Jittery White Guy Music

Following the early-90s break-up of The Feelies (and before that band's welcome return in 2011), bassist Brenda Sauter, joined by her husband/guitarist Richard Barnes and drummer Chris O'Donovan, put together Wild Carnation.

In some ways, Sebadoh were the ultimate 90s band for me--an act whose music was hugely important to me at the time, but with whom I've spent a lot less time in the years since (though every time I do I'm reminded why I loved them).

Continuing our ongoing trend of including lots of Bob Dylan songs on the list... but almost invariably based on one of the many cover versions.

After a rocky start trying to get into the lo-fi to a fault early/mid-90s records from Guided By Voices, I learned to love the aesthetic, appreciating Robert Pollard's delirious pop skills despite the half-assed (at best) production and performances, hear…

I've always had great affection for John Lennon's first solo single.

When Best Coast's 2010 debut LP Crazy For You dropped, it felt like a wonderful revival of all those women-fronted alt.pop bands I'd been into in the late 80s/early 90s--The Primitives, Darling Buds, Voice of the Beehive, etc.

British songwriter & producer Mark Wirtz has come up a few times previously, most notably as the producer for 60s psych act Tomorrow.

Not to be confused with the previously-noted song of the same name by Moby Grape, this particular "Omaha" comes from currently-active Toronto indie rockers Kiwi Jr.

Having enjoyed some old school psychedelia yesterday, let's pivot to some 90s Elephant 6 psychedelic revivalism from the Olivia Tremor Control.

For all the critical slagging of the Rolling Stones' short-lived psychedelic era, I think I've hit the point where it's nearly as well-represented on this list as their classic late 60s/early 70s run.

As noted previously, I mostly sat out Ween the first time around; their early MTV-era singles suggested an alt.rock novelty act that didn't seem that interesting to me.

"Song For Krista" is my second pick off Susan Sleepwalking, the 1985 release from Midwestern ambient/goth dream pop outfit The Arms Of Someone New.

This one's admittedly an anomaly on the list.

As far as the Jazz Butcher goes, "She's On Drugs"--our second visit to 1990's Cult Of The Basement--is a relatively straightforward indie pop song, some fizzy, bouncy proto-Britpop.

One of the many, many reasons I love Yo La Tengo is their impeccable taste in covers.

Pink Floyd's "Sheep" is the epitome of the album track.

Monsters Of Folk were a one-off (so far?)

As noted previously, one of my favorite music podcasts--and podcasts period--is Andrew Hickey's History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, where he is systematically reviewing the history of rock music, in chronological order, often in painstaking detail with un…

I spent a lot of time with the Wonder Stuff's 1988 debut Eight Legged Groove Machine when it came out, but kinda checked out after that, focusing my attention in the '90s on US indie rock and taking a pass on whatever was going on overseas.

This is our third visit to the classic 1984 Minutemen double LP Double Nickels On The Dime--though, measured in terms of total playing time, it's still less music than I've pulled from most records making a single appearance on the list.

The Orange Humble Band were a sort of power pop/jangle pop supergroup that released a few records over the years, composed primarily of Australian musician Darryl Mather (of the Lime Spiders and the underappreciated Someloves) joined by, among others, jan…

I don't listen to much Kraftwerk--I enjoy their music just fine, just don't spend a lot of time with electronic music, however undeniably cool/influential it may be.

Cool vibes here.

Given that this is nearly the 2500th post on this blog and pretty much the first time I've even mentioned Madonna--setting aside a passing reference in a post 6 years ago about a mix I made for a high school reunion--you may have surmised that I don't lis…

I don't have a lot to say about Broken Social Scene's "Almost Crimes."

There are probably a few R.E.M. songs I haven't hit yet which I like more than "Me In Honey"--yes, I could take nearly every song from their first couple albums before I stray into something else--but the closing track from 1991's Out Of Time has always f…

Having chatted up Feist's "1234" yesterday, it seems obvious that our next song needs to be the Professionals' "1-2-3."

"1234," off Canadian singer (and sometimes Broken Social Scene member) Feist's 2004 breakthrough LP Let It Die, wouldn't normally be the sort of thing I pay much attention to.

Ok, fine, Klark Kent's 1980 single "Away From Home" is most definitely not one of the 2000 greatest songs ever recorded.

This one's a bit of a guilty pleasure, as Paul Simon's efforts at bubbly pop songs could be a little on the dopey side.

Going for a heaping spoonful of doubly-obscure, here's a deep cut from the already tragically under-appreciated Young Fresh Fellows.

It's never a good sign when an established actor decides it's time to record an album.

The song so nice, they recorded it twice!

New Order will always be one of my definitive college bands.

After the sad dissolution of Camper Van Beethoven, whom I'd loved since they first emerged in the middle of my mid-80s college radio days, I was pretty eager (if a little apprehensive) to check out the 1992 eponymous debut from Cracker, CVB frontman David…

I suppose this one comes from the Guilty Pleasures file, as I'm not really a fan of the Alan Parsons Project.

The Magnetic Fields' 1999 triple-CD magnum opus 69 Love Songs is such an embarrassment of riches that I've largely declined to give it its due in this list, 'cuz where would one even begin?

While fictitious cartoon band The Archies are generally considered merely the one-hit wonder responsible for "Sugar Sugar," there are actually a fistful of perfectly respectable and enjoyable bubblegum pop tunes spread across the five records released und…

Not for the first time this month, we're hitting an extended groove that serves more for a massive jam session than a proper song.

This is our third visit to The Good Earth, the Feelies' 1986 masterpiece of pastoral indie jangle which, as I've spouted ad nauseum, is one of my absolute favorite, most frequently-played records in my Absurdly Oversized Music Collection.

Hole's Live Through This is one of those records I absolutely adored at the time of its 1994 release, then pretty much memory-holed for the next few decades (whether due to Courtney Love's public baggage or it just being such a consummately 90s album).

Much like Fleetwood Mac, who similarly (and presciently) took their name from a member other than the frontman, Manfred Mann (named for its keyboardist) went through myriad iterations and huge stylistic changes over the decades as singers/songwriters came…

Graham Parker is one of those long-running artists with a massive, almost invariably reliable discography, where I have a million albums I can pull out and say, yep, this one's pretty good... but who don't necessarily create songs that I find revelatory.

When it comes to John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats, I assume there are a handful of tunes which are generally-acknowledged classics by fans, and then certain songs that may become idiosyncratic personal favorites just because of the way they happen to…