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: 1991

I remember for 1991 in my class we made calendars. I don't remember what we did for the images, if we drew stuff or glued pictures or what, but I remember that the cover had the year written like this:

19

91

I liked that. It was a palindrome but the specific thing I liked was that it read the same reading left to right as top down. I believe this was an original thought on my part, noticing that numeric pattern. Which is something I'm still very obsessed with.

What, music? What music?

Before I talk about the important developments in the musical landscape (there were some very important developments in 1991!) I am going to start with an album I actually listened to when it was new as an 8 year old in 1991. I think this is the first instance of this. Most of the Weird Al stuff for me was catching up on a back catalog (until next year's Off The Deep End) so this is the first actual stuff from its specific time that I listened to at that specific time.

At my parents' house in 1991 the only room we could get Fox in (because we didn't have cable) was my parents' room upstairs. That wasn't relevant to us in any way until 1990 when my family became obsessed with The Simpsons. It was our thing. We'd go upstairs and watch The Simpsons. I think it was on Tuesday or Thursday maybe back then? But our whole family would gather on their bed and watch this hilarious show that we all loved. My earliest memory of watching the show was the episode where they went to the family psychiatrist and had that exercise where they were all shocking each other. I remember how hard I laughed at that!

But Brandon, this is a music project! And 1991! Why are you talking about a show you started watching in 1990? Because, didn't you see, before that I said this was the first album I listened to contemporarily? I remember the episode of The Simpsons where it was all exciting because they were going to have a music video (or several?) at the end of the episode. This turned out to be part of The Simpsons Sing The Blues. My brother actually had this tape, not me. But we sure listened to it a lot. And I memorized all the songs. Especially the raps. "Do The Bartman" and this one, with this music video. "I go, 'WHOA!' Homer goes, 'D'oh! Now you can't go to the boat show!"

The Simpsons "Deep Deep Trouble"

I also had a couple Simpsons songs from the show thanks to the Songs in the Key of Springfield collection. One of them has been in my head a lot since listening, "Happy Birthday, Lisa," featuring an uncredited Michael Jackson. Silly as it is. Dangerous is also the last Michael Jackson album I own, so we will say goodbye to the king of pop here. I'm not a huge fan of this album but there are some memorable jams. And I have a memory of my friend playing the intro to "Black or White" for me because he found it amusing. But anyway, Dangerous doesn't seem to have aged as well as Thriller or Off the Wall because two separate people I subjected to it were not enjoying it. Sad.

As Dangerous played on, my brother-in-law-to-be had been all obsessed with Wu-Tang Clan and asked me my favorite hip hop albums, so I brought up Black Star. All this to say that he wanted my thesis on 1991 to be that nothing in 1991 was as good as Black Star. I'm not going to agree with that necessarily, because 1991 was a hell of a year for hip hop in particular. As I still don't have the confidence to fully explain what's so great about all of these releases, I am going to write frustratingly short summaries about what I think of all of these knowing that others have it covered.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien's debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here was an early favorite of mine, as Del was an early favorite of mine when I first got into hip hop (Bartman notwithstanding) in the late 90s/early 2000s. Del's delivery is just spot on and catchy and "Mistadobalina" is one of my favorite tracks of 1991. Some songs are very silly lyrically, but that's why we love Del, right? I might have more to say about him in regards to his next album which was better.

De La Soul's second album De La Soul Is Dead is new to me. This was the first time I ever listened to it. Fantastic album but I can't say much about it. The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest has this effortlessness about it, effortlessly perfect with so much talent and jams upon jams upon jams. Organized Konfusion is brilliant too. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's Homebase is kind of novelty-ish comparatively but it was fun that my wife knew the songs and rapped along (she is the one I got the album from). Public Enemy was getting extra hardcore and bombastic in the face of most hip hop artists taking laid back approaches and it really made me pay attention to what they were saying.

And finally, I got the Main Source album Breaking Atoms because it features Nas on a track and it's his first feature. He does kind of kill it in his debut, but I was quite impressed with the lyricism on the whole album. So that's a quick run down of all the amazing hip hop I listened to from 1991. Wow.

Main Source "Just Hangin' Out"

Another contemporary track of 1991 that I remember because my sister dug it was "To Be With You" by Mr. Big. I just remember for her birthday or something that was what she wanted. And this was a hit song. I can't deny this song and its catchiness. Who can?

I also remember when "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton was popular because I remember listening to Casey Kasem (probably trying to record "Bohemian Rhapsody" because of its resurgence thanks to Wayne's World...which means the song was still popular in 1992) and he read some touching dedication on the air. Funny the things we remember. Also funny? Somehow I accidentally put "Tears In Heaven" on my list of jogging songs for 1991 so I had to run to this song.

Let's talk about ska and punk now. Third wave ska and skapunk were really ramping up in 1991, developing something I'd become obsessed with in 1997. Skankin' Pickle's debut Skafunkrastapunk was one of my favorite albums for a good portion of high school. I was absolutely obsessed with this band and this album was my introduction to them. The goofiest songs about Hulk Hogan, shaved heads, and not judging a man by the hair on his butt. Dancing around at my friend's house to "Ska," including knowing the one part where they yell "Skankin' Pickle!" and man, those trombone solos Gerry pulled off! How did he play so high? Also: two trombones in one ska band, what more do you need?? It's also interesting to listen to because super seriously anti-racism activist Mike Park's first official word on the subject is this line from "It's Not Too Late"

What's the deal with the deal with racism?

I don't know, I don't know

I don't know...

I don't know.

Okay!

Of course he had some better lines following that up, but that is amusing to me. And then he says the line "Why can't all the bands sound like Fishbone today?" So I'll talk about Fishbone now. I personally don't quite enjoy The Reality of My Surroundings as much as other Fishbone albums (seems over produced or something on some tracks) but it still has a lot of passion and creativity going into it. I also know I've seen their performance from Saturday Night Live and it was songs from this album, so they must have been pretty popular then. Before skapunk even got popular!

Speaking of popular punk, pop punk giants The Mr. T Experience put out one of my favorite songs by them so here it is:

The Mr. T Experience "Love American Style"

Now to kind of try to segue to the other side of the underground. My Bloody Valentine. Loveless. Perfection is noise. Noise is love. What are they singing? What is happening? How is it so catchy? It's pop music, isn't it? Buried under distortion? I cannot get enough of it. Even if I can't put coherent thoughts about it on this blog.

Another one that's pretty impossible to overstate its beauty despite not knowing how exactly to state its beauty is Spiderland by Slint. This means we can have math rock in the near future! It's actually pretty subdued, which was kind of a problem when I first listened to this band (on a recommendation after someone found out I liked math rock by Don Caballero and others), because I was hoping for intense dynamics and Slint mostly keeps their cards close to the chest. But when they come out to play...watch out.

The Pixies followed up their still-pretty-good Bossanova with their still-even-better-but-still-nothing-on-Doolittle-Etc Trompe Le Monde. While the nutso guitar creativity kind of started to subside, the passion and energy on this album is infectious. I was going to play "U-Mass" by default because it's one of my favorite Pixies songs showcasing Black Francis' amazing yowl and illustrates that energy perfectly, but instead I'm going to play this other song that has a different kind of infectiousness. A Jesus And Mary Chain cover but the energy and excitement of the delivery of it is awesome. And the video's pretty neat too.

Pixies "Head On"

So long, Pixies. You did many great things in a short period of time. You changed rock & roll for the better. For the way better.

And thanks to the Pixies, we have Nirvana. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a rush when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came on. I could hear the sound of the overhyped revolution that they kicked off when they kicked off Michael Jackson from the album charts. I don't like calling them grunge because that's what Pearl Jam and their offspring did. This was harder yet catchier than any of that. Everything about Nevermind is stacked for changing the musical landscape. Energy, tons of great catchy songs, substantial lyrics. No one else could have pulled this off. I want to write off this album as overrated but it really is full of fantastic songs. Good job, guys!

And thanks to Nirvana, we have Pearl Jam (and thanks to Pearl Jam, we have lots of terrible music to look forward to in the 90s!). But Ten was a pretty good album. I try not to hold Creed et al against Pearl Jam. How were they to know?

And Also...

• It started with my first Jim O'Rourke! Whoa!
• I don't have much new to say about Fugazi but Steady Diet of Nothing is a very solid and great album. "Long Division" is one of my favorites.
• I think Why Do Birds Sing? is one of the better Violent Femmes albums..."Girl Trouble" sounds like a classic Femmes track that could have been on their debut and "American Music" is one of my favorite Femmes tracks as well.
• The debut Magnetic Fields album!! We are really getting into the indie thing now. Distant Plastic Trees isn't anywhere near what they would go on to achieve and I don't feel that the vocalist conveys Merritt's lyrics quite right, but "100,000 Fireflies" is still a beautiful song.
• Elvis Costello's Mighty Like A Rose is one of the last ones I got in my back catalog procurement project and I therefore haven't listened to it as much as others. Still, I quite like the dripping cynicism of "The Other Side of Summer" quite a bit.
• If Bart Simpson rapping isn't enough to tell you that rap was getting super popular in a very novelty version, how about this? "Ninja Rap" by Vanilla Ice. I loved the Ninja Turtles! Go Ninja Go Ninja Go!
• Goat by The Jesus Lizard kind of blows away all the other "hard edged" music I heard from 1991 with an intensity that makes everything else look silly.
• Drive Like Jehu was great though.
• Nation of Ulysses! Anarchy! Punk! Insanity!
• First Smoking Popes tracks...they were pretty immature in the early days weren't they?
• R.E.M. were now the R.E.M. I knew and didn't care about in the 90s. The pop rock band that did "Shiny Happy People" and "Losing My Religion." The sound of VH1!

Next Time...

Where were you in '92?

Hip Hop's renaissance continues: Beastie Boys Check Your Head, Eric B & Rakim are back on my radar, Gang Starr has an album, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, The Pharcyde

Punk Etc: Bikini Kill! Fifteen, Green Day exists now, Another Nation of Ulysses album, NOFX, Skankin' Pickle Fever, 

Indie Or Whatever It Is At This Point: Early Don Caballero!!! And Flaming Lips! The Jawbreaker album that changed my world, Magnetic Fields become a force, Pavement enter the scene, Pulp has an album, Where do I put Rage Against The Machine? Them already? Another Sonic Youth favorite, 

Old People: Neil Young is back, and so is Tom Waits (in a big way! love this album!)

And another classic by: Weird Al.

An Ear For An Era: 1985

I feel like I should have more to say about 1985 music. There were some all-time classics released, mostly ones that I don't have as much personal experience as would be required to do any justice to these albums. But aside from a handful, lots of it was forgettable. So this one's kind of short.

The first album that came up for 1985 was the classic Weird Al piece known as Dare to Be Stupid. One of my favorites by him, for reasons such as the Devo-inspired title track and the Kinks-and-Star-Wars-inspired "Yoda." Yesterday I was skiing in the trees and my dad once said "watch out for that tree," so for the rest of the day I had "George of the Jungle" stuck in my head. But the most memorable track on here was an early favorite for sure. Keep an eye on those background singers/dancers.

"Weird Al" Yankovic "One More Minute"

Talking Heads' Little Creatures is the first albums of theirs that I got once I got cool enough to seek them out. Opener "And She Was" might still be my favorite song of theirs. But I dig the whole thing, from "Creatures of Love" to "Stay Up Late" to "Road to Nowhere." Good travel music and such.

Minor Threat released their last music, the Salad Days EP. These three songs are pretty mellow relative to their earlier output, which I guess suggests the directions Ian MacKaye would head in his post-Minor Threat days. Speaking of stuff Iam MacKaye would go on to do, his future bandmate Guy Picciotto was making waves with Rites of Spring and thanks to him we now have lots of crappy emo music in this world. But in 1985, emo meant something very different. Not to go into a history lesson, but it's much less embarrassing to refer to this music as post hardcore or whatever than emo. End On End has nothing in common whatsoever with whatever '00s emo you have in mind when I use that word (over and over I admit). It's kind of mathy, kind of post rock, and it's very heavy. It's just the wail Guy Picciotto used here, it's otherworldly, it's coming from somewhere so deep and dark and pained.

Rites of Spring "Persistent Vision"

The Cure was also obviously a big influence on what would become fake "emo" or whatever stuff with all the mopin' around. The Head On The Door is one of their better albums in my opinion (I prefer their pop music). "Close To Me" is a top tier Cure pop single. And this album was full of pop with a darkness. I don't know. I like this song though.

The Cure "Screw"

I was a late adapter of The Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy but when Stephin Merritt made all those great comments on it describing its production I knew I had to hear it. It is a huge influence on the indie pop to come. Not only Magnetic Fields, but Best Coast and Animal Collective and everyone in between. All the noise and distortion serving just to obscure the pop melodies just beneath. 

Tom Waits. Rain Dogs. The follow-up to Swordfishtrombones. More experimental jazz sorrow coolness. I can't come up with the right adjectives to describe this album. But duh. It's amazing.

Something completely different again: Remember a couple years ago when that hip hop track came out starring all sorts of giants of the genre? That was cool. And a very similar thing happened in 1985 when Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Sheila E, and Kurtis Blow got together for "Krush Groovin'." That is the jam right there.

Fishbone is red hot!! One of my favorite live shows ever is any time I ever saw Fishbone. They'll get the party going. Strangely I used to not like this song when it was played on the ska show on the college radio station KCSU when I was in high school.  But that has changed. I oddly don't have this full album but this song is worth showing a video for anyway. I need to go more obscure I think. Whatever, Fishbone is red hot!

Fishbone "Party At Ground Zero"

Other things.

• The Smiths. Have I mentioned them yet? I have the "Louder Than Bombs" (their quotation marks, not mine) collection and quite enjoy the song "Asleep." And obvious hit "How Soon Is Now" was also from 1985.
• Dead Kennedys got all serious and long songy in 1985 with Frankenchrist. No more short songs, they were now focused on creating creepy atmosphere.
• They Might Be Giants demo!
• If Kurtis Blow ruled the world...
• Prince just kept being awesome with Around The World In A Day. "Raspberry Beret" was the big hit but the whole album is catchy as hell.
• Brian Ferry's Boys and Girls is pretty awesome.
• Mekons were quite good.
• The Descendents' second album took a turn for the pop. I don't mind that at all, but some of the magic of the first album is gone. They're still good at the pop stuff though.
• Tears For Fears accomplished some strange feat of sounding so dated and 80s yet aging so well. "Everybody Wants to Rule The World," "Head Over Heels," "Mothers Talk," Songs From The Big Chair is just so inspiring to listen to.

Next Time...

I'll do better. Ha! I know I phoned it in this time. Sorry. At least I picked good clips to show you. But I'll have plenty to say about 1986 because The Beastie Boys! And Big Black! And my TWO FAVORITE Elvis Costello albums. And the actual debut of They Might Be Giants. And another classic from "Weird Al" Yankovic.