I never heard of the band Swamp Thing before I went to college. On the surface of it, this isn’t remarkable. There are dozens of bands and performers that I can say the same thing about, and probably every person who spend part of their student years huddled in some cramped college radio studio can make similar claims. The difference, and the disappointment it holds, is that the band was from my hometown of Madison, and they were in full swing during my high school years when I was fully invested in learning about new music. Despite the fact that … Continue reading One for Friday: Swamp Thing, “Island Song”

The first Fourth of July that I specifically remember occurred in 1976. I’d recently turned six years old at the time of the actual holiday, but I think what I really remember is all the run-up to it. It was the country’s Bicentennial. Anticipation was high (and significantly drummed up) that this would be the finest Independence Day celebration the nation had ever seen. The word “Bicentennial” was everywhere, particular used to drive commerce with it rendered in red, white and blue on store windows to announce a sale inside, or at least the presence of home pyrotechnical devices that … Continue reading One for Friday: Albert Brooks, “Phone Call to Americans”

I don’t remember how I first discovered Huxton Creepers. I hadn’t heard of the Australian band before reaching the college radio station in the fall of 1988, and, as I recall, they weren’t an especially hyped outfit on the left side of the dial either. Their records came and went without anyone paying them much attention. One of their album covers may have been pinned to the studio wall, which was wallpapered with album flats at that time. Maybe I just found their record because my standing default was to go the H section when I didn’t know what to … Continue reading One for Friday: Huxton Creepers, “Rack My Brains”

I’ve lived in three different U.S. states and I’ve felt attached to each of them in different ways. While I currently call North Carolina home, my first thirty one years on this planet (to they day, in fact) were spent in Wisconsin, and part of the proof that America’s Dairyland still has a unique hold on me is that nothing piques my curiosity about a band like finding out that’s the place they’re from. This is true of current artists, but it’s even more pronounced when it’s a band from the past, a band I feel I should have heard … Continue reading One for Friday: The Baroques, “Musical Tribute to the Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon”

I don’t know why I love you Your face is a foreign food Sometimes I just lock onto one piece of a song, usually a particularly nice turn of phrase in a set of lyrics, and that stands paramount in my mind as the reason why I like this song. I can get into everything else–the strident quality of the music, the guitar sound that’s both smooth and jagged, even what the song meant to me at the particular time it was released–but I’ll always come back to whatever that little bit that most captures me, most inspires me. When … Continue reading One for Friday: The House of Love, “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”

I remember reading about the Violent Femmes album Why Do Birds Sing? when it was released in 1991. Specifically I remember one of the band members responding to a question about the inclusion of a cover version of the Culture Club hit “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” on the record. It was conceded that no one in the band had any particular affection for the song, and that it was only included as a stab at getting a little more attention and a little more airplay. They were counting on the combination of familiarity and novelty to pique … Continue reading One for Friday: Afghan Whigs, “Creep”

Once I wrested myself away from the glum world of commercial radio in the late-nineties, I wanted to get back to what I loved about broadcasting in the first place. I wanted to discover new music, I wanted to build diverse playlists, I wanted to talk about artists that were worth talking about. My best bet was to find some sort of return to college radio. The opportunity came at Christmas. As fate would have it, the holidays found me trekking back to the central Wisconsin city where I went to college, and I knew from first-hand experience that there … Continue reading One for Friday: Abra Moore, “Four Leaf Clover”