These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. By 1991, discerning music fans with perspective … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Your Song”
And Nothing Hurt is the sound of a seasoned rock ‘n’ roll artist in beauteous collapse. On the eight studio album with Spiritualized (and the first in six years), Jason Pierce doesn’t sound worn out, not in the slightest. But … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — And Nothing Hurt
844. Adrian Belew, Lone Rhino (1982) When Adrian Belew released his solo debut, Lone Rhino, he already had a resume heavy with time served alongside iconoclastic geniuses. In the prior decade, he’d been a showcase guitarist alongside Frank Zappa, David … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #844 to #841
Thirty years ago, in 1988. Fairground Attraction released their debut album, The First of a Million Kisses. The band hailed from the U.K., where they managed to top the charts with the very first single they released, the aptly titled … Continue reading One for Friday — Fairground Attraction, “Perfect”
848. The Fall, This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985) Although the classic college rock era covered by this particular Countdown partially tracks the journey from outsider obscurity to a wary mainstream for several artists — and, to a degree, the whole … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #848 to #845
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Huxton Creepers released the album Keep to the Beat. It was the second full-length release for the Australian band, and the alternate title used in their homeland developed a running joke. The … Continue reading One for Friday — Huxton Creepers,”This Day is Mine”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Samuel David Moore and David Prater, Jr. … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Soul Sister, Brown Sugar”
852. Oingo Boingo, Boi-ngo (1987) Surely, MCA Records expected Oingo Boingo was poised for a major commercial breakthrough when the band delivered Boi-ngo, their sixth album overall and second for the label. Thanks in part to frontman Danny Elfman’s increasing … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #852 to #849
Diligent radio personnel working a shift in the earliest days of WWSP-FM, the student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Fifty years ago today, a college radio station went on the air in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Broadcasting at … Continue reading From the Archive — 90FM-WWSP 50th Anniversary Playlist
Thirty years ago, in the early autumn of 1988. the Feelies released their third full-length album, Only Life. Even though its predecessor came only two years earlier, the arrival of Only Life felt momentous for several reason, arguably the least … Continue reading One for Friday — The Feelies, “It’s Only Life”
Coffee for Two 