Summer of Rock

All right, kids, here’s your Summer of Rock Mix (not to be confused with Summer Rock, or Rock On, 1988: Endless Summer Nights). If you can’t listen to each and every one of these songs while drinking beer with people you like, then I have failed. So rock the fuck out already.

N.W.A., Express Yourself

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from N.W.A., it’s that life ain’t nothin’ but bitches and money. But if there’s two things we’ve learned from N.W.A., it’s to give it up smooth because there ain’t no tellin’ when they’re down for a jack move. But if there’s maybe nineteen things we’ve learned from N.W.A., I think we can all agree, it’s that there’s a lot of brothers out there, flakin’ and perpetratin’ but scared to kick reality. Don’t ever be scared to kick reality. That’s what it’s there for. Ok? Kick the living crap out of it until it’s down on it’s knees promising to drive all the way out to Santa Monica and bring you back a cheeseburger from the Apple Pan, if you will please please please just let it live. Props to Aimée for picking this one. Above left, Ice Cube says, "See my new family friendly movie. Or I'll kill you."

Blink-182, Rock Show

When people ask me how old I am, I always lie and tell them I’m 56 even though I’m only 49. But this song makes me wish it was still the summer before my senior year in high school so I wouldn’t be so embarrassed about listening to it all the time.

Manic Street Preachers, Motorcycle Emptiness

You know how all of Europe loved Queen while everyone in America was too busy listening to Boston or Molly Hatchet or some shit? (And no I wasn’t, I was listening to something way more awesomer. So fuck off.) That’s kind of what happened to Manic Street Preachers who’ve sold gazillions of albums in places where they take NME seriously. As proof, I offer this song from 1992—which came on the radio like it was "Stairway to Heaven" when we were driving through Portugal last year. It may not be Queen, but it’s what we missed during the stoopidest days of the grunge rock. Incidentally, this comes from the same place as the Flamingoes (see below).

The Breeders, Flipside

Until I started writing all this crap the other day, I never really put it together that while I can’t listen to a whole Frank Black album (see below), I have no problem listening to the Breeders, over and over and over again. Just pointing this out. Also, from about '92-'96 I had this awesome picture of Kim Deal wearing silver pants tacked up in my room. If anybody finds it, I’d like it back, please.

Flamingoes, Teenage Emergency

So you know how sometimes you’re in the Amoeba Records in SF and you’re all like, hey, I wonder if they have the single of Marc Almond’s cover of Jacques Brel’s "Jacky?" And they do? And then you look for the album of outtakes from “Hair” and they have that one, too? (Dang. This is making me sound totally gay.) And then you’re so happy you think maybe even their bucket of 50-cent CD singles is pretty good? So you reach in and pull out this song that proves the law of “teenage” (See Criminal Class USA entry below)? Did that ever happen to you?

EPMD, Strictly Business

Slam magazine (yes, that Slam magazine) once did a story on why 1987 ruled. Slam, their perspective on 1987 being radically different than mine, did not mention acid wash, Rush or zooking a stomach full of 151 directly out of a dorm room window. Instead, they spoke glowingly of the last Finals meeting between Bird and Magic (pretty good), the release of “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (awesome), and also the release of “Strictly Business,” (huh?). Intrigued, I found a copy located conveniently in Kwame’s CD collection, put it on and thought, dang, how’d I miss this? More insightful readers should be able to answer that question for themselves.