I was a big RHCP fan back in the late 80’s, when they still had the original lineup, moving into their first album after the death of Hillel Slovak. At Lollapalooza in 1990, I bought an overpriced RHCP hat that never fit my head correctly, and which I later sold—an expensive lesson I took to heart. My taste for the band tailed off pretty quickly after that, to the point of indifference and outright distaste. They’ve had some highlights in the intervening years, however, and this song was one of my favorites when it was released almost a decade ago. It’s gotten stuck in my head this week, and it makes a good companion for gray fall days: it’s propulsive, but (to my ears) melancholy, almost sad, especially if you ignore the lyrics. When this band hits on all cylinders, they are still amazing.
Lights Out, by Royal Blood. It’s amazing how much great music two guys with a bass guitar and drums can make. When I first heard this track I thought there must’ve been at least three people in the band, but he’s using a combination of pedals to both mimic a guitar and bass and widen out the sound. And the drumming is really tasty. Their first two albums are killer, and then they changed their sound up a little bit, leaning into disco, which I didn’t enjoy as much.
I had a Spotify playlist going while I was working in Brian’s garage and this tune came up, and now it’s stuck in my head: Phantogram’s Howling at the Moon.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH
ADHD comes with its pluses and minuses. Having a song stuck in one’s head on repeat can be enjoyable (for a while, at least) or it can be a slow, grinding hellscape. This week is one of those latter times. I do not know how these two cocaine-dusted sex pests got stuck in my head, but here we are. This damned song floated across every AOR radio station in the mid-70’s that covered the yacht-rock playlist, which meant I heard it constantly as a child. And now it is trapped in my skull, imploring some poor woman to take a walk on a beach in a cloud of Hai Karate and Marlboro Red smoke.
Look at those two. Look at them. Would you let them drive away in their Monte Carlo with your daughter?
I’ve had the shambling, melancholy verse and chorus of Auto Pilot by Queens of the Stone Age stuck in my head for a couple of days now after using it for an Instagram Reel. I dislike the bridge but the rest of the song is aces.
Huh, I must be on some kind of Soundgarden/grunge kick these past couple of weeks. The excellent Hands All Over is currently stuck in my head, and I’m not complaining.
As I mentioned earlier, I bought Louder Than Love in ’89 right after was released and it was on heavy rotation for the next couple of months. This was a welcome antidote to the heavy diet of hair metal I’d been exposed to in high school, and was one of several I bought at the same time: Nothing’s Shocking, Gish, and Pretty Hate Machine, which were definitely not being spun on local radio. Sadly, at that time Baltimore was not a regular stop on the concert circuit for most of these bands, so it was difficult to see them without going to D.C., which was difficult as a broke college freshman without a car.
Following up on last week’s earworm, Outshined is now stuck in my head:
An absolutely superior song by all measurements. And featuring one of the grungiest of grunge videos: fire, chains, dirt, sparks, the combination of shirtless black shorts and combat boots… I feel like it’s 1993 all over again.
Bonus: Brad Pitt’s best cameo appearance. We should all aspire to be Floyd.
I’ve had this fucking song stuck in my head for the past five days now, and it’s probably one of my least favorite songs this band ever produced. I had a cassette of Louder than Love in high school and played it until it wore out, but found that my appreciation for Soundgarden’s last two albums fell off sharply, minus a few songs. I didn’t pay much attention to Audioslave even though it was a mixture of two of my favorite 90’s bands; the styles and genre didn’t mesh as well as I had hoped it would even though they gave it everything they had.
RIP, Chris Cornell.
Update: The same day I posted this, I learned that a group of excellent musicians—William DuVall, (Alice In Chains), Bill Kelliher (Mastodon), Charlie Benante (Anthrax, S.O.D.), and Mark Menghi (Metal Allegiance) among others, formed King Ultramega to do covers of Soundgarden tracks during COVID, and just started releasing them, beginning with one of my favorites, Rusty Cage. All proceeds go to support the MusiCares Foundation.
Something’s Always Wrong, by Toad the Wet Sprocket. I got this stuck in my head at a rest stop in Pennsylvania on the way home from Ohio. It’s probably the only song by this unfortunately named band that I like; the harmonies in the bridge are beautiful. This was on heavy alternative radio airplay back in the day in a time when “alternative” music was losing steam and leaning towards easy listening. I would have posted the actual music video, but it sucks.
Light Design, Turnstile. You’re probably tired of me posting stuff about them, but too bad. This cut off the new album is happily stuck in my head, displacing The Unforgiven by Metallica, which was stuck there for a day (and thus not worth posting about). My only beef with it is that it’s only 2 minutes long, and I feel like it builds up to something without releasing. Other than that, no notes. The rest of the album (released yesterday) is excellent.