Obituary: Ray of Light

 

Original video located here. Accessed 8th August 2026

Song title: Ray of Light

Artist: Madonna

Year: 1998

Why I like this song:

R.I.P. William Orbit
May his production skills continue to last

Explorations: Gimme All Your Lovin'

  
Original video located here. Accessed 5th August 2026

Song title: Gimme All Your Lovin'

Artist: ZZ Top

Year: 1983

Why I like this song:

Recently I've been listening to a lot of ZZ Top for the first time.

I'd known of ZZ Top for years - largely through their unmistakable image crafted through their videos: Hard rockers with lengthy beards, jostling for screentime with hot rods and women. But, of course, videos can only get you so far before the music is asked about.

Thankfully the music is nothing short of impressive: There are plenty of riffs to make anyone listening feel like a badass. There is plenty of volume for a trio. And there is enough charisma and humour to make these guys less of an anachronism and more something worthwhile.

This might be something worth looking into further.....

Back to the Eighties: Fall on Me

 
Original video located here. Accessed 3rd August 2026

Song title: Fall On Me

Artist: R.E.M.

Year: 1986

Why I like this song:

Recently I've been listening the R.E.M. album Life's Rich Pageant. 

Ask any R.E.M. die-hard and they will say that their eighties output stood head and shoulders over that of the following decades. To me that seems unfair as such a statement was discredit some of the gems that R.E.M. produced afterwards (although it would make the low point easier to ignore). So to take a look at R.E.M.'s albums in this period, particularly when I am fair more familiar with the stuff on Green onward, presents a sizable challenge. 

But who am I kidding? This is great. Sure albums three and four may be ignored due to being in the unfortunate position of being sandwiched in between their distinguished brothers Murmur, Reckoning and Document. But as it happens Life's Rich Pageant is quite the superb album. It may be easier to say it was it was an indication of the triumphs that will follow but personally I think this album is capable of standing on it's own two feet. 

It's amazing how one can be surprised by an album four decades old....

Obituary: Everglade

 

Original video located here. Accessed 20th July 2026

Song title: Everglade

Artist: L7

Year: 1992

Why I like this song:

R.I.P. Jennifer Finch

Explorations: Education

Original video located here. Accessed 10th July 2026

Song title: Education

Artist: Pearl Jam

Year: 2000

Why I like this song:

Recently I've been listening to Pearl Jam's Binaural. 
To me, Binaural is a strange beast: It came at a time when Pearl Jan was clearly the last of the grunge era acts still standing. It was part of the evolutionary progress that came from No Code and Yield. And it has gone down in history as one of the more divisive albums in the Pearl Jam catalogue - but then again, the same could be said for any of Pearl Jam's post 90's output.

But Binaural presents an interesting challenge: It is something of a given that the best songs were left off the album. This point has been proven with the Lost Dogs compilation and Jeff Ament saying so himself.
However a challenge presents itself by forming one's own track listing: Ditching the weaker songs off of Binaural and replacing them with the B-sides.

With this mind, I did find the following track listing and based my listening experience of Binaural around it:

1. Breakerfall
2. Sad
3. Hitchhiker
4. Light Years
5. Nothing As it Seems
6. Thin Air
7. Of the Girl
8. Education
9. Sleight of Hand
10. Soon Forget
11. Fatal
12. Parting Ways
    (source)

Does this make for a superior album? Well given that I skipped the weaker songs off of Binaural I can't say. But does it make for a better Pearl Jam album?
As mentioned above, it seems that the quality of Pearl Jam's post-90s output is up for debate but this experiment does show that there were some really superb songs there and this period deserves more credit then it is usually granted.

Granted fans shouldn't have to correct mistakes but, if mods and fan edits of films have shown, fan power shouldn't be underestimated. 

Obituary: Money

Original video located here. Accessed 25th May 2026

Song title: Money

Artist: Pink Floyd

Year: 1973

Why I like this song:

R.I.P. Dick Parry
May his saxophone continue to resonate.

Opinion: Calypso

 
Original video located here. Accessed 8th May 2026

Song title: Calypso

Artist: Spiderbait

Year: 1996

Why I like this song:

Well, the latest inductees for the ARIA Hall of Fame have been announced.
They are: Spiderbait, Kate Cebrano, The Living End, Vika and Linda, Jenny Morris and Gurrumul.

Some thoughts:

• It's good that ARIA have decided to scrap the singular inductee and go back to the group approach - which makes me wonder why it was ditched it the first place.
• Clearly the presence of Spiderbait and Living End is an indication that ARIA are looking beyond the pop well (which is surely looking dry at the moment) and into other avenues. Hopefully this leads somewhere
• A lot of female voices in this clutch of acts. But there's nothing wrong with that and it is clearly an attempt to make up the low number of female acts in the ARIA Hall of Fame. What does remain to be seen however is what happens in the years to follow and whether this is is an isolated incident.
• Certainly this is a step in the right direction but, again, where do we go from here...