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| Also a little conflicted... |
The Hit
The more I listen to The Ides of March’s “Vehicle,” the more convinced I am that I’ve heard it. On the other hand, it didn’t ring a bell of any kind the first time I heard it.
Assuming you haven’t heard it, it packs a big sound - lots of horns, a Chicago-funk bass line, the rhythm churns, some really solid call-response - the whole thing just screams “ANTHEM.” This is the sound of kicking ass, chewing bubblegum and naming names…which only makes the song’s origin more notable. The songwriter, Jim Peterik, had an ex-girlfriend who called him for rides after the break-up and he obliged often for it to inspire a song; as he phrased the concept in an (always) undated interview with Best Classic Bands, “all I am to you is your vehicle.” In an ending that’s both fitting and that gets at how relationships really work, they reconciled some time after and eventually got married. I’ve found that people who aren’t sure they want to be together have a way of finding excuses to bump into one another…
The Rest of the Story
Before digging in, I need to get something out of the way: I did not like The Ides of March. I made it through their catalog just four times before tapping out and walking away. There’s nothing wrong with having a bias; the real crime is hiding them for ulterior motives. The importance of that idea will come up later, but also in daily life. Moving on…
The Ides of March came up - and I mean that literally - in (or near) Chicago, Illinois (Berwyn, Illinois). The best way I can think to explain that is to note that, 1) when they dropped the name “The Shon-Dels,” they found inspiration from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which they were reading at the time for high school, and 2) the band’s first hit, “You Wouldn’t Listen to Me” (No. 42 on The Billboard and No. 7 regionally, so not bad) was written during an all-nighter at Peterik’s 15th birthday party. Also, one of their moms, Ann Millas, was the one who arranged their break-trhough meeting with Mercury Records. (For reference, I found most of the finer anecdotes in this post in MusicTAP’s 2020 interview with Peterik.)
The more I listen to The Ides of March’s “Vehicle,” the more convinced I am that I’ve heard it. On the other hand, it didn’t ring a bell of any kind the first time I heard it.
Assuming you haven’t heard it, it packs a big sound - lots of horns, a Chicago-funk bass line, the rhythm churns, some really solid call-response - the whole thing just screams “ANTHEM.” This is the sound of kicking ass, chewing bubblegum and naming names…which only makes the song’s origin more notable. The songwriter, Jim Peterik, had an ex-girlfriend who called him for rides after the break-up and he obliged often for it to inspire a song; as he phrased the concept in an (always) undated interview with Best Classic Bands, “all I am to you is your vehicle.” In an ending that’s both fitting and that gets at how relationships really work, they reconciled some time after and eventually got married. I’ve found that people who aren’t sure they want to be together have a way of finding excuses to bump into one another…
The Rest of the Story
Before digging in, I need to get something out of the way: I did not like The Ides of March. I made it through their catalog just four times before tapping out and walking away. There’s nothing wrong with having a bias; the real crime is hiding them for ulterior motives. The importance of that idea will come up later, but also in daily life. Moving on…
The Ides of March came up - and I mean that literally - in (or near) Chicago, Illinois (Berwyn, Illinois). The best way I can think to explain that is to note that, 1) when they dropped the name “The Shon-Dels,” they found inspiration from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which they were reading at the time for high school, and 2) the band’s first hit, “You Wouldn’t Listen to Me” (No. 42 on The Billboard and No. 7 regionally, so not bad) was written during an all-nighter at Peterik’s 15th birthday party. Also, one of their moms, Ann Millas, was the one who arranged their break-trhough meeting with Mercury Records. (For reference, I found most of the finer anecdotes in this post in MusicTAP’s 2020 interview with Peterik.)
