The election today of Pope Francis the First reminds me of the great -- and, let's face it, only -- pop song written about a pope: The Fall's "Hey Luciani" about John Paul, the pope elected in 1978 who served a grand total of 33 days before his mysterious death. And how can you not like a song that features a line like "You were the first John Paul I"? After all, John Paul I was succeeded by the beloved John Paul II, who took the name to honor his immediate predecessor.
Albino Luciani has been a bit of an obsession for The Fall's Mark E. Smith -- he went on to write a play about him (also called "Hey Luciani").
Today I couldn't get the Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" out of my head. It really was ahead of it's time in certain ways with the digital samples, and the hip hop beats. Yet, the song also reminds me of the awesome 60's tune, "Spill the Wine" with the random foreign female voice speaking.
It's one of the most famous guitar riffs in music -- Johnny Marr's tremolo-laden riff in The Smiths' "How Soon is Now".
When we first heard it in 1985, it sounded like nothing else out there. It still sounds totally unique, despite being covered and sampled over the years. The other day, I was tooling around YouTube and found an interview in which a Rickenbacker-toting Johnny Marr cites the reference points for the riff -- Hamilton Bohannon's Disco Stomp, Bo Diddley and Can. It's around 2 minutes in on this clip:
So let's go back in time and listen to the influences Marr cites. First, here's Hamilton Bohannon's "Disco Stomp":
Here's Bo Diddley's "Hey Mona":
And finally, Can's "I Want More":
The influence of all three is clear, but Marr's riff is hardly derivative. And when you look at The Smiths through this prism, you really can hear the funk influences in the band, despite its otherwise white-bread appearance.
By the way, I feel like I should explain why I'm devoting so many posts to things relating to Johnny Marr. First, I'm listening to his solo albumThe Messenger a lot. Second, I'm reading Tony Fletcher's terrific book about The Smiths, A Light That Never Goes Out. I'm more than 100 pages in and the band hasn't even formed yet -- Fletcher spends generous amounts of time on the cultural mores of Manchester in the 1970s as both Marr and Morrissey come of age. It's an excellent read.
This is REALLY obscure. It's the Greenlandic rap group Nuuk Posse with "Oqariatuut (The Message)". And no, it's not a Grandmaster Flash cover.
I first heard of these guys about 10 years ago and instantly wanted to film a documentary on them. Rappers from Greenland? No way. I actually tracked down someone at the record label ULO to see about working with them and he was interested but it never went anywhere. I mean, try getting to Greenland.
In any case, to me they truly are the poster children for the universality of hip-hop. But they're more than a novelty -- they're actually really good. I don't understand what they're saying -- they rap in Kalaallisut, Danish and English.
And the more I listen, the more I want to expand this post. I love their song "Qitik" as well. And the video is wonderful -- a bunch of guys from Greenland in San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees hats. And the fact that one guy's wearing a Public Enemy jacket while another one has a custom Nuuk Posse jacket is priceless. Please give this a good listen:
I picked up Johnny Marr's The Messenger when it came out this week, but I haven't had a chance to really listen to it until today. I had heard three songs off the album, which I posted about earlier, and pretty well liked what I heard. But I wasn't knocked out. Until I heard this track:
That's "New Town Velocity" and it's everything I'd hoped for from a Marr solo track. I plan on giving this record a lot of time in both the car and the iPhone (and also in the basement!) -- which reminds me of my dilemma about this album: Should I download it on iTunes or buy the actual CD? I choose the latter. I wanted to own something tangible, and I wanted to listen in the car (I don't have an AUX input.) And, despite being forced to jump through many additional hoops just to enjoy the music I bought, I was able to get it onto the iPhone as well. I think I'm rebelling against our digital world.
No doubt I'll have more on Johnny's solo album in the days ahead.
