"Left of the Dial" was my #1. Five to one, baby.
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 00:57 (three years ago) link
so in 2012 my students at the station recorded their version for College Radio Day. It moves me.
youtube.com/watch?v=_so4E2ttTOw
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 00:58 (three years ago) link
fucking anthem
― bunny slopes
hell yeah! my #2. left of the dial --> Can't Hardly Wait is a great live move too
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
I guess Warner Bros muted the sound! Oh well. Dig the images.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
Wasn't expecting this so high - it kind of sneaks up since it's not an anthem like 'Hold My Life' or 'Bastards', or an emotional gut punch like 'Here Comes A Regular'.
― aphoristical, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
another thing about "left of the dial": that wasn't a phrase that people used before that song, as far as i know. they invented that. possibly one of their most lasting influences!
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:01 (three years ago) link
Suzanne Vega had left of center about the same time too. Lots of left happening.
― aphoristical, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:02 (three years ago) link
but left of center was more of a general cultural/social positioning. left of the dial was specific to radio, and radio embraced it.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
Idk. This was my #1 - I saw Joe Pera mentioned above and this song does a similar thing. Once that opening guitar chimes in ...
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
i wasn't expecting it so high either but it's where i had it so i'm very glad
― ufo, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
That it’s a track 9, generally not a showcase kind of spot, too.
― rattle, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:06 (three years ago) link
"Left of the Dial" was my #1 ... it's perfectly of its moment, like a photograph, but also a culmination of college radio before 1985
― Brad C., Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:14 (three years ago) link
I did just listen to it - the version in my head is much more mid-tempo and restrained than the actual version is.
― aphoristical, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:14 (three years ago) link
Left of the Dial is their best song, anthemic, longing
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:15 (three years ago) link
The competition for #2 through #4 was pretty close. They were jiggling around constantly. Another couple of ballots and those four could have been reversed again. But #1's lead over the rest has been significant and entirely consistent since the pool of ballots was very small.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:16 (three years ago) link
i had Left of the Dial in the lower part of my ballot but its still v good/great
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:17 (three years ago) link
https://images2.imgbox.com/0d/c4/cbuXl1sr_o.jpg
#2 Alex Chilton from Pleased to Meet Me (1987) Score: 874Votes: 35 (4)Youtube: audio track
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:17 (three years ago) link
Watching Color Me Obsessed now. Pretty interesting. Quite a few name interviewees.
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:18 (three years ago) link
I NEVERRR TRAVEL FAAAAAAAARRRRRWITHOUT A LIIIITLLLE BIG STAAAAAAR
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:19 (three years ago) link
https://images2.imgbox.com/6b/85/EYmgCisH_o.png
#1 I Will Dare from Let It Be (1984) Score: 972Votes: 36 (3)Youtube: audio track
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:19 (three years ago) link
confession: Alex Chilton was the song that got me into the Replacements. We used to play Rockband a ton, and Mr Veg added Alex Chilton when they released it as dlc. I’d never heard it before & I was like O_O “what is this magical song i fucking love it” and got all their albums and here I am
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:21 (three years ago) link
I Will Dare is an excellent song to dance to
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:22 (three years ago) link
Pete Buck mandolin solo FTW! REM & the Mats were the Beatles & Stones of 80s college rock radio. some friends & I even made a pilgrimage from Michigan to Athens, GA on a whim one snowy March weekend, driving straight through and I distinctly remember having the windows down between Atlanta & Athens when left of the dial came on a left of the dial radio station "sweet Georgia breezes, safe cool and warm" - everything just clicked into place.
― BrianB, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:25 (three years ago) link
Thanks everyone for voting and writing stuff. I'll post full voting numbers a little later...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:28 (three years ago) link
Interesting that #1 and #3 had the same number of votes, in fact more first place votes for “Left of the Dial,” but still got knocked out in points. Can’t complain with the top 3!
Well done 3xNag!
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:28 (three years ago) link
Also, I docked “I Will Dare” on my ballot specifically b/c of Buck’s contribution.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:30 (three years ago) link
great #1, BrianB otm re R.E.M./Mats and the Athens/Minneapolis connection
― Brad C., Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:34 (three years ago) link
i could be convinced that any of the top 12-15 or so of this poll could have been the #1. making setlists must have been hard for them near the end, there's like a couple dozen that you HAVE To play
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:35 (three years ago) link
yes!!!!!!!! i bought "let it be" because joe hanna, the proprietor of play it again records in bethlehem, pa., told me i had to, and "i will dare" was therefore the first replacements song i ever heard, and i was hooked forever by the time they got to the first chorus. the performance is wonderfully loose and optimistic. the unexpected swing, as someone said in the voting thread, really makes this one. but it's also such a beautiful pop song, with the punk attitude still intact but the passion of their wider ambitions, their dare, so to speak, fully on display. it hit me exactly where i was at that exact time, and it's never let me go.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:35 (three years ago) link
fantastic poll, nag! and everybody!
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:36 (three years ago) link
thanks for running Nag, was a lot of fun.
― campreverb, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:38 (three years ago) link
"alex chilton" is a helluva pop song too. obviously. those backing vocals.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:38 (three years ago) link
Thank you Nag!!*barfs* *falls off stage*
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:45 (three years ago) link
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/592c63b613d197565213fddc/2:1/w_648/f13abfd2.jpgI loved it. Especially that very last part
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:48 (three years ago) link
*sound of guitar falling off stand*
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:51 (three years ago) link
Tom Petty liked it so much he stole a line.
Petty says he didn't, and I'm inclined to believe him - he's usually upfront if he "borrows" something, but that wasn't the case here.
From a 1991 interview with Greg Kot:
''Aren`t you the guy who wrote I stole a line from the Replacements?''
he asks, referring to a review of ''Into the Great Wide Open'' in which he was accused of swiping the line ''A rebel without a clue'' from a 1989 Replacements song, ''I`ll Be You.''
''I have to be honest: I never even heard the Replacements record,''
Petty says with a chuckle. ''It`s just a real common line that everyone says all the time-I think Meatloaf used it on one of his records, too. It`s a cliche, yeah, but it just sounded so good in that place and it summed up the character so well that I had to use it. It`s a phrase that`s been around, like `twist and shout.` ''
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:51 (three years ago) link
he had just spent a summer touring with them! and one would assume they played chw almost every nite of that tour.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:00 (three years ago) link
Androgynous would be a sort of amazing if someone wrote it now, never mind in 1984. Peak Westerberg empathy. And the underwater-sounding piano on it is unexpected and perfect.
I love the sandblocks on there too. It makes the whole track sound like a scratchy old 78 rpm record.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:00 (three years ago) link
i mean "i'll be you" obviously. their single at the exact time they were opening for him. sigh.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:01 (three years ago) link
great poll, nag!
you ran it like a well-oiled machine!
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:01 (three years ago) link
Yeah, and you can really hold your oil, it seems.
― Garu’s Got a Rona (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:02 (three years ago) link
excellent poll, it was a great time to revisit these albums
thank you Nag! and all the regulars
― Brad C., Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:04 (three years ago) link
thank you nagx3, “i will dare” is a very worthy winner
― covidiot wind, blowin every time you lift your mask (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:06 (three years ago) link
"Unsatisfied" was my #1 as well as Let It Be. "I Will Dare" would have been a hit, maybe even a #1 record, in like 1992.
Thanks for your hard work Nag, this was great!
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:09 (three years ago) link
Seen Your VideoLeft of the DialUnsatisfiedBastards of YoungKiss Me On the BusSkywayAlex ChiltonKick Your Door DownSwingin PartyAnswering MachineAndrogynousGoHere Comes a RegularI Will DareCan’t Hardly WaitColor Me ImpressedPerfectly LethalHold My LifeTalent ShowTakin’ a RideKids Don’t FollowI’ll Be YouYou LoseI Don’t KnowI Bought a HeadacheJohnny’s Gonna DiePortlandThe LedgeSixteen BlueGary’s Got a Boner
Let It BeTimSorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the TrashPleased to Meet MeStink
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:10 (three years ago) link
sorry, i jumped the gun there
Sad I missed this poll of my favorite band from age 13 thru college at least, but pleased to catch up now. Looks lovely.
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:12 (three years ago) link
I couldn't find the clip, but there was this totally forgettable movie starting Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz called "Feeling Minnesota." I don't remember much if anything about it, but iirc it was about two former classmates coming back to the Twin Cities for a funeral or something and reconnecting. There's a scene where the two are driving down the street (in a convertible) listing to "I Will Dare" and sort of mumbling along in the most awkward way possible.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:13 (three years ago) link
Song is definitely in the trailer, which also indicate I literally remembered nothing about this and got everything wrong but the scene I'm thinking of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-xSv0k1fvA
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:15 (three years ago) link
me and some friends went down from the dorm, to watch the filming of that, saw Keanu walking around smoking a cig
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:18 (three years ago) link