J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again. Here are the stories behind the songs on our 16th single of 2024: 

JEROBOAM

I wrote this parody in 1997 at the latest, but we didn't record it till 2024. Even so, I kept 75 percent of my original lyrics intact. 

Jeroboam became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel (later called Samaria) once the nation was divided after Solomon's death. Although chosen by the people, he ascended the throne by divine appointment and prior prophetic pronouncement. Nevertheless, he quickly led the people into idolatry, making two golden calves and proclaiming, "Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). 

He set up one in the far south (Bethel) and the other in the far north (Dan). "And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other" (1 Kings 12:30). 

Moreover, his sin lived on after his death. Subsequent kings Abijah, Nadab, Baasha, Elah (implied), Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah are named as rulers who carried on the worship of those calves (1 Kings 15:26, 15:34, 16:13 16:19, 16:26, 16:31, 22:52; 2 Kings 3:3, 10:29-31, 13:6, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9, 15:18, 15:24, 15:28, 17:22). 

In fact, only three kings of the northern kingdom aren't mentioned as having done so, and only one of those, Hoshea, is specifically noted as not having done so (2 Kings 17:2). The calves were finally destroyed by King Josiah of Judah (2 Kings 23:15), almost 300 years after their construction.  
 
SHEBA WOMAN

In this parody, the Queen of Sheba recounts the details of her visit to King Solomon in 1 Kings 10:1–13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–12. I like to learn and memorize things when I write parodies, so I wanted to make sure I worked the modern-day location of Sheba into the lyrics, along with the place where the story first appears in the Bible. 

"She's a Woman" was a very high-charting Beatles song (#4) that you almost never hear on the radio or see included in collections of their hits. I first heard it on The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, the only Fab Four album I could find at my local library as an eager Beatles listener in eighth grade. 

It was the flip side of their number-one single “I Feel Fine,” which we spoofed as “Matthew 9” in 1993 and redid in 2023. In similar fashion, we released a primitive version of "Sheba Woman" in 1996 and finally produced a proper studio version in 2024. 

The rendition on Rare Not Well Done was recorded live at Lazarus’ Tomb in Arnold PA on March 9, 1996, and first appeared later that year on a homemade cassette called Beatleg. I loved the words and have been wanting to give them the royal treatment ever since. 

I wasn't sure we'd ever get around to that, because we covered the same topic with the song “Sheba” in 2015. My daughter Janna did a much more convincing Queen of Sheba than I, but I can probably do a much more convincing Paul McCartney than she. After all, she’s a woman.

In case you missed our announcement in January, ApologetiX is booked to play what will be our first concert in almost seven years. We've gotten a tremendous response from fans all over the United States and Canada who tell us they're planning to attend.

Our most-recent show was on October 24, 2017. We've been comfortable operating as a studio-only band since then and have been saying all along that it would take something really big to get us back up on stage. Well, this is it!

We're honored to be selected as the closing act for the third annual Immortal Fest in Versailles OH on Labor Day Weekend this year. ApologetiX will play Sunday night, September 1, and most of our fans will still have Monday off for the holiday.

Other artists scheduled to play that weekend include: Bride, The Daniel Band, Fear Not, Ironwrath, James Durbin, Les Carlsen of Bloodgood, Neon Cross, Sacred Warrior, Saint, Shout, Trytan, Whitecross, and Worldview. The emcee will be the legendary Pastor Bob Beeman of Sanctuary International.

If we were going to return to the stage, we always felt the ideal spot would be a centralized location in the Midwest that would enable as many of our fans as possible to attend from north, south, east, and west. Versailles OH fits the bill. Here are some nearby cities and how far away they are from Versailles:

Dayton OH (45 miles), Muncie IN (50 miles), Cincinnati OH (95 miles), Columbus OH (100 miles), Indianapolis IN (110 miles), Toledo OH (130 miles), Ann Arbor MI (175 miles), Lexington KY (175 miles), Detroit MI (190 miles), Louisville KY (195 miles), Cleveland OH (225 miles), Chicago IL (250 miles), Pittsburgh PA (285 miles), Saint Louis MO (350 miles), and Nashville TN (365 miles). 

Sunday, September 1, 2024 
Immortal Fest II
BMI Event Center
791 E. Main St
Versailles, OH 45380 

BMI Event Center is Miami Valley's best concert venue. The 1500-seat indoor concert hall includes a 330-seat balcony. 

CLICK HERE for more info on the artists, the schedule, the event itself, and tickets.

We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3.

Here's our Bible-reading plan for the next two weeks for those of you reading along with us:


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.

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.

We're giving our complete library on download to everyone who donates $100 this week.

That's 1696 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single, “Jeroboam / Sheba Woman," and our latest CD, ApologetiX ‘74.

We ran out of our latest batch of ApologetiX USB thumb drives last week, but we ordered a new batch on Monday. They should be in stock by next Tuesday, August 13.

As we do with CDs, we'll start taking orders now, and we’ll send out the USBs as soon as they’re in stock.

The new USBs will contain the digital versions of all 74 of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren't on CD ... including our latest single.

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.

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.

1549. AM Gold 1966 - Various Artists
AM Gold 1965 had seven #1 hits and three #3 hits but didn't include any #2 hits. AM Gold 1966 made up for that with five of 'em: "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb, "Daydream" by The Lovin' Spoonful, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down" by Cher, "A Groovy Kind of Love" by The Mindbenders, and "Georgy Girl" by The Seekers. It didn't skimp on #1 hits, either. This time around, there were eight of those: "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys, "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes, "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees, "Cherish" by The Association, "My Love" by Petula Clark, "Winchester Cathedral" by New Vaudeville Band, and "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" by The Righteous Brothers. Furthermore, the nine remaining tracks all made the top 10: "She's Just My Style" by Gary Lewis & The Playboys (#3), "See You in September" by The Happenings (#3), "California Dreamin'" by The Mama's and the Papa's (#4), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield (#4), "Elusive Butterfly" by Bob Lind (#5), "Message to Michael" by Dionne Warwick (#8), "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by B.J. Thomas & The Triumphs (#8), "Sweet Talkin' Guy" by The Chiffons (#10), and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" by The Lovin' Spoonful (#10). The track I needed most on this collection was "Elusive Butterfly" by Bob Lind, which had hitherto eluded me. 
 
1550. AM Gold 1970 - Various Artists
AM Gold 1970 had five #1 hits: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross, "Make It With You" by Bread, "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family, "Everything Is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens, and "I'll Be There" by The Jackson Five.  It also had a pair of #2 hits, "Hey There Lonely Girl" by Eddie Holman and "One Less Bell to Answer" by The 5th Dimension, and four #3 hits, "Green-Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf (#3), "Candida" by Dawn (#3), "Gypsy Woman" by Brian Hyland (#3), and "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. All the other tracks were Top 10 smashes as well: "Patches" by Clarence Carter (#4), "Rainy Night in Georgia" by Brook Benton (#4), "Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor (#5), "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" by Edison Lighthouse, "Ma Belle Amie" by The Tee Set (#5), "I'll Never Fall in Love" by Dionne Warwick (#6), "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" by Melanie w/Edwin Hawkins Singers (#6), "O-o-h Child" by The 5 Stairsteps (#8), "Snowbird" by Anne Murray (#8), "Your Song" by Elton John (#8), and "Share the Land" by The Guess Who (#10). I probably bought this CD to get the ultra-depressing "Indiana Wants Me," but it may have been for the cheery "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)," too. After all was said and done, though, the main track I associate with AM Gold 1970 is the lovely-but-bittersweet "Snowbird," the first of many hits for Murray. 
 
1551. AM Gold 1971 - Various Artists
Only one song on AM Gold 1971 missed the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 — "Temptation Eyes" by The Grass Roots (#15). Meanwhile, five selections hit #1: "Knock Three Times" by Dawn, "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) by The Temptations, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees, "Want Ads" by The Honey Cone, and "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) by The Raiders. Ten others hit #1 on other significant charts: "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones (#1 Cash Box, #1 Canada, #2 Billboard pop), "Never Can Say Goodbye" by The Jackson 5 (#1 R&B, #1 Cash Box, #2 Billboard pop), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by Joan Baez (#1 adult contemporary, #1 Canada, #3 Billboard pop), "Baby I'm-A Want You" by Bread #1 AC, #3 Billboard pop), "Have You Seen Her" by The Chi-Lites (#1 R&B, #3 Billboard pop), "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (#1 Cash Box, #1 Canada, #4 Billboard pop), "An Old Fashioned Love Song" by Three Dog Night (#1 AC, #4 Billboard pop), "Sweet City Woman" by The Stampeders (#1 Canada, #8 Billboard pop), "Spanish Harlem" by Aretha Franklin (#1 R&B, #2 Billboard pop), and "If I Were Your Woman" by Glady Knight and the Pips (#1 R&B, #9 Billboard pop). The remainder of the tracks were as follows: "Put Your Hand in the Hand" by Ocean (#2 Billboard pop), "Signs" by Five Man Electrical Band (#3 Billboard pop), "Draggin' the Line" by Tommy James (#4 Billboard pop), "Sunshine" by Jonathan Edwards (#4 Billboard pop), "One Toke Over the Line" by Brewer & Shipley (#10 Billboard pop), and "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" by Carly Simon (#10 Billboard pop). "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was one of the first songs my sister Kris ever taught me to sing as kid as she played our family piano. I didn't know really know what the song was about at the time nor did I understand why there was a woman on the front of the sheet music when the person singing the song identified himself as Virgil Caine and talked about his wife. ApologetiX has spoofed "Draggin' the Line," "Signs," and "One Toke Over the Line." 
 
1552. AM Gold: #1 Hits of the '70s ('75-79) - Various Artists
I often point out which songs went to #1 on the compilations discussed in these entries, but that's not necessary this time around, because AM Gold: #1 Hits of the '70s ('75-79) is exactly what it claims to be. There were 20 tracks in all — and every single one of them topped the Billboard Hot 100 — four from '75, two from '76, eight from '77, three from '78, and three from '79. I'll list them in chronological order of when they peaked: "Laughter in the Rain" by Neil Sedaka, "Have You Never Been Mellow" by Olivia Newton-John, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver, "Let Your Love Flow" by The Bellamy Brothers, "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band, "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor, "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston, "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer, "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" by Bill Conti, "Da Doo Ron Ron" by Shaun Cassidy, "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb, "Best of My Love" by The Emotions, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" by Johnny Mathis and Denise Williams, "Grease" by Frankie Valli, "Le Freak" by Chic, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb, and "Rise" by Herb Alpert. Although it focused on hits from the disco era, AM Gold: #1 Hits of the '70s ('75-79), didn't come out until 2000. Eleven of the featured artists never reached the summit again. Here are the ones with multiple #1 hits, with the amount for each in parentheses: Frankie Valli (7, counting solo and The Four Seasons), Olivia Newton-John (5), John Denver (4), Neil Sedaka (3), Andy Gibb (3), Chic (2), Leo Sayer (2), Johnny Mathis (2), Denise Williams (2), Manfred Mann (2, counting the original band and Manfred Mann's Earth Band). 
 
1553. Greatest Hits - Shaun Cassidy
Teen idol Shaun Cassidy put out five studio albums: his self-titled debut LP (1977), Born Late ('77), Under Wraps ('78), Room Service ('79), and Wasp ('80). Released in 1992, Greatest Hits was a 12-track compilation featuring selections from each of them. Cassidy had only four Top 40 hits, but they were all included: "Da Doo Ron Ron" (#1), "That's Rock 'N' Roll" (#3), "Hey Deanie" (#7), and "Do You Believe in Magic" (#31). The first and fourth were cover versions of '60 hits by The Crystals and The Lovin' Spoonful, respectively, and the middle two were written by Eric Carmen. However, Cassidy wrote four of the tracks on Greatest Hits and co-wrote a fifth. Of those, I'd say the catchiest one was "Break for the Street." Two other cover versions of note on this collection were "So Sad About Us," originally done by The Who, and "Once Bitten Twice Shy," first written and performed by Ian Hunter and later turned into a monster hit for Great White. Cassidy had just one other Hot 100 single, "Our Night" (#80), but it's absent from Greatest Hits. "So Sad About Us," which he recorded with Todd Rundgren and Utopia, reached #117 on the Record World. He had two other singles that bubbled under the Record World chart, "Midnight Sun" (#103) and "Are You Afraid of Me?" (#108), but neither of them are on appeared on this collection. ApologetiX has yet to spoof Shaun Cassidy, but we did namecheck him in one of our Eminem parodies, "Look Yourself."
 
1554. Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years - Frank Sinatra
Released in 1991, Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years culled 20 cuts from the 1990 box set The Reprise Collection and put them all on a single disc, which made it to #98 on the Billboard 200. Sinatra's years on the Reprise label, which he founded, spanned from 1960-86. The contents of this compact compilation included four #1 adult contemporary hits, "Strangers in the Night" (#1 pop), "That's Life" (#4 pop), "Summer Wind" (#25 pop), and "It Was a Very Good Year" (#28 pop). Other notable classics included "My Way" (#2 AC, #27 pop) "Theme from New York, New York" (#10 AC, #32 pop), "Fly Me to the Moon," "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Love and Marriage" (a 1965 rerecording of the 1955 #5 pop hit), "All or Nothing at All" (a 1962 rerecording of the 1943 #2 pop hit), "The Lady Is a Tramp," and "Nancy (With the Laughing Face) (#10 pop). In November 2015, I purchased and read Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan, which had just come out two weeks earlier. The 992-page book chronicles his life (which began in 1915) and career (which began in 1935) from 1954 on. It was the sequel to Sinatra: The Voice, which I haven't read. As Spinal Tap's chauffeur Tommy Pischedda once said, "You know, it's just that people like this... you know ... they get all they want so they really don't understand, you know ... about a life like Frank's. I mean, when you've loved and lost the way Frank has, then you, uh, you know what life's about."
 
1555. The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Formed in 1971 and named after their keyboardist (as was his hit-making '60s group), Manfred Mann's Earth Band is best remembered for their overwhelmingly successful cover version of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" (#1 U.S., #6 U.K.). But they had other hits, including two other Springsteen covers, "Spirit in the Night" (#40 U.S., #64 U.K.) and "For You" (#106 U.S., #15 U.S. mainstream rock).  All three of those can be found on the 1996 LP The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band. For some reason, that album does not include their second biggest U.S. hit, "Runner" (#22 U.S., #34 U.K., #3 U.S. mainstream), but it does have the Bob Dylan cover "You Angel You" (#54 U.S., #54 U.K.), "Davy's on the Road Again" (#6 U.K.), and "Don't Kill It Carol" (#54 U.K.). There's also a cool live version of another Dylan song, the Manfred Mann (the '60s band) hit "Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)." The original 1968 studio version went to #10 U.S. and #1 U.K.; the 1978 live remake went to #14 in Manfred's home country of South Africa. I bought this compilation in 2007, primarily to get the long version of "Blinded by the Light" (7:07, as opposed to the single version, which was only 3:48 and cut out the famous "Chopsticks" piano section) but also to get "For You," a song that brings back memories of listening to album-rock radio during my junior year in high school. An expanded 19-track anthology with a similar cover design and name titled The Very Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band came out in 2022 and added "Runner" plus the U.K.-only hits "Joybringer" (#9) and "California" (#54), which are both quite good. Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it seem like The Very Best should have fewer tracks than The Best?

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!