Volume 27, Track 14
“Spinal Column” by Stereolab (1997) Two weeks after I graduated high school I started working at an Italian restaurant a few miles away from my house. A year into the gig I voluntarily became corrupted by after-hours hangouts that involved smoking up and/or drinking liquor, either at co-worker’s houses or at the restaurant’s back parking [...]
Volume 27, Track 13
“Alice Childress” by Ben Folds Five (1997) If I am being honest, Ben Folds is one of those guys I kind of want to see get punched in the face when I see him. Not because he’s publicly been an asshole or anything (or at least not that I know of) but because it just [...]
Volume 27, Track 12
“State Trooper” by Cowboy Junkies (1997) Whites Off Earth Now!! is the debut album by Cowboy Junkies. It was released in 1986 and it is an album comprised almost exclusively of covers. The second track on the album is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper,” a song that the band would revisit eleven years [...]
Volume 27, Track 11
“Mystery Girl” by World Party (1995) You would be hard pressed to find a prettier intro than the one found on this live performance of “Mystery Girl.” The drums lightly flutter and skip, and the guitar is gently plucked like an acoustic sunrise. When it comes time for the choruses everything speeds up a bit [...]
Volume 27, Track 10
“Sugar Water” by Cibo Matto (1995) If I were to break down and grossly oversimplify the differences between pop, power pop, and rock it would look like this: pop revolves around oohs and la la las; power pop revolves around I’s and I’m’s; rock revolves around yeahs and ahhs. Which is to say that, typically, [...]
Volume 27, Track 9
“Mexico” by Beck (1994) “Mexico” was originally released on a little-known pre-Mellow Gold album called Golden Leftovers. (I don’t even know how many copies of Golden Leftovers were made.) Simply put: “Mexico” is probably the funniest song I have ever listened to. All of the lyrics are delivered in a deadpan, monotonous manner and, when [...]
Volume 27, Track 8
“God’s Hotel” by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (1994) Nick Cave is an Australian singer and songwriter who looks a little like Agent Smith from The Matrix. This recording of “God’s Hotel” has always made me think that this is what The Doors would’ve sounded like if they were Aussies and Morrison had more [...]
Volume 27, Track 7
“Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos (1994) I have never seen any antique music boxes in person. I’m not talking about the kinds of music boxes that were made in the U.S. right before the Depression, or in the mid or late 19th century. I’m talking about the music boxes that were made in [...]
Volume 27, Track 6
“On the Radio” by Cheap Trick (1998) ONXRT: Live From the Archives, Vol. 4 was released in 1998 and this performance by Cheap Trick is the only song on the compilation from the same year. What I am about to write I write as an admitted metal neophyte, but the best way I can describe [...]
Volume 27, Track 5
“Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet (1998) Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” is one of those masterpieces of the early ’90′s that time has gradually forgotten about.[1] Additionally, it was one of the few songs from the early ’90′s that earned every second of its being overplayed on the radio. This live performance of “Girlfriend,” just like The Smashing [...]
Volume 27, Track 4
“But Anyway” by Blues Traveler (1996) In the summer of 1996 one of my side jobs was mowing one of my uncles’ lawns who lived a couple towns away. I was paid twenty bucks a week to mow and bag his yard and, if I was over there during an afternoon weekday, I would watch [...]
Volume 27, Track 3
“Rocket” by The Smashing Pumpkins (1996) The day before the release of Siamese Dream The Smashing Pumpkins performed live at a Tower Records in Chicago as part of a live broadcast on XRT. From this performance is an acoustic version of “Rocket,” the song that would ultimately be the fourth and final single from their [...]
Volume 27, Track 2
“Blood and Roses” by The Smithereens (1994) Fans of ’80′s music will remember “Blood and Roses” as the biggest hit by The Smithereens. Released in 1986 on their debut album Especially For You, “Blood and Roses” is a great power pop tune with all of the requisite over-amplified riffs befitting of that genre. This live [...]
Volume 27, Track 1
“Dust My Broom” by Buddy Guy (1994) Taken from a live performance from November of 1982 (when Guy was 46 years old), this recording of “Dust My Broom” is quintessential Chicago guitar-driven blues as it starts with a loaded and raucous guitar and never really lets up. Buddy Guy was a pioneer of the Chicago [...]
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