Forgotten Songs of the '90s: Blur

Forgotten Songs of the ‘90s: Blur

Everyone knows Blur as one of the biggest British bands of the ‘90s but at the start of the decade, they were just another band trying to break their way through. After a relatively successful first album, 1991’s Leisure, they settled in to make their second album. One of the songs that was intended to be on the album ended up being one of their best songs: “Popscene.”

The sessions for the second album were harsh as the band were trying to figure out how to expand on their sound. On Leisure, they were poppy but had a bit of an edge, with this new record they were trying to build on that edge. The intro of “Popscene,” one immediately realizes they’ve started off on the right track with a swirling guitar trance courtesy of Graham Coxon that leads into one of the coolest bass riffs of the decade by Alex James that kicks the song off with a bang. Then when Dave Rowntree comes in hitting harder than he’d ever done to that point, the band builds louder and louder until Damon Albarn comes in with a better pitch than previously heard before. The band are all on the same page and going at full tilt and that helps bring the song’s energy to the forefront where it refuses to leave.

The song is about the band’s feelings towards the music scene at that time in 1992 and how it was already becoming more and more homogenized and less real. Even almost twenty years later, the song still rings true and it doesn’t hurt that the song is still among the loudest and hardest songs Blur ever did. So take a peek at the weirdly obscure video and decide what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR7jgl1Qf3s

Forgotten Songs of the '80s: The Damned

Forgotten Songs of the ‘80s: The Damned

By the time 1986 rolled around, The Damned were already punk forefathers but by this time, they were also able to make the jump to a major label, MCA. After 1985’s Phantasmagoria flopped, the band tried again and released Anything. While the record was a massive critical disappointment and in some ways, a step backwards for the band, it did give them one of the most notable songs of their career, a brilliant cover of Love’s classic “Alone Again Or.”

By kicking off with the song’s signature Spanish acoustic guitar riff, the band built on the song by making it a bit stronger and louder. Singer Dave Vanian’s vocals are at their powerful best especially when the song reaches its chorus where the whole band comes together at a maximally quiet crescendo.

Working with the original’s Spanish influence, the guitar solo is matched with Spanish horns that really don’t seem to work with the song’s strengths but manage to help push the guitar to the forefront. While the record was a flop, the song managed to find its way onto mainstream rock radio but the band split by the end of ’86. By the time 21st century rolled around, the song had gained a new life thanks to the music video which was reborn online and as a result, the song was treated differently than the rest of the record and its new reputation looks to be stable on solid ground for many years to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYVDN27CrOo

Forgotten Album of the Month: King Missile

Forgotten Album of the Month: King Missile

With it being almost a year since this thing got started, I figured it would only be wise to dedicate the Forgotten Album of the Month to the first artist I covered here: King Missile. While most people know them solely for “Detachable Penis,” the rest of the album that song came off of, 1992’s Happy Hour, deserves to be remembered as well for being one of the best college rock records of the decade.

Kicking off with one of their greatest songs, “Sink,” which is basically a combination of the same four lines repeated many different ways with many swirling textures behind it, the album is brilliant in its melding of spoken word/prose and great alternative rock. “Martin Scorsese,” a demented tribute to one of the greatest film directors ever is pure genius but one of the best songs is “It’s Saturday,” a song with just John S. Hall rambling on and Roger Murdock having a ball with a drum solo. The album just never ceases to amaze with its musical revelations and almost thought-provoking lyrics.

Of course, the album’s centerpiece is “Take Me Home,” a six-minute epic with Hall talking about beating and basically sadomasochism with Dave Rick going for guitar hero status by just seemingly pulling random tricks out of his bag without really trying. The whole record goes on this way by pulling off the amazing and interesting while not trying to go over the top with it.

While the whole record is just excellent, all anyone focused on was “Detachable Penis,” while still a good song, not one of the best on the record. Even though the record’s basically been out of print for years, there are many good, cheap places to find it, so go and do; I think you’ll be more than pleasantly surprised.

http://www.spike.com/video/king-missile/2789667 (Detachable Penis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQKS4_Y7QCI (Martin Scorsese)
http://www.veoh.com/collection/King-Missile-Music-Videos/watch/v16531414xWB5ZcHZ# (Why Are We Trapped?)