January 6th, 2019 @ 2:16 pm

so when i was 16, it was the year of ball chain necklaces, kool-aid stained hair, airwalks, cool sk8r and pacific sunwear surfer shirts, jncos, etc.  i had been in love with gavin rossdale for like, 3 years.  bush was all the rage at that point.  i wasn’t as musically versed as i am now, so of course, they were the greatest band EVARRRRRRRR…

my first concert ever was bush when i was in 10th grade, and i felt soooooooo cool pogoing at an alt rock show (lulz).  that concert at madison square garden was actually the thing that brought me and my first love together.  the first time i ever spoke to him, he was wearing a razorblade suitcase shirt and it was the topic of conversation that i used to get to him.  for that, i will forever be thankful to bush, but i digress…

this afternoon, i stumbled upon a recent article talking about how fans hated the lyrics of sixteen stone and basically gavin was going on about his lyrics as artistic, magical and fluid and blah blah blah…  my eyes rolled so hard.  over the years, people have always accused him of riding the coattails of gwen, and it always used to upset me to read that.  she’s just in a different, incomparable category.  she was in a pop band, she had a pop solo career apart from NxD, she was running two fashion lines, etc. – she was all over the place.  in interviews, she used to say he didn’t love no doubt or her music.  she made him sound very dismissive and she also mentioned that only he listens to dark/deep stuff, which is clearly the opposite of no doubt.  those comments made it seem like he was unsupportive or jealous or something.  between her saying that and reading his interviews, he sounds like he’s got this weird ego where he thinks bush was this underrated, genius band or something.  it’s kind of awkward.  no offense to his talent, but bush had their moments, and then they did not.  lots of did nots.

bush faded out over the years and didn’t stand the test of time (i’m not mentioning post-razorblade bush, bc i totally fell off the bandwagon – just the early stuff).  in fact, i revisited razorblade suitcase today, and i sat here scratching my head as to how i ever liked it.  sixteen stone is still good, despite the bad lyrics (i have always questioned wtf he’s ever talking about in songs, no matter how much i loved them), but the real gems are the b-sides.

i rarely listen to sixteen stone in its entirety.  i REALLY have to be in a mood to listen to that type of music.  that happens to me with lots of bands, but that is definitely an album i only pick up once a decade, but i do listen to individual tracks on a more frequent basis.  “machinehead ” is an awesome song, still is in my mind.  i could probably listen to “everything zen” and “little things” on a more frequent basis as well.  honestly, i’ve always hit skip on “glycerine”, and i could live without it.

okay okay, i’m getting sidetracked…  THE B-SIDES.

so if you’re a kevin smith fan, you probably know the aggressively grungey song snippet “bubbles” from the movie mallrats, even if you didn’t realize it was bush.  i don’t remember what year i finally saw mallrats, but it was way before the internet was chock full of info as it is now, so i couldn’t find more info about it.  i always knew that i heard gavin’s voice in that tiny song snippet, though.  there was no b-sides or a single (that i can remember) released for it, and i don’t know why, but i didn’t think to buy the mallrats OST.  it kind of just remained a mystery for a long time.

this afternoon is when i youtubed that mallrats bad boy (listen to it here and LOL @ the comments), and while it’s VERY 90s, holy crap, that’s actually a good bush song.  like, i would listen to it today on a regular basis.  i went to see what it was on, and it says it was on a reissue of razorblade suitcase, along with 3 other songs – AND THEY ARE ALL FUCKING GOOD.  i am sitting here in awe and confused as to why that they never released these on studio albums or as singles.

maybe they were *tOo CoMmeRciAL* for gavin or something?  what a waste of singles that could have been doled out.

December 3rd, 2018 @ 10:31 am

picture it.  flushing, queens, 1997…

a confused, young girl in love is finally being exposed to her musical preferences that will set the tone for the rest of her life.  a sexy brown boy, skateboard readily in hand, ball chain around neck with airwalks on is showing her what actual punk rock is.  he shows her ska-punk as well, and she embraces it with open arms.

NO… punk rock is not green day (i still have a hard time calling green day punk, no matter if all of us 70s/80s babies came through that rite of passage or not), and 15 year old me is confused.

“BUT THEY HAVE BLUE AND GREEN HAIR…?” – her brain says
(still at that point, only actual rocker people had weird colour hair)

…he paves the way.

bands like rancid, goldfinger, bloodhound gang, no doubt, etc., but getting to the point here…  NOFX.

the moment i heard “i heard they suck live!!”, i was hooked.  the only exposure i had to punk that i can remember growing up was the ramones and green day (again, i thought it was straight up punk).  while the ramones were definitely more punk than GD, this was different.  this was faster, grosser and more vulgar.  also: there were horns?!

i heard this live album before i heard the actual albums these songs came off of, and still to this day, the album versions don’t sound correct to me.  this album is offensive as shit, but i always found it funny (ie: together in the sand, they talk about fucking your mother and then called her a hoe – i now know that slut shaming is wrong)

anyways, this album is going to be 25 next year (EW! plz kill me, i’m old), and i was thinking to myself about how fucking rad it would be if fat mike and the guys would do a 25 year anniversary show for it.  i would be there in a heartbeat, with my beavis and butthead remote in hand (YES, I STILL HAVE MINE, AND YOU WILL ONLY UNDERSTAND IF YOU KNOW THIS ALBUM LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR HAND).

i made these absolutely ridiculous earrings yesterday (yep, from my actual 90s CD insert), which inspired me to listen to it while i straightened my glorious mane last night.  in addition, it inspired me to post this.  so, if fat mike + co., if you find this before 2020, please do this.

*~BONUS~* lastly:
picture it.  times square, 2016…

jessica and two co-workers are on their way to see the gin blossoms live at bb kings (I KNOOOWWWW…. how un-punk of us, lol).  we are in search of sustenance, when a co-worker suggests a restaurant that is too packed to even bother.  as soon as we step out, a man with a red mohawk steps in front of us.  male co-worker and i look at each other at the same time, trying to hold in our energy and excitement.  female co-worker is like “WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU 2?”.  we walk behind the mohawked man for half a block and i’m like “do we say hi?”, and he’s like “um, yes”, but does nothing, so i go for it.  i flag him down and ask for a picture.  mind you, aside from my hair, we do NOT look like a pair of punks.  we had just come from work, so he’s probably like “why do these people want a pic with me?”.  i wound up saying “hey mike!”, so i guess he put two and two together and obliges the pic and then chats us up with some small talk.  i’m star struck because i always am, and my adrenaline filled ass actually asks him where he’s off to.  :facepalm:

at any rate, i got this out of the ordeal:

OI OI OI!!!1

November 9th, 2018 @ 9:47 pm

♥ ♥ ♥ just one of those awesome empire records songs that didn’t make the OST cut… ♥ ♥ ♥

holy fuck, i miss the 90s so much.

September 12th, 2018 @ 10:56 am

it’s really hard for me to say i have a favorite *anything* in music. i go by subcategories for everything. however, i will say, if i had to choose top 5 favorite genres… this would be top 3. i have such a love for these what i like to call “adult contemporary” (VH1’y) songs, lol. they hit me right in the feels. they remind me of being upstate with my cousin and screaming along in her room or the car. they remind me of nights i finally had my own room at the age of 14 in 1995, and i’d let Z100 or MTV play in the background while i wrote in my dumb diary or played SNES for hours.

whenever it’s gloomy, rainy, foggy or autumnesque out, i feel like it’s the perfect time for these types of songs. i equate this weather to comfort. anyways, if you don’t already know/listen to these songs, maybe you’ll enjoy ’em 🙂

UGH i miss the 90s so fucking much.

April 23rd, 2018 @ 12:53 pm

my boyfriend keeps frasier-shaming me.  i’ve only rewatched the series fully thrice (okay, okay FINE! i watch it anytime it’s on the hallmark channel at night, but they episodes aren’t in order), but he seems to think i’m on number like, 6.  anyways, i decided to rewatch it again recently bc i finished the show i was binging when i was going to bed.  i figured i’d just watch a couple of episodes just to fall asleep, and then it just turned into a full rewatch.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i mean, if i’m not sick of it and it’s still making me LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARL, who cares?

i’m currently in the last season, and wendie malick’s character ronnie comes in.  tl;dr (no real spoilers), she’s the brothers crane’s babysitter back in the day and they find her in present day.  frasier ends up trying to cash in on his childhood crush on her, but she ends up dating their father (named martin).

what inspired this post, is that she was also on a show in the 90s that i watched as a youth on HBO called “dream on”.  she played judith tupper, a woman who divorced a schleppy, NYC book publisher named martin tupper, and basically tortured him marrying “Mr. Perfect” aka richard stone.  the entire time you’re watching the show, you’re basically hoping at least 40-60% of the time that they get back together.

i honestly don’t remember how the show ended.  i own seasons 1 & 2 on DVD, but they never released seasons 3-6 on DVD.  i don’t want to look it up how the show ended or if they ever got together in between.  maybe they did reunite, maybe they didn’t.  either way, i bring this up bc on frasier, in one of the episodes, martin finds out she’s going out on a date with another man in addition to newly starting to date him.  she actually ends up going out with a guy named richard, but ends up choosing martin in the end.  i thought it was kind of poetic justice, and i wondered to myself if the writers did that on purpose or not.  i googled it, but i couldn’t find anything concrete.

that really would make me so happy…  sticking it to dr. richard stone, HHMMPH!  🙂

April 21st, 2018 @ 10:37 am

today is record store day!  i mean, there aren’t very many places to really buy records anymore around here… barnes & noble had records, but there are none in queens anymore.  there’s one comic booky store in roosevelt field that has them, but who knows if steve wants to get up and go out there today.  ANYWAYS, i got to thinking this morning.  i have that ridiculous crosley everyone and their mama has, and it B L O W S.  it sounds awful, and i need a better record player. i know i could just buy a technics and some speakers and call it a day, butttttttttt then i come across this gem:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand i’m dying, bc of course i can’t find it online *ANYWHERE*.  it’s a vintage sears stereo from the 80’s and it was like, made for me.  #DYINGGGGGG

read more…

April 11th, 2018 @ 5:47 pm

June 6th, 2014 @ 12:06 pm

i am not even one of those people that enjoys karaoke.  i loathe and dread it, actually.  however, my coworkers put together an K outing and i went along with it.  i figured i’d just sit and watch from a dark corner, probably point and laugh…  it didn’t happen that way though.  in fact, i sang one of the first songs – but from the “sofa” in the room…  the only reason that i did, was because it was sublime – santeria and i already knew all of the words by heart already.  i thought maybe that would ease my anxiety of sounding horrible in front of everyone.

it hath not eased. #NEVERAGAIN

i let everyone sing a whole lot more before i got up again, and the only reason i had even sang again was because my sneaky co-worker told me he’d do salt n pepa – shoop with me.  i thought i knew all of the words to it, but not hearing it since (probably) the 90’s, did not work in my favor.  also: that song is DAMN fast.  i got a lot of it, though.

next up was no doubt – just a girl, because my coworker chose it for herself, and then bailed on me to make a LIRR train…  i sat down and belted it out with my coworker bryan quite successfully.

my next/last song was fuel – shimmer.  i figured no one would know/appreciate it but the entire room was singing along with me.  i love that people love that song so much, it’s so fucking good.  hearing it in unison sort of gave me the chills like hockey triumphs/milestones.  the only time i’ve ever heard it like that, is when my cousin marie and i have the windows down in the car, while screaming it as we drive around aimlessly.  forever good memories.

but still…

#NEVERAGAIN

November 25th, 2013 @ 10:45 am

soooooooooo back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s(?) i used to use this shampoo/conditioner oasis line from vo5.  the interwebz says that it’s lavender and chamomile, iiiii just always say “the purple one”, AND IT SMELLED SO DAMN SCRUMPTIOUS.  i used to just leave it on my arms to marinate for a few minutes and then rinse it off so i smelled like it, i had always wished there was a body wash to go along with it…  it was that good.

of course vo5 discontinued this item for whatever reason, so i thought i could no longer smell my favorite smell again like, ever…  UNTIL NOW.

i was browsing CVS for my favorite drugstore body wash the other day, but instead of just grabbing the one that i always use, i sniffed around…  i lived a little.  i then found this.  it smells JUST LIKE the oasis purple jammy, even if the bottle says “tea rose blossom and almond essence”, TRUST ME…  it’s the purple vo5 smell!

this seems like a super random/strange post, but i hope it helps some other lady out there someday.  there are some smells that are just too good to let go of, lol.

August 29th, 2013 @ 12:26 pm

back in the early 1990’s, my BFF cousin marie and i were always trying to be cool/older than we were…  i titled this “goals of your average 90’s teenager” because the desires/goals of your average teens/tweens back then are so different from now.  i blame it mostly on technology.

i remember growing up wanting/looking forward to my own private bedroom phone line, a tv/VCR in my room, my own stereo, a perm (i never did this), a beeper, a scanner, my own computer, my own AOL account…  now, i don’t even know what they long for.  their own ipads? iphones? ombre hair?  either way, on the technological side, all 5 things i longed for can now be found in ONE device.

i feel like my generation had it weird/lucky.  we had such a major technological crossover in the mid/late 90’s that the newer generations will never experience, and we appreciate the technology as it evolved.  i mean, sure someday we may have floating cars…  BUT, will our cars of today feel like the rotary phones of yesterday?  iiiiiiiiiii don’t know about that.

my friend amy and i were discussing pagers/beepers as of last night, and how back when we were tweens, it was SOOOOOOO imperative that we have them.  back when i had mine, i had to BEGGGG for it.  i guess the monthly cost must have been like $10-$20 a month before the $1.99 smartbeep franchise came along.  at the same time that i had my beeper (with all like, five people that would even page me, one being my mother), i also always had my magic diary in tow.

it’s sort of funny how we were back then as 13/14 yr olds compared to the ones that exist now.

when i think back to these times…  here’s a list of what were my steeze (no really, this shit was SO cool), the important things that made me, me (i’d probably be bullied if i were these things as a fresh teenager, NOW).

jessica leigh – circa 1994/1995:

read more…

August 8th, 2013 @ 4:51 pm

buy it in t-shirt form, here.

July 29th, 2011 @ 3:16 am

i was singing this to myself while i was doing my hair before. i haven’t thought of this song in ages…  it reminds me of high school days. and then i figured, “where not a better place to put this filth than on my website”…

i saw them with goldfinger at irving plaza one year, it was such a good show.  hmm, i wonder if they still tour… i wonder if goldfinger still tours o_o

SPEAKING OF OLD BANDS TOURING

my amazeballs ex-boyfriend steve bought us tickets to the the descendents, h2o and the suicide machines. (mostly psyched about the suicide machines because they’re reunited recently!)

July 23rd, 2011 @ 6:07 pm

ricky’s friend randy showed me this song recently after i had mentioned the lemonheads’ version was stuck in my head… i love this song and love love love this cover, and i can’t wait for scott’s new solo album to come out because it’s all cover songs. and i’m especially curious as to how his “but not tonight” cover sounds. that’s one of my top 5 favorite depeche mode songs.