30 years ago today (April 26), my favorite band released one of my favorite albums. In 1994 my 14th birthday had just passed, I was getting even more into music, and A Date with the Smithereens was MINDBLOWING then. And to me, it still is. This is a RIPPER of a fucking album. From the opening of War for My Mind to lighter tracks to maybe one of my favorite songs of all TIME, Sleep the Night Away.
A Date is also an interesting look back at peak Big Record Label as the rise of big 90s bands like Nirvana (who LOVED the Smithereens, they'd play their tape in their tour van) and kinda 80s rock like the Smithereens (despite being British Invasion flavored) taking a bit of a backseat to heavier, newer rock bands. I loved both.
And 30 years later, I STILL play this one REGULARLY. They recently put out a box set with four 45s and a bunch of extra songs - I don't have the box, but I heard the extra songs, and they are AWESOME.
RIP Pat DiNizio, and long live the Smithereens (who still perform and tour with other singers, something I'm sure Pat would have loved).
Sometimes YouTube does you right. Reminded me of this song from the 'Born Again Pagans' EP Coil did in 1995, when they felt they were communicating with a spiritual entity named ELpH as they made it. Wild, huh?
GREAT song, too - the whole EP is killer. Hearing this right after it came out when I was in my mid teens was wiiiild
Retro-computing / retro-gaming enthusiasts, in the last few sections of https://linksta.cc/@seven you can find a range of links related to Commodore 64, Amiga, arcade game and chiptune nostalgia.
New episode! This week we're digging up Mort the Dead Teenager, one of the strangest comics Marvel ever put out in the 1990s. Joining us to talk about the book is zombie expert and comic creator Will Robson!
I remember using a Flightstick Pro for the family Mac Performa in the mid 1990s. My dad had the Chuck Yeager flight simulator (which was pretty cool at the time), and that was the game he had gotten the stick for.