Playlist for 1988

Here's a picture I took of Dinosaur Jr. in 2015. They made, maybe, my favorite song in 1988.

High School Grad

1988. I turned 18. I graduated from high school and started up at NYU. I voted for the first time. 30 years ago. Shit, I'm old.

Anyway.

I figured I'd make up a playlist of some of the music from that year.

Green by R.E.M. was a big album for me back then. I remember spinning it on my combination turntable / tuner / tape deck as my parents and I moved me into my dorm room in Hayden Hall on Washington Square West. Hayden sat just around the corner from the address where my grandmother first lived after arriving in America as a young girl from Italy. (UPDATE: I must be remembering Document as far as the moving in part goes. I don't think Green came out until later in the year now that I think about it. Hey. It's been 30 years.)

Worker's Playtime by Billy Bragg was another big one. Like lots of Billy's stuff from back then, the lyrics are a little dated now; but that's what makes it such a fun listen as part of a look back kinda thing.

Some of my favorite songs of all time are on here. I play Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday" on the guitar almost every, single day. I don't know another song by The Primitives, but "Crash" is an absolute masterpiece that foreshadowed lots of the sounds that would come just a few years later. The Sugarcubes' "Birthday"  and Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" are songs that kind of define the year for me. Other songs like "Feed Me with Your Kiss" by My Bloody Valentine and -- maybe my favorite song ever -- "Freak Scene" by Dinosaur Jr. are songs I came to know a good while after 1988.

Prince's Lovesexy came out in 1988; but Spotify has it in its 45-minute, single-track format; so I left it off. Michelle Shocked doesn't have her stuff on Spotify, otherwise "Anchorage" from Short, Sharp, Shocked would be here. Same goes for Camper Van Beethoven. The only track from Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart available on Spotify is "O Death," and I much would have preferred something like "She Divines Water" or "Turquoise Jewelry."

This one's collaborative so feel free to add to it.

Lots of Sounds from My Youth Today

Mac McCaughan, Brandon Flowers, Mexrrissey

It's that time of year when my friends start posting pics of their sons and daughters heading out to their junior and senior proms. Living as an adult in the place where you grew up provides plenty of opportunity for nostalgia; and, while I like to think I'm not as wedded to the past as lots of people my age, sometimes I get in a mood.

Today, so far, has been one of those theme days. The theme: Remind CoolDad of the late-80s when he started driving while listening to cassettes he'd made on his integrated tuner / turntable / dual cassette deck and when he -- yes -- went to his own senior prom.

Superchunk frontman, Mac McCaughan, started streaming the first-ever album he's put out under his own name today over at NPR. It's interesting that someone who has been such a huge influence on the music I've listened to since the 1990s -- through his band and his label, Merge Records -- would put out a record so deeply rooted in the sounds of my teen years. Don't get me wrong. There are definitely cuts like "Box Battery" that stick a little more closely to McCaughan's usual loud, power pop; but the synths and post-punk are strong here.



Earlier today, I came across the video for "Lonely Town" by Killers frontman, Brandon Flowers. It's from his upcoming second solo LP. The song is pure 80s synth pop, and the video features a cassingle, a walkman, and an allusion to the 80s-style horror movies that my friends and I spent many a late night watching in the early years of cable TV.



Finally, early this morning, I read an article from The Guardian about an upcoming show in London from a band called Mexrrissey. Apparently, in Mexico and Latin America, there is a thriving Morrissey / Smiths subculture; and Mexrrissey are one of the standard-bearers of the Spanish-language Morrissey tribute scene. The band bring the sounds of mariachi music to Smiths and Morrissey classics producing something amazing.

The two songs Mexrissey have on their Soundcloud page -- "Ask" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday" -- are hugely important ones to me, personally. The Smiths' Louder Than Bombs remained lodged in my 1980 Tercel's cassette deck for months at a time. "Everyday Is Like Sunday" is one of the songs that I always end up playing when noodling around on my guitar, and Viva Hate -- Moz's first post-Smiths effort -- also contains the amazing "Suedehead."



So, that's where my mind is at today in case you were wondering.

Enjoy prom season.

Not From the 80s Playlist

Spotify Playlist

Just a quick playlist of songs from the last few years that always make me think of the music from my teens. Some are more obvious examples than others, but I think they've all got that something that can get some of us thinking about going to see a John Hughes movie in the theater on the first weekend of its release.

I'll probably update it over time.

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