VIDEO THRWBCK: Tha Dogg Pound – What Would You Do?
In the middle of the (fabricated) East Coast/West Coast beef of the mid '90s came the hardest song from the Death Row Camp that wasn't by 2Pac. This song didn't add fuel to the fire so much as it made a strong case that there was no camp out there as tight as Tha Dogg Pound.
VIDEO THRWBCK: Pulp - Party Hard (1998)
No '90s band matched the wit and pop appeal of Pulp and their charismatic frontman Jarvis Cocker. After This is Hardcore came out in 1997, Jarvis described it in the press as having almost destroyed his band, life, and sanity, but man, was it worth it. Almost as good as its predecessor, the modern classic Different Class, This is Hardcore and our favorite single off the record, "Party Hard", were Pulp to a "T": lines like "Can you show me a good time?/Do you know what one looks like?" cemented our beliefs that Jarvis is in fact Oscar Wilde reincarnated with a Bryan Ferry fetish.
VIDEO THRWBCK: "The Real Deal", a documentary about the Breeders from 2002
Yeah, we're still on a severe Breeders kick (granted, we have been on one since 1993 but you get our drift). While we were waiting for the Deal twins to take the stage this past weekend at McCarren Pool, our friend and fellow Breeders obsessive Gary told us all about The Real Deal, a German documentary from 2002, right when the band were readying the release of their LP Title TK. The documentary is a shockingly unguarded look into the inner workings of the Breeders during that era--from Kelley Deal's obsession with knitting and her fear of a heroin relapse, to Kim's hatred of Foreigner and her move, more or less on a whim, to East LA so she could record with the members of '80s hardcore band FEAR. We were lucky enough to see the Breeders on the Title TK tour, and it remains one of the highlights of our musical careers (it was at our favorite rock venue in Paris, Le Trabendo, and they opened with "No Aloha"). The documentary is also interspersed with live performances of Breeders favorites like "Divine Hammer" and "Cannonball", in what seems to be Kim's backyard. It's amazing that a band so popular (with or without Kim's legacy as a member of the Pixies) can exist within their own realm and relate the brilliance to a faceless audience. Be sure to watch the documentary till the end (there are five parts), when Kelley gives Kim a pretty rad new hairstyle.
VIDEO THRWBCK: Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls (1997)
We're super into the new CSS single "Rat is Dead (Rage)", if only because it totally sounds like something one of our favorite alt. rock girl groups, Veruca Salt, would have bashed out in under an hour during their mid-'90s heyday. "Volcano Girls" totally hasn't aged as well as we'd thought, but whatever, THEY'RE BUNGEE JUMPING! So good. Being 13 was awesome.
TRAILER: The Gits
The Gits is a documentary about the band of the same name, who spearheaded the early-90s Seattle music scene, only to see their front woman Mia Zapata tragically murdered right before making it big. As anyone who has listened to the Gits knows, they were one of those bands that were simply a force of nature, which makes Mia's early demise even more of a heartbreak.
Tonight, for the launch of the film, Kathleen Hannah, and Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile are hosting a premiere party at the Delancey. The cream of the crop of riot grrrl's will be there, which probably means a lot of shady hair colors BUT a lot of awesome music. Also, The Gits is now playing at , so make sure to check it out. More info over at Brooklyn Vegan.
VIDEO THRWBCK: Sonic Youth - Bull in the Heather (1994)
So, like thousands of other knowledgeable New Yorkers yesterday, we celebrated this great nation's b-day by heading down to Battery Park and checking out the Feelies/Sonic Youth show. Incredibly, we'd managed to go this long without ever seeing Sonic Youth live, and it was well worth the wait. They played "Bull in the Heather" straight off the back, and Kim Gordon just transpired amazing coolness the whole way through. Although, we must say the best part of the whole day was watching Coco Gordon Moore eat jellybeans backstage while nonchalantly watching her parents blow a couple thousand people's minds onstage. Did that sounds kind of creepy? Whatever, it was amazing.
VIDEO THRWBCK: Tripping Daisy - I Got a Girl (1995)
Before becoming a walking, talking antidepressant with the Polyphonic Spree, Tim DeLaughter was the front man from '90s alt. rockers Tripping Daisy, a fun fact we ALWAYS forget whenever we see the Spree live, but are reminded of when we are drunkenly looking for videos on YouTube at 4:30AM. Behold the funkee hair colors!
VIDEO THRWBCK: White Town - Your Woman (1997)
Inexplicably, this song was on repeat in our heads all day. Super cheesy, but we've never been ones to turn down a good horn sample. '97's in the house!
VIDEO THRWBCK: bis - Eurodisco (1998)
I'm sure that, when "Eurodisco" was released (I remember reading a review that likened singer Amanda "Manda Rin" McKinnon to a squealing pig) people would never have guessed that a full-on disco pop revival was less than 10 years away, and that a lot of the flash-in-the-pan rock bands that seemed so important at the time would soon wither away with the onslaught of more fun, DIY bands that would take over the airwaves. It's as if those that disliked bis in the '90s, the people that the band so adamantly referred to as suit-wearing, boring bigots in their songs, have finally been vanquished and given place to a new musical generation who, whether they are aware of it or not, are a indirect bi-product of what bis called "The Teen-C Nation". Interesting, is it not?
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