BACKSTREET BOYS
Basically, Spice "Boys." Their MTV debut for "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" raises just one question: How long has Brad Posey been directing music videos?
ERYKAH BADU
Off the top of my head, the only female R&B singer of the 1990's worth a listen-- Her beats don't come preprogrammed from a $100 Casio keyboard and she doesn't sing in that same cheesy, flat, over-dramatic tone as every other female R&B singer does this decade... Do you think that records execs have finally realized that bland homogeneous music saturation is a bad thing? Well, we can hope.
MERRIL BAINBRIDGE
"Mouth" is one of the most frightening hits of the 1990's, which combines the genres of both bimbo-voiced pop and polka stylings-- The result is, of course, grossly insipid; A song where you listen in frozen in nauseated horror and keep expecting to find out this is a joke or a really bad radio ad, but there's no punchline; A song which can still be found as a staple of light rock stations when you scan the radio dial, so beware! What exactly music execs were thinking when they signed her is a mystery, and what made it a hit is an even greater one. "Mouth" is one of the worst songs ever recorded, which is a lot to say considering the amount of material Kenny G. has made.
BELA BARTOK
Strings are generally my favorite kind of classic music, and I am quite the violin concerto junkie (if there is such a thing). Bartok is an early 20th Century Eastern European composer whose music, besides often sounding like what today has become movie score, has an oft enjoyably demented edge to it. I can only describe much of the Bartok sound as the musical equivocal to that withdrawal-like feeling you get when you're coming down off a good caffeine buzz, or that slight dementia you get when you've been up for 30 hours. A word of caution, Bartok's is NOT recommended late night listening; especially if you're in a "What was that noise in the other room" frame of mind. [Trust me.]
COUNT BASIE
As a Cali-bred boy, I generally think of the Midwest as a joke. The notion that Kansas City has anything of value, let alone entertainment, was absurd to me at one point in time. Nowadays, I still think the Midwest is a joke, but I have respect for Kansas City-- After taking a jazz appreciation class, I learned that it was the gateway to the West in the 19th Century. It was the last big city before the frontier and was the focal point of all the railways heading out into the West. Kind of cool. It was also a place hopping with jazz-- and after Basie was stranded there, he eventually became a figure in the sound of Kansas City swing. So listen up, kiddies, big band is the bomb! Basie's music is often quite cheap and widely available, so add it to your collection today-- and make sure "One O'Clock Jump" is one of the tracks.
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
I have to say it, but for as much as I really admire his work, Leonardo DiCaprio is really damn oversexed. What does that have to do with this soundtrack? Well, nothing really, I just wanted to get it off my chest. (Don't even get me started on co-star Marky Mark, the 1990's posterboy for grossly oversexed.) This soundtrack is a wonderfully dark menagerie of music-- then again, I guess the likes of Hanson and Debbie Gibson would be poor soundtrack choices for film about heroin addicts. While I do realize the film is about Jim Carroll and his writing, I find his voiceovers on the disc somewhat annoying when they come up on shuffle play-- I'd rather hear the movie's music. For those who like "The Crow" soundtrack, this is a surefire bet.
BATMAN
Like many, I originally bought the soundtrack, thinking that it would have Danny Elfman's totally cool Batman theme on it. Sadly, I wound up with an album of Prince music-- which at the time-- I really hated. It was the cruel lesson of soundtrack vs. score that so many Americans learned that summer. Since I figure one Batman movie score is enough, I didn't buy the "Batman Returns" score, which would might be an even better purchase since it contains Siouxsie and the Banshees all-time cool "Face to Face" on it. Too bad Warner Brothers both tapped out the series and turned the soundtracks into showcases for their music label artists; the most lame and despicable kind of soundtrack there is. "Batman" scores are particularly fine listening for night driving around the city and, of course, crimefighting in general.
BEASTIE BOYS
"Sabotage" has to be the most overrated videos of all time (with the possible exception of all Aerosmith videos), but then again, I appreciate the Beasties mostly for their Pre-Gangsta Rap Era tunes-- Who among us [as junior high schoolers] didn't adore "Fight for the Right to Party" or the classic "Brass Monkey"? It was the first CD that ever really made my stereo boom. It's kind of interesting that we can look back on the classic Ill Communication and its videos and see that the Beastie Boys were utterly and unforgivingly 80's, the token whiteboys of proto-mainstream rap, yet they've transcended the present decade as the most successful band from that era in which they began. Oh to yearn for the days when the Beasties and Run DMC were rap music, back when rap had yet to be so commercialized it had the very life bled from it in the form of malt liquor and Taco Bell ads; before glamorized karaoke singers like Puff Daddy hit the scene. Cool before their time, the Beasties even had the overhyped Dust Brothers produce their album Paul's Boutique-- which although a commercial flop at the time-- has since become as ritually college student as living life in the perpetual pursuit of quarters or growing a goatee.
THE BEATLES
If you don't know who these guys are, you were probably locked in a basement as a child and fed only flat foods. ["Kids in the Hall" reference.] Shopping for used CDs ranks at the top of my favorite recreations, but sometimes I see things that really piss me off-- I once actually saw a used copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. What goddamn moron would sell this? It's not like the Beatles are some one hit wonder like most 20th Century artists who occupy 80% of used CD racks. My only rational for selling this used is that: A) The disc was stolen and pawned, B) It was sold as a means of spite and / or vengeance by someone's boy/girlfriend or roommate, C) Insanity. [This is the same scenario I had to use when I saw a copy of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"-- That one really upset me.]
BECK
Okay, so his Mutations album was one of the names on the long list of "1998 Albums That Tanked Big Time." Still, as tres cool as the Beasties-- and also linked to the Dust Brothers-- I think Beck actually deserves all the attention that he gets; or at least used to get. While sleeper hit "Loser" was his springboard into popularity, I was never really sure he had any musical talent until I heard 90's classic Odelay. From the first time I heard "Where It's At" on the radio one lazy summer afternoon while driving to the beach, I was totally hooked. Beck is as cool as he is bizarre, and I look forward to listening to his every future work as much as I wish to avoid watching any future interviews with him.
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Symphony #9 is an astounding work by itself, yet even more so when you factor in that Beethoven was stone deaf by the time he got around to writing it. He was the first classical artist I ever bought a disc of-- It was a $5 disc of Symphony #5 that I got at the mall when I was fifteen, back when I really didn't have an appreciation for classical music. And even though my appreciation of classical music has broadened well beyond the popular composers of classical music into more obscure realms, Beethoven is still quite an astounding composer to me and one of my favorites.
BIX BEIDERBECKE
Sometimes my eclectic taste in music surprises even me-- When I bought this CD, I did so because I wanted a disc featuring a trumpet player. Well, he does play trumpet, but gets blended into the other instruments; He isn't totally discernible because of the recording's rather aged quality. What I got was slightly different, music I think of as roaring 20's, silent film type music, and even barber shop quartet songs. While I probably wouldn't have gone out to buy such a collection of music, it's uniqueness really grew on me. I find it really cool in an odd sort of way with it's upbeat jazz tempos and timewarped gramophone qualities.
THE BELOVED
Infamous for their "naked people" video ("Sweet Harmony" for those of you who read the credit portions) they are one of my favorite groups; and above and beyond my favorite group that no one has heard of. After getting hooked up to the Net, I found out that they're actually known in their native UK and Australia too. However, here in the US, I've only ever actually met one person who knew who they were; and known of two people who owned one of their discs. I was introduced to them in 1990 by-- all of things-- MTV, who were playing "Hello" at, like, 6:15am. The video was spacy, for its day, and the song hooked me for some reason or another. Their first US released album Happiness took me a few listens to actually like, a sort of mellow, groovy europop; but I eventually made it a part of my regular listening regiment [which it has been for the last eight years]. "Your Love Takes Me Higher (Chillum Willum)" off the Time After Time CD5 is quite possibly the best damned remix I've ever heard. Three years later their second album Conscience moved them into a slightly more synthetic style, at times pleasantly cheesy, at times blissful. Three more years later, 1996, I was elated when I found out that they were coming out with another album, X, which featured a new line-up of leader singer John Marsh and his wife Helena. Being totally non-objective when I comes to the Beloved, I already knew I'd like it no matter what it sounded like-- but was astounded to find their musical evolution having taken them to stunning techno realms. X breathes booming life into my Bang and Olfusens like I've never quite heard before-- It's perfect dancefloor fodder; but it sounds good off the dancefloor too. [I always make sure to bring it with me when I go on long roadtrips.] There have been a lot of groups I've liked before they hit the mainstream and become all to well know; In a selfish way, I hope the Beloved continue to remain unsuccessful in the US because I like being their only American fan and having them all to myself.
CHUCK BERRY
Rockabilly. Such a cool word. Chuck Berry. Such a cool artist. Godfather of rock n' roll-- Far too unknown at this point in time. So if you don't know who he is, this means you were probably born during or after the 70's and you need to check this guy out, okay? So sell that Marilyn Manson CD and listen to some real music, please. Freudian note: "I Want to Be Your Driver" contains a chorus in which Berry sings "I want to ride you." Now, I don't know what the hell it mean in the 50's, but here in the 90's it's kind of amusing on a purely juvenile level. [Titter titter.]
BJÖRK
The Sugarcubes had peaked by the time they broke up, but I was sad to see them part anyway. When I first heard Björk was pursuing a solo career, she said she was recording a different kind of music because the kind of music the Sugarcubes were recording wasn't really what she wanted to be doing, I plainly thought she was full of crap; but of course I bought her album Debut out of Sugarcubes withdrawal and was very pleasantly surprised. One thing about Björk, she gets even better with age. Her second album Post is one of the most competent albums by a contemporary artist I've heard in years, and it's remixed sister album Telegram is a brilliant vision of techno's darker side; an orchestrated Björk song; and even one with an exotic gamelan flavor. (An Icelandic technopop singer doing gamelan is so bizarre it simply must be appreciated.) Her latest album Homogenic once again proves her supreme talents as an ethereal techno nymph, and in a world where music critics give out the handle of "diva" as freely as talk show hosts refer to comedian guests as "a really funny guy," Björk is truly one of the few women of today deserving of the diva title. Anything that's remixed from her is worth a listen, but The Best Mixes from the Album Debut - For All the People Who Don't Buy White-Labels is quite possibly the best remix album I've ever heard; and like most of the best remix albums I've ever heard, is an import; because Americans are too stupid to appreciate dance music of quality.
BLONDIE
I have a sentimental investment in Blondie because she was my first favorite artist. I don't remember how I even started listening to her, but I was about five and I think I duped by mom into buying Parallel Lines because I liked the album cover or something. Okay, so I haven't rebought all (or any) of the Blondie CDs from the ones I own on vinyl-- I'm not really sure they all readily exist in such a format-- but the compilation of her greatest hits collection is a staple of my listening diet. Few artists are as cool from the first time you listen to them as they are twenty years later when you're still listening them... Whoa, twenty years?! Jesus, I'm getting old.
BLUE BOY (a.k.a. Mark Farina)
I remember when I first heard "Remember Me"-- I was driving through Hollywood enjoying Groove Radio [always welcome to the paltry radio offerings of Santa Barbara or the North Bay] and I thought the song kind of sucked. But after getting a fix of the Mushroom Jazz compilation by Blueboy, a.k.a. Mark Farina, I gave it another chance: The song seems to have all the components of Bad Techno Formula, but manages to avoid the pitfalls of such insipid evil. It's just so damn catchy and bouncy and groovy, like his other single "Sandman." I wish I knew what he looked like-- I was at a club party where he was deejaying and I'm still not sure which DJ was him.
BLUE DOG PICT
These guys are one of my latest favorite bands, a Canadian indie group with a fresh modern rock sound. You might remember the lead singer, and brainchild of the label which produces the music, Keram Malicki-Sanchez from the series "Catwalk" during the first syndicated season before MTV got their destructive little hands all over it-- He was the disturbingly pretty androgynous Aryan-looking main character. (Yeah, so of course he's, like, a rock musician.) BDP reminds me that indie rockers, generally indie for a reason, don't all have to sound like $3 cover charge college town bar bands who play s***ty ska or bad blues-rock. Much like in the case of the Beloved, I'm reasonably sure that I'm the only person in the US who's heard of them-- let alone owns and obsessively plays their music. I bought their latest album early in 1997 and it's earned a permanent place in my 100-disc player; an honor bestowed to only a dozen or so artists. If I ever take their disc out of my CD player, maybe I can figure out the damn bizarre video game that's embedded on the ECD disc. One thing for sure, if nothing else, BPD renews my faith that Canadian musicians don't have to suck, e.g. Alanis Morisette, Bryan Adams, and Celine Dion to name a few. Now if only the ratio of funny comics to good musicians could level out some.
BLUES TRAVELER
Why couldn't you people have bought G. Love instead?
BLUR
When Blur's last album came out, I was in a chat room and generally asked if anyone had heard it yet-- In the middle of someone telling me how cool it was, some idiot's message "OASIS RULES!" pops up on the screen: What an irrelevant conjecture to the question raised! Since then I've become more vocal in my position of Blur vs. Oasis: Let's see, a spunky band with the paragon of europop sensibilities and amusingly foppish qualities, or a band of incessantly mewling, mono-browed hackneyed Beatles knock-offs? In short (if it's not too late for that)-- I don't think it's really too much to say that Damon Albarn's left pinky has more charisma than the whole of Oasis.
When this decade finally draws to a close, I hope Blur's third album Parklife is recognized as one of the best albums of the 90's-- How often do we come across a song like "Boys and Girls," probably the most humorous song you can dance to ever recorded? Blur music is an unmatchable fix for pop cravings and is an excellent soundtrack for getting really over-caffeinated and/or beating the living crap out of Oasis fans.
MICHAEL BOLTON
I think if he had that bowel obstruction removed, he'd have a much better singing voice.
JON BON JOVI
Isn't it enough that previous generations had to suffer through his s***ty music? Must all washed up 80's rock stars try to make comebacks?
BUSH
I like "Greedy Fly," and it was as cool a video as it was a humping of the paranormal cash-cow that the late 90's is so prevelant in. The group's overall music is okay, but the end will surely come once Rossdale's prettyboyishness wanes-- Until then, we can hope one of those naughty amateur porn tapes gets leaked out with him and squeeze Gwen Stefani; Tommy and Pamela well surpass my skank tolerance and I'd like to enjoy one of these celeb scandals.
BRASSIC BEATS
After I ended my career as a professional photofinisher, I took a month off from life-- I needed it. Amidst my "sabbatical" month, one of the many places I drove was Las Vegas. Via the Virgin Megastore, I picked up a tasty little morsal of trip-hop which features some outstanding work by Bentley Rhythm Ace. The album possesses a certain laid-backness to it which makes it perfect for twilight times and spacing out in general. Get lost in the lazy riffs of "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out!," worth the price of purchase alone.
GARTH BROOKS
For his Double Live album, half a dozen different covers were made-- Apparently, his ego couldn't fit on just one. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think anyone who looks like a shaved gorilla should really have as many pictures taken of himself as that guy does.
MEREDITH BROOKS
I'm not sure which I find more gravely pathetic: 1) Success on the coattails of Alanis Morrissette, 2) Scoring a hit because you title a song "Bitch", or 3) Details magazine for putting her on their "Turn it Up" list.
