The Best World Cup Anthem Of All Time

Those of you who know me already know how I feel about this topic. Without a doubt, 1990's "World in Motion" by New Order (rebadged as England New Order in support of their home side) is not just the best World Cup Anthem of all time, but the only one you can actually listen to. There's nothing not to like about it, unless - like me - you stumble upon the myriad occasions when John Barnes performs his rap. He's apparently willing to do it anywhere, anytime. Here he is at Mark Wright's 50th birthday party:

And here he is in a tight bathing suit sitting poolside last month in Dubai. No joke -- someone with a camera asked him to rap, and he obliged.

Barnes may be a good sport, but that's just embarrassing for everyone involved.

But even that's not as bad as Germany's 1994 effort -- the one that enlisted the Village People to sing about all the great things that happen in America, where that year's Cup was held.

At least that has kitschy charm. And if Juergen Klinsmann succeeds with the USA team, the song and video can be forgiven.

The songs that deserve the title of worst World Cup anthem ever are the typical run-of-the-mill dreck that the corporate entities try to feed us. Take "We Are One (Ole Ola)", this year's collaboration between Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez.

Pure garbage. Ditto for 2010's "Waka Waka" by Shakira.

I much prefer this year's "England's Heartbeat" by Shuttleworth featuring Mark E. Smith of The Fall. It sounds promising....

But no. And then there was this 1998's official England anthem "(How Does it Feel) To Be on Top of the World" featuring the ill-conceived pairing of the Spice Girls and Echo and the Bunnymen.

What were they thinking?

New Tune on Monday

Ok, these songs might not necessarily be new tunes, but they are new releases.  Matthew Sweet & Suzanna Hoffs have released their Under the Covers Vol. 3.  Their first attempt was fair, but by volume 3, they butcher some of the sacred artists of the Discordants.  XTC,  Roxy Music, and The Beat, are just a few of the bands that are poorly covered here. The real punishment comes in the shape of both the Smiths "How Soon is Now?" and Echo & the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon."  Such a shame for 100% Fun by Matthew Sweet still holds up so well.  I also enjoy a little Ming Tea.

Enjoy your poison. Under the Covers Vol. 3

Damn you Spinner! - Songs used in Super Bowl commercials!

What struck me the most about yesterday's Super Bowl commercials wasn't the quality of the commercials, but the choice in songs used.  The first series of commercials open up wit Echo and the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon," and closed with the the Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Call Love," with Kanye West, the Cult, the Animals, Ray Charles, Motley Crue, Fun, James Brown, Tone Loc, and others sprinkled in the middle.

I was going to post a few songs and videos, but Spinner beat me to it.  Here's their link, and here is the Darkness - hey, why not?  Man, Justin Hawkins was born too late.  He would have given Diamond Dave a run for his money!

REM calls it quits

After reading the little article about the demise of REM, I was moved to write a response.  REM seems to be a bad that will forever be overlooked for their importance of creatign alternative radio, and allowing so many other bands to find a little spotlight in the mainstream, get noticed, and hit pay dirt. 

No, they weren’t as cutting edge as New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Smiths or the Cure, but they were the band that made me open that cellar door to check out what is on the other side of what I knew of as “classic rock & roll.”  The had a “sound.”  Not quite like anything else you would hear on staple FM channels, but accessible, yet quirky.  For me, it comes from Peter Buck's 12 string sound.  Songs like "South Central Rain," “Don’t go Back to Rockville,” “Superman,” and “Fall on Me” carry that sound that attracted me to them.

The group, sans Stipe most of the time, showed how tight they as a band with the highly underrated Hindu Love Gods project they tackled with Warren Zevon.; talking on blues favorites, and Prince. 

MTV & music videos helped the general public become aware of who this little Southern band was.  “The One I “Love” and “The End of The World” were somewhat in rotation on MTV, and gave them that initial radio play.  Then came “Losing My Religion,” and the whole thing blew up.

In this time, of immense popularity, REM was able to show many sides as a multi-dimensional band.  A silly song like “Stand” or “Shiny Happy People” evokes the B-52’s (and yes, I know Kate Pearson was on the latter.)  “Drive” has an eerie Pink Floyd feel, and “Orange Crush” lends a heavy rock sound. 

Much like Dylan when he “plugged in” I felt REM did the same (I know a stretch of a comparison) when they came out with the Monster album, and “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”  Many fans turned away.  The band lost the sound that made them special - that rhythm section, and went a bit glam with “"Bang and Blame", & "Crush with Eyeliner."  I felt this was also a visible change in the band with Michael Stipe shaving his head, and Mike Mills wearing rhinestone suits. 

With the loss of drummer and contributing songwriter Bill Berry in the later 90’s, the band seemed somewhat lost and faded a bit into obscurity.  They would still put out a decent song once in a while, like “Leaving New York” but their star had obviously faded. 

Amazingly, they and U2 were the two bands that went head to toe as the leaders of the alternative movement to mainstream, yet, only one will be remembered as legendary.