Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 23

My Top 1000 Songs #918: This May Hurt (A Little)

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Another deceptively simple bubblegum gem from Elephant 6-related indie pop act Dressy Bessy. But "This May Hurt (A Little)," from 2003's self-titled third LP, is more than just a catchy pop song, which by now the band could toss off in their sleep. In a world full of dude-based rock & roll, it's refreshing to hear a poignant tale of female friendship. And w...

My Top 1000 Songs #917: Maybe

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Here's one of those songs that came to my attention through its well-placed inclusion on a tv show, and is impossible for me to hear without unfailingly conjuring its original visual incarnation. In this case, it was The Good Place, one of my favorite shows ever, with "Maybe," from indie pop act The Submarines, backing a moving montage of Kristin Bell strug...

My Top 1000 Songs #916: Special One

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Short-lived US alt.rockers Ultra Vivid Scene managed three mostly-forgotten LPs in the late 80s & early 90s. They weren't bad, just a little tough to pigeon-hole--a varied stew that drew from 80s college radio jangle and Cure-like goth-pop, maybe some Velvet Underground and pre-shoegaze My Bloody Valentine here and there. But, honesty, it's hard to say--I l...

My Top 1000 Songs #915: Beach Baby

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

This would definitely be one for the Guilty Pleasures file if it weren't such a perfectly-constructed bubblegum pop song, with grander ambitions than its simple charm might suggest.

British singer-songwriter John Carter was a sort of hired gun throughout the 60s and 70s, penning songs for a random assortment of artists. He wrote this 1974 instant AM radio cl...

My Top 1000 Songs #914: Pulse

While I generally prefer The Psychedelic Furs' catchy new wave pop singles to their rawer-sounding deep cuts, I've always loved "Pulse," off their 1980 self-titled debut (a song oddly relegated to the b-side of their 1979 debut single). It's probably the closest they got to a straight art-punk track, shades of early Wire--fast, loud, and in your face, with Richard Butler's sandpaper rasp deployed more as a Lydon-like cudgel than Bowie-esque croon. But it's elevated above a mere gym-ready freneti...

My Top 1000 Songs #913: How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

No, really, it's totally a coincidence that this lands on the heels of yesterday's "The Last Thing I Remember." Mostly, sorta. Let a guy have his fun.

Anyway, I'm pretty confident that I love the Young Fresh Fellows' 1985 sophomore LP Topsy Turvy more than anyone else on the planet, an endlessly witty and charming and entertaining mix of college radio jangle...

My Top 1000 Songs #912: The Last Thing I Remember

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I've long lamented the frequent omission of The Turtles from the list of truly great 60s bands. And, sure, they may've been less groundbreaking than the UK Big Four (Beatles/Stones/Who/Kinks), or even The Byrds of the Beach Boys here in the US, but they had a remarkable knack for the perfect AM radio pop song--catchy and unpretentious, yet more transcendent...

My Top 1000 Songs #911: Flowers

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Returning to that wonderful run of early singles from New Zealand indie legends The Clean, this time with "Flowers" off 1982's Great Sounds Great EP. It's not a radical departure from the previously-referenced "Point That Thing Somewhere Else"; more like a continuation with some minor alterations--a scrappy, almost tossed-off post-punk jam, scratched-out gu...

The Primitives: Let's Go Round Again

The Primitives were one of my favorite "law school-era" bands, with some great music that helped fill the gap between my mid-80s college radio days (R.E.M., Replacements, Connells, Feelies, etc.) and my plunge into early/mid-90s indie rock (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices, Luna, etc.). Their blend of jangly bubblegum drawn from the 50s/60s girl groups and the Go-Go's, with some post-Jesus And Mary Chain fizz, made records like 1988's Lovely and 1999's Pure a big part of my musical life.

T...

My Top 1000 Songs #910: All The Small Things

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

As a middle-aged rock snob, I'm obligated to point out that I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Blink-182, while simultaneously (and unashamedly) conceding that they have two truly excellent songs.

1999 single "All The Small Things"  is one of them. Because you can grow up on the Undertones and Buzzcocks and still be able to enjoy millennial pop-punk. At ...