You feel it in your hips.
Lately I’ve been listening to Stevie Wonder a lot. Original Musiquarium, Songs In The Key Of Life, “Do I Do”. I figured it was nostalgia—plug in memory of Stevie singing “Superstition” on Sesame Street—and a craving for the kind of soulful swingy music that was popular in my childhood. I was kind of glad that “I Just Called To Say I Love You” was judged a case of plagiarism (though I’m mystified as to how it could’ve happened) because I don’t want it in the Stevie discography. (Remember that bit in High Fidelity where a guy asks record store clerk Jack Black if they have that song, and Jack flies into a rage because they don’t carry that kind of crap, and the guy says it’s for his daughter and Jack says, “Oh, is she in a coma?”)
But the “phase” has lasted too long to be a mere phase. The other regulars on my current playlists are that horny little troll-genius Prince, and Led Zeppelin. I’m glad I was a kid in the age of Zeppelin, when guitarists coaxed strange sounds out of their instruments, drummers played like they were beating their drums to death, and vocalists peppered their songs with references to The Lord Of The Rings (which I hadn’t read yet). There’s something I wish I had done in grade school at St. Theresa’s. Sometimes, during homeroom period, there would be impromptu “programs” in which you were called upon to sing, dance, or recite a poem. I always opted for the poem, but I wish I had stood in front of the class (and this is easy to imagine because when I run into my grade school classmates they tell me I look exactly the same, airstrip forehead and all) and started singing, “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold. . .” I probably wouldn’t have managed eight minutes (I still think “And there’s a wino down the road”), but it would’ve been something.
Until recently I had a personal policy against going retro: I would only buy new music, usually indie rock. This policy was rescinded when I finally admitted to myself that while I like a lot of these newer bands, I can do without them. They’re alright, but they’re just. . .alright. Hindi ako makikipagpatayan para sa kanila. I put this down to age, but I’ve wondered if there was some other reason.
Last year, the music critic Sasha Frere-Jones published a controversial piece called A Paler Shade Of White, in which he says indie rock lost its vitality when it stopped borrowing from black music. The piece is clearly calculated to provoke—in the age of political correctness anything that mentions race is sure to stir up trouble—but I found myself agreeing with many of his points. Especially when he says that today’s indie rock is, to put it more viscerally, kulang sa libog. Many indie acts do confuse lassitude and monotony for authenticity and significance.
One of the more interesting responses to the Frere-Jones piece came from Carl Wilson, who noted that “It’s not just race, it’s class.” Enjoy. Discuss. Meanwhile I’m going to annoy my cat Saffy with my rendition of “Immigrant Song”. It really ticks her off.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 16th, 2008 at 15:37
weird but for the past 2 days i’ve been listening to “knocks me off my feel” by stevie on my pc at work. my cubicle neighbors are starting to get annoyed.
haven’t been listening to the radio recently. i dont know but today’s music doesnt really interest me.
i find myself listening to a lot of 9o’s stuff. mathew sweet, smoking popes, stone roses, teenage fan club. takes me back to my college years. those were simpler times for me…
haaaaaaaaaaaaaay………
January 16th, 2008 at 17:13
get “talking book”. at the end of “high fidelity” it fades out with “i believe (when i fall in love it will be forever)”, the last track on the album. makes you totally forget about the coma girl song
January 16th, 2008 at 17:19
I guess you can forgive Stevie for doing “I Just Called To Say I love you”. His other soulful ballads acquit him. The reference to that song reminded me of the first time i sang along to a minus-one tape. I was in grade 4 then, and the song i tried to sing was “I Just Called…”, my father would bawl at me because i sang along to the backing vocals in second voice. as in “Bhojoh, para kang bingi! Second voice ang kinakanta mo!”
January 16th, 2008 at 17:21
My students would kid me every time i sing Overjoyed or Lately. “Sir, wala ba kayo alam na bagu-bago naman?” I haven’t listened to the radio since Jessica’s radio show in NU107 stopped.
January 17th, 2008 at 09:32
I’m a blues guy myself, so I can’t really relate to stevie’s ballads, or his superstitions. Led Zep, on the other hand, is right up there with my eric clapton cd’s. Too bad there are so few of us that are into blues. Record store clerks don’t even know what blues is, so looking for a blues album is like looking for Dr. Livingstone.
Thank God for the Internet.
January 17th, 2008 at 09:49
Someone please explain Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants to me.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:29
What’s wrong with today’s music? Homogeneity. Seriously, I can’t tell one band from another.
I have a theory, though. Music, particularly Indie Rock, is heavily influenced by the type of drugs in vogue at the time. In the 50s they had reefers, so they had a folk-y, bluesy, laid back feel. In the 60s and 70s LSD came in and you had psychedelia. The 80s had coke and the guys started wearing eyeliner and hairgel. The 90’s had meth so you had hyperactive bands. Today’s indie rock has… booze. It’s cheap and numbing and makes you want to throw up.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:04
nah, it’s age. adolescence was all about hoping someone else articulated what the hell you were going through. and music usually dunnit. discovering a parallel universe where killer riffs mirrored your pimply ansgt. then to be told that you’ve been dazed and confused for so long, gosh, e=mc2 moment!
January 17th, 2008 at 12:52
never can listen to radio nowadays. its all covers and revivals.
back in the day it was all Nu107 and twisted in the morning.
Stevie Wonder has other great songs. but the titles escape me. overjoyed is overkilled here in our land of the rising sun. paolo santos isthatchu!
January 17th, 2008 at 22:45
I’m hooked…. since X-files times way back when… Knocks Me off My Feet!!!
January 21st, 2008 at 11:24
Nothing wrong with that…Stevie Wonder was at his creative best during the early ’70s.
By the time he turned out “I Just Called…” (in his post-Hotter Than July phase) it was his hackwork phase.
Nevertheless, Stevie and Prince are among the figures in my musical pantheon.