NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

The ‘90s in rock music started quietly. Hair metal was still around, but vibey New Wave tracks had gained traction in the late ‘80s. It was an eclectic time without a clear direction for a musical style. Of course that all changed in the fall of 1991 when  Nirvana  burst onto the scene and Alternative and mainstream rock listeners determined that grunge would be the collective musical trend. Just as disco didn't die in 1979, the New Romantics sound of the late ‘80s carried over into the early ‘90s. In fact, in the early ‘90s,  New Order ,  The Smiths ’  Morrisey , and  Depeche Mode  enjoyed their peak success. For Depeche Mode, that success came from a dark pop song, which crossed the Alternative Rock band over to the pop charts with the single from their seventh album  Violator , “ Enjoy the Silence .” ALL I EVER WANTED, ALL I EVER NEEDED IS HERE IN MY ARMS.  Produced by the now legendary Mark Ellis, better known as  Flood ,  Violator  was years of dark electronica in the making.

The ‘90s in rock music started quietly. Hair metal was still around, but vibey New Wave tracks had gained traction in the late ‘80s. It was an eclectic time without a clear direction for a musical style. Of course that all changed in the fall of 1991 when Nirvana burst onto the scene and Alternative and mainstream rock listeners determined that grunge would be the collective musical trend. Just as disco didn't die in 1979, the New Romantics sound of the late ‘80s carried over into the early ‘90s. In fact, in the early ‘90s, New Order , The Smiths ’ Morrisey , and Depeche Mode enjoyed their peak success. For Depeche Mode, that success came from a dark pop song, which crossed the Alternative Rock band over to the pop charts with the single from their seventh album Violator , “ Enjoy the Silence .” ALL I EVER WANTED, ALL I EVER NEEDED IS HERE IN MY ARMS. Produced by the now legendary Mark Ellis, better known as Flood , Violator was years of dark electronica in the making. Flood’s fi

Netflix's  Song Exploder   tells the story of the first single from The Killers ' second album,  Sam's Town .  Toward the end of touring for their debut record,  Hot Fuss ,  The Killers started work on their second record .  The band changed their musical direction slightly for  Sam's Town , incorporating influences of Americana into their New Wave sound. Taking musical and lyrical influence from the Asbury Park superstar,  Bruce Springsteen , The Killers set out to tell the stories about the West and Las Vegas, a town they call home. From the opening guitar riff, inspired by the feeling of driving in the desert, to the spiritual conations in the lyrics, " When You Were Young " is an early track that shows the themes of the band in more recent years. WAITING ON SOME BEAUTIFUL BOY TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR OLD WAYS.  I mostly skipped over The Killers' sophomore release,  Sam's Town . Critics and fans, too, were mixed on the album. The band who had named the

I'm not a fanatic about space, like many children, I was fascinated with the prospect of traveling to other worlds when I looked out at the sky. From learning about the  nine  eight planets from  The Magic School Bus  to watching Hale-Bopp in the late '90s night sky, the universe seemed like such an interesting place. After school it was   Star Trek: The Next Generation   reruns then to PBS for  Bill Nye the Science Guy  and  Arthur . Fast forward to February 1, 2003 (20 years ago). The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. This grounded America's space program for two years.  YOU MADE ME CRY.  This is my memory of the attitude towards the '80s. I talked a little about this when I covered New Order 's  " World (The Price of Love), "  but my memories of the views of the '80s in the late '90s and '00s (what a time warp!) were of awkwardness, terrible hair, men in shorty shorts with hairy legs, girls in