parodies by nacrowe

i grew up on ALTERNATIVE ROCK from the 1990s.  i wasnt even in elementary school yet when the 1980s ended, along with it the INFLUENTIAL contemporaneous HARDCORE and INDIE scenes that are still very much CELEBRATED decades on.  my entry to to that discussion was the FAMOUS SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE scene that sparked the 90s with SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM and NIRVANA being among the first records i ever received as a child before i became even a decade old.  looking back its almost like being informed about previous PUNK ROCK, GLAM ROCK, NEW WAVE, POST PUNK, PROG ROCK and even BRITISH INVASION movements via a cultural bank shot.  it was NEW music once or twice removed from those veritable scenes, but something uniquely SEPARATE at the same time.

decades on now i see ALTERNATIVE ROCK as the beginning of GENRE-LESS music.  it seemed all manner of PRODUCTION TECNIQUES and ideas were being thrown in the mix, from SAMPLING and BEAT-MAKING utilized in both HIP HOP and INDUSTRIAL circles, new sonic TEXTURES were experienced with bands and artists like BECK, GARBAGE and NINE INCH NAILS that embellished and expanded upon the TRADITIONAL textbook of what a ROCK AND ROLL band sounded like and could get away with.  i also always think of music within a social context and while some listeners doggedly clung to OUTMODED identities based out of geographically LOCAL variations of PUNK, INDIE and HARDCORE scenes, i grew up more or less around people that could appreciate multiple DISPARATE genres and cultural movements ranging from FUNK and R&B to HIP HOP, PUNK ROCK and extreme METAL.  in essence it was all the same VIBE, but DIFFERENT expressions.  decades on you have artists that seamlessly split the difference between various UNRELATED genres and have no issue garnering a MASSIVE audience, which to my perspective showcases the OPEN-MINDEDNESS past down by the ALTERNATIVE ROCK generation that was less interested in PURITY and more concerned about songwriting and sonic INNOVATION.

at least that is my sense of the musical and cultural EVOLUTION that took place during my conscious time on this planet as an ACTIVE listener.  some may disagree and thats alright.

embedded below is a DEER GOD RADIO episode on nonprofit internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC that originally aired almost exactly four years ago.  hard to believe ive had a radio show that long! the playlist includes music from throughout the ALTERNATIVE ROCK movement of the 1990s. enjoy!

the UNTIMELY death of longtime and universally BELOVED FOO FIGHTERS drummer TAYLOR HAWKINS a little over a year ago while on tour in COLOMBIA was both SHOCKING and TRAGIC.  you dont have to look far in the band to see members that have lost bandmates in the past.  i think for a lot of people their thoughts immediately went to DAVE GROHL and PAT SMEAR and their close FALLEN brethren in KURT COBAIN and DARBY CRASH.  people forget that the FOO FIGHTERS project itself was created as an expression of PERSISTENCE and SURVIVAL in the face of OVERWHELMING GRIEF.  the ICONIC tribute concerts from last fall was a showcase in that ethos of LOVE and COMMUNITY in the face TRAUMA and TRAGEDY.

but the question for fans quickly became "what next?" 

in december of last year the FOO FIGHTERS announced they would carry on, but who would play drums.  i just adore the fact that they answered all these questions in a STARK long-form, black-and-white rehearsal video where you could view JOSH FREESE absolutely destroy these songs and realize the band was in some sense REVITALIZED.  im a huge DEVO fan, so i've known about FREESE for years, but i first saw him play at WARPED TOUR 2001 in VENTURA as a member of veteran ORANGE COUNTY PUNK band THE VANDALS.  he's been a session drummer of the first order for decades (CHRIS CORNELL, BLACK LIGHT BURNS, DANNY ELFMAN, KATY PERRY, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, KELLY CLARKSON, WEEN, AVRIL LAVIGNE, SOCIAL DISTORTION and ROB ZOMBIE) and has been the go-to drummer while on tour in a crunch for the likes of everyone from PARAMORE and GOOD CHARLOTTE to THE REPLACEMENTS, THE OFFSPRING and even STING.  he's also had stints of being a member of NINE INCH NAILS, GUNS N' ROSES, WEEZER and A PERFECT CIRCLE among other bands.  it is a RIDICULOUS resume that the FOO FIGHTERS are now a part of.  like HAWKINS, he is also from ORANGE COUNTY (which coincidently is where i lived as a child until 1996).

but the best part of the whole video knowingly moronically entitled FOO FIGHTERS: PREPARING MUSIC FOR CONCERTS is the beginning when FREESE hasnt been announced yet as the drummer and a parade of FAMOUS drummers come in for IDIOTIC reasons.  as the first CREATIVE release since the tribute concerts, the fact that they went with HUMOR was BRILLIANT.  they probably needed it and we the fans definitely did as well.

my introduction to the IDIOSYNCRATIC ALTERNATIVE FUNK that is PRIMUS was their main stage appearance on OZZFEST 99.  i was fifteen and that music festival was my initiation into concert going as well.  so much of that day was OVERWHELMING with its INSANE lineup that included BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER, ROB ZOMBIE, DEFTONES, BLACK SABBATH, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and FEAR FACTORY as well as a FRENETIC, emerging group from the MIDWEST called SLIPKNOT, but i distinctly remember PRIMUS standing out both sonically and in terms of their presentation.  they were GOOFY.  but WACKY in the sense that they were such ridiculously TALENTED musicians that they could get away with it.  case in point was their special guest who was a VIRTUOSO guitarist that wore a KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN bucket on his head with an accompanying JASON mask going by the name BUCKETHEAD.  even SLAYER fans were into their set despite it being nothing remotely EXTREME or AGGRESSIVE in terms of EXTREME METAL.

turns out that go around was for their ANTIPOP (INTERSCOPE, 1999) record that found the group playing with a more HARDER-EDGED sound courtesy of all the special producers brought in on this project, including TOM MORELLO (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), FRED DURST (LIMP BIZKIT), MATT STONE (SOUTH PARK), TOM WAITS and  STEWART COPELAND (THE POLICE).  not to mention guest appearances by JAMES HETFIELD (METALLICA) and JIM MARTIN (FAITH NO MORE) as well.   regarded in retrospect by the band as their least favorite record with a TORTURED creation story to boot, it nearly broke them as they went on hiatus shortly after its release for three years.  STANDOUT tracks include "GREET THE SACRED COW," "LAQUERHEAD," "ELECTRIC UNCLE SAM" and "THE ANTIPOP," all employing TRADITIONAL hooks with stop-on-a-dime precision SYNCHRONOUS rhythm playing and ECCENTRIC lyrical conceits to match in the best tradition of KING CRIMSON, THE RESIDENTS, WEEN, SYD BARRETT, DR. DEMENTO and FRANK ZAPPA. 

its interesting that ANTIPOP was my introduction to the PECULIAR world of PRIMUS, because it is arguably the least representative of the catalogue.  this was a record they made for their label seemingly out of pressure to remain commercially relevant, whatever that meant back in the late 1990s when the writing was on the wall with NAPSTER and file-sharing driving profits away from compact disc sales.  it was an INTERESTING time to say the least.

still love this record, but for the uninitiated there are better records to dive into first, like FIZZLE FRY (CAROLINE, 1990), SAILING THE SEAS OF CHEESE (INTERSCOPE, 1991), PORK SODA (INTERSCOPE, 1993) and TALES FROM THE PUNCH BOWL (INTERSCOPE, 1995).  just get ready for their PROGRESSIVE ROCK via FUNK sound as interpreted by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART.  its a fun mix and required listening in my opinion.

the BEASTIE BOYS fifth studio album HELLO NASTY (CAPITOL, 1998) was a seminal HIP HOP album as i experienced it the summer before my freshman year of high school.  i knew of their existence before due to hearing various LICENSE TO ILL (DEF JAM, 1986) tracks out of context during my elementary school years in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, but i never had their records nor strangely did anyone i knew growing up there and in WEST AFRICA.  its ODD in retrospect since other MAJOR HIP HOP artists like CYPRESS HILL, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., WU-TANG CLAN and TUPAC all seemingly made the jump overseas, but for whatever reason not the BEASTIE BOYS.

regardless, the SEMINAL HELLO NASTY album was the first BEASTIE BOYS record i ever bought and i basically worked my way backwards shortly thereafter.  by this point for years my family had relocated to NEW JERSEY during the summer months (in part to by a years worth of supplies that would shipped overseas to NIGERIA) and in the summer of 1998  "INTERGALACTIC" was a monster hit on both INFLUENTIAL NYC HIP HOP stations like HOT 97 and POWER 105.1 and the ALTERNATIVE ROCK juggernaut that was 92.3 K-ROCK.  that level of UBIQUITY on the airwaves, not to mention the accompanying ADAM YAUCH-directed music video on MTV at the time, made that track a particularly UNIQUE cultural moment at the time.   

HELLO NASTY was co-produced with MARIO CALDATO, JR who was involved with their previous three releases ILL COMMUNICATION (CAPITOL, 1994), CHECK YOUR HEAD (CAPITOL, 1992), and PAUL'S BOUTIQUE (CAPITOL, 1989) and sonically the record is high-energy and propulsive with a clever mix of DANCEHALL, DUB, LOUNGE, DRUM & BASS elements.  this is also the first BEASTIE BOYS release to feature MIX MASTER MIKE as their effective house DJ (complete with his innovative wah-wah pedal inflected vinyl scratching), a role he would continue until their break-up in the wake of YAUCH's passing from salivary gland cancer.  STANDOUT tracks include "REMOTE CONTROL," "THREE MC'S AND ONE DJ," "BODY MOVIN'" and "SUPER DISCO BREAKIN'" with guest performances by the likes of MIHO HATORI (CIBO MATTO) and legendary DUB producer LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY.

everyone has their favorite BEASTIE BOYS record (mine will always be ILL COMMUNICATION), but in effect they are all great.  if you are unfamiliar with their work there is no bad place to start and HELLO NASTY is as GREAT an introduction to a nearly FLAWLESS discography as you will find.  definitely worth checking out.

photo manipulation & text by nacrowe

hindsight manipulates us all.  a nearly universally CELEBRATED album like GREEN DAY's GEORGE W BUSH-era narrative paean to the domestic UNDERCLASS and UNDERREPRESENTED resistance, AMERICAN IDIOT (REPRISE, 2004), feels in retrospect almost INEVITABLE.  at the time of its tracking back in 2003-2004, as depicted in the documentary HEART LIKE A HAND GRENADE (CRAZY COW PRODUCTIONS, 2015), this was hardly the case.  the band had a rare mid-career miscue with WARNING (REPRISE, 2000) that saw them supposedly loosing a step with the POPULAR ZEITGEIST to a new crop of POP PUNK bands they essentially helped initiate (i.e. BLINK-182, NEW FOUND GLORY, SUM 41, GOOD CHARLOTTE, etc.). 

not sure i wholly buy into that narrative, but that is the popular MYTHOLOGY surrounding the creation of AMERICAN IDIOT, which was REVOLUTIONARY and UNEXPECTED upon release and is arguably GREEN DAY's crowning achievement, even more so than their debut DOOKIE (REPRISE, 1994).  part of such ACCLAIM was rooted in the fact that it was perceived to be a STRIDENT middle finger to the BUSH ADMINISTRATION and their REGRESSIVE political agenda.  in the early 2000s SYSTEM OF A DOWN and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE were on the outs and ROCK music was in a weird place in that it was attempting to recreate the past a la the backward-looking INDIE ROCK REVIVAL bands such as THE STROKES, WHITE STRIPES, INTERPOL, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and the like.  nobody, and i mean no one, thought that GREEN DAY would be the band to create something as AUDACIOUS and thematically COMPLEX as a ROCK OPERA that was likewise brazenly POLITICAL at a time of war.  it really put everyone else to shame in retrospect and influenced the style and scope of their catalogue from their on out.

whats compelling about HEART LIKE A HAND GRENADE is how DETERMINED, COMMITTED and CONFIDENT band leader and main songwriter BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG is in the studio.  this was a major risk.  GREEN DAY were considered relative LIGHT-WEIGHTS that in essence filled a psychic and industry VOID left by NIRVANA in the wake of their TRAGIC mid-90s implosion.  in comparison to the SOMBER and POETIC directness of KURT COBAIN's lyrics and persona, ARMSTRONG was by comparison a more JOVIAL and UPBEAT character that wrote songs about the banality of everyday life.  AMERICAN IDIOT changed all that in one swell swoop.

its just incredible that this recording process was documented.  i have no doubt itll be parsed over decades from now by musicians inspired by ARMSTRONG's GALVANIZED response to a fucked political inflection point in AMERICAN history.  lord knows what we will face in the next few decades in the wake of proto-fascist DONALD TRUMP.  here's hoping he never returns to power.

the unlikely global phenomenon that is KORN is something i still find truly fascinating.  tagged with spearheading what came to be known as NU METAL (an AGGRESSIVE METAL / HIP HOP hybrid) in the 1990s,  the band and its sound was most prominently rooted in the ALTERNATIVE ROCK / FUNK METAL of a previous generation of ECLECTIC bands, namely FISHBONE and FAITH NO MORE / MR BUNGLE.  throw in some NEW ROMANTIC posturing a la DURAN DURAN and more than sprinkling of GANGSTER RAP like ICE CUBE and DR. DRE and you have the basic TOXIC mixture that KORN drew from in the early 1990s.

the thing about their self-titled debut KORN (EPIC, 1994) is the context of how their sound landed in the ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL scene of the mid-1990s.  this was a moment of transition as many of the THRASH METAL bands of the 1980s were still holding on to a sound (sans METALLICA) that some in retrospect deride as "type-writer metal" which is highly TECHNICAL and contains riffage that is COMPLEX and extremely uptempo.   to be considered a METAL band equated to mastering that sound.  KORN changed all that.  their riffs were SIMPLE and the tempo was pulled way way back.  the focus was on the GROOVE, not the tempo or technical wizardry, and the lyrical content.  singer JONATHAN DAVIS on tracks like "BLIND," "FAGET," "SHOOTS AND LADDERS," "CLOWN" and especially "DADDY" seemed to be exorcising some deep childhood trauma of the sexual kind, a deeply DISTURBING cultural taboo that was never part of the vernacular of heavy music before, which was itself EMPOWERING in nature.  DAVIS presented, much like KURT COBAIN before him, an emotive and introspective archetype of an ALTERNATIVE MASCULINITY.  one that was unleashing a PRIMAL SCREAM against the ills of society and how badly it had treated him during his most VULNERABLE years as a child.  i believe that such was a paradigm shift in METAL and ALTERNATIVE ROCK as many bands seemingly modeled themselves on such in their wake to present date.

sonically the band had a UNIQUE two-headed guitar attack a la BRIAN "HEAD" WELCH and JAMES "MUNKY" SHAFFER, both tuned down multiple steps with intertwining parts that buttressed the SLOW, plodding HEAVY riffs but just as importantly enhanced the lighter counterpoint melodies (often in opening riffs).  bassist REGINALD "FIELDY" ARVIZU was less a traditional musician in the MELODIC sense and acted more as an extension of the percussion section with his slapping bass lines that really forward-propelled the songs themselves beyond the FUNK drumming of original percussionist DAVID SILVERA.  in totality the band presented an OFF-KILTER but sonically POWERFUL front that empowered DAVIS to brave out and expose himself lyrically.  it should also be noted that this record is one of the DEFINITIVE early ROSS ROBINSON productions that pushed his career forward and no doubt helped him land later work with the likes of GLASSJAW, SLIPKNOT, LIMP BIZKIT, SEPULTURA / SOULFLY, AT THE DRIVE-IN, CANCER BATS and even THE CURE.  i saw KORN once at OZZFEST 2003 and was not prepared for how HEAVY they came across live.  they blew the other bands away that night and i was absolutely not expecting such beforehand.

my only gripe with KORN was how DAVIS wrapped his own MISERY in the HOMOPHOBIC tropes of schoolyard bullying.  that always seemed CALLOUS and a bit unnecessary in my opinion.  even if your early years were TRAUMATIC and you were severely picked on by bullies and abused by adults, what is the purpose of utilizing the language of EMASCULATION that wrongly incorporates TERRIBLE slurs against the LGBTQ community.  as if they are beneath you.  there is so much unadulterated RAGE and suffering in DAVIS' persona and maybe it would be NAIVE for their to be some semblance of EMPATHY or COMPASSION mixed in somewhere, but that is my feeling.  it goes further as such calcifies into MISOGYNY and on some level we are all degraded for our complicity in seeking refuge in DAVIS' misguided rage, as such would play out in the needless VIOLENT outbursts of their fans (a la WOODSTOCK 94) directed at women.

in my estimation its always interesting how KORN and a lot of the NU METAL bands borrowed sonic aspects from bands like FAITH NO MORE but none of their sense of INCLUSIVITY.  instead it all became a channel for something truly INSIDIOUS and on some level deeply solipsistically NARCISSISTIC.  as if their suffering was UNIQUE and ISOLATED them from the human experience instead of the other way around.  one could argue DAVIS suffering made him more human and like those around him, even those that felt the need to hurt him and others like him.  life is a cycle of PAIN.

i know its hard to believe now, but there was a brief moment when the JARED LETO-led ALTERNATIVE ROCK band 30 SECONDS TO MARS didnt suck.

in my opinion that moment was pretty much their first album.  produced by the legendary BOB EZRIN (PINK FLOYD, LOU REED, PETER GABRIEL, KISS), their debut largely kept in check frontman LETO's UNFORTUNATE tic to over-sing and reach for ever higher notes when the song doesnt require it (as would happen on later releases).  the songs are structurally AMBITIOUS and slightly PROGGY but with a UNIQUE sense of melody and MEMORABLE, CATCHY hooks.  lyrically this album has none of the OVERWROUGHT and CLUNKY "message" songs of later releases.  here it is all centered around a SPACE TRAVEL theme, which i am total sucker for.

sonically and stylistically their debut was like CLASSIC SPACE ROCK (HAWKWIND, PINK FLOYD) mixed with FAILURE and A PERFECT CIRCLE.  it had both SCOPE and DEPTH, as well as AMBITION that it delivered in spades.  for me it was a total breath of fresh air.  in the years since this band has been nothing but an embarrassment.  they come off as INAUTHENTIC HOLLYWOOD phonies play-acting what they think a ROCK band should be, and their new music seemingly comes from central casting, ever more BLAND and TEDIOUS with each new release.  its like THE POLICE, but not in a good way.

they really need to call EZRIN again.  errr, maybe like four or five albums ago.

THE STONE ROSES: MADE OF STONE (WARP FILMS, 2013) documentary is a INTRIGUING cultural artifact of sorts as it presents an insider's view of the LEGENDARY MANCHESTER ALTERNATIVE ROCK band's reunion in the early 2010s after nearly 15 years apart.  in the history of BRITISH music,  THE STONE ROSES were a bit of a TRANSITIONAL band between INDIE scene of the 1980s and what would become BRITPOP, especially as it relates to fellow MANCUNIANS in OASIS.  LIAM GALLAGHER's brief cameo backstage at the first reunion finds him adamantly attesting that THE STONE ROSES are the greatest MANCHESTER band ever (which is saying something given that THE SMITHS, BUZZCOCKS, JOY DIVISION / NEW ORDER and THE FALL are from the northern city as well).  their initial fall is the stuff of ROCK AND ROLL cliche, given that fighting their label and then management inevitably manifested in them turning on each other as well during the recording of their second album.  for a brief SHINING moment in the early 1990s, especially their CELEBRATED gig at SPIKE ISLAND, the band was on top of the BRITISH music world and critical darling abroad in AMERICA.  they basically set the table for OASIS, no question about it.

for me the most interesting part of this documentary is not the capstone 2012 performance footage of the band at HEATON PARK in MANCHESTER (mirroring their SPIKE ISLAND gig), but rather the more INTIMATE coverage of their initial rehearsals at remote home in WARRINGTON.  it was during this rehearsal footage that you very much got a sense of the MUSICAL CONNECTION between the four players with all the unspoken nods, looks and grins that come with long embedded musical cues that manifest themselves physically and psychically with past compositions played to perfection in the present.  the ENERGY is palpable.  its that special ALCHEMY that only GIFTED musicians with a strong musical bond and chemistry bring to the table, which for the listener is nothing less than pure MAGIC.  case in point is their rehearsal performance of "WATERFALLS."  watching it you could feel their MUTUAL EXCITEMENT and ELATION. 

i like to view that core SPARK as the central feature of this documentary.  seeing how it ebbs and flows when outsiders and hangers-on and even technical difficulties come into the picture, such as their disastrous warm-up gig in AMSTERDAM when the drummer departed the gig pre-encore.  this mirrored his similarly SPONTANEOUS departure from the band more than a decade before, spurring their demise as a band and creative entity.  such would ultimately be the case a few years later when the band split again.  i feel that just like JANE'S ADDICTION, these long stretches of indefinite hiatuses only make the inevitable reunion that much more POTENT and SPECIAL.   my hope is that they do so with some shows stateside next go around. 

they are definitely a SEMINAL band well worth checking out.  IAN BROWN is a CHARISMATIC, ICONIC frontman and a BRITISH original.  here's hoping they figure it all out again.

i remember back in the late 1990s during my sophomore year when i was involved with my high school's radio station that the the two girls before my show, who were absolutely INTIMIDATING ass-kicking PUNK ROCKERS that played everything from CRASS and M.D.C. to CRO-MAGS, G.B.H. and D.O.A. on their show would end every set inexplicably with BRITISH ALTERNATIVE ROCK band REPUBLICA's "READY TO GO" single.  that ICONIC HIGH-ENERGY track from their self-titled debut REPUBLICA (RCA, 1996) album made little to no sense as a closing track to a set made up of 80s HARDCORE songs, other than it being HARD-DRIVING and sonically EMPOWERING.  its the type of song that makes you want to run through a brick wall, which i guess one could say the same about quality PUNK ROCK as well.

fronted by the ENIGMATIC vocalist SAFFRON, whose accent i have never been able to pinpoint with any specificity, REPUBLICA has a sound that feels very of the moment in the mid-1990s when electronic acts like DAFT PUNK, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, THE PRODIGY, THE CRYSTAL METHOD, FATBOY SLIM, BASEMENT JAXX and MOBY became PROMINENT and EMERGING ALTERNATIVE ROCK bands attempted to split the difference with the COMPELLING hybrid likes of SNEAKER PIMPS and GARBAGE.  with "READY TO GO" the band landed on a POWERFUL sound that has been utilized in car commercials ever since as a shorthand code for YOUNG, URBAN and SOPHISTICATED.  other singles from the album "BLOKE" and "DROP DEAD GORGEOUS" are SERVICEABLE but lack the live wire ENERGY and INCREDIBLE sense of FORWARD PROPULSION that marks REPUBLICA's TRANSCENDENT, CELEBRATED single.

and that is kind of unfortunate in retrospect, because REPUBLICA is very much an ANONYMOUS ONE-HIT WONDER with a UBIQUITOUS single that has far outshined the group in the popular consciousness.  in comparing their work to GARBAGE's first record, their just seems to be more EMOTIVE weight and lyrical heft to relate to from SHIRLEY MANSON's odes to fear and insecurity that mark their debut.  SAFFRON in comparison is a bit of an INSCRUTABLE cypher who fronted a track that could very easily be dismissed as an almost-dance track.  same thing with singer KELLI ALI and her work with the SNEAKER PIMPS.  there is a there there and with REPUBLICA that sense of INTIMACY never projected itself on an audience.  at least how i understand it. in short: INCREDIBLE single, LACKLUSTER record.

i have a VISCERAL memory of being at OZZFEST 99 as a teenager walking the grounds of the PNC BANK ARTS CENTER in NEW JERSEY when over the loudspeaker they started playing "STRIPSEARCH" off of FAITH NO MORE's ALBUM OF THE YEAR (REPRISE, 1997) record which had only been out for two years at that point.  the mixture of that repeated synth line that climaxed into a hard-hitting syncopated rhythm and MIKE PATTON's soaring vocals was an incredibly arresting experience, especially at that volume level.  it was absolutely STUNNING.

every FAITH NO MORE album has a DIFFERENT vibe and ALBUM OF THE YEAR had a distinctive FUNERARY aesthetic from the artwork and their penchant to play live this cycle in suits, down to DIRGE-Y tracks like "ASHES TO ASHES," "LAST CUP OF SORROW," "PATHS OF GLORY," "COLLISION" and "HELPLESS."  it felt like a wake.  it wasnt until i recently read the EXCELLENT  FAITH NO MORE biography SMALL VICTORIES (review linked HERE) by ADRIAN HARTE that i learned that this interpretation wasnt an anomaly, as the band members were in fact consciously saying goodbye to the project with this record.  throughout its production, bassist and longtime resident producer BILLY GOULD, drummer MIKE BORDIN and new guitarist JON HUDSON basically conceived and wrote most of the material.  that ascending synth line on "STRIPSEARCH" i am so enamored with, that was HUDSON, not keyboardist RODNEY BOTTUM as i had expected.  this was the second album, the other being KING FOR A DAY, FOOL FOR A LIFETIME (REPRISE, 1995) that BOTTUM effectively checked out creatively from the group during the writing process, as he was more involved with IMPERIAL TEEN at this stage, to the immense FRUSTRATION of GOULD.

when the material was in a somewhat finalized state, PATTON was brought in and he contributed vocals, which was the same basic process utilized on THE REAL THING (REPRISE, 1989) when he joined the group.  it was a risk, as GOULD and HUDSON had no assurances that PATTON would even like the music, as at this point PATTON was heavily involved with his other project MR. BUNGLE, not to mention that he had moved full time to BOLOGNA with his ITALIAN wife.  despite such PATTON got involved straight away and even brought three tracks with him including "NAKED IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER," "GOT THAT FEELING" and "HOME SICK HOME."  as a listener i always found this album to be one of the most consistent in terms of songwriting but had absolutely no idea that it was recorded in such a DISJOINTED manner with the new guy HUDSON pulling so much creative weight in the process.

one other INTERESTING aside about the record is the influence of GOULD's travels throughout EASTERN EUROPE, specifically ALBANIA, on specific songs.  "MOUTH TO MOUTH" and its SKITTISH heavily-SYNCOPATED feel was inspired by the TURKISH-influenced street music that he encountered in ALBANIA.  as a former PEACE CORPS volunteer that was stationed for a little over two years in that particular country, its absolutely tantalizing to think of where he went (writer's note: i messaged GOULD on TWITTER this very question and he wrote back, responses linked HERE and HERE).  likewise the closing song "PRISTINA" is named after the capital of KOSOVO, an ethnically ALBANIAN city that i likewise was lucky enough to visit several times due to its relative proximity to KUKES were i was initially stationed.  obviously his travels there predated by a few years the SERBIAN invasion during the KOSOVO WAR that began in 1998.  i wonder what he took from the experience and if he's been back post-conflict.  the song itself almost functions as an epic sendoff to one of the great ALTERNATIVE ROCK bands that ever was.  its just unfortunate that it was released during a period in music history where NU METAL was beginning to break out and FAITH NO MORE were effectively largely discarded by less adventurous and less gifted musicians that traded in self-pity, homophobia and misogyny who likewise saw them as cultural forefathers.  in retrospect it makes perfect sense that they got out while the going was still relatively good.

that is until they reconvened for the INCREDIBLE SOL INVICTUS (RECLAMATION, 2015) almost two decades later.  with full participation and without missing a beat.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR is required listening in my opinion by a seminal band for the ages.  most definitely worth checking out for the uninitiated.

i recently came across the SESIONES CON ALEJANDRO FRANCO televised live music and interview video series out of MEXICO and its seven seasons of performance footage from throughout the country.  the participating bands are a murderer's row of PROMINENT LATIN and AMERICAN bands including the likes of THE DRESDEN DOLLS, BOMBA ESTEREO, THE XX, BEIRUT, MOGWAI, CHRIS CORNELL, OF MONTREAL, BLONDIE, PLACEBO, DINOSAUR JR, TEGAN & SARA, VIVIAN GIRLS, CAKE, ATERCIOPELADOS, CALLE 13, THE DANDY WARHOLS, SPOON, GOGOL BORDELLO, MORRISSEY and THE RAVEONETTES.

i should also mention that the VISUALS are SPECTACULAR with multiple positions expertly edited together seamlessly and the SOUND MIX is absolutely ON POINT (which is not always the case with these live music performance series sadly).  definitely check it out and enjoy.

the thing that differentiated SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA POP PUNK band EVE 6 from the pack, especially with their self-titled debut EVE 6 (RCA, 1998), was their sense of lyrical SOPHISTICATION.  at the time and in retrospect, the lyrical content with its SELF-REFERENTIAL, INWARD-CONTORTING phrasing seemed far more URBANE than need be in terms of genre expectations.  its probably why leader bassist, lead singer and main songwriter MAX COLLINS has turned out to be such a great follow on TWITTER with his savage PITHY and often CAUSTIC putdowns of buffoonish conservative pundits and their ilk.  god bless the man.

the single "INSIDE OUT" is worth examining.  first heard this song a few months after it came out when i started attending a boarding school in MASSACHUSETTS after saying goodbye to my family that was still living in NIGERIA of all places.  just a MONSTROUS transitional period in my life at a young age.  originally i am from ORANGE COUNTY and have long had COMPLICATED relationship with that fact given how INSULAR, MYOPIC and naively SELF-IMPORTANT the people their were during my childhood.  not to mention just how blatantly DISMISSIVE and brazenly RACIST they were to the hispanic population. so the lines "socal is where my mind states / but its not my state of mind / im not as ugly sad as you" meant quite a bit to me at that time.  its that CONTRARIAN idea that, yes, i may in fact be one of them but at the same time im really not.  i define myself, not my surroundings.  for a CALIFORNIA teen being alone in an unfamiliar MASSACHUSETTS environment, having just spent his middle school years living in WEST AFRICA, that concept of self-determining one's identity was huge.  im sure being fourteen also played into such as well.

needless to say, i didnt get this sort of SELF-EXAMINATION listening to GREEN DAY, BLINK-182 or even the DESCENDENTS at this point.  i almost hold EVE 6 as more akin and comparable to preceding, weightier-themed ALTERNATIVE ROCK bands like SOUNDGARDEN, RADIOHEAD or NIRVANA than their immediate POP PUNK peers at the time.  this can be seen in other STANDOUT tracks like "TONGUE TIED," "HOW MUCH LONGER" and "SMALL TOWN TRAP" which all seem occupied with the struggle to extend beyond your limitations, be they geographical or imposed by oneself or authority figures.  heady stuff indeed and EVE 6 has aged remarkably well.  its themes regarding SELF-DISCOVERY are no doubt UNIVERSAL and arguably more RELEVANT in the social media age than they were upon its release in the late 90s.  my slight preference is for subsequent EVE 6 albums like HORRORSCOPE (RCA, 2000) and IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD (RCA, 2003) but their debut is definitely well worth checking out and exploring sonically and lyrically.  and definitely give COLLINS a follow.  the man helped me laugh my way (while crying admittedly) through the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.

back in the day as a pre-teen i heard the first few PEARL JAM releases completely out of order.  as i mentioned before, their third album VITALOGY (review linked HERE) along with SOUNDGARDEN's SUPERUNKNOWN (review linked HERE) were the first two record i ever owned as they were [very cool] christmas gifts from my parents back in 1994.  i was in fourth grade.

my initial impression of PEARL JAM's LEGENDARY debut TEN () album was completely contextualized by VITALOGY.  on VITALOGY, singer EDDIE VEDDER essentially took the creative reigns from guitarist STONE GOSSARD and very much created a sonically and thematically EXPERIMENTAL record that expressed his own personal grievance with being so personally identified with the convoluted ALTERNATIVE ROCK genre.  much like KURT COBAIN with NIRVANA's IN UTERO (review linked HERE), VITALOGY was VEDDER's attempt to determine his own narrative and that of his band and thwart and hopefully transcend audience expectations built up from TEN and VS (review linked HERE).

all that to say that when i first came across STRAIGHTFORWARD and ENERGETIC TEN tracks like "WHY GO," "PORCH," and "ONCE," i was basically waiting for a plot twist that never came to pass.  also, the ANTHEMIC singles "ALIVE," "JEREMY" and "EVEN FLOW," though incredible WELL-CONSTRUCTED and no doubt PASSIONATELY EXECUTED, still seemed cut from a TRADITIONAL songwriting playbook.  there were even extended guitar solos!  initially the songs that really hit me hard as a pre-teen were the more INTROSPECTIVE and SOLEMN numbers like "BLACK," "OCEANS," "GARDEN," and especially what i consider the best track on the record (and maybe their career) "RELEASE."  the way that song builds and crescendos is bordering on SPIRITUAL, which perfectly matches its lyrics about being able to transcend one's circumstances.  for me these tracks and the future emotionally RESONANT character studies they prefigure (like "DAUGHTER," "CORDUROY," "INDIFFERENCE," "OFF HE GOES," "NOTHING MAN," "OF THE GIRL," "ELDERLY WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER IN A SMALL TOWN," "NOTHING AS IT SEEMS," "BETTER MAN") are what set PEARL JAM apart from their ALTERNATIVE ROCK peers.  yes, its based in a tradition, but that includes CONTEMPLATIVE world-weary songwriters and craftsman from the FOLK, GOSPEL, R&B, BRITISH INVASION and even PUNK traditions.  its all in there.

sonically my favorite PEARL JAM album (how could it not?) will always be VITALOGY, but TEN is quite an AFFECTING achievement which makes sense given its history.  most of the tracks pre-date VEDDER's involvement and the original INSTRUMENTAL frameworks were concocted by GOSSARD and bassist JEFF AMENT of the recently dissolved MOTHER LOVE BONE, along with friend and fellow guitarist MIKE MCCREADY, in the wake of the death of singer ANDREW WOOD.  VEDDER, especially on the more MELANCHOLY tracks, very much tapped into something CATHARTIC that was being purged.  its a record that is a confluence of different voices in the band that would last another album cycle before VEDDER essentially took over.

needless to say, TEN is a great album that is worthy of all the acclaim its enjoyed for the past three decades.  well worth checking out.

the severe TRAUMA and PAIN involved with sustaining a major LOSS, along with the GRIEVING PROCESS thereafter, can be a seemingly ALL-ENCOMPASSING and an immeasurably TORTUROUS experience.  i cant even begin to imagine or empathize with the sheer depths of SORROW that musician ALAIN JOHANNES went through when he lost his wife and CREATIVE collaborator NATASHA SHNEIDER to CANCER in 2008.

if you are unfamiliar with the name JOHANNES, you may be more familiar with his work writing and supporting ALTERNATIVE ROCK juggernaut QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE as well as THEM CROOKED VULTURES, MARK LANEGAN, PJ HARVEY, ARCTIC MONKEYS and CHRIS CORNELL's early solo career among other NOTABLE projects.  interestingly, while still in high school in LOS ANGELES he led an INFLUENTIAL group called WHAT IS THIS? that had fellow classmates and future RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS musicians HILLEL SLOVAK, JACK IRONS and FLEA as members.  after meeting SHNEIDER, he started a new duo called WALK THE MOON and then later, after the PASSING of SLOVAK from a HEROIN OVERDOSE a few years later, IRONS left the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and joined JOHANNES and SHNEIDER in a new group called ELEVEN.  more so than his high profile gigs, ELEVEN is the DEFINITIVE project of his career as a musician given the deep TELEPATHIC and almost ALCHEMICAL INTIMACY that he shared with his wife on a PERSONAL, EMOTIONAL and MUSICAL LEVEL.  that INTENSE RAPPORT is understandably why he felt so severely BEREAVED and spiritually ISOLATED from the world and his formerly whole self.

having lived an extremely PERIPATETIC existence myself as a child moving from hemisphere to hemisphere, there is something about being a THIRD CULTURE KID that makes you extremely ADAPTABLE with the uncanny ability to make HOME anywhere.  yet at the same there is a ROOTLESSNESS that takes hold, the idea that you may be a citizen of everywhere but in reality NOWHERE.  i implicitly understand that perspective and how finding such a POWERFUL partner intrinsically grounds you on so many levels, many unspoken and unconscious.  JOHANNES being a polyglot and having lived in eight countries growing up while not knowing his birth father feels even to me like a heavy BURDEN to bear.  it makes sense that he grew to be such an EMPATHETIC songwriter and sought after musical collaborator.  its all very in keeping with truly being a THIRD CULTURE KID.

the documentary UNFINISHED PLAN: THE PATH OF ALAIN JOHANNES (GRAVITAS VENTURES, 2016) is very much centered around that AGONY and his road to finding SOLACE and MEANING anew in the world, even after the DEATHS of his partner, his mother and his birth father.  participants in this film include close friends and collaborators including every member of SOUNDGARDEN (i.e. CHRIS CORNELL, KIM THAYIL, BEN SHEPHERD and MATT CAMERON) as well as JOSH HOMME (KYUSS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THEM CROOKED VULTURES), MARK LANEGAN (SCREAMING TREES), DAVE CATCHING (EARTHLINGS?, RANCHO DE LA LUNA recording studio) and ALEX TURNER (ARCTIC MONKEYS).  what i found interesting was that JOHANNES discovering CHILEAN roots and being immediately embraced by their artistic and musical communities was both grounding and a REJUVENATING wellspring of HOPE, OPTIMISM and INSPIRATION in his life during what was undoubtedly a BLEAK PERIOD.  that warm embrace of a country he had no connection to outside of being born there and speaking the language provided a sense of CONNECTION when i can only imagine his instinct was to RETREAT and ISOLATE himself.  its all very moving and in keeping with what i have experienced about the people having lived in SOUTH AMERICA.

ultimately music is about CREATION and CONNECTION.  its such a uniquely human enterprise in that regard.  the greater community that supports such endeavors (musicians, recording engineers, concert promoters, independent radio, fans) at least provide a framework for REINTEGRATING oneself not only with a global audience, but with themselves and their own emotions.  this film in my opinion is more about that search for CONNECTION and MEANING in spite of tremendous GRIEF and PAIN, rather than the TRAUMA itself. 

music can do that.  or at least start the conversation.

RIP NATASHA SCHNEIDER, HILLEL SLOVAL, MARK LANEGAN & CHRIS CORNELL

came across recently this LONG-FORGOTTEN LIVE PERFORMANCE series that MTV AUSTRALIA put on back at the turn of the millennium called COLD LIVE AT THE CHAPEL.  over its three seasons there were performances by the likes of COLDPLAY, THE DANDY WARHOLS, FOO FIGHTERS, NEIL FINN, GOOD CHARLOTTE, THE LIVING END and BEN FOLDS among others.

its interesting watching DAVE GROHL sharply dressed playing in a suit.  the story goes that he got arrested driving drunk on a SLOW scooter after a traveling festival gig for BIG DAY OUT.  he ended up pleading no contest and had to have a suit to wear to court, thus the suit on this filmed episode in the early 2000s.  with that scooter conviction still on his record, GROHL apparently to date has to explain such to customs officials  every time he has entered for the past 20 years.  pretty RIDICULOUS.

for me, a live performance series like this is INTERESTING in that it is a snapshot of what television producers thought was MARKETABLE at the time, including LAMER acts i chose not to embed videos of including NICKELBACK, TRAIN, WHEATUS, FUEL, TONIC and LIVE.  some of this aged well and others not so much.  definitely worth checking out though.

parodies by nacrowe

not sure whats been going on in the DEFTONES camp post-COVID with their unceremonious firing of bassist SERGIO VEGA (QUICKSAND) after years of service following the untimely passing of original bassist CHI CHENG, not to mention founding guitarist STEPHEN CARPENTER's outing himself publicly and repeatedly as a VACCINE DENIER and CONSPIRACY THEORIST to the point that he wont tour in EUROPE(?).  its getting a little RIDICULOUS.  having lived in the CULTURAL BACKWATER of SACRAMENTO briefly my senior year of high school, im all too aware that sometimes with some people you can take the person out of SACRAMENTO, but you can't take the SACRAMENTO out of the person.

its all very confusing for what has to be one of modern AGGRESSIVE music's most BELOVED and INFLUENTIAL groups who have long outlasted the shelf life of their peers in the 1990s, influencing 2000s METALCORE and POST-HARDCORE for starters.  they are one of the few groups whose albums get ever more WEIRD and EXPERIMENTAL as they push forward with each new release (only other example i could thing of in modern ALTERNATIVE ROCK / INDIE ROCK was THE FLAMING LIPS).  maybe that is the growing influence and maturing songwriting arc of frontman CHINO MORENO over the past 30 years, but it is something to behold.  the band has long been a balance of seemingly opposing forces with a singer that channels HARDCORE, POST PUNK, NEW WAVE and ALTERNATIVE ROCK influences ranging from THE SMITHS, DURAN DURAN, FAITH NO MORE and the BAD BRAINS to a guitarist that straight up cosplays on his instrument like he is the sixth member of the IMPOSSIBLY HEAVY SWEDISH PROGRESSIVE METAL outfit MESHUGGAH.

but it works.  and has for decades.

my hope as a fan is that with all the seemingly ERRATIC activity coming from their camp as of late, that there isnt something deeper, more FOREBODING going on.  if anything they have been the model of CONSISTENCY and QUALITY CONTROL throughout ever step of their career and discography.  not one bad or subpar album.  DEFTONES have spoiled us as fans and for that i am GRATEFUL.  i just want the gravy train to remain in motion unabated, but im concerned.  it feels like something is up.

embedded below is a DEER GOD RADIO episode on nonprofit internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC that originally aired around the 20th anniversary of 9/11 during the pandemic. the playlist includes music from throughout DEFTONES' revered catalogue. enjoy!

in less than two short years itll be three decades since my family permanently left SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA for whats been an INSANE journey that has led me to live in several countries across five continents before resettling on the east coast of the UNITED STATES in recent years.  ive been back out west a few times, enough to know that whatever ties i had to ORANGE COUNTY and the greater LOS ANGELES area are now pretty DISTANT and MINUSCULE, but one thing i still hold on to is the EXPERIENCE of listening to the radio while in early elementary school.  specifically the nationally INFLUENTIAL ALTERNATIVE ROCK powerhouse that is 106.7FM KROQ.

i have a DISTINCT MEMORY of listening to KROQ and hearing bands like SOUNDGARDEN, LIVING COLOUR, MORRISSEY, THE B-52's, PEARL JAM, JANE'S ADDICTION, U2, TEARS FOR FEARS, NIRVANA, THE CURE, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, ELECTRONIC, 4 NON BLONDES, DURAN DURAN, R.E.M. and ALICE IN CHAINS on car trips to and from school and regional sporting events with my dad as a kid.  at this point that MEMORY is like a security blanket and one reason i probably view radio as an almost SACROSANCT institution.

embedded below are live performances of bands that have played the WEENIE ROAST, ALMOST ACOUSTIC CHRISTMAS or their recent SOUND SPACE events.  all of it was recorded well after my time in LOS ANGELES but squarely showcases the continued influence of that station.  it is all definitely worth checking out.

when THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES (EPIC, 1999) record came out i was a sophomore in high school at a boarding school in MASSACHUSETTS.  it was an event i distinctly remember because unlike the first two releases, this was the first RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album i was anticipating in advance.  their debut was something special my brother had found and bought in ROME on a family trip long after its release and the second album just announced itself on MTV when we were back stateside staying with relatives.  for me this third album was an event since the first two were so REVOLUTIONARY in terms of CONTENT and PRESENTATION.

and i think that is where this album fairly or unfairly doesnt live up to the first two releases.  its similar to my gripe with THE CLASH in general.  they had HEARTFELT, WELL-INTENTIONED LEFT-WING POLITICAL SCREEDS coupled with MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD music.  i know for some that is blasphemous but oh well.  with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE from the get-go, their OUTSPOKEN and UNAPOLOGETIC revolutionary POLITICAL STANCES (courtesy of the their SINGULAR frontman ZACK DE LA ROCHA) were met with the most UNCONVENTIONAL and INNOVATIVE ALTERNATIVE ROCK guitarist of his generation, TOM MORELLO.  never mind the fact that they had one of the premier rhythm sections ever in TIM CUMMERFORD and BRAD WILK.  in other words, their INTENSITY of their politics was more than matched by the IMPACT and POWER of their music.  but by the the time THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES comes out it feels very much like the first time the band is RETREADING past glories.  its a more-than-COMPETENT album with STANDOUT tracks like "CALM LIKE A BOMB," "TESTIFY," "BORN OF A BROKEN MAN," "SLEEP KNOW IN THE FIRE," "WAR WITHIN A BREATH," and "GUERRILLA RADIO", but it comes off more like an ITERATION instead of an INNOVATION.

and DE LA ROCHA picked up on that early in the production of the album apparently and perceived that the band had become COMFORTABLE in its songwriting process.  given that the band was a bit of a high-wire act throughout its existence, this COMPLACENCY seemed antithetical to the ethos of the group in his reported opinion.  it makes sense that THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES is the last studio album by this ICONIC group.  in the intervening years the band has only grown in STATURE and their has been this push-pull dynamic in terms of the band being a touring entity.  despite not wanting to sweat it out to the oldies, the band and especially DE LA ROCHA know full well that they can utilize their clout to promote PROGRESSIVE CAUSES on a level few can in this new digital ecosystem.  their live performances generate eyeballs in our attention marketplace.  so this record marks the end of the band as a CREATIVE entity, but whose to say that wont change.

despite not living up to their first two releases, THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES absolutely slays the competition relative to everything that came out during the turn of the millennium and the twenty or so years since.  definitely recommended but only after taking in the first two albums, which are absolutely DEFINITIVE for the band and their era in music history.

i always found it a particularly CURIOUS decision that BRITISH ALTERNATIVE ROCK band BUSH decided to utilize the services of notoriously SPARTAN record "producer" STEVE ALBINI (PIXIES, THE JESUS LIZARD, PJ HARVEY, HELMET, THE BREEDERS, FUGAZI) on their second album RAZORBLADE SUITCASE (TRAUMA, 1996) and the follow-up to their incredibly commercially SUCCESSFUL debut SIXTEEN STONE (review linked HERE).  ALBINI is a recording PURIST who sees his role solely as a vehicle via his audio engineering skills for bands and songwriters to effectively communicate their art.  he does not have a sound per se and is not interested in assisting with compositional or artistic decisions.  the CELEBRATED records that ALBINI is associated with are all sonically DIVERSE and showcase the recording artist usually unadorned with little reverb or studio trickery.  just precise mic-ing techniques in dry studios with minimal takes, the result being rather BARE and INTIMATE portraits of the artists themselves.

for KURT COBAIN and NIRVANA this was exactly the vibe they wanted given the LUSH, largely OVERDUBBED and wide-screen aural landscape present in BUTCH VIG's recording of NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991).  the sound of IN UTERO (DGC, 1993) was a direct reaction to the previous record, which in turn was a reaction to the decidedly RUDIMENTARY and GRUNGY sound of the JACK ENDINO-produced BLEACH (SUB POP, 1989) before it.  there is a sonic transition taking place that showcased the EVER-EVOLVING sound COBAIN was chasing that led him from ENDINO to VIG to ALBINI.

with BUSH, from the get-go they were critically MALIGNED for being OPPORTUNISTIC NIRVANA wannabes, which was a little UNFAIR but you can see from a marketing angle the niche singer and main songwriter GAVIN ROSSDALE was filling.  NIRVANA left a massive void on radio, MTV and in the culture at large and post-GRUNGE bands like BUSH, CANDLEBOX, EVERCLEAR and even the FOO FIGHTERS were attempting to address.  what i dont understand is that if you are being critiqued as being a clone of another band, why would your sophomore album be produced by the same producer of said band's sophomore effort.  that decision wreaks of a criminal lack of SELF-REFLECTION and outright ARROGANCE because RAZORBLADE SUITCASE is not on the same level as IN UTERO.

and its not like BUSH was alone with this dynamic.  take the STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, whose CORE (review linked HERE) was constantly and unfavorably being compared with PEARL JAM at the time of its release.  looking back i dont hear the commonalities, but that might be in part because STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and frontman SCOTT WEILAND effectively EVOLVED on subsequent releases that brought in outside DISPARATE and ENERGETIC elements (70s GLAM ROCK, 60s PSYCHEDELIA) to their sound that veered far away from the more INTROSPECTIVE FOLK and CLASSIC ROCK elements mined by PEARL JAM.

at the time i just didnt understand why BUSH attempted to sound (again) like NIRVANA so explicitly on their second go around.  song-wise the material was sub-par to their debut, with singles like "GREEDY FLY," "COLD CONTAGIOUS" and "SWALLOWED" not being the MEMORABLE and ANTHEMIC numbers that songs like "EVERYTHING ZEN," "GLYCERINE," "MACHINEHEAD" and "LITTLE THINGS" were previously.  its really a stretch to buy into the notion that ROSSDALE was SOCIALLY INEPT and SULLEN given his model looks and celebrity romantic dalliances throughout this period, which seems to be the narratorial perspective throughout the songs on RAZORBLADE SUITCASE.  it just wreaks of INAUTHENTICITY.  before his death, COBAIN repeatedly voiced his DISCOMFORT with AMERICAN celebrity culture and sought valiantly to utilize such a platform to advocate for political causes he supported (anti-homophobia, sexism and racism) and bands and songwriters he felt deserved more shine from the national press (THE RAINCOATS, MELVINS, DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE VASELINES, THE MEAT PUPPETS, SHONEN KNIFE, THE BREEDERS, HALF JAPANESE).  ROSSDALE in comparison has no DISTINGUISHING agenda or cultural community he is representing outside of himself.  dude felt like a scab at the time.

the next album with its electronic embellishments seems to be when BUSH finally found his lane as a musician.  id advocated to start with THE SCIENCE OF THINGS (TRAUMA, 1999) and work your way backwards.  maybe even skip RAZORBLADE SUITCASE entirely.

its safe to say that SAN DIEGO POP PUNK icons BLINK-182 were the soundtrack to my high school years.  even before their commercial breakthrough ENEMA OF THE STATE (MCA, 1999), burned copies of DUDE RANCH (MCA, 1999) had exchanged hands throughout the radio station at the NEW ENGLAND boarding school i was then attending.  there was something about their sound, which seemed to take the arpeggiated melodies and concise single-line leads of BAD RELIGION and married them with the juvenile HUMOR sans politics of NOFX.  on DUDE RANCH the band was kind of a lighter, less overtly controversial, more POLISHED and POP-FRIENDLY version of those two LEGENDARY LA PUNK bands.  i feel strongly that what set them over the top was the addition of a new drummer they poached from THE AQUABATS, TRAVIS BARKER.

BARKER is a generationally TALENTED drummer both in terms of his TECHNICAL MUSICIANSHIP, as well as his COMPOSITIONAL PROWESS as a songwriter.  on ENEMA OF THE STATE he elevates TRADITIONAL PUNK ROCK songs with his DEFT inclusion of LATIN, JAZZ and AFRO-CUBAN polyrhythms and a HIP HOP sense of dynamics.  i remember reading guitar magazines in the early 1990s and there was always discussions of THE SMITHS' JOHNNY MARR and how even if you couldnt stand MORRISSEY, everyone respected and was in awe of the TECHNICAL ABILITY and supernatural COMPOSITIONAL CHOPS of MARR.  same with BARKER.  he is very much a drummer's drummer with seemingly UNLIMITED RANGE and PERSONAL STYLE to spare.  it is not hyperbole to state that his inclusion in the trio was REVOLUTIONARY for their sound as well as their career trajectory.  it turned them from a promising but derivative also-ran POP PUNK group to a POWERHOUSE cultural phenomenon that transcended that of their early influences (i.e. BAD RELIGION, NOFX, DESCENDENTS, THE VANDALS, PENNYWISE).

​standout tracks include the tracks like "DUMPWEED," "GOING AWAY TO COLLEGE," "ALIENS EXIST" "DYSENTARY GARY" and the singles "WHAT'S MY AGE AGAIN?" and "ADAM'S SONG."  overall thematically the songs relate to GENERIC POP PUNK fair such as the COMBUSTIBILITY and CONFUSION related to relationships, being MISUNDERSTOOD by parents/adults/society and life after high school.  in my opinion its not until their self-titled BLINK-182 (review linked HERE) album that songwriting duo guitarist TOM DELONGE and bassist MARK HOPPUS really branch out beyond such seemingly OBVIOUS standard themes.  the lone exception on ENEMA OF THE STATE being "ADAM'S SONG," which despite being a reference to a MR. SHOW sketch promoting such, deftly touches on the topic of suicide and what motivates such an extreme action from an EMPATHETIC and THOUGHTFUL first-person narratorial perspective.  the misguided but achingly desperate idea that people "will be sorry when i'm gone" despite the fact that the narrator is reluctantly counter-arguing that in "another six months i'll be unknown."  the song gets into the psychology and VULNERABLE emotional state that pushes teens over the edge.  unquestionably the song has probably helped millions of kids feel heard and understood, albeit from afar.

is ENEMA OF THE STATE a perfect record that deserved pushing BLINK-182 to the upper echelon of POP PUNK royalty alongside GREEN DAY.  probably not, but it isnt a bad record in the least.  i think it served its purpose in generating interest in PUNK ROCK writ large and undoubtedly had a trickle down effect on the touring prospects for many older and newer bands BLINK-182 lionized and toured with such as PENNYWISE, NEW FOUND GLORY, FALL OUT BOY, THE VANDALS, PARAMORE, BAD RELIGION, GOOD CHARLOTTE, SCREECHING WEASEL, DESCENDENTS, A DAY TO REMEMBER and ALKALINE TRIO among countless others.  and i cant fault them for that.