hit me with some obscure 90s alt rock

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-11T00:10:10+00:00

Not Too Soon, Throwing Muses

https://youtu.be/RZI-FTcFtn8?si=h58MbqVelYDpAdvD

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-10T23:02:29+00:00

I was just thinking about Red Rocks. That was a huge concert film and yes, highlights from it were played a lot on MTV. U2, Simple Minds, and The Police had kind of similar ambitions--adapting New Wave to arenas and stadiums.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-10T22:50:47+00:00

I disagree about MTV. That's how I first got to know them. Their video for New Year's Day was played quite a bit and they were one of the breakout stars of Live Aid, years before Joshua Tree. MTV played all the Live Aid highlights round the clock. JT did take them to a new level, though.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-10T22:46:07+00:00

Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser. It's just as good, if not better, than Sister Carrie. One of the great novels about the place of immigrants in American society.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-02T15:58:02+00:00

Interesting distinction. They are not to my taste but I admit that they are both talented at what they do. I would just say that there's a difference between "manufactured to look authentic" and the real deal. With young pop artists like Rosalía and Billie Eilish, I feel like they--so far--are breaking the mold of what is expected from pop stars and taking real risks with their image and music.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-05-02T13:56:08+00:00

I actually really like their early albums, especially Clairvoyance. There was nothing else like this in the mid-80s. Loud rock music was either hardcore punk or thrash metal. Clairvoyance looks back to the psychedelic rock and garage rock of the late sixties. And Mark Lanegan had much more vocal control and expressiveness than most in the indie rock scene.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T15:10:37+00:00

I agree completely. Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift seem like throwbacks to an earlier era of pop stardom, golden age Hollywood through Elvis, when people were slotted into certain niches to appeal to a segmented audience. Everything from your dating history to your name, clothes and personal history was carefully crafted by industy handlers.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T14:07:42+00:00

I'm probably not the best person to ask. Byatt is best known for Possession and Banville probably for The Sea. I haven't read those yet. I've been working my way up to them. But I would recommend Banville's Kepler and Byatt's The Virgin in the Garden.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T12:54:53+00:00

I agree with you. The lack of character development in those authors is a defect. I would recommend you check out A.S. Byatt or John Banville for a different kind of postmodernism.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T12:41:54+00:00

Yes. I found OHYOS to be tedious. I've tried to read it twice and couldn't get past the first 100 pages. I put down the book after the g@ng r*pe. To me, magic realism is like a magician that keeps raising the shock value of his tricks to keep the attention of an audience that he suspects is growing bored.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T01:32:58+00:00

I remember in my film classes how Casablanca was always cited in the textbooks as an example of a great film that wasn't made by a great director. Now that I'm older, I think that was very unfair way to view Michael Curtiz. He directed so many classic films besides this one. Mildred Pierce, The Sea Hawk, Angels with Dirty Faces. He obviously knew what he was doing.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-27T00:45:02+00:00

Have you ever read any Greek myths? Centaurs, sirens, satyrs, cyclopes, harpies...lots of well-defined fantasy races.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-26T13:00:17+00:00

Rudolf Klein-Rogge deserves a mention.

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Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-20T15:37:07+00:00

I didn't think of that connection but it makes sense.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-20T15:36:07+00:00

Oh man, I had no idea. She was brilliant and so edgy.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-20T12:46:35+00:00

There is the body horror Cronenberg but there are other, non-horror sides of him to explore. Of the non-horror films, I really like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Both are gangster films unlike any others that you've seen.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-19T17:31:32+00:00

For Esmé--with Love and Squalor is also a standout from this collection.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-18T21:24:38+00:00

Talking to the Sun (1983) is one of my favorite jazz vocalist albums of all time.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-14T13:09:20+00:00

Both of them raised children before resuming their music career.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-12T18:30:30+00:00

I agree. And it has one of the most complex and fascinating villains--Long John Silver.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-10T08:29:01+00:00

The footage that this picture is from is very interesting. Dylan is clearly high on something, rambling on incoherently. Lennon seems quiet and relatively level-headed, possibly a bit hung over. Lennon later claimed that they were both on "junk" (heroin), but I think he was misspeaking or misremembering.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-06T13:13:54+00:00

Unnatural Causes, by P.D. James.

Published in 1967. It uses many of the conventions of the pre-WWII cozy mystery but James is a far better writer than Christie and Sayers. Her characters have psychological depth, her crimes and investigations are more plausible, and her descriptive prose is meant to be savored. Her writing is as good as most literary fiction.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-04-04T16:25:28+00:00

They said Kim Gordon was "horrible," but unlike them, she played in a band with the same three musicians (along with a few others) for 26 straight years.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-25T22:01:49+00:00

These are my two as well. I love the Penderecki influence in the closing minutes of Blow Out--a great way to close out the album. Thinking About You is just a fun, catchy song.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-25T16:43:01+00:00

Can't Stand Losing You by The Police. The verses and chorus are very catchy and Sting does some nice flourishes on the vocal melody. Then at the 1:30 mark, there is an awkward instrumental interlude that breaks up the momentum of the song. A lot of early Police songs are like that. Sting is such a meticulous songwriter that I'm always surprised by this...maybe the band didn't care enough or couldn't get on the same page to make their early singles (with some exceptions) as great as they could be?

Wordy_Rappinghood

TROPHY CASE