Rokken Like Dokken Vol II

Liz Phair 
"Polyester Bride"
At first, I was like, "Liz Phair? What the hell? Isn't this some dykey-ass, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco crap?" Then, I saw this. Hmmm... anything's worth a listen, right? Seriously, she's gotten some bad vibes from the media and her fans for seemingly going pop. I dunno... Nice.

Butch Walker 
"Get Down"
Not really familiar with this guy or the Marvelous 3, but everything I've heard has been top shelf. I'm all about checking more out by these guys.

Fenix TX 
"Pasture of Muppets"
Great title and another great song from these guys. Due to restricted space on the labels, I had to take out one song and this was it. I figured that since there were two songs from these guys on this volume, one should probably go. I hate it though, this is a great song, but the other one is a damned near perfect closer for this disc!

Paperboy 
"Ditty"
I've never heard this one before, but that's really not surprising. I don't really go trolling for rap when I log onto my favorite file sharing client. This track, however is exactly what I love about rap. Old-school sensibilities. Keep 'em chunky like Prego, so they can play with my eggo.

Peaches 
"F*** the Pain Away"
This is track that's gonna make you wanna shy away from letting this disc play unmonitored in the car stereo as you and your wife drive to Muncie on Sunday morning. Seriously, I had to figure out where I had heard this before. As it turns out, this was used in the movie, "Lost in Translation," but left out of the soundtrack album. I can't imagine why. Great music for filthy hos to dance on your coffee table to.

Queensryche 
"Silent Lucidity"
Don't front on the "Ryche!" You know you dig this one. You gotta love the part where the music drops out and the guy goes, "...Or has it just begun." Then it swells up into the most magnificant example of rock balladry ever. Sure these guys took themselves WAY too seriously, but that just adds to the guilty pleasure of listening.

Primus 
"Making Plans for Nigel"
My man Brady was a huge Primus fan, so I absorbed some secondhand love for 'em. Mostly, of course, "Sailing the Seas of Cheese." This comes from "Miscellaneous Debris," which (if I'm not mistaken) also has the only tolerable variation of any Pink Floyd song I can stand, "Have a Cigar." By the way, this is a cover of an XTC song and I have been thinking about checking out some of their stuff. Maybe I'll start there. Just thinking out loud.

Radiohead 
"High and Dry"
I've been avoiding Radiohead mainly because of all the hype. The same reason I haven't checked out the Flaming Lips or Wilco. Spin is all up on their nuts and that can't possibly be good, right? I mean, if there's one thing I hate it's gotta be a pop-music snob. If you're gonna be pretentious about something, be pretentious about Miles Davis or Chet Baker or anything, but top 40 pop albums. Having said that, this song is pretty solid and I might even work my way into the Radiohead discography.

"Disco Duck"
One question. Who actually recorded this song. Am I mistaken in thinking that it was "Weekly Top 40" DJ, Rick Dees? I searched and searched, but couldn't find an artist willing to claim this one. I don't know why, it's a classic.

Screeching Weasel 
"Cool Kids"
Proof that Screeching Weasel had perfected the formula for infectious pop-punk nearly ten years ago. Seriously, this wouldn't sound out place next to any of the newer bands... a little harder hitting, but that's a good thing.

Starland Vocal Band 
"Afternoon Delight"
Have you ever heard a song that you haven't heard since you were a kid and realizes that it was kinda dirty. Well, here you go.

Story of the Year 
"Until the Day I Die"
This is one of the newer bands out there and if I had to guess, I'd have to say that this is a band that all of the hot punker girls would head out to see. Man how times have changed. Back in the day, hot punker girls didn't exist. I remember one time, Brady, Me and a couple of other guys drove this homeless, punk rock girl to Muncie after a Danzig show in Indy. Man, that girl was absolutely NOT a hot punker girl... but few girls who live in a RV in their parents' drive way are hot.

Sugarloaf 
"Don't Call Us, We'll Call You"
One of those classic songs you can't ever remember who recorded. Well, now you know. It was... uh,...

The Cure 
"Friday I'm In Love"
Robert Smith on a good day! Who'd have thought that would play out as well as it did? Seriously, my favorite offering from the Cure.

The Beat 
"Save it for Later"
Unlike 311 or Cake, the Beat (known in the U.S. as the English Beat) were a ska band. This song, however, is not a ska song... but still one of their best. You should really check out everything you can by these guys (and Special Beat Service... and General Public... and Dave Wakeling... and Ranking Roger) it's all good stuff.

Pixies 
"Wave of Mutilation"
I'm kinda ashamed to say that I've never really checked out the Pixies. Or Frank Black's solo stuff. They did do a version of "The Lady in the Radiator Song" from Eraserhead that I've heard, but past that (oh... and "Los Angeles") I've heard practically nothing. I love this song, though. Lime Wire, here I come!

Love Spit Love 
"How Soon is Now?"
This gets into some serious, peak-period, "120 Minutes" style college rock territory. I love this track, in a late night, mellow-out way. 

The Used 
"Buried Myself Alive"
More rock for the hot punker girls. I have to tell you, you can't go wrong digging on this stuff. It'll get you anywhere you wanna go. Extra points for being a little more hard-edged than a lot of the other stuff out there.

Fenix TX 
"Apple Pie Cowboy Toothpaste"
Strange name, great song. Reminds me of classic NOFX. You can't miss, with a line like, "I never liked that drunk ass, twelve year old bitch anyway." Plus, when you break it down Tri-Lam style, you can't be touched!

About the Artwork:
The idea for this series was to tweak classic metal albums. This one is a version of Judas Priest's British Steel.