XXX 91X YEAREND COUNTDOWN HALL OF RECORDS

SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT THE COUNTDOWN.
More coming soon. Got a few things to add here one at a time….
WARNING: MAJOR GEEKERY AHEAD…..

LONGEST STREAKS
11 YEARS 311, Blink 182 95-05
8 YEARS Depeche Mode, New Order, Oingo Boingo 83-90, Pumpkins 93-00, Offspring 97-04, Green Day 00-07, Jack Johnson 01-08, Rise Against 05-12
7 YEARS U2 87-93, Cake 96-02, Muse 04-10
6 YEARS REM 84-89, Erasure 87-92, REM 91-96, Pearl jam 91-96, RATM 96-01, Killers 04-09
5 YEARS INXS 83-87, Cure 83-87, Morrissey 88-92, Alice In Chains 92-96, Green Day 94-98, Buck-O-Nine 95-99, Beck 96-00, The Strokes 01-05, Unwritten Law 02-06, Foos 05-09
4 YEARS Eurythmics 83-86, UB40 83-86, Smiths 84-87, Sinead 87-90, Weezer 94-97, STP 93-96, Cranberries 93-96, Marcy Playground 97-00, Foos 97-00, Korn 97-00, Everlast 98-01, Sprung Monkey 98-01, White Stripes 02-05, AFI 03-06, Switchfoot 03-06, My Chemical Romance 04-07, NIN 05-08, Beck 05-08, Panic At The Disco 05-08, incubus 06-09, Bad Religion 07-10, Death Cab 08-11, Switchfoot 09-12

LONGEST DROUGHT IN BETWEEN HITS
24 YEARS
THE CARS Strap me in (87) Sad Song (11)
17 YEARS
METALLICA Enter Sandman (91) The Day That Never Comes (08)
14 YEARS
SOUNDGARDEN Pretty Noose (96) Black Rain (10), DURAN DURAN Electric Barbarella (97) All You Need Is Now (11) SUBLIME Doin’ Time(97) Panic (w/Rome)(11)
13 YEARS
SONIC YOUTH The Diamond Sea (95) Superstar (Juno Remix)(08), ALICE IN CHAINS Heaven Beside You (96) Check My Brain (09)
10 YEARS
MORRISSEY The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get (94) Irish Blood, English Heart (04), THE VERVE Sonnet (98) Love Is Noise (08), BUSH The People That We Love (01) The Sound Of Winter (11), EVERLAST I Can’t Move (01) I Get By (11)
9 YEARS
NADA SURF Popular (96) Always Love (05), FACE TO FACE The New Way (02) It’s not All About You (11)
8 YEARS
THE PRETENDERS Don’t Get Me Wrong (86) 78. I’ll Stand By You (94), ROLLING STONES Rock and a Hard Place (89) Anybody Seen My Baby? (97), SILVERCHAIR Ana’s Song (99) Straight Lines (07), JANE’S ADDICTION Just Because (03) Irresistible Force (11)
7 YEARS
DAVID BOWIE Pretty Pink Rose (w/Adrian Belew) (90) I’m Afraid Of Americans (97), ALLISON MOYET All Cried Out (84) It Won’t Be Long (91), LOVE AND ROCKETS So Alive (89) Sweet Lover Hangover (96), PRINCE Let’s Go Crazy (84) Cream (91), SOCIAL DISTORTION Don’t Drag Me Down (97) Reach For The Sky (04), GARBAGE I Think I’m Paranoid (98) Why do you love me (05), SMASHING PUMPKINS Stand Inside Your Love (00) Tarantula (07), CHEVELLE The Red (02) Jars (09), STONE TEMPLE PILOTS All In The Suit That You Wear (03) Between The Lines (10), BEASTIE BOYS Ch-Check It Out (04) Make Some Noise (11), NEW FOUND GLORY All Downhill From Here (04) Anthem For The Unwanted (11), TEGAN AND SARA Walking With a Ghost (05), Closer (12)
6 YEARS
Ripple (91) So What! (97) JANE’S ADDICTION, Pet Semetary (89) I don’t want to grow Up (95) RAMONES, Apollo 9 (84) Room at the Top (90) ADAM ANT, Money For Nothing (85) Calling Elvis (91) DIRE STRAITS, Sledgehammer (86) Digging in the Dirt (92) PETER GABRIEL, Like A Virgin (84) Justify My Love (90) MADONNA, Shout (84) Post-Post Modern Man (90) DEVO, Everyday is Halloween (85) Jesus Built My Hotrod (91) MINISTRY, Pleasure and Pain (85) I Touch Myself (91) DIVINYLS, 89. Goldfinger (96) Burn Baby Burn (02) ASH, So What! (97) Just Because (03) JANE’S ADDICTION, Song 2 (97) Crazy Beat (03) BLUR, Last Resort (00) 44. To Be Loved (06) PAPA ROACH, Bottles To The Ground (00) Seeing Double at the Triple Rock (06) NOFX, Fall Back Down (03) Last One to Die (09) RANCID, AUTHORITY ZERO 81. Revolution (04) Get It Right (10), CYPRESS HILL 57. What’s Your Number (04) 48. Rise Up (10), Not Now (05) Up All Night (11) BLINK 182, THE STROKES Juice Box (05) Under The Cover of Darkness (11)
5 YEARS
Alive and Kicking (86) See the Light (91) SIMPLE MINDS, Power and the Passion (1983), Beds are Burning (88) MIDNIGHT OIL, Not Enough Time (92) Elegantly Wasted (97) INXS, She Blinded Me With Science (1983) Airhead (88) THOMAS DOLBY, E=MC2 (86) Rush (91) BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE, Wicked Game (90) Somebody’s Crying (95) CHRIS ISAAK, Love (92) Summertime (97) THE SUNDAYS Are You Gonna Go My Way (93) Fly Away (98) LENNY KRAVITZ, Pepper (96) The Shame Of Life (01) BUTTHOLE SURFERS, 6 Underground (97) Sick (02) SNEAKER PIMPS, Bloodclot (98) Fall Back Down (03) RANCID, Still Waiting (02) Underclass Hero (07) SUM 41, SLIGHTLY STOOPID Officer (03) 2AM (08), THRICE Image of the Invisible (05) In Exile (10)

LEAST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH ONE SONG
1 (TIE) GRAHAM PARKER 91. Weekend’s Too Short (85), HOUSE OF LOVE 91. I Don’t Know Why I Love You (90), TIN MACHINE 91. Baby Universal (91), FUGEES 91. No Woman, No Cry (96), THE FAINT 91. Agenda Suicide (02), THE LIVING END 91. Who’s Gonna Save Us (04), MORNINGWOOD 91. Nth Degree (05), MC LARS 91. Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock (06), THE SOFT PACK 91. C’mon (10), KNUX 91. Razorblad3 (11), AUDIO ADDICTION 91. Dangerous (12)

MOST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH ONE SONG
91 GOTYE 1. Somebody That I Used To Know (12)
90 (TIE) NICKELBACK 2. How You Remind Me (01), OUTKAST 2. Hey Ya! (03), THE POSTAL SERVICE 02. Such Great Heights (04)
89 (TIE) THE BREEDERS 3. Cannonball (93), NEON TREES 3. Animal (10)

LEAST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH TWO SONGS
6 PJ HARVEY 90. Down by the water (95) 88. Good Fortune (00)
12 EMINEM 91. My Name Is (99) 81. Stan (00)
14 (TIE) GODFATHERS 89. Birth, School, Work, Death (88) 81. She Gives me Love (89), FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE 91. Sink To The Bottom (97) 79. Denise (99)
16 (TIE) PETE TOWNSHEND 78. Face The Face (85), 90. Save it For Later (86), VAST 78. Pretty When You Cry (99) 90. Free (00)

MOST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH TWO SONGS
170 KATE PIERSON 3. Candy (w/Iggy Pop) (90) 11. Shiny Happy People (w/REM) (91)
160 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD 16. Two Tribes , 8. Relax (84)
159 ALIEN ANT FARM 17. Movies 8. Smooth Criminal (01)
151 SNOW PATROL 28. Run (04) 5. Chasing Cars (06)
147 INFORMATION SOCIETY 33. Walking Away 4. What’s on your mind (88)

LEAST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH THREE SONGS
42 THE KOOKS 87. Naïve (06) 65. Naïve (07) 82. Junk of the Heart (11)
42 CATHERINE WHEEL 90. Black Metallic (92) 60. Crank (93) 84. Wish You Were Here (94)
48 THRICE 57. All That’s Left (03) 81. Image of the Invisible (05) 90. In Exile (10)
52 THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS 83. Don’t let’s start 53. Ana NG (88) 88. The Guitar (92)
58 (TIE) JULIAN COPE 74. World shut your mouth (87) 75. Charlotte Ann (88) 69. Beautiful Love (91), TEGAN AND SARA 73. Walking With A Ghost (04) 74. Walking With a Ghost (05), 71. Closer (12)

MOST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH THREE SONGS
211 PHOENIX 16. 1901 (09) 47. 1901 2. Lisztomania (10)
209 GOO GOO DOLLS 24. Name(95) 28. Slide 15. Iris (98)
206 FOSTER THE PEOPLE 26. Helena Beat 1. Pumped Up Kicks (11), 43. Pumped up Kicks (12)
205 ALLISON MOYET 17. Love Resurrection, 14. All Cried Out (84) 40. It Won’t Be Long (91)
203 ALANIS MORISSETTE 38. Hand in My Pocket 2. You Oughta Know (95) 33. Ironic (96)

LEAST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH FOUR SONGS
45 TRAVIS 91. Why Does It Always Rain On Me 76. Driftwood (00) 72. Sing (01) 84. Re-Offender (03)
72 NEW FOUND GLORY 87. Hit Or Miss (01) 38. My Friends Over You (02) 88. All Downhill From Here (04) 83. Anthem For The Unwanted (11)
85 BRYAN FERRY 82. Don’t Stop The Dance, 30. Slave To Love (85), 84. Is Your Love Strong Enough (86), 87. The Right stuff (87)
99 TRANSPLANTS 50. Diamonds And Guns (02) 76. DJ DJ 65. Diamonds and Guns (03) 78. Gangsters & Thugs (05)
100 JESUS AND MARY CHAIN 76. Happy when it rains 60. April Skies (87) 65. Blues from a Gun (89) 67. Head On (90)

MOST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH FOUR SONGS
308 GORILLAZ 21. Clint Eastwood (01) 22. Dare 1. Feel Good Inc (05) 16. Stylo (10)
294 MODEST MOUSE 10. Ocean Breathes Salty 03. Float On (04) 48. World at Large (05) 13. Dashboard (07)
257 KATE BUSH 4. Running Up The Hill (85) 11. Love and Anger (89) 34. Rocket Man (91) 62. Rubberband Girl (93)
246 SUGAR RAY 2. Fly (97) 41. Every Morning(98) 59. Falls Apart 20. Someday (99)
240 MATISYAHU 5. King Withut A Crown (05) 49. King Without A Crown 33. Jerusalem (06) 41. One Day (09)

LEAST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH FIVE SONGS
99 DEFTONES 67. Change (00) 89. Minerva (03) 75. Hole In The Earth (06) 43. Diamond Eyes (10) 87. Tempest (12)
118 ROBERT PALMER 58. Addicted to Love 37. Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (86) 85. Simply Irresistible (88) 78. You’re Amazing (90) 84. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (w/UB40) (91)
144 GUNS N’ ROSES 76. Used to Love Her 48. Sweet Child o’ Mine (88) 78. You Could Be Mine 62. Don’t Cry (91) 52. November Rain (92)
156 PORNO FOR PYROS 87. Pete’s Dad 68. Cursed Female 9. Pets (93) 59. Tahitian Moon (96) 81. Hard Charger (97)
172 THE CARS 43. Hello Again, 69. Drive (84), 58. Tonight She Comes (85) 71. Strap me in (87) 47. Sad Song (11)

MOST POINTS BY AN ACT WITH FIVE SONGS
357 SQUEEZE 40. Hits Of The Year, 10. Last Time Forever (85) 11. Hourglass (87) 24. If it’s Love (89) 18. Satisfied (91)
338 A PERFECT CIRCLE 11. Judith 3. Three Libras (00) 53. The Hollow (01) 19. Weak and Powerless (03) 36. The Outsider (04)
330 THIRD EYE BLIND 66. How’s It Going To Be 10. Semi-Charmed Life (97) 60. Losing A Whole Year 32. Jumper (98) 54. Never Let You Go (00)
319 THE POLICE 39. King of Pain, 29. Wrapped Around Your Finger, 17. Every Breath You Take, 15. Synchronicity II (1983) 41. Don’t Stand So Close ’86 (86)
314 MUMFORD & SONS 4. Little Lion Man (10) 71. Little Lion Man 40. Roll Away Your Stone 29. The Cave (11) 2. I Will Wait (12)

TOP 10 91X ACTS OF ALL-TIME

Letter courtesy of http://stan-47.weebly.com/.

10. BLINK 182. Wanna know what songs they charted with and stuff? Too badd. They screwed my friend, so fuck ‘em. Read how at
http://yerdoingreat.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/how-blink-182-screwed-my-friend-out-of-over-500000

It’s hard for me to believe that they were my favorite band for a second there. I was buying cd bootlegs and EVERYTHING. Gish is still everything to me. I finally got a scalper to part with a ticket for $20 halfway through their Siamese Dream set at the Hollywood Palladium in my last semester of college. Insanity. I did laps around the Fillmore in the cold on the night it reopened without the same luck. $150!? I was mortified when I heard they walked on to the chase scene from Bullit. When Lollapalooza came to Shoreline that summer, they did a surpise sidestage set of b-sides and Gish songs then actually managed to follow the Beasties. The next night, Billy had something up his ass and ranted stupidly for most of the set, playing boring dirges the band tried to follow until James got bored and went into the crowd to interview people. At the Tibetan Freedom concert, he pulled the same shit. Classy. When he got all vampire n’ WWF, I lost track.

9. SMASHING PUMPKINS 87. Siva (91) 88.  Mayonnaise 35.  Disarm 18.  Cherub Rock 2.  Today (93) 80. Spaceboy 74. Mayonnaise 42. Disarm 15. Landslide (94) 11. 1979 1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings (95) 64. Muzzle 32. Thirty Three 22. Tonight, Tonight 10. 1979  6. Zero (96) 70. The End Is The Beginning 62. Eye (97) 58. Pug  17. Perfect 13. Ava Adore (98) 53. The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete (99) 60. The Everlasting Gaze  40. Stand Inside Your Love (00) 14. Tarantula (07) 31.   Freak (10) 88. Freak (11) 73. Panopticon (12) 1410points/28songs

The only act in the top 10 to slip a position in the countdown this year. Always liked ‘em but never loved them enough to want to own any albums, though I had lots of friends that did. Still, it was great getting to see Ken Stringfellow (Posies) and Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows) up there playing with them at San Diego Street Scene in 2003. Peter Buck loved the fake White Stipes flyer I gave him at a Baseball Project show (see below) and Mike Mills sweetly told my then-girlfriend to watch her head in the low-ceiling’d backstage at a Satline show at Brownies in NYC. Such nice boys.

8. R.E.M. 83.  South Central Rain, 71.  Pretty Persuasion   (84), 46.  Driver 8, 33.  Can’t Get There From Here (85) 49. Superman  26. Fall On Me (86) 13. It’s The End of the World as we know it  10. The one I love (87) 14. Orange Crush (88) 51. Pop Song 89 21. Stand 18. Orange Crush (89) 81. Me in Honey 61. Near Wild Heaven 43. Texarcana 11. Shiny Happy People 10. Radio Song 2. Losing My Religion (91) 28. Try Not to Breathe 5. Drive (92) 89.  Man In The Moon 38.  Photograph w/ Natalie Merchant 20.  Everybody Hurts (93) 81. Strange Currencies 19. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? 16. Bang and Blame (94) 54. Crush With Eyeliner (95) 74. Bittersweet Me (96) 64. Daysleeper  (98) 62. The Great Beyond (00) 1567points/30songs

Them passing REM to the #7 slot is the only change in the top 10 this year. They were also one of my predictions for the top five. Of course I guessed too! Just before I tallied ‘em up. That was last year. Since they moved up, does my score improve by one point? Um, YEAH.
I saw them on that first tour at Slim’s in SF, opening for Mike Watt before anyone knew what was going on. They were ON FIRE playing all those amazing first album songs while they were still new. The whole world seemed to be rooting for them. About a year later, at the Hollywood American Legion Hall. Greg Dulli came out to play his part on “X-Static” without much fanfare. Felt weird but probably because it’s one of the few shows I ever went to by myself and probably didn’t talk to anyone. I forgot that they played at the 1996 Tibetan Freedom show until I recently unearthed the report I wrote 17 years ago. I swore they wore all white and spent a LONG time last night trying to find a photo of them in the “I’ll Stick Around” outfits for the Foo Gees photo but finally gave up. 16 years after the fact, I was in Golden Gate Park with them again at Outside Lands last year. I didn’t bother getting near them but I could hear Dave screaming a mile away.

7. FOO FIGHTERS 82. This is a Call 13. I’ll Stick Around (95) 88. Monkey Wrench 6. Everlong (97) 48. Walking After You 39. My Hero (98) 6. Learn To Fly (99)  48. Next Year 13. Breakout (00) 21.   The One  16.  All My Life (02) 26.  Times Like These 24. Darling Nikki (03) 43.   DOA 8.   Best of You (05) 66.   Skin & Bones 56. No Way Back 30.   DOA (06) 35.   Long Road to Ruin 1. The Pretender (07)  55.   Long Road To Ruin 35.   Let It Die 29.   The Pretender (08) 61. Wheels   (09) 65.   These Days 46.   Walk 14.   Rope (11), 72. Bridge Burning 47. These Days, 39. Rope (12) 1628/30

My earliest Mode memory is David Thomas and me overly seriously singing “Monument” when we were around 11 years old. I could never get behind them too seriously but I had quite a few friends in high school that did. So much so that I never had to own their albums because it’s all I ever heard in their cars. I made fun but they always had songs I liked and I went to see the Violator tour in 1990 at the San Diego Sports Arena. My friend Dan and I got cheap scalped tickets that night, then snuck down to sit with our superfan friends, who were not pleased to suddenly be cramped in the seats they’d had for months. I even saw 101 in the theater…twice on opening night.
Even in high school, I thought two things would be fun: seeing them play MTV’s Unplugged on battery operated Casios and toy keyboards and also to do their songs with all guitars. “A Question of Time” was almost the first song Rookie Card ever covered (“Love Vigilantes” got that honor). When I saw Gahan’s guitar-heavy solo show at Symphony Hall, the first DM song they did was “Question of Time” and I cursed him….might’ve shaken my fist too. That made me wanna finally do it and, a year or two later, Blasphemous Guitars was born. As a result, people think I’m a huge fan but it only ever started as a way to piss off purists. Who else would drive to LA just to interview fans as a goof (link below)? Some jerk. That’s who.

6. DEPECHE MODE  69. Get the Balance Right (1983), 42.  Get The Balance Right, 34.  Everything Counts, 13.  Blasphemous Rumors , 11.  People Are People, 5.  Master and Servant (84), 36.  Master & Servant, 9.  Shake The Disease  (85) 53. Fly On the Windscreen 11. Question of Time (86) 9. Never let me down again  4. Strange Love (87) 7. Route 66 (88) 4. Personal Jesus (89) 22. Personal Jesus 7. Enjoy the Silence  5. World in My Eyes 4. Policy of Truth (90)  46.  Condemnation 19.  Walking In My Shoes 11.  I Feel You (93) 76. It’s No Good (97) 89. Only When I Lose Myself (98) 75. I Feel Loved  63. Dream On  (01) 49.   John the Revelator 3.   Precious (05) 35. Wrong   (09) 1708/27

“Do you know who that was?!” my Poway Wherehouse co-worker asked me. “The guy who just bought the Mudhoney cd? Um, no.” “I’m pretty sure that was Eddie Veder.” “Oh.” It was still in their early days (’92, I think) but I should’ve been able to recognize him with how quickly they got huge. A neighbor’s brother insisted on taping Ten for me when it was just a few weeks old but it didn’t really grab me.
They opened up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers a few months later when I saw them a few months later and they were full of energy but we were too far away to get converted. Plus, Nirvana destroyed a few minutes later. I came down to see the show again the next night at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and came late, missing PJ. All anyone talked about was how Eddie scaled up and swung from the rafters. Oops. I was in there today and asked my girlfriend’s nine year old daughter who loves them, “Guess who I saw in here?” “Who?” “Pearl Jam.” “Yeah, SUUUUUURE.”
That next summer, they’d broken big but refused to get moved up in the Lollapalooza so I saw them do a great, quick set at the first day of the tour. Eddie scored huge points by starting the set singing “Summertime Rolls” and they were on FIRE. On the last date of the tour, they were friends with everyone so it was a free-for-all that ended with the only time they did Temple of the Dog on the mainstage. Unreal to see, especially when a huge group of people in the distance hopped the fence and made a run for it as “Hunger Strike” started. Two years later, I saw them do a simple, solid, tasteful, forgettable unplugged set at Neil Young’s Bridge School benefit.
I never did see them again, though my grandpa fooled most of San Diego (including the Reader) into believing Geezer was opening up for Eddie Vedder a couple of years ago. The only good April Fool’s joke I ever done did.

5. PEARL JAM 58. Alive (91) 44. Black  8. Even Flow 6. Alive 2. Jeremy (92) 49.  Crazy Mary 41.  Go.  34. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In a Small Town  1.  Daughter (93) 89. Not For you 75. Dissident 67. Corduroy 33. Nothing Man 29. Spin the Black Circle  26. Yellow Ledbetter 8. Better Man (94) 79. Better Man 25. Immorality 20. I Got ID 18. Corduroy (95) 55. Hail Hail (96) 79. In Hiding 53. Given To Fly 42. Wish List (98) 12. Last Kiss (99) 34. Light Years (00) 45.   I Am Mine (02) 31.   World Wide Suicide (06) 68. Brother 37. The Fixer 29. Just Breathe (09) 46.  Just Breathe (10) 68.   Ole (11) 1725/33

Doug Camphuis was, by far, the coolest of all of my friends’ dads. He smoked, played harmonica and turned us on to the first RHCP album thanks to some guy he met at a show. A SHOW?! He was so cool that we had him play harmonica on Rookie Card’s albums and made them MUCH better.
I was sold after seeing an INSANE Anthony & Flea interview (STILL isn’t up on Youtube, just looked for it for way too long, check the 1984 Cutting Edge link below which I think has bits of it) but still only owned the Fight Like A Brave 12″ by my first year in college. Andy Warner changed that, singing their praises (well, rap/singing) and making me a stellar mix of their greatest, mostly from Mother’s Milk & Uplift Mofo. I was sold and was almost as excited to see them as the B-52′s on NYE 1989/90. I just remember having boundless energy running/dancing laps around the Sports Arena. Oh to be young. No, wait I had a storebought Kenny Rogers’ greatest hits cassette my friend Jim gave me which actually had Freaky Styley on it. One of his relatives in Arkansas bought it and thought Kenny sounded kinda funky. When I told Anthony about it at a UCLA drug seminar before a Jellyfish show(?!), he told me about a fan who bought one of their albums and got opera instead.
Being in LA during their crazy rise probably made me tire of them more than most but it was a fun few years, starting with an incredible set closing a Palladium benefit for Wag from Mary’s Danish. There were back to back 1991 LA/SD shows with Nirvana & Pearl Jam. The first show was wet thanks to a rainy night and a hole in the roof. The LA Sports Arena seemed cavernous and for their first BIG hometown show after Blood Sugar went mega, it was pretty underwhelming. The band left John making noise onstage to end the show. Awkward anti-climax. I don’t think I stayed for their whole set the next night in San Diego, where I watched a guy try to scale a pole for a better view and break loose a water pipe that flooded the O’Brien Pavillion at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I thought of that yesterday at the Fair, which is now full of hot tub salesmen, funny enough.
I caught the first and last nights of the 1992 Lollapalooza tour and despite it being at the end of a LONG day, seeing them play “Crosstown Traffic” in fire-spitting helmets was a pretty great closer. Poor Arik Marshal was filling in for an abruptly departed JF and did fine. It was his first big show with them (after a few Euro festivals) so you had to root for him. I’m pretty sure they hired a girl to dance all over him for that first night. It didn’t last so they decided to put an ad in the LA Weekly looking for a new guitarist (I’m guessing Flea’s daughter Clara helped with the drawerings). I can’t find it anywhere online but guess who saved it?! After auditioning tons of people (EVERYONE in LA knew someone that auditioned), they decided to grab Jessie Tobias from Mother Tongue, who I got to know a lil’ when he became Jason Falkner’s guitarist. They let him go before he ever played a gig when Dave Navarro was suddenly available. Jerks.

4. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS 66. Knock me Down 26. Higher Ground (89) 56. Suck My Kiss 4. Give it Away (91) 48. Suck My Kiss 41. Breaking the Girl 27. Give it Away 3. Under the Bridge (92) 14.  Soul To Squeeze (93) 65. Warped 9. My Friends (95) 90. Love Rollercoaster (96) 10. Around the World 2. Scar Tissue (99)  12. Californication 2. Otherside (00) 63. Can’t Stop 26. The Zephyr Song 6.  By The Way (02) 38.   Fortune Faded (03) 68.   Fortune Faded (04) 77. Stadium Arcadium 34. Snow (Hey oh) 13. Tell Me Baby 2. Dani California (06) 18. Tell Me Baby 8.   Snow (Hey Oh) (07) 77. Monarchy of Roses 9.   The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie (11) 37. Look Around, 3. Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie (12) 1898/33

Once again, it was my East Bay friend Andy Warner that first told me about them. The Lookout Records guys would come into Berkeley Stamp Company, where I worked, to get stamps made but I still hadn’t heard a note when I ended up at the Paradise Lounge in SF during a Gavin convention to see the Grays. Translator and soon-to-be local faves Yah Yah Littleman were on the bill and Green Day was playing last. Dookie was less than three weeks old. They sounded like an explosion of energy but my friend was tired and wanted to leave. John from Yah Yah LIttleman said they were really good and Billy Joe drank beer out of a girl’s shoe from the crowd. I believe him.
Five months later, they were one of the biggest bands on earth when Lollapalooza rolled through for what would be their closest hometown show. Exactly like Pearl Jam two years before, they’d become so huge by the time the tour started that the organizers wanted them to play later in the day. But, like PJ, they refused so they could play early and enjoy the rest of their day. They were on FIRE. Amazing and the crowd ate it up as Billy Joe ran a lap throughout Shoreline midsong. The next time I saw them, six years later at Warped Tour, they were practically veterans. Again, DESTROYED.

3. GREEN DAY 18. Welcome to Paradise 11. Longview 9. When I Come Around 6. Basket Case (94)  74. 2,000 Light Years Away 41. She 16. Geek Stink Breath (95) 84. Jaded (96) 45. Good Riddance 30. Hitchin’ a Ride (97) 50. Redundant 34. Good Riddance (98) 49. Warning 6. Minority (00) 47. Poprocks Plus Coke  30. Castaway (01) 29. Desensitized (02) 73. Roshambo (w/ The Network) (03) 84. Roshambo 09.   Wake Me Up When September Ends 04.   American Idiot 01.  Boulevard of Broken Dreams (04) 9.   Wake Me Up When September Ends 11.   Jesus of Suburbia (05) 53. The Saints Are Coming (w/U2)(06) 73.   Working Class Hero (07) 47. East Jesus Nowhere 20. Know Your Enemy 11. 21 Guns   (09) 57.   21 Guns 27.   East Jesus Nowhere (10) 50. Let Yourself Go, 16. Oh Love (12) 1912/33

I have a vague memory of seeing the “Let’s Go To Bed” video at David Thomas’ house in 6th grade and our friends saying how GAY they were. David & I were DMode/Devo lovers so we tried not to tap our toes too loud.
Like the other two arms of the Holy Trinity of Mopedom (DMode/Smiths), I had lots of high school friends that loved them but I never shed eyeliner tears for them, though they had plenty of songs I loved. When they came through town in 1989, some of us lined up at Tower Records and some of us at the Sports Arena box office for tickets. Then we used hand signals across Sports Arena Blvd to let each other know who was going to get there first when tickets went onsale. We all got goth’d up for the show. Wish someone could find THAT picture. I didn’t actually see the band but I sure saw a lot of smoke. I scratched my ear and lost Jim Cathcart’s dad’s fake magnetic earring. Sorry, Mr Cathcart. Shelleyan Orphan was walking through the crowd unnoticed afterwards so we ran after them to heap praise. Fantastic band. One of the Cure guys liked ‘em so much, he married the singer.
Blasphemous Guitars started out just doing Depeche Mode songs but the Cure was the logical next band to start screwing with. By the time I organized the Ain’t No Cure cancer benefit at the Casbah, we had a good 25 minutes worth of stuff, most of which was never filmed or put online but you can watch a few in the comments below. The last of the mashups came to me at 3am as I was getting in bed. Out of nowhere, I suddenly thought “Whole Lotta Lovecats” and I was a genius until a girl I was trying to date suggested the title when I told her we were playing with a Zep tribute. When we first hung out, she took me to her car and showed me her license plate: LUVCATT. We’ve been together for six years.

Click to read the story of the greatest charity record outtake of all-time.

2. THE CURE  13. Let’s Go to Bed, 2.   Love Cats (1983), 38.  Let’s Go To Bed, 31.  Love Cats (84) 12.  In Between Days  6.  A Night Like This (85) 55. In Between Days  43. Close To Me  2. Boys Don’t Cry (86) 66. Hot! Hot! Hot! , 38. The Kiss 20. How Beautiful you are 6. Why can’t I be you 1. Just like Heaven (87) 5. Fascination Street  3. Lullaby 2. Love Song  (89) 76. Pictures of You 70. Close to Me (remix) 57. Harold and Joe 35. Hello, I Love You 2. Never Enough (90) 40. High 7. Letter to Elise 4. Friday I’m in Love (92) 22.  Purple Haze (93) 24. Mint Car (96) 48. Wronger Number (97) 71. Maybe Someday (00) 27. Alt. End 17.   End of the World (04) 2009/31

Backstage pass c/o 91X’s Dwight Arnold.
I don’t really remember buying in when MTV showed them in the snow every hour but when Under A Blood Red Sky came out, they became my favorite band for a year or so there. Bought all the albums, import EP’s, the whole bit. But my mom wouldn’t let me see them when they came through on the Unforgettable Fire tour because of something called Passover. I immediately renounced my Judiaism…for a Christian band. Ugh. Then I realized I was too much of a goof to love all that earnestness. I saw Rattle & Hum in the theater and was glad to see they had a sense of humor. Little did we know how much they’d embrace irony within a few years.
I remember trying to call Ticketmaster for an hour trying to see them on the first Zoo TV tour. Dial. Busy. Click. Redial. Busy. Click. Redial…no dice. Classmate Dave Kaplan was able to get us some cheap, mediocre seats at Anaheim Stadium on the outdoor tour and it was quite a sight with all the cars and lights and tv’s. When I was in London for a few days in my last summer before graduating college, I managed to miss Reading Festival by two weeks AND U2 Wembley shows on consecutive weekends. They left their stage up on their off nights and I saw it when I took a tour of the stadium. To be in England…in the summertime…close to the Edge…but not quite. As I had to leave my hostel the morning of the show, a cute blonde from Pennsylvania walked in and said “Is anyone going to the U2 show?” Seriously?!

1. J GEILS BAND 19. Two Hearts Beat as One, 12. Sunday Bloody Sunday, 7.   New Year’s Day (1983), 46.  Sunday Bloody Sunday, 33.  New Year’s Day, 2.  Pride (84), 83.  Love Comes Tumbling, 57.  Sort Of Homecoming, 13.  Bad (85) 81. Trip through your wires 68. In God’s country 58. One Tree Hill – 40. Spanish Eyes 35. Bullet the Blue Sky 25. Still haven’t found what I’m looking for 12. Where the Streets have no name 8. With or without you (87) 73. When loves comes to town 38. Angel of Harlem 35. God Part II 2. Desire (88) 78. Everlasting love 56. Desire (89) 14. Night and Day (90) 60. One 14. The Fly 8. Mysterious Ways (91) 61. The Fly 58. Zoo Station 37. The End of the World – 23. Even Better Than the Real Thing 14. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 12. Mysterious Ways 1. One (92) 31.  Zooropa 30.  Stay (Faraway, So Close) 24.  Numb 21.  Lemon (93) 86. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (95) 65. Discotheque 37. Staring At The Sun (97) 16. Sweetest Thing (98) 89. The Ground Beneath Your Feet 16. Beautiful Day (00) 58. Elevation  10. In A Little While (01) 72.   Electrical Storm (02) 14.   Vertigo (04) 83. City of blinding Lights 29.   Sometimes you can’t make it On Your Own (05) 53.   The Saints Are Coming w/Green Day (06) 2775/56

GEEK NOTES
6 YEARS IN BETWEEN HITS: BLINK 182 Not Now (05) Up All Night (11)
7 YEARS IN BETWEEN HITS: SMASHING PUMPKINS Stand Inside Your Love (00) Tarantula (07)
4 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Foos 97-00
5 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Cure 83-87, Green Day 94-98, Foos 05-09
6 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: REM 84-89, REM 91-96, Pearl jam 91-96
7 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: U2 87-93
8 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Depeche Mode 83-90, Pumpkins 93-00, Green Day 00-07
11 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Blink 182 95-05
4 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: U2  (88), Dmode (90), Pearl Jam, RHCP (92), Pearl Jam, Pumpkins (93), Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins (94), Green Day (04) RHCP (06)
5 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: Dmode (84),  Cure (87), Cure (90)
6 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: REM (91)
7 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: U2 (92), Pearl Jam (94)
8 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: U2 (87)
BACK TO THE MAIN XXX PAGE

“Catch” by Anna Waronker, the untold story of the lost Cure cover

(originally written in 1999)

Summer Brannin lived for 21 years with the innocence of a child and the artistry of a creative genius. She was always able to look at life with the fascination of someone half her age. In her “adult life”, she was a full-time college student and healthfood store employee before she was diagnosed with kidney cancer, but never lost her appreciation for being a kid. She loved watching groups of little girls just being little girls, sometimes drawing them and writing down things she overheard them saying. She was a huge music fan and one of her favorite bands was the LA group that dog. With their lowercase name and songs glorifying teenage romances and indierock crushes, they were Summer’s favorite band to sing along with. She wrote about them, put them on countless mixtapes and was lucky enough to see them perform, opening for Blur in San Diego in 1996. She also saw singer Anna Waronker sing at a Redd Kross/Sloan show that same year and talked to her briefly. Like she did at many shows, she took along a notepad and drew the pictures on this page.

In 1999, Anna was asked to be part of Songs For Summer, a memorial charity record featuring 15 of Summer’s favorite musicians, including Ben Folds Five, Neutral Milk Hotel, the B-52′s and Jonathan Richman. She responded by recording something especially for the record, something only one other artist did. The song was a favorite of both Waronker and Brannin’s: “Catch” by the Cure. Anna sang and played melotron flutes, her husband Steve McDonald (of Redd Kross, another Brannin favorite) played the stand-up bass, Jeff Watson played piano, and Kenny Woods played guitar and percussion.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the song was unable to be included on the record and I’ve never talked about why. The Cure coming in at number two on the big XXX Countdown seemed like reason enough to finally tell the rest of the tale and repost the song for all to hear.  It hasn’t been available for six or seven years.

When I first talked to my friend Mike and Carl at Oglio Records about doing a record for Summer, I learned that for the record to make any money for charity, we would have to get all of the bands, their labels and their publishers to agree to let us use the songs for free.  I’d never heard the term “most favored nations” but it made everyone more agreeable because it meant NO ONE was getting paid.  We couldn’t secretly make a deal to give one act a little money, because then we’d have to pay everyone.

I made a list of Summer’s favorite bands and, with zero prior experience, just started calling and emailing people.  It kept me busy during a difficult time but it wasn’t exactly helpful having to tell her story over and over, knowing it would sadden anyone hearing it.  It felt gross at times but once I was committed to the cause, I knew no one else could make it happen. Slowly but surely, we started to get an impressive list of people to sign on.  I don’t remember how I began emailing with Anna but she quickly agreed being a part of the album.  She was playing the old Cafe Largo on Fairfax so I came up from San Diego to see her play and talk to her.  During her set, she played “Catch” and I knew that had to be the song.  Summer was a huge Cure fan.  In fact, Boris Williams’ post-Cure band Babacar had already given us permission to use their song “Midsummer”.  Anna agreed and recorded it not long after, just for us.  Only one other act (the Jazz Butcher) did that.

Anna was just starting her solo career and eventually created her own label with her sister-in-law Charlotte Caffey to put out her first solo album. That meant that there was one less record label I had to beg.  I did, however, have to get permission from the Cure’s publishers, if we were going to use the recording for free.  I was surprised to learn that anyone can record someone else’s published song and release it without permission.  But, if you make money off of it, you have to pay publishing royalties.  Since there were several covers on the album, I had to track down the people who controlled the legal rights to songs by the Zombies and Tone Loc.  Shockingly, I had Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson on the phone within a few seconds of calling K Records and he didn’t even want to bother with paperwork to clear a cover of one of his songs.

Other companies took MONTHS to return calls and cut through red tape.  Because they weren’t going to be making any money, we weren’t a huge priority.  I’d worked for a management company in LA and every day, they would get TONS of requests to use their clients’ songs.  I sympathized with their workload and knew that they had to say no to almost all of them. Still, probably because of the cause, almost everyone I dealt with was nice and understanding, a rare thing in this business.

I got a handwritten fax from Phil Selway of Radiohead explaining that they’d already agreed to several charity albums recently but how moved they were by the story. Even though I was dealing with his record label, Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel called me at my work to apologize for taking so long to get us a track.  When I talked to Bob Pollard from Guided By Voices about being part of a possible sequel album, his eyes grew wide and he yelled, “You want a SONG?!” and started looking around like if he could find a cassette recorder, he’d give me an instant lo-fi classic on the spot. There was an unreal amount of kindness.

As the months turned into a year, we finally set a release date and the last few clearances came through until there was just one left: the Cure’s publishing company, Fiction Songs.  Over the course of a year, I left them countless emails and messages. Because they were in England, I’d occasionally come into work early, just to call them.  Since the band was also finishing an album (Bloodflowers came out just a month before ours), I was told repeatedly that it would be next to impossible to get them to ok our request. We had 47 artists, labels and publishers who’d all agreed to let us use their song gratis and just needed this last “yes”.  Since Anna had recorded the song just for us, I was extra determined to get their permission.

As our deadline got closer and closer, we had to make a decision on whether or not to drop it from the tracklist that we had to finalize for artwork and release.  Fiction told us that we should leave it off then because they still hadn’t received a decision from the band.  Around that time, I was talking to someone from another publisher or label about the situation.  Some of the nicer folks helped us with other acts’ contact information and even got us press.  In asking how close we were to finishing, I mentioned us having to remove the song and they said that maybe they could help find someone who knew someone at Fiction. I appreciated the help but we’d already decided it was hopeless.

A day or two later, I got an early call from an irate woman with a British accent.  Apparently, the person I talked to had forwarded my plea to a music business e-mail list and, as a result, Fiction had received a “stack” of faxes from do-gooders trying to help. I could barely get an apology in because I was being accused of “emotional blackmail”.  That was it.  The song was out but I couldn’t bear to have it shelved.  With the help of Anna’s webmaster, Jon Krop, we put up this page and gave it away for free.

Summer was keen on spreading the word about the music that she loved. It wasn’t uncommon for her to convince people to hear her favorite bands by singing to them, letting them borrow cd’s or making mixtapes for strangers with cool stickers on their car. So it felt great to just give the song away for free.  The website stayed up for years but then disappeared when my business’ website that hosted it was sold. You can still see the text and some of the pictures and drawings on Archive.org.  The mp3 of “Catch” was even archived.  It’s nice to have the song back up again.  Don’t blame Robert Smith.  He’s probably never heard it.  His loss.  Thanks, Anna.

BONUS COVERS APPROVED BY COVER ME BADD:






“You’re So Vain” by Anna

TOP 11-20 91X ACTS OF ALL-TIME

Ah, one of the worst live acts ever. You call that a frontman!? No matter, Brotherhood is still one of my favorite records ever. They came through town with Echo & The Bunnymen in 1987. Not much of a show. Peter Hook came out for an encore and silenced an arena by screaming that someone up front needed to sit down and not move for the rest of the show. AWK-ward. They played 91X’s XFest II a couple of years later. Still boring but this time with a great light show. The one moment I remember was bending down to tie my shoe and it sounding amazing to just hear bass down there through all of those bodies. I told my friend and he tried it and he told someone next to him and soon everyone was crouching down to hear the boomin low tones.

20. NEW ORDER 87. Blue Monday (1983), 57. Blue Monday (84), 59. Sub-Culture, 24. Love Vigilantes 2. Perfect Kiss (85), 73. Perfect Kiss 63. Paradise 54. Bizarre Love Triangle 9. Shell Shock (86) 15. Nineteen Sixty Three 3. True Faith (87) 47. Blue Monday ’88 45. Touched by the Hand of God (88) 48. Loveless 27. Fine Time 7. Round and Round (89) 56. World in Motion (90) 86. World 36. Regret (93) 950points/19songs

Those early anthems were a harmless guilty pleasure but I didn’t have to think much of them until they took Louis XIV out on tour to travel the world. Then, all of a sudden, Ray was their keyboardist. Ray was a 20 year old violin whiz with my favorite music making friends Matt Curreri & The Ex-Friends. When Rookie Card said they’d learn any song for $50 for our telethon, we took on “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”. I knew he was classically trained but I asked if he could fiddle. He was INFURIATED that I didn’t know of his skills and vowed to destroy. That, he did on several occasions with us. Being a hired gun for Louis XIV got him in with the Killers crew and when he heard about the job opening, he turned to his bandmate Joanie, a piano teacher, to convert his musical prowess over to the 88 keys. It worked. We excitedly watched clips online of one of his very first gigs with them: a little festival called Reading. A BILLION people losing their minds in a dark field but we couldn’t spot him. He was shrouded in shadows and the camera crew was told not to film him. They lightened up after awhile…

19. THE KILLERS 07. Somebody Told Me 06. Mr. Brightside (04) 10. Smile Like You Mean It 6. All these Things I’ve Done (05) 85. Read My Mind 59. Bones 3. When You Were Young (06) 64. Shadowplay 49. For Reasons Unknown 30. Read My Mind 6. When You Were Young (07) 75. Shadowplay 17. Human (08) 76. A Dustland Fairytale 69. Human 17. Spaceman (09) 54. Miss Atomic Bomb, 25. Runaways (12) 998points/18songs

Starlight and Supermassive appearing three times each?! Er, ok. When I went to England in 1999, I took a shot and dropped a note to a friend of producer John Leckie to see if he’d want to chat. Turns out he was also going to Reading Festival to see a new band he’d just produced. They were pretty good but boy did they sound like Radiohead, who he’d also worked with. They were quite nice but I haven’t seen them since. Anyone know what they’ve been up to? You can read the whole tale at http://yerdoingreat.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/my-afternoon-at-reading-festival-with-an-invisible-rock-legend/

18. MUSE 61. Time Is Running Out 22. Hysteria (04) 65. Stockholm Syndrome (05) 39. Starlight 6. Knights of Cydonia (06) 40. Supermassive Black Hole 20. Knights of Cydonia 5. Starlight (07) 89. Map Of The Problematique 77. Starlight 47. Supermassive Black Hole (08) 87. Resistance 74. United States of Eurasia 24. Supermassive Black Hole 9. Uprising (09) 66. Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever) 34. Resistance 21. Uprising 15. Undisclosed Desires (10) 7. Madness (12) 1032points/20songs

Confession time. They are my guilty pleasure. I’ve never seen them and I have no desire to own any of their music but always turn ‘em up when they come on the radio. I even headbang to that stupid “Drugstore cowgirl” song. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!?

17. 311 91. Don’t stay home (95) 15. All Mixed Up 8. Down (96) 38. Transistor 26. Prisoner 13. Beautiful Disaster(97) 33. Beautiful Disaster (98) 23. Come Original (99) 22. Flowing (00) 36. You Wouldn’t Believe 15. I’ll Be Here Awhile (01) 2. Amber (02) 34. Creatures (For A While) (03) 74. First Straw 15. Love Song (04) 24. Don’t Tread On Me (05) 57. Hey You (09) 25. Sunset In July (11) 1105/18

I’m bored just thinking about them. I bought and might’ve liked that first album for a second. Hopefully it’s in a better place now. I’ve liked a single or two for short spells but I will say this: that Joe Satriani lawsuit was ridiculous. He had a much greater chance of hearing instrumental Argentinian group Enanitos Verdes’ song (recorded two years before his, link below) than Coldplay would listening to him. I’ve already said too much.

16. COLDPLAY 17. Yellow (00) 39. Shiver 27. Trouble (01) 36. Clocks 15. In My Place (02) 79. God Put a Smile Upon You 25. Moses 1. The Scientist (03) 45. Talk 20. Speed of Sound 13. Fix You (05) 24. Talk (06) 54. Volet Hill 30. Lost! 3. Viva La Vida (08) 50. Vida La Vida (09) 62. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall 31. Paradise (11) 23. Paradise (12) 1154/19

“Undone” didn’t make me a fan but when the Riggs brothers visited in the Bay Area, they turned me on to all those Blue Album gems. When my grandpa passed away later that year, I ditched a family wake to see them at SOMA to cheer myself up. They came out to the Magnum PI theme and were incredible. They were still touring on the first album when I moved back to LA and despite Rivers’ leg surgery (he came out on crutches), they were fun once again at Universal Ampitheater. Years later, they were doing a few tiny comeback shows and I blew getting tickets to see them at the Casbah. Somehow, doorguy Ben found out, got my number and called to get me in. A very special night and, afterwards, Rivers told me he’d be happy to let us use a Weezer song on a Songs For Summer charity record followup I was still contemplating. Turns out the only reason they’d said no to the first one was because I’d mentioned that she also loved the Rentals.
The bigger UCSD comeback shows were a blast. They put on singalong songs before they came out at the first one so the entire arena was singing “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Then there was the amazing triple bill with JEW & Tenacious D. It was around this time that Rookie Card talked about learning the Blue Album for a themed charity show. None of us can remember who thought up the idea to show up as Geezer but it was a ton of fun. We only did it twice then forgot about it.
Years later, I heard the band was on tour and having fans play with them onstage in each city. I told FM94/9 Geezer was going to crash their audition. Turns out they needed someone to play two songs over and over for folks to play with and we were in. So we did our thing for 10,000 people, Rivers interviewed me when I gave him cookies and Zach and nurse Marissa ended up in the “Who’s Your Daddy?” video for half a second (link below). Geezer was reborn and even though we no longer just do Weezer songs, we get hardcore fans saying we’re the greatest. Some of those songs never get old, even if we are.

15. WEEZER 46. Buddy Holly 23. Undone (The Sweater Song) (94) 68. Buddy Holly 12. Say It Ain’t So (95) 70. El Scorcho (96) 61. The Good Life (97) 41. Photograph 12. Island In The Sun – 7. Hash Pipe (01) 32. Keep Fishin’ 8. Dope Nose (02) 35. Perfect Situation 30. We Are all on drugs 21. Beverly Hills (05) 11. Perfect Situation (06) 70. Everybody Get Dangerous 51. Troublemaker 5. Pork And Beans (08) 63. Pork and Beans 18. (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (09) 73. I Want You To (10) 1175/21

What can you say? His songs are mellow and samey and he’s supposedly a really nice guy. I saw him at a 91X Xmas show and it was exactly what you’d expect. The only strange part was watching the crowd get that excited about something so laid back.

14. JACK JOHNSON 4. Rodeo Clowns (w/G Love & Special Sauce) (99) 18. Bubble Toes 3. Flake (01) 27. Mudfootball 10. Middle Man(02) 22. The Horizon Has Been Defeated 15. Taylor 12. Wasting Time (03) 34. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (04) 61. Badfish/Boss DJ 41. Good People 14. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (05) 23. Upside Down (06) 36. If I Had Eyes (07) 62. Hope 27. If I Had Eyes (08) 53. At Or With Me 12. You And Your Heart (10) 89. At Or With Me (11) 1185/19

You know the difference between them and Incubus? Amazing!

13. LINKIN PARK 26. Crawling 1. In The End (01) 83. Numb 32. Faint 17. Somewhere I Belong (03) 23. Breaking The Habit (04) 22. Shadow of the Day 10. Bleed It Out 2. What I’ve Done (06) 66. What I’ve Done 60. Leave Out All The Rest 40. Shadow Of The Day 33. Bleed It Out 15. Given Up (08) 77. Shadow of the Day 7. New Divide (09) 52. New Divide 36. Waiting For The End 29. The Catalyst (10) 61. Waiting For The End (11) 59. Lost In The Echo, 9. Burn It Down (12) 1264/22

The only really great thing they ever did was say they were going to name their album Chinese Democracy (You Snooze, You Lose) but it’s also the worst because they didn’t do it. I saw them once at a 91X Xmas show. Not sure how I made it through. I had to give them points for weirding out the crowd by having a large man in a tiny bathing suit as a midset intermission (video below) but even stranger was when their singer came out with a firehose and doused the crowd. This was an inside show at 4th & B and he REALLY let folks have it. I kept thinking he was gonna stop and he just….didn’t. I guess they’ve got mop & straw folks built into their rider.

12. OFFSPRING 4. Come Out and Play 1. Self Esteem (94) 77. Kick Him When He’s Down (95) 15. Gone Away (97) 2. Pretty Fly ( For A White Guy) (98) 29. Why Don’t You Get A Job 21. She’s Got Issues 5. The Kids Aren’t Alright (99) 53. Total Immortal 9. Original Prankster (00) 73. Million Miles Away 4. Want You Bad (01) 59. Defy You (02) 45. Hit That (03) 49. (Can’t Get My) Head Around 40. Hit That (04) 14. You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid 2. Hammerhead (08) 75. Hammerhead 40. You’re Gonna Go Far Kid (09) 36. Days Go By (12) 1279/21

Meh.

11. INCUBUS 84. Still Not A Player 23. Drive 8. Pardon Me 4. Stellar (00) 48. Nice To Know You 5. Wish You Were Here (01) 25. Are You In 13. Warning (02) 30. Talk Shows On Mute 20. Megalomaniac (04) 68. Dig 32. Anna Molly (06) 33. Oil and Water 15. Dig 9. Anna Molly (07) 87. Anna Molly 13. Love Hurts (08) 14. Black Heart Inertia (09) 35. Promises, Promises 13. Adolescents (11) 61. Adolescents (12) 1292/21

GEEK NOTES:
4 CONSECUTIVE YEARS:  Weezer 94-97, Incubus 06-09
6 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Killers 04-09
7 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: Muse 04-10
8 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: New Order 83-90, Offspring 97-04
11 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 311 95-05
4 SONGS IN ONE YEAR:  New Order  (86)   Incubus (00), Killers (07) Muse (09), Muse (10)
5 SONGS IN ONE YEAR: Linkin Park (08)

ON TO THE TOP 10!

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JELLYFISH TALE #2: NEWBORN FISH

With A&R man Carter from Beatnik Beatch’s label, Atlantic Records, interested in their new style, but not yet fully committed to paying for a record, Andy and Roger began demoing and recording more songs for their still unnamed project.  With BB’s leader Chris Ketner supposedly moving on to electrical contracting (and later, animal care), many of the demos were done as possible future BB songs.  They had more and more focus and direction but were still hoping to write whatever would get their label 100% behind the project. When Carter suggested they cover Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch” because of the line “Beatnik’s out to make it rich,” they recorded it.

As a youth, Jason Falkner was often mistaken for Tanner from the Bad News Bears…..and Pele. Photo c/o Dan Selstad

Voted Most Likely To Play with McCartney, Agoura High School c/o Andy Emhoff

When it was decided to hire on a full-time guitarist, Roger thought of Jason Falkner, whose musician want-ad he’d answered while still at USC.  Falkner grew up in Agoura Hills, in the north San Fernando Valley and was brought up to be a classical pianist until he got bit by the post-punk bug. He and Roger bonded on their shared love of XTC but didn’t start a band….yet.  After spending a short time in the goth-tinged Kommunity FK (I…WANT…PICTURES!!!), Jason joined the Three O’Clock at the age of 19, just as they were signed to Prince’s Paisley Park Records.  When they played in Minneapolis, they got to meet the Purple One at a crowded afterparty.  He walked up to singer Michael Quercio and said “Your voice…is…so….” and was swallowed up by the crowd, never to reveal his revered opinion. They released one synth heavy record, Vermillion, and broke up shortly thereafter.  Check out Will Harris’ great Pop Dose article on the making of that last record.

c/o Sophie apparently

Not-so-longbox

Beatnik Beatch playing the Stone in SF the same week as Falkner-era Three O’Clock, 1988. From the George Cole archives

Jason’s sister lived in San Francisco, so he crashed on her couch after Roger convinced him to help with the Jellyfish demos.  Most of them appeared on the first disc of the Fanclub boxed set but it’s still unlcear which songs Jason played on (“King” being the song he’s most widely credited for helping on). Besides Andy’s house, some songs were recorded at Dancing Dog Recording in Emeryville, John Altmann’s studio, and Bob David’s RD Recording (both in San Francisco).  These demos were hardly rough sketches.  Even the most complex arrangements had almost all of the parts already there.  Once about a dozen songs were ready, Atlantic finally agreed to sign them.

Galuten.com’s entire contents: this one photo. A fifth of Beethoven, perhaps?

Criteria recording engineer and producer Karl Richardson, Albhy Galuten, Barry Gibb

A lot of trendy dance music producers were brought to the band for consideration until Carter introduced them to Albhy Galuten.  He’d played with Derek & The Dominos, Aretha Franklin and Eagles as a keyboardist then produced many huge albums like Barbra Streisand’s Guilty and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads plus the soundtracks for Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Galuten loved the demos he’d heard and went to meet with them. But, instead of discussing their music, they mostly just hung out and watched television. This meant that they could live in the studio together for months, so they signed him up. Since their recording budget was only $76,000, Galuten asked veteran engineer Jack Joseph Puig whose resume was long on soft rock (Amy Grant, Kenny Loggins, Olivia-Newton John, Bette Midler) if he would work for credit and a percentage of sales.  He agreed and a house in La Crescenta was rented for Andy, Roger and Jason to rehearse in for a couple of weeks.

Puig + gadgets

From the Fanclub liner notes by Andy Zax:
Recording began in earnest in September of 1989.  Half a dozen songs were in various stages of completion when the group received the disturbing news that Carter, their patron at Atlantic, had just lost his job.  No one else at the label seemed to have the faintest interest in – or understanding of – what they were up to.  “We were dying to get off of Atlantic at that time,” Andy recalls.  “They didn’t get what we were about and as BELLYBUTTON began to take shape, we were confident that we’d find a better home.  I remember our manager deliberately sending the label mixes that were six generations down.  The tapes they heard were mostly hiss!  All with the intent of making them think that this project was totally unprofessional and completely unlistenable.”  Their relationship with Atlantic had begun to reach a comical level of disinterest (at one point, Andy and Roger were summoned to Los Angeles for a meeting that was cancelled because it was Debbie Gibson’s birthday; the exec they were supposed to meet with had been placed in charge of fetching her a cake).  They soon found themselves dropped, much to their delight.

Alan Mintz in his musician days. He passed away from leukimia last year at the age of 57.

Attorney Alan Mintz helped their team circulate unfinished studio tracks and, within a month, thirteen record companies and publishers were wooing the band, who still hand’t played a live gig.  In a 1993 BAM interview, Andy said:
“It was so ridiculous, we were trying to finish this record, and every night we’d get wined and dined by a different record company. And these guys would make all these gigantic promises and offer us all this stuff, and it was just so obvious that they were lying. I mean, they’d look us right in the eye and lie, and we would just smile…and order the lobster.”

While they weighed offers, recording rolled on, thanks to Galuten taking care of the bills. They eventually signed to a label under the Virgin umbrella called Charisma Records. The label had started in England in the early 70′s, releasing Genesis and Monty Python albums. It was eventually bought in 1983 by Virgin but folded three years later.  It was revived in 1990 and Jellyfish was one of its first signings. The album was recorded and mixed at several California studios: Schnee Studio in North Hollywood, Studio 55 Marin in San Rafael, and the famed Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood.

Galuten described making the album when I asked him some questions in 1996:
“They were brilliant. We recorded the entire album in 6 weeks at Schnee’s Studio. Two weeks for tracks (mostly including solos), two weeks for vocals (pretty much all Roger and Andy) and two weeks for overdubs (including bass because I thought it was more important to get the guitar feel on the tracking date than the bass. We also got cooler sounds in the control room). Mixing happened later when they had re-negotiated their contract (w/Virgin) and we had more money.”

Schnee Studio control room c/o ComputerAudiophile.com

Steve, Roger & Jason at Fuji Rock, 2008. Photo c/o Eric Skodis

They used a few guest musicians, including Redd Kross bassist Steve McDonald, who played on “All I Want Is Everything”, ”Now She Knows She’s Wrong” & “Baby’s Coming Back”. Roger talks about getting Steve in a Popshifter interview:
“Yeah, we’d been fans for years. The running joke was that in finding the other musicians we wanted to round out the group, Andy [Sturmer] and I would reference Redd Kross. “We want a guitar player like Robert [Hecker].” Or “We want a bass player like Steve.” I had spent a lot of time in L.A. going to college and working in different bands even though I was from the san Francisco Bay Area, so I knew some people that actually knew them. I was actually in a band, very briefly, that was being produced by Robert. Now, we never did a record, but a lot of the same people in the South Bay music scene knew them, so it was only a matter of time before I got a message to them. This girl we knew knew Steve and she invited him out for pizza and introduced Andy to him and two weeks later, he agreed to come in and play bass. I mean, he hadn’t heard anything and he really didn’t know our sound at all. He was a real trooper and I can’t thank him enough for taking the risk. He didn’t know what he was getting into.”

Jason, Eric, Steve, Steve’s moustache. Fuji Rock 2008

Also on the record was famed harmonica player Tommy Morgan, then-new Tonight Show trumpeter Chuck Findley, jazz fusion bassist John Patitucci, well-known percussionists Lenny Castro and Luis Conte, plus Sid Page’s string section all contributed as well.  Despite all the extra instrumentation, Galuten said, “Bellybutton was a mostly live record, it could have been made on 8 track.”

While their home demos were fully thought out, it took months to get everything just right.  They were recording ambitious music while trying to decide on a label, a band name, a bassist and an image. Tensions immediately arose in the studio.  The solo for “She Still Loves Him” was done during a heated Andy/Jason argument with Jason staring right at Andy and slamming his guitar down after the last note. Picture that the next time you listen to it!  They did get out for fun, on occasion. the month Bellybutton was completed (March 1990), Jason did an unrehearsed Three O’Clock reunion set for a charity show and Andy and Roger recalled meeting and gushing to hero David Cassidy at a lavish Los Angeles party…
Andy: ”He wouldn’t believe us — he thought we were making fun of him.” 
Roger: ”He didn’t realize I’d just purchased his Colorforms set for $20 in mint condition!”

David Cassidy Colorforms? DAVID Cassidy Colorforms?! Oh, who am I kidding? Roger probably had David, Shaun AND Hardy Boys Colorforms at this photoshoot. Photo c/o RogerJosephManningJr.com

They were nameless for quite some time and had pages of ridiculous suggestions (Lust Musket, Major Nelson, etc), until Carter’s assistant from Atlantic Records walked into the studio one day and said something like, “Hey, I just went to the aquarium the other day. How about Jellyfish?” They scratched their chins at first, but, months later, eventually settled on it, rising to cult fame in the early 90′s alongside An Emotional Fish, Fishbone, School of Fish, Phish and….that Hootie guy.

So, after six long months, there was a band called Jellyfish and an album called Bellybutton.

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HOW BLINK 182 SCREWED MY FRIEND OUT OF OVER $500,000

This is the true story of my friend and ex-roommate Pat Secor and how Blink 182 made millions off of their first full-length recording that he paid for….without a contract.  High school friends didn’t “get it in writing” in 1994.  Totally within their rights and totally uncool. Here’s a 2001 article about it from the Bay Area newspaper East Bay Express with honest quotes from Pat and interesting half-truths from the other side that the paper repeatedly calls them on. It mentions an email that was circulating at the time that gave details about what had really happened.  Guess who the circulaTOR was?

I hated seeing this happen to one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and since I’m not that nice, I spread the story around whenever I can.  Back in 2000, the San Diego Reader refused to write about a charity record I did that was featured in the other three main local newspapers.  So, I approached them with this true story under the pseudonym “Max Somers”, a combination of the name my Dad wanted to give me and the girl the record was dedicated to.  The Reader‘s music editors never missed a chance to make big name San Diego musicians look bad and happily printed it.  I insisted that they make my writer’s fee check out directly to Free Arts For Abused Children, the charity the record was benefiting.

Here’s the Reader article from 2000, with a couple of “-editor” notes added later…..

Blink-182′s first full-length album, commonly referred to as “the Buddha tape”, was put out in 1994 by Filter Records, a one-man record company/bandfriend, Patrick Secor. The tape’s liner notes say “Thanks to Pat, who paid for everything” (***Mark Hoppus is quoted in a Blink bio saying that they both put money in but it’s the very first thank you on the tape -ed.). Since they were all just high school friends, there was never any legal agreement between them, they simply split the profits. They sold hundreds of copies of the tape at shows before getting signed to Cargo Records, who quickly released an album of mostly re-recorded “Buddha” songs. Shortly after relocating to the Bay Area in 1994 (long before the band went multi-platinum), Secor suggested that they put it on cd, but the band stalled, saying that they didn’t know where the masters were. Years went by and fans kept finding Filter Records’ website, asking for copies even though the tape had been sold out for years. Original tapes are sold on e-bay for more than $100. Secor had sold a handful of copies of the tape for fans who found him online but was eventually served a cease-and-desist order stopping him from doing it ever again.

There is currently no mention of the Buddha album on Blink-182′s official website (****It was later added but the name “Filter Records” wasn’t on it). Here is how the site had previously described the album’s release: “Meanwhile, Hoppus and DeLonge befriended the Orange County punk rock group the Vandals, whose tiny label, Kung Fu, released Blink’s cassette-only debut recording (titled Buddha) in 1994.” The album was actually released on cd in 1999 by Kung Fu. Neither Secor or Filter Records is mentioned anywhere on the cd. Kung Fu’s website says the Vandals let Blink open shows for them when they were just starting and so Blink “rewarded” the Vandals’ label by giving them Buddha. The Blink-182/MCA legal teams have successfully stalled long enough for the statutes of limitations to run out, so Secor will never see money from the release. It has sold over 200,000 copies (****and has reportedly sold more copies than Cargo’s Cheshire Cat -ed.)

Secor eventually stopped using the name Filter Records but has continued as an online label & music store at 11345.com .
——-
Not my best writing but, hey, my name wasn’t on it and it felt good to see it in print.

So, why am I doing this? Well, Pat and I worked at the Wherehouse Records in Poway together.  He was sharp and impressive enough as a teenager to have been made a manager there and we became instant friends. He’d attended Poway High School with Tom DeLonge and Scott Raynor and was paying to put the band they had with Marc Hoppus in the studio.  I’d met Marc with Pat at a Ned’s Atomic Dustbin show at SOMA the year before (he was a huge fan, just listen to those basses!) and saw him at work sometimes since he worked at the nearby Rancho Bernardo Wherehouse.  One night, Pat called me at the store to invite me over to his parents’ house. They had just finished recording Buddha at Doubletime Studios in Santee and I sat with Pat and Marc and was the first person to ever hear it.  It was fast and silly and really not my cup of tea but they were so excited, it was hard not to be stoked for them.

That month, I moved to the Bay Area with Pat and my friend Sam, a fellow SDSU/KCR alum. The untitled Blink cassette came out on Pat’s made-up label, Filter Records, shortly thereafter. For his next release, we made a simple logo for the label on my work’s computer from a diagram of someone installing an automobile air filter. The three of us used to assemble Buddha cassettes and send them down to San Diego, where they were selling slowly but surely in stores.  There’s a cute story of the whole Hoppus family watching tv and assembling cassettes like we did in the band’s biography.  After awhile, they were selling so many that it must’ve made sense to just handle it all down there and Pat trusted them to pay what they owed. Marc and Tom were nothin’ but nice when they would call. They came up and played Berkeley Square with Unwritten Law and it was pretty exciting to hear how great they were doing.

It only made sense to put the album out on cd, but, 500 miles away, the band dodged the issue, saying they needed to talk to their manager or their label or they weren’t sure where the masters were. Mostly, they’d just avoid his calls. They kept getting more and more popular and he just gave up trying to get them to agree to it.  When the internet came along, he didn’t even mention them anywhere on his site.  Meanwhile, Blink put the keywords “Filter Records” in the HTML of their homepage and even created a dummy page for search engines that redirected to Blink182.com.

He got tired of the association and started over, using the name 11345 Records, named after our street address in El Cerrito.  People still tracked him down, asking about Blink and he slowly sold off a few cassettes he still had.  When the band found out, one of them emailed him to buy a copy but he recognized the address.  When the band’s lawyer friend, Joe Escalante, tried to order one, Pat sent him a copy and they put a cease-and-desist on further sales.  There was no way to go up against a big-money major-label lawyer but he’d call Pat occasionally just to remind him not to try anything. Then they let Escalante’s label, Kung Fu Records, release Buddha on cd.  Then it sold over 300,000 copies.  Pat never saw a dime of it.

Scott Raynor is quoted in the Blink bio book Tales From Beneath Your Mom saying “Pat was the first person to have faith in us.” GOOD Scott.  Hoppus wrote a little paragraph of his memories about recording Buddha for the Kung Fu reissue cd. There’s no mention of Pat, of course.  Luckily, I still have this sticker on my guitar case. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous for him to get these printed with his name on it.  He was the exact opposite of an egomaniac. He just wanted to be part of it all. Strange to see it now.

In 2006, my band Rookie Card was asked to be part of a charity show with local acts covering other locals.  So, in addition to the Mossy Nissan theme and “On A Rope”, I decided to Weird Al that stupid song about the apple juice.  I got to use the distortionless amp. Punk!  It was ok for not having done it before or since.  Funny enough, the first time we ever went out of town was to play Pat’s wedding.
(to the tune of Blink 182′s “Adam’s Song”)

I never thought we’d get a break
but then you put out our first tape.
You liked our stuff. You had the cash.
We made a deal with no contract.
We pressed record, put down some tracks.
C’mon buddy, we’ll pay you back.
You paid the bills then we got huge.
Later on, you’d just get screwed.

(sing “Stupid song. Stupid band. Stupid riff” over quiet parts)

We picked our nose, took off our pants.
Music comedy’s never been so advanced.
1-80-2 degrees we turned
& walked away. This bridge is burned.
Nothing could be more wrong.
Take my name off your stupid song.
Here’s hoping that your karma never ends.
It’s so punk rock to screw your friends.

We sold a bunch. We gave you half.
You had an idea that made us laugh.
Let’s put it out on a cd.
That’d be great if it were up to me.
Our lawyers gave us some advice.
I know a thank you would be nice.
A half a mill. We can’t resist.
Serve your ass with a cease & desist.

We got ours. He won’t get his.
That’s what we like to call show biz.
The Buddha said don’t stop to think.
You might just miss it if you blink.
Nothing could be more wrong.
Take my name off your stupid song.
Here’s hoping that your karma never ends.
It’s so punk rock to screw your friends.

(end to the tune of “All The Small Things”, note the JAMC nod)
Sorry old bro. You’ll get no dough.
You were our pimp. Now you’re our ho.
Nyeah nyeah nyeah nyeah……

It’s an unreal tale that has probably never happened again.  Kids grow up savvy these days with access to a ton of information that we didn’t have or care about back then.  I can’t ever hear Blink without thinking about it.  I have friends that have designed their album covers, recorded them and played on their albums and have lots of nice things to say about them.  I don’t care.  They’ll always be assholes to me.  You’d think the same thing if it was one of your good friends.  They have a few tunes that are guilty pleasures but Tom’s voice alone keeps me at arm’s length.

Bands are forced into all kinds of things when they’re coming up.  Bad advice.  Regretted decisions.  It’s not too late to wrong this right. I’d stop spreading the story around….when Blink pays off Pat’s house….and buys him a pony.

TOP 21-30 91X ACTS OF ALL-TIME

I remember forcing a smile and a thank you when a friend gave me his first album for my bar mitzvah. Not a fan, especially after I heard Generation X’s “Kiss Me Deadly” on a life-changing 9th grade mix tape. What happened?! I still ended up seeing him twice, once at a KROQ Acoustic show, his first show with Steve Stevens in years, and a Viejas show I ended seeing for free somehow. When the entire crowd did the “HEY MOTHER FUCKER GET LAID GET FUCKED” thing in the middle of “Mony Mony”, my friend and I looked at each other in shock. We were the only ones there that’d never heard it apparently. Some of the Jane’s Diction guys got roped into almost starting an Idol tribute band so we did “Rebel Yell” in rehearsal once and I have to admit, it was fun. Don’t tell anyone. I heard he dated Leeza Gibbons for a minute. Can you imagine that dinner conversation?

30. BILLY IDOL 24. Dancing with Myself, 21. White Wedding, 16. Rebel Yell (1983), 29.  Rebel Yell,  26. Eyes Without a Face, 23.  Catch My Fall, 19.  Flesh For Fantasy (84), 87. Don’t Need A Gun 57. Sweet Sixteen 16. To Be a Lover (86) 34. Mony Mony (87) 65. Prodigal Blues 43. L.A. Woman 26. Cradle of Love (90) 802points/14songs

In 1984, I bought three 45′s from The Swing instead of just buying the album. Not sure what I was thinking there. I’ve never heard more screaming at a show than when I saw them in 1988 at the Sports Arena. Women done lost their minds. Some great tunes but I didn’t think about ‘em too much until Jellyfish opened their famed Wembley Stadium show. I should dig up that VHS….

29. INXS 78. Don’t Change (1983), 80.  The One Thing 9.  I Send A Message (84), 84.  What You Need, 11.  This Time(85) 82. This Time  44. Listen Like Thieves 34. Kiss the Dirt 15. What You Need (86) 82. Mystify 46. Good Times 5. Need you Tonight (87) 27. Disappear 8. Suicide Blonde (90) 55. Shining Star (91) 33. Not Enough Time (92) 43. Elegantly Wasted (97)  828points/17songs

While coming in at #28 on points, Beck is #11 for most songs (20) and most years (12). Hearing “Loser” always reminds me of my time in the Bay Area when it was new and sounded huge when it played nonstop on Live 105. I’ve seen him many times over the years and it’s always a blast: twice at UCSD RIMAC, once acoustic there in a small auditorium, Petra Haden’s Knitting Factory benefit, This Ain’t No Picnic, a surprise Largo Jon Brion opening set with Beth Orton, the first Coachella and, most recently, Outside Lands in SF. Many moons ago, Roger Manning and I were laughing at an Army recruitment tv ad that copped the “Where It’s At” organ intro and he became Beck’s longtime keyboardist just a couple of weeks later. Jinx. Same thing happened after he showed me Air’s “Sexy Boy” video a few years later. It’s been a kick seeing him, Jason and Ryan Falkner and Lyle Workman up there with Mr Hansen over the years. He’s been nothing but nice when we’ve talked. The most random was around the time local writer Seth Combs wouldn’t shut up about rumors that Nigel Godrich was going to produce the Strokes and how he’d ruin them. I saw Beck at a TV Eyes show and thought I’d ask someone who’d really know. His answer? He said he doubted it because he was so into recording live. In fact, most of Sea Change was recorded with the whole band at once, sometimes along with an orchestra. Can’t imagine how incredible it would’ve been to be in the room when they did “Round The Bend”.

28. BECK 40.  Loser (93) 83. Beercan  34. Loser (94) 56. Devil’s Haircut  16. Where It’s At (96) 64. Dead Weight  27. Jack-Ass  25. The New Pollution (97) 49. Tropicalia (98) 36. Sexxlaws (99) 73. Mixed Buziness 57. Sexxlaws (00) 77.   Lost Cause (02) 64. E-pro 47. Que Onda Guero  26. Girl (05) 81.   Think I’m In Love 20.   Nausea (06) 67.   Timebomb (07) 61.   Gamma Ray (08) 837/20

Every girl I knew was crazy about them. Every guy wanted to stay up late and see their videos on Skinemax. Trivia: when OMD opened for them in San DIego in the 80′s, Andrew McCluskey picked up on an underaged Coronado girl…and they’re still together. I saw them headline a KROQ Xmas show and the loudest girl on earth was sitting in front of us. Everytime she yelled “I LOVE YOU SIMON!” all of Universal Ampitheater heard it. I finally waited and in the lowest voice I could muster, yelled “I WANNA FUCK YOU SIMON!” Huge laughter and then her turning around and saying “That’s the spirit!”

27. DURAN DURAN 18. Rio, 14. Save a Prayer, 4.   Union of the Snake (1983), 32.  Hungry Like A Wolf, 25.  Save A Prayer, 22.  Reflex ,3.  Wild Boys (84), 76. Notorious (86) 44. All she wants is 25. I don’t want your love (88) 77. Violence of Summer (90) 32.  Come Undone 27.  Ordinary World (93) 86. Electric Barbarella (97) 24.   All You Need Is Now (11) 871/15

Possibly the biggest southern California band that never got popular anywhere else. I’ve told the tale of them almost being my first concert but we left because we weren’t tall enough to see (link below). They became my favorite band shortly thereafter and in just three years I saw them at SDSU just before Dead Man’s Party came out, a return to the Del Mar racetrack, 91X’s huge Mexfest show inTijuana and on New Years at the Sports Arena (the year “D.M.P.” was the #1 song). After that I fell out of love with them but couldn’t resist going to see their final show at Universal Ampitheater on Halloween 1995. Unfortunately my friend Mike Byer wasn’t so lucky. He was running late so I left him his ticket at willcall and somehow they let someone else sign for it. Unreal. I never rebought the old albums but every once in awhile I remember how great that early stuff was. I tend to giggle at the fans as rabid as I used to be. There’s a fantastic tribute band round these parts called Dead Man’s Party and our short-lived Oasis parody the Fookin Wankers opened for them years ago. Liam Gallawanker laid into the crowd so hard that nobody would come near the stage. Years later, our mashup band Blasphemous Guitars opened for them at the same place and to entice them to come closer, I made copies of a Boingo logo I made in 9th grade typing class, a drawing I did of the band in 10th grade and made the infamous Oingo Bingo game card of things you see at a DMP show. I placed them in stacks at the front of the stage during our second song and people ran up en masse to get them. They laughed a lot and actually stayed. One of our best nights ever where people GOT IT. They had more of a sense of humor about themselves than I could’ve hoped for and ate it up. I might’ve kept running out to sing backups with the band later. Maybe.

26. OINGO BOINGO 71. Only a Lad, 20.  Nothing Bad Ever Happens (1983), 91.  Only A Lad (1984) 34.  Weird Science 27.  Dead Man’s Party 19.  Just Another Day (85) 31.  Stay  21. Not My Slave 1.Dead Man’s Party (86), 70. Not my slave  22. We Close our Eyes 7. Pain (87) 31. Winning Side (88) 64. Flesh and Blood (89) 88. When the Lights Go Out 28. Out of Control (90) 85. Hey! 70. Insanity (94) 876/18
25. NIRVANA 76. On a Plain 1. Smells Like Teen Spirit (91) 66. Come as You are 51. In Bloom 21. Lithium (92)  26.  Rape Me 10.  All Apologies 6.  Heart Shaped Box (93) 82. Dumb 51. Plateau 39. The Man who Sold the World 37. All Apologies (Unplugged)  10. About a Girl (94) 12. Aneurysm (96) 3.    You Know You’re Right  (02) 889/15

I saw them at the first Lollapalooza throwing their stuff around in the middle of the day with smoke machines on full and could only think of El Guapo in iThree Amigos! saying “I like these guys. They are funny guys!” They probably weren’t trying to be funny, were they?

24. NINE INCH NAILS 36. Head Like a Hole (90) 15. Head Like a Hole (91) 46. Happiness in Slavery (92) 50. March of the Pigs 3. Closer (94) 32. Hurt  (95) 41. The Perfect Drug (97) 66. We Are In This Together 24. Into The Void (99) 35. Into The Void  (00) 78. Deep  (01) 27.   Only 4.   The Hand That Feeds  (05) 47.   Every Day Is Exactly The Same (06) 57.   Survivalism 24.   Capital G (07) 57. Discipline (08) 922/17

I love the way his voice sounds so strained no matter what he’s singing and also I am lying.

23.  RISE AGAINST 36. Swing Life Away  (05) 14. Ready to Fall (06) 42.   The Good Left Undone 7.   Prayer of the Refugee (07) 80.   The Good Left Undone 69. Audience Of One 8.   Re-Education (Through Labor) (08) 49. Re-Education (Through Labor) 22. Audience of One 4. Savior   (09) 82.   Audience Of One 37.   Savior (10) 28.   Make It Stop 8.   Help Is On The Way (11) 85. Help Is On The Way, 40. Satellite, 27. Wait For Me (12) 926/17

If you were curious, the Smiths had 11 songs in the countdown in their five short years and came in at #44. If you combine solo and Smiths points, it would put them at #9.
Manchester’s mopiest decided to do his very first US show here in San Diego and it was INSANE. Everything I wanted it to be and credit to Michelle Loesch for predicting that he’d open with “Interesting Drug”. A year later I helped set up some equipment for a Moz meet & greet at the Abbey in Hillcrest. The building was full of fans all thinking they were going to get to meet him. He showed up late with a wave and was whisked into a room where he met a few contest winners. Then they took to him to a balcony where they informed the crowd he couldn’t meet everyone but would answer a few questions which were awkwardly yelled from below. After a few minutes, he gave a wave and walked out of sight. The next thing I knew, he’d decided to walk downstairs right next to me and was immediately mobbed. Security saved him and he was GONE.
A few months later he played the Hollywood Bowl and, at the time, they rarely did rock shows there so I went with a friend. Our seats were halfway decent and he still seemed like a speck. I couldn’t believe people around me were screaming for him in another zip code. Still it was cool to see him sing “We look to Los Angeles…” for the first time in the CIty of Angels. I never needed to see him again but watched him from afar at the first Coachella where I first saw the Latino thing. I still don’t get why they love someone THAT white. Blasphemous Guitars arranged a Casbah afterparty when he played a bitchy Bayside show a few years ago. People seemed really excited to see us before the show but he was complaining so much, they all just wanted to go home afterwards. Thanks a lot, jerk.

22. MORRISSEY 39. Hairdresser on Fire 30. Everyday is like Sunday 6. Suedehead (88) 67. Interesting Drug 19. Last of the Famous International (89) 34. November Spawned a Monster (90) 41. Sing Your Life 31. That’s Entertainment 30. Our Frank (91) 53. We Hate it When Our Friends Become Successful 50. Glamorous Glue 38. Disappointed  25. You’re the One for Me Fatty 10. Tomorrow (92) 65. The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get (94) 47.   First of the Gang to Die 43. Irish Blood, English Heart  (04) 936/17

You thought YOUR town hated them? When their record company claimed that they came up in San Diego clubs, local purists had a field day. I never cared for them but I did think it was great when they played MTV’s Spring Break early on and Weiland came out in drag for the frat boy masses. I saw them at the first KROQ Weenie Roast and they were literally completely forgettable. I once met a guy who worked with the band for years that said while the others were great guys, Weiland is the biggest asshole on earth, sober or wasted. Geezer has played with no less than THREE STP tributes and I hear there are others in soCal. Thank god they’re around to keep their music alive. Oh wait, they just got the guy from Linkin Park to help do that? Kill me now.

21. STONE TEMPLE PILOTS 44.  Creep  37.  Wicked Garden 8.  Plush (93) 41. Big Empty 17. Vasoline 5. Interstate Love Song (94) 60. Dancing Days  (95) 42. Lady Picture Show 17. Big Bang Baby 7. Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart (96) 51. Down (99) 26. Sour Girl (00) 79. Days Of The Week  71. Hollywood Bitch 60. Revolution (01) 41. All In The Suit That You Wear (03) 17.   Between The Lines (10) 941/17

GEEK NOTES:
5 YEARS IN BETWEEN HITS: INXS Not Enough Time (92) Elegantly Wasted (97)
7 YEARS IN BETWEEN HITS: STONE TEMPLE PILOTS All In The Suit That You Wear (03) Between The Lines (10)
10 YEARS IN BETWEEN HITS: MORRISSEY The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get (94) Irish Blood, English Heart  (04)
4 CONSECUTIVE YEARS STP 93-96, NIN 05-08, Beck 05-08,
5 CONSECUTIVE YEARS INXS 83-87, Morrissey 88-92, Beck 96-00
8 CONSECUTIVE YEARS Oingo Boingo 83-90, Rise Against 05-12
4 SONGS IN ONE YEAR Duran (84)  INXS (86) STP (96)
5 SONGS IN ONE YEAR Morrissey (92), Nirvana (94)
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