Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 7-8-23

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Beck Hansen came up with a nifty guitar lick, to which a friend of a friend added beats. The beats inspired Beck to recite an improvised poem, on which he attempted to sound like Chuck D of rap group Public Enemy. Listening to the playback, Beck thought “Man, I’m the worst rapper in the world. I’m just a loser.” He started singing “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?” That became the chorus of his song “Loser,” along with “Soy un perdedor” – “I’m a loser” in Spanish.

Today is Beck’s birthday. A smattering of his work is included on today’s playlist.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 5-22-23

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Lots of songs from The Smiths and their lead singer Morrissey on today playlist.

Today is Morrissey’s birthday, and I feel the need to mention that to me and many many others, he now comes across as a repugnant person who shares his abhorrent thoughts. He may have always held repellent views, but as opposed to the means during the heyday of his career, it is now easier for his offensive quotes to go viral. Before he utters his next racist pronouncement, he should heed the advice in the first line of the chorus of “How Soon Is Now?:” “You shut your mouth.”

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Throwback Thursday: 1994

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Nineteen ninety-four was not one of rock and pop music’s pivotal years. I didn’t realize how lackluster it was until compiling this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist. I always begin such lists with a look at the pop charts of the year being spotlighted. What a sad state of affairs they were in 1994! I found around 15 good songs that peaked in the top 40 that year, and included all of them in this list (except for Ƭ̵̬̊’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which is not on Spotify). A few great songs came close to making the Top 40, such as Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” (peaked at #41) and The Breeders’ “Cannonball (peaked at #44). More great (mostly “alternative”) tracks would have made the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40 if not for Billboard‘s archaic rule that in order for a song to be eligible for the Hot 100, it needs to be commercially released as a single. Record companies stopped releasing many singles in the late 80s so as to force consumers into buying more profitable full-length albums. What that means is the Hot 100, which was supposed to represent the 100 most popular songs in the US, did not represent the 100 most popular songs in the US. And what mad the top 40 in 1994 was a lot of wussy drek. And Kurt Cobain died in 1994. Not a good year for music. Here are its gems:

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