Bohemian Hanukkah

New parody song this year, based on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

I have to say, this is surprisingly good.

Queen – Killer Queen

Freddie Mercury looks very flamingly gay. But in 1970s, people were naive and didn’t know.

Riverdale: Archie and Veronica sing “Mad World,” but Betty takes over

Wow! This is what passes for TV aimed at teenagers these days!

Spoiler alert: it’s possible that by watching this, you might get a clue as to what will happen during the first eight episodes of season 2, if you haven’t watched yet.

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I mentioned this show to my 12-year-old nephew at Thanksgiving, and he said yuck sounds boring, he heard some girls at his school talking about the show. So apparently middle-school-aged girls watch this show!

Harry Chapin – Corey’s Coming (extended live version)

Wow, I didn’t know this extended version of the song existed. This makes it clear that Corey isn’t a real person. I think she’s some sort of supernatural apparition. (The other alternative is that she’s a delusion shared by both John Joseph and the person telling the story who has gone crazy himself from listening to a crazy man’s stories.)

Perhaps she’s like a Houri? (Based on a Google search, I’m the first person in the history of the internet to make that connection.)

The massive double standard of rap lyrics

Everyone (or rather everyone who’s an SJW) is hating on some white baseball player who tweeted quotes from rap lyrics years ago when he was some prole kid in high school.

But there’s absolutely no hate at all for the actual rap musicians propagating their disgusting songs in the first place.

The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star (Live 2004)

This is maybe the best concert video I’ve ever seen. One of the most iconic one-hit wonders, The Buggles, play their first live concert 25 years after recording the song whose music video became the first video ever played on MTV.

I like this live rendition better than the original studio recording. The lead singer is more mellow, and his voice is better without the tacky “futuristic” sound effects.

This was at an event sponsored by Prince Charles’ charity, which is why you see Prince Charles in the first row.

The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed

A commenter said that I only feature Go-Go’s imitator groups and never the Go-Go’s themselves. Although once I did feature post-Go-Go’s Belinda Carlisle. See here.

Mainly, the reason is that there aren’t any good Go-Go’s music videos on YouTube. The Bangles, who came a few years later than the Go-Go’s, did much better music videos. Like Manic Monday.

The best Go-Go’s video on YouTube is this one, and there’s nothing special about it, just the four of them driving around L.A. in a convertible interspersed with performance footage. Of course they have great eighties hair! And Belinda Carlisle does look so cute, like the slightly zaftig girl next door who got a slutty makeover and got drugged up. Wow! (Back the the good old days when being slutty didn’t mean having disgusting tattoos.)

The Go-Gos are to be commended for being a real girl band, they played their own instruments, wrote their own songs. Which is rather uncommon. Girls are great at singing and performing, but less good at playing musical instruments, and generally not good at all at composing music and writing songs. For example, the Bangles best song, “Manic Monday,” was written by Prince. And their other big hit, “Walk Like an Egyptian,” was written by Liam Sternberg. And they did a really great cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song “Hazy Shade of Winter.” And Going Down to Liverpool was also a cover.

Bananarama – Cruel Summer

This is a good music video for Memorial Day weekend, the cultural beginning of summer.

Bananarama’s two best songs are this one, and “Robert De Niro’s Waiting” (which I previously blogged about). I always hated their most-overplayed song, “Venus.”

“Cruel Summer” was previously featured here in the clip from the Karate Kid, but the music video is even better.

I don’t understand the theme that they are auto mechanics. I don’t understand why there are cops at the end, or why one of the cops is wearing a white cowboy hat. But there are great scenes of Manhattan and great eighties hair. Sara Dallin, the group’s founder, has a hard look about her, but the other two girls in the group are so cute in this video.

High school never ends

A music video for GondwanaMan who writes in a comment:

#1 rule of life: all relationships are transactional. People only want to hang out with other people of their social status or better, so as to maintain or improve their status. I’m that sense, high school never really ends.

I love Bowling for Soup! (Except for the last scene in the video which is kind of gross.)

A music video for that volcano in Hawaii