Todd In The Shadows Thread

Really? I think it's one of the most unpleasant and condescending songs I've ever heard. Charlene spends more time bragging about how awesome her life is than she does trying to make us sympathize with her. She didn't write the song, so she can't be blamed for that, but her treacly performance doesn't help matters.

In fact, I think I Took a Pill in Ibiza is a perfect example of what I've Never Been to Me should have sounded like. Mike Posner legitimately sounds miserable, while Charlene sounds like a rich snob vainly trying to convince the common folk that she understands them.

I really hope Todd does an episode on Napoleon XIV.

Agreed. Well, it appeals to me in a So Bad, It's Good kind of way, but I know people who absolutely detest it on every level.

@Tye: That's the thing, I think her performance kinda undermines the point of the song a bit. The song seems to have intended to have been about someone who tries to fill a sort of emptiness in their life with hedonism (and again, some of the lyrics come off as a bit too judge and preachy in this regard). Her performance, though, seems a bit too tone deaf—not in a technical sense, but in an emotional sense, like she was just singing the melody as well as she could without necessarily taking into account the emotion needed to make the song work as it was supposed to work. It's a bit of a faux-Carpenters style performance, and while I can't necessarily fault her for singing in a style that was common and popular at the time, it does make the song lose some of its effectiveness.

However, lyrically and compositionally, I think it's a pretty decent song. Again, a bit judgemental and preachy in some aspects, but with the right cover, it could have a pretty nice effect.

edited 12th Jun '16 7:18:37 AM by Odd1

I was actually thinking, after mentioning Awesome Mix Vol, 1 in the “Hooked on a Feeling” video, he ought to do “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” by Elvin Bishop. I mean, we all know what happened to Mickey “Starship” Thomas, who actually sang lead on the song, but what of Elvin himself? (Incidentally, a close friend of mine considers FA&FIL to be the worst hit song of the 70s. He’s welcome to his opinion, but he’s wrong, not in a world where “Run Joey Run,” “Save Your Kisses for Me” and “Playground in My Mind” also exist. I wouldn’t suggest the latter for Todd, suicide might be the result).

Elvin Bishop has had a damn good career. Before he went solo, he played for Paul Butterfield, and had a really decent solo career. I think he even had an FM Radio hit with a song called Travelin' Shoes.

True. Though Todd has done bands with more than one hit (like Dexy Midnight Runners and even his first ep on a-ha). But neither of their second hits lingered in the American conciousness as "Who Can It Be Now"

I think Todd even mentioned in his Men Without Hats episode that they were more of a "One Season Wonder" Men At Work.

The other song I would've suggested was Kim Wilde's "Kids In America" but then that wasn't even Kim Wilde's biggest American hit (though her biggest American hit was a cover of a Supremes songs and the rest of her output didn't really chart in the US despite constantly charting in the UK).

Maybe it's because I conceptualize a One Hit Wonder at times to be a song that so eclipses an artists entire body of work that people often forget they had another hit after the most famous song.

I'm all for "Stacy's Mom" episode tho (It appeals to my inner Cars fan)

edited 16th Jun '16 8:44:52 PM by PippingFool

Dexys Midnight Runners only really had one hit in the US, which I think is usually what Todd is referring to for one-hit wonders.

Huh, I swore the Dexy version of Jackie Wilson Said was at least a minor hit in the US.

Then again, my sense of what are hits and what aren't are warped because I live in Australia and certain bands that are OHW in America aren't here and vice verse

According to Wikipedia, that song never charted in the US on any chart.

I'm gonna double check Todd's review.

Yeah, it was a mishear.

(Also does anyone have a direct link to the tweet where senpai Posner responded to Todd)

edited 16th Jun '16 8:57:03 PM by PippingFool

Did Posner tweet at him? I thought he just mentioned Todd in a radio interview.

M would be a good one, as “Pop Muzik” was a bona-fide one-hit wonder. The follow-up, “Moonlight and Muzak,” didn’t even crack the Hot 100, nor did any of the follow-up singles!

I was thinking of him doing a review of that the other day. One of my friends really hates that song, so I like to pick at him by singing a bit of it to get on his nerves.

I mean the Todd tweet where he mentioned that IDK the link to it on a fe pages back just linked directly to todds twitter

Would Living Color count as a one-hit wonder? Pretty much the only song people remember by them is Cult of Personality, and they'd be a really unique band to talk about.

Ooh, that'd be a good one. I've always had a strong suspicion that they had more to offer than that one hit.

This one just occurred to me today, but what about "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen?

They'd be pretty good too. With how many garage rock bands exist with only one hit to their name, Todd would probably have a lot of 60's one-hit wonders to sort through if he runs out of any from the 80's.

EDIT: Apparently The Trashmen tried following up Surfin' Bird with a song called Bird Dance Beat...

Yep, Todd's gonna have fun.

edited 19th Jun '16 2:17:35 PM by AdricDePsycho

Oh, yeah, Bird Dance Beat. That song did technically peak at #30, but it only spent 3-4 weeks in the Top 40, so whatever "success" it had was very short-lived.

There's something else pretty interesting I learned about them. The one thing everyone's always wondered about Surfin' Bird is, well, what the hell the song is about. The bird's the word? What does that even mean? And why is everyone expected to know it?

Not only is there a definitive answer to that question, but the answer is... surprisingly mundane. See, Surfin' Bird is a loose adaptation of "The Bird's the Word," a song by a doo-wop group called The Rivingtons. The original goes like this:

So "The Bird" is a new dance, and when they say that "The Bird is the word," what they mean is that it's the latest craze and everyone's getting into it. It's like the Twist or the Locomotion.

Of course, you'd never figure that out listening to the Trashmens' version, because they just take that one line and hammer it into the ground repeatedly. But I think that's a major part of its charm, and at 2 minutes and 20 seconds, it definitely doesn't overstay its welcome.

...fuck, now I REALLY want Todd to do an episode on these guys. There's so much material to work with.

edited 19th Jun '16 5:45:07 PM by TyeDyeWildebeest

Huh, did not know that. I know that the middle part where he goes "Papa Oom Mow Mow" kinda got taken by the Oak Ridge Boys.

I wanted to see him do Louie Louie by The Kingsmen, but looking on Wikipedia reveals that they had another top ten hit with a song called Jolly Green Giant. Ah well, maybe he could do the Blue Magoos, The Standells, or Strawberry Alarm Clock. Apparently Strawberry Alarm Clock's guitar player became a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd after filling in for their bass player on the recording of their first album. He switched to guitar, wrote the riff to Sweet Home Alabama, quit, and was replaced by a guitarist born on the same day and year that he was (and who died in the infamous plane crash).

edited 19th Jun '16 5:49:30 PM by AdricDePsycho

Oh that's where "The birds the word" comes from.

Seems like a great example of a supposed "one-hit wonder" who went on to work with some of music's most iconic stars. You know, like the guy from Semisonic who went on to co-write Someone Like You.

On a side note, the first time I heard Incense and Peppermints, I was almost positive it was a Doors song. Anyone else hear the resemblance?

edited 20th Jun '16 8:20:47 AM by TyeDyeWildebeest

Apparently the guy who sang on Incense and Peppermints wasn't even the band's lead singer. The band hated the song so much that they hired someone else to sing it.

And then it hit number one on the Billboard charts.

I don't see much of a resemblance to The Doors outside of the singing, though. The Doors had Ray Manzarek's distinctive organ and Robby Krieger's distinctive guitar in a lot of their songs that kinda clued you in on who was singing.

edited 20th Jun '16 8:48:42 AM by AdricDePsycho

Oh, I've got an even better one Todd should talk about: You Keep Me Hanging On by Vanilla Fudge. Vanilla Fudge are one of the most influential bands ever. Like, these are the guys who influenced Led Zeppelin. Their drummer, Carmine Appice, has worked with lots of people (he drummed with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart), and his brother, Vinny Appice, is a noteworthy drummer in his own right (he drummed for Black Sabbath after Bill Ward got sacked).

Once we were all seven years old.

edited 21st Jun '16 7:39:06 PM by BurntMario