Yup, I’m sort of all over the place this week, so I’ve decided to put together a column with a sort of throwback vibe.

R.I.P.

First off, I’ve got to pay my respects to Levi Stubbs.

Even though I’ve been on a Motown instrument kick the past few months, I always appreciated the value of the vocalists, and Levi was one of my favorites. Hands down, I’m a Four Tops dude. “Bernadette” is probably one of my top five songs of all time. And who didn’t love him as Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors?

My mom’s a boomer, which means that I grew up listening to what she liked. That also meant hearing a ton of Motown. I myself didn’t really get into Motown until I got into high school, so sadly I never got a chance to see anyone at their peak.

I was saddened to hear about his passing. And what really sucked is that I’m too young for anyone to take my feelings seriously. Except for my best friend who sent me some touching condolences. Still, I’ve had the Four Tops in heavy rotation for a minute.

Levi Stubbs will be missed, but I’ll always have his musical legacy.

Remote Destination?

And I just so happened to come across a copy of FX’s late and lamented Lucky. Honestly, that show is great enough for me to resurrect Remote Destination for one week just to rave about it.

But the reason why I’m brining it up here is because there’s one episode in particular (”Something for Everyone”) that makes excellent use of Badly Drawn Boy’s “The Shining”. It’s the opening scene in which Lucky is remembering his dead wife. It’s a touching scene and the song compliments it perfectly. I mean, the show was a great show, but the thing that I remember most about it is just how perfect that scene was.

But that got me thinking about some other awesome TV moments set to solid songs.

Final Episode of The Riches
Surprise, it’s yet another late-lamented FX show. This one just got the axe recently. Anyway, in the final scene of the final episode (which ended on a cliffhanger) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ “Please Read the Letter” played over all of the action. Such a bittersweet ending.

John from Cincinnati’s second episode
This episode closed with TV on the Radio’s “Staring at the Sun”. It was solid song selection because it was an off-putting ending that really matched the song’s off-kilter rhythm.

Mad Men - “Babylon”
I couldn’t even tell you who performed the song originally, but in the episode it’s performed by a trio of beatniks (one of whom happens to be the music supervisor for the show). Anyway, it’s a nice period song that’s kind of full of lament. It closed out the episode and the song was also called “Babylon”.

Second Episode of Terminal City
I actually wrote about show
six months ago. Sadly, I’m no closer to identifying this the song than I was back then. It sucks, but I’ll never give up.

Wow, way to end on a downer of a note. Such is life.