Let me daydream for a little while longer

Your best is my worst

Upon reading @luiskatigbak 's tumblr post this morning, i realized that most of my favorite bands/albums/songs dont usually make it to the 'best of' or end-of-the-year lists. Although I dont really base my musical preferences on which is THE best or which one makes it to the top of NME's list, it makes me question myself: Do I have the worst taste in music? So, here's a list of my favorite bands/artists that these 'listers' may have overlooked.

1. Cocteau Twins

They may be on the top 3 best shoegaze acts(if there's a list) but seem forgotten when people list the best bands in general. If my memory serves me right, one of their albums is part of 1001 Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die. But still, Cocteau Twins should be on every Best Bands Ever list.

2. Club 8 and Blueboy


Apart from Belle & Sebastian, I think most of indie-pop/twee bands dont get easily picked up by people to be part of their best lists. I dont know if these listers just dont wanna be out of their comfort zone (aka google zone) or they just dont appreciate the simplicity and charm of the sub-genre. These two band might not have the influence of Kenye West but they should have a spot on someone's Top 500 Best of. Kahit 500 th and 499th spot.

3. The Sundays and The Cardigans


I think these two bands brought the dream-pop and twee genre to mainstream consumption and yet these snob 'listers' dont seem to recognize their worth.

4. Travis and Tahiti 80


They rather put Coldplay and Phoenix.

I still have a lot of fave bands in mind like Dead Can Dance, Ivy, Morcheeba, 10,000 Maniacs, Zero 7, Kings of Convenience, etc. But it's ok. These lists dont really matter, anyway. You know at the end of the day, the best on your list could be my worst. :)

Aside from Spice Girls...

Being a 90's kid, Icould not avoid to listen to boybands, girlbands, bubble gum pop and all those in between. I was a major fan of Spice Girls. There I said. I thought they were the coolest! I thought belting out Spice Up Your Life would make me hip and all that. We even had a Spice Girls clique in our gradeschool where you had to be a die hard fan of the Fab 5 to be a member. But aside from Spice Girls, i also listened to other music outside the "pop" category...secretly. I never told my friends that I listened to Blur and Silverchair coz they might think that I was baduy and worst, they'd expel me from the Spice Barkada hahahah...

So here's a list of, at least, some of the artists/bands that I secretly loved during the Spice Girls era. I know these acts weren't the super cool ones in those years but they weren't that mainstream either.

First up is Bitter by Jill Sobule. The only meaning of 'bitter' that I knew when I was in grade school was the taste of Amplaya. I didnt know I'd embody that word when I grow up.



Next one is Summertime by The Sundays. I didn't know that the genre of The Sundays was indie-pop. I didn't even know that that genre exists.


Alisha's Attic was also a major fave especially this song. I remember waiting for this song to be played in the old 99.5 RT because they were the only radio station that played it. I love these twins because they always wore dresses and they looked like colorful vampires with their make-up.


How can I forget Lucious Jackson's Ladyfingers?! This video was always aired in Video Hit Parade! Haha! Everytime I rode a bus, I'd do their swaying side-by-side choreography especially when I'm at the back. And up until now, I don't know the right lyrics of the chorus of the song. I'd still sing as 'I got ladyfingers baby, got kid gloves baby i got HARD. I got HARD.' That didn't sound right, no? (BTW, look for Cibo Matto if you can spot them.)


I wanted to have a nose ring because of Kelli from Sneaker Pimps. 6 Underground was so hot in MTV Asia Hitlist back then. I remember watching the movie The Saint just to hear this song.


Perhaps this is the most pop of all the videos in this post. Jellyhead by Crush is such a fun song. This video was also on heavy rotation in Video Hit Parade.


I wanted to include Moonpools & Catterpillar, The Cardigans, Garbage, No Doubt, Portishead and Massive Attack but they're always on the list of everyone's 90's fave so I chose the ones that were less popular but still have pop sensibilities. I will end this list with Republica's Ready to Go.

no glimmer of yourself at all...

Sometimes, all you need to make you feel better is a song that speaks directly to you.


image from here