The Rollins Band – Low Self Opinion

Title: Low Self Opinion

Artist: The Rollins Band

Album: The End Of Silence

Year Released: 1992

What It Is: Strong. Very very strong. Triple espresso no sugar strong.

Riffage / Hookage: Heavy duty riffage. It’s like Rollins fronting a heavy metal band. The line between punk and metal was very blurry anyway, but this rather much erased it.

Cowbell?: I hear some! It’s either cowbell or a bell-sounding cymbal. It’s there. Trust me!

Words Of Wisdom: “You sleep alone at night
You never wonder why
All this bitterness wells up inside you
You always victimize
So you can criticize yourself
And all those around you “

I never know if Hank is being autobiographical or not. But he’s rather insightful despite his screaming and nagging.

Mixology Report: Start off a mix with this. Tell people to turn it up. Watch their ears explode!

Top Five Genius Results: Helmet – In The Meantime
Black Flag – Thirsty & Miserable
Clutch – A Shogun Named Marcus
Fugazi – Sieve-Fisted Find
Helmet / House Of Pain – Just Another Victim

For The Good Of The Order: What a revelation! I remember seeing this video debut on 120 Minutes on MTV and I definitely took notice. Then I saw a clip of them during Lollapalooza. I later saw the Rollins Band open up for the Beastie Boys. Man, they were STRONG! However, the raging voice of nag that Rollins is pretty much shoehorned the band into one style, but I think we all need a dose of the Rollins Band now and again.

So you get two. One, the studio video:

The other, live. Normally, live cuts are faster. This one is slower…

 

Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Walking Through Syrup

Title: Walking Through Syrup

Artist: Ned’s Atomic Dustbin

Album: Are You Normal?

Year Released: 1992

What It Is: A strong hybrid of post-punk rock coupled with dance inspired funk powered by two (count ’em) bassists. Many throw them in with the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays,and EMF, but Ned’s, to my ears, had more chops and less gimmicks. Of course, they never got a hit in the US of A.

Riffage / Hookage: Pretty rockin’ guitar riff, pretty funky basses (plural, of course) and a pretty darn good hook. The two-bass thing works as one lays down a ‘normal’ bass line playing off the drums and the second bassist can do the funk thang.

Cowbell?: Who needs cowbell when you have two bassists?

Words Of Wisdom: “So here’s the prediction
You get an affliction
You gain an addiction
You grab what you can
Get introduced to a good lady bubble head
Who thinks she’s seducing peter pan”

Mixology Report: If memory serves, this was the first song on the first mix tape I made for my wife (when she and a friend road-tripped to Florida). So, yeah, it’s mixworthy!!

Top Five Genius Results: Litany (Life Goes On) – Guadalcanal Diary
Start Choppin’ – Dinosaur Jr.
If I Can’t Change Your Mind- Sugar
That Is Why – Jellyfish
A Small Victory – Faith No More

Um…I think Genius needs a remedial class in “grebo”.

For The Good Of The Order: It’s not every day that you run into a band that made three albums, and quit, and all three albums were pretty darn nifty. Well, Ned’s is that band. All three records are distinctively Ned’s but all sound different enough that you knew they weren’t repeating themselves or being formulaic. I guess they still perform on occasion, sometimes with the originals and sometimes with others filling in.

Here’s a vid that got me turned on to Ned’s, big time!

 

Holocaust – The Small Hours (Studio)

Title: The Small Hours

Artist: Holocaust

Album: Hypnosis Of Birds

Year Released: 1992

What It Is: A studio version of the infamous song that was covered by Metallica on one of their Garage Days albums. The original version was a live version that was circulated amongst the underground metal community until finding a release in 1983 (or so). It’s not as powerful and potent as the live version, but the sound is better, and the riff is still doom-riffic.

Riffage / Hookage: As I said, doom-riffic. Detune yer guitars!

Cowbell?: No. Generic metal drumming abounds.

Words Of Wisdom: “Time is an illusion,
Rising from time,
Steep is the mountain which we climb.”

Pretty darn close to the department of redundancy department there. But who cares about the words when the riff is as great as it is? Right?

Mixology Report: It takes a long time to get rolling (making you check the disc or iPod) and frankly, dark doomy metal isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

For The Good Of The Order: The singing on this is a bit shaky, like the dude’s had a few too many pints over the course of his life. And below, a live video from ‘back in the day’, instead of being scary metallers like those Norweigan doomies, they look rather silly in their early 80’s garb.