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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 112 – 110

Dan Seeger

112. The Jam, “Start!” “Thinking back on that period between 1980 and 1982, it was pretty relentless,” the Jam drummer Rick Buckler wrote in his autobiography. “We were literally being swept along by the momentum of the success that we were having. And the more success we achieved, the more demanding everything became. All we could was allow ourselves to go with the flow. Much of that period is simply a blur. But we were doing exactly what we wanted to do, and it was great.” According to the band’s lead singer, lead guitarist, and chief creative force, Paul Weller, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 112 – 110

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One for Friday: Robyn Hitchcock, “The Only Living Boy in New York”

Dan Seeger

I can’t begin to explain how strange it was. While I’m loathe to admit it (and usually build in a slew of distancing qualifiers whenever I acknowledge what’s about to follow), I largely grew up in a small Wisconsin town called Stoughton. Technically a distant suburb of Madison, the state capital, the town had a decidedly rural feel to it, thanks to the buffer of tobacco farms and other agricultural homesteads around the modest municipal center. The comparably erudite opportunities of Madison were thirty minutes and a whole world away. Culture dribbled into my town slowly and unwillingly. Certainly anything … Continue reading One for Friday: Robyn Hitchcock, “The Only Living Boy in New York”

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 115 – 113

Dan Seeger

115. Peter Gabriel, “Red Rain” Lest there be any doubt about the prog rock foundations of Peter Gabriel’s musical artistry, even the seemingly straightforward ballad “Red Rain” has its beginnings — its genesis, if you will — in one of those profundity-laced song cycles that serious minded pop musicians were pursuing in the nineteen seventies. Though released as the lead track on So, the 1986 album that represented Gabriel’s major commercial breakthrough, “Red Rain” was first composed several years earlier, in conjunction with the songs that made up Gabriel’s sophomore solo album, self-titled but often referred to as “Scratch.” It … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 115 – 113

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From the Archive: Bruce

Dan Seeger

Usually this weekly glimpse in the rearview mirror dredges up some ancient review I wrote, along with an introduction that involves varying degrees of current anguish over the wonky way I put the words together way back when. This time around, I’m going to opt for something a little different. In honor of Bruce Springsteen receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, here is, as best as I can digitally collate, everything I’ve written about The Boss. –One of the first time I put fingers to keys to reflect on Springsteen’s work, it was to level a negative assessment of the … Continue reading From the Archive: Bruce

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One for Friday: Caterwaul, “The Sheep’s a Wolf”

Dan Seeger

Realistically, it was all about R.E.M. I arrived at the college radio station in the fall of 1988, one year after the little ol’ band from Athens, Georgia released Document, the album that can be fairly termed their breakthrough into broader commercial success. Even before that, though, the were in complete command of the college charts. The dominance was so complete that any artists even mildly associated with R.E.M. got a boost. By the time I arrived, that absolutely extended to any band on the same label that launched R.E.M., the mighty I.R.S. Records. It’s not unusual for college radio … Continue reading One for Friday: Caterwaul, “The Sheep’s a Wolf”

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 118 – 116

Dan Seeger

118. The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Just Like Honey” “People don’t realize you can make much better records our way,” Jim Reid insisted, back in 1985. “A good record is a good record. What difference does it make how you get it? I realize you can make a good record going through the same process that others have done in the past, but it’s not vital.” Appropriately for a band whose music rattled the senses with abrasive pop lushness, the Jesus and Mary Chain always thrived on that sort of concerted contradiction. The group, led by brothers Jim and William … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 118 – 116

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One for Friday: Mose Allison, “What’s Your Movie”

Dan Seeger

I’ve tapped out plenty of words about the glory of having ready access to an array of new music in my college radio days, an advantage of the gig that has been somewhat blunted by the clicking immediacy of the internet that has emerged in the years since. But the wild west of the worldwide web lacks the intensely personal recommendations that I found in those poster-adorned hallways of my past. The algorithms will keep improving, but I doubt they’ll ever truly catch up to a pal with different music tastes who alights on just the right track to share … Continue reading One for Friday: Mose Allison, “What’s Your Movie”

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 121 – 119

Dan Seeger

121. Tracy Chapman, “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” Tracy Chapman grew up in Cleveland during the nineteen-sixties and -seventies, a tumultuous time for the city. As options dwindled and the public education system deteriorated rapidly, Chapman got a chance to get out. The recipient of a scholarship through the program A Better Chance, Chapman found herself attending a private high school in New England, many miles and a world away. It was there that her talent for music started to evolve into a mission to speak, to challenge the problems she saw before her. The song “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” was inspired … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 121 – 119

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One for Friday: Leonard Cohen, “Democracy”

Dan Seeger

Remember when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series? That was pretty good, right? Other than that, 2016 continues to be quite the prolonged kick in the teeth. I didn’t know Leonard Cohen’s work when I was first falling into my music obsessions. But I did know of him. Cohen was this almost mystical figure of cool on the fringes of pop culture, not boxed out of the center but choosing not to stroll over to it because it just wasn’t worth his time. Better to lean against a wall and nurse a cigarette. Let others deal with all that … Continue reading One for Friday: Leonard Cohen, “Democracy”