"Happy Hour Hero (Live) - Moe."

     Y'all folks ready for a Moe. Down? I bet you are. One thing I want to say now is, like with R.E.M., I am not quite sure how to end sentences since the band's name ends in a period. So, there will be some Moe's with a period and some without, I don't care what you have to say about it! I am sure I will figure it out as we go. But before we get into that, let's review the month of May. For me, May was a decent month. Though I had plenty of play, I feel like it was much more of a work month. Weekends shot by, adventures never came aside from the bigger one in Idaho, and overall I leave May with exhaustion, but it was still a good month overall. I am mostly past the "awkward, having my arms exposed" stage of getting used to not always wearing a jacket, so that is a plus. Summer will be a hot nightmare; I already know it. Stupid jobs without stupid A/C. Anyway! Hope yours was a good one, and maybe you're even looking forward to summer. For AintNoisePollution, we had a little slump in views this month, which is disheartening, but I am getting back to advertising, so there is still hope. May comprised of 1 folk choice, 1 indie, 2 reggae, 1 country (the lowest since starting, I believe), 3 punk, 7 metal, and, naturally, 16 rock choices. I mean, the website is called "AintNoisePollution", so it best have you rockin'. We only had one 10/10 choice with Pantera's iconic "Cowboys from Hell". If there was an "11/10" choice, then it would be there. Overall, a swingin' month that I am damn glad to have had you jamming along with me. So, let's end it right, shall we? Today we have a band that can rock you, lull you to bed, have you trippin' balls, and also get you feeling mighty good. They are pretty new to me. I only started listening to them in my 1990s studies, which ate up 2023-2025. Their 1992 debut was something else, but I accidentally listened to that one in the 1999 section since the rerelease is what ended up on my radar. My first full listen was their second studio album, Headseed, which is a little hidden groovy gem for those that like a little jam with their toast. Granted, I wasn't fully impressed with the band until one of their more popular albums, No Doy, which is the band's third album. That one is a respected album in the fanbase, but what really got me was the band's live performance. I had a little taste on their first live album, Loaf, which I had to find on some strange-ass website since the YouTube version sounded like it was being played while a lawnmower was running. Loaf isn't the band's best album by any means, but it was a good taster that Moe. was best shown in live form. That idea turned into fact once I recently unwrapped their second live album, L, which was a serious step up from their first live one. Shit, it was almost better than a good chunk of their studio material I had listened to up until that point. Moe. is a jam band, after all, a genre that relies on live shows as a platform for them to show their stuff. Hence why their debut on the website is a live one. That doesn't mean the studio material I have listened to so far was lame; 1996's No Doy is a classic from their discography, and the following studio album, Tin Cans & Car Tires, was as enjoyable as they come. 2001 was a prime year for the band. Moe. released Dither, one of the strongest albums I heard out of 2001 aside from the albums I already adored out of the year before my studies had me listening to them again. It holds one of their most popular songs, "In a Big Country", a cover of the overlooked Celtic rock powerhouses, Big Country. This shows the band could put out studio material that found a happy home in the modern rock world, even if it is still rooted in classic rock. Even though it is one of Moe's most respected tracks, it didn't show up on the live album that came out of the same year, Warts and All: Volume 1, in 2001. Here we are again to talk about their live material. That first volume is a long one, but is pretty damn enjoyable. You get to hear some of their grooviest tracks stretched almost double the time of the studio material. That is just the first volume, but the one that holds our song of the day is the second volume.

      Moe. has a large series of the Warts and All live albums. I am only on my second one, and I listened to it just yesterday from start to finish when "Happy Hour Hero" was added to the list of potential song of the day choices. I actually had three tracks get added to that list from that sucker. I loved the live version of "Kids" with its whopping 23 minute running time. "Kids" first found a home on this live album but was released in studio form on their 2003 studio album, Wormwood, which I went and sampled since I couldn't wait. The live one beats the hell out of the studio version, but that is probably due to the long-ass guitar solos that fill Warts and All: Volume 2.  I will say, I was excited to listen through this one since the last was enjoyable, but man, I didn't expect it to be that good! As someone who has attempted to listen through all the Grateful Dead live releases, of which there are a stupid amount, I love me a jam band live album. Warts and All: Volume Two was up there with the best of them. Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, Phish, Blues Traveler, Gov't Mule, and so many other quality groups put out phenomenal jam band live albums, and Moe. still put out one of the best I have ever heard. I ain't asking you to take the time to listen through the band's 16-track listing, almost three-hour-long, live album. But if you have time to kill and love yourself some fast as lightning smooth jamming, you can find few better than this album right here. I find it crazy more people aren't talking about Moe., but that is some of what jam bands are known for. No way you can be a commercial band when you have a hard time putting out tunes that run for 3 minutes. There were plenty of great moments on that album. It took me most of the day to listen through, some on the road, some doing my website, but I got it done and enjoyed every second. Our chosen song was the live version of "Happy Hour Hero" which first showed up on the band's fourth studio album, Tin Cans & Car Tires, in 1996. They had been playing "Happy Hour Hero" for years before even putting it out on a studio album. "Happy Hour Hero" is one of the best tracks on that album, holding the top spot with "Queen of the Rodeo", "Nebraska", and "Big World". "Happy Hour Hero" also was featured on the band's first version of Warts and All: Volume One, which was another enjoyable time. Even with the other two strong versions, my vote so far goes to our version we have with us today. I have many, and I mean many, live albums left from the band, so we shall see if it gets dethroned. While the singing is seldom on the live version, the studio version lets you hear the story of a barfly that goes from bar to bar, playing music nobody cares about for a solid hundred dollars per dive bar. All this happy hour hero needs is a pint of ale, a pack of smokes, maybe a shot of Jack from time to time, and a pretty lady to make it alright. The studio version is very much in the southern rock jamming way, something I appreciate, but it is quite a bit different from the live version we have with us today. This one is a lot more psychedelic, and that is some of what allows the song to play for 15 minutes without you reaching for that "next" button. It keeps you light and breezy. This is the kind of song you turn the AC off for while driving and roll your windows down just to take a little sunlight in. There are two electric guitars sending you to heaven on this song. Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier are some top-notch jammers that feed off each other like fish and those stinky little flakes they eat with their gross little fish mouths. If you are the type of music fan that gets antsy when there isn't a chorus every 30 seconds, then you might want to move along. It takes until the 4-minute mark until some vocals come join the party, but they are gone before you know it, and that guitar love affair takes back over. Jam bands ain't for everyone, but if you dig it, then you are my kind of person! Still, I get it. The songs are long, and some even feature 10-minute drumming solos that you just know those that were in attendance used to take a piss or go grab another beer. The album was recorded from start to finish at a show in Atlanta, Georgia, at a venue called the Tabernacle on February 23rd, 2002. The crowd is lively in this recording, which helps its atmosphere. There is only one moment I am not overly fond of from 7:20 to 10:20, which is the part they use a talk box for a little too long. Talk box stuff is cool, buuuuut unless you're Peter Frampton, we don't need 3 minutes of it. Might be just me, but those things have always rubbed me wrong unless used right. Anyway, a damn fun track that you can just let jam in the background of whatever you are doing. It is mellow, impressive, jammy, hard-hitting, and somewhat psychedelic all the way through. Day and night difference from the studio version, which I suggest as well. Thanks for sticking around this month, and I hope I can keep dishing out good stuff for you for months to come. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2002
Album: Warts and All: Volume 2 (2002)
Genre: Jam Rock
Mood: Mellow
​Perfect For: Driving slow and easy, Casual listening, Chores, Cooking, Working, Sittin' on the porch
Where To Next: "Darien Jam #3" - Phish (LivePhish, Vol. 3 9/14/00)
Rating: 8 / 10

"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" - Ian & Sylvia

     One thing Americans tend to forget is how impactful Canadians were in both folk and country music. For country music, Canada served as a forever partner and half of its backbone. Those Canucks always had a great musical dowsing rod when it came to folk-based country music, and they also supported some of the great and underrated American country musicians that, for some reason, couldn't get a career going in the states. Now, our post will be more relevant to folk music, but our spotlighted artist, Ian & Sylvia, found relative fame in both folk and country. Ian & Sylvia were a folk duo out of Canada that found much affection from the folk fans across the globe, but mostly in the United States where they moved to get their career going. The two came along during the folk revival in the 1960s, and in my opinion, the greatest days of folk music as a whole. Folk is a strange genre. As someone who studies music with a fever, folk progressed much differently than the majority of other main genres. Rock was such a powerhouse that it was bound to fall, crumble, split, get rebuilt crooked, and then fall again. Country got hit with the pop bug and never seemed to look back but still had an underground that kept the original vision intact. Hip hop followed a fluid progression like R&B, blues, and rock. Heavy metal is a story of its own that you would have to look into each subgenre to see the genre as a whole's progression. Reggae tended to keep the same but found different sounds upon many shores. Folk music was a genre for a long time before it even had a name. Also, it is one hard one to fully define since it is mostly made up of traditional ballads, songs from many shores, and mountain music. To many people, they consider the traditional more world music now than folk. If you go and listen to many of the modern folk artists, they sound nothing like the traditional folk sound, and in many ways they hardly sound anything like the folk revival sound brought forth by some of music's most wisened minds, like Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan. There are those that kept the roots, but overall, it seems like people throw all sorts of acoustic and indie artists under the folk banner these days, especially if their expressive nature is that of civil unrest or inward inspection. There was a lot of damage done to the pre-1960s traditional folk by the artists that gave it its rebirth and first commercial dominance, but too there was a ton of progression within the genre, making it more than 50 songs handed down by multiple generations. It was a time for history to show now that there was a voice to sing those lines and an assortment of stringed instruments to paint the pictures of wars fought long ago, the strife of the common man no matter the time period, and simple love songs that never go out of style. Folk expanded in time; even after its popularity waned within the same decade it had its biggest explosion. Folk rock was easily one of the strongest forces in the rock militia during the 1960s, and that stayed true almost until the end of the 1970s. The more pop-leaning folk artists of the 1980s also put out a ton of great stuff, and it is with them that I think folk took the biggest turn to eventually become what it is today. Punk had its fun with folk, which is to be expected since the two genres in plenty of ways are damn similar; just the approach to the 3-chord songs with insightful lyrics was quite different. Shit, even metal had its time with folk, but folk metal is more based in the traditional folk side than anything, especially when it comes to folk metal bands that come out of Europe. Anyway, the genre had its ups and downs, but like the blues and other early musical genres, it will never die. There are always those wanting a dose of music from the heart and soul of humanity. Ian & Sylvia came in during the mainstream folk revival. A time when Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Jean Ritchie, and plenty of other musicians laid the groundwork for the genre to one day soon become a force to be reckoned with. For their first album, Ian & Sylvia, the roots of that early folk revival sound were there with impact. As the duo moved along, their career hit a wall fairly quickly, and the two decided to try their hand at country rock with a folk backing and then straight-up country music for their final couple. For their debut on AintNoisePollution, we zone in on their cover of "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" off their second studio album, Four Strong Winds. 

     As is the rule of the time, today we have another cover of a Bob Dylan track. Bob Dylan is one of the only artists that I know whose covers of his songs often outshine the original. I guess that comes down to taste, so take it with a grain of salt. This time around, there really isn't beating the original from Bob Dylan. The version I am referring to comes from his 1971 compilation Greatest Hits Vol. II. That song is.... moving. I mean.... fully moving. It steals the air out of any room it plays in. Simplistic but damn beautiful. So, yeah, the Ian & Sylvia version is great, but there is no beating that original this go-around. Though, as you saw coming, there have been a boatload of covers of this song. It is only to be expected from a Bob Dylan song, especially one with such a raw and revealing nature. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" has been covered by Elvis, Rod Stewart, Judy Collins, The Kingston Trio, Sandy Denny, and oh so many other artists. For the most part, every single one I have heard has been great. Still, there is just no beating the original. If I had to give a second place, it would first go to Rod Stewart, and then the bronze trophy would end up in the hands of Ian & Sylvia. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is one of their finest recordings, as far as I am concerned, and it comes from arguably their greatest album. Their version is so mellow it could put a crying babe to sleep. The wonderful dancing between the two singers is something to take in. Ian & Sylvia actually put their version out before Bob Dylan even put his out. The version from Ian & Sylvia brings an honest tone to the lyrics, and with it being a male and female duo, that longing is strongly felt. A classic movie moment of them both staring at the same moon many miles apart, thinking of each other while singing the song mellowly to themselves. The track showed up on their second studio album, Four Strong Winds, which saw the duo breaking out. Well, breaking out as far as folk goes. It charted at #115 on the US charts, but it quickly spread through the folk world both in Toronto and Greenwich Village out of the Big Apple. The title track, "Four Strong Winds", became one of the most essential folk songs out of the 1960s, and it has been named as one of the greatest Canadian songs of all time. Even now, Ian & Sylvia get plenty of play with that original version of "Four Strong Winds". It sure is a pretty song. Even thinking about it gives me chills. When it comes to the duo, their version of "Early Morning Rain" cannot be beat; that song is genuinely perfect, and I cannot suggest it enough. If there was an atmosphere to a song to explain my daily emotion, it would be "Early Morning Rain". We aren't here to discuss either of those legendary tracks; they will have their time, I am sure, but let's zone back in on "Tomorrow Is a Long Time". Bob Dylan wrote the song during a lonesome spell while longing for his then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, who was residing in Italy at the time and wasn't sure if she would ever come back. Must have been tormenting without cellphones. Some of Bob Dylan's best tracks are revolving around her. There have been a ton of songs put out in the folk world that are lonesome, but I can think of few that are more lonesome than Bob Dylan's version of "Tomorrow Is a Long Time". The track itself was recorded live in 1962 but wasn't released until 1971. Dylan sings with a broken heart and a pen dipped in the inkwell that just ran dry with all the stores in the world being closed. Ian & Sylvia were the ones who first brought it to the folk world, something that caught on like fire, especially when Odetta put out her version from the 1965 album Odetta Sings Dylan. If you are going to check out her version, I also strongly suggest taking in her version of "Masters of War". That sucker has some serious tension. Man, there are so many great Bob Dylan songs, almost too many for one lifetime, and the covers that came off those songs take up a whole other lifetime. Well, so long as I live and breathe, I will keep jamming them and bringing them here for you to do the same at AintNoisePollution. Thanks for reading. See you next time! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1963
Album: Four Strong Winds (1963)
Genre: Folk
Mood: Lonesome
​Perfect For: Traveling, Lonely highways, Mellow walks, Casual listening, Waking up in the morn
Where To Next: "The Last Thing on My Mind" - Tom Paxton
Rating: 8 / 10

"Dying to Know" - Pennywise

     So far this month we have had many punk-laced tracks. Only two straightforward punk tracks from FEAR and the Offspring, but the majority of the other posts had something to do with punk rock in one way or another. For today, we add another to the straightforward punk collection with Pennywise's debut on AintNoisePollution. Pennywise came along with the resurgence of popularity in the punk rock genre. They created a ton of skate punk anthems and even helped the melodic hardcore punk scene that was thriving in the underground and would soon meet the light of day with minor popularity in the early 2000s. Melodic hardcore just about stole the show from straightforward hardcore punk bands, and modernly I see more quality melodic hardcore than standard hardcore. I guess it makes sense, a different world with a different idea of preferred intensity. I still hang my hat alongside Black Flag and Minor Threat, buuuut I cannot get my head out of the bands that I originally fell in love with. Anyway, Pennywise is a band to not take lightly. So far, they have released 12 studio albums, all of which are pretty damn good. Some of their albums are nothing to write home about, but they all have redeeming tracks, making it a great use of your time, especially if you like that punk sound. I started into the group from their debut self-titled album out of 1991, arguably one of their greatest releases, even if just because it holds one of their most essential songs, "Bro Hymn". Now, that is one iconic track, but I have always had a hard time with the song name. Punk in the 1990s had some of the best friendship songs, real positive and uplifting stuff, and "Bro Hymn" is up there with tracks like "Fall Back Down" by Rancid in 2003 and "Manthem" from the Bouncing Souls out of 1999. I mean, in the end, "Bro Hymn" stomps them all, and it has become one of their biggest songs with its rallying group vocals and lyrics that are strong. Truth be told, I always figured this song would be their first song on AintNoisePollution, even the live version from their 2000 live album, Live @ the Key Club, which is strangely one of my favorite albums I heard from the band. Anyway, let's introduce the band, shall we? Pennywise started up in 1988 but didn't get signed and release their first album for two/three years. Sometimes it is all about the right place and the right time, and Pennywise had both on their side. They hail from Hermosa Beach, California, a place known for its beaches, sunshine, and good vibes. It also had many notable people and bands start their claim to fame, including hardcore punk legends Black Flag. As I mentioned before, punk was about to take the genre to the masses once more after almost a full decade of being in the underground through the 1980s. So, the time was right for Pennywise, and they happened to come from shores that had plenty of sunbaked stars strike out of. The band's first two studio albums, Pennywise (1991) and Unknown Road (1993), both did strikingly well locally and gathered the band a strong fan following nationwide, but it wasn't until their third studio album, About Time (1995), that they hit the charts and became a champion in the skate punk scene. Since their debut, the band has put out another album every two years all the way until their kick-ass eighth studio album, The Fuse, out of 2005. Following that release, sometimes it was two years or four, but the band was sure to keep dishing out material. We haven't had another studio album since 2018's Never Gonna Die, which I listened to often when it first came out but haven't really stopped back in for a while. Pennywise has the same curse many bands have with me, I get stuck in core material too hard, but that is a difficult thing to break when their core material is as good as Pennywise's. Punk ages strangely with a band. Eventually it is strange to hear rebellion from dudes that not only are doing alright for themselves but are also older now. That might sound rude, but it is just the truth. The same rules don't apply for metal; for some reason you start viewing them as warlords more than soldiers, but punk bands just age weird to me.

     Pennywise blew up alongside other California punk bands but would never hit the same critical acclaim and fame as some of the others that were a lot more radio-friendly, like Green Day, Blink-182, and the Offspring. Still, they are just as impressive and important. Our focused song and album this go-around is "Dying to Know" off the band's second studio album, Unknown Road. Man, 1993 was such an explosive year for punk music, both in the mainstream with albums like Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy & Bad Religion's Recipe for Hate and in the underground with the iconic releases from bands like Propagandhi, The Muffs, The Queers, and many more. There was even a surge in new styles from Bikini Kill and their highly enjoyable Pussy Whipped, which became a riot grrl classic. We also cannot forget the old guard who were still putting out thrilling albums, like the Buzzcocks, Fugazi, and the Toy Dolls, even if the Toy Dolls just ain't for me no matter how hard I try. There were plenty of good albums out of that year, but I think even some of the best fall short in comparison to Pennywise's Unknown Road. Somehow the band managed to show off all the past glory of the genre while still keeping their core 1990s style intact. Others noticed this as well, and it got Pennywise a feverish fan following and even gathered the attention of other bands. The album still didn't chart, nor did any of the singles, "Homesick" & "Dying to Know", but their notoriety was building. Unknown Road earned the band a slot supporting the Offspring on tour, which only furthered their name. It isn't all too shocking that their next album was the one to break them into the mainstream. We can go over that in another Pennywise post, since it is just a matter of time until we talk about a track off About Time. For me, I think that Unknown Road has gotta be my favorite Pennywise album. It is still raw and punky before they cleaned it up a touch for their next albums. I love few songs from Pennywise more than "Dying to Know". The track is a solid one, fast as all hell during the chorus, but the verses keep a melodic, almost hard rock sound that makes it an easy landing place for anyone no matter their opinion on punk rock. While the song is depressive, there is a proud lacing of positivity, all packed together by liquid energy. Pennywise is known for their more positive lyrics, something fairly uncommon for punk during this time. The genre has always been a pissed-off one. Unknown Road marked the true rise to power within the band; it was a pretty strong step up from their debut in quality, and the band seemed to know which direction they wanted to head. They brought in some more melodic song structures that helped them with the critics but kept it snotty enough to keep the street kids satisfied. The vocal work from Jim Lindberg is strangely reminiscent of the Misfits, which makes sense since the band was included in the Misfits tribute album in 1997 called Violent World. They did a solid cover of "Astro Zombies". I love me a quality tribute album, and if you do too, I strongly suggest Violent World. There are covers from Pennywise, NOFX, Sick Of It All, Goldfinger, Prong, Therapy?, and so many other great groups. Anyway, Unknown Road is a damn good stop-off for 1990s punk. Tracks like "Dying to Know", "Unknown Road", "Vices", "Try to Conform", and "Homesick" are damn fine songs, and the others that comprise the 13-song track listing are just as good. My favorite has gotta go to "Dying to Know", but not by a massive margin. The chorus of "Dying to Know" is damn similar to another song, and I was vigorously trying to figure out which song I think it is last night. I am still not sure. My heart keeps endeavoring to bring me to Slightly Stoopid or Suicidal Tendencies. I will dedicate some time now and see if I can find it. Hope you dig the track! A good one for a gloomy day, ey? Seems the sun is coming out now, which is a shame. That is alright; no matter if it is rainy, sunny, day, or night, "Dying to Know" will do you right. Enjoy! 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1993
Album: Unknown Road (1993)
Genre: Skate Punk, Punk Rock
Mood: Encouraging
​Perfect For: Working, Casual listening, Skating, A crappy day
Where To Next: "Righteous Man" (1996 Version) - Slightly Stoopid 
Rating: 8 / 10

"Raise Hell" - Anthrax

     May is coming to a close already, which means we are one month closer to finishing another blur year. What I am not looking forward to in the slightest is how hot it is about to get, and even worse, having teenagers everywhere! Man, do I dislike teenagers. I am happy for them, so don't be calling me some grumpy old man, but chill the fuck out. You know what helps me chill out? Some calming music like Anthrax makes. Anthrax is an indie pop group that showed up when thrash indie was gaining power; they ultimately became icons in the indie world. All jokes. Anthrax is as metal as they come! They are one of the four bigguns in the thrash metal world. Truth be told, I am a little shocked with their being there. Historically, totally, but when it comes to material, there are others that seem more fitting. I am a big fan of the band, so I ain't even slightly putting them down, but they always stood out with their spot in the big four. In that, I am not alone; I have had this conversation with a good amount of people. Admittedly, many of those same people had some chip on their shoulder about the band, but I have also found a good majority of those people never took the time with Anthrax. They heard "Madhouse" and some of their influential rap metal songs and thought, "What a load of rubbish", which is damn unfair. Anthrax has a ton of power under that hood! Our track for today is a hidden gem from their discography and also serves as a historic track in the band's evolution. Before we get to that, let's talk about some Anthrax. As I mentioned before, they are part of the big four of thrash metal. The other three are Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Career-wise, Anthrax had their big ups and downs, but being the fan that I am, I tend to love it all. Even the stuff they put out with their third studio vocalist, John Bush. Something that people don't seem to agree with me on is my deep love for Anthrax with Neil Turbin on vocals. Yes, I know that Joey Belladonna is the king when it comes to Anthrax vocals, but man, do I love Neil Turbin and the vocal output he had on the band's debut, Fistful of Metal. As strange as it sounds, that album has gotta be tied for my favorite Anthrax album. It is full-frontal heavy metal in its purest and rawest form. Anyway, unlike the other 3 in the thrash big four, Anthrax didn't come out of the Bay Area thrash scene. They were the light in the dark for all the East Coast thrashers. Anthrax also had to work a little bit harder than those other bands. Not only because they were bringing their sound to a punk-heavy area, but also since their early style was still rooted in that early heavy metal sound. The band also went through people like they were water, which didn't change until the band released their fittingly named second studio album, Spreading the Disease, in 1985. During this stage, Anthrax got their longtime vocalist, Joey Belladonna. There is no denying that prime Anthrax has Belladonna on vocals. He bridges the gap between earlier vocal styles in heavy metal and what was currently going on in the thrash scene at the time. His vocal work and Scott Ian's heavy focus on headbang-worthy guitar work made Anthrax stand apart from the other groups doing the same thing in 1985. The first recording put out with Belladonna on vocals is the EP Armed and Dangerous, which released in February of 1985. This EP gets overlooked by casual fans, but anyone into the band simply cannot afford to miss it. Not because it is revolutionary, but because it serves as the transitionary point in Anthrax's style.

     Armed and Dangerous is the home of one of Anthrax's greatest songs by a long shot, "Armed and Dangerous". That one song is worth one million listens since it is so damn good. It was an essential track for the growing musical mind of your author and still serves as one of my all-time favorite metal songs out of the 1980s 16 years later. Thrash metal has this thing all the big boys did around this point. Songs that have a long start, something mellow but menacing that grows power as things speed up, and for Anthrax theirs is "Armed and Dangerous". I wish we could be talking about that track today since even thinking about it has me scratching at the skin to give it another play. Fuck it, I am going to play it real quick. Please hold. Alright, I am back and feeling better. Like doing a line in the bathroom. "Armed and Dangerous" would be included on their second studio album, Spreading the Disease, at the end of 1985. The two are practically identical, but the EP version has a longer fading in intro and special this rawness to it I like even more due to the production. That song's drop is intense! It also is one of the best songs to show off how Belladonna can belt! Metal royalty for sure. Anyway, we aren't here to talk about "Armed and Dangerous", we are here to talk about one also very well armed and viciously dangerous, "Raise Hell". This is the other track on this EP that is necessary for an Anthrax fan to know, love, and then abuse enough to know each and every part. "Raise Hell" always reminds me of being a feisty preteen. I'd play this song after school almost daily for a while there, naturally alongside "Armed and Dangerous". Our song of the day didn't find another home other than this EP until 1987's Japanese compilation, Fistful of Anthrax, once the band broke into the mainstream with their all-killer no-filler third studio album, Among the Living. So, you want those hidden gems? You gotta dig! That, or wait long enough on AintNoisePollution for these tracks to appear. "Raise Hell" is so washed in that early heavy metal sound it makes your hair grow out and a dungeon master's guide fall in your lap, but like in the cool way, ya know? "Raise Hell" shows Anthrax in a still amateur style, a sound I have always loved from them. Joey Belladonna's vocals are showcased here. If you play the song loud enough, your ears will bleed, your windows will blow out, and all the neighborhood cats will be PISSED. Even thinking of trying to sing along with this song makes my throat hurt. It is a shame that they never gave "Raise Hell" another go, but it was clear the band was heading in a different direction. The playing between guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Spitz is marvelous. Alongside the drums, you are hearing the building blocks of the iconic Anthrax sound, something that never really left the group, even with them soon to release their 12th studio album later this year. For now, we have a ton to love in their earlier material, even the oddity stuff like "Raise Hell". Did you hear that guitar solo behind the vocals starting at the 2:40 mark? Sweet baby Jesus! Or that almighty battle cry during the intro?! Lordy lordy. Not trying to fan girl over here, but this is the kind of metal that really started it all for me. It was here that I chose to dedicate my life! This style. The core sound of heavy metal, from which all is branching off in one way or another. It aged like garbage on a summer's day, but that is some of the appeal to me. I can see how modern metalheads have a hard time with it, but they are focusing too hard on production or comfort styles. Hear this song for what it is. Raw malicious heavy metal recorded cheaply yet effectively. This style cannot come back modernly, though there are bands trying. It is to taste, in that I am sure, so you might be scoffing while reading this, and that is alright. Fuck it, this is my website, and I do what I want! All walks of Anthrax will have a strong home here. For today, I give to you this hidden gem from the band with all my love. Aside from "Armed and Dangerous" and "Raise Hell" there isn't anything too crazy on here. Rerecordings under a "live" guise with "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Panic", and the oddity Sex Pistols cover of "God Save the Queen". Still an enjoyable EP all the way through, but there is no beating the first two. Enjoy! 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1985
EP: Armed and Dangerous (1985)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Mood: Dangerous
​Perfect For: Playing loud, Casual listening, Getting ready for a show
Where To Next: "Curse of the Legions of Death" - Testament
Rating: 8 / 10

"Knock Knock" - The Hives

     And just like that, I fell behind again. I am only human. We will be back and rockin' by the end of today! Besides, you might have been busy too or simply needed some time to catch up on the posts, so all's well that ends well. Let's get into it! As I am sure you saw at the top of the post, today we are talking about The Hives. Like the majority of us out there, I already knew about the band before I started my studies into them recently. Songs like "Hate to Say I Told You So", "Main Offender", and "Come On!" are pretty hard tracks to miss, and when you first hear them, they stick to you like glue! So, my relationship with the Hives was that of knowing and digging the hits, but strangely not going the extra step into their discography. For my studies, they first showed up on my radar with their 1997 debut, Barely Legal. I had been waiting for a good while to get into them, so I was glad to see that album be plopped at my ear door. Ear door? Ear hole.... Door? Ear port? Whatever. I was glad to have my chance to finally sink my teeth into the band. That debut was a little weak, I am not going to lie, and then I had to wait many months to eventually get to their essential second studio album, Veni Vidi Vicious. The Hives are the kind of band that shows up in both my rock and punk sections. Their second studio album shares a strange relationship with that "punk" tag that it often gets affiliated with. In many ways, the band is more reminiscent of proto-punk than of punk. That, and their style was hardly like any of the big names in punk rock during 2000 like Rancid, Green Day, and the post-hardcore band, At the Drive-In. The Hives are one of the most successful out of the 2000s garage rock revival scene, easily one of my favorite rock styles out of the 2000s so far. It is one that keeps the ideals of rock music, a thing that is seemingly growing more and more rare as my studies trudge along the 2000s. I am just about to be done with 2002, so I am still in the very early stage, but even then I have found few styles that complement rock music more than garage rock revival. I guess, duh, it is practically in the name. This was garage rock's second wind. What is garage rock? In a strange way, it is practically explained in the genre's name. Garage rock started up in the 1960s. It was an early example of punk rock and also has its roots in plenty of the metal subgenres. Garage rock dropped all learned playing for something raw and vigorous. Something you would hear out of some teen band while they cover songs like "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "I Put a Spell on You" at a much faster pace with a ton of distortion. It wasn't meant to be taken in with a glass of wine; it is meant to be enjoyed in literally any way you see fit. The second wind of rock music brought forth by surf rock and the British beat had a shitload of people wanting to start a band up for themselves, no matter their musical ability. The idea that you had to either be overly talented or be in the right place was thrown out the window. So, a lot of the groups came off as a little amateur, and very few made it into the spotlight long enough to get a fleshed-out music career. The style pretty well died out by the end of the 1960s, or rather, the term. Modernly, a lot of the 1960s garage rock groups got thrown in with the proto-punk genre. Back then musical expansion was underway, and before they knew it, punk was a thing, and so was heavily distorted music after it was popularized by artists like Jimi Hendrix and Cream. The term didn't pop back up until the final days of the 1990s, and it had a full revival at the start of the 2000s. Thanks to genres like indie, grunge, and post-punk, history repeated itself. People were reminded that you can just gather some buddies and start making music; no need to be the next Eddie Van Halen or Axl Rose, you can just be some dude who works at Lowe's in the day and a sex-crazed rockstar at night. Some of the bands that came out of the revival had more luck than those that came along in the 1960s. One of the most impressive and successful was the Hives.

     Their debut, Barely Legal, didn't gather much attention, but through dedication, the Hives broke out in stride. Garage rock had a strong home in the United States and the United Kingdom, but the Hives started their conquest from Sweden. The first time I read that, I was honestly shocked. Why? I am not sure. I just didn't expect it. Their debut was put out through the influential yet unsung label, Burning Heart Records. They also put out the band's next release, an EP called A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T in 1998, the same EP that helped the band get signed by Epitaph Records, a much bigger label to handle a band with a larger-than-life sound. They brought that sound to the rest of the world, and while it took a second, the rest of the world loved it! The thing that gave the world the Hives hives was their second studio album, Veni Vidi Vicious, which holds some of their most popular songs. Even with such an album of repute modernly, the Hives had a hard time finding a mass audience. There was plenty of praise and fan base sects, but not that overnight sensation thing we all desire. Veni Vidi Vicious charted weakly upon its release, hitting the 50th spot on the Swedish charts and 63rd in the United States. The band's most famous song, "Hate to Say I Told You So", didn't even chart at all. But who needs charts anyway? The Hives were still in their "punk" stage, so charting was in a way, a bad sign. Still, the band gathered a strong fan base, and by the time they released their third studio album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, in 2004, everyone went back and bought up all they could from the band and realized they missed out on something life-changing! One of the songs that helped Veni Vidi Vicious be the powerhouse it was is the track "Knock Knock", a personal favorite of mine off the album. Before we jump into that, can we talk about this album's running time for a second? 28 minutes. Yeah, isn't that kind of odd? The Hives were so dedicated to their revival of a genre that they even took the running time of older albums. The majority of the tracks off the album are pretty damn short, the longest being "Hate to Tell You I Told You So" which is only 3:22. I mean, each song is perfect the way that it is, so there's no need to prolong songs, especially since the Hives have some electricity! The kind of raw energy that could power more of a city block than 6000 gerbils on wheels. Anyway, "Knock Knock" shows off that all-consuming energy wonderfully. I mean, the song isn't all too different from the rest of the songs. Though, that is alright with me. It keeps the flow going perfectly, a flow that doesn't stop its raw energy from the first song to the last. "Knock Knock" is the second to last song on the album, track #11, before "Supply and Demand" comes in to finish up the album with a bang. I chose "Knock Knock" while commuting to work in the morning. Now, I want to make one thing damn clear: I am not the type of dude to drive recklessly. There are the random moments like anyone out there, but I pride myself on defensive driving, to a fault many would say. I will miss my exit and drive for 30 miles just to not cut someone off that is so far back they are barely even a blur in my mirrors. Though I was late, and this time I decided to get after that gas pedal a little bit. I am sure I was going only 5 over my usual MPH, buuuuut it felt like I was driving fuckin' Speed Racer's Mach 5. Let me tell you, it felt good while the Hives played. It felt like there was a friend in my car that would keep my dirty little speeding secret. To seal the deal, the song came to a close perfectly when I pulled into my parking spot. It was like one of those movie moments. Though there were some stellar songs that could have been for today's post, they had no chance against the Hives for that day. Anyway, I am not saying to go speed to this song, but if you were to speed, then throw on any of the songs from Veni Vidi Vicious and I promise you will have a good ass time. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2000
Album: Veni Vidi Vicious (2000)
Genre: Garage Rock Revival
Mood: Energetic
​Perfect For: Speeding, Casual listening, Working out, Hanging out with friends, Summer drives
Where To Next: "Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
Rating: 8 / 10

"Set Me Free" - Sweet

     You know, I was thinking that this month was missing that solid dose of rock n roll. Great choices in all, in that there is no doubt, but few that were straight for the throat hard rock. Well, fear not, dear citizen, today we have just that. Sweet is a band that are bonafide legends in the hard rock world, but the US never paid them much mind. A tremendous loss if you ask me, since Sweet has a ton of great albums and songs. They were one of my first "classic rock" groups that I got into back in the day. The first time I heard the zany "Ballroom Blitz" on Rock Band when I was a kid, I was hooked. I hadn't heard much else like it up until that point. It was a moment that showed me that music, especially rock, came in numerous different shades. It was still many years down the road before I started into my studies, but I won't forget my first taste of Sweet and their biggest hit song, "Ballroom Blitz". Sweet is more than just a straightforward hard rock band; they were one of the biggest names in all of glam rock. Glam rock is a genre that blew up in Europe but had a little bit of a harder time making it to the United States until it got punked up by bands like the New York Dolls. I mean, I guess we had Alice Cooper, but only his first maybe three albums were that of glam rock, and even then I hardly consider those glam rock. Some people still think that Alice Cooper's debut is Love It to Death. Alice Cooper often gets thrown in with glam rock due to his persona and dressing style, something more tied to shock rock than that of glam rock in the modern eye. Still, I can see where they are coming from, especially the Alice Cooper before he donned that iconic makeup. Glam rock was almost more style than it was music, but the bands that fell under the glam rock banner all still had similar styles due to intermingling and some getting hits from a set sound. Tracks like "All the Young Dudes" from Mott the Hoople, "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" from T. Rex, "Oh! You Pretty Things" from David Bowie, "Cum on Feel the Noize" by Slade, and the mighty "Block-Buster!" from Sweet are some of the best tracks to see some of the sides of 1970s glam rock. The genre even had a more intense version called "glitter rock", but that genre hardly ever picked up. The glam rock genre in itself was fairly short-lived, especially when the "glam" name got taken from them in the 1980s with glam metal. The two are different genres, but the similarities are there, though it was more the pop scene of the 1980s that grabbed onto glam rock. It only makes sense, the dressing style of Boy George, Adam Ant, Holly Johnson, and plenty of other pop stars of the time must have taken notes since their style would have melded wonderfully with the expressive nature of glam rock. Though, once again, there was more to the genre than simply the dressing style, even if that was making headlines, there was a genre that spurred up from it. A genre that relied almost more on past pop than it did on the rock that came before. There were the ones like Gary Glitter that had a much more tame style, the artistic expressionists like David Bowie, and then the raunchy hard rockers like Sweet and Slade. Glam rock is honestly more diverse than it lets on, but I will end that there. Sweet is the hardest glam rock band that I have come across, even if Slade gives them a solid run for their money. I have run through Sweet's 1971 to 1982 discography a criminal amount of times. Some of the albums have become quick go-tos if I want something sweet and heavy but don't want the extra degree of heaviness that metal has to offer. Desolation Boulevard has been a long-time favorite of mine. I think the only other Sweet post we have had so far was also from Desolation Boulevard. Their debut came in the form of "A.C.D.C.", a fuckin' killer track that I cannot suggest enough, and for today we have another that is a dead ringer.

     "Set Me Free" shows off why Sweet is often regarded as an early example of heavy metal. The track has been covered by plenty of metal artists, both the big names and the regular names. I would say my favorite versions are from Saxon and Heathen, but we cannot forget that Vince Neil gave it a go on his solo material, and even Stryper came back out of the blue to give that song a go in 2011. In the end, there is no beating the original from Sweet, but Saxon's version comes in as a hot second if you ask me. Anyway, "Set Me Free" is the 8th track on the United States track listing of Desolation Boulevard. The song found its first home on the 1974 Sweet album, Sweet Fanny Adams, but it was only released in the UK. Making its inclusion on the US version of Desolation Valley its first place for North America to easily hear it. The album originally was released in November 1974 in Europe, and they released the one for North America and Japan in May of the next year. The two albums have different track listings, with the US version being mostly made up of previously released songs, which is gonna make it a pain for vinyl collectors for me. I already own the US version, which I am proud to say, especially since that is the tracklisting I love most, but now the completion-obsessive me needs the Europe pressing. The other difference between the two, other than labels and track listings, is the album cover. The US version has a ton more billboards in the background, a different logo, and the image itself is washed in a striking yellow for some reason. Adding more billboards was very American. I live in one of the most beautiful states in America, but you notice loads of shitty billboards here before you notice our beautiful mountains. Ahhhh, America. There really isn't a day that goes by where you aren't having advertisements shoved in your face. You would have to stay inside, turn your phone off, and bury your head in a pillow. How did we get here as a nation?! Anyway, Desolation Boulevard is the band's best studio album so far as I am concerned. They have plenty of classics, but the others don't feature the same degree of diversity and mean right hooks. "Set Me Free" is one of many great tracks off this album. It is the kind of song that has you accidentally pressing that gas pedal a little too hard. A mean intro gives way to fast-paced, funky guitar work before the whole band jumps in with fury. A very heavy metal rhythm before the genre abused the living fuck out of it 5 years later. You would hear tracks like "Set Me Free" and think these guys will be leather-clad and lookin' mean, but then you look up the band and see they are some long-haired dudes with stupid grins and tight as hell body suits showing off some chest hair (or the lack thereof). Not only that, there is some face paint and some poofy-looking soft hair. Metal never quite lost what Sweet gave to them, both in style and stage attire. How you look doesn't really matter; what matters is how well you can play. In "Set Me Free" the band shows off they can play. Their musical synergy is intoxicating. Where the guitar lets off, the bass comes in strong, and too, the drum takes over when the bass tires out. Vocalist Brian Connolly approaches the microphone with strength. He doesn't try his hand at operatics or anything, but he comes in real mean and hard with a rocker's mouth of iron, and as the chorus approaches, the band all jumps in to shout out "Set me free". Sweet has some stellar harmonies, which is one of the things that helped Sweet set themselves apart from the other glam rock and hard rock bands out there during this time. Still, even with being set apart, Desolation Boulevard only found itself peaking at the 25th spot on the US chart and eventually achieved gold status here. That is alright, since Sweet had a big-time hit with the album in most of Europe and Canada. It is wild to me that we slept on Sweet since it was, in theory, right down our alley. Well, better late than never. No matter where you are reading this from, you are gonna dig this song! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1974
Chosen Album: Desolation Boulevard (US Release) (1975)
Genre: Hard Rock
Mood: Aggressive
​Perfect For: Playing loud, Getting drunk, Pissed off days, Casual listening
Where To Next: "Personality Crisis" - New York Dolls
Rating: 9 / 10

"Cowboys from Hell" - Pantera

     Here we come, reach for your gun, and you better listen well, my friend. Today.... Is allllll about Pantera! If you have made your way to the website and still don't know "Cowboys from Hell", then shame on you! All jokes, but truth be told, I doubt you don't know this track. This here is one legendary and definitive heavy metal song. Pantera has had many of them, but in my opinion, none express the soul of heavy metal quite like "Cowboys from Hell". The track has it all! Kick-ass lyrics, an addictive intro that forces you to lose your shit, guitar solos, heavy as sin, intense vocal work that can please anyone no matter their deepness into heavy metal, bass lines that make sweet, fiery love with the drums the whole way through, an iconic guitar tone, and pretty much anything else you can think of. The track is full frontal, all gas, and isn't one to ask for permission to blast through your speakers. Strangely, this is only the second Pantera song to show up on AintNoisePollution. I should be ashamed, I know, but here we are. First we had the hidden gem, "Slaughtered", from the band's seventh studio album, Far Beyond Driven. For today, we chose one of their most famous songs and one of heavy metal's most respected, "Cowboys from Hell". Before we get further into the track, let's talk some Pantera. As some probably already know, Pantera started up as a glam outfit. Yeah, you heard right. This is something it seems the band was eager to try burying following the breakout success of their fifth album, Cowboys from Hell, in 1990. I am one that doesn't hate those first couple. Are they nearly as impactful and fuckin' heavy as their later material? Certainly not. Though it is still fun to listen to and also to see Dimebag Darrell in glammed-out outfits during the "Glamterra" stage. Don't even get me started on his brother and drummer, Vinnie Paul. That dude looks like he crawled out of a low budget 1980s skin flick. Those first four albums of theirs are hardly even Pantera, aside from maybe 1988's Power Metal, which is the first Pantera album to feature Phil Anselmo on those vocals. Yes, his outfit is just as rough. I'm takin' fingerless gloves and big ol' hair. Metal saw the rise of one of the most potent and far-reaching genres in the world once they got their shit together and put out Cowboys from Hell. That genre is groove metal, a genre that I consider more of an umbrella genre than anything else. Too many names that can differ pretty hard from each other all under the same banner? Not really a genre, but certainly one of the best ways to explain a set of heavy metal acts. Bands that come in fuckin' hot and fuckin' heavy with groove-laden heavy metal music. There really isn't anyone who did it better than Pantera, and trust me, there are a ton of bands that tried, but Pantera is just one of those bands you can't really beat. While Cowboys from Hell is their fifth album, we might as well treat it like their first and join the Pantera party and forget those early ones ever existed. I cannot put into words how phenomenal Cowboys from Hell is. Genuinely a perfect heavy metal album and one of the most important heavy metal albums to ever be released, especially from the thrash metal genre. Pantera's place in the thrash world has always caused a minor ruckus. They are certainly heavily influenced by the thrash metal bands that came before, but their style of it is quite a bit different than what came before. It is almost a track-by-track basis, and that thrash metal tie gets strained more with each release following Cowboys from Hell. Truth be told, there might as well be a genre called "Pantera metal" since they are almost a beast of their own, all with bands that followed their lead. Pantera is all-consuming. I am sure you remember your first time hearing them, and I certainly cannot forget mine. Being an up-and-coming metalhead as a kid, I figured the next best step after I studied the music was to study into the varying subgenre cultures. This led to the almighty moshing, a cornerstone of the metal army's payload for shows. I was watching video after video of varying bands and genres and their best performances. I forget the video I saw of Pantera or what year it was from, but their mosh pit looked like a black hole of debauchery. When it comes to mosh pits, I know Slayer, Slipknot, Lamb of God, and countless other groups can have some crazy ones start up, and Pantera is up there with them. This was my first true taste of the band. Sure, I knew "Cowboys from Hell", "Walk", "I'm Broken", and "This Love" like everyone else, but still hadn't taken the time to listen through the rest of their stuff. After seeing that video, I just had to know why people were acting that way, and I also needed to hear the studio versions of the songs from that performance. I have been a head-over-heels fan ever since.

    If this is your first time with the song, which once again, I couldn't see how it would be, then I am envious! Fuckin' Pantera, man. We will give you a history lesson another time, but for now we will be jumping into the album that holds our song of the day. "Cowboys from Hell", as you guessed it, is off the band's breakout album, Cowboys from Hell, which was released in 1990. I'd like to say that this album shook the whole world upon release, but truth be told, it took the album a while to gain the notoriety that it has today. It released in 1990 but wasn't fully discovered or showed up on any charts until two years later in 1992. People were still ranting about it from day one, but it took the masses a second to catch on. Cowboys from Hell saw Pantera dropping their previous style and looks for something a shitload more mean. Some of that was due to what the band was hearing at the time, namely The Years of Decay from the thrash lords Overkill. After struggling to get signed with a big label, and then after getting signed having issues finding a suitable producer, the band got in touch with Terry Date, who was the man behind the board for The Years of Decay among other heavy metal classics. Date would stick by Pantera for all their following studio releases aside from their final one, Reinventing the Steel. Not only is Terry Date tied to Pantera, but he has also had his hands in some of the most impressive heavy metal albums of all time. He has worked with Metal Church, Overkill, Prong, Deftones, Mother Love Bone, Dream Theater, KoRn, Slayer, Limp Bizkit, and so many others. A truly unsung star in the metal and rock background. Anyway, now that they got signed to Atco Records after blowing them away during a live show and now a dream producer, things were heating up for the band's next album. There was still some stuff that needed to be ironed out: what songs to include, an album title, and the album cover. The album cover is iconic, if not a bit silly. It features the band being wild in a historic photo of an old-time saloon circa 1910. All seemed to be fitting together well. Our song of the day, "Cowboys from Hell", is one for the history books. It was Pantera's first single and was a quick selection for what song should start off the album. Truth be told, I don't know of many better intro tracks on any other metal album. "Cowboys from Hell" has you subconsciously turning up the speakers as soon as you hear it. I ain't talkin' just a tick or two; I am talking a full 360 degrees on that volume knob, future hearing be damned. That strange looping sound came right out of the mind of guitarist Dimebag Darrell. It was something he heard awhile back and would often play it over and over again, both forward and backward, to practice playing. Now, that weird looping is fine and dandy, but things heat up quickly at the 0:13 second mark when one of the most iconic guitar intros in heavy metal music comes at you hard. While Pantera had a steady fanbase locally with their first four albums, but they must have blown those suckers minds when they heard this new Pantera. Fuckin' heavy! Each time the song takes off, my nipples get hard, even though I have abused this song for well over 14 years now. Something this heavy is rarely still equally commercially friendly. "Cowboys from Hell" is undoubtedly one of the best places to get into heavy metal. The rest of the album follows suit, even if some of the tracks, like "Primal Concrete Sledge" & "The Sleep", are a little more out there. I would say the two best moments on the album are the first track we have here today and one of my all-time favorite metal songs, "The Art of Shredding", that finishes up the album wonderfully. The album's full almost hour-long running time is flawless. It is easy to see how this is a definitive album of 1990s heavy metal. Absolutely an album you have to listen to once in your life, even if it is just so you can hear "Cowboys from Hell" again. Well, no need for me to tell you all of this. How about you give the song another listen? Also, if you have the time, just succumb to the good things in life and play the fuckin' album already! It! Is! Outstanding! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1990
Album: Cowboys from Hell (1990)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Groove Metal
Mood: Mean
​Perfect For: Playing loud as hell, Pissing off the neighbors, Riding a motorcycle, Getting piss drunk
Where To Next: "Refuse / Resist" - Sepultura
Rating: 10 / 10

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" - The Flaming Lips

     This should be a fun song title to type out over and over again. Welcome! Today we are here to talk about the psychedelic rock icons, The Flaming Lips. Now, when people tend to hear "psychedelic rock" their minds tend to turn towards Pink Floyd and the like, and while the Flaming Lips have their Floyd-esque moments, they are a breed of their own. Honestly, they did more for modern psychedelia than almost anyone out there, and they did that with a fresh take on the genre. I have always considered them more to be experimental rock than psychedelic, but when you sit down and take in one of their albums, you can easily see why they are legends in the genre. Expansive sounds. Also, unlike some of the other psychedelic bands that made one hell of a name for themselves, The Flaming Lips rarely give off that stressful feeling. Unsettling feeling, oh certainly, but not usually stressful. Not to bring up Pink Floyd again, but tracks like "Time", "Run Like Hell", "Astronomy Domine", and countless others have this stressful feeling around them. That feeling is something that I love, but my little lady hates. It evokes fear in comparison to artists like The Doors, who have chill tracks, or the guitar-forward smash that you hear with artists like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. The Flaming Lips more often have a sense of  carefree silliness to them. Easy to digest, easy to fall in love with. When it comes to important rock albums of the 2000s, I would say that their tenth studio album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, is an absolute essential. Did you catch that? This is the band's 10th studio album, and while it took a while, this was the band's first true breakthrough studio album. There were teasers before they broke out with the album. In 1993 they hit the top of the Heatseekers charts with their album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, but it failed to break out over the 100 mark on the mainstream charts. Their next album, Clouds Taste Metallic, hit the 16th spot on the Heatseekers chart but didn't chart aside from that. Another blunder, even if the album itself is still a pleasant ride. Their next brush with stardom was in 1999 when their gem of an album, The Soft Bulletin, popped up strong on the Heatseekers chart once more. Still, nothing was sticking, even though the albums were wholly unique and thrilling. Finally, they had their long deserved mainstream success with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in 2002. Truth be told, I just think the world wasn't ready for a band like The Flaming Lips. With a style like theirs, they had to have known they were going to be champions of the underground but would likely not see mainstream success. The day came, but it took 10 studio albums to find that fame. In 2002 there were hardly any albums like that one, but the style and sound fit in wonderfully with the quirky, expressive, and unique albums coming out from indie artists and folk artists of the time. You can see how it was the right time for The Flaming Lips to come around with their take on psychedelia and art. The Flaming Lips started their quest in 1983 but didn't get their first studio album out until 1986 with the underrated Hear It Is. That debut and the album that holds our song of the day are day and night. The Flaming Lips came out with something strange for its time. It is one that isn't affiliated with their core sound, but I personally have loved that debut since I first heard it 7 or so years back. Tracks like "Jesus Shootin' Heroin", "With You", and "Unplugged" almost eat up more of my time with The Flaming Lips than their main stuff. Their second album is plain peculiar, but it is a fun ride that also has plenty of hidden gems. In that one they took on a more psychedelic route, something that hardly left from that moment on. Once they got that style down pat on their fifth studio album, Hit to Death in the Future Head, in 1992, it was easy to see that this group seriously needed the love that an underground community couldn't give. The chance came to them in 1993 on the aforementioned Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. That album is an essential, and a lot of that comes from the band's first big hit, "She Don't Use Jelly". That damn song is one of their best, even if it is silly. The kind of track that is addictive as hell. The first listen might rub you wrong, but before you know it, your fingers are typing out "She Don't Use Jelly" on Spotify. Their material only got better from then on. I will admit, I have only made it up to their 11th studio album, At War with the Mystics. It was actually their first album I ever listened to. I was drawn into it by the song "It Overtakes Me" and that phenomenal album cover. Since then, I have been a fan, but now I am waiting for my studies to bring me to the rest of their albums, and it has been years since I sat down to take in At War with the Mystics, and I am long overdue to listen to that gem again.

     Speaking of my studies, I was lucky enough to have Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots be one of the albums for that day to pick apart. It felt like coming home. I was driving down a county to visit with a friend and grab some drinks, though, as is a problem with me, I forgot to eat. All I had that day was coffee and a croissant, and that was hours ago. So, I hit the road and was having a difficult time keeping my cool. I mean, I ain't scared of driving, but driving is kind of scary. When I first hit the road, I was finishing off Enuff Z'Nuff's hidden gem, Welcome to Blue Island, and while that is a fun one, I needed something comforting. I was damn pleased when I heard that familiar intro to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the fan favorite "Fight Test". I could almost feel the weight of hunger-driven anxiety fade away, and by the time I got to the third track, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1", I was having a damn good time. Feeling good about the simple nature of life. Feeling lucky to even have the ability to drive my truck 45 minutes out to meet a good friend who has been in my life since I was a kid. The power of music amazes me. I rode that high for a good couple of minutes, taking in the sun and not paying attention to that dangerous rattle my truck gets on the freeway. Though all good things must come to a close, and that was brought about by the band's most famous song, "Do You Realize??". Is that song supposed to be depressing as fuck? Probably not. I mean, it is one of those tracks that have you thinking of the simple truths. Though, sometimes it is better to not pay attention to these simple facts. "Do You Realize??" has always felt like the ending hour of an acid trip. The time when you reflect on all you learned, and since sleep simply won't come, all you can do is lie there and think until you start hearing birds chirping outside your window and people going to work. All you learned, all you felt, and all you were for the trip meant nothing. Life outside goes on all around you. That is precisely what "Do You Realize??" is, a simple reminder of the constant ticking clock. A hug from ancestors from centuries ago. People who loved, lived, fought, cried, and died just like you will. "Instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast, it's hard to make the good things last, you realize the sun doesn't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round". Anyway, we aren't here to talk about that godsend of a track, even if that thing about had me tearing up. Today it is all about "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1", a whimsical track that is bristling with positivity. It shows off how Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is equally odd and pleasant. The story seems to come right out of a cute children's short film. I always got the feeling that Yoshimi was dreaming all that was going on in the story. The song is so damn playful and floaty that I cannot help but to get that notion. Yoshimi was actually based on a real person, well sort of. The band was inspired to write the song after seeing Yoshimi P-We perform with the fellow noise band, the Boredoms. I hardly know the group, but from what I have heard and what the band has said, it sure does sound like she is fighting against robots when she sings. When I say "fellow noise band", I am reaching back to some of the Flaming Lips early songs, but they don't get nearly as fuckin' wild as the Boredoms, well from what I have heard at least. Anyway, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" is one of those tracks that I often play twice in a row when I hear it since it is so strange and uplifting. It doesn't sound much like anything else in my musical catalog at this point. It moves into the second part of the song directly after the bliss comes to a close on part one. That second part is less enjoyable if you ask me, but I do love its cybernetic feeling, which makes me wonder if Yoshimi lost or if this is the fighting part of the song. She trained, and now she must lay the smack down! It is still a fun track, but it changes up the vibe damn fast. During the song, you hear some strange (and I mean strange) screaming, which actually came from the aforementioned Yoshimi P-We, so now you can know what I mean about her sounding like a dying robot creature. Anyway, the two parts are wonderful together, but for today, I suggest you take on the first part in its lonesome, unless you already know the track and want to know what happens next in the story. Well, that is all from me. I was supposed to shower but this post took surprisingly long. Gonna be a long night. Hope you dig the track! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2002
Album: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Genre: Indie, Psychedelic Rock
Mood: Whimsical
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Daydreaming, Going to bed, Calming down
Where To Next: "So You'll Aim Toward the Sky" - Grandaddy
Rating: 7 / 10

"Wrecking Crew" - Overkill

     While this isn't the first time we have had an Overkill track on the website, it is one of the best to explain who the band is. Following the release of "Wrecking Crew" off their second album, Taking Over, it introduced a theme throughout a lot of their album titles, merch, and lyrical themes. Even their website is called wreckingcrew.com. They are the wrecking crew; get wrecked! While I wish this was their debut on the website since it would be one hell of an intro, their first was the headbanging heaven "Long Time Dyin'" off their criminally underrated ninth studio album, From the Underground and Below. Don't get me wrong, that track is killer, but "Wrecking Crew" serves as a sort of biographical song for Overkill. It is the type of song that is dipped in heavy metal mythos, the love of the genre so far to die for it. Unlike some, this one doesn't rely on swords, sorcery, or swagger; it relies on raw aggression. It is like the warning sign to not enter somewhere or you might meet your maker. Overkill came along during the prime years of thrash metal. While they aren't part of the big 4 of the genre, they are just as grand. Truth be told, they almost have more great material than bands like Megadeth and Anthrax. I am not talking down on those two, since I adore the living fuck out of them, but Overkill has been around a long time and has released consistent great material. Admittedly, they don't change up their style all too much within the same decade, but why fix what doesn't need fixin'? Overkill is aggression incarnate. Their form of thrash metal is no-holds-barred. Not quite as intense as Exodus or Slayer, but more for the throat than bands like Testament, Metallica, Anthrax, Death Angel, and the other legends from the genre. Those other bands seem to be in it for the bloodshed of the battle, while Overkill gives this roguish feeling, like they stalk in the shadows and stab in the back and catch your coin purse before you even hit the ground. The band started up in 1980 but didn't get properly signed until 1985, when they were signed by the metal mastermind label, Megaforce Records. Before they were singed, they played vigorously and were respected as gods of the underground thrash metal scene. They didn't come along with the others in the Bay Area thrash metal scene; these rat bastards were dishing out the razor's edge on the streets of the East Coast, mostly New Jersey and New York. They were one of the biggest names from the East Coast thrash metal scene. Though, that wasn't always the case. Overkill originally started up as a punk rock band, being formed out of the corpse of the unfortunately named band, the Lubricunts. They played around with ideas for what they should name their second band; some wanted Virgin Killer, and some wanted Overkill. The latter is the one they luckily settled with. Overkill, as you might have guessed, was named after Motörhead's second studio album. That album is a titan for early heavy metal and left some serious notes in the heavy metal handbook for generations to come. Throughout most of the early 1980s, Overkill would mainly cover punk songs, but slowly they started bringing in some of the early legends of heavy metal into their setlist. They did it with breakneck speed and hardcore punk fundamentals, something that thrash metal was known for, so it was easy enough for Overkill to join the ranks in the up-and-coming rise to power of the thrash metal genre. The same genre that brought true metal to the masses. So, like many from the East Coast thrash scene, they started with punk, moved into entry-level metal, and naturally started writing their own songs melding those two styles together. With them writing their own songs, and damn good ones at that, they started getting steady gigs at heavy metal clubs, which gained them some strong notoriety in the metal community. It was only a matter of time until they got the scratch together for a demo tape, which came in the form of the diabolical Power in Black. That demo tape got religiously traded in the underground metal scene, and it wasn't long until the record labels came knocking. First it was the small-time labels, which allowed them the funds and means to release their debut self-titled EP in 1985, an EP that sold like dollar shots. This thrust Overkill into the front line of the thrash metal army, and within the same year they were signed by a bigger label and released their debut album, Feel the Fire.

     You wanna talk about a hidden gem from the thrash metal world? There are no better places to stop into than Overkill's debut album. Man, oh, man, do I love this fuckin' album! I have so many fond memories of playing this as loud as I possibly could when I was a preteen and teenager. Shit, I still have my moments now. As soon as I hear the intro to "Raise the Dead", "Hammerhead", "Feel the Fire", and my favorite from the album, "Overkill", you know I am turning that volume up. Someone could currently be sobbing while telling me some harrowing story, and I would still coolly reach around them to turn the music up when one of those songs starts up. Feel the Fire is an early thrash metal masterpiece. It encompasses everything wicked about the early thrash world before critical acclaim and limelight came knocking once Metallica broke down the wall with help from the rest of the Bay Area thrash scene. Overkill was now the kings of eastern American metal. With this in mind, it opened up the door for them to tour the country alongside other metal and punk bands that were currently in their starting stage as well. Overkill didn't lose sight of their previous punk days; they even included a cover of the Dead Boy's essential "Sonic Reducer" as the final track on Feel the Fire. While the album didn't chart, it got their name all over the place, and they went from the medium-sized Megaforce Records to the big-time label, Atlantic Records. This allowed them to have the resources to get their next album to come out in force, and thus they needed a name to match their metal march upon the world. Their second album released in 1987, a mean motherfucker by the name of Taking Over. This is one just as grand as their debut, but you can feel the shift in their style from underground gremlins to a goblin warband. Taking Over is heavily dipped in the metal sound of the time. We have the shrill vocals from Bobby Ellsworth that could make paint peel, the guitar-forward thrash sound brought forth by Bobby Gustafson, a cheesy yet kick-ass album cover, and lyrical content to thrust the power and glory of heavy metal into the hearts of metalheads worldwide. Though, what I love about this album is how Overkill shows they are more than intense metalheads hellbent on getting you to bang your head. They show that there is a strong spot for composition in their material, and there is even a sequel track on this sucker called "Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)", which continues the story of a maniacal murderer who is commanded by the devil to kill, kill, kill, kill, kiiiilllllllll. I will admit that the second part isn't nearly as.... nefarious as the first part, but it is still cool for them to make a multipart story. There have been 5 parts so far, and even with all of them being grand, there is just no beating that first one as far as I am concerned. Anyway, Overkill got more and more intricate with their sound as their material moved forward, and then randomly went backwards and returned to form before changing up their style a touch to fit into the metal sound of the 21st century. Our song of the day, "Wrecking Crew", comes off Taking Over. Each song off the band's second studio album is outstanding, but there is not much room for doubt that "Wrecking Crew" is one of the greatest moments on its 9-song track listing. As I have mentioned already, "Wrecking Crew" went on to be a calling card for the band. It has shown up in practically every setlist since. It was the band's way of warning you about the danger you are about to take on when starting up one of their albums or attending their shows. They missed the chance of having it be the intro track for the album, but "Deny the Cross" works well too. "Wrecking Crew" is true to the form of thrash metal. Thrashing, smashing, bashing drums and guitar get your blood pumping. All you need now is a commanding voice to get the metal maniacs going. The lyrics of the song use symbolism of a construction wrecking crew at the start. Saying the band is the best to come into town, they set some shit up and knock it all back down again, leaving destruction in their wake. The lyrics grow even more intense as the song moves along; that symbolism drops for a straightforward approach to coercing you to get wild to their music. They went from being the wrecking crew to all of us being the wrecking crew; the only price for admittance is blood! Once you are through smashing those around you, the band then smashes you and leaves town to do it in the next place. Kick-ass metal mythology. Man, do I love songs that are for the spirit of the genre. All genres have their rallying calls, but none do it nearly as well as heavy metal. Though, few genres have their fanbase beating each other up for a good time. Humans are weird. The song is a solid 4:32 long, and not even for a second does the band cool down to let you breathe. Full aggression. With tracks like "Wrecking Crew", "Deny the Cross", "Powersurge", "Electro-Violence", and so many other goodies, Overkill got their first charting album with Taking Over. Things only got better for the band, both in style and critical acclaim, until heavy metal went through its massive expansion nearing the start of the 1990s, and Overkill couldn't keep up. They barely scraped through the 1990s metal world with melding industrial and other genres to their style, but when the early 2000s came, it seemed the metal well ran dry. I still love albums like Killbox 13, Bloodletting, and Immortalis, but you can tell that they weren't as passionate as their earlier albums. They got it going again starting with 2010's Ironbound, and it has been quality thrash metal since. Alright, this has been one big post, and I appreciate you for taking the time to read through it. Let Overkill into your ears; just get ready to wreck your neck! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1987
Album: Taking Over (1987)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Mood: Dangerous
​Perfect For: Praising the metal gods, Moshing, Driving fast, Getting energy at work, Going to a show
Where To Next: "Metal Command" - Exodus
Rating: 8 / 10

"California Sun" - The Rivieras

     Welcome back! A couple of days back we discussed the Dave Clark Five, and a couple more days before that we covered The Strangeloves and their similar hit "I Want Candy". This month is stacking up the 1960s pop rock anthems! Now at least those other two had some other hit songs, especially the Dave Clark Five, which had a fairly strong yet undercelebrated career. The band we have with us today only had one big one, but the one they had was strong as all get-out. The Rivieras were not the first to record the 1960s classic "California Sun", but they were the first to have big time fame with it. There have been a ton of different hits made from "California Sun", but it is arguably best performed by The Rivieras, even if I personally have a soft spot for the version from the Ramones. Before we get into the song, let's talk about who the Rivieras even are. To start, the band is a bunch of teenagers. There have been plenty of impressive teen or kid groups through music history, but the 1960s had some of the best. The Rivieras, The Box Tops, The Jackson 5, and the youngest of them, Dino, Desi & Billy. I still think that their debut, I'm a Fool, is one cool album cover, even if it is simplistic. Dino (Dean Paul Martin) makes that bass guitar look massive. Also, fun fact, Dino is the son of Rat Pack member and icon of the entertainment industry, Dean Martin. Alright, back to it. The Rivieras started up while the band was attending South Bend Central High School. A bunch of Indiana boys who tried their hand at some rockin'. They took their name from the mighty fine Buick Riviera, the same car you see them posing around on the album cover below. They were mostly just messing around, but to their surprise, they had one hell of a charting song in 1963. The Rivieras mostly ended as soon as they started since the majority of the band joined the Marine Corps following the recording of "California Sun", the others were forced to quit the band due to their parents wanting them to focus on their schooling. Remember kids: don't let your parents stop you from rockin'. It is a tale as old as time. Anyway, the Rivieras released two studio albums in their time, their main claim to fame in 1964, Let's Have a Party, and their follow-up album, Campus Party, which was released in 1965. Strange name for that second one, but did you know there was a little genre that popped up in the 1960s called "frat rock"? It was pretty much a harder-driving yet silly take on the garage rock genre. Garage rock is a cornerstone rock genre, and the 1960s were the prime years for it; think "Wild Thing" by The Troggs. The Rivieras were one of the main bands fronting that "frat" sound, and they failed to make much impact like the others did, and modernly we just throw frat rock in with garage rock. So, yeah, the band put out only a little bit of stuff before everyone went their own way. Many got drafted and joined those that already signed up a couple of years back. Ahhhh, war. Blowing out the light on some of America's brightest candles. We the people fight for our existence.

     Going to be a shorter post this go-around. There isn't much to say about the band, and also this clam chowder I ate is sitting funny. TMI? Anyway, "California Sun" is a prime example of the graveyard of one-hit wonder groups that came out of the 1960s, especially in the first half when the rock genre was going through a strange time. Plus, in the early 1960s, LPs still weren't a super popular form of media; people loved their hit singles and their radio. So, all you really needed was a hit song to become big news before the next band came along and knocked you out of your spot. In 1963/1964, the Rivieras were fighting against a goliath in the rock world, the Beatles. The Beatles had their sensational "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at the top of the charts. You know the one. That same one that had teenagers literally shaking like Quakers on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964. That is one historic moment in rock history, and I suggest you all go watch it. So strange to see how these silly lookin' dudes from the UK were making people melt down and act a fool. Seeing John Lennon get pissed at them is sort of funny too. I could hardly perform is there was shrill screaming the whole time too. Times sure have changed. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that there was no way that "California Sun" was going to knock that sucker off the charts. Still, it managed to peak at the #5 spot on the US charts, which is no chump change. The single was actually released twice back-to-back. First, "California Sun" served as the B-side to their debut song, "Played On", but after radio stations were saying that "California Sun" was getting a ton more plays, they rereleased it with the song on the A-side with "H.B. Goose Step" on the back side. Both "H.B. Goose Step" and "California Sun" showed up on the band's debut album, Let's Have a Party. I have honestly only listened to that album once, and that was during my studies into the 1960s rock world. A good album, nothing to rush to your local record store for, but decent overall. I bet it would be one of the albums that they have under the shelves that hold the heavy hitters. Something a true crate digger would find. It is made up of mostly covers in their "frat rock" sound. Mostly, it is covers that have a fast-paced surf rock sound to them, like we hear on "California Sun". I have listened to the tracks "Little Donna" and the Elvis cover "Let's Have a Party" more often than "California Sun", but there is no denying that "California Sun" is the gem off the album. It is regarded as the last true American rock and roll hit before the British came back to get those taxes for tea. The British Beatlemania really changed up everything in the music world. No more pretty boys singing pretty songs; it was time for rock music to be the genre of the masses. To give a voice to all the rockin' teens, hard workin' adults jamming it on the radio, and even the old folks that need to kick back. "California Sun" has a ton of great versions. Once again, I like the Ramones version the most, though versions from The Dictators, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Crickets, and many other big names still dish out some stellar versions. We also cannot forget the original from Joe Jones in 1960. It isn't shocking that punk picked the song up with a fever; there are still versions being put out even now by punk bands. The Linda Lindas put out a pretty fun version just a couple of months ago. Things with this much energy served as a perfect launching point for the genre; some might even consider this a prime example of proto punk out of the early 1960s. "California Sun" has pretty simplistic lyrics, mostly about feeling that California sun beating on your shoulders while you see all the pretty gals dancing to all the hottest dance trends across the country. Funnily enough, I doubt that the Rivieras even ever saw California before recording the song. The Beach Boys have their California songs, and they too have that surf rock style, just not the more rambunctious version of it like we hear on our song of the day. So, it was just one of those things you did, and when you are from South Bend, Indiana, I am sure it is only expected to be dreaming about all the pretty girls on that western beach. Well, that is all you are getting out of me. Spin the track. It is one of those phenomenal one-hit wonder tracks that still gets people groovin' today. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1963
Album: Let's Have a Party (1964)
Genre: Garage Rock, Surf Rock
Mood: Fun
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Day dreaming, Dancing, Going for a smooth drive
Where To Next: "California Girls" - The Beach Boys
Rating: 7 / 10

"Name" - Goo Goo Dolls

     Well, if that last post didn't make you sad, maybe this one will. The Goo Goo Dolls don't have the same sort of tale, and it isn't their story that is sad. It is this damn song. Yes, I know the song is overplayed, but for a song so overplayed, I honestly think it is underappreciated at its core. This song, no matter when it is played, always makes me so damn sad. It feels like getting on a bus to leave your loved ones behind. A bus that you don't know where it is taking you, and at this point you aren't even sure you care. "Name" has had teenage girls crying in mall parking lots, bikers shedding a tear in secret, and everyone in the year 1995 feeling those feels. Truth be told, I am not even sure if the Goo Goo Dolls meant to make such a sad song. To further that, I am not even sure if it is a sad song for everyone else. Maybe it is a me thing. Once the intro to the song kicks on, I am hooked. It has one of those downbeaten intros that get you ready to kick rocks and reminisce about the past. Lyrically the track has some solid lines, borderline angsty whoppers like "And scars are souvenirs you never lose", cryptic ones like what consumes the main chorus, and a realism that has me feeling hollow on some of the lines, none more than the second chorus that starts with "You grew up too fast, now there's nothing to believe, then reruns all become our history, a tired song keeps playing on a tired radio". The thing the lyrics keep coming back to is the theme of not telling anyone his presumably love interest's name. Vocalist John Rzeznik was inspired to write the words to "Name" about his relationship with former MTV video jockey Lisa Montgomery (known as Kennedy). She was trying to get her own career going, and the public eye knew her as Kennedy. The idea of what a name is gets put into question. Our name is one of the most important pieces of who we are. It is our identity, and during their relationship it was pretty important that Rzeznik didn't spill the beans on Kennedy's real name. Some sort of dirty little secret that would have Rzeznik gaining nothing if he told. He loved the woman, not the name. It might sound silly, but I can see the importance of it. Nothing shows trust better than keeping such a secret, even if it is a name. To go by a different name is to keep people at arm's length, to hide behind a veil. There are many different reasons you might go by a different name, but for someone who is in the public eye, it is to create the illusion of a different person from that of what people know in their personal life. So, to be dating someone like that and getting to know the true them, not just the one they front while talking about the newest Lush song, is a personal thing. Kennedy got most of her starting fame from being the host of the MTV show Alternative Nation from 1992 to 1997. You can still go find recordings of the show on YouTube. Much love to the people who archived all the TV shows of yesteryear since the majority of them never got put onto home format. Like That Metal Show! Man, did I fuckin' love that show! Anyway, I won't lie, I am not someone easily annoyed, buuuuut from the stuff I have watched from Alternative Nation throughout the years, Kennedy sort of annoys me. Though, I will admit, that is some of the fun of that particular show. It ain't no 120 Minutes, that is for sure. Anyway, we aren't here to talk about MTV TV shows, even if the Goo Goo Dolls did guest host an episode of 120 Minutes in March of 1995. I will say, if you want to study music but tire of reading through thrift store biographies and often bland rock history books, classic MTV does have plenty of shows that will help you along, and on some of them you might even discover some hidden gems. I have always been upset that I didn't get to experience prime MTV; instead, I got shows like Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant. Well, here we are with the depressed theme again! Time to listen to "Name", yeah?

     "Name" was the Goo Goo Dolls first big-time hit. It achieved platinum status in Canada and New Zealand and achieved double platinum in the United States. It had people being like, "Have you heard this new band?" without realizing that the Goo Goo Dolls had been around long before their breakout success with "Name" and the album it came along with, A Boy Named Goo, in 1995. The Goo Goo Dolls released their first album in 1987 with an entirely different sound. This band that is well respected in the pop and alternative rock world started out as a hardcore punk band. The two styles are day and night, and so is the quality of songs. I won't lie, that debut of theirs isn't the best, but being a fan of the band, I like stopping by to listen to their debut and the second album, Jed, every now and then since it is a trip to hear. Superstar Car Wash (1993) is the true start of the Goo Goo Dolls as we know them now, but don't count out their early material completely. It is a joy to see their sound changing album by album. It starts out with a hardcore punk style, moves into a more traditional punk sound, then there are some random pop punk songs, then just pop, and now some alternative rock, power pop, and finally, they find their strong sound in almost grunge-like alternative rock like we hear on "Name", "Naked", "Only One", and "A Long Way Down" alongside the other great tracks that make up their breakout album, A Boy Named Goo. Following that album, the band got more into the pop side of the rock spectrum. By 2013's Magnetic, the band had lost practically all their rock credentials and were dishing out pop music left and right. Granted, not the pop music that was popular in 2013, but more so a melding sound that still appeals to the young'uns and their One Direction mumbo jumbo and the old guard that still wasn't over NSYNC. I still like some of their later tracks, but I tend to find myself stuck in the eternal cycle of playing their material from 1993 to 2006. Anyway! The Goo Goo Dolls are alternative rock royalty, and people need to stop downplaying their talent and impact in the rock community. Alright, time to reach all the way back to the start of the second half of the post. "Name" is one of the Goo Goo Dolls' most beloved songs. Like I already mentioned, it was their first big-time hit—shit, their first overall since their previous two singles bombed. It made them stars quickly. So, how come now? The Goo Goo Dolls was putting out good albums before 1995. A lot of that comes from the unique guitar tone you hear on the intro of the song. John Rzeznik was just messing around with different tunings to his guitar when he came across the tone he was looking for. Don't ask me about the tuning, since I don't play guitar, but that doesn't matter since even deaf people would have their interest piqued by how good that tone and intro are. Something earthy. Something genuine. Something melancholically beautiful. Once it grabs you, then comes the rest of the band, and there you are with 4 and a half minutes of solid moving music. This was the first of many tracks of the Goo Goo Dolls to be nominated for the Billboard Music Awards. It was an all-commanding track out of 1995, carving out a solid place on MTV and radio time; it sat in royalty alongside "Wonderwall" from Oasis, "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, and "Gangsta's Paradise" from Coolio. One hell of a year for music overall, and "Name" is one of the best from the year, hands down. Some of what made it such a classic is its timeless nature. Unlike some of the other top songs from that year, "Name" feels like it could have come out yesterday as much as it came out in 1995. I mean, there is still certainly that 90s feeling there, but not like some of them. The genuine nature of the track is what keeps it so relevant even today. One of those songs that feel like they came out of the collective unconscious thought of us all. Though, who am I to make so many claims? What do you think? I know you already know the song, but how about you give it another listen and allow it all to sink in? Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1995
Album: A Boy Named Goo (1995)
Genre: Alternative Rock
Mood: Natural
​Perfect For: Late night train rides, People watching, Casual listening, Depressed days
Where To Next: "Time" - Hootie & The Blowfish
Rating: 9 / 10

"Just Like a Woman" - Rick Nelson

     Welcome! Today we have one of rock n roll's earliest teenage icons, Ricky Nelson. For the song we have today and the album it comes from, it is part of Ricky Nelson's material under the name Rick Nelson. Nelson dropped the "Ricky" for Rick back in 1961, on his 21st birthday, due to him not being able to shake the teenage icon image that was keeping him shackled to one style and the lifestyle that surrounded being a heartthrob. While we all daydream of legions of chicks screaming our name, I have always felt bad for the musicians who were immensely talented but were marketed in a certain way. Ricky released his first album under that name on his sixth studio album, Rick Is 21. It was his way of a rebirth, to distance himself from the little kid star he was on the movie turned TV show Here Come the Nelsons, which turned into the TV show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Another thing that must have been hard growing up alongside. That show and movie covered the real-life Nelson family, and it was the longest-running live-action sitcom until it was beaten out by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show had a whopping 435 episodes and ran for 14 years. That is one shadow that is damn near impossible to get out of. Do you feel bad for the Marvel stars that are forever tied to their massively successful roles? Well, try having an iconic role and then doing a music career after that. To make things worse for Ricky, he was immensely talented. His vocal work is iconic, just sweet singing that always puts the heart at ease. Though there is no way of knowing if Ricky would have had a shot at getting that music career if it wasn't for his family's hit show. In 1957 Ricky Nelson performed the Fats Domino song "I'm Walkin'" on the episode "Ricky the Drummer" which ultimately got him signed to Decca Records, even if it was a moderate cash grab for the show and the record company alike. His real passion and talent were realized, but he always felt like he had a chain around his neck that got yanked back when he wanted to pull a certain way. I have always caught that feeling of sadness in Nelson's vocal work, and that is some of the reason I listen to him so often, even more than some of the other 1950s and early 1960s rock and pop musicians. Like calls to like. Anyway, the childhood TV star turned teenage music idol turned into an adult that was hung out to dry. Ricky Nelson covered his frustration with being this poster boy of pretty pop stars of the time on his seventh studio album in 1962 on the track "Teenage Idol". If you want to feel some of that melancholy and vocal talent, check that track out, but it is a sad one. Ricky Nelson battled with his past persona throughout his whole career, touching on the topic often, and even having his comeback based around the topic on the highly depressing "Garden Party" in 1972. Now, "Garden Party" talks about him getting invited to play at a garden party surrounded by fellow stars and friends, but they hardly even recognized this old icon. All they could see was this blue-eyed kid that used to sing love songs; they didn't want to hear this more wizened musician. The chorus is one I have carried with me forever: "And it's all right now, learned my lesson well, you see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself". You can tell the lyrics to "Garden Party" were highly personal, especially on the lines "If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lot of luck, but if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck". The song was based on a real-life event when Nelson was invited to play on television in 1970, but when he played his newer hits, he was met with no cheers, and after taking a small break, he was convinced to play some of his old hits, which had the crowd going nuts. After the performance he quietly slipped out the back. As someone who has listened and relistened to the majority of Ricky Nelson's albums for the last 8 years, you can feel this strange hopelessness that breaks my damn heart. Even with the fame. The money. The notoriety. It seems Ricky never grew up, always being a burned-out version of his past self which followed him like a darkened cloud. Even as I type this out, I feel guilty referring to him as Ricky, but that is his legacy. In 1980 Ricky Nelson achieved one of his lifetime goals of meeting rockabilly titan Carl Perkins, but his joy was short-lived since even Perkins referred to him as Ricky, like the teenage idol that was long gone. Now, you cannot blame Perkins for doing that; in a way, that is the person he was seeing, but it broke Nelson's heart. He never really escaped his past self, something I combat as well, though I was never a teenage star. Hauntingly, Ricky Nelson couldn't even escape it in death. It is a cliché to die in an airplane wreck as a music star in the 1950s, and though Nelson didn't die in the 1950s, he met his fate in an airplane malfunction that had him and 6 other passengers getting trapped in a smoke-filled plane fire. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 45. Sad stuff.

     Ricky Nelson's high in his music career started in 1957 with his hit debut album, Ricky, and the plentiful singles that came off it and the compilation, Teen Time. He kept strong on the charts until 1963, during a time when he was trying to distance himself from his past persona. Then, like the majority of rock and pop musicians of the time, they got run over by the next big craze, the Beatles and the rest of the British beat. Pretty much overnight his high-charting LPs stopped charting altogether. The teens moved on, the adults got on with their lives, and Ricky Nelson was left behind in the dust. This time period always reminds me of some of the rural Utah towns I have visited. During their heyday they were thriving, populated, and even showed up on maps due to them being directly hooked up to the rail line, but as soon as the highway was put up and went around them, the town within years became bones. Ricky Nelson had his fabulous house in one of those towns, and the musical highway went right around it with the new sound. His first album to not even chart was The Very Thought of You in 1964. That album featured Ricky Nelson's last hit single for five years, called "The Very Thought of You", which is a track I adore and used to play often when starting to see my girlfriend Alesha many years ago. Shit, Ricky Nelson was one of my most played artists around that time, and I strongly associate her with Ricky Nelson. If we ever part, it will be difficult to play some of his albums. Ricky Nelson sings of genuine love, both the cutesy and the realism of the difficult nature of keeping a healthy relationship going. Anyway, Ricky Nelson wasn't charting, so he wasn't inclined to keep trying to dish out the sound that made him famous. Instead, he switched his style to country music, something that complimented his voice wonderfully, and he previously showed that off on tracks like "Restless Kid" and "My Rifle, My Pony and Me". This didn't get him charting, but those that came across those albums were highly influenced. Ricky Nelson became one of the musicians that helped usher in the underrated country rock genre. It wasn't until the genre grew more popular, and with some minor hits like the cover of "I Shall Be Released" and the Bob Dylan tracks like our song of the day today and "She Belongs to Me" Ricky Nelson started getting his name out there again. When he released "Garden Party" in 1972, his name was circulating all over the world. That single hit the top ten in many countries, and the album of the same name charted strongly, not as strong as his early work, but still impressively high for a comeback album. Our song of the day comes off the album that released before that one, Rudy the Fifth, which hit the shelves in 1971. When it comes to Ricky Nelson's country rock studio material, I stand firm that this is his best album of that style. A hidden gem from his discography that people overlooked then and still overlook now. Country rock is a stellar genre; it takes all the best elements of rock, country, and folk music and mixes it all together to give you one seriously moving dish. Rudy the Fifth is mostly made up of original material, but Ricky Nelson covers a few tracks on the album, all of which he does great. Tracks like the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman" and Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman", among others. Now, I know it might be bold, but I honestly think the Ricky Nelson version of "Just Like a Woman" is even better than Bob Dylan's. Sure, spit at me for saying such a thing, but he really knocks it out of the park. A lot of that comes from his backing band, the Stone Canyon Band, who makes the song have so much damn soul. That intro gives me chills and mellows my mind. Ricky Nelson comes in at the 35-second mark. Even this far into his career, this dude can belt with raw human emotion. Bob Dylan is a strange lyricist, one of the best in the game undoubtedly, but some of his tracks are a tad bit confusing. This is one of those, and the legions of Bob Dylan historians out there still can't make up their minds about the song's actual meaning. A song that is seemingly about the character "Baby" uses this mystery woman as a catalyst of feminine vulnerability. It is a personal track from Bob Dylan, one he isn't scared to show his emotions to the world. In the Bob Dylan version, I always get this strange feeling of malice, or maybe jealousy?  There is speculation it was written about Bob Dylan's relationship with folk artist Joan Baez, but there is no proof to the claim. Bob Dylan has always been massively cryptic and elusive.  One thing is a fact: it is a song drowning in vulnerability. That is a good chunk of the song's appeal, no matter who covers it. Ricky Nelson sings the song beautifully, something that helps it set itself apart from the original in my eyes. I have no qualms with how Bob Dylan sings, but I will usually take vocalists like Nelson over the nasally and fun vocal work of Dylan. It is no shocker that Nelson covered Bob Dylan; if you were a musician during the 1960s, there is a 94% chance you covered a Bob Dylan track. Ricky Nelson being a big deal in the country rock world only makes it more likely since Bob Dylan and The Band, too, were icons in it. Ricky Nelson has one depressing story, but when you hear him perform, it helps both you and him unwind from those woes. We will cover more of his tale as the website keeps truckin' along. So, I will stop talking and just let you hear the tune. A hidden gem from such an iconic early rock icon. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1971
Album: Rudy the Fifth (1971)
Genre: Country Rock
Mood: Honest
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Sad solo drives, Warm weather
Where To Next: "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" - The Byrds
Rating: 8 / 10

"Join the Army" - Suicidal Tendencies

      Time to get cyco! We have one of my all-time favorite bands here with us today. Suicidal Tendencies are icons in the crossover thrash world, a genre they had the biggest hand in creating. For those that are new to the website or the studies into the deep history of heavy metal and its various forms, crossover thrash is the mixing of hardcore punk and thrash metal. In many ways, the two genres are damn similar, especially during the early days of thrash metal. Every single icon from the early days of thrash metal got a ton of influence from hardcore punk bands. It is still strange to me that the two genres used to beef the way that they did. Well, funnily enough, "Join the Army" is a track that unifies the two genres, and it also brings in things of race, walks, and styles all under one banner, the suicidal army. "Join the Army" comes off the band's second studio album, Join the Army, which was released in 1987. This one is a classic from the crossover thrash genre. It is the last album that ST kept that hardcore punk in the forefront. The band's third studio album, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today, went full into the thrash metal genre, but it still had some of the band's punk roots, though much less. That punk style wouldn't return to Suicidal Tendencies in force until 1999's Freedumb. I have always been massively conflicted about which sound I prefer from the band, but why not love both equally? Both the more hardcore punk songs and the straightforward thrash metal ones are damn enjoyable. Suicidal Tendencies has a truly unique sound, something that those who try imitating it never get quite right. ST really is a triumph story. The band started up in 1980 in Venice, California. Originally, they were one of the many to come out of the hardcore punk scene that hit California like a truck in the early 1980s. Frontman Mike Muir intended for Suicidal Tendencies to be nothing more than a party band while he attended college. Though, before he knew it, the band was making waves locally, and it soon enough became his main focus. The style was rough and raunchy, and the concerts tended to get fairly violent. It was around this stage that people started to think the band was gang affiliated. To make matters worse, a publicity photo that is included in the inner slip to their debut features drummer Amery Smith wearing a hat with the brim turned up and strutting "V13" which is affiliated with the Venice 13. Now, the band wasn't involved with any gangs, but Amery Smith had a buddy who was, and he borrowed the hat for the photo shoot. Stolen valor? The natural allure to the reckless youth about a life of crime? Gang affiliated? Or simply a borrowed hat that put the band in a certain spotlight? Whatever it might be, it didn't make them look good to the common folk, but it did bolster their appearance to the rebellious youth. Suicidal Tendencies went through a lot of strife due to their misconceived notion of being affiliated with street gangs. I mean, they had it coming. Their attire is influenced heavily by the culture, even having all the band members repping blue bandanas and imagery that is dabbling too close to the rabble. In our song of the day, "Join the Army", the gang topic is brought up plenty of times. Even when I was growing up, my dad would tell me stories about how you had to be careful wearing Suicidal Tendencies merch back in the day so you didn't get jumped. In retrospect, he was probably talking out of his ass, but I did like the allure. Overall, the Suicidal Tendencies aesthetic is kick ass, but I can see how it gave people the wrong idea. Especially with their sound being as it is. Mike Muir doesn't quite rap, but you can see how it lured in rap fans. The punk style of their early material isn't so damn punky that the metalheads were swayed away. The metal sound, too, never quite lost that punk edge, which kept the punks forever happy. Suicidal Tendencies had one of the first hardcore punk songs to get heavy repeat on MTV, showing that they could rock with the masses but still have a hearty home for the true fans of the band.

     Suicidal Tendencies put out their debut in 1983, and while it is respected today as an absolute classic of the punk genre, it didn't sell all too hot upon release. The world might not have been ready for their style, or the album simply followed suit with the majority of the punk releases of the time and never had much of a stage to stand on with casual music listeners. That debut is one you simply cannot miss. I would say the same is to be said about their second studio album, Join the Army. One of my favorite albums out of 1987, which is saying something since that is one hell of a year for both punk and metal music. Even with the local and underground success of the band's debut album, they pretty much immediately jumped into a four-year studio hiatus. During that time, Mike Muir and bassist Louiche Mayorga did their own thing by starting up the band's record label, Suicidal Records, and the Suicidal Tendencies offshoot band, Los Cycos. Suicidal Tendencies was still touring and keeping a public image, and after some lineup changes and finding a new label, the band got back to recording some music for their next studio album. Even after 4 years, the fans were waiting for that next album. Join the Army was Suicidal Tendencies first album to make it into the charts, barely making it over the 100 mark on the Billboard charts at #100. It was actually their highest-charting album (not by a large margin) all the way until 1992, when The Art of Rebellion made it to the 52nd spot on that chart. In quality, there is no doubting that a good majority of other ST albums are better than that one, even if I fuckin' dig that album, but that is the way it goes for some bands. Suicidal Tendencies are legends of the punk and metal world, but that tends to either come with crazy fame, like Metallica, or underground fever. There are those that view Join the Album to be nothing more than a half assed transitional period between the band's two sounds, but that is one of the dumbest things I have seen or heard. Join the Army is one of the band's strongest albums; there isn't really a bad track on that sucker. The only thing lacking on the album is that fuckin' album cover. I have always hated that album cover. The album rubbed some fans wrong with the way that Mike Muir changed up his vocals. It hardly felt as youthful and pissed as their debut, but I think it was a move in the right direction. The vocals weren't the only thing showing the band was moving towards a more heavy metal sound. The guitar work is a lot more hard-driving, the song compositions show a little more tact, and the drumming is a ton more intense and heavy metal leaning. I guess switching up a lineup will do that to your sound. It was practically a new band, but they never lost a sense of who they were as a band, something that has forever stayed no matter who comes into the band or what they are taking on, be it their more ballad-esque songs, the funky ones, the progressive ones, aggressive metal ones, or depressive hardcore punk ones; it is always original, always stamped with that special Suicidal Tendencies style. Many new fans come to this album for the killer songs like "Possessed to Skate" (which became a skater cult classic), "War Inside My Head", "Join the Army", amongst others. There is a weaker track here and there, but overall, it is one killer ride. Our song of the day is one of the greatest from it, a rallying call for the suicidal army. ST never shied away from making songs about themselves. "Join the Army" starts off with a kick ass wartime drumline before steady guitar work comes in and never really fades away. The lyrics are quick but cover how Suicidal Tendencies is a home for anyone who wants a place in the army. Like I mentioned before, they talk about how people thought they were a gang, but they are something more. Simply a hard-rocking band that doesn't pull any punches, no matter who is the one getting hit. The track keeps up a funky feeling that is impossible not to bop your head along to, but things speed up to show their hardcore punk roots at the 1:50 mark with a classic ST send-off. Mike Muir comes back to keep up his message of solidarity to like-minded people. They are here to give you a damn good time, and if you aren't about it, that is alright, but you know where the door is. Tracks like "Join the Army" made the album the success it was. This got the band attention from big-time labels, like Epic Records, who would sign the band for their next studio album. You can jump into ST anywhere from their early days; the 1980s albums are nothing but killer material, but if you wanna do it right, I suggest you start with their debut and move upward. The band only grew stronger after Join the Army, but I am not always on the lookout for strong metal compositions or well-produced songs. Sometimes all you need is a straightforward and fun tracks, and that is what this album is made up of. This is the band's 5th time on the website, but our first with a track off Join the Army. See what you think, won't you? Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1987
Album: Join the Army (1987)
Genre: Crossover Thrash, Hardcore Punk
Mood: Empowering
​Perfect For: Banging your head, Casual listening, Playing loud, Community
Where To Next: "Thrashard - D.R.I."
Rating: 9 / 10

"(She's) Sexy + 17" - Stray Cats

     Welcome! Today we have a track that serves as a prime example of a song I cannot jam nearly as hard now that I am 28. Truth be told, it breaks my heart, since I adored this song when I was a teenager. Though, it is a little weird to have it be one of your favorites when it is all about a sexy 17-year-old. Before you go grab your pitchforks and torches, I honestly don't think that the Stray Cats, or vocalist and lyricist Brian Setzer, was trying to be gross with this track. I guess I cannot say that for certain, but hear me out. So, the Stray Cats are the band that brought rockabilly back. There were many groups that came along for the rockabilly revival, but none survived the test of time, or did nearly as well on the charts, as the Stray Cats did. Rockabilly is a genre that melded rock n roll with country music back in the 1950s, even having roots all the way back into the 1940s, but its heyday was during the 1950s and the early 1960s, most of which came out of the legendary Sun Records studio. During the 1950s, rock as a whole was targeted to teenagers, almost to a fault, and there were plenty of songs that were put out by adults talking about teenage love and having songs that cover the stories of teenagers that just want to rock, mainly of the female variation. There are a ton of examples, be it "Sweet Little Sixteen" by Chuck Berry or "Wake Up Little Suzie" from the Everly Brothers. This theme continued into the 1960s, a time when teens would attend sock hops, hit the drive-in movies, and simply cruise around, and thus these rock & pop musicians dished out countless boppers for the kids. So, in come the Stray Cats in 1983 when they released "(She's) Sexy + 17", a band that is well known for their seemingly effortless success at getting rockabilly back into the charts. Doing that, it seems they used a few different tactics, but one of them was using tried and true lyrical themes. I will admit, the older tracks weren't so damn frontal with it, but the Stray Cats, too, have their roots in punk rock, so it isn't all too shocking they weren't beating around the bush. Not once during the song do they say something vulgar, but with the lyrics they do have and such an intense way of putting it out, it is only fair to rub a couple of people wrong. Let's bring this back to me, your wonderful author of these posts, and what this song meant to me during my teen years. Sure, I didn't have a rock n roll queen, but that didn't stop me from dreaming about it. My girlfriend of the time liked her rock music, but man, did she have some walls up. It practically had to be something her dad showed her before, or she just wasn't interested. So, rock n roll queen she was not. Still, this song hit a lot deeper back then, but mainly since I wasn't blaring a track that doesn't speak to me now. The energy is there, and the Stray Cats have one of my all-time favorite styles in a vice grip, but those lyrics make me feel sort of strange. Not to sit here and talk about me the whole post, but I have one more thing to say on that. Having long hair is such a balance. You slip up on a piece of fashion, facial hair, lingo, or demeanor, and before you know it, people are getting the wrong idea about you, especially since I mostly always have mine in a ponytail. So, with the ponytail, there are a few things barred not to give the wrong idea. No white vans, no trashy tie-dye, no 'Murica shirts, good hygiene, and most importantly, no overplaying songs that call a teenager your rock n roll queen. I mean, that rule holds for everyone out there, but the ponytail thing certainly makes you look like a pedo quick if not pulled off right. Am I pulling it off right? Honestly, I am not sure. Though I am certainly trying my best to not look like a pedo nor someone who lives in their mama's basement. Alright, with that said, I will say with pride that I adore this damn song. It is one that was engrained into my youthful mind back in the day, and as an adult now, I love it still but leave the lyrics at the door. 

     It has been a hot minute since we have discussed the Stray Cats. This is their second time on AintNoisePollution; the first was "Something's Wrong with My Radio" which is off the same album as "(She's) Sexy + 17", their third studio album, Rant n' Rave with the Stray Cats. Talk about a simple yet impactful album title, and the album cover follows suit. The Stray Cats serve as a strange, cartoony version of rockabilly, sort of like if classic Nickelodeon had a rockabilly themed show. That aesthetic makes you snap your finger and say "cool, cool, daddy-o", and I am all for it. Such a cool aesthetic helped them stand out, plus that style sort of got punk on board, a lacing that has hardly left the rockabilly genre, and with a little help from bands like the Cramps & The Meteors, had a whole subgenre created that was called psychobilly. The Stray Cats aren't psychobilly, but the fanbases are often the same. Anyway, the Stray Cats went down in history for revitalizing rockabilly in the mainstream with hit singles like "Stray Cat Strut", "Runaway Boys", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Rock This Town", and plenty of other solid senders. Their studio albums didn't fare as well as some of their singles, but from 1981 to 1983 they had a total of 4 hit records. The early 1980s was their domain, but the Stray Cats still released material through the rest of the 1980s and in the 1990s, they just didn't make the same impact. They have 9 studio albums, with their most recent being in 2019 in celebration of the band's 40th anniversary, a decent album overall simply called 40. In October of last year they released two new songs, an original called "Stampede" and then a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Teenage Heaven" (here we go again about the teenager thing). Both the tracks are good, though you can tell the band is getting on in years. They are actually currently on a small tour; one of the shows lands in my backyard, but money is tight, and I sadly will miss it. I am cryin' some hot rod tears even thinking about it. Anyway, overall the Stray Cats had a solid career, especially for the style they brought back into the limelight. I am a massive fan and will die a massive fan, they are one of my spirit bands. For today, we have one of their biggest hits, if not their biggest, "(She's) Sexy + 17". This song is perfect from start to finish, especially if you are a gasoline-and-beer-chugging teenager. It brought back everything that was thrilling about the rockabilly genre, but with the betterment in production, it is crystal clear, allowing for even more energy to be pumping out of your speakers in comparison to the early legends like Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, and Billy Lee Riley. The Stray Cats still pay respects to the legends of before with plenty of covers and their overall core style. They are like Gene Vincent pumped full of octane! The intro to this track has you snapping your fingers and makes you want to jump onto that dance floor. There is so much youthful vigor it makes you stress about zits and awkward erections. The intro to the track even has the band bitching about going to school. The story moves into the character skipping class with his buddies to meet up with some chicks to go to this little place that has a rocking band and cheap beer. The perfect homage to classic rock n roll, it has it all. A hard backbeat, thumping rhythm, lyrics about teenage lust, minor rebellion, and, most important of all, losing yourself to that rock n roll hoodoo! Youthful defiance packed into a sweet 3:30 minutes. This whole album, and the majority of the Stray Cats, leans heavily into similar themes. Shit, this one album has a couple of those rebellious tracks like "How Long You Wanna Live, Anyway?", "Rebels Rule", and "Hotrod Gang". Overall, the lyrical content of the Stray Cats can be a little overkill, but I am all there for the mythology of 1950s greaser culture, so keep it comin' you crazy cats. I wonder if a band could come along now and find the same success? It is a whole different world, and how we take in music is much different as well. Some things never fully go out of style, and I find rockabilly to be that way. It is rare that a rockabilly group can find major success in the modern musical climate, but if the Stray Cats did it 25 years later, who is to say it can't be done today? While we wait, spin some Stray Cats. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1983
Album: Rant n' Rave with the Stray Cats (1983)
Genre: Rockabilly
Mood: Youthful
​Perfect For: Being a reckless youth, Driving fast, Reminiscing, Rock n' rollin'
Where To Next: "Marie Marie" - The Blasters
Rating: 9 / 10

"Back Door Man" - Black Oak Arkansas

    What is rock without a little raunch? Black Oak Arkansas is the walking embodiment of raunchy rock music before it became relatively acceptable in the mid-1980s. We talked about the band all the way back in November of last year, so if you want an introduction, go check it out. Just for a crash course, let's talk about the band's success, which, for how damn good they are, is pretty damn small. The most successful album Black Oak ever put out was High on the Hog in 1973. Now, this isn't the type of band that was protected by critical acclaim; this is a band that lived and breathed their fan base. The true spirit of rock n roll. I still come across people occasionally that recognize the band, but they will likely be one that gets lost in the test of time for the coming years. You know, I cannot tell if modern streaming is slowing or rushing the test of time. I would say that it is slowing it since people now have a no-commitment listening experience. You can pull up any of these 740 songs I have included on the website without much of a thought. There is no stress of spending that money on something that might suck. Anyway, Black Oak Arkansas isn't for everyone, but that is some of what makes people flock to them. An acquired taste that will forever leave an imprint on you. They are like the blue cheese of the rock world. Even their most successful album only charted at the #52 spot on the US charts and in the hundreds in Canada. I am a big fan of High on the Hog, and it might be one of the best places to start within the band, but I have an even deeper love for their debut self titled album, their first live album, Raunch 'N' Roll Live, and their 1975 album, X Rated, for more than just that sleazy album cover. Since I have started collecting vinyl, I keep seeing the same 3 around, so Utah must have been fond of that debut, High on the Hog, and the album that holds our song of the day, Ain't Life Grand. Anyway, Black Oak Arkansas has a strangely long career, and frontman Jim Dandy even has some solo material. Once again, these dudes weren't solely in it for the money and chicks, though I am sure that was a nice touch; they were in it for living the obscene life they chose and letting you in on the party. Now that we mentioned good ol' Jim Dandy, let's talk about that cat. A lot of Black Oak's fame came from Jim Dandy. He went down in history as one of the wildest frontmen of all time. You can even feel that in studio albums; he just seems like a wild card. He was a massive influence on David Lee Roth from Van Halen, another wild card that could make a circus feel like a strip club. Jim Dandy isn't his legal name; that is something he likely picked up from the LaVern Baker song from 1956. They did a cover of that song, which became their biggest hit of all time in 1973. Anyway, he was born James Mangrum in 1948 under the dusty lights of Benton Harbor, Michigan. His family moved to Arkansas on the outskirts of Black Oak. He claimed to have been the first long-haired rocker in the state of Arkansas, and while there is no proof of that, it seemed he was one of the first to take on the rock n roll lifestyle. Alongside his childhood friends and bandmates, they lifted plenty of things, including their first set of sound equipment from their own school, which saw these boys from Arkansas getting a 64-year sentence to the labor farm Tucker Prison Farm. That sentence was luckily suspended, but the damage was already done. Jim Dandy and the band quit school and ran off to live in the backwoods of Arkansas. They already were known as a brash and loud band, but now being out of the towns and cities, there was nobody to stop them from playing even louder. Under the name the Nobody Else, they gained a pretty strong local following. Though Arkansas was just too tame for a man like Jim Dandy, so they loaded up and headed off to Memphis, Tennessee, and cut their first album under the name the Nobody Else, which was a through-and-through failure. For the next while the band traveled around but eventually set their sights on Los Angeles, and on the way they changed their name to Black Oak Arkansas.

     Jim Dandy was turning heads with his intense persona, back story, and raw sexual vigor that he brought onto the stage. All you would see is a blur of blonde hair as it rushed across the stage as the band jammed on. Black Oak Arkansas released their debut in 1971, but it wasn't until 1973 that they started gathering attention with their live album, Raunch 'N' Roll Live, and their fourth studio album, High on the Hog. Their most successful song was "Jim Dandy (To the Rescue)", which only bolstered his larger-than-life presence in rock music. Tight pants and all. Through the 1970s, Jim Dandy and Black Oak Arkansas toured viciously, but traveling and moving along was all these boys knew. They went from being obscure openers to headlining tours. Through the 1970s they released 15 albums, all of which sold modestly but furthered their presence in the southern rock and hard rock world. When the 1980s rolled along, their fame waned heavily, but they still released material under various names. Jim Dandy even had his swing at some solo material, but it was mostly only one album and some appearances elsewhere. He was an underground rock hero for the rockers that wanted something a little heavier and wilder before heavy metal came fully into form. Jim Dandy still tries doing stuff today, but time hasn't been kind to him, and his body can't keep up like it used to. A tale as old as time. Funnily enough, Jim Dandy and the band have received accolades from the state of Arkansas for sales and local impact. They went from some long-haired bastards about to dedicate their lives to a farm to loved civilians. Jim Dandy was last reported to have settled down with his wife on the outskirts of Black Oak, Arkansas. If you find yourself with some time and want to see the wild man in action, check out the band's 1970 appearance at the Royal Albert Hall on YouTube. Be warned, there is enough bulge to not leave much to the imagination. You don't get called the "Tightest Pants in Dixie" for just anything. One of the songs they perform in that recording is our song of the day, and one of their best tracks, "Back Door Man". You can tell this song is meant to be a sleaze fest simply from the name. What the men don't know, the little girls understand. When I was younger, I loved all the songs I could find with this theme. There is always an edge of cockiness to it all, with lyrics that seem to have been written by bluesmen back in the day. I came across "Back Door Man" before any other Black Oak Arkansas song and thought to myself, "What the hell is this", but like a positive "what the hell", not a negative one. Jim Dandy is well-known for his gravelly and unique vocals, and they are shown off wonderfully on "Back Door Man" as he tells the tale of him slinking around and sleeping with all the chicks. The lyrics aren't nearly as grand as Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man", but the country-fried cookin' twist on the lyrics on the Black Oak Arkansas track still holds up. Now, even with songs varying in style and lyrics, they all have this same feeling to them. I guess you cannot claim that you are hated for stealing women without having an air of arrogance. Lyrics are fine and dandy, but when it comes to energy, I don't think there is another song called "Back Door Man" that stands a chance against Black Oak. Jim Dandy does his damn fun vocal work to keep the story going, but in those vocals you can sort of miss a couple of words if you aren't actively listening. "Back Door Man" showcases the band's southern rock style and also shows how Black Oak Arkansas stood apart from the other legends of the genre with their overall fun style. Our song of the day is the sixth track on their 7th studio album, Ain't Life Grand. I find this to be one of their best albums. It is a little more cleaned up than some of their others, which isn't saying much, but you can tell by this point they got their style down. There is still plenty of sleaze, especially on the track"Love Can Be Found" which is a strange love song to say the least. Ain't Life Grand was their last studio album with their original signers, Atco Records. Sadly, this is the album that saw a massive decline in their record sales, even though it is just as good as their previous ones. Who needs charting albums? Sometimes the secret is in the sauce, and Black Oak is sauced up. Why do I feel like that is some modern lingo? Kids these days. Anyway, you don't get how excited I was to share this track with you here today. I chose it while giving this album another play on vinyl format. It sounded even better, and that is coming from someone who has abused this thing since I got into southern rock many moons ago. Now it is your turn to have your first listen! Lucky ducky! Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1975
Album: Ain't Life Grand (1975)
Genre: Southern Rock, Boogie Rock
Mood: Cocky
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Dating game, Sex, Day drinking 
Where To Next: "Preacher's Daughter" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Rating: 8 / 10

"Do You Love Me" - The Dave Clark Five

     Ready for that shot of rhythm and blues? Today we have the Dave Clark Five on the website. As I have mentioned many times on this website, rock sort of fell off the wagon for a little bit when the early 1960s hit. A simple case of growing pains. Pop music was rapidly consuming the rock n roll genre that was originally rooted in R&B, jump blues, and sped-up country music. Rock pretty much invited in the Trojan horse, and there weren't enough soldiers to fight back against the genre. Many of the rock musicians of the 1950s either embraced the change, died, got drafted, saw their record sales dropping, or stopped releasing new material. From 1961-1963, it was a mix of R&B girl groups, remnants of doo-wop, surf rock, and artists like Elvis Presley in his new pop sound that helped rock survive through this strange period. There were a ton of amazing artists to show up around this time, and once the Beatles showed that rock wasn't done being the poster child of popular music in 1963, it was time to get the rock n roll train moving again. Even the Beatles came along with a boy band pop sound for their first two albums, but within those albums they covered some of the best soul and R&B had to offer but with a rockin' twist. A little teaser for the resurgence of true rock music is heard on songs like "Twist and Shout", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Roll Over Beethoven", and a couple of others. While the Beatles are goliaths in the music world, a band that hit a prestige that I really don't think anyone can hit again, we cannot give all the credit to them. There were a ton of short-lived bands that appeared, dropped some decade-defining hits, and then faded away. There were also solidified bands that would change the music direction of the time, especially in their own area, like the Beach Boys, who showed that pop could still play with rock and hold the original fundamentals brought forth by rock/R&B artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and the Coasters. Anyway, during this time period there were these fun bands that popped up, all with similar names, styles, and looks. Today, we have one of them. The Dave Clark Five took a long while to solidify their sound and get themselves a record deal. Their debut came along in 1964, but we will get there. The band started doing their thing in 1958 as a backing band to London-based artist Stan Saxon. Don't know Stan Saxon? Well, nobody else does. Through lineup changes and a stagnant music career, Dave Clark and his band left Saxon behind in 1962 and struck out on their own. Now, this is one of those cases of being in the right place at the right time, since due to the success of the Mersey Beat sound, the one that the Beatles came along with and made famous from Liverpool, there were plenty of cities and regions of the United Kingdom that attempted their own take on the Mersey Beat sound. For the Dave Clark Five, that came in the form of Tottenham sound. This was a little more frontal than that of the Mersey Beat, and the Dave Clark Five was the flagship of it. At that moment, I am sure it felt like a rallying call and destiny or what have you, but the sound ultimately fizzled out pretty much as it got started. Modernly we compile all the different "beats" to the British beat, especially in the United States, but there are slight differences between the varying styles. The Dave Clark Five is, as you guessed it, run mostly by Dave Clark, who is interestingly the drummer. That is a rare thing about the band; usually the person's name that serves as the band's name tends to be the singer/frontman. Dave Clark also does backup singing, but he is mostly out of the spotlight. So, why is the band named after him? He was the one who kept things rolling. His hands were in the business affairs of the music world, which includes being the producer and dominant songwriter for the group, so it is only fair it is named after him. Plus, his drumming is a good chunk of what set the Tottenham sound apart from the rest of the British beat. Anyway, the Dave Clark Five released their debut album, Glad All Over, in 1964. It was put out under the Epic label and got them put up on the charts practically overnight in the US and Canada.

     Glad All Over is easily the band's most essential studio album. I will admit, the Dave Clark Five is one of those bands that you can get yourself a solid greatest hits album and call it good. I am someone who has listened to their US discography pretty heavily, but I truly enjoy the often simple style of the music. It is my form of listening to easy listening at home; it is something to play in the background and enjoy, but not something you need to drool over or set up a listening party for. Anyway, I stand by that Glad All Over is an essential rock album from the early 1960s. It explains the time wonderfully and is, through and through, a good album, even with the instrumentals that confuse the album. The Dave Clark Five followed the same album release style of other British bands of the time. It is a pain to take in all their tunes since they have UK releases that have differing track listings from the US ones. The US debut for the Dave Clark Five is our focus for today, but the UK debut from the band is called A Session with the Dave Clark Five which released a month after the US debut. The two aren't really even the same album; they share "Time" and "She's All Mine", and that is about it. The band's second US release is the same as their first UK release. Honestly, it might as well be considered their second studio album instead of a UK debut. But that is from modern eyes, where I wouldn't have to import anything since I can just Google it and enjoy. I wonder if it bothered big fans of the band that they had to specially acquire UK releases. Even as a vinyl collector in 2026, it is still a pain to get UK originals without paying a pretty penny. Anyway, Glad All Over did damn well upon its release. It holds the tracks "Glad All Over", "Bits and Pieces", and "Do You Love Me", the first two on that list hit the top of the charts. Impressively, the Dave Clark Five is one of the few artists to have a single that knocked the Beatles off their throne. "Glad All Over" was a smashing success that brought down "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles. That single marked the first time a British beat band other than the Beatles topped the charts in the United States. The Dave Clark Five didn't win that fight in the UK but still came in second place. Getting second place to one of the hottest-selling bands of all time is an achievement in itself. The Dave Clark Five never saw that success ever again, but their second single, "Bits and Pieces", did almost just as great. Today, we look at the Dave Clark Five as a band with a couple of hits who faded away once music changed. They released 20 studio albums overall, 14 of which were US releases. Glad All Over was their biggest hit, but their second US studio album, The Dave Clark Five Return! sold wonderfully as well. Their second US album is identical to the UK debut. Once again, it is difficult to track the discographies of early British beat bands that achieved success in both countries. We can cover that album another time. The shining track that we chose for the band's debut is their cover of "Do You Love Me". The Dave Clark Five do an energetic and worthwhile version of "Do You Love Me", but there is simply no beating the original from the Contours; that is a definitive R&B track out of 1962. Like many of the R&B big-time hits, they became go-to covers for the British beat bands. Also, in the style of the time, "Do You Love Me" is one of the many songs that were meant to get you dancing! "Do You Love Me" has been covered a ton of times; the second version of the song to become a hit was from Brian Poole and the Tremeloes in 1963, and then the Dave Clark Five outsold that one in the same year with the version we have with us here today. One of the attributes of the song that got people dancing was the vocal approach. The vocalist is practically shouting at you, commanding you to get on that dance floor. The song was written by Motown Records owner Berry Gordy about how he used to not be able to get the girls he wanted since he couldn't dance. The lyrical theme was around before the song came around, but the raw vigor of "Do You Love Me" resonated with people deeply and allowed the track to hit high on the charts many times over. The Dave Clark Five has the second-best version of the song, but I will admit that I have a sweet spot for the version from the Hollies. The Dave Clark Five version was their first charting single, hitting the 8th spot in the US and 5th in Canada. Their label wouldn't allow them to cut a version of "Twist and Shout", which the Beatles found massive success with later, which frustrated Dave Clark. In a strange form of revenge, he put that anger into his pen and wanted to release an original song for his next, which took form as "Glad All Over", the band's highest seller and biggest claim to fame. The Dave Clark Five might be a band many come to for the hits they had, but there is still a lot of good stuff under those hits. Not as good as their hits, I will admit, but still good for those that like this style. "Do You Love Me" is an R&B and British beat classic, and for today I give you the Dave Clark Five version that helped get their name in record collections far and wide, mine included. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1963
Album: Glad All Over (1964)
Genre: British Beat, Pop Rock
Mood: Energetic
​Perfect For: Dancing, Getting ready in the morning, Casual listening 
Where To Next: "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" - Gerry & the Pacemakers
Rating: 7 / 10

"Boundless" - Asia Minor

     Did you come to this website in hopes of finding a hidden gem? Well, you are in luck; we have one that was so hidden that even I just barely came across it. Now, I am not the all-knowing god of rock, as much as I would love to be, but I have spent countless hours making sure I don't miss something in my studies. Though, no matter how hard I try, there is always a handful of bands that elude me. I cannot be too mad at myself, especially with Asia Minor, since it is damn near impossible to gather it all even with this music buffet of modern streaming. Asia Minor is even more likely to get overlooked since they hardly have any listeners. Not only that, they came along during the Europe progressive rock craze, a genre that spawned a shitload of bands, some grand and some obscure, but a lot of them got lost to the test of time. Asia Minor formed in 1973 in Paris, France. In their time they released two studio albums, Crossing the Line in 1979 and Between the Flesh and Divine in 1980. Both of those flew completely under the radar, and those fortunate to have gotten a copy back in the day have helped keep the spirit of the band alive in underground record communities of the day and modernly on the many progressive rock forums that fill the internet. If there is one subgenre of rock music that has a fanbase that would leave their wife and child in a burning house to save their albums, it is progressive rock fans. I respect the hell out of their dedication, even if they can come off as prudish from time to time. There is no denying progressive rock's place in the history books. It is the most impressive genre to ever hit the scene, and there are few sounds like it, but cool your jets, prog fans; there is more to music than perfection and crazy long songs. Anyway, Asia Minor broke up in 1982 but got back together in 2014, and after some new material and playing some shows, they ended up releasing another studio album in 2020 called Points of Libration. I have a long way to go with the group, shit, I barely just discovered them during my music expansions on Friday. I discovered them from poking around similar bands to a group that has left me speechless, Eloy. Both Asia Minor and Eloy have strange, almost comedic accented English. Asia Minor hardly sings in their songs; our song of the day is one of the few that focus on vocals. I ain't trying to be a dick, but try out either band, and you will see what I mean about that accent. Eloy, too, was a later find of mine, but I have been going through their severely strong discography when I find the time. Eloy's 1979 album, Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, was the progressive chocolate bar I unwrapped on Friday, and it was the one to get me in a progressive craze that led me to Asia Minor. I only made it halfway through Asia Minor's second album, Between the Flesh and Divine, while I was at work before I clicked my heels together and got out of dodge. I have full intentions of finishing it up on the next Friday. It was good, way better than I honestly expected. Progressive rock is immensely powerful, much like some of the extreme metals and roots reggae, but it is best taken in at leisure instead of business. You gotta sit yourself down and really enjoy the sound coming out of your speakers. The genre hardly works as background static, though for some bands it does, like the mainstream titans such as Rush, Kansas, and Yes. Anyway, Asia Minor came along near the end of the powerhouse days of progressive rock. The genre was going to get hit with the 80s stick here soon. Yes was going to dish out "Owner of a Lonely Heart", Rush with "Subdivisions", and Asia was to drop their genre-altering progressive pop style with their self titled debut in 1982. Synthesizers and electronic instrumentation weren't anything new in the progressive rock genre, but in that trade of having it become more dominant, the genre lost some of the spacey psychedelia that it gained in albums like King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, Gentle Giant's Three Friends, and the self titled debut from Caravan. Not a bad trade, but I am a sucker for both the psychedelic progressive rock and the hard rock-laden progressive from bands like Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, and Rush. Though music is subjective and ever-evolving. So, for them to get 80s smacked was only natural.

     Asia Minor seemingly kept up the older sound. Something maniacal is in their sound, and that is balanced out by a sweet psychedelic backing that has you floating away. Tracks like our song of the day, "Boundless", and some of the other solid senders I heard, like "Nightwind", "Northern Lights", and "Dedicace" show that feeling off wonderfully. Once again, this song takes you a second to get fully into, but that is to be expected. The strange accent, the inner digging lyricism, the layered sound of beautiful guitar work, and perfect composition that, albeit might be a touch amateur but honest, gives you a full 3:11 minutes of peace. I listened to this song three times in a row when I first heard it. The first listen was while I was in my truck rushing home on my lunch. I was only half listening to it, but once I stepped out of the vehicle and realized I hardly remembered what I was doing while this song was playing, I started it over again when I got back in. I focused on it with all my might, and once again, I just sort of appeared at a random place on the way to work once the song's enchanting embrace let me go. Other than the random blood that was on my bumper, there wasn't a care in the world as this song played. For the third time, I listened to it with the lyrics sitting there for me to read along to. Those are some solid lyrics, one of those sets of words that bring comfort and understanding in many different situations. A song that has you reflecting on the simplicity of it all. Honestly, I cannot tell if it is a song about life or if it is a song about death. Seeing as how the album seems to be a wild ride into the psyche, I think it is a reflection on death. Or is it life? I cannot tell! Though, from what the song is saying, I don't think I need to know. I simply need to reflect on the simple reality of life and death, the unity of man, the equalizer of all who draw breath. Death unifies the living in grief, and life unifies all when it is time to die. Who knows? See, this is why you need to take in progressive rock in spoonful servings. Too much thought, too much reflection, and that isn't good for the children. Watch your kids; make sure they aren't hiding a Haken album under their bed. Anyway, if a song can get you into deep thought, that is one seriously powerful track. Songs like "Boundless" make me wonder if the bard class isn't more powerful than is let on. The magic of words wrapped in silver strings. An angel that plucks sensitive hairs. A beast of expression that rests within us all. A medium to spread thoughts and, in turn, get thoughts back. Asia Minor left me impressed enough to say the least, and I kick myself for missing them this far into my studies. Once again, I cannot be too mad. Progressive rock has so many hidden gems that appear to me at random points. Ultimately, I think I would have dug Asia Minor no matter when they came to me within the last 10 years, but it almost seemed destined to come around when they did. Work has been taxing recently, to say the least, more mental and physical strain than my job has put upon me since the year I have worked there. So, maybe I needed a sweet and reassuring song like "Boundless" to help me along. To remind me that there is balance in all the ups and downs of life. That harmony is key in the universe as much as it is in your own mind. Easier said than done. But it was a train of thought that I needed choo-chooin' through the ol' noggin. Well, I hardly gave you any info about the band this time around, but truth be told, there isn't much info to be had. So, do yourself a favor and try the song out for size. It is a chill-inducing one that is best taken in while driving on familiar streets or sitting at home zoning in on the sweet sounds of Asia Minor. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1980
Album: Between Flesh and Divine (1980)
Genre: Progressive Rock
Mood: Dreamy
​Perfect For: Focused listening, Driving, Midnight reflection, Peace 
Where To Next: "Astral Entrance / Master of Sensation" - Eloy
Rating: 7 / 10

"Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)" - Willie Nelson

     Good ol' Willie. There are few better musicians to read into, and few musicians that are as much of a joy to listen to. Willie Nelson is one of the biggest icons in country music, and in many ways, he is one of the biggest icons in American music as a whole. Who doesn't know Willie Nelson? The braids and bandana? His romance with marijuana? His massive discography? How about that famous bout with the IRS, which, might I add, is extremely country? I read through his book a couple of years back, and it was one of the best biographies I read. I love the way that Willie writes, and that love extends to his lyricism. Country music rudely gets slandered for being a genre that repeats only a couple of lyrical themes. The ones I often hear from uneducated mouths are tractors, girls, country livin', and trucks. While there are plenty of songs about those themes, country has so many other wisened topics. I will admit that 3 out of 10 of the big time country artists don't mix up the pot too much lyrically, but then there are artists like Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Townes Van Zandt, George Hamilton IV, and others that show that country might be the medium, but the human soul is truly what you are hearing on their albums. It took Willie a little bit to be able to show what was within his soul. He was a longtime songwriter before getting into the studio to record his own songs, and it shows. His 1960s albums are silly since it seems like he is covering plenty of artists material, but in the end it is Willie's own songs that he gave to others, and those artists scored big hits off them. 1960s Willie Nelson is a little different from the sound he is remembered for, but I adore those early years. A time when he was a clean-cut chap having a go at recording in the commercial country style of the time. This was before he became an icon with the outlaw country scene, in which he was one of the biggest stars. Willie Nelson has had a crazy long career, and he is still putting out material even today, which is crazy. He is the last man standing from the old guard of country music, something that he has poked at a couple of times in his more modern catalog, namely "Last Man Standing"  from the album of the same name out of 2018. Willie is 93 and is still putting out music and even touring—talk about legendary. Could you imagine the ghosts you'd see on the road? Reminiscing about the times alongside your good-time pals like Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and so many other musicians that you helped inspire and were in turn inspired by, but they are no longer here. It must be strange being the last man standing. Still, good for Willie Nelson on keeping active. The power of cannabis, I guess. As of today, Willie has 78 studio albums, 26 collaborative albums, 132 singles, 14 live albums, a ton of compilations, and two soundtrack albums. That isn't some chump change; that is a crazy amount of material! His upcoming studio album, Dream Chaser, marks his 79th studio album and 153rd album overall. For many musicians there isn't enough juice to keep fresh material going for even 15 studio albums, but then again, those musicians aren't like Willie. Granted, country music, especially when Willie came along, is notorious for covers. I, personally, love that about the genre, and it certainly helps some of the artists out there dish out so many albums. Honestly, I am not even sure where to start into telling you about Willie Nelson. His list of achievements would take up the whole post alone, and the majority of his albums could also fill the whole page. So how about we skip all the introductions and just move into our spotlighted album for today, Red Headed Stranger?

     Willie has put out a lot of iconic country albums, and even those outside of country music, but I would hedge my bets that Red Headed Stranger is one of his greatest achievements. For those out there that know songs like "On the Road Again", "Always On My Mind", "Crazy", "Midnight Rider", "Whiskey River", "Blue Skies", "Hello Walls", and countless other classic songs, and this is your first time hearing a track from this album, you might be thinking, really? Yes, really. Red Headed Stranger used minimalist recording, something that Willie intended from the start. His new label, Columbia Records, wasn't all too happy when he handed off the finished product, but due to creative freedom being part of the deal, they had no choice but to release an album that they wholeheartedly thought was a demo album. Red Headed Stranger is Willie Nelson's 18th studio album, and it is his fourth since his albums started charting strongly and he found his true sound. This was the first Willie Nelson album to hit the top of the country charts and even #28 on the Billboard charts. So, while he was already putting out a lot of great material, this was Willie's true breakout album. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", one of the singles off the album, became one of Willie Nelson's most respected songs, and it was also Willie's first #1 hit song, another crazy thing since Willie previously wrote countless #1 country hits. Easy to say that "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" was a good chunk of why the mainstream music world came knocking at Willie Nelson's door; that song is sublime. Red Headed Stranger is honestly a strange album, especially for how well it did on the charts and in the hearts of country music fans. Most of the songs are pretty damn short, the instrumentation is barebones, and a lot of the songs covered on this album are from a good while ago, but still it is remembered as an album that people should listen to at least once in their lives. I think people can find an easy home within its sound. It isn't something aggressive or something that is difficult to get into since it doesn't pertain to you. It is something that sounds like a song written and performed by a human, someone you possibly know. The album itself is a concept album that revolves around a song that Willie Nelson loved while he was a disc jockey, "The Red Headed Stranger", which is one of the songs on the album. To summarize it, the song covers a stranger that drifts the Wild West from town to town. He is a wanted man, wanted for the murder of his wife and her lover, who the red headed stranger shot dead. Though, consumed by grief, betrayal, and raw confusion, he leads his wife's horse along with him while he goes between towns riding upon his dark black stallion. That is the main piece of the album, but from start to finish it is a cowboy's tale of love, betrayal, hard facts of life, repentance, redemption, new beginnings, and then finally, happiness. A great album and something bold for Willie to do when his newfound fame was gaining traction. Country music and concept albums aren't usually a thing unless you are Johnny Cash, so it was cool for Willie to take the gambit and create a whole story to a song that he loved when he was younger. It even became a movie, and yes, Willie Nelson stars in the leading role. I still need to see that movie. Willie was in a lot of movies, did you know that? Our song of the day, "Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)" comes during the closing of the story. In this song the Stranger is coming to terms with himself and his previous love. He announces to himself that he is free to love, the vows of his previous marriage are over, and he is free to love again. To let someone in. To find someone's arms to help him put together the broken pieces of his heart and trust. "Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)" is one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, a bold statement since it has plenty of heartstring-yanking songs. The next track, "Hands on the Wheel", covers the Stranger as an old man with a little boy who is likely his grandson. It all worked out. He was redeemed. The album ends on the instrumental, "Bandera", as the mental credits roll. "Remember Me" was the second single released from the album, and it is one of Willie's most popular tracks off the album. How could it not? It is a pretty song with comforting lyrics and great imagery. The kind of track that fits perfectly into the slot of the concept album but can equally be enjoyed as a stand-alone track. "Remember Me" was penned by Scotty Wiseman, but it is Willie Nelson who sells the lyrics with his mellow and soothing vocal work. This track hits the spot when you are listening to the full album; shit can make you tear up a little bit. I feel confident in saying there have been few more flat-out pretty tracks on the website so far. I cannot suggest this album enough to anyone who likes country music; it is perfect. This track hits best on a mellow day, the type of day your mind is wandering to the past and you have high hopes for the future. Even if that isn't what your day looks like in this confusing spring weather, I think the song will still please you from your toes to your hair. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1975
Album: Red Headed Stranger (1975)
Genre: Country
Mood: Comforting
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Loss, Relaxing at home, Coming to terms with lost love 
Where To Next: "Always Wanting You" - Merle Haggard
Rating: 9 / 10

"Livin' Alone" - Beck, Bogert, & Appice

     There are supergroups that make music with all the best aspects of the musicians previous bands, and then there are supergroups that seem to form just to show off. Beck, Bogert, & Appice is the latter. That isn't a bad thing, not even in the slightest; sometimes you gotta show the world what you got. Plus, if Jeff Beck is involved, you know it is only going to be top-shelf musicians playing next to him; that is just one of those rock n roll facts. It has been a long time since we talked about Jeff Beck on the website, so how about we start with him? Jeff Beck came from the golden age of guitar gods. Shit, he was one of the first true rock guitar gods to hit the scene. He gained attention with his place in the Yardbirds, a group that was practically a breeding ground for raw talent that saw plenty of future guitar gods coming through their ranks. The Yardbirds themselves never really gained the same fame as the musicians who came out of it but are still a cornerstone of the blues-based sound of the British beat. The Yardbirds are still a hit recording group, but in the modern tongue, they are more remembered for having Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page playing with them. All three of those guitarists are regarded as some of the greatest guitarists of all time, but it took them spreading their wings and leaving the Yardbirds nest to achieve that. Jeff Beck was with the Yardbirds from 1965 to 1966, being there for three albums, one of which is a classic rock diamond called Roger the Engineer (also called Yardbirds & Over Under Sideways Down). Jeff Beck didn't only stick to the guitar; he also helped out on other band duties, such as vocal work at times and plucking those thick strings of the bass guitar. There is no wrong place to start with the Yardbirds, but one of the best places to start is the ones with Jeff Beck. After Beck left the Yardbirds, he went out to start up his own group called the Jeff Beck Group. It was a passion project that took a little bit to get off its feet. When it comes to Jeff Beck, this is my favorite place to go, even if his solo albums are outstanding. I have a deep fondness for the Jeff Beck Group's debut album, Truth, which has Rod Stewart on the vocals. The three albums that follow that one, Beck-Ola, Rough and Ready, and Jeff Beck Group are also great, especially Beck-Ola, but none get close to the earthy feeling of that debut. Jeff Beck is well known for bringing his guitar prowess into multiple genres, and he even had an unfortunate electronica period starting at the end of the 1990s and sticking around until 2003's Jeff. I will admit, I am not fond of those ones, not because they are bad, but simply because it feels plain odd. If they were released by Beck Jeff, it would be good, but since it was put out by Jeff Beck, it seemed like a strange transition that completely alienated his fans. Still, you can't blame a fool for doing what he wants. Anyway, the Jeff Beck Group put out 4 studio albums and then fizzled out in 1972. By 1973 Jeff Beck was back in the studio standing next to some hidden titans of the blues rock world, Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert, who came out of the underrated gem Cactus and the bombastic Vanilla Fudge. Jeff Beck has been intent on jamming with the two and putting some stuff out all the way back in 1967. At the time, Appice and Bogert were bound by contract with their bands and labels, so there wasn't much to do but wait. They were clear for service come 1969, but Jeff Beck got himself in a bad auto wreck, and that was the end of that dream since when he recovered, he started up the Jeff Beck Group instead. Though pretty much the day of The Jeff Beck Group coming to a close, he called up Bogert & Appice to get their instruments and come jam. That jam turned into Beck, Bogert & Appice finishing off the Jeff Beck Band tour, which allowed them plenty of time to find their synergy. Those three can put out some seriously powerful sound for only three dudes. Sometimes it feels like certain musicians were destined to play together, like some kindred musicians spirit. First, they had to finish that tour, and then it was time for their own album.

     Beck, Bogert & Appice only put out one studio album, a self-titled gold mine of jamming that resembles a live album in nature. Jeff Beck took on all lead guitar roles, as you assumed, but he did sing one track on the album, the intro "Black Cat Moan". For the most part it was drummer Carmine Appice that took on the vocal duties, singing 5 out of 9 tracks. For today we chose one of those. We have Tim Bogert on the bass guitar with his signature distorted bass guitar sound. He was one of the first to do that style, and it was one of the leading reasons Vanilla Fudge and Cactus often are regarded as predecessors to heavy metal. Bogert sings on the tracks "Superstition" (which has arguably the best vocal work of the album), "Why Should I Care", and "Lose Myself with You". One of the first things you will notice about this album is how the vocals take the background. It is more revolving around the band jamming. The band only released one other album; a goodie live album called Live in Japan, which released in the same year as their studio album in 1973. The fun thing about that album is the use of the talkbox before it was made popular by Peter Frampton on his live album, Frampton Comes Alive! that was released two years later. A good live album, if you want an hour and a half of these dudes socking it to ya, that is. Anyway, we will potentially cover that album later; let's zone back into our spotlighted album and the song of the day that came off it. Their studio album did quite well on the charts, but that wasn't the goal; they just wanted to put something out. It spawned 3 singles, all of which showcase some of the best tracks off the album. It is a Jeff Beck classic, and with his name on something, people came in droves to buy it up. It achieved gold status in the US and charted fairly high in Canada, Japan, the UK, and the United States. Beck, Bogert & Appice was working on their second album and pretty much had it done before Jeff Beck suddenly shut down the project because he lacked interest in the style, and there was some bickering between the members. Still, I just feel lucky we at least got one album out of the supergroup since it is a barrel full of monkeys. To show off that fun, let me introduce you to our song of the day, "Livin' Alone". This one shows off the jamming nature of the album wonderfully. An overall fun track that gives room for each member to show off their signature style, especially for Carmine Appice and his talent behind the drum set. That dude went on to write one of the most important books about drumming called The Realistic Rock Drum Method. He was also a massive influence on some of the biggest names in the drumming world, like Tommy Lee, John Bonham, Ian Paice, and plenty of others. He had a big ol drum set, and he used each and every piece of it. It is he who commands "Livin' Alone". More often than not, the drummer plays an essential role but doesn't get much time to steer the ship, but when it comes to Appice, he steers the ship at full sail. "Livin' Alone" is playful in nature, and as a listener you get to join the fun by feeling all the electricity between the members. Lyrically, it's alright, but the lyrics aren't supposed to be too important of a part. The song was written by the three members, but the lead vocal duty was given to Carmine Appice. A fuckin' iconic drummer, but not the most iconic of vocalists. He isn't a bad one, but he approaches the microphone with a casual nature. Something I tend to like out of rock music, but something that doesn't deserve much praise either. That is alright; he was meant for the drum kit, something that he excelled at with many different bands. Cactus, Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra, Pink Floyd, Blue Murder, Mother's Army, Rod Stewart, Ted Nugent, Paul Stanley, his own solo work, and so many other albums, bands, and projects. He was one of the backing singers for the famous Hear N' Aid project and the iconic track of theirs, "Stars" (he is at the 5:59 mark on the video). If you haven't heard or watched the immensely of its time video for "Stars", I cannot suggest it enough; plenty of hard rock and metal royalty in that one. His younger brother, Vinnie Appice, is the one doing a good chunk of the drumming. Vinnie is known for his place in Dio. Man, I haven't watched the video for "Stars" for a good while; that one is a beast. It might not have Jeff Beck, but there are a ton of guitar gods on that sucker. Anyway, we could go on and on about the many great musicians who make up the rock genre. Beck, Bogert & Appice are among some of the greatest. Hearing is believing, so what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1973
Album: Beck, Bogert & Appice (1973)
Genre: Blues Rock
Mood: Carefree
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Focused listening, Going for a drive, Wanting to learn the drums
Where To Next: "T.N.U.C." - Grand Funk Railroad
Rating: 7 / 10

"I Won't" - The Replacements

     Today we have with us a group that did a ton for the music world but often doesn't get the same notoriety as some of the others they shared stages with. The Replacements had a strong career that lasted a decade, with most of their albums being gems. They started up in 1978 as a hard-edged band that went by the name Dogbreath and then later The Impediments. They switched their original sound, which mainly comprised covers of 1970s hard rock groups, for one of the biggest crazes that hit the mid to late 1970s, punk rock. As the Impediments, they played one show, and got banned from the venue for acting a fool, but through that, their name started getting around. Around this time they switched their name to The Replacements, which they chose since "like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags... It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective "secondary" social esteem" as said by drummer Chris Mars. The Replacements changed their vision from playing some trash bin music to fuel their booze and dope stash to maybe seeing if they could make something out of it. They put together a little four-track demo tape and handed it off to the local punk-focused record store. This saw The Replacements getting their first gig under their new name in 1980. The performance went well, but the demo tape did even better, with the owner of that record store, Peter Jesperson, getting blown away by the first track on the damn thing. He feverishly asked the band what they wanted next, and they replied that they wanted a full LP, which was a hurdle in itself since Jesperson's label didn't even have enough money to get that album out. Jesperson also cofounded the local record label Twin/Tone Records, which was the first to sign The Replacements. During the early days of the band when they were playing to empty rooms and not making much headway in the way of getting an album together, it was Jesperson that kept pushing them. He was sure in their sound, and let me tell you, his musical compass was on point. The record label scraped together the dough, and The Replacements got to putting together their first studio album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, which hit the shelves in 1981. At first, the album fell on mostly deaf ears aside from the local music scene of Minneapolis. They became local heroes, and in time, that debut of theirs saw the light of day and is now considered an important piece of punk rock history. While we are on that topic, The Replacements and punk rock share a strange relationship. That debut of theirs is their only true punk rock studio album, and even then they weren't sure what they were going for. It was a touch too tame to fit into the hardcore punk scene that saw punk rock getting a second wind after new wave practically killed the genre and ruled the early 1980s. Still, it was much too snotty and rough to be considered just another hard rock album. The Replacements released one more piece of music that tried fitting into the hardcore punk world with their following release in 1982, the EP fittingly titled Stink. For a long while there, Stink was an illusive and rare recording, but luckily for us modern listeners, it was rereleased in 2008 and can be streamed on most platforms, including Spotify. Stink is a bit more intense than their debut, but it was the last to feature this hardcore punk style that I adore from the band, sometimes more than the sound that made them famous.

     The Replacments might have started out in the punk world, but their biggest impact on music is their place as a pioneer to alternative rock. Now, alternative rock had already been around before, but there wasn't really a name for it. Music historians always fight about when the genre came out. Was it with the Velvet Underground? Violent Femmes? What about R.E.M. or New Order? Well, there are roots, those that popularized it, and those that helped set the groundwork. For me, I would consider The Replacements to be one of the first. Their second studio album, Hootenanny, is still punk rock in nature, but you can tell the band is moving away from that sound, but much in the band's previous style, they didn't know what they wanted out of the sound. There are some punk, blues, surf rock, and even some country-laced rock tracks on Hootenanny. That album is a goodie, and it shows that The Replacements weren't destined to follow the same doomed path of punk rock suicide. It still didn't chart, but the critics dug it, and it served as a wash rag to get their name away from punk music. Then in came the band's 3rd studio album from 1984, the influential and grand, Let It Be. No, this wasn't a Beatles cover album, even if The Replacements did rip off the Beatles track "Oh! Darling" for their song "Mr. Whirly" on their previous studio album. Let It Be is a history piece for alternative rock; it was a unique piece for its time. One of the first albums for true alternative rock and even has a spot in the history books of post-punk and indie rock. It is an iconic one that I think you should play right now if you have the time. One of those albums that have you really appreciating music to its core. Not in the progressive way, like a bunch of nerds, but in a sincere use of instruments and the human soul. The Replacements simply grew up with this album. They got sick of playing fast and loose, something they didn't even find all that fun, and they knew they were just riding coattails. Let It Be had the band letting their hair down and simply doing something they wanted to do. That is the soul. It is an expression of the band's inner desires, and you can fully feel it through its 33-minute running time. Punk rock holds you in constraints with its rules, which is funny since the genre on paper is all about breaking rules. I hate talking down on the genre since I have been into the artists from the genre for most of my life. But I will be one of the first to tell you that punk rock has so many dumb fans, ones that don't see reality half the time. Each genre has their shit fanbases; that is just the way, but punk seems to have more than most. Anyway, it was good The Replacements broke the mold since they put out an album that threw rocks at genre definitions. Let It Be failed to chart, but it did set the band up on this pedestal of unique fire, a fire that their small-time label knew they couldn't contain. For their fourth studio album, Tim, they were signed onto Sire Records, which had a bigger budget and helped the band find an audience. Tim is another one for the history books. It even saw the band pleasing their original fanbase by bringing back some punk, but in their own style that brought power pop and alternative rock into the pit. Tim is the band's second most essential album, one you can't afford to miss. The same is to be said about their damn famous fifth album, Pleased to Meet Me, which sees the band perfecting their sound. I am running out of time, so we gotta get to the next one which holds our song of the day. Don't Tell a Soul released in 1989. It was the band's highest-charting studio album, but from their critically acclaimed prime years, it is often forgotten modernly. A great album with so much energy you could piss pure electricity after hearing one song. The one song we have here is "I Won't", which is also one of the most energetic. A perfectly put together song that follows the album's most successful song "I'll Be You" on the tracklisting. "I Won't" seems to be dipped into the band's personal musical tastes. Some countrified guitar work meets punk rock vocal work, and those two are constantly cradled by the Mellotron. "I Won't" is always a moment I look forward to when listening to this album again. It seems to be cut from the same cloth as the aggressive The Who tracks, but with of the time recording and style. A great song, maybe not the best one to get an idea of the band, but still a goodie. A hidden gem from The Replacements, to say the least. A little less youthful than some of their others, but by the time Don't Tell a Soul came out, they were past youthful vigor and personal frustrations, even if that makes up a solid chunk of The Replacements best songs. Alright, this is turning into a long post. Time for you to do your thing! Enjoy! 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1989
Album: Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
Genre: Alternative Rock
Mood: Energetic
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Working, Getting amped up, Drinking too much coffee
Where To Next: "Dont Fuck Me Up (With Peace and Love)" - Cracker
Rating: 8 / 10

"Sick Bubblegum" - Rob Zombie

And out of the darkness the zombie did call
True pain and suffering he brought to them all
Away ran the children to hide in their beds
For fear that the devil would chop off their heads

     Ahhhhh, Rob Zombie. A man, a myth, a legend, and one of the most identifiable recording artists of the last 50 years. Even if you aren't someone who likes heavier music, there is a good chance that at some point during your life, you too will have a dance with this devil. I have looked into and discussed few artists more in my life with people of all musical walks. It seems to be a given thing that Rob Zombie is an artist we all know. If not from his music, then maybe his movies or his artwork. There are a ton of artists out there with really kick-ass imagery and aesthetics, but few touch what Rob Zombie puts out. I am talking cult classic films that only a true horror film buff would know. An obsession with all things gore, horror, and things relating to serial killers. Rob Zombie brings all of that into a sound that helped expand the definition of heavy metal. He has a little bit of industrial metal, nu metal, traditional heavy metal, groove metal, shock rock, and hard rock. He was inspired by artists like Pantera, Metallica, Judas Priest, Ramones, Black Flag, KISS, and all the other legends, but it seems few influenced this madman more than the first to have success at melding horror and rock, Alice Cooper. Rob Zombie has even said that an Alice Cooper album was the first he ever bought. A sacred moment in any music fan's life, and naturally the black widow Alice Cooper is Rob Zombies. He took all that inspired him through his youth, like horror films, heavier music, comic books, cheesy late-night shows, and the seven sins, into his music. His parents worked with the carnival when he was young, but after a violent riot broke out and people started getting messed up, they left and had a reality check when it came to keeping their sons safe. Oh yeah, Rob Zombie's brother is Spider One, the vocalist of Powerman 5000. I guess music runs in their blood. Originally Rob Zombie was part of White Zombie, I guess "part of" is putting it lightly. Many have asked me what the difference between the two is, and simply put, Rob Zombie is more so a solo work. White Zombie was put together by Rob Zombie and his then girlfriend Sean Yseult, who was the bassist for White Zombie. It took the group a hot minute to get discovered, but if you listen to White Zombie's material before their breakout album *cracks fingers* La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, you can see why. They are damn fine albums but weren't like many other albums out there for better or worse, especailly ones that get mainstream love. By the time their breakout album came about, Zombie and Yseult were no longer together, and the band decided to release one more album and then break up. No bad blood, no lawsuits, just a band fading apart to do their own thing after they made national headlines with a release. Rob Zombie didn't change up the style too much when he moved into his solo debut, Hellbilly Deluxe, in 1998, 3 years after the last White Zombie album. What he did was perfect it, giving it this special edge that had it much more pleasing to the casual music listener. That is a good reason why that debut of his holds the majority of his biggest hit songs and radio staples. To imagine something so diabolical gets a ton of radio play. I think if Zombie brought in some lyrics that actually made sense, he would have been hung next to all the other satanic and nasty groups that metal had to offer. But it is Rob Zombie; he makes a song typically out of random words. Great lyrics, ones you can put your own meaning to, but they don't fit together most of the time. It is like having a puzzle and forcing pieces into each other. Sure, you know what the picture is meant to be, but there is no true artistry there. It doesn't hurt Rob Zombie's signature style; if anything, it complements it. It feels like a hellride into madness and tastes like a poisoned well. It is often decently difficult to fully understand Rob Zombie anyway, so his vocal work almost turns into an instrument of its own, hence why those lyrics don't need to piece together. They just need to sound good and allow the chorus to shine to give you the meaning behind the title's name.

     Anyway, by the time Rob Zombie released his debut album, the eyes of the metal and rock world were already upon him. Hellbilly Deluxe became one of the most essential albums to come out of the 1990s as far as I am concerned. That thing is genuinely perfect, with an artist's touch to details making it a compelling piece of music history. It is Rob Zombie's most successful album and even still sells to this day. Who doesn't know "Dragula", "Living Dead Girl", and "Superbeast"? Those songs are crowd pleasers. Heavy in all the right ways, grooving in all the right ways, and that energy doesn't die out for even a second. The album as a whole follows suit, even with the twisted maniacal scientist atmosphere on some of the tracks that show Rob Zombie's love for industrial artists. Hellbilly Deluxe did so well that Rob Zombie decided to give it a sequel just shy of 12 years later. Now, I will admit, I sometimes get worried when I see an artist release a sequel to an album years later. Queensrÿche did it with Operation: Mindcrime, and it wasn't the best play. Meat Loaf did it with Bat Out of Hell, and plenty of others attempted to rekindle that old flame that got them famous. More often than not, it seems like a plea for relevance, and the album comes out confused and bland. So, with Rob Zombie and my beloved Hellbilly Deluxe, I was more than worried. I listened to the thing on CD back when I was a youngun, but I liked anything heavy and wicked at the time. Being a kid sure was simpler. But then I let that sucker lie until I got older and started digging up every piece of Rob Zombie and White Zombie I could find. Naturally, it was only fair that I jumped into that album first. So, off I went, a little worried, a little thrilled. I walked away from that album with more than a smile. It was a good one! No Hellbilly Deluxe, might I add, but still highly enjoyable. It felt like classic Rob Zombie but with over 10 years of recording advancements since. Plus, Rob Zombie's most recent studio album before the release of Hellbilly Deluxe 2 was the much more tame Educated Horses in 2006. Rob Zombie was putting out heavy as sin material once more. The album spawned two singles, "Sick Bubblegum" and "What?" both of which are part of what makes this album so kick-ass, especially "Sick Bubblegum". This is the classic case of Rob Zombie lyricism. What the fuck is sick bubblegum? Something I always wondered about the track, but just chalked it up to Zombie's way of saying random words packed with unknown references and having it sound good. It turns out Rob Zombie heard the term from Johnny Ramone, who described punk rock as "sick bubblegum", so Rob Zombie brought his loves into his music once again. You know this dude loves Ramones; it just makes sense. This track is meant to push your engine to its limits on the open highway at midnight. Rock motherfucker. "Sick Bubblegum" is one of the best points of Hellbilly Deluxe 2. Even this one track sells the whole album for me; it just so happens that the other half of the songs are also damn good and attack you with a sound straight from the depths of hell. When you listen to Rob Zombie, do you see little imps dancing around? Just me? Well, Rob Zombie seems to make hell seem kind of fun? Like sin is the ultimate way to a good time. I was late to the party and just got to Rob Zombie's most recent studio album, The Great Satan, which released in February. I think I gave it its first solid playthrough a week or two ago but listened to all the singles as they came. Some goodies on that one too, but it lacks the same edge as the Hellbilly Deluxe duo. Once Zombie put all his eggs in the movie basket, his music took a toll, but he still manages to put out good ones. And even if the full album ain't perfect, there are more than enough tracks to make each one worth the play. I mean, his albums aren't typically all too long. The Great Satan is only 38 minutes, which is surprising for 15 tracks. It is all about that crash and burn tactic that Rob Zombie seems to love. Come in fast, hit them hard, and don't leave anyone standing. If you are someone who is stuck in Rob Zombie's earlier material, try out "Sick Bubblegum" and see what you are missing out on. I know, there is simply no beating his first couple, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying all the other great stuff he has to offer. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2009
Album: Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2010)
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Mood: Reckless
​Perfect For: Driving fast, Summer days, Getting drunk, Casual listening, Working out, Riding motorcycles
Where To Next: "I'm Back" - Dope
Rating: 8 / 10

"Tonight It's You" - Cheap Trick

     For those new to the website, I figured I would let you in on how these songs are chosen. Each day as I listen to music, I gather songs that helped define that day. Tracks that had me thinking, "Man, this is a good song" or ones that were strangely fitting and helped create a memory that I will carry with me for a long time. I gather them all into a playlist and choose one before I go to bed by its impact. Sometimes I only have one option, so it is easy, and some days, like on the Sunday I chose this track, there are many fighting for the chance to show up on the website. Cheap Trick's "Tonight It's You" was the winner, though there were so many great choices. "Tonight It's You" has fought for it for a while. I think this was the fourth time it was in the lineup, and this time it won. I first added it to the running while it played as I showered while on vacation before finishing all the events and heading home. This track was practically invented to be an amazing shower song. Don't get any imagery of my odd-shaped body belting out some Cheap Trick; I am not that type of dude. Still, "Tonight It's You" sure made that disappointing shower something special. Why do hotels always have to have crappy showers? We even got a fancier room this go-around at the Holiday Inn. Motel 6 has given better showers, even if the water comes out a strange yellow hue and tastes like a trucker's armpit. It has something to do with pressure, but I could only imagine the plumbing that goes into hotels, so fair is fair. Anyway, this is Cheap Trick's first post on AintNoisePollution, which is damn shocking due to my love for the band. 733 songs later, but we eventually got there. Cheap Trick is a band that serves as the heart and soul of rock music of the 1970s. Well, I guess more of the pop rock variant. The band is one of the strongest acts to bring forth power pop, a genre that has always pushed boundaries on how close pop can get to rock while still keeping its pop placement. Not all of Cheap Trick is power pop, but there is no doubting their impact on the genre, they practically wrote the book. Our track certainly is one of Cheap Trick's poppier songs, but their earlier material has a good mix of hard, traditional, pop, and soft rock. "I Want You to Want Me" is one of the best songs the band ever did, especially that live version from the famous live album Cheap Trick at Budokan, and it shows off the band's power pop sound best. If you were to sit down and take in all the Cheap Trick albums from the first to the last, you would be in for a long ass sitting, no pun intended. They have dished out 21 studio albums, 6 live albums, and a ton of singles that are great but never hit an album. They are one of those groups that back up their studio work with impressive live albums. The aforementioned Cheap Trick at Budokan is often regarded as one of the greatest live albums of all time, something I fully agree with. They even have a sequel to that one called Budokan II which came out in 1994. The sequel added in the rest of the songs from that performance that didn't make the cut for the first part. It also has some damn good tracks from 1979 from the following tour of theirs. 1999 saw Music for Hangovers, which is a stand-up live album; nothing crazy, but something you don't want to skip over if you are taking in everything Cheap Trick. 2001's Silver saw Cheap Trick playing a song from each of their albums, which is a fun way of taking on a live album, plus it has guest musicians like Slash (Guns N' Roses), Art Alexakis (Everclear), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), and plenty of others. When I was doing my studies of 2001, I was pleasantly pleased to see how good that album is. I felt foolish for sleeping on it for so long. Lastly, we have Sgt. Pepper Live, which is, as you guessed, a cover album of the Beatles legendary 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the band does strangely well. A little too well. Since that one's release in 2009, Cheap Trick has released two other live albums that were recorded during their heyday in 1977 & 1979. There are few bands that have live albums that hold up sometimes even better than their studio material, and Cheap Trick is one of them.

     Many wouldn't believe it from hearing their studio work, but it is the truth. Cheap Trick is still stellar in most of their studio albums. I have vigorously listened to each of their albums that were released from 1977 to 2017. Their most recent studio album, All Washed Up, released at the end of last year, and I am pleased to announce that it is another good one. Certainly one of those albums put out by a band that has been going for a long time now, but still good. That one serves as their 21st studio album and shows the band isn't slowing down. If you aren't in the mood for a full album, I suggest trying "Twelve Gates" out; that is the shining gem. Anyway, good on Cheap Trick for being a rock hero for so long. They have released some of the biggest anthems in rock music, like "Surrender", "I Want You to Want Me", "Voices", "Dream Police", and so many others. They had a ton of hits in the 1970s, many in the 1980s, a good handful out of the 1990s, and not too many charting ones in the 2000s and on, but still plenty that are worth any rocker's time. Simply put, they have this style that makes just about anyone get into it. Softer songs like "Southern Girls", hard rockers like "Auf Wiedersehen", ballads like "The Flame", smooth suckers you hear on "Gonna Raise Hell", and plenty of tracks that can please any music fan out there. I have one hell of a bias since I have lived and breathed Cheap Trick for the last 15 years or more, but still, I stand by it that Cheap Trick is one of the greatest rock groups, and they stayed strong for longer than the majority out there. I could go on and on about how great the group is, but that might become one of those giant posts. Furthermore, I am just ashamed that it took this long to get a Cheap Trick post; who even am I?! Anyway, our song of the day is "Tonight It's You", an essential from their discography. The track shot up to the #8 spot on the US Billboard rock section, a spot they haven't hit for a good while. Cheap Trick hit the charts hard in the 1970s but couldn't make that same dent in the US charts until this track. They were still very popular in Australia but needed some love from their home country. "Tonight It's You" is one of three singles that came from their 8th studio album, Standing on the Edge, which was released in 1985. It was the only one to actually make the charts, even if "How About You" and "Little Sister" are also great songs. It is honestly difficult to beat "Tonight It's You". That track goes to show how Cheap Trick was one of the first to show the path of power pop, and 8 years after they did that with their debut, "Tonight It's You" is power pop in its most perfect form. Not quite a ballad, but it gets close. Not quite rock, but it gets close. Still, it is hardly even straight pop music, some strange hybrid that is more intense than soft rock or pop rock but still lacks the same bite rock was dishing out in 1985. I will say it is the perfect track for their debut on the website. I would like to see you try denying more Cheap Trick from hitting your music library after you hear this one. Chill inducing! Much in pop style, it is alllll about that chorus. "Tonight It's You" has the type of chorus that gets stuck in your head. It makes a bland, half-hungover shower at a Holiday Inn turn into an important mission. One with soul and purpose! The song is so damn commercial it makes you sick. That is power pop for you, folks. That isn't always a bad thing; Cheap Trick never was one to shy away from having a seriously polished sound that served as an anthem for the reckless youth and the lovers. Cheap Trick's style helped them stay on the charts with Standing on the Edge, which peaked at #35 on the charts, and showed that Cheap Trick was still going strong even if the album that came before didn't do so hot. Their next album, The Doctor, also did terribly, and as a big fan of the band, I can see why. That album frankly.... well... bad. Damn, that hurts to say out loud, but it feels good. Like a weight is lifted off me. It still has some good tracks, though. Following The Doctor in 1986, they bounced back and released one of their most impressive albums of the 1980s, Lap of Luxury. I am sure we will cover those at a different time. "Tonight It's You" is one of Cheap Trick's most pop-backed tracks, but also I find it to be one of their most innovative. It only runs for a solid 4:47, but it feels like there are 3 songs going at the same time simultaneously. The verses hardly match the lead-up to the chorus, the chorus sounds nothing like the strange part from 2:50 to 3:20, but ultimately it all is packaged into this intense package that pleases your ears as much as your soul. Alright, that is enough gushing out of me for today. Give the song a spin and see if it is to your liking. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1985
Album: Standing on the Edge (1985)
Genre: Power Pop
Mood: Empowering
​Perfect For: Showering, Getting ready for the day, Going out on the town, Casual listening, Chores, One night stands
Where To Next: "Lady" - Styx
Rating: 9 / 10

"Drive On" - A Certain Shade

     Welcome! Today we have a hidden gem. Honestly, I am not even sure how I came across them. Though, I can say with full confidence, they are the kind of group you hope to stumble upon. They only have one album and 45 monthly listeners, me being one of them. With that in mind, I don't really know how to guide this post. I wish I could be like some of those big-time websites where they use mathematics and shit to explain why this song is good, but that just isn't me. AintNoisePollution is supposed to be from one music fan to another, not a place where we talk about why something is good. Shit, that kills the fun of music! Plus, some of those writers have a lot of time to work on one piece. I am writing this stuff out on a whim after I work a full shift. My feet are stinkin' right now from how much time I was on those suckers. Ain't life grand? I need to get discovered. Help a fool out, would ya? Tell your family and friends to come get some new tracks here. I wish I had only one genre I stuck to; it would make it a lot easier, but I have never trusted a music fan that listens to only one genre. That is like taking advice about Oregon from some dude who has lived in rural Arkansas his whole life. It is almost your duty as a music fan in this modern streaming age of music to take in all you can get. To find those hidden gems like A Certain Shade, jam that shit, and spread the word. I think I came across them from a "similar artist" bender on Spotify stemming from another hidden gem from Utah called Sober Down. Now, I fuckin' love "Drive On" by A Certain Shade, but do me a favor and go hear some Sober Down. I cannot express to you how great that group is, especially if you like reggae. Sober Down, much like A Certain Shade, isn't your roots reggae. They aren't from Jamaica and share more roots with bands like Rebelution than they do with Bob Marley. America and reggae share a strange romance, and it never gets a chance to hit the big time unless your last name is Marley or you perfect a reggae standard sound for the nation, like Stick Figure did. From what I can find online, A Certain Shade comes out of the UK. "Drive On" is their most popular song, but once again, it has hardly any streams for how stellar it is. I can only find one place online where someone has talked about the band aside from their active Facebook page, but it is one of those where you gotta make an account that likely has that classic "for 5 dollars a month you can read this page" which has me quickly hitting that little "x" on the tab. Maybe I should do that.... and make everyone waste their hard-earned money. Your loose beer money could be my loose beer money! All jokes. You coming here and reading my foolish words is worth more than stupid money. Nothing hurts but moves along music like money; it is a necessary evil, but I have a long way to go before I can even ask for a fart from my readers. I do this all for the love of rock and music as a whole. Anyway, A Certain Shade seems to still have material elsewhere on SoundCloud and Bandcamp, but only a couple here and there. Most of their material is accessible on Spotify, and it is something you simply cannot miss out on if you like that sweet sweet reggae sound.

     While I was at work today, I was trying to figure out how to get this post rolling. Should we cover how this reggae sound came into popularity in the states? The difference between dub and reggae? The artwork? The lyrics? The strange concept of death? What underwear I should wear tomorrow? Why do we even wear underwear? Why haven't I switched mine in months? There were plenty of ways this could have gone, but I decided not to plan this one out. To just give you the song and let you do with it what you will. I mean, there wasn't much research I could do. I spent a third of my shift listening to other UK reggae groups, both the legends like Steel Pulse and the hidden gems like our diamond today. All I had was a shitload of inspiration, but the lack of ink in the pen to jot it down. "Drive On" starts off like any sunshine drenched reggae song of the time. Chill as all hell. It could make you melt like ice cream during winter. All the woes of the day turn into memories you chuckle at. There are times in life that it all doesn't make any sense. We work, we piss, we eat, we sleep, we die. It gets old. But there are songs out there that remind you of the simple things. The things that really matter, ya know? It is like taking a long hit right off the CO2 cartridge of Mother Nature. So long as you are kicking back and not hurting others, you are doing well. I think that is the true message of reggae music in all its forms. It is rare to see negative messages in reggae music. "Too blessed to be stressed" is the message. Let that shit go. A Certain Shade helps you see straight. No hate. No need to pick apart the music. Just peaceful tunes to help you along your day. I can't count the times I am having a shit day, but hear the intro to some sweet reggae music, and it all bubbles away. I chose "Drive On" when my lady and I first got into Twin Falls, ID, for our little vacation. It was a nice vacation. We intended for it to be more of a relaxing outing but should have known better since I cannot chill the fuck out to save my life. After the long drive in a rental, we pulled into town. Now, I am used to some hectic roads, but it seemed Twin Falls was having a stupid fuck convention when we rolled up. Strangely busy for a town of its size, but they must be going through a growing period, plus it was a Saturday, so I don't know what I was shocked by. My stress level was fairly high, both on how to kill the time and on where to check out first. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to get out of town alongside my wonderful girlfriend, but stress does as stress pleases. After a smoke we planned out where to go while we wait for check in time at the hotel. After some shopping and checking out the town, we started heading to the hotel. While on the residential streets of this foreign town, I had one of my many obsessive thoughts about perception. These people have never seen my home and thus don't realize that their little town is similar to my hometown of Orem. Are places really all that different from each other? I mean, Los Angeles is probably day and night from Orem, UT, but once you get away from the hubs, is it all that different? Different hues, same existence. During that thought, "Drive On" came on, and there was nothing to do but check out the familiar sights of somewhere I have never been. The cars that drive teens around at midnight while people are having a drink in the back. Bars that see the same ol' faces each night. Churches that see those same people the next morning. Places of work people shiver to think about on their days off. I was seeing all these places as if they were mine. I lived the life of the mechanic at Snake River Point S Tire in that moment. Saw the wife and kids I never had. Felt the loss of our cat Joey and felt the joy of seeing my daughter marry. Wore the pants of the waitress at some random greasy spoon. Felt the drag of her cigarette while she was on break. This is life. This is what we are all doing. Why can't we all see things the same? Why is the life perception of Sue, Suzy, and Suzzette different? Why do we all chase our tails and think we know what is right? Why does Twin Falls feel the same as Orem? Why do I even care? Why does A Certain Shade not sell out venues? Who even still buys cassettes of ZZ Top compilations? Why was Weezer's Malladroit kind of mundane? Why can't I find something I love about it no matter how many times I listen to it? Does Larry at Snake River Point S Tire like that album? Could he enjoy it more if Suzy from Idaho Joe's played it for him on her half-blown speakers on her 2010 Honda Civic that has left its black mark on many curbs across Idaho? And just like that, those thoughts chill out as A Certain Shade dishes out one hell of a song. I realize I am nowhere currently, just taking in life as it comes, with the person I love next to me. That is life. Existence. The little human experience we pick apart for meaning. All is well. This vacation is going great, and it just started. "Drive On" defined that trip, and I was so excited to share it with you since the group is worth every minute you sink into them. So, I will let you go; this post got off the rails awfully quick. Load up the track, load up that bowl, or simply hit the road and enjoy music made from Mother Earth herself. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2010
Album: Three Kingdoms (2010)
Genre: Reggae, Reggae Rock
Mood: Peaceful
​Perfect For: Driving on a sunny day, Getting stoned, Casual listening, Listening to on a bad day, Vacations
Where To Next: "She's a Bore" - Sober Down
Rating: 8 / 10

"Faceless One" - Hate Eternal

     We are back online! Thanks for your patience while I was out. I got some goodies for you here on AintNoisePollution. We got some reggae and some power pop-based rock coming up, but how about we start with some death metal? I know you were hoping to read those words! I got a track that will please the headbangers that live by the leather, but there is still plenty of room for those that don't really like the extreme metal genres. My mom is always saying she loves the instrumental parts of the extreme genres but can hardly stand the vocals. Well, I got one for you, Mom! A little late for Mother's Day, but hey, don't say I didn't get ya anything. Do you know what mothers love? Bands called Hate Eternal. Trust me on this. Hate Eternal is one of the many immensely talented death metal groups out there, first finding fame with their second studio album, King of All Kings, in 2002. I just finished listening through that one for my third time just a week or two ago. Brutal enough to make you sick, that one is. I mean, it is death metal; it ain't supposed to make you feel like you just woke up to a sunny day. It is supposed to get your hackles up. That is what I love about it. The band started up in 1997, coming along during some of the most impressive years of the Florida death metal scene. The original lineup was Erik Rutan on vocals and lead guitar, Doug Cerrito on rhythm guitar, Jared Anderson on bass, and Tim Yeung on the drums. All of those mentioned were either already part of an essential extreme metal band or would go on to share the stage with some of the best out there. Erik Rutan is the only member from that original four to be in Hate Eternal today. Rutan first hit the metal world with the hidden gem band Ripping Corpse. His first band didn't gain all too much attention but did get him noticed by death metal legends Morbid Angel, whom he joined up with in 1993 and only stuck around for one studio album in 1995 called Domination. Though it is an unpopular opinion, I find Domination to be one of the band's best albums. In 1996 Rutan started up his own band, our spotlighted artist, Hate Eternal. He would return to Morbid Angel in 2000 for their sixth studio album, Gateways to Annihilation, another kick-ass Morbid Angel album, but that is to be expected. Those guys are legends for a reason. Following that, he decided to dedicate full time to Hate Eternal to get it going. You can feel the shift in dedication from the band's debut to their second album, King of All Kings. It is pretty clear that Rutan learned a thing or two following his time with Morbid Angel, especially on Gateways to Annihilation. It isn't all about neck-breaking speed and sheer aggression; some of the beauty of death metal comes in the form of a special brand of brutality you cannot get in any other of the many metal subgenres. As soon as you load up King of All Kings, you are met with killer drumming with intoxicating blast beats and so much fuzz you get an itchy feeling all around you. I dig that album for its place in the death metal world and its simple approach to the genre, but the band only gets better as the albums move along. When I was first doing my deep dive to understand the death metal genre, Hate Eternal was a standard stop-off. I have only listened through their discography one time, but they aged alongside the death metal genre wonderfully. Some of their albums have gotten plenty of love since my first discography run. If you have a hankering for a great death metal album, you can find few better than the band's 2011 Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, or a personal favorite, Upon Desolate Sands. 

     Many would say that the best place to start with Hate Eternal is their third studio album, I, Monarch. A statement that I stand with since it shows the band off in the best light. Somewhere between their later sound and the choking on barbed wire early sound. The critics were praising the hell out of the album when it first dropped. Many claiming it was rewriting the expectation of death metal, others saying that Hate Eternal put out a bonafide classic for the genre. This was the album I first sampled the band. I will admit, when I first listened to it, I wasn't all too impressed, but I was young then and was fighting tooth and nail to find my footing within the genre. Frankly, this extreme sound was scary and unappealing. Now as a wisened and traveled metalhead, I recognize it for what it is, a fuckin' classic! From start to finish, the album doesn't disappoint. It holds some of their most popular tracks, like "Behold Judas" and "The Victorious Reign", both of which will have you quaking in your boots. I could have chosen any off this album, but upon its chosen day, it was the final song off the album, "Faceless One", that stole the show. I honestly thought that Hate Eternal would find their debut with "Two Demons" or "Dark Age of Ruin", but "Faceless One" more than serves as a great place to start with the group. Instrumental tracks can either impress the living hell out of you or leave you bored. For "Faceless One" you will find yourself having one hell of a hell ride. There is certainly a spotlight on the drums, as it should be. On the drums we have Derek "One Take" Roddy. You don't get a nickname like that for no reason. He quickly gained fame in the metal session musician world for being able to do some seriously impressive stuff on almost any track, all in one take. I mean, just listen to "Faceless One" and tell me you could sit down and bash that shit out. I doubt it. It is a chaotic attack on your senses; even Ian Paice would be taking notes. It seems like the dude has four fuckin' arms like a Mortal Kombat fighter. The Goro of heavy metal. Derek Roddy has been around, and each time he enters the studio, he helps the respective group achieve a whole new prestige. He is known for his place in Hate Eternal above all others, but he has been with progressive metal, black metal, hard rock, groove metal, and anything else that needs his sticks. An unsung drummer, but one that is easily recognizable once you listen to him once. "Faceless One" is one of his greatest achievements. For its whole 4:39 running time, you are captivated by how fuckin' intense his drumming is. The guitars and bass cradle the drums, something that usually isn't a thing. Just goes to show how great he is with those fast as lightning sticks. He only shows up on Hate Eternal's second and third studio albums, which just so happens to be two of their most classic. Chance? I think not! He adds some serious fire to the all-consuming power of Hate Eternal. Still, even without Roddy there to slam on those drums, Hate Eternal is still great! I wonder why we haven't seen another album yet. I guess with Erik Rutan being with Cannibal Corpse right now will do that. Have you heard their most recent album out of 2023 yet? Chaos Horrific has some serious giddy up, and I wonder if Rutan is a piece of that. I am excited for Hate Eternal to release another. For my studies I am going through their discography again; some I hardly need to since I have listened to it a solid couple of times within the last 2 years, but it is always nice to listen to a discography from start to finish. There is a good chance you will see more here soon, especially when I get to my 2005 section in a little less than a year from now if all things go well. For now, enjoy this instrumental! It is a goldmine of drumming. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2005
Album: I, Monarch (2005) <- Spotify only has the censored album cover. Lame.
Genre: Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal
Mood: Intense
​Perfect For: Focused listening, Beating someone to a pulp during a manic episode, Driving fast and focused
Where To Next: "The Burning Pits of the Duat" - Nile
Rating: 9 / 10

"I Want Candy" - The Strangeloves

     "I Want Candy" is one of those tracks that we all know, but the majority of us out there don't know who was the first to get a hit off it. The song has been covered plenty of times, and there are plenty of famous versions. For today, we have the original from The Strangeloves. Ultimately, The Strangeloves got lost to the test of time. Though, their hit singles are something people still talk about today. The Strangeloves came out of the pop scene of the 1960s. A place where there were countless groups showing up, putting out a stellar hit single, and then fading away almost within the same year. One-hit wonders. The Strangeloves had a couple of strong hits, but none achieved close to the same height on the charts as "I Want Candy". With them coming along during a time when bands were popping up left and right for their chance to cut a hit single, they needed something to help set them apart from all the other bands, especially since a good chunk of the bands also started with "the". So, like any sane band would, they pretended to be something they were not: Australian. They came along and pretended to be three brothers named Giles, Miles, and Niles Strange. Why Australia? Well, they needed to keep up with the current trends taking the world by storm, and starting in 1963, that came in the form of the British beat. They knew they couldn't pretend to be British and get away with it, so they settled on Australia. They had these fake personas to keep up, so they created a backstory for their characters. All three brothers were raised on a sheep farm down under. This sheep farm of theirs came into a lot of money with the brothers discovering a new kind of sheep through crossbreeding. They didn't know what to do with all that money, so they decided to start up a band. They would hit the stage decked out in animal prints and bring spears and tribal drums and all the other stuff they saw in what seems to be 30 minutes of studying into Australia. Now, Americans being Americans, they didn't know what the fuck an Australian was other than what they heard in jokes, saw in pictures, and were told, so most people bought it. Nobody was all too impressed with the story, so it didn't really help the Strangeloves stand out in the end. People were just there for the music, in which The Strangeloves found moderate fame as the years moved along. Their first single came out in 1964, a fun little ditty called "Love, Love". It was released with the band's name as Strange Loves and failed to make too much of a dent on the charts, peaking at #122. The Strangeloves released singles under many different names from 1964 to 1969. They had some okay names like Strange Loves, The Strangeloves, and The Sheep, but then they had some plain strange ones like The Beach-Nuts, Rome & Paris, and the strangest being The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141. Why? I am honestly not quite sure. I mean, The Strangeloves had their string of hits, one of which being a major hit, but overall they seem to be strange chaps. So, since we are here, who are The Strangeloves? Their names aren't Giles, Miles, and Niles; I can tell you that much. The Strangeloves were put together by songwriting and producing trio Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer. Any of those names ring a bell? They should. All three of them, especially Goldstein and Gotteher, found a lot of success in helping along some of the biggest pop and R&B hits in the early 1960s. Most had short-lived success but still had their hands in the changing tides of rock music through the pop hits that bridged the time between 1950s rock n roll and the British beat. When they were all together, they were the Strangeloves, or the Sheep, or whatever the hell, but when alone, they were writing pop hits and producing top sellers.

     "I Want Candy" is arguably their grandest achievement. The track is timeless; we all know that chorus. It is a classic for showing how Bo Diddley did a ton for all the genres of the time with his Bo Diddley beat. Every time I try explaining his beat, I tend to use "I Want Candy" since it is the easiest to hear clearly. It is the beat that starts the song off and stays the whole way through. You might notice that a ton of songs from that time and later years all share that same beat. "I Want Candy" simply furthered that beat to more listeners than just the rock-a-rollers. The track became a pop classic, with each cover version becoming a hit and only further solidifying its place in the history books. Overall, it is a damn simple track, but that is the beauty. The chorus makes it sound a little bit like a child's song, one where all the boy wants is some candy. Though, if you take even a second, you will find quickly that it is a love song about a girl named Candy. Man, that would be a cute little girl name, but much like Kitty, it would become a stripper name by the time she becomes an adult. I swear some people don't think of these things when naming a child. I will admit, I wanted to name a daughter Kitty for a long time, but each lady I told that to shut it down practically instantly. It is cute, dammit! Anyway, the song was reportedly written following the band seeing Candy Johnson performing at the 1964 World's Fair. Candy Johnson was a famous go-go dancer of the early 1960s who showed up in a couple of movies and even opened up a nightclub for a little bit in Manhattan called The Candy Store. I am not sure if that is the true backing, but it honestly seems to match the timeline and everything else. The Strangeloves wrote the song but decided to record it themselves, and thus it became the band's biggest hit by a long shot. I wonder who they would have handed it to. The Angels? The Beatles? The McCoys? Sam Cooke? Who knows? I am personally glad that they did it themselves since it gives us a chance to talk about this strange ass group from the pop/rock sound of 1965. "I Want Candy" did a lot for the music world. It went on to hit the history books for its place in serving as an early punk sound, which is odd to type out, but if you have studied the genre, you can see the roots. Not only that, but it was a hit that defined the summer of 1965, and its impact had the youth dancing across the nation. One last grand slam of this style before The Beatles fully changed up the game and altered their style, and then soon enough it was the era of folk rock and psychedelic rock. The single was put out by the Bang label. Ever since starting collecting records, I have found that Bang Records always puts out some odd stuff. They take their chances, and sometimes those chances work out, like it did with "I Want Candy". I wouldn't be shocked if this were the label's biggest hit. The Strangeloves only put out one studio album, I Want Candy, in 1965. It is pretty damn similar to the compilation that was chosen for the post. Even the album cover is the same, but the greatest hits compilation we chose simply says "The Best Of" over the band's name and I want candy. Guess that is fair since The Strangeloves really didn't put all too much stuff out. That studio album has fallen out of the public eye long ago, and even when it was released, it fared poorly. It is one that I have had my eye out for since I started collecting, mainly for this song and some of my other tracks I dig by them like "(Roll On) Mississippi", "Satisfaction", "Night Time", and some others. I haven't listened to the album for a good while since it isn't on Spotify. Most of my time goes to the compilation you see here since it is the only album of theirs on Spotify. "I Want Candy" is their biggest hit even now. Though, their version of "Hang On Sloopy" is their top streamed, even though I think the credits are mixed up and it is the standard hit version from The McCoys. That one is another garage rock, pop, and rock and roll standard. I think I might have just found my "where to next" song early; that is always nice. Well, I hope you dig the track and the history behind it. Those in-between days of rock music during the early 1960s are filled with plain weird tales; it seems everyone was confused on what was coming next. Act like it is the summer of 1965, turn up that radio, and fade away in the sun-kissed sound of music of the time. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1965
Chosen Compilation: I Want Candy: The Best of The Strangeloves (1995)
Genre: Garage Rock, Bubblegum Pop
Mood: Cutesy
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Innocent romance, Feeling good, Taking a walk
Where To Next: "Hang On Sloopy" - The McCoys
Rating: 7 / 10

"Not the One" - The Offspring

     This month has had me reaching into the past a little too heavily. The topic of Sublime, which was my teenage band (still love them the same today), Megadeth who has seemingly been with me since the start, FEAR in all their glory that helped show me the ropes of hardcore punk back when I was a wee rocker; and now we have The Offspring, one of the bands that helped define me as a person through the confusing days of elementary school. I cannot tell you how fuckin' cool the Offspring were during that time period. When I came into the band, they were past their punked-out stage, like we have with us today. I came across them during their studio hiatus stage from 2003 to 2008. Even with a lot of their top-selling albums being many years old by the point I got there around age 7, they were still household names in rock music and the mainstream side of punk that came out of the 1990s. For my area, and probably everyone else's in the US, The Offspring are radio staples. You'd have to be deaf to not have heard at least 5 different tracks a day, shit, sometimes you would hear that many in one sitting. When Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace came out in 2008, it was one of those albums that I was listening to religiously. "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" is as essential as you can get with The Offspring, and like all the other punk-ass kids stomping the streets at that time, that song practically consumed the year for me. It took me a second; I was super accustomed to their alternative rock-based punk sound from albums like Americana & Conspiracy of One and the skate-friendly punk sound of Smash. You could tell they were going for something a little different on Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, something that matched the current rock sound of the time. They never lost that punk backing; in a strange way, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace saw them returning to their original punk sound that had them smashing into the mainstream in 1994 with Smash. Once I found that groove, it was all-consuming, and even now I have flashes of forgotten memories of that lost summer of rebellion without a cause when relistening to it. The Offspring is a band that has been with me for a damn long time. Longer than most, and even with its constant rotation, I have never tired of them, especially my beloved Smash. As we have talked about in the past, punk rock had a resurgence in the 1990s. Bands like Green Day, Rancid, Blink-182, and The Offspring ushered in a whole new movement for the genre. Sure, it lost a lot of that low-quality kickin' fuck fest that gave the genre soul, but it got punk rock back into the charts. Many pure-blooded punkers have a difficult time considering bands like The Offspring punk, but those dudes need a reality check. Money plays a pivotal role in all of our lives. Money aside, if I had the chance to bring my art, my passion, to thousands of ears that have it play some role in their lives, I would take it, even if some scrawny bald fuck yells "sell out" while they smoke on their name-brand cigarette and are wearing a Jamesome Whiskey shirt that they bought from some alt store for 80 bucks. The Offspring melded the punk sound with mainstream rock, and skate punk with pop punk, and all of that came fully together in their groundbreaking third album, Smash. Before that album they were another punk group, never finding much innovation but showing signs they were more than just another local band of ruffians that says "fuck the police". I dig some tracks off their first two, but they are nothing in comparison to the albums that came after. Wanna hear a damn good early track? Try "LAPD" or "Blackball". All bands have their start, and some start off in the right place and others take a couple of years to find that place. The Offspring is of the latter, but there is still plenty of merit in those first two.

     Smash is one of those albums you just gotta listen to at least once in your life. Not only is it chock full of great tracks, it also is a time capsule of the time. There are plenty of tracks that are rock essentials that came from this sucker. Songs like "Self Esteem", "Gotta Get Away", and "Come Out and Play" are phenomenal songs. I mean... fucking phenomenal! Those ones alone make this album an essential, but even outside the massively successful singles, there isn't a bad track. It is the kind of album that you can listen to as an album and thoroughly enjoy, or take in a couple of songs as you go and enjoy it the same. The damn thing even has an introduction track, something that lost its art even back in the 1970s. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys did the introduction track for their following album, Inxay on the Hombre, and to balance it out, John Mayer did the spoken word on the track "Intermission". Once again, The Offspring was putting out punk albums meant to be enjoyed in any way you wanted but emphasized hearing them from start to finish. It did come before the streaming era, so it isn't all too shocking, but I love how they do it. I am a massive fool for intro tracks, and some of that might be due to The Offspring exposing me to them at a young age. It makes it feel so personal. Anyway, Smash was a smash hit! They went from an album that sold 15,000 copies and did not chart to selling into the platinum mark and charting in the top ten practically worldwide. They didn't expect it, especially since they were doing music that never charts like that. Though, with the help of Green Day's Dookie and the grunge scene bringing heavier music to the charts again, they were in the right place at the right time. I can't even just chalk it up to that. The band put out something that people loved, and even to this day, people love it. The kids of today might not be spiking their hair and scabbing up their knees and elbows, but they too can find a home in the angst. The Offspring has more adult lyrics than anything, maybe young adult, but that explosive energy is for the kiddies. Smash is one of the most essential albums of 1994, and if you ask me, of the 1990s as a whole. No matter what type of rocker you are, punker you are, or other music genre fan, you can find something to love within this album. Our song of the day is one of the many great tracks that fill Smash. "Not the One" is one of the most competent songs on the album. The Offspring, before this album, brought societal issues into the spotlight often; I mean, it is punk rock after all. "Not the One" is another one of those, but written from a different stance than the normal "this world sucks, let's fuck it up" lyricism of the genre. This time around, vocalist and dominant songwriter Dexter Holland is trying to figure out who to blame for this messed-up world. He makes it clear that he, alongside his generation, isn't to blame for all the bad shit out there. A world where hatred runs supreme, and those that are put down by the system then turn their anger to the innocents out there. I have always been immensely frustrated by the same issue. I am just trying to live my life, man, I am innocent in this. Granted, am I? I mean, sure, I didn't go out there and pour crude oil onto penguins, nor do I go out and petition to take away rights from my fellow man, but what am I doing to fix it? Burying my head in the sand and hoping when I pop it back out it'll be a better world? I would love to say, "What can I do?" because it is the truth, but doing something is better than nothing. My spot in this world is bringing kindness to strangers. I put myself at a loss much too often to help some stranger along, but I rarely get the same treatment back. This world is built for the selfish; it is the only way to swim in this toxic sea, but through years of never giving up on being a helping hand, I've grown mighty accustomed to sinking. Still, I am no saint. So, when Holland shouts out with punk vigor, "I am innocent", is he? Are any of us in the end? We all, in one way or another, help this stupid world along for another day of corporate-approved greed and hatred. Lyrically, the track is a great one; it brings into question so many issues, though like anything else of this type, there are all questions and no answers. I can't blame someone for that; questions are better than silence. The whole band does wonderfully on this, with a special golden star going to guitarist Noodles (Kevin Wasserman) and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland with that trippy-ass guitar dance. So many layers, so much electricity! Alright, I am trying to avoid this from turning into a massive ass post, so I will stop while I am ahead. Just remember, it is easy to blame the past generations; it is easy to blame another nation or culture; it is easy enough to blame your neighbor. But this world is full of fucked-up people selfishly living their lives, and there is a good chance you are part of the problem even when you don't mean to be. Try your best. Be extra sure not to step on snails. We all have a long way to go, but we will never be able to get it all done if we don't come together and stop pointing fingers. You know what they say: when you point your finger, there are always three pointing back at yourself. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1994
Album: Smash (1994)
Genre: Punk Rock
Mood: Pissed
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Reading the news, Introspective thoughts, A voice for the voiceless
Where To Next: "Panic Song" - Green Day
Rating: 8 / 10

"Slow Ride" - Slightly Stoopid & Stick Figure

     Are you ready to get stoopid? This is the second time that Slightly Stoopid has shown up on the website. There is to be plenty more, but for today we have their cover of "Slow Ride" alongside Stick Figure. Sublime was the original artist to do the track on their compilation Second-hand Smoke in 1997. "Slow Ride" had its first home on Sublime's demo album but didn't get a proper home until 1997. I have always found "Slow Ride" to be a criminally overlooked track from the band. For our version today, I am not quite sure if Sublime is actually part of what is going down. They are the first to be titled in the artist credits, but with this song showing up on the Sublime tribute album, Look at All the Love We Found, it is only to be expected. Either way, we are going to act like it is a Slightly Stoopid & Stick Figure track for today. Anyway, I guess we sort of already poked at it; our song of the day comes off the tribute album ​Look at All the Love We Found. Originally the album was released in 2005 and featured 16 tracks, but then the album was released again with additional tracks from the covers album put together by Pepper and the Nowell Family Foundation called The House That Bradley Built and some other stragglers. Our song of the day is one of those stragglers. The original 2005 track listing has some seriously impressive names and versions. The first time I ran through it, I was in hog heaven. I am a massive Sublime fan; there is no band that was more involved with my teen years than Sublime, so to hear some of my favorite songs being covered by other bands I dig is great. We got Pennywise doing "Same in the End", "Date Rape" from Fishbone, a great cover of "D.J.'s" from No Doubt, "Pawn Shop" from Los Lobos, and a ton more. I will say the rerelease is even better. This one featured the majority of reggae, punk, and rock royalty. Be it the Long Beach Dub Allstars doing "Little District" or the Zac Brown Band performing "Wrong Way". What I love the most about those two tribute albums are the song choices. They aren't doing what some of those tribute albums do, where it is solely the big ones, Look at All the Love We Found has some of Sublime's large catalogue of hidden gems. I mean, the hits are obviously there, you cannot have a Sublime themed thing without the timeless tracks such as "What I Got", "Santeria", "Wrong Way", and all the other goodies. Still, for them to have a spot for "Work That We Do", "Ebin", "Little District", and "Paddle Out" is great to see. If you are a fan of Sublime but haven't taken too much time to expand into the plethora of bands they inspired, this is a great album to get them all in one place. Slightly Stoopid is naturally one of the most heavily influenced by Sublime. Vocalist and guitarist Bradley Nowell personally signed the band to his record label, Skunk Records, after chancing by and hearing them practice in their garage while they were still in high school. Slightly Stoopid had the same roots, style, experimentation, and party atmosphere as Sublime. The two are practically two sides of the same coin. Bradley Nowell passed away in 1996 during the peak of Sublime's fame, so we never had a chance to see how they would have swum in the changing tides of American reggae music in the 2000s, but seeing as how they were one of the biggest influences on the style, I think they would have done just fine. It took Slightly Stoopid a minute or two to find their footing, but once they got there, they became a name synonymous with American reggae. Funnily enough, Slightly Stoopid doesn't lean into the reggae genre as hard as some of the others but still is regarded as one of the fathers of the California reggae rock scene. Slightly Stoopid jumps between a ton of varying genres, much like Sublime did, but ultimately there is a special place for reggae, especially on their modern albums. Slightly Stoopid has proved that they are going to stick around with the success of their recent songs and albums, but I do wonder about Sublime. They are to release their fourth studio album, Until the Sun Explodes, in June with Bradley's kid, Jakob. The two tracks they have released so far are fuckin' great, and it is uncanny how close Jakob sounds to his pops. Guess we will see!

     "Slow Ride" fits Slightly Stoopid like a glove! The addition of Stick Figure only makes it all that much more grand. Stick Figure is one of the most successful reggae artists of all time, especially in the US. Many put his fame, sales, and acclaim next to that of Bob Marley. Something I was shocked to find out about the first time I read it. But it is the truth, and from seeing the crazy turnout of their last concert I attended, seeing is believing. Even with Stick Figure being along for the ride on "Slow Ride", you can tell that Slightly Stoopid is the one sailing the ship. For our image below I chose the single put out by the two instead of the art used for the aforementioned compilation it would show up on within the same year. I just like that artwork, the perfect melding between all the artists on the famous Sublime sun they used on their debut, 40oz. to Freedom. "Slow Ride" is a song that features some classic Bradley and Sublime lyricism. Cleverly written with a little bit of sleaze and desperation. It covers being obsessed with a chick as she strings you along. Confusion, horniness, desperation, boozing, and pride all get put into question. A whirlwind of emotion and desires that is shown wonderfully by all the artists included. The track goes down smooth as fine bourbon in an old-fashioned. No need for gulps; it is all about that slow sipping to take in all of its flavor. There is the hint of orange from the peel left in the glass, the dry, choking whiskey to add some heat, and that sugar cube making it an enjoyable treat. "Slow Ride" put out by Sublime has a much more raw feeling to it. Adding in some dive bar feeling in comparison to Slightly Stoopid's tiki lounge vibe. When Bradley sings, it always feels like a friend telling you a story, and "Slow Ride" is one of the greatest examples to show that off. The Sublime version even has a phone call part where Bradley gets shut down by his love interest, adding that personal touch. He just gets more desperate following that, but there is some introspective thought to spice it up. A lusty track that doesn't try hiding it. Not your cliché lusty track, mind, but one of honesty. He even says that he is thinking with his "ding-a-ling" which always sounds childish unless Chuck Berry sings it on his comedic 1972 live performance of "My Ding-a-Ling". Shit, we all know that Sublime is childish, but that is a piece of the fun. It is immature, sleazy, but most importantly, authentic. Slightly Stoopid is an authentic group as well, but some of that rootsy edge was lost as they moved along. That isn't a bad thing, but it is something I do crave from the group. The material that is on Slightly Stoopid's Closer to the Sun, Everything You Need, and the live acoustic album, Acoustic Roots: Live & Direct, are comforting albums, they feel human. I adore where American reggae has gone since those albums were released, but it loses that human feeling to it. Now it is all dreamy and strange, which is fuckin' great, but I miss the peaceful and easygoing vibes. It used to be stuff you smoked up and enjoyed the sunshine; now you smoke up and get stuck on thoughts about other life that is out there in the stars. Two different highs, two different feelings of reggae, and you can hear that for yourself if you listen to the Slightly Stoopid version of "Slow Ride" back-to-back with the original one put out by Sublime. No matter your preference, the Slightly Stoopid one is great and is almost even better if I dare to say that out loud. The student becomes the master. I am damn glad to have some reggae on the website. I feel like it's been much too long. Well, I will just let you get to it already. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2025
Single: Slow Ride (2025)
Genre: Reggae
Mood: Desperate
​Perfect For: Having a smooth cocktail, Drinking cheap beer, Summer days, Lonely nights
Where To Next: "D.J.'s" - Iration
Rating: 9 / 10

"Found Out About You" - Gin Blossoms

     Alright, after we had two heavy-hitting tracks, how about we bring it back in with something chill? Gin Blossoms are exactly that, but not the kind of chill that has you falling asleep. The kind of chill that is brought forth by compelling songwriting that is equal parts personal and relatable. Gin Blossoms are alternative rock royalty from the 1990s, even if they only had 8 hit singles and two hit albums. You cannot talk about the 1990s alternative rock genre without bringing Gin Blossoms up. Tracks like "Hey Jealousy", "Follow You Down", "Till I Hear It From You", and "Found Out About You" are classics that aged like fine wine. They have that burned-out 1990s feeling, a style that I have been obsessed with since first getting Days of the New's debut album as a child. Gin Blossom's take on that strung-out, burned-out feeling is backed by a little more pop than other groups out of the same decade. This naturally gained them plenty of critical backlash but also gained them a ton of support from casual listeners and album collectors alike. They still have legions of fans, both old and young, who flock to their shows when they come to town. In Salt Lake City we have a little nature center called the Red Butte Garden, and during the summer they throw some concerts there. I have always wanted to attend one but never found the time or drive before another summer shot by. Since my lady and I are celebrating our first full year in SLC, I figured this might be the year. So after a week or so of them announcing who was coming to play, I jumped on their website to maybe buy some tickets. There are plenty of great names coming through, like Ziggy Marley, Interpol, Jesse Welles, Bonnie Raitt, and plenty of others, but there were none more tempting to buy tickets for than Gin Blossoms and Blues Traveler. Just imagine the moody lights surrounded by flowers while the bands play. I had stars in my eyes and my hands on my wallet, but when I clicked the "get tickets" button, I was hit with a 250 fuckin' dollar asking price. I about shit! I mean, I would get it if it was The Rolling Stones or Metallica, but not Gin Blossoms. It took me a solid 7 seconds to realize that the show was sold out. I waited too long. Maybe I will keep an eye on the classifieds and see if someone is selling some. Anyway, I'm not sure why I went off on that side tangent. Oh yeah! There are plenty of groups coming to perform this summer at the Red Butte Garden, but there are only two shows sold out, one of which is Gin Blossoms and Blues Traveler. Now, there are bands on that list overall more successful and current shooting stars, but it is Gin Blossoms that sold out. Goes to show that there are fans such as myself willing to spend their hard-earned cash to go see these dudes play even all these years later. Gin Blossoms is a name that won't fade from the pop and alternative world very easily; their hits will outlive everyone out there reading this post. They are just that good. Our song of the day is a testament to just that. You already know the track, I know, but I couldn't help but add it in. You see, I sleep to music, and more often than not the first song I hear of the day isn't my choice. Mornings hit hard, and I look like a soggy piece of cardboard and feel just about the same, so I tend not to even register which song is going. In between my last two alarms, "Found Out About You" must have been playing since I was having a dream about the song. If I recall right, I was just sitting around in some car, and the song was playing, and I thought to myself, "Man, this song is fuckin' great! I should talk about it on my website". Well, I woke up, and the song was still playing. I restarted it and got on with getting ready for the day and played it one more time on the way to work for safe measure. Not shocking that, both in dreams and in reality, it was bound to be my song of the day, and here we are.

     Gin Blossoms live and breathe their hits, but their albums shouldn't be taken lightly. Their debut came along in 1989, a little album called Dusted. Now, I will admit that I have only listened to that album a whole once in my life, but I will say that it isn't all too impressive of a debut. That is alright. Debuts can be hit and miss, trust me, I have run through hundreds of them, and only 1/3rd are worth a damn. The time and place weren't right for the Gin Blossoms quite yet, plus they had a way to go for progressing their talent and sound. Dusted serves as a fun little album modernly since it holds early versions of some of their greatest songs. "Found Out About You", "Hey Jealousy", "Lost Horizons", "Idiot Summer" and some others were rerecorded for various EPs and albums. You gotta go and listen to them on YouTube since that album isn't on Spotify, but it is a worthwhile listen if you are a fan of the band. It is easy to see that the band grew by the time they released their second album, New Miserable Experience, in 1992. New Miserable Experience was the band's first to be signed under a big label, and it shows. Upon its release it sold minorly and didn't get all too favorable reviews, but once their hit "Hey Jealousy" vigorously climbed the charts a year later, people came back and said, "Never mind, this band is great!". Funny how that works. Anyway, the album eventually became a 1990s classic. It holds a good chunk of their most famous songs. They brought a little bit of their home state of Arizona with them into the recording studio based in Tennessee. There is a desert-baked feeling to their music. Melancholy mornings, sunbaked days, bleak clear nights, and the howling wind consume this album. There is a feeling of hope and a feeling of hopelessness packaged up into 45 solid minutes of great alternative rock. The first album cover features the band's logo on top of a desert landscape, cacti and all, with pulp movie poster font telling you the album name. I kind of like the rerelease album cover more, the one you see below, which features the band's picture plastered over the windshield of the band's own touring van. That gritty desert feeling is still there strong. It is one of those album covers that give you an idea of what is within. New Miserable Experience is a solid album, nothing world-changing, but pleasant from start to finish. It has been an album that has played alongside me for a good chunk of my life. The hits are where it is at within, I won't lie, but the other tracks have their own personal character to them. The Gin Blossoms share writing duties on the album, but even with the varying themes, there is this personal lacing to all of them. It feels like a lonesome boy's journal that he started up for fun but eventually heavily relies on to have somewhere to vent. The vocal work of Robin Wilson supports that feeling. Plenty of highs on this album, one of the highest being the 8th track on the album, "Found Out About You". This track holds some of the most impressive vocal work from Wilson. The Gin Blossoms knew this song was bound to be a hit since first toying with it in 1989. The version on their debut isn't nearly as grand as the one we hear today, but even on that one you cannot deny it was meant for mass appeal. "Found Out About You" got there, hitting the top of the alternative charts in 1993 and making it into the top ten on the US pop charts, US mainstream rock charts, and Canadian Hot 100. A massive success that helped the Gin Blossoms name spread like wildfire. A compelling song, to say the least. The track is strangely comforting and shrouded, almost like something you weren't supposed to have heard. It is bleeding with emotion while Robin Wilson sings about the confused emotions following a breakup. An obsession that has the character hearing of all the news about his ex from chatter around town, even if half of what he hears is taken into insecure imagery. The cold bite to this song is the man who wrote it and a lot of the other tracks on New Miserable Experience, guitarist Doug Hopkins. Hopkins was let go during the recording of this album due to uncontrollable alcohol problems that left him unable to perform. He was sent back home and strong-armed by the record label to relinquish his publishing royalties, which he begrudgingly did for the money offered. Well, the album he helped create hit the big time a year after its release. His personal problems with addiction and mental health worsened, and he ended up ending his own life in 1993. Both "Found Out About You" and "Hey Jealousy" have this tinge of desperation to them, something that helped them sell, and those were written by Doug Hopkins. Sad stuff. Be sure to check on your friends and loved ones. I guess I will end the post on a happy note, eh? You know what to do. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1992
Album: New Miserable Experience (1992)
Genre: Alternative Rock
Mood: Honest
​Perfect For: Autumn drives, Lonesome nights, Dating game, Casual listening
Where To Next: "The Freshmen" - The Verve Pipe
Rating: 9 / 10

"Fresh Flesh" - FEAR

     There are moments on the website that I feel I need to add some parental advisory tags. This is one of those times. FEAR is one raunchy group, one of the raunchiest from the 1980s hardcore punk scene, and that is seriously saying something. I fuckin' adore FEAR; they have been a favorite punk group of mine since I first came across the genre as a child. Their first two albums are hardcore punk essentials, especially their debut, The Record, out of 1982. "I Love Living in the City" did a shitload for the genre; it was one of the first to show you can say some serious shit and then still sell albums. I mean, it doesn't say anything too crazy by modern standards, but for 1982 it might as well have had the band publicly flogged. FEAR wasn't scared of the public eye, and much in the punk style of the time, they loved the hate and attention. They famously got booted from Saturday Night Live after being invited to play in 1981 for the Halloween special. They only got halfway through their fourth song, "Let's Have a War", before it quickly cut to commercials. That performance ruffled plenty of feathers. Frontman Lee Ving pissed off the in-house crowd by saying, "It's great being in New Jersey" though the show was being recorded in New York City, which is always a sure fire way to start up a fight. The crowd was wild as hell; slamdancers practically made the performance impossible since those in the band were getting slammed left and right. Shit, they hardly even played; they mostly chased after the microphone and dodged people jumping on stage. Many of those slam dancers were then or soon to be big names in the punk world, people from Fugazi, Cro-Mags, and many others. Another one of those reckless rapscallions was the actor who got them a spot on SNL in the first place, John Belushi. The crowd and band caused 20,000 dollars worth of damage and naturally got the ban from ever performing on the show again. This crazy-ass performance saw FEAR getting barred from most clubs since they were a wild card. A wild card that openly cussed and said obscenities on television. A great piece of punk history you can go watch for yourself on YouTube. Don't expect it to be a performance based around the music but more so the culture of hardcore punk. FEAR is a dumpster fire, a train wreck, and a bastard child all thrown into one place, and it is impossible to look away from the carnage. FEAR started up in 1977 during the first days of new wave and the decline in original punk rock. They were one of the most innovative punk groups in the hardcore punk scene in California, and it didn't take them long to become punk rock icons across the whole nation with that SNL performance and their debut, which came a little less than a year later. "I Love Livin' in the City" which we touched on earlier, was their first single, and it came out in 1978, a time when hardcore punk was hardly even a thing. Through the growing pains of the genre, something so damn raw and raunchy slipped through the cracks, planted its seed, and bided its time. The seed grew faster and stronger with each passing dog taking a piss on it. Eventually, punk had a resurgence that focused even more on taking the fight to the masses. No more crazy mohawks and studded jackets; the youth took the streets with shaved heads, tattered clothing, and so much anger that you could fuel a Nazi warship for a year. They weren't overnight sensations following that single in 1978. Their next time in the spotlight came in the form of the documentary The Downfall of Western Civilization, which was released in 1981. A great documentary that covers the Los Angeles hardcore punk scene. It shows the band performing and prodding the crowd with some seriously fucked-up words to get them to come on stage to kick their ass. Punk is a strange genre, and I find their crowd to be insufferable, but I do respect the fuckin' angst that goes into it all. Anger and speed are all you need.

     The director of The Downfall of Western Civilization is Penelope Spheeris, someone who had a big role in archiving the underground Los Angeles music scenes during the 1980s and 1990s. She was married to Bob Biggs, who was the president of Slash Records, the label that signed FEAR. It took a little longer, but eventually the band put out a full studio album called The Record. A cornerstone of hardcore punk. That album is a fuckin' mess but that is the fun. A kooky set of 14 tracks. A shitty Animals cover, some influential originals, some hardly politically correct, and some strangely melodic for a band based around piss and vinegar. I find it to be one of the best punk albums out of the 1980s, even though there are some seriously lacking tracks on it. Though, the great tracks are so fuckin' good that it is easy to overlook some of the stinkers. Songs like "I Love Livin' in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "Let's Have a War", "We Destroy the Family", "I Don't Care About You", and others make up for all the blunder tracks. I will say, The Record isn't for the faint of heart. It is one hateful album, and where it isn't hateful, it is gross. That is some of the appeal, and if you already played our song of the day, you will see exactly what I mean. Not the kind of album you gotta put your thinking cap on for. More the kind of album you listen to while you stick pencils up your nose. Once again, that is the appeal, believe it or not. Straightforward obscenity in its purest form. No frills aside from the random saxophone that consumes "New York's Alright if You Like Saxaphones", which yes, is a song that bashes New York City the whole way through, and yes, a song they simply had to play to New Yorkers on public television for their infamous SNL performance. Even with all the hate, all the aggression, and all the wicked mental imagery, FEAR went on to release one of the most influential albums in hardcore punk. It would go on to influence the majority of punk artists for years to come. Metalheads and rockers too would get sucked into its sound, being an influence on artists like Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, etc.), Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses), Maynard Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, etc.), and so many others. I can see why. It isn't about what is being said; it's that it was said, if that makes any sense. Alright, there is no need to preach on how intense the album is; how about I just show you? Our song of the day from the album is "Fresh Flesh", one of the raunchiest on the album. "Fresh Flesh" was penned by vocalist Lee Ving and bassist Derf Scratch. This ain't the type of track you should be playing on the ol' work speaker, unless getting fired is the goal. I don't even know if I should explain this puppy on the website. You should just check out the lyrics yourself if you are so inclined, but you hardly need to read them since Lee Ving doesn't even try hiding tones of violent sex, necrophilia, forcible sodomy, and all the other things that remind me that some sick puppies need putting down. Now, I want to make one thing very clear: I don't dig this track due to its lyrical content. Once again, it isn't what is being said but that it was said. Shock appeal, baby. Raw, rough, blatant shock appeal. Something punk rock, especially the hardcore side of the scene, never shied away from utilizing. Are they cheap tactics? Certainly. Though, it is highly effective for the angsty youth. Yessir. It certainly got you noticed, and as FEAR was probably hoping for, it got people pissed. FEAR released "Fresh Flesh" alongside other tracks simply to use the heavy distortion and style of punk music as a vessel to just piss off everyone within earshot. Something I would typically scorn a group for doing, there is enough hate already, but for some reason I give FEAR a pass, and I am not even sure why. It could be since it is strangely good, even with the piss poor lyrics. Well, this is the first track on AintNoisePollution with this type of lyrics, and it won't be the last, especially since FEAR will undoubtedly be back to get a rise out of you. It is just the natural order of things. Anyway, give the song a spin, but don't be showing your girlfriend later hoping for a pat on the back. Mine sure wasn't thrilled to hear it. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1982
Album: The Record (1982)
Genre: Hardcore Punk
Mood: Foul
​Perfect For: Reckless weekends, Playing loud (but like... not at traffic lights), Casual listening
Where To Next: "Code Blue" - T.S.O.L.
Rating: 9 / 10

"Dread and the Fugitive Mind" - Megadeth

     Megadeth is a band that typically has good album covers and imagery. Iron Maiden's Eddie might be one of the most recognizable mascots in rock and metal music, but I prefer Megadeth's mascot, Vic Rattlehead. I will say one thing, today we have an album that has one of Megadeth's ugliest album covers. The World Needs a Hero's album cover has always rubbed me wrong. If it came out of the 1980s, it might have that of the time slasher film appeal that would have me overlooking it, but for 2001, and especially since it is Megadeth's ninth studio album, I hate this album cover. Maybe it is just a personal opinion, but take a look at their first 6 studio album covers and tell me they didn't drop the ball with The World Needs a Hero. Their next album is the live album Rude Awakening, and that album cover is random and doesn't quite fit in with the Megadeth aesthetic, but I still like that one more than the one you can see below. It was actually my first time listening through that album just last night. It was alright, nothing you need to listen through, but a fan such as myself can still find some goodies on it. The live version of "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" was one of the highs on that album, and after hearing it, I had a strong urge to listen to some of The World Needs a Hero again. This tends to be one of the least likely places I stop in for some Megadeth. It ain't a bad album, but in comparison to their early work and even their modern albums, there is a lot to desire. A step up from the disasterous Risk, which was their previous one from 1999, but that isn't saying much. Out of the album's 12 tracks, I tend to come back for only three. "Moto Psycho" is honestly worth the album's price alone, but "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" and "Disconnect" are damn good tracks. The World Needs a Hero is Megadeth's longest studio album, which wasn't the best choice since it is filled up with lackluster tracks like the bands longest song so far, "When". I hate to put a band down, especially one that I hold dear like Megadeth, but it is a simple truth. There are very few bands that have a perfect run, especially if you are a band that currently stands at 17 studio albums and 6 live ones. It isn't an easy thing to be going that long with often line-up changes and with a crazy life like Dave Mustaine's. Albums were released during rehab runs, cancer, messed-up hands, drug benders, infighting, personal demons, and so many other things that make up the ups and downs of Dave Mustaine and Megadeth's long run. Still, you gotta give it to the band, they are still choogling along. Their most recent album from this year, Megadeth, is a decent one and charted higher than the majority of the band's past albums within the 25 years. Not to reach back to the previous topic, but that one also has a much, much better album cover than our choice today. So yeah, our chosen album isn't one of their best. A strange low of Megadeth's career, but it still holds some essential Megadeth tracks. Vic Rattlehead finally returned on this album cover since he wasn't to be seen on the front cover since 1990's Rust in Peace. So at least there is that, even if he is some strange miniature skeleton popping out of Dave Mustaine's torso. Megadeth returning to a more thrash-forward sound is also something that came back on The World Needs a Hero, but unlike the others in the thrash world, they modernized it in a boring way aside from the shining tracks like our song of the day. Not enough aggression.

     "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" is the 9th track from The World Needs a Hero. The track was previously released on Megadeth's compilation, Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, which was released a year prior in 2000. That compilation didn't do so hot, mainly since it was mostly made up of their most recent hits instead of the thrash goldmine material they dished out in the 1980s and in 1992 with Countdown to Extinction. I haven't listened to that compilation for many years now, but I liked it enough when I was a kid. It held two new tracks, "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" which showed up on their next studio album, and the hidden gem "Kill the King" which is one of the best Megadeth tracks out of the 2000s. Fuckin' love that song. If they included that killer then The World Needs a Hero might have at least had more tracks to look forward to. Anyway, the main home for "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" is on The World Needs a Hero, but for the completionist type of music listeners out there such as myself should still go back and listen to that compilation—not a single bad song, even the infamous "Crush 'Em" off Risk. "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" is one hard-driving track. Much in Megadeth style, it has some clever lyricism. The track was written about the theme of judgment. Bringing into question faith and being a good person. Dave Mustaine previously said "The great paradox is if there isn’t a God and you live your life like a good person, you haven’t lost anything. If there is a God and you lived your life like a dirtbag, you’re screwed. Basically what I’m saying is, what if there’s no judgment?" The words of the song are dished out and easy to understand by the identifiable vocals of Dave Mustaine. Do you know what is odd? I have discussed Megadeth with people more than most other bands, and within those conversations there is a ton of hate towards Dave Mustaine's vocal work. Plenty of people don't dig it, but it never occurred to me it was all that strange. It undeniably gives Megadeth this unique sound, and I think a lot of those people are mainly talking about tracks like today's choice and "Sweating Bullets" where it feels like Dave Mustaine is talking to you or maybe just thinking out loud. I will admit that the intro of "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" isn't their best; it is the kind where the vocals introducing the song don't work out all too well. What does work well is the middle part of the song all the way until the end. Heavy as fuck drumming, guitar solos, great composition, and all things that make heavy metal the solid sender it is. With that in mind, it isn't all too shocking that this was the chosen track for the second single to The World Needs a Hero. When I listen to this album, I always look forward to "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" and the following track, "Silent Scorn", which is an instrumental and gives you a chance to breathe after that ending on "Dread and the Fugitive Mind". "Silent Scorn" also includes a trumpet, which I find odd for Megadeth. Even though The World Needs a Hero isn't all that great of an album, it has a small handful of great tracks. That is shown within our song of the day. Music is a matter of taste, so there may be many out there that love this album; it just has always been a stinker for me. Don't take my word on it; check the album out and see if you agree. What were you planning on listening to today anyway? With the streaming services of today, it hardly costs anything to give the album a go. Though, I get it if you are busy or simply aren't someone who likes albums, especially ones that get close to an hour. So, if you aren't willing to put your critic hat on for today, then just try out "Dread and the Fugitive Mind", or do whatever you want, I'm not your mom. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 2000
Album: The World Needs a Hero (2001)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Mood: Aggressive
​Perfect For: Casual listening, Working, Listening to with headphones up high
Where To Next: "Disciple" - Slayer
Rating: 7 / 10

"California Stars" - Billy Bragg & Wilco

     Welcome back! Another month has come, and what do we have to show? I don't know about you, but I am none the richer, wiser, or healthier. We do have one good thing going for us, all this music to sink our teeth into. Life can be mean and often quite dull, but music makes it all worthwhile. If the same is to be said about your existence, then you are on the right website! We keep it fresh, moving, and enjoyable, in that you have my promise! Well, how about we start off this month with a strong one? For the first time in AintNoisePollution history, we have with us a song that will be covering three different musicians at the same time. I am sure it will come out as a mess, but we will see what happens. You might be looking at the choice and thinking, "but I only see two names up there". You wouldn't be wrong; the music is performed by the musical genius Billy Bragg alongside the indie/alternative rock/alternative country superstars Wilco. Though the album that holds "California Stars" is a unique one. It is the first time that we get to hear some of the wise words from Woody Guthrie that never got released. Woody Guthrie is one of the most important figures in American music. A folk artist at heart, he inspired so many genres with his strikingly true words and understanding demeanor. Woody Guthrie has so many songs out there that were recorded in the 1940s and 1950s. He wrote even more, many of which never had a chance to see the light of day due to his death in 1967. Woody was a man who fought for freedom, a man who talked for the common man, and a man who knew how to use his words to make people think deeply about the state of the world and what it means for the future. A lot of material is based around the Great Depression, plenty around working conditions, farm lands being decimated for money, and songs surrounding politics, nature, traveling, love, loss, and pretty much anything else. He serves as a window into the past and archived minor historical events that are quickly getting forgotten even though they stomped on human rights. A tough cookie and one of the most influential icons in American folk music. His legacy lives on through you and me; it lives on through artists that are still, even to this day, covering his multitude of songs, and through artists like Billy Bragg & Wilco who released not one but three studio albums of previously unreleased Woody Guthrie songs that simply needed a platform to see the light of day. That album holds our song of the day, "California Stars", which is Billy Bragg's most streamed song on Spotify. Mermaid Avenue is a shining gem of folk rock. It was put together by Woody Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie. Mermaid Avenue was the first of a long string of albums made up of previously unreleased words from Woody. In 1995 Billy Bragg played a show made up of Woody Guthrie covers, which grabbed the attention of Nora Guthrie, who soon after approached Bragg about maybe putting some music to the words of her father. Like anyone would when it comes to Woody, he accepted. Woody Guthrie left behind thousands of completed lyrics, but since he never had a chance to record them and didn't personally write music, they needed Bragg to come along with his proven knack at putting together gripping songs. Even better, Nora hoped that Bragg and Wilco would bring the wisened words to the younger generation. It went well, maybe not charting immensely high, but it indicated that Woody could talk to any generation so long as there is wrongdoing taking place on this wicked ball of hate and still a piece of love in each of us.

     Billy Bragg is someone who is well familiar with the words of Woody Guthrie. I am not sure if you ever listened to any of his material, but it doesn't shy away from talking about the elephant in the room. He did his with a little more anger than that of Woody, well, in his early material, since that is the stuff I am more familiar with. Bragg was an early titan in the folk punk genre, a genre that is mainly based around Celtic punk when you use the terminology modernly, but during the time of Bragg, it was a weapon that used some of the "rough around the edges" approach that punk had but with the critical thinking and mellow feeling of what folk had. Not a match made in heaven, mind you, but both folk and punk are fundamentally the same. Both pull no punches, both are fairly simplistic yet moving, chord play sets the stage for the vocals and words to become the full focus, and all of that is experienced in Bragg's material. His 1983 debut, Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy, is a true joy to listen to. An oddity that somehow serves as a full album, though it only runs for 16 minutes. His following album, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, out of 1984 is even better, one I suggest to anyone who likes folk and/or punk music. Songs for free thinkers. He kept up the aggressive "one man and his electric guitar" stance for a hot while, raising his fist in rebellion and serving up truth, but by 1990 he cooled it on down with his fifth studio album, The Internationale. While I love his early stuff the most, his 1990s material is a lot more mature and easy to get behind for the common listener. None express that better than our song of the day, "California Stars". The track certainly has a heavy Wilco feeling to it. Wilco got sucked into the equation after Bragg was approached by Nora Guthrie about the project. There were few finer bands to take on this passion project than Wilco, plus they had a pretty heavy following by 1998 due to their critically acclaimed and essential alternative country album, Being There, which hit the shelves in 1996. This was before Wilco switched into the indie side of rock music and were still big names in the alternative country genre. "California Stars" was written by Woody Guthrie sometime in the 1950s; little did he know it was going to be an essential song during the late 1990s. You can feel that both Billy Bragg and Wilco went into it with nothing but respect. Plus, Nora Guthrie was there to oversee all that was coming out of this collaboration. The track starts off with some mellow acoustic work, the kind of stuff that cools you off on a hot day. When Billy Bragg comes into the picture with his level vocals, you turn into butter. The track hardly feels like a Guthrie folk attack, but the message stays the same. The song is written for the love of the stars of California. No, not the kind you see there on Hollywood Boulevard next to the dried-up human refuse, but the kind you can only see away from the cities. To dream upon those glistening gems in the sky, the ones that make you feel so damn small. I am not even sure the last time I looked up and stargazed, probably many years ago. Life moves so fast, ya know? Maybe it is time for all of us just to slow down for a second and take a look up at those astral entities. I think you will find that the feeling put off by "California Stars" is the same feeling of peace put out by those little diamonds in the sky. A damn mellow song. I chose the song while peeing at a bar, but that pee was one of peace. Meditative making water. The connection between man and urinal. Pissing away your troubles. Thanks Woody, Billy Bragg, and Wilco for making my pee such a good one. Next round is on me. For you, dear reader, there is no free beer, but I can offer you something better! This dreamy and peaceful track. Enjoy!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Year Released: 1998
Album: Mermaid Avenue (1998)
Genre: Folk Rock
Mood: Peaceful
​Perfect For: A night on the town, Stargazing, Relaxing at home, Casual listening, Drifting away
Where To Next: "Grey in L.A." - Loudon Wainwright III
Rating: 8 / 10