30 Comments

Just *howling* at 'that infuriating rattle snake sound they all use instead of actual drums'. In all seriousness though, I am loving the exchange with my sons. I gave one of them XTC, he gave me JID (a rapper, not a respiratory complaint); I gave the other The Divine Comedy's Promenade, he gave me Father John Misty's Pure Comedy... I have to say though, I think possibly as a result of years in rehearsal rooms, the top end of my hearing now lacks detail, so I'm really enjoying the ridiculous bass noises you find in modern productions (ironically, originating from 80's tech). It's certainly found its way into what we do in the band. Hell, I even got a sub speaker for my car BECAUSE I'M 21 NOT 51. x

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Ha :-) Yeah, there's definitely interesting stuff out there, and beyond the very teen-pop end presented here. But that rattlesnake thing ARGH

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Trap hats. Or should that be 'hatz' (I had to research it for teaching purposes) ? Roland TR808 hi-hats programmed in syncopated fours, triplets and rolls (the stuttery thing): Dad's Musical Survival Guide 2023.

*salutes*

*trips over own slipper*

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

Love it..have tripped over my slippers, and can't even blame the Chardonnay for it!

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Excellent :-)

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

I kinda like the bonus one. Lyrics almost as good as your all time banger tweet about fucking off and dreaming the impossible dream :)

But the "get off my lawn" comment made the whole post, of course. Nice one.

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When ABCDEFU comes on in the car, it's the one that a teen and his two parents in their fifties all sing along to at the top of our voices... ;-)

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

Billie Eilish is the only one on this list that actually writes songs.

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I think she's certainly the only one we'll still be listening to in ten or twenty years.

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I don’t know. I can see myself singing ABCDEFU in 10 years…

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I love out! The ylung women I wish I’d been MMS.

I hope she took the dog.

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Young

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

You can thank your son for me, never heard UPSAHL before but I'll be hearing alot more from now on. Loving her voice.

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She's actually pretty cool. As noted in the piece, she does this thing on TikTok where she sets other people's random blurtings to music, and sometimes they're pretty good :-)

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Cool, I may have to dl tik tok finally to see that. Cheers! 😊

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

Abcdefu - hahaha - that’s very clever; nice production, and fun video too.

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

One thing I find quite interesting about that song and Douchebag is the way you can hear the influence of rap (stronger in Douchbag, but still there in abcdefu), but it’s been softened and incorporated. Hmm. And both songs are about sticking to the PitA ex-boyfriend. That’s a big shift since the 80s!

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It really is... an interesting that you pretty much never hear it the other way around.

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Great singalong song in the car too ;-)

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

Funny enough I was thinking of young creatives this morning as well, and being old and sentimental I got impressed by this one:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0SKJ8i04iEW3LEbf6lVaZT?si=QiIiLtakQqefB4IHxWYGjw

I am not sophisticated enough to discuss finer instrumental nuances of music. Words is my thing. The soul of the artist is what I am after. The words ensnare me, pull me, melt and reshape me. And how exciting it is when the author you trust to get the words right takes you on a journey that you would never take otherwise. So here I am wishing I was ever as brave as those young things singing about breakups and pain and love and the world the way they see it. For a moment the world is new, it doesn’t belong to me just now. I am transported and transformed to see the world through their eyes. What a treat. Or as you said it: “ it’s nice to take a holiday from middle-aged shit… once in a while.”

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You put it very well... and it behoves us to try to keep up!

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

As seems to be the consensus, I enjoyed the ABCDEFU tune, although the other tunes were very much meh for me. They felt like they followed an algorithm for emo pop. I've never got the Billy Eilish thing...

As my son and I haven't spoken for a too long amount of years, I missed the whole teenager music thing with him. However my brother had an excellent radio show on abc and we would vie with each other to try to find the next cool indie thing. I introduced him to The Dead South, Tones and I and Trampled by Turtles. He got me listening to Beta Radio, Wolf Larsen and The Limiñanas.

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I'll check them out! Some of the tunes in the post do grow on you if you hear them enough times... but yeah, it's not going to last the test of time.

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founding

Sorry Michael, I better mention that he championed Wet Leg and Winterbourne before they were famous! Wet Leg and their song Chaise Longe are worth checking out!

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

My son introduced me to Rammstein and although I find most, if not all the videos rather confronting, to say it mildly, the lyrics and music are spot on. In return I’ve given him a liking for CCR and Nazareth.

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Excellent! And yes, I like a bit of Rammstein myself... and their live show looks astonishing.

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Well.. if you happen to be in Europe sometime in June, he’s got 2 tickets for their concert in fucking Denmark 🇩🇰. Funnily enough his boss at work gave him the project to deal with the AI “phenomenon”.

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith

I added a few songs to my playlist and I am sure my GFs will add a few to theirs. I’m going to have to arrange a wine afternoon (love retirement) and get their reaction. Thanks for sharing and thank your son for sharing.

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Excellent - let me know what they think! :-)

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