Blogs

Japanic - Orpheus Express
the Judy's - Guyana Punch
the Groceries - Kid Chemical
anything by the Lucky Motors
you're gonna have to please the Blue October fanatics as well (or leave them off to piss them off)

oh and of course something more recent from Million Year Dance - I suggest Divine Intervention.

I suggest you quit hatin' and let Barbara in. If she was good enough to tour with Johnny Cash, she ought to be good enough for the "Houston 100." And except for Loretta's "The Pill," no song brought the sexual revolution home to country music like "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed."

Iggy Pop--"Houston Is Hot Tonight"

Does that count since it's about Houston?

We can't throw open the field to bands like Groceries, Japanic and Lucky Motors, simply because they aren't very well known outside of this area.

Believe me, I could fill up two or three top 100s with obscure songs by Houston artists, but we're not gonna do that here.

But we aren't gonna base this on sales either, so don't expect me to bend over and take it from a crappy song like "Hate Me" just because it was the big single off an unaccountably popular album.

Linda -- yes, I would say that counts, especially because it is a portrait, however surreal, of Houston.

Weldon "Juke Boy" Bonner wrote some of the greatest songs ever about our fair city:

I Live Where The Action Is (also was covered by Sonny Boy Terry)
Stay off Lyons Avenue
Struggle Here in Houston
Stranded in Houston

Also, check out "Houston" by Johnny "Clyde" Copeland

Also, there's "Midnight Special" by Leadbelly, "Telephone Road" bu Steve Earle and "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells (I'm sure you knew about those three...sorry for re-stating the obvious).

What's "Midnight Special" got to do with Houston?

I'm not disagreeing. I just really had no idea.

The other Telephone Road - Rodney Crowell

Oh, yeah, duh, Heaven, Hell or Houston - ZZ Top

"What's "Midnight Special" got to do with Houston?"

Mentions Houston and the consequences of getting crossways with the law here...

Here's some of the ones we've worked up down here, in no particular order of merit. (We haven't picked the songs yet from some artists):

Blues
Song(s) to be named later by Lightnin’ Hopkins
“Two Steps from the Blues,” Bobby Bland
“Further on Up the Road,” Bobby Bland
“Frosty,” Albert Collins
“Farther Up the Road,” Bobby Bland
“Cherry Red,” Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson
“Kidney Stew Blues,” Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson
“Mighty Tight Woman,” Sippie Wallace
“Woman Be Wise” Sippie Wallace
Katie Webster
“Rockin’ in the Coconuts,” Hop Wilson
“Black Cat Bone,” Hop Wilson
Victoria Spivey
“Houston,” Johnny Copeland
Juke Boy Bonner

Folk / Country
“Born to Lose,” Ted Daffan
“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” Freddy Fender
“Whiskey River,” Johnny Bush
“A Better Man,” Clint Black
“Killin’ Time,” Clint Black
“Love in the Hot Afternoon,” Gene Watson
“Fourteen Carat Mind,” Gene Watson
“Lookin’ for Love,” Johnny Lee
“Steel Guitar Rag,” Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, featuring Leon McAuliffe
“It Makes No Difference Now,” Floyd Tillman
“Slippin’ Around” Floyd Tillman
“They Took the Stars out of Heaven,” Floyd Tillman
“Each Night at Nine” Floyd Tillman
“Drivin’ Nails in My Coffin,” Floyd Tillman
“Truck Driver’s Blues,” Texas Wanderers Cliff Bruner and Moon Mullican
“Why Baby Why,” George Jones
“She’s No Lady,” Lyle Lovett
“Private Conversation,” Lyle Lovett
“Funny How Time Slips Away,” Willie Nelson
“Crazy,” Willie Nelson
“LA Freeway,” Guy Clark
.“Merry Christmas from the Family,” Robert Earl Keen
“Night Life,” Willie Nelson
“Pancho and Lefty,” Townes Van Zandt
“LA Freeway,” Guy Clark
K.T. Oslin
“American Trilogy,” Mickey Newbury
“I Don’t Call Him Daddy,” Doug Supernaw
“The Gambler,” Kenny Rogers
“Coward of the County,” Kenny Rogers
“Lucille,” Kenny Rogers
“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Kenny Rogers
"The Road Goes on Forever," Robert Earl Keen
"The Front Porch Song," Robert Earl Keen
Lucinda Williams

Rap
“Sticky Green,” Devin the Dude
“I Can’t Quit,” Devin the Dude
“Boo Boo’n” Devin the Dude
“Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta,” Geto Boys
“Mind Playin’ Tricks on Me,” Geto Boys
“City Under Siege,” Geto Boys
"Do It Like A G.O” Geto Boys
“F#@* 'Em" Geto Boys
“Man Cry,” Scarface
“Money and the Power,” Scarface
“Mr Scarface,” Scarface
“Wanna Be A Baller,” Lil’ Troy
“Southside,” Lil’ Keke
“Purple Stuff,” Big Moe
“Just a Dog,” Big Moe
“High so High,” South Park Mexican
“Wiggy,” South Park Mexican
“Tops Drop,” Fat Pat
“Game Over,” Lil’ Flip
“I Hate You,” Z-Ro
“Swang,” Trae
“Like a Boss,” Slim Thug
“Sittin’ Sidewayz,” Paul Wall
“Ridin’” Chamillionaire
UGK
“Back Then,” Mike Jones
“Still Tippin’” Mike Jones

Pop/Rock

“Rock Awhile,” Goree Carter
“Chantilly Lace,” The Big Bopper
Fever Tree
Josephus
“Tush,” ZZ Top
“Legs,” ZZ Top
“Sharp Dressed Man,” ZZ Top
“Space Guitar,” Johnny “Guitar” Watson
“She’s About A Mover" Sir Doulgas Quintet
“Superman,” The Clique
“(Just Dropped In) To See What Condition My Condition Was In” Kenny Rogers
“Hot Smoke and Sassafras,” Bubble Puppy
“Slip Inside this House,” 13th Floor Elevators

Zydeco/Cajun
Clifton Chenier
“Jolie Blon,” Harry Choates

Tejano
La Mafia
Fito Olivares

Jazz
“You Made Me Love You,” Harry James
“Flying Home (No. 2),” Lionel Hampton Orchestra, featuring Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet
Crusaders
Joe Sample

R&B
“Please Send Me Someone to Love,” Percy Mayfield
“Knockin’ Da Boots,” H-Town
“Bootylicious,” Destiny’s Child
“Okie Dokie Stomp,” Clarence Gatemouth Brown
“A Real Mother For Ya,” Johnny “Guitar” Watson
“Gangster of Love,” Johnny “Guitar” Watson
“Ain’t That a Bitch,” Johnny “Guitar” Watson
“Merry Christmas Baby,” Charles Brown
“Black Night,” Charles Brown
“Release Me,” Lil’ Esther Phillips
“Hit the Road Jack,” Percy Mayfield
“The River’s Invitation,” Percy Mayfield
“I Don’t Want to Be President,” Percy Mayfield
“I’ll Miss Show Business,” Jimmy T-99 Nelson
“Chicken Shack Boogie,” Amos Milburn
“One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer,” others by Amos Milburn
“Hold On to What You Got,” Joe Tex
“Funny How Time Slips Away,” Joe Tex
“Please Come Home for Christmas,” Charles Brown
“Say My Name” Destiny’s Child
“Bills, Bills, Bills” Destiny’s Child
“Treat Her Right,” Roy Head

I was always partial to that weird country houston oilers theme song. "Luv Ya Blue".

Didn't Ornette Coleman record some stuff in Houston on a Houston label?

Oo, oo and what about Kashmere?

I left off any number of Rodney Crowell songs and "Tighten Up" in that list above.

1. Tapes 'N Tapes- In Houston
2. There's a Beck song from the album 'Odelay' that mentions james coney island, does that count?

Oooh...forgot one:

"Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/TT/fthpg.html

John, I'll give on the Motors and the Groceries if I have to but Japanic really did put out great music and represented Houston well, opened for the Violent Femmes and played a few nights at CBGB so show them some love, especially if your preliminary list has Devin the Dude, and South Park Mexican. (Way too much rap on that list, but if you are gonna put up some rappers how about Tela?)

Also how can The Judy's, perhaps one of the top five bands to ever come out of the Houston area not get one song on the list???

OK, John, you don't like Hate Me. Well then what about You Make Me Smile, She's My Ride Home, HRSA, Let It Go, What If We Could, Angel, Amnesia, Libby I'm Listening, Chameleon Boy.

I could go on and on. But please give Blue October a fair shake.

everyone knows your an idiot Lomax, you know squat about music, just disappear already.

i agree wit chris...just ATTEMPT to listen to something other than radio pop stuff...
Razorblade, Quiet Mind, Drill It, etc
and for gods sakes - Darkest Side of Houston's Finest Day!!!!

That list is preliminary, and there are already more than 100 songs on it, so not all of them are going to make it.

Too much rap? SPM could sell out venues from here to Denver at his peak, and Devin is one of the most critically esteemed rappers in the history of the genre.

As for playing CBGB, who has not nowadays?

That's not a knock against Japanic...It's just if we put everybody's favorite cult bands on there there would be room for little else, and we would end up with a list that would puzzle the great majority of people.

Personally, I think Horseshoe should be all over the list, and about five or six songs off the Haaga solo record, five or six Arthur Yoria tunes, a jam off the new Church of Philadelphia record, a couple of Tody Castillo numbers, a couple by Simpleton, a few by Los Skarnales, a few by Chango Jackson, a few by Sideshow Tramps and Banana Blender Suprise, and so on and on and on.

Or I could fill another list with nothing but unjustly obscure blues and zydeco, or soul and funk sides from the Skipper Lee Frazier archives.

Then there's the '70s folk-country scene. You could easily come up with 100 great songs just combining the catalogs of Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell and Guy Clark, not to mention one-time fellow Houstonians Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle, and then you've also got Eric Taylor, Nanci Griffith, Richard Dobson, Don Sanders and Shake Russell and so on.

But then few of you would agree with me, and I'm sure you could come up with big-ass punk, noise, or indie rock lists.

That's way this has to do more than reflect personal taste. Mass national or at the very least regional popularity has to play a part.(Which does incline me to allow Blue October on there somewhere.)

PS: The Judy's "Guyana Punch" is a given to make the final top 100. It's not on the preliminary list through an oversight -- I had some stored on a word doc and others on a spreadsheet and not all of them got transfered.

I think if you are referencing selling out venues and national popularity in one sentence and then including Lil’ Troy, Lil’ Keke, and Big Moe on the list, and then not including Blue October anywhere, then the list is clearly headed in the wrong direction

Troy's "Wanna Be a Baller" and Keke's "Southside" both charted nationally, and Keke is still a legend of Texas rap. Big Moe also made the charts and used to be on MTV.

I also said I was inclined to have Blue October on there, about two-and-half inches above your comment.

John, thanks for the replies and while I do agree on your comments regarding all the cult bands - I should also warrant you consider the scope of the songs (ie - a simple song that appeases lowbrow masses like 'I wanna be a baller'), vice a song that makes you proud to say it is a bonafide Houston song (like the aforementioned 'Guyana Punch' which I'm glad we both agree on).

good luck on the list you can't please everyone.

p.s. relisten to some Japanic before finalizing your list!!!

'I've got the razor who's got the vein.' - T. Kerschen

John remind me to cold-cock you next time I see you.

That is all,

Love
Ramon

How 'bout Dean Martin's "Houston"

Darkest Side of Houston's Finest Day by Blue October

John, one more and I'll leave you alone, but try to consider also Helstar - (I suggest 'Benediction'), and maybe even some King's X.

Ramon -- I have a size 8 head, so it's an easy target. (Sorry for leaving LPQ off my list -- "Cole Porter" "Bongfire" "Brain" and "Thorn" are all 5-starred on my iTunes if it makes you feel any less disposed to punching me.)

Trey -- Helstar and King's X are both eminently listable. Same goes for Dead Horse.

Dean Martin's "Houston" is listable, especially since it was written by Lee Hazlewood, who is from the Beaumont area and might have spent some time here.

If we're including artists from the Golden Triangle - which we totally should -
has anyone heard of this chick that grew up in Port Arthur named Janis Joplin?

Ok well that will get you downgraded to a nut check.

But seriously - your criteria is pretty much nutters. I mean by your hipster obscurity meter Really Red's "No Art in Houston" or Culturecide's "Houston Lawman" would be out. WTF? Are you trying to compile the best songs about Houston or are you trying to compile something within that set?

It's like in the scene in the jerk where Steve Martin tells someone if they win the carnival game they can win anything displayed...not including this this and this and this and this..or this.

Sorry Chris, I don't think we can do Beaumont-PA-Orange, 'cause it would open up a whole Joplin-Jones-Winter can o'worms. Then you've got Clay Walker, Tracy Byrd, Mark Chesnutt...Blind Willie Johnson. It's too much. Let the Enterprise take that one.

Golden Triangle people who live or have lived here deserve to be on there though. Jones recorded "Why Baby Why?" here which is why I picked that one and that one alone. Same goes for "Chantilly Lace."

Really Red is another oversight -- they could make it on there. Not sure about Culturcide. Thanks for mentioning specific songs instead of just saying "This band should be on there."

There has to be some kind of notoriety baseline.

So far I'm getting a lot of shit from the rock people. I imagine when and if this post hits the rap crowd, I'll be getting called a moron for not having more Z-Ro, Trae and K-Rino on there too.

John - i totally agree with this statement :
"Personally, I think Horseshoe should be all over the list, and about five or six songs off the Haaga solo record, five or six Arthur Yoria tunes, a jam off the new Church of Philadelphia record, a couple of Tody Castillo numbers, a couple by Simpleton, a few by Los Skarnales, a few by Chango Jackson, a few by Sideshow Tramps and Banana Blender Suprise, and so on and on and on." Arthur Yoria and the C.o.P. and Horseshoe are some of my fav. houston acts right now. Well...earlier Arthur Yoria :) and the Dimes have some great tunes out as well!

just give them all a chance to make it! i understand the need to not be so obscure...but you can use this chance to spread some great tunes!

oh! and what about some Little Joe Washington?!?!?

Michael -- and I left off Jug O'Lightnin', Clouseaux, the John Sparrow, the Jinkies, the Westbury Squares and Sugar Shack. Not to mention the Suspects, 30footFall, and John Egan.

Egan reminds me of Chris Whitley, who by a fluke of chance, was both born and died here. Barry White was born in Galveston. I think both should not be included, since neither really grew up here.

Anything that came through Crazy Cajun is fair game, though, right? "You'll Lose a Good Thing"?

good thoughts :)

either way - you're still a good guy john. i like what you're doin here.

Chris -- Crazy Cajun is tricky, particularly that song. Huey might have been still running it out of Winnie as early as "You'll Lose a Good Thing." I am pretty sure that song was recorded at Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans as well.

Also, I just remembered the Winter Bros did live here for a while. Maybe we could include some of their earliest work. Ever heard Johnny's "Birds Don't Row Boats"? Heav-eee, man. (Actually it's one of the silliest psychedelic songs ever.)

Michael -- thanks.

Steve Earle, "Home to Houston" Great truck drivin' song, and has that added Halliburton cachet.

"So far I'm getting a lot of shit from the rock people."

Hey, we gotta keep you honest, esse. :)

A master list of everything recorded at SugarHill - if there is such a thing - might help us out tremendously.

More I've come across, or oversights:

BJ Thomas: "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"
"Hooked on a Feeling"

Bobby Bland: "Turn On Your Love Light," "Stormy Monday Blues"

Scarface solo: "Smile," "Man Cry," "Let Me Roll," "People Don't Believe"

Bushwick Bill solo: "Ever So Clear"

Mickey Gilley stuff

a mess of Kenny Rogers (some good, some terrible)

O.V. Wright

Lil' Junior Parker

"Getting the Corners," TSU Toronadoes

"I Can't Stop Dancing," Archie Bell

"Hold Me Tight," Johnny Nash

Jewel Akens "Birds And The Bees" was born in Houston. H.B. Barnum "Lost Love" likewise. Beyonce is also a Houstonian as is Chris Walker "Take Time" How Moving Sidewalks fronted by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

I think you need something by The Hunger from back in the early 90's.

lomax, you KNEW you were gonna get shit from us blue fans, glad to see your atleast accepting a bit more flack from us than you were previously. theyre our boys, were proud of them, we love them adn we want the world to know about them. luckily we dont have to work as hard now as we did 2 or 3 or even 8 to 10 years ago.

while ive got your attention, id just like to say thanks for "Screw October". i freaking laughed my ass off at that article. as i said, i love those boys hell im even related to one of them adn i still think that article was hilarious.

ill put in a vote for DSoHFD again.

c.

Something Fierce just released a song called "Hey Houston." We are from Houston, it was recorded in Houston, it has the word "Houston" in it 4 times, it talks about the Houston music scene today, and more importantly, it doesn't suck.

I know it's too new to be on the list, though. Maybe next year.

Just reminding you that there are local bands bands doing things, like writing and releasing music.

SG

www.somethingfiercemusic.com

Steven -- have you sent a copy of that record by the Press?

John,
I was reading thru it all and I am not sure if you are looking for songs referring to Houston or songs that were recorded here by people that grew up here or what.

Well, FYI, "The Answers" by Blue October was recorded right here at Sound Arts Studio by a Houstonian, Brian Baker. and the 11th track is "The Darkest Side of Houston's Finest Day"
Written by home grown, Justin Furstenfeld, and performed with home grown, Ryan Delahoussaye and Jeremy Furstenfeld.
Both Ryan and Justin attended HSPVA and Jeremy attended Waltip

Now, you can not find a song, album, and artist that fit the criteria any better. I know it was not on the charts or even got radio play but it is an awesome song by a really awesome band.

Just saying, if you are giving props to Houston bands, you won't find a finer bunch of guys.

I'm going to second that The Judy's must be represented. Pearland certainly qualifies as greater Houston.

Would be nice to see Jana Hunter on this list somewhere too, a rising star we can claim our own.

this is pretty ridiculous. you probably should have left it at songs about houston. i mean, honestly, what does "bootylicious" have to do about houston at all? i know .. destiny's child is from here. but as a houstonian, i'm trying to forget that horrifying trainwreck ever existed.
and forgive me if i'm wrong .. isn't the houston press written in houston for houstonians to read. so who the heck cares if a band's not big outside the city. maybe the houston press should write about houston music for a change.

Niki -- define "big in Houston."

You know, when I orginally conceived of this a few months ago, I had intended to have it be the top 100 songs from Houston in the 20th Century.

I am not so sure that wasn't a better idea. Time gives perspective.

If that rule was still in place, I am not so sure that a guy would have had the hubris to come out and imply that his band's brand-new song was one of the top 100 songs to come from his hometown ever.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Time will tell. I am sure that all of us have fallen in love with and abandoned songs over time, and conversely, discovered the beauty in music we have either ignored or actively disliked.

There are 5.5 million people in Greater Houston. That's about the same number of people as there are in Ireland and Jamaica. Combined.

While Houston has not always been that huge, Houstonians have been making prominent recordings since the 1920s. Women like 5th Ward's Sippie Wallace and Galveston's Victoria Spivey were big stars in the Jazz Age speakeasies, and Wallace's tragic piano prodigy cousin Hersal Thomas is credited as the inventor of the boogie-woogie piano style that swept the nation in the late '20s. (He was poisoned when he was 17.)

The recording industry in Houston has been steaming along since the 1940s. Goree Carter's Houston-made 1949 single "Rock Awhile" was dubbed by late New York Times music critic Robert Palmer as the first true rock and roll record of all time. (Not anything by Elvis or Bill Haley nor even Jackie Brenston / Ike Turner's "Rocket 88")

Other historians have made a case for "Flying Home" as the first rock record of all time, and that song was led by the saxophones of Houstonians Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet.

Amos Milburn was cited by Fats Domino as one of his key influences, and Charles Brown wrote two or three songs that have become American standards. But both of them were gay and black when you weren't allowed to have mainstream success if you were either.

Most of white America didn't hear any of those songs until the '70s, if at all, because of racism. Back when they came out, they were called "race records" and marketed exclusively to black people. It was only with the passage of time that the importance of these records to the history of American (and world) music was revealed.

Zydeco was born here. Houston had one of the top blues scenes in the country, and it remains one of the biggest hubs of rap in America. From each of these genres have come songs that people know and love not just here but also in New York, Paris and Tokyo.

And now some of you would have me ignore this history again, all so your favorite bar band can be enshrined?

Alright, I'll give you people a challenge. If the person who wants "Bootylicious" chucked off the list can tell me what song should be put in its place, and why, I'll consider it.

Those of you lobbying for a half-dozen Blue October songs, please tell me which half-dozen songs from the ones I released upthread should be removed.

Steven from Something Fierce, tell me which of the songs on the lists should go, so yours can get in the top 100.

The same goes for all of you. Name me as many songs from your favorite bands (not represented here yet), and tell me which songs they should replace.

I don't think she used the words "big in Houston" anywhere in her comment, so I don't know who you're quoting.

John -- I listed that song as a joke, which is why I went into the inane details of it's relevance to the list, and in any case, it will not be available on vinyl until October. However, I can send a copy of the 7" we put out last month straight to your desk :)

I was merely stating that local bands are still making relevant music, and NO, just because someone outside of Houston is not familiar with a band, it does not mean they are less relevant to your readers.

The fact that you outright cut local indie/punk/garage/etc. bands from your list because they are too "obscure," doesn't speak well about your affinity for local music, and you are the MUSIC EDITOR of the alternative weekly rag. It's your job to get knee deep in our creative juices, or at the least, tell someone else how to.

In the end, you just don't seem to like said genres of music as much as blues, country, folk, rap, and pop rock. They are seemingly at the bottom of your totem pole, which is just fine. I do understand that everyone has their opinion, and that's not something I'm going to overlook.

In that case, maybe you should get someone on staff that does appreciate the local underground, and if they're already there, give them a voice. That way a lot of us little guys don't feel so overlooked...

Yours truly,
SG

OK, Mr. Lomax. I'm one of the Blue October "lobbyists". You wanted a list of songs that should be removed in favor of a Blue October song. My time is limited at the moment, but I'll take on one at a time.

Take "Bootylicious", for example. Here is the chorus:

I don't think you ready for this jelly
i don't think you ready for this jelly
I don't think you ready for this
Is my body to bootylicious for ya baby
I don't think you ready for this jelly
i don't think you ready for this jelly
I don't think you ready for this
Is my body to bootylicious for ya babe

WOW. That is DEEP. What amazing lyrics, and such heartfelt ideas.

Let's take on Blue October, from "Chameleon Boy":

I changed my color for you
I shed my coat with caution
I lack the beauty you display
See here there are the bruises
And some were self-inflicted
And some showed up along the way
So i nod my head
I'm ready for the world to see
The secret i kept here inside the man you thought id be
Slip into coma calm
The coma where i calm myself down
Here comes excuses why i let you down

Stand by for another breakdown
Sound off the alarm
Is this the chameleon boy i swore i wouldn't become
Chameleon boy
Chameleon boy

And that's just ONE song. I basically pulled a Blue October song at random. They ALL have songwriting that is second to none.

I'm not advocating any particular Blue October song for your list. They're all worthy if you ask me. Just pick a few out of a hat, and you'll do just fine.

But please don't try to justify "Bootylicious" as more deserving of a spot on your list. And as time allows, I'll find more examples.

Sorry for the long post.

What the hell is wrong with "Bootylicious"? If you can't dance to that, you should have your pulse checked.

Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room) - Paul Lekakis. Greatest club hit this town's ever known.

Oh, man...

I was completely neutral about Blue October until I read those lyrics.

WTF?

Did those lyrics win third place in a high school poetry contest?

Sign that guy up for Who's Who.

That dude is definitely not ready for this jelly.

She said "who the heck cares if a band's not big outside the city."

So then she must mean that there are some bands who are big in Houston that should be included.
I want to know what that means to her.

You said: "The fact that you outright cut local indie/punk/garage/etc. bands from your list because they are too "obscure," doesn't speak well about your affinity for local music..."

A few things here.

1) I have not cut music from those genres from the list at all. I have only said that it must have some notoriety outside of Houston. The Judy's were a punk-y new wave band. By Houston rock standards, they were very successful. Indeed they were so cool that Austin has tried to claim them as their own, which that city has done with tons of our best music over the years. One of the reasons I am doing this is to combat Austin's hijacking of our music.

And Really Red probably deserves to have a song on there too.

2) The fact that I may or may not have an affinity for certain styles of local music does not mean that I lack an affinity for local music in general. You yourself noted a half-dozen or so styles I do evidently enjoy.

It only means that I may or may not lack an affinity for certain types of music, period.

The fact that you equate all "local music" with the subset you play is a narcissistic flaw I find to be all too common. Since the days of Public News, "the scene" has always been defined as whatever is happening in two or three indie rock bars in Montrose and on Washington.

In fact, there is no one "scene" here. There never has been and never will. There is not even one unified rock scene.

And the challenge still stands -- please tell me which songs I have already thrown out there should be replaced by songs from the indie/punk/garage scene, and name the songs, not just the bands, that should take their place. Believe me, I don't love all or even a clear majority of the songs I have thrown out there already. In fact, I hate some of them. My bias should not disclude them from making the list. I am only one man with an opinion.

3) Those of you saying I should allow in songs from cult bands, I also ask this: Cult bands of which era? Right now? The late '90s? The early '90s? The '80s? The late '60s acid rock scene?

What about cult rap acts, or cult country acts? Cult rockabilly from the '50s?

You see where this is going? We would have a list of 100 songs, and most of the readers would not have heard of most of them.

The same thing is true in every large city: Sadly, there are thousands of great songs that come out over the years that have only a few hundred fans each.

I will not be including my own personal cult favorites, even though I could come up with probably 300 or 400 of those, more than a few from the indie-punk-garage scene you think I despise.

But the inclusion of any one of them in a list of the 100 top songs from that city of all time would cause thousands of people severe case of what-the-fuckitis.

This is not the top 100 songs of the last five years of Houston's hipster community -- it is the top 100 songs from Houston (or by Houstonians) of all time, from Sippie Wallace's Okeh sessions in 1923 through "International Playa's Anthem". That's 84 years of music from about ten genres.

PS: And you have the nerve to come on here and complain about us not covering your record when you haven't even sent it our way? For shame. :)

PPS: I have seen the 7" on shelves. Nice job on the package, seriously. Very cool. If I didn't have two kids and wasn't flat broke, I would have bought it.

I never complained about you not covering our record. I know you never had one.

We released our debut last year, and I gave a copy to a writer/journalist that said he would get it to the Press. Two months later, I found out that he kept the copy and reviewed it for another magazine he was working for.

When I tried again, I was told that it wasn't "new" anymore and would not be reviewed. Unfortunately, that's why you don't have our first release. Like I said, I can get the new 7" to your desk, though.

"The fact that I may or may not have an affinity for certain styles of local music does not mean that I lack an affinity for local music in general."

You're right, I should have specified that that was mostly in reference to the indie-punk-garage end of the spectrum.

"Since the days of Public News, "the scene" has always been defined as whatever is happening in two or three indie rock bars in Montrose and on Washington."

Where else would all the cool kids be? By the way:

Rudyard's
Proletariat
Walter's
Notsuoh's
Number's
The Meridian
Jet Lounge
The White Swan
Southmore House
Fitzgerald's
SHFL
Boondocks
The Mink

All of these venues support indie-punk-garage bands. They probably have a lot of shows filled with people that read your paper, too.

"This is not the top 100 songs of the last five years of Houston's hipster community -- it is the top 100 songs from Houston (or by Houstonians) of all time..."

This isn't all about hipster music, and if it's too obscure for you, ask the next 100 people on the street who Sippie Wallace is and give yourself some perspective.

I see that you're trying, really, so I'm not going to bust your hump anymore. I was ecstatic to see that you're considering the Judy's and Really Red. However, I will say that you're wrong about one thing, mostly because times are changing:

There is a unified rock scene growing here.

Bands are coming together, and the fact that you haven't noticed is an issue.

I'm coming up with my list suggestions...

SG

"This isn't all about hipster music, and if it's too obscure for you, ask the next 100 people on the street who Sippie Wallace is and give yourself some perspective."

Yes, but that was not always the case. There were probably not 100 people in Harlem who had not heard of her in 1926. She recorded with Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Albert Ammons. Bonnie Raitt later cited her as a prime influence. She did Letterman and the Today Show. And in 1980-something her homecoming festival gig at Hermann Park was attended by thousands of people. (I was there, I remember.) I think she got the key to the city, all that jazz.

"Bands are coming together, and the fact that you haven't noticed is an issue."

I've heard that before. I would be ecstatic if this peace and harmony thing were true, but after six-plus years in this gig, forgive me a little skepticism.

you really should just kill yourself

"you really should just kill yourself"

Nope, that's the coward's way out. Almost as as cowardly as posting crap like that anonymously on the Internet.

I'm with Lomax once again. Houston rock & "garage" bands are terrible. There hasn't been any good houston "indie" bands since zz top drove the eliminator to the moon. Indie is just your word for won't bother practice. Then when no one goes to your shows you wine about it like anybody cares. Forget it, if someone care you'll see them at your three hipster clubs. As for me I'll see the rest of you 5.5 million at Continental tonight.

I'm with Lomax once again. Houston rock & "garage" bands are terrible. There hasn't been any good houston "indie" bands since zz top drove the eliminator to the moon. Indie is just your word for won't bother practice. Then when no one goes to your shows you wine about it like anybody cares. Forget it, if someone care you'll see them at your three hipster clubs. As for me I'll see the rest of you 5.5 million at Continental tonight.

saying 'who the heck cares if a band's not big outside the city' doesn't necessarily mean i'm saying use a band that's big inside the ity. although, i would say that bands like the judys, really red and the groceries were big in houston whereas, people outside the city might not be as familiar with them.
i'm saying .. use smaller bands. make use of the bands that aren't well known. you've got all these great local bands right under your nose and time after time they get ignored. this is the reason why, for most of my life i told people we had no scene. when we did, it just wasn't getting the attention it deserves.
and 'hey houston' is way too new a song to be used on this list. point taken. he was just making the point that there are houston bands recording and playing in houston. and working so so hard and constantly getting passed over and ignored.

"ask the next 100 people on the street who Sippie Wallace is and give yourself some perspective."

And you could go the Galleria, the downtown tunnels, a Harrisburg flea market, Hong Kong City Mall, Greenspoint Mall, the Kemah Boardwalk or Hermann Park and ask 100 or 1000 people about Japanic, Groceries, the Dimes and even the Judy's and Really Red to give yourself some perspective.

"i'm saying .. use smaller bands. make use of the bands that aren't well known."

And then all of you would tear the list to shreds, because they wouldn't be the same smaller bands that you like.

So would more casual music fans, because they would have heard of few or none of the songs listed.

This is not strictly an exercise in aesthetics, it is also and attempt at gathering history.

Whoops. 6:47 is me, forgot to sign it.

What about Moses Guest--Southland (or any MG song for that matter)?

they tour nationally, and are played on sirius/xm regularly. does that count as not being a local "cult" band?

tell em john

those bands suck and they know it, that's why they don't have the balls to respond to the claims

ask anybody anywhere out of eggheadland about these so called "bands" and you see what we're talking about.

waht makes you bands think you can talk about yoursalves and everybody is listening when they not listining to you at all?

a lot of nerve.

Someone made the comment that Blue October's "Chameleon Boy" won a third place in a high school poetry contest yet they neglected the lyrics of "Bootylicious". I must say the same words they did, WTF? Surely you jest. I'd like to see your lyrical genius. Well, anyway, I'm going to have Destiny's Child take on Blue October as well. I didn't feel like putting myself through the agony of looking up lyrics to songs that do not have basic English words spelled correctly, or made up words for that matter.

Chorus:
I don't think you ready for this jelly
i don't think you ready for this jelly
I don't think you ready for this
Is my body to bootylicious for ya baby
I don't think you ready for this jelly
i don't think you ready for this jelly
I don't think you ready for this
Is my body to bootylicious for ya babe

vs. one of Blue October's most positive songs for those that think they are only depressing and angry. This is a song anyone can relate to, it's strictly about self confidence and getting back up when you're knocked down.

Chorus: Inner Glow by Blue October
I'm on your side if you fail at least you tried
To keep your aching, celebrating, wonder making heart alive
and your pride don't keep it all inside
Don't keep your aching, celebrating, wonder making heart alone
Write you own song

Whatever happened to our inner glow
Whatever happened to the song the soul the me i used to know
Whatever happened to my radio
Whatever happened to my song
It is my song

For the one that wants something to dance to "Italian Radio" (Argue With a Tree version it's faster) and since you obviously don't listen to lyrics when you dance "X Amount of Words". I love the lyrics but when you realize what he's saying it actually makes you think (god forbid).

And just because I don't like you right now John, here's another Blue October song that anybody that has ever truely lived can relate to as well.

Kneel down
Close your eyes
Hit the ground
I want you to, to kneel all day
Alone in this desolate cave
So I said
Scream if you want to
Cause no one is around
I want you to
To scream all day
Cause there's eleven words that I've rehearsed to say

And I say
How I love to hate you! [repeat]

You're
not so brave
When I'm the snake
And you're my prey
Let me tell you I'll eat all day
Alone in this desolate cave
So I say
Squeal if you want to
Cause no
no one is around
I want you to
To squeal all day
Cause there's eleven words that I've rehearsed to say

And I say
How I love to hate you! [repeat]
James, how I love to hate you
Oh, how I love
How I love to hate you...

Well maybe that's a little too strong for what I feel but there's another Blue October song anyway.

Thank you.
p.s. sorry if there are any typos,I'm tired.

"This is not strictly an exercise in aesthetics, it is also an attempt at gathering history."

John, I agree with you wholly. Niki, stay out of this. Haha.

"And you could go the Galleria, the downtown tunnels, a Harrisburg flea market, Hong Kong City Mall, Greenspoint Mall, the Kemah Boardwalk or Hermann Park and ask 100 or 1000 people about Japanic, Groceries, the Dimes and even the Judy's and Really Red to give yourself some perspective."

I will, actually. I'll ask them about Sippie Wallace, too. Give me a week.

SG

Ahem...

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English

Main Entry: bootylicious

Part of Speech: adj

Definition: sexually attractive, esp. in the buttocks

Etymology: booty + delicious

Usage: slang

It may have been a made-up word once, but now it's an honest-to-God part of the English language. And a welcome one at that.

Name me another song from the "Houston 100" - or any H-town-spawned song, for that matter - that can make that claim.

It should probably be No. 1 just for that killer "Edge of Seventeen" sample anyway.

Chris, thanks for your edification.

To which I will add one for the word "jelly," whose poetical usage seems to have escaped the Octoberite upthread.

To wit:

"'jelly roll'
--Black slang from the nineteenth century for the vulva, with various related meanings, i.e. sexual intercourse, a loving woman, a man obsessed with finding same. "'What yo' want?' she asked softly. 'Jelly roll?'" (Thomas Wolfe, 'Look Homeward Angel,' 1929). The term probably derives from 'jelly,' meaning semen: "Give her cold jelly to take up her belly, And once a day swinge her again" (John Fletcher, 'The Beggar's Bush,' 1622). Related expressions include 'jelly bag,' referring both to the scrotum and the female genitals; 'jerk [one's] jelly,' to masturbate; and 'jelly,' a good-looking woman. 'Jelly Roll' appears in many blues songs, such as "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None o' My Jelly Roll," "Nobody in Town Can Bake a Jelly Roll Like Mine," and "Jelly Roll Blues," the last by Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe "Jelly Roll" Morton"

So not only can "Bootylicious" lay claim to the coinging of a neologism, it also wallows in damn-near Chaucerian bawdiness and time-honored African-American slang.

steven, you know you can't keep me quiet. you've been trying for almost 3 years and it always ends the same.

"And you could go the Galleria, the downtown tunnels, a Harrisburg flea market, Hong Kong City Mall, Greenspoint Mall, the Kemah Boardwalk or Hermann Park and ask 100 or 1000 people about Japanic, Groceries, the Dimes and even the Judy's and Really Red to give yourself some perspective"
i'm not gonna dispute that. it's true. but when i read about a band that gets a good write up or is getting a lot of buzz, i check them out. i know, i'm more obssessed about music than most common people but maybe if you include these bands, they'll get more recognition. and i'm willing to bet that more people in Montrose and the Heights read the houston press than people in other areas. right now, i live out in the garden oaks area and i can't think of a single place that even carries the press. i have to wait until i'm in the montrose area, where i work, to pick one up.

as for tearing your list apart if i saw smaller bands i didn't know or didn't like .. some people might, you're right about that. as for me, it might open my eyes to a great band that i overlooked. or i might still think they're terrible and if that's the case, so what. you like something i don't. it's not like that's never happened before.

houston has a great garage and rock scene coming up. and i'm so excited for it and to be a part of it. in a few years, it could be amazing. but it's going to take more than just the bands playing it. it's gonna take everyone in the city opening their eyes and realizing what's going on and supporting it. the only thing that's going to help that is a paper writing about it and letting people know about what's going on.

and enough of this blue october crap. i went to hspva, i'm sick of hearing about it already. they may have won some poetry award but i also saw kids do some really ridiculous stuff that was considered 'great art'.

Archie Bell & the Drells "Tighten Up"
Destiny's Child "No, No, No" REMIX
Big Moe "Barre Baby" or "MANN!"

My buttocks are tingling with all this stimulating debate.