4 Non-Blondes "What's Up" vs Edie Brickell "What I Am"

i like both songs but i REALLY like whats up

haha oh man

I was struggling to think of something to go against the 4 non blondes that might give it a run for its money then i remembered smithys thread :)

this is going to be a 4 Non Blondes landslide

What's Up is way worse - that vocal hook is unbearable

You almost tricked me with that Vote for the WORST question.

At any rate, I about just put a hole through my computer screen ticking the 4NB tab.

Had a little crush on Edie when this song came out. Now I watch that video and think, Good Lord, teenage Pleasant Plains. You could've been watching Heather Thomas on Fall Guy.

What's up, my dick?

That is all

Always get 4 Non Blondes and L7 mixed up in my head. That's pretty unforgivable on my part, but it happens.

I like What's Up. I understand why people don't like it but I need to be true to myself here and vote for Edie Brickell.

I don't know what the hell "Religion is a smile on a dog" means, but it's helluva more poetic simile than LIFE IS A HIGHWAY.

just thought I'd throw that one back out there.

yeah my mum actually bought the cd because she likes whats up so for that alone it gets my vote.

One song i really really hate as much as that song is Cher - Believe but that has its fans on ilx.

xp

haha i did consider putting it up against life is a highway

what is this
'what's up' is one of the best songs of the 90s and inspired this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjVugzSR7HA
the other one is one of the worst things ever released
why would you put them in the same poll? *cries*

"What's Up?" is a hideous misconception of a song from top to bottom and is only halfway listenable because the overwrought, wholly out-of-place vocal screeching

"What I Am" is basically what Phish would sound like if they didn't want me to punch them in their phishy phaces

^^^ gets it

Literally cannot decide but watching Edie now is a cruel reminder of what a hippie I was in college.

i had no idea that the singer of 4 non blondes was a pioneer of steampunk fashion!

What's up, my dick?

That is all

so otm

the My Dick Band has permanently elevated the 4 Non Blondes song into the upper echelon of lol

I mean, I've rolled my eyes at Edie's empty platitudes before but I've never had the full-on painful belly laughs like I have with "And I try/OH MY GOD DO I TRY"

I couldnt even pick Bush or Hootie because we brits just didnt hear anything by them. And I refuse to believe they were worse than whats up.

As a budding bass player I was of course enamored by the intro to "What I Am" and would play it for hours. "What's Up" has never made me want to do anything but drop-kick puppies.

What's Up is one of the worst songs ever made whereas What I Am is kind of sweet and spawned a great Balearic remix which led to Primal Scream's Loaded so this is an easy one.

smithy im sorry for reminding you of the pain of the edie song

I PRAY EVERY SINGLE DAY
FOR REVOLUSHUHHHHH-AHHHH *turns into pteradon, eats unlucky baby, flies into the sunset*

Every time I see people complaining about Jessie J or Karmin, I remember that Linda Perry sang on a hit song.

The time that I liked Edie Brickell is coincident with the time I liked Over the Rhine, who looked like this in those days:

http://www.weblo.com/music/images/artists/full/Over_the_Rhine_48f5eec1bfeaa.jpg

My gay mum loves what's up btw

it is true that he-man what's up is an invaluable piece of internet ephemera

I have never played her the my dick version

OMG Over the Rhine. Since they were an Ohio band we were legally obligated to play them on our college station. I have a signed CD from them. I am not joking.

PS They are still around and still playing festivals and stuff.

if this were strictly on the merits of the original, I hate both of these but at least you can ignore "What I Am." However "What I Am" irritates me more lyrically, which is really saying something, because "What's Up" is not exactly Leonard Cohen. A difficult contest in which the only real fair move is self-immolation

The Edie is sooooo much better. Minus the Jerry Garcia envelope filter diaper-guitar solo.

I still have love for OtR. They were not bad.

What's Up Lyrics

Twenty-five years I'm alive here still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying in bed Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar.

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea
I said hey, what's going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh
ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh

and I try, oh my god do I try
I try all the time, in this institution

And I pray, oh my god do I pray
I pray all sanctity
For a revolution.

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying bed
Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh ooooooooooooooooh

Twenty-five years I'm alive here still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
for a destination
mmh mh

vs

I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

Choke me in the shallow waters
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or

Oh, I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion is a light in the fog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what you are and

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?

Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVK3Zo95Vhg

yeah I mean

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog

that's game over in the horrible lyrics contest forever, flawless victory, none left standing, smoking pile of ash in the corner of every potential opponent. And then she goes and runs up the score with

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

if we had an open thread titled "name the worst most bad and hated song that ever charted: GO!" the answer would still be What's Up.

ah do yeah

I swear I cant think of a worse song than What's Up

Mind you I cant think of a worse guitar solo than the one in What I Am

I just realised this is why I hate 'what I am' and that I've never heard the original, I don't think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOeClFSQ1o

As much as I love 'what's up' I've always been annoyed at "And I scream from the top of my lungs"
You scream FROM the bottom of your lungs or AT the top of your lungs

Screaming from the top of your lungs would be like ~hhh eeehhhhh ehhh~ creepy shit

almost kinda miss these white hippie bands with like nine members. "Hey, you know how to shake the gourds? Well, we're not Camper Van Beethoven or anything, but if you were good enough for Poi Dog Pondering, you're good enough for us."

That Rusted Root song (dunno the name, it's in a bank commercial now or something) should've been a third poll option.

xp to aero: but dog is god backwards DO YOU SEE

yeah it was baby spices first solo song

tarfumes i dunno it and these 2 songs are well known all over the western world (which is why black velvet beat life is a highway)

even if "what's up" wasn't my least favorite song of all time (w/ "zombie" and "breakfast at tiffany's" right behind it) and even if "what i am" didn't quote popeye i'd still give it to brickell. she's capable of making steve martin laugh apparently which is something. plus there are other edie brickell songs i very passively enjoy in a shopping for produce and listening to solo natalie merchant way. otoh linda perry has actually been involved w/ a number of actually great songs. but none of them were by 4 non-blondes.

like i couldve chosen toploader or that dodgy song but only the brits would know that

these are both great songs everyone is just jealous of how catchy they are!

ohh yeah zombie coulda been a contender for whats up

Edie Brickell is easily explained when you realize she is super fucking stoned

Nothing can explain Linda Perry

she's mad at grandma

"What's Up?" is a hideous misconception of a song from top to bottom and is only halfway listenable because the overwrought, wholly out-of-place vocal screeching

"What I Am" is basically what Phish would sound like if they didn't want me to punch them in their phishy phaces

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 12:49 PM (13 minutes ago)

^^Truth.

I just keep imagining 4 Non Blondes as a band in the studio, putting down the backing tracks, and then Linda says "welp, time for me to BLOW SOME MINDS" and picks up the mic and screams into it while the anticipatory smiles on the faces of the rest of the band freeze and then become incredibly strained because they all remember what happened to Becky

In Flight is a really nice album

one thing i do really really really hate about 'what i am' though is how radio stations don't play the radio edit (probably don't have it in their library anymore) and so you have to hear brickell scat over a longer bridge leading up to that solo. tbh kinda really hate this trend of stations not playing radio edits of songs that really really worked better on the radio as radio edits (ie 'little red corvette' not 'sweet child o mine'). and despite this trend i somehow heard a radio edit of 'golden slumbers/carry that weight/the end' on the radio the other day - if you're going to play it at all why in god's name would you play an edit??? krs-one was right.

ok this is a semi final the other one is
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's Vs Cranberries "Zombie"

The Crimes of Linda Perry is probably worth a thread.

Points in her favor for "Beautiful," America's Sweetheart, and maybe some of the Pink stuff but for the most part it's a trail of smoking craters and James Blunt.

song about a psychotic lady who starts screaming outside her door every morning

vs.

song about a crazy recluse pondering about the metaphysics of cereal boxes

at the end of the day, only one of these songs contains a section that goes "ooh/OOH"

omg is there footage of Linda Perry singing "Beautiful"

and so you have to hear brickell scat over a longer bridge leading up to that solo

oh witchy wah oh (???)

haha dan i had forgotten 'ooh/OOH'. god what an awful fucking song. all of these songs are so much worse than alannah myles and poor tom cochrane.

dan the internet is here for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLMnV0suyZ8

from the comments, i learn things:

this song was meant for herself before then P!nk said she wants it but linda refused, insisting it for herself but the nXtina come along with her on the Stripped sessions and Linda let her listen to the song and then Christina want to record it too so Linda finaly let go

Religion is a smile on a dog"

OMIGOD is that what she says????

"I'm not aware of too many things" indeed

choke these two women in shallow water

Where was the edit in the Abbey Road medley?

Golden Slumbers always seemed to get to the chorus much faster than I remembered it, but when i listened to the album, it was like that all along.

Weird to look at radio edits - how on the album they were 4:16, but the radio edit was 3:42. I guess that's one more thirty for Sam's Transmission, but hell, was it really worth dropping that guitar solo?

I just keep imagining 4 Non Blondes as a band in the studio, putting down the backing tracks, and then Linda says "welp, time for me to BLOW SOME MINDS" and picks up the mic and screams into it while the anticipatory smiles on the faces of the rest of the band freeze and then become incredibly strained because they all remember what happened to Becky

http://airstre.am/dopamine72/Nicolas%20Cage%20Laugh.gif

Both sets of lyrics are equially fucking hideous

Only one of these songs has "horrible" music though.

i'm not aweer of too many things

At least she admits it

guys

Edie Brickell and Paul Simon are still married.

Imagine what lyric writing conversations around the breakfast table are like.

Paul probably just advises her to hire Los Lobos for sessions and then steal their material.

omg Linda Perry has the dulcet tones of a sick cow

Almost every Paul Simon song is way worse than either one of these songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLUkYUULuo

WTF^^^^^

That is not OK to link asshole

this will probably be my only opportunity to say: waterface otm

(oops xpost so otm minus the "asshole" part but f'rills)

djp killing it lately

Can someone please delete that

you don't like paul simon, wf?

more like wtf

waterface is waterface
are you what you are or what you are and

AG you are ruining my day with these. ugh.

What's up, my dick?That is all

so otm

the My Dick Band has permanently elevated the 4 Non Blondes song into the upper echelon of lol

― tight in the runs (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, August 5, 2013 1:50 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Edie Brickell is easily explained when you realize she is super fucking stoned

Nothing can explain Linda Perry

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 2:03 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dying

yo waterface I'm vegetarian for 20 years now, check out my advanced kata of not clicking on the YouTube

if it auto-linked that'd be one thing but as it is it's on you if you listen

yo underrated I didn't click on it
I am still offended
just sayin',

WF

^^ this. Waterface going for a "omg that's terrible remove it TEACHER LOOK WHAT THIS GUY DID! BAN HIM!" is nagl

xp

idk if he needed to write on the moderator thread, but that video -- even if u don't click it -- was kind of unchill, especially to people who are sensitive to animal rights. i don't think wf is out of line here.

I didn't say ban him, I just said remove it. Don't put words in my mouth

someone note in the official ilx meeting minutes that waterface is offended and can we all move on pls

Not calling for anyone's ban here everyone just chilll

so everyone is totes cool with videos of animals being slaughtered as long as the right people post them? good to know!

yo underrated I didn't click on it
I am still offended
just sayin',

WF

― waterface

"It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what." - Steven Fry

Obviously, I'm not a moderator so I don't know what the protocol is but it's just not cool

yeah really wtf alfred

eh

non-veg people don't really get that thinking about the reality of animal slaughter can ruin a vegetarian's day, I'm ok w/that, they're coming from a different place. like for example there are people who rep for "what I am," that is very traumatic for me because the song sucks so bad but I find a way to cope somehow.

eh the concept of "offensiveness" is valid here, as the whole point of moderation is to maintain a space where people feel comfortable posting. xp

"It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what." - Steven Fry

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, August 5, 2013 7:46 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Again, not asking for special rights here, and congratulations, you live your life according to some other person's quote, kudos to you, boatface.

it was a tasteless post obv

It was my fault, guys. I'm sorry. I was looking for the wrong sort of audio clip.

i'm not even veg but posting animal cruelty vids is just pointlessly aggressive in what is otherwise a pretty fun thread?

Guys, guys, let's not fight amongst ourselves, we're getting away from the point of the thread, which is to zing Linda Perry.

what's going on

http://cdn.idolator.com/assets/resources/2008/03/haaaayaaaayayaaayaya.jpg

got too deep

god bless 'em, but the gatormouths these two women had.

massive lol, CAD

thanking u

god bless those gatormouths

http://cache.vevo.com/Content/VevoImages/video/9AA3854F95420D35FCC2F5FB43AFAF62.jpg

AND I SAID
HAY YAY YAY AAYAY
HAY YAY YAY
I SAY HAY
MY GIANT MOUTH

Everyone's mentioning her mouth but no one's talking about the fucking goggles

WTF is wrong with you people

She is wearing aviator fucking goggles

And is not politing a plane

Nor is her name Manfred von Richthofen

AG you are ruining my day with these. ugh.

― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB),

:(

I hope to GOD that those are not fucking goggles

xxxxp Did she ever pull the goggles off the hat and put them on? Like, when shit really kicked into overdrive? That would've been cool.

I hope to god that's not a mouth

what I am is bad in a pretentious way whereas what's up is just bad in a horrible neighbor belting songs in the shower way

i had no idea that the singer of 4 non blondes was a pioneer of steampunk fashion!

― call all destroyer, Monday, August 5, 2013 1:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

linda perry invented burning man btw

I think we discussed this in another thread, but I didn't realize until recently that What I Am wasn't supposed to be mocking the speaker

my dad was into edie brickell, i have memories of that whole album

lol Phil, maybe that's where David Caruso got his CSI:Miami schtick from

correction: goggles over a BUM HAT

Little-known inspiration for a young Linda Perry:

http://images.wikia.com/villains/images/4/41/Dick_Dastardly.jpg

can anyone tell me if edie brickell is more of a ws or more of a ws of shame?

Every 90's song, when it kicks in, should feature a lead singer strappin on the ol rock goggles if you know what I mean

It's like someone put together an unconvincing alt band for an early 90s movie and it got out into the real world and made a video before it could be recaptured.

Did we establish what year the EB was because oh God I have horrible memories of being made to listen to it my girls in my dorm freshman year. Circle of Light? I think that was another song off that album. SO BAD.

tbf I was really into bad ska at the time so I probably shouldn't throw stones BUT STILL

I QUIT
I GIVE UP
NOTHINGS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ANYBODY ELSE
IT SEEMS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_GkjymuQ9U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgpF5VjWO34

omg "Circle" was a wholly ridiculous song that I loved because it was so petulant and whiny

Also, Linda Perry's guitar is stupid looking.

Also also, the 4NB lead guitarist should be ashamed for getting that crappy sawtooth-wave sound out of a Les Paul.

oh that's it

no way i'm clicking on that

Oops, voted for the best by mistake ("What I Am").

Also, thread needs this sample:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuhaFdBuwp4

these are both great i'm calling misogyny

http://i.t.cbsi.com/i/lumiere/2005/11/21/8603-8603-20051121_150600-320x240.jpg

"Circle" improves dramatically if you imagine that the song's protagonist is wearing a Badtz-Maru tanktop

also this thread has inspired me to listen to the 4NB album

I dare you guys to google "Fill Me Up" images

I didn't even know the Edie Brickell song had lyrics. I thought they were just sounds.

1. "Train" 3:42
2. "Superfly" (Perry, Katrina Sirdofsky) 4:37
3. "What's Up?" 4:55
4. "Pleasantly Blue" 2:28
5. "Morphine & Chocolate" (Shaunna Hall) 4:44
6. "Spaceman" (Hall, Perry) 3:40
7. "Old Mr. Heffer" (Wanda Day, Hall, Christa Hillhouse, Perry) 2:16
8. "Calling All the People" (Day, Hall, Hillhouse, Perry, Dawn Richardson) 3:17
9. "Dear Mr. President" 4:43
10. "Drifting" 3:31
11. "No Place Like Home" (Day, Hall, Hillhouse, Perry)

You will never make it through this labrythn of doom

wtf

7 "Old Mr. Heffer"

song titles poll needed

"Train" is shockingly not terrible? I mean there's too much fucking harmonica but aside from that it's genuinely inoffensive.

like, remove the harmonica and it's a total 70s Heart pastiche

I can kind of hear a terrible mashup of these two, with the chorus of "What's Up" slowed down and played over the opening chords of "What I Am"

I say
OOOOOOLLLLLLLD
OOOOOOLLLLLLLD
OOOOOOLLLLLLLD
Mr Heffer!

never thought waterface would be anti-beef

"Superfly" is funky

this is not a good aesthetic choice

actually Linda Perry herself is not a good aesthetic choice, she's basically sounding like Ann Wilson suffering extreme, painful, anus-ripping constipation

Like I said, you won't make it

I wonder what she had to say to the President

and she said
AHHHHHHHHHYAYYAYAYAYAAAYEAH
AHHHHHHHHHYAYYAYAYAYAAAYEAH
AHHHHHHHHHYAYYAYAYAYAAAYEAH
Mr President!

"Dear Mr. President" (feat. Lou Reed, Fred Maher, Dion)

What is up is
what is up
are you great big hill
of hope?

hahaha following that with "What's Up?" basically shows that this band's idea of good album sequencing was to draw song titles out of that damned hat

An album with two songs of the form "[Adjective] Mr. [Noun]." What a world, what a world.

I hope "Morphine & Chocolate" sounds like "Starfish & Coffee" screwed and chopped and/or Errol Brown singing over two-string bass and baritone sax.

can one of you investigate "Pleasantly Blue"

great big hill
of keep hope alive
but what about the homeless man
and those fires in Tompkins Square
and those fires in Crown Heights
mr. president?

'what i am' is not good but my move to switch stations when it comes on is more of a *sighs, shakes head in disappoint, switches station*, whereas when 'what's up' come on it's more of a *douses radio in hot coffee, punches speakers furiously* thing.

omg this fucking song, you guys

it is literally the worst in an entire world of worsts

you haven't heard "I Just Shot John Lennon" this week yet

I wish you could all see the look on my face re: "Pleasantly Blue"

whatever the aural equivalent of having a scared porcupine in your crotch is, that is what Linda Perry is doing to my ears with this song

oh wow, "pleasantly blue"

wow

I need the My Dick Band to do this entire album

how many people bought this album

holy fuck lol the guitarist on the merry-go-round shot, never noticed that before

hahahahaha you are listeing to it ha ha ha

AHAHAHAHAAA

I don't know but:

Bigger, Better, Faster, More! is the only studio album released by alternative rock band 4 Non Blondes, released in 1992. The first single was "Dear Mr. President", which bass player Christa Hillhouse told Songfacts "was about the hierarchy of power and government."[5]

THIS SHIT WENT PLATINUM, YOU GUYS

also "Morphine & Chocolate" is like a panacea compared to the horrorshow that precedes it, and it's a terrible song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-Qtz70_z4

San Francisco's 4 Non Blondes burst onto the national scene with their massive, neo-hippie anthem "What's Up" from their debut Bigger, Better, Faster, More? Although they failed to recreate the single's success, the album, as a whole, is a fairly engaging mix of alternative rock, quasi-funk, and blues.

The focal point is on lead singer Linda Perry who also plays guitar and was the primary writer of the material. Perry has a powerful set of pipes akin to Johnette Napolitano, but, unfortunately, she tends to cut loose when a little more restraint would benefit the proceedings. However, "Superfly" is a feel good, funky number and "Spaceman"'s yearning lyrics are delivered over a quiet, martial drum rhythm. A solid debut that got lost in the wake of its mammoth hit.

Every time you wake in the morning
and you start to cry

4NB are really into making loud noises 1st thing in the morning

Sooo many frat parties with the dance version of What's Up

omg quasi-funk

I honestly want to go back in time and hand Linda Perry a coupon for Preparation H

Perry has a powerful set of pipes akin to Johnette Napolitano

omg "Morphine & Chocolate" just got incredibly, incredibly funny

Perry was practically barking in tongues for a little while

thought it said "Janet Napolitano" ("When she yells, terrorists cower!")

Bigger, Better, Faster, More! [Interscope, 1992]

Except maybe for a few pie-eyed corner-cutters over in marketing, nobody born before Never Mind the Bollocks thinks Linda Perry is "alternative." It was to avoid music that might distract from her big vague voice--referents: people she never heard of like Lydia Pense and people you wish she never heard of like Ann Wilson--that she axed her female guitarist for a male hotshot once her male producer took her aside. Janis is dead, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, her vision of meaningful rebellion lives on. C

there is no way "Spaceman" is going to live up to Babylon Zoo, is there

Bigger, Better, Faster, More! [Interscope, 1992]
Except maybe for a few pie-eyed corner-cutters over in marketing, nobody born before Never Mind the Bollocks thinks Linda Perry is "alternative." It was to avoid music that might distract from her big vague voice--referents: people she never heard of like Lydia Pense and people you wish she never heard of like Ann Wilson--that she axed her female guitarist for a male hotshot once her male producer took her aside. Janis is dead, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, her vision of meaningful rebellion lives on. C

lol xp

1. "Train" 3:42
2. "Superfly" (Perry, Katrina Sirdofsky) 4:37
3. "What's Up?" 4:55
4. "Pleasantly Blue" 2:28
5. "Morphine & Chocolate" (Shaunna Hall) 4:44
6. "Spaceman" (Hall, Perry) 3:40
7. "Old Mr. Heffer" (Wanda Day, Hall, Christa Hillhouse, Perry) 2:16
8. "Calling All the People" (Day, Hall, Hillhouse, Perry, Dawn Richardson) 3:17
9. "Dear Mr. President" 4:43
10. "Drifting" 3:31
11. "No Place Like Home" (Day, Hall, Hillhouse, Perry)

Can we do a covers project of this? Preferably without having to hear any of the songs first.

man you people

You're a bunch of sick freaks

lmao at this chain of events:

Bassist Christa Hillhouse and guitarist Shaunna Hall had been roommates and met drummer Wanda Day when they joined a band she was playing in. When the three left that band, they started playing as a trio. But after seeing Perry sing at a solo performance, Hillhouse and Hall asked her to join as vocalist. According to Perry, she and Hall were at Nightbreak, a San Francisco club, and when it was mentioned the trio was looking for a vocalist, Perry announced she was a singer to which Hall replied "I know". Their first rehearsal was supposed to be at 6 PM on October 17, 1989, but shortly after 5 PM the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco area.[2][3]

i demand djp does a cover of what's up if it does happen

when it was mentioned the trio was looking for a vocalist, Perry announced she was a singer to which Hall replied "I know".

"We heard you. Thought at first it was hemorrhoids."

she just sang "they say I'm dayDREAMing"

I hope she talks like she sings, all emphatically with stresses on the wrong syllable under constant threat of a sudden, furious diarrhea explosion

god tried and failed to stop them

Mouth watering at the prospect of a 4 Non Blondes song called Dear Mr President

wait a second

she does character voices on "Old Mr. Heffer"

it almost makes the bellow make sense

obviously the song is terribe

djp does the cover in a fairly engaging mix of alternative rock, quasi-funk, and blues

she and Hall were at Nightbreak, a San Francisco club,

!!! first club I ever played outside of southern California (though it had changed its name by then to "the Thirsty Swede")

"Calling All The People" sounds like a demo

I also can't imagine listening back to this vocal and thinking "yes, nailed it!"

Their first rehearsal was supposed to be at 6 PM on October 17, 1989, but shortly after 5 PM the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco area.[2][3]

lol

wait wtf

she is actually singing on "Dear Mr. President"

like, not grunting or screaming or straining or howling, but just singing

it's still not particularly pretty but MAN what an improvement

obviously the song is terrible

nicholsondsn 2 days ago

When I bought this - as soon as it came out - everyone of my heavy freinds - Zepp, Deep Purple, Sab, JP, Steppenwolf, High Tide, Arthur Brown, UH, Groundhogs said nah, never last in rock and roll. Linda Perry is brilliant and still making great music. Hats off to Perry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87HjsK10_74

i dunno why but on that Dear Mr President song I keep expecting her to break out into Kids From America by Kim Wilde.

WOT A WUNDERFOOL CAHNTRY

oh here's the shouting, thankfully it didn't last too long

the backing vocals on this album are so sad and pathetic across the board

!!! first club I ever played outside of southern California

If fate had dealt slightly different cards, it would've been 5 Non Blondes.

"Drifting" starts with acoustic guitar and Linda singing up until about 0:35 at which point she does a full Florence bray, still over acoustic guitar

I feel like Linda Perry feels that a song reads best after it has been bludgeoned to death with the full weight of your vocal chords

omg her head voice, lolololololol

http://i.imgur.com/Gsfw074.png

thx Eazy, I am now imagining Linda's Chords Of Doom melting poor aero's boombox ;_;

at least What I Am has that guitar hook

there are points where Perry's vocal technique make me think she's really, really dry and accidentally moved one her legs too quickly

"oh my god the bomb has just dropped / and everybody just climbed on top screaming / what a wonderful country"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5zq42xzk-0

"No Place Like Home" basically sounds like she is making fun of herself, which would make it the best song since "Train" if it weren't for the fact that the song is fucking terrible

Linda Perry - Prayer to God

OMG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPJQTPXKC4

no

When The Lady With the Hat Talks to God

yes

it's pretty good that Zep cover that's why I didn;t like to it

link

This is "What's Up," easy, solely on the basis of awful, would-be hilarious karaoke singers assuming that just doing the song, by itself, will inspire endless yuks. Actually this poll seems to have sort of been written backwards from the intended matchups - there is something vaguely "Black Velvet" about the structure of this with the wailing chorus, but even moreso it is designed to go toe-to-toe with the shriekings of "Zombie" which I think about a dozen threads have firmly established as the worst song ever recorded in the eyes of ILX (though I don't mind it so much).

Whereas it really doesn't have all that much in common with "What I Am" beyond a kind of hippie preachiness - the Brickell song is total coffeeshop stuff, it should be up against 10,000 Maniacs or Suzanne Vega or, I dunno, Everlast's "What It's Like" (different generation but still).

Philosophy...Is The Talk On A Cereal Box important reference material

my final verdict on the 4 Non Blondes album: WTF THIS WENT PLATINUM

Holy shit @ Dear Mr President.

Songs of the era that I really fucking hate:

Little Miss Can't Be Wrong
Runaway Train
More Than Words
No Rain

Despite the title, the song does not contain the phrase "what's up?" Rather, the lyric "what's goin' on?" is prominently included in the chorus. The title was chosen to avoid confusion with the 1971 R&B song and album "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.

"More Than Words" seems like it's from the previous era, like the hair metal payola guy from their label was able to call in one last favor before Nirvana hit.

xp

Nick B you missed out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QD5n98R_nk

but bad ballads/power ballads by rawk bands should be its own thread

urgent and key:

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1360/3269557195_a0f52244b5.jpg

If I was going to arrange these songs in order from best to worst, it would be:

Train
*commits seppuku to avoid considering the rest of these terrible songs*

Id put new radicals you get what you give in a list of bad songs but some on ilx actually like it

in 20 years people are going to love all of these songs

Treeship you have never been wrong in all of your life

been more wrong I mean

Over on ILM A thread for the worst ballads/power ballads by rawk bands

this thread was prophecied

The cultural road from this to 4 Non Blondes seems like a secret history of terror.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, January 26, 2013 6:59 PM (6 months ago)

Philosophy...Is The Talk On A Cereal Box

itt a secret history of terror

not so secret history of terror sadly

if you would like to know true terror, I invite you to listen to "Pleasantly Blue" by 4 Non Blondes

I did.

*shakes fist*

new radicals were great

Whereas it really doesn't have all that much in common with "What I Am" beyond a kind of hippie preachiness - the Brickell song is total coffeeshop stuff, it should be up against 10,000 Maniacs or Suzanne Vega or, I dunno, Everlast's "What It's Like" (different generation but still).

fwiw, edie strikes me as painfully earnest ("i think really deep thoughts") and 4 Non Blondes strikes me as painfully calculated ("hey what's this alternative thing? i know, i'll put on goggles and a silly hat, that's alternative.").

more bad songs from the 90s (mostly)

Heart FM's Top 10 Love Songs

10: Robbie Williams - Angels
09: Bon Jovi - Always
08: Chris De Burgh - Lady in Red
07: Take That - A Million Love Songs
06: Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight
05: Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply
04: Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
03: The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
02: Bryan Adams - Everything I Do
01: Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

― glumdalclitch,

new radicals were great

― stefon taylor swiftboat (s.clover), Monday, August 5, 2013 10:08 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

man in retrospect, I can't believe how good "I Will Always Love You" was compared to the rest of that stuff

Liking "You Get What You Give" used to be one of the ILM membership requirements, I thought? Glad they dropped the floppy hat dress code tbh but I do miss those days.

Gregg Alexander also wrote some incredible songs for sophie ellis-bextor

new radicals love is the ilm equivalent of spending time with your family and wondering if you got switched with another baby at the hospital

hahaha

In 2008, Perry signed the group Little Fish to her label and began producing its album,[9][10] titled Baffled and Beat,[11] which was released in August 2010.[12]

In 2009, Perry wrote and produced "A Loaded Smile" for the debut album For Your Entertainment by Adam Lambert. Aguilera's fourth studio album, Bionic, released in 2010, included another track, written and produced solely by Perry, "Lift Me Up".

In June 2010, Perry announced on her Facebook and Twitter profiles that she was "going to make an album" with her new band Deep Dark Robot, which she founded with Tony Tornay.[13][14][15] The album, 8 Songs About a Girl, was promoted with the single "Won't You Be My Girl?". Perry imagined the name Deep Dark Robot as part of an ad-libbed song lyric—"deep dark robot falling in love"—and decided to hang onto the name for her next musical project.[16] The band released the album in March 2011 and began touring.

tony! toni! tornay!

deep dark robot falling in love

that seems like a lyric about a vibrator

haha

Choke me in the shallow waters
Before I get too deep dark robot falling in love

deep dark robot

falling in love

I was always pretty sure this song was satire?

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Sunday, January 27, 2013 12:24 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still, seems so weird to write a song that deliberately celebrates ignorance.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Saturday, January 26, 2013 5:09 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean I'm pretty sure that's not what the song is doing. I don't think a person who was doing so would actually write the lines "I ain't aware of too many things"

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Sunday, January 27, 2013 12:25 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, what is the song doing? My understanding was that it was intended to poke fun at people who sit around 'overthinking' and talking about weighty subjects instead of, you know, being themselves and living in the moment and letting it all hang out, man.

xpost to Hurting

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, January 27, 2013 1:08 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought it was poking fun at people who are kind of new agey and hippie and don't like to think too hard

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Monday, January 28, 2013 1:26 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nerp

I'd rather die than be thrown into some heavy conversation. I don't like heavy conversations where everyone's so deep all the time. Spirituality, beliefs, the whole big picture― (continues)

http://books.google.com/books?id=bT9Dc3mzdZ8C&pg=PA36

― zvookster, Monday, January 28, 2013 1:30 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well look who has marshall mcluhan right here

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Monday, January 28, 2013 1:32 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

new radicals love is the ilm equivalent of spending time with your family and wondering if you got switched with another baby at the hospital

― call all destroyer, Monday, August 5, 2013 4:27 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol <3

i once worked with a guy who said 4 non blondes was his favorite band, if you can even conceive of such a thing. that's how garbage this guy was.

lol

he didn't care what color their hair was, he said. he'd hit 'em all.

Even their male guitarists?

that is amazing

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/392016/4+Non+Blondes.jpg

new radicals were great

― stefon taylor swiftboat (s.clover), Monday, August 5, 2013 10:08 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, August 5, 2013 4:17 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.soundboard.com/boardicon/Triumph_Insult_Dog_clips.jpg

seriously dude wrote "music gets the best of me" and "murder on the dancefloor". untouchable as far as i'm concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmQYTrNoOxE

i don't know how we got so far into an edie / linda perry thread without JOEY

there is at least a narrative reason for the belting in "Joey" IIRC

"What's Up?" sounds like Perry didn't actually understand the words she was singing and just decided to scream "YAYAYA" at random intervals

i don't know how we got so far into an edie / linda perry thread without JOEY

― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, August 5, 2013 11:02 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmA8qQKhMY

oh i like joey

Joey is a good song fuiud

I remember when I was maybe about 12 my mom took me into an HMV in NYC and it had this machine where you could pick songs out of a book and it would make a mix tape for you. The only songs I remember putting on it where Joey, "Wish" by The Cure, "White Wedding", and a Doors song.

I kind of want to do a picture thread now on the anonymous, sensitive nu-man musician types that were in so many female-fronted bands in the 90s.

concrete blonde don't suck like 4 non blondes but I will get their names confused till the end of time

lol "wish" I meant "catch" oops.

I kind of want to do a picture thread now on the anonymous, sensitive nu-man musician types that were in so many female-fronted bands in the 90s.

Predecessor:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxPn1UrZLdA/UI5OZ5dfb4I/AAAAAAAATtk/BOShEFIpH7o/s320/Voices+Carry.jpg

good call

Also since we mentioned Ann Wilson:

http://www.covershut.com/covers/Heart-Heart-1985-Front-Cover-34104.jpg

Id put new radicals you get what you give in a list of bad songs but some on ilx actually like it

― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 20:00 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

this is straight up one of my most hated songs of all time. it makes me really angry.
btw in 1992 if I could've dreamed I could be listening to Bigger Better Faster More for FREE!! I would've been so happy. As it is I never could afford the tape :(

I just freeze every time you see through me
And it's all over you -- pleasantly blue
On my knees, help me baby,
Tell me, what can I do
pleasantly blue

I'm browsing this while watching Breaking Bad btw, that song seems appropriate

from "What I Am" YouTube comments:

freakinstein69 1 month ago

I woke up on a beach in my car with this song blasting on the radio. Drunk as fuck and there was puke on the passenger seat. Graduation night 1989.

Make sure s1ocki sees that.

Philosophy... is the puke on the passenger seat
Religion....

I hate What's Up as much as anyone on this thread but I hate You Get What You Give even more.

I kinda dig What I Am.

You Get What I Am

Its heart-warming to see some hate for you get what you give

AG is all about the hate threads!

Hence locating them on the wrong board for extra portions

its on here because balls original poll was on ile (and a lot of people who enjoyed that thread dont look at ilm)

A LOT OF PPL WHO DONT ENJOY ILM LOOK AT THIS BORAD

to be fair, a lot of people post to ILM without enjoying it, regularly

in 20 years people are going to love all of these songs

How about now? RaRe *1993 4 NON BLONDES* vtg alt-rock grunge concert tour t-shirt (XL) four 90s

Bidding starts at $65!

assuming unwashed

Both these songs are excrement on Satan's jockstrap and I hate everyone for bringing all these horrible 90s shitstacks to life in my memory and I am going to kill you all.

horrible 90s shitstacks

well, what i am was nearly-lollable reagan/bush era terrible fake hippie shit. it like, opened the portal for the prince of darkness level shitness of what's up in the 90s.

"What's Up" is great if yr playin it cuz you just learned barre chords in yr latest guitar lesson....esp if nobody sings over the top of it while you play

God, did "what I am" come out in the late 80s? I feel old.

AND I SAY
HAY YAY YAY YAYAY

AND I SCREAM AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS
"PON DE REPLAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY"

okay, now I want to do a mashup of Linda Perry's "What's Up?" vocal with "Pon De Floor"

Dean Ween went off on the 4 Non-Blondes song in an entire Onion interview a few months back.

"It’s as bad as music gets. The pinnacle of the whole thing is when she does this powerful “Revolution!” What the fuck does this have to do with revolution? Wow, powerful stuff, asshole!"

http://www.avclub.com/articles/mickey-dean-ween-melchiondo-on-why-he-hates-4-non,98674/

OK hold up:
A licensed captain, Melchiondo runs seasonal charters full-time off the Jersey Shore. In addition to an upcoming reality fishing show with Les Claypool

AVC: When I was 11, in 1993, my Mom and I bought the 4 Non Blondes tape, and we would blast “What’s Up?” on the way to soccer practice. I have a begrudging, sentimental love for this song.

DW: Well, you’re a dick!

hah

"What's Up" is great if yr playin it cuz you just learned barre chords in yr latest guitar lesson....esp if nobody sings over the top of it while you play

Also, if you learn this song, you've just learned how to play "Dn't Worry, Be Happy."

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mln9SWdEL._SY300_.jpg

God, at least 4/5 of those Onion things where they have somebody hate something are just the lamest, easiest potshots. No idea why any of them need to be published as dialogues, either.

ok the other hilarious (to me) thing about edie brickell is the fact that she wrote that song as tribute to that OTHER edie, ms. sedgewick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7hSsqWnZWE

it's just a shame she didn't do a song about the edies of grey gardens, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo4OnQpwjkc

I'd like to hear an Edie Brickell song about Edie McClurg.

I would agree that bringing up Linda Perry's pop songwriting hits in the context of this song is in fact an attempt to confuse the issue

everyone im sure at some point has insulted the band to a wrong person

― ice cr?m, Thursday, March 26, 2009 1:21 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I insulted a 4 Non Blondes disco remix to their guitarists gay cousin.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:06 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OH FUCK I DIDN'T SEE IT SAID WORST AND I VOTED WRONG

COME ON MAN

lol i know this guy who legitimately tried to argue that 4 non-blondes were the best american rock band

The Edie is sooooo much better. Minus the Jerry Garcia envelope filter diaper-guitar solo.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 5, 2013 12:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

anyway fuck out of here man that's the best part!

though it was kind of a childhood loss-of-innocence thing bcz i really liked the song and that solo and my older brother told me 'that's a session guy. he's not really in the band. that's why the rest of the album isn't as good.'

haha marcos. see my post way upthread. that makes two people on the planet.

my guy also happened to be an ex-professional softball player. should probably toss that fact in there.

lol andrew xp

was his name matt?

would lol so hard if it was the same guy

i'd feel sorry for marcos if it was the same guy. i got stuck with this giant redneck ridin' around in the work truck at the state mental hospital that summer of '93. (i was a painter, not a patient.) he told me horrifying stories of allegedly receiving bjs from some of the friskier patients with grounds privileges. he said things to me like "i bet you a long stickin' daddy" and "i bet you like that red snappa'!" i'll never remember his name.

misread that as red snapple.

lol okay this is not the same guy

pity

I've always quite liked What I Am.

I always hear the flaccid little intro guitar riff in What's Up as [sad trombone]

What nickelback song could have competed with what's up?

maybe next week on ilm a nickelback song rockstar? or how you remind me? can go up against something else you all nominate. Requirements are it must be known in uk/europe as well as n america. so no britpop or dmb

THEY SAY A HERO WILL SAVE US

its quite a feat to make 2 of the most repellent smash hits ever. 4 Non Blondes didn't even manage that.

of the 00s Nickelback must be the worst

Beyonce

possibly radiohead

deems somehow I cant see ilx voting beyonce worst in anything

This isnt ilx you brought this thread into the dangerzone now you gotta deal

alls I have in this word are these POLLS and my word and I won't break em for nobody

*world

idg you are a set of talking balls....? idgi

what's up is a fucking awful song. What I Am is a pretty good song with a really good guitar part.

you dont mean the solo i hope

Brickell sings like she just recovered from walking into a brick wall

not really; she sings like she is totally tripping balls

close enough

http://cdn.graphicsfactory.com/clip-art/image_files/image/8/1303788-girlsoccer020.gif

there was a time in my life when i thought both of these songs were badass. that time is right now

I feel like I can at least appreciate "What I Am" on the basis that it might be one of the most 90s sounding songs of the 1980s. Like it feels almost 5 years ahead of its time.

Trying to imagine it with a scratch break instead of an envelope filter solo.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLyX4DbE6Hc

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

too close

I will do the whats up vs breakfast at tiffanys poll on ilm (i was so sure it would be against Zombie though)

The 1990s Most Hated Song Final : 4 Non Blondes "What's Up" vs Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast At Tiffany's"

so Edie plays in Steve Martin's banjo band now
http://www.thechicagotheatre.com/content/dam/msg/images/chicagoemail/steve-martin-canyon-rangers-0725-13-328x253.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/steve-martin-canyon-rangers-0725-13-328x253.328.254.jpg

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/paul-simon-and-edie-brickell-arrested-and-charged-with-disorderly-conduct/?hp

I love this thread

I was hoping from the "disorderly" headline that they'd just got drunk together and run amok in a bar. Shame it looks like it was actually a domestic.

lord. I didn't know they were married.

answer to this question is obviously 4 non blondes.

look, i am watching the "what I am" video for the first time ... and i don't think i EVER realized that edie brickell looked like that? like, i always knew she was paul simon's wife, and so i didn't expect in 1998 her whole thing was like this jennifer jason leigh/keri russell kind of vibe. like she always just seemed like older and mom-ish?

1988!

people who say they hate "what's up" are lying, definitely to others but maybe to themselves too.

same thing with "zombie". these songs are bad for some clearly obvious reasons, but they're amazing for more important reasons. especially zombie.

88 yes typo

and good on you treeship for championing "what's up" and "zombie." feel like a lot of songs that people consensus around as "the worst ever" are actually not that bad, because they're at least memorable and usually tuneful. like their sins usually have to do with earnestness or cliche rather than outright musical badness. like "the living years" and "another day in paradise" are both kind of catchy, y'know?

The lyrics in What's Up sound like they were written by a computer.

Also, if you learn this song, you've just learned how to play "Dn't Worry, Be Happy."

― only dogg forgives (Eazy), Tuesday, August 6, 2013 4:39 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so weird that u say this because "what's up" came out when I was 14 and I was in the car with my mom one time, I think on a road trip, and "what's up" came on the radio and she started singing "don't worry be happy" over it and it was like this real transformative moment in my musical life

Haha

Also Twinkle Twinkle = The Alphabet Song = Baa Baa Black Sheep

what i am gets confused with tom's diner in my head

Zombie's not so bad, what's up is terrible no lie.

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog

that's game over in the horrible lyrics contest forever, flawless victory, none left standing, smoking pile of ash in the corner of every potential opponent. And then she goes and runs up the score with

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

― tight in the runs (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 5 August 2013 18:57 (three years ago)

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box is the best line ever if you're trying to pick up Paul Simon.

My gay mum loves what's up btw

― Charlie Slothrop (wins), Monday, August 5, 2013 12:53 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how have I not been making horrible "wins is the child from Gay Mum" posts all these years

Now picturing Edie Brickell asking ''Don't I know you from the cinematographer's party?'' in her own distinctive style.

xp

respect?

that wah-wah solo is the aural equivalent of PHILOSOPHY

http://i.imgur.com/lXI9QWr.jpg

"No, I'm sorry, isn't what ironic? I don't get your reference."

it was against the law, what that mama saw

I'm trying to imagine Linda Perry recording Beautiful but I feel like I need to pass this one off to DJP for the performance art

With actress Gina Gershon, she wrote the song "StupidStar" for the movie Prey for Rock and Roll.

...

I came to this thread a complete blank slate, having never encountered either song. I listened to them. I endorse the ilx hivemind opinion. "What's Up" is the worse of the two. I should note that this fact does not imply anything favorable about the other.

that one dude in the Edie Brick video looks like he's attempting to jerk off his guitar

I'm trying to imagine Linda Perry recording Beautiful but I feel like I need to pass this one off to DJP for the performance art

I jumped in front of this bullet 4 years ago upthread: 4 Non-Blondes "What's Up" vs Edie Brickell "What I Am"

omg Linda Perry has the dulcet tones of a sick cow

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 2:24 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm hoping a bus ad screws up the new wolverine movie promo somehow so we get a sequel to THE WORINÐLVE

btw DJP mvp of this thread

When I was young I swear I saw an UFO while hearing "What's Up"? in the car.

my friend loved this song growing up because she said "GET REAL HIGH".

I always imagined Linda Perry's voice = the sound of the Pookas from Dig Dug exploding

And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high, and I
Scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

This song, powered by Linda Perry’s astounding vocals, is all about questioning the futility of reason, and our own existential existences. Perry is asking herself deep questions like whether or not in all matters, and what is our collective purpose. It climaxes with the ultimate release of critical parlance when Perry finally releases it as a blunt questioning of the current state of events, which feeds directly into the chorus.

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?

As a result of her emotions running more wild than ever, she finally lets it all out even further by questioning the current state of society in the most blunt, to-the-point way she can come up with.

'blunt,' 'high,' I see through you.

and her neighbors said "shut the fuck up, it's 3 in the goddamn morning"

It is true she did not specify WHEN in the morning.

anybody remember this from The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack? Grace Slick and Dan's favorite singer doing a belt off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmQiS7H-d9M

no

thankfully

I feel like I can at least appreciate "What I Am" on the basis that it might be one of the most 90s sounding songs of the 1980s. Like it feels almost 5 years ahead of its time.

― MarkoP, Thursday, August 8, 2013 12:08 AM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trying to imagine it with a scratch break instead of an envelope filter solo.

― how's life, Thursday, August 8, 2013 5:36 AM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really, I mean there has to be some guy left over from Incubus or OPM or something who could knock this out in a minute.

I dunno, I *hated* What's Up as a kid, but seems pretty inoffensive to me now - like, it works as cheerful featherweight nostalgia. Whereas the Brickell song remains super abrasive and unfun.

there is nothing featherweight about Linda Perry singing like she's undergoing a full-on cavity search

Ever wonder what the b-side of "What I Am" was? Wonder no more... and no, it's not a terrible cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFaDDkhFXDk

"what's up" is terrible but is kind of a karaoke jam

"what i am" is literally unforgivable on every level

That Lou Reed cover isn't the worst thing I've ever heard, but the squeamish, embarrassed way that she rushes through the line "even when she was giving head" makes me wonder why they even bothered.

"what i am" is literally unforgivable on every level

it's super dumb, but i kind of like it, extra points for jank solo

it's possible that the primary earworms of "what i am" ("i'm not aware of too many things etc." and the chorus) just make me feel as if i am suffering exponentially

lol, that was not on the b-side of the cassingle.

Liked Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane" better.

"What I Am" is an annoying but ultimately harmless game of hacky sack the blocks the path from your dorm to the dining hall.

"What's Up?" is getting to the dining hall and discovering that all they are serving for meals for the foreseeable future is syphilis.

lmao

what i am is the benign hobo who asks you for change and you decline and keep walking at a decent pace and they call after you, "hey have a nice day." and you think well, they didn't smell so good but they were polite.

what's up is the escaped convict who tries to rob you and you pepper spray them and they start screeching and caterwauling and chasing you down the sidewalk and it takes you like five minutes to lose them.

Liked Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane" better.

should go w.out saying

not that it shouldn't be said

What I Am : Garden State :: What's Up? : I Know Who Killed Me

hahahaha ETHERED

Also like Indigo Girls' "White Light White Heat" better.

I PRAY EVERY SINGLE DAY
FOR REVOLUSHUHHHHH-AHHHH *turns into pteradon, eats unlucky baby, flies into the sunset*

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 5:52 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hahaha! OTM.

Hahaha ha ha someone just sang whats up at karaoke and this thread went through my head

If I could hit the high falsetto i would sing that song at karaoke

it's just perverse for anyone to even suggest that "what i am" is better than "what's up." decadent rockism, unable to take a hard line against soulless sub-dave matthews fauxhemianism

i mean decadent poptimism

Hey

What's going on?

the goggles on her hat always remind of these bros

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T9hBfFaOK_g/hqdefault.jpg

she wears two different hats in the video that have goggles on them

i'm not suggesting that "what I am" is better -- I'm stating emphatically that "what's up" is worse

there's a difference

the crime of 'what i am' is that the narrator is kind of quietly and blissfully ignorant and maybe also baked, the crime of 'what's up' is that the narrator is trying to blow your mind by yelling in your face and is somehow completely high on cocaine and drunk as well, all at the crack of dawn.

with "what i am", the crime is debatable
with "what's up", the CRI-YI-YIYI-YIME

there's a difference

"what's up" is about a person facing the abyss. she is screaming because she wants to shock herself into feeling something about her environment; the world has become so dead to her that she would do anything -- give anything -- to feel a sense of wonder, even disgust, some intuition of mystery in existence. "what's going on?" she forces herself to ask. while perry mentions that she has had an epiphany about "the brotherhood of man" and that she longs for "hope" her condition is really more fundamental than even these vague truisms describe.

the singer of "what i am" has clearly never confronted anything like this. the song is a smug celebration of idiocy. she gleefully rejects any attempt at finding meaning in her life, sacrificing her humanity for the cold comfort of hedonistic nullity:

Choke me in the shallow waters / Before I get too deep

don't drag whiney into this

she wears two different hats in the video that have goggles on them

― Treeship, Thursday, March 9, 2017 11:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damnit. are you kidding me? now I have to go back and watch the video again.

should have a poll on "buddy holly" vs "good times, bad times" vs "windows 95 sound"

sorry "good times". not the led zeppelin one

Keepin' your head above water, making a wave when you can?

Treesh gives most persuasive arg so far for me to reverse my stance in these, but still fuck naw.

The secret genius of "What I Am" is that the lyrics start with "I'm not aware of too many things" and then proceed to confirm via the rest of the words that yes, the narrator really isn't aware of too many things.

PHILOSOPHY

"What I Am" is an annoying but ultimately harmless game of hacky sack the blocks the path from your dorm to the dining hall.

I can only accept this metaphor if the guys who're blocking your path are aware of it, you've asked them to stop, and they're all trying to tell you how it's healthy to have your expectations fucked with

those guys need to be beaten up. syphilis I can treat with penicillin*

*a different singer, guitar tone, and several lyric fixes

Linda Perry bothers me so much more, not least because she now presents herself as an industry kingmaker who can make or break the careers of up-and-coming bands because she's so goddamn industry-savvy - partly on the strength of this One Hit, but partly because she wrote a song about Pink going to a party or something.

If she's so goddamn wise why did she not rule the airwaves herself, huh? HUH?

Meanwhile I could probably hum the melodies of three or even four Edie songs without throwing up.

xp: don't you DARE touch the lyrics to "What's Up?", they are a rare source of unalloyed joy in a cruel world

It is the anguished cry of a brave, hardy, yet often-tired soul. A soul who has made it to august age of 25, and yet she still hasn't figured everything out!

She has not yet figured out what's in her head, let alone when a revolution will come to improve humanity's lot.

Twenty-five YEARS. Let that sink in for a moment. And she's still alive! And yet she is not yet in possession of the knowledge about what, ultimately, is up.

(personally I knew what was going on when I was 23, 24, tops)

If she's so goddamn wise why did she not rule the airwaves herself, huh? HUH?

Meanwhile I could probably hum the melodies of three or even four Edie songs without throwing up.

― may all your memes be dank (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, March 10, 2017 8:40 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she wrote get the party started for pink and beautiful for christina

at a certain age for a lot of artists in the music industry getting behind the scenes and getting into producing and writing makes a lot more sense frankly. once you get too old they aren't going to push you as a pop star anymore.

so after years of seeing Linda Perry interviewed on various music shows about her hugely successful songwriting career, it is only now that I'm realizing she was in 4 Non-Blondes. Not sure how I feel about this information.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mavxcelHbw1rtgem1o1_500.gif

caterwauling hellscape vs. hippie shrug

watch the video for their cover of "Misty Mountain Hop"

I've tried listening to both and I can't get past that clunky a.f. line that opens What's Up twentyfiveyearsandmylifeistilltryingtogetthatgreatbigthrillAAAAAARRRRRGHHH

Like I'm in a crappy early 90s tapas restaurant and I'm aware that I've just been served two equally underwhelming courses, but I don't really care at the moment because the waiter has just rubbed a poo in my face

i heard What I Am yesterday in a store actually, at low to medium volume, and it wasn't offensive. like i was aware of its presence but it was a benign evil. i'm not sure What's Up at that volume would be similarly inoffensive. You can turn down What I Am way down and it's ok, but you have to turn off What's Up (and destroy the radio afterwards, just to be safe.)

Like I'm in a crappy early 90s tapas restaurant and I'm aware that I've just been served two equally underwhelming courses, but I don't really care at the moment because the waiter has just rubbed a poo in my face

lol

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

this was, like, specifically written to troll me

While I don't recall any cover bands where I was at that covered these two songs, you would have to know there was (or perhaps are) cover bands that do both of these songs in their set list. Thinking of that, I had to start in my mind think what other tunes would such a band do. I'm sure the answer is out there, somewhere in a strip mall bar.

I got to say, I never put that Linda Perry songwriter/tattoo'ed mogul figure with 4-Non Blondes. I'd figure this band got confused with Concrete Blonde quite a bit.

"What I Am" is an annoying but ultimately harmless game of hacky sack the blocks the path from your dorm to the dining hall.

"What's Up?" is getting to the dining hall and discovering that all they are serving for meals for the foreseeable future is syphilis.

― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Thursday, March 9, 2017 5:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thread should have ended with this post. Amazing.

http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-religion-is-a-smile-on-a-dog-edie-brickell-138-64-59.jpg

RELIGION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNg8eQ673_I

I kept trying to understand that quote and somehow now have ended up at:

"I SAID POO!/BEING RUBBED IN MY FACE!"

One of my co workers brought up What's Going On at lunch today. Their legacy is trending

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means
this was, like, specifically written to troll me

― though the tempest rages, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 10 March 2017 22:23 (fifty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You'll find, upon listening again, that the line actually ends at 'hood' so that should rhymes with hood

Then the next line just goes through to the finish, all the way through to means.

That's songwriting.

so in the end you realized WHAT EXACTLY LINDA

That's a good lyric too can you hum the air of it for us

for whatever that means

I like how her inflection and phrasing are all deranged and don't fit her meaning

i don't really have a problem with either of these songs

FP'd

What's Up is brilliant

"What's Up?" is getting to the dining hall and discovering that all they are serving for meals for the foreseeable future is syphilis.

― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP)

whoa, i never knew we went to the same college

whenever i think of "what's up" i think of the rudy schwartz project cover, which i think nails its essential nature.

What's Up is a brilliant torture device, much more effective than waterboarding

great songs both

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/94/97/3f/94973f3b50ce2e4fce15de6bdfeda964.jpg

--Bob Marley

And I scream at the top of my lungs what's goin on

And he said "Radio Raheem is dead!"

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
And I scream at the top of my lungs, "What's going on?"

I'm not that into screamers.

http://rcdn-4.fishpond.co.nz/0006/320/941/2170826/6.jpeg

this thread could really get spiritual with this very remarkable performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz2OUoJpR7k

literally every frame is a gem. take about 32 screenshots and cycle 'em in & out as desktop pictures

wtf is up with her head voice in this......

going to add to the 3 years long pile of people itt occasionally going "holy crud what i am is an 80s song?"

wtf is up with her head voice in this......

"what's up" is that she's very flat every time she does the falsetto. a few other times too.

is that bill bellamy back there?

oh no watching that has FUCKED my youtube recommendations

wtf is up with her head voice

The problem is that she forgot her Hat Goggles.

"holy crud what i am is an 80s song?"

What I Am, Love Shack, and Funky Cold Medina - The BIG HITS of the 80s. https://media1.giphy.com/media/l0HlOqGDHGBorDPqM/100.gif

https://reverb.com/item/1095989-gianini-craviola-1979-natural-brazil-not-korea

That video made me sad. She obviously has a cold and it's messing with her ear.

I feel like I can at least appreciate "What I Am" on the basis that it might be one of the most 90s sounding songs of the 1980s. Like it feels almost 5 years ahead of its time.

this was a good post - "What I Am," with worse production & different clothes, would have sat real nice next to Crazytown & Sugar Ray's "Someday" and a bunch of other mid-tempo mildly stoned jams, and then they could all be thrown into the same trash can

Come my lady
Come come my lady
Are you what you are or what?

https://d3uepj124s5rcx.cloudfront.net/items/1k2Z1H0y0a3y393s2G0w/4-non-dogs.jpg

man, what's up with that?

Everybody playing what I am my jr yr of college was a fake deadhead ecstatic that touch of grey was on radio hit and finally a deadhead friendly young band and let's hack man.

my freshman year roommate knew the what i am guitar solo NOTE FOR NOTE. what a pantydropper eh boys

So glad I hit that sweet spot between Edie Brickell and Jewell for my college years. LICK MY LIPS I'M ON FIRE

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
And I scream at the top of my lungs, "What's going on?"

argh

good lord, that spring break performance is dire. band and audience both seem bored and tired, and perry cannot adjust whatsoever to a different vibe/scale of audience. not sure a laid-back, beachy good-time version of "what's up" is possible but it would have been worth it to try.

I was just going to ask about that really fucked up acoustic guitar, can't search the thread on my phone but shocked of that hadn't been brought up yet.

Also the mocking of the envelope filter guitar solo the other day got me listening to a bunch of 70s versions of "Fire on the Mountain" which has been good.

Thanks, y'all, for helping me focus my hate.

Touch of grey was a the shitty mulch imo, seemed like he inev conclusion

This stupid bar has played both in the last hour

Hate to be a bummer, but it's possible you had an unexpected and deadly accident and are now in the bad place.

It’s true

I love how it was uncool in the 90s to name your song after the chorus and What's Up is my favorite example and on an unrelated note my least favorite song of all time

yeah I like what I am more

Alfred you definitely bring up a good point that Edie pioneered that college radio reared hippies market niche that Matthews et al took to the bank

i hope he was really drunk when those songs played

Why is the 4NB song so bad and hated? It's inarguably chock full of hooks. I think they're GOOD hooks. I like the unabashed use of acoustic guitar which you really don't hear much in top 40. The sentiment is corny and maudlin, sure. Is that what people hate about it? It's hard to call it hackwork, Linda Perry has an extensive catalog of good songs. WHAT'S UP is basically what I'm asking.

kinder at 9:43 11 Mar 17

What's Up is brilliant

What's Up is bad enough that an earthquake was unleashed to attempt to kill the band before they could record it. a bit harsh if you ask me but there it is.

hmm this story checks out. am i going to hell for liking this song

kinder I applaud your courage

I try
Oh my god do I try

Don’t try

In What I Am, Edie Brickell sings "I know what I know if you know what I mean? D-do ya?", but at first I thought she was singing "D-derriere."

On a different note, I don't think I had ever put together until just now that her future husband had a song called "I Know What I Know" on Graceland. I mean, I knew his song but didn't catch on that she also had the title in her lyric.

I PRAY EVERY SINGLE DAY
FOR REVOLUSHUHHHHH-AHHHH *turns into pteradon, eats unlucky baby, flies into the sunset*

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 1:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

My son's girlfriend loves 'What's Going On' so I am now not allowed to say bad things about it.

but I pray, oh, my God, do I pray

You should pull a reverse "Rude" and show up at your son's girlfriend's house and break up with her for him.

She's really nice she just likes a bad song.

My rudeness extends to commenting out loud on the size of Linda Perry's mouth and speculating on whether she or Steve Tyler could eat the biggest whole orange.

Hatgoggles

Imagine a Linda Perry/Steve Tyler screech duet

i love that this poll is on ile

Finally, a Tyler Perry that white people can understand.

holy lol

great songs both

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, March 11, 2017 12:11 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

screaming at the top of my lungs

best “What” song from this era: Haddaway’s “What Is Love”

Or Tribe's "What?"

Whiney otm

Whiney otm

Lol whoops

The remix of “what I am” with the soul2soul/“loaded” beat rules

assumed bump was for https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/06/linda-perry-non-blonde-pink-christina-aguilera-dolly-parton-gwen-stefani-courtney-love

looking at the Guardian took me a few times to not read it as Legendary Hat Maker

I have What's Up stuck in my head this morning and I want to die

^fav Nirvana b-side

4 Non Blondes - What's Up (Official Music Video)
1,373,815,500 views

grocery store last night, place is basically two big rooms/areas and i guess they have two different sound systems. "What's Up?" was coming out of the speakers in the frozen/meat room; near the front, by the juice bar, another speaker was pumping out something where the lyrics got muffled out by the aisles of canned goods, but this chunky, thunky beat was coming through --- the kind of thing that 90s Yamahas keyboards would include as a "rap" or "hip-hop" beat, like bassy RZA drums with no spooky samples. anyway they were really locking together well, the BPM didn't synch completely so not everything worked but it sorta grounded and slowed down "What's Up?" in a way that i think really helped it a lot. maybe the best it's worked for me in years.not sure "What I Am" would be susceptible to this process, as its coffee-shop rhythm section is so much a part of the songwriting itself.

The unusual name of the band came from an experience the group had in the Bay Area with a blonde family. According to Christa Hillhouse, "Right next to us, there's a trash receptacle with a piece of pizza on top and the kid wanted to pick it up. The mom said, 'No, it's probably dirty, what with the pigeons and people.' And she stared right at us. We were Non Blondes."[8]

The experience and the name became a symbol that they didn't fit the California stereotype.

not sure "What I Am" would be susceptible to this process

just came across the existence of this thanks to an aside in David Cavanagh's Creation book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3RJaAgh3U

great find. wow the Mad Magic DJs really burned the midnight oil on that one, huh?

hell yeah, balearic my friends

it's all happening

https://www.nme.com/news/music/4-non-blondes-are-reuniting-for-their-first-show-in-30-years-3828578

What's going on?

i said hey

song is permanently this for me now

photo needs more goggles