You know, now that I’m doing this on a platform with a functional tagging system, I could have just tagged each of these entries with each band, and then I wouldn’t need the index. But we wouldn’t have the “previouslys” either, and I kind of like them? But this is also a hassle to maintain this. And, well, I don’t know if I want to convert everything over.
[Read More]The beat that 9th Wonder put together on this track is smoking hot.
This song makes more sense if you watch the accompanying video for it. But, uh, I’m not sure if I’d worry too much about it. Also, I think we’ve had this song before, but looking through all these entries to confirm that is a hassle. Uhhh, I’m going to say we did?
[Read More]From their first, most primitive record, the White Stripes nevertheless still sounded like themselves right from the beginning. Some of that is Jack White’s distinctive yelp, some of that is the spare blues, some of it is the plodding drums. But they’re instantly recognizable.
It takes somebody pretty sharp to write something this aggressively dumb.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m crediting everything to Bob Marley even when it’s credited to him and the Wailers. I’m erasing the Wailers just to make my categorization easier. That makes me shitty. Always nice to listen to Marley, Wailers or no.
[Read More]One of the greatest bands of the 80s rock underground, Hüsker Dü took a big leap forward with this album, the sprawling double album Zen Arcade. They went from a (great) hardcore band to a band that explored the limits of what hardcore was capable of. Along with their contemporaries and label mates the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü seemed capable of just about anything. By refusing to be constrained in any one style, Hüsker Dü inspired countless future bands to keep exploring and keep moving rock forward. Zen Arcade is one of the key albums in understanding the evolution of the American rock underground.
[Read More]We finish on a couple of great notes here.
It’s a bumper that was included with a Dial-a-Song download package. Not much else to say.
And this song from the Descendents isn’t a whole lot longer than that bumper! The Descendents were fueled by coffee, including what they called the “bonus cup”, described by Bill Stevenson: “We took ⅓ of a cup of instant coffee grounds, added some hot water, threw in about 5 spoonfuls of sugar, and proceeded to play 10 second songs. The Bonus Cup became a part of everyday Descendents life”.
[Read More]It’s our birthday! I posted the first Five Songs one year ago! In that time, assuming I’ve gotten my tagging right, I’ve posted 313 of these things, meaning you all have gotten a minimum of 1,565 different songs (plus a few bonuses along the way). NOT BAD. I’m still thinking about what to do for the second year of Five Songs. I might retire this thing, because it is a fair bit of work for something that is usually looked at by a number of people I can count on one hand. But, at the same time, it’s still fun, usually.
[Read More]A little bit of a slow burn, psychedelic number from Mudhoney here. This comes from Tomorrow Hit Today as well as appearing on the compilation March To Fuzz, which I believe I’ve sung the praises of before. I’m not going to check, as professionalism isn’t something we really go in for here at Five Songs. Which, you know, explains our love for Mudhoney.
[Read More]A b-side on the “Why Does The Sun Shine” single, I’ve always loved this song. I don’t think they’ve put it on anything else, so this counts as a little bit of a rarity.
A very early song from Green Day, this originally appeared on the “Slappy” EP, and was later included on 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, the compilation that combined the LP 39/Smooth with “Slappy” and another EP, “1,000 Hours”. It’s a solid collection of songs, one that really showed the potential for the band that later turned into massive stars.
[Read More]Seems like we’ve had a lot of new bands recently. That’s cool! Here’s the music for today.
Early 90s underground rock act Girls Against Boys stood out from the pack for a couple reasons. First, the sound wasn’t just all grim pounding or punk gallop. Instead, Girls Against Boys always sounded like a rock band you could dance to, which was kind of a rarity. The second distinguishing feature probably drove the first, which is that the band had two bassists, a good idea that far too few bands take advantage of. This album, Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, is probably their best.
[Read More]Old Stax track here, from the mid-point of their Atlantic years.
This is a bonus track from the deluxe version of Southsiders, which is probably my second favorite Atmosphere album (after Seven’s Travels). There are some missteps in Atmosphere’s discography, with the records between those two being pretty uneven, but those are excellent.
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