<< #9    |    #7 >> We’re pretty sure it was Victoria’s idea. It sounds like something she might have come up with and has definitely had similar ideas a few times during our many years together. She surprised me one day early in 2004 by asking if I would be interested in seeing David Bowie in concert. Neither of us could tell you how she heard that he was coming to town on his latest tour and playing the arena out in Kanata that used to be called the Corel Centre, but perhaps she heard mention of it on the radio.

<< #8    |    #6 >> Here’s a band that may be largely forgotten to the quickly moving trends of musical history. Stellastarr* was formed in 2000 out of the ashes of a couple other short-lived bands, arising from the burgeoning indie rock scene in Brooklyn and Manhattan that would also give us The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, and TV on the Radio.

<< #10    |    #8 >> Ever since pioneering shoegaze rock band, Ride, called it quits rather spectacularly back in 1995, I’d been firmly planted in camp Mark Gardener in terms of following the post-breakup careers of the two warring principal songwriters and driving forces behind the band. I’d always preferred his voice and with the exception of "Vapour trail…

<< #34    |    #32 >> Fifteen years ago or so, I was going out to the cinemas semi-regularly with a group of guys from work. All four of us were happily married but the films we often went to were ones that our wives would likely not have been interested in seeing so they gladly allowed us these nights out with the guys.

<< #35    |    #33 >> I’ve written a few words on these pages already about First Aid Kit, the indie folk duo of Swedish sisters, Johanna and Klara Söderberg. I got into them shortly after the release of their second album, 2012’s "The lion’s roar"*, loving their stripped back sound and vocal harmonies, reminiscent of the folk music my parents had me listening to in childhood.

<< #37    |    #35 >> This wasn’t going to be next post. In fact, it wasn’t even supposed to be any of the next few posts. However, I was recently contacted by email (once again) by someone who mentioned they were enjoying the list and asked after the rest of it. And of course, I had to explain (yet again) how I am still working my way through it.

<< #36    |    #34 >> I used to be a massive horror buff. It started off with me reading "The Body", one of four novellas in Stephen King’s "Different seasons", because I learned that it was the story upon which "Stand by me", one of my favourite movies at the time, was based. And because I flew through it in a matter of a couple of days and I still had a few weeks on my Bowmanville Public Library loan, I read the other three in the series*, loving those as well.

<< #18    |    #16 >> Suede (aka The London Suede) is a band that I didn’t love upon first hearing. I thought their self-titled debut was just… ok. Nevertheless, I grew to appreciate them more with each new album and upon return listens and further reevaluation of their previous outputs. So by the time of their fifth album, 2002’s "A new morning", the album that would ultimately break up the glam rock, erstwhile Britpop outfit, I was a full-fledged fan.

<< #82    |    #80 >> When I was a teenager, I wanted to be Mark Hunter, aka "Hard Harry". Much like the character portrayed by Christian Slater in the 1990 film "Pump up the volume", I spent most of high school painfully shy and socially awkward. And though working with the high school drama club did draw me out of my shell, especially during my fourth and fifth years, I still identified with the character and found the story appealing.

<< #28   |   #26 >> For a couple of weeks last month, my life* revolved around Ottawa’s Bluesfest, the local big music festival and arguably one of the biggest in Canada. I’ve been attending this shindig to some extent for the past fifteen years or so and have seen some amazing acts in the process. In fact, one of the things I love most about it, besides discovering new bands, is how it has made it possible for me to see a litany of acts that I likely wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

<< #29   |   #27 >> I first came across Meat Puppets care of the old MuchMusic late Friday night alternative music video show "City Limits". I used to sit poised, close to the TV and VCR, and ready to hit the play and record buttons whenever KCC (and later Simon Evans) would announce an interesting or familiar upcoming video. One night, and I’m not sure why I did, perhaps it was the interesting band name, but I recorded the video for "Sam", a single off of Meat Puppets' seventh and first major label album, "Forbidden places".

<< #13    |    #11 >> It was an old high school friend that tipped me off to Elliott Brood close to two decades ago. I haven’t seen Jeff in the flesh for many, many years but we’ve long been friends on the Facebook and at some point in the 2000s, he posted on his page about his cousin Casey’s band. I was mildly curious so I checked out their website.

<< #11    |    #9 >> I couldn’t imagine being in a band with my father, whether at 10 years old, 20, or any age really. But that’s the relationship between the two primary members of The Exbats, the band behind our song at number 10 from my list of favourite tunes from 2020. Originally called The Numbats, the band began over a decade ago when Kenny McLain, who had recently picked up the guitar, decided that his 10 year old daughter Inez needed to learn to play an instrument.

<< #26   |   #24 >> Back in the early 90s, Toronto alternative radio station CFNY collaborated with music retailer extraordinaire HMV on a series of alternative music compilations. Fittingly titled "Free at last", the radio station would hand them out as promotional items at events and the store would give them out free with purchases of music by at least one of the artists appearing on the compilation.

<< #27   |   #25 >> On my old, long defunct blog Music Insanity, I remember writing a post about all those bands that I’ve respected and tried many times over the years to ‘get into’ but ultimately, failed. The list at that time included The Ramones, Skinny Puppy, Husker Du, Bon Iver, Destroyer, Broken Social Scene*, and of course, Sonic Youth.

<< #83    |    #81 >> Remember this song? Song #82 on my Eighties' top 100 list was all over the North American charts and on every radio's playlist in the summer of 1993, despite it being released five years earlier. The relative lateness of its success was due mostly to the song’s (un)timely inclusion on the soundtrack for the quirky Rom-com film, "Benny & Joon", starring Mary Stuart Masterson and Johnny Depp.

<< #30   |   #28 >> Back when I was a young man, especially in the years just before, during, and immediately after my time at university in Toronto, I was a proverbial night owl. I would often stay up all night and only go to bed a few hours after the sun rose on the new day. This behaviour likely had its roots in the job that I started the year after I graduated high school, working at the local 7-Eleven.

<< #10    |    #8 >> "Dear. Catastrophe. Waitress." Back when I first moved to Ottawa, I was employed at a call center taking calls for a utility company that I will not name here. It was unionized and pretty good pay and I was often able to pick up extra shifts to pay down my student debt. And if they hadn’t closed up shop in 2006, I might even still be working there today.

<< #11    |    #9 >> If memory serves, it was Jezreel, a former call center colleague and friend, that got me into The Postal Service. I had, up to then, only just discovered Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard’s primary outfit, and their recent album "Transatlanticism". Posters of the telltale crow pulling on a strand of yarn from its cover was, for a time, plastering the windows of 'Record Runner', the indie music store I had taken to frequenting after relocating to Ottawa a few years before.

<< #20    |    #18 >> Chvrches (or CHVRCHES) is a synthpop trio out of Glasgow, Scotland that formed back in 2011. Ian Cook and Martin Doherty were university friends and had performed in a bunch of failed bands together over the years and were almost ready to call it quits and get 'real jobs'. However, Cook had taken an interest in electronic music and was messing around with synthesizers around the same time that he was doing some production work for another band and he found that he liked the sound of their vocalist’s style.

<< #81    |    #79 >> If you’ve been around this blog before, you’d know that I’ve written about the legendary synth pop band originally from Basildon, England many times over. So instead of treading and retreading over familiar ground, I’ll tell you a story*. (Mind you if you are looking for more words about the band and this song, have a gander at…

<< #80    |    #78 >> At track #79, we've got "So alive" by Daniel Ash's third and longest lasting band, Love and Rockets. After the ground-breaking goth act, Bauhaus, disbanded in 1983, guitarist Daniel Ash focused more on his side project, Tones on Tail, with friend Glenn Campling and Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins. They would release an album and a litany of EPs (including popular club single "Go!") before dissolving in 1984.

<< #17    |    #15 >> For a time back at the end of 2013, I found myself listening to nothing but Black Hearted Brother and their debut album, "Stars are our home". The album was released in October of that year and took me completely by surprise. At the time, I had pretty much given up on any new material from Mojave 3, and well, forget about Slowdive, and Halstead's solo work, while excellent, had never been mind-blowing.