Issue 4 Playlist Notes

This time all the tracks speak to the story or the emotional states of all involved, and the songs are far less ‘87-centric. Once again, all tracks are added to the Overarching Gunning For Hits Playlist after the previous issue’s.

So please start this issue’s playlist with:

That Petrol Emotion / Big Decision

TPE were the Undertones with a new singer and a spikier, post-punk, more political direction. “You’d rather cross the ocean than make a big decision” is such a great line. While Martin does cross an ocean to get resolution, he wouldn’t have to if Cook wasn’t an obstacle. I love the fade where Steve quotes Brother D’s “How We Gonna Make The Black Nation Rise,” arguably the first overtly political hip-hop track.

The Neighborhoods / No Place Like Home

Amazing Boston punk pop band who started out kinda like early Jam / Gen X, led by the charming and handsome David Minehan. This is the b-side of their first single, which spoke volumes to me about pent-up, restless, suburban youth. It’s Billy’s mindset in a nutshell, although, no dad. NOTE: Bowie loved them and had them open for him at Foxboro Stadium (where the Patriots played) in 1987.

Veruca Salt / With David Bowie 

It’s that thing where music is always there for you but also when you’re actually hanging with the dude who made that music for you. 

AC/DC / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Melch approved. While maybe not dirt cheap, Martin’s hiring. I love Brian Johnson, but Bon was the man.

Dramarama / Ain’t It The Truth

One of THE unsung bands of the 80s / 90s alternative rock scene, they were glammy, rocky, poppy. They only ever got serious attention in France, New Jersey and LA. They had a MASSIVE Los Angeles-only hit in “Anything Anything” which was, and probably still is, the most-requested song on KROQ. It IS the truth, but Martin’s not hearing it.

P!nk / Trouble

I’m the guy that loves her difficult third album, made with help of Tim from Rancid. It really shows on this track, which has sort of been lost in her history but it conveys all the desperation of mounting doom with the swagger that makes you believe you just might sidestep it like a matador.

Silver Ginger 5 / Girls Are Better Than Boys

Well, they are. Smarter, tougher, faster; I’m convinced women will save this planet despite us men. From the brilliant mind of songwriting genius Ginger Wildheart, one of earth’s last great rockers.

Elvis Costello / Radio Radio

Martin visits L.A. No doubt there were radio stations with integrity in 1987, but they were few and far between. Now most stations are owned by a handful of companies, so I’d guess that number’s gone down. This Elvis classic, famously played unscheduled on Saturday Night Live, makes his feelings quite clear.

Huey Lewis & The News / Hip To Be Square 

Are we / am I cool or not? was a top concern in the 80s when things were moving pretty fast, Ferris Bueller. Huey’s first band, Clover, famously back Costello on his spiky debut on My Aim Is True. H&TN were ubiquitous in the 80s, and while their everyguy yuppie light rock wore out its welcome pretty fast, this lyric showed Huey had a sense of humor about his place in the world. Also in his defense, Huey played harmonica on Thin Lizzy’s classic Alive & Dangerous, is super smart, a really nice guy (all the News are!), AND he let this get licensed for American Psycho (very cool move, all things considered).

Buzzcocks / Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve?) 

Talking about Martin here and his obsession with Slade, but there are other characters about to have relationship issues. Rock on, Pete Shelley!

Beyonce / Run The World (Girls)

Maybe I’m blanking but it feels like the latter half of the 80s had a shortage of female empowerment in music. Yes, Madonna, but on re-evaluation, also, no, Madonna. As much as I love Joan Jett, it’s not her greatest period. Third-wave feminism and the Riot Grrrl movement corrected that course, but I went for a more recent and clear statement.

Clash / Guns On The Roof

The lyrics are so perfect for the attempt on Slade’s life (or is it?) and the various locations mentioned have meaning to both Martin & Lucius. And Joe Strummer is a key figure in the origins of this book in general.

Graham Parker / Protection

It’s important to have a good bodyguard. Despite willingly appearing as something of a punchline in the “should’ve been better, but still oddly compelling” Paul Rudd / Leslie Mann co-starrer This Is 40, Graham Parker has been making great records since he rose out of the pub rock scene of the mid-70s.  This is one, but also you should acquaint yourself with Squeezing Out Sparks ASAP if you’re not already familiar, particularly the version with all the songs played live. His cover of the J5’s ABC is brilliant too.

Eric B. & Rakim / Paid In Full 

In addition to being a brilliant early hip-hop classic, lyrically this speaks to a lot of what’s going on when Martin and Lucius make their new arrangement.

Public Enemy / Bring The Noise

Couldn’t resist adding another PE favorite, addressing Billy & Slade cranking out what apparently would make Metal Machine Music sound like the Carpenters.

David Bowie / Breaking Glass

“You’re such a wonderful person but you got problems.”

Love you!

Issue 2 Playlist Notes

This playlist is a little different than the first. Again, please play in order (starting with Prokofiev(!?)), I have genuine mixtape motives.

My intention with the issue one playlist was to set the scene, convey the energy, and give the characters some music that would reinforce their (and the stories) themes).

This time the songs (mostly) reflect the events of the issue, although with so many new characters, there are some tracks that are statements about who they are. This list is shorter than issue 1’s list, but still longer than I intended – there’s too much great music to share!

Dig in!

Bowie & Prokofiev / The Story Begins

I thought it would be fun to lighten things up from the dark ending of the first issue. This does it. Disclaimer: this song use is totally sarcastic. In a filmed version of this issue, there’d probably be a needle rip somewhere…

We’re off!

Arthur Conley / Sweet Soul Music

GFH is all about the love of music. But appreciation of any kind of art is subjective, right? So we have to respect opinions because there’s no such thing as a wrong opinion. Still, I wanted to try to find a song that it’s pretty impossible to dislike, and it’s about music too! I respect your opinion, but if you don’t like this song, you’re wrong and I have no respect for you.  

Ratmaster 2000 & Screaming Yuppie Asshole / Sound Effects

I’m just getting used to dicking around with Spotify because I am morally opposed to the company*. Discovering these sound effects was fun, although their names don’t accurately reflect their relationship to the story. So I rename them above.

* I totally get what everyone likes about Spotify, and certainly couldn’t legally afford to do this playlist under and other circumstance, so full acknowledgment I’m being a massive whore here.

LL Cool J / Go Cut Creator Go

This is just pure NYC, vital early East Coast hip-hop. In the gorgeous, must-read new Beastie Boys book, they talk about running around lower Manhattan in the mid-80s, hearing different kinds of music blasting from everywhere, then taking those sounds and mixing them together into something no one had ever heard before. This track speaks to that time of experimentation.

 Anti-Nowhere League / I Hate….People

 Melch is (loosely) based on a real friend of mine. This is a great song to introduce him with. We were big fans of ANL when their first singles were coming out. Wildly catchy, insanely offensive, all attitude and snarling guitars. The lyrics speak to Melch and Martin’s relationship in that they both find most people a waste of time. Although ANL never did anything that matched those early records, Metallica covered one of their songs and made them famous and (probably/hopefully) rich, so we weren’t wrong.

Ozzy / Crazy Train

 Musically, I could take or leave Ozzy aside from a few tracks (this is one, and Sabbath), but I love him as a character, and who wouldn’t? Which makes this another great Melch song inasmuch as embarking on a night out with the man was always an adventure, one that could result in near-death AND tremendous, stupid fun. 

Boomtown Rats / Rat Trap

Early Boomtown Rats (featuring singer Bob Geldof, pre-Live Aid) were an Irish take on Springsteen circa Born To Run. This track is a standout from that era. The lyrics speak to Billy’s situation (the protagonist in the song is named Billy, FFS) once he’s signed his deal. The Rats second and third albums are underrated New Wave classics.

T. Rex / Metal Guru 

What better song to introduce Brian Slade!? Bolan was amazing and helped create the 70s UK glam scene that gave us Bowie, Sweet and lots of great singles. If you live in the UK, you already know this – he remains adored there, mostly forgotten in the US. Tragedy. Go hear The Sliderif you haven’t.

 Ex Hex / Radio On

 One of my favorite new bands, this speaks to the joy of hearing cool songs on the radio, and a little bit to Nick’s dilemma getting songs on the radio. Featuring Mary Timony of Helium, a band I need to go back and hear more of.

The Clash / Death Or Glory

I always love the Mick Jones ones best. This is pretty much the musical version of Cook and Martin’s contentious meeting.

Perfect / Better Days

This is all the positive optimism of being a new band with a wide-open future. Perfect was Tommy Stinson’s post-post-Replacements band (the excellent Bash N Pop was first). The album this is from, Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe,was recorded in the 90s but not released until the 00s due to music business bullshit. So much for optimism. 

Tara Angell / Hollow Hope

There’s something Stones-y yet haunting going on here that’s juts magic. It’s hopeful yet doomed at the same time. Full disclosure; I signed Tara back in the mid 00s, Her album Come Downis an underappreciated masterpiece. Check her out, one day she’s going be rediscovered like Big Star and Nick Drake were and you wanna be able to say, “Tara Angell? I was into her years ago.”

The Wildhearts / I Wanna Go Where The People Go

“I wanna be where the c*nts like me are six feet underground.” All the fun of getting ready to go see a rocking band, the possibility of a great night with great people. Super great big pop-noise from one of the most reliably great bands of the last twenty years.

Janet Jackson / Black Cat

Here comes Folani, with all the strut and attitude of this great Miss Janet track from Rhythm Nation 1814. The track was produed by Jellybean Johnson, the drummer from The Time, who I’m pretty sure also wrote the track (without credit) and played the guitar on it. That’s trivia, but pretty amazing trivia. 

Janelle Monae / We Were Rock N Roll

I love, love, love Janelle Monae. She should play Folani in the GFH movie. And just be everywhere all the time, being awesome.

The Professionals / Join The Professionals

Steve Jones is this playlist’s Tony James in that he recurs here like Tony did in the first issue playlist. Steve is best-known for being the Sex Pistol’s guitarist and composer of much of their music. His guitar sound is a wonder (and no one knows how he gets it, still!). This song is from his post-Pistols band with Pistols drummer Paul Cook. Its lyrical content about the mercenary / military life is applicable to Goldstone’s relationship with Martin, who might’ve been listening to it on a shitty Walkman by the river Shitter while DC was trying to decide which side we were on.

Dwarves / How It’s Done

Mission Statement of a band about to destroy an audience. God bless the Dwarves.

Tsar / The Teen Wizards

The second appearance of Tsar on a GFH playlist, although this song is less about the disillusionment last issue’s song conveyed, and more about the optimism of a young band planning to take over the world. I wish Tsar had taken over the world. I hold them in high regard, in case you hadn’t realized.

Sweet / Ballroom Blitz

Yeah, this is their best-known song, but like Marc Bolan, they were huge in the UK with loads of great hit singles. I fell back on this one because it 100% encapsulates a rock n roll gig I don’t want to miss. 

SR-71 / Politically Correct

Corking track from this hit and miss 90s act. Also, you know.

Veruca Salt / Seether

Veruca & Liz Phair pretty much summed up the vibe of many of my female peers in the late 80s / early 90s. It was their first recording, originally released on a tiny Chicago label, became a huge regional radio smash and led to a bidding war that ended with the band signing with one of the biggest, most powerful labels of the 90s. Sound familiar? “Seether” is something Diane would be listening to all the time. 

Neurotic Outsiders / Good News

Steve Jones again. This time, he’s with his short-lived LA supergroup with Duff McKagan from Guns N Roses, Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Matt Sorum (also GnR). Viscerally nails real human feelings about your enemies and co-existence with malice.

Head Over Heels / The Yo-Yo’s

Everyone is infatuated with everyone, possibly with bad intent or blinders on. These guys are ex-Wildhearts. (PS: how weird is it that both the Go-Gos and the Yo-Yos have songs called “Head Over Heels”?)

David Bowie / Watch That Man

Yeah, pay attention to motive, dude. He's only taking care of the room.

Alejandro Escovedo / Always A Friend

Escovedo is particularly great when writing about friendships; this is one of his best on the subject. Be cool, take care of people, be excellent to each other.

Rolling Stones / Shattered

Some Girls is the maybe best album to listen to while walking around NYC (fight me) and this is the most NYC track on it. Recorded in France, go figure. It reminds me of CBGBs and dirty Manhattan.

Simon & Garfunkle / The Only Living Boy In New York

Melancholy genius. You can be alone in New York City. Think about that.