120 Minutes Flashback

I'm pulling this week's first 120 Minute Flashback from the week of May 25, 1997. The first choice, That Dog's (the official name of the band was that dog. - all lower case and with the '.') Never Say Never is a super catchy power pop track that reminds me of a small pocket of time there in the mid 90's when I suddenly discovered a love for female fronted pop bands of all styles.

The band made regular appearances, along with notables like Luscious Jackson, Helium, Liz Phair (remember, this is mid 90's Liz Phair), Red 5 and others. This song came along a few years after I first heard the band and, if I recall correctly, they split up not long after releasing it.

If those synthesizers sound familiar, though, it's because a certain someone from That Dog went on to join Matt Sharp's reformed Rental's line-up. She became a friend P, indeed.

Selection two this week is Tricky's Christian Sands. This is an amazing track, if you haven't heard it. I've created literally thousands of videos of this song in my head throughout the years. I think it's because it's such an awesome song - Tricky's throaty garble, the slow beats, the continuous rhythm. After watching the official video for the first time in so many years, though, I'm starting to think it may be due to the...slight boringness of this video. It doesn't quite fit the song.

This song, though, opened up the world of Trip Hop to me and I discovered bands like Portishead, Massive Attack, and DJ Shadow. The reason I even bother posting weekly tributes to a show from 15 years ago is because that was a weekly occurance for me. This show shaped my listening habits more than anything by opening up new genres and sounds to me. This was in the days when most people didn't have the internet at home and, if they were rich and/or lucky enough, it was dial up and there was no music.

120 Minutes was my internet.

That Dog - Never Say Never


Tricky - Christian Sands