“Country Feedback”
by R.E.M.
from the album Out of Time
1991
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Continue reading November Five-Star Shuffle: “Country Feedback”
“Burn”
by Nine Inch Nails
from the album Natural Born Killers Soundtrack
1994
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Not necessarily what I was hoping for, but a great track nonetheless. This was originally released on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack (one of the picks I ran out of time to do for October Soundtracks), and is also on the deluxe edition of The Downward Spiral. There were bits of NIN woven throughout that soundtrack, but this was the only new NIN song, and it’s fantastic. If you need a song to listen to when you’re feeling pissed at the world, or even just need a workout song that will get you moving (just try not to run faster at the 2:30 mark), this is the one.
Violent FemmesI was planning on a different Album of the Month, but then my friend new Kelsey and I were talking about our top 5 bands. I had mostly not heard of hers (because I’m old) and she had mostly not heard of mine (also because I’m old). Violent Femmes were on my list, and though my main thought was trying to hold back from screaming out on the subway “how do you not know who the Violent Femmes are?!”, my other thought was “if their first album is not a perfect album, then brother, I don’t know what the hell is.” So Kelsey, this is for you.
“The City That Day”
by Matt Skiba and Kevin Seconds
from the album Split
2002
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I was really hoping this album would come up on the 5-star shuffle this week. I was hoping for one of the other songs I’ve got in this playlist, because they’re more like 6 or 7 stars, but this is the one that came up, and them’s the rules.
I don’t have any idea how I first got turned on to this album, but man, do I love it (I think I used to think I should give 7 Seconds a try, and saw this and picked it up). Half of the songs are 3 stars for me (meaning good but not something I listen to all that often, and they’re not portable), and one is 4, but the others are all 5 stars, which is not normal for me.
Continue reading November Five-Star Shuffle: “The City That Day”
“Disconnected”
by Face to Face
from the album Big Choice
1994
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In my first year of college, I met my friend Brendan, and in between watching boat loads of horror movies and drinking boat loads of cookies and cream shakes at Village Inn, we listened to and talked about a whole lot of music. We already had some crossover favorites, but he also got me into a bunch of punk (or punk-ish) bands – NOFX, Blink 182, Pennywise, Propagandhi, and, you guessed it, Face to Face. Though there’s certainly a time for the lightheartedness of the first two bands, I always appreciated that Face to Face was more sincere without being super hardcore, and I love the singer’s voice.
“The Wrong Child”
by R.E.M.
from the album Green
1998
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Sorry to disappointment our adoring fans, because I know I am one day late on my 5-star entry for last week, so getting it in now. And what a punch in the gut depressing entry it is. I think I’ve mentioned before that I was a big R.E.M. fan in my youth, probably up until around Automatic for the People. I don’t remember if Green was their first album I had, and I might argue that Document or Life’s Rich Pageant are better albums, but Green is still the pinnacle of their albums for me. The one that had the most impact and stuck with me the most. In fact, thinking about it now, I should probably do it as an Album of the Month at some point, so let’s get to the song.
Continue reading November Five-Star Shuffle: “The Wrong Child”
“Somebody to Shove”
by Soul Asylum
from the album Grave Dancers Union
1992
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Soul Asylum is one of those bands that I never normally think about; they don’t really orbit in my 90s universe of music. But occasionally a song of theirs will come up on the local 90s station or Pandora/Spotify/iTunes and I gotta give it up to them. They’ve got some great tunes, and this is definitely one of them. Continue reading November Five-Star Shuffle: “Somebody to Shove”
“Dead”
by They Might Be Giants
from the album Flood
1990
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This is probably my favourite TMBG song. There’s something about it that’s so simple and so beautiful and so catchy. I actually made Lance try this with me once or twice at karaoke, acapella, looking at the lyrics on my phone, when there was a lull in songs in the queue, because I just want so badly for it to actually be in the book. It never ever will be, but this is one of those songs that we would totally add if we ever opened a karaoke bar, and that if we actually lived in the same city (or country) we would practice together until we could nail it. It’s such a fun song to sing (I can never decide which part I would prefer to do), even if it’s just doing it loudly in the car. If I’m in a place where I’m alone and can sing this, I will almost always do it a few times in a row when it comes on shuffle.
“House of Pain”
by The White Buffalo (originally by Faster Pussycat)
from the album Happy Endings: Music from the Showtime Series Californication)
2014
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I got here in a roundabout way. I was watching an episode of Californication this morning and it ended with a different song which I was going to post, but looking into it opened a Pandora’s Box, so I’ll save that for another time. Looking into that got me to this EP, and this song stuck out for me as well.
“Song 2”
by Blur
from the album Blur
1997
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Oh man, “Song 2.” How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
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.