Spontaneous nostalgia post-cum-Song of the Day

My friend and I agree, the nineties were a golden age of pop music that we didn't fully appreciate until that decade closed. Now the standard FM airwaves are filled with what I term "urban pop", that hip hop-oriented sound that is chock full of all the urban and tough cliches: drinking, women, clubbing, guns. It is not a new observation when I point out that mainstream rap and hip hop has never been so concerned with the politics and social concerns of life. Chuck D of Public Enemy is famously quoted as saying that rap is the black CNN. There hardly seems to be any of that anymore, but all this is tangential to my first premise.

The 90s had this drive towards authenticity and vulnerability that was lost in the slick production of the 80s. Of course, I'm talking about a thin segment, but that segment drove mainstream radio at a time when we were all paying attention. I'm talking about the Gin Blossoms, Alanis Morrisette, the breakout of Lisa Loeb and Tori Amos, Eagle Eye Cherry. I still know all the words to "Save Tonight".

Undoubtedly, there are elements of nostalgia that leads me to overemphasize the authentic aspects of nineties pop. I mean, boy bands and pop starlets also had their heyday towards the latter half of the decade. It was our nostalgia that led my sister and I to host three 90s themed shows for our college radio program. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the majority of our childhood and adolescence took place in the nineties. Every hugely important event had its musical accompaniment.

Let's enjoy some balmy nostalgia with some Gin Blossoms. That video is a good collection of nineties, hair, clothes, makeup and ATTITUDE. On that note, damn, I want to watch Empire Records, king among soundtrack movies.

Popshifter

I have a friend who contributes to Popshifter, an analytically-minded pop culture magazine. I just enjoyed two articles from their latest issue. So I thought I'd share. Enjoy.

"Worst Ideas for Rock Photography" and a review of Morrissey's Years of Refusal.

Chris Dane Owens update

If you're like me, you want to know when Blue Stone is coming out. So I went the CDO himself and asked, "Hey, what's up?"

HERE IS WHAT IS UP, OKAY.

The Blue Stone Cd is nearly done!! We are mastering the album in NY right now and are very happy with how it's all sounding. Next, we will begin pressing the 2 disc set back in LA, and at the same time we'll start uploading to Itunes, Amazon, etc... (For the download version of the CD)

It looks like the end of April for the Itunes version and then May for the 2 disc set to become available on Amazon and CD Baby...

Meanwhile, we will be putting up some adventerous teaser shots for the next video in about 3 weeks. We should have 7 pix total. We'll try to put up a new shot each week in the "news" section of my site. Some cool new fantasy elements are on the way, that we really hope people spark to and enjoy. As usual, I've been having a great time putting these teasers together.

To steal from Bill Nye the Science Guy: WELL NOW YOU KNOW.

Free Download: "Witchazel" by Matt Berry

In the midst of bloggy malaise I forgot to announce that sexy dude Matt Berry made his album Witchazel available for free download for a limited time. Visit here for the album. Thanks, Matt Berry!

SotD: "Taste You" by Melissa Auf der Maur

Today's song was selected simply because it came on and I love it so I will highlight it. So there.

YouTube link

Melissa Auf der Maur on Wikipedia.

Hi, guys!

So sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I've thought about it a bit and I've been concerned about this blog and its purpose. I like blogs that generate tons of discussion. One such blog is Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, which is a romance novel blog. I confess that I don't read very many other blogs, especially as I've been busy working and reading lately, so this it's not like I have a good role model for this blog. I feel constrained by my limited readership, especially when I receive few comments. This is not the same as being an attention whore, because I did this for several months and it's boring talking to oneself, as I have been. I like music recommendations and music talks, so please talk to me and I'll strive to reward you with good stuff.

Note number two. Rachel and I are going to catch Depeche Mode August 10th at the Key Arena in Seattle. This is so very exciting to us. We're in row 28 or something. Woooo!

I've decided to do some research in preparation for the book about Morrissey's backing band. I plan on getting my mitts on some Morrissey articles and reviews with specific mentions of the band and stuff about them. Basically my only in is my brief contact in the summer of '07 with Spencer Cobrin. He did tell me that the other guys would be up for it, if I've done my research. That was so exciting to read at the time but now I have so many questions. This blog is partly a news blog and partly a personal journey blog where in I document my stumbling towards publication and my wished-for career as a freelancer in music journalism so I plan on posting about my progress every now and again.

You know what I wish for? A librarything-like site for music. This probably exists. A close match is Rate Your Music. You can add and rate your collection, list music you want to own, and even meet people. This seems a bit similar to last.fm, but slightly different. I wanted an analogue to LibraryThing in that LT sends out books for review and I would love to see a site that gives out copies of CDs for amateur review.

Another reason I haven't been blogging is that I haven't been actively hearing good music that's new to me. I've been listening to good music that I'm familiar with and I've been listening to new music that doesn't interest me in the slightest. The radio at work is usually on a Boise station called Wild 101: Boise's Party Station. I hear so much crap that I slowly lose the will to live. I've even found myself singing along occasionally as I become victim to a sort of musical Stockholm Syndrome. :(((

Good enough, good enough.

SotD: "Give It To You" by Jordan Knight

Gosh, you guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated, but my head imploded with the news that Depeche Mode finally announced their North American tour dates and I'll be going to the August 10th show in Seattle, which is very good because they'll have six days off so they'll be fresh. I'm so freakin' excited.

I'll get back into the swing of things by linking you to this very good song by Jordan Knight. This song shocked me when I was in middle school and now I find it very amusing. The random oom-pa-pa rhythm makes this song.