VOL. 9
By GERRY GALIPAULT
(October 1999)
All our buddies at the Psychic Friends Network are diligently working the phone lines, fielding calls from Y2K alarmists, so it looks like Pause & Play will have to make its own 21st century musical predictions.
Just a second here, gotta polish the crystal ball down with Windex.
The picture is fading in and out; images are starting to appear. Okay here we go ... here's what the future holds in store for several artists and other musical entities:
By 2005, the Backstreet Boys will tire of their name and will conduct an Internet poll to determine a new moniker. More than 50 percent vote for the Teletubbies, but since that name is already taken and protected by international copyright laws, the Boys settle on the next best thing: Henceforth, they will be known as Producers Puppets.
Kid Rock's son, approaching college age in 2010, will forgo academics and will manage his father's tour with the Dick Clark Revue, sharing the oldies stage in Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City with Limp Bizkit, Blink-182, Lit and Len.
In 2008, Garth Brooks will assume the personality of Colin O'Toole, a washed-up Irish saloon singer who has assumed the personality of Chris Gaines who was once Garth Brooks. No one will notice, no one will care.
Geriatric rocker Carlos Santana will make another remarkable comeback in 2029, enlisting the help of Inspectah Deck, Dixie Chicks, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Jennifer Lopez and the seemingly endless supply of outtakes from old Tupac Shakur sessions for another platinum-selling, multigenre album.
Britney Spears will marry Ricky Martin in 2015, and after the ceremony, ambushing NBC reporter Jim Gray will pepper her with questions, trying to get her to admit she had her breasts enlarged in 1998.
Tommy Boy will release "Jock Jams Volume 57" in 2009; what sets this one aside from previous releases is Chris Berman's Geritol burps.
The Beatles, too, will make another incredible comeback, this time in 2011. The remaining members of the Fab Four will collaborate with Type O Negative in rerecording the entire Beatle catalog for a proposed 50-CD commemorative box set.
In July 2006, for the first time ever, the entire Billboard Hot 100 remains the same as the previous week. Further proof that nothing new ever happens at radio.
By the end of 2001, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince will demand a release from his Arista contract, will denounce Clive Davis as the devil reincarnate and will replace his symbol with a blank space, becoming the first nameless artist ever. It will cause confusion with his publishing company because they won't know who to make out the royalty checks to.
Mariah Carey will retire in 2008 to devote her time and earnings to collect DVDs, Pokemon items and Beanie Babies, play more Dragonball Z and Final Fantasy, watch WWF, WCW and NASCAR competitions and develop friendships with Pamela Anderson, Sable and Melissa Joan Hart.
Well, it could happen ...
This week, Pause & Play goes back to the past with Volume 9 in its countdown toward the next decade. By the end of November, you will have read synopses of 100 LPs. These are, in one column's humble opinion, the Top 100 essential albums of the 1990s.
Indulging in meaningful dialogue this time around are FireHouse singer C.J. Snare, guitarist Henning Ruemenapp of the top-selling German rock group Guano Apes and master mixer-musician Yellow Note (a k a David Barratt).
FireHouse, which had seven chart hits in the early 1990s - including the gold-selling "Love of a Lifetime," released its fifth album, "Category 5" (Mystic Music), on Oct. 19. Guano Apes' debut RCA album "Proud Like a God," released stateside on Sept. 28, has gone double platinum in Germany and gold in Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal. Its first single, "Open Your Eyes," is making headway at college radio. Barratt's second full-length drum 'n bass album, "Yellow Note vs. The Daleks," was issued Oct. 5 on Jungle Sky. Barratt's works can be heard in a variety of TV commercials (Diet Coke, L.A. Gear, Kodak).
All three artists will appear in future P&P editions.
Now, on with the countdown ....
(The following albums are not listed alphabetically, chronologically or in order of importance. Anything that came out in the 1990s - even greatest-hits packages, box sets and compilations - is eligible for inclusion. Almost anything goes.)
EVIL EMPIRE, Rage Against the Machine (Epic, 1996) - Who knew? With Tom Morello's screeching guitars and Zack de la Rocha's angry lyrics, this Los Angeles rock-punk-rap quartet vented all the way to top of the charts. Railing against racism and the government, they boldly went where few bands have gone. Snare: "They were on Epic Records at the same time as us and I remember Epic Records saying, 'Oh, we're going to put the push on these guys. We feel like they have a grass-roots kind of appeal to the kids who like rap and rock.' Have I heard it? No, so I can't really comment. I like a lot of the grooves the guitarist has, but I'm not much into speaking over music. Singing is something I like more. Maybe I'm old school." Ruemenapp: "In Germany, they put a sticker on the album cover and it said, 'Real Evil.' Actually, I like the first album better. That's not so much my kind of music; I like only parts of it." Barrett: "That's a good choice. That covers a lot of bases. It's a wonderfully ironic record as well; it has this incredibly dedicated and honest socialist manifesto being celebrated by people going to M.I.T. When you go to their shows, it's attended by a very bourgeois audience, which is totally ironic. And it's so '90s. I don't want to slack Rage Against the Machine, but everything that goes on around it is contrary to what they stand for. But the record sounds great, and they have a phenomenal guitar player." Prime cuts: "Vietnow," "Without a Face," "Down Rodeo," "Bulls On Parade."
URBAN HYMNS, The Verve (Hut/Virgin, 1997) - The Verve went largely unnoticed in the United States after several albums of dreamy, atmospheric rock in the early 1990s. But with a well-placed string section here and multitextured guitar parts there, the British group finally found a wide audience with this career masterpiece. The dark, introspective and cryptic mood never wore thin from the epic "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to "Come On." Sadly, all good things come to an end, including this band, which split up earlier this year. Snare (laughing): "I get them confused with The Verve Pipe. It's kind of like the difference between Firehose and FireHouse." Ruemenapp: "It's not so long ago that I bought that one because it was quite cheap, I found it in a shop. I used to hate the singer because I only used to see him in the videos. At some point, I realized they had some really good songs, hymn-like songs." Barrett: "I don't think it's their best. I love The Verve, but I don't particularly like that record. I knew somebody who worked at Hut and they gave me the CD before it came out. When I listened to it, I thought, 'It doesn't have that dreamy quality of their other albums,' and thought it wouldn't do well. I was thoroughly wrong about that; it sold like 9 million copies around the world or whatever." Prime cuts: "Bitter Sweet Symphony," "Sonnet," "Lucky Man," "Come On."
AMPLIFIED HEART, Everything But the Girl (Atlantic, 1994) - A blood disorder nearly killed guitarist-keyboardist Ben Watt, making his recovery and this engaging album all the more miraculous. Watt's alluring melodies and lovelorn ballads and Tracey Thorn's achingly melancholic vocals never missed a beat, even when remixer Todd Terry took "Missing" to the dance floor. Ruemenapp: "I bought their best-of record a couple of months ago and I was really astonished because it was nothing that I expected. I expected to hear something more like 'Missing.' They're not so much my favorite." Barrett: "Again, it's an act that I'm very fond of, but I liked them more before they turned electronic. I did, however, enjoy Ben Watt's book, which was written at the same time as when that record was made about his illness. There's a couple of references to that in the songs, which I found quite moving. And I think the passion between those two (Watt and Thorn) is remarkable." Prime cuts: "Missing," "Rollercoaster," "Walking to You," "25th December."
POST, Björk (Elektra, 1995) - For this Icelandic star, quirkiness works to her advantage. Like Beck, Björk is comfortable with a wide range of musical styles, from disco to ambient dub. She's fearless, never thinking twice to add jazz horns or supplement a song with crunchy guitars or symphonic strings. In the end, it's her inanely charming voice that wins over fans. Snare: "I'm not really fond of her work. It's too quirky for me." Ruemenapp: "There are some songs I really like. She's a great artist. She's a bit strange but also poppy commercial. She's always something special." Barrett: "She's a person after my own heart, a complete whore when it comes to style. I mean that in the nicest way (laughing). She jumps from genre to genre; I'd love to do some work with her." Prime cuts: "Army of Me," "It's Oh So Quiet," "Hyper-ballad," "I Miss You."
THE REPRISE COLLECTION (box set), Frank Sinatra (Reprise, 1990) - What a way to celebrate Ol' Blue Eyes' 75th birthday. This excellent four-CD box set, containing 81 tracks from 1960-1984, captured him in his vocal prime. No one could turn a phrase like the Chairman of the Board, and no one likely will ever again. Ruemenapp: "I definitely like that. He was one of the last great entertainers. You don't really find that anymore. You have Tony Bennett, but Sinatra carries something over from the old age, the glamorous '40s and '50s. It's like he's from a different orbit. I love this big-band style, the arrangements; it's really cleverly done. To me, he was like an Elvis, even at 80 years of age." Barrett: "Excellent. Everyone knows he's a great singer, and the arrangers always get the big credit, but I think he had an enormous amount to do with the arrangements on a lot of his records." Prime cuts: "It Was a Very Good Year," "Love and Marriage," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Something Stupid," "My Way," "Theme From New York, New York."
INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW, Material Issue (Mercury, 1991) - Power-pop was back in a big way in 1991, with Jellyfish, Matthew Sweet and Urge Overkill leading the way. Don't forget this Chicago trio. Jim Ellison and company injected their girl-crazy lyrics with simple, melodic-heavy guitar pop ... long before Fountains of Wayne came along. Prime cuts: "Valerie Loves Me," "Diane," "Very First Lie," "Lil' Christine."
IN UTERO, Nirvana (DGC/Geffen, 1993) - Determined to make an even louder statement than the groundbreaking "Nevermind," Nirvana enlisted producer Steve Albini to create a raw yet tuneful catharsis. It alienated some grungies, but true Nirvana fans knew where Kurt Cobain was coming from, especially his commentary on the price of fame ("Serve the Servants"). Snare: "I liked Nirvana. I understood them. I could see why people really liked them. What really puzzled the hell out of me was why people liked Pearl Jam. I'll be really blunt, it fuckin' scared me. Here I am, an artist in the music industry and here's this mega band, and I'm like, 'You know what? I'm in trouble, because I don't get it.' This guy's really unhappy to be there, and he's dissing awards. If he doesn't want them, by gosh, give me a shot at 'em. I don't like (Eddie Vedder's) voice that much, and I don't think they were that cool of a band. I totally got Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was cool; I liked the sound of his voice. The songwriting was great. That's a great album." Ruemenapp: "This is a record I held in my hand a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking about buying it, but actually I wanted to have 'Nevermind.' It was much too expensive, so I let it go. I like them a lot." Barrett: "I own it, it's phenomenal. I don't think Kurt realized exactly what he was doing; a lot of his songwriting was so poppy. Take like 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - I know it wasn't on this album - but that easily could've been a Boston song. Done in a different arrangement, it's not all that different from 'More Than a Feeling.' He walks that line perfectly between the accessible and the private, which is done so well. It's so powerful." Prime cuts: "All Apologies," "Heart-Shaped Box," "Very Ape," "Milk It," "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle."
FANMAIL, TLC (LaFace/Arista, 1999) - Five years between albums would destroy most groups, but after enduring a bankruptcy filing in 1995, a bitter split from manager Pebbles and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' much-publicized falling out with NFL star Andre Rison, this trio only got stronger. Here, they blended R&B with hip-hop sensibilities and all the pop smarts and sass at their disposal. Snare: "I've only heard 'No Scrubs,' and I don't think it's as strong as their last album. I heard all of their last album and really liked it." Ruemenapp: "It's a great dance album, really good production and good singing. I don't like it when they get too hip-hoppy; I like the ones with the melodies, like 'Unpretty' and 'No Scrubs.' " Barrett: "I only know the singles, but I love to death 'Unpretty.' An absolutely fantastic song. It's such a wonderful concept introduced into R&B. One of the things I love about R&B and hip-hop is that it's so visceral and direct and deals pretty much with the id. That song deals with the consequences when the id runs wild." Prime cuts: "No Scrubs," "Unpretty," "Silly Ho," "I'm Good At Being Bad."
THE REAL THING, Faith No More (Slash/Reprise, 1990) - Mr. Bungle's Mike Patton replaced original singer Chuck Mosely in 1988 and promptly helped this veteran San Francisco metal-funk act reach mainstream America in "Epic" proportions. Technically, this album was released on June 20, 1989, but it didn't chart until February 1990, remaining for 60 weeks en route to platinum status, so it qualifies as a '90s must. Snare: "I think they were probably some of the innovators of what's happening today, with Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. I totally give them two thumbs up." Ruemenapp: "That's definitely one from the master collection. They influenced us a lot, especially (lead singer) Sandra (Nasic). Mike Patton is really a favorite of Sandra's. They were more than just rock 'n' roll; they had some pop stuff with this hard appeal but with good melodies." Barrett: "I'm not wildly familiar with it. That came out at a point when I was walking away a bit from rock. I got back into it through Hüsker Dü and Nirvana." Prime cuts: "Epic," "Falling to Pieces," "From Out of Nowhere," "War Pigs."
EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT, SO WHY CAN'T WE?, The Cranberries (Island, 1993) - This Irish alternative-rock band's impressive debut album was their best, tart and tuneful from start to finish. Dolores O'Riordan's enchanting vocals glimmer on "Linger" and "Dreams," but it lost its sheen a year later on the grating "Zombie." Nobody's perfect. Snare: "I think she has a really cool voice, the way she goes from the chest to the head. I like the Cranberries. They put forth some valid musical expression." Ruemenapp: "I don't like the voice too much. It really gets on my nerves. But they also have some really good songs." Barrett: "I hate to say it, but I can't stand her voice. I can't bear to be in the same room with her voice. I'm sure she's a lovely human being and absolutely charming, but she's reminds me of an Irish comedian called Frank Carson who had this 'eeerl' in his voice all the time." Prime cuts: "Linger," "Dreams," "How," "Pretty," "I Will Always."
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