“The Village”, New Order

This way: The Village

New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.

While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track.In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since then, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007 due to personal disputes with the other members. In 2015, they released their tenth studio album, Music Complete.  

[Spotify] The Village

“Dancer”, IDLES

This way: Dancer

Idles (stylized as IDLES) are a British rock band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), Adam Devonshire (bass) and Jon Beavis (drums). Their debut album, Brutalism, was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, as was their second album Joy as an Act of Resistance in 2018. Their third album, Ultra Mono, was released in 2020, followed by Crawler in 2021. 

[Spotify] Dancer

“X Offender”, BLONDIE

This way: X Offender

Blondie is an American rock band founded in 1974 in New York City by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City. Its first two albums contained strong elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next four years, the band released several hit singles including "Dreaming", "One Way or Another", "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "Atomic", "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, funk and early rap music. 

"X Offender" is the debut single by American band Blondie. Written by Gary Valentine and Debbie Harry for the band's self-titled debut album, Blondie, the song was released as the album's lead single on Private Stock in June 1976.

[Spotify] X Offender

“Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work”, Diagram Brothers

This way: Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work

The Diagram Brothers were an English post-punk band from Manchester active between 1979 and 1982. The band comprised Andy Diagram (bass guitar), Fraser Diagram (vocals, guitar), Lawrence Diagram (guitar), Jason Diagram (bass), and Simon Diagram (drums) (not actually brothers).[1] Andy Diagram was also a member of Dislocation Dance from 1978 to 1982, and in 1985, and was a member of The Pale Fountains and James.

Andy Diagram explained the band's approach: "We called the music 'Discordo'. The music was made to a strict formula or set of rules. All the guitar chords were based on discordant notes, all the beats were very simple rock or disco, and all the words were very very straightforward and down to earth." Music journalist, Stuart Maconie, described them as "funny, slightly scary and like no one else in the world".  

The band's first release was a 7-inch EP on the Construct label in 1980. They were then signed by Buzzcocks' New Hormones label, who issued a single, "Bricks", an album, Some Marvels of Modern Science, and a 10-inch EP, Discordo, before the band split up. They have been compared to The Residents and XTC.

They recorded three sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. Their collected studio recordings (including the Peel sessions) have since been released on CD by the LTM label.

[Spotify] Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work

“Teenage Caveman”, Beat Happening-You Turn Me On—NPA

This way: Teenage Caveman

Near Perfect Album

Solid perfection here. Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a carefree or coy nature. 

Beat Happening met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band took its name from a student art film, Beatnik Happening, made by Bret's girlfriend. The band's basic line-up was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people whose drums they'd borrowed. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan.

[Spotify] Teenage Caveman

[Spotify, album] You Turn Me On 

“Balance is Gone”, Billy Nomates

This way: Balance is Gone

Billy Nomates (born 2 May 1990) is an English musician and songwriter.

She grew up in Leicester and was a member of a number of bands that failed to be noticed. Following a period of depression, a Sleaford Mods gig inspired Maries to return to making music and she moved to Bournemouth to write and compose. Her stage name, Billy Nomates, was taken from an insult directed at her when she turned up at the gig on her own. The first album was recorded in Bristol with Portishead's Geoff Barrow. She released this in 2020 and quickly gained attention from BBC Radio 6 Music. She describes her music as no wave.

[Spotify] Balance is Gone

“Chicago Promenade”, Jason Isbell

This way: Chicago Promenade

Jason Isbell  is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell has won four Grammy Awards.

Isbell was born in Green Hill, Alabama, two miles (3 km) from the Alabama/Tennessee state line,[6] the son of interior designer Angela Hill Barnett and house painter Mike Isbell.[7][8] Isbell's mother was only 17 years old (and his father 19 years old) when he was born and is the subject of a song, "Children of Children". Isbell's parents divorced, and he has two much younger half-siblings. 

Isbell grew up in North Alabama. His grandparents lived on a farm down the road next to the school that Isbell attended; they looked after him while his parents were at work. His grandfather and uncle taught him to play various instruments, including the mandolin when he was six years old, as it was easier for him to grip as a small child. They enjoyed gospel music, bluegrass music, and the Grand Ole Opry. In high school, he played trumpet and French horn.

Isbell started playing in a garage band and a country cover band when he was 14 or 15 years old with his friend, songwriter Chris Tompkins. They played at the Grand Ole Opry when Isbell was 16.

When Isbell was a teenager, many musicians took him under their wing. He got to know session bassist David Hood, father of Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood, because David Hood was in the Florence, Alabama area and played around town on Friday and Saturday nights in local restaurants and bars. By this time, Patterson Hood and his future Drive-By Truckers co-founder, Mike Cooley, were older and had moved out of town. Isbell would go watch David Hood and others perform. It took a while, but once he finally got up the nerve to tell them he played, they would have him sit in with them, which resulted in friendship and mentorship.

[Spotify] Chicago Promenade

“It’s Love”, Chris Knox

This way: It’s Love

This from 2000. Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs with guitarist Alec Bathgate. The Tall Dwarfs were noted for their unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun singles. 

He has also released a number of solo, self-produced albums which feature his Casiotone. Knox has also released an album under the pseudonym 'Friend'. At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards Knox's ballad "Not Given Lightly" (1990) was announced as New Zealand's thirteenth best song of all time, as voted by APRA members. A love song written for "John and Liesha's mother"—his then-partner Barbara—this track never scaled commercial heights though it has belatedly generated some income for the songwriter through its use in TV advertising (notably for Vogel's bread).

Knox has played live in front of audiences all around New Zealand, winning a reputation for his sometimes confrontational style, and performed annually at Wellington's Bar Bodega. He has also extensively toured internationally. His swing through the US in 1995 included, among others, stops in Seattle to play the Crocodile Cafe. His minimalist, DIY sound played well to ears then-focused on grunge, with its retro-punk stylings.

A long-time resident of Auckland, Knox spent time as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer for Real Groove. In 1986-1987, he edited and published three issues of a New Zealand comics anthology Jesus on a Stick. Starting in 1987, his satirical comic strip Max Media appeared in The New Zealand Herald every week until 2009. He has also been an occasional television film reviewer, hosted a Television New Zealand season of classic movies 'The Vault', and presented two seasons of arts series New Artland.

[Spotify] It’s Love

“D.O.A.”, Bloodrock

This way: D.O.A.

The legend that is this song. Wow, I was like 10 when this hit the airways, perfect age for it. The rumors that surrounded the song were epic, Thats the actual ambulance siren! And this is 8 minutes you will never get back.

Bloodrock was an American hard rock band based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had success in the 1970s. The band emerged from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s. Bloodrock initially formed in Fort Worth in 1963, under the name the Naturals. This first lineup featured Jim Rutledge on drums and vocals, Nick Taylor on guitar and vocals, Ed Grundy on bass and vocals, and Dean Parks on guitar. They toured the region playing at battle of the bands, opened locally for national acts like The Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The Five Americans. They continued as Crowd + 1 until 1969 when they changed their name to Bloodrock, a name conceived by Grand Funk Railroad manager/producer Terry Knight, who signed the band to Capitol almost within two weeks of hearing them. Bloodrock opened for Grand Funk on the 1970 tour.

Bloodrock 2 was their most successful album peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart in 1971, mostly on the strength of their single "D.O.A.", which reached number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 6, 1971. "D.O.A." also gave the band considerable regional exposure throughout the Southwest and West, particularly in Texas and Southern California. "D.O.A." was probably the band's most well-known and well-remembered single. However, some radio stations would not play the song because of its explicit, gruesome description of fatal injury and the use of sirens, the latter out of concerns that the siren sound would confuse motorists. The motivation for writing this song was explained in 2005 by guitarist Lee Pickens. “When I was 17, I wanted to be an airline pilot,” Pickens said. “I had just gotten out of this airplane with a friend of mine, at this little airport, and I watched him take off. He went about 200 feet in the air, rolled and crashed.” The band decided to write a song around the incident and include it on their second album. 

[Spotify] D.O.A.

And am I in Portlandia? Or are they?

“Feigned Hearing”, Colin Newman

This way: Feigned Hearing

Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the punk band Wire. Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1954 and grew up in Newbury, Berkshire. He later attended the Watford School of Art. 

In 1976 Newman formed the band Wire and was its main songwriter, singer and guitarist. Their first performance was on 19 January 1977 at the London nightclub Roxy. At the start, the band was considered a part of London's punk rock scene. When the band temporarily split in 1980, Newman pursued a solo career. His first solo album, A-Z, was released in 1980 on the Beggar's Banquet record label. The album veered from extremely skewed pop to more mainstream numbers, such as "Order for Order", which was compared by some to Gary Numan. A track from the demos for this LP (but not included on the original vinyl release), "Not Me", was covered by This Mortal Coil on their It'll End in Tears LP; This Mortal Coil then covered the A-Z track "Alone" on their second album Filigree & Shadow. Newman's second LP, the entirely instrumental Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish, in which all the tracks were titled for numbered fish, was released on the 4AD Records label in 1981. A third LP, Not To, which along with original compositions reworked a number of tracks originally written for Wire, was released in 1982 on 4AD. Following this, Newman travelled to India to collect sound recordings before rejoining Wire in 1984. 

In 1986, another solo LP, Commercial Suicide, was released on the Crammed Discs label. A massive change in style for Newman, the album is reflective and highly orchestrated. His next LP, It Seems, followed a similar path, albeit with far more use of sequencers – something Newman would continue to work with for a number of years. Both Crammed albums featured Malka Spigel who has been included in all subsequent solo and collaborative work.

[Spotify] Feigned Hearing

“There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve”, A.C. Newman-Get Guilty—NPA

This way: There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve

Near Perfect Album

Get Guilty is A.C. Newman's second solo album, released on January 20, 2009, on Matador Records/Last Gang Records. The album was recorded during the summer of 2008 at Brooklyn's Seaside Lounge and produced by Newman and Phil Palazzolo. The first single from the album was "The Palace at 4 AM."

The album received favorable reviews upon its 2009 release, and was sometimes described as a natural continuation of Newman's work with The New Pornographers. Guest musicians include Jon Wurster (Superchunk/ The Mountain Goats), Mates of State, and vocalist Nicole Atkins.

[Spotify] There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve

[Spotify, album] Get Guilty 

“Real Outside”, Drinks

This way: Real Outside

In 2015, Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley of the lo-fi psych-rock project White Fence teamed up under the name DRINKS to release one album of idiosyncratic outsider-pop called Hermits On Holiday. And now, three years later, they’ve done it again. Hippo Lite — named for Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort, the small town in southern France where the duo spent a month recording the album together — arrives in April, and today they’re sharing “Real Outside,” a beautifully strange bit of primitivistic post-punk that finds an odd sort of groove in its herky-jerky rhythm. 

[Spotify] Real Outside

“Can‘t Cheat Karma”, Zounds

This way: Can‘t Cheat Karma

Zounds are an English anarcho punk/post-punk band from Reading, Berkshire, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the squatting and free festival scene. The name of the band is derived from the old English minced oath "zounds", a contraction of "God's wounds", referring to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, formerly used as a mildly blasphemous oath.

The band were formed around the nucleus of Steve Lake from Reading, Berkshire and evolved from a number of jamming sessions with other musicians and friends in Oxford, taking in influences from the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols. The band began performing gigs in 1977/78 with a line-up of Steve Lake (vocals/bass), Steve Burch (guitar) and Jimmy Lacey (drums), adding Nick Godwin (guitar) at their second gig – adopting the name 'Zounds', chosen from a dictionary by Burch. Soon, Burch left the group and was replaced by Laurence Wood. After this the band slowly became more politicized owing to troubles with police and unfolding events of the cold war, and became more and more involved with free festivals, alongside The Mob, with whom they developed a close association. 

[Spotify] Can‘t Cheat Karma

“There She Goes”, The La’s

This way: There She Goes

The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from 1983 until 1992. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group are best known for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1983 and Mavers joined the next year, although for most of the group's history, the frequently changing line-up revolved around the core duo of Lee Mavers (vocals, guitar) and John Power (bass, backing vocals) along with numerous other guitarists and drummers including Paul Hemmings, John "Timmo" Timson, Peter "Cammy" Cammell, Iain Templeton, John "Boo" Byrne, Chris Sharrock, Barry Sutton and Neil Mavers.

After the departure of Badger in late 1986, the band signed to Go! Discs in 1987 and started recording their debut album. Following the release of singles "Way Out" (1987), "There She Goes" (1988) and "Timeless Melody" (1990) and having aborted several recording sessions with different producers, the band released their debut album The La's in 1990 to critical acclaim and modest commercial success. John Power left The La's to form Cast and the group entered a prolonged hiatus in 1992. The group later reformed briefly in the mid-1990s, 2005 and 2011. 

[Spotify] There She Goes

“Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae”, Stiff Little Fingers

This way: Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae

Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep Purple song), doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They were the first punk band in Belfast to release a record – the "Suspect Device" single came out on their own independent label, Rigid Digits. Their album Inflammable Material, released in partnership with Rough Trade, became the first independent LP to enter the UK top 20.

After six years and four albums, they split up. They re-formed five years later, in 1987. Despite major personnel changes, they are still touring and recording. In 2014, the band released their tenth studio album and a world tour followed its release. Jake Burns, the lead singer, is the only member to have been with the band during all its incarnations, but in March 2006, original bass guitarist Ali McMordie rejoined them following the departure of bass player Bruce Foxton after fifteen years. 

[Spotify] Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae

“Daisy Glaze”, Big Star

This way: Daisy Glaze

Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in late 1974, and reorganized with a new lineup 18 years later following a reunion concert at the University of Missouri. In its first era, the band's musical style drew on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Byrds. Big Star produced a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations", in the words of Rolling Stone, as the "quintessential American power pop band", and "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll". Three of Big Star's studio albums are included in the Rolling Stone's list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time. 

Big Star's debut album, 1972's #1 Record, was met by enthusiastic reviews, but ineffective marketing by Stax Records and limited distribution stunted its commercial success. Frustration took its toll on band relations: Bell left not long after the first record's commercial progress stalled, and Hummel left to finish his college education after a second album, Radio City, was completed in December 1973. Like #1 Record, Radio City received excellent reviews,[4] but label issues again thwarted sales—Columbia Records, which had assumed control of the Stax catalog, likewise effectively vetoed its distribution.

After a third album, recorded in the fall of 1974, was deemed commercially unviable and shelved before receiving a title, the band broke up late in 1974. Four years later, the first two Big Star LPs were released together in the UK as a double album. The band's third album was finally issued soon afterward; titled Third/Sister Lovers, it found limited commercial success, but has since become a cult classic. Shortly thereafter, Chris Bell was killed in a car accident at the age of 27.

[Spotify] Daisy Glaze

[Epic Live] Daisy Glaze

“Here Comes a Saturday”, Cowboys International®-The Original Sin—NPA

This way: Here Comes a Saturday

Near Perfect Album

Cowboys International (also stylised as Cowboys International®) were a new wave and synthpop band formed by vocalist and songwriter Ken Lockie that put out one album in 1979, The Original Sin, and a handful of 45s before dissolving in 1980.

In the late 1970s, Ken Lockie and Keith Levene were in a band called The Quick Spurts. Changing their name to Cowboys International, the members were Lockie on lead vocals, Rick Jacks on guitar, Jimmy Hughes (formerly of The Banned) on bass, Evan Charles on piano, and ex-Clash Terry Chimes on drums. This line-up, with a little help of Levene (who was in Public Image Ltd) recorded and released The Original Sin album in 1979. 

After the releasing of the album and a tour, the band suffered important line-up changes: Chimes (who joined Billy Idol's Generation X) was replaced by Paul Simon (previously in Neo, Radio Stars and The Civilians); Jacks by Allan Rawlings and Marco Pirroni (Adam and the Ants member), who recorded some material in 1980 with the band, but they were replaced by ex-Ultravox Steve Shears; and Hughes (who joined Original Mirrors) by Lee Robinson of Boney M fame[2] but later replaced by Pete Jones shortly afterwards; the last band alineation (Lockie, Charles, Jones, Simon and Shears) did the last band tour, which ended at the Kantkino Theatre in Berlin. The band split up in late 1980.

[Spotify] Here Comes a Saturday

[Spotify, album] The Original Sin 

“Dawncolored Horse”, Fenne Lilly

This way: Dawncolored Horse

This song from 2023. Fenne Lily (born 22 January 1997) is an English folk singer-songwriter. Her debut studio album, On Hold, was released in 2018. Fenne Lily was born in Dorset, England. She has a brother, to whom her song "Brother" is dedicated. She attended Beaminster School until the age of 16 and began playing concerts in Bristol at around the age of 15. 

During her teens, Lily worked in a record shop in Bridport, Dorset.

[Spotify] Dawncolored Horse

“Nervous Breakdown”, Black Flag

This way: Nervous Breakdown

Black Flag is an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. Initially called Panic, the band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands, as well as one of the pioneers of post-hardcore. After breaking up in 1986, Black Flag reunited in 2003 and again in 2013. The second reunion lasted well over a year, during which they released their first studio album in nearly three decades, What The... (2013). The band announced their third reunion in January 2019. 

Black Flag's sound mixed the raw simplicity of the Ramones with atonal guitar solos and, in later years, frequent tempo shifts. The lyrics were written mostly by Ginn, and like other punk bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Black Flag voiced an anti-authoritarian and nonconformist message, in songs punctuated with descriptions of social isolation, neurosis, poverty, and paranoia. These themes were explored further when Henry Rollins joined the band as lead singer in 1981. Most of the band's material was released on Ginn's independent record label SST Records.

Over the course of the 1980s, Black Flag's sound, as well as their notoriety, evolved. In addition to being central to the creation of hardcore punk, they were innovators in the first wave of American West Coast punk rock and are considered a key influence on punk subculture in the United States and abroad. Along with being among the earliest punk rock groups to incorporate elements and the influence of heavy metal melodies and rhythm, there were often overt free jazz and contemporary classical elements in their sound, especially in Ginn's guitar playing, and the band interspersed records and performances with instrumentals throughout their career. They also played longer, slower, and more complex songs at a time when other bands in their milieu performed a raw, fast, three-chord format. As a result, their extensive discography is more stylistically varied than many of their punk rock contemporaries.

[Spotify] Nervous Breakdown

“Killing Machine”, Tony Crown

This way: Killing Machine

Musician out of St. Louis. This track from 2017. Tony Crown has been attracting a lot of attention after the release of his debut solo LP "Distant from the Universe", which has 10 tracks. After the release of his LP back in July 2017, the album has met high praises and has gotten him television placements. His single "In the Now" has been featured on Showtime (TV network) The Affair, as well as his song "Killing Machine" on AMC (TV channel) Fear the Walking Dead. Crown's cover of Steve Miller Band Fly Like an Eagle (song) was featured in the latest episode of Showtime's acclaimed hit series Ray Donovan. Tony crown's music has been featured on other television series shows in the past such as, Hart of Dixie and Hell on Wheels (TV series). 

[Spotify] Killing Machine

“Couldn't I Just Tell You”, Todd Rungren

This way: Couldn't I Just Tell You

"Couldn't I Just Tell You" is a song written by American musician Todd Rundgren that was released on his 1972 album Something/Anything?. In July, it was released as a single and reached number 93 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The song is considered influential to the development of the power pop genre. Unlike most of Something/Anything?, which consists primarily of piano-based compositions, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" is a rock song. Rundgren reflected that there would have been more songs in this style if he had not been performing all the music by himself: "I was pretty happy with the song because I realized it was the kind of thing I would probably have done more of if I had been using other players." 

Todd Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive art. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.

A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid-1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" from Something/Anything? (1972), which get frequent air time on classic rock radio stations, the 1978 "Can We Still Be Friends", and the 1983 single "Bang the Drum All Day", which is featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.

[Spotify] Couldn't I Just Tell You

“Stop It”, Pylon

This way: Stop It

Pylon was an American new wave/post-punk band from Athens, Georgia. The band's danceable sound, a blend of new wave, post-punk, jangle pop, alternative rock and funk rock, influenced the Athens music scene and the 1980s American pop underground. AllMusic wrote that Pylon's "role as elder statesmen of the alternative rock explosion is unassailable". 

1979–1983: Formation, early years and breakup

Pylon was formed in 1979. The four members of Pylon were art students at the University of Georgia in Athens. Guitarist Randall Bewley and bass guitarist Michael Lachowski began playing music and attempting to form a band in 1978. Neither had any musical experience: as Lachowski later recalled, "A lot of us in the art school were trying out different media with a punk rock message, which is just go in there and do it. You don’t need training, or authority or legitimacy. Just figure it out". They originally formed the band with the intention of securing live appearances in New York City, along with press attention, before splitting up.

[Spotify] Stop It

“Don’t Worry about the Government”, Talking Heads-77—NPA

This way: Don’t Worry about the Government

Near Perfect Album

My Brother went to school in Rhode Island and so I was primed for the appearance of Talking Heads, the revolution was just beginning. All these new sounds and approches. None were as shocking and fresh as this LP. Talking Heads: 77 is the debut studio album by American rock band Talking Heads. It was recorded in April 1977 at New York's Sundragon Studios and released on September 16 of that year by Sire Records. The single "Psycho Killer" reached number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

[Spotify] Don’t Worry about the Government

[Spotify, album] 77 

“Not Even Stevie Nicks”, Calexico

This way: Not Even Stevie Nicks

Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based indie rock band.[2] Founded in 1996, the band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, and their 2005 EP, In the Reins, recorded with Iron & Wine, reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, and tejano mixed with country, jazz, and post-rock. The band is named for the border town of Calexico, California, and has been described by some as "desert noir".  

[Spotify] Not Even Stevie Nicks

“Some Get Away”, Alda Reserve

This way: Some Get Away

Alda Reserve were a NYC band. Although Alda Reserve had lingering 70s punk grit under their fingernails, thanks to Mark Suall's overdriven sub-Lenny Kaye guitar. Also Matthew 'Chips' Patuto had that clunky drumming style I imagine someone with that nickname would have. Led by keyboardist/vocalist Brad Ellis. Their only officially released album, Love Goes On was originally released on Sire Records in 1979. The album was co-produced by Marshall Chess of Chess Records. The album made it's debut on the Billboard Music Charts on 11/24/1979.

[Spotify] Some Get Away

“Veil of Tears”, Soul Asylum

This way: Veil of Tears

This LP from 1990. Soul Asylum is an American rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

The band was originally called Loud Fast Rules, with a lineup consisting of Dave Pirner, Dan Murphy, Karl Mueller, and Pat Morley. They changed their name to Soul Asylum in 1983. Morley was replaced by Grant Young in 1984. 

The band recorded three albums with Twin/Tone Records and two with A&M Records, with little commercial success. In 1992, they released the triple-platinum album Grave Dancers Union, featuring "Runaway Train". The band played at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton early the next year. They also scored a platinum record with the album Let Your Dim Light Shine three years later. In 1998 they recorded Candy from a Stranger. The band released four more albums over the next 15 years. Their most recent was Hurry Up and Wait in 2020, their twelfth studio release.

Mueller was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and the band organized a benefit concert on his behalf. Mueller died a year later. 

[Spotify] Veil of Tears

“Johnny and Mary”, Robert Palmer

This way: Johnny and Mary

When the new Wave beat started dripping into the radio hits.

Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and sartorial elegance, and for his stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, reggae, and blues. While his "four-decade career incorporated every genre of music", Palmer is best known "for the pounding rock-soul classic, 'Addicted to Love', and its accompanying video, which came to epitomise the glamour and excesses of the 1980s."

Having started in the music industry in the 1960s, including a spell with Vinegar Joe, he found success in the 1980s, both in his solo career and with the Power Station, scoring Top 10 hits in the United Kingdom and the United States. Three of his hit singles, including "Addicted to Love", featured music videos directed by British fashion photographer Terence Donovan. 

[Spotify] Johnny and Mary

“Radar Gun”, The Bottle Rockets

This way: Radar Gun

The Bottle Rockets from 1995 on the LP the Brooklyn Side.

The Bottle Rockets were an American rock band formed in Festus, Missouri in 1992, and was based in St. Louis, Missouri. Its founding members were Brian Henneman (guitar, vocals), Mark Ortmann (drums), Tom Parr (1992–2002, guitar, vocals) and Tom Ray (1992–1997, bass guitar); the most recent lineup consisted of Henneman, Ortmann, John Horton (joined 2003, guitar) and Keith Voegele (joined 2005, bass, vocals). Most members of the band have contributed to their catalog of original songs, as have Robert Parr (Tom's brother) and schoolteacher Scott Taylor (who writes lyrics for some of Henneman's tunes). 

As noted in the New York Times by William Hogeland, the Bottle Rockets' songwriting has been likened to Woody Guthrie's folk style in spirit, smarts, and satire. The band's lyrics encapsulate the common experiences of the everyman, and are set to rousing and searing rock 'n' roll. The band has been named as one of the leaders of the '90s alt-country/roots rock revival, alongside Uncle Tupelo. The strong social commentary of their songs reflects the influences of Woody Guthrie, Neil Young and The Replacements.

[Spotify, No!]

“The Saturday Boy”, Brewing up With Billy Bragg—NPA

This way: The Saturday Boy

Near Perfect Album

Brewing Up with Billy Bragg is the second album by Billy Bragg, released in 1984.

While his debut album Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy (1983) was performed by Bragg accompanied only by his guitar, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg began to use subtle overdubs, such as backing vocals on "Love Gets Dangerous", trumpet on "The Saturday Boy" and organ on "A Lover Sings". 

The album also continued Bragg's legacy of political songs. "It Says Here" is a bitingly satirical attack on the British tabloid press and "Island of No Return" is a concise anti-war anthem. The cover of the original album has the subtitle "A Puckish Satire on Contemporary Mores," a quote from the Woody Allen film Love and Death, in which Allen's character reviews an army play presented to Russian soldiers to prevent them from becoming infected with venereal diseases while at war.

The album was originally released on vinyl in 1984 with 11 tracks. In 1987 the album was again released along with the album Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy (1983) and the EP Between the Wars (1985) and titled Back to Basics. Back to Basics was reissued in 1990. Brewing Up with Billy Bragg was reissued on its own in 1997. So be careful out there. 

[Spotify] The Saturday Boy

[Spotify, album] Brewing Up with Billy Bragg  

[Charming live] The Saturday Boy

“It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go”, Nanci Griffith-Steve Earle

This way: It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go

This song has always given me chills. Every time. And here it is by Steve Earle one of my all time favs. This is a terrific tribute LP.

Nanci Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms. 

Griffith toured with various other artists, including Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets; John Prine; Iris DeMent; Suzy Bogguss; Judy Collins and The Everly Brothers. Griffith recorded duets with many artists, among them Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, John Prine, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Dolores Keane, Willie Nelson, Adam Duritz (singer of Counting Crows), the Chieftains, John Stewart; and Darius Rucker. Griffith had a backing band which she referred to as the Blue Moon Orchestra. 

[Spotify] It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go

“Jackie Down the Line”, Fontaines D.C.

This way: Jackie Down the Line

Fontaines D.C. are an Irish post-punk band formed in Dublin in 2014. The band consists of Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos O'Connell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan III (bass), and Tom Coll (drums). 

The band members met while attending music college and bonded over a common love of poetry. The band began self-releasing singles and performing live regularly, signing to Partisan Records in 2018. The band's debut album, Dogrel, was released on 12 April 2019 to widespread critical acclaim; it was listed as Album of the Year on the record store Rough Trade's website, voted Album of the Year by presenters on BBC Radio 6 Music, and was nominated for both the Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize.

The band's second studio album, A Hero's Death, was written and recorded in the midst of extensive touring for their debut, and was released on 31 July 2020. A Hero's Death was later nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Their third album Skinty Fia, released in 2022, became the band's first to reach number one on the Irish Albums Chart and UK Albums Chart. 

[Spotify] Jackie Down the Line

“You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)”, The Dickies

This way: You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy melodies, harmony vocals, and pop song structures, with a speedy punk guitar attack.  

[Spotify] You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

“Tender Buttons”, Broadcast

This way: Tender Buttons

Tender Buttons is the third studio album by British indie electronic band Broadcast. Following the departure of several bandmembers, the album was recorded largely as the core duo of Trish Keenan and James Cargill, and as such is considered to have a rawer and more stripped back sound than previous Broadcast releases. It was released on 19 September 2005 by Warp. Upon its release, Tender Buttons received acclaim from critics but failed to place in international charts. "America's Boy", the lead and only single from the album, peaked at No. 139 in the UK Singles Chart. 

The album remains their most recent album that isn't a collaborative project or a soundtrack, and is presumably the band's final non-collaborative project or soundtrack recording following the death of Keenan in 2011.

Broadcast were an English indietronica band formed in Birmingham in 1995 by Trish Keenan (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blended elements of 1960s psychedelia with early electronic music and samples from esoteric sources; it earned the band a cult following.

[Spotify] Tender Buttons

“Walt Whitmans Niece”, Billy Bragg Wilco

This way: Walt Whitmans Niece

Mermaid Avenue is a 1998 album of previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco. The project was the first of several such projects organized by Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie, original director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and archives. Mermaid Avenue was released on the Elektra Records label on June 23, 1998. A second volume of recordings, Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, followed in 2000 and both were collected in a box set alongside volume three in 2012 as Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions. The projects are named after the song "Mermaid's Avenue", written by Guthrie. This was also the name of the street in Coney Island, New York, on which Guthrie lived. According to American Songwriter Magazine, "The Mermaid Avenue project is essential for showing that Woody Guthrie could illuminate what was going on inside of him as well as he could detail the plight of his fellow man". It was voted number 939 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). 

[Spotify] Walt Whitmans Niece

“Sally MacLennane”, The Pogues-Rum, Sodomy and the Lash—NPA

This way: Sally MacLennane

Near Perfect Album

Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released on 5 August 1985. The album reached number 13 on the UK charts. The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s, recording several hit albums and singles. MacGowan left the band in 1991 owing to drinking problems, but the band continued – first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals – before breaking up in 1996. The Pogues re-formed in late 2001, and played regularly across the UK and Ireland and on the US East Coast, until dissolving again in 2014. The group did not record any new material during this second incarnation. 

Their politically tinged music was informed by MacGowan and Stacy's punk backgrounds, yet used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, cittern, mandolin and accordion.

[Spotify] Sally MacLennane

[Spotify, album] Rum, Sodomy and the Lash