Revolution Rock: Tales of the Late Night DJs & Episode # 1070

Late Night DJ Tales:

By: David Konstantino

December 14th, 2024 was the final episode of Revolution Rock. Broadcasting off and on for about 20 years is a long time. When the show first began in 2004, everything was different. Streaming wasn’t really a thing and most people still left CDs on repeat, instead of never-ending playlists. When I started the show, I was inspired to start a show because of a friend of mine, Farah, who had been hosting a punk/hardcore show called The New Era with Farah and Cara. The only thing I had to do was think of what I was going to play. There were already a few punk shows at the time and I didn’t want to replicate what The New Era was doing so well. I noticed there hadn’t been a show that played solely the original 70s punk music. So, I made a proposal to play a show that focused on that, primarily from the UK at first. I already detailed some of the early late-night DJ stories in a blog post about ten years ago, but the show since its very beginnings has been about discovering music.

Back in 2004, Adam Fox, who was the program director at the time, gave me my initial timeslot for the show. The first song played was “Search & Destroy” by Iggy & The Stooges. After basically playing the same stuff for a few years, music director Chris White really helped me expand my musical borders. CJAM celebrates underground and underappreciated music. The vinyl and music archive they have at the station was also key into me finding a lot of rare and unknown things to sink my teeth into. My show slowly started branching out and before I knew it, Revolution Rock was mixing in garage, post punk, alternative, indie, folk, country, surf and everything else in-between into the shows format. In 2014, I was going to end the show. But, when Adam Peltier joined in 2014 as a co-host, he brought new life to the show. A friend who also had a late night show when Revolution Rock started called Fear of Music, we had both been guests on each others shows and through the last ten or so years through the show we became close friends. With Adam joining as the new co-host, shows became more dynamic, spontaneous and focused on anniversaries and themes. He also brought a new dimension of knowledge and humour to the show, that can't go understated. I can’t thank him enough.

As far as themes. We always had themes, going back to when I started theme month many years ago. Every February, each week would have a different theme and end with my annual surf rock special. Derk Brigante would help with the annual surf special for many years. He used to host the Surfphony of Derstruction on CJAM, then it continued as a podcast/online program called The Surfphony of Derstruction 2000 before ending a few years ago. There were lots to discover in terms of surf music from the obscure early stuff, to the current surf bands playing. More interviews started popping up around the ten-year mark as well. I had done interviews few times in the early years of the program, but not much. Some memorable interviews were with Richard Hell, Chris Murphy, King Khan, Mark Sultan, Bloodshot Bill, Dion Lunadon, members of Mudhoney, Chad VanGaalen, Patrick Flegel, Mike Wallace, Travis Good, Don Pyle, Tommy Stinson, John Doe, The Garrys, Tymon Dogg, Shana Cleveland, and many others. In 2020, the show began its run in syndication, first on CFUV in Victoria, BC. From there it went on to air across 16 different stations throughout the last four years of the show. It may have been more, but at the time of writing this, it was airing on 16 stations. In 2024, the show also won the Best Rock Show or Similar award at the NCRA Awards.

When trying to discover different types of Canadian bands, Radio What Wave and the What Wave compilation albums/fan zines were another important element in the early days of the show. What Wave Dave (Dave O’Halloran) ran What Wave with his wife Rena in the late 80s/early 90s, their compilations had tons of cool and obscure garage/punk music from London, Ontario and all over Canada. Dave’s show on CHRW also pointed me in the direction of a few bands as well. The Gruesomes being another big one. It also led me to the discovery of Og Music, the label from Montreal in the 80s. Deja Voodoo and the bands found on the label and their compilations led to even more areas to explore in the underground music world. Yet another discovery.

Over the years there were also a few times when my film background combined with CJAM-related interests. In 2010, I released the short documentary film Voice of the Underground, chronicling CJAM FM’s transition from being on the 91.5 FM frequency to its current frequency at 99.1 FM. Along with filmmaker/graphic designer Greg Maxwell, myself and audio engineer/producer/musician Josh Kaiser, we started the CJAM Sessions in 2016. Inspired by the video series Rose City Sessions, which occurred about a decade prior and the KEXP Live Sessions, this was a live audio/video music series created for the station featuring touring bands that came through Windsor and local bands. Nine videos were created with this crew and a series of different Windsor filmmakers and one with some of this crew. Each video contained three songs each and total about ten minutes each or less. Those videos can be viewed here.

There are many people to thank that have had an impact on me and the program throughout its existence. The listeners. Anyone that’s ever listened to the show, you are a part of its history. My family, CJAM Staff past and present. Adam Fox for giving me my show, Chris White for helping me see beyond the borders of punk and connecting with the present, Cassandra Caverhill, Sarah Morris, Vern Smith, Brady Holek, Carley Schweitzer, Walter Petricyn, Derk Brigante, Murad Erzinclioglu, Mattu Findlater, my original co-host Joe, Rosina Riccardo, Matt Froese, Jim Meloche, Joe McGreggor, Farah Barakat, Czarina Mendoza, Chris Crossroads, Clara Musca, Nicole Markham, Willy Wilson, Nick of Radio Drill Time, Kieran Owen, Marc Cazabon, Slim Gene (of Jump Kat Jump), Ken Getty, the past and present hosts of In the Garage, Benny Dreadful, Josh Kaiser, Greg Maxwell, Tim Swaddling, Jeff Vandussen, Dave O’Halloran (out of CHRW in London), all of the stations that have syndicated us over the years (and anyone else I may have forgotten). Kieran also wrote a great article that was posted on the day of the final episode about hearing the show for the first time many years ago. Thank you for that Kieran and for being a guest host over the last few years on Revrock.

Prior to even doing a show, one of my favourite things to do was find out what the B-Side was on singles that were being played on the radio. For example, one of the B-sides to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit single was the song “Aneurysm,” the B-Side to The Police’s Message in a Bottle was the punk track “Landlord,” The Clash had many good singles and B-Sides such as “Jail Guitar Doors,” “1977,” “Pressure Drop.” These are just a few of the songs, but they seemed more interesting and sometimes drastically different the other song found on that single. I would often prefer the non-single, perhaps a sign that CJAM would be a good place for me. This show has always been about discovering music from the underground of the past and present. There is great music out there, you just have to dig for it sometimes. This can be said of other things too I suppose, sometimes you never know what you’ll find if you don’t try. Expect the unexpected. So how do you end a show that has been running since 2004? Me and Adam decided, nothing flashy. Just a regular show. Nothing planned, something spontaneous. This is something that has been a constant throughout the history of this show, of course we planned things, but the spontaneity, maybe that’s what it was. Hopefully through Revolution Rock, you found something you liked here.

More Late Night DJ Tales:

By: Adam Peltier

My first exposure to Dave and Revolution Rock was, oddly enough, not hearing him over the radio. It was through the piercing glow of a computer monitor one late Wednesday evening as I scoured through the playlists of shows proceeding my graveyard time slot on CJAM 99.1 FM (then 91.5 FM). I was a few months into hosting my first radio show, a strange patchwork program in which me and my co-host (coincidentally enough, also named David) played a range of post-punk, experimental music, soundtrack cuts, and J-Pop ballads. Attempting to fight off the fatigue assailing us as the clock ticked past 2am, we scrolled through the playlists of other programs to see what our fellow CJAM hosts were playing. Lodged between the range of music variety and eclectic talk shows was a program whose name immediately drew my attention: Revolution Rock. Of course, recognizing the title taken from the wonderful Clash song, I was drawn to inspect what this other show had played in the previous weeks. 

“Whoever this person is, they seem to play the same sort of music you like.” 

I nodded at my co-host's observation, seeing the program's set-lists peppered by some of my favourite artists: Talking Heads, The Stooges, Television, the Velvets, and a number of garage rock revivalists. I felt an immediate musical kinship with whomever it was that hosted this other late-night program, and each week I would jot down the names of unfamiliar acts recorded on Revrock's playlist: the D4, the Scenics, and Outrageous Cherry were quickly added to my own listening habits. 

I first met David by chance at a CJAM-hosted event. We struck up a casual conversation, exchanging the usual pleasantries, before properly introducing ourselves. That's when I understood: this was the man, the person behind Revolution Rock. I confessed admiration for his program, and our talk quickly entered into comparing notes and making recommendations. We spoke of the importance of Lou Reed, the criminal under-appreciation of Public Image Ltd., and, of course, our mutual love of The Clash. We would encounter each other more frequently after that, developing a friendship built on our passion for music, yet cemented in our growing appreciation of one another as people. I found Dave quirky, often self-effacing, yet always funny. He soon shifted from somebody whose musical taste I shared into a person I considered a close friend. We soon began inviting one another onto our programs, where we publicly blathered and gushed about our favoured artists.  

The years passed, and as happens, our paths diverged. I moved out of the city, returning years later to find David one of the few pillars of consistency in this ever-shifting municipality. He remained a host on CJAM, still proudly carrying the banner of Revolution Rock. As if no time had passed, he invited me back onto the show. I guest-hosted a handful of episodes, enjoying the familiar feel of being on-air, yet taking it as nothing more than a casual stint to assuage nostalgia. This was David's show, and he was simply being gracious enough to invite an old friend on-air. This would not lead to anything else. 

As often happens, I was proven wrong. The sporadic trips to CJAM shifted into consistent visits every Saturday, David encouraging me to bring records and songs that I wanted to play. I cannot recall the exact episode, but during the selection of a set-list David asked me for my opinion on what to play next. 

“Don't ask me Dave: it's your show.” 

He shook his head. 

“No, no: it's our show.” 

On that day I realized that I was no gratuitous appendix or casual guest-host: I was a part of Revolution Rock. 

We spent nearly the next ten years on-air together refining our craft. We grew as a program and as people. No longer feeling cemented in the locus of new wave and punk, we began playing rockabilly, jazz, reggae, film soundtracks, and noise. Yes, the linchpin of the program was still new wave and punk, but we felt emboldened enough to delve into other forms of music. The show had truly evolved. Revolution Rock was no longer a cheeky reference to a Clash song, it was a Revolution, a broadening of the paradigm of what could be considered rock. 

Milestones followed. Revrock entered into national syndication. We performed dream interviews with the likes of Television's Richard Lloyd, Patrick Flegel of Cindy Lee, Wire's Colin Newman, and Richard Hell. We even somehow continued producing episodes during the lockdowns of the early 2020s. It felt like nothing could stop us. Yet, here we are at the end. 

Revolution Rock did not stop due to cancellation, time constraints, nor from any other outside force. It was casual, almost anti-climatic. Simply put, we both felt we had achieved all we wanted with the program. We ended it on our own terms: no fanfare, no bombast, just a simple episode to end our tenure on-air. The last episode aired on December 14th, 2024, James Williamson's shrieking guitar ending the program just as it had begun all those years ago. 

It will be surreal not to compile songs for each Saturday, not to gush to David weekly over the latest record I've delved into, or to discuss what artists we would next dare to interview. Still, our choice is made and we stand by it. Revolution Rock became something beyond what either of us dreamed it could ever be, introducing us to incredible music and people during its run. I could thank a great number of individuals that have encouraged me over the years, but most of them have already been thanked by David. However, there are three in particular that I feel the need to name. First, my partner Ost. Your love and encouragement have kept me going over the years. Second, David Foot, my early co-host who encouraged me to get weird on-air and not be afraid of breaking the self-imposed confines of what I thought good music could be. And lastly, the founder of Revrock himself, David Konstantino. Your humility, passion, and friendship have taught me many things, and I consider it an honour to have shared a show with you for so many years. 

Peace and love to all that have supported us over the years: we could not have done it without you. 

Catch the playlist and link to hear the final episode below, while you can.

Show 1070 Playlist (Originally Aired on December 14th, 2024) (Revolution Rock: The Final Episode):

1. The Spy’s - Underground
2. Patti Smith - Gloria (Version)
3. Sonic Youth - Eric’s Trip
4. Lost Charm - Trail of Dimes
5. Dion Lunadon - 1976
6. Ramones - Judy is a Punk (Demo)
7. Pixies - Cactus
8. Bad Hoo - Fake Future that Never Came to Fruition
9. Deja Voodoo - Too Cool To Live Too Smart To Die
10. Miranda and the Beat - New York Video
11. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Egypt Texas
12. The Damned - Stab Your Back
13. Johnny West - He Was Saved By Poultry Under the Shadow of Beef
14. Bob Dylan - I Want You
15. Neil Young - Tell Me Why
16. The Velvet Underground - Run Run Run
17. The Gories - Boogie Chillun
18. King Khan & BBQ Show - Hold Me Tight
19. Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin - I Wear Black
20. Link Wray - Law of the Jungle
21. The Clash - Wrong ‘Em Boyo
22. The Cramps-  People Ain’t No Good
23. Joy Division - Interzone
24. Women - Venice Lockjaw
25. Television - Venus
26. Devo - Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy Down
27. David Bowie - Breaking Glass
28. Paul Jacobs - Dancing with the Devil
29. Iggy & The Stooges - Search & Destroy

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the December 14 file to download/stream the episode.

Revrock: A Listener's Notes

Written by Kieran Owen

I first arrived in Windsor October 2017. I found it isolating, a little strange and far too cold. The public transport was terrible. The urban was sprawled. And bloody hell did I mention it was cold? Like the wind was impossibly cold. Penetrating, inescapable. I would read the temperature on my phone-screen in celsius but the bitterness I felt in my bones would ask me 'Are you sure that’s not 1 degree fahrenheit? This can’t be right mate. None of this is right.'

As the months and years passed, comforts, quirks and comrades were acquired that now make this place feel more like a home. One of them is a weekly radio show that’s been broadcasting long before I arrived here. I remember clearly the first time I heard it, sitting in my then girlfriend’s car, driving up University Avenue towards the Ambassador Bridge (unknown to me then that this was very close to the station it was broadcasting from). Flicking through the radio dial aimlessly I heard something I recognised (DURR-NURR, DUNN DUNN, DURR-NURR) 'Hey, leave that on!'

Bob Dylan once said that a great thing about rock ‘n’ roll is you can hear 1 second out of a passing car and know who it is. Well this was The Jam’s ‘A’ Bomb on Wardour Street’ and it doesn’t get more rock based on that criteria. A chugging, primitive guitar riff throughout. The entire song is nearly just two chords, a feat so dumb that only a smart person like Paul Weller could pull it off. I hadn’t heard it since adolescence and it ruled to hear it there and then.

After that excitement, two voices followed. They were friendly and yet sort of subdued. Irreverent but informative. Sometimes they overlapped and talked like they were in opposition with each other. Yet ultimately they had a rapport that said they had known each other for years and had probably been doing this gig for years. They were a perfect pairing. This was Adam and David and the show was Revolution Rock on CJAM 99.1FM.

David Konstantino first aired Revolution Rock in the summer of 2004 when he was a university student. At the time there were punk and hardcore shows on the station, which broadcasts from a basement situated in the University of Windsor and can be heard on FM in both Windsor and Detroit. However David felt there wasn’t anything really playing music that represented the early incarnations and roots of the genre. The likes of the Ramones, Pistols, Clash, UK 78, post-punk, new wave or even the proto-punk of Iggy and the Stooges. The first song he played was "Search and Destroy" by the latter. He has a recording of that first show along with a 2 decade archive that spans both the digital and analogue. Tapes, dated and organised on shelves, hand-written playlists and bottomless hard drives. By David’s calculations there have been 1070 episodes of Rev Rock and he's missing around 5-10. As someone who has often tried and failed to keep a diary, I find self documentation like this both enviable and bewildering.

For the first 10 years David was the sole presenter of the show and stuck dutifully to his focus on pure punk. In a blog post from 2014 to mark the 500th episode, Dave recounts this period with tales of drunken studio invaders, furious techno fans calling in to tell him the music he plays sucks, as well as encounters with a presenter from the show before him, who would broadcast shirtless because it made him ‘perform better.’

After 10 years, Dave’s good friend Adam joined and the show became an amorphous beast. The definition of punk took a backseat. Rock was the remit, however rock was rightfully ascribed to be more of a feeling and an attitude. The playlists became more eclectic and varied. The artists played more diverse and less genre defined. There were Black History Month specials on soul, funk, R&B, dub, jazz and blues. Features on Miles Davies, the influence of reggae on punk.

During this period, the show became syndicated so it could be heard all across Canada. They also conducted well received interviews with the likes of Athens Post-punk outfit Pylon, members of the highly regarded Women from Calgary (Cindy Lee/Patrick Flegel), punk rock pioneer Richard Hell and Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, the latter of which picked them up a National Campus Radio Association award in the category Best Rock Show or similar. There were interviews with minority Canadian artists in the field of garage, retro-rock and psych like Bloodshot Bill and King Khan. As well as conversations with seminal and highly influential musicians like Colin Newman (Wire), Richard Lloyd (Television) and Tobin Sprout (Guided By Voices).

This Saturday will be the final installment of Revolution Rock. 1000+ episodes in and just over 20 years. Now I’m of the mindset that if you haven’t wrapped something up by around the, I don't know, let's say your 8th year doing it, then you might as well just keep doing it until you die. Adam and Dave seem to disagree for some reason. Fun fact, they both share the exact same birthday. Same day, same year. And to be around them, You’d swear they were brothers. (Adam is a few hours older, we’ve established).

So they’re moving on from Rev Rock, at least in its current format as a weekly show. Maybe there will be one-offs appearances and specials, who knows. There'll be an extended break before anything like that is decided. They had their fun and to be fair, so did I! I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on the show multiple times. In these moments I got to appreciate the Adam and David dynamic up close. Adam is the facts guy, the music encyclopedia. He keeps track of anniversaries to celebrate, landmark record release dates etc. He likes themes, some form of structure. I recall playing a song off a compilation and when the time came to introduce it, I blanked, forgetting the original album it came from, Adam was ready to helpfully interject citing the album title and year off the top of his head. His knowledge of music and ability to chat with detail and passion about the songs he’s just played, illuminating where they sit in the story of the artist’s biography or providing context about the time and place they were written is journalistic and impressive. He’s off script, no prompts or notes, loquacious to the point that you could just be sitting at a bar, drinking with him and sharing a poutine.

My dad, listening to BBC radio back in the UK, would share a similar sentiment with me about the BBC 6 Music presenters Radcliffe and Maconie, regarding their expertise and knowledge. This has some truth but let’s not forget that shows like that come with teams of researchers, not to mention a producer never far from whispering in their ear. Adam and Dave did this voluntarily, no pay and little perks, aside from the odd free gig ticket here and there and a dedicated, weekly caller (who will remain unnamed) who would tell them both about his life before inviting them on camping trips and making requests that they play Taylor Swift.

David is also insightful but his approach is more free-wheeling. He’ll show up with a stack of CDs probably picked in the morning, to throw on, off the cuff, without too much thought about how they might sound together, ‘we could try it’ is one of his favourite phrases. Perhaps an exercise in keeping things exciting after so many years. He talks into the mic with zero affectation, in a relaxed manner to an extent that I’ve never really witnessed before. What you hear is completely him. After years of student radio, stints working within radio at the BBC and more recently guest appearances on CJAM, I still can’t shy away from putting on a bit of a ‘radio voice.’ Call it a Welsh penchant for performance, I don’t know. David, the CJAM veteran, is a natural.

So what’s next for the two of them? David makes short films and writes music. Adam writes fiction and makes music. There’s talk of an interview podcast and some sort of public access TV inspired platform. Perhaps they’ll revolutionise our public libraries from within. Maybe they’ll usurp the New Democratic Party, making it an electoral force not seen since the days of Jack Layton? Am I getting carried away? All I know is that I’m not gonna reminisce about the show too much yet and just look forward to their next projects. There’ll be repeats heard from the CJAM archive (God knows they’ve got plenty of them) and on those syndicated stations across Canada too. Maybe one day, years from now I’ll return to a car after a day at a beach in Cape Breton, looking forward to a beer and some dinner, with that feeling of calm that only swimming in the sea brings. Sitting on a beach towel over the car seat, I hear familiar voices speaking under the whoosh of the AC, ‘hey’ I say to my present company. ‘I know those guys!’

Or perhaps I’m in Alberta, on one of those long, straight roads that go further than the horizon. I hear Joe Strummer’s voice, I hear Ty Segall talking to a puppet, I hear the comically despondent drawl of Douglas Hart from The Jesus Mary and Chain, part of the sound collage which introduces each episode of Revolution Rock. The sun setting a shade of peach before me in the way it does in the Prairies. Then I’ll say to myself. ‘Well done Adam. Well done David.’

2024 Album Highlights & Shows 1069, 1068, 1067, 1066

For our annual albums of the year episodes, Revolution Rock once again did not rank any of the albums with any specific number. The following selections for the two episodes posted here feature a mix of albums from 2024 in no specific order, but all of them were albums that we enjoyed. Below you will also find six write-ups from albums that were released in 2024, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download/listening links to two episodes featuring music released in 2024 (as well as a few other playlists and episodes).

2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee sounds unlike anything else that came out in 2024. Part retro-futurist queer fantasy, part alien broadcast from a David Lynch film, the album is less a collection of songs and more a bizarre enveloping sonic landscape.

The seventh record by Patrick Flegel’s experimental drag rock project Cindy Lee, this triple album came as a surprise release. Dropping without fanfare or press back in March, it was released exclusively as a continuous YouTube stream and on Flegel’s official Realistik Studios Web 1.0-style website. Diamond Jubilee quickly went on to draw a lot of attention from online fans and the music press, racking up critical acclaim and a cult following, despite the unassuming method of its release. The album was even shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, the first time a record without a physical release had been nominated for the award.

Its no wonder the record drummed up such acclaim; the mishmash of girl group pop, psychedelica, and 90’s lo-fi indie was unlike anything else released this year, a masterwork coming out from the duo of Flegel and multi-instrumentalist Steven Lind, whose golden guitar tones and grooving bass harkened back to the halcyon recordings of Mo-Town and Tamla. Then there are the songs, each a pocket dimension, an indelible short narrative fleshing out the mysteries of the Cindy Lee universe. “Stone Faces” propels forward with its hypnotic rhythm. “Wild Rose” tramps ahead drunkenly on high-heeled guitar picks, threatening but never teetering over into chaos. The longing “Golden Microphone” might be the album’s most conventionally beautiful moment, a rock and roll prayer for transcendent love.

It’s the rare triple record that never overstays its welcome. Instead, the sheer quality and quantity of the music here is astounding. Both sparkling and foggy, longing and acerbic, Diamond Jubilee is an album quite unlike anything else.

Jessica Pratt - Here In the Pitch

There is something in the hypnogogic mood of Here in the Pitch that is both stirring and pensive. Much like the shadow drenched figure of Jessica Pratt on the album’s cover, there is something about these arrangements that feel veiled in darkness. A liminal sense of uncertainty permeates what could have easily been little more than a nostalgic tribute to the bygone hippie era of Pratt’s native California. Instead, the songs mutate and shift into something darker and more ominous. Marianne Faithful is too easy a comparison to make, especially when Pratt’s sensitive guitar work and pained vocals call to mind the melancholic records of Nick Drake, Karen Dalton, and Sibylle Baier.

Created alongside long-time collaborator Al Carlson, the expanded instrumentation of Here in the Pitch fleshes out Pratt’s sound, adding a newfound depth and diversity to her arrangements. Each track on this humble nine-song set feel like a tiny mystery, a Mansfieldian world of ambiguity and longing, twilight-tinged stories of desire and despair.

Easily Pratt’s most accomplished record, Here In the Pitch is a spacious and dreamy experience and is well-worth falling into its lush embrace.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead 

The cries of children. Bombardment rending families and bodies apart. Tears caked with grey dust billowing from the rubble. There is no ambiguity with this record. GY!BE are uncompromising in their direction, their warped guitars and visceral string arrangements evoking the horrors of the attacks on Gaza. Its an album that doesn't need words to have its message profoundly heard. This is urgent, brilliant, and utterly necessary music.

More 2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Packs – Melt The Honey

Toronto-based band Packs began around 2019 as a solo project for songwriter Madeline Link. A full band emerged shortly after featuring Dexter Nash (guitar), Noah O’Neil (bass) and Shane Hooper on drums. With a few singles released online, they drew the attention of Fire Talk records and then released their debut album Take The Cake in 2021 and Crispy Crunchy Nothing followed in 2023. The band’s sound has been described as lo-fi indie rock, garage rock, and drawing influences from acts such as Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh and others, Link’s lyrics often pull from a literary aesthetic, delivering character driven stories at times, or evoking meaning from the mundane moments in life by balancing wit with humour. Packs third full-length album Melt the Honey arrived in January 2024.

Recorded in Mexico over the course of 11 days by the band themselves, Melt the Honey takes a more experimental approach to aspects of Packs sound, often wandering into psych, shoe gaze and folk territory while still staying true to the sounds of the band’s first two albums.  “89 Days” opens with a hazy more lethargic feel. Lyrically, Link sings “No backups for 89 days/I click on close, but the thought still remains/And as I fall asleep, I wish that I could change” touching on themes of unresolved tasks, missed opportunities and the passage of time in a poignant way. “Honey” is a more upbeat track. The album takes its title from this song. With acoustic guitars, steady drums, bass and electric guitar that cuts in and out with organ in the syrupy choruses, lyrics “Tar on the freeway marks on the wall/This is where I fall/Figuring out it's seriously what I wanted all this time” in the verses emphasize the complex layers and thrills of a new relationship. “HFCS” is a more lo-fi garage-sounding track. With lyrics “High fructose corn syrup” in the sugary sounding choruses, Link and Packs tackle the addictiveness of artificial based sugars over the real thing while also serving up a metaphor for authenticity. Throughout Melt the Honey, the music is raw, unfiltered and unafraid to experiment. Lyrically, the songs go deep into the complex layers of emotions with a new sense of optimism, still evoking meaning from the mundane with an undeniable wit and humour. Melt the Honey reverberates with lo-fi confident honeyed rhythms, melodies and lyrics that will be hard to forget.

Apollo Ghosts - Amethyst

In 2022, Apollo Ghosts returned bringing back elements of their jangle-punk sound with something new. On the stunning double album Pink Tiger (released on You've Changed Records), Apollo Ghosts featured one album (Pink) that was primarily acoustic with lyrics of loss, illness, death and memory in eleven tracks, while the other album (Tiger) leans towards more jangle-punk, garage sounds and features the remaining songs in this 22-song epic collection. Lyrically, this side of the album celebrates friendship, music and hope. It was recorded primarily as a three-piece band featuring Teacher, Amanda P. and Robbie N. In 2023, ahead of a European tour they released the psych-tinged digital single Gave Up the Dream. And in February 2023, a surprise mini-album/EP arrived digitally ahead of a Japanese tour titled Amethyst, released on You've Changed Records.

A collection of jangly punk songs, the brief selection of songs packs a mighty punch pulling from influences of Built To Spill, Pavement and Yo La Tengo. Along with the combination of jangle pop, indie, garage and punk, when combined with the witty lyrics of Adrian Teacher, gives Amethyst extra weight. Musically, the ever-evolving sound of Apollo Ghosts in addition to the already mentioned influences, also adds elements of bands such as Go Betweens and The Bats. “Ripping Invasives” starts off Amethyst and is a hard-hitting punk and post punk track with lyrics contrasting lies, dishonesty to dangerous invasive plants that need to be ripped out and destroyed to protect nature. The theme of killing parts of nature in order protect it operates on many levels here. “Rave Heaven” features a locked in mid-tempo groove with crunchy distorted guitars as lyrics such as “I’ll be the sun/And you’ll be the moon/Wildfires start/They’re starting so soon,” and “I’ll be honest/That I felt the healing coming/But I’m not sure it is or if the sentiment is gone,” about environmental factors such as climate change in a sardonic way, contrasting them to stormy elements of a relationship. Throughout Amethyst, lyrics deal with near death experiences, struggling with a world with leaders unmotivated by change, gentrification, among other things. Musically, the album is their loudest to date. On this EP, Apollo Ghosts show us that sincerity exists in a world of dishonesty, contrasting the dark with the light in a way that only they can.

Bad Hoo - A Run-In With Worms

Described as surfy sultry garage scuzz from Victoria, BC, Bad Hoo’s 2024 album A Run-In with Worms is an off the wall, fresh sounding album that is focused, strong and raw. Their last release 2020’s Right As Rain, delved into more experimentation musically and lyrically, delivering a potent, haunting mixture of sonic sounds during the 2020 climate. A Run-In with Worms builds on Right As Rain’s strong moments, propelling Bad Hoo further.

“Patrick Raw,” brings deep cutting basslines, drums and sporadic guitar riffs, with thought provoking lyrics “There is no competition/I am their competition” that open A Run-In with Worms on powerful note, fuzzy garage and surf riffs deliver “Old Outch” as witty lyrics “I felt evil on a Sunday/Goodness knows you’re going to/Run run run double time,” “Eat your spuds/Whole and live/They’ll grow out of you when you die/Or try old outch but there’s no pain/The chips in bed in your brains,” balance the absurdity of Sunday’s, the work week, chips, death and the evilness, frustrations and mundaneness of the real world, “Withering Hides” is a hard hitting track with rolling guitar riffs that navigate and slither between Oswald’s vocals, that pull from a literary context here delivering a mix of passion, love and vengeance-related themes.

“Hot Dr. Pibbs” is an ode to a 50s/60s marketing campaign to get people to drink hot Dr. Pepper around Christmastime. Switching focus to their competitor Dr. Pibbs, Bad Hoo produce a twisted, Crampsian, fuzzy garage descent, as they take something that seems like it could be nonsensical, but add wit, humour and a paranoid seriousness to it. Intense rolling drums, bass and sparse, interlocking guitars come forth in “Fake Futures That Never Came to Be.” Lyrically, words touch on failed environmental promises, touching on the CBC, David Suzuki, Damo Suzuki, Styrofoam, and an apocalyptic outlook that provides a cautious, yet eerily accurate picture of a future that may never exist. “Tickling Salt” marches in with garage psych dynamics, “…And the Corn,” brings forth crunchy garage rhythms and psych melodies among the undeniable wit and potency, balancing themes of past simplicities and present complexities. A Run-In with Worms, delivers raw, unfiltered scuzzy garage gems as it blurs the line between, garage, psych, punk and indie rock with dashes of surf rock. Bad Hoo writhe and trash with an undeniable, illuminating sharp, whimsical and thought-provoking outlook.

Show 1069 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 7th, 2024)(The Zombies, The Beatles, White Stripes, The Clean, Libertines, Horse Chops, Protomartyr):

1. Alvvays - Very Online Guy
2. U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates
3. Martha and the Muffins - Hide and Seek
4. Kate Fagan - 2 Good 2 Be True
5. Jessica Pratt - Get Your Head Out
6. The Clean - Anything Could Happen
7. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded (Original Mix)
8. Wire - Sand in My Joints (4th Demo Session)
9. The Undertones - True Confessions (Single Version)
10. The Libertines - Death on the Stairs
11. The White Stripes - Jumble, Jumble
12. The Hives - Missing Link
13. The Zombies - Tell Her No
14. The Zombies - It’s Alright with Me
15. The Zombies - Work N’ Play
16. The Beatles - No Reply
17. The Beatles - I’m A Loser
18. The Beatles - Baby’s in Black
19. Psychic Void - Denim Daddy
20. Cellos - Demagogue
21. James OL & The Villains - Late Night Drive
22. What Seas What Shores - Pave the Oceans
23. The Skeggs - Out of My Head
24. King Khan (Feat. Saba Lou & Bella the Bizarre) - Bring Them Home
25. Bella and the Bizarre - In Your Mind
26. The Discarded - Going to the Beach
27. Horse Chops - Ten Speed
28. The Bug Club - War Movies
29. Minor Threat - 12XU
30. Iceage - You’re Nothing
31. Metz - Get Off
32. Rites of Spring - Theme
33. Protomartyr - Devil in His Youth

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the December 7 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1068 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 30th, 2024) (Albums of 2024 Part Two):

1. Bloodshot Bill - Spotted (Diary of the Doom - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
2. The Surfrajettes - Instant Coffee (Easy As Pie - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
3. The Routes - Atmosphere (Surfin' Pleasures - Topsy Turvy Records - 2024)
4. Tandoori Knights - 88 Keys (14 Hits That Don't Quit - Rad Girlfriend Records - 2024)
5. Wine Lips - Six Pack (Super Mega Ultra - Stomp Records - 2024)
6. Hot Garbage - You Snooze You Lose (Precious Dream - Mothland - 2024)
7. Amyl and the Sniffers - Do It Do It (Cartoon Darkness - B2B/Virgin Music Group - 2024)
8. MJ Lenderman - Joker Lips (Manning Fireworks - ANTI- 2024)
9. Mount Eerie - Non-Metaphorical Decolonization (Night Palace - P.W. Elverum & Sun - 2024)
10. Crack Cloud - Lack of Lack (Red Mile - Jagjaguwar - 2024)
11. Kim Deal - Crystal Breath (Nobody Loves You More - 4AD - 2024)
12. Motorists - Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind (Touched By the Stuff - We Are Time - 2024)
13. Bad Hoo - Hot Dr. Pibbs (A Run-In with Worms - Cool Ranch - 2024)
14. Dog Day - Bordering (A T-Shirt with Writing On It - Fundog - 2024)
15. Dog Day - Wasn’t It Nice (Almost - Fundog - 2024)
16. The Smile - Zero Sum (Cutouts - XL Recordings - 2024)
17. Jon McKiel - Concrete Sea (Hex - You've Changed Records - 2024)
18. Jessica Pratt - Life Is (In the Pitch - Mexican Summer - 2024)
19. Adrienne Lenker - Vampire Empire (Bright Future - 4AD - 2024)
20. Beth Gibbons - Tell Me Who You Are Today (Lives Outgrown - Chamber Pop - 2024)
21. Dion Lunadon - Goodtimes (Memory Burn - Beast Records - 2024)
22. Osees - Pixelated Moon (SORCS 80 - Castle Face Records - 2024)
23. Sunglaciers - Kafka (Regular Nature - Mothland - 2024)
24. Apollo Ghosts - Ripping Invasives (Amethyst - You've Changed Records - 2024)
25. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Chatter (Too Hot To Sleep - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Night Court - Captain Caveperson ($hit Machine - Recess Records - 2024)
27. Pypy - Poodle Wig (Sacred Music - Goner Records - 2024)
28. Packs - Missy (Melt the Honey - Fire Talk - 2024)
29. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice (Funeral for Justice - Matador - 2024)
30. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sun is a Hole in Vapors (No Title as of 13 February 2024 28340 Dead - Constellation Records - 2024)
31. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Frogs (Wild God - PIAS Recordings - 2024)
32. Cindy Lee - Golden Microphone (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 30 file to download/stream the episode. 

Show 1067 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 23rd, 2024)(Albums of 2024 Part One):

1. Cindy Lee - Wild Rose (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)
2. Jack White - What’s the Rumpus (No Name - Third Man Records - 2024)
3. Being Dead - Love Machine (EELS - Bayonet - 2024)
4. Nap Eyes - Ice Grass Underpass (Neon Gate - Paradise of Bachelors - 2024)
5. Brainrust - Band Manager (Indistinct Chatter - 2024)
6. The Scenics - Garthuson (New Part in Tower - Dream Tower Records - 2024)
7. X - Sweet Till the Bitter End (Smoke & Fiction - Fat Possum Records - 2024)
8. Roswit - Dreamer’s Song (Eternal Living - Mono Tapes - 2024)
9. Retail Simps - Knotted Up (Strike Gold, Strike Back, Strike Out - Total Punk Records - 2024)
10. Ducks LTD. - Hollowed Out (Harm's Way - Carpark Records - 2024)
11. Knitting - Amy (Some Kind of Heaven - Mint Records - 2024)
12. Vampire Weekend - Classical (Only God was Above Us - Columbia - 2024)
13. Hurray For the Riff Raff - Buffalo (The Past is Still Alive - Nonesuch - 2024)
14. La Luz - Poppies (News of the Universe - Sub Pop -2024)
15. Ty Segall - My Room (Three Bells - Drag City - 2024)
16. Rick White and The Sadies - Spellbound (Rick White and The Sadies - Blue Fog - 2024)
17. Skinny Dyck - Out of Control (Easygoing - Victory Pool - 2024)
18. The Bobby Tenderloin Universe - Marigold (Satan is a Woman - 2024)
19. The Jesus Lizard - Is That Your Hand? (Rack - Ipecac Recordings - 2024)
20. Kim Gordon - I’m A Man (The Collective - Matador - 2024)
21. Fontaines D.C. - Bug (Romance - XL Recordings - 2024)
22. Shellac - Scabby the Rat (To All Trains - Touch and Going Records - 2024)
23. The Mystery Lights - Mighty Fine & All Mine (Purgatory - Wick Records - 2024)
24. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Wicked World (That Delicious Vice - In the Red Recordings - 2024)
25. Richard Laviolette - I Was Saved By Rock and Roll (All Wild Things Are Shy - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Shadow Show - Vertigo (Fantasy Now! - Stolen Body Records - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 23 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1066 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 17th, 2024) (Feat. Guest Hosts Nick of Radio Drill Time and Kieran Owen):

1. Louder Than Death - Chief Sleeps in the Park
2. The Spits - Electric Brain
3. The Spits - Up All Night
4. Motorhead - The Hammer
5. Visibly Choked - Third Time’s the Charm
6. Roye Trout - Contrition & Disclosure
7. Thin Lizzy - Southbound
8. Sugar - Changes
9. Kim Deal - A Good Time Pushed
10. Teenage Fanclub - Radio
11. Father John Misty - She Cleans Up
12. Mount Eerie - & Sun
13. Robyn Hitchcock - Insect Mother
14. Unrest - Make Out Club
15. Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling 
16. The dbs - Black and White
17. Bad Egg - Breaking the Lease
18. Fifth Column - Hit the Roof
19. The Government - I’m Somebody
20. The Dave Howard Singers - Darren Stevens
21. Deja Voodoo - Big Scary Daddy
22. Roxy Music - All I Want is You
23. Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
24. Spun Out - Paranoia
25. Les Breastfeeders - Vivre et Exister
26. The Mystery Lights - In the Streets
27. The Minutemen - Cut

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 17 file to download/stream the episode.

CJAM FM 2024 Pledge Drive & Shows # 1065, 1064, 1063, 1062, 1061, 1060, 1059, 1057, 1056

From November 8th-November 17th, CJAM FM will be holding its annual pledge drive fundraiser. For over 40 years, CJAM FM has been serving the Windsor/Detroit community as a non-profit, campus/community-based radio station. It offers unique programming and music you won’t find anywhere else in the Windsor/Detroit area. As a non-profit organization we rely on our annual funding drive to support everyday essentials, equipment, and operations—ensuring our independence and ability to serve our community. In terms of content, whether it is obscure punk, hardcore tracks, indie rock, world music, jazz, soul, electronic music or everything in-between and beyond, CJAM has it and is highlighting it in some fashion. Last year, CJAM had a 40th anniversary party and celebrations and this year we also have many different events in the community coming up.

If you didn’t get a chance there’s still time to support CJAM FM. We offer some great incentives as a thank you for your support for non-profit, listener-supported radio. Whether you listen online through our archives, stream from our website or listen on the FM dial CJAM is here to provide with content you won’t hear anywhere else. Music, spoken word programming, exclusive interviews, a different perspective and more. Your contributions help us maintain our annual budget and ensure that we can continue to bring you diverse programming and local voices. Every donation makes a difference—let’s keep the spirit of community radio alive together!

WAYS TO DONATE:

Donation Incentives:

$5 - Shout out! 

Get your favourite host to shout you out on their show + play a song request!

$10 - TYSM <3

CJAM Mushy sticker

$15 - One Ring To Rule Them All 

CJAM Mushy keychain

$40 - T-Shirt Time! 

CJAM Mushy printed on a cotton tee. This year's design is by Maria Mediratta (@mariamediratta)

$50 - Totes 

CJAM Mushy printed on a natural canvas tote

$100 - Everything but the kitchen sink 

All of the above + CJAM’s love!

$50 - The Voice of the Underground 

A surprise pack of past CJAM Pledge merch, records, CDs and a copy of CJAM: Live Off The Floor & zine

Donation and merch site: cjam-merch.square.site or www.cjam.ca

Below you can find some playlists to recent episodes of Revolution Rock and an example of the type of programming that we offer.

Show 1065 (Originally Aired On November 9th, 2024)(CJAM 2024 Pledge Drive):

1. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange 
2. Itchy Self - B What You B 
3. Chris Burns & His Going Concerns - Perennial Doubts
4. The Routes - Digital 
5. Cult Babies - For Real 
6. Rooms - Hunting 
7. Chris-o-riffic - That’s What We Would Inherit 
8. Bibi Club - Parc De Beauvoir 
9. The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make? 
10. The Smiths - Handsome Devil 
11. The Smiths - Girl Afraid 
12. The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want 
13. Tanz Der Youth - I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry (1978 Peel Session) 
14. The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet (1978 Peel Session) 
15. Wire - Culture Vultures (1978 Peel Session) 
16. The Cure - 10:15 Saturday Night (1978 Peel Session) 
17. The Cure - A Fragile Thing 
18. The Sparks - Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth 
19. The Sparks - Something for the Girl with Everything 
20. Amyl & The Sniffers - Bailing On Me 
21. Feeling Figures - We Are Not the You 
22. Skinny Dyck - And Then One Day 
23. Roswit - Oat’s Song
24. Double Vision - 12 Months 
25. Ancient Shapes - Public Hymns 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 9 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1064 (Originally Aired On November 2nd, 2024)(Mount Eerie, Brian Eno, The Ronetes, Horse Chops, Night Court):

1. Mount Eerie - I Saw Another Bird 
2. Mount Eerie - Broom of the Wind 
3. Knitting - Dig 
4. Heaven for Real - Bitting Down with Fangs 
5. Night Court - Mistakes Become You 
6. Movieland - I Relate 
7. Horse Chops - Mr. Headphones 
8. White Fence - Beat 
9. Crones - Pullin’ Saw 
10. Crachat - Pas De Compromis 
11. Brian Eno - The True Wheel 
12. Brian Eno - Third Uncle 
13. X - Surreal
14. Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal 
15. Oblivians - Pinball King 
16. Jack Oblivian - Rat City
17. The Ronettes - What’d I Say 
18. The Ronettes - Be My Baby (Live) 
19. Tess Parks - Sunnyside 
20. PYPY - She’s Back 
21. Le Securite - Detour 
22. Paul Jacobs - Show Me Something 
23. Shadow Show - Baba Yaga 
24. Kraftwerk - Autobahn 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 2 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1063 (Originally Aired On October 26th, 2024)(2024 Halloween Episode):

1. The Bama-Lamas - Hungry Teenage Wolfman
2. Aki Along and The A’Kies - Haunted Piano
3. Mac DeMarco - Very Spooky
4. The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost
5. The Cords - Ghost Power
6. Being Dead - Godzilla Rises
7. The Kinks - King Kong
8. The 5.6.7.8.’s - Mothra
9. The Moons - Gammera
10. Ty Segall - Spiders
11. Wine Lips - Burn the Witch
12. Spider Bite - Spider Bite
13. Hot Garbage - X-Ray
14. Suckerpunch - Witch Doctor
15. PIxies - Chicken
16. The Fever Brakes - Zombie Swagger
17. Billy Taylor and the Tear Drops - Wombie Zombie
18. R.E.M. - I Walked with a Zombie
19. Cindy Lee - Dracula
20. The Garrys - Graveyard Curve
21. Tough Age - Ghost
22. Ghost Woman - Demons
23. Bloodshot Bill - Rusty Blade
24. Ichi-Bons - Snake Eyes
25. The Surfajettes - Banshee Bop
26. The Black Flamingos - Are You Afraid of the Dark
27. Dr. Surf - Theme from Zombies D’Lamoure
28. Messer Chups - Swamp Surfing
29. The Beat Happening - Hangman
30. The Ebb-Tides - Séance
31. The Lollipop Shoppe - You Must Be A Witch
32. Dead Moon - Evil Eye

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the October 26 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1062 (Originally Aired On October 19th, 2024)(The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Japandroids, Ty Segall):

1. The Surfrajettes - Clam Chowder
2. Les Hay Babies - Some People
3. Roswit - Duke’s Song
4. Amyl and the Sniffers - Chewing Gum
5. Corridor - Jump Cut
6. Ducks LTD. - Grim Symmetry
7. Le Securite - Waiting for Kenny
8. Ron Gallo - Yucca Valley Marshalls
9. Osees - Zipper
10. Brainrust - Pacing
11. Bonnie Trash - Red Right Hand
12. Fan Club - I Was A Stray
13. The Chats - Drunk and Disorderly
14. Mick Futures - In Case We Learn
15. The Rolling Stones - Empty Heart 
16. The Rolling Stones - Under the Boardwalk
17. The Animals - The Story of Bo Diddley
18. The Animals - I’ve Been Around
19. Frankie and the Witch Fingers - i-Candy
20. Night Court - Captain Caveperson
21. Japandroids - A Gaslight Anthem
22. Nap Eyes - Dark Mystery Enigma Bird
23. Chad VanGaalen - Clown Town
24. The Routes - Transmission
25. The Clean - Billy Two
26. Ty Segall - Booksmarts
27. Ty Segall - Hand Glams
28. The Gories - Everything (That’s Mine)
29. Weird Nightmare - Dark Room

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the October 19 file to download/stream the episode.
 

Show 1061 (Originally Aired On October 12th, 2024)(Retail Simps, MJ Lenderman, Thee Headcoates, The Delmonas, Thee Headcoats, Cult Crime):

1. The Fall - 2X4
2. Bloodshot Bill - Stretcher
3. Lice - Mown in Circles
4. The Linda Lindas - No Obligation
5. Vypers - Sweet Change
6. Fake Fruit - See it That Way
7. Pressure Pin - Polyurethane
8. The Great Divides - Death of A Dog
9. Dog Day - Too Soon
10. Oh Telephone - Repo Man
11. Cult Crime - Gone Too Long
12. Shadow Show - Spy Balloon
13. The Delmonas - C.C Rider
14. Thee Headcoatees - Davey Crockett (Gabba Hey)
15. The Traditional Fools - Davey Crockett
16 .Thee Headcoats - Walk of the Lost
17. Skye Wallace - There is a Wall
18. MJ Lenderman - Wristwatch
19. Being Dead - Blanket of My Bone
20. The Smile - Eyes and Mouth
21. Geordie Greep - Blues
22. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sun is a Hole Sun is Vapors
23. Richard Laviolette - Carter and Cash
24. Rick White and the Sadies - With or Without You
25. The Bobby Tenderloin Universe - Bad Boy Redemption Ranch
26. Skinny Dyck - Easygoing
27. The Fall - Craigness
28. Retail Simps - O.B. on the Move
29. Retail Simps - Prismic Dangle

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the October 12 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1060 (Originally Aired On October 5th, 2024)(The Replacements Let It Be 40th Anniversary, The Kinks, Kris Kristofferson, Pack Rat):

1. Jose Contreras - Crackers and Ginger Ale 
2. Dany Placard - Promener Le Chien 
3. HotKid - All Time 
4. Mark Sultan - We’ll Meet Again 
5. The Replacements - I Will Dare (Live University of Wisconsin 1986) 
6. The Replacements - Favorite Thing 
7. The Replacements - We’re Comin’ Out 
8. The Replacements - Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out (Live at Maxwell’s 1986) 
9. The Replacements - Androgynous
10. The Replacements - Black Diamond (Live at Maxwell’s 1986) 
11. The Replacements - Unsatisfied (Live at Cabaret Metro 1986) 
12. The Replacements - Seen Your Video 
13. The Replacements - Gary’s Got a Boner (Live at Maxwell’s 1986) 
14. The Replacements - Sixteen Blue (Alt. Vocal) 
15. The Replacements - Answering Machine (Demo) 
16. Kris Kristofferson - Help Me Make it Through the Night 
17. Kris Kristofferson - The Best of All Possible Worlds 
18. Kris Kristofferson - The Silver Tongued Devil and I 
19. The Kinks - Beautiful Delilah 
20. The Kinks - Stop Your Sobbing 
21. The Trampoline Delay - Little Lucy 
22. Roswit - Person’s Song 
23. Feeling Figures - Swimming 
24. Knitting - Green 
25. Teenage Art Scene - Paper Planes
26. Pack Rat - Can’t Stop 
27. Kiwi Jr. - Gold Star for Robot Boy 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the October 5 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1058 (Originally Aired On September 21st, 2024)(Talking heads, Robyn Hitchcock, Ween, Ron Gallo):

1. Talking Heads - Girlfriend is Better
2. Constantines - Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
3. Dana Gavanski - Ought to Feel
4. Spacecraft 7 - Ladybirds (Spider Attack)
5. Bad Hoo - …The Corn
6. Chad VanGaalen - Weird Love
7. Teenage Art Scene Slow - Pulse
8. The Animals - I’m in Love Again
9. Robyn Hitchcock - See Emily Play
10. Jane’s Addiction - My Time
11. The Secret Beach - Sucked into it
12. PYPY - Lonely Striped Sock
13. Dial Up - Killers on the Flower Moon
14. Cola - Pallor Tricks
15. The Fall - Psykick Dancehall
16. Ween - What Deaner Was Talkin’ About
17. Skinny Dyck - Out of Control
18. Tindersticks - New World
19. Thurston Moore - New in Town
20. Dion Lunadon - Hollywood Blues
21. The Anomayls - Flat Top
22. Ron Gallo - Poor Traits of the Artist
23. Tough Age - Cocaine Vouchers
24. Long Weekends - Show Your Face
25. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - The Smoke is the Ghost

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the September 21 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1057 (Originally Aired On September 14th, 2024)(Richard Laviolette, The Hentchmen, Japandroids, The Gories, Built To Spill):

1. The Gories - Cry Girl
2. Knitting - Heaven
3. Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - Went to a Party
4. Les Hay Babies - Soyez Fiers
5. Built To Spill - Dystopian Dream Girl
6. Built To Spill - Reasons
7. Richard Laviolette - Milkweed and Motherwort
8. Richard Laviolette - Don’t Quit On Me
9. Okmoniks - Ain’t Coming In
10. The Submissives - Obsessive
11. Pack Rat - I Know You Know
12. Jack White - That’s How I’m Feeling
13. The Hentchmen - Automatic
14. The Hentchmen - Flash Flood
15. Bloodshot Bill - Doomin’
16. Jesus Lizard - Alexis Feels Sick
17. Sham Family - Peroxide Boys
18. Japandroids - D&T
19. The Smile - Zero Sum
20. Kim Deal - Coast
21. The Painted October - Butterfly Eyes
22. Coal Moon - Steam Restoration Blues
23. Peawes - Plastic Bullets
24. The Standells - Ninety-Nine and a Half
25. Crisis Party - Warble
26. Osees - Drug City
27. Crack Cloud - The Ballad of Billy

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the September 17 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1056 September 7th, 2024)(Deja Voodoo Tribute, New Enemies):

1. Cuff the Duke - Leaving it All Behind 
2. MJ Lenderman - Rudolph 
3. Fontaines D.C. - Here’s the Thing
4. Deja Voodoo - My Girlfriend
5. Deja Voodoo - Big Pile of Mud 
6. Deja Voodoo - Call Link Wray 
7. Deja Voodoo - (Some Things Just Don’t) Wash Off 
8. Deja Voodoo - Monsters in My Garage Got Married 
9. Deja Voodoo - Gonna Kill Somebody
10. Deja Voodoo - Stuff and Things 
11. Deja Voodoo - Brown Leather Jacket 
12. Deja Voodoo - A Million Pieces 
13. Deja Voodoo - Big Ending! 
14. Deja Voodoo - 48 Bucks 
15. The New Enemies - I Don’t Know 
16. The New Enemies - I Can’t Puke 
17. The New Enemies - Girl Off the Street 
18. The New Enemies - Shoot Yourself 
19. The Seatbelts - International 
20. The Enemies - 23 Men (1980 Basement Demo) 
21. The New Enemies - Mr. Monster 
22. The Dry Heaves - Portable 
23. The New Enemies - I’m Waiting For My Man
24. Lost Patrol - In Your Eyes 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the September 7 file to download/stream the episode.

For those keeping track episode 1059 (which aired on September 28th) was a repeat of episode 1058. You can hear that episode playlist in this post.

The Beach Boys: Endless Summer, Martin Phillips & Shows # 1047, 1048, 1049, 1050, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1054 & 1055

The Beach Boys: Endless Summer Special

At the beginning of August, Revolution Rock did an episode made up entirely of Beach Boys songs. However, with so many box sets, alternate takes, different versions from albums sessions that have been released, we focused on lesser-known Beach Boys tracks from albums that are not as well known.

Following the release of 1966’s Pet Sounds, an album that was changed the landscape of pop music, Brian Wilson set about making an even more ambitious album Smile. Due to a variety of factors such as tensions within the band and label pressure, that album was never completed, however a version of it was reworked, re-recorded and released as Smiley Smile in 1967. Talk of Smile had high expectations and when Smiley Smile didn’t deliver, the Beach Boys veered off into another course of musical exploration. After decades of being bootlegged, Smile would be released in as complete of a form as possible as The Smile Sessions box set in 2011. In 1967, they released the album Wild Honey, an album that is very underrated in their catalogue and may be one of the first lo-fi albums ever released. It was also DIY pop, so it also gave birth to another genre of DIY music. But, its back to basics approach to music, was not received well critically. Perhaps it was too different from what was being done at the time, but it would still have an impact on some artists in terms of less produced sounding material such as Bob Dylan (John Wesley Harding), The Band (Music from Big Pink), and The Rolling Stones and The Beatles to name a few.

Musically, Wild Honey was indebted to a heavy influence from R&B, Motown, Stax and soul music in general. Other band members also began to contribute more in terms of songwriting such as Carl Wilson in addition to contributions from Mike Love, the group as a whole and of course Brian Wilson. The band wanted to be a more self-contained rock band for this record, partially due to heavy criticism that The Beach Boys sounded like choirboys. Recorded primarily at Brian Wilson’s home studio, Wild Honey also purposely avoided mainstream trends at the time such as psych rock and hard rock. It was as Carl Wilson has stated, “Music to cool out by."

“Aren’t You Glad” is a song written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson that also features dual vocals from both members. It has a Motown inspired lyric and a laidback simplicity, while the lo-fi and raw sounding production lends itself with breeziness to this song and the album as a whole. “Country Air” describes the sun rising over rural America. With classic Beach Boy-styled harmonies, this song also features a buzzing that was present on the master tape due to a technical issue. It was left in. “Darlin’" is a track sung by Carl Wilson. Pulling in the soul/Stax influence, this song started out differently as a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the band Three Dog Night, but by the time it got to these sessions, it was reworked into a unique track and future fan favourite. “I’d Love Just Once To See You,” a Brian Wilson original, plods along with acoustic guitar and bass as Wilson sings of everyday life things and adding an edge to it, despite the briefness of the track, “Here Comes The Night” injects a soulful, rock and roll energy to it as that ever present tape buzz in the background is almost an instrument in itself, “How She Bugalooed It” is a Carl Wilson original that is a bit more rock and roll, but also has Jonathan Richman vibes to it (pre-dating his music of course). They also cover Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made To Love Her” and the title track was sung from Wonder’s perspective.

Overall, Wild Honey is greatly underrated and overlooked album in their discography. Reportedly named after a jar of wild honey in Brian Wilson’s kitchen, the title suits the album and collection of songs here so well. Wild Honey is raw, unfiltered and unprocessed.

Martin Phillips of The Chills (1963-2024):

At the end of July, New Zealand musician and songwriter Martin Phillips passed suddenly at the age of 61. He fronted The Chills, a band associated with the early days of the pioneering indie label Flying Nun Records. The band itself went through many lineup changes over the years and released a plethora of singles, EPs, compilation albums and studio albums. The music that they created was an architect of the Dunedin Sound, a subgenre of that music mixed elements of psychedelia and pop. It was influenced by other genres such as punk and often cast the music against wistful melodies. The songs that Phillips wrote such as “Kaleidoscope World,” the unsettling, but beloved track “Pink Frost,” “Leather Jacket,” written about a leather jacket given to Phillips following the passing of Chills drummer Martyn Bull and the stunning “Heavenly Pop Hit,” to name a few, are all unique and a good example of his style of songwriting. His lyrics were dark, sometimes philosophical, literate and captivating.

Starting in 1980, The Chills put out several singles on the Flying Nun label, which would eventually be collected on the album Kaleidoscope World album. Their first proper album Brave Words followed in 1987, all of the albums and singles up to this point did very well in New Zealand and the UK and they toured often throughout Europe and New Zealand and Australia. In 1990 they released Submarine Bells. This album was released in the US via Slash Records (and in New Zealand on Flying Nun). The album featured orchestral flourishes in between a strong collection of indie songs written by Phillips. The single “Heavenly Pop Hit” reached #17 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. However, following one more album, 1992’s Soft Bomb, Phillips and The Chills would lose a bit of momentum. Phillips released an album as Martin Phillips & The Chills called Sunburnt in 1996, but following that the band took a long break. Stand By, an EP of new Chills material was released in 2004, a documentary The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillips was released in 2019. Three albums followed their 2004 EP, in 2015 (Silver Bullets), in 2018 (Snowbound) and 2021 (Scatterbrain). A new album of material was being worked on prior to Phillips passing called Springboard: Early Unrecorded Songs.

Phillips was an outsider artist. Several of his influences such as Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, Scott Walker and Nick Drake, align with the music that he created. Throughout The Chills discography and Martin Phillips songwriting, there is one this present in all of it, a sense of wonder. Even all the way up to The Chills most recent album, Scatterbrain, The music never lost that.

Show 1055 (Originally Aired On August 31st, 2024)(Deja Voodoo, Leonard Cohen's New Skin for the Old Ceremony 50th anniversary, Nick Cave, Kid Congo Powers):

1. Deja Voodoo - Rock Therapy 
2. Deja Voodoo - Expresso Bongo 
3. Parsnip - Papier-Mache 
4. Chris Burns & His Growing Concerns Things - Overheard (From People Talking Loudly on their Phones) 
5. The Bell System - You Be You 
6. Terminal Sunglasses - Could That Be People Crossing My Lawn 
7. Theee Retail Simps - Spit It Out 
8. The Supremes - Standing at the Crossroads of Love 
9. Alex Chilton & Hi-Rhythm Section - Where Did Our Love Go? 
10. Heaven For Real - Oh No 
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Sees - Oh Wow Oh Wow (How Wonderful She Is)
12. black midi - Speedway 
13. Geordie Greep - Holy, Holy 
14. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf 
15. Leonard Cohen - There is a War 
16. Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire 
17. Beth Gibbons - Rewind 
18. Tess Parks - Koalas 
19. Built To Spill - Singing Sores Make Perfect Swords (Live) 
20. Floating Witch’s Head - Bodysnatchers 
21. The Stonemen - In the Evening 
22. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - A Beast, A Priest
23. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - The Boy Had It All 
24. Fugazi - Do You Like Me 
25. Leonard Cohen - I Tried To Leave You

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 31 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1054 (Originally Aired On August 24th, 2024)(Bloodshot Bill, Sanford Clark, Carl Perkins, Rick White and The Sadies, Richard Hell & The Voidoids):

1. Bloodshot Bill - Breakaway 
2. The Mystery Lights - Mighty Fine & All Mine
3. Los Babys - Cool Jerk 
4. Los Profetas - Loco Estare
5. Los Monjes - Batman 
6. Ducks LTD. - Hollowed Out 
7. Sanford Clark - The Fool 
8. Sanford Clark - It’s Nothing To Me
9. Flying Burrito Bros. - Wheels 
10. Carl Perkins & NRBQ - Sorry Charlie
11. Rick White and The Sadies - Walls 
12. The Ford City Ramblers - Ramblin’ Mind
13. The Locusts Have No King - Is It Or Ain’t It 
14. Dragsville - Suitcase 
15. Meringues - Reality
16. La Luz - Always in Love 
17. Kairos Creature Club - Good Company 
18. A. Swayze and The Ghosts - News
19. Tim Presley’s White Fence - The Neighborhood
20. Oblivians - Vietnam War Blues
21. Dog Day - Dark Side 
22. Golden Shitters - Love Blows 
23. Big Bill - Political Meat 
24. Baby Giant - She’s A Queen 
25. Paul Jacobs - Your Favorite Number 
26. Habibi - On the Road
27. Osees - Pixelated Moon 
28. Lou Reed - She’s My Best Friend (Alternate Version)
29. The Replacements - Dose of Thunder 
30. Ramones - Outsider 
31. ATV - Action, Time, Vision
32. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Lowest Common Dominator (Remixed)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 24 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1052 (Originally Aired On August 17th, 2024) (Packs, Sebadoh, Jeff Buckley, Mudhoney, Steve Turner):

1. Motorists - Back to the Queue 
2. Bad Hoo - Bintro 
3. Cindy Lee - Olive Drab 
4. Cameronoise - You’re Someone Else’s Problem Now 
5. Temps - June 
6. Baby Rose w/BADBADNOTGOOD - Slow Burn
7. Packs - Honey 
8. Heavenly Sweetheart - Forgot Something 
9. Bitters - I’m Not There 
10. Packs - Spotted 
11. Packs - Just Like Me
12. Sebadoh - Rebound 
13. Sebadoh - Careful 
14. Jeff Buckley - Kick Out the Jams (Live)
15. Jeff Buckley - Dream Brother 
16. Mudhoney - Cascade of Crap
17. Mudhoney - Real Low Vibe
18. Mudhoney - Six Two One
19. The Thrown Ups - Stock Boy, Superhero 
20. Steve Turner & His Bad Ideas - Off-Ramp to Nowhere
21. Steve Turner - Living Through the Mistakes 
22. The Phantom Ships - The Coast
23. Jack White - Archbishop Harold Holmes 
24. X - The Way It Is 
25. Illuminati Hotties - The L 
26. Los Campesinos! - KMS
27. The Sad and Lonely(s) - Idiot
28. The Sad and Lonely(s) - No Troubles
29. The Fall-Outs - Ambition
30. The Wellwater Conspiracy - Sleeveless 
31. Thee Headcoats - [Bitten Off] More than you can Chew
32. Holly Go-Lightly - Till I Get 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 17 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1051 (August 10th, 2024)(Martin Phillips of The Chills, Bob Dylan's Another Side of Bob Dylan 60th Anniversary):

1. Nap Eyes - Passageway
2. Tough Age - The Heart of Juliet Jones 
3. Dumb - Gimme A Call 
4. Kiwi Jr. - Leslie 
5. Duotang - Friends 
6. The Chills - Monolith 
7. The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit 
8. The Chills - Pink Frost
9. The Chills - This is the Way 
10. Bloodshot Bill - Spotted
11. Bozo - Just Like Me 
12. DVTR - Les Olympiques 
13. The Scenics - Jonathan Richman 
14. Mad Ones - Last Summer 
15. Bob Dylan - Spanish Harlem Incident 
16. Bob Dylan - My Back Pages 
17. Bob Dylan - Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind
18. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
19. The Chills - I Love My Leather Jacket 
20. The Chills - Rain 
21. The Chills - Part Past Part Fiction 
22. Carson McHone - The American Ruse 
23. Blacktop - Confusion 
24. Dion Lunadon - Out in My World
25. The Anomayls - On My Way
26. Dog Day - Bordering
27. The Chills - Dead Web 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 10 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1050 (Originally Aired On August 3rd, 2024)(The Beach Boys Endless Summer Episode):

1. The Beach Boys - Surfin’ (with Session Intro/Mono) 
2. The Beach Boys - Cindy, Oh Cindy 
3. The Beach Boys - Land Ahoy 
4. The Beach Boys - Don’t Back Down (Alternate Version) 
5. The Beach Boys - I Do 
6. The Beach Boys - Dance, Dance, Dance (Alternate Version) 
7. The Beach Boys - I Get Around (Live in Studio) 
8. The Beach Boys - I Get Around (Session #4) 
9. The Beach Boys - Let Him Run Wild (Alternate Version) 
10. The Jesus & Mary Chain - Surfin’ USA 
11. Yo La Tengo - Little Honda
12. Cub - Surfer Girl
13. Ronnie Spectre - Don’t Worry Baby
14. The Beach Boys - Hang Onto Your Ego 
15. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (First Version with Overdubs) 
16. The Beach Boys - Wild Honey (Live in Detroit 11/17/1967) 
17. The Beach Boys - Time to Get Alone (Alternate Version)
18. The Beach Boys - Can’t Wait Too Long 
19. The Beach Boys - The Letter (Live in Studio) 
20. The Who - Barbara Ann 
21. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - In My Room 
22. Thee Headcoats - 409
23 .Sonic Youth - I Know There’s An Answer 
24. The Beach Boys - Even Steven (Early Version of Busy Doin’ Nothing)
25. The Beach Boys - Passing By (Alternate Version) 
26. The Beach Boys - I Can Hear Music (Alternate Lead Vocal)
27. The Beach Boys - All I Want to Do (Dennis Wilson Lead Vocal Take 1) 
28. The Beach Boys - Slip on Through (Alt. 1969 Mix with Session Intro) 
29. The Beach Boys - Big Sur 
30. The Beach Boys - Seasons in the Sun 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 03 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1049 (Originally Aired On July 27th, 2024):

1. Ducks Ltd. - On My Way to the Rave 
2. Kiwi Jr. - Unspeakable Things
3. Motorists - Barking at the Gates 
4. The Mystery Lights - Purgatory 
5. Dion Lunadon - Get Back to You 
6. Japandroids - Chicago 
7. Sunset Rubdown - Reappearing Rat 
8. Crack Cloud - The Medium 
9. Via Mardot - Foilage
10. Via Mardot - Strangers 
11. Via Mardot - Waxwork 
12. Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band - Little Rubber Boots
13. Jon Mckiel - Concrete Sea 
14. Scott Collins - Killer Crush 
15. Fontanarosa - Untie 
16. Robert Wyatt - Sea Song 
17. Syd Barrett - Love You 
18. Brian Eno - Burning Airlines Give You So Much More 
19. Dial Up - The Thaw 
20. Rick White & The Sadies - Try
21. Camera Obscura - Baby Huey (Hard Times) 
22. Heavenly Sweetheart A Little Worse 
23. Nomeds - Lover Boy 
24. Ty Segall - The Main Pretender
25. Ty Segall - What Can We Do 
26. Ty Segall - The Dance (Edit) 
27. Lou Reed - Crazy Feeling 
28. Dinosaur Jr. - Pierce the Morning Rain 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 27 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1048 (Originally Aired On July 20th, 2024)(Neil Young's On The Beach 50th Anniversary, X, Jon Spencer, Jack White):

1. The Anomayls - Anxiety 
2. The Meringes - Shambles 
3. La Luz - Dandelions 
4. Cola - Albatross 
5. Hot Garbage - Lowering 
6. Neil Young - Walk On 
7. Neil Young - Revolution Blues 
8. Neil Young - Vampire Blues 
9. Neil Young - Bad Fog of Loneliness 
10. Jack White - Track 1 
11. Wilco - Hot Sun 
12. Johnny Blue Skies - If the Sun Never Rises Again 
13. Mdou Moctar - Oh, France 
14. X - Water & Wine 
15. X - Sugarlight 
16. X - Come Back to Me 
17. Jon Spencer - Do the Trash Can 
18. Jon Spencer & the HITmakers - Junk Man 
19. Jon Spencer Blues - Explosion Dissect
20. OMBIIGIZI - Ziibi 
21. Kristjan Eastman - Power Man and Astro Girl 
22. Sure - TV 
23. Laughing - Don’t Care 
24. Cindy Lee - I Have My Doubts 
25. Neil Young - See the Sky About to Rain 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 20 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1047 (Originally Aired On July 13th, 2024)(The Beatles Hard Day's Night 60th Anniversary, Big Bill, The Scenics, Shadow Show):

1. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - A Hard Day’s Night
2. The Smithereens - If I Fell
3. Bentwood Rocker - It Wont’ Be Long
4. The Beatles - I’ll Be Back
5. The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night (Take 1)
6. Wand - JJ
7. Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band - Five Pin
8. Tom Waits - Emotional Weather Report
9. Tymon Dogg - I Caught You Dancing
10. Richard Laviolette - Saved By Rock and Roll
11. Nap Eyes - Demon
12. Temps - Magpie
13. Sea of Lettuce - Not For You
14. New Enemies - I Don’t Know
15. New Enemies - Joy Ride
16. little window - If I Wait
17. Big Bill - Clean Feeling
18. Goatsinger - Somebody’s Reflection
19. Pack Rat - Sleepless
20. Knitting - Sleeper
21. WUT - Mingling with the Thorns
22. Teenage Art Scene - Shouldn’t This Be Enough
23. The Peawees - Banana Tree
24. The Scenics - This Day
25. Shadow Show - Still A Day
26. The Omecs - Can’t Keep Waiting Around
27. The Beatles - You Can’t Do That (BBC Session)
28. The Beatles - I’ll Be Back (Demo)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 13 file to download/stream the episode.

Minute Du: Zen Arcade and Double Nickels on the Dime & Shows # 1046, 1045, 1044, 1043

In July 1984, SST Records released two double records on the same day, Husker Du’s Zen Arcade and Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime. One wouldn’t exist without the other, Minutemen’s album came about because they heard that Husker Du was doing a double album and were inspired to do their own. But, a double album back then for bands that were associated with hardcore punk, was not something that was done. These albums both challenged the conceptions of what a double album could be and went beyond the confines of hardcore music. Many feel the music found on these two albums are the beginning of what was going to eventually be called indie and alternative rock.

Produced by Spot, who was the house producer for most of the bands on the SST roster, Zen Arcade is the second studio album by Husker Du. It was recorded in Total Access Studios in Redondo Beach, California in October of 1983 in 40 hours, almost all the tracks except for two were recorded in first takes. Musically, the album featured the competitive songwriting of Bob Mould and Grant Hart, two of the main songwriters in Husker Du. The album experimented with psychedelic music, more guitar driven songs and more melody was introduced into the songs. Heavily influenced by 60s rock, and band’s like The Who, the album was a concept record (often being compared to Quadrophenia), but it was not an overproduced collection of tracks. It stuck with the low-fi quickly recorded fashion of previous Husker Du records. The album tells the story of a young boy running away from an unfulfilling home life only to find the world outside is even worse.

“Something I Learned Today,” opens the album dealing with themes of trust and lyrics such as “Something I learned today/Black and white is always grey,” sung by Bob Mould, which touches on more existential themes, as musically in mixes in elements of hardcore punk with more melodic vocals, “Broken Heart, Broken Home,” another track penned by Mould, deals with the desire to escape an abusive and unhappy home life, “Never Talking to you Again,” brings in 60s rock and folk elements, “Chartered Trips” sung with an impassioned melodic way by Bob Mould, deals with the main character joining the military, it is a mix of melodic punk with post punk sounding basslines, “Pink Turns to Blue” is a Grant Hart penned track, which delves into the devastating impact of drug addiction. “Turn on the News,” is another song by Hart, a critically acclaimed track with lyrics that deals with the mass media’s fondness for sensationalism and negative news headlines. There are also many trippy psychedelic and experimental moments such as “Dreams Reoccurring,” the piano tracks “Monday Will Never Be the Same” and “One Step at a Time.” The final track "Reoccurring Dreams," is a 14 minute instrumental, that is a noisy, discordant psychedelic track that ties in with the opening track and tying up a lot of the themes of the album, showing the odyssey that the main character in this album goes through, hinting it has occurring in his sleep, but revealing an epiphany of the challenges of life still remain.

Double Nickels on the Dime, is a 45-track album and is a musical odyssey of sorts, sharing a common thread whether unintentional or not with Zen Arcade. While Minutemen experiment with styles and genres on this album, lyrically it features abrasive and politically driven lyrics, but not lyrics that can be viewed as sloganeering, it challenges viewpoints. Also featuring two main songwriters, D.Boon tended to write more anthemic tracks that explored political themes such as racism in America, the Vietnam War and the working class, while Mike Watt’s tracks were more abstract, complex and philosophical, being influenced by more literary works such as Ulysses by James Joyce and stream of consciousness literary techniques. Musically, the album featured punk, post punk, folk, jazz, spoken word, country and funk influences. While there wasn’t a lyrical concept like on Zen Arcade, the album’s four sides were based on each member’s cars. A band member sequenced each side and the fourth side (since there were only three members in the band) was titled the “Chaff” side and made up of the leftover songs. This part of the album was inspired by Pink Floyd’s 1969 album Ummagumma.

Musically, Double Nickels on the Dime is somewhat fractured and defied genres, with short pieces of music that create an electrifying record. Influences such as punk, post punk and bands such as Captain Beefheart find their way into the songs, in addition to the other mentioned genres. Recorded by Ethan James (who previously had recorded a compilation track with the band) recorded an album’s worth of songs with the band before they decided to go in and record more songs to make a double album. Songs such as the anti-war song “Viet Nam” is biting with its vocal delivery, musically Boon’s guitars attack with Gang of Four style informed by jazz, as Watt’s melodic funky basslines blend with drummer George Hurley’s maniac, yet controlled grooves, “Cohesion” arrives alarmingly as a Spanish folk track, featuring flamenco styled guitar, “#1 Hit Song” written by D.Boon and Hurley, pokes fun at the bland, commercialized pop music format, “Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?” is a song pulling from a Velvet Underground influence with spoken word lyrics, “Shit from an old Notebook,” features punk influences and an anti-commercialism message with words such as “Let the products sell themselves/Fuck advertising, commercial psychology/Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed,” “Nature Without Man,” with its wiry guitar and abstract lyrics was written by D.Boon and Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag, while “One Reporter’s Opinion” was written by Watt and features discordant post punk sounds with driving bass and drums.

“Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing” was written in the stream of consciousness style mentioned earlier and mocks punk bands that make political statements without really understanding the logic behind their statements, with its garage dynamics, “Corona” is perhaps one of the best known tracks from this album. Decades later used as the theme song for the Jackass TV show and movies, this song flirts with country and folk by the way of Minutemen’s unique punk informed energy, but lyrically highlights the struggles of the working class. “History Lesson – Part II” is an autobiographical song describing the friendship of Boon and Watt playing music together, more of a jangly pop song with lyrics such as “Punk rock changed our lives,” “This Ain’t No Picnic” is a song addressing racism and the strife of the working class, “June 16th” is an instrumental inspired by Ulysses, while “Storm in My House,” features bouncy soulful basslines, encircling drums and scratching sounding guitars. The title Double Nickels on the Dime was inspired by of all things, Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55” song. They didn’t view driving fast as defiant, instead they decided they wouldn’t drive crazy, they would make crazy music.

With Zen Arcade, Husker Du set a new standard for themselves and also for underground punk music. The album dealt with social perspectives, featuring the concept of a character that was yearning for something and they ultimately find nothing fulfilling, but they accept this is the way it is sometimes. Musically, the band expanded their sonic palate and song writing abilities that would go on to serve a lasting influence. Before Zen Arcade was even released, it influenced Minutemen to create their own double album. The album, Double Nickels on the Dime with its fractured styles and different genres can be seen as a musical version of Ulysses, a punk rock Ulysses. Lyrically, the band would pull from literary stream of consciousness styles to create words with the music, in addition to exploring incisive politicalally motived topics. Both these albums changed the concept of hardcore punk in the 80s, what an album could be and pushed the limits of hardcore and punk music in different ways. There was a cohesion between the two albums, despite being different. Both albums take the listener on an odyssey, one that would go on to define and reshape punk, indie and alternative rock.

Show 1046 (Originally Aired On July 6th)(Zen Arcade & Double Nickels on the Dime):

1. Husker Du - Something I Learned Today 
2. Husker Du - Pink Turns to Blue 
3. Husker Du - Never Talking To You Again 
4. Husker Du - Somewhere 
5. Husker Du - Standing by the Sea 
6. Minutemen - This Ain’t No Picnic 
7. Minutemen - Toadies 
8. Minutemen - History Lesson – Part II 
9. Minutemen - Nature Without Man 
10. Minutemen - West Germany 
11. Minutemen - The Glory of Man 
12. NoMeansNo - Tired of Waiting 
13. Japandroids - Avant Sleepwalk 
14. Fucked Up - Colour Removal 
15. METZ - Headache 
16. Bad Hoo - Hot Dr. Pibbs 
17. Booji Boys-  Bad Boy Blues
18. Husker Du - Dreams Reoccurring 
19. Husker Du - The Biggest Lie 
20. Husker Du - Masochism World 
21. Husker Du - Monday’s Will Never Be the Same
22. Husker Du - Whatever 
23. Husker Du - Turn on the News
24. Minutemen - Viet Nam 
25. Minutemen - Cohesion 
26. Minutemen - Corona 
27. Minutemen - Untitled Song for Latin America 
28. Minutemen - June 16th 
29. Minutemen - Maybe Partying Will Help
30. The Vertical Struts - Fun is No Fun 
31. Laughing - Don’t Care 
32. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Where’s Paradise 
33. Ancient Shapes - Something is in Flux 
34. Pleasure Blimps - Swamp of Dead Horses
35. Heaven For Real - Witchita’s
36. Cindy Lee - Le Machiniste Fantome 
37. Minutemen - Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing 
38. Husker Du - Chartered Trips 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 6 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1045 (Originally Aired On June 29th, 2024)(Prince Purple Rain, X, Dion Lunadon, Metz, Brainrust):

1. The Vanrays - Hey! Alright Now! 
2. Julie Doirion - Last Night I Saw My Love
3. Fontaines D.C. - Favourite 
4. The Polecats - Let’s Go Crazy 
5. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Take Me With U 
6. Dump - The Beautiful Ones 
7. Of Montreal - Computer Blue 
8. Brett Farkas - Darling Nikki 
9. The Pursuit of Happiness - When Doves Cry 
10. Lacy Dacus -I Would Die 4 U 
11. Prince - Baby I’m A Star (1981 Demo) 
12. Teddybears - Purple Rain 
13. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - East of East 
14. Habibi - Do You Want Me Now 
15. Eye Ball - Mood Piece 
16. LA Drugz - All the Time 
17. X - Big Black X 
18. Dion Lunadon - Zenith Forever
19. Golden Shitters - City of Doom
20. Chain Whip - Class Decay 
21. Tough Age - Hundo Pocket
22. Shearing Pinx - Sick Hands Off 
23. METZ - Glass Eye 
24. Brainrust - Bikeshedding
25. Wine Lips - Stimulation 
26. Temps - Rusted 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 29 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1044 (Originally Aired On June 22nd, 2024)(Guided By Voices Bee Thousand 40th Anniversary, James Chance):

1. Cola - Bell Wheel 
2. Weed - Gunshy 
3. Eric’s Trip - My Room 
4. Telstar Drugs - Pulley 
5. U.S. Girls - Jack 
6. Guided By Voices - Hardcore UFO’s 
7. Guided By Voices - Buzzards and Deadly Crows
8. Guided By Voices - Hot Freaks 
9. Guided By Voices - Echos Myron
10. Guided By Voices - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
11. Guided By Voices - Gold Star for Robot Boy 
12. Guided By Voices - The Queen of Cans and Jars
13. Guided By Voices - Demons Are Real 
14. Guided By Voices - I Am A Scientist 
15. James Chances & The Contortions - Designed to Kill 
16. James White & the Blacks - White Devil 
17. James Chance & Pill Factory - That’s Where Your Heartaches Begin
18. The Contortions - Dish it Out 
19. The Ramblin’ Ambassadors - Hemi Has Beems
20. Jenny Omnichord - When the Ice Worms Nest Again
21. Ariel, Mathias and Shotgun Jimmie - Save Me 
22. The Trampoline Delay - The Right Stuff 
23. The Burning Hell - Fuck the Government, I Love You
24. Ducks LTD. - When You’re Outside
25. Teenage Jesus & the Jerks - Less of Me
26. James White & the Blacks - The Twitch 
27. James White & The Blacks - Melt Yourself Down 
28. James Chance & the Contortions - Contort Yourself 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 22 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1043 (Originally Aired On June 15th, 2024)(Francoise Hardy, The Scenics, Julie Doiron, Motorists):

1.  Francoise Hardy - Les Temps De L’Amour
2.  Francoise Hardy - Ill Est Tout Pour Moi 
3.  Cindy Lee - Dracula 
4.  Cate Le Bon & Bradford Cox - Secretary 
5. The Scenics - Farm Reports and Test Patterns 
6. The Ichi-Bons - Leopard Skin
7. The Goldstars - No Way
8. Kosmetika - Reward Risk 
9. Packs - Her Garden 
10. Fugazi - Cassavetes (1992 Steve Albini Demo) 
11. Shellac - Scrappers 
12. Slint - Rhoda
13. Protomartyr - Fun in Hi Skool 
14. Sham Family - React
15. Julie & Dany - Tomate 
16. Julie Doirion - Another Second Chance 
17. Julie Doirion - Dreamed I Was 
18. Jon Mckiel - Still Life 
19. Motorists - Light Against the Shade 
20. Wolfwolf - Twenty One
21. La Securite - Try Again 
22. Rick White and The Sadies - Spellbound
23. No Beauty - June 
24. Knitting - Spirit Gum 
25. Miranda & The Beat - Earthquake Water 
26. Amyl & The Sniffers - U Should Not Be Doing That 
27. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Down at the Rock and Roll Club 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 15 file to download/stream the episode.

For those keeping track episode 1042 (which aired on June 8th) was a repeat of episode 1041. You can hear that episode here and find the playlist here.