Dec 20
My 4th annual “best of” list. The thing about “best of” lists is that they change over time. I’ve been looking over my previous 3 lists and the older they are the more drastically I would change them now. So, as my friend Dave pointed out, these lists aren’t absolute – they are just a snapshot of what I felt at the time. That’s a nice way to look at it, knowing that I can always update them later as my tastes mature.
Dec 20
Metal still lives.
Aug 18
from 500 Songs
Before I began writing this entry my general take on the word “emo” was that it was a fashion fad practiced by kids half my age that involved wearing black clothes, having mop-headed haircuts, and walking around with a scowl all the time. Which is kind of what I did when I was that age, only we called it other things back then like “being alternative” or “being a hood”. Self-described “emo” music that I had heard in passing over the past few years always made me either laugh or grimace – I could never take it seriously. So I was shocked when I went to Wikipedia (and then to AllMusic) and they listed Jets To Brazil as an “emo” band. I just thought they were an Indie Rock band. And I hate the term “emo”.
Jul 23
from 500 Songs
I came across my sister’s Copper Blue tape in 1993 and “borrowed” it to have in my car. I was 16 or 17. I don’t know if she ever listened to it because she never seemed to notice that it was missing, something she almost always did when I “borrowed” her stuff, so I ended up not feeling so bad about keeping it. I remember listening to it the first few times while driving to and from school and thinking. It was definitely not the kind of music I gravitated towards at that time. I mostly listened to death metal. Sugar was decidedly not that.
Jul 21
from 500 Songs
There are a handful of songs that I can listen to that will perk me up 100% of the time, no matter the situation or my mood. Little Computer People is one of those songs. I cannot help but grin and start bopping my head when it comes on. It is silly and nerdy, just like me. Maybe dorky is a better word.
Jul 20
from 500 Songs
XTC was a band that came back to life at least 3 times during their 20-year existence. Jason and the Argonauts is a great example of where the band was musically at the end of their first rebirth.
The 4-piece from Swindon started in the mid-70s as a pop band with punkish tendencies playing short, quirky-jerky songs that were meant to be catchy. Many of them were. Some of them were just good, silly fun. Part of the make up of this early incarnation of XTC that made the bands music so quirky, besides the band member’s youth, was the whiz-bang keyboard stylings of Barry Andrews.
Unfortunately, rock egos will be rock egos and there was only room for one Alpha male songwriter in the band. So, after just two years and two albums (White Music and Go 2) Barry Andrews left (and went on to be a part of Shriekback).
XTC found itself missing what was once a key component of their sound. Instead of finding another keyboardist they opted to add a second guitarist. Enter Dave Gregory and the first rebirth of XTC.