Dreamlike State

I've been a fan of the band Erasure for about 25 years or so. Comprised of singer Andy Bell and keyboard god Vince Clarke, they've created an incredible catalog of intelligent, danceable pop that never fails to delight me to no end. I've seen them 4 times; 1989 in Stuttgart, Germany, 1997 in Boston, and 2005 & 2007 in Orlando. They're one of those rare bands that sounds just as good live as they do in the studio on album, and the shows are always a fun, high energy party.

My first attempt at an Erasure video was for one of their B-sides, the gorgeous track "Dreamlike State" from their summer 1990 single release for "Star", from the album "Wild!". It's a fan favorite and has gotten a fair amount of views on YouTube. Enjoy!

I can see clearly now
As the crazy haste of night turns to morning
I lie in a dreamlike state
And wonder if the fear will go away

I know that you're here
In the space that surrounds me
And you make me feel like a kid in a movie
I know that you love me

Like the sound of the sea
Rush in to shore
The air that I breathe
Fills me with your love

I've wasted a thousand nights
For comfort in the arms of a stranger
I thought it would lead me on to
Bigger, brighter things

But you know that I'm wrong
It doesn't exist
And you make me feel like a kid in a movie
I know that you love me

Like the sound of the sea
Rush in to shore
The air that I breathe
Fills me with your love

Like the clouds in the sky
The rain falling down
Washes my feet
Pulls me to the ground

I'm begging you please
Never to leave me
I know you believe
In all I've said and done

And like the sound of the sea
Rushes to shore
The air that I breathe
Fills me with your love

Like the clouds in the sky
The rain falling down
Washes my feet
Pulls me to the ground

I'm begging you please
Never to leave me
I know you believe
In all I've said and done....

"I can't find nothin' on the radio..."

"Hey...I can't find nothin' on the radio..."---"Radio Song" by REM, 1989

As I am wont to do every couple of months or so, I have taken another foray into that putrid dumpster of so-called entertainment known as Top-40 Music. At times I wonder why I do this to myself, why I torture myself with this audio misery. I think I do it on occasion, this self-flagellation, to remind myself of why I don’t listen to Top 40 radio and instead still cleave to what few new alternative bands I can stand and to my trusty stable of standby bands that I grew up on.

We kinda got a mixed bag this time around, kids.

Crap Song Of The Week
Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West—"Run This Town"
Kill me now. First Jay guests on Rihanna’s “Umbrella” a couple years ago, and now Rihanna returns the favor, except she’s guesting everywhere these days and is in danger of overexposure. And Kanye, that giant ass, is the Media Whore King of Overexposure and adds really lame cheese-rap to every third song played on the radio these days, like it’s Step 4 of the Formula For A Hit or something. A couple years ago it was Akon and T-Pain, and before that it was Ludacris. Today if it isn’t Lil’ Wayne it’s Kanye, who I think just shows up at random studios and forces his way into the vocal booth like he expects everyone to want his vocals. And the rhymes he lays down as of late truly are craptastic, including these. Then again, Jay-Z’s own rap in this song is so stilted and weak that it makes me wonder how he got huge in the first place.

Flo-Rida, featuring NeYo—"Be On You"
I’ve come to the determination that Flo-Rida can’t do a song without someone else, as every single he’s released thus far has had featured vocals from some guest or other. I can’t take this song seriously, because the sugary chorus sounds to me like he’s singing, “I wanna pee on you…I wanna pee on you.” Otherwise, utterly forgettable.

3OH!3 with Katy Perry—"Starstrukk"
I like the verses of the song, but the semi-falsetto chorus grates on my nerves. These guys are almost trying too hard to be snarky bad boys and come off like a boy-band version of The Bloodhound Gang. I guess having Katy Perry on board for the radio remix adds some street-cred or something.

Priscilla Renea –"Dollhouse"
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCOnX40rf8Q
Acoustic video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEVHtR6mUKw
Y’know, at first listen I thought this was throwaway bubblegum, but it’s really catchy and clever pop. I enclosed the video links because the official video is just well done with the effects, without the usual overdone tawdry crap associated with today’s vapid vids. The acoustic clip is there to prove that this young lady can actually sing, and sounds remarkably the same live as she does on CD.

Ke$ha—"Tik Tok"
And then there’s Ke$ha…suburban white girl sugarcoated Bambi-rap from a Taylor Swift lookalike. She’s so white she makes me look thugnificent. Sadly, it’s kinda catchy, like H1N1, and affects kids at about the same rate. And if she sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because she guested on a recent Flo-Rida song, “You Spin My Head Right Round”.

Owl City—"Fireflies"
I was wondering when Emo music was gonna meet synthpop and create Electropussy. It reminds me a little of “Pure” by the Lightning Seeds back in 1990, without the stolen riff from New Order in it. There isn’t a single ounce of testosterone to be found anywhere in the entire 4 minutes and 8 seconds of this syrupy eunuch-fest. I checked a couple other Owl City songs (Sunburn and Ocean Eyes) just to see if they were all basically emasculating, and yes, it’s all pretty much an empty scrotum and enough glucose overload to induce Type 2 diabetes. Sample lyrics: “I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs…” I’m serious.

Black Eyed Peas—"Meet Me Halfway"
Another winner from the Peas. I am really quite impressed by this new album of theirs. Sadly, though, I’ll be thoroughly sick of this song in about 2 or three weeks, the same way I got sick of “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling” after hearing them every 23 minutes on 6 stations at once.

Miley Cyrus--"Party In The USA"
Isn’t this the song that Little Miss Thing pole-danced to on the Disney Channel? And is it me, or does she sound even more nasal than usual here?

Lady GaGa—"Bad Romance"
Interesting that GaGa should release a new single before I managed to get 100% sick of the previous single, Paparazzi, notable unto itself for showing that she can actually sing melodically and not just emit forth dance tracks with gibberish lyrics. This newest song goes back to the original format & formula though of borderline nonsensical words laid over really fat groves. Two weeks from now I’ll want to stab myself in the eye with a shrimp fork every time I hear it.

Jason DeRula—"Whatcha’ Say"
Step One: Sample a fifteen-second clip of “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.
Step Two: Get a kid who sounds like a knock-off of R. Kelly meets Usher.
Step Three: Have kid sing a couple verses through a box fan, add back beats/samples.
Step Four: Play on radio until vomiting is induced.

Jay Sean—"Down"
Another inescapable track that’s on 6 stations simultaneously 400 times a day. It was catchy enough the first couple times, and then it quickly became unlistenable. Some of that could be due to the warbly vocoder effects in the chorus, kinda like singing…through….a…box…fan…Hey, I detect a pattern here. But hey, we’ve got guest vocals from Lil’ Wayne. Holla!



Sadly, I really don’t have much that I can give you guys this time around as an alternative to the SuckFest on the radio. One of my current favorite bands, Shiny Toy Guns, has covered a couple of 80’s classics for the latest round of Lincoln commercials. They’re the band behind the new versions of “Major Tom (Coming Home)”, originally done by Peter Schilling, and “Burning For You”, originally from Blue Oyster Cult. Both are available out there as downloads.

And a re-issue is coming this week, at least in Europe (the USA has to wait awhile longer) with the 21st Anniversary Edition of Erasure’s 1988 album “The Innocents”. This was a great album, spawning the two megahits “Chains of Love” and “A Little Respect”. They put out a revamped version of the track “Phantom Bride” as a single to coincide with the release, as many fans had always wondered why that track wasn’t a single back in 1988. There just wasn’t enough time, though, to release it back then, as there’d already been “Ship of Fools” in addition to the other two singles already, and at the end of 1988 they had the “Crackers International” EP ready for Christmas release with the epic single “Stop!”, and within a few months the next single & album were out.

As an aside, Erasure just started working on yet another new album of material to come out either in late 2010 or early 2011. I can’t wait!


Erasure are Vince Clarke and Andy Bell

An hour of my life that I'll never get back...

People often ask me why I listen to the music that I do. I don’t really listen to a lot of new bands, and by “new” I mean bands who have surfaced in say the past 5 years, such as Coldplay or Snow Patrol. I mostly listen to music from bands I’ve listened to for 20+ years who are still producing excellent music. Bands like Depeche Mode, Erasure, and The Cure. Trust me when I say when given the choice between listening to 99% of today’s Top-40 gobshite and say, the 1982 Depeche Mode song “The Sun & The Rainfall”, I’ll gladly take a trip 25 years down memory lane. The classic Smiths’ song “What Difference Does It Make?” still sounds better-crafted and more relevant than today’s pre-programmed, polished & shiny dreck, and it was released 23 years ago.

So, every so often, I donate an hour of my life to Purgatory and listen to Top-40 radio just to remind myself why I generally listen to talk radio instead. Some people waste life-span by smoking crack, some waste it in strip clubs… and me, I waste it listening to pointless crap in hopes of finding something that’s pretty good. Sometimes I even succeed.

So…here’s the results from another hour of my life that I’ll never get back.

1.Bubbly, by Colbie Caillat. This sounds to me like the perfect chick-song accompaniment to that overplayed “You Had a Bad Day” , by Daniel Powter, that was plastered all over American Idol’s loser send-offs. Sugary to the point of insulin shock. My teeth hurt when I hear her whisper-croon about crinkling her nose, etc.

2.Thnks fr th mmrs, by Fall Out Boy. We’re so cool that we can leave out the vowels in our song titles. Less emo than previous outings, and still by far less pretentious than those dickheads from Panic! At The Disco.

3.Bartender, by T-Pain. Sounds way too much like his other song, “Buy You a Drank”, with vocal processing stolen from Cher’s “Believe”. Sounds like he spends too much time in bars. How can you argue with brilliance in lyrics like “She made us drinks to drink, we drunk ‘em, got drunk.”? I mean, that’s fucking poetry, man.

4.Rehab, by Amy Winehouse. The Brits think this chick walks on water. Me, I think she merely floats because she doesn’t weigh enough to sink. I saw an old picture of her & she was well-fed & had a nice frame & face. Now she’s loaded down with very big tattoos, this giant beehive on her head, and she has that scrawny emaciated heroin-addict look . It’s like watching Mariah Carey morph into Nicole Ritchie overnight. How fitting that the song is about rehab. The jazzy 60’s Motown backing music is great, but American audiences aren’t used to hearing something without a hip-hop beat anymore, so the new radio-remix has some guy tossing a hastily-recorded rap over the top of the bridge that adds NOTHING to the song other than dumbing it down to pander to American ears. Click the picture above for a better view.....

5.Beautiful Girls, by Sean Kingston. This song is unescapable. It’s everywhere, from car radios to public toilets. The production, much like Winehouse’s song, is great, stealing its backing music from Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me”. Without the slick production, neither song would be worth a damn on their own. I find it hard to not laugh when he sings the line “It was back in ’99, watching movies all the time, when I went away for doing my first crime…” Hey, boyo, you’re barely 18. So, they sent you away at age 10? Fut the whuck?

6.Party Like a Rockstar, by Shop Boys. Aside from the annoyingly repetitive chorus, I really can’t understand 90% of anything these fucks are saying. Possibly the most repetitive thing I’ve heard since that Laffy Taffy crap from last summer. Totally, dude.

7.Potential Breakup Song, by Aly & AJ. More catchy than a case of crabs off a truck-stop toilet seat, this song has decently produced music mixed with some of the most bubblegum-simple lyrics since Avril Lavigne’s “Skater Boi”. They have nice voices, but something tells me their Hello Kitty shit wears thin by song 4 on a full cd.

8.When You’re Gone, by Avril Lavigne. Speaking of Avril, here she is with another ballad that sounds just like her other ballads. Oddly enough, her fast songs all sound about the same too. Instead of the faux cheerleader bop of “Girlfriend”, now it’s a somber and sad ballad from the all grown-up and newly-married Avril. Nice song, but ditch the raccoon eye makeup. It’s hard to take you seriously with that much eyeliner on.

9.4 In The Morning, by Gwen Stefani. I love her to death. She could use a couple pounds on her, but I still love her to death. I like her stuff more so without her No Doubt bandmates as of late. She’s got great pop sensibility and a great voice to boot. Not exactly manly-man music, but we’re all allowed an occasional guilty pleasure.

10.A Bay Bay, by Hurricane Chris. Okay, I take back what I said earlier; THIS is the most repetitive pile of goat shit I’ve heard since Laffy Taffy. By the end of the first 30 seconds I wanted to slit my elbows.

11. I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem), by Good Charlotte. These guys keep surprising me by re-inventing themselves each time they get played out. This is a great song. A good mix of rock swagger and synth riffs that gives me hope for Top 40 music to not suck so much. Poppy punk with a safe feel.

So, an hour of my life gone, and like I figured, most of it wasn’t worth the listening. I think I’ll go and listen to some Erasure or Depeche Mode now to soothe the pain in my soul. I urge you to do the same.

The post-Erasure concert report

I know it’s a week late but it was a busy week….

Well, I survived my weekend trip to Orlando to see Erasure and catch up with my friend John. I’ve known John for nearly 24 years now, and while we don’t get to see each other very often, when we do get together, we pick right back up where we left off just like we saw each other yesterday. The added fun of the trip was that it wasn’t just me & Crys making the trip, but my buddy Chris and his girlfriend Victoria made the trip with us, and it was a blast all the way around. I’ve also known Chris for almost 24 years, and to see the show with my oldest friends in the world made it even better.

The show was at the Hard Rock Café at Universal Studios. Knowing full well that the crowds would get THICK around showtime from our experience of seeing them at the House of Blues in Orlando in 2005, we got there hella early. Plus, it was a standing-room-only type general admission, and first-come, first-serve. We were eating dinner before 5PM and the show started at 8PM, so yeah, we weren’t gonna take any chances on getting a shitty view of the stage. Dinner was at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, about as touristy as you can get in a place that was packed ass to elbow with tourists. By no means am I a fan of Buffet’s music (especially played at a volume level that was louder than the concert was later on) but damn that was some realllly good food. That was the first $10.00 burger I’d ever eaten that was actually worth the tenner. I sorta felt a bit raped at having spent $4.75 on a bottle of mediocre American pilsner (Landshark is the name. Think Corona without the pissy aftertaste) but hey, you can’t always find a Sam Adams everywhere.

We got to the Hard Rock at perhaps 6:00, and there was already a tiny knot of people milling about; the Die Hards. These are my kind of people. These are the people who have listened for 15-20 years, know all the words, really get into the show, and are generally super-friendly. I inserted myself into a discussion on favorite albums while we waited, and as a few more people started to show, we met two couples who would end up being our new best friends. Melissa and Melia live in the Fort Meyers area, and Tony and Bailey live right outside Orlando. After 45 minutes I felt like I’d known all four for years. This meant that everyone around me at the show was guaranteed to be cool people, and that it was gonna be a great show.

Doors opened at 7:00 and after the obligatory near-strip-search at the door by the Venue Gestapo, we hustled our asses to the stage, where we planted ourselves firmly at FRONT ROW CENTER. Hot holy shit. This was a dream come true for Crys, and I was obviously stoked too. We were literally 5 feet from Andy Bell.

The opening act was a band I’d never heard of but who made a great impression on me. Scissors For Lefty are a San Francisco band of two sets of brothers who have a bright future ahead of them. It’s dancy rock that reminded me of The Killers with just a hint of The Clash thrown in. It’s been a long time since I’d seen a band who looked like they were having that much fun playing a show, especially guitarist Robby Garza, who had a grin on his face the entire set. Bassist Steve Garza swung his bass around like a modern-day Mick Jones. Vocalist Bryan Garza hopped down in front of us during one song & kissed Crys’ hand. The entire band, including Peter Krimmel (synths/guitars) and James Krimmel (drums) hung out after the show for pictures and autographs. Completely class act, these fellas. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Gawd, what can I say about Erasure’s set? It was incredible. The sound was great. Skeptics and critics would say that since 90% of the instrumentation is pre-programmed by synth-meister Vince Clarke that of course the sound is great, but it’s Andy who makes the show. His vocals are completely spot-on and sounds almost exactly like the studio albums. The setlist was a genius blend of new material from the album “Light at the End of the World”, and classic Erasure hits from the span of their 22-year career. Early in the show, Andy reached down and touched Bailey’s hand, and I thought he was gonna faint from the excitement. A few songs later, Bailey and Melissa fought briefly over Andy’s sweat-towel until Andy tossed a second one down to them. I kinda wanted one too…..but Andy did smile at us several times and waved at us all through the show.

The only downer at all in the concert was the girl next to John. Somehow she didn’t quite get the fact that the show is pre-sequenced and the setlist can’t be changed midway through to accommodate a screamed request. This is why she kept screaming “DARLEEEEEEEEEEEENE!!!! I’M DARLENE!!!!” after every song, letting us all know that her name was Darlene and that she wanted Andy to sing the song of the same name from the new album. After the fourth song, I wanted John to punch her in the throat. By song 7 I was about to do it myself. By song ten, Andy was looking down at her like he wanted to smash her in the face with the mike-stand. By song 12, she had incurred the wrath of he entire front row, straight & gay alike all united in wanting to stuff a sweat-towel in her yap. The funniest part of the show was at the very end when during an impromptu acapella chorus by the crowd to the final encore song “Stop!” Andy missed his cue when the music started again. He laughed, Vince laughed, the backing singers laughed, and we all thought it was priceless.

About ¾ of the way through the show, I looked to my left and right, and realized just how good I felt. I was surrounded by the people I’m closest to in the world, and some really great new friends, and listening to some of my favorite music, with a completely unobstructed view of the band a few feet away. Everyone around me was having such a good time. It was one of those snapshot moments that you want to hold onto forever.

Orlando Setlist:
Sunday Girl
Blue Savannah
Drama
I Could Fall In Love With You
Fly Away
Breathe
Storm In a Teacup
Chains of Love
Breath of Life
Love to Hate You
Sucker for Love
-----------------intermission and outfit changes-------------------------
A Little Respect
When a Lover Leaves You
Oh L'Amour
Golden Heart
Ship Of Fools
Chorus
How My Eyes Adore You
Sometimes
Glass Angel
--------------------
STOP!

Soundtrack To My Life

The Lightning Man’s MojoSteve Soundtrack:

It’s no secret to anyone who’s known me for more than 17 seconds that music is one of my absolute true loves. I can associate so many songs with pivotal moments in my life, and for so many songs I can tell you exactly where I was & even in some cases what I was wearing when I first heard it.

Truth be told, I agonized over this list. Some of the songs came easily, the first 8 or 9. Then I started to think of more songs that were important to me. I wanted a list of 10 songs, then it became 20, 25, and then I thought 37 songs, one for each year of my life…I ended up with a list over 50 songs long.

So, here’s a list of my defining tunes; a soundtrack to my life, per se, if you will.



1.Enjoy The Silence- Depeche Mode
It’s an obvious choice. My most favorite song ever. I never get sick of it. It’s the one song in the known universe that my friends can hear & instantly think of me. If ever I had a signature song, this is it. It brings back so many great memories, in addition to being a great track.

And the rest of the songs are in no particular order. Not all the songs will receive lengthy comments.

2. Just Like Heaven—The Cure
How can people say the Cure’s music is always doom & gloom? Not hardly. This song has a timeless beauty to it, and always makes me smile.
3. Dreamlike State---Erasure
Simple, beautiful, and yet layered in a complex cascade of yumminess. Erasure is one of the best synth-pop acts ever, and have been so overlooked that it's nigh-on criminal.
4. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out---The Smiths
Sure, you don’t think of Morrissey as a romantic guy, but the song is so plaintive.It yanks at your heart-strings.
5. Vanishing Point---New Order
Awesome beats & complex layers of tracks, but the chorus is the killer. “I’ve seen what a man can do; I’ve seen all the hate of a woman too.”
6. One—U2
It’s achingly beautiful and emotional. Probably the best U2 track ever.
7. Red Letter Day---Pet Shop Boys
It was hard to think of just one PSB track, but this is bouncy and happy yet carries a great message of love & hope.
8. Fall On Me---REM
One of my first REM songs. Along with South Central Rain, this song got me into REM. There was this douchebag in high school who said REM was *his* band and that I wasn’t cool enough to listen to them because I liked Depeche Mode. What a fucking tool. Last I heard he was getting beat up by the U-Maine rugby team on a regular basis.
9. The Scientist/Fix You---Coldplay
Okay, so it’s really two songs from 2 different cd’s. But these songs are so sad and mournful and brilliantly gorgeous. Listening to them back to back, if you have a dry eye by the end, you’re a cold, cold creature.
10. Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go?---Soft Cell
Hell, how can anyone not dig this song? It was one of the first synthpop songs, and it was critical in forging my love of synth music. Catchy keyboard riffs and it guarantees to get you dancing. Get me some eyeliner!
11. Wishing (If I Had a Photograph Of You)---A Flock of Seagulls
The Flock were never appreciated in their time. They also helped get me into the alternative music scene.
12. Only You---Yazoo
This was supposed to be a Depeche Mode song but it turned out even better with Alison Moyet’s vocals. Another great synthpop song of love lost.
13. Forever Young---Alphaville
Whether the original ballad or the club version, this song is just incredible. It was the only reason I thought Napoleon Dynamite was worth watching.
14. I Melt With You---Modern English
Granted, this song is overplayed now. I hear it every day it seems., thanks to those wretched 80’s Lunches on every top 40 station. Back in 1983, only the coolest of cool people knew the song and had the album it came from, in addition to the soundtrack to Valley Girl, which made the song famous. The song itself was my measuring point for what a cool date was…if the date was so awesome it made me think of this song, it was a memorable date.
15. Love My Way/The Ghost In You---Psychedelic Furs
Again, you have to play them together to fully appreciate the magic of these songs. Forget "Pretty In Pink"; these are the true great Furs’ songs.
16. Cuts You Up---Peter Murphy
You have to listen to this at 3AM, driving under a full moon, letting the violin and Peter’s rich voice meld together to suck you under…
17. The Killing Moon---Echo & The Bunnymen
Also a good one to listen to at night, but preferably with the lights out, laying on the bed, staring at glow-in-the-dark stars. It also will suck you under. Play this and Cuts You Up back to back....wow.
18. Let Me Go!---Heaven 17
One of the quintessential dance tracks of my time in Germany.
19. Bittersweet---Big Head Todd & The Monsters
A great song about being miserable in a relationship and neither of you know quite what to do to fix it. "We work our way around each other..."
20. Never Tear Us Apart---INXS
Achingly beautiful. The last song to make the saxophone cool.
21. Possession---Sarah McLachlan
Almost sinister, yet mesmerizing.
22. Love Will Tear Us Apart---Joy Division
So what if it’s on every essential list of the 80’s? It’s there for a reason.
23. 88 Lines About 44 Women---The Nails
The dude is singing praises about 44 women he’s screwed. Everyone who was worth hanging out with in the 80’s knew this song by heart. It was the coolest in-joke ever.
24. Troy---Sinead O’Connor
Long before she conquered the universe with Nothing Compares 2 U, the girl with the most powerful voice in Ireland was blowing me away.
25. Under The Milky Way---The Church
Another song to listen to in the darkest hours. Any song with bagpipes has to be good, don’tcha think?
26. If I Had $1,000,000.00---Barenaked Ladies
My first BNL song. Absolute genius at its wittiest. Dijon Ketchup!
27. Adam’s Song---Blink 182
It reminds me of a friend who died.
28. Any Little Town---The Push Stars
Hard to believe I discovered this awesome song on the store Muzak in an Eddie Bauer at the mall.
29. Hum---The Shiela Divine
TSD is what Nirvana could have been if they’d had talent & wrote decent songs and Cobain could sing. Along with the Push Stars, some of the best unknown talent in Boston.
30. Headhunter---Front242
One of the greatest electronic body music songs ever. Period. This is what techno should have been if the kids on X hadn’t taken over.
31. Lightning Man---Nitzer Ebb
The song that spawned my alter ego. Baby! Come to Daddy!
32. October Love Song---Chris & Cosey
Part spoken word, part lullaby, completely gorgeous.
33. Du Hast---Rammstein
I first heard this song sitting in my car in a Boston suburb, and I was totally hooked. Of course, I actually knew what the words were too, which helped. The perfect song to play when stuck in traffic.
34. Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)---Book Of Love
One of the most under-rated synthpop acts ever. Another song you can’t get enough of.
35. Books on the Bonfire---The Bolshoi
An incredibly powerful song that brings the novel Fahrenheit 451 to life.
36. This Is The Day---The The
I love the opening lines: Well... you didn't wake up this morning,'cause you didn't go to bed. You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red……
37. Solsbury Hill---Peter Gabriel
A timeless classic. It always reminds me of a time when I felt I didn’t quite fit in anywhere, and in my head I was like, so what?
38. Holiday In Cambodia---Dead Kennedys
The song that gave me an outlet for teen angst & anger, and I wore the t-shirt at graduation under my cap & gown.
39. Mad World---Tears For Fears
Forget Shout. Forget Everybody Wants To Rule The World. This was their best song, long before they got huge.
40. Rock The Bells---LL Cool J
One of the greatest hip hop songs ever. I was 16, and here was this kid, also 16, tossing these unbelievable rhymes. And it made me think, if he can do it at 16, hell, I can do anything too.
41. Moments In Love---Art Of Noise
This song is epic. A trip across the mindscape in an ocean of bliss.
42. The Band Played Walzting Matilda---The Pogues
Me and my inner circle in Germany, walking across the base on a Friday night, a bit intoxicated, all of us singing this song together. And then we run into the base chaplain, walking with the Archbishop of San Fransisco. And all we could think of was , wow, that’s a HUGE cross that dude’s wearing.
43. Love Is a Stranger---Eurythmics
While everyone else was over-playing Sweet Dreams, I was listening to a much cooler song.
44. Why?/Small Town Boy---Bronski Beat
A screaming falsetto layered over great synths. Maybe it’s an acquired taste?
45. Head Like A Hole---Nine Inch Nails
This song single-handedly kept me sane when I was sent to Fort Riley in 1990. I’m proud to say I was into NIN before it was cool & trendy.
46. Here’s Where The Story Ends---The Sundays
A gorgeous little gem by a band that should have gotten a lot bigger.
47. Paul Revere---The Beastie Boys
I was 17 and impressionable. And the Beasties ruined me.
48. This Corrosion/Lucretia My Reflection---Sisters of Mercy
Sweeping epic Goth operatic opus that makes me yearn for a leather jacket and black boots
49. Sandstorm---Darude
Perhaps the most absolute perfect techno dance club track to drive a hunnert miles an hour to.
50. Love is a Shield---Camouflage
Great dance-pop from Germany. They deserved to get bigger, but people thought they sounded too much like Depeche Mode I guess.