I've decided that with this entry and future entries the companion playlist will only be available on YouTube. Sure, it's neat to be able to take the playlists on the go with Apple Music or Spotify but after research and lack of subscribers to the playlists it didn't make sense for me to keep paying for those services. YouTube is free and you have a visual to go along with the audio in most cases. The playlists on the previous blogs are still available on apple music and spotify.
I'm not sure where to start with 1997. I finished my junior year of high school and a few months later I began my senior year of high school. I got my very first car in the fall of 1997, A 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88 a.k.a. A Rocket 88 as sang about in what's considered the very first Rock N' Roll song of all time. I think it's very fitting to have a make and model of car that's a huge part of music history.
Earlier in the year The Notorious B.I.G. was fatally shot in Los Angeles. The Murder still remains unsolved to this day.
Great year for music.
Check out the companion playlist : YouTube.
On to the playlist....
1. Incubus - Redefine.
2. Incubus - Vitamin: I saw this band open up for 311 in 1997 at the WVU coliseum. Nobody knew who they were. I was scared of the name because in demonology Incubus means an invisible demon that seduces women in the middle of the night. Before they took the stage I kept wondering if these guys are some sort of Devil Worshippers that were going to sacrifice virgins and animals during their show. It didn't help that the beginning of their show consisted of tribal drums being brought out on stage and the band playing tribal rhythms before launching into their own brand of funky hip hop laced rock music. My fears were dispelled and my next thought was that these guys are going to be huge. They are now a household name in alternative music but they didn't become a household name until two albums later. Their song "Wish You Were Here" has become one of my all time favorite songs.
3. Incubus - New Skin.
4. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy: This is the song they became known for. It's a weird freaking alternative song, but it's also a really catchy ballad, and the lyrics don't really matter because it's such a great song. I still sometimes wonder what they mean; "I'll be waving my hand, watching you drown, watching you scream..." Weird!
5. Our Lady Peace - Superman's Dead: "Why iiiiiieeeeiiieeeyiii yeah is it in my head? Why eeeiiiiiiiiiiieeeiiieee" These guys were odd but they wrote catchy songs.
6. Mack 10 feat Tha Dogg Pound - Nothing But The Cavi Hit: One of my favorite hip hop songs of all time. I love the part in the music video when Kurupt does his dialogue bit.
7. David Bowie - I'm Afraid Of Americans: The legend paired up with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. A lot of Bowie purists don't like this song, but I like artists who try different things.
8. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On: A big hit for this Canadian Artist.
9. The Offspring - All I Want:
10. The Offspring - Gone Away.
11. The Offspring - I Choose: I'm pretty sure I annoyed my sister and her friend on drives to school with this song, because they would always complain about it. It was my car and if they wanted a lift to school they had to suffer through my tunes.
12. Blur - Song 2: The genius child behind this song is the genius behind The Gorillaz. I was very fortunate to meet him and carry on a conversation with him in Pittsburgh.
13. Erykah Badu - Tyrone: "You Better Call Him." I watched Erykah Badu in a movie called "House Of D" where her character sang "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers. It is so beautiful. Check that movie out and check out her albums. She's great.
14. Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls.
15. LeAnn Rimes - How Do I live?
16. Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy: I have never liked this song. It's terrible and the people who like it have terrible taste in music.
17. Live - Lakini's Juice: I saw these guys live a few months ago and I'm seeing them again in another month. They are one of my favorite band's ever and I'm glad they are back together.
18. Sister Hazel - All For You.
19. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get: Easily one of my all time favorite songs. I've never gotten tired of it. It's a little hardcore punk, a little pop, and a little ska. I heard this song prior to it becoming a hit thanks to a high school friend lending me the CD. I knew the instant I heard it that it would become massive, and it did.
20. Scarface feat. 2pac - Smile: This is one of several singles released in 1997 to feature the late great Tupac Shakur. It's such a positive song.
21. Aerosmith - Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees).
22. Aerosmith - Hole In My Soul.
23. Aerosmith - Pink.
24. Ben Folds Five - Brick: I often wonder what happened to the "Folds Five." Ben Folds has had a lot more success without the five or is it the four since he made up one 5th of the 5.
25. Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize: It's sad that this was released after his death and he never got see what a smash hit it would become. This is a change of tone from his first album which is much darker and more about his experiences growing up in the ghetto. The second album is so much fun and just has a good time vibe to it. Sure there are songs like Ten Crack Commandments that are a little dark but it's definitely a much more positive sound, which is very cool being that he was part of a smear campaign launched by Tupac when he recorded it. I like it when people take the high road.
26. Notorious B.I.G. - Mo Money Mo Problems.
27. Notorious B.I.G. - Sky's The Limit.
28. Notorious B.I.G. feat. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Notorious Thugs: "It's Bone and Biggie Biggie..." I didn't like this song when I initially heard it 20 years ago, but I heard it on the radio the other day and it's so good that I had to include it even though it wasn't released as a single. It's one of those songs that got better with time.
29. Aqua - Barbie Girl: "Come on Barbie. Let's go party."
30. Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life: One of the most addictive pop songs ever.
31. Third Eye Blind - Jumper.
32. Third Eye Blind - How's It Going To Be?
33. Buck-O-Nine - I'm The Man: I like this cover much better than the Joe Jackson original.
34. Millencolin - Lozin' Must: I guess the punk rock phase started a little sooner than I initially thought. I love this Swedish band and all the broken English glory of their lyrics. The songs are very catchy.
35. Hanson - Mmm Bop: I didn't jump on the Hanson train until their second album when they hit puberty and their voices deepened, but at that point their 15 minutes of fame came to an end. Their second album This Time Around is worth checking out. It's really good. It's sad that Mmm Bop made them a gimmick.
36. Smashing Pumpkins - Eye.
37. Warren G - I Shot The Sheriff.
38. The Misfits - Dig Up Her Bones.
39. Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth: For the people that complained about the Blaze Bayley days in Iron Maiden, I would always say "Have you heard Bruce's Solo Albums?" Bruce put out some great stuff that was much better than what his former band was putting out at the time. Thankfully Bruce rejoined Maiden in 2000 and the rest is history but his solo stuff is wonderful especially the albums Accident Of Birth, and The Chemical Wedding. They definitely fill in the gaps in that dark two album period in Maiden's history when they were writing lackluster tunes.
40. Faith No More - Last Cup Of Sorrow.
41. Faith No More - Stripsearch: This song is a resident on many of my playlists.
42. Days Of The New - Touch, Peel, Stand.
43. Wu Tang Clan - Triumph.
44. Creed - My Own Prison: As much as people will deny ever liking this band, there's no denying that they released a rock album that would have crossover success on the pop charts too. I've never been ashamed of liking this band and it's a shame that other people are. They wrote great tunes, and sure they may have jumped on the so called "Grunge" bandwagon but that was the popular sound of the time.
45. Creed - What's This Life For?
46. Megadeth - Almost Honest.
47. Megadeth - Trust: Dave Mustaine is as great at writing pop songs as he is writing metal songs. I liked the change of direction on this.
48. Blink 182 - Dammit: I love their second album Dude Ranch. It's immature, it's sloppy, and it's one of the greatest pop punk albums of all time.
49. Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November (single version): I love this song. It's too bad the album it came from is not very good.
50. Sugar Ray - Fly: This song is cool. Everybody thought this band would be a one hit wonder, but just two years later they had several more hits.
51. The Prodigy - Breathe.
52. The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up.
53. Reel Big Fish - Sell Out.
54. Puff Daddy - Can't Nobody Hold Me Down.
55. Puff Daddy - I'll Be Missing You: This song serves as a tribute to Notorious B.I.G. who died earlier in the year of fatal gunshot sounds. It samples Every Breath You Take by The Police.
56. Puff Daddy - It's All About The Benjamins: This whole album is great.
57. Puff Daddy - Victory: I like it that the Training Montage from Rocky IV is the instrumental backdrop.
58. Limp Bizkit - Faith. - I like their cover of this song better than the original.
59. Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot.
60. Missy Elliot - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly): I love Missy Elliot.
61. Jimmie's Chicken Shack - High.
62. Puff Daddy - Been Around The World.
63. Insane Clown Posse - Halls of Illusions. - I was never down with the clown. I'm sure I'm going to piss off some Juggalo's by the following statement: I've always found these guys to be ridiculously lame, but they have a huge following of people that proudly display their hatchet man necklaces, and ICP T-Shirts. They obviously are very smart business wise because they are raking in the dough.
64. Smash Mouth - Walking On The Sun. - This was a minor hit for these guys. They achieved much better success on their second album with a song called "All-Star."
65. Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends?
66. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Look Into My Eyes.
67. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony feat. 2pac - Thug Luv.
68. Primus - Shake Hands With Beef. - I love Les Claypool. He has such a great sense of humor. I've seen Primus live twice, and they don't disappoint.
69. Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses. - This song is hella lame.
70. The Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench. - This song has such a great punk rock vibe to it.
71. The Foo Fighters - Everlong.
72. The Foo Fighters - My Hero.
73. 311 - Transistor. - "If you want more beats for your buck there's no luck." Transistor is the one 311 album that's solid from top to bottom. I seriously love these guys. I think this is the album where they really started to define their sound. On previous albums (which I love by the way) their sound wasn't as focused, but they are definitely worth checking out.
The new album Mosaic is great. I'll get to it in my next blog entry.
74. 311 - Prisoner.
75. 311 - Beautiful Disaster.
76. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me.
77. Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back). - The only BSB song I like.
78. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta. - All he wanted to do was "publish 'zines and rage against machines", but he's "Paranoid that everybody's coming" to get him but "They never met" him, and they cut off his legs now he's "An Amputee Goddamn You."
79. Coal Chamber - Sway. - This is another song that contains an interpolation of The Roof Is On Fire by Rock Master Scott. I had never heard it done metal style though. I had a huge crush on their original bass player Rayna Foss. It's a way cool song.
80. Rammstein - Du Hast. - I don't speak german and I have no idea of what their lyrics are, but I love this band,
81. Rammstein - Engel.
82. Coolio - C U When U Get There.
83. Freak Nasty - Da Dip. - "I put my hand upon your hip when you dip, I dip, we dip."
84. Marilyn Manson - Long Hard Road Out Of Hell. - Great tune.
85. Master P - Make 'Em Say Uhh!
86. Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha.
87. Save Ferris - Come On Eileen.
88. Usher - You Make Me Wanna. - I love Usher.
89. Usher - Nice And Slow.
90. Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See. - The album this came from is a masterpiece.
91. Busta Rhymes - Dangerous.
92. Busta Rhymes - Turn It Up (Remix)/Fire It Up.
93. Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Lonliness.
94. Boyz II Men - A Song For Mama.
95. Janet Jackson - Got Till It's Gone.
96. LL Cool J - Phenomenon.
97. LL Cool J - 4, 3, 2, 1.
98. The Firm - Firm Biz.
99. The Firm - Phone Tap.
100. The Deftones - My Own Summer (shove it).
101. Mase - Feels So Good. - Mase's first album is one of the best hip hop albums of 1997.
102. Mase -What You Want.
103. Mase - 24 Hours To Live.
104. Three 6 Mafia - Tear Da Club Up.
105. Jay Z - The City Is Mine.
106. Jay Z - Sunshine.
107. Metallica - The Memory Remains. - I like Re-Load a lot better than Load.
108. Metallica - Fuel.
109. Metallica - Unforgiven II.
110. Will Smith - Men In Black.
111. Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It. - I'm hoping for a DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince reunion one of these days.
112. Will Smith - Just The Two Of Us. - Will Smith wrote this for his son.
113. Will Smith - Miami.
114. Def Squad - Rapper's Delight.
115. 2 Pac - Do For Love.
116. Rakim - Guess Who's Back. - Rakim, Eminem, and Notorious B.I.G. are my favorite rappers of all time,
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: New Music.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: 1996
As I put the playlist together for this blog and did my research it hit me that most of the stuff on this playlist is 21 years old. Is age 16 really that long ago for me?
This is the year I got my driver's license and would drive around town in my Mom's dodge caravan with the bass cranked up on the stereo, the window's down, blare hip hop music from the stereo so the whole neighborhood heard it, and think I was the coolest kid in the world. My 37 year old self now finds this lame as do the kids that see me when I'm in one of my rare moods and I'll blast Kendrick Lamar or Drake from my own car stereo. Don't judge me!
In late 1996 tragedy struck one of music's most beloved icons. Tupac Shakur was gunned down in a hail of bullets on the Las Vegas Strip. The murder still remains unsolved to this day.
At the beginning of the year Tupac released his album All Eyez On Me, and it propelled him to high levels of fame.
Some people say that his rise to fame was due in part to a legend of Robert Johnson and The Crossroads proportions. In this case he signed with Death Row Records upon his release from prison and some say he signed his soul over to The Devil a.k.a. Suge Knight (CEO of Death Row Records) to become the biggest rapper in the world.
I don't believe the legends surrounding his rise to fame and his death. I will only state the facts.
Upon his release from prison, Tupac went in to the studio with Dr. Dre as producer to record tracks for his Death Row Records debut All Eyez On Me. Tupac ended up spending hours upon hours in the studio and recorded well over 100 songs. Many of these songs ended up being used for posthumous releases and for the album he recorded under the alias Makaveli which was released shortly after his death. Somewhere in the middle of the recording of these songs Dr. Dre decided to leave Death Row Records because he didn't like the unprofessional atmosphere going on at the company. The stories about the illegal and unprofessional behavior at the label are legendary and have been well documented. This left Tupac without a producer so Death Row had to get other producers to help finish the album. The album went on to sell and is still selling millions of copies to this day.
I don't attribute Tupac's rise to fame to anything other than a man who struggled most of his life, got dealt a few lousy hands, wanted desperately to rise above it all and have a better life.
In 1996 Dave Matthews released arguably their best album to date, Crash. It's my favorite DMB album.
Nas released the follow up to his critically acclaimed and brilliant first album, Illmatic.
The Spice Girls stormed upon the scene and became an inspiration to girls everywhere.
Snoop Dogg then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg released the follow up to his multi platinum album, Doggystyle. It was panned by critics and fans alike but time has treated it good and I think it's some of his best work.
Metallica released their first album since 1991's Metallica. It was both a critical and commercial disappointment.
Jay Z released his very first solo album, Reasonable Doubt which is heralded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.
Marilyn Manson caused a storm of controversy with the album, Antichrist Superstar.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.
1. Metallica - Until It Sleeps. - Metallica decided to go for a more mainstream Hard Rock approach on their first album in five years. This did not sit well with many fans. Their album "Load" was soon in the bargain bins at record stores. I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be. It's just very far removed from what fans expected at the time.
2. Metallica - King Nothing.
3. Metallica - Hero Of The Day.
4. Jay Z - Can't Knock The Hustle. - I love Jay Z's first album. It's always readily available for listen in my car.
5. Jay Z - Politics As Usual. - My favorite Jay Z song.
6. Jay Z - Dead Presidents II.
7. Jay Z - Aint No... feat. Foxy Brown. - This is another favorite of mine. I love how the chorus is an interpolation of the Four Tops tune "Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got."
8. Beck - Where It's At.
9. 2 Pac - How Do U Want It feat. Jodeci. - I love the background vocals by K-Ci and Jo Jo of Jodeci.
10. 2 Pac - 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted feat. Snoop Dogg.
11. 2 Pac - I Aint Mad At Cha. - The subject matter of this song deals with friends growing up and changing. In this song Tupac addresses a friend going straight and avoiding all the sins of street life.
12. 2 Pac - California Love feat. Dr. Dre. - The chorus contains an interpolation of "West Coast Poplock" by bass guitar legend Ronnie Hudson. I just love the fun atmosphere of this song. You could tell that Tupac was having fun. It's a shame that a version different than the original version wound up on the album. The original version is so much better. The chorus is sang by Roger of the famous funk and disco band Zapp.
13. 2 Pac - Hit Em Up. - I'm not a fan of this song which appeared as a B-Side on the "How Do U Want It" single. This was not the same Tupac who promoted unity on several previous songs.
I suspect Suge Knight was whispering in the ear of Tupac that Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Who Shot Ya?" had been directed towards Tupac after he had been shot several times in the lobby of an NYC recording studio in 1994 where Notorious B.I.G. was also recording at the same time.
Tupac released this battle rap which promotes violence and possibly tore the marriage apart between Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G. after Tupac's allegations that he slept with the former's wife. Suge Knight had problems with Notorious B.I.G. after comments made at the 1995 Source Awards. I will not go into detail as this is all widely publicized and if you don't know this story it's worth looking into.
Notorious B.I.G. never responded back with a battle rap of his own before his death, and I commend him for it.
When I heard this initially I felt that something was really wrong for a man who always had promoted unity to record something that did the exact opposite.
I had a much younger co-worker ask me recently about this so called east coast vs. west coast beef that lead to the deaths of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G., and which rapper I liked better. First of all no east coast vs. west coast beef is responsible for either of their deaths. It was an east coast record label feuding with a west coast record label. It was not one whole coast vs. another whole coast. That's ridiculous. I feel that both rappers are very different from each other and I never choose a side.
Notorious B.I.G. lived the street life, wrote about what he experienced, and how he was trying to live a more positive life through music. Whereas Tupac wrote about the grittiness of the injustices going on in poor communities, encouraged oppressed people to rise above, and make something better of their lives.
I don't have a favorite between the two. They were both great and it's very sad and tragic that both of their lives had been cut short by shooting deaths. I felt they were both role models to a lot of people and could have done a lot of good in bringing people together if they were still around.
14. Makaveli - Hail Mary. - This song is always listened to during my workouts almost 21 years after it's release.
15. Makaveli - Toss It Up.
16. Makaveli - To Live And Die In L.A.
17. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand. - This came out in 1994, but didn't gain popularity until 1996 after being used in an episode of The X Files, and in Wes Craven's 1996 box office smash, "Scream." I love this song and it led me to discover the album this song came from much later in life. The album "Let Love In" is so darn good. It's creepy and fun.
18. Republica - Ready To Go.
19. Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous.
20. Fugees - Ready Or Not. - This song samples a good chunk of the score from the movie "Sleepwalkers." It's just a great tune.
21. Fugees - Fu-Gee-La.
22. Fugees - Killing Me Softly With His Song. - This song showcases the great talent of Fugees member Lauryn Hill. I can't wait to get to my 1998 entry and talk about her solo album "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill." That album is the definition of perfect album.
23. Fugees - No Woman, No Cry.
24. Sublime - What I Got. - Sublime's Lead Singer Died of a Heroin Overdose before he got to see the band rise to fame. When this song was released in 1996 it became an instant smash and the album went five times platinum. I listened to this song and the album heavily during my last two years of high school.
25. Sublime - Santeria.
26. Sublime - Wrong Way.
27. Sublime - Doin' Time.
28. Nas - Street Dreams.
29. Nas - If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)
30. Lost Boyz - Renee. - This is a song about losing a loved one to street violence.
31. Lost Boyz - Music Makes Me High.
32. Lost Boyz - Jeeps, Lex, Coups, Bimaz & Benz.
33. Soundgarden - Blow Up The Outside World.
34. Soundgarden - Burden In My Hand.
35. Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade.
36. Rage Against The Machine - Down Rodeo.
37. The Roots - What They Do. - It's cool that these guys became the house band on "The Tonight Show." I remember buying this album, and my peers thought The Roots sucked. I obviously have a great ear for talent, and they didn't. This song pokes fun at all the cliches of hip hop at the time.
38. Cake - The Distance. - I love this weird little band that fused Jazz with alternative rock music. They're fun and don't take themselves to seriously.
39. Cake - I Will Survive.
40. Tonic - If You Could Only See. - I think this is one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
41. Tonic - Open Up Your Eyes.
42. Stone Temple Pilots. - Big Bang Baby.
43. Stone Temple Pilots - Lady Picture Show.
44. Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart.
45. Busta Rhymes - Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check. - I love the eccentricities of Busta Rhymes.
46. A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again.
47. A Tribe Called Quest - Stressed Out feat. Faith Evans.
48. MC Lyte - Keep On, Keepin' On (feat. Xscape). - This is another one of my workout songs.
49. MC Lyte. - Cold Rock A Party.
50. Lil Kim - Crush On You Remix feat. Lil Cease.
51. Lil Kim - Not Tonight (Ladies Nite) Remix feat. Left Eye, Da Brat, Angie Martinez, and Missy Elliot.
52. Spice Girls - Wannabe. - I didn't fully appreciate their contribution to music until the last five years or so. At the time I disliked most mainstream pop, but now that I'm older I can understand why they became as big as they did.
53. Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There.
54. Spice Girls - 2 become 1.
55. The Wallflowers - One Headlight.
56. The Wallflowers - 6th Avenue Heartache.
57. Redman - Whateva Man feat. Erick Sermon. - I love the music video for this song. It has Method Man and Redman acting out scenes from "The Blues Brothers."
58. Ghostface Killah - All That I Got Is You. - This is a beautiful song by the Wu Tang Clan member about growing up in poverty. It makes me cry a little every time I hear it.
59. Kris Kross - Tonite's Tha Night. - They were all grown up and released a grown up Hip Hop song. It's really good. I got this album for my 16th birthday.
60. Eazy E - Just Tah Let U Know.
61. Gin Blossoms - Follow You Down.
62. Local H - Bound For The Floor.
63. Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me. - One of the greatest love songs of all time.
64. Dave Matthews Band - Tripping Billies.
65. Dave Matthews Band - Too Much.
66. Nada Surf - Popular.
67. Quad City DJ's - C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)
68. Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth...
69. Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart.
70. Fiona Apple - Criminal.
71. Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream.
72. Alice In Chains - Over Now (MTV Unplugged.) - This came from my favorite MTV unplugged performance. I love the great laugh that the late great Layne Staley produces before they launch in to performing this.
73. Outkast - Elevators (Me & You).
74. Outkast - ATLiens.
75. John Mellencamp - Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First). - This to date is John Mellencamp's last really successful song. I love the laid back beach vibe it has. It's sad that he failed to connect with younger audiences beyond 1996. He's a great performer. Come on John! Crank out more memorable anthems for us!
76. The Wonders - That Thing You Do.
77. OMC - How Bizarre. - This song is so much fun.
78. Matchbox Twenty - 3AM. - Up until putting the playlist together for this blog I absolutely despised this band. I felt they were the worst band in the world. I even went on a date with a girl once that I really liked until she stated that Matchbox Twenty is her favorite band, and then I never pursued another date with her. That's how much I despised them.
Here we are 21 years later. My 37 year old self gives them another listen and I suddenly like them. What was wrong with me for so many years? They're good. Now I need to come up with another band for an answer when I get in to in depth music discussions and someone asks me my opinion on the worst band in the world.
79. Matchbox Twenty - Real World.
80. Matchbox Twenty - Push.
81. Ginuwine - Pony.
82. Korn - A.D.I.D.A.S. - This song isn't about shoes or clothing. I can't wait to see these guys for the first time next month at Rock On The Range.
83. Westside Connection - Bow Down.
84. Less Than Jake - Dopeman. - I love this Florida band. There have been several nights over the years where I've drunkenly belted out lyrics by them. Right now I'm thinking about how many times I've belted out "I'd rather sit back, just smoke cigarettes, be the one with the loudest mouth, be the most close minded" from the song "Sugar in your gas tank." I don't smoke cigarettes anymore, and I'm not close minded but I'm still the one with the loudest mouth.
Their drummer is one of the founders of Fueled By Ramen records who were responsible for releasing such acts as Fun, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, Twenty One Pilots, and Gym Class Heroes. One of my favorite bands in the world, Punchline, are also alumni of the label.
85. Snoop Dogg - Vapors.
86. Snoop Dogg - Snoop's Upside Ya Head.
87. The Clarks - Caroline. - They may have only endured regional success in and around Pittsburgh but a lot of their songs are a big part of my life. This is a great alternative pop rock song.
89. Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn. - The Chorus to this song is taken from the Rock Master Scott song "The Roof Is On Fire."
90. Blackstreet - No Diggity. - Another fun song from 1996.
91. Keith Sweat - Twisted. - I recently heard someone remark that the only time they listen to Keith Sweat is when they want to make babies. I guess Keith Sweat is now part of a new sub genre of music I'm dubbing called "conception R&B." I came up with it first.
92. Keith Sweat - Nobody. - I love slow jams.
93. En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love).
94. Counting Crows - A Long December.
95. Do Or Die - Po Pimp. - One of the first songs I bumped from the stereo of the dodge caravan when In got a license to drive.
96. Los Del Rio - Macarena (Basyside Boys Remix). - I still can't do the Macarena. I'm the worst dancer ever.
97. Boyz II Men feat. Mariah Carey - One Sweet Day.
98. Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me. - Big hit for Celine Dion, but her biggest hit didn't come until the following year. More on that in my 1997 blog. You're welcome for the tease.
99. Seven Mary Three - Cumbersome. - This is one of my go to karaoke songs. It just flat out rocks and puts my audience in a good mood.
100. The Cardigans - Lovefool.
101. Marilyn Manson -The Beautiful People. - The lyrics to this song can be applied to today's political atmosphere.
He's a genius song writer.
It's awesome that nobody since has been able to stir up the controversy and shock he generated in popular culture. His genius got overshadowed by image, but I'm not complaining. He scared the crap out of every middle class parent. Parent's feared their kids becoming a fan of his.
On second thought, the controversy he stirred up may have been pure marketing genius on his part because he made a lot of money from record sales. Kids like rebellion and stuff their parents forbid.
102. Marilyn Manson - Tourniquet.
103. Marilyn Manson - The Man That You Fear.
104. Spacehog - In The Meantime. - I've heard this song in so many movies, TV shows, and Commercials. I don't know any of the lyrics. I just know that amazing intro before the vocals kick in.
105. Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars.
106. Dog's Eye View - Everything Falls Apart.
107. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster
108. LL Cool J - Ain't Nobody.
109. Foxy Brown - Get Me Home.
110. Foxy Brown - I'll Be feat. Jay Z. - One of my favorite hip hop songs of all time. I had a crush on Foxy Brown at the time.
111. Jewel - You Were Meant For Me.
112. Jewel - Who Will Save Your Soul?
113. Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1997.
If you would like to read other entries in this series, click here.
This is the year I got my driver's license and would drive around town in my Mom's dodge caravan with the bass cranked up on the stereo, the window's down, blare hip hop music from the stereo so the whole neighborhood heard it, and think I was the coolest kid in the world. My 37 year old self now finds this lame as do the kids that see me when I'm in one of my rare moods and I'll blast Kendrick Lamar or Drake from my own car stereo. Don't judge me!
In late 1996 tragedy struck one of music's most beloved icons. Tupac Shakur was gunned down in a hail of bullets on the Las Vegas Strip. The murder still remains unsolved to this day.
At the beginning of the year Tupac released his album All Eyez On Me, and it propelled him to high levels of fame.
Some people say that his rise to fame was due in part to a legend of Robert Johnson and The Crossroads proportions. In this case he signed with Death Row Records upon his release from prison and some say he signed his soul over to The Devil a.k.a. Suge Knight (CEO of Death Row Records) to become the biggest rapper in the world.
I don't believe the legends surrounding his rise to fame and his death. I will only state the facts.
Upon his release from prison, Tupac went in to the studio with Dr. Dre as producer to record tracks for his Death Row Records debut All Eyez On Me. Tupac ended up spending hours upon hours in the studio and recorded well over 100 songs. Many of these songs ended up being used for posthumous releases and for the album he recorded under the alias Makaveli which was released shortly after his death. Somewhere in the middle of the recording of these songs Dr. Dre decided to leave Death Row Records because he didn't like the unprofessional atmosphere going on at the company. The stories about the illegal and unprofessional behavior at the label are legendary and have been well documented. This left Tupac without a producer so Death Row had to get other producers to help finish the album. The album went on to sell and is still selling millions of copies to this day.
I don't attribute Tupac's rise to fame to anything other than a man who struggled most of his life, got dealt a few lousy hands, wanted desperately to rise above it all and have a better life.
In 1996 Dave Matthews released arguably their best album to date, Crash. It's my favorite DMB album.
Nas released the follow up to his critically acclaimed and brilliant first album, Illmatic.
The Spice Girls stormed upon the scene and became an inspiration to girls everywhere.
Snoop Dogg then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg released the follow up to his multi platinum album, Doggystyle. It was panned by critics and fans alike but time has treated it good and I think it's some of his best work.
Metallica released their first album since 1991's Metallica. It was both a critical and commercial disappointment.
Jay Z released his very first solo album, Reasonable Doubt which is heralded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.
Marilyn Manson caused a storm of controversy with the album, Antichrist Superstar.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.
1. Metallica - Until It Sleeps. - Metallica decided to go for a more mainstream Hard Rock approach on their first album in five years. This did not sit well with many fans. Their album "Load" was soon in the bargain bins at record stores. I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be. It's just very far removed from what fans expected at the time.
2. Metallica - King Nothing.
3. Metallica - Hero Of The Day.
4. Jay Z - Can't Knock The Hustle. - I love Jay Z's first album. It's always readily available for listen in my car.
5. Jay Z - Politics As Usual. - My favorite Jay Z song.
6. Jay Z - Dead Presidents II.
7. Jay Z - Aint No... feat. Foxy Brown. - This is another favorite of mine. I love how the chorus is an interpolation of the Four Tops tune "Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got."
8. Beck - Where It's At.
9. 2 Pac - How Do U Want It feat. Jodeci. - I love the background vocals by K-Ci and Jo Jo of Jodeci.
10. 2 Pac - 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted feat. Snoop Dogg.
11. 2 Pac - I Aint Mad At Cha. - The subject matter of this song deals with friends growing up and changing. In this song Tupac addresses a friend going straight and avoiding all the sins of street life.
12. 2 Pac - California Love feat. Dr. Dre. - The chorus contains an interpolation of "West Coast Poplock" by bass guitar legend Ronnie Hudson. I just love the fun atmosphere of this song. You could tell that Tupac was having fun. It's a shame that a version different than the original version wound up on the album. The original version is so much better. The chorus is sang by Roger of the famous funk and disco band Zapp.
13. 2 Pac - Hit Em Up. - I'm not a fan of this song which appeared as a B-Side on the "How Do U Want It" single. This was not the same Tupac who promoted unity on several previous songs.
I suspect Suge Knight was whispering in the ear of Tupac that Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Who Shot Ya?" had been directed towards Tupac after he had been shot several times in the lobby of an NYC recording studio in 1994 where Notorious B.I.G. was also recording at the same time.
Tupac released this battle rap which promotes violence and possibly tore the marriage apart between Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G. after Tupac's allegations that he slept with the former's wife. Suge Knight had problems with Notorious B.I.G. after comments made at the 1995 Source Awards. I will not go into detail as this is all widely publicized and if you don't know this story it's worth looking into.
Notorious B.I.G. never responded back with a battle rap of his own before his death, and I commend him for it.
When I heard this initially I felt that something was really wrong for a man who always had promoted unity to record something that did the exact opposite.
I had a much younger co-worker ask me recently about this so called east coast vs. west coast beef that lead to the deaths of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G., and which rapper I liked better. First of all no east coast vs. west coast beef is responsible for either of their deaths. It was an east coast record label feuding with a west coast record label. It was not one whole coast vs. another whole coast. That's ridiculous. I feel that both rappers are very different from each other and I never choose a side.
Notorious B.I.G. lived the street life, wrote about what he experienced, and how he was trying to live a more positive life through music. Whereas Tupac wrote about the grittiness of the injustices going on in poor communities, encouraged oppressed people to rise above, and make something better of their lives.
I don't have a favorite between the two. They were both great and it's very sad and tragic that both of their lives had been cut short by shooting deaths. I felt they were both role models to a lot of people and could have done a lot of good in bringing people together if they were still around.
14. Makaveli - Hail Mary. - This song is always listened to during my workouts almost 21 years after it's release.
15. Makaveli - Toss It Up.
16. Makaveli - To Live And Die In L.A.
17. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand. - This came out in 1994, but didn't gain popularity until 1996 after being used in an episode of The X Files, and in Wes Craven's 1996 box office smash, "Scream." I love this song and it led me to discover the album this song came from much later in life. The album "Let Love In" is so darn good. It's creepy and fun.
18. Republica - Ready To Go.
19. Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous.
20. Fugees - Ready Or Not. - This song samples a good chunk of the score from the movie "Sleepwalkers." It's just a great tune.
21. Fugees - Fu-Gee-La.
22. Fugees - Killing Me Softly With His Song. - This song showcases the great talent of Fugees member Lauryn Hill. I can't wait to get to my 1998 entry and talk about her solo album "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill." That album is the definition of perfect album.
23. Fugees - No Woman, No Cry.
24. Sublime - What I Got. - Sublime's Lead Singer Died of a Heroin Overdose before he got to see the band rise to fame. When this song was released in 1996 it became an instant smash and the album went five times platinum. I listened to this song and the album heavily during my last two years of high school.
25. Sublime - Santeria.
26. Sublime - Wrong Way.
27. Sublime - Doin' Time.
28. Nas - Street Dreams.
29. Nas - If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)
30. Lost Boyz - Renee. - This is a song about losing a loved one to street violence.
31. Lost Boyz - Music Makes Me High.
32. Lost Boyz - Jeeps, Lex, Coups, Bimaz & Benz.
33. Soundgarden - Blow Up The Outside World.
34. Soundgarden - Burden In My Hand.
35. Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade.
36. Rage Against The Machine - Down Rodeo.
37. The Roots - What They Do. - It's cool that these guys became the house band on "The Tonight Show." I remember buying this album, and my peers thought The Roots sucked. I obviously have a great ear for talent, and they didn't. This song pokes fun at all the cliches of hip hop at the time.
38. Cake - The Distance. - I love this weird little band that fused Jazz with alternative rock music. They're fun and don't take themselves to seriously.
39. Cake - I Will Survive.
40. Tonic - If You Could Only See. - I think this is one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
41. Tonic - Open Up Your Eyes.
42. Stone Temple Pilots. - Big Bang Baby.
43. Stone Temple Pilots - Lady Picture Show.
44. Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart.
45. Busta Rhymes - Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check. - I love the eccentricities of Busta Rhymes.
46. A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again.
47. A Tribe Called Quest - Stressed Out feat. Faith Evans.
48. MC Lyte - Keep On, Keepin' On (feat. Xscape). - This is another one of my workout songs.
49. MC Lyte. - Cold Rock A Party.
50. Lil Kim - Crush On You Remix feat. Lil Cease.
51. Lil Kim - Not Tonight (Ladies Nite) Remix feat. Left Eye, Da Brat, Angie Martinez, and Missy Elliot.
52. Spice Girls - Wannabe. - I didn't fully appreciate their contribution to music until the last five years or so. At the time I disliked most mainstream pop, but now that I'm older I can understand why they became as big as they did.
53. Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There.
54. Spice Girls - 2 become 1.
55. The Wallflowers - One Headlight.
56. The Wallflowers - 6th Avenue Heartache.
57. Redman - Whateva Man feat. Erick Sermon. - I love the music video for this song. It has Method Man and Redman acting out scenes from "The Blues Brothers."
58. Ghostface Killah - All That I Got Is You. - This is a beautiful song by the Wu Tang Clan member about growing up in poverty. It makes me cry a little every time I hear it.
59. Kris Kross - Tonite's Tha Night. - They were all grown up and released a grown up Hip Hop song. It's really good. I got this album for my 16th birthday.
60. Eazy E - Just Tah Let U Know.
61. Gin Blossoms - Follow You Down.
62. Local H - Bound For The Floor.
63. Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me. - One of the greatest love songs of all time.
64. Dave Matthews Band - Tripping Billies.
65. Dave Matthews Band - Too Much.
66. Nada Surf - Popular.
67. Quad City DJ's - C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)
68. Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth...
69. Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart.
70. Fiona Apple - Criminal.
71. Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream.
72. Alice In Chains - Over Now (MTV Unplugged.) - This came from my favorite MTV unplugged performance. I love the great laugh that the late great Layne Staley produces before they launch in to performing this.
73. Outkast - Elevators (Me & You).
74. Outkast - ATLiens.
75. John Mellencamp - Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First). - This to date is John Mellencamp's last really successful song. I love the laid back beach vibe it has. It's sad that he failed to connect with younger audiences beyond 1996. He's a great performer. Come on John! Crank out more memorable anthems for us!
76. The Wonders - That Thing You Do.
77. OMC - How Bizarre. - This song is so much fun.
78. Matchbox Twenty - 3AM. - Up until putting the playlist together for this blog I absolutely despised this band. I felt they were the worst band in the world. I even went on a date with a girl once that I really liked until she stated that Matchbox Twenty is her favorite band, and then I never pursued another date with her. That's how much I despised them.
Here we are 21 years later. My 37 year old self gives them another listen and I suddenly like them. What was wrong with me for so many years? They're good. Now I need to come up with another band for an answer when I get in to in depth music discussions and someone asks me my opinion on the worst band in the world.
79. Matchbox Twenty - Real World.
80. Matchbox Twenty - Push.
81. Ginuwine - Pony.
82. Korn - A.D.I.D.A.S. - This song isn't about shoes or clothing. I can't wait to see these guys for the first time next month at Rock On The Range.
83. Westside Connection - Bow Down.
84. Less Than Jake - Dopeman. - I love this Florida band. There have been several nights over the years where I've drunkenly belted out lyrics by them. Right now I'm thinking about how many times I've belted out "I'd rather sit back, just smoke cigarettes, be the one with the loudest mouth, be the most close minded" from the song "Sugar in your gas tank." I don't smoke cigarettes anymore, and I'm not close minded but I'm still the one with the loudest mouth.
Their drummer is one of the founders of Fueled By Ramen records who were responsible for releasing such acts as Fun, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, Twenty One Pilots, and Gym Class Heroes. One of my favorite bands in the world, Punchline, are also alumni of the label.
85. Snoop Dogg - Vapors.
86. Snoop Dogg - Snoop's Upside Ya Head.
87. The Clarks - Caroline. - They may have only endured regional success in and around Pittsburgh but a lot of their songs are a big part of my life. This is a great alternative pop rock song.
89. Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn. - The Chorus to this song is taken from the Rock Master Scott song "The Roof Is On Fire."
90. Blackstreet - No Diggity. - Another fun song from 1996.
91. Keith Sweat - Twisted. - I recently heard someone remark that the only time they listen to Keith Sweat is when they want to make babies. I guess Keith Sweat is now part of a new sub genre of music I'm dubbing called "conception R&B." I came up with it first.
92. Keith Sweat - Nobody. - I love slow jams.
93. En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love).
94. Counting Crows - A Long December.
95. Do Or Die - Po Pimp. - One of the first songs I bumped from the stereo of the dodge caravan when In got a license to drive.
96. Los Del Rio - Macarena (Basyside Boys Remix). - I still can't do the Macarena. I'm the worst dancer ever.
97. Boyz II Men feat. Mariah Carey - One Sweet Day.
98. Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me. - Big hit for Celine Dion, but her biggest hit didn't come until the following year. More on that in my 1997 blog. You're welcome for the tease.
99. Seven Mary Three - Cumbersome. - This is one of my go to karaoke songs. It just flat out rocks and puts my audience in a good mood.
100. The Cardigans - Lovefool.
101. Marilyn Manson -The Beautiful People. - The lyrics to this song can be applied to today's political atmosphere.
He's a genius song writer.
It's awesome that nobody since has been able to stir up the controversy and shock he generated in popular culture. His genius got overshadowed by image, but I'm not complaining. He scared the crap out of every middle class parent. Parent's feared their kids becoming a fan of his.
On second thought, the controversy he stirred up may have been pure marketing genius on his part because he made a lot of money from record sales. Kids like rebellion and stuff their parents forbid.
102. Marilyn Manson - Tourniquet.
103. Marilyn Manson - The Man That You Fear.
104. Spacehog - In The Meantime. - I've heard this song in so many movies, TV shows, and Commercials. I don't know any of the lyrics. I just know that amazing intro before the vocals kick in.
105. Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars.
106. Dog's Eye View - Everything Falls Apart.
107. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster
108. LL Cool J - Ain't Nobody.
109. Foxy Brown - Get Me Home.
110. Foxy Brown - I'll Be feat. Jay Z. - One of my favorite hip hop songs of all time. I had a crush on Foxy Brown at the time.
111. Jewel - You Were Meant For Me.
112. Jewel - Who Will Save Your Soul?
113. Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1997.
If you would like to read other entries in this series, click here.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: Stuff I've been listening to.
Wow!
Has it really been almost two months since I've posted an entry in my blog series?
I guess it has. I don't really have an excuse as to why aside from life being busy.
Before I get around to the much awaited 1996 in music entry, I wanted to get something out there because finding the time for putting together playlists and trying to put myself back in 1996 to remember what I listened to at the time takes a lot of work. Then usually after I publish the blog entry there's usually an addendum to each one because other music that I didn't remember at the time of writing will pop into my head. Note to self: Make addendum to 1994 blog to include Eazy E.
I digress.
This entry serves as a guide to what I've been listening to lately. There is not a particular playlist for the entry, but I will provide links to the albums.
1. I really love the new Mastodon album Emperor Of Sand. I just got it on Friday, and it's been on heavy rotation in my car. I've been a fan of this Georgia band for a little over ten years, and they haven't made a bad album in my opinion. To the uninitiated, their style of music is heavy acid rock or heavy stoner rock. They get lumped in the metal category too, and I don't disagree because they do venture there.
The vocals are great, the melodies are great, and I feel I'm being taken on a journey to another world, or Mister Rodgers land of make believe with each song.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
2. One of my favorite bands in the world is a band called Punchline. They've been around for about 20 years, and I've been a fan for about 16 of those years. They have an amazing new song called Darkest Dark that features guest vocals by Matt Thiessen from the band Relient K. The latter band had my Album Of The Year pick in 2016.
This new song by Punchline was made available exclusively to contributors of their kickstarter campaign to make a 20th anniversary netflix special. I think it's the best song they've written yet. You can get it too by making a contribution to the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/punchline/help-punchline-make-a-netflix-special
Stream The Song: YouTube.
3. This is probably the oldest choice on my list. After reading Larry Livermore's book How To Ruin A Record Label: The Story Of Lookout Records I started listening to a lot of Green Day's older music along with several other bands that were on that label.
One of the Lookout Records bands that I've been enjoying a lot of lately is The Mr. T Experience or MTX for short. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Dr. Frank from the band during my college radio days.
Their 1995 album Love Is Dead is an amazing work of art. I think it's the ultimate Pop Punk album. It always makes me feel instantly happy after listening to it.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
4. The new album by Drake is solid from start to finish. It's called More Life.
I'm an old school hip hop guy through and through and I feel modern hip hop has been lacking talent, but guys like Drake, Mac Miller, and Big Sean give me hope.
Stream The Album: Spotify. Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
5. I bought an album 6 years ago by a band from the U.K. called Turbowolf. It's a shame that I didn't get around to listening to the full album until Yesterday when I was cleaning my shelves, found the CD and decided to throw it in.
I haven't been blown away by hearing anything rock music wise since the first time I heard Guns 'N' Roses. After hearing the 13 songs on the Turbowolf album my jaw dropped to the ground in awe. I found myself thinking why isn't this band a lot bigger? They should have started the next rock revolution. I now feel it's my personal crusade to tell everyone who will listen about this band.
They are darn good. They have two albums out. I haven't heard the second album yet, because I keep listening to the first album.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
6. Being from the great state of Pennsylvania I'll admit I knew nothing about the city of Scranton, Pa until I watched the American version of The Office. Dunder Mifflin isn't the only great thing to come from that city. In fact there is an amazing rock band called The Menzingers.
I've been listening to this band since 2010. They get better and better with each album. Their lyrics are poetic, and I can wholeheartedly relate to their latest effort After The Party. On it they sing about 20's being over and moving forward in life as an adult. The lyrics are really heartfelt and emotional. I love this band.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
7. Sometimes I discover music by watching movies. The movie Fist Fight introduced me to the music of Big Sean.
I love, love, love his latest album I Decided. He's a great talent in hip hop and has a great lyrical flow. I think he's as good as Eminem. The latter makes an appearance on the album.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1996 (I Promise).
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Has it really been almost two months since I've posted an entry in my blog series?
I guess it has. I don't really have an excuse as to why aside from life being busy.
Before I get around to the much awaited 1996 in music entry, I wanted to get something out there because finding the time for putting together playlists and trying to put myself back in 1996 to remember what I listened to at the time takes a lot of work. Then usually after I publish the blog entry there's usually an addendum to each one because other music that I didn't remember at the time of writing will pop into my head. Note to self: Make addendum to 1994 blog to include Eazy E.
I digress.
This entry serves as a guide to what I've been listening to lately. There is not a particular playlist for the entry, but I will provide links to the albums.
1. I really love the new Mastodon album Emperor Of Sand. I just got it on Friday, and it's been on heavy rotation in my car. I've been a fan of this Georgia band for a little over ten years, and they haven't made a bad album in my opinion. To the uninitiated, their style of music is heavy acid rock or heavy stoner rock. They get lumped in the metal category too, and I don't disagree because they do venture there.
The vocals are great, the melodies are great, and I feel I'm being taken on a journey to another world, or Mister Rodgers land of make believe with each song.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
2. One of my favorite bands in the world is a band called Punchline. They've been around for about 20 years, and I've been a fan for about 16 of those years. They have an amazing new song called Darkest Dark that features guest vocals by Matt Thiessen from the band Relient K. The latter band had my Album Of The Year pick in 2016.
This new song by Punchline was made available exclusively to contributors of their kickstarter campaign to make a 20th anniversary netflix special. I think it's the best song they've written yet. You can get it too by making a contribution to the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/punchline/help-punchline-make-a-netflix-special
Stream The Song: YouTube.
3. This is probably the oldest choice on my list. After reading Larry Livermore's book How To Ruin A Record Label: The Story Of Lookout Records I started listening to a lot of Green Day's older music along with several other bands that were on that label.
One of the Lookout Records bands that I've been enjoying a lot of lately is The Mr. T Experience or MTX for short. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Dr. Frank from the band during my college radio days.
Their 1995 album Love Is Dead is an amazing work of art. I think it's the ultimate Pop Punk album. It always makes me feel instantly happy after listening to it.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
4. The new album by Drake is solid from start to finish. It's called More Life.
I'm an old school hip hop guy through and through and I feel modern hip hop has been lacking talent, but guys like Drake, Mac Miller, and Big Sean give me hope.
Stream The Album: Spotify. Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
5. I bought an album 6 years ago by a band from the U.K. called Turbowolf. It's a shame that I didn't get around to listening to the full album until Yesterday when I was cleaning my shelves, found the CD and decided to throw it in.
I haven't been blown away by hearing anything rock music wise since the first time I heard Guns 'N' Roses. After hearing the 13 songs on the Turbowolf album my jaw dropped to the ground in awe. I found myself thinking why isn't this band a lot bigger? They should have started the next rock revolution. I now feel it's my personal crusade to tell everyone who will listen about this band.
They are darn good. They have two albums out. I haven't heard the second album yet, because I keep listening to the first album.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
6. Being from the great state of Pennsylvania I'll admit I knew nothing about the city of Scranton, Pa until I watched the American version of The Office. Dunder Mifflin isn't the only great thing to come from that city. In fact there is an amazing rock band called The Menzingers.
I've been listening to this band since 2010. They get better and better with each album. Their lyrics are poetic, and I can wholeheartedly relate to their latest effort After The Party. On it they sing about 20's being over and moving forward in life as an adult. The lyrics are really heartfelt and emotional. I love this band.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
7. Sometimes I discover music by watching movies. The movie Fist Fight introduced me to the music of Big Sean.
I love, love, love his latest album I Decided. He's a great talent in hip hop and has a great lyrical flow. I think he's as good as Eminem. The latter makes an appearance on the album.
Stream The Album: Spotify, Apple Music. Buy The Album: Amazon.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1996 (I Promise).
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: AC/DC
I didn't discover AC/DC until age 6, and I never really dug that deeply into their catalog until my late 20's. When epic records reissued their catalog in the 2000's I bought every single album. It is the smartest musical purchase I've ever made in my life. Up until that point I would tell people that 311 is my favorite band. That was until I listened to all the AC/DC albums, and I instantly had a new favorite band.
I love the no holds barred approach to their songwriting. With AC/DC you know exactly what you're getting. Nothing More and Nothing Less. Just straight forward Rock N' Roll.
I think they are the greatest Rock N' Roll band of all time. It's an opinion that I'm sticking to, and I hope to persuade those of you who check out the companion playlist I've provided.
I had a chance to catch them live this past September with Axl Rose fronting the band. They are the loudest band I have ever seen live. They were so loud in fact that I couldn't make it all the way through the concert. I think if I had seen them at an outdoor venue vs. an indoor venue I would have made it the full way through, but there were other circumstances going on in my personal life at the time as well that made it darn near impossible to enjoy anything. I'm hoping for an AC/DC do-over in the future.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On to the playlist:
1. Jailbreak.
2. Baby, Please Don't Go. - This is their cover of the Big Joe Williams song. I think the AC/DC and John Lee Hooker versions are the two best. They really capture the spirit of the song.
3. T.N.T. - I'm Dynamite.
4. Live Wire.
5. It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll). - This song has bagpipes in it.
6. School Days. - This is their cover of the Chuck Berry classic. If you watch guitarist Angus Young on stage he borrowed a lot of his moves and his style of playing from Chuck Berry.
7. High Voltage.
8. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
9. Big Balls. - This song is both dirty and silly.
10. Problem Child.
11. Ride On.
12. Crabsody in Blue.
13. Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be (Live From The Atlantic Studios).
14. Let There Be Rock. - The song that tells the story about the genesis of Rock N' Roll.
15. Whole Lotta Rosie.
16. Rock N' Roll Damnation. - The first song on my favorite AC/DC album, "Powerage".
17. Riff Raff.
18. Sin City.
19. Kicked In The Teeth.
20. Back Seat Confidential. - This demo is an early blueprint of what would become "Beating Around The Bush." While they both sound very similar to each other I like both this demo and the song it turned into.
21. Highway To Hell.
22. Girls Got Rhythm.
23. Beating Around The Bush.
24. Shot Down In Flames.
25. If You Want Blood (You've Got It). - When AC/DC played this live I danced and sang along at the top of my lungs.
26. What Do You Do For Money Honey?
27. Hells Bells.
28. Givin' The Dog A Bone.
29. Shoot To Thrill.
30. Back In Black.
31. You Shook Me All Night Long.
32. Have A Drink On Me.
33. Rock N' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution.
34. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).
35. I Put The Finger On You.
36. Let's Get It Up.
37. Snowballed.
38. Guns For Hire.
39. Landslide.
40. Shake Your Foundations.
41. Sink The Pink.
42. Who Made Who.
43. Heatseeker. - Very Cool Song.
44. That's The Way I Want To Rock N' Roll.
45. Borrowed Time.
46. Thunderstruck. - One of the greatest guitar riffs ever.
47. Moneytalks.
48. Mistress For Christmas.
49. Are You Ready?
50. Shot Of Love.
51. Big Gun. - Recorded for the movie "Last Action Hero." Great Soundtrack. Terrible Movie.
52. Hard As A Rock.
53. Stiff Upper Lip.
54. Rock N' Roll Train.
55. War Machine.
56. Anything Goes.
57. Play Ball.
58. Baptism By Fire. - This song just flat out rocks.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1996
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
I love the no holds barred approach to their songwriting. With AC/DC you know exactly what you're getting. Nothing More and Nothing Less. Just straight forward Rock N' Roll.
I think they are the greatest Rock N' Roll band of all time. It's an opinion that I'm sticking to, and I hope to persuade those of you who check out the companion playlist I've provided.
I had a chance to catch them live this past September with Axl Rose fronting the band. They are the loudest band I have ever seen live. They were so loud in fact that I couldn't make it all the way through the concert. I think if I had seen them at an outdoor venue vs. an indoor venue I would have made it the full way through, but there were other circumstances going on in my personal life at the time as well that made it darn near impossible to enjoy anything. I'm hoping for an AC/DC do-over in the future.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On to the playlist:
1. Jailbreak.
2. Baby, Please Don't Go. - This is their cover of the Big Joe Williams song. I think the AC/DC and John Lee Hooker versions are the two best. They really capture the spirit of the song.
3. T.N.T. - I'm Dynamite.
4. Live Wire.
5. It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll). - This song has bagpipes in it.
6. School Days. - This is their cover of the Chuck Berry classic. If you watch guitarist Angus Young on stage he borrowed a lot of his moves and his style of playing from Chuck Berry.
7. High Voltage.
8. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
9. Big Balls. - This song is both dirty and silly.
10. Problem Child.
11. Ride On.
12. Crabsody in Blue.
13. Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be (Live From The Atlantic Studios).
14. Let There Be Rock. - The song that tells the story about the genesis of Rock N' Roll.
15. Whole Lotta Rosie.
16. Rock N' Roll Damnation. - The first song on my favorite AC/DC album, "Powerage".
17. Riff Raff.
18. Sin City.
19. Kicked In The Teeth.
20. Back Seat Confidential. - This demo is an early blueprint of what would become "Beating Around The Bush." While they both sound very similar to each other I like both this demo and the song it turned into.
21. Highway To Hell.
22. Girls Got Rhythm.
23. Beating Around The Bush.
24. Shot Down In Flames.
25. If You Want Blood (You've Got It). - When AC/DC played this live I danced and sang along at the top of my lungs.
26. What Do You Do For Money Honey?
27. Hells Bells.
28. Givin' The Dog A Bone.
29. Shoot To Thrill.
30. Back In Black.
31. You Shook Me All Night Long.
32. Have A Drink On Me.
33. Rock N' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution.
34. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).
35. I Put The Finger On You.
36. Let's Get It Up.
37. Snowballed.
38. Guns For Hire.
39. Landslide.
40. Shake Your Foundations.
41. Sink The Pink.
42. Who Made Who.
43. Heatseeker. - Very Cool Song.
44. That's The Way I Want To Rock N' Roll.
45. Borrowed Time.
46. Thunderstruck. - One of the greatest guitar riffs ever.
47. Moneytalks.
48. Mistress For Christmas.
49. Are You Ready?
50. Shot Of Love.
51. Big Gun. - Recorded for the movie "Last Action Hero." Great Soundtrack. Terrible Movie.
52. Hard As A Rock.
53. Stiff Upper Lip.
54. Rock N' Roll Train.
55. War Machine.
56. Anything Goes.
57. Play Ball.
58. Baptism By Fire. - This song just flat out rocks.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: 1996
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: 1995
As with 1994 I've decided to include a list of essential albums before getting to the heart of my playlist.
Here's the list of essential albums:
Weezer - The Blue Album.
TLC - Crazysexycool.
2 Pac - Me Against The World.
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999.
Goodie Mob - Soul Food.
Cypress Hill - III (Temples Of Boom).
Live - Throwing Copper.
Archers Of Loaf - Icky Mettle.
Mallrats Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Clueless Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Everclear - Sparkle And Fade.
Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves.
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill.
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
LL Cool J - Mr. Smith.
Now that you have a list of essentials it's time to move on to the songs that I feel represent 1995.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
1. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Murder Was The Case (Remix).
2. Veruca Salt - Seether. - A friend once told me that he "never saw any chicks rock as hard as Veruca Salt did" when he saw them live.
3. Weezer - Buddy Holly. - The cool music video for this song turned this Los Angeles band in to overnight sensations.
4. Weezer - Say It Ain't So.
5. Weezer - Undone (The Sweater Song).
6. Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot.
7. Foo Fighters - I'll Stick Around. - When this came out this band was known as "that drummer from Nirvana's band." Luckily by the next album they proved that they were a force to be reckoned with and "The Foo Fighters" are still very successful 22 years later. Dave is one of the best songwriters in the world.
8. Foo Fighters - Big Me.
9. Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise. - This song spent a lot of time in the #1 spot on many top ten countdowns for the late summer and fall of 1995 and, a good chunk of 1996.
10. Coolio - Too Hot.
11. Coolio - 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) (Remix).
12. Coolio - Rollin' With My Homies.
13. TLC - Creep. - I had the biggest crush on these three ladies thanks to the hot music video for this song.
14. TLC - Diggin' On You.
15. TLC - Red Light Special.
16. TLC - Waterfalls. - I still listen to this song. It's one of the greatest songs ever written.
17. Montell Jordan - Somethin' 4 Da Honeyz.
18. Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It.
19. Monica - Don't Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days).
20. Des'ree - You Gotta Be.
21. Ini Kamoze - Here Comes The Hot Stepper. - "I'm the lyrical gangsta. Murdera."
22. K7 - Come Baby Come.
23. Janet Jackson - Runaway.
24. Luniz - I Got 5 On It. - This song about smoking that sticky icky smelly green stuff became a big hit for this California Bay Area hip hop group. Sadly this song, and the remix were the only two hits for this group.
25. Dr. Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin'. - Dr. Dre is one of the best producers ever, and all his hip hop stuff is top notch too. I remember a friend calling me one day to tell me got this album called "Friday" and there's a new Dr. Dre song on it. I immediately rode my bike over and listened. Little did I know that this "Friday" album was the soundtrack to what became the best comedy of 1995, and that a line from it ; "Bye Felicia." still gets said to this day in our culture.
26. 2 Pac - Me Against The World. - The title song off of Tupac's best album.
27. 2 Pac - Dear Mama.
28. Skee Lo - I Wish.
29. Subway Feat. 702 - This Lil' Game We Play. - One of many great slow jams to come out in the 1990's.
30. Junior M.A.F.I.A. - Players Anthem. - This song introduced Lil' Kim to the world, and it's another stellar song featuring Notorious B.I.G.
31. Junior M.A.F.I.A. - Get Money.
32. Naughty By Nature - Feel Me Flow.
33. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar. - The title song off of one of the greatest Jazz/Blues albums ever.
34. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999.
35. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads. - Big hit for this Cleveland, Ohio group.
36. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Tha Month.
37. Better Than Ezra - Good.
38. Better Than Ezra - In The Blood.
39. Firehouse - I Live My Life For You. - The only band from the so called "Hair Bands" to have a hit beyond 1992.
40. Soul Asylum - Misery. - This song is very personal to me. It was used many years later to close out the Kevin Smith film "Clerks II."
41. Adina Howard - Freak Like Me.
42. Goodie Mob - Cell Therapy. - Their album "Soul Food" that this song came from spent a lot of time in my tape deck in 1995. Cee Lo Green, one of the members of this Atlanta, Georgia group is still very successful to this day.
43. Goodie Mob - Soul Food.
44. Too $hort - Cocktales. - My first introduction to this Bay Area rapper came from this song. Too $hort is a lyrical genius at rhyming. He seriously has great command of the English language.
45. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya.
46. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Brooklyn Zoo.
47. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II.
48. Mobb Deep - Survival Of The Fittest.
49. Raekwon - Ice Cream.
50. Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces. - One of the best beats of all time.
51. Kool G Rap - Fast Life. - I heard this thanks to my habit of watching Rap City every day after school. I wore out the cassette tape from playing this song so much.
52. WC And The Madd Circle - West Up. - This is the first "Westside Connection" song. It's the first time WC, Ice Cube and Mack 10 collaborated together, and then they went on to form the latter group together. Coolio was a member of the Madd Circle before going solo and having lots of success.
53. Cypress Hill - Illusions.
54. Cypress Hill - Throw Your Set In The Air.
55. Tha Dogg Pound - Let's Play House.
56. Tha Dogg Pound - New York, New York. - This song is allegedly responsible for sparking the so called "East Coast vs. West Coast beef" in hip hop. I think Journalists are responsible for making a "feud" when there really wasn't one. A lot of people believe it resulted in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. but I believe it boils down to police corruption, gang members, and a very shady record label executive that had ties to corrupt police officers, and feuds with rival gang members.
57. Tha Dogg Pound - Smooth.
58. The Pharcyde - Runnin'.
59. The Pharcyde - Drop. - This song samples a part of the Beastie Boys song "The New Style." However it's not credited on the album. I do read liner notes.
60. LL Cool J feat. Boyz II Men - Hey Lover. - This comes from LL Cool J's best album. I was very excited to find this album under the Christmas Tree in 1995.
61. LL Cool J - I Shot Ya (Remix).
62. LL Cool J - Doin' It.
63. LL Cool J feat. Total - Loungin' (Who Do Ya Luv).
64. Live - Selling The Drama.
65. Live - I Alone.
66. Live - Lightning Crashes.
67. Live - All Over You.
68. Silverchair - Tomorrow.
69. AC/DC - Hard As A Rock.
70. The Goo Goo Dolls - Name.
71. The Goo Goo Dolls - Ain't That Unusual.
72. Van Halen - Can't Stop Lovin' You.
73. Van Halen - Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do.)
74. Joan Osborne - One Of Us. - The song that made us think "What if God was one of us?"
75. Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way.
76. 311 - Down. - This was my introduction to this Omaha, Nebraska band. I saw them in concert two years later, and became a big time fan.
77. 311 - All Mixed Up.
78. Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends.
79. Elastica - Connection.
80. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Lump. - I think they should make a new version of this song and call it "Trump."
81. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches. - Relatives from California that would come to visit would always sing the chorus from this song.
82. Alice In Chains - Grind.
83. Alice In Chains - Heaven Beside You.
84. Alice In Chains - Again.
85. Face To Face - Disconnected. - This is one of the most iconic Punk Rock songs of all time.
86. The Muffs - Kids In America.
87. Jill Sobule - Supermodel. - One of the many amazing songs on The Clueless soundtrack.
88. Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl. - She did it way before Katy Perry.
89. Archers Of Loaf - Web In Front. - This song makes absolutely no sense but it sounds good. I think this band focused on songs that sounded good, and they didn't care if you could understand the lyrics or if they made sense. I still listen to their album "Icky Mettle" heavily to this day.
90. White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven.
91. White Zombie - More Human Than Human.
92. Mad Season - River Of Deceit. - I think the late great Layne Stayley's pain comes through clearly on this song. Heroin Addiction is a nasty thing.
93. Everclear - Santa Monica.
94. Rancid - Ruby Soho. - If you haven't heard their album "...And Out Come The Wolves", you have seriously been missing out. If anyone says they don't like Punk Rock, I'll hand them a copy of this album. It's a game changer.
95. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know. - Alanis Morrisette's album "Jagged Little Pill" is one of the greatest albums of all time.
96. Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket.
97. Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet.
98. Alanis Morissette - Ironic.
99. Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You.
100. The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight. - I love, love, love The Smashing Pumpkins.
101. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero.
102. The Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings.
103. The Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three.
104. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979. - This is one of the most iconic songs of all time.
105. Oasis - Wonderwall. - I've heard a lot of music critics hail Oasis as The Beatles of our time. I'm sorry. I don't feel they are even good enough to be The Beatles of our time, and I'm far from amused about the on stage antics and infighting among the Gallagher Brothers. If you can't get along on stage you probably shouldn't be in a band.
106. Oasis - Champagne Supernova.
107. Blahzay Blahzay - Danger. - One of the many gems I discovered as a result of watching Rap City.
108. DJ Kool - Let Me Clear My Throat.
109. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube - Natural Born Killaz.
110. Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This). - The imagery of his first album may not have been shocking enough to make him the most hated man in America, but when he released this music video for his cover of this Eurythmics song people started to pay attention. For the remainder of the 1990's his concerts were heavily protested by religious groups, and every tragedy in the world got blamed on him. When he released his second album in 1996 he was launched into icon status. He's a very visual artist and his image was very controversial, but I feel if people had listened to the lyrics they would've found a genius.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: AC/DC
111. Green Day - Geek Stink Breath.
112. Green Day - Brain Stew.
113. Green Day - Walking Contradiction - This is my favorite song on Green Day's 4th album.
114. No Doubt - Spiderwebs.
115. No Doubt - Just A Girl.
116. No Doubt - Don't Speak.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Here's the list of essential albums:
Weezer - The Blue Album.
TLC - Crazysexycool.
2 Pac - Me Against The World.
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999.
Goodie Mob - Soul Food.
Cypress Hill - III (Temples Of Boom).
Live - Throwing Copper.
Archers Of Loaf - Icky Mettle.
Mallrats Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Clueless Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Everclear - Sparkle And Fade.
Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves.
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill.
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
LL Cool J - Mr. Smith.
Now that you have a list of essentials it's time to move on to the songs that I feel represent 1995.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
1. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Murder Was The Case (Remix).
2. Veruca Salt - Seether. - A friend once told me that he "never saw any chicks rock as hard as Veruca Salt did" when he saw them live.
3. Weezer - Buddy Holly. - The cool music video for this song turned this Los Angeles band in to overnight sensations.
4. Weezer - Say It Ain't So.
5. Weezer - Undone (The Sweater Song).
6. Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot.
7. Foo Fighters - I'll Stick Around. - When this came out this band was known as "that drummer from Nirvana's band." Luckily by the next album they proved that they were a force to be reckoned with and "The Foo Fighters" are still very successful 22 years later. Dave is one of the best songwriters in the world.
8. Foo Fighters - Big Me.
9. Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise. - This song spent a lot of time in the #1 spot on many top ten countdowns for the late summer and fall of 1995 and, a good chunk of 1996.
10. Coolio - Too Hot.
11. Coolio - 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) (Remix).
12. Coolio - Rollin' With My Homies.
13. TLC - Creep. - I had the biggest crush on these three ladies thanks to the hot music video for this song.
14. TLC - Diggin' On You.
15. TLC - Red Light Special.
16. TLC - Waterfalls. - I still listen to this song. It's one of the greatest songs ever written.
17. Montell Jordan - Somethin' 4 Da Honeyz.
18. Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It.
19. Monica - Don't Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days).
20. Des'ree - You Gotta Be.
21. Ini Kamoze - Here Comes The Hot Stepper. - "I'm the lyrical gangsta. Murdera."
22. K7 - Come Baby Come.
23. Janet Jackson - Runaway.
24. Luniz - I Got 5 On It. - This song about smoking that sticky icky smelly green stuff became a big hit for this California Bay Area hip hop group. Sadly this song, and the remix were the only two hits for this group.
25. Dr. Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin'. - Dr. Dre is one of the best producers ever, and all his hip hop stuff is top notch too. I remember a friend calling me one day to tell me got this album called "Friday" and there's a new Dr. Dre song on it. I immediately rode my bike over and listened. Little did I know that this "Friday" album was the soundtrack to what became the best comedy of 1995, and that a line from it ; "Bye Felicia." still gets said to this day in our culture.
26. 2 Pac - Me Against The World. - The title song off of Tupac's best album.
27. 2 Pac - Dear Mama.
28. Skee Lo - I Wish.
29. Subway Feat. 702 - This Lil' Game We Play. - One of many great slow jams to come out in the 1990's.
30. Junior M.A.F.I.A. - Players Anthem. - This song introduced Lil' Kim to the world, and it's another stellar song featuring Notorious B.I.G.
31. Junior M.A.F.I.A. - Get Money.
32. Naughty By Nature - Feel Me Flow.
33. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar. - The title song off of one of the greatest Jazz/Blues albums ever.
34. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999.
35. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads. - Big hit for this Cleveland, Ohio group.
36. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Tha Month.
37. Better Than Ezra - Good.
38. Better Than Ezra - In The Blood.
39. Firehouse - I Live My Life For You. - The only band from the so called "Hair Bands" to have a hit beyond 1992.
40. Soul Asylum - Misery. - This song is very personal to me. It was used many years later to close out the Kevin Smith film "Clerks II."
41. Adina Howard - Freak Like Me.
42. Goodie Mob - Cell Therapy. - Their album "Soul Food" that this song came from spent a lot of time in my tape deck in 1995. Cee Lo Green, one of the members of this Atlanta, Georgia group is still very successful to this day.
43. Goodie Mob - Soul Food.
44. Too $hort - Cocktales. - My first introduction to this Bay Area rapper came from this song. Too $hort is a lyrical genius at rhyming. He seriously has great command of the English language.
45. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya.
46. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Brooklyn Zoo.
47. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II.
48. Mobb Deep - Survival Of The Fittest.
49. Raekwon - Ice Cream.
50. Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces. - One of the best beats of all time.
51. Kool G Rap - Fast Life. - I heard this thanks to my habit of watching Rap City every day after school. I wore out the cassette tape from playing this song so much.
52. WC And The Madd Circle - West Up. - This is the first "Westside Connection" song. It's the first time WC, Ice Cube and Mack 10 collaborated together, and then they went on to form the latter group together. Coolio was a member of the Madd Circle before going solo and having lots of success.
53. Cypress Hill - Illusions.
54. Cypress Hill - Throw Your Set In The Air.
55. Tha Dogg Pound - Let's Play House.
56. Tha Dogg Pound - New York, New York. - This song is allegedly responsible for sparking the so called "East Coast vs. West Coast beef" in hip hop. I think Journalists are responsible for making a "feud" when there really wasn't one. A lot of people believe it resulted in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. but I believe it boils down to police corruption, gang members, and a very shady record label executive that had ties to corrupt police officers, and feuds with rival gang members.
57. Tha Dogg Pound - Smooth.
58. The Pharcyde - Runnin'.
59. The Pharcyde - Drop. - This song samples a part of the Beastie Boys song "The New Style." However it's not credited on the album. I do read liner notes.
60. LL Cool J feat. Boyz II Men - Hey Lover. - This comes from LL Cool J's best album. I was very excited to find this album under the Christmas Tree in 1995.
61. LL Cool J - I Shot Ya (Remix).
62. LL Cool J - Doin' It.
63. LL Cool J feat. Total - Loungin' (Who Do Ya Luv).
64. Live - Selling The Drama.
65. Live - I Alone.
66. Live - Lightning Crashes.
67. Live - All Over You.
68. Silverchair - Tomorrow.
69. AC/DC - Hard As A Rock.
70. The Goo Goo Dolls - Name.
71. The Goo Goo Dolls - Ain't That Unusual.
72. Van Halen - Can't Stop Lovin' You.
73. Van Halen - Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do.)
74. Joan Osborne - One Of Us. - The song that made us think "What if God was one of us?"
75. Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way.
76. 311 - Down. - This was my introduction to this Omaha, Nebraska band. I saw them in concert two years later, and became a big time fan.
77. 311 - All Mixed Up.
78. Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends.
79. Elastica - Connection.
80. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Lump. - I think they should make a new version of this song and call it "Trump."
81. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches. - Relatives from California that would come to visit would always sing the chorus from this song.
82. Alice In Chains - Grind.
83. Alice In Chains - Heaven Beside You.
84. Alice In Chains - Again.
85. Face To Face - Disconnected. - This is one of the most iconic Punk Rock songs of all time.
86. The Muffs - Kids In America.
87. Jill Sobule - Supermodel. - One of the many amazing songs on The Clueless soundtrack.
88. Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl. - She did it way before Katy Perry.
89. Archers Of Loaf - Web In Front. - This song makes absolutely no sense but it sounds good. I think this band focused on songs that sounded good, and they didn't care if you could understand the lyrics or if they made sense. I still listen to their album "Icky Mettle" heavily to this day.
90. White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven.
91. White Zombie - More Human Than Human.
92. Mad Season - River Of Deceit. - I think the late great Layne Stayley's pain comes through clearly on this song. Heroin Addiction is a nasty thing.
93. Everclear - Santa Monica.
94. Rancid - Ruby Soho. - If you haven't heard their album "...And Out Come The Wolves", you have seriously been missing out. If anyone says they don't like Punk Rock, I'll hand them a copy of this album. It's a game changer.
95. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know. - Alanis Morrisette's album "Jagged Little Pill" is one of the greatest albums of all time.
96. Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket.
97. Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet.
98. Alanis Morissette - Ironic.
99. Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You.
100. The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight. - I love, love, love The Smashing Pumpkins.
101. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero.
102. The Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings.
103. The Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three.
104. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979. - This is one of the most iconic songs of all time.
105. Oasis - Wonderwall. - I've heard a lot of music critics hail Oasis as The Beatles of our time. I'm sorry. I don't feel they are even good enough to be The Beatles of our time, and I'm far from amused about the on stage antics and infighting among the Gallagher Brothers. If you can't get along on stage you probably shouldn't be in a band.
106. Oasis - Champagne Supernova.
107. Blahzay Blahzay - Danger. - One of the many gems I discovered as a result of watching Rap City.
108. DJ Kool - Let Me Clear My Throat.
109. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube - Natural Born Killaz.
110. Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This). - The imagery of his first album may not have been shocking enough to make him the most hated man in America, but when he released this music video for his cover of this Eurythmics song people started to pay attention. For the remainder of the 1990's his concerts were heavily protested by religious groups, and every tragedy in the world got blamed on him. When he released his second album in 1996 he was launched into icon status. He's a very visual artist and his image was very controversial, but I feel if people had listened to the lyrics they would've found a genius.
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: AC/DC
111. Green Day - Geek Stink Breath.
112. Green Day - Brain Stew.
113. Green Day - Walking Contradiction - This is my favorite song on Green Day's 4th album.
114. No Doubt - Spiderwebs.
115. No Doubt - Just A Girl.
116. No Doubt - Don't Speak.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
Friday, January 27, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: 1994
There's one thing different in this entry from previous entries. While I was compiling the playlist for this entry I noticed that it spanned over 200 songs and I wanted to bring that number down a bit. I was able to narrow the playlist down to 115 songs. I did away with deep album cuts in this entry and mainly stuck with singles and hits.
In 1994 there were albums that are solid from start to finish, and I feel they are essential to any serious music collector. So instead of listing every album track I decided to give a list of those essential albums before diving into the heart of my playlist. Here's the list of the essentials:
Nas - Illmatic.
Above The Rim - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die.
Nirvana - Unplugged In New York.
Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies.
Green Day - Dookie.
Hootie And The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View.
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Now that you have a list of essentials it's time to move on to the songs that I feel represent 1994.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On To The Playlist...
1. SWV - Anything Remix - This is a great song from a great movie soundtrack.
2. Nate Dogg And Warren G - Regulate. - This gangsta rap song became a huge hit for the late great Nate Dogg, and Dr. Dre's half brother Warren G.
3. The Lady Of Rage - Afro Puffs.
4. Beastie Boys - Root Down.
5. Beastie Boys - Sure Shot.
6. Beastie Boys - Sabotage. - I heard someone make the asinine statement around the time this came out that they didn't like the Beastie Boys anymore because they were "too rap and not as rock as they used to be." I'm not sure if that person was referring to their underground hard core punk days when nobody knew who they were, or the very much hip hop sound that they stuck with since their debut album "Licensed to Ill." This song is the most rock sounding song they made since their hardcore punk days.
7. All-4-One - So Much In Love.
8. All-4-One - I Swear.
9. Boyz II Men - I'll Make Love To You. - Their second album sold even more copies than their first.
10. Boyz II Men - On Bended Knee.
11. Boyz II Men - Water Runs Dry.
12. Boyz II Men - Yesterday. - This is a great example of a great cover of a Beatles song. The Acapella four part harmonies are great.
13. Boyz II Men - Vibin' Remix.
14. Lisa Loeb - Stay (I Missed You). - I love this song. I feel it's one of the greatest pop songs ever written. If it comes on in the car I sing loudly to it.
15. 2 pac - Pain. - This is one of many great songs written by 2 pac. It's almost impossible to track down now unless you own the cassette version of the Above The Rim soundtrack, or the EP "Music from Above The Rim". I've seen the latter go for very high prices on ebay. I don't know why it wasn't given an official spot on the CD version of the soundtrack. I felt it could easily replace the most skipped track on that album by the artist Jewell, but unfortunately Death Row Records who put the soundtrack out wanted to showcase their roster of artists. Oddly enough 2 pac was signed to Death Row a couple years later.
16. R. Kelly - Bump N' Grind.
17. Madonna - Human Nature.
18. Madonna - Take A Bow.
19. Salt N' Pepa - Whatta Man.
20. Salt N' Pepa - None Of Your Business.
21. Salt N' Pepa - Shoop.
22. John Mellencamp - Wild Night.
23. Elton John - Can You Feel The Love Tonight.
24. Elton John - Circle Of Life.
25. Coolio - Fantastic Voyage. - This is a great song about getting away from the crime ridden streets of South Central L.A. It's sad that most people don't remember Coolio's early success because his song "Gangsta's Paradise" became such a massive hit that people often forget or overlook his other work.
26. Coolio - I Remember.
27. Big Mountain - Baby, I Love Your Way.
28. Aaliyah - Back And Forth. - I love the late great Aaliyah.
29. Enigma - Return To Innocence.
30. Enigma - Sadeness.
31. Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do.
32. Crash Test Dummies. - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.
33. Da Brat - Funkdafied. - Da Brat didn't do anything all that unique or different from the other hip hop artists of the time, but she made some amazing tunes. I hate that she was given flack for dressing in male clothing by her peers at the time. I respect her for being herself regardless of the criticism she got from others in the hip hop community.
34. Da Brat - Fa All Ya'll.
35. Da Brat - Give It 2 Ya Remix.
36. Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).
37. D.R.S. - Gangsta Lean. - I think since Boyz II Men and Gangsta Rap were the two biggest things in 1994 that the record labels wanted to find some artists that could combine the two. They found it in D.R.S. aka Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This R&B ballad about losing your homies to gang violence became a massive hit. Too bad that they never had any success beyond this song, never made a second album, and quickly disappeared.
38. Melissa Etheridge - I'm The Only One.
39. Melissa Etheridge - Come To My Window.
40. Changing Faces - Stroke You Up. - Let's just say this song was playing in the background during a certain moment in my life.
41. The Cranberries - Ode To My Family.
42. The Cranberries - Zombie. - This song is about the war between the protestants and the IRA in Ireland.
43. Beck - Loser. - The break beat in this song is sampled from the Johnny Jenkins song "I walk on gilded splinters". This is the song that introduced people to the musical genius that Beck is.
44. Domino - Ghetto Jam.
45. Warren G - Do You See? - After his success with the song "regulate" it was time for Warren G to follow up with his debut album. "Regulate...G Funk Era", is a great album. I listened to it a lot between 1994 and 1995.
46. Warren G - So Many Ways.
47. Warren G - This D.J.
48. Real McCoy - Another Night.
49. 69 Boyz - Tootsee Roll. - There is some fart humor in this song.
50. Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear Remix.
51. Brandy - I Wanna Be Down.
52. Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy. - The late great artist's album "Ready to Die" is one of the greatest albums of all time. I remember coming home from school everyday and watching BET's "Rap City." I immediately bought the single for this song.
53. Notorious B.I.G. - Big Poppa. - Everybody else in my High School caught on to and started liking Biggie after this single was released.
54. Notorious B.I.G. And Total - One More Chance/Stay With Me.
55. Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh What A Night!). - These guys used a break beat on this song to stage their comeback and it worked really well for them.
56. Alice In Chains - Nutshell.
57. Alice In Chains - I Stay Away.
58. Alice In Chains - No Excuses.
59. Meat Puppets - Back Water.
60. Green Day - Longview. - After Nirvana had opened the flood gates a few years earlier for Punk Rock to be mainstream. Green Day came through the doors with a sound that I can only describe as The Descendents on steroids. Here we are 23 years later and Green Day is still a very successful band.
61. Green Day - When I Come Around
62. Green Day - Basket Case.
63. Nine Inch Nails - Closer. - Try to track down the Super Mario Remix of this song. It's genius.
64. Nine Inch Nails - Hurt (Quiet). - Johnny Cash covered this song.
65. Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days.
66. Soundgarden - Spoonman.
67. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun. - This is the song that introduced me to Soundgarden. It's one of the greatest songs of all time. After going back and eventually listening to their previous works this song seems kind of dull, but it gave them great success.
68. The Offspring - Bad Habit. - This is a terrible song to listen to in the car especially if you get road rage like me.
69. The Offspring - Come Out And Play.
70. The Offspring - Self Esteem.
71. Nas - The World Is Yours. - Nas's debut album "Illmatic" is pure genius. A line from this song, "I'm out for dead f*cking Presidents to represent me" was sampled in the Jay Z song "Dead Presidents II."
72. Nas - One Love. - This is a song about visiting a friend in prison and telling them what's happening on the outside. It's great. Q-Tip is a guest vocalist on this song.
73. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell. - I would love to remix this and bring out the Michael Jackson sample more in the mix.
74. Seal - Kiss From A Rose.
75. Blues Traveler - Run Around.
76. Blues Traveler - Hook.
77. Arrested Development - Ease My Mind.
78. Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline.
79. Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song.
80. Stone Temple Pilots - Big Empty.
81. Bone Thugs N' Harmony - Thuggish Ruggish Bone.
82. Bone Thugs N' Harmony - Foe Tha Love Of $. - This song is one of the last appearances by Eazy E before his death from A.I.D.S. in 1995.
83. Hootie And The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With You. - Something I often catch flack for from my fellow music aficiandos is my love for this band. I felt they made some undeniable and great pop tunes. I'm disappointed that Darius Rucker is now a country artist, but he's sucessful. I want another amazing Hootie And The Blowfish album.
84. Hootie And The Blowfish - Time.
85. Hootie And The Blowfish - Let Her Cry.
86. Hootie And The Blowfish - Hold My Hand.
87. Sponge - Plowed.
88. Public Enemy - Give It Up.
89. Toadies - Possum Kingdom. - I know somebody who says this is their favorite band. I usually don't hear that about one hit wonders. Maybe I'll check out the rest of their material one day.
90. Thug Life - How Long Will They Mourn Me? - This is just another one of the many great projects that Tupac Shakur was a part of.
91. Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say? - They took jazz and combined it with pop to formulate their sound. It's an amazing combination.
92. Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching.
93. Danzig - Can't Speak.
94. Korn - Blind.
95. Scarface - No Tears.
96. Scarface - I Seen A Man Die.
97. Fu Schnickens - Breakdown.
98. Bad Religion - 21st Century Digital Boy.
99. R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
100. R.E.M. - Bang And Blame.
101. Nirvana - About A Girl (Unplugged).
102. Keith Murray - The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World. - To this day I still love listening to this song. It's one of the many gems I discovered while watching Rap City.
103. Method Man - Bring The Pain.
104. Method Man And Mary J. Blige - I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By.
105. Redman - Rockafella.
106. Bush - Glycerine. - Bush's debut album spawned five hit singles. That's an amazing feat for a band releasing thei first album
107. Bush - Machinehead.
108. Bush - Comedown.
109. Bush - Everything Zen.
110. Bush - Little Things.
111. Candlebox - Far Behind.
112. 10,000 Maniacs - Because The Night (MTV Unplugged).
113. Eazy E - Real Compton City G's.
Coming Soon...My Life Of Music Obsession: 1995.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series, click here.
In 1994 there were albums that are solid from start to finish, and I feel they are essential to any serious music collector. So instead of listing every album track I decided to give a list of those essential albums before diving into the heart of my playlist. Here's the list of the essentials:
Nas - Illmatic.
Above The Rim - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die.
Nirvana - Unplugged In New York.
Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies.
Green Day - Dookie.
Hootie And The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View.
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Now that you have a list of essentials it's time to move on to the songs that I feel represent 1994.
Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On To The Playlist...
1. SWV - Anything Remix - This is a great song from a great movie soundtrack.
2. Nate Dogg And Warren G - Regulate. - This gangsta rap song became a huge hit for the late great Nate Dogg, and Dr. Dre's half brother Warren G.
3. The Lady Of Rage - Afro Puffs.
4. Beastie Boys - Root Down.
5. Beastie Boys - Sure Shot.
6. Beastie Boys - Sabotage. - I heard someone make the asinine statement around the time this came out that they didn't like the Beastie Boys anymore because they were "too rap and not as rock as they used to be." I'm not sure if that person was referring to their underground hard core punk days when nobody knew who they were, or the very much hip hop sound that they stuck with since their debut album "Licensed to Ill." This song is the most rock sounding song they made since their hardcore punk days.
7. All-4-One - So Much In Love.
8. All-4-One - I Swear.
9. Boyz II Men - I'll Make Love To You. - Their second album sold even more copies than their first.
10. Boyz II Men - On Bended Knee.
11. Boyz II Men - Water Runs Dry.
12. Boyz II Men - Yesterday. - This is a great example of a great cover of a Beatles song. The Acapella four part harmonies are great.
13. Boyz II Men - Vibin' Remix.
14. Lisa Loeb - Stay (I Missed You). - I love this song. I feel it's one of the greatest pop songs ever written. If it comes on in the car I sing loudly to it.
15. 2 pac - Pain. - This is one of many great songs written by 2 pac. It's almost impossible to track down now unless you own the cassette version of the Above The Rim soundtrack, or the EP "Music from Above The Rim". I've seen the latter go for very high prices on ebay. I don't know why it wasn't given an official spot on the CD version of the soundtrack. I felt it could easily replace the most skipped track on that album by the artist Jewell, but unfortunately Death Row Records who put the soundtrack out wanted to showcase their roster of artists. Oddly enough 2 pac was signed to Death Row a couple years later.
16. R. Kelly - Bump N' Grind.
17. Madonna - Human Nature.
18. Madonna - Take A Bow.
19. Salt N' Pepa - Whatta Man.
20. Salt N' Pepa - None Of Your Business.
21. Salt N' Pepa - Shoop.
22. John Mellencamp - Wild Night.
23. Elton John - Can You Feel The Love Tonight.
24. Elton John - Circle Of Life.
25. Coolio - Fantastic Voyage. - This is a great song about getting away from the crime ridden streets of South Central L.A. It's sad that most people don't remember Coolio's early success because his song "Gangsta's Paradise" became such a massive hit that people often forget or overlook his other work.
26. Coolio - I Remember.
27. Big Mountain - Baby, I Love Your Way.
28. Aaliyah - Back And Forth. - I love the late great Aaliyah.
29. Enigma - Return To Innocence.
30. Enigma - Sadeness.
31. Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do.
32. Crash Test Dummies. - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.
33. Da Brat - Funkdafied. - Da Brat didn't do anything all that unique or different from the other hip hop artists of the time, but she made some amazing tunes. I hate that she was given flack for dressing in male clothing by her peers at the time. I respect her for being herself regardless of the criticism she got from others in the hip hop community.
34. Da Brat - Fa All Ya'll.
35. Da Brat - Give It 2 Ya Remix.
36. Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).
37. D.R.S. - Gangsta Lean. - I think since Boyz II Men and Gangsta Rap were the two biggest things in 1994 that the record labels wanted to find some artists that could combine the two. They found it in D.R.S. aka Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This R&B ballad about losing your homies to gang violence became a massive hit. Too bad that they never had any success beyond this song, never made a second album, and quickly disappeared.
38. Melissa Etheridge - I'm The Only One.
39. Melissa Etheridge - Come To My Window.
40. Changing Faces - Stroke You Up. - Let's just say this song was playing in the background during a certain moment in my life.
41. The Cranberries - Ode To My Family.
42. The Cranberries - Zombie. - This song is about the war between the protestants and the IRA in Ireland.
43. Beck - Loser. - The break beat in this song is sampled from the Johnny Jenkins song "I walk on gilded splinters". This is the song that introduced people to the musical genius that Beck is.
44. Domino - Ghetto Jam.
45. Warren G - Do You See? - After his success with the song "regulate" it was time for Warren G to follow up with his debut album. "Regulate...G Funk Era", is a great album. I listened to it a lot between 1994 and 1995.
46. Warren G - So Many Ways.
47. Warren G - This D.J.
48. Real McCoy - Another Night.
49. 69 Boyz - Tootsee Roll. - There is some fart humor in this song.
50. Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear Remix.
51. Brandy - I Wanna Be Down.
52. Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy. - The late great artist's album "Ready to Die" is one of the greatest albums of all time. I remember coming home from school everyday and watching BET's "Rap City." I immediately bought the single for this song.
53. Notorious B.I.G. - Big Poppa. - Everybody else in my High School caught on to and started liking Biggie after this single was released.
54. Notorious B.I.G. And Total - One More Chance/Stay With Me.
55. Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh What A Night!). - These guys used a break beat on this song to stage their comeback and it worked really well for them.
56. Alice In Chains - Nutshell.
57. Alice In Chains - I Stay Away.
58. Alice In Chains - No Excuses.
59. Meat Puppets - Back Water.
60. Green Day - Longview. - After Nirvana had opened the flood gates a few years earlier for Punk Rock to be mainstream. Green Day came through the doors with a sound that I can only describe as The Descendents on steroids. Here we are 23 years later and Green Day is still a very successful band.
61. Green Day - When I Come Around
62. Green Day - Basket Case.
63. Nine Inch Nails - Closer. - Try to track down the Super Mario Remix of this song. It's genius.
64. Nine Inch Nails - Hurt (Quiet). - Johnny Cash covered this song.
65. Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days.
66. Soundgarden - Spoonman.
67. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun. - This is the song that introduced me to Soundgarden. It's one of the greatest songs of all time. After going back and eventually listening to their previous works this song seems kind of dull, but it gave them great success.
68. The Offspring - Bad Habit. - This is a terrible song to listen to in the car especially if you get road rage like me.
69. The Offspring - Come Out And Play.
70. The Offspring - Self Esteem.
71. Nas - The World Is Yours. - Nas's debut album "Illmatic" is pure genius. A line from this song, "I'm out for dead f*cking Presidents to represent me" was sampled in the Jay Z song "Dead Presidents II."
72. Nas - One Love. - This is a song about visiting a friend in prison and telling them what's happening on the outside. It's great. Q-Tip is a guest vocalist on this song.
73. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell. - I would love to remix this and bring out the Michael Jackson sample more in the mix.
74. Seal - Kiss From A Rose.
75. Blues Traveler - Run Around.
76. Blues Traveler - Hook.
77. Arrested Development - Ease My Mind.
78. Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline.
79. Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song.
80. Stone Temple Pilots - Big Empty.
81. Bone Thugs N' Harmony - Thuggish Ruggish Bone.
82. Bone Thugs N' Harmony - Foe Tha Love Of $. - This song is one of the last appearances by Eazy E before his death from A.I.D.S. in 1995.
83. Hootie And The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With You. - Something I often catch flack for from my fellow music aficiandos is my love for this band. I felt they made some undeniable and great pop tunes. I'm disappointed that Darius Rucker is now a country artist, but he's sucessful. I want another amazing Hootie And The Blowfish album.
84. Hootie And The Blowfish - Time.
85. Hootie And The Blowfish - Let Her Cry.
86. Hootie And The Blowfish - Hold My Hand.
87. Sponge - Plowed.
88. Public Enemy - Give It Up.
89. Toadies - Possum Kingdom. - I know somebody who says this is their favorite band. I usually don't hear that about one hit wonders. Maybe I'll check out the rest of their material one day.
90. Thug Life - How Long Will They Mourn Me? - This is just another one of the many great projects that Tupac Shakur was a part of.
91. Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say? - They took jazz and combined it with pop to formulate their sound. It's an amazing combination.
92. Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching.
93. Danzig - Can't Speak.
94. Korn - Blind.
95. Scarface - No Tears.
96. Scarface - I Seen A Man Die.
97. Fu Schnickens - Breakdown.
98. Bad Religion - 21st Century Digital Boy.
99. R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
100. R.E.M. - Bang And Blame.
101. Nirvana - About A Girl (Unplugged).
102. Keith Murray - The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World. - To this day I still love listening to this song. It's one of the many gems I discovered while watching Rap City.
103. Method Man - Bring The Pain.
104. Method Man And Mary J. Blige - I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By.
105. Redman - Rockafella.
106. Bush - Glycerine. - Bush's debut album spawned five hit singles. That's an amazing feat for a band releasing thei first album
107. Bush - Machinehead.
108. Bush - Comedown.
109. Bush - Everything Zen.
110. Bush - Little Things.
111. Candlebox - Far Behind.
112. 10,000 Maniacs - Because The Night (MTV Unplugged).
113. Eazy E - Real Compton City G's.
Coming Soon...My Life Of Music Obsession: 1995.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series, click here.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
My Life Of Music Obsession: Punk Rock Volume One.
Before getting around to writing about 1994 I felt it's important to give a short primer on Punk Rock.
It's the year (1994) that bands like The Offspring, Green Day, and Rancid broke through to the mainstream and brought Punk Rock to the masses. Some folks may argue that the former two bands aren't punk rock at all, and while that's the case now they were punk rock bands when they first started out. In most cases for those of us who had no idea about Punk those bands helped expose us to it, and led us to go seek out other punk bands like NOFX, or The Ramones, or The Sex Pistols. I didn't start seeking out these other bands until around 1999 when I grew tired of what was being played on the radio. I wanted something different.
This list doesn't follow any particular decade or sub-genre. This is the first entry in a series of what punk rock is to me.
Check out the companion playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On to the playlist...
1. Circle Jerks - Wild In The Streets.
2. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks. - A good friend of mine in college from Ireland who was taking classes abroad here in the good old U.S.A. made me a CD of the best Undertones songs. They're from Ireland and they wrote some amazing songs that should not be ignored.
3. The Clash - I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. - I've always loved The Clash. Their first 3 albums are incredible.
4. Sex Pistols - Holidays In The Sun. - The album "Nevermind The Bullocks. Here's The Sex Pistols" is one of the greatest albums ever made in any genre.
5. Sham 69 - Hurry Up Harry.
6. Anti-Nowhere League - We're The League. - These guys are the meanest looking band ever. Lead singer, Animal looks like he would stab you with a broken bottle in a bar fight.
I first discovered these guys after hearing Metallica's cover of their song "So What?" which is the most vulgar song I've ever heard. Metallica still performs it live to this day, and every once in a while, Animal will join them on stage.
The song I'm covering in this blog entry "We're The League" is my favorite Anti-Nowhere League song.
7. NOFX - Bob. - I first heard this band in college after seeing lots of people wearing their T - Shirts and seeing their bumper stickers on cars. I had to find out what they were all about.
I met Fat Mike on a warped tour show, and he was kind of rude to me but he did sign an autograph . Years later I don't think asking for autographs from punk rock icons is cool.
NOFX are one of few independent bands to sell millions of records without any radio airplay.
8. Operation Ivy- Yellin' In My Ear. - I have to thank Green Day for exposing me to this band. It was their cover of "Knowledge" that led me to discover these guys.
Operation Ivy's album "Energy" is super amazing and you should check it out.
Their guitarist, Lint aka Tim Armstrong went on to form Rancid.
Years after Operation Ivy broke up, I got to see Jesse Michaels short lived band "Common Rider" live in 2002. They were incredible. I wish they would have lasted for more than two albums. I wish Operation Ivy would do a reunion.
9. Green Day - 2000 Light Years Away.
10. Screeching Weasel - Cool Kids.
11. Black Flag - No Values. - This is my favorite Black Flag song.
12. The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop. - I figured if I'm going to give a primer on punk rock I need to include this band's most well known song. If you're hearing this band for the first time you need to start with this song.
I love The Ramones. I got highly offended when a co-worker called them a novelty act.
13. Fear - Responsibility. - This is my favorite Punk Rock band of all time. Lead singer, Lee Ving got his start playing in blues and soul bands before moving from Philly to Los Angeles to form this band.
They are the only band to be banned from performing on Saturday Night Live for life after the band's crowd caused over $100,000 dollars worth of damage to the SNL set. They were invited to perform on SNL after John Belushi urged the producers of the show to let them on.
This is the only Punk song I know of to have a Harmonica solo in it. I think that's what I've always loved about this band is the amazing musicianship.
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea got his start in this band.
14. Gang Green - Skate To Hell.
15. Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks F*** Off.
16. The Adicts - Viva La Revolution.
17. Generation X - One Hundred Punks. - This Billy Idol fronted band doesn't have many good songs, but the few they had were really good.
18. Bad Religion - Hooray For Me. - As I get older the more and more I'm able to apply the lyrics of this song to my life. The lyric " I don't exactly want to apologize for anything" describes how I feel at this point in my life.
19. The Vandals - People That Are Going To Hell.
20. The Bouncing Souls - Apartment 5F. - I've seen this New Jersey band perform live five times.
21. The Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today.
22. The Misfits - Horror Hotel.
23. Descendents - GCF. - All anybody ever wants is some good clean fun. Did you know that lead singer Milo Auckerman is a bio-chemist?
24. The Minutemen - Case Closed.
25. Adam And The Ants - Beat My Guest.
If you would like to read my other entries you can do so by clicking here.
It's the year (1994) that bands like The Offspring, Green Day, and Rancid broke through to the mainstream and brought Punk Rock to the masses. Some folks may argue that the former two bands aren't punk rock at all, and while that's the case now they were punk rock bands when they first started out. In most cases for those of us who had no idea about Punk those bands helped expose us to it, and led us to go seek out other punk bands like NOFX, or The Ramones, or The Sex Pistols. I didn't start seeking out these other bands until around 1999 when I grew tired of what was being played on the radio. I wanted something different.
This list doesn't follow any particular decade or sub-genre. This is the first entry in a series of what punk rock is to me.
Check out the companion playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On to the playlist...
1. Circle Jerks - Wild In The Streets.
2. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks. - A good friend of mine in college from Ireland who was taking classes abroad here in the good old U.S.A. made me a CD of the best Undertones songs. They're from Ireland and they wrote some amazing songs that should not be ignored.
3. The Clash - I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. - I've always loved The Clash. Their first 3 albums are incredible.
4. Sex Pistols - Holidays In The Sun. - The album "Nevermind The Bullocks. Here's The Sex Pistols" is one of the greatest albums ever made in any genre.
5. Sham 69 - Hurry Up Harry.
6. Anti-Nowhere League - We're The League. - These guys are the meanest looking band ever. Lead singer, Animal looks like he would stab you with a broken bottle in a bar fight.
I first discovered these guys after hearing Metallica's cover of their song "So What?" which is the most vulgar song I've ever heard. Metallica still performs it live to this day, and every once in a while, Animal will join them on stage.
The song I'm covering in this blog entry "We're The League" is my favorite Anti-Nowhere League song.
7. NOFX - Bob. - I first heard this band in college after seeing lots of people wearing their T - Shirts and seeing their bumper stickers on cars. I had to find out what they were all about.
I met Fat Mike on a warped tour show, and he was kind of rude to me but he did sign an autograph . Years later I don't think asking for autographs from punk rock icons is cool.
NOFX are one of few independent bands to sell millions of records without any radio airplay.
8. Operation Ivy- Yellin' In My Ear. - I have to thank Green Day for exposing me to this band. It was their cover of "Knowledge" that led me to discover these guys.
Operation Ivy's album "Energy" is super amazing and you should check it out.
Their guitarist, Lint aka Tim Armstrong went on to form Rancid.
Years after Operation Ivy broke up, I got to see Jesse Michaels short lived band "Common Rider" live in 2002. They were incredible. I wish they would have lasted for more than two albums. I wish Operation Ivy would do a reunion.
9. Green Day - 2000 Light Years Away.
10. Screeching Weasel - Cool Kids.
11. Black Flag - No Values. - This is my favorite Black Flag song.
12. The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop. - I figured if I'm going to give a primer on punk rock I need to include this band's most well known song. If you're hearing this band for the first time you need to start with this song.
I love The Ramones. I got highly offended when a co-worker called them a novelty act.
13. Fear - Responsibility. - This is my favorite Punk Rock band of all time. Lead singer, Lee Ving got his start playing in blues and soul bands before moving from Philly to Los Angeles to form this band.
They are the only band to be banned from performing on Saturday Night Live for life after the band's crowd caused over $100,000 dollars worth of damage to the SNL set. They were invited to perform on SNL after John Belushi urged the producers of the show to let them on.
This is the only Punk song I know of to have a Harmonica solo in it. I think that's what I've always loved about this band is the amazing musicianship.
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea got his start in this band.
14. Gang Green - Skate To Hell.
15. Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks F*** Off.
16. The Adicts - Viva La Revolution.
17. Generation X - One Hundred Punks. - This Billy Idol fronted band doesn't have many good songs, but the few they had were really good.
18. Bad Religion - Hooray For Me. - As I get older the more and more I'm able to apply the lyrics of this song to my life. The lyric " I don't exactly want to apologize for anything" describes how I feel at this point in my life.
19. The Vandals - People That Are Going To Hell.
20. The Bouncing Souls - Apartment 5F. - I've seen this New Jersey band perform live five times.
21. The Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today.
22. The Misfits - Horror Hotel.
23. Descendents - GCF. - All anybody ever wants is some good clean fun. Did you know that lead singer Milo Auckerman is a bio-chemist?
24. The Minutemen - Case Closed.
25. Adam And The Ants - Beat My Guest.
If you would like to read my other entries you can do so by clicking here.
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