The History Of Jop Part 15 aka In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If it's Thursday, it must be 1994! The grip of alt.rock and hip-hop - mostly alt.rock - on the Pazz and Jop poll is close to total, and Anglophiles aren't carrying much weight. This does mean that we've got a lot of tracks to rate that never came near a Now album, though!

NINE ticks out of 27 songs.


[Poll #853615]


1993 Joptimist Judgement

1. Cannonball (40 votes)
2. Go West (38 votes)
3. Insane In The Brain (34 votes)
4=. Heart Shaped Box (28)
4=. Oh Carolina (28)
6. Nuthin But A G Thang (26)
7. Creep (25)
8. Informer (24)
9. It Was A Good Day (23)
10. Show Me Love (19)

Comments

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I don't remember this album at all - the "good one" - despite quite liking the one that came after it.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I don't remember this album at all & don't even remember hearing it DESPITE spending most of autumn 1994 struggling with an enormous crush on a woman who idolised C Love!

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Classic, one of the all-time greats, though maddening and inconsistent and perhaps in need of auto-tune. I fantasized appearing on a talk-show her and asking if she would accept cupcakes, as we'd run out of regular cake. Also, at the time I was not willing to admit how good she was.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

She surely got autotune for Celebrity Skin?

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Lex, what do you think of Grace Slick? The one woman singer I allowed into my pantheon as a teenager. When Phil Dellio talked about Courtney going into her "White Rabbit"-commanding voice, I knew exactly what he meant. And was frustrated she didn't do it more.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Have I heard her? I've heard the name but I don't know what band she was in.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Jefferson Airplane (and on and off in Jefferson Starship, afterwards). There's a great moment on 30 Seconds Over Winterland (mediocre live album from '72) when Paul is intoning self-importantly, "In loyalty to their kind, they cannot tolerate our minds,"* and Grace pipes in with, "I can't either."

*line is from John Wyndham's The Chrysalids, but not one that Wyndham was behind 100% (the main character is saying to himself as he hears it that it sounds too much like a creed).

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ah, I've never heard any Jefferson Airplane. Maybe I should track them down now.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

They are extremely inconsistent, almost more a coalition than a band. But I liked 'em as much as I liked Dylan, more than I liked the Beatles (and might still). Bass player had played with James Brown.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Best album to start with is Crown of Creation. Must to avoid is Bark. Surrealistic Pillow is overrated (though has two great Slick classics). After Bathing at Baxter's is my personal favorite. Takes Off is before Grace joined the band. (Grace's previous band, the Great Society is worth listening to as well, though only a couple of studio tracks exist.)

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Er, Phil's writing is often better than mine: I'm sure he actually wrote "her commanding 'White Rabbit' voice."

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Isn't Celebrity Skin meant to be the good one? Maybe it's the one with poptimist credibility and Live Through This - which I don't actually possess! - is the rock-canon choice.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Celebrity Skin did not do as well on Pazz & Jop, but is indeed the one whose title song was covered by Ashlee in concert. I think the first has more 10-points-out-of-10 great songs (two or three of 'em rather than zero: "Doll Parts," "Violet," maybe "Jennifer's Body"), and is a better album despite probably not doing as well under the invalid Steve M "rate all the songs separately" test. (I'm not a loose giver of 10 points. So far no song has been 10-worthy in '06, though "4ever" and "Rush" are 9.5s.)

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I am such a loose 10/10-giver! I think I hear at least three songs each MONTH I'd give 10/10. 'Celebrity Skin', 'Northern Star' and 'Malibu' would all get 10/10 from me and having looked at the P&J list for that year it's far from a given I'll end up even ticking 'Malibu'.

Perfect songs are everywhere, perfect albums hardly anywhere.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[koganbot]

Perfect songs are a dime a dozen, but ABSOLUTELY, ASTONISHING GREAT songs (many of which are far from perfect) are few and far between.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

But all perfect songs are ABSOLUTELY, ASTONISHINGLY GREAT sometimes!

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I liked 'Malibu' but can't think of what could make it a 10. in fact i've always found it extremely difficult to justify my like of it! less so 'Celeb Skin' and far less so the two songs here. but then i've always had trouble working out what i do and don't like about Courtney (lots on either side but probably more on the dud side ultimately :/)

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's anything I dislike about her. I mean, I might not want to be in the same room as her but that is not a like/dislike criterion in any popstar.

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

when she was hating on Madonna, who's side were you on?

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

haha both! loving popstars does not, happily, require one to have any emotional investment in what they say: that they say it is enough

Re: I fake it so real I am beyond fake

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

or indeed loving ROCKstars, which is what Love is, first and foremost. [/ped ant]