Author: Dan Seeger

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

As I noted last week, I had several more pieces go up at Spectrum Culture in my second full week back, in part because of some backlogged music releases. That effectively describes the first thing I had go up this week, a review of the sophomore effort from the U.K. band the Vaccines. My unimpressed assessment proved to be the appropriate kick-off to a week of bad reviews. On the film side, I offered an evaluation of the new documentary about the late Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame. Especially given the life being drawn upon, the film is shockingly … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: The Northern Pikes, “Just Another Guy”

Dan Seeger

I can’t say with any amount of certainty whether or not the same rule applies now, but in my distant day as a student in college radio a band could sell an awful lot of records by coming up with earnestly penned and crisply sung songs about being a sad little boy in love. When I started in student-run broadcasting in the late nineteen-eighties, it was very much the province of males, who were naturally accustomed to adhering to the norms of their gender, established from approximately the moment the very first electric guitar chord was struck, that entailed nursing … Continue reading One for Friday: The Northern Pikes, “Just Another Guy”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Put It in a Magazine”

Dan Seeger

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Sonny Charles was the lead singer of the band Checkmates, Ltd., a group out of Fort Wayne, Indiana that had a sizable hit in the late nineteen-sixties with “Black Pearl,” a track that undoubtedly garnered at least some of its attention because of the wall it was draped in trademark Wall of Sound regalia by producer Phil Spector. That taste of success wasn’t … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Put It in a Magazine”

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College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 30 and 29

Dan Seeger

30. “Alex Chilton” by the Replacements I rarely pass up an opportunity to expound on my immense appreciation for Pleased to Meet Me, the fifth full-length album from the Replacements and their second for major label Sire Records. The first, Tim from two years earlier, had a false start that must have especially pained the band’s frontman, Paul Westerberg. The glum genius songwriter felt a clear, special kinship with Alex Chilton, whose own self-defeating legend was assured by his time as one of the key creative forces behind the early nineteen-seventies rock ‘n’ roll cult heroes Big Star. Chilton was … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 30 and 29

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

Since I was gone for a week, I intentionally withdrew from selecting new items to review for Spectrum Culture, and my editor was kind enough to refrain from assigning due date for the one or two things I had that were, frankly, a little overdue. I’ll pay for that mercy a bit in the week ahead as I’ve got a lot of writing to do. For this past week, however, the only thing I had go up on the site was my contribution to the next installment in our year-by-year survey of great comedic performances. I’m especially glad the filmography … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: Mary’s Danish, “Don’t Crash the Car Tonight”

Dan Seeger

Of course I need to begin by thanking Holly, Phil, Phantom Third Channel, Rachel and Rhienna for their exemplary efforts last week in my absence. I’ve been trying to think of a song for this week that somehow encompasses all of them, but I’ve been unable to find a super-sad song by the Fall that’s totally bonkers in a surprisingly blissful dance remix that’s only available on vinyl. I suspect that the track I’ve described actually exists, but it’s beyond my capabilities to find it. So instead I’ll just get right back to Friday business, digging into my ancient past … Continue reading One for Friday: Mary’s Danish, “Don’t Crash the Car Tonight”