United States of Whatever

[dana___]

Where has this song been all my life. No, I'm no longer a punk or an anarchist or a rebel. Not the kind of girl who says 'whatever' or would even think of being as rude as Liam. But I adore this song, this video, this vibe to my very core. At least for the next week - or whatever...

United States of Whatever by Liam Lynch [©2002 S-Curve Records]
Play the video [real player]

It's been a few months - creative, musical months - since I shared my first quarter playlist. I bought a guitar since then and started embracing my inner Chrissie Hynde. Q2 brings more flashbacks, more theme songs and more commentary. I trimmed my 500 song playlist [yes, music I've been listening to only since April] to about 200 songs and included my thoughts on some. Some Rage, Ice, Keen Eddie, Cash, Ringo, Crue, even Nimoy. If this scares you, don't click.



"Dancing Queen" - Abba [private joke with Brad and Carolina - at your own risk]
“Dragula" - Rob Zombie [let’s just call it my dark period]
“How To Make A Monster (Kitty's Purrrrformance Mix)" - Rob Zombie
“Dragula (Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare mix)" - Rob Zombie
“The Ballad of Ressurection Joe (Ilsa She-Wolf of Hollywood Mix)" - Rob Zombie
“Rock And Roll" - The Velvet Underground
“Heroin" - Velvet Underground
“Sister Ray" - Velvet Underground
“Sweet Jane (Version 1)" - Velvet Underground
“Sweet Jane (Version 2)" - Velvet Underground
“Sweet Jane" - Mott the Hoople
“Intro / Sweet Jane" - Lou Reed
“Frustrated" - The Knack [Saw The Knack a bunch of times in Riverside and LA, then had this whole adventure when I was in college in England in 1980 where I heard The Knack were going to chat at the BBC before their Hammersmith Odeon show. Back in those days, the BBC had armed guards - these were bad IRA times - so I snuck up a fire escape and onto an upper floor. I was collared by two producers of the BBC's "Today" show, who, hearing I was from California, told me they were going there shortly to cover the Reagan campaign. So much good will all around led to them letting me call my folks long distance for a nice talk; then I met The Knack - ah, Doug - and Sharona, wearing an oversized Dodgers t-shirt and nothing else]
“Let Me Out" - The Knack
“Soul Kitchen - (live, featuring Ray Manzarek, At The Troubadour)" - The Knack
“Dirty Water" - Dropkick Murphys/Dicky Barrett
“Fenway Faithful" - Billy Barrett
"Pretty (Ugly Before)" - Elliott Smith
“Both Sides Now" - Leonard Nimoy
“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" - William Shatner
“Thank You For Hearing Me" - Sinead O'Connor
“Search And Destroy" - Iggy & The Stooges
“Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)" - Bob Dylan
“Devils & Dust" - Bruce Springsteen
“Blinded By The Light" - Bruce Springsteen
“Born To Run" - Bruce Springsteen [Brad Chase hits the road to Atlantic city with this tune blasting on the Shelby’s radio, Carolina singing along]
“No Surrender" - Bruce Springsteen [still makes me dream of the promised land of John Kerry]
“Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo`ole [I think of the “ER” episode when Dr. Greene dies]
“New Slang" - The Shins [lovely song; very ‘Garden State’; I love the line “…if you'd 'a took to me like a gull takes to the wind…” If relationships could only be that light and breezy and fun. *sigh*]
“Tips For Teens" - Sparks [Dug them. Russell Mael had a Hitler mustache and the songs were perfect in their silliness. I’m fairly certain Rodney Bingenheimer force fed us Sparks every Sunday night on KROQ. Speaking of Rodney, anyone out there remember the band “Milk and Cookies”?]
“Funny Face" - Sparks
“Upstairs" - Sparks
“I Married A Martian" - Sparks
“Sunset Boulevard" - Kim Fowley [Oh, God. Where do I begin about Kim. He’s not a singer. He’s a perverted force of nature. He talks through his songs. Remember the bizarre "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" Check out the movie Mayor of the Sunset Strip. That was my scene at the end of the ’70’s. I remember sitting in a Hollywood recording studio with Kim, watching him record a band. I was all of 16 and naive enough to be flattered by his dubious Lothario routine]
“I Predict A Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs
“An Honest Mistake" - The Bravery
“Little Sister" - Queens Of The Stone Age
“Sing For The Moment" - Eminem
“No Shelter" - Rage Against The Machine
“Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
"You're Speaking My Language" - Juliette And The Licks [one of the first movies we saw when I started dating Rob was “Natural Born Killers”. I love that movie and its soundtrack. Thank you, Juliette, for starting your band. I saw her on VH1’s "InsideOut" and actually wrote this quote down when she said it. It’s on my computer because I want to have that kind of spirit: “Who’s going to stop me? Me. That’s it.” I concern myself way too much by what people think of me. That has to change. Her ‘who cares’ attitude really resonated for me on that day when I was feeling downtrodden]
"Rush" - Big Audio Dynamite II [Oh, I loved The Clash, but it was Mick Jones’ voice that turned me on. Very wobbly, as perfectly bad as his British teeth and stick-thin legs, which, being a suburban punk, I loved. Note that this is BAD II, which was the reincarnation of BAD I, which disbanded. Trivia. Love it]
"How Soon Is Now?" - The Smiths
“Tribute" - Tenacious D [parody rock but they do it like they’re serious. Video]
“Breathe (2 AM)" - Anna Nalick [I want to be her. An angel: “...life's like an hourglass glued to the table, no one can find the rewind button ..” Video]
“Wreck Of The Day" - Anna Nalick

*** I’m a “Keen Eddie” nut. The following are songs from the original series, not the dvd. My friend urged me to compile these, so now I have a four-cd set. Anyone interested? ***
“Mastermind" - Daniel Ash [the sensational theme song, which I can now play on my guitar, even though it’s nearly all bass and beat; you can hear some of it here. Oh, heck, I’m gonna get in trouble but here’s the full mp3. You’ll love it. Ash was the Keen Eddie music guy; he was also a Bauhaus guy]
“Burning Man" - Daniel Ash
“Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies
“Hawaiian War Chant" - Buddy Merrill
“A Message To You Rudy" - The Specials
“Crystal" - New Order
“Spooky" - Daniel Ash
“One Step Beyond" - Madness
“Never Squeal" - Ween
“The Brazilian" - Dirty Vegas
“Float" - The Music
“If I Fall" - Aqualung
“Spanish Main" - The Coral
“Walking With Thee" - Clinic
“Take The Long Road And Walk It" - The Music
“Waiting For The Heartaches" - The Coral
“Just The Two Of Us" - Grover Washington, Jr.
“Danger! High Voltage" - Electric Six
“Hummingbirds" - Venus Hum
“Saboteur" - Amon Tobin
“Some Strings For John Coltrane" - Rubin Steiner
“Wunderlande" - Rubin Steiner
“Superhero Music" - Fingathing
“United States Of Whatever" - Liam Lynch [see main entry!]
“Spandex Man" - Mr. Scruff
“Mainlining" - Layo & Bushwacka!
“I Puritani - Oh, quante volte, oh quante!" - Luba Orgonasova
“Coz I Can" - Hardknox
“Come Alive" - Daniel Ash
“Hollywood Fix" - Daniel Ash
“1970's Dictator Chic" - Jacknife Lee
“Battle Of Bongo Hill" - The Herbaliser
“Hell Above Water" - Curve
“Theme Of Luxury" - Fantastic Plastic Machine
“Trumpet Voluntary" - Jeremiah Clarke
“Hayling" - FC/Kahuna
“Head to Head" - Fingathing
“Rattlesnake" - Daniel Ash
“Beautiful Otherness" - Bent
“Crosstown Traffic" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
“Stick 'Em Up" - Quarashi
“The In Crowd" - Ramsey Lewis
“So Long Without You" - Bent
“Hungry Like The Wolf" - Duran Duran
“Days Go By" - Dirty Vegas
“Madder" - Groove Armada
“Is There Something I Should Know?" - Duran Duran
*** End of Keen Eddie’s soundtrack ***

“Autobahn" - Kraftwerk [I have the 22-minute version; sounds like a road trip, with cars whooshing, horns honking and a puddle splash. The lyrics sound like "Fun, fun, fun on the autobahn," but are actually "Fahren, Fahren, Fahren...," which means "driving" in German. 1975, man. Totally dates me]
“Modern Way" - Kaiser Chiefs
“Na Na Na Na Naa" - Kaiser Chiefs
“Oh My God" - Kaiser Chiefs
“Super Freak" - Rick James
“Planet Earth" - Duran Duran
“Pretty In Pink" - The Psychedelic Furs
“The Metro" - Berlin
“Never Ending Story" - Kajagoogoo And Limahl
“Connection" - Elastica [mostly girl band]
“So What" - Miles Davis [Once you know that the album this is on - Kind of Blue - is the best selling jazz album in history, you owe it to yourself to groove on it at least once]
“Riders In The Sky, (Ghost)" - Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson
“With A Little Help From My Friends" - Ringo Starr
“Photograph" - Ringo Starr [Just saw Ringo on Jon Stewart; He’s aging really well, totally cool. This song just did it for me when I was a kid; maybe even the reason I started listening to the radio more and playing cowboys and Indians less]
“Love Me Do" - Ringo Starr
“It Don't Come Easy" - Ringo Starr
“Back Off Boogaloo" - Ringo Starr
“The Scientist" - Coldplay
“Fix You" - Coldplay
“Unchained" - Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson
“Folsom Prison Blues" - Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson
“Play That Funky Music" - Vanilla Ice
“Ice Ice Baby" - Vanilla Ice [yes, I loved him on that TV show ‘Hit Me Baby, One More Time’]
“Too Cold" - Vanilla Ice
“Bad Boy" - George Thorogood
“Bad Boy Blues" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Bad Boy" - John Lee Hooker [do you detect a theme from this three-song set?]
“Never Been Any Reason" - Head East
“Love Hurts" - Nazareth
“Hair Of The Dog" - Nazareth [My God! Two seconds into this song and I’m back in the lime green Pinto, spinning out below the massively stacked cloverleaf of the San Berdoo freeway, giggling with a car full of teenagers, the interior windows ridiculously soot-coated, if you catch my drift, the fragrance of the orange blossoms in the miles of orchards the only thing that could camouflage our bad judgment]
“Miss Misery" - Nazareth
“Roll With The Changes" - REO Speedwagon
“Time For Me To Fly" - REO Speedwagon
“Renegade" - Styx
“Lorelei" - Styx
“Too Much Time On My Hands" - Styx
“Do You Feel Like We Do" - Peter Frampton [who still has their fold-out ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ album? I do! You know that talkbox part when the crowd went nuts? You thought he said "I want to f--k you?” Me, too. I guess it really was "I want to thank you.” I don’t care. It was still an excuse to use the word when I sang along. At 15, attending a religious academy, you took your curse word opportunities when you could]
“Baby, I Love Your Way" - Peter Frampton
“Life In The Fast Lane - Joe Walsh" - Ringo Starr/All Starr Band
“Hotel California - (Live In Japan)" - Wilson Phillips
“Hotel California” Don Henley - Glenn Frey - Don Felder
“Hotel California" - A3
“6Th Avenue Heartache" - The Wallflowers [Jakob’s more Petty and Springsteen than his old man, but only because he enunciates]
“One Headlight" - The Wallflowers
“No More Words" - Berlin
“Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" - Cinderella
“Super Freak (Part 1)" - Rick James [raises hand: 'guilty pleasure']
“Word Up" - Cameo
“Girls, Girls, Girls" - Motley Crue [“…Girls, girls, girls - Raising hell at the 7th Veil…”; this one goes out to you, Jacki, my 7th Veil pal!]
“If I Die Tomorrow" - Motley Crue
“Dr. Feelgood" - Motley Crue
“Trying To Be Me (Album Version)" - Tommy Lee [It’s just a story]
“Lullaby" - Shawn Mullins [“She grew up with the children of the stars in the Hollywood hills and the boulevard…”; who doesn’t love this song?]
“Rich Girl" - Gwen Stefani
“Dance Hall Days" - Wang Chung
“Addicted To Love" - Robert Palmer
“Video Killed The Radio Star" - The Buggles [everyone knows this video launched MTV, right?]
“Steppin' Out" - Joe Jackson
“Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
“Relax" - Frankie Goes To Hollywood [anyone remember "Body Double"? I saw the group again a couple of years ago in Seattle. I think one guy was the same; the music sure wasn’t… ]
“One Thing Leads To Another" - The Fixx
“In A Big Country" - Big Country
“Come On Eileen" - Dexy's Midnight Runners
“Weird Science" - Oingo Boingo [LA new wave! Elfman, The Whisky, 1985, living in West Hollywood, good times]
“Sister Christian" - Night Ranger
“Oh Yeah" - Yello [wasn’t this music for a car ad?]
“The Lady In Red" - Chris DeBurgh
“Father And Son" - Cat Stevens [these lyrics will make you cry: “Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy. I know I have to go. Father-- stay stay stay, why must you go?”]
“I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" - Wilco
"Ashes Of The American Flags" - Wilco
"There For You" - Leonard Cohen [that voice - world-weary, bleak, elder statemanesque; remarkably, married to Rebecca De Mornay]
“Tank Park Salute" - Billy Bragg [he was a punk, but now he’s this British version of Woody Guthrie]
“A New England" - Billy Bragg
“Ingrid Bergman" - Billy Bragg & Wilco
“Christ For President" - Billy Bragg & Wilco
“Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key" - Billy Bragg & Wilco
“Muzzle Of Bees" - Wilco [watch the ”Muzzle Of Bees" video]
"Less Than You Think" - Wilco
“At Least That's What You Said" - Wilco [watch the "What You Said" video; Dig the piano pounding about halfway through]
“Feel Good Inc." - Gorillaz
“Bulls on Parade” - Rage Against The Machine [thanks to the movie “The Last Party”, which played cuts of RATM doing BOP against the backdrop of the anti-WTO activists riot, i.e. the battle in Seattle”, I equate this song to that exhilarating Thanksgiving week. I was working in downtown Seattle at Amazon.com. Cops, bandana’d rioters, bricks, tear gas on the Pike Street below my window. I watched as a guy threw a brick through Old Navy’s window. Saw another guy urinate in a cup and throw it on a cop. Liz wrote up a good description of the chaos. video live in LA]
“Maggie's Farm" - Rage Against The Machine
“Renegades Of Funk" - Rage Against The Machine
“Kick Out The Jams" - Rage Against The Machine [and so begins a run of jam kicking]
“Kick Out The Jams" - MC5
“Kick Out The Jams" - Blue Oyster Cult [But… but… no cowbells?!]
“Kick Out The Jams" - The Presidents Of The United States Of America [BEST version. Sorry, MC5]
“Kick Out The Jams" - Jeff Buckley [he died at 30, found weeks later, fully clothed in the Mississippi]
“Da Funk" - Daft Punk
“Technologic" - Daft Punk [remember the 2004 iPod commercial? Sounds like a French Mickey Mouse]
“Original Prankster" - The Offspring [No way. Ten years since this song came out? “Crime, Crime, rockin' like Janet Reno - Freud, Freud, all along it's true”; This song was bumper music for our radio show for years]
“Gone Away" - The Offspring