As I’d said earlier, these months tended to blur one into the other, between job hunting, floating from one temp position to another, saving money when and where I could yet still being deep in debt, avoiding JA at this point (Z had met him once by this time and thought he was a bit of an a**hole), and thinking about my writing. I think I’d put Two Thousand on the back burner by this time while playing around with True Faith. D was just about finishing up her semester and would be spending the winter break back home with her family, leaving me up here in Boston. What did I do for New Year’s Eve? I probably went up to my sister’s place just to be out and about and not hiding away like a moody bastard.
Something had to change, and I was hoping it would happen soon.
The Stone Roses, Second Coming, released 5 December 1994. It took five incredibly long years for this band to follow up on their insanely popular debut album, and by all means everyone expected far too much from them. They wanted something as brilliant and as exciting and joyful, but this one was different. It was moody, intense, bluesy, and incredibly loose. Any hints of 60s jangle was well hidden. That said, however, it was in fact a good album on its own, and the blistering single “Beggin’ You” remains one of my favorites of the band.
Bush, Sixteen Stone, released 6 December 1994. This could have been one of those bands you love to hate, what with its pretty-boy lead singer Gavin Rossdale doing the grunge growl over a much poppier hard rock that got way overplayed on alternative and rock stations, not to mention heavy rotation on MTV, but they just kept on proving everyone wrong by dropping one great single after another. It’s one of my favorite albums of this particular era and still holds up beautifully. They’re still on my ‘will buy anything they release’ list. Highly recommended.
Pearl Jam, Vitalogy, released 6 December 1994. This is a bit of a weird album for them, moving away from their previous two incredibly popular albums. They were still getting major airplay, even this one with “Corduroy”, the itchy “Not for You”, the lovely “Betterman” and the punky “Spin the Black Circle”. But it also had weird tracks like the wonky “Bugs” and goofball “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me” closer. I listened to this one a lot on my Walkman during my work commutes.
Throwing Muses, “Bright Yellow Gun” single, released 12 December 1994. A teaser single for the new album coming in the next month, this was a surprisingly catchy and punky single that got the attention of several radio stations. WFNX had this one on heavy rotation for a good couple of months.
Oasis, “Whatever” single, released 18 December 1994. A filler standalone single between the last album and the next one that was currently in the works, this might not be one of the band’s best songs but it had its fanbase. In retrospect it does kind of feel like a throwaway tune, considering what would come out later the following year.
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Coming up: A new year, a new job, a new plan, and a new motto.
One thing that will stick with me about November 1994 was how flipping COLD it was on Thanksgiving. A cold snap had hit, bringing high winds and high humidity. There wasn’t any rain or snow, but it felt like something was going to hit sooner or later. It didn’t help that the heat in the building had gone kaput a day or so earlier and the landlord was slow in getting it fixed. I’d decided to stay in the city as I couldn’t afford to take time off from work and D had no plans either, so we both chose to have our T-Day turkey at the apartment. Even Z had chosen to spend the day with friends elsewhere where it was warmer.
That night, after watching some movies and holing up in my room, we realized that windows in my room were drafty as f*ck to the point that it felt like I’d left them open. I called the landlord to ask what could be done, and he said to talk to the building manager…who’d also chosen to spend the day rather than freeze. After much aggravating back and forth, he brought over his dinky little space heater and called it done, and I stapled one of my bedsheets over the window. The damn thing billowed like a sail the entire night. We burrowed under multiple blankets and hoped we wouldn’t a) freeze from the cold or b) burn from the space heater being on all night. Thankfully neither happened.
Suffice it to say, he fixed the windows two weeks later (on a much warmer day, of course). I don’t think that landlord liked me after that, but that was a perfect example of when I will definitely make a noise if certain lines are crossed. Oh well!
The Black Crowes, Amorica, released 1 November 1994. After the one-two punch of their first two great albums, they dropped this third one which was…not a big hit. It’s great, but it’s kind of weird and drug-influenced. I’d hear “A Conspiracy” on the radio every now and again, but it disappeared from the rotations soon after.
Sparks, Gratuitious Sax & Senseless Violins, released 1 November 1994. I’d always been a passive Sparks fan — they were fascinating but I never got around to buying any of their albums — but I do remember hearing “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way'” during the short time I had cable, as they’d play it on MuchMusic quite a bit.
Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York, released 1 November 1994. By the end of the year, fans and industry alike were still coming to terms with the suicide of Kurt Cobain. This was a recording of their performance from the previous November, revealing that for a loud grunge band, they could play soft and still nail it. Their cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” is purely haunting and breathtaking.
Tom Petty, Wildflowers, released 1 November 1994. Petty’s second solo album was not quite as popular as Full Moon Fever but was just as great. “You Wreck Me” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels” were hit singles that got quite a lot of play on both alternative and commercial rock radio.
Eagles, Hell Freezes Over, released 8 November 1994. So named after Don Henley’s response to whether the band would reunite, their surprise actual reunion was a wonderful mix of live acoustic renditions of their hits and four completely new songs.
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, No Quarter, released 8 November 1994. Another surprise reunion was the two Led Zeppelin leads doing the same: live acoustic renditions of many of their personal favorites, both covers and originals.
Letters to Cleo, Aurora Gory Alice, released 15 November 1994. Boston bands pretty much had their own renaissance in the early to mid 90s, slightly overshadowed by the PNW but strong nonetheless. This band was a huge hit from the get go with singles “Here and Now” and “I See”.
TLC, CrazySexyCool, released 15 November 1994. Another pop album you could not escape, this one has so many great singles and radio hits on it that it’s considered one of their finest. You still hear “Waterfalls” every now and again on pop radio.
Moist, Silver, released 15 November 1994. I discovered this band — with this video, actually — via MuchMusic, a Canadian alternative group that wasn’t as angry or edgy as grunge but could easily fit into the genre. A band worth checking out.
The Beatles, Live at the BBC, released 30 November 1994. In a way, you could conceivably see this collection as the revival of the Apple Records label, which had kind of been in stasis for years, especially since the cd releases of their catalog in 1987-88 had been considered the final statement in their discography. This was the first official Beatles compilation to be released since 1988’s Past Masters volumes, and as is typical of the band, it wasn’t a gathering of already-released tracks, but a treasure trove of BBC sessions (of which there are many). [You could possibly also see it as a dry run for the Anthology project that would drop the following year; by this point they’d recorded “Free As a Bird” and were working on wrapping up the miniseries.]
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Next up: The end-of-year wrap-up and vague future plans
Z and I got along okay as far as roommates go who start out as complete strangers. We had our own quirks and bad habits that annoyed each other, and he wasn’t entirely happy that I was constantly broke, but other than that we were fine. We did our own things and rarely did stuff together. My only real annoyance was that he was a musician who wouldn’t practice with headphones; he had to play with speakers. Which, y’know, fine, but some nights he’d practice until 1am when I had to wake up early the next day. And his practice style was to play the same passage repeatedly, sometimes for a good hour or so, to nail it.
Still, I had my own room, my stereo, and my own things to keep me company. Things are a bit fuzzy for me around this time as my memories of this time conflict a little with what job I had at the time and what was going on. I’m pretty sure I was in floating mode, taking it day by day. D was back to school and living at 6 Arlington — my old dorm from my own senior year a few years previous — and when I wasn’t at the apartment I was there. I had the temp jobs and the occasional tryout for other positions — I tried my hand at transcription for a few weeks, which was an interesting job but definitely not in my wheelhouse. I know Brighams asked if I wanted a fill-in shift as I’d left on good terms, but I chose not to as I wanted to move on.
The Cranberries, No Need to Argue, released 3 October 1994. The second album from this band was peppier than the first and scored a hit with the weirdly popular “Zombie”, but I preferred the lovely “Ode to My Family” instead.
Lucas, Lucacentric, released 4 October 1994. For a brief time I had cable at the new apartment and would watch MuchMusic for hours on end — it was like watching MTV only better! This track popped up on the station and I absolutely loved the Michel Gondry video. It’s a fun and silly track.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Question the Answers, released 4 October 1994. These local boys brought yet another fun and energetic album to the alternative airwaves, with the great “Kinder Words” single.
Korn, Korn, released 11 October 1994. I was totally not into the alternative metal scene at the time, but I was kind of fascinated by this group which got play on MTV now and again. Their first album didn’t quite reach the heights that, say, Tool’s Undertow did, but they did introduce the janky drop-tuned sludge metal to the masses and had a huge following for the rest of the decade.
Pizzicato Five, Made in USA, released 11 October 1994. I adored this record! It helped of course that this was music that I could hear as a soundtrack for an anime in my head — and their music was so poppy and positive that it definitely helped lift my spirits. [Note: I’m pretty sure the release date is wrong on this because I’m 100% positive that I listened to this while still living in the Shoebox. It’s possibly off by a few months.]
Laika, Silver Apples of the Moon, released 17 October 1994. A band I’d hear on WFNX off and on and was always fascinated by, but never quite got around to picking anything up from them until a few years later. Their quirky mix of not-quite-electronic, not-quite-indie grooves were super fun.
Jamiroquai, The Return of the Space Cowboy, released 17 October 1994. I remember hearing him this early, usually on WFNX’s late-night electronic and dance shows (and this fun video on MuchMusic), and I was of course fascinated by how much he channeled Stevie Wonder. I didn’t pick his stuff up for a few years either, but I always kept notice.
Sophie B Hawkins, Whaler, released 18 October 1994. I’d hear “As I Lay Me Down” quite a bit around this time — this was one of those songs you’d hear on commercial radio as well as in various movies around this time.
Heather Nova, Oyster, released 24 October 1994. She could sort of be seen as a one-hit wonder in terms of US charts, as “Walk This World” was a hit here, but she’s been around for years and doing really well in Europe and elsewhere. I’d hear this one on alt-rock and commercial radio a lot around this time.
The London Suede, Dog Man Star, released 25 October 1994. It took me quite some time to get used to this album as it’s quite the departure from their more glam-rock debut, moving towards darker moods and introspective lyrics. I did appreciate that they named it after the Stan Brakhage film, though!
Dead Can Dance, Toward the Within, released 25 October 1994. One of my favorite 4AD bands, I very nearly went to see them when they played live at Berklee but was too broke to afford tickets. They came out with this live album which would get some minor airplay but would much later be appreciated on stations like KEXP.
Lords of Acid, Voodoo-U, released 25 October 1994. I was fascinated by this band: I knew they were all about the sex and the punk-techno hybrid sound, but I never quite got around to picking them up until my HMV years sometime later. This one would become a favorite of mine later on during my Belfry writing sessions.
Dionne Farris, Wild Seed – Wild Flower, released 25 October 1994. Another summery single that got a lot of play, “I Know” was a fun and funky track that had crossover potential both on alt-rock and commercial radio. It’s one of my favorite tracks of the 90s, and the rest of the album is a fun listen as well.
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Next Up: Unexpected reunions, sad goodbyes and frozen evenings
I moved into the Brighton Ave apartment in September 1994 and I immediately felt less stressed out, although I knew that wasn’t going to last all that long. I was still making minimum wage at Brigham’s (a whopping four dollars and change per hour then) which barely helped with rent, groceries, and paying off my credit card when I needed to use it. And I did need to use it, more than I’d hoped, to afford eating. Something had to change.
I stayed with Brigham’s for a bit longer, but soon I’d try my hand at temp jobs instead. I knew they were out there, I just had to make an effort to sign up for them. Some lasted a few days (filing, envelope-stuffing) and some lasted a couple of weeks, but at the time what I really needed was a stable long-term position. This is when I had two of the worst jobs ever, and they were both telemarketing. I would not wish that upon my worst enemy, as it’s a terrible job with no soul and a lot of high stress. I hated them and didn’t last more than a few weeks before I quit one and was let go of the other. But that was a few months out…for now I stayed at Brigham’s for a little longer.
Not that long before I moved, however, I made a quick trip home to visit family and friends, and unexpectedly ran into my friend Natan, the former guitarist for the Flying Bohemians, and we spent an afternoon or two talking about stuff. It was interesting in that we’d rarely done that in the past without Chris being there. He’d changed considerably since I last saw him a few years previous and was getting his act together. In a few years he’d move to Salem and help usher in a new wave of tattooing in Massachusetts, which had been banned in the state for thirty-eight years, by being one of the leaders to end that ban. He now runs a well-known tattoo parlor there.
As for writing? I just kept on plugging away with whatever I could. I’d be working longhand for a while longer, so when I couldn’t work on True Faith on D’s computer I did a lot of background work and focused mostly on Two Thousand. I also did a lot more practicing on my guitar to get better at it. By the end of the month I’d recorded a solo demo tape that sounded a hell of a lot more experimental than my previous music. It was partly inspired by my meetup with Natan, who’d suggested I not let myself build so many creative barriers.
Sugar, File Under: Easy Listening, released 5 September 1994. The last Sugar entry from Bob Mould, this one’s lighter and perkier than the previous album but it’s good fun.
Blues Traveler, Four, released 13 September 1994. I’d known about this band for a few years — WFNX and WBCN often put their stuff into rotation — but this was the album that exploded for them and brought them into the big time. You’ll still hear “Runaround” and “Hook” on the radio to this day.
Various Artists, If I Were a Carpenter, released 13 September 1994. A tribute album…to the Carpenters? Sure, why not? A very Gen-X thing, come to think of it, but it does show just how great Richard Carpenter was as a songwriter, especially when so many alternative bands got a hold of them. This, interestingly enough, is also where Dishwalla first appeared on a major label!
They Might Be Giants, John Henry, released 13 September 1994. The two Johns acquire a full band and their sound expands from tight and quirky to chunky and…still quirky. “Snail Shell” got a lot of play on WFNX.
Shudder to Think, Pony Express Record, released 13 September 1994. I’d hear “X-French Tee Shirt” on WFNX a lot and I was always ‘who the hell is this and why do I always forget their name?’ It took me years to remember the song and finally track it down!
360s, Strawberry Stone, released 13 September 1994. A local band from Salem releases their last album of chunky alternative rock with a slight surfy sound. They were a band I always liked but never got around to seeing live.
Grant Lee Buffalo, Mighty Joe Moon, released 20 September 1994. I adored “Mockingbirds” so much. It’s one of my favorite songs of that year, and every time I visited Davis Square in Somerville (it’s where the Somerville Theater and the Rosebud Diner are) this song would come to mind. The whole album is a lovely listen, and much livelier than their previous record Fuzzy.
Liz Phair, Whip-Smart, released 20 September 1994. I still hear “Supernova” on the radio to this day. I tend to like this record better than Exile in Guyville as it feels more cohesive and less rambling.
Love and Rockets, Hot Trip to Heaven, released 26 September 1994. After a five-year hiatus, one of my favorite bands were back…and doing electronic ambient music? It took me quite a long time to get used to it, to be honest. I was much more a fan of their first four records.
Massive Attack, Protection, released 26 September 1994. A great second album from this band, featuring the beautiful but haunting title track. It would take me a whilte to get around to picking this one up, but I did like what I’d heard when they played it on WFNX.
Veruca Salt, American Thighs, released 27 September 1994. “Seether” was such a great summery track that was punky without being too grunge. The band sounded like they were having a hell of a lot of fun playing and writing, and that would help them remain a staying power for a good few years more.
REM, Monster, released 27 September 1994. I’d gone from a huge to a passive fan of this band over the past couple of years; they had some great songs but they hadn’t quite maintained my attention after Out of Time. I wanted to like this record, and I know a lot of critics love it, but it felt too disjointed and ‘hey I finally bought a distortion pedal let’s use it on every song’ for my tastes. Still, there are some great deep tracks that I enjoyed.
Soul Coughing, Ruby Vroom, released 27 September 1994. I remember both WFNX and WBCN leaning heavily on this band for its unconventional sound: spoken word poetry and jazz leanings under heavy grooves and treated samples. “Screenwriter’s Blues” remains one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming, released 27 September 1994. This band had been around for a few years, but this was the one that broke them, released on a major label and given huge promotion with teh one-two punch of the “What Would You Say” and “Ants Marching” singles. I was an immediate fan and would pick up every release from here on in.
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Next up: Barely making it but being damn stubborn about it
The last days of living at the Shoebox were coming fast, and I knew that if I wanted to stay in Boston, I was going to need to find a roommate and a place that was much cheaper than the $500 a month I was spending. Back then of course, you couldn’t just go online and meet up virtually within minutes. You had to check the personal ads in the Boston Globe or the Boston Phoenix, call the number and leave a message and hope to hell they called you back. I knew Back Bay was too expensive and I figured that heading west to Allston and Brighton might be more in line with my pathetic finances. As long as the building was within walking distance of a T line and didn’t take forever to get across town.
D came with me for some of the initial meetups and while there were a few hard no’s, there were definitely a few wish-they’d-chosen-me’s. By the end of the month, I’d meet up with a kid who was a Berklee music student and a keyboard player looking for a roommate in Allston. His only request was that I didn’t mind him practicing at various hours and he’d even put dampers on the bedroom doors. I had no problem with that considering my own penchant for listening to music all hours of the day and night while I wrote, and the rent was $100 less than what I was paying, so that worked well for me.
It would become my final year in the city and end not with a bang but a soul-crushing whimper, but for now I took what I could. And hoped that I could turn my life around while I focused on writing True Faith.
The Judybats, Full-Empty, released 2 August 1994. The final album from this band was great but sadly the label continued to ignore them and never gave them promotion. I know “What We Lose” popped up on a few promotional cd mixes and got some minor play on WFNX now and again.
Love Spit Love, Love Spit Love, released 2 August 1994. Richard Butler’s new band after the dissolution of The Psychedelic Furs was a great new direction for his music; it injected a much needed power that was lacking in the final few Furs records, but continued with Butler’s amazing songwriting. “Am I Wrong” got significant radio play and would also pop up the following year in the movie Angus.
Stereolab, Mars Audiac Quintet, released 2 August 1994. I’d heard of this band previously but this was the one that broke them in America with their funky and bloopy “Wow and Flutter” single. I loved that they were in a universe and a decade all of their own, not quite futuristic but not quite fifties-cocktail-jazz.
Sponge, Rotting Piñata, released 2 August 1994. The first time I heard “Plowed” I was convinced it was a new Social Distortion song, but I absolutely loved how loud and unrelenting it was. It signaled a fresh new sound that had power behind it and yet wasn’t the doom of grunge. I like to think of this album as the one that opened the gates to alternative rock in the latter half of the 90s. It’s a really great record worth owning.
Barenaked Ladies, Maybe You Should Drive, released 16 August 1994. I’d heard this band many times previously, but this was the one where I finally paid attention to them, specifically with the fun and breezy “Alternative Girlfriend” single. If you like their latter work, this one’s another great record to pick up if you don’t have it already.
Portishead, Dummy, released 22 August 1994. “Sour Times” blew my mind so much I went out and bought the cassette not that long after the album came out. I was somewhat familiar with trip-hop at the time — I knew who Massive Attack was and loved a few of their tracks — but this was the one that made me stand up and pay attention. It’s not just the spookiness of the music that I love on this album, it’s the torch-song quality of the vocals as well. Highly recommended.
Jeff Buckley, Grace, released 23 August 1994. I didn’t quite understand why he was so huge in the alternative circles, as I felt some of his work was a bit too meandering, but “Last Goodbye” was the song that changed my mind. I love its slow beginning and its multiple angelic heights. And yes, I used to sing along to this to practice my falsetto! Heh.
Luscious Jackson, Natural Ingredients, released 23 August 1994. This quartet’s debut album was well worth the wait, although it took me quite some time to catch up! (Being broke and all.) “Citysong” got a lot of play on WFNX and I loved that they really leaned into the summery pop but retained their hip-hop roots.
Toadies, Rubberneck, released 23 August 1994. I could not escape the “Possum Kingdom” single for months after this came out, and I’ve come to appreciate this record. This was also band that was alternative yet decidedly not grunge, welcoming in that late-90s indie sound.
Oasis, Definitely Maybe, released 30 August 1994. This debut was huge everywhere — MTV, alternative radio, they even popped up on commercial radio. While Blur would be the pop-oriented Beatles of Britpop, Oasis was…the latter-era Beatles! The Gallagher brothers borrowed heavily from that band over the years while injecting their own sneer and swagger and becoming ridiculously popular. “Live Forever” changed my mind about them and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Bad Religion, Stranger Than Fiction, released 30 August 1994. I knew of this band during my college radio years but I never really got into them until hearing the title song for this record, which ended up opening one of my favorite mixtapes I’d make later in 1995. They’d get heavy play on both WFNX and WBCN.
Sloan, Twice Removed, released 30 August 1994. Their second album was a distinct change from their indie-grunge power pop of Smeared and their label wasn’t too thrilled by that, but this ended up being one of their smartest moves as they’d become one of Canada’s best and most loved indie bands. This one’s more melodic and poppy and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Dinosaur Jr, Without a Sound, released 30 August 1994. “Feel the Pain” seems to be the Dino Jr track that gets the most play on alternative radio these days – and that makes sense considering it’s their most radio-friendly song – but by this time the band was essentially J Mascis and friends, and his mid to late 90s records would be decidedly less about the noisy punk and more about melodic indie rock.
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Next up: a new neighborhood, a new roommate, and a slightly healthier outlook.
So what happened during the summer of 1994? That’s a good question. Not too much excitement, really. Living day to day, working at Brigham’s slinging scoops and making frappes, and working on True Faith. One thing that comes to mind is that I started reading again.
As much as I loved hanging out in bookstores, I would usually only get magazines and music reference books. I was just too involved in the visual, renting and watching movies because of my college years, not to mention my lack of patience and focus in actually sitting down and reading. D suggested I start reading Stephen King’s The Stand since we’d watched the miniseries by this time (she’d taped it for later viewing). Yeah, I know…going from being a non-reader to investing time in a Giant Doorstop, and the Complete and Uncut Edition at that? But it was a great idea because King can be a very visual writer in his worldbuilding and prose style, and that was the same style I was trying to create. The Stand was an unexpected yet vital influence on the Mendaihu Universe in that respect; I was fascinated by how vast the story universe was, and that inspired me to do the same. I spent the next year or so devouring several of his novels, finally realizing how much I did enjoy reading once I allowed myself to.
Meanwhile, D and I had realized we both enjoyed parody songs and came up with our own, focusing on parodying alternative rock under the name Mercy Buckets. We even had an album cover idea: on the walk to her apartment, we’d pass by an alleyway that had a sign with the misspelled words “Do not throw any thrash here.” In stark black and white, we’d be captured pogoing and headbanging in front of it. Our proudest moment was a parody of Hole’s “Miss World” written about Dan Quayle running for president. Yes, we were nerds.
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The Smashing Pumpkins, “Rocket” single, released 1 July 1994. This wasn’t my favorite track off Siamese Dream, but this single featured a great b-side that WFNX picked up on: a live-in-studio cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again”. The track would show up a few years later on the For the Masses DM tribute album, but this is where it first appeared.
The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, released 4 July 1994. A few years before the ubiquitous “Firestarter” song and video, this group was known then for their noisy yet exciting techno that always fired up the dance floor. This was their second album and “Voodoo People” would get minor airplay on WFNX during their weekend techno shows.
Hootie and the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View, released 5 July 1994. I know WFNX wouldn’t dare to touch this band at all, but WBCN played the hell out of them. I’d switch to that station when I was in the mood for more commercial rock stuff, and you couldn’t go an hour without hearing at least one or two tracks from this record. Terrible band name aside, this is actually a pretty decent album!
Des’ree, I Ain’t Movin’, released 5 July 1994. I would hear “You Gotta Be” everywhere I went that summer. And it really is a great track, full of lovely melody and positive and inspiring vibes. I’d also hear it a lot into the next year when I started the movie theater job as part of their in-between movie music.
311, Grassroots, released 12 July 1994. The band’s second album didn’t quite get all the attention it should have, but it did have a minor hit with “Homebrew” which would get play on WNFX and WBCN now and again.
Harry Connick Jr, She, released 12 July 1994. “(I Could Only) Whisper Your Name” was another pop gem that I’d hear everywhere. More known for his jazzy covers of old pop standards, this was an album of fresh new songs for him and was an unexpected success.
Seal, Seal (II), released 19 July 1994. I loved the first album (“Crazy” remains one of my all-time favorite songs of the 90s), but this second record is the one that pushed him further into the mainstream with its many great singles, including “Don’t Cry”, “Prayer for the Dying” and “Kiss from a Rose”, which would be used the following summer in the movie Batman Forever. This remains my favorite album of his and I highly recommend it.
Satchel, EDC, released 26 July 1994. Shawn Smith certainly got around in the 90s and 00s. He formed this band with a coworker from Tower Records, formed the band Brad with Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard soon after, formed Pigeonhed in the late 90s and had a minor hit with the remix of “Battleflag”, and showed up as a guest member on several albums and songs with bands from the Pacific Northwest. This one almost fell under the radar, but I’d heard a track or two from it and eventually found a used copy that I’d play during writing sessions now and again.
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Next up: Summer’s end, making future plans and planning future moves
By the time summer arrived, I’d started spending more time with D at her apartment because a) it was air-conditioned whereas the Shoebox was a sweltering hotbox, and b) my day job was right across the street. We were that couple, spending far too much time together mainly because most of our friends were out of town and constantly joined at the hip. We were both broke and spent as little money as possible, sometimes to our own detriment to our health. We had our fun times and our down times. And we talked a lot about this science fiction project that had been dogging me for months now.
And it was here late in the afternoon on the 18th of June that I suddenly had a moment of clarity: I knew how to start that project now! We’d been talking off and on about the various versions of new age religions that fascinated us — whether they were earth-based like Wicca or universe-based like astral souls, I realized that there was a lot to mine here. Not so much with appropriation, mind you, but inspiration to come up with my own version. It was that afternoon that I’d come up with an opening scene: one of my characters appears out of nothingness in her apartment, head spinning dangerously, having just returned from some magical traveling through space and time. And this woman had returned because she knew that something big, something life-changing, was about to take place that affected the world. And it had to do with people of Earth finally reconnecting with alien ancestors.
I knew what I wanted to do with this novel now.
This would be the beginning of True Faith, a novel D and I would co-write over the next two years. Most of the writing would be done by me though she would write certain scenes featuring a certain character, and she’d also become a sounding board for all the new ideas that were bursting forth now. We soon had an idea for an extended universe complete with vague ideas for several related novels.
True Faith was never finished, spanning only seven or eight lengthy chapters, several outtakes and a lot of scribbled notes, but it would set the stage for what would be a complete rethink and revision of this universe two years later when I started The Phoenix Effect. The two novels are not related in any way other than the basic idea of alien contact via spiritual means, but I’d like to think that was where the Mendaihu Universe finally went from its planning stages to actual writing.
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Stone Temple Pilots, Purple, released 7 June 1994. I’d been a passing STP fan, but after hearing the absolutely amazing “Big Empty” single on the soundtrack for The Crow, I had to check this one out. I bought this one used at Nuggets and it soon became one of my all-time favorite records of the year. I think it’s their best record, full of great songwriting and excellent playing, and several of its songs were radio favorites. This one would get major play during my Belfry years as well.
Velocity Girl, ¡Simpático!, released 14 June 1994. This band from DC would get a lot of play on WFNX, and their lighter take on the grunge scene, leaning more towards indie pop than hard rock, was a favorite for the indie crowds in Boston. I’d hear “Sorry Again” on that station a lot that summer.
Lush, Split, released 14 June 1994. It took me a while to get around to buying this one due to being so broke, but I do remember listening to it down at Strawberries when they’d opened a store on Boylston Street not that far from the library. This one feels a lot gloomier than their previous records, more introspective and dreamlike, and while that may have caused it not to get as much play or attention, it did in fact grab my attention with the slow but gorgeous “Desire Lines” which has become one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Everything But the Girl, Amplified Heart, released 17 June 1994. This was an album that didn’t get too much attention right away, as it was another of their quiet semi-acoustic records with some good but not exciting tracks. That would change a year or so later when Todd Terry remixed “Missing” and gave them a surprisingly huges hit. I’d hear both versions sometime later after I moved back home and worked once more at the local radio station.
Ride, Carnival of Light, released 20 June 1994. Another band I loved but never got around to picking up for years other than 1992’s Going Blank Again, this one contains a great cover of The Creation’s “How Does It Feel to Feel”, making it just as noisy and psychedelic as the original.
Guided By Voices, Bee Thousand, released 21 June 1994. It took me years to finally get around to getting this band’s output, considering Robert Pollard drops new GBV every other month or so, but I do remember hearing “I Am a Scientist” on WFNX and liking it a lot. I also remember this was the breakthrough album that gained them countless new followers.
Various Artists, Kiss My Ass: Classic KISS Regrooved, released 21 June 1994. An odd yet exciting tribute album featuring bands as diverse as Anthrax, Garth Brooks, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Extreme, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The latter band of course getting all the local play on both WFNX and WBCN!
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Coming up: Terrible band names, musical silliness and a pop album with unexpected longevity.
By the end of spring, D had finished off her semester and was going to live in an apartment that was literally just across the street from Brigham’s where I worked. And given that the summer of 1994 was going to be a very hot, sticky and humid one, we realized that it might be a better idea for both of us to hang out in the air-conditioned one instead of the sweltering Shoebox.
In the meantime, we both started talking about what to do with my Nocturne idea. We were both budding writers and I appreciated that she understood where I was willing to go with this story. At the time I still wanted it to be centered around the rebel “Vigil” group I’d come up with — essentially the science fictional version of my IWN characters — but I wasn’t sure exactly how to start the damn thing. I had a few ideas, but none of them seemed to work. We spent a few weeks in May beating it back and forth, doing a bit of world building and kicking ideas about. In the meantime I’d focus mostly on Two Thousand until something came of it.
Oh, and May was also when I met comedian Steven Wright, who’d walked into Brigham’s one night and ordered a milkshake and some food to go. I remember this because the place was dead due to the fact that the long-awaited television miniseries of Stephen King’s The Stand had premiered that night and everyone was at home watching it, and he could pop into our restaurant in relative peace. Being that we were both Emersonians, I recognized him but mainly talked about the college with him. [Side note: a few years earlier, when I lived with L on Beacon Street, I learned he lived the next building over. Small world!]
Sonic Youth, Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, released 3 May 1994. I was never the biggest SY fan, but I did like “Bull in the Heather” quite a bit, and it was a huge hit on WFNX. I still hear it every now and again!
G Love and Special Sauce, G Love and Special Sauce, released 10 May 1994. WFNX also loved this band…it wasn’t quite funk, but it wasn’t quite folk or rock either, but a mix of all sorts of things. That first album is just full of goofy fun summery funk songs, and well worth listening.
The The, Solitude EP, released 10 May 1994 (US). This was primarily released in the states due to the remake of his well-known track “This Is the Day” as if played on a cheap Casio keyboard, and heard on the Threesome soundtrack earlier in the year. It’s essentially the British version of the four-tracker of the same name plus 1991’s Shades of Blue EP (which featured the great “Jealous of Youth” single).
Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia, released 10 May 1994. I’ve been a longtime fan of this duo since the self-titled 1989 album, and while it took me a while to get around to buying this record I loved hearing the wonderful “Least Complicated” single on WFNX.
Weezer, Weezer (aka the Blue Album), released 10 May 1994. I remember this band was just so HUGE from the very first single. Both WFNX and WBCN played the hell out of most of the tracks from this album, because it was just a refreshing take on power pop with a slight Gen-X slacker edge, but without the heavy cynicism of most indie bands of the time. It was more goofy than ironic, and I think that’s why it did so well. It took me a few singles to get around to buying it though…”Say It Ain’t So” is what sold it for me.
The Future Sound of London, Lifeforms, released 20 May 1994. Speaking of WFNX…for most of the early 90s they had a weekend evening show in which they’d play a few hours of great electronic music, and this band was one of their favorites. As I was too broke to be picky, I never quite got around to picking up this one until I found the CD used years later, but I remember liking the single mix of the title track.
Beastie Boys, Ill Communication, 23 May 1994. They’d come a long way from their meathead rap of the mid-80s, and this was the album that shot them into the stratosphere with several singles like “Sure Shot” and the listen-only-at-high-volume “Sabotage”. It’s similar to Check Your Head in that there’s a lot of actual instrument playing here, but while that album is scattershot and experimental, this one is a lot more exciting and enjoyable.
Toad the Wet Sprocket, Dulcinea, 24 May 1994. I’d been a fan of this band since hearing “One Little Girl” back in my freshman year in college, and I’d always look for their records. I owned most of them on vinyl except this one which I found used on CD. It wasn’t quite the winner chartwise but there are a lot of great tunes on it!
Frank Black, Teenager of the Year, released 24 May 1994. His second solo record isn’t quite as wild and diverse as his self-titled first album, but it does share a lot of the same weird humor that he’s always been known for, such as the happy-yet-sad “Headache” and “Two Reelers”, a song about being a Three Stooges fan. D and I loved doing his “happy dance” from this video whenever we wanted to crack each other up.
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Up next: a sudden spark of inspiration finally kicks my science fiction novel into high gear!
Tt just so happened that the day after I’d unceremoniously quit the Longwood Coop, I’d decided to drown my sorrows and frustrations by taking the Green Line T for a ride out to Riverside Station and back, just to get my mind off things. And of course, my mom happened to call the store for some now-forgotten reason, so as was normal in my youth, my parents found out about my misadventures before I could even get myself home!
Thankfully I wasn’t unemployed for too long. Boston being what it was at the time, I could find a job somewhere if I didn’t mind doing retail, or something completely not in my expected career path. As a GenXer in the 90s, you took what you could get, whatever it might be. Better to be paid than miserable, yeah? So thus starts my next job at Brigham’s Ice Cream on Cambridge Street, just up the road from the Charles Street T stop on the Red Line. An easy walkable commute, and the not exactly allowable ability to ‘forage’ so I wasn’t always broke and hungry.
On the writing end of things, I found myself finally pushing forward with the Two Thousand project, my attempt at the Gen-X-ennui-avec-excellent-soundtrack story. Hell, I was even writing more poetry again! Just fragments at the time, but the point of that exercise was to write something, just to get myself going again. More importantly I was also playing around with a few more ideas regarding the Nocturne idea, having recently rented Gall Force 2: Destruction, the second in the series. There was something about this series that resonated with me: the idea of resurrection, reincarnation, and the creation of life starting elsewhere sounded like a really fascinating idea to me.
It was also around this time that I started looking into new age spirituality. Not entirely to an obsessive degree, but as a way to think of my life so far from a completely different angle. I looked into Wicca among other things and took it semi-seriously; for me it wasn’t a way out or an escape, but merely an anchor to get me back on the path I needed to take. My new girlfriend and I both got into it to an extent, but neither of us were heavy practitioners; we were merely thinking of alternate ways to look at life.
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Mixtape, Crazy Little Thing Called WAUGH!!! Vol 5, created April 1994. The fifth mix in the WAUGH!! series continues with the ‘sourced from other people’s record collections’ theme with the occasional oddball single or b-side I enjoyed. I didn’t listen to this one all that much but it did contain a special bit: ten minutes of peeping baby frogs recorded by my sister from the swamp across from my family’s house! Heh.
Mixtape, Two Thousand OST, created April 1994. Signs are always good that it’s going to be a successful writing project, or at least one I’d focus on for a length of time, when I make a mixtape for it! In this case, I took a bunch of my favorite 90s tracks of the time and threw them together as an ultimate GenX mixtape to inspire the story. There’s also a single side of classic rock here: this was a side story in which the lead character’s band is known to do oddball cover songs during their live shows. I would eventually trunk this novel, but the mixtape is still worth it!
The Offspring, Smash, released 8 April 1994. This SoCal punk band had been around for ages, but this was their breakthrough, so huge that it helped label Epitaph gain some much-needed funds to expand their own catalog. “Come Out and Play” was on super heavy rotation on WFNX, and soon came the follow-up radio hits “Gotta Get Away” and “Self Esteem”. Three years later they’d jump to major label Columbia and stay there for the next several years.
Oasis, “Supersonic” single, released 11 April 1994. The Gallagher brothers entered the Britpop scene with this swaggering single and they were an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic. I wouldn’t get into them for another few singles, but this is definitely a hell of a fine debut.
Gigolo Aunts, Flippin’ Out, released 12 April 1994. This power pop band was a favorite of the Boston indie crowds, and “Cope” got a significant amount of airplay on both WFNX and WBCN. The album cover is known for featuring a pre-fame Chloe Sevigny, who was a friend of the band.
Hole, Live Through This, released 12 April 1994. A hell of a fine record and one that seemed to hit a little too close to the mark, as it was released just days after her husband Kurt Cobain had died by suicide. It does stand on its own, however, with several great tracks on it that got significant airplay on indie radio.
Pulp, His ‘n’ Hers, released 18 April 1994. A pre-“Common People” minor hit for the band in the UK, they did get a hint of play here but not nearly as much as they deserved. This was their first on a much larger label (Island) which helped them get heard.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Let Love In, released 19 April 1994. I’m pretty sure I skipped this album for the time being as I just couldn’t get myself prepped for the dark and brooding Cave at this point in my life, but the soon to be ubiquitous “Red Right Hand” surfaced here and has been one of his most well known songs to date.
Blur, Parklife, released 25 April 1994. This, on the other hand, was an album I was looking forward to! After the moodiness of Modern Life is Rubbish, this new record was loud, perky, and full of humor and classic British quirkiness. It’s one of their best.
The Smithereens, A Date with the Smithereens, released 26 April 1994. This was an album that sadly got overlooked and forgotten due to several events: getting dropped from Capitol, the inability to get Butch Vig to produce them, and not quite fitting in with the grunge scene. And yet it’s a great record full of their trademark guitar rock and blues, well worth checking out.
Live, Throwing Copper, released 26 April 1994. This record was a long time in coming, their last album having dropped over two years previous, and many wondered if they were going to continue their tight yet now-aging earnest guitar pop sound. Fans and critics were both surprised by the outcome: heavy guitars, heavy subject matter, and an in-your-face sound that showed just how powerful they’d become as a band. It’s an amazing record with several radio hits including “I Alone”, “Selling the Drama”, “All Over You”, “Lightning Crashes” and the epic closer “White, Discussion”. This one got a lot of listens during my writing sessions for Nocturne.
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Coming up: a hot summer begins and a sweltering apartment inspires an important change in a story idea.
As I’d mentioned earlier, JA played matchmaker between me and D in March of 1994. It was a strange whirlwind of a relationship and, as I’ve also mentioned in the past, we inspired both the best and the worst in each other. In retrospect we probably could have been great friends if we hadn’t hooked up. I see now that my then circle of friends weren’t the best fit for me but I was just too emotionally desperate for connection to find anyone else. Both D and JA might have had the best of intentions, but they’d also frequently pushed me out of my comfort zone when it was obvious that I needed to be there for my own mental and emotional sanity. My friendship with them was very similar to one I’d had back in the late 80s with two neighborhood kids that were also not the best influences for me but they were all I had. It was like living that constant discomfort all over again. [And this is why I’ve never completely dissed social media: nearly all my closest and dearest friends are elsewhere in the world and I’m blessed and happy that I can easily talk to them at any time.]
I’d also started that new project while Nocturne continued to simmer on a backburner. Two Thousand was to be my Gen-X coming of age story, grown out of my college friendships and how distinct our generation was from previous ones. It was full of Gen-X tropes: snark, nihilism, music, frustration, and absurdist humor. It focused on a self-inserted character name Stephen (my fallback name for years) trying to figure out what the hell he wanted to do with his life now that he was no longer a student; his circle of friends is splintering off into Real Life Day Jobs and Points Elsewhere and he’s not sure how to process that. He’s also a musician trying to keep his band from falling apart, and frustrated at how fucking hard it is to be creative and still afford to live in a city like Boston. [Stephen’s band Billow would get a cameo years later in my novel Meet the Lidwells.]
Luna, Bewitched, released 1 March 1994. Dean Wareham’s first couple of albums under this moniker sounded very similar to his previous band Galaxie 500: very quiet, almost delicate, and nearly lo-fi. By this album they’d gotten bolder and stronger in sound, but they never quite lost their delicateness.
Beck, Mellow Gold, released 1 March 1994. Beck’s big breakthrough was a huge hit, thanks to having signed to Geffen and getting a giant promotional push with “Loser”. This can pretty much be considered his first professional-sounding record as it’s cleaner and beefier than his previous indie releases, many self-produced.
Blur, “Girls and Boys” single, released 7 March 1994. My favorite Britpop band dropped a teaser single for their next album, Parklife, and it’s one of their finest moments. Addictive, danceable, and a track you need to listen to loud. Definitely a change from their moodier and lighter Modern Life Is Rubbish, that’s for sure.
Failure, Magnified, released 8 March 1994. I loved their first album Comfort, even though they’d been dismissed as Nirvana wannabees, and this one had also been unjustly ignored by most radio stations as well (partly due to the release of the next two albums listed below), even though they’d dropped a video for the single “Undone”. They’d finally achieve critical success a few years later with Fantastic Planet, but at a steep cost. I always recommend anything from this band, to be honest!
Soundgarden, Superunknown, released 8 March 1994. This album won me over immediately. This is one of those ‘they’d done their homework’ albums for me: they had a clear vision and refused to let anything stop them from achieving it, and the result is a damn fine album of brilliant alternative rock. This wasn’t grunge anymore; this was alt-rock meets epic metal with a dusting of their psychedelia roots. Highly recommended.
Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral, released 8 March 1994. I’ve posted about this one recently, in that I haven’t sat down and listened to it from start to finish for quite a few years, but at the time of its release it was on extremely heavy rotation on my Walkman. It resonated heavily with my feelings of frustration and uselessness and I was fine with letting myself simmer in those moods for a bit while this blared through my headphones.
Morrissey, Vauxhall and I, 14 March 1994. On the other side of the mood spectrum was everyone’s favorite Mancunian curmudgeon recording…somewhat of a lighthearted and fun record? It’s true, when he’s in a great mood he can be quite chipper, even silly at times, and this was a fun change of pace when I was too exhausted to continue dealing with my growly moods.
Alison Moyet, Essex, released 21 March 1994. Alf has consistently been a brilliant singer and songwriter, and “Whispering Your Name” remains one of my favorite tracks of hers. She embraces more of the British dance beats with this album, which may have helped her win more fans in the clubs.
Collective Soul, Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid, released 22 March 1994. Sure, they were Grunge Lite with hints of hippie jam band leanings, but they were catchy as hell and this album was super enjoyable. [Noted, if you want to know what I might have looked like hair and fashionwise in the early 90s, see singer Ed Roland. Heh.]
Phish, Hoist, released 29 March 1994. These semi-local guys from Vermont had always had a strong following in New England, even though you’d rarely hear them on the radio. “Down with Disease” did get a bit of play though, and even got a rare music video out of them as well. WBCN used to play this band when they were feeling more adventurous.
Soundtrack, The Crow, released 29 March 1994. I saw this movie in the huge Loews theater that used to be on the ground floor of the Revere Hotel in Boston. I’d been a fan of the original comic book and while it didn’t quite live up to my high expectations, it was nonetheless an enjoyable film. The soundtrack was amazing, featuring songs from The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Violent Femmes, Stone Temple Pilots and more, and this too got a lot of play on my Walkman.
Pink Floyd, The Division Bell, released 30 March 1994. It took me a few years to get around to buying this record, but I loved hearing the lovely and moody “High Hopes” on WBCN. I felt it wasn’t quite as cohesive as A Momentary Lapse of Reason, which I absolutely loved, but I’ve grown to enjoy it.
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Somewhere in all of this, I ragequit a job. Not the best of ideas and I dug my own hole here, but I’d had enough. It had all come to a head one morning when we’d gotten a huge shipment in and the floor manager for the book section had gotten pissed at me that I hadn’t gotten to his stuff yet. My immediate manager — the one who thought I was simple — literally pulled a weak ‘yeah, what’s wrong with you?’ while giving me a look of better you than me. That was the breaking point and I quit within the hour.
Not the best of ideas when you’re already skint and barely making enough to feed yourself. I let myself cool down for a day or so, and started looking for another job. I’d find it a week or so later at a Brigham’s Ice Cream on Cambridge Street. A closer commute, about the same pay, and I could surreptitiously ‘forage’ (heh) as a way to subvert that ‘affording to feed myself’ problem I’d been having lately. Not the most glamorous of jobs…but one that put me in a better frame of mind.
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Coming up: A creative nudge and a return to…reading?
Walk In Silence 