Listomania! - 1998

1998 was a pretty uneventful year. I took and completed an IT course, but couldn't find a job in Peterborough, so I found a good-paying warehouse job in London and commuted between there and home on weekends. Sometimes, Martina would come to London on the weekends, but she often worked then, so I did most of the driving back and forth. During the week, I stayed at her parent's house, which was very kind of them. It was a pretty good job, with a small crew of people who were easy to work and party with. My buddy Dave was a shift supervisor there and I befriended a young guy named Josh Sawyer, who was a lot of fun, but drank to excess on a regular basis. He, Dave and myself used to frequent a bar near work that was run by Lebanese guys, which we dubbed "Porn Stars" because they would often put pornographic movies on the big-screen TVs after closing time and allow us to stay and drink illegally after hours. Another friend I made was a guy named Peter Bourke who was fun and very intelligent. He and I would do crossword puzzles every night and poke fun at people and just generally laugh our asses off most of the time. We still keep in touch to this day and he is one of the most genuinely kind people I have ever known. Musically, 1998 might just be the weakest year that I have written about up to this point. Most of the songs on this list were painstakingly difficult to come up with and it was generally just a crappy year for music I guess.

10. Poets - The Tragically Hip

Taken from their 7th studio album, Phantom Power, this tune is just typical rocking Hip. There is nothing extraordinary about it really, but it is a good little tune. Gord Downie writes his usual great lyrics and the "worker Hips" do their accustomed yeoman work at laying down their groove. Basically, it seems to be a rant about artsy types and their feeling of self-importance, told through Downie's use of clever and self-important words. "Spring starts when a heartbeat's poundin', when the birds can be heard above the reckonin' carts doing some final accounting." I reckon I should stay off those carts for a few more years.....

9. Do The Evolution - Pearl Jam

This is again an angry Eddie Vedder, raging against technology and the way it is taking precedence over human problems. The voice is distorted, even more so than the guitars, which, while they are rocking, almost sound lo-fi. Jack Irons lays down a great backbeat and cements his place as one of my favourite drummers. This is taken from their 5th and weakest, in my opinion, album called Yield. The video was great - done with animation and very effectively presenting an apocalyptic vision of the modern world. "I'm at peace with my lust, I can kill 'cause in God I trust, yeah. It's evolution, baby!" Sarah Palin will completely miss the message and apply to use this as her campaign song in 2012......

8. This Is Hardcore - Pulp

Pulp were like the poor cousins in the Brit-Pop movement, at least here in North America. They had none of the sales of Oasis or the Cockney charm of Blur. What they had was a charismatic and engaged frontman named Jarvis Cocker. This is the title track from their 6th album, which was again virtually ignored here and a huge smash in the U.K. This song is dark, cynical, theatrical and sleazy. The orchestration brings to mind a film noir score, with its brassy horns and sweeping strings. Cocker oozes slimeball sleaze as he spits out the lurid lyrics with a greasy urgency and it is quite effective and by far my fave song by them. "It seems I saw you in some teenage wet dream. I like your get up if you know what I mean." Is your wife a goer, know wot I mean.....know wot I mean?

7. Money City Maniacs - Sloan

It starts off like Kiss' Firehouse, with the wailing sirens and all. But it soon morphs into a Big Star riff-fest, with the harmony vocals and huge guitar chords powered by a killer melody. These Haligonians were probably the best band in Canada in the '90s and this song is one of their calling cards. The lyrics are too clever, with the plays on words and the punchline of "his body was covered in Coke fizz." It is just a great Pop-Rock song and that is all that needs to be said. "If you admit that you were wrong, then we'll admit that we're right." Go on, just admit it.....

6. My Favourite Game - The Cardigans

Coming off their breakthrough hit Lovefool from a couple of years earlier, this is a bit of a new direction for these Swedes. Singer Nina Persson is still the focal point, but she doesn't coo and purr as in the days of yore. This song, from their 4th album Gran Turismo, is much harder-edged, with a driving bass line and quirky lead guitar. I love the metronomic quality of the hi-hat on the choruses too, sounding like a ticking bomb. This tale of cruel love and having one's face rubbed in said love was ably abetted by the haunting video, which, if you recall, started with Ms. Persson getting into a convertible with a huge rock and placing the rock on the gas pedal and proceeding to drive like a mad-woman until it ends with her crashing into a transport truck. "I should have seen it when my hope was new, my heart is black and my body is blue." Sort of like your typical Leaf fan......

5. Malibu - Hole

Ahh, dear Courtney! So reviled by virtually everyone, especially those conspiracy theorists who blame her for the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The girl was and is a mess, but I take no happiness from her sad state. This song is pretty much her best effort. Her singing is still flat and off-key, but it somehow fits this song from Hole's 3rd album, Celebrity Skin. Bassist and Canadian Melissa Auf Der Maur adds some tasty backing vocals on this song and that adds to its charm. Billy Corgan, the egomaniac who led the Smashing Pumpkins, co-wrote this tune with Courtney and I think his ability with a catchy melody put this over the top and made it a hit. "And I knew love would tear you apart, and I knew the darkest secret of your heart." Loving you ain't so easy Courtney.....

4. At My Most Beautiful - R.E.M.

This song is from their 11th album, Up, and their first without drummer Bill Berry. It is a fairly crappy record, but there are 2 or 3 highlights and this is one of them. Joey Waronker, of Beck fame, sat in on the skins for this record. This sounds like an outtake from Pet Sounds, with its piano and backing harmonies and weird horn parts and cello and broken drum patterns, not to mention the echo / wall of sound production. It is truly a departure for R.E.M., but it may be the most beautiful love song that Michael Stipe ever wrote. "You always say your name, like I wouldn't know it's you, at your most beautiful." Gorgeous!

3. Medicine Hat - Son Volt

This is one of my sister Shannon's favourite songs. See Shan, not only was this post worth waiting for, but you get a mention too! Taken from their 3rd album, Wide Swing Tremolo, this is Jay Farrar at his most heartfelt and sincere. I see it as a sort of take on Dante's Inferno as it is similar in its tone and its predictions. Farrar is a brilliant songwriter and he proves it again with his great arrangement on this song. He gives his band room to play and slide guitarist Dave Boquist plays his part to perfection and comes out smelling like a rose with his superb slide parts. This is the best song on a very good album. "There will be layers of means to an end, drawn-out days before resolution. Dregs will rain down from all directions, there will be right, there will be wrong." Still waiting.....

2. Without You I'm Nothing - Placebo

This is the title cut from their 2nd album and ,for these Brits, it was their breakthrough to some radio play and sales on this side of the pond. Well, the single Pure Morning got lots of airplay anyway. This song is an epic, all dark, moody and druggy. The guitar is like a junkie's needle, buzzing all throughout the song, poking in and out of the melody. The star of this song is singer / guitarist Brian Molko, who, with his androgynous look and sound, peaked the public's interest in the band. Once one has heard a cut by Placebo, his distinctive voice means that anytime one of their songs comes on the radio, one knows who the band is right away. Apparently, David Bowie was a huge fan of this song, so much so that he added some vocals to the single version. "I'm unclean, a libertine and every time you vent your spleen, I seem to lose the power of speech." Cat got your tongue?

1. California Stars - Wilco

This is from the album Mermaid Avenue, which was a joint effort between Billy Bragg and Wilco. Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora asked them to pen new songs from finished lyrics left behind by her late, legendary father. Of the 15 cuts on the album, Bragg does 8 and Wilco the other 7. This ditty is the highlight for me. One could easily imagine Woody himself singing this on a boxcar heading west, or sitting around a campfire at night on the prairie. It has a great country-folk feel and the use of instruments like violin and accordian only enhance the effect. There is also some lovely slide guitar work from Bob Egan, who now plays with Blue Rodeo. I dare you to keep from singing along to this one! "I'd like to dream my troubles all away on a bed of California stars." Especially now when it's -20 here!