Favorite Band Names

Microdisney
Telefauna
Killdozer
Bikini Kill
Swervedriver

(I'll post others as I remember them)
I like hybridizations of concepts that can have multiple connotations.

A Girl Like Jesus

My version of the 1998 Right as Rain song.
Starring Ru-Jun.

lawns

Lawns have a very interesting community ecology, if they aren't sprayed and watered into a monoculture, that is.  Ours has been maintained as what I call "natural" since we moved in in 2002.  It was maintained by a lawn care company before that (and there is an in-ground sprinkler system put in by the previous owner).  We don't water, and whatever can grow we let grow, including probably dozens of different kinds of weeds.  Many of the weeds flower in interesting and beautiful ways.  Overall, I think it regulates itself better than a monoculture lawn and generally needs less mowing, even in wet years.  It doesn't look like a manicured lawn, but that is a matter of aesthetics.  I like the look of our lawn better than high maintenance (which are also high carbon and water footprint) lawns.

On the Road Again

My version of the Willie Nelson classic.

19 - Paul Hardcastle

This track, esoteric for top 40 in any era but a pretty big hit in 1985, was part of the post-Vietnam recovery culture of the early 1980s.  This period included movies like the Rambo films, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket, and informed US culture and foreign policy into the 90s (e.g. the Powell Doctrine in the Gulf War, which reflected an existential fear of committing ground troops to a conflict without 110% assured victory and low likelihood of casualties).  The rehabilitation of the images of veterans and US enlisted troops also began during this era resulting in their exalted status in the popular culture (even if not exactly in government policy) today.
Musically, I like the haunting narration from a TV documentary.  Wikipedia lists the genre of the song as "New Wave, freestyle, post-disco".  But I hear a lot of house in it.  It's truly excellent as a mid-tempo dance track, although not often usable as that because of the sampled narration.

White Hot - Red Rider

Red Rider's first single, from 1980.  Poppy with progressivity around the edges.  And it is inflected with the band's apparent obsession with Vietnam-era arms smugglers.

Living on the Ceiling - Blancmange

Blancmange is another 80s UK band that was well represented on US alternative radio and that I need to explore more.  They have a sound that has kind of grown on me.  Here is Living on the Ceiling, from 1982.

Cross The Border - Icehouse

From 1986.  Seems fairly poppy in retrospect, and I think in their native Australia and in Europe they were.  In the US they were played on alternative radio.  I first heard it on WBER, an alternative radio station in Rochester, which was truly amazing in the late 80s and 90s (and probably still exists).  At the time I was just getting my feet wet in alternative rock.  Loved this song...

Not much playing lately

Things too crazy both at home and work. I managed to get Lola memorized over the weekend, however.

Escapism

It's why I watch most of the movies/TV I watch.  Possibly sports as well.  I'd rather watch a movie I like with a known good ending for the 30th time than take a chance on something that might not be a good escape.  I hate being manipulated by movies.  I avoid entire genres, like horror and psychological horror, and depressing subject matter.  Why waste precious time on something so negative.

Worlock - Skinny Puppy

From 1989.  Didn't get into much industrial.  This is one of its high points to my (not well studied) ears.  The chord progression of the chorus does it.  The samples are good as well.  My late high school friend Keith (a different story for a different day perhaps) introduced me to this band.

Love Will Find a Way - Yes

A bit later.  Qutie a bit poppier.  It's got my chord progression (variations on 4-5 with the relative minor).  Exquisitely produced, in a good way (which is not usual; there is way too much overproduced stuff out there since the mid 80s).

Changes - Yes

90125 is as progressive a rock statement as ever hits the mainstream.  The whole album is really good.  Changes got a lot of airplay but continually rewards relistening.

And then there's Space Disco

Ganymed - Music Drives Me Crazy (1978)

Just one of many fun and interesting things going on in the late 70s.  Europe never trashed disco.  And that's a good thing for most of the pop music that came after that.

Reckoning - R.E.M.

From 1984. Tremendous album. Harborcoat is just the beginning. Had this on vinyl but not on CD. Until a few days ago.

Miss Gradenko - the Police

One of the sleeper tunes on Synchronicity (1983).  According to Wikipedia, it's "a song about a romance in the middle of a communist bureaucracy."  Interesting in that it is not listed as one of the singles of that album but it got airplay on rock stations in the US.  As I recall it was announced that the Police were breaking up as that album was being released.  I was very sad at that news, but given how bands tend to go stale, in retrospect it's a great thing that they stopped there.  Just about everything they every produced is superb.

White Hot Day - Simple Minds

Another good track from Sparkle in the Rain.  Pretty unconventional - harking back to their earlier, more experimental work.  I especially like the drum track.

Something to Grab For - Ric Ocasek

From what I've heard of Ric Ocasek's solo career (first three albums; i.e. about half of his stuff), it sort of exposes the parts of his songwriting that the Cars' virtuousity and the stellar production they always had covered up.  But the songs are always really good a affecting the atmosphere and imagery that Ocasek was about, and there are some real gems.  The best was the first single, Something to Grab For, off Beatitude (1982).

Book of Brilliant Things - Simple Minds

Every Simple Minds album up to and including Once Upon a Time (didn't follow them after that) is different.  Sparkle in the Rain, from (1984), was a transition to their shimmering danceable pop of New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84 and their harder but inferior Once Upon a Time material, which launched them to worldwide fame (following Don't You (Forget About Me), which was not on any of their album and which they did not like and was not written by them.
This is a great song.  Very simple chord progression, driven by rhythm and keyboard figures and the vocal.

In development

New Years Day.  Fun to play.  Also in development: R.E.M.'s Disturbance at the Heron House and Lola by the Kinks.  Need to practice these every night.

New Year's Day - U2

None of the stuff U2 did after their early hits approached the power of this simple, powerful, punk-inflenced rock.  Heard this working out today.  I think I can do a version of it.

Wind Him Up - Saga

It was 1981.  They were progressive and used lots of synthesizers. I was pretty into them. This song was the beginning for me.  They have a lot of other good ones.
They are apparently still going.  Good for them.

More on Lola

Thanks to the Al Yankovic take off Yoda, Ru-Jun now loves that Lola video.  She even recognize that Ray and Dave Davies look similar.  My friend Scott and I used to listen to taps of Dr. Demento (which was on the radio way too late for me to stay up) and Yoda was among our favorite (and one of the most clean) songs. I have huge respect for Yankovic.  He is a hugely talented and funny musician.

Jingle jangle jingle

Simple cowboy song, but the lyrics have resisted memorization.  I actually attempted it at the Earthstock gig but was only good for a couple of stanzas.  So I decided to sort of make the stanzas up as I go along.  It doesn't matter if they are exactly like the song was played before.  Just needs to be something like

(1) Oh Sally Jane, Oh Sally Jane,
Though I'd love to stay forever this is why I can't remain

(2) Oh Betty Lou, Oh Betty Lou,
Though we've done a heap of dreamin' this is why they can't come true

(3) Oh  Lily Bell, Oh Lily Bell,
Though we've shared some special secrets, this is why I never tell

(4) Oh Mary Ann, Oh Mary Ann,
Though you tell a pretty story this is why I never can

etc.

There are a lot of possibilities.  Just have to come up with them on the fly...

Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills, and Nash

I learned this song (a pretty derived and faster version, as I play it) a while back.  The song gets massive play on classic rock radio.  Very hard to do justice to the vocal.  I'll try to record it when I get a chance.  No time to do that kind of thing this past week.  Crazy schedule with not much relief in sight.

Lola - the Kinks

As I may have said before, I never really appreciated this song musically until I started to learn it.  Fairly complex for a pop song.  The thing I really like about this video is that the band members are really having a good time lip syncing it.  Probably aided by some substances, but nonetheless...

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen

The original Van Halen incarnation with David Lee Roth was a pretty good hard rock band. This song is so simple, but one of the best ever hard rock song.  It has two just chords.

Pat Benatar

It's hard to overstate what a breath of fresh air Pat Banatar was in hard rock in the late 70s-early 80s.  Brilliant, straight ahead rock.  Very clean.  Her vocal range was very wide but strong everywhere, especially on the high end.  My favorite two songs of her many great ones are "Treat Me Right" and "Heartbreaker", both from the 1980 Crimes of Passion album.  Scintillating rock.

Harden My Heart - Quarterflash

I really like the sound of Quarterflash.  They were contemporary (maybe slghtly following) with Pat Benetar but seemed to get a pop label as opposed to the hard rock labeling Benetar's early hits got.  1981's Harden My Heart was their first and biggest hit, achieving massive overplay.  It never got old with me.  Very simple chord progression.  Mid tempo bouncing beat. The vocal is very pure and the song is a rare case of a sax lead that really augments the song as opposed to detracts from it.

The Warrior - Patty Smyth and Scandal

[link]
I guess I have a soft spot for this kind of pop from the 80s. This has a nice chord progression in the chorus. And the B part between the verse and chorus works quite nicely.  I even like the brief instrumental part; it's quite atmospheric.

Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA - Devo

[link]
Devo is known for a lot of things. They constantly innovated and are still going. As a musician, I respect them a lot. They rocked hard in the traditional rock and punk senses, which formed the bedrock of their ideas that went beyond the music. They have a LOT of great songs. I hope there is a complete works box CD set available someday. (There was one released in Japan that can be had on Amazon for ca. $250).