Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we blow the dust off of a forgotten favorite and give its lack of chart success a once-over.
Artist: The Mr. T Experience
Song: “Tapin’ Up My Heart,” 1994
What happened: For a while there in the ’90s, Lookout! Records was releasing a new Mr. T Experience album seemingly every forty-five minutes, each one packed with a dozen or so solid pop-punk heartbreak anthems. Led by nerdsmith singer-lyricist Dr. Frank–who’s now a big deal in the publishing biz–the band perfected head-in-the-locker angst.
Why it should have been a hit: “Tapin’ Up” is the opening track from the group’s …And The Women Who Loved Them EP, and it’s the perfect MTX track, full of barely checked frustration, self-deprecating asides, and expert use of a fuzz pedal. If only soundtrack supervisors back in 1994 were listening to this kind of stuff instead of Coolio.
UPDATE: In a strange bit of timing that indicates a massive worldwide PR effort–or, more realistically, indicates that the entire media consists of nerdy thirtysomething guys writing about nerdy fortysomething guys–there’s a story about Portman in Time today.
The Mr. T Experience – Tapin’ Up My Heart [MP3, link expired]
Complaints about Coolio? Why you rockists. Oh wait.
Great band, that MTX. You could have picked any number of songs from their early nineties catalog. I’m going to be digging through my stack of old cds when I get home and see if I still have the tune “Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend.”
Even so, that book freaking sucked. Nerdy forty-something writing about teenagers as if they all have the personalities of nerdy-fortysomethings. 2nd worst book I’ve read all year.