Yeah, Sorry About That aka Comeback Videos: The Kinks vs. LL Cool J

Hey all, sorry I haven't been blogging in the last month.

To be honest, I got distracted by soccer. I was producing a daily soccer round up show during Euro 2008. I also kept holding out hope that the Turkish miracle would end with Tuncay Sanli lifting a trophy, but alas.

To celebrate my triumphant return, I figured some comeback videos would be in order.

The Contest

In the blue corner, from Queens, New York, don't call it a comeback, he's been here for years, LL COOOOOL J.

LL Cool J released his first album, Radio, when he was 17 years-old. As much as we all like to knock LL for being kind of soft in 2008, in 1985, Radio was considered a heavy-ass album. It was one of the first hip-hop albums to use pop song structure in hip-hop, contained the first hip-hop ballad and, along with other Def Jam artists like Run DMC and The Fat Boys, helped LL push old school, disco minded, "a-boogie-to-the-boogity-beat" rappers with elaborate stage shows and costume changes away from the forefront. Cool J and company dressed like kids in the hood and made albums built for boomboxes, not clubs. He was also the first rapper to appear on American Bandstand.

His next album, Bigger and Deffer, was another tight record. The first single, "I'm Bad," has the distinction of being the first rap single to contain the word "motherfucker," paving the way for thousands to follow. As a balance, it also contained what may be the sappiest ballad ever, "I Need Love."

His third album, Walking with a Panther, was heavy on ballads and pop-dance songs and very light on hood-credible songs like "Radio" and "I'm Bad." At a time when hip-hop was in the midst of two rising tides, West Coast gangsta rap and and "conscious" East Coast Native Tongues shit, the weak, poppy Panther got overlooked and dissed.

Eighteen months later, he set about trying to regain some of the fans he lost with Panther, he released Mama Said Knock You Out, featuring a totally reworked ballad-to-hard shit ratio with tracks like "The Boomin' System" and "To Da Break of Dawn," where he dissed Ice T, MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee at the same time.

Here's the title track. You know it, you love it.



In the red corner, from London, England, with a fetish for transsexuals, The KINKS!

The Kinks were formed in London, England in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and schoolmate Mick Avory. They took their name from their stage get-up, which consisted of leather capes and high boots (considered "kinky" in the '60s, or so I'm told.)

We in North America tend to think of them as a British Invasion band, far less important than the Stones, The Beatles and The Who, but a little more crucial than the Dave Clark Five. I would disagree, putting The Kinks ahead of all of these bands, if only because they were the inventors of what's now a great rock n' roll tradition, trashing your gear on stage.

The Kinks are also remarkable because they managed to be hugely popular in two separate time periods after a tremendous fall-off. The first period was from the early '60s through to the early '70s, bookended by the hits "You Really Got Me" and "Lola." They then spent most of the '70s making super-inaccessible rock operas.

In the late '70s, bands like The Jam and The Pretenders started to talk about The Kinks as a major influence, while Van Halen made a hit out of their cover of "You Really Got Me," allowing the Kinks to stage a comeback. They produced three hit albums between 1979 and 1984 and had their most commercially successful single ever, "Come Dancing."

In 1984, Avory and Dave Davies had it out once and for all, acknowledged that they'd been pissing each other off for over 20 years. Avory quit the band. The Davies Brothers and various plugs continued to record and tour for another 12 years, but never had another Top 40 hit.

This is the video for "Come Dancing."



If you've forgotten, comment to vote. Voting closes Friday. It's good to be back.