Alice Childress, Alice Springs ...

After a solid month of an aural diet of essentially nothing but Bad Religion, I finally put a playlist together of other stuff on my MP3 player that I haven't heard in a while. I'll share (except as noted, I selected entire catalogs by artists instead of individual songs):

B-52s - "Roam" - I talked about the greatness of this song here, and will repeat my "vastly underrated" assessment of it. Speaking as someone who is not a B-52s fan - I find songs like "Rock Lobster" and "Love Shack" to be the equivalent of eardrum sandpaper - if I were putting together a fantasy team of songs from the late '80s, I'd go to bat with (and win with) this one.

Wire - "Outdoor Miner" - Robert Pollard, avert your eyes: Wire, to me, is generally unlistenable. Except for this sweet gem of a song that clocks in at a hair under 1:50. If it had come out in the 1960s, you'd find it on one of those Nuggets compilations. Pure guitar pop.

Ben Folds, Liz Phair - Two of my forgotten favorites. Both had stunning debut albums, followed by disappointing subsequent releases. It might have been Phair who said something along the lines of how "you have 20 years to write songs for your first album, then 6 months to write songs for your second album," and the quality of the sophomore effort often suffers in comparison. Folds and Phair both were afflicted by this malady. Ben Folds Five's self-titled debut was a masterpiece; songs like "Philosophy," "Best Imitation of Myself," and "Jackson Cannery" wouldn't work nearly as well if Folds' piano were replaced by a guitar, but in this setting, they beat the hell out of anything Billy Joel ever did. Phair's success, on the other hand, could be attributed as much to her potty mouth (check out the NC-17 lyrics to "Flower" sometime) as her skewed pop sensibilities ("Divorce Song," "Soap Star Joe").

And then both artists went somewhat to crap. Sure, some of the individual songs on later albums shined - Folds' "Landed" was the best song on the radio last year, if it was on your radio, while Phair's anthemic "Shitloads of Money" was a highlight of her third album. But Folds started doing duets with William Shatner, and Phair's sound became overproduced and flaccid thanks to her ill-fated stab at teenybopper stardom. Ugh.

Hank Williams Jr. - "I'd Love To Knock The Hell Out Of You" - Heh. Who *wouldn't* love a song called "I'd Love To Knock The Hell Out Of You"?

Silver Jews - The opening line on their American Water album is the greatest opening line to an album in music history: "In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection." In addition, the same song, "Random Rules," also features the line, "I know that a lot of what I say has been lifted off of men's room walls." They're country rock without the twang, indie rock without the screeching.

Stranded at the Drive-In - Bloomington's other last best hope in a different time and place (aside from sorely-missed John Walsh and the Sinkholes). Often closed their shows with a cover of GbV's "Smothered In Hugs," which garnered them my undying affection. Their self-titled album is a keeper, a showcase of catchy guitar pop. "Amphetamine," "Sick All Over," "Spoon Fury," "Crawlspaces," and "Soundcheck" were all radio-ready power-pop hits if only they'd made it to radio.

Better Than Ezra - Scoff if you must; I'll grant that a lot of their later work (i.e. a lot of their songs after their debut "Deluxe" album) has that bland, inoffensive sound that would fit perfectly into an episode of "Dawson's Creek." I'm honestly surprised they're still kicking around. My faves of theirs are "This Time of Year," "King of New Orleans," "Desperately Wanting," and "Sincerely, Me." Pop-rock!

The Captain will note that a lot of the music on this list is exactly the same thing I was listening to in 1999. RAWK IS DED.