916. Babys, Union Jacks (1980) Union Jacks, the fourth album by the U.K. rock band the Babys, was the first one they recorded fully without founding member Michael Corby. The guitarist/keyboard player was ousted during the recording process for the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #916 to #913
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Let’s Active released the album Every Dog Has His Day. It was the third full-length from the band, following a debut EP. Every one of those releases was a major hit on … Continue reading One for Friday — Let’s Active, “Every Dog Has His Day”
920. Robert Plant, Pictures at Eleven (1982) Realistically, there might not have been much time left for Led Zeppelin, even before tragedy arrived in the form of drummer John Bonham’s demise. Although the band released albums at a steady clip … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #920 to #917
In my first year at the college radio station, practically everything felt like a discovery. It was as if I had been plopped down inside a magical mine of modern music and anywhere I swung my pickaxe was likely to … Continue reading One for Friday — The Wonder Stuff, “Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More”
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. Big breaks arrive in a variety of … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Groovy Train”
There was a time when one of my household charges was to collect covers. As chores go, it’s not bad. With a clear imperative to seek out novel versions of familiar songs, I scoured the internet in the hopes of … Continue reading One for Friday — Last Town Chorus, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. In the past several … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Muppets Tonight, “Sid Knishes and His Mosh-Pit-atoes”
928. John Cale, Honi Soit (1981) “Among the True Perverts of Rock, John Cale has always been the most persistently wanton,” Boo Browing wrote in The Washington Post around the time Cale released the album Honi Soit. I believe it … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #928 to #925
I wrote about Frightened Rabbit only once. When I was regularly churning out copy for Spectrum Culture, I put in to detail the ingenuity of a track from the band’s sterling 2013 album, Pedestrian Verse, as a contribution to the … Continue reading One for Friday — Frightened Rabbit, “Oil Slick”
It seemed entirely possible that any new music from Janelle Monáe would be a long time coming. Although she had already started the process of developing her third studio album when she stepped into the job of big-time movie actress, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Dirty Computer
Coffee for Two 