Time For Some Classic Musical Moments With An “M”!

Alanis Morissette’s greatest album turns 25. This “Music With An M” gets “Ironic” with her, and has Monkees, My Morning Jacket, Tom Petty and classic Paul McCartney too!

Music lost a legend when Tom Petty died…not only did he create some of the greatest rock songs ever with his band The Heartbreakers, but check out one of the coolest stories in music history:

Mudcrutch – “Crystal River”

If you don’t know this band, you are missing an incredible story. This was the band Tom Petty started in 1970 in Gainesville, Florida. Here is a picture of the band at the time:

They weren’t successful, so Tom Petty headed to Los Angeles – and the rest is history….except this is where the story gets great:

In 2007, Petty called his old bandmates and asked if they wanted to record again! And so two top ten albums were released, filled with a southern “swamp rock” vibe…I read one of the original band members stating that this was a gift he never could have imagined…

What a great story, and speaks to just how cool Petty was…there are a number of shorter, rock-infused songs, but I chose a hypnotic groove called “Crystal River.”

Here’s a terrific, 16-minute live version of the song, with Stephen Stills joining in, filmed in Los Angeles at the Henry Fonda Theater on June 26, 2016.

Thanks to Blisstanger for posting this on YouTube – check out that site for more!

The music world was stunned by the death of Tom Petty – here is a look at some of my favorite Petty music:

Now, onto another legendary band:

“Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles

One of the more unique albums by the band, consisting of new songs, soundtrack music and of course, two songs originally recorded for “Sgt. Pepper!”

This is one of Paul McCartney’s catchiest songs, which he came up with while rising San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district! Let’s not waste any more time, here is the song performed by Paul on one of his many solo tours:

What a psychedelic pop classic! And here is a shot of Paul on a trip that inspired him to write it:

If you want to know about how Paul conceived “Magical Mystery Tour”, click on my story about his “hippie trip” of 1967:

Next up is one of my favorite alternative rock bands:

My Morning Jacket – “Circuital”

This is MMJ’s 6th studio album – the band is from Kentucky and formed in 1998.

Jim James is the lead singer, and he shared a funny anecdote about two of the songs on the “Circuital” album.

The songs “Wonderful” and “Outta My System” were originally written for “Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem” to perform in the 2011 film “The Muppets”!

Unfortunately, an Executive who hired him was fired and the songs weren’t used! James said:

“So now, twice, Muppet glory has been within my grasp…it’s pretty heartbreaking, but it did propel us just to kick into high gear and finish our own record.”

So thank The Muppets for this album – here is the title track as performed on “VH1 Storytellers”:

There are a lot of bands like MMJ – not a well known in the mainstream, but with millions of die-hard fans…now, a popular singer who happened to release one of music’s biggest hits!

Alanis Morissette – “Jagged Little Pill”

Yes, it’s been 25 years since Alanis released this brilliant album that is still one of the best-selling albums of all time…she will be be touring to celebrate the anniversary, but let’s enjoy one of the great songs on the album:

Alanis’ “Ironic” List!

People still debate if Morissette’s lyrics are ironic or not, but who cares? Decide for yourself!

“An old man turned 98
He won the lottery and died the next day
It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay
It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought, it figures…”

Here is the official music video – just click the link:

Alanis makes great, confessional music – bravo to her!

Finally, the greatest band ever created for television!

Hey Hey, They’re The Monkees!

Yes, they were “cast” as a colorful band in Los Angeles, but they became a phenomenon and released a bunch of great music!

Here is the perfect pop majesty of “Daydream Believer”:

Jack Nicholson Monkee’d Around!

Di you know that the band made a movie, and it was written by Jack Nicholson? It’s just one of the interesting aspects of this band – and Michael Nesmith shares some of those stories in his new autobiography!

Click here to read about the book, Jack’s script, and when Jimi Hendrix opened for them!

Let know if you knew that Jack wrote a movie for them!

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Categories: 70's Music, Art, Books / Media, Classic Rock, Music, Obscure Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, The Beatles

Tags: Alanis Morisette Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette nude music video, best my morning jacket songs, Magical Mystery Tour, Monkees albums, Monkees hit albums, Monkees hit songs, Monkees pop music, music, music history, music videos, my morning jacket, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, The Beatles music, Tom Petty, Tom Petty Mudcrutch, Tom Petty music