Two for the Road

I guess I lied when I wrote that I wouldn't be posting another pop mix playlist, but I just couldn't help myself. With the first year in a new decade almost behind us, I thought it might be nice to stop and think about some of the pop-rockinest songs that sped us up to this point. Before grunge came along, I was rocking out (or not) to Stevie B's "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" and Timmy T's "One More Try." All that changed after my brothers and I first heard Sublime on the Videogroove (VG1) inline skating video magazine. We started listening to a lot of music from skate videos, most of it pop-punk, but it began and ends with Bradley Nowell for me, and he's still my favorite singer to this day. The following lists are neither comprehensive nor do they contain the finest examples of music from either of the last two decades. Granted, they're mostly the artists you'd expect to find but maybe not the first songs that come to mind for each one. I'd be interested to hear which "alternatives" I could've used.

My 1990's Pop/Rock Mix (not including boy bands, industrial, Lilith Fair, nü metal or ska-core)

1. "Stop" (1990) - Jane's Addiction; I never went to a Lollapalooza but I did discover Perry Farrell on footage from the first one, shown in the MTV video for "Jane Says (Live)," released at the tail end of the '90s on the Kettle Whistle rarities compilation; it's the soft-loud-soft dynamics that do it for me

2. "Lithium" (1991) - Nirvana; I didn't even get MTV at home, and yet my introduction to Nirvana was their "In Bloom" video (in the '90s, MTV still played music videos, kids); there's those soft-loud-soft dynamics again

3. "Breath" (1992) - Pearl Jam; from the Singles movie soundtrack; also, I've said it before on this blog and I'll say it again - if you haven't seen this movie, stop whatever you're doing and go get it

4. "Sin" (1992) - Stone Temple Pilots; probably my favorite rock song from the '90s, not counting Naughty by Nature's "Feel Me Flow" (1995) or The Beastie Boys' "Super Disco Breakin'" (1998), because those aren't rock songs

5. "Them Bones" (1992) - Alice in Chains; I'm sorry to keep bringing up MTV, but Alice in Chains' Unplugged concert really was a bigger deal to me than Nirvana's; I dedicate both of these lists to my new reader who gave me her Alice in Chains' Sap CD back in the day and years later introduced me to blink-182 and The Shins

6. "Today" (1993) - The Smashing Pumpkins; when I overheard that my first and longest major crush liked this band, I went to the store right after school and bought myself the Siamese Dream album; it was unlike anything I'd heard before - loud but not heavy and pretty but not light

7. "How" (1993) - The Cranberries; no other band takes me back in time like they do; this song's on the movie Empire Records, but not on the soundtrack; I like the drum pattern

8. "Introduction/Hey Betty" (1993) - Dramarama; not counting "Through and Through" by Life of Agony, this was the hardest-hitting song I ever heard on a skate video; for a power pop band (see my "Prog to Krautrock to Power Pop" post), there's so much distortion and a lot of lead guitar action too

9. "Spoonman" (1994) - Soundgarden; in high school, I carpooled with a guy whose older brother was a metalhead, so he was somewhat a metalhead by default; but sometimes he would surprise me by really getting into a non-metal song like this one or "I Got a Girl" by Tripping Daisy; these songs make me think about stopping for donuts in the morning and a particular occasion when my friend spilled chocolate milk all over himself but continued on to class without changing clothes

10. "Welcome to Paradise" (1994) - Green Day; alright, one last MTV story: I was at an underclassman's house getting my hair braided (ha ha) for a football game (ha ha ha) where we would be playing in the marching band (I'm crying now) when the "Basket Case" video came on; I remember thinking, "these guys will never go anywhere;" flash-forward 15 years to a backstage interview I heard on the radio where the DJ asked some headlining band what young band they'd seen before going big and hated; lo and behold the lead singer named Green Day, so I'm not the only one who couldn't predict the future

11. "Violet" (1995) - Hole; this reminds me, I have yet to listen to Courtney Love's new album

12. "My Name Is Jonas" (1994) - Weezer; came out a year after Beck's "Loser" but for me, this was the song that proved rock didn't have to be macho or shallow (like the punk or hair metal before it)

13. "Clean" (1994) - Helmet; another skate video find

14. "Possum Kingdom" (1994) - Toadies; someone once told me it was about vampires, or at least appealed to wannabe vampires, and that made sense to me, but the bass guitarist has been quoted as saying it's not true; I used to put their instrumental track "Mexican Hairless" on a lot of mixtapes I made for friends

15. "Machinehead" (1994) - Bush; I like "Alien" better but this one's harder

16. "Natural One" (1995) - The Folk Implosion; my first taste of lo-fi

17. "Simple Lesson" (1995) - Candlebox; I have a friend that I've known since I was two; we were practically raised together but he moved away the summer before we started junior high; in the summers that followed, we would switch off spending a week or two at the other's house; his new friends got him into "moderate" rock like this band, FireHouse and Toad the Wet Sprocket so that's what I listened to my first summer at his place, and then every summer since then

18. "Everlong" (1997) - Foo Fighters; I like "Big Me" (1999) better but this one's harder

19. "Inside Out" (1998) - Eve 6; after being out of country for a couple years, I came home and heard this song for the first time, thought it was pretty catchy and asked my brothers if they remembered it; never have I received such a verbal lashing over my taste in music as I did that day, but I've had time to heal

20. "No Big Thing" (1999) - Lit; the epitome of that "alternative" rock sound they try for on teen comedy soundtracks

And that sound was all you heard on horror movies and the Disney channel alike until 2008, when Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist was released and on an unrelated note, I started this here blog (I have nothing to do with the underground rock scene). I don't mean to take away from the Garden State soundtrack (2004), which paved the way, but it took America another four years to embrace a sound that well, didn't work AS well in skate videos. Before I go any further, let me just say that I love The Shins but I hate The Killers. What both of those bands (amongst many) share in common is that their influences can be heard more in their music. "The future of rock" went really retro throughout the last decade - a lot more than it ever did in the '90s. Ironically, it sent me back to the '90s to catch some stuff I missed the first time around (see my Nick and Norah's movie review, complete with a personalized "Brit Pop & Shoegaze" playlist). One '90s group, Oasis went back to The Beatles, but compare that to nearly every rock band now sounding psychadelic or taking something from The Beach Boys. Other '90s acts hearkened back to a '70s classic rock sound, but they never matched it exactly to the degree that recent pop stars have with '60s soul (Amy Winehouse) and '80s electro (La Roux). What's funny now is to ask kids what "classic rock" means and have them tell you Metallica and Nine Inch Nails. I mean, did you ever imagine? Come to think of it, there's a line about Nine Inch Nails in the '90s movie Clueless and it applies perfectly to this generational rift. Here's to teen comedy rock soundtracks for keeping us in check.

My 2000's Pop/Rock Mix (not including American Idol contestants, baile funk, crunk rap, indie folk or reggaeton)

1. "The Authority Song" (2001) - Jimmy Eat World; I guess this would be my introduction to "emo" although I've never associated this band with the term as much as Dashboard Confessional or The Used (see also "screamo;" funny thing about those about two bands - at their height, I was working graveyards stocking shelves in a grocery store and it was the lowest point of my entire life, so now "emo" means emotional to me for different reasons)

2. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (2002) - The Darkness; bringing back rock falsettos; from my youngest brother's wedding favor mix CD

3. "Crackin' Up" (2003) - Caesars; for offshore acts, I'll take them over fellow Swedes The Hives or Australia's The Vines

4. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - (2003) Jet; a guilty pleasure, for sure

5. "Hysteria" (2003) - Muse; before they became synonymous with Twilight, they just reminded me of AFI

6. "The Way It Is" (2003) - The Strokes; this list could and probaby should be filled with their songs

7. "L.S.F." (2004) - Kasabian; I went to the Coachella music festival in 2005 to see my favorite band of all time, New Order, but I came away with new love for The Secret Machines, Hot Hot Heat, Idiot Pilot (featured on a Coachella's giveaway CD), this band and the next four on the list (of which I only saw The Bravery)

8. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" (2004) - The Arcade Fire; when I drove out to San Diego to look for an apartment, I heard Modest Mouse for the first time and it became "California" music in my mind, but as with Canada's Arcade Fire, what I was hearing was less a regional thing and more an artsy-fartsy way of thinking about rock, mainstream for the first time since the hippies peaked

9. "AFK" (2004) - Pinback; San Diego local band

10. "Swollen Summer" (2005) - The Bravery; I've heard people say they didn't like them live, but they weren't naked when I saw them, plus they did a U2 cover, so that's pop-rockin' in my book

11. "Love in a Trashcan" (2005) - The Raveonettes; I bought their new album while at Coachella and truth be told, it didn't quite live up to this radio single, but I still love me some gothic surf rock

12. "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" (2005) - Fall Out Boy; I have yet to hear another decent song from them

13. "Gold Lion" (2006) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs; I used to picture a bleach-blonde lead singer in my head and I considered this music for sorority girls, but now I would to apologize for being so far off base

14. "Flathead" (2006) - The Fratellis; ba da bop ba da da da da says it all

15. "Hang Me Up to Dry" (2006) - Cold War Kids; it's got the surf guitar of "Love in a Trashcan" but not all the way through and I don't like the bicycle pedal clicking at the end; anyway, it's so noisy for being so clear and minimal, therefore it rocks

16. "Objects of My Affection" (2007) - Peter Bjorn and John; this is my pump-me-up, can't-not-smile song; actually I think I got choked up the first time I heard it because life is beautiful

17. "Ruby" (2007) - Kaiser Chiefs; distinctly British and invites anyone to sing along like they're standing in a pub

18. "Flourescent Adolescent" (2007) - Arctic Monkeys; each part gets a chance to shine and I love that such young men are pondering a woman's mid-life crisis; well I guess cougars are all the rage these days

19. "Shiksa (Girlfriend)" (2007) - Say Anything; brings us full circle to the emo beginning of this playlist and connects with bands I discovered last year at San Diego Street Scene: Cage the Elephant, Los Campesinos! and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

20. "Salute Your Solution" (2008) - The Raconteurs; released three years after "Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes, but as far as I'm concerned, they're the same song; go on, play them back to back and see for yourself