New Single Here, New CD BOGO |
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
I hope you had a merry Christmas. My family and I spent Christmas Eve at Ellport Community Church with ApX guitarist Tom Milnes and bassist Keith Haynie and their families, plus the rest of the congregation.
Three of my daughters, Janna, Heather, and Natalie, sang three Christmas songs with yours truly to open up the service — “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
Our son, T.J., might have participated, too, but he was too sick (basic flu-like symptoms) to come to church. Poor guy. My wife, Lisa, our other daughter, Kelly, and I were sick last weekend with the same thing.
I was well enough to sing on Tuesday night but couldn’t do my scheduled ApX studio session on Monday morning, so our next single probably won’t be out till Sunday, January 12. I’m supposed to record the first song early this coming week.
However, we’re hoping to put out the next edition of our digital songbook next weekend, Lord willing. Lisa has literally been working on it for the past two years since we published the last edition in January 2023, and it’s just about finished.
If all goes according to schedule, she'll get a brief moment to enjoy a songbook that contains everything ApologetiX has released … until our first single of 2025 comes out a week later. That’s better than last time, when we released the songbook the same week as a new single that rendered it incomplete. Soul-crushing.
Before you ask, no, we can’t just update the songbook every time a new single or CD comes out. There are a bunch of different indexes impacted and a zillion different links which render that impossible. You wouldn’t believe how many hours this project requires. It’s a labor of love, and the lady I love labors long and hard on it.
In addition to lyrics for about a hundred new songs, the new songbook will include some new articles and a bunch of great photos from the big ApX concert at Immortal Fest (our first since 2017) in September 2024. We can’t wait for you to see it!
Next weekend, I plan to write a wrap-up of 2024 and tell you some exciting plans we have for 2025. In the meantime, let’s learn about the final two songs that made it into the songbook. |
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New Single: #1s on Four Charts |
Last Sunday, we released our 25th single of 2024. It spoofs a couple hits from 1977 — one that topped the pop, country, and adult contemporary charts and one that topped the R&B chart (and also reached the Top Five on the pop chart). |
Sudden Nudge - Southern Nights - Glen Campbell Strong-Worded Letter 24 - Strawberry Letter 23 - The Brothers Johnson |
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The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our 25th single of 2024. SUDDEN NUDGE
The title for this parody came to me on June 26, 2024 ... literally like a sudden nudge. I'd never felt any previous inclination to spoof "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell.
That single hit #1 on the pop, adult contemporary, and country charts a couple months before I entered my teenage years ... a time when adult contemporary, country, and much of pop music would no longer be considered cool. Nevertheless, I still liked "Southern Nights." Then again, for the majority (if not the entirety) of my teendom, I wasn't considered cool, either.
When I mentioned the possibility of this parody to ApX drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner, I was surprised by his enthusiasm. Apparently, "Southern Nights" had been a "road anthem" for him and his wife, Eve, on trips they'd taken. That was all the confirmation I needed that I was being "nudged" in the right direction.
I can't even begin to count — let alone recount — how many times over the years I've gotten sudden nudges and subtle signs from God in regard to lyrics, never mind in regard to my life as a born-again Christian. In fact, I see God did that often even before I came to Christ.
As I was putting together this journal entry, it occurred to me that "Sudden Nudge" has a theme similar to one of my favorite old Newsboys songs, "Spirit Thing," although I never thought about that tune while writing my lyrics. However, I just realized the first line of its chorus describes the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit as "a holy nudge.”
"Sudden Nudge" features J. Jackson on lead vocals, Janna Jackson on backing vocals, Heather Jackson on backing vocals, Rich Mannion on keyboards and 12-string guitar, Tom Tincha on guitars, Keith Haynie on bass, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
STRONG-WORDED LETTER 24
I love the Epistle to the Galatians. We’d already done two songs about it (“What Is and What Will Forever Be” in 1993 and “This Is From Paul” in 2014), but I reread that letter several times after getting the idea for this parody on November 29, 2024. Those six chapters are full of tough love, but they show us so much about the heart of the Apostle Paul and the heart of the true Gospel.
“Strawberry Letter 23” was a big hit (#5 pop, #1 R&B) for The Brothers Johnson in 1977. Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner and I both had fond memories of the tune, but neither of us knew exactly what it was about or why the lyrics didn't mention “Strawberry Letter 23," but did mention “Strawberry Letter 22.”
I later learned that the numbers were intended to represent a sequential exchange of love letters; the singer had recently received "Strawberry Letter 22" and was responding with "Strawberry Letter 23.”
I considered calling ours “Strong-Worded Letter Sent to You" (to rhyme with “Strawberry Letter 22”) or "Strong-Worded Letter Sent From Me" (to rhyme with “Strawberry Letter 23”), but I wanted something ... dare I say "stronger"? Then I thought, “Strong-Worded Letter ’24,” since it was coming out in December 2024, but that title would quickly “date” the song.
Finally, I decided to ditch the apostrophe and call it "Strong-Worded Letter 24." That way it's the next number in succession after 22 and 23 but also has the implications of 2024 without specifically stating so.
"Strong-Worded Letter 24" features J. Jackson on lead vocals; Rich Mannion on keyboards and backing vocals; Wayne Bartley on guitars; George Elliott on bass; and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion. |
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New CD in Stock, BOGO (Choose from 43 Titles) |
Our 76th CD, X-Tract, has been in stock since late afternoon on December 20. We mailed out preorders the morning of December 21, and some fans have told us they even received their copies before Christmas!
We have continued to mail out new orders as they’ve come in, except for those going to Canada. Unfortunately, the U.S. Postal Service still will not allow us to mail any Canadian orders yet, as a result of the recent mail strike there. As soon as they allow us, we will mail them.
X-Tract features 12 parodies of hits from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.
Order now, and you’ll get the MP3 download immediately. You’ll also get an extra X-Tract CD free with every X-Tract CD you buy. Or choose from 42 other titles as your free extra CD.
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Complete Library for $100 (Includes New CD & Single) |
We recently revamped the downloadable version of our complete library. Now it comes in a PDF with pictures of every album and single for easy reference. You just click on the ones you need to download them instantly.
It even includes our new CD, X-Tract, and our new single, “Sudden Nudge / Strong-Worded Letter 24."
The complete library download is available to everyone who donates $100 this week.
That's 1738 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single and our latest CD. |
Standard CDs 1993–2024 (955 tracks) Remastered Classics CDs (219 tracks) Singles, EPs, Rarities, Side Projects (564 tracks)
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New USBs Include New CD & Single |
Our new ApologetiX USB thumb drives include our new CD, X-Tract, and our new single, “Sudden Nudge / Strong-Worded Letter 24."
The USBs contain the digital versions of all of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren’t on CD yet.
Emblazoned with the band's logo, they have a storage capacity of 16 GB, and they’re write-enabled, so you can add more music to them if and when you get future ApX downloads.
They’re available for a donation of $150 or more. If you've donated for our complete library before, they're available for a donation of $50 or more. |
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Start the New Year With the New Testament |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
Our latest trip through the Old Testament will end on December 31. That means we’ll start the New Testament on January 1.
If you want to make a New Year’s resolution to read through the entire Bible, I recommend getting your feet wet by starting with the New Testament anyway. We’ll start the Old Testament as soon as we finish the New, so you can still read the whole Bible in 2025.
The entire trip takes 355 days, so we should be done several days before Christmas in 2025. There’s never been a better time than 2025, because we’ll be right beside you. My lovely wife, Lisa, has also formatted the entire year’s Bible-reading plan on line in a cool color-coded calendar format that you access HERE. |
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Bible-Reading for Rest of Year |
We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3.
Here's our Bible-reading plan for the rest of the year for those of you reading along with us:
Sat., Dec. 28 - Zechariah 7-9 Sun., Dec. 29 - Zechariah 10-12 Mon., Dec. 30 - Zechariah 13-14 Tue., Dec. 31 - Malachi 1-4 Note: If you don't have a Bible handy, you can look up these passages for free on Bible Gateway. They have about 60 different English translations/versions there to choose from, plus translations in many other languages, many of which also have multiple translations/versions. |
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Influential Albums #1689–1695 |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.
1689. Never Before, but Then Again ... - ApologetiX The 63rd ApologetiX LP came out in in late October 2021. Never before had we released an album like this one. It was the first on which every track spoofed an artist we’ve never attempted before. Even our earliest CDs had at least some parodies of artists we’d already covered in concert or on homemade cassettes that predated our CDs. But then again, the era of music we spoofed on this CD was the same as the CD that directly preceded it, Get Rich Quick. Those were all parodies of hits from the mid-80’s, and we decided to spoof a bunch of tunes from then again. Never Before, but Then Again ... contained a suite of songs (tracks 8-11) in which I recounted how I came to Christ after college ("He Hears Me"), started reading and studying the Bible ("I Can Read About You"), and wound up writing lyrics about it and singing in a Christian band ("Sorry All the Time" and "Psalm 19"). Never before had I expected any of those things to happen. But then again, as I look back now, I can see how the Lord was at work in my life from childhood. Never before had anyone spoken and taught the way Jesus did. The crowds noticed it (Matthew 7:28-29), and even the temple guards acknowledged it (John 7:46). But then again, so much of what He said was quoting from the Old Testament. But then again again, Jesus was (and still is) the Word of God. If you come to Christ, you’ll experience joy like never before. But then again, you don’t have to take my word for it. Take His Word for it! Those artists I alluded to earlier were ABC, Animotion, Cameo, Dan Hartman, Level 42, Eddie Murphy, Billy Ocean, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Ray Parker Jr., Pseudo Echo, Sly Fox, and Jack Wagner. Full disclosure, though: We spoofed one of those artists (the same song, in fact) a second time in a silly, Weird Al-ish, food-themed, one-minute snippet inserted as a hidden bonus track at the end of the disc. 1690. Apolog80s: Back From the Future - ApologetiX Although we didn't put out the first ApologetiX LP of 2021 till early August, we still managed to squeeze in three by the end of the year. Released in late December, Apolog80s: Back From the Future was our 64th overall. We could have called it “The Brown Album,” because the contents included parodies of Bobby Brown and Jackson Browne. However, since it was the third installment in the trilogy of 80’s albums ApologetiX made in 2021, we wanted to finally put a reference to that decade in the title. Apolog80s was too good to pass up. We added the Back from the Future part because we were back from the future with another batch of 80’s parodies and the track listing moved backward from the future, putting the parodies in reverse chronological order of when the songs they spoofed were originally released. Consequently, it started with a song from 1989 and finished with one from 1980. In between, we spoofed songs from every year of the '80s but 1987. Not that we have anything against ‘87, mind you. Many of us who lived through the '80s would love to go back from the future and change some things we did back then. Unfortunately, we can’t undo the past, but we can redo the songs. More importantly, God can and will forgive our sins and cause all things to work together for good in our lives (Romans 8:28). In addition to Messrs. Brown and Browne, these are the other artists covered on Apolog80s: Back From the Future: Eddy Grant, Corey Hart, Billy Joel, Julian Lennon, Mike + The Mechanics, The Moody Blues, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Survivor, and ZZ Top. 1691. Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC - ABC British new-wave pop group ABC were more successful in their native England, but they still had five singles that reached the Top 25 in the States, and I loved every single one of them: "The Look Of Love" (#18 U.S., #4 U.K.), "Poison Arrow" (#25 U.S., #6 U.K.), "Be Near Me" (#9 U.S., #29 U.K.), "How To Be A Millionaire" (#20 U.S., #49 U.K.), and "When Smokey Sings" (#5 U.S., #11 U.K.). Lead singer Martin Fry sure could croon, and he wrote very clever lyrics. Not only that, like others in the so-called New Romantic Second British Invasion, he was quite the snappy dresser. As I mentioned long ago on this list, I had ABC's debut LP, The Lexicon of Love, on cassette (somebody lent it to me or left it with me), and I purchased some of their later singles as well. Released in 2001, Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC, was a career-spanning anthology feature 17 tracks, including 10 others that reached the U.K. and/or U.S. charts: "All of My Heart" (#5 U.K.), "That Was Then but This Is Now" (#18 U.K., #89 U.S.), "Tears Are Not Enough" (#19 U.K.), "The Night You Murdered Love" (#31 U.K.), "One Better World" (#32 U.K.), "S.O.S." (#39 U.K.), "King Without A Crown" (#44 U.K.), "Ocean Blue" (#51 U.K.), "The Real Thing" (#68 U.K.), "Vanity Kills" (#70 U.K., #91 U.S.). Of those, my favorites are the tenderly beautiful "All of My Heart" and the hilariously spiteful "Vanity Kills." Others I like include "The Night You Murdered Love," "That Was Then but This Is Now," "The Real Thing," "King Without a Crown," and "Tears Are Not Enough." ApologetiX spoofed "Be Near Me" in 2020. 1692. ...Hits - Phil Collins The 1980s was the decade when Phil Collins went from Genesis to ubiquitous ... radio, video, prime-time TV, and big-screen movie ... pop, mainstream rock, and adult contemporary charts ... on his own, paired with other artists, or with the band where he first found fame. Furthermore, as many of us remember well, he was the only artist who performed at both Live Aid shows on July 13, 1985 — first the U.K. edition at Wembley Stadium in London and then the U.S. edition at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia — thanks to a transatlantic flight on the supersonic Concorde airliner. On that fateful day, he not only performed his own material, he also accompanied Sting, Eric Clapton, and the three remaining members of Led Zeppelin! Released on October 5, 1998, ...Hits did a decent job summarizing his solo successes up till that point. Each one of its 16 tracks hit the pop, rock, and/or AC Top 10, and seven of them topped the Hot 100: "Against All Odds" (#1 pop, #2 AC), "One More Night" (#1 pop, #1 AC, #4 mainstream), "Sussudio" (#1 pop, #10 mainstream), "Separate Lives" with Marilyn Martin (#1 pop, #1 AC), "A Groovy Kind Of Love" (#1 pop, #1 AC), "Two Hearts" (#1 pop, #1 AC), and "Another Day In Paradise" (#1 pop, #1 AC, #7 mainstream). The other hits on ...Hits were: "Easy Lover" with Philip Bailey (#2 pop, #5 mainstream), "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (#3 pop, #3 AC, #5 mainstream), "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven" (#4 pop, #2 AC), "Take Me Home" (#7 pop, #12 mainstream), "You Can't Hurry Love" (#10 pop, #9 AC), "In The Air Tonight" (#19 pop, #2 mainstream), "Both Sides Of The Story" (#25 pop, #10 AC), "Dance Into The Light" (#45 pop, #6 AC), and "True Colors" (#66 pop, #2 AC). Remarkably, that still left these hits on the cutting-room floor: "Do You Remember?" (#4 pop, #1 AC), "Don't Lose My Number" (#4 pop), "I Missed Again" (#19 pop, #8 mainstream), "Everyday" (#24 pop, #2 AC), "I Don't Care Anymore" (#39 pop, #3 mainstream), "Hero" with David Crosby (#44 pop, #3 AC), "Somewhere" (#7 AC), "It's in Your Eyes" (#8 AC), and "Inside Out" (#9 mainstream). ... not to mention "No One Is to Blame" by Howard Jones (#4 pop, #1 AC, #20 mainstream) on which Collins sang backing vocals, played drums, and produced. ...Hits topped the U.K. albums chart and reached #6 on the Billboard 200, selling five million copies in Europe and three million in the United States. And less than a year after this collection came out, Collins wrote and sang one of the biggest AC hits of all time, "You'll Be in My Heart" (#21 pop, #1 AC for 19 weeks) from the Disney animated film, Tarzan. ApologetiX spoofed "In the Air Tonight" in 2023. I bought Collins' 2016 autobiography, Not Dead Yet: The Memoir in 2024, and it's one of the most entertaining rock books I've ever read — written in a witty, self-deprecating, and painfully honest style. 1693. Come See, Some Saw - ApologetiX Pardon my French, but “comme ci, comme ça” is an expression that literally means “like this, like that,” although it’s commonly used to say something is “so-so” — neither good nor bad. The title of the 65th ApologetiX LP, Come See, Come Saw, is pronounced similarly but means something quite different ... something very good. It’s an invitation to come see Jesus — the miracle worker described in track 2 and risen Lord preached about in tracks 1, 7, 11, and 12 — from those who already came and saw. He’s also the King of Kings, and He’s going to come see this world again someday, so it would serve us all well to have a certain savoir faire in regard to our fair Savior, as we discuss in track 3. Tracks 4-6 revisit Old Testament heroes, and tracks 8-10 deal with true love. French is a romance language after all. To complete the French connection, you’ll also hear words like “mon ami” and “rendezvous” in tracks 2 and 3. Of course, some see, some saw, but not all believe. Nevertheless, if you keep your heart open and your peepers peeled, we promise you’ll get an Eiffel. The first of four albums we would release in 2022, Come See, Come Saw came out in early May of that year and featured a pair of similarly titled songs, "Galilee (The Man With the Withered Hand)" and "Galilee (The Land of the Risen Man)," which were parodies of the homophonically titled "Valerie" by Steve Winwood and "Valleri" by The Monkees. The latter was one of two Monkees tunes spoofed on this disc, along with "Daydream Believer." Other artists on our agenda this time around included Culture Club, Depeche Mode, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Elvis Presley, Right Said Fred, and Three Dog Night. 1694. Suitable for Framing - Three Dog Night Released on June 11, 1969, Three Dog Night's second LP was a strong sophomore effort, generating three Top 15 singles — "Easy To Be Hard" (#4), a song first heard in the musical Hair; "Eli's Coming" (#10), written by critics' darling Laura Nyro; and "Celebrate" (#15), which featured the horn section of Chicago Transit Authority, who had just released their debut album two months earlier and would soon shorten their name to Chicago. Suitable for Framing also featured "Lady Samantha," penned by Elton John & Bernie Taupin, giving the songwriting duo much-needed attention before they had any hits of their own. Elton had already released his own version as a single in January 1969, but it did not chart. I'm a big fan of the Rocket Man, but I greatly prefer 3DN's interpretation. My next favorite song is actually an original written by one of the group's lead singers, Danny Hutton — "Dreaming Isn't Good for You." Other highlights included "Circle for a Landing," and a cover of Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright." I also like "Ain't That a Lot of Love" and the Dog's remake of Sam Cooke's classic civil-rights anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come." Cory Wells sings the heck out of it, but the lyrics lose a little relevance. The remaining track, "King Solomon's Mines," is a drum solo by Floyd Sneed. Suitable for Framing went to #16 on the Billboard 200 and sold half a million copies. ApologetiX spoofed "Eli's Coming" in 2021. 1695. Turn It On Again: The Hits - Genesis Released on October 25, 1999, Turn It on Again: The Hits featured 18 songs spanning from 1973-97, as Genesis progressed from prog to pop. It's interesting to compare the chart positions of the group's hit singles on either side of the pond. Big hits in America often weren't nearly as big in England: "Invisible Touch" (#1 U.S., #15 U.K.), "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (#3 U.S., #18 U.K.), "In Too Deep" (#3 U.S., #19 U.K.), "Land of Confusion" (#4 U.S., #14 U.K.), "Throwing It All Away" (#4 U.S., #22 U.K.), "That's All" (#6 U.S., #16 U.K.), and "Misunderstanding" (#14 U.S., #42 U.K.). The reverse is true as well: "Mama" (#4 U.K., #73 U.S.), "No Son of Mine" (#6 U.K., #12 U.S.), "Follow You Follow Me" (#7 U.K., #23 U.S.), "Turn It on Again" (#8 U.K. #58 U.S.), "Abacab" (#9 U.K., #26 U.S.), "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" (#21 U.K. only), and "Congo" (#29 U.K. only). The rare exceptions to that rule on this collection are: "I Can't Dance" (#7 U.S., #7 U.K.), "Hold on My Heart" (#12 U.S., #16 U.K.), and "Jesus He Knows Me" (#20 U.K. #23 U.S.) Almost all of the tracks on Turn It on Again: The Hits featured the line-up of Genesis best known to the general populace: Phil Collins on lead vocals and drums, Mike Rutherford on guitar and bass, and Tony Banks on keyboards. However, the 1973 single "I Know What I Like in Your Wardrobe" had Peter Gabriel on lead vocals and Steve Hackett on lead guitar, while the 1997 post-Collins single "Congo" had Ray Wilson on lead vocals. The final track, "The Carpet Crawlers 1999," was a remake of a song from the group's classic 1974 LP The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It reunited the '74 line-up of Gabriel, Collins, Rutherford, Banks, and Hackett. Gabriel sang the first part of the '99 recording, Collins sang the second, and they harmonized on the end. The group originally had planned for Wilson to sing the final verse, but he left Genesis, so that verse was eliminated. In keeping with the U.S./U.K. popularity disparity discussed earlier, Turn It on Again: The Hits petered (pun intended) out at #68 on the Billboard 200 but went all the way to #4 on the U.K. albums chart. ApologetiX has spoofed "Land of Confusion," "Abacab," and "That's All." |
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If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it. |
If you prefer to mail a check or money order, please make it out to "ApologetiX" and send it to:
ApologetiX
208 Charlemma Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15214-1414
Although the donations are not tax-deductible, they will be received very gratefully and used immediately. Thank you! |
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And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NKJV) |
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P.O. Box 101705
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
USA
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