The Music Blog of the Infonistacrat!

The Sex Pistols may have been the first British punk rock band, but The Clash were the definitive British punk rockers. Where the Pistols were nihilistic, the Clash were fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology. From the outset, the band was more musically adventurous, expanding its hard rock & roll with reggae, dub, and rockabilly among other roots musics. London Calling is a great song, maybe the best they did, and to me, I Fought The Law is a great example of their incredible versatility.

R.E.M. is a band I really want to keep loving…I’ve seen them twice, and they are an amazing band to see live. But honestly, I can’t find much to like since they released Monster. They have come so far from their jangle pop roots, that they bear little resemblance to the college radio gods they were in the 80’s. But I still love their early stuff, and as I said Monster was the pinnacle. There are so many great R.E.M. songs it’s hard to pick only two.

K’s Choice is kind of an obscure choice, but I was listening to the radio the other day, and I’m Not An Addict came on, and suddenly it felt like the mid-90’s again. There are so many great alternative songs from that period that you kind of forget about, and this song is one of them. I lived in Chicago back then, and we had a really great alternative station there for a few years. unfortunately, by the time I left Chicago in 2001, it had become like every other station in the states, playing garbage.

Cypress Hill and House of Pain are certainly not something I post here a lot, but these two songs are kind of infectious and again, there were songs I had forgotten about until hearing them recently. If you have other ideas on what you would like to hear, let me know in he comments…I love all genres, and will playing almost anything.

Linkin Park keeps in that rock/rap vein, although to be fair, I’ve always considered them to be more rocker oriented. I don’t listen to a lot of them…certainly I’m not a huge dedicated fan. But like most bands, they have a couple great songs I really like…Numb and In The End are pretty amazing and certainly their biggest hits.

Finally, I added in some Joy Division. I remember them from when I was a kid in the late 70’s going through this new wave period. Joy Division and Blondie were two of my favorites back then, and one has to wonder how great they would have been has Ian Curtis lived.

1. The Clash - London Calling
2. The Clash - I Fought The Law
3. R.E.M. - Driver 8
4. Death Cab For Cutie - We Looked Like Giants
5. R.E.M. - Texarkana
6. Fiona Apple - Shadowboxer
7. K’s Choice - Paradise In Me 01 Not An Addict
8. Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
9. House of Pain - Jump around
10. Linkin Park - In The End
11. Linkin Park - Numb
12. The Vines - Get Free
13. The Vines - Rainfall
14. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
15. Joy Division - She’s Lost Control