And your ears shall hear…

Time flies when your having fun!  About a month ago I came across two amazing records for a buck, both by the 90’s alt rock band Certain Distant Suns.  Man did they bring back memories, and good ones too!  It brought me back to the days when life was fun.  When I wasn’t paying rent, and drove a beater, just so I could afford my rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle!  We drove to the city almost every weekend to see live shows, sometimes two or three times, if we went to Tower Records to see the band acoustic the night before, or if there was just that much good talent packed into the city of Chicago on said weekend.  But, some bands, like the Smoking Popes (Crystal Lake, IL) and the Certain Distant Suns (Fox Lake, IL), would play even closer to home (McHenry) because that is where they grew up  and cut their teeth, before they hit the big circuit in the Second City.  The Certain Disant Suns were a 90’s band that kind of came and went, but did have a hit or two on local station Q101.  They played locally in Chicago before self-releasing the EP Huge, that included favorites “Talk” and “Snowfall At the Most Curious Times .” They followed it up with the Dogrocket EP,  which featured their biggest single “Bitter!”  All received a good deal of college radio and modern rock airplay, driving the band to the peak of their popularity^.   Both EPs were eventually combined,  with bonus tracks, to make up the 1994 full-length Happy on the Inside, released by Warner subsidiary Giant Records.  I had the Dogrocket EP, but always wanted Happy on the Inside, the full length release, that contained one of those so-called bonus tracks that ended up being on the radio, “Round.”  So, how happy, pun intended, do you think I was when I finally found both the EP and LP,  by Certain Distant Suns, that I had never owned; for a buck!??  I was ecstatic!  This is the reason I started this blog, to share my happiness and passion for such finds, and my passion for music in general.  So in case you haven’t heard of the Certain Distant Suns, Cut Out Kid can tip you off to great bands and records that you might have missed.  And also, so you can keep your eyes, and your ears, open for this stuff in the cut out bins, or on the record shelves.  Certain Distant Suns made great music in the 90’s, and throwing on their records still makes me smile.  They brought together big hooks, poppy vocals, and funky samples, that are the gold standard of rock radio these days.  This video above is the only thing I could find on the Internet, and the sound is really bad.  But, turn it up, and take a listen to one of the best pop singles of the 90’s, “Bitter,” by the Certain Distant Suns.  Check them out; if you haven’t already.