so. my favorite music website is doing a revision of their "Best Music of the 90's" list. just a warning to you non-music geeks, it's mostly geek-rock (otherwise known as the "i know more unheard of bands than you do" genre). but, with that said, today's offering, at least this part
here, pretty much defines the greater part of my musical experience from very late high school through college and beyond. the 30th through 21st Best Songs of the 90s, according to Pitchfork include the following.
#30 - Liz Phair's -
Exile in Guyville I don't exactly recall when i got this album--probably freshman or sophomore year of college. i do however have a vague remembrance of getting reprimanded by either my dad or stepmom after Alex, who was probably 11 or 12 at the time was caught listening to it. for those unschooled in the Fuck and Run School of Rock, it agreeably was not appropriate lyrically for Alex, but i let her listen to it for the sake of a woman who could write and sing such raw and rockin tunes.
#29 - Modest Mouse -
The Lonesome Crowded West This could quite possibly be my favorite album of all time. i haven't revisited it recently, and even (higher powers please don't strike me down) just passed up an opportunity to see my favorite band last weekend. but, my post-college love affair with Modest Mouse was only rivaled by my college-era Pavement obsession. (and, in my rapidly screaming towards middle-age-phase, the Shins are currently making a run.) but for anyone who gets this band (many people hate them), they are absolutely fucking amazing. I cried once when I saw them play--they can be that good live.
The Moon and Antarctica might be easier listening for the first time around... but this album is pretty much perfect.
#28 - The Pixies -
Bossanova I remember in high school the kids who used to roll around in the "Death to the Pixies" shirts. they were not the "cool" kids as in the popular types, but i always felt they knew a secret that i didn't. i didn't get around to the Pixies til the summer after high school. i find it funny that they were never really appreciated in their time, but now they are an influence on every "alternative" band out there. Actually this was another band i turned my 10, 12 and 14 year old sisters on to. Natalie and Alex were married into the house listening to Ace of Base, and soon graduated to the howling and screaming of Frank Black and Kim Deal. no wonder their mom hated me at first.....
#27 - GBV -
Alien Lanes I knew this band was important when this album came out, I went out and bought it. I tried listening to it, but it never clicked.
#26 - Weezer -
Weezer another CD that was listened to over and over and over by not only me but the siblings, especially Alex. This album could quite easily top my most listenings list. Also, my 2 year roommate from college--"JESSICA!!!!!" had a Weezer fetish, and would listen to it over and over and over as well. between direct and indirect listenings, i've probably digested this album a thousand times. and somehow it still holds up, even though it was dismissed as simple, sarcastic power pop almost ten years ago. I also cried listening to "The World Has Turned...." driving through Wyoming years ago.... (I don't cry that much, I swear!)
#25 - Yo La Tengo -
I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One this album is so fucking beautiful and ambient. every time i hear it, i have unbelievably vivid memories of being curled in a ball in my room in Mammoth, freezing my ass off and wondering what the hell i was doing.....
#24 - Built to Spill -
There's Nothing Wrong with Love when i was between freshman and sophomore year of college i worked at a pet store in Del Mar. there was this kid i worked with who was still in high school, and he had just moved out to CA from somewhere else. we used to talk about music, and he brought me this album. i fell in love with it instantly. i actually recorded it onto tape, with BTS's earlier album on the other side and listened to the tape in my car until it literally disintegrated. My college boyfriend finally rioted because he was so sick of hearing it. "Car" will forever be on my "best boyfriend song" list.
#23 - Beta Band - dunno. never heard it.
#22 - Built to Spill -
Perfect From Now On it took me a bit to warm up to this one. it was the follow up to There
's Nothing Wrong....
and its quite different. read the review for explanation. but, this is now a favorite of mine as well as the album that will be pulled 20 years from now while trying to explain the importance of Built to Spill to my children....
#21 - Bjork - for some reason, i've always hated Bjork. i like the nitty-gritty Liz Phair and Courtney Love voices of girl-rock, not the operatic and too polished wails of Bjork. she hurts my head....
at work on a Sunday!!! for 4 hours!!! woo hoo!!!
my mission was to get a few things out of the way then hike up the hill a ways and ride down, but i've been here for too long and its getting dark.
hip hop hooray.
"screw you guys, i'm going home!!"
xoxo,
.l
sorry to be a whiner, but this week freakin sucks. i cant express how lame my job seems right now. everyone is overworked and under-praised--i feel a riot coming on. we're all burnt and crabby and tired of not seeing our homes in the daylight hours. and in my own little world, i'm still miraculously dealing with the same music licensing deal i was back in July/August/September. UGH. partially my own fault, partially the fault of lame corporate music conglomerates. for a podunk-no-one's-ever-heard-of-'em band. blurgh.
everyone's unrest makes me worry. not as much about my current situation as about the future. is every corporate situation like this? people being pissy and bitchy and clawing each other out of the way? and that's me projecting cause it really isn't even that bad here. i just don't like the turbulence and the who's being a bitch and who's in trouble and who's talking smack. speaking of, we were all out last night for a co-workers last day, and one of the girls from downstairs was slurring-groping drunk, and she felt the need to make catty comments to Coco about my choice of dress (apparently i dress "way eighties" and "really weird"). now, its not that big of a deal because, A) she was wasted, and B)she's not the most tactful or open-minded person anyways. what does bother me is that ease of slipping into cattiness/bitchyness/gossipyness/etc. not that i'm exempt by any means, i find myself in that mode and hopefully more often than not i can and will contain myself. but, i feel that it is something that i will never escape. but i guess that's life and a learning experience, how to deal with the crap. ("Step right up and win some crap!")
crappity crap crap. i cant wait to go home and clean my house. thats how lame it is.
xoxo.
.me
so, last week i was in New York. it just so happened that my Dad and stepmom were there, as well as my youngest sister Alex, who goes to NYU. and my dear ex-roomie, Bry.
we shopped and ate and drank and hung out and generally had a great time. i get scared though in New York. the subway creeps me out. i really think i would be afraid to ride the subway alone at night. hell even in the day its weird. my stepmom and i watched a lady who apparently thought everything she looked at was funny. she just kept laughing and smiling. at first i just thought she was extremely happy, but after watching her i think she was not all there. i get scared by people like that, even though they're harmless.
oh yeah. i guess i worked too. it was the usual "shmooze the snobby magazine editors" deal, which, as time goes on i'm losing my sense of humor over. but, i did definitely meet some really cool people. i met an editor from EXPN who knows a friend of mine from Sun Valley, so he immediately proceeded to give me shit and be really picky in telling me exactly which pair of glasses he wanted. but, it was all in good sarcastic fun. also hung with some really cool kids--i call them professional hipsters. the husband is a professional artist, and the wife is a clothing designer and celebrity dresser for Dolce and Gabbana. and they are in a band. and they are some of the nicest people ever.
so, it was rad meeting new and cool people, but something about the city just sucks me dry. i need space and quiet and fresh air and nature. or maybe i just stayed out too late. one night i found myself in Mid Town with my co-workers (including my boss) running around at 1:30am looking for pizza. the boys were wrestling each other in the bags of garbage that are left out on the curbs at night. funny stuff.
i love visiting, but i could never live there. i'm a suburbanite, tried and true.
here's a link sent by a friend.....
the
diamond conspiracy
its yr free ticket to riot against the engagement ring boys....
speaking of corporate tricks and advertising juggernauts, has anyone else noticed the onslaught of freaking Cat in the Hat crap?!?!? jesus christ, every time i turn on the tv there's a cleaning products ad, a Lays and Sierra Mist ad, or a Burger King ad all with the fuckin Cat in the Goddamn Hat. come on! oh, and i forgot Master Card too. Proctor and Gamble apparently spent 30 mil to do a corporate tie in. and the horrible part is they couldn't legitimately tie in Mr.Clean and Lays potato chips into the movie (cause they wouldn't work in pseudo-Suess-ville), so instead they have to assault us at every turn with their blatantly ridiculous commercials. even at the grocery store, there's Thing 1 and 2 dolls littering the checkout stand, and i walked by some shower-scrubby things in the persona of said Cat and his Goldfish side kick. oh yeah, and Mike Myers made an appearance on SNL just to tout his dumb movie. i noticed the blatant product placement in Elf (ie Coke and Etch-A-Sketch), but at least it was partially subtle and relevant to the movie. well then again, i never did quite understand the Etch-A-Sketch deal (whom apparently are reporting sales beyond their production capacity), but it wasn't a slap in the face.
makes. me. ill.
grr!
dear kidlets :
in New York city. spent all day walking and subwaying throughout the city with the fam. good times.
made it home early tonite which is probably a good thing--it will probably be my only early night til i get home at the end of the week.
will update if anything exciting happens.....
xoxo,
.liz
so, a question. and i know it's not exactly logistically sound, but just humor me here.
if you could be the best person in the world at whichever activity/profession/pastime that you chose, but no one else could know that fact, would you do it?
if you would do it, what would you be the best at?
and i don't mean like anything extraordinary, like having super powers or whatnot, but like being the best Mexican Food Cook in the World, or the Fastest Jigsaw Puzzle Put-er Together-er....
i would be the best snowboarder or horse trainer or fiction writer. or maybe painter. i havent decided.
this came about when i was thinking last night about how i feel like i'm pretty good at a lot of things, but because of various factors, definitely not excluding my ADD, that i've never really taken the opportunity to truly pursue any of the things that i truly love and know that i really could be great at. then i wondered about always wanting to be the best at whatever, and how much it has to do with a personal want as opposed to how external sources view me.
comment me! i wanna know!
