90s Jams #51: Pixies "Velouria" (1990)

I recall Rivers Cuomo saying he chose "Velouria" as Weezer's contribution for 1999's outstanding Where Is My Mind Pixies tribute album purposely, because it was his favorite. The Pixies were never short on general 50's and early 60's inspiration, not just in the surf-rock category, but from old sci-fi fantasy movies as well, from the album cover of Bossanova right down to "Velouria's" slightly jokey and creepy (yet tasteful) theramin usage.

90s Jams #52: Jimmy Eat World "Lucky Denver Mint" (1999)

My initial perception of "emo" was explained to me as The Promise Ring. And that's it... I had one band to describe an entire genre. Needless to say, I didn't get it right off the bat. Dashboard Confessional was whiny, annoying and boring, and when I found out that was considered "emo," that made sense to me. So then when I first heard great bands like The Anniversary, The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World, I didn't understand that they were also supposed to fit into the emo thing. A bunch more bands all showed up at once, most of whom sounded like a combination of Weezer, Foo Fighters and Blink 182. I still don't understand what made these bands anything other than straight up alt-rock, other than their fans needing a niche to belong.

Labels aside, the era did produce some outstanding music, Jimmy Eat World's Clarity being one of the best examples. "Lucky Denver Mint" specifically is pretty much driven by 3 core elements: The drums, the vocal harmonies, and its simplicity. It's also overall a very well produced album, and had their not been so many hugely overlooked rock singles in the late 90's, this one could have been much bigger.

90s Jams #53: The Cure "End" (1992)

Rock's all time heaviest album trilogies: Rubber Soul/Revolver/Pepper ... Bends/OKC/KidA ... Right up there with these is surely the immense sequence of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Disintegration and Wish. The true masterpiece of these trilogies is usually the 2nd release, as is the case with Disintegration. And although Wish remains one of the great unheralded 90's rock albums, the lightness of "Friday I'm In Love" (while a great single in itself) seemed to taint the rest of the album. Similarly, "High" and "A Letter To Elise" are both great, but "Lovesong" and "Pictures Of You" just hit the mark that much closer.

As is the case with "Friday I'm In Love," their happiest moments were pure joy. But delving into the album tracks on all 3 of these records reveals the true depths of tortured despair... Wish closes with "End," which just might be the darkest and most tortured song The Cure ever recorded, which would really be saying something.

90s Jams #54: Nirvana "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (1993)

On page 389 of Michael Azerrad's Come As You Are, the author outrageously labels this one as a "throwaway," quoting Cobain as saying "I think it could have been better." I understand the album was very recent at the time this book was published, but was hindsight really necessary to feel the extreme energy this song produces? The riff is no less a monster than any others from Nirvana (or Black Sabbath for that matter), and the pacing of this song is as perfect as it gets... Oh my God, that noise intro.. The pounding drums take off, and never quit from that point onward.. For the verses, the bass continues the riff while the guitar continues ringing outward for the sole purpose of producing feedback, which then accentuates that 2nd guitar overdub, which isn't even playing chords.. just strumming muted strings, creating an abundance of tension in order to lead into the chorus.. Everyone joining in for monster riff while "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME" is sung on repeat...

During their final year performing live, they almost always opened their sets with this song for a reason. Kick off the party the right way.

This the 2nd time this video has been posted here... Whatever.