I come to bury rock, not praise it
1990 and we were blissfully unaware that radio was headed down a slippery slope on greasy wheels. Rockers had fine-tuned their bullshit detectors and determined that the AOR charts in no way reflected the musical preference for a growing majority of rock oriented listeners.
Rock formatted stations were as ill fated as Alan Freed, who had bequeathed upon them the very name by which they set themselves apart from the dregs of contemporary Top 40 radio.
The trick, then and now is to stay one step ahead of your pretensions. A lesson overlooked by all the punk/new wave/no wave/post punk musicians. Yet, taken to heart by the tsunami of grunge bands ushered in by the unexpected rise of Nirvana.
Say what you want about grunge, but unlike the first wave of punk rockers... it was the people's music. The flannel wearing masses could relate and it was tailor made for the violent mosh pit culture that had mutated from the relatively lame pogo and slam dance trends of the mid-70s.
Grunge coupled with the self indulgent, hubris prone Industrial/Nu-Metal scene came together to succeed where punk rock and new wave had failed by dominating both album sales and airplay. Life for goths and heshers was fucking grand. Ooh ah ah ah Ooh ah ah ah!
Then without warning, Kurt Cobain ate a round from a Remington 20 gauge shotgun and it all came tumbling down. Hey man, nice shot. Before you could say “Rug Doctor” Rap music picked up the baton and blasted off like a rocket from the crypt.
Thus, we're now subjected to a steady dose of Beats by Dre, Eminem, Kanye West, Kim K, Jigga, Beyonce and that ilk. The rest is history.... I just feel bad for the kids who wear Nirvana shirts because they think it is a brand.
Like a 90s rock jukebox gone out of control, episode #15 rolls in like one of Richard Linklater's slackers and grows on you like a mold. Somewhere out on the edge of Andromeda, where the quasars pulse with radioactive light, Jerry Garcia and Kurt Cobain fist fight in heaven. The whole thing is daft but engaging, bound together solely by an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. We know it as the MP3. Yeah, hey, yay, get out my way... I'm a negative creep and I'm gone.
Cum-on and Luv me- Saddlesores
Ba Da Deeeeeee- The Withdrawals
At Dream's End- Apricot Jam
Holding Up the Sky- The Boheims
Wrong Train- The Muttz
Eyeball- Ant Farmers
Favorite Backyard- Mumble
What Am I to Do- The Withdrawals
Person You Were Meant to Be- Apricot Jam
Chinese Garden- January's Little Joke
The Haunting of Bloody Mary- Bellyachers
Carnivore- Steve
Winter- Apricot Jam
