Category Archives: I Still Listen to This

I got my first CD player when I was 12. It was spring of 1988 and I probably saved my lawn mowing money for it. It was made by the very reputable electronics company, Crown and took something like 10 AA batteries. Through the help of Radio Shack, I bought a headphone to RCA plug adapter, hooked it up to the “phono” jack on my Emerson Boombox and went to town.

Actually, I didn’t go anywhere. Though portable, it pretty much wasn’t. Back in those days, portable CD players didn’t have any anti-skip technology. If you moved it a bit or looked at it wrong, it would skip and take about four years to start playing again. So even though the Crown CD Player had a shoulder strap (seriously), you just set it on a shelf and didn’t bother it.

My first CD shows my age and street cred. It was They Might Be Giant’s “Don’t Let’s Start” single. It was a CD3 and at that point, nobody had any idea where this crazy new CD craze was going. CD3s were 3″ CDs containing about 20 minutes of music, so they were used as singles. People thought this would actually catch on. Columbia Records released a slew of them – I had George Michael and Herbie Hancock. Most were sold with cardboard backing and then a sleeve, either plastic or, in the case of They Might Be Giants, cardboard.

Somewhere along the way, I lost this. And to rebuy it now is pretty expensive. I don’t really listen to CDs anymore, so lucky me, I found a copy of it on vinyl! Check it out…

It’s got the same track listing and it’s in amazing condition. Looks like it wasn’t ever played. Lucky find? Oh yes!

I probably heard the song either on Dr. Demento or MTV. If it was MTV, it was the presidential campaign for Randee of the Redwoods ["It's Randee, with two E's, like in 'the river'"]. They Might Be Giants played a couple of songs, including “Shoehorn,” which wasn’t a b-side for “Don’t Let’s Start,” but was from the same era. I remember they were wearing incredibly tall “hats” and had very stern hand gestures to go along with the song. Maybe that happened after I had the CD. I really can’t remember.

Anyway, the CD itself had four songs. “Don’t Let’s Start,” “We’re The Replacements,” “When It Rains It Snows,” and
“The Famous Polka.” The last three were true b-sides, not appearing on their first album and probably not appearing on CD until Miscellaneous T was released in 1991 – it had a bunch of b-sides on it.

“Don’t Let’s Start” has been described by the band to be a song about “not let’s starting.” They lyrics are fairly absurd:

When you are alone you are the cat, you are the phone
You are an animal
The words I’m singing now
Mean nothing more than meow to an animal
Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account
But don’t try to stop the tail that wags the hound

It quickly became one of my favorite songs ever. When I picked up the single, I fell in love with them and quickly bought the album Lincoln (though oddly, I bought it on cassette – maybe the Crown had died by then). The song on the single is a remix from the one on the album. The music has a little less reverb and there’s synth overdubs on the “I don’t want to live in this world anymore” part. But you’ve probably only heard the single remix version. It was used in the video and on Then: The Early Years CD.

As for the other songs, “We’re The Replacements” is about being in a band and touring, but not about being roadies for the band The Replacements. That’s just an urban legend. They Might Be Giants never roadied for The Replacements. “When It Rains It Snows” has two halves, separated by a long five or six seconds of silence which was shortened on all releases after the single. You can only hear it in its full silent glory here! The final song, “Famous Polka,” was originally called “The Phone Inside A Ribcage Polka.” Personally, I like that name better. It’s about a famous person being just like the singer – she has two legs, which is the exact number of years that he’s lived in the city. Amazing!

The whole thing is amazing and I’m endlessly happy that I found it. And so are you!

Here, enjoy the video for “Don’t Let’s Start”!

Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa

I don’t remember how or even why I got into rap when I was a 12 year old white kid from central Pennsylvania. Growing up watching Sesame Street in the late 70s probably convinced me that I could somehow relate to black culture. That and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Oh and the Beastie Boys.

Anyway, one fine Saturday morning I was watching Yo! MTV Raps and heard the song “Paid in Full” by Eric B and Rakim. Around that time I, like every other kid, was really into the dance phenomenon that was “Pump Up The Volume” by M|A|R|R|S.

I had the 12″ single of “Paid in Full” (actually of “Move the Crowd,” which had two mixes of “Paid” on the b-side), so was most familiar with the “Seven Minutes of Madness,” by remixing duo Coldcut. The mix used for the video was edited down from that. During this remix, the phrase “pump up the volume” is sampled several times.

While the song “Pump Up The Volume” by M|A|R|R|S, samples the phrase “pump up the volume” from Eric B & Rakim’s song “I Know You Got Soul,” Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” samples back the same phrase from M|A|R|R|S.

Understand?

Rakim first said “pump up the volume” on the song “I Know You Got Soul,” released in July of 1987. M|A|R|RS then sampled “pump up the volume” for their own song, released in August of the same year. Then, a few months later, Eric B & Rakim released “Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness – The Coldcut Remix),” sampling “pump up the volume” back from the M|A|R|R|S song. Take that!

Incidentally, M|A|R|R|S only released this one single. The group was actually comprised of two bands, A.R. Kane and Colourbox. The huge hit that “Pump” became caused Colourbox to break up, while A.R.Kane recorded well into the 90s. This makes some sort of sense. Each group contributed one song to the single. “Pump Up The Volume” was done by Colourbox. A.R. Kane did the flipside, which wasn’t actually supposed to be the flipside, called “Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance).” They weren’t even recorded in the same studio, but to make it a “true” collaboration, Colourbox added some beats to “Anitina” and A.R. Kane added some guitar to “Pump Up The Volume.” Done and done.

And speaking of “Anitina,” the one song out of all this mess that most folks haven’t heard, it’s definitely worth checking out.

To close on a “it’s a small world” note, the Coldcut remix of “Paid in Full” starts with a vocal sample, “This is a journey into sound. A journey which along the way will bring to you new color, new dimension, new value.” It was taken from a sampler LP called A Journey into Stereo Sound released in 1958 that showed just how cool stereophonic sound was. It featured trains, race cars, and a bunch of orchestra-led songs. I got this album from one of my cousins (I think, possibly, Matthew – who gave me the “Hungry Like The Wolf” 7″ and introduced me to heavy metal) because it had a train on the cover. When I first heard “Paid in Full,” I recognized the sample. Over the years, I lost that stereophonic record, but recently found it in the stacks at Jive Time.

And now the circle is complete!

[audio:20100501a.mp3]
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul (acapella)

[audio:20100501b.mp3]
M|A|R|R|S – Pump Up The Volume

[audio:20100501c.mp3]
Eric B & Ramkim – Paid In Full (Seven Minutes of Madness – The Cold Cut Remix)

[audio:20100501d.mp3]
M|A|R|R|S – Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)

The first album that was ever fully mine was Duran Duran’s Rio. My mom got it for me during the fall of 1984. She had just signed up with BMG’s cassette club. You’d get 8 cassettes for a penny or something like that. She got me Rio while she picked up Michael Jackson, Julian Lennon and Elton John for herself. But Rio was mine.

I remember unwrapping it in my room, sitting on my bed and playing it all the way through for the first time. “Rio” and “My Own Way” started it out. I think I had only heard “Hungry Like The Wolf” before. And after “Lonely in Your Nightmare” there it was, in all its weird little glory! Thus my obsession with all things Duran was started. There was no holding back.

My cousin Matthew was actually responsible for this. He was also responsible for my very early introduction to heavy metal, but that’s another story for another time. I must have heard the song on the radio first and mentioned it to him once when we were visiting. This was probably in late 1982 or 83. He gave me the 7″, which I still have, 28 years later. Time is weird.

I had a best friend named Mark who lived down the street. We got along most of the time. He was a year or two older and would let me watch MTV at his house – my parents wouldn’t let me watch it, though they probably knew that I was tuning it at Mark’s. He was really into Duran Duran and had all three of their albums, plus their new live album, Arena. We’d listen to them pretty well constantly.

Eventually, I got around to getting all of them on tape, but Rio was always my favorite. Mark and I had a permanent falling out soon after we both got into 12″ singles. We both bought “Wild Boys” from Listening Booth at the mall – this must have been in 1985, a year after it was released.

It’s strange how time was back then. We weren’t into the newest songs, we liked what we liked. Sure, MTV helped. The ridiculous popularity of Duran helped too. But what helped most was the graduation from elementary school to middle school. Mark moving up to the fifth grade changed everything. He was exposed to new people and more Duranies (that’s Duran Duran fans). We drifted apart by the time I entered middle school in 1985.

Our friendship nearly weathered the splintering of Duran Duran when they had splintered into Arcadia and The Power Station. There were rumblings that they’d get back together for another album. By the time Notorious was released in 1986, Mark would be a distant memory.

I had no friends who shared my love of Duran. The subsequent records that I bought were enjoyed by nobody but myself. That sounds a little sad, but really it wasn’t.

My favorite song off of Rio was probably “My Own Way” – it was the second 12″ single that I bought. The recording of this version was from an earlier session as the one used on the album. I did a whole post about this song some time ago. Eventually, I’d get around to collecting not only all of the singles off of Rio, but all Duran Duran singles ever produced on vinyl.

Today when I listen to Rio, it’s almost always on vinyl. The album was released in 1982 in two different versions (well, actually three, I guess). I had the third. The first side was remixed by David Kershenbaum from the original UK release. For some reason, the record company thought that Americans deserved remixes.

This remixed version was the only version I knew. Even though the UK version was the only version released on CD (up until this year with the special edition re-release), I never owned the CD. I went from my worn out cassette copy to vinyl, picking up a used copy somewhere along the line. The copy I picked up was the third pressing and was identical to my cassette copy.

Now, I own all three versions. And while the differences between the second and third amount to a longer intro to “Hungry Like The Wolf,” the differences between the UK and US releases are very noticeable.

“My Own Way” and “Hold Back the Rain” are my favorite songs on the album and both have the most changes. The changes to “My Own Way” are well documented by me in the post mentioned above. “Hold Back the Rain,” however, was nearly twice as long as the UK version. The US version appears to be the complete one. It’s got more lyrics, more music and just feels more complete. The UK version really does feel edited down. The music features keyboard pushed more to the front, where as the US version really hides them. Musically, I like the UK version better – I just wish the lyrics were all there.

Speaking of the lyrics to “Hold Back the Rain,” I was, for some reason, terrified that my parents would hear Simon Le Bon say the word “damn.” He does in the US version of the song (though not in the UK version… if only I were born in England!). If I were listening to the Rio tape within earshot of my folks, I’d wait by the boombox with my fingers on the volume… “So what if the words ain’t rhyming / Did you think that it’s just a game? / I probably didn’t even say that right / And I really don’t give a” and I’d quickly turn down the volume for just that one little word.

That might make you think that my parents were insane and this was my reaction to that insanity, but rest assured, they were not – I was just a weird kid.

Rio spun off four singles, a mini-LP called Carnival that actually charted in the US, a tour and threw Duranmania into full swing. It revolutionized the synthpop genre, put an end to the New Romanitics (for better or worse) and made MTV what it was for years to come. In 1982, the entire world was on fire for Duran Duran – I wouldn’t catch on till two years after, late and mostly to myself.

It’s strange that I became more obsessed with Duran after Mark and I parted ways. Normally kids that age will just move on. But not me. Over a quarter century after hearing “Hungry Like a Wolf” for the first time at my cousin Matt’s house, I’m still collecting Duran Duran records. I don’t really see this ending any time soon. That love that I held as an eight year old is still there as a 34 year old. I was too young and too hetero to really enjoy the phenomena like most Duranies did, but I was in it for the music, the vinyl and the remixes.

Rio captures that feeling more than any other Duran album. That’s why it still finds its way to my turntable and even though I can’t remember dates, names, faces and other important stuff, the lyrics and music are almost always floating around in my head.