Top Ten Worst Bands Of The 90s

By Brent Chittenden

Rolling Stone recently did a poll where they named their readers listed the worst bands of the 90's and quite frankly... what were these readers smoking?

Dave Mathews Band? Nirvana? I'm not huge fans of either but I thought to myself "There has to be worse out there than these guys.... isn't there?" This set me upon my quest for the week. Using the internet, facebook and a number of class mates from Bradford District High School's graduating classes of 97, 98, and 99, I put together a much worse list of bands. There are a few duplications (there is some crap that is bound to make everyone's list) but on a whole, I think I dredged a little deeper into the bowels of the 90's to give you a true Top Ten Worst Bands Of The 90's.

10) Crazy Town

The closing days of the 90's gave us possibly one of the worst rap / metal... things. Crazy Town were annoying, not particularly talented or original, they kind of sounded like the stupid love child of a drunk boinking between Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Yet despite their obvious suckage, they somehow managed to sell 2.5 MILLION copies of their debut album The Gift of Game.

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Ginger Baker, Unhinged

Ginger Baker is one of the UK's most famous drummer.  As the timekeeper behind Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce in Cream, his place in rock'n'roll history has been assured for some time.  Problem is that he's not a very nice man.

There's a new documentary called Beware of Mr. Baker which highlights his predilection for nastiness. Before a screening of the film, there was a live Q&A with a writer from The Guardian. It went...poorly. [VIDEO]

It was all downhill from the introduction. Our video omits most of the times Baker dismissed my questions, or raised his eyebrows in disgust. It omits the one-word answers, by and large. It omits his more withering reponses to questions from the audience. It leaves out the 15-second pause where I simply sat in silence, wishing the earth would swallow me whole. It leaves out Baker deciding he's had enough with the words "I want to go home now." You may able to note the one point where I have just about had enough, and my voice tightens and quickens while I ask another "silly question". It doesn't sound much on the video, but it was an effort of will to get a question out instead of telling him what I thought of his rudeness.

I've had plenty of interviews where things went all pear-shaped from the very beginning. Fortunately, I've never had the pleasure of talking to Mr. Baker.  I think I'll steer clear, too.  Read the whole story here.

Did I mention that Baker physically attacked the man who was making the documentary?

Coming Soon: The Mod Musical

Word from Vintage Vinyl News is that a new musical is in production in the UK.  Based on the UK mod scene of the 1960s, All or Nothing is said to be based on the career of The Small Faces.  I quote:

Original band members Ian Mc Lagan and Kenny Jones are musical consultants on the production. The musical is set to arrive in London in 2014 and will mark the 50th anniversary of the 'Mod' era, an era that redefined British music. All Or Nothing has a unique blend of comedy and tragedy whilst rocking to live music playing most of the group's hits such as Itchychoo Park and Whatcha Gonna Do About It.

“This production encapsulates everything it is to be a 'mod' - the clothes, the attitude and of course some of the best British music ever to have been written and produced”, says [actress Carol] Harrison [of Eastenders].

Author Dan Brown Once Wrote a Song About Phone Sex (Among Other Things)

Yes, I mean the same Dan Brown who wrote The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, The Lost Symbol and Inferno, which is out this week.

But before he began to grace with his fact-filled but leaden prose, Brown was a wannabe pop star.  His first attempt was as a children's artist when he recorded and self-released a cassette called SynthAnimals which featured such classics as "Happy Frogs" and "Suzuki Elephants."  It sold a few hundred copies at best.

Then he changed gears, self-released an adult contemporary-ish record called Perspective.  No one cared about that one, either.  That was followed by a self-titled CD in 1993 which included this non-hit ode to phone sex called "976-LOVE."

Around the same time that Dan Brown came out, he decided that he'd rather like thrillers.  He's now sold over 200 million books and has Tom Hanks' home phone number.

(Via AV Club, among others.)

Desecrating the Legacy of Punk

Jer passes on this article from The Economist which pillories the new punk exhibit happening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

[F]or a movement that was largely defined by its music, it feels odd that only one gallery blares the extreme and energetic sounds of The New York Dolls, Richard Hell, The Slits, The Damned and others. This feels like a concession to the typical Met patron, and is a good example of the problem with this exhibition: the anti-establishment story of the punk movement cannot properly be told in the hallowed costume section of the Metropolitan Museum. Visitors to this show should expect eye-catching displays, not a coherent narrative. The presentation is vivid and often fun, but anyone hoping for depth will be left with a proper punk sneer.  

Read the whole article here.