Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 30, 1991 8. Soul Asylum, ...And the horse they Rode in On and live at the Nectarine, November, 1990. Soul Asylum's latest album reflects well on a young adult's state of mind. Dave Pirner is in excellent voice, in his singing and his song writing. Lots o' guitar and stuff. Live they're. great, too. 9. Electronic, "Getting Away with It" (12"). Supergroup took a new meaning with the Pet Shop Boys, Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner from New Order hooking up for this alleged one-shot deal. Since they have played live, it seems they'll last longer. Yeah!! Great dancable grooves. 10. Michael Hedges, Power Center, December, 1990. Another amazing guitarist, though he is on Windham Hill - bleeh! Lots of. sexual overtones and great covers, espe- cially "She Drives Me Crazy." The show I regret missing, even though I can't drive and didn't have a ride: The Aerosmith/ Metallica/ Black Crowes in Toronto and in Rochester, N.Y. The songs and group I hate to admit I kinda like: Soup Dragons, only on "I'm Free" and "Lovegod." Michael Paul Fischer's best of the year Albums of the Year: 1. Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet (CBS) 2. Oleta Adams, Circle of One (Poly) 3. The Neville Brothers, Brother's .;aster Pussycat Best remake of a B-side: "I'm Free" by the Soup Dragons Most annoying performer: Sinead O'Connor Best example of the get-it-while-U- can philosophy: M.C. Hammer, sponsoring everything in sight Best bio embellishments: Vanilla Ice Biggest ego: (tie) M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice Most deserved non-hit of the year: Debbie Gibson Most undeserved hit of the year: New Kids on the Block Cultural rip-off of the year: Paul Simon does it again Disappointment of the year: INXS Worst band: (tie) Nelson and Damn Yankees. Best band: Revolting Cocks Worst concert: Revolting Cocks Best concert: Nitzer Ebb with special guest Depeche Mode Most disturbing trend: (tie) Boxed CD sets, the growing commercial- ization of dance music and warning labels Worst songwriter: Vanilla Ice - oops, he doesn't count Most illiterate artist: Donnie of New Kids Nepotism at work: Nelson, Wilson Phillips, etc. Biggest media whore: Little Richard Best record company: Wax Trax! Richard S. Davis' best and worst in 1990 music 1. Best Unexpected Tour: The Cocteau Twins. On the heels of their Big-time record deal, they had to do a tour, so they did. It wasn't the best show ever, with taped drums and 5. Best New Group/Best New Al- bum: Consolidated, The Myth of Rock. Three men who get down to business when it comes to exploring the issues of racism, sexism and thi commercialization of the music in- dustry. Political? Hell yes! Preten- tious? No. Do they pin the tail oni the donkey? Definitely. 6. Worst New Artist: Vanilla Ice. Ice, ice this, buddy! 7. Best Local Bands Who Still Haven't Received the Attention of Major Record Labels: The Differ- ence, Anne Be Davis and Frank Alli, son and the Odd Sox. 8. Worst Trend in Music: Rap artists who copy other people's music 44 create their own "new" music. 1'nr still amazed that M.C. Hammer caq copy entire passages from Risk James, Prince and God knows who:: else and then go home with a sho-t ping cart full of American Music', Awards. And we can't forget Vanilla& Ice. Best new artist?! Yeah, right See number 6. 9. Best Crash and Burn: Mi1( Vanilli. I have to say that I dreamt for that great "We didn't sing 'em" day to come and finally it did. Yes, life is good! 10. Worst Trend in America Musi: Censorship. If anything, 2 LivAY* Crew should have been tried for making a quality-less album, not for obscenity. Obscenity, give me ryn: bloody break! The jury laughed ti&_ charges out of court and hopefully, a this will be some sort of reminder ,to. America that we're supposed to 6a the "Land of the Free." ;C i { S ,' r y* I nese are two of tne Happy Mondays. Andy Uahn named them the "band whose members don't deserve to own equipment," but Annette Petruso put their single, "Step On," as number four on her list of favorite things, citing their "nice attitude and accents, too." Who is right? Well, you know what they say about pictures speaking a thnin n rdo. UIusaU wuU ...V LISTS Continued from page 7 for its "Sympathy for the Devil". tribute, but also because of this line: "The clocks will all run backwards/ The sheep will have two heads/ Thursday night and Friday will be on Tuesday night instead." 4. Robert Cray/Buckwheat Zydeco at Hill Auditorium, November 7. In order to keep my list down to 10, I decided to include this concert rather than two records. As if Buckwheat's electrifying performance of the Stones' "Beast of Burden" was not enough, with each song Cray played,' he not only showed up his opening act, but never ceased to thrill the au- dience. 5. Stevie Ray Vaughn/Joe Cocker at Waterloo Village, NJ, July 6. One of the more soulful nights of m* life. Fortunately, the only time I. was able to see Vaughn was a night I was never planning to forget any- way. 6. Blues Traveler. Blues Traveler. Out of Manhattan's downtown dives comes a band of at least four (sometimes larger when they add sax and/or flute) musicians who combine improvisational jazz with garage band style rock. 7. Living Colour. Time's Up. Prov- ing once again they're no glamour boys. They're fierce. 8. Deee-Lite. World Clique. How do you say Deee-Groovy? Deee-Li- cious? Deee-Funkiest? Ooh' lablah lah lalalalalah! 9. Johnny Gill, "Rub You the Right Way." What a voice! 10. Warrant, "Cherry Pie." This is probably the worst song I have ever' heard, and because of that, it deserves much praise. Artist whose success relies least on personality: Sinead O' Connor Best music perforance on TV: Aero- smith singing the "Wayne's World" theme on SNL. Great band whose name will jeopar- dize their future: Jellyfish Band whose members don't deserve to own equipment: Happy Mondays Worst remake: "Knocking on Heaven's Doh-ooh-woah" by Guns 'n' Roses Biggest travesty of musical justice: The amount of Phil Collins Grammy nominations. Annette Petruso 's 10 favorite things I could've written my top 10 list 'even though I wasn't absolutely fas-. cinated with 10 new releases this year. I could've fleshed out the few new things that captured me with some things I really liked, but just didn't listen to on a obsessive basis. I think a year's best list should be things that totally enraptured the critic/reviewer. Not that I didn't derive pleasure from, say, the Black Crowes', Public Enemy's and Deee-lite's new releases, but I did not listen to them constantly, over and over, drowning in each fabulous groove. So this list is most of the new stuff that I tuned into for hours and hours at a time. -I stagnated a tad and hovered over some stuff that now bores me, but... (in no particular order) 1. Wig, Lying Next to You. This local act's Nocturnal Records' debut- defines excellent alterna-hard stuff. The bass lines are the only things that leave something to be desired, but hey, who's perfect? Preston Cleveland's vocals have the grain, " and spout such gems as "there's a bullet in my head/ brain candy taste of lead/ and the blood that soaks my tongue/ I've never felt so goddamn young" in "There's a Bullet in My Head." If this is what drugs do to the brain, someone find me a dealer. 2. Wig/Big Chief, Club Heidelberg, June or July, 1990. A fucking-prime. show, both bands hit the elusive rock and roll snatch with their grunge and roar. 3. Morrissey, "November Spawned a Monster" (12"). This fall's Bona Drag was indeed that for not featuring any new cuts save the gigolo-esque (the selling of one's values for money or attention) "Picadelly Palare." This summer's 12-inch captured Morrissey's essence, especially in the promo- tional video. 4. Happy Mondays, "Step On" (12"). "Step On"'s Catchiness is heightened for me by the fact Elektra basically made them record this in a short amount of time for their 40th anniversary album. They liked it so much they recorded something else for the company and put this on their 1990 album, Pills 'N Thrills and Bellyaches. Nice attitude and accents too. 5. Bob Mould, Black Sheets of Rain. Yeah, Mould has his angst in tact, angry and forceful on the fol- low-up to the mellower Workbook. Searing guitars, spittle and nature imagery meld into a dark, noisy wonder-thing. 6. Bob Mould, the Nectarine Ballroom, October, 1990. Actually Mould is better, if that is possible, live. Lots of sweat and a fairly civil slam pit. Energetic enough to push Mould, yet no one was a real prick. Mould and his guitar were awesome. 7. The Cult, Cobo Arena, January, 1990. A top-notch metal-like show. The openers sucked (Dangerous Toyz and Bonham, both of whom,, thankfully, we haven't heard from since), but the Cult performs best when they headline (as their '89 show opening for Metallica proved). Maybe it has something to do with Ian Astbury's enormous ego. Live, he flaunts it well. SUMMER JOBS Rocky Mtn resorts looking for Midwest students! Over 800 jobs! Get your application, preparation guide, names and addresses to 35 resorts.They've entrusted "Summer Jobs" to find students. Send $9.95, name, address, and school to: Summer Jobs, Box 47961, Mpls, MN 55447 The Cocteau Twins are pale and pretentious, just how we like 'em. What m liiBurnham Associates 543~u~hS M on4; ix , '0 t 30.:....:::.::::::..... ::S:::C..A.L SATUR)A HU. .7THE PREFERRED PLACES TO BE S~&rit,..,.,,h Keeper (A&M)' 4. Cocteau Twins, Heaven or Las Vegas (Capitol) 5. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory (Reprise) Youssou N'Dour, Set (Virgin) The Call, Red Moon (MCA)' Iggy Pop, Brick by Brick (Virgin) Lou Reed and John Cale, Songs'for Drella The Church, Gold Afternoon Fix (Arista) The Australian survivors hone their still kaleidoscopic guitar poetry to the truest essentials. Artist of the Year: Faith No More Finest Concert Performance: Michael Hedges, the Power Center December, 1990- Mike Molitor's picks and pans for 1990. Best remake: "You're So Vain" by keyboards and with the entire show lasting all of an hour and 10 min- utes, but it was a rare treat anyway. 2. Worst Concert Venue: The Latin Quarter. How much could it possi- bly cost to get two lights to shine onto the front of the performers? Okay, how about just one light? One light, that's all I ask, just so that we in the audience can actually see the performers that we've dished out over 20 bucks to watch. 3. Best Brush With Greatness: Me meeting Elizabeth Fraser, lead singer for the Cocteau Twins, after their concert last year. We had our chance encounter in The Shelter, which is Detroit's best known acid/ techno/ dance haven. I guess moody people need to wiggle their butts, too. 4. Worst Trend in Concerts: Concert prices increasing, playing times de- creasing. 'Nuff said. ore can we say. Finally, I just have to safy, something about the "Justify My,, Love" video by Madonna. MTV said "NO!" to a video that ended up being played (in its entirety) on ABC'T Nightline, of all places. And for the people who didn't stay up to record' it, they simply went to the store to buy it and buy it and buy it to the tune of over 500,000 copies at $10 a pop. 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