Forgotten Nineties: Catherine Wheel, on Their Way Down

 

Shoegaze gurus Catherine Wheel hopped aboard the grunge-lite red-eye with their 1995 single, "Way Down." The song's commerciality puzzled their original fan base, but I still think this single and video are '90s highlights.

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The tune and the album it was taken from (Happy Days) were clearly designed to "break America." But even though "Way Down" and the album's other single, "Judy Staring at the Sun," hit the upper reaches of the modern rock charts, the album itself petered out at a paltry #163 on the Billboard Top 200.

That said, do note that Catherine Wheel singer Rob Dickinson is the cousin of Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, who was also the writer and producer of Chemical Wedding, a sci-fi horror film about a scientist looking to resurrect the Great Beast 666 Aleister Crowley.

BONUS NOSTALGIA: I used to wonder if Chris Carter saw the "Way Down" video and used it as inspiration for the Mythology two-parter Tempus Fugit/Max.

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How Bill Clinton and His Cronies Killed Popular Music

 

So many of the seeds of popular culture's demise were planted in the Nineties, and Paul Chato walks you through the poisoned fruit of one of those evil blossoms.

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Name and Shame the Rock and Roll Destroyers.

Hearing a lot of talk confirming what those in the know realized a long time ago: rock and roll was deliberately murdered by Globo-Corporate meddlers and replaced with paint-by-numbers moron-music designed to reduce its audience to useless-eater status. 

The Day "Jeremy" Swam to the Siren

 

Trevor Wilson, best known to the world as “Jeremy” in the award-winning music video directed by Mark Pellington for grunge superstars Pearl Jam, drowned while swimming at a Puerto Rican beach notorious for its dangerous riptides, ten years ago today.

The Crossing in the Year That Broke Reality

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the release of The Crossing, an album that didn't come to my attention until late September of that momentous year. Still and all, it came to rule my autumn of 1983, so much so that I had a little ritual where I'd give it a spin every year whenever the first chill of fall set in. 

Oh, I Got Your Secret History Right Here, Pal.

It felt good to dive back into this topic. Come on in, the water's fine.

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