7. “Pagan Poetry” – Bjork: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

7. “Pagan Poetry” – Bjork

(From the album Vespertine)

2001

Following the release of Homogenic Bjork took an acting role in Lars von Trier’s 2000 film Dancer In The Dark. As the main character in the film Bjork won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the same award at the Golden Globes. She was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song for “I’ve Seen It All”, a duet with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, that was from the film and released on Bjork’s soundtrack from the film titled Selmasongs. Bjork followed up her acting success by saying the process of acting was so emotionally and physically draining that she would never act again (a vow she has largely honored in spirit although she has taken some small roles in other films on rare occasions). Bjork quickly followed up Selmasongs with her next studio album Vespertine, an album that earned Bjork three more relatively successful singles, especially in the UK, Europe, and her native Iceland. The second of these singles was the haunting and beautiful “Pagan Poetry”. A partial factor in these singles being less successful in America was that the videos for both “Pagan Poetry” and  “Cocoon” were banned by MTV, which had been one of Bjork’s biggest supporters in the past. Nevertheless, “Pagan Poetry” cracked the UK Top 40 and became a fan favorite. Bjork followed up Vespertine by releasing a greatest hits record. The release of this hits compilation seemed to mark a turning point for Bjork in her career. The albums Bjork released in the years since her 2002 Greatest Hits album have moved even further into the realm of the experimental and Bjork seems to have made a conscious decision to make music for herself (and large cult of fans) and not worry about chasing (or setting) trends to make pop hits. This doesn’t mean that Bjork’s 21st century albums are not worth listening to, if you liked her early records that this is a rabbit hole worth following her down, but the albums increasingly follow the whim of Iceland’s quixotic muse without thought to trends or fashion.

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7. “At Transformation” – The Tragically Hip: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

7. “At Transformation” – The Tragically Hip

(From the album Now For Plan A)

2012

The release of 2005’s fan chosen hits compilation Yer Favourites seemed to mark an end of an era for The Tragically Hip, who now seemed to be moving into revered elder statesmen status. However, never a band to rest on past efforts The Hip got back to work and released the new album World Container in 2006. World Container was produced by legendary rock producer Bob Rock who had previously worked with Metallica, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Bryan Adams, and many more. Despite Rock’s penchant for working with very mainstream rock bands or the occasional non-mainstream artist looking for a more mainstream sound, The Tragically Hip don’t allow him to strip away the eccentricities and quirks that make their work special and World Container and their next record, 2009’s We Are The Same (also produced by Rock), offer few concessions to mainstream appeal and certainly still feel like the work of The Tragically Hip. The band then had a few years of relative quiet before releasing their new single “At Transformation” in May of 2012. A roaring rocker that is very reminiscent of the band 90’s heyday, “At Transformation” went to #1 on the Canadian rock charts, although its placement at #63 on the Canadian pop charts showed both the change in the music industry towards pop music and the band’s own declining commercial status. That said, “At Transformation” is a great song that lacks nothing in quality and the same can be said for the Now For Plan A album that followed a few months later. In 2014 the band began work on their next album but postponed that work to promote and tour behind the rerelease of the deluxe edition of their Canadian megahit album Fully Completely in 2015. That tour ended in October of 2015. In December of 2015 singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. In early 2016 The Tragically Hip finished the album they had been working on, named Man Machine Poem, and launched a summer tour in spite of Downie’s terminal diagnosis. The Tragically Hip played their final show in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, Canada on August 20, 2016 to a sold out crowd. The show was broadcast live across the country on Canadian television and radio; more than a third of the population of Canada tuned in. Downie gave his first interview since his cancer diagnosis in October of 2016 and admitted to having memory loss; even saying he had needed to relearn the melody and lyrics to many of the songs he had written for the previous summer’s tour. Downie died a year later in October of 2017. The remaining band members have announced that The Tragically Hip will no longer be a touring or recording entity anymore. However, Downie himself had indicated before he died that their was more finished and unreleased Tragically Hip material that existed and that could eventually come out. The band did perform in honor of Downie at the 2021 Juno Awards, where they played “It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” with Canadian singer Feist filling in for the deceased Downie. 

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4. “Nautical Disaster” – The Tragically Hip: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

4. “Nautical Disaster” – The Tragically Hip

(From the album Day For Night)

1994

The Tragically Hip went into recording their fourth album Day For Night in something of a weird situation. Their previous album Fully Completely had raised them to the status of full-blown superstars in their native Canada as the album spun off hit after hit and became one of the most successful Canadian albums of all time. Meanwhile, in the US and the rest of the world, they were still a little known group looking to break through. This meant that The Tragically Hip had to decide if they should continue on in a similar direction or shake up a formula that had been very successful at home in Canada. For the most part on Day For Night the band chooses to follow the sound that they had honed on Fully Completely, while also moving in a generally darker tonal direction. Day For Night might not be quite as consistent as Fully Completely is but it still is packed full of great songs, including “Grace, Too”, “So Hard Done By”, “Scared”, and the hard rocking “Nautical Disaster”. “Nautical Disaster” is one of the band’s best songs. Sonically it should have fit in perfect alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Live, Everclear, and other bands who were finding big success on American alt rock radio in 1994, and yet, “Nautical Disaster” was unable to breakthrough into the American market, even with another strong promotional push that included the band being the musical guests on Saturday Night Live (thanks in large part to the efforts of fellow Canadian and SNL alum Dan Akroyd) where the band gave excellent performances of both “Nautical Disaster” and “Grace, Too”. Day For Night was another massive Canadian success though and so The Tragically Hip continued their weird dual existence of being rock gods at home and almost unknown everywhere else.

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1. “New Orleans Is Sinking” – The Tragically Hip: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

1. “New Orleans Is Sinking” – The Tragically Hip

(From the album Up To Here)

1989

The Tragically Hip are an amazing band. They are also an enigma. The Tragically Hip began life as a bluesy and rootsy bar band from Ontario, Canada that had a gift for turning a phrase, telling a story, and writing a compelling tune. However, they were always a little too literate and quirky to really be a mainstream band. As the years passed these tendencies became a bigger part of The Tragically Hip’s sound until ultimately they evolved into a full-blown alt rock band with a sound that fell somewhere in between 80’s R.E.M. and Pearl Jam (and with a lyrical point of view distinctly their own thanks to singer and frontman Gord Downie). Indeed, as alternative rock became the mainstream in the early 90’s The Tragically Hip became one of the most successful bands of all time in their native Canada. And therein lies the enigma, because while the band became superstars at home, in the rest of the world they remained virtually unknown outside of some minor successes. Yes, The Tragically Hip were always proud of their Canadian heritage and sometimes explored Canadiana themes or discussed Canadian geography and history, but not in a way that would be overly distracting or off putting. Indeed, there is no good reason why The Tragically Hip shouldn’t have become one of the leading lights of the 1990’s alt rock revolution in the USA (or the world) the way they did in Canada, it just never happened. In fact, after an early EP that earned them some early Canadian recognition. That early self-titled EP also earned them some airplay on American college radio and there was enough buzz around the band that The Hip were signed to MCA Records and sent to Memphis, Tennessee to record their debut album. That album, titled Up To Here spun off several Canadian hits like “Blow At High Dough”, “Boots Or Hearts” (a personal favorite), and “38 Years Old”, but it was the second single, a bluesy, swampy romp called “New Orleans Is Sinking” that earned them their first taste of American success. “New Orleans Is Sinking” is a song that feels like the work of a band that was from the deep American south far more than that of a band from Canada, but The Tragically Hip feel right at home in that sound; a band confident in their gifts from almost the beginning. “New Orleans Is Sinking” was not a big hit, but it did continue to build a fan base on American college rock, going to #30 on the US alternative rock charts and setting up The Tragically Hip as a bad potentially on the rise as the 80’s came to an end.

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4. “Stop!” – Jane’s Addiction: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

4. “Stop!” – Jane’s Addiction

(From the album Ritual De Lo Habitual)

1990

Jane’s Addiction would release their second studio album (and third overall) with 1990’s Ritual De Lo Habitual. The album was met with sizable expectations from both the label and the alternative rock scene; indeed, there was some expectation that Ritual De Lo Habitual might be the album that would help alternative rock crossover into the mainstream. Once again, Jane’s Addiction caused controversy by creating cover art for the album that showed explicit nudity. This meant that many chain stores would not carry the record and so a second plain white “clean” cover was designed that only showed the band’s name, the album title, and the words from the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantee freedom of expression. The cover controversy both helped the album, by bringing it notoriety, and hurt it because many stores would not carry the record (at least not until the second cover was released). However, the album’s lead single “Stop!”, a cocksure and ferocious rocker that made good use of start/stop dynamics became another alternative rock hit for the band. It’s success also helped to make Jane’s Addiction among the most popular groups in the alt rock underground. Indeed, “Stop!” went to #1 on the US alt rock charts for two weeks. In an interesting move, Jane’s Addiction released a second single on the same day as they released “Stop!”. That second song was the almost eleven-minute prog-influenced epic “Three Days”. “Three Days”, at least partially inspired by the heroin overdose of Farrell’s 18 year old friend, would appear on Ritual De Lo Habitual and also as a B-side on the single for “Stop!”. Yet the band (and presumably the label) felt the song was good enough to be worth its own separate release and “Three Days” was released as a single with different (albeit similar) cover art and a different track list than the “Stop!” single. This one-two punch raised the expectations for Ritual De Lo Habitual even higher.

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2. “Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

2. “Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction

(From the album Nothing’s Shocking)

1988

“Jane Says” had been an alternative rock hit (and even had captured a little notice from the mainstream) and so Jane’s Addiction followed it up with a second single from Nothing’s Shocking, the more characteristic “Mountain Song”. Built up from Eric Avery’s dominant bassline, “Mountain Song” is almost an archetype of the sound of 90’s rock. Interestingly though, it was also the first song Jane’s Addiction had ever written back in 1985 and an earlier version of the song was released in 1986 on the soundtrack to the Jon Cryer film Dudes. This early version (which was later released on Jane’s Addiction’s Kettle Whistle compilation) is similar but not the same as the re-recorded version that is included on Nothing’s Shocking. “Mountain Song” did not chart, in large part because MTV refused to play the video due to the inclusion of nudity. Furthermore, the album’s sales was also hurt due to its controversial cover art. However, Nothing’s Shocking was nominated for a Grammy and eventually was certified platinum for sales of more than a million copies in the USA. “Mountain Song” was not a hit, but it did ultimately become one of the most important songs in Jane’s Addiction’s discography and a fan favorite over the years. 

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2. “Where The Twain Shall Meet” – Screaming Trees: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music:

2. “Where The Twain Shall Meet” – Screaming Trees

(From the album Buzz Factory)

1989

Following Screaming Trees release of their second album Even If And Especially When on SST the label sent them out on the road with Meat Puppets and Firehose, some of SST’s other punk-adjacent acts. This touring helped to increase the band’s fanbase on the underground scene and tightened up their sound and Screaming Trees began to be known for their live shows. The band also released a split EP with the band Beat Happening and their third album Invisible Lantern on SST in 1988. While Seattle was still a few years away from becoming the center of the rock and cultural world, the buzz around the Seattle scene in 1989 was already beginning to build in the underground rock world. 1989 saw Mudhoney release their eponymous record after coming off the relative success of Superfuzz Bigmuff, Mother Love Bone released the Shine EP, Soundgarden released Louder Than Love, and Nirvana released Bleach. Into this mix, 1989 saw Screaming Trees release their fourth album Buzz Factory, again on SST records. None of these records broke through to the mainstream in a major way but the Seattle scene was on the rise and Screaming Trees’ Buzz Factory was the group’s most consistent and fully-formed album to date. Indeed, much of the “Seattle sound” seemed rooted in the sounds and influences that Screaming Trees had been exploring since as far back as 1985. However, as Screaming Trees toured behind Buzz Factory they discovered that SST Records was struggling to release the album, repeatedly telling the band that Buzz Factory was about to be released only to find its release had been delayed again. In fact, SST didn’t manage to get the album released until the final day of the tour that was meant to be promoting the album. Screaming Trees found this situation to be unacceptable and left SST Records following the release of Buzz Factory. Screaming Trees would briefly sign with Seattle label Sub Pop before jumping to the major label Epic, but it was undeniable that the difficulties in getting Buzz Factory released hurt the band’s profile at just the wrong time. The whole album is strong (and is almost the stereotype of the sound that soon would be labeled grunge) as can be heard on the excellent opening track “Where The Twin Shall Meet”, a song that has the lumbering power, squalling guitars, and sludgy menace that would come to typify the Seattle sound. With better promotion “Where The Twain Shall Meet” could have been a true underground hit similar in its impact to Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick” or Soundgarden’s “Loud Love”. 

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