Hey there kiddies… It’s your old pal Dr. Rock here with a new list of songs that I know you’re gonna dig……

This week’s list is about Real Indie Rock/Emo. Now I know that some of you younger people think that Indie Rock or Emo bands consist of a bunch of young dudes with that horrible greasy comb-over hairdo and black eye make-up and nail polish…. And they play whiny pop songs about picking up girls at the mall….
But I’m here to set the record straight!!!
Indie Rock and Emo have been around since the 80’s and the music was a reaction to what had become the strict guidelines of punk rock and hardcore… It was music that had those elements that made it aggressive and dangerous, but also added a more personal, creative, and artistic point of view…

So I’ve created a list of bands and songs that best represent those bands in order to remind us of how important and influential these under-appreciated bands truly are to this day!!!  So here we go kiddies… Hold on to your butts!

THE TOP FIVE INDIE ROCK/EMO SONGS

1)  ”Latin Roots” by Fugazi. This list just had to start with Fugazi.  One of my favorite bands of all time and probably the band that I have seen live more than any other.  The D.C. legends formed in 1987 out of the ashes of Minor Threat (the best hardcore band ever) and Rites of Spring (the first Emo band ever).  Now the term Emo is short for emotional hardcore…. And no one writes or performs emotional hardcore better that Guy Picciotto.  His passionate, desperate voice wailing away as he literally throws himself around the stage will make a true believer out of anyone!!!  Match that with the great Ian Mckay!  Truly one of the most intelligent and politically minded musicians in history!!!   And add to that, the amazing rhythem section of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty and you have one of the most important bands in the last three decades!!!  They were pioneers in starting their own record label (Dischord), producing there own music, setting up there own tours, doing endless benefit shows for thousands of charities and social programs….  All without making music videos or selling merch or charging more that $5 for a ticket!!!!!  This band IS Indie Rock of Emo or whatever you wanna call it!!!!  And this song “Latin Roots”, off of their second full length record, released in 1991, “Steady Diet of Nothing”, is a great example of the hardcore mentality, matched with innovative counter melodies and provocative and personal lyrics…

Click Here To Listen To “Latin Roots”

2)   “Teen Age Riot” by Sonic Youth. The definition of artsy, skater, noise rock, geek, cool!!!!  Fronted by Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, the reigning king and queen of underground rock n’ roll since 1981, Sonic Youth were the catalyst for the Alternative Rock/Grunge movement.  Originating in NYC, they came together, and were immediately noticed for the crazed, intertwining, and sometimes ear-piercing guitar playing of both Thurston Moore and the great Lee Ranaldo.  They were and are still the bench mark of what is cool, which is why they were on so many of the great independent record labels in the mid-eighties and were the first of their kind to get signed to a major label as a band and as A&R guys who promoted underground rock n’ roll and convinced Nirvana to sign to Geffen!!  Talk about changing the world!!!  So All of you skater kids, and indie rockers of today, need to remember that without these mad geniuses, you would be lost!!!!  So here’s the song that truly broke them….  Enjoy!!

Click Here To Listen To “Teen Age Riot”

3)  ”Magnet’s Coil” by Sebadoh. Sebadoh was started by Dinosaur Jr. bass player, Lou Barlow, in 1986 in Westfield, Mass. as a way for Lou to deal with his frustrations with Dinosaur Jr.’s front man, J. Mascis.  Lou, along with Eric Gaffney, started making “lo-fi” cassettes to go out with Dinosaur Jr. records and eventually conflicts between Lou and J. caused Lou to leave the band….  He then jumped head first into Sebadoh. He was actually the person that coined the phrase, “Indie Rock”.  Sebadoh began to nurture this “lo-fi” sound and started a movement toward unusual arrangements and very personal subject matter….  The first couple of albums were filled with songs about his struggles with Mascis.  Lou went on to form Folk Implosion and  later reunited with Dinosaur Jr. and is currently still making music with them, as well as collaborating with many other indie greats.  This song, Magnet’s Coil, off the killer 1994 record, Bakesale, is a true example of the “indie rock sound” from the man that coined the phase!

Click Here To Listen To “Magnet’s Coil”

4)  ”Skip Steps 1 & 3″ by Superchunk. Superchunk was one of those bands that were so damn catchy yet so damn interesting, that they made you love them and made you want to listen to every Indie Rock band that you could find.  From Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they were the sound that defined the genre.  Up beat, counter melodies, harmonies, yet you could really rock out to them….  They were the band that had a bidding war going on between all the major labels, when it was the in thing to be “Indie Rock”, but they stayed with Matador Records, one of the best indie labels around, and released “No Pocky for Kitty” in 1991.  This amazing record was recorded by the great Steve Albini and featured this truly great, “Indie Rock” song!

Click Here To Listen To “Skip Steps 1 & 3″

5)  ”Summer Babe” by Pavement. Yet another truly amazing band on Matador Records, Pavement is probably considered the poster boys for Indie Rock.  The lackadaisical vocals of the great Steve Malkmus and his Sonic Youth like guitar craziness, not to mention Spiral Stairs’ guitar craziness, embodied the indie rock sound better than any other band.  This band got me through high school and made me want to try things my way instead of doing what seemed to be the “right” thing to do.  They formed in Stockton, California  and this song was the first track off of there debut album, “Slanted and Enchanted”, that helped change a lot of peoples minds in 1992.   It almost seemed that if they just played it straight and sang in key and didn’t make apocalyptic noise with their guitars, they would have made great pop songs and probably would have been millionaires….  But instead they made something so much better…. They made art….

Click Here To Listen To “Summer Babe”

So that’s it kiddies…..  Please listen with headphones cuz computer speakers suck!  Also feel free to comment, add to the list, or create your own list….

See ya in the trenches….

Dr. Rock

Hey there kiddies…. It’s your old pal Dr. Rock here to share some music with y’all…

It was raining down here in Austin for pretty much a week or so recently and yes it was flooding down in Texas, so let’s not get carried away with ourselves…  Anyway, I figured this Top Five should be a list of great Rainy Day Songs.

Now I didn’t want to do a list of songs that are about Rain or have the word Rain in the title or anything lame like that….  These are songs that for some reason just fit while you are looking out the window at the cars splashing through puddles and windshield wipers are flopping back and forth and you get this feeling of slight melancholy offset by a strange sense of comfort and nostalgia…

Now this list was not easy for me to compile due to the fact that there are about 8 million great Rainy Day Songs and it would be a god damn travesty to exclude any of those wonderful gems that I love and that truly belong on this list.  So I decided, “Fuck it!”  I’ll do a series of Rainy Days Volumes that I can break out when the water starts fallin’ from the heavens…

So here we go kiddies…

RAINY DAYS VOLUME  1

1) “House Where Nobody Lives” by Tom Waits. How could I not start this list with the King of Rainy Day Song, Mr. Tom Waits?  This song is off the Mule Variations album, released in 1999.  It has such a sad and disarming feel….  Probably due to the very simple instrumentation of vocals,piano, electric guitar, and an upright bass….  You can hear the piano peddles and bench squeak as Mr. Waits tickles the keys on this beautiful ballad about a decaying, abandoned, old house… And the guitar work by the amazingly talented Marc Ribot is heartbreaking….  I can sincerely say that I have never heard a more honest vocal in my life…  Tom Waits is The Authentic!!!  And this song is such a great example of his amazing songwriting. A true ballad…  Enjoy!

Click Here To Listen To “House Where Nobody Lives”

2) “Yours and Mine” by Calexico. Such a beautiful and haunting song by one of my favorite bands!  TheTuscan, AZ legends, Calexico, do suchaunreal job of creating texture and depth in there artful songs….  Off the 2006 record, “Garden Ruin”,the track “Yours and Mine” is such a greatexample of a Rainy Day song.  The acoustic guitar, the intimate, nearly whispering vocal, and the sweeping cello make you feel like you are huddled-up in the same dark, candle-lit room with the band…

Click Here To Listen To “Yours and Mine”

3) “Buttercup” by Brad. As a side project for Stone Gossard of PearlJam during it’s peak in 1992, Brad was something very different…  The band originally wanted to go by the name Shame, however the band found that the name was already taken by a band featuring musician Brad Wilson. Instead, the band took the name Brad and decided to name its debut album Shame. Shame was released in 1993 and the song “Buttercup” is this disarming, and sad sounding song that features a simple, chordy piano and raspy yet thin vocal that couldn’t be more different that the rocking sound of Pearl Jam…..   It’s very sweet and quiet and a little bit desperate…  Perfect for a rainy day….

Click Here To Listen To “Buttercup”

4) “The Avalanche” by Sufjan Stevens. This great “baroque pop” Detroit native is a true musicalmagician…. Taking his intimate indie folk songs and adding string and horns and woodwinds to make them into lush tapestries of sound with no rules……  Truly brilliant and original, Sufjan Stevens is by far one of the most creative and interesting songwriters/performers of our time….  ”The Avalanche” is the title track of his 2006 release, which consists of out takes from his “Illinois” album.  And you can almost hear the raindrops falling as you listen to this gorgeous piece…..

Click Here To Listen To “The Avalanche”

5) “Which Will” by Nick Drake. I had to end this list with another master of melancholy folk.  Born in Burma and raised in the English Countryside, Nick Drake developed a unique voice and style that speaks volumes above his quiet, shy demeanor.  Way under appreciated during his time, the 70’s, Nick made three great albums, then died in 1974 at the age of 26 from an overdose of antidepressants.  This somber, captivating song really shows the listener who Nick was…..  Rich and interesting acoustic guitars and his unusual, velvet like voice…. Full of pain and wonder……

Click Here To Listen To “Which Will”

So that’s it kiddies…..  The first installment of Rainy Days……  Please listen with headphones in a dark room….  Also feel free to comment or add to the list….

See ya in the trenches….  And try to stay dry….

Dr. Rock

Hey there kiddies….. It’s your old pal Dr. Rock here to give my (relatively) weekly spiel about about Rock n’ Roll…

This week’s Top Five list is gonna be about Buried Treasures…. Now by Buried Treasures, I am of course referring to those bad-ass b-side type songs that for some reason have always stayed hidden away…. Now,I know that the concept, even the name “Buried Treasures” is nothing original… Tom Petty does an amazing show on XM Radio called “Buried Treasures” and it is by far the best thing on the radio!!! Tom spins all kinds of rare, hard to find, garage rock, r&b, and blues…… He is a killer DJ and luckily, I have the exact same taste in music as he has, so I eat that shit up!!!! But once again, I find myself rambling….. Where was I? Oh Yeah….

Now, these lists are very sticky territory… I hate when publications like Rolling Stone put out their stupid list of 100 best whatevers,  because it is impossible to rank things like music or musicians cuz feelings and opinions do and should change as we get exposed to new things and I don’t want anyone thinking that these five songs are the Top Ranked “Buried Treasure” type songs and they beat out every other one and nothing else compares and blah, blah, blah…. These are just my picks of the week and they KICK FUCKING ASS!!!!!

Anyways… Here it is…. This week’s Top Five List….

THE TOP FIVE “BURIED TREASURES”…

1)  ”Light As A Feather” by Redbone. This song is a bad-ass, early seventies, funky, rock n’ roll jam!!!!  Redbone was a really sick, soulful band lead by Loly and Pat Vegas, who were well-known musicians in rock and jazz in Los Angeles during the sixties. Born in Fresno, California, of  Native American (Yaqui/Shoshone) and Mexican descent, they started playing in local bands before trying their chance in L.A.  Now I just discovered this band recently, and I can’t figure out why I have not been listening to them everyday for the past ten years!!!!  Redbone is the definition of soul music and this song is the perfect example of that!!!   Enjoy!!!!

Click Here To Listen To “Light As A Feather”

2)  ”Don’t Look Back” by The Remains. The Remains were a great, hard rockin’ garage band from my home town, Boston, MA.  They released “Don’t Look Back” in 1966 . A half psychedelic calamity, half revival, half triumphant proto-punk barn burner!!!!  This song brings home the bacon and cooks it up on the stove!!!!!  God damn!!!! It almost hurts!!!!

Click Here To Listen To “Don’t Look Back”

3)  ”Heart Of The City” by Nick Lowe. This 1976 rocker was penned by the great Nick Lowe, known best as the guy that wrote “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding” for Elvis Costello,  but he was a British Punk first!!!!  You can really hear the jazzmaster and tele working overtime on this classic jam about city life in the Seventies….  He was, and still is one of the world’s great song writers and performers.  In fact, to see the other side of Nick Lowe, check out his Austin City Limits performance… It’s unreal!!!!

Click Here To Listen To “Heart Of The City”

4)  ”The Dark End of the Street”  by The Flying Burrito Brothers. This classic example of the crossover between country and soul was written by Muscle Shoals songwriters Dan Penn and Chips Moman in 1967 as a straight soul-blues song, but then in 1969 The Burritos got a hold of it and Gram Parsons (The Originator of Country Rock and former Byrds member) injected his country twang.  Featuring some amazing chicken-pickin’ guitar work and a truly mind blowing bass performance, this song manages to be both heart-breaking and comforting at the same time….

Click Here To Listen To “Dark End of the Street”

5)  ”Heads or Tails” by Booker T. &  The MG’s. What do you say about Booker T. & The MG’s?  The sickest soul band of all time!!!  They were the house band for the great Staxx Records, backing up the likes of Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Sam & Dave  and Otis Redding.  Steve Cropper, the guitar player, wrote all the music for all the Staxx artists, which gives him authorship to some of the best songs of all time!!!!!  And his style of single string doubles of Donald “Duck” Dunn’s bass lines makes for the tightest and most subtle band ever.  And how can we leave out master of the Hammond B3 organ, Mr. Booker T. This track show’s you how they do!!!!  Make sure that you have some fried chicken or brisket ready when you listen to this God-sent southern soul classic!!!!!

Click Here To Listen To “Heads or Tails”

So that’s it kiddies….  Please feel free to comment or add your list of favorite “Buried Treasures”, I love to be turned on to new music almost as much as I love turning other people on to new music, so don’t be shy…  See ya in the trenches….

Hey there kiddies….. It’s your old pal Doctor Rock…

Today marks the day that I truly let you all into my world of music obsession…. Top Five Lists…..

Now I know what some of you fellow music geeks are thinking…. Didn’t they do that in that great book turned movie, High Fidelity? Why yes they did…. That, among many other reasons, is why I love that movie so… Because I can totally relate with the characters’ plight of being obsessed with music, lists, and trivia…..

So… Here it is…. My first top five list…. Now I’m feeling like I should start out simple, so this list is very up front….

THE TOP FIVE SONGS THAT I AM CURRENTLY OBSESSED WITH….

1) “Wanting Her Again” by Ben Kweller. This song has been stuck in my head all week! The incredibly honest and vulnerable lyrics explaining the story of a young man caught in a very relatable situation… Knowing a women that doesn’t want to be with you, but wants you to want her….. “She don’t even want to be my friend… She just wants me wanting her again…”
Now some may say it’s too country, but that’s what makes it truly disarming… It’s really authentic country!! Great recording and pedal steels and all….
If you are a relatively nice guy and you’ve been stomped on and used because you are not an asshole, this song will speak volumes to you….. Also, It’s just a really well written, well performed, great song!!!

Wantin’ Her Again

2) “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” by The Clash. This song exemplifies the core mission of The Clash!!! Theunderstanding of socio-economic discrimination and the willingness to explore other cultures and points of view…. “The only band that matters!!” And the song just kicks ass!!!

(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

3) “It’s a Mistake” by Men At Work. It’s a god damn great, summer, reggae, but not reggae song written and performed by a band that transcends bad eighties production and really just made great music!!! Thank god for Colin Hay!!!
It’s A Mistake

4) “The W.A.N.D.” by The Flaming Lips. Now I know that a lot of music geeks must be getting upset that The Lips aregetting pretty well know and that their songs are turning up in commercials and movies and such, but don’t we all want our favorite little underdog band to make some money and get some acknowledgement for all their years of hard work and creativity? Hell yes we do!!! The W.A.N.D. is a kick ass song, done in a minimalistic way, yet has layers of greatness…. Come on… It’s the Lips at their best!!!!
The W.A.N.D.

5) “Adlai Stevenson” by Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan Stevens is a certified musical genius ifever I have heard one!!!! Amazingly intimate and image evoking songs that could be simply done with an acoustic guitar and a vocal, but he chooses to ad layers of strings and horns and woodwinds and vocal harmonies that create a lush landscape for his “little ditties”… This song illustrates this ability more than any other that I can think of….. Enjoy!!!
Adlai Stevenson

So kiddies, that’s my Top Five list for this week… Please listen to the music on headphones because computer speakers suck and they have no low end…. Feel free to comment and/or add your own Top Five list of songs that you are currently obsessed with….

See Ya in the Trenches…..

Doctor Rock

Just days before SXSW and I can’t even begin to think about anything except Rock N’ Roll…. The Faces, The Stones, The Sonics, The White Stripes, The Chocolate Watch Band, Iggy and The Stooges, The MC5, The Kinks, Blur, Oasis, Neil Young, The Beatles, Humble Pie!!!! They won’t let me rest, they won’t let me be…. That boom-bang sound… that urgency… that drive… that painful need… that give me, give me give me…. that cigarette smell…
Why would anyone choose to live any other way?????

Hey Kiddies….. This is your old pal Dr. Rock….  I just wanna start this whole thing off by saying, I hate blogs…..  The idea that some lonely geek at his computer has his finger on the pulse and is going to enlighten me about “How it is” makes me wanna gouge out my own eyeballs…..

That being said, I am a music geek and have spent the majority of my life researching and obsessing about music…..  Who played what on what record, what year, their influences, how they changed things, and so on and so forth…. So I am going to ramble on about things and opinions of mine that I accept to be truths because I have done the research to back it up…  Now I have been told that I am overly opinionated and that I am a music snob, but I am here to tell you that those are unwarrented accusations because I love music and am open to all styles and genres, from pop to jazz to rock to indie to funk to classical and everything in between….  There are two types of music: Good music and Bad music, so let’s not lose our heads worrying about genres and shit like that….  It all depends on the artist… Are you making something honest and interesting? Or are you just faking it?  I can smell a lie like a fart in a car and god damn it, I’m gonna speak up about it……

Anyway…. I’m not gonna start in on the criticizing today, cuz I’m not really in the mood and I wanted to establish my mind set so that you, who ever you are, will be able to take what I say in the tone that I intend it…. Whatever that means……

Anyway… I’ll talk to you next week about what music I am currently obsessed about…..

See ya in the trenches kiddies….

Dr. Rock