APRIL PLAYLIST!

The 90's Rule!

I have decided to keep with the 90's theme for the month of April too. In March we took a listen to mostly the heavy hitters from the Alternative Heyday, in April we'll stick with a lot of Indie or underground stuff. Cause it all certainly wasn't on Indie labels! Am I right? Fucking sellouts.

Remember when any band that sold a thousand cassettes outta their car were getting major label contracts? Good times!

Plus, some of the big 90's albums that slipped through the cracks last month.

Each day will feature two 90's albums and something new.

Apologies to anybody I didn't listen to while celebrating the 90's. In two months, I'll have listened to sixty 90's albums and that's barely scratching the surface. And sorry to John Grant, you just got shitcanned cause I forgot all about the new Depeche Mode album. 

TA DA!!!! 

April 1st

Superchunk – Here’s Where The Strings Come In

Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand

The Men – New Moon

April 2nd

Jimmy Eat World – Clarity

Failure – Fantastic Planet

The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow

April 3rd

Bush – Sixteen Stone

Lenny Kravitz – Mama Said

The Strokes – Comedown Machine

April 4th

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Don’t Know How To Party

Reel Big Fish – Turn The Radio Off!

Big D And The Kids Table – For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious

April 5th

Quicksand – Slip

Fugazi – In On The Kill Taker

The Bronx – The Bronx IV

April 6th

Happy Mondays – Pills Thrills And Bellyaches

The Stone Roses – Second Coming

I Am Kloot – Let It All In

April 7th

Jawbreaker – Dear You

Jawbox – For Your Own Special Sweetheart

The Appleseed Cast – Illumination Ritual

April 8th

Catherine Wheel – Ferment

Oasis – The Masterplan

Nine Black Alps – Sirens

April 9th

Live – Throwing Copper

Fuel – Sunburn

Palma Violets – 180

April 10th

Poster Children – Daisy Chain Reaction

Samiam – You Are Freaking Me Out

Suede – Bloodsports

April 11th

Frank Black – Frank Black

The Afghan Whigs – Black Love

Clutch – Earth Rocker

April 12th

Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion I

Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion II

Stereophonics – Graffiti On The Train

April 13th

Depeche Mode – Violator

Pavement – Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Depeche Mode – Delta Machine

April 14th

Goo Goo Dolls – Hold Me Up

Goo Goo Dolls – Superstar Car Wash

Alkaline Trio – My Shame Is True

April 15th

311 – 311

311 – Transistor

My Chemical Romance – Conventional Weapons

April 16th

PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me

Ani Difranco – Not A Pretty Girl

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito

April 17th

Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary

Mercury Rev – Yerself Is Steam

The Flaming Lips – The Terror

April 18th

NOFX – Punk In Drublic

Face To Face – Face To Face

Face To Face – Three Chords And A Half Truth

April 19th

The Orb – The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

The Orb – U.F.Orb

Molly Ringwald – Except Sometimes

April 20th - Dickbag Day!

Limp Bizkit – Significant Other

Korn – Follow The Leader

Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll (These twats can't even spell Rock 'N' Roll right!)

April 21st

Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction

Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come

The Virginmarys – King Of Conflict

April 22nd

Bjork – Debut

Bjork – Post

Veronica Falls – Waiting For Something To Happen

April 23rd

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas

Ride – Nowhere

Phoenix – Bankrupt!

April 24th

Elliot Smith – XO

Jeff Buckley – Grace

The Veils – Time Stays, We Go

April 25th

The KLF – The White Room

Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole

Kid Cudi – Indicud

April 26th

Ice Cube – Predator

Dr. Dre – The Chronic

Snoop Lion – Reincarnated

April 27th

Morrissey – Your Arsenal

Breeders – Pod

Young Galaxy – Ultramarine

April 28th

Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister

Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap

Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love

April 29th

Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Return To The 36 Chambers

Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death

Tyler, The Creator – Wolf

April 30th

Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney – Vanishing Point

Clinic – Free Reign

Fun Fact! After this month, I will have listened to 360 albums this year! 

3.27.13

On March 27th I listened to The Tragically Hip Day For Night, Our Lady Peace Naveed, two albums getting ready to turn twenty next year, and Hollerado White Paint. Canada Day came early this year! Growing up in a border town, I used to listen to a radio station that had to observe Canadian content regulations exposing me to tons of great Canadian music, so I may do an entire month dedicated to our neighbors to the north. I dunno, maybe?

The pride of Canada! The Tragically Hip!

Day For Night is The Hip’s masterstroke. It’s an album that I always thought should have brought them legions of fans in the good ole U.S. Of A. But, that never happened.

It’s a shame too because there’re epics on this disc! Epics! “Nautical Disaster” is a behemoth! “Grace Too” is an anthem! “Fire In The Hole” is a call to arms! “So Hard Done By” is cold weather Blues. “Scared” is about as cuddly as a cactus and leaves you feeling empty. Day For Night is a gorgeous album.

And their singer, Gordon Downie, is a bona fide madman genius!

This is another one of those albums that over time just became about its “hits.” I’ve spent so many years just paying attention to “Starseed” and “Naveed” I forgot about some great music on Our Lady Peace’s stunning debut!

I used to love “Hope!” Totally forgot all about that song. “Julia,” “The Birdman,” and “Supersatellite” are more great songs I just forgot. God damn it, my stupid brain!

I gotta say that I love this band’s name… Hollerado. Like Colorado, I’m assuming.

Fellow hosers, The Japandroids should take a few notes from White Paint. This is how you make a lo-fi Indie record and pull it off with passion and conviction.  

I’m gonna skimp on this write up, but I liked this record a lot and I’m going to spend more time with it, I promise.

“Pick Me Up,” “Don’t Think,” “Desire 126,” and “So It Goes,” are going to be my concentration tracks. “Lonesome George” is pretty cool too. Just a little Country ditty. 

Apologies to The Hip and Our Lady Peace, but I’ll be giving you both plenty of attention later this year, especially if I do a Canada month!

Tomorrow is a band this is literally tragically hip, Sonic Youth, plus Cracker and the Shout Out Louds. 

Here's April's Playlist!

3.26.13

On March 26th I listened to Oasis (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, Wilco Being There, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Push The Sky Away.

In October of 1995, I was two years out of college. I was working at a collection agency, as the world's worst bill collector, and living with a girl that didn't like me much. She was my college sweetheart, and after a little time had passed, boy did that shit go south. I was miserable. I didn't know it then, but in less than a year I’d get my first job at a radio station, start dating a girl I went to high school with and be roommates with a drug dealer. Things were gonna get better, but in the meantime I had (What’s The Story) Morning Glory!

I used to just get lost in this album. I didn't care about Oasis vs. Blur. I didn't care about Liam Gallagher being a twat. I didn't care that my mother loved “Wonderwall.” I didn't care that the girl that didn't like me much was jealous of this album. “You’re listening to that again?! Give it a rest!” Jealous, I say! I only cared about one thing... Noel Gallagher is a mother fucking pimp! Thank you Noel! Someday, my big fat face is gonna be in a picture with you and it’ll be my most prized possession. Next to my Beastie Boys, Dave Grohl, and AC/DC pictures!

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is like ordering a porterhouse steak for two and eating it alone. On the tenderloin side of the bone there’s the rich and buttery “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” “Cast No Shadow,” and “Champagne Supernova.” They melt! They just fucking melt. Then over on the strip steak side of the bone there’s the bold and meaty “Morning Glory,” “Roll With It,” “Hello,” “Some Might Say,” and “Hey Now.”

Initially, I didn't like “She’s Electric.” I used to skip passed it while listening to the album. Something in me had deemed it too goofy. Then one night I was drinking at Star Bar, a pretty cool long gone bar in Buffalo, NY. Terry Sullivan, from Terry And The Headhunters, was spinning that night and he played it. I was super drunk and loved it so much I meandered over to the DJ booth and asked Terry where he found this Oasis song. “It’s from Morning Glory,” he said in a “you’re a dumbass” kind of tone. Touché Mr. Sullivan. Touché. 

Sometimes I wish everyone in Wilco would just choke on their lead singer’s shaggy unkempt hair and go away. They are one of those band’s that could put out an entire album of toilets flushing and Pitchfuck would call it “brave,” and 100,000 hipsters would cram into the Roseland ballroom to see them play it.

Having said that, I love this record!

Maybe it doesn't have to be a double album, disc 2 gets a little long in the teeth, but God damn, isn't disc 1 just beautiful! It really does fit the Alt Country moniker, cause it’s just not quite either alone. I used to mainly stick to the first half, but when I got my first MP3 player in 2000, it became easier to listen to all of this album. I love a lot of Wilco’s music, in fact, but I never really thought they topped this album in terms of wholeness and universality. “Forget The Flowers,” sounds like pure Americana to me and that is a lot of this album’s appeal.

I absolutely adore Wilco’s work with Billy Bragg on the Mermaid Avenue albums. You know, maybe I’m being too hard on them here. I’ll go back and listen to all their shit this year and get back to you.

It’s definitely not Wilco’s fault that I want to see them get asphyxiated on greasy hair, it’s their fans. Did you ever talk to a Wilco super fan? Oh, brother. If you ever meet one and they start talking about Wilco, keep track of how long it takes them to bring up Uncle Tupelo. It should take about thirty seconds.

When I was working for my college radio station, one of the music directors was one of those Indie-Or-Die kind of douches. Zero personality and an undying love of crap. After Uncle Tupelo broke up, he went home, put on one of their records, blew out the pilot light on his stove and stuck his head in the oven. Two days later, apparently nobody missed him, the lady that lived downstairs turned on her stove and blew up half a city block. Seven people were killed. Fucking tragic. If he had only hung on he would have lived to love Wilco and his thirst for Alt Country gems would have been satiated for years to come. 

It’s really that kind of blind devotion that people have, not just for Wilco, but for any artist that makes me skeptical of their true motives. Now maybe it's not always some guy sticking his head in the oven because a band broke up, but there're other varying degrees of super fanboy bologna that I don't understand. Do you really love some band or artist soooooo much, that if they release an undeniable turd, you're going to pretend to like it? Why? What's the endgame of that?

I was never a Nick Cave fan. I’m still not.

I know that’s a cop out, but I’m just not familiar with his body of work. I can honestly say I only know one Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ songs.

Back in 1996 when Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds put out Murder Ballads, my friend Mike Parrish, played their take of “Stagger Lee” on the jukebox at a very hip dive bar we used to frequent. The song was winding through its story when Nick sings, “I’ll crawl over fifty good pussies to get to one good fat boy’s asshole.” The uproar from pretty much everyone in the bar was so swift and passionate; the bartender skipped the song with a secret button behind the bar, gave Mike a dollar and told him to stay away from the jukebox.

You should watch the video for that song right now! It makes Billy Squire’s video for “Rock Me Tonight” seem like it was choreographed by Paula Abdul. Even if this is a joke, it does not land. 

Oh and I listened to Push The Sky Away... It's just not for me. 

3.25.13

On March 25th I listened to nothing but Foo Fighters! From where it began to 2011’s Wasting Light. It was Dave “Fuckin’” Grohl Day!

If you haven’t seen Back And Forth, the story of the Foo Fighters, you should do that chop chop! It’s so fucking good and it gives a nearly complete history of Dave Grohl’s journey from Nirvana to Foo to Superstar. All from the horse’s mouth. Seriously, you’ll be richer for having seen it.

Dave Grohl’s back certainly wasn't up against the wall after Kurt checked out. He was young, rich, and beyond fucking talented. But, there was a youthful urgency in him to stay in the game and keep moving forward.  

He turned down a gig playing with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers! Monumentally cool offer, but I’m glad he said no.

He could have just become the Josh Freese* of the music industry before Josh Freese actually did.

He could have lived a life of political activism and philanthropy, much the way Krist Novoselic did, and that would have been pretty cool too.

But, Dave Grohl became Dave Grohl! America’s Rock star! Who doesn’t love him?

He’s a workhorse with more talent than energy. The video Fresh Pots documenting his coffee overdose will attest to that.

He’s a songwriter and musician with more ideas than outlets to record them. He’s recorded with Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Probot, Tenacious D, Killing Joke and quite a few others. He's currently having a blast playing with the Sound City Players AND working on the eighth Foo Fighters record!

He’s a likeable guy with more personality than ten late night talk show hosts. He hosted a week of Chelsea Lately and did a pretty solid job, plus if you've ever seen the guy live he really knows how to tell a story from the stage.

And I’m in love with him!

We talked on the phone once and I met him twice and those are some of the most cherished moments in my life. When I get tucked in at night, in my Dave Grohl pajamas, I look at our pictures together, listen to the awful interview I conducted with him in 1997 and dream about falling asleep in his feather tattooed arms. (Sigh.) 

Born on the 4th Of July! As America celebrated its independence in 1995, Dave Grohl established his as a force to be reckoned with in Rock music. He worked almost completely alone on this album, playing all the instruments. This debut wonderfully said what needed to be said, “Nirvana was great, but I’m a Foo Fighter now.”

In the spring of that year you could almost feel Nirvana fans collectively “pulling for” Dave Grohl to do something great! Then “This Is A Call” hit the radio and it was impressive! Only one question remained. Were the Foo Fighters going to be a footnote in the Nirvana legend, or were they going to write their own story? When “Big Me” became a Mento tossing juggernaut in 1996, it was pretty obvious that Dave Grohl wasn't going anywhere.

While I was listening to this album for the first time in a while, the same thing that always happens, happened. I say something like, “Oh, shit! I forgot how great this album is!”

Dave Grohl took a bunch of dumbly named songs and made each one special. “Weenie Beenie?” “For All The Cows?” “Oh, George?” They all sound like they’d be little “skits” or something between songs, but they’re great Rock songs! “Floaty,” to me, foreshadowed the growth and depth of songwriting and recording that was to come from Grohl.

And I absolutely love that my buddy, Greg Dulli from Afghan Whigs, is the only other person that plays on this record. He plays guitar on “X-Static.”

For album No. 2, Dave Grohl needed to not only deliver some good songs, but now they had to be recorded to a higher standard. Foo Fighters sounded like $20 ear buds you get at the checkout of the grocery store, The Colour And The Shape needed to sound like $200 Beats headphones you need a clerk at Best Buy to get from the locked cabinet for you. Enter Gil Norton.

Norton had produced some great records from Catherine Wheel, Counting Crows and The Pixies. Grohl wanted him because he was looking to make a record that sounded big and Norton definitely fit the bill. He also cracked the whip. The band spent ten weeks recording! Grohl and Norton decided to redo almost all of William Goldsmiths' drum tracks, ultimately leading him to quit the band. Grohl didn’t only lose his drummer during this process, but he also got divorced from his first wife while working on The Colour And The Shape. Who divorces Dave Grohl? I wouldn’t.

The end result is a nearly flawless album.

Chris Shiflett Points To Where He'd Like To Punch Me. 

When I started working in radio we still played music on CDs. Not quite like you’d play CDs at home. At a radio station all the CDs were in a thin case and the whole case would get inserted into the player. Do you remember how “Monkey Wrench” has a solid one second pause about eleven seconds into the song? Whenever I was playing that song on the radio I would hit pause during that one second of silence. I’d always picture people in their cars rocking out to the opening of the track, “du na na na na na na na na na na na nu…” Waiting through that pause to go "duhn!" and start singing. But there was more silence, because I was sitting in the studio, shitting myself and counting to ten, then I’d hit play. “What have we done with innocence?!”

That's The Biggest Smile Nate Mendel Could Muster. 

I believe this album also started the band on a path of really cool cover songs they would delivery throughout their run. Foo Fighter’s version of “Baker Street” from this session is just short of brilliant. I have a story about driving around Spain, smoking pot and listening to that song, but I won’t bore you with it.

I think I've really hit home the fact that I’m a Dave Grohl fan, but let’s just say all is not well in Fooville. There are a bunch of Foo Fighters songs that I would consider “trite,” and there are a few “relationship” topics I feel Grohl has tackled a few too many times. When this record came out, I couldn't get enough of “Burning Bridges,” “Rope,” and “White Limo,” but something else that was going on on this album kind of put me off.

I just couldn't get behind “Walk,” and “These Days.” I feel like they were treading water in the same spot Grohl had already dove to the bottom of the pool. “Learning to walk again,” screamed echos of “Learn To Fly,” while “These Days,” just seemed like a watered down version of “Best Of You,” “The Prenteder,” or “Let It Die.”  

It was that thinking that kind of kept me from really getting into this record. What a shame. I was missing out on a lot. “Dear Rosemary,” featuring Bob Mould, is gorgeous. And “I Should Have Known,” with Mould and Krist Novoselic is epic!

In conclusion, some albums aren't as bad as the crap song you’re hearing on the radio. Sorry Dave! I love ya, but I gotta call 'em like I see 'em. 

* If you’re in a band that’s recording a big budget album and your drummer sucks… you call Josh Freese. If you can afford him, he’ll make your record sound like John Bonham’s back there keeping time. 

Tomorrow I listed to Oasis, Wilco and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds!

Here's the March Playlist!

3.24.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 24th I listened to The Cranberries Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We, Liz Phair Whip-Smart, and Bruno Mars Unorthodox Jukebox.

Did you know that the couch The Cranberries are sitting on on the album cover was rented? It’s true. They rented the same couch to sit on for their second album too. When they were preparing to shoot the cover for the third album the guy that had rented them the couch decided to jack up the price. So, they blew up his car… or just told him to “piss off.” One of the two.

Super easy album to like and it spawned two mega-hits, “Linger” and “Dreams.” I’m pretty sure “Dreams” is in the running to be the most used song in movie trailers and that kind of killed it for me. I still enjoy “Linger,” though.

I know I listened to this whole album a lot when it came out, but most of these songs sounded like I was listening to them for the first time. I thought the second half of this disc was catchier than the first. “Still Can’t…” sounded like a hit that never happened. There was something about that song and “Wanted” that had me thinking about The Smiths. If I had ever thought The Cranberries sounded like them before I completely forgot. But it had to be one of the reason I liked them. I love The Smiths!

If you put a gun to my head today, ten years ago, or twenty when this album came out and asked me to name one person in the band, other than Dolores O'Riordan... just shoot me. Although I know the couch story. 

Even though this wasn’t Exile In Guyville Part II, it’s a pretty strong offering from Liz Phair. “Supernova,” really gave off the impression that she had totally changed up her sound, but the rest of the record pretty much runs straight down Fuck And Run Street, where Liz lives. The album’s opener “Chopsticks” will attest to that.

I haven’t thought about the song “Whip Smart” in years and I loved hearing it again. Yeah, it’s a cornball track, but it’s awful cute! Is "May Queen" about Brian May? 

I had to punch Nic Harcourt in the junk so I could get this cell phone picture with Liz at a Radiohead show.

After listening to Unorthodox Jukebox I came to the conclusion that Bruno Mars likes to get laid. But when he sings about it, it comes off a little crude and clunky. The album’s opener, “Young Girls,” comes off like a four minute open invitation for college girls to try and get back stage at one of his shows so he can fuck them. I dunno, maybe?

Take the song “Gorilla.” It’s not horrible but it builds to the crescendo of “You and me, baby will be fucking like Gorillas.” After that line I started staring at my MP3 player with a very perplexed look on my face. I swear to God it shrugged as if to say, “Yeah, that’s what ya heard. What do you want from me?”

Then he rips off Michael Jackson on “ Treasure,” much like he borrowed from The Police on “Locked Out Of Heaven” and it somehow works. I checked out at this point. I thought I’d save this album for later. 

Catch Bruno all summer long on the Moonshine Jungle Tour! Ladies, please bring proof of age and a raincoat, the front row will get wet.

Tomorrow we celebrate the mighty Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters!

March Playlist is here!

3.23.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 23rd I listened to Ween Pure Guava, Primus Pork Soda, and Dutch Uncles Out Of Touch, In The Wild.

I was a few songs into Pure Guava when I started wondering why I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to. I chalked it up to not being a 20-year-old puke anymore and/or not being high... enough. The brilliant novelty of Ween will never wear off, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

Did you ever try listening to this album with a person that has no idea who Ween is?

“Who is this?”

“It’s Ween.”

“Is he saying ‘Hey fatboy, asshole. Come here, you killed my mother?’”

“Yeah, classic Ween. Do you wanna hear ‘Touch My Tooter?’”

“No.”

“’Poop Ship Destroyer?’”

“No thanks.”

“It’s actually one of my favorites, on their live album, Paintin’ The Town Brown, they do a twenty-six minute version of it.”

“What a treat.”

“I know, right? Wanna hear the hit?”

“Sure.”

“This is called ‘Push Th’ Little Daisies.’”

“This is a hit?”

“Yep.”

I didn't realize it until just now, but now I understand why my mother thinks I’m an asshole.

Really quick… I feel like Tenacious D stole their entire schtick from “Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy).”

“My Name Is Mud,” is my favorite Primus song! Pork Soda is still my favorite Primus album. “Welcome To This World,” “Bob,” “Mr. Krinkle,” and “The Air Is Getting Slippery” are just some of my faves!

Me and my asshole friends used to listen to this album so much. When Roundboy was the bartender at the Essex Street Pub, we threw Pork Soda on all the time. 

I wish albums were more like old movies and you could come across them more without trying. It’s like if you have 50 fucking HBOs, Showtimes, Cinemaxes, Starses, Encores, and whatever.  Every other day a movie you used to love comes on and reminds you how much you liked it. Albums just sit around and you gotta pull them out yourself. It’s like, I didn't know I wanted to watch the Dirty Harry movie “The Enforcer” the other night, until I was halfway through it. Spoiler Alert! Tyne Daly gets shot in the boobs and dies! I wish I was just flipping around the TV and “Oh cool! Pork Soda is coming on in ten minutes!” I dunno, maybe?

I’m gonna do some name dropping here, so watch your toes.

I was hanging out with the band The Joy Formidable in 2011 and Ritzy Bryan told me to listen to a band called Dutch Uncles. I promptly did not listen to them and now years later, here we are. So, to anyone that has recommended a band to me and I didn't listen to them... I don't even listen to shit hot chicks in bands I love tell me to listen to. 

Well anyway, they suck. 

I think I’m being too hard on the new albums I listen to this year, because I’m usually hearing them after listening to a cherished classic. How do you follow Pure Guava and Pork Soda? You certainly don’t do it with wussy little songs that clunk along with feminine sounding vocals, no hooks and a generally perky annoying tempo. This record made me think Hot Chip was good.

Ritzy And I Have The Same Color Eyes! Coincidence?

Tomorrow I listen to The Cranberries, Liz Phair and Bruno Mars!

Here's the March Playlist!

3.22.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 22nd I listened to Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind, Creed My Own Prison, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra II. It was D-Bag Day!

I can honestly say I never listened to a Third Eye Blind album, but the first six songs on this album are all hits! Love ‘em or hate ‘em I know almost every word. I wonder if Stephen Jenkins hates Adam Levine? I think a valid argument could be made that Maroon 5 stole Third Eye Blind’s career. No?

The second six songs on this album suck pretty hard. Is “Motorcycle Drive By” some kind of emo anthem, like a Fall Out Boy song?

I’m definitely not saying I hate this album. Catch me in the right mood and I’ll sing along with “Semi Charmed Life” like it’s the only song on earth. “Those little red panties passed the test,” indeed!

Creed’s stunning debut puts a moral compass on the stained ethos of a divided nation and finds its true north inside a hyperactive conscience.  Think about that.

I think Scott Stapp says it all when he sings “Only in America are we slaves to be free.” That shit’s like Ice Cube’s dick! It runs deep.

I use this website called Best Albums Ever for suggestions for new things to listen to. It’s a pretty cool site. They rank albums by year as they come out. Granted, it’s a wee bit too cool for school, but it’s given me good suggestions. So far this year, according to Best Albums Ever, the My Bloody Valentine album is the best record of 2013. On what fucking planet? I totally need a new place to look for cool shit.

This Unknown Mortal Orchestra is currently ranked No. 11 on the BAE chart. I could barely get passed the name. I don’t have luck with bands that have “orchestra” in their name, except OMD of course.

It’s funny because I don’t hate it. “Swim And Sleep” reminds me of Belle & Sebastian. “So Good At Being In Trouble” sounds like a serious song that Ween might have recorded. And then “One At A Time” is a loud and somewhat funky little number.

I'll spend some more time with these stupidly named bunch of dicks, but I'm calling them UMO from now on. 

Tomorrow I will listen to Ween Pure Guava, Primus Pork Soda, and Dutch Uncles Out Of Touch, In The Wild. 

Check out the March Playlist!

3.21.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 21st I listened to The The Dusk, Rancid And Out Come The Wolves, and David Bowie The Next Day.

I’ll never forget when Leah Kanderfurd (SIC) introduced me to The The in 1987, by lending me her copy of Infected. That album changed my life.

I’d put Dusk up there with the best music ever committed to tape! All I need to say about how much I love this album is that “Love Is Stronger Than Death” will play at my funeral! If I have any money when I die I want all of it to go Matt Johnson to actually sing live, if he’s still around. If he’s not with us or won’t do it, then play it off the vinyl. If you’re the only person there and you don’t have a turntable or the album, then at least take the two minutes to steal it online and play it on anything. If I’m lucky enough to have a tombstone, I want it to say “Brad Maybe – Just Because I’m Dead Doesn’t Mean You Can Go Through All My Stuff.”

Open Letter To Matt Johnson:

Dear Matt,

Call Johnny Marr and Neneh Cherry and whip up another The The record, ok? Take five years if you need to. Just get on that shit! Gee Whiz! 

Smell ya later,

Q. Brad F. Maybe Esquire 

I was never a Rancid album guy. I like their hits and a couple tracks here and there. I remember listening to this album when it came out, and it sounds like Rancid doing their thing… milky white punk rock with a dash of edge. And sometimes that’s just what I’m in the mood for. The real stuff is too exhausting. All the yelling and awful songwriting is just too much. 

How can you listen to a new David Bowie album objectively? Seems like when a living legend drops an album after a long hiatus, all the weight of their entire career comes along with the new music. Nobody’s going to give it a bad review, and nobody did.

I’m basing my listen on one question? Will I ever voluntarily play any music from this album again? Yes.

I genuinely like the title track and maybe “Set The World On Fire” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” but lets me honest. If David Bowie comes to your town and in the middle of the show says, “Thank you, Cleveland! This is another one from my new album, it’s called ‘I’d Rather Be High.’ A one and a two and a three.” You’re gonna say to your friends, “I’d rather be pissing and getting a beer. Be right back.” If Bowie does tour do you realize how short the beer and bathroom lines are going to be during “Let’s Dance?”

I hope I’m not the only one that got excited when they saw “Boss Of Me,” and thought Bowie was doing a cover of They Might Be Giant’s Malcolm In The Middle theme song. It’s not it.

I love making funny of dipshit rock journos and this was my favorite quote. The Daily Telegraph’s Neil McCormick wrote that The Next Day is a “bold, beautiful and baffling electric bolt through its own mythos.” All the good records aren't afraid to just kick their own mythos right in the balls, ya know? I was totally thinking the same thing, but I just couldn't quite put it into unintelligible gobbledygook.

Let me dumb it down for ya.

I’m a David Bowie fan. I like a lot of his music. I do not like all of his music. This record was better than I’d thought it would be. It rocks and there are some nice hooks to keep you interested throughout all 14 tracks, but there’re some stinkers on here. His voice has lost a little of its magic at 66, but not that much. Definitely worth a listen. Another Bowie classic? That's for the years to decide. 

Tomorrow I will listen to Third Eye Blind, Creed and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Or, I might do what my father always told me to do... go play in traffic. 

Here's the March Playlist!

3.20.13

On March 20 th I listened to R.E.M. Out Of Time, R.E.M. Automatic For The People, and R.E.M. Monster! All of R.E.M.’s great 90’s albums!

When this record was released I loved it! 

Granted, I hated the fact that “Losing My Religion” was becoming one of those mega-hits that was everywhere, but there was some great R.E.M. music here. This is one of those albums that will always remind me of the time of year it came out too. When I hear songs of this album I think about the spring, specifically the spring of 1991.

“Texarkana” remains my favorite song from this disc and I love that Mike Mills sings it.

“Shiny Happy People” is beyond dumb. I couldn't hate it more. Why borrow Kate Pierson from The B-52’s if you’re just going to record a pile of shit! You can imagine my horror when it became a hit!

“Endgame” sounds more like something my Grandpa would listen to on the radio and really didn't sound like R.E.M. at all.

I liked and simultaneously hated KRS-One on “Radio Song.”

Maybe I didn't like this record.

And then something weird happened.

It’s a moment you don’t dread, because you don’t know it’s actually coming, but when it happens it will change you forever. 

I was driving to some bullshit family summer gathering on a Sunday afternoon in June of 1991. I was probably listening to Danzig or something obnoxious when everything went into slow motion.  

My mother, from the passenger side, turned down “Twist Of Cain,” and said “turn that shit oooooffff.” Her voice and motions were slowing down almost in anticipation of what was coming. Her head turned towards me and she said, “Play that that’s-me-in-the-corner song that I like. Who sings that?”

“What?” was all I could get out. “No” was the only word in my head and it was repeating. No. No. No. No. It echoed in my thoughts in a rhythmic pattern.

You know when in the movies they have flashbacks? I swear to God as I chanted “No” in my head I was transported to the winter of 1984. I could see 13-year-old me sitting in my room listening to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It” over and over from a cassette that I taped off the radio. My mother burst in. “Turn that shit down!” she exclaimed! “Don’t you have anything else to listen to?”

Swoosh! Now it was the summer of 1986. Sixteen-year-old me is lounging around the pool. The radio was playing David Lee Roth’s “Yankee Rose.” “Who is he talking to?” the old lady yells from the house. “His guitar, ma!” “Well turn that shit down!”

Whoosh! I was now 18-years-old and at my high school graduation party. I was throwing a Smiths cassette in and it lasted all of two minutes. “Not that girl in a coma song! Turn that shit off!”

WHAM! I was now back in the present. At twenty years of age, my mother and I liked the same band! WHAT THE FUCK! Not on my God damn watch! This is a woman that hates The Beatles! She hates the fucking Beatles!

I have a very specific memory of her saying “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It,” was “very annoying.” When I was going to see R.E.M.’s Green Tour, she asked me if that’s the band that does that “Orange Crush song that makes me wanna puke?” Now they’re her new favorite?

Up until this point my mother and I shared a love of two things, Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow. Her affection for the two was genuine while my interest may have been ironic or hip or something. I think we may have bonded over The Human League once a long time ago. But that’s it! R.E.M.’s superstar status had hit too close to home and they were now on my shitlist.

When my mother found out that R.E.M. was behind “Everybody Hurts” she exclaimed with girlish glee, “Oh I like those guys! Don’t you like those Remmy guys, Bunkie?” Yes, my mother calls me Bunkie and apparently she calls R.E.M., Remmy.

I paid zero attention to Automatic For The People upon its release. Not a small feat. The singles off this disc were all pretty big. I will admit to really liking “Man On The Moon” and “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight” is really interesting. What was up with chicks and “Nightswimming?” It was like the nice girls’ naughty anthem or something. Fucking broads.

I found “Find the River” on this listen quite enjoyable. I doubt I ever heard it before. “Ignorland” I remember somehow and didn’t hate.

Monster is the classic example of giving the people what they want! A rockin’ R.E.M. album with songs about weird shit. “What’s The Frequency Kenneth?” was the perfect first single! I was happy to be back in the R.E.M. fold, if only for one more album.

“Star 69” is probably right up there with any of my all-time favorite R.E.M. songs. The thing that really cemented it in my heart was how quickly it became antiquated. Song comes out in 1994 and in less than ten years it’s completely useless. Michael Stipe might as well have been singing about 8-track players.

“Bang And Blame,” “Strange Currencies,” and “Crush With Eyeliner” are all jams I can hear and they still bring a smile to my face.

In retrospect, I’m so glad R.E.M. put out Monster, because outside a couple songs, they’ll never capture my attention so grandly again.

Tomorrow I listen to The The Dusk, Rancid And Out Come The Wolves, and David Bowie The Next Day!

Check out the March Playlist!