July 2020 Record Challenge (The Raffle Strikes Back)

Kris said:
I have the 12” of “Never Gonna Give You Up” and I’ve always wanted to put it in a PIFed record sleeve as a joke. I’d follow up with the real record of course.
Click to expand...

I almost used that song on the 7-inch day (with a spoiler alert for good measure).

LeSamourai said:
JULY 6
ONE HIT WONDERLAND
Play an album by a one hit wonder

The Verve - Urban Hymns

Yeah, I know they were huge on the other side of the pond, but it is my right and duty as an American to be oblivious to the rest of the world and its tastes and desires. Here in the US, The Verve had exactly one big hit, "Bittersweet Symphony," and later they showed up as the background music for a car commercial or two. I remember picking this one up in high school, as well as Blur's self-titled, based on their one hits in the US, despite being told by friends that the rest of the respective albums sucked and were nothing like the one cool song on the radio. Both purchases led to discovering bands whose discographies are much more rewarding than their one hit, and to my friends increasingly wanting to ride in other people's cars because of my "weird" taste in music... of course they had no idea how much weirder it would get.
Click to expand...

“Lucky Man” wasn’t big here? It was on heavy rotation in Brazil when I was growing up.
 
bettim84 said:
I almost used that song on the 7-inch day (with a spoiler alert for good measure).



“Lucky Man” wasn’t big here? It was on heavy rotation in Brazil when I was growing up.
Click to expand...

It got some airplay, but I'd never say it reached "hit" status, at least in Arizona, where I was living at the time. I barely remember hearing it, and I listened almost exclusively to the alternative rock station then. There was that one hit by The Verve Pipe that same year, though!
 
JULY 6
ONE HIT WONDERLAND
Play an album by a one hit wonder

Disclosure - Settle

Disclosure has all the makings of a pop powerhouse, but they only have one Billboard #10 hit in Latch (peaking at 7) featuring a pre-boring-balladier Sam Smith. Only a couple more top ten hits in their homebase UK charts.

I've probably never felt older than when I saw Disclosure six years ago in NYC. At the ripe age of 26. That was definitely a hang back in the bar and avoid everyone show. But, hey, they even brought out Sam Smith for their one hit.

IMG_20200706_135654.jpg
 
DAY 6: ONE HIT WONDERLAND

I actually had more than a few options to choose from (The Buggles, Dexys Midnight Runners, Patrice Rushen, I guess Fiona Apple if we wanna get technical), but I knew immediately which one I wanted to highlight!

Digable Planets - Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)

8403CC86-5FCD-471D-B21E-4E8D879D96B4.jpeg

While both albums released by this group have become cult classics (with “Blowout Comb” getting most of the praise in hindsight), Digable Planets somehow managed to get a crossover pop hit in March of 1993 with “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, which reached #15 on the Hot 100 and was their only song to even come close to the top 40! It was also their only #1 hit on the rap chart.
 
At the risk of blowing my short play option I chose The Breeders as my one hit wonder. Such a fascinating struggle bus of an almost supergroup beget side project. I forget how many members came and went. I don’t have the Last Splash album they are famous for which has several great songs. The Safari EP is also great, though, and I listen to it relatively often not only because it’s good but it’s an easy time investment as well.

7B814411-E251-4CD7-A4A8-B880A551E804.jpeg
 
Day 5 - DIFFERENT STROKES
A widely disliked or divisive album that you personally love

6F1A11A9-FBCF-4C52-9AE1-9122D6CA9DD5.jpeg

The Strokes "Comedown Machine"

I could be wrong about this but I feel like this record was either met with a collective "meh" or ignored altogether! It didn't help that the band did zero promotion and seem to have put no effort into the packaging and album art....all that being said as an unapologetic Strokes fan, I love this record!
 
LeSamourai said:
All I need to do is see that cover, and "You're a few years oveeerrrduuueee" starts playing in my head. Saw them live on that tour, too!
Click to expand...

I saw that your too in NYC! Openers were Hot Rod Circuit and Superchunk. I felt kind of bad, it seemed like half of the audience did not know who Superchunk were, despite the fact that the Get Up Kids owed their career to them.
I also remember shouting for the song "Driveway to Driveway." The other guitar player in the band responded by saying "Driveway to Driveway" (half the audience cheers here) "is not a song we will be playing tonight." Burn.
 
One hit wonder... Sorry for joining late but the recent status of of a list of essential albums made me want to join in

It's hard to think of these guys as only having one hit, and not even that big of one as it only drifted into the bottom half of the hot 100 (you can tell what it was)
15940825571872289102314630985161.jpg
 
Last edited:
Day 5: DIFFERENT STROKES

Someone else has already played Led Zeppelin’s Presence in this thread, which would have been my pick for today.

Instead I’ll go with the only SDRE album that I like, which is apparently a polarizing opinion (I know SDRE fans who strongly dislike this album in particular, and love all the others):

781B3AFF-9BB1-4CAC-AE2C-D950105A607D.jpeg
 
JULY 7
SORRY FOR THE WAIT
An artist you wish would release new music

There are probably many artists I could think of, Kate Bush for instance, but I'm really looking forward to see how Arctic Monkeys will develop. Their last album "Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino" was very different from their former works, but still interesting with some funny lyrics. I haven’t spun this in a while, so I take that chance.

Arctic Monkeys "Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino"

IMG_20200707_085541.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top