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: 1995

Until the wheels fall off! My computer housing the music is not accepting (or the keyboard is failing to submit) the letters L and O, and the number 9, and the period. So now I'm on my wife's laptop. I hope I can figure out what is wrong with my super old computer or its super old keyboard. Or this will get difficult when I wish to write while the wife is using her computer.

Okay. 1995. This is getting weird. This was supposed to be some sort of historical thing, and now it's invading my life.

Several Wu Tang solo albums came out in '95 as they started taking over the world. Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return to the 36 Chambers is a favorite mostly for its collaborative songs with other Wu Tang members (particularly Raw Hide, featuring Raekwon & Method Man) because he seemed to bring out some real fire in them...ODB on his own is something else entirely to listen to and can get overbearing over a full album, so it hits a good balance. Raekwon's album Only Built for Cuban Linx is a critical favorite but a bit too monotonous for my liking (mostly just Rae and Ghost being badass storytellers). The GZA's Liquid Swords I like a bit more because it has a more full Wu-Tang roster as guests and the production is just fantastic.

Mobb Deep and their album The Infamous is along the same lines and just feels very real and very honest. Aceyalone brought a lot of creativity and spark to proceedings with his debut All Balls Don't Bounce. Similarly, The Pharcyde followed up a ridiculously creative endeavor with another one, Labcabincalifornia. I need to give these dudes more spins, because that was a highly entertaining listen.

Around '94 (I'm not sure if I articulated this in the last entry), I was struggling to find music I liked and followed my sister's lead. And I thank her for welcoming me into that world, even if I never quite found its groove. In 1995, I think that must have been the big trifecta year for my family. We got a PC, a dog, and cable TV (it could have been '96 but I don't know for sure and judging by the music of '95 it seems accurate). Now, of course the dog was the best thing about that. Ringo forever! But cable TV meant MTV finally found its way to me. And my brother got into that popular "alternative rock" scene and MTV helped us bond a little bit over that stuff. Having music videos we liked and would call each other over if they came on. Like this one!

The Presidents of the United States of America "Peaches"

The Presidents of the United States of America were a total bonding band for me and my brother. He had the CD but played it a lot. Together, we came up with an idea for a Weird Al song called "Leeches" ("Millions of leeches, stuck on my knee?" something like that?) and in the ensuing years would continue to appreciate PUSA. So perfect that lead singer Chris Ballew would start a children's music project Caspar Babypants in time for my brother to introduce his son to one of his favorite artists of all time.

My brother was a big fan of the Smashing Pumpkins in this, their heyday. He requested albums by them for gifts and my parents struggled to keep up (I recall a story of my mom trying to work with a music store clerk saying she was looking for a band that was called something like "killing fruit"). All of their singles from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness bring back memories of watching videos with my brother and more or less identifying with their youthful rage. I know we got a midi version of "1979" because those were a thing in these days of the Internet and laughed at how off it sounded. Midioke is what we found, a program that showed lyrics to accompany midi versions of songs. Those were fun. My brother's website had lots of those files if I recall. Back when we had AOL sites. This might have been a little later than 1995. Isn't it weird to think that the song "1979," popular in 1995, is now older than the year 1979 was in 1995? I remember loving the song/video for "Thirty-Three" and it was kind of my own love (less shared with my brother) but of course the pinnacle of this album, of the Pumpkins' popularity in the 90s, and to me the definitive music video of these days was this one. It would be years before I would learn about Georges Melies and his A Trip To The Moon film that this was based on.That knowledge enhanced my enjoyment of both.

The Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight"

The other band I equate with my brother and his "alternative rock" tastes and MTV is Oasis and specifically the album (What's the Story) Morning Glory. I remember "Wonderwall" playing all over the place and that was why I thought they sounded like The Beatles. Or like they were trying to sound like The Beatles. I now recognize their songcraft, and I think that was only really the case for their slower songs like that and "Don't Look Back in Anger." Oh, and another funnyish story about this album. My brother's CD player had what looked like a slot to hold a smaller disc than a standard CD. So at Best Buy we saw they had Minidiscs. Remember those?  We bought this album as a minidisc. Smart move. Obviously it did us no good. We theorized taking it back, telling Best Buy that a grandma bought it because she was confused about CDs but I think we just ended up keeping it. I ended up getting a minidisc player a few years later but I don't think I ever put this album on there. I didn't say much about the music. It's Oasis' big one, that's for sure. The hit songs make me nostalgic for those memories. That's about the extent of what I can say about it.

How about the other sides of the Brit pop contest of 1995?

Blur once again had a very solid entry into the competition (definitely at least more consistent than Oasis!) with The Great Escape. Another great mix of all types of pop music from melancholy to giddy.

However...not only did Pulp pull out its second consecutive Brit Pop victory, but a good argument could be made for Different Class being the greatest album of 1995. It's just of a whole different class, if you will. It's the apex of their career. They spent a decade or so perfecting this sound and there's so much confidence and swagger just oozing out of this album that it's infectious. Have I mentioned that I spent a few months after college as a go-go dancer? Well I did. It was for free drinks at a hipster dance night, so no big deal (and I'll probably have more to say about it a ways later in this project) but the way I got the gig was that "Common People" came on and I just went nuts over the song because it's impossible for me not to, and that impressed some guy that was organizing the thing. That song and really the whole album is just so full of energy, a little bit of perversion, and a very earned "epic" feeling that just makes what you're listening to sound like the most important thing in the world.

Pulp "Common People"

Wow, I don't think I had ever seen that video before. A little goofy and not really worthy of the amazing song.

The other album that is a clear candidate for album of the year was The Bends, Radiohead's fantastic follow-up to the not-quite-fantastic Pablo Honey. Looking at my ratings, none of these songs rates below a 3 star rating, which is pretty remarkable. Pretty much means it's perfect. I always have a soft spot for jams like "High and Dry" and of course "Just" but it's such a step in the right direction for the band that the experiments are more hints at how far they would go on the next album OK Computer while still being grounded. I'm not sure which of the two is my favorite Radiohead album but this one so ably straddles the line between experimental Radiohead and grunge-ish/populist-ish/but-not-in-a-bad-way Radiohead. Very guitar based, which I can't say about their later work, but absolutely fearless.

Now let's talk about stuff that I was not aware of in the least at the time, as I was only 11-12 in 1995.

I promised another beloved Magnetic Fields album and Get Lost is certainly that. I'm somewhat torn between this and The Charm of the Highway Strip as my favorite pre-69-Love-Songs Magnetic Fields album...I love Charm as a cohesive unit, a conceptual piece, with plenty of great songs. But Get Lost has my favorite songs of all (and no filler!). I love it for pretty much every song, and feel like if any of these had been on 69 Love Songs they would be highlights. "All The Umbrellas In London" is one of my favorite sad songs...I fell for it during a live performance after the album i, so it was a slowed down version with cellos and whatnot, which just brought out the brilliant lyrics. "If I could live through the night, it'd be all right. It'll make a good song or something." Indeed it did. And then this song, which I like to use as a representative Magnetic Fields song if purposefully introducing someone to the band. Even though introducing people to the Magnetic Fields is usually an accidental occurrence in that any time someone hears them in whatever context they happen to be in, they tend to want to know more.

The Magnetic Fields "Save a Secret for the Moon"

"I know all the saddest people...most of them are dead now" is one of those simple lines that used to catch me off guard and provoke a strange hybrid response of both humor and dread. Something Stephin Merritt excels at, and that line exemplifies it. He also had some other bands, one of which was The 6ths, who released an album called Wasps' Nests (they sure liked to make hard to pronounce names!) this same year. Bringing in guest singers singing against type was a great move and as a collection is very solid Merritt work. "San Diego Zoo" featuring Barbara Manning is a mixtape staple (many Merritt songs are mixtape staples). Listen to this stuff, yo!

I was SO CLOSE to finding punk rock in 1995 but it would be another year or so yet. But that doesn't mean I didn't eventually totally dig Rancid's album ...And Out Come The Wolves. One of those defining punk rock albums of the 90s. I don't care how old I get or what people say about 90s punk rock not being real punk rock. ...And Out Come The Wolves was a defining album for me and is part of what made me a punk rock kid. From the insane bassline of "Maxwell Murder" to the ska backbeat all over the album (very much influenced by The Clash's London Calling) to catchy punk rock songs like "Ruby Soho," this album had it all. Oh, and a good story song about the life of Operation Ivy in "Journey to the End of the East Bay." That caps it off.

Less Than Jake's Pezcore is a pretty seminal album in mid 90s skapunk and listening to it brought back many memories of hanging out in high school and being awesome. Reel Big Fish made their debut with Everything Sucks but I think they would go on to do much better once they had major label backing, as weird as that is to say, as their big album of next year would greatly influence me and my musical tastes for decades to come. On this album they feel like demo versions of the songs. Which when listening with a less nostalgic feel all these years later just kind of makes it feel immature and whiny. Maybe when I hit the big album in the next entry the nostalgia will take more hold.

Honorably Mentioned:

• The end of Freddie Mercury's Queen. I'll miss them!
• My one and only Dismemberment Plan album titled simply "!" (quotation marks included) is fabulous and I should have gotten more at some point I reckon.
• I could almost devote some more space to Fugazi for Red Medicine but I'm going to relegate them to here because their last two are the ones I have personal stories to express. But Red Medicine is the one that was apparently a weird departure at the time. I kind of consider everything Fugazi represents a weird departure so this one stands out slightly less to me. I will say that it wasn't as great for running to as some of their previous albums, so that's saying something. 
• Crap! The Roots' Do You Want More?!!!??! came out in 1994. My itunes was mislabeled 1995 so I can't really write about it except to say yes I do!
• Archers of Loaf's Vee Vee is another excellent record I must say.
• So was Wowee Zowee (what's it with album names with double e's in 1995 indie rock? Just the thing to do?) by Pavement which was my favorite and sounds kind of like their double album even though it kind of fits on one CD. All over the place and has some real gems.
• A couple stray Tupac songs, "Dear Mama" and "California Love."
• I like PJ Harvey's album To Bring You My Love. Kind of a 90s alt rock version of Patti Smith.
• The Suicide Machines/Rudiments split is the first taste of who would be one of my favorite skapunk bands in the 90s. And The Rudiments!
• Citizen Fish was a great skapunk band who seemed to have shared members with Brit punk band Subhumans. Highly political but smart about it, Citizen Fish are one of the few skapunk bands that persist an I can still enjoy on a less-nostalgic level.
• That Bjork album Post is pretty great even if I couldn't get into her music videos at the time. Today I think they're pretty neat!
• I have a soft spot for the early Wilco album A.M. because it was one of my first (due to the property of many of my nostalgic albums, the fact that it was the one I found when browsing for used CDs).
• The Pietasters' Oolooloo used to be one of my favorite ska albums but at this point it just feels way too chauvinistic to be comfortable with. Still lots of catchiness though. But something's not quite right about those dudes.
• Don Caballero's album Don Caballero 2 is fabulous by the way.
• Smoking Popes' Born to Quit is my first Popes album. I expected it to be a little more punk rock after learning of how many bands were influenced by them but I adapted to it. The ultimate romantics.
• Aceyalone's All Balls Don't Bounce was a very welcome addition to the hip hop vocabulary I've been developing. Not the most innovative but definitely up there in creativity.
• My first play of The Amps' only album Pacer. Good pretty-much-the-Breeders album that I need to listen to more.
• In the emo world, the last Jawbreaker album Dear You came up. It's not particularly well received by critics but I'm ok with it. Definitely way more commercial than anything else they did but the lyricism and the cleaned up vocals kind of bring to mind Blake's next project Jets to Brazil. At least here and there.
• Insomniac by Green Day was another one I bonded with my brother over. I only have a couple songs on my computer but we were into it. Which may make it my first punk rock album despite being owned by my brother? Or we'll just call this one coming up next year my first punk rock album. Either way...

Next Time!

1996 was a turning point for me. Kind of. I mean, I didn't get into some of the 1996 stuff until 1997 but it was current when I got into it and it changed my life. So we'll call it like that. What's the stuff of 1996?

Beck! Belle & Sebastian x2! Braid! Super sweet Brainiac album! My first official "guilty pleasure" (The Cardigans)! Cat Power! De La Soul still killin it! Descendents comeback album! DJ Shadow goes all nuts! So does Dr. Octagon in what would eventually lead to The Gorillaz! Eels! Fugees! Ghostface solo! Jay-Z! Nada Surf is Popular! Neutral Milk Hotel is amazing! So is Outkast! RBF! Refused! I get to write about The Roots this time! Au Revoir to Skankin' Pickle. But hello to the likes of Slapstick and Slow Gherkin! A swing revival with the Squirrel Nut Zippers! And how about that Sublime? The Suicide Machines were a favorite. And another gem from that Weezer group. One of the better Wilco albums. 2Pac. And another classic from "Weird Al" Yankovic!