I love making playlists of songs from across different genres and eras centered around a general theme, and the whole "Genius" thing on iTunes fascinates me, yielding a couple of my favorite playlists based on Sam Roberts' "Detroit '67" and Social Distortion's "Bad Luck".
But what I really need to create as I consider this summer's travel plans around the Midwest are some Midwest music mix lists.
So, I'm kicking off what I'm looking at as a series of occasional Midwest mix lists with a list featuring some of my favorite songs from, and about, Michigan!
- Detroit '67-This song comes from a Montreal artist, Sam Roberts, who I've heard wrote it after visiting Detroit and becoming fascinated with the city and its French heritage. The song gives a great snapshot of Detroit's glory days when the automotive "Big Three" reigned, references the devastating 1967 riots, and still manages to convey a feeling of the city's resiliency. Be sure to check out the must-see video for this song!
- Especially in Michigan-This Stadium Arcadium track from recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, contains multiple references and imagery from lead singer Anthony Kiedis' home state. Kiedis lived on the west side of the state until he was about 12 years old, when he moved to live with his dad in Hollywood, California, and became less well known for his Mitten connection and more well known for his use of athletic socks!
- 96 Tears-Garage rock, proto punk, or, as John Lennon dubbed it, "the best rock and roll song ever", 96 Tears is a classic, electronic organ-laden track that even has its own web site! This track from Flint/Bay City-based Question Mark and the Mysterians, clocking in at just over two-and-a-half-minutes, may be the first mainstream hit by a Latino rock group...and ? certainly beat Prince in becoming one of the first singers billed under a symbol. The group's name comes from a 1957 sci-fi film, and the mysterious Question Mark (born Rudy Martinez) still performs his classic hit around town.
Question Mark - I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home-So, we know what happened to Question Mark, but what about some of the other Mysterians? Well, one of the band's bassists, Mel Schacher, went on to join the 1970s power trio known as Grand Funk Railroad. The Flint-based group took their name from a play on the name of a prominent railroad line in Michigan, Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
- All Summer Long-This is a fun mash up of licks from Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and "Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama" that results in an affectionate ode to Kid Rock's memories of summer days in Northern Michigan. The video? Um, a little on the sleazy side for my taste, so I'd opt for this one...
- Born Free-I've always appreciated Kid Rock's pride and support of his home state, and the video for this country-tinged track features some great scenic shots of Michigan.
- My Doorbell-This White Stripes tracks dates back from a time when Jack White still copped to being from Detroit, and from a bit after we saw part of their show during a packed mini-concert at a one of the Detroit Institute of Arts' free Friday nights.
- Garbage Day-This is one of my favorite tracks from Brendan Benson's My Old, Familiar Friend album. Benson was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, and some may best know him as a member of The Raconteurs.
- Detroit is my Home-We saw then-93-year-old blues queen Alberta Adams pretty much rip the roof off of the joint when she uncorked an exceptionally strong and vibrant performance of this song at Detroit's 2010 Concert of Colors festival. Born in Indianapolis in 1917, Adams moved to Detroit as a child and still performs around town today.
Alberta Adams - Ain't No Mountain High Enough-You didn't think I could have a Michigan mix list without including at least one Motown song, did you? The original version of this Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson song was this 1967 track by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell is my favorite version, although Diana Ross covered it in 1970 and earned a Grammy Award nomination for it.
My Michigan mix list could easily be two, three, or many multiple times longer--which is why I originally envisioned this as a series of posts!
I hope you enjoyed this first Midwest music mix list. Check back here on Thursday to see what songs I've found for my first Ohio music mix list.
Are there other Midwest songs/artists you feel I should check out to include on a future Midwest music mix list?
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
There's a lot happening musically in MN these days. One fun collection is the three-CD set of Minnesota Beatle Project, with Beatles tracks covered by a huge variety of MN bands. Some play it straight, while others put their own spin on the songs (gotta love a bluegrass version of I Am the Walrus). Also, Duluth's Trampled by Turtles was on Letterman recently, and Polica was on either Fallon or Kimmel.
Posted by: Amy | May 15, 2012 at 05:17 AM
Thanks for the suggestions, Amy! I was thinking that Minnesota my very well be my next list. Seems like there is a particularly vibrant music scene in the Twin Cities. I love the name, Trample by Turtles! :lol:
Posted by: Dominique King | May 15, 2012 at 06:07 AM
There's a lot happening in the hip-hop/rap areas too, but those aren't my kinds of music--if you like them, Dessa, Doomtree, Brother Ali, and Atmosphere are all highly regarded.
Posted by: Amy | May 15, 2012 at 06:52 AM
Great list! Are you on Spotify? If so, find and add me in there. Check my public playlists, a long time ago I made a couple samplers of Detroit rock and country... there's plenty more where that came from. (I know a lot of folks in the biz/scene.)
Also, if I could make a suggestion - If you make these lists in Spotify and public, other people could subscribe to them.
I've got a 4 hour drive tomorrow and would TOTALLY subscribe and play on my ride. Thanks!
Posted by: Stacy Lukasavitz | May 15, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Amy-Thanks for the hip-hop/rap suggestions...added to my list of tunes to check out!
Stacy-I've thought about checking out Spotify one of these days, but haven't had the time to do it yet. The playlist thing sounds like a good idea...I'm going to have a whole group of these mix lists, and making the playlists public sounds like a decent way of getting a little more Midwest music out there :)
Posted by: Dominique King | May 16, 2012 at 02:05 AM
Check out the intricate, Michigan grown lyrics and fresh sound of Frontier Ruckus. http://www.frontierruckus.com/earshot
Posted by: Jetzcorn | May 16, 2012 at 07:54 PM
Hey Dominique! Amy's right, tons of great bands in MN nowadays. I stream The Current (www.thecurrent.org) often at work. Trampled by Turtles are awesome!
I'd say definitely add a Daisy May song ("Heart Song" is a great album) and a Bob Seger song to your next list. And I know Sufjan Stevens did a "Michigan" album. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of his stuff, but a lot of other people are. ;)
Great post!
Posted by: Jesse Land | May 17, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Jetzcorn-Thanks for the suggestion. It's now on the list of names to consider for a future Michigan list.
Jesse-With a name like Trampled by Turtles, I have to check this band out! Seger didn't make this Michigan list (like a lot of other favorites), but he's definitely someone I'll put on a future list.
Posted by: Dominique King | May 17, 2012 at 08:46 PM