Public Enemy -- Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos 12"

  Black Steel is, well in my mind, the best Rap song of all-time, no one has nailed it so cold, hard and serious.  In case you didn't know, the premise is, a dude gets a draft letter, he doesn't believe in his country and his country doesn't believe in him, so he dodges not really thinking too much of it, the government goes after him, they toss him in a cell, turns out it's a work-camp a la legal politically run new style slavery ring, so in the end he plans an escape, in which he participates in many violent acts due to being in jail's mental malaise, meaning the government took a seemingly normal person, crammed  him in with a bunch of criminals, junkies and other dodgers, which eventually turned him into a cold blooded killer!!  I realize the song is charged with the racial issues of the time, but I'm sure there were multicultural draft dodgers dealing with the same problem, giving Black Steel universal theme.

P.S. I don't really like or know too much about hip hop!

Screeching Weasel -- Boogadaboogadaboogada!

  First things first, let's not talk about the punch a girl in the face incident!  What a f*ckin' jerk-bag!  Instead let's talk about how these guys made Punk fun again, who didn't love to play this album as a teenager, smoke weed with your friends and act like total goofballs; as oppose to most of the bummer political Punk, or mega serious Hardcore, or the even worse Straight Edge -- f*ck that sh*t we wanna have a good time!!  I have to say I wasn't too crazy about the 90's Punk that was inspired by these guys, and my only real beef with Boogadaboogadaboogada! is that there is just way too many songs, half the songs are well written, well produced, the other half is too much of the same old with half the effort ... it would have been great if they'd done it like the Circle Jerks's Group Sex, I realize some people are cheesed because that album was too short, but it was perfect, which is what this album could have been!

Simply Saucer -- Cyborgs Revisited

  One of Canada's best hidden secrets, Simply Saucer, and if you are a Proto-Punk geek snob then this one should go right to the top of your list!  Saucer has a wide span of influences from early Electronic music to Kraut style psychedelia, making a kinda Garage dystopian Punk hybrid with what sounds like Lou Reed on vocals.  So spread the word ... and Dance The Mutation!

The Valadiers -- I Found A Girl/ You'll Be Sorry Someday 45'

  The first official all-white vocal group recorded by the Motown think tank.  Story goes ... these boys waltz into the Soul city studio to audition for Berry Gordy, he must have been pretty impressed because he signed four whities!  Now do these pale riders compare to their colored Soul struttin' contemporaries, not even close!!  The Valadiers are a cute Doo Wop vocal act, but they aren't really Motown material, maybe Gordy was trying to diversify, widen or whiten his audience.  I like how the numbers seem to have a theme, first it's I Found A Girl and by the time it came to record the B-side it's You'll Be Sorry Someday, he was already bitter as hell, all I kept thinking was, "gee that was fast."  But I can't judge too harshly, I've had a couple of those myself!  

The Damned -- Damned Damned Damned

  Motherf*ckin' shotgun blast of the best Brit Punk there is!!  From start to finish it goddamn-ed kills! 

David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti & Julee Cruise -- Industrial Symphony No.1

  So ... I was on a David Lynch kick lately, and I happen to stumble across Industrial Symphony No.1 a video performance art piece, which includes many known hits from Twin Peaks the television series.  The set looks like something out of the Bauhaus meets Francis Bacon with the symbolic feel of Jodorowsky's El Topo.  Thematically it's about the tragic rational irrationality of heartbreak in which the visual symbolism shows all the components; love, loss, loneliness, boredom, hope ... etc ... but it goes deeper than that still, it also depicts the evils of internal malaise and what that could conjure into one's self; lust, need, confusion, anger, struggle ... etc.  Musically you have a mix of Music Concrète with the lush 50's Doo Wop infused backdrop of Julee Cruise, whom I feel would have been great in a Shoegazer band.  This video isn't for everyone, kinda a fan only thing ... but it's a wonderful example of human nature and the harm we can do to ourselves!

Five By Five -- Fire/ Hang Up 45'

  Garage Punk outfit Five By Five ... there aren't too many surprises here, a career 60's cover band.  For example their A-side is a cover of Hendrix's Fire, which is passable but not something to write home about.  Now the B-side is a full on Psych'd out 60's Punk number a la Music Machine.  You should have seen my face of astonishment the first time I heard it ... I literally had to pick my jaw up from off the floor, like I had just seen the most bodacious babe ... I found this bad boy at the local pawn shop, thinking it's on Paula records, it might have some merit, but had no idea I was on the verge of finding a total gem!

Jane's Addiction -- Nothing's Shocking

  These guys were my teenage band.  I was totally obsessed with every word, every note and every picture, there was to see, hear and read about this band!!  I remember I even had to rip the album covers off so my mother wouldn't discover the nudity, she went as far as tossing my favorite Jane's Addiction t-shirt in the garbage, you know the one with the chick in the fire, like on the back cover of the first Leonard Cohen album.  I always found that Jane's Addiction, especially Nothing's Shocking, was like the anti-Guns and Roses, sounds like they may have had allot of the same influences, but took it in different ways.  At the time, and from then on, "nothing was shocking, anymore!"

Brenda Holloway -- Every Little Bit Hurts/ Just Look At What You've Done 45'

  Ok, let's start with the B-side, because it's just a run of the mill Motown number, not that it's bad, it's just regular.  The A-side is where the real meat and potatoes are at.  This song is the way I can be to a tee, being a sensatron, we all have our moments -- c'mon admit it!  Every word in the tune pierces right into the jugular of our heart strings, and every note Brenda sings throbs into our tear ducts, 'cause Every Little Bit Hurts ...