What’s Going On?

So let’s see. The world is in the grip of a one-hundred year pandemic that’s raging out of control in the world’s nominally most advanced nation. (That would be us). Forest fires are burning up California while a category four hurricane wipes out Louisiana and Texas. We have more wild protests in our cities due to yet another black man shot by police on-camera. Meanwhile, the Doom-and-Gloom Republican National Convention enters it’s fourth and hopefully final day, bearing a message that electing the other guy means a dystopian American future of plague, pestilence and violence in our cities.

Time for some music.

A Musical Question

Way back in the early 1990’s I was still in the Navy. Between living in Naples, Italy, moving to Southern Mississippi, then finishing out my Navy career living on a ship in Hawaii, I didn’t catch a lot of the music scene. But there was one song I apparently picked up a piece of during that time, as a musical phrase “What’s Going On?” has run through my head ever since.

Recently, while browsing through the YouTube world of the Internet, I stumbled upon a piece of music that finally answered the question “Where did that musical what’s going on come from?” (Really – those are the types of questions that often keeps me awake at night.)

The musical piece is “What’s Up?,” sung by the early 1990’s group “4 Non Blonds.” From the ever-wonderful Wikipedia:

4 Non Blondes was an American alternative rock band from San Francisco, California, active from 1989 to 1994. Their first and only album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More! spent 59 weeks on the Billboard 200. They hit the charts in 1993 with the release of the album’s second single, “What’s Up?,” and Bigger, Better, Faster, More! sold 1.5 million copies between 1992 and 1994. […] Lead singer Linda Perry left the band in 1994, and the remaining members disbanded shortly thereafter.

Wikipedia – 4 Non Blondes

It’s a real shame this band broke up so quickly, as Linda Perry has an incredible voice. Her song “What’s Up?” hits a lot of notes for me and has quickly become one of my favorite songs. It’s listed as one of the top 100 songs of 1993, but twenty-seven years later still asks the right question.

Music Video Ahead

I hereby present the official music video of 4 Non Blondes – “Whats Up?”

May our days get better.