Wednesday, September 29, 1999 Orange County Edition Section: Calendar Page: F-1

Hitting The High Notes

Take A Spin Through The '90's and Revisit the Decades Best OC Pop

By: MIKE BOEHM TIMES STAFF WRITER

Today we give you one critic's choices for the best Orange County-bred pop songs and albums of the 1990s.

The lists, of course, are a trimester premature. But this has been a marvelous decade for the local pop scene, and it would be a shame to delay recognizing its peak accomplishments until December, when any pause for appreciation will be lost in the torrent of media spew rehashing the year / decade / century / millenium.

We hope this will catch your attention before your eyes have had a chance to glaze over, your minds have numbed and you have fled from punditry until it's safe to come out again in the next potentially normal, epoch-analysis-free year on the calendar (2001? 2002?). If anything brilliant comes out of OC in the next three months, we'll be sure to let you know as it happens.

First, the ground rules:

• For the sake of diversity, only one song and one album pick per artist.

• The picks adhere to the most narrowly subjective standard there is: my own listening pleasure. Some critics base their year / decade / etc. bgest-of-choices on such legitimate criteria as a work's influence, it's impact on society and the music scene, and on how well the music defined it's genre, its style, and its time. I'm much too selfish for that. These are the songs and albums that most strongly touched my heart, fired my imagination and captured my ears. Matters of influence and impact are worth analyzing, but ultimately, for me, experiencing music comes down to the most personal and intimate encounter: a one-on-one conversation between artist and listener.

• As to what constitutes an Orange County musician—that's a matter of history as well as geography. Dramarama is mainly regarded as a Los Angeles band, but its OC shows always had a sense of homecoming, and its singer-songwriter, John Easdale, is a long-time OC resident who has been active on the local scene as a solo performer. Dick Dale and Liquor Giants leader Ward Dotson no longer live in Orange County, but their development and emergence as rock notables took place on the local scene, and they continue to perform here regularly. Sublime was a Long Beach trio, but when it comes to punk and alternative rock, Orange County/Long Beach has been a single, cohesive scene for 20 years.

Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against the Machine would not qualify even if I were fond of their music, which I generally am not. Key members hail from OC, but have not embraced their roots here or identified themselves as Orange County musicians. The picks that follow include many obscure releases (including both No. 1 choices), along with some that reached the mainstream. This reflects a core truth that anybody who delves deeply into a fertile local music scene such as Oeange County's will soon discover: commercial success has more to do with luck and temperament than with musical genius. Bands that play to 50 people in dives may be more worthwhile than ones that headline arenas. It has been my privilege and pleasure to indulge these past 12 years in the fruits of an exceptionally bountiful home-grown crop.

Songs of the Decade:

1. Richard Stekol, "America Walking By"
2. The Joykiller, "Supervision"
3. Eggplant, "Unexpected"
4. Jann Brown, "One Tired Man"
5. Chris Gaffney, " '68"
6. Social Distortion, "Bad Luck"
7. Liquor Giants, "I Don't Mind"
8. Mark Davis, "As Big As Love"
9. Joyride, "Heaven Sighed"
10. Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, "Mystery To Me"
11. Thermadore, "Amerasian"
12. Willoughby, "Borrow My Shoulder"
13. Dramarama, "Incredible"
14. Pontiac Brothers, "Suicide Notes"
15. Kerry Getz, "Inhale"
16. One Hit Wonder, "Therapy Lounge"
17. Missiles of October, "Look At Daddy Run"
    A bouyant, sing-along chorus attached to a bitter reflection on what it's like to have an absentee dad. "I call him 'Daddy-O'/The o's for nothin'."
18. Matt Barnes, "The Lucky Few"
19. Vinnie James, "Hey Geronimo"
20. The Offspring, "The Kids Aren't Alright"
21. Bill Ward, "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)"
22. Rick Elias & The Confessions, "Miles and Miles"
23. James Harmon, "Old Man Eyes"
24. Standard Fruit, "Abilene"
25. Lee Rocker, "Memphis Freeze"
26. Film Star, "Ooh Girl"
27. Barrelhouse, "Albert's Shovel"
28. Michael Ubaldini, "Poem to My Country"
29. Sublime, "Doin' Time"
30. D/Railed, "So, Voce"

...and one to grow on,
No Doubt, "Simple Kind of Life"

Albums of the Decade:

1. Mark Davis, "You Came Screaming"
2. Jann Browne, "Count Me In"
3. Chris Gaffney, "Mi Vida Loca"
4. Liquor Giants, "Liquor Giants"
5. Social Distortion, "White Light White Heat White Trash"
6. Dramarama, "Hi-Fi Sci-Fi"
7. Joyride, "Another Month of Mondays"
8. One Hit Wonder, "Cluster----astuff"
9. Sublime, "Sublime"
10. Michael Ubaldini, "Acoustic Rumble"
11. Lunar Rover, "Lunar Rover"
12. Missiles of October, "Tropic of Soulfolk"
    Poul Finn Pedersen may be the finest pure singer on the OC rock scene; factor in superb playing and strong, John Hiatt-like material, and you get an album that deserved to become an Adult Rock standard (but didn't).
13. Walter Trout Band, "Prisoner of a Dream
14. Bill Ward, "When the Bough Breaks"
15. The Joykiller, "Three"
16. The Freddie Brooks Band, "One Little Word"
17. Dick Dale, "Tribal Thunder"
18. The Offspring, "Smash"
19. Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, "Radio Favorites"
20. Pontiac Brothers, "Fuzzy Little Piece of the World"
21. Vinnie James, "All American Boy"
22. D/Railed, "D/Railed"
23. Rick Elias & The Confessions, "Rick Elias & The Confessions"
24. Kerry Getz, "Apollo"
25. Sonichrome,"Breathe the Daylight"