Artist - Terence Trent D'Arby
Album - Introducing The Hardline According to Terrence Trent D'Arby
Song - Wishing Well
Date - 1987
State - Not Acquired
Going way back to middle school for this one. We may have all ended up in flannels, but we started out in tight rolled acid wash jeans, and don't you forget it.
In many ways Wishing Well seems very 80's, very produced, very synth, but D'Arby teases something totally unique out of it. Something that's unique, that defines uniqueness.
Dookie is one of those albums no one wants to take seriously, but you just have to. Somehow it feels like a joke, but no, its not a joke, it just doesn't care what other people think.
"She" is a surprisingly earnest call to self-actualization. If there was theme to my teenage years it was that "Darren ole' boy you have to self-actualize". Seriously, bull-shit and $20 words aside, that is what being a teenager is about, going from a child to an adult that we all hope thinks about things for themselves. If banging your head and screaming at a punk rock concert helps get you there, then get on board and self actualize my man.
Artist - Adina Howard
Album - Do You Wanna Ride?
Song - Freak Like Me
Date - 1-25-95
Status - Aquired
Freak like me stands out for two reasons. One would be the Hip-Hop influenced backing track. The trend in R&B had been towards the more up-beat, danceable sounds of New Jack Swing. In comparison Freak's sound is heavily influenced by G-Funk and the work of Doctor Dre. It's slow, its slinky. Its not a song to dance to. Its a song to bob your head (and likely several other body parts) to.
Second, its sexual, aggressively so. Howard, and many other female R&B singers and rappers in the mid 90's actively (and appealing to young men who buy records) adopted blatantly sexual imagery that had previously been the domain of men.
Was this good or bad for relationships between the sexes? That's not really the point? The point is, she's a freak, and she's looking for a freak who can bump-bump to the early morn' and really when you're eighteen its hard to see though that to anything else. Even at 28 and 38 the song still has that affect.
Artest - The The
Album - Dusk
Song - Love is Stronger than Death
Date - June 1993
Status - Not Acquired
Record companies generally like songs about whipping your hair and videos full lithe young women, not songs about death accompanied by videos which graphically depict the onset of death. Not really a foot tapper kind of thing. then in the early 90's weird, self-aware bands with strange names and deep thoughtful songs seamed to find a broader audience at that time. There wasn't anything big and horrible going on in the world. It just seemed like a lot of people where tired of all the smiling and wanted the freedom to be serious even if all there needs had been provided for. The The fits the bill nicely. Love is Stronger than Death is wise, melancholy and honest. Its about the meaning of life, but yeah, you can still tap your foot to it.
Artist - De La Soul
Album - De La Soul is Dead
Song - A Roller Skating Jam "Named Saturdays"
Date - 3-5-91
Status - Procured
De La unveiled pioneering sampling techniques on their debut album "Three Feet High and Rising", but Three Feet still sounds merely like a more complex version of the collage aesthetic then dominant in Hip Hop. On their follow-up album "De La Soul is Dead", they managed to take those techniques and create more sophisticated, integrated tracks that deemphasize the individualness of each sampled sound to create a comprehensive whole. This represented a major shift for Hip-Hop and would become the dominant aesthetic goal of DJ's throughout the 90's.
De La Soul's first draft of fame was a bitter one. Thematically "Saturday" was a radio friendly up-beat song on an otherwise darker album, but technically the backing track is a perfect example of the new highs De La had reached in the studio.
Also, Q-TIP ALERT! That dude was everywhere, and he cuts it up on this track.
And one more thing. Listen for the weird growl at the end of the last chorus. Only De La.
Artist - Ahmad
Album - Ahmad
Song - Back in the Day
Date - 3/31//94
Status - Acquired
Ahmad's delivery sounds strange today, but the scratchy, nasal voice was somewhat popular in the early to mid 90's with groups like the Pharcyde featuring it.
Back in the Day is just a cool, west coast jam. Ahmad was 18, as he says in the song, when he recorded it. There's something telling about youth in that fact. An understanding of the worlds impermanence is just beginning to emerge, but the profoundness of that fact hasn't set in yet. but its cool, almost 15 years later its still a great song to listen to while sitting on the front porch drinking a cold one and catching up with old friends.
This man, this Sir Mix A Lot lives by one principal. If you are going to go there, go ALL the way there. Do not apologize. Do not attempt to appease. In fact scream it from the mountain top. That's why Baby Got Back opens with "I like big butts and I cannot lie." Everything after this is pretty much an elaboration or variation on the same theme.
And the Video. the video? Oh the video...what doesn't it do.
-open with a close up of Sir Mix A Lot, crane out to reveal that he's standing a giant butt-
-cut to a spring expanding on the word "sprung"
Done, you had me with "Giant Butt" fill in the remaining three minutes in a similar manner and call me when its done.
And oh the splash said song and video made.
-The song and video where decried for objectifying women
-The song was then praised for supporting and Afro-Centric view of female beauty
-The video was banned from MTV
-The video was then played only after 9:00 on MTV
The song went to #1, Sir Mix A Lot made a lot of money, and we all learned a little about the value of a fully formed keester, and I think America is a better place for it.
