No thank you, ma’am. Perhaps Sleepy would like it instead…
They say an earworm a week helps keep the doctor away. Lucky for you, The Nest features a healthy new song for you each and every Monday! That’s the day we brush away the ants and dig out another low-fat lost hit from that giant pantry of canned muzak we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy is here to make sure you eat your veggies……. no, she’d never do that, she’s the cool aunt. While the Sponkies are wondering where vegemite falls in the food pyramid. You’ll burn more calories than you gain listening to this…
With the rise of alternative rock in the 90’s, one subgenre that formed in the middle part of the decade, which was unmistakable but is a bit awkward to point out, was a trend I call, for lack of a better name, chick rock. St. Louis actually had a short-lived radio station dedicated solely to female rockers in the 90’s, who were anything but dolled up pop stars who were more celebrities with a voice than actual musicians. With Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette at the forefront, they would later pave the way for more badass chicks who told it like it was, such as Joan Osborne, Meredith Brooks and Paula Cole…
Yeah, I’m a bitch! And you wouldn’t want me any other way…
While I wasn’t a very big fan of much of the output that launched Lilith Fair, as with any genre, there are always exceptions…. which brings us to out featured artist for today, one Fiona Apple.
Boy, talk about being angsty…
It was hard for anyone who wasn’t doing hip hop or what passed for R&B at the time to get a spot on the pop charts, which is why so many songs we consider 90’s anthems today were never actually Top 40 hits. Like many of her contemporaries, Fiona’s prodigious output was largely ignored by Billboard. She’s had just one Top 40 hit in her career so far, and it came off her debut album Tidal, which was released in 1996 when Apple was still just 19. That would be the song “Criminal,” which after discovering it in the dying days of VH-1 Classic about eight years ago, became a huge favorite of mine…
The video is as quirky as Apple is, which you’d expect from an artist who once named an album after a poem…… not the title of the poem, mind you… the ENTIRE poem was the title of the album. The song is about a woman feeling bad about how she can get things so easily from men just by flaunting her sexuality…. and given the wide sweeping array of facial expressions and body language Fiona flashes during the video, it’s hard to tell if she’s being sincere or sarcastic about that statement…
Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.
This week’s DVA probably won’t be for everyone, but I like it. And it will be DJ Scratchy’s last bite of the Archive apple until 2022…… why!?!?!?
Dafuq, dude?
Because The Nest will be unveiling its newest Top 30 countdown beginning next Monday! What could it possibly be? Tune in Friday to find out….
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I do like this song and also some of her other ones, too.
Looking forward to next Monday and he new 30 countdown! 🙂
The countdown will be pretty unique. I’m having fun coming up with the songs for it…
Tell DJ Scratchy we’ll miss her. Really. No, I’m not kidding. I’ll leave the sarcasm to Fiona Apple, who appears to be being aggressive with a big piece of beef jerky in that first angsty image you shared of her. Or is that wood?
DJ Scratchy will actually be a big part of the new countdown (she’s hosted all of the others too)… she just won’t get to play the songs she wants to for a while. I have no idea what’s in Fiona’s hand, and am afraid to ask…
I had that cassette in 1996. I was hoping that she would do more and maybe she has. I love the song, but the video is just creepy. I want to tell her to get herself out of there…pronto! Maybe she did. In light of the #metoo movement, ya gotta wonder what she had to do to get where she is. Hopefully, she just sang. Looking forward to next week! Mona
That wasn’t too bad. It kept feeling like it was building up to something that never happened, but still, not bad. I could definitely sit and listen to that.
Looking forward to seeing what the new countdown will be!
I wasn’t sure what you’d think about this song since I don’t think I’ve featured one like it before. The overall response was more positive than I’d have guessed, so that makes me wonder if I have good taste, or everyone else has my bad taste…
Oh goodie – a new countdown………..!! Will brighten up my Mondays I’m sure. I think Fiona’s video was depressing for some reason – maybe the mess? Liked the song and her voice though.
Pam
It’s definitely a weird video. She looks so sad, but at the same time, kinda looks like she’s toying with us. The new countdown should be a blast! It will be even more free form than my Countdown of Whatever…
I’ve always liked this song.
Is the next countdown songs that suck major ass? I’d be down for that.
I already did that countdown, and Journey’s piece of crap made #1! 😛
Yeah, I can’t tell if she’s being sincere or sarcastic but with a beat like that, who cares?