8 June 2020 - N.W.A. - Express Yourself

This may be the angriest song I've ever posted.

I was introduced to N.W.A in the early 90's while in college.  I probably missed the messages of their songs at the time, but in this time of protest, this song about freedom of expression resonates.

This is probably the only song they ever did that could be played on radio.  Which is hilarious, because the song itself calls out other hip hop artists for avoiding profanity just to get on the pop charts. 

They didn't need to curse to make an anthem about expression.  Primarily performed by Dr. Dre, the song was written by Ice Cube. 

4 June 2020 - Elastica - Connection

When Elastica exploded onto the scene in 1995, with this single, I was an immediate fan.  I mean, the power pop! The cool electronic opening!  The homage to Wire (I choose to believe it was an homage, because that lawsuit was settled out of court).

(I was also a young man and I thought their guitarist was cute.  I was spot on with that assessment)

I still love this song.  It's high energy and I still use it to pump myself up, a quarter century later.

That video wasn't the one that MTV showed, though.  They used this much higher quality video with quick edits and more nude men.  (And more Donna Matthews. She's the guitarist)

But there's more of a personal story here.

I went to Lollapalooza in 1995, in Hartford, CT.  I was looking forward to the lineup, which included Sinead O'Connor.   I really wanted to see her live.  Well, about a week before that show, Sinead O'Connor dropped out and was replaced with Elastica.  I was really disappointed......

.....until Elastica took the stage.  They were BY FAR the best band that day, and that day included some fantastic bands.  It wasn't close.  Elastica blew them all off the stage. The band brought so much energy to the show.

A couple of months later, I got the opportunity to see Elastica again, in Springfield, MA, in a smaller club.   Their lineup had changed slightly - bassist Annie Holland had left and been replaced by Beck's touring bassist - but the energy had not.  If anything, they were better!!

I've been to a lot of great concerts and seen a lot of great bands. To this day, if I am asked which is the best band I have ever seen live, the answer is, without fail, Elastica.

This video is from Tokyo, two weeks before I saw them at Lollapalooza in 1995.