Browse Categories by Chapter
The main chapter, Soundalikes
Soundalikes
Acknowledged, or homage, sound-alikes
Songs that quote the Beatles’ “Taxman”
Rewrites of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
The Frank Zappa guitar sound when he solos
Keyboard parts that go like this
Songs with that weird keyboard sound
Things that the group Pulp sounds like
"Lay It Down" by the Replacements sounds like Aerosmith
Covers
1. Covers that change the melody or just don’t sound like the original
2. Covers where there is something (melodic, instrumental part) added that wasn’t in the original
4. Covers of lame songs by people who don’t seem to grasp that they’re lame
5. People don’t know or might be surprised that it’s a cover
6. Self-covers: Early versions
7. Self-covers: Rewrites and retreads
8. Gratuitous covers: Needless, obvious covers that just shouldn’t have been done
9. Criminal covers: Same as Gratuitous covers, but where someone actually might get hurt
10. Covers where the new interpretation seems to fail to grasp a subtlety in the original lyrics
Three versions of “Orange Blossom Special” that speed up at the end
Other versions “Orange Blossom Special”
Cover-like similarities in bluegrass
"Pappa's Billy Goat" swallowed the "Turkey in the Straw"
Great Minds Think Alike
Songs in which the singer breaks down crying
Songs with chicken sounds in them
Songs with long, talking intros
Songs where a talking part alternates with a singing part
Songs where they speak French in them
Songs where the more well-known version is the live version
Songs that have carnival-announcement style lead-ins
Long pause (à la the Rascals' “Good Lovin’”)
Art rock songs with atonal, disturbing crowd chanting/noises
There is something in the air, 1980-1981, British
Songs with harp, sometimes just one big strum
Groups who you might not expect to use harmonica, but do
Weird things that make you think your stereo is broken
Fantasy category: songs that contain practical, instructional information
History, Genres, Trivia
Songs that have been responsible for people’s death (other than suicide)
The “pinched” white soulfulness of
Possible R&B influence on early reggae
Dub-like effects in the Rascals' "It's Wonderful"
Late '70s early '80s reggae pervasiveness
Non-rock (is it music-hall?) songs by British-invasion ostensible rockers
Bill Monroe's "Kentucky Waltz" precedes the Pee Wee King-penned "Tennessee Waltz"
Trivia question: What do Bread and Queen have in common?
Let's not forget that Paul Anka wrote ...
Lyrics
Language usage: double entendres, hidden meanings, casually dropped revelations
The next two hide their subversiveness behind already “racy” lyrics – both credited to others
Songs that awkwardly, or even ungrammatically, use (or misuse) the collective pronoun
Songs with other pronoun problems
Nonsense and repetition in R&B
Subcategory: sexism expressed via name forgetting
False craziness – i.e., the self-congratulatory “I’m a rebellious free spirit” kind of craziness
Songs with the theme of “I’m no good for you cause I crave the life on the road”
Lyrical enjambment, in which the second line begins (miraculously) before the first line ends
In which a common phrase is (annoyingly) misused
Sign that technology is getting TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL!!! (circa 1967) from Sonny Bono
Noteworthy lyrics, not necessarily good
Parody lyrics, using “inversion” method
Presentation of or “analysis” of lyrics
Thematic similarity in the lyrics of "Rock and Roll Waltz" Kay Starr and "Surrender" Cheap Trick
Melodramatically misinformed about the law, in "Branded Man" Merle Haggard
Misc
Misc. and non-music observations
The world's second oldest profession
My Ideological Axes to Grind
Treading-water enthusiasms of the late ’80s
Band History, Band Names, People Working Together
The transformation of the band into the singer, or, the story of Journey
REO Speedwagon — The departure and triumphant return of Kevin Cronin
British bands with European members
A singer who can’t sing in duet with a singer who can
[add quote about Sam and Dave]
Leaders of groups leaving to do solo work comparable to, or as good as, their original group
Groups with tough-sounding names and wimpy music or vice versa
Inaccurately (somewhat) named groups
Jacques Brel songs in the common parlance
Heavy metal groups with "white" in their name
Performance, Delivery
Singers who sound like the other sex (on at least one song)
Songs whose sound is somehow unique; no other song sounds like them
Songs with simulated (we hope) sex sounds
Various (take your pick) songs by
Speech impediments, real or feigned
(Potentially) annoying mispronunciations of the long “i” sound by art punkers
(It's not just me who noticed) the weird pronunciation in a big Elton ballad
Rock Criticism
Bands who are said to sound like the Doors but don’t
The overstated roles of Boz Scaggs in early Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton in Humble Pie
Song Titles
Non-American Heavy Metal groups with classic American novels as song titles
New wave groups with classic American novels as song titles
Different (and all good) songs with the title “Let the Good Times Roll”
Two early Elvis song titles with a similar structure
Two (cryptic) soul song titles with a similar structure
Song titles in which the song title is of an internally referenced song
“Foxey Lady” should be called “Foxey Ladey”
Neil Young's shared song titles
Three songs on Blur's Leisure album that share titles with Beatles songs
Special Projects
Tracing the course of inflation in popular song, and, generally, mention of amounts of money
Classic rock songs with that travelin’ sound
Find the Bootsy Collins song with the lyrics: “I’ve got the munchies for your love”
Follow up on: There's something weird at the end of "Lose It," Supergrass
What's the deal with "I'm a Hog for You" Coasters, and "Hawg for You" Otis Redding?
Idea: Redo "New Little Girl" by Off Broadway a la Dan Zanes as a children's song
A certain kind of locationally oriented bombastic art rock "big songs"
Latin hits I have on non-Latin Various Artist compilation albums
Stuff About Albums
Album covers that say “Play this album loud” or some variation
What happens when Paul Simon has writer's block
Analysis of song selection of Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits