A sidenote (as opposed to the preceding paragraph’s methodically linear structure): “Wild Boys” featured the largest indoor set ever constructed at that time, beating the record set just a few years earlier by the snake-filled Egyptian tomb in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or so I’ve heard.
•••
I believed then that the day would come when New Wave would re-emerge as the aesthetic of the future — had we not glimpsed that world in the 80s cyberpunk series Max Headroom? And damn it, I was right. I’d say we are now living that dream. That’s why I get to go see the New Wave-like band called Broadcast on Monday — and why YOU GET TO JOIN ME TOMORROW (FRIDAY, 8pm) TO SEE THE SOMEWHAT NEW WAVE-LIKE (though also a bit shoegazer and a little twee) BAND ASOBI SEKSU.
More specifically, you get to join me because I have two tickets and Helen can’t make it. Thus, the first person (who I already know and is not overtly hostile) who e-mails me to claim the second one — and can make it to Bowery Ballroom to meet me at 8 Friday under your own power — gets it (and I’ll post an update here once it’s claimed) [UPDATE: Ticket claimed!].
•••
As if that appeal isn’t desperate enough, I also still need a defender of Che, Castro, and Chavez (at least someone who argues they weren’t/aren’t evil) to face off against libertarian Thor Halvorssen on Wed., Nov. 4 (8pm) in a Debate at Lolita Bar. E-mail me if you or yours would make a serious, staunch defense.
•••
With that out of the way, let me add that I was reminded where Duran Duran fits into the larger scheme of things (within music, not within sci-fi or utopian/dystopian philosophy) by Jacob Levy, libertarian former general manager of loosely Brown-affiliated radio station WBRU in Providence, who forwarded a playlist (see below) created by WBRU DJ Wendell Gee and some of his colleagues for use on WBRU’s fortieth birthday.
Another libertarian former manager of WBRU, Dave Whitney, notes that there are several songs from the most recent years that he doesn’t recognize — but I suspect we wouldn’t like some of them anyway. It seems 1997 was a year of musical atrocities (like Britney and boy bands, not to mention Anna Nicole Smith covering “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” which isn’t so bad with the sound off), and it was around that time I stopped keeping track of what the alternative rock folk were doing, aside from a few high-profile retro-ish acts like the Hives, Strokes, and Stripes. If I never hear another Blink 182 song, that’s just fine.
However, I now know (thanks in part to the aforementioned Helen, as well as Michael Malice, yet another libertarian former DJ — and Broadcast fan) that while even the purportedly-alternative rockers were doing some bad, facile things over the next decade, better, smarter things were happening in the more quiet, brainy, and low-profile indie-pop scene, if you take the trouble to look (now that we’re fragmented into thousands of niche audiences and no one has the slightest idea what anyone else is watching or listening to).
So I can listen to the Decemberists even if they don’t make it onto Wendell’s playlist — though I’m glad to see Metric did (here’s another song of theirs, about animals fighting in an arena).
One important thing I learned from the list: ska preceded reggae. I guess I should have known that already, but I always just assumed ska was created by people who listened to reggae and had the same reaction I do: “This might stop sucking if it were faster.” Instead, apparently, ska was around by 1959 — as soon as transistor radios brought American pop to Jamaica, Dave tells me — and rocksteady, then reggae, arose later as “rudeboys” literally slowed ska records to half speed in order to make them easier to dance to (skanking is tiring in the Caribbean heat). I was willing to cut reggae some slack when I thought it was the progenitor of ska, like blues to rock, but now I really don’t give a damn about reggae. Ska!
(Another Brown-induced thought on foreign cultures: I notice one of the oddest pieces Brown Alumni Monthly has ever published is in the new September/October issue — a one-page reflection by a woman whose husband insisted they move to Tunisia, leading to her seriously considering having an affair — in May of this year. Might she not want to take a little more time to digest all this before making it public? Were the editors at all squeamish about publishing this embarrassing item — by Naomi Abrahami ’88, apparently now a teacher here in NYC instead of, as she was all of five months ago, in Tunisia? Will her husband respond with an angry letter in the next issue calling her a treacherous desert scorpion? Will the guy she almost had an affair with write in as well? She ends, troublingly, with the lines “Am I glad I didn’t have the affair? Yes, I think so — most of the time.” What the hell? Couldn’t she have blogged this, like other people with no shame do?)
And now, Wendell Gee’s annotated list of forty years worth of (mostly) alternative rock to play on WBRU (note: if I were in charge, I don’t think I would have allowed any band, no matter how big, to appear twice, given the already tight constraints, but it’s a cool list regardless — oh, and you might wanna keep in mind that I was at Brown from 1987-1991, right when WBRU actually adopted its all-alternative format, halfway through the station’s history, but we wouldn’t want Wendell to waste the first half of the list citing Who and Stones songs over and over again — as someone from WBRU said at the time of the transition to the alt-rock format: We have nothing against classic rock, but some of our listeners have heard the Who every day for the past twenty years):
The challenge: represent alternative rock and its roots/WBRU’s history/a specific year in five songs. Try to talk about artists we were first with, try to represent emerging genres, and try (during the seventies) to show the roots of alternative before there was something to be alternative to.
Without further ado, the exact playlist, with my own [Gee's] notes to try to help jocks have something to say.
1969
SPACE ODDITY-DAVID BOWIE
KICK OUT THE JAMS-MC5 (Detroit proto-punk, MC5 stands for Motor City 5)
I WANNA BE YOUR DOG-THE STOOGES (Debut of Iggy Pop…simplistic crunchy riffs with garage rock attitude, also from Detroit)
CINNAMON GIRL-NEIL YOUNG (Neil would become known as the grandfather of grunge in the nineties, cast Devo in a movie he made, toured with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion and made a CD “Mirrorball” with Pearl Jam.)
RIVER MAN-NICK DRAKE (Heavy influence on the Cure and others. His third album Pink Mood is a masterpiece of acoustic gloom.)
1970
I HEAR YOU KNOCKING-DAVE EDMUNDS (The “pub rock” scene in Britain, a conscious stripped down rock style in the face of progressive pomp led to both punk and new wave.)
ROCK AND ROLL-VELVET UNDERGROUND (from band’s final LP, “Loaded”)
MOTHER- JOHN LENNON (The Beatles were done, and Lennon was doing his primal scream therapy in 1970. This was the single after “Instant Karma.”)
GET UP (I FEEL LIKE BEING A) SEX MACHINE-JAMES BROWN (Without this man, there is no Red Hot Chili Peppers.)
VENUS-SHOCKING BLUE (Dutch band hit #1 in the US with this song.)
1971
GET IT ON-T REX (Glam Rock in Britain broke ground for some of the more outlandish looks of the 80’s. Marc Bolan’s simple riffs made him a revered figure of the punks and the wavers later in the decade.)
ANOTHER DAY-PAUL MCCARTNEY (First solo single from Beatle Paul.)
I’M EIGHTEEN-ALICE COOPER (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols auditioned for the lead singer slot by singing along with his favorite Alice Cooper records in front of Steve Jones and Malcolm McClaren)
SWEET LEAF-BLACK SABBATH (Where detuned guitars begin: Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler tuned their instruments down one and a half steps to reduce string tension. The result is the dark sludgy sound of Queens of the Stone age, Korn and their ilk.)
JUMP INTO THE FIRE-NILSSON (Nilsson was the quintessential cult artist, quirky, witty, drunk, and supremely talented. One of the spectacular flameouts of the seventies.)
1972
VIRGINIA PLAIN-ROXY MUSIC (Where glam met prog with Brian Eno involved. Eno
would go on to become one of alternative’s most influential producers.)
CHANGES-DAVID BOWIE
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE-LOU REED
GO ALL THE WAY-RASPBERRIES (Power Pop of the seventies was a big influence on the alternative pop revival of the early nineties…Matthew Sweet, the Lemonheads, etc.)
SILVER MACHINE-HAWKWIND (Space Rock was a small subgenre mostly confined to England. Hawkwind’s bassist and lead singer Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister would leave to found Motorhead who specialized in the fast loud simple metal that mirrored the Ramones on the other side of the ocean.)
1973
SATELLITE OF LOVE-LOU REED (Walk on the Wild Side was a single in 72 and this was the follow up in 73. U2 covered this frequently on the ZOO TV tour and issued it as the b-side to “One.”)
SEARCH AND DESTROY-IGGY AND THE STOOGES (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover this song as the bonus track on the “Give It Away” single.)
JET BOY-NEW YORK DOLLS (glam punks from New York, led by David Johansen…Lou Reed, Patti Smith, New York dolls…by 1973, the seeds of the punk scene in New York were sown.)
BABY’S ON FIRE-BRIAN ENO (From Wikipedia: Douglas Wolk of Blender described the song as “a two-note wonder built around an all-hell-breaks-loose guitar meltdown by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp,” while Chris Ott of Pitchfork Media called the track “earth-shattering”.)
GET UP, STAND UP-THE WAILERS (Ska music had slowed down to become reggae, and its first international superstar, Bob Marley, was about to break free. The last single from the original Wailer lineup.)
1974
REBEL REBEL-DAVID BOWIE
STRANDED IN THE JUNGLE-NEW YORK DOLLS (David Johanson would have a successful solo career, and acting career, before reuniting a New York Dolls lineup in 2004.)
AUTOBAHN-KRAFTWERK (You can’t have Depeche Mode, Moby, or most synth and techno acts without Kraftwerk) note: MANUAL FADE NEEDED around 3:22 mark. NO NEED TO PLAY ALL 22 MINUTES.
NO WOMAN, NO CRY-BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS
BALLROOM BLITZ-SWEET (single released in the UK in 1973…made it to the US on the LP “Desolation Boulevard” in 1974. Queen and Sweet both big influences on bands like Muse.)
1975
GLORIA-PATTI SMITH (New York punk poet, the godmother of punk.)
(I LIVE FOR) CARS AND GIRLS-THE DICTATORS (Also from New York, not technically punks, so much as a band that wanted to keep rock simple and fun)
BIG JOE AND PHANTOM 309-TOM WAITS (from “Nighthawks at the Diner,” Waits would win a best alternative album Grammy in 1992 for “Bone Machine.” From Wikipedia: Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.”)
LOVE IS THE DRUG-ROXY MUSIC
WHITE PUNKS ON DOPE-THE TUBES (from Wikipedia: Showbiz excess was a common theme of the Tubes early work, with singer Fee Waybill sometimes assuming the onstage persona of “Quay Lewd” (a pun on Quaalude), a drunk, drugged out, barely coherent lead singer, decked out with flashing glasses and impossibly tall platform shoes.)
1976
BLITZKREIG BOP-RAMONES
SO IT GOES-NICK LOWE (Important arist and producer. Came out of the Pub Rock scene, produced a lot of punk records, formed Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and eventually even had a top 40 hit with “Cruel to be Kind.”)
ANARCHY IN THE UK-SEX PISTOLS
ROADRUNNER-MODERN LOVERS (Massachusetts two chord proto-punk Jonathan Richman has forged his own oddball path since this record. Keyboardist Jerry Harrison would join Talking Heads, and drummer David Robinson drummed for the Cars)
WHITE HONEY-GRAHAM PARKER (The first of the “angry young men” to get a record out, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson would follow and have significantly more success.)
1977
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES-ELVIS COSTELLO (First Elvis Costello LP)
BLANK GENERATION-RICHARD HELL AND THE VOIDOIDS
PSYCHO KILLER-TALKING HEADS (First Talking Heads LP)
WHITE RIOT-THE CLASH
SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL-IAN DURY
1978
FINAL SOLUTION-PERE UBU (One of two oddball punk acts from Akron, OH, the other being Devo)
HEART OF GLASS-BLONDIE (When punk met disco. The first major chart success for a band that came out of the New York punk scene.)
ROXANNE-THE POLICE (First Police LP)
JUST WHAT I NEEDED-CARS (First Cars LP. First chart success for a New England new wave band.)
PUBLIC IMAGE-PiL (A song written for the Sex Pistols becomes the first single for Johnny Rotten’s new band. Changes name back to John Lydon.)
1979
TRAIN IN VAIN-THE CLASH (hidden track on London calling eventually becomes a significant hit single for the band)
I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS-THE BOOMTOWN RATS (lead singer Bob Geldof would go on to spearhead Live Aid and Band Aid and granted knighthood by the queen for his activism. Also starred as “Pink” in Pink Floyd’s The Wall.)
ONE STEP BEYOND-MADNESS (one of the highlights of the British Two-tone ska revival of the late 70’s…see also The Specials, English Beat. Big influence on the ska third wave in the US in the nineties and bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones)
ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN-ELVIS COSTELLO
IS SHE REALLY GOING OUT WITH HIM?-JOE JACKSON (initially released as a single in ’78, Jackson’s first single needed a re-release in ’79 for it to turn into the radio staple it remains today. The last of the “angry young men” to get a record out.)
1980 (MTV did not launch until 1981, but video music clips start to influence what songs become hits right about here)
WHIP IT-DEVO (made Devo’s third LP “Freedom of Choice” a platinum selling record in the US)
BRASS IN POCKET-PRETENDERS (debut LP)
HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA-DEAD KENNEDYS (pioneers of hardcore punk, which, admittedly, did not have much radio success, but was very influential)
ONCE IN A LIFETIME-TALKING HEADS
BOYS DON’T CRY-THE CURE (debut LP)
1981
PRETTY IN PINK-PSYCHEDELIC FURS (from second album Talk Talk Talk, the first to chart in the U.S.)
I KNOW WHAT BOYS LIKE-WAITRESSES
WE GOT THE BEAT-GO-GO’S
I WILL FOLLOW-U2 (debut LP)
GIRLS ON FILM-DURAN DURAN (debut LP)
1982
DON’T YOU WANT ME-HUMAN LEAGUE (reached #1 on the UK and the US singles charts)
TAINTED LOVE-SOFT CELL
WHITE WEDDING-BILLY IDOL
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO-CLASH (final LP for original lineup)
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF-DURAN DURAN
1983
BLUE MONDAY-NEW ORDER (Biggest selling 12” single of all time. This is where the alternative scene and the dance scene start to move together.)
RADIO FREE EUROPE-R.E.M. (A re-recording or a 1981 indie single, and the band’s first chart entry. This is where the “indie rock” scene starts to get noticed)
BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE-TALKING HEADS
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE-POLICE
NEW YEAR’S DAY-U2
1984
PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE-DEPECHE MODE
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN-CYNDI LAUPER (First ever female artist to have four top five singles from one album, “She’s So Unusual” was its title.)
HERO TAKES A FALL-THE BANGLES (From wikipedia: The band was one of the most successful parts of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground scene, which featured groups that played a mixture of 1960s-influenced folk-rock and jangle pop with a more modern punkish/garage band undertone.)
THE KILLING MOON-ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
RELAX-FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
1985
HOW SOON IS NOW-THE SMITHS
EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD-TEARS FOR FEARS
TAKE ON ME-A-HA (Video won six awards and was nominated for two more at MTV Video music awards.)
VOICES CARRY-TIL TUESDAY (debut of Berklee College of music student Aimee Mann’s new group on the national stage; they won the WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble in 1983.)
IN BETWEEN DAYS-THE CURE (first Cure single to reach the Top 100 in the U.S. It peaked at #99 *smirk* Robert Smith would later perform this song with Korn (!?!?) for their MTV Unplugged appearance.)
1986
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY-BEASTIE BOYS (Where alternative began to accept rapping and hip hop into the format.)
SLEDGHAMMER-PETER GABRIEL
DON’T LETS START-T.M.B.G. (this is right about where “nerd rock” starts)
WEST END GIRLS-PET SHOP BOYS (from Wikipedia: It was Number One in the UK, USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lebanon, Israel, New Zealand and Norway and sold an estimated 1.5 million copies worldwide)
REAL WILD CHILD-IGGY POP
1987
JUST LIKE HEAVEN-THE CURE
ALEX CHILTON-THE REPLACEMENTS
DEAR GOD-XTC
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU-U2
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT-R.E.M.
1988
NEED YOU TONIGHT-INXS
FAST CAR-TRACY CHAPMAN (debut)
JANE SAYS-JANE’S ADDICTION
GIGANTIC-THE PIXIES (debut)
UNDER THE MILKY WAY-THE CHURCH
1989
PERSONAL JESUS-DEPECHE MODE
EPIC-FAITH NO MORE
KNOCK ME DOWN-RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
HERE COMES YOUR MAN-THE PIXIES
DOWN IN IT-NIN (debut)
1990
NOTHING COMPARES TO U-SINEAD O’CONNOR
GROOVE IS IN THE HEART DEE-LITE
BEEN CAUGHT STEALING-JANE’S ADDICTION
UNBELIEVABLE-EMF
KOOL THING-SONIC YOUTH
1991
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT-NIRVANA
ALIVE-PEARL JAM (debut)
UNDER THE BRIDGE-RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
RUSTY CAGE-SOUNDGARDEN
RHINOCEROS-SMASHING PUMPKINS (debut)
1992
DRIVE-R.E.M.
CONNECTED-STEREO M.C.’S
KILLING IN THE NAME-RATM (debut)
PLUSH-STONE TEMPLE PILOTS (debut)
FRIDAY, I’M IN LOVE-THE CURE
1993
CANNONBALL-THE BREEDERS
LINGER-THE CRANBERRIES (debut)
CREEP-RADIOHEAD (debut)
HEART SHAPED BOX-NIRVANA
NO RAIN-BLIND MELON
1994
LOSER-BECK (debut)
LONGVIEW-GREEN DAY
SABOTAGE-BEASTIE BOYS
CLOSER-NIN
UNDONE (THE SWEATER SONG)-WEEZER (debut)
1995
HEAVEN BESIDE YOU-ALICE IN CHAINS
COMMON PEOPLE-PULP
I’LL STICK AROUND-FOO FIGHTERS (debut)
JUST A GIRL-NO DOUBT (debut)
WONDERWALL-OASIS
1996
WHAT I GOT-SUBLIME
MACHINEHEAD-BUSH (debut)
PEPPER-BUTTHOLE SURFERS
ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS-GARBAGE (debut)
BULLS ON PARADE-RATM
1997
DAMMIT-BLINK 182(debut)
BRICK-BEN FOLDS FIVE
SEX AND CANDY-MARCY PLAYGROUND (debut)
SEMI-CHARMED LIFE-3RD EYE BLIND (debut)
SONG 2-BLUR
1998
PRETTY FLY FOR A WHITE GUY-OFFSPRING
CLOSING TIME-SEMISONIC
FAST BALL-THE WAY
IRIS-GOO GOO DOLLS
ONE WEEK-BARENAKED LADIES
1999
SOUTH SIDE-MOBY
SCAR TISSUE-RHCP
MY NAME IS-EMINEM
STEAL MY SUNSHINE-LEN
MY OWN WORST ENEMY-LIT
2000
ONE STEP CLOSER-LINKIN PARK (debut)
KRYPTONITE-3 DOORS DOWN
YELLOW-COLDPLAY (debut)
CHANGE (IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES)-DEFTONES
DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS-DISTURBED (debut)
2001
THE MIDDLE-JIMMY EAT WORLD
HASH PIPE-WEEZER
LAST NIGHT-THE STROKES
FLAVOR OF THE WEAK-AMERICAN HI-FI
CHOP SUEY-SYSTEM OF A DOWN
2002
ALL MY LIFE-FOO FIGHTERS (One by One won a Grammy Award for Best Rock
Album
in 2004.)
FLAKE-JACK JOHNSON (debut)
FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL-WHITE STRIPES
NO ONE KNOWS-QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
GET FREE-THE VINES (debut)
2003
BRING ME TO LIFE-EVANESCENCE (debut)
I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE-THE DARKNESS
ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL-JET (debut)
HEY YA-OUTKAST
OCEAN AVENUE-YELLOWCARD
2004
AMERICAN IDIOT-GREEN DAY
TIME IS RUNNING OUT-MUSE
FLOAT ON-MODEST MOUSE
SOMEBODY TOLD ME-KILLERS (debut)
A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE-TAKING BACK SUNDAY
2005
FEEL GOOD INC-GORILLAZ
SOUL MEETS BODY-DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
KING WITHOUT A CROWN (LIVE) MATISYAHU
SUGAR WE’RE GOIN DOWN-FALL OUT BOY
HONEST MISTAKE-THE BRAVERY (debut)
2006
WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE-MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
STEADY AS SHE GOES-RACONTEURS (debut)
CRAZY-GNARLS BARKELEY (debut)
WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG-THE KILLERS
CHASING CARS-SNOW PATROL
2007
MISERY BUSINESS-PARAMORE
THRASH UNREAL-AGAINST ME!
THE PRETENDER-FOO FIGHTERS
BLEED IT OUT-LINKIN PARK
PARALYZER-FINGER ELEVEN
2008
KIDS-MGMT (debut)
SEX ON FIRE-KINGS OF LEON
VIVA LA VIDA-COLDPLAY
YOU’RE GONNA GO FAR, KID-OFFSPRING
HANDLEBARS-FLOBOTS (debut)
2009
FEEL GOOD DRAG-ANBERLIN
I’VE GOT FRIENDS-MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
NO YOU GIRLS-FRANZ FERDINAND
HELP I’M ALIVE-METRIC
AIN’T NO REST FOR THE WICKED-CAGE THE ELEPHANT (debut)
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