Well, we've done all Irish playlists before, so for this March 17th we needed a new twist....
I know - we'll pick bands that have a Patrick, or Pat, or Paddy in them.
Okay, that was quite hard - so I have stretched it in a couple of places. Not so much an Irish playlist, as a very indirectly Irish inspired one.
1. Patrick Monahan (Train): Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)
Patrick Monahan is best known as the founder, guitarist and vocalist (and only ever present member) of Pennsylvanian rock band Train, formed in 1993 after the break up of Rogues Gallery, a Led Zeppelin covers band he was in. This slightly over-the-top rock ballad was a US Top5 hit single off the multi-platinum album of the same name - winning the band the Grammy for Best Rock Song.
Drop Of Jupiter - here
(Official music video)
2. Patrick Carney (The Black Keys): Tighten Up
Patrick Carney formed the blues-rock outfit, The Black Keys, in Ohio with his childhood friend, Dan Auerbach. This song comes from their critically acclaimed sixth album, 2010s Brothers. The album was written in the aftermath of a long period of tension between the two men, revolving around the breakdown of Carney's first marriage.
Tighten Up - here
(Official music video - charming and amusing)
3. Pat Benatar: Heartbreaker
Patricia Andrzejewski is from New York City. She got the Benatar bit from her first husband, high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar. Heartbreaker comes from her debut album, 1979s In The Heat Of The Night. The lead guitarist in her band, Neil Giraldo, would later become husband number two.
Heartbreaker - here
(Live in New Haven, 1982)
4. Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy): Sugar, We're Goin' Down
Patrick Stump is the primary composer and Pete Wentz the main lyricist in Chicago based pop punk legends, Fall Out Boy. The band was active from 2001 to 2009, before going on hiatus until 2013. This song, the lead single from second album From Under The Cork Tree (2005), became their first big hit, making #8 in the US.
Sugar, We're Goin' Down - here
(Official music video)
5. Declan Patrick MacManus (Elvis Costello): Less Than Zero
Okay, we stretch things a little here, albeit that it is fairly well known that Elvis isn't his real name. MacManus is the son of a professional jazz musician, with dad Ross playing trumpet and singing in Joe Loss's band. D.P. Costello, as he was known at the time he was writing songs for what would be his first album, cut his teeth from a young age in the folk clubs of Liverpool and London. But as the 70s progressed he was immersed in the so-called pub-rock scene, especially players like Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. Less Than Zero comes from that debut record, My Aim Is True, and was particularly inspired after he got angry watching an interview with ageing British fascist, Oswald Mosley.
Less Than Zero - here
(Static video)
6. Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout): Cars & Girls
Paddy and Martin McAloon formed Prefab Sprout in their native Durham in 1978, and when Wendy Smith joined in 1982, the core line-up was established. They became know for a certain whimsical style, but 1988s From Langley Park To Memphis went for a more straightforward pop sensibility. Cars & Girls is an interesting play on people misunderstanding Bruce Springsteen lyrics, which ironically many took to be McAloon mocking Springsteen's songwriting, but it was actually the opposite. He was referencing that Springsteen could write a song (like Born In The USA) which everyone took at face value as a patriotic tub-thumping tune, but the reality of the meaning was somewhat different.
Cars & Girls - here
(Official music video)
7. Pat Morrison (The Gun Club): Moonlight Motel
Okay, stretch number two here. This is Patricia Morrison we are talking about, but there is at least one tenuous time where she has been referred to as Pat. Patricia Rainone married Rick Morrison of LA punk legends Catholic Discipline, and was briefly in a band called The Bags, where it seems she was Pat Bag and the singer was Alice Bag. Anyway, they fell out and in 1982, she joined The Gun Club on bass, the swamp-blues band fronted by the enigmatic Jeffrey Lee Pierce. She was on the 1984 album, Las Vegas Story, from which this tune comes. She would also having a stint in The Damned, and ultimately married front man Dave Vanian.
Moonlight Motel - here
(Live in 1984 - looks like it could be on The Tube?)
8. Patrick Wilson (Weezer): Buddy Holly
Patrick Wilson is the drummer in this great Californian band, formed in 1992 and of course fronted by apparent ladies favourite, Rivers Cuomo. They were well known for the first three albums only being known by the sleeve colours - Blue, Green, Red. Buddy Holly has, of course, become their most iconic tune, but Cuomo initially thought it too cheesy, but producer Ric Ocasek (The Cars) persuaded him to include it. Thankfully he did, and that also means we get the legendary Spike Jonze video, with Weezer overlaid against an old episode of Happy Days. Aaayyyy!
Buddy Holly - here
(Official music video - classic!)
9. Pat Smear (Foo Fighters): This Is A Call
We all know Pat Smear from his work in the Foo Fighters, since the mid-1990s. But, Smear is in fact one of the original bastions of west coast punk. Georg Ruthenburg (as he was known) was in the original LA punk nihilists, The Germs, whose lead singer Darby Crash seemed to take a parallel course of self-destruction to Sid Vicious. He would go onto be in a few other California punk bands, and also get some bit part acting works - you can see him in random episodes of Quincy MD and CHiPs, and the films Howard The Duck and Blade Runner. He became Nirvana's second touring guitarist from late 1993 until the sad demise of Kurt Cobain the following year. Dave Grohl had basically self-recorded all of the first Foo Fighters album, but he needed a band to take it out on the road, when they supported Mike Watt (Minutemen) in 1995.
This Is A Call - here
(Network TV debut on Letterman - August 1995.
Apparently, Alanis Morrisette made her tv debut on the same show, that same week - with Taylor Hawkins on drums)
10. Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains): Star Of The County Down
Well, we couldn't end a St Patrick's Day playlist without something Irish, and luckily The Chieftains obliged, since Paddy Moloney was a founder member back in Dublin, 1962. The band would go on to work with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Pavarotti, Madonna and Sinead O'Connor. They would also, in 1988, produce an album, Irish Heartbeat, with Van Morrison, from which this track comes. It is based on an old song written by Cathal MacGarvey.