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Best tunes of 1991: #21 Ned’s Atomic Dustbin “Kill your television”

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“Kill your television” was first released as a single in the UK in 1990 and in the US in 1992. So why is it on my best of 1991 list? Because that is when I first heard it while listening to Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’s debut album, “God fodder”. And well, it’s my list dammit.

Ned’s were a five piece that formed in Stourbridge, England in 1987. They were slotted into the Grebo pigeonhole with compatriots, The Wonder Stuff and Pop Will Eat Itself, and they certainly were as fun-loving as those other two bands. However, their sound was definitely more aggressive from the start and highly irregular, with dual bass players leading the assault. “Kill your television” is a perfect example of what they were all about. Storming out with total abandon, without a care of the consequences. Complete bluster and adrenaline, stage diving, arms and long (perhaps crimped) hair flailing, just a ruckus, really. But a hell of a lot of fun.

I distinctly remember watching an interview with frontman Jonn Penney (distinct because I had it on VHS at one point) on the old Friday night video show, “Good rockin’ tonight”. And he was asked about names, the band and the single. I’m pretty sure he was regretful about the band name. The band had thought it funny at the time, all being youngsters, some still teens when the band formed, but later, felt a bit saddled with it after they had found success. As for the song, he had still found it quite funny because people were constantly asking about its meanings, looking for depth and profundity where there was none. You’re never really going to find much of that with early Ned’s. In truth, the song title was lifted from a sticker that bassist Alex Griffin had picked up somewhere and had affixed to his instrument.

Sometimes in life, you need something as simple and as fun as that. And Ned’s were always willing to abide.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2011: #28 The War on Drugs “Baby missiles”

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In the summer of 2011, I started up my first blog, Music Insanity, which lasted around five years before I decided to stick a fork in it. In its early days, it was pretty scattered and eclectic, its only constant being the music I loved. One of the ideas I had started out with but never finished was to create playlists, mixed tapes of a sort, of all the different alternative sub-genres. It was while putting together the second half of a two part playlist on shoegaze music, a kind of intro to the second wave revivalists, that I came across The War on Drugs.

Some music writer had termed them “Boss gaze” in reference to their second album, “Slave ambient”, and in exploring further, I saw this expression bandied about across the blogosphere. I found the term so humorous, I wrote a post with the term as its title and provided the video below to my, at the time, very modest readership for their consideration. Personally, as silly as the term sounds, I found it apt to describe the sound of “Baby missiles”. The song sounds a heck of a lot like “Born in the USA” era Springsteen, filtered through an early 90s Britain reverb pedal, Ride or Swervedriver, take your pick. Frontman and driving force Adam Granduciel was still finding his voice on this early album but you can almost picture him wearing a bandanna and jean jacket vest, much like a couple other bands (I’m thinking Killers and Airborne Toxic Event) were wont to do about this time. The beat is uptempo, built for handclaps, and augmented with a heavy wash of organs and harmonicas and vocal “whooo”s.

Six years and two albums later, this group has become relatively well-known, especially on the festival circuit, and has gone on to win a grammy for Best Rock Album. Nowadays, though, there’s another dubious term for them: “Dad rock”. Whichever you prefer, I think both fit.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2011 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2001: #15 The Cranberries “Analyse”

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My wife Victoria had been a fan of The Cranberries for a while, especially their sophomore album, “No need to argue”, which came out around the time when her and I were still just friends, just getting to know each other. She followed the group through their third and fourth albums, and I’m reasonable sure she went to see them live at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto in the summer of 1999 or 2000. I also really enjoyed “No need to argue”, but had gotten into the band the year earlier with their debut album, “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?”. Unlike Victoria, however, I didn’t go in for their next two albums.

Then, the band’s fifth album, “Wake up and smell the coffee”, came out in 2001 and as I mentioned in my last post in this series, I was doing a lot of digging for music so I decided to give the new stuff a shot. I found the first two songs “Never grow old” and this one, “Analyse”, a fresh return to form, which makes sense to me now that I know that producer Stephen Street (who produced their first two) returned to work with them on this album. I played it for Victoria, who liked it as well, and after that, we’d both bop along to “Analyse” on more than one of the many road trips to Toronto and back that we endured in those days.

That messy opening drum line by Fergal Lawler becomes lovingly enveloped by jangly guitars that sound like a perfect blend of “Dreams” and “Linger”. Of course, the music easy on the ears but we can’t talk about The Cranberries without talking about the voice of Dolores O’Riordan. Those beautiful set of lungs and vocal chords are adept at producing yelps and snarls and heavenly chorus, all within the same breath, though on “Analyse” she is subdued, just teasing us with explosions until just the right moment and then, she unleashes it upon us.

As many of you reading this are likely aware, the world was robbed of that blissful voice last January when Dolores O’Riordan was found dead in a hotel room in London. As far as I know, cause of death has yet been made public knowledge but what we already know is that she was a talent that won’t ever be reproduced.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2001 list, click here.