26th
Fantastic: Will.i.Am (2007)
I have no idea what makes one song really popular and leaves another virtually unheard. I don’t listen to a lot of Top 40 radio, but then, I’m no stranger to it either. I borrowed a copy of Will.i.Am’s Songs About Girls from the public library when it first came out. I can’t say that I was wild about “I Got it From My Mama,” but his production work on Nas’s Hip Hop is Dead was interesting enough that I wanted to hear a full album of his work (sans Fergie). Two years later, I don’t remember anything about Songs About Girls except for this song. And what a great song! At the time, I was so convinced that it was going to blow up. I would have bet money on it. And then, nothing happened.
I suspect that “Fantastic” revolves around a sample from the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” I hear a tiny snippet taken from the major pentatonic guitar part, found in the left channel of the original song, best heard at the 1:25 and the 1:55 mark.
Ah, but what the hell do I know?
What? You’re telling me that you won’t listen to a band with nine long-haired members on a matter of principle? But the singer sounds like a cleaned up Lou Reed fronting the Raspberries! With a horn section! In Vegas!
‘Just finished the latest Nick Hornby book, Juliet, Naked. Having sat through hundreds, if not thousands of mediocre live bands, I found myself sagely nodding at the following passage.
If you’re an American, you’re probably more familiar with Quiet Riot’s 1983 cover version. It peaked at #5 on our Billboard charts, while, a full decade earlier in 1973, Slade’s original version barely cracked the top 100. I’ve always been vaguely aware that it was a Slade song, but up until this week, I have (believe it or not) never heard the original.
I’ve been reading
Meaning ruins everything.