Over on Keith Law’s The dish, he has an enjoyable post up where he describes “Forgotten songs“:
…songs I really like and never stopped liking but that, for one reason or another, were never huge hits in their times and have since been gathering dust on the music world’s shelves… [nothing] too obscure – I think everything here received radio airplay in the U.S.
This is a fun idea, similar to one I had before but was too lazy to write up at the time. Among Klaw’s songs, the only one I remember hearing is Lo Fidelity Allstars’ “Battleflag”, which is one of those songs to me that you don’t know anything about, but you’ve heard a million times. Included on the list is the song “Fun For Me” by Moloko, which will now almost certainly be on my next mix CD. The video isn’t anything groundbreaking, but singer Róisín Murphy brings the over-the-top sass perfectly. There seem to be a lot of these scruffy/dorky male producer and gorgeous female singer pop-electronic duos (Moloko, Miss Kittin and The Hacker, Lamb, and let’s say Ladytron is essentially made up of two of these).
As far as my own list…
Supergrass – Pumping on Your Stereo
I had completely forgotten about this song until a couple months ago when I happened across the video on Youtube. I think I had searched for it before some years ago, but I don’t think a search for “music video with muppety things and its awesome” turned up many results.
I remember this from back when I used to watch VH1 after coming home from school. Amazingly, Fastball is still making music, with another album coming in April. Other songs I particularly associate with this period of time are from a couple of Shawns: Shawn Colvin (“Sunny Came Home“) and Shawn Mullins (“Lullaby“).
The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds
This is very not forgotten by me, but most people would probably know it as that song that was on a VW Beetle back when those cars started to become trendy again. The Orb has always had terrible videos that should have no interest to anyone this side of an LSD trip, but the song is one of the most catchy pieces of 90s electronic music.
“Flat Beat” apparently got to #1 in the UK, but I’d be surprised if anyone stateside remembers this track. Really, the only reason I know it is because it was in MTV’s alternative videos playlist for a couple weeks. The album it’s from, Analog Worms Attack, has grown on me more and more over the years. The unfiltered, dirty, analog squelches mixed with bits of tongue-in-cheek humor are class.
New Radicals – You Get What You Give
Everyone around my age knows this song and will remember it, even though they haven’t heard it for years. It’s not really surprising that everyone has forgotten this song considering the band only wrote one album. Frontman Gregg Alexander kind of looks like Billy Corgan, only if Corgan was tall and dressed like a douchebag. Not that I’m blaming Alexander, as I’m pretty sure everyone dressed like that in the late 90s.
I honestly know almost nothing about The Breeders or how I originally heard this song, but aren’t these supposed to be forgotten songs after all?
Are any of these songs not forgotten at all? Clearly I didn’t forget about them, but maybe other people didn’t either. Let me know!
Also of note is Paul Shirley’s most recent column for ESPN about The Prodigy’s most recent album. He’s a good writer and has respectable musical tastes, especially for an athlete – his love of Kings of Leon not withstanding.
EDIT (3/19):
“Fa Fa” could be the most forgotten song on my list, since I completely forgot about it until coming across it today on Youtube. And I even own the CD. By no means is this a lyrical masterpiece, but lets go ahead and add it for purposes of nostalgia even if nothing else. When I first saw this video, I thought the guitarist in the cowboy hat looked like a jackass. This has not changed.
Arbitrary song of the day: Underworld – Mmm… Skyscraper I Love You
