Category: Music

Sammy listening to Blackway’s “What’s Up Danger” off the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack:

“He’s a really good singer. He knows his rhyming words.”

Lately the 4 year old has been really into Tom Petty after hearing “You Don’t Know How It Feels” – which he requests by asking for “that song about how I feels” and I understand him completely.

Because he listens intently when we least expect it (songs, adult conversations, commercials for toys we don’t want him to know about), he always ends up having questions that I’m not entirely sure how to answer in a way that a 4 year old might understand.

“What does he mean when he says ‘you don’t know how it feels to be me’?”

“What does he mean when he says ‘some grow cold’?”

Right now he thinks the song skips as I pass over the “she don’t give a damn for me” and “let’s roll another joint” because those are conversations we can have when he’s older.

It’s also fascinating to see the way his brain works when he starts enjoying something himself. I mean, yes, I play the song, but I can’t make him like it. But this one has two features he digs: the beat and the guitar solo near the end.

The beat (bomp-bomp-crash) reminds him of one of his all time favorite songs:

The guitar solo, while simple in the annals of solos but not something I could play, got him to ask, “Who’s that playing guitar? He’s very good.” So good that he wanted to explore other Petty songs and so far he’s landed on “American Girl” as his second favorite.

He likes this one because it’s happier than some of the other songs Daddy listens do (seems I listen to sad music). Still lots of questions – “What was her promise?” “Where is she running to?” “What’s out of reach?” – but it’s something he can dance to in the back of the car and it’s upbeat enough that it gets the 18 month old excited too. And I’m OK with that.

About a month ago I thought this list would be easy. Heck, it might only have been five albums. My musical experience in 2008 was pretty limited for the most part. It wasn’t that I didn’t find new music, it’s just that so much of it came out before 2008. But then I went scouring and started finding stuff I had no clue was out there and hearing songs I’d heard all year and finding the albums that went with them and, hey, they weren’t bad at all. But, since so many hit me so late, it was hard to figure out just where in the top ten they would go. The top three was pretty set early on, but the back seven really could fall in any order. Every one of these albums are pretty damn good and would make an excellent addition to your collection. So, without further ado:
10. The Stand Ins – Okkervil River (Jagjaguwar)

With a varied sound Okkervil River almost sounds like they’re in search of a theme. But the album holds up, from the fun opening with “Lost Coastlines” to the beautiflly put together but fun named “Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979”.
9. With Blasphemy So Heartfelt – Jessica Lee Mayfield (Thirdy Tigers)

Light country based fare, Jessica Lee Mayfield’s voice holds you on this one. Some sad numbers make this another album that might not bring sunshine into your life. What can I say, I like the dreary stuff sometimes.
8. Mudcrutch – Mudcrutch (Warner Bros.)

Mudcrutch was formed in 1970 and spent about four years grinding through Gainsville, Florida before being signed to Shelter Records and releasing one single before breaking up in 1975. That might have been the end of it since the band members moved on to other projects, the most popular being the one formed by Mudcrutch’s front, guitarist and keyboardist: Tom Petty and the Heartbrakers. Maybe you’ve heard of them. Over thirty years later Mudcrutch has gotten back together and finally released a full length album, some parts old, some parts new, all parts pretty good. A must for Petty fans and anyone that likes good stuff.
7. Only The Night – Kings Of Leon (RCA)

Hey, now we’re getting more upbeat! A lot of folks say the fouth album form this lo-fi group is a bit too produced and polished, but personally I like the sound. They clean up nicely with a good southern rock sound.
6. You & Me – The Walkmen (Gigantic)

There’s something about distant vocals sounding genuinely sad as they work through an album.
5. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (Xl Recordings)

A liberal use of Afrobeat kinda gives these guys a bit of an early 80s Paul Simon sound but they use it well, creating a fun, upbeat album unlike anything else you’ll come across this year.
4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)

Last year Sub Pop had four albums in the top ten. This year they pull only one, but not for lack of trying. I can only blame myself.
I came to Fleet Foxes thanks to hearing their single “Your Protector” on KEXP. But even if I hadn’t I probably would have found them based on other purchases made by folks who bought half the albums on this list. I’m unique and original like everyone else. That said, we mellow out again this this first offering from Fleet Foxes. A light folksy sound that even got Pitchfork to give it 9 out of 10.
3. Hold On Now, Youngster – Los Campesinos (Arts & Crafts)

I don’t think I’ve heard an album this fun in a long time. There’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of shouting, there’s a lot of good music.
2. Heart On – Eagles Of Death Metal (Downtown)

Starts rockin’, ends rockin’, but they are neither eagles nor death metal. I’m not a big fan of Josh Homme’s work with Queens of the Stone Age but I dig his two man group work with Eagles Of Death Metal.
1. Attack & Release – Black Keys (Nonesuch)

Ike Turner would have had one hell of a come back if he’d lived long enough. Instead, the Black Keys had to take the album they wrote for him and make it themselves, teaming up with Danger Mouse to churn out what is the best album to come out in 2008. Danger Mouse’s work here is less influental on the sound than it was in Beck’s “Modern Guilt”, instead merely polishing up and helping flesh out the Black Keys while still allowing them to keep a blusey, rockin’ sound.

Teenage angst has paid off well
Now I’m bored and old

“Serve the Servants” – Nirvana (In Utero)

I’ve been on a nostalgia kick lately and I’ve dragged my kids along thanks to a curated Nirvana station on Pandora. My oldest, Sammy, routinely requests “Peaches” by Presidents of the United States of America, though it’s usually because he wants to fight like the ninjas at the end of the music video. But that was 1995.

NPR has a series of articles they run every few months asking “XX Years Later: Was YEAR The Greatest Year In Music?” Last month it was 1993’s turn, and the answer is: Yes, 1993 was the greatest year in music.

Was 1993 the greatest year in music? Ask that question to someone who was in high school or college that year, and the answer might be yes. To those of you now in your late 30s and early 40s, grunge is your classic rock, and Snoop Dogg’s Doggstyle and Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), are your go-to hip-hop classics. That year also saw the release of some watershed debuts including Exile In Guyville by Liz Phair, Tuesday Night Music Club by Sheryl Crow, August and Everything After by Counting Crows, Bikini Kill’s Pussy Whipped, Radiohead’s Pablo Honey, and Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) from Digable Planets. Alt-rock was still hanging on as the flavor of the moment with The Breeders’ Last Splash, In Utero by Nirvana, Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam’s Vs., and U2’s Zooropa.

For my tastes at the time it was the alternative rock and grunge music that stood out. Not that I was angsty. Not really. Just in the “I’m such a moody 14 year old” kinda way that makes adults roll their eyes.

The Fall of 1993 was peak grunge with the release of Nirvana’s “In Utero” and Pearl Jam’s “Vs.” within weeks of each other and the chart just chock full Seattle based and derivative acts. Washington Post has a fascinating oral history of the time, including the probably overblown “rivalry” between Nirvana and Pearl Jam:

Thayil: There’s definitely different ways that a band like Pearl Jam managed their success compared to how Nirvana did. What came out of that was our understanding of how well Pearl Jam managed their situation, to keep it within the bounds of where they would like to be in their career, to not let things get ahead of them, or let the situation become unmanageable.

Steve Turner (guitarist, Mudhoney): [Nirvana was] already kind of struggling when we toured with them. There didn’t seem to be anybody in charge. It didn’t seem like there was a lot of communication between management, band and the important people involved. It just seemed like it was kind of happening, regardless of what the guys wanted.

When we went on tour with Pearl Jam, it was kind of night and day. Pearl Jam was really organized and really friendly and fun, and they were really stoked with what was going on, and they surrounded themselves with good people. It made me look at the Nirvana thing even more like, “Man, it’s a shame they can’t get their [act] together like Pearl Jam.”

Billig Rich: Everybody thought they were like, against each other, and there was negativity, and that’s so not the case at all. They were all cut from the same cloth.

Novoselic: I don’t know if there was a rivalry. We just kind of did our own things.

And in this moment of Peak Grunge, Nirvana would record for MTV Unplugged in November, 1993, perhaps the pinnacle of the Unplugged series and one of the best performances out of the ’90s:

Cobain subtly subverted the format, which usually featured acts playing stripped-down versions of their hits, by filling the set list with cover songs. He also invited two of his musical heroes, Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the little-known Meat Puppets. The lead singer even helped design the set, asking for it to be decorated with stargazer lilies and black candles.

The room’s haunting vibe later led the event to be described as sorrowful, but despite Cobain’s well-documented struggles at the time, the evening was far from dour. As the show progressed, those in attendance began to realize that what they were watching would become legendary.

“You knew for sure that history was being made,” said former MTV executive Amy Finnerty, who worked closely with Nirvana. “No doubt about it. You’re lucky if you get to be at something like that once in your lifetime.”

The whole The Ringer piece is worth a read: how the show came together, the anxiousness, and the moments where Kurt Cobain opened up in ways not typically seen in his performances, the emotion throughout, especially in the close with their cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” by Lead Belly.

In the words of Amy Finnerty, a former MTV Executive, on the pause in the end: “The breath in between the breath. He made time stop. Time just stopped.”

Novoselic: 1991 to 1994, for me personally, what was that, three years, but it seems like a 10-year span, because there was so much going on, and then it ended in a disaster. I think of 1993, and I was in this bubble.

Washington Post

Six months after recording Unplugged Kurt Cobain would commit suicide at the age of 27.

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One last Nirvana related read, Thomas Beller chronicled his 2 year old’s introduction to Nirvana in The New Yorker and how he got his kid through what can be some scary music:

Nirvana’s music, in its anguish and energy, is scary. “Nevermind” is scary. But the break in “Drain You” is especially scary. I either had to turn it off or find a way to make this work. I didn’t want to turn it off. Instead, I turned it down an infinitesimal amount and addressed my son’s concerns.

“Alexander,” I said, bending over to talk near his face. “This is the part where they are in the swamp. The water is dark and murky, and the trees are low. They’re walking through the wet mud in the dark underbrush of the swamp.”

He looked at me with wide eyes. The colored lights added to the discotheque-meets-haunted-house mood. I worried that he would have nightmares, and that I would rue the night I played “Drain You.” People would shake their heads and say, “What were you thinking?”

My four-year-old Sammy loves music. Whether dancing, banging on instruments, or just listening in the car, this kiddo will sit and focus and imitate and ask questions about new words or sayings or even the emotions of the singer, a level of depth that continues to fascinate me.

When he first heard “Serve the Servants,” the opener on In Utero, he started with the close listen and about half way through started with the questions:

Sammy: “Who is that?”‬

‪Nirvana, buddy. That’s Kurt Cobain singing.‬

‪Sammy: “He doesn’t sound angry, he sounds sad.”‬

‪You have no idea, kiddo.‬