These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. After being raised in Brooklyn, New York, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Superman”
68. The Bongos, Numbers with Wings (1983) The Hoboken, New Jersey band the Bongos spent years toiling away without much attention from the music industry at large. They’d manage to release music on a couple small labels, including the U.K. … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #68 to #66
Back Earth, Wisconsin is a village located in the western portion of Dane County, around twenty-five miles from the state capital. The 2010 census tallied the population at just a few dozen residents over thirteen hundred. It is the home … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Ratboys, “Black Earth, WI”
71. Eurythmics, Be Yourself Tonight (1985) After achieving international pop chart success in the first half of the nineteen-eighties, Eurythmics experienced their first real career stumble with the album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother). The duo, comprised of … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #71 to #69
As Dollar Stores Proliferate, Some Communities Say No by Michael Corkery Reporting for The New York Times, Michael Corkery writes about local governments rejecting the incursion of predatory discount shops that underpay employees and strategically drain the local economy, by … Continue reading Outside Reading — Bottom Dollar
My intention with these recurring posts under the This Week’s Model banner is to always highlight my favorite new song released during the preceding seven days, but there are a few sub-rules I try to follow. For instance, in order … Continue reading This Week’s Model — boygenius, “Not Strong Enough”
74. Hoodoo Gurus, Mars Needs Guitars! (1985) After A&M Records blundered through the North American release of Stoneage Romeos, the debut album by Australia’s Hoodoo Gurus, the band and their homeland label, Big Time Records, initially decided to take matters … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #74 to #72
I stole the above photo from Pitchfork, callously cropping out the watermark they included. Given this transgression, I should quote and specifically link to the adoring article they published about the Asheville, North Carolina band Wednesday. Here’s writer Quinn Moreland … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Wednesday, “Bath County”
77. Culture Club, Kissing to Be Clever (1982) Malcolm McLaren knew this young bloke named George had the makings of a pop star. The cunning impresario recruited the androgynously styled club kid to share lead vocalist duties in a new … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #77 to #75
Together, Sam Bielanski and Matty Morand are PONY, a band that hails from Toronto and specializes in fuzzy, buzzy, perfectly compact pop songs. Their latest, “Très Jolie,” performs the grand, glorious magic trick I seek so fervently. From it opening … Continue reading This Week’s Model — PONY, “Très Jolie”
Coffee for Two 