Author: Dan Seeger

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College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, An Introduction

Dan Seeger

By the fall of 1988, the influence of college radio was at an early peak, which meant that the music that had stirred its rebellious, off-the-beaten-track spirit was in the process of being finally and fully co-opted. MTV’s Sunday night excursion into left of the dial fare, 120 Minutes, was popular enough to produce a nightly spin-off called PostModern MTV and major labels were scouring playlists of humble, student-run broadcasters in the hopes of discovering the next U2 or R.E.M., a band that had breakout potential. In September, the ultimate marker of the accepted institutionalization of the sound was printed … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, An Introduction

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Top Ten Albums of 2011

Dan Seeger

While my predilection for movie-related lists is all over this corner of the Interweb, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve tried to craft a ranking of the best albums of any given year. Part of the reason is that I think those sorts of music preferences are a little more slippery, with opinions subject to change as albums age. Songs that sounded fresh and amazing become tired, even hackneyed and annoying as repeated plays mercilessly erode their charm. The reverse is equally true, as there have been plenty of albums that I initially dismissed, only to have them … Continue reading Top Ten Albums of 2011

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One for Friday: Stealin’ Horses, “Turnaround”

Dan Seeger

I wish I could claim to be one of those kids who was wisely immersing myself in the jagged, angsty splendor of the likes of Joy Division and Jesus and Mary Chain. I wasn’t, though. Most of my record collection was taken up by the same touchstones of regrettable pop conformity that were on a lot of teenage bedroom shelves in the mid-eighties, or so the sales figures and MTV airplay assured me. These records were so resoundingly mediocre that I can’t even impose a retroactive, post-ironic coolness on them. I had the capacity for a more sophisticated musical palette, … Continue reading One for Friday: Stealin’ Horses, “Turnaround”

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They climbed off their pedestals and then they sang this song

Dan Seeger

As I noted recently, I’m charged with contributing to various year-end assessments over at Spectrum Culture, including the list we came up with of the Top 25 Songs of 2011. Last year, my preferences were solitary enough that some of my personal picks for the best single songs didn’t make the final tally, so I made a point of highlighting a few of them in a separate post in this space. As I sat down to revive the tradition, I realized that I had far more in common with my colleagues this year and eight of my top ten made … Continue reading They climbed off their pedestals and then they sang this song

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One for Friday: Iam Siam, “Talk to Me (Can You Hear Me Now)”

Dan Seeger

If my rough tally is correct, this is the 150th installment of the One for Friday feature in this space, including the spectacular “Week of Fridays” event in the spring. The name of this weekly exercise in music sharing doesn’t necessarily make all that much sense now. It was a riff on the Friday distraction I used to deploy over on my LiveJournal site. “Five for Friday” made a little more sense, what with that alliterative ring to it. I’d come up with some fairly broad prompt for a music-based list, pop up the five best examples that sprung to … Continue reading One for Friday: Iam Siam, “Talk to Me (Can You Hear Me Now)”