jenny jones night stand 1996

Tonight we'll be taking a look into mothers and their daughters.. *long pause* oh come on now people. Let's get our minds out of the gutter. Can we be adults here please? My first guest tonight is a daughter thinks her mother is restraining her. I'd sure let her put some restraint on me.

Don't pay attention to the next section.

#171 Garbage "Stupid Girl"

#171 The Cardigans "Losers"

This is the first tie because they are kind of the same song and also we forgot #185.
This song foreshadows Gran Turismo the Cardigans next album after this one.

#170 Aphex Twin “Milkman”

Aphex exudes disingenuous attitude. When the milkman delivers the milk in the mornning but also the milkman's wife's giant tata's, which are sung in a manner that expresses preoccupation with something other than milk delivery itself. Richard just wants dem nice tata cans.

#169 Ginuwine "When Doves Cry"

"What do you say we cut the chit-chat a-hole?" - Ginuwine, 1996. PRINCE cover made it to the list.

#168 The Wesley Willis Fiasco "Jesus Is The Answer"

This is the most Rock & Roll song of the entire year. That man can sing great. That was the tone of his voice.

#167 Sleater-Kinney “I Wanna Be Your joey Ramone”

"I heard of dreadlocks, but shitlocks? That ain’t no hair man, take that pile of shit off yo head." - Sleater-Kinney, 1996

#166 Spice Girls "Say You'll Be There"

They invented the "staring into the camera individually" thing. They invented the "one bad singer who has to sing because she's under contract and must sing at least one line." They invited the "strong female = loud obnoxious female" thing. Paradoxical elements... there's some really weak spots, but some really ok spots that aren't hugely offensive. Fuck this song is boring. Sorry.

$165 They Might Be Giants "XTC Vs. Adam ANT"

Even the guys from Sha-na-na can't make up their mind on this one

#164 Rammstein “Das Alte Leid”

these guys REALLY love white people

#163 Nas "Take It In Blood"

This is what them feelins sound like.

#162 Sloan “Everything You’ve done Wrong”

Would you either "Lick the cow's ass" OR "Make out with your mom?" Those are some tough choices.

#161 Tupac Shakur "California Love"

This video was a big jump for Tupac. As soon as he steps on the scene wearing them chucks other proof no slow jam.

#160 RL Burnside “Goin’ Down South”

Blues isn't pretty; blues is all pain. Blues Explosion is agony combustion.

#159 The Cure “Mint Car”

Bob Smith hates "Friday I'm In Love" so much that he wrote and recorded a sequel. Fans aren't really into this one, although how could anyone dislike the nonsense at 1:45: "Ohhh Sumdi kumja hozinawum." Little known fact: Singing along with nonsense can actually earn bonus points.

#158 Dr. Octagon “Girl Let Me touch You there”

lemme take a look

#157 Sublime "Same In The End"

Kentucky Fried Chicken is all i see.

#156 Pavement "Painted Soldiers

Fuck you malkmus I helped out my frinds and gave them cut up chunks of my prescription medication. What the fuck did you ever di????

#155 Big Shug "Crush"

the gang slams more drugs

#154 Butthole Surfers "The Lord Is A Monkey"

bad drugs

squirt tv on youtube

theres seems to be a LOT of squirt TV on youtube... lots of hip mtv-friendly famous people were featured who were promoting stuff in 1996... we still have our doubts as to whether the show was actually shot in bedroom or if a set on mtv was built to resemble the bedroom of a 17-year-old...

beck, mike d, mike watt, les claypool, every 1996-era mtv vj...

kids in the hall...

fugees....

wesley willis fiasco...

more wes vids

Six Hot Jams from Wesley Willis

We'll be breaking hiatus to discuss an artist who we discussed often in the "Geocities" years, but who we've been neglecting since launching the "blog" version of this website.

Wes was a gentle giant with an incredibly accurate memory and amazing penmanship. He's been mentioned often throughout our travels across the United States, and since we'll be heading to Chicago later today, we've decided to throw together a mini-"Best of" comp with some light commentary...

"They Threw Me Out Of Church"

Rest In Peace Denis Fleminon...

Denis very sadly passed away on July 7th which we discovered while heading from Santa Fe to Phoenix. Denis was a member of The Frogs (who we've been listening to almost daily since we left for this trip) and was also the guy who initially introduced myself and thousands (possibly millions) of others to Wesley Willis on January 8, 1995 when Pearl Jam included Denis as a guest on their one-off radio simulcast "Self-Pollution Radio." During the segment, Eddie Vedder and Krist Novoselic called Denis and asked him to play a Wesley Willis song over the phone... (The entire transcript can be found here: http://www.monkeywrenchradio.org/spr/19950108.html) and you can listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GZDzIWFkVY

Krist: How things been hanging Jim? (correcting himself) Denis?
Denis: What's that?
Krist: Hey Denis, it's Krist Novaselic.
Denis: Hi, how's it goin?
Krist: Got your letter.
Denis: Yeah.
Krist: Thanks.
Denis: Thank you.
Krist: Alright.
Denis: We got to ...we got to take the cow for a walk in a little...a little while.
Eddie: Hey Denis, you don't have any of that Wesley Willis stuff lying around do you?
Denis: Um. If I could find it. I do. You want it?
Eddie: Actually yeah. I mean, you know. Wesley Willis his whole repertoire is a...we'll take anything.
Denis: Here it is. This is a uh. I'm hearing the delay downstairs. What's it called ... "They Threw Me Out of Church".
Song: "They threw me out of church" by Wesley Willis
Denis: Can you handle it?
Eddie: Ah man. Well I could, you know he's one of my favorites. Just the fact that you know that really happened and that his lyrics are honest. That's all I want in music. An honest lyric...


"Arnold Schwarzenegger"

Wes' tribute to Arnold epitomizes his collection of tributes to his friends and his favorite bands. Other fan-favorites of this type include "Alanis Morrisette, "Elvis Presley" and "Oprah Winfrey" among hundreds of others. He tells Arnold "You are the best man I ever liked."

"Shit and Fuck"

Many of Wesley's songs describe his battles with the demon. "Shit and Fuck" discusses the voices in his head who scream profanity instead of allowing him to hear the music he desired and needed. The outro of this song repeats the refrain "Shit and Fuck" for a minute or so longer than average, depicting his difficulty with chasing away these voices.
"2 X 4"

At the beginning of this song, Wesley says "Thank God for how I'm learning how to live." In certain moments, he was able to convince himself that his schizophrenia may be able to subside itself, and that he might be able to live peacefully and quietly among strangers, although it's not long afterwards that he imagines fighting those strangers with 2x4's and BB guns.

"Casper The Homosexual Friendly Ghost"
It's not easy to choose just one song from The Wesley Willis Fiasco, who Wesley fired in 1996 not long before his infamous Howard Stern interview. The Fiasco only released one album in 1992 (full of classics including "I'm Sorry That I Got Fat" and "Jesus Is The Answer") but "Casper" seems to be the jam where the Fiasco and Wesley both came together in a manner that rocks beyond novelty aspects.

"Michael Jackson"
As far as we can tell, "Michael Jackson" is unavailable on any of Wesley Willis' studio albums (although we've heard from sources that ALL of his songs had studio versions... Wes was able to recall the tracklistings for his entire discography consisting of over 100 albums, between his solo work and his albums with The Fiasco and The Dragnews). In the case of "Michael Jackson" however, the fan-taped live version is definitive, mostly because of its extensive introduction. The song was recorded in 1997, which was about a year or 2 prior to his rise as one of the first internet-phenomenon artists. After 1999-2000, the shows were less full of DIY-punk who heard of Wesley through word-of-mouth. By 2001, the frat and college crowd made up the louder half of his audience, and Wesley's demon voice became louder than ever, encouraging him to drop shows and tours altogether. However, he was always able to convince himself that the show must go on; otherwise, he wouldn't get paid...

Along with "I'm Sorry That I Got Fat," "Michael Jackson" is probably the best representation of his mesmerizing live sets: