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Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Hey, kids, remember the ’90s? It was a magical decade. The series of tubes which would become America’s Super Highway to Pornography were just being laid. Netscape, a company that would go on to defeat Microsoft in the browser wars became the greatest economic force the world would ever know, forcing other software giants into a dark slumber and the eventual murder/suicide pact of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Meanwhile, “Titanic” was embraced by critics but shunned by young women everywhere, grossing a mere four dollars at the box office. America was captivated by TV’s Marcel, David Schwimmer’s stand-in on “Friends.” TV network juggernaut UPN stunned the world with “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” a show so successful that ratings for its series finale rivaled those of M*A*S*H. Also, some music happened:

Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

1. “6th Avenue Heartache,” The Wallflowers (backing vocals by Adam Duritz of Counting Crows)

2. “Hold My Hand,” Hootie and the Blowfish (backing vocals by David Crosby)

3. “What Would You Say,” Dave Matthews Band (harmonica solo by John Popper of Blues Traveler)

4. “Past The Mission,” Tori Amos (backing vocals by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails)

5. “‘Til I Hear It From You,” Gin Blossoms (produced by Marshall “Power Pop Darling” Crenshaw)

Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

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Tags: Adam Duritz, Blues Traveler, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews Band, David Crosby, Gin Blossoms, Hootie and the Blowfish, John Popper, Marshall Crenshaw, Nine Inch Nails, The Wallflowers, Tori Amos, Trent Reznor

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

It’s late, and you’re tired, and there are miles and miles to go. You’re driving a car you love, despite its crappy gas mileage and the fact that your contemporaries are all driving hybrids. You cruise through highways and back roads, through marshes with your windows down, despite the sharp odor of salt water and decay. You drive downtown, but you’re just cognoscente of the motorcyclist in front of you not to hit him. Miles to go, and you’ve fallen into one of those hellishly contemplative moods, where thoughts race around your brain like a dog chasing its tail. Thoughts like: I wonder how I managed to either completely miss or downright toss away any chance at real love. But Jesus Christ, what would I have done if I had found it? The mood’s like a drug, endlessly depressing and endlessly fascinating. So this list is for you and your habit. Tonight, these songs are for you:

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive:

1. “Goodnight, California,” Kathleen Edwards
The real trick to this alt-rocker comes half way through at 3:06, when the actual singing stops, and the hypnosis begins.

2. “Overnight Drive (What Might Have Been),” *64
Made up of elements from Angry Salad, *64 continued the tradition of writing infectious pop/rock tunes. But “Overnight Drive” seems to perfectly encapsulate a feeling of loneliness that every touring musician must sometimes feel with simple but beautiful lyrics like, “A cigarette explodes on the highway in the dark.”

3. “One Headlight,” The Wallflowers; 4. “Can’t Run But,” Paul Simon
Both songs evoke a state of melancholly with a sense of urgency brought on by the songs’ tempos. For “One Healdlight,” it’s the droning guitar punctuated by bass and snare. In “Can’t Run But” you have Simon’s mello voice augmented by a near-frantic thumb piano.

5. “Wish You Were Here,” Pink Floyd
The fade-out at the end of this track makes you believe you could, at some point, simply run out of road and fade out among the stars.

Runners up: “Precious Things,” Tori Amos; “Dead Flowers (Live in Calgary),” Steve Earle (Rolling Stones cover);”Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” Stars; “We Are Pilots,” Shiny Toy Guns; “Comfortably Numb,” Pink Floyd

Overnight Drive (What Might Have Been) (Sample download)

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive

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Tags: *64, Kathleen Edwards, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Shiny Toy Guns, Stars, Steve Earle, The Wallflowers, Tori Amos

Top 5 songs to sing at karaoke when your ex and their new girlfriend are in the audience

Friday, August 7th, 2009

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The idea for today’s Top 5 category comes from our favorite ex-pat, Arama, a girl who, living in Japan, knows a thing or two about karaoke.

You’re at your favorite karaoke bar with your friends. You’re having a grand old time. You can’t sing, but that’s not the point. What you’re doing is getting plowed, and forgetting all about him, how he screwed you over and then, without a second thought, started dating some harlot who laughs at his crappy jokes and thinks he’s intelligent because, on occasion, he talks in complete sentences.

Well, screw him. This is girls’ night out, a time to forget the tears and celebrate your newfound freedom. The emcee has queued your favorite songs, more than a few which are guilty pleasures. Your name is called, you get up on the stage, take the mic, and say “this one’s for–”

And then you stop, because you see that he’s in the back of the bar. And she’s with him.

Do you get off the stage, head low, defeated, make your way to the girls’ room and sob? Or do you stay on stage, mic in hand, and just own the night. I think the choice is clear.

Top 5 songs to sing at karaoke when your ex and their new girlfriend are in the audience

1. “Before He Cheats,” Carrie Underwood
At the very least, this ditty will leave your ex-boyfriend paranoid about his “pretty little souped-up four-wheel-drive.” This song also calls into question your replacement’s ability to consume real alcohol.

2. “The Waitress,” Tori Amos
You shouldn’t give them any reason to suspect that you’re stable, and performing any song by Amos is bound to give them pause (this is a woman who started one album with the line, “Father, I’ve killed my monkey”). I highly recommend shouting the refrain, “I believe in peace, bitch,” at the top of your lungs.

3. “Superstar,” The Carpenters
This is your drunken-desperation gig. Remember to sing this while staggering alarmingly about the stage, eyes blurred by tears and at least eight Jell-O shots. This should guilt him a little, or at the very least, earn you some pity-points.

4. “Head Like A Hole,” Nine Inch Nails
Preying on their sympathies not working? Go with rage.

5. “I Will Survive,” Gloria Gaynor
At this point, you’ll want to get all your friends on stage with you for the chorus. Best sung loud and incoherently. Remember to point accusingly, and laugh loudly as they both slink out of the bar.

Top 5 songs to sing at karaoke when your ex and their new girlfriend are in the audience

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Tags: Carrie Underwood, Gloria Gaynor, Nine Inch Nails, The Carpenters, Tori Amos

Top 5 heavily distorted tunes

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

There are days where you can’t focus, where every subject just seems to be white noise with varying in intensity. Where things are just … distorted. Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Maybe you’ve ruptured your ear drum. Maybe you were a little to quick to dismiss the notion of an “acid flashback.” Whatever the reason, theFiver’s got you covered. Here are, in no particular order, the:

top 5 distort

1. “California Girls,” The Magnetic Fields

Singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt loved the concept of distortion (and Jesus And Mary Chain – see No. 3) so much he named his band’s last album after it. And one of the best tracks off said album is this symphony of distortion, “California Girls.” Here, our friends from the Hills seem to get their just deserts, as in the song’s coda: “They will hear me say, as the pavement whirls, ‘I hate california girls.’”

2. “So What’cha Want,” Beastie Boys

Where would we be without the Boys’ 1992’s opus “Check Your Head”? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to be there. Raucous and fun, if this tune doesn’t make you want to pogo, then you’re no friend of mine.

3. “Just Like Honey,” The Jesus And Mary Chain

That which birthed The Magnetic FIelds. This alternative staple is so sweet, it might actually make you forget any image of Bill Murray getting cuddly with Scarlet Johanson.

4. “The Wretched,” Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor ushered in a new era of distortion-as-music with 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine and its signature tune “Head Like A Hole.” He upped the ante, though, with 1994’s The Downward Spiral, and continued with this track off

The Fragile (1999), “The Wretched.”

5. “Apple Option Fire,” Hot Lava

Indie band Hot Lava takes bit of a fun approach to distortion, finally giving the musical twist that gaming on a Mac deserves.

Distortion

Runners Up: “Closer,” “Head Like A Hole,” et al., Nine Inch Nails; “She’s Your Cocaine,” Tori Amos; “Wild Honey Pie,” The Beatles; “Slip Inside This House” (Thirteenth Floor Elevators cover), Primal Scream. So what bends your antennae?

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Tags: Beastie Boys, Hot Lava, Nine Inch Nails, Primal Scream, The Beatles. Thirteenth Floor Elevators, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Magnetic Fields, Tori Amos

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The Top 5 Blog

Tori Amos

...now browsing by tag

Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive

Top 5 songs to sing at karaoke when your ex and their new girlfriend are in the audience

Top 5 heavily distorted tunes