Category: Music

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One for Friday: Bodeans, “Brand New”

Dan Seeger

For a few years, I always knew where I’d be at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Back in 1989, my first full calendar year at college radio station WWSP-90FM, I had a nutty idea. Well, it was an idea that was fairly commonplace in music broadcasting, but it was nutty for us. I’d take the weekly charts we compiled (for the purposes of reporting to CMJ, the trade publication of college radio, which in turn kept the record labels servicing the station with new releases) and use them to determine the station’s Top 90 albums of the year. Then we’d … Continue reading One for Friday: Bodeans, “Brand New”

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College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 16 and 15

Dan Seeger

16. “Is It Really So Strange?” by the SmithsAs previously noted, the Smiths released Strangeways, Here We Come, their final studio album, in 1987. That same year also brought Louder Than Bombs, a double album compilation consisting almost entirely of singles and other songs that hadn’t yet been released in the United States. “Is It Really Strange?” is the track that leads off the album, and it also appeared as the B-side to the “Sheila Take a Bow” single. The version that appears on Louder Than Bombs was recorded as part of the band’s fourth and final John Peel session … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 16 and 15

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

And so we come to the end of another calendar year of reviews for Spectrum Culture. The site is already in the process of downshifting ahead of the holidays, so there was a little less new content going up this week. I still took my turn in the film review rotation, however, with an evaluation of a new drama that got wobbly wheels but is finally made steady by a couple of very fine performances. Most of my words this week were expended on our various “end of the year” lists. For the Favorite Books feature, I wrote about Richard … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 18 and 17

Dan Seeger

18. “The Sweetest Thing” by U2 Having the natural contrarian spirit of a teenager, I was somewhat dismissive of U2’s The Joshua Tree at first. For one thing, my sensibility was well into the process of being shaped by the cranky irony of David Letterman’s late night endeavor, so the thudding sincerity of Bono and the boys instinctively rankled me. There was a point when even I had to concede that the record was exceptional, though. The thing that finally broke my defiant stance was “The Sweetest Thing.” The track was originally released as one of the B-sides on “Where … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 18 and 17

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

Like everyone else, my mind is elsewhere today, so I’ll keep this brief. I’m sure you understand. I reviewed two things for Spectrum Culture this week. On the film side, I reviewed a documentary about the Lovings, the perfectly named couple whose court case against the state of Virginia ended anti-miscegenation laws across the land. On the music side, I reviewed the new album from a band called Night Moves, which I primarily chose because I was amused by the peripheral Bob Seger connection. Lest I confuse anyone, the band’s music sounds absolutely nothing like anything ever cooked up by … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: Yo, “I Meant to Tell You”

Dan Seeger

I have no idea if I ever played Yo at the college radio station. Their album Once in a Blue Room was released in 1986, a couple years before I made it to our perch at the left end of the dial. The “Y” section of the station’s C-stacks, home of the more obscure material, were tricky to get to, basically requiring a junior contortion act from the DJ to fit into the roughly foot-wide space between the record shelves and the concrete bunker that the turntables sat upon. The problem was even more dramatic with the “M” section a … Continue reading One for Friday: Yo, “I Meant to Tell You”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Stone Cold”

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. The band Rainbow started when guitarist Ritchie Blackmore decided he’d had enough of playing in Deep Purple. Dissatisfied with the funkier direction his bandmates were taking around the time of the 1974 album Stormbringer, Blackmore decided to explore the possibility of a solo outing. He recruited a couple of members of the blues rock band Elf, including Ronnie James Dio, along with other … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Stone Cold”

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College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 20 and 19

Dan Seeger

20. “Rain in the Summertime” by the Alarm I tend to heap scorn on the copycat programming choices made by “commercial alternative” radio during my time served there in the mid-nineties, when the surest route to chart success was delivering a passable Eddie Vedder impression. (Why, I did it just the other day!) However, it was hardly a new phenomenon then, nor was it confined to those further up the dial who could seek out ad dollars without restriction. Throughout much of the decade prior, the labels that catered to college radio were always happy to open their checkbooks to … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 20 and 19

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

We are in the middle stages of prepping for end of the year material at Spectrum Culture, which means I worked on a lot of material for the site this week, but little of it has yet yielded words that made it to digital print. There’s a ton of writing on the way, though, which also means I’ve got to devote some time today to listening to 2012 album releases to concoct my personal Top 20 list for the year. With that in mind, I’ll keep the recap somewhat brief. On the film side, I reviewed a newish documentary about … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: Syd Straw, “CBGB’s”

Dan Seeger

Syd Straw was an artist I first found in college, taking special solace in her solo debut, Surprise. She wasn’t incredibly prolific, which seemed somehow apt. There was something about Surprise that made it seem like a rapid-fire follow-up simply wouldn’t be appropriate, as if it would lack respect for the specialness of what had been accomplished. Besides, there was a purely selfish benefit to Straw taking about seven years to get around to releasing her sophomore effort, 1996’s War and Peace. By the time it arrived, I was deep into my tenure in commercial radio, growing ever more enchanted … Continue reading One for Friday: Syd Straw, “CBGB’s”