Tag Archives: Decades

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Song of the Day #6,401: ‘6th Avenue Heartache’ – The Wallflowers

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1996…

#8 – Bringing Down the Horse – The Wallflowers

The mid-90s was the greatest time for alt-rock bands with a pop sensibility and one of my favorites was The Wallflowers. The band got a lot of press because lead singer Jakob Dylan was Bob’s son, but their self-titled 1992 debut didn’t make much of a splash.

That changed with sophomore release Bringing Down the Horse, which went 4X Platinum and spawned radio hits in ‘6th Avenue Heartache,’ ‘One Headlight,’ and ‘The Difference.’ ‘One Headlight’ even won the band a pair of Grammys.

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Song of the Day #6,400: ‘Radiation Vibe’ – Fountains of Wayne

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1996…

#9 – Fountains of Wayne – Fountains of Wayne

It was power pop band Fountains of Wayne’s second album, 1999’s Utopia Parkway, that brought them to my attention, but after falling in love with that one I quickly sought out their debut and found it equally thrilling.

This collection of a dozen tight, smart pop rock songs is a perfect encapsulation of the talent and ingenuity of band leaders Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger. Every track is catchy and fun, but none of them feel tossed off. There is an attention to craft that was evident on all of the band’s future work.

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Song of the Day #6,399: ‘When I Fall’ – Barenaked Ladies

As we embark on the first weeks of 2026, I’m jumping back 30 years for the next installment of the Decades series. I’ll be writing first about my favorite 1996 albums before highlighting some popular and/or critically acclaimed albums from that year that are new to me.

Kicking things off is everybody’s favorite Canadian alt-rock band.

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Song of the Day #6,325: ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately’ – Janet Jackson

Concluding my look at the albums of 1986…

I didn’t grasp exactly how popular Janet Jackson was until many years later. At the time of her commercial dominance (from 1986 through the end of the last century), she rewrote the record books and achieved feats topped only by her brother Michael. Imagine being that successful and still being #2 in your own family.

It’s even crazier to think that success was halted largely due to the controversy surrounding Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. What a different time that was.

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Song of the Day #6,324: ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ – Bon Jovi

Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

The top-selling album released in 1986 was Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, and it wasn’t particularly close. The hard rock band’s third album sold more than 15 million copies in the U.S., five million more than the runner-up, Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill. That was enough to make this album the 20th top-seller in U.S. history.

Slippery When Wet earned that success on the backs of the three most enduring songs Bon Jovi ever recorded: ‘You Give Love a Bad Name,’ ‘Livin’ On a Prayer,’ and ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’ I’d never even heard any of the other seven tracks.

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