May 21, 2025 • 65 mins
Picture it, Boston, 1995. A young man from Meriden, CT decides to uproot his life and move to a new city. New faces, new friends, and plenty of new music.
It has been 30 years since I made the fateful decision to make the move to Boston. It was also a time to expand my musical palette. Thankfully, there was plenty of new music to choose from, with tons of second hand music shops like CD Spins, interspersed with the big retailers like Tower Records.
Much of the music on the radio at the time was not for me (except TLC!), but thanfully there were rock friendly radio stations in the city, as well as some of the best clubs to see live music. TT the Bears and The Middle East come to mind.
Acts that would go on to become huge stars got their big breaks in 1995, while smaller indie, punk, and metal bands were just reaching their loftiest heights. Bands like Shelter and Jawbreaker achieved their biggest commercial successes, while bands like Rancid and Presidents of the United States of America were getting some air time on radio stations like WBCN and WAAF.
Plus, legends like Faith No More, Radiohead and Fugazi added to their legacies in 1995. Oh, and some band called Oasis had a huge record or something.
And everyone was asking the question, "What is a Foo Fighter"?
It has been 30 years since I made the fateful decision to make the move to Boston. It was also a time to expand my musical palette. Thankfully, there was plenty of new music to choose from, with tons of second hand music shops like CD Spins, interspersed with the big retailers like Tower Records.
Much of the music on the radio at the time was not for me (except TLC!), but thanfully there were rock friendly radio stations in the city, as well as some of the best clubs to see live music. TT the Bears and The Middle East come to mind.
Acts that would go on to become huge stars got their big breaks in 1995, while smaller indie, punk, and metal bands were just reaching their loftiest heights. Bands like Shelter and Jawbreaker achieved their biggest commercial successes, while bands like Rancid and Presidents of the United States of America were getting some air time on radio stations like WBCN and WAAF.
Plus, legends like Faith No More, Radiohead and Fugazi added to their legacies in 1995. Oh, and some band called Oasis had a huge record or something.
And everyone was asking the question, "What is a Foo Fighter"?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to the Stuck in the Middle Podcast, the podcast
dedicated to the music, movies and colts are generations. What
is up, slackers, and welcome to another episode of the
(00:32):
Stuck in the Middle Podcast. I am your host, Jason Eck,
and I'm recording this on a Monday. I typically record
on Tuesdays, and that is because we have quite the
busy week with my daughter's graduation occurring this week, so
we have a number of events over the course of
the next few nights, so I'm recording early. And then
(00:53):
we also have in there a track meet, which is
the last qualifier for uh, you know, the tournament. And
I'm less well versed in the track and field stuff,
but I think that's how it works. They have to
go ahead and get through this last qualifier in order
to go to the next invitational. And if that happens,
then it looks like there's a weekend meet as well. Nevertheless,
(01:17):
it is a busy, busy week. And yeah, my daughter's
journey here it is coming up to oh, another milestone
in the books. Now. Part of for I guess part
of the reason for tonight's topic was actually because my
wife and I were sitting and we were just chatting
about life as you know, you do, as one does,
(01:43):
particularly when you're looking at these meaningful lives, like milestones
in your children's lives, and we're just thinking about how
quickly things change and how things happen in the blink Vini,
which is one minute their babies, the next minute they're
graduating high school or going off to college or whatever
(02:03):
it is, all these different things, these these milestones on
the path of life. And we were talking about, well,
I guess my oldest was asked, like, so when did
you guys meet exactly? And we're kind of going to
the timeline because obviously we both came from different states
and relocated, and we also have certain locations and what
(02:28):
I mean by locations meaning places that we worked and
for my wife and I we met at work and
we were working for the same company and we both
did for many years and I ended up being with
the same company for about sixteen years, and like, well,
when did you move? And when did I move? And
when did I get to Boston? When did you get
(02:49):
to Boston? When did we first meet? And just kind
of going through that timeline of life and thinking about
it in the context of Okay, I moved to Boston
at this time and within ten years welcoming our first child.
It's so amazing how quickly that happens, and even thinking
(03:11):
about it in terms of our kids and the things
that they experience. I mean, obviously we're in our fifties
or even sixty years old, and our lives are double theirs,
and it's just it's crazy. It really is crazy. So
what I'm getting at is we're working out the timeline.
(03:34):
So my wife and I began, I guess officially dating
somewhere around nineteen ninety eight, so we're coming up on
our twenty second wedding anniversary, but also our twenty seventh
year as a couple, basically became a couple. We'reund the
same week, so July fourth week, which is the same
(03:54):
week that we got married. So I never forget an
anniversary date that way, always able to remember the timeline.
But that means that I moved to Boston just shy
of my twenty first birthday, and I remember celebrating my
twenty first birthday up here and trying to figure out where,
(04:16):
you know, we could go because we are kind of
going to go a couple of nights prior, and would
the place that we are going to go let us
drink a little bit early, and who else in our
crew hadn't turned twenty one yet? Those kind of things.
We ended up going to a place called a Kua ku, Yeah,
a kua kuh kind of a Polynesian joint. Anyway. So
(04:41):
I moved to Boston in nineteen ninety five, and this
was such a odd kind of transitionary time for me,
in part because as we're again talking about my oldest son,
who is going to be, you know, twenty this year,
is I said. The three worst years as far as
being a complete and utter true to the phrase slacker
(05:05):
was between the ages of nineteen and twenty one. I
was just a lost soul party in living hard, running hard, brother,
absolutely running hard for those few years. And that was
the only real period of my life where I didn't
work consistently. I would go and I'd start working someplace,
(05:28):
and most of the time minimum The shortest job I
had in my teens was the grocery store, which is
still almost a year and then the short now, the
shortest job I had was I was a short order
cook for friendlies, and they threw me right on the line,
and I was not prepared for that job. I ended
up getting demoted to dishwasher and did that for another
(05:49):
six months or whatever until I got the job that
I really wanted, which was at a pharmacy in my
hometown of Maridon, Connecticut, Case Pharmacy, which was well known
to employ teens from our high school. I ended up
working there, including full time, about four years total. And
then I was adrift and working overnights and working like
sometimes two three jobs at a time, and then I'd
(06:11):
get sick of one and i'd quit. I at one
point had three jobs in the same little strip mall.
But nevertheless, it was a tumultuous time, and it was
moving to Boston that was this moment of Okay, I
need to get my absolute shit together, and I can't
do it here. So a friend of mine was already
up here, friend of the show, Nicole. She's like, come
on up here, throw that life away that you got
(06:33):
back there. It's not working for you and you're going
to end up debtor in jail, and I don't want
that for you, So come up there. So nineteen ninety five,
so that's what this episode is about, and it's specifically
the music of nineteen ninety five because this was as
I did the second and third wave grunge bands. This
was also somewhat of a transitory time in music as well,
(06:55):
and personally for me, my musical palettes beginning to go
in a slightly different directions. So I tried to focus
on the bands and the artists of nineteen ninety five
that I would have either been seeing live or have
been buying their records. Now, there's a couple of the
artists that are on here that I didn't get into
in ninety five, but I did within the next year
year and a half as my circle of friends up
(07:17):
in Boston grew. And some of these are well known
big hits. But I'm going to juxtapose this list with
what was actually happening on Billboard, and I think you'll
you'll find why it wasn't really, for the most part,
stuff that I was really into. Now, that is not
to say there's not an artist or two on here
(07:42):
that I was quite a fan of and I still
to this day. Stan As the kids say, so, let's
go to the Billboard End of Year Singles for nineteen
ninety five. It's a very interesting collection of artists, but
so very nineteen ninety five. So all the way at
(08:04):
the bottom at number one hundred was Can't Stop Loving
You from Van Halen, which of course off the Balance record.
This was not a record I think I have then
nor ever listened to now. It took me thirty years
just to appreciate Sammy, so I just I basically have
(08:25):
focused on fifty one fifty and O You eight one two.
I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to
the other stuff. Some people have said that Balance is
an excellent album, others have said it's the weakest of
the bunch. Nevertheless, that's coming in at number one hundred,
a band that was just kind of breaking on the
scene at this point coming in at number ninety nine,
(08:48):
and that is man. I don't even remember this song
hitting the charts because I didn't think it was until
their next record that they really broke out. But nevertheless,
we have a number ninety nine, Misery by Soul Asylum,
(09:12):
we have ninety eight. We have Best Friend by Brandy,
of course, sister to ray J. I do like my
raycons they're excellent in years, but I don't have a sponsorship,
so fucking we have Let's see I'll stand by You.
It's amazing to think of a band like the Pretenders
having such a huge ladder career, kind of huge hit
(09:33):
with I'll stand by You. But it is an excellent
song and has been covered and used in so many things.
Chrissy hind At our absolute finest and most heartbreaking. And
then a group that was absolutely dominating the nineties and
that's Boys to Men with Thank You, Let's see we
have I Lived My Life for You by hair Metal
(09:55):
Heroes Firehouse First of the Month by a Bone Thus
in harmony. Do you hear what I'm saying from the
time period, it's very interesting we have turned the beat around.
That was ninety five by Gloria Estefan Holy Cow. That
song sounds like it belongs in the eighties when they
(10:16):
first really broke onto the scene. Interesting. An artist my
son asked me about just the other day, as he's
beginning to explore earlier eras of what's often called like
it's not the New Jack swing, but there was this
kind of resurgence in R and B but still somewhat
(10:37):
with the hip hop esthetic. And he's like, Dad, you
ever listen to DiAngelo? And DiAngelo is on here with
Brown Sugar. We have Latter Day. This is one of
those bands that's kind of in the mix of They
weren't grunge, but they were in this whole like wave
of indie rockers. We have better than Ezra with good
(11:00):
Let's see You two withhold Me, thrill Me, kiss Me,
Kill Me, which is from the Batman Forever soundtrack. Another
shout out to Val Kilmer. Let's see we have what
else is good? Here the Sweetest Days by Vanessa Williams.
(11:22):
Feel My Flow by Naughty by nature Na Because I
Hate You, We Have Secret by Madonna. This Ain't a
Love Song by bon Jovi at number seventy. All I
Want to Do by Sheryl Crowe. That was her first
big breakout single, wasn't it. I'm pretty sure that it was.
(11:42):
Um Yeah. It was her breakthrough hit from her nineteen
ninety three debut album, but it didn't hit the charge
until ninety five. Interesting. Let's see we have back for
Good by Take That You Don't Know How Feels by
the Mighty Tom Petty Carnival by Natalie Murcha. Of course,
(12:05):
now solo after her time with ten Thousand Maniacs. We
have Keep their Heads Ringing by Doctor Dre That is
a single from the Friday soundtrack. And then this is
where you look at peak nineteen nineties hip hop really
(12:30):
becoming just so massive and a name that is legendary
at this point, and this is that time period where
pretty much anything he released was a hit. We have
Dear Mama by Tupac, I'll Make Love to You by
Boys to Med at number fifty. But then if Tupac
(12:53):
was kind of with that whole West Coast crew, although
he's from like Philly, Baltimore area, but he kind of
got mixed up with with this whole East West thing
because coming out of New York, you have Notorious Big
with Big Papa before I Let You Go by Blackstreet.
(13:13):
We have Melissa Esh with Ethridge here with I'm the
only one we have. I'll be there for you. You're
all I need to get by Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige.
I forgot about this song December by Collective Soul. Let's
see here. We have only want to Be with You
(13:36):
by Hoodie and the Blowfish. Oh my goodness, um strong
Enough by Sheryl Crow and now the artist that I
mentioned that in any era, in any time, I can't
help it. Maybe smitten is the word. They sound like
no one else, something unique about them that I've always
(14:00):
just truly appreciated and enjoyed. Here we have Red Light
Special by TLC. We Let Her Cry by Hoody and
the Blowfish number twenty three, One More Chance, Stay with
Me Notorious Big We Got Hold My Hand by Hoodie
and the Blowfish. Totally forgot about this song You Were
Not Alone by Michael Jackson. We have a song that
(14:23):
is still to this day a meme. The kids all
know it talking about all these zoomers they know Bombastic
by Shaggy. We have one of my favorite Bond Jovie
ballads in Always It's So good Brian Adams. Bro Sorry
(14:44):
like not past like eighty two. I can't have you
ever ready Loved a Woman? By Brian Adams. Let's see
run Around by Blues Traveler. Let's see we have this
is how we do It? Montel Jordan. Hell yeah, that's
a banger. We have Madonna Take a Bow at number eight,
(15:04):
Mariah Carey Fantasy at number seven, Real McCoy, I don't
even remember this song. Another Night on Bended Me at
number five by Boys to Men The legendary Seal with
Kiss from a Rose, and number two and three spots
are held by who TLC with Waterfalls and Creep Sorry
(15:26):
that Shit is Fire. That is just good, good shit.
Love those songs. Creep in particular, there's a groove to that,
Ah so good. And then finally number one Gangster's Paradise
(15:46):
by the One and Only Coolio. But as you can see,
it's a lot of R and B hip hop and
then like these little pockets of rock, but usually by Oh.
Elton John's on the list because he's in every decade
at number fifty nine with Believe. I'm not sure if
I mentioned that earlier, but you got your Tom Petties,
your Elton John's Oh hold On by Jamie Walters, the
(16:12):
other big song other than how Do You Talk To
An Angel? But yeah, it's really interesting. Melissa Ethridge was
really breaking huge at this point in time as well.
Hoody and the Blowfish would go on to be one
of the biggest bands in the world, and so did
Darius rutger By himself as a country artist. But as
you can tell, this is not necessarily a ton of
(16:34):
the music that I was super into. Just the charts
had completely changed, but musical tastes had changed as well,
and we're kind of in this weird period where, like
I feel that radio hits, well I mean obviously evidenced
by this word, were less about guitar bass music. I
think this is so glaring and so obvious. Doesn't mean
(16:56):
that you didn't have some big hits in here that
were by rock bands. It's just not as prevalent as
it was in some of the other years that we've
covered on the show. So let's jump into the bands
that I was either listening to actively in ninety five
or would in the next year become a fan of
(17:18):
or got to see them live. So like the first
band on the list, I had to put it on
there when I was looking up artists that were releasing
records in ninety five because I ended up seeing this
band a number of times at a little club called
tt the Bears here in Boston, and that's Swerve Driver
and their record ejector seat reservation. All I remember is
(17:38):
the place was packed and it's a small club, and
Swervedriver had this really electric fan base, like really really
into it. Never particularly my cup of tea necessarily, but
if you see a band more than once. Usually because
the other artists on the bill are interesting, then it's
a good time. I'm pretty sure that Rivers Cuomo ended
(18:01):
up opening for Swore of Driver when he was doing
some of his solo stuff. Try to remember who else
was Swore of Driver. Pretty sure I saw a bad
Barbie with Sword Driver, and I'm pretty sure my buddy
Drew ended up opening for them on a solo set
on a break from his band at the time, Siderial.
I've mentioned a number of times on the show a
(18:23):
favorite band of mine. Now, this is not the record
that I fell in love with, but I've since gone
back and listened to it. This is the Red House
Painters with Ocean Beach. It really it's hard to explain
the band. They're really their own little, unique genre onto themselves.
So I would go ahead and check out any Redhouse
Painters that you can. It's all really good stuff. Now,
(18:47):
this is the self titled debut album by a band
that's next record ended up becoming huge. We're talking about
ben Folds five with their first record. Ben Folds is
an amazing composer. I think there's really no other way
to describe it and to be able to go into
the punk and indie and the alternative scene with piano
(19:11):
as a dominant instrument was so refreshing because he was
kind of this throwback to your your Jerry Lee Lewis's
and even oh gosh, Little Richard like that style, that
genre where you could really bang on those piano keys
and give it a real strong feel, something very macho
(19:38):
in the piano playing. I think we were so often
accustomed to the kind of, you know, this kind of
orchestral idea, that it can't really be this rocking instrument.
Not to say that there isn't rock elements and melodic
structures in symphonic pieces orchestral pieces, but ben Folds was
(19:58):
just coming out and attacking the piano, and it blew
my mind, which is so interesting because I'm not necessarily
a fan and my oldest and I go back and
forth in this. I'm not a Billy Joel guy. I
probably should be. I'm just not. I can't really explain it.
If you give me a choice between Billy Joel and
Elton John as like the statesman of that seventies eighties
(20:24):
piano rock, it's gonna be Elton John. I can't really
explain it. I think it's probably because I saw that
Central Park concert for Elton John and he stressed up
in all these ludicrous costumes, which completely belied the fact
that as a musician he was so locked in and
so serious about his craft, but didn't take himself so
(20:44):
seriously dressed up in a big Donald Duck suit and
just murdering the keys on the piano. But ben Folds
was definitely in that whole vibe. It was a really
cool thing to behold because again I'm talking about guitar
drive music, and you know they had it, but piano, Ah,
(21:06):
good shit. One of my favorite songs is oh gosh,
what's it called, ex girlfriend? Give me my money back?
Give me my money back, you bitch? Oh song for
the dumped. So good, so good. Now, the next band
and this album to me is the Pinnacle. Now some
(21:29):
people say that the next record by this band is
the Pinnacle. This is just my opinion. You are free
to agree or disagree. In nineteen ninety five, radio Head
dropped the Bens that album is a masterpiece. I don't
care about okay computer or paranoid Android, any of that.
(21:56):
This album is perfection. And this album is the Chef's
kiss of their discography, it's raw and powerful. I saw
them on this tour. It was an amazing show, and
(22:21):
I don't think I even anticipated it being the show
that it was, and I think in part because they
were the band that had the quirky single right Pablo
Honey also a great record by the way, yes, completely
overshadowed by quote unquote the hit, but yeah, and Johnny
(22:43):
Greenwood on guitar that night was like a guitar god,
a guitar hero, which is so, I guess curious, given
they've experimented with so many different sounds and styles and
even electronica and weirdo shit. But this album was a
guitar driven, moody, atmospheric album that I think is one
(23:09):
of the untouchable albums of the era of the nineties.
The Benz is top tier, absolutely top tier, and I
slept on them at first, I really did. And then
I moved up here and we have Newberry comics up here.
But there's also this place called CD Spins, which was
all used CDs. You could sell stuff, you could buy stuff,
(23:32):
trade whatever. I remember. I picked up the Benz. I
picked up rain Dogs by Tom Waits, trying to remember
what else I picked up that day. I'm remembering thirty
years ago. I just remember rain Dogs and the Bens
being in the same pickup. I feel like I got
one other thing that day too, and I can't, for
(23:52):
the life of me, remember what it was. But nevertheless,
the Benz is top tier radiohead nineteen ninety five, So
an artist that I had already been listening to for a
few years then kind of broke through to a much
larger platform. And this is PJ. Harvey to Bring You
My Love Now. Not my favorite record. I still think
(24:17):
Dry is by far the better album, but there's a
few tracks on here, and I remember we played this
at work all the time because the job I got
was it Orban Outfitters, and this was on constant rotation,
and this was before it was even corporate mandated what
(24:38):
we could listen to. People just brought in their own music,
and this was an easy choice because everyone was already,
you know, into PJ. But yeah, down by the Water,
come on, Billy, send his Love to Me. Just amazing.
And she ended up opening up for You two on
(25:00):
the what tour is that? She opened for You two
on the Elevation Tour, which did multiple Nights in Boston,
which ended up being recorded for the home video release.
But yeah, Pg Harvey, this was I think her commercial apex.
(25:25):
Great record, but super weird too. I don't know, it
just it lacked a little bit of that that raw
sex appeal of Dry, the almost violent nature of that album.
This was a little more subdued. But hey, still good shit.
(25:50):
This is a massive band that came such a long
way in a really short period of time. I've talked
about this on the show before, but this is the
Smashing Pumpkins double disc Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I
think what fascinates me about the story more than anything
else is that Billy Corgan, this is well known, had
(26:14):
significant writer's block after Gish and didn't really know if
he was ever gonna write again. It was one of
those things He's like, I'm never gonna write another song again,
and those first opening notes of today, dun du dun
dun du dun dun, open the floodgates. I'll come Sime's stream,
(26:39):
and then he just went on a run of just
songs falling out of his ass. And to go from
a couple of years earlier having writer's block to a
double album is crazy, but arguably some of his best work.
Nineteen seventy nine zero to Night Tonight Muzzle thirty three
(27:04):
Diamond Diamond double album. I mean bonkers, absolutely bonkers that
the output that Corgan was able to produce in this
time and recognizing that although they were a band, almost
(27:25):
all guitars were, if not completely trapped. That includes bass
guitar completely tracked by Billy or the entire skeleton and
framework was created. I don't really know what James Eja's
actual writing credits are. I don't know if he ever
really did a solo on any of those records that
(27:45):
he might have been attributed to. But this album, double album,
it's pretty frickin' mighty, Like it's a mighty to disc
set do. I personally still think that Siamese Dream is
this perfect little nugget. Yes, much of that is time
(28:07):
and space, as AllMusic is. It's where were you at
the time, but grand scheme of things, a massive record.
So speaking of artists completely doing it all on their own,
we have the debut album by the Foo Fighters, which
(28:32):
really was a solo record by Dave Grohl. He did
all of it, He did everything on that record, and
I remember the first time hearing it going that is
not what I anticipated from the drummer of Nirvana. But
again at work, we would all go where did this
come from? Where did this come from? But everything on
(28:56):
the album is great. I mean it really is. And
it had some of the you know, heavy guitar parts
when it was needed, but it couldn't have been more different,
and it didn't necessarily follow, you know, the cobane formula
or the corgan formula. It definitely had its own twists
(29:19):
and turns with a completely different, I think esthetic than
would have been perhaps anticipated just based upon the lineage,
but also Dave Grohl's personal history in coming out of
that DC punk scene. Kind of curious. But I mean,
(29:42):
these are the singles, this is a call I'll stick
around for all the Cows and Big Me, and they
couldn't be more different from each other. And that's what
I think was so amazing is that the palette that
he was drawing upon was much wider than I think
the world expected, and only to go on to become
(30:04):
one of the big spans in the world, which is
interesting because I think we've talked about it on the
Foo Fighters episode which you can find in the archives
of the Stock in the Middle podcast. Never massive sellers,
like no diamond records in the discography, just always platinum,
multi platinum consistency for the better part of thirty years.
(30:27):
Thirty years. And then when you reframe that in how
long Kurt Cobain's been gone, Kirk Cobain has been gone
from this earth longer than when he actually walked it,
and that is a whole another trip. Like it's crazy.
(30:49):
The next band on the list is both musically gifted
and did not take themselves seriously at all, which I
will always point to thee that weird. Al Yankovic is
one of the most talented musicians on the planet bar none.
But I'm not saying they're at this level, but as
(31:10):
far as competency with their instruments precision. On the live show,
you have the Presidents of the United States of America
with their debut album and yeah, it's a lot of
tongue in cheek stuff, but it's so fun. Let's see.
(31:35):
I just wanted to pull up I want to make
sure I have the right records, because they had they
had two records within the course of a couple of years.
I Believe, which had some some big hits, and I'm
trying to remember if one of the songs that I'm
thinking of was on the first or second record. Let's see.
(31:58):
Let me just pull up the discography here. Why won't
you scroll scroll for me? Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay,
So they came out of the gate with Kitty as
their first single. Then Lump, She's Lump, She's lump, She's lump,
(32:20):
She's in my head? Crazy Peaches? What is that? How
does it go? Move into the city? A lot of Peaches,
bonkers stuff, uh and dune buggy. So I don't know
(32:41):
what you do with that other than the fact that
it was good fun but all anchored by Chris Bellow.
He is lead singer and bassist. Also performs and records
as a children's artist under the pseudonymper baby Pants. Apparently
(33:04):
he was also in Beck's band for a period of
time as well. What other projects has he done? Um?
In June twenty twenty two, he performed Peaches with weird
Al Yankovic. There you go, That's that's all I needed, Okay,
moving on um. Okay, So the next band, although I
(33:28):
owned prior records, so I did not get into this band. Fully,
I didn't get it. That's on me, okay. And I
had other people who had told me for years, this
is the band. What are you not getting about it?
And I didn't get it until I think it was
ninety seven release, which was an album called End Hits.
(33:50):
But here in nineteen ninety five we have Fugazi with
Red Medicine. Now, I will tell you. I go into
my cassette collection and I bought in on the Kill
Taker a few years prior. Probably that's anywhere between ninety
one and ninety three, i'd say, And I just I
didn't get it. And it's not as though I didn't
(34:11):
listen to discordant rock, this kind of post hardcore. I
don't know how to describe Fugazi. They're Fugazi, yeah, Fugazi,
forget about it. But I didn't get it. And Red
Machine came out in ninety five and I still am like, no,
I didn't get it. I don't know why I understood
(34:33):
and Hits. And I might have said this on the
show before, but I remember sitting out in front of
a record store trying to remember which one it was.
I know it was on Comma and I'm sitting with
a buddy of mine, Chris. He was the lead guitar
player of Sidereal, and I just remember going, yeah, I
(34:53):
love that new Fugazi record. I'm like, it's so great
and I find it so accessible. And he just looks
at me just incredulously. And he had been a Fagazi
fan for years. He goes, you think that record is
their most accessible and I said, yeah, without a doubt,
it absolutely is pop record. He's like, I am blown away.
(35:13):
I don't even understand how you see that. But okay,
I guess something about that record clicked. But anyway, Fugazi
Red Machine here in nineteen ninety five, now the next band.
I have said it on the show before. I never
got into the whole new wave of British Invasion, second
(35:35):
British Wave, whatever they called it. Okay, here we have
in nineteen ninety five. What's the story Morning Glory by
the Mighty Oasis. I never got into them. We all
know the songs on this record. I just I never
got into it. I never got into those bands that
(35:56):
were coming out around that time. Let's see what else
is on that record, Let's see why are you being weird?
My computer is just doing an odd thing. Let's see.
(36:20):
I think Wonderwall's on that one, right, what's the story
Morning Glory we have? Some might say roll with it,
Morning Glory, wonder Wall, don't look back. In Anger and
Champagne super Nova, I just never got into it. I
don't know. I just they're They're good. As someone who
(36:43):
loves all of the first wave of those British bands,
the Beatles, the Stones, the who I mean, I love
that shit, I don't know. I just never got into
Oasis se Leve, the next group. It was this weird
kind of love hate thing with them as well. And
(37:05):
looking back on it, I was probably being mildly snobbish
because I'd seen so many of the independent SKA bands
in Connecticut, because Connecticut had such a strong like the
Northeast in general had a strong SCA scene, mind you,
so did the West Coast. I mean, West Coast gave
you groups like Operation IVY. But I never got in
(37:27):
to that first No Doubt debut record, Tragic Kingdom. Now
I will say their follow up record, I adored Simple
Kind of Life. On that second record, I'm Forgetting the
Name of It is one of my all time favorite songs.
It's so good, but you go through the list just
a girl don't speak. It's a killer, killer album, but
(37:51):
it took me a long time to go back and
give it a legitimate chance, a real listen. It's a
damn fine album. It really is. And to think that
much like Fleetwood Mac, it's a song, a collection of
songs that's written from the perspective of the lead singer
(38:12):
female having had a breakup with the bass player. I mean,
it might as well as be Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham.
It's just Gwen Stefani and Tony Kamal and it makes
for that tension and some really really great songwriting, so
(38:35):
top notch. Another artist took me years to appreciate. Now,
I just want to say it's not because I didn't
listen to female artists. I just want to say that
because I mentioned before groups like Letters to Cleo, PJ. Harvey,
Tori Amless, Shinead O'Connor, like Heart, Holy Shit, Heart Lead
(38:56):
a Forward like That's not it just this particular these
nineties records. I didn't embrace right away these artists, and
I think with this next one it's in part because
I kind of looked at it. How did this TV
star become this huge indie rock heroine? And I'm talking
(39:18):
about Alanis Morissett and Jagged Little Pill. I will tell
you fast forward to my wedding, which was eight years later,
and one of the songs that my wife and I
danced to. One was by Shnead O'Connor Dancing Days. The
other was Head over Feet by Alanis Morissett. From this record,
(39:41):
it just took a little time, a little bit of
a different place in life. I suppose to go back
and say a Jagged Little Pill rocks. Another shout out
to late Taylor Hawkins, who was the drummer for Alanis
Morissett during this time, so really great backing band. There
was nothing not to love about it other than the
fact that she came out of the gate and I'm like,
wait a minute, she was on You can't do that
(40:01):
on television, and it's kind of like, now you look
at it, and how many Disney or Nickelodeon stars go
on to become the biggest pop stars in the planet.
But she came out rocking, and I think that is
really interesting and I look back and go, that's on me, man,
that's on me the next album. I was just looking
(40:22):
the other night. I was doing some cleanup in our
boiler room is also where my work bench is. It's
also storage, and I have this album on vinyl, but
in forty fives, so it's like it's a series of
forty fives that includes B sides. And that is King
(40:43):
for a Day, a Fool for a Lifetime by Faith
in the War arguably my second favorite Faith and War record.
It goes the real Thing. You can check out the
Faith and the War Real Thing versus Angel Dust with
my friend Nicole. Check out that episode. It's a record rumble,
but I think it goes real thing. King for a Day,
(41:04):
then Angel Dust, then soln Victus, then Album of the Year,
stick in there somewhere the couple of Chuck Records, introduce
Yourself and we Care a Lot. But nevertheless, King for
a Day, Full for a Lifetime was the band being
able to fully delve into the different genres that they
were interested in, not just these kind of deconstructions with
(41:27):
Jim Martin's guitar playing, because Jim was a metal guitar
player and they had trace proants from Mister Bungle, Mike
Patten's other band, and he was able to play the
different genre styles of music so competently that it seemed like, Hey,
we're going to do a song like Evidence, and it's
going to be kind of like our R and B thing,
(41:49):
It's going to be like our late seventies kind of groove.
And it sounded like that, not just with Jim playing
heavy guitar offset against like piano and bass that were
of the genre fully realized, and a song like King
for a Day itself is a gorgeous tapestry of sound.
(42:09):
The whole album is amazing. I think probably the weakest
song is the opening track, which is what Get Out,
but yeah, Digging the Grave Last to Know, the chunkiest
guitar riff fantastic, and the closing track just a man.
(42:31):
Holy Schnikey's amazing record start to finish. Listened to it,
then listen to it now, amazing. The next record it
was definitely a Newberry Comics purchase, and I remember going, Huh,
they're doing something a little bit different. And this is
the nineteen ninety five release Mantra on Roadrunner Records by
(42:55):
band called Shelter, obviously the kind of leaders of the
Krishna Koor movement of hardcore, and they had songs like
here We Go Again, which is pop punk, and the
whole album is great. And around the same time, you
had one oh eight that put out a record at
the time I'm forgetting the name of that record that
might have come out in like ninety four or ninety six.
(43:17):
But nevertheless, Mantra is a killer, killer album by Shelter.
I think some of the purists excuse me, are less
enthusiastic about this era of Shelter, but I think it's
a great album. The next one is I have the album.
(43:39):
I tend to listen to one song more than any other,
and I have it on multiple playlists. I've been meaning
to talk about this band I think I have in
the past before. But Monster Magnets Dopes to Infinity, the
title track is tremendous. If you don't know Monster Magnet,
(44:00):
just drop everything right now, hit pause, go listen to
Dopes to Infinity, and then email me a thank you later.
The album is killer, but that song in particular is
next level. Highly recommended. Check him out A latter entry
into a legendary band. The last album before his unfortunate
(44:23):
passing of Lane Staley. We're talking about Alison Chains and
their self titled third full length studio album, We're not
counting the ep Yeah, it's just kind of sad. I
mean it really is, like all these guys and we
talked about it with the Grunge episodes, and Lane Staley's
(44:48):
voice to this day has never been replicated, and the
only person who could really truly do justice, I think
to any of their music is Jerry Cantrell. I mean really,
he's the only one because he was the harmonic foil
(45:14):
if you will, and their voice is meshed so beautifully.
But they could both sing each other's parts. I mean, obviously,
I don't think that that Jerry Cantrell can go to
the same levels of just pure full throw, full chest
kind of stuff that that Lane could do. But singles
from this album are Grind Heaven Beside You, which an
(45:34):
excellent song, and again, yeah, their first studio album with
Mikeez By the way, who did that killer bassline on
No More Tears Anyway? Next, I remember clearly seeing this
band multiple times at the tune in in New Haven, Connecticut.
(45:55):
This is the only album that I purchased. This is
Destroy the Machines by the Mighty Earth Crisis. I don't
know how to explain Earth Crisis. I do know that,
you know, vegan straight edge kind of thing. Yet there's
this I mentioned it before, this one punk rock kid
(46:17):
who can accuse them of being fascist, and he would
protest every time they played. He had some kind of
hair across his ass about Earth Crisis. And I don't know.
It's a heavy, heavy record, and check it out if
you haven't. It's just I don't know. There's such an
(46:39):
interesting band because they kind of don't look like you'd
expect And I think that's one of the interesting things
about bands of that era. They just kind of defied
your expectations. You see these guys stroll up in like,
you know, a ball cap and like a button down
(47:00):
shirt and then just play just heavy shit. But they're
really considered to be the guys that kind of launch
what's called metalcore now. I think it's bands like Earth Crisis.
Probably Snapcase would be in that genre as well of
being very much influenced equal parts metal like thrash and
(47:25):
extreme metal and punk and kind of fusing them together
in a really interesting way. You know. You go to
the Wikipedia page, it talks about bands like Integrity seeing
them live eight Falafel with Integrity, Earth Crisis, Converge, Dylan
Jersgate Plan I could see that, and then latter era
(47:48):
bands that some of you might have heard of, bands
like kill Switch, Engage, Parkway Drive, a bunch of the
bands that I had mentioned on last week's episode about
the music festivals. Let's see how they categorize snap Case.
Did they have a release in ninety five now ninety seven,
(48:10):
but looking Glass self came out in nineteen ninety three.
I don't know. I guess I would consider them more
leaning towards metalcore than just being hardcore punk. Oh yeah,
it says here hardcore punk, metal core, post hardcore, alternative metal,
or crossover thrash. That's an interesting way to put it.
But yeah, Earth Crisis next an album that I love. Also,
(48:34):
Mike Patten involved, you have I think one of the
most bonkers out there, Beautiful but dark, subversive, It's so
many things at Disco Valante by mister Bungle. It is
(48:55):
a master class in or kestrel al alternative death metal electronica.
I don't know how else to describe that record. I've
become so pleased to hear that my son is slowly
(49:18):
but surely recognizing that some of the tracks that are
on here are interesting enough to warrant a listen and
not just noise, because you kind of find out and
dig in of what's actually happening and these kind of
through lines and repraises. It's actually stunningly gorgeous. But everything
(49:40):
I went to high school with Dead Chemical Marriage, Carry
Stress in the Jaw, multiple part song, you know, like
nine minutes long. My personal favorite on this record Desert
Search for Techno a La by a Lenza Domestica After
School Special is better than your mom and your dad too.
(50:04):
It's crazy once Dad hit me so hard, Mom felt
it on her cheek. It's crazy. Good Miska Masquas, the Benz,
which is ten minutes long, which has ten distinct pieces.
Is that what they're called ten distinct sections? I don't
(50:28):
know how to describe it. Backstrokeing Platypus and the closer
clocking in at twelve minute and fifty eight seconds, Mary
Go Bye Bye. You'd have to listen to it to understand,
but it is a truly exceptional album. I once posted
on X they said, what is one record that you
(50:52):
would recommend people have to listen? To just once and
I said, disco valante, mister bungle. That person responded on
X so I have and I never will again, and
I said, fair enough. Let's see I was mentioning that
West Coast SKA and punk scene. Here we have Rancid
(51:12):
and Outcome the Wolves. Of course, Tim Armstrong, formerly known
as lint in the Mighty Operation Ivy Rancid comes out
on the scene Strong, give them the boots, the roots,
the radical roots, got yourself vation, whoa come on baby
that I may show you what you got. I just
(51:34):
I probably got the lyrics. Strong. Great album, great album,
and they've done a lot of really cool stuff. But
Tim Armstrong ended up working with Pink on a number
of her records, particularly when she started going into a
little bit more alternative rock phase. It's all good stuff.
Highly recommended that Outcome the Wolves record is so good.
(51:58):
A band that I got into big time on their
I think third and fourth release. But here we have
Jawbreaker nineteen ninety five with Dear You. The real hardcore
day ones will say this is the record. I'm a
twenty four hour revenge therapy kind of guy. I'm bivouac
like those toorecords are the ones that really speaks to me.
(52:20):
But Dear You is certainly a worthy addition to their discography.
If you don't know a job breaker, you're really missing out.
I recommend it. One of my great regrets of bands
that I did not get to go see live and
this was their final tour and they played in Boston
and I didn't go. We have the Ramones with audios amigos,
(52:44):
what else? What else is there to say? They're the
Ramones and like ac DC, you knew what you're getting
when you got a record, but they're just the Ramones. Perfection, Perfection.
Another interesting one because I was just listening to them
the other day and that's SIV with Set Your Goals
(53:08):
Now SIV. The band is actually an offshoot, if you will,
of Gorilla Biscuits. Now they are listed solely as a
punk rock band from New York. Three of the band's
members are Anthony Siarelli, Arthur Similios, and Sammy Siegler were
(53:35):
all members of Gorilla Biscuits, and Siegler also played with
Youth of Today and Judge. They also were I guess
you could say label mates with bands like quicksand but
they put out this record, Set Your Goals, and their
their lead single on this is I Can't Wait One
(53:58):
Minute More. The whole album is freaking great though, Like
it's a great record, Gang Opinion, Marching Goals, it's a
little bit of everything. But how did the band kind
of get spawned from these other bands? It's just interesting
(54:20):
when a band says, hey, we're gonna do something a
little bit different than what we've done in the past.
I mean, some of it is super like pop punk,
and other things are a little bit more just old
school punk. But you also get on uh, I can't
Wait one minute More, a guest vocal from Lou Collar
from Sick of It All, just being Lou, that gruff voice,
(54:43):
it's just a great counterpoint to SIB's voice, which on
this is very melodic. Yeah, it's just a great album,
so check it out if you haven't. Now. The next
one is because I saw them live, I want to
say it was with face to face and this is Hagfish.
(55:05):
The name of the album is Hagfish. Rocks are lay
Mass Now. I very clearly remember their stage show where
they're doing this kind of power pop power punk thing,
but they're like doing like the guitars, like spinning the
guitars like Cinderella, like clearly meeting this. Of all the
(55:31):
genres that you're gonna mix up you don't typically think of.
I think glam and like pop punk. I don't know.
It's it's really hard to describe. It says here that
they're an American rock band, but they were definitely pulling
(55:53):
out out from like the punk stuff. I don't know,
but I saw them live. They were great. They did
a lot of touring with bands like Tripping Daisy and
the Toadies, and they also list The Descendants and All
as some of their influences. But how Hagfish began performing
with bands such as All, Swerve Driver and Poster Children.
(56:16):
I might have seen them with swerve Driver at this time. Nevertheless,
fun band couldn't tell you a song, but I remember
all of their merch with the Hagfish rock shir lame
mass all over the place. Let's see, they had a
year off this record. Ah here it is okay. They
(56:39):
did a first major tour with Bad Brains, then they
toured with Ever Clear, No Effects, all the Mighty Mighty Bostones,
the Offspring Face to face. I knew that's who I
saw them with the Reverend Horton Heat the Supersuckers, and
then they appeared on Loveline at the suggestion of Ricky Rockman.
(57:01):
I love you Ricky Rockman. He has such a good
idea about music, and not just that it's you know,
hair metal or metal, like he appreciates good stuff. They
ended up getting signed to London Records, but then later
on fat Wreck Records, which is fat Wreck Chords, which
(57:23):
is a fat microm no effects label. But they were
a lot of fun and concert and they've just always
been memorial to me. Maybe I'll listen to some Hagfish
later today or tomorrow. Green Day Insomniac, I think it's
their last great record. That's just me. I think that's
their last great record. They came out with that and
(57:44):
that was like the pinnacle. Was that their immediate follow
up to Dookie. I'm pretty sure that it is Insomniac
no fourth studio album. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm forgetting fourth
because of course you had KerPlunk, you had the one
(58:04):
before that, Doukie in ninety four, and here we have
Insomniac in nineteen ninety five, Geek Stink Breath stuck with
me and brainstew and Jaded. By the way brainstew And Jaded.
While technically two separate songs, I hate if I'm listening
to it on the radio, if it comes on and
(58:26):
they don't play both, don't do that. It's not okay,
you need both. But to me, this is their last
great record, just my opinion, and I'm sticking with it.
Another band that I owned the record, but admittedly it's
all about one song for me, and this is hum
you'd prefer an astronaut And of course the song that
(58:49):
is so powerful to this day, and that's Stars such
and missed the train in Mars. She's out counting stars
and the guitar work so good. But I had to
include it on here because I remember when it came
out and hearing that song, bought the record and then
(59:11):
didn't really fuck with much of the record. And then
finally a band that I mentioned on the second and
third wave grunge bands, we have Ever Clear with Sparkle
and Fade, and this is where you have the hit
songs like Santa Monica. Great album, great time period, and
as you can tell by the bands and the records
(59:33):
that I'm mentioning, this is much more aligned with what
I was listening to at the time versus what was
happening in all of the mainstream corporate media, if you will.
Not to say that some of these bands weren't signed
to major labels and getting significant push. Okay, many of
them were. Others though not really. And it also depends
(59:55):
on what you consider to be a large label. Like
a band like Roadrunner, it had major dish tribution, but
I don't think anyone was going, oh, well, Shelter is
going to be the next big thing, you know. I
don't think anyone anticipated Monster Magnet becoming like a huge,
massive band, and they didn't. Really they reached a certain
level Rancid despite having I think there were some people
(01:00:22):
who thought that Rancid's going to be running neck neck
with like a Green Day, for example, But I just
feel like, I don't know, Rancid just kept their aesthetic
and their style. They kept it to be very real
and rootsy, whereas Green Day began to get more and
more ambitious. I think that's the only way to describe it.
They had ambitions to be more than just a new
(01:00:45):
era punk band, and they got poppier and poppier and poppier,
and then you release the ballad and it's all done.
You're a different type of band at that point. Not
to say that a band like The Offspring lost its
punk cred, because certainly they have ballads. So Far Away
is an amazing song. Nevertheless, that is nineteen ninety five,
(01:01:10):
thirty years ago, the soundtrack from my early years in Boston.
Certainly there are other bands that I was listening to
and just beginning to discover over the next couple of years.
So between ninety five and ninety seven, my musical palette
began to grow even more so, and I found myself
being allowing myself to be challenged and listen to things
(01:01:32):
that I wouldn't This is an era where I began
to really enjoy Frank Sinatra. I never really listened to
the greater catalog of Elvis Presley, I never listened to
Miles Davis until around this time period where I started
like picking out these things that I found to be
(01:01:54):
really interesting and saying, Okay, I'm going to go down
this rabbit hole, you know, Arlie Parker. Yeah, I was
much more open to things than I was just a
few years earlier. Not as though I didn't listen to
R and B and hip hop and pop and punk
and metal, but being able to go into a random
(01:02:17):
record store and just look through things and go, this
looks interesting to me. I'd heard about Tom Waits. I
never picked up a Tom Waits record that I listened
to rain Dogs and said, this is amazing. How have
I been missing out on this? Nick Drake never listened
to Nick Drake. Okay, this is something interesting. So yeah,
(01:02:40):
ninety five thirty years ago was such an era of
discovery and rediscovery for me. And you know, a couple
of you know, weird relationships in there, and just the
life stuff and trying to get accustomed to this city
and a completely different life than the one that I
was used to. And I think that's why I still
(01:03:03):
feel something. There's some kind of emotion that I get
when I listen to this music because it transports me.
It transports me to a time where I was starting
to become me, if that makes any sense. And I
think that's what music does, all these different points in
time where you go, huh, I feel something because of
(01:03:24):
that music. There's some of that you know, mid two
thousands country that I have such a fondness for because
it reminds me of my kids when they were little,
Like I listen to sugar Land and I'm like, hell yeah,
I sugar Land. Honestly, early Taylor Swift was good stuff,
(01:03:44):
you know, Tim McGraw. That was my time period where
country was really interesting to me and enjoyable, and it
transports me to that time and place. So anyway, this
is kind of a retrospective of nineteen nine. So please
tell me what were you listening to in nineteen ninety five?
(01:04:05):
What were your favorite albums? What were the songs that
when you transport yourself back thirty years ago, you go, yeah,
this is what I was feeling, This is what I
was listening to. Now if it was the stuff that
was on the radio, by all means, let me know, like, Hey,
I really enjoyed that era of Madonna. Hey, my favorite
era of Madonna Vogue era bar none Madonna Vogue, that
(01:04:29):
whole fantastic only Madonna record I've ever owned Vogue's fantastic.
I'm saying it here right, but let me know, And
how do you do that? You can email me at
Stuck in the Middle pod at yahoo dot com. You
can find me on Instagram, x and YouTube. At stuckpod X.
(01:04:51):
Head on over to the Facebook page Stuck in the
Middle Egenics Podcast. Please like, comment, share, leave five star reviews,
and most importantly, please subscribe to the podcast. So until
next time, later slackers,
Welcome to the Stuck in the Middle Podcast, the podcast
dedicated to the music, movies and colts are generations. What
is up, slackers, and welcome to another episode of the
(00:32):
Stuck in the Middle Podcast. I am your host, Jason Eck,
and I'm recording this on a Monday. I typically record
on Tuesdays, and that is because we have quite the
busy week with my daughter's graduation occurring this week, so
we have a number of events over the course of
the next few nights, so I'm recording early. And then
(00:53):
we also have in there a track meet, which is
the last qualifier for uh, you know, the tournament. And
I'm less well versed in the track and field stuff,
but I think that's how it works. They have to
go ahead and get through this last qualifier in order
to go to the next invitational. And if that happens,
then it looks like there's a weekend meet as well. Nevertheless,
(01:17):
it is a busy, busy week. And yeah, my daughter's
journey here it is coming up to oh, another milestone
in the books. Now. Part of for I guess part
of the reason for tonight's topic was actually because my
wife and I were sitting and we were just chatting
about life as you know, you do, as one does,
(01:43):
particularly when you're looking at these meaningful lives, like milestones
in your children's lives, and we're just thinking about how
quickly things change and how things happen in the blink Vini,
which is one minute their babies, the next minute they're
graduating high school or going off to college or whatever
(02:03):
it is, all these different things, these these milestones on
the path of life. And we were talking about, well,
I guess my oldest was asked, like, so when did
you guys meet exactly? And we're kind of going to
the timeline because obviously we both came from different states
and relocated, and we also have certain locations and what
(02:28):
I mean by locations meaning places that we worked and
for my wife and I we met at work and
we were working for the same company and we both
did for many years and I ended up being with
the same company for about sixteen years, and like, well,
when did you move? And when did I move? And
when did I get to Boston? When did you get
(02:49):
to Boston? When did we first meet? And just kind
of going through that timeline of life and thinking about
it in the context of Okay, I moved to Boston
at this time and within ten years welcoming our first child.
It's so amazing how quickly that happens, and even thinking
(03:11):
about it in terms of our kids and the things
that they experience. I mean, obviously we're in our fifties
or even sixty years old, and our lives are double theirs,
and it's just it's crazy. It really is crazy. So
what I'm getting at is we're working out the timeline.
(03:34):
So my wife and I began, I guess officially dating
somewhere around nineteen ninety eight, so we're coming up on
our twenty second wedding anniversary, but also our twenty seventh
year as a couple, basically became a couple. We'reund the
same week, so July fourth week, which is the same
(03:54):
week that we got married. So I never forget an
anniversary date that way, always able to remember the timeline.
But that means that I moved to Boston just shy
of my twenty first birthday, and I remember celebrating my
twenty first birthday up here and trying to figure out where,
(04:16):
you know, we could go because we are kind of
going to go a couple of nights prior, and would
the place that we are going to go let us
drink a little bit early, and who else in our
crew hadn't turned twenty one yet? Those kind of things.
We ended up going to a place called a Kua ku, Yeah,
a kua kuh kind of a Polynesian joint. Anyway. So
(04:41):
I moved to Boston in nineteen ninety five, and this
was such a odd kind of transitionary time for me,
in part because as we're again talking about my oldest son,
who is going to be, you know, twenty this year,
is I said. The three worst years as far as
being a complete and utter true to the phrase slacker
(05:05):
was between the ages of nineteen and twenty one. I
was just a lost soul party in living hard, running hard, brother,
absolutely running hard for those few years. And that was
the only real period of my life where I didn't
work consistently. I would go and I'd start working someplace,
(05:28):
and most of the time minimum The shortest job I
had in my teens was the grocery store, which is
still almost a year and then the short now, the
shortest job I had was I was a short order
cook for friendlies, and they threw me right on the line,
and I was not prepared for that job. I ended
up getting demoted to dishwasher and did that for another
(05:49):
six months or whatever until I got the job that
I really wanted, which was at a pharmacy in my
hometown of Maridon, Connecticut, Case Pharmacy, which was well known
to employ teens from our high school. I ended up
working there, including full time, about four years total. And
then I was adrift and working overnights and working like
sometimes two three jobs at a time, and then I'd
(06:11):
get sick of one and i'd quit. I at one
point had three jobs in the same little strip mall.
But nevertheless, it was a tumultuous time, and it was
moving to Boston that was this moment of Okay, I
need to get my absolute shit together, and I can't
do it here. So a friend of mine was already
up here, friend of the show, Nicole. She's like, come
on up here, throw that life away that you got
(06:33):
back there. It's not working for you and you're going
to end up debtor in jail, and I don't want
that for you, So come up there. So nineteen ninety five,
so that's what this episode is about, and it's specifically
the music of nineteen ninety five because this was as
I did the second and third wave grunge bands. This
was also somewhat of a transitory time in music as well,
(06:55):
and personally for me, my musical palettes beginning to go
in a slightly different directions. So I tried to focus
on the bands and the artists of nineteen ninety five
that I would have either been seeing live or have
been buying their records. Now, there's a couple of the
artists that are on here that I didn't get into
in ninety five, but I did within the next year
year and a half as my circle of friends up
(07:17):
in Boston grew. And some of these are well known
big hits. But I'm going to juxtapose this list with
what was actually happening on Billboard, and I think you'll
you'll find why it wasn't really, for the most part,
stuff that I was really into. Now, that is not
to say there's not an artist or two on here
(07:42):
that I was quite a fan of and I still
to this day. Stan As the kids say, so, let's
go to the Billboard End of Year Singles for nineteen
ninety five. It's a very interesting collection of artists, but
so very nineteen ninety five. So all the way at
(08:04):
the bottom at number one hundred was Can't Stop Loving
You from Van Halen, which of course off the Balance record.
This was not a record I think I have then
nor ever listened to now. It took me thirty years
just to appreciate Sammy, so I just I basically have
(08:25):
focused on fifty one fifty and O You eight one two.
I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to
the other stuff. Some people have said that Balance is
an excellent album, others have said it's the weakest of
the bunch. Nevertheless, that's coming in at number one hundred,
a band that was just kind of breaking on the
scene at this point coming in at number ninety nine,
(08:48):
and that is man. I don't even remember this song
hitting the charts because I didn't think it was until
their next record that they really broke out. But nevertheless,
we have a number ninety nine, Misery by Soul Asylum,
(09:12):
we have ninety eight. We have Best Friend by Brandy,
of course, sister to ray J. I do like my
raycons they're excellent in years, but I don't have a sponsorship,
so fucking we have Let's see I'll stand by You.
It's amazing to think of a band like the Pretenders
having such a huge ladder career, kind of huge hit
(09:33):
with I'll stand by You. But it is an excellent
song and has been covered and used in so many things.
Chrissy hind At our absolute finest and most heartbreaking. And
then a group that was absolutely dominating the nineties and
that's Boys to Men with Thank You, Let's see we
have I Lived My Life for You by hair Metal
(09:55):
Heroes Firehouse First of the Month by a Bone Thus
in harmony. Do you hear what I'm saying from the
time period, it's very interesting we have turned the beat around.
That was ninety five by Gloria Estefan Holy Cow. That
song sounds like it belongs in the eighties when they
(10:16):
first really broke onto the scene. Interesting. An artist my
son asked me about just the other day, as he's
beginning to explore earlier eras of what's often called like
it's not the New Jack swing, but there was this
kind of resurgence in R and B but still somewhat
(10:37):
with the hip hop esthetic. And he's like, Dad, you
ever listen to DiAngelo? And DiAngelo is on here with
Brown Sugar. We have Latter Day. This is one of
those bands that's kind of in the mix of They
weren't grunge, but they were in this whole like wave
of indie rockers. We have better than Ezra with good
(11:00):
Let's see You two withhold Me, thrill Me, kiss Me,
Kill Me, which is from the Batman Forever soundtrack. Another
shout out to Val Kilmer. Let's see we have what
else is good? Here the Sweetest Days by Vanessa Williams.
(11:22):
Feel My Flow by Naughty by nature Na Because I
Hate You, We Have Secret by Madonna. This Ain't a
Love Song by bon Jovi at number seventy. All I
Want to Do by Sheryl Crowe. That was her first
big breakout single, wasn't it. I'm pretty sure that it was.
(11:42):
Um Yeah. It was her breakthrough hit from her nineteen
ninety three debut album, but it didn't hit the charge
until ninety five. Interesting. Let's see we have back for
Good by Take That You Don't Know How Feels by
the Mighty Tom Petty Carnival by Natalie Murcha. Of course,
(12:05):
now solo after her time with ten Thousand Maniacs. We
have Keep their Heads Ringing by Doctor Dre That is
a single from the Friday soundtrack. And then this is
where you look at peak nineteen nineties hip hop really
(12:30):
becoming just so massive and a name that is legendary
at this point, and this is that time period where
pretty much anything he released was a hit. We have
Dear Mama by Tupac, I'll Make Love to You by
Boys to Med at number fifty. But then if Tupac
(12:53):
was kind of with that whole West Coast crew, although
he's from like Philly, Baltimore area, but he kind of
got mixed up with with this whole East West thing
because coming out of New York, you have Notorious Big
with Big Papa before I Let You Go by Blackstreet.
(13:13):
We have Melissa Esh with Ethridge here with I'm the
only one we have. I'll be there for you. You're
all I need to get by Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige.
I forgot about this song December by Collective Soul. Let's
see here. We have only want to Be with You
(13:36):
by Hoodie and the Blowfish. Oh my goodness, um strong
Enough by Sheryl Crow and now the artist that I
mentioned that in any era, in any time, I can't
help it. Maybe smitten is the word. They sound like
no one else, something unique about them that I've always
(14:00):
just truly appreciated and enjoyed. Here we have Red Light
Special by TLC. We Let Her Cry by Hoody and
the Blowfish number twenty three, One More Chance, Stay with
Me Notorious Big We Got Hold My Hand by Hoodie
and the Blowfish. Totally forgot about this song You Were
Not Alone by Michael Jackson. We have a song that
(14:23):
is still to this day a meme. The kids all
know it talking about all these zoomers they know Bombastic
by Shaggy. We have one of my favorite Bond Jovie
ballads in Always It's So good Brian Adams. Bro Sorry
(14:44):
like not past like eighty two. I can't have you
ever ready Loved a Woman? By Brian Adams. Let's see
run Around by Blues Traveler. Let's see we have this
is how we do It? Montel Jordan. Hell yeah, that's
a banger. We have Madonna Take a Bow at number eight,
(15:04):
Mariah Carey Fantasy at number seven, Real McCoy, I don't
even remember this song. Another Night on Bended Me at
number five by Boys to Men The legendary Seal with
Kiss from a Rose, and number two and three spots
are held by who TLC with Waterfalls and Creep Sorry
(15:26):
that Shit is Fire. That is just good, good shit.
Love those songs. Creep in particular, there's a groove to that,
Ah so good. And then finally number one Gangster's Paradise
(15:46):
by the One and Only Coolio. But as you can see,
it's a lot of R and B hip hop and
then like these little pockets of rock, but usually by Oh.
Elton John's on the list because he's in every decade
at number fifty nine with Believe. I'm not sure if
I mentioned that earlier, but you got your Tom Petties,
your Elton John's Oh hold On by Jamie Walters, the
(16:12):
other big song other than how Do You Talk To
An Angel? But yeah, it's really interesting. Melissa Ethridge was
really breaking huge at this point in time as well.
Hoody and the Blowfish would go on to be one
of the biggest bands in the world, and so did
Darius rutger By himself as a country artist. But as
you can tell, this is not necessarily a ton of
(16:34):
the music that I was super into. Just the charts
had completely changed, but musical tastes had changed as well,
and we're kind of in this weird period where, like
I feel that radio hits, well I mean obviously evidenced
by this word, were less about guitar bass music. I
think this is so glaring and so obvious. Doesn't mean
(16:56):
that you didn't have some big hits in here that
were by rock bands. It's just not as prevalent as
it was in some of the other years that we've
covered on the show. So let's jump into the bands
that I was either listening to actively in ninety five
or would in the next year become a fan of
(17:18):
or got to see them live. So like the first
band on the list, I had to put it on
there when I was looking up artists that were releasing
records in ninety five because I ended up seeing this
band a number of times at a little club called
tt the Bears here in Boston, and that's Swerve Driver
and their record ejector seat reservation. All I remember is
(17:38):
the place was packed and it's a small club, and
Swervedriver had this really electric fan base, like really really
into it. Never particularly my cup of tea necessarily, but
if you see a band more than once. Usually because
the other artists on the bill are interesting, then it's
a good time. I'm pretty sure that Rivers Cuomo ended
(18:01):
up opening for Swore of Driver when he was doing
some of his solo stuff. Try to remember who else
was Swore of Driver. Pretty sure I saw a bad
Barbie with Sword Driver, and I'm pretty sure my buddy
Drew ended up opening for them on a solo set
on a break from his band at the time, Siderial.
I've mentioned a number of times on the show a
(18:23):
favorite band of mine. Now, this is not the record
that I fell in love with, but I've since gone
back and listened to it. This is the Red House
Painters with Ocean Beach. It really it's hard to explain
the band. They're really their own little, unique genre onto themselves.
So I would go ahead and check out any Redhouse
Painters that you can. It's all really good stuff. Now,
(18:47):
this is the self titled debut album by a band
that's next record ended up becoming huge. We're talking about
ben Folds five with their first record. Ben Folds is
an amazing composer. I think there's really no other way
to describe it and to be able to go into
the punk and indie and the alternative scene with piano
(19:11):
as a dominant instrument was so refreshing because he was
kind of this throwback to your your Jerry Lee Lewis's
and even oh gosh, Little Richard like that style, that
genre where you could really bang on those piano keys
and give it a real strong feel, something very macho
(19:38):
in the piano playing. I think we were so often
accustomed to the kind of, you know, this kind of
orchestral idea, that it can't really be this rocking instrument.
Not to say that there isn't rock elements and melodic
structures in symphonic pieces orchestral pieces, but ben Folds was
(19:58):
just coming out and attacking the piano, and it blew
my mind, which is so interesting because I'm not necessarily
a fan and my oldest and I go back and
forth in this. I'm not a Billy Joel guy. I
probably should be. I'm just not. I can't really explain it.
If you give me a choice between Billy Joel and
Elton John as like the statesman of that seventies eighties
(20:24):
piano rock, it's gonna be Elton John. I can't really
explain it. I think it's probably because I saw that
Central Park concert for Elton John and he stressed up
in all these ludicrous costumes, which completely belied the fact
that as a musician he was so locked in and
so serious about his craft, but didn't take himself so
(20:44):
seriously dressed up in a big Donald Duck suit and
just murdering the keys on the piano. But ben Folds
was definitely in that whole vibe. It was a really
cool thing to behold because again I'm talking about guitar
drive music, and you know they had it, but piano, Ah,
(21:06):
good shit. One of my favorite songs is oh gosh,
what's it called, ex girlfriend? Give me my money back?
Give me my money back, you bitch? Oh song for
the dumped. So good, so good. Now, the next band
and this album to me is the Pinnacle. Now some
(21:29):
people say that the next record by this band is
the Pinnacle. This is just my opinion. You are free
to agree or disagree. In nineteen ninety five, radio Head
dropped the Bens that album is a masterpiece. I don't
care about okay computer or paranoid Android, any of that.
(21:56):
This album is perfection. And this album is the Chef's
kiss of their discography, it's raw and powerful. I saw
them on this tour. It was an amazing show, and
(22:21):
I don't think I even anticipated it being the show
that it was, and I think in part because they
were the band that had the quirky single right Pablo
Honey also a great record by the way, yes, completely
overshadowed by quote unquote the hit, but yeah, and Johnny
(22:43):
Greenwood on guitar that night was like a guitar god,
a guitar hero, which is so, I guess curious, given
they've experimented with so many different sounds and styles and
even electronica and weirdo shit. But this album was a
guitar driven, moody, atmospheric album that I think is one
(23:09):
of the untouchable albums of the era of the nineties.
The Benz is top tier, absolutely top tier, and I
slept on them at first, I really did. And then
I moved up here and we have Newberry comics up here.
But there's also this place called CD Spins, which was
all used CDs. You could sell stuff, you could buy stuff,
(23:32):
trade whatever. I remember. I picked up the Benz. I
picked up rain Dogs by Tom Waits, trying to remember
what else I picked up that day. I'm remembering thirty
years ago. I just remember rain Dogs and the Bens
being in the same pickup. I feel like I got
one other thing that day too, and I can't, for
(23:52):
the life of me, remember what it was. But nevertheless,
the Benz is top tier radiohead nineteen ninety five, So
an artist that I had already been listening to for a
few years then kind of broke through to a much
larger platform. And this is PJ. Harvey to Bring You
My Love Now. Not my favorite record. I still think
(24:17):
Dry is by far the better album, but there's a
few tracks on here, and I remember we played this
at work all the time because the job I got
was it Orban Outfitters, and this was on constant rotation,
and this was before it was even corporate mandated what
(24:38):
we could listen to. People just brought in their own music,
and this was an easy choice because everyone was already,
you know, into PJ. But yeah, down by the Water,
come on, Billy, send his Love to Me. Just amazing.
And she ended up opening up for You two on
(25:00):
the what tour is that? She opened for You two
on the Elevation Tour, which did multiple Nights in Boston,
which ended up being recorded for the home video release.
But yeah, Pg Harvey, this was I think her commercial apex.
(25:25):
Great record, but super weird too. I don't know, it
just it lacked a little bit of that that raw
sex appeal of Dry, the almost violent nature of that album.
This was a little more subdued. But hey, still good shit.
(25:50):
This is a massive band that came such a long
way in a really short period of time. I've talked
about this on the show before, but this is the
Smashing Pumpkins double disc Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I
think what fascinates me about the story more than anything
else is that Billy Corgan, this is well known, had
(26:14):
significant writer's block after Gish and didn't really know if
he was ever gonna write again. It was one of
those things He's like, I'm never gonna write another song again,
and those first opening notes of today, dun du dun
dun du dun dun, open the floodgates. I'll come Sime's stream,
(26:39):
and then he just went on a run of just
songs falling out of his ass. And to go from
a couple of years earlier having writer's block to a
double album is crazy, but arguably some of his best work.
Nineteen seventy nine zero to Night Tonight Muzzle thirty three
(27:04):
Diamond Diamond double album. I mean bonkers, absolutely bonkers that
the output that Corgan was able to produce in this
time and recognizing that although they were a band, almost
(27:25):
all guitars were, if not completely trapped. That includes bass
guitar completely tracked by Billy or the entire skeleton and
framework was created. I don't really know what James Eja's
actual writing credits are. I don't know if he ever
really did a solo on any of those records that
(27:45):
he might have been attributed to. But this album, double album,
it's pretty frickin' mighty, Like it's a mighty to disc
set do. I personally still think that Siamese Dream is
this perfect little nugget. Yes, much of that is time
(28:07):
and space, as AllMusic is. It's where were you at
the time, but grand scheme of things, a massive record.
So speaking of artists completely doing it all on their own,
we have the debut album by the Foo Fighters, which
(28:32):
really was a solo record by Dave Grohl. He did
all of it, He did everything on that record, and
I remember the first time hearing it going that is
not what I anticipated from the drummer of Nirvana. But
again at work, we would all go where did this
come from? Where did this come from? But everything on
(28:56):
the album is great. I mean it really is. And
it had some of the you know, heavy guitar parts
when it was needed, but it couldn't have been more different,
and it didn't necessarily follow, you know, the cobane formula
or the corgan formula. It definitely had its own twists
(29:19):
and turns with a completely different, I think esthetic than
would have been perhaps anticipated just based upon the lineage,
but also Dave Grohl's personal history in coming out of
that DC punk scene. Kind of curious. But I mean,
(29:42):
these are the singles, this is a call I'll stick
around for all the Cows and Big Me, and they
couldn't be more different from each other. And that's what
I think was so amazing is that the palette that
he was drawing upon was much wider than I think
the world expected, and only to go on to become
(30:04):
one of the big spans in the world, which is
interesting because I think we've talked about it on the
Foo Fighters episode which you can find in the archives
of the Stock in the Middle podcast. Never massive sellers,
like no diamond records in the discography, just always platinum,
multi platinum consistency for the better part of thirty years.
(30:27):
Thirty years. And then when you reframe that in how
long Kurt Cobain's been gone, Kirk Cobain has been gone
from this earth longer than when he actually walked it,
and that is a whole another trip. Like it's crazy.
(30:49):
The next band on the list is both musically gifted
and did not take themselves seriously at all, which I
will always point to thee that weird. Al Yankovic is
one of the most talented musicians on the planet bar none.
But I'm not saying they're at this level, but as
(31:10):
far as competency with their instruments precision. On the live show,
you have the Presidents of the United States of America
with their debut album and yeah, it's a lot of
tongue in cheek stuff, but it's so fun. Let's see.
(31:35):
I just wanted to pull up I want to make
sure I have the right records, because they had they
had two records within the course of a couple of years.
I Believe, which had some some big hits, and I'm
trying to remember if one of the songs that I'm
thinking of was on the first or second record. Let's see.
(31:58):
Let me just pull up the discography here. Why won't
you scroll scroll for me? Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay,
So they came out of the gate with Kitty as
their first single. Then Lump, She's Lump, She's lump, She's lump,
(32:20):
She's in my head? Crazy Peaches? What is that? How
does it go? Move into the city? A lot of Peaches,
bonkers stuff, uh and dune buggy. So I don't know
(32:41):
what you do with that other than the fact that
it was good fun but all anchored by Chris Bellow.
He is lead singer and bassist. Also performs and records
as a children's artist under the pseudonymper baby Pants. Apparently
(33:04):
he was also in Beck's band for a period of
time as well. What other projects has he done? Um?
In June twenty twenty two, he performed Peaches with weird
Al Yankovic. There you go, That's that's all I needed, Okay,
moving on um. Okay, So the next band, although I
(33:28):
owned prior records, so I did not get into this band. Fully,
I didn't get it. That's on me, okay. And I
had other people who had told me for years, this
is the band. What are you not getting about it?
And I didn't get it until I think it was
ninety seven release, which was an album called End Hits.
(33:50):
But here in nineteen ninety five we have Fugazi with
Red Medicine. Now, I will tell you. I go into
my cassette collection and I bought in on the Kill
Taker a few years prior. Probably that's anywhere between ninety
one and ninety three, i'd say, And I just I
didn't get it. And it's not as though I didn't
(34:11):
listen to discordant rock, this kind of post hardcore. I
don't know how to describe Fugazi. They're Fugazi, yeah, Fugazi,
forget about it. But I didn't get it. And Red
Machine came out in ninety five and I still am like, no,
I didn't get it. I don't know why I understood
(34:33):
and Hits. And I might have said this on the
show before, but I remember sitting out in front of
a record store trying to remember which one it was.
I know it was on Comma and I'm sitting with
a buddy of mine, Chris. He was the lead guitar
player of Sidereal, and I just remember going, yeah, I
(34:53):
love that new Fugazi record. I'm like, it's so great
and I find it so accessible. And he just looks
at me just incredulously. And he had been a Fagazi
fan for years. He goes, you think that record is
their most accessible and I said, yeah, without a doubt,
it absolutely is pop record. He's like, I am blown away.
(35:13):
I don't even understand how you see that. But okay,
I guess something about that record clicked. But anyway, Fugazi
Red Machine here in nineteen ninety five, now the next band.
I have said it on the show before. I never
got into the whole new wave of British Invasion, second
(35:35):
British Wave, whatever they called it. Okay, here we have
in nineteen ninety five. What's the story Morning Glory by
the Mighty Oasis. I never got into them. We all
know the songs on this record. I just I never
got into it. I never got into those bands that
(35:56):
were coming out around that time. Let's see what else
is on that record, Let's see why are you being weird?
My computer is just doing an odd thing. Let's see.
(36:20):
I think Wonderwall's on that one, right, what's the story
Morning Glory we have? Some might say roll with it,
Morning Glory, wonder Wall, don't look back. In Anger and
Champagne super Nova, I just never got into it. I
don't know. I just they're They're good. As someone who
(36:43):
loves all of the first wave of those British bands,
the Beatles, the Stones, the who I mean, I love
that shit, I don't know. I just never got into
Oasis se Leve, the next group. It was this weird
kind of love hate thing with them as well. And
(37:05):
looking back on it, I was probably being mildly snobbish
because I'd seen so many of the independent SKA bands
in Connecticut, because Connecticut had such a strong like the
Northeast in general had a strong SCA scene, mind you,
so did the West Coast. I mean, West Coast gave
you groups like Operation IVY. But I never got in
(37:27):
to that first No Doubt debut record, Tragic Kingdom. Now
I will say their follow up record, I adored Simple
Kind of Life. On that second record, I'm Forgetting the
Name of It is one of my all time favorite songs.
It's so good, but you go through the list just
a girl don't speak. It's a killer, killer album, but
(37:51):
it took me a long time to go back and
give it a legitimate chance, a real listen. It's a
damn fine album. It really is. And to think that
much like Fleetwood Mac, it's a song, a collection of
songs that's written from the perspective of the lead singer
(38:12):
female having had a breakup with the bass player. I mean,
it might as well as be Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham.
It's just Gwen Stefani and Tony Kamal and it makes
for that tension and some really really great songwriting, so
(38:35):
top notch. Another artist took me years to appreciate. Now,
I just want to say it's not because I didn't
listen to female artists. I just want to say that
because I mentioned before groups like Letters to Cleo, PJ. Harvey,
Tori Amless, Shinead O'Connor, like Heart, Holy Shit, Heart Lead
(38:56):
a Forward like That's not it just this particular these
nineties records. I didn't embrace right away these artists, and
I think with this next one it's in part because
I kind of looked at it. How did this TV
star become this huge indie rock heroine? And I'm talking
(39:18):
about Alanis Morissett and Jagged Little Pill. I will tell
you fast forward to my wedding, which was eight years later,
and one of the songs that my wife and I
danced to. One was by Shnead O'Connor Dancing Days. The
other was Head over Feet by Alanis Morissett. From this record,
(39:41):
it just took a little time, a little bit of
a different place in life. I suppose to go back
and say a Jagged Little Pill rocks. Another shout out
to late Taylor Hawkins, who was the drummer for Alanis
Morissett during this time, so really great backing band. There
was nothing not to love about it other than the
fact that she came out of the gate and I'm like,
wait a minute, she was on You can't do that
(40:01):
on television, and it's kind of like, now you look
at it, and how many Disney or Nickelodeon stars go
on to become the biggest pop stars in the planet.
But she came out rocking, and I think that is
really interesting and I look back and go, that's on me, man,
that's on me the next album. I was just looking
(40:22):
the other night. I was doing some cleanup in our
boiler room is also where my work bench is. It's
also storage, and I have this album on vinyl, but
in forty fives, so it's like it's a series of
forty fives that includes B sides. And that is King
(40:43):
for a Day, a Fool for a Lifetime by Faith
in the War arguably my second favorite Faith and War record.
It goes the real Thing. You can check out the
Faith and the War Real Thing versus Angel Dust with
my friend Nicole. Check out that episode. It's a record rumble,
but I think it goes real thing. King for a Day,
(41:04):
then Angel Dust, then soln Victus, then Album of the Year,
stick in there somewhere the couple of Chuck Records, introduce
Yourself and we Care a Lot. But nevertheless, King for
a Day, Full for a Lifetime was the band being
able to fully delve into the different genres that they
were interested in, not just these kind of deconstructions with
(41:27):
Jim Martin's guitar playing, because Jim was a metal guitar
player and they had trace proants from Mister Bungle, Mike
Patten's other band, and he was able to play the
different genre styles of music so competently that it seemed like, Hey,
we're going to do a song like Evidence, and it's
going to be kind of like our R and B thing,
(41:49):
It's going to be like our late seventies kind of groove.
And it sounded like that, not just with Jim playing
heavy guitar offset against like piano and bass that were
of the genre fully realized, and a song like King
for a Day itself is a gorgeous tapestry of sound.
(42:09):
The whole album is amazing. I think probably the weakest
song is the opening track, which is what Get Out,
but yeah, Digging the Grave Last to Know, the chunkiest
guitar riff fantastic, and the closing track just a man.
(42:31):
Holy Schnikey's amazing record start to finish. Listened to it,
then listen to it now, amazing. The next record it
was definitely a Newberry Comics purchase, and I remember going, Huh,
they're doing something a little bit different. And this is
the nineteen ninety five release Mantra on Roadrunner Records by
(42:55):
band called Shelter, obviously the kind of leaders of the
Krishna Koor movement of hardcore, and they had songs like
here We Go Again, which is pop punk, and the
whole album is great. And around the same time, you
had one oh eight that put out a record at
the time I'm forgetting the name of that record that
might have come out in like ninety four or ninety six.
(43:17):
But nevertheless, Mantra is a killer, killer album by Shelter.
I think some of the purists excuse me, are less
enthusiastic about this era of Shelter, but I think it's
a great album. The next one is I have the album.
(43:39):
I tend to listen to one song more than any other,
and I have it on multiple playlists. I've been meaning
to talk about this band I think I have in
the past before. But Monster Magnets Dopes to Infinity, the
title track is tremendous. If you don't know Monster Magnet,
(44:00):
just drop everything right now, hit pause, go listen to
Dopes to Infinity, and then email me a thank you later.
The album is killer, but that song in particular is
next level. Highly recommended. Check him out A latter entry
into a legendary band. The last album before his unfortunate
(44:23):
passing of Lane Staley. We're talking about Alison Chains and
their self titled third full length studio album, We're not
counting the ep Yeah, it's just kind of sad. I
mean it really is, like all these guys and we
talked about it with the Grunge episodes, and Lane Staley's
(44:48):
voice to this day has never been replicated, and the
only person who could really truly do justice, I think
to any of their music is Jerry Cantrell. I mean really,
he's the only one because he was the harmonic foil
(45:14):
if you will, and their voice is meshed so beautifully.
But they could both sing each other's parts. I mean, obviously,
I don't think that that Jerry Cantrell can go to
the same levels of just pure full throw, full chest
kind of stuff that that Lane could do. But singles
from this album are Grind Heaven Beside You, which an
(45:34):
excellent song, and again, yeah, their first studio album with
Mikeez By the way, who did that killer bassline on
No More Tears Anyway? Next, I remember clearly seeing this
band multiple times at the tune in in New Haven, Connecticut.
(45:55):
This is the only album that I purchased. This is
Destroy the Machines by the Mighty Earth Crisis. I don't
know how to explain Earth Crisis. I do know that,
you know, vegan straight edge kind of thing. Yet there's
this I mentioned it before, this one punk rock kid
(46:17):
who can accuse them of being fascist, and he would
protest every time they played. He had some kind of
hair across his ass about Earth Crisis. And I don't know.
It's a heavy, heavy record, and check it out if
you haven't. It's just I don't know. There's such an
(46:39):
interesting band because they kind of don't look like you'd
expect And I think that's one of the interesting things
about bands of that era. They just kind of defied
your expectations. You see these guys stroll up in like,
you know, a ball cap and like a button down
(47:00):
shirt and then just play just heavy shit. But they're
really considered to be the guys that kind of launch
what's called metalcore now. I think it's bands like Earth Crisis.
Probably Snapcase would be in that genre as well of
being very much influenced equal parts metal like thrash and
(47:25):
extreme metal and punk and kind of fusing them together
in a really interesting way. You know. You go to
the Wikipedia page, it talks about bands like Integrity seeing
them live eight Falafel with Integrity, Earth Crisis, Converge, Dylan
Jersgate Plan I could see that, and then latter era
(47:48):
bands that some of you might have heard of, bands
like kill Switch, Engage, Parkway Drive, a bunch of the
bands that I had mentioned on last week's episode about
the music festivals. Let's see how they categorize snap Case.
Did they have a release in ninety five now ninety seven,
(48:10):
but looking Glass self came out in nineteen ninety three.
I don't know. I guess I would consider them more
leaning towards metalcore than just being hardcore punk. Oh yeah,
it says here hardcore punk, metal core, post hardcore, alternative metal,
or crossover thrash. That's an interesting way to put it.
But yeah, Earth Crisis next an album that I love. Also,
(48:34):
Mike Patten involved, you have I think one of the
most bonkers out there, Beautiful but dark, subversive, It's so
many things at Disco Valante by mister Bungle. It is
(48:55):
a master class in or kestrel al alternative death metal electronica.
I don't know how else to describe that record. I've
become so pleased to hear that my son is slowly
(49:18):
but surely recognizing that some of the tracks that are
on here are interesting enough to warrant a listen and
not just noise, because you kind of find out and
dig in of what's actually happening and these kind of
through lines and repraises. It's actually stunningly gorgeous. But everything
(49:40):
I went to high school with Dead Chemical Marriage, Carry
Stress in the Jaw, multiple part song, you know, like
nine minutes long. My personal favorite on this record Desert
Search for Techno a La by a Lenza Domestica After
School Special is better than your mom and your dad too.
(50:04):
It's crazy once Dad hit me so hard, Mom felt
it on her cheek. It's crazy. Good Miska Masquas, the Benz,
which is ten minutes long, which has ten distinct pieces.
Is that what they're called ten distinct sections? I don't
(50:28):
know how to describe it. Backstrokeing Platypus and the closer
clocking in at twelve minute and fifty eight seconds, Mary
Go Bye Bye. You'd have to listen to it to understand,
but it is a truly exceptional album. I once posted
on X they said, what is one record that you
(50:52):
would recommend people have to listen? To just once and
I said, disco valante, mister bungle. That person responded on
X so I have and I never will again, and
I said, fair enough. Let's see I was mentioning that
West Coast SKA and punk scene. Here we have Rancid
(51:12):
and Outcome the Wolves. Of course, Tim Armstrong, formerly known
as lint in the Mighty Operation Ivy Rancid comes out
on the scene Strong, give them the boots, the roots,
the radical roots, got yourself vation, whoa come on baby
that I may show you what you got. I just
(51:34):
I probably got the lyrics. Strong. Great album, great album,
and they've done a lot of really cool stuff. But
Tim Armstrong ended up working with Pink on a number
of her records, particularly when she started going into a
little bit more alternative rock phase. It's all good stuff.
Highly recommended that Outcome the Wolves record is so good.
(51:58):
A band that I got into big time on their
I think third and fourth release. But here we have
Jawbreaker nineteen ninety five with Dear You. The real hardcore
day ones will say this is the record. I'm a
twenty four hour revenge therapy kind of guy. I'm bivouac
like those toorecords are the ones that really speaks to me.
(52:20):
But Dear You is certainly a worthy addition to their discography.
If you don't know a job breaker, you're really missing out.
I recommend it. One of my great regrets of bands
that I did not get to go see live and
this was their final tour and they played in Boston
and I didn't go. We have the Ramones with audios amigos,
(52:44):
what else? What else is there to say? They're the
Ramones and like ac DC, you knew what you're getting
when you got a record, but they're just the Ramones. Perfection, Perfection.
Another interesting one because I was just listening to them
the other day and that's SIV with Set Your Goals
(53:08):
Now SIV. The band is actually an offshoot, if you will,
of Gorilla Biscuits. Now they are listed solely as a
punk rock band from New York. Three of the band's
members are Anthony Siarelli, Arthur Similios, and Sammy Siegler were
(53:35):
all members of Gorilla Biscuits, and Siegler also played with
Youth of Today and Judge. They also were I guess
you could say label mates with bands like quicksand but
they put out this record, Set Your Goals, and their
their lead single on this is I Can't Wait One
(53:58):
Minute More. The whole album is freaking great though, Like
it's a great record, Gang Opinion, Marching Goals, it's a
little bit of everything. But how did the band kind
of get spawned from these other bands? It's just interesting
(54:20):
when a band says, hey, we're gonna do something a
little bit different than what we've done in the past.
I mean, some of it is super like pop punk,
and other things are a little bit more just old
school punk. But you also get on uh, I can't
Wait one minute More, a guest vocal from Lou Collar
from Sick of It All, just being Lou, that gruff voice,
(54:43):
it's just a great counterpoint to SIB's voice, which on
this is very melodic. Yeah, it's just a great album,
so check it out if you haven't. Now. The next
one is because I saw them live, I want to
say it was with face to face and this is Hagfish.
(55:05):
The name of the album is Hagfish. Rocks are lay
Mass Now. I very clearly remember their stage show where
they're doing this kind of power pop power punk thing,
but they're like doing like the guitars, like spinning the
guitars like Cinderella, like clearly meeting this. Of all the
(55:31):
genres that you're gonna mix up you don't typically think of.
I think glam and like pop punk. I don't know.
It's it's really hard to describe. It says here that
they're an American rock band, but they were definitely pulling
(55:53):
out out from like the punk stuff. I don't know,
but I saw them live. They were great. They did
a lot of touring with bands like Tripping Daisy and
the Toadies, and they also list The Descendants and All
as some of their influences. But how Hagfish began performing
with bands such as All, Swerve Driver and Poster Children.
(56:16):
I might have seen them with swerve Driver at this time. Nevertheless,
fun band couldn't tell you a song, but I remember
all of their merch with the Hagfish rock shir lame
mass all over the place. Let's see, they had a
year off this record. Ah here it is okay. They
(56:39):
did a first major tour with Bad Brains, then they
toured with Ever Clear, No Effects, all the Mighty Mighty Bostones,
the Offspring Face to face. I knew that's who I
saw them with the Reverend Horton Heat the Supersuckers, and
then they appeared on Loveline at the suggestion of Ricky Rockman.
(57:01):
I love you Ricky Rockman. He has such a good
idea about music, and not just that it's you know,
hair metal or metal, like he appreciates good stuff. They
ended up getting signed to London Records, but then later
on fat Wreck Records, which is fat Wreck Chords, which
(57:23):
is a fat microm no effects label. But they were
a lot of fun and concert and they've just always
been memorial to me. Maybe I'll listen to some Hagfish
later today or tomorrow. Green Day Insomniac, I think it's
their last great record. That's just me. I think that's
their last great record. They came out with that and
(57:44):
that was like the pinnacle. Was that their immediate follow
up to Dookie. I'm pretty sure that it is Insomniac
no fourth studio album. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm forgetting fourth
because of course you had KerPlunk, you had the one
(58:04):
before that, Doukie in ninety four, and here we have
Insomniac in nineteen ninety five, Geek Stink Breath stuck with
me and brainstew and Jaded. By the way brainstew And Jaded.
While technically two separate songs, I hate if I'm listening
to it on the radio, if it comes on and
(58:26):
they don't play both, don't do that. It's not okay,
you need both. But to me, this is their last
great record, just my opinion, and I'm sticking with it.
Another band that I owned the record, but admittedly it's
all about one song for me, and this is hum
you'd prefer an astronaut And of course the song that
(58:49):
is so powerful to this day, and that's Stars such
and missed the train in Mars. She's out counting stars
and the guitar work so good. But I had to
include it on here because I remember when it came
out and hearing that song, bought the record and then
(59:11):
didn't really fuck with much of the record. And then
finally a band that I mentioned on the second and
third wave grunge bands, we have Ever Clear with Sparkle
and Fade, and this is where you have the hit
songs like Santa Monica. Great album, great time period, and
as you can tell by the bands and the records
(59:33):
that I'm mentioning, this is much more aligned with what
I was listening to at the time versus what was
happening in all of the mainstream corporate media, if you will.
Not to say that some of these bands weren't signed
to major labels and getting significant push. Okay, many of
them were. Others though not really. And it also depends
(59:55):
on what you consider to be a large label. Like
a band like Roadrunner, it had major dish tribution, but
I don't think anyone was going, oh, well, Shelter is
going to be the next big thing, you know. I
don't think anyone anticipated Monster Magnet becoming like a huge,
massive band, and they didn't. Really they reached a certain
level Rancid despite having I think there were some people
(01:00:22):
who thought that Rancid's going to be running neck neck
with like a Green Day, for example, But I just
feel like, I don't know, Rancid just kept their aesthetic
and their style. They kept it to be very real
and rootsy, whereas Green Day began to get more and
more ambitious. I think that's the only way to describe it.
They had ambitions to be more than just a new
(01:00:45):
era punk band, and they got poppier and poppier and poppier,
and then you release the ballad and it's all done.
You're a different type of band at that point. Not
to say that a band like The Offspring lost its
punk cred, because certainly they have ballads. So Far Away
is an amazing song. Nevertheless, that is nineteen ninety five,
(01:01:10):
thirty years ago, the soundtrack from my early years in Boston.
Certainly there are other bands that I was listening to
and just beginning to discover over the next couple of years.
So between ninety five and ninety seven, my musical palette
began to grow even more so, and I found myself
being allowing myself to be challenged and listen to things
(01:01:32):
that I wouldn't This is an era where I began
to really enjoy Frank Sinatra. I never really listened to
the greater catalog of Elvis Presley, I never listened to
Miles Davis until around this time period where I started
like picking out these things that I found to be
(01:01:54):
really interesting and saying, Okay, I'm going to go down
this rabbit hole, you know, Arlie Parker. Yeah, I was
much more open to things than I was just a
few years earlier. Not as though I didn't listen to
R and B and hip hop and pop and punk
and metal, but being able to go into a random
(01:02:17):
record store and just look through things and go, this
looks interesting to me. I'd heard about Tom Waits. I
never picked up a Tom Waits record that I listened
to rain Dogs and said, this is amazing. How have
I been missing out on this? Nick Drake never listened
to Nick Drake. Okay, this is something interesting. So yeah,
(01:02:40):
ninety five thirty years ago was such an era of
discovery and rediscovery for me. And you know, a couple
of you know, weird relationships in there, and just the
life stuff and trying to get accustomed to this city
and a completely different life than the one that I
was used to. And I think that's why I still
(01:03:03):
feel something. There's some kind of emotion that I get
when I listen to this music because it transports me.
It transports me to a time where I was starting
to become me, if that makes any sense. And I
think that's what music does, all these different points in
time where you go, huh, I feel something because of
(01:03:24):
that music. There's some of that you know, mid two
thousands country that I have such a fondness for because
it reminds me of my kids when they were little,
Like I listen to sugar Land and I'm like, hell yeah,
I sugar Land. Honestly, early Taylor Swift was good stuff,
(01:03:44):
you know, Tim McGraw. That was my time period where
country was really interesting to me and enjoyable, and it
transports me to that time and place. So anyway, this
is kind of a retrospective of nineteen nine. So please
tell me what were you listening to in nineteen ninety five?
(01:04:05):
What were your favorite albums? What were the songs that
when you transport yourself back thirty years ago, you go, yeah,
this is what I was feeling, This is what I
was listening to. Now if it was the stuff that
was on the radio, by all means, let me know, like, Hey,
I really enjoyed that era of Madonna. Hey, my favorite
era of Madonna Vogue era bar none Madonna Vogue, that
(01:04:29):
whole fantastic only Madonna record I've ever owned Vogue's fantastic.
I'm saying it here right, but let me know, And
how do you do that? You can email me at
Stuck in the Middle pod at yahoo dot com. You
can find me on Instagram, x and YouTube. At stuckpod X.
(01:04:51):
Head on over to the Facebook page Stuck in the
Middle Egenics Podcast. Please like, comment, share, leave five star reviews,
and most importantly, please subscribe to the podcast. So until
next time, later slackers,
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