Billy Corgan has been called an insane genius. He has also been called just insane. He was a 90s icon, who to many of us who lived through 90s know, the Pumpkins were as big if not bigger than Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden when they released Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness. Though grunge seemed like it was about to pass the mic to rap-metal, the Pumpkins slammed down their 10x platinum double album gargantuan masterpiece to remind everyone they held the throne...dominantly. Following this madness, the Pumpkins released 5 singles to MCIS with enough B-sides to make up more albums, literally. About a year later, The Aeroplane Flies High Box Set was released. It was a concoction of leftovers, covers, and alternative versions, all stuffed in a funky lock box costing about three times as much as a typical Pumpkins album. It still went platinum.
Last summer, Billy Corgan, revisited the unique MCIS companion Aeroplane box. Expanded from 33 songs to 90 songs, it was one of the most exhausted remasters effort of its time. The Pumpkins have definitely set the bar as high as it can go as they've been revisiting their catalogue. The Pumpkins' underrated Adore, recently had the super deluxe treatment, which is such a massive release of material that will take months just to listen to it...let alone digest it. It's taken a good year to absorb all the goodness of Aeroplane, and I figure I'll be ready this time next year to do the same for Adore.
The most interesting remaster is yet to come...the often forgotten Machina I & II rock opera. I can't wait to see how they realize Billy's original vision. That will be worth waiting for. Until then...
Here are the 11 Best Bonus Tracks from Smashing Pumpkins' Aeroplane Deluxe Edition:
- Silverfuck (Live in Landover 1996)
- God (Live at the Double Door 1995)
- Love (Live at the Double Door 1995)
- Porcelina of the Vast Oceans (Live in Cleveland 1996)
- Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Live in Los Angeles 1996)
- 1979 (Acoustic)
- Star Song (DAT mix/Vocal Rough)
- Bodies (Live in Philadelphia 1996)
- A/Ab/E/B/F# (Gravity Demo)
- Marquis in Spades (8-Track Demo)
- The Groover (Gravity Demo)
It's December, which means it's time for the onslaught of best of lists. They've been pouring on hot and heavy over the past few days. I will get to my annual best of list this week...including my massive 111 best of list with help from all you pretty people. But I like to wait a couple weeks and scour other "best of" lists in case there's an album out there I've missed. You never know...the new Smashing Pumpkins and Charli XCX are supposedly pretty epic. Here's the last of my catch-up list
My first introduction to TV on The Radio was on a bachelor party trip about 10 years ago. Strangely, that marriage is over but TVOTR is still rocking stronger than ever. When I first heard the feedback-laden caterwaul that would become TVOTR's staple sound it made my skin crawl in the way a trailer for an exciting new movie can give you a rush. (think the Millenium Falcon racing onto the screen in the new Star wars trailer) Sadly, I was the only one on the trip who loved what we were listening to. After three songs from Desparate Youth, the guys in the car voted to remove the CD and move onto something more palpable like...Dave Matthews (yes, it was hell). All I wanted to do was get home so I could listen to the album...but I was stuck at the bachelor party enduring fancy dinners, drinking, and strip clubs. Even though Tom Petty may disagree, the waiting isn't always the hardest part.
Here are the 11 Best Songs By TV On The Radio:
Don't forget to check out our blog's awesome book The 111 Best Lists of the 2000s. Available now! (featuring TV On The Radio)
Twenty-five years down the road, the Pumpkins continue to kick ass.
This evening my kids attended a dance party at their elementary school. When you're dealing with kids from as little as five up to the age of eleven, you want to be sure the music is as PG-rated as possible. I was blown away by the DJs and their lack of discretion in the music. It's not the bad language that bothered me as much as the content. I'd rather my kids hear Eddie Vedder grumble a "harmless little fuck" than have them listen to "Blurred Lines." But the content wasn't a total back breaker as much as the lack of content was disappointing. Most of their selection was very narrow. A majority of the music fell purely in the rap sector and primarily focused on crunk. It's fine for a few songs but when 4 out of 5 songs is the same narrow genre, it feels lazy. The most variety was a Meghan Trainer or Taylor Swift song. They played one Michael Jackson song which was the highlight of the night. It made me realize how difficult (and it's shocking to say this) being a good DJ is. A great DJ can mix rap, pop, rock, and even country. A DJ who knows what their doing can mix Lil Wayne and Nirvana. A DJ is supposed to appeal to everyone in the crowd, even the back row. About half way through the dance, people started leaving. Part of it was bedtimes, the other part was a boredom in the music. That's the opposite of what a good DJ should do. So tonight, go out, dance, and if there's a good DJ playing, give them a big hug.
A couple weeks ago, I did a comprehensive break down of Wilco's b-side collection and what were the best tracks from the package. Like Wilco, Soundgarden has released a collection pulling all their b-side and rare tracks from their epic career. Also like Wilco, 90% of these tracks were all previously released and have been readily available on CD singles, soundtracks, and compilations. So here's a look at the best of the extra songs that Soundgarden has to offer that never made it to a proper album.
In making the perfect Thanksgiving holiday mix, I have realized one very important thing: there are no Thanksgiving songs. How is it possible in the most capitalistic country in the world that the mass marketing propaganda machine never exploited the Thanksgiving holiday (which is America's own unique holiday) with tunes to celebrate the day? There are more songs celebrating Festivus (which is a fictional holiday created by George Costanza) than there are songs about Thanksgiving. Today, that changes.
Websites have attempted to make Thanksgiving playlists in the past, but there are always glaring issues with them. Because of the lack of overt Thanksgiving songs, songs that potentially encompass the Thanksgiving theme are selected even though they have nothing to do with the mood or feeling of this day. Playlists tend to pick songs with Thanksgiving food in the title but songs like Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato" is not about the dinner staple but about a dance. Ray Charles' "Sweet Potato Pie" is about a girl not a dessert. Also, just because a song has "Thanks" or "thank you" in the title doesn't instantly make it Thanksgiving worthy. Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" or Dido's "Thank You" are nice gratious songs but only borderline set the right mood. Or even Drive-By Truckers "Thanksgiving Filter" is dead-on accurate but not appropriate for a family setting. Some songs have major religious themes but ultimately Thanksgiving isn't a religious holiday. Too many of them feel out of place. And lastly, some of the Thanksgiving-esque songs just plain suck.
So I have challenged myself to make the best Thanksgiving playlist ever. In making the list, I wanted to encompass what is truly at the core of the holiday. Having gratitude is a major component, but I believe more than anything, Thanksgiving is about family. Thanksgiving is about bringing together the family and celebrating our differences as much as our simularities. And being thankful for having them in our lives.
I have scoured the internet and my personal library to create a playlist that is as ecclectic as a Thanksgiving meal and as diverse as the dinner guests. Enjoy and have a happy Thanksgiving.
$5 concert tickets.
$10 CDs.
No t-shirts.
Fugazi was/is/will be an anti-band. They sold tickets because they needed to. They charged for CDs because they needed to. And since they didn't need t-shirts...they didn't sell them. They didn't sell hats, keychains, posters or even action figures! I know, right? To be honest, I never thought I'd do a Fugazi or a Pink Floyd list because of a new release. Over the past month, I get to do both. No, this is not a new album, but a reissue of the band's first demo. Close enough.
One of the original points of this blog was to do a retrospective of a band leading up to their most recent release. Only on a rare occassion would I include a new song, but mostly it was a guide to a band's material up until this point. The only time, I side-stepped that rule was when a band would release their own retrospective. Material on my list would naturally cross over with the tracklist of the release. This is especially true in the case of Wilco. Having heard 95% of these songs over the past two decades, there's nothing new to report except to chronicle the contents. The retrospective is the retrospective. A few songs didn't make it onto Wilco's 77-track rare songs LP but for the most part, this set is as exhaustive as they come.
The punk scene in England lasted for three years...tops. From 1977-1979 this pocket of chaotic, fuel-filled, dynamic, rebellious bands screamed their hearts out. While most bands or scenes go on way too long, not only did the punk scene disolve before it became stale, it did the most punk thing of all time...it ended before it peaked. It's almost poetic that many of these punk pioneers have reformed decades after their prime to further their music career. Had they stayed together, they could have conquered the world in the same fashion grunge would do 11 years down the road. They walked away from it all, from the fame, the pop stardom, and the riches. Not only did they do it with royal nose up at the establishment, they did it knowing they could have had it all. By returning later in life, missing their most lucrative years for music making, it's their way of saying they never needed the mainstream in the first place. It was never about making money, it was about making music the mainstream didn't want but needed. There's nothing more punk than that.
Dave Grohl is a fighter. He's not just a great drummer, singer, guitar player, director, or producer...he's an innovator. He challenges what is expected of himself, what his fans want from him, and what he's capable of doing. By creating the Foo's new album through an HBO documentary in multiple cities with a guest list that any band would beg to have, he's changed the landscape of who the Foo Fighters are. From an offshoot of Nirvana, the Foos have become their own entity. They are today's gold standard of rock bands. In taking on a new endeavor, recording in a new way, always runs the risk of failure. The Foos know this...but they put themselves out there anyway. They deserve respect for taking a chance.
This is why I am blown away by Taylor Hawkins recent comments about U2 adding their music to everyone's itunes library. He claimed it was Orwellian. It's not. And he obviously didn't read 1984 to know that he's misuing the word Orwellian. U2 didn't giving away their album for free on your itunes is no different than CBS broadcasting the Big Bang Theory on your television. You don't like it? Don't watch, don't listen.
The irony here is that it was the Foo Fighters' album, "In Your Honor," that automatically and illegally installed spyware onto your hard drive when you put the compact disc in your computer. I wonder if there's a word that would describe that type action, when a corporation secretly spies on its customers. It's a good book Taylor, you should read it.
I never thought I'd do a Pink Floyd list for a new release. Maybe there was a box set coming out yet again...or another remastered deluxe special expanded edition. Maybe. But new material...I had given up on that fantasy. Today...20 years since their last release, a new Pink Floyd album is here. I know, it's not technically a new release. It's leftover material from the Division Bell session, reworked into an instrumental tribute to late keyboardist Richard Wright. No, it's not Dark Side of the Moon...but then again...DSOTM is considered one of the greatest albums of all time in any genre. Expecting the band at 70-years-old to match a one in a million anomaly is foolish. Expecting the band to do justice to their later work is honorable. The album is just that, a touching end to a gallant career. The Endless River sounds like a film score, floating in at the end of a movie as the credits scroll across the screen. We expect bands to end their careers with the same bang in which they arrived. The problem with that is our expectations are flawed. The band will choose to end their career they way the want to end it and not the way the fans deem. The band is great not in spite of their flaws but because of them. The Endless River is who the band at this moment time and we should appreciate they are still around to enrich us one more time with their music.
Harris' debut album had more in common with James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem than the Electric Daisy Carnival behemoth he is today. Harris' ascension to the dance world titan has been a rocket launched at top speed with one guest spot by Rihanna. Harris' rise from underground EDM artist to the top of the pop charts is indicative of electronic music. Like alternative rock, that fostered in the club scenes for decades until it dominated the airwaves, EDM now has its time in the sun. But like all musical trends, it's only temporary. Alternative rock has continued to evolve since its heyday, what is going to be exciting to watch is how electronic music evolves in similar ways. Once it the eyes of the mainstream pop world turn to the next momentary trend, the most daring creativity will come. The best is yet to come.
Part two of the Zeppelin Remasters has arrived. Though the first set of releases (featuring I, II, II) were met with modest reviews, the unearthing of any new Zeppelin material is a monumental moment. A lot of people haven't been thrilled with the clinical polishing of the Zeppelin classics. It's too clean. It's too loud. A typical critique that all remasters suffer from. I am not a fan of remasters. Part of it is my personal attachment to the original arrangements. The other part is that there are subtle emotional moments that can only be found in the dead air...or as musicians call "the space between." I've learned to accept remasters as "alternate" versions and not ones that are replacing the originals. When listening with that attitude, I have less distaste for the re-workings. The real gem when remasters come out is not the new production of the old songs but the bonus material that comes alongside it. The early bonus tracks for the Zeppelin remasters have been sparse...in part for the lack of quality material sitting around in their vaults from that early period...but there have been a few gems. Rumor is, as we get later in the remasters, the truly amazing rare gems will surface 
For years, Ryan Adams was a faucet of music that your needed only to turn the knob and album after album would come pouring out. Between 2000-2011, Adams had 19+ releases in the form of albums, EPs and exclusive singles. Then for the last three years...nothing. Well, it's 2014 and Adams is back. In the past three months, Adams has four releases including a traditional Adams album, an 80s punk album, a country EP, and a Halloween inspired EP. If he's making up for lost time, then we should see at least three more releases by the end of the year...probably a Christmas-inspired release, a dubstep EP, and a duets covers remix album. It's funny because it's true.
Happy Halloween.
When it comes to weeks like this when there are a lot of good releases, I get torn between doing lists for the big artists like the Weezers and the Stevie Nicks...and the smaller lesser known artists like the Juan Macleans and the Caribous. The big artists draw the biggest audience...but the smaller artists add some diversity to the site. If you want to see Weezers best songs I've already done that multiple times. Just click on an old list and explore. If you want to know what Juan's best songs are, well...you can't. Until now.
We all have our favorites. We all have artists who we follow. We all have artists who we can listen to no matter the album, whether it's considered their best or their worst. For me that artist is Tom Petty. He has been one of my favorites for over 25 years. He also may be the only artist among my favorites I've never seen live. That changed this week. After going through a deeply frustrating personal set-back, one of my best friends came through out of the blue with a free ticket to his show in Anaheim. It could not have come at a better time, and it was exactly what I needed. Tom Petty...40 years a rock n roll star...put on one of the best rock shows I have ever seen. It was big, personal, and filled with every riff I ever wanted to hear out of Petty's mouth or Campbell's guitar. Today, I have gratitude that when we get knocked down that our friends are there to pick us up.
One of Petty's best rock friends is the one and only Stevie Nicks. Many people don't know that Nicks almost became a member of the Heartbreakers in the 80s. Nicks may have had a massive career in dysfunctional family of Fleetwood Mac but her solo outings were ripe with huge duets and guests that made her equally respected on her own. And with Mike Campbell sneaking into every one of her solo albums, it's safe to say that she might as well be a Heartbreaker.
You can't have a road trip without a soundtrack. I have taken plenty of day-long car rides with friends and by myself. A great soundtrack can make the difference between an adventure and torture. About a year ago, I headed up the coast to Ojai for the weekend. I brought over 100 different albums with me because you never know what mood you'll be in. Less than 15 minutes into the journey, we ran into horrible traffic. Living in LA, you get used to the parking lot-like freeways but when you go out of town, you hope that's one of the main things you can escape. The problem is every Angeleno leaves LA for the exact same reason, creating the very same perfect storm you're escaping. My friend who came with me kept a clear head as we eased down the freeway at a steady 3 mph. My friend suggested we change up the music. From the east coast hip-hop we were playing my friend pushed for music with a country vibe. We settled in on the Delta Spirit. It was the smartest choice we could have made. From the first howl of Matthew Vasquez's raspy voice on Empty House, the mood soften, and my outlook brightened. The insanely slow crawl became secondary to the atmosphere created by the music. The road trip once again became a place I wanted to be. My friend's suggestion was the right one because once we found the right music our journey became clear. Within minutes, traffic cleared up and we were on our way. That's the power of music.
I'm still in shock and I'm not sure I totally believe it...but the legendary, mythical punk rock band from the 00s, Death From Above 1979, has returned with a new album. This wasn't supposed to happen. It's been 10 years since their landmark debut in 2004. Like a bolt lightning when they appeared...they vanished just as suddenly without a trace. Sort of. DFA1979, the thundering duo of Sebastien Grainger and had gone their separate ways. There were rumors of infighting, creative differences, even Fleetwood Mac like jealousy of sorts. We knew as much as they wanted to tell us. The one thing that was certain...new music was not coming anytime soon. Us fans dealt with the shock of the news like a death. It was over and it was time to move on. Though the next album was a full decade away, the two songwriters of the band were still keeping busy making music. They formed new bands, bringing the undertones of that unique DFA1979 sound with them. This is a look at the decade between DFA1979's debut and their sophomore album, selecting the best tunes that came out of that era.
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate this artist known as Prince. There are very few artists who have been as prolific as Prince. This week, he just released his 33rd and 34th albums at the young age of 56. Surprisingly, the 2000s were the decade with the most Prince album releases, especially if you count two albums for the double release of Lotusflow3r and MPLsound. Even though the 90s were populated by more albums, it's the 80s that we are here to go crazy about. Let's go back to a time when people partied like the apocalypse, raspberrry was a color, and dance floors rained in purple.
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Being the third week of the NFL season, despite all the crazy parody in the games, all anyone can talk about is abuse. Players in the NFL are no longer just being suspended for games but they are being kicked out of the NFL...indefinitely. It's a bold move and draws a giant line in the sand. The NFL is shouting out loud that they will no longer tolerate players in their league behaving like uncultured cavemen. If you're going to play in this league, then you must have an image to uphold on and off the field. These players only hit each other when they are wearing huge pads and helmets, any of them who thinks it's okay to hit an unprotected woman is a coward and a disgrace.
But I have a problem with this. My problem is that this has gone on way too long. The NFL, NBA, MLB have all turned the other way. I'm writing this while watching the Pittsburg Steelers play on Sunday night football, led by Ben Roethlisberger. Why do his 