Ongoing History of New Music

• The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 3: (80-71)

  The great 20th century philosopher Ferris Bueller once said “life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”. I think of this wisdom a lot, especially when someone starts talking about, say, the music of the 1990s…my instinctive reaction is always the same… “yeah…the 90s…that was ten years ago, right?”. Obviously not…Nirvana’s “Nevermind” still lives and that record is over 30 years old…all the legendary grunge artists are in their 50s and 60s if not dead…but so much of the music of the era is always in the air so it’s not like it ever had a chance to be forgotten. I was in an airport recently—a big public space serving people of all ages and all backgrounds from around the world—and “Man in a Box” from Alice in Chains was playing on the p.a. And then there are all those moments in the grocery store when I hear music playing and think to myself “when did supermarket music get so cool?”. The truth is that this music is a lot older than my brain wants to believe…even though it still sounds fresh, so much has happened since those records came out. Life does move pretty fast…and it seems that it’s moving faster with each passing day…and yeah, we do need to stop and looking around once in while because, let’s face it, we’re missing a lot of stuff. Now that we’re 25 years deep into the 21st century, I feel the need to look around a lot more, if for no other reason, to remember and keep track of everything that we’ve seen in music…what have we missed?...what have we forgotten?...and if we’re not acquainted with how we got here, how can we possibly be ready for what might be coming next. This is episode 3 of a series I call “the 100 greatest rock moments of the millennium so far”…let’s see how many of these things you remember. Songs in this episode: Radiohead - Creep Tool - Tempest Imagine Dragons - Radioactive The Killers - Mr. Brightside Pantera - Walk Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing Nine Inch Nails - 34 Ghosts IV Sinead O'Connor - The Last Day of Our Acquaintance U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing (live) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 2: (90-81)

  So much can happen in 25 years…let’s go back to how the 20th century began…in just a quarter century, we got radio, airplanes, the Great War, the Russian revolution, the Soviet Union, and the rise of Communism. The Titanic sank…women were empowered to vote…Einstein came up with the theory of relativity…Henry Ford changed manufacturing forever with the use of the assembly line, not to mention the introduction of cars. We also go stainless steel, the first x-ray machine, the zipper, neon lighting, and instant coffee…and that’s just for starters. Now let’s look at the first 25 years of the 21st century… 9/11 and the wars that followed…the rise of China as global power…the Arab Spring…an awareness of climate change…LGBT rights and social movements…covid…trump…the incorporation of the internet into everything. Now that the century is a quarter done, it’s also a good time to look back on what happened in music…the short answer is “a lot”…but because change happened so consistently and was adopted by so many people, it’s easy to lose perspective of how much things have changed since the clocks ticked over to January 1, 2000. Let’s take stock of things…this is part two of the greatest rock moments of the millennium—so far. Songs in this episode: The Thermals - Here's Your Future Amy Winehouse - Rehab REM - Mine Smell Like Honey Joy Division - Transmission Women - Eyesore The Hives - Tick Tick Boom Presidents of the USA - Video Killed The Radio Star Twenty One Pilots - Heathens Our Lady Peace - Will The Future Blame Us U2 - The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 1: (100-91)

  Keeping up to date with the news cycles is exhausting…so much comes at us from so many different directions that it’s impossible to know if we’re in the middle of something important or not…everything seems urgent, threatening, and life-changing…there’s precious little time for careful consideration, study, and analysis. Keeping up with technology and its effect on society is another big challenge…one moment everyone seems caught up with a particular gadget or app—but a month or even a week later, that’s old news and everyone has moved on. Remember how the world was supposed to end when the planet’s computers melted down over the Y2K bug?...wasn’t the world supposed to end with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012?...weren’t we supposed to have run out of oil by now? When you mix technology with the news cycle, our ever-shortening attention spans,  how the world is interconnected 24/7, and how we’re able to individualize everything that we take in, it’s easy to lose track of what the hell is happening…one of my favourite doomsday predictions had to do with the large hadron collider along the French-Swiss border…before it was switched on, people were saying that scientists risked creating an artificial black hole that would suck everyone into oblivion. And don’t get me started on conspiracy theories…chemtrails…flat earthers…9/11 was an inside job…the U.S. government using a facility in Alaska to control the world’s weather. This is why it’s important every once in a while, we stop and take stock of things…big picture stuff matters…long-term consequences matter…the knock-on effects of something that was once considered inconsequential and unnoticed matter. It’s difficult enough to remember what exactly happened...it’s even more difficult to determine what really mattered over the long term...even so, what were merely transient distractions may have turned out to be groundbreaking in the long run…was that thing a fad or was it predictive of something bigger in the future? And then there’s music…so much has changed in a very short period of time…and now that we’re a quarter of the way through the 21st century, enough time has passed so that we can look back with some clarity. Welcome to a special “ongoing history of new music” series…these are the 100 most important moments in rock in the 21st century—so far—part one. Songs in this episode: The Police - Driven to Tears Manskin - I Wanna Be Your Slave Linkin Park - In The End U2 - Vertigo (live at The Sphere) Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (live at Apollo Hammersmith 2014) Blink 182 - Bored to Death Silverchair - Tomorrow Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. Pearl Jam - Animal (live in Montreal circa 2000) Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor (Demo from MySpace) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• In Memoriam 2024

  A couple of years ago, it became obvious that we were entering an era where music fans were increasingly going to be sad…that’s because our musical heroes are shuffling off this mortal coil. It really hit hard in 2016—that was a bad year with the deaths of David Bowie and Prince—that really brought home the unfortunate reality that we will continue to lose people who have been making music for us for years, maybe decades. We didn’t necessarily know any of these people personally…but it was through their music that learned something about ourselves…so when they die, a little bit of us might go with them. I think it’s important that we remember those musicians who have passed on…that’s why we have this annual look at who died…we need to honour the work of these musicians and music people…and with so many of them going, we at the very least need to remember that they did indeed pass away. This is the 2024 “In Memoriam” show…grab yourself a box of tissues. Songs in this episode: Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill The MC5 - Kick Out The Jams Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere World Party - Ship of Fools The Raspberries - Go All The Way Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box The Selector - On My Radio Crazy Town - Butterfly Greg Kihn Band - The Break-Up Song My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Theories, Thoughts, and Half-Baked Ideas

  One of the byproducts of doing a show like this for as long as I’ve been doing it is that it’s really hard to shut off your brain. I’m always thinking about topic ideas, ways to connect facts and trivia, reading a lot of books, talking to a lot of people, and otherwise trying to come up with a constant stream of topics we can discuss. The result of all this research and thinking and writing are some ideas and perspectives on music, music history, how music is made, how it’s consumed and distributed, and how seemingly small things have led to big changes…that’s one thing. Another is the opinions formed by observing the opinions of others…why do people like some things and hate others?... another is a list of ideas that aren’t quite fully formed…it seems like I’ve almost grasped a concept. Still, it doesn’t feel right yet—but I feel there’s a germ of truth somewhere. I’ve also learned that when you’re unsure about something, source the crowd…you might like the answers, but it’s better than living in your own head. So, let me bounce a few of these things off you, and you can tell me if I’m onto something, if I’m off base, or if I’ve completely lost the plot… I call this episode “theories, thoughts, and half-baked ideas”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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