the best songs ever: the lost years

[gabrielle]

From 1988.

"I'm taking your black ass to jail."  --if only that were all 

[gabrielle]

The band L7 released Smell the Magic in 1990, which featured one of my favorite songs of theirs.  Here is the studio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdjwVewL7a0

And here is a live performance of the song from 1991.  It must have been some sort of benefit concert, since before they play bassist Jennifer Finch implores the audience not to do anything "that these people would consider out-of-control...remember why we're here today!"  Not the best quality recording, but it gives you something of an idea of the wild energy of live performances those days.  Oh, and "Dave from Nirvana" is there on drums, getting a small round of applause in these pre-Smells Like Teen Spirit days.

[gabrielle]

Now, here is a band very dear to my heart, as I saw a number of performances of theirs in their early days in the St. Louis area.

Uncle Tupelo's album No Depression came out in 1990, and it is widely considered a ground-breaking classic in the alt-county genre.  Kind of an Appalachian/Ozark country grunge.  Here are a few songs.  





"Whiskey bottle over Jesus...not forever, but just for now."






"Oh what a life a mess can be!"

[gabrielle]

(07-09-2016, 12:06 AM)gabrielle Wrote: The band L7 released Smell the Magic in 1990, which featured one of my favorite songs of theirs.  Here is the studio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdjwVewL7a0

And here is a live performance of the song from 1991.  It must have been some sort of benefit concert, since before they play bassist Jennifer Finch implores the audience not to do anything "that these people would consider out-of-control...remember why we're here today!"  Not the best quality recording, but it gives you something of an idea of the wild energy of live performances those days.  Oh, and "Dave from Nirvana" is there on drums, getting a small round of applause in these pre-Smells Like Teen Spirit days.

Apparently, this was an anti-Gulf War protest.  I should have guessed that from the date.

[Ragnarök_62]

Yup,  the times, they're getting loopy.

[gabrielle]

90s music was often just as psychedelic and trippy as 60s music...our trips just tended to be a bit darker.   

In 1990, Sonic Youth released the album Goo, probably their best commercial success.  At least it featured some of their most popular songs, though they were never really mainstream.  I thought this album was the shit back in the day, I'd never heard anything like it.  

This one is called "Tunic: a Song For Karen"  --Karen Carpenter, who died of anorexia.  Listening to this made me feel like I was floating into the ether, particularly towards the middle of the song.  "I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day..."





Probably their most popular song.  "Kool thing, let me play with your radio, move me, turn me on baby-o.  I'll be your slave.  Give you a shave."










And this song pretty much just sounds like a legion of Harleys revving up.  But I like it, so I'll share it with you people.  Bless your souls!

[Eric the Green]

wikipedia says: "Part of the first wave of American noise rock groups, the band carried out their interpretation of the hardcore punk ethos throughout the evolving American underground that focused more on the DIY ethic of the genre rather than its specific sound.... Sonic Youth have been praised for having "redefined what rock guitar could do", using a wide variety of unorthodox guitar tunings and preparing guitars with objects like drum sticks and screwdrivers to alter the instruments' timbre. The band is considered to be a pivotal influence on the alternative and indie rock movements."

So not specifically "psychedelic," but I suppose you can say that it borders on such sounds, perhaps like that of The Seeds from the sixties. More than a bit darker, and less-refined. Of course I'm not much into the "noise" of 3T rock, but some bands of this era are somewhat interesting, at least, to me. I'm sure it was a fun experimental scene. The various post-punk genres have produced some pretty good stuff, here and there. I have heard of this group, but there's always more than I know about.

Are you going to post Green Day later?

[Eric the Green]

(06-17-2016, 08:59 PM)taramarie Wrote:

You beat me to the punch on this one Tara. This is the one I was going to post. Of course he started in about 1970. Santana has 4 songs included in the middle and lower parts of my top 400-plus.

Don't like the rap on one of those songs tho (Supernatural album). Pretty good album overall. But Abraxis from 1970 is my fave; I have that one in my collection.
https://youtu.be/vjzGyFJBoBY

Thumbs up for the Troy 2004 movie theme.

[Eric the Green]

I am amazed looking at some of Tara's sexy pop choices. You can look, but never touch, I guess..... don't want to get punched out by kinser now, do we?

Some of the pop hits she likes are actually less boring or ugly than most of the 3T stuff people have posted here for years. Of course, there's been so many sexy young pop artists these last 30 years, that when you've seen or heard one, you've pretty much seen em all by now. One of these hits I kinda liked, actually went through the list! But OK, I can see why you enjoyed them. Once is probably enough for me though.

[gabrielle]

OK, one more from Goo and then that's it.  I didn't realize Sonic Youth made videos for all these songs!

The picture at the beginning of the video is of bassist Kim Gordon and her brother, a schizophrenic (I recognize it from her recent autobiography), and clearly this song is about their relationship ("you'd rather have a dollar than a hug from your sis").   Kim is a core Boomer, by the way, somewhat older than her bandmates, including her ex-husband, guitarist Thurston Moore.  

[gabrielle]

(07-12-2016, 03:31 AM)taramarie Wrote:

(07-12-2016, 02:35 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(06-17-2016, 08:59 PM)taramarie Wrote:

You beat me to the punch on this one Tara. This is the one I was going to post. Of course he started in about 1970. Santana has 4 songs included in the middle and lower parts of my top 400-plus.

Don't like the rap on one of those songs tho (Supernatural album). Pretty good album overall. But Abraxis from 1970 is my fave; I have that one in my collection.
https://youtu.be/vjzGyFJBoBY

Thumbs up for the Troy 2004 movie theme.

Oh wow really? Started all the way back then? This was the first song I heard of his. I was 14 at the time. Really enjoyed it. So did my mother. Glad you like a couple of songs.    yes my taste in music is usually not as dark as what xers here tend to like. I grew up on the upbeat sugary and happy music. Although I have grown to love the thoughtful/sensitive music and some darker music over time. But upbeat and thoughtful/sensitive overpowers darker music as you can see from my selections. One puts a smile on my face and the other give me shivers or transports me elsewhere.

That was a good album.

[gabrielle]

Dead Can Dance released the album Aion in 1990 (though I didn't discover it, and them, until 1992).  Very haunting and beautiful...does this count as too "dark" for you guys?  "Fortune presents gifts not according to the book..."

[Eric the Green]

Dead Can Dance was my former girlfriend's favorite. I liked Lisa Gerrard better than Brendan Perry; she also did solo albums which I played on my radio show. The one from Aion that we liked the best was this one:





I liked the instrument they played, and the melody.

According to wikipedia, their genre is "neoclassical dark wave"

[gabrielle]

(07-13-2016, 02:43 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: Dead Can Dance was my former girlfriend's favorite. I liked Lisa Gerrard better than Brendan Perry; she also did solo albums which I played on my radio show. The one from Aion that we liked the best was this one:





I liked the instrument they played, and the melody.

According to wikipedia, their genre is "neoclassical dark wave"

Yeah, that's a pretty one, too.  When there's an album I really like I have a hard time picking just one or two songs from it.

[gabrielle]

Heh, just came across this song I haven't heard since back in the day.  90s hip hop often sampled classic jazz hooks (Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova" here).  

This is also from 1990.

[gabrielle]

[gabrielle]

More of the grungy Seattle sound.  This was released as a single in 1990, from the 1989 album Louder Than Love,  Soundgarden's first charting album.  





"Don't touch me!

Hands all over the eastern border.
You know what? 
I think we're falling from composure...
Hands all over western culture.
Ruffling feathers; turning eagles into vultures...
Yeah, into vultures...

Got my arms around my baby brother!
Put your hands away, you're gonna kill your mother, 
gonna kill your mother, kill your mother, and I love her!
Yeah, and I love her!

Hands all over the coastal waters.
The crew men thank her, then lay down their oily blanket...
Hands all over the inland forest.
In a striking motion, trees fall down like dying soldiers...
Yeah, like dying soldiers...

Got my arms around my baby brother!
Put your hands away, you're gonna kill your mother, 
gonna kill your mother, kill your mother, and I love her!
Yeah, and I love her, and I love her!

Hands all over the peasant's daughter.
She's our bride, she'll never make it out alive...
Hands all over words I utter.
Change them into things you want to, like balls of clay...
Put your hands away...

Yeah, put your hands away, put your hands away!
You're gonna kill your mother, gonna kill your mother, 
gonna kill your mother, and I love her...
And I love her, and I love her, I love her!
She loves me... yeah... yeah..."

[Eric the Green]

As I've said, the best music of the recent 3T came from the fringes, not mainstream American pop. Windham Hill was an acoustic, instrumental "new age music" label in the 1980s and 90s. Some of their music was too innocuous, but some was brilliant. This is one of the brilliant ones, from 1985. I used to play it on my radio show. I haven't heard it in a long while. I was reminded of it when it was used as the theme/credits for a documentary about a young environmentalist I saw yesterday. It has the real qualities of the life of nature, and our love for it. It is called Dolphins, by Mike Marshall and Darol Anger. Of course, it's not the only piece with that title that I love. The other one is from 1966, and I'll be posting it soon, you know where.

https://youtu.be/-FvnQQCDIoU

[gabrielle]

1991.

Like 1966, 1971, 1977, 1984 and other years, this is sometimes cited as one of those pivotal moments in rock music history: not merely for the number of important albums released then, but because it indicated a significant change in the pop culture landscape. Trends that had been circulating under the surface suddenly achieved mainstream popularity. Everything that was thought a certainty was sort of turned upside down. This was the year that Generation X had truly arrived on the scene. In fact, I believe it was the first year the term “Generation X” was used, in reference to this new post-Baby Boomer group, and there was definitely a feeling that a torch was being passed. 

And what kind of world did we Gen Xers find in 1991? This was the year the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Cold War that had cast a fearful shadow over the world for decades was over. Captialism and the American way had triumphed, seemingly. And yet...1991 also saw war in the Gulf, and an economic recession. No abatement of the inner city crime wave fueled by poverty and crack cocaine. And a highly publicized incident of police brutality. So...we Gen Xers, on the one hand, were optimistic, looking forward to a new world, ready to take life by the horns--and ready to party, but we were also rather uneasy. Because we knew there was decay underneath the glossy surface, as the American Dream (and by extention the promise of Western Civilization) was presented to us. And all these feelings were reflected in our art and our music.

[gabrielle]

Much is made of the fury and angst of Gen X music: metal, grunge, gangta rap, etc, but I'm going to start off this year with something a little softer, a little dreamier.  There was a trend in the British Isles during these years called "shoe gazer bands."  My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless is believed by some to be one of the best albums of the decade.





Here is a lovely song by Slowdive, but it is not an original song of theirs.  It is a cover of a song by former Pink Floyder Syd Barrett, from his solo works he made before he went into seclusion.