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musicoffishcenter · 9 years
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This one-hit wonder song got played On FishCenter Live sometime in the spring. Capitalized upon by Louis J. Pearlman, the businessman and record label owner behind the highly popular “boy bands” Backstreet Boys and N*sync, the group was known for their compositions. Unlike many pop acts of the time, LFO, or Lyte Funky Ones, allegedly wrote most, if not all, of their own lyrics. “Summer Girls” exploded in popularity before the TRL audience in 1999, just one year after the show began its well-loved run with Carson Daly. Unable to capture that same success again, the group struggled through what was surely a grueling and successful 200+ show tour in 2000, including concerts with Britney Spears. The band received various accolades same year. The group split up in 2002, but in March 2005, Rich Cronin, the group’s main founding member, was diagnosed with leukemia. Lima and Fischetti released a Christmas song under the name “XILES” in 2009; it can be heard on the musician-oriented streaming music service Bandcamp. Fischetti (who founded the group with Cronin in 1995) is known as a pro-life activist. It appears that LFO intended to reunite between June and September of 2009. Cronin succumbed to his illness in 2010, after braving the beginnings of a remission in 2008. The song “Summer Girls” is still well-loved amongst millennials from the U.S. and the United Kingdom, where the group had similar success. The verses boast “non-sequitur” lines, and these can be seen as the early incarnations of what would later become a prevalent trend in pop culture: irony. For example: “When you take a sip, you buzz like a hornet; Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets.” According to the music cataloging site Allmusic, these were “some of the worst faux-rap rhymes ever heard in the music world.” To that, we tip our hat and say R.I.P. Mr. Cronin. Attn: I’ll try my best to only feature vinyl rips without any ads here in the future. Please consider supporting the musicians you love by buying their medias, physical or otherwise. Support adultswim.com, Adult Swim Records and the animation studios Radical Axis, Starburns, PFFR, Georgia Peach, Williams Street and Titmouse.
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musicoffishcenter · 9 years
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This track appeared at the bottom of the show on Monday, July 6th. Donny Hathaway (from St. Louis via Chicago) was an eclectic gospel vocalist, producer and musician who first appeared on the Atlantic label in 1969. Hathaway was the co-composer of the early bird Christmas pop hit “This Christmas,” which came out the following year and has appeared on a dozen Christmas albums throughout the ages. His duets album with Roberta Flack (pictured in the video) was released in 1972 to much critical acclaim. In ‘78, a few years after his final proper studio album was released, Hathaway collaborated once more with Flack, and was in the middle of recording another full-length of duets in January of 1979 when a sudden episode of paranoid delusions brought on from an apparent battle with schizophrenia tragically brought the artist’s life to an end. Echoes of his legacy can be heard in the Lauryn Hill song “Everything is Everything” (an apparent reference to the Hathaway album of the same title), as well as in the music and vocal stylings of Amy Winehouse, Led Zeppelin, R. Kelly, Justin Timberlake and BeyoncĂ©-- the list goes on. Up next, I haven’t been looking forward to it, but I have some research on the Massachusetts pop band LFO.  Attn: I’ll try my best to only feature vinyl rips without any ads here in the future. Please consider supporting the musicians you love by buying their medias, physical or otherwise. Support Williams Street, Adult Swim Records and Radical Axis.
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musicoffishcenter · 9 years
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This is “My Cat’s Name is Maceo” by Los Angeles rock band Jane’s Addiction, appearing on Kettle Whistle, a compilation album released following a reunion of the band which occurred in 1997, ten years after their self-titled debut came out. This tracks appeared at the top of the program June 2, and a fellow FCL fan on twitter was able to help me figure out what it was. As a one-off, the tune features Maceo Parker on saxophone. Parker was a member of James Brown’s band before he moved on to work with Parliament-Funkadelic in the 70â€Čs. Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell created, as a farewell for the band’s break-up in 1991, the traveling music festival Lollapalooza. Farrell also went on to form the less acclaimed rock outfit Porno for Pyros, while guitarist Dave Navarro of course became a member of Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (Chilli Peppers bassist Flea is featured on Kettle Whistle.) Jane’s Addiction is probably best known for their song “Jane Says,” which in a show of controversy appeared on the independently released debut and then again on the sophomore album published by Warner Brothers. Next I’ll be looking into LFO (the American pop band)

Attn: I’ll try my best to only feature vinyl rips without any ads here in the future. Please consider supporting the musicians you love by buying their medias, physical or otherwise. Support Williams Street, Adult Swim Records and Radical Axis.
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musicoffishcenter · 9 years
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This is “Grazin’ In the Grass” by Hugh Masekela of South Africa (1968). It was featured last Thursday at the bottom of the show and appeared again as a new summery theme for “Fish Beach Tank Choe”. It won a Grammy when it was released. Hugh was featured at the seminal 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. He later collaborated with Fela Kuti, Paul Simon and Ravi Shankar, among others. In 1986, Masekela released the song “Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)” and in 1990, after Mandela’s release, he returned to his home country. Hugh’s son Sal teamed up with ESPN in 2010, producing something of a travel documentary of South Africa, during the network’s coverage of the World Cup, but he is not part of the Mr. Turner controversy. According to Wikipedia, Sal supports various organizations that seem to do a lot to help impoverished children and the world’s oceans. This is my favorite track from FishCenter Live so far! I don't believe I've ever heard a jazz tune that had so very many cowbells. Lorne Michaels, rejoice. Thanks to the office person who got back to me about this gem. I also really enjoy the video. Next I'll be looking into Jane’s Addiction...
Attn: I'll try my best to only feature vinyl rips without any ads here in the future. Please consider supporting the musicians you love by buying their medias, physical or otherwise. Support Williams Street, Adult Swim Records and Radical Axis.
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