Hoodlums Music and Movies

Andy’s top five:

“You don’t have this?” albums (like Jack Black’s comment on Blonde on Blonde).

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac
Neil Young – Harvest
Beatles – Rubber Soul
Counting Crows – Recovering The Satellites

“Watch me sell this” albums (like Cusack about Beta Band).
House Of Fools – Live And Learn
Hanson – The Walk
Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This
Dr. Dog – We All Belong
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – 100 Days 100 Nights

Albums for your hippie-chick sister.
Steel Train – For You My Dear
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – Cold Roses
Rosewood Thieves – From The Decker House
Allman Bros. Band – Eat a Peach
Sparklehorse – It’s A Wonderful Life

Groups you didn’t like at first – but love now.
Nada Surf
Wilco
Old 97s
The Replacements
Ray LaMontagne
Groups that critics hate – but you love.
The Wallflowers
Midtown
John Mayer
Hanson
Jimmy Eat World

Albums critics love – but you just don’t get.
Radiohead – Ok Computer
Bright Eyes – Lifted…
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come
Say Anything – In Defense of the Genre

Albums to listen to on the road
Limbeck – Hi, Everything’s Great
Limbeck – Let Me Come Home
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – Cold Roses (Disc 1 in Tennessee, Disc 2 in New Mexico)
Brand New – Your Favorite Weapon
Old Crow Medicine Show – OCMS

Songs about the Music Industry
NOFX – Dinosaurs Will Die
Allister – Overrated
Jimmy Eat World – Your New Aesthetic
Reel Big Fish – Sell Out
The Format – The Compromise

Punk albums  (90’s-now)
Osker – Idle Will Kill
Alkaline Trio – Goddamnit
Descendents – Everything Sucks
Vandals – Hitler Bad, Vandals Good
Millencolin – Pennybridge Pioneers

Jamming Guitar Albums
House Of Fools – Live And Learn
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness On The Edge of Town
The Living End – Roll On
Midtown – Save The World, Lose The Girl
Refreshments – Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy

Albums you found at the ASU Hoodlums
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – Cold Roses
The Replacements – Tim
Manu Chao – La Radiolina
Galactic – From the Corner to the Block

Albums you have discovered at the new Hoodlums
Rocky Votolato – Makers
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You  Experienced?
Tom Petty – Wildflowers
Old 97s – Alive & Wired
Muddy Waters – The London Muddy Waters Sessions

Older albums that you have discovered recently
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
Ben Harper – Fight For Your Mind
Grateful Dead – Skull & Roses
The Jayhawks – Tomorrow The Green Grass
Nas – Illmatic

Newer artists for middle-aged cats who still explore music
Jakob Dylan
The Gaslight Anthem
Ryan Adams
Wilco
Josh Ritter

Sunday-morning albums
Limbeck - Limbeck
Jakob Dylan – Seeing Things
Grateful Dead – American Beauty
Tom Petty – Wildflowers
Ben Harper - Lifeline

Concert Videos
Gin Blossoms – Chicago 1993
Ryan Adams – Live in Jamaica
John Mayer – Where The Light Is
Alkaline Trio – The Show Must Go Off
The Format – Live at the Mayan Theater

Reasons CD is better than vinyl
Because I don’t have a record player.
I can listen to it in my car.
They weigh less.
You can blind people with a CD if the sun is hitting it correctly.
Better availability

Concerts you have attended
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band - June 2006, Tinley Park, IL
Steel Train/House of Fools -  November 2005, at Club Congress, Tucson, AZ
Limbeck/House of Fools - March 2008,  at Modified
Counting Crows – June 2006 – Las Vegas, NV
Midtown/The Movielife/Face to Face/Thrice – Cajun House, 2002

You don’t have this?

1.At Last!-Etta James
2.Street Songs-Rick James
3.Doolittle-The Pixies
4.Celia y Johnny-Celia Cruz
5.The Score-Fugees

Watch me Sell this.

1.El Cantante the Originals-Hector Lavoe
2.Strawberry weed-Caesars
3.ultimate collection-the Temptations
4.mediocre-Ximena Sarinana
5.self titled-Ceu

Albums no one who works at Hoodlums understands but Maria

1. Gozo Poderoso-Aterciopelados
2. Mi Sangre-Juanes
3. Tanto Tempo-Bebel Gilberto
4. Si-Julieta Venegas
5.Cronicas de un Laberinto-Jaguares

Pop albums Maria loves but get made fun of for liking

1.The Emanicipation of Mimi-Mariah Carey
2.Nuestro Amor- RBD
3.Gold Greatest Hits-ABBA
4.Chemistry-Girls Aloud
5. Faith-George Michael

Albums angry girls should listen to instead of Alanis Morrisette

1. Bad Reputation-Joan Jett
2. Dig Me Out-Sleater-Kinney
3. Easter-Patti Smith
4. Fever to Tell-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. Pussy Whipped-Bikini Kill

Top albums I listened to all the time while I was in high school

1. Live Through This-Hole
2. self titled-Garbage
3.To Bring you My love-PJ Harvey
4. Post-Bjork
5. Lovelife-LUSH

Favorite musical sequences

1. “Shall We Dance”-with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr from the Kind and I
2. “Don’t Rain on my Parade”-with Barbra Streisand from FUNNY GIRL
3. “Rose’s Turn”-with Rosalind Russell from GYPSY
4. “Singin in the Rain”-with Gene Kelly from Singin in the Rain
5. “Acid Queen”- with Tina Turner from The Who’s TOMMY

Favorite Kid movies that I still like watching today even though I don’t have kids

1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1970’s movie with Gene Wilder)
2. Mary Poppins
3. The Last Unicorn
4. Return to OZ
5. The Sandlot

Due to time constraints these lists are not ordered, so please assume each is a 5 way tie. Thanks to my fellow Hoodlums for introducing me to a lot of these!

MUSIC

You don’t have this? Seriously? No really, seriously?

Love – Forever Changes
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Led Zeppelin – II
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

Watch me sell this.

Deerhunter – Microcastle
Warren Zevon – s/t
Jay Reatard – Matador Singles
Nick Cave – Dig Lazarus! Dig!
T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Metal albums featuring drum machines.

Necrophagist – Onset of Putrefaction
Anaal Nathrakh – Codex Necro
Agorophobic Nosebleed – Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope
****… I’m Dead - s/t
Godflesh – Streetcleaner

Roadtrip tunes. One time I listened to the complete Led Zeppelin studio recordings in a row while driving back from Denver overnight.

Tom Petty – Greatest Hits
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Greatest Hits
Neil Young – Harvest
CCR – Greatest Hits
Golden Earring - “Radar Love” (Thank you Wayne’s World)

Music to bench press or punch someone to.

Hatebreed – Under the Knife
Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power
Crowbar – Broken Glass
Eyehategod – Take as Needed for Pain
Integrity – Those Who Fear Tomorrow

Awesome post-breakup tunes.

Everything But the Girl – Amplified Heart
Mojave 3 – Ask Me Tomorrow
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Tom Waits – Closing Time

Essential party jams. Most of these double as running music for me. Also note that the MTV Buzz Ballads compilations can lead to hilarious/terrible sing-a-longs. “Lightning Crashes”, anyone?

Andrew WK – I Get Wet
Van Halen - s/t
Pissed Jeans - Shallow
Third Eye Blind – s/t (Did you know their guitar player put out a record on Shrapnel a long time ago? Also Their bass player Fractured Mike Dirnt from Green Day’s skull by breaking a bottle over his head. Google it! I wrecked my ankle during their set at Tempe Beach Park on New Years a while back, don’t ask me how. I think it was during “Jumper”)
The Damned – Damned, Damned, Damned

Heaviest riff.

Yob – The Unreal Never Lived
Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics
Buried at Sea - Migration
Iron Monkey – Our Problem
Sourvein – Will to Mangle

Brain tickling essentials.

Aphex Twin – Richard D James
Terry Riley – A Rainbow in Curved Air
Can – Tago Mago
Brian Eno – Another Green World
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells

Brutalest female fronted bands.

Landmine Marathon
Thorr’s Hammer
Melt Banana
Look Back and Laugh
Nausea

Essential Power pop albums. Damn Yellow Pills, I’ve gone over the edge.

The Nerves - s/t
Barracudas – Drop Out With the…
Nick Lowe – Labor of Lust
Milk ‘N’ Cookies -s/t
The Rubinoos - s/t

Essential Reggae albums… including a wide range here.

Big Youth – Screaming Target
The Wailers – Destiny: Rare Ska Sides From Studio One
Toots & the Maytals – Funky Kingston
The Congos – Heart of the Congos
Jimmy Cliff – s/t

Essential Death Metal.

Suffocation – Pierced From Within
Dying Fetus – Destroy the Opposition
Decrepit Birth – And Time Begins
Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
Death – Sound of Perseverance

Essential Grind – I know there’s nothing very old on here.

Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls
Uphill Battle - s/t
Rotten Sound – Consume to Contaminate
Nasum - Helvete
Discordance Axis – The Inalienable Dreamless

Songs about the Music Industry.

Reversal of Man- “Get the Kid With the Sideburns”
The Smiths – “Paint a Vulgar Picture”
Black Star – “Children’s Story”
Elvis Costello – “Radio Radio”
The Suicide File – “I Hate Rock N’ Roll”

Albums discovered at the old Hoodlums.

The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
Grinderman - s/t
The Replacements – Tim
R.E.M - Murmur
Dinosaur Jr – You’re Living All Over Me

Female fronted stuff that I am a total sucker for.

Mojave 3 – Ask Me Tomorrow
Mazzy Star – So That Tonight I Might See
She & Him – Volume One (I sent Zooey a love letter on myspace but she never opened it)
Coven – Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls
Bat for Lashes – Fur & Gold

Records I’ve discovered since the new Hoodlums opened.

Stiv Bators – Disconnected
Mission to Burma – Signals, Calls, and Marches
Alejandro Escovedo – Real Animal
Holly Golightly – Serial Girlfriend
Shuggie Otis – Here Comes…

Records scored in the Hoodlums $2.50 bin.

Barracudas – Drop Out With The…
The Hitmen – Torn Together
The Plimsouls – Zero Hour
Paul Collins’ Beat – The Kids Are the Same
The Low Numbers – Twist Again With..

MOVIES

Movies starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Capote
Love Liza
Happiness
The Savages
Charlie Wilson’s War

Party movies.

PCU
The Party
Animal House
Superbad
House Party

Movies that have truly scared me. I think I may have SamNeill-aphobia.

Possession
In the Mouth of Madness
Event Horizon
Children of the Corn
Jesus Camp

Truly disturbing films. Some of these are difficult to watch.

Irreversible
Salo
Funny Games (1997)
City of God
Audition

These’ll probably melt your brain.

Adaptation
El Topo
Holy Mountain
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Begotten

Movies that deal with revenge. My favorite!

Death Wish
Over the Edge
Rolling Thunder
Oldboy
Carrie

Over the top action movies. Massive body counts!

Dirty Harry
First Blood
Rambo 4
Commando
Crank

Awesome older action movies.

The French Connection
The Great Escape
Bullitt
The Warriors
Cool Hand Luke

War movies. Band of Brothers is definitely worth mentioning, but it’s a mini-series and I don’t think I could come up with a list of 5 of those I’ve even watched.

Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Hotel Rwanda
Rescue Dawn

Documentaries. “Frat House” is the funniest documentary ever made but it was just an HBO special.

King of Kong
Genuine Nerd
When We Were Kings
American Movie
Grizzly Man

Movies that blew my mind in the theater.

Sunshine
Irreversible
There Will Be Blood
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze (I was 7)
Adaptation

Hilarious movies.

Some Kind of Monster (Slightly funnier than Spinal Tap)
This is Spinal Tap
Blazing Saddles
Point Break
The Big Lebowski

Dark little gems.

Straight Time
Midnight Cowboy
Klute
Play Misty for Me
Last Tango in Paris

Buckets of gore.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Redneck Zombies
Dead Alive/Brain Dead
Ichi the Killer
Re-Animator

Awesome movies I saw for the first time this year.

The Network
Manhattan
Rockers
Short Cuts
This is England

Some of these have ruined entire days for me.

About Schmidt
My Girl
Love Liza
Dead Poet’s Society
Jack

Rock & Roll movies.

That Thing You Do
Rock & Roll High School
A Hard Days Night
Wayne’s World 2
The Harder they Come

Music documentaries.. I admit there are a lot of good ones I haven’t seen yet.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Fugazi - Instrument
Wilco – I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
GG Allen & the Murder Junkies - Hated
Minutemen – We Jam Econo

Book to movie adaptations.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
No Country for Old Men
The Godfather
American Psycho
Clockwork Orange

Coming of age movies.

The Outsiders
Stand By Me
A Bronx Tale
Losin’ It
The Graduate

MISC

Failed joke bands.

Gun Metal Black
Si
Musculosity
Guitar Center
Justin Keefer

Local bands I’ve been lucky enough to see a bunch.

Earthmen and Strangers
Asleep in the Sea
Kyds vs Columbus
Existi
Graves at Sea

Comedians.

Mitch Hedburg (RIP)
Richard Pryor (RIP)
Eddie Murphy
Bill Cosby
Steve Martin

Youtube videos (Just search them).

Alec Baldwin screams at Dora the Explorer (*Contains some harsh language)
Trouble – Psalm 9 (Not funny, just awesome)
Rednecks get their just desserts in BMW chase (*Contains some harsh language)
Police officer steals marijuana
Robert Byrd Barbaric

Awesome metal music videos (Search on youtube).

Nitro – Freight Train
Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force – Hangar 18, Area 51
Megadeth – Hangar 18
Immortal – Call of the Wintermoon
Black Label Society – In This River (Count the number of times Zakk Wylde points to the sky)

Bands fighting the crowd (Search on youtube).

Rolling Stones (Search Keith hits fan with guitar in the face)
Screaming Trees (Search Mark Lanegan gone crazy)
Black Flag (Search Henry Rollins fight)
Converge (Search Converge- Broken Vow.. it’s the 4:00 one)
Danzig (Search Danzig getting knocked out. I’m in the background with shaggy hair wearing a white Bob Marley shirt and a chest plate (don’t ask). You can see me pretty clearly as Glenn is falling)

Incredible interviews for better or for worse (Search on youtube).

Iggy Pop (Search Gzowski interviews Iggy Pop)
David Vincent (Search Interview with Morbid Angel’s David Vincent)
Glenn Danzig (Search Glenn Danzig Interview- on the topic of books)
Chris Holmes (Search Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P.)
Ghaal (Search Gorgoroth’s Influences)

Places to eat around town.

Chopstix
Rock & Roll Chicken Fingers
Haji Baba’s
Pita Jungle
Ted’s

Independent record stores.

Hoodlums (DUH!)
Twist and Shout (Tucson)
Eastside (Tempe)
Amoeba (LA)
Revolver (Phoenix)

Music sites/blogs.

Metal Inquisition
Deerhunter
Tiny Mix Tapes
PVAc to 44.1 kHz
Yacht Rock

TV dramas.

Oz
Six Feet Under
Sopranos
Dexter
Mad Men

TV comedies.

Sledgehammer
Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Upright Citizen’s Brigade
Mr. Show

Best shows that I partied far too hard at (I’m sure Heath is expecting to see Cursive on this list. Joe probably expects YOB).

Jay Reatard/Deerhunter/Pissed Jeans @ The Echo in LA, 2007
****** Up/Iron Age/Repercussions @ Lamar Bridge in Austin, 2007
High On Fire/Opeth @ The Marquee, 2008
The Darkness @ The Marquee, 2004
Tragedy/Landmine Marathon/George Moshington @ The Phix, 2006

Shows this year!

CPC Gangbangs @ The Smell in LA
Seun Kuti @ some huge outdoor mall in LA
Nick Lowe @ The Rhythm Room
Sourvein @ Hollywood Alley
The Germs/Black ***/White Flag @ The Scene in LA (So bad it was awesome. Pat Smear wins geriatric stage dive of the year award. Shane West had sharpie on his face and was making jokes about Old School)

Shows. This would probably look different if I thought about it longer.

Megadeth/Slayer/Pantera/Black Sabbath @ Bank one Ballpark, 1998
77 Boadrum @ some park in Brooklyn, 2007
Dinosaur Jr @ The Irving Plaza in Manhattan, 2007
Black Sabbath in Cincinnati, 1976 (My dad was there, it’s in my blood)
Locking Your Car Doors @ The Phix, 2006

Famous people I’ve encountered, generally with hilarious results.

Chloe Sevigny
Josh Homme
Ice-T (Oh man)
Wesley Willis (RIP)
Whoopi Goldberg

Top 5 “Watch me sell this” albums:

1. Kruder & Dorfmeister- K & D Sessions

2. New Pornographers- Twin Cinema

3. Sloan- Between the Bridges

4. Cathedral- The Carnival Bizarre

5. D’Gary- Akata Meso

Top 5 “you haven’t heard this?” albums

1. My Bloody Valentine- Loveless

2. Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

3. Charlie Parker- anything

4. Black Sabbath- Vol. 4

5. Kate Bush- Hounds of Love

Top 5 music myths that need to be corrected:

1. Classical music is only for old people

2. Nico was a valuable member of the Velvet Underground (John Cale dammit, it’s all about John Cale and Sterling Morrison)

3. Extreme metal is satanic puppykiller music. It’s just awesome kick-ass music. And only most of it is satanic.

4. Ambient music and New Age music are two different things. Good ambient and good new age are the same exact thing, ambient musicians are just better at marketing themselves to college students. James Johnson, Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, Robert Scott Thompson, all great musicians you will find in the New Age section. I skipped out on picking up a lot of CDs over the past few years because they looked too ‘new age” even though I’ve always been big into Eno and Kompakt records stuff. I could have gotten CDs by Tuu and O Yuki Conjugate at clearance for like 3 bucks, but I was spooked by cheesy cover art or song titles. Now I’m buying them new for 15 bucks if they are even available at all anymore. DOH!

5. Guitar Hero is fun. If the kids who spent hours on Guitar Hero used that time to learn the actual guitar, they would be able to play all those songs for real, on an actual musical instrument.

Top 5 bands everyone has heard and the people that influenced them that far less people have heard:

1. Bjork– Kate Bush

2. Sigur Ros– Cocteau Twins

3. Radiohead– Aphex Twin, SND, early Autechre

4. Coldplay– the song “Talk” from X&Y was an exact copy of “Computer Love” by Kraftwerk. The whole song. It angers me.

5. Kings of Leon- vocal style influence from the mushmouthed football coach played by Chris Kattan on SNL.

Top 5 metal guitar riffs:

1. Voivod- Brain Scan

2. Megadeth- Wake Up Dead (at 2:38)

3. Immortal- Tyrants

4. Enslaved- Convoys to Nothingness

5. Darkthrone- Transylvanian Hunger

Top 5 guitar players who few people have heard but more should:

1. Steve Tibbetts

2. Ben Monder

3. Davy Graham

4. Keith Fullerton Whitman

5. Steve Hillage

Top 5 great singers that nobody ever talks about when they talk about great singers:

1. Lena Willemark

2. David Sylvian

3. Cyndi Lauper

4. Daryl Hall

5. Pat Suzuki

Top 5 metal singers:

1. Ronnie James Dio

2. Tom G. Warrior

3. Abbath

4. Lee Dorrian

5. Wino

5 records that I surprisingly like considering that I’m such a grumpy bastard:

1. Jonathan Richman- Jonathan Goes Country

2. Survivor- Vital Signs

3. Kylie Minogue- Fever

4. Vashti Bunyan- Just Another Diamond Day

5. Expose- Exposure

5 artists that others would probably consider a guilty pleasure that I like unapologetically:

1. Christopher freaking Cross

2. Toto

3. Stephen Bishop (the guy who wrote the “It might be you” song from “Tootsie”)

4. America

5. Carpenters

5 records I heard for the first time in the past year that I enjoyed:

1. Orb- Orbus Terrarum

2. Robert Rich/Alo Die- Fissures

3. Huong Thanh/Nguyen Le- Fragile Beauty

4. Krallice- s/t

5. Virus- The Black Flux

5 movies/tv shows I saw in the past year that I enjoyed:

1. The Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner- A Herzog documentary from the 70s about a Swiss Ski Jumper

2. Sunshine- An awesome and mind bending movie about solar extinction

3. Primer- An awesome and mind bending movie about a couple of guys who accidentally invent a time machine and the worlds most confusing plot

4. The Mighty Boosh- A surreal British comedy about a couple of zoo workers who travel to limbo and the arctic tundra among other places- also an endless well of amusing catchphrases

5. The IT Crowd- a british comedy about “a computer genius, a young go-getter, and a man from Ireland”

5 reasons I like records and CDs better than MP3s and Ipods

1. compressed digital files sound lousy and music is meant to be heard through a stereo, not crappy computer (or Ipod) speakers

2. When everything is free and digital it’s just like flipping through cable, music becomes something that has no value unless it grabs you in the first 5 seconds, just like an advertisement.
You learn to ignore anything that takes some time to develop, and everything becomes 15-second sound bite music. Imagine if that happened with movies or books. “I didn’t like ‘the Godfather”. I watched it for 2 minutes and nothing happened so I turned it off and watched ‘Baby Geniuses 2′ instead.” Do YOU want to be the person who likes ‘Baby Geniuses 2′ more than ‘Godfather’? Didn’t think so.

3. You miss out on any album art and design. Part of the music listening experience is sitting and reading the liner notes and looking at the art while listening to a CD for the first time.
That little square in the corner of your Itunes doesn’t count.

4. Listening to a record, you have to actively put it on, pay attention to it, and flip it when the side is over. Babysitting the record makes you pay attention to it.
It’s a more rewarding music listening experience, you end up noticing details and depth that makes it much more enjoyable and interesting.
On your computer or Ipod you just hit a file on Itunes and let it burble on for hours as wallpaper for your internet surfing or whatever. With records and CD’s you have invested money in a physical piece of music and you learn to invest time in listening to it accordingly, and reap the rewards. With free digital you have invested nothing in it, and you will probably get little out of it. Records teach you to pay attention to music; MP3s teach you to ignore music.

5. Having an awesome MP3 folder never got anyone laid.

Steve’s Top Fives

I must note for the record that doing this is a lot of fun.  If I had more time, I could have made up fifty more.  I believe with all my heart that music and movies are an amazing thing - and that they are good for my soul.

If you do too… or you want to debate the lists… or you have some lists of your own… come down to the store and we’ll chat.  Thanks for reading.  Steve

Music

“You don’t have this?” albums (like Jack Black’s comment on Blonde on Blonde).

Beatles - Abbey Road
Van Morrison - Moondance
Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy

“Watch me sell this” albums (like Cusack about Beta Band).

Paul Pena - New Train
Les McCann and Eddie Harris - Live at Montreaux
Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters - Muddy and the Wolf
Budos Band - Budo Band II
Breakestra - Hit the Floor

Albums that used to be considered Metal in my high school years.

Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
AC/DC - Powerage
Def Leppard - High n’ Dry
Rush - 2112

Artists I didn’t like at first – but love now.

Bob Dylan
Joni Mitchell
Television
Radiohead
Elvis Costello

Groups that critics hate – but I still love.

REO Speedwagon (pre High Infidelity)
Nazareth (Hair of the Dog and prior)
April Wine (up to Nature of the Beast… not including “Just Between You and Me”)
Boston (first two albums only)
Journey (”Journey” through the non-puppy stuff of “Escape”).

Albums critics love – but I still don’t get no matter how hard I try (I’m still trying)

Nirvana - Nevermind
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
John Coltrane - Ascension
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Captain Beefheart - Trout Fish Replica

Jazz that Always Sells When you play it in the store

Grant Green - Any
Miles Davis - Anything non-”scroncky”
John Coltrane - Ditto
Jimmy Smith - Any
Diana Krall - Live in Paris

Albums to listen to on the road

Wes Montgomery - Talkin’ Verve
The The - Dusk
Bobby “Blue” Bland - Touch of the Blues
Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
Anything that jams… cause there just isn’t time to kenny on the road.

Songs about the Music or Movie Industry

Barenaked Ladies - “Box Set” (as witty as any song I’ve ever heard)
Joni Mitchell - “Free Man in Paris”
Eagles - “King of Hollywood”
Van Morrison - “Big Time Operators”
John Cougar - “Cheap Shot” (any song that starts with “Well the record company’s going out of business… they price their records too damn high)

Note: Could I have used Frank Zappa - Joe’s Garage?  “A guy from a company we can’t name…”

Jazz albums to recommend to a jazz rookie

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Charles Mingus - Ah Umm
Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong - Ella and Louis
John Coltrane - Blue Trane

Blues albums to recommend to a blues rookie

Willie Dixon - I Am the Blues
Howlin’ Wolf - The London Sesssions
Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Self Titled
Muddy Waters - At Newport
Etta James - At Last

World music albums to spark up your party.

Various Artists - Sabroso! The Afro-Latin Groove
Various Artists - Viva Cubop 2 (or 3… they are both good)
Los Amigos Invisibles - Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space
Manu Chao - La Radiolina
Mongo Santamaria - Skin on Skin/Anthology

Jam Band albums

Widespread Panic - Space Wrangler
God Street Wine - 1.99 Romances
Allman Brothers - Live at Fillmore
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Midnight Radio
Derek and the Dominoes - Live at the Fillmore

Politically-motivated musicians

Michael Franti
Frank Zappa
Carlos Santana
Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Gil Scott-Heron

Note: There are many more… amen and hoka hey to those musicians that fight the power and the corporatocracy!!

Beyond-obvious Jamming Rock Guitar Albums

Michael Schenker Band - Built to Destroy
Pat Travers Band - Makin’ Magic
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs
Riot - Fire Down Under

Albums for my hippie-chick sister.

Josh Rouse - 1972
Traffic - Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
Faces - Ooh La La
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
India.Arie - Acoustic Soul

Wicked Guitar Jazz Albums

Mel Brown - Chicken Fat
Grant Green - Live at the Lighthouse
George Benson - New Boss Guitar
Boogaloo Joe Jones - Legends of Acid Jazz
Gabor Szabo - The Sorcerer

Albums I discovered at the ASU Hoodlums

Michael Franti - Everyone Deserves Music (and Stay Human… both are great)
Paul Pena - New Train
Wayne Shorter - Adam’s Apple
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - It’s Your World
Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal

Albums discovered at the new Hoodlums

Meters - Fire on the Bayou
Roy Hargrove - Earfood
Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign
Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1

Vintage albums that I have only discovered recently

Patti Smith - Horses
Laura Nyro - Eli and the 13th Confession
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails
James Gang - Rides Again
Faces - Every album!

Great current artists for middle-aged cats who still explore music

Spoon
Kings of Leon
Shins
My Morning Jacket
Band of Bees

Sunday-morning albums

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices
Zero 7 - Simple Things
John Coltrane - Love Supreme

Classic albums my kids love the most

Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Self-titled
Wings - Band on the Run
Have a Nice Decade - The 70’s Pop Culture Box
Beatles - Revolver
Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits: 74-78

Steve’s Movies

Movie sequels

T2: Terminator 2
Godfather 2
Aliens
Star Trek 2: Search for Spock
Toy Story 2

Movies you’ve probably never seen

Lonestar
Cookie’s Fortune
The Player
Big Picture
Best Seller

Teenage flicks

10 Things I Hate About You
16 Candles
Breakfast Club
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Porkys

Most resembling real-life high school (in my experience)

Over the Edge
Dazed and Confused (except for the hazing crap)
Juno
Some Kind of Wonderful
Valley Girl

Concert Videos

Led Zepplin - 2-DVD set
The Band - Last Waltz
Rolling Stones - Ladies and Gentlemen… the Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder
Ray Charles - O’Genio: Live in Brazil

Animated movies that I still love as an adult

Toy Story
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
The Aristocats
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Note: I just watched Wall-E last night…pretty impressive.

Movies that blew me away at the theater

The Thing
Terminator 2
The Matrix
Die Hard
Lord of the Rings

Movies that left me thinking for days

Broadcast News
The Matrix
Bulworth
Seven
What the Bleep?

Westerns

Outlaw Josie Wales
The Unforgiven
Silverado
Tombstone
Lonesome Dove (although the book is still better)

Movies that actually scared me

The Shining
The Excorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Friday the 13th
The Omen

Comic-book movies

Batman Begins
Sin City
Spiderman
Superman (the original)
Flash Gordon

R-Rated action/adventure I am excited to show my kids when they are ready

Boondock Saints
Terminator
Escape from New York
The Warriors
Escape from New York

R-Rated comedy I am excited to show my kids when they are ready

Animal House
Vacation
Office Space
Stripes
Caddyshack

Mainly kid-friendly movies/TV shows I’ve shared with my ten-year old.

The Princess Bride
Weird Science
Star Wars (although number three is pretty heavy)
Short Circuit
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Misc.

Things the music industry could do to get its head out of its butt

Lower prices on CD and vinyl
Eliminate Loss-leading at the corporate joints
Eliminate exclusives
Scrap the “Special Editions” and give us all the good stuff for a fair price
Stop re-issuing things over and over and over.

Reasons vinyl is better than CD

Better Artwork
Fuller sound (depending on quality of Vinyl and year of CD pressing)
Funner to search for
Lots of stuff not on CD
Cheaper (used vinyl only)

Reasons CD is better than vinyl

More durable
Easy to skip songs
Takes up less space
Can be transferred to digital without hassle
Sound quality (depending on quality of vinyl and year of CD pressing)

Shows I have attended since moving to the Phoenix Area

Pink Floyd - Phoenix Municipal Stadium - 1988
Horde Tour - Compton Terrace (w/Allmans, Big Head, Blues Traveler…) - not sure what year
Paul McCartney - Sun Devil Stadium - 1989
Steve Winwood - Union Hall - 1997?
Lindsay Buckingham - The Roxy

Shows I have attended since in outside of the Phoenix Area

Boston - Bismarck Civic Center - 1978
Van Halen - Winnipeg Arena - 1984
AC/DC with Fastway - St. Paul Civic Center - 1985?
Roy Hargrove - Village Vanguard NYC - 2004
Pearl Jam - Easy Street Records - 2005

The kids at Changing Hands invited us to come with some Top Five lists in honor of our co-presentation of High Fidelity on November 28th (6:00 PM at Changing Hands… the full story is here).

Little did they know - that while the movie may not entirely describe Hoodlums to a tee - it certainly is right on target with its point that record and video store geeks will gladly give you their opinion about music and movies at the slightest request.

So we made up some lists… hopefully you’ll like ‘em.  We’d love to see your lists too.  Write ‘em in a comment, bring ‘em down to the store, or better yet, come down to Changing Hands before the movie and we can have a lively discussion… then we will watch the flick (for FREE).

And now, here are the hoodlums at Hoodlums’ Top Fives.

The Common Assignment

Each employee was asked to do two specific lists: 1) Five “You Don’t Have This” albums… in reference to Jack Black’s Blonde on Blonde comment; and 2) Five “Watch me sell this” albums in reference to John Cusack’s Beta Band comment.  Beyond that, while I did provide a list of possible topics, they were told to put down whatever they want.

Let’s start the one we all answered, then we’ll branch out into each hoodlum.

1. Top Five “You Don’t Have That?!!” Albums

Steve

Beatles - Abbey Road
Van Morrison - Moondance
Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy

Kristian

Note: Being the ultimate rebel of us all (and having the ability as an owner to scrap “assignments”), Kristian made his “You Don’t Have This” different.  His list is the Top Five Countries/Regions I Don’t Believe You Have Any Music From

Brazil
Jamaica
Louisiana
West africa
Cuba

Joe

My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
Charlie Parker- anything
Black Sabbath- Vol. 4
Kate Bush- Hounds of Love

Maria

At Last!-Etta James
Street Songs-Rick James
Doolittle-The Pixies
Celia y Johnny-Celia Cruz
The Score-Fugees

Andy

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac
Neil Young – Harvest
Beatles – Rubber Soul
Counting Crows – Recovering The Satellites

Justin

Love – Forever Changes
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Led Zeppelin – II
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

2. Top Five “Watch me sell this” albums

Steve

Paul Pena - New Train
Les McCann and Eddie Harris - Live at Montreaux
Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters - Muddy and the Wolf
Budos Band - Budo Band II
Breakestra - Hit the Floor

Kristian

Shuggie Otis
Meters
Thievery Corp.
Nina Simone
Calexico

Joe

Kruder & Dorfmeister- K & D Sessions
New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
Sloan- Between the Bridges
Cathedral- The Carnival Bizarre
D’Gary- Akata Meso

Maria

El Cantante the Originals-Hector Lavoe
Strawberry weed-Caesars
ultimate collection-the Temptations
mediocre-Ximena Sarinana
self titled-Ceu

Andy

House Of Fools – Live And Learn
Hanson – The Walk
Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This
Dr. Dog – We All Belong
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – 100 Days 100 Nights

Justin

Deerhunter – Microcastle
Warren Zevon – s/t
Jay Reatard – Matador Singles
Nick Cave – Dig Lazarus! Dig!
T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Don’t stop here - we’re just getting started.  Now you have to see each hoodlums’ warped individual lists.  We did movies too. You can click on the list to go directly to your favorite employee’s list.

Steve’s Top 5 Lists

Joe’s Top 5 Lists

Justin’s Top 5 Lists

Maria’s Top 5 Lists

Andy’s Top 5 Lists

Note: Kristian isn’t doing any more.  You’ll have to come down to the store and pick his brain.  I assure you - it’s full of good stuff.

Two nights ago, Chris at Mac’s asked me if we would be carrying the new AC/DC CD, or if it was true that it was only going to be available exclusively at Wal-Mart.

At that point, Chris and the four other poor souls sitting around the bar had to listen to me get worked up on the subject for about the next ten minutes.  As anyone who knows me will tell you, if there’s one thing I can do - it’s rant about the idiocy of the music industry.  You don’t want to get me started.

Then again, that’s what blogs are for, right?  So consider me officially “started”.

I’m upset with AC/DC.  But more importantly, I’m disappointed.  Disappointed to lose another of my favorite bands to a complete and total sell-out to the corporatocracy.  Why do I say “complete and total”?  Because selling your CD exclusively at the world’s most boring department store is about as rock and roll as eating toast with your Grandma.

AC/DC isn’t the first of my favorites to weasel into this kind of a deal.  The Eagles were the initial instigators of this particular business model (for the same reasons - which I will get into later) - which was another mutation of prior corporate-loving maneuvers by the Stones, U2, and a ton of other big bands.

But AC/DC… at Wal-Mart?  Holy hold-the-rebellion, Batman.

This is a band that I looked to when I was continuing to learn how to rebel, and they set the example that a rock band is supposed to set for young, impressionable little trouble-makers.  The former AC/DC lead singer, Bon Scott, used to say being a bad boy ain’t that bad.  Bon gleefully bragged about being a problem child.  I still remember reading the “letters to the band” on the back of High Voltage album cover…. now that made trouble look like fun.  AC/DC helped teach me to be a hoodlum.

The first time I saw them was in Minneapolis with Fastway.  The boys and I drove nine hours from North Dakota.  It was one of the highlights of my young life.  Since then I’ve seen them numerous times.  I was even fortunate enough to meet the entire band on Valentine’s Day (my wife was cool enough to go with me after the initial show had been canceled due to Brian Johnson’s father’s death).  They were super gentlemen and incredible professionals, as I have told anyone who would listen since.

So it killed me when I heard that they had gotten in bed with the all-time champion of retail blandness and, in my opinion, one of the leaders of our country’s movement away from non-American manufactured product (read “No Logo” by Naomi Klein).  I am proud to say that I haven’t been in a Wal-Mart since 1992 (when I moved from Flagstaff), but now AC/DC says I’m going to have to visit again if I want to buy their CD.  Sorry Angus, but I don’t intend to go to Wal-Mart unless it is the last store on Earth (which might be their mission statement for all I know).

Trying to be fair, I said to Kristian, “Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on AC/DC.  It isn’t like they are the only band to sell out”.  He said, “Sure you should be.  Just imagine what they would have said in the late seventies if someone would have asked them to sell their album exclusively at Sears?”  Wow, that’s a great point.   I’d like to think of Bon punching someone.  That’s the AC/DC I know and love.  Rough, rowdy, and rebellious.

But that AC/DC doesn’t exist anymore.  Today’s AC/DC is scared and safe.  Old and totally willing to not-rebel.

You see… with this deal they get paid no matter what.  They don’t have to put the album out in the open market - and let it stand on it’s merits.  They’ve made their sale… to the company that won’t sell your album if there is “objectionable material” on the cover.  Oooh, that’s rowdy.

But wait, there is another layer of safety.  On the open market, the album isn’t being used as a promotional tool to sell toilet paper and Holiday decorations, so it would be priced based on Columbia’s (their label) still-ridiculous superstar list price of 18.99, which requires more consumer risk.  Since Wal-Mart’s main concern isn’t profit on the CD itself, it will get peddled for roughly ten bucks, which requires less of a financial decision on the part of the consumer… essentially making the CD an “impulse” item.

This is incredibly important for one reason: AC/DC doesn’t seem to be able to make good albums anymore.  That’s the real reason that all of these old bands are making these deals.  They can’t cut the artistic mustard anymore. - and they don’t dare fail in the open market.

In my opinion, AC/DC made a bunch of great albums with Bon, but the only truly great album they made with Brian was Back in Black.  For Those About to Rock was half-ass at best (which was apparent the minute you heard the title track), and it was still the second best post-Bon effort.  There have been a few good tracks here and there, but even though I consider myself a lifelong fan, I no longer own any of the subsequent albums.

I don’t want to say it.  You might not agree.  But to me, that’s the way it is.  And the reason they made this money-making, yet disgraceful, deal.  Because people like me, who buy albums and are AC/DC fans, haven’t been buying AC/DC albums, and they want to get paid.

That’s what I call a sellout.

Does it mean I won’t listen to Powerage again?  Hell no.  It just means that I will never look at the band the same again.  Just like the Eagles… and U2… and the Stones.

Blog Note: In spite of their claim to “exclusivity”, it is actually quite easy for a scrappy little record store like ours to carry the Black Ice CD without ever setting foot in corporateville.   The question is, knowing our personal feelings on the subject, do we stock the CD for customers that really want it?  After all, many people don’t feel the way we do, and they want to hear it.  By stocking it - we do move one more sale from the corporatocracy to a local merchant - but we do reward a band that sold out.

Blog Note 2: AC/DC, after feeling the backlash of this deal, attempted to make right by giving the vinyl version of the album exclusively to an indie distributor.  For the record, we don’t think any CD or LP should be exclusive anywhere… but we have learned to live with the sad reality of the practice over the years.  In spite of vinyl’s resurgence, its still no where near the popularity of the CD, so in this case it was too little; too late.

Blog Note 3: I could have posted a similar take on the Guns and Roses deal… but GnR couldn’t even put together two solid albums when they were hot, so you already knew that album was going to need some corporate help.

When Bob from Changing Hands gave me a copy of the annual New Times “Best of Phoenix” issue - I said thanks, asked him if they won again (they did), and put it in my bag.  I knew I would read it later (it’s a tradition after all), and we were busy.

I didn’t give a second thought to the possibility that Hoodlums might be in there.  After all, we haven’t even been open for over ten months!  Besides, after being at ASU, which is essentially a community of its own, all of these years - we’ve grown accustomed to people out in the real world (like New Times writers) not even knowing we exist.  We’ve never felt slighted or anything - in fact we totally understand.  People from off-campus just don’t go on campus just to shop.  That’s why we didn’t do much advertising on the street at the old store.

Anyway, later in the day Kristian said “Do you know that we are in here?”.  I thought he was joking.  But when he showed me the category, even though I wasn’t aware such a category existed, I knew it was our destiny.

So hoka hey, our first New Times award.  Pretty cool.  Next year, we will try to give our great fellow indie stores a run for their money in the more traditional categories - but for this year - we’ll gladly accept Best Addition to a Strip Mall.

Last Wednesday, I had an opportunity to interview author Tom Moon about his new book, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

I might have to rethink some of my wariness about critics.

I was a bit nervous prior to the interview.  You see, I ain’t James Lipton.  I have absolutely no interviewing experience.  In fact, I’m not even a very good listener.  Yet I was about to interview a guy who had himself interviewed guys like Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Tom Waits.  To further increase the tension… there was a really good-sized crowd.  Our friends at Changing Hands said they had been getting calls all day, and that they had increased the set-up size of the event.   But I was armed with three pages of questions… and I loved the book, so I figured “Hey rookie boy, you can do this”.

Back to the wariness.  I’m not anti-critic, I just think that critics tend to be music elitists, bound by a certain set of unspoken rules about their art that doesn’t allow them to get down in the trenches and enjoy music like the rest of us.  You know, the ability to like what you like, whether others like it or not.  They seemingly can’t like McCartney better than Lennon (a few might agree to go with Harrison… but they just can’t go with the cute, poppy one that co-wrote most of the songs and had the most post-Beatles success… until Wings broke up anyway).  They can’t like Gilmour better than Waters.  They can’t say “That Dylan album was weak”.   You get my drift.  Accordingly, even though there was no trace of it in the book (OK, the book included Lennon and Harrison albums… but no McCartney or Wings), I was prepared for pretentiousness.

Anyway, when Tom Moon walked into the backstage area (read: the offices at Changing Hands), I knew I was wrong.  Within minutes, we were talking about the sad “non-available” status of so many of the great recordings in the book and his earlier visit to our friends at Easy Street Records in Seattle.  Janet from CH had to tell us to save it for the audience.

Once we were introduced and I got through the initial nerves of opening the interview, things started to flow.  Tom was very talkative and very much into what he was doing.  He was everything I wish more critics would be: Positive, uplifting, passionate, and totally willing to admit to the trials and tribulations of building such a list.  Most importantly, he was promoting good music from all across the spectrum of time and genre… instead of whining about bad music or the music industry (which tends to be the general angle of many critics and reporters these days).

Tom talked, and I listened.  It was great.  I still had two full pages of questions when they gave me the “go to the audience questions” sign.  When I did go to the audience, hands shot up everywhere.  A half hour later, when I got the “wrap it up and let Tom sign autographs” sign, there were still many, many audience questions left unanswered.

After the signing, Tom came over the store and we talked some more.  He was totally blown away at all of the titles from the book that we were featuring (including 36 in our listening posts),  and very excited about the interview format of the event (he said it was a refreshing change from just “presenting” on his own).

I could have asked him questions for five more hours, and we tried to get him to have a beer with us so we could do just that, but unfortunately he had to go.    So we set him up with one of our new Hoodlums shirts, and sent him on his way.

If your out there Tom - thanks for the great night - and the fantastic book.  As a fellow music fan, I cannot recommend it enough (it’s available at Changing Hands).

Last but not least, if you want a recording from the book, on CD or vinyl - we will be providing a 10% discount on all 1,000 titles from now until our Grand Opening Party on October 11th.  If you can’t make it by then - don’t worry - our prices are still sweet, and we always stock this kind of quality music.

Steve takes down the brown paper in the window.  It was good to see the light again.

Whew!  We finally opened on Saturday.  What a relief.  Kristian and I (along with Beth, Laura, Joe, Andy, Justin, Wasef, Maria, and a bunch of family and friends) have worked our tails off to make sure we pulled it off by our announced September 20th date.  It took every bit of effort we had, and the relief of actually pulling it off was like a literal wave of emotion (for me anyway, I can’t speak for everyone else).

Thursday and Friday night prior to opening, we were the last cars the parking lot… just like a lot of nights since we started our mission in late July.  It wasn’t until I was driving home at about 1:15 AM on Saturday that it truly hit me that we would be ringing up people again in the morning.

At least I hoped we would.  There’s no doubt that the thought of “what if nobody shows” entered my head… in spite of the overwhelming support we’ve felt since we announced the store.  Hopefully it is just natural human paranoia, I thought (either that or I have in fact lost my mind).

Luckily, it was paranoia.  Lots of people showed… starting with legendary Music Junkie Tim Handley at 9:30.  We were holding stuff for him, and he wanted to order a copy of the obscure Frank Marino CD I had used as an example on our Special Order page (complete with a “hover” note for Tim).

Over the weekend, we saw tons of friends and Music Junkies.  We bought and sold a bunch of records, CDs, and DVDs (I was so busy that I forgot to take any pictures beyond the pre-opening shots).  People picked up our new t-shirts, and were really encouraging about the store.  It was great.  Thanks to all of you that showed up and made us feel so welcome.

We’ve got a long way to go to get to full strength.  Mainly, we need to learn what our customers want.  But we learn fast, and we try hard, and we know you are going to help us figure it out.  It will be a lot of work, but we don’t mind.  We love peddling entertainment.

There may be some hard work ahead, but I’m ready.  After all, Saturday night was the first true night a sleep I’ve had in about two months… so I am getting my strength back.

Check out the rest of the pictures.  Better yet, come down and see us.

A shot from the back of the store before the paper came down.  Opening day about 8:30.

We’ve got more space, and we filled it with CDs, Records, DVDs, and art for you.

Our expanded DVD section has tons of classic movies, concert videos, and new releases