Thursday, October 28, 2010

FIVE PART HARMONY AND FEELING: Here, for your late-night noodling enjoyment and/or work-day procrastination is something truly amazing: a moment with one foot in the '70s and the other in the '80s; a highly choreographed yet not ready for prime time presentation, seemingly equal parts We Are The World and TMBG's Prosthetic Foreheads, at once earnestly messianic and undeniably absurd; something I've been looking for (perhaps every 18 months or so) on the internet ever since I first set up an account with Amazon.com, and that the gods of Youtube have finally delivered in greater glorious detail than I had any right to expect.

This is the great grand-daddy -- the all-singing, all-dancing, Shai-Hulud of ear-worms.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a 1982 performance of Human Sexual Response's utterly gobsmacking song, Land Of The Glass Pinecones:



11 comments:

  1. Must have been a regional thing, cause I don't remember that song, and I listened to a lot of similar stuff back in the day. If I were to give a prize to earworm inducing song from the early 80s that might drive you slightly insane once stuck inside your head, I'd go with the ditty below instead.


    http://www.youtube.com/v/SjsnkIP4ddo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140


    Speaking of music, enjoying the heck out of Rock Band 3, who else around here plays?

    I'm proud (ashamed?) to announce that as of last night, I had the highest score on the PS3 on the expert level playing pro drums on the song Monster by Lady Gaga.

    This game gives you new appreciaton for crappy songs, I have new respect for Sister Christian by Night Ranger, Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News, and Walking on the Sun by Smash Mouth.

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  2. Michael8:08 AM

    Like!!! From the same band that did Jackie Onassis and B*** F***.

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  3. The Pathetic Earthling9:12 AM

    "The Shai-Halud of ear worms."  Have I told you lately, Phil, how much I love you?

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  4. Paul Tabachneck9:32 AM

    This... I... This....

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  5. Anonymous9:39 AM

    I am getting 3 for the fiancee for Christmas (keyboard might make his head explode with joy), but I can't wait to fire it up even if I get really excited to pass a song on the drums on medium.

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  6. heather k9:45 AM

    that was me

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  7. I picked up RB3 and the keyboard Tuesday night.  Tried a few songs on the "standard" keyboard, but haven't had much of a chance to explore yet (and haven't splurged on the pro drums/guitar).  I am a bit disappointed that they apparently haven't found a workaround for the multiplayer cap--you can play with keys, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals/harmony vocals, but one of the performers won't be scored.

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  8. Nowhereman10:43 AM

    Man, videos like this always call up flashbacks of being in High School staying up far too late to watch Night Flight on some random UHF channel. In between all the random public access craziness, art film projects and whatnot, they'd have clips from random concert shows from LA. This would have fit in profoundly well.

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  9. Michael11:30 AM

    To quote a punk comp from the time, "This is Boston not L.A."!

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  10. The Pathetic Earthling1:44 PM

    I still have my VHS of a Blue Oyster Cult taped from some random channel from 1982 or so -- produced, awesomely, by the "Blue Jean Network."  I think the show was in some awesome arena in Albany NY.

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  11. That's a good idea, XWL: an all-time greatest earworm thread.  I'll try to get on that. 

    HSR was definitely a Boston-regional phenomenon -- contemporary with Mission of Burma but lacking their acknowledged influence.  I had no expectation that this song would be familiar to anyone.  It was just an old fascination of mine.  Michael's enthusiasm for HSR is a fantastic surprise.

    Also, reviewing the This Is Boston Not LA comp, I'm struck by the sad gap between the quality of the Groinoids' band name and the quality of their music.  Back in the day, I didn't notice ... or I didn't mind so much.  I must be getting old.

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