tbt ~ 6 favourite hits from the Summer of 84

Since I just watched Summer of 84, I'm counting down six songs I heard that summer that made me a music fan forever!

6. The Reflex - Duran Duran

5. When Doves Cry - Prince

4. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr

3. Borderline - Madonna

2. Magic - The Cars

1. Sister Christian - Night Ranger



What a great year. I feel so lucky that this was my first exposure to popular music. Say what you want about the 80s, and they weren't perfect, but not a single one of these songs feels cynical or lazy like so much of today's music does. I hope today's kids have as much fun with their music as I did with mine but man, it's hard to imagine. In 30 years, when music is just a continuous low keyboard hum set to a drum machine, today's kids will pine for the good old days of Post Malone. So I guess it's all relative. But I maintain that 1984 had a special spark that transcends nostalgia.

tbt ~ My Favorite Year

You'd think picking a favorite year in music would be really hard for someone who has heard and loved so much music over four decades, not to mention all the great years before I was born. But nope, it's really easy - 1994.

I don't wanna hear about that awful Jason Aldean song that sounded NOTHING like 1994, but he's right that it was a good year for country and an even better year for alternative rock. 1994 was the first year I heard what would go on to be three of my favorite bands to this day - Weezer, Letters to Cleo, and Green Day. I like to take myself back and think about the first time I heard "Buddy Holly," or "Here and Now," or "Basket Case." Songs I played so to death that year and the ensuing years that I'd be fine with never hearing them again. But the legacy of those three songs... damn. They, and the albums containing them I immediately rushed out to buy, and all the albums that came after, made me the music listener I am today more than anything else. That all three bands released new, quality music in the past couple years says a lot. It says, "dang girl, you've always had good taste." And then I feel good because I love my music. :)

So while those three albums alone would cement 1994 as "my year," what else of note to me came out?

Whip-Smart by Liz Phair - This album was so on heavy rotation I could have put it up with the top three, but it was not my introduction to Liz. Just a fantastic follow-up to one of the greatest albums ever.

Rubberneck by Toadies - WHY couldn't these guys stick around? This has been described as "Southern gothic doom" and oh my lord, am I all about this album. Any rock fan today should listen to this immediately, it will sound so fresh and sick and not "90s dated." Truly its own beautiful, unique little piece of music history.

Sixteen Stone by Bush - Okay, this thing sounds 90s af, but that's part of why I love it.

Mellow Gold by Beck - Honestly, I don't love this album. It's a little messy and weird for my taste. BUT it did introduce me to Beck, a favorite artist to this day, and I was right on top of the classic Odelay! when it came out thanks to this debut.

Definitely Maybe by Oasis - Oasis' first album and their second-best. These guys fell off, but man were they great in 1994.

American Thighs by Veruca Salt - The introduction to another of my staple 90s bands, and still my favorite of theirs.

Purple by Stone Temple Pilots - My second-favourite STP album (after Tiny Music). They were my favorite of the grunge bands cause they had more of a, classic rock mixed with grunge sound? I dig it.

Okay. I brought up the Aldean song, so where's the freakin' Joe Diffie, huh?? It's okay, I got your Diffie. Let's get into 1994 country. Well, here's the thing about 90s country. As much as I love it, I never had a whole lot of albums. It was more of a singles thing. Oh I had some Garth and Alan Jackson, but it was more about the radio. And oh yeah, greatest hits albums. I had a lot of those, actually. Are they even a thing anymore?

Was 1994 the best, or even an especially good year in 90s country? No, not really. But that's not putting it down; it's just that every year of the early-to-mid 90s was a great year. 1990-97 all kinda run together for me, y'know? But it was a very good year for Joe Diffie. This was the year of "Pickup Man," "John Deere Green," and "Third Rock from the Sun." Oh Lordy, that is Peak Diffie right there. They named an entire tv show after one of his songs! It ran for five years! #rememberthediffie

So before I get into my favorite songs of the year, here are a few notable albums I remember owning.

Garth Brooks - The Hits. Yeah yeah, a greatest hits album, but you don't understand, man. This was THE greatest hits album. This thing was like an event. This had ALL the big songs on it, and I played the hell out of it. This is a must-have for every country fan, in my totally not humble opinion.

Who I Am by Alan Jackson - Still the definitive Alan Jackson album for me, featuring "Livin' on Love," "Gone Country," and "Song for the Life." Classic. Maybe this was an especially good year.

Waitin' on Sundown by Brooks and Dunn - Maybe a somewhat overlooked entry in their catalog between Brand New Man and Borderline, but a darn good one. Featuring the classics "She's Not the Cheatin' Kind" and "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone."

And some favorite songs that I didn't already mention -

"Callin' Baton Rouge"
"Every Once in Awhile"
"Fast as You"
"Hangin' In"
"I Just Wanted You to Know"
"Life #9"
"State of Mind"
"That Ain't No Way to Go"
"Trying to Get Over You"
"When You Walk in the Room"
"Wish I Didn't Know Now"
"You Will"

1994. An unmatched year in alternative rock, and part of a string of great years in country. So many artists that helped form my taste and I still love to this day. It was a bad year for Tim McGraw though, yikes. Oh, not commercially, but... "Indian Outlaw?" "Down on the Farm?" Yuck! No, he'd have to wait til '95 for that pure 90s goodness, with songs like "Can't Be Really Gone" and "She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart." Eh, not even the best year can be perfect.

You'll notice I didn't say anything about pop music. Well I didn't listen to it, I was all rock and country. Okay, I love "The Sign" by Ace of Base. There, I said it.

EDITED TO ADD: The #50 song of 1994 was "Loser" by Beck. Of the YEAR. On the POP CHART. That alone proves my case, 1994 was COOL AF. You know what the #50 song of 2017 was? That braying goat song! 2016? A dull, already forgotten whinefest by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez. 1994 will murder you in your sleep, 2016! Oh! And #51 was "Found Out About You" by the Gin Blossoms. Remember when you could get big making melodic guitar songs? 1994 does.

tbt ~ Bush

Don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, since they're not talked about as much as some other 90s rock bands, but I think Bush's first two albums are really good. If you haven't revisited them for a while or heard them at all, check em out!

tbt ~ The Killers

This album may be from 2012, but the sound is rooted firmly in my childhood.

tbt ~ 2000s country (Warning: unintended rant)

I've been having serious 2000s music nostalgia lately. It started with indie stuff like The Shins, New Pornographers, of Montreal, etc., and eventually drifted into country. I still listen to a lot of these songs, but there were also some half-forgotten gems. Lady Antebellum's early stuff sounds so pure and good. Catchy, well-produced pop country at its best. Randy Houser used to have grit and swagger to complement his vocal chops. And, because I'm the queen of bad timing, I was all set to praise Keith Urban's old stuff for actually being a cool mix of pop sensibilities and country instrumentation. Then he released something that can only be described as an atrocity, a desecration of the sacred "Mama Tried." With the "Issues" chick, of all people! Not just a pop singer, a TERRIBLE one! Don't go looking for it, I beg you. It's unholy. It will haunt you forever. But hey, that early stuff's still pretty decent.

A link, since the mythical "embed playlist" option has never shown up for me.

https://open.spotify.com/user/emperorcupcake22/playlist/41R14VqvoS5Zbc2mMIvlDU

A few notes on the playlist. It's mostly in order by year, with a few exceptions of songs I forgot. Why you can't reorder songs is beyond me. We sent people into space 50 years ago but I can't have the technology to move a Chris Young song up a playlist. Okay, sure.

...I think that Keith Urban song made me a little salty. Can you blame me?

The list is not necessarily "the BEST country hits of the 2000s!" but the ones I know and remember most fondly. Nostalgia plays a part in some cases, but they're all songs I like. Mostly just the hits, though I did include a few album cuts from certain artists.

Notable exclusions:

As I've stated many times, I left country music almost completely behind in the early 2000s, due to the post-9/11 divisiveness. I started to come around in the mid-2000s but didn't fully come back until I heard Miranda Lambert the first time. So NO songs that remind me of the awful "stick a boot in yer ass" era of country were included. Not even Alan Jackson's comforting, apolitical "Where Were You," the only one of those songs I like. Nor the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice," which I also like but reminds me of bad vibes I don't need in my life. I'm a forgiving soul so I did include Toby Keith's "Beer for My Horses," an actual good song. (The same cannot be said for "She's a Hottie," which should by all decency be Toby Keith's worst song, but isn't.)

This last one hurts. One of the first songs that drew me back into country was Buddy Jewell's "Help Pour Out the Rain (Lacey's Song)," a beautiful, simple song based around a child's questions about death, the afterlife, and God. This could be overly sentimental if done wrong, but it was done just right, with a beautiful melody and instrumentation to go along with it. The kind of song you come to country music for.

Cue a few years ago when I heard the song and was like, "HMM, I WONDER WHAT BUDDY JEWELL IS UP TO, HE WAS PRETTY GOOD," and BIG MISTAKE, guys. Maybe don't look up people from the past unless you wanna be disappointed, cause... look. I'm not gonna shun an artist for having different beliefs than me. I hate politics, and when you let it get in the way of music, politics wins, not you.

That said, I can't stress enough that bigotry is not a belief or political stance. White supremacy is a mental illness, as far as I'm concerned. So if you must, google Buddy Jewell "This Ain't Mexico," but I recommend you don't. I'm careful to not throw the word "racist" around like a football, but if this song is any indication, the man is an honest-to-God racist. I can maybe forgive "stick a boot in yer ass," but I can't forgive outright racism. Dude actually talks about loving fajitas and margaritas but DON'T SET FOOT OVER THE BORDER, AMIGO. So... how are they supposed to deliver the food you wanna shove in your taco hole without actually being there, genius? Chuck it over the border and hope someone in Texas catches it? "We like your food, but we don't want you here." FUCK. YOU. IN. YOUR. TACO. HOLE. So yeah, that's why a song I like isn't on my playlist. I can't even listen to it without thinking that the little girl must be white or he wouldn't be singing about her, and all the sentiment goes out the window along with your margarita puke, you fat redneck fuck.

Okay. That felt kinda good. I'm done now. :)

You know, I considered skipping the early years of the decade and starting in like, '04 to avoid all these ugly feelings coming back. But there were just too many good songs to leave out, so I'm gonna end on that positive note instead. I'd say overall it was a pretty good decade for country music, especially the mid-to-late part. Definitely worth revisiting.

tbt ~ Patty Loveless

A reminder that mainstream country used to sound like this, and there were women who weren't pop starlets. Lots of 'em.*



*just off the top of my head - Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Lee Ann Womack, Pam Tillis, Sara Evans, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alison Krauss, LeAnn Rimes, Highway 101 (female vocalist), The Judds, Reba, and Tanya Tucker. And yes, Shania, who is pop but totally has her own sound and personality. You're not gonna confuse Shania with anyone else, unlike today's few "country" women who aren't Miranda or Carrie.

Am I gonna keep hammering this into the ground? You betcha! This post was partly inspired by this lovely rant. https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/its-a-commercial-its-a-pop-song-its-zedd-maren-morris-in-the-middle/
Maren Morris quickly went downhill for me after "My Church," and now she's working with "Zedd." Pretty sure he's come up here before but I don't remember for what. Ah right, the "feral cat playing a didgeridoo" song. Lovely. http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2016/12/#8949893238014244308

I think the "bro" era is well and truly done with, Body Like a Mud Pit killed it once and for all, but there's still a long way to go in bringing women back. So I'll be back in the 90s, or listening to artists like Angaleena Presley, til the industry gets its head out of its butt. Well, you'll be waiting a mighty long time, you might say, but the 90s weren't THAT long ago. Is the road between there and here really so broken it can't be fixed? I know THE INTERNET is always the big scary monster that killed everything, and radio is scrambling to stay afloat, but... women WERE successful in the 90s. It's not like, "oh we can't afford to carry women anymore, sorry," when they've already been proven hitmakers. I don't get what's changed about that. All I know is country women deserve to be more than just be a throwback.

tbt

For all the bad things that happened in 2017, personally and just in general, I've actually had a pretty good year since September. I just recently realized that; like wait, I've been happy for months! When did that happen? How did that happen? And I've been listening to music that makes me happy. Happier. There's something uniquely uplifting about certain songs from what I call the "indie golden age." Like, I listen to this and I think how blessed I am to have this music in my life and not just the crap they play on the radio. I'm not a hipster, I swear. This music just seems designed to make you feel good, you know?

tbt ~ 80s melodic guitar rock

Pat DiNizio, singer/songwriter for The Smithereens, died yesterday at the way too young age of 62. He might not be a household name, I don't know how many people even remember The Smithereens anymore, but they should. I sure do. They were great, and a big part of my musical formative years.

I got into R.E.M. at a young age, 12 maybe? That makes me sound like a cool kid but I wasn't, I was dorky as hell. But I was also smart and had good taste, so yeah, I went right from Madonna to R.E.M. and The Smithereens and The Connells, and other cool bands I've probably forgotten. When people think 80s music they probably think new wave and pop first, but it also was a great time for alt rock, college rock, power pop, whatever you wanna call it. MTV might be a hot mess now, but I would not be the person I am today if not for 120 Minutes, so I am eternally grateful to them for expanding my musical horizons. What I wouldn't give to have something like that today. Wouldn't even have to be videos, just songs.

After R.E.M., the band I was most into was The Smithereens. From the first song I heard on 120 Minutes (it was either "Only a Memory" or "House We Used to Live In"), I was hooked. I bought all their albums. They were all full of catchy, crunchy guitar songs, the kind I'm not sure see the light of day anymore. I'm sure someone's still making 'em, but everything seems to be tinged by electronic now. I'll listen to something labelled "alt rock" and I'm like, that's not rock?? If there's a guitar in there it's mushed so far into the mix it might as well be porridge.

In the late 80s my mom, grandma and I took a road trip to Athens, GA ~ a "Pilgrimage," if you will - to see the home of R.E.M. It was wonderful. I might have petted Michael Stipe's cat, or at least his neighbour's cat. Hey, at the very least, I got to pet a cat. The main soundtrack for the trip was, of course, R.E.M., but the second most played was The Smithereens Green Thoughts. It's a required listen if you like that kind of music. I revisited it yesterday and it really holds up, not just nostalgia-wise but great music wise.

Music, and the people who make it, become so intertwined in our lives that the first thing I thought of when I saw the news yesterday was that road trip, and my grandmother who's been gone for 20 years, and how grateful I am for that memory. The Smithereens helped make that, and I'd say it's much more than "only a memory." They helped shape my musical taste and who I am. Thank you, and RIP Pat DiNizio.



Good music has a way of leading you to more good music, and another band I really got into was The Connells.



Idk what he's wearing either but he's awesome, shut up.

Other than R.E.M., these bands aren't very well-known anymore except by music geeks and those of us who were there. I feel pretty blessed to have experienced all this music in my life, and because it's music, you never have to stop experiencing it. You can revisit it any time you like.

tbt ~ my songs list from last year!

Why, oh why, would anyone want to throwback to 2016? Well, cause I was reading over my worst songs posts - there are three of them - and I had a surprisingly good time with such a bad year. A lot more fun than this year. But I have a feeling there will be another "songs I missed" post after I see other lists, just cause I missed so many.

The original list: http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2016/12/#8949893238014244308

Addendum one, what's that horrible noise?: http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2016/12/#5556572524142033829
Addendum two, songs I missed: http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2016/12/#3673343158021240189

Maybe I can still squeeze a little bittersweet joy from this lemon of a year. And from the "toot my own horn" department, my "Rae Sriracha" joke and "what's that horrible noise" bit were also used by two prominent Youtubers. Obviously they didn't copy me, nobody reads this, but I like knowing I'm on the same track as someone people actually listen to, I guess. Okay, that was the saddest horn ever. But you take what you can get.

tbt - eat them up, yum!

Straight on Til Morning Presents... those weird novelty videos they played in the early days of MTV!

There are a lot of things I've forgotten, but I'll never, ever forget any of these videos. They really knew how to make randomly memorable stuff back then.



I don't know why either, but it's awesome! I guess this was kind of the 80s version of a meme. It's weird, it's random, nobody actually knows why it's popular, it just is.



My first Weird Al video, though I didn't know who he was at the time. It made me laugh, and Lucy is voiced by the Crazy Catlady from The Simpsons!



And here it is, the holy grail of novelty videos and all novelty-related things, Roly Poly Fish Heads. This video was directed by Bill Paxton (RIP). What a cool dude. I used to sing this over and over to annoy my mom. Nothing will ever be that fun again, folks, that was peak life. If I could sum up my early childhood in four words, it would be "eat them up, yum!" Just thinking about it now makes me happy, so I'm gonna do that for a while before the next 2017 thing happens and makes me sad again. The 80s weren't perfect but man, they were uniquely fun.

Oh, another one was Julie Brown's "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun," but in today's climate that's not really funny anymore. :( See how 2017 ruins everything? Damn you, the present!! 😡

tbt

This was supposed to be the day I saw Creeper, but for some unknown reason, I'll be home watching sports as usual. NOT THAT I'M BITTER OR ANYTHING. So, on what could be another shitty day in 2017, let's instead have some sunshiney 60s goodness!

tbt

Let's take a break from movies with a classic song! Thank you, Rushmore soundtrack, for bringing us this one-hit wonder gem we'd probably never hear otherwise.

tbt ~ Stevie Nicks

Bella Donna is a beautiful album. Everyone knows the duets with the great Tom Petty and Don Henley, but this gorgeous, country-tinged track needs more spins.

tbt ~ Hey man, is that Freedom Rock?

This ad pretty much was my childhood. I think it started my love for classic rock, which was of course later cemented by Dean Winchester. So have a good old-fashioned hippie peace song. And turn it up, man.



I wonder if something like this could ever happen again? I mean people using the word "groovy," clearly the whole "coming together in peace and harmony" ship has sailed.

tbt ~ 15 favorite Beatles songs!

Even though it's September, it's officially the start of my Rocktoberfest. Which means lots and lots of, you guessed it, rock! Mostly classic, as well as some newer stuff like Creeper.

Is it cliche for a music blog to talk about the Beatles? Who cares! Is it cliche to worry about what's cliche? You bet! Should we just do what we want cause the world's crazy and we need to suck all the joy out of it we can? Um, yes. Yes we should. So, favorite Beatles songs! The top 5 is in order, the rest is random.

15. It's All Too Much
14. Let it Be
13. I'll Follow the Sun
12. Penny Lane
11. Got to Get You Into My Life
10. The Long and Winding Road
9. Revolution
8. I Will (Amazing song. The Alison Krauss cover surpasses the original.)
7. Here Comes the Sun
6. Hide Your Love Away

5. Across the Universe
4. Don't Let Me Down
3. I've Just Seen a Face
2. Blackbird
1. Strawberry Fields Forever (note: The "Take 1" version from Anthology is my favorite, but of course the standard version is great too.)

Hon. mentions - Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End, Hey Jude, You Won't See Me, I Am the Walrus.

Obviously I prefer their later work, which isn't to say a lot of their early stuff isn't great, and better than most all mainstream music of the past 20 years. The later stuff is just more musically interesting to me, and invites more repeated listens.

tbt ~ classic album spotlight

Today I'll be spotlighting an album I love, whitechocolatespaceegg by Liz Phair. Autocorrect just changed that to Liz Hair. sigh. Moving on.

Liz Phair was EPIC to me in the 90s. Her first three albums are all classics in my library. There isn't a single song I skip on Exile in Guyville, Whip-Smart, or whitechocolatespaceegg. She was truly an album artist, maybe one of the first that got me interested in listening to albums as a whole. While Exile and Whip-Smart are probably more known/popular, my favourite is 1998's whitechocolatespaceegg.

Her first two major releases (look into her old Girlysound stuff too, some cool rough cuts there) were pretty similar in style. I'm not sure how to describe them to do them justice. It's kind of anti-pop music in its production, lyrics, and presentation, yet almost every song is sing-along catchy. Pop music for people who don't like pop music? It definitely has the vibe of something recorded in a garage or basement, in the best way. The production is excellent, not in that it's slick, but how it complements her voice and style perfectly. It's different, but it clicks. I guess the best way to describe it is it sounds 100% her, like she just got to do and say whatever the fuck she wanted without any hacks interfering. Or anyone at all. A genuinely distinctive artist.

I should briefly mention her sudden lurch into full-blown POP after whitechocolatespaceegg. I'm not going to discuss whether those albums were good or bad, they're just very much not for me. The overly slick, clean production and pop princess style just rubs me the wrong way. It's not interesting, and for an artist like Liz Phair, that's just like, death. :(

Here's where we get to whitechocolateetc, the album I want to spotlight today. It definitely marked a change in sound, and you can almost see it as a bridge to where she was going. The production is cleaner, the writing more down to earth and mature. With themes of motherhood and growing up, you could almost call it a concept album. It's a more accessible album in some ways, but here's what I love about it. There's a trippy, spacey vibe here that really complements her style and writing, even more than her earlier work IMO. There are even, I think, two Beatles/McCartney allusions. The one on "Fantasize" is obvious ("you've got to hide your love away), but I'm pretty sure "Uncle Alvarez" is a nod to "Uncle Albert," or it makes me think of it anyway. I mean, I thought of this album because I was listening to The Beatles.



YOUTUBE CHANGED THEIR SHIT AND IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO FIND HOW TO EMBED VIDEO GRRRRR

I just thought of this, she's kind of the Beatles in reverse, isn't she? She started out with the cool, weird, interesting stuff and ended up doing more basic pop.

So while the production here is more polished, it doesn't come across as OMG SHE WENT POP, but as a feature, a concept. Like the album was actually recorded from inside an egg. ... I'm not high, I swear. This album is just that awesome. Some of my other favourite tracks are "Perfect World," "Polyester Bride," "Big Tall Man," Baby Got Going," and the trippy title track. This album showed so much promise, and I wish she'd explored this direction further rather than what she did. But it makes for a unique album that moves nicely between time and space. Like, this doesn't scream 90s at you or anything, it's a self-contained project that still sounds fresh* today.

*don't make a pun about eggs don't make a pun about eggs don't...



I think it also shows that we always, ALWAYS, no matter how far removed we are from the 60s, need artists that were inspired by the Beatles. It just makes for the best music.

Peace and melodic guitar rock forever, man.
:)

tbt

Here's a great, forgotten song from the early 90s... if anyone wants it. I used to listen to this over and over and over.

tbt

The nostalgia when your local supermarket, of all places, plays a song you haven't heard since the early 90s and had completely forgotten about. Happy to hear it again, sad because nothing sounds like this anymore. Damn I loved this sound.

tbt ~ Fastball

This band is underrated. And FYI, if you catch me humming this melody it's THIS version, not that current abortion of it.



I miss those 90s power pop/rock bands... Fastball, the Gin Blossoms, Semisonic, Del Amitri, Sister Hazel. I just miss melody-based music, a lot. But if there's one thing the 90s taught me, it's that something can be gone in an mmmbop. :(

tbt ~ me and Frankie Avalon

This song still cracks me up. And Mezmerize is one of the best albums of the 2000s. Endless replay value, even now. Maybe especially now.