You know the old cliche that “so-and-so’s worst album is better than just about everything else out there” — well, Ben Fold’s new album puts that concept to the test.
Way to Normal is definitely Folds’ worst album, but it isn’t bad by any means. It just feels like a big step down from the wonderful Songs for Silverman and Rockin’ the Suburbs — not to mention his work with Ben Folds Five.
I have a decidedly negative opinion of Madonna that has only worsened over the past decade or so as she’s picked up a British accent and added “pretentious ass” to her long line of image makeovers.
But I have to admit, she had a string of hits in the 80s and early 90s that still hold up to this day. Songs such as ‘Borderline,’ ‘Like a Prayer,’ ‘Open Your Heart’ and this one, ‘Papa Don’t Preach.’ This was back when Madonna was sexy without desperately trying to be sexy and, if you ask me, she’s still coasting today on the extraordinary success she had in those years.
This week’s theme, today through Friday, is beloved 80s songs that have memorable videos.
And when I told Alex about the theme, her immediate response was “Like A-Ha?”
I think ‘Take On Me’ might be the most memorable video in MTV history, at least for those of us who were around when MTV first launched. It’s the first video I can remember that complemented the song so well that you almost couldn’t conceive of listening to it separately. To this day, if I hear ‘Take On Me’ I immediately picture the lead singer passing behind that animation/reality screen and the cute blonde finding the crumpled up paper in the diner wastebasket.
I’m kind of at a loss for words in trying to describe the appeal of She & Him, and singer/songwriter Zooey Deschanel in particular.
There’s a mysterious and charming quality to the group’s debut album — it somehow feels simultaneously familiar and brand-new. And almost all of the credit goes to Deschanel and her wonderful voice.
This song would have fit very well in my theme week on my courtship with my wife. It and the album on which it appeared (New Miserable Experience) were in frequent rotation on my car stereo the summer of 1993.
I know a group that has just one great song is called a one-hit wonder, but what about a group with just one great album? New Miserable Experience is best remembered for this song and another hit, ‘Hey Jealousy,’ but it was strong from start to finish. And it holds up quite well today. That early 90s alterna-pop sound (see also: Toad the Wet Sprocket) was a good one, and is dated only in the literal sense.
Meet Me In Montauk 