Tag: 1990s

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1990: #22 Bad Religion “21st century (digital boy)”

<< #23     |   #21 >>

I’m sure a great many of you know and love this Bad Religion track. But did you know that it was originally released in 1990, as part of their fifth studio album “Against the grain”? And that it was only released as a single in 1994 after being re-recorded for their first major label album “Stranger than fiction”? I certainly didn’t know all of this back in ’94 when I was busy getting hooked on the song through regular airplay on Toronto’s CFNY. But it’s all true.

“21st century (digital boy)” was written by guitarist Brent Gurewitz and this fine American punk rock band had been performing it during their legendary live sets as early as 1989, the tune becoming a fan favourite in the process. Depending on who you believe, the song was re-recorded for “Stranger than fiction” either because Gurewitz felt that the band was performing it better in 1994 than when it was originally recorded or because their new label, Atlantic, wanted a single for the album that wasn’t yet there. Regardless, the song did become Bad Religion’s biggest hit and their most easily identifiable track.

By the time that I sat down to put together this list, I was more familiar with the history of the track and I momentarily hesitated to include it. Should it be considered a 1990 track because that was when it was originally written? Or does it belong with the best of 1994 because the re-recorded version is the one that everyone (including me) knows and is more familiar with? In the end, it obviously found a place in this series because it’s too great a track not to rave about, right here and right now. (I’ve got both versions below so that you can enjoy the version of your choice.)

Bad Religion has been a going concern since 1979 with a fluid roster whose only static member has been lead vocalist Greg Gaffin. The band toiled in the punk underground for years but started to gain traction in the late 80s and amassed a following on the back of their electrifying live shows. It was here they attracted the attention of the majors and signed with Atlantic during the gold rush of alt-rock band label signings post-Nirvana. The aforementioned “Stranger than fiction” long player is their best selling album, attaining gold status in both Canada and the US, and featuring a number of fan favourites, including this one and the thundering title track. The band is still quite active, touring with Pennywise and The Offspring as recently as 2014.

“21st century (digital boy)”, like many of Bad Religion’s tracks, has plenty of raging guitars, hammering percussion and angry sounding, three-pronged vocals. With its apparent diss at all things technological and commercial, and all the toys that we can dream of, it is as relevant today as it was twenty five years ago. And yes, I smile knowingly at this as I listen to this track and jot down these very ideas on my Apple iPad.

Original version from 1990’s “Against the grain”:

Re-recorded version from 1994 (including a music video):

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1990 list, click here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Belle And Sebastian “If you’re feeling sinister”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Belle And Sebastian
Album Title: If you’re feeling sinister
Year released: 1996
Year reissued: 2014
Details: black vinyl, 180 gram, gatefold sleeve


The skinny: The second album by the critically-acclaimed Scottish indie pop collective was released a mere five months after its predecessor. It’s a collection of 10 tracks that are innocent and peppy in sound but dark and cynical in subject matter.

Standout track: “If you’re feeling sinister”

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1990: #23 The Mission “Deliverance”

<< #24     |    #22 >>

(So before I get too far into this post, I need to come clean right here about the fact that a good part of the posts in this list had originally been written for and posted on my old blog, Music Insanity, last year. Parts of this particular post were originally published in April 2016 and my friend Tim, who figures prominently in the text below, emailed me shortly after it went public to say that he felt almost like a guest contributor.)

I was introduced to The Mission by Tim back in high school. I had asked him to record me a copy of The Wonder Stuff’s “Hup” to cassette from his vinyl version. Of course, as we did back in those days when an album fit all on one side of a C90, he filled the other side with a mix of songs that he liked from other records in his collection. Two of those tracks were “Deliverance” and “Butterfly on a wheel”, both from The Mission’s 1990 album, “Carved in sand”.

My knowledge of the gothic rock band is limited to anecdotal bits of information, like the fact that they were formed in 1986 by Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams when they left/were kicked out of The Sisters of Mercy. So rather than make stuff up for the post, I decided to go back to the source and I texted Tim to see if he could give me more to go on. I started off by asking for his top five Mission songs.

“Hmm. Tower of strength, Deliverance, Butterfly on a wheel, their cover of Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane, and Wasteland. Haven’t listened to them in a while.”

Then, I asked him for his thoughts on “Butterfly on a wheel” because this post was originally going to focus on that song (more on that in a moment).

“I’d say it’s aged better than a lot of their stuff, and is one of those songs that show how they really wanted to be Zeppelin, with all the cheesy, over-the-top imagery. But it works on this song.”

And then there was this:

“That was tough to come up with since I’m only on my first coffee.”

Don’t worry friends, Tim redeemed himself and showed me up in the process the following weekend.

I hadn’t yet started writing about “Butterfly on a wheel” when I went I down to Toronto for the Easter weekend holidays. As I normally try to do when I’m in T-dot, I got together with my old friends for some beers, this of course, included Tim. My recollection of the evening is a bit patchy given the time that has elapsed, and the quality and quantity of beers consumed, but I do remember the conversation at one point turning to this post on The Mission. He asked me at one point why I chose “Butterfly” over “Deliverance” and I responded that it was because it was for my Best of 1990 series, not realizing at the time that they were both from the very same album.

(And this is where I have to make confession #2. To this day, I am not sure if I’ve ever listened to one of The Mission’s albums in full, having only their 1994 compilation, “Sum and substance”, in my music library.)

It wasn’t hard for Tim to convince me to change the song to “Deliverance”. I enjoy both but have always preferred the latter. It is a darker and harder-living track than its romantically fey and Victorian-era dressed younger brother. When placed side-by-side, it’s hard to tell that they are by the same band, let alone from the same album (and that’s not me making excuses). On both, Wayne Hussey exercises the bourbon smooth depth of his vocals but on “Deliverance” he is more insistent, matching the driving rhythm and roaring guitars. And according to the vague memory I have of the aforementioned conversation, “Deliverance” builds and builds to a “big YAAA! crescendo”. (I would include the photo I still have on my phone of Tim giving a visual representation of this sentiment but I’m not sure he’d approve.)

I’ve included both songs below for your review. However, I think you’ll agree with Tim (as I did) that “Deliverance” is the slightly better track.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1990 list, click here.