We’ve reached December, the month when these playlists can get a little squirrelly. There’s less new music to begin with. I’m listening to holiday music much of the day. I’m also focused on my Favorite Songs of the Year playlist. This year has the added element of me just reading a book about Eighties music, and being neck-deep in a book about Nineties music. I could easily just play songs pulled from those books this week. Oh, and there were two pretty significant music deaths this week. As I begin this, I’m not sure exactly where it’s headed. I guess we’ll find out together…

“I Used To Be Fun” – Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
In the month we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, why not give Teen Jesus some love, too? I wish I kept better track of my Aussies. This might be the first band I’ve shared that comes from Canberra rather than Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane.

“Wake Me” – Rusty
This was not in that Nineties book. But Spotify did flash it as a Recommended tracks underneath some other stuff I was listening to. So they knew. I guarantee I hadn’t heard this song in a good 25 years. I guarantee this was one of those notorious Nineties tracks I spent $16 to buy the entire CD only to learn this was the only decent song on the entire album. Also, I thought about other songs like this from that era, when total random bands got these quasi-hits because they were a little grungy, or had a cool video. Since alt-rock wasn’t really mainstream, you can’t even call them true one-hit wonders. There’s probably a longer playlist idea in there somewhere.

“Blues From a Gun” The Jesus and Mary Chain
This week’s The Alternative Number Ones entry is the final alt #1 of the 80s, and first of the 90s. I didn’t get into JAMC for a long, long time after this was released, and never made it to this track, so it was new and wonderful to me.

“jamcod” – The Jesus and Mary Chain
In an amazing coincidence, the day Tom Breihan’s “Blues From a Gun” piece dropped, so did a brand-new JAMC track. Like most of what they’ve done over the past 35 years, it does not suck at all.

“Love And Anger” – Kate Bush
Last week’s Alternative Number Ones entry. I know two Kate Bush songs – “Wuthering Heights” and The Kate Bush Song Everybody Knows – so this one kind of blew my mind, as it was not what I expected at all.

“Eighties” – Killing Joke
KJ guitarist Geordie Walker died last week. This was the only KJ song I ever listened to much, but it was enough as it is 1000% incredible. And, obviously, the main riff showed up in a Nirvana song a few years later which was likely the first way most of us learned of Killing Joke. Apparently Walker was hugely influential to a lot of rock guitarists.

“Original Sin” – INXS
Last month I shared Nile Rogers’ Tiny Desk Concert. My brother-in-music Nez in Lee’s Summit and I texted about what a huge swath Rogers cut through music over his career. I forgot he helped INXS on this track. In that Eighties book I learned that INXS good-naturedly tried to hide that from Duran Duran, because they didn’t want to share Rogers with other bands of that era. Oh, Daryl Hall also sang harmony on this track. I feel like I knew that at some point, but can’t say for sure.

“Fairytale of New York” – The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl
Most of you should know that main Pogue Shane MacGowan died this week. He had to be high on the He’s Still Alive??? rock star chart. I kind of hate to say that since he had been in very poor health for several years, but, seriously, dude lived a rough life and it’s amazing he nearly made it to 66. He was also known for his truly atrocious teeth. I was shocked to learn he had sired a son because how do you sleep with a man with a mouth like that (RIP, obviously).

MacGowan was born on Christmas Day, 1957. It was somehow apt that he passed in the holiday season. He was known for combining punk rock with traditional Irish music, but is probably most famous outside Ireland for this track. It has lost some favor over the past decade because of the presence of a particular slur. I hope it earns a revival as we remember MacGowan, perhaps with the offending word bleeped or removed. If you believe in rock ‘n’ roll heaven, I bet MacGowan and MacColl got to this quick when they were reunited.