Music In My Shoes
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Music In My Shoes
E62 Paul McCartney's Tokyo Troubles, Downtown, and the King of Rock
Reflecting on a January 1980 incident that sent shockwaves through the music world, we unravel how Paul McCartney's legal troubles in Japan influenced the dissolution of Wings and the cancelling of planned touring.
We explore the inspiring tale of Norman Harris, whose serendipitous path from struggling musician to successful guitar dealer exemplifies the unpredictable nature of the music industry. The heartbeat of soul music briefly faltered with the passing of Sam Moore in January 2025, but his legacy with Sam and Dave resounds louder than ever. We celebrate the duo's timeless hits like "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man."
We take a closer look at Petula Clark's infectious anthem "Downtown." From humorous escapades in a 'Seinfeld' episode, to the introduction of a character on 'Lost,' to the profound impact of the 2020 Nashville bombing, we touch on diverse stories that highlight music's evolving landscape. We dive into the groundbreaking fusion of rock and rap by Run DMC with "King of Rock," and look deeper into songs that guitarist Eddie Martinez played on. This episode offers a nostalgic yet fresh look at how pivotal moments and pioneering sounds have forever shaped the music world.
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He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2:He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 62. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. Let's go back 45 years ago, to January 16th 1980, when Paul McCartney and his band Wings flew into Tokyo for a tour of Japan. Unfortunately, customs officials found almost eight ounces of marijuana concealed in his luggage. He was arrested and taken to jail. Wings music was banned from radio and TV throughout Japan. Now that's the thing that really gets me, jimmy, is that they decide as punishment no wings on the radio, no wings on TV.
Speaker 1:I know, yeah, that's not a fair punishment.
Speaker 2:I mean that's government getting involved with it. I mean that is just crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah To me. That just shows you how seriously they took that stuff back then.
Speaker 2:Yes, they took it very seriously. The eight ounces was enough that he could have been charged with smuggling, and Japan is generally a anti-drug place and they enforce the laws. So they cancel the tour, wings cancels the tour and nine days later, on January 25th 1980, paul's released from jail and he's deported. Once home plans for a US tour were scrapped and he turned his attention to releasing the McCartney 2 album. The McCartney 2 album ends up coming out in May of 1980.
Speaker 2:The McCartney 2 album ends up coming out in May of 1980. He recorded it over the summer of 79. He plays all the instruments. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, but he was really sure what he was going to do once he got deported from Japan. And now he's canceling. You know these planned tours, yeah, these planned tours, and he wasn't necessarily happy with Wings at that point in time. You know, in band squabbles this person's wife didn't like Paul and Linda and you know, we know how that worked with the Beatles. That doesn't really work well if you're a wife and you don't like Paul McCartney. It just doesn't work out really well.
Speaker 1:No, that's true.
Speaker 2:So basically by 1981, the end of Wings. They really didn't do too much. Once they got back from Japan they did a couple of things here and there, not a whole lot. But by 1981, the band was dissolved and they went their separate ways. Paul did fantastic, did real well, much better than everybody else. It is what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, hey, Paul McCartney kind of was Wings right, so it's just only fitting that he's the one that did well after.
Speaker 2:You know, the one thing about Wings is he did let them you know, denny Lane and some of the other guys he did let them have an opportunity. If they had a song or to sing, you know, on each tour that they did do, someone would get an opportunity, and it wasn't just like it's Paul McCartney. He gave them a little bit, A little bit, but they wanted more and I think that's when the problems really started. Yeah, so, but yeah, whoever knew that? You know Japan? They didn't know what to do because if they enforce this law, paul McCartney is going to prison for a bunch of years. But you know, can you do that to Paul McCartney? This is 1980. It's a whole different world, you know. And they decide they don't know what to do with him. You know, supposedly he's in the jail and he's doing sing-alongs with people that are in the jail. I mean, you know, I'm not saying it was like hard time, he wasn't like you know, taking a chisel rocks or anything like that, no.
Speaker 2:But being in jail for nine days in Japan, I'm sure is not fun either. Yeah, that's a long time yeah, real long time.
Speaker 1:I hope he liked sushi. I bet the jail food is way better in Japan than it is here. Not that I've had it, I've never had it.
Speaker 2:I don't know, jimmy. Maybe it is, maybe it is, you could be right, I'm not sure. So, jimmy, over the weekend I watched this documentary called Norman's Rare Guitars. Have you seen it?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:It was really cool, super cool documentary. So it's this guy, norman Harris, and he was in a band, he was living in Miami and you know he's a struggling musician, he's not making a whole lot and he finds a guitar in the newspaper and he goes and buys it and I don't know if it was a guitar, I think actually it was a bass and he brings it around and people see it and now people are offering him money. They're like wow, that's a really cool bass. I want to that.
Speaker 2:I want that and he was like well, you know what? Let me just supplement my income, which was basically nothing. Let me supplement it by buying guitars and selling them. Back then it wasn't a lot. I think he bought this bass guitar for like 25 bucks. You know, there wasn't a lot. I think he bought this bass guitar for like 25 bucks. You know, there wasn't a lot of money.
Speaker 2:People didn't realize the value of instruments and in February this coming February, February of 2025, he's going to be celebrating 50 years of owning a storefront. So he sold out of his apartment in the late 60s, the early 70s. Someone turned him in and then he had to actually go to a store and he got a store that was small. Then he got to another store that was a lot bigger, that he's like I'll never fill it up. And then he ended up in the third store where he's at now and it's in Tarzana, California. In the third store where he's at now and it's in Tarzana, California, in the San Fernando Valley, over by Los Angeles Right and when movies or music videos or commercials, if they're doing something and they want, you know, vintage instruments or amps or whatever it might be, they contact his store and they'll rent from him.
Speaker 2:So if you look at Back to the Future, the guitar that Michael J Fox plays, that came from his store. I think all the amps in there there's just so much the last waltz. So the last waltz which the band did, it was their final show. All the instruments came from his store Cool, which I think is a super cool thing, and so it was a lot of fun. He actually has had some health issues over the last couple of years, but it's really cool because when you watch it, all of these famous people just come out and they hang out there and you're allowed to play any instrument, so anything that's up on the walls, like a lot of places. You know I don't hang out in guitar shops so I don't know a lot about it but a lot of places. According to this documentary, you can't play them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, the really expensive stuff at least. Yeah, you can't play them, yeah, but well, the really expensive stuff at least.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they let them play it. I mean, people like Kiefer Sutherland and Slash and Tom Petty, like I could go on the list of people that would just go and hang out there and sometimes they would just start jamming and there's like a couch, kind of like a three, four person couch that people might go and sit on and start playing and then somebody walks in. But what makes it even cooler to me is that they do this thing called Guitar of the Day and they put it out. You know, I don't know what streaming platform they put it out on, but they feature a guitar and a lot of the times they'll have someone, whether it's a famous person or an aspiring musician that will play that guitar or or something else, and they'll put people that nobody knows out on.
Speaker 2:I think it's YouTube, I think they have a YouTube channel, right, and they put them out there and they get their couple of minutes of fame. So they showed one video and it's this guy, austin Post. Okay, nobody knows him. His guitar just got, his car got broken into and his guitar is stolen and they come down and they're getting this thing that turns out to be Post Malone.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:It's just so cool that he treats everybody the same and it doesn't matter who you are. If you like guitars and he thinks that you're going to buy one, you know you're at the right place and it's a really, really cool documentary. Again, you know, I don't know a ton about guitars. I don't think I've been in a guitar store before. Oh wow. But it's just super cool because I just find that when someone can be like this guy, norman and you know, selling out of his bedroom or you know, I think actually he got a three-bedroom apartment, two bedrooms were used for the guitars yeah, actually he got a three bedroom apartment, two bedrooms were used for the guitars, yeah, and that he made this business, that all these years later it's still out there and people just love them. You know that's pretty good in my book.
Speaker 1:that really is so the name of the documentary norman's guitars norman's rare guitars okay yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you get a chance, check it out and anybody listening, it's really cool. Like I said, you don't have to necessarily be into guitars. It's just that vibe, that real coolness thing and especially listening to these famous people talk about it's just like you just go there. You go there to hang out, that's what you do when you go there. So check it out. Jimmy, sam moore of the group sam and dave died on january 10th 2025. They sang classics like hold on, I'm coming. Soul man, which was covered by the blues brothers I thank you covered by ZZ Top. Wrap it Up. Fabulous Thunderbirds did that. I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down Elvis Costello and the Attractions. I have to be honest, jimmy, I had no idea that Sam and Dave did that song first.
Speaker 1:I had no idea that yeah.
Speaker 2:So Sam and Dave's version's slower? Had no idea that, yeah, yeah, so Sam and Dave's versions slower it's. It's definitely different than the way that Elvis's is, but it's just so cool. Again, when I learned something new about a song that I thought was by this person you know it comes out by Elvis I think it was. Uh, was it on the Get Happy album, or was it Get Happy?
Speaker 1:I can't remember which album it's on.
Speaker 2:honestly, but to think that Sam and Dave had actually done that song, things like that, you know, it just blows my mind. It really does, you know. And there's so many other musicians that were influenced by Sam and Dave. You know, tom Petty, bruce Springsteen, I mean just a ton of people. And you know, dave passed away I believe it was in 1988. And now that Sam is gone, you know, when, something like that it takes a part of a piece of history, people that really influenced a ton of people. I mean, there'd be no Blues Brothers if it wasn't for Sam and Dave. Of course, you know, and it's just, you know, sad, it's sad, to see this soul man gone. I guess is what I could say.
Speaker 1:He was 90 something right.
Speaker 2:I honestly don't know what his age was.
Speaker 1:I saw it the other day. I believe he was 90 or above.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and did so much the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and so many different Hall of Fames for so many different things that he's done. And his voice was I mean both of them, sam and Dave their voices were just fantastic. They didn't need any sort of you know effects auto-tune anything like that. They just had beautiful voices, mm-hmm anything like that.
Speaker 2:They just had beautiful voices, jimmy, let's revisit some music from the past. I always like doing that. Let's go back to Petula Clark, the song Downtown. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 January 23rd 1965. 60 years ago. When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go downtown. What an infectious song. You hear it at least me, I hear it and I got to sing it. But I also have to rewind it. I have to hit, you know, the. Let's hear it again and just keep listening to that song. I love it, inspired by New York City, and the funny thing is is that the guy that wrote it he was actually closer to like.
Speaker 1:South of Central Park to like the Times Square area and thought that that was downtown. Didn't know that that was not downtown. Well, yeah, okay, yeah, so, um, I mean, manhattan is sort of downtown to the rest of the world. Anywhere in Manhattan is sort of what we think of as downtown, right, I guess, so I guess so it's a broad interpretation.
Speaker 2:Yes, so did you know that Jimmy Page, who was later in Led Zeppelin, is a session guitarist on this song?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, jimmy Page did a lot of session work. This is one of the songs that he was on Unbelievable. So Downtown was used on the TV show Lost a couple of times. In season two it introduced Juliet, who was played by Elizabeth Mitchell, and then in season three in explaining how Juliet got on the island. So I think it's cool that you know the first episode that they're introducing her, they play that song and then how she got there. The next year they're like, hey, let's play that song again and kind of tie them up together. And I think the episode names was A Tale of Two Cities and One of Us, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2:I think that's what the episode names were. Well done, thank you. It was also used in the 1999 movie Girl Interrupted. Have you seen that?
Speaker 1:Yes, Angelina Jolie.
Speaker 2:And Winona. They sing this song Right and it was on a Seinfeld.
Speaker 1:I was wondering if you were going to mention this seinfeld episode in 1996, that is um.
Speaker 1:It's a funny episode, so from what I remember, george's boss assigned him something, but he either wasn't listening or he was asleep or he wasn't paying attention, whatever it was. And then his boss is like okay, well, you know that assignment, you're gonna get that done. And he's oh, of course, you're probably gonna have to go downtown, aren't you? He's like, yeah, downtown, downtown. And then he's, then it's like a mystery. He's trying to get jerry to help him figure out. What is it? What do I have to do? What's downtown?
Speaker 2:right, so they use the lyrics. They think the clues are in the song.
Speaker 1:It's like Batman and Robin reading a clue from the Riddler.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it's very funny. The same episode is where they're trying to take the New York deposit. So when you buy a bottle or a can in New York, you pay five cents for every can or bottle that you buy and if you bring it back to a redemption center, you get that money back. Well, in Michigan and some other states it's 10 cents, and I believe this is the same episode where they're trying to take the New York five cent ones to go to Michigan to try and get 10 cents form so they can double their money. So it definitely is a funny episode and it's funny how it's used in.
Speaker 2:You know, like I said, lost Two Episodes, girl Interrupted Seinfeld, but then, unfortunately, on Christmas morning 2020, in Nashville, tennessee, a car bomb went off in an RV I don't know if you remember that and before it exploded, a computerized voice was saying evacuate the buildings, don't come near this car, get away. You know, I don't remember everything it was. And then it stopped and started playing parts of Downtown the song how weird. And then it blew up. Yeah, very, very, very crazy, jimmy. I think we're ready for a minute with jimmy. It's time for a minute with jimmy. Minute with jimmy. Minute with jimmy. It's time for a minute with jimmy. Minute with jimmy minute with jimmy.
Speaker 1:I'm to talk about the 1975 song by the Bee Gees, jive Talkin'. Now, the Bee Gees had written some sort of love song hits that were popular in England in the late 60s, but they hadn't really had a song on the radio in a while and they thought we need a reset. So they go over to Miami Florida they're in English or they're Australian, right yeah. They go over to Miamiida and, uh, they're in this studio called criterion and criteria, and they start uh, they're driving back and forth from where they're staying to this studio and things are going really well in the studio.
Speaker 1:They're kind of getting a new vibe going and one day barry gibb is driving over this bridge and the wheels of his car are going over the little pieces of the bridge and it's going and he said he had to be going. 35 miles an hour was the perfect speed and it made this cool beat and he started kind of coming up with lyrics to it and so he's, he started calling it drive talking and then he then he thought, okay, you want to hear a little more, yeah I do.
Speaker 1:And so then they say, okay, well, maybe, maybe it's jive talking like the, the dance, like the hand jive, you know that thing that people right would do. They had no idea the other usage of the word jive, like you're bs in somebody. And so they started kind of writing this song about somebody dancing with their eyes, and then the producer was like you guys don't know what that song means in America, it means BS in somebody. And they were like, oh okay, so then they started that they finished the lyrics actually being about somebody jive talking, and that's how they got that song.
Speaker 2:Can we just go back? What was the part about the eyes? Did I miss something?
Speaker 1:For whatever reason. You know how it says jive talking. You're telling me lies.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:The original lyric was jive talking you dance with your eyes.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, I'm going to try that, not now.
Speaker 1:I don't want to hurt myself, but I'm going to try that later. I'm going to try that Not now. I don't want to hurt myself, but I'm going to try that later.
Speaker 2:I'm going to put some music on and dance with my eyes and see how that works. Yeah, I think it was supposed to be somebody. That's maybe kind of these popular songs and how they came about, like a story like that.
Speaker 1:That would be a really fun book. I think it would be Like a one page for each thing.
Speaker 2:One page, that's it. You get one page, you do it, you write it off.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think, maybe we write that book.
Speaker 2:Music in my Shoes presents. Yes, but I think that would be cool because things like that who would ever know I do love? When you do the, can you do the sound again?
Speaker 1:Oh, I got off. See, I wasn't going 35 miles an hour.
Speaker 2:There you go, like I can do a lot of sound effects. I don't think I could do that one that's not in my repertoire. I guess I would say, well, that was cool. I like that. Jimmy. I know that we had touched you know previously really quick on that, but it was good to get a little bit more on it. My name is Jimmy, so King of Rock by Run DMC.
Speaker 2:The single was released on January 15th 1985. Peaked at number 80 on the UK charts in March 1985. Didn't hit the Billboard 100. I think it actually hit the Billboard, bubbling under 100 charts. I'm the king of rock. There is none higher. Sucker MCs should call me sire. What a way to open up a song by a rap group in 1985 that wasn't accepted by many at the time. It's a classic song that just forged ahead with combining rock and rap. And they, you know they had the rock and flutes um rock box that had come out on their debut album. But to me it almost sounded a bit amateurish when it came out. And King of Rock is like the real deal. And Eddie Martinez he's the guitarist Now. He played the guitar and rock box on the first album. It's the same guy, but it is like true rock riff on this song. It is so good. I think the song was ahead of its time. I really do, because when you start to think about, you know Run DMC with Aerosmith and you know, we went through the 2000s.
Speaker 2:It seemed like every song was, you know, a rap rock yeah, Lincoln Park kind of stuff. That's exactly what I was thinking about. So definitely ahead of its time.
Speaker 1:Even the Beastie Boys, you know did that, oh, definitely. They were a few years ahead of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, without a doubt. Ahead of that, yeah, without a doubt. So besides playing with Run DMC, eddie Martinez played guitar on David Lee Roth's Crazy from the Heat EP, oh, and then had California Girls debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 19th 1985. So these two songs that he's the guitarist on are basically debuting and hitting, you know, the radio right around the same time. I think that's kind of cool. It peaks at number three on March 2nd 1985. Martinez played guitar on Robert Palmer's Riptide album with songs Addicted to Love and I Didn't Mean to Turn you On and he was the lead guitar in Steve Winwood's Return to Success with the song Higher Love. That's a pretty impressive run of guitar work with songs that were on the charts throughout 1985 and 1986.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:I mean that's just super cool, I mean really cool, to be able to do all that. I didn't know that, I had no idea. You know like usually if someone's doing stuff like that, I would think that I would. You know not that I know everything, but I would know something like that. I didn't know that you know. Well, was it?
Speaker 1:am I off on this? Wasn't Joe Satriani David Lee Roth's guitar player, who was his guitar? Steve Vi is who I'm trying to think.
Speaker 2:I think it was he was on the album Skyscraper. Maybe it was. Yeah, but this crazy crazy from the heat not the crazy from the heat. And speaking of which, what a difference a year makes, because a year ago we were talking about 40 years since Van Halen 1984 album came out. A year later we're talking about the David Lee Roth Crazy From the Heat two totally different albums.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, wow, one year apart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one year apart. So you know the Van Halen was rock, you rock, without a doubt. It had the synthesizer in it that David Lee Roth wasn't that thrilled with. But it's funny because on the Crazy from the Heat he does California Girls and it's kind of a campy version of it. I just find that a little bit comical, but you know, it is what it is, you know. So I was just mentioning about, you know, eddie Martinez playing the guitar, making it more, you know, like a rock song on the King of Rock and how influential I think this song was and ahead of its time. Are there any other songs out there that you can think of, jimmy, or albums or anything?
Speaker 1:you know, I could probably think of a few. Really, yeah, I think I could think of a few well, hit me up all right. Well, let me just pull out my pre-written list of songs that are ahead of their time. That I've got. In fact, I've got a countdown of five of them. It's so weird that you asked me this why.
Speaker 2:Why do you have a?
Speaker 1:pre-written list. I don't know, we may have spoken about it before the podcast. I don't know. I do these things in my spare time. Nice Number five I Want to Be your Dog. By the Stooges 1969. This was like patient zero for punk rock and this is with Iggy Pop this is with Iggy Pop.
Speaker 1:His band, the Stooges uh, the Ramones formed in 1974, five years later, based on that. They were the only four people in Forest Hills, queens, that liked the Stooges. They found each other and they were like we should start a band. So it was the Stooges that brought the Ramones together. Their album came out two years after that and that's when punk in New York and London and everywhere really took off after that first Ramones album. But that was there was seven years in between I Want to Be your Dog and the first Ramones record. So I'd say that was there was seven years in between I want to be your dog and the first ramones record. So I'd say that was very ahead of its time there you go you do you have any?
Speaker 2:you know what, jimmy, let's hear your list.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, let's go all right, here we go, number four, come on, feel the noise by slade. Do you know what year that came out?
Speaker 1:I honestly don't 1973 really the glam rock days glam rock days and glam rock like that led to the metal bands of the 80s that were, you know, glam metal, hair metal, whatever you want to call it, but they, but they were 10 years ahead of all that. The single reached number one on the UK charts for Slade, but it only reached number 98 in America and that's why I never knew about it.
Speaker 2:I didn't know about it. When Quiet Riot released it, I did not know it was a cover.
Speaker 1:I had no idea. So I don't think anybody america really knew, because it barely touched the charts here and the quiet riot version ended up being more popular worldwide, and particularly in the us. Let's see, it reached, uh, number five in the us and but it only reached 45 in the uk. So they were kind of like yeah, we've, we've done that song a while ago we like the original but again, that was 10 years apart, 1973.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, quiet riots version was 1983. So that song I, when I saw a video popped up on youtube or something of slade doing that song on like top of the pops in england in 1973, I'm just like this can't be real. That song was written by Quiet Riot, I thought.
Speaker 2:We learn that we don't know everything. We get surprised by things.
Speaker 1:Number three Got to Get you Into my Life by the Beatles 1966.
Speaker 2:Now I'm interested in this one here.
Speaker 1:It had an adult contemporary style with horns, and it actually went on. You know, that style went on to become popular in the 70s and the Beatles, years after they broke up, actually re-released this song as a single in 1976 and it reached number seven on the Billboard charts. So that's how far ahead of its time it was. It could just be a hit almost 10 years later.
Speaker 2:Earth Wind Fire did a version of it that was all over the radio in the 70s.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I need to look that up. I don't remember that.
Speaker 2:It was a real good version.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:And because we started off with Paul McCartney and this is a song that the Beatles did Got to Get you Into my Life actually was written about marijuana. It was not written about a girl. It was a song about wanting to indulge in it multiple times and it's funny that you bring that up when we talked about Paul getting arrested in Tokyo.
Speaker 1:I know right yeah, I never right yeah, I never knew that song. In researching this little bit I learned that, but I'd never known that before a couple days ago.
Speaker 2:There you go. What's your next one?
Speaker 1:Now number two Paranoid by Black Sabbath 1970. I mean, to put out a heavy metal song in 1970 is crazy and something that sounds. It just sounds like it could have easily come from the 80s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does not sound like 1970 at all At all, not from the first time I heard it to today. If I listened to it today, you can't guess that's 1970. There's nothing about it that makes you think that.
Speaker 1:In fact Ozzy Osbourne when he went solo. His Blizzard of Oz album in 1980, crazy Train I mean Paranoid could have just been the companion to that and nobody would have ever thought it was a 10-year-old song.
Speaker 2:I agree and 100% I can't agree anymore. I mean, I agree so much I don't have anything to say other than I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's move on. Okay, here's one for you, number one. The most ahead of its time song that I could think of is the Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott Heron, 1971. Do you know the song?
Speaker 2:I do, and I know that other people have used that title and different things in songs and so forth.
Speaker 1:I contend that it's the first rap song. It's a jazz beat with a jazz flute on it and kind of looping bass and drums, which is again very ahead of its time. And he's talking and he's in a very powerful way. That's evocative of rap, not even like sugar hill gang rap that maybe came seven years after that, but more like modern rap. You know that that he's uh, it's just unbelievable that it's from 1971 to me. So yeah, 14 years before public enemy is doing culturally relevant rap. That's about their community. This guy is doing this thing. That's sort of like it's sort of a tongue-in-cheek jab at people that were sitting on the sidelines of, I think, the racial movement and saying, hey, the revolution will not be televised. You can't just sit on your couch and expect change to happen.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. I saw Public Enemy actually in the summer of 1988, I want to say it was at the Nassau Coliseum, so it was in a huge arena and Public Enemy a bunch of them were from Roosevelt, which is right by the Coliseum, not that far away, and they just packed that place out. And earlier in the day, before the concert, they had gone over to Rikers Island and they did a show for inmates at Rikers Island and I just thought that was kind of cool that you know they spoke to them. You know, at Rikers Island and I just thought that was kind of cool that you know they spoke to them. You know, at Rikers they did, you know, a short show. Then they come and they play a full length show at the Nassau Coliseum and it's you know, it's just pretty cool.
Speaker 1:That is. That's very cool. That's kind of like Johnny Cash playing at Folsom Prison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he played at San Quentin as well.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So I would say off the top of my head you know I talked about King of Rock Again I just think that that influenced so much. It really did, it did and the quality of it. The quality of the recording is really good. As compared to Rockbox, again, it's a little amateurish.
Speaker 2:I think that you know they were working things out, I would have to go with the Cars' first album. I think the Cars' first album I've mentioned it before that could be released, you know, whether it was 78 or 88 or 98, that it still would have done well. And you can't say that about a lot of albums. And I was thinking about this a little bit. I love the Beatles' Help album. So pick that album or pick any Beatles album I don't think you know. That came out in 65. I'm not sure you released that in 75. It's a hit.
Speaker 1:No 85,.
Speaker 2:It's not a hit, but I think the Cars' first album 78, 88, 98, heck, probably even into 2008,. You could release that and it would have done really well. I think they were really ahead of their time with everything that they were doing. I think Roy Thomas Baker was the producer and he just could see things in them and get sounds out of them and just had this vision that really really made them what they are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was at a time when punk had happened and nobody quite knew where that was going to go, because it kind of flamed itself out, at least commercially, and so you had what people were calling post-punk or new wave commercially, and so you had what people were calling post-punk or new wave, and the cars didn't really fit that mold either, but they got. They got labeled as new wave, I think, and it was just a new way to do rock. That it wasn't they, they weren't just, uh, doing led zeppelin, you know they were. It was. It was very um, minimalist. You know, when elliot easton does a, he comes in and he's like a blaze of glory and then he's out and you don't even hear Elliot's guitar for a while. And they kind of pioneered the little. I think that Rick Okasik called it the chukka chukkas or something.
Speaker 1:Chukka chukkas, chukka, chukkas. Right, you know a lot of their songs have the guitar muted guitar, so it's distorted, but it's restrained because it's muted and that gives you somewhere to go when things get louder and then they get quieter again. And they were just really good at arranging their songs and having layers and using synthesizer in a new way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the synthesizer, I think, was, you know, really key to them. Besides the things that they were doing on the guitar, besides, you know, rick and Benjamin Orr's vocals, the synthesizer really added something to it. You know that made it like this is cool, this is new, this I like this it's rock, but it's a new kind of rock you know, and then they did it tastefully.
Speaker 1:They didn't overwhelm you with the synthesizer, it's like it fit.
Speaker 2:And even the drums, the drums. I don't know what that sound is, but it's not the. It's not just the regular drum sound. It's almost like an electronic type of drum sound to it if you listen to some of the songs. So it sounded futuristic but at the same time it sounded good that you could listen to it and it wasn't corny.
Speaker 1:And again, I just think that it could have come out for for decades after and still would have done really well yeah, and like my brother john, who people know from the uh london calling episode, he says the car's first album is better than their greatest hits oh yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 2:You know, it's just start to finish great album.
Speaker 1:You don't need to have a hello again on there. You know it's, it's, it's a great record.
Speaker 2:That's a great story. That's a great story. You know. It's funny that you say that. I remember reading, and I don't know who said this, but they said you have your whole life to do your first album Right, said you have your whole life to do your first album right, and then your second album, whether it's a year or two years or it's five months or whatever it is, your first album is all these things. You're writing songs about things that have happened to you throughout your life and then all of a sudden, the second one is about things that have just kind of happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a lot of times. The second album is about being on the road in a band and being away from your girlfriend or whatever. That happens a lot, because that's their life now.
Speaker 2:It is. It is hey. That was pretty cool, jimmy. I liked all that Good. That was good. Hey, I know we're getting to that time, but Prince and the Revolution take me with you. January 25th 1985, the song's released. Hard to believe it's been 40 years since Purple Rain came out Again. I'm not a huge Prince fan my favorite album came out in 1985, but I love this song. This is like the song on Purple Rain that I listen to the most. I really really like this song Peaked at number 25 on Billboard March 23rd 1985. And I think I like that. It's not just him. He's got Apollonia singing, wendy from the Revolution singing and then a Jill Jones who he was dating at one point. I'm not sure if he's dating her when you know they recorded it or afterwards or whatever, but I kind of like that dynamic going back and forth between him and you know the female, you know co-lead singers in the song.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I just find it coollead singers in the song. I just find it cool. It's a good song. Yeah, I liked it a lot. Well, jimmy, we're just about at that time of the show where we're over, but if anybody has any ideas of songs or albums or bands that you think were ahead of their time, please hit us up. You can contact us at musicinmyshoes at gmailcom, or you can like and follow the Music in my Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages and leave a comment there as well. That's it for Episode 62 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located right here in Atlanta, georgia, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing. I love you.
