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Curiouscast

Ongoing History of New Music looks at things from the alt-rock universe to hip hop, from artist profiles to various thematic explorations. It is Canada’s most well known music documentary hosted by the legendary Alan Cross. Whatever the episode, you’re definitely going to learn something that you might not find anywhere else. Trust us on this.

Ongoing History of New Music

Times are good for vinyl...the format was all but dead until some desperate record store owners invented “record store day” in 2008...since then, we’ve seen double-digit increases in vinyl sales year after year after year...
Things are so good that in several countries, the revenue brought in by selling vinyl is greater than the revenue generated by compact disc sales...we haven’t seen anything like this since the late 80s...
What’s driving the boom?...many things, from audio quality to the ability to display the music you love in your home... “look at how many linear feet my record collection takes up!...not only that, but I’ve chosen a format that isn’t portable and requires me to purchase special equipment to play it...that’s how much I love music”...
Vinyl is something you can hold in your hand...plus there’s the disc itself, the artwork, the liner notes, the lyrics and all the tactile sensations that go with playing a record...
Once you’re smitten, it’s not too hard move to collecting interesting records...you hit used record stores, go to record shows, and scour sites like discogs and eBay to fill in the gaps in your vinyl library...
And then there’s the final leap: you become a hard-core collector and look at vinyl as an investment...you start lusting after records that are insanely rare and very valuable—and very expensive...these records cost hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and in a couple of very special cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars...
What are these records?...where can you find them?...and what’s it gonna cost me?...this is a tour through some very valuable vinyl...and hey: maybe one of this records is in your music library right now…
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Valuable Vinyl

The way I see it, there are three types of bands that stretch across a spectrum…first, there’s the extreme sort, a group that will do almost anything to attract attention…you’re probably thinking of some names right now.
Next to them are the traditional sort, and they comprise the vast majority of bands out there…these are groups that go out there, do their thing earnestly and honestly, and hope that this will be enough for music lovers…they occupy a huge part of this spectrum.
And then we have the third type: the quirky, eccentric, and weird…these groups come in all sorts of flavours, from mildly bent to the gloriously stupid and the confoundingly weird…these bands go a long way into making music fun and unpredictable.
Not all land with audiences—they’re too strange, not enough people get the joke, or maybe they’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But there can be a balance between being quirky and fun and having songs that have widespread appeal…they have just enough of the nerd factor to set themselves apart while not being so nerdy that they’ll turn too many people off.
This is really hard to do…it takes songwriting skills, careful management of your image, and plenty of creativity and imagination, especially if you want to main things over more than just a couple of albums and touring cycles.
Among the very, very, very best of this class of band is Weezer…they’ve perfected a formula that includes musical talent, wit, self-deprecation, left-of-centre thinking, a desire to have fun, a willingness to experiment, some clever marketing, and above all, to let their fans in on everything…it’s an approach that has worked very, very well for decades.
This is part two of “Rivers Cuomo and Weezer: alt-rock’s nerd heroes”.
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Rivers Cuomo and Weezer - Alt-Rock's Nerd Heroes Part 2

All right…I hope you’re ready because a lot of information—some of it important, some of it useless—is about to come your way in a rapid-fire way.
Again, this is material collected over the last 12 months while I was looking for “ongoing history” ideas…some of this info doesn’t fit with the mandate of the program…some of it is orphaned from programs that never quite took shape…and some of these items were just too weird to gloss over, so I made a note…what you do with what you’re about to hear is up to you.
Let us begin with 60 mind-blowing facts about music...the 2024 edition.
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60 Mind-Blowing Facts About Music (2024 Edition)

For a very long time—too long—women were locked in very defined roles when it came to rock’n’roll…girls were expected to look pretty and do little more than sing…okay, maybe shake a tambourine or something…but that was about it…
And when it came to singing, “Just stick with conventional stuff, dear…don’t get any crazy ideas in your head…this is a woman’s role in rock, and you should stick to it…that’s a nice little lady”…
But then along came punk rock in the 1970s…punk did many things for rock—including knocking down a lot of heretofore inviolable gender roles…the central tenet of punk was that anyone should have the right to say anything in any matter they want regardless of who they are…that included women and their right to self-expression…
The result was fantastic. Freed from all the old expectations, women were free to reinvent themselves as musicians in a million different ways leading to a wonderful array of female performers…
Some of my favourites are the ones who decided to spit in the face of virtually every rock’n’roll convention—women who (before punk came along and liberated everyone from the tyranny of “the way things ought to be”) developed styles that were different and unique and utterly unlike anything the world had ever heard before…
Yes, some of them were an acquired taste and took a little getting used to…but once people figured out what they were trying to do and what they were all about, it was inevitable that they would become addicted, enchanted, and inspired…
 We’re going to look at ten of these women…I call them “The Queens of Quirk”
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The Queens of Quirk

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder—or in the case of music, the ear…what’s pleasant to one person is nothing but noise to someone else…
This is where it’s good to have some patience…there are some forms of art whose beauty isn’t obvious at first…you need to stick with it…and after you’ve given it a chance and decided that it’s not for you, fine…
But what about those times when something happens—suddenly or slowly and either on your own or with the prompting of someone else—and you realize that the weird music you’re listening to is actually pretty good?...
This is the payoff…yeah, you really had to work for it—but it was worth it…with me so far?..
“Beauty” doesn’t mean “perfect”—at least in the technical sense…sometimes imperfection makes something more beautiful…or at least more interesting…
This brings me to the topic of singing voices…this is a very subjective area…how many times have you said, “Listen to that guy!... I can’t stand his voice!...how did he ever get a record deal?... I mean, listen to him!”
But then others hear the same thing and go, “wow…that’s really different…really expressive…it’s full of character and emotion…what a bold move giving this dude a chance to real millions of people… I love this guy!”…
These are the kind of singers we’re about to review: guys with some of the most unusual voices in the history of alt-rock.
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The Kings of Quirk

One of the byproducts of doing a show like this for as long as I’ve been doing it is that it’s really hard to shut off your brain.
I’m always thinking about topic ideas, ways to connect facts and trivia, reading a lot of books, talking to a lot of people, and otherwise trying to come up with a constant stream of topics we can discuss.
The result of all this research and thinking and writing are some ideas and perspectives on music, music history, how music is made, how it’s consumed and distributed, and how seemingly small things have led to big changes…that’s one thing.
Another is the opinions formed by observing the opinions of others…why do people like some things and hate others?... another is a list of ideas that aren’t quite fully formed…it seems like I’ve almost grasped a concept. Still, it doesn’t feel right yet—but I feel there’s a germ of truth somewhere.
I’ve also learned that when you’re unsure about something, source the crowd…you might like the answers, but it’s better than living in your own head.
So, let me bounce a few of these things off you, and you can tell me if I’m onto something, if I’m off base, or if I’ve completely lost the plot…
I call this episode “theories, thoughts, and half-baked ideas”.
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Theories, Thoughts, and Half-Baked Ideas

A couple of years ago, it became obvious that we were entering an era where music fans were increasingly going to be sad…that’s because our musical heroes are shuffling off this mortal coil.
It really hit hard in 2016—that was a bad year with the deaths of David Bowie and Prince—that really brought home the unfortunate reality that we will continue to lose people who have been making music for us for years, maybe decades.
We didn’t necessarily know any of these people personally…but it was through their music that learned something about ourselves…so when they die, a little bit of us might go with them.
I think it’s important that we remember those musicians who have passed on…that’s why we have this annual look at who died…we need to honour the work of these musicians and music people…and with so many of them going, we at the very least need to remember that they did indeed pass away.
This is the 2024 “In Memoriam” show…grab yourself a box of tissues.

Songs in this episode:
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
The MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere
World Party - Ship of Fools
The Raspberries - Go All The Way
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
The Selector - On My Radio
Crazy Town - Butterfly
Greg Kihn Band - The Break-Up Song
My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
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In Memoriam 2024

Keeping up to date with the news cycles is exhausting…so much comes at us from so many different directions that it’s impossible to know if we’re in the middle of something important or not…everything seems urgent, threatening, and life-changing…there’s precious little time for careful consideration, study, and analysis.
Keeping up with technology and its effect on society is another big challenge…one moment everyone seems caught up with a particular gadget or app—but a month or even a week later, that’s old news and everyone has moved on.
Remember how the world was supposed to end when the planet’s computers melted down over the Y2K bug?...wasn’t the world supposed to end with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012?...weren’t we supposed to have run out of oil by now?
When you mix technology with the news cycle, our ever-shortening attention spans, how the world is interconnected 24/7, and how we’re able to individualize everything that we take in, it’s easy to lose track of what the hell is happening…one of my favourite doomsday predictions had to do with the large hadron collider along the French-Swiss border…before it was switched on, people were saying that scientists risked creating an artificial black hole that would suck everyone into oblivion.
And don’t get me started on conspiracy theories…chemtrails…flat earthers…9/11 was an inside job…the U.S. government using a facility in Alaska to control the world’s weather.
This is why it’s important every once in a while, we stop and take stock of things…big picture stuff matters…long-term consequences matter…the knock-on effects of something that was once considered inconsequential and unnoticed matter.
It’s difficult enough to remember what exactly happened...it’s even more difficult to determine what really mattered over the long term...even so, what were merely transient distractions may have turned out to be groundbreaking in the long run…was that thing a fad or was it predictive of something bigger in the future?
And then there’s music…so much has changed in a very short period of time…and now that we’re a quarter of the way through the 21st century, enough time has passed so that we can look back with some clarity.
Welcome to a special “ongoing history of new music” series…these are the 100 most important moments in rock in the 21st century—so far—part one.

Songs in this episode:
The Police - Driven to Tears
Manskin - I Wanna Be Your Slave
Linkin Park - In The End
U2 - Vertigo (live at The Sphere)
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (live at Apollo Hammersmith 2014)
Blink 182 - Bored to Death
Silverchair - Tomorrow
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Pearl Jam - Animal (live in Montreal circa 2000)
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor (Demo from MySpace)
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The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 1: (100-91)

So much can happen in 25 years…let’s go back to how the 20th century began…in just a quarter century, we got radio, airplanes, the Great War, the Russian revolution, the Soviet Union, and the rise of Communism.
The Titanic sank…women were empowered to vote…Einstein came up with the theory of relativity…Henry Ford changed manufacturing forever with the use of the assembly line, not to mention the introduction of cars.
We also go stainless steel, the first x-ray machine, the zipper, neon lighting, and instant coffee…and that’s just for starters.
Now let’s look at the first 25 years of the 21st century… 9/11 and the wars that followed…the rise of China as global power…the Arab Spring…an awareness of climate change…LGBT rights and social movements…covid…trump…the incorporation of the internet into everything.
Now that the century is a quarter done, it’s also a good time to look back on what happened in music…the short answer is “a lot”…but because change happened so consistently and was adopted by so many people, it’s easy to lose perspective of how much things have changed since the clocks ticked over to January 1, 2000.
Let’s take stock of things…this is part two of the greatest rock moments of the millennium—so far.

Songs in this episode:
The Thermals - Here's Your Future
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
REM - Mine Smell Like Honey
Joy Division - Transmission
Women - Eyesore
The Hives - Tick Tick Boom
Presidents of the USA - Video Killed The Radio Star
Twenty One Pilots - Heathens
Our Lady Peace - Will The Future Blame Us
U2 - The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
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The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 2: (90-81)

The great 20th century philosopher Ferris Bueller once said “life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.
I think of this wisdom a lot, especially when someone starts talking about, say, the music of the 1990s…my instinctive reaction is always the same… “yeah…the 90s…that was ten years ago, right?”.
Obviously not…Nirvana’s “Nevermind” still lives and that record is over 30 years old…all the legendary grunge artists are in their 50s and 60s if not dead…but so much of the music of the era is always in the air so it’s not like it ever had a chance to be forgotten.
I was in an airport recently—a big public space serving people of all ages and all backgrounds from around the world—and “Man in a Box” from Alice in Chains was playing on the p.a.
And then there are all those moments in the grocery store when I hear music playing and think to myself “when did supermarket music get so cool?”.
The truth is that this music is a lot older than my brain wants to believe…even though it still sounds fresh, so much has happened since those records came out.
Life does move pretty fast…and it seems that it’s moving faster with each passing day…and yeah, we do need to stop and looking around once in while because, let’s face it, we’re missing a lot of stuff.
Now that we’re 25 years deep into the 21st century, I feel the need to look around a lot more, if for no other reason, to remember and keep track of everything that we’ve seen in music…what have we missed?...what have we forgotten?...and if we’re not acquainted with how we got here, how can we possibly be ready for what might be coming next.
This is episode 3 of a series I call “the 100 greatest rock moments of the millennium so far”…let’s see how many of these things you remember.

Songs in this episode:
Radiohead - Creep
Tool - Tempest
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Pantera - Walk
Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing
Nine Inch Nails - 34 Ghosts IV
Sinead O'Connor - The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing (live)
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The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 3: (80-71)

When it comes to music, it’s so easy to get lost in the weeds…to become distracted by all the minutiae and trivia…

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course…it’s the study of exactly this kind of granular stuff that pays my salary…however, there is a “can’t see the forest for the trees” angle to all this…

Sometimes, we need to stand way back—and I mean way back—before some vital things come into focus…

I’m not talking about just learning not just to see the trees but the forest, but the whole of the countryside…no, wait…more than that…we need altitude…not just for a 35,000-foot view, but maybe all the way up into geosynchronous orbit so we can assess everything about a certain subject…

Wait…this metaphor is getting out of control…what I’m trying to say is that if we step back far enough, we can learn some really interesting things about why music is the way it is…

 

What you’re about to hear may change the way you think about the history of music…this is big picture stuff—really big stuff—part 1…
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Big Picture Stuff: Part 1

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