Re: Create a 12-Song Sampler for a Genre/Music Marketing Term Nobody Uses Anymore (Or, “Papa, What Was College Rock”?)

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jakethesnake wrote: Maybe too forgotten but something from Bastards "Monticello" album (which got a few weeks of Peel//NME/MM hype) like Hole, Razor, Neighbour (the Peel fave) or Drunk would fit as well. While I like that album, its music, vocals (total Killdozer style) *and* lyrics feels pigfuck to the point of self-parody though it might have arrived a bit too late and was instead marketed as "grunge". On that note, some of TADs more abrasive early stuff sounded pretty darn "pigfuck" too in spite of the "flannel flava". Cows "Bum in the alley" deserves a mention too, great list though!
Thanks for the praise, man.

Definitely forgotten! Well, almost. Those Bastards singles were sort of exciting at the time. I don't own them, but I remember them well and have the song "Shit for Brains" (which, indeed, is almost comical, self-conscious pigfuckery) on a comp somewhere around here. I don't think I've played it since the '90s and I'm guessing it was not meant to age. I remember seeing the album for cheap, pretty much everywhere for years to come, possibly even as a cutout. Unusual, considering that the 7-inches were such a hot commodity for a sec.

See also: Drunk Tank, whom, musically speaking, I like much more and occasionally still listen to. But who tackled, shall we say, similarly enlightened subject matter w/somewhat likeminded vocals.

As the '80s turned into the very early '90s, it seemed like every large American city had a few long-forgotten, ugly-sounding bands like this. Often somewhere between Rapeman and Drunks w/Guns but nowhere near as distinctive or inspired as either.

Apologies for the digression. Thanks for indulging me.

Re: Create a 12-Song Sampler for a Genre/Music Marketing Term Nobody Uses Anymore (Or, “Papa, What Was College Rock”?)

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Wood Goblin wrote: Oh, it’s no digression. I was thinking of this thread as a home for all sorts of obscure sub-genre samplers.

Also, my kids didn’t really ask me about college rock.
Cool.

Damnit, I took that literally and was sorta kinda hoping they had. ("Tell me more about the Connells, dad." "You didn't miss much, son. Now be a good lad and go listen to that Pylon 10-inch instead.")

I'm obviously exaggerating, but it's not so far-fetched. In the last five years, I've had younger work colleagues and/or kids at record stores ask me abut the damndest stuff. A random bartender in his early 20s picking my brain about seeing Seam and Codeine circa their debut albums, for example. Such occurrences were much rarer a decade ago and just about nonexistent two decades ago.
handsbloodyhands wrote: I'm reminded of the CMJ.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archi ... -04-09.pdf
My first job out of college! Did the marketing genre actually get its name from the publication? ("College Music Journal," but later, "College Media Journal," I believe...)

Re: Create a 12-Song Sampler for a Genre/Music Marketing Term Nobody Uses Anymore (Or, “Papa, What Was College Rock”?)

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handsbloodyhands wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 10:28 am For me CMJ and the term "college rock" are intertwined. Then later in the 80's came the rise of "alternative" radio.
There was a term “com-alt” (“commercial alternative”) which to this day makes my skin crawl. Would love to know who came up with that one.
he/him/his

www.bostontypewriterorchestra.com

Re: Create a 12-Song Sampler for a Genre/Music Marketing Term Nobody Uses Anymore (Or, “Papa, What Was College Rock”?)

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Does Triple A (Adult Album Alternative, which sounds... slightly dirty) still exist as a radio format?

Also, do people (other than me) still toss around terms like AOR and MOR?

I also remember seeing the phrase "atmospheric rock," in an old Relativity Records catalog, pinned to the Cocteau Twins and their ilk. Did anyone take that seriously, other than label execs?

In terms of dead genres, I'm pretty sure that grebo, cocktail nation, and scumrock no longer exist. What about all that bullshit balkanized stuff from the '00s and '10s, like witch house and shitgaze? Terms got really insane during the iPod era. (Now, it seems like Spotify has mushed it all together, under weird-ass, somewhat nonmusical banners like "chill" and "study.")

I don't feel qualified to create samplers for any of the above, but have at it.

Re: Create a 12-Song Sampler for a Genre/Music Marketing Term Nobody Uses Anymore (Or, “Papa, What Was College Rock”?)

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OMG. I am working on a novel called The Lock & Key that’s set in an irish pub in the late 1980s where the jukebox breaks down and the bartender and his art school friend starts spinning records. (Think High Fidelity or The Commitments but gayer and cooler and set in Ireland). I have been meaning to go through it anyway to collect all the song references:

Bing Crosby - When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Christy Moore - Ride On
Crowded house - Something so Strong
The Waterboys - Whole of the Moon
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
The Chameleons - Swamp Thing
Sinead O’Connor - Mandinka
Planxty - After The Break
The Pogues - Sally MacLennane
The Cure - Why Can’t I Be You?
P.I.L - Seattle
A.R Kane - Lollita
David Bowie - Beauty and the Beast
New Order - Blue Monday
The Minutemen - This Ain’t No Picnic
Front 242 - Headhunter
My Bloody Valentine - Feed Me With Your Kiss
Sonic Youth -Expressway to Yr Skull
Big Black - Kerosene
Siouxie And The Banshees - Cities in Dust
Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town
Nina Simone - In The Dark
The Fall - Cruiser’s Creek
Echo & the Bunnymen - Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Galaxie 500 - Flowers
New Order - Ceremony

Here’s the book pitch BTW just in case…

Art student Seán Donovan is barely scraping by when he takes a job pulling pints at The Lock & Key, a crumbling, working class, Limerick pub full of cracked glasses, broken men, and half-empty Guinness. At the door stands Big Terry Walsh, a musclebound ex-rugby lock once known as “The Terror,” who knows every regular, settles every score, and says almost nothing.

After the jukebox dies, Seán and his friend Eoin start spinning records, drawing in a wave of university kids who begin to mix with the longshoremen, factory stiffs, and aging regulars. The pub becomes a unique gathering spot, halfway between a hideout and a home. However, when local thugs target the establishment as queer friendly, a brick flies through the window, threats are made, and a brawl erupts. Terry’s dark past comes crashing through the doors, and Seán’s carefully contained world begins to unravel. In the aftermath, two men quickly realize what they have created accidentally is something worth defending. As they work together to rebuild their shattered workplace, an undeniable connection blossoms between them.

The Lock & Key is a community drama with a slow-burn queer relationship at its heart. It is a music fueled novel about found family, fractured masculinity, and a steadfast tenderness that perseveres in unexpected places.
I am Duncan Gaye.
I am also HOMO/NYMS.

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