Sonic Youth Helped Open the Door Nirvana Kicked Down

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1 “100%” opener)

Back in 1992,

on July 21st,

Sonic Youth released

their seventh studio album:

diRty

(Music Cut #2 – “100%” cut of “1 00% of my love”)

The album was produced by Butch Vig,

right after he finished up

a little album called Nevermind

for some band named Nirvana.

(Music Cut #3 – “Come As You Are” cut)

But the connection runs deeper than that.

Sonic Youth helped open the major-label door

for bands like Nirvana.

Then, Nirvana’s explosion kicked that door wide open

for bands like Sonic Youth.

A nice little what-goes-around-comes-around story.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“But all I know is you got no money
But that’s got nothing to do with a good time.” – Sonic Youth

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Who – or What – Was Veruca Salt’s “Seether”?

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1 – “Seether”)

Released in March of 1994,

by July 20th,

everyone was getting their first taste of “Seether” –

from the band named after the spoiled kid

from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Veruca Salt.

(Music Cut #2 – more “Seether”)

Nina Gordon wrote the song,

but the mystery of the “seether”

took on a life of its own.

Who –

or what –

is the seether?

(Music Cut #3 – “Volcano Girls” cut)

Then, in Veruca Salt’s 1997 song

“Volcano Girls,”

they called back to “Seether”

and simply laid it out there:

“The seether’s Louise.”

As in, probably Louise Post, Nina Gordon’s bandmate.

(Music Cut #4 – more “Volcano Girls”)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“Can’t fight the seether
I can’t see her ’til I’m foaming at the mouth.” – Veruca Salt

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New Music Monday: Gracie Abrams Hits the Wall, Steve Lacy Gets Funky, and Jodeci Hits Vinyl

3,2,1 – New Music Monday / 07-20-26

(3,2,1 New Music Monday Intro)

Welcome to Music That Matters with 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday.

This week, we’ve got new soul from Leon Bridges, post-breakthrough pop from Gracie Abrams, and Steve Lacy bringing the funk.

Plus, Kelly Clarkson gets Prince-inspired, Beck goes back toward Sea Change, and Jodeci brings a ’90s R&B classic back to vinyl.

(Countdown Video)

3 major album drops.

Leon Bridges is back with a 4-pack of songs labeled: Happiness Anytime: Part 1 – it’s the first taste of his new album coming in its entirety this September. It’s called . . . you guessed it – Happiness Anytime

(“Light The Way” clip)

That’s “Light The Way” – and from what I’m hearing, it sounds like classic Leon Bridges with a little extra groove.

Next up – this girl’s dad is responsible for offing my Star Wars favorite

(:05 to :08 of Han Solo death scene)

JJ Abrams – you made me tear up in front of my son AND daughter.

JJ’s got a daughter, too – named Gracie

(“Hit the Wall” clip)

This is Gracie Abrams dealing with what happens after her career got huge. Daughter From Hell is her 3rd studio album and was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. So, the sad pop sound remains intact

(“Look at My Life” clip)

Steve Lacy is back with Oh Yeah?, his first album since the breakout success of “Bad Habit.”

(“Bad Habit” clip)

It’s guitar-filled funk that’s definitely alt-R&B. Plus, it includes the song “Is It Cool?,” a new duet with SZA.

(“Is It Cool?” clip)

2 new singles.

Kelly Clarkson has new music with the song – “I’d Be Lyin’” – which is being described as a Prince-inspired track with pop verses and a pop-rock chorus

(“I’d Be Lyin’”)

And then we have Beck who is making that shift back toward Sea Change and Morning Phase. I’m cool with that.

(“In the Night” clip)

That’s “In the Night” – the 2nd single off Beck’s upcoming new album – Ride Lonesome – which arrives this September.

(Record Scratch video)

And finally, 1 vinyl –

Jodeci’s Forever My Lady is back for its 35th anniversary — a 2LP reissue of the debut album that helped shape ’90s R&B

(“Forever My Lady” clip)

That’s your 3 albums, 2 singles, and 1 vinyl for the week.

This has been 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday

Until next time.

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Poison Made the Seinfeld of Hair-Metal Songs

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Around this time in July of 1990…

this summertime sound was hard to escape.

Poison and “Unskinny Bop.”

(Music Cut #2)

“Unskinny Bop” sounds like it should mean something.

A dance?

A pickup line?

A something.

(Music Cut #3)

Nope.

C.C. DeVille came up

with “Unskinny Bop”

as a temporary placeholder

while the band

was working the song.

This was before Bret Michaels

had finished the lyrics.

The phrase meant nothing… but it sounded right.

So “Unskinny Bop” lived on.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
What’s right?
What’s wrong?
What’s left?
What the hell is going on?– Poison

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The Hootie Song Everyone Thought Was on the Album

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1 – “Hold My Hand”)

Released on this day in 1994…

the song that introduced America
to Hootie & the Blowfish arrived:

“Hold My Hand.”

(Music Cut #2 – more “Hold My Hand”)

Most fans bought the CD
for songs like “Hold My Hand,”
“Let Her Cry,”
and “Only Wanna Be with You.”

(Music Cut #3 – “Only Wanna Be With You”)

But one of the band’s big fan favorites

wasn’t on the album – Cracked Rear View.

It was the B-side to “Hold My Hand” and

instead could be found on The Friends soundtrack –

That song “I Go Blind”

(Music Cut #4 – “I Go Blind”)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“Hold my hand
Maybe we can’t change the world but
I wanna love you the best that I can.” – Hootie & The Blowfish

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Who Was Courtney Love Singing About in “Violet”?

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On this date, July 17th, but back in 1995,

Hole released a song connected to someone

we talked about just 4 days ago.

The song: “Violet.”

(Music Cut #2)

“Violet” doesn’t just open

the album: Live Through This

It kicks down the door.

And Courtney Love –

doesn’t really sound like she’s singing about heartbreak.

Instead, she sounds like she’s putting a curse on it.

(Music Cut #3)

When Hole performed the song on Later with Jools Holland,

Love introduced it as being about a jerk.

Most people took that as Billy Corgan.

But years later, she clarified:

“Violet” was not just about him…

but, other jerks, too, I guess.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“When they get what they want
And they never want it again.” – Hole

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Taylor, Drake, Beyoncé… and Right Said Fred?

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Released yesterday, back in 1991…

three words changed pop music forever.

Right Said Fred…

with “I’m Too Sexy.”

(Music Cut #2)

The song started

exactly where it sounds

like it should have started:

with a shirtless guy

joking

in front of a gym mirror.

(Music Cut #3)

But that one gym-mirror joke had a very long strut.

Decades later,

Taylor Swift used it

in “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Drake brought it back

for “Way 2 Sexy.”

And Beyoncé worked it

into “Alien Superstar.”

Right Said Fred made one joke in a gym mirror…

and pop music is still borrowing the strut.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“I’m too sexy for my shirt…” – Right Said Fred

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Before The White Stripes, There Was Local H

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Released on this day in 1996…

a humungous alternative-rock song of the ’90s

came from just two people

in one band.

Local H with “Bound for the Floor.”

(Music Cut #2)

Before The White Stripes and The Black Keys

made two-piece rock famous,

Local H were already just two guys:

Scott Lucas on guitar and vocals,

and Joe Daniels on drums.

(Music Cut #3)

Their biggest hook came from one simple word:

“copacetic.”

A word that means everything is fine,

dropped into a song where everything sounds

very much not so fine.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“And you just don’t get it, you keep it copacetic
And you learn to accept it, you know it’s so pathetic.” – Local H

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Before the Eras, Taylor Swift Had Sixpence

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On July 14th of 1998,

“Kiss Me” began

its radio life.

from Sixpence None the Richer.

(Music Cut #2)

“Kiss Me” didn’t just become a late-’90s teen-romance classic.

Years later, it became part of the origin story for a young songwriter who was just learning her way around a guitar.

(Music Cut #3)

Before the stadiums…

before the eras…

before the friendship bracelets…

she had Sixpence None the Richer.

Taylor Swift has said “Kiss Me” was the first song she learned to play on guitar.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“Lift your open hand, strike up the band
And make the fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling
So kiss me.” – Sixpence None the Richer

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SpongeBob Was in a Smashing Pumpkins Video

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On July 13th of 1996…

this one reached its peak

on alternative radio.

The Smashing Pumpkins

with “Tonight, Tonight.”

(Music Cut #2)

The video for this song

was inspired by the 1902 silent film

A Trip to the Moon.

But, the man flying through space

had a very different future.

One day,

he would live

in a pineapple

under the sea.

(Music Cut #3)

Yes – that was Tom Kenny who became the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants

AND the woman beside him?

Jill Talley – who would later become the voice of Karen Plankton.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“We will never be the same
The more you change, the less you feel.” – The Smashing Pumpkins

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