Soundtracked

Going Back To Cali

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This week's theme: Soundtracks

In a move that should surprise no one, I'm picking a song today from a movie I don't believe I've ever seen, Less Than Zero  . And in no way am I gonna complain about any of this; not the movie, or the theme this week in "The Soundtrack of Your Life" ...none of it. I don't watch a lot of movies, but I like a lot of music, and sometimes that music shows up in movies that never really interested me. It happens. Less Than Zero came out in 1987, and I was doin' other things; I probably would sit down and watch it at some point, but there's always other stuffs that need doin'.

I also like comedy over drama as a general genre preference rule of thumb, and there are way more comedies that I've yet to see that pushes anything drama-related farther down the list of priorities. Like I have priorities or somethin' .

Here's why this is my song today: last night Jimmy Fallon opened up The Tonight Show   with a spoof of LL Cool J's "Going Back To Cali" to launch a week of shows in Los Angeles. I like Fallon, and I like the song. Boom...entry. Bonus: It was high up on my list of options for this week anyway...at least now I've got something more to talk about.

Hard to believe, but back when this song was popular I was in the Boy Scouts. And one of my troop's leaders was a big influence on me as far as music went...he always had the latest shit, and he was always bumpin' something I dug when we'd drive anywhere. Not only would he dub me a copy of anything I wanted, but he also owned a bugle ...and I will be the first to tell you that I can't play an instrument worth a shit, but I knew I owned the intro to "Going Back To Cali" on that thing. And for extra measure, I could mimic the scratching right after it as well. That's my word.

But the real hero of this particular story is my cousin, who dubbed me his copy of Walking With A Panther  , LL's flyest joint in my humble yet esteemed opinion. When you can't afford to buy your own tapes, you stock up on blank cassettes...give it up for the dual decks with the high-speed dubbing capabilities.

"I said, 'Close your eyes, I got a surprise...',
and I ran away with the bottle of wine."
Lyrics.  

Bonus Beats: Even though "I Need Love"   was the supreme Couples Skate Only! jam down at the roller rink and "Big Ole Butt"   was the most fun a 12-year-old might have listenin' to Uncle L (future of the funk), "You're My Heart"   is the most Emo brokenhearted love jam on that record, and it's (not so) secretly (anymore) my all-time favorite Cool J cut. For real, playas . And of all the many hats I've owned in my life, the one I miss third-most of all is my black Kangol  .

And I know I should probably respect Robert Downey Jr. and all because he's some great American actor or something and he's turned his life around from his drug- and arrest-riddled past and he makes superhero movies that everyone loses their shit over and he's a riot to interview  , but c'mon man...we've all done things we're not proud of. We've all got our scars and our crashed-up cars and our mugshots. May as well own that shit, because you know if you don't eventually it's gonna come up anyway, no matter how awesome everyone thinks the character you play on a screen for millions of people/dollars is. Be human. Accept it. We know who you are, and it's not Ironman  .