Thursday, August 24, 2017

Happy Birthday to You!: August 20th, 2017


So my fifty-first birthday's come and gone and to celebrate it I programmed two damn fine hours of music. Specifically, I played music from my changing tastes from about 12 years old to 32. It starts with prog and what's come to be called classic rock, mutates into punk and hardcore and finally "alternative" nineties music. The latter's a terrible catchall phrase for everything that wasn't standard radio fare.

The thing I was most surprised by putting the set together was how much hardcore I included. I didn't go to shows like my some of my friends, but it's a huge chunk of what I listened to in high school. I stopped listening to it around the end of my senior year because it was already mutating into heavy metal/thrash crossover, a sound I found meat-headed back then (today, not so much). For most of four years, though, the only radio I listened to was WLIR's punk show and Paul Cavanaugh and Pat Duncan on WFMU.


I just got to listen to the last hour-plus of this show. Despite being a little weirded and creeped out hearing my own voice, it's a great set. A few people have told me they experienced a similar musical evolution - Yes to Sex Pistols. When Vin Scelsa dropped the needle on "Holidays in the Sun" and the marching kicked in a huge switch was thrown in my brain. I wasn't cool or smart enough to hold on to the old music I'd dug and take in all the new sounds I was starting to encounter. It would take me years to kick out the boards I put up in my brain and let Yes, Tull, and Queen back in. In the meantime though, when the sound of the Pistols threw that switch, man, it was like a jolt of electricity to my brain. All the past was wiped out and soon replaced by major new things. Revisiting those times this past Sunday was invigorating, nostalgic, and more than a little melancholy, dredging up memories of friends long gone from my life and the very different guy I was at sixteen and seventeen.



Music I Like, vol 1, #8 - Happy Birthday to You


SONGARTISTSOURCEYEAR
BirthdayThe BeatlesThe Beatles "White Album"1968
Ogre BattleQueenQueen II1974
Too Old to Rock 'n' RollJethro TullToo Old to Rock 'n' Roll1976
Release ReleaseYesTormato1978
What's My Name?The ClashThe Clash1977
Mr. CleanThe JamAll Mod Cons1978
Pretty Baby BlondieParallel Lines1978
Sedan DeliveryNeil Young & Crazy HorseLive Rust1979
Once Bitten Twice ShyIan HunterWelcome to the Club1980
Gangstersthe SpecialsThe Specials1979
Land of Hope and GloryMadnessOne Step Beyond1979
Carry Go Bring Homethe SelecterToo Much Pressure1980
Rapid FireJudas PriestBritish Steel1980
Holidays in the SunSex PistolsNever Mind the Bollocks1977
I'm OK, You're OKthe Dickiessingle1978
Gotta GettawaySLFHanx!1980
Moon Over MarinDead KennedysPlastic Surgery Disasters1982
Sell OutKrautAn Adjustment to Society1982
Pauls Not HomeAdrenalin O.D.NY Thrash1982
Auto Theft in New York CityIsmDiet for the Worms1983
Dancing With BacteriaThe Stisism BandIntroducing.... Stisism1984
Brain Dead BabyEd Gein's Carsingle1984
Color Me Impressedthe ReplacementsHootenanny1983
Something I Learned TodayHusker DuZen Arcade1984
Rat PatrolNaked RaygunThrob Throb1984
Someone to Talk ToScreaming Blue MessiahsGun Shy1986
CartoonSoul AsylumHang Time1988
Still There's HopeYoung Fresh FellowsThis One's for the Ladies1989
Lucky Guythe Muffsthe Muffs1993
Junkie ManRancid...And Out Come The Wolves1995
Everything SucksReel Big FishTurn the Radio Off1996
Super Radthe AquabatsThe Fury of the Aquabats1997
Sun AriseAlice CooperLove It To Death1971


Saturday, August 19, 2017

We Are Monsters: August 13th, 2017



I'm not sure if longer blocks of related/themed music is what I'm always going to do, but it's been a serious blast these past two weeks. The Britpop (plus) show was fun to create and listen to - and the one with the most listener reaction to date. When I started putting together the stoner setlist together I quickly realized it was getting longer and longer, and sounding better and better that way. When Hallie said take out the song I'd thrown in the middle to break things up ("Memo from Turner" as done by Dramarama) and just go full throttle with the heavy stuff it made perfect sense. I think, ranging as it does from Blue Cheer and Sabbath to Clutch and the Sword, it's a great overview.

As to the mellow finale, even though I could watch listeners drop off, I stand by it. I wasn't joking when I said I had to go back out into the real world of crowded streets and potentially annoying people, and do so amped up on two hours of heavy music might not be the best way to do it. I wanted to bring myself and my listeners back down. "Astral Weeks" and the rest were the perfect way to do it.


SongArtistSourceYear
She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)Masters of RealitySunrise on the Sufferbus1992
Scumbag BluesThem Crooked VulturesThem Crooked Vultures2009
SuperstitionBeck,Bogert&AppiceBeck,Bogert&Appice1973
Beck's BoleroJeff BeckTruth1968
Parchman FarmCactusCactus1970
Cherry RedEarthlessRhythms from a Cosmic Sky2007
Hip ShakerLeaf HoundGrowers of Mushroom1971
SatisfactionBlue CheerOutsideinside1968
ThumbKyussBlues for the Red Sun1992
DeathheadPunchsingle1972
Behold the ColossusClutchPsychic Warfare2015
Into the VoidBlack SabbathMaster of Reality1971
Monkey PanicOrange GoblinCoup de Grace2002
Everybody Knows You're InsaneQueens of the Stone AgeLullabies to Paralyze2005
I Need SomebodyNebulaTo the Center1999
Taking Out the TrashEndless BoogieLong Island2013
The Warp RidersThe SwordWarp Riders2010
The WasteoidFu ManchuCalifornia Crossing2002
Pink MoonNick DrakePink Moon1972
Me & MagdelenaThe MonkeesGood Times!2016
Astral WeeksVan MorrisonAstral Weeks1968
This SkyDerek Trucks BandSonglines2006
Vacant ChairSteve WinwoodSteve Winwood1977

Sunday, August 6, 2017

That Music's Gone, Gone: August 6th, 2017


The British rock block on the 30th's show was my favorite set so far - but then I said that already. It was so much fun it led me directly back to Britpop, a genre I haven't listened to much lately. The past couple of years have seen my tastes tend toward the heavier. Turning back to Britpop was a blast. Aside from the heavy weights like Oasis and Blur, it meant digging out the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, the Charlatans, and many more. Throwing it together somewhat chronologically was cool too. The evolution from Madchester to the Camden Town sound isn't always obvious, but lined up back to back it sounds great. It also meant checking out some stuff I never got to the first time around back in the mid-nineties, like Black Grape and the Divine Comedy. If you don't know the songs I played, do yourself a favor, and when the show's finally posted on Mixler (soon, they tell me), check it out at your leisure and let the sounds of Cool Britannia wash over you.

The rockabilly set is a little cursory compared to the Britpop. Aside from all the songs being a lot shorter, I really only skimmed a little cream off the top from a handful of the top players - Carl Perkins, Wanda Jackson, etc. There's so much more to the genre, but then you can always check out Tom Ferrie's show on the station, Nowhere Fast. Still, it's a pretty boss set and a great introduction to one of the primary root sounds of rock 'n' roll. Also, there damn few folks in rock as cool as Carl Perkins - ever.
The rest of the set, from Queen's declamatory "Let Me Entertain You" to Twisted Sister's "I'll Never Grow Up" are pure examples of the show's title  - Music I Like. The finale, 9 plus minutes of raging, raving sounds, Humble Pie's 1971 live version of "I Don't Need No Doctor" is one of my absolute favorites.


Music I Like, vol 1, #6 - That Music's Gone, Gone

SongArtistSourceYear
Let Me Entertain YouQueenJazz1978
(You Really) Rock MeNick GilderFrequency1979
Love Comes in SpurtsRichard Hell & the VoidoidsBlank Generation1977
Muscle of LoveAlice CooperMuscle of Love1973
Future DaysNebulaApollo2006
Go Gothe PrisonersTheWiserMiserDemlza1983
Hurricanethe PrisonersTheWiserMiserDemlza1983
Waterfallthe Stone RosesThe Stone Roses1988
Kinky AfroHappy MondaysPills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches1990
GenerationsInspiral CarpetsRevenge of the Goldfish1992
Cigarettes & AlcoholOasisDefinitely Maybe1994
Trouble in the Message CentreBlurParklife1994
Common PeoplePulpDifferent Class1995
Something for the WeekendThe Divine ComedyCasanova1996
Wake Up Boo!the Boo RadleysWake Up!1995
How Highthe CharlatansTellin' Stories1996
Kung FuAsh19771996
Caught By the FuzzSupergrassI Should Coco1995
God! Show Me MagicSuper Furry AnimalsFuzzy Logic1996
LonelyBlack GrapeStupid Stupid Stupid1997
Will You, WillyumJanis Martinsingle1956
The Train Kept A-rollin'Johnny Burnette Triosingle1956
Thirty DaysRonnie Hawkins and the Hawkssingle1959
Crazy Man CrazyBill Haley & the Cometssingle1953
Baby Loves HimWanda Jacksonsingle1957
Her Love Rubbed OffCarl Perkinssingle1957
Crazy LegsGene Vincents & the Blue Capssingle1957
I'm In Troublethe ReplacementsSorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash1981
I'll Never Grow UpTwisted SisterClub Daze Vol. 11999
Swallow My Pridethe RamonesLeave Home1977
Faster and Louderthe DictatorsBloodbrothers1978
Tapioca Tundrathe MonkeesThe Birds, the Bees & the Monkees1968
All NighterElasticaElastica1995
I Don't Need No DoctorHumble PiePerformance: Rockin' the Fillmore1971