Zappa - bootleg tape - El Paso

"Apostrophe." A real jam.

Little Louis Band

John Lee Hooker song.

Hüsker Dü

It should come as no surprise that some of the earliest (1979) and speediest punk was created by a couple of gay dudes. Bob Mould's flying V guitar completes the picture.

Paul Westerberg (The Replacements)

Played this song to death, back in the day.

The The - Love Is Stronger than Death

The The (and Matt Johnson) have been around since the late 1970s. I know them best from their album, "Hanky Panky," covering a handful of Hank Williams' songs. This nugget from Wikipedia is classic:

In November 1977, Matt Johnson placed an advertisement in the NME 1977, asking for 'Bass/lead guitarist into Velvets/Syd Barrett'. Johnson later placed a second advert in the NME, stating his new influences as 'The Residents/Throbbing Gristle'.

Big ambitions, indeed. This clip is suitably poppy for the first day of the semester.

Planet Caravan

Emma Russack covering Black Sabbath. Not much to see in the video - the live version won't embed - but well worth it.

Madness

Song about school, "Baggy Trousers." Funny story: AO attended the same primary school in London as these guys had a few years earlier. She claims that an early album had a picture of the nearby Tube stop on the cover. Six degrees, man, six degrees.

The flying saxophonist is a big hit with the kids.

Other Lives (Kunek)

Doing a Leonard Cohen song.

Husky Rescue

Ambient-pop from Helsinki.

PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke

Radiohead's Yorke helping Harvey sing her song "This Mess We're In."