Wherein I put together a mini-set of Songs I Like, much like a disk jockey.  

Matthew Sweet is an American musician who was part of the 1980’s Athens, Georgia music scene. (REM, B52’s.) He even at one point played with REM’s front man Michael Stipe. He is not a household name but he broke out in the early ’90’s with the song “Girlfriend,” from his album of the same name.

It’s a good slice of loose, garage-y three-chord rock and roll. (The “girlfriend” on the cover is actually a picture of the actress Tuesday Weld, used with her permission.) The juicy guitar part here is by a relatively unknown guitarist named Robert Quine who played with, among others, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Lou Reed and Brian Eno. (See below):

The Meat Puppets have been around since 1980 or so. They started out as a punk band but branched out into psychedelia and more “traditional” rock. They were an influence on Nirvana, and according to Wikipedia, two of Meat Puppets’ founders played with the Seattle band on their 1993 Unplugged gig.

Anyway, next up on our radio dial, from 1994, here’s a cool little number with some nice crunchy, bluesy guitar, “Backwater:”

Brian Eno is a British musician who started out playing with the band Roxy Music but went on to much greater success as a producer. Among others, he’s worked with Talking Heads, Robert Fripp, and David Bowie, having been highly influential on Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy (Low, Heroes, Lodger). He didn’t produce those records but made significant contributions including co-writing “Heroes,” “Boys Keep Swinging,” and the music for much of Lodger.

In 1981, he teamed up with Talking Heads’ David Byrne (pictured on top of post, Byrne on left) for the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Together they recorded a song (of sorts) called “The Jezebel Spirit.”

Question: “What is the Jezebel spirit?” Answer: There are a variety of opinions about what constitutes a Jezebel spirit, everything from a sexually loose woman to someone—man or woman—who teaches false doctrine. The Bible does not mention a Jezebel spirit, although it has plenty to say about Jezebel herself. 

What you are hearing when you listen to this is an actual exorcism set to music. Strange, compelling, weird, chilling. And you can dance to it. 😀