Cooler and Hotter
Celebrating only the softest of soft rock. We're kind of kidding, but not really.

Wikipedia defines Soft Rock as "a style of music which uses the techniques of rock and roll to compose a softer, more toned-down sound for listening. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes saxophones. The electric guitars in soft rock are normally faint and high-pitched."

This definition works for us as well.

Michael Martin Murphey - “Wildfire”

“…and what is perhaps his masterpiece, “Wildfire”, a sentimental song about the ghosts of a woman and her horse. As a boy, he first heard from his grandfather the story of a ghost horse rescuing people in the desert.” (wikipedia)

Rock doesn’t get much softer than this America. Make sure to pay attention to the 5:30ish mark where MMM makes sweet love to his acoustic guitar. I’m pretty sure he orgasms at the end of that solo.

I’m gonna go have a cry now. The good kind.

  • Mar 6th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
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“Careless Whisper” - Wham! featuring George Michael

George Michael was just a pussy-loving 17 year old when he wrote this, according to legend. He wrote the sax intro as well, one of the most memorable hooks in the soft rock cannon. A classic.

In other news, Andrew Ridgely just ordered a 2 bean burritos and a diet Mountain Dew from a T. Bell in Cornwall, UK.

  • Mar 10th, 2010 at 7:47 am
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Sailing - Christopher Cross

“Sailing” won Christopher Cross 5 Grammys. That’s right, 5!

When we count down the top 500 Soft Rock songs of all time, this may be the last tune standing.

  • Mar 13th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
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:: The melding of 2 … make that 3 Soft Rock magnets ::

Simply Red originated at a 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in England. Manchester art student Mick Hucknall was one of the many young music fans present, along with original members of the bands Joy Division, The Smiths and Buzzcocks. The first incarnation of the band was a punk group called The Frantic Elevators, which existed for 7 years, with limited releases on local labels, but split in 1984 with only limited local attention and critical acclaim for their final single, “Holding Back the Years”.  Soft punk rock?!

Give the above song (“Sunrise”) a listen.  It’s pretty easy to see that in addition to the Sex Pistols, Mick became fans of soft rock gods, Daryl Hall & John Oates.  Now I CAN go for that!

Mick Hucknall and his Simply fine girlfriend

  • Mar 18th, 2010 at 10:26 am
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Food for thought for all you love song composers out there (grab tissues before reading): From the Boz Scaggs website:  “To sing the Great American Songbook convincingly, it helps to believe in chance.  All the legendary composers of standards — George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen, the list goes on – had something to say about life’s serendipities.  Their songs are full of unexpected encounters and fine romances that blossom out of nowhere.  Their wistful and often impossibly beautiful melodies convey the magic of happenstance and also its flipside, the capricious cruelty of fate.  Their lyrics celebrate the notion that life can change in an instant—when that vision of loveliness steps out of a dream and you suddenly find yourself bewitched, bothered and bewildered. Boz Scaggs believes in this sort of thing.” FYI: Cooler and Hotter believes in this sort of thing too (and we are bothered and bewildered). Boz is currently still buzzing from his monster March 9 gig in Manilla with fellow legend Michael McDonald and is preparing for his two-night run of casinos in British Columbia in mid June. 

Food for thought for all you love song composers out there (grab tissues before reading):

From the Boz Scaggs website: 

“To sing the Great American Songbook convincingly, it helps to believe in chance.  All the legendary composers of standards — George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen, the list goes on – had something to say about life’s serendipities.  Their songs are full of unexpected encounters and fine romances that blossom out of nowhere.  Their wistful and often impossibly beautiful melodies convey the magic of happenstance and also its flipside, the capricious cruelty of fate.  Their lyrics celebrate the notion that life can change in an instant—when that vision of loveliness steps out of a dream and you suddenly find yourself bewitched, bothered and bewildered.

Boz Scaggs believes in this sort of thing.”

FYI: Cooler and Hotter believes in this sort of thing too (and we are bothered and bewildered).

Boz is currently still buzzing from his monster March 9 gig in Manilla with fellow legend Michael McDonald and is preparing for his two-night run of casinos in British Columbia in mid June. 

  • Mar 22nd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
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