VH1 100 GREATEST: THE INDIGO GIRLS

First off, I've been away from the blog for a minute.  Sorry about that.  I have a new job.  More on that later.

Secondly, it's been a while since VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music countdown ended, but my other posts are still doing pretty well, so I'll write a few more.  It's always exciting, and a true honor, to be asked to be on a VH1 show.  The way this one turned out, I didn't get to comment about some of my favorite artists.  Not that I'm complaining!  But I'm taking to my blog to say what I would have said, if I was in those segments.

So: The Indigo Girls. I love them. I saw them open for Neil Young on his solo acoustic tour in the summer of 1989, when he was trying out songs that would later end up on Freedom. I caught the end of their set, and I thought they were great.  At the time, they had a semi-hit single with "Closer To Fine" from their self titled LP from that year (it wasn't their debut, but it was their major label debut).  I picked it up, and loved it. After that - it was album after album after album of great music.  I bonded with some women who used to frequent the bar that I DJed at in college over our shared love of The Girls.  Fans definitely identified with one or the other.  I love Emily Sailers, but I definitely identified with Amy Ray more.  She's much more punk rock.  I love both of their guitar styles, both of their songs (they never really wrote together, I like Amy's more), and their politics. They definitely put their money where their mouths are.  They have never sold out, or even approached selling out. They don't get enough credit for that.  The rock critic types tend to make fun of them, I guess because they are ernest.

Years after becoming a fan, I got to meet them on a number of occasions:  I interviewed them a bunch of times, and even wrote their record label bio (twice!).  If any of their hard core fans are reading this, they should know: Amy and Emily are as cool in real life as you'd think.

What albums would I recommend?  If you had to pick one, you should go with the double live album, 1200 Curfews from 1995. I think it's one of the best live albums ever, it really gives the vibe of what their shows were like.  It's almost like they weren't a part of the music business.  They had nothing to do with anything that was ever going on around them, they were always themselves.  The fans loved them for it, and you really hear it on this album.  As far as studio albums go, wow... start with The Indigo Girls and go forward from there. 1994's Swamp Ophelia is one of their most popular records (it had two hits, "Power Of Two" and "Least Complicated").  I remember the somewhat bizarre experience of seeing them on that tour at a Z100 Christmas concert.  1999's Come On Now Social and 2002's Become You are both really great also.  My favorite might be 1992's Rites Of Passage.

I gotta give VH1 credit for including them in the countdown.  No one would have yelled at them if they didn't.  The Girls really do exist outside the mainstream these days, they aren't with a huge management company or label.  The VH1 folks (and yes I used to work there) included them because they deserved to be there, and that's based on how great their music has been over the past (almost) 25 years.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: SOLO ALBUMS - GOOD OR BAD?

Last week things got really interesting on the show when we discussed whether or not politics and music mix. I feel they do in a certain context, others felt that they just don't pay $100 (or $10) to hear what's on an artists mind. Others felt that if an artist (like Mel Gibson) has views that offend them, they don't want to support anything he or she does. 

My take is that I like to hear that an artist actually has something to say, with the caveat that if they talk about something, they better be able to back it up. Most artists that I like tend to have similar political views to me. But I don't love KISS any less because Gene Simmons thought that draft-dodging cokehead male cheerleader bush would do a better job defending us than war hero/hockey player/rock and roller John Kerry. Even the fact that Lemmy wears German army uniforms hasn't kept me away from Motorhead's music (although it does bug me, I gotta admit). 

This week is an even more controversial topic: are solo albums good for the health of a band? Do you get mad when someone from your favorite band does a solo project? I'm not talking about guys like Paul McCartney or Curtis Mayfield of Chris Cornell or Aimee Mann, who went solo after quitting their bands or after their bands broke up. I thought of this because Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes (I actually thought he sort of was Bright Eyes) have solo albums coming out this week, and I'm going to see Eddie Vedder do a solo show.  I actually chatted with Amy Ray informally today. She says that in the case of her band, her solo career has been a good thing. I heard that there was some tension in Pearl Jam over Eddie doing solo stuff (odd, as every other member of the band does their own thing), but I'd argue that it's been good for him to do some solo stuff. We'll probably also talk about Stevie Nicks, who maintained a very successful solo career for quite a few years while Fleetwood Mac were on top of the world. Apparently, there are some Stevie fans on the Larry Flick show! By the way, I'll be on Thursday instead of Wednesday this week.