Quasi

The Flaming Lips, “Once Beyond Hopelessness”

This is from the Lips’ Christmas On Mars, the soundtrack to their movie project, and it’s very much a soundtrack. As a result, it feels disconnected when you’re just listening to it, and it doesn’t really do a whole lot for me. The Lips can sometimes tend towards the abstract to begin with, and this album goes very far in that direction.

Arrested Development, “People Everyday”

This was the huge Arrested Development hit, featuring a hook borrowed from Sly and the Family Stone and a fun storytelling vibe. This album was huge, driven by this single, and then got completed wiped out by Dr. Dre taking gangsta rap to the top of the charts with The Chronic. At the time, critics lamented that this album represented a path not taken, but I think that really erases the direciton rap had already been heading. So instead, this is just kind of a footnote.

Poster Children, “0 For 1”

There was a decent sized indie rock scene in Champaign-Urbana in the late 80s/early 90s, with Hum, the excellent and forgotten Steakdaddy Six, Honcho Overload, and the Poster Children all emerging to varying levels of success. Of that group, the Poster Children had the most success at the time, signing to Sire and producing a string of well-received albums. Hum is probably the one with the best enduring reputation (especially given a comeback), but the Poster Children still hold up today as well-executed indie rock.

Confidential to Megan: there’s a playlist on Plexasaurus Rex for today! For the rest of you, you have to first put up with my crap for about 25 years, and then you can have a private playlist. In the mean time, you can at least get the YouTube-ized version.

Pussy Galore, “Dick Johnson”

There are lots of moments, especially on Dial ‘M’ for Motherfucker, where Pussy Galore presented the vision which Jon Spencer would bring to full fruition with the Jon Spencer Blue Explosion. There’s a pretty straight line from this song to the tunes on the first JSBX album, for instance. Those are also invariably the most interesting Pussy Galore songs.