I used to care what people think. In the meantime, enjoy the home of the original "Late Night Music".
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Late Night Music Daytona 500 Edition Part 193......."I'm Proud To Be An American"
I guess I just was feeling patriotic today. Can you believe I’ve never done one of these lists?
In order to be considered for this list, some form of a reference to the United States had to be made in the title or the song itself. Also receiving votes in this category were: “American Idiot” by Green Day, “White America” by Eminem, “Kids In America” by Kim Wilde, and “American Life” by Madonna. “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen received no votes. He sucks.
“Party In The U.S.A.”- Miley Cyrus.And we start this list off with the party songs of all party songs. This pop anthem established the former Hannah Montana turned whore as a grown up artist when this single from her 2009 album The Time Of Our Lives shot to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. I can actually remember us turning this song up during closing at Applebees in Madison because it was so dang catchy. But at the same time, this song was obviously manufactured, as Cyrus herself said she didn’t get most of the references in the song. Sadly enough, this song won’t be going anywhere any time soon, as it’s guilty pleasure status continues to grow by the day with the hilarious uses of this song continuing to become vast.
“America”- Simon and Garfunkel.This reminiscent song about Paul Simon’s 1964 transcontinental road trip with his then girlfriend made its first appearance on the Simon and Garfunkel’s critically acclaimed 1968 album Bookends. Always a fan and critical favorite, it was released as a single for the first time in 1972 to promote the duo’s Greatest Hits album where it only peaked at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite this, the song still ranks as one of the band’s most famous and one of the best songs of the 1960’s. I always thought this song would be super cool if it had a sort of “riding on a train” music video. All of the American references would make it pretty spectacular.
“America”- Neil Diamond.You can rest assured that this will more than likely be crooner Neil Diamond’s one and only appearance on this publication. This anthem from the 1981 “movie” “The Jazz Singer” marked Diamond’s acting debut, and is considered one of the worst movies of all time, as it bombed financially and won the first ever Golden Rasberry Award for Worst Picture. Despite this, the soundtrack was enormously successful, with this single being one of Diamond’s biggest hits when it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Neil Diamond has always been one of those guys that seemed like a really nice guy who just knew the right people I guess. The cheesy factor of his entire career is completely off of the charts. At least we got this catchy song with the unintentionally hilarious video.
“American Girl”- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would begin the career of a lifetime in 1976 when this amazingly awesome track was included on their self-titled debut album. Still a staple at his live shows including his memorable Super Bowl 42 Halftime Show, this song has always been quite popular despite never reaching the Billboard Hot 100. The memorable opening guitar riff is considered by many as one of the best of all time. This song was a glimpse of what was coming up for this amazing band which has gone on to be one of the highest selling bands of all time.
“American Boy”- Estelle featuring Kanye West.Well since we included the American Girl, we had to keep it fair by including the American Boy too. This breakout 2008 single from British diva Estelle shot to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in support of her album Shine. This song was co written with Estelle with John Legend and the Black Eyed Peas will.i.am. This interesting video and catchy song went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration despite featuring the world’s largest butthole in Kanye West. Estelle has gone to have a respectable career and has made a couple of appearances at Jackson’s R&B Fest in support of her critically acclaimed follow up album All Of Me and her most recent album, True Romance. Estelle is one of the most diverse artists to come out of the UK in the last few years, and she continues to perform and appear in the most random places with a recent appearance on “Celebrity Game Night” on NBC.
“American Pie”- Don McLean.Talk about a one hit wonder for the ages! Don McLean actually had two other tracks reach the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, but I guarantee you don’t know them, because I didn’t either. However, this 1971 title track from his #1 album show to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Don McLean a rock legend and household name with this very interesting memorial song written for the tragic deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens who were all killed in the same plane crash in 1959. The song is written from a first person perspective, as McLean even describes the actual feeling he had when he delivered newspapers the morning after the tragic event. However, McLean revealed in 2015 when he auctioned off the original manuscript of the lyrics that the song also included a feeling of “things going in the wrong direction” and said that the lyrics reference Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and the death of Meredith Hunter at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert.
“Living In America”- James Brown.This swan song of James Brown’s illustrious career took the world by storm when it was included on the soundtrack of and in this memorable scene from Sylvester Stallone’s 1985 “Rocky IV”. This single would go on to peak at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, being Brown’s last hit, as he only appeared on the chart one more time. This song would also prove to be Brown’s last Grammy Award when it got the nod for Best Male R&B performance in 1986. This song was also included on his 1986 album Gravity. This song was perfect for the “Rocky” theme as it showed the underlying tone of the Soviet/American relations and showed the patriotism portrayed by Carl Weathers as former World Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed. Despite the match’s sad ending, this song will always serve as the backdrop of one of the greatest scenes in sports movie history.
“American Saturday Night”- Brad Paisley. This title track of Brad Paisley’s 2009 album originally reached the Billboard Country Charts just due to unsolicited radio play. The guitar prowess of Paisley is shown in a huge way with this sentimental single about the average American family. After the release of the album, this song was officially released as a single and peaked at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Tracks Chart. Brad Paisley has always been super underrated in his ability to not only play a sick guitar, but to tell a real story and be funny all at the same time. This song and video is no different.
“American Woman”- Lenny Kravitz.I have to admit, I got sick of this song when it first came out. This cover of the 1970 The Guess Who classic was originally recorded for the soundtrack of the 1999 Mike Myers comedy “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”, and was later included on Lenny Kravitz’s re-issue of this 1998 album 5. With heavy video play on MTV (when they still showed videos) and VH1, this song peaked at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100, but shot to #2 on the Canadian Singles Chart. This song would go on to win Lenny a Grammy at the 2000 Awards when it won for Best Male Rock Performance. Lenny Kravitz is also similar to Brad Paisley in that he is super underrated as a guitar player. This track and video show that while he has soul, he can still rock. I guess it’s the black and white in him.
“We’re An American Band”- Grand Funk Railroad.This autobiographical single and title track from Grand Funk Railroad’s 1973 album became one of their best known songs when it became their first ever #1 hit when it hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1973. The title track was apparently influenced by the band arguing with British band Humble Pie in a bar after a gig over the superiority of British or American music. Finally, drummer Don Brewer stood up and proclaimed “We’re an American band!”. The rest is history.
“Surfin’ USA”- Beach Boys. This title track from the Beach Boys 1963 was instrumental in shaping the early days of rock n’ roll and developing the “California Sound” that helped shape the youth of the 1960’s. However, despite this song peaking at #3 on Billboard Hot 100 and the Beach Boys being one of the greatest bands ever, this song is completely false. First of all, how can it be really be “Surfing USA” when the only places named in the song are in California, Hawaii, or even Australia? Should be more like “Surfin Pacific”, but hey, that’s just me.
“Philadelphia Freedom”- Elton John.I cheated on this one, but who cares. Elton John makes some TV history here when he became just the 3rd white artist to appear on the popular TV show “Soul Train” seen here in 1975. Not only this, he was one of the very few artists to actually sing a live track rather than lip sync. This standalone single written in part for Billie Jean King’s World Team Tennis team Philadelphia Freedoms, has since become an Elton John concert staple as well as a patriotic American song, as the single was released just in time for the American bicentennial.
“Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)”- Toby Keith.In 2001, country superstar was deeply moved by the death of his father as well as the events of September 11, 2001. In response to both events, Toby Keith wrote this song that was included on his 2002 album Unleashed. Met with critical acclaim and heavy airplay, it peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart the week of July 4 and peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100, easily Keith’s biggest hit on that chart.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home