Rocktober '90s Song #20: "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera (1990)

Alas, dear readers, we have reached the end of yet another successful Rocktober.  Next year, we'll be delving into the rock of the aughts.  And stay tuned on Monday, as we'll be beginning Toevember, a daily look at the most popular foot fetish websites.

But we still have one last '90s Rocktober song:  "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera.  In 1990, Pantera essentially invented the groove metal genre with their seminal album Cowboys From Hell.  One of the songs from that album is "Cemetery Gates," a seven-minute groove metal power ballad, to the extent there can be such a thing.

Did you know that there is technically a difference between a graveyard and a cemetery?  Indeed there is.  A graveyard is traditionally next to a church, and it is reserved for members of that church.  A cemetery is a free-standing plot of land that may or may not have a religious affiliation.  But the one thing that binds them is that they house dead people.  And that's what "Cemetery Gates" is about.  Inspired by a friend's suicide, Pantera lead singer Phil Anselmo wrote lyrics about lamenting the death of a loved one and rejoining them in the afterlife, to the extent there can be such a thing.

Hair Band Friday - 10/29/21

1.  "Speak" by Queensrÿche

2.  "It's Alright" (live) by Guns N' Roses

3.  "After the Rain" by Nelson

4.  "Yesterdaze Gone" by Tesla

5.  "Flying High Again" by Ozzy Osbourne

6.  "Arizona" by Scorpions

7.  "Tooth and Nail" by Dokken

8.  "Thrill of a Lifetime" by King Kobra

9.  "Home is Where the Heart Is" by FireHouse

10.  "Killer" by KISS

Rocktober '90s Song #19: "Feed My Frankenstein" by Alice Cooper (1991)

1991 wasn't all grunge and hair bands.  Turns out classic rockers were still making some decent music.  Case in point was Alice Cooper, who released his twelfth solo and 19th overall studio album, Hey Stoopid.  "Feed My Frankestein" was pure Alice, with its horror themes and heavy sound.  He had a hell of a backing band on the song, with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani on guitars, Nikki Sixx on bass, longtime Bryan Adams drummer Mickey Curry on drums, and Robert Bailey on keyboards (who, admittedly, I don't know, but figured I'd add him in here for completeness's sake).  The song didn't chart in the U.S., but it was a Top 40 hit in the UK, where it went to #27 on the pop charts.  Perhaps more famously, it was performed by Cooper in Wayne's World in 1992 (in which Cooper had a memorable and hilarious cameo), and it was featured on the Wayne's World soundtrack.  More personally, I use one of the lines from the song whenever I want to let my wife know I'm in the mood:  "I'm hungry for love, and it's feedin' time."  It has yet to work.

Rocktober '90s Song #18: "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie (1998)

Our next Halloweek selection is Rob Zombie's 1998 song "Living Dead Girl."  After White Zombie separated in 1998, Zombie released his solo studio debut album, Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International.  

As you may know, Rob Zombie is not just a connoisseur of horror, but also an accomplished horror film director.  Many of his songs feature dark themes and even sound clips form horror movies.  Hellbilly Deluxe was a big hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard album chart -- the first of seven consecutive studio albums that reached the Top 10 (and a current streak at that).  You probably know the song "Dragula," which was inspired by one of the cars in The Munsters, "DRAG-U-LA," which was a dragster with the body of a coffin.

"Dragula" went to #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and the follow-up single, "Living Dead Girl," went to #7.  I could have easily chosen either song, but I decided on "Living Dead Girl," which I dare say I like better than "Dragula."  It's got an industrial groove metal feel, as much of Zombie's music does.  There are sound clips and samples from several horror movies, including The Last House on the Left, Lady Frankenstein, and Daughters of Darkness, as well as references to several other horror films.  And if you've never seen a half-naked woman dance on a stage to "Living Dead Girl" and appreciated the irony that, while still technically living, perhaps she's dead inside, then I urge you to drive to your nearest gentlemen's club post haste.

Ultimate Halloween Playlist v. 7.0

Apologies for not posting a Tuesday Top Ten yesterday, but I had shit going on.  Plus, it was probably just going to be a Halloween-related list anyway, so this should satisfy your carnal cravings.  

Halloween is Sunday.  Halloween parties will be happening this weekend.  I didn't post an Ultimate Halloween playlist last year because (probably, hopefully) no one was having Halloween parties, but this year, most of us (probably, hopefully) are vaccinated, and while perhaps things aren't quite fully in swing, maybe you're still having some people over to celebrate the day on which the earthly world and spirit world are one.  Call me a classic pagan high priest who enjoys a good summoning -- or a bad one! -- but Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year.  

As I've done in years' past, I'm giving you the tools you need to make your Halloween party a blinding success.  I have added 24 more songs to the list this year -- because that's the number of songs the charismatic new pastor at St. Patrick's on Crockett Island told me to add, as it's the number of hours in a day, double the number of Christ's apostles, and his favorite Kiefer Sutherland action TV show -- compiling the best songs for you to use either at a Halloween party to set the mood right or in the background on Halloween night, when you're dressed like Bev Keane, passing out cups of rat poison to passersby with a self-righteous grin on your face while telling them to trust in the Lord and they will receive eternal life.

Halloween is the one time of year when it's okay to embrace evil.  At any Halloween party or during trick-or-treating, you want there to be a certain level of creepiness, as well as some campiness, because Halloween is supposed to be a mixture of paganism, macabre, and fun.  As a result, the playlist below includes songs that have dark and evil themes, talk about monsters or the devil or witches or the like, mention the word "Halloween," or are just plain creepy.  My mix has a lot of heavy metal, but that's kind of expected, since metal bands are more likely to embrace darker subject matter than, say, Sean Mendes.  That said, it's all pretty palatable, even to those ears that might not be used to wailing guitars and double bass drums.  

As always, you don't want to go too dark, like, say, Norwegian black metal, because you're going to lose your party-goers, or the neighbors are going to think you're really into church burning.  And if you are into church burning, you're probably not going to want to tip the neighbors off by blaring Borknagar out your front door while handing their children black and orange Molotov cocktails (you have to be festive).

For parties, you'll probably want to mix these songs in with your regular party mix.  After all, who doesn't want to hear "Feed My Frankenstein" after "Wonder"?  For trick or treating, you're probably going to want to just go straight spooky, which probably means a heavy dose of Ghost, Pentagram, Misfits, and Black Sabbath.  Just make sure the songs you choose for trick or treating don't have any swears in them.  Parents can be real assholes about that.

With that, here are my recommendations for your Halloween playlist, in alphabetical order by artist, with comments where I felt it was necessary.  For your sake and the safety of your offspring, I suggest you add at least some of these to your Halloween party playlist, lest you'll get a midnight visit from Monsignor Pruitt.

1-4.  "Highway to Hell," "Hells Bells," "Night Prowler," and "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" by AC/DC

"Highway to Hell" is an obvious choice and a crowd pleaser.  "Hells Bells" has those instantly recognizable bells -- hells bells, if you will.  "Night Prowler" is a slower, creepy song that, several years later, serial killer Richard Ramirez (aka, "the Night Stalker") claimed inspired him, or something like that.  "If You Want Blood" was added solely to appease Countess Bathory.

5.  "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains

6.  "Demon Eyes" by The Answer

7.  "Zombie Graveyard Party!" by Be Your Own Pet

8.  "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles

This should be played just before or after "Look At Your Game, Girl" by Charles Manson.

9.  "Howling for You" by The Black Keys

10-14.  "Black Sabbath," "War Pigs," "The Wizard," "Children of the Grave," and "Heaven and Hell" by Black Sabbath

"Black Sabbath" was inspired by a vision Geezer Butler had one night after reading a book about witchcraft that Ozzy Osbourne gave to him.  He woke up in the middle of the night, and a black figure was standing at the foot of his bed.  The figure disappeared, and when Butler went to get the book, it too was gone.  "War Pigs" is about war, death, and bodies burning.  "The Wizard" is about a wizard.  "Children of the Grave" is about zombabies, presumably.  "Heaven and Hell" is the title track from the first Sabbath album with Ronnie James Dio as the lead singer, and it is awesome.

15.  "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult

But do fear sprouts because the consumption of raw sprouts may result in an increased risk of foodbourne illness, such as salmonella or e-coli.

16.  "D.O.A." by Bloodrock

17-18.  "We Are The Dead" and "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" by David Bowie

19.  "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow

20.  "Howl" by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound

21.  "Satan Is My Motor" by Cake

22.  "Halloween Theme" by John Carpenter

Instantly recognizable as one of the more creepy horror movie themes.

23.  "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash

24.  "The Night Time is the Right Time" by Ray Charles

Baybaaaaayyyy!

25.  "Spooky" by The Classics IV

26-27.  "I Love The Dead" and "Feed My Frankenstein" by Alice Cooper

28.  "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by The Cramps

I wasn't.

29.  "Zombie" by The Cranberries

30.  "The Crypt Jam" by The Crypt Keeper

This song is ridiculous, but a light-hearted Halloween option.

31.  "Am I Demon" by Danzig

No, no I'm not.

32.  "One Way Ticket" by The Darkness

You see, it's a one way ticket to hell.  And back.

33.  "Demon's Eye" by Deep Purple

34.  "Am I Evil?" by Diamond Head

"Yes I am."

35.  "A Nightmare on My Street" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

This is a classic late '80s rap song, playing off of the popularity of Freddy Krueger, who, for many of us growing up in the '80s, was the most terrifying of all the horror movie villains.  I should also note that I did, in fact, perform this with a friend for our elementary school talent show in fifth grade.  I was Freddy.  It was pretty awesome.

36.  "Dream Warriors" by Dokken

Speaking of Freddy, this was the title track to Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors.

37.  "Season of the Witch" by Donovan

38-39.  "The End" and "People Are Strange" by The Doors

"The End" is one of the creepier Doors songs, which says a lot.

40.  "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran

41.  "Murder On the Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

In case you're spiking your M&Ms with molly.

42.  "I Walked With a Zombie" by Roky Erickson

43.  "Zombie Eaters" by Faith No More

44.  "Trick or Treat" by Fastway

'80s metal band Fastway played the soundtrack to the 1986 the metal-themed horror film Trick or Treat.  This is the title song.

45.  "Satan Is My Master" by Ben Folds Five

46.  "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford

47.  "Close My Eyes Forever" by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne

48.  "Evil and a Heathen" by Franz Ferdinand

49.  "Halloween Blues" by The Fratellis

50-57.  "Monstrance Clock," "Year Zero," "Stand by Him," "If You Have Ghosts," "Ghuleh/Zombie Queen," "Cirice," "Nocturnal Me," and "Rats" by Ghost

"Monstrance Clock" is about conceiving "Lucifer's son," and "Year Zero" is about Satan in general and has a nice gothic feel to it.  "Stand by Him" is about "the night of the witch," which is, in fact, tonight.  "If You Have Ghosts" is a Roky Erickson cover about having ghosts.  "Ghuleh/Zombie Queen" is about Ghuleh and a zombie queen.  "Cirice" is a sold song about souls merging.  "Nocturnal Me" is about you, assuming you're nocturnal.  "Rats" is mostly about rats.  To be honest, I would suggest just including all songs from Ghost's four albums and three EPs -- Opus Eponymous, Infestissumam, If You Have Ghost, Meloria, Popestar, Prequelle, and Seven Inches of Satanic Panic -- especially if you're looking for trick-or-treating background music.  They are demonic in a polite Swedish way.

58.  "Friend of the Devil" by Grateful Dead

59.  "Clap for The Wolfman" by The Guess Who

60.  "Maneater" by Hall & Oates

61.  "Hallow's Eve" by Hallows Eve

62-63.  "Halloween" and "Mr. Torture" by Helloween

German power metal band Helloween obviously has the right name for a Halloween mix, and their song "Halloween" is included for obvious reasons.  I also chose to go with "Mr. Torture" because I like the song.  So there.

64.  "Friendly Ghost" by Harlem

This one's a little more light-hearted, to offset the vast majority of this list.

65.  "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

I prefer the original to CCR's cover (which is still very good) because Hawkins adds a level of voodoo campiness that CCR just couldn't have matched.

66.  "Magic Man" by Heart

67.  "I Ain't Superstitious" by Howlin' Wolf

68.  "Devil Inside" by INXS

69-72.  "Killers," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "Number of the Beast," and "Fear of the Dark" by Iron Maiden

It was tough figuring out just one Iron Maiden song to include, so I went with three.  The first two are from 1981's Killers album:  "Killers," which is essentially about someone being stalked and murdered, and "Murders in the Rue Morgue," which is not only my favorite Iron Maiden song, but is also based on short story by Edgar Allen Poe of the same name.  The third, "Number of the Beast," is a metal classic off of the 1982 album of the same name.  Because of this song, my children know that 666 is the number of the beast.

73.  "Thriller" by Michael Jackson

This is a no-brainer and should be played at every Halloween party for eternity.

74.  "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane

This is especially good if your partygoers are all on LSD.

75.  "Devil's Child" by Judas Priest

76.  "I'm Your Boogie Man" by KC & The Sunshine Band

77.  "Halloween" by King Diamond

78.  "Hotter Than Hell" by KISS

79.  "Pretend We're Dead" by L7

80.  "Vampire" by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

81.  "Heeby-Jeebies" by Little Richard

82.  "Look at Your Game, Girl" by Charles Manson

Recorded when Manson was still trying to break into the LA music scene and before he started ordering his minions to murder movie stars and grocery store owners, this song comes across as an innocent folky acoustic song.  Then you realize it's sung by Charles Manson, and it becomes super creepy.

83.  "Evil Love" by Meat Puppets

84-85.  "Fade to Black" and "Creeping Death" by Metallica

86.  "(Every Day Is) Halloween" by Ministry

I wish.

87-90.  "Halloween," "Death Comes Ripping," "Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight," and "Bloodfeast" by The Misfits

91.  "Shout at the Devil" by Mötley Crüe

92-93.  "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "I'm Your Witch Doctor" by Motörhead

94.  "Dead!" by My Chemical Romance

95.  "Frankenstein" by New York Dolls

96.  "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt

97.  "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo

98.  "Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist)" by Mike Oldfield

99.  "Running Scared" by Roy Orbison

100.  "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff

101-103.  "Mr. Crowley," "Bark at the Moon," and "Zombie Stomp" by Ozzy Osbourne

104.  "Dracula's Wedding" by Outkast

105.  "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera

106.  "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.

107.  "Satan's Bed" by Pearl Jam

108.  "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)" by Pentagram

Doom metal pioneers Pentagram have a good number of hard-rocking creepy songs, but this one is probably the most relevant to Halloween.

109.  "Zombie Zoo" by Tom Petty

110.  "Wolfman's Brother" by Phish

111.  "The Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt Kickers

This is a classic Halloween song that should be played at least once at every Halloween party.

112-113.  "Fallen Angel" and "Flesh and Blood (Sacrifice)" by Poison

114.  "Halloween" by Matt Pond PA

115.  "We Drink Your Blood" by Powerwolf

116.  "(You're The) Devil in Disguise" by Elvis Presley

117.  "Going to Hell" by The Pretty Reckless

118.  "Gates of Babylon" by Rainbow

The song is about sleeping with the devil.  And then paying for sleeping with the devil.  Probably because the devil gave you the clap.

119.  "Halloween Parade" by Lou Reed

120.  "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard

121.  "The Time Warp" by The Rocky Horror Picture Show cast

122.  "Diablo Rojo" by Rodrigo y Gabriela

123-125.  "Sympathy for the Devil," "Dead Flowers," and "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones

126-128.  "Soul Sacrifice," "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways" by Santana

129.  "Li'l Red Riding Hood" by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs

130.  "Witchcraft" by Frank Sinatra

131.  "Halloween" by Siouxsie and The Banshees

132-133.  "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" by Slayer

While I would generally recommend steering clear of Slayer at parties, there is no more appropriate time to let it loose than Halloween.  And you can always use it as a way to clear people out.

134.  "Bullet With Butterfly Wing" by Smashing Pumpkins

It just wouldn't seem right to have a Halloween playlist without a Smashing Pumpkins song on it.  I went with this one, not only because it starts by exclaiming -– wrongly, mind you -– that "the world is a vampire," but also because it's an awesome song.

135.  "Serial Killa" by Snoop Doggy Dogg

136-137.  "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "The Witch" by The Sonics

Halloween has room for garage rock, too.

138.  "Fell On Black Days" by Soundgarden

139.  "Ghost Town" by The Specials

140.  "Wicked Garden" by Stone Temple Pilots

141.  "To Hell With the Devil" by Stryper

In case you are concerned that your playlist might be a little too devil-heavy, you can balance it out with this '80s Christian hair band classic.

142.  "Santeria" by Sublime

143.  "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads

"You're crazy!"  

"That's what they said about Son of Sam."

144.  "Devil's Daughter" by Tax the Heat

145.  "See No Evil" by Television

146.  "Here Comes the Night" by Them

147.  "Killer On the Loose" by Thin Lizzy

148.  "Possum Kingdom" by Toadies

149-150.  "Demon On Demand" and "Sinister Minister" by Township

151-152.  "Running With the Devil" and "D.O.A." by Van Halen

153.  "The Black Angel's Death Song" by The Velvet Underground

I have never done acid, but I assume this song is what a bad acid trip would have sounded like in Victorian England.

154.  "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" by W.A.S.P.

155.  "Burning the Witches" by Warlock

156.  "Got My Mojo Working" by Muddy Waters

157.  "If My Mind is Evil" by White Lion

158-161.  "Death Letter," "Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground," "Little Ghost," and "Walking With a Ghost" by The White Stripes

162.  "Boris The Spider" by The Who

163.  "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group

164.  "Friends of Hell" by Witchfinder General

165.  "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder

166.  "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon

"I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's / And his hair was perfect."  Great line.

167-168.  "Dragula" and "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie

Rocktober '90s Song #17: "Zombie" by The Cranberries (1994)

Our next Halloweek '90s Rocktober selection is "Zombie" by The Cranberries.  Though the song is mainly included because of its title, the song is not actually about the flesh-eating undead, but rather a real-life horror:  The Troubles.

Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan wrote the song in response to an IRA bombing in Warrington, England in March 1993 that left two children dead and 56 injured (and prompted retaliatory attacks on Catholics by the UDA).  O'Riordan was raised in a large Catholic family in Limerick, Ireland, and grew up in the midst of The Troubles (albeit a couple hundred miles from Northern Ireland).  The anger and despair about the constant fighting between the IRA and UDA (and Catholics and Protestants in general) comes out in the song, referencing the violence of the Ireland/Northern Ireland conflict, going back the Easter Rising in 1916 ("It's the same old thing / Since Nineteen Sixteen").

Rocktober '90s Song #16: "Possum Kingdom" by Toadies (1994)

We are officially in Halloween Week -- or Halloweek, for those who like to combine words, as I do -- which means that the Rocktober selections will all deal with dark, macabre, and horrific themes.

First up is Toadies' 1994 song "Possum Kingdom."  There's always been something foreboding about this song, and I thought maybe it was about a vampire possum looking for a bride.  It's not, but it's still all dark and creepy.  The band was from Fort Worth, Texas, and the song was inspired by Possum Kingdom Lake, located in Palo Pinto, about an hour west of Fort Worth.  Lead singer and songwriter Todd Lewis wrote the song as a sequel to an earlier Toadies song "I Burn," which was about cult members who set themselves on fire to reach whatever their version of heaven or nirvana might be.  "Possum Kingdom" is about one of those self-immolaters who has been reduced to smoke, so he goes to Possum Kingdom Lake to find someone to join him.  Apparently the way to do that is to pressure someone ("make up your mind") into dying ("do you wanna be my angel?"), but he's gonna treat her nice ("I will treat you well, my sweet angel, so help me Jesus").  Of course, the climax is Lewis screaming "Do you wanna die?" over and over.

The video is creepy as well, starting with a body bag being pulled out of a lake, presumably Possum Kingdom Lake.  Then shots of the band playing in a small dark club are interspersed with shots of whoever pulled the body bag out of the lake stabbing what was in the body bag.  Turns out he was just making an ice sculpture.  Such was the '90s.

Rocktober '90s Song #15: "Morning Glory" by Oasis (1995)

Next week is Halloween Week, so all the Rocktober songs will be appropriately themed in that respect.  But until then, we have one more "regular" '90s rock song.  I haven't yet featured any Britpop songs, and it would be a disservice to the '90s if I did a '90s Rocktober without a Britpop song.

The Britpop genre developed in the UK in the early to mid '90s as kind of reaction to the sullenness of grunge and shoegaze.  While it was more pop oriented, it was still generally guitar-driven rock, with bands like Oasis, Blur, Suede, and Pulp leading the way.  Oasis's second studio album, 1995's (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, is generally considered the defining album of the Britpop genre.  Last November, I posted about the album as part of CoronaVinyl, so you can read that post for more background and information on how huge the album was.

While the album features many of Oasis's best-known songs and biggest hits, like "Wonderwall," "Don't Look Back in Anger," "Champagne Supernova," "Roll With It," "Morning Glory," "Some Might Say," and "Hey Now!" They're all wonderful songs, but I am going with "Morning Glory" because it's the one that rocks the hardest, as this is, after all, Rocktober, not Britpoptober.

Hair Band Friday - 10/22/21

1.  "Shelter Me" by Cinderella

2.  "Good Enough" by Van Halen

3.  "Estranged" (live) by Gun N' Roses

4.  "Livin' On the Edge" by Britny Fox

5.  "Nobody's Home" by Shotgun Messiah

6.  "Your Mama Won't Know" by Pretty Boy Floyd

7.  "The Hunter" by Dokken

8.  "I Won't Forget You" by Poison

9.  "When I Look Into Your Eyes" by FireHouse

10.  "Wild One" by Dio

Rocktober '90s Song #14: "Sample In a Jar" by Phish (1994)

One of the rock genres that had a bit of renaissance in the '90s was jam bands.  The Grateful Dead successfully toured in the early '90s until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.  Tie dye shirts were back in vogue.  Bands like Phish, Rusted Root, Dave Matthews Band (who I hate!), Widespread Panic, moe., String Cheese Incident, Grateful Dead cover band Dark Star Orchestra, and Umphrey's McGee carried the torch from the Dead.

I think it's safe to say that Phish is Gen X's version of the Dead, and despite little to no airplay on traditional radio, they developed a huge following and in the mid to late '90s, they had some pretty good success on the album charts.  1996's Hoist went to #34 on the Billboard album chart, 1996's Billy Breathes went to #7, 1998's The Story of the Ghost went to #8, and two live albums that cracked the Top 20.

"Sample in a Jar" is from Hoist, and it seemed to be the Phish song that I remember hearing most in college, so it brings back fond memories (or lack of memories).  The verses are subdued, and then it kicks into a jam in the choruses.  Funnily, lead singer Trey Anastasio said the song is "basically about sitting in a car with the seatbelt on, drunk."

Rocktober '90s Song #13: "This Velvet Glove" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)

Apologies for failing to post a Rocktober song yesterday.  Things got away from me, which is to say that I worked until 2:30 a.m.  But while I'm still running on what fumes I have left, I'll make up for it by giving you two posts today.

I'm making chili tonight, so a Red Hot Chili Peppers song seems to be in order.  Like many alternative bands (R.E.M.), Red Hot Chili Peppers paid their dues in the '80s only to explode into superstardom in the '90s.  Prior to 1991, the band's highest-charting album was 1989's Mother's Milk, which topped out at #52 on the Billboard album chart.  Then they released Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and everything changed.  That went to #3 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went 7x platinum in the U.S., establishing them as one of the biggest bands around.  Their follow-up, 1995's One Hot Minute, went to #4 on the Billboard album chart and went double platinum.  

Then, in 1999, they had the perfect bookend to the decade, with Californication, which, like Blood Sugar Sex Magik, went to #3 on the Billboard album chart and went 7x platinum in the U.S.  Californication marked the return of guitarist John Frusciante, who had quit the band in 1992 and fell into addiction to various drugs.  After going through rehab, he rejoined the band in 1998.

Californication was the first Chili Peppers album to have two Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  "Scar Tissue" went to #9, and "Otherside" went to #14.  In addition, the title track peaked at #69.  All three went to #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Scar Tissue" and "Californication" topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and "Otherside" went to #2 on that chart.  Also, "Around the World" went to #7 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

The album -- which is 15 tracks -- is awesome and has a bunch of great songs.  I'm going with "This Velvet Glove," which wasn't released as a single, but is a pretty damn good late '90s rock song.  Like so many of their songs, it melds rock with elements of funk and R&B.

Rocktober '90s Song #12: "Tired of Sex" by Weezer (1996)

You know I couldn't do a Rocktober without a Weezer song, and while I love their self-titled debut album from 1994 (aka "The Blue Album") and think it's one of the best debut albums of the '90s, if not ever, you probably know all the songs on that one.  So, I'm going with what's probably my favorite Weezer song:  "Tired of Sex," the first song off of their 1996 album Pinkerton.

After the huge success of The Blue Album -- and songs like "Buddy Holly," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and "Say It Ain't So" -- Weezer was primed for a successful follow-up, but what followed was a sophomore slump, at least at first.  

The band self-produced Pinkerton and tried to give it a more "raw" sound than the Blue Album.  Much of the album was written while lead singer and main songwriter Rivers Cuomo was going to Harvard after the success of the Blue Album.  The band recorded most of the album during Cuomo's breaks from college.

Pinkerton is a pile of pent-up frustration being unleashed on the world set against a catchy rock background.  The songs touch on loneliness, isolation, and the frustration and disillusionment of the rock and roll lifestyle.  There are songs about not wanting meaningless sex, the perils of relationships, not having the confidence to talk to a crush, getting dumped by a lesbian, and writing a song for a Japanese fan who sent Cuomo a letter, among others.  It's raw, it's emotional, and it's really fucking good.

For whatever reason, it was not well-received by the masses or the critics.  Released in September 1996, it peaked at #19 on the Billboard album charts in mid-October 1996 and had dropped out of the Billboard 200 by the end of January 1997, and it had dropped out of the top 200.  None of the singles charted on the Billboard Hot 100.  Rolling Stone voted it the third worst album of 1996.  The reaction to the album was so bad that the band broke up for nearly five years after the tour supporting Pinkerton, and Cuomo was embarrassed by the album for many years.

Then fans started to discover Pinkerton, and it became a cult and retroactively critical hit.  In a 2002 Rolling Stone reader poll of the 100 best albums of all-time, Pinkerton came it at #16, ahead of albums like Pet Sounds, Rubber Soul, Born to Run, and Sticky Fingers.  In 2003, Pitchfork ranked Pinkerton #53 on its best albums of the '90s list, and in 2010, Rolling Stone put it at #48 on a similar list. In 2004, Rolling Stone added the album to its "Rolling Stone Hall of Fame."

As I mentioned above, "Tired of Sex" kicks the album off, and it starts with guitar feedback, followed by some bang-bang thumps from drummer Patrick Wilson and fuzzy bass from Matt Sharp, along with some keyboards.  Then you hear Cuomo sing "I'm tired / So tired / I'm tired of having sex."  Wait, what?  That's like the least rock star thing anyone could every write, but then again, Rivers Cuomo is a beautiful enigma.  Then after ratting off all the ladies he's banging, he asks "Why can't I be making love come true?" before letting out a primal scream. Then he belts out the next verse and chorus, which is followed up by a short but sweet guitar solo.  I can honestly say that I one day hope to be in a situation where I can say that I'm tired of having sex.  Until then, I'll just blast this song whenever I hear it.

Tuesday Top Ten: Rocking Songs from Lilith Fair Artists

The '90s was a time for the rebirth of music festivals, from Lollapalooza to the Warped Tour to Ozzfest to the H.O.R.D.E. Festival to Woodstock '94 and '99 to Big Day Out to the Family Values Tour to Rock Never Stops, and others.  Most of them were rock-centric and male-dominated.  

In 1996, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan was rightly frustrated by the fact that many concert promoters and radio stations would put two female artists in a row or play songs by two female artists in a row.  So she decided to take things into her own hands, establishing Lilith Fair, a music festival featuring nearly all female bands and artists.  She took the name Lilith from Adam's alleged first wife, who refused to be subservient to him -- and, as you might expect, is, therefore, considered a demon in Judaic mythology.

Lilith Fair debuted in 1997, and it was the top grossing festival tour that year.  It came back in 1998 and 1999.  The festival played at dozens of cities across the U.S. and Canada each of the three years, and overall, there were hundreds of bands and artists across various genres that played at the festival.

As you might expect, Lilith Fair has a reputation as being a calmer, gentler festival, and it's not hard to see why, with artists like McLachlan, Jewel, Paula Cole, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Indigo Girls, and Lisa Loeb headlining.  But that doesn't mean there weren't bands and artists that didn't rock.

Here are my favorite rocking songs released in the '90s by Lilith Fair artists, in alphabetical order by artist and with the year(s) the band or artist appeared at Lilith Fair in parentheses (which is not necessarily the same year the song came out):

1.  "Criminal" by Fiona Apple (1997)

Fiona Apple burst on the scene with her 1996 album Tidal and the hit song "Criminal," a slow and sultry rocker with an equally sultry video.

2.  "Mother Mother" by Tracy Bonham (1997-1998)

Alt-rocker Tracy Bonham's biggest hit, "Mother Mother," not only topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and went to the Top 20 on the pop charts in four other countries, but it's a complete trap song (and I don't mean the genre trap).  It starts out with a quiet acoustic guitar and not much else (other than Bonham's voice) in the chorus, and then busts into electric guitars and the full band, before Bonham just unleashes in the chorus with that epic "Everything's fiiiiiiinnnnnnne!"

3.  "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks (1997-1998)

One of the most '90s opening lines -- "I hate the world today" -- starts off Meredith Brooks's big 1997 alt-rock hit "Bitch," which struck a chord, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 10 on eleven other international pop charts.

4.  "My Favorite Mistake" by Sheryl Crow (1997-1999)

Crow was one of the biggest female artists of the '90s and early '00s, and while much of her music is on the poppier side, she could still rock.  "My Favorite Mistake" is about a relationship with an unfaithful man that's rumored to be about Eric Clapton, though Crow has dispelled those rumors.  

5.  "My Sister" by Juliana Hatfield Three (1997)

Technically this song was released by the Juliana Hatfield Three, and Hatfield performed at Lilith Fair as a solo artist, but it's my blog, so I'm including it.  "My Sister" is a song about both hating, loving, and missing one's sister.  And Hatfield didn't even have a sister!

6.  "Not an Addict" by K's Choice (1997-1999)

Belgium's K's Choice was one of the several bands and artists that played at all three Lilith Fairs.  Their 1995 song "Not an Addict" was an introspective alt-rock song about not wanting to fall prey to addiction.

7.  "Naked Eye" by Luscious Jackson (1998-1999)

Right off the bat, you have to love Luscious Jackson because they named themselves after former '76ers forward Lucious Jackson.  Their biggest hit was 1997's "Naked Eye," an infectious alternative rock song that reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100.

8.  "Fuck and Run" by Liz Phair (1998-1999)

Chicago's Liz Phair's debut album, 1993's Exile in Guyville, is considered by critics as one of the best albums of the '90s, getting ranked #56 on Rolling Stone's most recent 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list.  "Fuck and Run" is a low-key alt-rock song, presumably about the difficulties of trying to copulate during a 5k.

9.  "Hold a Candle to This" by The Pretenders (1999)

While The Pretenders were mainly known for their work in the late '70s and '80s, they were still putting out good music in the '90s.  "Hold a Candle to This" from their 1990 album Packed! is kind of a post-new wave rocker.

10.  "It Hurts So Bad" by Susan Tedeschi (1999)

Blues guitarist and singer Susan Tedeschi is now probably better known as one of the titular figures (along with her husband, the magnificent Derek Trucks) of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, but she has been crushing it since the '90s.  "It Hurts So Bad" is a soulful blues number that shows off Tedeschi's pipes and licks.

Rocktober '90s Song #11: "Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill (1993)

Grunge wasn't the only significant genre that originated in the Pacific Northwest in the late '80s and early '90s.  Evergreen State College in Washington's capital city of Olympia proved to be the incubator for the riot grrrl movement, which combined punk rock and feminist politics.  

Bands like Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, 7 Year Bitch, Dickless (my favorite of the genre's band names), Team Dresch, and The Third Sex, among many others, formed in the early to mid '90s in the Pacific Northwest.  But the progenitor of the genre is widely considered to be Bikini Kill, which formed in late 1990 in Olympia by Kathleen Hanna on vocals, Billy Karren (a man!) on guitar, Kathi Wilcox on bass, and Tobi Vail on drums.

They took the DIY aesthetic of punk and combined it with hardcore feminism, and Hanna would often jump into the crowd at early shows to remove male hecklers.  After releasing their debut album, Revolution Girl Style Now, the band attracted the attention of other rockers, including Joan Jett, who wrote the song "Activity Grrrl" about the band.  In response, Jett produced the band's song "Rebel Girl," which is considered one of the anthems of the riot grrrl genre.  It was recorded in 1993, and there are actually three versions of the song -- a single version that was produced by Jett and featured her on guitars and backing vocals; a version on the 1993 EP Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah; and a version on their 1993 album Pussy Whipped.

The band would break up in 1997 after releasing a couple more albums, and then they (minus Karren) reunited briefly in 2017 and then for a relatively short tour (including a few festivals) in 2019.

Interesting tidbit:  

1.  Hanna has been married to Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys since 2006.

2.  Hanna also inadvertently (or maybe advertently) inspired the title of grunge's signature song, Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."  She wrote "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Kurt Cobain's wall.  At the time, Cobain was dating Vail.  Hanna was referring to the teen-marketed deodorant Teen Spirit, which Cobain didn't realize.  He just thought it sounded like a great slogan and song title.

Rocktober '90s Song #10: "Desperately" by Slaughter (1990)

Thus far in this '90s-themed Rocktober, I haven't yet featured a song from the first two years of the decade.  Since it's Hair Band Friday, it only makes sense that I should feature a song from a hair band.  As I detailed in the first Tuesday Top Ten of this '90s Rocktober, despite the onslaught of grunge beginning in 1991, hair bands still enjoyed a good bit of success in the first several years of the '90s.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of hair bands that got started in the early '90s, which in retrospect, only gave them a limited window of time to hit it big before musical tastes sent most hair bands to virtual extinction by 1993.

Slaughter was one of those bands.  They formed in 1988 after the breakup of Vinnie Vincent Invasion by that band's lead singer Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum, after the band's record label took Vinnie Vincent Invasion's contract away for exceeding its credit line, and the label gave the remainder of the contract to what became Slaughter.

The band released its first album, Stick It To Ya, in January 1990, when hair bands still ruled the rock world.  The album did pretty well, reaching #18 on the Billboard album chart and eventually going double platinum in the U.S.  It featured three Top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100:  the Amelia Earhart-inspired power ballad "Fly to the Angels" (#19), "Up All Night" (#27), and "Spend My Life With You" (#39).  Their next album, 1992's The Wild Life, actually charted better, peaking at #8 on the Billboard album chart, but it didn't produce any Top 40 hits and only went gold in the U.S. because, you know, grunge.

One of the hidden gems on Stick It To Ya is "Desperately."  It's a catchy glam metal song that wasn't released as a single, but it's my favorite song on the album, and I think it probably could have been a hit had it been released a few years earlier.

Interesting tidbits:  

1.  Slaughter drummer Blas Elias was among the many '80s and '90s rock start who played roles in one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, 2001's Rock Star.  He played the drummer in the Steel Dragon tribute band Blood Pollution.  And he also drums for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the Las Vegas production of Blue Man Group.

2. Strum was a talent scout in his early days and is kind of legendary rock and roll matchmaker.  He is the one who convinced Randy Rhoads to try out for Ozzy Osbourne's band in 1979, and he's also the one who helped Jake E. Lee get the guitarist gig in Osbourne's band after Rhoads's untimely death in 1982.  Strum also credited with placing Mark St. John in KISS in 1984, replacing Vinnie Vincent, who had left to form Vinnie Vincent Invasion, in which, as discussed above, Strum was the bassist.

Hair Band Friday - 10/15/21

1.  "Living in Sin" by Bon Jovi

2.  "Demon Alcohol" by Ozzy Osbourne

3.  "Let Me Put My Love Into You" by AC/DC

4.  "Lazy Days, Crazy Nights" by Tesla

5.  "Midnite Dynamite" by Kix

6.  "Here I Am" by Skid Row

7.  "Sleeping in the Fire" (live) by W.A.S.P.

8.  "Good Girl Gone Bad" by KISS

9.  "Coming Home" by Cinderella

10.  "Why Can't This Be Love?" by Van Halen

Rocktober '90s Song #9: "Basket Case" by Green Day (1994)

In 1994, the world didn't realize it needed a pop punk injection, and then came Dookie, Green Day's third studio album, but their first major-label release.  It pretty quickly thrust the band into mainstream, with help from the band's spot on one of the side stages at Lollapalooza and their appearance at Woodstock '94, where they infamously engaged in literal mud slinging with the crowd.

I remember hearing the first single, "Longview," on Q101 and being taken aback by the fact that the song openly talked about masturbation -- and even more taken aback by the fact that they suggested masturbation could lose its fun, though as a sophomore in high school, no one would dare admit to pleasuring themselves.  But anyway, after that, four other now-classic Green Day singles followed:  "Welcome to Paradise" (which was a re-recording, as the song had originally appeared on their 1991 album Kerplunk), "Basket Case," "When I Come Around," and "She."  Each one was a Top 7 song on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, with "Longview," "Basket Case," and "When I Come Around" topping that chart.

Dookie would reach #2 on the Billboard album chart, #1 on the album charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and the Top 10 on the album charts in seven other countries.  It is certified diamond in the U.S., and over the years, it has received various accolades over the years, including #1 on Rolling Stone's Readers' Choice Best Albums of 1994 list, #375 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list, and #2 on Kerrang!'s list of the Greatest Pop Punk Albums Ever.  It ended up being #33 on Billboard's Decade-End album chart for the '90s.

While there are various songs from the album I could have chosen, my favorite is "Basket Case," a three-minute blast of energy with lyrics by lead singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong about his battles with anxiety and various delicious fills from drummer Tré Cool.  And the video is great too, with the band playing in a mental institution.  Like they ever would give mental patients cords.

Rocktober '90s Song #8: "Volcano Girls" by Veruca Salt (1997)

Named after the prissy and spoiled character from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Chicago's Veruca Salt was one of the many female-majority hard rock bands that found success in the '90s.  The burst onto the alternative rock scene in 1994 with the song "Seether," which went to #8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.  In 1997, they released their second full-length album, Eight Arms to Hold You -- a nod to the original name of what would become The Beatles' second feature film, Help! -- which was produced by Bob Rock and went to #55 on the Billboard album chart, the band's highest-charting album.

Eight Arms to Hold You is a great hard rock album, and the song you probably recognize the most from the album is "Volcano Girls," a fun rocker that starts out with it's sing-along chorus:  "Leave me lyin' here / 'Cause I don't wanna go."  Like the album title, this song also has a nod to The Beatles, with the bridge, which is inspired by "Glass Onion."

The song went to #8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #9 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and the video looks like it was fun to make, if not vomit-inducing.

Rocktober '90s Song #7: "In The Meantime" by Spacehog (1996)

One of my favorite '90s rock one-hit wonders is Spacehog's 1996 song "In The Meantime."  Spacehog was formed in New York, but the band members were mainly from Leeds in the UK.  They played glam-influenced alternative rock, and "In The Meantime" is just a wonderfully catchy and fun alt rock song, even though I have no idea what lead singer Royston Langdon is saying half the time.  "I'm the only on you?"  "I'm the only onion?"  "I'm the oily on you?"  "I'm the only young youth?"  "I'm the hole beyond the moon?"  "I'm the lonely hung Jew?"  Frankly, I don't really care, and I don't have any desire to find out what the actual lyric is because, for me, it's better just gleefully singing gibberish whenever I hear the song.

The song was the band's only charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, where it went to #32.  It also topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, went to #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the Top 40 on the pop charts in Australia, Canada, Iceland, Scotland, Sweden, and the UK.

Langdon parlayed his success into a relationship with Liv Tyler.  They began dating in 1998, married in 2003, had a son in 2004, and then separated in 2008.

Tuesday Top Ten: Essential Grunge Albums

When you think of rock music in the '90s, grunge is likely the first thing that comes to mind.  Grunge music and fashion defined much of the decade.  Smiles, Aqua Net, coke, guitar solos, and tight pants were out.  Brooding, long stringy hair, heroin, fuzz bass, and baggy clothes were in.

After the excesses of the '80s and the related larger-than-life music, image, and, well, hair, of hair bands, grunge was a stark contrast.  Born in the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest, it was the antithesis of the party-forward lifestyle of the Sunset Strip.  For me, the "Grunge Era" began in the late '80s, with bands like the Melvins, Green River, and Nirvana, who combined the ethos of punk and lo fi with elements of heavy metal and hard rock to create the sludgy "Seattle Sound."  And for me, the Grunge Era ended in 1995.  The reluctant spokesman of grunge, Kurt Cobain, died a year earlier, joining the tragically legendary 27 Club, and his former band mate Dave Grohl released the Foo Fighters' first album in July 1995, which I think marked the dividing line between grunge and what would become known as post-grunge.  Like the Hair Band Era before it -- which lasted a bit longer than the Grunge Era -- the Grunge Era came to an end as record companies tried to capitalize on the grunge sound and replicate it for their own monetary benefit, which watered it down.  If you haven't seen the 1996 documentary about grunge, Hype!, check it out.  It tracks the brief yet hugely impactful course of grunge.

As a lover of hair bands, I was very conflicted when grunge came along, and like many, I initially resisted it, regardless of whether I thought the music was good.  There was definitely a grunge vs. hair band demarcation among music fans, although that eventually faded as people (myself included) realized you could like both types of music without being Judas.

Now that we're 30 years removed from the grunge explosion in the early '90s -- and good God, that makes me feel really old saying that -- it occurred to me that there might be some young 'uns out there that maybe aren't familiar with grunge, outside of Nevermind and Ten.  And that's fine, but one of my life goals is to turn people on to music, and that's kind of the goal of this post.  For people who are old enough to remember the tidal shift that occurred in popular hard rock music between 1990 and 1992, the list below will seem pretty self-evident.  You probably own all of these albums (on CD, no less).  I certainly do.  But for those of you who were either too young to get into grunge, weren't born yet, or were maybe more into NKOTB and Color Me Badd, this list is more for you.

Below are what I consider the ten essential grunge albums of the '90s.  These are the albums that I think best defined the era.  I was going to say that these albums aren't necessarily the "best" grunge albums, but when you look at the list, it's pretty damn hard to argue that they aren't.  Obviously, since this is a '90s Rocktober, all of the albums below were released in the '90s, even though there were some influential grunge albums released in the late '80s.  And I'm only including one album per band.  I'm also including the YouTube embed from my favorite song from each album, and I'm putting them in chronological order by release date.

1.  Temple of the Dog by Temple of the Dog (4/16/91)

This is a bittersweet album, as it it was a tribute to the late Andrew Wood -- the frontman of Seattle grunge band Mother Love Bone -- who died of a heroin overdose in March 1990.  Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell was Wood's former roommate, and he recruited former Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament, Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, and then-unknown singer Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready.  Of course, Vedder, McCready, Ament, and Gossard were already working on the first Pearl Jam album by that time.  The album didn't really catch on until a year later, after the success of Pearl Jam's Ten and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger.  But what a fucking grunge supergroup this was, and the album is one of the best one-off albums ever and a fitting tribute to one of grunge's pioneers.  "Hunger Strike" is one of those songs that I can never tire of hearing.

Favorite song:  "Hunger Strike"

2.  Ten by Pearl Jam (8/27/91)

Along with Nirvana's Nevermind, Ten, of course, is one of the defining albums of grunge.  There's not a bad song on the album, and it kicks you in the face from the get-go with "Once," provides several grunge highlights with "Even Flow," "Alive," "Black," and "Jeremy,"  as well as some other great deep cuts, and then gives you that post-climax cigarette in bed with the last track, "Release."  It was really hard to pick a favorite from this album, but I went with "Porch" for no particular reason other than I hadn't yet mentioned it in this post.

Favorite song:  "Porch"

3.  Nevermind by Nirvana (9/24/91)

Obviously, this album is at the top of most "essential grunge albums" lists, and rightfully so.  It was the album that thrust grunge into the mainstream and transformed Nirvana from a regional Seattle band to one of the biggest and most important rock bands in the world.  I'm not going to belabor the album's glory, but I'd just like to note that in addition to the songs everyone knows -- "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come As You Are," "In Bloom," and "Lithium" -- the deep tracks on the album are just as good.  My choice below, "Breed," was on my pysch-up mix tapes back in the day, and it remains on my running/workout mixes to this day.

Favorite song:  "Breed"

4.  Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Various Artists (6/30/92)

Along with 1994's Reality Bites, the Cameron Crowe film Singles was one of two '90s films that epitomized Gen X lifestyle, but the latter was set in Seattle and was focused on grunge.  Members of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden have cameos in the film, and while there are some non-grunge songs on the the soundtrack (including Paul Westerberg's "Dyslexic Heart," which was his first post-Replacements offering), it is very grunge-centric, featuring a couple non-album tracks from Pearl Jam, "Would?" by Alice in Chains, and songs by Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, Mother Love Bone, Smashing Pumpkins, Mudhoney, and Screaming Trees.

Favorite song:  "Nearly Lost You" by Screaming Trees

5.  Dirt by Alice in Chains (9/29/92)

For whatever reason, I didn't really get into Alice in Chains back in the '90s, and I'm not sure why.  They seemed to be the grunge band that was the most metal.  Dirt was their second studio album, and it solidified them as one of the top groups of the genre, with songs like "Rooster," "Would?," "Them Bones," and "Down in a Hole."

Favorite song:  "Would?"

6.  Core by Stone Temple Pilots (9/29/92)

September 29, 1992 was apparently a big day for one-word albums released by three-word grunge bands.  I always liked STP, and Core was one of the first three CDs I ever owned, along with 2Pac's Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z. and the Spin Doctors' Pocket Full of Kryptonite, which I got for my 15th birthday, along with my first CD player.  STP seemed to have more of a hard rock slant than some of the other grunge bands, and Core is just a kickass album, with one of the best opening lines to an album in rock history -- "I am smellin' like a rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed" -- while "Plush" remains my favorite song of the '90s.

Favorite song:  "Plush"

7.  Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins (7/27/93)

Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins broke through to the mainstream -- and apparently alienated many fellow indie musicians who thought they sold out -- with Siamese Dream, which is unquestionably an album that most of those haters wished they could have made.  "Today," "Cherub Rock," "Disarm," and "Rocket" are all Pumpkins classics, and I'm still pissed that radio stations wouldn't play "Silverfuck."

Favorite song:  "Rocket"

8.  Superunknown by Soundgarden (3/8/94)

It was a tough call between Superunknown and Soundgarden's 1991 album Badmotorfinger, but I think the latter is more grungy and the former is more metal or alternative metal, so I went with Superunknown.  Plus, I feel like Superunknown is what really broke the band to a wider audience, with songs like "Black Hole Sun," the inimitable "Spoonman" (featuring a spoon solo from Artis the Spoonman, a Seattle street performer), "Fell On Black Days," "My Wave," and "The Day I Tried to Live."  The latter is the one where I think Chris Cornell's amazing pipes shine the brightest.  He fucking wails on that song.

Favorite song:  "The Day I Tried to Live"

9.  Live Through This by Hole (4/12/94)

Released a week after Kurt Cobain's death, Live Through This showed that Kurt's wife, Courtney Love, was also a hell of a songwriter and frontwoman.  "Violet," "Doll Parts," and "Miss World" are grunge classics.  Sadly, like Cobain, Hole's bassist on this album, Kristen Pfaff, would also join the 27 Club about two months after the album was released, as a result of a heroin overdose.

Favorite song:  "Violet"

10.  Sixteen Stone by Bush (12/8/94)

One of the last massive albums of the Grunge Era, Bush's Sixteen Stone (or 224 pounds for you American readers) showed that the grunge sound wasn't exclusive to America.  The album had a bunch of great songs that I consider the band's signature songs, like "Everything Zen," "Comedown," "Little Things," "Glycerine," and "Machinehead."  "Everything Zen" presented me with several questions that remain unanswered to this day:  Why was Gavin Rossdale's brother an asshole?  Why did he live in Los Angeles?  And why would Rossdale want to find him if he was an asshole?

Favorite song:  "Machinehead"

Honorable mention:  Bricks Are Heavy by L7 (4/14/92); Sweet Oblivion by Screaming Trees (9/8/92); Candlebox by Candlebox (7/20/93); Rubberneck by Toadies (8/23/94)

Rocktober '90s Song #6: "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters (1997)

It would be a disservice to you if I had a '90s Rocktober without featuring a Foo Fighters song, so I'm going with one of my favorites from my favorite of their albums, 1997's The Colour and The Shape.  The album was the first album truly as a band, as the self-titled debut was essentially Dave Grohl playing all the instruments.  He added bassist Nate Mendel and former Germs founder and guitarist Pat Smear (who was also a touring member of Nirvana for a couple years), and then drummer William Goldsmith for a few tracks -- though Grohl handled most of the drumming.

The Colour and The Shape built off of the success of the first album and established the band as more than just a novelty or a Nirvana off-shoot.  This is a fantastic hard rock album, and the songs are inspired by Grohl's break-up with his then-wife Jennifer Youngblood.  Several of the band's signature songs are on this album:  "My Hero," "Everlong," "Monkey Wrench," and "Walking After You" (all Top 12 songs on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart).  It was the band's first Top 10 album in the U.S., starting their current streak of nine consecutive Top 10 albums on the Billboard album chart -- and it went to the Top 10 on nine other international album charts.  It's also the band's best-selling album in the U.S., having gone double platinum.

But anyway, let's get to the song.  "Monkey Wrench" is nearly four minutes of unabashed energy and catharsis, as Grohl wrote the song about how he had caused problems in his marriage and he needed to set his wife free to rid her of the problem (i.e., him).  The climax is the bridge, where Grohl, seemingly in one breath, culminating in his primal scream "freeeeeeeeeee!"  I try to sing it in one breath whenever I hear the song, and I have not yet succeeded.  And as an added bonus, the video is the first appearance of Taylor Hawkins as the band's drummer, even though Grohl drummed on the actual track.

Rocktober '90s Song #5: "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jellÿ (1992)

I'm going to be out of town tomorrow, so there won't be another Rocktober post until Monday (or a Hair Band Friday post).  For this, I issue you my sincerest of apologies, but I'll leave you with something fun before I go.

One of the surprise hits of 1993 was Green Jellÿ's updated and comical take on the classic folk tale "Three Little Pigs."  Originally named Green Jellö, the comedy metal -- and yes, that's a genre! -- band had to change their name to Green Jellÿ because of legal pressure from Kraft, who owned Jell-O.  The best part is that, despite the name change, the name of the band is still pronounced "green jello."

Anywho, in the early '90s, future Tool lead singer Maynard James Keenan and drummer Danny Carey were members of the band, and the band's bassist (and one of the co-founder) from 1981-1995 was Scott Rozell, who would then go on to form punk band Scatterbox.

Originally released in 1992 and then re-released in 1993 after the band changed the spelling of its name, "Three Little Pigs" is the band's biggest hit.  As I mentioned above, it's a humorous take on the Three Little Pigs, set to a backdrop of heavy metal.  Lead singer Bill Manspeaker (a.k.a. Moronic Dicktator) handles lead vocals, while Keenen, Pauly Shore, and Les Claypool all provide backing vocals as the pigs on the song.

Buoyed by the claymation video, which was in heavy rotation on MTV, the song went to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the New Zealand pop chart, Top 10 on the pop charts in six other countries.  Looking back on it, it seems very strange that this song was so popular, but then again, that was the beauty of the '90s.  A lot of weird shit was embraced, and we're all better for it.

Rocktober '90s Song #4: "Nookie" by Limp Bizkit (1999)

You knew rap metal was going to make an appearance.  The genre had its beginnings in the '80s with Aerosmith and Run-DMC's 1986 collaboration on "Walk This Way," and over the next decade, there were various hard rock and rap collaborations, like Anthrax and Public Enemy on "Bring the Noise," as well as some hard rock and metal bands that began to fuse their sound with elements of rap and hip hop, like Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine.

And then in the late '90s, rap metal exploded, with Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, and Korn leading the way.  When I hear the phrase "rap metal," the first band that comes to mind is Limp Bizkit.  Say what you will about the genre or Limp Bizkit -- they're easy targets, apparently -- they were hugely popular in the late '90s and early '00s.  Their 1999 album Significant Other went 7x platinum in the U.S., and their follow-up album, 2000's Chocolate Starfish and The Hot Dog Flavored Water, went 6x platinum.

For most people, myself included, the first taste of Limp Bizkit was 1999's "Nookie," a rocking and rapping tribute to every straight guy's mantra:  "I did it all for the nookie."  The song only peaked at #80 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it went to #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and the video was wildly popular on MTV.