“Addicted to Love” (1986) Posed in front of a static, matte black and orange background, Palmer, clad in a shirt and tie, sings. He is surrounded by leggy models in black miniskirts and sweaters, heavily made-up to where all look eerily similar. They mime playing their instruments.
“I Didn't Mean To Turn You On” (1986) Posed in front of a static, light-colored background, Palmer, clad in a shirt and tie, sings. He is surrounded by leggy models in black skirts andtops, heavily made-up to where all look eerily similar. They mime playing their instruments.
“Simply Irresistible (1988) Posed in front of a static, dark-colored background, Palmer, clad in a shirt, tie, and jacket, sings. He is surrounded by leggy models in pink and orange tube dresses, heavily made-up to where all look eerily similar. They mime playing their instruments.
A definitive 1990 moment: With $7 in my hand for the record store cassette sale, I had narrowed down my selection to The Simpsons Sing the Blues and the self-titled Wilson Phillips album. I chose the latter. Don’t laugh—was the other option all that better?
This means that Wilson Phillips, and everything associated with it (the enduring hotness of Chyna Phillips, the enduring anonymity of Wendy Wilson, and Carnie Wilson being a mess on reality shows) is 20 years old. This should make you feel old. However, Wilson Phillips has crafted itself (themselves?) to exist in a warp in which time is meaningless.
A few years ago, they (it?) released an album of covers of songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s. But the only reason Wilson Phillips was as famous as they were (they weren't that much better than the other pop/girl groups of the era), was that they were the daughters of John Phillips and Brian Wilson, '60s icons. So, at this point, Wilson Phillips are '90s throwbacks whose reputation was built on being tied to the '60s who now exist to play songs from the '70s.
The players: It’s a well-known rock story, but here’s the gist of it. During the recording of the landmark 1977 album Rumours, everyone in Fleetwood Mac was going through a painful romantic breakup. Members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were breaking up with each other, members Christine McVie and John McVie were about to divorce, and drummer Mick Fleetwood was in the process of divorcing his wife (who was not a member of the band).
"Second Hand News" By Buckingham, About Nicks Essentially, it's an "oh well, we're done, and what can I do?" kind of thing. Buckingham is at peace with the breakup. For now.
“Dreams” By Nicks, About Buckingham Nicks later called this a “philosophical,” thoughtful, and reflective take on the end of her relationship with Buckingham.
“Never Going Back Again” By Buckingham, About another woman but really about Nicks Buckingham says it was about a one-night-stand with a groupie…whom he hooked up with immediately after his tumultuous breakup with Nicks. He’s “never going back again” to that random girl, see, but really it’s more like, “OH STEVIE WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME?”
“Don't Stop” By Christine McVie, About John McVie A joyful song explicitly about hope, it’s actually about trying to pick yourself up and look toward the future with hope after a messy divorce.
“Go Your Own Way” By Buckingham, About Nicks Something of a response to “Dreams,” it’s more angry and bluntly matter-of-fact than pensive. “Loving you isn’t the right thing to do”? Harsh.
“Songbird” By Christine McVie, About John McVie The meaning: love is a beautiful thing, even if it ends, and ends tragically
“The Chain” By All Five, About All Five Because everyone was breaking up with everyone else, they all wrote this song about breaking up with each other, and about each other. That sounds like a pleasant day in the recording studio.
“You Make Loving Fun” By Christine McVie, About another man but really about John McVie As the McVies were beginning to split apart, Christine McVie began an affair with the band’s touring light technician. The song is about him, he who makes loving fun. John McVie, what with the divorce and all, presumably made loving not fun.
"I Don't Want to Know" By Nicks, About Buckingham Gah, get a room.
“Oh Daddy” By Christine McVie, About everyone else It’s a thank you note/letter of fondness to Mick Fleetwood (nicknamed “Daddy”) for being the glue that kept the band together during the rocky Rumours time.
“Gold Dust Woman” By Nicks, About Nicks Despite the occasional witchy dalliance to put Buckingham in his place, most all Stevie Nicks songs are about Stevie Nicks.
I had such a fun time spreading rumors about people I don't know that have never done anything to me in the name of generating site hits and attention that I've decided to make this a regular feature. So here's another urban legend that is not true. (Note: this urban legend is not true.)
The well-known, instrumental theme song to The Price is Right has lyrics, and they were from a Vietnam War protest song that called for the assassination of the President.
In 1965, outspoken anti-war folk singer Phil Ochs (often labeled "the next Bob Dylan) released the landmark I Ain't Marching Anymore, which included the vicious protest songs "Draft Dodger Rag," "That Was the President," the title track, and "Dead Colors," a slow, mournful, anti-Vietnam War track that not only implicitly endorses Communism, but also calls for an end to the draft, and the removal from power—by death—of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
When CBS debuted The Price is Right on daytime television in 1972, it bought the Ochs song because producers liked the melody line…but not the arrangement (it was as slow as a dirge and consisted of just Ochs singing with his acoustic guitar), and definitely not the lyrics. So, TV theme song composer Mike Post was brought in to make it more jaunty and suitable for a happy little game show. He sped up the song, dropped the vocals, and added some horns. Ochs strongly objected to the co-opting of his political protest song to be used as a game show theme, but Elektra Records owned the rights to all his songs, so it really wasn't up to Ochs. The royalties he earned whenever "The Price is Right" aired, however, kept him financially afloat until his death, by suicide, in 1976.
Fun fact: "Dead Colors" was the source of the popular anti-war rally chant, "LBJ, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
(No YouTube embeds of the song are available, largely because I made up all of this.)
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 09:00AM 
