Category: Nashville 80s Rock

Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Paisley Dragon Mix


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Good morning!  It’s a beautiful day here in Music City USA. Working on an amazing mix of songs to add to the playlist tonight – hopefully.  We still have lots to talk about – still two nights of Americana Fest to write about – hopefully I’ll finish before next year’s fest.  We have a generous offer for an interview that we need to get our stuff together and do.

Tomorrow night we are taking part in the World Premier of the new video from Cosmonauts. We brought you the premier of the song, Cold Harbor along with an interview with the band.  Now, the video is ready – we got a sneak peek and it’s amazing, but does contain some graphic and disturbing images… but if you’re up for that, tune in tomorrow.

Our friend’s The Dead Exs have a new album out called, Relovolution. We already brought you the title track. The album is a nice complement to the band’s debut Resurrection – offering a filthy and beautiful blend of rocking blues.  Visit the band’s website for more info.  Right now, the band is tearing up the Lonestar State and playing some dates with the great Ray Wylie Hubbard.

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We shuffles up our Revolving Random playlist and came up with this mix today:

First up, we have a song from the 1984 self-titled debut by Red Hot Chili Peppers.  True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes is a funky, bit of post-punk L.A. rock music. Did you know that Guitarist Hillel Slovak did not appear on this record due to contractual obligations to the band What is This?  

So… Who’s Next? Exactly.  Okay  I’ll stop.  Next, we have Baba O’Riley, the classic song from the classic 1971 Who’s Next album by The Who.

Next we have a 1990s cover of an early 80s song.  The Muffs’ version of Kim Wilde’s first single, Kids in America, was originally released on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Clueless, and was later released on the band’s album Hamburger. 

 
Finally, we close out with a classic Nashville rock track.  This one comes from the self-titled major label debut by a band called Royal Court of China. The band included members of popular Nashville thrash band The Enemy.  The record included hard rocking songs and more Southern Gothic folk stuff.  The band split after this record with members taking the RCC name further into a Hard Rock direction on the follow up album Geared and Primed, and other members forming The Shakers who followed that Southern Gothic strain to it’s conclusion with a album called Songs from Beneath the Lake. Today, we have the instrumental track, Townsend, TN, which shows off that gothic folk side of the band.

Couldn’t find a video for Townsend, TN so here’s a different RCC song.

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Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle – You Say You Want Mix

As of this morning, I had 119 songs in my July 2012 Playlist which I have not yet had the chance to present to you.  Today, I will knock that down to 115.  I was reflecting on the added music for this month – an eclectic mix of old and new music – spanning a geographic and musical landscape that can only be called spectra-normous. I just made that word up – by the way.  Interestingly enough, today’s random shuffle of those 119 songs yielded three songs from the same band. More on that later.

First up, we have our good friends and sure bet for a wildcard spot in our Band of the Year poll, The Dead Exs.  They have a new album set to drop soon.  A couple of weeks ago, we introduced a new song they released around the 4th for July. The song recently, reached number 3 on the Hype Machine’s Twitter chart.  It’s called Relovolution and it shows off this hard working band’s dirty blues-rock style in fine fashion.  It was an excellent way to jump start my day.  You can get a free download below:

And while you are waiting for the new record – go buy their last record Resurrection by clicking the image below (Amazon.com). Also, The Dead Exs really want to come to Nashville and play Grimey’s – so if you’re in Nashville – spread the word!

 
And here’s the band’s classic from Resurrection – “More Stuff”

Now, settle down and let me tell you about the band that shows up three times in a row on today’s shuffle.  The Ratz were, are and ever shall be trailblazers in the Nashville Rock world.  The band formed in 1979, played some legendary gigs and Nashville Rock landmarks Phranks n’ Steins  and Cantrells, recorded a single, played with R.E.M. and The Brains among others and then disbanded in 1981 with it’s members going on to play in such bands as Factual, Raging Fire, The Enemy, Go Jimmy Dub and Royal Court of China. The band, older and wiser but still Ratz, reunited in 2009 and have since recorded some new and old songs. They have a gig coming up on August 11 at The End (which was once the legendary Elliston Square).


So here are the songs by The Ratz in today’s shuffle:


Drop to the Ground (New Song and Recording from 2010)

My Baby Don’t Love Me Cuz I Won’t Cut My Face For Her (Vintage Song, New Recording)
and
She Shaved Her Head and She’s Crazy 

Go grab some music and check out Nashville80srock.net.

You can also check out The Ratz and other great Nashville Rock from back in the day on this must-have compilation:

 
 Couldn’t find a You Tube clip of The Ratz (so go check them out live on the 11th) so here’s a vintage clip from Raging Fire.

   


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Listen To Punk Rock With Daddy Body Suit



Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Music City Mix

Did you know that the name Music City did not originate with the Grand Ole Opry or with the record companies along Music Row or with the fact that Ear to the Ground is based here in Nashville?  I know right!  It actually came about when Queen Victoria heard the Fisk Jubilee  Singers perform.  I know right!

I have to say, being a music fan in Music City is an interesting endeavor.  Historically, when people hear Nashville, they think first about the slick, country music coming out of the high-end studios on Music Row or maybe the good-natured Hee-Haw folks or else the Grand Ole Opry.  And yes, all of those things are part of Nashville – a big part. Nashville, though, has always had more to offer musically speaking. Lately, the other side of Nashville music has gotten some high-profile faces. With Jack White and the Black Keys relocating to our fine city.  

In years past, artists as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan have lived and/or recorded here. 

I grew up musically on Nashville Rock in the 80s.  (There is a site for that!) It was a thriving and diverse scene, and perhaps like many other local scenes of the day, seemed perpetually on the verge of breaking big.  The legacy of that scene lived on with a number of artists from that time making a living as staff songwriters and/or still slugging away – doing their thing.  

Over the last couple of years, we’ve tragically and sadly lost a number of local musicians from my youth/young adult years.  Paul Kirby (Walk the West, Cactus Brothers), Perry Baggs (Jason and the Scorchers), Michael Godsey (Raging Fire), Tim Krekel (The Sluggers) among them. 

So, yeah, Nashville has been, can be, and is a great city for music. It can also be difficult and political and cynical and over-produced and all of that.  Still for all the crap, Nashville is a great place to be a music lover and a music blogger.

I put together a playlist of artists who have (at least at some point) called Nashville home.  I came up with 100 songs (limit one per artist) and probably missed a few, and it’s an amazingly diverse group of amazing bands, artists and songs…. here we go…

First up is one of my all-time favorite songs.  I can’t listen to Jason and the Scorchers classic Broken Whiskey Glass without picturing the acrobatic leap from the drum riser on a later summer night on West End Avenue in 1985. (To be honest, I’ve reenacted that leap myself on a number of occasions when listening to the song when no one else was around). Broken Whiskey Glass was released on the band’s full-length debut, Lost and Found.

Johnny Cash was an original. He began his music career recording at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis, had a prime time television series, and in his later years made some landmark recordings (his American series) which included notable covers of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode among others. 
In 1969, Cash recorded a now legendary show at San Quentin Prison, at that show which was later released as At San Quentin, he performed a version of a song written by Shel Silverstein called A Boy Named Sue. The song became Cash’s biggest crossover hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

Finally, we have a song by Mikey Wax who was our 10th Band of the Week just about one year ago.  Since then, he was released a new record called Constant Motion which features the song Counting on You which happens to be the third and final song in today’s shuffle. Although he grew up on Long Island and currently lives in New York City, Mikey makes this playlist because he attended Vanderbilt University here in Nashville.  Counting on You was featured just last week on the Fox Television show So You Think You Can Dance. And I’m absolutely sure, his having been Band of the Week on Ear to the Ground played apart in getting the song on the show… (wink, smile)
 


 

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Thursday Morning Music Shuffle – Colloid Suspension Mix

Hey ho! It’s the final day of May.  Remember tomorrow we will introduce a new feature on Ear to the Ground which will take the place of the ever popular Band of the Week, and hopefully move us forward in our mission to introduce you to the many talented artists putting out music around the world.  In the meantime, stay tuned today, I’m going to be posting our Band of the Month poll for May, and I also have a free MP3 of a brand new song.

Back to a real live music shuffle – the air felt good this morning, but there was definitely quite a bit of humidity in the air.  Storms are forecast for this afternoon, and as per usual, I am sans umbrella (did I ever mention that I hate umbrellas?) so I’m looking forward to the possibility of walking through a downpour this afternoon!

On to our shuffle:

First up:

I presented this song a couple of weeks ago in my post about The Bluefields.  Bluefield, Joe Blanton, before he was in Royal Court of China, was part of a local Nashville Thrash band called, The Enemy.  Today’s song is by The Enemy and according to the tag information on the download I got from Nashville 80s Rock – dot – net  , it is from a Cassette release called Tijuana Go! which was also the title of a song on Royal Court of China’s second album, Geared and Primed. Anyway, the song is Jesus Rides a UFO and I must say hearing this song always brings me back to the mid-80s.

Get the MP3 for Jesus Rides a UFO 


Bonus: Here’s the video for Take Me Down from Royal Court of China







Next you we offer you another track from the fabulous Jo Wymer, a bluesy, rockin’ lady from New Jersey.  That Kiss is on Jo’s 2011 album Living with Scars.

 
Bonus Video: Here is Jo Wymer doing Dirty Secrets another track from the album
Finally, we present the title track to the latest album by an amazing singer/songwriter who happens to share a first name with one of my daughters.  Young Man in America– the song – is sprawling, captivating and memorable.  Young Man in America  – the album – is a remarkable achievement.
 
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