Pennywise has always kind of been hit and miss with me. They do not really have a huge variety of sound, and their singer kind of gets on my nerves after a while. I don’t think I ever bought one of their albums new, but I do know that I have owned a few of them. I know that when I was in high school, I appreciated their version of “Stand By Me.”
To the point. Pennywise released a self titled album in 1991. The song “Come Out Fighting” was on this album. It was a good song… When The Vandals released their version of the song on an album in 1998, I liked it better. Much better.

The Vandals: Come Out Fighting, from the album “Hitler Bad, Vandals Good”  Check it.

One day when I was about 10 years old or so, I asked my older brother, who had a pretty extensive collection of music, if I could borrow a couple CDs. I was looking for something besides my usual suspects: symphonic rock, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Chipmunks.

One of the CDs he gave me was The Specials: Specials.

The Specials original line-up had actually broken up the year before I was born, and to this date have not played together in their entirety, although many of the original members have formed and re-formed many times in many combinations over the last 30 years to put out an occasional album or play on tour here and there. I remember a concert for the Special Beat being advertised by KJQ. According to the house rules, I wasn’t old enough to go.

That is pretty much where it all started. Since the first time, The Specials have always been music that I could get down to. In San Diego, some of the local radio stations play “A Message to You, Rudy” a couple times a day. It is my all time favorite “on the way home from a 10 hour day in the work truck and stuck in traffic because it took us too long to get the job done” song. Sometimes during my shifts at Starbucks, I get to listen to some of my old time favorites: “Monkey Man,” “Nelson Mandela,” “Ghost Town,” and even their version of “Pressure Drop,” as they have made it onto official “hear music” play list.

However, none of the aforementioned songs were ones that I would listen to on repeat in my room for hours at a time while reading or playing videos games or whatever. “Doesn’t Make It Alright” was.

To my brother, I say: thanks for sharing.

To everybody else, I say: enjoy.

Click to Play———–> “Doesn’t Make It Alright”

I’m a sucker for piano and female vocals. So, of course I’m a fan of Alicia Keys. One of the first songs that I really was nuts about, was “If I ain’t got you.” Reagan, and I both actually love that song. Plus the video was nuts. Remember it? With Method Man, getting hauled off in cuffs? So intense. Plus I love those earrings with the dangly keys, that she is wearing in the vid.

I feel like in addition to being so great on the piano, and having such a hot voice, she has done a great job to retain a soul/funk sound in a lot of songs. Despite the fact that she definitely broke into the pop scene with a lot her popular singles, she did a great job of maintaining the integrity of her sound (in my opinion).

So, the song that I’m sharing today, is actually one that I feel falls into the group I just described. It has a grindy funk beat, complete with wah-wah guitar and funk organ backing up the flow. Although I don’t feel like this song really showcases her vocal ability, it oozes with style. I feel like AK knows that it is not necessary to belt her guts out and bust into fancy dramatic runs in every single song, the way that Beyonce does. In my opinion, she is all the better, for it. Here is “Rock wit you.” It is a little over 5 and 1/2 minutes. Bend your ear and give it a listen.