6/2/23: The 5 Spot
Do you ever forget to tune in to The 5 Spot? Or maybe you have to go into a dumb store or answer a dumb phone call while Grayson is still spinning themed tunes. How are you gonna know what songs he played? How are you going to know what the theme was? We finally have your solution. After The 5 Spot airs, we will update you with a quick recap of what was played and why.
Adam Latek is in for Grayson this week. Today’s mystery Five Spot theme turned out to be “Use Your Allusion,” a reference to the TV show Arrested Development.
Arrested Development aired beginning in November of 2003. That same month, a lawsuit was brought against the producers by the band Arrested Development. The lawsuit was settled by producers paying $10,000 for the use of the name. Following the suit, writers often found opportunities to reference the case within season two of the show. First was a headline hidden in a mock newspaper. In episode thirteen of season two, the title of a pageant called “Motherboy” was the second reference. Ron Howard as the narrator butts in to say that he is “legally obligated to make a distinction between the band and the pageant.” Another reference to the lawsuit comes when the magician Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller) is unable to use the title “Use Your Illusion” for his magic video due to a prior claim on the name by Guns ‘N’ Roses (their third and fourth albums are called Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II). To avoid infringement, Tony Wonder renames the video Use Your Allusion and makes plans to use allusions in his act.
Just to be clear, an allusion involves making reference to something in passing or without mentioning it directly.
5) “Volcano Girls” by Veruca Salt
The lyrics to “Volcano Girls” kind of feature two allusions. The song makes reference to the earlier Veruca Salt single “Seether” in a line nearly borrowed from The Beatles’ “Glass Onion.”
4) “Only Wanna Be with You” by Hootie and the Blowfish
Did you know that Bob Dylan received a $350,000 settlement for this song? “Only Wanna Be with You” features extensive lyrical references to Bob Dylan and his lyrics. There is also an allusion to lead singer Darius Rucker’s favorite football team, the Miami Dolphins (“I’m such a baby ’cause the Dolphins make me cry“).
3) “Gloria” by Patti Smith
“Gloria” is a very interesting combination of a cover and original work. The original song “Gloria” was written by Van Morrison and performed by his band Them. Patti Smith, however, combines her own poem, “Oath” with the original Morrison composition. Smith and her band covered the song live prior to the recording, and slowly began to mesh the poem and song. Similarly, Morrison’s original composition of the song came after many shows’ worth of ad-libbing the lyrics, sometimes for as long as twenty minutes. Essentially, the finished release from Smith’s Horses features allusions to both “Oath” and “Gloria” by Them, not truly being a cover, nor simply “Oath” put to music.
2) “High Lonesome” by The Gaslight Anthem
The Gaslight Anthem decided they wanted to make what they considered to be a punk rock statement by including an allusion to Counting Crows in “High Lonesome.” Frontman Brian Fallon said the statement was “We don’t follow your rules of what you can and can’t listen to, and I’m going to go ahead and put what you might view as the most not punk band in a record – and you can love it or leave it.” The line in question is “And Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand,” a line borrowed from “Round Here.” The song also features an allusion to Tom Petty (“‘Southern Accents’ on the radio“) and a line from Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” (“At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet“).
1) “All You Need is Love” by The Beatles
It would be an actual crime for Adam to cover for Grayson all week and not play a Beatles song. We had the police at the ready but he saved himself today. “All You Need is Love” features musical allusions to some of the Beatles’ earlier songs, most prominently “She Loves You,” in addition to the French national anthem, Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood,” and more. The use of the line from “She Loves You” has been interpreted by some as a means of distancing the band from their earlier image. “All You Need is Love” is also intended as a continuation of the sentiment in George Harrison ‘s contribution to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, “Within You Without You” and the song’s line “With our love we can save the world.”
BONUS TRACK: “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani
Stefani wrote “Hollaback Girl” with The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo). They decided she needed to write an “attitude song” for her upcoming album, so Stefani drew inspiration from a recent dig Courtney Love made about her in the press. Love had stated that “Being famous is just like being in high school. But I’m not interested in being the cheerleader. I’m not interested in being Gwen Stefani. She’s the cheerleader, and I’m out in the smoker shed.” Stefani fired back with “Hollaback Girl,” later stating that she was never a cheerleader, and in a real power move, not mentioning Love as the source of the perceived insult. “Hollaback Girl” also features a musical interpolation of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
If you want to hear more musical allusions here on CD 92.9 FM, listen in for “Where Did You Go I’m Less of a Mess These Days” by Blue October (“I tried to write for you like Morrisey would,” etc.) and “Rescue Me” by Dirty Heads (musical allusions to “Dani California” by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and “Doin’ Time” by Sublime*).
AND HEY- Make sure that next time, you tune in to catch The 5 Spot at 5 pm on Columbus’ favorite alternative station, CD 92.9 FM!
Got a 5 Spot request or suggestion? Send them to Grayson@CD929FM.com.
*Editor’s note: I don’t see anyone else pointing out the “Doin’ Time” section playing lightly in the background, but I have asked around and other people hear it too. And on that note, Sublime sampled Herbie Mann’s performance of “Summertime” for their track and ran their own composition together with a cover of “Summertime” much like Patti Smith did with her version of “Gloria.”
Oh and follow-up to that: Sublime had to record “Summertime and the livin’s easy” for the Gershwin use to be considered a sample instead of a rip-off. That meant they needed to rerecord what they already had, “Doin’ time and the livin’s easy.” Unfortunately, lead singer Bradley Nowell had passed away between the original recording and release of the song and the line in question had to be replaced with the vocals of producer Michael Happoldt.
Music trivia is like Pringles for me.
-Just Emma (JustEmma@CD929FM.com)