Category Archives: writing soundtracks

Thirty Years On: March 1996

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By this time I’d been working not-quite-fulltime at the radio station, doing the morning shifts from 5:30am to noon, and also on Sunday afternoons to prep the religious programming on the AM station that still ran from dawn to dusk. I was on my own for the most part until the GM came in and nitpicked any slight errors I’d made. Let’s just say that she was one of those evangelicals that threw stones first and leave it at that, shall we? Anyway, it wasn’t the most exciting of jobs and as before, I was never on air, but it gave me time to play around with a few ideas. I revived my poetry and lyric writing, something I hadn’t done for a good year or so. I watched Sailor Moon on the station TV in the morning (this was when anime was finally becoming more popular and mainstream in the US instead of a niche thing). I read books and comics I’d been buying recently. I drew maps and comic ideas. Anything to get my mind moving instead of spiraling into self-pity.

This is when I’d come up with the idea of priming the creative pump, so to speak. While I was getting caught up on the Great Transcription Project, I was also playing around with various ideas longhand. We had scrap paper galore in the studio and I used it to let my mind come up with ideas. They didn’t have to go anywhere, it was just an exercise to get myself back into creative shape. I came up with about a dozen story ideas, none of which went anywhere in the long run, but the exercise did its job: I felt the creative spark reignite, and I was ready to start writing again.

I should also state that at this point, my then-gf (and cowriter on True Faith) and I had broken up though we did stay in touch, very occasionally meeting up with a few mutual friends to do things. I also met up with a few people via online New Age chatrooms and had a brief friendship with someone who gave me a lot of positive insight on my ideas that would eventually become a part of The Phoenix Effect in the future. So it wasn’t as if I’d cut myself off from the world; it was more that I felt a bit lost and trying to find my footing. These weren’t the most fulfilling of connections, but they were needed at the time and helped me stay out of that funk I’d been in a few months previous.

Lush, Lovelife, released 5 March 1996. The band’s last album before breaking up, it was also their most radio-friendly and popular, especially with the single “Ladykillers”. They still attained most of their dreampop/shoegaze sound, but it felt forced and overly polished to me, however.

Various Artists, WHORE: Tribute to Wire, released 5 March 1996. Around this time I’d started listening to my old standby college radio station, WAMH at Amherst College. I had to get used to the fact that they weren’t playing the post-punk-influenced alternative stuff I’d fallen in love with back in the 80s but was now fully immersed in indie rock that I was only vaguely resonating with. They’d play a few tracks off this one now and again, especially Band of Susan’s cover of the brilliant “Ahead”.

Stereolab, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, released 11 March 1996. I bought this one via Columbia House as I’d always liked them but never quite got around to ever buying anything from them! I’d heard “The Noise of Carpet” on 120 Minutes and that sold them for me. I still get the track stuck in my head now and again.

Cocteau Twins, Milk & Kisses, released 15 March 1996. Believe it or not, I wouldn’t own this for a good year or so! I was more of an early-era, pre-Heaven Or Las Vegas fan and felt their later work lacked the dreamlike sound I loved so much. It would end up being their final album as they would break up soon after.

The Beatles, Anthology 2, released 18 March 1996. I remember the ‘new’ Beatles single, “Real Love”, was supposed to drop on Valentines Day or thereabouts but got delayed, instead dropping a week or so before the second volume of the Anthology series. This one fascinates me, as it dials back the live and interstitial content that was prevalent on the first volume and focuses on the interesting alternate takes, like the trippy first take of “Tomorrow Never Knows”. At this point there was still a rumor that a third ‘new’ song would be on the third volume, but alas, time and technology kept that from happening.

Barenaked Ladies, Born On a Pirate Ship, released 19 March 1996. Before the hugely popular Stunt from 1998, this album opened the door much wider for this beloved Canadian band, with the single “The Old Apartment” getting major airplay on the radio over the next year or so.

Love and Rockets, Sweet FA, released 19 March 1996. Story goes that they’d recorded a significant portion of this album project when a fire consumed the studio they’d been working in. Guitars were burnt to a crisp (thus the album cover) and friend Genesis P-Orridge suffered injuries because of it, but in the end they soldiered on and came out with a sleek album that wasn’t quite a return to their psych rock origins or the techno of their previous album, and “Sweet Lover Hangover” became a radio favorite.

Tracy Bonham, The Burdens of Being Upright, released 19 March 1996. She’d become a local favorite in Boston with her indie-released The Liverpool Sessions EP, and for her major label debut she came out with guns blazing and several songs that became favorites on the local alternative stations like the blistering opener “Mother Mother”, the catchy “The One” and the oddball singalong “Sharks Can’t Sleep”. She’s still active as a musician and putting out her own works.

Superdrag, Regretfully Yours, released 26 March 1996. This band could be seen as a one hit wonder with its clever “Sucked Out” (a song about selling out, natch), but there’s a lot more going on with this band than just being a whiny Gen-Xer. They’re actually quite an excellent powerpop band worth checking out, and their amazing about-face with 1998’s Head Trip in Every Key (done specifically as an anti-“Sucked Out” album which did its job by having the label drop them soon after) is highly recommended.

Stone Temple Pilots, Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, released 26 March 1996. STP, on the other hand, seemed to be on the verge of self-immolation, as the first hints of Scott Weiland’s self-destructiveness came to the fore. This is a druggy haze of an album because of that. It’s not my favorite of theirs and a bit of a hard listen because it feels so sloppy, especially after the wonderful Purple from 1994, but it does have its finer moments like the above single that got a lot of play at the time.

Guided By Voices, Under the Bushes Under the Stars, released 26 March 1996. This is their ninth(?) album so I kind of gave up on trying to catch up with their work, but they finally resonated with me with the lovely “Official Ironmen Rally Song” single that got a lot of play not only on WAMH but on WHMP as well. I did get this song down on one of my radio source tapes somewhere, but it would be quite a few years more before I finally downloaded this album.

The Verve Pipe, Villains, released 26 March 1996. I immediately fell in love with this album not because of the ridiculously popular single “The Freshmen” but because of their other radio/video tracks “Photograph” and “Cup of Tea”, both of which would show up on one of my favorite mixtapes later in the year. It really is an amazing album, and Brian Vander Ark’s songwriting is at its highest here. I bought this one via Columbia House and played the hell out of it over the next several years, as it became one of my all-time favorite 90s records and became a frequent go-to for my writing sessions, especially when working on The Phoenix Effect and the Bridgetown Trilogy. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

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Coming up: The birth of the writing nook.

Thirty Years On: January-February 1996

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I remember how I started 1996: two friends and I had gone out to see Jumanji at a local theater on New Years Eve — and that, by the way, was also when I saw the teaser trailer for Independence Day for the first time and thought ‘HOLY CRAP I need to see this’ — and followed it up by heading over to someone’s house to play pool in the basement. Between the three of us, the past year had sucked major ass in varying ways. You’ve already heard the story of how I’d moved back in with my family after failing to stay in Boston. Suffice it to say, we’d been so thankful to get the hell out of 1995 that we ended up completely missing the clock ticking midnight until about a half hour after the fact. We just wanted it to be over.

I’d been lucky in that I was able to transfer from my job at Sony Theater in Somerville to the one in Leominster (although borrowing a car could be tricky), though that would only last a few months and end in late fall when I somehow had landed a job at the very same local radio station I’d worked at back in 1988. Same responsibilities: monitor the satellite feed, take the readings, play the local commercials, and play with/feed the cat that had been somewhat adopted by the station owners. And still get yelled at by the station manager when I messed up the most minor thing ever. I spent most of those slow hours working on the office PC continuing my Great Transcription Project, typing out (and in effect reliving) most of the juvenilia I’d written from my high school days up to the present. And maybe working on True Faith when I had a moment, though that one was suffering from writer’s block and massive rewrites. And somewhere in all of that, I’d get out of the massive debt I was in.

But on a somewhat positive note, I’d managed to reconnect with that high school friend who also lived in town, and we often went on road trips, mainly to drive around, smoke, listen to a lot of music, and make half-assed plans to move out to Ohio where one of our mutual friends lived at the time.

It wasn’t the best of times, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.

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Cibo Matto, Viva! La Woman, released 16 January 1996. This was an early Columbia House purchase when I chose to rejoin, partly because I thought this was a good way to keep in touch with the music I liked. I didn’t listen to it nearly as much as I thought I would but I did like the “Sugar Water” single a lot.

Radiohead, “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” single, released 22 January 1996. The last single from their brilliant 1995 album The Bends — an album said friend and I would constantly listen to in the car — and the ssong seemed to perfectly encapsulate our moods at the time: it absolutely sucked that we were stuck where we were but we looked forward to the positive moments.

Tori Amos, Boys for Pele, released 23 January 1996. Tori’s music had always had that element of odd quirkiness, but this particular record really went in a strange direction, not to mention that it’s a super long one as well. Still, I did appreciate what she was doing and actually liked this one quite a bit.

Stabbing Westward, Wither Blister Burn & Peel, released 23 January 1996. I’d been a passive fan of their first album, but this was the one that really captured my interest. WHMP — the alternative station out of Northampton that we both listened to at the time — played “What Do I Have to Do?” quite heavily, enough that I ended up getting this one through Columbia House as well. This would soon become a frequent writing session album in a few months, once I finally owned my own PC and moved it down to the basement.

Ministry, Filth Pig, released 30 January 1996. I was at odds with this album, because it didn’t quite feel like the Ministry I used to love. It felt like they’d stayed in the ‘less industrial, more metal’ direction they’d explored with Psalm 69. I never played this one all that much, but I did appreciate their oddball cover of Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay”.

Voice of the Beehive, Sex & Misery, released 12 February 1996. This was their last album, but it was a great way to go! They’d gone from jangle pop to Britpop-infused rhythms to sugary dance rock here, and it’s super fun. “Scary Kisses” got a lot of play on WHMP at the time.

Gin Blossoms, Congratulations I’m Sorry, released 13 February 1996. After their extremely popular debut, they came extremely close to knocking it out of the park a second time with this sophomore album. It wasn’t as popular, but it does contain the big single “Follow You Down” which still gets played a lot. I was always a bigger fan of the other single “Day Job” which seems to be forgotten these days.

Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Come Find Yourself, released 20 February 1996. There were a lot of one hit wonders in the mid 90s, and this was a big one, partly because of its clever use of sampling multiple Quentin Tarantino movies. It’s actually a fun album, and they’d show up a few years later with a banger track on the Titan AE soundtrack.

Goldfinger, Goldfinger, released 21 February 1996. I’d say partial thanks to the success of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the pop-punk-ska hybrid did really well around this time, with several bands coming up with radio hits, like “Here in Your Bedroom”. They had a couple of really great albums in the 90s that I owned.

Brainiac, Hissing Prigs in Static Couture, released 26 February 1996. This was a favorite of the friend I mentioned above, and my reaction was: what if Ween decided to sound like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion? Weird half-assed punk infused with blues and heavily filtered through distortion. It’s not an easy listen, but it is a fascinating one.

The Refreshments, Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy, released 27 February 1996. Yet another one hit wonder with the extremely catchy singalong-able “Banditos”. This one got a lot of play in the late 90s and probably still shows up on (ugh I’m old) “songs from the 80s, 90s and today” stations. Silly light-hearted fun.

Cowboy Junkies, Lay It Down, released 27 February 1996. This band had somewhat fallen off the radar for a few years after their brilliant Trinity Session album, and this was a surprising switch to a more radio-friendly Adult Alternative sound, and “A Common Disaster” was an unexpected hit for them.

Bad Religion, The Gray Race, released 27 February 1996. How do you follow up with an unexpectedly popular album like Stranger Than Fiction? By staying true to your goals like Gregg Graffin would, coming out with another banger punk album. It only got some minor airplay with “A Walk” and some of the band felt they phoned it in, but despite that it’s a fan favorite.

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Coming up: future plans, writing goals, unexpected inspirations, and the start of the solo road trips

Twenty Years On: November-December 2006

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I survived my first year on the west coast with minimal damage and frustration, which is always a plus, and I even managed to complete the first draft of Love Like Blood on New Year’s Eve! I knew going in that 2006 was going to be a year of transition, focusing mostly on reorganizing my life, habits, and mindset. I did kind of feel like I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d hoped (I really wanted to get back to work on The Balance of Light but was still blocked on that one), but I at least made the effort to get something done. The day job had its ups and downs, and working during the holiday season was a test of wills and patience, but I made it through.

What would 2007 bring…? Good question. I would work on Love Like Blood revision, maybe occasionally return to the trilogy, screw around with my music collection, and transfer out of the CD/IRA department and into the EDI/epayables department by the end of the year. That job definitely had its ups and downs, enjoyments and frustrations, and it’s the longest one I ever held (I would leave in 2020, y’all know the reasons by now). And by the end of 2008 I’d finally start the extremely slow and arduous campaign of reviving the trilogy once and for all.

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The Sisters of Mercy, First and Last and Always, Floodland and Vision Thing reissues, released 6 November 2006. Remastered and including several b-sides, I was happy to finally have these albums on cd, having owned them on cassette for years. I had a lot of fun revisiting these albums and reminding myself just how great they were.

Foo Fighters, Skin and Bones, released 7 November 2006. Dave Grohl and Co released this exceptional acoustic live record that took several of their hits and gave them new life. “Times Like These” in particular got a ton of airplay as it translated really well as a folk tune.

Depeche Mode, The Best Of Volume 1, released 8 November 2006. One of many greatest hits compilations from this band (and no, there were never any further volumes), this one featured all the hits you’d expect, plus the new single “Martyr” that got considerable play on the radio. In mid-December they’d follow U2’s path and release The Complete Depeche Mode on iTunes.

The Charlatans UK, Forever: The Singles, released 13 November 2006. Yet another best-of, this time from a band that often gets overlooked by those talking about Britpop. I always liked this band and listened to their debut Some Friendly constantly during my college years. This is a really good best-to-date mix to try out.

Chris Cornell, “You Know My Name” single from Casino Royale, released 13 November 2006. The James Bond franchise gets a fresh reboot with Daniel Craig in the lead role and starting off with an official take on the first Fleming Bond book. The theme song got a lot of play on alternative radio, but weirdly enough it was not included on the soundtrack.

The Beatles, Love, released 20 November 2006. The long-awaited soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas and the first time any Beatles songs would be remixed and mashed-up under the expert hands of George Martin (his last work with them) and his son Giles. Some tracks feel more like incidental soundscapes, while others like the “Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows” mashup take you in unexpected directions. It might not be for everyone, but it was extremely well received by Beatle fans, and the show itself lasted until 2024.

Hooverphonic, Singles 96-06, released 27 November 2006. Yet another best-of, this one from one of my favorite electronic bands that I will always download no matter what they release even before I’ve heard a note. This is a really great cross-section of their work worth checking out.

Incubus, Light Grenades, released 28 November 2006. This one always gets forgotten because of their previous three albums being such huge heavy alt-rock favorites, but at the time the single “Anna Molly” got a significant amount of play.

Sonic Youth, The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities, released 12 December 2006. In a month that’s nearly all best-ofs and reissues in my music library, this one stands out as a compilation from a band that rarely released such things at the time. It’s more of an odds-and-ends but it does feature the full scale twenty-five minute LP version of “The Diamond Sea” that goes on six minutes longer than the CD version.

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Whew! Now that I got that year out of the way, I’d like to start next week by going back ten years further to visit 1996. See you then!

Twenty Years On: March-April 2006

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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.

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Coming up: getting into the groove

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part VIII

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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…

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part V

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It was finally summertime, and I’m pretty certain that this was right about the time I finally got myself a summer job. Mind you, there’s not much out there for a teenager when you live in a small New England town with no public transportation, other than maybe the local supermarkets, but you take what you can get. I worked for one for a good few months so I could make some extra money to put into my super sad bank account, pocketing just a bit for weekly things like candy and soda, music magazines and the occasional album I wanted. I only worked for them for one summer if I recall.

On my off hours, though? My radio was always on in my bedroom, listening to the commercial stations during the day and WMDK in the evenings, then listening to my cassettes as I fell asleep at night. This was probably around the time I would stay up overly late, partly because I could and partly because it was my own way of enjoying myself without my family crowding around me. I did a lot of late night writing then.

*

Easterhouse, Contenders, released June 1986. Before I started watching 120 Minutes with any regularity, I’d stumble upon some of MTV’s more adventurous playlists, and this band would show up every now and again. [They were signed to a major label in the US, so that would most likely explain them showing up at all.] I may have heard them on WMDK as well, come to think of it. They were a British band with a very vocal leftist political lean, and I think they were probably the first ones where I’d noticed that kind of thing — a band loudly and proudly wearing their beliefs like that.

Abecedarians, Eureka EP, released June 1986. I’m not entirely sure when I first saw the video for “Soil”, perhaps on late night MTV or Night Flight, but it was a song I’d heard once and immediately thought: I must own this. It would take me a good couple of years to actually find the damn thing, most likely at Al Bum’s down in Amherst. They were an LA post-punk trio that sounded nothing like any other band I’d heard of.

The Woodentops, Giant, released June 1986. If I recall, I’m pretty sure it was this song that was on an early episode of 120 Minutes that caught my attention to both the show and the band. WMDK had said a few really good things about their lo-fi acoustic grooves, and I immediately fell in love with “Give It Time”. This was another album I picked up almost immediately, this time on vinyl at Strawberries, and gave it a lot of plays that summer and fall.

The Housemartins, London 0 Hull 4, released June 1986. Somehow, “Happy Hour” got a bit of play on commercial radio as a very minor favorite in my area, but it was the constant praises they got by the music presses that intrigued me. I believe I had a dub of this sometime in 1987 or 1988. Who knew that just a few years later, that tall and lanky Norman Cook would be one of the hugest techno DJs of the 90s?

The Mekons, The Edge of the World, released June 1986. I remember reading about this band in the Trouser Press Record Guide and hearing good things in the press, but it wasn’t until this album that I finally got to hear them on WMDK. It would be quite a few more years until I’d get around to actually owning any of their work!

Love Tractor, This Ain’t No Outer Space Ship, released June 1986. I’d hear this band for the first time in mid-November of that year when I started listening to WMUA again once it came back on the air for the fall semester. This is when I decided that, like my current wave of radio-sourced mixtapes, I’d dub a tape side’s worth of music, with the sole purpose of familiarizing myself with this genre I was now obsessed with. “Night Club Scene” appealed to me because they reminded me of the early REM years (which makes sense as they were from the same Athens GA scene). I eventually found this album on cassette and played the hell out of it for a good couple of years in the afternoons while doing my homework or writing my stories. It still remains a favorite from this year.

Erasure, Wonderland, released 2 June 1986. I remember seeing ads for this album on the back pages of several music magazines, and many critics lauding their infectious sound and their pedigree (keyboardist Vince Clarke was an original member of both Depeche Mode and Yazoo). I’d hear a few songs by them but they didn’t quite gel with me until a few years later in 1988 when I “borrowed” a copy of The Innocents from the radio station I’d worked at.

Genesis, Invisible Touch, released 9 June 1986. Yes, I was still buying rock albums at this time! I’d really liked the first couple of singles from this album and picked it up on tape not long after it dropped, and it became a favorite of mine. Surprisingly it got a lot of play while I worked on the IWN, partly because of the gloomy “Domino” medley on side two.

The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead, released 16 June 1986. I wouldn’t hear this album probably for another year, but I was well aware of how many fans and critics thought this was the most brilliant album of the year. And it truly is one of their best albums, a huge step up from their first two much darker albums and several singles. Come my junior and senior year I’d have this one playing all the time on my Walkman, up to and including those summers I worked for the DPW.

Agent Orange, This Is the Voice, released 27 June 1986. I wouldn’t hear this band for another year when “Fire in the Rain” showed up on the Enigma Variations 2 compilation in the summer of 1987, but I was well aware of what many called the ‘skate-punk’ sound; fast and hard and often surprisingly melodic. This band was more melodic than most, but that track became one of my favorites that summer.

*

Next Up: In which I finally get my hands on a life-altering album.

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part IV

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Coming up to the end of my freshman year in high school, I’d started making a few changes in my life. I’d seriously gotten tired of being part of a social circle where I knew I didn’t fit in and didn’t want to fit in. All of the neighborhood kids I’d hung with previously were older than me and had already moved on. I’d also gotten serious about my writing — or at least my undiagnosed ADHD got me hyperfocusing on writing the IWN when I really should have been doing my homework — and I now had a new soundtrack in which to link it to. I still had some mental and emotional hurdles to overcome, but I now had what I felt was an escape hatch.

The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, Distressed Gentlefolk, released May 1986. This was a band and album that WMDK would mention every now and again, especially on those weekends where they’d get a bit more adventurous with their playlist. I started paying more attention to these bands they played and mentioned, even if I didn’t get around to checking them out right way. I have a vague memory of hearing them but I don’t remember which song it was, however. I’d revisit this album a few years later when I dubbed it from my freshman year roommate in college.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Gun-Shy, released May 1986. Now this album I remember buying at Strawberries at Searstown Mall in Leominster after seeing the “Wild Blue Yonder” video on USA Network’s Night Flight one mid-summer weekend. It was loud, it was punk, but it was catchy as hell and I loved it immediately. It’s still one of my favorite albums of that year. They would get an unexpected minor hit in early 1988 with the goofy but infectious “I Wanna Be a Flintstone”.

Cactus World News, Urban Beaches, released May 1986. This, surprisingly, showed up on WAAF of all places, as “Worlds Apart” got some small but significant airplay at the time. They were an Irish band with heavy indie rock and punk influences but alas disappeared not long after their album dropped.

The Cure, Standing On a Beach: The Singles, released 6 May 1986. I can state that this album was the official start of my turn towards buying alternative albums almost exclusively from here on out. I’d heard of the band before (who hadn’t?) though at the time no local stations would ever think of playing them, so when I’d heard they were dropping what was essentially a best-of album, I figured this was the perfect place to start. I bought it at Musicland at Hampshire Mall in Hadley — specifically the cassette, because it featured a dozen rare b-sides, and I was already obsessed with complete discographies. Much to my surprise, when “Let’s Go to Bed” came on I immediately remembered it from the early MTV days, when they’d play that song along side the early Duran Duran videos. This became a go-to album for the rest of my high school days, enough so that I actually wore my original copy out and bought a replacement sometime in 1988. It wasn’t just an album that got me through my emotional rollercoastering, several of its songs resonated deeply with me, and it also became a solid writing soundtrack for the IWN. [You can even kind of tell in the story, about halfway through, where the plot suddenly gets all dark and grim.]
Once I bought this one, it all started snowballing…I’d be searching not for pop singles or hit albums, but for those harder-to-find ‘college rock’ records. I’d look in discount bins, independent record shops and anywhere else that would carry these offbeat albums.

Soundtrack, Dangerously Close, released 9 May 1986. The Smithereens’ “Blood and Roses” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep” had gotten some minor airplay on MTV and on the various stations I listened to, but it was the former song’s appearance in this film that caught my attention, most likely later in the year when it got played on cable television. I was deep into the “I love everything punk and alternative” phase by that point. I appreciated that this was a film featuring the time-honored plot of an alternative crowd versus the popular cliques and rich kids but wasn’t a horny gag-filled comedy. Instead it was something much darker and had one hell of a great soundtrack. The film isn’t high art, but it resonated with me regardless and got me hooked on The Smithereens thereafter.

Peter Gabriel, So, released 19 May 1986. This album completely blew my mind when it came out. I didn’t just love “Sledgehammer”, I loved the brittle tension of “Red Rain” and the soft caress of “Don’t Give Up” (I was aware of Kate Bush at the time, natch) and the gorgeous heart-lifting “In Your Eyes” and the fun grooves of “Big Time”. It broke so wide he was everywhere: MTV, college radio, AOR radio, and I would eventually see him live on this tour in 1987. My cassette copy, alas, got stolen by a classmate some months later and I would end up buying the album used on vinyl.

Laurie Anderson, Home of the Brave, released 26 May 1986. Anderson is someone I knew of, like Patti Smith, who was arty and from New York and had a small but extremely loyal following. I even remember hearing “O Superman” at some point. I didn’t quite get her arty approach until probably this record, when “Language Is a Virus” got a significant amount of play and her concert film (of which this album is an abbreviated soundtrack) showed up occasionally on MTV, and her video installations would pop up on PBS now and again.

Ramones, Animal Boy, released 30 May 1986. This was a band that I knew for ages from their early hits getting play on WAAF and my cousin owning End of the Century. Every now and again one of their other singles would pop up on hard rock stations, and “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” — a single that appeared almost a full year before its album — was a surprisingly melodic and highly political track that appealed to me.

Wham!, The Final [UK Version], released 31 May 1986. This best-of collection was the swan song of this ridiculously popular duo that I’m not ashamed to admit I quite enjoyed over the last few years. An extremely truncated and hastily-built version of this album (Music from the Edge of Heaven) would show up in the States in July and become a huge seller. I thought “The Edge of Heaven” was a perfect swan song for the guys. Who knew that one year later, George Michael would blow the roof off of his former band and kickstart a stellar solo career…?

*

Coming up: In which I sink further into the darkness of college rock

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part III

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Many of you already know the story. I mentioned it waaay back in the day and dubbed it ‘the Clarence Clemons Event‘. At some point between April 20th and 26th 1986 — a long-awaited spring break from my freshman year in high school — I personally discovered college radio. Oh, I knew it existed, I just never got much of a chance to listen to it, mainly because the family home was in a valley that cut off a lot of the more distant radio signals. That, and I was still somewhat enamored of MTV and rock radio. That would continue to be the case for some months to come, but the seed was sown when I stumbled upon WMUA, 91.1 FM, while searching for something to listen to one chilly night. From there on in, armed with the local library’s copy of The Trouser Press Record Guide (I’d own a copy soon enough), my obsession with acquiring music would slowly shift to the left of the dial. While it didn’t yet have the name ‘alternative’ linked to it, it certainly was quite an alternative to what the US pop and rock charts were providing me, and I was hooked.

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The Art of Noise, “Paranoimia” single, released April 1986. Max Headroom, played by manic actor-comedian Matt Frewer, was a curious and distinctively 80s icon that started in early 1985 in Britain as a veejay, talk show host and central character in a sci-fi TV movie. He was so weird and anarchic yet so blazingly hilarious you couldn’t turn away. Eventually he showed up here on the single version of this surprise hit and would eventually have an American TV series in 1987-88.

The Fixx, Walkabout, released April 1986. I’d been somewhat of a fan of this band even though I hadn’t owned any of their work until much later. They were a mainstay on MTV and rock radio, always catchy yet slightly peculiar in their music and lyrics. I always liked their less-popular singles like “Built for the Future” and the brilliant the single “Deeper and Deeper” from the Streets of Fire soundtrack. Their music has surprisingly held up well over the years.

Soundtrack, Absolute Beginners, released 7 April 1986. I remember this Julien Temple movie being a huge deal when the movie came out, even though it ended up getting mixed reviews and not as big of a draw in the States. After all, this is a very British movie with a very British soundtrack, based on a very British coming of age novel. The Bowie theme song, however, fared much better, and it’s one of my favorites of his.

The Blow Monkeys, Animal Magic, released 7 April 1986. Speaking of things British, “Digging Your Scene” was a surprise hit in the States and got a lot of play on MTV and pop radio, with its cool, soulful style and jazzy grooves. It did reasonably well in the UK, and this one remains their most popular album.

The Art of Noise, In Visible Silence, released 14 April 1986. This group is more known for their quirky electronic experimentation and their occasional cult classic single (not to mention their always clever and memorable videos), so they may not have been a big seller, but one could always depend on being pleasantly entertained. This album was more a critic and fan favorite than a charter.

Cocteau Twins, Victorialand, released 14 April 1986. It would be another few years before I actively bought anything by this band (who would then become one of my all-time favorites, frequent Walkman go-to’s, and writing influences), but I do remember hearing about them in passing from the music writers out there. Surprisingly, I would not own this particular album until my freshman year in college.

Cameo, Word Up!, released 15 April 1986. Like I said, I was still listening to American Top 40 on the weekends (several of my mixtapes of the time used it as a source), and “Word Up” quickly became another favorite. It’s a silly soul-rap track but it’s catchy as hell. A shor time later, this would be the first cassette I’d buy when I joined the RCA Record Club.

Soundtrack, Legend, released 18 April 1986. Say what you will, I loved that Tom Cruise/Mia Sara/Tim Curry movie, which got its US release during this month. I’d even say this was an early influence on my writing, even though I wouldn’t actually try writing in the SF/F genre for another few years. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack was great, and I really liked the Bryan Ferry track that played during the ending credits.

Butthole Surfers, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, released 18 April 1986. This was another band I knew of thanks to music critics, even though I obviously would not hear anything from them on the radio, at least not until sometime in 1987 when I first heard “Sweat Loaf”. I do, however, remember WMUA mentioning them at one point.

Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer” single, released 21 April 1986. Previously, the former Genesis singer was more known for his strange and slightly unnerving songs and videos like “Shock the Monkey”, “Games Without Frontiers” and “I Don’t Remember”, so it was quite the unexpected delight to hear him drop the funkiest and catchiest single (and the most eye-popping video) he’d ever released as a teaser to his next album.

Siouxsie & the Banshees, Tinderbox, released 21 April 1986. Again, another band I’d heard of thanks to music critics and several rock history books I read at the time, although I’m pretty sure I’d heard “Cities in Dust” on MTV on minor rotation as well. It would be a while before I actually picked up her albums, and this was one of the first ones which I’d dubbed from a friend sometime in 1987.

**

I’d still listen to rock and chart radio probably at least until 1987 or so, and then remain somewhat aware of it thereafter — after all, I was an obsessive and wanted to keep tabs on several different genres, and still do to this day — but over the course of the next several months towards the end of the year, my music purchasing habits changed considerably. Whenever our family went to the mall or somewhere that had an indie record store nearby, you’d find me digging through the bins from A to Z and picking up albums, tapes and singles when I could afford them. I even started purchasing more blank cassettes to make even more radio-sourced mixtapes, going from a handful in 1985 to a few dozen in 1986. Two of them would be ‘crossover’ mixes, featuring my first recordings of college radio.

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Next up: further to the left of the dial

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part II

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I like to think of March 1986 as the point where there was a significant shift in music, at least in my personal view.

On the last weekend of February, MTV dropped Pleasant Valley Sunday, a day-long celebration of The Monkees, by playing all fifty-eight episodes back to back, much to the delight of thousands of GenXers like myself who grew up watching the show in syndication. [It proved so popular that the series became part of a regular line-up on the channel for a time, and Micky, Peter and Davy (and later Mike) soon went on an extremely successful reunion tour and even dropped a few new tunes later in the year.]

On the tenth of March, MTV also premiered the Sunday-overnight show 120 Minutes, an idea spawned by music writer and snark-extraordinaire Dave Kendall (yet not hosted by him for another few years, though he’d do the record reviews), initially planned as an AOR-heavy show but soon morphing into a showcase for the early and influential years of alternative rock. The show itself would become a cult favorite several years before the breakthrough of grunge.

Closer to home, I’d been moving away from the hard rock radio of WAAF whose playlist was veering dangerously towards hair metal, and away from WAQY who seemed happy to stay in what was fast becoming classic rock. I was listening more to the AOR and modern rock of WMDK and WRSI, though I’d still check up on American Top 40 on the weekends. I’d also been reading a lot of issues of Smash Hits (then called Star Hits here in the States), a music magazine geared more towards the hipper UK bands than the gloss of American pop. I’d been looking for a personal change for a while by then, and this avenue was certainly appealing to me.

There’s a lot to cover, so here we go!

The Triffids, Born Sandy Devotional, released March 1986. I believe I discovered this band via Night Flight on USA Network, as one of their episodes featured a focus on Australian bands. It would be long time before I picked anything up by them, but I would often hear a song or two by them on WMDK over the next year or so. This would be one of their best-loved albums by its fans.

Sonic Youth, EVOL, released March 1986. I’m pretty sure I heard of this band in passing on WAAF and through the music papers, but never really paid much attention other than seeing the video for “Shadow of a Doubt” either on an early 120 Minutes episode or on Night Flight. They were, however, a band I’d see constantly in the record shops once I actively started going to places like Al Bum’s and Main Street Music. I’m pretty sure I might have seen them at Strawberries as well.

The Go-Betweens, Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, released March 1986. I don’t remember if this band was mentioned on that Night Flight episode, but they were another band I’d heard about. They’re a critic favorite that you just can’t seem to find anywhere and rarely hear on the radio, but I’d eventually see them (and fall in love with them) soon enough.

Dumptruck, Positively Dumptruck, released March 1986. I’d known about this band primarily because they were from Boston, and there was a great writer in the Worcester Telegram that would always highlight and push local groups. “Secrets” was played on the first 120 Minutes episode I’d tape and later watch (and rewatch endlessly). Surprisingly, it took me years to actually add them to my library!

New Order, “Shellshock” single, released March 1986. It’s funny how this was the first New Order song I’d heard, and yet I didn’t know it was them for months until I finally got a copy of the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. I wouldn’t own anything by them until late 1987 when I picked up the cassette of their Substance album, and they’d become a regular go-to in my Walkman for the next several years.

INXS, “What You Need” single, released (US) March 1986. This had already been a successful single in Australia, but it got major airplay here in the States when it was released as a later single. There was a lot of crossover here as well, having gotten play not only on MTV and chart radio, but also on heavy rock and AOR stations as well. This was a song I’d hear on WMDK quite often. It became one of my favorite tracks of that year, and it pops up on several of my mixtapes (sometimes more than once!).

**

As you can see, I could not exactly pinpoint the release date of the above titles, as they’re not listed anywhere online that I could find, so I just have them tagged as “3/1/1986” in my library. Now to the dated songs!

**

Metallica, Master of Puppets, released 3 March 1986. This album is why I knew about them well before their self-titled 1991 breakthrough album, as they would get a fair bit of play on the evening shows on WAAF, where they’d play deeper cuts and more guitar-virtuoso performers. It wasn’t exactly in my wheelhouse at the time, though I was quite aware of them.

Depeche Mode, Black Celebration, released 17 March 1986. I knew about this band due to their 1984 hit “People Are People”, but it wasn’t until a few months after this release that I finally broke down and started buying their stuff, starting with this one and 1985’s Catching Up with Depeche Mode. This was of course after discovering and becoming hopelessly obsessed with college radio in April, but it all fell into place perfectly for me: they’d just dropped a highly popular record on a major US label, they were getting a lot of print in Star/Smash Hits because of it, and they were one of the first bands I latched onto when I started poring through Ira Robbins’ Trouser Press Record Guide. I bought this one on cassette and it would get an incredible amount of play on my Walkman over the next three years, getting me through a lot of teen emotional turmoil and deeply influencing a lot of my writing around this time.

Hüsker Dü, Candy Apple Grey, released 17 March 1986. I’d heard of this band via that same writer in the Worcester Telegram as the band played in the area off and on, but the first time I’d actually heard them was on WAAF of all places. One of the deejays at the time was a big fan and was super excited that they’d signed to a major label, and “Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely” got some play on the station for a brief time. I’d end up buying this one on one of my many forays into the dollar bins over the next few years.

Van Halen, 5150, released 24 March 1986. I know this seems a little out of place here, but I’d never gotten sick of this band, having grown up with them getting heavy airplay on both WAAF and WAQY. This was an important make-or-break album for them, as David Lee Roth had exited the band and Sammy Hagar had taken his place, and no one knew what they would sound like. The teaser single “Why Can’t This Be Love” would be a major hit on rock radio and kickstart the popular ‘Van Hagar’ era with several charting singles. And yes, I did see them live on this tour in August (with Bachmann-Turner Overdrive opening)!

Joe Jackson, Big World, released 24 March 1986. I was of course familiar with him thanks to his early 80s videos getting a lot of play on MTV, but by this time he’d disappeared from the channel, only to become a favorite on AOR stations like WMDK. The bluesy “Right and Wrong” got some airtime, and the quirky yet fascinating album (three sides, all new songs recorded live just a few months previous with the audience mixed out) became a fan favorite.

Pet Shop Boys, Please, released 24 March 1986. I absolutely fell in love with the single “West End Girls” from day one and borrowed my sister’s copy of this album all the time until I finally owned my own, and it remains one of my favorite albums of that year. I loved that it was essentially a synthpop album but without the gloom of UK new wave or the disposability of chart pop; it was something in between, something I could latch onto and enjoy. I’ve been a fan ever since. “West End Girls” also kickstarted one of my works of juvenilia at the time, the next project I worked on after finishing the Infamous War Novel: a John Hughes-inspired teen comedy, and my first attempt at writing a screenplay.

Prince, Parade (Music from the Motion Picture ‘Under the Cherry Moon’), released 31 March 1986. I was a big Prince fan by this time, having utterly loved both the Purple Rain and Around the World in a Day albums and wanted to keep tabs on his releases. I remember WMDK talking about him earlier in the year: they’d mentioned that he’d been working on a quirky project of songs under the pseudonym of Camille, and that he was also working with the Revolution on a multi-disc record as well. [These projects of course would start as Camille and Crystal Ball, lose the Revolution mid-year, and eventually morph into 1987’s brilliant Sign ‘o’ the Times.] In the meantime, however, he’d kept himself busy by filming his second movie and recording its oddball soundtrack. “Kiss” was the teaser single that blew everyone’s mind, but for me it was the single “Mountains” that won me over with its infectious groove.

**

Next up: Discovering College Radio and Playing Both Sides

Best of 2025

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This past year kind of felt like a transitional year for me in terms of listening to music. I managed to not obsess over discography completism as much as I had in previous years, for starters. I also dialed back the incessant need to listen to everything, which was also using up all kinds of brainspace and keeping me from actually retaining any of it.

I felt that this was a year of trying out different things instead, so that meant that not every band I liked previously stuck with me this time out. Several albums that got a ton of kudos from bloggers and music sites tended to pass me by. On the other hand, something obscure like Automatic’s Is It Now? or Coral Grief’s Air Between Us connected deeply with me. There were of course the mainstays like Doves and Grandbrothers, whose albums I listen to frequently during writing sessions, that kept me entertained.

None of it was bad, per se. It’s just that I’m in a place where I wanted to change up my tastes and listening habits, that’s all. Perhaps 2026 will be another transitional year in which I find new artists and albums to latch onto, or perhaps something will arrive that will completely blow my mind. Or maybe by chance, it’ll be a year full of stellar releases. We shall see when the time comes!

So without further ado, here’s my list of what I listened to the most, and what stayed with me over the last several months. As always, my favorite album and song of the year are in bold. I’d have created a Spotify playlist for my own best-of-year that sits in my library, but alas said website is on the outs with several friends and music listeners for not properly paying musicians, among other things. Ah well.

Albums
Andy Bell, pinball wanderer
Automatic, Is It Now?
Coral Grief, Air Between Us
Crushed, no scope
Doves, Constellations for the Lonely
GoGo Penguin, Necessary Fictions
Grandbrothers, Elsewhere
Miki Berenyi Trio, Tripla
Motion City Soundtrack, The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World
Packaging, Packaging
Peter Murphy, Silver Shade
Suzzallo, The Quiet Year
The Beatles, Anthology 4
The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever the Hives
The Verve Pipe, Reconciled

Songs
Automatic, “Is It Now?”
The Beatles, “I Am the Walrus [Take 19 – Strings, Bass, Clarinet Overdub]”
Blushing, “So Many”
Bob Moses, “Better Broken”
Bob Mould, “Here We Go Crazy”
Coral Grief, “Starboard”
Doves, “Renegade”
J Mascis, “Breathe”
Packaging, “Running Through the Airport”
Peter Murphy, “Swoon”
Pulp, “Spike Island”
Sparks, “Do Things My Own Way”
SPELLING, “Portrait of My Heart”
The Neighbourhood, “Hula Girl”
The Verve Pipe, “Tattoo”

The Singles 2025 Playlist:

1. Blushing, “So Many”
2. SPELLING, “Portrait of My Heart”
3. The Hives, “Legalize Living”
4. Steve Queralt, “Lonely Town”
5. Doves, “Renegade”
6. Motion City Soundtrack, “She Is Afraid”
7. HighSchool, “Sony Ericsson”
8. Ashes and Diamonds, “On a Rocka”
9. Peroccupations, “Ill at Ease”
10. Automatic, “Is It Now?”
11. Hannah Jadagu, “Doing Now”
12. Lucy Dacus, “Ankles”
13. Flock of Dimes, “Keep Me In the Dark”
14. The Chameleons UK, “Feels Like the End of the World”
15. Snapped Ankles, “Smart World”
16. SPRINTS, “Descartes”
17. Throwing Muses, “Drugstore Drastic”
18. The Charlatans UK, “We Are Love”
19. Hatchie, “Lose It Again”
20. Heartworms, “Extraordinary Wings”
21. Suzzallo, “River”
22. Bob Moses, “Better Broken”
23. JR Richards, “Alive”
24. Peter Murphy, “Swoon”
25. The Beatles, “Free As a Bird [2025 Mix]”
26. Bob Mould, “Here We Go Crazy”
27. Air, “Cemetary Party”
28. Doves, “Cold Dreaming”
29. Nine Inch Nails, “As Alive As You Need Me to Be”
30. J Mascis, “Breathe”
31. Tortoise, “A Title Comes”
32. Pulp, “Spike Island”
33. Florence + the Machine, “Everybody Scream”
34. Packaging, “Running Through the Airport”
35. Sea Lemon, “Stay”
36. The Neighbourhood, “Hula Girl”
37. Cut Copy, “Belong to You”
38. GoGo Penguin, “Fallowfield Loops”
39. Unbelievable Truth, “You’ve Got It”
40. Brandi Carlile, “Returning to Myself”
41. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke, “Back in the Game”
42. Just Mustard, “We Were Just Here”
43. Dead Pioneers, “My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal”
44. Steven Wilson, “Perspective”
45. Dropkick Murphys, “Who’ll Stand with Us?”
46. Mogwai, “God Gets You Back”
47. Andy Bell, “I’m in love…”
48. Paul Meany, “Scenic Route”
49. Garbage, “Chinese Fire Horse”
50. above me, “out of body out of mind”
51. David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra, “Everybody Laughs”
52. The The, “Unrequited”
53. The Verve Pipe, “Tattoo”
54. Celeste, “Woman of Faces”
55. The London Suede, “Disintegrate”
56. White Lies, “Nothing On Me”
57. Coral Grief, “Starboard”
58. PLOSIVS, “Death Kicks In”
59. The Reds, Pinks & Purples, “The World Doesn’t Need Another Band”
60. Crushed, “starburn”
61. The Hives, “OCDOD”
62. Grandbrothers, “We Collide”
63. The Beatles, “I Am the Walrus [Take 19 – Strings, Bass, Clarinet Overdub]”
64. HAIM, “Down to Be Wrong”
65. Motion City Soundtrack, “Your Days Are Numbered”
66. OK Go, “Love”
67. Too Much Joy, “Song for a Girl Who Has One”
68. Anna von Hausswolff, “The Iconoclast”
69. Nation of Language, “Inept Apollo”
70. Miki Berenyi Trio, “8th Deadly Sin”
71. Automatic, “Mercury”
72. Depeche Mode, “In the End”
73. Massage, “Daffy Duck”
74. Inhaler, “Open Wide”
75. Franz Ferdinand, “Audacious”
76. Bob Moses, “Waiting on the World”
77. Sparks, “Do Things My Own Way”

**

See you next year!