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: 1990

Another decade begins. I actually didn't have much of note from 1990. It was another case of the late 80s sounding more like what I think of the 90s than 1990, which sounds more like an extension of the late 80s. If that makes any sense. Like a regression or something. Still though, some stuff was pushing stuff forward. That's what I'm bothering to talk about here. Bah. Words.

Punk rock of 1990. The seeds of the popular punk rock of the mid-to-late-90s continued to be sowed. The self-titled album by Social Distortion is one I didn't actually have back in high school, but I did have their live album (to be released later) and considered myself a fan of several of these songs. This one kind of toes the line between punk and mainstream rock, was released on Epic Records, but it's got a lot of heart. And dig that Johnny Cash cover!

"You're not a punk and I'm telling everyone" "Save your breath, I never was one." Sorry Jawbreaker, but I'm going to file you under punk rock for now because Unfun has lots of <3 about="" album.="" album="" and="" call="" emo="" first="" i="" if="" jawbreaker="" ll="" minute="" my="" or="" post-hardcore="" prefer="" punk="" rock="" s="" something="" songs="" there="" this="" ultimately="" very="" was="" while="" you="">Bivouac
. Then I got Unfun and did not like it at all. It just seemed sloppy by comparison. But in retrospect I have come to quite enjoy a few of the songs on this album. It has most of the aspects I love about Jawbreaker, just in condensed formats.

Jawbreaker, "Down"

I guess I'll keep Fugazi in the "punk rock" section of this. Repeater is the definitive statement of the early works of Fugazi. +3 songs, which I have on vinyl as a 7" by the way! It's a pretty accessible album as far as Fugazi goes. I know it helped make a convert of my friend's little brother, as my friend proudly told me he caught him singing the title track. "Merchandise" is a good summary of the band's position on commercialism in music (and they lived up to that standard forever! Even when I finally saw them in 2001 it was a $6 show with no merch!), there are some great instrumentals featuring the rhythm section, plenty of energy, and what is possibly my favorite Fugazi song of their whole catalog... (here is an insane live version I found...I believe from the Instrument documentary)

Fugazi "Shut the Door"

How about that alternative scene that defined the 90s like how that new wave scene defined the 80s and that disco scene defined the 60s?

I feel like Goo is Sonic Youth's most popular album but I have no idea what that's based on. About as poppy as you get from Sonic Youth I think, which is not very. But "Kool Thing" features Chuck D, so that's pretty damn cool. I think it's the playfulness that gives me that impression. After Daydream Nation it's kind of refreshing to just have faster, simpler songs with almost a punk rock vocal delivery. Not that that's a particularly apt description of the full album, but it fits the mood that I get from it in general with songs like "Mary-Christ" and "My Friend Goo."

I picked up the Treepeople album Guilt Regret Embarrassment the first time I visited Seattle. I had looked for Treepeople all over in Denver but had no luck. I'd been kind of a fan of Built to Spill so I wanted the earlier incarnation. It's definitely a harder edged version of BTS and suits the pre-grunge or whatever era this was. Very lo-fi and rocking. But the melody in there, such as the one in this song, is what keeps me coming back.

Treepeople "Every Time When I Fall Down & My Head Hits the Floor Hard"

They Might Be Giants will go here for whatever reason. Completely different from their surroundings but that may make them the most alternative of all! Flood was their big album (lots of big popular albums this year!) with their big hits. I can't get enough of those big hits, "Particle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and someday when I have a kid I'm totally going to make him/her listen to "Whistling in the Dark" because as I said earlier, that's the kind of nerdy I want my child to be. (Here they are on MTV performing it...technically in 1989. MTV must have been actually pretty awesome back then if they had this!)

They Might Be Giants "Whistling In The Dark"

The Breeders' album Pod kind of showcased Kim Deal's songwriting skills as she was kind of overlooked by the Pixies. Plus they covered "Happiness is a Warm Gun!" But what I really love about The Breeders are the harmonies the Deal sisters create. And I'll have more to say about Last Splash in 1993.

The Pixies' quality didn't exactly drop off a cliff after Doolittle. Bossanova still has a lot of creativity going into it, plenty of three-star songs, and a few that have lots of energy. It's just not quite there though. I don't know if they were trying to get more popular or what. It feels like a retread of ideas from the earlier albums though without being as quirky or dynamic. Almost going through the motions. Especially toward the end of the album, it just starts to wear off. I feel like I'm being overly critical but they raised the bar so much that it's going to be disappointing when they slide under it.

Speaking of influences on Nirvana, the few Daniel Johnston songs I have from 1990 are among his best. "Some Things Last A Long Time" is very sweet and simple, but the most sweet and simple track is this one. I had some good friends dance at their wedding to a cover of this song and it was just perfect. This is the polar opposite of the cynicism and sarcasm of the coming 90s.

Daniel Johnston "True Love Will Find You In The End"

Other stuff about things:

• The Vandals' Fear of a Punk Planet took me back to high school a little bit. Closer to the Vandals that I actually listened to then.
• Strangely the only hip hop I had of 1990 was two Public Enemy songs off Fear of a Black Planet. One is "911 is a Joke," which is an ok Flava Flav song. The other is the gigantic song that reminds me of Do The Right Thing, "Fight The Power." Great song there.
• I have a bunch of songs from some sort of post hardcore band called Pitchfork. Not bad. I wonder what rating they would get on Pitchfork.
• A song called "Pizza Power!" TMNT!
• Some Simpsons songs came up. I was a gigantic Simpsons fan. The whole family was. I'll say more about it when we get to that Simpsons Sing The Blues album in 1991.
• I kind of got bored listening to Sinead O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (probably just because I was driving on a sunny day and would have rather listened to something upbeat) but that "Nothing Compares 2 U" cover is pretty phenomenal.
• Some more Mr. T. Experience...Making Things With Light isn't quite there for me but it's not bad either.
• Boom Chicka Boom is considered one of those lesser Johnny Cash albums, but it includes a song Elvis Costello wrote for him, "Hidden Shame," so that's rad. 

Next Time:

The 90s kick into high gear! Or whatever! That golden age of hip hop in the 90s I've heard of has to be this age, with albums from De La Soul, Del the Funky Homosapien, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Gang Starr, Main Source, Organized Konfusion, and A Tribe Called Quest. Also another quality Elvis Costello album, Punk rock keeps going different directions with Fifteen, Fugazi, that Jawbreaker album I mentioned earlier, The Jesus Lizard, Nation of Ulysses, Skankin' Pickle!, and Slint... Fishbone has a big popular album, and good ol' Magnetic Fields make their first appearance! Oh and My Bloody Valentine. And some album called Nevermind. At 465, 1991 is the highest number of songs for any year so far (although that number gets way bigger as we move along)

An Ear For An Era: 1989

Another decade gone. I apologize for this entry, I finished the year up almost a week ago so it won't be particularly fresh. Probably lots of vague liking of things in the extras section this time.

Since I neglected the old guard last time, I'll start with them this time.

Bob Dylan is back! He ever left! I hear Oh Mercy is one of his best albums and was his best in a long time upon its release. I believe it. It's quite great. I don't remember too much of it this much later, but I do know that "Most of the Time" holds a personal place in my heart and it's such a great sad song that puts more meaning into the word "most" than I've heard before.

Elvis Costello took things into an interesting direction with Spike. I'm not sure what the title means but that's kind of how I feel about the album: favorites and least favorites. My opinion spikes in either direction when I listen to it. It starts off really strong with some dark clownish songs, lynching songs, and looks at ugliness. In addition to a truly great pop song co-written with Paul McCartney "Veronica," which just breaks my heart. And some great ballads scattered about. Then there are some attempts at funk that I just don't feel at all. They just don't sound natural. And I really don't like "Baby Plays Around," which just seems beneath Costello's considerable lyrical abilities. But when it's on, this album is really on. When Margaret Thatcher died recently of course it brought to mind "Tramp The Dirt Down," a great song about the great pain that she brought to England.

I'll randomly stick Weird Al right here. The UHF Soundtrack And Other Stuff has a lot of stuff on it. I think it might have been the first Weird Al album I got on CD instead of tape, which made it one of the first ones into this digital music collection. It also means I brought it on a lot of car trips with my family and made them listen to it a lot. I know I got my sister to like it because of her love of hamsters and gerbils with "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars." I remember my dad wondering about the polka song on this one because it's all Rolling Stones songs. And "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" was an obvious good choice for road trips because it's about a road trip. Everything I've said so far was not from the movie. All "other stuff." I loved that movie though and the bits such as "Spatula City" and "Gandhi II" were classic bits. I actually saw the movie years after getting the album so I didn't know what was going to show up in the actual movie. Sorry Rachel, no radioactive hamsters in the movie.

How about that new wave? We're down to very few artists in the genre but the remaining ones are the ones that are still considered highly influential.

Depeche Mode's Violator is probably their biggest album. I would assume so. Because it has what are probably their biggest hits. "Enjoy The Silence" is great and everyone knows it. "Personal Jesus" has been covered a lot and such. Just the darkness of the whole album is great and proves that new wave still had plenty to say.

Disintigration is the best album ever! So says Kyle from South Park as well as The Impossibles on an EP. It might actually be the best album The Cure put out. Not my personal favorite (I'm unapologetically pro-pop-version-of-The-Cure) but I still find a lot of value in this album, particularly upon repeat listens. "Last Dance" holds another personal spot in my heart, "Pictures of You" is another great pop song contained in a 7 1/2 minute goth jam, and it's just one big embrace of the darkness with lots of extended instrumental breaks. Music!

My only Public Image Ltd album is one I got back in my punk rock days because I'd finally heard about this other band from Johnny Rotten. It's called 9 and it really speaks to how few albums I used to have. I remembered the album fairly well even though I know when I got it I was a bit underwhelmed by it. I appreciate it a bit more now but I bet there are better PIL albums out there. But just remembering it so vividly made me realize that I knew it better than most albums I now profess to like. A piece of me misses limiting my musical scope so much that I'd give everything enough time to marinate and form attachments to me rather than the way too many albums I now own that I could never keep up with.

Of course post punk/punk/college rock/whatever were pushing things forward from the new wave and Fugazi is where I'll awkwardly start this conversation. The second half of 13 Songs, the Margin Walker EP, shows them already expanding to two guitars, keeping the energy high, and just being Fugazi. I also have a recording of a concert from 1989 and they had already developed such a strong cohesiveness together, like a living organism just playing off instinct and working together, it's just natural.

So punk. And pop-punk, before it was a dirty word. The Lookout! brand of pop punk was in full effect as The Mr. T. Experience put out the EP Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood. I first got this album because it was such a good value of so many songs for the regular price of a CD. 31 Songs! But it turns out that was mostly bonus content and originally BBBBBB was just an EP. I got way into the two or three MTX albums I had in high school. Catchy pop music that I could get away with liking because it was punk rock. And you know, better than the actual pop music on the radio!

On the grittier, gutterier side of punk was Crimpshrine, whose Duct Tape Soup also brings me back. Listening to it this time I realized that there is something strangely romantic about this band. Political and dirty sounding and not trying to appease any commercial viability yet some part of them embraced some traditional values, particularly in the field of romance. Particularly "Closed Doors, Closed Minds," which argues that romance and love are giving, not taking away, that they shouldn't be taken as a threat, etc. The more I listen to it the more concern I have about what it's really getting at. There's reasons women would take such actions with offense and they kind of gloss over any concerns. It's weird. And then "Pretty Mess," which used to be one of my favorite songs, I am now realizing that it sounds like a man loves this woman in a way that he wants to help fix/rescue her in some ultimate male fantasy. Weird because Jeff Ott turned out to be one of the most PC personalities in punk rock. But that's Fifteen, not Crimpshrine.

And of course Operation Ivy. Finally I talk about OPIV! Here is my story of first hearing this band. My brother had that early Green Day album where they covered "Knowledge" but I all I knew is that I didn't know nothing about the origin of that song. Then some time passed. I got more into ska punk and whatnot and heard their name dropped all the time as an influence on every damn band I listened to (and I knew of a tribute album as well). I talked about this mythical band with my friends because this was before the Internet made it super easy to hear about a band and hear their music immediately. Finally one day we were at Wherehouse Music (or as we called it because of its unfortunate spelling "whorehouse music") and they had those listening station things and my friend Dustin finally decided to check out this Operation Ivy band and while I was listening to Five Iron Frenzy or some such thing he took a listen to them. And he had a reaction similar to my initial reaction: These are cheap recordings! It sounds like crap! And they don't have horns! What kind of ska band doesn't have horns?? I think he might have gotten it anyway and given it enough time because for whatever reason I ended up getting it as well and became pretty obsessed with it. Mostly for the punk side of the equation probably. Today it makes me laugh that I thought the recording quality sounded crappy because that's what punk is supposed to sound like. In fact, it was probably just a couple years after that that I started complaining about stuff sounding "overproduced." But anyway, the music. The energy is what did it for me. No wonder that's the name of the album. And we liked that Tim from Rancid had this other band. We loved the message of Unity and all that. And it really got me into punk rock and its ethos and this song kind of explained everything to me about why I liked the music that I liked and didn't like the radio stuff:

Operation Ivy "Artificial Life"

Ok speaking of life changing music, Pixies. Doolittle. Need I say more? I'm gonna. Their other truly great album. Maybe my favorite? As it stands, I think I'm ready to call it for Doolittle. The energy is just up there. The screaming is there. "Monkey Gone To Heaven" is one of the weirdest universally loved songs out there. Kim's bass really comes across as well. And "Wave of Mutilation," can't deny that one is a classic. I remember meeting this cool girl in high school and knowing each other was cool because we were the only two in our group of friends that seemed to know the words to "Hey" and we felt the need to go through the whole first verse to show off how bizarre this thing was that we both had memorized. I think Doolittle was my first Pixies album and when I got it I told my buddy what albums I had gotten and we were both impressed at me because it was the first time I had gone to the record store and come home with a couple albums, neither of which could be described as punk or ska. This is the album to branch out to, and it really showed me the possibilities of music beyond my narrow perception. This could therefore be considered the album that set it off for me. Got me exploring the vast world of music. This could be the album that is to blame for me having over 40,000 songs on my hard drive, which is the reason I felt it necessary to do this project in the first place. Doolittle! Oh, and it's also cool because the whole thing kicks off with this song is about Luis Buñuel and surrealism.

Pixies "Debaser"

There were also some B sides from this year that were quite good, most notably Kim song "Into the White" and a sweet "UK Surf" version of "Wave of Mutilation." All very fantastic.

And to show off the influence as much as possible, my iPod decided to follow this up immediately with Bleach by Nirvana. I don't have enough to say about this to justify not putting it down there but I do like that "About A Girl" song but it's not as good as real Pixies songs.

And finally on to hip hop! 1989 was a breath of fresh air after all the politically charged angry hip hop I came across from 1988. Mostly because of De La Soul, whose 3 Feet High And Rising sounds like a game changer. Positivity, the D.A.I.S.Y. age, tons of internal rhymes and intelligence and goofiness and three rappers playing off each other so flawlessly, it just all works. And according to my hip hop head friend, it's one of their lesser albums! (confession: I only had this album for a long time, until the giveaway thing they did).

By comparison, Young MC seemed pretty old school for 1989. His style was pretty similar to the earlier 80s stuff. He could rap really fast (which today is heard all over the place, but in this context it was pretty damn impressive) and of course "Bust A Move" is a jam.

And The Beastie Boys just destroyed on Paul's Boutique. Such a dense album! So much to pick up on that even doing this I made myself listen to it twice. Just to pick up on more of it. And now I already forget what I was going to say about it. It's...good...and the Dust Brothers just like, did such an awesome job and it had rapping that was all good and stuff.

Extras Section:

• Allroy's Revenge seems like a good step up for All. More energetic, kinda starting to develop their own identity outside The Descendents.
• Stone Roses are good ok?
• Lou Reed's New York is another classic.
• Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire." Reminds me of car trips and trying to sing along.
• "Like A Prayer" might be my favorite Madonna song.
• Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 is one hot pop album that reminds me of Justin Timberlake (not because of the super bowl thing but it does seem very appropriate that they were singing together) in its high energy, unapologetically pop music that still has an edge and is meant to be played loud. Yeah!
• Yo La Tengo really hit their signature sound with President Yo La Tengo, which includes a trademark 10+ minute jam.
• Math rock is alive!!! Slint put out Tweez which is not quite Spiderland but it's definitely laying the foundation to one of my favorite obscure genres of hardcore/post rock/whatever.
• The Vandals put out a country album called Slippery When Ill and then years later put out a version of mostly the same songs called The Vandals Sing Really Bad Original Country Tunes. I got it because I like their Christmas album but didn't really care for these country tunes. I thought it'd be funny but a lot of it is just kind of offensive. I just can't tell if these guys are being satirical sometimes. Or at least the level of satire. I can't find the line but they seem to cross it.

Next Time:

Onto the 90s! That "college rock" will give way to grunge which will give way to terrible music which won't be represented here. Stuff will happen. Specifically for 1990 here's what will happen:

The Breeders, Fugazi keeps destroying it, Jawbreaker, lots more Mr T Experience, Pixies try and follow up Doolittle (and don't do too bad a job at it!), Social Distortion, a very popular Sonic Youth album, a very popular They Might Be Giants album, and Treepeople (pre-Built to Spill!). I actually don't have all that much mustic from 1990 but 1991 is going to be nuts.

An Ear For An Era: 1988

1988 meant I was 5 years old, I could bike, I could read, and I didn't particularly concern myself with music. But it was happening, man! Lots of good stuff I would appreciate later in life! Indie/college/alternative was still in a good place even though the first hints of its takeover-in-a-lesser-form-in-the-90s could be spotted. You know, the 90s when the popular stuff was called "alternative" but then what was it an alternative to at that point? When it got confusing. And other stuff was going on. I'll start with Weird Al.

I think Even Worse may have been my first Weird Al tape. I have vivid memories of purchasing the tape at a store and they didn't take off the security tag so we had to use my dad's pocket knife to bust it out. I think there was a crack in the tape case because of it. I made a music video with my friend for "Fat" where we put pillows under our shirts and basically acted out as many parts as we could. "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" has always been a favorite. And all the puns on "I Think I'm A Clone Now" are just too much great to handle. He has a lot of great puns on the album as a whole but "Clone" takes it to the next level with such gems as "I guess you could say I'm really beside myself," and "Born in a science lab late one night without a mother or a father, just a test tube and a womb with a view."

Ok just had to get that out of the way. Even Worse is probably in my top 3 Weird Al albums after all!

Hip hop took something of a turn around this time, didn't it? Not that BDP was all innocent and peaceful and clean, but the dirty got dirtier based on what I have. Ice-T with his sex jams (at least he clarifies "Safe sex that is...but that's another song"). Slick Rick was very clever on The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.

But who really owned it was Public Enemy. It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is one of those statement albums. Chuck D with his righteous anger and intelligence, Flava Flav still being somewhat tolerable, Terminator X just driving everything hard. Something about the angry intelligence makes it much more terrifying for white America because assuming we're paying attention we know he's right.

Public Enemy "Prophets of Rage"

Similarly, NWA's Straight Outta Compton had a good angry feel to it and Dr. Dre made some great beats early on for sure. The anger towards the man is a little more directed at cops than the overall system but effective regardless. Ultramagnetic MCs' Critical Beatdown is a good one but it seems to be laid out much more simply than the people really pushing things forward. Great rhymes and styles but in an old school simplicity that makes it seem a little behind in context.

Punk rock. Last year it was The Descendents and this year it's All. I have an appreciation for All that they did, particularly for the Fort Collins, CO scene, but the first actual All album I bought in high school was Allroy For Prez. Which was an EP. I didn't particularly care for just how darn soft it was at the time. Now I'm ok with it though.

The Pogues' If I Should Fall From Grace With God is one that coincidentally enough came up St. Patrick's Day weekend. It touches on a lot more different styles than Red Roses For Me, the other Pogues album I have. It pulls in influences to a point where some of the songs aren't even all that perfect for St. Patrick's Day! There's my favorite Christmas song ("Fairytale of New York"), ballads like "Lullaby Of London," and one of my favorites, a Spanish influenced drinking/partying song called "Fiesta."

Is this the place to place Big Black? I guess for now at least I'll put Touch & Go and Dischord stuff under punk rock. I'd wanted to get this album for years and finally did eventually (I think shortly before I got to see their big reunion show at that Touch & Go Anniversary Block Party thing I flew out to Chicago for). I feel like they got even harder and angrier as they went on and wrapped things up. Their whole discography is this pure rage, pre-NIN industrial with the crunchiest attainable guitar sound by the best guitar rock sound engineer in the biz.

Big Black "L Dopa"

Fugazi has begun! Of course I have their first two EPs in the form of the 13 Songs CD, but I set the years correctly and got to hear the Fugazi EP as originally released (the first 7 of 13 songs). So we have "Waiting Room," one of their best known songs. We have the earliest example (in my collection at least) of the hardcore scene tackling the problem of sexism in "Suggestion." We have basically some very seasoned veterans joining forces to form a band with seemingly no learning curve. Playing organically together to create something amazing on their very first EP.

Fugazi "Bad Mouth"

I also hit my first actual album by The Ex, that great underrated Dutch punk/chaos band that has been around since the 70s (and still going strong today!). Aural Guerilla is the sound of a great political punk band evolving for a decade and not sitting still. I just love the high distortion on the guitar and vocals and the swirling chaotic (sorry for using that again but it's the most apt description I've got!) drumming going on here.

College rock!

What I said in the intro about seeing the first hints of the popularity of alternative rock showing up was mostly because of R.E.M.'s Green. Kind of a breakthrough for them (they would later become one of the biggest bands of the 90s). And it has the song "Stand" which would later receive the "Weird Al" parody treatment and while "Weird Al" is very hip to the new sounds, he probably wouldn't have parodied a song that wasn't a gigantic hit. That's my frame of reference right now.

Besides that, the underground that would remain somewhat underground was reaching new highs.

I seem to be responding a lot more personally to Dinosaur Jr's 1988 album Bug more than 1987's You're Living All Over Me. Not sure why. But I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Bug. It seemed more passionate or something. Maybe it was just the circumstances of how it came up or something. Or maybe it's actually better.

Sonic Youth put out their most highly regarded album that has since entered the library of congress, and that was Daydream Nation. I don't know what I can say about this but I feel like I need to say a lot about it. They were young then. Creating something impossibly mature but in a really playful way. Putting mature skills to use in creating something that just sounds fresh and fun and somewhat loose. The authoritative vocals from Kim & Thurston, the way their guitars interplayed, the noise noise noise, the LOUD, the quiet, the uneasiness and scream and distortion! Every song a shove but also a suite, it's everything.

Sonic Youth "Candle"

I honestly cannot reach a final decision about my favorite Pixies album. Doolittle was my first and holds a dear place in my heart, but Surfer Rosa has always been hot on its heels and a part of me seems to think/know it is the superior of the two. Maybe. Something about it feels a bit rawer. Probably songs like "Something Against You." The screaming is powerful here. And Joey Santiago's guitar is a bit more vicious on this album, such as on "Vamos" when he comes up with so many different squawks to make his guitar make on a very forward moving beat (I remember being blown away when I saw them on their initial reunion tour by how much of the Pixies' uniqueness could be attributed to Santiago's inventiveness on the guitar). And it has a Kim Deal song! And the songs that are softer, acoustic style? Two of the greatest songs they ever recorded. There's the ever popular "Where Is My Mind?" and then there's my favorite track, one that has guided me through long distance relationship hatred (not hatred but obsession and anger and hell):

Pixies "Cactus"

I'll call it right there. Done.

In other comments...

• Thomas Dolby. Aliens Ate My Buick. A nerd of nerds, one of the last great new wave albums maybe? Mostly it's nerdy funk.
• I feel like I'm past talking about classic rock and that's kind of how I place The Traveling Wilburys. So I'll put this here. Roy Orbison is very missed. So is George Harrison now. That Vol. 1 is a good album. It just kind of sounds like a bunch of legends having a great time.
• I dig Camper Van Beethoven.
• Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man actually sounds ok in the context of other late 80s music. Meaning the over-production I noticed when I first listened to it out of context is less noticeable when lots of the surrounding music is also over-produced. And "Take This Waltz" is another damn gem from this genius songwriter.
• The debut from My Bloody Valentine is pretty astonishing for a debut.
• Operation Ivy's Hectic EP is a part of the version of Energy I have on CD so it's kind of like it's here. I think I'll hold off and write about them in full when I hit Energy though.
• Lincoln is probably one of They Might Be Giants' stronger efforts.
• Fishbone album! Truth and Soul shows a band that is clearly in the minority of black bands in punk rock fighting against the pressures that come from that.

So what's next?

1989. We wrap up the 80s. But I have a lot to chew through so this may take a while (473, my highest song count yet!)

Hip Hop: Beastie Boys return. De La Soul shows up. So does Young MC! (looks much more positive this year)

College/Whatever: Disintegration is the best album ever! Depeche Mode keeps new wave alive a little bit longer. Early Nirvana! The other greatest Pixies album! My only Public Image Ltd album! Stone Roses. More Yo La Tengo.

Old People: Bob Dylan returns with a great album! So does Elvis Costello! And Lou Reed! Queen. 

Punk: Crimpshrine! Fugazi delivers the second half of 13 songs with the Margin Walker EP. The Mr. T. Experience. Operation Ivy for real this time. Slint means math rock is a thing! Vandals go country.

Popular: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. 

An Ear For An Era: 1987

Those '7 years, man. Always a big deal it seems. The culmination of a decade and the promise of the following decade. I didn't think 1987 would be that way, but here it is. "College" rock and hip hop were in a very '7 way in 1987.

But let's get the boring mainstream stuff out of the way first.

One of the biggest album of all of the 80s was Guns N Roses' Appetite for Destruction. This happened to come on when my metalhead friend was in the car and he had to laugh a bit about it. So quaint in the metal scheme of things. I don't really care for most of the album but the hits are pretty undeniable. Welcome to the Jungle. Paradise City. Sweet Child O Mine.

And then U2. Boring. I like their singles ok kind of, but yeah. The Joshua Tree came on and it was all boring and stuff. Were they interesting ever? Was it all lost by 1987?

Just like in 1982, there were giant albums from the two pop giants. Michael Jackson put out Bad, which had a good number of hits itself (but there's no following Thriller), including one of my favorites "Man in the Mirror." Prince put out Sign 'O' The Times, a massive double album that I only have in vinyl format. But I have a couple singles, including my favorite "I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man."

Ok now to get to the interesting stuff. Not that Prince & MJ were ever not interesting. But looking to the future was hip hop, which was rapidly growing up. Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded came up and I was like "KRS One already??" because he has this flow about him, it's astonishing and so fast and beyond all the hip hop previously encountered in this project. It's like, an actual flow! The only problematic things are "The P is Free" (which kind of seems like it glorifies taking advantage of people's crack addictions in a very misogynistic way) and the whole bridge wars thing. When I read about the bridge wars to put some of these songs into context, it turns out it was really stupid because BDP kept saying "I can't believe you think hip hop started in Queens! You're so wrong!" and then Queens was saying "we didn't say that" and then BDP said "I can't believe you said hip hop started in Queens!" etc. I like Scott La Rock's DJing in a 1980s hip hop manner. He was pushing things forward.

But then I heard something that felt even more forward. An album that must have been one of the most influential albums for all the great early 90s golden era hip hop that I'm looking forward to exploring, I'm of course talking about Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim. Rakim's vocals just have this sound to them, something that just feels good. The laid back flow way beyond everything else. And Eric B. was sampling different things, soul things. In jazzy ways to complement Rakim's flow.

Eric B. & Rakim "As The Rhyme Goes On"

Ok now for my wheelhouse. I put "college" rock up there meaning indie rock as it was referred at the time. But I also consider all the post hardcore (mostly DC) developments to be a part of this even though I have no idea if Dag Nasty was played on college radio stations. But Wig Out At Denko's is some sort of indie classic. To me it sounds like a somewhat more technically advanced Descendents. The energy is similar and I think that's what I like about it. We're also approaching Fugazi but one of the essential pitstops on the way to that is Embrace, Ian's short-lived emo project. I only have a few songs off their album but "No More Pain" is kind of the quintessential example of early emo to play for people that don't get it. Guy Picciotto's band of this era was Happy Go Licky, who didn't officially record anything in a studio but a live show was recorded.

You know, I talked about the Descendents above so here is an awkward segue into The Descendents' (original) swan song, All. Kind of their most mature album, say an Enjoy! without (as many) fart jokes. Not that it took itself particularly seriously. Yes, there are some of their better pop songs on here ("Coolidge," "Clean Sheets," "Pep Talk") but there are their most experimental pieces as well. Jokey experimental pieces. Like "Van" about doing stuff in a van. "Impressions" about a journey. "Ice Man" about a crazy Ice Man that cometh! The almost 7 minute "Schizophrenia." And the manifesto.

The Descendents "All-O-Gistics"

Qua quaaaaaaaaaaa qua qua...

And Dinosaur Jr! You're Living All Over Me! Can we get more classic college rock than that? And by that I mean they are both classic and they are influenced by classic rock. But with such youth and vigor, because that's how it was back then. Those dudes were young once, it turns out.

In the same vein of people that are now old but have been doing great work forever...Yo La Tengo. New Wave Hot Dogs is the earliest instance of YLT I have in my collection and it's quite good. Lots of the atmospheric things they are now known for can be seen here, just in smaller bursts. None of their patented long songs just yet.

I was missing a good chunk of Sonic Youth records between their self-titled debut and Sister, because now they are suddenly at the top of their game. Melodic when they needed to be, insane when they needed to be, they were shaping the future man! The underground would never be the same. I'll share this track mostly because it's Ash Wednesday.

Sonic Youth "(I Got A) Catholic Block"

But the biggest college/alternative/indie/whatever album of all of 1987, the biggest deal at least, was an EP by an up and coming band called the Pixies. This blog will be obsessed with the Pixies for the next few entries and then they will disappear. So playful, such great screaming, such odd guitar licks, it was all there on their very first EP Come On Pilgrim. Even if all of that has disappeared on their recent EPs.

Pixies "I've Been Tired"

Should I put The Smiths down here? It looks like The Smiths broke up here, and this part is about the ends of journeys. 8 songs on that Louder Than Bombs collection are from 1987, the last hurrah. Including one of my favorite Smiths songs because it's pretty relatable, "Half a Person."

Another one of those bands were still around still doing very good work was The Cure, who put out one of their stronger efforts (in my opinion), Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. It's got some of my favorite hit songs of theirs ("Just Like Heaven" in particular), it's got a lot of Cure-sounding songs, and it has my favorite Cure song that doesn't sound so much like The Cure. Save this one for a special mixtape.

The Cure "Catch"

I guess that'll do it.

Also I may mention...

• Sinead O'Connor's The Lion And The Cobra played and it feels like a big influence on lots of the great female singer songwriters of the past 20ish years, such as Fiona Apple, Feist, Jesca Hoop, etc. that I dig because of how much creativity they push into a genre I would have otherwise assumed was just someone strumming a guitar.
• Fat Boys are very definitely a novelty act in 1987 with half-cover songs, a song with The Beach Boys, and a Chubby Checker featuring "The Twist (Yo, Twist!)"
• Operation Ivy had some undergroundish EPs in 1987 but I'll hold off talking about them until we at least get to the Hectic EP.
• One of Johnny Cash's lesser known lesser albums, Johnny Cash is Coming to Town, came up and I dig it because he covered an Elvis Costello song on it. And some cheesy love songs and other cheesy things.
• I also had the distinct pleasure of listening to the other half of The Pixies' "Purple Tape," which Come on Pilgrim was derived from. Mostly it's just interesting to hear early versions of songs that would make their major upcoming albums.
• R.E.M. was doing pretty good and starting to blow up thanks to their hit "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
• And just to clean up the last of the pre-Fugazi stuff in time for Fugazi, Rites of Spring had a 7" come out (even though they had been broken up a couple years) and it was fabulous.
• Big Black! Headache and Heartbeat!

What's Next??

1988 in punk/whatever: FUGAZI FUGAZI FUGAZI! Descendents turn into All! Big Black goes all out! An actual album by The Ex! Operation Ivy! Pogues! Shudder to Think! 

1988 in indie/whatever: Camper van Beethoven make their (here) debut! More Dinosaur Jr! Fishbone! Do My Bloody Valentine go here? One of the Two Best Pixies Albums! The Best Sonic Youth Album! 

1988 in singers or whatever: More Leonard Cohen! Traveling Wilburys! 

1988 in hippity hop: NWA! Ice T! (stuff's about to get profane!) Public Enemy! Slick Rick! Ultramagnetic MCs! 

...And another classic album from "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Oscar Hopes & Dreams 2014

Up until I think Thursday, I was thinking the Oscars were today. I just had the date set in my head and was going as fast as I could trying to see everything in time to have a valid-ish opinion come Oscar night. Then I found out I had another whole week! But I might as well post this now. I'd resigned myself to missing the shorts and some of the documentary and foreign film contenders but I might be able to fit those in this week. For now they will be kind of blank. I'm just going to go through these categories in order and say who I'd like to see win, whether they seem likely or not.

Best Picture:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick:  I would love to see Her win because it was a beautiful thing and probably my favorite film of the year, saying so much about us as human beings and our reliance on detached "others" (writers, artists, computer programmers, whatever) to help us reach very human connections and the deepest feelings. But its chances are low. I'd also be absolutely tickled to see one of the other underdogs win, such as Nebraska or maybe Philomena. Not that those seemed particularly outstanding (more just lovely small stories, the type of movie I generally prefer), I just like to see that sort of thing recognized. 
• Other Top Pick: Out of the movies with a fighting chance (American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, 12 Years A Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street maybe), I'm pulling for 12 Years A Slave. Not only because it's Very Important That We Americans Remember This Painful Part Of Our History, but because it's a hell of an epic story of a man and his journey home.
• Other comments: I feel like there's a backlash against American Hustle coming in. I remember quite loving it when I saw it, but looking back at it I'm having kind of middling feelings toward it, thinking it was merely "good" and not really anything new for David O. Russell. He's kind of on a hot streak but in retrospect it seems like it'll not quite measure up to The Fighter or (hopefully) some of his future works. Captain Phillips was a good action film and I appreciated it not so much making the pirates out to be bad guys but people that have their own needs for survival in a world that has turned its back on them. Dallas Buyers Club was good but not as great as I was expecting (maybe my own fault, I was pretty tired when I watched it so I might have missed something). Gravity was wonderful and is probably my second place pick for movies-with-a-chance. The way it depicted loneliness and isolation without getting boring, that it was really a rollercoaster playing out in real time, it made the runtime just fly right by. Nebraska seems like the type of movie I would like to make someday. Philomena was very very touching. The Wolf of Wall Street reminded me of Goodfellas, just another great Scorsese picture and his best in quite some time.

Lead Actor:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: Again, I gotta give it to 12 Years A Slave. Chiwetel Ejiofor turned in one hell of a performance. There was a moment during that film that it just flipped in my mind that he is a leading man, that he should win the Oscar and go on to a very successful career in leading roles from now on. It was when he started singing. The strength of his voice offering hope but giving way to pain, written all over his face, all in one closeup shot.
• Other comments: Bruce Dern was great in Nebraska and it'd be neat to see him win. Matthew McConaughey was brilliant as always and will probably take it. Those three are my top contenders and if it's not one of these three I will be quite puzzled.

Lead Actress:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: This is a really strong field here. I think the competition is tougher in the lead actress field than the lead actor field this year. Cate Blanchett's performance in Blue Jasmine is one of the greatest I've ever seen, the fragility and bitchiness of her character so perfectly portrayed.
• Other comments: But damnit the rest were so great that there's a chance she won't win! I think Amy Adams is great (and she was great in American Hustle) but she just wasn't on the level of these other nominees. Another year maybe. Sandra Bullock carried Gravity nearly solo, which I don't think most could do. Judi Dench was heartbreakingly sweet in Philomena and probably made me cry more than anyone else in this field. Meryl Streep is always fabulous but she should give someone else a chance.

Supporting Actor:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: This is an odd assortment here. And a little weaker than usual. I'd probably give it to Jared Leto as the tragic transgendered character in Dallas Buyers Club even though that role just screams Oscar Bait already. He still gave a very nuanced performance that could have easily gone too far in one direction or another but he hit just the right notes.
• Barkhad Abdi had the only other particularly deserving performance in my opinion in Captain Phillips. What I said earlier about the way it didn't take the easy way out in villainizing the pirates had a lot to do with him in his half-sympathetic portrayal. I am a big fan of Michael Fassbender (particularly when he's working with Steve McQueen) but I just didn't find enough nuance in his part in 12 Years A Slave.

Supporting Actress:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: Lupita Nyong'o for sure. The spirit of that character, so unbreakable despite her breakable physicality, so breakable was my heart!
• Other Comments: Sally Hawkins was awesome too. Why does Jennifer Lawrence keep winning awards for American Hustle?? Love her (and rooted for her back when she was nominated for Winter's Bone) but she again just seems out of her league here (or at least the role didn't call for her to exercise her range as much as an Oscar role should). Julia Roberts was one of the saving factors of August: Osage County. June Squibb was absolutely delightful in Nebraska and I wouldn't mind seeing her win but I don't know what her chances are with such a comedic role.

Animated Feature:

• I saw: None of them.
• Top Pick: No idea. Let's just say The Wind Rises because it appears to be beautiful and I feel like the commercial ones always win this category.
• Other Comments: none. I recorded The Croods so I could potentially watch that one before the awards. I haven't seen Despicable Me but I also recorded Despicable Me 2 if I feel like it...Oh and I'm sure Frozen will win.

Cinematography:

• I saw: All except for The Grandmaster (but I did see pieces of the cinematography...).
• Top Pick: Roger Deakins for Prisoners. Deakins is still the greatest DP working and he still gets robbed every year. He manages to keep getting nominated so it's not as though he's not recognized at all. Watching Prisoners just exemplified how upper echelon his stuff is. He seems to be working on more commercial action movies lately, I wonder if he'd have a better chance if he got back with the Coen Brothers...not that he ever got the win for any of his brilliant work for them in the past. 
• Other Comments:  Gravity might win, it is pretty astonishingly beautiful. It'd be cruel but maybe Bruno Delbonnel will win for Inside Llewyn Davis (which went pretty much unrecognized otherwise in the nominations), it was a great looking film. I don't know if Phedon Papamichel should win for Nebraska; it seems like it got nominated because it's a well photographed black and white film which is unique. But it ain't no Manhattan...

Production Design:

• I saw: All except for The Great Gatsby.
• Top Pick: We're starting to get into fields that I'm less interested in but I'll say Her for two reasons: It took place in a future not too far away and was a very believable portrayal of that, with varying degrees of subtlety in design. Or if not a future, I originally viewed it as an alternate present time. Some future technology not too different from our own but fashion of the 70s or 80s or something. Just a slightly different version of our universe that makes the whole thing feel timeless. Oh yeah, the other reason. Just that I want Her to win pretty much everything it's nominated for because it's not nominated for a lot.
• Other Comments: All the nominees are so different from each other that it's hard to say which direction the voters will go. Probably one that will go to the same movie as what wins best picture (American Hustle or 12 Years A Slave) just to be another in its overall number of wins.

Costume Design:

• I saw: Only American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave.
• Top Pick: You know, whatever. Probably American Hustle.There were some outrageous outfits in that one.
• Other Comments: None.

Directing:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: What no Spike Jonze nomination?? Steve McQueen then. Because of what I said above for best picture. Seriously, how is best director different from best picture?
• Other Comments: See other comments from best picture nominees. I respect all of these directors greatly. It looks like there's never been a black best director winner which is odd (Spike Lee's never won??), so I think it's time. Otherwise Alfonso Cuaron would be a good choice for Gravity. It'd be cool to see him win.

Documentary Feature:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: The Act of Killing is kind of a no-brainer for this one. It's just so intense and fearless and an interesting study of these unrepentant monsters. A must-see.
• Other Comments: Cutie and the Boxer was nice to watch after all the other docs about turbulence and war and such, just an interesting look at two very different artists in their art, personalities, and suffering. Dirty Wars was a good expose of something awful that is going on, it just got kind of annoying that the filmmaker felt the need to insert himself into it so much. It was amazing seeing the Egyptian revolution from the inside with The Square. I guess the favorite to win is 20 Feet From Stardom. I did enjoy it (another lighter hearted joy and I love me some Merry Clayton) but c'mon, The Act of Killing was life changing.

Documentary Short:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall was another no-brainer for me. A story of redemption, showing how caring and loving people doing life sentences for murder and kidnapping can be, and then the devastating scenes of Pvt. Hall's last moments with his son, it just stuck with me in a way that I don't think I can ever forget.
• Other Comments: CaveDigger was cute but didn't seem to be on the same level as the rest. But it was also the only lighthearted movie of the bunch, so good on it for not being depressing! Facing Fear was another story of redemption and forgiveness that stuffed a whole lot into its short running time. And an astonishing story that I wouldn't believe would really happen, but it did. Karama Has No Walls was the most intense movie of the program and probably of my whole season of watching Oscar movies. Just absolutely devastating, it did not hold back, those cameras were right there in the revolution and in the resulting suffering. Those children. They're just children! The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life had the most wonderful woman as a subject and it really just brought a different perspective to many things for me; I couldn't believe what I was hearing these women say. I would not mind seeing this one win either. 

Film Editing:

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: I probably have to give it to Captain Phillips. The pacing just made it so intense. 
• Other Comments: Normally I really notice and like how David O Russell movies are paced/cut, but I didn't really notice much of that in American Hustle. Most of these nominees are just good movies but I don't remember the editing being anything unique...

Foreign Language Film:

• I saw: Everything but The Missing Picture and Omar.
• Top Pick: Probably The Great Beauty. It was the intellectual art film of the three nominees I saw. Just so beautifully constructed and shot, written, just one of those pictures, you know? How it showed this great party scene but really made you feel the isolation of everyone in attendance even as they took part in debauchery and ridiculousness...the isolation of everyone! In search of something...
• Other Comments: Couldn't really find any means of seeing The Missing Picture or Omar. But The Broken Circle Breakdown was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. It plays like one of the great old country songs. Just the way these two very opposite people deal with a shared tragedy is so well done, and this film had me bawling repeatedly. Great music too! The Hunt was an extraordinary picture about some very unfortunate circumstances that lead to great suffering by one person at the hands of many without having any actual villains...everyone's behavior was based on compassion and reason and that's why it hurt so much!

Makeup & Hairstyling

• I saw: Only Dallas Buyers Club.
• Top Pick: I'll just say Dallas Buyers Club for Jared Leto.
• Other Comments: I don't want a Jackass movie to win an Oscar. Does that make me stuffy and out of touch? And is there anything great about the makeup and hairstyling in The Lone Ranger aside from making Johnny Depp look ridiculous?

Music (Original score): 

• I saw: Gravity, Her, and Philomena
• Top Pick: Wouldn't it be cool to see Owen Pallett & Arcade Fire win an Oscar for Her?
• Other Comments: None.

Music (Original Song):

• I saw: Her
• Top Pick: Karen O & Spike Jonze for "The Moon Song" even though it's such a simple song! Yes please!
• Other Comments: I listened to all of these songs. The U2 one just sounds like U2, which is very boring to me. The one from Frozen will probably win (if U2 doesn't win because people love some U2 for some reason) because it's one of those singer showcase songs. I wouldn't mind Pharrell winning because that song is catchy. It'd be my second choice.

Animated Short:

• I saw: None...
• Top Pick: Can't fairly say.
• Other Comments: Looks like I won't catch these...drat! They're usually so good!

Live Action Short:

• I saw: None...
• Top Pick: Can't fairly say.
• Other Comments: I missed out.

Sound Editing:

• I saw: All except All is Lost and Lone Survivor
• Top Pick: Captain Phillips I guess?.
• Other Comments: Someone with long hair. I recorded All is Lost but I don't know if I'll stress myself trying to watch before Sunday just for this nomination.

Sound Mixing:

• I saw: All except Lone Survivor
• Top Pick: Inside Llewyn Davis please! So it can win something! Also there was some skillful sound mixing, such as the scene with the guy eating cereal.
• Other Comments: I still don't get how sound mixing isn't a part of sound editing. It kind of exemplifies that in the fact that the nominees are almost always the same movies with one difference.

Visual Effects:

• I saw: All except The Lone Ranger.
• Top Pick: Gravity. The depiction of space was so lifelike, it took it to a new level. The new standard, like 2001 way back when (Kubrick's only ever Oscar win!).
• Other Comments: Iron Man 3 had decent effects as usual, the others were pretty standard fare from what I can tell. Why wasn't Pacific Rim nominated though? An easy second place!

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: Before Midnight. I'm not sure how this is "adapted" though. But it's just so real and so raw in its depiction of these same characters and where they would be at this point.
• Other Comments: Lots of strong contenders here. For me, I'm generally most interested in these writing categories because the nominees tend to be my favorite films of the year as opposed to the best picture nominees. Lots of overlap this year though.

Writing (Original Screenplay):

• I saw: All of them.
• Top Pick: Her. It might even have a chance in this category! 
• Other Comments: Again, a strong pool. I wonder if the recent hubbub about Woody Allen killed his chances here. We'll see.

And there you have it. We'll see how it shakes out very soon.

An Ear For An Era: 1986

How are we already past the halfway point of the 80s? I actually have surprisingly little 80s music relatively. Don't worry, we'll be slowing down soon. Here's 1986.

A big deal was the introduction to The Beastie Boys. License to Ill came out way back here! When hip hop was Run-DMC and Fat Boys. I don't know, I knew they were early but this is kind of crazy considering how long they stayed relevant. They like to say their names in their songs, don't they? It's hip hop for suburban white kids but it's done with passion and respect for the craft. Not that it was particularly more advanced than what Run-DMC was doing (this was the year of "It's Tricky") but they managed to keep their take on it cool for decades. Props for that.

You know who else has a band name of two B words? Big Black. I felt a little guilty listening to Big Black on an ipod but such is the nature of this project. Maybe I'll do a vinyl version one day. Anyhow, Big Black just killed it with intensity on Atomizer. Like, Kanye, Yeezus was a great album and I'ma let you finish...but Atomizer is the most intense industrial record of all time! Yes, the drum machine named Roland that sounded like a machine gun and guitars that sounded like they were being played with locomotives along with Albini's signature snarl, it's some heavy stuff man. Sorry I'm posting the most popular song in this case, but if that's what it takes to get converts so be it. Also sorry I'm posting a youtube instead of a physical record. Come over sometime and we'll listen to all sorts of Albini on wax.

Big Black "Kerosene"

Such a curiosity Enjoy! by The Descendents is. Two tracks are devoted to the most juvenile humor which I don't find enjoyable at all. There are some great pop songs on there though to balance it out. And then there are some kind of art punk tracks on here that just elevate it to such a different level. And I quite love those arty tracks (one is almost 8 minutes long!); it's just a weird collection.

I think The Edge Of The World is my favorite Mekons album. It recalls the Pogues in how the songs just beg to be sung along to. You just want to be with a big crowd of like minded people to sing these. The album has a lot of variety but that underlying aspect follows through the whole album. Listening to it, the word "shanty" came to mind. These songs are shanties. Appropriately enough, here's another song for my wake.

The Mekons "Shanty"

They Might Be Giants' self-titled debut is just so perfectly nerdy. If I ever have a child I'm going to play a lot of this band because that's the style of nerd I want to raise. A bit kitchen sink and very clever. The other thing to say about this album is that as much informed by the 80s as it seems, I'm having a hard time resolving in my head that this came out the same year as the other things. The other things are oldies. TMBG seem contemporary and/or timeless. Both.

Paul Simon. Graceland. One of those guys that you can just listen to and marvel at the lyrics. And it's pretty catchy. The appropriation of African musical styles seems a little less grating when Paul Simon does it than when Vampire Weekend did it, but I don't know if i have a justifiable reason for saying that. But you can be my bodyguard...

Nick Cave, post Birthday Party...he's got The Bad Seeds! Sure, it's album #4 with them, but I guess it's the first thing in my collection. Another glaring omission I'm sure some of those albums are. But Your Funeral...My Trial has to be one of the best. The creepiness and intensity from The Birthday Party is still there, just in a (very slightly) more subtle format. It kind of reminds me of Tom Waits' output from this era in its own odd way...just the circus and loopiness and intensity. The songs just create settings for a theatre bizarre thing to go down inside.

My favorite singer/songwriter of all time is still Elvis Costello. I haven't had much to say about his output of the past few years but boy did he turn it around in 1986. Two albums, vastly different, that happen to be my two favorite albums of his. First was King of America, notably missing the Attractions. In their place were some legendary American studio musicians that would be collectively known as The Confederates. But yeah, whatever. I don't need to re-hash the wikipedia entry here. This album is one of my favorites because I prefer his ballads and it hits all the right notes for Costello ballads while still being all over the place. The sorrow in hope. The romantic hopelessness. It's optimism about contradictions. It's also something about his delivery, the passion behind it. In 1986 you could feel every tear in his vocals (this is true whichever homonym for "tear" you use).

(If I could find a youtube video of the studio version of "I'll Wear It Proudly" it would be here. Find it on spotify or whatever because it's great!)

I don't want to be a gossip, but that passion had to have been at least partially inspired by some turbulence that was happening at the time...the break up of The Attractions paired with his blossoming relationship with/marriage to Cait O'Riordan. The best art comes out of turbulence. And Blood and Chocolate...that's turbulence. I guess it's kind of ironic that this is the album that reunited him with Nick Lowe as well as The Attractions, as it's nothing but tension and would be the last album with any of those parties for a while (not to mention his record label). Such a great break-up/kiss-off album that helped me through some tough times in college. There's fire here reminiscent of his early albums but with a wiseness that he couldn't have pulled off a decade earlier. But the wiseassness of those early days is there as well in songs like "I Hope You're Happy Now," probably the most helpful track of them all when dealing with a breakup. Even the ballads are either sarcastic (Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head) or downright creepy (I Want You). Those two tracks are back-to-back and will get the listener comfortable in their atmosphere before the jolt of "Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind?" (possibly the closest link to classic 70s Attractions) clears the palate for the brutal and confrontational back half. King of America might be my favorite 15-song-sequence but "Blue Chair" through "Next Time Round" is five songs of perfection. And all of this tension in the production of the album, the tension of what I assume was Elvis' mindset in these days, it all comes down to this song here. There were two very different takes of the track and rather than eventually pick one to put on the album they were spliced together in a not-so-subtle fashion. Two opposing sides. Forced together uncomfortably and...it just fits.

Elvis Costello and The Attractions "Battered Old Bird"

Other things:

• Kronos Quartet have also been around forever! They've gotten pretty cool with the indie rock kids these days, but even back in 1986 they were reaching out to the rock & roll audience with a cover of "Purple Haze" done Kronos Quartet style.
• More Scratch Acid! Their 1986 output was pretty varied stylistically. Lots of different things going on, almost to the point of being poppy at times. Only a few choice intensely hardcore tracks. It's an interesting progression. Of course I prefer the ones where they go all out like "Flying Houses"
• Last week while I was listening to 1986 there was some really really bad traffic due to snow and subzero temperatures. And then this song by Mojo Nixon came on and I just wanted to do exactly what he said in the song. (Damn it "Get Out Of My Way" isn't on youtube either!)
• The Dischord/DC scene was changing all the rules of hardcore these days, wasn't it? One Last Wish seemed to be Guy Picciotto's next band after Rites of Spring. And other Rites of Spring members. The 1986 EP (not actually released until 1999 but I figured I'd follow the recording date in this case) is full of short songs and matches the intensity of RoS. And short-lived Ian MacKaye project Egg Hunt put out a couple songs that serve as a pretty good bridge between Minor Threat and Fugazi without really sounding anything like either. And other bands were pushing things forward, but I don't feel qualified to fully squish all of that information here.
• You know who was probably a bigger influence on those emo whatever bands of the early 00s? The Smiths. Talk about whiny! But I still quite love a few of their tracks even if it took me a while to come around to them. The Queen Is Dead is the album of 1986 but of course my favorite track is non-album track from that Louder Than Bombs compilation "Ask." Probably because I have shyness and it's a comfort for that.
• A Kind of Magic by Queen is kind of a mix between their rock tendencies and pop tendencies. There seems to be a one, singular vision to this song, an overarching theme of oneness. Very cohesive.
• Ok maybe Polka Party isn't a Weird Al "classic" but I still have very specific memories about listening to the tape in my dad's truck. Listening now I'm a little less enthused about the majority of this album, but "Dog Eat Dog" may be one of his greatest songs. A Talking Heads style parody, it was my introduction to that legendary band and he gets it just right.
• One of my favorite Prince jams! Kiss!
• Another year, another great song from Carmel: "I'm Not Afraid Of You." Dark brooding music but hopeful and ultimately just a super strong anthem.
• David Bowie. "Magic Dance" from Labyrinth. This is where our culture was in 1986.
• Sonny Sharrock's "Broken Toys" is some great jazz guitar. Not that I know anything about jazz guitar besides Sonny Sharrock. 

Next Time 'Round...
Boogie Down Productions AND Eric B & Rakim! Hip hop's game keeps getting stepped up! Favorite Cure album! Dag Nasty. Dinosaur Jr. Appetite for Destruction. Operation Ivy stuff. Some band called the Pixies? I finally get to another Sonic Youth album? And who's this Yo La Tengo?? And no Weird Al album in 1987??