Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 110

My Top 1000 Songs #113: Cartoon

Kind of an odd entry on the Top 1000: a song by the non-primary singer/songwriter of a band I probably don't spend enough time with. Indeed, I rarely listen to Soul Asylum's Hang Time, the 1988 album where this song originated (though I still have some sentimental feelings for 1992's Grave Dancer's Union and some later work). Guitarist Dan Murphy takes the mic from frontman Dave Pirner, minting a whiz-bang indie pop-rock anthem--a buzzy and instantly familiar drop-dead-perfect guitar hook with w...

My Top 1000 Songs #112: Slit Skirts

There was a period in high school when I spent a lot of time listening to Pete Townshend's All The Best Cowboys and Roxy Music's Avalon . Both came out around the spring of my sophomore year; I was on the cusp of getting my driver's license, and finally felt like I was coming into my own after an awkward start to my teen years. My group of friends started to solidify, some of whom remain close to this day. I was feeling almost a little grown-up; and these seemed like grown-up albums. 

Cowboys in p...

My Top 1000 Songs #111: Rocks Off

Launching my favorite Stones LP with a blast of rollicking sleaze. Wet dreams with a horn section. I don't know why, but "The sunshine bores the daylights out of me" has always struck me as the perfect rock & roll lyric; every time I play the song, I'm mostly just waiting on the edge of my seat for that line.Live in 1998:

My Top 1000 Songs #?: That Funny Feeling

Before I sit down and start compiling my Best of 2022 playlist, a Thanksgiving tradition, I decided to spend a little time revisiting last year's list. And I was delighted to re-engage with Phoebe Bridgers' breathtaking cover of "That Funny Feeling" from Bo Burnham's incredible one-man televised production Inside. I assume it will find its rightful place on my Top 1000 before I'm done, but I decided to skip ahead, as Bridgers' hushed vocals have been echoing in my head for about 72 straight hour...

My Top 1000 Songs #110: I Melt With You

Another one from the "best sums up my high school years" file; oddly enough, also one found on that Valley Girl soundtrack. So, yeah, mostly here because I can close my eyes when I hear it and be 16 again; but holds up as just a drop-dead-perfect New Wave-era pop song even without the personal associations. The rare song that really ought to wear out its welcome after countless plays, but never does.Ok, fine, Valley Girl clip:

My Top 1000 Songs #109: This Year

After a quick shot of pure pop, we switch gears for a harrowing, emotional gut-punch of a song. Actually, the Mountain Goats bring a touch of pop here, a pleasant 3-chord piano & guitar hook that provides a bit of sugar to help the medicine go down. And some medicine it is: John Darnielle's brief yet shockingly detailed journal entry, a teenager breaking free from an abusive household for a morning of video games and purloined Scotch swigs with his teen crush, recriminations looming around the c...

Dot Dash: Madman In The Rain (2022)

The latest from DC-based indie-pop act Dot Dash is one of those records that wins me over on first listen, quickly sprinting into place as one of my favorite new records of the year. The band retains some of that arty pop-punk suggested by their name (presumably a nod to the Wire track), as found on their earlier releases; but for the most part this is sprightly pop music with the skewed Wire edge merely hinted at. Like a few of my other faves this year, Dot Dash offer a rapid-fire blast of pith...

My Top 1000 Songs #108: Sparky's Dream

The songs on this list seem to vacillate. You've got songs that are undeniably, objectively "great," that are so ingrained in the rock & roll canon that my love for them is almost obligatory; you've got songs that are deeply personal, maybe not making others' lists but had some resounding impact on my life. And then there are the pop songs that have a hook so perfect that you'll never get it out of your head, songs where even if you haven't played them in awhile you'll find yourself unconsciousl...

My Top 1000 Songs #107: Pretty Vacant

When punk rock first broke around '77, I was an 11-year-old kid in suburban Chicago, still in the thrall of the AM radio top station I'd discovered a couple years prior. Needless to say, punk did not penetrate my little bubble. By the end of the decade, I'd switched over to the FM dial and became fixated on classic rock and the broader palette of music available to me there; but even so, there was only so adventurous those Chicago radio stations got. I picked up the Clash's London Calling , of co...

My Top 1000 Songs #106: My Back Pages

Another one off that Byrds' Greatest Hits cassette I picked up at the mall when I was 12 or 13. And it probably had a lot to do with triggering my life-long love of jangly guitars and honey-drenched harmonies. 

The lyrics were pretty eye-opening for a kid just moving beyond the silly pop songs on the AM dial. It was one of the earliest times I recall rewinding the tape over and over to try to figure out the words (maybe a year or so before I started spending hours in my room reading along with th...