An Ear For An Era: 1997

Happy 200th post on this log, log and log readers!

I made a mistake of not pre-writing any of this when it was still fresh. Recently I've taken to working on this here written essay portion of my assignment in pieces so fresh stuff will have fresh thoughts and opinions and writings representing it. But not this time. Most of the 1997 stuff is a nostalgia trip though and not really anything too fresh to add other than how I feel now about the old 1997 feelings.

I really just wanted to finish 1997 as quickly as I could so I could listen to this new Spoon album. And The New Pornographers. And some other 2014 hits I've acquired recently.

Okay, where was I? I hadn't started yet? Good. I'll start from the top then.

1997 is an enigma. It was the year when I switched, a huge year personally. Every once in a while I count back to 1997 to see how long I've been entrenched in underground/my-own-thing music. The very brief time I spent in the mid 90s listening to the radio and MTV and more or less identifying with it as "my music" ended and I finally found MY music. So now I've been intimately involved with music in this way for 17 years. This number used to give me pride; now it makes me feel old. But I have this working theory about the '7s being the peaks of the decade and I'm not sure if I can say that about '97 even though it was huge for me. I'll come back to that at the end.
It's also been weird hitting 1997 in this project because as I listen to the stuff I am having a hard time figuring out how music has evolved since then. I'm sure it has but since I've experienced it first hand from here on out it just feels like trends have come and gone but there hasn't been a lot of growth. I mean, where do you go from OK Computer and "Autumn Sweater?" I guess you go to Kid A and "Black Flowers" but even so, it's hard to trace actual evolution over the musical landscape as a whole. I guess we'll just see what we get.

Let's just start with that then, the big one. The one that could make a case for my theory of '7s being tops. OK Computer was world changing music from Radiohead. I don't really have much I can say about it that hasn't been said much more eloquently by the critical consensus. At the time I remember being merely intrigued by the band and its music videos but I actually didn't get OK Computer until Amnesiac came out a few years later. I think Best Buy had some sort of buy-one-get-one deal on Radiohead albums or something so I finally got into it. Talk about an album! Sure, the singles sound good on their own but this is something you just put on track one, do nothing but listen until it's done, and then reluctantly leave to do something else (or just repeat as needed).

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

On the last day of classes in 1997 before summer vacation I went to a party thing at my friend's house. A boy-girl party and I think some spin-the-bottle happened and I ended up with my first girlfriend (which lasted maybe a week?). But for some reason my strongest memory was after the girls left and the dudes were hanging out watching MTV and this music video came on:

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones "The Impression That I Get"

I remember making declarations to my friends that this music was the best stuff because they used a trombone in such a cool way (I played trombone in concert band). I didn't know what ska was. I think I had heard the song/seen the video before maybe with my brother but watching it at this point switched something in my brain. I made some sort of conscious decision watching this video at this time that I had to have more. I needed more awesome rock music with trombones in it! Now, as previously mentioned, I didn't personally even get this CD. My brother did. So I only heard bits and pieces of it, mostly the singles. I remember VH1 would play the "Rascal King" video every night at midnight on the dot so I would tune in before bed (it was summer vacation!) and watch that video every night. This all led to Reel Big Fish obsession and new friends from band class once we started 9th grade in the fall.

One friend in particular, Paul, was the other trombone player and he seemed to have a head start on this whole ska thing. He introduced me to quite a few bands, most significantly I'd say being Mustard Plug. He had their album Evildoers Beware! which I ended up getting as one of my earliest "underground" purchases. Today it's an album I can't listen to objectively. It's just so damn catchy and it puts me in a good mood. Now I'll try to get through a quick summary of the other albums that do the same thing. Hang-Ups by Goldfinger surprised me because even though I loved it at the time I can admit they aren't the greatest. But the front half is so energetic and ska-centric that I can see why I loved it so much. The Hippos kind of sounded just like Reel Big Fish which was just fine for me. Buck-O-Nine reminds me of some other friends I kind of got into ska...there were some mild nostalgic feelings coming up when 28 Teeth came on. Link 80 was a little more hardcore than I preferred at the time, but 17 Reasons... was still a good transitional record into hardcore sounds. The EP they put out later in the year (and the last Link 80 album with Nick Traina as vocalist) entitled Killing Katie (get it? Kill Link 80?) I preferred because it was more varied and had lighter ska-flavored songs and a cover of "For What It's Worth." Sad story, that of Nick Traina. I read the book his mom (Danielle Steele of all people) wrote about him. Labelmates and still one of my favorite of the ska bunch MU330 started maturing with Crab Rangoon, which involved some very serious topics such as molestation in the Catholic church and cancer, which I didn't particularly like at the time but I would later realize was maybe my favorite album by them.  I dug Bruce Lee Band pretty much immediately because they were Mike Park's band and I loved Skankin' Pickle and Asian Man Records pretty deeply. And he was playing with Less Than Jake as his backing band at the time! And finally, a good band that transitioned me into other things (and was the main remaining "ska" band I listened to after moving on), The Impossibles had a good combo of ska/punk energy and Weezer-esque earnestness. The lyrics were very clever and while the majority of the songs had ska guitar I could almost exclude them from the skapunk category of the rest of these bands. Kind of a growing up kind of band.

When I got more deep into the ska-punk thing I started realizing I should listen to punk too if I could only find a band that stuck with me and didn't have a ska element. Ironically, I had already gotten into something that was sort of punk-related in The Offspring's Ixnay on the Hombre. I must have gotten it right before the ska switch because I liked that song "All I Want" and I just associated the album with the whole "alternative" thing. I actually got quite into this album briefly and then kind of dropped it. Years later I would realize that Jello Biafra does the opening "disclaimer" track. Which gave me a little bit more respect for The Offspring and a little less respect for Jello Biafra.

Beyond the punk rock already covered (apparently I liked old punk from the start!) we sure liked local heroes Pinhead Circus. The songs "Detailed Instructions for the Self Involved" and "Carefree Metal Days" were our anthems. We also saw the band Bigwig opening for someone (or someone opening for them) and liked them mostly on the strength of their cover of the theme from Cheers. My friends may not have particularly gotten into the Mr. T Experience but I sure did. Revenge is Sweet, And So Are You is one of my favorite pop punk albums because of its great wordplay and earnestness in a combination that not many can accomplish. Also I remember watching this music video on Punk TV, a TV show on public access I was obsessed with around this time (mostly because they also played ska but MTX was a good first step into the punk world).

The Mr. T Experience "And I Will Be With You"

I remember being a rebel but still watching MTV (slowly weaning myself off!) and there was a show where a panel of random dumb people rated music videos, giving the winner some sort of heavy rotation on the network. I think it was down to The Toasters' "Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down" and Daft Punk's "Around the World." I had mixed feelings, because I wanted The Toasters to win because they were awesome but the dumb people didn't know anything about ska and I didn't think they deserved it. I was very judgy. Anyway, Daft Punk won (probably) because that "Around the World" video is quite the video and it's quite the song. But at the time I did not care for Daft Punk. I was not there when James Murphy played Daft Punk for the rock kids.

Daft Punk "Around the World"

Techno or whatever you would call it was getting pretty big at the same time as ska. So it was automatically the enemy of course. They don't use real instruments and ska uses MORE instruments! So much more real! I had some friends that weren't so closed minded; I remember listening to a friend's tape that he was somehow involved in (I don't know what he did, some sort of remixing or something?) so he was into it. And now I can appreciate these artists but I still have a hard time differentiating the different genres of electronic music. But Daft Punk was great. And so were The Chemical Brothers. The beats on Dig Your Own Hole are pretty undeniable.

After the punk stuff I got into the melodic almost-emo sounds of bands like Hot Water Music. Fuel for the Hate Game was their first full length and my introduction to them (even though I didn't get it until probably around 2000). There's just so much bearded passion going on, it is a strange experience to listen to Hot Water Music. So rough around the edges, such a bumpy ride with the vocals yet comforting as an overall experience. Similarly, Tuesday just takes me back. The first post-Slapstick band to put out material, their only full length was Freewheelin' and it's all they needed to do to solidify themselves in the cannon of great melodic pop punk bands of the era. Of course, bandleader Dan Andriano would soon join Alkaline Trio. And of course the early Alkaline Trio releases (the "Sundials" 7" and the song "97") just showed the brilliance they would further develop for a few more years before I would disown them once they left Asian Man Records. But those early years, oh man!

But of all the earnest/melodic pop-punk that got lumped in with emo of 1998, The Smoking Popes absolutely nailed it with their final album (before reuniting years later) Destination Failure. Anyone that is ever going through a painful breakup, has ever felt the doubt deep inside needs to listen to this album. Anyone that has held out hope needs to listen to "Megan." Anyone that has lost that hope needs to listen to "I Was Right." Any anyone who is anyone needs to listen to this song to experience the gamut of emotions from loss to betrayal to hope to self doubt to a little bit more hope.

The Smoking Popes "Pretty Pathetic"

I Can Feel The Heart Beating As One is one of those albums of a now-veteran indie rock band settling into its groove. Confidence abounds. At this point they know who they are but still aren't afraid to experiment with different sounds (as they still demonstrate on every new album they put out to this day), vary wildly from track to track without losing a cohesive sound, and just sound like comfort in their longer, jammier songs, building a setting, a place that you just want to hang out in for a while. And then "Autumn Sweater" comes on. That's just one of those songs, you know?

Yo La Tengo "Autumn Sweater"

Another "indie" band that just hit its groove in this time was Built to Spill. Perfect From Now On is a perfect title for the album that saw them confidently move on from the poppier tracks of their previous material and into an artsy, longer-song, "perfect" sound that now really defines the band. It was never my favorite BTS album but that's probably just because I haven't spent more time with it. There's really nothing wrong with this album, it's just slightly more difficult. 

Electro-Shock For President was the last we would ever hear from the brilliant Brainiac. All the ideas going into an EP just concentrated the creativity onto 6 tracks, making it unbelievably brilliant. And all the more tragic that Tim Taylor left us in 1997. I can only imagine where they would have gone from here. 

Brainiac "Fresh New Eyes"

Modest Mouse was on top of the indie world (nearing breakthrough status they'd hit very soon) in 1997. I don't actually own the album The Lonesome Crowded West but the few songs I have from that one are among my favorites. I absolutely need to get that record! Plus the 7" songs from that year from the same compilation I've referenced before are more of my favorites. "Baby Blue Sedan" was one of my ex-girlfriend's favorite songs and "Other People's Lives" spoke to the world of the Internet that we would all soon experience first hand. 

Pavement was still a great band as demonstrated by Brighten The Corners, an album that includes my introduction to the band, a song called "Stereo." I liked the ironic detachment of it all. In around 2000 my brother was getting into this band because he'd just gone off to college and introduced me to them. I was still pretty punk rock but could dig what they were doing. But actually, my actual introduction to Pavement was when they were on a show I loved in 1997 or so, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I still love that show. The precursor to all the Adult Swim shows of varying quality, SGC2C spoke to me like nothing else. And the fact that years later I discovered that the random band that played on an episode, introduced as The Beatles and played a noisy, somewhat off-putting set turned out to be super hip indie band Pavement, my appreciation for the show just multiplied. Great stuff!

Pavement "Land of the Hot Knives" and the Space Ghost theme

Speaking of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, its spinoff program Cartoon Planet was another thing that defined me in these days. My screen name for many things, skankinwithbrak, says it all. Ska and Brak. Brak from Cartoon Planet. I know it was a more kid friendly version of Space Ghost but as a 14-year-old I just embraced it. The first of two albums, Musical Bar-B-Que was an album I remember singing (particularly the Brak songs of course) with my friends, and that was also an early version of being completely myself without caring what people thought and people embracing that about me. We made friends with some girls for the first time and as much as it would seem to make sense to hide this immaturity we embraced it and they seemed to love that about us. It was a great time in my life. And then my slightly-ironic love of those songs kind of got confused when my family got into it. I think I had hoped they would find it obnoxious and they totally called my bluff by getting into it themselves. When it stopped being rebellious and different it got annoying and I couldn't listen to it with my family anymore. But now it's cool. If I have a child someday I'll probably try to get them into it. Here's a song from the happy times, one that I remember singing for our female friends and them loving it (it didn't get me a girlfriend though, if you can imagine that!)

Cartoon Planet "Crazy Lovesick Fool"

So. Aside from all the silly jokester music and ska and punk, does '97 qualify as one of the "7s" I have a working theory about? The best year of the decade? "Indie" rock may be able to make a case for itself with Radiohead, Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo, Brainiac, Blonde Redhead, and others putting out arguably their best material. Ben Folds Five and Cornershop also broke through with some genius albums as well. Hip hop was following a different trajectory and starting to get crappy but Notorioius B.I.G., Wu-Tang, Del, and Jurassic Five represented a great development in the genre. But aside from a few choice records, it might not be on the level of a '92 in hip hop.

What an odd year.

Other Comments:

• Oddly I didn't even know about Del The Funky Homosapien's album Future Development for quite some time. I thought there was a big gap between No Need for Alarm and Both Sides of the Brain. Eventually I discovered its existence and couldn't find it anywhere. Now I have it and it's as good as I hoped, a good bridge between those two albums.
• Early Beulah is quite good but I'll have more to say about them in upcoming entries.
• Early Cursive is a whole different band. Very emo or something.
• Early Piebald is decent too.
• Other "alternative rock" at the time: The Foo Fighters! There were some great singles off that The Colour and the Shape album, particularly "Everlong."
• Time Out of Mind by Bob Dylan is one of the best late-period albums by someone like that.
• Still dig the Man or Astro-Man with Made From Technetium.
• Les Savy Fav was starting out promisingly.
• Rest in peace Notorious B.I.G.! I dug the album Life After Death but Puffy/Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy/whatever-he-is-now handled it very awkwardly and was a big reason I didn't like rap music at the time. 
• I remember liking the Smashing Pumpkins song "The End is the Beginning is the End" from whatever Batman soundtrack that was. Must have been my waning days of MTV and that stuff.
• Same with The Verve and the song "Bittersweet Symphony." Particularly the video!
• of Montreal had some early music in 1997. They were only 10 years from their masterpiece. I'll see how that evolution moves along with music itself!
• I need to listen to the self-titled album by OOIOO more because that's the kind of weirdness I can get behind.
• I should have more to say about Elliott Smith's Either/Or. It's just a beautiful record that I haven't listened to enough. But "Say Yes" is a song I cannot get enough of.
• Early Jim O'Rourke is great! Bad Timing is an album I got a while ago and couldn't really get behind at first. More or less a bunch of 10 minute acoustic guitar solos, but in the right frame of mind you can hear the innovation happening and the future of his contributions to the musical landscape.
• Samiam might have been my bridge into "melodic punk rock with heart" that I used to confuse with emo. But "She Found You" is still a song I love.
• Stephin Merritt's side projects reigned supreme in 1997. The Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes both put out albums. They are decent but not quite on the level of the great Magnetic Fields material.
• I should get that Jurassic 5 EP they put out in 1997 because the three songs I have are stone cold classics.
• Cornershop was gold beyond their big hit "Brimful of Asha." When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a great album up and down.
• That Murder City Devils album (self-titled) is fantastic too!
• And Sleater-Kinney! Dig Me Out might be one of their best.
• Wu-Tang Forever! I agree with ODB, they should have won the Grammy because Wu-Tang is for the children.
• Ben Folds Five! Too much to talk about, right?? "Brick" was the breakout sad song hit and they kept me around with goofier upbeat songs like "Kate" and "Song for the Dumped."
• Self-titled Blur? Woohoo!
• I need to give Blonde Redhead's Fake Can Be Just as Good more spins. A great transitional record from one of my all-time favorites.

Next Time!

Air! Alkaline Trio for real this time! A left turn from the Beastie Boys! Beck, yo! BLACK STAR ONE OF THE GREATEST ALBUMS IN HIP HOP! The Broadways were one of my favorites though! Fatboy Slim! More Fugazi! Jets to Brazil at last! Lauryn Hill! Neutral Milk Hotel! Outkast still rules the world! Pulp! Refused with one of the greatest albums ever! Slow Gherkin! Suicide Machines! And more!

An Ear For An Era: 1996

Okay. This was a turning point. Well, the music released in 1996 was a turning point for me, even though I personally did not turn until 1997. But I have a lot to say about some of this stuff so we'll just get started.

Reel Big Fish changed my life. Specifically their major label debut Turn the Radio Off. This album changed everything for me. Because while they were very popular at the time, they turned me on to a whole new scene, one based out of the underground, things I could not hear on the radio or MTV. This whole ska craze, silly as it was, completely changed me. All because I played trombone in junior high band and was excited to find the trombone being used in popular rock music. Plus the goofiness made it easy to get into as a 13/14 year old. It taught me to think for myself. It got me into bands that showed me a new way of thinking. And I probably wouldn't have discovered any of this without the success of Reel Big Fish (or maybe The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, but my brother got that CD so I didn't get into them as much). I remember finding them in the "ska" section of Wherehouse Music, one of those big, fairly corporate music stores. I remember looking at other CDs in that section. I got a compilation called Generic Skaca because it had a Reel Big Fish song I hadn't heard before on it, and that introduced me to another 20 or so bands. Ska got me into punk, which got me into "emo" and then "indie" and then everything. And I owe it to this, my favorite album from junior high. I can't speak enough to how much I loved this album. I tried to figure out the horn lines on trombone. I went and saw them at the Ogden Theater and it was the first concert I went to that was my choice and a band I had actually heard (the first show I had gone to that was my choice was our friend's ska band Area 52 in Fort Collins, but I wasn't so familiar with them). I bought the shirt and put it on because I didn't know any better. I still have that shirt. I still wear it sometimes skiing because it's one of my few long sleeved t-shirts. I saw RBF at Warped tour a year or two ago because my sister won tickets and we decided to go for the hell of it. The majority of the songs they played were from this almost 20 year old album because even they know what the people wanted to hear.

Reel Big Fish "Sell Out"

I never got super into Sublime but I did enjoy their popular songs. Like "Wrong Way." Another trombone part I memorized. And "What I Got" reminded me of the junior high dance when it came on in a censored version, how it didn't matter that it was censored because everyone was singing along with all those f words...

Chumps on Parade was my favorite MU330 album for a long time. They matured quite a bit after this, so it's the more "fun" one featuring plenty of goofy songs like "Rok" and "La," good sing-along songs. It starts with back-to-back punk rock songs under a minute thirty, which really reminds me of seeing them live. They would just bring the energy! And Gerry would bust out the chainsaw and go crazy. I remember talking to Gerry at the Starlight in Fort Collins after a show while waiting for my mom to pick me up. What a crazy thrill that was. He was my favorite since he was in both Skankin' Pickle and MU330, two of my all time favorite ska bands. And Skankin' Pickle called it quits here! The Green Album was their last one! A good mix of goofy and inventive as always. Lots of cover songs on here too. Their cover of "Special Brew" was why I got into Bad Manners once upon a time.

Slapstick was another lightning-in-a-bottle band on the Dill/Asian Man roster that my friends and I got obsessed with. They didn't last long, but what they created was very memorable. Today they're probably more famous for the bands its members would go on to create/join, but the fact that so much talent was condensed into this one skapunk band is pretty remarkable. Brendan's lyrics were a great summation of what it feels like to grow up in Chicago (I assume). Songs about losing friends, riding the bus, and not wanting to grow up really hit home for me (particularly the non-Chicago specific portions). And talking to homeless people. I think Slapstick is the reason my friend and I talked to homeless people in high school. We created some great memories doing that, and somehow managed to not be murdered.

And Less Than Jake! Losing Streak was a big hit for me and my friends. Just a ton of energy and what felt like brilliant lyrics at the time. One of my favorite live bands at the time as well. And I remember when Greased came out (an EP of cover songs from Grease) I looked everywhere for it and finally found it on a field trip to Denver (I think we went to go watch a performance of Macbeth or something for AP English) at Virgin Records or some such big CD store.

Chim Chim's Badass Revenge is the first Fishbone album I got and might still be my favorite. Just the anger and energy it puts off are so cool. Pure funky skapunk or whatever you want to call the genre. Lots of toilet humor because they just didn't care about that anymore. And this song was probably my first instance of appreciating a rap (outside of Weird Al and Simpsons of course):

Fishbone featuring Busta Rhymes "Psychologically Overcast"

Remember that whole swing craze that came about around the same time as the ska craze? I was into Squirrel Nut Zippers because of the use of horns again. My friends and I took swing lessons and I can still do the Charleston. But Hot! is a very enjoyable album even today. That's the timelessness of jazz, folks. Even if there was a weird boom in popularity in the mid 90s, that stuff still sounds good today. I remember hearing the song "Hell" on 93.3 which was the alternative or whatever station and the DJ came back on air saying "as in...what the Hell was that?" and I was annoyed that he seemed put off by it because I dug it so much.

I wonder if I had heard Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island at the time if I would have appreciated it because of its use of horns. And the fact that it has a song called "April 8th" and my birthday is April 7th. Probably not. It's a bit on the mature side of things. It would have been badass of me to get into NMH back then though.

Now that that detour is done, let's get to punk, which should probably be right next to the ska but I had to talk about those in that order. The Descendents' kind of reunion or something album Everything Sucks was another favorite. It was funny that Reel Big Fish and The Descendents both had songs called "Everything Sucks" the same year. And they both had albums with that name. But yeah, this is what got me into The Descendents, even though it didn't take me long to get into their back catalog as a result. It's a good thing they didn't mature too much for this album. There are a couple thoughtful songs but most of them are short and silly. And "I'm The One" is a trademark Descendents pop punk girl song that I love.

The Suicide Machines were probably my favorite punk band for a while there, mostly because they incorporated a lot of ska. Destruction By Definition will always hold a place in my heart because of how earnest it is and the crazy levels of energy it has.

And now let's talk about Weird Al again. Bad Hair Day was another one I got when it was new, as all of his albums will be from here on out. "The Alternative Polka" was, despite the fact that I watched MTV and tried to figure out what to like, my introduction to lots of the popular songs of the day. My friend and I made a music video for "Gump" but got in trouble for using my brother's dart gun even though it wasn't loaded. But obviously I get why it was a stupid idea. I also remember watching some New Year's Eve coverage and Weird Al was performing that song and it cut away to The Presidents of the United States of America showing them all stoked on the song, dancing and singing along. I think even now they might still end "Lump" with the "And that's all I have to say about that" line in live performances. Such a stark contrast to Coolio's reaction to "Amish Paradise."

But I think that means it's time to talk about The Presidents of the United States of America. I eagerly got their second album II because it came out and my brother had beaten me to the punch of their first album. I loved this one so much. Dancing around my room singing along, no shame. Probably a good transition to ska in that it was very goofy and easy for a 13 year old to get into. Songs about puffy little shoes, volcanoes, and Tiki gods, I was just obsessed with it. I still have the whole thing memorized even though I hadn't listened to it in forever (6 years, if my itunes stats are correct!). I also remember the hidden track was my first encounter with such a thing because I was so confused about it I had to ask my friends if they had that weird track with the kid talking about basketball on their copy, and I might have even asked the band about it in an email (I never heard back though).

Side note: An example of the same practice with less success was Crash Test Dummies' A Worm's Life. I got it because my brother had their popular album and then this one came out. Turned out to be pretty disappointing.

I never got into Weezer until sometime after these two first amazing albums. Somehow I missed them even though I was watching MTV at the time and my friends were getting into them. But Pinkerton is a very special album that I don't really need to elaborate on because I feel like everyone already knows. Everybody knew before I did.  But "El Scorcho" went on many mixtapes anyway. And then "Falling For You" for who is now my wife, because of course it did. 

My first official "guilty pleasure" when I was into ska and punk and whatnot was what I assumed was just pure pop: "Lovefool" by The Cardigans. I didn't realize it was a respectable pop, a Swedish alt-pop sort of thing. It was just so catchy and I was slightly embarrassed that I loved it so much. Eventually I got the CD First Band on the Moon and yeah, it's pretty awesome.

The Cardigans "Lovefool"

I guess that takes me to other such indie minded things. Brainiac (a.k.a. 3RA1N1AC) were as indie minded as you could get I think. About as creative and outside thinking as rock and roll gets. It sucks that their career would be cut off so prematurely after just an EP more, but Hissing Prigs in Static Couture is probably their definitive statement. The levels of distortion on the vocals, the weird effects they put the guitars through, there is really nothing else like this. When I discovered Brainiac (a good 8 or so years later) I remember being disappointed that they weren't more influential, that others hadn't really taken on this sort of sound (Enon did it to a degree, and I do love me some Enon, but that doesn't count since it's the dude from Brainiac). I guess maybe others wouldn't be able to particularly pull it off. Here's a song that to me is a classic dance track, in its own unique way.

3RA1N1AC "Pu55yf00t1n'"

Belle & Sebastian put out a couple in '96. Tigermilk was a fine debut, but If You're Feeling Sinister is just next level. So much heart-on-the-sleeve. So comforting. And heartbreaking at the same time. This might be my favorite Belle & Sebastian track. (Sorry I didn't write much here, it's just getting so long and I'm running out of juice!)

Belle & Sebastian "Seeing Other People"

WHY HIP HOP SUCKS IN '96
I hated hip hop in '96. That hatred would continue for a good 4-5 years. But at this time obviously I didn't know about all the great stuff that was out. I was very closed minded about the stuff too. I wouldn't have appreciated Reasonable Doubt, the fantastic debut of Jay-Z, even though it is of the highest quality. It was just talking and rhyming. For some reason I even made fun of hip hop for having so many tracks featuring other rappers. Like collaboration is anything besides awesome. On some church retreat thing me and the other punk rock kids declared our group "Team Outkazt" (or some such spelling) because we were such outcasts...and then were disappointed that there was already "some rap group" called Outkast and how could someone that does such a popular form of music as rap be an outcast? I really didn't get it. But ATLiens is a beautiful thing that, if I had given it a chance, I would have probably gotten really into it. Not anything like the crap on the radio. Spacey sounds, smart wordplay, delivery that absolutely requires more than what I made fun of. Ah well. Eventually I got it. Similarly spacey and sci-fi based was Dr. Octagonecologyst featuring Dan the Automator and Kool Keith. Hip hop from the future, man! And then The Roots, Illadelph Halflife. Man. This.

The Roots "No Alibi"

Let's see, other hip hop. The Fugees' The Score is pretty brilliant. DJ Shadow's Endtroducing is a whole different thing. Instrumental hip hop. DJ mastery. Even when I got it because I was open minded 10 years later for some sort of anniversary reissue, it took me a while to get into it. But this time it just felt right to listen to it. De La Soul's 1996 album Stakes Is High seems like if I were to open my mind just a hair I would have appreciated it. It's very smart, criticizing the very aspects of mainstream hip hop that I held against the whole genre.

And of course Tupac's All Eyez On Me came out in 1996 shortly before his death. I remember when he died a skater guy in my class who was into hip hop was very upset about it, saying it was like losing a member of his family. I didn't get it then, and while today I'm still not as interested in Tupac as other hip hop, I can recognize the talent and travesty of it all.

Also Noted:

• Archers of Loaf's All the Nations Airports is another fantastic one from those dudes.
• The Age of Octeen by Braid. Neat!
• Odelay! What a hugely influential album. I should give it a full paragraph but this thing is so gigantic and it wasn't that big of a deal to me at the time so I'm just putting it here. I just liked the videos and didn't get the actual album until much later. I wasn't ever really a Beck devotee, just an appreciator late to the party.
• It Was Written is another quality Nas album...
• I didn't get the Refused album Songs to Fan The Flames of Discontent until a couple years ago when they did their reunion tour and I only knew the fantastic The Shake of Punk to Come, so I figured I should know more before seeing them live. STFTFOD turned out to be pretty damn spectacular on its own. 
• The "Sordid Sentinels Edition" of Wowee Zowee by Pavement has some great bonus tracks, including what may be my favorite Pavement song of them all: "Give It A Day."
• Beautiful Freak by Eels is this old? Damn. Such a good album though. And the song "My Beloved Monster" reminds me of walking my dog around an old apartment complex we used to live in.
• Experiment Zero was one of my favorite Man or Astroman albums that I only had on vinyl for the longest time.
• My friend and I used to obnoxiously sing "Popular" by Nada Surf during soccer practice, not really getting the irony of the song and thinking it was stupid but still catchy. Then I got it. Then years later I found out they are actually a very good band! I like the album High/Low quite a bit, it does a really good job creating and retaining energy. I used to think some of those builds should be used by a harder band as a way to bust into something screamy, but now I think it works best as it is.
• Maniacal Laughter is the other early Bouncing Souls album that is great fun.
• The Modest Mouse songs from the Building Nothing Out of Something album (a compilation of 7" songs) of 1996 include the ones from one of my favorite 7" records I own: "A Life of Arctic Sounds" b/w "Medication." Two of my favorite Modest Mouse songs for sure.
• The same year as all that Slapstick I already have a couple Broadways early songs. I'm excited about those ones!
• "Criminal" by Fiona Apple was another guilty pleasure type of song for me, but I think mostly for its music video. Rawr!
• Being There shows that Wilco was already very amazing very early on.
• I need to listen to This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About more. Not my favorite Modest Mouse album but since I so love the surrounding singles I probably just need to give it some more attention.
• I mildly got into Goldfinger. Mostly for their associations with Reel Big Fish. And the ska songs. And how silly some of the songs were.
• No Code by Pearl Jam was maybe the last of the pre-ska CDs I got. I got it when it came out and the packaging was really neat but I didn't particularly care for the music that much.
• Gah and Johnny Cash! American II: Unchained! He was on a hot streak!
• Double Happiness by Slow Gherkin brought back tons of great memories. Even though I've always thought of the album as sort of a hodgepodge (the next album would be much more cohesive), it is full of great songs that invoke great memories of great friends at a great time in my life.
• The Welcome To The Dollhouse soundtrack featured Future Bible Heroes! I love that movie. Todd Solondz is brilliant.

Next Time:

1997 was when I actually officially became a ska devotee (all of the 1996 stuff I wrote about I listened to in 1997-1998). So we've got The Bruce Lee Band, Buck-O-Nine, Hippos, The Impossibles, two Link 80 albums, the Bosstones, MU330, Mustard Plug, and more of that.

...And other stuff like Ben Folds Five, Beulah, Blonde Redhead, a Bob Dylan comeback thing, the last EP from Brainiac, Cartoon Planet lunacy, Chemical Brothers, Cornershop, Daft Punk, Elliott Smith, two Hot Water Music albums, Les Savy Fav, Missy Elliott, MTX, Murder City Devils, B.I.G., The Offspring, OOIOO, Sleater-Kinney, Tuesday, Wu-Tang, and a seminal Yo La Tengo album.

Oh, and OK Computer.

An Ear For An Era: 1993

When I was little I was good friends with my next door neighbor Ryan. When we were little we used to brag about arbitrary things. One of these things was how old our siblings were. When I asked how old his older brother was he held up all of his fingers. Ten! That's so old! And then in 1993 I turned ten.

This entry feels like it marks a turning point where it's mostly going to be about memories of music because apparently the music released in 1993 had a lot of influence on pivotal moments in my life over the 10 years or so following.

Technically my first CD was Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and I really don't know why. I didn't pick it out. I don't have it anymore. I think my parents got it for me but I don't know why they picked it. Not that I was easy. I kept saying I wanted a CD player but all I listened to was Weird Al so they'd ask me what music I would get if I got a CD player and I had no idea. At the time all I wanted was to have the technology. I think part of my now-obsessive relationship with music is to make up for that and prove that I was right, that I really needed that CD player. I think I got it for Christmas 1993? Based on the Meat Loaf release date and the not-sureness of my Alapalooza format (see below) that makes sense that I would have gotten it at the end of the year.

It's a bit fuzzy but I think Alapalooza is the first Weird Al album I got on CD (now I can't remember if I actually had it on tape instead) and it was definitely the first one I got when it was new. It opens up with "Jurassic Park." That movie made me a Michael Crichton fan and I remember going to see it with my mom even though it was PG-13 and I was 10. It was scary!  Let's see, what else about this album? In music class we had an activity where you click PVC pipes together while someone jumps over them to a beat (I'm not sure how to describe it without taking another whole paragraph so deal with it). The teacher said we could bring in music from home to do that to. We brought Alapalooza wanting to do "Jurassic Park" or "Bedrock Anthem" or something but the teacher said they didn't have enough of a beat (or in the latter case, probably too fast of a beat) but said "Traffic Jam" would work. I think we said no deal to that. I liked "Achy Breaky Song" because I agreed that "Achy Breaky Heart" was terrible. I'm going to pretend I think that Pitchfork got its name from this song's line "I'd rather have a pitchfork in my brain." "Bohemian Polka" took some guts but it was pretty fantastic. In addition to the CD, I got a VHS tape called Alapalooza: The Videos and I dug this claymation music video, particularly what happens to Barney:

"Weird Al" Yankovic "Jurassic Park"

A year later was 1994 and I know I got a World Cup '94 soundtrack album. Why am I not talking about this next time? Because all I was going to say was there was a silly song by James called "Goal Goal Goal" that I quite enjoyed at the time. A few years ago I acquired quite a bit of the James catalog and discovered it was a rework of the song "Low, Low, Low" from Laid. "Laid" is a pretty great indie pop rock whatever song too by the way. but "Low, Low, Low" now makes me laugh because I remember "Goal Goal Goal" and its cheesy lines like "He was never ever ever offside." Maybe if I remember (I don't have the World Cup album in my collection anymore so it won't naturally come up here) I'll post the video in the 1994 entry. It's another World Cup year, you know.

I listened to a lot of early 90s ska/punk in the late 90s. My super cool brother got the contemporary popular  albums like Let's Face It by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones so I naturally got the punker back catalog stuff like Don't Know How to Party. I remember thinking the trombonist was super cool (because he was super cool and also because I played trombone). And the hardcore moments they did were (at the time) the hardest music I listened to. But I preferred the ska side of the ska-core. I also had their EP Ska-Core, The Devil, And More which consisted mostly of covers but I still preferred the original song "Someday I Suppose." and the Bob Marley cover "Simmer Down" featuring a vocal turn by said super cool trombonist. The hardcore covers were my unwitting intro to Minor Threat though, which made me appreciate that more when I got it, since I already knew that song.

The other big ska albums that came up were Marbles by King Apparatus (I like King Apparatus because it reminds me of a ska version of Elvis Costello...take that as you will. I think the songwriting style is similar in a way I can't put my finger on) and Big Daddy Multitude by Mustard Plug. Mustard Plug was a band that I grew up with musically, and while Big Daddy Multitude wasn't the one that got me into them, it was the soundtrack to many fun days in high school. Including the song "Mr. Smiley" which we (very loosely) based a movie on back when my friend Bryden and I would make movies on dance nights. It was our tradition as dateless wonders, you see.

Do you have that one album that, for better or worse, takes you back to a very specific person in your past, a very specific location and time? Of course. There are many of those. But the one that hits so hard and so personally that you can't really listen to it? I used to have that with Pablo Honey by Radiohead. Used to? That sounds anti-nostalgia or something. But that one used to hurt and I didn't even rip it onto my computer (that I've had since 2005) until recently when I figured I should put myself through it for the sake of this project. In 2000, the album brought me immense joy to hear. In 2002, it helped me through some lonely times and then became my go-to moping album. Tears were shed over it. In 2004 I couldn't listen to it anymore. And I didn't for about 10 years. Today it turns out I can listen to it pretty objectively as long as I'm occupying myself with something else while it plays. Other than a few songs. Mostly the good songs are the ones that persist. "You." "Stop Whispering." "Thinking About You." "Anyone Can Play Guitar." Etc. About half of the album is pretty forgettable in my opinion and in my experience. But the good-to-great songs are some of the better grungy songs of the day. Still just a small hint of what they would do one day.

It turns out I listened to a good amount of 1993 music in 2003. Another go-to mopey album was Diary by Sunny Day Real Estate. When I got it my other point of reference for emo was Bivouac by Jawbreaker, and I was a little disappointed that Diary wasn't heavier. But now it sounds just perfect to me. I hadn't listened to it in several years but it turns out it stuck with me pretty damn well. Another album I listened to in 2003 when I wasn't moping was Get Fired by The Smoking Popes. I like this one because they hadn't sanded off their rougher edges and it has such a cynical feel throughout. And the original version of this song was empowering to me getting over a breakup and stuff...

The Smoking Popes "Can't Find It"

It was probably around this same time that my future wife was listening to Archers of Loaf. I happened to have "Web in Front" from a random download spree from college and it happened to come on once when she was there and she was very excited because she remembered that song and liked Archers of Loaf quite a bit. Eventually because of this I would get a few Archers of Loaf albums, the first of which was Icky Mettle. I like the whole album for different reasons than "Web in Front," mostly how hard it rocks. But still. This song.

Archers of Loaf "Web in Front"

There was also stuff happening that I don't particularly have memories of. Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins is a pretty good middle ground between Sunny Day Real Estate and My Bloody Valentine. Not that I need to attempt to describe their sound because everyone knows what they sound like. But I made that correlation the other day listening to this so I thought I'd share. I have some stories about The Smashing Pumpkins but they are more related to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness so I'll share those in the 1995 entry.

Vs by Pearl Jam was one I got for my birthday one year, which must have been around this time (probably my 1994 birthday though). It was cool because it was the first time I got music from a friend. So I knew it had to be what I should be listening to as a young person growing up. But it turned out I didn't particularly enjoy it. I liked "Daughter." And "Leash" was amusing because it sure didn't sound like he was saying "Get out of my lucky face." But I just couldn't get into it when there was so much Weird Al to listen to, you know?

I was barely aware of the existence of Nirvana in 1993 but I do remember seeing them on Saturday Night Live playing "Heart Shaped Box." I remember distinctly how Krist Novoselic jumped around for the performance. Looking at wikipedia, that was the same episode Charles Barkley was on. That one cracked me up.

Nirvana "Heart Shaped Box"

I remember this cool guy in my class named Chris liked Nirvana. I just wasn't cool enough to like that kind of music yet. But in retrospect, In Utero is a pretty awesomely bold album. It's dirty and messy enough as it turned out, but I really want to hear the "unlistenable" version Steve Albini came up with. But at the moment all I have is the commercial version. After In Utero comes MTV Unplugged in New York, which seems like the perfect cap on the band's short run.

After the break-up of the Pixies, we got Frank Black's debut solo album Frank Black. I like Frank Black solo stuff for what seems like a completely different reason than why I love the Pixies. It's good in its own way. Let's just say that. But it ain't the Pixies. And their recent reunion album sounds more like Frank Black than the Pixies. Whatever similarities people draw between this and the last Pixies album seem trivial. What they did is over. Last Splash by The Breeders, on the other hand, feels a little bit more magic to me (but still for different reasons than the Pixies). It's the instrumental aspect, I'm more interested in clever sounds than lyrics. The Breeders have more clever sounds than Frank Black I think. Fair enough?

Math rock, the natural progression of crazy instrumentation and hardcore, was coming along nicely, as I have a few Don Caballero singles that rock me very hard and happily, and Polvo's album Today's Active Lifestyles. That one's pure math rock perfection right there. But when it comes to screwing around with the formula for hardcore, Brainiac got it just right in my mind. They would go on to go even crazier, but Smack Bunny Baby is a great jumping off point.

Brainiac "Draag"

Was hip hop the best music being made in the early 90s? It's hard for me to say because I'm a rock kid at my core and these albums listed above are pretty great. But the hip hop continues to just be phenomenal from these days. Obviously De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest continued to kill it. But No Need For Alarm was my original exposure to Del the Funky Homosapien (not counting "Clint Eastwood" of course, when I didn't know who he was) and one of the first hip hop albums I ever bought. I was highly impressed by the lyrical gymnastics and bouncy sound of his vocals. I still am, particularly on this album. He's a good early MC to listen to when getting into hip hop for the first time with how playful/ridiculous the whole thing sounds and it holds up now that I've been exposed to much more hip hop.

The fantastic fusion of hip hop and jazz on Guru's Jazzmatazz, (featuring live jazz musicians!) as well as Digable Planets' Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). I first heard Digable Planets when I asked my then-girlfriend to tell me what hip hop to listen to as I tried to open my mind to it. I enjoyed and then got sick of "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" and kind of stopped thinking about them until Shabazz Palaces came along a couple years ago and blew my mind. That's when I knew I had to give Butterfly's earlier project another go. I can dig the Digable now, although the amount of positivity is almost too much for me sometimes.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, KRS-One was going hard and solo on Return of the Boom Bap, and of course Wu-Tang Clan's debut album Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers remains one of the most raw, energized, solid-from-front-to-back albums of all time. I tried to have it come on during my 10k the other day but my ipod messed up and it didn't happen. I kind of feel like I would have done better if I had Wu-Tang soundtracking the thing.

Wu-Tang Clan "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'"

I think that's the best place to end things.

Other Stuff:

• The first track to come up was "Shoop" by Salt-n-Pepa. Is there a better way to say "Are you ready for 1993?" than that song? I doubt it.
• Those early Rivers Cuomo recordings from that Alone album are pretty sweet previews of the Weezer to come. Including an early, slower version of "Buddy Holly!"
• The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack! Very enjoyable. My friend in high school was obsessed with Tim Burton (I know he didn't direct this but still) and we very un-ironically loved this movie. But now that makes us seem like Hot Topic kids or something because don't they still love this movie? I assure you, this was before Hot Topic was a thing.
• Another Saturday Night Live performance I kind of remember is Billy Joel playing "River of Dreams."
• Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville is great btw
• Flaming Lips' Transmissions From The Satellite Heart has that big hit song about doing stuff your own unique way "She Don't Use Jelly."
• Mercury Rev is still pretty Flaming Lips like in 1993, maybe with a smattering of Yo La Tengo...but not quite as great as those two bands. Good thing I know how much better they get!
• Fugazi's In On The Kill Taker is another great one from the band that really didn't make anything non-great.
• Mekons' I Love Mekons includes one of my favorite Mekons songs, "I Love Apple." It's a good album that has a few songs with that great 70s punk energy.
• The morning of the evening I wrote this, I listened to some Simpsons stuff from 1993 including the "Monorail" song. And the day of the evening I wrote this was the anniversary of the day that Phil Hartman passed away. That made me sad.
• People born the same year as all this music can now legally drink. Let that one sink in, grandpa/grandma!

Next Time...

You thought I had a lot to say about 1993? There were only 551 tracks for 1993. 1994 has 803. I'm going to have to start editing better! Lots of stuff turns 20 this year.

Ill Communication. Beck. Blur. Built to Spill. An album called Dookie. Jawbox. Jeff Buckley. Big Johnny Cash comeback. Two classic Magnetic Fields records. Wu-Tang solo stuff begins. Lots more skapunk. Nas debuts. The Downward Spiral. A pretty darn good NOFX album. The Notorious B.I.G. Oasis. Outkast. Rodan. Rancid. Weezer. And a classic non-album track by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

And a ton more that I didn't bother typing. This will take a while.