Boy, the years right after high school sure are fuzzy. For me, they sure came & went pretty fast. Went to college, drank a lot of beer, took out a guardrail with my car, got married. Life went by way too fast for me, and i think it was pretty indicative of my generation that it would. We were sandwiched in between the 80's crowd & Generation X. We were the kids that were in a hurry to grow up, get the good job, the great car, nice house, have 2.5 kids, take said 2.5 kids to soccer & piano every day, blah blah blah and still...we complain we don't have any "me time." In a nut shell, we're sorry for creating the mortgage & credit crisis the country is in today!! Anyway, sometimes I try to close my eyes and piece together what I can from those days, and when I do I think of some pretty damn strong music that has faded from the forefront today. Here's what it sounds like inside my head...
1. "Shuffle It All" - Izzy Stradlin & The JuJu Hounds. From their self-titled 1992 debut, Izzy steps out of the GN'R shadow & puts out the best work of any former member, then or since. "...if you see those old friends out there, tell 'em that I send my love." Couldn't have said it any better, my man.
2. "Wicked As It Seems" - Keith Richards. From his Main Offender album, also from 1992. See #1 above & insert "Rolling Stones" for "GN'R." Terrific album from top to bottom. Richards really shows us who he is...& he is outstanding. This song went to # 3 on the Mainstream Charts, but the charts are not a familiar place for Keith without Mick...and I think he likes it that way.
3. "Wiser Time" - Black Crowes. From 1994's Amorica effort that followed two huge albums (Shake Your Money Maker & The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion), this is the Crowe's tune that has stood the test of time in my opinion. Should get a nod for it's stellar use of the cowbell from The Bruce Dickinson Academy of The Bell, Baby. Too bad before this song came out, "Wiser Time" meant Budweiser to me, not "learning from past mistakes."
4. "Circus Envy" - R.E.M. From 1994's Monster - an album most R.E.M. purists did not like, but I absolutely loved. It was different than anything they had put out before, Monster was like a "purging" R.E.M. had to endure, and we were the recipients of the chunks. So happens when R.E.M. blows chunks it ain't all bad. Love the fuzz & distortion from Peter Buck's guitar on this one.
5. "What's Up" - 4 Non Blondes. One of VH1's all-time one-hit wonders, and Blender calls it the 16th worst song of all-time, but that's Blender for ya. For those of us the song was intended for, however, Linda Perry did a great job of capturing 1993, when we all had the best of intentions but the reality of becoming an adult was already smothering us all. Hopefully our children will handle it better...
Your post made me dig out my old R.E.M. Monster album. It's one of my favorites as well. Although I prefer "Strange Currencies" to "Circus Envy". I didn't remember the Keith Richards song but clicked the link and it was time warp time.
ReplyDeleteMonster was REM's answer to the somewhat "poppy" sounds of Out of Time and Automatic for the People. It reminded me more of their earlier stuff from Document and Lifes Rich Pageant. Great stuff.
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