Re: Third Eye Blind as a one hit wonder. After further consultation it has been determined that Third Eye Blind is best referred to as a two hit wonder. Honestly, when I wrote that part all I could remember about the band was that they were from New Orleans and would always play at Jazz Fest. It wasn’t until today that I realized that was Better Than Ezra and not Third Eye Blind. So yes, they had more than one hit while being completely generic in the process.
Moving on, it’s clear that VH1 had some rather bizarre definition of “Greatest” in mind as they put together this list. Not sure what the criteria was or how it was put together but there are some incredible misses here. All of these songs are better and more relevant than Nelson. I’ll put them in categories.
The How In The Hell Can You Discuss the 90s Without These Acts Category:
Dave Matthews Band “What Would You Say”: Weren’t they the biggest act of the entire decade? Probably the only post grunge band that could legitimately sell out football stadiums and a good band to boot. I have my issues with them (basically my hatred of anything popular) but I bought their disc about one hour after hearing this song. Within a week I was ordering t-shirts through their fan club.
Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock”: You could also go with “Tonight, Tonight” here if you wanted to focus more on the video. One of the most influential bands of the mid 90s and the best band ever out of Chicago. No idea why they were overlooked.
Tori Amos “Silent All These Years”: So they included Lilith Fair acts like Paula Cole and Joan Osborne but forgot to add in the most noteworthy of the bunch? Yes, I do own Tori discs but this song and video also signaled the end of hair metal and the dawning of a new age in music. MTV went from playing Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” to showing Tori rolling around in a box. Not having this on the list is a freaking crime.
Boyz II Men “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday”: This single holds the record for longest time at the top of the charts. On that fact alone it should be included. It also shows that not all boy bands were crap (though calling them a boy band is really a misnomer.)
Jeff Buckley “Last Goodbye”: I know I’m biased here but give me a break. When VH1 listed the greatest albums of all time Grace made the top 50. This song was a legit hit and Jeff was one of the best talents we never got to hear.
Guns N Roses “Don’t Cry”: You can’t talk about the early 90s without including GNR. Of all the insane videos they produced this is probably the coolest with imagery that is bizarre yet almost comprehensible. Bonus points for having Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon singing with Axl on the rooftop. If they had included the Bee Girl it would have been the greatest video ever.
The Replace One Song On The List With This One Category:
Jesus Jones “Right Here, Right Now”: Much more important than EMF’s “Unbelievable”.
Sarah McLachlan “Possession”: Easily Sarah’s best song. A dark, haunting song about obsessive love based on the fact that Sarah was being stalked at the time. Completely broke her into the American market.
Others That Were Clearly Missed:
Nine Inch Nails “Closer”: Great, disturbing video. Brought the word “industrial” into play when discussing music. Made you wonder what was shown during the slides that said “scene deleted”
Faith No More “Epic”: Another forgotten pre-grunge great. People were really upset at the fish flopping on the ground.
Suzanne Vega “99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees”: Mainly because you never would have expected this from the same person who sang Luka.
Belly “Feed the Tree”: Yeah, I have a crush on Tanya Donnelly.
10,000 Maniacs “These Are Days”: Made Natalie Merchant a star.
They Might Be Giants “Birdhouse In Your Soul”: Bonus points for being used in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures.
4 Non Blondes “What’s Up”: Not a good song mind you but given all the other one hit wonders that were included you would think this would make the cut.
Len “Steal My Sunshine”: I just really, really like this song.
And my choice for the most important yet overlooked song of the decade:
Nirvana “Come As You Are”: People always have and always will talk about Smells Like Teen Spirit as being the song that killed hair metal. In a lot of ways it is true, that song was a big hit in a direction that didn’t match up with Motley Crue or Poison or Bon Jovi and it differed from GNR or Metallica as well. But that really wasn’t the first of its kind. Alice in Chains and Faith No More both had similar hits in the same time frame. In my mind, Come As You Are is the most important song. Hair metal died with the opening bass riff of this song.
Imagine watching the world premiere of this video. Here is the second song from the new big band. Most people would expect failure and Nirvana to be remembered as a one hit wonder. And when it starts you are greeted to a bass line and an image of a gun floating underwater. The image of the band distorted by water, never quite being able to make out their features. A dog with one of those satellite collars hobbling down a flight of stairs. Kurt Cobain swinging madly from a chandelier. All to a chorus of “I swear that I don’t have a gun.” At the time I had never seen anything like it before. And then there is the ending.
As the last peals of the guitar fade out you see the three band members lying outside with the camera lying on the ground. Kurt crawls towards the camera, leans in, kisses the lens, and then slowly crawls back and collapses. That is the exact moment that everything changed.
Smells Like Teen Spirit is about wanting to cause a riot. It’s about being young and angry. Lots of bands can write songs about that. Come As You Are ends with the lead singer showing in one brief moment just how vulnerable and how human he is. None of the 80s bands had anything that could counter that image. That was Kurt’s genius and what led to his demise. He wasn’t a rock god with a prefab image. He showed the world precisely who he is as flawed and as exposed as that may be. As an 18 year old kid watching that video all I thought was this guy knows what I’m thinking.
Anything else that I missed? What other songs need to be remembered?
Showing posts with label Top 100 Songs of the 90s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top 100 Songs of the 90s. Show all posts
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
100 Greatest Songs of the 90s: #25 - 1
Finally we reach the pinnacle of human achievement. The following songs exemplify what the 90s were all about. The prime of my life, from my senior year in high school to my mid 20s are all encapsulated in these songs. According to VH1, this is what should be placed in the time capsule. I shudder to think what we will find here.
#25: Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”: I never really liked this song. Liked the band of course but I never understood what was so incredible about this track. On the other hand, I don’t think that I could spend five minutes on a TV show explaining how awesome Spoonman is. At the end of the day, it really is just about a guy who plays spoons.
#24: House of Pain “Jump Around”: Most songs get worse as time goes by, especially one hit wonders. But this song has actually improved and has gone from being almost a novelty track featuring white rappers to a pretty common sports anthem. And as sports anthems go it is a pretty good song. It helps that Everlast went on to have an interesting career (and What It’s Like is missing from this list.)
#23: Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue “Whatta Man”: Let’s pay some respect to Salt-N-Pepa here before we address the fact that they are now on VH1 reality shows. When rap was still outside the mainstream they became stars and add to that they were almost the only female rappers you could name. (Add Queen Latifah to the list.) Plus, you would have expected them to disappear after Push It. Instead, they really took center stage in the music biz in the early 90’s and this song was rather brilliant. Great collaboration between rap and R&B.
#22: Beck “Loser”: I’ve talked a lot the past couple of days about one hit wonders and how Beck didn’t become one is beyond me. Not that he isn’t talented, it’s just that he hit the scene with such an odd song that you would expect no one to ever pay attention to him. Everyone calls this song a slacker anthem but I don’t really agree with that notion. Mainly because I never identified with the song. I felt more anger than resignation to my fate at the time. Plus, I just thought the dude was wacko.
#21: Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On”: Celine’s Vegas review ended this week. I had heard the following story about her show. When she would sing this song the stage would transform into the bow of a ship and she would sing from the edge. Meanwhile couples in the crowd would stand on their chairs and reenact the scene from Titanic. Yes, those people are allowed to vote though if Proposition 57 passes, as we all hope it will, we will be able to replace them with house plants.
#20: Hanson “MMMBop”: I’ve actually had several chances to see Hanson recently and skipped all of them. It might be the only bit of pride that I have left. However, on one of my hits of the 90s box sets this song is included and I have found myself washing dishes and humming this song. That wasn’t the lowest point in my life but it’s the lowest that I will admit to. Oh, and this came up in trivia tonight, is Hanson a boy band? I wouldn’t classify them as such but it is up for debate.
#19: Beastie Boys “Sabotage”: Another song that is better known for having one of the coolest videos ever. You can’t go wrong with a spot on homage to 70’s cop shows. The song also has some of the best pacing you can find as it just builds upon itself until just the right moment when all of the energy is unleashed. This should be even higher on the list.
#18: Metallica “Enter Sandman”: Metal was such a weird beast in the 90’s. You had the last remnants of the fluff hair bands while the hardcore bands kept going (and still are, changes in pop culture be damned. Slayer will always be Slayer.) Then there was Metallica, which went much more mainstream but you never questioned their credibility. I’m not even sure that if you threw Enter Sandman on the radio to someone who had never heard it before if they would consider it heavy metal. This isn’t when metal went pop, this is more when metal became hard rock.
#17: Destiny’s Child “Say My Name”: What does it say that I truly can’t recall hearing one of the top 20 songs of the 90s? Maybe I’m not as in tune with pop culture as I think. I never got all the interest in this act or Beyonce.
#16: MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This”: Once again, what are we not supposed to touch? Is there a switch or a button of some sort that we should all be aware? Possibly a lever? Yep, this song was also played at my prom, in a mix that included Superfreak. Add this to the fact that our theme song for prom was a Bodeans song and it was a bizarre night all around. This song isn’t as musically offensive as you might think. One of those where you can’t really find anything wrong with it, just not much right with it.
#15: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”: I quite possibly watched this video 700 times in college. Multiple times a day for multiple years. At one point MTV just had it on a continuous loop. I always watched it as it was post-apocalyptic enough that it was part of the inspiration for my first novel attempt (mercifully killed after 30 pages and more plot holes than actual plot.) Another instance of a band’s biggest hit being when they do something totally opposite of what they had been doing their entire career.
#14: Mariah Carey “Vision of Love”: Can we blame American Idol on Mariah? Not the show, I doubt that she was involved with it. But this whole singing style of “let’s show off how many octaves we can reach” on every syllable whether it adds to the song or not? It’s what I hate most about that entire style of music; it is entirely about the singer and not the song. She could be singing the phone book and that really bothers me.
#13: Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) “Nuthin but a G Thang”: This might be the first video that I remember that had things blurred out. Not just naughty bits but entire t-shirts. It gave the message that these guys are so cool we can’t even show you what they are wearing. A song that made everyone want to hang out with Dre and Snoop despite the fact that we were so uncool we shouldn’t even had been allowed to listen to the song.
#12: Alanis Morisette “You Oughta Know”: I will never be able to listen to this song knowing that there is even a possibility that it might be about Dave Coullier. It brings up images that I just would rather live without. I’ve grown to respect Alanis’ music (and the fact that she was on You Can’t Do That On Television) but I’ve always had one huge problem with her. She never figured out that sometimes a whisper is more powerful than a scream.
#11: Pearl Jam “Jeremy”: I’m amazed this isn’t in the top five. I think it’s the best video ever in terms of legitimately crossing the line from promotional vehicle into art. Even if it led to months of arguing what happened at the end. It also changed the way that grunge was viewed by a lot of people. Nirvana and other Pearl Jam songs gave a lot of people the impression that this was just a new brand of punk. But this song wasn’t punk and it was undeniably powerful. It might not make you dance but it catches your breath.
#10: Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”: I wish we could talk about Sinead without having to discuss politics and protests. Just take her music and her voice at face value and just marvel at it. Pretty impressive that a cover song makes the top ten and one that is truly a reinterpreting of the song. I don’t think this is what Prince had in mind, especially the video of Sinead singing straight on into the camera. About as emotionally bare as you can get in music and images.
#9: R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”: I’ve discussed this before but I don’t think this song has aged well. If you listen to it now you kind of wonder what the fuss was about. But as someone who listened to this incessantly as an 18 year old it was a huge breath of fresh air. It was a break from Bon Jovi and New Kids. Something that was new and different and man did I hate it when the guys who made fun of me started liking the band. As a song, I think it could be better but it gets this ranking just because of what it helped to usher in.
#8: TLC “Waterfalls”: Best known for being a bestselling record that puts the band into bankruptcy. No one seems to understand the points system or how that makes the labels a ton of money.
#7: Britney Spears “…Baby One More Time”: Jeez, even when I write about music I can’t get away from her. I said this at the time, I really never got the appeal. The music was pure bubblegum and I never found her to be that attractive. I know there was this whole Lolita aspect to her but she just always seemed like, I don’t know, someone who would marry some scummy guy, have two kids, then lose it and shave her head.
#6: Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back”: Show of hands, how many people actually called 1-800-Mix-A-lot? The top rap track of the 90’s goes to an ode about big butts. 4 minutes that consist only of discussions of big butts. Hell, the song opens with “I like big butts, I cannot lie.” What amazes me is that there was outrage over this song. Given what is shown in the media today this song seems rather quaint. Like it’s sung at senior citizen homes or something. (I dream of when I’m in my 70’s the super oldies station will alternate between playing this and Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina”.)
#5: Madonna “Vogue”: I know this was released in 1990 but I barely consider it a 90s song. It’s Madonna, we’ll give her credit for her image and her ability to commercialize herself but I don’t think we need to respect her music. Even if you view this as one of her best songs all it is about is waving your hands in front of your face.
#4: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”: Another cover song except this time the original was better. Come on, it’s Dolly Parton. How are you going to improve on Dolly Parton? Can I just continue my claim of being a cynical bastard and say that I dislike this song? I never even put it on a mixtape.
#3: Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”: Yeah, the late 90s sucked in terms of music. This is why I ended up hanging out in the country section of music stores and buying CDs from artists I knew personally.
#2: U2 “One”: A fine choice for the number two song of the decade. Don’t know what I can say about it. Even given my much discussed hatred towards Bono this is about as perfect you can get for four minutes of music. Remember to that when this song came out we were still making fun of Rattle and Hum era U2. The bombastic to the point of parody band. This song (and Achtung Baby as a whole) was one of the best reinventions of the decade.
#1: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: There never was any real doubt about this one. Very seldom can you point to one piece of music and say “This is where everything changed.” The entire musical landscape shifted when this song became a hit. Even on a larger cultural scale, Gen X became important because of this song. This put us in the spotlight…for three years until we lost Kurt. But it was a great three years.
Smells Like Teen Spirit is the song that knocked hair metal to the ground. Come As You Are is the song that kicked hair metal’s face in. I’ll discuss the injustice of that song being left off the list and some other mind boggling exclusions tomorrow.
#25: Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”: I never really liked this song. Liked the band of course but I never understood what was so incredible about this track. On the other hand, I don’t think that I could spend five minutes on a TV show explaining how awesome Spoonman is. At the end of the day, it really is just about a guy who plays spoons.
#24: House of Pain “Jump Around”: Most songs get worse as time goes by, especially one hit wonders. But this song has actually improved and has gone from being almost a novelty track featuring white rappers to a pretty common sports anthem. And as sports anthems go it is a pretty good song. It helps that Everlast went on to have an interesting career (and What It’s Like is missing from this list.)
#23: Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue “Whatta Man”: Let’s pay some respect to Salt-N-Pepa here before we address the fact that they are now on VH1 reality shows. When rap was still outside the mainstream they became stars and add to that they were almost the only female rappers you could name. (Add Queen Latifah to the list.) Plus, you would have expected them to disappear after Push It. Instead, they really took center stage in the music biz in the early 90’s and this song was rather brilliant. Great collaboration between rap and R&B.
#22: Beck “Loser”: I’ve talked a lot the past couple of days about one hit wonders and how Beck didn’t become one is beyond me. Not that he isn’t talented, it’s just that he hit the scene with such an odd song that you would expect no one to ever pay attention to him. Everyone calls this song a slacker anthem but I don’t really agree with that notion. Mainly because I never identified with the song. I felt more anger than resignation to my fate at the time. Plus, I just thought the dude was wacko.
#21: Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On”: Celine’s Vegas review ended this week. I had heard the following story about her show. When she would sing this song the stage would transform into the bow of a ship and she would sing from the edge. Meanwhile couples in the crowd would stand on their chairs and reenact the scene from Titanic. Yes, those people are allowed to vote though if Proposition 57 passes, as we all hope it will, we will be able to replace them with house plants.
#20: Hanson “MMMBop”: I’ve actually had several chances to see Hanson recently and skipped all of them. It might be the only bit of pride that I have left. However, on one of my hits of the 90s box sets this song is included and I have found myself washing dishes and humming this song. That wasn’t the lowest point in my life but it’s the lowest that I will admit to. Oh, and this came up in trivia tonight, is Hanson a boy band? I wouldn’t classify them as such but it is up for debate.
#19: Beastie Boys “Sabotage”: Another song that is better known for having one of the coolest videos ever. You can’t go wrong with a spot on homage to 70’s cop shows. The song also has some of the best pacing you can find as it just builds upon itself until just the right moment when all of the energy is unleashed. This should be even higher on the list.
#18: Metallica “Enter Sandman”: Metal was such a weird beast in the 90’s. You had the last remnants of the fluff hair bands while the hardcore bands kept going (and still are, changes in pop culture be damned. Slayer will always be Slayer.) Then there was Metallica, which went much more mainstream but you never questioned their credibility. I’m not even sure that if you threw Enter Sandman on the radio to someone who had never heard it before if they would consider it heavy metal. This isn’t when metal went pop, this is more when metal became hard rock.
#17: Destiny’s Child “Say My Name”: What does it say that I truly can’t recall hearing one of the top 20 songs of the 90s? Maybe I’m not as in tune with pop culture as I think. I never got all the interest in this act or Beyonce.
#16: MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This”: Once again, what are we not supposed to touch? Is there a switch or a button of some sort that we should all be aware? Possibly a lever? Yep, this song was also played at my prom, in a mix that included Superfreak. Add this to the fact that our theme song for prom was a Bodeans song and it was a bizarre night all around. This song isn’t as musically offensive as you might think. One of those where you can’t really find anything wrong with it, just not much right with it.
#15: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”: I quite possibly watched this video 700 times in college. Multiple times a day for multiple years. At one point MTV just had it on a continuous loop. I always watched it as it was post-apocalyptic enough that it was part of the inspiration for my first novel attempt (mercifully killed after 30 pages and more plot holes than actual plot.) Another instance of a band’s biggest hit being when they do something totally opposite of what they had been doing their entire career.
#14: Mariah Carey “Vision of Love”: Can we blame American Idol on Mariah? Not the show, I doubt that she was involved with it. But this whole singing style of “let’s show off how many octaves we can reach” on every syllable whether it adds to the song or not? It’s what I hate most about that entire style of music; it is entirely about the singer and not the song. She could be singing the phone book and that really bothers me.
#13: Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) “Nuthin but a G Thang”: This might be the first video that I remember that had things blurred out. Not just naughty bits but entire t-shirts. It gave the message that these guys are so cool we can’t even show you what they are wearing. A song that made everyone want to hang out with Dre and Snoop despite the fact that we were so uncool we shouldn’t even had been allowed to listen to the song.
#12: Alanis Morisette “You Oughta Know”: I will never be able to listen to this song knowing that there is even a possibility that it might be about Dave Coullier. It brings up images that I just would rather live without. I’ve grown to respect Alanis’ music (and the fact that she was on You Can’t Do That On Television) but I’ve always had one huge problem with her. She never figured out that sometimes a whisper is more powerful than a scream.
#11: Pearl Jam “Jeremy”: I’m amazed this isn’t in the top five. I think it’s the best video ever in terms of legitimately crossing the line from promotional vehicle into art. Even if it led to months of arguing what happened at the end. It also changed the way that grunge was viewed by a lot of people. Nirvana and other Pearl Jam songs gave a lot of people the impression that this was just a new brand of punk. But this song wasn’t punk and it was undeniably powerful. It might not make you dance but it catches your breath.
#10: Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”: I wish we could talk about Sinead without having to discuss politics and protests. Just take her music and her voice at face value and just marvel at it. Pretty impressive that a cover song makes the top ten and one that is truly a reinterpreting of the song. I don’t think this is what Prince had in mind, especially the video of Sinead singing straight on into the camera. About as emotionally bare as you can get in music and images.
#9: R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”: I’ve discussed this before but I don’t think this song has aged well. If you listen to it now you kind of wonder what the fuss was about. But as someone who listened to this incessantly as an 18 year old it was a huge breath of fresh air. It was a break from Bon Jovi and New Kids. Something that was new and different and man did I hate it when the guys who made fun of me started liking the band. As a song, I think it could be better but it gets this ranking just because of what it helped to usher in.
#8: TLC “Waterfalls”: Best known for being a bestselling record that puts the band into bankruptcy. No one seems to understand the points system or how that makes the labels a ton of money.
#7: Britney Spears “…Baby One More Time”: Jeez, even when I write about music I can’t get away from her. I said this at the time, I really never got the appeal. The music was pure bubblegum and I never found her to be that attractive. I know there was this whole Lolita aspect to her but she just always seemed like, I don’t know, someone who would marry some scummy guy, have two kids, then lose it and shave her head.
#6: Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back”: Show of hands, how many people actually called 1-800-Mix-A-lot? The top rap track of the 90’s goes to an ode about big butts. 4 minutes that consist only of discussions of big butts. Hell, the song opens with “I like big butts, I cannot lie.” What amazes me is that there was outrage over this song. Given what is shown in the media today this song seems rather quaint. Like it’s sung at senior citizen homes or something. (I dream of when I’m in my 70’s the super oldies station will alternate between playing this and Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina”.)
#5: Madonna “Vogue”: I know this was released in 1990 but I barely consider it a 90s song. It’s Madonna, we’ll give her credit for her image and her ability to commercialize herself but I don’t think we need to respect her music. Even if you view this as one of her best songs all it is about is waving your hands in front of your face.
#4: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”: Another cover song except this time the original was better. Come on, it’s Dolly Parton. How are you going to improve on Dolly Parton? Can I just continue my claim of being a cynical bastard and say that I dislike this song? I never even put it on a mixtape.
#3: Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”: Yeah, the late 90s sucked in terms of music. This is why I ended up hanging out in the country section of music stores and buying CDs from artists I knew personally.
#2: U2 “One”: A fine choice for the number two song of the decade. Don’t know what I can say about it. Even given my much discussed hatred towards Bono this is about as perfect you can get for four minutes of music. Remember to that when this song came out we were still making fun of Rattle and Hum era U2. The bombastic to the point of parody band. This song (and Achtung Baby as a whole) was one of the best reinventions of the decade.
#1: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: There never was any real doubt about this one. Very seldom can you point to one piece of music and say “This is where everything changed.” The entire musical landscape shifted when this song became a hit. Even on a larger cultural scale, Gen X became important because of this song. This put us in the spotlight…for three years until we lost Kurt. But it was a great three years.
Smells Like Teen Spirit is the song that knocked hair metal to the ground. Come As You Are is the song that kicked hair metal’s face in. I’ll discuss the injustice of that song being left off the list and some other mind boggling exclusions tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
100 Greatest Songs of the 90's: # 50 - 26
Now on to Part 3 of our countdown. By definition, every song on this list is better than Nelson's "Love and Affection". That's really not saying much. Let's get down to it...
#50: Alice in Chains "Man in the Box": Cool, Tommy Dreamer's entrance music in ECW. I probably shouldn't admit that I know that. There's an interesting case to be made about this song being the bridge between hair metal and grunge. Alice in Chains were the most metal grunge band and this song predates Nirvana. Not sure if that holds true because it is still hard for me to consider them a metal band. Creepy ass video though.
#49: Jewel "Who Will Save Your Soul": Another artist I have somehow avoided buying a CD from. Ok, I have no issue with this song being a hit or Jewel become a celebrity. It's actually a pretty good song. I could have done without her writing the best selling poetry book of all time "A Night Without Armor". And her appearance on Celebrity Bullriding with her husband Ty Murray left much to be desired. There wasn't a single goring during the entire series.
#48: Matchbox 20 "3 AM": My mother always told me that if you can't say anything nice you shouldn't say anything at all.
#47: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch "Good Vibrations": I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would have given all the money in the world for Mark Wahlberg to have won the Oscar last year, raise the statue to the sky and bellow "This is for the Funky Bunch!" For a guy to go from the less talented brother of a member of New Kids on the Block to an award winning actor is quite an accomplishment. Especially when his one hit song was best known for the fact that his underwear was showing.
#46: Shania Twain "You're Still the One": Shania Twain didn't put the cause of country music back twenty years. She put the cause of mammals on the whole back twenty years. A lizard in Arizona heard this song and went "I know I eat flies but at least I don't make this crap." All the credit in the world to Mutt Lange who decided to marry the pretty girl and use every trick he used with Def Leppard in order to make her a star. Dude knows his business. Art less so.
#45: Hootie and the Blowfish "Only Wanna Be With You": Whenever I discuss the inequities in music I always use Hootie as my example. This is because there is absolutely nothing wrong with Hootie. They wrote really nice songs and they played them well and they sounded great. The only thing is I can name a hundred bands from the same time that sold 10,000 times less than Hootie. Is this song 10,000 times better than The Jayhawks "Blue"? No, but that's how it sold. Until you understand that you can never make money in the music business.
#44: The Fugees "Killing Me Softly With His Song": Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer dresses up as a Battlebot in order to win Bart's love and respect? And when the other robot started cutting into his costume while the announcer said "He's killing him softly with his saw"? I know that has nothing to do with this song but I just have to say boy do I miss Battlebots.
#43: En Vogue "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": Again, occasionally VH1 deserves props for the songs from the early 90's that they remembered. This could have been easily forgotten but it was absolutely everywhere when I was in college. Or at least it was always on TV. I've never been a big fan of girl groups but this is about as good as you can get.
#42: Collective Soul "Shine": It's sad, I'm trying to remember how this song goes and all I keep hearing is the Pat McGee Band song "Shine". I've heard this song a thousand times yet can't remember it to save my life right now. Hence, maybe this ranking is slightly too high. Collective Soul did do a good cover of the theme song to The Bugaloos though. I know how that sounds.
#41: Spin Doctors "Two Princes": True Story. August before my junior year of college I pick up the cassette of "Pocket Full of Kryptonite". I immediately tell my friends that this band is going to be hude because of three songs "Jimmy Olson's Blues", "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes". In May as we were leaving for the year we were all threatening to pound the tape to pieces with a hammer because every single song had been played to death. Especially Two Princes. People out and out hated the Spin Doctors because of that song as opposed to be one of those new wave hippie bands. They deserved hatred, we just had the wrong justification.
#40: Color Me Badd "I Wanna Sex You Up": We might as well stop this list now. I mean how can you find 39 songs better than Color Me Badd? That's what makes this list so awful. I can accept that this isn't from a music critic's point of view but even from a pop culture point of view this song sucked. People knew it was stupid when it was released. There's no nostalgia about how silly we were. This is just a crappy song.
#39: Goo Goo Dolls "Iris": I appreciate this song for the following reasons. A) it was named for (but has nothing to do with) Iris Dement, B) I have on multiple occasions drank with Iris Dement, C) Iris Dement once introduced me to her step-daughter in a manner that implied that she was trying to set the two of us up, D) the song was for a soundtrack for a movie based on a Wim Wenders film, and E) I went on a date to see the original Wim Wenders film. So really I have no feelings about the song itself but I have great stories about it.
#38: Christina Aguilera "Genie In A Bottle": Family Guy said it best: Christina Aguilera is offensive to all five senses. Including taste. You know how when you walk by something that smells horrible you can kind of taste it? Yeah, that's Christina.
#37: Green Day "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)": This song has surpassed Every Breath You Take as the song most often played in the completely inappropriate context. They don't really want you to have the time of your life. They're basically saying go screw yourself. You probably shouldn't play this for your graduation.
#36: C+C Music Factory "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)": Question? (Funk Dat) Was any member of C+C Music Factory even involved in the making of this song? If I remember right this is the one where they showed the shapely singer instead of who actually sang the song. And can I say that if VH1 is going to list Color Me Badd in the Top 100 couldn't they also list Milli Vanilli. Sure it was fake but so was Color Me Badd. I sure as hell hope that wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
#35: Oasis "Wonderwall": Ah, the next Beatles. Or the next Ruttles take your pick. People give the Gallagher brothers a lot of crap much of it deserved. You'd think that with all of their feuding and bickering that at one point they could have done us all a favor and smashed watermelons over each other's heads. But when they wrote a good song it was a darn good song. Not a change the world type of song but not one that you would turn off. That should count for something.
#34: Third Eye Blind "Semi-Charmed Life": Once again this list gets stranger and stranger. Another one hit wonder and a decent song but not memorable either in terms of talent or pop culture impact. I'm pretty sure that this was a summer song, one of those songs you hear all summer and then promptly forget about. Don't think that's worth this high of ranking.
#33: Spice Girls "Wannabe": We all knew this was coming. Scary (Mel B), Sporty (Mel C), Baby (Emma), Ginger/Sexy (Geri) and Worthless/Posh (Victoria). I didn't even have to look that up. Once again, for as silly and as stupid as the whole phenomenon was (and it was bad on a Hannah Montana/High School Musical level) the songs weren't entirely horrible. You could listen to Wannabe without noticably wincing. You could watch the video and think that these girls are vaguely attractive. Just not worth their own movie. Or video game. Or reunion tour.
#32: Blackstreet "No Diggity": Another song that I've found on the list where I can finally go "Oh so that is who sings it." Now if someone could once and for all clear up my Ween, Tripping Daisy, Flaming Lips, "Push the Little Daisies", King Missle confusion.
#31: Radiohead "Creep": I saw Radiohead in concert once, opening for R.E.M. around when Creep was a hit (that and Fake Plastic Trees). Absolutely no one paid attention to them. They paid even less attention once the lead guitarist blew out all of his amps. As a result I never became a big fan and my reputation has suffered mightily as a result. Of all the songs that could even become partial hits this might be the least likely. Do you sing along with a chorus of "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here"? I mean I do but do normal people?
#30: *NSYNC "Tearin' Up My Heart": Please see entry for Matchbox 20.
#29: Vanilla Ice "Ice Ice Baby": I've mentioned in the past that I was named to prom court. I may also have mentioned that I was not the geekiest guy to be named to prom court that year. That guy danced to Ice Ice Baby. People thought it was cool back then. Much like how we wore an onion on our belt as it was the fashion at the time. Oh, and Rob was totally screwed on The Surreal Life Fame Game. He so should have beaten that chick from Baywatch.
#28: Ricky Martin "Livin' La Vida Loca": This was the big hit when I was kind of out of the pop culture loop. I mean, I knew it was a big song and everything but I don't think that I had ever heard it. I really don't think I missed much. Ricky fell off the map completely, didn't he?
#27: Counting Crows "Mr. Jones": Yep, I own this CD. And I thought it spoke to me in those college angst days. Looking back that makes me feel like more of an idiot than owning a Paula Cole CD. I think the song is still one you could listen to and enjoy and the band is still rather respectable. It's just that this band is the equivalent for me of looking at my hair in old photgraphs. I wonder how I could be so dumb and still succesfully walk across the street.
#26: Eminem "My Name Is": I'll repeat what I said last night: can't people finish their song titles? How the hell am I supposed to know what your name is if you don't tell me? On the scale of "Eminem is a poet of our time" and "Eminem is an idiot" I fall more towards the poet side of the line. Guy was a darn good rapper. He's turned into a hip hop version of Weird Al but with a track like this he was hitting on all cylinders.
Tomorrow, the top 25. Looking at the list I feel safe to say that things can only get worse.
#50: Alice in Chains "Man in the Box": Cool, Tommy Dreamer's entrance music in ECW. I probably shouldn't admit that I know that. There's an interesting case to be made about this song being the bridge between hair metal and grunge. Alice in Chains were the most metal grunge band and this song predates Nirvana. Not sure if that holds true because it is still hard for me to consider them a metal band. Creepy ass video though.
#49: Jewel "Who Will Save Your Soul": Another artist I have somehow avoided buying a CD from. Ok, I have no issue with this song being a hit or Jewel become a celebrity. It's actually a pretty good song. I could have done without her writing the best selling poetry book of all time "A Night Without Armor". And her appearance on Celebrity Bullriding with her husband Ty Murray left much to be desired. There wasn't a single goring during the entire series.
#48: Matchbox 20 "3 AM": My mother always told me that if you can't say anything nice you shouldn't say anything at all.
#47: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch "Good Vibrations": I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would have given all the money in the world for Mark Wahlberg to have won the Oscar last year, raise the statue to the sky and bellow "This is for the Funky Bunch!" For a guy to go from the less talented brother of a member of New Kids on the Block to an award winning actor is quite an accomplishment. Especially when his one hit song was best known for the fact that his underwear was showing.
#46: Shania Twain "You're Still the One": Shania Twain didn't put the cause of country music back twenty years. She put the cause of mammals on the whole back twenty years. A lizard in Arizona heard this song and went "I know I eat flies but at least I don't make this crap." All the credit in the world to Mutt Lange who decided to marry the pretty girl and use every trick he used with Def Leppard in order to make her a star. Dude knows his business. Art less so.
#45: Hootie and the Blowfish "Only Wanna Be With You": Whenever I discuss the inequities in music I always use Hootie as my example. This is because there is absolutely nothing wrong with Hootie. They wrote really nice songs and they played them well and they sounded great. The only thing is I can name a hundred bands from the same time that sold 10,000 times less than Hootie. Is this song 10,000 times better than The Jayhawks "Blue"? No, but that's how it sold. Until you understand that you can never make money in the music business.
#44: The Fugees "Killing Me Softly With His Song": Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer dresses up as a Battlebot in order to win Bart's love and respect? And when the other robot started cutting into his costume while the announcer said "He's killing him softly with his saw"? I know that has nothing to do with this song but I just have to say boy do I miss Battlebots.
#43: En Vogue "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": Again, occasionally VH1 deserves props for the songs from the early 90's that they remembered. This could have been easily forgotten but it was absolutely everywhere when I was in college. Or at least it was always on TV. I've never been a big fan of girl groups but this is about as good as you can get.
#42: Collective Soul "Shine": It's sad, I'm trying to remember how this song goes and all I keep hearing is the Pat McGee Band song "Shine". I've heard this song a thousand times yet can't remember it to save my life right now. Hence, maybe this ranking is slightly too high. Collective Soul did do a good cover of the theme song to The Bugaloos though. I know how that sounds.
#41: Spin Doctors "Two Princes": True Story. August before my junior year of college I pick up the cassette of "Pocket Full of Kryptonite". I immediately tell my friends that this band is going to be hude because of three songs "Jimmy Olson's Blues", "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes". In May as we were leaving for the year we were all threatening to pound the tape to pieces with a hammer because every single song had been played to death. Especially Two Princes. People out and out hated the Spin Doctors because of that song as opposed to be one of those new wave hippie bands. They deserved hatred, we just had the wrong justification.
#40: Color Me Badd "I Wanna Sex You Up": We might as well stop this list now. I mean how can you find 39 songs better than Color Me Badd? That's what makes this list so awful. I can accept that this isn't from a music critic's point of view but even from a pop culture point of view this song sucked. People knew it was stupid when it was released. There's no nostalgia about how silly we were. This is just a crappy song.
#39: Goo Goo Dolls "Iris": I appreciate this song for the following reasons. A) it was named for (but has nothing to do with) Iris Dement, B) I have on multiple occasions drank with Iris Dement, C) Iris Dement once introduced me to her step-daughter in a manner that implied that she was trying to set the two of us up, D) the song was for a soundtrack for a movie based on a Wim Wenders film, and E) I went on a date to see the original Wim Wenders film. So really I have no feelings about the song itself but I have great stories about it.
#38: Christina Aguilera "Genie In A Bottle": Family Guy said it best: Christina Aguilera is offensive to all five senses. Including taste. You know how when you walk by something that smells horrible you can kind of taste it? Yeah, that's Christina.
#37: Green Day "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)": This song has surpassed Every Breath You Take as the song most often played in the completely inappropriate context. They don't really want you to have the time of your life. They're basically saying go screw yourself. You probably shouldn't play this for your graduation.
#36: C+C Music Factory "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)": Question? (Funk Dat) Was any member of C+C Music Factory even involved in the making of this song? If I remember right this is the one where they showed the shapely singer instead of who actually sang the song. And can I say that if VH1 is going to list Color Me Badd in the Top 100 couldn't they also list Milli Vanilli. Sure it was fake but so was Color Me Badd. I sure as hell hope that wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
#35: Oasis "Wonderwall": Ah, the next Beatles. Or the next Ruttles take your pick. People give the Gallagher brothers a lot of crap much of it deserved. You'd think that with all of their feuding and bickering that at one point they could have done us all a favor and smashed watermelons over each other's heads. But when they wrote a good song it was a darn good song. Not a change the world type of song but not one that you would turn off. That should count for something.
#34: Third Eye Blind "Semi-Charmed Life": Once again this list gets stranger and stranger. Another one hit wonder and a decent song but not memorable either in terms of talent or pop culture impact. I'm pretty sure that this was a summer song, one of those songs you hear all summer and then promptly forget about. Don't think that's worth this high of ranking.
#33: Spice Girls "Wannabe": We all knew this was coming. Scary (Mel B), Sporty (Mel C), Baby (Emma), Ginger/Sexy (Geri) and Worthless/Posh (Victoria). I didn't even have to look that up. Once again, for as silly and as stupid as the whole phenomenon was (and it was bad on a Hannah Montana/High School Musical level) the songs weren't entirely horrible. You could listen to Wannabe without noticably wincing. You could watch the video and think that these girls are vaguely attractive. Just not worth their own movie. Or video game. Or reunion tour.
#32: Blackstreet "No Diggity": Another song that I've found on the list where I can finally go "Oh so that is who sings it." Now if someone could once and for all clear up my Ween, Tripping Daisy, Flaming Lips, "Push the Little Daisies", King Missle confusion.
#31: Radiohead "Creep": I saw Radiohead in concert once, opening for R.E.M. around when Creep was a hit (that and Fake Plastic Trees). Absolutely no one paid attention to them. They paid even less attention once the lead guitarist blew out all of his amps. As a result I never became a big fan and my reputation has suffered mightily as a result. Of all the songs that could even become partial hits this might be the least likely. Do you sing along with a chorus of "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here"? I mean I do but do normal people?
#30: *NSYNC "Tearin' Up My Heart": Please see entry for Matchbox 20.
#29: Vanilla Ice "Ice Ice Baby": I've mentioned in the past that I was named to prom court. I may also have mentioned that I was not the geekiest guy to be named to prom court that year. That guy danced to Ice Ice Baby. People thought it was cool back then. Much like how we wore an onion on our belt as it was the fashion at the time. Oh, and Rob was totally screwed on The Surreal Life Fame Game. He so should have beaten that chick from Baywatch.
#28: Ricky Martin "Livin' La Vida Loca": This was the big hit when I was kind of out of the pop culture loop. I mean, I knew it was a big song and everything but I don't think that I had ever heard it. I really don't think I missed much. Ricky fell off the map completely, didn't he?
#27: Counting Crows "Mr. Jones": Yep, I own this CD. And I thought it spoke to me in those college angst days. Looking back that makes me feel like more of an idiot than owning a Paula Cole CD. I think the song is still one you could listen to and enjoy and the band is still rather respectable. It's just that this band is the equivalent for me of looking at my hair in old photgraphs. I wonder how I could be so dumb and still succesfully walk across the street.
#26: Eminem "My Name Is": I'll repeat what I said last night: can't people finish their song titles? How the hell am I supposed to know what your name is if you don't tell me? On the scale of "Eminem is a poet of our time" and "Eminem is an idiot" I fall more towards the poet side of the line. Guy was a darn good rapper. He's turned into a hip hop version of Weird Al but with a track like this he was hitting on all cylinders.
Tomorrow, the top 25. Looking at the list I feel safe to say that things can only get worse.
Monday, December 24, 2007
The 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s: # 75 to 51
Like most people I spend my Christmas Eve following that most time honored tradition: Arguing about the release date of Public Enemy songs...
Re: Fight the Power: Crap, I was wrong. Fight the Power was released as a single in 1989 as part of the Do the Right Thing soundtrack (which I should have remembered). I was confused due to the fact that the track is on Fear of a Black Planet with 911 is a Joke and that was released in 1990. So I made a mistake. Please write down the date as this is one of the few times that I have ever made a mistake, much less admitted to one.
Anyway, back to the countdown of what VH1 considers great...
#75: Kris Kross "Jump": Daddy Mack and Mack Daddy were so hip that they wore their clothes backwards. I assume this made going to the bathroom an extremely challenging proposition though this was at the same time the Depends adult undergarment was introduced. When people wonder how hip hop became mainstream it is sad to admit that part of the reason was two 13 year olds wearing backwards clothes.
#74: Cher "Believe": I'd have a hard time considering this to be one of Cher's top 100 songs. Not memorable for anything other than being another instance of an artist turning to electronica as the next cool thing right after Moby decided to record a punk rock album.
#73: Marcy Playground "Sex and Candy": Two great tastes that go great together. A rather good song that is surprisingly dark sounding for a one hit wonder. Was seemingly everywhere one summer and then the band just disappeared. I don't even know if they recorded another song.
#72: Barenaked Ladies "One Week": I'm surprisingly ambivalent towards the Barenaked Ladies. I have friends who are big fans but they never did anything for me. I don't dislike them, I have no problem listening to their music when I come across it, but I just never understood what the big deal was. When I can't get behind a band that discusses Sailor Moon in their biggest song I think that is a serious sign that something is horribly wrong.
#71: Arrested Development "Tennessee": Another groundbreaking hip hop song and one that showed that rap can be intelligent. Not that Public Enemy and others weren't showing that before it's just now it didn't scare people in the suburbs. Sadly this song is best remembered for the most awful rap in the middle about horseshoes. It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now.
#70: Jamiroquai "Virtual Insanity": Are we talking greatest videos or greatest songs here? I mean the video was awesome in the "Whoa, the guy is dancing while the floor is moving" sort of way but the song isn't memorable in the least. I remember the guy's hat, which I believe was later purchased by Mystery, more than the song itself.
#69: Korn "Freak on a Leash": I don't really have any problem with this song being on the list. Of all of those new metal bands of the late 90's this was the best track of the bunch. Loud, disturbing and with a rather indecipherable meaning. At least there is no Limp Bizkit in the Top 100. VH1 apaprently has some standards.
#68: Will Smith "Getting Jiggy Wit It": Questions people seldom ask me "EC, are you presently getting jiggy with it?" What are we supposed to be getting jiggy with I do ask? The song title is woefully indescriptive when it comes to the entire state of jigginess. That said, Will Smith could have had a career path of Young MC (one hit song in the 80s leading to an appearance on Celebrity Fit Club in the naughts). Instead he is the biggest movie star around. Pretty cool career path.
#67: Dee-Lite "Groove is in the Heart": Crap, I was in high school when this song came out. That's literally half a lifetime ago now. It's still a for lack of a better term groovy sort of song. Plus, any track that has a surprise appearance by Bootsie Collins will always make a best of list.
#66: Edwin McCain "I'll Be": I honestly don't remember this song at all. In fact, all I know of Edwin McCain is that he is one of those guys like Chris Jericho who is always on VH1s I Love the [Insert Decade Here] shows despite not having any fame whatsoever. Well, Chris Jericho is famous but you know what I mean.
#65: Digital Underground "The Humpty Dance": I now officially call BS on this list. How is this song not in the Top 20? I can guarantee you that if you play this at any social gathering you will get everyone doing the Humpty Hump even though it was never clear what the Humpty Hump was. This track was just all kinds of awesome. Let's remember the lyric that carried me through many a tough time growing up "My name is Humpty, it rhymes with Umpty, I like my oatmeal lumpy."
#64: The Presidents of the United States of America "Peaches": We're not talking about metaphorical peaches here. The song is actually about the fruit and/or vegetable. I think the fact that this song became a hit even took the band by surprise. One of the few times I've ever seen a band interviewed regarding their hit song and they reply "I seriously don't understand why anyone is buying it."
#63: The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase and Puff Daddy "Mo Money Mo Problems": So far I have seen minimal empirical data that proves that having mo money conclusively leads to mo problems. I have filed the paperwork to receive a grant to better study this issue in detail. Can't disagree with this track making the list.
#62: Live "I Alone": This is the song featuring the shirtless lead singer bouncing around like a total douche and not their other hit song that featured the word "placenta" in one of the verses. That would be Lightning Crashes, which is up their with Ben Folds Five "Brick" as songs that became hits due to the fact that no one paid attention to what they were actually about. For some reason I always disliked Live even though their songs were pretty good. I just always felt that they were trying too hard to be U2 at a time when there really wasn't a need for another U2.
#61: Sheryl Crow "All I Wanna Do": Yes, I did get this album when it became a big hit. The song has aged well but man, the rest of the album has not. She's another artist who deserves credit for taking advantage of an opportunity and just never letting go. No reason why she didn't turn into a one hit wonder but instead she became one of the biggest stars of the 90s. Again, no complaints about this song making the list.
#60: Bell Biv Devoe "Poison": The degree to which I liked this song when I was 17 is indescribable. I can't tell you why I liked it, other than MTV played it on their countdown show every day, I just did. Of all the former New Edition stars I'd much rather by a new Bell Biv Devoe record than a new Bobby Brown disc.
#59: Weezer "Buddy Holly": I'm amazed that Weezer is still around. Mainly because they are too good of a band to still be in the popular eye a decade after they first hit the scene. A great dorky song and a video set literally in an episode of Happy Days. I've still never quite figured out how they shot the video. It is quite possible that Spike Jonez perfected the Time Machine and simply sent the band back, bribed Garry Marshall, and filmed it during an episode.
#58: Sophie B. Hawkins "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover": Here's the strange thing about VH1, for as much they are doing a bunch of one hit wonders and big but bad songs they still added tracks like this. It's higher than it should be but it was a good song. But I doubt that it was ever a hit. Sophie had a rather interesting, breathy type of voice that made her intoning of the chorus sound, uh how can I put this, rather exciting? Especially when you never could quite figure out if she was singing to a guy or a girl or some sort of mermaid.
#57: Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule "Can I Get a...": Once again, I call for specifity in song titles. How do I know what to bring you if you aren't clear about it. I really shouldn't make fun of this song given that Jay-Z owns about half the planet right now.
#56: LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out": It's a freaking crime that they didn't put this track in the Top 20. "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years." This is probably on every workout mix ever made and for good reason. It is the ultimate pump yourself up song. Also, this was part of the brilliant Yo MTV Raps Unplugged where LL pulls out a rather amazing version of this song in a new environment. Ah, back when MTV actually gave a rat's ass about music.
#55: Fiona Apple "Criminal": I'm kind of amazed that I don't own a Fiona Apple CD. Given what else is in my collection you would think that I would have gone for this. Maybe I was just put off by her attitude even though it was just the attitude of any 18 year old who thought they understood the world's problems. It's just that most 18 years olds are rightfully not given a microphone and national airplay. This is a killer song with a video that to this day makes me wonder how in the world were they able to air it.
#54: Joan Osborne "One of Us": I hate this song. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. I didn't have a problem with it when I first bought the disc before it became a hit. It's just that after months and motnhs of constantly hearing this whiny song you were actively cheering for her career to go down the drain. This is a great example of how one song can ruin someone's career simply by it never getting off the airwaves.
#53: Naughty by Nature "O.P.P.": We used to discuss and/or sing this song while waiting in line at the cafeteria in college. Given that I hung out almost exclusively with engineers, a group that all wore glasses and looked like we were trying out for the Dilbert convention, this must have been quite a sight. I would like to apologize to Naughty by Nature for any damage this caused to their reputation. And for once, I will say not specifying what the other P stood for added to the mystique of the song.
#52: Sugar Ray "Fly": While I don't really like Sugar Ray there is one story about the band that I love. VH1 used to do Celebrity Music Jeopardy for charity. Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray was unstoppable in the game. It would literally be going into Final Jeopardy "Mark McGrath: 15,000 CC Deville: 4. That's why he has ended up hosting entertainment shows, he's better suited to being a knowledgable personality than a rock star. I give the guy credit just for that.
#51: Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Trautman) "California": Closing out the night with the Mad Max inspired video for this song. I never quite understood how a post apocalyptic landscape lent itself to this track but it worked for me. I could go into a discussion of how Tupac has released more albums after he died than he did while he was alive but as a Jeff Buckley fan I have absolutely no ground to stand on in that argument. Hell, I've twice bought rereleases of Jeff Buckley albums that I already owned.
So that's the first half. All the songs should be better from here on in. Sadly looking at the list that is in no way the case. Merry Christmas everyone.
Re: Fight the Power: Crap, I was wrong. Fight the Power was released as a single in 1989 as part of the Do the Right Thing soundtrack (which I should have remembered). I was confused due to the fact that the track is on Fear of a Black Planet with 911 is a Joke and that was released in 1990. So I made a mistake. Please write down the date as this is one of the few times that I have ever made a mistake, much less admitted to one.
Anyway, back to the countdown of what VH1 considers great...
#75: Kris Kross "Jump": Daddy Mack and Mack Daddy were so hip that they wore their clothes backwards. I assume this made going to the bathroom an extremely challenging proposition though this was at the same time the Depends adult undergarment was introduced. When people wonder how hip hop became mainstream it is sad to admit that part of the reason was two 13 year olds wearing backwards clothes.
#74: Cher "Believe": I'd have a hard time considering this to be one of Cher's top 100 songs. Not memorable for anything other than being another instance of an artist turning to electronica as the next cool thing right after Moby decided to record a punk rock album.
#73: Marcy Playground "Sex and Candy": Two great tastes that go great together. A rather good song that is surprisingly dark sounding for a one hit wonder. Was seemingly everywhere one summer and then the band just disappeared. I don't even know if they recorded another song.
#72: Barenaked Ladies "One Week": I'm surprisingly ambivalent towards the Barenaked Ladies. I have friends who are big fans but they never did anything for me. I don't dislike them, I have no problem listening to their music when I come across it, but I just never understood what the big deal was. When I can't get behind a band that discusses Sailor Moon in their biggest song I think that is a serious sign that something is horribly wrong.
#71: Arrested Development "Tennessee": Another groundbreaking hip hop song and one that showed that rap can be intelligent. Not that Public Enemy and others weren't showing that before it's just now it didn't scare people in the suburbs. Sadly this song is best remembered for the most awful rap in the middle about horseshoes. It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now.
#70: Jamiroquai "Virtual Insanity": Are we talking greatest videos or greatest songs here? I mean the video was awesome in the "Whoa, the guy is dancing while the floor is moving" sort of way but the song isn't memorable in the least. I remember the guy's hat, which I believe was later purchased by Mystery, more than the song itself.
#69: Korn "Freak on a Leash": I don't really have any problem with this song being on the list. Of all of those new metal bands of the late 90's this was the best track of the bunch. Loud, disturbing and with a rather indecipherable meaning. At least there is no Limp Bizkit in the Top 100. VH1 apaprently has some standards.
#68: Will Smith "Getting Jiggy Wit It": Questions people seldom ask me "EC, are you presently getting jiggy with it?" What are we supposed to be getting jiggy with I do ask? The song title is woefully indescriptive when it comes to the entire state of jigginess. That said, Will Smith could have had a career path of Young MC (one hit song in the 80s leading to an appearance on Celebrity Fit Club in the naughts). Instead he is the biggest movie star around. Pretty cool career path.
#67: Dee-Lite "Groove is in the Heart": Crap, I was in high school when this song came out. That's literally half a lifetime ago now. It's still a for lack of a better term groovy sort of song. Plus, any track that has a surprise appearance by Bootsie Collins will always make a best of list.
#66: Edwin McCain "I'll Be": I honestly don't remember this song at all. In fact, all I know of Edwin McCain is that he is one of those guys like Chris Jericho who is always on VH1s I Love the [Insert Decade Here] shows despite not having any fame whatsoever. Well, Chris Jericho is famous but you know what I mean.
#65: Digital Underground "The Humpty Dance": I now officially call BS on this list. How is this song not in the Top 20? I can guarantee you that if you play this at any social gathering you will get everyone doing the Humpty Hump even though it was never clear what the Humpty Hump was. This track was just all kinds of awesome. Let's remember the lyric that carried me through many a tough time growing up "My name is Humpty, it rhymes with Umpty, I like my oatmeal lumpy."
#64: The Presidents of the United States of America "Peaches": We're not talking about metaphorical peaches here. The song is actually about the fruit and/or vegetable. I think the fact that this song became a hit even took the band by surprise. One of the few times I've ever seen a band interviewed regarding their hit song and they reply "I seriously don't understand why anyone is buying it."
#63: The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase and Puff Daddy "Mo Money Mo Problems": So far I have seen minimal empirical data that proves that having mo money conclusively leads to mo problems. I have filed the paperwork to receive a grant to better study this issue in detail. Can't disagree with this track making the list.
#62: Live "I Alone": This is the song featuring the shirtless lead singer bouncing around like a total douche and not their other hit song that featured the word "placenta" in one of the verses. That would be Lightning Crashes, which is up their with Ben Folds Five "Brick" as songs that became hits due to the fact that no one paid attention to what they were actually about. For some reason I always disliked Live even though their songs were pretty good. I just always felt that they were trying too hard to be U2 at a time when there really wasn't a need for another U2.
#61: Sheryl Crow "All I Wanna Do": Yes, I did get this album when it became a big hit. The song has aged well but man, the rest of the album has not. She's another artist who deserves credit for taking advantage of an opportunity and just never letting go. No reason why she didn't turn into a one hit wonder but instead she became one of the biggest stars of the 90s. Again, no complaints about this song making the list.
#60: Bell Biv Devoe "Poison": The degree to which I liked this song when I was 17 is indescribable. I can't tell you why I liked it, other than MTV played it on their countdown show every day, I just did. Of all the former New Edition stars I'd much rather by a new Bell Biv Devoe record than a new Bobby Brown disc.
#59: Weezer "Buddy Holly": I'm amazed that Weezer is still around. Mainly because they are too good of a band to still be in the popular eye a decade after they first hit the scene. A great dorky song and a video set literally in an episode of Happy Days. I've still never quite figured out how they shot the video. It is quite possible that Spike Jonez perfected the Time Machine and simply sent the band back, bribed Garry Marshall, and filmed it during an episode.
#58: Sophie B. Hawkins "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover": Here's the strange thing about VH1, for as much they are doing a bunch of one hit wonders and big but bad songs they still added tracks like this. It's higher than it should be but it was a good song. But I doubt that it was ever a hit. Sophie had a rather interesting, breathy type of voice that made her intoning of the chorus sound, uh how can I put this, rather exciting? Especially when you never could quite figure out if she was singing to a guy or a girl or some sort of mermaid.
#57: Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule "Can I Get a...": Once again, I call for specifity in song titles. How do I know what to bring you if you aren't clear about it. I really shouldn't make fun of this song given that Jay-Z owns about half the planet right now.
#56: LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out": It's a freaking crime that they didn't put this track in the Top 20. "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years." This is probably on every workout mix ever made and for good reason. It is the ultimate pump yourself up song. Also, this was part of the brilliant Yo MTV Raps Unplugged where LL pulls out a rather amazing version of this song in a new environment. Ah, back when MTV actually gave a rat's ass about music.
#55: Fiona Apple "Criminal": I'm kind of amazed that I don't own a Fiona Apple CD. Given what else is in my collection you would think that I would have gone for this. Maybe I was just put off by her attitude even though it was just the attitude of any 18 year old who thought they understood the world's problems. It's just that most 18 years olds are rightfully not given a microphone and national airplay. This is a killer song with a video that to this day makes me wonder how in the world were they able to air it.
#54: Joan Osborne "One of Us": I hate this song. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. I didn't have a problem with it when I first bought the disc before it became a hit. It's just that after months and motnhs of constantly hearing this whiny song you were actively cheering for her career to go down the drain. This is a great example of how one song can ruin someone's career simply by it never getting off the airwaves.
#53: Naughty by Nature "O.P.P.": We used to discuss and/or sing this song while waiting in line at the cafeteria in college. Given that I hung out almost exclusively with engineers, a group that all wore glasses and looked like we were trying out for the Dilbert convention, this must have been quite a sight. I would like to apologize to Naughty by Nature for any damage this caused to their reputation. And for once, I will say not specifying what the other P stood for added to the mystique of the song.
#52: Sugar Ray "Fly": While I don't really like Sugar Ray there is one story about the band that I love. VH1 used to do Celebrity Music Jeopardy for charity. Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray was unstoppable in the game. It would literally be going into Final Jeopardy "Mark McGrath: 15,000 CC Deville: 4. That's why he has ended up hosting entertainment shows, he's better suited to being a knowledgable personality than a rock star. I give the guy credit just for that.
#51: Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Trautman) "California": Closing out the night with the Mad Max inspired video for this song. I never quite understood how a post apocalyptic landscape lent itself to this track but it worked for me. I could go into a discussion of how Tupac has released more albums after he died than he did while he was alive but as a Jeff Buckley fan I have absolutely no ground to stand on in that argument. Hell, I've twice bought rereleases of Jeff Buckley albums that I already owned.
So that's the first half. All the songs should be better from here on in. Sadly looking at the list that is in no way the case. Merry Christmas everyone.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s: #100 - 76
I'm going to try something a little different this week. Much like television networks are now bombarding us with holiday programming I am going to do a special presentation of my own. However, I hope that mine turns out to be slightly better than forcing your family to sit down and watch The Santa Clause 2. That Tim Allen, he sure is...he sure is...something.
Anyway, last week VH1 released their list of the Top 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s and I feel that there is no better person than myself to go through the list and critique it. I'll do it 25 songs at a time and on Thursday I'll write up the songs that they missed and oh boy, did they miss a few. I have no idea what their criteria was, or how they considered something "great", and it looks like only one song per band was included. This should be interesting.
(And yes, you can go to www.vh1.com to see the full list, check out videos and I don't know, hire Kris Kross for your kids birthday party. Do so at your leisure.)
#100: Gerardo "Rico Suave": And we start off with an indication that we are really being loose with the definition of "Greatest". A song that is best known for the video featuring the rappers abs and a rather out of place mariachi band. That said, whenever someone says "Rico" I pretty much autonatically respond with "Suave".
#99: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)": Don't know this song. Sorry.
#98: EMF "Unbelievable": To truly understand the early 90's you do have to include a song that features a sample of Andrew Dice Clay. He was just a 1990 type of guy. While I'm not a fan of the song it really was one of the first rave type songs to break out and bring the Madchester scene to America. Plus, the rumor that the band name stood for Ecstasy MFers is up there with KMFDM standing for Kill MFing Depeche Mode.
#97: Prince and the New Power Generation "Get Off": Thankfully for Blogger this was back when Prince was Prince. One of those videos that I appreciated greatly mainly because I was a freshman in college with basic cable. Not a bad song even if it will always be remembered for Prince's VMA performance of it in assless pants.
#96: Nelson "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection": So theoretically in all of the 90's there were only 95 songs that were better than this. Now I'll admit that the end of the decade sucked but I can name 95 songs in 1993 that were better than this one. Is this the one with the video featuring the indian and the feather and the kid dreaming that Nelson would save him? Yeah, this list sucks.
#95: Montell Jordan "This Is How We Do It": The song you heard at every party and/or dance club for a good decade. Until today I never knew who performed it.
#94: Fastball "The Way": In the late 90's there were about three dozen songs like the way a bunch of which show up on the list. It's the only song you ever heard from the band and you constantly go "Was that Semisonic or was it Marcy Playground?"
#93: Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories "Stay": First song that I think should be higher. This was so much a mid-90's staple and a classic story as well. Unsigned singer lives next to Ethan Hawke, gets him to put her song on the Reality Bites soundtrack and it goes on to become this major hit. Video was one of those brilliant one shot/no edits pieces featuring Lisa looking like every girl I wanted to date in college but could never figure out how to ask out.
#92: Public Enemy "911 is a Joke": I like Flavor Flav. He is an American original. But if you are going to have one PE song on this list how the hell can it not be Fight the Power. That is the song that made you sit back and go "whoa". This was more "why is he wearing a clock?"
#91: Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery": For the record, I never went to Lilith Fair. I listened to every single artist who performed but never actually went. Not my favorite song of Sarah's but it is a rather good one. Man, did she have a killer voice.
#90: New Radicals "You Get What You Give": Of all the one hit wonders in the 90's this is probably my favorite. Up beat, catchy and calls out Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson and Hanson at various points. It's still a great song today and that is saying something.
#89: Liz Phair "Never Said": Got to give VH1 some credit, I wouldn't expect Liz Phair to make the list. As with all Liz songs, it's not the song itself that matters it is what she is saying and how she is saying it. More than the Lilith Fair artists, Liz is the one who broke down the door for the female confessional song in which she has no qualms saying precisely what she feels. I'm still a fan even if she has gone pop.
#88: Duncan Sheik "Barely Breathing": Another late 90's wussy rock song. A nice song but nothing worth writing about.
#87: Billy Ray Cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart": It's because of songs like this that I have a hard time standing in the country section of a record store. I'm continually frightened by any song that has a well organized and intricate dance associated with it. I don't dance much but I've always assumed that it was to release your inner emotions and uniqueness. The "stand in a line and do precisely what everyone else does" really bothers me.
#86: The Cranberries "Linger": One of those songs that you forget about for years and then just the name makes you sigh. What a freaking beautiful song with a black and white video featuring Delores O'Riordan looking gorgeous beyond belief. This song went on many a mix tape back when I was in college. Hell, I'd still use it today if I had a reason to.
#85: Cypress Hill "Insane in the Brain": Insane in the membrane. It's insane got no brain. Insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain. Repeat as necessary. B-Real, truly a poet of our time. I'm still bummed I didn't go to the Lollapalooza tour where they performed.
#84: Snow "Informer": Because what would the 90's have been without a white rapper from Toronto performing vaguely reggae songs. To be honest, this wasn't even a hit back when it was a hit. No way it should be on this list.
#83: The Breeders "Cannonball": Hell yeah! My best example of why the early 90's were awesome as a music fan: this was a legitimate hit song despite the fact that it had almost no redeeming pop qualities at all. Just a bass loop, distorted vocals and the Deal twins screaming into microphones. This was also when Alternative Nation was its own nightly show on MTV and you'd deal with Kennedy just to see these videos nightly.
#82: Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks On Me": Best known for Bushwick Bill, the little person rapper shot by his girlfriend. For the album cover they used the actual picture of him being taken out of the ambulance. As a white kid from the suburbs this made me go "These dudes are seriously hardcore."
#81: Paula Cole "I Don't Want to Wait": I own this CD. I don't know when I bought it. I don't know how I bought it. I don't know why it is in my CD collection still. If anyone can provide any rationale behind why I ever thought this was a good song please let me know. Otherwise it will just have to wait until I complete my time machine.
#80: Right Said Fred "I'm Too Sexy": This is a top 25 song if there ever was one. Not of the 90's, of all time. He's too sexy for his cat for crying out loud! What do you think about that? I've spent more than a decade defending the awesomeness of this song mainly because everyone involved knew it was a joke and played it as such. They didn't use this to try to become serious artists, they knew they had written a brilliant, funny, nonsensical pop song and went for it. Some groups only have one song in them. For The Kingsmen it was "Louie Louie", for Right Said Fred it is "I'm Too Sexy".
#79: Meredith Brooks "Bitch": Not all of Lillith Fair was good. I'm not sure we needed this to be a hit song. Incredibly, Tori Amos isn't on this list (I'll add her on Thursday) but this song is. I'm not sure if many people even remember it.
#78: Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way": More than the fact that this song rocks, I'll always remember the female drummer with the best afro ever. She looked so cool that MTV News actually had to do a bit where they showed that she was the actual drummer and not an actress portraying one for the video. Sure, it's just a Hendrix song but Jimi was awesome. Might as well copy from the best.
#77: Ice Cube "It Was a Good Day": They mentioned this on the special but can you believe that the guy who headed up NWA now stars in movies like "Are We There Yet"? That just seems so wrong. It's like having Johnny Rotten appear as judge on a reality show for rock bands. Oh wait, that happened too...
#76: Blues Traveler "Run Around": Closing tonight out with a non jam song by a jam band. I was happy when this song became a hit because I really felt that these guys deserved to be popular. When I finally saw them in concert a decade later I realized that a) they were better when the lead singer was fat and b) if they played another freaking bass solo I was going to hit someone across the back of the head with a chair.
Tomorrow, 75-51. And if I'm up to it, I might make up my own list as well.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Golden Smog "Blood on the Slacks"
2) Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl"
3) Smashing Pumpkins "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"
4) Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
5) Kelly Hogan "Because It Feel Good"
Anyway, last week VH1 released their list of the Top 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s and I feel that there is no better person than myself to go through the list and critique it. I'll do it 25 songs at a time and on Thursday I'll write up the songs that they missed and oh boy, did they miss a few. I have no idea what their criteria was, or how they considered something "great", and it looks like only one song per band was included. This should be interesting.
(And yes, you can go to www.vh1.com to see the full list, check out videos and I don't know, hire Kris Kross for your kids birthday party. Do so at your leisure.)
#100: Gerardo "Rico Suave": And we start off with an indication that we are really being loose with the definition of "Greatest". A song that is best known for the video featuring the rappers abs and a rather out of place mariachi band. That said, whenever someone says "Rico" I pretty much autonatically respond with "Suave".
#99: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)": Don't know this song. Sorry.
#98: EMF "Unbelievable": To truly understand the early 90's you do have to include a song that features a sample of Andrew Dice Clay. He was just a 1990 type of guy. While I'm not a fan of the song it really was one of the first rave type songs to break out and bring the Madchester scene to America. Plus, the rumor that the band name stood for Ecstasy MFers is up there with KMFDM standing for Kill MFing Depeche Mode.
#97: Prince and the New Power Generation "Get Off": Thankfully for Blogger this was back when Prince was Prince. One of those videos that I appreciated greatly mainly because I was a freshman in college with basic cable. Not a bad song even if it will always be remembered for Prince's VMA performance of it in assless pants.
#96: Nelson "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection": So theoretically in all of the 90's there were only 95 songs that were better than this. Now I'll admit that the end of the decade sucked but I can name 95 songs in 1993 that were better than this one. Is this the one with the video featuring the indian and the feather and the kid dreaming that Nelson would save him? Yeah, this list sucks.
#95: Montell Jordan "This Is How We Do It": The song you heard at every party and/or dance club for a good decade. Until today I never knew who performed it.
#94: Fastball "The Way": In the late 90's there were about three dozen songs like the way a bunch of which show up on the list. It's the only song you ever heard from the band and you constantly go "Was that Semisonic or was it Marcy Playground?"
#93: Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories "Stay": First song that I think should be higher. This was so much a mid-90's staple and a classic story as well. Unsigned singer lives next to Ethan Hawke, gets him to put her song on the Reality Bites soundtrack and it goes on to become this major hit. Video was one of those brilliant one shot/no edits pieces featuring Lisa looking like every girl I wanted to date in college but could never figure out how to ask out.
#92: Public Enemy "911 is a Joke": I like Flavor Flav. He is an American original. But if you are going to have one PE song on this list how the hell can it not be Fight the Power. That is the song that made you sit back and go "whoa". This was more "why is he wearing a clock?"
#91: Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery": For the record, I never went to Lilith Fair. I listened to every single artist who performed but never actually went. Not my favorite song of Sarah's but it is a rather good one. Man, did she have a killer voice.
#90: New Radicals "You Get What You Give": Of all the one hit wonders in the 90's this is probably my favorite. Up beat, catchy and calls out Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson and Hanson at various points. It's still a great song today and that is saying something.
#89: Liz Phair "Never Said": Got to give VH1 some credit, I wouldn't expect Liz Phair to make the list. As with all Liz songs, it's not the song itself that matters it is what she is saying and how she is saying it. More than the Lilith Fair artists, Liz is the one who broke down the door for the female confessional song in which she has no qualms saying precisely what she feels. I'm still a fan even if she has gone pop.
#88: Duncan Sheik "Barely Breathing": Another late 90's wussy rock song. A nice song but nothing worth writing about.
#87: Billy Ray Cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart": It's because of songs like this that I have a hard time standing in the country section of a record store. I'm continually frightened by any song that has a well organized and intricate dance associated with it. I don't dance much but I've always assumed that it was to release your inner emotions and uniqueness. The "stand in a line and do precisely what everyone else does" really bothers me.
#86: The Cranberries "Linger": One of those songs that you forget about for years and then just the name makes you sigh. What a freaking beautiful song with a black and white video featuring Delores O'Riordan looking gorgeous beyond belief. This song went on many a mix tape back when I was in college. Hell, I'd still use it today if I had a reason to.
#85: Cypress Hill "Insane in the Brain": Insane in the membrane. It's insane got no brain. Insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain. Repeat as necessary. B-Real, truly a poet of our time. I'm still bummed I didn't go to the Lollapalooza tour where they performed.
#84: Snow "Informer": Because what would the 90's have been without a white rapper from Toronto performing vaguely reggae songs. To be honest, this wasn't even a hit back when it was a hit. No way it should be on this list.
#83: The Breeders "Cannonball": Hell yeah! My best example of why the early 90's were awesome as a music fan: this was a legitimate hit song despite the fact that it had almost no redeeming pop qualities at all. Just a bass loop, distorted vocals and the Deal twins screaming into microphones. This was also when Alternative Nation was its own nightly show on MTV and you'd deal with Kennedy just to see these videos nightly.
#82: Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks On Me": Best known for Bushwick Bill, the little person rapper shot by his girlfriend. For the album cover they used the actual picture of him being taken out of the ambulance. As a white kid from the suburbs this made me go "These dudes are seriously hardcore."
#81: Paula Cole "I Don't Want to Wait": I own this CD. I don't know when I bought it. I don't know how I bought it. I don't know why it is in my CD collection still. If anyone can provide any rationale behind why I ever thought this was a good song please let me know. Otherwise it will just have to wait until I complete my time machine.
#80: Right Said Fred "I'm Too Sexy": This is a top 25 song if there ever was one. Not of the 90's, of all time. He's too sexy for his cat for crying out loud! What do you think about that? I've spent more than a decade defending the awesomeness of this song mainly because everyone involved knew it was a joke and played it as such. They didn't use this to try to become serious artists, they knew they had written a brilliant, funny, nonsensical pop song and went for it. Some groups only have one song in them. For The Kingsmen it was "Louie Louie", for Right Said Fred it is "I'm Too Sexy".
#79: Meredith Brooks "Bitch": Not all of Lillith Fair was good. I'm not sure we needed this to be a hit song. Incredibly, Tori Amos isn't on this list (I'll add her on Thursday) but this song is. I'm not sure if many people even remember it.
#78: Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way": More than the fact that this song rocks, I'll always remember the female drummer with the best afro ever. She looked so cool that MTV News actually had to do a bit where they showed that she was the actual drummer and not an actress portraying one for the video. Sure, it's just a Hendrix song but Jimi was awesome. Might as well copy from the best.
#77: Ice Cube "It Was a Good Day": They mentioned this on the special but can you believe that the guy who headed up NWA now stars in movies like "Are We There Yet"? That just seems so wrong. It's like having Johnny Rotten appear as judge on a reality show for rock bands. Oh wait, that happened too...
#76: Blues Traveler "Run Around": Closing tonight out with a non jam song by a jam band. I was happy when this song became a hit because I really felt that these guys deserved to be popular. When I finally saw them in concert a decade later I realized that a) they were better when the lead singer was fat and b) if they played another freaking bass solo I was going to hit someone across the back of the head with a chair.
Tomorrow, 75-51. And if I'm up to it, I might make up my own list as well.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Golden Smog "Blood on the Slacks"
2) Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl"
3) Smashing Pumpkins "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"
4) Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
5) Kelly Hogan "Because It Feel Good"
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