Monday, May 27, 2019

The GoGoBots - "Y-Town"

For an encore, we did one of our most popular songs, known as "Y-Town", though the true title is "(I'm Going To) Youngstown (To Get Fucked Up)". It was written as a response to the doom and gloomy Bruce Springsteen song about Youngstown. Being from New Castle, Pennsylvania, USA, Youngstown was actually the place we went to to have fun (yep, that's how boring New Castle was, going to Youngstown was a big treat). At the end of the video, you can see Kill The Hippies start their set. Amazingly enough, that band is still going. It probably helps to have at the core a married couple. They've been through probably 20 drummers since Bob in the video, but you can still find them rocking out around Northeast Ohio USA. As for The GoGoBots, alas, these grainy videos are the only place to find us unless you want to invite me to come play some of the songs in your living room or something.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The GoGoBots - "22 Robots"

This was always a fun song to play. Bob from Kill The Hippies and the rest of the audience help out with vocals here. Rob from Radar Secret Service shows us his nipples and wins some Fat Tuesday flowers. Later on, Matt from Kill The Hippies helps us out with the surprise bonus at the end of the song. It was definitely an all-star affair at the end of the set! I like the little spin I do at the end of the song. It's always nice to be able to break out some dance moves. Usually, I'm too focused on remembering lyrics or getting the guitar lines right. By the end of the set, we are all in the zone and just having fun.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

The GoGoBots - "AM Radio In A PM Office"

I still like this song and play it. It's basically about someone bored working in an office listening to bad radio and dreaming of better times. It might be the only pop song that involves a discussion of the Marxist notion of surplus value, but I'm not certain. I have also been told many times over the years that it sounds like the theme song to the funny tv show The Office, but this song was written long before that show came about. The song was online then, but no royalties have ever arrived. They are welcome to. It does kind of sound like a song that might have been played on AM radio in 1993 or something, except for the lyrical subject matter and the Metallicaesque moshdown in the middle.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

The GoGoBots - "Hip-Hop Song (Jill And Nadine)"

I enjoyed playing Mike's songs because I could just play guitar and not have to worry about singing and playing guitar at the same time. Focusing on guitar allowed me to be a little more intricate on the guitar, which was fun. I don't recall why this song was called "Hip-Hop Song" as it sounds nothing like hip-hop. It probably was a joke. As for Jill and Nadine, they were friends of Mike's who were Kent scenesters. I don't know whatever happened to Nadine, but I stumbled across Jill on Bumble once and she had the funniest profile that I have ever seen. I don't think she was actually trying to get a date, just get a laugh. I am sure that some dudes swiped right nevertheless. I don't recall Mike ever stabbing anyone, so I think he was just telling a fun, fictional story at the beginning. I would also be surprised if we had not played The Gyro for two years. I know that we preferred The Mantis, the DIY space in town, but we still played The Gyro fairly regularly. I like our big ending. We were all living in the same house then, so we had gotten pretty tight, since we could pretty much practice whenever we all were home.