorious Miss Lauper does not share my enthusiasm. She admitted that she actually hates the song and has excluded it from her compilation albums. And that video that looks like the most fun an unusual gal could ever hope to have? According to Lauper, it was a horrendous and exhausting experience. Oh well.
But her musical career is still fairly unknown to me. Mike introduced me to this song at The Phoenix to appease my demands for some Stevie Nicks (which was no longer on their juke box). He assumed I would like it and he was right.
Jones was a cultural phenomenon. A former fashion model turned performance artist, who began her career outlandishly costumed in gay clubs until her NYC presence could no longer be ignored.
This song was released towards the end of the first round of her music career on the album Living My Life, after which she took a hiatus from music and focused on acting for three years.
Made famous (at least famous to film school kids) by Kenneth Anger's use of it in The Rabbit's Moon, It Came in the Night is a catchy but mysterious pop tune. Mysterious because information was hard to come by–even allmusic draws a blank page for the song and the band. The film gives credit to Andy Arthur, yet the song is actually by Arthur's band, A Raincoat. Here is an article about one man's journey to discover that fact.
In high school my best friends and worked as camp counselors at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in the summer. Best friends, adorable kids, arts and crafts, a beautiful zoo, occasional cotton candy and a little pocket money… it was perfect. Except for one thing.
There was an older, meaner counselor who worked there with us–who knows why she chose a job where she’d be surrounded by children, the only animals at the zoo she obviously hated. She'd use a terrifyingly shrill whistle every time the kids got too excited and, believe me, when Dana and I were leading a paper bag puppet making project, it was all too easy to get excited.
Finally, the two of us took the whistle when she wasn’t looking and buried it in the dirt. Sadly, she came to work the next day with a shiny new one. We were convinced she had a cache of thousands of them in her lonely home…
But I have some really lovely memories of our time there. One of the nicest parts of the day was when all the kids would sing along to traditional camp songs. The American classic, Don’t Fence Me In, originally recorded by Cole Porter based on a poem by Montana State Highway engineer Bob Fletcher, is heavenly when it’s sung by a bunch of hopeful little kids.
Gay punk! Yay! With it’s risqué lyrics about giving head and gay teenage relationships, Elton Motello’s “Jet Boy, Jet Girl” is–no surprise–not without its controversy. It received a FCC fine for obscenity when it was played on the radio in 1989. A non-sensical, non-offensive version of the song called “Ca plane pour moi” was recorded by Plastic Bertrand much to Alan Ward (singer/song writer behind Elton Motello)’s shagrin. He never persued legal action, but the song was pretty much stolen from him because his original lyrics would never sell.
