Music Snobbery

Top 5 Reunions I'd Like To See Happen Within My Lifetime

Reunions tours are the new festival tours in 2008. The Verve reunion shows have been a great success. I shelled out the $60+ for the first My Bloody Valentine show at Roseland even though that venue makes me want to stick Q-tips in my ear until I hit my brain. Eventually, Portishead will get their butt around the country, although they never really broke-up. It was just a very long holiday. Then word came today that Ned's Atomic Dustbin are having a go at it.

So I was thinking of a few bands that I would like to see get together and cash a pay check. Let's face it, bands reunite because there's money involved. No surprise there.

I left out the big names like Smiths, Stone Roses and Talking Heads because it will never happen. Led Zeppelin -- please, it's not a reunion without John Bonham

5. Sleeper: Being that I am full-formed musical being from my love of 90s BritPop, three of these bands are from that era. One of them that I never got to see was Sleeper, and many of their songs didn't translate that well in the States. Lead singer and mega-cutie Louise Wener is content with being an author now.

4. James Taylor and Carly Simon: I think suburbanites' heads might explode if this ever happened. I would just want to see the awkward tension between the two of them on stage. Then the offspring can join them on stage and it will be a yacht rock version of The Partridge Family. "You Got a Friend" with a JT and Carly ... yikes ... make sure a therapist is present.

3. Elastica: I did get to see them when they toured their second album. Unfortunately, they were two records and done. Justine Frischmann got a raw deal from being over-exposed in the British press from her relationship with Damon Albarn. When that ended badly, he did the somber 13 and she did the fuck-off album, The Menace. Now, she's M.I.A. literally, because she co-wrote "Galang". Other than that, she's off the radar.

2. Luscious Jackson: They have come together for a children's album that will maybe see the light of day within our lifetime, but it would be tough to get these ladies doing dates when they have families of their own. I just think a new generation of listeners would appreciate how great their music is.

1. Pulp: Yeah, my big regret in concert-going is that I never saw these guys back in the day. Sure, Jarvis is doing his thing and it's similar to the Pulp material, but getting the band back together would be HUGE. HAAAAA-UGE. They are another band that never officially called it a day.

Top 5 Things I Would NOT Do As A Rock Star

Just something quick I was thinking about today. What would I avoid at all costs if I was successful musician?

5. Make a fashion line.

4. Have a publicity photo with me leaning against a brick wall while wearing a CBGB's t-shirt and looking sullen.

3. License a song for a movie soundtrack starring Kate Hudson or Matthew Mcconaughey or both.

2. Take part in a Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

1. Be on the same bill or at the same festival as Fall Out Boy, John Mayer or Good Charlotte.

Top 5 Musical Moments from Paul Thomas Anderson Films

I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!

This list could easily be a list all from Boogie Nights, one of my favorite films of all times. Alas, we have to consider Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. There's not any memorable music scenes in Hard Eight.

5. "Wise Up" from Magnolia -- This song could have ranked higher for it not for the Tom Cruise factor. It's the part of the film, at around the 6 1/2 hour mark, where all the characters sing the same Aimee Mann song. Each of the character are at their emotional end and the song ties them all together. As legends goes, PTA was inspired to write the movie based on hearing Mann's songs. Also in the film, you can't go wrong with some Supertramp. As a side note, I have sort of connection to Mann. Drop me a line and I'll tell you.

4. "Machine Gun" from Boogie Nights -- It's hard to pinpoint two montages from Boogie Nights to single out. Dirk Diggler in the studio, the opening tracking shots, Sister Christian to Jessie's Girl, the coked-up scenes with Todd Parker set to Compared to What. I enjoy the rise to power of Dirk Diggler set to the Commadors song. It has all the cheesy elements -- glamor shots, magazine headlines, split screens and quick scenes of Dirk fucking. At the end of the montage, you have a big choreographed number at the disco. If I had the time, I would want to learn every move of that scene.

3. "Proven Lands" from There Will Be Blood -- I'VE ABANDONED MY CHILD ... I'VE ABANDONED MY BOY. The film is just mind-blowing. It's looks like McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Days of Heaven, but plays like Citizen Kane: The Maniac Years. The scene that stand out to me is when the oil well exploded and makes H.R. deaf. Eventually, the whole thing goes up in flames into the night. Jonny Greenwood has the scene punctuated with heavy percussion and string arrangement that gives the scene a pulse.

2. "He Needs Me" from Punch-Drunk Love -- Not many people were into this film. I love it and I hate Adam Sandler films in general. I appreciate films that take risks and doesn't blatantly tell you what to think. On the soundtrack, Jon Brion remixes "He Needs Me" from the film Popeye, sung by Shelley Duvall and written by Harry Nilsson. In the movie, Barry cashes in his frequent flier mileage from all the pudding he purchased to fly to Hawaii. He gets there so he can meet up with Lena in the ultimate staged love meeting. They are in silhouette and a punch of tourist walk in and out of frame. It's strange, but it works.

1. "God Only Knows" from Boogie Nights -- It's the finest Beach Boys song. I've heard it at about 5 of the past 6 weddings I've attended. Like in Magnolia, this song is the emotional climax of the film where all the character's stories are wrapped up. Some end with happiness, others not. Watch out for Buck's Super Stereo ... WORD! I come away think, "Sure, they're strung out porn stars, but at least they have each other."

Top 5 British Bands to Look Forward To in 2008

Thanks to THE MAN, some of these bands will be denied the opportunity to play our shores. We will see what happens. The Enemy and Rumble Strips had to cancel their first U.S. dates due to said problem. Stupid visas.

Anyway, looking at last year's list, The Pipettes, Fratellis and The Automatic toured the U.S. and got their albums released, although The Automatic's Pennie eventually left the band. The Sunshine Underground threw down a killer set at SXSW. Finally, Larrikin Love got no love and called it a day. Here's what I'm looking forward to seeing live in 200Great.

5. Vincent Vincent and the Villains -- That's three Vs if you're counting. Currently on tour with Richard Hawley, VVV are the very definition of retro modern -- old timey crooning tunes with a little of that BritPop sass. The London gang is not too far off the music spectrum from Rumble Strips and Jack Penate.

4. The Courteeners -- The most "commercial" sounding on this list and the mostly to find some success with our crazy teen buyers. By commercial, I mean widely appealing. They make no qualms about their love for The Libertines, even slyly name checking them in their big hit "Acrylic." Fronted by the charismatic Liam Fray, their debut album was produced by BritPop master Stephen Street and will hit U.K. shelves in March.

3. Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong -- The NME pretty much wet themselves when they heard of the new band from Joe Van Moyland, actor and former backing drummer for The Pipettes. Currently, they are raising hell with my buds The Ting Tings on the NME Awards Tour. Tings and Jings! Anyway, JJJ have enough frantic guitar hooks to satisfy your BritPop jitters. As for Moyland, I stood next to him once and I looked like John Goodman compared to him.

2. Good Shoes -- If all goes as planned, they'll make the big leap to the U.S. in March.

1. Reverend And The Makers -- I was thinking of the popular British acts that haven't come over yet (Hoduken!, Humanazi, The Twang) and I thought RATM had the best album and more unique sound. They are slightly dancey, slightly poppy, but 100% British. Think Happy Mondays with less drugs meets Oasis if they got along. The Rev in this case is frontman Jon McClure of Sheffield, which makes him tight with the Arctic Monkeys. The Makers debut album, The State of Things, is a big time party album with breezy dance tunes done with charisma, wit and style.

Top 5 Videos of 2007

1. Arctic Monkeys, Fluorescent Adolescent -- Directed by Richard Ayoade. Soon, clowns will rule the earth. They'll fuck you up, for real.

2. Feist, 1 2 3 4 -- Directed by Patrick Daughters. Even after 1,000 viewings on TV, it still manages to impress with the camera work. It's like the upscale version of Spike Jonze's "Praise You."

3. UNKLE, Burn My Shadow -- Directed by Miguel Sapochnik. Hopefully this video from Sapochnik is a sign of things to come. If music videos are little movies, then this is a prime example. What would you do if you woke up with a bomb embedded into your chest?

4. Bat For Lashes, What's A Girl To Do? -- Directed by Dougal Wilson. You ever get the feeling something is following you when your ridding your BMX down a darken street?

5. Fionn Regan, Be Good or Be Gone -- Directed by Simon Atkinson and Adam Townley. It takes busking to a new level. 

Top 10 Albums of the 2007 and My 1,000th Post!!!

I completely forgot to mention of the air today about my 1,000th post. That's a crazy amount of writing. I started this contraption in March 2005 and look at me now. I have to scratch my head on the hours I pour into this thing and still have to plenty of time to be a productive member of society.

I would like to thank the mainstream media outlets for not doing their job on reporting on good music. That's why blogs exists, because there's opinion and bands not being written about. I would like to thank the countless bands and artists making great music in an industry that's destroying creativity. I would like to thank Google for driving traffic to my site. Finally, I would like to thank you, because you have good taste in music.

Let's get to the obligatory Top 10 Albums list I revealed on y-rock today. I realized that I listen to a lot of music this year and there was a lot to choose from. I started with a list of 20 and eliminated them one by one last week. My thought was, "Which albums will I be listening to five years from now?" I looked at other year-end list just to remind myself what was put out, but didn't pay attention to who had what. I feel I have a solid list.

10. Monkey Swallows the Universe, The Casket Letters -- This album snuck up on me. I bought it in England and when I first listen to it when I got home, I was pleasantly surprised how imaginative it was. I had to listen to a few demos from the band, then was glad to see how great they sound with a proper studio production. Then I was driving and I had it on and just fell in love with it. They will remind you of Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura, Ivy and Kings of Convenience. Unfortunately, the band is on "haitus" meaning halfway to calling it a day and seeing what happens. You can purchase this album on itunes.

9. Dr. Dog, We All Belong -- With their fourth album, this Philadelphia band shows why they are the beloved leaders of the new Philly indie rock scene. With odes to The Beach Boys and The Beatles, they perfected that odd ramshackle, troubadour sound and style that I've seen a lot of these days. The album won't satisfy jam banders or psychedelics, but those who appreciate a freaky fun and "throw anything you can into the mix" approach to southern and indie rock will fawn over this album.

8. Bat for Lashes, Fur and Gold -- What do you get when you combine Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound," fairy tale imagery, haunting vocals and a heavy beat? Well, an album that you can re-discover after every listening. At the heart is "What's a Girl to Do?" with Khan narrating like she's in a dream state. Just watch out for those BMX bikes and Donnie Darko masks.

7. Justice, †: If you don't bang your head at any of the tracks on this album, you need to reconsider your musical tastes. Even if you think they are Daft Punk clones or the beats jar with you the wrong way, you need to acknowledge the energy and rawness that these Parisians put into their work.

6. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? -- This year was a graduation for a few artists. With Kevin Barnes and company, they are no longer the obscure, "name-dropping to impress your friends" band. They played their largest shows to date this year, in support of a weird, wild and woolly album of extreme pop music. It's their most "Of Montreal" sounding album where they perfected their glam rock style and, more importantly, the flamboyant pageantry of their live show.

5. Kate Nash, Made Of Bricks -- Yeah, yeah. She's probably the act I've written about the most this year. Can you blame me? When you get the album next month, tell me what you think. Did it leaving feeling happy? Tapping your toes? You might not get into it, but you can't deny that she's creating expert songs that are so completely her. I've talked about the odd genre of music I call kid's music for adults. She's leading the pack with this album. Songs like "Merry Happy," "Mariella" and "Skeleton Song" come from a child-like perspective on the world.

4. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible -- These canucks were all over the place in 2007. Win Butler would take a dump in the woods and Pitchfork would make a news item out of it. In any event, Neon Bible is very much an album about the times we are living in, darkness all around us, but like with Funeral, their is hope in the world. Even though it's a "heavy" album, there's a sense of joy in the music, as shown by their live shows where it's part rock concert, part religious revival.

3. Bruce Springsteen, Magic -- Oh no! A mainstream rock album on this list. The horror! Yes, being a Jersey resident for the majority of my life, you get fed a steady dose of Springsteen. Luckily, I spit out the Bon Jovi servings. Magic is his best work since Born in the U.S.A. and it relies heavily on his classic E Street Band sound from the 70s. It's done on purpose. The theme that runs through the album is "What the hell is going on?" and it always seems that the past was better. Magic is where the E Street Band really takes center stage with the songs having a lot of classic Springsteen flavor.

2. Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight -- Jenny Lewis was second on my list last year as well. Some day, she'll be No. 1 on my list. Rilo's first major label produced album is their most different. It's as if the others have been dress rehearsals for this one. It's an ode to the Laurel Canyon sound of the 70s where Fleetwood Mac hung out with Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles. It's also the sexiest album of the year, with Lewis and Sennett wondering where all the love has gone.

1. M.I.A., Kala -- As I said today, Kala is the It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back of our times. This was an album born out of frustration and anger. M.I.A. was poised to make it in the U.S. with Timbaland, until her work visa was denied, forcing her to rethink new material. The result is an album made about the ghettos and dance halls of third world countries. While their are so many stories about Iraq, Iran and other global conflicts in the headlines, M.I.A. sheds light on long-ignored cultures. Like many great pseudo-political albums, it can be looked at as not a politic album at all. It's a dance hall, hip-hop, head-banging booty-shaking, get your freak on type of album. At first listen, you're blown away by the insane beats and samples. Second listen, you dig deep into how M.I.A. has made a sexually liberated album. When she came out with Arular in 2005, she had this cutesy, little girl presence. Now, when you see the album, she looks like the Salt 'n' Pepa, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte back in the day -- defiant and confident.

Later on this week -- the best of the rest. Cheers.

Top 5 Weird Band Names of 2007

The Onion A.V. Club stole my thunder. I bow to their great list. This my inferior list

5. Giddy-up, Helicopter -- "we started playing music together sometime around late June/early July 2005. it was magical, like a Carly Simon performance on Martha's Vineyard."

4. Ringo Deathstarr -- "Shoegaze is back. And believe me, I've had my misgivings about the recent popularity surge of yet another decades-old rock subgenre, because at this point recycle-bin post-modernism can officially go fuck itself."

3. Menwhopause -- "One hot summer night, five years ago, a couple of friends got together and penned down their thoughts into music. What they never realized was that it was the making of one of the most sought after and revered bands in India."

2. The Kevin Costners -- "Where can it be? That one song that will change it all? The song that The Kevin Costners are so feverishly looking for? Well, nobody knows. And that is a good thing. Because that will keep The Costners searching for great songs in the meantime. And that is what they like to do best. Well, of course playing a sold out Melkweg and winning the Grolsh Grote Prijs van Nederland (Holland’s leading band contest) is very nice too."

1. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names -- Sounds like ... typing patterns on piano rolls

Top 5 New Artists of 2007

Let's start wrapping up this year, shall we? As a programming note, my Top 10 Albums of the Year will be revealed next Monday on WXPN's y100 Rocks show in Philadelphia. Ain't I special? I'll post details closer to the date.

I always like to start with this category because there are so many acts to choose from and it makes me look forward to what these acts have in store. It's a challenge to narrow it down, but I think I have a solid list.

New Artist is a vague term because many of these acts have released EPs and singles in years past, but in 2007, they put out an actual LP. I left out acts like The Tings Tings, Black Kids and Vampire Weekend for the fact that they just put out self-released demos. Next year, they'll be under consideration.

Enough explanation, let's light this candle.

5. St. Vincent: Annie Clark gets the distinction as being the lone American act on the Top 5. Formally part of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' band, Clark made an eccentric and impressionable debut with Marry Me. Filled with cheery vocals, circus-like atmospheres and a little nod towards dance beats, St. Vincent was not complacent in being the next *fill-in female solo artist*. I admired how off-guard her music can come off. Once you find it being ordinary, she'll change the structure and throw in a lush musical arrangement or just a phat beat.

4. Bat For Lashes: She was the last minute choice to take the Mercury Prize, but without a doubt, Natasha Khan made a vibrant, haunting and completely listenable album. Fur and Gold brims with modern fairy tale imagery with Khan providing the narration. "What's a Girl to Do?," with its ode to the Wall of Sound era, makes you just want to study the lyrics. While she's created a "deep" music spectrum, Khan is more of a poet than pop star. To me, her music is theatrical, without being pretentious.   

3. Justice: In 2007, the Justice duo finally got around to releasing a full length album, †. They might worship at the feet of Daft Punk, but both bands drink from the same well. It's 80s French disco, Michael Jackson 80s pop and some hardcore, head banging beats. It's dirty, noisy, sexy and funky dance rock, wrapped in a big blistering package of craziness. While Chemical Brothers faltered this year with We Are the Night, Justice supplied the soundtrack for European club goers.

• Previously: Justice at the Trocadero
• Justice "perform" on Jimmy Kimmel Live

2. Los Campesinos!: The kids are alright. They are a little hyper, but they just want to have fun and dance at the rock shows. The Los Campesinos! crew gave me faith in the U.K. music scene where every band wants to be the next Libertines. By bucking the trend and being true to themselves, they gave us a taste of what's to come with their EP, Sticking Fingers Into Sockets. When they came through these parts last August, they showed why their live act is a must-see. You felt like you were part of the band with their shout out choruses and anthems.

• Some face time with lead singer Gaerth
• Me and the I'm From Barcelona crew get into at their Mercury Lounge show

1. Kate Nash: No surprise here, huh? I thought Los Campesinos would be No. 1, until I heard Made of Bricks and it just an amazing debut -- the best debut album of the year. Kate is the girl you wished you had in your circle of friends. It's like, "Hey, guys. Kate's coming to the party. Woo hoo!" Smartly written, instantly catchy and fun album to listen to,The Nash has the brightest future ahead of her. If she wants to make an acoustic album, she can. How about an all-dance or hip-hop album? She might just do that. When idiot journalists asks, "So ... like ... you know ... what are your influences?" I can answer that for you -- all of them.

• Kate makes her U.S. debut at the Luna Lounge
• Two shows at Joe's Pub, making commenters upset

Then runner-up for the list, the almost made the cut goes to Battles, who released their debut full-length this year, Mirrored, after previously putting out EPs. The trendy label to slap on them is Math Rock -- a genre based on measured, syncopated beats. Basically, it's a bunch of dudes on keyboards, guitars and computers making brainy electronic music. Actually, I don't care how they make the music, just that its explores different layers and sequences -- all within the same song. "Atlas" was one of the songs that just won't let go from your brain.

Best of the rest:

-- The Bird & The Bee: They are one of those bands that got lost in the shuffle, since they came around in January 2007. Lead singer Inara George and mastermind Greg Kurstin made a little gem of a self-titled debut that made 60s lounge pop cool and hip again.

-- The Rumble Strips: They were set to make their U.S. debut this month, but no dice with those pesky visas. Such a shame, because these troubadours made some of bounciest rock-pop out of the U.K. this year.

-- Dappled Cities: The Australians made me scratch my head in trying to describe their sound without me insulting them. Ahhh, whatever. They make sound, tight rock music with a lot of fine harmonies

-- Good Shoes: They will hit New York in 2008, probably in March before they hit SXSW, so you'll have time to see the best Pavement tribute band ever! I've passed their CD along to a bunch of friends and haven't heard a complaint yet.

-- Lucky Soul: Retro-soul and big band for the indie rock generation.

-- Grand Ole Party: You got soul? Depends ... this trio from San Diego has it in spades. Lead singer Kristin Gundred can sure belt out those tunes

Top 5 Music Gag Gifts to Give This Holiday Season

A repost from last year....

Let's screw around with outrageous and pointless gifts to give your loved ones. I dare you to buy these things.

5. Christmas on Death Row: Suge Knight would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, mother fucker. You have Snoop Dogg throwing down "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto". Don't take it for me, Amazon.com reviewers say: "Other than the amusement of soul interpretations of carols and Christmas staples including 'Silent Night' and 'Frosty The Snowman' - you know 'Music To Smoke An Ounce To After Your Turkey' - the majority of this is depressingly humorless. There are some great quotes, like the none-truer observation, "Christmas time is a time for chillin' ". But that's it." Look at poor Santa, he's in the electric chair. Available at dollar bins at used record stores.

4. Yanni Concert T-shirt. I was trying to think of which would create more of a laugh. I was thinking Creed, Spin Doctors or Semisonic (the one-hit wonders of "Closing Time"). Then I thought of Barry in High Fidelity and it was a clincher. The ironic factor of wearing this to a show in New York runs very high. It's so far bad that it makes it cool. It was like once when I saw Limp Bizkit perform on TV and Fred Durst was wearing an *NSYNC shirt. It was the boldest statement he's ever made. Yanni shirt is $10 on ebay.

3. Kevin Federline ticket stub: I was looking on his official website and so far, I don't see any official concert merchandise. No shirts, no posters, no buttons, no Von Dutch licensed hats. The boy is going to need it. Okay, quick side story. I know a girl who saw Sir K-Fed-a-Lot at a club over the summer and he was totally macking on her. She asks, "So, where's Britney." Him: "Yo, shorty. I don't know." There you have it. Ticket stub available on the sidewalk outside of the venues.

2. Alyssa Milano's Teen Steam: It will get loads of laughs in the room, just not from the recipient. It actually might work better as a bachelor party gift. A teen workout video with Alyssa Milano. Charmed, indeed. $9 on ebay. Unfortunately, not available on DVD yet. The video ranks just behind Mr. T's "Be Somebody, or Be Somebody's Fool" video in the racking of Ultimate 80s Motivational Videos.

I've never seen the video, but I remember the commercials on TV. This website has a complete overview.

If you want to crack up your coworkers, pass around the Amazon.com link and tell people to look at the "Customers who bought this item also bought". Before we get to No. 1, here's some YouTube Milano action. SAMANTHA!

1. Velvet Elvis: I'm surprised these aren't selling at Urban Outfitters. If they sell Schlitz and Old Milwaukee t-shirts, they've got to throw some love to the Velvet Elvis. It ties into the trailer trash, hipster chic that the Outfitters are known for. I'm partial to the fat, on the verge of death Elvis. $38 @ The Velvet Store. I'm hoping a velvet Johnny Cash will come into vogue in a few years. Even better, a velvet Vader.

Top 5 Memoriable On-Stage Antics I've Witnessed

In honor of the release of the new Black Lips album, Good Bad Not Evil, I present this little trip down Music Snobbery memory lane to gigs I saw before I started this bad boy. As you know, the Black Lips are known for all sorts of bathroom and bodily fluid antics on stage. While I can't claim to see any of that first hand, I've had my share of strange occurrences.

No. 1 could have been the famous Fiona Apple Roseland show where she had a mental breakdown on stage. My friend had an extra ticket and offered it to me. I declined, stating that I don't dig Fiona Apple and would rather play Final Fantasy on Playstation. Yeah, I lost that one.

5. Mass Nudity at Brazilian Girls show, 2006: This was the last show I saw last year, and it was chronicled in this post. Basically, Sabina invited people on stage to get naked -- some took their tops offs. It must have been nudist night at Irving Plaza, since some girl went the Full Monty earlier.

4. Jared the Subway Guy Gets Pelted With Sandwiches, 2002: Back in the day, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog performed a few live dates, featuring various "celebs", bands (we got a pre-"Stacy's Mom" Fountains of Wayne) and guest actors. This was being recorded for a live comedy CD/DVD. Of course, none of the material from the show I saw made the final cut. Basically, Robert Smigel is behind a booth and his puppet trades jokes with the likes of Kurt Loder, the Dell Computer Guy and Jared the Subway Guy. The formerly fat Jared brings out his infamous fat pants and it's filled with Subway sandwiches. Yeah, I know -- high comedy. He proceeds to pass them out during a comedy song with Triumph, when audience members start throwing bread, meat, lettuce and, yes, tomatoes at Jared, probably in frustration that the high ticket price wasn't worth the hit-or-miss comedy show. Jared tries laughing it off, but really he's thinking that this gig was a bad idea. In any event, Will Farrell ended the show on a high note by doing his Robert Goulet impersonation.

3. Bravery Bassist Drinks Seven Beers in One Hour, 2005: One of the first shows I saw when I started this space was the Ash/Bravery co-headlining tour in 2005. I never dug The Bravery just for the fact that their look and sound like a bunch of posers. They closed this night at Bowery Ballroom, and the things I remember are a bunch of short Asian girls scream for Sam Endicott and bassist Mike Hindert guzzling bottled beer after bottled beer with alarming frequency between songs. It's not like he was stumbling around and talking non-sense. He seemed to get more focused with each beer.

2. Peaches Strips Naked, 2000: Before she was Peaches, the outrageous singer was part of a duo billed as Peaches & Gonzales, who toured with Elastica on what would be their final North America tour. Obviously, I didn't know who they were, so when the two got on stage, Peaches began by pushing some buttons on a drum machine, taking her top and bra off and changing into another outfit. I would be excited by this if she was anything to look at, but it was more like, "Uhhhhh, yeah." If only I knew then what I know now. Peaches became a who she is today and Gonzales helped Feist kick start her career.

1. Star Crunch from Man or Astroman? Sets His Head on Fire, 1996: Back in the day where you can set off fire on stage in small spaces, Man or Astroman? would end their show with some outrageous display. In 1998, I saw them bring out a Tesla coil that shot out lighting over the crowd. When I was a music snob in training in college, me and a bunch of friends went to Maxwell's to see Man or Astroman and Delta 72. I distinctly remember how insanely loud it was and how lost we got trying to get to Maxwell's. Anyway, I'm right up against the stage and it's the last song. Lead singer/guitarists Star Church squirts lighter fluid on a TV, then puts his head through the TV. The clincher, he strikes a match and lights the TV on fire, with his head inside . He proceeds to continue performing for 30 seconds. When your 20 years-old, it was like the coolest thing you've ever witnessed in public on stage.

A No, 6 on this list would be the time I saw Beck walk off-stage, carrying everyone's instrument in 1998.