Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Hump Day Poll: Underrated




What is your favorite, most underrated album ever?

Mine is School of Fish by School of Fish.  If you listened to any college or alternative stations when the 90's were born, then in 1991, you likely heard 3 Strange Days.  It was also in decent rotation on MTV back when they played music.  

The track list is as follows:

"Intro" into "3 Strange Days"  (This is the one you may have heard.)

"Talk Like Strangers"  (Moody, cool effect on Josh's voice, great driving but simple drums.)

"Deep End" (Has a Cure vibe on the guitar, and perfect to just zone out looking at the ceiling contemplating life which is pretty much what I did then.)

"King Of The Dollar"  (Great bouncy song for an alt band and love the nod to the Stones 'Satisfaction'.  I very specifically remember this being the one that got the crowd going at the concert.  A big mass of humanity bouncing in unison.)

"Speechless"  (This one brings me to my knees every time.  If you could float while listening to a song, this one is as close to an out of body experience as you can get.  But that's what one would expect with an opening line like "I'm flying over the city in a suit and tie."

"Wrong" (Love the keyboards in this and driving, bouncy beat.)

"Rose Colored Glasses"  (Another great one that might've been a radio play.  "Right now she's everything and you're not enough."  Some awesome lines in this one and just a fun bop.)

"Under The Microscope"  (The way the song starts as background then slowly fades in and starts just gets me every time.  Probably a good one to chill if you're blazing with a bag of Cheetos next to you.)

"Fell"  (OMG, the sweetest little song ever.  It reminds me of "Hey There Delilah" in some ways but just better.  I'm listening to it right now and I'm as squishy inside as I am outside.)

"Euphoria"  (Another out of body song.  I'm lucky if I can get to Josh singing before I am bawling.  "A heart can only break so many times.  So why do you feel the need to see what you can do to mine?")

This album was released my senior year of high school.  I introduced the Mr to it when we started dating and he loved the album as well and puts some of the songs on his personal playlists.  They released a second album a few years later and I was first in line to get it.  Unfortunately, it couldn't compare to the first one but it's very hard to bottle lightning twice and the band broke up.

Sadly, the lead singer Josh Clayton-Felt would be diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1999 and gone by January 2000 at the age of 32.  

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This album captures a time for me.  It helped me through my teen angst.  It made me happy, sad, wistful and was everything to me and still is.  I saw them in concert in '92 when they were  new on the scene.  Josh was running to get to his van and I yelled his name and asked if I could take a pic of him (with my 110 camera 😮).  He stopped and said I could but he had to take it of us.  I said my friend could take it and he said no, he was really good at it.  I gave him side eye especially when he held it VERTICALLY so I was sure I was just going to end up with a pic of me with his hair against mine.  To remind you or to school those too young...this is what a 110 camera looks like...

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Also remember you had to wait until your roll was done and you developed the film to see what fresh hell awaited in your 24 chances to take 8 good, non blurry pics FACING your subjects.  Selfies were 99.7% likely to end in disaster.  That mofo went from landscape to portrait...and friggin' NAILED IT.  His sweet smiling face next to mine, perfectly centered like the rockstar (literal and figurative) he was.  I am forever grateful for his music and that moment in time I got to share with him.

What is your favorite, most underrated album ever?

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2 comments:

  1. Since you already picked the absolute most underrated album I will go with the next best one I can think of:

    Bang Tango - Dancing on Coals. That album is another great album that very few people are aware of. Granted, the band today is a shell of their former selves but this was at their absolute peak and they nailed it with this one. Their first album was good too but had some filler whereas Dancing on coals is an album you can put on and just let play without skipping when you have the time.

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  2. I'm a huge fan of Tracy Chapman. In my circles, people have never heard of Tracy so I'd say that's pretty underrated.

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