Hellraiser IV: Bloodline

This is a convoluted and horrible entry in the Hellraiser series that takes place in the modern (1996) day, Victorian times, and the future (spaceship). Directed by everybody's favorite pseudonym, Alan Smithee, the movie features a super young Adam Scott of Parks and Recreation fame. The plot is that something happened in one time and continues in the next time and gets resolved in the last time with a big space explosion, the hallmark of the Hellraiser series. I think maybe Pinhead wants to take over the world, but really, nobody cares.

RATING: 21%

Dirty by Sonic Youth

Dirty is the most radio friendly rock album Sonic Youth ever made. It was released in 1992, during the height of "Nirvana Fever" or "Grungedom" or "A Recession." My friend Farnell really liked a song from this album used on the My So-Called Life soundtrack, but then when I lent him Washing Machine he practically puked in my face. I don't know why so many of my Sonic Youth reviews devolve into questions of "listenability," but so goes England. If you want to see a young Jason Lee, check it out!

RATING: 77%

The Toadies

I don't know much about The Toadies because I was like four years old when they were hott, but I know anytime some prick talks some shit about the Fatherland, I can say, "The Toadies," and they have to stfu for a sec. If they keep yapping, I just gotta say, Jeremy spoke in spoke in, and they cry a little. So.



Rating: 66%

Experimental Jet Set, Trash, And No Star by Sonic Youth

When I bought this in 9th grade, my first Sonic Youth album, I thought I was so cool. To be fair, I was pretty right.


RATING: 77%

Piece Of Cake by Mudhoney

I don't know why everybody hates on this album according to Wikipedia, the most reliable source on Earth. I think it's a great piece of grungedom. There's obviously classic songs like "Suck You Dry" and "No End In Sight," and you can really tell here that Mudhoney, like Nirvana, was obsessed with old blues and folk songs. A lot of standard blues riffs, etc. Man, you just can't get enough of Mark Arm's wailing here, either, damn!

RATING: 77%

Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins

Well, we all pretty much know this album, but I think it suffers from severe top heavy syndrome. That is, it's strong right out of the gate, but it runs out of gas after Rocket. Five great tracks in a row ain't no slouch I guess. I do love Silverfuck and Geek USA, but that's about it on the second half. Anyway, if you slept through the past fifteen years you might not know this album after all, but it's good. I won't say buy it because of the depression, but you can probably borrow it from somebody pretty easily.

RATING: 80%

Incesticide by Nirvana

Although this album is just a bunch of b-sides and previously unreleased material, it's still ok. I might be biased because I've had it since I was 14, but I think it's got a lot of great tracks on it we all know and love like Sliver, Dive, and Been A Son. It was originally released between Nevermind and In Utero, if you're interested in that sort of thing, and you can get a lot more rare stuff on the incredibly inclusive and boring box set With The Lights Out if you're hardcore like me. Unfortunately, my Aneurysm skips, so that sucks the end.

RATING: 71%

Goo by Sonic Youth

This is Sonic Youth's first major label record, coming off of the critical (but not necessarily financial) success of the best album ever made, Daydream Nation. How can you top that? Well, you can't, and SY didn't even try, opting instead to make a much more traditional rock album. Sure, it doesn't have the poppiness of Dirty or Rather Ripped, but if you listen to this album it's clear a transition to radio has been made, and it's certainly the father of the grunge movement. It's fun, so if you have never heard these songs before you should definitely check them out.

RATING: 76%

PS - One cool thing SY did for this album is hire different avant garde film directors to make a music video for every single song, so if you can find them on youtube and have some time to kill, why not watch them, hmmm?