By Jenn Sussman aka DJ Belladonna
1. Liquid Jesus “Stand!” – This week’s playlist has a theme that was inspired by a friend of mine who goes by the nickname The Jesus of the Concrete Jungle, a very cool dude who deserves an equally cool soundtrack for his alter-ego. We’ll kick it off with one of my favorite Jesus-joints, Liquid Jesus’ cover of the Sly and the Family Stone classic “Stand!”, from the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies, 1990’s homage to alt-rock, radio piracy and standing up for your beliefs, Pump Up The Volume. “Stand!” is all about being true to yourself even when the road towards what’s right for you isn’t always easy, and Liquid Jesus’ version retains the funk of the original while rockin’ out just enough to make you believe. Great message, excellent song.
2. MC 900 Ft. Jesus “Killer Inside Me” – MC 900 Ft. Jesus is one of the most unique artists you’ve never heard of. If Prodigy and Moby kicked it in the backseat of a car one drunken night and nine months later a classically-trained baby who likes to rap arrived, MC900FJ would be that kid. MC900FJ dropped three albums of seriously funky science during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, including his sole commercial hit “If I Only Had a Brain”, but then disappeared from the music scene in the mid ‘90s after deciding that he had taken his style as far as it could go. The beat and the lyrics on this track alone are enough to make me wish he had kept going – he’s got an unusual, eclectic style that I look for in hip-hop, but rarely find these days.
3. The Jesus and Mary Chain “Blues From A Gun” – Beloved by classic alternative fans, The Jesus and Mary Chain are one of the few bands from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s UK noise-pop/shoegaze/brit-pop scene whose music has held up well enough over time to make a lasting impression on a new generation. JMC’s sound is probably best known for its wild mood swings, their catalogue running the gamut from slow, trudging and moody melodies to upbeat, guitar-driven rockers, and everything in between. To get a good feel for the scope of JMC’s sound, grab their 2002 greatest hits compilation 21 Singles rather than copping every JMC album. For fans of more rock-oriented fare I highly recommend their 1989 release Automatic, which contains this playlist track as well as JMC’s most well-known single, “Head On”.
4. Depeche Mode “Personal Jesus” – Go ahead, try and find someone who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s and doesn’t own Depeche Mode’s classic 1990 album Violator… good luck with your search. To this day, Violator is still one of the best pop albums ever recorded, and at the time of its release it was a game-changer for Depeche Mode’s sound; darker, harder and more emotionally raw than any previous DM release. Some of Mode’s best known and most loved singles are from Violator; recent re-releases include outtakes from the Violator sessions not included on the original release, such as “Dangerous” (a personal favorite), which is as good or better than anything that made the original cut. Violator and its follow up release, 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion, offer a bird’s eye view into the dark and emotionally painful world that singer Dave Gahan inhabited at the time. The bouncy groove of “Personal Jesus” is a much needed tension breaker.
5. Kanye West “Jesus Walks” – Forget for the moment about his award show antics, his sense of entitlement, his decision to leave music for a fashion career and his inevitable return, his overuse of pink and red in his wardrobe, his inappropriately timed political statements, and his use of almost as much auto-tuner on his vocals as T-Pain. Forget it all for a few minutes, and remember that Kanye West is responsible for some of the dopest beats and best production in hip-hop in the past 10 years. Remind yourself with this playlist track, which announced Kanye’s arrival as a rapper and launched him from hip-hop industry secret weapon into the stratosphere of hip-hop stardom. Remember that the guy almost died in a horrific car crash, that he lost his mama to a botched operation, and that fame doesn’t give you common sense along with money and privilege. And while you’re at it, realize that most hip-hop these days can’t hold a candle to this track.
6. Jesus Jones “Real Real Real” – Offering sample-driven dance and techno grooves wrapped up in a big pop music bow, Jesus Jones was something of a three-hit wonder in the ‘90s. They are best remembered for their international smash hit single “Right Here, Right Now”, which I spin regularly and it still makes me dance every time I hear it; that song and “Real Real Real” offer a better groove than a lot of pop music being released today. Jesus Jones was writing songs at a time when dance music was shifting from the underground to the mainstream, spreading like wildfire from the Midwest to Manchester to Milan and evolving into new subgenres along the way. This track is a sign of the times that spawned it, along with other ‘90s pop classics like The Soup Dragons’ “Divine Thing” and The Happy Mondays’ “Step On”.
7. Skunk Anansie “Selling Jesus” – Ever gotten your ass kicked by a girl? Trust me, you would not want to run into Skunk Anansie’s lead singer, Skin, in a dark alley. Fired up, pissed off, and sporting a stark white cross painted like crosshairs across her black face, Skin’s got one of the most ass-kicking voices and vocal deliveries in rock and metal music. As with my Juliette and the Licks pick in a previous playlist, I was introduced to Skunk Anansie courtesy of a cameo performance in the 1995 film Strange Days. They perform it in the movie, and I remember being blown away by it and seeking out their powerhouse debut album Paranoid and Sunburnt (1995). Skunk Anansie’s blend of heavy metal and black feminist rage (provocatively nicknamed “clit-rock” by Skin) is not for wallflowers or the faint of heart. Get ready for the black-ocalypse.
8. Ministry “Jesus Built My Hotrod” – With our blood already racing from the previous playlist track, it’s only fitting to climb aboard Jesus’ hotrod for the afterburner. Something must have really pissed off Ministry founder Al Jourgensen between the release of their 1983 synth-pop debut With Sympathy and their 1988 tour-de-force The Land of Rape and Honey; the difference in sound between the two albums is like night and day, black and white, hand-holding and ass-kicking – and they never looked back. After a detour through several noted side projects (Revolting Cocks, 1000 Homo DJs, etc.) Ministry released their beloved Psalm 69 album in 1992, which included this scorching single. Nothing left to say but hold on tight and ding-a-ding-dang-a-dang-a-long-ling-long.
9. Everlast “Black Jesus” – Most people know Everlast from ‘90s white-boy rap group House of Pain or from his surprisingly successful post-H.O.P. career as a bluesy, guitar-and-beats rocker, but I remember this cat from back in the day when he ran with Ice-T’s Rhyme Syndicate Cartel. I used to watch his videos on Yo! MTV Raps and I still spin “The Rhythm” and “Fuck Everything” from his 1990 debut album Forever Everlasting. I’m not sure I get his obsession with baseball legend Whitey Ford, though; most of Everlast’s solo albums are named in some way after Ford. My Everlast pick is a terrific track from his 2010 release Eat At Whitey’s, and which also happens to fit in with this week’s playlist theme. Amen!
10. Eve 6 “Jesus Nitelite” – Eve 6’s self-titled 1998 debut album is one of my favorite pop-punk albums of all time, easily surpassing anything that fellow pop-punk peers Green Day ever released. From beginning to end, every song could easily have topped the charts as a single, and two did (“Inside Out” and “Leech”). However, the album’s best track is one that doesn’t rock out (well, at least not at first) but instead arrives like a mellow savior after a barrage of high-octane tracks, the lyrics describing the all-too-familiar ache of wanting so badly to be with someone who means so much to you, but never being given the chance. And with that, the lights go out on this week’s playlist and I leave you with “Jesus Nitelite” to guide you through the darkness to next week.
