Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#120: The Smiths “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
There’s a fine line between nostalgia trip and beating a dead horse, so the final installment in this series of digging up old music videos goes to the band with the most appropriate song title for the occasion. The Smiths were the most furiously creative band of the 1980s; from 1983 to 1987, Morrissey and Johnny Marr redefined the aesthetics of popular music in an astonishingly conservative, classical way. The Smiths wore normal clothes and hardly ever wore makeup or used keyboards. That’s the idea the video for “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” purports—everybody’s a Smith. Of course, that’s untrue. Morrissey and Marr were extraordinary. This writer interviewed Johnny Marr some years back and came away with the feeling that the Smiths were a pathological entity:
“The thing that brought us really close together is the essence of why Morrissey lives his life and why I live my life,” said Marr. “Without the art of pop music and pop culture, life doesn’t make any sense. It was a pretty serious, deep need. It wasn’t just the need to escape our social situation, because underneath it all, one of the things that makes us the same is that we’re both incredibly sensitive. There was this burden with serious mental problems that were taken care of by records.”
Thank god for mental illness.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#119: Bomb The Bass “Beat Dis”
You know how the introductory paragraph above suggests that this series of 120 posts would include “industrial, electronica and more in between”? Yeah, that hasn’t really happened for the most part. With one post remaining, it’s apparent that 120 Minutes was not as musically varied as memory served; still, stylistic breakthroughs such as “Beat Dis”—the 1988 megasingle by U.K. act Bomb The Bass—regularly found a home on the program. Helmed by producer Tim Simenon, Bomb The Bass didn’t invent sampling, but it sure did pioneer how to pile it on. As for MTV’s further adventures in electronic-music/DJ programming, Amp (1997-2001) became a far more subversive vehicle for arty, creative videos.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#118: Sparks “So Important”
Is it possible this was the only Sparks video to appear on 120 Minutes? Sparks, the L.A.-based duo of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, went on vacation in the late ’80s and didn’t really return until the early ’00s. “So Important” is from 1988′s Interior Design, and it’s symptomatic of some issues that may be preventing the full-on Sparktacular rediscovery: dated style and production that’s like a wall or tall shrubbery, inhibiting access to a deep reservoir of songs. Oh, but when Sparks returned with 2002′s Li’l Beethoven and 2006′s Hello Young Lovers, it began a renaissance in which the Maels’ annoying musical traits (mixing classical with rock, extreme repetition of lyrics and melody, bad puns) became unique assets. Below is the masterpiece from the modern Sparks songbook, “Dick Around”:
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#117: Aztec Camera “The Crying Scene”
Hailing from East Kilbride, Scotland (the same town that birthed the Jesus And Mary Chain), Aztec Camera gained early notoriety for 1983 single “Oblivious,” whose video features boyish frontman Roddy Frame as new wave’s own Peter Pan. (In a now-familiar theme, that clip would have been the obvious choice here but is not available online.) By the time of 1990′s Stray, Aztec Camera was no longer relying on eyeliner and strummy, lightweight songs. Stray wasn’t pure gold, but first single “The Crying Scene” represents a respectable toughening-up of Frame’s songwriting with a peculiarly American touch. Frame was Aztec Camera’s sole constant—the band cycled through approximately 25 members over its lifespan, including former “fifth Smith” Craig Gannon for a spell—until he began recording under his own name in 1995.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#116: Robyn Hitchcock Owns This Channel
If the price was reasonable, we’d buy a full-length recording of Robyn Hitchcock simply talking. It’s possible that no human has strung together more original sentences than him. It must be exhausting being Robyn Hitchcock. In an earlier post we bemoaned the lack of his videos on YouTube (though “Balloon Man” sneakily appears here in crap-o-vision), but this series of between-clip banter might be even better—even Dave Kendall seems impressed. “I didn’t want to worship the devil,” Hitchcock tells him, “so I came to Manhattan.” The context here is funny, too; just think of the sad beauty of a song such as “She Doesn’t Exist,” from Hitchcock’s 1991 album Perspex Island, having to rub up against the silver body paint of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give It Away” on the record-store shelves and college-radio airwaves. There oughta be a law.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#115: Superchunk “Driveway To Driveway”
Once again we stretch the elastic boundaries of what constitutes 120 Minutes‘ “classic era” to include this 1994 video from Chapel Hill, N.C.’s Superchunk, but we do so in order to point out two things:
1) This clip for “Driveway To Driveway” puts the lie to our earlier notion that indie rock killed 120 Minutes by not making videos. The more likely explanation is that Viacom/MTV didn’t see much business sense in airing promotional videos by indie labels such as Matador (let’s please not get into this any further).
2) Mac-and-Laura breakup album Foolish proved that Superchunk could do more than the pogoing pop/punk of “Slack Motherfucker”; that it might be a band that survived your college years; that it was every bit as “important” as Pavement even though the group rarely got more than an acknowledgment of workmanlike accomplishment from the press box.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#114: Material Issue: “Valerie Loves Me” and “Kim The Waitress”
Here’s the video for 1991′s “Valerie Loves Me,” in which the members of Material Issue take turns stalking a woman, the bass player going so far as to camp out in the ladies’ restroom. Granted, the vlip doesn’t do justice to “Valerie,” a high-school mix-tape staple that’s in the rarefied airspace of “Melt With You” as far as those matters are concerned. That Material Issue pulled off a 1960s mod, English act in the midst of 1990s Chicago is charming and bizarre, but there was a dark side, too. (And we’re not referring to the sad collection of humanity that shows up at power-pop conventions.) Singer/guitarist Jim Ellison committed suicide in 1996 after the group had parted ways with its label the previous year and Ellison had ended a long-term relationship.
Cheer up, campers: It’s a Material Issue Double Shot! Here’s the band’s cover of “Kim The Waitress,” written by those other power-pop heroes, the Green Pajamas:
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#113: The Jesus And Mary Chain “Darklands”
The weird thing about Darklands is that it’s so much better than Psychocandy. The latter gets all the respect and praise, but much of that debut is just noise. The Jesus And Mary Chain’s 1987 sophomore album is a fulcrum: It releases much of the childish, annoying feedback of Psychocandy and hasn’t yet completely tipped over into the drum-machine dystopia of 1989′s Automatic. On the title track, Jim and William Reid combine their love for the Velvet Underground and girl groups and blanket it with slow, shuddering chords. Darklands—it’s the new black.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#112: Dramarama “Last Cigarette”
After last week’s self-important proclamation that, for some reason, the final 10 120 Reasons To Live entries should, like, count for something and represent important musical moments … well, here we are with the ultimate alt-rock footnote, Dramarama. Originally from Wayne, N.J. (of Fountains Of … fame) and later situated in Los Angeles, Dramarama was beloved by KROQ (Dramarama bassist Chris Carter went on to produce 2004 Rodney Bingenheimer documentary Mayor Of The Sunset Strip) and got signed by Elektra in the ’90s. “Last Cigarette” is from 1989′s Stuck In Wonderamaland, and there’s something annoyingly honest about it, in some ways the same as a country song that doesn’t mince words or seek to deliver any message but the plainest one: “Last cigarette/One before I go to bed.”
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#111: Pulp “Disco 2000″
As we move into the final 10 entries in 120 Reasons To Live, there is a slow, dumb realization of the waves of regret that will come crashing down on us after there is no more space to fill. Did we really use up a spot just to make fun of Killing Joke? Two Lemonheads videos? The rest of the self-analysis will be saved for a special after-the-fact director’s commentary post. Maybe. Pulp’s popular era (circa 1996) is disconnected from the prime 120 Minutes era by a good half-decade, but if Blur was counted in our list then it’s a crime not to include the better (OK, best) band of the Britpop movement.
If the riff to “Disco 2000″ sounds familiar, maybe it’s because Jarvis Cocker is a huge fan of Laura Branigan’s appearance on an episode of CHiPs.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#110: Gary Young “Plantman”
From the 120 Reasons To Live mailbag:
Dear MAGNET,
How about a Pavement video?
No!
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#109: Unsane “Scrape”
As entertaining as it is to watch skateboarders and bikers eat pavement in the 1995 video for “Scrape,” the enduring image put forth by New York City’s Unsane is the cover of its 1991 self-titled debut: a photo of a man decapitated by a subway rail, with a cherry-red blood streak that makes it look fake, something completely staged by the horror movie-obsessed guys in the band. But, as Unsane singer/guitarist Chris Spencer told MAGNET a few years ago, it was real. The photo of the man pushed to his death in Union Square was given to bassist Pete Shore by a friend in the NYPD. Though Unsane did go on to stage its subsequent blood-soaked album covers, the band remained true to its dystopian grind and has outlived most of its early-’90s contemporaries (Helmet, Pussy Galore, lots of AmRep bands).
Fun Fact: Both Unsane and Hootie & The Blowfish released albums titled Scattered, Smothered & Covered. Hootie’s title indicated the record was a covers album, while Unsane’s title, well, let’s just say the album cover is an arm sticking out from under a bloody pillow, with a hammer lying nearby.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#108: The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out”
Because Echo & The Bunnymen couldn’t be everywhere at once in the late ’80s, Wolverhampton, England’s Mighty Lemon Drops existed. Despite the similarity and the too-dour demeanor of singer/guitarist Paul Marsh (oh, have a drink and lighten up), the band turned out some stylish-sounding jangle rock. “Inside Out” is from 1988′s World Without End—wake me when the Rickenbacker revival happens.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#107: Sloan “Underwhelmed”
And this is how we met cute with Sloan in 1992: a song about crushing on a grammar-challenged girl, delivered by a band that looks like it stepped out of an alternative-rock romantic comedy. It was easy to be charmed by Sloan’s clever wordplay, Canadian articulation and Sonic Youth guitars in the midst of all that Pearl Jam/Stone Temple Pilots growling. Also, it’s a funny coincidence that drummer Andrew Scott is wearing a Teenage Fanclub T-shirt: Sloan and Teenage Fanclub might be the two best bands of the last 20 years. While Teenage Fanclub just kind of mellowed nicely over the last two decades, Sloan has tripped into the 1970s closet of musical styles (soft rock, punk, arena rock) and come out the other side with an impressive mastery of team songwriting, vocal harmonies and classic riffs (check out “Unkind” from last year’s The Double Cross).
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#106: The Mekons “Ghosts Of American Astronauts”
Jon Langford likes to say that his Mekons bandmate Sally Timms has the voice of an angel and the mouth of a sailor. 1988′s “Ghosts Of American Astronauts” proves the first part; the Mekons were rarely as lovely as they are here, which is not an insult for the Leeds, England, punk band that often had other musical goals (namely, raucous takes on U.K. folk and American country music). Truth is, the Mekons are a hard nut to crack. Like the Fall, they’ve been around a long time and have assembled an imposingly long discography that took up almost a whole column in The Trouser Press Guide To 90s Rock; they’re über-political, but that’s confusing when listening to a decades-old album in their catalog; and they do funny art projects like 1996′s sea-shanty Pussy, King Of The Pirates with writer Kathy Acker. So, yeah; there is a mountain to climb. Is this documentary out yet?
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#105: The Sisters Of Mercy “Dominion”
In hindsight, the greatest goth band of all time was also one of the funniest, most ambitious groups ever to appear on 120 Minutes. Take the video for “Dominion”: shot at the same location in Jordan where they filmed part of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. From 1987′s Floodland, an album partially produced by Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Hulk Hogan), whom the Sisters Of Mercy first connected with while attempting to record an ABBA cover. “Dominion” is like a James Bond movie inside an episode of Game Of Thrones, wrapped in a flour tortilla and stuffed with pizza. There should have been backup dancers. Three guesses as to what is inside the folder being exchanged in this video: a) a manuscript for an unpublished book titled A Gentleman’s History Of Walking Sticks; b) the International Male catalog; or c) Vanna Speaks.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#104: Close Lobsters “Let’s Make Some Plans”
This town isn’t big enough for the both of us. Hi, neighbor. We’ll be moving out soon. If you want 120 Minutes videos without all the annoying commentary, go there.
Close Lobsters? Total C86 band, by which you can only infer they existed in 1986. Other bands on that compilation went on to mid-level international success—Primal Scream, the Mighty Lemon Drops, the Wedding Present (who later covered “Let’s Make Some Plans”)—but 80% of them, well, didn’t. Paisley, Scotland’s Close Lobsters weren’t always as jangly as the Rickenbacker chime of “Plans” suggests; the band had a significant psychedelic/dream-pop side to it that helped push U.K. pop beyond the stranglehold of the Smiths.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#103: Felt “Primitive Painters”
The line that connects Television to Belle And Sebastian runs directly through Felt. It’s easy to hear Television’s glassy guitar sounds in “Primitive Painters,” a 1985 single by the Birmingham, England, band led by singer Lawrence and classically trained guitarist Maurice Deebank. What Belle And Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch picked up from Felt is less audible but all too real: the desire to remain as mythical as possible. B&S’s shroud didn’t last long due to popularity; being photographed and interviewed by the press soon became a necessity. The relative lack of interest in Felt (which recorded 10 albums for Creation and Cherry Red) kept the mystery alive, at least to the point where we’re still not 100% certain what Lawrence’s last name is.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#102: Daisy Chainsaw “Love Your Money”
According to most ’90s music histories, England had no truck with the grunge and riot-grrl movements; London’s Daisy Chainsaw proves that just wasn’t true. Whose ragged babydoll dress came first: Courtney Love’s, Kat Bjelland’s or DC singer KatieJane Garside’s? 1992′s “Love Your Money” was a minor U.K. hit and was even smaller in the U.S., evidence that some tradewinds only blew one way back then.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#101: Christmas “Stupid Kids”
If 120 Reasons To Live had any editorial foresight, planning or sense of timing, this post would’ve been published on or around December 25. That way, fewer readers would scratch their heads as to why, exactly, their attentions are being recalled to 1989 and a kooky Boston college-rock band that remains largely forgotten. But we’re here to point fingers in the sky and claim Christmas was important. For one, Yo La Tengo’s James McNew joined Christmas a few years after this video for “Stupid Kids.” For two, members of Christmas went on to form Combustible Edison, which probably requires further explanation but we’ll just say that Combustible Edison was partially responsible for the mid-’90s revival of lounge and cocktail culture. So show a little respect for “Stupid Kids,” whose video is too busy for shirts and too confusing to criticize. Its embedding is disabled by request, so you will need to watch it on YouTube.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#100: The Dentists “Gas”
How come British indie bands got a perpetual pass on referencing sports (read: football, re-read: soccer)? Don’t they segregate the jocks from the music geeks over there? It’s fine to do it on your own time, Steve Malkmus and the rest of the indie-rock fantasy basketball league, but don’t let it cross over into, say, your album titles. Here’s the flimsy evidence: the Housemartins’ London 0 Hull 4. The Wedding Present’s George Best. The Dentists’ Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It’s All Over It Is Now. The Dentists didn’t get to make a video until 1994′s Behind The Door I Keep The Universe, but they made it count; “Gas” shows off their love of the Soft Boys, Smiths and R.E.M.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#99: School Of Fish “Three Strange Days”
Don’t press play yet—that’s not the real video for “Three Strange Days.” The real one is not only non-embeddable, it also comes packaged with a commercial for an Ashley Judd movie. Hope your back catalog rots, EMI. Anyway, click play to listen, then quickly open another browser tab and get to work on your NCAA bracketology. Depending on how close you pay attention, you’ll either hear a pretty dopey song about an acid trip or a marvel of ’90s guitar-rock production, which elevates the main riff to listworthy greatness. “Three Strange Days” came from School Of Fish’s 1991 self-titled debut; the band got one more release in with Capitol Records before calling it quits in 1994. No reunions here—singer Josh Clayton-Felt died of testicular cancer in 2000. He was only 32.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#98: The Alarm “The Stand”
The terrible spray-painters in the Alarm weren’t exactly a personal favorite; the band’s inclusion here is more a nod to a not-too-ancient interview with Joe Pernice, who recommended the Welsh outfit’s early period. “The Stand,” inspired by the Stephen King novel of the same name, hails from said early period, the group’s self-titled 1983 EP. You make the call where the Alarm is concerned: Purveyors of overly earnest anthems, or the U2 that should’ve been? (Third option: Ignore this question altogether because it is 2012, after all.)
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#97: Six Finger Satellite “Parlour Games”
Man, don’t you hate it when reviewers/critics of music videos completely phone it in? That’s what Beavis and Butt-head did to Six Finger Satellite’s “Parlour Games” (from 1995′s Severe Exposure). C’mon guys—you could’ve at least come up with an angle.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#96: The Dandy Warhols “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth”
The Dandy Warhols were making fun of Portland hipsters in song long before Portlandia thought to do the same through sketch comedy. The band’s most complete statement in this regard was 2000′s “Bohemian Like You,” but the sniping began with 1997′s “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth” and its David LaChapelle-directed video. (It’s funny that LaChapelle’s Wikipedia entry warns readers not to confuse him with comedian Dave Chappelle.) Circa this video, the only other information many music fans might have gathered about the Dandy Warhols is that keyboardist Zia McCabe occasionally played shows topless. Shit like that gets around fast. Lacking the psychic damage of peers the Brian Jonestown Massacre (see: Dig!), it’s no wonder the Dandy Warhols ended up with a major-label contract that, bizarrely, made them rogue outsiders in their native city.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#95: Blur “There’s No Other Way”
The only point worth making about Blur’s first video appearance on 120 Minutes has to do with contextualization and expectation. At best, it seemed like Blur might be of Charlatans-level interest, and even hardcore stateside anglophiles wouldn’t have rated the band higher than, say, Chapterhouse or Moose. You could argue that Blur’s songwriting didn’t necessarily get any better than “There’s No Other Way”—the group just went on to do things differently.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#94: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Bellbottoms”
The Black Keys? Really? The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion creeps closer to legend every year. JSBX isn’t dead—they’ve been tabbed by Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum to play the ATP festival this spring—and you probably can’t ever kill them, but the band largely built its reputation on live shows instead of recordings. And sometimes even the recordings are great, as in the case of 1992′s “Bellbottoms.”
On a tangent, MAGNET’s Jud Cost interviewed Spencer in 2010; while discussing his pre-JSBX band Pussy Galore, Spencer offered up one of the greatest rock stories ever told:
Spencer: The classic story is when we did the very last tour with Pussy Galore after Julie Cafritz had left the band, right after Dial M For Motherfucker. It was the lineup with me and Bob Bert, Neil Hagerty and Kurt Wolf, the four guys. We did four weeks in August, not the best time to tour, all through the south and southwest. The whole tour, Neil had a Samsonite piece of luggage, a big old-fashioned suitcase. But he always wore the same clothes. He’d change his clothes when somebody gave him a T-shirt or he got something at a Salvation Army. We were coming back into the U.S. from playing Montreal going to Boston. And we’re getting stopped at the border and they’re going through our stuff. We’re getting tossed. So, they go to open Neil’s bag, and we’re all standing around. And the only thing that’s in there is a deflated basketball. Neil says his father suggested it might be a good way to stay in shape, to shoot a few hoops.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#93: Violent Femmes “American Music”
That the Violent Femmes’ career trajectory is generally regarded as a long, slow downward arc is sad and unfortunate, yet pretty much fair. 1983 debut Violent Femmes was everybody’s adolescence; it was The Catcher In The Rye. But just because you hit your peak early doesn’t mean there’s no life after a hot-shit debut. The Strokes and Interpol know it, too, and there’s eventually no way you’re not going to end up playing casinos and Houses Of Blues, as the Femmes did for their last decade or so. (The band broke up not long after bassist Brian Ritchie filed a lawsuit against frontman Gordon Gano seeking music ownership and royalties; Gano licensed “Blister In The Sun” to Wendy’s in 2007.) 1991′s Why Do Birds Sing? wasn’t exactly a gem—it’s telling that one of the album’s best tracks is a Culture Club cover—but its single, “American Music,” proved the Femmes were still capable of smartass greatness.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#92: Blake Babies “Temptation Eyes”
Boston’s Blake Babies had one of the finest pedigrees you’re likely to encounter: Named by Allen Ginsberg, the trio studied at the Berklee College of Music. Which doesn’t explain why one of the band’s career highlights was this 1991 cover of a Grass Roots song, a feat that the less-than-soulful Blake Babies seemed ill-equipped to pull off. Juliana Hatfield, drummer Freda Love and guitarist John Strohm got by just fine on their own, but it was always a little more fun when friends were around, either physically (Lemonhead Evan Dando was briefly a band member) or by proxy: “Temptation Eyes” appeared on the Rosy Jack World EP, whose title is a reference to a Frogs song, and the EP also features a cover of a Dinosaur Jr song.
Fun Fact: The Grass Roots’ guitarist was Creed Bratton, a.k.a. the lovable sociopath from The Office.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#91: The Smithereens “Top Of The Pops”
What other band can claim to be an influence on both Nirvana and The Jersey Shore? It’s the Smithereens, New Jersey’s finest ’80s college-rock band (if you’re not counting the Feelies and don’t consider the Misfits college-rock material). “Top Of The Pops,” from 1991′s Blow Up, is not a cover of the Kinks song “Top Of The Pops,” but it’s at least part homage to Ray Davies and draws an interesting, if somewhat faint, line between Davies and Smithereens frontman Pat DiNizio, two working-class heroes. We’ll save a Smithereens career arc for a later post, but DiNizio has made himself an interesting life out of sheer tenacity, from his 2000 run for the U.S. Senate and a battle with a debilitating nervous-system disorder to pioneering living-room shows and, more recently, engaging in a good old-fashioned run of shows in Vegas.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#90: Guided By Voices “My Valuable Hunting Knife”
Some cold, hard truth for 2012: Indie rock killed 120 Minutes. While there’s plenty of blame to go around, the death wasn’t simply caused by the often-repeated “MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore” excuse. It was complicated by the fact that bands on indie labels didn’t have the money to make videos, and after a while listeners were smart enough to realize that 120 Minutes was no longer broadcasting the best new bands. Then fans and artists stopped caring about music videos altogether. Then some other stuff happened, like royal weddings and the Large Hadron Collider and the time those guys stole Edvard Munch’s The Scream from an art gallery in Norway. Then we started this nostalgia trip.
All of this was the case, of course, except when it was not. And it’s worth mentioning that you’re reading MAGNET’s website and we are three-quarters of the way through a 120-post series and this is the first Guided By Voices video featured. We know: We feel a little bit disoriented ourselves. But in honor of the return of GBV’s classic lineup and its new album (plus the band’s appearance tonight on Letterman), here’s “My Valuable Hunting Knife.” It sounds a little different from your Alien Lanes version; the audio is from the “professionally recorded” 1995 Tigerbomb EP.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#89: Gas Huffer “More Of Everything”
Hope everyone is spending some time with family during this holiday week. Always a blast to sit around a dying Christmas tree and listen to Gas Huffer, a band not nearly as degenerate as its name implies. Unlike its peers in Mudhoney and Pearl Jam, the Seattle garage/punk outfit never made it too far out of Seattle; but we remember Gas Huffer in all its glory, for singer Matt Wright’s sideburns and tracks like “More Of Everything,” from 1994′s One Inch Masters.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#88: The Sisters Of Mercy “Lucretia, My Reflection”
All puns aside, 1987′s Floodland was the high-water mark for Leeds, England’s Sisters Of Mercy, the band that best represented ’80s goth rock. Frontman Andrew Eldritch was pretty much all alone in the batcave for this album—apparently, he was such an asshole that most of his bandmates left and formed the Mission U.K.—and he indulged in some really fantastical, gloomy pop-music flamboyance and prog-rock frippery. “Lucretia, My Reflection” is the record’s best song, purportedly written about Sisters Of Mercy bassist Patricia Morrison (formerly of the Damned, and Eldritch’s co-star in this video) and featuring an evil, close-to-krautrock rhythm. There is much more to be said about the Sisters Of Mercy, and we’ll save it for a future installment featuring the “This Corrosion” video, a shitstorm of betrayal, overindulgence, name-calling and Air Supply. Happy holidays!
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#87: The Go-Betweens “Spring Rain”
The Go-Betweens get another go-around on 120 Reasons To Live because: a) The first installment kind of made fun of them for being Australian rubes who’d never seen a music video; b) We promised Go-Betweens bassist-turned-publicist Robert Vickers we’d showcase a clip from his era of the band; c) Robert Forster makes love to the camera in this video; and d) You could play 1986′s “Spring Rain” at a birthday party or a funeral and it would still be perfect.
Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#86: Kate Bush (“X-Ray” segment)
Here’s another non-video. In the case of Kate Bush, you might have actually learned more about her from one of her videos than this “X-Ray” clip. What’s more objectionable: Bush speaking honestly about her music (and sounding as completely fruity as David St. Hubbins in the process) or host Dave Kendall harshly dismissing Kate Bush while wearing a Wonder Stuff T-shirt? Next week we return to regular music-video fare, but searching for additional “X-Ray” segments on YouTube is a suggested activity if you need to dodge work for a while.
