Special Countdown: 12 Years of Last.FM (Part 1) (#50-#41)

Bright Eyes

Hey, so I'm still catching up on countdowns, and so, in lieu of the last countdown for April, here's the first part of a 5-part series where I am counting down the Top 50 artists that I've played on Last.fm over the past 12 years of being a member of that site! Look forward to the rest of the series over the course of the rest of 2018!


12 Years of Last.fm (Part 1)

***Featuring***
Brand New
Bright Eyes
Coheed and Cambria
Dashboard Confessional
Dropkick Murphys
Flight of the Conchords
The Get Up Kids
Nirvana
The Offspring
Reel Big Fish
Strung Out

Bonus Countdown: All-Time Top Alternative Songs (ca 2013) (Part 1)

Gorillaz

As you read this, I am in a van driving to Disney, Florida. I hope you are having a great Saturday so far and I hope this episode makes it better! You should go for a drive, too. Let's sync up our experiences! I'll try to put this on around noon (when it posts) as long as I think of it.

So in 2013 Billboard celebrated 25 years of our beloved Alternative Songs (nee Hot Modern Rock Tracks) chart. We celebrated by listening to the first Top Ten. Now we're going to spend the next two weeks counting down the Top 20 on this list that is just over 2 years old. I don't know how the past two years have affected things and I guess we won't know until 2038, when the chart celebrates 50 years ;-) (jk. I'm sure that there'll be something to commemorate the 30th anniversary)

So enjoy Part 1 of 2 Bonus Countdowns!


All-Time Top Alternative Songs (ca 2013) (Part 1)

***Featuring***
Audioslave
Gorillaz
Green Day
Lit
Live
Love and Rockets
Nickleback
Nirvana
Oasis
Staind
U2

New Countdown: Don't Want to Jinx Anything But...

X Ambassadors

I haven't quite been lapped by the charts, so let's shoot for THAT as the achievement here.

Enjoy :)



Countdown #249

***Featuring***
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
AWOLNATION
Death Cab For Cutie
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Nirvana
twenty one pilots
Vance Joy
Walk the Moon
X Ambassadors

Off the Charts #8: Birthday 2014 (Part 1)

She Keeps Bees

Well, I haven't finished this week's countdown, yet. But I do have something for you to listen to. It's perhaps even more alternative (in some cases) than the songs on the countdown because it's all from the blogs I read.

And this year I've decided to split the festivities into two episodes rather than making you set there politely nodding your head for three hours.

So these are the blogs that posted on my birthday last year that I picked songs from for this episode:

xkcd (specifically THIS POST)
The (new) Vinyl Villain (specifically THIS POST)
Across the Kitchen Table (specifically THIS POST)
Side One Track One (specifically THIS POST)
Song, By Toad (specifically THIS POST)
Pigeons and Planes (specifically THIS POST)
We Listen For You (specifically THIS POST)
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (specifically THIS POST)
Unrecorded (specifically THIS POST)
Last Year's Girl (specifically THIS POST)
Crestfallen (specifically THIS POST)




Off the Charts #8: Birthday 2014 (Part 1)

***Featuring***
astronomyy
Flight of the Conchords
Icona Pop featuring Charlie XCX
Male Gaze
Meursault
My Bloody Valentine
Nirvana
Pyramids
She Keeps Bees featuring Sharon Van Etten
Smashing Pumpkins
Turan

Throwback Thursday: 1992

10. Prince and the N.P.G. - Diamonds
9. Metallica - Metallica
8. Michael Bolton - Time, Love, and Tenderness
7. Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony
6. U2 - Achtung Baby
5. M.C. Hammer - 2 Legit 2 Quit
4. Michael Jackson - Dangerous
3. Garth Brooks - No Fences
2. Nirvana - Nevermind

     1. Smells Like Teen Spirit

     2. In Bloom
     3. Come as You Are
     4. Breed
     5. Lithium
     6. Polly
     7. Territorial Pissings
     8. Drain You
     9. Lounge Act
   10. Stay Away
   11. On a Plain
   12. Something In the Way

Even though there were TWO Garth Brooks on the Top Ten for this week, I decided to keep it simple and feature this fantastic, groundbreaking album. And the song I picked to play from it is this fantastic, groundbreaking song. You've very likely heard this album and song many many times before. Listen again. It's still fantastic. 

1. Garth Brooks - Ropin' the Wind

New Countdown: A Voice Before Ice Cream

Modest Mouse

Well this is an interesting one. I've begun the process of losing my voice, and it's documented on this podcast! The really funny thing is that right after I hit "OK" and began to turn the file into an mp3, I had a big bowl of ice cream and now I sound semi-normal. So, maybe I should have had a glass of water to wet my whistle instead of having absolutely nothing at all. Live and learn. And today's lesson learned is: Ice cream solves problems.

So this is one to mostly enjoy for the music. And the music is very enjoyable :)


Countdown #231

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Big Data featuring Joywave
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Milky Chance
Modest Mouse
Nirvana
Vance Joy
Walk the Moon

Throwback Thursday: 1995

7 out of the 10 albums on the Top Ten for 1995 made me go "Whoa! And that one is on here too?!" So I figured we'd break from tradition and have a video from each album on the Top Ten. I think you'll agree it was a bumper crop.

10. The Cranberries - No Need to Argue

9. Tom Petty - Wildflowers

8. Aerosmith - Big Ones

7. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

6. The Offspring - Smash

5. Eagles - Hell Freezes Over

4. Green Day - Dookie

3. Boyz II Men - II

2. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

1. Garth Brooks - The Hits

One Year, 100 Albums: #29 Nirvana "In Utero"

Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old

Nirvana In Utero, 1993

I got In Utero on cassette tape in what was probably something like 1996, because I also got the first Presidents of the United States of America tape in that same shopping trip. I was under the impression that, because they cost less, it was better to get tapes. In my defense, I only had a Walkman for a while there and so it made sense on that level, too.

The PUSA album was slightly shocking because the first song, "Kitty", had the repeated use of the word "fuck" on it.

And then there was In Utero. It was the first and only album that I've ever decided that I wanted to like and knew that I would eventually like it, but that it was not for me at that time. I was not ready. I don't remember specifically what it was that spooked me so. It may have simply been the title of the 4th song ("Rape Me", of course.) but I feel like it was the lyrics contained therein. Actually, it might have been the noise and feedback on the first two songs ("Serve the Servants" and "Scentless Apprentice"), which are NOW two of my favorite songs on the album, that did it. I had only heard "Heart-Shaped Box" and MAYBE "Dumb" or "All Apologies" and was probably not educated in music enough to discern the merit of the more cacophonous sides of the band.

Gradually, I made my way through yelly punk and Staind albums and when I found my way back to this album some years later, it sounded like the angels singing from on high. Seriously, this is the kind of album I want to become the kind of music my kids think of as "classic rock".

So, why not Nevermind? The album certainly has its merits, but this album has drive. And anger. And sadness. And confusion. Which its predecessor also had, but, somehow on In Utero, all of the feelings are distilled to everclear (lower-case e) levels of potency.

You should hear this album. It's the delivery on the promise that Nirvana made with Nevermind. It's harder and louder and more intense and only gets better with age.

Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice
Nirvana - All Apologies

You can buy In Utero at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Monthly Poll: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

So I want to focus a little more on these Alternative Album Grammy Winners that I'm playing for bonus songs on the Countdown. So I think, on the first Monday of every month, I'm going to do a little retrospective poll related to the album from the proceeding month.

February's album was Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York

Please answer the following questions in the comments section. (If you don't have an answer, feel free to skip the question)

1. What is your favorite track on MTV Unplugged in New York? (Spotify)

• About a Girl
• Come As You Are
• Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam
• The Man Who Sold the World
• Pennyroyal Tea
• Dumb
• Polly
• On a Plain
• Something in the Way
• Plateau
• Oh, Me
• Lake of Fire
• All Apologies
• Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

2. What is your favorite Nirvana album?

3. Which do you feel should have won the Grammy, if not MTV Unplugged in New York:

• Bjork Post
• Foo Fighters Foo Fighters
• PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love
• The Presidents of the United States of America The Presidents of the United States of America

Counting Down the Alternative Songs AND the minutes before my throat falls off!

Of Monsters and Men

I'm just really happy that I was able to get this one recorded and posted. My larynx is about to abandon my body and try to make it on the streets of New York City as the apprentice to a con artist a la Robert Redford in The Sting. On a related note, my throat really does sting at this juncture.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Countdown #145

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
The Black Keys
Capital Cities
Dessa
fun.
Imagine Dragons
The Lumineers
Mumford and Sons
Muse
Nirvana
Of Monsters and Men
Silversun Pickups

Flashback Countdown #4!!! 1995!!!!

This is the 4th Flashback Countdown I've done and it might be my favorite so far! 1995 often slips by me when I'm thinking of great years for Alternative Music, but this countdown should serve as a reminder that it was a fantastic year. Every song is enjoyable and uncringeworthy.

Oh it's also the Countdown's 3rd Birthday! Happy Birthday Appetite For Distraction Alternative Top 10 Countdown!

I'm going to start having an image of one of the bands featured on the countdown each week, chosen at random. I've switched to a new RSS reader and it'll look pretty on that. And that's the reason I am doing this. It's selfish, but maybe it'll add something to the blog posts....

Flashback Countdown #4

***Featuring***
Better Than Ezra
Bush
Elastica
Green Day
Live
Nirvana
Oasis
P.J. Harvey
R.E.M.
Sponge

New Countdown and a Lost Time Travel Analogy

Well I started titling this blog like that because I couldn't remember what the time travel analogy I make during the course of the show was. But when I started to write "Lost Time Travel Analogy" I realized that I had unassumingly found the answer. That's a good tip for the future, kids. Stop trying to think of the thing you're trying to think of and give your subconscious room to THINK. It'll come up with the answer. Or it won't and you'll be tormented for the rest of your days.

.....Countdown time!

Well, as I mention in the episode, this will be the last new countdown until the week after next. Next week will be a Flashback Countdown and it's a good one. So come back for that!

Countdown #144

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
The Black Keys
fun.
Imagine Dragons
The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Nirvana
Of Monsters and Men
Silversun Pickups

This Podcast is Madness (Nah, Nevermind it isn't)

So, my sister gave me a hand with this one. But we were both tired and sugared up and kind of loopy. It definitely makes for a very interesting countdown, to say the least! But I know that many of you have said that you like hearing me punchy and this is not only me punchy but also my sister punchy and us egging eachother on and all of that. So you'll almost certainly LOVE it!

Countdown #143

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
The Black Keys
fun.
Imagine Dragons
The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Nirvana
Of Monsters and Men
Silversun Pickups

Change Comes to the Countdown!

Yes, after weeks and weeks with not a lot of movement, we enter the first countdown of March with the scent of change on the air.

Lots of movement this week. Some expected. Some unexpected, though now maybe it'll be expected because I said it was unexpected. I don't know how your mind works. Anything could happen.

It's late, so I'm not going to make this a big humdinger of an introduction, but I hope you enjoy the episode!

Countdown #142

***Featuring***

Atlas Genius
The Black Keys
fun.
Imagine Dragons
The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Nirvana
Of Monsters and Men
Silversun Pickups

Monthly Poll: U2 - Zooropa

So I want to focus a little more on these Alternative Album Grammy Winners that I'm playing for bonus songs on the Countdown. So I think, on the first Monday of every month, I'm going to do a little retrospective poll related to the album from the proceeding month.

So, January's album was U2's Zooropa

Please answer the following questions in the comments section. (If you don't have an answer, feel free to skip the question)

1. What is your favorite track on Zooropa? (Spotify)

• Zooropa
• Babyface
• Numb
• Lemon
• Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
• Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
• Some Days Are Better Than Others
• The First Time
• Dirty Day
• The Wanderer

2. What is your favorite U2 album?

3. Which do you feel should have won the Grammy, if not Zooropa:

• Belly Star
• Nirvana In Utero
• Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
• R.E.M. Automatic For the People

New Countdown! Goodbye September!

Autumn is being kind of a tease this week, but I am anticipating blustery chilly days and it's going to be soooo nice. :)

I'm down in Virginia Beach this weekend and, boy, it sure is nice to have a laptop that doesn't need to be attached to a power cord (aka not a laptop). You guys, I think laptops might be the future of business on the go. Spread the word. ;-)

Countdown #122

***Featuring***
Alex Clare
AWOLNATION
The Black Keys
fun.
Green Day
Imagine Dragons
The Killers
The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Nirvana

Off The Charts #3: #1 Albums

At first I was worried that this would be immediately shut down by the Man. And maybe it still will be, but I hope not. The thing is, you probably already own all of these songs. So why would you steal them?

I had a blast putting this one together and I hope you have a blast listening to it!

Off The Charts #3: #1 Albums


(A running theme of these episodes has been that I've been talking and talking and talking, so it's another Google Docs link. Let me know if it's not working, but I haven't heard from anyone about the others, so maybe I've learned how to do this right)


(Also, it seems that Blogger has forgotten how to move a word to the next line if it doesn't fit on the line it's on. So, that's annoying and hopefully you won't know what I'm talking about when you're reading this. If you DO know what I'm talking about, I apologize for the weirdness.)


***Featuring***
The Beatles
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Carole King
Fleetwood Mac
Guns N' Roses
Jay-Z
Jaydiohead
Lauryn Hill
Michael Jackson
Nirvana
Radiohead