13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation - Vol. 14

Featuring songs by Rufus & Chaka Khan, Jesus Jones, the Old '97s, the Boomtown Rats, Steel Pulse, Buck Owens, and many more

That’s right, it’s time for another installment of 13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation, a series of playlists which are, in fact, in no way distinguishable from the original incarnation of 13 Wonderful Will Songs playlists. So don’t feel as though you need to have listened to those in order to appreciate these, because that’s not the case at all.

Hit “play,” and here’s hoping you enjoy what you hear!

1. Rufus & Chaka Khan, “Ain’t Nobody”

I was reminded of this wonderful song when my wife and I watched the thoroughly disconcerting film Blink Twice, and as soon as I was, I immediately knew that I wanted to include it on a future playlist, so…why wait? In truth, my first introduction to Chaka Khan was actually “I Feel For You,” and then I honestly couldn’t tell you the next song by her that hit my radar, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time playing catch-up over the years. A worthwhile endeavor, to be certain.

2. Jesus Jones, “Zeroes and Ones”

The majority of America pretty much walked away from their brief flirtation with Jesus Jones fandom after the success of their hit single “Right Here, Right Now,” but having been sucked into their musical universe at the time of their first album, thanks to a mix disc introducing me to “Never Enough,” I was anxiously awaiting their follow-up to Doubt. To this day, I stand by the brilliance of Perverse, and this song was a great way to say, “This is not Doubt 2.0, but it’s still Jesus Jones.”

3. Old ‘97s, “King of All the World”

Saw these guys play at the Boathouse when they were touring behind this album, a date which - although I don’t have the ticket stub handy - must’ve been around the same time they made this appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, since we have a signed CD cover congratulating us on our engagement. (We got married in October of this year, and we’re still together.)

4. The Truth, “Confusion (Hits Us Everytime)”

The first time I heard a song by these guys was when they released their 1987 album Weapons of Love, but while I particularly liked the title cut, what I didn’t discover until a few years later was that everything they’d ever released up to that point had sounded completely different…and I liked that original sound way better. Awhile back you may (or may not) recall that I included one of those early songs on another playlist - “Spread a Little Sunshine” - and this track is very much cut from the same cloth.

5. The Boomtown Rats, “She’s So Modern”

Like a lot of Americans, I didn’t know anything about the Boomtown Rats until Band Aid and Live Aid turned Bob Geldof into an international star. That led me to investigate The Fine Art of Surfacing, and from there I eventually found my way back to the album that preceded it, A Tonic for the Troops, which contains this song.

6. Paul McCartney, “Angry”

This was, simply by virtue of the timeframe in which I became a Beatles fan, the first proper Paul McCartney solo album that I was able to buy new as soon as it was released. As such, I freely admit that I love it way more than the average Macca fan probably does, but I just think it’s swell. This is definitely not the Paul McCartney I’d been used to hearing on the radio, with the chorus finding him snarling, “What the hell gives you the right to tell me what to do with my life?” Well, okay, maybe he’s not really snarling, but it’s definitely a sentiment that was surprising to hear. Bonus trivia: the drummer on this track is none other than Phil Collins!

7. Lou Reed, “Busload of Faith”

There was a time when I was convinced that I’d never be a Lou Reed fan, because I just couldn’t get past his voice, but I finally became one in stages. First I fell for the inescapable “Walk on the Wild Side,” then I was thoroughly entertained by the goofiness of “I Love You Suzanne,” and then finally I just could not deny the top-to-bottom brilliance of his New York album, which - in addition to “Dirty Blvd.” - gave us this song.

8. Extreme, “Stop the World”

I became a fan of Extreme by listening to Pornograffiti, i.e. their album that gave us “More Than Words,” at the time of its release, which coincided with my tenure as a record store employee. As such, my ears were open when they released the follow-up, and the harmonies and arrangement on this song still blow my mind even now. I don’t love the album as much as a whole, but this song… I mean, damn.

9. Steel Pulse, “Steppin’ Out”

I’ve never really gone through a reggae phase, per se, but I learned a great deal about the genre when I was working at Record Bar / Tracks in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and I also listened to a fair amount of it during that time. Even though it was released in 1984, this album was still getting semi-regular instore airplay at the time, and with good reason.

10. Carolina Chocolate Drops, “Hit ‘Em Up Style”

Obligatory cover alert! The idea of turning Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)” into a goddamned hoedown is such a crazy concept that it’s hard to imagine anyone ever coming up with it, but the fact that it works so perfectly… I mean, you have to give the Carolina Chocolate Drops a hand, if not a standing ovation. It’s brilliant.

11. Buck Owens, “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass”

Even though I grew up watching Buck Owens and Roy Clark delivering cornpone comedy to the masses as the co-hosts of Hee-Haw, it was probably at least a decade later - maybe longer! - before I ever had a clue that he’d actually been a huge recording artist and had racked up a ton of #1 country hits. This is, for money, the weirdest of his ‘60s singles, one that definitely eschews a proper country sound in favor of something approximating the psychedelia that was all the rage at the time. Because of that, it’s probably my favorite of his songs, even if I know it’s definitely not what you’d call representative of his typical sound.

12. The Cowsills, “The Rain, The Park and Other Things”

At some point in the early ‘90s, Rhino released a compilation called Summer Of Love, and that, I’m quite sure, was the first time I ever actually owned this song on any format. I still don’t know their back catalog as well as I should, but I’ve certainly come to respect them over the years, and I’m a fan of their later material. Definitely check out their album 1998 Global if you get a chance. (It was actually recorded in 1993, but that’s a whole other story.)

13. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Anxiety”

Basically my theme song at the moment, and probably for the majority of the next four years. Feel free to borrow it.