Music Recommendation: The Chameleons

The 80's were a great decade for ugly sweaters

[Quick Warning: My music posts never really focus entirely on the band in the title, but there will be youtube videos of that band after the jump for your enjoyment. So enjoy.]

When it comes to indie music, nothing gets a hipster’s heart fluttering more than the bands that were indie before words like “indie”, “grunge”, or “alternative” were common language in the world of music. Nothing is more satisfying for indie kings than to say something like, “If the Pixies didn’t exist, then Nirvana never would have happened!” or, “Quit blabbing about your stupid Coldplay! If it wasn’t for Joy Division (or Radiohead) then you wouldn’t even have a Coldplay to blab about!”

… Or something like that. I think that’s what people are into these days.

Anyways, I too am a big fan of the so called precursors to the altern-rock movement, and if I had to make a quick list of my five favorites, it would look something like this…

5. Television

4. The Smiths

3. Pixies

2. The Chameleons

1. The Stone Roses

More pondering and Chameleons love (Plus video) after the jump

Music Recommendation: Foals

 

Somebody call the hipster police!

 

[Ed: I promise you, Foals is in this article. I just felt like sharing some thoughts on my musical tastes in general as well. My future music recs won’t have mini-biographies in them, I promise… maybe]

A few days ago, I recently met up with an old elementary school friend that I hadn’t seen in a while. We reminisced, had a few chuckles, and commented on how much kids can change in a few years. A specific comment was how I went from a “funny” T-shirt wearing Zeppelin fan to a guy just starting to wear plaid and talk about bands like Grizzly Bear or Arcade Fire. I’m no psychologist, but I believe it has something to do with never wanting to be static with anything you do. That’s why, like with my clothes and mannerisms, my taste in music has changed so drastically over the years, and it isn’t just me that changed. I’m pretty sure it happens to nearly every teenager around. People who hate reading may want to skip ahead to the videos. When I get on a roll, it’s really hard to stop me.

Like most kids that grew up to have musical tastes like mine, it started with good ol’ classic rock. I would snatch up all of my dad’s old CD’s and play them in my room, and since it was all Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, and Rush, not only was I exposed to good music for the first time in my young life, I also was implanted with the seed of the Devil. At the time, I thought classic rock would be the only music I ever listened to. Bands like Green Day sucked, it was too mainstream for a 4-foot-11 badass like me. Little did I know that I would slowly undergo a transformation that happens to many kids during their teenage years: The transition into hipster music.

It all began in the 7th Grade, when a random encounter with Radiohead’s most popular song, “Creep”, sexed my ears for the first time in my life. As soon as I acquired an Ipod for my 13th birthday, I immediately bought Radiohead’s first three albums. On the bus, during free time in class, at home when I was bored or grounded, Radiohead was literally the only band that played through my speakers, and it was the best music-related thing that ever happened to me.

Back then, I thought I was the hippest kid with the hippest Ipod thanks to Radiohead. They were alternative. The kind of edgy music that gets you chicks with dyed hair and bellybutton rings. It was my first experience with something that could be described as hipster. Little did I know that Radiohead was merely the tip of the iceberg for my journey through obsurish bands…