5 Artists I Recently Rediscovered

A few weeks ago I found myself scourging old hard drives looking for tunes for our Halloween party and came across some old gems: "Grimly Fiendish" by the Damned, "Ghost Town" by the Specials, and "Code Blue" by T.S.O.L.  While looking for more tunes online for the playlist, I came across other artists that I had left behind some time ago.  To be specific, when my Ford F-150 exploded and my 250-CD case and MP3 player were nothing but melted chunks of plastic.  At that point in time, I began anew and left the old bands behind me to pursue the more classic sounds of CSNY, the Doors, the Beatles, and Pink Floyd.  I was amazed at the spirit some of these bands possessed, but found myself frustrated and lost with the turns music had taken afterwards - Where did it go wrong?  How did the Ramones and the Clash evolve into Wham! and Boy George, and subsequently into Avenged Sevenfold and Panic! At the Disco?  Disillusioned with the current trend that emo "can rock too," I abandoned everything new and found shelter by going retroactive - the sounds of Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding held me over.  These funky artists led to my discovery of the Talking Heads, and I was delighted when I found the Pixies complete discography on emusic.com.  But there was still a hole somewhere.  I finally realized that the only way I could satiate my rock'n'roll desires was through the reacquisition of my former forgotten favorites.  After days filtering through mostly garbage on the 'net, I finally found my MacGuffin, my Rosetta Stone, my Crystal Skull; and I'll present it to you, my most adored non-existent audience, in the form of a fulfilling top five list, that I might emphasize again is not by any means an "All Time Artists" top five, but a "Recently Rediscovered By Me Artists" top five.  So here goes:

THE TOP 5 ARTISTS I RECENTLY REDISCOVERED:

5. MISFITS

For a long time (especially in high school), I assumed that if I were to try to listen to the Misfits, it just wouldn't work.  I hadn't given them a chance but I recognized that skull logo and of course knew the name.. but it seemed like one of those bands to me that "the punk kids only listen to because they're punk" and seeing as I wasn't a punk, I assumed that it wasn't for me.  For one, I didn't realize that their songs are about sci-fi B-movies 99% of the time, which definitely suits me.  The first track I tried was "Halloween" simply because I had seen it show up on Kazaa searches so much.  It was.. okay.  It wasn't until I gave Walk Among Us a listen that I found out what was so great about this band.. The fact that the band could put so much energy into something that only existed in a fictional universe was amazing to me, and no matter the quality of the recording, it was just such a cool concept with such awesome hooks in the melodies that I couldn't help but listen.  So it was a given (especially considering how many Misfits covers have been engrained in my mind through my former band "The Landmines") that I would come across this album again when arranging a playlist for the Halloween party.

4. BUZZCOCKS

I once had a girlfriend that turned me off to the Buzzcocks for a long time because she was so into them (solely for punk cred.).  It wasn't until I realized that she didn't actually even listen to them that I decided to give them a try.  I was familiar with The Vibrators and the U.K. Subs at the time, so the upbeat love-woes sound wasn't so out there when I first heard them.  What I wasn't expecting was their mastery of chord changes and the ability to throw in pop hooks to keep you listening. I've listened to some B-sides and some album filler tracks, but their compilation Singles Going Steady really takes the cake.  That album showcases their best-of, not in terms of what was popular, but in songwriting, playing, and what made singer Devoto's attitude so real.  As far as love goes, they hit the nail on the head.  A lot of bands filtered through when "re-discovering" my former tastes, but this band was too big for the sieve and stuck out like a sore thumb in my memory.

3. AGENT ORANGE

If The Buzzcocks sang about love, Agent Orange was defined by the absence of love.  I had first come across Agent Orange through a cover of their hit "Bloodstains" sung by The Offspring.  I was really into the Offspring's Smash in middle school and gorged out on all things Offspring when Napster first hit the net.  This was how I found "Bloodstains," and didn't even realize it was an Agent Orange song until I heard the original on Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 at a friend's house.  Thus, further research put my late-high-school/early-college years behind the wheel of this fast paced, angst-driven California band, fueling my interest in both surf and punk at the same time.  Living In Darkness is their definitive album, with a sold blend of instrumental tunes, rebellious anthems, and 100% certified badass, even discrediting the entire concept of being punk in their track "Bored of You".  Naturally themes like "Too Young to Die" and the album namesake "Living in Darkness" came to mind when planning for a Halloween party.

2. X

There's something about California bands.  This one first entered my musical entourage when I heard the track "Adult Books" in a friend's car.  I couldn't quite make out all the words, but I knew it was kinky and I knew it was different, and that they were actually making a statement (something sadly devoid from modern music).  I did a Google Search for "adult books" and came up with quite a few scandalous links, but found what I was looking for.  A few days later I asked said friend if I could hear more "X" and he retorted that I probably didn't even know who the lead singer was.  Ugh, punk snobs.  Anyway, he wouldn't put it on, so I looked them up myself later and happened upon the tracks "Your Phone's Off the Hook (But You're Not)," "Sugarlight," "Los Angeles," and "White Girl."  Finding that these tracks were all from the same album, I got the Los Angeles/Wild Gift combo and listened to the ever-loving crap out of it.  Unfortunately, when it burned up in the truck fire it was a long while before I came across this album again.  Thank God I have it now (and you should too).

1. THE VENTURES

The Ventures seems the outcast of this group of bands, and I never really undiscovered them so that they could be rediscovered.  However, when my music melted I did lose a significant portion of my Ventures collection, and most of the rest of it resided in subsequent single track downloads of "Hawaii Five-O" and "Perfidia" from the iTunes store.  The Ventures poster in my living room kept the fire burning all this time so that I could finally find the awesomeness of "The Lonely Bull" and "Sukiyaki" once again.  The Ventures weren't my first surf band, but they're arguably the best.  Being a film and music guy, I had been drawn to the surf tunes present in Tarantino films like Pulp Fiction.  The ambiguous instrumental sound allowed for a song to tell a story in ways that many artists disregard.  I could imagine cowboys drinking in a saloon late at night to Link Wray's "Rumble" and a California gunslinger surfer dude rocking out to Dick Dale's "Miserlou."  And while these originals stand firm, and their composers are incredible in their own rights (Dale as the King of the Surf Guitar, Wray as the inventor of the power chord), neither had a backup band with the repertoire of The Ventures.  Many Ventures songs aren't even originals, but whether they're Herb Alpert covers or traditional folk songs done surf style, the Ventures nailed 'em.  In college my interest in the Ventures set me apart from many of my dorm-mates, and influenced everything from my songwriting and playing abilities to the way I carried myself and what I looked for in new music.  In my book the Ventures rank up there with the Beatles, the Pixies, and the Ramones, and it's a sad fact that most people under the age of 30 would draw a blank if they were mentioned in conversation.  If you're one of those sad, deprived little individuals, it's time to start a-listenin'.