Cru Jones Society

I have two giant cases full of CDs. One of them is filled with punk and ska discs and the other is filled with everything else. The punk case contains roughly double the discs of the “everything else” binder, which is another way of saying, I have fairly narrow tastes. Although I do have my moments of broadness.

I don’t visit the other case as I often as I do the punk one, so let’s follow Hart’s lead and see what are the five best ones from the non-punk world of music. Continue Reading »

This past Saturday I went down to the local record shop and partook in the activities of Record Store Day. For those who don’t know, this is a day devoted to celebrating independent record stores, place like Championship Vinyl from High Fidelity. There are special releases and live music; it’s like the end of Empire Records only not as over the top. Continue Reading »

During CJS’s impromptu 80s Week, we’ve covered two of the three biggest markers of 80s culture: fashion and movies. The fashion was pretty appalling, all things considered, but the movies consistently rank among our all-time favorites. But what of that all-important third marker? Yes, we have yet to touch on the ubiquitous song stylings of this decade.

Until now, that is. However, rather than devote thousands upon thousands of words to the already well-worn subject (you probably have VH-1 in your home – just watch that some Saturday if you want to re-live the 80s for several hours), we’ll narrow this down substantially.

Using an all-important and highly esteemed committee of one, I’ve chosen what I believe are the 3 Best Songs of the 1980s, and 3 Songs that Deserve a Fiery, Miserable Death in a Plane Crash to Hell. Why take a measured, nuanced view of an entire decade when you can boil it down into 6 probably unrepresentative elements instead, right? Let’s get started. Continue Reading »

From the raucous excitement of the road ahead in the CJS Road Trip Mix to the angsty fury of the CJS Punk Rawk Mix, we come now to slow it down and urge you to get close to the one next to you (or to whomever that increasingly attractive person you brought home for the local watering hole earlier this evening is), and cuddle up for a fierce session that if you’re lucky will include some heavy petting. While not quite the makeout session mix requested by CassieB in yesterday’s comments section (Ours would have included “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men and “Baby Baby Baby” by TLC), this is the grown up version.

This is your Love Lounge Mix. This is for when you get back to your place and need a little musical accompaniment for your wine, candles, and flavor-blasted Goldfish crackers (the snack equivalent of Spanish Fly, I’m tellin’ ya). I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine if I’ve made this mix for a friend, and if the mix was successful in scoring said friend any action. Sadly, I was well on the road to engaged by the time I made this, and closing the deal with your long-term girlfriend involves a slightly lower degree of difficulty. Besides, she likes it better when I obnoxiously sing “Everywhere” by Michelle Branch in a comical falsetto anyway, so this mix would have been largely useless.

But for those of you looking to ease into a little action, I guarantee you this mix is as good as any, if not way better than anything you’d come up with on your own. And how could I make such an outlandish claim? Let’s find out, shall we? Continue Reading »

We try to stay open to all types of music, but when all is said and through punk rock is our main love. And when something brings as much joy as punk brings to our lives, we want to share it with those we consider close to us. So we conceived this mix to pay tribute to the different styles found under the punk rock umbrella. This is by no means an all encompassing list. It’s like using that little spoon at the ice cream shop to get a taste of the broad spectrum of punk rock. And we want you to feel more open to try punk rock so we didn’t pick an acquired taste like pralines and dick, but the more well liked flavors like triple chocolate fudge. So grab your spoon and try the 20 flavors we think you may enjoy. Continue Reading »

It’s Mix Tape week here at CJS and what are putting together some mixes for some of those special times in life where a variety is needed. We kicked it off yesterday with some of the songs that seem to always find their way onto our mixes. I can’t promise those songs won’t make it onto any of these, but we’ll do our best. Continue Reading »

Welcome to the 2^nd Monday Confessional of 2010. Not a lot of Confessors this week – one actually – and we suspect the nature of the question might be a tad esoteric. We asked you: When you’re creating a new playlist, what song always seems to find its way onto every mix? When you make as many mixes as Hart and Dagger, you take for granted that not everyone thinks as heavily about music as we do, and might not even make mixes at all.

Case in point: When we wrote our “Sweatin’ to the CJS” mix, many of you espoused to not even making workout mixes at all and just put the player on shuffle which strikes us a completely alien concept. But we make a buttload of mixes, and since this week deals almost exclusively with this pursuit, despite our low participation, we’re here to share our mixing peccadilloes with you. So grab your Mp3 player, and let’s see what songs often find their way onto the CJS playlists. Continue Reading »

The Cru Jones Society is proud to welcome our special guest for our Favorite Musical Acts 0f the ‘00s, and a good friend: Roxy. Roxy is a former station manager and primetime DJ at a prominent college radio station, and currently writes the excellent “Effortless Anthropologie” blog covering all the latest fashions from clothing store Anthropologie. We’re thrilled to have Roxy with us. Please give her a warm welcome to the Cru Jones Society!

When Dagger asked me to write this column, I was thrilled to an obnoxious degree. Music is such a huge part of my life even as artists and the industry conspire to kill my good vibes. Even though I live in New York, I attend a shamefully low number of concerts. Turns out what was fun at 17 (sneaking into clubs, waiting in line in short dresses while getting ogled, getting pushed around in the pits, dropping hundreds to see the cool bands) ain’t so fun at 27. Especially after you’ve been spoiled by working in radio. But thanks to the wonders of the internet and its magical tubes of wonder I am still listening to music pretty much 24/7. God bless the internets. In writing this column I only considered bands that have been around for at least 10 years. Not fair to include younger bands in my opinion. Continue Reading »

This list was more difficult to put together than the movie one. Since most of the decade was spent drinking it would have been very easy to pick nothing but party music. There was also my tendency to only want to talk about the albums Rancid and the Bouncing Souls released since 2000, but they have been rocking my soul since the mid 90s. But I combed through all my music and found the 5 acts that really seemed important to the decade. So crank it to 11 and let’s rock again. Continue Reading »

Our Best of the Decade feature rolls on. Thanks again to Rob Rector for offering his two cents on our movie series (Visit Natsukashi dammit!). This week we move to music as Hart, another very special guest, and yours truly discuss our five favorite music acts from the aughts. So strap on your headphones, settle in, and let’s talk some tunes. Continue Reading »

Monday Night Football is on tonight and the Green Bay Packers take on the Baltimore Ravens. Two teams that have names that are not completely dumb. Dealing with local history and daunting, soul eating birds. Unfortunately these are part of a small selection of non-asinine names used by teams or bands. There are a lot so we asked you: What are the best and worst team and band names out there? You responded in full force. So as usual the CJS staff is first and then we follow it up with your responses. Continue Reading »

Thanksgiving has come on gone, we hope you all enjoyed yours, but now Christmas is right around the corner and that means our local soft rock station is gearing up to over play their Christmas playlist, the cable network USA is going to put Elf on every night and of course TBS will have its 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story. For this Monday Confessional we followed in this spirit of over indulgence as we asked: What is your most played CD and most watched movie? Let’s get to it so you can get back to watching your movie. Continue Reading »

Concerts are a staple here at the Cru Jones Society. We have spent many a night, and a few days, at concerts listen to music, drinking and growing friendships. And we’re willing to guess you have seen a band or two in your day. But like pizza delivery, televised sports, or two for one drink night, all good things have to start somewhere. With that we had one question for you: What was your first concert?

The responses this week run the musical genre gambit, from Alternative, country, and even some decade defining 80’s awesomness. We’ll start with the usual opening acts of Hart and Dagger and then what you have all come for, your responses. The stage is set so let’s get the house lights down and turn this mother out. Continue Reading »

How many rude boys does it take to screw in a light bulb? One to drop it and three to pick it up, pick it up, pick it up. If that joke makes any sense to you at all, then you like myself, are a fan of ska music. Don’t get me wrong, punk rock is my first and true love. But sometimes I sneak around on her with a mistress known as ska. Now I love punk and she will always be the one I go to, but sometimes she doesn’t want to have the fun ska does. Sometimes she is angry and depressing and I just seek the upbeat and smile of my mistress. This is why I love ska, please, if you see punk rock, don’t tell her about it.

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Since several people (Okay, one) have asked me about my birthday playlist that I mentioned in Happy Friday last week, I thought I’d give you a rundown of the songs I chose to celebrate my birthday. Plus, it’s been a while since we’ve had a playlist article, so it just feels about time. As we approach Labor Day, that means summer’s coming to an end, but that also means there’s time for one last chance to hang out on the patio with a beer, some good friends, the setting summer sun, and a handful of good time summer music. I just so happen to have a list of songs you should play prepared, so come on in… or out, as the case may be. Continue Reading »

Today we find confessions from our favorite island castaways. For the next three weeks, we’re playing Desert Island here at the Cru Jones Society and all of our topics focus on everyone’s favorite hypothetical set-up: If you were stranded on a desert island…

Today’s question: If you were stranded on a desert island, which five albums would you bring with you? Even though the concept of an album continues to inch toward obsolescence, so does the concept of being stranded on a desert island what with the advent of GPS everything and very few (if any) undiscovered corners of the earth. Regardless, here are the 5 albums CJS Staff and Regulars would keep with them should they find themselves in such a predicament. Next desert island question will follow. Continue Reading »

When we last off, we had just gone to two of Denver’s premiere punk rock venues. But there are still two more I frequented over the past 12 or 13 years. We have had a long enough intermission, so without further ado here are the other two venues where I learned what life was about.

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I have been going to punk rock shows for 12 or 13 years now, who can really keep track, also I can’t count. This thought struck me as I was watching Unwritten Law play the Bluebird Theater the other night. Aside from the few shows I have seen at Red Rocks, and the countless Warped Tours, I have seen the bulk of my shows at four different venues in the Denver area. They are all more or less the same, but for some reason there are still ones I like better than others.

I thought I would take a stroll down memory lane (and Colfax) and revisit each venue as well as the best and worst shows I have seen at each. The sound check is done, the lights are dimming, and it is time to rock this bitch. Continue Reading »

Whether you stepping into the octagon, coming up to bat, or meeting a date you’ll want to make a good first impression. The best way we can think of to accomplish such a feat is with a kick ass entrance, and all kick ass entrances are accompanied by a kick ass song. So we wanted to know what song you would use when entering the arena for a fight, or the batter’s box, or the quasi fancy restaurant you’re meeting your date at.

And we got some great responses; responses that would be great for situation where you would make an entrance; responses that trump, or at least are on par with, Darth Vader’s dark and ominous tune. As usual, aside from last week, Dagger and Hart are first, then Daniel Larusso, and finally our reader’s submissions.

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It’s summer time and we can’t help but to be reminded of our school days when summer meant running free and not giving a fuck. So with that in mind, June has become Guilty Pleasure Month here at Cru Jones Society. As we have stated, but to emphasis it once more, we realize the concept of a guilty pleasure is patently ridiculous. No one should have to feel bad about anything they derive enjoyment from unless that enjoyment comes from pedophilia or something equally as immoral/illegal/fucked up. We’ve decided to kick off Guilty Pleasure Month by asking you what your guilty pleasure music is? As is the custom, Dagger and Hart are up first, followed by your responses. Put another dime in the jukebox and let’s rock. Continue Reading »