That Zima isn’t impressing anyone, dudes…
If the weekend has left you with a hangover on this Monday…. well, that’s too bad, because The Nest isn’t going to turn down the muzak. But that’s a good thing since this is the day we pull out another vintage cassette from that wine cellar of lost hits we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy’s ready to crank up your “hair of the pony” remedy, while the Sponkies….. well, we’ll let them split an O’Douls. Here’s another great song to drown your troubles in…
There were two one hit wonder bands in the early 90’s that advertised blondes, yet contained only brunettes. One was Linda Perry’s outfit Four Non Blondes, which asked the eternal question What’s Going On What’s Up? The other had the more randomly nifty name Concrete Blonde…
Here’s some concrete blonde ambition for you… oh wait, wrong Madonna.
The band name was apparently suggested by Michael Stipe of REM, who should have used that cleverness to actually come up with some good songs rather than that end of the world crap. Concrete Blonde had just one song crack the US Hot 100 at all, and it was a good one. Peaking at #19 in 1990, here’s the soulful anguish of love lost to a bottle, “Joey”…
Concrete Blonde vocalist Johnette Napolitano wrote the song about her relationship with Marc Moreland, who was a member of another crazily named one hit wonder band from a decade earlier, Wall of Voodoo (“Mexican Radio“). Writing and singing about her love for Moreland was apparently pretty hard for Napolitano, as she saved both for the final recording and final cut of their 1990 album Bloodletting. And if she sounds concerned for Marc’s welfare in the song…. well, she had good reason to be. Moreland eventually died in 2002 after an unsuccessful liver transplant in 2002…
Hope it was all worth it, dumbass…
No word on why the song got named “Joey” since it was about a guy named Marc. Oh well, it sounds better, and I guess some things should just remain a mystery…
I’ll have another lost hit for you next Monday, if you aren’t drunk and passed out on the floor…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Don’t remember hearing that song much back in the day…..sad ending to the love story with a failed liver transplant but some things are just too far gone to save………………Thanks for the Monday AM ear worm!
Pam
Well, it took him 12 years to completely kill off his liver after this song was written. Maybe he cut back to just 15 beers a day…
we hve no clue about the name thing either but we are on the way to furget our names too if we are alcatrazzed for the next weeks… btw: loved mexican radio… it’s a cool car ride song..
I’ll always connect those two songs together now…
Awwwwww gee, what a sad story of love gone kind of wrong. Good choice despite being such a downer. I don’t like a lot of female vocalists but Johnette Napolitano is not one of those whiney breathy high pitched sing song girls. She has such a great voice. I always wondered why they were never higher on the charts as well as most of the bands I actually listened to back then. Then again my playlists are famously random and make my family laugh out loud. Thanks again for another Monday music memory.
My playlist would be just as random as my Monday Muzak features are. This song is randomly wonderful since I dislike most early 90’s music…
Sad, and yet poetic. I remember that song, and Joey does sound much better than Marc…..it just doesn’t sound as catchy. Oh well, what can I say? Thanks for the blast from the past Evil 🙂
If she named it “Marky” everyone would probably assume it was about Marky Mark and that would embarrass her…
Haha! Right? So I guess Joey was the closest she could get.
I have literally not seen a Zima since around 2003! Forgot they even existed.
At the time I wrote that Zima post, it wasn’t being produced in the US at all. I think it’s since had a revival… but for the most part, it was dead after its initial popularity in the mid 90’s…
Joey is a really good song I used to listen to a lot. I like Mexican Radio song too. 🙂
I like them both, and now I have a reason to connect them!
I love that song. Very angst filled. Reminds me of high school, or what I can remember of high school.
I don’t remember much about high school, not one of the more memorable times in my life…
I wish I could forget.
Quite a good song, if a little bit of a downer.
That makes it a country and western song by default…
A cool tune for today. I just want to know who does Ms. Napolitano’s hair!
Unlike many others from that time, her hairdresser was not a live electrical outlet…
I LOVE this song! Oh man, I’m 16 again…Joey!! I’ve got the money! Just don’t buy alcohol again…wait a second…no, no! Not Zima! Please, Joey, just get some Boone’s farm instead!
Sorry.
I wish I still had my crimping iron!!
Don’t forget to wear your overalls with the one strap down.
Ooo…sexy.