This is me today.

Wouldn’t It Be Good

Thank God for VH-1’s penchant for airing countdown shows from different eras.  They always have these 5 part shows like The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs or The 100 Greatest Hair Metal Songs that remind you of songs that get lost in your head.

I remember being drawn to this song because the video was so cutting edge at the time.  Real top notch 80’s video technology, up there with Take On Me by A-Ha and Money For Nothing by Dire Straits.  After it landed on VH-1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders list, I took the time to re-examine the song.  It’s just a potent cocktail of homesickness and hope, shaken over that wonderful 80’s sound (saxophone solo,bitches!).  And to me, the video still holds up.  Here’s Wouldn’t It Be Good by Nik Kershaw.

I’ve Been Waiting

I’m waiting for the 90’s to come back.  This market is dominated by all the “mostalgia” of 80’s dance music.  But I’m waiting for that trend to pass, and evolve into a longing for the music of the 90’s.  I don’t think we realized it, or fully appreciated it at the time, but the 90’s brought us the resurgence of the singer-songwriter. 

It was a time when people were a lot more open to different musical genres, the true hey-day of “alternative” music.  From the early grunge musings of Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, and Scott Weiland to the sublime and quirky writing of Glen Phillips, Rob Thomas, Rivers Cuomo, Dave Matthews, and Stephen Jenkins, the 90’s brought us a slew of  diverse and talented songwriters. 

One of my faves, and often overlooked, is Matthew Sweet.  As far as the 90’s sound, I considered his style to be as close to the perfect pop sound for the decade.  All his songs had giant hooks, sweetly blended harmonies, and perfectly placed guitar solos. 

I was shuffling through my CD collection and decided to pop in Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend CD.  I was instantly reminded why I was so enamoured with his music in the first place.  You just may enjoy him too.  Here’s my favorite song off the album:  I’ve Been Waiting.

P.S.  He also released a CD of cover songs with Susanna Hoffs called Under The Covers.  It’s a great listen and Susanna Hoffs is still hot.  I just wanted to mention that.

Grounds For Divorce.

I found this song by accident; I’m giving you a link instead of embedding a video because the video that was embeddable sounded crappy.

I can’t remember what I visited Amazon.com for; I must hit that site a few times a day looking for books & music I end up deciding I don’t really really need.   Yeah.   I only get the stuff I really really really need.

The Book Of Love

It’s one of those things. At the time, I could say that I wasn’t a huge fan. Now I look back and wonder why I wasn’t. A couple years back I got a “Greatest Hits’ compilation and popped it in my CD player to check out. Within a couple of tracks I realized that I flat-out love Peter Gabriel’s music.

Fall At Your Feet

The problem I have with cataloging my music is that I get caught up listening to songs that I haven’t heard in awhile, and they get stuck in my head.  That was the case with this song. 

I can’t say that I am a huge fan of Crowded House.  I own a couple of albums, but I wouldn’t claim to be an Uber-fan.  I do, however, really like Neil Finn’s songwriting and tone of his voice.  I put him the group of songwriters that I would like to write like.  He’s there along with Dave Matthews, Rivers Cuomo, and Glen Phillips.

The Comfort of Strangers

When I was 17 I thought I was losing my mind.   So I took off to California, where I was homeless & quickly penniless & really ridiculously cold.   I slept on Huntington Beach.   I’d fantasized about finding a perch on some frigid coastline, nameless, faceless, & detail-less.   I just wanted to not think so hard, until I died or something.