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Alternative Addiction
Wednesdays 12pm-3pm
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October 14, 2009

1. Radiohead - Myxomatosis
2. Alberta Cross - ATX
3. Jay Reatard - Faking It
4. Mission of Burma - Good Cheer
5. Reigning Sound - If I Can't Come Back
6. Turbo Fruits - Mama's Mad Cos I Fried My Brain
7. Wild Beasts - This Is Our Lot
8. The Shagbots - Consequences
9. Muse - Undisclosed Desires
10. The Queen Killing Kings - Reinventing Language
11. Deluka - Finito
12. La Roux - Fascination
13. Editors - Papillon
14. Modest Mouse - The Whale Song
15. Alec Ounsworth - South Philadelphia
16. The Rifles - Sometimes
17. The Cinematics - Moving To Berlin
18. Rubik - Fire Age
19. The Temper Trap - Fader
20. A Place to Bury Strangers - Keep Slipping Away
21. The Feelies - Moscow Nights
22. Plastiscines - Barcelona
23. Arctic Monkeys - Potion Approaching
24. We Were Promised Jetpacks - Roll Up Your Sleeves
25. Flight of the Conchords - Carol Brown
26. The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands
27. They Might Be Giants - I Am A Paleontologist
28. The Very Best - Warm Heart Of Africa
29. Rainbow Arabia - Harlem Sunrise
30. Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
31. The Grates - Carve Your Name
32. Blitzen Trapper - Silver Moon
33. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - 103
34. No Age - You're A Target
35. Monotonix - Spit In Your Face
36. The Jaguar Club - Sleepwalking
37. WhoMadeWho - The Plot
38. Phoenix - Armistice
39. The Swimmers - A Hundred Hearts
40. Mew - Cartoons And Macrame Wounds

!!! (2)
764-HERO
Abe Vigoda
A.C. Newman
The Adjustments
A-Frames
Against Me!
The Agency
The Aislers Set (4)
Alkaline Trio (2)
All
The Amazing Royal Crowns
American Analog Set
The Amps
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Animal Collective
Ann Beretta
Annie Hayden
Antony and the Johnsons
The Apples in Stereo
The Aquabats
Argentina
Ariel Pink
Army of Ponch
As Friends Rust
Asshole Parade
Atari Teenage Riot
Atlas Sound
A-Trak
At the Drive-In (2)
Atom and His Package (2-3)
Avail
Baboon
Bad Religion
The Ballet
The Bangs
Bardo Pond
Baroness
Barrington Levy
Beck (2)
The Beltones
Better Than Ezra (2)
Big Business
Big Tymers
Birth Refusal
Bitchin'
The Black Angels
Black Dice
Black Heart Procession
Black Label Society
The Black Lips
Blank Dogs
Bloc Party
Blonde Redhead (2)
Blue Cheer
Boredoms
Boris
Born Dead Icons
Botch
Bound Stems
Boxstep
Boyracer
Bright Eyes
Brittle Stars
The Buddyrevelles
Built to Spill (3)
Burning Airlines
Burnman
The Butchies
The C-60s
Caboladies
Calexico
Califone
Calvin Johnson
Camera Obscura
Candlebox
The Can Kickers
The Cannanes
The Cardigans
Carrie Nations
The Casket Lottery
Catharsis
Cat Power
caUSE co-MOTION!
The Causey Way
Cavity
Chain and the Gang
Chairlift
Chandeliers
Charlie & the Moonhearts
The Cherry Valence
Chromeo
Cibo Matto
Circulatory System
City Center
The Clientele (2)
Cococoma
CocoRosie
Codeseven
The Condition
The Coughs
Country Teasers
Cracker (2)
Creed
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crumb
The Crumbs (2-3)
Crystal Skulls
Culture (reggae)
Currituck County
Cut Copy
Cyne
Daily Void
dälek
Dam Funk
Damian Marley
Damion Romero
Damon & Naomi
Dan Deacon
The Dandy Warhols
Dark Meat
Darren Hanlon
Dashboard Confessional
Dave Dondero
David Kilgour
Davila 666
Days of the New
Dead Meadow (3-4)
dead prez
Death Set
The Decepticonz
Deerhoof
Defiance, Ohio
Deftones (2)
The Delta 72 (2)
Denali
Destroyer
The Devil Is Electric
Didjits
Die Hoffnung
Dirty Poodle
Dirty Projectors
Disappears
Discount (3-5?)
Dishwalla
The Dismemberment Plan
Dominatrix
Don Caballero
The Donnas
Double Dagger
Dove
Drowning Pool
Drunkdriver
Dungen
Duncan Sheik
Eagle Twin
Ed Matus' Struggle
Ednaswap
Elf Power
Elliott
Emeralds
Engine Down
Enon
Eric Bachman
Erin Tobey
Errortype:11
ESG
The Essex Green
The Eternals
Euros Childs
Eve6
The Ex
Excelsior
Fag Cop
Failure
Faith No More
Far (2)
Faraquet
Felix Cavaliere
Femi Kuti
The 5th Dimension
Fin Fang Foom
Fiona Apple
Five Eight
Fiya
Floor
Foo Fighters
Forstella Ford
Four Tet
The Fresh and Onlys
Frog Eyes
From Ashes Rise
Fugazi (2)
Fun People
Further Seems Forever
Gang Gang Dance
The Gap Band
Garbage
Gary Higgins
Gas
The Gerbils
Getatchew Mekuria
The Get Up Kids (4)
Ghost
Ghostface Killah (2)
Ghost Mice
Girl Talk
Glass Candy
Glasseater
The Gloria Record
God Lives Underwater
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2)
Grabass Charlestons
Grade
Grandaddy
Great Lakes
The Greenhornes
Groovie Ghoulies
Guyana Punch Line
Hankshaw
Hanson
The Haters
Hella
Hepcat
Heroic Doses
The Hidden Cameras
High on Fire (2)
Hive Mind
Holly Golightly
Holopaw
Holy Barbarians
Home Blitz
Hooverphonic
Hot Hot Heat
Hot Machines
Hot Rod Circuit
Hot Water Music
Hum
Human Television
The Hunches
Hunx and his Punx
Icy Demons
Ida
Illusion of Safety
The Immortal Lee County Killers
Inca Ore
Indecision
Indian Jewelry
Irma Thomas
Iron And Wine
Isobel Campbell
James
Jamie Vex'd
Japanther
Jason Anderson
Jeff Mangum
Jennifer Gentle
Jeremy Toback
Jessica Rylan
Jimmy Eat World
Jim O'Rourke
Joan of Arc
John Vanderslice
Jonathan Richman
Jon Langford & Sally Timms
Jucifer (2)
June of 44
Kanda
Karate
Keepsake
Keiji Haino (aka 灰野敬二)
Kevin Drumm
Kid Congo Powers
Kind of Like Spitting
The King Khan & BBQ Show
King Khan & The Shrines
King Sunny Ade
Kite Flying Society
Kool and the Gang
KoЯn
KTL
Kylesa
Labradford
The Ladybug Transistor
Lambchop
The Lapse
Leatherface
Les Savy Fav
Le Shok
Le Tigre (2)
Less Than Jake
Lichens
Lil' Kim
Little Wings
Local H
Lois
Longpigs
Lost Sounds
Low
The Lucksmiths (2)
Ludacris
Lungfish (2)
M83
Madeline
Magic Is Kuntmaster
The Magnetic Fields (2)
Make Believe
Make Up
Mammal
Man Man
Man or Astro-man?
The Mantles
The Marked Men
Marshmallow Coast
Masters of the Hemisphere
Mates of State
Matty Pop Chart
Mayer Hawthorne
Melt-Banana
The Mercury Program
Metropolitan
Michael Gendreau
The Microphones
Mid Carson July
Midtown
Milemarker
Modest Mouse (3)
Mogwai
The Moldy Peaches (2)
mooney suzuki
The Mountain Goats (2-3)
Mucca Pazza
The Murder City Devils (2)
The Music Tapes
My Bloody Valentine
Naked on the Vague
Nana Grizol
The National
Negative Approach
Need New Body
New Found Glory
The New Pornographers
New Terror Class
No Age
Nobunny
NOFX
No Knife
of Montreal
Thee Oh Sees
Oi Polloi
Old 97's
Olivia Tremor Control (4)
OM
One Reason
On Fillmore
Onion Flavored Rings
Orbit
Orbital
Oren Ambarchi
Oriflamme
Os Mutantes
Out Hud (2)
OutKast
Owen
Ozma
The Paper Hats
Patrick Wolf
Peaking Lights
Peanut Butter Wolf
Pedro the Lion
Petty Booka
Phillip Roebuck
Pinback
The Pine Hill Haints
Pinehurst Kids
Pipas
Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't
Pit Er Pat
Plastiscines
Plastic Mastery
Porno for Pyros
Portishead
Possum Dixon
Prefuse 73
Prince Rama of Ayodhya
The Promise Ring
Psychedelic Horseshit
The Pupils
P.W. Long
Q and Not U
Quails
Quintron And Miss Pussycat
Radiobaghdad
Radiohead
Raekwon
Railsplitter
Rancid (2)
Ratatat
Ray Davies
Reactionary 3
Recess Theory
Red Eyed Legends
Red Roses for a Blue Lady
Reel Big Fish
Reigning Sound
Retribution Gospel Choir
Reverend Horton Heat
Reversal of Man
Rhymefest
Rhythm of Black Lines
Robbie Fulks
Roky Erickson
The Roots (2)
The Rosebuds
Ruins
Ruth Ruth
Sarge
Scorn
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
Scratch Acid
Screaming Females
Sebadoh
Self (3)
Shearwater
The Sheila Divine
Shellac (3)
Sightings
Silver Jews
Sissies
Six Going On Seven
Sloan
Smashing Pumpkins
Smith Westerns
Smog (2)
Smoking Popes
Solex
Snoop Dogg
Soft Circle
Solomon Burke
Sonic Boom
So Cow
Soul Coughing
Spam All-Stars
The Spirit Of Versailles
Spiritualized (2)
The Spits
Spoon
Stabbing Westward
Starlite Desperation
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Still Flyin'
Stressface
Strike Anywhere
Strikeforce Diablo
The Strokes (2)
Subrosa
Sunn O))) (2)
Sunny Day Real Estate
Sunshine
Superchunk
Swervedriver
Swingin' Utters
The Sword
Sybris
Tall Dwarfs
Teenage Fanclub (2)
Telekinesis
Thanksgiving
The Thermals
This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb
Thomas Function
Three Second Kiss
Throbbing Gristle
Thrones
Tight Bros From Way Back When
Timonium
Tindersticks
Titus Andronicus
The Toadies
Tony Conrad
Tool
Tortoise
Total Chaos
Treble Charger
Tricky
Tristeza
True North
Twelve Hour Turn
Tyrades
Ty Segall
Ulrich Schnauss
The Union Underground
Unsane
The Urge
The Usuals
Vacant Andys
The Vaselines
V for Vendetta
Vee Dee
Versus
Veruca Salt
videohippos
Walls of Jericho
Watchers
The Wedding Present
Ween
Weezer
Wesley Willis
White Mystery
The White Stripes
Wilco
Will Haven
Windy and Carl
Wolf Eyes
Wolfie (3)
Women
Woods
Woven Bones
XBXRX
Yaphet Kotto
Yo La Tengo (4)
The Yolks
Yo Majesty
Yussuf Jerusalem
Zegota

1. Lee Dorsey- Love Lotsa Lovin'
Lee Dorsey is a smooth criminal. He testifies the gospel of mackin' 'n' smackin'. Uh, yeah... that's it. He's telling you what he needs and gets his point across fairly well. I'm pretty sure he's talking to a specific female, but for some reason he addresses all of us as well. Almost as if not her, someone else will do. It's all a number's game, folks.

2. The Gore Gore Girls- Atlanta
atlanta's a cool town, I think. Never been myself. A lotta good bands come from there, though. The Black Lips, The Lids, Mastodon, Gaye Blades, The Carbonas, et al. I'm assuming the Gore Gore Girls are aware of at least some of this.

3. The Replacements- Seen Your Video
Videos were a big deal in the 80's, less of a deal in the 90's but still important, and now in the age of youtube and camera phones anybody can make them. This is from that first, golden age of the music video. The Replacements are undoubtedly trying to make a statement here. It's hard to tell what, however, since the song is an near instrumental. They don't want to know something. This much is clear.

4. The Sonics- Psycho (live)
The template for most modern garage bands. These guys worshipped at the altar of Little Richard until the british invasion came along and added The Kinks and The Yardbirds to their holy trinity.

5. The Strange Boys- Sugar Pie Honey Bunch
This guy's voice is awesome. I mean, does he hit all the notes? Not really, but he makes up for it with feeling, which is what most blues legends did. If I made a mix for my parents, this would probably be on it, along with the Reigning Sound.

6. Tom Waits- Chocolate Jesus
There was this cable access TV show in st. louis when I was a teenager called "Black Jesus." This always pops into my head when I hear this song. The guy'd go around and interview people on the street in a non-politically correct way, but it wasn't like he was playing the role of a shock jock either. Everything about his persona was genuine from the jehri curl down. Tom Waits is singing about candy himself, but you smell where I'm going with this. Mule Variations is such a good album.

7. The Feederz- Bionic Girl
The Feederz were the first hardcore band, or at least the first one to put out an album. Don't believe me? This came out in either '78 or '79. Listen to it. The anger. The speed. It's the first. The proof is on the sleeve.

8. Cheap Trick- Dream Police
What if there were a dream police? Obviously their uniforms would be all white, and they would be split between half 70's long haired studly dreamboats and half quirky people, half of them equipped with a double necked guitar. This last fourth would be the riot squad. In a perfect power pop world. Apparently perfect power pop worlds have fascist undertones.

9. Johnny Powers- Trouble
Johnny Powers covering Elvis Presley's "Trouble." It's not as good as the original, but that's not to say it's subpar. It just doesn't have one of the greatest rock 'n' roll vocal stylists of all time singing it.

10.The Million Dollar Quartet- That's My Desire
This song does, although it's Jerry Lee Lewis whose doing the singing. It was recorded in the presence of Elvis, though, so maybe he's featured in a cough in the background or something.

So you know the conversation if your music fan or a music snob or a music nerd or what-the-fuck-ever.

Rock-n-Roll is dead right?

Its just this hosed up crank-ass worthless hard rawker metalhead throwback to big giant super-bands on the seventies stages of infinite excess.

All that is left is some really more-cowbells excuse for Jack Black to make fun of the same music he professes to love while even the metal sign of the devil horns is so stereotypical and lame that my kid does it when some horrid big rocker song comes on the radio.

But there is more to it than that.

Sure, the radio is stuck in some horrible pop music bubblegum era that makes the worst days of hair metal Madonna period of the eighties with synth ballads look profound and deep in comparison.

The underground rock seems content to spew endless tiny labels getting no overall traction or on the other hand it seems someone is just waiting to be the next little indie band to jump big label and find two minutes instead of fifteen on the radio.

At least that is the way it would appear if you were not paying attention.

There are a lot of good bands out there not just playing garage rock or garage soul or indie rock or even rockabilly. No, that is not the be all and end all of it.

Yes indie and garage rock gets a lot of the spotlight and most of the songs on my rock-n-roll fun list but there is blues fixated rock and rockabilly and a lot more to it than just even a couple of grand genres.

Instead there is almost a wonderful collage of sounds from multiple genres. I hear this list of songs and I don't think immediately about the cliches and hangups or even genres. I think that song just rocks.

The only hope out there is if you are paying attention and if you care and if you dig. In that sense today reminds me alot of the eighties where the best music was deep underground.

I made this list after one of those rock is dead conversations with a friend of mine. I tried to include no band born before 1990 and tried even harder to keep it more recent than that but certain bands crept in sneaking past me because I could not ignore them.

[url=http://www.[spam nofollow=yes] Fun

You're No Rock 'n Roll Fun Sleater-Kinney
We Repel Each Other The Reigning Sound
Blue Stars The Soviettes
The World Loves Us And Is Our Bitch mclusky
Here It Comes Magnapop
Underdog The Dirtbombs
Crack Whore Blues Neckbones
The Big Three Killed My Baby The White Stripes
Stop, I'm Already Dead Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Six Barrel Shotgun Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Have Love Will Travel The Black Keys
Raisin' Hell Again Scott H. Biram
Heavy Load Deadstring Brothers
Pinetree Boogie Th' Legendary Shack Shakers
Cha Cha Twist Detroit Cobras
Gun vs. Knife Dan Sartain
Rebel Rock Armageddon Riptones
Pleasure Unit Gore Gore Girls
Outta Here The Gories
New Resolution Heartless Bastards
Clara Bow 50 Foot Wave
On My Mind Thee Shams
Trampoline The Grates
National Hum The Constantines
Date With The Night Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Eighteen Visions
Kill Hannah
HIM

Reigning Sound
Saraha Hotnights
The Hives

Metric
Muse
Schoolyard Heroes
The Psychedelic Furs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
X
Violent Femmes
Franz Ferdinand
Echo and the Bunnymen

Bristle
Antidote
Lower Class Brats
The Casualties

The Ditty Bops
Count Zero
The Dresden Dolls

Hazard County Girls
Rasputina

The Crimea
Doris Henson
Billy Corgan

Queens of the Stone Age
Nine Inch Nails

Clear Static
Shiny Toy Guns
Kill Hannah (Second Time)

Schoolyard Heroes (Second Time)
Kill Hannah (Third Time)
Mindless Self Indulgence

Sxip Shirey
The Red Paintings
The Dresden Dolls (Second Time)

Placebo

Evaline
Placebo (Second Time)

Saosin
Mindless Self Indulgence (Second Time)
Julien-K
Placebo (Third Time)
HIM (Second Time)
Taking Back Sunday
My Chemical Romance
Linkin Park

Kill Hannah (Fourth Time)

Shiny Toy Guns (Second Time)
Hot Hot Heat
Satellite Party
Bright Eyes
Social Distortion
The Smashing Pumpkins

IAMX

Peter Murphy

The Turn-ons
The Jesus & Mary Chain

The White Tie Affair
Innerpartysystem
The Medic Droid
Kill Hannah (Fifth Time)

Crystal Castles
Nine Inch Nails (Second Time)

BOLD indicates headlining act

Wow. This took an eternity to do! I skipped a few where I didn't have that number on my chart and just subbed other numbers in other places. Blah...blah...blah...

1. How did you get into 31?
Melvins
There really isn't any neat story behind it or anything...just one of those bands you read about, see merch for or whatever and end up checking out.

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22?
There is no 22! It looks like the closest is Beastie Boys at 21. The first song with them would have been Girls, courtesy of an older brother singing it constantly for a while when we were kids.

3. What's your favourite lyric by 29?
For Gram Parsons, it's "We'll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning"
"We're two people caught up in the flame
that has to die out soon
I didn't mean to start this fire and neither did you
So tonight when you hold me tight
we'll let the fire burn on
And we'll sweep out the ashes in the morning"

That whole fire/sex metaphor is just too damned fun.

4. What is your favourite album by 49?
There is no 49! For Eugene McDaniels, I'll go with "Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse" which was a nice surprise upon first listen.

5. How many albums by 13 do you own?
The Sonics
Looks like about six, including some vinyl! :D

6. What is your favourite song by 50?
There is no 50! For the Dead Milkmen, "I Walk The Thinnest Line" is pretty brilliant but I'm quite fond of "Thing That Only Eats Hippies" for the fun factor.

7. Is there a song by 4 that makes you sad?
Wilco
"How to Fight Loneliness" is a pretty big bummer:

How to fight loneliness?
Smile all the time
Shine you teeth 'til meaningless
And sharpen them with lies
And whatever's going down
Will follow you around
That's how you fight loneliness
You laugh at every joke
Drag your blanket blindly
And fill your heart with smoke
And the first thing that you want
Will be the last thing you ever need
That's how you fight it
Just smile all the time

8. What is your favourite song by 15?
No 15! I'll have to redo this some time after I've scrobbled more. Clem Snide is at 14 and I really like a lot of the Clem tunes, "Jews for Jesus Blues" and "Something Beautiful" are definitely up there.

9. What is your favourite song by 5?
The Monks
It's tough to pick a single favorite from stuff I really like like this. "Monk Time" is certainly one of the tops.

10. Is there a song by 6 that makes you happy?
Leonard Cohen
Wow. His stuff isn't often terribly happy, but "Chelsea Hotel #2" makes me smile. It's the sweetest song about a blowjob I can think of.

11. What is your favourite album by 40?
Butthole Surfers
I'll go with "Locust Abortion Technician" but don't take me too seriously on it, I haven't listened to enough of their stuff to seriously pick favorites.

12. What is your favourite song by 10?
No 10! For Andrew Bird, I'm awfully fond of "Why?" It makes me want to do things to him. ;)

13. What is a good memory you have involving 33?
No 33! For James Brown, I guess it would be memories of a male friend becoming enamored with "Sex Machine" which makes me giggle because the friend is a funny guy and that's not even close to being Brown's best song.

14. What is your favourite song by 37?
Jonathan Richman
He's such a fun guy. Of course it's hard to pick a single tune, but I'll select "Parties in the U.S.A." for today.

15. Is there a song by 19 that makes you happy?
No 19! We'll go with The Cure. While it's not the most artistically significant song they've got, "Just Like Heaven" is spectacu-fucking-happy-tastic! That opening keys bit and the "SHOW ME, SHOW ME, SHOW ME..." swell my heart every time and it's nearly impossible not to sing along. Okay, now I'm smiling just at the thought of it! :)

16. How many times have you seen 21 live?
I've seen none of my 21s live (Francoise Hardy, Al Green, Beastie Boys) but back before I went sour on the concept of marriage, I thought it'd be pretty sweet to have Al Green sing at my wedding.

17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23?
No 23! And I'm skipping this one because this is taking me far too long.

18. What is your favourite album by 11?
Andrew Bird
Armchair Apocrypha but The Mysterious Production of Eggs has a lot going for it too.

19. Who is a favourite member of 1?
What's my favorite member of Eef Barzelay? Hehehehe...naughty, naughty.

20. Have you ever seen 14 live?
I've seen Jeff Tweedy twice.

21. What is a good memory involving 45?
No 45...skipping...takes too long...blah blah blah.

22. What is your favourite song by 16?
No 16! Curtis Mayfield is nearby and I'll be damned if that Pusherman song isn't one of the coolest tunes ever.

23. What is the first song you ever heard by 47?
No 47...blah, blah, blah.

24. What is your favourite album by 26?
No 26...blah, blah, blah.

25. What is your favourite song by 18?
Blah...blah...blah...

26. What is the first song you ever heard by 38?
Comets on Fire
Probably "Pussy Foot the Duke"

27. What is your favourite lyric by 3?
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
I love his shit. He's my secret boyfriend...shhhh.
This bit is always hung in my head:
"today was one where, lost in thought
I really feel I am
losing not an ounce of what
you see in me, my lamb"

28. What is your favourite song by 2?
Reigning Sound
Oh my, there are a lot of them. "What Could I Do?" is one of them.

29. What was the first song you ever heard by 32?
The Astronauts
Probably "Baja"

30. What is your favourite song by 8?
Oh man, Pavement.
I think just about anything Malkmus touches is golden, but I'll just go with the "Killing Moon" cover here because I'm always a little apprehensive about covers but I think it's a quite good one.

31. How many times have you seen 17 live?
Devo
Zero, and I imagine it wouldn't be nearly as interesting now as it might have been in the past.

32. Is there a song by 44 that makes you happy?
No 44.

33. What is you favourite album by 12?
Oblivians
I listen to "Popular Favorites" a lot because it has "Bad Man" on it and I do lurve it so. That Greg sure knows how to sing a ditty.

34. What is the worst song by 34?
No 34! Sweet! That means I don't have to pick a "worst!"

35. What was the first song you ever heard by 46?
Howlin Rain
Probably "Dancer At The End of Time"

36. What is you favourite album by 42?
blah...blah...blah...no

37. How many times have you seen 39 live?
No 39, and I haven't seen anyone near that on the list live.

38. What is your favourite album by 36?
Yowza, Yo La Tengo
They've only got like 500 albums and all.
It's probably "Fakebook"

39. What was the first song you ever heard by 28?
The Amps
"Tipp City" because it ended up on a really long VHS of music videos we taped off of the telly many years ago.

40. What is your favourite album by 7?
Meat Puppets
II, of course. But I do really like the new one, "Rise To Your Knees"

One song for each year I've been alive, not necessarily the best or favorite, just whatever I feel like talking about when that year comes up.

Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

1994: In the mid-90s, Pravda released a series of cover/tribute albums focused on the kind of top 40 pop trash that used to be featured on K-Tel and Ronco collections. Like virtually all examples of this kind of collection, the results were mixed, but the high points of the series were among the best covers I've heard. When The Loud Family tackle America's soft-rock hit horse with no name, the results transcend the limp original. Moving from a distorted and phased guitar into an ethereal bed of keyboards, Scott Miller's band delivers a psychedelic re-vision of the original.

I used to own all of the Pravda series, but they all went away at some point. Have to re-download those.

1995: The Apples in Stereo were the first Elephant 6 band I heard, so they can be credited with leading me to Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control, among others. Glowworm is a glorious candy-pop song about the death of a friend. Fun!

1996: Big Ass Truck was basically a Southern boogie band, but with turntables. Theem From sounds as if DJ Food had been in the Allman Brothers. Around this time, a good friend of mine was in a surf band, and I told him they needed to do something like adding a turntablist to differentiate themselves from the thousand other surf bands. He was probably right to reject my suggestion, but I still think most surf guitar bands are pretty much interchangeable.

1997: Only Stephin Merritt could write a song as funny and as bleak as The TIny Goat. "The world's a leech / Crawling down one's throat. / One would rather be a tick than be a tiny goat."

1998: Most self-professed Christian rock bands come off as pale imitations of whatever subgenre they inhabit. Not so with the Danielson Famile, who create a universe all their own, where Neil Young's snotty little brother fronts a 60s girl group. The theology is mostly inscrutable, as in Southern Paws, but that inscrutability is probably liberating; Danielson doesn't feel obligated to explicitly spell out an evangelical message. The commercial appeal is already limited; this band is seriously weird, which of course I find appealing.

1999: Hardly anybody liked Terror Twilight, even a large part of Pavement's rabid fanbase (of which I am a member). Although the album is uneven, it has some of their best songs, including Cream of Gold. For me, it's a great comeback from what was a pretty boring penultimate album (Brighten the Corners).

2000: Did you hear that Calexico's Crystal Frontier (Widescreen) just got used as wake-up music in orbit? The musical taste of astronauts is getting better and better. They probably used to just wake up to HAL.

2001: Gillian Welch's Revelator is relentless. It quietly creeps up on you and destroys your will to live. And it does that without tricks, just Welch's gorgeous bone-tired croon and two acoustic guitars. That such stark simplicity can easily evoke what heavy psych bands sweat to even approach is remarkable.

2002: As long as I'm doing sad songs, let's follow that up with Beck's Lonesome Tears. Some resemblance to Massive Attack here.

Man, it is hard coming up with something to say about this many semi-randomly selected songs. Next time I do this (at track #21,965) I should work backwards, because I feel like I'm out of gas by the time the oughts roll around.

2003: In Bonanza, towards the end of the very brief track, there is the sound of a door opening. On headphones, the door sounds like it is opening right behind you, which is really creepy. And it took me four or five listens, even when I knew it was coming, to stop flinching.

2004: When Reigning Sound decided to call their album Too Much Guitar, they weren't kidding. Like a garage/soul version of Husker Du, all the guitars are overdriven to the point of red fuzz, but also like Husker Du, the fuzz conceals pretty melodies. After a few listens, songs like If You Can't Give Me Everything begin to reveal themselves and sound like 60s shoulda-been-hits.

2005: Blood on the Wall delivers pure punk adrenaline on Heat From the Day. It's nice that New York bands are still doing this kind of thing and not necessarily chasing after the Pitchfork seal of approval.

2006: Speaking of critical darlings, Baltimore's Beach House probably deserves those accolades. Listening to the baroqueAuburn and Ivory and reading about how Baltimore is blowing up with this type of chamber-psych sound makes me wonder about local scenes. I lived in Baltimore in the late 80s/early 90s, and the "Baltimore sound" then was funky hard rock/punk, like Monkeyspank and the All Mighty Senators. These new bands could hardly sound more opposed to that, and I wonder, how do changes like that occur? Gradually? All at once? And are some of these new bands the kids of the old funk-punkers? I'll be in Baltimore next week; maybe I'll ask around.

2007: When I met the guys in The High Strung five years ago, they were playing the same bar with us after having already being on the road pretty much nonstop for years. Genuinely nice guys, who lived in a van! And they're still going. Maybe You're Coming Down With It is a good example of their tight melodic pop songwriting. Their bass player is a melody machine all by himself.

2008: There are a lot of new bands I've started to love (easily a half dozen at least) this calendar year, but according to my strict format, from which I cannot deviate, I can only give love to one in this, the last spot on the tour. And that band is White Denim, a tight, rough n' tumble garage band with some psych and jazz tendencies. shakeshakeshake rocks the hop. So what do you say, dummies?

(If you've heard the song, that's a rhetorical question.)