Ten: Psychedelic Edition

Mark Mikel: 2010 Anthem

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I couldn't resist posting Mark Mikel's "2010 Anthem", for the obvious reason.

Mark Mikel is the lead singer and chief songwriter in a fabulously psychedelic band out of Toledo, Ohio called the Pillbugs. He has also recorded a lot of solo material, this song included.

I'm not sure when this song was written, but I'm guessing that 2010 was used as a reference to a not-too-distant future. (See also Paul McCartney's "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", which this song occasionally echoes.) It's not quite a dystopian future, but it is a rather unsettling vision of future leaders and complacent masses. "Rule our thoughts with catchy quotes / Poison with no antidote / Shove the sh*t right down our throats / We'll swallow" is as good a description of our soundbite culture as any I've heard.


Western Electric: 10-4

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Here's some more modern-day psychedelia, this time from Long Ryders and Cole Porters frontman (and Gram Parsons biographer) Sid Griffin, leading one-album band Western Electric back in '99. The relaxed rhythm, gentle vocals, and woozy pedal steel are pretty indicative of how the rest of the album sounds.


The Yardbirds: Happenings Ten Years Time Ago

[purchase]

Now for an authentic 1960's blast of energy! "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" scraped the top 40 back in 1966, but what really makes it interesting is that it is one of only three songs the Yardbirds recorded with both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on lead guitars. Not long after its release, Beck was fired.