The year is 1975 and the pop-rock trio The Arrows are riding high having just signed a contract to have their own weekly television show broadcast all across the United Kingdom. Little did they know that the show would stunt their musical recordings (actually stop) and lead the group to breaking up, but I’m getting off the point. They’re riding high with their new contract and having two top hits in the UK as anyone would be. Shortly afterwards, the band planned to release their fifth single “Broken Down Heart.” On that single, the band put a rockin’ anthem designed to tell everyone just how much they love their lifestyle and profession as a B-Side. Well, it didn’t take them long to fix the error and before long, radios in the UK were playing a song about putting money in a jukebox & listening to good music.

Wait, what?

That sounds very similar to a song that Joan Jett became famous for in 1981. You know, the song that people got up in arms over because Britney Spears covered it? Well, do you think she saw “The Arrows Show” and heard the song? Probably. But then what songs that she got fame for did she actually write or do first? Oh wait, that’s right: absolutely none since “Crimson And Clover” & “Do You Wanna Touch Me” certainly weren’t hers!

Funny, right? People got so up in arms when Britney Spears covered it when at least she credited Joan Jett in every interview. Does anyone ever remember anyone saying the band name The Arrows to you or did you ever hear Joan Jett mention them? Granted, I think she did a better job and obviously did certain publications, but are the songs even that much different?

Yep, that’s what I thought and this is why I did originals week! Enjoy.

Song: I Love Rock N’ Roll
Artist: The Arrows
Album: I Love Rock N’ Roll (Single)
Year: 1975

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers originally consisted of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Jack Irons, & Hillel Slovak. However, due to contractual obligations to another band, Slovak and Irons were not around for the first album and only Slovak was around for the second. However, the Chili Pepper’s third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (featured “Fight Like A Brave“) is where the original line-up was finally together on an album. What resulted was a clearly better representation of their funk-punk fusion than their first low-rent punk album and they’re second mostly funk album (it was produced by George Clinton: what are you going to do?). Their third album did miles better than the second as it got to 148 on the Billboard 200 as opposed to…not charting before…so there was definite cause for celebration. However, that celebration was short-lived as Kiedis & Slovak both developed horrendous heroin addictions and tragically, it took Slovak’s life. Adding a smaller, but still substantial blow to the Peppers after this was the announcement that Irons would be leaving as he thought the band would keep killing his friends and didn’t want to be part of it. So what to do, what to do? Well, by this point in 1988, Kiedis & Flea had barely scratched their musical potential and with Kiedis clean, they both decided to keep the band going. They quickly snagged up DH Peligro & DeWayne McKnight to play the guitar and drums respectively, but chemistry is very vital in bands & ultimately the lack of it here lead to their departure. As luck would have it though, Peligro knew someone who had not only passed a class on RHCP Chemistry, but was now ready to teach it.

John Frusciante was one of those crazy guitar kids. You know, the ones you see on YouTube these days. Well, he was that kid in the 80s playing guitar from the moment he woke up to the moment he fell asleep. He played so much that he got his parents’ permission to drop out of school, passed his equivalence test, and moved to LA to continue his guitar learning. And of course, when he got to LA, he ended up seeing a RHCP concert and quickly fell in love with them. He went to all their concerts, learned all the guitar & bass parts, and even stayed late after shows to talk to Slovak. Frusciante was an undiscovered guitar god at this point simply by spending every waking minute in music, probably half of which were the Chili Peppers’. By the time ’88 rolled around, Frusciante just needed a band to be apart of so he could show off his skill and believe it or not too, he was dangerously close to two other bands besides the Chili Peppers. He almost auditioned for Frank Zappa’s band (one of his guitar heroes), but decided against it as he could not live the rock lifestyle (the one that killed his idol, you know). He also almost signed a contract with a band called Thelonious Monster (Bob Forrest was the leader of the band – remember him, he’ll come up later in the blog) and had been playing gigs with them for two weeks. But also during that time, Peligro had introduced Frusciante & Flea to each other and they began to jam. It wasn’t long before the switch went off in Flea’s head that this guy was born to be a Chili Pepper and Kiedis & he quickly snagged him up from their old friend Bob Forrest (who jokes about it to this day). After that, Chad Smith soon auditioned and nailed the part (albeit a hiccup with a hat incident at the actual audition) & RHCP was back as a quartet. They would go on to make their biggest album yet, Mother’s Milk, which contained their biggest hit yet, “Higher Ground.”

All right, back story out of the way, let’s talk about the song. When I mentioned the jams that Flea & Frusciante did, I actually understated them as they proved to be pretty beneficial to the band’s setlist for the next album. The bass riff for “Nobody Weird Like Me” was made up in these jams by Flea and the very initial jam between the two musical legends was actually remembered and re-done in the studio as the song “Pretty Little Ditty” as a throaway instrumental between odes to Hendrix & punk rock. The song, in my opinion, is pretty amazing especially for the initial session between the two, but it was obviously never released as a single and like most songs on album, most people never gave it much mind or even heard it.

Thirteen years later, nu metal (which many artists pay tribute to RHCP for) was taking the musical scene by storm with bands like Linkin Park & Limp Bizkit dominating the laughable things that people listen to in the car. In 2001, one nu metal band became a complete one-hit wonder with a song when their frontman wrote a song about his ex-girlfriend. Despite being a nu metal band, the band, named Crazy Town, recorded an unmistakable pop song called “Butterfly” and scored a crossover hit at the beginning of this decade. Butterfly dominated Cuba Gooding Jr’s mentally-challenged character and enjoyed much success. But the catch is that that memorable hook that everyone remembers to this day from the song…wasn’t theirs. Lifted right from that initial jam between Frusciante & Flea in 1988. To even grab more from RHCP, the band reportedly told their producer to make the song mellow sounding like “Under The Bridge.”

A crossover hit all thanks to the guitar prodigy John Frusciante and you know what’s funny? Well yeah, radios, but you know what else is? That jam that nobody paid any mind to…it was never ranked as one of the worst songs ever. In fact, it’s been on many best guitar tracks of all time lists. Funny, huh?

Song: Pretty Little Ditty
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: Mother’s Milk
Year: 1989

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Teaming with songwriter Bennie Benjamin for the majority of the album, Simone delivered her one-of-a-kind and definitely hard-to-classify style & inflection to each track with genres ranging from jazz to folk. Sadly, what transpired was a bunch of songs that became a staple of her live shows for years to come, but an album overall that critics derided when compared to Simone’s earlier civil-rights clad albums & a bevy of singles that never charted. Of course, that didn’t stop the fellows over at EMI from quickly locking on to first song on the album and literally handing it to The Animals on a silver platter. It was that first song with an already stripped down essence that would have been perfect for the Animals to re-work and oh, did they re-work it. Throwing an unforgettable R&B riff that was doubled by an organ & electric guitar as well as Burdon’s overly-soulful voice, The Animals scored again with a hit in January 1965 as “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” hit number three in England, fifteen in America, and four in Canada. The song went on to become one of their most recognizable hits and became consistently ranked as one of the greatest rock songs, but still – Simone did it first. Does it matter that hers didn’t chart at all and The Animals’ became one of the staples of 60s rock? Well, maybe, but not for Originals Week!

Editor’s Notes:
There’s more story to this song, but I think we’ll cover it in another post at another time. For now, enjoy Nina Simone’s version:

Song: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Artist: Nina Simone
Album: Broadway-Blues-Ballads
Year: 1964

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I really don’t even know where to start with this one to be honest. There’s really not that much information to cover, but there also is just for the drastic upheval of the song. Where should we start? Well, the song was written by Ed Cobb, formerly one of the founding members of The Four Preps known mostly for their minor hit 26 Miles (Santa Catalina). After his career with them, he turned into a producer and songwriter responsible for some minor hits for mostly The Standells. He also wrote a few songs for an underage soul singer named Gloria Jones. Sadly, the soul singer never hit it big in America. It wasn’t until the mid-70s that she finally began to make a minor dent, but it was in the UK as part of the Northern Soul movement happening in the underground club circuit. It was here where two aspiring DJs heard the song a soulful expression of a failed relationship set to a bouncy melody that people could move and clap to that.

Few years later, that duo, now named Soft Cell, was now trying to make a name for themselves. After developing a reputation for great live shows, they were signed to Some Bizzare. Hoping they could do more, but unwillingly to pay studio costs for the instruments of the day, the record company asked them for a cheap, but impressive hit. Looking just to satisfy the record company so they could begin to record their next album titled Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (the band was doomed from that momemnt, let’s be honest), they decided to just do a throwaway cover, going back and forth between a Frank Sinatra or that one song. Thinking that it would be a throwaway song either way and the material on the future album would shut it down regardless, they decided to go with a song they both enjoyed and always wondered what would sound like in the synth-pop genre. To the surprise of everyone, especially the band themselves, not only did that one song end up becoming a sleeper hit in 1981, but also became a defining song for the genre and for the 80s themselves. Everyone knows the lyrics too:

“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to (insert what you think goes here) Run away I’ve got to (insert what you think goes here) Get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me”

Yep, “Tainted Love.” You would like to think that now that you know this, their version is “tainted” (I’m a witty bastard!), but nope. It still runs circles around the original, but you just have to hear it to believe how stripped down soul can be turned into dark synth-pop.

Song: Tainted Love
Artist: Gloria Jones
Album: Tainted Love (Single)
Year: 1964

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The Beatles.

Everyone knows the story of the dynamic of the group, but this is pivotal to the point of this song so let’s discuss it again briefly and kind of haphazardly. The band was Paul and John. That’s pretty much it. Ringo was a media darling, did a good job making recognizable drumbeats part of rock music, and mostly expand the role of the drummer in the band. George Harrison pushed them into new genres and kept his lead guitar a signature sound of The Fab Four. But in the end, it was the songs that made The Beatles great and Paul & John were the driving force behind that. It’s not like they didn’t let the others try: Harrison had at least one track of his on most of The Beatles albums and Ringo eventually scored with two, one of which became a better known Beatles song. But in the end, it was the Paul & John songs that sold the records and had the critics in awe. Imagine then who had the pull in the band? If John came up with an idea for a song, do you think they would go for it? Of course! If George did? Probably not so much. Now, this is not the way it went down for them, but it’s a rough sketch to get my point across.

So enter The Beatles early in their career. George hasn’t even done anything at this point to warrant them to pay attention. The man’s songs are, at this point, regarded as the low point on the albums to be blunt. How seriously are they going to take him? But in 1963, the music-sponge traveled to America to visit his sister and got a copy of James Ray’s album, which contained the minor hits “If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody” and “Itty Bitty Pieces.” Through all the good tracks on the album though, it was one that made Harrison want to listen over and over again. It was one that he just adored. One he loved so much, he thought he’d take the song to the group to see if they would like to record it despite their usual response. Sure enough, like the recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” years later, the idea was met with apathy and rumored laughter from Paul. Sadly, I think George was used to this occurrence by this point.

However, he remembered the song throughout his career. There are certain interviews with George’s take on American soul music and he repeatedly brings up the song and artist. But it wasn’t until his 1987 comeback album that he decided to cover it. You know the album, I’ve already talked about it here and talked about the one song that brought George Harrison back to the spotlight and made his album a success. That’s right: his comeback song.

Don’t act like you don’t know the song. It would take tiiiiiiiiiiiiime to explain it; a whole lot of precious time. Actually, it’s going to take patience and time…to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right child.

That’s right. “Got My Mind Set On You.” The song Harrison is known most for and the breakaway pop hit of 1987 was originally done in a completely different setting, tone, and style. George Harrison’s version is clearly superior and it’s amazing to see how he re-worked the song, but on the flip side, it’s always cool to see how it once was…

Song:I’ve Got My Mind Set On You
Artist: James Ray
Album: I’ve Got My Mind Set On You (Single)
Year: 1963

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Let’s travel again back to 1967 but under different circumstances. A year earlier, Beatlemania was still riding high and the entertainment industry of America was looking to cash in on it in an original manner. The best thought they would come up with would ultimately the same formula that made the New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys, and N*SYNC so famous in the latter part of the century: just create a band. So in essence, the American entertainment industry created the American version of the Beatles complete with misspelling: The Monkees. Their show was a hit and their popularity took off as Hollywood crafted each of their identities and the best in music wrote their songs for them including one man who was on the rise in the late 60s: Neil Diamond.

The Monkees were on shaky ground going into the last month of 1966. Their first single, “Last Train To Clarksville,” had performed very well on the Billboard and had good reactions, but the relation to the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” was far too much (especially considering the songwriter got the idea while listening to the song) and the fact that The Monkees were subtly protesting the Vietnam War which didn’t make their record or television producers overly thrilled since they were supposed to be the bubblegum pop Beatles of America, not the social conscience version. So what to do, what to do? Well, a love song is always a good way to establish yourself as that pop group and guarantee that not only will women flock over your looks, but also what you say.

Enter Neil Diamond, the struggling performer with an already built-up reputation of songwriting. By this point in time, Diamond had already written some Billboard hits for groups like Jay And The Americans & Paul Revere And The Raiders. However, also by this point, Diamond had begun to feel the itch of doing his own thing and had already had one successful album under his belt. He had already finished recording his second album set to be released at the end of 1966. Amongst the hits-to-be on this new album like “Shilo” & “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” was a gem that would become one of those great songs that you recognize instantly from the opening riff, “I’m A Believer.”

Didn’t take long for RCA to hear this gem as Diamond had already done work for them and before long, Diamond had received a huge check allowing The Monkees to use his song and catapult themselves to an even bigger level of success which would include having the best single of 1967 and lead the Monkees to outselling The Rolling Stones & The Beatles combined that year in the US.

Sadly though, the Monkees released their single in December of the previous year which is when Diamond planned to release Just For You. What resulted was Neil Diamond’s second solo album getting delayed until the middle of August so by that point, if anyone heard his album, they would just assume Diamond covered The Monkees version. It’s s shame The Monkees will go down with credit for the song when it was actually Diamond’s mind & music that made it possible, while all they had to do was show up to the studio to record that day.

At least they had the musical maturity to bring us Tim Buckley on their show.

Title: I’m A Believer
Artist: Neil Diamond
Album: Just For You
Year: 1967

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Originals Week!

Ok, that doesn’t explain much so let me try to decipher it for you. You ever hear a cover of a song that is pretty good, maybe even better than the original, but it becomes so good that people forget that someone else did it…or don’t even know. A good example would be of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary.” A lot of people know that Creedence Clearwater Revival did it first, but hers has become far more well-known and recognizable so that a lot of people don’t even know that CCR did it first or did it at all. Shinedown’s version of “Simple Man” is another example of this especially since in the world of ignorant radio today, kids are going to grow up knowing nothing about the far superior original with its killer guitar.

But Originals Week will be showing you the original versions of most songs. The good thing about me being a music geek in this sense is that all seven songs I pick for the week are going to be songs that you didn’t even know about. They will be original versions of songs that you know so well and have never even thought of being a cover. It’s always interesting when people look at my iTunes, see a song, say something like “I love the original Guns N Roses version,” and then find out that Bob Dylan predates them by a decade or so. I will say that for a lot of these songs, I actually do think the cover and more famous version is better, but it’s always interesting to see the original and it gives you an even bigger respect for the artist responsible for the cover for being able to do it in a new and imaginative way. Let’s kick it off with something that’s going to shock everyone.

The year is 1967. A twenty-five year-old African-American woman just got to number nine on the Billboard Top 100, despite people telling her she’ll never even conquer the Black Singles Chart. But this young woman knew she could do better. This woman knew that she could score a hit with a song that would ultimately become her calling card. A song that would become considered as a landmark in the feminist movement. A song that would ultimately be regarded as one of the best songs of all time. So in April 1967, Aretha Franklin unleashed “Respect” onto the world and for the next forty years, woman were raised on it and everyone wondered what the hell TCB meant.

The only problem? That this song was originally done by Otis Redding, a man. Yep, the original version of the women’s anthem “Respect” was written and recorded by a man. Not only that though, it was released less than two years earlier than Aretha Franklin’s and was considered not only a Black Singles Chart success, but a huge crossover hit and his second most successful song up until that point. My how women have short attention spans…

So next time you get into an argument with a feminist and she quotes a line from Respect, just make mention that a man ultimately had to write the song for the feminst movement. Sadly though, Aretha’s is miles better.

Title: Respect
Artist: Otis Redding
Album: Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
Year: 1965

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