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The Bobby Fuller Four, I Fought the Law
The year was 1966. Bobby Fuller was a 23-year-old Texas rocker, riding high off the chart topping success of “I Fought the Law.” He had moved out to California, been experimenting with LSD like the rest of his generation, and then suddenly, he died. How? Why? Nobody is really certain to this day. He was…
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The Bobby Fuller Four, Let Her Dance, Another Sad and Lonely Night
Anyone lucky enough to see Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has heard Bobby Fuller’s incredible rock and roll classic, “Let Her Dance.” The song is just full of joy. The ultra catchy background vocals bleat incessantly, Bobby Fuller’s lead vocal is drenched in the kind of echo you get from singing at a drive in…
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Robert Johnson's Real Voice, Love in Vain
I’m convinced. Slow down his voice, and you hear the real man. Someone on the internet put it much more eloquently than I, that it’s like meeting Robert Johnson again for the first time, and what better thing could there be? I suppose I should explain myself, so I’ll do it as succinctly as possible. …
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The Beach Boys, Good Vibrations
“Good Vibrations” was never my favorite Beach Boys song. Its taken me years of casual indifference before I really warmed up to it, and it was only when I found the song’s proverbial sunny side. For years I was turned off by the songs aggressive psychedelic atmosphere. I was always slightly afraid of the dark…
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The Beach Boys, God Only Knows
After accidentally realizing that he was a musical genius, Brian Wilson stepped up his efforts by the mid 60s. Looking for a more serious direction, he began collaborating with lyricist Tony Asher, who helped interpret Brian’s musical ideas into focused lyrical concepts. The increased level of lyrical and musical sophistication also stretched the limits of…
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The Beach Boys, Surfer Girl
It’s hard to imagine that summer is almost over. I’m actually on my third summer in a row. Just when summer ended in 2011, I jetted for Sydney, and spent 5 months there just as Australia’s summer dawned, fully missing America’s cold months. I returned home in March 2012, just in time for Spring, hence…
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The Beach Boys, In My Room
Followers of this site know I have about one billion tributes, breakdowns, and videos of my favorite group ever, the Beatles. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think I am some sort of pasty, Union Jack waving, North Englander filled with way too much national pride. The reality is, that while I am pasty,…
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The Beatles, Help! The Entire Film, in HD!
One of the coolest evolutions in YouTube history was the removal of the oppressive 10 minute time limit for video clips. Such advancements have led to the wonder of allowing the Beatles movie “Help!” to be seen and shared in its entirety, for free! Now “Help!” is probably the least essential Beatle movie, even more…
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Prince's Timeless Performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Prince is one of my heroes, so you might be wondering why the Prince page on my website is fairly barren. Well, the truth is, I’d probably have every Prince music video and performance I could get my hands on if I could, but Prince and his legal team make it damn near impossible to…
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The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses
There is something about “Wild Horses,” something quite emotional. I remember driving home one snowy night when I was a 19 year old, thinking how perfect the song was against the lightly falling snow. Every time I hear it, time just seems to slow down, and it feels like the whole world is listening, all…