an otherwise exasperating day at work today was brightened by a rousing late afternoon round of Name that 90s Song (thank you rhino records Whatever! box set), during which i was reminded of what a great song this is. despite the absurd vocal looping at the end of each chorus. seriously listen to it. they hold that note for like 16 measures. ridiculous. great song tho. -d

is it just me or does this have a nice little 90s alternative thing going on? think Stone Temple Pilots a la ‘pretty penny’. anyone? ok, maybe there’s only a smack of mid-90s to it, laid on top of some great, unique instrumentation and key signature changes (for which i am an admitted sap). whatever it is, i’m down for it. -d

this was a tough one. 1 more day left in 90s week, and 196 songs left to choose from. ultimately (and obviously), i chose this one, #72. for a few reasons: one, because nothing says 90s to me like REM. two, because i love few things in this world as much as a good nightswim. and three, i don’t remember there being that much pretty music during the 90s. there was a lot of energy, a lot of anger and, towards the end, a lot of crap, but not much simple, pretty music. and sometimes, after a week of beats and bass lines, it’s nice to wind down with some simple, pretty music. -d

*plus, John Paul Jones did the string arrangement. what the…!?

seriously, how hot was this track? i remember being totally blown away when jason bodie played this for me for the first time. it was at his 7th grade birthday party, i believe. and it still totally holds up. #195 my arse. -d

funny story about #166 here. so it’s middle school, and pat broderick and i decide we’re gonna share a tent at scout camp (which neither of us have any interest in attending). in an effort to make the week bearable, we decide that one of us will be responsible for bringing a stereo w/ lots of D batteries, and the other will bring the music. wires get crossed, and we both show up to camp w/ boomboxes and batteries, and no music. other than the ‘funky divas’ tape we found in the tape slot of pat’s stereo. so that’s what we listened to. all week long. to this day, anytime i hear the word ‘prejudice’, i feel compelled to quickly tell the person that i’ve composed a tune on the subject, ask them if they would like to hear it, and then let them know that i will be singing it regardless of their response.

i don’t post much R&B here, and i hesitated for a sec on this one. but nostalgia aside, this was some pretty great music, and kinda groundbreaking too. they were the first to introduce the Motown girl group aesthetic/sound into the pop/R&B world, and their penchant for barbershoppy harmonies paved the way for a whole decade of girl and boy bands. all things considered, it’s pretty amazing how incredibly huge they got. although the fact that it was a group of 3 crazy hot supermodels (plus the other one) in outfits as tight as their harmonies probably didn’t hurt anything either. -d

ah spacehog. never really heard too much else from them, did we? well in addition to coming in at a respectable #125 on the pitchfork list, this track (along w/ ‘pain lies on the riverside’ by live) played a formative role in what is now a well-documented weakness of mine for songs with excellent running bass lines. and speaking of, how is there not a single Live track on this list? not even that awful lightning crashes song? people loved that song… -d

a few days ago, the adorable blowhards at pitchfork released yet another wonderfully comprehensive and utterly questionable ‘best of’ list. this time, they’ve graced us with their not-at-all esoteric picks for the top 200 tracks of the 1990’s. after being raised through the 80’s on a steady (and much appreciated) vinyl diet of beatles, cat stevens and james taylor, the 90’s represented my first real interaction with popular music. so in theory, this list should reflect a pretty formative time for me. but like every pitchfork list, it’s hit or miss, with an extra miss thrown in there for being snobs. but like them or not, they certainly do enough homework to merit a bit of attention (and plenty of argument), so we’re calling this 90s week.

starting off with #26, ‘girls and boys’ by blur. the most useful thing about these lists is their ability to remind me of songs i’d forgot existed. like this one. but listening to it, there’s no question as to why it made the list. honestly, turn it up, and tell me 90% of the music out there today doesn’t sound exactly like this track from 1994. -d

start things off w/ my favorite shakira song. back before her hips stopped lying and somehow worked fozzie bear into the world cup theme, she actually sang in spanish. and her music was actually good. -d

heard these guys a while back. completely forgot about them. found them again yesterday. iTunes shuffle to the rescue. -d

some days you wake up and you just miss home. so you get out of bed and you do what you do, but everywhere you go you can’t help thinking things like, 

‘no one should be wearing flip-flops in february.’
‘i wish those palm trees were fartblossoms*.’
‘that guy looks homeless, but he’s probably just from venice.’
‘that girl’s boobs aren’t real.’

but just as you’re about to cash in all your virgin america miles and never return, a song comes on, and suddenly you’re having that most embarrassing of epiphanies - the pop song epiphany. in this particular case, you hear ‘washington, d.c.’ by the magnetic fields, and you realize that all you really miss from home are the people who love you, and that flips-flops, fake breasts and faux-hemians aside, there are lots of people who love you here, too, and that everything is probably going to be ok. see what i mean? lame. -d

in light of her lovely performance at the Vancouver opening ceremonies and her appearances in those attractive if homogenous british columbia ads, and in light of everything canadian being very de mode right now, and in light of me discovering recently how many of my favorite songs from high school were actually pretty creepy stalker anthems (think morrissey, dmb, alanis, barenaked ladies, stabbing westward), ‘possession’ popping up on the shuffle this morning seemed more than fortuitous. -d

while a fine song in its own right, it’s really only here as an aftertaste of something even a bit sweeter. the watkins family and friends covered this at the largo last thursday. it was huge. the kind of cover that, fair or not, supersedes the original. when i hear morrissey now i think of sara w. on the upside, it’s got me listening to a lot more morrissey. -d