"Cleveland Rocks (Ian Hunter Cover)" by The Presidents of the United States of America
Rent is due,
Kelvin
Showing posts with label 90s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 90s. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Song of the Week: Cleveland Rocks
I spent this past Memorial Day weekend with friends riding the world-famous roller coasters at Cedar Point and Kings Island during an amusement park run in Ohio. Though I enjoyed my time at the parks, I can't say the same for the endless wheat fields that was the view for our commutes. I'm not bad-mouthing the whole state, however, because I was aware of one of it's great exports: "Cleveland Rocks". Originally written by glam rocker Ian Hunter for his 1979 album You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic, the song is better known among younger audiences (like myself) for being covered by the alternative act TPOTUSOA and used as the theme song to The Drew Carey Show from 1997 onwards.
Friday, April 8, 2016
7QT: An Extended Respite
I recently turned in my final assignment of the semester and so I get to enjoy a bit of a longer break than normal before my coursework resumes in the summer. Thankful for the opportunity to catch a deep breath, I celebrated in my own little way by replaying some new songs (new to me, at least) that I've grown fond of in the past couple of months. Below is a snapshot of my trip down memory lane.
1. School of Seven Bells
I first heard of School of Seven Bells on the All Songs Considered show following the Paris bombings of last November. I enjoyed their style of atmospheric dream pop but kept them shelved until their latest album, SVIIB, dropped this February. When I heard their opening cut, whose music video was released just a week ago, I was instantly hooked and simultaneously disheartened at the fact that this would be their last release given the loss of instrumentalist Benjamin Curtis to cancer in 2013.
1. School of Seven Bells
I first heard of School of Seven Bells on the All Songs Considered show following the Paris bombings of last November. I enjoyed their style of atmospheric dream pop but kept them shelved until their latest album, SVIIB, dropped this February. When I heard their opening cut, whose music video was released just a week ago, I was instantly hooked and simultaneously disheartened at the fact that this would be their last release given the loss of instrumentalist Benjamin Curtis to cancer in 2013.
"Ablaze" by School of Seven Bells
Friday, August 28, 2015
Party Like It's 1999
Well, sorta... I just recently got out of a YouTube bender looking up eurodance tracks from the mid-90s to mid-00s and this is what came up. If this happens to inspire any discotheque adventures, be sure to bring your best look.
10. "Believe" by Cher (1998)
This is the song that got me started down this rabbit-hole after it was featured in the Stuff You Should Know podcast on Auto-Tune.
9. "Heaven (Bryan Adams Cover)" by DJ Sammy and Yanou featuring Do (2001)
Speaking of podcasts and things worth having an understanding about, this song closed a recent episode of Catholic Stuff You Should Know while the original was used as its opener.
8. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawmba (1997)
I'm guessing this song was everyone's excuse for getting drunk during the '98 FIFA World Cup in France.
10. "Believe" by Cher (1998)
This is the song that got me started down this rabbit-hole after it was featured in the Stuff You Should Know podcast on Auto-Tune.
9. "Heaven (Bryan Adams Cover)" by DJ Sammy and Yanou featuring Do (2001)
Speaking of podcasts and things worth having an understanding about, this song closed a recent episode of Catholic Stuff You Should Know while the original was used as its opener.
8. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawmba (1997)
I'm guessing this song was everyone's excuse for getting drunk during the '98 FIFA World Cup in France.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
No B&B commentary here
If this blog is reaching it's key demographic, then these songs should be the songs that you grew up with. Well, maybe not so much grew up with as grew up around. And no... there's not going to be any "MMMBop," "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" or any other song that has more than two consecutive M's in its title (at least not in the body of the post...).
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1990 - Depeche Mode - Violator
Hanging on to the last tired thread of 80's New Wave is Depeche Mode with their release of Violator in March of 1990. And it's not like they're posing in any way. They're just doing what they do, and doing it well. Violator has a well-crafted darkwave feel as the band brings the poppy sounds of electronica back to its somber roots (NIN and co. would take it further in the coming years).
Lyrically the album is minimalist and interpretive (which wards away the creepy stalker motif that plagues the genre), but the music can seem to drag on if you're listening to it anywhere but an indie discoteque. It starts to pick up after "Enjoy the Silence" (one of their best-known hits), ending with the tribal-themed "Clean."
1991 - Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
Two of my all-time favorite albums (Wish and Nevermind) came out this year, and I could spend an exhorbinant amount of time discussing both, but I'll spare you the torture... for now...
At the eve of the alternative rock outbreak into the mainstream, two grunge powerhouses collaborated through chance circumstance. Temple of the Dog was basically (would-be) Pearl Jam plus Chris Cornell of (then-established) Soundgarden. They released one eponymous album containing a genuine mix of hard and soft with choice remnants of extended progressive jamming and Mercury-style vocals that cater to the modern Incubus- and RHCP-listening crowd (check out the 11-minute long "Reach Down").
If you're a fan of grunge and get giddy at just the idea of Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell harmonizing for an hour, then definitely go grab a copy of Temple of the Dog. Otherwise, be aware that it doesn't seem like the band was striving for fame with this release (I suggest listening to "Hunger Strike" to gage how much early 90's you can handle).
1992 - L7 - Bricks Are Heavy
The Seattle sound continues with the all-female L7. Their breakthrough Bricks Are Heavy is heavy, sounding as if Joan Jett had replaced James Hetfield and began fronting Metallica. The album is straightforward and doesn't drag on, but it doesn't offers much variety besides alternating between fast and mid-tempo tracks.
Back in the day the single "Pretend We're Dead" allowed impressionable young women to join in the grunge craze, and today L7's back catalog presents a more down-to-earth female approach to hard rock than the typical Evanescene or Lacuna Coil song.
1993 - Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
Whoever said that only guys could do punk? Have you forgotten about Sheena? Well, if L7 brings the grunge then Bikini Kill brings the grit. As can be inferred from its title, Pussy Whipped replaces any traces of femininity with an over-abundance of feminist-ity. Being forerunners of the riot grrrl revolution, Bikini Kill's music is in of itself a statement, saying that girls can use the same exact tools as boys and be just as independent, empowered and sexist.
However, if you don't feel like listening too intently to the message, then you don't have to worry since you can hardly understand what's being screamed anyways (try your hand at decifering "Lil' Red," although if you do figure it out try not to be offended). Not for the faint of heart, PW is very noisy up through "Hamster Baby," whereafter the album makes a surprising transition to a mellower post-hardcore for the last three songs and finishes with the sentimental "For Tammy Rae." At the very least, the album serves as an honest observation of a polarized counterculture.
Listen to a live 1994 recording here.
1994 - Weezer - Weezer
The 90's begot a slew of post-adolescent bands trying their hand at this "new" art of writing songs about failed romances and emerging from broken homes. Due to an early oversaturation of the genre, not only were these bands forced back into suburban obscurity save a one-hit-wonder but it also seemed like alternative rock would go the way of disco. For all intents and purposes, alt rock did have the stylings of a cultural phase (like this year's peculiar facination with house) and at the surface Weezer looked like any other all-male foursome trying to make it on the radio. However, a short listen to one of their songs reveals an appreciable talent that keeps you tuned in almost 20 years later.
In their debut Weezer, the band was able to deliver something that was both honest and entertaining. Most musicians at the time were only able to perform under one flag and compromise the other, whether they be too idealist or too traditional. The opener "My Name Is Jonas" tells you that, "Sure, life is hard and our loud guitars will reflect our insatiable angst with the world, but we're willing to make lemonade and insert a Cheap Trick-inspired solo wherever the heck we want!" And the whole album is filled with this notion of wanting to be somebody simultaneously important and uninportant ("In the Garage"), which is interesting to observe and easy to identify with.
Aside from this convoluted and wholly amateur characterization, The Blue Album is simply a fun CD as Weezer unites the best of two decades with the thread of their quirky creativity. Although you may notice some repeated riffs by the time you get to "Only In Dreams," you have to admit that it was an awesome first try. So awesome indeed that time has produced covers and mash-ups and tributes galore ("Buddy Holly," "Surf Wax Off Your Shoulder" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" to name a few). I guess you could say that the album was so good that the band reused the title two more times (with another instance of this projected for 2015).
Listen to a live 1995 recording here.
1995 - Green Day - Insomniac
In the midst of their post-Dookie fame, Green Day knew that they had to deliver with their next release. The reputation of their northern California punk origins and the sustainability of the culture becoming increasingly accepting to such scenes hinged on it. But that didn't phase the power trio one bit. For their own sake did they need to rock hard, and Insomniac is a testament to that.
Although not as blockbuster as Dookie, Insomniac gives its fans what they're looking for. You've got the almost-metal-turned-punk "Brain Stew/Jaded" and the drum fills of Cool and bass stylings of Dirnt in songs like "Panic Song" and "Stuck with Me."And judging by all the rants and cursing provided throughout by Armstrong, you know you've got the right band. Their following albums Nimrod and Warning would embarrassingly fall short of these expectations (though not not worth listening to), and band wouldn't be recognizable again until they became idiots.
Insomniac is fast, but still far from thrash... rushed in the sense that once a song appears to fully constructed and appreciated, it's on to the next one. With this mindset, it feels like "Walking Contradition" ends the album abruptly, leaving even the most sadistic anti-Green Day musical fundamentalist (which is basically anyone who demands more from a song than just power chords... myself included in this regard) strangely wanting more, even if it's just restarting the CD for a couple of seconds.
Listen to a live 1995 recording here.
1996 - The Wallflowers - Bringing Down the Horse
With the mid-90's, we reach that awkward period of trying to keep the alternative momentum going. Sure, the last couple of years since In Utero have been exciting, but even a week needs a Sunday. Enter post-grunge, where the heart hasn't left the songs but the energy has. I'm not down-talking this progression in any way. On the contrary, this opened doors for bands like the Wallflowers. The roots rock sound of songs like "One Headlight" revitalized a mainstream tired of being bombarded with punk-derivative single after single.
Bringing Down the Horse makes that subtle switch from emotional to sentimental for a plesant change of pace, sounding like a cross between Third Eye Blind and the guy who sings "Walking in Memphis." The songwriting is a bit more mature than usual (a.k.a. borderline-adult contemporary) as can be inferred from the hidden meanings of a song like "Josephine." Although they didn't make it as big as the Counting Crows, I do give them props for laughing out loud before laughing out loud was cool.
(Note: I was considering writing about the 1996 album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy instead, but that story has already been posted here.)
1997 - Harvey Danger - Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?
If you chanced upon American Pie you may have heard "Flagpole Sitta" somewhere in the film. Commonly and erroneously attribitued to blink-182 (possibly due to their cameo in the film), the song is actually by Harvey Danger, a band that takes self-depreciation to the level that blink takes toilet humor. Usually this approach to music should be avoided because it may prove to be dangerous and/or unoriginal, but something about the band's unapologetic and poetry slam-esque sound dissuades these preconceived notions and invites one to just hear them out.
Don't be fooled: Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? is still written by dissatisfied young adults who hold grudges against their ex-girlfriends (see "Private Helicopter"). However, this isn't like other collection of whiny teenage torch songs in that there's a solid attempt at conveying the disposition of the disgruntled. Withdiary I mean journal in hand, Harvey Danger takes us to the heart... the charred and scarred heart not yet healed from wounds of isolation ("Terminal Annex"), abortion ("Problems & Bigger Ones") and lost loved ones ("Jack the Lion").
It'd would have been arguably more productive if they tried harder to see how their partners were affected by their failed romanticism. Nevertheless, WHATMG? serves as a superior cathartic substitute to any Fall Out Boy release (with Infinity on High being a great album in it's own respect).
1998 - Garbage - Version 2.0
When Butch Vig isn't busy producing breakthrough records, he gets the band together and kindly takes the backseat (or, more specifically, the drumseat) to Shirley Manson, the frontwoman of Garbage. Manson provides a voice for the other half of the Harvey Danger relationship: the modern 90's female filled with apathy and impatience towards the all-too-common shell-of-a-man man whose moody indecisiveness and calculated courtship render him incapable of Eastwood charge or Bond confidence, causing him to suffer emasculation when contrasted with the mere image of so effiminate an actor as Leonardo DiCaprio. In short, Manson is no man's woman (although she kinda wants to be...).
Version 2.0 maintains the decade's alternative edge mixed with a bit of 70's pop sensibility, melded together via danceable electronica melodies. With uncompromising creativity, the band authors singles like "When I Grow Up" which haven't been this fun since the Pretenders or this explicit since Alanis Morissette. There's a sincere blend of emotions throughout the album, where tracks asserting an independence distinct from the feminism of Bikini Kill ("I Think I'm Paranoid") could easily be followed by a song portraying the vocalist's search for a vulnerable love, albeit wayward in approach ("You Look So Fine"). Pop nonetheless, it's worth picking up if you're feeling 90's but not feeling Christina Aguilera.
1999 - Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
A while back I had the thought of writing a post about emo music which would deny the authenticity of the genre and characterize it as nothing more than a phrase conjured up by recent fads that just happened to make its way into musical lexicon. But after taking some time to cool my suprisingly defensive idealism, I began to discover the diversity within post-hardcore and became exposed to albums like End on End, Diary and Pinkerton. There was no way of avoiding the unique and communal qualities of this brand of music, which was enough to endow this approach to songwriting with the special name of "emotional hardcore."
Jimmy Eat World has experienced several stages of maturity since its initial formation in 1993. Starting off with a heavy punk sound, they toned it down for 1996's Static Prevails. Three years later, the band released Clarity which would not only prove to be their softest album but also become a staple of emo. True, Jimmy Eat World has always been an emotional band. But unlike any other album which can be written off as having that "typical JEW sound," the presentation of Clarity is such that the band is writing not for themselves but for the genre.
A good chunk of Clarity is slow, quiet and sentimental like "A Sunday." And like any good alternative album you've got your loud crys like "Blister." But it's in gems like "For Me This Is Heaven" that you'll appreciate the marraige of the soft and abrasive... the charged and the drawn out. Couple this with ambiguously personal lyrics and you're in for a pensive ride.
If you can stomach the extened instrumentals and the pinings of Jim Adkins, then you won't be disappointed. I personally perfer their later stuff, but the 16-minute long album closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor" poses as an appropriate farewell to a year, a decade, a century and a millennium possessing both an uncertainty for and a hope in a better future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall a bit melancholy, but that's the 90's for ya. I hope you're enjoying a livelier condition on this year Anno Domini 2012.
Call me Ishmael,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 - Depeche Mode - Violator
Hanging on to the last tired thread of 80's New Wave is Depeche Mode with their release of Violator in March of 1990. And it's not like they're posing in any way. They're just doing what they do, and doing it well. Violator has a well-crafted darkwave feel as the band brings the poppy sounds of electronica back to its somber roots (NIN and co. would take it further in the coming years).
Lyrically the album is minimalist and interpretive (which wards away the creepy stalker motif that plagues the genre), but the music can seem to drag on if you're listening to it anywhere but an indie discoteque. It starts to pick up after "Enjoy the Silence" (one of their best-known hits), ending with the tribal-themed "Clean."
"Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode
1991 - Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
Two of my all-time favorite albums (Wish and Nevermind) came out this year, and I could spend an exhorbinant amount of time discussing both, but I'll spare you the torture... for now...
At the eve of the alternative rock outbreak into the mainstream, two grunge powerhouses collaborated through chance circumstance. Temple of the Dog was basically (would-be) Pearl Jam plus Chris Cornell of (then-established) Soundgarden. They released one eponymous album containing a genuine mix of hard and soft with choice remnants of extended progressive jamming and Mercury-style vocals that cater to the modern Incubus- and RHCP-listening crowd (check out the 11-minute long "Reach Down").
If you're a fan of grunge and get giddy at just the idea of Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell harmonizing for an hour, then definitely go grab a copy of Temple of the Dog. Otherwise, be aware that it doesn't seem like the band was striving for fame with this release (I suggest listening to "Hunger Strike" to gage how much early 90's you can handle).
"Times of Trouble" by Temple of the Dog
1992 - L7 - Bricks Are Heavy
The Seattle sound continues with the all-female L7. Their breakthrough Bricks Are Heavy is heavy, sounding as if Joan Jett had replaced James Hetfield and began fronting Metallica. The album is straightforward and doesn't drag on, but it doesn't offers much variety besides alternating between fast and mid-tempo tracks.
Back in the day the single "Pretend We're Dead" allowed impressionable young women to join in the grunge craze, and today L7's back catalog presents a more down-to-earth female approach to hard rock than the typical Evanescene or Lacuna Coil song.
"Mr. Integrity" by L7
1993 - Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
Whoever said that only guys could do punk? Have you forgotten about Sheena? Well, if L7 brings the grunge then Bikini Kill brings the grit. As can be inferred from its title, Pussy Whipped replaces any traces of femininity with an over-abundance of feminist-ity. Being forerunners of the riot grrrl revolution, Bikini Kill's music is in of itself a statement, saying that girls can use the same exact tools as boys and be just as independent, empowered and sexist.
However, if you don't feel like listening too intently to the message, then you don't have to worry since you can hardly understand what's being screamed anyways (try your hand at decifering "Lil' Red," although if you do figure it out try not to be offended). Not for the faint of heart, PW is very noisy up through "Hamster Baby," whereafter the album makes a surprising transition to a mellower post-hardcore for the last three songs and finishes with the sentimental "For Tammy Rae." At the very least, the album serves as an honest observation of a polarized counterculture.
"Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill
Listen to a live 1994 recording here.
1994 - Weezer - Weezer
The 90's begot a slew of post-adolescent bands trying their hand at this "new" art of writing songs about failed romances and emerging from broken homes. Due to an early oversaturation of the genre, not only were these bands forced back into suburban obscurity save a one-hit-wonder but it also seemed like alternative rock would go the way of disco. For all intents and purposes, alt rock did have the stylings of a cultural phase (like this year's peculiar facination with house) and at the surface Weezer looked like any other all-male foursome trying to make it on the radio. However, a short listen to one of their songs reveals an appreciable talent that keeps you tuned in almost 20 years later.
In their debut Weezer, the band was able to deliver something that was both honest and entertaining. Most musicians at the time were only able to perform under one flag and compromise the other, whether they be too idealist or too traditional. The opener "My Name Is Jonas" tells you that, "Sure, life is hard and our loud guitars will reflect our insatiable angst with the world, but we're willing to make lemonade and insert a Cheap Trick-inspired solo wherever the heck we want!" And the whole album is filled with this notion of wanting to be somebody simultaneously important and uninportant ("In the Garage"), which is interesting to observe and easy to identify with.
Aside from this convoluted and wholly amateur characterization, The Blue Album is simply a fun CD as Weezer unites the best of two decades with the thread of their quirky creativity. Although you may notice some repeated riffs by the time you get to "Only In Dreams," you have to admit that it was an awesome first try. So awesome indeed that time has produced covers and mash-ups and tributes galore ("Buddy Holly," "Surf Wax Off Your Shoulder" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" to name a few). I guess you could say that the album was so good that the band reused the title two more times (with another instance of this projected for 2015).
"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" by Weezer
Listen to a live 1995 recording here.
1995 - Green Day - Insomniac
In the midst of their post-Dookie fame, Green Day knew that they had to deliver with their next release. The reputation of their northern California punk origins and the sustainability of the culture becoming increasingly accepting to such scenes hinged on it. But that didn't phase the power trio one bit. For their own sake did they need to rock hard, and Insomniac is a testament to that.
Although not as blockbuster as Dookie, Insomniac gives its fans what they're looking for. You've got the almost-metal-turned-punk "Brain Stew/Jaded" and the drum fills of Cool and bass stylings of Dirnt in songs like "Panic Song" and "Stuck with Me."And judging by all the rants and cursing provided throughout by Armstrong, you know you've got the right band. Their following albums Nimrod and Warning would embarrassingly fall short of these expectations (though not not worth listening to), and band wouldn't be recognizable again until they became idiots.
Insomniac is fast, but still far from thrash... rushed in the sense that once a song appears to fully constructed and appreciated, it's on to the next one. With this mindset, it feels like "Walking Contradition" ends the album abruptly, leaving even the most sadistic anti-Green Day musical fundamentalist (which is basically anyone who demands more from a song than just power chords... myself included in this regard) strangely wanting more, even if it's just restarting the CD for a couple of seconds.
"86" by Green Day
Listen to a live 1995 recording here.
1996 - The Wallflowers - Bringing Down the Horse
With the mid-90's, we reach that awkward period of trying to keep the alternative momentum going. Sure, the last couple of years since In Utero have been exciting, but even a week needs a Sunday. Enter post-grunge, where the heart hasn't left the songs but the energy has. I'm not down-talking this progression in any way. On the contrary, this opened doors for bands like the Wallflowers. The roots rock sound of songs like "One Headlight" revitalized a mainstream tired of being bombarded with punk-derivative single after single.
Bringing Down the Horse makes that subtle switch from emotional to sentimental for a plesant change of pace, sounding like a cross between Third Eye Blind and the guy who sings "Walking in Memphis." The songwriting is a bit more mature than usual (a.k.a. borderline-adult contemporary) as can be inferred from the hidden meanings of a song like "Josephine." Although they didn't make it as big as the Counting Crows, I do give them props for laughing out loud before laughing out loud was cool.
(Note: I was considering writing about the 1996 album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy instead, but that story has already been posted here.)
"The Difference" by The Wallflowers
1997 - Harvey Danger - Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?
If you chanced upon American Pie you may have heard "Flagpole Sitta" somewhere in the film. Commonly and erroneously attribitued to blink-182 (possibly due to their cameo in the film), the song is actually by Harvey Danger, a band that takes self-depreciation to the level that blink takes toilet humor. Usually this approach to music should be avoided because it may prove to be dangerous and/or unoriginal, but something about the band's unapologetic and poetry slam-esque sound dissuades these preconceived notions and invites one to just hear them out.
Don't be fooled: Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? is still written by dissatisfied young adults who hold grudges against their ex-girlfriends (see "Private Helicopter"). However, this isn't like other collection of whiny teenage torch songs in that there's a solid attempt at conveying the disposition of the disgruntled. With
It'd would have been arguably more productive if they tried harder to see how their partners were affected by their failed romanticism. Nevertheless, WHATMG? serves as a superior cathartic substitute to any Fall Out Boy release (with Infinity on High being a great album in it's own respect).
"Old Hat" by Harvey Danger
1998 - Garbage - Version 2.0
When Butch Vig isn't busy producing breakthrough records, he gets the band together and kindly takes the backseat (or, more specifically, the drumseat) to Shirley Manson, the frontwoman of Garbage. Manson provides a voice for the other half of the Harvey Danger relationship: the modern 90's female filled with apathy and impatience towards the all-too-common shell-of-a-man man whose moody indecisiveness and calculated courtship render him incapable of Eastwood charge or Bond confidence, causing him to suffer emasculation when contrasted with the mere image of so effiminate an actor as Leonardo DiCaprio. In short, Manson is no man's woman (although she kinda wants to be...).
Version 2.0 maintains the decade's alternative edge mixed with a bit of 70's pop sensibility, melded together via danceable electronica melodies. With uncompromising creativity, the band authors singles like "When I Grow Up" which haven't been this fun since the Pretenders or this explicit since Alanis Morissette. There's a sincere blend of emotions throughout the album, where tracks asserting an independence distinct from the feminism of Bikini Kill ("I Think I'm Paranoid") could easily be followed by a song portraying the vocalist's search for a vulnerable love, albeit wayward in approach ("You Look So Fine"). Pop nonetheless, it's worth picking up if you're feeling 90's but not feeling Christina Aguilera.
"Special" by Garbage
1999 - Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
A while back I had the thought of writing a post about emo music which would deny the authenticity of the genre and characterize it as nothing more than a phrase conjured up by recent fads that just happened to make its way into musical lexicon. But after taking some time to cool my suprisingly defensive idealism, I began to discover the diversity within post-hardcore and became exposed to albums like End on End, Diary and Pinkerton. There was no way of avoiding the unique and communal qualities of this brand of music, which was enough to endow this approach to songwriting with the special name of "emotional hardcore."
Jimmy Eat World has experienced several stages of maturity since its initial formation in 1993. Starting off with a heavy punk sound, they toned it down for 1996's Static Prevails. Three years later, the band released Clarity which would not only prove to be their softest album but also become a staple of emo. True, Jimmy Eat World has always been an emotional band. But unlike any other album which can be written off as having that "typical JEW sound," the presentation of Clarity is such that the band is writing not for themselves but for the genre.
A good chunk of Clarity is slow, quiet and sentimental like "A Sunday." And like any good alternative album you've got your loud crys like "Blister." But it's in gems like "For Me This Is Heaven" that you'll appreciate the marraige of the soft and abrasive... the charged and the drawn out. Couple this with ambiguously personal lyrics and you're in for a pensive ride.
If you can stomach the extened instrumentals and the pinings of Jim Adkins, then you won't be disappointed. I personally perfer their later stuff, but the 16-minute long album closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor" poses as an appropriate farewell to a year, a decade, a century and a millennium possessing both an uncertainty for and a hope in a better future.
"Just Watch the Fireworks" by Jimmy Eat World
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall a bit melancholy, but that's the 90's for ya. I hope you're enjoying a livelier condition on this year Anno Domini 2012.
Call me Ishmael,
Kelvin
Friday, January 28, 2011
A Priest is what Judas really needed
Classes got the best of me this week, but they gave me some time to think about the metal I do know. Although I'm not well versed in entire discographies of bands like Slayer (nor do I really want to be), there is an album or two of which I'm fond of.
I'd like to start with Judas Priest, a band whom I believe has several associated misconceptions. Judas Priest formed in the late-60's in Birmingham, England. Initially having a blues-rock and psychedelic influence (Cream, The Yardbirds), even their name came from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest." They moved towards hard rock and eventually became precursors of heavy metal. They debuted Rocka Rolla in 1974, which included their first single (also "Rocka Rolla").
I'd like to start with Judas Priest, a band whom I believe has several associated misconceptions. Judas Priest formed in the late-60's in Birmingham, England. Initially having a blues-rock and psychedelic influence (Cream, The Yardbirds), even their name came from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest." They moved towards hard rock and eventually became precursors of heavy metal. They debuted Rocka Rolla in 1974, which included their first single (also "Rocka Rolla").
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Pepsi should have hired these guys
As I stated in my last post, I first heard The Replacements through Rock Band 2, which featured one of their songs. It was catchy and I probably played it 3 or 4 times before Christmas Break 2008 was over. A few months went by and I got into the habit of watching King of the Hill. After the upteenth episode, I was curious to find out who played that rockin' intro (curiously called "Yahoos and Triangles"). The credits at the end were flashing pretty fast, but I was able to make out the artist: The Refreshments.
I thought that The Refreshments was "that one band from Rock Band," so I decided to check them out because "now they had two cool songs." My search led me to the album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy and I started listening to it from the beginning. A few seconds into "Blue Collar Suicide" I thought, "This sounds... different." Halfway into the song, I thought, "I don't think this is the same band." By the time "European Swallow" started, I had already determined the distinction online. Nonetheless, I continued listening, because I liked what I heard.
I thought that The Refreshments was "that one band from Rock Band," so I decided to check them out because "now they had two cool songs." My search led me to the album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy and I started listening to it from the beginning. A few seconds into "Blue Collar Suicide" I thought, "This sounds... different." Halfway into the song, I thought, "I don't think this is the same band." By the time "European Swallow" started, I had already determined the distinction online. Nonetheless, I continued listening, because I liked what I heard.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Let's get happy!
Norah: This is amazing. You are literally like my musical soul mate! It's unbelievable. Except for all The Cure.
Nick: What's wrong with The Cure?
Norah: There's nothing wrong with The Cure, actually, but just the name. You know, The Cure? What are they The Curing? Get it? They should be called The Cause, right?!?
Nick: What's wrong with The Cure?
Norah: There's nothing wrong with The Cure, actually, but just the name. You know, The Cure? What are they The Curing? Get it? They should be called The Cause, right?!?
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