By tincanman
This week’s topic has forced me to concede I am more Richie Cunningham than The Fonz, more Neil than Vyvyan, more Father Ted than Borstal. This is seriously disappointing because I have always considered myself a bad boy. In my pre-teen years when the family would gather around our 12-inch black & white TV for movie night I always pressed for Sinatra and McQueen over The Sound Of Music and that one with the invisible rabbit.
In high school I quickly realized that if I ever hoped to lure girls out to lookout point in my VW Beetle I needed to quit the chess club, pretend I could smoke, get an 8-track, and strut around the halls making sure everyone noticed that I didn’t care if I got noticed. The British punk invasion was on so we tore our clothes and punctured ourselves with anything metallic we could pilfer from home or the science labs. I wasn’t allowed to because of the risk of infection and the sin of wasting perfectly good clothes. Nonetheless I made a good bad name for myself in other ways that I think it best not to detail until I double-check the statute of limitations on a few things.
Which leads me to this week’s playlist. One of the ways I established my bona fides as a nona fide was at the record store, where I was known to scoff loudly at anyone smaller or younger than me who bought disco, poppy singles, show tunes, or anything with a bossa nova beat. All of which make appearances on our A list because, sigh, they belong there. A badder boy would have firmer boundaries.
Still, it bangs:
Impudently Rebellious A-List Playlist:
Rick James - Super Freak (SweetHomeAlabama)
The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like (Loud Atlas)
Mike Sarne - Just for Kicks (TarquinSpodd)
Belle & Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane (ParaMhor)
Jake Thackray – Scallywag (Suzi)
Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim - Jet Song from West Side Story (Marconius7)
Suzi Quatro - Your Mama Won't Like Me (SweetHomeAlabama)
John Kongos - He's Gonna Step On You Again (Traktor Albatrost)
She Wants Revenge – Sister (Vikingchild)
Elvis Presley – Trouble (Suzi)
Syndicats - Crawdaddy Simone (Traktor Albatrost)
The Vibrators - Automatic Lover (Carpgate)
Rose Tattoo - Nice Boys* (Nicko)
* Nice Boys was technically a sub-nom but I have to have it so I’ve invoked: “my list, my rules”.
Bullishly Badass B-List Playlist:
What made the week most interesting for me was songs/bands that didn’t quite make the cut that I’m glad I heard/re-heard. To name but a few: Iceage, oodles of blues and punk, Chris’s Dead tracks, Youngman Psycho Blues, Runaways’ and Sarah Shook’s cowpunk, Willie Colon, rude boys, and these:
Betty Davis - Don't Call Her No Tramp (severin)
The Coasters - Poison Ivy (MussoliniHeadkick)
Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) - Black Magic Woman (AltraEgo)
Glasvegas - It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (vanwolf2)
Knack - Good Girls Don't (Marconius7)
Leather Boy - I'm A Leather Boy (TarquinSpodd)
Lucille Bogan - Till The Cows Come Home (Nicko)
M.I.A. - Bad Girls (Vikingchild)
Nelly Furtado – Maneater (TatankaYotanka)
P!nk – Trouble (CraftyYarnster)
The Rolling Stones - Live With Me (AltraEgo)
Splodgenessabounds - I Wouldn't Lie (Carpgate)
十四代目トイレの花子さん - ROSE OF KILLER (TarquinSpodd)
… persuasive P!nk
… and bad girl Bogan
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Art Bergmann - Bar of Pain
He takes in a stray and she makes him pay by stealing around his house like a cheesy mouse. Worth it for the cheesy mouse line alone.
Esme Patterson - The Glow
Esme thinks The Beach Boys’ Caroline has decided her boyfriend isn’t the reliable parent type. (As Ariana Grande told our Landlord: "The thing about bad boys is, you have to keep in mind, you're never gonna marry a bad boy.")
Gene Clark - Gypsy Rider
She should have known by now he was just a vagabond.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's subject: Kick-ass topic! Songs about bad boys and bad girls. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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