Monday, November 26, 2007

Modern Rock Update

Albums:

The latest Zeppelin Greatest Hits album debuted at #7.

The Killers new B-Sides CD debuted at #12.

Also debuting this week were The Goo Goo Dolls at #33, Seal at #35, Duran Duran at #36, and the Hives at #65.


Modern and Mainstream:

The Foo Fighters and Seether stayed at #1 on their respective charts.

Debuting this week were Coheed and Cambria's "The Running Free" at #20 on Modern.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Top 1000 Songs #980-#971

Due to a song that was added further up the list, there will be two songs at #971. This will probably happen a couple times before this is all said and done.

980 - "Still Crazy After All These Years" - Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon's only song in the top 1000 is probably his most famous song. It's the song he performed on Saturday Night Live in a turkey costume. I first heard this song when I bought a Greatest Hits cassette of Paul's back in college.

979 - "Straight On" - Heart - Dog & Butterfly - The first of three Heart songs on the list, "Straight On" was one of many songs I first heard on the classic rock station in Sioux Falls. This one doesn't have the punch of their two better songs, but it's still excellent.

978 - "Such Great Heights" - The Postal Service - Give Up - The only song on the countdown from Death Cab frontman Ben Hibbard's side project The Postal Service is one of the best emo songs ever written. I first discovered the band at the recommendation of Blender magazine. If you're curious, only 3 Death Cab songs beat this song.

977 - "Blank Generation" - Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation - Quite possibly the first official punk song, "Blank Generation", the only Richard Hell song on the countdown, was the launching point for the New York '77 scene that inspired The Ramones, who in turn inspired the English punk movement. Richard Hell's band didn't last very long and they've mostly been forgotten, but they were essentially the Pixies of punk.

976 - "Slither" - Velvet Revolver - Contraband - "Slither" is the first of two songs by Velvet Revolver and the highest ranking new song from their debut album. VR's always been a bit of a disappointment to me, but they did manage to put a few solid songs together. Still, with the lead singer of STP and the band from GNR, they should be among the greatest bands ever.

975 - "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?" - The Ramones - End Of The Century - The first of five Ramones songs on the list, "Radio" appeals to me particularly because of the chorus, which is remarkable even for one of the best chorus bands in rock history. Since the Ramones don't get a lot of air time in South Dakota, I learned about this band in college.

974 - "Dead Again" - Buckcherry - Buckcherry - The first of three songs by Buckcherry is also the first of three songs from their debut album, which ranks among the best rock albums of the 21st century. I actually learned about Buckcherry from the Sioux Falls rock radio station KRRO, which is surprising because they've mostly played shitty music for the last few years.

973 - "Hunger Strike" - Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog - The only song on the list from the supergroup that didn't realize it was a supergroup (the band features Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell and members of Pearl Jam), "Hunger Strike" was the single that Eddie sang on. The song got a lot of airplay after Pearl Jam and Soundgarden made it big.

972 - "Rock You Like A Hurricane" - The Scorpions - Love At First Sting - The only Scorpions song to make the countdown is also the only hair metal song. I might have been a big fan of the genre when I was 8, but I quickly learned that I was wrong. Still, this one is still memorable enough to keep me from flipping the station if it comes on.

971 - "Moneytalks" - AC/DC - The Razors Edge - The first of nine AC/DC songs, "Moneytalks" was one of two hits that marked AC/DC's comeback in 1991. I've always been a big fan of blues rock and AC/DC was the best at it in the last 25 years.

971 - "Tightly Wound" - The Capes - Hello - The only song by the Capes to make the charts is one of those buzzworthy songs that gets bands attention from music blogs. They never really built on the hype, but the song, which I heard about in Blender, is excellent.

Modern Rock Update

Albums:

Angels And Airwaves had the top debut of the week at #9.

Van Morrison's latest Greatest Hits album opened at #48.

Also debuting this week were Jimmy Buffett at #54 and Sigur Ros at #58.


Modern and Mainstream Rock:

The Foo Fighters stayed at #1 on Modern with "The Pretender" while Seether stayed at #1 with "Fake It".

Debuting this week on Modern is The Bravery with their unofficial Friday Night Lights Season 2 theme song "Believe" at #19.

Debuting this week on Mainstream is Korn's "Hold On" at #18.

Top 1000 Bands #980-#971

980 - Ian Brown - The former lead singer of The Stone Roses has made a couple of fairly good albums as a solo artist as well.

979 - Sam Roberts - The indie rock singer-songwriter has produced one great album so far in his career and should continue to have success in the future.

978 - Manu Chao - The only world music artist to make the top 1000, I first heard Manu Chao on the Henry Rollins Show. They're one of the rare artists that I can enjoy without understanding a word that they're saying.

977 - Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - The first great rap group and the first hip hop artist to be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Grandmaster Flash is best known for "The Message" and "White Lines (Don't Do It)", as well as their associations with New York punk artists such as Blondie.

976 - Frou Frou - One of many great indie rock bands that I first heard from on the Garden State Soundtrack. Their song on that album "Let Go" is by far their best, but they have a few songs outside of that which are worth listening to.

975 - Arcwelder - One of those bands that no one has ever heard of, but I've enjoyed what I've heard from them.

974 - Dios Malos - An up-and-coming hard rock band with indie stylings.

973 - Suicide - A New York '77 punk band that influenced a great many post-punk bands, Suicide's music is a slow and methodical take on the type of art rock that the Velvet Underground first mastered. I first found out about this band on the "Blank Generation" compilation, that introduced me to a dozen great artists I previously had no knowledge of.

972 - The Yardbirds - Essentially the AAA level where talented guitarists went before becoming huge stars on their own, The Yardbirds at one point included such legends as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. They never had the success of a Cream or a Led Zeppelin, but they did manage to put together a few solid albums before they went their separate ways.

971 - Bow Wow Wow - The second project from the man behind the Sex Pistols, Malcom McLaren, was essentially a one-hit wonder with their cover of "I Want Candy", but they did have a few more decent New Wave hits before fading away.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

1000 Greatest Songs - #990 - #981

#990 - "Feelin' Alright" - Traffic - Traffic - Cocker's version is more famous and a little better, but Winwood and Traffic created a great song for him to build upon. This is the first of two Traffic songs in the top 1000.

#989 - "Come Back" - Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam - The first of a list-best 25 songs for Pearl Jam, "Come Back" is the best ballad on their "comeback" album. Frankly, I don't think they ever went anywhere, but their latest is among their best, so let the masses think what they like.

#988 - "Casey Jones" - The Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead - The first of three Dead songs in the top 1000 is the first one that I came across during my classic rock phase (the last few years of high school and the first few years of college, which was about 1997-1999), and while it's not my favorite, it's the first glimpse I had into the Deadhead phenomenon, which I think is still a bit out of proportion, but at least they have a handful of great songs unlike, say... Phish.

#987 - "Bad Reputation" - Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - Bad Reputation - Also known as the theme song to "Freaks & Geeks", Joan's first of three songs in the top 1000 is rivaled only by The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" (lead vocals by guess who...) as the definitive riot grrl song.

#986 - "Clash City Rockers" - The Clash - The Clash - The first of 18 songs by the Clash in this list, "Clash City Rockers" was one of their first great songs and one of the early hits of the punk genre in the 70s. I discovered this along with every other Clash single on their Greatest Hits album that I bought used on a lark while working at Citibank. Oddly enough, the reason I had heard of them was because of songs on "Combat Rock", widely regarded as their worst album.

#985 - "Fall Back Down" - Rancid - Indestructible - The first of two Rancid songs on the list and the best off of their most recent album. If this is the last we hear from Rancid, at least they went out with a bang.

#984 - "The Man Who Sold The World (Unplugged)" - Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York - The first of 15 songs by Nirvana to make the chart and the first of several from their classic Unplugged CD, this Bowie cover expands greatly on the original, as pretty much every song from this set did on it's original version. I received this song on cassette for Christmas of 1994 and listened to it endlessly for the next few years.

#983 - "Ruby Soho" - Rancid - And Out Come The Wolves - The second and final Rancid song to make the top 1000, "Ruby Soho" is by far the most popular, and coincidentally the best, song by one of the best punk bands of the 90s.

#982 - "Undertow" - Tool - Undertow - The first of nine Tool songs on the list, "Undertow" is one of the first great songs from the modern masters of metal.

#981 - "My Wave" - Soundgarden - Superunknown - The first of eleven Soundgarden songs to make the list and one of many from their breakthrough album, "My Wave" doesn't get the glory that "Black Hole Sun" gets, but is still in the same league as one of the great songs of the grunge era.

Top 1000 Artists - #990 - #981

990 - Beth Orton - Orton is an indie folk artist that got good reviews in Blender magazine, which is where I first heard about her.

989 - Dave Grohl - The drummer for Nirvana and the lead singer of The Foo Fighters has had numerous side projects, but this particular spot is reserved for his solo side projects, including the hilarious parody of "With Arms Wide Open".

988 - Love - A legendary "forgotten" 70s band that had one amazing album and then pretty much disappeared.

987 - Gerry Rafferty - The lead singer of Stealer's Wheel had a handful of hits on his own, including the brilliant "Baker St.".

986 - Head East - They only had one major hit, but that song ("Never Been Any Reason") is one of the signature songs of the 70s.

985 - The Kickback - A punk band from Vermillion, South Dakota, The Kickback was another great band I discovered in Pierre.

984 - Carl Perkins - One of the first great artists of rock n roll, there probably wouldn't have been an Elvis Presley if there wasn't a Carl Perkins first.

983 - The Greenhornes - A 60's garage rock throwback and a favorite of Jack White, The Greenhornes have a solid resume of blues rock and Beatles-esque tunes to their credit.

982 - Indigenous - One of the best and most successful bands in South Dakota's history, Indigenous was a solid blues rock band that earned a small measure of national acclaim.

981 - The Manchester Orchestra - Manchester is an indie rock band that's just getting started, but could have a bright future ahead of them.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Top 1000 Songs - #1000 - #991

#1000 - The Cure - "Mint Car" - Greatest Hits - The first of 7 Cure songs to make the list, "Mint Car" was one of many Cure songs I discovered in college, since the Cure never got much airplay in South Dakota beyond "Friday, I'm In Love".

#999 - "Gin & Juice" - Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle - Snoop's only solo song to make the list, I first heard this song when my dad found a copy of the album that someone at work had thrown away. I was 14 at the time. lol

#998 - "Head Creeps" - Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains - The first of 9 Alice In Chains songs to make the list, "Head Creeps" was a definite change in style for the band, as was much of their self-titled and, sadly, final studio album.

#997 - "N.I.B." - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - I actually first heard this song (the first of four Sabbath songs) when Primus did a cover with Ozzy on vocals. The original is a little bit better, though, which is why it's on this list.

#996 - "Air" - Sparta - Wiretap Scars - From the ashes of At The Drive-In arose The Mars Volta and Sparta, whose first single (and the first of three songs on the countdown) appears here at #996. "Air" got a small amount of airplay on the Sioux Falls rock station KRRO, but I really got into the band when I caught their concert in Sioux Falls later that year. It was one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen and the band just keeps getting bigger and better.

#995 - "It's So Easy" - Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction - The first of nine GNR songs in the top 1000, "Easy" is most well-known for the abnormal vocals Axl Rose uses on the song. Appetite was one of the first cassettes that I ever received after a friend of the family gave me his copy when he was done with it. Guns N Roses was the first truly great band that I ever got interested in and it all started with this album, if not necessarily this song.

#994 - "Regular John" - Queens Of The Stone Age - Queens Of The Stone Age - One of the oldest Queens songs to make the list (and first of sixteen on the list), "Regular John" first came to my attention after I bought "Songs For The Deaf" at a Target store literally because it was cheap and I had heard Dave Grohl was involved with the band. That was the starting point about 5 years ago. They've since become one of my favorite bands.

#993 - "Do You Want To" - Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better - The first single, but not the best song, from Franz Ferdinand's excellent follow-up to their brilliant debut album, "Do You Want To" (the first of six songs on the countdown) was the signal that the band wasn't just another indie rock flash in the pan.

#992 - "Wake Up Time" - Tom Petty - Wildflowers - A little-known but outstanding album track from Petty's second solo album, "Wake Up Time" (the first of Petty's seventeen songs here) was a song I found tucked away with all of the hits on that album when I bought all of the most recent Petty albums used at Last Stop in Sioux Falls back when I worked at Citibank.

#991 - "Here Comes A Regular" - The Replacements - Tim - The first of four songs by the Mats to make the list, "Here Comes A Regular" is one of the big hits off of the dreaded "sell-out" album from the legendary alternative rock band. I first discovered the Replacements in college, because, as usual, they don't get any airtime in South Dakota outside of the college towns.