March 2009 Archives

Okay, so New Jersey has its perks minus the smelly factorys of Newark, the shoobies of the "Jersey Shore" (it's the BEACH, not the SHORE.  If only people got it right.), and the lack of things to do. 

Lifetime's Jersey's Best Dancers is one of the few albums I can listen to repeatedly without getting sick of.  Released in 1997, this album has some of the band's best songs on it-- "Turnpike Gates," 25 Cent Giraffes" and "Cut the Tension."  Actually, most of the songs on here are some of the band's best.

Lifetime featured simple music with lyrics that many people can't understand what the hell is being said.  Ari Katz's vocals are as easy to understand as tongues.  Even with the difficult vocals, the music still draws me in.  It's simple, great message (once you actually read the lyrics because guessing them is a lost cause).

Quite a few bands, especially Saves the Day, seemed to follow the music trend that Lifetime set up.  Simple music, good lyrics, catchy but not too catch and great energy.  It seems that people who are fans of Lifetime and other similar bands are long-term fans.  They'll listen to their CDs in their car until they drive people crazy, sing along to every lyric and try to go to their shows.

To end this Flashback, here's a video from a Lifetime reunion show, which I was lucky to be at.  In the video, you can hear how people are singing along.

So this week, I decided to change it up a bit.  I thought since it's my birthday today, I'm going to do two Flashbacks instead of one.  How can you go forward without looking back to where you've been?  Same thing with music, my friends.

Quite a few good things came out of 1986 besides yours truly-- a Black Flag live album.  Who's Got the 10 1/2 was released in March of that year.  The album was recorded at a show in Portland, Oregon.

The band's simple-but-fast music with some deep lyrics made the band what it was.  When Henry Rollins joined, he took the band to another level.  He took the silly lyrics the band used to write and made them based on emotions and serious topics.  Another thing?  He did it in a poetic manner.  His words were deep and he meant every single syllable.

He and the rest of the band set up the blueprint that many bands follow today.  They stayed true to themselves, didn't let anyone affect who they were or what their music meant, and they did it with such passion.  There are some bands out there today that follow this manta and you can tell that it's in everything they do both on and off stage.  It means a lot when a band can do that without being affected by the environment around them

Here's a video of "Rise Above" from the 80s, accompanied with captions probably made on the hunkin' pieces of plastic camcorders used to be.

Okay, I'll admit.  Even though I love punk and hardcore music, I can't help but listen to the radio sometimes and somewhat enjoy the music (or what's considered music nowadays) on there.  I shock people with my knowledge of lyrics when we go to bars.

But onto other things, a second volume of Punk Goes Pop will be released March 10.  It features some recent hits as well as some from a few years ago.  For all those punk kids who are too ashamed to listen to those disgustingly catchy songs on the radio, this one's for you.

The album features bands such as Bayside, Four Year Strong (from Worcester!), A Static Lullaby, Chiodos, A Day to Remember and a few more.  Some of the covers are well-done while others I can do without.  Some songs are just too obnoxious and sound worse than the original (who thought I'd ever be saying that?).  The version of "When I Grow Up" that Mayday Parade did is a good example of that.

The perks?  A breakdown with some raspy, screaming vocals during a Britney Spears song.  August Burns Red puts a twist on "Baby One More Time" that I could never imagine.  There are a few other songs that I really like on the album.

I think one of the most important things about this album is that it breaks down the Berlin Wall-esque boundary that exists between pop music and the realm of punk and hardcore.  So many people, especially listeners, seem to not want to explore the other music that is available to them.  With this album, it almost tricks people to listening to it.  What?  You like this band?  What if we conceal a pop song into our music?  Would you still like us?  People still eat it up, which might be a step in the right direction.