Wednesday, June 30, 2010

#970 Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Travellin' Band"

Perhaps I am just not as well versed as I should be in late 60s – early 70s music, but I imagine that if i was a young adult around that time Creedence Clearwater Revival would have about been my favourite band.

#971 Eminem - "My Name Is"

So back in, I guess 1998, I was watching late night videos and saw this ridiculous video with this white dude rapping about Primus, Nine Inch Nails and Britney Spears. “Slim Shady”?? Was this a joke? Well, Dr Dre. is in it! I don’t know though, this is like some Weird Al Yankovic shit! Well, ...jokes on me…and everyone else I guess. Eminem is still here and it looks like he might never actually OD like many of us would like. This song though, I have to give him props for. And the dude does have some linguistics.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

#972 Sparklehorse - "The Most Beautiful Widow In Town"

It’s just too often that some of our worlds most talented musicians are so tormented and sad. While this may provide them with the outlet to make the most beautiful sounds ever heard, it can also be the very thing that takes them away far too soon. Mark Linkous of ...Sparklehorse died earlier this year from a self inflicted gunshot wound. If only he could have known his own worth to the world. Thanks Mr. Yorke for getting me into Mark’s music. R.I.P. (FYI, only the first half of this video is the song, the other half is another Sparklehorse song)

#973 Aerosmith - "Rag Doll"

The first of four Aerosmith songs, from the 1987 Pernament Vacation album.

#974 Broken Social Scene - "Cause = Time"

It always seems that super groups never really achieve the success that the members’ individual bands do. This isn’t the case for Broken Social Scene. Comprised of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, along side of a host of Canadian indie rock all stars such as Feist, Emily Haines, ...Amy Millan and K-os, BSS makes some of the most inspiring music around these days. There are a few of their songs littered in the countdown along with many from BSS contributors. Oh, and don’t call them a supergroup…they are a musical collective J oh Canada!!!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

#975 Dangerous Toys - "Demon Bell"

You may know Austin, TX as a home for the greatest indie rock bands of the 21st Century. Bands like Spoon, Ghostland Observatory, the Black Angels and Explosions in the Sky. But back in th...e 1980s, a delicious and dangerous hair band came out of Texas’ capital city. Dangerous Toys! I liked their Texas flare as a boy and when they came out with a song from the wickedly cool horror flick “Shocker” (a story of a man put to the electric chair and didn’t die!) I was all over it. So here it is, still a pretty hot little number.

Friday, June 25, 2010

#976 - Faithless - "Insomnia"

Back in the 1990’s when DJs mostly ruled the electronic music scene, a few bands managed to work their way to the top. You will hear from most of them (Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, and Crystal Method) but few were able to produce such an electric live show as Faithless. Enormously popular ...overseas, I got to see them in NYC back in 1997 (the night after my aforementioned first night at 930 club to see the Sneaker Pimps/Aphex Twin) and when the keyboard for “Insomnia” came in across the PA…..it was nothing short of magical. Dig this.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

#977 - Damone "On My Mind"

Damone has one of the songs you have probably never heard before, unless you are from Boston. But it’s a jangly rocking pop song that will probably get stuck in your head……you’re welcome!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

#978 - Shakira - "She Wolf"

A few days ago I commented on how some songs were made better by their video….thats all i will say about this. In a world of dolled up talentless singer girls, Shakira has stood apart as a talented, yet still sexy, Colombian woman. I know its a silly pop song but i like the disco feel and i ...find it to be quite original. for being a pop song....

#979 Heart - "Alone"

Seattle's Heart was definitely one of my favourite artists growing up...when i was in the single digits listening to Top 40 radio. What i never knew til today was that this song, Alone, is actually a cover song. The original song was written and performed by 2 dudes i've never even heard of. Enjoy!

Friday, June 11, 2010

#980 Sinead O'Connor - "Mandinka"

There is plenty to say about this bald brash Irish lass. She was not only controversial because of her lack of hair, but for her statements on politics, sex and religion. She was perhaps most famous for her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” but before that she had a great albu...m in the 80s called “The Lion and the Cobra”. She charted two songs from that album on the top 1000 and this is the first one. In case you were wondering, Mandinka are an ethnic group from West Africa (Ivory Coast, Sierre Leonne, Senegal, Liberia, etc) but its totally unclear if her song has anything to do with these dudes but with her mostly political and meaningful songs, I would imagine she has some sympathy for the plight of West Africans…at least 23 years ago she did!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

#981 - Superdrag - "Sucked Out"

Throughout this countdown, you will be asked a lot of burning questions. Ballboy wonders "where do the nights of sleep go?", Natalie Merchant asks "whats the matter here?" and Mr. Marley asks "Could You Be Loved?" but perhaps the most burning question is asked by Superdrag and almost 15 ye...ars later we still arent quite sure who sucked out the feeling...i vote that it was Rivers Cuomo!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

#982 Front 242 - "First In, First Out"

For anyone who knew me when i was 15-16 years old, they remember me wearing a Front 242 shirt and being quite a fan of the Belgian industrial act. Dreams of mine came to fruition at Lollapalooza 3 in 1993 when Front 242 played the main stage (after Rage and Tool!). I was such a ...fan that my "pager code" was 242....taken from the Front! There is another Front 242 song later in the chart as well.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

#983 Billy Idol - "Cradle Of Love"

There are some songs on here that perhaps the video made the song that much better. Remember music videos? Well, Idol’s video for this song was a good one, especial...ly in the mind of a 13 year old boy! A very interesting footnote here, the director of this video was David Fincher. After directing this video he went on to direct a couple movies….including probably my two favorite movies ever, Seven and Fight Club.

#984 AC/DC - "Moneytalks"

Out of the millions of bands on ever to walk the earth, only a select few get to play for decades and decades and have countless rabid fans from multiple generations. AC/DC is one of those bands. Its hard to say you dont like em, no matter what style you usually listen to. This 1990 song was ...one of the last hair metal (if you can really call em that) songs that i loved before I heard that Nirvana band. This is the 1st of 3 AC/DC songs in the countdown. Yeah Angus Young!

Monday, June 7, 2010

#985 Pedro the Lion - "Rapture"

Pedro the Lion isnt actually a lion named Pedro, they are an indie rock band from Seattle, who were around from the mid-nineties to the mid-00s. I love this song in particular but the more and more i listen to Pedro, the more i love them. This is the only song, but if you are a fan of ...the Posies, Death Cab or any other sort of northwestern US indie rock....check out Pedro the Lion....

Friday, June 4, 2010

#986 Social Distortion - "Bad Luck"

Go ahead and try, and when you find a dude as bad ass as Mike Ness I will applaud you. This song came out in 1992 but Social D has been ripping it up for over 20 years now. I saw them a few years back and they were incredible still...and anyone going to Lollapalooza this summer will ...see them again. Theres plenty more from SxDx on this countdown, too.

#987 Powerman 5000 - "When World's Collide"

Back in 1999-2002 I did have a phase where i wanted to break from the dancefloor and rock as hard as i could! Not really death metal but t...his Boston area rock band featuring Spider, Rob Zombie's brother, was a shorttime favourite of mine. "Are You Ready to Go?" Fuck yes, i am, sir!

(side note: is it just me or does Spider remind you a bit of Dr. Evil's son, Scott?)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

#988 Great White - "Save Your Love"

I suppose i could continue defending the amount of hair band songs in this countdown, but i just dont want to nor do i think i should! There are 2 Great White songs on this list but no Kix, sorry!!

#989 Arlo - "Shutterbug"

While I really no nothing about this band or where I even came about this song, I have loved it for years. Its from 2006 but definitely has a Beach Boys 70's kind of feel to it. Apparently no one else has heard of it either cause i cant find any sort of video for it. If anyone else can, please post!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

#990 Sneaker Pimps - "Spin Spin Sugar"

So with the 930 Club in DC's 30th anniversary concert coming up tomorrow, its only fitting that the band performing today's song happens to be the first band I ever saw there. September of 1997, Tom, Erica and I went to see the Sneaker Pimps / Death in Vegas and headliner, Aphex T...win at 930 in DC. Show was good and i enjoyed the club. I was not old enough to drink then though, so i didnt have $7 beers to complain about!

#991 Mike Doughty - "Move On"

Mr. Doughty, once the singer for Soul Coughing (who has a song on this chart as well) split the band and went solo, to achieve nearly as much success as he did with his bandmates. There are about as many war protests songs on the countdown as there are Christmas songs (see Buffalo Springfield later in the countdown), but this number was written by Doughty in 2004 as a protest to the war in Iraq.

I hope this gets better as the songs go up , but i cannot find any sort of link for this song.....if anyone can help me with a website, i would love to post downloadable mp3s for everyone. Anyway....thats 989 for ya!