#FridayFind | Midnight Oil – “Beds Are Burning”

This song should not have been a hit. There, I said it. This song is a sort of anthem... for paying your rent? By Australians? In a bizarre chorus that I can only imagine is two roommates arguing about the world at large ("How can we dance when the earth is turning?/How do we sleep while our beds are burning?") and their unpaid rent. At the very least one of them turns out to be the voice of reason! Digging deeper, it actually turns out to be a...

#FridayFind | Robyn – Show Me Love

"Show Me Love", the 1997 hit that Robyn penned with Swedish hit-maker Max Martin ("...Baby One More Time") was a track off her debut album "Robyn is Here". My girlfriend at the time had the CD and would repeatedly play it in her bedroom after school while we'd hang out. I didn't realize it at the time, but this song would earworm it's way into my heart. Today, Robyn has moved from Britney Spears territory into a firm Kylie Minogue-like existence...

#FridayFind | Toto – Africa

The time has come for my inaugural #FridayFind guilty pleasure pick. And what better artist to start out with than Toto, and their amazing #1 hit "Africa". Why has this tune endured for me? Partially because the lyrics make absolutely no sense. I have no idea why a woman coming on a mid-day flight has any damn thing to do with rains in another country. And I don't know why a man cares about Mount Kilimanjaro's similarities to Mount Olympus. My...

From Guilty Beginnings

Music is the great equalizer. Many forms of art still remain relatively unattainable to the masses without a big money commitment. But radio and home stereo ownership exploded music into pretty much any American home as long as you wanted it. I was raised in a home that was dominated with music. My father proudly built his stereo setup which included an enviable vinyl record collection, of which I inherited half. My collection has expanded quite...