Tune Tag #102 with Mark Edward Randall, Pt. 3: Robbie Williams, Raspberries, Isaac Hayes, Beach Boys, Mott the Hoople, Van Duren, Tommy Hoehn
A mix of the known and new, harmonies, like blueberries (or Raspberries), are in rich and proper summer abundance with this one!
Mark….MARK…..MARK!!!
“Oh, I’m sorry…did I startle you? TAG! You’re it…..Wait! Come back!”
Tune Tag welcomes back of Musings of a Broken Record!
We last tagged tunes with Mark in the spring:
Last week, we welcomed relative newcomer, Canadian of Breaking Ranks:
Next week, we’ll be pleased to welcome back vinyl retail veteran, of !
Mark’s song #1 sent to Brad: Robbie Williams, “Rock DJ,” 2000
YouTube won’t allow the “transporting” of this video to other sites, due to restrictions, etc, so click here to go to YT to view the Williams/“Rock DJ” video.
Mark’s rationale: So, when I started this Tune Tag with Brad in April, I was torn between ABBA’s “The Name Of The Game” and this. When Brad and I decided to toy with doing a two-part Tune Tag, I was able to kill two birds with one stone and picked this.
I’ve been a fan of Robbie Williams’ solo output since I was about fourteen, and saw the video for “Millennium” on TV. I really regret not buying his albums at the time; there are some real gems on them. I’ve been scouring local thrift shops ever since seeing Better Man in the theatre [Brad: “But, did you see the movie?”😂]. I keep coming up empty-handed.
(Before sending this to Brad, I’m happy to report that I finally went on Discogs and ordered a copy of Williams’ first North American album, The Ego Has Landed):
When Better Man came out, there was a misconception that because Robbie Williams didn’t crack North America, that also included Canada. He was pretty popular here. Mind you, he only had about five hits. Still, there was a period from 1999-2002 where Much and Much More Music constantly showed his videos, and his albums were readily available.
“Rock DJ” was popular enough to garner radio play in Canada. It’s easily my all-time favourite Robbie Williams track. There is a thumping hook based around Barry White’s 1977 single, “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me.”
The video for “Rock DJ” was controversial: Robbie does a strip tease that is not for fans of blood and guts. As a result, the video got banned in some territories, and I imagine it didn’t help his chances in the States with MTV’s Total Request Live crowd. In Canada (at least to my memory), the video was shown as is.
There’s lots of places Brad can go with his first pick. I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes!
Brad’s song #1 sent to Mark: Raspberries, “Cruisin’ Music,” 1974
Mark’s response: I was so stumped on this! While trying to investigate, I learned that this was the final Raspberries single. It’s also the followup to “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),” which I used to play years ago, back in the mp3 blog days.
Anyway, after finding out those two things, I realized why Brad picked this. In the U.S., Robbie Williams was a Capitol Records artist. As soon as I remembered that the Raspberries were also on Capitol, I had my huge a-ha moment. Nice one, Brad!
Brad’s rationale: Eric Carmen and the lads are cruisin’ and punching buttons on the car radio, waitin’ for what the screamin’ “Rock DJ” has to say! And, I bet they’re not ripping away their respective epidermides.
Mark’s song #2: Beach Boys, “Friends,” 1968
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