Tag Archives: alternative music

02/09/2017 · 12:10 pm

Sponge

Oh boy, it’s “Song”, from “Band”! How exciting!

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Filed under Don't Know Don't Care, Eatable Things, Faint Signals, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions

Tagged as 1978, 1990s, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, Alec Baldwin, alternative music, Bands I Useta Like, Candlebox, Chevy Chase, corporate crap, Detroit, Donald Trump, Filter, GG Allin, Hipgnosis, Kim Basinger, Madonna, music, Phil Hartman, R. Budd Dwyer, Rick Wakeman, Robert Patrick, Saturday Night Live, sellouts, Sony, Sponge, Stabbing Westward, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Vinnie Dombroski, whores, WORK, Yes

11/04/2016 · 12:35 am

Threading the needle. That was Seattle music in 1994. A desperate, futile gambit to save what few musicians remained from Lady Heroin’s clutches. Cobain was dead. A hideous monster was uncovered, in that bands came to realize that their labels would capitalize upon their deaths just as they would their lives. It’s one of the sickest, most repugnant eras in recording history.

Pearl Jam, Seattle, 1991.

Mike McCready, guitarist for none other than Pearl Jam, entered rehab for drugs and alcohol during the production of Vitalogy, in Minneapolis. Just imagine the options for debauchery that McCready was presented with; you can’t. I can’t. Pearl Jam has sold around 60 million albums worldwide. When that happens, secret people offer you more of something you like than you’ve ever seen, or knew existed. Anyone would give anything (or say anything) to be with you. Continue reading →

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Filed under Faint Signals, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1990s, 1995, Alice In Chains, alternative music, Barrett Martin, depression, despair, drugs, grunge, heroin, John Baker Saunders, Layne Staley, Mad Season, Mike McCready, music, Pearl Jam, rehab, Screaming Trees, Seattle, Skin Yard

10/31/2016 · 3:17 pm

The Hidden

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Hidden, from 1987.

This is the movie that got Kyle MacLachlan cast in Twin Peaks. It was made by the same crew that did Nightmare on Elm Street. If, by some fluke, you’ve never experienced it, allow me to make a case for why it’s probably the greatest film ever made.

Kyle MacLachlan is mysterious FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher. Michael Nouri is the L.A.P.D. detective stuck working with him, investigating a weird string of robberies and murders. You see, an extraterrestrial entity is taking over people’s bodies, and making them kill. This alien also enjoys heavy metal, Ferraris, and high-powered assault weapons. Continue reading →

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Filed under Faint Signals, Movies You Missed, Nostalgic Obsessions, O'Shloktoberfest, Saturday Movie Matinee, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1980s, 1987, alternative music, Andrea Thompson, Babylon 5, Brad Fiedel, breasts, Clarence Felder, Claudia Christian, Dick Tracy, DragonCon, Ed O'Ross, Gary Busey, horror movies, I.R.S. Records, Jack Sholder, Jacques Haitkin, Kyle MacLachlan, Lethal Weapon, Lin Shaye, metal, Michael Convertino, Michael Nouri, Miles Copeland III, movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, NYPD Blue, Richard Brooks, sci-fi, Stewart Copeland, The Hidden, The Terminator, Wendie Malick, Wes Craven, William Orbit

10/21/2016 · 12:21 am

(Every Day Is) Halloween

Let’s say you’ve decided to become a “Goth”. These are some things you can expect:

No friends, aside from other Goths.
No attention, aside from that of other Goths.
No respect from anyone, aside from other Goths.

Goths have made a full-time commitment to a bad mood. It’s like a lifestyle built entirely around PMS. If a Goth is older than 25, you’re looking at severely damaged goods. Elvira is literally the only person who can pull the look off successfully.

Damaged goods she is not.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1980s, 1984, 1985, 1990s, Al Jourgensen, alternative music, Bauhaus, Cassandra Peterson, Elvira, goth, Halloween, metal, Ministry, music, New Jersey, Return of the Living Dead, suicide, synthpop, thrash-metal, Wax Trax!, women, zombies

07/29/2016 · 7:14 pm

DEVO: The Good, The Bad, And The Mutated

I have been a DEVO fan- a “DEVOtee”, if you will- for a very long time. 35 years ago, I was witnessing the video for “Whip It” for the first time, on the brand-new cable channel MTV. I knew a lot of spoiled kids.

When a good time turns around.

It’s not one of my favorite DEVO singles, but I appreciate its historical importance. Even today, it sounds truly weird. However, it came to be so closely linked with DEVO and their visual style, eventually it was the only song anyone brought up. Continue reading →

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club, Unfairly Maligned

Tagged as 1970s, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1980s, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, Akron Ohio, Alan Myers, alternative music, Bob Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, Brian Eno, David Bowie, DEVO, Gerald V. Casale, Kent State, Mark Mothersbaugh, Murray the K, music, New Wave, nitrous oxide, punk, Ramones, Spazz Attack, Sun Ra

07/25/2016 · 5:28 pm

The Sifl and Olly Show

A time slot on a major cable network is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you couldn’t ask for a larger audience. On the other, you’re the property of the company store, and you bend to their whim.

For example, MTV aired Beavis & Butthead, but to pad out the episodes to sitcom-length, they inserted music videos with Mike Judge doing commentary in character. At the time, I could appreciate the necessity of this, being that ink-and-paint animation takes time to create. Still, it was obvious that the idea was cribbed from MST3K, and much of the music was unlistenable, or not worth the mockery.

MTV pulled the same jazz when they aired the extraordinary sock-puppet comedy The Sifl and Olly Show, from 1997 to 1999.

Videotape artifacts are subconsciously comforting.

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Filed under Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1990s, 1997, 1999, alternative music, Beavis & Butthead, comedy, laughter, Liam Lynch, marijuana, Matt Crocco, Media Play, Mike Judge, MST3K, MTV, music, pre 9/11, puppets, sock puppets, The Sifl and Olly Show, YouTube

07/16/2016 · 8:11 pm

The B-52s

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1980s, 1981, 1990s, AIDS, alternative music, Athens Ga, Bands I Useta Like, Bob Marley, Cindy Wilson, cocaine, David Byrne, Frank Zappa, Fred Schneider, Georgia, Iggy Pop, John Lennon, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Mojo Nixon, music, Nancy Reagan, New Jersey, Ralph Bakshi, Ricky Wilson, Ronald Reagan, strips, televangelism, The B-52s, Vic Chesnutt, Ziggy Marley

07/11/2016 · 12:43 pm

Weezer

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Don't Know Don't Care, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions, Worst Of All

Tagged as 1990s, 1993, 2008, 2010, Al Molinaro, alternative music, Bands I Useta Like, comic, corporate crap, David Geffen, David Katzenberg, Family Guy, Happy Days, Hurley International, J.J. Abrams, Jorge Garcia, Katy Perry, laughter, Lost, memes, movies, music, parental advisory labels, Rivers Cuomo, sellouts, South Park, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg, underground, viral video, Weezer, whores, YouTube

07/09/2016 · 6:20 pm

When Broken Broke

From 1989 to 1992, all anyone knew of Nine Inch Nails was prettyhatemachine. Your opinion of that one album was your opinion of Nine Inch Nails.

Before Broken, NIN’s sophomore EP, you could be forgiven for thinking Trent Reznor was the heir apparent of electronic Goth, following the dark path of Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Reznor was the scion of a venerable HVAC company (founded 1888!), and probably spent much of his young life in the presence of gigantic, droning machines. “Industrial” was already wired into his veins.