Category Archives: writing soundtracks

Thirty Years On: October 1996

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I’d say for the first month or so of this new job of mine, I took the same somewhat longer route to work as that was the easiest. That would change within a few months of course, once I got used to the area and learned several of the backroads. I also remember briefly contemplating finding a place closer to the store. Mind you, that was mostly a lingering itch to head back out on my own that I didn’t take entirely all that seriously, knowing that it was more important for me to continue getting out of debt, ensuring this job stayed permanent, and that I could perhaps save up more.

Mind you, when your position is the lone shipping/receiving clerk for the entire store and every single CD, cassette, import and box set goes through your hands, the temptation to spend said money on new releases is pretty damn high, I can tell you that. Thankfully I did get an associate discount of 30% off (basically buying it at cost) and the promos coming into the store were plentiful. This was back when there were six major distributors (I can still rattle them off: UNI (Universal), EMD (EMI), BMG, Sony, PGD (PolyGram), and WEA (Warner/Elektra/Atlantic), and UNI and PGD would merge in 1998), and I got to know their sales reps really well over the course of my stay there. Not only did I acquire several promos, I’d also get free tickets to shows! I pretty much owned that back room, having laid it out for ease of access for both me and my coworkers, and I got to know the UPS driver really well with all his daily visits.

It’s funny, really, how such a simple thing as a job I truly enjoyed would lift my spirits so much. Until then, I had no idea that could ever happen. I was still feeling out of place, caught between friendships that were slowly fading into obscurity, a crowded house with little privacy, a past I was trying to move on from, and writing projects that I was losing interest in. Yet I now had this bit of personal freedom that I could explore for the first time now that I had the time, money and impetus to do so. I found myself escaping more and more, even if it was just for a few hours, whether it was one of those backroad trips or a visit to Boston or to the Pioneer Valley. I had to do get out there and do something. And I had the perfect soundtrack for it now.

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Fountains of Wayne, Fountains of Wayne, released 1 October 1996. This band from New Jersey (named after an actual store in Wayne NJ that sold fountains) featured none other than songwriter Adam Schlesinger, who we’d met previously as the writer for The Wonders’ “That Thing You Do”. “Radiation Vibe” got a lot of airplay on WHMP and WFNX and became their calling card until a some years later when the hugely popular “Stacy’s Mom” dropped. Their smart and clever pop sound is super infectious and they’re well worth checking out.

Republica, Republica, released 5 October 1996. This was the very first CD I bought at my own store via a gift certificate I’d won during an employee meeting for knowing way too much music trivia, heh. “Ready to Go” was a monster hit for the band and got played everywhere, both on alternative and commercial radio, and the vertigo-inducing video got a ton of play on MTV as well. It’s a super fun album that isn’t just great for partying but playing super loud.

Sneaker Pimps, “6 Underground” single, released 7 October 1996. Sometimes you hear a song on the radio and you literally stop in your tracks to say “what the hell am I hearing…??” This was one of them, and it was extremely popular on WFNX. The band offers up its own version of trip hop on this track from their debut album Becoming X that was originally released on 19 August in the UK, but wouldn’t be released in the States until the following February. It’s one of my top favorite tracks of the 90s and the album is highly recommended.

Elysian Fields, Bleed Your Cedar, released 8 October 1996. This was a promo I picked up purely out of curiosity as the sales rep had enjoyed it. They were like sultry and stylish slowcore, more noirish than Low but not quite leaping into goth grimness either. “Jack in the Box” was the single featured on WNFX but it was the swampy “Lady in the Lake” that became my favorite track. Singer Jennifer Charles would soon show up on several albums over the years as a guest vocalist, including Tweaker, Lovage, John Zorn, Foetus, Live, and more.

They Might Be Giants, Factory Showroom, released 8 October 1996. This band kind of fell by the wayside for me for a few years, partly because of their foray into much more serious music with 1994’s John Henry and their hiatus while John L and John F worked on solo projects. This, however, was a fine return to form with the funky single “S-E-X-X-Y”. This was another promo I picked up early on.

The Heads, No Talking Just Head, released 8 October 1996. This was an odd project by the now Byrne-less Talking Heads, recording an album full of guest singers like Johnette Napolitano, Debbie Harry, Shaun Ryder, Andy Partridge and more. It was apparently a sort of experiment to see if they could still carry on as a trio, yet nothing further came out of it.

Spice Girls, Spice, released 9 October 1996. I’ll admit I was not a fan of “Wannabe” partly because I could not escape the damn song. And yet somehow I found myself intrigued not by their sort of manufactured public image but their surprisingly catchy songs. The single “Say You’ll Be There” is a breezy and fun track full of soul, and the ballad “2 Become 1” (yes, it’s what you think it’s about) is actually quite a lovely production. It was so ridiculously popular at the store that I don’t think we ever returned any unsold copies for at least a couple years.

Phish, Billy Breathes, released 15 October 1996. I was of course familiar with this Vermont jam band via my college years, but I’d never actually gone out of my way to pick them up as that kind of thing wasn’t, well, my jam at the time. Although getting this as a promo changed that when I kept hearing the track “Free” on the radio. It’s a surprisingly catchy track that pulled me in. I was finally hooked and I’ve been a fan since. This album became a favorite during my writing sessions in the next few years.

The Lemonheads, Car Button Cloth, released 15 October 1996. This, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly the big hit they’d hoped it would be, and while it had a minor alt-rock radio hit with the single “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You”, it received mixed reviews and didn’t really do much afterwards. He’d put the band aside for the next several years and not resurface until 2006’s self-titled record.

The Monkees, Justus, released 15 October 1996. After their highly successful 1986 reunion and the occasional tours (often minus Mike Nesmith) thereafter, they decided to reunite once more for a full-on multimedia event celebrating their 30th anniversary, with not only an album of new tracks but also a TV special played up very similar to their old show of yore.

Paula Cole, This Fire, released 15 October 1996. You will of course know this album from its two huge singles “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” and the theme from Dawson’s Creek, “I Don’t Want to Wait”, but it’s a surprisingly deep and varied record that’s worth checking out, such as with the spooky “Mississippi” (my favorite track off the album) and the sexy “Feelin’ Love”. Later in 1997 when I went to the Lilith Fair concert, she ended up being one of my favorite performers that night. She’s put out several other great records since.

Beth Orton, Trailer Park, released 21 October 1996. Another singer-songwriter that got a lot of radio play on WFNX and other alternative and AOR stations, the dreamlike and delicate “She Cries Your Name” is a lovely track and one of my favorites of that year. It’s an intriguing record that seamlessly marries electronica and folk in a way that no one expected, and it works amazingly well. Highly recommended.

The Beatles, Anthology 3, released 28 October 1996. The third and final volume alas did not feature a third “new” song, with its opening track instead being a George Martin overture that was originally written as an intro to Ringo’s “Don’t Pass Me By”, but instead showed up as incidental music near the start of the Yellow Submarine film. The rest of the album features both the well known and the obscure (and much bootlegged) from the White Album and the Abbey Road projects.

The Rutles, Archaeology, released 29 October 1996. Meanwhile, Neil Innes’ spot-on Beatles pastiche project riffs not only on the band but the reunion with tracks once again sounding almost but not quite like the original. The Pre-Fab Four’s music is a treat.

Wilco, Being There, released 29 October 1996. While their debut AM did capture the interest of the fans of their former band Uncle Tupelo, it was this unexpected double-disc project that brought them a much wider audience. They’d remain an alt-country band with a heavy Big Star influence, but they’d remain a huge favorite with every release.

Luscious Jackson, Fever In Fever Out, released 29 October 1996. I used to hear the “Naked Eye” track on WFNX all the time on the drive to work, and by this time they’d become a band to be reckoned with. They still had that inner city groove they’d created with the In Search of Manny EP only they’d become glossier and poppier in the process. This was a favorite at my store and we’d play it over the system quite often.

Soundtrack, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, released 29 October 1996. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Baz Luhrmann fan, as I find most of his movies cloying and over the top, but I’ll admit that he hit paydirt with this version of the Shakespeare play. He managed to be clever about it in several ways, and the soundtrack is full of favorite radio hits like The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” and the peppy “You and Me Song” by the Wannadies. But it was the Garbage deep cut “#1 Crush” (originally the b-side of the “Vow” single) that caught my interest — it’s a seriously sexy track even though the lyrics get progressively more unsettling as it goes on.

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Coming Up: Ending the year on a slightly curious and strange note, and looking forward

Thirty Years On: September 1996

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The answer to my job frustrations lay in a newspaper want-ad my mom saw in the Sunday paper in the early half of September. A new record store was opening in the recently opened new mall in Marlborough — out in the middle of nowhere yet perfectly placed where I-280 and Route 495 meet, two major highways in the state. Solomon Pond Mall had been built earlier in the year and was still bringing in new tenants when the HMV chain chose to open one there. They’ve long been a UK institution yet began expanding in the US in the early 90s. I’d gone to the one in Harvard Square in Cambridge a few times during my time in Boston. And their selection was excellent: they weren’t afraid to carry titles that weren’t on the national charts, and many music nerds like me loved that.

Me? Work at a record store? I mean, come on. Have you met me??

Especially since I had both retail and shipping/receiving experience, which they were looking for. I sent in a resume immediately. They responded back quickly with interest, first with a quick phone pre-interview and then a second in-person interview later on with the manager. That would take place in the food court of the mall, and by the end of it I believed I was a shoo-in. They would call about a week later with an offer, which I of course accepted!

And then came the next problem to be solved: how the hell do I get there? That was also answered by my mom who knew a few car dealership owners due to her job and asked around. In short order, so we found a beater for me: a 1992 blue Chevy Cavalier for $2000. Paperwork signed and filed, I was ready to go on my first day, which was 23 September.

How do I know this date without looking it up? Because my first day was actually getting training at the Harvard Square store the day before Sheryl Crow’s self-titled second album came out. That was the first CD I ever processed, tagged and price-stickered for the company. I’d start the very next day at the Solomon Pond Mall store.

The next four years were going to be interesting. And my finances were definitely going to suffer damage if I wasn’t careful with my purchases. Thank heavens for promo copies, then!

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The London Suede, Coming Up, released 2 September 1996. I’d loved their first album but felt the second was a bit too out there for me, but this third album hit the sweet spot: the glam rock of the first album, the quirkiness of the second, and some stellar songwriting. This is fascinating, considering this was the first without their original guitarist Bernard Butler. It’s my second favorite album of theirs right after the first one.

REM, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, released 10 September 1996. This band, on the other hand, had fallen from my obsession radar by the time this album came out. While I did like Out of Time, I thought Automatic for the People was merely okay and Monster was a noisy mess. This album was a head-scratcher for me then, a collection of songs written and recorded during long and grueling tours fraught with health issues and whatnot. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s patchy and contains a lot of filler. And yet this is the one that a lot of latter-era fans think is one of their best, and critics couldn’t say enough great things about it.

Billy Bragg, William Bloke, released 10 September 1996. Bragg hadn’t had a radio hit in a while and this one suffers from not really having one on it. He was a new dad now and he’d temporarily backed away from his overtly political lyrics in the process, making this one sound rather calm and sedate. It’s got some great deep cuts on it, however, including the lovely “Sugardaddy”.

Kula Shaker, K, released 16 September 1996. I first heard this band when WHMP played the “Tattva” single and I was immediately hooked by their 60s psychedelic pop sound that was less a caricature and more a loving nod to the style. I was also taken by the brilliant album cover created by comic artist Dave Gibbons (known for his work on Watchmen at the time). It’s pure psych-out bliss and one of my favorite albums of the 90s. They’d break up a few years later, but would reunite in the 00s, and their latest (this year’s Wormslayer) is another favorite I often revisit.

Space, Spiders, released 16 September 1996. Yet another one-hit wonder, at least on this side of the Atlantic, with the 60s inspired single “Female of the Species”, which would end up on the soundtrack for the first Austin Powers film. But it’s catchy as hell and worth checking out the rest of the album. It’s good 90s fun.

Tool, Ænima, released 17 September 1996. After three long years, the revered alt-metal band that stormed MTV with its weird-ass Brothers Quay/Jan Svankmajer-inspired videos finally returned with its second record that won over fans (and gained new ones) immediately. I wasn’t the biggest fan but I appreciated them enough to listen to this one now and again while at work. I even had a promo tee-shirt for this album!

Cake, Fashion Nugget, released 17 September 1996. I’d known about this band for a while, but it was the excellent single “The Distance” that got me hooked. [It was also the hilarious one-note guitar solo for their cover of “I Will Survive” that sold me.] I’d borrow the store copy and listen to it up back quite frequently, eventually getting my own copy which I still visit every now and again. It’s a really fun album full of quirky alt-rock melodies that get stuck in your head.

Various Artists, Hang the DJ: Modern Rock 1986, 1987 and 1988, released 17 September 1996. Most compilations revisiting the 80s tended to not be all that daring, staying safe with the same Soft Cell, Thomas Dolby, ABC and Berlin songs you expect. The track list for these three titles, on the other hand, looked like something I would have made back in the day! [In fact, the 1988 volume contains quite a few of the same tracks as my year-end Does Truth Dance? Does Truth Sing? mix.] I found these at the record store and immediately picked up all of them on cassette where they got a lot of play over the next couple of years.

Moby, Animal Rights, released 23 September 1996. Moby took an unexpected left turn far away from his well-known and well-loved electronic music by putting out a hardcore rock album that confused almost every fan of his. He did, however, release a surprisingly decent cover of the classic Mission of Burma song “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver” which got a lot of play on WFNX of course. [Sadly, the MTV version would take all the sting out of the song with the alternate line “that’s when I realize it’s over”, which still makes me wince.]

Fatboy Slim, Better Living Through Chemistry, released 23 September 1996. Before songs like “Praise You” and “Rockafeller Skank” permeated the airwaves and wouldn’t go away, he dropped a more sedate and lighthearted album that laid down the path he’d take on his electronic music career. The Who-sampled single “Going Out of My Head” got a significant amount of radio play at the time.

John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey, Dance Hall at Louse Point, released 23 September 1996. This one took me a while to get used to, as it’s not the sound of PJ Harvey that you’d expect. Parish was a former bandmate of hers, and they’d reconvened to put out what would basically be experimental torch songs, including a cover of the Leiber-Stoller song “Is That All There Is?” It was a critic favorite at the time, and I’ve eventually come around on it.

Weezer, Pinkerton, released 24 September 1996. I remember this one dividing fans and critics alike with its crunchier and heaver sound. Those who were expecting light pop gems like “Buddy Holly” and “Undone” instead got weird things like “El Scorcho” and “Pink Triangle”. I for one loved it, and would remain a fan ever since.

Soundtrack, That Thing You Do! released 24 September 1996. I knew this was going to be a pastiche on 60s pop with expected nods to the Beatles, but Tom Hanks pulls it off by making it a spot-on homage to the scene instead of a comic riff. It’s a really well-made film and one of my favorites of the decade. Even the music was bang on, with Adam Schlesinger’s excellent take on jangle pop as well as solo crooners and even jazz. This was one of the first promo CDs I’d get from the store!

Morcheeba, Who Can You Trust? released 24 September 1996. This band’s first album came out of nowhere and captured the attention of both critics and fans of trip-hop and chillwave electronic music with the great single “Trigger Hippie” that got a lot of play on WFNX at the time. I’d be a fan almost from the start.

Lamb, Lamb, released 30 September 1996. Believe it or not, I missed the boat the first time around on this band, though I’d finally catch on a short time later when my coworker Doug introduced me to the absolutely brilliant single “Gorecki”. [Yes, the character of Christine in the Bridgetown Trilogy is indeed named after this song.] By 1998 I was a big fan and they’d be on my “I’ll buy anything they release” shopping list. They’d also have pride of place on the Official Trilogy Soundtrack. Highly recommended.

The Chemical Brothers, “Setting Sun” single, released 30 September 1996. This duo had become a critic and fan favorite with their debut, 1995’s Exit Planet Dust, but they’d become even bigger with this teaser single that’s an obvious nod to the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” and also such a noisefest that you can’t help but blast it out of your car’s speakers. It would be another eight months before the follow-up record appeared, but at that point they’d become an MTV staple in the late 90s.

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Coming Up: The beginnings of a deeper (and more expensive) immersion

Thirty Years On: July/August 1996

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I spent most of the summer of 1996 not quite in stasis but not quite moving in any specific direction, to be honest. It was more of a ‘waiting for something to come along’ that I was slowly getting used to. I’d kept my promise to myself not to once again fall prey to becoming stuck in one place I wasn’t entirely happy being in out of necessity; instead I made it a point to look for new jobs outside of the area. I’d still have to figure out travel arrangements, whether it was to borrow someone’s car or look into buying my own beater. In the meantime I stuck with the temp job at my mom’s bank until further notice and focused all my energy on job searching…and writing.

At this point in time I was still trying to figure out what to do with True Faith, which had stalled since I’d moved home. I was still interested in it because it was related to my original Vigil idea from 1993, but I kind of felt like I’d lost the plot, literally. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it, and I was constantly rewriting and revising it instead of moving it forward. It wasn’t close to my best writing and I knew it, so I was focusing on how best to rectify that. I really felt like I was holding myself back, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to break out of that either.

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Soul Coughing, Irresistible Bliss, released 9 July 1996. WHMP loved this album, especially the single “Super Bon Bon”, and so did WFNX whenever I listened to it during my road trips into Boston. My friend Chris was a huge fan highly recommended them to me, as they were less a straight-ahead alternative band and more of a poetry slam performance, complete with Mike Doughty’s weird yet captivating lyricism.

Soundtrack, Trainspotting: Music from the Motion Picture, released 9 July 1996. The movie was a massive hit everywhere (though I myself didn’t watch it until we rented it at some later point), and even the soundtrack was immensely popular, filled with such a wild assortment of music from Iggy Pop, Underworld, Blur, Primal Scream, and more. This also gave Iggy a huge boost in sales and popularity with the always great “Lust for Life” single.

Tonic, Lemon Parade, released 16 July 1996. This LA band could be seen as a one-hit wonder with the popular “If You Could Only See” single, and yet they’re still going strong today. This debut is a great record — the opener single “Open Up Your Eyes” is also a banger — and it’s worth checking out. I got to see them open for The Verve Pipe later in the year.

Chimera, Earth Loop, released 23 July 1996. I wouldn’t hear this for another few months when I finally found what would then be my dream job, and it was one of the first promo cds I’d snag. They were a sort of alternative-meets-trip-hop with a bit of shoegaze for flavor, and it’s an absolutely lovely record that became one of my favorites of the year.

Hooverphonic, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular, released 29 July 1996. This is the album that started it all — and the only one with their original name ‘Hoover’ (before they changed it for obvious reasons) — and the amazing single “2Wicky” sold me right from the beginning for this Belgian group. They masterfully took the darker edges of trip hop and added a flair of elegance and beauty to it, and they’ve been a huge favorite of mine ever since. I highly recommend pretty much everything they’ve ever put out.

Eels, Beautiful Freak, released 13 August 1996. I was aware of Mark Oliver Everett’s music under the name ‘E’ (he had a minor alt-radio hit with “Hello Cruel World” in 1992), but I was drawn to his new project with the oddly catchy “Novocaine for the Soul” single. It became a huge hit on alt-rock radio and started a long and still-strong career for him.

Failure, Fantastic Planet, released 13 August 1996. The first time I heard “Stuck On You” was when I saw the video for it on MTV one day and was gobsmacked by just how flipping brilliant it was. It wasn’t just a banger of a track that felt like a punch in the face, the video was a dead-on riff on the opening credits to the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. I bought the album soon after and my mind was fully blown. It really is an amazing record from start to finish, heavy and loud and epic as hell. This album would be one of the first on my Official Soundtrack List to the Mendaihu Universe, and I would play it constantly while writing The Phoenix Effect and then the Bridgetown Trilogy over the next several years. I highly recommend owning this one.

Better Than Ezra, Friction, Baby, released 13 August 1996. After their popular debut, this was their equally great yet not exactly popular follow-up, and yet tracks like “Desperately Wanting” and “King of New Orleans” got significant amount of play on alt-rock radio for a good couple of years there.

Reel Big Fish, Turn the Radio Off, released 13 August 1996. Yet another ska-punk band of the 90s that cluttered up rock radio and MTV at the time, it was a super fun record regardless. “Sell Out” is one of my favorite songs of the late 90s and I remember I used to sing along to this one in the car all the time.

K’s Choice, Paradise in Me, released 20 August 1996. Another Belgian band, this time firmly entrenched in that 90s radio-friendly alt-rock sound complete with (yes) a one-hit wonder, the excellent “Not an Addict” that got play all over the place, even on VH1. I picked this one up on cassette and listened to it quite a bit at the time.

Tara MacLean, Silence, released 20 August 1996. Another singer I discovered during my upcoming new job, this Canadian singer was unfortunately overlooked by US radio at the time. She’s still going strong and has put out several albums, and recently a memoir. This one got a lot of play during my writing sessions as well.

Pearl Jam, No Code, released 27 August 1996. How do you follow up the massively popular Vitalogy album, all while very publicly boycotting Ticketmaster? By putting out something even weirder! It’s all over the place, containing both wonderful radio-ready singles like “Hail Hail” and “Who You Are”, folky tracks like “Off He Goes”, and dense soundscapes like “Lukin”. It remains a head-scratcher for a lot of people for it being all over the place. It’s the album of theirs I listen to least, but only because it can be a hard listen at times. They’d bounce back with the excellent Yield a few years later.

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Coming up: The start of the HMV Years

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.

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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.

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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…?

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