The Music Blog of the Infonistacrat!

I finally got around to restoring this post…unfortunately, I’m not able to find Patti Smith’s Redondo Beach. Shame too, as it’s one of my favorite Patti Smith tunes. Anyone know where I can find a copy, please let me know!

About a week and a half ago, I did a post on great underground music from the past 30 years. I enjoyed putting the list together so much, I thought I give it another go. After all, the underground music scene didn’t start in the 80’s, or even really the 70’s. There was a lot of great music, beside the popular psychedelic music most are familiar with. A great example of that is Status Quo and their song Pictures of Matchbook Men, a cover of which I included in yesterdays list. So, here is another list of songs I consider underground from the past 30 years or so. I tried to stick them in a rough chronological order.

I tried to put a few goodies from the 70’s on here that I didn’t include on the last list…the two most notable being Brian Eno and Patti Smith. First of all, Brian Eno is not someone I was ever really familiar with until recently. I’ve hear his stuff before, but never really paid it much mind. But being a person who love words and lyrics, and appreciates the turn of a good phrase, I find the more I listen to his stuff, the better it sounds to. And I HAD to include something off the incredible Horses album. I’ve been listening to Patti Smith for 30 years now, and she sounds just as great to me now as she did when I first heard her way back then. In that way, she is a lot like Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders, a timeless classic I never get tired of listening to.

I also wanted something from the early grunge scene, so that explain Mother Love Bone. I won’t go into the whole MLB story again, that is a tale that is well known. But Andrew Wood had a pretty amazing voice, and MLB was THE Seattle band before Nirvana, Pearl Jam (of course), or Soundgarden. Their stuff borders a little on the glam metal crap I despise so much (my apologies if your a fan of that era…I just had that crammed down my throat by friends who swear it was the greatest music ever). But, they are an important band in the history of underground/alternative. So I have to include em. Chloe Dancer is what most people usually play, so I went with Stardog Champion. Not the tune Chloe Dancer is, but a great song in it’s own right.

I’m putting Where Is My Mind by the Pixies in here, for two reasons. First, it’s probably my favorite Pixies tune, but secondly, it’s the one song that highlights all the pieces that make the Pixies the greatest underground band of the past 20 years. First, you have the great lyrics and vocals by Black Francis. Then you add the driving bassline and backing vocals of the fabulous Kin Deal. Add in the sometimes psychotic wall of sound guitar of Joey Santiago, and you have a master piece.

The rest fill out a great little list. The Swirlies, Cracker, Silver Apples, Slowdive, The Vines…they are all great bands worthy of addition to any playlist of great underground rock. So enjoy! Today, I’m traveling to Pittsburgh again, and this time, I may have to at least stop by Pimanti’s for one of those sammies!

1. David Bowie - Rebel Rebel
2. Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground - Wild Child
3. Brian Eno - The True Wheel
4. Spaceman 3 - Take Me To The Other Side
5. The Pogues - A Pair Of Brown Eyes
6. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
7. Mother Love Bone - Stardog Champion
8. Silver Apples - I Don’t Care What The People Say
9. Cracker - Low
10. Slowdrive - When The Sun Hits
11. The Swirlies - Jeremy Parker
12. The Vines - Ride
13. Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment
14. Ugly Casanova - Things I Don’t Remember