I’ve toggled back and forth on my rating of “Celebrity Skin” since…well, at least since we were in the “C”s. I think my final decision is that it belongs here with the rest of the songs that I consider perfect. It’s a kick ass three minute rock song with a killer guitar riff, a wink-smirk… Read More “Celebrity Skin” by Hole (1998)
Imagine yourself on a tropical island. A breeze is blowing by, all you can smell is clean ocean air and the faint scent of fruit. Feel the sand between your toes. Inhale deeply. Then imagine that all this is happening, and Maxwell is singing to you, while a band plays a lilting, vaguely Hawaiian-sounding tune… Read More “Drowndeep: Hula” by Maxwell (1998)
Don’t you think Prince would’ve done a kick-ass MTV Unplugged special in the ‘90s? Well, apparently there were plans for one to be made during his Emancipation days, but those plans never came to fruition. At least we have The Truth, the acoustic album that accompanied the 3-CD Crystal Ball set in 1998. One of… Read More “Don’t Play Me” by Prince (1998)
Simply put, “Devil’s Pie” is a song about selling your soul. It comes from the film “Belly”, which I’ve never seen. But I don’t think you need to see the movie to get to the soul of what the song is about. No doubt you’ve “sold your soul” before. Part of being a human is the realization that… Read More “Devil’s Pie” by D’Angelo (1998)
Would you buy a band’s greatest hits album if you knew only two of their songs? That’s what I did when the Scottish pop/rock band Del Amitri released a compilation entitled Hatful of Rain in 1998. It was hard to justify even the creation of a greatest hits album for an act that hadn’t broken… Read More “Cry To Be Found” by Del Amitri (1998)
“Comeback” might be the most emotionally vulnerable song in Prince’s catalog. It was written following the death of his son with Mayte Garcia, Amiir. I can’t fathom in a million years what it must be like to lose a child. I often think about how public their pregnancy was, how Prince felt so ready to… Read More “Comeback” by Prince (1998)
”Closing Time” came out five years after I graduated high school, and by the time it became a hit in early 1999, I was closing in on being six years removed. I was 22 years old, busting my ass 50-60 hours a week to barely keep a deeply discounted roof over my head. Could barely… Read More “Closing Time” by Semisonic (1998)
My interest in Southern hip-hop was nil for a really long time. What can I say? I was a provincial hip-hop snob from the rip. By the time Aquemini rolled around in ‘98, I’d softened my regional bias only slightly. OutKast’s first album slid by without me paying much interest. Then ATLiens came out, led by “Elevators (Me… Read More “Aquemini” by OutKast (1998)
Five Star Jamz 