7. “Monsters” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

7. “Monsters” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the album Shine On)

2014

Sarah McLachlan went on an extended hiatus following the release of 2003’s Afterglow to be a mother and live a more normal life. She did release the Grammy nominated seasonal album Wintersong in 2006. Wintersong consisted of holiday and seasonal songs but was of a higher quality than the average cash grab seasonal release. Indeed, Wintersong saw McLachlan release her version of Joni Mitchell’s “River” as a single and it went to #71 in the US. Wintersong mixed traditional hymns and carols with McLachlan’s covers of modern classics like her superb version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song For A Winter’s Night” and John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”, along with one original new song in the title track. 2010 saw McLachlan release her first batch of new songs since 2003 when Laws Of Illusion came out. In part inspired by the dissolution of McLachlan’s marriage, much of Laws Of Illusion was melancholy in its tone. For her next album, 2014’s Shine On McLachlan made a conscious effort to create music that was more organic and earthy than some of her earlier work had been. McLachlan also chose to push herself to write with various co-writers across the album, including the Eagles’ Don Felder. However, the album’s best song and second single is a co-write with her longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand, on “Monsters”. “Monsters” is still definitely the work of McLachlan but it has a touch more bite to it than anything she had released in some time. It’s not that McLachlan’s work over the years didn’t delve into the darkness and explore painful things, because much of her work has explored those feelings and themes, but “Monster” has just a touch of aggression and defiance to it and these are moods that have often been missing from McLachlan’s work for a long time. “Monster” wasn’t a hit but it is one of the best songs she has written in years and should satisfy her devoted fan base. Shine On to date is McLachlan’s last album of new material although she did release a second holiday album titled Wonderland in 2016.

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6. “Fallen” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

6. “Fallen” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the album Afterglow)

2003

Sarah McLachlan waited a full six years to properly follow-up her massively successful album Surfacing. Of course, that doesn’t mean it really ever felt that she went away since Surfacing spun off hit after hit for two full years, with “Angel” then given a second life when it was used in the film City of Angels. Then the live version of “I Will Remember You” from her concert album Mirrorball became a hit as well. Not to mention all the press and interviews McLachlan did first to promote her Lilith Fair tour and then because of all the praise it received when it proved successful. McLachlan even sang “When She Loved Me” in the massively successful movie Toy Story 2. So one can be forgiven if the time between Surfacing and her fifth album Afterglow didn’t seem live six years. However, as the new millennium dawned McLachlan did take some time off. She had married her drummer in the late 90’s and now she spent some time off the road with her family and prepared for the birth of her child. In fact, for Afterglow McLachlan changed up her usual process for writing new songs. Whereas she usually would isolate herself in a cottage somewhere to be alone and write, this time Sarah stayed home and wrote most of the new songs in the months leading up to the birth of her child. She also wrote all of the new songs’ demos on piano rather than guitar for the first time. Truthfully though none of these changes make much difference to the sound of McLachlan’s music. Afterglow sounds and feels like a logical extension of her previous work and lead single “Fallen” is similar in tone and mood to earlier hits like “Possession” or “Building A Mystery”. That isn’t a slight on “Fallen”, which is a strong song and was a moderate hit in the US and several other territories, but it does mean that McLachlan has chosen to make an album that will appeal to her core fan base more than it pushes boundaries. Thus, it may not be surprising that McLachlan went on another extended break following the release of Afterglow and didn’t release another album of new, original material for seven more years.

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5. “Angel” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

5. “Angel” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the album Surfacing)

1997

Sarah McLachlan had scored three big hits off of Surfacing already when she released the fourth single “Angel”, a song that would become a signature moment. Written early in the writing sessions for Surfacing “Angel” was a tribute to the death of Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, who had died of a heroin overdose. McLachlan was just coming off of a long tour and understood the loneliness and pressures that can come from being a touring musician and how those factors could lead someone to seek escape. “Angel” was already a big hit but was given a second burst of momentum when the song was used in a key scene in the Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan film City of Angels. McLachlan has said that the use of “Angel” in City of Angels is the best use of any of her songs in a film or television production. “Angel” was later given a third major exposure when McLachlan did a promo ad for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) that used the song behind images of animals suffering before McLachlan herself spoke in behalf of the organization and to request donations (and then later spoofed the intense ads in an Audi commercial – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/video-super-bowl-sarah-mclachlan-676553/ ). Still, “Angel” has become a song that is almost universally associated with sadness and suffering and has become an unofficial anthem for moments of tragedy such as the death of Princess Diana in 1997, the Columbine High School killings in 1999, and September 11th in 2001. Following the release of “Angel” McLachlan toured with her Lilith Fair festival, which led to the release of the live album Mirrorball in 1999. However, McLachlan would not release another album of new material until 2003, a full six years after Surfacing.

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3. “I Will Remember You” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

3. “I Will Remember You” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the movie soundtrack The Brothers McMullen)

1995

Sarah McLachlan followed up the slow building success of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and bought herself some more time to work on its follow-up by contributing the song “I Will Remember You” to the soundtrack for the Edward Burns’ film The Brothers McMullen. The film was scored by Séamus Egan and McLachlan and her co-writer Dave Merenda took Egan’s instrumental track “Weep Not For The Memories”, which he had released on his 1990 album A Week In January, and added lyrics and adjusted the melody to create the elegant and wistful “I Will Remember You”. The song went to #10 in Canada and #65 in the US. It would then be included on McLachlan’s 1996 compilation album Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff. A live version would be released in 1999 as a single pulled from McLachlan’s live album Mirrorball, released after the massive success of her 1997 album Surfacing and that version would once again hit #10 in Canada, but the live version would peak at #14 in the USA and become one of McLachlan’s signature songs.

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2. “Possession” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

2. “Possession” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy)

1993

Sarah McLachlan released her third album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy in 1993 and it was an immediate success in her native Canada where she was already a star. The lead single and biggest hit was the song “Possession”, a song from the point-of-view of a man obsessed with a woman and inspired by disturbing letters McLachlan had received from several different obsessed fans who were stalking her and believed they were in a relationship with her. The most concerning of these was a man named Uwe Vandrei who sued McLachlan, claiming that she had used the wording of his letters in the lyrics to “Possession” and that he should get co-writing credits. The upcoming trial became a focal point for the Canadian media and an issue for the Canadian justice system since Vandrei openly admitted that part of the reason he had sued was to get close to McLachlan. Indeed, there was genuine concern for McLachlan’s safety. However, the issue never had to be addressed in court as Vandrei committed suicide before the trial began. “Possession” was a legitimate Canadian hit, peaking at #26, while also earning McLachlan real airplay in the US as well, where the song peaked at #4 on the US alt charts and went to #73 on the pop charts, the first time McLachlan had scored an American Top 100 hit. While Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate Canadian hit the album slowly gained momentum over the course of the next two years in the USA and in some other countries, becoming a slow burning moderate hit that had successful singles with “Possession”, “Hold On”, and “Good Enough”. The song “Ice Cream” also earned some attention as it was used in the Christian Slater and Mary Stuart Masterson film Bed of Roses. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy proved to be a hit and set the stage for McLachlan to become a superstar.

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1. “Into The Fire” – Sarah McLachlan: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

1. “Into The Fire” – Sarah McLachlan

(From the album Solace)

1991

Born in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Sarah McLachlan was something of a musical prodigy as a child and studied music throughout her childhood. By the time McLachlan was in high school she was fronting a rock band named The October Game. However, after an early October Game show McLachlan was offered a solo recording contract with the Vancouver, Canada based record label Nettwerk. McLachlan was interested and excited but her parents insisted she finish high school and one year of college before she could move west to Vancouver and work as a recording artist. Two years later though McLachlan signed with Nettwerk and moved to Vancouver. When McLachlan signed her recording contract she had never written a song but she still wrote or co-wrote the entirety of her first album Touch and even scored a minor Canadian hit with the song “Vox”. She also gained increased exposure in Canada by serving as the opening act for Canadian alt rockers The Grapes Of Wrath. McLachlan released her second album Solace in 1991 and it became her Canadian breakthrough, spinning off a series of Canadian hits and starting her career-long partnership with producer Pierre Marchand, who would become her primary collaborator. Solace earned McLachlan Canadian hits with “The Path Of Thorns (Terms)”, “Drawn To The Rhythm”, and “Into The Fire”, the last one being the biggest hit and earning McLachlan her first American success when the song went to #4 on the US alternative rock charts. The moderate success of “Into The Fire” also helped to build some momentum for McLachlan outside of Canada and built up some expectations for her next record; expectations that she would capitalize on.

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5. “Tomorrow” – Morrissey: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

5. “Tomorrow” – Morrissey

(From the album Your Arsenal)

1992

While Morrissey’s early solo career had been successful and he had shown he could thrive outside of his partnership with Johnny Marr, his more recent solo career was causing doubt he could maintain that success. After ending his writing partnership with Stephen Street Morrissey had struggled to find a new partnership that worked for him. Morrissey had struggled to work with Langer and Winstanley and his work with Mark E. Nevin had largely been lackluster. So Morrissey had moved in a new direction, hiring real rockabilly musicians as his new backing band and beginning a songwriting partnership with guitarist Alain Whyte (and later with his other new guitarist Boz Boorer as well) that resulted in the excellent album Your Arsenal. Produced by David Bowie’s former guitarist Mick Ronson Your Arsenal is the perfect blend of rockabilly, glam, and Morrissey’s own jangly pop past. It was a tougher, harder sound for a new decade, yet one that perfectly suited Morrissey’s voice and lyrics, while also not rejecting his past work. The music Alain Whyte creates for Morrissey on Your Arsenal perfectly uses the past to reframe the present, a perfect sound for Morrissey who has always loved to draw on the imagery and iconography of the past as a way to frame his music. Your Arsenal is full of excellent songs. The album opens with the hard rocking “You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side” (one of two songs written with old writing partner Mark E. Nevin but given a toughness and rawness by Morrissey’s new band and Ronson’s production that was desperately missing on Kill Uncle) which is the heaviest song Morrissey had ever released to this point. Your Arsenal also features the glam/rockabilly stomp of “Glamorous Glue” and the snappy rockabilly of “Certain People I Know”, the humorous rush of “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful”, the jangly pop of “You’re The One For Me, Fatty”, and the prog-rock meets Sinatra balladry of “I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday” (famously covered by Bowie). Indeed, there isn’t a weak track on Your Arsenal. However, all of these ideas and sounds and styles are brought together on the album’s final track and superb third single “Tomorrow”. “Tomorrow” feels like it draws on all of these disparate influences and styles and Morrissey makes them all work together and makes them his own. “Tomorrow” is the summation of Your Arsenal and this phase of Morrissey’s solo career, finding the partnership between him and Whyte and Ronson working together to make one of the finest pieces of music that Morrissey ever would release.

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3. “Piccadilly Palare” – Morrissey: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

3. “Piccadilly Palare” – Morrissey

(From the compilation album Bona Drag)

1990

After following up the success of his debut album Viva Hate with a series of non-album singles, Morrissey had begun work on his second solo album with the famed production team of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. However, the writing sessions didn’t go as well as planned and it quickly became apparent that no new album would quickly be forthcoming. Wanting to capitalize on the success of Viva Hate quickly and knowing that outside of the UK the recently released non-album singles were basically unknown Morrissey decided to shift gears and release the Bona Drag compilation album as the follow-up to Viva Hate. Bona Drag compiled Morrissey’s singles up to that point, all but two of which were not on any album and therefore largely unknown outside of the UK, and added several of the B-sides to those songs (many of which were of high quality) and a handful of new songs that were originally intended to be on the abandoned second album. The second single, “Picadilly Palare”, a co-write between Morrissey and studio guitarist Kevin Armstrong, was released the same day as Bona Drag with both the single and the album using Polari slang terms often used by the gay subculture in the UK (Bona Drag, for example, means “nice outfit”) as a way of communicating with each other in a time when homosexual acts were still criminalized in Britain. Like many Morrissey songs “Piccadilly Palare”, which addresses the topic of rent boys, or male prostitutes, in the Piccadilly section of London, deals with unusual subject matter for a pop song and is something of an outsider anthem. While Morrissey himself wasn’t overly fond of the song, it has a sound that was still somewhat reminiscent of his former band The Smiths (Smiths bassist Andy Rourke even plays on the song, the last time one of his former bandmates would do so) and became a solid hit, going to #13 in the UK and to #2 on the US alternative charts. This was Morrissey’s best showing yet in the United States and marked something of a turning point in Morrissey’s career where he would begin to be less popular in Britain and more popular in the USA. While Bona Drag was a compilation, outside of the UK none of the songs were known except “Suedehead” and “Everyday Is Like Sunday” and so in America, and most of the world, Bona Drag played as Morrissey’s second album and “Piccadilly Palare” was its most successful song.

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6. “All Is Full Of Love” – Bjork: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

6. “All Is Full Of Love” – Bjork

(From the album Homogenic)

1997

Bjork’s third album Homogenic was released in 1997 and was created as an homage to her homeland of Iceland, with many of the songs on the album dealing with themes and/or inspiration from there. Bjork had begun recording Homogenic near her home in London but all work on the record was halted after Bjork survived a murder attempt by a stalker. After that harrowing experience Bjork packed up and went to Spain to recover and continue working on the album. It was during this period of time that Bjork wrote “All Is Full Of Love”. The inspiration for the song came near the end of the writing and recording process for Homogenic. Bjork had been through a long winter dealing with the trauma of her attack and the loneliness of being away from home and friends. However, while out for a walk one morning Bjork recalls hearing birdsong and realizing that spring was dawning and that it was a time of renewal and recovery. This inspired her to write “All Is Full Of Love” which ended up being the closing track and fifth single from Homogenic and was meant to be a song of healing and recovery at the end of the album. Homogenic had several successful singles and “All Is Full Of Love” wasn’t released as a single until two years after the album came out. It is highly unusual to release a song to promote a two year old album but Bjork and director Chris Cunningham had come up with an idea for a music video for “All Is Full Of Love” that was very cinematic and experimental and Bjork liked the idea of the late release so that the video would feel more like a short film than a promotional project for the album. The single mix (which I have included here) also is a different mix than the original album version. Producer Howie B added a firmer beat and other sonic changes to this new mix of “All Is Full Of Love” and it is that version that was used with the video. The video was hailed as one of the best of the form and “All Is Full Of Love” was a critical success and fan favorite for Bjork, hitting #24 in the UK and #8 on the US dance charts (both good chart placements for a song that was released originally two years earlier and had already been a B-side to an earlier single).

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5. “It’s Oh So Quiet” – Bjork: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

5. “It’s Oh So Quiet” – Bjork

(From the album Post)

1995

Bjork followed up the success of “Army Of Me” with “Isobel”, another song that melded genres by combining electronic beats with a string arrangement. However, it was the third single from Post, a cover of the 1951 show tune “It’s Oh So Quiet”, that really showed how willing Bjork was to push the boundaries of pop music, while also sealing her reputation as an alt rock maverick willing to try almost anything. Bjork’s cover of “It’s Oh So Quiet” is musically quite faithful to the big band/show tune style of the original version (which had already been redone several times in various languages over the years) but is really sold by Bjork’s dynamic and over-the-top vocal performance. Bjork treats the song like a true musical number from a Broadway show and goes from whisper to shout and back (all done with her exotic, ear-catching accent) while also adding all sorts of personality to the vocal piece, making her performance feel as if it draws on acting as much as it does singing. Of course, a show tune is meant to be seen and the colorful and fun music video directed by Spike Jonez adds to the song’s magic. Indeed, Bjork sells “It’s Oh So Quiet” by taking it so serious, really sinking into the piece like she was playing a role in a musical; while at the same time making it so over-the-top that it feels playfully ironic (or at least read that way in the irony-drenched 1990’s). Who knows though, maybe Bjork did have a bit of the acting bug, as she would have a cameo role in Pret-A-Porter around this time and then played the main role in 2000’s Dancer In The Dark, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Whether done seriously or ironically, “It’s Oh So Quiet” would be one of Bjork’s most successful songs, going Top 20 in ten territories including #4 in the UK, while also being an alternative radio hit in the United States.

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