Best of Beantown

I needed an excuse to post this image cuz it's so awesome. So you're gonna sit quietly while I name off my 3 favorite Boston bands. Don't act like you don't care. You do.

1. The Pixies

In high school Smalltown Pete would make his friends sit in his car (Chrysler New Yorker, the one that talked), lock the doors from the inside, and impose college rock tunes on our ears. This was my introduction to the Pixies, the greatest band the 90s ever produced (are too). Okay so the members aren't technically from Boston, but they formed there. Close enough, jeez.

"Hey" (live), 1989

"U-Mass", 1991

2. Dinosaur Jr.

Okay Dino Jr isn't from Boston either. They met at high school in Amherst, Mass. Whatever, good e-fucking-nough. The Dino Jr sound is a study in contrasts, making uneasy bedmates of thunderous metal riffage and wimpy, boo-hoo lyrics. That's what makes it good. P.S. J. Mascis is a guitar god.

"The Wagon", 1991

"Over It", 2009 (Still got it!)

3. The Modern Lovers

Alongside his idol Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman is the consummate proto-punk songwriter. The Modern Lovers were fast, frantic garage goodness, with 3-chord simplicity and naive lyrics about ice cream, insects and airplanes. Can't not love it.

"She Cracked" (demo), 1972