Jammin’ With Josh: Stroke 9/SR-71

The only picture I could find of me from 2002. Why was I wearing a chain? Ugh…

This is Jammin’ With Josh. Each week I take a look at one of the bands that I love. Or perhaps it will be a band that I just discovered and think you should check out. Or maybe it will just be a way for me to post music videos. Honestly, no one will ever know.

Rock in the early 2000s…Stroke 9, SR-71, 9 Days…it seemed like every band had to have a number in their name. Many people try to gloss over that time period, they will think about the grunch/alt-rock of the 90s and then maybe some of the stuff that is out there now (unless you are one of those people who hates all the stuff after the 90s, then whatever). I however, happen to like those bands. I mean, they all sound pretty similar (look up who produced or were actual members of some of them…I swear it was the same 12 people).

The reason I mentioned Stroke 9 & SR-71 is that those are the two that have actually stuck with me. I still listen to some of their albums. Or at least the two albums I own from each band. But that said, they are great albums. Even though no one bought them and they were critical failures, I am one of the few fans of them. And that is why today you will be subjected to my weird love of Stroke 9 and SR-71.

This is probably the only song anyone knows from SR-71. I remember it being on the radio all the time when I worked with my stepdad up in Albany.

I guess technically I own three SR-71 albums. I always forget that Tomorrow is off the second album. It was actually not that great of an album, but this song was decent. Sad, these are the only two videos posted by the band.

This was definitely my favorite song from the first album.

I do not remember how or where I bought their third album, but reading about it at wikipedia, turns out that it was an import and only released in Japan. It was actually my favorite of their albums. You may be thinking “but wait Josh, wasn’t this a Bowling For Soup song?” Yes it was, but it was written by SR-71. Again, remember those 12 same dudes producing everything? Bowling For Soup/SR-71 is one of the connections.

This song always reminded me of someone I worked with at State College…

A cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”? Yeah, how can you not love these guys and this album?

Okay, the final SR-71 song. This is probably my favorite song from them. I don’t know, when I was in my early 20s this song just resonated with me. Probably because from a literal perspective,I usually stayed up late and woke up after noon. But, I think if you listen to it, there is a little more going on, as in being sad, depressed, not wanting to get out of bed. One of the lines is “never out of bed before noon, hide in the corners of my room.” Earlier in the song, there is a line about not being able to sleep because of all the things running through his head.

I wish I could say that SR-71 was still together, trying to release another big hit, but alas, they are not. Same goes with Stroke 9. In fact, they split apart much sooner than SR-71.

Another song that was very popular my freshman year at Gannon, but then also still pretty big during the summer when I was working in Albany. “I don’t wanna tango with you, I’d rather tango with him.”

“Letters”…I think this was also one that people may remember. I think when this one came out is when I decided to buy the album. And that is where I discovered this gem…

Seriously, I assumed these guys were going to be huge. When I saw that their next album Rip It Off was released the day before my birthday in 2002, I made sure to get to Mike’s Music to buy it (I figured there might be a line for it or something…haha). Now, I need to be pretty honest here…Rip It Off is probably one of my most listened to albums. I still have it in my CD case that was in my car. Like it was a staple CD that went with me wherever (I no longer keep a small CD book in my car because…who listens to CDs?).

This is a funny song, all about the numerous girls he has been with and the situations that it has put him in.

This was probably the only song that was released from the album. When I first heard it, I was pretty much out of my Limp Bizkit phase and thought that this song was poking fun at Fred Durst “so spin your cap around to the back, you think you rhyme, but you can’t rap” and “flip off your fans, make ’em cheer, while you try to look sincere.” Although, I think now he was actually just making fun of himself, since he has a line about sing another song about bashing someones head in. I guess I always felt like this song was the perfect metaphor for the late 90s/early 2000s and the music that was so angry.

Just one of those sad songs about breaking up and all that stuff. Again, 22 year old Josh really felt a connection to this song.

Alright, looking back on it, maybe these songs all had a certain theme and maybe that says something about me during that time. Whatever, I enjoyed them and I still enjoy them.

 

 

 

Author: Ngewo

1 thought on “Jammin’ With Josh: Stroke 9/SR-71

Comments are closed.