"This enigmatic one-hit wonder from 1996 sampled the chorus of B.B. King's 'How Blue Can You Get.'"
What a cool, evocative song. "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand." Perhaps the 1996 recording sounds lame to most people now — YouTube automatically served up "Fade Into You" when it ended — but I remember how much it was loved at the time. "Fade Into You" was loved too. Two decades ago... in the strange land that was 1996. Do you remember the Trappist Martyrs of Atlas, the creation of copernicium, the wreck of the Sea Empress, the Brothers to the Rescue, the Ozone Disco Club fire, the Freemen of Jordan, Montana, the Hoover Institution's report on global warming (saying it will probably benefit the United States), Hurricane Bertha, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, Osama bin Laden's "Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places," the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, the re-election of Bill Clinton, and the demise of "Calvin and Hobbes"?
As for the recently departed B.B. King — you can listen to "How Blue Can You Get" at the top link — that transcends time.
May 17, 2015
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11 comments:
The Olympics year.
It was just yesterday that I listened to "Live at San Quentin." Good performance. Mr. King was obviously a well-seasoned showman by that time. Perhaps a bit too well-seasoned.
It was merely odd when he thanked his audience for coming out. A bit odder when he suggested that, if anyone is feeling good, then he ought to go ahead do what makes him feel good. Bordering on bizarre was when he implored his captive, all-male audience to "shake what they got."
I've saved the best for last.
"I've got to say, it does me a whole lot of good looking out here, tonight, and seeing so many fresh young faces in the audience."
Okay, that's from memory. Anybody cares enough it's probably on the internet, somewhere.
It's not like I'm getting paid, or anything.
Video: Is Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’ the Most Overused Song in Film and TV?
A girl born in 1996 is now a year past jail-bait.
Just doing the math.
I am Laslo.
Never was a B.B. King fan. Never knew this song sampled B.B. and haven't heard it probably in 20 years after hearing it quite a bit for awhile there. It's a good song w/ a good sample of B.B., but there's no meat to it, it quickly fades into the past. Mazzy Star's first two albums I still listen to every now and then. Never woulda thought Althouse was a familiar w/ Mazzy Star.
Through years on the road, BB had perfected an engaging stage persona. Whether singing or speaking in between songs, he had a captivating voice. I love performers who embrace being a complete entertainer. Those who can connect with the audience with witty banter and short stories and then knock ’em dead with the music. It’s a rare old school skill that is disappearing.
Live at the Regal 1965
Saw BB King and Willie Nelson on the same stage in Biloxi, early 80s. You could have gotten high on second-hand smoke.
I am dumbfounded by this admiration for "sampling". (Geeze...how Lay-Z can you get?)
I clicked on the youtube link and immediately thought, "Why would I want to hear someone singing over a copy of a BB King song? Just give me the damn BB King song."
At my (small) college, B.B. King and Bo Diddly played in consecutive years, along with other more college-like acts like the Fixx and the Smithereens. We also had the Charlie Daniels Band one year.
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