GROW BIGGER EARS #12: The "Audio Autopsy" Power Pop Playlist: 6 Different "Something About You" Songs
There's something about "Something About You" songs. Not quite sure what, but there sure are a lot of them! Here's but a handful, and we hope you'll find something about them...to like, if not love!
Our “Audio Autopsy” (with mini-deep dives into songs and artists) Power Pop Playlist is neither a ranking nor a top sales chart of any sort. Nor are all chosen songs literally or specifically “power pop.”
They’re simply songs lovingly filtered through my generally power pop-informed sensibilities, and many are songs I’ve known (and loved) since original release, although I can’t say that for 2/3 of this particular List!
👉This six-song “SAY” Playlist is book-ended by two of the biggest and well-known “Something About You”s: Boston’s 1976 sonic supernova, and Level 42’s heavy-rotation MTV hit from the mid-’80s. Between these charting juggernauts are four “Something About You”s that run the gamut from the venerable Motown-ers, the Four Tops to newbies like something called Eyedress.
Boston “Something About You,” 1976, Epic/CBS Records
Stunningly, this was never released as a single, from the second-best-selling debut album of all time (a little combo called Guns’n’Roses and their ravenous Appetite for Destruction beat ‘em out in 1987 for that distinction). Singles from the album were (in order), “More Than a Feeling,” “Foreplay/Long Time,” and “Peace of Mind.”
Tom Scholz wrote this “SAY,” and had Epic exercised the same lust for hits as they later did for Michael Jackson (releasing half of the ten songs on Off the Wall and 7 of 9 from Thriller as 45s), we might know how this “Something About You” might have fared, chart-wise.
As it stands, Scholz’s well-known search for studio perfection on every production yields this impossibly catchy ear smoothie where the powerfully melodic Raspberries are merged with Def Leppard dynamism. No? Try The Rubinoos mixed with Foreigner.
Either way, no compositional concoction can equal what Schulz pulled over on Epic back in the day, recording this in his basement, and using a more-than-willing John Boylan to “pretend” to speed to L.A. to produce a right proper studio recording of these demo-duplications by Tom, per Epic suits’ edict.
Epic, in their finite wisdom, wanted a studio version that sounded identical to Tom’s demo tape, and Scholz decided he could not work in a traditional production studio, having adapted quite well to home recording for several years, stating “I work[ed] alone, and that was it,” he told Guitar World in 2009.
More on that corporate chicanery can be found here, as well as the full scoop on the three other artists who also made their respective Epic debuts on August 25, 1976, as Boston did:
Four Tops, “Something About You,” 1965, Motown Records
From a famous debut to a famous group’s second album, The Four Tops and their presciently-dubbed, Four Tops’ Second Album. Their “Something About You” was written by Motown’s heralded Holland-Dozier-Holland team, with the song produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier.
The H-D-H “SAY” is unusual for a Motown song, according to Rikky Rooksby (in his 2002 Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs), in that a guitar riff takes center stage. “The Temptations’ ‘My Girl’ is one of the few other examples. The guitar riff in ‘Something About You’ is similar to that in the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,’” although Rooksby claims that the guitar sound in the Four Tops’ song is “cleaner.”
Levi Stubbs sings lead, while Robert White of the Motown studio session Funk Brothers played the guitar part on “Something About You,” as he did on “My Girl.” Hand-claps and a tambourine help propel this one into catchy-tune-land.
Eyedress, feat. Dent May, “Something About You,” 2021, Lex Records
Apparently, a single Filipino fellow, one Mister Idris Vicuña (above), calls himself “Eyedress,” for reasons that escape this writer, as I’m guessing they’re supposed to. Nevertheless, Vicuña and Jackson, Mississippi native (and current Los Angeleno) Dent May (shown below), both, wrote and perform this particular “SAY,” which spins off the 2021 Eyedress/Vicuña album, Mulholland Drive. Vicuña produced, and the single peaked at #24 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. The single also went Gold in both Canada (40,000 units sold) and the States (500,000 units).
U.S. online entertainment newspaper, The A.V. Club, noted the “unabashed ‘70s slow-jam camp of ‘Something About You,’ complete with a whispered ‘so sexy,’ delivered totally straight-faced.” The Fader wrote, “‘Something About You’ is a smitten indie soft-rock ballad,” while UK’s Loud and Quiet noted that, “very little can prepare you for the sleazy French noir porno whispers of ‘Dom Perignon’ on the happy-go-lucky ‘Something About You.’”
“Something About You” went viral in the US with Rolling Stone citing the track as the fastest-rising song on American streaming services for the week ending September 23, 2021.
Grayson Wray Project, “There’s Something About You,” 2008
Released in 2008, the 5-piece Grayson Wray Project pulled this off their Butterfly Cannonball album. The Project consisted of Grayson Wray (who produced) on vocals, guitar, keyboards, Angie Donkin on drums, percussion, vocals, co-producer, vocal arrangements, and lead vocals, and Maura Murphy-Barosse on vocals, percussion, and lead vocals.
Rounding out the GWP were Raffaele Cannizzaro on keyboards and flute, and Ross Barkstrom on bass and guitar.
Wray once played in an L.A.-based band, Great City, who got some airplay on Pasadena’s renowned KROQ. Before that, Grayson had some successful local bands that played frequently in clubs on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. He also once played the Hollywood Bowl before a crowd of fourteen thousand.
Grayson’s main passion in life is creating music, reports a recent Magnatune article. They also contend he has a tendency to isolate himself. To that end, he prefers the studio over playing live, although he loves playing for a large responsive crowd. Recently, it’s reported, he’s been writing and producing in his studio and is currently planning to put a band together.
His wide range of musical influences include classical music, The Beatles, Neil Finn, David Bowie, dance music and many new and recent artists such as Gomez, Beck, Air, The Flaming Lips, Cornelius, Elliot Smith and Bjork.
Elderbrook with Rudimental, “Something About You,” 2019, Parlophone Records
Musician, songwriter, producer Elderbrook (call him Alexander Kotz if you bump into him at a potluck) hails from the UK, as does the drum and bass band Rudimental, which features Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon “Locksmith” Rolle. The song (written by eleven people) was released as a digital download in August 2019 as the third single from Rudimental’s debut EP Distinction. The song peaked at #87 on the UK Singles Chart.
Talking about the collaboration with Rudimental, Elderbrook (shown above) told EDM.com upon the song’s release, “I've always loved the music and energy that Rudimental put out. This song wouldn't have happened without them and has been amazing collaborating with them!” The band also said, “We have been big fans of Elderbrook’s vocals and production over the past few years, so it's amazing to finally come together on this track!”
Level 42, “Something About You,” 1985, Polydor Records
One of those songs: I remember when, how, and where I first heard it: Phoenix, AZ, fall 1985, visiting a friend’s house from my L.A. home. He had MTV blaring in the background, and from the other side of the room, I heard Mark King’s distinctive voice leading into what I thought was the chorus. I’d-a been satisfied, but there seemed to be yet another chorus!
How good is a songwriter (in this case, Level 42’s Mark King, Mike Lindup, Phil Gould, the late Boon Gould, and their producer, Wally Badarou) that your writing might suggest a multiple chorus, or a verse so melodic, it sounds like a chorus? So it is with the “Something About You” that ties with Boston’s as this writer’s favorite!
From Summer 2022, Professor of Rock interviews keyboardist (and falsetto singer) Mike Lindup about the writing and creation of Level 42’s “Something About You”:
A great theme. The Level 42 one was and is my favourite. Greatly appreciate your in-depth knowledge of all this.
I like to think I influenced this Audio Autopsy, in that I had stolen (borrowed, rented, leased) your original format to repurpose for the “same song different band” usage. I’m sure you’ve done others like this, but I personally love these comparisons-examinations. There’s “something about them” that just makes me smile. Funnily enough it was the Boston version that I’d forgotten about when seeing the list.