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David Bowie, 1947 – 2016

Dan Seeger

“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING” Fittingly, it is unreal, like an elaborate ruse. In my heart, it is simply another strange, challenging expression of restless artistry. David Bowie always had an otherworldly authority to him, even aside from the instances in which he purposefully claimed alien personae, so it stands to reason that a late-in-life guise, a long-gestating follow-up to Ziggy Stardust or the Thin White Duke, would involve something more ethereal. Here’s a method to haul the heavens down to the earthly firmament, claiming an angelic cloak nicely timed to coincide with the release of a new … Continue reading David Bowie, 1947 – 2016

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, An Introduction

Dan Seeger

Though I occasionally postured otherwise, I arrived at my college radio station in the fall of 1988 with a keen awareness that I had a lot to learn. Much as I wish I could report that I filled my high school years with gloomy nights in my basement bedroom playing Meat is Murder or Psychocandy over and over again, taking solace in the solidarity of bands that expertly tapped into levels of despair that had a tangy tinge of teenaged agony to them, I was a relative latecomer to college rock. There were surely flirtations before, but I didn’t fall … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, An Introduction

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One for Friday: Smart Remarks, “Mary’s Got Her Eye On Me Tonight”

Dan Seeger

I recently noticed that Little Hits is gone. As anyone who’s been scoring along at home might know, Little Hits was a music blog that went a long way towards inspiring this weekly feature. Updated regularly, the blog shared MP3s and reminiscences about the songs and bands they contained. My affection didn’t simply stem from the fact that I enjoyed the music shared there, nor was it the genial, knowledgable essays that earned my devotion. I did like the songs and the writing, but it was the actual nature of the selections that thrilled me, specifically the way in which the name … Continue reading One for Friday: Smart Remarks, “Mary’s Got Her Eye On Me Tonight”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Breakdown”

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. Tom Petty made his way into the Billboard Top 40 sixteen times, with and without the Heartbreakers (including twice with Stevie Nicks, but never as a Wilbury). His very first visit to the charts was with his group’s debut single, albeit not right away. “Breakdown” was issued in 1976, and completely stalled out on the charts, as did the band’s self-titled debut album. … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Breakdown”

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College Countdown: The Effort Thus Far

Dan Seeger

(Photo found elsewhere) It’s been five and a half years since I decided to take an old CMJ chart that I found and offer a sort of a digital duplication of a radio program hosted by my old movie reviewing colleague. As I noted when tracking through that tally of forty tracks, it was a Sunday night ritual during my first semester of college to listen to the show that aired on the student-run station where I was securing my own FCC Operator License. At the time, it was The College Count-Up, inverting the usual numeric progression, because playfully tweaking convention … Continue reading College Countdown: The Effort Thus Far

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One for Friday: The Builders and the Butchers, “No Roses”

Dan Seeger

Well, there’s no real reason to start the new year with something chipper and upbeat, is there? The Builders and the Butchers are a beautifully artful and occasionally morose folk-rock band out of Portland, Oregon. Led by singer-guitarist-songwriter Ryan Sollee, the band deliver music that is at once strangely timeless and sharply current. At first listen, it can seem like they’re engaged largely in a act of preservation, but there are layers that which make it clear that they are simultaneously committed to moving forward, exploring the dark corners of songs in a protracted attempt to make their music singe with the … Continue reading One for Friday: The Builders and the Butchers, “No Roses”

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Five Songs from 2015

Dan Seeger

And so we come to another tradition in my stream of year-end rituals. The day after sharing my top ten albums of the year, I turn to the individual songs that thrilled me the most. In this instance, I don’t intend or purport to name this quintet as the absolute best of 2015, although they can certain all jockey for that title. Instead, this is simply a way for me to celebrate a few more exceptional musical creations. That means I’m largely eschewing music from any of the ten albums cited yesterday. As with most rules, there is an exception. … Continue reading Five Songs from 2015

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Top Ten Albums of 2015

Dan Seeger

It’s been a few years since I recommitted to the task of offering up a yearly list of my personal favorite albums from the preceding twelve months of music, doing so because I was writing for Spectrum Culture. It was part of our year-end obligation as music critics. Because my top three albums that year prominently featured women performers, the editor-in-chief decided I was some sort of swooning sucker for female musicians. Never mind that my pick for best of the year matched the whole site’s collective selection for the same honor and that male-dominated acts comprised exactly half my … Continue reading Top Ten Albums of 2015

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College Countdown: The Gavin Report Top 20 Alternative Chart, October 1992, 2 and 1

Dan Seeger

2. Suzanne Vega, 99.9F° At the end of 1992, I engaged in a list-making activity that I don’t recall doing previously. I crafted my personal tally of the ten best albums of the year. I’m not sure of everything I had on there, but there is one certainty I hold: Suzanne Vega’s 99.9F° was my pick for the very top. I will admit — as I probably would have at the time — that a major criterion that inspired me to elevate Vega’s recording above all the others I’d heard that year was its distinct transformation from what the artist had released … Continue reading College Countdown: The Gavin Report Top 20 Alternative Chart, October 1992, 2 and 1

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One for Friday: Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In”

Dan Seeger

There are cynics, there are skeptics There are legions of dispassionate dyspeptics Who regard this time of year as a maudlin insincere Cheesy crass commercial travesty of all that we hold dear When they think that Well, I can hear it But I pity them their lack of Christmas spirit For in a world like ours, take it from Stephen There are much worse things to believe in. Merry Christmas, all. Listen or download –> Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In” (Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, this song has been released … Continue reading One for Friday: Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In”