“Favourite Songs” – Maximo Park
This was the week I learned that MP and bands like them – The Kooks, The Futureheads, Editors, The Wombats, Bombay Bicycle Club – were lumped into a sub-genre called “Landfill Indie” by some critics. That was not considered a term of endearment. Which bummed me out because I liked a lot of those bands in the stretch during the early 2000s when they were popular. MP is still around, and while this won’t challenge for my favorite song of the year like “Going Missing” did in 2005, I do enjoy this track. Screw the critics!
“D&T” – Japandroids
Further proof there will be no re-invention of the Japandroids wheel on their final album.
“Cut and Run” – Jessica Boudreaux
Boudreaux wrote this for an un-named Apple TV+ show, but the producers ended up passing on it. Their loss. Actually, probably her loss, because it would have gotten a lot more exposure had it landed on the show. But you get what I’m saying.
“I Got Views” – Getdown Services
This band describes their music as “post-Brexit apocalypse disco,” which is awesome. Twat is such a good word. I might start using it to see how it goes over.
“Starting Again” – The Sluts
I’ve been listening to The Bridge, the public radio station in Kansas City that plays music right up my alley, more over the past several weeks. I’ve heard this track a few times, always identified as a local song. Turns out the band is from Lawrence, and maybe the biggest thing in that scene these days. Appropriate that this has a very turn-of-the-millennium sound given that’s about the time the classic Lawrence scene fell apart. I dig.
“Too Much” – Nectar
Speaking of the classic Lawrence scene, this band sounds similar to Frogpond, one of the most successful bands of the Nineties KC/Lawrence scene. But they are from Champaign, IL and very much a current group, not one that faded away 25 years ago.
“High” – The Cure
This week’s The Alternative Number Ones entry (subscription required) was this track from 1992, which topped the Alt chart for four weeks. I had forgotten what a joyous, delightful, silly song it is. Tom Breihan gave it a much-deserved 8/10.
“Come To The City (Live…Again)” – The War on Drugs
TWOD released another live album today. This time rather than picking his favorites from their last tour, Adam Granduciel took individual parts of different performances and stitched them together into new tracks. Which seems like a lot of work. But makes sense if you know how he makes music. This is the song that utterly blew me away when I last saw them. You don’t get the full sense of its power here – I’m convinced anyone with long hair had it blow backwards by the sheer force of the music that night – but I’ll still listen to this a dozen times, cranked all the way today.
“Are We Ourselves?” – The Fixx
Another week with fairly slim pickings from the bottom of the 1984 chart. Don’t get me wrong: I love The Fixx. They are underrated, and this song is super solid. But it doesn’t qualify as a classic of ’84. That said, I do have a vivid memory of hearing it while enjoying the final weekend that Worlds of Fun was open for the year, a balmy, breezy October afternoon. At #32 this week, on its way to #15.
I’ve finally wrapped up the music projects that have been eating up a lot of my time lately. As I do, I find my new music playlist is down around 40 songs. For a good chunk of 2024 it’s been closer to 60 songs. The new tunes have definitely dried up over the past month. Hopefully just a lull before another wave flows before the holidays. It took adding a few old songs to pad this week’s playlist out to a reasonable size.
“Suddenly Last Summer” – The Motels
I was thinking I shared this more often in the past after Labor Day. A check of the blog archives, though, shows I’ve only done it twice before. A good song for a weekend when we will go from 90 one day to the low 40s two mornings later. And then it’s going to be 90 three days later. September in the Midwest is a roller coaster.
“You Wreck Me” – The War On Drugs covering Tom Petty
Last month we got Eddie Vedder. This month TWOD add their entry to the Bad Monkey soundtrack/Petty tribute album. When I heard they were on the LP, this was one of the first songs I imagined them doing. Like the EdVed track, they don’t do much to reimagine the original. Which is fine, because it fits their sound so well.
“I Thought You’d Change” – Hotline TNT
This song came out almost exactly a year ago, and was featured on all the big sites, yet somehow I missed it until this week. Bummer, because it’s a solid mashup of pop and shoegaze. They are signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records.
“A Bit Like James Bond” – The Bug Club
This is fun!
“Casual Drug Use” – Katie Gavin
The second solo single from the lead singer of MUNA. I’m not the first to make this observation but her solo work slides into a space where a lot of country and country-adjacent artists have moved in recent years, while remaining steadfastly pop.
“Wild” – Spoon
So one of my mysterious “Music Projects” was listening to every Spoon album and making a list of my favorite songs. Which I did over the course of about two, two-and-a-half weeks. Then I realized I doubt many of my readers are interested in that list. So I’ll just share the song that I ranked #1. They do have a lot of great ones.
“Until The End Of The World” – U2 Tom Breihan just got to the last song from U2’s Achtung Baby album that reached #1 on the Alternative Rock chart, “One.” In his three entries about AB songs, he referenced other tracks on the album that either were not singles or did not hit #1. So many of them got 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s in his grading scale! A reminder what a great album that was, with almost no misses or songs you skip past. This did not get a big push from the band or label, but still made it to #4 on the Alt chart. He gave it a 10, which was absolutely a deserved ranking.
“Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” – Billy Ocean
We may have reached the point where all the iconic songs of 1984 have made their chart debuts. Well, almost. I can think of a couple more in the weeks/months ahead. But that great run of the middle part of the year has clearly come to an end. Not that this is a bad song. It went to #1 for two weeks in November. I don’t love it as much as some of the other classics I’ve shared, but it’s still fun and I’ll happily listen to it if I have to.
Famously released first as “European Queen,” it bombed. Only when Billy re-cut this version, and another called “African Queen” that was released in Africa, did it become a smash. Which should have been obvious. European Queen makes me think of someone who is old and stuffy and from a long line of possibly inbred people. Caribbean Queen sounds like someone who is young, fun, and you would do anything to spend time with them. It debuted on the Top 40 this week at #36.
After months of having more than enough songs in the queue for these posts, the tide of new music might finally have slowed a bit. Have no worries, I still have plenty of songs for you. It is just taking a tad more work to put this week’s playlist together. Which I, of course, do not mind.
“Summer’s Over” – Jordana, TV Girl
One weekend left.
“Hallelujah” – Bad Moves
There is always a debate on whether rock music and politics go together, and then how much politics you can inject into a song before it puts people off. Of course there is never the same debate for country music and politics, but let’s not get into double standards at the moment.
At first listen this song would not seem to be political at all. As soon as you pay attention to the lyrics, though, you’ll find this is a scathing indictment of the various ways conservatives attempt to legislate rights away from fellow citizens they don’t like. And you can shake your ass to it, which is a bonus.
“Bitter Pill” – Queen of Jeans
I can’t imagine anyone not liking this song.
“Madeline” – Georgia Gets By
GGB is the solo project of Georgia Nott of the band Broods. Here she sings about the overwhelming feelings that come with meeting someone you know will change your life.
“In the Moonlight (Fade #3)” – The Tisburys
I forget the exact conversation, but some music writer was referring to Bruce Springsteen and recommended this band as one that picked up his mid-80s Heartland Rock sound and carried it into our times. I hear more direct lines to R.E.M.’s Eighties sound than Springsteen’s, but I get what that person was trying to say.
“Little While” – Wishy
Another track from local kids Wishy, who keep getting national love for their new album.
“The Feast Of St. John” – Glen Hansard
As I mentioned, I didn’t know much about Hansard’s music before seeing him open for Pearl Jam Monday night. He introduced this song as being about the “fuckers who try to drag you down.”
“Setting Sun” – Pearl Jam
One more song from Monday, and another great one from the latest album. PJ has always done a pretty good job sequencing tracks, opening and closing their albums with songs that fit the moment. This is the closer for Dark Matter, and has become an immediate, late-in-the-encore track at their concerts. I’ve grown to love it more-and-more over the past few months. Seeing it live Monday reinforced that love. When Eddie lets loose in the extended bridge/outro section it was truly amazing. Earlier this year they were using it as the final song of the night, which makes a ton of sense given its emotional weight and tone. Now, however, it serves as the last new song of the night with the traditional closers (“Baba O’Reilly,” “Rockin’ In The Free World,” and/or “Yellow Ledbetter”) to follow.
“Acquiese” – Oasis
The biggest music news of the week was the Gallagher brothers finally calling a truce and announcing a set of reunion shows later this year. I guess Liam needs to make back the money he lost in his divorce. We’ll see how all of that goes. I liked, but never loved, Oasis’ music. I’ve always been entertained by their dumb antics, though. This song has always been a banger.
“Panama” – Van Halen
Mixing it up a bit this week, sharing a song that was on its way down the charts instead of up the week of September 1, 1984. All of the new songs this week were kind of crap. Somehow this peaked at just #13. This was its final week in the Top 40, landing at #32.
As hinted at in yesterday’s post, I got to do something insanely awesome Monday night that I’ve been waiting a long time for. Even with a short night of sleep, I’m still a little keyed up from it this morning. If you choose to proceed, prepare yourself for an overly detailed accounting of my evening watching Pearl Jam play live rock ’n’ roll music.
One of the funny things about me is that for as big a fan of music as I am – and I think the archives of this blog are testament to that – I’ve not been to tons of concerts in my life.
There are lots of factors that go into that, but I believe the biggest was because in the years I was coming of age with music, I lived with a single mom who both couldn’t afford concert tickets and didn’t have the time to take me. You would think as I got older that would change, but it never did much. In the mid–90s I went to tons of shows at local clubs, but even then I never became one of those music fans who went to a show a week or whatever. And I rarely went to big stadium/arena shows.
I also blame the years in the early ‘90s when I was a poor college student. A big group of friends went to the U2 show at Arrowhead in 1992, one of the greatest tours ever. I was offered a ticket last minute, but the $50 or whatever seemed like soooo much money at the time.[1]
I also just had some bad luck over the years. I was supposed to see Prince in 1998, but came down with the worst case of the flu I’ve ever had and had to sell my ticket.[2]
Anyway, that is all needlessly long prelude to the point of this post: Monday was the best concert I’ve ever attended. My total shows seen might be small, but this beat them all.
It was Pearl Jam’s first visit to Indianapolis in 14 years.[3] It was my first time seeing them in over 20 years. It was worth every second of those collective waits.
It’s hard to review a Pearl Jam show, because they are almost always incredible. While I’ve not seen them in person since 2000 – more on that later – I’ve watched tons of their shows online, both officially and unofficially. There is no better live band in music. They are a well-oiled machine that combines the spontaneity of a setlist that changes every night with a structure that allows for almost seamless transitions between most songs. They famously play epically long shows that often veer in unexpected directions depending on where the night and crowd takes them. Shows become near religious events as thousands of devoted fans scream out every word and react to every element of the performance.
Everything about Monday’s show lived up to the band’s reputation.
It was a fire-cracker hot night here in Indy, in the mid–90s during the day, and the air at Ruoff Music Center was thick and heavy when opener Glen Hansard took stage at exactly 7:30. He had the line of the night when he introduced his band: “We’re from Ireland and we’re happy to be here. We’re going to play for 45 minutes and then we’re going to fuck off.” And then they only played for 30 minutes! Under-promise, over-deliver!
His set was terrific. I didn’t know much about his music, mostly the more soft/folksy songs he did for the movie Flag Day, including “My Father’s Daughter,” a song he made with Eddie Vedder and daughter Olivia Vedder. But from the go, his band absolutely kicked ass. Roaring guitars, screamed lyrics. It was a good start to the night.
Pearl Jam took the stage at 8:40, just as the sun was disappearing and a nice breeze was beginning to blow through the partially covered main seating section. My buddy SK and I had been trying to guess what the opening song would be, a pointless exercise since PJ opens with a different song every night and can literally go hundreds of directions when you account for covers. He guessed “Low Light.” I didn’t take a real stab at it, but “Hail, Hail” had been in my head all day.
We were pleasantly surprised when Stone Gossard started strumming the opening lines to *Ten*-era B-side “Wash.” A terrific omen, as many of theirs shows on this tour have begun with slower songs.
Twenty-three songs followed. The band was in fine form, although the sound was a little muddy. Eddie was in great voice. The crowd was frenzied. On the biggest songs, “Alive” for example, you could barely hear the band because the crowd sang along so loudly. You couldn’t ask for a better show.
It was interesting to look at the show from above, as a long-time PJ fan, and see how far this band has come. They’ve been an incredible live band since day one. Those early Nineties shows were intense affairs, Eddie a brooding, distant, sometimes scary frontman. The band went through their difficult mid–90s period, where the performance was generally great but the band was going through a lot and you never knew how much joy and personality they would put into each show. There were a few notable meltdowns in this era when the band’s future was in question. Around 2000, they realized that touring was their salvation, and they began to enjoy it more, stretching shows out to Springsteen-esque lengths. About 10 years ago it seemed like Eddie was losing some of the power in his voice. He made allowances, but sometimes those were jarring to see/hear.
In the last five years that has changed again. Eddie has become more theatrical on stage. It’s hard to put into words, because that sounds a little cheesy and he is not cheesy. He just does a lot more from the start of the show to the end to interact with the crowd, to entertain with his actions rather than just sing from the bottom of his soul. The once reluctant star happily embraces everything about being the director for where each night’s show is headed.
His political monologues haven’t disappeared, they’ve just morphed. Monday he encouraged everyone to get out and vote, and noted that 30 years ago he was imploring us to vote, where now he is asking us to get our kids to vote. His most pointed comment of the night was about women needing to reclaim their right to choose. He never said any candidate’s name, nor espoused a particular ideology.
Of course last week while in Jeff Ament’s home state of Montana, the entire band wore Jon Tester shirts, so I think they just pick their spots these days.
Eddie’s voice seems to have recovered from whatever ailed it, too. I remember watching concert films from early in last year’s tour and being floored by how good he sounded. I think he’s found ways to strengthen his voice but also to adjust how he hits certain notes so that he can mask the effects of age. Not that long ago I worried about how much longer he could tour. The past couple years, he’s sounded as good as he ever has and I can see the band touring forever. His energy level is also insane for a guy who will turn 60 in a few months. He doesn’t climb lighting rigs anymore, but he’s in constant motion around the stage.
His energy and strength and stage presence translate to the rest of the band. The greatness of their live act has always come from their collective abilities. Every member of the band absolutely still has their A-games. Mike McCready in particular has an apparent endless reservoir of energy. There wasn’t a song, or even part of a song, where the band behind Eddie seemed to be half-assing it.
As we were walking out I told SK beyond the spectacular performance, what makes PJ shows so great is how many terrific songs they have to choose from, and even the ones that might not be your favorites are played so well that there aren’t really any down moments in the show. Even if you don’t hear all your favorite songs, you walk away thoroughly satisfied.
That was the case with me. Of my seven favorite PJ songs I listed a year ago, they played just one, “Corduroy.” And, you know what? I was not disappointed at all that I didn’t hear “Release” or “Elderly Woman,” or “Given to Fly,” etc.
I thought it was interesting they basically cut out an entire era of their career from the setlist. There was exactly one song from their albums that were released between 2000 and 2020, and that, “Lightning Bolt,” was a request from a couple who were attending their 57th PJ show.[4] I think most fans are fine with that large chunk of the band’s studio career getting nudged aside. “Lightning Bolt” did sound great, though.
The per-album breakdown was:
Ten/Ten-era: 6
Vs. – 1
Vitalogy – 5
No Code – 1
Yield – 1
Lightning Bolt – 1
Dark Matter – 7
Covers – 2
The beauty of Pearl Jam is their next show in Chicago will likely have a completely different mix, aside from the Dark Matter tracks.
A note about our seats. When PJ announced they were coming to Indy in May 2023, both SK and I signed up for tickets. With the band not hitting here in so long, we knew it would be a tough ticket. He is in the band’s Ten Club and hoped that would get us in. I didn’t get selected in the public lottery, but he got a notification that he would be able to get Ten Club seats. Until a week later he got another saying he, in fact, did not make their cut.
Fortunately he has a neighbor that has some serious connections in the music industry. Thanks to her assistance, last July he got an email from someone within the Pearl Jam organization saying that we had two Friends and Family seats.[5] When the September 2023 show was postponed, his contact said we would remain on the list for whenever the show was rescheduled. Sure enough, when this year’s tour was announced he got another note asking for confirmation that he still wanted those seats. Two weeks ago he got official word that we were in.
We had no idea where our seats were until we picked up the tickets at Will Call Monday. Even then, Ruoff’s seating scheme is so odd we couldn’t figure it out by just looking at ticket. So we kept showing them to ushers and they kept waving us further forward. We ended up about ten rows behind the pit section, stage left. They were pretty fucking great seats.
Oh, and not to brag too much, but the tickets were somehow comped to us. SK thought he paid for them a year ago, but went back and looked and he never sent anyone money for them. My previous all time best show was U2 in Kemper Arena in 2001. We got free tickets to that show. Yep, I haven’t had to pay a dime for the two best concerts I’ve ever attended. The Music Gods must be rewarding me for all those concerts I did not go to.
This was just my third Pearl Jam show, which seems dumb. SK, in comparison, has now been to 14. I saw them in Kansas City in both 1998 and 2000. I famously missed their appearance in Lawrence in May 1992 because 1) they had not yet become huge and 2) I spent the day playing basketball with one of my best friends who was about to graduate and move to California. Oh, and 3) I’m an idiot. Less than two months later they were my favorite band, a belt they’ve held off-and-on for over three decades now.
In 2003 they were in Kansas City three days before S and I got married and moved to Indianapolis. Didn’t seem like the right time to sneak away for a concert. I missed their Indy stop on that tour because we were on our honeymoon. I think they’ve been in Indy just once or twice since then, during our “lots of little kids in the house” phase and I never even considered going to those shows.
Show number three was a long time coming. And totally worth it.
A few other notes:
SK and I got excited when songs four, five, and six of the night were the first three songs from Vitalogy, in order. Every now and then PJ will play an entire album in order. This was a tease, though, and they moved on to new songs.
“Black” was a song I got sick of in the Nineties because I thought it got super overplayed. It was truly fantastic Monday.
Gossard said before the Dark Matter tour began that they would begin to pare back their shows a bit, with Ament already 60 and Eddie right behind him. They still played nearly two-and-a-half hours Monday. The biggest bummer about not seeing them last year was they were still pushing three hours in those shows.
The audio-visual portion of the show was excellent. At most Ruoff shows there are a few cameras shooting video that show up on the auxiliary boards for fans up in the lawn. PJ shot this like a concert movie, with tons of cameras that were constantly switching feeds on the boards. I now see why so many of their shows end up with high quality movies on one site or another. They take that part of the presentation very seriously.
As we walked out there was a dad with a college-aged son in front of us. We overheard the dad tell the son, very seriously, “I hope you realize that was a fucking incredible concert!” We couldn’t hear what the kid’s response was. He better have recognized, though.
Eddie has been wearing a Walter Payton jersey at all their shows on this tour. It was Jeff Ament who made the local connection, wearing a shirt that had Larry Bird’s face on one side and his number on the other.
Speaking of shirts, I’ve never bought a concert shirt before. Again, I’m a man full of contradictions and surprises. I bought one last night, though, because they were perfect.
Shout out to the merch arm of the PJ empire. That thing is as well-oiled as the band’s performances. They opened up at noon for people who wanted to get there early and get the limited edition items. Inside the venue there were multiple spots to purchase items with crazy long lines before the show. We stopped at one after the show and despite the line, had to wait less than five minutes to purchase my shirt. There was another still open outside the gates that had no wait. And although they were short a few sizes, you could still buy just about anything you wanted almost 12 hours after they sold their first shirt of the day.
Also cool was the special stand that printed up setlist shirts. SK told me the band hands off their final setlist when the show begins and by the time they are done, there are stacks of shirts with that night’s unique collection of songs listed. Genius way to make fans eager to fork over another $40 for a unique memento of the night.
PJ still does the “official bootlegs” of every show. I think I still have all the early 2000s ones I bought somewhere in the basement. I believe I will be buying this one when it is released in a few weeks.
Both times I saw PJ in KC, they closed with “Rockin’ In The Free World.” Which was great. But I was going to be disappointed if I heard it again. Fortunately they closed with a spectacular “Baba O’Reilly” – “Yellow Ledbetter” double. Finally hearing “Baba” live was a big checkmark on my all-time PJ must hear list.
An online inflation calculator suggests that translates to $112 dollars today, which seems reasonable for a U2 show, but understandable for a poor college student to decide he’d rather eat/drink off that for two weeks than blow it in one night. Still wish I had gone to that show, though. ↩
I also missed a KU basketball game that week, so you know I was sick! ↩
And, of course, this concert was delayed from a year ago when Matt Cameron got Covid. ↩
Eddie: “You attend 57 shows, you get a request.” ↩
Not sure if it was accidental or intentional, but his contact sent him the link for F&F tickets for the entire tour. We had a phone call last spring where we seriously debated whether to get tickets for one of the Wrigley shows later this week, or going to another big city to see them. We decided the smart move, and affordable one since we both have kids in college and at Catholic high schools, was to stick to just the Indy show. ↩
A little smaller selection this week, as I’ve had two music projects that have been sucking up my listening time this week.
“London Calling” – The Clash
Joe Strummer was born 72 years ago this week. At first, I accidentally added the entire London Calling album to this playlist. For a second I thought about making that the entire PL for the week. There are worse ways to spend an hour.
“Skydiver” – Briston Maroney
Maroney hasn’t been around very long. I’m not sure he’s put out a bad song yet.
“Old Tape” – Lucius featuring Adam Granduciel
Lucius provided backup vocals for The War on Drugs’ “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” three years ago. Adam Granduciel returns the favor, along with some guitar work, here.
“Sprinter Brain” – Wild Pink
Two-for-two on terrific singles from the next album.
“Taxi” – Onsloow
“No Good” – Christopher Owens
These two songs both made Stereogum’s Best New Songs list last week. Fully deserved, very important honors.
“Torture” – The Jacksons
After a long stretch of classic/very good songs to pick from for our 1984 video, this week was suddenly pretty barren. Plenty of solid songs in the bottom 10, but nothing that really jumped out and screamed “I’M 1984!!!!” to me. This is about as close to a memorable song in that group as I could find. At the time, it was huge. Still, it wasn’t nearly as big of a hit as the first Jacksons’ single of 1984, “State of Shock.” That was basically a Michael Jackson/Mick Jagger duet, so it was bound to be huge. I bet a lot of people who were around in the summer of ’84 have totally forgotten about this track. The video is always hilarious, mostly because Michael and Jermaine refused to appear in it (and all the wild family issues that prompted those decisions) and how their absences were handled. It is extra funny that they decided to make a video that was over six minutes long without the two most popular members of the group being present. I bet the remaining brothers felt like jackasses singing the chorus by themselves. Number 35 this week, on its way to #17.
“Archbishop Harold Holmes” – Jack White
What an idiot I am! White dropped his No Name album on streaming services two weeks ago, and I listened to it a ton after we got home from vacation. Then, somehow, I forgot to include a track in last week’s playlist. Again, idiot. This track is soooo White Stripes-y, with his spitfire vocals straddling a line between dark & menacing and hilarious & nonsensical. And, of course, riffs on top of riffs on top of riffs.
“Takes One To Know One” – The Beaches
I’m not sure I believe that a song this marvelously sunny and poppy comes from a band that calls Toronto home. “God, you’re a piece of work. Takes one to know one.” That seems like that could apply to most couples.
“Monster” – Best Bets
There are some serious The Lemonheads vibes in this track. A nearly impossible band to do an internet search on, about all I can find about them is that they are from New Zealand.
“This Room” – Lotte Gallagher
Not a daughter of either Liam or Noel, but rather a very talented young lady from Melbourne.
“Koalas” – Tess Parks
Let’s combine elements from earlier songs. Another artist from Canada singing about one of Australia’s most famous residents.
“Glass” – Glom
And now another band that is impossible to search for, for some reason. Maybe it’s more because search is broken thanks to ads and AI and other nonsense than bands coming up with stupid names that search engines think are related to everything but the actual band.
“Room at the Top” – Eddie Vedder covering Tom Petty
The second EdVed cover of the summer. This one is pretty straight forward, but it really fits Eddie’s voice. It is from the new Apple TV show Bad Monkey. Apparently the entire soundtrack is a Petty tribute album. The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, and many other folks you know will be on it.
“Cruel Summer” – Bananarama
I struggled with what to pick for this week’s 1984 video. There were a couple songs I would love to write about in RFTS at some point, so I skipped them. There was a terrific ballad that had already snuck inside the top 30 in just its third week. Instead I chose this, which seemed to fit since I didn’t include a summer song in my Spotify playlist this week. It first hit in the UK in 1983, then in the US in ’84 after landing on the Karate Kid soundtrack. This week it was #32 in its fifth week in the Hot 100, on its way to a peak of #9 in September. I gotta admit, I was never really into Bananarama. They were just too goofy for me, even at age 13. Especially this video.
A week off means we stick with the extra-stuffed playlists. I don’t hear any complaints.
“Summer In The Park Pt. 1” – East Coast Connection
Early August used to mean you got focused on how to maximize the last few weeks of summer. Not these days, when most of the country goes back to school well before Labor Day. There are still a few folks enjoying summer in the park, though.
“One Last Drag” – Hayley Mary
I’m not sure a song about smoking too much – or doing anything too much, really – should sound this glorious.
“Portrait Show” – Rocket
This song is nearly a year old, but new to me. Or at least I thought so. I had to double-check I hadn’t included it in a FP and forgotten about it. I feel like I would have remembered a song this good, though.
“The Fences of Stonehenge” – Wild Pink
Wild Pink released an EP earlier this year that I didn’t love. Fortunately, that was just a prelude to a full length of completely different songs that is coming this fall. This first single is gorgeous and exactly what I expect from them. They’ve pushed the Heartland Rock slider up a couple more notches, which is never a bad thing.
“Vertigo” – Beach Bunny
Music comes from the strangest places. Lili Trifilio wrote this song on a plane. She tried to go into the bathroom to record a vocal demo but, as you would expect, the result sounded terrible. So she sang the song in her head the remainder of the flight to hang onto it.
“909” – Starflyer 59
I don’t know anything about this band, but Stereogum describes them as “shoegaze heroes” and they go back to the early Nineties. This track seems like it could have fit into alternative radio any time between 1994 and 2001. I hear more Swervedriver-like, shoegaze adjacent rock than pure shoegaze here.
“Superstar” – Hinds
These Spanish indie queens are down to two core members. Their sound does not suffer for the consolidation.
“In A Dream” – Trace Mountains
Dave Benton’s music in Trace Mountains has always had a strong The War on Drugs vibe. Here he pulls in the krautrock influence which was especially notable on Lost In The Dream. Which might explain the title.
“Coming Up Close” – ‘Til Tuesday
Brother in Music E-bro in ATX sent me a message this week with a link to ‘Til Tuesday’s “What About Love,” saying it had popped up in his feed and was a forgotten Eighties jam. “What About Love” hit #26 – meaning TT was not a true, one-hit-wonder band – but I told him I preferred this solemn track that was also off the band’s second album. It didn’t crack the Top 40, which is a damn shame. The chorus is completely beautiful. It signaled where Aimee Mann was headed in her solo career more than either of TT’s two hits. She’s had an amazing, lengthy career yet most people will still just remember the one, classic song.
“Rent I Pay” – Spoon
Album anniversary alert! They Want My Soul came out ten years ago this week. It might be the ultimate Spoon album. There’s not a bad song on it, nor is there a classic? That might not be fair. Let’s say there is nothing lower than a B but no A+’s either. I listened to the whole thing Wednesday and it holds up really well. And it got me thinking about Spoon’s whole career. Keep an eye on this space for more about that. This was my #11 song of 2014.
“Let’s Go Crazy” – Prince & The Revolution
Another Eighty-Four Monster! In just its second week on the Hot 100 it was at #35. As my music memory spins it, you couldn’t go more than an hour without hearing it or seeing its video from mid-July until deep into September. I don’t remember ever getting sick of it then, nor now. It spent two weeks at #1 and was #21 on the year-end countdown. For extra fun, go watch this, the entire opening sequence of Purple Rain, featuring an extended version of “Let’s Go Crazy.” “Ladies and gentlemen: The Revolution.”
No playlist next week, so I’ll see if I can cram a few extra songs into this one.
“Florida” – Modest Mouse
We will depart early Sunday for a week in the Florida panhandle. This is the only song overtly about Florida in my collection, thus its inclusion. Thursday was also M’s birthday. Famously, I was listening to “Float On” when S’s water broke, so I always think of Modest Mouse this time of year.
“Dead Plants” – better joy
Not your typical Manchester music. At the risk of being called a dirty old man, in addition to her vocal and lyrical talents, the lead singer is also an attractive human being.
“Wandering Song” – Chime School
One of the most perfectly named bands out there right now. You know exactly what you’re getting from them.
“Triple Seven” – Wishy
This band is from Indy, but I don’t know much about them. They’ve released three singles in recent weeks, all sounding very different and with different lead singers. This is the only one that does much for me.
“Later” – GIFT
A nice melding of shoegaze and synthpop.
“Found a Job” – The Linda Lindas covering Talking Heads
I can’t say I’m familiar with the original, but I do most definitely dig this cover.
“Somebody to Shove” – Soul Asylum
SA released a new song this week. I listened to it once without wanting to hear it again. It did make me pull up their two, awesome, 1992 songs: this and “Black Gold.”
“Not Too Soon” – Throwing Muses
Spotify’s Discover Weekly has been all jacked up recently, spitting out more catalog songs than new ones. I was thrilled to be reminded of this 1991 classic, though. Tanya Donnelly’s best song before leaving to form Belly.
“Overkill” – Colin Hay
Let’s keep it going on Old Songs I Hadn’t Heard In Ages with this one. A brother in music shot it my way with the rather glorious autocorrected typo of “Goats appear and fade away.” That’s how I’ll heard this song from now on. Also a pretty spectacular acoustic take on Hay’s Men at Work original.
“Summer Song” – Joe Satriani
There had to be at least one in here.
No Name – Side B, Track 1 – Jack White
Holy shit, Jack is back! And in perfect Jack White style.
Last Friday he released a new, surprise album. But he didn’t do it like other artists, who might slip an album into Spotify and Apple Music at midnight with a corresponding press release. Nope, there was zero clue this album was coming. Nor did it land on any streaming platform. Rather, if you went to one of White’s Third Man record stores (in Detroit, Nashville, or London), and bought something last Friday, the staff added an extra vinyl LP into your bag. It was stamped with only the moniker No Name. No pictures or mentions of White. No song titles or run times. There are no liner notes. Lucky recipients were encouraged to rip the album and share it with “seven friends.”
I finally got around to listening to a YouTube rip on Tuesday. WHOOOOO MAMA!!!! ROCK AND ROLL WILL NEVER DIE, THANKS TO JACK WHITE!!!!!
It sounds so much like the classic White Stripes sound that there have been plenty of people wondering if these are leftover Stripes tracks, or if Jack and Meg got back together in the studio. I think that’s pretty unlikely. There is no doubting that early 2000s ferocity is present in almost every one of the album’s 13 tracks. If you like Jack’s take on garage rock, you’ll probably love it. This is one of my favorites of the bunch.
There are strong rumors the album will hit record stores around the country sometime in the next three weeks. Hopefully streaming services, too. I doubt I’ll be sick of listening to the ripped MP3s I have by then.
“The Warrior” – Scandal featuring Patty Smyth
Another song that feels like it could have only hit in 1984. It snuck into the Top 40 last week and was still sitting at #37 this week. By September it would peak at #7 for a couple weeks, and become an all-time Eighties classic along the way.
Amazingly, this was the band’s only Top 40 hit, making them genuine One Hit Wonders. The follow up single, “Hands Tied,” is a lovely, lovely song that stalled at #41. As did their 1985 single “Beat of the Heart.” What always blows me away, though, is that 1982’s “Goodbye To You” came no where near Casey Kasem territory, making it only to #65. I would have sworn it was a radio hit.
Another long-ish collection this week. I doubt any of you mind that much.
“Summer Nights” – Hazel English
Nothing better.
“Chicago” – Japandroids
Tuesday I listened to Japandroids’ classic Celebration Rock all-the-way-through for the first time this summer. So, so good. For the first time, I realized at least one of my kids is right at the age that album’s songs are all about, which was a little strange for me.
Then, WHAM!, two days later they drop their first new song since 2017! In doing so, they announced their new album, to be released in October, will be their last. Their sound has never changed much, if at all, and this lead single confirms we’re in for more of the same in their swan song.
“She’s Leaving You” – MJ Lenderman
Lenderman is one of the critical darlings of the moment. Writers are all-atremble waiting for his new album. I can’t quite decide if I like him that much or not. His status on the country-or-not continuum seems safely on the indie side, at least based on this song. But something about his voice doesn’t fully resonate with me. I guess I’ll have to give the entire album a spin when it arrives to decide.
“Expectations” – Katie Pruitt
Speaking of country-or-not, Pruitt is listed by some as an alt-country artist. I think that’s probably fair. Some friends of mine saw her open for another artist last week and sent me this song, saying I would likely dig its very The War on Drugs-vibe. They were right. It is so Drugsy that I wondered if someone from the band had a production credit, but I can’t find any evidence of that.
“Breathe” – RINSE
We heard Joe Agius earlier this year, getting some help from his wife, the lead singer of Hatchie. Now we hear him on his own. He still sounds pretty good.
“Power” – illuminati hotties
A much more mellow, contemplative vibe than we normally hear from ih. It works just fine.
“Summer Nights” – Van Halen
Summer nights and my radio…
“The Glamorous Life” – Sheila E.
Another week rich with choices. Of the three very good songs that debuted this week, this is the best. Sneaking into the Top 40 at 39, it had taken six weeks to get this far. It would take another 11 weeks to reach its peak of #7, then five more weeks to drop out of the Top 40. Great run for a great song, the world’s introduction to the most talented of Prince’s many protégés.
After taking a break for the holiday, I’m offering you an extra jam-packed playlist at no extra cost.
“Rain In The Summertime” – The Alarm
After the remnants of Hurricane Beryl rolled through this past week, there’s a chance of rain every day for the next week. I won’t complain, though, as the showers will be scattered each day and will help moderate our temps just a little bit. By the way, did you hear that Beryl closely followed the path of April’s eclipse? Really makes you think.
“Red” – World News
Stereogum had Tom Breihan write the blurb for this track when it was released, which was perfect. Who better than the master of the Billboard charts to point out that this song sounds straight out of 1980’s college radio? Yet it’s brand new!
“Favourite” – Fontaines D.C.
A slight adjustment in direction for FDC. I like it a lot.
“OUTTAMYMIND” – Wings of Desire
Not sure exactly how to describe this song, but it fits the vibe of this week’s playlist.
“Hot Sun” – Wilco
Two weeks ago we honored the 20th anniversary of Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born. That same day the band dropped a new EP that featured a mix of traditional and instrumental tracks. This is the best of the bunch, and perfect for the middle of summer.
“Ananda” – Strand of Oaks
Timothy Showalter has never been shy about sharing what he was going through in his life via his music. Whether it was infidelity and strife in his marriage, a struggle with drugs and alcohol, or mental health issues, it’s always been right there in his songs. He seems like he’s in a good place these days, thus this track, which takes its name from a Sanskrit word for bliss and happiness. He says it explores the “unexpected sensuality of connection through spiritual practice.” OK then.
“Stuck In The Middle With You” – Stealers Wheel
Gerry Rafferty died a few years back. His partner in Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed this week. This made it to #6 in the US in 1973 and re-entered our cultural memory when Quentin Tarantino used it in a particularly gruesome scene in Reservoir Dogs.
“Sleep All Summer” – Crooked Fingers
Our middle daughter’s goal for 2024.
“Rock Me Tonight” – Billy Squier
The week off left me with several terrific options for this week’s 1984 vid. Van Halen’s “Panama.” “Round And Round,” by Ratt. But the obvious choice debuted in the Top 40 at #39 in just its second week in the Hot 100. It isn’t Squier’s best song – “The Stroke” is the undefeated champion there – but it is still pretty solid. This video, though, sets it apart.
Widely considered one of the worst videos ever made, it either helped the song go to #15, or limited it to peaking there, depending on who you ask. But the backlash against the video was so strong that Squier never had another Top 40 pop hit.
Why a backlash you ask? Well, watch the video. It’s a little campy, a little cringey, but mostly goofy. However, in 1984, if you were an otherwise heterosexual dude and you made a video like this, not only would people think you were gay – which was one of the worst things you could be in 1984 – they would also stop liking your music so other idiots didn’t accuse them of being gay. Like the kid at my bus stop who told several of us that we were XXXs for listening to Prince. 1984 had some of the greatest music and movies ever. But society was still kind of fucked up. Some things never change, I guess. If a straight dude made this same video today, I’m not sure anyone would care.
