Coming up close to the year end, and in retrospect I can kind of see why not a lot of it remains stuck in my mind. A lot of my time was spent getting used to living in a big city on the opposite coast and starting a job I’d never done before, all while I focused on writing a vampire novel (Love Like Blood) that would end up getting trunked and still feeling frustrated by my inability to finish the Bridgetown Trilogy. And getting used to married life at that! Real Life definitely got in the way of my writing projects, and it would take me quite some time to get back on that particular horse.
Audioslave, Revelations, released 5 September 2006. The third and final album from this group may not have gotten nearly as much notice as their previous two, but at the time it did get a lot of positive reaction. Cornell would return to his solo career while the Rage members drifted through side projects and occasional rumors of reunion.
Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, released 12 September 2006. The first BNL album after leaving Reprise, the group recorded so many songs that they ended up saving half of them for a follow up (2007’s Barenaked Ladies Are Men). While they no longer reached the popularity they’d achieved in the late 90s and early 00s, they’re still recording and still have their loyal fanbase.
Plain White T’s, Every Second Counts, released 12 September 2006. Yes, this is the album that contains the unexpectedly popular acoustic track “Hey There Delilah” that still gets played everywhere. I much preferred the single “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You)” and still quote it now and again.
Ima Robot, Monument to the Masses, release 12 September 2006. This goofball band from LA was a favorite of A’s for quite some time, and “Creeps Me Out” is a really fun single. You might know lead singer Alex Ebert better as his alter ego Edward Sharpe, whose band the Magnetic Zeroes had a quite overplayed hit with the stomp-clap alternafolk track “Home”.
Teddybears, Soft Machine, released 12 September 2006. This strange Swedish alternative band popped up on Sirius XM and Live 105 with the singles “Cobrastyle” and “Punkrocker”, the latter of which features Iggy Pop straight-faced singing the corniest lyrics about punk.
Mutemath, Mutemath, released 26 September 2006. This became one of our favorite bands after discovering them on the Sirius XM during our visit back east in October, and picked up that album at Newbury Comics while we were there. A vastly underrated and highly creative band that brings together stylish alternative rock with elements of jazz and funk and turns it into something amazing. We’d get to see them live (for free!) in Golden Gate Park a few years later! I highly recommend checking out all of their works, including their highly entertaining music videos!
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Coming up: Year end doldrums, contemplations and whatnot
If I recall, 2006 was a bit of an oddball year in terms of alternative rock. It was definitely splintering at this point, for good or ill, and you either loved what was coming out of it or you were left scratching your head wondering what was going on. I felt a little bit of both to be honest, because I was so used to the full immersion and now felt left out. It was finally moving away from the darker gloom of the post-punk era, while the more radio-friendly music was heading towards points unknown (or alternately, becoming even more mainstream). It took me a while to resonate with the new sounds out there.
Meanwhile in Real Life Stuff, my temp job at the bank was winding down, and I would soon become a full-time worker in their CD/IRA phone bank department. Same building, same hours, slightly better pay. It wasn’t the best thing I wanted and I wasn’t thrilled by the later hours, but it was what I had on hand that I could stick with for the time being. Even then I’d decided to see it as a ‘permanent until further notice’ job. I’d be there for a relatively short time, however, until I was offered a position in a different department. I’ve never been the biggest fan of phone bank work, but I did at least learn a few interesting things.
Muse, Black Holes and Revelations, released 3 July 2006. How do you follow up the huge success of a breakthrough album like 2003’s Absolution? By being even more grandiose and over the top! It’s a great but slightly weird album that contained a few radio hits, but its big one was album closer “Knights of Cydonia” with its bonkers music video that’s equal parts spaghetti western and psychotic fever dream.
TV On the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain, released 6 July 2006. Their second album was a bit of a head-scratcher for me. I felt it lacked the darker moods of their previous album (2004’s excellent Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes) was just…weird. Although I’d eventually warm up to it, especially the first single “Wolf Like Me” which still gets airplay on KEXP now and again.
Thom Yorke, The Eraser, released 11 July 2006. The Radiohead singer’s first solo album in between their long hiatus between 2003’s Hail to the Thief and 2007’s In Rainbows feels like it retains the band’s new experimental direction they’d taken in the 00s, yet melodic enough to capture the interest of their fanbase.
The Knife, Silent Shout, released 27 July 2006. I remember getting this one as a free CD when I subscribed to Under the Radar, a music magazine that had captured my interest at the time. They were definitely a Pitchfork band: one that got a lot of hipster notice yet rarely got any kind of airplay at all anywhere, yet it got a really good review in UtR so I thought I’d give it a go. I liked that there was a hint of that sterile industrial sound I enjoyed, yet strange enough to retain my interest. The singer Karin Dreijer is known for fronting Fever Ray these days.
Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther, released 25 July 2006. I think I heard this one first on Pandora or Launchcast, specifically the song “Roscoe”, and was immediately taken at how much they sounded like 70s era Fleetwood Mac to me. This was one of those rare CDs I special ordered at the Barnes & Noble down the street.
The Cure, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me / The Head On the Door / The Top Deluxe Editions, released 8 August 2006. One of my favorite 80s bands finally follows up with their deluxe reissues with three more titles, this time focusing on the 1984-1987 era when their popularity skyrocketed. All three feature home demos and live recordings as extra tracks.
Kasabian, Empire, released 26 August 2006. It took me a little while to get used to this band, but once I was on board I remained a huge fan. After the loud and dissonant self-titled first album from 2005, this one felt more approachable and melodic. I believe I bought this one at Newbury Comics when we went back east for a visit in October. By that time I’d pretty much given up on buying albums on their drop date. As much as I missed doing, that, I had to move on. [That would of course change once I started downloading everything!]
Six months into living in a new apartment in a new city in a new state on the opposite coast and we were still getting used to it. The furthest we’d gone outside of town at that point was probably down to Serramonte Mall in Daly City to buy home furnishings at Target, or me driving A down to SFO for one of her occasional work-related trips. Even driving to the west side of town felt weird, as we did once or twice to check out the beach or down to the SF Zoo. I was still getting used to navigating the roads when we drove around, trying to find the best way to the various neighborhoods when we weren’t taking public transit. We’d get used to it eventually, taking day trips north to Santa Rosa and Petaluma or south to Half Moon Bay. We’d even make the looooong trip up to Sacramento for the state fair now and again!
I was still feeling a bit lost and distracted creatively. I wasn’t writing too many poems or lyrics, my then current WIP (Love Like Blood) was moving in fits and starts, and I was heavily distracted by the internets. About this time I’d made the ill-advised foray into political blog reading and occasional online ranting, which lasted about a year and ended up being a lot of insufferable whining and echo-chambering that I’ve since taken offline. [I would soon realize that that particular avenue would serve no purpose to me other than raise my blood pressure.]
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Brian Vander Ark, Angel, Put Your Face On, released 1 May 2006. The Verve Pipe singer is looking a little scruffy here. His band had gone on hiatus, and over the next few years he’d put out multiple solo records that were more acoustic and ballady, but continued to prove that he never lost his stellar songwriting chops.
Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam, released 2 May 2006. After four years, a protracted Ticketmaster fight and a b-sides compilation, the group reconvened on the quasi-indie label J Records (really a subsidiary of BMG at the time) and released an album that sounded a lot like their early grungier years. It’s not one that gets a lot of play these days, but at the time “World Wide Suicide” and “Wasted” got a fair bit of play on Live 105.
Snow Patrol, Eyes Open, released 9 May 2006. I always get this one confused with 2003’s Final Straw because they sound very similar in tone, and both contain some of their most popular songs. This one, however, contains the evergreen “Chasing Cars” that is possibly their biggest hit in the US, and got a significant bump when it was used on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy (a show which handily used the Miami Vice rules of mood soundtrack).
Gnarls Barkley, St Elsewhere, released 9 May 2006. The project of CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse offered a huge hit with the song “Crazy” which still gets play everywhere (including supermarkets). CeeLo had been known as a member of the hip-hop group Goodie Mob and had previously put out a few soul-tinged solo records, but this album gave him some major publicity, enough that he’s shown up on hit songs ever since.
Hot Chip, The Warning, released 22 May 2006. A band I knew of, thanks to the music magazines and blogs I was reading at the time, but also one that very rarely got play anywhere except online. I’d eventually hear the ridiculously fun and catchy “Over and Over” and both A and I would become loyal fans. We even got to see them at Outside Lands some years later!
Soundtrack, Ergo Proxy opus01, released 25 May 2006. I don’t exactly remember when I first heard of this anime TV series, but I’m pretty sure it was from seeing trailers for it when we rented Funimation anime through Netflix. “Kiri” by Monoral is one of my top favorite opening themes.
Paramore, The Summer Tic EP, released 19 June 2006. I’ll be painfully honest, when their debut All We Know Is Falling came out in 2005, I let them pass by as yet another hard-rock-with-angry-female-singer band (as there were many out there at the time, and I totally blame Evanescence and their inescapable “Bring Me to Life”), but it didn’t take me long to change my mind when I realized just how fun they were. This EP was a sort of thank-you to fans while on the Warped Tour, and contained the brilliant cover of Failure’s “Stuck On You”, a band who deeply influenced singer Hayley Williams. Interestingly, she shows up on the band’s 2026 album Location Lost!
Silversun Pickups, Carnavas, released 25 June 2006. While a lot of newer bands weren’t really capturing my attention, this one did due to its unique sound and style. “Lazy Eye” was boppy and catchy and I of course loved the quiet/LOUD dynamic of it. They’d become a consistent favorite band of ours.
Grant-Lee Phillips, nineteeneighties, released 27 June 2006. The former Grant Lee Buffalo leader’s solo record of 80s covers could have been a throwaway, but Phillips shines by using tracks that translate incredibly well with his acoustic work and forlorn vocal style. This one got a lot of play on my mp3 player that summer.
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Coming up: Odd indie albums, reissues, and overwrought bombast
Even though I’d mentioned previously that I’d disconnected myself from my music listening habits, that isn’t necessarily to say that I quit cold turkey. For a brief while longer I was still listening to Yahoo’s LaunchCast (though that would be going away soon enough, like every other decent internet app in those days), still keeping tabs on new releases, and following various music blogs. And for a few years there we even had cable and would catch up with what was on the charts with VH1 and MTV.
I’d figured out a few places to buy music at the time… there was the Barnes & Noble down the street where I’d buy a few cds and dvds, the Virgin Megastore on Market (where I only went in once before it too closed like the Tower further down Bay Street), and of course the grand vastness that was Amoeba Records in the Haight, which would pretty much be my go-to from there on in. But this was around the time I started downloading more than buying physical, mainly due to storage space, and finding it easier to listen via mp3 player.
Mogwai, Mr Beast, released 6 March 2006. While I didn’t always find the time to listen closely to this band at times, I’d been a fan for a few years by then and always picked up or downloaded whatever came out. This one felt kind of like a transitional album, moving away from their longer and heavier work towards more melodic.
Goldfrapp, Supernature, released 7 March 2006. The same with Alison Goldfrapp; I’d loved her last couple of albums but I never got a chance to latch onto this one, which was very much in the style of her previous record Black Cherry; groovy, sexy, catchy, yet always just a little bit odd.
Band of Horses, Everything All the Time, released 21 March 2006. This was a band that caught my attention with the music magazines I was reading at the time, and I grew to really like their stuff. They were always in that indie folk subgenre that decidedly wasn’t the Stomp Clap Fireside Singalong genre that was getting a ton of airplay at the time.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones, released 22 March 2006. Their second album after the mega-selling debut Fever to Tell from three years previous, the lead single “Gold Lion” was a welcome return and still gets play now and again.
Daft Punk, Musique Vol 1: 1993-2005, released 4 April 2006. I’ll admit I was never the biggest Daft Punk fan — the whole indie disco/electronica think that didn’t really connect with me — but I figured that since I did actually like “Harder Better Faster Stronger” and “Around the World”, why not buy their greatest hits collection? Eventually I was won over.
The Vines, Vision Valley, released 4 March 2006. While I loved Highly Evolved from 2002 (and Winning Days from 2004 to a lesser degree), I was on the fence about this one, and I think it was because they’d started getting a bit samey in their sound. Still, I’d pick their stuff up in hopes that something would catch my interest. Sometimes it would, like 2011’s Future Primitive.
The Beatles, The Capitol Albums, Vol 2, released 11 April 2006. The second in a two-volume series which gathered most all of the numerous US album releases, complete with their distinctive alternate mixes both in mono and stereo — Beatles ’65‘s deep morass of reverb, for instance — this was of course a collection I had to pick up as this was how I’d known the albums all these years.
The Radio Dept., Pet Grief, released 12 April 2006. This was a band I’d known about via the music magazines I read, but it wasn’t until I heard “The Worst Taste in Music” somewhere, possibly on one of the many music blogs I was following at the time, that I finally grew to really like them.
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers, Vol 1, released 18 April 2006. Two singers steeped in jangle pop and 70s music influence putting out an album of covers? Sign me up! They’d eventually put out three stellar volumes over the years, all of them full of wonderful tracks that perfectly fit their style. Their cover of The Bee Gees’ “Run to Me” is a joy.
The Swell Season, The Swell Season, released 21 April 2006. This was an interesting side project for Glen Hansard of The Frames — who I knew from way back when he was in the movie The Commitments, named after his favorite book by Josef Skvorecky (and one that I’d read in college). “Falling Slowly” had been a minor favorite but would become a surprise hit in 2007 when featured in the movie Once and would win an Academy Award. They’ve put out a handful of albums since and they’re well worth checking out.
Secret Machines, Ten Silver Drops, relaesed 25 April 2006. This was their follow-up to the brilliant Now Here Is Nowhere from 2004 (one of my favorites of that year), and also the last album to feature guitarist Ben Curtis before he left to form School of Seven Bells. I remember giving this one quite a lot of play during my writing years at Arkham West, especially when I felt the occasional urge to attempt reviving the Bridgetown Trilogy.
Hey there, it’s been a while! I’ve been busy with IRL stuff and day job things, but over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking that it’s time for me to revive the Twenty Years On series, as it’s now entered the San Francisco Years. Yes, this means that we’ve been here in this city for just over twenty years now!
I will say that it’s going to be a bit disjointed for a few reasons…after a whirlwind 2005 of several (very positive) personal events, we settled into our new apartment overlooking a busy intersection at the tip of the North Beach neighborhood, just a few blocks away from the tourist trap that is Pier 39. While A spent several days (and months) getting things in order at the office she’d transferred to, I chose to restart with a completely blank slate jobwise. I’d get a temporary position at Bank of America (soon to become permanent), and start getting used to living on the west coast. My writing nook was now a large bay window overlooking said intersection and named Arkham West, and I was writing Love Like Blood at the time but secretly wishing I could return to the trilogy.
Oddly, it took me a while to reconnect with music. I’d somehow drifted away from what I’d been listening to at the time, partly because I no longer had my own private writing nook that wouldn’t bother anyone else, partly because I couldn’t locate any college radio stations that appealed to me…but mostly because alternative rock seemed to be evolving in directions that couldn’t quite retain my interest. The brilliance of 2002-2003 seemed to have retreated and replaced by Pitchfork-rated hipster-influenced indie. To me it kind of felt like the scene was kind of losing its vision a bit. Not that it was all bad, of course, just that it was harder for me to find something I liked.
There was also the fact that I’d gotten rid of an extremely large portion of my music collection before we’d moved. The vinyl and cassettes stayed with my family (I allowed them to do what they wished with it, including selling it off and keeping the money), and after spending the entire summer of 2005 ripping my cds, I found myself unsure of what I still wanted to listen to. I’d purposely disconnected myself from my solace, so to speak, and ended up adrift. Even despite living just blocks away from a Tower Records (which would soon shut down within the year), I’d realized that I really couldn’t spend all my pocket money on CDs as I used to. And we really didn’t have the room for my huge collection.
It would be a few more years before I’d reconnect and find sounds that resonated with me, but those musical times in the Belfry Years were definitely over.
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Morningwood, Morningwood, released 10 January 2006. I’d actually heard this band in mid-2005 during the months I lived in New Jersey. There was an intriguing cable channel called International Music Feed whose playlist was steeped in everything not originating in the US that me, A and our roommates constantly listened to. We loved their two singles from this record, “Nth Degree” and “Jetsetter”, both giddy and goofy pop gems. They only lasted a few years (as did the channel) though singer Chantal Claret followed up with a pretty decent solo career in the ’10s.
She Wants Revenge, She Wants Revenge, released 31 January 2006. I remember hearing “Tear You Apart” a lot on Live 105, the local alternative rock station that was pretty much the closest analogue to the Boston area’s WFNX that became our usual station to listen to in the car. I was of two minds about this album — on the one hand, I liked their Joy Division/Interpol sound, but on the other hand it felt a little too derivative. They’d drop an album a few years later (2011’s Valleyheart), however, that I felt was absolutely brilliant.
Sparks, Hello Young Lovers, released 6 February 2006. I’d been a passive fan of Sparks but never quite got around to buying any of their albums, at least not until I finally took the plunge a few years later and downloaded their discography. They’re still a bit confusing to me but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit, released 6 February 2006. Their album The Boy with the Arab Strap was a huge Belfry/HMV Years favorite of mine, and I’d put them on my ‘will buy anything they release’ list. That kind of fell apart around this time, however, mostly due to wanting save money, but at the same time I was having trouble trying to get used to their evolving sound. Their sound was no longer the bedsit twee pop I loved. I’d eventually come around, though.
KT Tunstall, Eye to the Telescope, released 7 February 2006. You couldn’t escape “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” that year, as it showed up all over the place: music video channels, AOR stations, alt.rock stations, and everywhere in between. It’s a fun album worth checking out.
Elbow, Leaders of the Free World (US Edition), released 21 February 2006. I continued (and still continue) to be a huge Elbow fan ever since picking up Asleep in the Back early in 2002, and while this album is a bit odd compared to the dreamlike Asleep or the pastoral Cast of Thousands from 2003, it remains a wonderful record. “Forget Myself” got a good amount of play on Live 105 at the time.
Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, released 21 February 2006. It’s funny — for a good couple of years I constantly mixed this band up with LCD Soundsystem, who appeared right around the same time. I think part of it was because they both embraced that indie-punk-meets-dance style that had become a big thing at the time, a style I wasn’t entirely all that interested in. I kinda-sorta liked them? But not enough to go out of my way and pick up their work? At least not until their major breakthrough, 2013’s AM.
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Coming up: getting used to the new sounds and finding stuff online
Whoop! It’s been a few weeks since I last updated! I’ve been busy with Real Life stuff so the blogs have been taking a back seat while I readjust. I’m probably going to continue with once a week from here on in until further notice.
In the meantime, it’s also been quite some time since I shared what I’ve been listening to! So here you go!
Joseph, Closer to Happy, released 30 January.
Kula Shaker, Wormslayer, released 30 January.
Silversun Pickups, Tenterhooks, released 6 February.
U2, Days of Ash EP, released 18 February.
Paul Draper, Mansun Retold, released 20 February.
Nothing, A Short History of Decay, released 27 February.
Gorillaz, The Mountain, released 27 February.
Squeeze, Trixies, released 6 March.
Art School Girlfriend, Lean In, released 13 March.
The Orielles, Only You Left, released 13 March.
The Leaf Library, After the Rain, Strange Seeds, released 20 March.
All told, those twelve months of 1986 were quite the personal rollercoaster ride. I’d gone from a spotty nerd that constantly felt out of place and stuck in a dull social cycle I couldn’t find my way out of, and become an obsessed music nerd whose eyes had been opened to punk ethos and nonconformity. While I never really embraced the physical attributes of that mindset, I felt I didn’t really have to. The most I did was let my spiky ‘do grow out a bit and start wearing goofy pins on my denim jacket. By December, I’d finally found a social circle where I truly belonged rather than just sort-of fit in. Hell, I even made it official just before Christmas break by asking them if it was okay if I hung out, considering they were all a year above me!
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Minutemen, Ballot Result, released December 1986. This posthumous collection came one year after the death of lead singer D Boon, and tied in with what was originally going to be a multi-disc record called Three Dudes, Six Sides, Half Studio, Half Live, and they’d handed out ballots to fans during shows (and also inside their last album 3-Way Tie (for Last)) to vote on what would be included. Instead the two surviving members Mike Watt and George Hurley compiled live recordings and rarities based on the votes as a final record for the fans. I remember seeing a lot of ads and reviews for this record in the music magazines at the time.
Concrete Blonde, Concrete Blonde, released December 1986. I’d gotten a dubbed copy of this from a friend after hearing the great single “Still in Hollywood” on MTV and seeing multiple positive reviews for it. [There was also the fact that they were REM-adjacent, sharing the IRS Record label with them and Michael Stipe suggesting the band name.] I quickly fell in love with this record for its tight sound and excellent songwriting, along with the vocal prowess of Johnette Napolitano (who reminded me a lot of early Ann Wilson at her most powerful). It got a ton of play over the next few years, and also got repeat play during my DPW days mowing cemeteries. It might not be a critic favorite and those drums do sound dated, but it’s a really great record worth owning.
The Coolies, dig…?, released December 1986. In pure 80s post-punk style, the band’s name is of course rather questionable, but their first album is…well, weird enough to be enjoyable. Not too many bands decide their debut will include nine Simon & Garfunkel covers and one Neil Sedaka cover. Each song takes on a different style, with the single “Scarborough Fair” embracing funk. WMUA used to play that one a lot, and I’d eventually find a cheap vinyl copy at Al Bum’s not that long after.
The Lucy Show, Mania, released December 1986. “A Million Things” used to get a lot of play on 120 Minutes at the time, though their album was also notoriously hard for me to find. They might have come from London but they definitely had that LA power-pop feel going on, making their music fun and enjoyable.
KMFDM, What Do You Know, Deutschland? first edition released December 1986. This German industrial band debuted their first official album (with a different cover than shown above) and would get played on WMUA and WAMH during their industrial shows, which is why I recognized their name from that time. I was still a newbie when it came to that genre but I found myself liking it nonetheless.
The Damned, Anything, released 5 December 1986. This venerated punk band’s last album before their hiatus/breakup at the end of the decade was clearly more polished than their previous records, they’d lost Captain Sensible’s manic guitar work some time ago, and it wasn’t their biggest hit. But their amazing cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” remains one of their most popular singles from that era. I used to see the video on 120 Minutes for a good few years after its release.
We’ve Got a Fuzzbox & We’re Gonna Use It!!, Bostin’ Steve Austin, UK released 8 December 1986. I absolutely adore this album! Like Flaunt It, the album fit in perfectly with my growing love for nonconformity. They got a great bit of coverage in Smash Hits, they were even featured on a Night Flight episode, and 120 Minutes often played the great chunky single “Love Is the Slug”. I bought the US version of this on cassette when it dropped in January 1987 and played it incessantly. It’s surprisingly tight and well produced, even when they’re deliberately at their sloppiest (including a very weird cover of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” which I used to hear on WMDK!), and unabashedly feminist on multiple tracks. I highly recommend this, especially the CD reissue that came out in 2013. [Side Note: Martin Tracey just dropped an official biography of the band in December and it’s available via Amazon.]
Steve Kilbey, Unearthed, released 19 December 1986. The Church’s lead singer not only had a breakthrough with the Heyday album that had come out at the start of the year, but kicked off his extremely long and diverse solo career with music that could easily have been Church tracks but didn’t quite fit the band’s style at the time. He wasn’t a musician looking for chart hits or popularity, either; you can tell he’s doing this because it’s his calling, and he wasn’t going to compromise. Later solo releases could go anywhere from experimental instrumentals to psychedelic themes and who knows where else. I remember this one getting a lot of positive reviews in the music magazines at the time.
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I may not have known what would be in store in the new year, but I knew one thing: I was in charge of what I let happen for me. I built up my self-confidence by leaning on my creative outlets and exploring how far I could take them. I wore down being overly self-conscious by allowing myself to be myself around my new circle of friends. And of course, I had access to two college radio stations and a local AOR station that kept me constantly inspired and entertained. Most importantly, I fully embraced the idea of social nonconformity, and even then I understood that I didn’t have to be performative about it. To me, it was all about proudly being myself without fear and without obstacle, that’s all. My new friends were a big part of that, allowing me to express myself freely like that. They might be graduating in the spring of 1988, but for now I was going to enjoy the next year and a half while I could.
By the time November rolled around, I found myself thinking less like a clueless mid-teen reacting to everything around me and taking more chances with my creative and personal lives. The ideas within the IWN were taking a much darker and more experimental road, and I’d started writing my first screenplay, coming-of-age comedy inspired by John Hughes. I was also trying out new ideas with a plan of not holding back nearly as much as I had. I felt like I was less of a dork with braces and finally coming into my own as a creative person in training. I had to start somewhere, right? Why not now?
November was also the month when I first made not one but two radio-sourced mixtapes by recording a full side of music while listening to WMUA, the college station of UMass Amherst. Those two mixes (both later titled The Crossover I and II) got a lot of repeat play during the day when I couldn’t always get the station in clearly. [It was around this time that the guy at Radio Shack suggested I purchase a six-foot extending antenna, which I duly bought and used for several years (and radios).] I’d make a few more commercial station ‘radio tapes’ well into 1987, but that would soon come to a close once my obsession grew.
Killing Joke, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, released November 1986. I remember this one getting a bit of flak because it was so slickly produced, the songs weren’t as powerful as their previous work, and it sounded very…well, 80s. It didn’t do too well, but I do remember “Sanity” and “Adorations” getting a fair bit of play on 120 Minutes.
A Certain Ratio, Force, released November 1986. I remember WMDK being a bit excited about this album coming out, as it was their first album in four years (not including the collection The Old & the New which had come out earlier in the year). They’re not your typical British post-punk band; they’re more like post-punk-meets-funk, and the critics loved it.
The Mission UK, God’s Own Medicine, released November 1986. The first album from Wayne Hussey’s new band after leaving The Sisters of Mercy, and you can hear a few similarities between the two groups, though The Mission would be more melodic and less doom-and-gloom. “Wasteland” got a fair bit of play on 120 Minutes and on college radio. They’d be a favorite on Boston’s alternative station WFNX over the next few years.
He Said, Hail, released November 1986. Graham Lewis, the bassist/vocalist from Wire, also had his own solo project at this time (one of many during their hiatus) although it would be a few years before I’d finally get around to picking them up, starting with 1989’s Take Care.
Fishbone, In Your Face, released November 1986. This funk-metal band had a strong fan following for ages, so when their first album finally came out it was an immediate favorite. Even from the album cover you could tell that they didn’t always take themselves entirely all that seriously, and this album shows it: while there are certainly some serious tracks here, there are also quite a few fun jams as well.
Clan of Xymox, Medusa, released November 1986. This is a curious 4AD band that I knew of thanks to seeing them in the bins at Al Bum’s and later at Main Street Records, but I never quite got around to picking up their albums until 1989’s Twist of Shadows. I’d pick this one up on one of my jaunts to the many used shops in Boston during my college years, and “Agonised By Love” became one of my favorites of theirs.
Lone Justice, Shelter, released November 1986. This was a band that straddled the lines between alternative, country and folk, and did surprisingly well not just on AOR but also on pop radio. “Shelter” was the big hit for them and got a decent amount of play all over the place.
Wire, Snakedrill EP, released November 1986. Speaking of…after disappearing at the start of the decade to focus on solo projects, this influential foursome reconvened and began what they would call their “beat combo” era with this teaser EP, with a new album coming in the new year. It’s a fascinating release as all four songs sound completely different from each other despite having a similar style. “A Serious of Snakes” is radio-friendly and catchy as hell even despite its oblique lyrics; “Drill” is their showpiece focusing on lyrical and musical repetition; “Advantage in Height” reminds fans of their first post-punk wave; and “Up to the Sun (A Vivid Riot of Red)” sees the band at their most experimental. This EP would be reissued as bonus tracks on the cassette and CD of their album that would drop in April.
Game Theory, The Big Shot Chronicles, released November 1986. Another band listed in Trouser Press Record Guide that caught my attention, this power pop band were critic favorites and would show up on WMDK quite frequently.
China Crisis, What Price Paradise, released November 1986. This British band showed up on an episode of Night Flight as a band with success in their home country but very little visibility in the States despite being signed to Virgin Records. I’d hear “Arizona Sky” and “It’s Everything” on WMDK around this time, both great singles that really could have fit in perfectly on American pop radio, and I’d soon find this record in the bins at Al Bums.
They Might Be Giants, They Might Be Giants, released 4 November 1986. It’s safe to say I’ve been a TMBG fan since album number one, and I absolutely adore this record for its silliness and relentless oddball creativity. So much so that this garnered a follow-up record review in my school paper! “Don’t Let’s Start” got a lot of play on 120 Minutes, AOR and college radio, as would “(She Was a) Hotel Detective”. [And I would learn later that they were sort-of-once-local, having grown up in Lincoln MA, thus the title of their follow-up in 1988.] I bought this cassette at Strawberries if I’m not mistaken, and it got a ton of play over the next several years, so much so that I can still quote several songs, heh.
‘Til Tuesday, Welcome Home, released 4 November 1986. The follow-up to their mega-huge Voices Carry album may not have been as popular, but as a Boston band they definitely got their fair share of play on local rock radio with the singles “What About Love” and “Coming Up Close”. The latter became one of my favorite tracks of theirs, a song that perfectly encapsulates the closing-down of the year feel of late autumn in New England.
Kraftwerk, Electric Café, released 10 November 1986. Their first new album in five years, this was big news, especially since they were the godfathers of early synth music, which was now at the peak of its current wave. I remember Night Flight and even PBS doing a retrospective on them at this time, and releasing the video for “Musique Non Stop”, which at the time had cutting-edge CGI facial animation work.
Cocteau Twins with Harold Budd, The Moon and the Melodies, released 10 November 1986. This was part of the wave of CT albums and EPs I’d dub from a friend in early 1989 that would end up getting constant repeat plays on my Walkman over the next few years. It’s my favorite of their discography, even despite it being more of an experimental side-project, but its dreamlike ambience is absolutely breathtaking.
Kate Bush, The Whole Story, released 10 November 1986. I picked this one up at Strawberries soon after it dropped, partly because I’d really liked “Running Up That Hill” and partly because of the video feature I’d seen on Night Flight. I’d known how different her music could be from other alternative and pop music, but this felt like it was in a different yet parallel universe. I’d be a longtime fan from here on in.
The The, Infected, released 17 November 1986. This too was something that caught my interest via Night Flight when they premiered the movie Matt Johnson made to promote this album. Like the film, the album is dark, dense and unforgiving and yet with a sense of redemption at the end. Nothing is held back: songs about sex, obsession, war, desolation, politics, death, and going to the brink. I was absolutely floored and immediately bought the cassette at that little record corner inside the department store in Amherst, the same place I’d bought Flaunt It. One lasting memory I have is of a friend borrowing this then giving it back the next day saying “It’s okay, but why do I want to hear songs about ‘piss-stinking shopping centers’?”
Duran Duran, Notorious, released 18 November 1986. After the almost-dissolution of the group and its loss of two core members, Simon, Nick and Andy reconvened with an album with a much slicker production and stylish songwriting. It definitely lost some of their older fans, and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the title track, but the sexy slinkiness of the “Skin Trade” single kept me interested. It’s more of a transitional album than a solid one, but it’s worth checking out.
Bad Brains, I Against I, released 21 November 1986. I remember 120 Minutes making a big thing out of this release as this was the hardcore band’s first album in over three years with a change in sound, moving closer towards funk and metal, and would become their biggest and most popular record. [You can kind of hear a style that Living Colour would adapt themselves a few years later.] I also remember seeing ads for it in the music magazines, and would occasionally hear tracks from it on WMUA and later on WAMH.
The Other Ones, The Other Ones, released 24 November 1986. I gravitated towards this album thanks to the excellent single “We Are What We Are”, which spoke to me at a time when I was still trying to figure myself out. Although it only scraped by to number 53 on the Billboard Top 100, I was entranced by its simple message: we only want to be ourselves / we’re just like everybody else. As a teenager this clarified so much: I needed to get out of my own head and be who I wanted to be instead of constantly overthinking it like I always did. And that I surely wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Despite its slick 80s pop style, this album was just quirky and different enough that I fell in love with it, and it got a ton of play in my room for a good couple of years.
I started off my high school sophomore year with a plan to change my outlook. I was now the only sibling at home (all my older siblings were in college or adulting at that point), so it felt a bit weird to have the house mostly to myself for hours at a time. This meant that I finally had a bit of relative privacy and time to figure out who I was without all the interruption and outside influence.
This of course meant staying up far too late, hanging out in my bedroom and listening to music after my parents went to bed. This meant exploring avenues of creative writing. This meant immersing myself in music magazines I bought at the local smoke shop downtown. And this also meant videotaping various episodes of Night Flight and 120 Minutes and watching them Monday afternoon.
I would also get a new job: a hall monitor at the local YMCA. For a few hours during the week I’d walk the halls, mopping and sweeping the floors, gathering up equipment left behind, and babysitting the little kids before and after their swim classes. [Most of them were perfect angels but there was one or two who would screw around for ages.] Did I utilize that time to do a bit of light homework, reading my music magazines, trying out a few writing ideas, and goofing off with friends who stopped by? Of course! It was a simple job but it was harmless and sometimes kind of fun. I’d take the job again in the summer and fall of 1987 until I was ‘hired’ at the local radio station.
As expected, Q3 starts out with a ton of great releases, so this one’s going to be another long one!
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Shriekback, Big Night Music, released September 1986. I’d heard of them in passing and noted their listing in Trouser Press, and I believe this was the first album of theirs that I’d be aware of, and WMDK would play “Gunning for the Buddha” now and again. I owned this one as a dub first until I found a cheap vinyl copy in the bargain bins somewhere.
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, Element of Light, released September 1986. “Raymond Chandler Evening” is one of my all-time favorite RH songs, and I adore the music video as well (I would learn via 120 Minutes later on that it was a tribute to the 1927 dadaist film Ghosts Before Breakfast). RH was getting considerable press in the music magazines at this time as an alternative musician, and this album went over quite well with critics and fans alike. Surprisingly, I would not own this one for a few more years.
The Mighty Lemon Drops, Happy Head, released September 1986. Another band beloved by critics and signed to Sire — a label known for its stellar alternative and punk catalog, thanks mostly to the brilliant Seymour Stein — this album was fodder for 120 Minutes and AOR stations like WMDK. I owned this one on vinyl via another bargain bin dive.
It’s Immaterial, Life’s Hard and Then You Die, released September 1986. I vaguely remembered “Ed’s Funky Diner” on WMDK, but it would be another couple of years until I owned this record when I found it and a few other gems at the downtown Salvation Army store.
Cocteau Twins, Love’s Easy Tears EP, released September 1986. I think this might actually be the first time I’d heard of this band, having seen this EP on cassette at that other record store at Hampshire Mall (the one whose name I no longer remember, alas), but I wouldn’t actually hear them for another couple of years. Come 1988 I’d have this one dubbed on a cassette with their other 1985-86 EPs which would end up getting major play on my walkman.
The Chameleons UK, Strange Times, released September 1986. I distinctly remember hearing “Swamp Thing” on WMDK a couple of times and really loving it, only to completely forget it for a few years until I heard it again on the same station and finally picked up the cassette. By the time I was in college, this album would get a lot of repeat play on my headphones. It’s a banger album that is worth checking out.
Skinny Puppy, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, released 5 September 1986. I distinctly remember seeing the video for “Dig It” on 120 Minutes over the next several months, and in retrospect I think this was the song that actually introduced me to the industrial genre. I dubbed this one from a friend (the same one I dubbed multiple Cocteau Twins albums from) in 1988. Also in retrospect, it’s definitely because of “Dig It” that I ended up being a huge Nine Inch Nails fan a few years later.
The B-52’s, Bouncing Off the Satellites, released 8 September 1986. I remember this one coming out and WMDK playing various tracks off it, but it not doing well on the radio or the charts, due to it having been in limbo for over a year, partly because of Ricky Wilson’s passing. It’s not their strongest record, but it certainly set the stage for their chart-topping follow-up three years later.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Blood & Chocolate, released 15 September 1986. Costello’s output had grown sporadic and introspective at this point, and his second album of the year was similar to King of America in that it felt more like something he did for himself than for anyone else. None of the singles were hits, although “Tokyo Storm Warning” would show up on AOR stations now and again.
Love and Rockets, Express, released 15 September 1986. Now this album, on the other hand, was unexpectedly popular on both sides of the Atlantic for college radio listeners! While their previous album, 1985’s dreamlike Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, was a minor favorite in the UK (it would remain an import in the US until its reissue in 1988) preceded by their debut single, a crunchy and distorted cover of The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion”. That single would be appended to the US edition of Express as a selling point, and it did amazingly well. I bought this one (not long after its release) in the oddest of places: a local flea market my dad and I would frequent on Sundays. Best eight dollars I’d ever spent, I played the hell out of this record for a good couple of years, and it remains one of my favorites of 1986.
This Mortal Coil, Filigree & Shadow, released 20 September 1986. This collective came to my attention at 1am while listening to WMUA in November of that year, when they played the funereal “Inch-Blue”/”I Want to Live” at the top of the hour. What was this…?? It wasn’t the punk or the post-punk I’d been fascinated by on college radio, and its dark ambience blew my mind. I’d always been fascinated by music that made me visualize listening in a darkened room or a forest at night, and this was like being in a deserted cathedral. By early 1987 I’d find this one on cassette at Al Bum’s in Amherst (the better to relisten at 1am, of course) and it became one of my favorites for the next couple of years. It introduced me to 4AD’s early years and I was hooked on nearly everything that label released. [No big surprise that it became a frequent soundtrack for my writing.]
Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses, released 20 September 1986. This too was a 4AD release, and to my surprise it was also a somewhat local band! The Muses were the first American band (from Rhode Island) to be signed to the label (Pixies, another local band, would be signed soon after), this got some minor play on WMDK and WRSI. Their early work is a bit hard to take in if you’re not used to it, but they fast became a favorite band of mine.
Billy Idol, Whiplash Smile, released 20 September 1986. Meanwhile, The Punk With The Sneer finally returned after a nearly three year absence with an album that became a huge hit on MTV even despite the critics feeling he’d lost his drive by embracing synthesizers. I was hooked on the groovy single “To Be a Lover” (originally a great Stax single from 1968) and bought the cassette through my RCA Record Club membership, and it got considerable play during the afternoons. It’s a surprisingly solid record that proved he wasn’t just a face on a pop video.
Billy Bragg, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, released 22 September 1986. Bragg had been around for a few years by this point and beloved by fans and critics, but this was the first album where he had a full band behind him. “Greetings to the New Brunette” got a lot of play on WMDK and even a bit on MTV, also getting repeat plays on 120 Minutes. I’d soon be a fan and collector in a few months.
The Fall, Bend Sinister, released 29 September 1986. This was probably the first time I’d heard of this band, although I wouldn’t really hear anything by them for a while longer (unless they were played on college radio and I wasn’t paying attention). I distinctly remember noticing in Trouser Press that they had a ridiculously long discography, most of it import and thus out of my budget.
New Order, Brotherhood, released 29 September 1986. I wouldn’t own this one for around another year, but I do distinctly remember seeing a highly glowing review in a music magazine I’d started picking up called Only Music — a spin-off from Spin magazine that focused only on music news and releases. This quickly became my favorite New Order album once I finally picked it up.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Pacific Age, released 29 September 1986. This was another one I’d picked up in the bargain bin, this time at Al Bum’s if I’m not mistaken, partly because I really liked the single “(Forever) Live and Die”. I was well aware of the band because of their ubiquitous “If You Leave” single from Pretty in Pink as well as their Crush album that had gotten a bit of play as well with its single “So in Love”. This was the album that made me a fan of them. And also taught me the British spelling of ‘maneuver’.
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Next up: Further down the college rock rabbit hole…
With summer’s end came a bit of a sea change for me. I’d started avoiding the few neighborhood kids left that I no longer wanted to hang out with, because surely I could do so much better. While I might still have been an overly moody teen on the inside and an obnoxious goofball on the outside, I’d finally learned to tone both sides down when I realized that my hyperfocus on writing was a good thing. (Hi, undiagnosed ADHD!) I was looking forward to starting the new school year with a fresher outlook and a hell of a lot more self-confidence.
And of course, I always looked forward to hitting the record stores in central Massachusetts that actually carried this ‘college rock’ I found myself obsessed with. In short order I knew all the best shops and who sold what, and even which mall chain and department stores carried held such hidden gems. The thrill of the hunt was on!
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Camper Van Beethoven, Camper Van Beethoven, released August 1986. It gets confusing: 1985’s Telephone Free Landslide Victory is their first album, January 1986’s II & III is their second, and this self-titled is their third. This was typical of David Lowery’s absurdist nature, writing oddball songs that were surprisingly catchy and memorable. Critics and college radio stations loved them, and even you knew one of their songs (the silly “Take the Skinheads Bowling” that got MTV play). I do remember WMDK and WMUA playing them now and again.
Crowded House, Crowded House, released August 1986. Upon hearing that the younger Finn brother picked up the ashes of the recently broken-up Split Enz to go solo, both fans and critics were excited to see what would come of this brilliant songwriter. The ubiquitous and still lovely ballad “Don’t Dream It’s Over” hit the airwaves here in the States and instantly won them acclaim. This first album is well worth listening to.
Sparks, Music That You Can Dance To, released August 1986. This is yet another good example of a great band with great songwriters that never quite managed to break through. Perhaps it’s their inherent quirkiness, or perhaps the inability to pigeonhole them (which is actually a plus, to be honest), they spent most of the 80s being that band that just sort of popped up unexpectedly every year or so. I remember seeing this album in the cutout bins a lot in the 90s under its weirdly renamed reissue The Best of Sparks.
Bruce Hornsby, The Way It Is, released August 1986. He could have been a one hit wonder with the title track — yet another catchy late-80s song about failed lives and failed dreams — but due to Hornsby’s stellar playing and ability to write amazing songs, this album became a hit on rock radio and MTV. I believe I acquired this album off someone who didn’t want it and I found myself captivated by its mastery. A surprisingly solid album. I saw him live in Boston in 1988 and he put on a wonderful show.
Paul Simon, Graceland, released 12 August 1986. Alongside Peter Gabriel, Sting and other British songwriters and bands that chose to embrace the sounds of Africa around this time, Simon’s approach was less about integrating the style into his own and more about being inspired by it instead. You can hear his signature folksy style even with songs like “Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes”. And “You Can Call Me Al” was everywhere for the next several months, partly thanks to its silly video featuring Chevy Chase.
Soundtrack, Manhunter, released 15 August 1986. Well before 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, there was Michael Mann’s take on the first Hannibal Lecter book Red Dragon, with William Peterson playing a retired FBI agent called back in to hunt a serial killer…with the help of Lecter, who’d been the focus of his previous case that had sent him into a nervous breakdown. As expected, Mann delivers a film that’s highly dramatic (in that wonderful overwrought 80s way), visually stunning, and contains an excellent soundtrack. Shriekback shows up multiple times, and Iron Butterfly’s “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” is used in a highly creative and extremely disturbing way. The Prime Movers’ “Strong As I Am” was a surprise minor hit on the radio, and the songs remains one of my favorites of the decade.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kicking Against the Pricks, released 18 August 1986. At this point Cave was pretty much still known as the former lead singer of Australian punk band the Birthday Party and writing gloomy torch songs and growly dirges about the darker and grimmer sides of life. Yet another fan and critic fave that never bothered to crack commercial radio here in the States [Who knew that decades later, one of his songs would be on a Harry Potter soundtrack?], but would appear quite frequently on college radio.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “Rage Hard” single, released 25 August 1986. No one really expected this quintet to follow up their ridiculously popular debut double album, considering how brightly they’d shone over the last two years. But follow up they did, turning away from Trevor Horn’s epic aural (over)production and trying their hand at being rockers, which they’d been initially before fame hit. This teaser single is unexpectedly grim and heavy, and even singer Holly Johnson tones it down by singing in the lower register for most of the song. [And if you bought the original twelve-inch, you’d hear their fun cover of Bowie’s “Suffragette City” as a b-side.] Their upcoming album would definitely defy expectations.
XTC, “Grass” single, released 26 August 1986. This isn’t one of their biggest hits, but it is quite the lovely pastoral (pun intended) track by this trio, whose sound by this time had veered well away from angular post-punk to British folk, 60s pop and light psychedelia. This teaser for their upcoming album was a fan favorite, but the single also holds an unexpected gem: this was the original location of their most famous song “Dear God”, which they’d signed off as a b-side due to its controversial lyrics and theme.
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Next up: In which 120 Minutes takes over my brain.
Walk In Silence 