The Mecca 100 - #80-76

[littlebeast13]

<<<#85-81


#80. "Hello" - Martin Solveig and Dragonette (2010)

Club and Electronica music began seeping their way onto Mecca Radio with the Mecca CD's of the early 2010's, and after hearing this one enough, it became one of the few I really liked. Solveig is a French DJ, and Dragonette is a Canadian trio turned solo act with the lead singer (Martina Sorbara) retaining Dragonette as her stage name when the other two members left. This song actually came close to cracking the US Top 40, peaking at #46 in early 2011... though it should be plenty familiar to Mecca employees of the past decade.





#79. "Wagon Wheel" - Darius Rucker (2013)

I've made no bones about the fact that I largely despise the band Hootie & the Blowfish. They were the worst of the worst of what I once saw described as the "genero rock" (Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Nelson, etc.) that exploded in the mid 90's and became the post-grunge adult contemporary with its largely bland and carbon copy anti-80's sound. Darius Rucker eventually left that all behind and decided to become a country singer in the new millennium, not exactly a genre many black men would try to break into. But Rucker is ten times the country singer than he was a rocker, and I found myself enjoying the Rucker country songs that got played on Mecca Radio much more than I thought I would. "Wagon Wheel," a song largely credited to Bob Dylan, but whose origins precede even his heyday, was the first song to introduce me to Country Hootie, and is still my favorite. Listen closely and you'll hear Lady Antebellum on backing vocals...






#78. "Jeepster" - T. Rex (1971)

The British glam movement of the early 70's never gained a whole lot of steam in the US, and thusly one of its biggest stars, the Marc Bolan band T. Rex, is mostly known for just their Top 10 hit "Bang a Gong (Get It On)," the parenthetical of which was its original UK release title. Despite being a #2 hit in the UK, "Jeepster" was never released as a single in the US, and only makes this list thanks to its inclusion in an hour and a half loop of songs that played repeatedly for several weeks in late 2015 when Mecca Radio was returning to the air after years of playing CD's in-store. It's just such a weird song with bizarre lyrics, and I'm pretty much done with it once Bolan gets to the vampire part... but the riff and cool verses of its first few minutes make it a more than worthy inclusion to my earworm repository, and of course, this countdown of obscure songs from all time periods!





#77. "Mermaid" - Train (2012)

While the Mecca CD era featured a lot of obscure and indie acts, there were a few better known names that had a lot of their music included, and one of them was Train. Granted, most of the Train music was not their big radio hits of the 2000's decade, much like this one. "Mermaid" contains all of the lame pop culture references you'll usually find in a Train song, along with a bit of an exotic island beat. This song appeared on just one CD (Fall of 2013), and I've never heard it outside of YouTube since. But that was all I needed to add this one to my faves list...





#76. "When the Tequila Runs Out" - Dawes (2016)

Dawes is a band founded by two brothers that apparently had a lot of "Adult Alternative Airplay" hits during the 2010's, whatever that's supposed to mean. Their roots are actually in folk music, though they took a bit more of a synth/bass approach on their 2016 album We're All Gonna Die, and it yielded this song, which turned out to be their biggest "Adult Alternative Airplay" hit, whatever that's supposed to mean. I was gobsmacked to find out this quirky song about a party was not Barenaked Ladies...




And just like that, we're a quarter of the way through the Mecca 100! I know how excited you all are about this!


#75-71 >>>

[BackInTex]

#79. "Wagon Wheel" - Darius Rucker (2013)

I've made no bones about the fact that I largely despise the band Hootie & the Blowfish. They were the worst of the worst of what I once saw described as the "genero rock" (Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Nelson, etc.) that exploded in the mid 90's and became the post-grunge adult contemporary with its largely bland and carbon copy anti-80's sound. Darius Rucker eventually left that all behind and decided to become a country singer in the new millennium, not exactly a genre many black men would try to break into. But Rucker is ten times the country singer than he was a rocker, and I found myself enjoying the Rucker country songs that got played on Mecca Radio much more than I thought I would. "Wagon Wheel," a song largely credited to Bob Dylan, but whose origins precede even his heyday, was the first song to introduce me to Country Hootie, and is still my favorite. Listen closely and you'll hear Lady Antebellum on backing vocals...

I personally like Old Crow Medicine Show's version better than Rucker's. It is more raw, or less refined, whatever is the better term.

But I liked Hootie, Gin Blossoms, and Goo Goo Doll's, too. I like the 90's, but that probalbly has more to do with my historical fondness of my entrance to real adulthood (at 30+) with getting married, having kids, buying that first house, etc. than with the actual commercial things of the decade.

[littlebeast13]

But I liked Hootie, Gin Blossoms, and Goo Goo Doll's, too. I like the 90's, but that probalbly has more to do with my historical fondness of my entrance to real adulthood (at 30+) with getting married, having kids, buying that first house, etc. than with the actual commercial things of the decade.

It's funny because the early-mid 90's were my high school and college years. Most people would consider the music from that time to be their favorite, and I'm just the opposite in that I think it was one of the worst music eras of my life. I didn't even listen to new music from 1990-97, I was catching up on 70's music for the first time...

lb13