New info on Earl Sweatshirt

I was listening to "Couch" the other day and for a moment it struck me as possibly my favorite song of 2010 even though that was probably irrational thinking.. (It came in at #42 on our 2010's Greatest Hits thing..) This is the kind of stuff I think we were all hoping to hear on Goblin. I know Tyler isn't a huge fan of the backpacker 90's shit (and we feel this sentiment) but there are certain moments from that era (mostly the ones mentioned in our recent 90's Jams list: 93 Til Infinity, Blue Flowers, Electric Relaxation, etc) which have that laid-back and playful fucking-around-in-the-studio attitude which you just don't hear as often these days, or at least not with such accidental genius as what's heard here..



"Couch" has also been specifically mentioned by Tyler on his twitter, a few times in the past month or so, as the one specific song that he has trouble listening to as a result of one of his best buds getting taken away from him... Pitchfork posted some more rumors and speculation last week regarding his whereabouts and why he's stuck overseas...

Later, referring directly to the New Yorker article, Craven wrote, "If it says hes there willingly then they are wrong." He also implies that Earl's music is the only thing that got him sent to the Academy. http://pitchfork.com/news/42903-earl-sweatshirt-the-plot-thickens/

The implication that a teenager could be sent to a boarding school just for wanting to be a rapper seems somewhat far-fetched, but if that's the reality of why he's there, I do feel really sorry for him.. He'll be turning 18 in February, and the article makes it sound like he'll be wasting no time after leaving school and will get right back into making music again.. I've heard a lot of people mention disdain for Odd Future due to Tyler coming off as an asshole (one of my favorite things about him), and Goblin's uncompromising nature hasn't really been helping matters. On the other hand, Earl is far more accessible. I can't see any reason why he shouldn't become one of music's most respected rappers in a few years time.

Crazy Waiter/Yuks

A new addition to our "linx 4 u" section has arrived today with the resurrection of "Crazy Waiter" and "Yuks." I've heard Crazy Waiter has gotten himself into a jam or 2, and his new adventures will be unfolding one by one starting Monday (I think).. The remainder of this week will be dedicated to a few classic Crazy Waiter adventures, and today is supposed to be the launch date, according to my sources.

Also, Sundays will be reserved for a new series called "Yuks." (Not to be confused with Yuck.)

And I've been told to anticipate LOTS of new adventures.. Get ready.

http://crazy-waiter-yuks.tumblr.com/

"The Thief"

live Can cover from the Amnesiac tour

LET'S DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCE

New Nirvana product arriving in time for Xmas again

The Nevermind Boxed Set due in late September will be including 4 CD's of songs that we've probably all heard many MANY times.. However, the possibility still remains that a few songs have been lingering in the vaults still unearthed...

The announcement includes the following info on the tracklisting: "rarities, B-sides, unreleased recordings, and BBC radio appearances." Many possibilities remain open for where this could lead...

#1 "BBC radio appearances" is the easiest of these to figure out... There were 3 Peel sessions, which equals 11 songs, and the Goodier sessions, all of which were on Incesticide except for that badass loud version of "Something In The Way" ...

So that's 15 songs right there... likely comprising 1 of the 4 discs. If I was in charge of how to market Nirvana's legacy, I would have released these 15 songs as a "Nirvana Live At the BBC" disc years ago, but Courtney Love is a fucking brainless dumbass who has no concept of anything, so we're stuck with these songs on yet another boxed set, with many of these exact recordings redundant with tracks that appeared on With The Lights Out and Incesticide.

#2 "Unreleased recordings" is probably just going to equate to more of the same bullshit demos that were thrown onto WTLO... "Holy shit, it's another acoustic version of Lithium?! Please excuse me while I rub one out." Do they seriously expect us to be impressed by MORE of these things? We really don't want anymore shit-quality demos and acoustic bedroom recordings. Enough please.

#3 "B-Sides and rarities" is the only part of this that poses any interest to us... The B-sides on the 2004 boxed set were all "remixed" for some reason... For example, the quiet laughing just before the intro of "Curmudgeon" was removed.. Kurt's minor coughing fit before the 2nd verse of "Return Of The Rat" was also removed. Things like that piss us right the fuck off. What right does anyone have to remove parts of the recordings that were more than likely something the band wanted to include?

The Nevermind box gives another opportunity to present these B-Sides and rarities correctly, the way they were originally intended.

#4 We're hoping for weird covers. And there's a LOT of these that haven't yet been released officially.

#5 We're hoping for more noisy jams along the lines of "Endless Nameless." In fact, an entire disc titled "The Endless Nameless sessions" would probably be our favorite CD of Nirvana material released since In Utero. Keep dreamin'?

#6 We're also hoping for something that will almost absolutely NOT be included, since Nirvana boxed sets are supposed to be a celebration of all things Kurt Cobain, but it was during the Nevermind sessions that Dave Grohl recorded most of the songs on the Pocketwatch tape. Such as this one...

Awesome stuff that deserves inclusion since it was recorded by a member of the fucking band during the exact time Nevermind was getting put together... But Courtney would never agree to it because she needs more oxycontin.

Besides that, we just want stuff we haven't heard before.. Courtney claimed many times that there are original recordings and covers that have yet to appear on anything. She has probably been full of shit this whole time, but now is her chance to finally show the world that the vaults were actually worth the lawsuits and embarrassment.

Crashing With Andrew WK !!!!

LMAO I'm surprised it took this long, since all anyone would've had to do is download it from one website and then upload it onto another, but someone finally took the initiative... And here it is! Finally on Youtube!!!! (Until Viacom removes it of course) Probably one of the 10 best things that's ever happened on MTV.

ryan dunn r.i.p.

Toy Car Up the Butt
Jackass: The Movie at MOVIECLIPS.com

"Baiting The Public" / "Twice Born"

"During their performance of their song "Baiting The Public", the majority of the audience were moshing and causing damage to the set (also visible was a cut from lead singer Damien's forehead), resulting in a sum of $2000 in damages." - wikipedia



"On October 9, 2008 the band returned to MTV Live, this time performing in the men's washroom. Once again, the band (and their fans) caused a large amount of damage, destroying the ceiling, spray painting walls and knocking over amps and a motorcycle which was brought into the washroom as a prop. Fans, who were told beforehand to stay out of the washroom and to watch from outside the door, rushed the doors and joined in the destruction the band had already started. The band was supposed to play three songs, but were stopped after the first song as MTV was not aware of the destruction the band had planned and were concerned about the safety of the band, audience and crew. On October 10 Abraham blogged about the performance on the MTV Live website,[5] saying the bathroom performance was fucking out of control terrifying."

sadness in South Park

South Park Studios currently lists 11.16.11 as the final episode for this year, and possibly the final episode of the series, if news reports and the recent direction of the show is proving accurate. It's not often that a cliffhanger suggests the end of a series in the last episode of the 2nd-to-last season (although I suspect that someone like Oprah might have done that, since she made a big deal about the end of her series super-fucking early.. like over a year in advance if I'm not mistaken).

Anyway, we're saddened by the news, suggested by Trey & Matt plainly within the dialog of "You're Getting Old." It's not on the website for streaming at the moment, so we don't have exact quotes, but it included lots of the typical stuff we've heard on other shows as they're coming to a close: "How much longer can we do the same thing every week?" And the question remains, why bother making fun of everything in current pop culture when it's all shit anyway?

And just a quick aside, I do strongly disagree that becoming super critical and "negative" is a cultural thing that happens to people when they get old. It's 2011 - there is no generation gap anymore. Old people listen to rap. Kids listen to Zeppelin. I've heard of cases where families gather around to watch Teen Mom marathons. That's not a generation gap; that's just an example of people who love watching exceptionally shitty TV shows. There's plenty of great current film and music and TV shows to go around. But the best songs right now are not charting on Billboard.. The best movies are not the big box office blockbusters.. And the most creative shows on TV are ALL on Cartoon Network. This doesn't make anyone who agrees "old." Bruno Mars and guido-douche-party dubstep actually IS incredibly awful music..

It took me a minute to figure out why "Landslide" was used in the outro montage, but the lyrics seem to sum up what I'm assuming Matt & Trey are feeling regarding the show.. We've been counting on them for years to make sure they stopped before it turned into a shitpile like what happened with The Simpsons, who left behind a legacy of brilliance only to have it trampled to death by about 10 straight seasons of horrible cliches... So the pending South Park finale is actually a positive thing in this respect.

Also thanks is in order for actually saving one of the songs that got fucked in the ass by Glee.. At least Rumours now has 1 song that was used on TV in a tasteful manner this year...

"Doctors In My Bed"

Thanks to Yuck, we didn't have to wait any longer for those (possibly abandoned) Japandroids singles to hear a few awesome b-sides in 2011.. This new track is loud and sugary sweet.

So besides Yuck and Japandroids, along with Ringo Deathstarr, Smith Westerns and No Age, we're feverishly sifting through the blogosphere for more of this kind of stuff.. guitar-based loud rock with pop melodies and optional fuzz/distortion .. We know they're out there..

Also searching for random awesome singles.. The only ones that have made any impact on us as of late are "Rope" from Foo Fighters and Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night.." We're missing the days when there were tons of awesome singles to get excited about.. That's what summer jams are all about, and yet there's kind of a singles drought at the moment.. We need summer singles. Now.

Yeah anyway, here's the new Yuck b-side...

retroactive Drake posting regarding summer 2010 jam

We sorta forgot about this until just recently, but a while back we posted about 1 or 2 production references in Drake's big hit "Find Your Love" from last summer and it was kind of killing us that we couldn't place the specific homage or reference, although it was pretty clear that it was something pop from the 80's... And now several months after the fact, long after the last week this Drake track was charting on Billboard, we're happy to announce that we finally figured out one of those 2 references...

Here's the Drake track (I know getting nostalgic for 11 months ago is a strange concept, but it happens...) .. This is referring to the overall keyboard tones but more specifically the transition from the end of the 2nd chorus going back into verse 3 which happens between 1:29 and 1:34...



And we believe this to be referencing Wham's "Everything She Wants" from the Make It Big LP, which hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts in early June of 1985.. A similar keyboard patch is used to transition from chorus back into verse at 1:51 and then once again in mid-verse at 2:07...



This is definitely the main reference out of the 2 we found, and unfortunately the 2nd less prominent reference has escaped our memory at the moment... we'll be looking into this for a future posting...

"Suicide Policeman"

I'm seriously hoping this is not the official video for this song, which it very well may not be.. It looks like someone just took some behind the scenes footage and unused shots from Werner Herzog's last movie (with Nicholas Cage) and randomly placed the images with this song... The shots look great, but I do miss the days when bands were actually present while their videos were being filmed. If Yuck is supposedly so influenced by 90's shit, maybe they should take a hint from these bands who used to actually fucking appear in their videos.. Good song though.

"The Look"

Although I'm really tired of extravagant animation in promo videos, this one's simplicity matches what the song calls for...

"Brazil"

"Yer Blues"

Dirty Mac version...

"BUSHMAN"

ITS ALRIGHT ITS OK THERES SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR JESUS TOLD ME SO

ILX is unveiling their 61 Best Pavement Songs over the next few days.. So far, this is the only one listed (from the Crooked Rain reissue).. I'm not sure what American Movie has to do with this song, but the picture reminded me of how kickass Uncle Bill was... R.I.P. to that dude...

90 Jams From The 90's

Yes we know that this is more than 90 Jams...... There was lots of room for bonus jams which is why this list is so awesome.

(Bonus) Sloan "Pen Pals" (1994)
(Bonus) Busta Rhymes "Dangerous" (1997)
(Bonus) Deluxx Folk Implosion "Daddy Never Understood" (1995)
(Bonus) Stereolab "Ping Pong" (1994)
(Bonus) Ween "Baby Bitch" (1994)
(Bonus) Belle And Sebastian "Like Dylan In The Movies" (1996)
(Bonus) Supergrass "Lose It" (1995)
(Bonus) Beastie Boys featuring Q-Tip "Get It Together" (1994)
(Bonus) Wilco "Box Full Of Letters" (1995)
(Bonus) Ash "Girl From Mars" (1995)
(Bonus) Liz Phair "Supernova" (1994)
(Bonus) Biggie Smalls "Party And Bullshit" (1993)

(Super weird bonus) Jay-Z feat. Foxy Brown "Ain't No *****" (1996)
(Super weird bonus) Hum "If You Are To Bloom" (1998)

(+3) Pinback "Loro" (1999)
(+3) LL Cool J "Around The Way Girl" (1990)
(+3) The Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be" (1999)

#95 Neutral Milk Hotel "Holland, 1945" (1998)
#94 Smashing Pumpkins "Disarm" (1993)
#93 Mobb Deep "Shook Ones Part 2" (1995)
#92 Radiohead "Black Star" (1995)
#91 Pete Rock & CL Smooth "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" (1992)

#90 No Doubt "New" (1999)
#89 Depeche Mode "I Feel You" (1992)
#88 Local H "Bound For The Floor" (1996)
#87 Cat Power "Cross Bones Style" (1998)
#86 The Cardigans "Erase/Rewind" (1999)
#85 The Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun" (1996)
#84 Teenage Fanclub "Alcoholiday" (1991)
#83 My Bloody Valentine "Loomer" (1991)
#82 Add N To (X) "Metal Fingers In My Body" (1999)
#81 The Notorious B.I.G. "Everyday Struggle" (1994)

#80 Dinosaur Jr "The Wagon" (1990)
#79 The Posies "Dream All Day" (1993)
#78 Blur "Sing" (1991)
#77 Beck "Asshole" (1994)
#76 Superchunk "Slack Motherfucker" (1990)
#75 The Jesus Lizard "Puss" (1992)
#74 Green Day "When I Come Around" (1994)
#73 Fiona Apple "Criminal" (1996)
#72 The Breeders "Divine Hammer" (1993)
#71 Underworld "Dirty Epic" (1993)

#70 Modest Mouse "Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative)" (1996)
#69 The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Ma$e "Mo Money Mo Problems" (1997)
#68 Elliott Smith "Angeles" (1996)
#67 Fiona Apple "On The Bound" (1999)
#66 The Verve "Bittersweet Symphony" (1997)
#65 Yo La Tengo "Sugarcube" (1997)
#64 Green Day "J.A.R." (1995)
#63 Portishead "Sour Times" (1994)
#62 Beck "Diamond Bollocks" (1998)
#61 Screaming Trees "Nearly Lost You" (1992)

#60 My Bloody Valentine "Only Shallow" (1991)
#59 Smashing Pumpkins "Cupid De Locke" (1995)
#58 Pearl Jam "State Of Love And Trust" (1992)
#57 A Tribe Called Quest "Bonita Applebum" (1990)
#56 Janet Jackson "That's The Way Love Goes" (1993)
#55 The Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy" (1994)
#54 Nirvana "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (1993)
#53 The Cure "End" (1992)
#52 Jimmy Eat World "Lucky Denver Mint" (1999)
#51 Pixies "Velouria" (1990)

#50 Weezer "El Scorcho" (1996)
#49 Gin Blossoms "Hey Jealousy" (1992)
#48 Wu-Tang Clan "C.R.E.A.M." (1993)
#47 Blur "Coffee + TV" (1999)
#46 Jawbox "Savory" (1994)
#45 Dr. Octagon "Blue Flowers" (1996)
#44 Beastie Boys "Sabotage" (1994)
#43 Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus" (1990)
#42 Wu-Tang Clan "Triumph" (1997)
#41 Nirvana "Lithium" (1991)

#40 Megadeth "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" (1990)
#39 Genius/GZA "Liquid Swords" (1995)
#38 Eric B & Rakim "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em" (1990)
#37 Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock" (1993)
#36 Ginuwine "Pony" (1996)
#35 Ice Cube "It Was A Good Day" (1992)
#34 Deee-Lite "Groove Is In The Heart" (1990)
#33 Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)
#32 Built To Spill "I Would Hurt A Fly" (1997)
#31 Pavement "Cut Your Hair" (1994)

#30 Dr. Dre "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang" (1992)
#29 Smashing Pumpkins "1979" (1995)
#28 LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990)
#27 Raekwon "Ice Cream" (1995)
#26 Weezer "Falling For You" (1996)
#25 Jeff Buckley "Last Goodbye" (1994)
#24 Nas "The World Is Yours" (1994)
#23 Radiohead "Airbag" (1997)
#22 Nirvana "Scentless Apprentice" (1993)
#21 Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" (1992)

#20 Bell Biv Devoe "Poison" (1990)
#19 Radiohead "Let Down" (1997)
#18 Souls Of Mischief "'93 Til Infinity" (1993)
#17 Pavement "Summer Babe (Winter Version)" (1992)
#16 The Cure "Pictures Of You" (1990)
#15 Nirvana "In Bloom" (1991)
#14 My Bloody Valentine "Sometimes" (1991)
#13 Foo Fighters "Everlong" (1997)
#12 A Tribe Called Quest "Electric Relaxation" (1993)
#11 The Notorious B.I.G. "Hypnotize" (1997)

#10 Dinosaur Jr. "Out There" (1993)
#9 Nirvana "Heart Shaped Box" (1993)
#8 Stardust "Music Sounds Better With You" (1998)
#7 Wu-Tang Clan "Shame On A *****" (1993)
#6 Depeche Mode "Enjoy The Silence" (1990)
#5 Aaliyah "One In A Million" (1996)
#4 The Notorious B.I.G. "Gimme The Loot" (1994)
#3 Nirvana "Aneurysm" (1991)
#2 Aphex Twin "Windowlicker" (1999)
#1 Radiohead "Paranoid Android" (1997)

And now for what the fans have really been waiting for... let's take a look at the results by year....

1990: 13
1991: 9
1992: 11
1993: 15
1994: 16
1995: 11
1996: 12
1997: 11
1998: 5
1999: 9

Unsurprisingly, 1994 ended up as the big winner with a whopping 16 jams, although somewhat surprising that it only lost out to '93 by 1 single jam. Congrats to both years. You have earned your place among the mighty titans of rock.

Shame on 1998 for a somewhat unsurprisingly dismal turnout, although 5 isn't bad (and better than 1986 in the 80's Jams which only presented 2 jams). However, congrats are somewhat owed to 1999 who we suspected would have an equally unimpressive number to '98. A good list, overall.

90's Jams (Bonus): Biggie Smalls "Party And Bullshit" (1993)

And here it is... The final 90's Jam. It's been quite a run these past- ... 10 months? Damn, where did the time go.. And I hope no one is groaning too much that we're closing things out with yet ANOTHER Notorious jam... But not just any. It's (probably) Andrew WK's favorite Notorious jam, and that's gotta count for something. And plus, this was back when he was still going by "Biggie Smalls." Honestly, it was either gonna be this or "Gin & Juice" which I don't know if I can handle for the 500th time right now... At the time of "Party's" release, "Gin & Juice" was arguably the biggest hiphop jam of that year, while Biggie was quietly plotting in the shadows, ready to put an end to West Coast's short-lived reign... "Smokin' blunts was a daily routine since thirteen, a chubby nigga on the scene..."

90's Jams (Bonus): Liz Phair "Supernova" (1995)

Wikipedia reveals that Whip-Smart is Phair's highest selling album to date, and that SPIN really did give this album a 9?? Really?? I barely remember most of it, although I do recall considering the title track as quite awkward.. Yeah, whatever.. Memory/nostalgia-wise, "Supernova" gets lumped in with song's like Dinosaur Jr's "Feel The Pain" and Stereolab's "Ping Pong.." I'm pretty sure these songs were on 120 Minutes right around the same time. P.S. This information is meaningless.

For whatever reason, the retardedly simple guitar-riff screams out "90's cool" in a way that surpasses the goodness of "Fuck And Run" or "Divorce Song." And real quick, can we have a show of hands for anyone else who digs the line "You fuck like a volcano?" Nice, I knew there were a few of you out there. Instead of embarrassing herself years later by collaborating with The Matrix and trying to sound like Avril Lavigne, an album full of "Supernova" ripoffs would have been gladly welcomed.

90's Jams (Bonus): Ash "Girl From Mars" (1995)

This is starting to get weird.. I think all of the "Bonus" 90's Jams release dates extend only between 1993 and 1996. Meh.. whatever. So I was just about to post something along the lines of "Damn, I read somewhere that Ash wrote this song in 10 minutes back when they were only like 16," but then I remembered that I often confuse the stories between "Girl From Mars" and its sister-Jam "Kung Fu.." So that story does not pertain to this song. I was also going to mention that it's included on the Angus soundtrack, but it turns out that was also regarding "Kung Fu."

However, the entire 1977 LP was written and recorded while the band was only 16, so I guess that part of the story still holds up... I suppose it's notable that "Girl From Mars" had a different music video in the UK than in the US. I think I like the UK one better..

90's Jams (Bonus): Wilco "Box Full Of Letters" (1995)

We've previously posted the same video on our somewhat aborted blog project called Country Caravan which was supposed to coincide with a radio show that ended up only lasting 4 or 5 weeks in the summer of 2010. I haven't heard all of Wilco's first record yet, but this song specifically has been beckoning me to check out the rest.. Considering the most perfect examples of fusions of power-pop and alt-country, this is the best one we could find so far..

90's Jams (Bonus): Beastie Boys featuring Q-Tip "Get It Together" (1994)

I don't see how this couldn't be the result of Q-Tip & Beastie Boys playing around in the studio with about a pound of weed and just throwing out the first things that come to mind... They try their best to pull it together, and more than likely have no memory whatsoever of laying down one of the most understated and alltime best party tracks..

90's Jams (Bonus): Supergrass "Lose It" (1995)

"Lose It" is hardly recognized as Supergrass's best song, and it's probably not.. There's really nothing special or more perfect about it compared to "Caught By The Fuzz" or "Alright," but we strongly believe it's their most exciting-sounding song, and the one that sounds best on the radio. The opening riff pretty much begs the listener to crank up the volume.. Supergrass doesn't try to make it anything more than a loud kickass pop song.. Nothing pretentious. Just rock.

90's Jams (Bonus): Belle And Sebastian "Like Dylan In The Movies" (1996)

I've still never seen Don't Look Back.. With the exception of "How Soon Is Now," this is better than pretty much any Smiths song... It's wussy shit, but I can't help it.. this song is amazing.

90's Jams (Bonus): Ween "Baby Bitch" (1994)

This song is kinda remarkable since Ween ended up spoofing Elliott Smith probably before ever hearing what he sounded like.. except it doesn't sound like a joke, it sounds sincere, and was probably Ween's most straightforward song lyrically up until that point..

90's Jams (Bonus): Stereolab "Ping Pong" (1994)

Good keyboards in this one...

90's Jams (Bonus): Deluxx Folk Implosion "Daddy Never Understood" (1995)

You gotta give the kids something to scream along to and bang their heads to... The 10 second mellotron solo gives it that extra layer of depth it fucking deserves... Strangely, I'd bet this actually was NOT the shortest video ever played on 120 Minutes... and probably not even the shortest within this episode... Also, handclaps...

90's Jams (Bonus): Busta Rhymes "Dangerous" (1997)

I'm not sure how this video didn't make it into the "20 best videos" list from a little while back.. Also special props for sampling the chorus from a scary-as-fuck anti-drug PSA from the early 80's... ... well either scary as fuck or cute as fuck, depending on your POV...

90's Jams (Bonus): Sloan "Pen Pals" (1994)

There's 12 more 90's jams... after #90 the numbers really don't matter quite as much, so they won't be announced in any specific order...

I'm pretty sure these dudes were on some serious ass hallucinogens... Okay, I'm taking this information with a grain of salt since I'm reading it from the Youtube comments of this video, but were the lyrics really taken from Nirvana fan letters?

Manufacturing Consent

Here lies the truth...

90's Jams #1: Radiohead "Paranoid Android" (1997)

There's a reason why people yawn at statements like "Paranoid Android is the Jesus of rock music" or "Paranoid Android is absolute pinnacle of 90's rock," which is because those people are getting tired of everyone stating the obvious. When the same shit continuously places at #1, even if everyone loves it, the top spot starts to look obvious and boring. But there's a reason why beloved songs are beloved. We at this website will openly admit to being enormous suckers for multi-part epic radio singles, and we will probably forever be guilty of placing the best of these among the best songs of their respective decades... "Oh! Pretty Woman," "Good Vibrations," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Bad Romance." One of these even made our 90's Guilty Pleasures list with George Michael's "Freedom '90."

Whether "Paranoid Android" is the best of these is up for debate. However, it's just so tightly woven... Every last intricacy.. The woodblock clicks during the acoustic guitar riff.. The text-to-speech voice saying "I may be paranoid, but not an android.." Nigel Godrich's production.. The little off-notes in Jonny Greenwood's ridiculously absurd guitar solos, especially the one in the last 30 seconds or so.. truly one of the greatest of alltime. It may take years to spot every last subtlety and nuance. Its density is surely part of the appeal, and completely necessary considering the weight of its lyrical subject matter. Thom Yorke described it as being about "carnage," while the chaotic and alienating nature of the 2000's and the internet age have surely redefined its subject matter.

Radiohead started putting this song together in 1996 while they were on tour opening for Alanis Morrisette, at just about the halfway point between the cathartic rock heard on The Bends and everything before it, and the progressive Kid A, the signal of everything that was to follow. Arguably, "Paranoid Android" splits the difference of all of Radiohead's best attributes, all in one trippy 6.5 minute little world... Unlike anything else they've ever released, and yet somehow also their most definitive moment. Outside of the modern rock spectrum that was truly built around "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Android" is the one moment in 90's music with an absolute "before" and "after."

90's Jams #2: Aphex Twin "Windowlicker" (1999)

I very suddenly feel extremely fucking strange. Did someone just slip me a roofie? Wait a sec... Yeah, it's acid. Fuck. No wait... It's the poison. Someone is trying to kill me. The poison is working its way through the system. And "Windowlicker" is the soundtrack to that poison.. the slippery sounds that take place when Richard D James made a 2-song decision (between "Come To Daddy" and this one) to become an ultra-rockstar.. among the greatest ever, in fact. And all without picking up a single guitar or singing a single note of music. Throughout 1999, "Windowlicker" became one of the most bizarre earworms ever, maintaining a melodic structure while ripping through its theme and variations. Its intricacies are done in such a way that the song really demands repeated listenings, and it will get stuck there after around the 5th or 6th listen. At one point, I became convinced that every last sound used in this song was sampled from porn, which is still a strong possibility at this point.

And if that wasn't enough, for those not aware, this is part of the song...


Edit: Okay, I just looked it up and that face is actually on Track 2 of the Windowlicker single, and not in the song itself... However, the very end of "Windowlicker" does include this cool swirley thing: