Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Modern rock (80s, 90s, 00s)

"Misadventures of the Campaign Kids"
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When Indie Becomes Oldie(s) via K-Tel

I was ready to abandon K-Tel for greener pastures, when I recalled with great amusement a K-Tel hits collection that someone (okay, Tom Avazian) once tenderly pressed into my eager hands.  I can’t imagine anyone would be shocked that a label famed for recycling older tunes had thieved its title

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"Day Sleeper"
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“Day Sleeper”: Gaze-strumental

Zero to 180 is still trying to determine why “shoegazer” is some sort of epithet, as this subgenre of indie/modern rock is but a modern update of the psychedelic sound, as much as it might pain old-timers to hear.  Violating its must-be-at-least-20-years-old policy yet again, Zero to 180 feels compelled

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"Get Off the Bus"
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RC Mob: Transit Advocates?

You may recall me telling you how Tom Newbold dragged me to see Great Plains despite my misgivings.  My young befuddled spirit had not yet cottoned onto the ‘radical’ notion that great music (gasp!) isn’t always about great musicianship.  In fact, sometimes all the hemi-demi-semi-quavers and musical gymnastics can get

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"People of the Sky"
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Sloan: Lost in Translation?

It’s an old story north of the border, and in fact, Zero to 180 would be legally barred from writing about Sloan in Canada due to their massive popularity.  What would be the point? Ah, but here in the States, Sloan is almost a dirty secret.  What’s our stupid problem?

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"Up The Down Escalator"
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The Chameleons Create Way to Rock

In 1983, while The Ferns were recording a pair of original songs in the ‘modern rock’ vein, The Raisins had already been profiled the summer before in an arts piece for Cincinnati’s short-lived alternative weekly The Outlook entitled, “Raisins Create Another Way to Rock.”  The final section of that article

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"No Reaction"
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Bachelors of Art: Married to Music

The dissolution of Cincinnati’s The Ferns by 1985 would find Rick Mosher in common cause with keyboardist Tim Miller (ex-Dog Pound).  Rick & Tim’s new musical unit would play out live around town – but eventually grow weary of Cincinnati’s fairly provincial views with regard to modern sounds in popular

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"Every"
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6/9 Chords, Maj 7ths, and Tritones

With the departure of founding members, Michael Andrew Frank & Keith Bortz, and the arrival of the two Ricks — Mosher & Haller — plus new drummer, Bob Mitchell, who was (get this) from a different high school, The Max had evolved into The Ferns.by 1983, most historians would agree,

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"Pokušaj"
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“Pokušaj”: Nutty, Anthemic

Thanks to my neighbor and good friend, Paul – who hails from the UK – I have had the opportunity to take in the annual spectacle known as the Eurovision Song Contest, something I’ve read about for years in British music publications.  Most of the offerings, unfortunately, are fairly forgettable,

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"Winged Mammal Theme"
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“Winged Mammal Theme”: Batty B-Side

Michael Stipe and his REM bandmates, it would appear, are bat fans, as evidenced by their non-LP B-side, “Winged Mammal Theme.”   This abstract instrumental take on “The Batman Theme” — flip side of their 1992 hit “Drive” – but only in the US — was somehow rejected for the soundtrack to

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"Deep Twang"
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“Deep Twang”: Swervedriver’s Surfgaze

1991’s “Deep Twang” – the B-side of a bonus 7″ from UK’s fabled Creation label – would seem to anticipate the psychedelic surf instrumental sounds that The Mermen would later bring, to great relief, to the DC area on their one and only visit in 1995: “Deep Twang”  Swervedriver (1991)

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