Ramones
- Punk or Perfect Pop ? Blietzkrieg Bop from 1975 Still The Best Pop
Song Ever -
Listen to the Youtube Video Some Alternative Rock Favourites 80's to Now - Garage, Pop, Punk, Indie or Whatever
1. Power Pop : 10 Ultimate Favourites of Mine 1980-2010 (punk, pop, garage-indie something)
What music makes one happy and functional as a human being in
this cesspool of a world we got? I guess it can be classical music, rock/pop
music, rap or even
the hideous Hitlist disfigured-R&B wailing SHIT kids watching Idol on TV
wants (yuck). But naturally it also depends on which decade you're born in.
To generalize: 1960's - pop, soul, 1970's - glamrock, progressive/krautrock,
heavy metal, punk, disco, 1980's - new wave, synth, funk-rap, all sorts of shit,
1990's -
grunge-indie, rap, idiot wailing torture type of R&B (but absolutely nothing
to do with the classic beautiful R&B from the 50's though) etc. etc.
Thanks to my older sister, who gave me my first records, i started listening
to The Kinks and The Who when i was 6-7 years old. Thanks Sis for your eminent
taste,
it could've been worse, a lot lot worse. As most folks i like a lot of different
types of music from all kind of classical (Bach to Hindemith), blues, soul and
latin BUT
it's the classical pop genre that makes me tick, makes me happy. Nowadays, after
the 70's garage-punk and the 80-90's new wave-indie-grunge eras maybe called
Power Pop - alternative something? Great bands? 60:s - The Kinks, Who, Brian
Wilson, Left Banke, Byrds, 70:s - Ramones, Roxy Music, Blondie, Rezillos and
The New York Dolls. So i'm an really, really old geezer, i know. But i also
know that there's other like me out there today, even young folks, maybe contemptuosly
called indie-kids by the ultra-hip unsecure asshole music reviewers that happily
promotes whatever's the pretentious FAD SHIT of the moment.
Ramones
- Punk or Perfect Pop ? Blietzkrieg Bop from 1975 Still The Best Pop
Song Ever -
Listen to the Youtube Video
My Favourites Between 1980-2010
1 |
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One of the most beautiful pop songs ever made, and this whether it's about drugs or not. Liverpool band The La's released this miracle of a song There She Goes in 1988, nothing happened, and then again in 1990. It was written by Lee Mavers and the group disbanded in 1992 after releasing only one single album in 1990. I first heard it in the soundtrack to the film Fever Pitch (about an Arsenal fan) Listen to There She Goes by The LA's- Follow the link here to Youtube
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2 |
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Urge Overkill - underrated, if not today almost unknown, group that released this their Saturation album in 1993 and was featured on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction with a great N. Diamond cover. Remember hearing this masterpiece of delightful guitar riffs Sister Havana driving my car listening to the normally shitty swedish radio. I almost crashed my car, screaming and jumping in a state of total bliss. Those guitars, those guitars... Listen to Sister Havana by Urge Overkill - Follow the link here to Youtube BUT! This video seems to be removed, then to show up again, then to be removed again etc. and buy this song from iTunes or album on Geffen Records if/when it's available again |
3 |
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I already have raved about this great 1993 Last Splash album from the Breeders and the lovely Kim Deal in the Pixies section of my site. Cannon Ball - The indie hit classic that could be the definition of the decade as a whole, musically. The early 90's - a great place in time
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One of the most influental albums of all time? Fire of Love by The Gun Club from 1981 gave us something new, a mix of garage style power pop rock-punk psychobilly with a touch of southern gris gris magic feeling about it. Fronted by troubled soul Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his silence-noice silence-noice style of singing/music most clearly must have influenced Frank Black. This album looks and sounds dangerous. There's the mighty Fire Spirit and there's the manic Sex Beat, and there's the intense and scary She's Like Heroin to Me Listen to She's Like Heroin to Me by Gun Club- Follow the link to Youtube
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5 |
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I already have a special page about The Pixies elsewhere on this site, and i could've chosen Where is my Mind, Frank Black's Los Angeles or some other from Pixies Doolittle album, but Debaser is a masterpiece of raw fresh energy
and buy this epic indie masterpiece of an album from 1989 on 4AD Records |
6 |
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Matthew Sweet, the maker of almost perfect pop songs and virtually unknown i guess. This lovely tune Sick of Myself got some adorable fake endings and amazing guitar work, and was relesed in 1995 as a CD-single on Zoo Entertainment. I remember playing it over and over and over again. Aah, those were the happy days
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7 |
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Remember seeing the music video to Popular
by Nada Surf in 1996, and i played the song the whole
summer, over and over again. The video depicting highschool life the Hollywood
style with all it's given clichés may be a bit annoying to some
today. But, when the chorus hits in, it hits BIG. Genius production from
The Cars Ric Ocasek, who also gave us Weezer's Blue Album. Listen to Popular by Nada Surf- Follow the link here to Youtube
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8 |
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The Lemonheads fronted by oh so talented, if destructive, songwriter Evan Dando made some great albums. The mighty It's a Shame About Ray in 1992 and somewhat less mighty but still great Car Button Cloth a couple of years later. Then, the legendary bass player Bill Gibson had joined Dando. Gibson once a member of great aussie bands The Lime Spiders and the fuckin' über great trio The Eastern Dark (Johnny and Dee Dee/Walkin'/Julie is a Junkie). Listen
to the beautiful It's a Shame About Ray -
Follow Youtube link here
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9 |
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Today very, very serious singer/songwriter Aimee Mann (it seems to be an army of females with guitars whispering and/or howling lamentations about the sad state of affairs nowadays) actually started out with new wave-pop oriented stuff in the 1980's in the group Til Tuesday. Her first 2 solo albums Whatever in 93 and I'm With Stupid in 95 are filled to the brim with almost perfect and smart pop-power pop songs worthy a Ray Davies in his prime. I bought her CD single in 1993 and was stunned to hear all these fantastic hooks. This is a true shining gem of a pop song Listen to I Should've Known by Aimee Mann- Follow the link here to Youtube and buy her records |
10 |
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Amazing album this Weezer's blue album, their debut from 1994. Produced by Ric Ocasek it was an instant superhit. Fronted by the talented Rivers Cuomo the album's full of smart teenage power pop and Buddy Holly, helped by an amazing music video, was a HUGE hit everywhere. However my favourite is the opening number the somewhat mysterious and unique My Name is Jonas Listen
to My name is Jonas by Weezer- Follow the link here to
Youtube |
Note: 9 out of these 10 were/are american artists so this great
type of music seems to be something of an american thing. Thanks America!
and then there's........Nirvana-Smells Like Teen Spirit,
Smashing Pumpkins-Cherub Rock/Today, Frank Black-Los Angeles, Yeah Yeah Yeh's-Gold
Lion, Paul
Westerberg, Gun Club, aussies The Eastern Dark, Dinosaur Jr., Foo Fighters and
many more also the coolest norwegian alive, the lovely Ida Maria Sivertsen with
that nice gravelly voice - Listen to the really, really Great Music Video of....
Ida
Maria-Oh My God! - Follow link to Youtube
Ida Maria Sivertsen
- Fortress Round My Heart 
A Great Live Power
Buy her first album Fortress Round My Heart
(2008) some great songs and some less great, but a promising debut. She's the
real thing Live though, and she
explodes on the stage with furious energy. After touring for 2 years in UK and
the US and getting Rave reviews she had a meltdown in Boston september 2009
and she's now on a Time-Out. Get well Ida Maria, your many fans love you and
wish you the best and will wait for your return
2. Raw 1980's US New Wave: Wild, Experimental, Scary and Influental. The Missing Link
Ok, there were some great Post-Punk New Wave bands in UK as
Cure, Joy Division, Monochrome Set, Pretenders etc. but mostly lame synth bands
or boring
minimalistic art student groups full of lifeless pretension. So, where's the
energy then, the missing link between the 70's Punk bands and the re-animated
music scene
with Indierock movement and The Pixies in 87? The Raw Power and Energy could
be found in the US with post-punk hardcore new wave bands as Hüsker Du,
Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Violent Femmes, Cramps, Agent Orange, Sonic
Youth, TSOL, Wall of Voodoo and the mighty Gun Club. Some favourites...
Wall
of Voodoo: Great enigmatic band led by charismatic Stan Ridgway. They
debuted in 1980 with
an amazing experimental garage synth-rock EP incl. Longarm, The Passenger and
a killer version of Johnny Cash Ring of Fire. Factory is another classic and
their only
almost hit were the unique and funny Mexican Radio. Listen
to them Live from the 1981 music film Urgh! A Music War on Youtube
- Follow the Youtube Link Here
Flipper
(at right their 1980-81 Live DVD from Target Video)
An influential (yes, Kurt Cobain loved them, too) avantgarde slow-fi hardcore
band that takes us with them on a scary journey into rock chaos. Remembered
for
hardcore classics as Ha Ha Ha, Love Canal and Sex Bomb. This is Pure Energy
and a far, far way from lame brittish farts as Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet
etc.
Buy their records and listen to their powerful Ha Ha Ha on
Youtube - Follow the Youtube
Link here
The
Cramps
An Even more influential rock group that melted US 50's rockabilly and 60's
garagerock into a new music genre - Psychobilly. Remember buying everything
from them
since their 2nd single and 8 years onwards. Finally saw them in 1986 at Göta
Lejon, Stockholm. They made tribute to great and obscure american music and
to great
trashily fun Grindhouse films (as Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!)
looong before dudes as Quentin Tarantino did. Lux Interior and Poison Ivy -
The greatest
couple in rock? Lux died at 62 in February 2009. Listen to their fantastic version
of Rockabilly desperado Hasil Adkins She Said
- Follow the Youtube link here
3. Los Abandoned (A Great, almost unknown and disbanded Spanglish Power Pop band from Van Nuys, Los Angeles)
A Should-be Pop Garage Rock Classic
Mix Tape (2006, Vapor)
Jag upptäckte denna finfina grupp först i år,
2009, och deras enda riktiga album Mix Tape från 2006 har gått varm
i min CD- och MP3 spelare sen dess.
Massor av livsbejakande skön och smart Power Pop-Rock i en ovanligt lyckad
blandning av latino influenser, pop och garageosande punkstil. Ett knippe
härliga låtar (inte en enda svag låt på plattan faktiskt)
från denna fina LA grupp ledda av begåvade sångerskan och
låtskriverskan amerikansk-chilenskan
Lady P. (Pilar Díaz). Ibland sjunger de på engelska, ibland på
spanska och ibland både och, Spanglish. Massor av kanonlåtar, Van
Nuys, Pantalón, A la
mode, Stalk U och inte minst avslutande State of Affairs (som kanske rentav
är min favorit). En KANON platta helt enkelt!
Kollade med min favorit skivaffär i Stockholm (på S:t Eriksgatan)
och ingen hade hört talas om gruppen. Sorgligt på en så fin
grupp, men så kan det gå
Lyssna på Pilar Díaz avväpnande charmiga kärleksförklaring
till sitt sunkiga Van Nuys i norra LA Van
Nuys (Es Very Nice) - Följ
YouTube länken här
Gjort med glimten i ögat i bästa highschool-movie-skatepunk
köret (och kanske, kanske, vore coolt, en homage till Nada Surf's 90-talsklassiker
Popular?).
Helt enkelt en bedårande liten kärlekssång till en av de sunkigare
delarna av LA med dess människor, och de gulligt taffliga cheerleader tjejerna
i bakgrunden
är söta också. Fulla av energi och livsglädje och kanske
ännu inte ens medvetna om att de kommer från fel del av stan, vilket
livet snart kommer att lära dem
Borde (i en bättre värld) vara en sommarlåts-klassiker
som Breeder's Cannonball, Nada Surf's Popular eller Weezer's Buddy Holly. Gruppen
splittrades tyvärr
2007 men hann mellan 2002-2006 släppa 2 EP, en 7" och så detta
"borde vara klassiska" pop album som möttes av strålande
kritik från musikpressen i USA
Sång, låtskrivare och gruppens
ledargestalt var Lady P./Pilar Díaz (ukulele och även klaviatur,
gitarr etc.) från Chile till Van Nuys, LA, när hon var 10. Kör
vidare
på egen hand (se nedan) Gitarr, låtar - Don Verde (Dave Green) ,
basgitarr - Vira Lata (mexikanen Moises Baquiero) och på trummor Dulce
(Anthony Reyes)
Pilar Díaz
(Med sin ukulele - ja, tycks onekligen vara något av ett modeinstrument
nu - under Quiksilver projektet)
Pilar har fortsatt med sin musikkarriär (efter Los Abandoned's
splittring 2007) och övergett sin sköna power pop-rock för en
mer Art-alternative music approach.
Bl a i det s.k Quiksilver site La projektet med ukulele-alternative-latino-Gameboy
remix experimenterande. Seriöst? Ganska. Trist? Nej, njaaee, tjaa....
Pilar Díaz nya riktning med art-alternative experimental
latino färgad (pop)musik (kanske lite påminnande om mega-mexikanskan
Julieta Venegas tidiga stil) kan därför
kanske intressera fler än de pop/rock föredettingar som jag som föredrar
power pop garage. Förhoppningsvis kommer Pilar's musikaliska framtid bli
framgångsrik
She's released her first album "Pilar Díaz". Buy It. Visit
her at www.myspace.com/pilardiaz
Listen to her somewhat cool Friday
the 13th (trece) Gameboy Remix on Youtube - Follow the Link
Listen to her song Piñata
on Youtube
- Follow the Link (sätter sig i huvudet...i'm breaking like a piñata)
