10 CDs For A Penny

It's the 30th anniversary of Green Day Dookie and we're celebrating by taking deep look at it's 1994 release and the death of grunge.

This episode we get opinionated as we break down the RS Top 50 Canadian Artists rankings. We're Canadian the people who wrote this list were not. There's obvious choices on this list but a lot of surprises as well. We shake our heads a lot.

Riot Grrl and Bikini Kill are one of the most important touchstones in music of the past 30 years. So when Bikini Kill came to town on their reunion tour Jess and I went to see the revolution girl style. After the show we concluded we had to do a pod and talk about all things Bikini Kill so here it is. No magazine reference, just Bikini Kill, women in music, reunions and whether or not Bikini Kill needed a guitar player.

Is Grunge a sound or a place? In this episode 3 grunge obsessed hosts go through the Pitchfork 25 Grunge Albums of the 90s list and we get deep into defining grunge picking apart this list and of course talking about who we would have included.

It's the 25th anniversary of Sloan's 1998 album Navy Blues and to celebrate we're talking with Sloan guitarist Jay Ferguson. Jay shares tons of fun stories about the era surrounding Navy Blues but before that we go back to Sloan's signing to DGC and through their albums Twice Removed and One Chord to Another. Jackson, Noyan Hilmi and Alex Hryshko begin the episode talking about their history of loving Sloan from the beginning of their career right up to today. 

This episode we discuss the short lived but influential career of the band Slint. Were they the dawn of post rock? We talk about Slint's roots in hardcore and how the hardcore genre has spawned so much important music from bands that left it behind but hung on to its energy and counter culture. 

What do you think of the movie Empire Records? For a movie that got sort of lost in the shuffle and bombed at the box office we have thought about it way too much apparently. Is this a music movie? Is this movie good? For the first time ever we not looking at a music mag, we're just talking about Empire Records. We dive deep into themes, casting, record stores, and why Lucas didn't just tell Joe why he took the money!

It's the 25th anniversary of Weezer Pinkerton and we talk about the Alternative Press cover story on Weezer for this landmark album. Pinkerton was one of the most talked about albums of the 90's because it was Weezer's sophomore record and there were a lot of expectations that were either met or rejected by fans. It still remains probably the favourite album of fans and we talk about it's impact, and legacy. 

It's the 30th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind so we chose the Rolling Stone cover story that revealed Nirvana to the world to talk about. We talk the early career and short career of Nirvana, how they effected and continue to effect culture and all the heavy shit on one of the greatest albums ever made.

This episode is special for a few reasons. The first is that we have an interview with Joe Lally from Fugazi  specifically about this time in career in music 1991. This issue features an article on Fugazi and is one of the most unique interviews ever because Fugazi don't want to be interviewed by Spin.  This was also the month that Nirvana Nevermind was released which launched the 90's into a whole new era and identity of its own.  Join Jackson, Noyan, and Alex as they discuss this specific and important moment.  Also check out Alex's music project NO END on bandcamp https://noendnoise.bandcamp.com/

This episode we explore and discuss an article about a brand new band called Bush. I thought this episode was going to be a conversation about how bands who are influenced by a current, popular movement in music have an unfair disadvantage. And it was. BUT, it was also about why bands in the same movement get to be cool and other don't. Also we talk about Oakleys and 90s fashion.

Did you love Nu Metal? Did you love to hate it? Then this episode is for you. We talk about our love for Nu Metal bands, the cheese factor of it all, the culture that surrounded is and how terrible a magazine Circus was. Join for a trip to 2001 and the last gasp of this genre.

It's the all Canadian episode! We've been very excited for this one and it's a list episode! That's right we're going through Chart Magazine's top 50 Canadian Albums of all time. But don't worry international listeners you'll recognize most of them as Canada has produced some of the greatest artists of all time. Join us as we go deep into Canadian pop and indie some of which we agree with putting on this list and some we don't...

It's the end of the year...in 1996 and in the present too so we look at Spin's artist of the year Beck and his landmark album Odelay. And what would be a year end without lists? We go through Spin's top 20 albums of the year in 1996 and trust me there are some gems that have stood the test of time, it was a great year for music.

Has there been a more cool and original artist in the past 20 years than M.I.A.? It's debatable but, we don't think so. We go deep on an M.I.A. cover story and the biggest year of her career.  PLUS! Cassie Ramone lead singer and guitarist of Vivian Girls joins Jackson in conversation about their feature in this issue and the explosive year in her career that was 2008. We also dissect a "Is Sampling Dead?" feature, as we discover this article was a major prediction for the future. And the future is now. 

We couldn't fit all our thoughts into one episode so we split it into 2 parts. In this episode we only talk about one thing: The 15 Most Influential Albums not made by the Beatles, Stones or Dylan, and every one of these albums is undeniably awesome punk, electronic, metal, its all here.

This is our first 2 part episode since there was too much to cover and we couldn't stop talking. BIG DEAL ALERT! The Rapture's Luke Jenner joins me for a conversation about his busiest year in music 2003 and the dawn of the Brooklyn music scene that emerged in the early 2000s. We also go deep on Josh Homme's most influential records, there was so much to talk about I had to call my friend Sheila for more insight.

Can Rick Rubin save the music industry? That's the title of the cover story. Did his idea of creating a subscription service platform ever actually become a reality? Or was it ignored until streaming platforms like Spotify appeared and proved him right? Well sort of right, artists still aren't getting paid for streams...

Its been a long time coming but I finally Sheila Roberts and Vince Mcgrath on the pod, two friends who can talk about music forever. In this episode we deep dive into Rolling Stones list of the best summer songs of all time, in their opinion and in ours. Also look out for a frank and serious discussion about Gerry Halliwell's departure from the Spice Girls.

Can you define rock? I don't know if we can but it was a major discussion in this episode. More importantly we ask has rock, whatever it's definition, died? Find out!

This is all in the intro but this is the first episode we've done social distancing style. We used this issue as a jumping off point to talk about music festivals and the Rage Against the Machine reunion that was supposed to happen this year.

1994 was the dawn of Green Day, Offspring and Oasis, or at least their careers. We talk rock egos and Oasis, Green Day and Offspring's land mark year and Gilby Clarke's great life on the periphery of GNR. ALSO the dad of indie rock Thurston Moore has a feature interview and we chat about Sonic Youth and he and Kim's new baby girl.

DAVE GROHL is on the cover! Don't worry we're not actually as excited as the rest of the world. Sure Grohl is a nice guy but is he really that interesting? We'll discuss. But, you know who is interesting and always has something egomaniacal to say? BILLY CORGAN! Yes he's in this issue as well and we talk about him A LOT. So basically we hope your in the mood for us to not gush over rockstars.

It's been 25 years since the Blue Album and I've put off doing a big chunk of an episode on Weezer so it's happening now. 1994 was my favourite year for music and this issue is full of gold: features on Blur, Daniel Johnston, Weezer, 1994 era Rolling Stones and a review section full of absolute classics.

What an interesting time for music 2008 was, downloading was still popular, CD's were dead, and companies were just starting to figure out that streaming music online was the future. We go through a feature on music platforms that were perhaps just before their time or were just bad ideas. Also REM was making a sort of comeback with their album Accelerate just 3 years before they decided to call it quits. Join as we have a huge REM discussion about their career, their albums that stood the test of time and ones that were a little more momentary.

Things to expect in this episode - no one knows what Ryan Adams looks like, sub-genres, The White Stripes, objectively not caring about Coldplay, Queens Of The Stone Age, Nelly and the fact that no one can name one song or distinguishable fact about Disturbed.

1994 was an incredible year in music and in this episode we go in depth with our thoughts, opinions and judgements on Courtney Love and her career in Hole. AND on the flip side we gush over Madonna and her no regrets career. BUT don't worry we also talk about Boys 2 Men and Offspring.

We dive into Spin Magazine's September 1997 issue and Prodigy's cover story following the recent death of Prodigy front man Keith Flint, only to find that not much was going on in September 1997. Still we managed to find a lot to talk about when it comes to 90's summer music festivals and...Hanson.

We discuss beginnings of the syrupy, pop that is the 2000's emo movement before moving onto why a large camp of fans only like Weezer Blue Album and Pinkerton. THEN it's time for SPIN's year end list of albums and who was number one in the charts in January 2002? DON'T GOOGLE IT! Listen and find out.

In this episode we go on and on about MP3's in the 90's and early 2000's and somehow talk about The Beatles and rapper Cupcake even though they have nothing to do with this issue. We question Trent Reznor's style choice and analyze a Lenny Kravitz and Smash Mouth tour.