Tag Archives: alternative

October Soundtracks: Pump Up the Volume

October 1, 2014Music#octobersoundtracks, 90s, alternative, bad brains, concrete blonde, descendents, henry rollins, hip hop, leonard cohen, movies, music videos, pixies, songs, soundtracksChris

Pump Up the Volume
1990
Buy the album on Amazon

Since the theme choice is mine, it means I get to swoop in and do this entry before Lance does, since I know it would be at or near the top of his list as well (which is not to say he might not write his own entry about it). Maybe not the soundtrack to end all soundtracks (though it may just be), but certainly the movie of movies to me, and it’s tough for me to express just how important this movie and soundtrack were to me in my impressionable youth. I’m going to try hard not to write too much about the movie, because some day I’ll write a proper entry about it in the Movies category, but this came out right around the beginning of my freshman year of high school, when I was just starting to become the MNP person I am today.

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Cover Friday: “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

September 27, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 90s, alternative, covers, high school, nirvana, songs, tori amosChris

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
by Tori Amos (originally by Nirvana)
from the album Crucify
1992
Buy the album on Amazon

I had something else totally in mind and was working through what to write, and then I got busy and forgot to post until Lance just reminded me. I’m late for EST and probably Central, but I’m going to make it in Mountain Time. Even though I had already thought through my other choice, this pick just came to me in a flash and seemed like the better choice.

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Cover Friday: Kick (Album)

September 26, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 10s, 80s, albums, alternative, concert, courtney barnett, covers, inxsLance

Kick
by Courtney Barnett (originally by INXS)
from Pure Pop Records’ “Summer Of Classic Albums” concert series
2012
Buy the original album on Amazon

When Chris posted his “Jackson” karaoke post, he included a cover that INXS did, which got me to wondering who has covered INXS? Just as that thought popped into my head, I remembered stumbling across this video of Courtney Barnett performing the Kick album in its entirety.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Song 2”

September 23, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 120 minutes, 90s, alternative, blur, karaoke, lyrics, music videos, songsLance

“Song 2”
by Blur
from the album Blur
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

Oh man, “Song 2.” How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

That beat. Air drums. Real drums. Pots and pans. It’s just fun to play.
Sludge-filled bass line. ‘Nuff said.
Nonsense name.
Lyrics that are all over the place.
Motherfucking woo hoo!

I tossed this one into the mix one night after I had gone through all my regular songs and the house was practically empty. So. Much. Fun.

For me, anyway.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Add It Up”

September 16, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 80s, 90s, alternative, high school, karaoke, lyrics, songs, violent femmesChris

“Add It Up”
by Violent Femmes
from the album Violent Femmes
1983
Buy the album on Amazon

I wasn’t sure what to post today, and then, no lie, all three versions that I have of this song came up in a row on shuffle on the way home, so I’d better post it or the universe is going to have me get hit by a bus tomorrow or something. How have I not posted any Femmes yet? I love #KaraokeTuesday and #CoverFriday, but Lance is right that we need some other day for everything else (and yes, next month I will try to post another monthly theme, though even that may not be open-ended enough).

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Cover Friday: “The Chauffeur”

September 12, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 80s, 90s, alternative, alternative metal, covers, deftones, duran duran, lyrics, music videos, pop, songsLance

“The Chauffeur”
by Deftones (originally by Duran Duran)
from the album The Duran Duran Tribute Album
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

It’s completely rare to have one of my favorite bands covering one of my other favorite bands, particularly in this case when the genres they occupy are so far apart. The Deftones could probably best be described as alternative metal whereas Duran Duran best epitomize the 80s dance pop/new wave sound. That kind of sounds like mixing bacon and ice cream. But you know what? I’ve had bacon ice cream and it’s delicious.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Losing My Religion”

September 9, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 120 minutes, 90s, alternative, high school, karaoke, music videos, r.e.m., songsChris

“Losing My Religion”
by R.E.M.
from the album Out of Time
1991
Buy the album on Amazon

Sure, this was a big hit off of a big album that really brought R.E.M. into the mainstream, but the only really important thing is that this is the song that represents Brenda losing her virginity to Dylan. I’m pretty positive they played parts of this song somewhere around 87 times during that episode of 90210.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Of a Broken Heart”

September 9, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 00s, alternative, billy corgan, karaoke, lyrics, one good song, smashing pumpkins, songs, things that shouldn't exist, zwanLance

“Of a Broken Heart”
by Zwan
from the album Mary Star of the Sea
2003
Buy the album on Amazon

Zwan was a shitty band (I feel so much better having typed that). Mary Star of the Sea served as both the debut release and the final gasp of a band that never should have existed in the first place. It’s a complete train-wreck. Although, there is one redeeming factor in this monstrosity and it’s located on track six.

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Cover Friday: “Pictures of Matchstick Men”

September 5, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 120 minutes, 80s, alternative, camper van beethoven, covers, cracker, music videos, ozzy osbourne, songs, status quo, type o negativeLance

“Pictures of Matchstick Men”
by Camper Van Beethoven (originally by Status Quo)
from the album Key Lime Pie
1989
Buy the album on Amazon

I was totally scratching my bean this week trying to think of a cover song I wanted to blather about for a couple of graphs. I keep a little notepad of cover songs going so I can write down ideas as they pop into my head or come up on shuffle, but nothing on there was really speaking to me. So I started looking through recent posts to see if anything would spark a thought. I saw the post about Cracker’s “Teen Angst” and started wondering if they had done some cover songs as B-Sides or something and then I suddenly remembered this CVB song. I had always known it was a cover, but I thought it was by Strawberry Alarm Clock, however I was nowhere near being correct. But before we get to the original, let’s take a few minutes to watch the amazing, obviously late-80s music video for CVB’s version. It’s about 120 Minutes-worthy as you can get.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Only”

September 2, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 00s, alternative, karaoke, lyrics, music videos, nin, nine inch nails, songsChris

“Only”
by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
2005
Buy the album on Amazon

Totally ripping of Lance today, since I thought I should as soon as he posted this and since he actually called out this song pick in his post (even if he did also bad mouth Pinkerton). I’ve only actually done this song once or twice, and I remember it made me happy that Lance thought it was a great pick (I’m sometimes ok with completely obscure songs that no one else will appreciate as long as he gets it), but I wouldn’t call it a karaoke success.

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