It's been awhile

Since I haven't done a 120 Minutes recap in awhile, thought I do one today. This one was from Sunday night, at 11:00 PM Pacific time.

Morrissey- Tomorrow: I remember when this album came out, or rather, I remember singing this song to a friend my senior year in high school who thought the lyrics were some of the most depressing she'd heard, nevermind the beat is rather upbeat. This video has Morrissey and his band walking around some narrow streets in a French town. . they ultimately walk in a circle, but no matter, it's Morrissey. Still a pretty classic mid-90s alternative song.

Wall of Voodoo- Mexican Radio: Ok, I've always liked this song and the video, but it's waaaay overplayed on this show. The video is pretty amusing, what with the band in various old timey pictures, including on band member missing his legs. And hey, who doesn't like barbecued iguana. And the final few shots are really random, from the very, very tall director to Stan Ridgeway in a pot of beans.

U2- Where the Streets Have No Name: A secret show from the top of a building in L.A. with L.A. cops pissed at it happening. There's a story that the cops told them to stop playing and the band said ok, but kept playing anyway until finally the cops got onto the roof and shut them down. The improv group Improv Everywhere even did a play on this during U2's Vertigo tour by staging a mock U2 concert from on top of an apartment complex in New York City, the night of the U2 show there. Anyway, I don't think I need to really say anymore about this song and video.

The Alarm- Spirit of '76: A mix of live shots and various shots of lead singer Mike Peters. Boring video, and, boring mid-80s anthem. Fast forward.

The Cure- Hot, Hot, Hot: One of the more shocking Cure videos since it shows Robert Smith with short hair. Pretty much from their only pure pop album, as they followed this album with Disintegration, blowing away a whole generation of music listeners, and closing the 80s to doom and gloom, along with Depeche Mode's "Violator." Anyway, the video is of the band playing the song on raised circular stages, but concludes with them a few feet shorter. I don't get it, but then, I don't get a lot of their videos.

Gin Blossoms- Found Out About You: Boy, the Gin Blossoms. They were everywhere in 1994, huh? Then they kicked out their one songwriter for alcohol abuse, and couldn't replicate the success of the singles he wrote from their first album. Anyway, the video, like most of these, are the band playing the song, with various scenes showing up behind them- green screen stuff. I'm gonna take this moment to note that Rock Band is missing out by skipping over a lot of these early to mid 90s alternative songs. While they may not necessarily be the hardest songs to play, they sure to bring those of us who lived through that time back to being in college or post-college; Hey Jealousy would be a great song for Rock Band.

XTC- Dear God: Ok, I love XTC, but I'm tired of seeing this video nearly every week. One day I'll post my dream episode of 120 minutes, but not today. One of the amusing things about this song is that I used to DJ at my college radio station, and on Sunday's, since I went to a school affiliated with a Christian denomination, someone would always play this song. I don't know why, I mean, I guess it's kind of an ironic song, but I don't think the people on Sunday's got that, or listened very carefully to the words. While I'm here as well, how is XTC not garnering support for induction into the Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame- I have another posting about the Hall, so I'll save my XTC argument for that, whenever I get around to it. Yeah, I know I didn't talk about the video, oh well.

Stone Temple Pilots- Plush: Their first big song. Just a staged video of them in a club, and Weiland has orange hair. While I thought they were a phony band, I also thought they were in on the joke. Like they knew there were completely derivative, but didn't care and took everyone's money, because, frankly, they wrote some very strong songs, of which Plush is one of many. What I don't like about this video, though, is Weiland copying Eddie Vedder's movements, almost done to a tee. Since this was their first big song, and they were following Pearl Jam and Soundgarden they had to look similar. Weiland got a lot better when he stopped copying Eddie Vedder and became his own on stage train wreck.

The Replacements- The Ledge: God their videos are lazy. Just them in chairs eating, smoking and doing nothing much else. If it's not "Alex Chilton," I'm fast forwarding.

The Fixx- Red Skies: Why they are playing this, I don't really know. I suppose at some point in the 80s, The Fixx was "alternative" or "modern." Honestly, I don't remember this version of the video, with the bass player wearing a long beard, cape and a wide brimmed hat. Really? A cape? Moving along.....

The Dead Milkmen- Punk Rock Girl: Ahhhh, still one of my favorite songs. Saw them in Dallas in 1993 or something- great show. One thing does annoy me about this song is that they get the wrong band; California Dreaming was the Mamas and Papas, not the Beach Boys. There is just so many things in this video that I can't explain, it's awesome.

The Charlatans- Weirdo: When I used to record the original 120 Minutes starting in 1992, this was a song played quite often. The video has a number of "weirdos" including an admittedly scary clown/jester with a fake large nose bouncing around with various lighting. You know, I didn't much care for this song back in 1992 either.

Love and Rockets- So Alive: Another classic from 1989. I remember this song being popular that summer. I can't help but watch every time a Love and Rockets video comes on, I don't know why, other than I like their songs. Oh, and they are 3/4's of Bauhaus. Not much to say about the video. . .

New Order- Blue Monday '89: For some reason has dogs balancing on top of various objects and the band dodging various objects. I guess that, much like how their songs are nearly unintelligible, the videos make even less sense. While I'm here, I want to point out to people this embarrassment:



This is the video for their song "Confusion" from 1983. I mean, nevermind about the song being mastered to a reel-to-reel, and the reel-to-reel being taken to the dance club, that happens to have a reel-to-reel player in the DJ booth, but this whole video is amazing; it's a testament to the early 80s, with the Richard Simmons' candy cane stripped shorts, men with mustaches dancing without shirts, Bernard Sumner wearing a polo shirt buttoned to the top, tucked in with shorts and white socks and boat shoes. I'm amazed by the goings on in that video. . .it astounds me that 3 pasty white guys and one pasty white girl from England could come up with that song and have it be popular. It's really something to behold. Also, another band (and it's previous incarnation as Joy Division) that should be in the Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame.

The Stone Roses- Fools Gold: Never a Stone Roses fan. This video is of them walking around hills and rocks, leading to an impromptu concert on top of one of aforementioned hills. Fast forward.

Fishbone- Modern Industry: All they are doing is reciting various radio station call letters. I have no idea what's going on in this video or with this song. I'm going to guess that it's making fun of major radio stations and how they are controlled by. . .someone or something. Course, there's even less diversity in radio and music today.

Soundgarden- Black Hole Sun: A really creepy video as it uses that technology that exaggerates facial expressions and a number of weird scenes (why is the woman taking a bath with a dog is the one I really don't get). It's a fun song to play drums to on Rock Band. Otherwise, I don't have anything to really say about this video, except I didn't like the song when it first came out, and I really don't care for it today.

The Waterboys- The Whole of the Moon: Ok, now this is a very enjoyable song and one that has really grown on me from watching the video. Just a simple video of the band playing the song, and it's a really good song. It's a song like this that makes one think that anyone can do that, but really, you can't.

Modern English- Melt With You: You know, there's one thing you can say about these cheesy and simple songs from the 80s- they're catchy and will be played forever. And the confluence of influences that resulted in these poppy new wave songs won't be repeated.

REM- Get Up: A confession- Green is one of my least favorite REM albums. There are a number of songs that I do like on that album, I just don't like it in its entirety. It seems way too preachy for me. I'm pretty ambivalent about this song. The video is boring with just a mismash of cut-outs coming together to form various images; it's like a huge collage project.

REM- Supernatural Superserious: God.. .seeing your idols grow old. Anyway, the video has the band driving around New York City, I think, and playing in-store performances in various stores. Didn't buy this album, which I think may be the first one I haven't bought, but the song is thoroughly enjoyable. Perhaps I should go out and find a copy of it.

Alice in Chains- Man in the Box: A song that I really liked growing up. It captured the angst and darkness that was missing in Pearl Jam and even Nirvana. Yes, I know, my music tastes in high school were all over the place, and I haven't even mentioned that one of my favorite bands in high school was Ministry. I suppose I'll have a lot to explain to my future shrink.

The Human League- Human: Another one that doesn't belong on this show. I'm not even gonna write anything more about it.

So, that's all. Not the best episode, but certainly not the worst. I must say that I am getting tired of the repeats.