G - H - I
The GHI (pronounced [γi]) portion of the alphabet is very thin in my library. The J’s, on the other hand, are huge. This alphabetical quirk actually hides some interesting linguistic history, which I’ll comment on in the next post.
Garbage is awesome. I liked Garbage without much passion when they were popular in my high-school years (from 1996-2000), but later come onto them with a passion. You have to like Shirley Manson’s deep, bitter voice and they do pop just how I like it: dark, dark, dark. It’s great.
Ghoti Hook: Christian pop-punk. Fun, funny, and harmless. Basically like Blink 182, without the swearing. They put out an all-cover album called Songs We Didn’t Write which is excellent, particularly if you’re looking for a pop-punk rendition of “Walkin’ On Sunshine”.
Grandaddy is sci-fi indie rock. Their songs are about robots and satellites and asteroid miners, and everyone in them is SAD. Lots of (sad) keyboards and (sad) spacey vocals. I have the first two albums–after that they went for more typical pop, which I don’t like as much.
Greg Graffin, yes, that Greg Graffin, the lead singer of Bad Religion. He put out a solo album of folk songs, which basically sound like Bad Religion greatly slowed down. I like it better at the original speed.
Hank Williams III. He calls himself and his style “Hellbilly”, which pretty much sums it up.
Hot Hot Heat, more quirky indie pop. Hot Hot Heat is just fun music. Lyrically they cover the typical indie topics of breakups and self-involvement, but you’ll be enjoying their upbeat, cheery sound so much you won’t even care.
Based on their reputation, I should hate the Indigo Girls. They most get written up as hippie bull dykes, and my antipathy towards hippies is well-known. (Note the absence of the Grateful Dead above.) However, their music is actually really good, so long as their heart-in-hand earnestness doesn’t get away from them. When they make schmaltz, it’s truly awful: Power of Two, for example, or Southland in the Summer. But when they let loose with passion, they rock my soul: Fugitive, Pushing the NeedleToo Far, and the unparalleled trilogy off their first album: Kid Fears, Prince of Darkness, and Blood and Fire.
Iron and Wine. Simply the best country music being made today. He has a quiet, whispery voice that infects and destroys me. Destroys me in a good way.
Also-rans: Ghetto Boys (Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster), Gob (a weird parody of Mr. Sandman), Goo Goo Dolls (Iris, of course, and don’t tell me you didn’t like it in high school, too), Greenday (SO overrated), Guttermouth, Hanne Boel (schmaltz), Hokus Pick (pop so happy it makes your gums bleed), Honor Society, Human Drama (super-sappy cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart), Iggy Pop (awesome–why don’t I have more of this?), Interpol.