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marcfagel.bsky.social
Obsessive music fan, retired securities lawyer, and author of the love letter to rock & roll 𝙅𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙂𝙪𝙮 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘, available on Amazon (http://bit.ly/Jittery).
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1000 Great Songs #987: Breakfast Cereal. LMNOP were basically a guy making home recordings, but they were pretty damn fun--think They Might Be Giants--and got regular attention on my college radio shows. One of those tracks that will forever make me feel like I'm 20 (and maybe a little drunk).

submitted 23 hours ago • 1 comment

1000 Great Songs #986: Telephone Line. ELO had a string of huge hits when I was getting into music as a kid. I left them behind when I moved on to cooler artists, but I still love this track, as dense and complex as prog but with a catchy doo-wop chorus that's been playing in my head most my life.

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

1000 Great Songs #985: From A Balance Beam. I've always been mixed on Bright Eyes. A lot of it skews too young and/or angsty for my jaded ears, but sometimes Conor captures something that clicks for me. Doesn't hurt that, breaking from some of his lo fi experiments, this one feels fully realized.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Now and then I'll scroll all the way to the bottom of my digital library and think, ok, maybe it's time to give Frank Zappa another try, and then I listen to a few minutes of Frank Zappa and say, ok, maybe next time, and I just go with a Zombies record.

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

1000 Great Songs #984: Tomorrow Night. Debut single from Illinois power pop band Shoes, capturing that early new wave skinny tie pop sound with a mix of jangly guitars and power chords, Beatlesque melody, pretty harmonies--what more do you need in a mixtape pop song?

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

1000 Great Songs #983: 2 Cool 2 Care. Contemporary singer-songwriter Anna Burch wallows in unrequited millennial love, seemingly both aloof & hurt, cutting loose with a chorus that sends chills down my spine. Perfect title music for a streaming series about struggling couples.

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

1000 Great Songs #982: Painted Soldiers. Another Pavement track helmed by guitarist Spiral Stairs/Scott Kannberg; a wigged-out, enjoyably nonsensical pop song inexplicably relegated to the soundtrack of a failed film rather than a proper album track.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Realized I haven't posted my running playlist of the Best of 2025 (So Far)--so here it is. Faves include Momma, My Morning Jacket, Craig Finn, Exploding Flowers, Jetstream Pony, Rose City Band, Ex-Void, Nick Frater, Adult Mom, My Raining Stars, Waterboys, Girlpuppy, Blondshell, and more!

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

New Releases: The High Water Marks, Consult The Oracle. Elephant 6 OG Hilarie Sidney, previously of Apples in Stereo, is back with another album alternating between fuzzy bubblegum noise-pop and slightly more askew indie rock. Good stuff, keeping that 90s alt.pop flame burning.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

1000 Great Songs #981: Movie Star. Under-appreciated UK pub rockers Help Yourself pretty blatantly crib from Neil Young here, but that doesn't make this blend of gentle harmonies and blazing jams any less perfect for a stoned Saturday afternoon hanging out in the sunshine.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

1000 Great Songs #980: Mexican Radio. The eccentric Wall of Voodoo track was one of those songs that popped up on the late-night cable tv video shows back in high school and made me realize all the interesting music was happening outside the stale confines of classic rock radio.

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

1000 Great Songs #979: Don't Worry About The Government. Capturing the oddball guilelessness of early Talking Heads, a sweet ode to your friends and your apartment and those friendly civil service workers. As a former federal official, I appreciate the shout-out. Alas, today I'm pretty damn worried.

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments