Shit You Should Listen To! #1

Hello folks, its B here with your semi-annually 75th anniversary edition of Shit You Should Listen To! Today we have a tasty menu of treats to tingle your musical taste buds and delight your most delicate sensual receptors. For those of you who are new to this festival of music, here is how it works. I give you a list of shit you should be listening to, and you go out and buy, borrow, burn, rip, steal, or download it. This edition is dedicated to indie rockers of the past and boy do we have some great acts for your listening pleasure. Here they are, in no particular order:

Jawbreaker – Unfun:
While most people would choose 24 Hour Revenge Therapy as their pinnacle achievement, I prefer Unfun. It is chocked full of punk-grunge goodies such as “Want”, “Down”, and “Gutless”. This is a perfect record for anyone who needs a good musical history lesson into the influences of today’s current punk/emo bands.

Husker Du – Zen Arcade:
While it is hard to find a Husker Du record to determine as their best, I find this is a good starting point. This record includes “Never Talking To You”, which has recently been covered by the Foo Fighters. While New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig may include better singles, this record stays consistent throughout the whole album, which makes it my choice for today.

Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (L.A.’s Desert Origins):
This is by far the best album from these Modesto rockers. Hated by mainstream radio, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Stone Temple Pilots, CRCR has their only radio hit “Haircut” as well as their best song “Range Life”. While the band may be known as a bunch of punks who were generally pretty rude to everybody, they made some great music and this is a record that will stand the test of time.

Dinosaur Jr. – Without A Sound:
Ok, this one is kind of a cop out. Without A Sound is not known as their best record, but it holds a special place in my heart. It has the single “Feel The Pain”, but there is so much more that this record has to offer, such as “I Don’t Think So”, “Over Your Shoulder”, and “Get Out Of This”. Once again this is a good starting point for anyone looking to get into their back catalog, and thankfully I heard they are recording a new record. If you skip this one, then go for Bug, which is equally as good.

Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray:
Last but certainly not least, we have the Lemonheads. This is the record that features their cover of “Mrs. Robinson”. It also has my personal favorite Lemonheads song “Confetti”, as well as “My Drug Buddy”. Also playing bass on this record with Evan Dando is one of my all time favorite musicians, Juliana Hatfield. She alone makes this record worth checking out. Also, look for the new Lemonheads record coming out tomorrow, and I will have a review of it up in a day or two.

Well that does it for this session of Shit You Should Listen To! Let me know if you experience any of these records or artist and tell me what you think. And if they make you hate me, that’s ok too. As always, stay sexy America.

-B
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could’ve, he’d rather be alone than pretend