Confessions of a Fanboy

Bad European Ideas

1. Soccer
2. France
3. Dance Music
4. Gerard Depardieu

10 remixes later and I’m reminded of one of the undeniable truths of life: Dance music sucks.
You have to be coked up and on the verge of getting a slice to endure this twaddle, and I don’t do drugs. I’ve listened to 10 remixes and [...]

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It’s here, it’s really here! After a one week schedule delay and a mandatory 3-day financial waiting period [Translation: I had to wait until I got paid to order a copy], I finally have my copy of the first Garbage retrospective.
Disc 1: The A-Sides
A few opening thoughts: the songs [...]

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I don’t know what prompted it. I’m getting ready to go get some lunch and run by the apartment to see if my packages have been delivered. I’m skimming over some doucments at work, planning for the rest of the afternoon. I finished listening to Peter Karp and decided to dial up [...]

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This was supposed to be Garbage week around here, wasn’t it? It still is and we’ll be talking about Garbage later this afternoon when my package from Amazon arrives. In the meantime, a sudden change in direction can be a good thing.
Songs like “I Understand” and “The Lament” make me feel like I’m [...]

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Good news, boys and girls. I ordered my Absolute Garbage compilation and it should arrive by tomorrow, in time for our continued feature on one of my favorite ’90s bands.
I was disappointed to see Amazon had the DVD on backorder, so I’m going to have to wait to order that. I [...]

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It didn’t take long for me to come back to Peter Karp’s Shadows and Cracks. I dabbled with a little Def Leppard and Depeche Mode this morning, but I kept thinking about how I wanted to listen to this PK record. Why fight it, right?
Listening to this album has stirred an old, familiar [...]

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Sometimes the most important listen is the second listen. I’ve touched on the theme numerous times, but it cannot be stressed enough. Some albums have to be heard a second, third, and even fourth time before it reveals its magic (I read Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows this weekend, so be prepared [...]

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It’s not surprising that Garbage, Beck, and Nine Inch Nails found an audience at more or less the same time. While they aren’t exactly sonically similar, they pack their songs with an amalgam of sounds. NIN went industrial, Garbage was a dance/rock hybrid, and Beck is… Beck. These artists — among others [...]

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I don’t have a good transition from Petty to the Pumpkins, but Garbage did open for the Pumpkins on the Mellon Collie tour and Butch Vig produced Siamese Dream. At least I have that going for me.
Zeitgeist seems to be a quintessential Smashing Pumpkins record. There are moments of frustrating self-indulgence and moments [...]

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OK, so it is Garbage week here this week, but I woke up with a different tune in my head and I’ve decided to run with it…
One of the more interesting facts I learned from the Conversations With Tom Petty book was that my favorite Petty album, Wildflowers, was originally intended as a double album. [...]

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