Rafi on a rainy day is not that much fun. I wasn’t the kid who wanted to go stomp in mud puddles. I was the one who watched the rain on the window, listening to The Cranberries, and writing poems about the meaning of life. So, this AllDayRainEvent has me mopey and dreary.
Caesars are a Swedish band best known for getting a couple of their songs into commercials and TV promos (mostly “Jerk It Out”) and they don’t get as much respect as they deserve because they had a huge hit that overstayed its welcome. This song is one of their overlooked highlights. It’s just a shade melancholy without being too sad and it’s a good soundtrack to my rainy day.
In continuing with the sometimes urge to upload some of my Favorite Songs of All Time, I feel like I literally grew up with this song from TMBG. I have a much older sister who was in college when I was in elementary school. I’m not sure if she discovered TMBG while away at university, but I remember listening to Flood when she was home one summer.
It was one of the first times I had been exposed to music that wasn’t given to me on black radio. Our house was a steady stream of old-Motown, quiet storm, and Sade but there wasn’t a whole lot of “white people music” in my life. We didn’t get MTV until I was high school (we lived waaaaaaaaaaay out in the boonies) so I only had fleeting encounters with music that had guitars in it.
TMBG have managed to hold their place near the top of my favorite artists list for over 15 years now. I really like their mix of quirky lyrics, random academia, and odd instrumentation. And “Birdhouse in Your Soul” was the song that started it off for me.
Does anybody still listen to Incubus? I feel like this album slipped under the radar and not enough people cared. I don’t drive anymore since I moved to NYC but I still love a good “driving song” and this one was in constant rotation on my “drive mix.” It makes me want to find some boonies and a rental car and let my windows down and inhale tree-smell.
Also, let’s not forget that Brandon Boyd was one of my very first Skinny White Man crushes back in junior high school.
The closest they’re coming to NYC is on July 13 when they play Philly so I’ll see what the tickets look like. You know I’m all for anything that makes me feel like a grody white dude circa 1993.
In the meantime…I’ll just take a moment to fag out over Chris Cornell.
(breathe Rafi….breathe) That hair? I just cannot with that hair! I wish he’d grow it out again.
Aesthetics aside though, Chris has the sexiest baritone in rock music. It’s this primal growl that gives me goosebumps and impure thoughts. Whether he’s with Soundgarden, Audioslave, or giving it a go solo-style, I will follow that voice anywhere. So here go some Chris Moments to tide you over til the tour.
Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”
Audioslave “Be Yourself”
Chris Cornell “Scream” (Let’s just…LOL @ Chris making an album with Timbaland though)
This is my favorite song of all time. That used to embarrass me to admit, but the older I get, the more I realize exactly to what extent 90s rock (modern/alternative/college/top40) has affected how I will forever listen to music.
When I was younger, I would spent countless hours in front of the television watching VH1 (we didn’t have MTV…yes I grew up in the boonies and our cable provider didn’t carry MTV until I was in high school). A lot of videos from that 90s VH1 pinnacle never left the forefront of my consciousness (Blind Melon “No Rain”…Des’Ree “You Gotta Be”…etc), but you know how certain things will make an impact on your in childhood but you largely forget about them until something triggers that memory later in life? I forgot about this song/video for years.
One summer I returned home from boarding school on summer vacation and my mom told me I needed to get my driver’s license. I had been at boarding school all year. I hadn’t practiced driving or driven around with a permit or anything but my mom was like “if you don’t do it, you won’t get around to it, and you’ll end up an old man who can’t drive.” We went out to the DMV and a couple of hours later, I had a license!
My first official, solo trip was to head to town and go to the grocery store for my mom. On the way back, I needed gas and I went inside to pre-pay (I didn’t have a credit card to pay at the pump). While the attendant was taking my money, I saw a rack of CDs that were all $2 and since I was a music fanatic, I browsed a little. This album cover stood out with a cute guy and a vaguely artistic background and no words on the front. I turned it over to look at the track-listing but that part was missing (this is what happens when you buy bargain CDs at a gas station).
I got my change, pumped my gas, and put the CD into the player. The first song that played was quite nice, but the second song was “Barely Breathing” and I knew every word to it! I hadn’t heard it in at least 5 years but I was SO into it. Whenever I listen to it today it takes me back to that summer home from boarding school where I had just gotten my license.
But aside from that, it’s just such a perfect amalgamation of 90s rock styles and would still hold up to modern singer/songwriter compositions. It is literally the most-played song in my music library. And I’m not alone. When it was released, it stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 55 consecutive weeks, at the time being the 8th-longest charting single in history and Duncan lost out on Best Male Rock Vocal to Elton John’s “Candle In the Wind” that year.
Anyhow, now Duncan’s a one hit wonder. I own all of his albums (and love them) but there really isn’t anything in his repertoire as immediately catchy as “Barely Breathing.” Don’t feel sad for him though: the Broadway play he wrote the music for, Spring Awakening, won three Tony Awards a few years ago. He lives in NYC and he’s doing quite nicely.
So this is a little slice of my childhood. Actually, this is Duncan performing that song live with just a guitar, but I highly recommend you look up the video for the original version too. The 90s will forever hold the title of Best Decade of Music.
Projet Orange’s Megaphobe was my favorite album for probably 3 or 4 months and more people should’ve known about this band when they were around. I wish they had more music.
Look at this photo.
