Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

15. Wild At Heart (1990)  It's definitely not my favorite David Lynch film, but Wild at Heart has grown on me. Although the film includes a fairly straightforward plot because Lynch is adapting Barry Gifford's novel, the casting and over-the-top performances add those Lynchian elements that keep the viewer guessing. His addition of  audacious characters like Mr. Reindeer (W. Morgan Sheppard) and focus on the darker aspects of  popular culture as exemplified by Elvis and Marilyn Monroe fixations filtered through a near Joe Coleman level of morbidity make this a unique study on American obsession. However, the film still finds space to be funny, particularly in how Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage portray those obsessions. Think Lynch with a side of John Waters, a dash of the Coens, and a dessert that recalls the fantastical elements of  The Wizard of Oz (1939) updated for the consumer-obsessed 1990s.  14. Winter Kills ( 1979) I weighed including The Parallax View ...

While I often thought GLB's final record didn't reach the heights of their earlier albums, I now realize that the polished songwriting, production, and lyrical honesty emphasize a maturity and growth. My downer '90s self also did not relate to the jubilant sound and lyrics. However, I still wish Paul Kimble was on bass.

Jets to Brazil always makes me think of fall, changing seasons, and remembrance. I started listening to them at a pivotal moment when I was figuring out my identity and becoming an adult. I had long been a fan of Jawbreaker, and when Black Schwarzenbach started JTB, I went to one of their first national tours in 1998 for Orange Rhyming Dictionary in Milwaukee. They played with Fugazi, Compound Red, and the band I saw play most Milwaukee shows at that time, Promise Ring. It was an amazing show for the most part, and I met Blake before the show. For many Jawbreaker fans, Jets to Brazil took some getting used to, mainly because they toned down the former band's punk tendencies for more indie rock and pop influences. While 1995's  Dear You , Jawbreaker's final record, was moving in this direction, JTB added keyboards and sometimes resembled 1980s bands like The Psychedelic Furs or 1990s indie bands like Wilco more than the punk stylings of many of the Jawbreaker releases, Howev...