Radio 104.1

Radio 104.1 WMRQ. This radio station rose out of the alternative rock boom in the mid-nineties and was a breath of fresh air when it began. It was an actual alternative to the big rock stations WHCN and WCCC. For the first 3 years of it's existence I listened feverishly. Absorbing every new morsel I was presented. Sure, they had a specific rotation of songs that you would hear over and over again, but they were constantly debuting new songs from new bands. Many that never went further than their one minor hit. I loved it. What a boom of pop rock. What really stuck with me were the songs I would hear during winter breaks form college. Me and Matt would drive around and hear these same songs over and over. It was so comforting and fun. A great soundtrack to my early college life. Of course, as the years went on, WMRQ became just like every other radio station. Adhering strictly to "the hits". The magic was gone and the station eventually crashed and burned. This batch of songs is all the songs I can remember hearing over and over again during the winters of 1995 and 1996. Download

"Holiday" by The Get Up Kids

In the final days of August, 1999, I moved to Boston. It was the first time I had lived somewhere other than Connecticut. It was exciting and terribly frightening at the same time. My first few months in Boston were tough. I had a few friends from college here, but I worked for little money, shared a shitty studio apartment, had no car. I spent a lot of my time walking around, getting to know the city. Being so close to Newbury Street, I spent a lot of time at Newbury Comics. It was 1999 and emo was just about to reach it's pinnacle. I saw some amazing bands and bought some timeless albums at that time.

That September, the Get Up Kids released "Something to Write Home About". It was the first album I ever bought by the band and it seemed to sum up all of my emotions of that that time and place. It is a fall album. It is a fall in Boston album to me. And it brings me so much joy to put on headphones, walk in the brisk air, and listen to that pick slide that kicks off the album...the beginning of "Holiday".

download Holiday MP3

"Lips N' Hips" by Electric Boys

1990 was a musical transition year. Nirvana hadn't yet descended, but things were definitely in flux. Pop Metal was getting away from it's formula of ballads and anthems and it seemed everything got a lot bluesier. Or funkier.

1990-1992 was the glorious, but short, era that "funk metal" shined. We had great albums by Faith No More, Love/Hate, Extreme, Scatterbrain, Ugly Kid Joe, White Trash, Red Hot Chili Peppers that really let the party of the late 80's continue for just a little longer.

The song from that era that sticks with me the most is "Lips N' Hips" by Electric Boys. It's funky, sexy, european, psychedelic, and metallic all in one. I remember it always being a staple of Lonn Friend's Pirate Radio Saturday Night show and anytime I hear it, all I think about is good times and summer times.

download Lips N' Hips MP3

"Without a Sound" by Dinosaur Jr

In late August 1994, I went to college. I attended the University of Connecticut while most people I knew went to Central Connecticut State University. So thus, the first few days there, I really didn't know anyone. So I wandered a lot by myself in the beginning.

The first full day there, I rode my skateboard around campus and discovered a CD store on the far side. It was called "the Disc". We later affectionately referred to it as "the Dick". I spent lots of my hard earned money there in the 4.5 years I was at UConn.

The first time I walked in I bought 2 CDs: Mudhoney's "Superfuzz/Bigmuff" and Dinosaur Jr's then new album "Without a Sound". The Dinosaur Jr album cemented my love for the band and became an eternal soundtrack to late summer/early fall. It is a "September" album to me. I spent many fall afternoons sitting on Horse Barn Hill listening to this CD over and over and over again.

download "Without a Sound"

Secret Love

There are 2 record collection commercials from my 80's youth that I will always, always, remember. The first was "Freedom Rock". No explanation needed. Everyone knows "Freedom Rock". But the second most played? Secret Love. Maybe you remember this gem? Memory a little hazy? Well behold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F36GeAIExg

Yes. I thought so. This commercial is eternally burned in my skull. But also, the songs are eternally burned into my soul. This collection represents "lite magic" at it's absolute finest. Or worst. It is the soundtrack to every dentist visit. Every doctor's visit. Every car ride with your mom. Every department store.

so download all three discs, and savor the cheese.

download

"Feels so Good" by Chuck Mangione

I don't know why I never got into this before now. But yeah, "Feels so Good" is one of those "lite" songs that you heard alllllllllll the time in the late 70's and early 80's. So any time I hear this song, immediately I am transported back to Zayre and it's floral pattern walls or Caldor and it's orange and brown color scheme, because department store muzak is where you would hear this song the most back then.

Download: "Feels so Good"

"Peter Piper" by Run DMC

During the summer of 1985, the black music of inner city New York had found it's way to the white, middle class suburbs of Connecticut. My best friend Jay had received a cassette of Run-DMC's masterpiece "Raising Hell" for his birthday, and the rest of the neighborhood was in awe. We had already been listening to local pop radio, so we were already up on the dance and R&B hits of that era, but this was something new. It got into us and we couldn't let go.

Jay had also received a dual cassette boombox and so we all immediately made copies. I would sit in my room wondering what exactly "Adidas'" were, and why it was so "tricky to rock a rhyme on time".

Every Saturday morning for a few months we'd put on the first track "Peter Piper", lay out some cardboard in a driveway of a neighbor down the street, and would attempt to break dance. Badly. I think some windmills were done, but all most of us could really master was "the worm".

But that was the introduction to hip-hop for Cody Ave, and it's still one of my favorite albums, and songs, to this day.


Download: "Peter Piper"