OK…here’s a playlist forone of my favorite bands, which you probably, but just might not, have already heard. If you like SCOTS, you’ll LOVE the Cramps. Lux interior writes the most twisted lyrics ever (sample: “There ain’t no freckles on that fish/you’re like Dr. Jeckyl with a Deathwish”), and they’ve been going at it a looooong time. Every record they’ve ever made is a Master Piece (as opposed to masterpiece <pot g>):
1-New Kind Of Kick
2-Call of The Wighat
3-Like A Bad Girl Should
4-She Said
5-Two Headed Sex Change
6-I Can’t Hardly Stand It
7-Strychnine
8-Lets Get Fucked Up
9-Garbageman
10-Mamma-oo-pow-pow
11-In The Nest Of The Cukoo bird
12-Goo Goo Muck
13-Kizmiaz
14-Sheenas In A Goth Gang Now
15-Bend Over I’ll Drive
16-The Crusher
Make sure you get The Cramps brand new album, Fiends of Dope Island, and get it on vinyl!!!
Let me introduce you to Robyn Hitchcock. Original founder of The Soft Boys… they rocketed to obscurity in the late 70’s - early 80’s, their psychedelic sounds going mostly unappreciated in those burgeoning days of Punk and New Wave. Regardless they are great. After their dissolution, Hitchcock and several members of the Soft Boys continued on as Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians. As for the sound… imagine a mixture of Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson with some Elvis Costello thrown in for good measure.
Soft Boys…
I Wanna Destroy You
Vegetable Man
Give It To The Soft Boys
I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp
The Yodelling Hoover
Underwater Moonlight
Queen of Eyes
Kingdom of Love
Face of Death
Sandra’s Having Her Brain Out
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians…
Sleeping With Your Devil Mask
Uncorrected Personality Traits
My Wife and My Dead Wife
Listening to the Higsons
Balloon Man
Sounds Great When You’re Dead
Viva! Sea-Tac
Shapes Between Us Turn into Animals
One Long Pair of Eyes
Queen Elvis
Somebody already did Aerosmith… That leaves me 3… I’ll do 2. Ironically, pretty much polar opposites.
Metallica:
Battery
Breadfan
Creeping Death
The Four Horsemen
Blackened
Fade to Black
One
Master of Puppets
Last Caress
Hero of the Day
Enter Sandman
My Friend of Misery
Nothing Else Matters
Devils Dance
Stone Cold Crazy
Fuel
Low Mans Lyric
Hit the Lights
No Leaf Clover
Am I Evil
Billy Joel:
Piano Man
Tomorrow is Today
Summer, Highland Falls
Only the Good Die Young
Pressure
We Didn’t Start the Fire
For the Longest Time
Angry Young Man
River of Dreams
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
An Innocent Man
Allentown
Goodnight Saigon
A Matter of Trust
Lullaby (Goodnight, my Angel)
My Life
Just the Way You Are
New York State of Mind
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Honesty
If I should Fall from Grace with God
Rake at the Gates of Hell
Lorelei
Hell’s Ditch
Fairytale of New York
Transmetropolitan
Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
A Pistol for Paddy Garcia
Waxie’s Dargle
Down in the Ground where the Dead Men Go
Sickbed of Cuchulainn
Lorca’s Novena
Drunken Boat
Dirty Old Town
Billy’s Bones
Turkish Song of the Damned
Bottle of Smoke
Tuesday Morning
Broad, Majestic Shannon
Rainbow Man
Wake of the Medusa
Young Ned of the Hill
Cotton Fields
Blue Heaven
Down All the Days
Gridlock
Great list, Miller, but you didn’t include “South Australia” or “Fiesta” or “Wild Cats of Kilkenny” (a.k.a the Doctor Who theme). Extra special bonus points for having “Waxie’s Dargle” and “Bottle of Smoke” in there, though.
And to keep this from being a total hijack, how about a small one from Poi Dog Pondering
A folk/rock/pop band that started in Hawaii and went through several transformations before ending up in Chicago doing dance/house music.
Te Manu Pukarua
The Me That Was Your Son
God’s Gallipoli
Circle Around the Sun
Thanksgiving
Everybody’s Trying
The Chain
Get Me On
U-Li-La-Lu
Praise the Lord
I’ve Got My Body
Collarbone
Jack Ass Ginger
Complicated
This is a 30-song greatest hits disk I burned from one of my all time favorite bands, Snuff (no song piracy, all songs burned off of legally bought albums ).
They have referred to themselves as punk/soul, but I have found them to be more a punk/soul/pop/rock/metal combination. They feature a trombonist and organist on many songs, making for a very interesting (and in my opinion, enjoyable) type of sound.
This disk also includes a few songs from Guns n Wankers, which was the side project of Snuff’s singer Duncan during Snuff’s “hiatus” in the early 90s. Duncan was the singer/drummer of Snuff and singer/guitarist of Guns n Wankers [GnW is labeled as such]. Good stuff.
This “greatest hits” album was created prior to their most recent album, which has some great songs on it as well. If you want a good Snuff album to start with, pick up Demmamussabebonk.
My favorites of these favorites are marked with an asterisk (*).
Cracker is a trad rock band formed by one of the original alternative rockers (David Lowerey of Camper Van Beethoven). Alternately hard guitar rock and earthy & mellow. Inflected with country influences as much as punk influences. Songs will drift from humorous to sarcastic to trippy stream of consiousness to savage catharsis.
This is Cracker Soul
Mr. Wrong
St. Cajetan
Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)*
Euro-Trash Girl*
Get off This*
Low*
Sweet Potato
100 Flower Power Maximum
How Can I Live Without You
Nothing to Believe In
Been Around the World
Lullabye
Seven Days
Trials & Tribulations
World Is Mine, the
Cinderella
Ain’t That Strange
Shameless
Miss Santa Cruz County
you may have heard the asterisked songs on the radio
Warren Zevon: If you don’t know WZ’s work already, I envy you having that experience still in front of you.
Hasten Down the Wind
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Desperados Under the Eaves
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Excitable Boy
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School
Jeannie Needs a Shooter
Sentimental Hygiene
Detox Mansion
Reconsider Me
Slendid Isolation
Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead (The bad movie copped the title from this song, not t’other way 'round)
Mr. Bad Example
The Indifference of Heaven
Jungle Work
For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer
I’ll Slow You Down
My Shit’s Fucked Up
Fistful of Rain
Ourselves to Know
Warren Zevon: If you don’t know WZ’s work already, I envy you having that experience still in front of you.
Hasten Down the Wind
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Desperados Under the Eaves
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Excitable Boy
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School
Jeannie Needs a Shooter
Sentimental Hygiene
Detox Mansion
Reconsider Me
Slendid Isolation
Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead (The bad movie copped the title from this song, not t’other way 'round)
Mr. Bad Example
The Indifference of Heaven
Jungle Work
For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer
I’ll Slow You Down
My Shit’s Fucked Up
Fistful of Rain
Ourselves to Know
Warren Zevon: If you don’t know WZ’s work already, I envy you having that experience still in front of you.
Hasten Down the Wind
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Desperados Under the Eaves
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Excitable Boy
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School
Jeannie Needs a Shooter
Sentimental Hygiene
Detox Mansion
Reconsider Me
Slendid Isolation
Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead (The bad movie copped the title from this song, not t’other way 'round)
Mr. Bad Example
The Indifference of Heaven
Jungle Work
For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer
I’ll Slow You Down
My Shit’s Fucked Up
Fistful of Rain
Ourselves to Know
Oooo…Soft Boys and Death Cab already mentioned. Hmmm…
Let’s see. Two bands off the top of my head:
The first is Sleater-Kinney. By now, S-K are pretty well-known, and are the media darlings of the indie music scene. Time Magazine has even gone so far as to call them America’s best rock band two years ago. Perhaps partly because of the fawning over them in mainstream media, certain music fans have gotten quite tired of these three girls (two guitars, drums, no bass.) I haven’t, and I don’t think I ever will. Their best album is Call the Doctor in terms of energy and songwriting, although their poppier 2002 effort One Beat comes close.
Sleater-Kinney
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
You’re No Rock and Roll Fun
Dig Me Out
Sympathy
Oh!
Little Babies
Call the Doctor
Anonymous
All Hands on The Bad One
The Professional
And for our second installment, I will present The Pixies. One of the greatest and most influential bands in recent memory they’re a combination of melodic hooks, aggressive guitars, noise, off-the-wall lyrics and adrenaline. But everyone knows them, no? If not, do yourself a favor and have a listen.
The Pixies
Debaser
Planet of Sound
I’ve Been Tired
Gigantic
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Head On (cover of Jesus & Mary chain tune)
Here Comes Your Man
Alec Eiffel
Wave of Mutilation
Where is My Mind?
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Obtusely pompous 70’s prog rock.
Karn Evil 9
Tarkus
Knife-Edge
Lucky Man
The Only Way
Trilogy
The Sheriff
Hoedown
Tocatta
Benny the Bouncer
Pictures at an Exhibition
The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits
Pirates
Fanfare for the Common Man
I Believe in Father Christmas
Tiger in a Spotlight
Touch and Go
Mars, the Bringer of War
Better Days
Hand of Truth
As for describing the White Stripes, I like a phrase I read in on the All Music Guide website: “All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer/songwriting duos should sound this good.”
Hit the Lights
The Four Horsemen
Motorbreath
Seek and Destroy
Ride the Lightning
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black
Creeping Death
The Call of Ktulu
Battery
Master of Puppets
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Damage, Inc.
Blackened
One
Harvester of Sorrow
Enter Sandman
Sad but True
Nothing Else Matters
Fuel
That’s heavy on classic Met, and light on the post-Justice stuff. I only included three songs from the Black Album, mainly because just about everyone’s heard the Black Album.
Alice in Chains:
We Die Young
Man in the Box
Bleed the Freak
Brother
Got Me Wrong
Them Bones
Down in a Hole
Rooster
Angry Chair
Would?
Nutshell
Rotten Apple
I Stay Away
No Excuses
Heaven Beside You
Over Now
The Grateful Dead - they’re a band beyond description, like Jehovah’s favortie choir…
The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion) - Trippy little tune from the first album. To quote Phil Lesh, “It has that hashish and Ritalin sound.”
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - From the Shrine Auditorium shows, 1967. Pigpen at his bluesy, Southern Comfort-drinking best.
Cryptical Envelopment>That’s It For The Other One>New Potato Caboose - A mixture of studio recordings and live tapes from the Pacific Northwest Tour of 1968. Best if you eat the windowpane about half an hour before you start listening, then swallow the Qualude about 10 minutes after that. You should start peaking and mellowing out just as Jerry begins, “The other day they waited…”
Dark Star - too damn hard to pick just one version. I’m partial to the October 8, 1989 Hampton Coliseum version because I was there when the roof of the building levitated a full 10 feet as they started the song. In this case, eat the windowpane, and follow-up with a slice of psylocibin mushroom pizza.
Black Peter - And now for something completely different…an acoustic number about Annie Bennaux, from St. Angel. “See here how everything, leads up to this day…”
Truckin’ - Hell, everyone knows Truckin’. You’d be hard pressed to find a better version than October 10, 1984 at Richmond Coliseum. Lots and lots of energy, with Jerry adding a series of runs that damn near made his fingers bleed. “Living on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine…”
China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider - The Europe '72 version will do nicely. Psychedelic nursery rhyme gives way to folk tune complete with train references before you can say “a copper-domed Bhodi.” Kind of like a roller coaster with a big, big hump in the middle. Up, up, up, WHOOSH!
Weather Report Suite - Get the complete suite, from 1973 or 1974 (they stopped doing the instrumental part after that). Lyrical, thrilling, evocative. “I am, I am, I AM!”
Eyes of the World - A sweet, sweet song. Full of optimism and wonderful vibes. Pleny of good ones in 1973.
Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin’s Tower - 1975 Great American Music Hall version. Fast on its feet (even faster in 1976 at William and Mary Hall, when they played it double time).
Lazy Lighting>Supplication - Jacksonville, FL 1978 version. “There’s this song about Lazy Lightning, and I just got to tell them about it…One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…”
Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain - Merriwether Post Pavillion, 1985. I’m not really partial to '85 shows, as Jerry had that weird adenoid sound and he had ballooned up to 300 lbs, but the playing here is great. I almost remember this show (at least I remember being on I-95 going to Columbia. After that, things get kind of fuzzy).
Wharf Rat - Richmond Coliseum 1983 or Merriwether Post 1983. With Brent leaning on the Hammond B-3. “I’ll get up and fly away…I’ll get up and fly away…Fly away…”
Good Lovin’ - With a Pigpen rap in the middle. “Sold…the Brooklyn Bridge!”
Unbroken Chain - Sorry, but the live versions don’t do it justice. If they only had a few more tours to work on it. “Lillac rain…unbroken chain…”
China Doll - The doctored version on “Reckoning” has one of those moments that sends chills up and down your spine. They hit that vocal harmony just right. Scary stuff.
Victim or the Crime - Ugly, angular, metallic, industrial. Perfect antidote for “Row Jimmy.”
Brokedown Palace - No matter how over-amped, this one always grounded me and allowed me to go “OK, now I’ve only got a two hour drive to get back home. Time to cool down.”
Sugar Magnolia - Merriwether 1983. The night Bobby got a hernia from screaming.
Rain - Donna Jean’s contribution to “Cats Under the Stars.” Oh yeah? Well, bite me.
They’re a German metal band, but don’t let that put you off. I’ve introduced a few people who normally don’t care for heavy metal to them and have converted a few new fans. They have a surprisingly melodic sound for a metal band, and powerful vocals. They’re fans of Tolkien’s writings, and came out with a concept album titled “Nightfall in Middle Earth” based on the Silmarillion. Very highly recommended.
This list is weighted toward their more recent material, particularly their two latest albums, which are my favorites. In alphabetical order:
And Then There Was Silence
Battlefield
Blood Tears
Bright Eyes
Harvest of Sorrow
Into the Storm
Lost in the Twilight Hall
Mordred’s Song
Nightfall
Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)
Precious Jerusalem
Punishment Divine
Sadly Sings Destiny
The Bard’s Song
The Curse of Feanor
The Soulforged
Theater of Pain
Thorn
Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)
Time What Is Time
Wait for an Answer
When Sorrow Sang
The best way I can explain his early phase ('73-'83) is that it’s perfect music for a dark and smokey room. Equally influenced by beat poetry and blues, he sings about lonely losers and lowlifes set against a bleak 2 a.m. backdrop. As the years go by, his rough voice would continue to degrade, though in doing so, keeps in step with his musical subject matter.
Ol’ 55
(Looking for the) Heart of Saturday Night
Better off Without a Wife
I Can’t Wait to Get off Work (and See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)
Jack & Neal (California, Here I Come)
$29.00
Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis
'Til the Money Runs Out
Heartattack and Vine
Jersey Girl
Then with his album Swordfishtrombones (1983) he became a lot more musically adventurous and theatrical. He began incorporating exotic percussion and interesting recording techniques that is marked by caucauphony. If his first period is music for a dark and smokey room, this second period could be characterized as music for a dark and stormy night.
Operation Ivy. An extremely energetic band that successfully mixed ska and punk in the Bay Area during the late 80’s. To me, they exemplify what is good about punk. When tedious conformity and eye-rollingly stupid lyrics get me down, I listen to Op Ivy. Members later went on to form Rancid and Common Rider.
They existed for two years and put out only one full-length, so my list is pretty short.
The Crowd
Sound System
Knowledge
Room Without a Window
Vulnerability
Unity
Bad Town
Freeze Up
Big City
I’d list the whole (27 song long) album but that’d kinda defeat the point.
PS: Any Clash fans want to make a list? I fell in love with the song “Death and Glory” and am familar with some of London Calling but their music is so diverse I need a guide.
Well, :smack: for leaving out Wild Cats of Kilkenny, but the other two I deliberatly disincluded. Not that they aren’t great songs, but I had to leave something off the list, or it would have just been a complete list of their entire catalogue*, which sort of defeats the purpose.
*except Summer in Siam, which I just don’t like, period. I’ll listen to anything off Pogue Mahone before I’d listen to Summer in Siam.
).