Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-7-23

One night in December 1994 my friend Kathy and I attended the WDRE Acoustic Xmas show at New York City’s Beacon Theater. There were multiple artists on the bill, each getting a short slot to perform three or four songs. The acts were The Go-Go’s, Big Audio Dynamite, Jesus and Mary Chain, frente!, Love Spit Love, Black 47, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. I looked up online who performed, as the only act I recall seeing there were the Radiohead guys. The band had one album out at that time, 1993’s Pablo Honey. Kathy and I just wanted them to do their hit – “Creep” – and then skedaddle. They didn’t play “Creep.” They played some song about plastic trees and one about an iron long and some other mess. Kathy and I knew this band would never be heard from again.

Oops.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke was born on this date in 1968. Lots of Thom’s work on today’s playlist.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 8-11-23

Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, the two members of The Postal Service, collaborated by sending recordings of their music back and forth through the mail, which inspired their band name. The fact that they used FedEx and UPS for this purpose is besides the point. Do you really think they could get away with calling their project FedEx?

Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie was born on this date in 1976. His work is well-represented on today’s playlist.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7grUUfw8JYyKEGgrINX7Lb?utm_source=generator

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 7-8-23

Beck Hansen came up with a nifty guitar lick, to which a friend of a friend added beats. The beats inspired Beck to recite an improvised poem, on which he attempted to sound like Chuck D of rap group Public Enemy. Listening to the playback, Beck thought “Man, I’m the worst rapper in the world. I’m just a loser.” He started singing “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?” That became the chorus of his song “Loser,” along with “Soy un perdedor” – “I’m a loser” in Spanish.

Today is Beck’s birthday. A smattering of his work is included on today’s playlist.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 5-22-23

Lots of songs from The Smiths and their lead singer Morrissey on today playlist.

Today is Morrissey’s birthday, and I feel the need to mention that to me and many many others, he now comes across as a repugnant person who shares his abhorrent thoughts. He may have always held repellent views, but as opposed to the means during the heyday of his career, it is now easier for his offensive quotes to go viral. Before he utters his next racist pronouncement, he should heed the advice in the first line of the chorus of “How Soon Is Now?:” “You shut your mouth.”

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